TeceS^fs™'}       Valuation  of  Drugs  and  Foods.  595 
that  the  application  of  a  powder  that  is  stronger  than  is  re- 
quired means  the  wasting  of  that  much  material.  No  other  means 
of  testing  powders  and  other  substances  possessing  insecticidal 
properties  is  probably  so  valuable  and  so  simple  as  that  of  subject- 
ing insects  directly  to  their  action. 
(3)  The  study  of  the  effects  of  drugs  upon  the  lower  animals  has 
been  performed  for  a  great  many  years.  Frogs,  rabbits,  guinea- 
pigs,  dogs,  etc.,  have  been  experimented  upon,  and  more  or  less  valu- 
able results  have  been  obtained.  The  results  of  the  experimental 
physiologist  or  investigator  have  not  always  agreed  with  those  of  the 
clinician.  It  is  but  natural,  however,  that  differences  should  arise 
between  these  two  classes  of  observers.  The  reason  for  this  is  as 
Dr.  Cushny  (in  "  Text-book  of  Pharmacology  and  Therapeutics," 
1899,  p.  18)  says :  "  Doubtless  there  are  often  faults  on  both  sides. 
The  scientist  sometimes  insists  too  strongly  on  deductions  drawn 
from  a  limited  number  of  animal  experiments  and  refuses  to  admit 
results  which  have  been  obtained  in  thousands  of  cases  of  disease 
by  competent  observers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  therapeutist  often 
lays  too  little  weight  on  the  general  principles  governing  the  inter- 
action of  the  drug  and  the  organism.  Both  often  exceed  the  limits 
of  their  provinces,  the  scientist  in  refusing  to  admit  effects  of  which 
he  has  perforce  but  a  small  experience,  the  clinician  in  attempting 
to  refute  the  deductions  founded  on  experiments  which  he  has  no 
opportunity  of  verifying."  "  Fortunately  for  the  progress  of  medi- 
cine and  pharmacology,  the  scientific  clinician  is  imbued  with  a 
desire  to  ascertain  the  methods  in  which  drugs  act,  as  well  as  to  cure 
disease,  and  thus  unites  clinical  observation  with  pharmacological 
research.  It  is  to  be  anticipated  that  the  results  of  the  practical 
physician  and  of  the  experimental  investigator  will  come  into  more 
complete  accord  as  more  exact  methods  of  clinical  research  are  used 
by  the  former  and  a  wider  laboratory  experience  is  attained  by  the 
latter.  But  both  methods  are  necessary  for  a  complete  knowledge 
of  the  action  of  a  drug.  Animal  experiments  cannot  be  dispensed 
with,  for  only  thus  can  the  action  of  drugs  be  ascertained  in  detail 
and  expeditiously,  and  at  the  present  time,  when  a  new  remedy 
appears  almost  every  week,  it  is  impossible  to  await  the  verdict  of 
the  clinics  to  separate  the  useful  from  the  worthless,  even  if  it  were 
permissible  to  apply  to  the  human  subject  drugs  of  unknown  action 
and  potency." 
