574 
EDITORIAL. 
which  he  is  the  president,  and  which  passed  the  Senate,  and  failed  in  the 
House  only  by  not  being  reached,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  other  business. 
It  is  therefore  probable  that,  at  the  coming  session,  the  Association  will  be 
chartered.  The  bill  authorizes  them  to  hold  property  to  the  amount  of 
$20,000,  to  mortgage  and  sell  the  same,  to  give  instruction  in  the  several 
branches  of  a  pharmaceutical  education,  and  grant  diplomas  to  such  stu- 
dents as  may  be  qualified,  &c. 
From  the  well  known  energy  of  some  of  the  gentlemen  connected  with 
the  "Association/'  we  believe  it  will  be  sustained  until  it  takes  root  and 
produces  fruit.  We  believe  that  the  Institution  will  in  time  be  useful  to 
government,  and  its  cabinet  may  be  made  the  receptacle  of  many  valuable 
products,  collected  from  abroad  through  the  agency  of  the  Patent  Office 
and  the  navy. 
Alcoholometric  Tables. — A  correspondent  desires  the  publication  of  a 
portion  of  the  tables,  used  by  the  Government  in  the  examination  of 
alcohol.  We  have  not  been  able  to  give  the  space  in  this  number,  but  will 
endeavor  to  do  it  in  a  future  issue. 
Compound  Syrup  of  Squill. — The  following  note  has  been  received  from 
a  correspondent  in  Boston  : 
Boston.  Oct.  1,  1856. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  observed  in  your  last  Journal  a  method  proposed  for  making 
the  compound  syrup  of  squills,  in  which  dilute  acetic  acid  is  used  as  the 
solvent  of  the  squill.  1  wish  to  enquire  whether  acetic  acid  is,  or  is  not, 
incompatible  wiih  the  tartar  emetic  dissolved  in  the  syrup  %  Tartar  emetic 
is  marked  as  incompatible  with  acetic  acid  in  Paris  Pharmacologia.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  obtained  crystals  resembling,  in  taste  and  appearance,  crystals 
of  tartar  "emetic,  from  a  solution  of  that  salt  in  dilute  acetic  acid.  W. 
Acetic  acid  under,  the  circumstances  indicated  above,  does  not  decompose 
tartrate  of  antimony  and  potassa. 
Lectures  on  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics,  delivered  in  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  University  of  New  York.  By  John  P.  Beck, 
Late  Prof.  Materia  Medica,  &c.  Prepared  for  the  press  by  his  friend, 
C.  R.  Oilman,  M.  D.,  &c.  Second  edition.  New  York:  S.  S.  &  W.  Wood, 
1856.    Pp.  559,  8vo. 
This  book  commences  with  an  introductory  chapter,  a  few  words  of  which 
are  directed  to  the  manner  in  which  the  materia  medica  will  be  considered, 
whilst  the  larger  portion  is  directed  to  therapeutics,  pointing  out  the 
author's  mode  of  treating  the  subject.  The  action  of  medicines  physio- 
logical and  curative,  the  modes  or  forms  of  their  application,  and  the 
author's  classification  of  remedies  are  then  considered.  The  following  chap- 
ter is  devoted  to  proximate  principles  of  drugs,  which  he  arranges  thus  : 
1st.  Organic  Acids  and  their  Salts.  2d.  Organic  Alkalies  and  the  Sub- 
stances allied  to  them.   3d.  Oleaginous,  Resinous  and  Bituminous  Princi- 
