REVIEWS. 
445 
by a more elegant figure, side by side of which are representations of the ergots of 
wheat and of the Algerian diss (Ampelodesmos tenax , Link), both lately recommended 
in France as substitutes for Ergot of Eye. 
The observations of Berg on the botanical origin of Gum Euphorbium and those of 
Fliickiger on its chemical constitution, have not been forgotten. Doubts have long 
existed as to the plant affording this drug. Euphorbia Officinarum L., E. Antiquorum , 
L., E. tetragona Haw. and E. canariensis L. have all been named as yielding it; but 
the first two are plainly different from the remains of the plant which are found in the 
packages of the gum, and one of them is moreover indigenous to India, while the drug 
itself is a production of Morocco. E. tetragona is also native of another region to that 
affording Gum Euphorbium, as mother-plant of which it cannot therefore be accepted. 
There remains then E. canariensis , to which Pereira thought the gum might with very 
little hesitation be referred. But closer examination led Berg to a different conclusion, 
and induced him to claim the euphorbium-plant as a distinct species under the name of 
E. resinifera. This plant at present only known in a dry state from the remains picked 
out of the Gum Euphorbium of commerce, differs from E. canariensis in its stems of one- 
third the thickness, and (which is a character of far more importance) in having its 
flowers in stalked umbels instead of almost sessile. The recent chemical researches of 
Fliickiger on euphorbium have proved the existence to the extent of 20 per cent., of a 
peculiar crystallizable substance termed Euphorbon, to which it owes its drastic quali¬ 
ties. Euphorbon has the formula C 26 H 22 0 2 , is soluble in ether, amylic alcohol and chlo¬ 
roform, but not in water. The large proportion of malate of lime occurring in euphor¬ 
bia and other fleshy plants is a curious fact, the significance of which is not yet 
apparent. 
Besides being supplemented with much interesting fresh matter, the second volume 
is supplied with a considerable number of new woodcuts, some of which appear of a lower 
style of execution than those of the old edition. The figure of Pogostemon Patchouli 
(p. 457) which is without character, of “ Styrax-benzoin ” (p. 599) where the name 
seems misapplied, and of Batatas edulis (p. 514) where the tuber has the appearance of 
an immense fruit, will justify this censure. In the main however the work is still 
excellent, and we rejoice to think that the reputation of Guibourt is maintained by so 
competent and devoted a successor as Dr. Gustave Planchon. 
A Dictionary of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By Adolphe Wahltuch, 
M.D., L.R.C.P. Lond., Fellow of the Obstetrical Society of London, Honorary Mem¬ 
ber of the Medical Society of Prague, etc. London: John Churchill and Sons, New 
Burlington Street. 1868. 
The purpose of this work is to give a tabular arrangement of all the drugs specified 
in the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867. Every table is divided into six parts,— 1 . The 
Name and Synonyms of the Drug. 2. Character and Properties , or Composition. 3. 
Physiological Effects and Therapeutics. 4. Dose and Forms of Administration. 5. Offi¬ 
cinal Preparations. 6. Prescriptions , being selections from the formulas of eminent prac¬ 
titioners in the different countries of Europe and America. In fact, everything is 
tabulated of importance, in reference to drugs, except in the case of those of vegetable 
and animal origin, where no mention is usually made of the names of the plants 
or animals from which they are derived, or of their geographical sources. We hope the 
author will make these additions when another edition is called for, as also in the new 
work which he contemplates issuing, should the present be well received, to contain 
notices of all the drugs, except those of the British Pharmacopoeia, as we believe the 
value of both works will be thereby increased. 
In a work involving much labour and research, we cannot but expect some few 
omissions and errors ; but, upon a general perusal, we have detected none of importance. 
We congratulate the author on having produced a valuable work out of the beaten 
track, and one which cannot fail to prove a most useful book of reference to the medical 
practitioner and pharmacist. 
A Manual of Elementary Chemistry. By George Fownes, F.R.S. 
Tenth edition, revised and corrected. 
The great and well-sustained success which has attended the publication of a large 
number of editions of Fownes’s Manual, aud the favourable estimation in which the 
