708 
THE COMPOSITION OF CHLORODYNE. 
careful analyst might fail to find atropia ?” For have I not most distinctly ad¬ 
mitted the possibility ? while, in his own quotation above, he has himself 
referred to, and commented upon, this admission. And, finally, why does he go 
out of his way to cavil at the epithet ‘ painstaking,’ as applied to Mr. Smith’s 
analysis,—an epithet purposely selected on account of its neutral tone,—as 
though painstaking did not already imply both “ reality” and “ conscientious¬ 
ness ?” 
7th. If ‘Another Provincial’ had read, as carefully as an intending critic 
should have read, the two papers which he professes to review, he would have 
seen that the incidence of my remarks touched neither the makers, nor the sellers, 
nor even the takers of chlorodyne, as he is pleased to suggest, but its pre¬ 
servers. And, if he is really of opinion that there are not numerous practi¬ 
tioners who would be “ easily deluded by a happily-chosen name,” etc., I can 
only say that, either he must be a much younger man, or he has been much more 
fortunate in his experiences, than myself. 
Naturally, I regret that by so accomplished a critic I should be thought to 
have failed in my aim “ to set chlorodyne on its right footing,” etc. ; and I am 
equally sorry that my writing is too “ tall” to suit his Procrustean taste,—though 
it is a little remarkable to see such an opinion conveyed in language so elevated. 
But surely he exaggerates the proportions of the whole affair, when he can 
apply such an epithet as “ boasting ” to so small a matter as the exposure of 
these medicinal pretensions. 
Deducting two-thirds of the paper which has just been examined, which two- 
thirds are devoted to the negative business of strictures—mostly misdirected— 
upon my two articles, the only positive deductions to be gathered from the re¬ 
mainder are contained in the second section ; wherein ‘ Another Provincial ’ 
not only maintains the opinion that Dr. C. Browne’s chlorodyne contains an 
operative proportion of belladonna, but, further, goes beyond all precedent in 
saying that we should perhaps rather ascribe its efficacy to belladonna modified 
by morphia, than to morphia modified by belladonna,—a proposition that may 
safely be left to dispose of itself. As to the tobacco which he suggests in a note, 
and which Dr. Dowse glanced at incidentally as a possible alternative to Indian 
hemp, it is altogether too hypothetical for serious notice. 
Quite apart from the fact whether Dr. Browne’s chlorodyne does or does not 
contain belladonna, his remarks on the balance of the effects of active medicines, 
when exhibited jointly, are interesting, ably stated, and highly probable. Why, 
indeed, should there not be the same kind of composition and resolution of me¬ 
dicinal, as of physical forces ? In fact, the tendency of present investigations 
is setting strongly in the direction of proof of this hypothesis. 
I gather, then, that he is of opinion that Dr. Browne’s chlorodyne contains 
nearly or quite sufficient belladonna to balance and react upon the quantity of 
morphia ; i. e., according to his note, a quantity equal to about a twelfth of a 
grain of sulphate of atropia to the ounce. I gather, secondly, that he considers 
that the mean effects of this compound of atropia and morphia are further mo¬ 
dified by (tobacco), chloroform, and prussic acid. And though he gives us no 
reason whatever for these two opinions—not so much as even a solitary case— 
beyond the fact that he has long held them, and that the case reported by Dr. 
Dowse seemed to coincide with them, still, as he means them as a contribution 
towards the elucidation of the subject, we will accept the will for the deed, the 
intention for the performance, and thank him accordingly. 
For the rest, I incline to think that our mutual readers wiil be of opinion 
that, after having essayed to pull down all that had been set up, and having 
himself built up nothing, ‘Another Provincial’ has left the question much 
where he found it. 
