136 
Book  Reviews. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t     March,  1910. 
the  substances  that  are  used  either  on  man  or  for  experimental 
purposes. 
Nearly  250  pages  are  taken  up  in  a  similar  consideration  of 
the  results  of  scientific  and  clinical  study  of  a  large  number  of 
drugs  and  their  preparations  and  of  newer  chemicals  as  well. 
Digest  of  Comments  on  the  Pharmacopceia  of  the  United 
States  of  America  and  the  National  Formulary  for  the  calen- 
dar year  ending  December  31,  1906.  By  Murray  Gait  Motter  and 
Martin  I.  Wilbert.   Washington :  Government  Printing  Office,  1909. 
This  digest  is  issued  as  Bulletin  No.  58  of  the  Hygienic  Labora- 
tory of  the  U.  S.  Public  Health  and  Marine-Hospital  Service,  being- 
published  under  the  direction  of  the  Surgeon-General  with  the 
approval  of  the  Secretary  of-the  Treasury.  This  bulletin  embodies 
the  second  installment  of  the  digest  of  comments  on  the  U.S. P.  VIII 
and  the  first  digest  of  comments  on  the  National  Formulary  (3d 
edition),  this  latter  feature  having  been  included  at  the  request  of 
the  Council  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
The  bulletin  contains  over  500  pages  and  includes  about  5000 
concise  abstracts  of  the  literature  relating  to  the  official  articles 
published  during  1906.  The  matter  reviewed  represents  about  200 
publications,  including  18  foreign  pharmacopoeias.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  nothing  has  ever  been  published  which  so  completely  covers 
the  literature  relating  to  the  U.S. P.  and  N.F.  for  any  one  year. 
While  the  year  1906  will  long  be  memorable  in  the  minds  of  phar- 
macists and  others  by  reason  of  the  enactment  of  the  National  Food 
and  Drugs  Law,  it  also  marked  an  era  in  pharmaceutical  progress 
by  virtue  of  the  signing  of  the  "  Agreement  between  the  United 
States  and  Other  Powers  respecting  the  Unification  of  the  Phar- 
macopceial  Formulas  "  by  a  diplomatic  representative  of  the  United 
States  Government.  It  is,  therefore,  extremely  fortunate  that  the 
complete  literature  for  1906  representing  the  views  and  practical 
results  of  the  work  of  men  engaged  in  or  allied  with  pharmacy  has 
been  made  available  in  the  condensed  form  and  admirable  manner 
that  it  has  in  the  Digest  at  hand.  The  abstracts  are  not  only  ade- 
quate but  readable,  suggestive,  and  indeed  stimulating. 
When  the  series  of  bulletins  covering  the  literature  up  to  the 
present  year  are  all  issued,  they  cannot  fail  to  effect  profoundly  the 
practice  of  pharmacy.  Investigations  will  be  more  fruitful ;  writers 
more  careful;  practices  more  modern;  standards  in  the  U.S. P.  and 
