272 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [November, 



could ever be brought into a series; for example, Bacillaria and 

 Biddulphia, Diatoma and Coscinodiscus. Thus descending in 

 the scale of tribes of diatomacege you approach in appearance to a 

 group of atoms not vegetable, but animal, a group of the radio- 

 larise called polycistina, marine animals as minute as many of the 

 diatoms, and having, like the latter, a silicious covering or outer 

 framework. It is an interesting feature of the Santa Monica 

 deposit that it contains in combination a large number of the rare 

 forms of polycistina also. 



At the conclusion of the paper, the president expressed the 

 gratification felt by all to the gentleman who prepared and read 

 the valuable paper and conducted the exhibition. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



The Pharmacology of the Newer Materia Medica. Embrac- 

 ing the Botany, Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Therapeutics of 

 New Remedies ; in 15 monthly parts; subscription price 

 $3.00; single parts 35 cents. 8vo. pp. 1307. Detroit: 

 Geo. S. Davis. 

 The object of this publication is to collect accounts of those new 

 remedies that have been so rapidly introduced within the last few 

 years, and to embody them into one comprehensive whole. The 

 work contains reports of special botanists, results of physiological 

 researches, and descriptions of pharmaceutical preparations. The 

 botanical portion is especially valuable, as the descriptions are 

 full, with, in many cases, illustrations of the plant and its parts, 

 with further illustrations of its microscopical structure. Although 

 the reports of clinical jDroperties are in many instances founded 

 on but one or two observations, and should for this reason be re- 

 ceived as still sub Judice^ with only some probability of value, 

 the work contains much information gleaned from the medical 

 and therapeutical journals, and presents it to the practitioner in a 

 condensed and convenient shape. 



The treatment of its subjects is usually thorough, as far, at least, 

 as its authorities enable it to be. A good example of this is to be 

 found in its consideration of Coca, which includes synonyms, 

 portion employed, natural order, habitat, properties, active prin- 

 ciples, botanical description, history, production, cultivation, 

 Coca at home and abroad, chemical composition, notes on the 

 alkaloids, adulterations and substitutions, with general and clin- 

 ical reports of therapeutic properties, and a complete literature of 

 Cocana, covering 151 pages. The work has four extensive in- 

 dexes, and although many of its clinical reports are doubtless 

 too deeply rose-colored, it should not be neglected nor overlooked 

 by those that desire to keep themselves informed as to the recent 

 amazing progress of therapeutics and of the Materia Medica. 



