436 
REVIEW. 
the form of “Godfrey’s Cordial,” with a view to soothing the child. His Lordship, in 
summing up, left it to the jury to say by their verdict whether opium was administered 
by the prisoner, maliciously, with the intention of killing the child, or whether culpably 
and negligently, but without the intention to kill. The jury returned a verdict of “ Not 
Guilty.” 
THE CHEMISTS’ ANNUAL BALL. 
This gathering, which now appears to be firmly established, will be held at Willis s 
Rooms, King Street, St. James’s, on Wednesday, the 19th of January, 1870, on which 
occasion we hope to see a goodly number of pharmaceutists, who may be glad, on one 
evening in the year, to throw aside their professional cares. 
REVIEW. 
Outlines of Chemistry, or, Brief Notes of Chemical Facts. By William 
Odling, M.B., F.R.S. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 
The author says in his preface, “ this book consists substantially of the notes from 
which I have lectured for the last seven years at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.” It is 
essentially a student’s book, and one that in its general character differs from most others. 
It is not intended to impart knowledge by describing and explaining facts and theories 
in terms most easy of comprehension, so as to lighten the work of the student and enable 
him to glide through the matter with the smallest possible strain upon his mental 
powers; but on the contrary, it requires the full exercise of the faculties, and some 
amount of previous knowledge of the subjects to make its terse language and brief al¬ 
lusions intelligible and instructive. “It aims at calling to mind, in as few words as pos¬ 
sible, the ascertained origins, properties, and metamorphoses of the chemical substances 
to which it refers.” Those who are prepared to use it as an aid to serious study, as an 
indicator of the matter, a knowledge of which should be acquired, and of the order in 
which facts may be advantageously arranged for the elucidation of laws and theories, 
will find it a valuable note-book. The matter it contains, however, is not food for babes, 
but strong meat requiring a good digestion, and to those who are capable of its assimi¬ 
lation, it will impart increased strength and vigour by bringing all their powers into 
operation, while at the same time it will serve to indicate weakness where it exists, and 
thus prompt the student to the acquirement of such further knowledge as he finds to be 
requisite. 
The following sensible remarks on the subject of chemical nomenclature are worthy 
of the liberal mind and independent spirit of the author. 
“ In the present unsettled state of chemical notation and nomenclature, I think it 
right to add a few words explanatory of the course which I have adopted in relation 
thereto. 
“ Throughout the book, but especially in the latter chapters, I have made consider¬ 
able use of the modes of expression advocated more particularly by Dr. Williamson. 
But while freely employing such terms as ferrous sulphate, cupric nitrate, zinc chloride, 
etc., I have not thought it necessary, nor do I think it advisable, to discard altogether 
the older inodes of expression, sulphate of iron, nitrate of copper, chlorate of zinc, etc. 
In so unimportant a matter as this, I have no desire to limit myself to one particular 
set of phrases ; and, accordingly, I use in the book, as I have both the habit and the 
intention of using in oral address, the two sets of terms indifferently and alternatively.” 
And again, he says, “ the preference habitually accorded by different chemists to tri¬ 
vial or to systematic names for general use, is largely a matter of individual liking. 
For myself, I like, where they are sufficient for the purpose, to employ such trivial names 
as nitre, alum, potash, borax, green-vitriol, bleaching-powder, sal ammoniac, muriatic 
acid, prussic acid, alcohol, wood-spirit, marsh-gas, chloroform, acetic ether, phosgene, 
etc. etc., alternatively with the systematic names for the respective compounds.” 
In the arrangement of the matter there is no distinction observed between organic and 
