September SO, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
277 
in the.shop, and was supplied with a second dose which 
she said was for her son. Upon arriving home the same 
was administered to her son. Shortly after partaking of 
the supposed rhubarb, they both became very drowsy, and 
the symptoms becoming suspicious the neighbours at once 
communicated with police constable Pemberton, and Mr. 
Firman, surgeon, of Ilarmer Street, was quickly in 
attendance. It appears that instead of the unfortunate 
recipients of the apothecary’s skill partaking of syrup of 
rhubarb, they had had administered unto them each 
three-quarters of an ounce of virulent poison—laudanum. 
et towels were applied to their heads, and after vomifc- 
ing a great deal they were restored to consciousness, and 
are now progressing favourably.” 
gjclmias. 
Domestic Botany : an Exposition of the Structure and 
Classification of Plants; and of their Uses for Food, 
Clothing, Medicine, and Manufacturing Purposes. By 
John Smith, A.L.S., Ex-curator of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Kew. London: L. Reeve and Co. 1871. 
We regret to have to speak depreciatingly of a work 
By one who has done so much useful work as the author 
of this book. We must, however, enter our protest 
against the publication of a scientific work so full of in¬ 
accuracies and absolute errors as is the first part of this 
volume. It is stated in the preface that the proof-sheets 
have been revised by two very competent gentlemen. 
This statement, however, can "hardly apply to the part 
of the work of which we are now speaking. Wo object 
to the coining of such words as “rhizomat,” “frutlet,” 
.and “ thy clad,” which answer no useful purpose, and can 
only bewilder the reader. Wc object still more to the 
use of such forms as “phyllodae” and “ involucrai” in¬ 
stead of “ phyllodia” and* “involucra” (in the plural). 
But yet more objectionable is the introduction to the 
"botanical student of inadequate or absolutely incorrect 
•definitions. We find, for instance, a “cyme” described 
without any allusion to the special centrifugal character 
•of that mode of inflorescence, which may be found in 
any ordinary text-book. The greatest offence, however, 
is the definition of the pistil of a plant as comprising the 
style and stigma only, to the exclusion of the ovary, 
which any first year’s medical student might have cor¬ 
rected. And yet this occurs three times !—at p. 39, “ on 
the removal of the calyx, corolla, and stamens, the pistil 
will be seen seated on a round knob, or more or less 
-elevated column called the ovary or germen;” at p. 47, 
“ the pistil or pistils, there being often more than one in 
a flower, is seated on the ovary;” and at p. 57, “an 
ovary, with its pistil, is termed a carpel!” 
When we pass from the first to the second part of the 
work, “ The Families of Plants systematically arranged, 
with a description of their characters, properties, uses, 
•etc.,” we find the author much more in his element. 
There is collected here a very large amount of informa¬ 
tion, arranged in a convenient form, with respect to the 
various plants comprised in each Natural Order of flower¬ 
ing and fiowerless plants that are useful for food or 
•clothing, or for any of the various purposes incident to 
•civilization. Thus, under the Order Leguminosm, up¬ 
wards of eighty species arc enumerated, each of which is 
■of some economical importance, and their properties and 
sises described. This portion of the work is so complete, 
and so valuable as a book of reference as to the various 
useful products derived from the vegetable kingdom, 
that it is the more to be regretted that the early part is so 
inaccurate, and so hastily put together. The volume is 
illustrated by a number of coloured drawings, which add 
.greatly to its attractiveness. 
Handbook, of Biiitish Fungi, with full Descriptions of 
all the Species, and Illustrations of the Genera. By 
M. C. Cooke, M.A. 2 vols. London: Macmillan 
and Co. 1871. 
With the spread of the study of natural science, not only 
does it become inevitable that the whole range of the vege¬ 
table kingdom is beyond the powers of any single man, 
however industrious, but specialists are obliged to devote 
themselves to particular departments, even of phamogamic 
or of cryptogamic botany. The number of described spe¬ 
cies of British fungi alone is considerably larger than 
that of our flowering plants; and since the most recent 
handbook in existence, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley’s, is 
now thirty-five years old, the great advances made since 
that time in the knowledge of this class of plants has 
rendered a new one absolutely necessary to the mycolo¬ 
gist. We are, therefore, very grateful to Mr. Cooke that 
he has added to his labours in cryptogamic and micro¬ 
scopic botany, so well known to readers of this Journal, 
the publication of the volumes before us. Although the 
author has been assisted by all the other leading English 
mycologists,—Mr. Berkeley, Mr. Currey, Mr. Broome, 
Mr. Worthington Smith, and others,—the labour of 
writing fresh, accurate, and yet terse descriptions of 364 
genera and up-wards of 2800 species, must have been very- 
great. With regard to the manner in -which the work 
has been performed, we have nothing but commendation 
to award. The descriptions are clear, neither too short 
nor too long, and contain just the information one 
wants about each species. Mr. Cooke has not attempted 
any originality in classification, following that of such 
standard authorities as Fries and the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 
In his subdivision of the huge and difficult genus Agaricus 
he has adopted the arrangement of Mr. Worthington 
Smith, who has paid so much attention to the higher 
fungi, and whose analytical key of the subgenera is also 
reprinted. If we were to make the least criticism, it 
would be that some phrases are occasionally used with a 
certain vagueness ; thus we are sometimes left in doubt 
whether by “ agaric ” is meant a member of the Order 
Agaric-ini or of the genus Agaricus . There is a co¬ 
loured frontispiece, and a small woodcut to illustrate 
each genus, admirably drawn by Mr. W. G. Smith. 
The very low price at which the book is published 
is another item which makes it indispensable to the 
library of all botanists, and especially of all lovers of 
fungi. 
VACANCIES AND APPOINTMENTS IN CONNEC¬ 
TION WITH PHARMACY. 
The Editor will he glad to receive early notice of any 
vacancies of pharmaceutical offices connected with public 
institutions, and likewise of appointments that are made , 
—in order that they may he pv,blished regularly in the 
Journal. 
APPOINTMENT. 
Mr. John S. Cape, Associate of the Pharmaceutical Society, 
has been appointed by the Admiralty in charge of Medical 
Stores at the Royal Naval Hospital, Hong Kong. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal, 5 Sept. 23 ; the ‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
Sept, 23 ; the * Lancet,’ Sept. 23 ; the ‘ Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ Sept. 27 ; ‘Nature,’ Sept. 21; the ‘Chemical News,’ 
Sept. 23; ‘English Mechanic,’ Sept. 22; ‘Gardeners’ Chro¬ 
nicle,’ Sept. 23; the ‘Grocer,’ Sept. 23; the ‘Journal of 
the Society of Arts,’ Sept. 23; the ‘Chicago Pharmacist 
for September; the ‘Aorkshire Post and Leeds Inielli- 
gcnce,’ Sept. 20; ‘Rotherham and Masbro’ Advertiser,’ 
Sept, 25. 
