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Arr. XIV. ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
I. Pharmacologia ; comprehending the art of prescribing upon 
fixed and scientific Principles, together with the History of me- 
dicinal Substances. By J. A. Panis, M.D., F.R.S., &. 2 vols. 
8vo., 25s. boards. 5th edition. 
Tuts is a very entertaining, and, in some respects, instructive 
work; we shall, therefore, endeavour to draw an outline of its 
contents for the amusement and information of our general 
readers, recommending the perusal of the book itself to the 
medical profession. 
The motley assemblage of substances which, at different 
times, have been admitted into the Materia Medica, the ab- 
surdity of some, the disgusting and loathsome nature of others, 
their questionable activity and fluctuating reputation, are cir- 
cumstances which naturally excite us to inquire how it is that 
articles once highly esteemed should have sunk into disrepute ; 
that others of doubtful efficacy should haye maintained their 
ground ; andon what account materials of no energy whatever, 
have received the sanction of the wisest practitioners of differ- 
ent ages and times. ‘‘ Physic,” says a foreign writer, ‘‘ is the 
art of amusing the patient, while nature cures the disease,” 
and a glance at the heterogeneous absurdities of the Materia 
Medica would induce us to acquiese in this sarcasm, were it 
- not that a cool and dispassionate inquiry into the revolutions 
that have occurred in the opinions of mankind with respect to 
the curative powers of medicinal agents, furnishes materials, 
which, in a great measure, calm our apprehensions, and remove 
our prejudices. 
In reverting to the history of the Materia Medica, we shall, 
it is true, be struck with the inequality of its progress towards 
its present advanced state, as compared with other branches of 
scientific inquiry ; but we must remember how peculiarly ex- 
posed it is to superstition, caprice, and knavery, and how rarely 
those methods of research applicable to the mathematical and 
physical sciences, can be applied in the investigation of reme- 
dies, for every problem which involves the phenomena of life is 
embarrassed by such complicated circumstances as to set at 
defiance all ordinary means of appreciating their influence. 
Weare lost in conjecture and fable in attempting to fix the 
period when remedies were first employed for the alleviation of 
bodily suffering. In the most remote times, in the rudest 
states of society, and amidst uncultivated and savage tribes, 
medicine was cherished as a blessing, and practised as an art; 
the regulation and change of diet, and of habit, must have intui- 
