^S^'Src?*'}  Reviews  and  Bibliograjihical  Notices.  429 
Wilson,  whom  the  newspaper  designated  as  an  a  unmitigated  scoundrel,"  and 
added  :  "  One  of  these  chaps  professes  to  publish  a  monthly  paper  to  dissemi- 
nate universal  intelligence.  We  have  one  of  these  precious  sheets,  and  find  it 
to  be  of  the  infant-murder  and  licentious  order.  Dr.  Byrn  makes  a  very  bad 
book,  and  vends  medicines  to  match,  and  is  another  nuisance." 
The  defendants  say  in  their  answer  that  the  plaintiff  advertised  a  drug  as  a 
specific  for  almost  all  diseases  ;  that  it  was  calculated  to  deceive  the  public  ; 
that  it  did  not  contain  what  it  purported  to  contain  ;  that  the  plaintiff  puts  up 
the  said  patent  medicine  in  packages  about  4  inches  in  length  and  about  24 
inches  in  width,  upon  each  of  which  is  engraved  the  patented  likeness  of  a 
"Heathen  Chinee;"  that  he  sells  a  patented  medicine  which  he  advertises  as 
an  antidote  for  tobacco,  and  defendant  believes  that  the  same  is  not  an  anti- 
dote for  tobacco  but  a  swindle,  and  calculated  to  deceive  and  defraud  the  pub- 
lic. These  and  other  allegations  the  plaintiff  moved  to  strike  out  as  irrele- 
vant. 
Judge  Brady  denies  the  motion,  holding  that,  though  the  allusion  to  the 
heathen  Chinee  may  be  immaterial,  yet  the  portion  of  the  charge  in  regard  to 
the  tobacco  antidote  is  entirely  relevant;  in  other  words,  if  it  is  not  an  anti- 
dote it  is  calculated  to  deceive,  and  is  a  fraud.  The  seller  of  a  drug  who  vends' 
it  with  an  unqualified  statement  of  its  efficacy  must  take  the  consequences  if 
his  representations  be  untrue.  Specifics  against  "  the  thousand  natural  ills  that 
flesh  is  heir  to"  are  not  easily  attainable,  and  the  medical  profession  do  not 
claim  to  have  devised  many  through  all  their  experience  and  research.  They 
are,  nevertheless,  devoutly  prayed  for,  and  so  potent  is  the  desire  for  them  that 
reasonable  and  indeed  unreasonable  assertions  of  their  discovery  are  hailed 
with  joy,  and  the  public  confidence  is  readily  secured.  When  a  person,  there- 
fore, assumes  to  have  divined  one,  the  public  has  a  right  to  rely  on  the  assur- 
ance given,  however  foolish  such  a  confidence  may  seem.  Drugs  should  be 
dispensed  with  great  caution,  and  the  laws  which  are  designed  to  protect  the 
people  from  the  use  of  them  save  under  the  guidance  of  the  expert  chemist, 
conscientious  druggist,  or  skillful  practitioner,  cannot  be  too  stringent.  I  do 
not  design  to  express  any  opinion  of  the  character  of  these  preparations. 
Whether  they  are  good  or  bad,  injurious  or  harmless,  I  am  not  called  upon  to 
declare,  but  of  the  propriety  of  holding  men  to  a  strict  accountability  who  at- 
tempt to  practice  upon  the  credulity  of  the  afflicted  and  subject  them  to  greater 
suffering  I  entertain  no  doubt 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
A  Manual  of  Qualitative  Analysis.  By  Robert  Galloway,  F.C.S.,  Professor 
of  Applied  Chemistry  in  the  Royal  College  of  Science  for  Ireland.  &c.  From 
the  fifth  re-written  and  enlarged  London  edition.  With  illustrations.  Phil- 
adelphia:  Henry  C.  Lea.    1872.    12mo,  402  pages. 
To  become  a  reliable  analyst,  the  student  must  be  a  close  and  accurate  ob- 
server, and  not  pass  over  a  given  ground  without  exploring  it  in  every  direc- 
tion. Comparisons  will  then  naturally  suggest  themselves  and  invite  to  re- 
searches on  reliable  modes  to  distinguish  bodies  which  are  closely  related  to 
each  other  in  chemical  behavior.  In  fact,  chemistry  cannot  be  mastered  in  any 
of  its  branches  except  by  constantly  comparing  and  distinguishing.  To  lead 
and  educate  the  student  to  these  accomplishments  is  the  aim  of  the  author, 
which  he  has  successfully  carried  out  in  the  work  before  us. 
In  the  preface,  the  author  criticizes  rather  severely  the  analytical  method* 
