67S 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[February 22, 1373- 
one of this calibre who dared on all occasions adhere to 
so gigantic a subversion of what has gone before. The 
majority will declare, as David declared of the fine 
armour offered him, that they have not proved it, and 
go on preferring the old sling and the pebbles from the 
brook. There is one section of this work for which all 
architects will be grateful to the authors, and that is the 
appendix, wherein are some excellent formula? for calcu¬ 
lating the draughts in hot air flues, and also a ready 
reckoner of velocities. 
A Digest of the Statutes Relating to the Public 
Health ; for the use of Members of Urban Sanitary 
Authorities. By George F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. 
London: Stevens and Sons. 
This work is very well designed, and the legal con¬ 
tents appear to be all that could be desired as far as they 
go. They deal only with the urban side of the question ; 
the.rural sanitary authorities having yet to be taught 
their lesson in a promised digest of similar design. 
The legal contents of the present work are so con¬ 
densed that they give little more information—though 
enough for the purpose—than a well-arranged index 
itself would do, though, to make them available, an 
index is indispensable. In the present case, the index 
is very imperfect; for instance, the word “Sewage” 
does,not appear in the index at all, nor does “Irriga¬ 
tion,” although sewage farming means nothing else; 
and every urban sanitary authority is now considering 
this mode of utilization in some shape or other. With 
a carefully devised index, Mr. Chambers’s ‘Digest’ will 
become a. “handy” work; but it is essential that the 
rural portion should be dealt with at the same time, and 
that the promised instructions of the Local Government 
Board should be attached. 
Mr. Chambers has done enough to give him precedence 
of other writers, .who take the great subject of public 
health legislation in hand, to instruct members of Boards 
of Health and Boards of Guardians and the numberless 
officers who will take part in local administration. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Posological Tables : being a classification of the 
Doses of all Officinal Substances, for the Use of Stu¬ 
dents and Practitioners. By TV\ Handsel Grif¬ 
fiths, Ph.D., L.R.C.P., etc. London : Bailie re, Tin¬ 
dall and Cox. 
A Course of Qualitative Chemical Analysis. With 
19 Engravings on Wood. By Wm. Geo. Valentin, 
F.C.S., etc. London: Churchills. 1873. 
The following journals have been received .-—The ‘British 
Medical,Journal,’ February 15; the ‘Medical Times and 
Gazette,’ February 15; the ‘Lancet,’ February 15; the 
‘Medical Press and Circular,’ February 15; ‘Nature,’ 
February 15; the ‘ Chemical News,’ February 15 ; ‘English 
Mechanic,’ February 15; ‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ February 
15 ; the ‘ Grocer,’ February 18; the ‘ Journal of the Society 
of Arts, February 15; ‘Grocery News,’ February 15; 
Medical Record, February 12; ‘Scientific American’ 
February 1; ‘British Journal of Dental Surgery’ for 
February;] ‘Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie’ for 
February; ‘ American Journal of Pharmacy’ for February; 
the ‘New Tork Druggists’ Circular’ for February; the 
‘Druggist,’ No. 1; the. ‘Anti-Adulteration Review’ for 
February; the ‘ Educational Times ’ for February; the 
Brewers Guardian,’ February 11; ‘L’Union Pharmaceu- 
tique’ for February; ‘Repertoire de Pharmacie,’ February 
.’lotos anlr (Quorios. 
[329.]—LIQ. AMMONIAT. VALERIANiE.—Pro¬ 
bably the preparation intended in your correspondent’s, 
prescription was that made by Mr. Bastiek. A pre¬ 
scription was brought to me some time since in which 
Sol. Ammon. Valerian, was ordered, and after an unsuc¬ 
cessful attempt to ascertain the proper dose, I' used 
Mr. Bastick’s preparation, which is an expensive one, 
and charged accordingly. Proprietors of such articels 
would save us a vast amount of trouble and anxiety by 
adding the usual dose on the labels of their specialities. 
—II. D. W. 
[331.]—YELLOW FLUID FOR CARBOY.—W~ 
R. F. would be glad to be favoured with a formula for 
preparing a good permanent golden-yellow coloured 
water for a window carboy. 
[***. The following recipes are given in Cooley’s Cy¬ 
clopedia ;—( 1 ) Irlb. of sesquioxide of iron dissolved in 
a quart of hydrochloric acid, and diluted with water.. 
(2) A solution of equal parts of nitre and chromate or 
bichromate of potash in water. Filter through glass.— 
Ed. Pharm. Journ.] 
ADULTERATION OF DRUGS IN AMERICA.— 
Mr. Richard F. Mattison, of Philadelphia, states (Amer. 
Journ. of Pharm. [4] iii. 13) that having had some sup¬ 
posed heavy magnesia returned to him by customers who 
complained of its unusual taste, it was submitted to ana¬ 
lysis by Professor Maisch and found to be mixed with 
Rochelle salt. A correspondent of the American Chemist 
also states that he recently found 77 per. cent, of alum 
in some supposed cream of tartar which he recently exa¬ 
mined for a drug broker. 
BISMUTH OINTMENT.—An ointment containing 
bismuth in the proportion of half a drachm of the sub¬ 
nitrate to the ounce of simple ointment, rubbed up with 
a little spirits of wine, is recommended by a correspon¬ 
dent of the Medical Times and Gazette , as giving great, 
relief when applied freely' to the skin to allay itching 
and irritation in chronic eczema and other forms of skin 
disease. Dr. McCall Anderson, to whom the suggestion 
was originally due, observes that the ointment must not- 
be made with benzoated lard or the reverse of a soothing 
effect may be produced. 
FLAVOURING OF INVALID DIET. —A corre¬ 
spondent of the Medical Times and Gazette refers to the- 
importance of knowing how to flavour a sick person’s 
food, so as to make him eat it with relish, which is often 
wanting where even well prepared beef-tea has been 
long taken. He says, “I have often found that the 
addition of some vegetable flavouring matter has en¬ 
abled the patient to resume his food with relish. I do 
not mean that the vegetable food is to be swallowed 
but after being strained off the broth retains its flavour. 
The use of burnt onions among all classes of cooks is 
well known; and though I am not prepared to advocate 
the use of such a robust vegetable, there are others- 
equally accessible and more delicate. Chief among 
these is celery', which during a certain portion of the 
year may' be used bodily, but during certain seasons it 
cannot. For this reason I am in the way of using from 
time to time small quantities of celery' seed, which inayr 
be easily procured. A very small proportion of the 
seed added to the beef-tea gives to it a totally different 
flavour from the insipid mawkish taste it often possesses, 
and I have been rewarded by seeing patients turn to 
their food when so seasoned with a zest they' had long 
ceased to exhibit. 
