EDITORIAL.  185 
valuable  as  in  some  former  years.  Quite  a  number  of  them  have  been 
reprinted  in  this  Journal,  and  will  speak  for  themselves. 
We  cannot  leave  this  notice  without  expressing  our  regret  at  the 
prospective  resignation  of  Prof.  J.  M.  Maisch  as  Permanent  Secretary. 
The  qualification  for  the  post  is  not  easily  met  with,  and  even  the  best 
have  to  serve  an  apprenticeship  of  years  to  become  familiar  with  the 
routine  of  the  service.  We  hope  that  Prof.  M.  will  be  persuaded  to  with- 
draw his  resignation  and  that  some  part  of  his  duties  will  be  laid  on  other 
shoulders. 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society.    Yol.  XI,  No.  82. 
This  number  extends  from  June  18th,  1869,  to  Dec.  17th,  1869,  and 
embraces  a  number  of  interesting  papers  on  natural  history,  astronomy, 
geology,  meteorology,  Indian  relics,  etc.,  but  the  paper  most  interesting 
to  pharmaceutical  readers  is  that  of  Prof.  H.  C.  Wood,  Jr.,  "  On  the 
medicinal  activity  of  the  Hemp  Plant  as  grown  in  North  America,'^  a 
prize  essay  read  before  the  Society  Nov.  19th,  1869.  It  has  been  con- 
sidered that  the  peculiar  resin  of  the  tops  and  leaves  of  Cannabis  sativa, 
so  much  esteemed  in  medicine,  is  only  developed  in  quantity  in  the 
warmer  countries  of  Asia,  In  fact  an  experiment  made  by  us  a  few  years 
since  on  hemp  leaves  grown  in  Philadelphia  proved  them  to  contain  but 
little  resinous  matter.  Dr.  Wood,  however,  obtained  male  plants 
grown  for  the  purpose  of  fertilizing  seeding  female  plants,  and  which, 
having  fullilled  that  office,  were  of  no  further  value  to  the  cultivator," 
being  furnished  by  R.  B.  Hamilton,  Esq.,  of  Lexington,  Ky.  Dr.  Wood 
treated  half  an  ounce  of  the  powdered  leaves  with  alcohol,  and  by  evapo- 
ration obtained  an  extract.  He  took  between  20  and  30  grains  of  this 
extract  at  a  dose,  which,  after  several  hours,  produced  the  eflfects  char- 
acteristic of  the  Indian  hemp  in  such  a  forcible  manner  that  it  should  be 
called  poisoning,  commencing  with  a  joyous  elevation  of  spirits  and  pass- 
ing into  other  and  alarming  symptoms,  the  most  distressing  of  which  was 
a  feeling  of  impending  death,  &c.,  &c.  The  physiological  details  reported 
by  the  author  and  his  friend,  Dr.  Thomas,  who  attended  him  during  the 
paroxysms,  are  sufficiently  interesting,  but  the  space  at  command  here 
is  so  brief  that  we  must  pass  them  by  to  state  that  subsequent  pharma- 
ceutical trial  with  the  Kentucky  hemp  tops  and  leaves  afforded  four  or 
five  per  cent,  of  resin  deprived  of  extractive  by  means  of  carbonate  of 
soda.  This  was  tried  and  found  active  in  three-fourths  of  a  grain.  Sub- 
sequently Messrs.  Hance  Brothers  &  White  prepared  some  of  the  resin 
after  the  manner  of  Messrs.  T.  &  H.  Smith,  of  Edinburg,  which  in  one- 
fourth  gr.  doses  produced  decided  therapeutic  effects.  Dr.  Wood  infers 
from  his  results  that  the  male  hemp  plants  of  Kentucky  are  capable  of 
replacing  the  East  Indian  drng,  and  that  the  hemp  resin  only  should  be 
recognized  by  the  Pharmacopoeia,  prepared  by  a  method  analogous  to 
that  of  the  Messrs.  Smith,  of  Edinburgh.  It  is  a  matter  of  much  interest 
to  have  the  pharmaceutical  part  of  the  subject  fully  investigated  by  a 
