230  Clay  as  a  Medicine.  {^"^-  ^%r^^^^To\ 
In  appendix  number  three  there  is  a  short  discussion  of  the 
general  principles  of  prescribing  medicines,  followed  by  typical 
examples  of  prescriptions  of  various  kinds. 
To  show  the  prevalence  of  prescribing  narcotics  in  this  period  of 
nearly  a  century  ago  it  is  surprising  to  see  that  out  of  seventy-seven 
examples  of  prescriptions,  seventeen,  or  nearly  one-quarter  of  the 
total  number,  call  for  opium  or  some  preparation  thereof. 
It  is  interesting  also  to  note  that  the  translator  has  not  ventured 
to  make  use  of  any  of  the  "new  remedies"  described  in  the  main 
portion  of  the  work  in  his  prescription  examples. 
It  is  both  pleasant  and  profitable  sometimes  to  wander  through 
"quaint  and  curious  volumes  of  forgotten  lore."  In  the  case  of 
Magendie's  Formulary  our  journey  ends  with  a  realization  that  the 
workers  of  that  time,  although  poorly  equipped,  both  as  to  funda- 
mental facts  and  apparatus,  were  giants  in  achievement  and  it  is 
for  us  to  sincerely  say,  "Give  us  the  hearts  of  our  fathers  of  old." 
Department  of  Pharmacy, 
PHILADEI.PHIA  CoivIvEGE  OP  PHARMACY. 
CLAY  AS  A  MEDICINE. 
By  C.  B.  Lowe,  M.D. 
In  the  "Book  of  Books"  are  interesting  references  to  clay.  In 
the  Book  of  Job  (supposed  to  be  the  oldest  book  in  the  Bible),  Job 
speaks  of  it  as  a  building  material,  when  he  says,  "I  also  am  formed 
out  of  the  clay,"  and  in  the  loth  chapter,  9th  verse  he  also  says, 
"remember  I  beseech  thee,  that  thou  hast  made  me  as  the  clay." 
Its  tenacity  is  referred  to  in  Psalm  40:  2,  where  it  speaks  of  the  miry 
clay. 
It  is  also  referred  to  as  an  external  application  in  the  Gospel 
of  John  9:6,  where  Christ  anointed  the  eyes  of  the  blind  man  with 
clay,  sending  him  to  the  Pool  of  Siloam.  It  says,  "he  went  his  way 
and  washed  and  came  seeing."  In  this  case  the  value  of  the  appli- 
cation was  physiological,  to  stimulate  the  man's  faith. 
In  Wycliffe's  translation  of  the  Bible,  he  speaks  of  "rushes 
glewed  with  glewish  clay  and  pitch"  as  the  material  with  which  the 
mother  of  Moses  made  the  ark  in  which  she  consigned  her  infant 
son  to  the  river  Nile.    As  a  side  remark,  the  statement  has  recently 
