December 1G, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
497 
Mr. Walter Rumbold, M.R.C.S., said he had made a 
post-mortem examination of the body, and found that the 
lips, mouth, throat and stomach were shockingly burned 
by sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol), and death was the re¬ 
sult of poisoning from such acid. 
William Dent Russell, the father, made the following 
statement:—I use oil of vitriol for lime-light. I last 
used it six weeks ago. I kept it in the coal-cellar. I was 
tipsy on Monday, but on Tuesday, Wednesday and 
Thursday was sober. I work for Sanders and Co., of 
Oxford Street. I cannot account for the death of the 
deceased. 
The Coroner, addressing the jury, said that it would 
be better to adjourn for further inquiries to be made. It 
certainly appeared as if the acid had been put in the 
bottle by design, and the evidence given tended to show 
that the father wished to get rid of the poor infant. The 
•case accordingly stands adjourned for further evidence. 
—Daily Telegraph. 
gtbittos. 
Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, 
Medical, Economical and Agricultural ; being 
also a Medical Botany of the Southern States; with 
Practical Information on the Useful Properties of the 
Trees, Plants and Shrubs. By Francis Peyre 
Porcher, M.D., formerly Surgeon in charge of City 
Hospitals, Charleston, Lecturer on Materia Medica 
and Therapeutics, etc. New edition. Revised and 
largely augmented. Charleston: 1869. Trubnerand 
Co., London. Post 8vo, pp. xv. 733. 
It is an old saying and a very true one, that u necessity 
is the mother of invention.” It often occurs that when 
a source of supply fails, we turn our eyes nearer home, 
and find almost at our feet that which, but for the 
foreign supply failing, we should have overlooked. But 
let us explain what this has to do with the book before 
ns. When the Southern States of America declared a 
war of independence, as a necessary result all their ports 
were blockaded and their foreign supplies cut off. The 
Southern authorities, fully appreciating the varied and 
rich flora by which they were surrounded, instructed 
Dr. Porcher to use his best efforts to find substitutes for 
the foreign vegetable products, applicable to the wants 
of the surgeon as well as to the planter and farmer. For 
this duty our author was the better qualified, inasmuch 
as, for a period of twelve years previously, he had paid 
great attention to the subject, and had practically tested 
many of the substances he enumerates. The results of 
his labours are here given, and the book is intended as a 
handbook of scientific and practical knowledge as re¬ 
gards the medical and economical products of the plants 
of the Southern States, and capable, if need be, to serve 
present or future wants, thus rendering them, in a great 
measure at least, independent of foreign supplies. 
The author only claims for his book the title of a 
compilation; but though this is the case to a great ex¬ 
tent, yet he has spared no pains to render it as complete 
ns possible, extending his note taking from the pages of 
Ray, Culpepper, Thornton, Woodville, Lindley, Royle, 
Pereira, and Merat and De Lens, to the latest floras and 
local plant catalogues. Under each plant he gives a 
copious list of authors, to whom reference can be made 
for fuller information. The articles which meet with the 
fullest notice are the seven staple articles, viz. cotton, 
rice, sugar, tobacco, wheat, corn and turpentine, as also 
fhose more or less likely to figure largely, as grapes, 
wine, sorghum sugar, tea, esparto, flax, mustard, castor 
and other oils, starch-yielding plants and timber and 
furniture woods. Cryptogamous plants are dealt with 
somewhat curtly, the author giving, as his reason for 
.so doing, a previous publication of his, which appeared 
in the seventh volu™^ of the ‘ Transactions of the 
American Medial Association.’ 
The information is arranged in Natural Orders. This 
naturally leads to many cross-references; and though, 
perhaps, on the whole, as good an arrangement as any, 
yet we should not have been sorry to have seen an 
attempt at grouping, under good headings, the various 
substances according to their properties; as in a book 
such as this, destined for general use, the latter arrange¬ 
ment would have appealed more to the sympathies of un¬ 
scientific readers. The author gets over the difficulty by 
treating certain substances at length under the plant 
characteristically rich in such products. Thus under 
the oak and hickory we have an account of potash and 
potash soap and their manufacture; under salsola and 
fucus, soda and soda soap; under pine and willow, an 
account of charcoal; and oils in general, under Sesame. 
This is the name given to the seeds of Sesamum indicum. 
The author gives an account of this plant under the tri¬ 
vial name Dene. This is to be regretted, as it more pro¬ 
perly belongs to Mo ring a pterygosperma, and in Europe 
is so understood. In justice, however, we may state, 
that so far as we have examined it, the index is a 
very trustworthy and ample one. Under Papaver , we 
have a long account of the manufacture of opium. 
Argemone mexicana , an almost cosmopolitan plant, the 
oil of whose seeds has been highly recommended by 
some as a specific in cholera, is not highly spoken of. 
The root of Panax quin cquefolium is valued for its stimu¬ 
lant, stomachic and tonic properties. It meets with a 
ready sale in China, being much cheaper than that of P. 
ginseng , a Chinese imperial monopoly. 
The a viridis , grown in South Carolina, is well spoken 
of. Oranges, limes and citrons are cultivated in the 
warmer regions. 
The fruits of Stillingia sebifera are largely used in 
candle making. In the account of the American indigo 
plant ( Baptisia tinctoria ), tinctorial plants and dyeing- 
are treated generally. The bark of the root of Robinia 
pseudo-acacia is recommended as a tonic in large doses ; 
it is emetic and purgative, and the inner bark is recom¬ 
mended as a source of fibre, the seeds as oil, the flowers 
as a yellow dye, and the wood for shipbuilding. Under 
Anacardiacece , the account of the poison oak ( Rhus toxico¬ 
dendron') and shumac ( R . glabra ) are very interesting. 
The leaves of R. copallina were used by the soldiers in 
camp to increase the bulk, and render milder, ordinary 
tobacco. Sassafras tea, as a substitute for green tea, was 
a great favourite with the Southern States’ officer during 
the war. In Sarracenia the author has no confidence as 
a specific in smallpox. Under another well-known 
plant, Sanguinaria canadensis , references are given to no 
less than twenty-five writers on the subject. The leaves 
of Opuntia vulgaris are used for hardening candles instead 
of -wax. There is also a good account of Acer sacchari- 
num, and the manufacture of the sugar from it. The seeds 
of ASsculus pavia, L., contain much starch, and the wash¬ 
ings of it are very narcotic ; ten grains of the powdered 
rind being considered equal to three of opium, and the 
roots are preferred to soap for washing and whitening- 
woollens, blankets and dyed cottons. Under the head, 
of Linum usitatissimum , oils are treated of generally. Hi¬ 
biscus esculent us is spoken of as being twice as mucilaginous 
as Althaea , and of great uses in culinary and medical pre¬ 
parations ; the seeds roasted are used as a substitute 
for coffee, and are also used on account of their albumen 
in clarification in St. Domingo. 
Rice, formerly at least largely grown in Carolina, 
meets with a very full account. Since the war little or 
no Carolina rice has been exported to this country. That 
which commonly passes under that name now is pro¬ 
duced in Borbice. We may mention, though the fact is 
not noticed by our author, that Carolina is believed by 
some to have owed the introduction of her rice to 
Madagascar: certain it is that the varieties are remark- 
ably alike. 
