498 
ON  THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  HYDRASTIS. 
hibition  at  the  World's  Fair,  I  enclosed  with  them  specimens  of 
Hydrastina  and  Mur,  Hydrastia,  which  we  had  obtained,  and 
briefly  mentioned  their  leading  properties.  These  were  placed 
in  the  College  cabinet,  and  there,  Mr.  Editor,  you  had  seen 
them  so  labelled,  and  refer  to  them  in  your  note  to  the  article 
of  Dr.  Mahla  in  the  Journal  of  that  month.  You  certainly 
must  have  forgotten  this,  when  in  your  criticism  of  July,  speak- 
ing of  my  report  that  "  the  Hydrastis  contains  two  distinct  al- 
kaloids, which  we  name  Hydrastia  and  Hydrastina,"  you  say 
"  this  assumption  is  to  be  discountenanced,"  because  I  did  not 
acknowledge  the  analysis  of  Durand,  and  Mahla  and  Perrins,  as 
previous  discoveries.  Mr.  Durand  had  discovered  but  of  one  these 
bases,  and  that  hypothetically,  and  Dr.  Mahla's  article,  which 
had  not  then  appeared,  speaks  of  but  one.  The  articles  of  J. 
Dyson  Perrins  indeed  recognises  two,  but  these  were  not  pub- 
lished in  London  until  the  April  and  May  following,  and  I  had 
seen  nothing  of  them  until  their  appearance  in  the  same  number 
of  your  Journal  with  the  extract  of  my  letter  to  Prof.  Parrish. 
It  is  evident  in  regard  to  all  of  us  that  our  investigations 
were  entirely  independent  of  the  others,  and  thus  far  original, 
whichever  may  be  entitled  to  credit  in  point  of  time. 
I  certainly  have  no  wish  to  arrogate  to  myself  the  merits  of 
other  men's  skill  or  discoveries,  although  I  may  be  remiss  in 
keeping  myself  posted  in  regard  to  them.  And  lest  I  be  again 
accused  of  any  such  injustice,  I  beg  leave  here- to  state,  I  have 
not  conducted  these  recent  experiments  alone.  Fifteen  years 
ago  I  first  introduced  to  the  medical  profession,  the  Podophyllin, 
Macrotin,  Leptandrin,  and  some  others  of  that  class  of  agents 
known  as  the  "Resinoids"  or  "  Concentrated  remedies,"  and 
set  the  ball  rolling  in  that  direction.  But  the  extensive  mercan- 
tile and  manufacturing  business  in  which,  in  company  with  my 
brother,  I  became  engaged,  has  since  so  engrossed  my  attention 
that  I  have  found  no  time  for  the  careful  labors  of  chemical  in- 
vestigation and  analysis.  We  have  long  felt,  however,  that 
many  of  that  class  of  agents  must  be  greatly  improved  and  per. 
fected  by  accurate  and  scientific  analysis,  or  else  be  rejected 
from  the  list  of  medicinal  agents,  and  have  fully  appreciated 
the  wide  field  opened  in  vegetable  materia  medica,  which,  what- 
ever may  be  our  ability,  we  had  no  time  to  cultivate.    We  have, 
