640 
Reviews,  etc. 
("Am  Jour. Pharm. 
t      Dec,  1881. 
Arabian  name  kcll,  and  which  lie  found  to  possess  emetic  and  narcotic 
properties.  The  author  has  continued  the  researches  and  obtained  2  per 
cent,  of  a  brownish  oily  acrid  princij^le,  vLmar/ol,  which  is  soluble  in  alco- 
hol and  ether,  not  volatile,  and  possesses  a  toxic  action,  Tliree  crystalline 
principles,  provisionally  named  vlsnagin  /?  and  },  of  which  the  two  for- 
mer are  neutral  to  test  paper,  but  from  their  aqneous  solution  are  precipi- 
tated by  the  reagents  for  alkaloids ;  when  heated  with  water,  visiiagin  /? 
melts  near  60°C,  to  an  oily  liquid,  and  dissolves  on  prolonged  boilingr 
Visnagin  y  is  insoluble  in  ether  and  beiizin,  and  is  precipitated  from  the 
aqueous  solution  by  potassa,  soda  and  their  carbonates,  but  not  by  other 
reagents  for  alkaloids. 
A  fixed  oil,  10*5  per  cent.,  was  found  to  melt  at  17°C.,  and  to  yield,  on 
saponification,  an  acid,  called  anniiistearic  acid,  having  the  elementary 
composition  of  stearic  acid,  but  ditteriiig  from  the  latter  in  density,  fusi- 
bility and  solubility. 
The  other  constituents  obtained  from  the  fruit  were  soluble  albuminoids 
1"8,  insoluble  albuminoids  20*9,  glucose  2*9,  amylaceous  matter  o'O,  tissues 
(j*4,  extractive,  coloring  matter,  etc.,  o4'5,  moisture  6'6  and  ash  9"1  per  cent. 
The  essay  is  accompanied  l)y  well-executed  plates  of  the  fruit  and  sec- 
tions of  the  same,  and  by  sphygniographic  delineations,  obtained  under 
the  infiuence  of  visnagol. 
The  Phi/H}ciaii''ii  Visiting  List  for  18S2.    Thirty-first  year  of  its  publication. 
Philadelphia:  Lindsay  &  Blakistou. 
Die  Natnrgeschiehtc  des  Cajus  Pliaim  Secwidus.    Leipzig :  Gressner  & 
[Schramm,  1881. 
The  Natural  History  of  Cajus  Plinius  Secundus. 
Part  7  of  Dr.  Wittstein's  translation  has  appeared  and  contains  the  books 
on  the  grape  vine,  on  fruit  trees  and  on  forest  trees. 
First  Annual  Report  of  tlie  Astronomer  in  Charge  of  the  Horologiccd  and 
Thermometric  Bureaus  of  the  Winchester  Ohservatory  of  Yale  College. 
1880-1881.    By  Leonard  Waldo. 
Annual  Reports  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Begislatm'e,  and  of  the 
Trustees,  Superintendent,  Treasurer  and  Financial  Agent  of  the  Neiu 
Hampshire  Asylum  for  the  Insane  to  the  Governor  and  Council.  June, 
1881. 
The  Galvanic  Accumulator  for  Storing  Dynamical  Electricity  for  Cautery 
and  Illuminating  Purposes.  By  Louis  Elsberg,  A.M.,  M.D.  From  the 
"  Transactions  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine." 
How  to  Use  the  Bromides.  By  George  M.  Beard,  A.M.,  M.D.  From  the 
"  Journal  of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases,"  Vol.  VIII. 
A  Manual  of  Organic  ATcderia  Medica  ;  being  a  Guide  to  Materia  Medica 
of  the  Animal  and  Vegetable  Kingdoms,  for  the  use  of  Students,  Drug- 
gists, Pharmacists  and  Physicians.  By  John  M.  Maisch.  Philadelphia: 
Hewey  C.  Lea's  Sons  &  Co. 
This  work  will  be  issued  in  a  few  days.  In  our  next  number  a  more 
extended  notice  of  it  w  ill  be  given. 
