THE JOURNAL, OF PHARMACOLOGY. 247 



be ashamed of inculcating the utihty of some famiharity at least with 

 the pages of the "British Pharmacopeia," which it is the fashion of 

 some to despise or decry. 



Thanks to the labors of physiologists and pharmacologists on the 

 one hand, and of organic chemists on the other hand, it is now possible, 

 and even comparatively easy, to give an interesting and practically use- 

 ful course of lectures on materia medica and therapeutics to medical 

 students, but not earlier than their third year. 1 venture to affirm that 

 it is entirely the fault of the lecturer, and not of his subject, if he does 

 not succeed in quickening the dry bones of Materia Medica, and in 

 awakening and maintaining the lively attention of his class. 



With a little thought and trouble numerous simple experiments, 

 chiefly chemical, can be shown in illustration of the more important 

 physiological and therapeutical properties of drugs. Take, for ex- 

 ample, antipyretics and their modes of action, or the local action of 

 astringents and caustics, experimentally illustrated by the reactions of 

 various acids and metallic salts upon solution of albumen ; or, again, 

 take the group of "aromatic compounds" where it is possible to give a 

 brief but comprehensive survey of the general chemical and physio- 

 logical relations of the subdivisions of tliis great group — viz., hydro- 

 carbons, phenolic compounds, acids, and nitrogen derivatives (alkaloids, 



etc.). 



And in this aromatic group, which includes the antipyretic drugs, 

 there is abundant opportunity for drawing attention to many interesting 

 points in illustration of the connection between physiological action and 

 chemical constitution. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION. 



Since the properties and motions of molecules which determine phy- 

 sical properties depend upon the motions and properties of atoms which 

 determine chemical reactions, the same common laws must govern both 

 physical and chemical phenomena. 



And no one can doubt that the properties of the most complex 

 compounds depend upon and are intimately correlated with the proper- 

 ties and configurations of the atoms and molecules of which the aggre- 

 gates are built up. 



This fascinating subject, which received its impetus in Great Britain 

 from the labors of Crum Brown and Fraser, has not escaped the atten - 

 tion of former speakers at meetings of this Association, for, at the 

 Brighton meeting of 1896, Sir T. Lauder Brunton delivered an attrac- 

 tive address on the connection between chemical constitution and phy- 

 siological action, and Sir W. Broadbent upon more than one occasicm 



