706 
ORIGINAL AND EXTRACTED ARTICLES. 
THE COMPOSITION OF CHLORODYNE. 
BY A PROVINCIAL. 
A Brother ‘ Provincial ’ is obliging enough to take me to task for -what I 
have had to say concerning chlorodyne, my remarks and conclusions respecting 
which, I regret to find, seem both to dissatisfy and displease him. But, before 
proceeding to notice his strictures, I would remind him that when he takes upon 
himself the office of critic, the least we have a right to expect of him is that he 
shall be accurate ; and that he shall neither misstate the language nor misre¬ 
present the meaning of his principal. And if, in this instance, I am unable to 
compliment him upon his critical candour, it is because he appears to have 
trusted too much to his memory, and to have written without having before him 
the papers upon which he professes to comment. For I will not suppose that 
the series of errors and misrepresentations which I shall have to point out are 
other than unintentional,—the result of haste and oversight. In penning this 
paper, my talented friend forgot one thing, and, forgetting that, forgot to be 
careful. He forgot that, though his paper constitutes a reply, after a reply 
comes the rejoinder. Had he remembered this, I think he would not have laid 
himself open to the animadversions which, in justice to myself, and in the in¬ 
terest of the subject, I shall be compelled to pass upon his critique, the reading 
of which forcibly recalled to my recollection the celebrated suit of Peebles v. 
Plainstanes, when counsellor Tough arose to undo all that previously had been 
done, and to envelope in renewed obscurity and uncertainty a subject which at 
least had approached, even if it had not fully arrived at, a state of eclaircisse- 
ment. 
“ A word spoken in due season, how good it is!” an apothegm which makes 
us regret that 4 Another Provincial ’ had not thought it worth while, in 
response to my September invitation, to communicate his information and ideas 
respecting chlorodyne while the whole matter was still sub jiidice, and when his 
abilities, instead of being wasted in mere fault-finding, might have helped to 
promote a settlement of the question. Instead of which, he has waited, until 
five months having elapsed, and no more witnesses having come forward, the 
case, in default of further evidence, had been summed up, and judgment pro¬ 
nounced. Not that I question for a moment his fullest right to reopen it; but 
it would have been more gracious, as well as more convenient, if his first 
appearance had been put in at an earlier stage of the controversy. 
Or, is it that my brother holds a brief for the defence? Many considera¬ 
tions should acquit him of the supposition ; but there is so much that is like 
special pleading in his paper,—he so misrepresents and twists what I have said, 
—that one can scarcely help regarding him in the light of an advocate rather 
than in that of a disinterested inquirer. This is the more to be regretted, be¬ 
cause he possesses such undeniable ability, displays so much vigour, and is so 
capable of arguing a good cause on its merits, that when we see him resorting 
to means so unworthy of his talents, practising, in effect, the maxim 44 no case; 
abuse plaintiff’s attorney,” we are compelled to believe that he feels that he 
really has no case. 
I proceed to correct, seriatim , some of the inaccuracies to which I have re¬ 
ferred. 
1st. 4 Another Provincial ? commences his paper by observing that I “ com¬ 
plain that few chemists have noticed my statements about chlorodyne.” I 
have said nothing of the kind,—nothing half so arrogant. If he will take the 
