REVIEWS. 
389 
disposal were obliged to be content with such an amount of information as they could 
reasonably hope to acquire, and such as would most assist them in their daily occupa¬ 
tions. Bearing this in mind, I have reduced the large work to about one-third ol its 
size, without, I trust, diminishing—may I venture to hope with some increase ot—its 
general utility. This, however, could not be done without strictly adhering to the toi- 
iowmgrules » t ^ remedial agentgj except those which the author termed pharmacological, 
such as mental, physical but imponderable, and hygienic remedies, or, to be more 
specific, the influence of the mind, of light, heat, electricity, food, exercise, climate, etc. 
“2. To omit all pharmacological remedies which are not officinal, or contained in the 
British Pharmacopoeia. , „ , , 
“3. To omit all classification of medicines, except the two classifications which the 
author himself adopted: one founded on the chemical classification of the inorganic 
bodies, and on the botanical and zoological classifications of the plants and animals 
which yield the organic bodies; the other founded on their physiological effects. ±hese 
rules could not be carried out without excluding much valuable matter; but it appeared 
to me the wisest course to act like a judicious horticulturist who, in reducing a tree to 
the necessary limits, removes the too luxuriant branches, rather than prune too closely 
those which bear the most valuable fruit. I have also somewhat abridged the botanical 
and zoological characters, and even in many cases the descriptions of the drugs them¬ 
selves, important as the latter are, in order to avoid all unnecessary repetition. In doing 
this, I have sometimes made the author’s descriptions appear more scanty and incom¬ 
plete than he left them. My reason, however, is easily explained The British Pha - 
macopoeia contains, in addition to the names and definition of articles qf the Materia 
Medica, short descriptive characters and tests. These are frequently original, but ha o 
frequently also been taken from standard works on Materia Medica, and from none mor 
largely than from the author’s. When his remarks have thus been made to contribute 
to form the ‘ officinal character ,’ they have not been repeated in the subsequent de¬ 
scription: In selecting the most important parts of the work, I have expenenced another 
difficulty. There are some opinions expressed—for example, on the subject of bleeding 
—which will hardly find acceptance at the present time, and which the author, if living, 
would probably himself have modified. But the present opinions and practice aie still 
recent, and may in their turn yield to further experience I have therefore avoided as 
far as I could, interfering with the opinions expressed by the author, while I Inae not 
hesitated to alter whatever was decidedly erroneous. On the other hand, altnough 
my chief object has been to prepare a smaller work, by excluding the least important 
parts of the ‘Elements,’ much new matter has, at the same time, been introduced into 
the abridgment, in order that it may represent more correctly the present state of our 
knowledge. The new matter is occasionally indicated by (Ed.), but 
it is introduced without notice. The Physiological Classification of } 
removed from the situation where the author place<3- it to thee end of the 5 
that it would be better understood after some knowledge had been acquired of the mui 
Yi TheSrwafassisted in his labours by Professor Bentley and Mr. Warington, who 
"remains to ™ f" I have -eived from Pro- 
fessor Bentley and Mr. Warington. The former has assisted me chiefly m the de 
scription of the organic bodies, and of the plants and animals which produce them; the 
latter chiefly in toe inorganic bodies. The extensive knowledge of these genUemeu m 
their respective departments has greatly contributed to the accuracy of the wor . 
tZSSf the extent o g f abridgment which h«.taken■ 
articles on Mercury Cinchona, and Opium: the former m Pereiras Element., extei le 
over seventy-five pages, in the present Manual it occupies about sixteen pages; Cinchona 
is reduced from eighty-two pages to twenty-one pages; and Opium from seventy-three 
pagesto^ tX-two Pages P ft should be' mentioned however, that the pages m the 
present edition contain somewhat more matter than m the formerwoih , 
1 Speaking of the adulteration of scammony, the Editor makes the following obser 
“In short, scammony used to be adulterated to the extent of 30, 50, a n< * ^ ^^ 
cent., to enable it to be sold in the market at a corresponding price. But the elicits and 
