Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1897. 
Reviews. 
221 
On  account  of  the  death  of  the  author,  the  introduction  to  this  report  was 
written  by  Dr.  E.  Heckel,  who  clearly  sets  forth  the  object  of  the  journey  of 
exploration  to  Martinique  and  French  Guiana  ;  this  object  was  to  find,  if  possible, 
in  the  French  colonies,  trees  yielding  caoutchouc  or  other  substance  that 
would  take  its  place,  and  to  determine  if  the  Araucarias  of  Brazil  were  to  be 
found  in  French  Guiana.  The  author  himself  answered  these  questions  in  his 
conclusions,  by  stating  that  the  search  for  the  forests  of  Araucarias  was  com- 
pletely fruitless,  and  he  did  not  believe  they  existed  in  that  colony,  as  they  are 
very  conspicuous  trees,  and  could  not  have  escaped  the  observations  of  Aublet, 
Guisan  and  others.  On  the  other  hand,  the  trees  yielding  milky  juice  coagu- 
lable  by  alcohol,  the  Balatas,  were  found  in  great  abundance.  They  were,  how- 
ever, in  difficultly  accessible  regions,  covered  by  water  for  two-thirds  of  the  year. 
The  most  favorable  time  for  collecting  the  product  was  thought  to  be  the  com- 
paratively short  season  while  the  ground  was  dry. 
L-ES  PEANTES  MedicinaeES  ET  Toxiques  de  EA  Guyane  Francaise.  Par 
le  Dr.  Bdouard  Heckel.    Macon,  1897. 
The  French  nation  is  giving  more  attention  than  formerly  to  its  colonies  and 
their  products  :  and  this  volume  of  ninety-three  pages  is  evidence  of  an  effort 
to  render  available  the  medicinal  plants  of  French  Guiana. 
The  descriptions  of  the  various  plants  are  arranged  alphabetically,  each 
having  one  or  more  common  names,  followed  by  the  botanical  name,  natural 
order,  part  employed,  its  use  and  method  of  administration.  Among  those 
described  are  to  be  found  some  well-known  representatives  of  our  own  materia 
medica,  as  for  example,  Phytolacca  decandra  and  Ricinus  communis  ;  the 
former  is  given  as  an  introduced  plant. 
No  one  interested  in  the  science  of  applied  botany  can  read  this  contribution 
without  being  greatly  benefited  thereby,  and  the  author,  who  has  published  it 
with  the  sole  object  of  rendering  some  service  to  this  branch  of  science  deserves 
the  gratitude  of  many  outside  of  his  own  country. 
Digest  of  Criticisms  on  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  Seventh 
decennial  revision  (1890).  Published  by  the  Committee.  Part  I,  pp.  183. 
New  York,  1897. 
The  Committee  has  again  been  fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of  Mr.  Hans 
M.  Wilder  in  compiling  this  Digest.  It  is  a  valuable  summary  of  nearly  all 
the  papers  on  the  preparations  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  to  July  1,  1896.  The  book 
is  not  for  sale,  but  copies  may  be  obtained  by  remitting  seven  cents  in  postage 
stamps  to  Dr.  Charles  Rice,  Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York. 
A  Recalculation  of  the  Atomic  Weights.  By  Frank  Wigglesworth 
Clarke.  New  edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Published  by  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  1897. 
The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  published  in  1882.  Since  then,  new  matter 
has  been  constantly  accumulating,  and  the  result  in  most  cases  has  been  a 
slight  lowering  of  the  figures  representing  the  atomic  weights  of  the  elements. 
Clarke's  figures  are  in  nearly  every  case  lower  than  those  of  Meyer  and  Seubert, 
which  was  published  in  the  U.S. P.  1890.  With  hydrogen  as  1,000,  oxygen  is 
given  as  15*88. 
