REVIEWS 175 



in which the cell protoplasm reacts with drugs, and that the selective interaction 

 of cells and drugs stands in want of a chemical explanation. 



A few generalisations are apparent, such as the general curarine-like action of 

 quaternary ammonium bases and the depression in physiological reactivity induced 

 by carboxyl and sulphonic groups ; but these and other similar rules are subject 

 to variation and exception. The abandonment of empiricism is as yet outside the 

 range of the practical study of medicine, and accordingly pharmacological research 

 must for the time being proceed very largely on empirical lines. This is a matter 

 deserving of very earnest consideration in this country, where an almost impassable 

 gulf exists between the chemist who synthesises new types of highly reactive 

 substances and the pharmacologist who could demonstrate the utility or otherwise 

 of these products by the only available test of experiments carried out in vivv. 



Although a rational explanation of the action of drugs based on chemical 

 constitution is not possible on account of our present ignorance of the chemistry 

 and reactivity of the living cells, yet within certain narrow limits a correlation may- 

 be traced between definite chemical variations and the ensuing pharmacological 

 results. The authors call attention to many such relationships, and an interesting 

 case is summarised on pp. 207-12, where the constitution and physiological action 

 of the aromatic antipyretics are discussed. Of special interest in this connection 

 are the sections relating to the theories of hypnosis, the bactericidal values of the 

 aromatic antiseptics, the salol principle, the alkaloids and their synthetical sub- 

 stitutes, and the dependence of taste and odour on chemical constitution. 



The rapid advance in the production of new remedies has already placed on 

 the market several important drugs, such as atoxyl and synthetical suprarenine, 

 which have come into vogue since this book was written, but in a future edition 

 it might be possible to incorporate these and other new developments, without 

 enlarging the work, by deleting the more elementary portions of the organic 

 chemistry, which could be conveniently studied in the existing treatises on this 

 subject. 



G. T. Morgan. 



A Manual and Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns. Third 

 Edition. By J. C. Willis, M.A., Sc.D. [Pp. xii. and 712.] (Cambridge : 

 University Press, 1908 ; price \os. 6d.) 



A manual and dictionary on whatever subject is a work which it is only fair to 

 both author and reviewer to criticise after having had an opportunity of putting the 

 book to the test of actual use during a considerable period of time. My own copy 

 of the first edition of Willis's dictionary first came into my hands in Ceylon in 1897. 

 Since then it has been in constant use in England and the West Indies, and formed 

 part of the very scanty library which alone was practicable during a tour in West 

 Africa. It is during such time, when very few books are available, that one 

 realises what a wealth of readily accessible information there is within the covers 

 of this unpretentious-looking volume. The appearance of the third edition within 

 such a comparatively short period as four years since the publication of the second 

 is sufficient evidence that our own opinion of the value of the book is shared by 

 many others. 



In the event of there being any readers of this notice to whom the general plan 

 of the book is not familiar, it will be sufficient to note that it is divided into three 

 parts, preceded by an introductory chapter, which deals, amongst other useful 



