Dr. TURNBULL'S little book On the Medical Properties of the
Natural Order Ranunculacere, though perfectly intelligible to non-medical readers, is chiefly addressed to the profession. The object of the writer is to give some account of the nature of this new class of medicines (of which Veratria is perhaps the most popularly known), and of the methods of preparing them; to describe the effects they produce when taken internally or applied externally ; and to call the attention of practitioners to their suc- cessful effects as curatives in palpitations of the heart, gout, rheu- matism, tic doloureux, and dropsy. Like some of the disorders they are efficacious in relieving, the reasons of their effects are un- known. "Thus do they," is all that can be said upon this part of the subject. The effects they do produce, consist of heat and a tingling sensation on the surface of the skin, sometimes ending in perspiration; with, it would appear, occasional diuretic action ; and these are generally attended or followed by relief. Tb.e action of the medicines seems to be chiefly limited to the ner,-es, without affecting the blood-vessels to any extent. The views of Dr. TURN- DULL are enforced by a great number of cases; some of them— especially those on the tic doloureux, and disorders of the heart— of so extraordinary a nature, that we are tempted to exclaim with the sceptic in the temple of Neptune, "You show me the names of those who have escaped, but where are those who have perished ?"
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