496 



PHARMACOGRAPHIA. 



1874-. case of certain drugs are occasionally found in commerce, 

 H B~Brady. though scarcely to be regarded in the light of adulterants. 



" The medicinal uses of each particular drug are only slightly 

 mentioned, it being felt that the science of therapeutics lies 

 within the province of the physician, and may be wisely 

 relinquished to his care." 



The reader must not judge the preface by the disconnected 

 sentences which have been quoted to serve a particular purpose. 

 Only sufficient has been copied to explain briefly, and as far as 

 possible in the author's own terms, the general scheme of their 

 work. 



The plan, as will be seen, is one of great comprehensiveness, 

 and the execution throughout is of characteristic thoroughness. 

 A single article taken at random from the book would be better 

 evidence than any criticism, of the exhaustive character of the 

 treatment; but unfortunately considerations of space preclude 

 anything more than a few general remarks suggested by a first 

 perusal. 



The investigation of the botanical origin of drugs is one 

 which Mr. Hanbury has made his own, and few writers have 

 set at rest so many debated questions in this division of the 

 subject. Completeness and accuracy of the information now 

 collected is exactly what might have been expected. The stu- 

 dent who knows only the British Pharmacopoeia will find much 

 to learn, and something to unlearn, concerning the origin of 

 many common medicinal substances. In some cases the correc- 

 tions necessary arise merely out of questions of priority in 

 botanical nomenclature, but in others the errors are founded on 

 the wrong identification of the plants. For instance, Jateorhiza 

 palmata, Miers, is the name accepted, for reasons given in the 

 text, for the plant yielding calumba root, rather than the alter- 

 native specific terms of the Pharmacopoeias. Oil of cajuput is 

 assigned to Melaleuca leucadendron; L., whilst in the British 

 Pharmacopoeia and the Paris Codex it is referred to M. minor, 

 D.C., and in that of the United States to M. cajuputi, Roxb. 

 Suinbul root, the botanical history of which in our Pharma- 

 copoeia is stated to be unknown, appears as the product of 







