January 31,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
597 
■of the child of a labourer. According to the evidence, 
the prisoner had prepared a little more than a peck of 
-wheat with arsenic for sowing. This he mixed with 
two bushels of clean wheat and sent the whole to a mill 
to be ground. After it had been groimd a small quan¬ 
tity of Knowles’s grist remained in the mill and was 
mixed with other grist. The result was that several 
persons, after partaking of food prepared w-ith this flour 
w r ere seized with violent pains and sickness; all, with 
the exception of the child, however, recovering. Arsenic 
was discovered in the stomach of deceased and in some 
•of the food that remained. Medical evidence showed 
that the child was suffering from bronchitis, but that its 
death was accelerated by the poison .—Daily News. 
Uttoto. 
Year-Book of Pharmacy and Transactions of 
the British Pharmaceutical Conference, 1870. 
Churchill and Sons. 
The British Pharmaceutical Conference have under¬ 
taken a very useful duty in the compilation of this work. 
At the present time, when the art of Pharmacy is every¬ 
where making such rapid strides, it is more than ever 
necessary that the English pharmacist should be fully 
acquainted with the labours of his fellows both at home 
and abroad. But the whole record of pharmaceutical 
progress is of necessity distributed through a host of 
periodicals, issued in different countries and printed in 
■different languages. 
To compile from these scattered sources an annual 
report, which shall include in one volume a summary of 
all pharmaceutical papers, processes, preparations and 
formulae published throughout the world during each 
year, is the task which the Conference has undertaken ; 
and every one of our readers will at once recognize its 
importance and value. At the present time no work of 
the kind exists in this country. ‘ The Year-Book of 
Pharmacy,’ which w r as started some five or six years ago, 
has ceased to exist. The Conference have adopted the 
title and general scheme of that publication, but with 
much greater chance of success; and the executive 
members deserve great credit for the judgment and zeal 
with which they have commenced their new enterprise. 
The present volume includes nearly six hundred octavo 
pages, but of this number one-half is devoted to the Pro¬ 
ceedings of the Pharmaceutical Conference at the Liver¬ 
pool meeting. Of this portion of the work we need say 
little, except that the papers contributed to that meeting, 
which are here printed in full, display a large amount 
of scientific ability on the part of the members, and con¬ 
stitute a most important addition to Pharmaceutical 
literature. The Year-Book proper contains a large num¬ 
ber of excellent abstracts from many important papers 
bearing on Pharmacy which have been published either at 
home or abroad during the past year. While the advance¬ 
ment in the science of Pharmacy is thus recorded, the 
practical utility of the volume is enhanced by numerous 
useful formulae, which have been collected from various 
sources. Every one w r ill regret to learn that the delay 
which has occurred in the publication of this book has 
been due to the serious illness of its talented and kindly 
•editor, Mr. J. C. Brough. It is, no doubt, to this cause 
that we must also attribute some of the defects which are 
noticeable in the v-ork. The arrangement of the matter, 
especially bears evidence of great haste, and is certainly 
not well done. The first section deals exclusively w r ith 
American Pharmacy and recipes. The second section is 
devoted to English and Continental Pharmacy; yet it 
includes a long list of syrups for American diinks copied 
trom an American Journal, and much further on in the 
book many very characteristic American formula} are to 
be found. An abstract, entitled “Turpentine as an Anti¬ 
dote to Phosphorus,” occurs in the Materia Medica sec¬ 
tion (pape 90) ; another, headed “ Poisoning by Phos¬ 
phorus,—Turpentine the Antidote,” is placed among 
things which “ do not admit of classification,” and may 
be found at page 283. No reference is made from one 
to the other, and even in the Index they are not brought 
together. It is unnecessary to quote further instances of 
what occurs frequently throughout the volume. 
The present work brings together so much matter of 
real scientific and practical value in a convenient com¬ 
pass, that it wall be an undoubted acquisition to every 
pharmaceutical library; nevertheless, it can scarcely be 
said, that the full programme of the Conference has been 
realized. We shall hope to see succeeding volumes 
present a still more perfect record of English and foreign 
pharmacy. Experience wall probably lead to a more 
judicious selection of material. Many papers relating 
strictly to Pharmaceutical subjects seem to have been 
overlooked, while some of the matter included w r ould 
have been considerably improved by curtailment. A 
celebrated author has compared our modern periodical 
literature to an inch of soap beaten into a hogshead of 
lather. It should be the business of a Year-Book to pre¬ 
sent the soap in its solid form. At the same time, 
however, that we candidly criticize what we conceive to 
be the weak points of the present volume, we cordially 
recognize the ability which has been displayed in an 
arduous task, and w r e confidently predict a useful career 
for the Year-Book of Pharmacy. 
BOOK RECEIVED. 
On a Localized Outbreak of Typhoid Fever in 
Islington during the Months of July and August, 1870, 
traced to the use of Impure Milk. By Edward Ballard, 
M.D. London : J. and A. Churchill. 1870. 
CHARLES GUSTAVUS BISCHOF. 
This w r ell-laiow'n German chemist and geologist died 
at Bonn on the 30th of November. He was born near 
Nuremberg, in Bavaria, on the 18th of January, 1792, 
and received his education in the University of Erlangen, 
where he applied himself at first to the study of mathe¬ 
matics and astronomy, but subsequently abandoning 
this branch of science, he turned his attention to che¬ 
mistry, becoming one of the most distinguished pupils of 
Professor Hildebrandt. In 1819 he wais appointed Professor 
of Chemistry and Technology in the University of Bonn. 
An enthusiastic geologist, Dr. Bischof sought to discover 
in molecular action certain geological phenomena. His 
most important works are ‘ Physico-Statistical Descrip¬ 
tions of the Fichtelgebirge Mountain,’ published in 
1817: ‘ The Mineral Springs of Volcanic Origin in 
France and Germany, and the Mineral Springs of Rois- 
dorf,’ and a ‘ Treatise on the Interior Heat of the Ter¬ 
restrial Globe.’ The latter w-ork, which appeared at 
Leipsic in 1837, was “ crowned ” by the Scientific Society 
of Holland. Dr. Bischof w r as a constant contributor to 
various scientific journals. His memoir on the ‘ Mode 
of Preventing Explosions in Coal Mines,’ published in 
1840, gained the prize of the Academy of Brussels. Of 
his other works the best known are ‘ Popular Letters to 
a Lady on the Natural Sciences,’ 2 vols., Pforzheim and 
Bonn, 1840 and 1849; and ‘Elements of Chemical and 
Physical Geology,’ Bonn, 1847-50, a revised edition of 
which was published in English by the Cavendish So¬ 
ciety .—Times. _ _ 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal,’ Jan. 14; the ‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
Jan. 14; the ‘Lancet,’ Jan. 14; the ‘Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ Jan. 18 ; ‘ Nature,’ Jan. 12; the ‘ Chemical News,’ J an. 
13; ‘ Journal of the Society of Arts,’ Jan. 12 ; ‘Gardeners’ 
Chronicle,’ Jan. 14; the ‘Grocer,’ Jan. 14; the ‘English 
Mechanic,’ Jan. 13; the ‘ Chemist and Druggist ’ for January; 
the‘Doctor’ for January; the ‘New York Druggists’ Cir¬ 
cular’ for January; the ‘Brighton Daily News ’ tor Jan. 11. 
