88 
EDITORIAL. 
silver  foil  on  the  inside  of  the  cork,  which  will  become  coated  with  iodide 
should  decomposition  commmence.  As  a  specimen  of  pharmaceutical 
skill  these  pills  are  deserving  of  commendation.  When  a  pill  is  shaken  in  a 
test  tube  with  a  little  water  for  five  or  ten  minutes  the  water  gives  indi- 
cations of  iron  and  iodine  by  the  appropriate  tests,  showing  that  the 
coating  does  not  prevent  the  action  of  that  fluid— a  fact  of  importance  in 
relation  to  their  medicinal  efficiency. 
New  Remedies:  with  formulae  for  their  preparation  and  administration.  By 
Kobley  Dunglison,  M.  D.,  &c.  &c.  Seventh  Edition,  with  numerous 
additions.    Philadelphia.    Blanchard  &  Lea.  1856.    Pp.  769,  8vo. 
It  is  no  inconsiderable  evidence  of  the  yet  imperfect  state  of  the  healing 
ait  that  its  votaries  should  be  constantly  longing  after  something  new — 
new  theories  in  pathology — new  remedies  in  therapeutics.  However  well 
known  medicines  may  be  able  to  meet  the  indications  required,  there  is  a 
certain  something— a  sort  of  charm — in  the  idea  of  arriving  at  the  same  re- 
sults by  an  untrodden  path  that  stimulates  many  medical  observers  to 
extend  their  researches  among  the  numerous  substances  which  the  che- 
mist and  the  botanical  explorer  are  almost  daily  bringing  to  light.  Sub» 
stances  which  for  years  have  been  known  only  as  rare  curiosities  to  the 
chemist,  suddenly,  as  by  the  wand  of  an  enchanter,  become  plentiful  in 
the  market  at  the  demand  of  the  therapeutist,  and  plants  previously  known 
only  to  the  traveller  in  some  far  off  region  are  gathered  and  brought  to 
us  at  the  instigation  of  the  same  magician,  by  the  ubiquitous  arms  of  com- 
merce. The  study  and  application  of  these  novelties  enters  largely  into 
medical  progress,  and  the  co-operation  of  the  pharmaceutist  is  constantly 
needed  to  aid  in  fitting  them  for  the  uses  to  which  they  are  destined. 
The  work  of  Dr.  Dunglison,  embracing  over  750  pages,  devoted  to 
"  new  remedies, "  now  again  brought  out  in  a  seventh  edition,  corroborates 
what  we  have  said  above,  by  proving  the  necessity  of  catering  to  this  want. 
Although  intended  more  particularly  for  the  practitioner  as  a  body  of  infor- 
mation ready  at  hand  in  reference  to  "new  remedies,"  it  also  has  uses  for 
the  pharmaceutist,  inasmuch  as  the  author  has  aimed  at  giving  the  pro- 
cesses of  preparing  and  the  modes  of  administering  new  substances  as  well 
as  their  therapeutic  properties  and  uses.  Dr.  Dunglison  as  a  compiler  has 
the  merit  of  giving  careful  references  to  the  sources  of  information,  which 
renders  his  book  often  exceedingly  useful  to  investigators  who  wish  to 
pursue  the  study  of  articles  more  closely  than  the  scope  of  this  work  will 
admit.  A  work  of  this  kind  is  necessarily  in  great  measure  a  reprint  of 
the  previous  edition,  yet  in  looking  over  many  articles,  we  find  them  ex- 
tended and  brought  up  to  the  present.  Among  the  new  items  we  may 
mention  apiol,  caffein,  carbazotic  acid,  cedron,  cerium,  cinchonicin,  hy- 
posulphite of  soda  and  silver,  nickel,  permanganate  of  potassa,  quiuidia, 
rennet,  and  tellurium,  as  being  the  most  prominent.    So  unceasing  is  the 
