ABSTRACT
The essence of pharmaceutics, as many of the chapters in the two volumes of this book
illustrate, is the amalgamation of physical science (physical pharmacy) with aspects of
biological science. It is a distinct discipline quite different from biophysics or chemical
biology because at its center is not only the dosage form with its active and inactive
ingredients but also the behavior of the ensemble in the environment in which these
medicines are used, generally in human subjects. Pharmaceutics has existed as a discipline
within pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences for a long time. It is difficult to discern
the origins of the term, although one can deduce from the evolution of textbooks of
pharmaceutics something about its development. From the early days of the 20th century to
the mid-1950s, it was concerned primarily with the science and practice of the manufacture
of medicines (dosage forms) on small and large scales and the preparation of galenicals. It
was viewed sometimes as a discipline without much regard to the fate of the dosage form in
vivo. However, this is not really the case. For example, the 1924 edition of Martindale and
Wescott’s The Extra Pharmacopeia (1) discusses enteric coating of tablets to minimize the
effects of drugs on the intestinal mucosa in the following words:
Various substances have been proposed for the coating of pills, tablets and capsules
to render them insoluble in the stomach but soluble in the intestines, i.e. on reaching
the duodenum. Drugs, for example, which irritate the mucous membrane and the
administration of which is liable to induce vomiting, and substances intended to act
solely on the intestines and the anthelmintic drugs, have been so given. Keratin, as
usually employed, seldom brings about the desired effect.
