190 
EDITORIAL. 
logical  effects  consequent  upon  their  entrance  into  the  circulation,  and  the 
application  of  the  facts  thus  arrived  at,  to  those  altered  conditions  which 
more  particularly  interest  the  pathologist. 
In  treating  this  interesting  subject,  M.  Mialhe  commences  by  considering 
together  in  a  chapter,  the  phenomena  of  oxidation  in  the  animal  economy, 
which  embraces,  not  only  those  instances  in  which  vital  and  experimental 
chemistry  appear  to  operate  similarly,  but  those  more  obscure  and  complex 
processes  wherein  such  agents  as  diastase,  pepsin,  etc.  take  part,  and  pro- 
duce changes  analogous  to  fermentation.  In  this  chapter,  the  modes  of 
action  of  the  saliva  and  gastric  juice  are  discussed.  The  presence  of  a 
principle  in  the  saliva,  nearly  identical  with  diastase,  discovered  by  the 
author,  is  announced,  and  its  properties  described  as  very  similar  to  the 
diastase  of  malt.  M.  Mialhe  finds  that  its  action  on  fecula  is  precisely  that 
of  vegetable  diastase,  rendering  it  into  dextrine  and  sugar,  and  thus  bringing 
it  to  a  condition  fit  for  absorption  and  assimilation,  and  this  whether  the 
starch  be  in  its  granule  or  after  it  is  cooked  and  the  granule  ruptured.  The 
author  believes  that  amylaceous  food,  acted  on  by  the  salivary  ferment,  in 
the  stomach  and  duodenum,  is  the  main  source  of  the  normal  sugar  of 
the  economy,  and  in  this  regard,  he  differs  from  M.  Sernard,  who  believes 
the  liver  to  be  a  sugar  secreting  organ  and  the  chief  source  of  that  substance. 
The  interesting  questions  connected  with  the  digestion  and  assimilation 
of  the  protein  bodies,  (albumen,  &c.,)  are  also  discussed  in  this  chapter; 
which  concludes  with  a  consideration  of  those  diseased  conditions  in  which 
these  bodies  are  thrown  out  of  the  system  by  the  alterations  of  the  tissues 
and  fluids,  as  in  13 right's  disease. 
The  second  chapter  treats  of  absorption  in  general. 
The  third  chapter,  the  most  important  and  extensive,  treats  of  the  ab- 
sorption of  medicinal  and  poisonous  substances,  that  are  ins)luble  or  but 
little  soluble,  as  carbon,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  magnesia,  oxide  of  iron, 
calomel,  the  iodides,  etc.,  etc. 
The  fourth  chapter,  which  is  a  corollary  to  the  preceding  on  absorption, 
treats  chiefly  of  the  action  of  poisons  and  the  various  influences  which 
modify  their  effects  as  taken  by  different  individuals. 
The  fifth  chapter  discusses  the  various  forms  of  medicines,  as  powders, 
pills,  emulsions,  extracts,  syrups,  etc.  These  forms,  as  regards  their  eligi- 
bility for  presenting  medicines  to  the  stomach,  are  reviewed  by  the  author, 
and  many  strictures  drawn,  which  we  should  like  to  present  here  but  for 
want  of  space.  He  extends  the  signification  of  Pharmacy  far  beyond  what 
is  usually  understood  by  that  term  ;  thus — 
1st,  The  knowledge  which  embraces  the  forms  of  medicines,  and  the 
changes  which  result  from  their  treatment  in  course  of  preparation,  he  calls 
pharmacograpJiy. 
2d.  The  modifications  produced  by  the  economy  on  ingested  medicines, 
as  regards  the  causes,  circumstances  and  amount  of  them  that  are  dissolved 
