396 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[November 16, 1872*. 
liim. to use his own judgment correctly, and is liable to 
work much mischiet. Moreover, an earnest student 
does not want to be told constantly what to do. Part of 
the interest attached to chemical analysis is destroyed. 
A carefully compiled analytical course should provide 
for every contingency that may arise without involving 
tedious and fatiguing repetitions. A student may surely 
be supposed to have learned ex gr. by the time he arrives 
in compound analysis that a yellow sulphuretted hydro¬ 
gen precipitate may consist of sulphides of cadmium, and 
arsenic, as well as stannic sulphide; and to tell him 
(p. 237) that in that case he should look for these sub¬ 
stances only, may well be treated as an act of supereroga¬ 
tion. Instructions of a similar nature will not teach the 
analyst to think for himself and to learn to draw correct 
conclusions from the facts he observes. 
Testing specially for silicic acid among the substances 
precipitated by chloride of ammonium and ammonia, 
also for oxalates, etc., as Fresenius still does, instead of 
removing silicic acid by evaporation and filtration, and 
decomposing oxalates, etc., previous to proceeding to 
groups III. and IV. uselessly complicates the analysis 
of these groups, already rendered sufficiently difficult by 
the presence of phosphates which cannot be eliminated 
with equal facility. 
As might be expected from the experienced author, 
part II. abounds with numerous interesting explanatory 
notes which will be especially valued by private students. 
An appendix treats in a comprehensive manner of the 
deportment of the most important medicinal alkaloids 
with reagents. 
It is to be regretted that the author still adheres to 
the old notation (0 = 8). lie should have been made 
aware that, in this country at least, the unitary system 
of notation is all but generally adopted by chemists. 
In conclusion we may say that every one interested in 
analytical chemistry will hail this book with pleasure, 
and it is to be hoped it will not be long before a much 
wanted new edition of Fresenius’ quantitative analysis 
wall make its appearance. 
Botany for Beginners, an Introduction to the Study 
of Plants. By Dr. M. Masters, F.R.S. Bradbury, 
Evans and Co. 
Introductory works on botany have not been infrequent 
of late, and this is one that will be perused with interest 
by many, especially by those who, having a fondness for 
flowers, are desirous of knowing something of the 
scientific story of the lives of plants which is here told 
in an agreeable and attractive manner. 
With regard to the value of the work to pharmaceuti¬ 
cal students, we must say a few words. Originally ap¬ 
pearing in the pages of a newspaper it is somewhat 
desultory in form, and the author has adopted what is to 
our thinking the objectionable plan of commencing with 
expositions of imperfect flowers. The willows, poplars 
and ashes, were probably in flower when the first 
chapters of the work appeared, but it is only during a 
very few^ weeks in the spring that these are to be met 
with. When a student takes up a work and his atten¬ 
tion is directed to plants or trees none of which are at 
the time in flower, although there may be plates which 
to a certain extent supply their absence, he loses the 
practical value of an examination, and very probably 
misses the thread of the discourse. The real value of a 
work like this consists in its leading the student onwards 
by practical acquaintanceship from one step to another ; 
and the material required to work upon should be ready 
to his hand during as many months of the year as pos¬ 
sible. Further than this, we doubt the propriety of 
commencing with the study of imperfect flowers. Is 
the first lesson best learned from an imperfect type ? 
Does not the examination of a common buttercup give a 
better groundwork to the study of the relation of the 
floral organs than can be acquired from a willow catkin ? 
Let the student work first upon such a plant as that, 
becoming thoroughly acquainted with the organs com¬ 
mon to most flowering plants which are there clearly 
represented, and he will afterwards take more interest in 
and better understand those forms of vegetation in which 
certain organs are suppressed or merely indicated. 
We have also a controversy with the author’s use of 
the word inseparate, to express the union of parts, in¬ 
stead of the accepted terms cohesion and adhesion. He 
apologises for the use of a word “ as yet not in common 
use,” but the word is as old as Shakespeare’s time, and 
was used by him in a sense quite different, namely that 
of indivisible, 
“ this is, and is not, Cressid! 
Within my soul there doth conduce a fight 
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate 
Divides more wider than the sky and earth; 
And yet the spacious breath of this division 
Admits no orifice for a point as subtle 
As Ariachne’s broken woof to enter.” 
Surely this cannot be the right word to express, as 
our author says, “an apparent union,”—a case of mild 
attachment. Botanical terms are sufficiently multiplied 
without further additions, and unless new definitions are 
clearly shown to hit the mark we are better without 
them. In this case wo think the shaft flies wide, and 
the reasons for its being launched are not clearly given. 
We are told at page 28 “that the terms cohesion and 
adhesion imply that parts originally separate became 
subsequently united; but this is not in the generality of 
cases a true expression of the state of affaii’s. Such a 
union does take place sometimes, but very rarely.” 
So far so good; but the antidote to this statement had 
been given a few lines before, where it is stated,—“ But 
more than this, the stamens are free above, but inseparate 
from the tube of the perianth below. They too began 
life as independent stamens, but the isolation ceases 
after a time, and in adult life they appear as if joined to 
the tube of the perianth.” The “beginner” will not 
easily reconcile these statements, and a want of precision 
is confusing to any one w 7 ho reads carefully for the pur¬ 
pose of study. Whilst thus differing from Dr. Masters, 
it gives us much pleasure to draw attention to the merits 
of his little work. His descriptions of plant life are 
simple and efficient, written in so lively and pleasant a 
style that we should judge the book could by no possi¬ 
bility be dull to any one who has a taste for the study. 
Without making much pretension it covers a good deal 
of ground, and each subject is so touched upon as to 
give a picturesque view of some aspect of plant story. 
The book is enlivened and made more useful by the pre¬ 
sence of a number of woodcuts, some of which are new 
and very good, whilst others are old friends, and. 
although the work cannot be taken as a Primer, it is one 
that will do both “ beginners” and others good to read. 
Chemists and Druggists’ Diary and Pharmaceutical 
Text Book. 1873. 
Amongst the numerous diaries which are issued at 
this period of the year, the above presents features of 
peculiar interest to the chemist and druggist, and the 
Chemists and Druggists’ Diary for 1873 is calculated to 
keep up the reputation won by its predecessors. The 
portion devoted to the diary proper seems to be printed 
on finer quality paper than heretofore, and several new 
features have been introduced into the skeleton pages. 
There is some useful letter-press at the end, although 
not so much in quantity, we think, as last year. The 
collection of recipes will no doubt prove useful for re¬ 
ference. For one or two of these a source nearer home 
than a general reference to three American journals 
might have been given; and here and there some of them 
present a slovenly appearance, as for instance in the re¬ 
production of a statement that half a pound of Ung. 
Hydrarg. Oxidi Rubri made eighteen months ago pre- 
