Ajii.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1908. 
Book  Reviews. 
237 
On  page  1 56,  line  1 1 ,  the  word  "  benzo-nitrile  "  should  be  "  phenyl 
oxyaceto-nitrile."  Through  an  error  in  the  manuscript  sent  you 
this  incorrect  word  appeared.    Very  truly  yours, 
Frank  O.  Taylor. 
Detroit,  Mich.,  April  16,  1908. 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
The  Pharmacopceia  and  the  Physician.  By  Robert  A.  Hatcher, 
Ph.G.,  M.D.,  and  Martin  I.  Wilbert,  Ph.M.  Second  revised  edition. 
485  pages,  with  excellent  index.  American  Medical  Association 
Press.  1908. 
This  is  distinctly  a  book  with  a  purpose,  and  a  most  worthy 
purpose — that  of  familiarizing  the  medical  profession  with  the 
official  drugs.  It  is  a  notorious  fact,  conceded  by  all  medical 
teachers,  that  until  quite  recently  materia  medica  has  been  the 
worst-taught  subject  in  the  whole  medical  curriculum.  Most  of  the 
men  now  in  practice  were  obliged  to  acquire  the  greater  part  of 
their  knowledge  of  this  subject  after  graduation,  without  teachers — 
or  rather  with  worse  than  none  !  The  manufacturers  of  the  various 
proprietary  specialties  stood  quite  ready  to  supply  information,  un- 
limited in  amount  and  attractive  in  appearance,  but  distinctly  one- 
sided in  quality.  This  teaching  naturally  took  the  form  of  extolling 
the  more  or  less  imaginary  advantages  of  these  proprietary  drugs 
over  the  official,  neglecting  entirely  the  often  much  more  substantial 
disadvantages.  Most  physicians  accepted  these  statements  as  facts, 
with  quite  childlike  confidence,  forgetting  that  the  official  drugs 
had  successfully  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  that  the  specialties  had 
scarcely  been  tried.  This  confidence  so  emboldened  many  of  these 
proprietary  houses  that  conditions  became  not  only  intolerable,  but 
absurd,  furnishing  a  well-prepared  soil  for  the  seeds  of  reform.  These 
were  sown  by  the  appointment  of  professional  scientists  to  the  chairs 
of  pharmacology  and  materia  medica  in  a  few  of  the  better  medical 
schools.  The  experiment  was  so  successful  that  it  extended  rapidly 
to  more  and  more  of  such  schools,  and  the  graduates  of  the  present 
day  are  not  quite  so  easily  imposed  upon.  At  the  same  time,  the 
enlightenment  of  the  older  graduates  was  undertaken  by  their 
