8£"- }    Memoir  of  Prof.  Wm.  Procter,  Jr  531 
is  attracting  the  attention  of  your  medical  men,  its  chemical  relations 
are  exciting  the  curiosity  of  your  pharmaceutists.  I  should  not  have 
taken  the  trouble  to  bring  their  existence  to  your  notice,  had  I  not 
observed  the  paper  of  Mr.  Bastick  in  your  Journal  for  December,  in 
which  he  states  his  ignorance  of  any  previous  researches  having  the 
same  tendency  as  his  own." 
The  Pharmaceutical  Journal  then  published  Prof.  Procter's  essay, 
placing  him  thirteen  years  in  advance  of  Mr.  Bastick  as  the  discov- 
erer of  lobelina. 
In  the  same  year  with  the  publication  of  his  thesis,  we  have  "  Re- 
marks on  an  oil  obtained  by  distillation  from  wild  cherry  bark,  and 
evidences  of  its  similarity  to  oil  of  bitter  almonds." 
In  1838,  a  paper  "  Demonstrating  the  existence  of  amygdalin  in 
several  species  of  the  genera  Prunus  and  Amygdalus." 
In  1839;  "  Observations  on  dextrin  and  diastase,"  and  "  On 
Lobelia  cardinalu^  showing  the  presence  in  that  plant  of  an  alka- 
loid differing  in  some  respects  from  the  alkaloid  found  in  Lobelia 
inflata. 
In  1840,  a  paper  "  On  the  power  of  saccharine  substances  in  pro- 
tecting from  decomposition  solution  of  protiodide  of  iron." 
In  1841,  an  essay  "  Supplementing  his  thesis  on  Lobelia  inflata, 
and  showing  that  the  alkaloid  therein  described,  represents  the  plant 
in  medicinal  qualities." 
In  1842,  "  Observations  on  the  volatile  oil  of  Gaultheria  procum- 
bens,  proving  it  to  be  a  hydracid  analogous  to  salicylous  acid." 
A  year  later,  M.  August  Cahours  took  up  the  same  subject,  and 
arrived  at  the  same  results  by  a  proximate  analysis  of  the  oil,  but  in 
his  paper,  published  in  the  Journal  de  Pharmacie  et  de  Chimie,  March, 
1843,  he  makes  no  allusion  to  Mr.  Procter's  previous  publication, 
leaving  us  uncertain  whether  he  had  seen  Mr.  Procter's  paper,  or 
whether  the  investigation  made  by  him  was  coincident  with  that  of 
Mr.  Procter. 
In  1843,  "  On  the  volatile  oil  of  Betula  lenta  (sweet  birch),  and 
on  gaultherin  " — a  substance  playing  a  part  similar  to  amygdalin — 
and  which,  by  its  decomposition,  yields  an  oil  identical  with  oil  of 
gaultheria. 
In  1847,  "  On  the  reduction  of  oxide  of  iron  by  hydrogen." 
In  1849,  "  Remarks  on  the  oleo-resinous  ethereal  extracts,  their 
