[6] 



(too oft slurred over and sneered at as becoming altogether 

 too big for the lazy professional organ-grinder)— it was this 

 keeping well informed in contemporaneous literature, ability 

 to prove novelties understanding^, that gave, him so great 

 advantage, especially in difficult, intricate, and obscure 

 cases. Through him the medical and thermacutical profes- 

 sions of the Pacific were first made acquainted with the 

 mode of preparation and therapeutic effects of Mentel's 

 Alwminated Solution, Pravoy's Solution of Perchloride of 

 Iron, and the invaluable styptic, Monrels Salt and the 

 Syrup of Superphosphate of Iron and its combinations ; 

 Liquid Propylamin, an antidote to rheumatism of the acute 

 type; Liquid Rennet, or Pepsine Wine, for gastralgia, etc., 

 etc. , together with numerous valuable medicaments which 

 time and space forbid mention. 



Dr. Trask, it should specially be observed, was among 

 the first who paid early attention to the medical flora of the 

 Pacific. Braving professional flings of " grannyism," and 

 a thousand whisperings of craven contempt and snobbish 

 fogyism and obloquy, yet he pursued the even tenor of his 

 way, loving' truth even better than lucre and tinsel popu- I 

 larity. Among the plants the virtues of which he was either 

 discoverer or made duly known to the professional world, 

 may be mentioned — Yerba Santa (Eriodychon), for rheu- 

 matism, gout, neuralgia, etc.; Damiana, a nerve tonic and 

 aphrodasiac ; Grindelia robusta, for oak or rhus poisoning, 

 and as an asthmatic in certain cases; even the cosmopolitan 

 Yarroic (Achillasa millifolium) in his hands proved a most 

 efficient emmenagogae ; Canchelagua {Erythrasa of this 

 coast), a bitter tonic and anti-febrile; Aspidium arguium 

 root (Kidney Fern), as an antidote for the tape-worm; 

 (although our estimable and very learned friend, Dr. Behr, 



