July I, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
10 
for the year 1868,* * we learn however from Mr. Bowra, 
the Acting Commissioner of Customs, that this drug is 
an esteemed remedy in rheumatism, and that it is ex¬ 
ported from Ningpo to the value of about £26,000 
annually. 
Concerning Arrowroot, our author remarks—“The or- 
* l dinary native farina called by this generic name 
“ amongst foreigners, is made by grating the root of the 
“ Lotus or Nelumbium speciosum , grinding it to a coarse 
■“powder, and levigating it in the ordinary way. . . . 
“ The product is a reddish-white, glistening, unctuous 
■“powder, making a very tenacious jelly of a dark colour. 
“ It answers all the purposes of the best arrowroot, and 
■“is of great value in the treatment of diarrhoea and 
“dysentery ”—but he adds that it is so frequently adul¬ 
terated with “leguminous farina,” that most families 
•endeavour to make it for themselves. No starch appears 
to be extracted from Sagittaria.f 
It would have added much to the scientific value and 
interest of Dr. Porter Smith’s work had his statements 
been a little more personal . One is constantly tempted 
to ask—How did you make out this ? As an example,— 
Common camphor our author asserts is produced in the 
provinces of Fuhkien and Canton. But on what evi¬ 
dence was this determined P The official Reports on 
Trade published by the Inspector General of Customs]; 
show no camphor as shipped from any one of the twelve 
Treaty Ports of Continental China, but only from the 
island of Formosa. Dr. Smith then adds that Romeo 
Camphor “ is said to come from Chang chau fu in Fuh- 
“kien, and the tree yielding it, the JDryobalanops Cam- 
il phora , is described as growing in Canton province.” 
We need hardly say that such statements as these are 
loose and vague, and quite unworthy an important book 
of reference. 
The assertion that the rhizomes of Iris Florentina, (a 
plant not known to exist eastward of the Mediterranean 
region) “are met with all over China,” and a similar 
remark regarding Oxalis Acetosclla indicate a want of 
exactness in discriminating drugs and plants that is cal¬ 
culated to impair confidence in other statements. 
We must also raise a protest against the omission of au¬ 
thorities for botanical names which are thus involved in 
considerable doubt. What plants are Agave chinensis , Smi- 
lax chinensis , Amomum amarum , or Salvia multiorhiza ? 
But even with the defects which -we have thought it 
right to notice and which we trust the author will avoid 
in a future edition, we gladly admit that Dr. Smith’s 
Contributions contain a large amount of interesting and 
useful matter which it must have required no small 
amount of diligence to collect and arrange. The book 
is superior to Debeaux’s Essai sur la Pharmacia ct la Ma¬ 
ture Medicate des Chinois (Paris, I 860 ) in that it gives 
the Chinese characters as well as their sounds expressed 
in Roman letters, and is besides far more copious. It 
promises also to be of considerable utility to young 
Chinese who may study European medicine. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Pisciculture dans l’Am^rique du Nord. Par M. J. 
L£on Soubeiran. From the Author. 
Storia della Farmacia e dei Farmacisti APPO I 
Principali Popoli del Hondo. Per Frederigo 
Kernot. Naples. 1871. From the Author. 
* Reports on Trade at the Treaty Ports in China for the 
Hear 1868, Shanghai, 1869. P. 61. 
f Some continental authors, puzzled to explain the origin 
of the English word arrowroot, have adopted the notion that 
it may be, or once was, derived from the Chinese Arrowhead, 
Sagittaria chinensis, Sims, overlooking apparently the fact 
that arrowroot neither is nor was imported from China, but 
from the West Indies. 
X Shanghai, 1867. Analysis of Chinese Commerce during 
1866, pp. 130-131. 
links a nil f atrits. 
*** In order to facilitate reference , correspondents are 
requested to mark their answers in each case with the title 
and number of the query referred to. 
No notice can be taken of anonymous communications. 
All queries or answers should be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer. 
^ [228.]—SYRUPUS TONICUS.—It may interest Mr. 
Symes to hear that this syrup was by no means intro¬ 
duced here from Birkenhead, but was first prescribed in 
January, 1866, by Dr. Crompton, at whose request I 
prepared it, and who (for reasons stated in his letter 
here enclosed) called it tonic syrup, of which title 
Dr. Crompton was certainly the originator.— James 
Woolley, Manchester. 
[*** In the letter which has been forwarded to us, 
Dr. Crompton says:—“I have to observe respecting 
the imputation conveyed in tho note of Mr. Symes, of 
Birkenhead, that I gave you tho formula for syr. ferri 
et quin® et strychn. phosph. in the year I 860 , and that I 
at first prescribed it under that title; but, finding it too 
long, and to be objectionable by containing the word 
‘ strychnia,’ I began to prescribe it as ‘ syrupus tonicus ’ 
in 1866, under which name you introduced it to the 
profession by a printed circular.”— Ed. Piiakm. Jgurx.] 
[264.]—DISPENSING.—Having just received the 
undermentioned prescriptions to dispense, I should feel 
obliged by being informed in the Journal the best way 
to dispense them.— Jno. Smith. 
R. Tinct. Tolu. 5 iss 
Tinct. ScillcB 5 j 
Syrupi 5 yj 
Aq. Cinnam. ad 5yj. 
M. Take a sixth part three times a day. 
R. Ivreasoti gtt. iij 
Zinci Oxydi gr. iij 
Mist. Acaci® q. s. 
Mitte xxiv. 
M. ft. pil. Take one three times a day with meals. 
Silver, and send in bottle. 
[265.]—DISPENSING.—I received a few weeks ago 
the following prescription to dispense (a photograph of 
which I enclose):— 
R. Iodi 5 ss 
Lin. Camphor® comp., 
Lin. Saponis comp., ana $ij. 
M. ft. Linimentum pectore infricandum. 
At first sight, it may appear that no particular caution 
is necessary as to the manner in which the ingredients 
should be brought together, but such is not the case. 
If mixed in the same order in which they are written, 
(in many instances this is likely to bo the case,) a black 
precipitate will be thrown down, consisting of iodide of 
nitrogen, a highly explosive compound, produced by the 
reaction of the ammonia contained in the lin. camph. co. 
with the iodine. 
Foreseeing the result likely to ensue, I dissolved the 
iodine in the lin. saponis, and then added the lin. camph. 
co.: no precipitate was formed. I then, by way of ex¬ 
periment, mixed a small quantity in the reverse order 
(that in which they were written); a precipitate was 
immediately produced, which, upon drying and being 
touched, exploded with a very loud report. I may add 
that, in whatever order the ingredients are mixed, the 
liniment speedily decomposes, losing in a day or two 
nearly all its free iodine. 
I have not come across a prescription of the kind be¬ 
fore, so have sent it, thinking that it might perhaps be 
of use to others.—E. Skipper, Islington. 
