therefore, if the first part of the motion were put as a separate one, he would heartily concur with it, and vote for acceptance of the managers' offer.

Dr Christison said, in explanation, that he had contemplated nothing else than that the several clauses of his motion should be put separately. The laws of the Society indeed rendered this necessary. They could not sell the hall without a very peculiar form and condition, and then, nevertheless, a simple majority was enough; but they could not touch the accumulated fund without the consent of three-fourths of the meeting.

Dr Douglas Maclagan was averse to any delay, and supported the motion, with the understanding that the several clauses were to be put seriatim.

Professor Bennett said there appeared to him to be simply two propositions before the Society,—one of great boldness, and another of extreme caution. He was decidedly in favour of the bold one. He felt assured that all the old members of the Society would gladly come forward with liberality on such an occasion, entertaining, as they did, such grateful recollections of a Society from which they had in their day received so much benefit, and in which he for one could say, he had acquired much of his medical education. He was certain that, if the members went forward with the determination of succeeding, and prepared to encounter difficulties, they would overcome them all, and ultimately prove triumphant. Mr J. F. Macfarlan, as Treasurer of the Society, had a great regard for the accumulated fund, and when he considered that it had already been a refuge in the day of adversity, and might again be so, he sincerely hoped that the Society would not seriously trench upon it. Indeed he felt confident this would not be necessary. He would, in reliance upon the gratitude and liberality of the extraordinary members, advise the Society to close at once with the liberal offer of the managers. One advantage from that measure would be, that the Society would be in an equally favourable condition with the celebrated conqueror who, on landing in a new country, burnt his ships, so that there might be no retreat.

It was then agreed that the first part of the motion should be put, viz., that the Society approve the committee's report, accept of the offer of the managers, and appoint the following committee to carry the sale into effect:-ORDINARY MEMBERS. Presidents,-Mr Wolley, Dr Alexander Christison, Mr Sanderson, Mr Murchison. Curator, Mr Maclagan. Secretaries,-Mr Currie, Mr Calder. EXTRAORDINARY MEMBERS,-Professors Christison, Syme, Simpson, Goodsir, Balfour, Bennett; Drs Conolly, Craigie, Simson, Douglas Maclagan, T. Anderson, Newbigging, Alexander Wood, Andrew Wood, Handyside, Donald Mackenzie, J. D. Gillespie, Mackenzie, M'Cowan; Hugh Cleghorn, H.E.I.C.S., White, H.E.I.C.S.; Messrs Cuningham, Broadbent, Turner; Mr J. F. Macfarlan, Convener,-with power to add to their number.

The amendment of Dr Wood being then balloted for, was negatived by a majority of 73 to 20.

The President next intimated that the laws of the Society, relative to alienation of property, required that at least six honorary members, and sixteen ordinary members, of nine months' standing, should concur in such a motion as that of Dr Christison, otherwise the meeting could not agree to it. Thereupon nineteen such ordinary members, and the following honorary members, Dr Alison, Dr Christison, Professor Syme, Dr Simpson, Professor Goodsir, Professor Forbes, and Mr J. F. Macfarlan, declared their concurrence. The ballot was then taken

on the motion, which was declared to be carried by a majority of 73 to 10. The Society then adjourned for public business.

At its next meeting, on February 21, Dr Christison moved, and Dr Andrew Wood seconded, the second clause-that the same committee be empowered to purchase a site, and to obtain plans and estimates for the consideration of a full meeting of the ordinary and extraordinary members of the Society. This clause was carried unanimously.

Dr Christison then moved, and Dr Balfour seconded, the third clause-that a subscription be commenced forthwith among the members and friends of the Society, for an additional fund for building the new hall; and that the same

committee, with Mr J. F. Macfarlan as treasurer, shall superintend the subscription. This motion was also carried unanimously.

The remaining clause, relative to the appropriation of a part of the accumulated fund of L.1300, was postponed, at the mover's request, for consideration at a future meeting of ordinary and extraordinary members, to be summoned before the close of the present session.

VARIETIES.

SCHMIDT'S REMEDY FOR TAPEWORM.

A correspondent, who has noticed the remark in our last number, that we had not been able to discover what was the composition of Schmidt's remedy for tapeworm, recommended by Dr Kerlè, has supplied us with the following account of it. The details are extracted from Most's "Encyklopädie der gesammten Medicinischen and Chirurgischen Praxis" (B. I., p. 992, 2d edition); and both for their own sake, and as presenting a somewhat curious trait in medical history, we give them a place in our pages. The composition of the remedy, our correspondent adds, is also presented, though with less fulness and accuracy, in the "Pharmacopée Universelle" of Jourdan (T. I., p. 313, 2d edition).

By the process of Schmidt, the tapeworm is said to be expelled in from three to five days, without injury to the patient. A trial of it was made, under the authority of government, in the Berlin hospital, when the results were found to be so favourable, that the King of Prussia purchased the secret through a pension of several hundred dollars, bestowed upon the originator. The plan substantiates the purely empirical fact, that vermifuge medicines, when exhibited separately, are less efficacious than when combined in complex formulæ. The patient commences by taking, in the morning, the following mixture:-B. Pulv. Rad. Valer. min., 3vi.; Fol. Senn., 3ij.; Aq. ferv., 3vi.; Infunde et cola. Adde Sal. Glauber. Crystall., 3iij.; Syr. Mannæ, 3ij.; Elaeosacch. Tanaceti, 3ij., M. S. Two tablespoonfuls every two hours, drinking freely at intervals of sweetened coffee. With this he perseveres till seven in the evening. At noon he takes a thin gruel; and in the afternoon one or two herrings, with the milt. At eight in the evening the patient has a herring salad, with minced raw ham, and oil, sweetened with sugar, plentifully added. Frequently portions of the tapeworm begin now to be discharged. At six in the ensuing morning, he commences the following pills every hour:-B. Assafœtidæ, Extr. graminis āā, Ziij. ; Gambog., Pulv. Rhei, Jalap. ãā, 3ij; Pulv. Ipecac., Digit. Purp., Sulph. Antim. aurat. aa, ss.; Sub. muriat. Hydr., 3ij.; Ol. Tanacet., Ether. Anisi, āā, gt. xv. M. Divide into pills of two grains each, which are to be placed in a wellstoppered bottle; of these, six pills are to be administered every hour, with a teaspoonful of common syrup. Half-an-hour after the first dose, a tablespoonful of castor-oil is also given. Sweetened coffee is again to be taken freely at intervals during the day. At two in the afternoon, the worm is usually wholly expelled, when the pills are to be discontinued. Should only separate portions be voided, however, the remedies are persisted with, and a second dose of castor-oil becomes requisite. Meat soup is allowed at dinner, and in the evening. On the succeeding day, as an additional precaution, six pills are again exhibited at three different times-morning, noon, and evening. Such is the entire and complicated process, the alleged excellent effects of which are held to proceed more from the peculiar combination of well-known remedies, than from the employment of any new agent. Most adds, that this method of cure has been a hundred times successfully tested; and that it presents a warning, especially to young physicians, not to condemn too hastily the complex prescriptions of older practitioners, however much they may appear to offend against scholastic rules, or even the laws of affinity, inasmuch as there is often produced a tertium quid of real efficacy, which could not have been developed or found in more simple compositions. We leave it to British practitioners to judge, whether this commendation ought to be sufficient to induce them to give a trial to the singular process-ham and herrings included,

COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF EDINBURGH.-The third of the series of lectures to be delivered in the Hall of the College, will be given by Professor Christison, on the evening of Monday, the 10th March. The subject of lecture will be "Medical Evidence."

Kousso. In a letter addressed to the Editor of the Pharmaceutical Journal, Mr John Savory, of London, states that, having lately received from his correspondent at Aden, a supply of kousso, amply sufficient for testing its virtues, he will be most happy to present quantities of the remedy to physicians of hospitals and charities who may be inclined to give the drug a trial. He wishes its qualities to be fairly ascertained before ordering a larger supply.

ST BARTHOLOMEW'S MEDICINE CHEST.-Between L.200 and L.300 are spent every year for strong sound port wine for the sick poor in St Bartholomew's Hospital. It is bought in pipes, and drawn off as needed. Nearly 2000 pounds weight of castor oil, 200 gallons of spirits of wine, at 17s. a gallon, 12 tons of linseed meal, 1000 pounds weight of senna, and 27 cwt. of salts, are items in the annual account for drugs. The grand total spent upon physic in a twelvemonth is L.2600. 5000 yards of calico are wanted for rollers, for bandaging, to say nothing of the stouter and stiffer fabric used for plasters. More than half a hundredweight of sarsaparilla is used every week-a sign how much the constitution of the patients requires improvement. In a year 29,700 leeches were bought for the use of the establishment-an invasion of foreigners without parallel, till we have the influx of the Great Exhibition-for the leeches brought to bite and die in this London hospital are gathered in France and Poland, in Africa and Spain. A ton and a half of treacle is annually used to make some kinds of syrup; the five casks of hips, which, mixed with a cask of sugar, makes linctus for coughs, have been already mentioned; but one little fact, in addition, respecting it, should not pass unnoticed. This preparation for coughs is red in colour, and looks fruity, and tastes somewhat sweet, having still, however, an acid dash. As winter comes the coughs increase, and the demand upon the stock of linctus becomes heavier and heavier. This is expected, and provided for; but one season it had been larger even than usual. The same children and the same women came again and again, most perseveringly; when, in consequence of some inquiries, it was found that one of the most urgent claimants for the favourite physic lived by selling little sweets and pies to children, in a back street near Smithfield, and that she used the favourite linctus to make fruit tarts of.-Dickens's "Household Words."

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Letter additional to the Second Edition of
the Divining Ring or Odometer. By
H. Mayo, M.D. Edin. and Lond., 1851.
Introductory Address on Medical Educa-
tion. By Alexander Fleming, M.D., Pro-
fessor of Materia Medica, Queen's Col-
lege, Cork. Dublin, 1850.

The New York Register of Medicine and
Pharmacy. Vol. 1, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. 1851.
The Stethoscope and Virginia Medical

Gazette. Vol. 1. No. 1. January 1851.
Considerations Addressed to the Friends of
Foreign Missions. By Kenneth Mac-
queen, Esq. Second Series. Edin., 1851.
Report of the Proceedings at a Meeting of
the Working Classes of Edinburgh, with
Resolutions on the subject of National
Education. Edinburgh, 1851.
The Institute. (We accept the exchange.)
London Medical Examiner. February, 1851.
Pharmacopoeia Nosocomii in Curam Mor-
borum Cutaneorum. Londini, 1850.
Letter to the Right Hon. Sir George Grey,

Bart., M.P., on some of the Social Relations of the Medical Profession. By G. Robinson, M.D., Newcastle-on-Tyne. General Directions for Clinical Observations on the more important points of Surgery. Designed for the use of the Students of the Queen's College, Birmingham. By Langston Parker, one of the Surgeons to the Hospital, &c. Birmingham, 1850.

Heilart der Asiatischen Brechruhr von Dr
Gerhard von Breuning-Zweite Auflage.
Wien, 1848.

Zeitschrift der K. K. Gesellschaft der Aerzte
zu Wien. (We have just received a com-
plete set from April 1848, to October
1850, together with the January Number
for 1851. We hope that the missing
Numbers, viz., November and December
(eilftes und zwölftes heft) 1850, will be
sent shortly, and that this exchange,
which we highly value, will in future go
on regularly).

TO OUR READERS.-Though our usual limits have been considerably exceeded, we have been this month compelled to omit our Periscope, and abridge the number of our Reviews.

Part First.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ARTICLE I.-On the Physiological Properties of Picrotoxin. By R. M. GLOVER, M.D., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on Materia Medica in the Newcastle-on-Tyne School of Medicine, &c.

(Some trifling additions have been made to this Paper since it was read to the Medical Society of London, December 28, 1850.)

A FEW years ago, I made a series of experiments on animals before my class, with several of the active principles of drugs, such as aconitina, conia, atropia, &c. Among others, I tried picrotoxin. My object was partly the instruction of my pupils, partly to ascertain how far the statements made with regard to the properties of these active principles would be confirmed. Some of my results differed from those of previous investigators. For example, I was led to doubt how far atropia should be regarded as the sole active principle of belladonna.

The results which I obtained with picrotoxin were so curious that I was induced to communicate them to the Medical Society of London, about two years ago, through Dr Cogswell. A dog, under the influence of the substance, exhibited some symptoms resembling hydrophobia; and, besides, a singular convulsive movement backwards was observed, shown in a slight degree by convulsive twitches of the head, neck, and shoulders backwards, and in an extreme degree by a regular forced retrogression. The animal would try to mount some steps, and even cling to them with energy; but it would be unable to resist the impulse backwards, and would descend the steps backwards, and continue to move in this direction until it fell down in tetanic convulsions.

During the last summer, I made several experiments with this substance, which I shall shortly relate; but it may be well to premise some brief notice of the nature and chemical properties of the substance.

Picrotoxin is obtained by boiling the berries of cocculus indicus in a sufficient quantity of water. The decoction is then filtered, and acetate of lead added as long as a precipitate falls. The liquid is filtered, and cautiously evaporated to the consistence of an extract.

NEW SERIES.-NO. XVI. APRIL 1851.

2Q

This is to be dissolved in alcohol; and the solution evaporated to dryness. The solutions in alcohol and water must be alternately repeated, until the dry residue is completely soluble both in alcohol and water. This is picrotoxin, with a little colouring matter. By agitation with a little water, the colouring matter, which is very soluble, is removed, and a number of crystals are separated, which are picrotoxin, nearly pure.

This substance crystallises in needles or silky filaments, in transparent plates, in radiating and mammiform masses, or in hard granular crystals. It is soluble in twenty-five times its weight of boiling water, and about 150 times its weight of water of the temperature of 57°. Alcohol, sp. grav. 0-810, dissolves one-third of its weight of it. Sulphuric ether, sp. grav. 0.7, dissolves two-fifths of its weight of it. Its alkaline nature is doubtful. It is very bitter. The formula is, C12 H, O5.

The picrotoxin with which I experimented was in beautiful white needles; and I could have no doubt of its purity, both from the sources from which it was obtained, and its possession of the chemical properties ascribed to the substance, and also from the physiological properties observed in its action on animals corresponding to those ascribed to the cocculus indicus and to picrotoxin.

The most full, and apparently exact, description which I can find of the toxicological action of the crude drug is contained in Orfila's Toxicologie Générale.

Orfila says:-" In comparing the effects of picrotoxin with those of cocculus indicus, I have tried to determine the action of these substances." 1

"Experiment 1.-When robust dogs are made to swallow twelve or sixteen grammes of cocculus indicus, pulverised as much as possible, and the gullet is tied after the injection of the poisonous substance, we remark that these animals are not long in making efforts to vomit. At the end of twenty, twenty-five, or thirty minutes, their walk and attitude are tottering, their eyes prominent and haggard, their muscles are agitated with a trembling, which is at first slight but is augmented by degrees; soon afterwards their features are affected by convulsive movements of various muscular parts of the face; contortions and horrible grimaces announce a general nervous attack; all at once they make some steps backwards, the fore-legs stiffen, they stop, and with difficulty avoid falling by reposing on the posterior limbs; the head ere long experiences a violent shock, like that caused in frogs by a strong electric discharge; sometimes these motions are sufficiently strong to cause this part to be reversed on the trunk, and to produce a somerset backwards, in which the head strikes the ground with violence, and the body rolls in all directions." He then describes the "temporary recovery of the animals,