January 2, 1902] 



NA TURE 



197 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Pharmacopedia, a Coiiitnetilary on the British Pharmaco- 



pOi-iii, 189S. By Edmund White, B.Sc. (London), 



F.I.C., Pharmaceutist to St. Thomas's Hospital, 



London, and John Humphrey. Pp. .\v + 6g6; 46 plates. 



(London : Henry Kimpton, 1901.) 

 Tm: subject of materia medica is already somewhat un- 

 necessarily complicated in its terminology ; the student 

 has to learn the meaning of a formidable array of words 

 before he can even define the subject-matter of his studies. 

 Inter alia we may mention pharmacology, pharmacog- 

 nosy, pharmaco-dynamics, pharmacy, pharmaceutical 

 chemistry, &c. Into this sea of shibboleths the authors 

 of this work have flung yet another which doubtless 

 they hope will float, viz. Pharmacopedia ; this in its 

 turn will probably produce Pharmacopedies ; by it the 

 authors understand "information about drugs." We 

 venture to think that one of the few mistakes of the book 

 is its title. 



The book consists of a full description, either botani- 

 cal or chemical or both, of all the officinal drugs in the 

 pharmacopcEia of 1S98, and their preparations. The 

 drugs are treated in alphabetical order, and in this order 

 also the diflierent kinds of preparations are considered 

 generically. The authors have rightly devoted space 

 liberally to the chemical problems involved in the pre- 

 paration of medicines. They have also discussed at length 

 most of what is known concerning the chemistry of the 

 alkaloids, enlarging this in many cases to a detailed 

 account of the organic chemistry, not only of the sub- 

 stances immediately under consideration, but also those 

 through which their molecular constitution has been 

 ascertained. We may, however, remark parenthetically 

 that we think coniine and digitalis have been treated in 

 this respect a little scantily. 



The new synthetic remedies, e.ff. antipyrin, phen- 

 acetine, saccharine, are, so far as their chemistry is con- 

 cerned, treated very fully, and this will add very greatly 

 to the value of the book. The general remarks upon the 

 oils, methods of standardisation, &c., are also very good 

 and will prove useful to the student. 



The book concludes with notes on the Indian and 

 Colonial addendum of 1900 and with numerous well- 

 executed plates of medicinal plants. 



The book is well got up, and, as a book of reference 

 like this ought to be, is actually bound, not, as is so often 

 the case, merely enclosed in cloth covers. The authors 

 are distinctly to be congratulated upon the result of their 

 labours and may certainly consider that they have 

 produced the most complete commentary upon the phar- 

 macopceia, from the point of view of the student of phar- 

 maceutical chemistry, in the language. The reviewer 

 would suggest to them that in the next edition they 

 should mclude once under each drug a brief account of 

 its action and uses, and also its dose. This could be done 

 without appreciably increasing the bulk of the volume and 

 would add immensely to its practical value. F. W. T. 



Practical Exercises on Sound, Light and Heat. By J. S . 

 Dexter, B.Sc. Pp. xv + 284. (Longmans, Green and 

 Co., 1 90 1.) Price 2s. 6d. 



This book contains elementary exercises, and is of a 

 standard suitable for the work of science and continuation 

 schools and for junior university students. It contains 

 218 sections dealing with the three subjects, so that the 

 field is covered very completely. 



The experiments on heat commence'with some to illus- 

 trate the sensation of touch used as a thermoscope, and 

 an account, which the student is recommended to take as 

 a guide, is given of the observations. The account 

 begins : "From this lesson 1 learn that my sensation of 

 touch must not be relied upon to tell me the true heat 

 state of the body 1 am examining. The thermometer 



NO. 1679, VOL. 65] 



given me to use made no indications of change when 

 placed on difterent articles, such as wood, iron, or duster, 

 and yet I have difterent sensations on touching them. . . ." 

 The present writer feels that it would be better for the 

 students, however young, to learn at once the normal 

 English method of recording results and conclusions. 

 He would put the observations first and the conclusion 

 afterwards and avoid the personal pronoun, so that the 

 example for the student would read thus : " A ther- 

 mometer made no indication of change when placed on 

 the following articles wood, iron or duster, but the sen- 

 sation to touch was different in each case. . . . From 

 these observations it appears that the sensation of touch 

 cannot be trusted to indicate the heat state of a body." 



The methods described by the author for many of the 

 experiments are very simple and satisfactory. We may 

 mention the method of measuring the coefficient of ex- 

 pansion of a rod, and the numerical results show that a 

 good degree of accuracy can be attained. We should, 

 however, have liked to have seen a chapter on the dis- 

 cussion of the value of the errors in the methods. It is 

 not well that students should learn to measure one 

 quantity to five significant figures, another to three and to 

 multiply the two, obtaining a result with eight as we see 

 on p. 47. S. S. 



Die heteroge/ien Gleichgewichte vom Standptuikt der 

 Phasenle/tre. Von H. W. Bakhuis Roozeboom. 

 Erstes Heft : Die Phasenlehre — Systeme aus einer 

 Komponente. Pp. xiii -I- 221. (Braunschweig : Vieweg 

 und Sohn, 1901.) 



This book will receive a warm welcome from all 

 interested in the phase-rule. Prof Bakhuis Roozeboom 

 has made the experimental portion of the subject 

 peculiarly his own, and now lays chemists under an 

 obligation of gratitude for a clear and systematic account 

 of Gibbs's rule and its applications. The work is divided 

 into sections according to the number of components in 

 the systems considered, and then further subdivided 

 according to the number of phases in the systems. This 

 method of classification is very advantageous for detailed 

 treatment, especially when many illustrative instances 

 are given, as is here the case. The present section of the 

 book, after a brief general sketch of the nature of the 

 phase-rule, deals with systems containing only one com- 

 ponent, the remarkable amount of interesting material 

 collected and classified under this heading showing very 

 strikingly the value of the rule for systematic purposes. 

 Amongst the subjects treated we find the ordinary 

 equilibria of solids, liquids and gases, isomerism, rate of 

 crystallisation, critical points, triple points, transformation 

 points and curves, liquid crystals, enantiotropy — all fully 

 illustrated by examples and with indications of the 

 experimental methods employed. Graphic methods are 

 freely used in the exposition, and only the most 

 elementary acquaintance with mathematics is required 

 for the perusal of the systematic portion of the work. 

 Two other sections are promised, dealing with the 

 equilibrium of systems containing respectively two and 

 three components. J. W. 



KnoiK'lcdge Diary and Scientific Handbook for 1902. 

 Pp. 1 12-1-408. (London: Knozvledge Office.) Price 

 3^-. net. 



A.M.VTEUR astronomers and other observers of natural 

 phenomena will find it a convenience to possess this 

 diary and handbook. There are, in addition to the 408 

 blank pages of the diary, several descriptive articles on 

 aspects of astronomy, botany, microscopy and meteor- 

 ology ; star maps ; diagrams of paths of the chief 

 planets in 1902 ; collections of tables of service to 

 students of science ; a monthly astronomical ephjmeris ; 

 and other information of interest. 



