Rare sixth edition of the London pharmacopoeia, the first edition influenced by enlightenment science, printed in Rotterdam. The sixth edition was the first to use the system of binomial plant nomenclature devised by Linnaeus in his Systemae Naturae. More important was the omission of most of the animal materia medica (various parts of animals which included excrement), theriacs and mithridates. This reflected the critique of the English physician William Heberden (1710-1801), who in 1746 had successfully showed that that the belief in theriacs and mithridates, which were believed to be panaceas, was based upon a number of mistakes. Heberdens critique came too late for the pharmacopoeia of 1746, but the theriacs and mithridates were almost completely absent from the 1788-edition. Among the new medicines in 1788, was Robert Jamess patented fever powder, one of the most popular 18th-century patent medicines which was used up until the 20th-century.
With owner's inscription on title-page and a partially trimmed-off marginal manuscript note on p. 127. Binding cracked at hinges, spine cracked, affecting title-label; front endpaper loose. Slight foxing throughout. Internally still a good copy. ESTC T201275 (6 copies; "clearly reprinted in the Netherlands"); this edition not in Blake; Garrison & Morton; STCN; Wellcome.