Ana.  Jour.  Pliarm.") 
August,  1908.  / 
Book  Reviews. 
391 
Part  III,  devoted  to  "  Assaying  and  Testing,"  is  a  guide  to  the 
important  methods  of  estimating  the  value  of  crude  drugs,  oils  and 
preparations,  well  worth  the  careful  study  of  the  manufacturing 
pharmacist,  who,  under  existing  conditions,  must  devote  more  atten- 
tion to  this  subject.  Here,  again,  the  author's  experience  enables 
him  to  offer  criticisms  and  suggestions  that  add  greatly  to  the  value 
of  this  section. 
Numerous  original  tabulations  appear  throughout  the  book,  and 
in  addition  the  volume  is  replete  with  reference  tables  that  fill  almost 
all  of  the  needs  of  the  pharmacist. 
While  this  book  is  essentially  an  English  work  and  written  as 
a  commentary  on  British  pharmacy,  and  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
naturally  receives  almost  exclusive  consideration,  it  is  nevertheless 
a  work  of  distinct  merit,  adding  to  the  general  knowledge  of  phar- 
macy, and  many  of  the  comments  and  suggestions  are  alike  appli- 
cable to  the  practice  of  pharmacy  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  It 
should  find  a  place  in  the  library  of  every  manufacturing  pharmacist 
and  apothecary,  and  will  well  repay  a  careful  perusal. 
George  M.  Ber[nger. 
Precis  des  Operations  Pharmaceutiques,  a  l'usage  du  Phar- 
macien  et  de  l'Eleve  en  Pharmacie.  Par  A.  Astruc  Docteur  es 
Sciences,  Professeur  Agrege  a  l'Ecole  Superieure  de  Pharmacie  de 
Montpellier.  Preface  de  M.  le  Professeur  F.  Jadin.  Montpellier : 
Coulet  et  Fils,  publishers. 
This  compact  8vo  volume  of  380  and  viii  pages  constitutes,  as 
its  name  indicates,  a  descriptive  epitome  or  handbook  of  pharma- 
ceutical operations, 
As  is  claimed  by  the  author,  it  is  essentially  practical  and  is 
designed  to  elucidate  and  describe  the  several  pharmaceutical 
operations  that  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  well-appointed 
laboratory. 
The  book  is  divided  into  two  parts.  .  The  first  part  consists  of 
a  short  preliminary  chapter  and  a  somewhat  longer  chapter,  entitled 
"  General  Pharmaceutical  Operations,"  relating  principally  to  the 
weighing  and  measuring  of  medicinal  substances. 
The  second  part  is  descriptive  of  "Pharmaceutical  Operations 
Proper,"  and  contains,  in  addition  to  an  interesting  definition  of 
what  the  author  understands  by  the  term,  chapters  on  mechanical 
operations,  physical  operations,  chemical  operations  and  sterilization. 
