350 
REVIEW. 
a previous operation ! The house-surgeon of Guy’s Hospital having deposed to the cause 
of death, the jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death,” and recommended that 
there should be more caution used in future while hydrogen gas was being made. The 
Coroner said that he did not think such a dangerous compound ought to be made, ex¬ 
cept in places properly allotted to it. 
REVIEW. 
The Microscope: its History, Construction, and Application; being a Familiar Intro¬ 
duction to the Use of the Instrument, and the Study of Microscopical Science. By 
Jabez Hogg, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., Secretary Royal Microscopical Society, Member of the 
Royal College of Surgeons of England, etc., with upwards of 500 Engravings and 
Coloured Illustrations by Tuffen West. Sixth Edition. London : George Routledge 
and Sons, Broadway, Ludgate. 1807. 
In the address “ On the Study of Botany in Connection with Pharmacy,” delivered by 
the President of the British Pharmaceutical Congress, at the meeting at Nottingham in 
1866, especial attention was directed to the importance and value of the microscope to 
the pharmaceutist in the following words :— 
“ In a knowledge of the minute anatomy of plants, and the practical use of the mi¬ 
croscope, the German and even French pharmaceutists are very far in advance of their 
English brethren, as the foreign works on pharmacology at once render manifest. It 
behoves the English pharmaceutist to devote more time and attention to these matters, 
as a means of detecting adulterations and substitutions, or otherwise he will not only 
be left behind by his foreign brethren, but also by the intelligent analysts of this 
country connected with the medical profession and the Excise. The officers of the 
latter service especially are now directing much attention to the detection of adultera¬ 
tions, etc., by the aid of the microscope, and I trust it will not be long before pharma¬ 
ceutists generally follow their good example. Such men as Deane, Brady, Howard, 
Evans, Stoddart, and others among our own body, are exceptions to the general rule, 
and their investigations will show how important and valuable the microscope may be¬ 
come in the hands of accurate observers.” 
Since that address was published, this Journal has supplied its readers with some very 
valuable papers relating to microscopical investigations, which further strikingly indi¬ 
cate how fruitful in discoveries important to pharmaceutists the microscope has be¬ 
come, and the growing necessity which has consequently arisen for its more general use. 
Hence, we desire to call the attention of our readers to the work at the head of this 
notice, as having been written as a familiar introduction to the use of the microscope, 
and the study of microscopical science. 
The author states in the preface that he “ cannot but express his grateful surprise at 
the extraordinary popular reception which his book has met with: a sale of fifty 
thousand is an unprecedented event for a work of this kind. This circumstance is 
extremely gratifying to him, because it affords reasonable grojunds^for believing that his 
work has been useful, and encourages renewed effort to make the volume still more 
acceptable. It has been his endeavour to bring the information contained in its pages 
up to the most recent discoveries ; although, in a daily-progressing field of science, it is 
almost impossible to keep pace with the advance of knowledge in all its ramifications.” 
A work which has passed through six editions, and of which fifty thousand copies 
have been sold, is in itself strong evidence of its worth; and, after a careful perusal of 
the present edition, we can bear our testimony to its merits; for, although, as might 
have been anticipated in a volume embracing such an extensive field of research, we find 
some portions better treated of than others, all are clearly written, and no palpable 
errors or important omissions are to be found. The work is a clear and well-written 
digest of the history, construction, and application of the microscope; and that its author 
has incorporated in ils pages the most recent investigations is shown bv his notices of 
the very valuable investigations of Dr. Guy on the sublimation of the alkaloids, and of 
Mr. Sorby on spectro-microscopy. 
When we further state that the work contains 752 pages, octavo ; that it is printed in 
clear readable type, on good paper; that it is profusely illustrated by engravings 
