100  MEDICINAL  ACONITIA  AND  ITS  SUBSTITUTES. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  obtain  reliable  information  of  the 
amount  of  water  sent  abroad  from  our  American  springs ;  but 
still  it  remains  an  important  question,  why  we  have  to  draw  to 
such  an  extent  on  Europe  for  a  supply  which  undoubtedly  might 
be  met  from  our  own  springs. 
The  true  cause  appears  to  me  to  lie  in  the  fact,  that  our 
mineral  waters  are  either  not  fully,  or  have  not  frequently 
enough  been  analyzed.  On  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  analy- 
sis of  mineral  waters  and  their  deposits  is  considered  most  im- 
portant, and  is  usually  repeated  at  different  seasons  and  at  an  in- 
terval of  several  years,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  the  con- 
tents of  the  water  vary  with  the  season  or  change  in  the  course 
of  time.  Thus  it  is,  that  of  all  the  important  springs  a  number 
of  analyses  are  extant  which  allow  a  comparison  of  the  varying 
or  unchangeable  qualities  of  the  water,  and  confirm  or  strength- 
en the  confidence  reposed  in  its  medicinal  virtues. 
The  greatest  number  of  such  analyses  are  yearly  made  and 
published  in  Germany  and  France,  where  even  periodicals  are 
solely  devoted  to  balneology.  If  the  proprietors  of  mineral 
springs  in  America  would  pursue  a  similar  course,  they  would 
undoubtedly  advance  their  own  interests,  and  besides  stimulate 
scientific  researches  in  these  productions  of  our  soil. 
A  large  portion  of  the  retail  trade  in  mineral  waters  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  pharmaceutists,  who,  for  this  reason,  have,  aside 
from  the  scientific,  also  a  pecuniary  interest  in  this  matter, 
which  latter  would  doubtless  be  promoted,  if  accurate  analyses 
were  furnished  of  the  waters  obtained  directly  at  the  springs, 
and  probably  likewise  after  they  have  been  kept  for  some  time,  so 
that  the  intelligent  physician  might  be  enabled  to  exercise  his 
judgment  as  to  the  particular  cases,  in  which  they  will  be  indi- 
cated. 
Philadelphia,  January,  1861. 
ON  MEDICINAL  ACONITIA  AND  ITS  SUBSTITUTES. 
By  "William  Procter,  Jr. 
The  high  price  and  variable  quality  of  aconitia,  has  rendered 
its  use  as  a  medicinal  agent  so  expensive  and  uncertain,  that 
many  physicians  never  employ  it,  depending  upon  the  stronger 
