274 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for the special benefit of pharmaceutical and 

 medical students space is given to all chemi- 

 cals mentioned in the " United States Phar- 

 macopoeia." The fifth part deals with qualita- 

 tive analysis, including also a chapter giving 

 the principal methods for volumetric de- 

 terminations. Organic chemistry occupies a 

 little over one fourth of the volume, and in 

 this department special prominence is given 

 to those substances most important in medi- 

 cine and pharmacy. In the closing part 

 physiological chemistry is treated, including 

 a consideration of the chemical changes 

 which take place in animals and plants, and 

 of the chemical composition of animal fluids 

 and tissues, with full directions for testing 

 urine. A notable feature of the book is 

 seven plates showing the colors of fifty-six 

 precipitates and liquids, which beginners 

 often have difficulty in becoming familiar 

 •with. There are also forty-four cuts repre- 

 senting apparatus. 



A Synopsis of the Medical Botany of the 

 United States. By J. M. G. Carter, 

 M. D., Ph. D. St. Louis : George H. Field. 

 Pp. ] 76. Price, $2. 



Dr. Carter has accomplished a laborious 

 service for the physicians of the United 

 States. The book consists of a list of the 

 species under each genus which are known 

 to be useful in medicine, giving their medici- 

 nal properties, and telling what parts of the 

 plant are used, and the dose. The medicinal 

 plants of the United States embrace about 

 140 orders, 620 genera, and more than 1,300 

 species and varieties. The botanical arrange- 

 ment is chiefly that of Dr. Asa Gray. The 

 names of introduced species are distinguished 

 by small capitals, and the habitat of rare 

 plants i3 given. The volume is supplied with 

 a table of orders, and indexes of generic 

 names and of common names of plants, and 

 an index of diseases. 



The Journal of Physiology, Vol. IX, Nos. 

 2 and 3 (Cambridge (England) Scientific In- 

 strument Company) contains eight papers 

 giving the results of laboratory investiga- 

 tions. The first is " On the Physiology of 

 tlie Salivary Secretion," by J. N. Langley, of 

 Cambridge, and records experiments made 

 to determine whether the "trophic" and 

 " anabolic " fibers of the secretory nerves 

 are paralyzed by atropine at the same time 



as the " secretory " fibers. This is followed 

 by a paper on " The Physiological Action 

 of Borneol," by Ralph Stockman, M. D., of 

 Edinburgh, and "A Note on the Cause of 

 the Failure of very Rapid Electrical Stimula- 

 tion to produce Tetanus in Muscle," by Hen- 

 ry Sewall, of Ann Arbor, Mich. " An Experi- 

 mental Investigation of Strychnine-Poison- 

 ing" is contributed by Robert W. Lovett, 

 M. D., of Boston, who concludes that the 

 spinal cord, upon which strychnine exercises 

 peculiar power, takes up more of the drug 

 than the other organs ; but whether or not 

 it is more susceptible to the drug than the 

 other organs we have no means of ascer- 

 taining. The next paper is " On the Circum- 

 stances which modify the Action of Caffeine 

 and Theine upon Voluntary Muscle," by T. 

 Lauder Brunton and J. Theodore Cash ; this 

 is followed by a report of an investigation 

 " On the Electrical Organ of the Skate," by 

 J. Burdon- Sanderson and Francis Gotch. 

 The remaining papers are " On the Rhythm 

 of the Mammalian Heart," by John A. Mc- 

 William, M. D., of Aberdeen, illustrated by 

 plates of tracings ; and " Further Researches 

 on the Apparent Change produced by Stimu- 

 lation in the Polarization of Nerve," by 

 George N. Stewart, of Manchester. 



Prof. E. D. Cope read before the Ameri- 

 can Philosophical Society in January last a 

 paper entitled Synopsis of the Vertebrate 

 Fauna of the Puereo Series. The Puerco 

 formation rests on the Laramie in north- 

 western New Mexico and southwestern Colo- 

 rado, and was discovered by Prof. Cope in 

 1874, and vertebrate remains were found in 

 it by Mr. David Baldwin in 1880. One hun- 

 dred and six vertebrate species have been 

 found so far, which differ so much from the 

 fauna which preceded and followed them, as 

 to show that this foi-mation represents an 

 immense interval that had not been pre- 

 viously suspected. These species are de- 

 scribed in the present paper, and the de- 

 scriptions are illustrated by two plates, and 

 by cuts showing dentition. 



University Studies is the name of a pe- 

 riodical published by the University of Ne- 

 braska, at Lincoln, the first number of which, 

 dated July, 1888, is before us. The price of 

 a single number is $1 ; yearly subscription, 

 $3. There is no announcement of the pur- 

 pose or times of publication of the journal 



