534         The  Need  of  Practical  Information,  etc.  {k\lTimT' 
upon  honey,  to  determine  the  question  of  why  bees  work  in  the  dark  ? 
but  these  and  kindred  subjects  possess  about  as  much  interest  to  a 
vast  majority  of  the  readers  of  our  publications  as  the  precession  of 
the  equinoxes  would  to  those  who  assume  to  manage  our  primary 
elections. 
What  we  want,  or  rather  what  is  needed,  is  the  diffusion  of  more 
practical  information.  The  late  Prof.  Parrish,  in  his  admirable  work 
on  Practical  Pharmacy,  has  done  much  in  this  direction,  by  presenting 
in  detail  the  results  of  his  experience  and  observation,  and  in  render- 
ing practical  many  of  the  formulas  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  many  of 
which,  if  not  vague  and  incoherent,  are  calculated  to  produce  variable 
results,  depending  greatly  upon  their  manipulation.  But,  however 
much  may  have  been  done  by  him  and  others,  it  cannot  be  said  either 
that  the  subject  has  been  exhausted,  or  that  practical  operations  have 
become  less  important. 
I  cannot  but  think  that  a  new  impetus  would  be  given  to  the  circu- 
lation of,  and  an  extended  field  of  usefulness  be  opened  to,  our  pub- 
lications, if  this  matter  of  practical  information  could  be  made  to 
stand  out  more  prominently  upon  their  pages. 
I  leave  the  question,  however,  with  those  to  whom  it  properly  be- 
longs, believing  that  I  have  expressed  an  opinon  entertained  in  com- 
mon by  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  patronize  pharmaceutical 
publications. 
Remarks  by  the  Editor. — In  accepting  the  above  article  for  publi- 
cation, we  desire  to  say  that  we  have  neither  inclination  nor  intention 
to  find  fault  with  what  is,  but  rather  with  what  is  not  written.  It  may 
seem,  according  to  the  author's  views,  a  waste  of  time  and  energy,  as 
far  as  pharmacy  and  medicine  are  concerned,  to  determine  the  active 
principle  of  Rhus  toxicodendron,  or  study  the  influence  of  sunlight 
upon  honey.  It  would  follow,  then,  that  the  discovery  of  the  active 
principles  of  opium,  nux  vomica,  aconite,  &c,  had  been  of  no  mate- 
rial influence  upon  pharmacy,  and  that  it  was  quite  unimportant  for 
the  pharmacist  to  be  familiar  with  the  influence  exerted  by  light  upon 
volatile  oils,  chloroform,  santonin,  some  silver  salts,  &c, — propositions 
and  deductions  which  we  cannot  endorse,  and  which  we  feel  confident 
the  vast  majority  of  our  readers  will  not  accept.  But  we  believe  with 
the  author  that  many  practical  details  and  experiences,  gained  in  the 
daily  practice  of  our  vocation,  deserve  to  be  made  known ;  and  we 
further  believe,  that  since  the  knowledge  of  the  pharmacist  of  the 
