vey E. Brown, M. D., Asst. Surg. U. S. A., Fort Barancas, Florida. (12) A Report of Sanitary Results of the Excursions and Open-Air Treatment of Sick and Feeble Children of Chicago, Ills., on Lake Michigan, in the summer of 1875, by B. C. Miller, M. D., Sanitary Superintendent of Chicago. (13) A paper on the Special Causes which produce excessive Infant Mortality in Montreal, Canada, by J. J. Dugdale, M. D., Health Officer of Montreal. (14) Facts Relating to Diseases among the Indian Tribes of North America, by Joseph Curtis, M. D., Supervising Medical Officer to the Indian Bureau, Washington, D. C. (15) A Paper on Ozone and its Effects upon Diseases of the Respiratory Organs, by Fred. Pettiesen, M. D., Health Officer of San Antonio, Texas. (16) A Paper on Infant Mortality in the State of Michigan, by H. B. Baker, M. D., Secretary State Board of Health, and Register of Vital Statistics of Michigan. Discourses: Thursday Evening-8 o'clock, P. M.-Prof. N. R. Smith, M. D., presiding. (1) Address, by Professor Smith. Discouase-A Sanitary view of the question, "Am I my Brother's Keeper?" by Hon. L. H. Steiner, M. D.

Confer

Friday, November 12-The session commences at 9 A. M. ence on resolutions and questions submitted for action by the Association. Officers for the Year 1874-1875.-President, Joseph M. Toner, M. D., Washington, D. C.; Vice-President, Henry Hartshorne, M. D., Pennsylvania; Treasurer, John H. Rauch, M. D., Illinois; Secretary, Elisha Harris, M. D., New York.

Elected Members of the Executive Committee.-Stephen Smith, M. D., N. Y.; J. A. Steuart, M. D., Md.; J. J. Woodward, M. D., U. S. A. ; J. S. Billings, M. D., U. S. A.; Moreau Morris, M. D., N. Y.; A. N. Bell, M. D., N. Y.

COCOANUT PALM (Cocos nucifera, LIN.) is very widely distributed between the tropics, generally affecting the neighborhood of the sea, and especially abundant in India and the Pacific Islands, where its tall and cylindrical trunk, from 60 to 100 feet in height, crowned with many gracefully waving feather-like leaves, fringes every islet and forms one of the most striking beauties of the scenery.

Almost every part of the tree, as in a few others of the palm tribe, is applied to important uses. The wood, imported into Europe under the name of porcupine wood, is employed for building purposes, the construction of chairs and fancy articles. From the leaves, besides their general use as a thatch and in hut-making, baskets and screens are made, while those young and tender are cooked and eaten. Of the well known nutritious fruit, the cocoanut, several bunches of a dozen or more are borne by each tree. From the shell of the mature nut, various useful or ornamented vessels, spoons, etc., are cut and carved, and from the fibrous rind or husk which envelopes it is prepared the "coir" of commerce, so extensively used in the manufacture of mats, carpets, brushes, cables, bags, etc. The fibre is prepared from the husk by steeping and beating.

From the kernel, boiled and bruised or grated, is obtained the cocoa nut oil largely employed in the manufacture of excellent candles, and also of soap. Of this oil, in 1870, 197,788 cwts. were imported.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Editor of the Pharmacist:

In your report of my paper on Hydrate of Chloral, you make me state, "formic acid was the most injurious contamination likely to be found in it."

Your reporter was in error in so reporting it. My paper stated the well known fact that formic acid resulted from the reaction that takes place when hydrate of chloral is brought in contact with an alkali, and resuggested the other fact that it afforded a ready means of estimating the value of any given sample of hydrate of chloral.

Be kind enough to make the correction in your next issue.

BALTIMORE, Oct., 1875.

Yours truly,

Jos. ROBERTS.

REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES.

Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education. No. 3. 1875. An account of the systems of public instruction in Belgium, Russia, Turkey, Servia, and Egypt. No. 4. 1875. Waste of Labor in the Work of Education. By P. A. Chadbourne, LL.D., President of Williams College, Mass. No. 5. 1875. Suggestions respecting the educational exhibit at the International Centennial Exhibition, 1876. No. 6. 1875. Statements relating to the reformatory, charitable, and industrial schools for the young. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1875.

Tinnitus Aurium, or Noises in the Ears. Second edition, with cases. By Laurence Turnbull, Ph. G., M. D. (Reprinted from the Philadelphia Medical Times, June and October, 1874.) Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1875.

Practical Hints on the Selection and Use of the Microscope. Intended for beginners. By John Phin, editor of The Technologist. I vol., 12mo., fully illustrated. Price, 75 cents. New York: Industrial Publication Company, 176 Broadway.

Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Showing the operations and conditions of the Institution for the year 1874. Washington, D. C. 1875.

Received from Prof. Dr. G. Dragendorff, Dorpat, Russia, an essay on Antiseptica and Bakterien, by Leonid Bucholtz, stud. med.

Untersuchungen aus dem Pharmaceutishen Institute in Dorpat, von Ed. Marquis.

THE PHARMACIST.

VOL. VIII.

CHICAGO, DECEMBER, 1875.

No. 12.

GRINDELIA ROBUSTA.

A PAPER BY JAMES G. STEELE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.-READ BEFORE THE 23D ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL

ASSOCIATION, BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 1875.

Considerable attention has been directed of late years to the California "Grindelias," specimens of which are to be met with in different parts of the State, and which early attracted the attention of the Jesuit Fathers who established "missions" under the patronage of the Mexican Government, some sixty or eighty years before the conquest of the country by the Americans.

Divers botanists, who have visited our State from time to time since the establishment of these missions for the "regeneration" of the native races, have also noticed and written about the Grindelias. Several writers, among whom may be mentioned Shelton, Gibbons, Canfield and Smith, have published, from time to time, information touching the natural history and therapeutic effects of the Grindelias; but it is particularly the Grindelia robusta which I desire to introduce to the notice of our profession. Grindelia robusta seems to exercise a specific effect in cases of poisoning by the famous (or more properly infamous) "Poison Oak," of California. Of late years, its happy effects in reducing the frequency and violence of the spasmodic constrictions of the throat and contiguous organs from asthma and kindred diseases, are so well authenticated as to claim for it a new and important place in our national materia medica.

or

In the woods and thickets of California, as well as on the dry hillsides -in fact, in every variety of locality—may be found a very venomous shrub, the "poison oak," or "poison ivy," the "hiedra" of the Spanish and native California people, the dread of all those who are acquainted with it. This plant is known to botanists as "Rhus diversiloba," "Rhus toxicodendron," and resembles the poison ivy of the Atlantic States, both in appearance and poisonous qualities. It has a somewhat climbing stem with short, leafy branches, and is easily recognized from the fact of discoloration of many of its leaflets, caused by the oxidation of the green coloring matter of the plant, in this respect differing from

other shrubs and climbing plants. As is well known, poison oak is the cause of a vast deal of misery and suffering in California. There is scarcely ever a time in any little town or neighborhood where there are not one or more persons suffering from it, and it has been estimated that there are in this State near three thousand persons constantly afflicted with the cutaneous disease caused by this dreaded scourge. Not only tourists and occasional visitors into the rural districts from our cities, but even farmers and laborers are liable to this poisoning; and besides the suffering and annoyance caused by it, the loss of valuable time is no small item to be taken into account. As has been often remarked, it would seem that whoever makes known a prompt and sure antidote to this poison would be considered a public benefactor.

Many and various have been the "remedies" with which our local practitioners have endeavored to combat the effects of the universally dreaded "poison oak." When I mention a few, such as lotions and ointments of lead, bismuth and opium compounds, applications of hartshorn and various alkaline salts in every variety of combination, it will be seen that not only is this scourge of wide prevalence, but of deep, practical interest to the physician and pharmacist, for every medical practitioner meets with more or less cases of it in his daily rounds. The many remedies which have been used for counteracting the effects of the "poison oak” all give way in efficiency and celerity to the "Grindelia robusta." This, like the Rhus toxicodendron, is indigenous to the State, and found in many parts, but grows most luxuriantly in the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada and coast ranges of mountains.

Grindelia robusta is a tall, stout perennial, belongs to the composite family, and looks like a small sunflower. It is from one to three feet in height, and has bright yellow flowers in heads one to two inches in diameter, flowering from June to October. Before flowering, the unexpanded heads or buds secrete a quantity of resinous matter, a white and stickylike balsam, that is finally, after the flower expands, distributed like varnish over the petals of the flower. The whole plant at this season, flowers and leaves, is resinous and viscid. When it grows in dry hillsides it is stiff and rigid, with narrow, thin leaves; but in damp localities, it is more robust and succulent, with wide, fleshy leaves. May and June are the months in which Grindelia should be gathered for use, as at that time the plant abounds most in the balsamic and resinous juice in which its medicinal properties reside, and causes its marvelous effects in the cure of the eruption from oak poisoning, and the suppression of asthma, for which latter purpose it has been used with surprising effect since the occupation of the country by the Americans.

Dr. C. A. Canfield, of Monterey, California, (deceased,) was the first to call the attention of the medical profession to the therapeutic action of Grindelia robusta in cases of oak poisoning. Some twelve years since, he caused to be published in the Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal a short account of this plant, its botanic features, habitat and medicinal value. My attention being thus directed to the plant, I procured specimens and prepared various pharmaceutical compounds containing the virtues of the drug, which were prescribed by the medical faculty of this city with sufficient success to warrant me in keeping a requisite supply of

the plant. It has been my practice yearly, during the months of May and June, to go into the rural districts and have gathered and dried in the shade, from one to two tons of Grindelia robusta.

Since the mention made by Dr. Canfield, as above, however, a new use has been found for this variety of the Grindelias-asthma and its kindred ailments have been made to succumb in a remarkable manner. Dr. Q. S. Smith, of Cloverdale, Lonoma county, California, published in the Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal for April, 1875, some notes on the efficacy of the solid extract of Grindelia robusta in several cases of asthma, etc., which had come under his observation. He writes that one patient, to whom pills made of the solid extract were administered, "had suffered from severe and frequent attacks of asthma since childhood, and found no relief from many physicians and divers remedies. About five months ago, he commenced taking the extract of Grindelia in pills of three grains each, one three times a day for two or three days, then a pill at bedtime only for eight or ten days longer. Under this mode of treatment the attacks became lighter and more remote, and during the interval between the attacks he gained in flesh and strength, and improved greatly in his general health. More than four months have passed since the patient has felt any symptoms of the approach of his old enemy, once the plague and terror of his life. He is now heavier and stronger than ever before in his life, and can climb the rugged mountains of his sheep ranch and the surrounding country with an endurance, agility and speed unsurpassed by any of his neighbors. We think this happy change due entirely to the virtues of the remedy mentioned, as our patient took no other medicine and continued to follow the same employment, and was circumstanced just as he had been for years before."

I send herewith samples of the entire tops of the plant "Grindelia robusta," and fluid and solid extracts made from the same, according to the descriptions below. I have had Grindelia from all sections of the country, but have found that the plants grown in the rolling country or so-called "foot-hills" the best. The specimens I send were obtained from "Green Valley," a township in Solans county, about sixty miles northeast of San Francisco, and were gathered in the month of May, 1874, from the hillsides of that section. About two and a half tons were picked, dried in the shade and securely packed against the influence of changes of weather or ravages of insects, etc. I have experimented in different ways to obtain a "fluid extract" which should fully represent the medicinal virtues of the leaves and flowering tops of the plant. Sample No. 1 is made with the officinal alcohol, and represents in one pint the strength of sixteen troy ounces of the dried leaves and tops of the plant. The " Grindelia," even when well dried, contains a large proportion of the sticky "balsam" before mentioned, and repeated experiments have shown me the inutility of attempting to proceed with it as in the treatment of the ordinary barks, roots, leaves, etc., as, in grinding or comminuting in a drug mill or mortar. I have found the most feasible method, and the one furnishiug the most satisfactory results, to be that of macerating the carefully picked leaves and tops in a suitable vessel with strong alcohol enough poured over to not quite cover the mass, for a period of twenty-four hours, a strong cover being laid over