190 
EDITORIAL. 
200  pages  are  devoted  to  this  subject.    In  the  first  edition,  it  occupied  90 
pages;  in  the  second  156  pages.    Whilst  in  former  editions,  Part  iv.  was 
devoted  to  inorganic  chemicals,  being  preceded  by  the  organic  in  the  third 
edition,  this  has  been  reversed  in  accordance  with  the  usual  arrange- 
ment of  chemical  treatises.  Most  standard  pharmaceutical  works,  however, 
observe  the  former  order.    The  arrangement  adopted  for  this  part  of  the- 
work  is  simple  and  appropriate  for  reference,  commencing  with  the  car- 
bohydrates, alcohols,  ethers,  fixed  oils  volatile  oils,  and  resins,  acid£,  alka 
loids,  and  neutral  active  principles.    The  author  justly  claims  this  and 
the  preceding  division  to  be  the  scientific  portion  of  his  work,  and  which, 
<«  by  the  valuable  assistance  of  Prof.  J.  M.  Maisch,  has  been  rendered  still 
more  accurate,  and  brought  up  to  the  existing  state  of  Chemical  Science." 
With  the  old  title  of  "  Introduction  id  practical  Pharmacy/'  much  that  is 
in  this  division  would  be  out  of  place,  but  it  is  observed  that  the  book  is 
now  called  il  A  treatise  on  Pharmacy/'  etc.    The  propriety  of  introducing 
so  much  purely  scientific  matter  into  a  work  designed  for  the  practical 
apothecary,  might  well  be  doubted ;  but  the  author  claims  a  wider  scope 
for  his  book,  calling  it  a  text-book  for  the  student  and  a  guide  to  the  phy- 
sician and  pharmaceutist,  and  there  is  no  information  in  it  that  is  not 
useful,  practically,  or  by  way  of  accomplishment,  to  the  pharmaceutist. 
There  is  a  tendency,  often  observed,  when  a  book  addressed  to  any  large 
class  of  readers  proves  successful,  to  increase  its  scope  by  introducing 
everything  likely  to  add  to  its  value  as  a  store-house  of  facts.    The  U.  S. 
Dispensatory  1ms  in  this  way  become  very  comprehensive,  and  our  author, 
though  in  a  different  manner,  has  adapted  the  same  course,    The  work 
is  essentially  a  compilation,  built  up  from  the  journals  and  current  lite- 
rature of  pharmacy  and  chemistry,  and  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  classes 
for  whom  it  is  written  by  simplicity  of  arrangement  and  great  absence  of 
technicality,  except  in  the  third  and  fourth  divisions  where  it  is  necessa- 
ry to  express  tersely  much  information  by  means  of  symbols.    In  looking 
over  the  work  for  the  impress  of  the  author's  individuality,  we  find  it 
more  in  a  sort  of  generalizing  commentary,  running  throughout  the  phar- 
maceutical  part  of  the  work  than  in  any  systematic  elimination  of  his 
opinions  of  the  various  formulae  based  on  practical  experience.     This  is  a 
desideratum  yet  to  be  attained  in  English  or  American  pharmacy,  and  an 
idea  of  which  is  conveyed  most  forcibly  in  the  little  translation  of  Witt- 
stein  by  Darby. 
The  last  and  fifth  part  of  the  book  is  entitled  **  Extemporaneous  Phar- 
macy." The  first  portion  of  this  is  devoted  to  the  art  of  prescribing,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  writing  prescriptions,  and  selecting  and  combining  me- 
dicines. The  other  chapters  embrace  notices  of  powders,  pills,  suppositories, 
mixtures,  styptics,  collyria,  anemata,  gargles,  ointments,  cerates,  plasters, 
etc.,  including  many  formulas  for  each  of  these  preparations,  making  this 
part  of  the  book  almost  a  formulary  for  extemporaneous  preparations. 
The  final  chapter  is  on  dispensing  and  compounding  prescriptions,  and 
