Occasionally such a man after sowing dogmatic statements broad cast for a few years becomes insane enough to be confined in an asylum; sometimes advancing age with its mental deterioration is the evident cause; sometimes these acts are the work of advertising schemers; but generally the explanation is to be found in that mental substratum which permits otherwise sane and well educated persons to entertain monstrous opinions concerning the most ordinary matters. The best work in Therapeutics is now carried on quietly without brass bands or sensational announcements. A few earnest men in each civilized country are patiently working out the physiological action of drugs, as a basis for a more rational therapy. The significance of much of this work, is not always manifest on superficial examination; but it already forms an important part of our working knowledge, and is gradually crowding out venerable empiricism which has heretofore occupied so prominent a place in medical practice, whether regular or irregular. MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS. No one will deny the value of some of the work done by the manufacturing chemists. Some synthetic compounds have been produced by chemical processes which we should not like to give up, and some improved forms of administering the older remedies are due, at least in part, to their ingenuity. Nevertheless, let any one not accustomed to it read patiently for a few months, the current numbers of half a dozen of what have been called “the minor medical journals,” or let a careful inspection of the advertising pages of the major journals be made, and it will be seen that large classes of medical men—perhaps a majority—have been completely deceived by these shrewd fellows. They have reached a refinement and a delicacy in their commercialism which will compare favorably with the court intrigues of oriental countries. Every prejudice, every weakness, every conceit of “the under medical world” is played upon with consummate skill and with amazing success. Take, for instance, acetanilid, which, on account for its cheapness has been made to enter into numberless compounds, and every known language is ransacked in the search after new compound names which may be trade-marked. It is not alone the laity that is deceived, but graduates of reputable medical schools are prescribing, and, indeed, dispensing tons of this stuff, and often without knowing its composition. ANIMAL EXTRACTS.