244 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



A Text- Book of Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacology . By George 

 Frank Butler, Ph.G., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Clinical 

 Medicine in the College of Physicians and burgeons Medical Depart- 

 ment of the University of Illinois ; Professor of General Medicine and 

 Diseases of the Digestive System, Chicago Clinical School ; Attending 

 Physician to Cook County Hospital ; Member of the American Medical 

 Association, Illinois State Medical Society, Chicago Pathological So- 

 ciety and Chicago Society of Internal Medicine ; Fellow of the Chicago 

 Academy of Medicine, etc. Second edition, revised. Philadelphia, W. 

 B. Saunders, 925 Walnut street, 1898. 



The necessity for the appearance of a second edition of this excellent 

 work so closely on the heels of the first, proves how widespread has been 

 the recognition of its merits and how nearly it approximates the require- 

 ments of both teacher and student. The mean between, on the one hand, 

 the elaborate prolixness, and on the other, the compend-like brevity of 

 most of the other works on the subject, has been struck with a degree of 

 success, in our estimation, not before attained in any text-book on Materia 

 Medica in the language, while at the same time nothing likely to be of 

 importance to either the practitioner or student has been inadequately 

 treated. The introductory chapters in " Pharmacology and Therapeu- 

 tics," and "Pharmaceutical Preparations" are models in their way and 

 should be read by every student who desires a clear understanding of 

 galenical terms and a knowledge of the methods of preparation of drugs 

 and their products. The work throughout conforms to the U. S. Pharma- 

 copoeia, the official titles and preparations being in all cases given, but in 

 addition the new Materia Medica has received ample attention and the 

 chapters on antipyretics and antiseptics are especially complete in their 

 discussions of the modern synthetic remedies. In this edition the chapter 

 on Definitions has been replaced by one on that important but little 

 understood subject the "untoward" or "bye-effects" of drugs, the ad- 

 vances in our knowledge of the physiological action of aconite, strychnine, 

 the antipyretics and antiseptics have been kept pace with, and serum 

 therapy and the therapeutics of nuclein been thoroughly set forth. 



The press work is excellent, a feature of especial value to the tyro in 

 prescription writing being the accentuation of all official titles together 

 with their genitive, and in many instances accusative cases, given in full. 

 Altogether, the book is one that it is a pleasure to commend and we can- 

 not too highly praise the lucidity and conciseness of its style or the com- 

 pactness of arrangement which presents in useful and convenient form a 

 really enormous amount of information. 



