EDITORIAL. 
287 
will  add  to,  rather  than  diminish  the  interest  of  medical  men  in  the 
Journal,  whilst  with  proper  management  it  may  be  made  an  organ  for  the 
development  of  pharmaceutical  talent  in  the  northwest. 
Report  on  Fluid  Extracts,  read  before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine, Dec,  1857,  by  Samuel  Rotton,  M.  D.  Pp.  7,  octavo. 
It  appears,  from  this  pamphlet,  that  the  New  York  Academy  referred  to 
the  Section  on  Materia  Medica  a  large  number  of  fluid  extracts  for  exami- 
nation, which  eventually  were  referred  to  the  author  as  a  sub-Committee, 
who  has  reported  on  some  of  them  therapeutically  and  analytically.  They 
include  the  fluid  extracts  of  Veratrum  viride,  of  Jalap,  of  Cannabis  Indica, 
of  Ergot,  of  Rhubarb,  of  Ipecac,  of  Red  Peruvian  Bark,  and  of  Calisaya 
Bark.  He  found  them  all  deficient  in  medicinal  power,  and  on  analysis  gave 
indication  of  being  much  weaker  than  theory  requires ;  in  a  word,  Dr. 
Rotton  has  examined  a  lot  of  inferior  fluid  extracts,  and  on  the  result,  con- 
demns the  whole  class  of  preparations,  as  liable  to  vary  in  strength,  by 
design,  carelessness  or  natural  deficiency  in  the  drugs  themselves.  His 
remedy  is  to  employ  only  the  active  principles  of  plants,  and  discard  galeni- 
cal preparations  as  too  variable  to  be  relied  upon.  This  suggestion  is  ob- 
noxious to  the  objection  that  active  principles  are  more  easily  adulterated 
than  plants  or  roots,  that  they  are  not  so  easily  judged  of  by  the  general 
range  of  apothecaries.  Hence,  although  these  principles,  when  pure,  may 
be  relied  on  as  uniform,  and  not  liable  to  change  by  keeping,  they  are,  as 
yet,  too  few  in  number,  and  many  of  them  too  expensive,  to  be  employed 
in  general  practice.  Our  space  does  not  admit  of  further  remark,  but 
we  expect  to  resume  the  subject. 
Obituary. — Dr.  John  Forbes  Royle.  Just  after  closing  our  columns  for 
the  March  number,  we  learned,  through  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  for 
February,  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Royle.  So  soon  after  Pereira,  the  death  of 
Royle  will  leave  a  void  in  the  department  of  medical  science  he  so  ably 
illustrated,  not  easily  filled.  The  position  of  an  authority  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude in  materia  medica  is  only  attained  by  long  continued  exertion,  as, 
however  great  may  be  the  talents  of  an  individual,  it  is  observation  that 
gives  value  to  his  writings  on  this  branch  ;  he  must  labor  with  his  own  facul- 
ties, collect  specimens  from  every  available  source,  and  verify  statements 
by  experiment.  It  was  in  this  way  that  Pereira  attained  to  his  exalted 
position  as  a  Pharmacologist.  Dr.  Royle's  duties  as  Inspector  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  East  India  Company  gave  him  great  facilities  in  the  study  of 
drugs  from  the  East.  It  is  to  his  influence  that  our  College  (through  the 
kindness  of  Mr.  Yarnall)  received  a  valuable  accession  to  its  museum.  The 
following  account,  from  the  London  Athenaeum,  is  extracted  from  the 
Pharmaceutical  Journal  : 
Science  has  sustained  a  loss  in  the  death  of  Dr.  Royle,  which  took  place 
at  his  residence,  Heathfield  Lodge,  Acton,  Middlesex,  on  Saturday,  Jan. 
