concise summary of its therapeutical applications closes the article; the whole presenting, it is hoped, a clearly definedword-picture of the drug under consideration. Every article and preparation comprised in the last edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia is fully noticed, while all the prominent unofficial agents receive such mention as their respective importance seems to demand.

The second part of the book is devoted to Pharmacy, and has been written from the standpoint of a conviction that many young practitioners would gladly dispense their own medicines, if provided with a few practical directions on the subject; thereby saving many a dollar from the drug store, preventing in their own practices at least the "renewals" which constitute so bad a feature of modern pharmaceutics, and gaining for themselves a practical acquaintance with their professional weapons which cannot but make them better physicians and more accurate prescribers. In this section of the book Prescription Writing receives full consideration, and many standard formulæ are given as samples of prescriptions of each kind in extemporaneous use.

In the third part the subject of Special Therapeutics is treated of elaborately, and in the form of an alphabetically arranged Index to the treatment of diseases, as laid down by the most recent authorities. Every indication for the use of a drug is referred to its author by his initial, and to the most prominent articles are appended a few selected formulæ, to serve as guides to the neophyte in prescribing.

The Appendix contains numerous tables, comprising diagnostic hints, Latin terms and phrases, formulæ for hypodermic use, metric equivalents, specific gravities and volumes, and obstetric memoranda; as also Notes on temperature in disease, the use of the clinical thermometer, the treatment of poisoning, and the examination of urine; also formulæ representing the most noted patent medicines.

The Index has received especial attention, from a conviction. that if well made it is the best part of a good book. Every title, synonym and other reference of importance is included therein, double and treble entries being made in every instance which seemed to require such repetition.

TO MY WIFE

I DEDICATE MY FIRST LARGE BOOK,

IN LOVING APPRECIATION OF

THE PATIENCE

WITH WHICH SHE HAS BORNE

MY ABSORPTION IN THIS WORK

DURING THE PAST

TWO YEARS.

Copyright, 1886, by P. BLAKISTON, SON & CO.

THE book, which this preface completes, has occupied the writer's leisure hours during the past two years, and in a measure has grown out of some less pretentious volumes previously written. by him. The continued favor shown by teachers and students, both in this country and in England, to his three manuals in the "Quiz-Compend" series for students, and particularly to the volume on Materia Medica and Therapeutics, has encouraged their author to hope that a hand-book from him on the same subject, but embracing a wider scope, might meet with a corresponding degree of appreciation. The fact that quite a number of new manuals on Materia Medica have lately appeared, has not deterred him from entering the field, nor diminished his confidence in the approbation of his readers; but has rather seemed a proof that most of the older text-books on this branch of medical knowledge are no longer satisfactory, even with the regular revisions which they undergo at stated periods. Hence he expects for this hand-book a position, among the recent manuals of its class, as high as its merits and demerits may entitle it to receive in the estimation of those for whose use it has been prepared.

The author's intention has been to produce a book, which would embrace in a single volume the Essentials of practical Materia Medica and Therapeutics, treating of each subject in as concise phraseology as possible consistent with the delineation of every important feature. He has also endeavored to formulate such minute and definite directions for the framing of Prescriptions, as might elucidate what to many is a very difficult problem. Furthermore, he has tried to present as much information, upon the subject of Pharmacy, as every physician should possess, in order to handle the implements of his profession with confidence, and to direct their use by others with pharmaceutical accuracy.

The complete fulfilment of these aims would be realized if the book should take rank as a working companion to the advanced student and the junior practitioner; and be deemed by them a reliable guide through the forest of observations and experiments on drug actions and uses, which makes progress slow for the already over-burdened mind, when ploughing through the more exhaustive and exhausting text-books.

Although this book is essentially a compilation, as all books of its class must be, there will be found in its pages much original matter derived from the writer's own experience in professional life. The arrangement of the matter will be found to be in some respects unique. After full consideration of the many arrangements of the Materia Medica in vogue, a modified alphabetical plan was adopted, by which the advantages of the alphabetical order might be retained, while permitting the grouping together of agents which are closely related, physiologically and therapeutically, under the title of the principal member of the class-the chief, as it were, of that particular clan. Thus, under the title AMYL NITRIS (Nitrite of Amyl), will be found mention also of the Nitrites of Ethyl, Sodium and Potassium, and their congener Nitro-Glycerin, all of which are closely allied to the first-named and to each other, in respect of their actions and uses. A very elaborate section on Drug Classification is placed at the end of the Materia Medica, in order to supplement such deficiencies in grouping as are inevitable in an alphabetical arrangement.

In detailing the characteristics of an important drug, its physical properties and chemical constituents are first briefly enumerated, then its preparations are described in the official language of the pharmacopoeia, usually somewhat abbreviated; any important unofficial preparations being also noted, and all the compounds into which it enters enumerated. Next the physiological action is taken up, its characteristic features being first described; then the actions resulting from an ordinary medicinal dose, next those produced by small doses continued, and finally those from a toxic dose. These are followed by a brief account of its antagonists, antidotes and incompatibles, if any; and a

concise summary of its therapeutical applications closes the article; the whole presenting, it is hoped, a clearly definedword-picture of the drug under consideration. Every article and preparation comprised in the last edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia is fully noticed, while all the prominent unofficial agents receive such mention as their respective importance seems to demand.

The second part of the book is devoted to Pharmacy, and has been written from the standpoint of a conviction that many young practitioners would gladly dispense their own medicines, if provided with a few practical directions on the subject; thereby saving many a dollar from the drug store, preventing in their own practices at least the "renewals" which constitute so bad a feature of modern pharmaceutics, and gaining for themselves a practical acquaintance with their professional weapons which cannot but make them better physicians and more accurate prescribers. In this section of the book Prescription Writing receives full consideration, and many standard formulæ are given as samples of prescriptions of each kind in extemporaneous use. In the third part the subject of Special Therapeutics is treated of elaborately, and in the form of an alphabetically arranged Index to the treatment of diseases, as laid down by the most recent authorities. Every indication for the use of a drug is referred to its author by his initial, and to the most prominent articles are appended a few selected formulæ, to serve as guides to the neophyte in prescribing.

The Appendix contains numerous tables, comprising diagnostic hints, Latin terms and phrases, formulæ for hypodermic use, metric equivalents, specific gravities and volumes, and obstetric memoranda; as also Notes on temperature in disease, the use of the clinical thermometer, the treatment of poisoning, and the examination of urine; also formulæ representing the most noted patent medicines.

The Index has received especial attention, from a conviction that if well made it is the best part of a good book. Every title, synonym and other reference of importance is included therein, double and treble entries being made in every instance which seemed to require such repetition.