Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  j 
December,  19 17.  J 
Book  Reviews. 
623 
There  are  statements,  too,  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  book,  which 
are  misleading,  such  as  this  from  page  289,  under  Candy :  "  The 
glucose  is  made  from  corn  and  the  solution  is  treated  with  a  mild 
acid  to  split  off  the  simple  sugar  from  the  starch."  Also  this  from 
page  303  :  "  You  can  nitrify  cellulose  and  make  nitrocellulose  an 
explosive  compound  known  as  guncotton.  If  you  attempt  to  do 
this  to  starch  it  is  apt  to  split  right  down  to  sugars.  Mixed  nitric 
and  sulphuric  acids  dissolve  cellulose  to  nitrocellulose." 
The  worst  error  in  the  entire  book,  however,  consists  in  calling 
resins  gums  and  referring  to  them  as  polymerized  sugars  and  then 
citing  rosin  as  a  type.  The  word  resin  does  not  appear  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  book  at  all. 
There  are  two  appendices,  containing  respectively  a  tabular 
synopsis  of  the  elements  and  a  bibliography  of  books  along  similar 
lines  or  which  were  consulted  in  preparing  the  book.  There  are  a 
few  typographical  errors  in  the  book  and  in  the  index,  which  indi- 
cate somewhat  hasty  preparation. 
Taking  it  altogether,  however,  and  making  due  allowance  for  the 
defects  which  have  been  mentioned,  the  book  is  one  from  which 
every  reader,  whether  he  be  chemist  or  layman,  should  draw  pleas- 
ure and  profit. 
C.  H.  Law. 
PERSONAL  ITEMS. 
Dr.  John  A.  Roddy. — Shortly  after  the  declaration  of  war  with 
Germany,  John  A.  Roddy,  professor  of  bacteriology-  and  hygiene  in 
the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  and  associate  in  hygiene  and 
bacteriology  at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  was  called  into  the 
Army  Medical  Service.  He  was  commissioned  as  lieutenant  and 
assigned  to  Fort  Slocum,  where  he  was  actively  engaged  in  the  ex- 
amination and.  treatment  of  the  thousands  of  army  recruits  received 
at  that  station.  Recently  he  was  transferred  to  Camp  Dix,  N.  J., 
and  assigned  to  the  303  Engineers  Regiment.  His  many  friends  will 
be  pleased  to  learn  that  he  was  promoted  and  commissioned  captain 
on  September  29,  1917. 
David  W.  Ramsauer,  a  graduate  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy  in  1902  and  the  winner  of  the  Procter  Prize  that  year, 
has  been  elected  vice-president  of  the  Grover-Stewart  Drug  Co.,  of 
