PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE premature death-March 24, 1875-of my lamented friend Daniel Hanbury, having deprived me of his invaluable assistance, I have attempted to prepare the new edition of our work with adherence to the same principles by which we were guided from the beginning. I desire to acknowledge my obligations for great and valuable assistance to my friend Thomas Hanbury, Esq., F.L.S., who has also honoured the memory of his late brother by causing the scientific researches of the latter to be collected and republished in the handsome volume entitled, “ Science Papers, chiefly Pharmacological and Botanical, by Daniel Hanbury, edited, with memoir, by Joseph Ince," London. 1876. To Dr. Charles Rice of New York, editor of "New Remedies," I am indebted for much kindly extended and valuable information, and to whose intimate acquaintance with oriental literature, both ancient and modern, many of the following pages bear ample testimony. I am likewise indebted for similar assistance to my friends Professors Goldschmidt and Nöldeke, Strassburg. Information of various kinds, as well as valuable specimens of drugs, have also been courteously supplied to me by the following gentlemen, viz. :-Cesar Chantre, Esq., F.L.S., London; Prof. Dymock, Bombay; H. Fritzsche, Esq. (Schimmel & Co., Leipzig); E. M. Holmes, Esq., F.L.S., &c., London; J. E. Howard, Esq., F.R.S., &c., London; David Howard, Esq., F.C.S., &c.; Wm. Dillworth Howard, F.I.C., London; Capt. F. M. Hunter, F.G.S., &c., Assistant Resident, Aden; A. Oberdörffer, Esq., Hamburg; Prof. Edward Schär, Zürich; Dr. J. E. de Vry, the Hague, &c. On mature consideration, it was deemed expedient to omit in the new edition a large number of references relating more especially to chemical facts. Yet, in most instances, not only the author but also the year has been stated in which the respective observation or dis X PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. covery was made, or at least the year in which it was published or recorded. Every such fact of any importance may thus, by means of those short references, be readily traced and consulted, if wished for, either in the original sources, in abstracts therefrom, or in the periodical reports. Opportunities of the latter kind are abundantly afforded by the German Jahresbericht der Pharmacie, &c., published at Göttingen since 1844, successively by Martius, Wiggers, Husemann, and at the present time by Dragendorff. The same may be said, since 1857, of the Report on the Progress of Pharmacy, as contained annually in the Proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association, and likewise, since 1870, of the Yearbook of Pharmacy, for which the profession is indebted to the British Pharmaceutical Conference. PROF. FLÜCKIGER. STRASSBURG, GERMANY, October, 1879. EXPLANATIONS. INCHES CENTIMETRES Polarization. Most essential oils, and the solutions of several substances described in this book are capable of effecting the deviation of a ray of polarized light. The amount of this rotatory power cannot be regarded as constant in essential oils, and is greatly influenced by various causes. As to alkaloids and other organic compounds, the deviation frequently depends upon the nature and quantity of the solvent. The authors have thought it needful to record in numerous cases the results of such optical investigations, as determined by means of the Polaristrobometer invented by Wild, and described in Poggendorff's Annalen der Physik und Chemie, vol. 122 (1864) p. 626; or more completely in the Bulletin de l'Académie impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, tome viii. (1869) p. 33. Measurements and Weights.-The authors regret to have been unable to adopt one standard system of stating measurements. They have mostly employed the English inch: the accompanying woodcut will facilitate its comparison with the French decimal scale. The word millimetre is indicated in the text by the contraction mm.; micromillimetre,signifying the thousandth part of a millimetre, and only used in reference to the microscope, is abbreviated thus, mkm. 2 3 EIGHTHS TENTHS TWELFTHS OR LINES SIXTEENTHS = 50.8 kilogrammes. =1016 MI LLI ME RES 1 ton 1 kilogramme 1 pecul = Thermometer.-The Centigrade Thermometer has been alone adopted. The following table is given for comparing the degrees of the Centigrade or Celsius Thermometer with those of Fahrenheit's Scale. |