HYDRATED  SESQUIOXIDE  OF  CHROMIUM. 
113 
What  kind  of  an  appearance  would  the  Dispensatory  of  1870 
present,  if  the  expulsion  of  so  many  preparations  as  is  advocated 
by  Dr.  Squibb  were  consummated  ?  What  innumerable  disadvan- 
tages the  pharmacist  and  physician  would  be  subjected  to  in  conse- 
quence. What  an  immense  field  would  open  out  to  the  gaze  of 
the  empiric.  What  a  traffic  in  non-officinal  preparations  would 
be  instituted,  resulting  in  the  most  fearful  incongruities, — thereby 
defeating  the  grand  objects  and  use  of  a  national  pharmacopoeia. 
I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  advocating  the  generally  con- 
ceived opinion  that  a  pharmacist  cannot  err  if  he  implicitly  obeys 
the  dogmas  of  his  authority,  (the  Pharmacopoeia,)  for  it  partakes 
of  our  own  natures  and  is  consequently  imperfect,  and  a  too  strict 
adherence  to  it  would  have  a  tendency  to  oppose  the  progress  of 
reason,  the  advancement  of  natural  truths  and  the  prosecution  of 
new  discoveries.  Our  present  Pharmacopoeia,  perhaps,  would 
have  been  more  perfect  had  it  not  been  that,  to  give  general  cur- 
rency to  a  hypothetical  opinion,  or  to  a  medical  reputation  of  an 
inert  substance,  requires  only  the  talismanic  aid  of  a  few  great 
names,  and  when  once  established  upon  such  a  basis,  ingenuity, 
argument,  and  even  experiment,  may  open  their  ineffectual  bat- 
teries. It  is  an  instinct  in  our  nature  to  follow  the  track  pointed 
out  by  a  few  leaders ;  we  are  gregarious  animals,  in  a  moral  as 
well  as  a  physical  sense,  and  we  are  addicted  to  routine,  because 
it  is  always  easier  to  follow  the  opinions  of  others  than  to  reason 
and  judge  for  ourselves.  The  laconic  sentiment  of  the  Roman 
satirist  is  ever  opposed  to  our  remonstrance : 
'        "  Did  Marcus  say  it  was  a  fact  ?  then  fact  it  is  ; 
No  proof  so  valid  as  a  word  of  his." 
In  conclusion,  my  fellow  pharmacists,  let  us  be  actuated  by 
studious  reflection  rather  than  by  established  habits. 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  AND  MEDICINAL  USE  OF  HY- 
DRATED  SESQUIOXIDE  OF  CHROMIUM, 
By  C.  J.  Rademaker,  M.D. 
Having  had  frequent  occasion  to  prepare  this  oxide  of  chro- 
mium, the  following  process  was  resorted  to :  Bichromate  of 
potash  was  decomposed  in  the  usual  way  by  SO'^HO,  the  CrO^ 
8 
