ON  THE  RESINOIDS. 
299 
ON  THE  RESINOIDS. 
By  J.  M.  Abernethy. 
(An  Inaugural  Essay.) 
The  subject  of  this  "  Thesis"  having  been  suggested  by  my  pre- 
ceptors, as  one  worthy  of  considerable  attention,  from  the  fact  of 
the  increased  interest  given  to  it  by  the  Medical  Journals,  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  and  the  apparent  success  that 
is  now  attending  the  use  of  the  resinoids  among  the  Eclectic 
Practitioners,  who  claim  them  to  be  the  active  principles  of 
the  drugs  from  which  they  are  obtained,  and  who  assert,  with  con- 
siderable truth,  that  every  plant  contains  in  a  measure  more  or 
less  inert  matter  of  little  value,  and  which  in  the  form  in 
which  they  are  generally  given  tends  only  to  increase  their  bulk 
whilst  they  deter  their  absorption  into  the  system,  and  not  only 
keep  the  patients  in  suspense,  but  nauseate  them  by  the  bulk  of 
the  medicine  they  are  obliged  to  digest. 
The  Eclectics  consider  that  in  the  form  of  a  resinoid,  not  only  do 
they  get  rid  of  an  excess  of  inert  matter,  and  obtain  a  medicine 
in  one  of  its  most  concentrated  forms,  but  which  from  the  small- 
ness  of  its  bulk,  its  ready  solubility  in  the  juices  of  the  stomach, 
and  its  rapid  absorption  into  the  system,  produces  at  once  both 
a  rapid  and  energetic  action. 
Their  method  of  preparing  these  medicines  being,  as  it  were, 
in  its  infancy,  but  little  is  known  concerning  them  by  Pharma- 
ceutists in  general.  Hence  the  dispensing  of  them  must  neces- 
sarily be  more  or  less  confined  to  the  few  who  have  made  this 
branch  of  pharmacy  their  more  immediate  study.  Druggists, 
generally,  would  do  well  to  give  this  subject  a  passing  notice,  and 
endeavor  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  these  resinoids  do  really 
possess  the  active  properties  attributed  to  them.  Should  such 
be  the  case,  and  the  demand  for  them  still  continue  to  increase 
in  the  same  ratio  as  heretofore,  it  will  be  necessary  to  introduce 
these  as  a  new  class  of  preparations. 
Hence,  my  object  in  experimenting  with  these  resinous  princi- 
ples will  be  to  endeavor  with  the  assistance  of  the  few  works  de- 
voted to  this  subject,  to  show  the  manner  in  which  Eclectics  pre- 
pare these  resinoids,  with  the  relative  amount  of  resinous  prin- 
* 
