312 
REMARKS  ON  DIALYSIS. 
in  this  State,  about  the  1st  of  March,  1861,  and  was  carefully 
prepared  and  dried. 
I  was  unable  to  discover  any  fixed  or  volatile  oil.  the  former 
by  treating  with  ether,  or  the  latter  by  distilling  with  an  alka- 
line solution. 
The  above  chemical  examination  was  suggested  by  interroga- 
tions from  an  old  country  gentleman,  who  has  for  many  years 
been  administering  both  to  his  own  family  and  neighbors  a 
strong  decoction  of  the  root,  as  a  most  effectual  cure  in  the 
early  stages  of  dysentery. 
Four  grains  of  the  resin,  which  by  the  Eclectics  is  styled 
baptisin,  were  taken  by  myself,  attendant  with  no  other  effect 
than  occasioning  much  nausea. 
The  medical  properties  of  the  root,  I  suppose  to  exist  in  the 
crystallizable  principle  obtained,  and  those  ascribed  by  the 
Eclectics,  to  the  resin,  are  mainly  owing  to  its  containing  a  very 
small  portion  of  this  principle  in  combination. 
Phila'd.  January  22d,  1862. 
REMARKS  ON  DIALYSIS. 
Br  William  Procter,  Jr. 
The  important  subject  of  liquid  diffusion,  as  developed  by 
Prof.  Thomas  Graham,  was  laid  before  the  readers  of  this  Journal 
in  a  paper  published  at  page  513,  for  the  year  1861.  Since  that 
time,  both  in  England  and  on  the  Continent,  the  importance  of 
the  facts  set  forth  by  Mr.  Graham  have  attracted  much  atten- 
tion, and  results  of  great  interest  to  physiology,  chemistry  and 
pharmacy,  seem  destined  to  flow  from  them.  In  the  April  num- 
ber of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  page  515,  Prof.  T.  Red- 
wood has  published  an  elaborate  lecture,  illustrated  with  several 
wood  cuts,  in  which  he  has  gone  into  much  detail  with  tabular 
views  of  the  relative  diffusive  power  of  different  substances.  The 
great  length  of  this  paper  precludes  its  publication  in  this 
Journal,  and  whilst  referring  the  reader  to  the  original,  it  is  pro- 
posed to  give  such  a  brief  sketch  of  the  subject  as  will  enable 
those  not  conversant  with  the  process  to  get  an  idea  of  its  nature 
and  usefulness. 
