AFebJr°uaryT?9aor4m'}     Study  of  the  History  of  Materia  Medica.  81 
the  passage  and  enforcement  of  the  new  food  laws  there  has  not 
been  much  adulteration  except  in  the  use  of  hulls.  This  can  be 
determined  if  the  preceding  method  is  adopted.  If  only  about  io 
per  cent,  have  been  added,  recourse  will  have  to  be  made  to  the 
microscope  also. 
IN  AID  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  MATERIA 
MEDICA,  MEDICINE  AND  CHEMISTRY.1 
By  Fr.  Hoffmann. 
Whoever  has  had  occasion  to  enter  upon  researches  in,  and  the 
study  of,  the  history  of  drugs,  aromatic  spices,  materia  medica,  or  of 
medicine  and  chemistry,  will  have  experienced  perplexing  difficul- 
ties in  finding  and  selecting  in  the  vast  mass  of  the  pertaining  litera- 
ture of  all  ages  and  peoples,  the  really  valuable  and  most  useful 
standard  works  for  information  and  reference,  or  even  to  obtain  a 
correct  estimate  of  their  nature  and  relative  value  and  usefulness. 
As  in  all  literature,  succeeding  authors  have  more  or  less  drawn 
upon  the  labors  and  writings  of  preceding  generations  and  the 
intrinsic  value  of  the  accumulated  bibliographic  stock  of  consecutive 
centuries  is  to  some  extent  a  recurrent  and  apocryphal  one.  It 
therefore  requires  critical  inquiry,  intelligent  discrimination  and 
considerable  time  to  obtain  some  familiarity  with  the  precise  value 
and  authority,  or  the  want  of  such,  of  the  respective  works,  and  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  offer  some  guiding  advice  to  those  who  are 
about  to  spend  time  and  patience  in  searching  voluminous  libraries 
and  catalogues,  by  offering  a  brief  list  of  some  select  works  for  reli- 
able reference  and  for  study. 
List  I  comprises  a  selection  of  works  replete  with  biliographic 
references  and  comments,  as  also  with  biographic  information  and 
notes ;  List  II,  a  number  of  miscellaneous  works  relating  to  the 
subject  of  the  respective  sciences  in  general,  and  to  the  history  of 
organic  materia  medica,  medicine,  pharmacy  and  chemistry  in  par- 
ticular. 
1The  above  list  of  historical  reference  works  was  prepared  by  Dr.  Hoffmann, 
of  Berlin,  Germany  (Charlottenburg,  Schliiter  Str.  64),  as  a  result  of  occasional 
inquiries  and  to  save  others  the  perplexities  often  experienced  of  finding  in  the 
mass  of  ancient,  medieval  and  more  recent  literature,  the  most  useful  books 
for  historical  studies  in  the  domains  of  medicine,  pharmacy,  materia  medica 
and  chemistry. — Editor. 
