THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF THE CACODYLATES.

In a former issue of The Journal we suggested that the very favorable testimonials as to the value of cacodylic medication within the past year or so, ought not to be too implicitly accepted, but that they indicated that it deserved a judicial study.¹ These numerous testimonies as to its good effects hardly indicate in themselves such a study; they are generally ex parte observations, uncritical so far as any comparative trial with other forms of arsenical medication or chemical tests as to the actual efficiency of the basic drug. Dr. Thomas R. Fraser² in a paper read before the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society, March 5, reported some therapeutic tests by him of the cacodylate of soda which do not support the highly favorable reports of Gautier and others of its therapeutic efficacy. He tested it in cases of chorea, eczema, leukemia, and chlorosis, and found it practically ineffective