390 
Book  Reviews. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1      August,  1908. 
Each  chapter  treats  of  its  special  subject  in  the  most  concise 
manner,  and  these  are  in  the  main  really  commentaries  on  the  sub- 
ject as  treated  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia.  In  some  respects 
these  chapters  are  models  of  condensed  treatment,  but  occasionally 
their  conciseness  is  rather  disappointing.  The  entire  subject  of 
Collodions  is  treated  in  Chapter  XXI,  just  thirteen  lines  in  length. 
Plasters  are  considered  in  one  and  one-half  pages;  and  compressed 
tablets  a  subject  that  to-day  necessarily  occupies  a  large  portion 
of  the  attention  of  the  pharmaceutical  manufacturers,  is  briefly 
considered  in  five  pages. 
The  chapters  on  Specific  Gravity  and  Percolation  are  illustrations 
of  concise  treatment  of  pharmaceutical  processes,  and  another  sub- 
ject well  treated  in  the  limited  space  is  Ethylic  Alcohol,  in  Chapter 
XI,  where  convenient  rules  for  the  various  alcohol  conversions  are 
given.  In  the  table  of  strength  of  alcohol  ordered  in  the  different 
pharmacopoeias  on  page  no,  occurs  one  of  the  few  errors  noted  in 
the  volume.  Here  the  author  continues  to  quote  the  specifications 
of  the  U.S.P.,  1890,  for  alcohol  instead  of  those  of  the  U.S.P.,  Eighth 
Revision. 
Despite  the  terseness  of  the  various  monographs,  the  amount 
of  information  contained  is  remarkable.  The  author  has  succeeded 
in  incorporating  many  original  determinations  and  observations  of  a 
thoroughly  practical  character,  and  the  numerous  criticisms  and 
suggestions  are  certainly  very  valuable.  The  practical  and  critical 
treatment  of  the  classes  of  galenicals  throughout  the  volume  is 
illustrated  by  the  exemplary  chapters  on  ointments,  tinctures  and 
extracts.  The  chapter  on  tinctures,  while  condensed  into  eleven 
pages,  contains,  among  other  excellent  features,  the  following  that 
are  especially  praiseworthy :  tables  giving  the  average  specific 
gravity,  percentage  of  extractive  and  alcoholic  content  of  each 
of  the  British  Pharmacopoeial  tinctures  ;  also,  assay  processes 
for  those  that  can  be  standardized,  accompanied  by  criticisms  and 
suggestions  for  improvements  ;  also,  dosage  tables  for  the  more 
potent  tinctures,  and  a  valuable  note  on  the  "  Deposits  in  Tinctures." 
In  considering  the  extracts,  the  manipulation  necessary  to  extract 
each  drug  is  explained  and  the  yield  by  the  official  process  is  stated. 
In  the  liquid  extracts  the  specific  gravity  of  each  finished  product, 
the  percentage  of  extractive  and  the  alcohol  content  by  volume  are 
given. 
