EDITORIAL. 
569 
tion  of  vegetable  and  animal  principles,  giving  not  only  the  method  of  qua- 
litative analysis,  but  the  more  difficult  ones  by  which  the  chemist  is  en- 
abled to  determine  the  quantitative  proportions  of  the  several  proximate  in- 
gredients of  plants  or  animals,  or  their  parts.  Such  a  work  can  only  be 
written  by  a  chemist,  experienced  in  treating  organic  matter,  both  as  re- 
gards the  detection  of  principles  admixed  with  others,  and  with  their  inti- 
mate mutual  relations  and  reactions,  so  as  to  point  out  successful  means  of 
separating  them  without  decomposition  or  change. 
The  third  division  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  analytical  chemistry.  The 
methods  given  are  in  the  main  those  employed  at  Dr.  Hoffman's  laboratory, 
in  the  College  of  Chemistry,  at  London.  In  this  part  of  the  work  the  au- 
thors are  perfectly  at  home,  and  write  from  their  own  experience  the  di- 
rections they  offer  to  others ;  they  have  not  unnecessarily  burthened  the  di- 
rections with  detail,  and  have,  wisely,  we  think,  introduced  practical  exam- 
ples of  analysis,  instead  of  abstract  statements  of  the  modes  of  proceedings  un- 
der certain  circumstances.  Having  omitted  organic  chemistry,  the  ultimate 
analysis  of  organic  bodies  is  also  omitted,  which  would  hardly  have  been  ex- 
pected, unless  it  be  the  design  of  the  authors  to  bring  out  a  separate  trea- 
tise on  the  chemistry  and  analysis  of  organic  substances. 
Among  the  practical  examples  of  analysis,  we  notice  those  of  chrome  ore, 
pewter,  type  metal,  tartar  emetic,  ultramarine;  soils,  mineral  waters,  glass, 
and  the  ashes  of  vegetable  and  animal  substances.  The  publishers  have 
advantageously  introduced  a  number  of  wood-cuts,  illustrative  of  the  text, 
the  original  being  entirely  without  them. 
The  paper  and  printing  is  of  good  quality  and  style,  but  our  time  has 
not  permitted  a  critical  examination  of  the  typography,  which,  from  the 
very  free  use  of  chemical  equations,  has  been  necessarily  more  liable  to 
error. 
Upon  the  whole,  we  have  been  gratified  with  the  book,  and  believe  it  will 
prove  useful  to  students  of  practical  chemistry,  as  well  as  to  druggists  and 
others,  who  often  need  the  kind  of  information  it  offers.  As  "  a  hand- 
book of  chemistry,  theoretical,  practical,  and  technical,"  it  is  certainly  de- 
ficient in  the  absence  of  the  description  of  organic  substances,  which  now, 
especially  to  physicians  and  pharmaceutists,  constitutes  the  most  interest- 
ing, if  not  the  most  important  part  of  chemical  science. 
The  American  Eclectic  Dispensatory.  By  John  King,  M.  D.,  Prof,  of 
Obstetrics  in  the  Cincinnati  Eclectic  Medical  Institute,  and  formerly 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  in  Memphis  Institute.  Cincinnati :  Moore, 
Wilstach  &  Keys,  1854,  pp.  1391. 
The  publishers  of  the  American  Eclectic  Dispensatory,  having  politely 
sent  us  a  copy  of  that  work,  we  have  taken  some  pains  to  give  it  a  careful 
examination,  although  pressed  for  time. 
That  a  numerous  sect  of  medical  practitioners  should  grow  into  existence, 
become  organized  into  societies,  and  have  schools  for  medical  instruction, 
embracing  all  the  branches  of  regular  institutions,  adaptsd  to  their  peculiar 
