Am.  Jour.  Pharm, "( 
Mar.,  1881.  J 
jRevieAvs,  etc. 
143 
ii  small  amount  of  an  alkaloid,  and  the  herb  of  OxytropU  Lamberti^  Pursh 
ilbid.^  1878,  p.  564),  which  has  a  sweet  taste,  but  is  of  a  tough,  fibrous  and 
indigestible  character,  and  is  on  that  account  probably  deleterious  to  cattle. 
Twenty-five  species  of  indigenous  and  naturalized  grasses,  more  or  less 
valuable  for  forage  and  hay,  and  a  number  of  insects  injurious  to  the  cotton 
plant  and  to  orange  trees,  or  otherwise  of  economic  importance  in  their 
various  stages  of  development,  are  described  and  figured.  Various 
researches  upon  diseases  of  cattle  and  swine,  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  the 
vegetable  fibres  in  the  Museum  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  a 
report  on  the  present  status  of  fibre  industries  in  the  United  States,  form 
the  concluding  images  of  the  volume. 
The  Chemistry  of  Medicines^  Practical.  With  fifty  original  cuts.  By 
J.  U.  Lloyd,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy  in  the  Eclectic  Med- 
ical Institute  of  Cincinnati.  Cincinnati:  Published  by  the  author.  1881. 
12mo,  pp.  451. 
This  work  is  intended  as  a  text  and  convenient  reference  book  for  stu- 
dents, and  also  for  physicians  and  pharmacists.  It  opens  with  a  chapter 
on  apparatus,  giving  descriptions  and  directions  for  their  use,  followed  by 
a  chapter  on  chemical  theory,  containing  also  explanations  of  physical 
phenomena  and  conditions  (electricity,  magnetism,  crystallography,  etc.), 
and  of  various  processes,  like  evaporation,  filtering,  dialysis,  etc.  Then 
follows  inorganic  chemistry,  divided  as  usual  into  the  chemistry  of  non- 
metallic  and  of  metallic  elements,  arranged  into  groups.  The  acids  are  all 
considered  under  hydrogen,  as  compounds  of  that  element,  and  in  alpha- 
betical order,  the  latter  arrangement  being  also  used  under  the  heads  of 
the  metals  for  their  salts. 
In  the  chapter  on  organic  chemistry  the  compounds  are  considered  as 
hydrocarbons,  alcohols,  ethers,  aldehyds,  carbohydrates,  amines,  alkaloids, 
glucosides,  resins,  oleoresins  and  volatile  oils.  The  last  few  pages  contain 
directions  for  the  examination  of  urine- 
All  the  important  elements  are  described,  but  of  the  compounds  those 
which  have  been  employed  in  medicine  are  treated  of,  almost  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  others,  a  few  important  ones  excepted.  The  limits  thus  drawn  by 
the  author  have  enabled  him  to  give,  in  the  space  at  hand,  outlines  of  the 
processes,  with  many  useful,  practical  hints,  descriptions  of  the  various 
compounds  and  brief  directions  for  determining  their  jmrity. 
An  Elementary  Treatise  on  Practiced  Chemistry  and  QucUitcUive  Inorganie 
Analysis.  By  Frank  Clowes,  D.  Sc.  Lond.,  etc.  Philadelphia:  Henry 
C.  Lea's  Son  &  Co.    J881.    V2mo.    Pp.372.    Price,  cloth,  $2.50. 
As  a  practical  work,  well  arranged,  instructive  and  useful  in  its  details, 
we  regard  this  work  well  adapted  for  the  laboratory  instruction  of  students 
of  elementary  chemistry.  The  opening  section,  on  the  i^reparatioii  and 
properties  of  gases,  is  intended  to  afford  oi)portunities  for  chemical  manipu- 
hition  and  practical  illustrations  of  the  elementary  portions  of  theoretical 
and  descriptive  chemistry.  The  second  and  third  sections  give  instruc- 
tions in  the  preparation  and  use  of  ai)paratus  required  in  chemical  anal- 
