504 
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OP ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM. 
tion of the medical authorities in St. Petersburg. The responsibility of a 
manager rests in the observance of the following duties:—■ 
1. Keeping a stock of all drugs fixed by the Medical Board in St. Petersburg. 
2. Dispensing nothing but by the prescription of a medical man. 
3. Keeping books (as prescription-book, cash-book, etc.) confirmed and regis¬ 
tered by the Medical Police. 
4. Filing and keeping the original prescriptions for a period of not less than 
three years. 
5. Charging for medicine according to the Medical Tax-book. 
6. Keeping only Patent Medicines which have been analysed and approved by 
the Medical Board of St. Petersburg. 
Every “ Pharmacy” receives once a year an unexpected visit of the members 
of the Committee of the Medical Police. 
The Pharmaceute, as well as the medical man, is exempt from all civil duties, 
taxations, and enjoys many privileges. 
This system works very well, and though it is perhaps impossible to introduce 
it into this country, something might be done approaching it. 
After a careful reading of the pamphlet, ‘ The Pharmaceutical Society of 
Great Britain,’ published by the Society in 1863, I come to the conviction that, 
with a few alterations in the system carried on by the Society, and with an ad¬ 
ditional Pharmacy Act, authorizing the sale of drugs , or the dispensing of pre¬ 
scriptions by those only who have passed with efficiency the u Major Examina¬ 
tion ,” incalculable benefit would be afforded to the public. There would be a 
better knowledge of the profession, and the public would have greater means of 
safety in a most important matter of every-day life. 
Should such improvements be introduced, there is little doubt the majority of 
the medical profession would willingly give up the practice of selling drugs, or 
preparing prescriptions for their patients. And should this unjust practice not 
be discontinued, it might be enforced by Act of Parliament. 
At all events, the time has come when the medical and pharmaceutical pro¬ 
fessions, as well as the public, see the necessity that something must be done ; 
and if it must be done, the sooner the better. Ch. W. 
Manchester. 
NOTE ON THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF ACHILLEA 
MILLEFOLIUM , LINN.—YARROW, MILFOIL. 
BY E. J. WARING, ESQ., F.L.S., 
Her Majesty's Indian Medical Service. 
This plant, which is common in most parts of Europe, is supposed to be one of 
the kinds of millefolium , or myriophyllon , of Pliny.* It has also become tho¬ 
roughly naturalized in the northern and middle States of North America, where, 
according to Griffith,! it is endowed with more active qualities than the European- 
grown plant. All parts of the herb possess an agreeable smell, and a bitter aro¬ 
matic and slightly astringent taste ; the aromatic qualities being most marked 
in the flowers, and the astringent and bitter qualities in the leaves and root. The 
leaves analysed by SprengelJ were found to contain water, 85 ; substances soluble 
in water, 5’9 ; substances soluble in caustic potash, 2-7 ; wax, resin, and chloro¬ 
phyll, 0-28; and lignin, 5-9 = 100. According to the researches of Zanon,§ the 
herb contains a bitter principle, Achilleine , and a peculiar acid, which he has 
denominated Achilleic Acid. By distillation it yields an essential oil (Oleum 
millefolii ethereum, or AEtheroleum millefolii). 
* Hist. Nat. lib. xxiv. cap. 95. t Medical Botany, p. 403. 
X Arch, et Viol. Diet, des Cliim. Anal. i. p. 9. § Liebig, Annalen, lib. viii. p. 21, 1847. 
