Am.  jour.  Pharm.  i        Pharmacologic  Superstitions.  r-2  1 
.November,  1917.  ■>  01  jj  1 
which  runs  a  very  variable  as  well  as  chronic  course;  there  are  in- 
explicable spontaneous  fluctuations  in  the  severity  of  its  manifesta- 
tions. In  the  third  place,  the  lithium  is  always  employed  in  con- 
junction with  other  therapeutic  measures,  especially  the  ingestion  of 
large  quantities  of  water,  and  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  say 
with  positiveness  whether  any  improvement  which  may  have  oc- 
curred has  been  due  to  or  in  spite  of  the  lithium. 
Nevertheless,  regardless  of  its  manifest  fallacy,  the  lithium  super- 
stition still  survives.  This  I  believe  is  chiefly  because  of  the  bene- 
ficial effects  of  the  so-called  "  lithia  waters  "  in  various  conditions  of 
disturbed  nutrition.  These  waters,  however,  rarely  contain  more 
than  one  part  of  lithium  in  a  million.  That  is,  to  get  5  grains  of 
lithium,  the  patient  would  have  to  drink  about  30  gallons  of  water! 
While  I  do  not  wish  to  deny  the  benefit  of  water  in  gout.  I  am  quite 
certain,  as  must  be  any  other  rational  human  being  who  know?  the 
facts  of  the  case,  that  the  value  of  the  so-called  lithia  waters  does 
not  reside  in  their  lithium  content. 
Sarsaparilla. 
Various  preparations  of  sarsaparilla,  mostly  of  proprietary  na- 
ture, are  widely  used  by  the  public  as  "  blood  purifiers."  This  term 
is  apparently  a  survival  of  the  old  humoralistic  pathology  which 
considered  all  diseases  to  be  due  to  evil  humors  in  the  blood.  Dur- 
ing the  days  when  this  theory  was  rampant,  physicians  purged, 
sweated  and  bled  their  patients  more  thoroughly  than  wisely  in  their 
efforts  to  eliminate  the  materies  morbi.  Sarsaparilla  has  a  mild 
diaphoretic  tendency,  and  might  therefore  be  of  some  assistance  in 
this  eliminative  therapeusis.  Among  the  medical  profession,  how- 
ever, it  never  enjoyed  any  great  vogue  except  in  the  treatment  of 
syphilis.  Today  it  is  used  almost  exclusively  in  the  form  of  the  com- 
pound syrup  of  sarsaparilla,  partly  as  a  means  of  disguising  the 
tastes  of  the  iodides  and  partly  because  of  a  sort  of  half  belief  that 
it  may  enhance  the  antisyphilitic  action  of  mercury. 
In  regard  to  the  use  of  compound  syrup  of  sarsaparilla  as  a 
vehicle,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  its  pleasant  flavor  is  due  to  the 
aromatic  oils,  licorice  and  sugar  which  it  contains ;  sarsaparilla  itself 
has  a  mucilaginous  and  somewhat  bitterish  taste,  and  as  far  as  the 
flavor  of  the  syrup  is  concerned  is  of  no  advantage.  In  addition  to 
these  ingredients,  the  compound  syrup  of  sarsaparilla  also  contains 
1.5  per  cent,  of  senna.    This  quantity  of  senna  is  of  course  too  small 
