Preparations made by the pharmacist are called pharmaceutical preparations. Nearly one-half of the articles of the United States Pharmacopoeia are pharmaceutical; formulas being given for their preparation, they are intended to be made in the pharmacy.

The commonly employed medical formularies are:

The Pharmacopoeia (pharmakon, drug; poiein, to make), a book compiled by the government, or, as in the United States, a National Committee on Revision, and published by authority, establishing standards for the identification, purity, strength, and quality, and giving directions for the purification, valuation, preparation, compounding, and preservation of drugs, chemicals, and medicinal preparations. The United States Pharmacopoeia is revised decennially, the present (eighth decennial revision) having become official on Sept. 1, 1905.

Official(Lat. officium, authority) drugs and preparations are those which are included in the Pharmacopoeia - all others are unofficial. The term officinal (Lat. officina, a shop) was formerly applied to any drugs of recognized standard, but is now little used.

The National Formulary, a work published under the direction of the American Pharmaceutical Association, and designed to standardize the formulae of such much-employed preparations as are not included in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia.

Dispensatories. - These are compilations and commentaries on the pharmacopoeias, and include the medical, physical, and chemical history and nature of the various substances, directions regarding dosage and administration, and observations on their physiological action and therapeutics. They also contain information concerning drugs not accepted by pharmacopceial authority, yet which are of occasional use or interest. The Dispensatory is in effect a private publication and unofficial, in this respect differing essentially from a pharmacopoeia. There are in the United States various works of this character, the United States and National Dispensatories being commonly in use.

The following are the abbreviations used to indicate which of these is the authority for any given formula, or which formula is intended when more than one go by the same name: U. S. P. - United States Pharmacopoeia. B. P. - British Pharmacopoeia. P. G. - German Pharmacopoeia. N. F. - National Formulary. U. S. D. - United States Dispensatory. N. S. D. - National Standard Dispensatory.

The pharmaceutical preparations may be divided as follows:

I. Solutions. II. Liquid Mixtures - Internal.

III. Extractive Preparations - Liquid and Solid.

IV. Mixtures of Solids - Internal.

V. Mixtures for External Use - Liquids and Solids.

These groups are each divided into a number of Classes, each class having a distinct Latin title by which its members, or individual preparations, are officially designated and alphabetically arranged in the U. S. P. In addition to the Latin and English titles, each class is also known by an English name, besides various synonyms. There are altogether 34 of these Classes official, besides a number unofficial. Official number.

I. The Solutions are divided, according to the character of the solvent, into -