126 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



because they were prescribed by physicians, 

 or used in domestic practice, either entered 

 under their own headings, or as " allied 

 drugs " under those of more important sub- 

 stances. With these descriptions was given 

 such information about the botanical char- 

 acter of plants yielding drugs, the external 

 and structural characteristics, and the modes 

 of preparation of drugs, their chemical prop- 

 erties, and their physiological action as de- 

 termined by experiment, as seemed appro- 

 priate to the purposes of the work. The 

 present edition may be regarded as em- 

 bodying the pharmacopoeias of the four 

 chief civilized nations. Those of the United 

 States and Germany appeared at the close 

 of 1S82, and formed the basis' of the revis- 

 ion. The French Codex was published after 

 the work was prepared for the press, but in 

 time to admit of its incorporation. The 

 British Pharmacopoeia has not been revised 

 since 1867. Many of the newer statements 

 have been tested and corrected by special 

 experiments. A large number of extra- 

 pharmacopceial medicines have been added 

 to those in previous editions. Numerous 

 historical notes have been added. The de- 

 scriptions have been condensed or extended 

 as occasion seemed to require, and micro- 

 scopical structure has been more fully de- 

 scribed and illustrated. While the most 

 recent views of the physiological action, so 

 far as it explains the curative effects of 

 medicines, have been given, all generaliza- 

 tions have been kept subordinate to the 

 practical character of the work. The Gen- 

 eral Index contains more than 3,700 more 

 references than that of the second edition, 

 and the Index of Therapeutics nearly 1,600 

 new references. The references to authori- 

 ties in the therapeutical portion of the work 

 have been extended. 



Occult Science in India and among tiie 

 Ancients, with an Account of their 

 Mystic Initiations, and the History of 

 Spiritism. By Louis Jacolliot. Trans- 

 lated by Willard L. Felt. New York : 

 John W. Lovell Company. Pp. 275. 



It may be well to say, in view of the 

 manner in which the title has been used by 

 a certain sect, that this is apparently a 

 real historical study and an account of phe- 

 nomena which, whatever may be their char- 

 acter, exist and have not been explained. 



The author is Chief-Justice of Chantlema- 

 gore, in the French East Indies, and of Ta- 

 hiti, who has, during long residence in India, 

 given considerable attention to investiga- 

 tions of the subject, and to observations of 

 the practices of those who have been initi- 

 ated into the sect of the Pitris, or ancestral 

 shades. The book, he declares, is neither a 

 doctrinal one nor a work of criticism. He 

 does not feel himself called upon to decide 

 either for or against the belief in spirits, 

 either meditating or inspiring, which was 

 held by those who had been initiated in the 

 temples of antiquity, and which is the key- 

 stone of the philosophical and religious in- 

 struction of the Brahmans ; therefore he re- 

 gards himself as the better able to write its 

 history. He assumes to give " the words 

 themselves," and set forth things as they 

 actually were ; to interpret and explain the 

 philosophical compendium of the Hindoo 

 spiritists ; to tell what he saw with his own 

 eyes, and faithfully record such explanations 

 as he received from the Brahmans. He 

 pays attention to the phenomena which the 

 fakirs produce at will, which are variously 

 regarded, but concerning which he remarks 

 that " the facts which are simply magnetic 

 are indisputable, extraordinary as they may 

 seem. As to the facts which are purely 

 spiritual, we were only able to explain those 

 in which we participated, either as actor or 

 spectator, upon the hypothesis that we were 

 the victims of hallucination, unless we are 

 willing to admit that there was an occult 

 intervention." 



The Sanitary ' Engineer. Conducted by 

 Henry C. Meyer. Volume X. June 

 to November, 1884. 140 William Street, 

 New York. Pp. 612. Price, $4 a year. 



The " Sanitary Engineer " is a journal 

 of civil and sanitary engineering and pub- 

 lic and private hygiene, and gives particu- 

 lar attention to plumbing and the construc- 

 tion and arrangement of houses, with refer- 

 ence to sanitary conditions. The present 

 volume contains many valuable papers; 

 among them those relating to the Interna- 

 tional Health Exhibition, to describing and 

 illustrating the plumbing, heating, ventilat- 

 ing and lighting of notable buildings, to 

 steam-fitting and steam-heating, and the 

 reports of various hygienic conventions. 



