EFFECTS  OF  SOIL,  ETC.  ON  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES  OF  PLANTS.  45 
QTJINIA  AS  AN  ANTISEPTIC. 
Experiments  made  by  Dr.  Gieseler  with  fresh  meat,  showed 
that  the  preservative  power  of  quinia  (not  sulphate)  is  much 
greater  than  that  of  many  other  substances,  and  suggested  to  him 
the  idea  of  employing  it  in  surgical  cases.  He  saw  favorable  results 
in  cases  of  gangrene,  noma,  decabitus,  and  even. in  diphteritis  ; 
and  they  were  the  more  marked,  since,  during  his  experiments, 
Dr.  Gr.  used  also  other  remedies.  Quinia  may  also  be  recom- 
mended after  plastic  operations,  which  frequently  are  without 
success  on  account  of  the  decay  of  the  transplanted  parts ;  he 
has  likewise  used  it  locally,  with  supposed  success,  in  caries  and 
necrosis  after  performing  the  requisite  operations.  The  remedy 
is  used  in  the  form  of  strong  solution,  with  which  compresses 
are  to  be  wetted  ;  or  in  considerable  proportion  mixed  with  fat ; 
also  in  the  form  of  linctus,  gargle,  &c. — Hagers  Pharm.  Oen- 
tralhalle,  1865,  No.  33,  from  Zeitschr.  d.  Allg.  (Esterr.  Apoth. 
Ver.,  1865. 
THE  EFFECTS  OF  SOIL  AND  CULTIVATION  ON  THE  DE- 
VELOPMENT OF  THE  ACTIVE  PKINCIPLES  OF  PLANTS. 
By  Thomas  P.  Bruce  Warren,  Preparateur  in  the  Laboratory  of  Mr. 
William  Hooper. 
To  the  most  casual  observer,  it  is  evident  that  plants  which 
grow  on  one  soil  will  not  grow  on  another.  It  does  not  require 
an  extensive  knowledge  of  botany,  to  detect  that  the  primary 
functions  of  plant  life,  though  similar  in  all  classes,  vary  in 
energy  in  different  plants,  and  even  in  parts  of  the  same  plant ; 
it  is  the  adaptability  of  the  organs  for  the  performance  of  these 
functions,  which  establishes  the  locale  of  plant  existence. 
We  are  able,  by  certain  means,  so  to  modify  the  habits  of  a 
plant,  as  to  cause  it  to  grow  under  conditions  which  are  not 
normally  demanded  by  its  nature,  or  the  energy  of  its  functions  ; 
from  this  remark,  a  plant  may  be  said  to  be  cultivated  when 
grown  under  constrained  conditions. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  define  precisely  the  limits  of  cultiva- 
tion, for  the  removal  of  a  plant  from  a  soil  naturally  selected 
by  it,  or  on  which  it  grows,  as  it  were,  sud  sponte,  to  a  soil 
