636 
Editorial. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I   December,  1895. 
"A  careful  weighing  of  all  the  evidence  submitted  upon  the  subject  up  to 
the  present  time  seems  to  establish  the  following  facts  :  That  antitoxin  is  a 
curative  agent  far  more  efficacious  in  diphtheria  than  any  remedy  heretofore 
employed ;  that  its  injection  is  very  rarely  followed  by  serious  local  disturb- 
ances, such  as  abscess,  and,  perhaps,  never  when  the  preparation  is  pure  and 
employed  under  antiseptic  precautions  ;  that  a  marked  improvement  in  both 
the  local  and  general  symptoms  of  diphtheria  is  noticeable  within  twenty-four 
to  forty-eight  hours  after  the  injection  of  the  serum  ;  that  the  antitoxin  has  a 
decided  influence  in  preventing  the  spread  of  the  false  membrane  into  the 
larynx  and  trachea  ;  that  the  earlier  in  course  of  the  disease  the  serum  is 
employed  the  more  favorable  are  the  results  ;  that  it  is  distinctly  more  efficient 
in  the  fibrinous  types  of  the  disease  than  in  the  septic  ones  ;  that  the  liability 
to  paralysis  and  albuminuria  is  not  lessened  by  the  use  of  serum,  but  probably 
somewhat  enhanced  thereby  ;  that  genuine  nephritis,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
less  frequently  observed  in  cases  of  diphtheria  treated  with  antitoxin  than  with 
other  remedies  ;  that  antitoxin  may  produce  certain  untoward  symptoms,  such 
as  various  cutaneous  rashes,  but  that  these  are  not  serious  in  their  nature  and 
are  unattended  with  danger  to  life  ;  and  that  improvement  in  the  methods 
of  preparing  the  serum  and  more  definite  knowledge  as  to  the  manner  of  its 
employment  have  rendered  the  later  reports  even  more  favorable  to  its  use 
than  the  earlier  ones." 
AN  UNCARED-FOR  FILING. 
The  Therapeutic  Gazette  for  November  15,  1895,  contains  an  article  by  Leedom 
Sharp,  IvL.B.,  M.D.,  on  "Opium  Poisoning  Treated  with  Caffeine,"  in  which 
occurs  the  following  paragraph,  a  part  of  which  we  have  italicized  : 
"  The  length  of  time  elapsing  from  the  taking  of  the  opium,  which  was  in 
the  form  of  Dover's  powder — compounded  by  the  druggist  hastily  and  carelessly  f 
no  doubt — to  the  time  he  was  given  the  caffeine  was  about  two  hours  and  a 
half." 
This  sentence,  which  was  not  constructed  according  to  the  long- established 
rules  of  Goold  Brown  or  any  other  grammarian,  is  not,  so  far  as  the  statement 
concerning  the  druggist  is  concerned,  substantiated  by  any  other  part  of  the 
article,  nor  is  it  in  accordance  with  the  facts  which  are  apparent  to  any  one 
who  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  the  balance  of  the  paper. 
This  heavily  titled  author  first  tells  us  that  his  patient  was  "  aged  twenty- 
seven  ;  a  medical  student  of  marked  mental  attainments  and  in  perfect  health, 
but  suffering  from  hay  fever."  How  the  patient  could  be  suffering  from  hay 
fever  and  opium  poisoning,  yet  be  in  perfect  health,  will  probably  not  be  quite 
clear  to  laymen  ;  but  we  think  we  know  what  the  author  intended. 
We  then  learn  that  the  patient  arrived  at  the  physician's  office  at  5.30 
a.m.,  two  hours  after  he  had  swallowed  fifteen  grains  of  Dover's  powder.  Now 
if  the  stomach  of  that  medical  student  "  of  marked  mental  attainments  "  was 
as  it  should  have  been  at  3.30  a.m.,  it  was  empty,  and  any  tyro  in  therapeutics 
knows  that  if  the  fifteen  grains  of  Dover's  powder  had  not  produced  a  marked 
impression  under  those  circumstances,  the  drug  and  druggist  both  might  have 
been  the  subjects  of  some  suspicion.  But  the  drug  was  of  the  full  strength 
and  weight,  and  this  heavily  titled  physician,  without  stopping  to  discuss  that, 
says:    "I  gave  him  immediately  nitro-glycerin,        grain;  tr.   digitalis,  4 
