188 
EDITORIAL.  PEREIRA's    MATERIA  MEDICA. 
are  the  medicinal  portion,  and  have  attained  much  celebrity  as  a  remedy  for 
tape  worm.  The  exorbitant  price  at  which  the  remedy  is  sold,  has  proved 
a  drawback  to  its  employment. 
In  the  article  on  Balsam  of  Peru,  the  Editors  appear  to  have  overlooked 
the  researches  of  Dr.  Pereira,  published  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  on 
the  botanical  source  and  mode  of  preparation  of  this  drug,  and  on  white 
balsam  and  balsamito.  The  Editors  give  no  notice  of  these,  nor  of  Dr.  Sten- 
house's  investigation  of  the  white  balsam  resulting  in  the  isolation  of 
Myroxocarpine.  Dr.  Royle,  in  his  last  edition,  has  very  appropriately  named 
the  Peruvian  balsam  tree  described  by  the  author,  Myrospermum  Pereirce, 
which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be  sanctioned. 
The  article  on  Catechu  is  a  simple  transcript  of  the  old  edition ;  the 
chemistry  of  catecbu-tannic  acid,  is  not  brought  up  to  the  present  state  of 
knowledge.  The  sennas  are  arranged  under  Cassia  Officinalis.  Para 
Copaiba  is  attributed  to  Copaifera  multijuga  by  Dr.  Pereira.  According  to 
Lieut.  Herndon,  (Explor.  Amazon,)  Copaiba  is  collected  on  many  branches 
of  the  Amazon,  Rio  Negro  and  Madeira,  far  inland,  by  the  Indians,  and  is 
carried  down  to  Para  in  earthen  jars.  It  is,  under  these  circumstances, 
very  problematical  whether  a  single  species  yields  this  variety  of  the  drug. 
The  observations  of  Redwood,  Guibourt  and  others,  on  the  testing  copaiba, 
have  not  been  noticed. 
The  chemistry  of  Guaiacum  resin  has  not  been  amended  to  accord  with  the 
observations  of  Sobrero,  Deville  and  others,  which  have  been  recorded  in 
recent  standard  works  on  chemistry. 
In  the  article  on  ether,  the  tabular  arrangements  of  Dr.  Pereira  for  illus- 
trating the  reactions  in  the  ether  process,  have  been  omitted,  and  the  Edin- 
burgh name,  "  Ether  Sulphuricus,"  placed  at  the  head  of  the  article,  instead 
of  the  new  London  name,  iEther,  which  should  have  been  put  there. 
Frankland's  discovery  of  etliyle  is  noticed.  The  other  derivatives  of  alcho- 
hol,  nitric,  muratic,  and  acetic  ethers,  chloroform,  and  acetic  acid, 
are  described  immediately  after  alcohol,  and  these  are  followed  by  citric 
tartaric  and  oxalic  acids,  creosote,  petroleum,  amber,  and  DippeFs  animal 
oil ;  all  arranged  under  the  general  head  of  "  Organic  Substances,"  precisely 
as  in  the  1st  volume  of  the  second  edition.  Whether  this  was  intended  by 
the  author  or  not,  the  arrangement  is  very  obnoxious  to  criticism.  Alco- 
hol (and  its  derivatives)  in  a  scientific  arrangement,  should  have  been 
treated  after  sugar,  from  which  it  is  derived ;  citric  acid  under  lemons ; 
tartaric  acid,  with  wine  after  the  grape  ;  creasote,  petroleum,  and  amber, 
after  the  turpentines,  with  tar  ;  and  Dipper's  animal  oil,  after  gelatin  in  the 
last  division  of  the  work.  This  plan  would  have  placed  alcohol,  the  ethers, 
and  acetic  acid,  and  the  remarks  on  tinctures,  in  the  fore  part  of  the  volume, 
preliminary  to  the  description  of  the  numerous  preparations  and  processes 
in  which  they  are  employed  as  menstrua. 
The  word  chloroform  is  not  found  in  the  previous  editions  of  the  work ; 
