Therapy, as other branches of medicine, is subject to influences which, temporarily at least, tend to overemphasize the value of certain procedures. However, the gradual accumulation of new knowledge concerning the value of these procedures usually brings about a clearer recognition of their limitations. Of recent years, the practice of intravenous medication has come to the front to an ever-increasing extent; and, though by no means a new procedure, its application to the treatment of disease has assumed such proportions that it is both timely and important to consider for a moment the real merits and limitations of this form of therapy.
Of course, it is utterly impossible to cover this subject exhaustively in a brief article. All I can hope for is to point out some of the pharmacologic principles involved, illustrating them by a few examples, and to leave you in that healthful state of mind which demands