EDITORIAL. 
381 
This  important  work  now  for  the  third  time  comes  to  us  for  notice,  and 
were  it  not  quite  unnecessary  to  bring  forward  its  principal  features,  now 
so  generally  known  to  medical  and  some  pharmaceutical  readers,  we 
might  reiterate  what  has  been  said  of  them  on  former  occasions,  in  vol. 
xxxii,  p.  190,  and  vol.  xxxvi,  p.  542.  The  author  informs  us  in  the  pre- 
face to  this  edition  that  he  now  treats  for  the  first  time  of  chromic  acid, 
permanganate  of  potassa,  the  sulphites  of  soda,  etc.,  carbolic  acid,  nitrous 
oxide,  rhigolene,  and  Calabarbean  ;  and  that  the  articles  on  bromine  and 
electricity  are  very  materially  changed  and  extended.  On  other  occa- 
sions we  have  pointed  out  several  omissions  or  errors,  several  of  which 
were  of  sufficient  importance  to  merit  attention,  in  regard  to  the  pharma- 
ceutical part  of  the  work.  As  we  find  that  these  errors  and  omissions 
have  been  reproduced  and  continued  in  the  third  edition,  there  is  no  en- 
couragement to  point  out  more  ;  yet  there  are  some  omissions  which  strike 
us  so  forcibly  that,  at  the  risk  of  wasting  the  space  they  occupy,  we  will 
state  them. 
Under  the  article  Yeratruui  virideno  allusion  is  made  to  the  recent  care- 
ful experiments  of  Chas.  Bullock  on  the  chemical  constituents  of  this  drug, 
showing  that  it  contains  two  distinct  alkaloids,  and  that  neither  of  them 
is  identical  with  veratria.  Mr.  Bullock  also  corrects  the  previous  belief, 
that  the  resin  of  Yeratrum  viride  possessed  sedative  powers,  and  was  able 
to  show  that  this  quality,  previously  attributed  to  it,  was  due  to  adhering 
alkaloids. — (Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  Sept.  1865,  March,  1866.) 
In  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  vol- 
ume for  1865,  Prof.  Maisch  demonstrated  that  toxicodendron  owes  its 
irritant  properties  to  a  peculiar  acid,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
toxicodendric  acid,  and  that  the  physiological  properties  of  the  drug  were 
due  to  this  acid  ;  he  made  and  described  experiments  on  his  own  person. 
No  allusion  is  made  to  this  paper  or  its  results,  though  extensively  copied 
in  European  Journals. 
Orotonole,  as  the  irritant  principle  of  Croton  tiglum,  is  not  referred  to  ; 
and  lobelina  is  described  as  "  a  clear  volatile  liquid,"  when  it  is  well  as- 
certained that  it  is  not  volatile,  but  is  destructible  by  heat.  We  have  not 
been  able  to  find  any  mention  of  Hydrastis  canadensis,  Leptandra  vir- 
ginica,  Gelsemium  sempervirens,  GMenia  trifoliata,  Matico,  Nectandra, 
Stillingid,  Yanilla,  and  other  officinal  drugs  of  greater  or  less  importance, 
and  which  the  student  should  be  able  to  find  in  so  comprehensive  a  work. 
Although  brandy  and  whiskey  are  alluded  to  under  alcohol,  they,  equally 
with  wine,  which  is  prominently  noticed,  deserve  separate  chapters. 
In  pointing  out  these  omissions,  it  is  only  that  they  may  be  noticed  in 
a  new  revision  ;  believing,  whatever  may  be  the  author's  opinion  of  their 
merits,  that  they  deserve  to  be  described  and  noticed  quite  as  much  as 
many  foreign  or  antique  drugs  which  have  long  figured  in  pharmacologi- 
cal works,  and  which  here  find  a  place. 
