222 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



The work is much more than its title would indicate, as it contains a vast amount 

 of information on the culture of the tea-plant, its jield, profits and other economic 

 details. H. H. R. 



The Principal Poisonous Plants of the United States. By V. K. CHESNUT. Pub- 

 lished by the Division of Botany of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 This important publication is a pamphlet of sixty pages, treating of about fifty poi- 

 sonous plants, thirty-four of them being figured. They include plants poisonous to 

 domestic animals, as well as to man. The method of collecting information has been 

 to obtain accounts of cases of poisoning from the newspaper clipping bureaus and 

 then to get into correspondence with the parties concerned. Information is supplied 

 concerning the description, distribution and habits of the plants, the manner in which 

 poisoning is likely to occur, the poisonous constituents, symptoms, antidotes and 

 treatment. The method of treatment is not technical or profound, the object being 

 to furnish information to the common people. The greatest value of its distribution 

 is likely to be in the stimulation of people to communicate further information to the 

 Department. H. H. R. 



For many years the United States Government has been testing the cultivation in 

 this country of certain medicinal plants of recognized commercial value. The fol- 

 lowing abstracts are based on a report of this work which appears in the Yearbook of 

 the Department of Agriculture for 1897 : 



Eucalyptus. — Is destroyed by cold in Texas and Florida, but is successfully grown 

 and largely planted in California. There is no longer any doubt that the sanitary 

 value of this tree in wet countries is due, not only to the absorbent power of its roots 

 in drying up wet and marsh lands, but also to a volatile oil and a volatile acid which 

 permeate the atmosphere and contribute to its invigorating and healthy nature. 



Cinchona. — Many hundreds of plants have been distributed without successful re- 

 sults, and the cultivation has been given up. Cinchona bark from the East Indies is 

 now so cheap that even West India growers have abandoned the culture of the trees. 



Olives. — The Pacific coast now produces olives in paying quantities, but all at- 

 tempts to extend the culture to the Southern States have resulted in failure. 



Tea Over 150,000 plants have been sent out, but with no successful results, the 



climate being too dry to produce paying crops. 



Coffee.— It is still a question whether or not it can be grown profitably even in our 

 most southern States. 



Camphor. — Is a fine evergreen tree, useful for decorative purposes and growing 

 as far north as Charleston, S. C. Many thousands of trees have been set out with the 

 view of testing their yield of gum. Whether it is better to use the leaves, the twigs, 

 the wood, or the roots, has not yet been determined. 



Other plants of interest which are being propagated and distributed are : Pome- 

 granate, Cork oak, Cocoanut Palm, Date Palm, Vanilla, Tamarind, Ginger, Allspice ; 

 Licorice, Ceylon Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Gum Arabic and Erythroxylon Coca. 



W. A. B. 



Essentials of Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Prescription Writing, arranged in 

 the form of Questions and Answers. Prepared especially for students of Medicine, 

 by Henry Morris, M.D. Fifth Edition. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia. 1898. 

 $1.00. 

 In this, the last edition of this excellent Quiz Compend, the last revision of the 



Pharmacopoeia is closely followed and the newer remedies since introduced have been 



added, thus keeping the book up to date. 



The system of classification is founded almost entirely on therapeutic lines which 



for practical work is quite essential. For students, the work will prove of service, 



since it is concise, well written and accurate. 



