REVIEWS. 
39 
horse. Erosures and fallings by its aid are prevented degenerating into ulcers.— Bull, de 
Therap., vol. lxvi. p. 28. 
Alleged Death from Chlorodyne. —At an inquest held at Shipton Sollars, 
Gloucestershire, before J. Lovegrove, Esq., coroner, on the body of an old woman who 
had taken ten drops of “ Dr. Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne,” and who was found dead a 
few hours afterwards, Mr. A. W. Gabb, surgeon, who was acquainted with the deceased 
and had prescribed for her, made the following statement:—He knew the history of the 
case, and was well acquainted with “ Dr. Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne.” He had not 
used it now for some time, because its effects on different constitutions appeared so un¬ 
certain. He had known fifteen drops to prove almost fatal. He did not know the 
composition of the medicine, but chloroform formed a prominent ingredient. Such a 
medicine ought not to be sold indiscriminately—except under medical advice. Being a 
sticky medicine it was difficult to drop, and he invariably used a minim glass for the 
purpose. He had given twenty-five drops in a dose, but that was by gradually increas¬ 
ing it. The cause of death in this case was the chlorodyne deceased took.—A verdict 
in accordance was returned. 
Practical Application of Dialysis. —As a note to his paper on the “Utilization 
of Brine,”* Mr. Whitelaw has published the following in the ‘ Chemical News,’ May 28 : 
—The salt meat is placed in a dialy tic bag made of untanned skin, or other suitable ma¬ 
terial, and the bag filled nearly, but not quite, full of brine from the beef barrel. The 
dialyser is then placed in sea-water, and the process allowed to go on for several days, 
till the meat and brine are sufficiently fresh for use, or till the brine in the dialytic bag 
is within 1° or 2° of Twaddell’s hydrometer of the same strength as sea-water. In this 
way, as the brine becomes freed from salt, the beef, which, by the action of salt, has 
been contracted, gives its salt to the brine in the bag; and so the process goes on, the beef 
expanding like a sponge, and gradually taking up a great part of the natural juice that 
it had previously lost in the salting process. In this way no loss of juice is sustained by 
steeping, and the brine left in the bags, after a nightly dialysis in fresh water, can be 
used for soup. Thoroughly salted beef, without bone, takes up nearly one-third its weight 
of juice, and this absorption takes place gradually as the strength of the brine in the dia¬ 
lyser becomes reduced. Meat thus treated—being, in fact, fresh meat—may be cooked 
in a variety of ways that are obviously not available for salt meat; and so the food of 
sailors, and consequently their health, may be improved. 
Preservation of Chloroform. —It requires but a short time for chloroform which 
is exposed to the sun’s rays to undergo decomposition, hydrochloric acid being deve¬ 
loped, and a strong odour of chlorine being present. This is prevented if the chloroform 
is kept in the dark ; and when it has undergone decomposition by exposure, M. Boettger 
finds that it may be easily purified by shaking it up with a few fragments of caustic 
soda. As long, indeed, as it is in contact with the caustic soda it may be preserved for 
an indefinite period in diffused light.— Bull, de Therap ., May 15. 
REVIEWS. 
The Essentials of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By Alfred Baring Gar- 
rod, M.D., F.R.S.; Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians ; Professor of Materia 
Medica and Therapeutics in King’s College, London ; Physician to King’s College 
Hospital; and Examiner in Materia Medica in the University of London. Second 
Edition, revised and much enlarged. London: Walton and Maberly. 1864. 
The appearance of a second edition of Dr. Garrod’s well-known and appreciated text¬ 
book is a great boon to students at the present time, when such a work is in much re¬ 
quest. The fact of a large issue of the fi r st edition having been sold is, in itself, evi¬ 
dence that a volume of this kind was required, and that the want was supplied in a satis¬ 
factory manner. The object and general nature of the work will be best judged of by the 
following extracts from the Preface :— 
“ The present work is intended to serve as a text-book of Materia Medica, and while 
it is hoped that it omits-nothing essential to the study of the science, it excludes such 
details as are often embarrassing to the student and seldom necessary to the practitioner. 
* Yol. v. 2nd ser. p. 516- 
