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notes on their distribution, use and medicinal properties. A number of 

 cultivated plants are included because the geographical limits of their 

 distribution afford an indication of the climatic zones of the region. 

 The flora of Baluchistan has a somewhat northernly character, 

 many genera indigenous in Central Europe, such as the violet, the 

 primula, the whitethorn, the anemone, the gentian, and the juniper 

 being represented. 



L'industrie des parfums, d'apres les theories de la chimie moderne, is 

 the title of a work on essential oils and odoriferous substances by 

 M. Otto (H. Dunod and E. Pinat, Paris 1909) on which we propose 

 to make a few observations. The book is divided into four principal 

 sections. The first two chapters of the first part contain an account 

 of the fundamental principles of modern organic chemistry: the quadri- 

 valency of carbon, the nature of the various linkings of carbon atoms, 

 stereo-chemistry etc., followed by a general description of the different 

 classes of bodies, for instance those hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, 

 ketones, etc. Both these chapters may perhaps be regarded as super- 

 fluous in a work of this class, as their subject-matter is to be found 

 in every text-book of chemistry and is, in fact,, common property. 

 In the next following chapters Otto considers the classification of 

 the essential oils from the different points of view from which they 

 may be subdivided. In this classification the author has adopted the 

 system of division according to the chemical character of the leading 

 constituent of the oils (a system which is in many respects open 

 to criticism), and this notwithstanding the fact that he makes use 

 (without acknowledgment) of the table from Gildemeister's and Hoff- 

 mann's book The Volatile Oils in which the oil-yielding plants are 

 classed according to the Engler's system. Then come chapters on 

 the physical and chemical examination of the oils and the detection 

 of adulterations. The second principal section deals in the first 

 place with the preparation of essential oils by distillation, extraction, 

 etc., and, next in order, with the oils themselves. Under the last- 

 named heading are included numerous representations of the appa- 

 ratus and subsidiary appliances in use. These illustrations are partly 

 taken from our Reports and from Gildemeister's and Hoffmann's 

 book, and partly (chiefly in the case of the odoriferous substances) 

 from the designs of the author himself, whose reputation in this par- 

 ticular branch is of the highest. There are also maps (likewise taken 

 from us), which add considerably to the lucidity of the chapter. In the 

 case of each oil there is a brief note giving the names also in German 

 and English, the origin and the mode of production, physical and 

 chemical constants, composition and tests, together with the adul- 

 terations practised and tests for their detection. In the case of odo- 



