4H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



made in the present edition, to bring the 

 theoretical portion into harmony with mod- 

 ern views ; but its treatment of chemical 

 theory, although good, is not the strongest 

 feature of the work. Its first claim to con- 

 sideration, and an important one, is the 

 great number of simple illustrative experi- 

 ments that it pictures and describes. There 

 is a great profusion of cuts representing 

 apparatus and manipulations, which will be 

 most serviceable to lecturers and chemical 

 workers. Another point of special interest 

 in the work is the prominence it gives to the 

 subject of manufacturing processes. The 

 principles involved in the most important of 

 these are very clearly and fully explained. 

 Professor Bloxam has been long associated 

 with the Government military establishment 

 at Woolwich, and has made many investi- 

 gations into the properties of explosives. 

 The student will accordingly find that more 

 than usual attention is given to the chemis- 

 try of the various substances employed in 

 warlike stores. 



Pharmacographia : A History of the Prin- 

 cipal Drugs of Vegetable Origin met with 

 in Great Britain and British India. By 

 Friedrich Fluckiger, Ph. D., Professor 

 in the University of Strasburg, and Dan. 

 Hanbury, F. R. S. Second edition. Lon- 

 don : Macmillan & Co. (22 Bond Street, 

 New York). 1879. Svo, pp. SOS. Price, 

 $5. 



The second edition of this master- work, 

 first published in 1874 and now revised by 

 the only surviving author, Professor Fliic- 

 kiger, has been long looked for, and is re- 

 ceived everywhere with due appreciation. 

 Exceeding the first edition by one hundred 

 pages, it is identical with it in scope and 

 arrangement. The drugs are classified ac- 

 cording to their botanical origin, and the 

 natural orders arranged in accordance with 

 the system of De Candolle. The Latin 

 name, with the principal synonyms of each 

 drug, is followed by their English, German, 

 and French names. The main sections of 

 each article treated are: "Botanical Ori- 

 gin," " nistory," " Collection," " Descrip- 

 tion," " Microscopic Structure," " Chemical 

 Composition," " Production and Commerce," 

 " Uses, Adulterations, and Substitutes." 



The section " Botanical Origin " enumer- 

 ates the recognized botanical name, together 

 with the synonyms, the habit, and locality 



of the plant yielding the drug ; all strictly 

 botanical descriptions are, very properly, al- 

 most entirely excluded. The section " His- 

 tory " is particularly unique and interest- 

 ing ; it gives an historical account of each 

 drug from the time when it was first used, 

 traces its employment by different nations, 

 its influence upon commerce, its value at 

 different periods, cultivation, etc. This is 

 followed by an account of the " Collection " 

 of the drug, and its manufacture for the 

 market, in all such cases where this infor- 

 mation is likely to explain its physical prop- 

 erties, which are described under the section 

 " Description," and followed by " Microscop- 

 ical Structure." In the section " Chemical 

 Composition " the views of different inves- 

 tigators have been carefully sifted, and the 

 results of the most recent researches given. 

 Interesting and valuable information and 

 statistics are found in the division "Pro- 

 duction, Cultivation, and Commerce." The 

 section "Adulteration and Substitutes" is 

 brief, since the surest way to detect adul- 

 terations, of whatever kind, is to be found 

 in a sufficient familiarity with the leading 

 characteristics of the pure article. 



The value of all this information is much 

 enhanced and made specially attractive and 

 interesting by copious reference to original 

 sources, covering a wide and varied scope 

 of both old and recent literature. 



If there is any desideratum which the 

 very value of the work suggests, it is the 

 want of illustrations in the sections of "De- 

 scription " and " Microscopical Structure," 

 for which the authors thus far refer to sev- 

 eral standard works, mainly German ones, 

 and which desideratum has been well met 

 in the French translation of the work by 

 Professor de Lanessau, which contains more 

 than three hundred well-executed cuts. 



An Introduction to the Philosophy of 

 Religion. By John Caird, D. D. New 

 York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 358. Price, 

 $3. 



A disquisition upon this subject by the 

 Principal of Glasgow University is sure to 

 have a wide welcome. Dr. Caird is well 

 known as one of the clearest and soundest 

 thinkers of the conservative school of the- 

 ology. In calm, philosophic temper, in lib- 

 erality of thought, and in acuteness and 

 force of reasoning, this work is far above 



