Excerpt from General Therapeutics and Materia Medica, Vol. 1 of 2: Adapted for a Medical Text-Book, With Indexes of Remedies and of Diseases and Their Remedies In all cases, the Author has referred to the position held by the drug as an article of the organized, or of the inorganic kingdom; as well as to general matters of interest relative to the place where it is found, the manner in which it is obtained, and to certain points con nected with its commercial history; but next to therapeutical applica tions he has dwelt more at length on the sensible properties, by which the physician may be enabled to judge of the various articles from his own observation. In another work,1 he has remarked, that it would, doubtless, be well that the physician should know the natural history of the animal whence he obtains his castor, his musk, &c., and that he should be acquainted with the botanical relations of the plants, Whose preparations he prescribes; but such a knowledge is no more indispensable than Greek is to an acquaintance with medical technology. The argument may, indeed, be extended to the consumer of the pro ducts of the animal and vegetable kingdoms as articles of diet. It would be well for him, no doubt, to, be acquainted with the natural history of the ox, the sheep, the hog, &c., whence he derives his sus tenance; yet, notwithstanding his ignorance on this point, universal experience demonstrates, that he has no difficulty in appropriating them to his dietetic necessities. Moreover, there were already valu able works in which all these topics, so interesting to the apothecary especially, are given at such length as almost to exhaust the subject; and of these one of the most remarkable is that of Dr. Pereira, re published in this country under the competent supervision of Dr. Carson, Professor of Materia Medica in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.2 Of this the Author largely avails himself in the pre paration of the second edition of the present work. He was like wise greatly indebted to the full and accurate Dispensatory of Drs. Wood and Bache - his learned colleagues in the revision of the Phar macopoeia of the United States to the Dispensatory of Dr. Christison; and - in a minor degree - to the work on Therapeutics and Materia Medica of MM. Trousseau and Pidoux. Nor did the modern German publications on the subject escape his attention. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.