Such was the feeling of the Committee appointed by the College for the revision of the late London Pharmacopœia, and it sufficiently explains why the nomenclature of the alkaline salts has been left unchanged in the present edition of that work. The French, in their new _Codex_, are absurdly extravagant in their application of chemical nomenclature; thus, the sub-carbonate of potass is called by them _sub-deuto-carbonas potassii_. The first part of this quadruple name indicates the comparative quantity of acid in the salt, the second that of oxygen contained in the base, the thud announces the acid, and the fourth the basis of the base! THE PROGRESS OF BOTANICAL SCIENCE. It has been just stated, that we have derived from botanical science a philosophical language which enables us to describe the structure and habits of any plant, with a luminous brevity and an unerring perspicuity; but we are moreover indebted to botany for another service no less important to the successful investigation of the Materia Medica,—that of throwing into well defined groups, those plants which possess obvious natural affinities, and which will be found at the same time to present certain medicinal analogies; indeed, as a general rule, we may admit the axiom, “_Quæ genere conveniunt, virtute conveniunt_.”[85] The _Umbelliferæ_ which grow on dry ground are aromatic, whilst the aquatic species are among the most deadly poisons. The _Cruciform_ plants are aromatic and acrid in their nature, containing essential oils, (hence the peculiar smell of cabbage-water, &c.) which are obtainable by distillation; and Linnæus asserts that “among all the _Leguminous_ or _Papilionaceous_ tribe there is no deleterious plant to be found:” this however is not exactly true. Some of the individuals in these natural orders, although very nearly related, do nevertheless possess various, and even opposite qualities; in the leguminous tribe above mentioned, which is as consistent as any one we possess, we have the _Cytisus Laburnum_, the seeds of which are violently emetic, and those of _Lathyrus Sativus_, which have been supposed at Florence to soften the bones and cause death.