May 20, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
937 
book as a reference on any subject connected with practi¬ 
cal or theoretical pharmacy, and will not readily lay it 
aside. 
Ihe authors have divided their labour in such manner 
that Dr. Vogl has, in the first volume, worked out phar¬ 
macognosy, and Dr. Schneider, in the second volume, 
treats the chemico-pharmaceutical part; whereas the third 
volume contains a German translation of the Latin sixth 
edition of the Austrian Pharmacopoeia, with many addi¬ 
tional remarks and references to foreign Pharmacopoeias. 
The first volume, on pharmacognosy, by Dr. Yogi, is 
(divided, into a general part, treating of methods of mi¬ 
croscopical investigations, and of the origin and condi¬ 
tion ot vegetable drugs, the collecting, drying and storing 
of the.same; and a special part, classifying the drugs 
according to their origin, from the vegetable, animal, 
■or mineral kingdom. Those derived from the first source 
are of course vastly predominant, and they again are 
grouped under three divisions, viz. :—■ 
Plants or parts of plants, directly recognized as such. 
Vegetable substances, the organic structure of which 
can be recognized only by the microscope. 
Vegetable substances without organic structure. 
There are,.of course, many subdivisions, botanically 
arranged, which we cannot enter into just now, but the 
principal classification will at once show the scientific 
character the author imparts to his book. He does full 
justice to the botanical, chemical and physical charac¬ 
teristics of the different articles, their adulteration, etc., 
but above all, and wherever possible, he calls in the aid 
of the microscope, either to bring out new characteristics 
or to strengthen those hitherto known. He dwells so 
strongly on the value of microscopical investigations that 
we must give his own words in the preface. 
The microscope, he says, opens up to us the structural 
relation of organized parts; not only docs it present to us 
a clear view of the manner in which primary organisms 
combine into membranes, and how these, in wonderful 
variety, build up vegetable substances, but it also affords 
ns an insight into the workshop and habitation of the 
products resulting from the processes of vegetable life. 
By placing the structure of drugs before us, the micro¬ 
scope collects for us a series of characteristics, which, 
because not changeable, are highly valuable for the re¬ 
cognition and distinction of substances which defy other 
means of inquiry. And further, while obtaining a clear 
representation of the distribution of ihe active principles 
in the different parts of plants, we may often form an 
opinion of the quality of a substance, or obtain informa¬ 
tion in regard to the most suitable season for collecting, 
or the best manner of preparing and storing different 
vegetable remedies. 
The author has most carefully studied the character¬ 
istic elementary construction of the plants, he has re¬ 
corded the results of many micro-chemical investigations, 
often illustrated by capital woodcuts from original draw¬ 
ings, which assist in distinguishing in a simple manner 
many officinal herbs, even in powder, such as belladonna, 
hyoscyamus, digitalis, senna, etc. 
The general part opens with a detailed description of 
the microscope, aided by clear woodcuts, and often con¬ 
taining- good practical advice. For instance, it is often 
of great advantage to sketch the object under the micro- 
fscope, i. c. to reproduce the microscopic view as accu¬ 
rately as possible. Many forms of apparatus, often very 
-expensive, have been constructed for this purpose : the 
.glass prism, the camera lucida, Soemmering’s mirror; but 
they may all be dispensed with by acquiring the “ dou¬ 
ble sight.” If we look with one eye into the microscope, 
and with the other on a sheet of white paper placed at 
the side of the instrument, the sight with the picture of 
the object will be projected into the other eye, and with 
-steadiness of the eyes the outlines of the picture may be 
drawn very accurately. 
Under preparation of objects, the difficulty of getting 
ffine sections of small or thin substances, such as leaves, 
is overcome by cutting a cork in two, placing the leaf 
between the two halves, and binding them firmly together 
with a string; it is easy to cut off thin slices of the cox-k, 
and each will carry a very thin slice of the leafwith it. 
V r c are much tempted to follow Dr. Vogl’s details of 
micro-chemical reagents, but we will only quote the ap¬ 
plication of colouring matters. 
Organic compounds are divided into two classes, those 
which take up colouxing matter, and those which do not 
do so. The first class comprises albuminous compounds, 
tannin, certain alkaloids, etc. ; the second cellulose, 
starch, gum, etc.; but the latter by being pex-meated by 
the members of the first group, acquire the quality of 
taking up colouring-matter, either directly or after 
treatment with mordants, caustic lye, sulphuric acid, 
alum. 
Ihe coloration brings out cei'tain structural arrange¬ 
ments, othei-wise indistinct oi- invisible; the gradation 
iix colour separates whole pai’ts of lxxombx-anes more 
completely than in the colourless state, and the pi-esenco 
or absence of colour, indicates the presence or absence of 
certain substances, their locality, and to a certain extent 
even their relative proportion. 
We next coixxe to an exhaustive treaty on cells, cell- 
membranes and their contents, which are described as 
under starch, inulin, sugar and dextrine, gum and mu¬ 
cilaginous matter, tannin, protein, fat, essential oils and 
resins, colouring matter, alkaloids, crystals (acid, alka¬ 
line or neutral salts), gases. This part is richly illus¬ 
trated by wonderfully clear woodcuts; it is almost a book 
within a book. 
The last division of the general or introductory paid 
speaks of the origin and condition of vegetable substances, 
and it is perhaps more important to the German reader, 
because in Germany many plants or pai'ts of plants which 
have been excluded from our Pharmacopoeia, ai*e still 
officinal, and also because German pharmacists, wher¬ 
ever possible, collect herbs, flowers, roots and seeds when 
fresh, and dry them, and store their supply from year to 
year. As the amount of active principle in the plants— 
and hence their medicinal value—is greatly influenced not 
only by cultivation, by the season, the climate and the 
soil, but also afterwards by the drying, preparing and 
storing, all these different considei-ations are fully gone 
into and carefully described. 
The work is so rich in a variety of matters, that it is 
impossible to do justice to the authors in a single article; 
and as the x-eaders of the Journal will not be disinclined 
to have before them a more detailed exposition of the 
advanced and earnest manner in which pharmacy is 
taught and treated on the Continent, we pxu-pose giving 
a series of extracts from this last and valuable addition 
to pharmaceutical literature. 
A New Wellingtonea Gigantea, forty feet four 
inches in diametei-, which exceeds by seven feet the 
largest previously known, has been discovered near 
Visalia, in Southern California. A sectioix of one of 
these trees is now being exhibited in Cincinnati, which is 
seventy-six feet in circumference and fourteen feet high. 
It was cut last year about two hundx-ed and fifty miles 
south-east of San Francisco, far up the western slope of 
the Sieri’a Nevado mountains, and was carried on three 
waggons drawn by seventeen yoke of cattle.— Nature. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal,’ May 13; the‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
May 13; the ‘Lancet,’ May 13; the ‘Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ May 17; ‘Nature,’ May 11; the ‘Chemical News,’ 
May 12; ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ May 13; ‘Journal of the 
Society of Arts,’ May 12; the ‘Grocer,’ May 13; ‘Produce 
Markets Review,’ May 13; the ‘ English Mechanic,’ May 12; 
the ‘ Chemist and Druggist,’ May 15 ; ‘ Journal de Pharmacie 
et de Chimie ’ for November and December; the ‘Amei-ican 
Journal of Pharmacy’ for May; the ‘New York Druggists’ 
Circular’ for May; the ‘Photographic Journal,’ May 16; 
the ‘ Brewers’ Guardian,’ May 15. 
