PHAEMACEUTICAL  GLEANINGS. 
221 
The  above  preparation  originated,  I  believe,  with  Dr.  J.  B. 
Coleman,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  was  intended  to  represent  the 
Pulvis  Doveri  in  those  cases  where  it  is  difficult  to  administer  the 
latter  compound  from  an  irritable  condition  of  the  gastric  organ. 
It  is  an  elegant  preparation,  and  a  favorite  with  those  who  are 
in  the  habit  of  prescribing  and  using  it.  It  is  kept  at  the  shops 
and  dispensed  with  directions  for  use,  being  considered  preferable 
to  the  ordinary  preparations  of  opium,  for  not  being  apt  to  cause 
nausea,  headache  or  constipation  of  the  bowels. 
Ten  minims  of  the  preparation  are  equivalent  to  one-eighth  of  a 
grain  of  acetate  of  morphia,  and  one-eighth  of  a  grain  of  ipeca- 
cuanha, and  fourteen  minims  equal  a  grain  of  opium. 
The  literature  of  the  shop. — The  following  is  a  literal  copy  of  a 
prescription  recently  sent  to  a  drug  store  in  Philadelphia.  It 
may  serve  to  show  one  feature  of  the  dangers  to  which  our  fellow- 
citizens  are  exposed  by  such  ignorance,  and  that  the  druggists 
are  not  always  the  only  ones  accountable  for  the  many  mistakes 
that  occur  in  dispensing. 
"  r    Portocholorid     gr.  vi. 
Cholchochum      gr.  x. 
M.  and  pill,  iii. 
{&    Tart,  potash  -fj." 
The  latter  item  was,  of  course,  taken  to  mean  what  it  said,  but 
"  the  doctor"  sent  word  back,  that  he  "wanted  Cream  of  Tartar!" 
Risum  teneatis,  amici? 
Febrifuge  properties  of  the  Olive. — Mr.  Daniel  Hanbury,  in 
in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  for  February,  1854,  gives  the 
following  information  from  Mr.  Sidney  H.  Maltass  of  Smyrna. 
"  *  *  *  I  may  here  tell  you  of  a  discovery  I  made  in  1843,  which 
has  proved  valuable.  I  was  in  the  island  of  Mytelene,  and  at  a  time  when 
fever  and  ague  of  the  worst  description  were  raging  in  the  island  ; — in  fact, 
it  was  so  bad  that  death  ensued  frequently  after  a  week  or  ten  days.  The 
small  quantity  of  quinine  at  the  druggist's  was  soon  exhausted,  and  I  could 
procure  none  to  administer  to  patients.  Knowing  that  biberine  and  salicine 
were  often  used  for  fever  and  ague,  I  turned  over  in  my  mind  all  the  bitters 
I  could  think  of  which  might  prove  effectual.  Many  were  poisonous,  and  I 
rejected  them,  then  thought  of  olive  leaves,  and  after  several  trials  made  on 
myself,  I  commenced  administering  doses  of  a  decoction  of  the  leaves,  say 
two  handfuls  boiled  in  a  quart  of  water  till  evaporation  had  reduced  it  to  a 
pint.  This  T  gave  in  doses  of  a  wine-glassful  every  three  or  four  hours.  Obstinate 
cases  of  fever  gave  way  before  it ;  and  for  many  years  I  have  found  it  more 
effectual  than  quinine. 
tll  have  recommended  it  to  our  medical  men,  and  although  at  first  they 
ridiculed  the  idea,  they  all  use  it  now.  It  is  a  most  valuable  remedy  for  the 
poor  in  an  olive-growing  country.7' 
