in walks and beds, the eastern end like our Washington Square, the western end less formally. It is much resorted to by the population, and is well kept. But all these gardens are greatly inferior in extent to those of Kew, near London, which are appropriately named the Royal Gardens, as the whole establishment is supported on the most liberal scale by the Government. Situated on the banks of the Thames, about thirteen miles above London, they have long been under the supervision of eminent botanists, and especially since 1841, when Sir William J. Hooker assumed the directorship, succeeded in 1865 by his son, Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, the present Director. Originally a part of the grounds of Kew palace, eleven acres in extent, the gardens have been enlarged by grant after grant, until at present the scientific portion of the ground embraces 75 acres, adjacent to which are the "pleasure grounds or arboretum," of 270 acres, and other extensive parks. The buildings for botanical purposes are on the most extensive scale. The largest of these is the palm house, or "stove," as it is called, completed in 1848. It is 362 feet long, 100 feet wide in the centre, and 62 feet high. It is constructed of iron work and glass mainly, and contains 45,000 square feet of glazing, has a gallery 30 feet high for visitors to view the palms from above, is heated by hot water by means of tanks and pipes, of which about 24,000 feet are used in the building, distributed under the shelves and floor, and operated by means of vast furnaces under the building, the flues of which are carried underground 500 feet to a stack of chimnies in the square tower, a structure connected with the water supply of the gardens. In this fine building one needs help of but little imagination to fancy himself in the tropics, so completely is the equatorial flora represented. The cocoanut palm, the betel nut, the date palm, the palm oil tree of Africa, the ivory nut tree of New Grenada, the banana and plantain, the bamboo, the banyan fig, the tamarind, the coffee, allspice, pepper, sugar cane, mango, and numerous others less generally known, are found, with many smaller plants appropriate to a tropical landscape. The tropical house, No. VII, presents great interest to the pharmaceutist from the number of important medicinal plants it contains, such as aloes, annatto, arrow root, bael, balsam Peru tree, quassia, camphor, theobroma, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, indigo, ipecacuanha, logwood, matico, nutmeg, patchouli, cinchona (four species), sandal wood, sarsaparilla, tonqua bean, and Wintersbark. Near the centre of the pleasure grounds is "the new temperate house," an immense structure not yet completed, but perfect as far as it goes, and containing a great variety of Australian plants, especially eucalypti and acacias, Chinese and Japanese, New Zealand, Chilian, and East Indian plants. This house, with its octagonal appendages and those yet to be added, will embrace nearly two acres under glass, and brings together a large amber of important genera. Besides these, there are special houses for the ferns, the begonias cacti, and the orchideous plants and tropical tree-ferns. There is also a tropical aquarium for water plants, 36 feet in diameter, which has fine specimens of the Victoria regia, nymphæas, etc. An exceedingly interesting part of the grounds is that laid out in beds, and devoted to annuals and herbaceous perennials, and especially those used in medicine; yet they bear a very small relation in extent to the other portions of the garden. Nowhere else did we see such ample, unlimited room for all purposes, whether the subject was a gigantic cedar or a tiny rhodendron, or a bed of annuals; there is no cramping, as in most of the botanical gardens of the continent, hedged in by the houses and streets. And then the arboretum ! Think of 270 acres laid out in walks and avenues, with noble trees drawn from all countries which can be acclimated, planted in generic groups, so that one may see the maples of California and Oregon side by side with those of the Atlantic States and Europe. Very fine oaks, elms, beeches, birches, hickories, and cedars, and a pinetum, with representatives from almost all temperate countries, southern and northern. Besides these living specimens, Kew contains an extensive herbarium, which has grown rapidly of late years. Dr. Hooker, in his report for 1865, speaks of eighty donations, representing in all nearly 100,000 plants from all parts of the world, and especially Brazil and Africa, as having been received. In fact, the herbarium is the largest in existence, and constantly increasing, and, together with the library, forms a great centre of botanical research, where a corps of botanists, to the number of fifty, are permitted to make their investigations. Another feature due to the late Sir William J. Hooker, are the museums of economic botany, commenced in 1847, the first of their kind established, and by far the most extensive in the world. The universal exhibitions, 1851 and 1862 at London, and 1855 at Paris, gave large accessions to the collection, and we have no doubt it will be increased largely from the vast collections of natural vegetable products in the Paris Exhibition, 1867. "The object of the museums is to show the practical application of botanical science." We can there learn the relations of the vegetable world to man, what our food, timber, and medicines come from, and how much besides a knowledge of flowers and leaves may be derived from a study of botany. There are three museums. In the first and second the products are arranged according to the botanical natural orders, and the first museum includes the products from dicotyledonous plants, the second those from monocotyledons and acotyledons, whilst the third museum is devoted to the specimens of timber and bulky articles, and is largely made up of the products of the British colonies. The concentration of so much that is beautiful and interesting in nature, arranged with special reference at once to the gratification of the public and the advancement of science, renders Kew Gardens one of the most useful scientific establishments of the many which cluster around the great metropolis of England, and derive their sustenance from the general government. We cannot close without referring to the garden at Edinburgh, of which Dr. Balfour is director, and Mr. McNab the practical superintendent, as one of the most interesting and well-kept anywhere seen. The palm house is in excellent condition, and claims to be better located than that at Kew, but the grounds everywhere indicated that a master-hand was in charge. We saw the remains of the Narthex assafoetida; it being late in the season (August), only one unwilted leaf remained, and about forty young plants had been raised from seed. APRIL, 1868. NON-OFFICINAL FORMULE IN LOCAL USE. A friend in Washington has kindly sent the Editor a little. pamphlet volume, of which the following is the title page : Non-officinal formulæ in local use, compiled and published by the joint committee of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Associations of the District of Columbia. Washington, 1867; pp. 32. This little work is without a preface, or any explanatory note. It is gotten up for the purpose of giving uniformity to a class of preparations that are very liable to vary as made in different shops in the same city, so as to render their prescription by physicians uncertain. The great trouble in such preparations arises from a disposition on the part of pharmaceutists to make them proprietary specialities, and to claim for them a character superior to other preparations of the same class. Now the existence of such a work as the above indicates an esprit du corps on the part of the Washington pharmaceutists which is quite commendable. Many of the formulæ are taken from the journals, but, issued in this way, the dispenser is not at a loss in knowing which to use when a prescription is received. The following is a selection of some that we have not before published: Elixir Cinchona, Ferri et Bismuthi. Take of Citrate of Bismuth and Ammoniæ, four drachms. *Ferrated Tincture of Cinchona, eight fluid ounces. Distilled Water, three and a-half fluid ounces. Water of Ammonia, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve the citrate of bismuth and ammonia in the distilled water; add water of ammonia in slight excess; then dissolve the citrate of iron and ammonia; add the ferrated tincture and tincture of cardamom; filter, and add the syrup of orange-peel. Each fluidrachm contains nearly two grains each of the salts of bismuth and iron. Elixir Chloroformi (Chloroform Paregoric of Dr. Hartshorne.) Take of Chloroform, Tincture of Opium, Tincture of Camphor, Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia, of each a fluid ounce and a-half. Brandy, two fluid ounces. Mix. Dose, half a fluidrachm or less. Elixir Ferri Pyrophosphatis. Take of Pyrophosphate of Iron, three hundred and twenty grains. Mix. Syrup of Orange peel, Best Brandy, of each four fluid ounces. *The Ferrated Tincture of Cinchona used in this preparation is made in the following manner: Take of Calisaya Bark, in moderately fine powder, a troyounce. Bitter Orange-peel, in moderately fine powder, six drachms. Sub-carbonate of Iron, four ounces, or a sufficient quantity. Citrate of Iron (soluble), one hundred and sixty grains. Mix the powders, and having moistened the mixture with one fluidounce of diluted alcohol, pack it firmly in a glass percolater and gradually pour diluted alcohol upon it, until ten fluid ounces of tincture are obtained. Moisten the sub-carbonate of iron with four fluidounces of diluted alcohol, add the tincture; agitate briskly for fifteen minutes; set it aside for 24 hours; test a portion with solution of subsulphate of iron; if a precipitate should form treat it with more of the sub-carbonate, till the tincture tested remains clear; filter, add sufficient boiling alcohol through the filter to make the tincture measure ten fluid ounces. Lastly dissolve the citrate of iron in the tincture. Elixir Picis Liquida Compositum. Take of Wine of Tar,* a pint. Syrup of Wild Cherry Bark, Syrup of Tolu, of each four fluid ounces. Rectified Wood Naphtha (methylic alcohol), a fluidounce. Mix. Dose, two teaspoonfuls. Lotio Alba Boracis (nipple wash). Boiling Rose-water, a fluidounce. Dissolve, filter, and add Mix well. Oil of Sweet Almonds, a fluidounce. Pilula Podophyllini Composite. Take of Podophyllum, six grains. Extract of Nux vomica, three grains. Mix, and make twenty-four pills. Dose, one to three pills. Mix. Emplastrum Peruvianum (breast plaster). Plaster of Ammoniac with Mercury, Mercurial Ointment, two drachms. Mistura Hæmostatica (Warren's). Take of Concentrated Sulphuric Acid, five drachms. Alcohol, and Oil of Turpentine, of each two drachms. Add gradually the acid to the turpentine, and then the alcohol, using care. Vinum Pepsicum (wine of pepsin). Mix. Take of Pepsin, in powder, a drachm and a-half. Distilled Water, six fluidrachms. White Sugar, a troyounce. Sherry Wine, fifteen fluidrachms. Alcohol, three fluidrachms. *The Wine of Tar here indicated is made as follows: Take of Tar, six troyounces. Carbonate of Magnesia, two troy ounces. Mix thoroughly, and add Sherry Wine, four pints.. Digest for ten minutes, and filter, adding sufficient sherry wine on the filter to make the product measure four pints. |