Dispensatory of the United States. 1 57 



that their chemistry is principally derived from Berzelius and The- 

 nard, and that they are familiar with the pharmaceutical skill of such 

 men as Pelletier, Robiquet, Caventou, Majendie, and others whose 

 industry and talents combined, have not been equalled in any part of 

 the globe. 



The following substances have been introduced into this Dispen- 

 satory, although not officinal in any British or American Pharmaco- 

 poecia. They are thus admitted on account of their growing impor- 

 and for other reasons that might be assigned ; viz. oxalic acid, anti- 

 mony, baryta, bassora gum, bromine, chloride of lime, carbon, ca- 

 hincja, copper, bean of St. Ignatius, iron, ginseng, phosphorus, lead, 

 potassium, salep, iodine, chloride of soda, &c. We are rather sur- 

 prised in not finding in this list chloric ether, or chlorated alcohol, 

 salicine, (incidentally mentioned, however, under salix,) ilicine, (from 

 Ilex aquifolium,) gelatine, much used in the French hospitals, (derived 

 from bones, and other articles which might be named ; but we are 

 more disposed to credit the authors for their actual additions, than to 

 censure them for their omissions. Their new Dispensatory, judging 

 from a comparison of it with others that we have looked at, is to be 

 taken entirely as a new composition, and as such it bears upon the face 

 of it evidences of that taste which can only spring from an habitual 

 and extensive acquaintance with the sciences, botanical, chemical, 

 and therapeutical, on which a work of this nature must necessarily 

 be based. 



Did our space admit of it we should assign to this volume a more 

 extensive analysis ; and we cannot well dismiss it without adverting 

 more fully to some of the articles which appear to contain the most 

 valuable original matter. Under the head Acidam Jlrseniosum to 

 which the authors have devoted eight pages, the reader will find a 

 luminous statement of the chemical and medical history of this sub- 

 stance, in which is cited the experience of some of the highest medi- 

 cal authorities in this country. We insert the following extract as 

 characteristic of the style and manner of the work. 



" Medical properties. — The preparations of arsenic have been used 

 both internally and externally. Internally their action is alterative 

 and febrifuge ; externally, for the most part, violently irritant. They 

 have been considered as peculiarly applicable to the treatment of 

 diseases of a periodical character. In commencing with their exhi- 

 bition, the dose should at first be small, and afterwards gradually in- 

 creased, its operation being carefully watched. When the specific 



