SAMUEL EVERETT, M. D.

Appointed Brigade Surgeon Sept. 7,

1861, and assigned to duty under General Thomas, at St. Louis. He was killed in battle at Shiloh, Tenn., on April 6, 1862. (Vide a more extended notice in a former part of this report.)

JOHN T. CRAWFORD., M. D. Appointed Brigade Surgeon Oct. 2, 1861. On 5th of same month he was ordered to report to Gen. McClellan, and was assigned to 3d brigade of Heintzelman's division. He died June 7, 1862.

S. L. BIGELOW, M. D. Appointed Brigade Surgeon April 4, 1862. On 12th of same month he reported to the Army of the Potomac. On 10th of October he resigned, his resignation to take effect on 6th November; but he died at Hagerstown, October 31, 1862.

SURGEON R. F. SIMPSON, U. S. A. Appointed Assistant Surgeon April 19, 1861. Assigned to duty on 22d of same month in Washington City, and died on July 4, 1861.

ASSISTANT SURGEON C. G. HOLLENBUSH, U. S. A. Died Aug. 6, 1861, at McKey's Half Falls, Snyder Co., Pa.

ASSISTANT SURGEON KIRTBY RYLAND. Died at Fort Union on Sept. 22, 1861.

UNITED STATES NAVY.

SURGEON THOMAS HARRIS. Died at Philadelphia March 4,

1862.

SURGEON SAMUEL BARRINGTON. Died at Philadelphia Sept. 4, 1862.

SURGEON C. H. WAINWRIGHT. Died at Ship Island July 30, 1862.

PASSED ASSISTANT SURGEON JAMES S. GILLIAM. Lost in the "Levant," June 30, 1861.

ASSISTANT SURGEON CHARLES H. COVELL. Died on board the "Colorado" at sea, August 7, 1861.

ASSISTANT SURGEON W. B. GIBSON. Died on board the "Connecticut," November 8, 1862.

ASSISTANT SURGEON JACOB H. GOTWOld. Killed on board the "Keystone State," in her action with the rebel ram off Charleston, January 31, 1863.

ASSISTANT SURGEON EDWARD A. PIERSON. Killed on board the gunboat "Penobscot," in her action with the rebel batteries in the sounds of North Carolina, May 22, 1863.

Respectfully,

CHRISTOPHER C. COX.

VOL. XIV.-15

AN INQUIRY

INTO THE

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

OF THE

VERATRUM VIRIDE:

TOGETHER WITH

SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL OBSERVATIONS

UPON THE

ALKALOID VERATRIA

OBTAINED FROM THIS AND OTHER SPECIES.

BEING THE

PRIZE ESSAY TO WHICH THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
AWARDED THE GOLD MEDAL FOR MDCCCLXIII.

BY

SAMUEL R. PERCY, M. D.,

PROFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS IN THE NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE.

Salus populi suprema lex.

"FOR the proper perfection of medicine as a natural science, two things are in main needed; the first is a right understanding of the causes and symptoms of disease; the second, a correct knowledge of the action of medicines. Should our acquaintance with these two subjects be complete, we should then be able to do all that man could by any possibility effect, in the alleviation of human suffering. This sublime problem is already being unravelled at one end. Diagnosis and Nosology are making rapid strides; and perhaps we shall soon know what we have to cure. But at the other end our medical system is in a less satisfactory condition; and though some impatient men have essayed, as it were, to cut the Gordian knot, and have declared boldly on subjects, of which they are ignorant, yet it must be confessed, that in the understanding of the action of medicines, and of their agency in the cure of diseases, we do not so much excel our ancestors. While other sciences are moving, and other inquiries progressing fast, this subject, so momentous in its applications, has, in spite of the earnest labors of a few talented investigators, made, after all, but little progress. Let but those who feel this want bestir themselves to remove it, and it will soon be done. Those doubts and difficulties, which are now slowly clearing away before the efforts of a few, will then be finally dispelled by the united energies of all; and instead of our present indecision and uncertainty on many points, we shall find ourselves eminently qualified to wage the conflict with disease, being skilled in that science whose name bespeaks its peculiar importance, the science of Therapeutics."

HEADLAND, Action of Medicines.