ON THE CHOICE OF FORMULiE. 
117 
that experience and time have 'proved them to he efficacious, 
— such as physicians are accustomed to prescribe them and 
patients to employ them. Generally, no regard is paid to 
the injury sustained by the art of pharmacy from these changes, 
and the serious inconveniences resulting from them in prac- 
tice.* 
It is for the purpose of directing the attention of pharma- 
ciens and physicians to this important subject, that I now 
undertake to re-establish, in their integrity, several formulae. 
I shall, in the present paper, confine myself to the arsenical 
solution of Fowler and the wine of antimony, to which I 
shall join as an appendix, the formula of the pills of Plummer, 
* The following example may be given as corroborative of this state- 
ment. For a long time the sulphuret of antimony entered into the 
composition of a great number of ptisans, very much esteemed in old 
syphilitic, and cutaneous affections, (ptisans of Feltz, of Pollini, of Astruc, 
of Vinanche, &c,,) and in spite of those who pretended that the sulphuret 
of antimony yielded nothing to water, these ptisans produced numerous 
cures. When Serullas had proved that the sulphuret of antimony always 
contained a greater or smaller quantity of arsenic, it was held that it was 
of the highest importance only to employ antimony deprived of the sul- 
phuret of arsenic, by means of ammonia. At present we render justice 
to our ancestors, and scrupulously prepare these ptisans as they did, 
with the sulphuret of antimony simply broken down, and with the aid 
of ebullition long continued, because we have discovered that the prolonged 
action of boiling water, transforms a part of the sulphuret of arsenic, con- 
tained in the antimony, into arsenious acid ; and that this acid possesses 
very active medical properties in the treatment of certain syphilitic and 
cutaneous affections. One more reflection upon this subject. Within a 
few months, a skilful chemist has discovered the presence of arsenic in 
the sulphuric acid of commerce; the inference was consequently drawn by 
him that no acid should be employed for medical purposes, except that 
which was carefully purified, because this alone could be pure. But 
will it not be proper to ask him, if it is certain that the acid thus purified 
will produce the same curative effects when employed in diseases of the 
skin and especially when the medication maybe continued during months 
or years % for then extremely minute quantities of an active medicine, 
repeated during so long a time, ultimately lead to results, which could 
never have been obtained by wishing to hasten the cure by larger doses, 
but continued for a shorter period. Let us consult experience in the first 
instance, and we may reason afterwards. 
