Pharmacology 55 



was noticeably raised, and a good number in which 

 it was lowered." 1 



"How is pharmacology to differentiate between 

 acute and chronic disease therapy? An organ may 

 be functionally active and yet be the seat of organic 

 disease. What guidance can pharmacology give 

 us here? Suppose a dozen cardiac remedies are 

 taken at random, pharmacology tells us which ones 

 are in the digitalis group, which ones may be dan- 

 gerously toxic, and which ones are inert so far as 

 their cardiac actions are concerned. In other 

 words, we no longer need to experiment empirically 

 for years to determine if a given drug is promising 

 or is not. Here pharmacology is a wonderful help. 

 Most of our modern therapeutics is based upon 

 pharmacology, just as modern floriculture is based 

 upon botany; but the pharmacologist may not be 

 a therapeutist, or the botanist a florist. But the 

 therapeutist who knows his pharmacology pro- 

 ceeds with his eyes open and he gets results be- 

 cause he knows better than to try to get them 

 where they are impossible, and the florist who 

 knows his botany saves himself a world of useless 

 experimenting. 



"It takes a lot of experience to make a com- 

 mercial florist of a botanist, and a world of it to 

 make a therapeutist of a pharmacologist." 2 



But our especial interest here relates to the 

 botanic drugs. Is pharmacology robbing us of them? 

 Yes and no. Pharmacologic study has extended 

 to many botanic drugs, crediting some and dis- 

 crediting others; and it is robbing us of many 



1 "Diseases of the Heart," thiid edition, by James Mackenzie. 

 'From an editorial in The Medical Council, January, 1916. 



