HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. (continued 2)

The advanced state of Botanical Science will now prevent the recurrence of those doubts and difficulties which have formerly embarrassed the history of vegetable remedies, by furnishing a strictly philosophical language, independent of all theory, and founded upon natural structure, and therefore necessarily beyond the controul of opinion; while the advancement of chemical knowledge, by enabling us better to distinguish and identify the different substances we employ, will also materially assist in preventing the confusion which has formerly oppressed us. At the same time, I am unwilling to join in the commendations so liberally bestowed upon our chemical nomenclature; nay, I am disposed to consider it as a matter of regret that the names of our medicinal compounds should have any relation to their chemical composition, for in the present unsettled state of this science, such a language must necessarily convey theory instead of truth, and opinions rather than facts; in short, it places us at the mercy and disposal of every new hypothesis, which may lay our boasted 40fabric in ruins, and in its place raise another superstructure, equally frail in its materials and ephemeral in its duration: thus Corrosive Sublimate was a muriate of Mercury, or an oxy-muriate, until Sir H. Davy established his new theory of chlorine, and then it became a bi-chloride; at some future period, Chlorine will be found to be a compound, and then it must have another name; for the same reason the term Calomel,^[83] is surely to be preferred to sub-muriate, or Chloride. Tartarized Antimony, again, has been called by our nomenclatural reformers the Tartrate of Antimony and Potass; but is it a triple compound? Gay Lussac thinks not, and considers it as a combination, in which Cream of Tartar acts the part of a simple acid.

Again,—we have only to revert to the nomenclature of the Salts in our Materia Medica to discover the actual change in meaning which the same word has undergone in a very few years. It was originally understood that the term Sub, when prefixed to the generic name of a Salt, indicated the presence of certain qualities depending upon an excess of base; but now, forsooth, the term has reference only to atomic composition, without any regard to qualities.^[84] That salt alone being acknowledged as a true Sub-salt, in which there is less than one atom of acid to each atom of base; thus our “Sub-carbonate of Soda,” is no longer considered a Sub-salt, for the reason above stated; and notwithstanding the predominance of its alkaline characters, it is known to chemists by the appellation of Carbonate of soda. It is far from my intention to question the propriety of these changes, I only maintain that, amidst such chemical doubts, the Pharmaceutist is the last person who should become arbiter; let him await the issue in unobtrusive silence, and take care that the language of Pharmacy partakes of the same neutrality.

Such was the feeling of the Committee appointed by the College for the revision of the late London Pharmacopœia, and it sufficiently explains why the nomenclature of the alkaline salts has been left unchanged in the present edition of that work.

The French, in their new Codex, are absurdly extravagant in their application of chemical nomenclature; thus, the sub-carbonate of potass is called by them sub-deuto-carbonas potassii. The first part of this quadruple name indicates the comparative quantity of acid in the salt, the second that of oxygen contained in the base, the thud announces the acid, and the fourth the basis of the base!

41

THE PROGRESS OF BOTANICAL SCIENCE.

It has been just stated, that we have derived from botanical science a philosophical language which enables us to describe the structure and habits of any plant, with a luminous brevity and an unerring perspicuity; but we are moreover indebted to botany for another service no less important to the successful investigation of the Materia Medica,—that of throwing into well defined groups, those plants which possess obvious natural affinities, and which will be found at the same time to present certain medicinal analogies; indeed, as a general rule, we may admit the axiom, “Quæ genere conveniunt, virtute conveniunt.”^[85]

The Umbelliferæ which grow on dry ground are aromatic, whilst the aquatic species are among the most deadly poisons. The Cruciform plants are aromatic and acrid in their nature, containing essential oils, (hence the peculiar smell of cabbage-water, &c.) which are obtainable by distillation; and Linnæus asserts that “among all the Leguminous or Papilionaceous tribe there is no deleterious plant to be found:” this however is not exactly true. Some of the individuals in these natural orders, although very nearly related, do nevertheless possess various, and even opposite qualities; in the leguminous tribe above mentioned, which is as consistent as any one we possess, we have the Cytisus Laburnum, the seeds of which are violently emetic, and those of Lathyrus Sativus, which have been supposed at Florence to soften the bones and cause death.

In the subdivision of a genus there is often a remarkable difference in the properties of the species; there are, for instance, Solanums, Lettuces, Cucumbers, and Mushrooms, both esculent and poisonous. The Digitalis or Foxglove, and the Verbascum, or common Mullein of our fields, are included in the same Natural family, and yet the one is as active, as the other is mild in its effects; the plants of the natural family of Contortæ abound with a highly acrid milky juice, but Dr. Afzelius met with a shrub of this order at Sierra Leone, the milk of whose fruit was so sweet, as well as copious, as to be used instead of cream for tea; this is certainly what no one could have guessed from analogy. The same individual will vary from culture or other circumstances, as much as any two plants which have no botanic affinity; the Chamomile, Anthemis Nobilis, with which we are well acquainted, may have its whole disk changed by cultivation, to ligulate white florets, destitute of medicinal properties. But, what is more embarrassing, the different parts of the same plant have 42often very different powers; a fact which is beautifully exemplified in the Podophyllum Peltatum, or May Apple, the leaves of which are poisonous, the root powerfully cathartic, and the fruit agreeably esculent; so the leaves of the Jatropa Manihot are employed as a common esculent, while its root secretes a most virulent poison; but we need not seek further for an example than the fruit of the Lemon, the juice of which is acid, its seeds bitter, and its rind aromatic; in some instances it happens that the energy of a plant is concentrated in one particular part, and that all the rest is absolutely inert; thus, the root of the Convolvulus Scammonia, is the only portion of that plant which possesses any medicinal quality;^[86] and the tree which yields the drastic Camboge, presents at the same time an esculent fruit, which is eaten by the natives with as much impunity as the orange; yet, notwithstanding all these difficulties, botany is capable of furnishing us with analogies which will lead to important conclusions with respect to the medicinal properties of different vegetables.

The system of Linnæus, although in a great degree artificial, corresponds in a surprising manner with the natural properties of plants; thus a plant whose calyx is a double valved glume, with three stamina, two pistils, and one naked seed, bears seeds of a farinaceous and nutritious quality; a flower with twelve, or more stamina, all of which are inserted in the internal side of the calyx, will furnish a wholesome fruit; whereas a plant whose flower has five stamina, one pistil, one petal, and whose fruit is of the berry kind, may at once be pronounced as poisonous.

It is also in a great degree true that the sensible qualities of plants, such as colour, taste, and smell, have an intimate relation to their properties, and may often lead by analogy to an indication of their powers; we have an example of this in the dark and gloomy aspect of the Luridæ, which is indicative of their narcotic and very dangerous qualities, as Datura, Hyoscyamus, Atropa, and Nicotiana. Colour is certainly in many cases a test of activity; the deepest coloured flowers of the Digitalis, for example, are the most active, and when the leaves of powerful plants lose their green hue, we may conclude that a corresponding deterioration has taken place with respect to their virtues; but Linnæus ascribed too much importance to such an indication, and his aphorisms are unsupported by facts; for instance, he says “Color pallidus insipidum, viridis crudum, luteus amarum, ruber acidum, albus dulce, niger ingratum, indicat.”^[87] A peculiar heavy odour, which is well known, but is with difficulty defined, is a sure indication of narcotic properties. Bitterness, when not extreme, denotes a tonic quality, which will stimulate the stomach and intestines, and promote the process of digestion. When the bitterness is more intense and pungent,^[88] as in Aloes, Colocynth, &c. we may infer that such substances will produce a more active effect upon the primæ viæ, and that catharsis will follow their administration.

Botanical, like human physiognomy, may frequently afford an insight into character, but it is very often a fallacious index. With regard to the indications of Smell and Taste, it may be observed that in the examination 43of an unknown substance we instinctively apply to these senses for information respecting its properties. It is certainly reasonable to suppose, that those bodies which produce upon the organs of taste a sensible, astringent, or pungent effect, may occasion an impression, corresponding in degree upon the stomach or intestines, which are but an extension of the same structure. But what numerous exceptions are there to such a law? nay, some of the most poisonous substances affect in a very slight degree the organs of taste, especially those that belong to the mineral kingdom, as Arsenious Acid, Oxyd of Antimony, Calomel, &c.; yet some of these are, perhaps, but apparent exceptions, depending upon the degree of solubility which they possess, in consequence of which their energies are not developed until they have traversed a considerable portion of mucous surface. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that cultivation and artificial habits may have blunted the natural susceptibility of our organs, and in some instances changed and depraved their functions: certain qualities for instance are so strongly connected with each other by the chain of association, that by presenting only one to the mind, the other links follow in succession.^[89] It has been remarked, that persons in social life, are more affected by vegetable odours, while the Savage smells better the putrid and fœtid exhalations of animal bodies:^[90] thus the people of Kamskatcha, did not smell the perfume of a vegetable Essence (Aqua Melissæ,) but they discovered by their olfactory sense, a rotten fish, or a stranded whale at a considerable distance.^[91] There is no sense more under the dominion of imagination, or more liable to be perverted by education, than those of taste and smell; we are also liable to form unjust prejudices from the indications of colour; for particular colours, from the influence of hidden associations, are not unfrequently the exciting cause of agreeable or unpleasant impressions. I have met with a person who regards green food, if it be of an animal nature, with unconquerable aversion and disgust, indeed an idea of unwholesomeness has not unfrequently been attached to this colour, without the least foundation of truth; the bones of the Gar fish, or Sea Needle, (Esox Helone,) have been deemed unwholesome from the circumstance of their turning green on being boiled, although not a single instance can be adduced in which that fish ever occasioned any harm. I have met with persons who have been made violently sick from 44eating the green part of the oyster;^[92] an effect which can have no other cause than that of unjust prejudice; these examples are sufficient to shew, with what caution such indications respecting the medicinal qualities of bodies are to be received.

THE APPLICATION AND MISAPPLICATION OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE.

Amongst the researches of different authors, who, animated with a sacred zeal for ancient learning, have endeavoured to establish the antiquity of chemical science, we find many conclusions deduced from an ingenious interpretation of the mythological fables^[93] which are supposed to have been transmitted by the Egyptians; who, previous to the invention of letters, adopted this method of perpetuating their discoveries in natural philosophy. Thus, wherever Homer studiously describes the stolen embraces of Mars and Venus, they recognise some chemical secret, some combination of iron with copper, shadowed in the glowing ornaments of fiction. Lord Bacon^[94] conceived that the union of spirit and matter was allegorised in the fable of Proserpine being seized by Pluto as she was gathering flowers; an allusion, says Dr. Darwin, which is rendered more curiously exact by the late discovery, that pure air, (oxygen) is given out by vegetables, and that in this state it is greedily absorbed by inflammable bodies. The same ingenious Poet supposes that the fable of Jupiter and Juno, by whose union the vernal showers were said to be produced, was meant to pourtray the production of water by the combination of its two elements; an opinion which, says he, is strongly supported by the fact that, in the ancient mythology, the purer air or æther, was always represented by Jupiter, and the inferior by Juno. Were the elegant author of the Botanic Garden now living, he would, no doubt, with a taste and delicacy peculiarly his own, avail himself of the singular discovery of Mr. Smithson, who has detected in the juice of the mulberry two distinct species of colouring matter;—the mingled blood of the unfortunate Pyramus and Thisbe:

“Signa tene cædis: pullosque et luctibus aptos

Semper habe feætus, gemina monumenta cruoris.”

Ovid. Metamorph. Lib. iv. 160.

Sir William Drummond, the learned apologist of Egyptian science, conceives that the laws of latent heat were even known to the philosophers 45of that ancient nation, and that caloric in such a state, was symbolically represented by Vulcan, while free or sensible caloric was as clearly described in the character of Vesta. Those who maintain the antiquity of chemistry, and suppose that the fabulous conceptions of the ancients were but a mysterious veil ingeniously thrown by philosophy between nature and the lower order of people, consider that the alchemical secret is metaphorically concealed in the fable of the Golden Fleece of the Argonauts, and reject the more probable solution of this story by Strabo, who says that the Iberians, near neighbours of the Colchians, used to receive the gold, brought down from the high lands by the torrents, into sieves and sheep skins, and that from thence arose the fable of the golden fleece. Dionysius, of Mytilene, offers a different explanation of the fable, and supposes it to allude to a book written on skins, and containing an account of the process of making gold according to the art of alchemy.

Notwithstanding the confidence with which modern philosophers have claimed the discovery, the experimental mode of investigation was undoubtedly known and pursued by the ancients, who appear, says Mr. Leslie,^[95] to have concealed their notions respecting it, under the veil of allegory. Proteus signified the mutable and changing forms of material objects, and the inquisitive philosopher was counselled by the Poets^[96] to watch their slippery demon when slumbering on the shore, to bind him, and compel the reluctant captive to reveal his secrets. This, adds Mr. Leslie, gives a lively picture of the cautious, but intrepid advances of the skilful experimenter;—he tries to press nature into a corner,—he endeavours to separate the different principles of action,—he seeks to concentrate the predominant agent, and labours to exclude, as much as possible, every disturbing influence.

But with whatever ingenuity and success the antiquity of chemical knowledge may be advocated, as it relates to the various arts of life, yet it must be allowed that not the most remote trace of its application to physic can be discovered in the medical writers of Greece or Rome. The operation of distillation^[97] is not even mentioned by Hippocrates or Galen; and the waters of different plants, as described by some later authors, are to be understood, as we are informed by Gesner, merely as simple decoctions, and not as the products of any chemical process; while the Essences of Dioscorides, Galen, Oribasius, and others, were only the extracts produced by the evaporation of such infusions.

Upon the downfall of the Roman Empire, all the sciences, the arts, and literature, were overwhelmed in the general wreck, and the early Mahometans, in the first paroxysms of their fanaticism, endeavoured to destroy every record of the former progress of the human mind; consigning to destruction, by the conflagration of the Alexandrian library, no less than seven hundred thousand volumes, which comprised the most valuable works of science and literature.^[98] It is not a little extraordinary that this 46same people were destined at a more advanced period, to rekindle the light of letters,^[99] which they had taken such pains to extinguish, and to become the inventors and cultivators of a new science, boundless in its views, and inexhaustible in its applications. The medical profession too was more particularly selected as an object of reward and encouragement; and we may say, with much truth, that our Materia Medica is more indebted to the zeal and industry of the Arabians, than to the learning of the Greeks, or to the refinement of the Romans. From this source we have acquired the milder purges of Manna, Cassia, Senna, Rhubarb, and many plants and oriental aromatics, amongst, which we may notice Musk, Nutmeg, Mace, and Cloves; the introduction of which into medicine was greatly facilitated by the situation of Bagdat, and its connection with India; and although Archigenes and Aretæus had long before applied Blisters, yet it is to the Arabian physicians that we are indebted for a practical acquaintance with their value, for in general, the Greeks and Romans prescribed acrid Sinapisms for such a purpose. We are also indebted to the Arabians for our knowledge respecting Camphor, as its name imports, for the original word was Cafur or Canfur.^[100] They are also the first upon record, who speak of sugar, and sugar-candy, extracted from the sugar-cane, which they call honey of cane; and they ushered into practice Syrups, Juleps, and Conserves. At the same time, it is but just to allow, that from the disgusting ostentation of this people, and their strong attachment to the marvellous, many absurd medicines have been introduced. Gold, Silver, Bezoars, and precious stones were received into their materia medica, and surprising virtues were attributed to them. Amongst a people thus disposed to magnificence, and from the very spirit of their religion credulous and romantic, it is not a matter of surprise that their first researches into the nature of bodies should have raised a hope, and excited a belief, that the baser metals might be converted into gold.

They conceived that gold was the metallic element, in a state of perfect purity, and that all the other metals differed from it in proportion only to the extent of their individual contamination, and hence the origin of the epithet base, as applied to such metals; this hypothesis explains the origin of alchemy; but, in every history, we are informed that the earlier alchemists expected, by the same means that they hoped to convert the baser metals into gold, to produce a universal remedy, calculated to prolong indefinitely the span of human existence.

It is difficult to imagine what connection could exist in their ideas between the “Philosopher’s Stone,” which was to transmute metals, and a remedy which could arrest the progress of bodily infirmity: upon searching into the writings of these times, it clearly appears that this conceit originated with the alchemists from the application of false analogies, and that the error was subsequently diffused and exaggerated by a misconstruction of alchemical metaphors.^[101]

47An example of reasoning by false analogy is presented to us by Paracelsus, in his work de vita longa, wherein, speaking of anatomy, he exclaims: “Sicut antimonium finit aurum, sic, eadem ratione et forma, corpus humanum purum reddit.”

The processes of alchemy were always veiled in the most enigmatic and obscure language; the earliest alchemist whose name has reached posterity, is Geber, an Arabian prince of the seventh century, whose language was so proverbially obscure, that Dr. Johnson supposes the word gibberish or geberish to have been derived from this circumstance; sometimes the processes of alchemy were expressed by a figurative and metaphorical style of description; thus Geber exclaims, “Bring me the six lepers that I may cleanse them;” by which he implied the conversion of the six metals,^[102] the only ones then known, into gold. From the works of later alchemists it also appears that they constantly represented gold as a sound, healthy, and durable man, the imperfect metals as diseased men, and the means or processes by which the latter were to be transmuted into the former, they designated by the name of medicines; and hence, those who were anxious to dive into the secrets of these magicians, or Adepts, as they termed themselves, without possessing a key to their language, supposed that these descriptions were to be understood in a literal sense, and that the imperfect metals might be changed into gold, and the bodies of sick persons into healthy ones, by one and the same chemical preparation.

The hieroglyphical style of writing adopted by the earlier alchemists, was in a great degree supported by the prevailing idea that the elements were under the dominion of spiritual beings, who might be submitted to human power; and Sir Humphry Davy has observed that the notions of fairies, and of genii, which have been depicted with so much vividness of fancy and liveliness of description in The Thousand and One Nights, seem to have been connected with the pursuit of the science of transmutation, and the production of the elixir of life. That the Arabian Nights’ Entertainment admits of a mystic interpretation, is an opinion which I have long entertained. How strikingly is the effect of fermented spirit, in banishing the pressure of the melancholy which occurs in solitude, depicted in the story of Sinbad when he encountered the withered and decrepid hag, on the uninhabited island—but, to return from this digression to the subject of medical chemistry.

It was not in fact until several years had elapsed in the delusive researches of alchemy, that the application of chemical knowledge became instrumental in the advancement of the medical art. Rhases and Avicenna, who were the celebrated physicians of the age, are the first who introduced pharmaceutical preparations into their works, or made any improvement in the mode of conducting pharmaceutical processes. Avicenna describes, particularly, the method of conducting Distillation; he 48mentions also, for the first time, the three Mineral Acids, and distinguishes between the vegetable and mineral Alkalies; he speaks likewise of the Distilled Water of Roses, of Sublimed Arsenic, and of Corrosive Sublimate.

In the year 1226, Roger Bacon, a native of Ilchester in Somersetshire, and a Franciscan monk of Westminster Abbey, laid the foundations of chemical science in Europe; his discoveries were so extraordinary that he was excommunicated by the Pope, and imprisoned ten years for supposed dealings with the devil; it appears that he was a believer in an universal Elixir, for he proposed one to Pope Clement the Tenth, which he extolled highly, as the invention of Petro de Maharncourt.

This wonderful man was succeeded at the end of the same century by Arnoldus de Villa Nova, a Frenchman, or as others assert, a Spaniard, who deserves to be noticed on this occasion, as being the first to recommend the distilled spirit of wine, impregnated with certain herbs, as a valuable remedy; from which we may date the introduction of Tinctures into medical practice; for, although Thaddæus, a Florentine, who died in 1270, at the age of eighty, bestows great commendation upon the virtues of Spirit of Wine, yet he never used it as a solvent for active vegetable matter.

It was not however until the end of the thirteenth century, that Chemistry can be said to have added any considerable power to the arm of Physic.

Basil Valentine, a German Benedictine monk, led the way to the internal administration of metallic medicine, by a variety of experiments on the nature of Antimony, and in his “Currus Triumphalis Antimonii,” a work written in high Dutch, he has described a number of the combinations of that metal. If however we may credit a vague tradition, he was extremely unfortunate in his first experiments upon his brother monks, all of whom he injured if not killed; those who have keen ears for etymological sounds will instantly recognise, in this circumstance, the origin of the word Antimony,—ἁντί Μονοχους.

It appears that the ancients were ignorant of the internal use and administration of the metals, with the exception of iron, although they frequently used them in external applications. Hippocrates recommends Lead in several parts of his works, as an epulotic application, and for other external purposes. Litharge of Gold and Cerusse also entered the composition of several powders extolled by that ancient physician as possessing great efficacy in defluxions of the eyes. Oribasius and Ætius added “Lithargyrium” to several plaisters, and the composition of the “Snow-like plaister,” from Minium, was long preserved amongst their most valuable secrets. Whether antimony is the Stimmi or Stibium of the ancients has been a matter of conjecture; for Pliny, in speaking of its preparation observes, “Ante omnia urendi modus necessarius, ne Plumbum fiat.” This plumbum however was evidently the revived metal of Antimony, with which the ancients were unacquainted, and therefore mistook it for Lead; besides, the word Plumbum, like many others which I have before mentioned, was used as a general term; thus, according to Pliny, Tin was called Plumbum album; and Agricola calls Lead Plumbum nigrum.^[103]

The question however is unimportant, for this Stibium was never used 49but as an external Astringent, especially for the purpose of contracting the eye-lids, and thereby of making the eyes appear very large, which has been considered from the most remote antiquity, as a feature of great beauty; thus the epithet βοῶπὶς is constantly applied by Homer to Juno. This practice appears also to have been followed by the Jews, for Jezebel is said to have painted her eye-brows to make the eyes appear big;^[104] the expression also shews that the drug employed was the Stimmi. Εστὶμμὶσατο τους οφθαλμους ἁυτης.

To Basil Valentine we are moreover indebted for the discovery of the Volatile Alkali, and of its preparation from Sal Ammoniac; he also first used mineral acids as solvents, and noticed the production of Ether from Alcohol; he seems also to have understood the virtues of sulphate of iron, for he says, when internally administered, it is tonic and comforting to a weak stomach, and that externally applied, it is astringent and styptic: he moreover recommended a fixed alkali made from vine twigs cut in the beginning of March, for the cure of gout and gravel.

In the year 1493, was born near Zurich in Switzerland, Paracelsus, or as he termed himself, Philippus, Theophrastus, Bombastus, Paracelsus de Hohenheim, a man who was destined to produce a greater revolution in the Materia Medica, and a greater change in medical opinions and practice, than any person who had appeared since the days of Galen. He travelled all over the Continent of Europe to obtain knowledge in Chemistry and Physic, and was a great admirer of Basil Valentine, declaring that Antimony was not to be equalled for medicinal virtue, by any other substance in nature: this opinion however does not deserve our respect, for it was not founded upon observation and experiment, but on a fanciful analogy, derived from a property which this metal possesses of refining gold, as I have before related. He also used Mercury without reserve, and appears to have been the first who ventured to administer it internally,^[105] for although Avicenna asserts that it was not so poisonous as the ancients had imagined, yet he does not attribute to it any virtues; he merely says, “Argentum quidem vivum, plurimi qui bibunt, non læduntur eo.” Its effects, when applied externally, were well known to Theodoric the friar, afterwards Bishop of Cervia, in the twelfth century, who describes the salivation which mercurial frictions will produce. Paracelsus, moreover, employed Lead internally in fevers,—“Saturnus purgat febres” was one of his most favourite maxims. He also gives us directions for the preparation of Red Precipitate with Mercury and Aqua fortis.

Paracelsus, thus armed with opium, mercury, and antimony, remedies of no trifling importance, travelled in all directions and performed many extraordinary cures, amongst which was that of the famous printer Frobenius of Basil, a circumstance which immediately brought him acquainted with Erasmus,^[106] and made him known to the magistracy of Basil, 50who elected him professor of chemistry in the year 1527, which was the first professorship that was established in Europe for the promotion and dissemination of chemical science. But notwithstanding this testimony of his success, if we may credit Libavius, he often, like our modern quacks, left his patients more diseased than he found them; and it is acknowledged by his own disciple Oporinus, that when he was sent for to any town, for the purpose of administering his remedies, he was rarely suffered to protract his visit, on account of the general resentment of the inhabitants.

While seated in his chair, he burnt with great solemnity the writings of Galen and Avicenna, and declared to his audience that if God would not impart the secrets of physic, it was not only allowable but even justifiable to consult the devil. His cotemporary physicians he treated with the most sottish vanity and illiberal insolence; in the preface to his work entitled “Paragranum,” he tells them “that the very down of his bald pate had more knowledge than all their writers, the buckles of his shoes more learning than Galen and Avicenna, and his beard more experience than all their Universities.” With such a temper it could not be supposed that he would long retain his chair, in fact he quitted it in consequence of a quarrel with the magistrates, after which he continued to ramble about the country, generally intoxicated, and seldom changing his clothes, or even going to bed; and although he boasted of possessing a Panacea which was capable of curing all diseases in an instant, and even of prolonging life to an indefinite length, yet this drunkard and prince of empirics died after a few hours illness, in the forty-eighth year of his age, at Salzburg in Bavaria, with a bottle of his immortal Catholicon in his pocket.

In contemplating the career of this extraordinary man, it is difficult to say whether disgust or astonishment is the most predominant feeling; his insolence and unparalleled conceit, his insincerity, and brutal singularities, and his habits of immorality and debauchery, are beyond all censure; whilst the important services he has rendered mankind, by opposing the bigotry of the schools and introducing powerful remedies into practice, cannot be recorded without feelings of gratitude and respect: but in whatever estimation Paracelsus may be held, there can be no doubt but that his fame produced a very considerable influence on the character of the age, by exciting the envy of some, the emulation of others, and the industry of all.^[107]

About a century after Paracelsus, Van Helmont took the lead in physic; he was a man of most indefatigable industry, and spent fifty years in torturing by every chemical experiment he could devise, the various objects in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. He was the first physician who applied alum in uterine hemorrhage, and he acquired a great reputation from the success of the practice.

Sylvius de la Boe, and Otho Tachenius, followed in the track of Van Helmont.

51A prejudice in favour of chemical remedies having been thus introduced, the merited success which attended their operation, and the zeal and perseverance which distinguished the votaries of that science, soon kindled a more general enthusiasm in its favour. It is impossible to reduce into miniature the historical features of these chemical times, so as to bring them within the compass of a lecture: I must therefore rest satisfied with delineating a few of the more prominent outlines. The Galenists, who were in possession of the schools, and whose reasonings were fettered by the strongest predilection for their own doctrines, instantly took the alarm; and the celebrated contest ensued between the Galenical and Chemical sects, which has given such a controversial tone to the writers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. As this revolt from orthodox authority was in a great degree attributed to the mischievous introduction and unmerited success of Antimonial remedies, so were the preparations of this metal denounced with all the virulence of party spirit;^[108] and upon this occasion, in order to support their ground and oppress and persecute their adversaries, the Galenists actually solicited the assistance of secular power; the Supreme Council of Paris accordingly proscribed its use by an edict in 1566, and Besnier was expelled the faculty of medicine in 1609, for having administered it to a patient. In 1637, Antimonial wine was by public authority received into the number of purgatives; and in 1650, a new arrêt rescinded that of 1566, and again restored Antimony to public favour and general reputation; and before we conclude our remarks upon the revolutionary history of this extraordinary metal, it deserves to be remarked, that this very same government that had with such great virulence, and so little justice, persecuted every practitioner who had shewn any predilection for its use, in the year 1720 actually purchased the secret of an antimonial preparation called Panacea Glauberiana, and which has been since known by the title of Kermes Mineral, from a surgeon of the name of La Legerie, who had acquired the secret from a pupil of Glauber. Before this period the invention of Calomel had taken place; this preparation is first mentioned, although very obscurely, by Oswald Crollius, in his Basilica Chemica, in 1608, and in the same year Beguin described it most fully and clearly under the title of Draco Mitigatus, in his Tirocinium Chemicum, which he published in Paris.

Chemistry, at this period^[109] took possession of the schools, and whilst it was gradually grafted into the theory of medicine, it soon became the only guide to its practice, the absurdity of which has been already dwelt upon.

In tracing the march of chemical improvement during the last century, we cannot but be struck with the new and powerful remedies which it has introduced, and the many unimportant and feeble articles which it has dismissed from medical practice.

In the present century, the rapid progress of Chemistry has outstripped 52the anticipations of its most sanguine votaries; and even in the department of vegetable analysis, a correctness has been attained, the very attempt at which had been abandoned by the most illustrious chemists of the former age as hopeless and chimerical; let us for instance only compare the results obtained by the Academicians of Paris, and published by Geoffroy, in their analyses of several hundred plants by the operation of heat, with the elegant and satisfactory researches in this branch of science lately conducted in the same country; whilst the former failed in establishing any distinction between the most inert and the most poisonous plants, the latter have succeeded in detecting, separating, and concentrating several of their most subtile constituents. Opium has been at length compelled to confess its secret source of action, and Ipecacuan to yield its emetic element in a state of perfect purity.

Our Pharmacopœias and Dispensatories^[110] have cautiously kept pace with the scientific progress of the age; and in tracing them from their origin to the present time^[111] it is gratifying to observe the gradual influence of knowledge in reducing the number of their articles—simplifying the composition of their formulæ—and improving the processes for their preparation.^[112] Chemistry has also been the means of establishing the identity of many bodies which were long considered as specifically different; thus an extensive list of animal substances has been discarded, since it is known that they owe their properties to one and the same common principle, as to gelatine, albumen, carbonate of lime, &c.; so again the fixed alkaline salt produced by the incineration of different vegetables, has been found to be potass, from whatever plant it may have been obtained, with the exception of sea plants, and perhaps some of the Tetradynamia, the former of which yield Soda and the latter Ammonia. Previous to the Pharmacopœia of 1745, every vegetable was supposed to yield a salt essentially different, and therefore a number of alkaline preparations were recommended, each bearing the name of the particular plant from which 53it had been procured, as salt of Wormwood—salt of Broom,—Salt of Bean-Stalks, &c.

But, from the very nature and object of a Pharmacopœia, it cannot be supposed to proceed pari passu with the march of chemical science, indeed it would be dangerous that it should, for a chemical theory must receive the seal and stamp of experience before it can become current: a Pharmacopœia however is always an object of abuse, because it is a national work of authority, which is quite a sufficient reason why the ignorant and conceited should question its title to respect, and its claim to utility. “Plures audivi,” says Huxham, “totas blaterantes Pharmacopœias, qui tamen ne intellexerint quidem quid vel ipse pulsus significabat.”

It is very evident, that the greater number of these attacks has not been levelled with any view to elicit truth or to advance science, but to excite public attention, and to provoke unfair discussion for individual and unworthy advantage; their obscure and presumptuous authors vainly hope, that they may gain for their ephemeral writings some share of importance, and for themselves some degree of reputation, if they can only obtain notoriety by provoking a discussion with the College or with some of its responsible members, though such a combat should be sure to terminate in their defeat. Like the Scythian Abaris, who upon being wounded by Apollo, plucked the arrow from his side, and heedless of the pain and disgrace of his wound, exclaimed in triumph that the weapon would in future enable him to deliver Oracles.

It is not to such persons that the observations which are contained in this work are addressed, for with them I am most anxious to avoid a contest, in which, as a worthy Fellow of our College expresses it, “Victory itself must be disgraceful.”

When, however, we are assailed upon every occasion by a gentleman whose talents entitle him to respect, and whose public situation commands notice, I apprehend that a humble individual like myself, may, in the conscientious discharge of a public duty, deliver his sentiments from the chair to which he has been called by his professional brethren, without any risk of compromising the dignity of the College, or of drawing upon himself the charge of an unnecessary and injudicious interference.

The attack to which I chiefly allude, is contained in an historical preface by Mr. Professor Brande, to the Supplement of the Fourth and Fifth Editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica; in which, speaking of the writings of Boerhaave, he says, “The observations which he has made upon the usefulness of Chemistry, and of its necessity to the medical practitioner, may be well enforced at the present day; for, except in the schools of London and Edinburgh, Chemistry, as a branch of education, is either entirely neglected, or, what is perhaps worse, superficially and imperfectly taught; this is especially the case in the English Universities, and the London Pharmacopœia is a record of the want of chemical knowledge, where it is most imperiously required.”

The learned Professor of Oxford, Dr. Kidd, naturally anxious to repel a charge which he considered individually unfair, and to vindicate his University from an aspersion which he felt to be generally unjust, published an animated, but at the same time, a cool and candid defence, to which I have much pleasure in referring you. With respect to the Sister University, my own Alma Mater, I feel that I should be the most ungrateful of her sons, were I, upon this occasion, to omit expressing similar sentiments 54with respect to the course of chemistry, and that of its collateral branches, which are annually delivered in the crouded schools at Cambridge. Is Mr. Brande acquainted with the discipline of our University?—Is he aware that the chemical chair has been successively filled by Bishop Watson—Milner—Wollaston^[113]—and the late lamented Mr. Tennant?—“Master Builders in the Science.” To say that such men have been the lecturers, is surely a sufficient testimony to shew that the science of chemistry heretofore could not “have been neglected, or what perhaps is still worse, imperfectly taught;” and the zeal and ability displayed by the present Professor, ought to have shielded him from any such attack. Is Mr. Brande aware that the eloquent appeal of Bishop Watson from the chair at Cambridge,^[114] on the general importance and utility of chemistry, gave the first impulse to that public taste for this science which so eminently distinguishes our Augustan age, and which has been the means of founding and supporting the Royal, and other Public Institutions in this Metropolis, as well as in the other towns of the British Empire?

I need make no farther remark upon this part of Mr. Brande’s assertion; the sequel, judging from the construction of the sentence, is evidently intended to be understood as a consequence, viz. and therefore “the London Pharmacopœia is a record of the want of chemical knowledge where it is most imperiously required,” because Oxford and Cambridge Physicians were its Editors. Is not this the obvious construction?

It appears from Mr. Brande’s laconic answer to Dr. Young, published in “The Journal of Science and the Arts,” that his objections are those of Mr. Phillips, contained in his experimental examination of the Pharmacopœia; a work which, I confess, appears to me to furnish a testimony of the experimental tact, subtile ingenuity, and caustic style of criticism, which its author so eminently possesses, rather than a proof of any fatal or material inaccuracy in the Pharmacopœia; and I may urge this with greater force and propriety, when it is considered that, at the time of its publication, I was not a Fellow of the College, and therefore had no voice upon the subject of its composition, and consequently must be personally disinterested in its reputation.

I cannot conclude these observations upon Mr. Brande’s attack, without expressing a deep feeling of regret, that a gentleman, whose deserved rank in society, and whose talents and acquirements must entitle him to 55our respect, should have condescended to countenance and encourage that vile and wretched taste of depreciating the value and importance of our most venerable institutions, and of bringing into contempt those acknowledged authorities which must always meet with the approbation of the best, and the sanction and support of the wisest portion of mankind.

And I shall here protest against the prevailing fashion of examining and deciding upon the pretensions of every medicinal compound to our confidence, by a mere chemical investigation of its composition, and of rejecting, as fallacious, every medical testimony which may appear contradictory to the results of the Laboratory; there is no subject in science to which the maxim of Cicero more strictly applies, than to the present case; let the Ultra Chemist therefore cherish it in his remembrance, and profit by its application—“Præstat Naturæ voce doceri, quam Ingenio suo sapere.”

Has not experience fully established the value of many medicinal combinations, which, at the time of their adoption could not receive the sanction of any chemical law? We well remember the opposition, which on this ground was for a long time offered to the introduction of the Anti-hectic Mixture of Dr. Griffith,—the Mistura Ferri Composita of the present Pharmacopœia, and yet subsequent inquiry has confirmed upon scientific principles the justness of our former practical conclusion; for it has been shewn that the chemical decompositions which constituted the objection to its use, are in fact the causes of its utility (see Mist. Ferri,); the explanation, moreover, has thrown additional light upon the theory of other preparations; so true is the observation of the celebrated Morveau, that “We never profit more than by these unexpected results of Experiments, which contradict our Analogies and preconceived Theories.”

Whenever a medicine is found by experience to be effectual, the practitioner should listen with great circumspection to any chemical advice for its correction or improvement. From a mistaken notion of this kind the Extractum Colocynthidis compositum, with a view of making it chemically compatible with Calomel, has been deprived of the Soap which formerly entered into its composition, in consequence of which its solubility in the stomach is considerably modified, its activity is therefore impaired, and its mildness diminished.^[115]

On the other hand, substances may be medically inconsistent, which are chemically compatible, as I shall have frequent opportunities of exemplifying. The stomach has a chemical code of its own, by which the usual affinities of bodies are frequently modified, often suspended, and sometimes entirely subverted; this truth is illustrated in a very striking manner by the interesting experiments of M. Drouard, who found that Copper, swallowed in its metallic state, was not rendered poisonous by meeting with oils, or fatty bodies; nor even with Vinegar, in the digestive organs. Other bodies, on the contrary, seem to possess the same habitudes in the stomach as in the laboratory, and are alike influenced in both situations by the chemical action of various bodies, many examples of which are to be found under the consideration of the influence which solubility exerts upon the medicinal activity of substances; so again, acidity 56in the stomach is neutralized by Alkalies, and if a Carbonate be employed for that purpose, we have a copious disengagement of Carbonic acid gas, which has been frequently very distressing to the patient; lastly, many bodies taken into the stomach undergo decompositions and changes in transitu, independent of any play of chemical affinities from the hidden powers of digestion, some of which we are enabled to appreciate, and they will accordingly form a subject of investigation in the course of the present work.

The powers of the stomach would seem to consist in decomposing the Ingesta, and reducing them into simpler forms, rather than in complicating them, by favouring new combinations.

But every rational physician must feel in its full force, the absurdity of expecting to account for the phænomena of life upon principles deduced from the analogies of inert matter, and we therefore find that the most intelligent physiologists of modern times have been anxious to discourage the attempt, and to deprecate its folly. Sir Gilbert Blane, in his luminous work on Medical Logic, when speaking of the different theories of digestion, tells us that Dr. William Hunter, whose peculiar sagacity and precision of mind detected at a glance the hollowness of such delusive hypotheses, and saw the danger which theorists run in trusting themselves on such slippery ground, expressed himself in his public lectures, with that solidity of judgment combined with facetiousness of expression, which rendered him unparalleled as a public teacher. “Gentlemen,” said he, “Physiologists will have it that the stomach is a mill—others, that it is a fermenting-vat—others again, that it is a stew-pan,—but in my view of the matter, it is neither a mill, a fermenting-vat, nor a stew-pan—but a Stomach, Gentlemen, a Stomach.”

What can illustrate in a more familiar and striking manner the singular powers of Gastric Chemistry, than the fact of the shortness of time in which the aliment becomes acid in depraved digestion? A series of changes is thus produced in a few hours, which would require in the laboratory as many weeks,^[116] while in acute affections of the alimentary canal the functions of the stomach are nearly suspended, and hence under such circumstances, whatever is introduced into this organ remains unchanged, even the nutritious mucilages are not digested.

From what has been said, it is very evident that the mere chemist can have no pretensions to the art of composing or discriminating remedies; whenever he arraigns the scientific propriety of our Prescriptions, in direct contradiction to the deductions of true medical experience,—whenever he forsakes his laboratory for the bed-side, he forfeits all his claims to our respect, and his title to our confidence. It is amusing to see the ridiculous errors into which the chemist falls, when he turns physician; as soon as Seguin found that Peruvian bark contained a peculiar principle that precipitated Tannin, he immediately concluded that this could not be any other than Gelatine, and upon the faith of this blunder, the French, Italian, and German physicians,^[117] gave their patients nothing but Clarified Glue, in intermittent fevers!—But I desist—not however without expressing a hope, 57in which I am sure my medical brethren will concur, that, should Mr. Brande again condescend to favour us with a commentary upon Boerhaave, he will select that passage in his work, where, alluding to the application of Chemistry to Physic, he emphatically exclaims, “Egregia illius Ancilla est, non alia pejor Domina.”

THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL, CULTURE, CLIMATE, AND SEASON.

The facts hitherto collected upon this subject are so scanty and unsatisfactory, that I introduce its consideration in this place, rather with a wish to excite farther enquiry, than with any hope of imparting much additional information.

There can be little doubt, but that Soil, Culture, Climate, and Season,^[118] may very materially influence the active properties of a medicinal plant; while the two latter of these causes may as essentially change the type and character of a disease, and modify the vital susceptibility of the patient; the natives of the south of Europe, for instance, do not bear bleeding, and other modes of depletion, so well as those of the north. This must be admitted to its full extent, or it will be extremely difficult to explain the contradictory and even opposite opinions, and to reconcile the conflicting testimonies of the physicians of different countries, with respect to the efficacy of the same remedy, in similar diseases.

The Influence of Soil may be exemplified by many well known facts; thus, strongly smelling plants lose their odour in a sandy soil, and do not again recover it by transplantation into a richer one; a fact upon which Rozier founded his proposal for the improvement of Rape oil; so again, no management could induce the Ricotia Ægyptiaca to flower, until Linnæus suggested the expediency of mixing clay with the earth in the pot; Assafœtida is one of those plants that vary much according to station and soil, not only in the shape of the leaves, but in the peculiar nauseous quality of the juice which impregnates them, and Dr. Woodville states that it is frequently so modified that the leaves are eaten by goats; Gmelin informs us, on the authority of Steller, that the effects of the Rhododendron have been found to vary materially according to the “solum natale;” for example, that produced in a certain spot has proved uniformly narcotic, that in another, cathartic, while a sense of suffocation has been the only symptom occasioned by a third. Rhubarb, as grown in England, will differ greatly in its purgative qualities, according to the soil in which it may have been cultivated; that produced in a dry gravel being more efficacious than that which is reared in a clayey one. Dr. Carter, in his account of the “Principal Hospitals of France, Italy, and Switzerland,” tells us that at Nice, the Digitalis is commonly given in doses of a scruple in powder, or in that of half an ounce of the infusion made according to the London Pharmacopœia, every hour, and without any sensible effect; this fact he explains by stating that the Digitalis, in the neighbourhood of Nice, is much smaller, and is probably less powerful than the same plant as it grows in England.

58Climate also produces a powerful impression upon vegetable and animal life. It is probable that in southern countries some vegetables enjoy more energetic properties than in northern climes. The history of opium immediately countenances such an opinion; thus Egypt produces a stronger opium than any of the countries on the north side of the Mediterranean,—France, than England or Germany;—and Languedoc, than the northern parts of France;—while Smyrna, Natolia, Aleppo, and Apulia, furnish a juice far more narcotic than Languedoc: so again, Senna by transplantation from Arabia into the south of France (Provence) assumes a marked change in its physiognomy and virtues, its leaves are more obtuse, and its taste less bitter and nauseous than the pointed leaved variety, while its effects will be found to be less purgative. Cruciform plants degenerate within the tropics, but acquire increased energies, as Antiscorbutics, in cold regions; the Menthæ have not so penetrating an essential oil in the south of Europe as in England and in the north of France. The relative proportions of gluten vary in the wheat of different countries, and as in the south of Europe, its quantity greatly predominates over the other principles, we at once discover the cause that gives such excellence to the Maccaroni of Italy. Many species of plants secrete juices in warmer regions, which are unknown in their œconomy, in colder climates; thus the Ash yields Manna in Calabria, but loses that faculty as it advances towards the north. The influence of climate, in its relations to moisture and dryness, upon vegetable productions, is also worthy of investigation; in wet and cold seasons, our herbage is far less nutritive to cattle, and we accordingly find that they are constantly grazing, in order to compensate by quantity, for what is deficient in quality, whereas in dry seasons, a larger proportion of their time is consumed in rumination; the same causes, however, that diminish the nutritive powers of plants, frequently increase the energy of those principles upon which their medicinal value depends: it is obvious that many herbs are more rank and virulent in wet and gloomy seasons: this would appear to be a wise and provident law, in order to apportion the natural condiment of the vegetable, to the deteriorated state of its nutritive elements, when the digestive organs must require more than the ordinary stimulus for the due exercise of their functions. It is hardly necessary to observe that plants, which in temperate climates are merely shrubs, have been developed into trees, by the hot and humid plains of Africa and Asia; while in the arid deserts of Nubia or in the frigid plains of Siberia, vegetable life is confined to stunted shrubs and humble mosses: cold also suppresses the colour of flowers, and indeed even that of the leaves, as is witnessed in the Cyclamen, Amaranthus, and Ranunculus of Lapland and Siberia. But climate not only modifies the powers of a remedy by influencing its structure and composition, but it renders it more or less active, by increasing or diminishing the susceptibility of the body to its impression; can a more striking proof of this fact be adduced than the well known effects of perfumes at Rome? The inhabitants are unable to sustain the strong scent of flowers in that climate, without experiencing a sensation highly oppressive, and which in some cases is even succeeded by syncope,^[119] and thus realising the well known line of the poet,

59“Die of a Rose, in aromatic pain.”

As I have been favoured with some very interesting observations upon this subject by Dr. Richard Harrison, who resided for a considerable time in Italy, and was thus enabled to institute a satisfactory inquiry into this curious subject, I feel no hesitation in introducing a quotation from his letter to my readers.—“You ask me what experience I have had on the subject of climate, as affecting the powers and operation of remedies; I have no difficulty in asserting that Narcotics act with greater force even in smaller doses at Naples, where I had the advantages of much experience, than in England. I might adduce as an example the Extract of Hyoscyamus, which, when given to the extent of three grains thrice a day, produced in two patients a temporary amaurosis, which disappeared and again recurred on the alternate suspension and administration of this medicine; and it deserves particular notice that these very patients had been in the habit of taking similar doses of the same remedy in England, without any unpleasant result. Now that this depended upon an increased susceptibility of the patient, in the warmer climate, rather than an increased power in the remedy, is unquestionable, since the extract which was administered in Italy had been procured from London; indeed a high state of nervous irritation is the prevalent disorder of Naples. I treated several cases of Epilepsy in Italy with the nitrate of silver, and with complete success, while in England I certainly have not met with the same successful results. During my residence at Naples, I spent some time in the island of Ischia, so celebrated all over the continent for its baths; many of the patients who were then trying their efficacy, had been attacked by Paralysis, Apoplexy, and almost every degree of loss of mental and muscular power, and among them I certainly witnessed what with propriety might be denominated a genuine case of Nervous Apoplexy. These complaints I was generally able to trace to the abuse of Mercury, whence we may, I think, very fairly conclude that this metal is more active in its effects in that, than in our own country. Before I quit this subject, I ought to mention that the doses of medicines, as seen in the prescriptions and works of English Physicians, excite universal astonishment among the faculty of Italy. In fact, as I have just stated, the human constitution in this part of the continent is certainly more susceptible of nervous impression than in England: it is perfectly true that flowers or perfumes in a chamber, will frequently produce syncope in persons apparently strong and healthy, and the fact is so universally admitted, that the Italians avoid them with the greatest caution.” On the other hand, it appears equally evident that some remedies succeed in cold climates which produce little or no benefit in warmer latitudes. Soon after the publication of the first edition of my Pharmacologia, I received a letter from Dr. Halliday of Moscow, upon the subject of the “Eau Medicinale,” and as it offers a striking proof of the efficacy of the Rhododendron Chrysanthum in curing the rheumatism of the North, whilst in this country the plant has been repeatedly tried without any signal proof of success, I shall here subjoin an extract from the letter of my correspondent: “In reading your account of the ‘Eau Medicinale,’ I perceive that, upon the authority of Mr. James Moore, you state it to be a preparation of the White Hellebore; may I be allowed to suggest the probability of its being made from the leaves of the Rhododendron Chrysanthum? for so far as I can learn, 60the effects of the French medicine are precisely those which are experienced from an infusion of the above plant, which the Siberians and Russians regard as an infallible specific in the cure of chronic rheumatism and gout, and from which I myself, as well as other physicians in Russia, have witnessed the most desirable and decided effects, whenever we had it in our power to administer the remedy with confidence and courage. We have seldom given it in any other form or dose than that adopted by the Siberians themselves, which is to infuse in a warm place, generally near a furnace and during the night, two drachms of the fresh leaves in about twelve ounces of boiling water, taking care that the liquid never boils. This dose is to be taken in the morning upon an empty stomach, and during its nauseating operation, which generally commences within a quarter of an hour after it has been swallowed, neither solids nor liquids of any description are allowed; after an interval of three or four hours, I have seen the patient obtain a copious and black fœtid stool, and get up free from pain. Should it happen that the patient does not recover from the first dose, another is administered on the succeeding day, and I have known it to be taken for three days in succession, when the severest fits of gout have been removed.^[120] Is it not then probable that some cunning Frenchman has availed himself of this Siberian specific, and concentrated it in such a form, as to defy all the learned to find it out?”

Dr. Halliday adds, “The Siberians denominate the leaves of this plant, when infused in water, Intoxicating Tea; and a weaker infusion is in daily use, especially for treating their neighbours, just as the Europeans do with tea from China.”

Before we quit the consideration of Climate, as being capable of influencing the activity of a remedy, the important fact should not be overlooked, that in India, and other colonies of similar temperature, Mercurial Medicines, in order to produce their beneficial effects, require to be administered to an extent which would prove destructive to the inhabitants of this island.

But of all the circumstances that produce the greatest change in the aspect as well as in the virtues of the vegetable creation, is Cultivation, which may either destroy the medicinal properties of a plant, or raise in it new and most valuable qualities: cultivation converts single into double flowers, by developing the stamens into petals, a change which in many cases destroys their efficacy, as in the camomile, Anthemis Nobilis; for, since all the virtues of this flower reside in the disc florets, it is of course greatly deteriorated by being converted into the double-flowered variety; by the operation of grafting extraordinary changes may also be produced; Olivier, in his travels, informs us that a soft Mastiche, having all the qualities of that resin, except its consistence, which is that of turpentine, is procured by engrafting the Lentisk on the Chian Turpentine tree.

Buffon states that our wheat is a factitious production raised to its present condition by the art of agriculture. M. Virey^[121] observes, that by 61suppressing the growth of one part of a plant we may respectively give rise to an increased developement in others; thus are some vegetables rendered eunuchs, or are deprived of seeds by obliteration, and only propagate themselves by slips; such a condition is frequently produced by culture, continued through a long succession of generations; this is the case with the Banana, Sugar Cane, and other fruits that have carefully been made to deviate for a long series of years from their original types, and having been continually transplanted by slips, suckers, or roots, at length only propagate themselves in this way, whereby the roots, as those of the common potatoe, become inordinately developed, drawing to themselves the succulence and nutrition originally possessed by the berries. It seems probable that we may thus have lost many vegetable species; the Tuberes of Pliny, for example, are supposed by Mr. Andrew Knight to have been intermediate productions, formed during the advancement of the Almond to the Peach, or in other words that they were swollen almonds or imperfect peaches; if this conjecture be admitted, it will explain the fact stated by Columella, that the peach possessed deleterious qualities when it was first introduced from Persia into the Roman Empire. If there be any who feel sceptical upon the subject of such metamorphoses, let him visit the fairy bowers of Horticulture, and he will there perceive that her magic wand has not only converted the tough, coriaceous covering of the Almond into the soft and melting flesh of the Peach, but that by her spells, the sour Sloe has ripened into the delicious Plum, and the austere Crab of our woods into the Golden Pippin; that this again has been made to sport in endless variety, emulating in beauty of form and colour, in exuberance of fertility and in richness of flavour, the rarer productions of warmer regions, and more propitious climates! In our culinary vegetables the same progressive amelioration and advancement may be traced; thus has the acrid and disagreeable Apium graveolens been changed into delicious Celery, and the common Colewort, by culture continued through many ages, appears under the improved and more useful forms of Cabbage, Savoy, and Cauliflower. It has been already observed that the alimentary and medicinal virtues are frequently in opposition to each other, and that while cultivation improves the former, it equally diminishes the latter; I shall have occasion to offer some additional facts upon this curious subject, under the consideration of Bitter Extractive; see Note on this Extract, in the article “Tonics.”

THE IGNORANT PREPARATION AND FRAUDULENT ADULTERATION OF MEDICINES.

The circumstances comprehended under this head certainly deserve to be ranked amongst the more powerful causes, which have operated in affecting the reputation of many medicinal substances. The Peruvian Bark fell into total discredit in the year 1779, from its inability to cure the ague; and it was afterwards discovered to have been adulterated with bark of an inferior species; indeed Sydenham speaks of the adulteration of this substance before the year 1678; he tells us that he had never used to exceed two drachms of Cinchona in the cure of any intermittent, but that of late the drug was so inert, rotten, and adulterated, it became necessary to increase its dose to one, two, or three ounces. The subject is copious and full of importance, and I have taken considerable pains to collect very 62fully, the various modes in which our remedies are thus deprived of their most valuable properties, and to suggest the best tests by which such frauds may be discovered. Very few practitioners have an idea of the alarming extent to which this nefarious practice is carried, or of the systematic manner in which it is conducted: there can be no doubt but that the sophistication of medicines has been practised in degree in all ages,^[122] but the refinements of chemistry have enabled the manufacturers of the present day, not only to execute these frauds with greater address, but unfortunately, at the same time, to vend them with less chance of detection. It will be scarcely credited, when I affirm that many hundred persons are supported in this metropolis by the art of adulterating drugs, besides a number of women and children who find ample employment and excellent profit in counterfeiting Cochineal with coloured dough, Isinglass with pieces of bladder and the dried skin of soles, and by filling up with powdered Sassafras the holes which are bored in spice and nutmegs, for the purpose of plundering their essential oils.

THE UNSEASONABLE COLLECTION OF VEGETABLE REMEDIES.

Vegetable physiology has demonstrated, that during the progress of vegetation most remarkable changes occur in succession, in the chemical composition, as well as in the sensible qualities of a plant; time will not allow me to be prodigal of examples, take therefore one which is familiar and striking,—the aromatic and spicy qualities of the unexpanded flowers of the Caryophyllus Aromaticus (Cloves) are well known to every body, but if the flower-bud be fully developed it loses these properties altogether, and the fruit of the tree is not in the least degree aromatic; so the berries of Pimento, when they come to full maturity, lose their aromatic warmth and acquire a flavour very analogous to that of Juniper. The Colchicum autumnale may be cited as another example in which the medicinal properties of the vegetable are entirely changed during the natural progress of its developement. See also Inspissated Juices, under the article Extract.

THE OBSCURITY WHICH HAS ATTENDED THE OPERATION OF COMPOUND MEDICINES.

It is evident that the fallacies to which our observations and experience are liable with respect to the efficacy of certain bodies, as remedies, must be necessarily multiplied when such bodies are exhibited in a state of complicated combination, since it must be always difficult, and often impossible, to ascertain to which ingredient the effects produced ought to be attributed.

How many frivolous substances have from this cause alone gained a share of credit, which belonged exclusively to the medicines with which 63they happened to be accidentally administered?^[123] Numerous are the examples which I might adduce in proof of this assertion; the history of Bezoar^[124] would in itself furnish a mass of striking evidence, indeed the reputation of this absurd substance was maintained much longer than it otherwise would have been, by its exhibition having been frequently accompanied with that of more active articles. Monardes, for instance, extols the efficacy of the Bezoar as a vermifuge, but he states that it should be mixed with the seeds of Wormwood. Besides, in the exuberance of mixture, certain re-actions and important changes are mutually produced, by which the identity of the original ingredients is destroyed; but this subject will be introduced for discussion in the first part of the Pharmacologia.

The practice of mixing together different medicinal substances, so as to form one remedy, may boast of very ancient origin, for most of the prescriptions which have descended from the Greek physicians are of this description; the uncertain and vague results of such a practice appear also to have been early felt, and often condemned, and even Erasistratus declaimed with great warmth against the complicated medicines which were administered in his time; the greater number of these compositions present a mass of incongruous materials, put together without any apparent order or intention; indeed it would almost appear as if they regarded a medical formula as a problem in Permutation, the only object of which was to discover and assign the number of changes that can be made in any given number of things, all different from each other.

At the same time it must in justice be allowed, that some of the earlier physicians entertained just notions with regard to the use and abuse of combination, although their knowledge of the subject was of course extremely limited and imperfect.

Oribasius^[125] recommends in high terms certain combinations of Evacuant and Roborant medicines, and the remarks of Alexander Trallianus on a remedy which he exhibited in paralysis, serve to shew that he was well acquainted with the fact, that certain substances lose their efficacy 64when they stimulate the bowels to excess, for he cautions us against adding a greater proportion of Scammony to it; many, he observes, think that by so doing, they increase the force of the medicine, whereas in fact they make it useless, by carrying it immediately through the bowels, instead of suffering it to remain and be conveyed to the remote parts.

In modern Europe, the same attachment to luxuriancy of composition has been transmitted to our own times: there are several prescriptions of Huxham extant, which contain more than four hundred ingredients. I have already observed that all extravagant systems tend, in the course of time, to introduce practices of an opposite kind; this truth finds another powerful illustration in the history of medicinal combination, and it becomes a serious question, which it will be my duty to discuss, whether the disgust so justly excited by the poly-pharmacy of our predecessors, may not have induced the physician of the present day to carry his ideas of simplicity too far, so as to neglect and lose the advantages which in many cases beyond all doubt may be obtained by scientific combinations. “To those,” says Sir A. Crichton, “who think that the Science of Medicine is improved by an affected simplicity in prescribing, I would remark, that modern pharmacopœias are shorn so much of old and approved receipts,^[126] on account of their being extraordinary compounds, so as to be almost useless in some cases.”

In the year 1799, Dr. Fordyce, in a valuable paper published in the second volume of the Transactions of the Medical Society, investigated this subject with much perspicuity and success: unfortunately, however, this memoir terminates with the investigation of similar remedies, that is to say, of those which produce upon the body similar effects, and he is entirely silent upon the advantages which may be obtained by the combination of those medicines which possess different, or even opposite qualities; it must be also remembered that at the time this memoir was composed by its eminent author, Chemistry had scarcely extended its illuminating rays into the recesses of physic. Under such circumstances, I am induced to undertake the arduous task of inquiring into the several relations in which each article of a compound formula may be advantageously situated with respect to the others; and I am farther encouraged in this investigation, by a conviction of its practical importance, as well as by feeling that it has hitherto never received the share of attention which it merits. “I think,” says Dr. Powell, “it may be asserted, without fear of contradiction, that no medicine compounded of five or six simple articles, has hitherto had its powers examined in a rational manner.” If this attempt should be the means of directing the attention of future practitioners to the subject, and thereby of rendering the Art of Composition more efficient, by placing it upon the permanent basis of science, I shall feel that I have profitably devoted my time and attention to the most useful of all medical subjects. “Res est maximi momenti in arte medendi, cum, Formula in se considerata, possit esse profecto mortis vel vitæ sententia.”

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PHARMACOLOGIA.|| ON THE| OPERATIONS OF MEDICINAL BODIES,| AND ON THE| CLASSIFICATIONS FOUNDED ON THEM.

“Medicos tandem tædet et pudet, diutius garrire de Remediis, Specificis, et Alexipharmicis, et cæteris, nisi eorum naturam et modum quo prosint, quodammodo ostendere et explanare possint.”

Conspect. Med. Theor.

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