174 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



From the first three pages the student will 

 learn the limitations of the different depart- 

 ments of pharmacology and of the nature of the 

 Pharmacopceia. The four following pages are 

 devoted to defining the various classes of plant 

 constituents to which the pharmacist must pay 

 attention. The principal pharmaceutical pro- 

 cesses are next defined, tables of weights 

 and measures given, and fifteen pages 

 devoted to defining classes of pharmaceu- 

 tical processes, these being arranged in alpha- 

 betical order. To each definition is appended a 

 list of the official preparations of that class, if 

 any. Most of the instruction here noted is of 

 especial use for medical students, whose college 

 course is lacking in that direction, but it is 

 entirely discounted by the ample instruction of 

 this kind which is given to our pharmacy stud- 

 ents in their college course. Yet even they 

 will frequently consult this portion of the book 

 with great profit, — and doubtless with especial 

 satisfaction to themselves as the date for the 

 examination draws near. The principles of 

 posology and prescription writing and reading, 

 with ample illustrations, follow, and then comes, 

 in sixty-seven pages the author's physiological 

 classification of medicines, his twelve divisions 

 being subdivided, under capital letters, into 

 groups, and all the articles belonging to each 

 group enumerated after its description. The re- 

 mainder of the work is devoted to the indivi- 

 dual study of the drugs in order of their group- 

 ing. The same principles of treatment are ap- 

 plied to both the inorganic and the organic 

 divisions. We are here more particularly con- 

 cerned with the latter. 



The names are limited to the official title and 

 commonly, if not in all cases, a single synonym. 

 This exceedingly important subject is not fully 

 enough treated for the wants of the pharmacist. 

 The English official title should in all cases be 

 carefully distinguished from other synonyms 

 and it is very desirable from a pharmaceutical 

 standpoint that the latter be more completely 

 given. 



The close condensation of the official defini- 

 tion, taken verbatim, and of the habitat is ad- 

 mirable. The official description which follows 

 is perhaps useful for physicians, and is certainly 

 for those pharmacy students who do not receive 

 a complete course of instruction with the drugs 

 actually in hand. But for our own students, 

 who are so thoroughly instructed in this depart- 

 ment, these descriptions are quite superfluous. 



Composition, dose, principal impurities or 



sophistications, preparations, actions and uses 

 then follow and, while treated with ample full- 

 ness for the purposes of a handbook, are con- 

 densed to a degree which would scarcely be 

 thought possible without detracting from the 

 requirements of necessary information. 



Two features of this part of the work are 

 especially valuable. Preparations into which 

 articles or their preparations enter, though not 

 mentioned in the list of preparations named in 

 the pharmacopoeia are carefully introduced. 

 Secondly, the entire work abounds in italicized 

 notes calling attention to errors or misunder- 

 standings which experience has shown to be 

 likely to arise in the work of either the pharma- 

 cist or the physician, and constitute a very im- 

 portant collection of danger signals. 



It will thus be seen that the second edition is 

 made even more characteristically a multum in 

 parvo than its predecessor, and that properly 

 used it must prove an invaluable aid to students 

 of pharmacy. H. H. R. 



THE HOST RECENT WORK. 



Pharmaceutical Fellowships. — With the pro- 

 gress of our own institution and especially since 

 we have (in a previous issue) called the atten- 

 tion of the readers of The Alumni Journal to 

 the valuable paper by Prof E. Kremers and 

 the presidential address of E''gar L. Patch bear- 

 ing on this subject, it is with pleasure and 

 peculiar gratification that we announce that 

 the School of Pharmacy of the University, of 

 Wisconsin, has endowed a Pharmaceutical 

 Fellowship for three years. 



American Peppermint Oil. — F. B. Power and 

 C. Kleber (Pharm. Rund , July /, iSg^f,) have 

 examined the constituents of peppermint oil. It 

 contains acetic, (0.044 P^r cent.) aldehyde and iso- 

 valeric aldehyde (0.048 per cent.) anil also small 

 amounts of free iso-valerianic and acetic acids. 

 The portion distilling between 100° and 1$$° 

 was suspected to contain amyl-alcohol. Between 

 155° and 170° gave a part which yielded crystals 

 of pinene piperidyl-nitrolamine. This pinene 

 appears to be chiefly either per se inactive, or a 

 nearly compensating mixture of the dextrogy- 

 rate and laveogyrate forms. The authors posi- 

 tively conclude that American Peppermint Oil 

 does not contain menthene. From the portion 

 boiling at about 170° C nitrite of phellandrene 

 was obtained. The portion distilling at 174- 

 177° C. contained cineol. The portion between 

 175° and 177° C. yielded dipentenetelrabromide; 

 Hmenene tetabromide was readily obtained from 

 the respective fraction. It appears somewhat 



