382 
EDITORIAL. 
Tully' s  "Materia  Medica,  or  Pharmacology  and  Therapeutics."  Num- 
bers 15, 16  and  17,  Jan.,  Feb.,  and  March,  1856. 
Since  our  last  issue,  three  numbers  of  this  work  have  been  received, 
which  bring  it  to  page  1098  of  the  first  volume.  In  number  16  are  given 
the  general  characteristics  of  the  class  Erethistica.  According  to  Dr.  Tully's 
definition,  "  Erethistics  are  articles  which  produce  a  preternatural  degree 
of  activity,  and  an  augmented  exertion  of  the  powers  and  energies  by  which 
any  function  is  discharged.  A  mere  and  pure  Erethistic  agent  may,  indeed, 
be  compared  to  the  whip  and  spur,  which  do  not  give  any  new  and  addition- 
al power  or  energy,  but  only  bring  into  greater  activity  that  which  already 
exists,  which  was  not  previously  exerted,  at  least  to  the  same  extent,  and 
which,  perhaps,  was  latent  or  prostrated  in  a  greater  or  less  degree."  This 
definition  is  further  explained  by  many  pages  of  observations  on  the  varieties 
of  Erethistics  which  are  considered  in  eight  groups,  the  whole  occupying 
50  pages.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  agents  thus  classed,  we  may  mention  as 
among  them,  Ignatia  Amara,  Nux  Vomica,  Aconitum,  Arnica,  Kalmia,  Vera- 
trum  Viride,  Sanguinaria,  Lobelia  Inflata,  Sabadilla,  Colchicum,  Cimicifuga, 
Pulsatilla  and  Mesereum,  These  drugs  are  by  no  means  considered  as 
possessing  the  same  powers,  but  act  in  a  manner  that  enables  them  to  be 
classed  under  the  above  general  character.  In  the  discussion  of  the  thera- 
peutic powers  of  these  articles,  Dr.  Tully  reminds  us  of  the  manner  of 
some  chemical  theorists  who,  in  erecting  a  theory,  have  no  other  way  to 
connect  the  different  parts  than  but  by  assuming  that  certain  blanks  should 
contain  substances  not  yet  discovered.  Indeed,  the  ground-work  of  the 
therapeutic  structure  Dr.  Tully  is  now  laying  is  so  extensive,  that  asparsity 
\of  material  is  quite  unavoidable,  inasmuch  as  his  mode  of  viewing  the 
\operation  of  medicines  is  very  different  from  that  found  in  ordinary  works. 
Hence,  in  very  many  instances,  conjecture  has  to  take  the  place  of  observa- 
tion, in  order  to  carry  on  the  work  and  put  substances  in  the  position  or 
classes  that  they  most  probably  belong  in,  but  which  only  some  isolated 
observation  or  botanical  affinity  as  yet  gives  assurance  of. 
The  next  class?  "Euphrasnica,"  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  materia 
medica,  and  extends  through  the  entire  16th  number  into  the  17th.  The 
definition  of  this  class  given  by  Dr.  Tully  is  six-fold,  relating  to  as  many 
distinct  grades  of  power  in  articles  classed  as  Euphrenics.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows: — "  The  Euphrenics^  in  the  first  grade  of  their  operation,  obviate  lan- 
guor and  lassitude  when  it  exists  ;  in  the  second  grade  of  their  operation, 
thty  produce  a  peculiar  calm,  placid  and  pleasant  sensation,  state  or  condi- 
tion ;  in  the  third  grade  of  their  operation  they  produce  a  peculiar,  rather 
agreeable,  and  apparently  non-exhausting  preternatural  wakefulness  ;  in 
the  ^fourth  grade  of  their  operation  they  produce  a  greater  or  less  degree  of 
posi  tive  exhilaration,  which,  by  some  articles,  may  be  increased  to  such  a 
degree  that  the  actions  of  the  subject  are  not  under  control  of  his  will,  and, 
perhaps,  it  amounts  to  actual  delirium  ;  in  the  fifth  degree  of  their  operation 
