38  Physiological  Action  of  Salicylic  Acid.  { Am -/X'iSl  rm • 
barium  of  this  Society  of  the  ovary  of  a  species  of  Styrax  from  Luang 
Prabang  in  the  Laos  States,  where  the  Siam  benzoin  is  produced; 
shows  an  oval  or  elliptical  outline,  that  of  S.  Benzoin  being  spherical. 
— Pharm.  Journ.  and  Trans.,  Dec.  13,  1890,  p.  519. 
THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION  OF  THE  CONSTITU- 
ENTS OF  THE  ARTIFICIAL  SALICYLIC  ACID 
OF  COMMERCE.1 
By  M.  Charteris,  M.D. 
Professor  of  Therapeutics  and  Materia  Medica,  Glasgow  University. 
Dr.  Latham,  of  Cambridge,  in  the  Croonian  lectures  for  1886, 
thus  formulated  a  rule  for  the  administration  of  salicylic  acid  in  the 
treatment  of  acute  rheumatism  :  "  The  true  salicylic  acid  from  the 
vegetable  kingdom  must  alone  be  employed.  If  you  have  to  give 
large  doses  avoid  giving  the  artificial  product  from  carbolic  acid, 
however  much  it  may  have  been  dialyzed  and  purified.  An  impure 
acid  will  very  quickly  produce  symptoms  closely  resembling 
delirium  tremens." 
From  time  to  time,  before  and  after  Dr.  Latham's  statement, 
doubts  as  to  the  prudence  of  prescribing  the  artificial  acid  were 
expressed  in  professional  circles,  and  occasional  reports  of  bad 
symptoms  having  followed  its  use  were  published  in  the  medical  . 
journals.  From  my  clinical  experience,  when  from  giving  it  in  the 
hospital  patients  became  delirious,  I  could  not  fail  to  see  that  it  was 
a  remedy  to  be  watched  and  not  to  be  trusted,  and  I  relied  entirely 
for  the  last  ten  years  on  salicin  and  the  natural  salicylate  of  sodium 
in  treating  rheumatism. 
But  yet  I  felt  I  might  have  been  mistaken,  and  I  resolved,  with 
the  assistance  of  Dr.  MacLennan,  to  enter  upon  an  experimental 
research  as  to  the  physiological  action  of  the  two  acids. 
I  may  briefly  summarize  the  first  experiments  which  I  carried  on 
with  Dr.  MacLennan  on  natural  and  artificial  salicylic  acid  and  their 
salts  of  sodium,  by  stating  that  artificial  salicylic  in  a  10  grain  dose 
and  artificial  salicylate  of  sodium  in  an  18  grain  dose  were  sufficient 
to  cause  the  death  of  a  rabbit  weighing  from  2^  to  3  pounds,  while 
1  Read  before  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain  at  an  Evening 
Meeting  in  London,  November  12;  reprinted  from  Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans. , 
November  22,  p.  436. 
