EDITORIAL. 
585 
An  Introduction  to  Practical  Pharmacy :— Designed  as  a  text-book  for  the 
Student,  and  a  guide  for  the  Physician  and  Pharmaceutist.  With  many- 
Formulas  and  Prescriptions.  By  Edward  Parrish,  Graduate  in  Phar- 
macy, &c.  Second  Edition,  greatly  enlarged  and  improved,  with  246 
Illustrations.    Philadelphia.    Blanchard  &  Lea,  1859,  pp.  720. 
The  first  edition  of  this  book  was  noticed  in  vol.  28,  page  10  of  this  Journal. 
The  demand  for  a  second  edition,  after  so  short  a  lapse  of  time,  is  unmis- 
takable evidence  that  the  book  has  met  the  approval  of  those  to  whom  it 
has  been  addressed — physicians  and  pharmaceutists.  This  success  has 
stimulated  the  author  to  increased  zeal  in  its  revision,  and  after  consider- 
able investigation  and  research,  the  present  edition  embodies  the  improve- 
ments which  have  resulted.  It  would  have  been  preferable  to  have  devoted 
the  time  and  labor  necessary  to  a  close  inspection  of  this  work  for  the  pres- 
ent number,  but  the  late  period  at  which  it  was  placed  in  our  hands,  and 
the  preparation  of  the  index  to  this  volume,  are  sufficient  excuse  for  avoid- 
ing at  present  a  critical  notice  of  the  "  Introduction  to  Practical  Pharmacy," 
which  could  only  be  based  on  a  careful  examination  of  the  whole  details 
of  the  book.  While  in  every  part  the  author  gives  evidence  that  he  has 
revised  the  pages,  it  is  the  3d  and  4th  parts  that  will  be  found  to  have 
received  the  greatest  extension.  The  former  of  these,  "  Pharmacy  in  its 
relations  to  organic  Chemistry,"  is  a  fruitful  theme,  and  the  author  has  em- 
braced many  details  in  it  not  found  in  the  first  edition.  His  system  of 
syllabi,  by  which  a  bird's  eye  view  of  each  class  is  given,  is  here  much  ex- 
tended, and  affords  a  useful  aid  to  the  Student  in  comprehending  the  sub- 
jects. In  the  chapter  on  Formulae  and  on  Extemporaneous  Pharmacy  we 
observe  many  additions,  and  in  the  latter  a  set  of  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  shop,  which  if  carried  out  in  letter  and  spirit  would  reform  the  practices 
of  numerous  Pharmaceutical  establishments.  It  is  our  intention  to  recur 
to  this  book  again  under  circumstances  more  favorable  to  estimate  its 
merit  as  "  a  text  book  for  the  student,"  and  as  "a  guide  for  the  physician 
and  pharmaceutist,"  but  meanwhilo  we  feel  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 
the  author  has  made  it  an  exceedingly  valuable  compend  of  practical  infor- 
mation needed  by  the  pharmaceutist  and  country  practitioner :  and  illus- 
trated as  it  is  at  every  step  with  figures,  the  beginner  will  find  it  easily 
understood. 
A  Manual  of  Scientific  and  Practical  Agriculture  for  the  School  and  Farm. 
By  J.  L.  Campbell,  A.  M.,  Prof,  of  Physical  Science  in  Washington 
College,  Virginia,  with  numerous  illustrations.  Philadelphia.  Lindsay 
&  Blakiston,  1859,  pp.  442,  12mo. 
This  volume  is  replete  with  valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  ele- 
ments of  agricultural  chemistry,  in  its  bearing  on  soils,  manures,  culture 
and  maturation  of  crops,  rotation  of  crops,  etc.  The  writer,  though  at 
present  a  tencher  of  science,  is  not  unused  to  practical  agriculture,  and  evi- 
