ON  SOME  FRENCH  PHARMACEUTICAL  SPECIALITIES. 
347 
Having  thus  brought  the  different  medical  preparations  of  ar- 
senic under  notice,  he  thought  it  worthy  of  consideration  wheth- 
er any  of  them,  not  at  present  contained  in  our  Pharmacopoeia, 
ought  to  be  introduced  there.  Arsenic  was  described  by  medi- 
cal writers  as  a  valuable  remedial  agent,  especially  for  skin  dis- 
eases and  for  ague.  In  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  Hospital  for 
Diseases  of  the  Skin,  there  were  no  less  than  seven  different 
preparations  containing  arsenic,  ordered  for  internal  administra- 
tion. He  might  also  refer  to  the  popular  use  said  to  be  made  of 
arsenic  in  some  parts  of  Lower  Austria,  where,  according  to  the 
late  Professor  Johnstone,  it  was  extensively  used  by  the  common 
people,  with  the  view  of  improving  their  personal  appearance. 
The  author  concluded  with  the  following  remarks  :  *<  To  return 
to  our  subject,  would  it  be  advisable  to  add  any  of  the  prepara- 
tions I  have  noticed  to  the  future  Pharmacopoeia  ?  Differences 
of  opinion  no  doubt  exist  with  reference  to  this  question,  and  on 
this  account  I  have  introduced  the  subject  for  discussion  here. 
It  may  be  urged  that  the  profession  have  the  simple  substances 
and  can  unite  them  as  they  please,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
well  known  that  few  remedies  are  much  employed  until  introduced 
in  some  well-defined  and  manageable  form.  Again,  it  may  be 
said,  that  if  every  preparation  used  in  medicine  were  introduced 
into  the  Pharmacopoeia,  this  work  would  be  rendered  too  volum- 
inous ;  but  I  think  that  a  work  for  the  guidance  of  every  branch 
of  the  profession,  from  the  Physician  to  the  Pharmaceutist,  can- 
not contain  too  large  an  amount  of  instruction  and  information 
up  to  the  latest  date,  for  it  would  be  far  more  convenient  to  re- 
fer to  one  volume  for  the  information  required,  than  to  have  to 
search  through  many  works,  including  journals  and  pamphlets." 
— Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  May  1,  1857. 
DESCRIPTIVE  NOTICE  OF  SOME  FRENCH  PHARMACEUTICAL 
SPECIALITIES, 
With  specimens  presented  to  the  Society  by  D.  8.  Kemp,  Associate  and 
Resident  in  Paris. 
Communicated  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Baildon. 
[The  remarks  by  Mr.  Kemp,  and  those  of  Mr.  Baildon,  which  follow,  are 
extracted  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Scottish  branch  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society,  published  in  the  PharmaceuticalJournal  for  May,  1857. — Editor,] 
