A SYSTEM OF MATERIA MEDICA AND PHARMACY...With Notes by N. Chapman

New York & Baltimore: Samuel Woo, 1821. Two volumes: vi,[2],399; iv,384pp. Contemporary tree calf, spines ruled in gilt, gilt morocco labels. Boards rubbed and stained. Early ownership signature on front free endpaper of both volumes. Tanned and foxed, old marginal stains in first few signatures of both volumes. Good. John Murray, a noted physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh, initially published his ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA in 1804, expanding it into the present work in 1810. Nathaniel Chapman, a physician and founding president of (truncated) the American Medical Association, prepared an American edition in 1815, to serve as a textbook for his own lectures. The present second American edition followed in 1821. In the first volume, Murray discusses the general principles of pharmaceutic chemistry and of materia medica, with chapters on narcotics, diuretics, antacids, expectorants, and more. The second volume is more specialized, discussing everything from syrups and honeys to ointments, metallic preparations, tinctures, vinegars, fixed oils, and much more. An important early pharmaceutical text tailored for American use. Not in Cordasco, who only lists editions of 1824 and 1828, with notes by John Beck. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 6141. AUSTIN 1353 (1815 edition). (Inventory #: WRCAM55000)