Am.  Jour.  Pharm. "> 
August,  1910.  J 
Book  Reviews. 
383 
of  their  carbon  content;  (3)  melting-points  of  commonly  occurring 
medicinal  chemicals  and  their  derivatives;  (4)  boiling-point  tables; 
(5)  alcohol  tables;  (6)  table  of  constants  of  fats  and  oils;  (7)  table 
of  volatile  oils;  (8)  glycerin  tables;  (9)  resins,  gum  resins  and 
balsams;  (10)  physiological  action  of  some  common  drugs;  (11) 
table  of  elements;  (12)  commonly  used  metric  and  English  equiva- 
lents. 
The  work  contains  a  large  amount  of  valuable  information  which, 
however,  is  likely  to  be  of  more  value  to  the  trained  analyst  than 
the  beginner.  H.  K. 
Squire's  Pharmacopceias  of  the  London  Hospitals.  J.  &  A. 
Churchill,  7  Gt.  Marlborough  St.,  London,  W.  F'cap  8vo.  Pages 
496.    Price  $5.  Net. 
This  work  contains  a  comparison  of  thirty  of  the  pharmacopceias 
of  the  London  hospitals.  The  idea  of  the  book  is  to  present  its 
readers  with  a  selection  of  formulae,  framed  by  heads  of  the  medical 
profession  attached  to  the  various  hospitals.  The  first  edition  of 
the  London  Hospitals'  Pharmacopoeia  was  published  by  the  late 
Peter  Squire  in  1863,  so  that  for  nearly  half  a  century  this  little 
book  has  been  a  recognized  work  of  reference  to  the  medical  profes- 
sion. It  was  an  extension  of  the  comparison  of  the  three  Pharma- 
copoeias of  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin,  from,  which  the  first 
edition  of  Squire's  Companion  to  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  was 
evolved.  Another  of  the  reasons  for  producing  the  first  edition 
was  the  idea  that  a  publication  of  a  comparison  in  this  form,  might 
suggest  to  the  different  hospital  authorities,  when  preparing  the  new 
edition  of  their  respective  pharmacopceias,  whether  it  would  not  be 
advisable  to  modify  many  of  their  formulas  so  as  to  assimilate  them 
to  those  of  a  like  nature  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  and  thus  to 
simplify  and  reduce  the  number  of  compound  drugs. 
The  seventh  edition  was  published  in  1900,  and  it  is  a  noteworthy 
fact  that  in  the  subsequent  10  years  no  less  than  26  of  the  London 
hospitals  have  produced  new  editions.  So  numerous  and  extensive 
have  been  the  alterations  in  the  formulae  that  this  eighth  edition  had 
to  be  practically  rewritten.  At  the  same  time  many  new  formulae 
have  been  introduced.  The  work  will  be  found  valuable  to  mem- 
bers of  the  medical  profession,  as  it  represents  select  methods  of 
prescribing  very  many  drugs,  and  forms  a  practical  compendium  of 
