July 30, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
99 
at the top of their voices,” or by “ drunken rollickers, who 
choose to sing and halloo up and down our streets and 
squares.” The ‘ Times,’ in considering’the necessity en¬ 
tailed upon us by the spirit of the age, to move on, not 
only at the expense, hut at the taxation of our nervous 
energy, demands on the part of the brain-fagged and 
overworked, that measures should he adopted to allow 
exhausted nature, at least, the quantum of sleep upon 
which she may recover herself; and points out how 
much might he done by the police towards preserving to 
the hours of night the stillness which is their portion, 
and to the Londoner, whether he he overworked or not, 
the opportunity of the undisturbed rest to which, at 
least, he is entitled. Emphasizing the opinion that 
public support and encouragement would he given to 
well-directed efforts of the police, if they would engage 
in the cause,—we may add, that any agency that would 
preserve to us the divine nepenthe, against which so per¬ 
petual a war is urged in London, is earnestly to he de¬ 
sired. It, at least, would save a frequent disturbance of 
our equanimity, which alas, hut increases the waste of 
our vis vita, and robs the candle of life of that brilliancy 
with which it should burn, in compliment to the neces¬ 
sity imposed upon it to burn quickly. 
We wish Dr. Dobell’s book all success. 
The Unity of Medicine : its Corruptions and Divi¬ 
sions by Law established in England and Wales ; their 
Causes, Effects, and Remedy. By Frederick Davies, 
M.D., etc. Second Edition. London: Churchill and 
Sons. 
Dr. Davies’ treatise reappears opportunely, when an¬ 
other effort is being made to erect a higher and more 
uniform standard of admission into the ranks of medi¬ 
cine. He gives a rapid history of the healing art from 
the earliest to the latest times, and endeavours to indi¬ 
cate the critical epochs when medicine became corrupted, 
as a profession, by the influx of extraneous elements and 
interests. The union of the physician and apothecary in 
one person—a result which was brought about towards 
the end of the seventeenth century—completely destroyed 
the distinctive character of either office. The apothe¬ 
cary in England and Wales was entitled to visit and 
prescribe, as well as compound and sell the medicine he 
had prescribed, provided only that he received no fee. 
He was thus tempted, says Dr. Davies, to “ measure his 
own worth and his patient’s means, in the price and the 
quantity of medicine he could persuade him to take.” 
From this ill-assorted union of two distinct branches of 
the healing art have sprung most of the abuses against 
which medical legislation is now contending; and Dr. 
Davies sees no remedy for them, but a strict separation of 
the calling of the apothecary from that of the physician. 
“ It is impossible,” says he, “ that the great mass of our 
profession can pretend in one short life to do the work 
of two;” therefore, let “the part so abnormally united 
to the physicians’ office,—which has never flourished in 
their hands, which was never sanctioned • by any other 
age or state,—be consigned to those so well prepared to 
receive it, with honour to themselves and the profession, 
and with advantage to all.” The rapid progress in the 
efficiency of the pharmacist—a progress attained by the 
more exacting examinations to which he is subjected— 
enables the physician to delegate, with increased confi¬ 
dence, the duty of preparing and dispensing drugs to 
its appropriate hands; while, relieved of work for which 
he was but partially fitted by training, he will have more 
time to devote to his already onerous vocation. This re¬ 
form has been advocated by many recent writers on pro¬ 
fessional education, among others, by Mr. Huxley, who 
is quite in favour of dividing pharmacy from medicine, 
and constituting the votaries of the former into a distinct 
and honourably recognized and rewarded profession. 
Dr. Davies’ work supplies many cogent arguments, 
drawn from history and practical experience, for the ac¬ 
celeration of this reform ; and, even the reader, who has 
little personal interest in it, will find himself strongly 
attached to the reforming- party by the force and occa¬ 
sional eloquence of the author’s advocacy. 
Eczema : its Nature and Treatment, and, incident¬ 
ally, the Influence of Constitutional Conditions 
on Skin Diseases. Being the Lettsomian Lectures 
for the Session 1869-70. By Tilbury Fox, M.D. 
Lond. London: Renshaw. Pp. 68. 
In three lectures, written with the fluency of the 
journalist rather than the finish of the man of letters, 
Dr. Tilbury Fox runs over the main features of the 
most typical of skin diseases. His views are not so 
much those of the original investigator as of the prac¬ 
tised compiler—a compiler, however, who has seen 
enough for himself to assume the attidude of an eclectic. 
He retains all that is good in Willan, and rejects all that 
is unsound in Yon Hebra’s supplement to that otherwise 
sagacious observer; while he keeps firm hold of the one 
true guide to the nature and development of the disease, 
to wit, “perverted innervation.” Appropriately, there¬ 
fore, he would have recourse to tonics and alteratives in 
treatment, while he aspires to head that “ conservative 
reaction” in favour of drugs, as against the too sweeping 
scepticism that has followed their misuse. 
There are, in fact, no diseases which make heavier 
demands on the pharmacopoeia than those of the skin ; 
and Dr. Tilbury Fox does good service by laying down 
such prescriptions as will convert the practitioner from 
an unwitting ally into an intelligent combatant of their 
symptoms. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Report on the Quality of the Kerosene Oil sold 
in the Metropolitan District (New York). By 
C. F. Chandler, Ph.D. 
Reports on the Quality of the Milk Supply of the 
Metropolitan District (New York). By C. F. 
Chandler, Ph.D. 
Attempted Poisoning by Laudanum, —A singu¬ 
lar case is described by Dr. Dobbie, of Glasgow, in the 
‘ British Medical Journal’ of July 9th, of a lady who had 
been insane, and was then labouring under the same 
disease, having swallowed two ounces of laudanum. 
The poison was retained for two hours and a half, when 
she became sick: the vomiting was encouraged by the 
administration of mustard and water, and the patient 
was quite well the next morning. The case is remark¬ 
able, in that so large a quantity of laudanum was taken 
on an empty stomach, and by a person unaccustomed to 
its use, without producing any deleterious effect. 
Haemostatic Collodion. —The following formula is 
given by Dr. Pavesi ( ; Union Medicale ’):— 
Collodion, officinal, 100 parts. 
Phenic Acid, 10 parts. 
Tannic Acid, 
Benzoic Acid, of each 5 parts. 
Mix, by shaking. 
Explosion of Nitro-Glycerine. —The American 
papers report a terrible explosion of nitro-glycerine, which 
occurred in a luggage van in Massachusetts, June 23rd, 
by which one man was killed, and about thirty injured; 
also property to the amount of 150,000 dollars was de¬ 
stroyed. Fortunately the train to which the van was 
attached carried no passengers. The effects of the ex¬ 
plosion are graphically described, the buildings in the 
neighbourhood having been destroyed, and portions of 
the carriages blown to a great distance. 
