EDITORIAL. 
573 
Polytechnic  College. — We  have  received  the  Third  Annual  Announce- 
ment of  the  Polytechnic  College  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Faculty,  According  to  its  showing,  the  Institution,  though  so  re- 
cently established,  is  in  a  flourishing  condition  )  all  the  Professorships  are 
filled  by  individuals  qualified  for  their  responsible  duties.  Thirty-four  Matri- 
culants attended  the  last  term.  The  five  courses  taught  under  the  general 
heads,  "  Civil  Engineering,"  "Mechanical  Engineering,"  Chemistry,  general 
and  applied/'  "  Mining  Engineering"  and  "  Agriculture,"  pass  into  each 
other  on  various  subjects  ;  no  one  individual  attending  all  of  them.  From 
the  synopsis  of  the  courses,  the  tuition  must  be  very  thorough,  and 
eminently  calculated  to  develope  the  talents  of  young  men,  and  fit  them  for 
the  active  duties  of  life,  whether  scientific,  industrial,  or  mercantile.  Those 
of  our  readers  who  may  desire  further  information  in  regard  to  the  Poly- 
technic College,  should  address  a  letter  to  Dr.  Alfred  L.  Kennedy,  President 
of  the  Faculty,  No.  268  South  Eleventh  Street. 
On  the  cheaper  Alkaloids  of  the  Cinchonas. — Under  this  title  we 
have  read  a  pamphlet  of  sixteen  pages,  written  by  Daniel  B.  Smith,  Esq. 
of  Philadelphia,  at  the  request  of  Messrs,  Powers  &  Weightman,  by  whom 
it  is  circulated  gratuitously.  The  object  of  the  pamphlet  is  to  show,  from 
the  testimony  of  eminent  physicians,  that  cinchonia,  quinidia  and  the  al- 
kaloidal  matter  known  in  commerce  as  quinoidine,  possess  antiperiodic  and 
febrifugal  power,  to  an  extent  which,  if  not  quite  equal  to  quinia,  are  so 
nearly  equivalent  to  it  as  to  demand  the  serious  attention  of  medical  men 
in  an  economical  point  of  view.  The  price  of  sulphate  of  quinia  has  now 
gone  up  from  the  immense  demand  for  it  in  our  Western  States,  to  above 
three  dollars  the  ounce,  whilst  sulphate  of  cinchonia  can  be  purchased  for 
from  70  to  80  cents,  and  quinoidine  much  less.  From  the  published  ex- 
periments of  Dr.  Pepper  and  others,  in  reference  to  the  therapeutic  power 
of  the  sulphates  of  cinchonia  and  quinidia,  these  salts  are  considered  so 
nearly  equivalent  to  sulphate  of  quinia,  that  in  the  practice  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital  they  are  used  indiscriminately,  whilst  Dr.  Da  Costa's  trials  with 
quinoidin  in  53  cases,  convinced  him  that  it  is  about  three-fifths  as  strong 
in  curative  power  as  the  quinia  salt.  Further,  Prof.  R.  P.  Thomas,  of  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  has,  for  some  months  past,  been  using 
the  cinchonia  salt  in  his  own  practice,  and  in  that  of  two  institutions  with 
which  he  is  connected,  besides  inducing  several  of  his  friends  to  employ  it 
regularly,  and  the  result  is  that  he  is  quite  convinced  of  its  efficacy  being 
equal  to  that  of  the  quinia  salt.  As  a  large  number  of  the  cases  requiring 
these  agents  are  among  the  poor,  it  is  of  great  importance  that  medical 
men  should  consult  the  interest  of  these  by  prescribing  the  sulphate  of 
cinchonia. 
