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Podcast: New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
Episode: Stuart Anderson, "Pharmacopoeias, Drug Regulation, and Empires: Making Medicines Official in Britain's Imperial World, 1618-1968" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2024)
Description: The word "pharmacopoeia" has come to have many meanings, although it is commonly understood to be a book describing approved compositions and standards for drugs. In 1813 the Royal College of Physicians of London considered a proposal to develop an imperial British pharmacopoeia - at a time when separate official pharmacopoeias existed for England, Scotland, and Ireland. A unified British pharmacopoeia was published in 1864, and by 1914 it was considered suitable for the whole Empire.Pharmacopoeias, Drug Regulation, and Empires:Â Making Medicines Official in Britain's Imperial World, 1618-1968Â Â (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024)Â by Dr. Stuart Anderson traces the 350-year development of o...