Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
April,  1878.  J 
Reviews,  etc. 
little  attention  has  been  paid  thereto  by  both  physicians  and  pharmacists,  and  the 
subject  has  been  completely  neglected  by  the  Pharmacopoeia,  while  several  foreign 
Pharmacopoeias  give  to  some  old  names  the  official  sanction  as  synonyms,  thus : 
Pharm.  Germ,  recognizes  Opium  also  as  Meconium  and  Laudanum  5  Tinctura  Opii  as 
Tinct.  thebaica  and  Tinct.  Meconii,  etc.  It  would  not  be  necessary  to  unearth  all 
the  ancient  names,  but  the  recognition  of  one  or  two  synonyms  for  the  most 
important  articles  with  which  the  difficulties  alluded  to  have  been  experienced 
(quinia  is  one  of  these)  would  prevent  that  annoyance  altogether. 
The  Western  Druggists'  Mutual  Benefit  Association,  is  the  title  of  an  Asso- 
ciation, which  was  incorporated  in  the  State  of  Ohio  about  eight  months  ago. 
From  the  charter  and  by-laws  before  us,  we  learn  that  its  objects  are  the  insurance 
of  the  lives  of  its  members  for  the  benefit  of  their  heirs.  Persons  engaged  in  dealing  or 
manufacturing  articles  pertaining  to  the  drug  trade  are  eligible  to  membership,  and 
pay  an  entrance  fee,  graduated  according  to  their  age.  $1.25  assessment  is  paid  in 
anticipation  of  a  death.  All  funds  are  securely  invested,  and,  on  the  death  of  a 
member,  his  heirs  receive  a  sum  equal  to  one  dollar  for  each  member,  but  not 
exceeding  $5,000.  The  balance  is  used  for  defraying  the  necessary  expenses,  the 
only  salaried  officer  being  the  Secretary,  and  the  surplus  is  allowed  to  accumulate 
until  it  exceeds  by  $3,000  the  amount  of  a  death  loss,  when  the  latter  will  be  paid 
from  the  Treasury  in  place  of  making  an  assessment. 
The  present  Trustees  are  members  of  prominent  firms  of  Cincinnati,  and  as  to 
the  plan,  that  appears  to  speak  for  itself,  combining  economy  of  management  with 
all  the  advantages  that  may  be  expected  to  accrue  from  a  mutual  benefit  organization. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Jahresbericht  uber  die  Fortschritte  der  Pharmacognosies  Pharmacie  und  Toxicologies 
Herausgegeben  von  Dr.  Dragendorff,  Professor  der  Pharmacie  in  Dorpat.  Neue 
Folge.  u.Jahrgang,  1876.  Gottingen,  Vandenhoeck  &  Ruprechfs  Verlag, 
1877.    8vo,  pp.  682. 
Annual  Report  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacognosy,  Pharmacy  and  Toxicology. 
For  the  year  1876. 
The  general  arrangement  of  this  annual  remains  as  in  former  years  5  it  opens  with 
an  enumeration  of  the  pharmaceutical  literature,  giving  the  titles  of  books  and 
pamphlets  and  new  journals  relating  to  pharmacy  and  allied  branches,  and  a  brief 
review  of  a  number  of  them.  In  the  second  division  those  essays  are  considereed 
which  refer  to  general  pharmacy  and  to  the  condition  of  pharmacy  in  different  coun- 
tries. The  third  division  embraces  pharmacognosy,  and  is  subdivided  in  drugs  from 
the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdom.  Pharmaceutical  chemistry  is  the  subject  of  the 
fourth  and  pharmaceutical  preparations  of  the  fifth  division,  the  latter  with  an  appen- 
dix giving  the  composition  of  those  nostrums  the  analysis  of  which  was  published 
