38 
Drug  Smoking. 
j  A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       Jan.,  1880 
sible.  The  pressure  is  then  applied  and  the  oil  exudes.  Several  bags 
may  be  pressed  simultaneously,  one  being  placed  over  the  other  with 
an  iron  plate  of  sufficient  strength  between  each.  The  necessity  of 
flattening  out  the  bags  is  apparent  here,  for  if  this  precaution  is  not 
adopted,  the  plates  which  divide  each  layer  of  bags  would  be  apt  to 
bend  or  break  under  pressure.  The  refining  process  should  be  con- 
ducted in  the  usual  manner  in  filters  of  animal  charcoal  or  sand,  or 
bjth  combined. — J^our.  of  App.  Sci.^  Dec.  i,  1879. 
DRUG  SMOKING. 
Bv  Reginald  E,  Thompson,  M.D. 
The  following  remarks  and  formulae  are  extracted  from  a  paper  on 
The  Therapeutical  Value  of  Drug  Smoking,"  especially  in  reference 
to  asthma,  which  appeared  in  the  "  Practitioner  "  for  August: 
The  chief  difficulty  in  treating  an  individual  case  of  asthma  arises 
from  individual  peculiarities,  which  makes  the  choice  of  the  appropriate 
neurotic  a  matter  rather  of  hap-hazard  selection,  numerous  experiments 
being  sometimes  necessary  before  an  indication  is  obtained  as  to  the 
special  drug  required;  one  drug  will  have  a  so-called  magical  effect  in 
one  case  which  may  prove  inert  when  used  in  another,  and  hence  in 
endeavoring  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  a  number  of  individuals  it 
becomes  necessary  to  combine  a  number  of  remedies,  and  such  a  com- 
bination of  drugs  becomes  more  universal  in  its  application  in  propor- 
tion to  its  complexity,  the  chance  of  its  proving  effectual  in  any  indi- 
vidual case  being  greatly  enhanced  by  such  a  composition. 
It  is  a  matter  of  some  difficulty  to  analyze  with  any  certainty  those 
mixtures  of  vegetable  and  other  substances  which  are  sold  as  remedies 
for  asthma,  but  an  examination  of  them  shows  conclusively  that  they 
are  composite,  different  leaves  being  found  on  submitting  any  sample 
to  microscopical  analysis  ;  some  of  them  contain  opium,  others  do  not  ^ 
most  of  them  contain  lobelia,  and  it  may  be  stated  with  some  certainty 
that  all  of  them  have  stramonium  for  their  basis. 
If  such  remedies  are  tried  in  a  number  of  cases  it  is  surprising  how 
one  remedy  at  one  time  appears  to  be  of  the  greatest  service,  another 
at  another  time  ;  much  depends,  doubtless,  upon  the  method  of  prepa- 
ration and  preservation,  and  upon  the  care  with  which  the  drugs  are 
selected,  and  the  best  secret  remedy  I  know  (Himrod's)  is  evidently 
