No. 78.] Waller's Domestic Herbal. 163 but in the latter, a distinct variety will be formed, in which neither can be recognized. The specific gravity of the juices is also changed, which proves that a chemical action has taken place. "This chemical change in the properties of vegetables, by no means understood by physicians, is not, however, the only important change resulting from the combination of different articles in prescription; for where no chemical action can be supposed to take place, the effect of the most powerful medicine becomes so modified, by being combined with other articles, whose action upon the body is different, that no conjecture can be formed beforehand of what will be the result of certain combinations. Experience only can determine, with certainty, what will be the effect on the system. This may be illustrated easily by what takes place in the combination of ipecacuanha (a powerful emetic) and opium, the narcotic properties of which are known to every one. The mixture of the two, however, produces a result widely different from either." The attempt to simplify the forms of prescription is fostered only by ignorance of the qualities of drugs on the one hand, and the operations in the elaboratory of the stomach on the other. The scientific practitioner, informed of the virtues of every article, knows how to blend his agents in form and proportions; so that, by their united operation, he may obtain a result, which, by a consideration of their individual properties, could not, à priori, have been predicated with such an one, then, a complex formula is safe and efficacious; but, in the hands of the ignorant, the administration of a single article is adventurous empiricism; for the same want of knowledge that renders him unfit for directing combinations, disqua lifies him for judging of the effect of the most simple forms. If the ultra chemists would turn their attention to gastric chemistry, they would learn that the operations in the stomach differ widely from those in the retort; nay, there is even a principle in the human stomach, which opposes the developement of chemical agencies, such as take place out of the body; for it has been an ascertained fact, that two substances, which cannot be brought together without immediately forming a new substance, by an interchange of union, might be taken into the stomach, and no such decomposition ensue. It is absurd to suppose (as is generally done) that a mixture is decomposed, because we perceive that a precipitate is thrown down; the change may be little more than a mechanical disarrangement of particles affecting the external appearance of the compound, without altering its chemical or medicinal character: such, for instance, is the effect produced by the addition of a salt to some vegetable decoction, containing gum or resin. But granting that decomposition does often ensue in our mixtures, either previously or subsequently to their entering the stomach, is such a circumstance to prohibit their administration? Certainly not; the new compound is the medicine desired, and the effect expected by the prescriber, is that which can alone ensue from the action of a principle, developed by the destruction of the original arrangement of the materials, and the formation of a new one. A skilful physician, says Mr. W., will endeavour to avail himself of both these properties of vegetable substances; and it will be found, on a careful examination of the prescriptions of Sydenham, (reckoned absurd by modern practitioners on account of their complication,) that it was by no means the smallest part of the consummate skill of that great physician, to combine judiciously the different articles that entered into his prescriptions. We pay a great deal too much respect to chemical propriety in modern prescription, and reject many valuable formulæ of former days, only because the chemical combination is supposed to be injudicious, without the least regard to the effect absolutely produced on the animal economy. By this blind submission to the rules of the chemical schools, we lose all the advantages to be derived from a skilful combination of different powerful medicines, and imagine that we have greatly improved the art by simplifying it. It is in consequence of this rage for simplicity, that no preparation of the colchicum has hitherto been produced that can be relied on for uniformity of action, or that will not, in certain cases, produce very disagreeable effects." "By late experiments made on this plant, a peculiar and hitherto unknown alkali has been discovered. In this we suppose its principal virtues to reside; as many experiments seem to demonstrate, that the cause of gout in the system is a peculiar acid." Our worthy author, though he is found, when descanting upon the virtues of chamomile, to deprecate adherence to theories, has certainly here fallen himself into the error; for surely it is going too far, to attribute the good effects of colchicum, in gout, to the neutralization of acid by the alkali of the remedy; for the alkali (if any) is much too small to produce any effect on this principle. And again, the acid which prevails in the stomach, in persons predisposed to gout, so far from being the cause of the disease, is really the effect of gouty irritation of the stomach, and its presence is, to the patient, a warning of the approach of an attack of the disease, excited by the season, the state of the atmosphere, or some other cause. The various effects of colchicum depend more upon the varieties of constitutions (perhaps the state of stomach and nervous system) than on the inequality of the activity of the article, as it regards the time of year when removed from the earth. If the active medicinal or drastic virtues of the root of colchicum reside in an alkali, we will ask, how comes it that the infusion in vinegar acts more powerfully on the stomach and bowels than the tincture or the root in substance? The author does not say whether he has had any experience of the qualities of the seeds of this plant; but Dr. Williams, Dr. Uwins, and others, who have given them an extensive trial, assert, that the alkaline wine, prepared with the seeds, uniformly succeeds in allaying gouty and rheumatic irritation, and in improving the general health; and we can add our own testimony as a corroboration of their opinions, for in all the cases in which we have given the remedy in this form, it has been productive of the most beneficial effects, when accompanied with such auxiliary remedies as the state of the constitution and other considerations indicated. No. 78.] Pharmaceutical Guide. 165 "But it is not merely as a remedy for gout, rheumatism, and affections of the joints, that colchicum has in the present day been extolled and recommended. A medical gentleman, Mr. Haden, has lately published a treatise on the virtues of this remedy in the most decidedly inflammatory cases, such as pleurisy, pneumonia, and other equally well-ascertained cases of increased action. Mr. Haden seems to consider the effect of the colchicum to be the same as that which results from the employment of the lancet, or any other of the means commonly adopted for lessening increased action. The cases adduced by him, seem to establish, to a certain degree, the doctrine he advances; and its known efficacy in relieving the acute form of rheumatism, as well as the chronic, would, in some measure, seem to sanction the idea of its diminishing excitement." We have no hesitation in saying, that Mr. Haden was indebted to us for the knowledge of the powers of colchicum, in subduing inflammatory excitement, superseding in some degree the use of the lancet in inflammation of the chest, &c. &c.; and he is by no means entitled to the merit of the least originality in his practice, for this effect was known even to the antients, and is recorded in their writings. But we must now bring our critical remarks, produced by this interesting work, to a termination; not from the want of valuable materials for proceeding, but that we have already gone much too far, as regards our own limits. It is a work of such a nature, as precludes analysis; for every page teems with information. It is a truly English production, and must be as valuable to every English family as it is honourable to the industry and talents of its scientific author. PHARMACEUTICAL GUIDE.-This is the title of a little work that has lately appeared, which, if studied, will prove very useful amongst the members of the medical profession; and yet, strange to say, it does not relate to disease: it is nothing more or less than a medical grammar; and, like the attempts of the disciples of Terpsichore," to teach grown-up gentlemen to dance," instructs the medical practitioner in what he should have acquired whilst 66 a whining school-boy." We have often expressed our conviction, that a man may be both a good physician and surgeon, though he should not be an accomplished classic; but we must at the same time acknowledge, that an acquaintance with the latin language, adds to those advantages which facilitate his professional career through life. The progress of the medical art is considerably advanced, by the promulgation of individual knowledge; and the latin language, being the general medium through which men of science, of the various countries of Europe, communicate their opinions and experience, it furnishes a facility of increasing our stock of knowledge, by adding to it that of others. The works, too, of many of the antients, written in this language, have never assumed an English garb, and can therefore be consulted only by those conversant with this tongue; besides which, the customs and usage of our own times, renders some acquaintance with the latin language indispensible. The physician is required to write his prescription in latin; and the apothecary who prepares it, is expected to understand it. The bottles and gallipots even are labelled in latin; and the compounder must, at least, know the signification of each name. But yet it will be found, upon enquiry amongst medical men in general, that this language is cultivated by them to a very limited extent. cloistered recesses of "alma mater," have acquired a deep and It is true there are many, who, in the erudite acquaintance with classic lore; but it is equally true, that there is a much larger number but very sparingly stored with latinity; and there is a number, perhaps, more than equal to both, whose knowledge of the language incapacitates them from understanding more of a prescription than its technicalities, which is acquired as the child gets the contents of his horn-book, and distributed with the wisdom of a parrot. We were asked, a short time since, by a medical man, if a Latin sentence he was reading was French!! and yet this precious literary sprig has published a translation of a FRENCH book-doubtless, as much his own, as a late work which bears his name, and which we know to be the production of another person. His chemical and classical acquirements go hand in hand; and the Heidelberg University, in compliance with the application of some friend there, granted a diploma for a certain PRICE! But, to check our wanderings, and conclude our remarks, we must briefly observe, that the "Pharmaceutical Guide" is extremely well adapted to assist every professional man, whose study of latin has been neglected; and to the students at our various medical schools, it will, no doubt, be as invariable an attendant as the syllabus of their lectures. The arrangement is unexceptionable; the style clear and perspicuous; and the usual dryness of first elements is removed, by the interesting examples which every where are supplied, in illustration, from the Pharmacopoeia. In short, whilst it effects the purposes of a latin grammar, it acts as a key to the London Pharmacopoeia, by clear and scientific elucidations. MEDICAL SURGERY.-We have received a copy of a very useful little work, under the title of the "New Medico-Chirurgical Pharmacopoeia; or, Selection of Modern Formulæ from the Private and Hospital Practice of the most eminent Members of the Profession in Europe and America, for the use of Surgeons and SurgeonApothecaries." The first edition of this work was published about twenty years ago; and, we believe, was edited chiefly by the late Dr. Cheston, of Gloucester; and by the late Mr. Houlston, a surgeon of great experience and observation. It has been out of print nearly fifteen years, in consequence of the death of the editors. The author of this new edition has not only modernized the formulæ, but added about one hundred new ones, and also the different articles * Physicians are commanded to write their prescriptions, every word, at full length; and they subject themselves to a considerable fine for abbreviations. No. 78.] Medical Surgery. 167 and combinations of them which have lately been introduced into practice; for which he acknowledges himself to be indebted to Mr. Abernethy; Sir Astley Cooper; Mr. Allard, of the Bristol Infirmary; Dr. Cheston, of the Gloucester Infirmary; Mr. Cam, of the Hereford Infirmary; Mr. Carmichael, of Dublin; Mr. Cline; Mr. Hutchinson; Sir Charles Blicke; Sir James Earle; Sir William Blizard; and other eminent practitioners; and he might have added, not a little to the Editors of the Monthly Gazette of Health; an acknowledgment which he, no doubt, would have made, had he not been aware, that he should thereby have subjected his work to the censure, or rather misrepresentation, of a certain set of liberal reviewers, who have endeavoured to convince their weak readers, that the object of the Editors of the Gazette of Health is to diminish the confidence of the public in the art of medicine, and, consequently, ruin the guinea and draught trades. Although primitive medicine was chiefly surgical, medical surgery, or the constitutional treatment of surgical cases, has been most shamefully neglected by the moderns, till Mr. Abernethy published his work on the chylopoietic functions; probably, in consequence of having been, for some years, claimed by the physicians of Oxford and Cambridge, who modestly term themselves "regular physicians." A knowledge of surgery, these enlightened gentlemen consider to be so derogatory to their dignity, that the College of Physicians will not admit a candidate for a licence to an examination, if he be a member of the College of Surgeons; and many an applicant has been compelled to pay the College of Surgeons twelve pounds, to have his name erased from their list, (after having paid nearly thirty for the honour of having it put on,) in order to render him an eligible candidate for a licence, which, after all, allows him to exercise his art in common cases of disease; and this, this learned body say, is done to support the dignity of their members, if not for the good of the public!! The constitutional treatment of a surgical case, they contend, belongs to them; although they do not pretend to be acquainted with the distinguishing characters of ulcers, or of local diseases. Whether the local disease be syphilitic, scrofulous, or cancerous, is of no consequence; the medical management of the constitution must be superintended by a physician, as long as the patient is able to present him with the customary fee. A diffusion of a knowledge of medicine, within the last fifty years, has certainly not operated in favour of the humbug of medicine, or the fee trade. The public is no longer to be duped by regular or irregular quackery-even the lower classes are competent to form a just estimate of the qualifications of a physician, as any set of medical men; and the result is, that a preference is now generally given to those practitioners, who are acquainted with surgery and pharmacy. It is those physicians only, who are ignorant of surgery and chemistry, who rail against all attempts to acquaint the public with medicine, and who have the impudence to term such attempts quackery. Anatomy, chemistry, and surgery, form the basis of medicine; and the practitioner, who is unacquainted with either, is entitled to |