LITERARY NOTICES. 



*35 



nearly ten years ago. It was favorably re- 

 ceived, and the author has been encouraged 

 to pursue still further the line of thought 

 there opened. This second edition is so 

 nearly rewritten as to be practically a new 

 work. Several chapters have been removed, 

 and others condensed and modified, while 

 much new matter has been added. It is 

 obvious that there are two chief elements 

 in this change : first, the progress of the 

 subjects, or the increase of our actual knowl- 

 edge concerning them ; and, second, the au- 

 thor's own progress in mastering them. He 

 is occupied by the most tangled and ob- 

 scure of modern investigations, upon many 

 of which the intellect of the world has but 

 just fairly entered ; these he discusses from 

 an independent point of view, putting forth 

 his own conclusions freely and fully. These 

 are such as to merit attention ; and the 

 reader who desires to be thoroughly up in 

 modern biological and psychological discus- 

 sion will find much in Mr. Murphy's vol- 

 ume to repay attention. 



The National Dispensatory : Containing 

 the Natural History, Chemistry, Phar- 

 macy, Actions, and Uses of Medicines, 

 including those recognized in the Phar- 

 macopoeias of the United States and 

 Great Britain. By Alfred Stille, M. 

 D., LL. D., Professor of the Theory and 

 Practice of Medicine and of Clinical 

 Medicine in the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, etc., and John M. Maisch, Ph. D., 

 Professor of Materia Medica and Botany 

 in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 

 Secretary to the American Pharmaceuti- 

 cal Association. In one very handsome 

 octavo volume of over sixteen hundred 

 closely-printed pages, with over Two 

 Hundred Illustrations. Extra cloth, $6.- 

 75 ; leather, raised bands, $7.50. Phila- 

 delphia : Henry C. Lea. 



The range of the sciences connected 

 with materia medica and therapeutics is not 

 only a very wide but also an ever-shifting 

 one, growing by constant accessions of facts 

 and material, condensing by sifting and dis- 

 carding, and appropriating all that which 

 has proved of real and more than ephemeral 

 value. Pharmacopoeias and compendiums 

 of materia medica, in order to keep pace 

 with both accessions and restrictions, and 

 with general progress, have therefore to be 

 revised or rewritten from time to time. 



In the United States, where there as yet 



is no legally authorized Pharmacopoeia, and 

 the existing one is but the voluntary work 

 of delegates from a number of medical and 

 pharmaceutical societies and colleges, the 

 "United States Dispensatory," of Profes- 

 sors Wood and Bache, for more than forty 

 years has been the unrivaled standard in 

 this special and important branch of the 

 healing art, and as such has, to a very large 

 extent, overshadowed the " Pharmacopoeia." 

 Since the appearance of the fifth decennial 

 revision of the " United States Pharmaco- 

 poeia " in 1873, and the failure of the " Unit- 

 ed States Dispensatory " to embrace in time 

 its improvements, alterations, and additions 

 in the way of a new commensurate edition, 

 the want became more and more patent 

 of a new critical digest, supplementing the 

 Pharmacopoeia, representing the advanced 

 state of materia medica, and discarding 

 the bulk of obsolete material. The an- 

 nouncement some years ago that Professors 

 Stille and Maisch, of Philadelphia, had en- 

 gaged in the preparation of such a work 

 was therefore received with the more satis- 

 faction and confidence, as both authors are 

 recognized authorities in their respective 

 departments. The result of their joint labor 

 has now made its appearance in the above- 

 named volume, containing 1,540 pages, 88 

 pages of indexes, and 201 illustrations. 



The practical importance of the objects 

 of this work, the elaborate and comprehen- 

 sive treatment of the immense material, 

 embracing the natural history, chemistry, 

 pharmacy, and the actions and uses, of the 

 entire domain of the present materia medi- 

 ca, in a concise and lucid style, and com- 

 mensurate with the advanced state of the 

 kindred sciences, make the " National Dis- 

 pensatory" at once a complete digest of 

 its kind in the English language and a cred- 

 itable publication of the American press. 



Without entering in detail upon a critical 

 survey of this voluminous work, of its many 

 excellencies and comparatively slight and 

 few shortcomings, it affords us special plea- 

 sure, in justice to its intrinsic value, its im- 

 portance, and its prospective usefulness, to 

 add our unqualified approval of the master- 

 ly way in which the authors have accom- 

 plished their task, and have succeeded in 

 furnishing for general use, and to the pro- 

 fessions of pharmacy and medicine in par- 



