108 
Reviews,  etc. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharnu 
Feb.,  1887. 
with  some  sixteen  pounds  of  weight ;  by  recent  improvements  steel  wire  has 
been  substituted  for  a  gold  one.  This,  and  shortening  the  bridges,  give  a  stead- 
iness which  former  ones  were  very  deficient  in.  In  answer  to  an  inquiry,  Prof- 
Remington  stated  that  the  balances,  when  loaded  with  an  ounce  in  each  pan, 
were  sensitive  to  a  milligramme.  There  being  no  further  business,  on  motion 
adjourned.  T.  S.  Wiegand. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
The  National  Dispensatory,  containing  the  natural  history,  chemistry,  phar- 
macy, actions  and  use  of  medicines;  including  those  recognized  in  the  Phar- 
macopoeias of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  with  numerous 
references  to  the  French  Codex.  By  Alfred  Stille,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  etc.,  and 
John  M.  Maisch,  Phar.  D.,  etc.  Fourth  edition.  Philadelphia  :  Henry  C.  Lea's 
Son  &  Co.,  1886.  Large  8vo,  pp.  1781.  Price,  cloth,  $7.25  ;  leather,  $8 ; 
half  Russia,  $9. 
The  previous  editions  of  the  above  work  have  been  fully  commented  upon 
in  this  Journal  for  the  years  1879  and  1884.  Near  the  close  of  1885  the  new 
British  Pharmacopoeia  made  its  appearance,  which  differs  in  many  important 
and  numerous  minor  points  from  the  previous  edition  of  that  Pharmacopoeia 
in  1867.  These  differences  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows  :  The  phar- 
macopceial  names  of  about  two  hundred  drugs  and  preparations  have  been 
changed  ;  twenty-two  drugs  and  preparations  have  been  dropped ;  about  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  new  ones  have  been  added,  and  the  composition  of  a 
large  number  of  preparations  has  been  more  or  less  altered.  All  the  refer- 
ences throughout  the  Dispensatory,  bearing  upon  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
have  been  carefully  revised  so  as  to  correspond  with  the  present  requirements 
of  that  authority. 
A  large  number  of  remedial  agents  have  attracted  more  or  less  attention 
daring  the  past  two  or  three  vears.  Some  of  these  promise  to  be  of  perma- 
nent value.  Of  the  more  important  new  remedies,  which  were  not,  or  but 
briefly  mentioned  in  the  third  edition,  the  following  are  now  more  fully 
noticed  :  antipyrina,  cocainse  hydrochloras,  fabiana,  franciscea,  gyninocladus,. 
hydroquinonum,  hypnonum,  iodolum,  jacaranda,  lanolinum,  menthol,  phor- 
mium,  sulphophenolum,  thallinfe  sulphas  and  urethanum.  Iodol  (page  1660), 
is  not  an  addition  product,  but  a  substitution  compound  of  pyrrol,  having  the- 
formula  C4HNI4. 
It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  the  present  edition  of  the  work  be- 
fore us  includes  besides  the  unofncinal  articles,  and  those  of  the  United  States 
Pharmacopoeia,  likewise  those  of  the  latest  issues  of  the  three  principal  phar- 
macopoeias of  Europe,  namely  Great  Britain,  France  and  Germany. 
7he  Pharmaceutical  Era,  a  monthly  exponent  of  pharmacology  in  all  its 
departments,  including  Chemistry,  Microscopy,  Botany  and  the  art  of  Phar- 
macy. A.  B.  Lyons,  M.  D.,  editor.  Published  by  D.  0.  Haynes  &  Co.,  Detroit, 
Mich.   Price,  $1.50. 
With  the  beginning  of  1887  the  appearance  of  a  new  journal  under  the  above 
title  is  announced,  under  the  editorial  management  of  Dr.  Lyons,  who  will 
doubtless  keep  it  abreast  of  the  best  interests  of  American  pharmacy  and 
