I lO 
examined chemically, and when a book of reference^) embracing the 
whole of our knowledge on this subject is available, in which not only 
the chemist, but also the physician can readily find his way, we may 
perhaps venture, without exciting the displeasure of the theorists, to 
enquire in which groups of pharmaco - therapeutics aethereo - oleosa are 
still frequently made use of by non-antiquated practitioners. A summary 
of all individual remedies and actions is here naturally not contemplated; 
I would rather refer the reader once and for all to my detailed "Text- 
book of Pharmaco-therapeutics" 2), or my equally detailed "Text-book 
of Intoxications"^). 
2. Group of Odour- Corrigents. 
In this group, so extremely important for the practice of our daily 
life, an enormous change has occurred in the course of half a century 
in the respect that the manufacture of the perfumes for diseased and 
healthy persons is no longer carried on in chemists' shops according 
to recipes by physicians, but on the contrary takes place in special 
factories, in an absolutely ideal and perfect manner, with the help of 
all conceivable auxiliaries. Although we physicians may preach ten 
times "mulieres bene olent, si nihil olent", the weaker sex will continue 
to buy perfumes and to enjoy them. We must be content if only 
poisonous substances are not allowed to be added to these mixtures. But 
we will never consent to the so-called improvement of the air in the 
sick-room by fumigating powders and fumigating essences; on the 
contrary, we will make it clear to the rising generation, with our utmost 
energy, that constant renewal of air is the best odour-corrigent 
of the sick-room. In the same manner, patients who suffer from bad- 
smelling breath should not go to perfumery shops, but to the dentist, 
or to the specialist for the nose or the lungs. Even for healthy 
persons, perfumes are only admissible in homoeopathically minute doses. 
Only quite recently a report passed through the daily press that the Empress 
of Russia used yearly many thousands of roubles' worth of odeur de 
violette, essences of jonquil, tuberose, elder, jasmine, and narcissus, of 
which such large quantities were sprayed each day in her rooms that 
her maids of honour "not unfrequently became unwell, and had to be 
taken out into the fresh air". If this paragraph should be true, we 
could only shake our head and wonder that Her Majesty's physician 
^) The Volatile Oils, by E. Gildemeister and Fr. Hoffmann. Written 
under the auspices of Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig. Authorized translation 
by Edward Kremers. Milwaukee, Pharm. Review Publ. Co. 1900, 733 pp. with 
4 maps and numerous illustrations. 
^) Stuttgart, published by F. Enke, 1898. 
^) Stuttgart, published by F. Enke, 1893. Second Edition (Part One) 1902. 
