366 Analysis of Scientific Books. 
a fermenting vat, nor a stew-pan, but it isa stomach, Gentlemen, 
astomach.” This anecdote we take from Sir Gilbert Blane’s 
“« Medical Logic ;” a work from which we have derived much 
pleasing information ; and which we are happy in this opportu- 
nity of recommending, not merely to the attentive perusal of 
the junior branches of the profession, but to all who are inte- 
rested in medical literature. 
After some remarks on the influence of culture and climate 
upon the energies of medicinal plants, upon the adulteration of 
medicines, and upon the unseasonable collection of vegetable 
remedies, Dr. Paris concludes his “ Historical Introduc- 
tion,” with a section “on the obscurity which has attended 
the operation of compound medicines.” It is, of course, diffi- 
cult, and often impossible, to ascertain to which ingredient of a 
very compound remedy the effects produced ought to be attri- 
buted; and it has frequently happened that inert and frivolous 
substances have thus gained a share of credit exclusively due to 
their associates. The chemical agencies of bodies must here 
also be taken into the account; for among mineral substances 
especially, active remedies may thus become inert, and inactive 
substances may give rise to the formation of very active and 
formidable compounds. 
In the second division of his first volume, Dr. Paris proceeds 
to a review of the operations of medicinal bodies, and of the 
classifications founded on them. He defines medicinal substances 
to be “ those bodies which by due administration are capable 
of producing certain changes in the condition of the living sys- 
tem, whereby its morbid actions may be entirely removed, or ad- 
vantageously controlled.” The arrangement of these substances 
which our author adopts is that of the late Dr. Murray, of 
Edinburgh, as set forth in his “‘ System of Materia Medica, and 
Pharmacy;” and in his observations upon them we perceive 
nothing sufficiently original or important to require particular 
notice ; we, therefore, pass on to the third and last of these 
preliminary essays, ‘ on the theory and art of prescribing.” 
The importance of mixing and combining medical substances, 
and the increased efficacy which is thus often conferred upon 
them, was known to, and appreciated by, the physicians of re- 
mote ages ; and lately the theory of these combinations, and 
the best, safest, and surest, modes of effecting them, have been 
diligently investigated, and form a prominent feature in the 
prescriptions of the pharmacopeeia, and in the extemporaneous 
recipes of medical practitioners. Dr. Paris, therefore, some- 
what surprises us when he talks of this inquiry as an unex- 
plored field of research. Its high importance, and the care- 
lessness with which it is usually pursued by hospital pupils, 
justify the space and attention given to it in the work before us, 
but we doubt whether the experienced practitioner will derive 
