EDITORIAL. 
191 
carry,  a  permanent  record  of  his  daily  visits ;  and  being  in  pocket-book 
style,  with  a  pocket,  it  may  be  used  as  a  substitute  for  that  necessary  item 
of  a  business  man's  equipment.  It  is  covered  with  morocco,  fastens  with 
a  tongue,  is  gilt  edged,  and  altogether  is  gotten  up  in  the  best  manner. 
Transactions  of  the  Illinois  State  Medical  Society,  for  the  year  1857. 
Chicago.    Pp.  128,  octavo. 
The  reception  of  this  pamphlet  is  acknowledged.  Among  the  papers  and 
reports  it  contains,  is  one  from  •«  the  Committee  on  Drugs  and  Medicines," 
by  H.  A.  Johnson,  M.  D.,  of  Chicago,  in  which  we  are  informed  that  Dr. 
E.  P.  Wood,  of  Wisconsin,  has  called  attention  to  a  plant  known  in  the 
region  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  as  Indian  Quinine  or  Ague  Weed,  which  is 
largely  used  in  domestic  practice  as  an  antiperiodic.  The  plant  is  stated 
to  be  the  Gentiana  Quinqueflora,  which  grows  abundantly  on  the  prairies, 
and  flowers  late  in  the  fall.  In  view  of  the  immense  demand  for  the  expen- 
sive products  of  Cinchona,  Dr.  Johnson  thinks  that  physicians  should 
embrace  every  opportunity  to  get  substitutes  for  them.  Attention  is  directed 
to  the  valuable  properties  of  Glycerin,  and  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association  is  spoken  of  as  being  zealously  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
objects  of  its  formation. 
Dr.  C.  Goodbrake,  of  Clinton,  111.,  makes  a  report  favorable  to  the  reme- 
dial value  of  Asclepias  Tuberosa.  He  thinks  that  it  possesses  valuable 
diaphoretic  properties,  and  remarks,  "In  its  action  on  the  system,  it  some- 
what resembles  the  Dover's  powder,  for  which  it  forms,  in  many  cases,  a 
very  good  substitute,  without  the  objection  which  frequently  obtains  against 
the  use  of  the  Pulv.  Doveri,  of  causing  cerebral  disturbance,  or  checking 
the  secretion  of  the  kidneys."  The  drug  is  particularly  recommended  in 
the  diarrhoea  and  dysentery  of  children. 
The  Peninsular  and  Independent  Medical  Journal.    Devoted  to  Medicine, 
Surgery  and  Pharmacy.    Editors,  A.  B.  Palmer,  M.  D.,  and  Moses 
Gunn,  M.  D.,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  Frederick  Stearns, 
Pharmaceutist,  of  Detroit.  April  1838.    Higby  &  Stearns,  publishers. 
We  have  copied  the  above  from  the  title-page  and  prospectus  of  a  new 
Medical  Journal,  to  be  published  at  Detroit,  commencing  in  April  next, 
and  which  is  formed  by  the  union  of  the  two  Journals  indicated  in  its 
name.    The  editorial  corps  is  new,  and  has  the  novel  feature  of  a  special 
Editor  for  the  Pharmaceutical  department.    The  publishers  design  their 
Journal  to  be  an  independent  organ,  devoted  to  the  whole  interests  of  the 
medical  profession.   From  the  well  known  energy  and  ability  of  the  phar- 
maceutical Editor,  we  look  forward  with  interest  to  his  department  of  the 
new  Journal,  and,  if  we  may  draw  an  inference  from  his  contributions  to 
the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  we  feel  as- 
