6o6  Resin  of  Podophyllum  and  Podophyllum  {AmbJe°cU,1'ilo.arm' 
cerning  the  drugs  to  which  the  names  were  applied.1  The  fore- 
going view  of  those  terms  finally  prevailed  among  all  Eclectics,  and 
became  established  firmly  in  the  drug  trade,  and,  as  before  remarked, 
when  the  (more  or  less)  resinous  precipitate  obtained  from  Podo- 
phyllum peltatum  finally  demanded  recognition  in  the  United  States 
Pharmacopoeia,  it  came  before  the  revision  of  that  work  as  an 
eclectic  drug  under  a  name  formulated  by  the  editors  of  the  United 
States  Dispensatory  that  had  become  argumentatively  established 
as  the  universal  appellation. 
Introduction  to  the  U.  S.  P. ;  Resina  Podophylli. — The  substance 
under  consideration,  as  before  stated,  was  the  first  member  to  obtain 
popularity  in  the  list  of  eclectic  "  resinoids."  Through  the  influ- 
ence of  Professors  King,  Hill,  Morrow,  and  other  contributions  to 
eclectic  literature,  the  drug  had  quickly  assumed  a  position  and 
importance  perhaps  seldom  attained  by  vegetable  remedies  within 
so  short  a  period.  Its  unquestioned  efficacy  as  a  cholagogue  cathar- 
tic established  it  in  the  practice  of  the  eclectic  medical  profession, 
to  whom  it  appeared  in  the  heat  of  their  controversy  over  the  abuse 
of  the  mercurial  preparations  that  were  then  so  extensively  employed 
in  regular  practice,  and  it  was  hailed  by  eclectics  as  a  vegetable 
substitute  for  the  mercurials,  and  even  called  the  "  Eclectic  Calomel." 
Before  its  character  was  understood  to  the  leaders  in  the  Regular 
School,  it  became,  as  has  been  stated,  under  the  name  podophylliny 
perhaps  the  most  prominent  of  eclectic  drugs.  Such  conspicuity  as 
it  enjoyed  in  their  ranks  could  not,  however,  exist  with  reference  to 
a  drug  used  so  extensively  in  Eclecticism  without  recurring  intro- 
ductions to  members  of  the  Regular  School,  and,  in  consequence,  it 
came  into  general  repute  with  numbers  of  their  general  practitioners 
before  it  had  been  recognized  authoritatively  by  any  of  their  book- 
makers. Thus  it  happened  that  commercial  " podophyllin"  became 
•  a  valued  drug  in  general,  regular  practice  years  before  it  received 
recognition,  either  in  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  or  Dispensa- 
tory. Hence,  when  at  last  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  give  a  posi- 
tion in  the  Pharmacopoeia  to  this  drug,  which  had  long  been  known 
to  be  of  unquestioned  value,  it  was  found  that  its  "eclectic"  nam,e 
podophyllin,  had  become  established  at  home  and  abroad. 
Probably  unaware  of  the  record  in  Eclecticism — at  least,  without 
1  These  discussions,  being  confined  to  eclectic  publications,  are  unknown  to 
most  persons,  for  few  students  have  that  literature  at  command. 
