EDITORIAL. 
9! 
this  substance,  to  obtain  it  immediately  from  Dr.  Norwood  himself,  or  from 
his  authorized  agents.  We  are  certain  that  it  is  the  only  source  whence 
the  genuine  and  efficient  tincture  can  be  had ;  an  extensive  trial  of  that 
prepared  at  the  North,  thus  far,  having  satisfied  us  that  it  cannot  be  relied 
upon,  in  consequence  of  its  not  being  made  from  the  root  of  the  carefully 
dried  plant,  as  that  used  by  Dr.  Norwood. 
"  It  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation  to  enumerate  the  different 
diseases  in  which  this  drug  is  reported  to  be  beneficial,  the  pages  of  the 
Southern  medical  journals  ("including  our  own)  having  teemed,  in  the  last 
two  years,  with  communications  on  the  subject ;  for  although  further  and 
more  extensive  trial  with  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  establish  its  value  in 
some  of  the  diseases  in  which  it  is  alleged  to  have  proved  serviceable,  yet 
we  are  safe  in  saying  that  it  seems  to  be  adapted  in  an  especial  manner  to 
the  Acute  Phlegmasia,  generally." 
We  have,  on  another  occasion,  (vol.  xxv.,  page  109,  of  this  journal) 
taken  the  opportunity  to  bring  forward  Dr.  Norwood's  statements  with 
regard  to  the  curative  properties  of  Veratrum  Viride,  and  then  published 
his  formula  for  the  tincture  from  the  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal, 
January,  1853,  which  consisted  of  eight  ounces  of  the  root  in  sixteen 
ounces  of  alcohol  .835  sp.  gr.  macerated  two  weeks  and  expressed. 
It  now  appears  that  Dr.  Norwood's  preparation  proves  ineffectual  unless  he 
prepares  it,  and  that  his  claims  as  a  pharmaceutist  are  upheld  by  one  of  the 
most  prominent'medical  journals  of  this  country,  as  above.  As  addressed 
to  Southern  medical  practitioners  the  above  article  may  not  be  considered 
very  objectionable ;  but  when  it  is  known  that  Dr.  Norwood  has  the 
tincture  prepared  for  him  "  at  the  North"  and  that  he  has  copyrighted  his 
labels  (one  of  which  is  before  us)  and  has  placed  the  general  agency  of 
his  tincture  in  the  hands  of  a  house  largely  engaged  in  the  preparation 
and  sale  of  secret  medicines,  we  cannot  but  look  upon  the  notice  of  the 
Charleston  journal  as  abetting  a  species  of  quackery,  which,  like  McMunn's 
Elixir,  and  other  similar  preparations,  is  not  less  quackery  because  the 
active  ingredient  is  known.  Dr.  Norwood,  as  a  citizen,  has  a  perfect  right  to 
make  and  sell  his  tincture,  and  to  seek  a  monopoly  of  its  sale,  but  if  he 
does  so  under  the  declaration  that  it  is  peculiarly  valuable,  whilst  the 
recipe  for  making  it  has  been  published  by  himself,  he  not  only  cannot 
expect  to  retain  the  position  of  a  disinterested  member  of  the  medical 
profession,  but  by  thus  upholding  the  spirit  of  quackery,  however 
unintentionally,  he  runs  the  risk  of  being  classed  with  those  physicians 
who  have  sold  their  professional  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage. 
Professor  Agassiz  and  the  Fishes  of  the  United  States. — Professor 
Agassiz,  having  been  engaged  for  some  time  in  preparing  a  work  on  the  Natural 
History  of  the  Fishes  of  the  United  States,  is  desirous  of  getting  specimens  of 
the  fish  in  all  the  rivers,  creeks,  lakes  and  ponds  of  the  interior,  as  well  as 
of  the  inlets  and  bays  of  the  coast,  that  he  may  the  more  effectually  study 
