EDITORIAL. 
285 
donations  of  specimens  in  Materia  Medica,  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy,  to 
add  to  such  as  may  be  procured  by  the  appropriation  to  the  Committee. 
Hypophosphite  of  Quinia. — Prof.  J.  Lawrence  Smith,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Editor,  dated  Louisville,  April  20th,  1859,  informs  us  that  he  has  made  a 
new  salt  of  quinia,  the  hypophosphite,  which  he  had  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  that  place,  and  recom- 
mended its  use  in  those  cases  of  phthisis,  scrofula,  cachexy,  &c,  where  the 
sulphate  of  quinia  is  now  used.  It  is  soluble  in  60  parts  of  water  at  60° 
F.,  is  extremely  light  and  feathery,  like  acetate  of  quinia,  and  decidedly 
bitter.  Prof.  Smith  is  studying  its  chemical  history,  which  he  promises 
to  send  to  us  when  completed. 
The  London  Chemist. — We  are  informed  that  this  useful  journal  has 
been  discontinued.  This  is  greatly  to  be  regretted,  as  some  of  our  most 
valuable  selections  have  been  derived  from  its  pages.  If  true,  we  hope  its 
suspension  is  only  temporary. 
The  American  Dispensatory.    By  John  King,  M.  D.,  Prof,  of  Obstetrics, 
&c,  in  the  Eclectic  Medical  College,  &c.  &c.    Fifth  edition,  revised  and 
enlarged  from  "  the  American  Eclectic  Dispensatory."  Cincinnati, 
Moore,  Wilstach,  Keys  &  Co.,  1859,  pp.  1475,  octavo. 
The  volume,  of  which  the  above  is  the  present  title  page,  is  a  new  edi- 
tion of  the  American  Eclectic  Dispensatory  which  was  noticed  at  page  567, 
1854,  of  this  Journal,  and  the  same  book  upon  which  an  injunction 
was  laid  by  the  authors  of  the  United  States  Dispensatory  for  its  extensive 
plagiarisms.    It  became  necessary  to  rewrite  the  work  in  such  parts  as 
were  affected  by  the  injunction,  after  the  matter  was  compromised,  and  this 
book  is  the  result  of  the  labor.    The  ponderous  character  of  the  volume 
renders  a  notice  of  it  based  on  an  examination  of  its  contents  so  formidable 
a  task,  that  we  have  been  compelled,  for  want  of  the  necessary  time,  to 
give  only  a  general  notice  of  the  first  portion  of  the  work,  leaving  for  the 
future  any  criticisms  which  may  be  suggested  by  the  further  examination 
of  the  pharmaceutical  portion  and  appendix,  and  a  closer  view  of  the 
chapters  on  Materia  Medica. 
In  comparing  it  with  the  previous  edition,  the  reader  is  struck  with  the 
absence  of  the  voluminous  chapter  on  the  natural  orders  of  plants,  much 
more  appropriate  to  a  work  on  botany,  and  well  omitted.  Part  I,  on 
Materia  Medica,  comprises  970  pages,  and  describes  the  organic  and 
mineral  substances  recognized  as  useful  by  the  Eclectic  practitioners.  In 
treating  of  the  Materia  Medica,  the  arrangement  is  alphabetical,  but  as  the 
U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  is  not  recognized  as  an  authority,  drugs  are  placed 
in  the  order  of  their  botanical  or  scientific  names.  In  the  absence  of  any 
recognized  pharmacopoeial  authority,  perhaps  no  better  arrangement  could 
