[The transition of the standards and the test-methods of cocain hydrochloride between JP I (1886) and JP XII (1991)].

In 1886, Japanese pharmacopoeia (JP.I) has been published as the 21st pharmacopoeia in the world, and now we have the twelfth revised Pharmacopoeia (JP.XII) published in 1991. During the period of about one century between JP.I and JP.XII, pharmaceutical science has shown remarkable progress in Japan as well as the U.S.A. and Europe. In this report, we have studied the transition of the standards and the test-methods of cocain hydrochloride between JP.I and JP.XII. The test-methods of cocain hydrochloride were gradually progressed. Since the World War II, JP.VI (1951) has been revised in wide range by adjusting into the U.S.A. XIV (1950) and then, many old tests have been eliminated and new tests have been regulated. For instance, optical-rotation test in JP.VI and assay in JP.VIII (1976) were good examples of how JP has been revised. Recently, many local-anaesthetic medicines have become very popular. So, the clinical market of cocain hydrochloride will not be so wide in the future in the Japanese medical field.