hausted to make extract, come from England, invoiced there from 1 1-2 to 3 pence sterling per lb. It is intended and used for powdering, color being given to it by turmeric, etc.

The article called Oxyd of Zinc on the English labels, is generally Carbonate of Zinc, being imported at a price which precludes the possibility of honest preparation.

All that is received under the name of Precipitated Sulphur, (or "Lac Sulphur," as the merchants commonly term it,) except when it is expressly ordered from an honorable manufacturer, contains from 80 to 95 per cent. of Sulphate of Lime.

Opium is often invoiced at one-third the value of good quality, and is found upon examination not to be worth even that. The same may be said of Scammony.

Most of the foreign Extracts are not what they profess to be, and cannot be relied upon in the treatment of disease.

The salts of Quinine, Morphine, and all the more costly chemicals, are greatly adulterated.

We are informed by the agent of an English manufacturer of Chemicals, Extracts, and many other preparations used in medicine, that it is a regular and systematic business, carried on by his principal and others in his line, to make articles for the American market of different qualities, one for the Atlantic cities, and another, very much inferior," for the West," meaning thereby our Western States. He gives us, for instance, the following quotations: Compound Extract of Colocynth, 9s. 6d. ; do. for the West, 5s."-the latter, as we are allowed to infer, containing no scammony at all, only the poorest sort of aloes, and but little, if any, colocynth, or extract from it. "Blue Pill, 3s. 9d.; for the West, 1s. 8d."

66

Is it wonderful that such enormous doses as we hear of, are taken, and indeed required at the West, and that disappointment everywhere is experienced by physicians in the action of medicines? And these examples are but few out of many that might be given. Our country is held an easy prey to the rascality of foreign counterfeiters, aided and abetted by domestic traitors, who trample down all considerations of the evils they inflict, or help to fasten upon their suffering fellow-men, in this unrighteous pursuit of gain. We, who have more of the prominent facts before our eyes, in this greatest drug mart of the Union, than come under the notice of others, and seeing the audacity with which this base trade advances, feel ourselves especially called upon to oppose it. We believe that stringent measures should be adopted by Government to suppress it altogether, and that to obtain the proper action on the part of Congress, it is but necessary to present the facts in connexion with the general corroborating testimony of Medical Institutions and Practitioners of Medicine and Pharmacy throughout the country, which we doubt not will be cordially tendered in support of our application.

We subjoin a copy of our proposed Memorial, which, if it be agreeable to you to second our efforts, you will adopt if you think proper, or as we should prefer-set forth your convictions in your own form. We would respectfully suggest early action, as more likely to prove successful; and also the advantage of adding the signatures of Physicians and Apothecaries in your neighborhood, as far as may be conveniently practicable. Any communications on the subject (which may be addressed to our President) will be fully acknowledged, and all information that we have, freely given.

We are yours very respectfully,

JOHN MILHAU, President.
OLIVER HULL,

GEO. D. COGGESHALL,
WM. L. RUSHTON,

}

V.Pres'ts.

JAS. S. ASPINWALL, Treasurer.
JOHN SNOWDEN, Secretary.

New-York, August, 1847.

[ MEMORIAL.]

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives:

The Memorial of the College of Pharmacy, of the City of New-York, respectfully represents :

That large quantities of sophisticated and misnamed Chemicals and Pharmaceutical preparations are daily imported, not only to the injury of the Custom House revenue, and of the honest importer, but of dangerous effect upon the health and lives of all who require the aid of medicines such as they purport to be, throughout the country.

That with some unprincipled foreign manufacturers, aided and abetted by dealers of a kindred stamp in this country, it is a regular and systematic business to make different qualities of various medical preparations for the American market-the better kinds for the Atlantic cities, and others very much inferior "for the West," meaning thereby our Western States. The latter are generally altogether unlike what they purport to be, are quoted at about half prices, and are unfit for any use whatever.

That of an almost indefinite number of spurious and misnamed articles may be specified Iodide of Potassium, for which the Bromide is substituted, in whole or in part, and other salts, of an entirely different character, are also mixed in large proportion.

Blue Pill comes to us containing from 10 down to 7 1-2 per cent. of Mercury (the officinal proportion being 33 1-3 per cent.) mixed with blue clay and Prussian blue, to give it density and color-the following being the composition, by the analysis of our Professor Reid, of a lot which passed the CustomHouse about the first of August:

Very large quantities of Rhubarb, much decayed, the better parts of which are dark-colored, with scarcely any taste or smell, having probably been exhausted to make extract, come from England, invoiced there from 1 1-2 to 3 pence sterling per lb.-entirely worthless trash. It is intended and used for powdering, color being given to it by turmeric, etc.

The article called Oxyd of Zinc on the English labels, is generally Carbonate of Zinc, being imported at a price which precludes the possibility of honest preparation.

All that is received under the name of Milk of Sulphur, except small lots expressly ordered from some manufacturing establishment of honorable character, contains from 80 to 95 per cent. of Sulphate of lime, (Plaster of Paris.)

Many of the foreign Extracts are not what they purport to be, and are entirely worthless as medicines.

Opium is often invoiced at one third the value of good quality, and is found upon examination not to be worth even that. The same may be said of Scammony.

The Essential Oils generally, the Salts of Quinine, Morphine, and all the more costly chemicals, are greatly adulterated.

These are some of the most important that come to us from abroad. Upon them the Physician depends, in many cases, for his success in controlling disease, we need hardly say, with frequent disappointment, the sufferings of the sick being protracted, other complications of disorder allowed to supervene, and life itself often sacrificed.

That numerous instances frauds, of the kind here spoken of, have been

publicly exposed in the newspapers, by the authority of this College. Such exposures have undoubtedly proved of excellent service, so far as related to each particular fraud published and the extent reached by the publication, but this unpleasant and burthensome duty is greatly inadequate to the correction of the evil.

Your memorialists therefore pray your Honorable Bodies that a law may be enacted, declaring that all imported articles intended for medical use, which may appear to the proper Custom House Officer to be spurious, counterfeit, or adulterated, shall be subject to competent inspection, and if found to be of base character, confiscated and destroyed.

And your memorialists, &c.

[Proposed addition for signatures where this form of Memorial is adopted.] The undersigned, Physicians, Apothecaries, [and others, as the case may be,] of —, having examined the above Memorial of the College of Pharmacy, of the City of New-York, fully concur in the necessity and importance of the law prayed for, and solicit the favorable attention of Congress thereto.

RESIGNATION OF PROFESSOR DICKSON.-At a meeting of the Trustees and Faculty of the Medical College of the State of South-Carolina, held on the 28th July, 1847, Prof. Moultrie, Dean of the Faculty, presented to their consideration a letter from Dr. Samuel Henry Dickson, in which he resigned the Chair of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine, with the most cordial expression of unabated friendship for his colleagues, and his best wishes for the continued usefulness and prosperity of the institution.

The letter of resignation having been read, on motion of Mr. Desaussure, it was

Resolved, That the same be accepted and entered on the Minutes.

Mr. Pinckney, after some remarks, in which he alluded to the early connection of Dr. Dickson with this institution, his long and eminent services as a Professor, and his high character and many amiable qualities as a scholar and gentleman, then offered the following additional resolutions, which were unanimously and cordially adopted by the Board, viz:

Resolved, That the Trustees and Faculty of the Medical College of the State of South-Carolina, in accepting the resignation of Prof. Dickson, desire to express the sincere regret with which they separate from one, who was not only an original founder, but has so long been a distinguished ornament of this institution, and who has reflected honor on his native State, by the eminent ability with which he has contributed to elevate the character of the Medical Profession throughout the South; and that they cannot part with him without some testimonial of his merits, and the expression of their best wishes for his prosperity and honor, in the new field of labor to which he has removed.

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Board be requested to communicate the foregoing resolution to l'rofessor Dickson.

Resolved, That these proceedings be published in the daily papers of the city.

At an adjourned meeting of the Trustees and Faculty, held on Monday, the second of August, Professor Geddings was unanimously elected Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine, and Dr. John Bellinger unanimously elected Professor of Surgery.

Dr. Dickson has accepted the Chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the University of the City of New York, vacated by the death of Dr. Revere. With the Trustees and Faculty we deeply regret that he has left our College and city, to both of which he was an ornament, and we bid him farewell with every wish for his prosperity and happiness.

From the manner in which his place in the College has been filled, we feel confident, although the loss from his resignation has been great, that the prosperity and reputation of the institution will be fully sustained.-Southern Jour. Med. & Phar.

CONGENITAL TUMOR OF THE SCALP.-(Communicated in a letter from Dr. L. Woodworth of Johnson's Creek, N. Y., to the Editor.)

A novel case occurred in my practice about a week since. It was that of a congenital tumor, about the size of the child's he..d, weighing about two pounds. It proceeded from the posterior part of the head, the attachment being about two inches in diameter, covering the posterior fontanelle and upper part of the os occipitis. The head was otherwise deformed. The os frontis was flattened down so that there was no forehead, giving the head the appearance of what, in Phrenological works, is represented as the head of an idiot. The features and body is otherwise well formed, and of the usual size. I removed the tumor soon after birth. The tumor, on dissection, appeared quite vascular and of a liver-like appearance, except that there was a substance interspersed through it resembling the brain, having the convolutions distinctly marked upon it, which led me to suppose (whether correctly or not I cannot say), that a portion of the cerebrum had escaped through the posterior fontanelle, forming a nucleus for the additional growth of the tumor, and also causing the sinking in of the superior portion of the skull. The child is still living and doing well.

Johnson's Creek, Sept 21, 1847.

ANNALS OF THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.-We forgot to mention in our last No. the publication of Nos. 10 and 11, vol iv. of the Annals of the Lyceum of Nat. History. In this No. we have completed Dr. J. Leconte's Catalogue of the Geodephagous Caleoptera of North America, a paper which must have cost the indefatigable author immense labor and research, and which, it is presumed, no other man in the country could have written. An appendix will hereafter follow, containing descriptions of the new species received through the kindness of his friends. It is much to regretted that the Legislature of the State of New York has not made provision for completing the Entomological History of the State in the same splendid style as the other departments of Natural Science, already published. Major Leconte and son are the persons to whom this task would be assigned; and we trust that our next Legislature will authorize them to proceed with the work, which they are so well prepared to undertake. The present No. also contains a paper by Mr. John H. Redfield “ on the distinctive characters of Cyprea Reticulata of Martyn, and Cyprea Histris of Meuschen," which does much credit to the writer.

There is also a description of a new species of Procellaria, (Duck) by George N. Lawrence, accompanied with a beautiful plate. We hope this publication, which is an honor to the scientific character of our country, will be well patronized by our profession.

BAPTISTE TINCTORIA.

DEAR DOCTOR.-The following being scarcely worth a place as a separate article in your Journal, will answer as a note to your article on the Sophora Tinctoria.

Respectfully yours,

JAMES FOUNTAIN.

Taking a deep interest in the Medical Botany of my native country, I presume the following rough sketch will not be uninteresting to my fellow country physicians.

The plant commonly called Indigo Weed, the Baptista, or Sophora Tinctoria of Linn., grows so abundantly all over the count y, is so easily recognised, and possesses such active properties, that it is not a little surprising that it has received so little attention.

About 30 years ago Dr. Thatcher noticed the plant in his Dispensatory, as being useful in cases of gangrene from deficiency of vital power, and in some other affections proceeding from the same cause.

In June, 1837, I was called to see Jacob Post, æt. 74, of an infirm habit.

He had been a free liver, but was infirm from age, and was troubled with almost constant diarrhoea. He had a large purple patch on his leg, just above the outer ankle of his left leg. His foot was cold. He was not feverish, nor otherwise seemingly more indisposed than usual. He had no pain in his leg or foot, but only a slight soreness. In a few days his foot was spotted over with similar patches, and finally they all coalesced. The cuticle shortly pealed off, and the whole foot was covered over with a soft, black, grumous coating.

Warm stimulants and astringents were freely used externally, and tonics and opiates internally, but to no purpose; the gangrene spread gradually but slowly upwards, so that by the end of the month his leg as far up as the middle of the calf, had become one putrid mass, with no cognisable line of arrest, but gradually loosing its aspect upwards.

His leg had now become so intolerably offensive, that I determined to remove it, to rid the family of the insupportable stench, for I had not entertained the least hope of saving his life.

On the 4th of July, my son amputated the leg below the knee. On removing the dressing, I found the surface of the stump, as I had anticipated, black enough. I now determined to try the indigo weed. I made a strong decoction of the fresh root, and with this I washed the part freely, and had the dressing wet continually. The gangrene soon spread up under the integuments, forming cavities and short sinuses. Into these I injected the decoction freely twice a day.

The medicines administered internally, were a decoction of oak bark, with a few drops of laudanum, and a pretty free use of his favorite drink, brandy. Suffice it to say, he finally recovered, and enjoyed excellent health and spirits something over three years, and finally died of influenza.

Another case, of a Mr. Merrit, was on hand a few miles distant, almost precisely similar to this, in a subject about as old, but of a better constitution. Finding my case doing well, his attendant amputated his leg, but it did not save him. He used only the means recommended in surgical works generally but did not use the Tinctoria.

Since then a similar case on the back of the hand, and on one finger, came under the care of my son, of a very threatening aspect. It yielded to the Tinctoria similarly used.

Several minor cases have occurred in my practice, tending to strengthen my confidence of the great value of the plant. Its activity has, as yet, prevented my using it internally. It doubtless possesses tonic, stimulant and astringent properties in great activity, especially in its green state.

[We respectfully solicit from practitioners of medicine, especially those in the country, brief notes, like the above, on the medicinal properties of our indigenous materia medica; they will be embodied in a Treatise on that subject, which is now in course of preparation, and may thus be instrumental in accomplishing much good.—Ed. N. Y. Jour. Med.}

ERECTION OF AN EDIFICE FOR THE BUFFALO MEDICAL COLLEGE-We are gratified in being able to announce to our readers, that a sufficient sum has been subscribed by the citizens of this place, to secure the erection of a commodious and ornamental edifice for the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo. With the conviction that a suitable structure is alone necessary to place the school on a permanent basis, and secure its prosperity, the friends of the institution have just reason to congratulate themselves on the liberality and public spirit which have so promptly and efficiently responded to their appeal. The building at present occupied by the College is leased for a short period, and although it answers exceedingly well for the present, is not adapted to meet the prospective wants of the institution. The new edifice will probably be erected during the next summer.-Buffalo Med. Jour., Sept.