July 9, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
37 
There seems to have been great pains taken to give 
the latest information, and no process of importance is 
omitted. 
Part II., devoted to the consideration of organic sub¬ 
stances, contains a great deal of useful matter, which is 
generally rather shirked by writers on analysis. 
Part III. includes a description of the common opera¬ 
tions, solution, filtration, and the like, an account of 
Bunsen’s flame reactions, and an enumeration of the re¬ 
agents commonly required. Altogether, we have the 
groundwork of a very excellent guide for the student. 
If the author in the sixth edition, which he is pretty 
certain to reach, would consent to the excision of a con¬ 
siderable amount of matter, not incorrect, but foreign to 
the subject in hand; if he would carefully purify his 
pages of a number of trifling crudities and inaccuracies; 
and, lastly, by putting in a few good strong dashes of 
light and shade, make it less like a young lady’s water¬ 
colour drawing, one tint all over,—he would bring his 
‘ Manual ’ to a position of completeness and solid useful¬ 
ness which would bid fair to double its already large 
circulation, and make it the leading text-book in our 
schools. 
Index to the Native and Scientific Names of Indian 
AND OTHER EASTERN ECONOMIC PLANTS AND PRO¬ 
DUCTS : prepared under the authority of the Secretary 
of State for India, by J. Forbes Watson, M.A., M.D., 
F.L.S., etc., Reporter on the Products of India. Lon¬ 
don : India Museum. 1868. Eoyal 8vo. Pp. viii., 637. 
Though somewhat late, we now proceed to notice the 
above work, the publication of which we announced 
some time ago. 
The trade which this country enjoys with India is so 
great in extent and in the variety of its articles, that 
such a book of reference as the above will be warmly 
welcomed by all connected therewith. To the economic 
botanist it will prove a valuable aid in the determina¬ 
tion of the many new or rare products which from time 
to time find their way into the English markets. 
These vernacular names are compiled from various 
publications on the botany, Materia Medica, and pro¬ 
ducts of the East. Upwards of one hundred works, 
beside much manuscript matter, have been waded through 
to produce the present Index. 
The work does not lay claim to be anything but a 
compilation. No critical examination of the orthogra¬ 
phy or correct bestowal of the names has been attempted ; 
they are simply quoted as given by the authors from 
whose works they are taken. 
Besides being a useful index, the book contains an im¬ 
mense amount of information. After the name, the lan¬ 
guage from which it is derived, and the plant to which 
it is applied, we have references to works where the 
word occurs and where information can be obtained re¬ 
specting the substance; thus, under the various spell¬ 
ings of the fruit of JEgle Marmelos , as Bael, Bel, Bele, 
Beli, etc., we counted no less than seventeen references. 
What we should very much like to see, would be a com¬ 
panion volume to the present one (and from the preface 
we are led to expect another), in which, under the bo¬ 
tanical name, the various vernacular names are arranged, 
and concerning which the locality where used, synonymy, 
whether pure or introduced, derivation and moaning, 
whether collective or individual names, and whether ap¬ 
plied to the plant as a whole or to its parts or products, 
would be stated. 
In addition to the correct orthography of the name 
being given, they could be spelt as pronounced, accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Ellis’s ‘Glossic System,’ which the English 
Dialect Society propose following in their ‘ Dictionary.’ 
Of course this would entail much critical labour, but, 
with the resources at the command of the Indian Go¬ 
vernment, could undoubtedly be done; and such an Index, 
provided with copious references to works where the words 
occur, would be an immense boon to all scientific and com¬ 
mercial men, besides being of great philological value and 
interest. We say this not in any disparagement of the 
present work, but having felt the value of this, we long 
for a second, such as we describe, and which we are sure 
would meet with great success. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
The Unity of Medicine; its Corruptions and Divisions 
by Law Established in England and Wales, their Causes, 
Effects, and Remedy. By Frederick Davies, M.D., etc. 
etc. Second Edition, revised and extended to Ireland and 
Scotland. London: John Churchill and Sons, New Bur¬ 
lington Street. 8vo, pp. 302. 1870. 
The Half-Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences. 
Edited by William Dornett Stone, M.D., etc. Yol. 
LI. January-June, 1870. London: John Churchill and 
Sons, New Burlington Street. 1870. 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. —At a meet¬ 
ing of the College on the 27th of December last, the 
following gentlemen were elected corresponding mem¬ 
bers of the College:—Prof. John Attfield, London; 
Henry B. Brady, Newcastle-on-Tyne; John Abraham, 
Liverpool; T. B. Groves, Weymouth; C. R. C. Tich- 
borne, Dublin; E. Crace Calvert, Manchester; John. 
Mackay, Edinburgh; W. W. Stoddart, Bristol; J. C. 
Brough, London. 
Society of Pharmacy, Paris. —We observe that 
Prof. Attfield and Mr. J. Collins have been elected cor¬ 
responding members of this Society. 
Suffocation by Carbonic Acid Gas. —An inquest 
has been held on the bodies of four men, John Smith, 
Edward Jones, Samuel Hassall, and Thomas Bedson, 
who were suffocated in a tube used to convey waste gas 
from the blast furnace to heat the furnace boilers at the 
North Staffordshire Coal and Iron Company’s works at 
Talke. This waste gas, which is very light, is conveyed 
in a pipe 150 feet long by 4 ft. 6 in. diameter. It appears 
from the evidence that the works had been stopped for 
the purpose of cleaning the tube, and effecting some 
slight repairs, and Smith, the manager, with his assist¬ 
ants, Jones and Hassall, went to see to it. Shortly 
afterwards they were missed from the premises, and 
Bedson, in his search, entered the tube, where he also 
fell a victim to the gas. Attached to this tube is a large 
air-tube used to supply fresh air; and it seems that 
Smith, in his anxiety to get the repairs done, had omitted 
to take the precaution of clearing the tube of the gas. 
Dr. A. Greatorex deposed that the cause of death was 
poisoning by carbonic acid gas, and the jury returned a 
verdict accordingly. 
Dr. Percy, of the Royal School of Mines, in a letter to 
the ‘ Times,’ referring to this lamentable accident, states 
that the poisonous ingredient of this so-called “ waste 
gas from the blast furnaces” is carbonic oxide, the inha¬ 
lation of which, whether pure or mixed with common 
air, rapidly destroys life. He observes that as the use 
of this “waste gas ” for heating steam boilers is extend¬ 
ing daily, it is important that managers of such works 
should be acquainted with its highly poisonous nature, 
and take every precaution to prevent their workmen 
from being exposed to its influence. 
Ice. —The following singular formation of ice is re¬ 
corded in the ‘ Central India Times,’ as occurring in the 
Chanda district, at the village of Warrora. On the 23rd 
of February last, when an endeavour was made to empty 
a reservoir connected with a tank at that place, by 
opening the drainage pipe, it was found that the water 
would not flow. To ascertain the cause, the tank was 
pumped dry, when it was found that a solid mass of ice, 
some three feet in length, had been formed, completely 
