Editorial. — Reviews,  etc. 
A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1877. 
•delegate  from  each  incorporated  Medical  College,  incorporated  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and 
incorporated  College  of  Pharmacy  throughout  the  United  States,  with  one  delegate  from  the  medical 
department  of  the  Army  and  one  from  the  medical  department  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States.  That 
the  delegate  from  each  State  medical  society  represented  in  the  American  Medical  Association  shall  be 
nominated  and  elected  by  the  said  Association,  the  delegates  from  the  said  several  colleges  shall  be 
nominated  and  elected  by  the  said  colleges,  and  the  delegates  from  the  two  branches  of  the  national 
service  shall  be  nominated  by  their  respective  Surgeon-Generals,  and  be  ordered  by  the  Honorable  Secre- 
taries of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States. 
"  That  the  said  delegates  shall  be  nominated  and  elected  with  special  reference  to  their  experience 
and  knowledge  of  therapeutics  and  physiology,  medical  chemistry,  medical  botany  and  practical  phar- 
macy, so  that  all  classes  of  medical  and  pharmacal  experts  may  be  fairly  represented  in  the  National 
Convention,  to  the  end  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  may  be  thoroughly  revised  by  a 
commission  embodying  the  greatest  practical  knowledge  and  professional  skill." 
This  plan,  or  a  similar  one,  v/ould  do  but  little  violence  to  the  existing  order  of  things  ;  it  would  not 
interfere  with  any  "  Pharmaceutical  Council "  which  any  association  may  form,  with  a  view  to  aiding 
pharmacopceial  revision,  and  it  would  give  us  a  truly  representative  convention,  in  which  the  American 
Medical  Association  would  be  recognized  as  well  as  all  Pharmaceutical  and  other  Colleges,  not  connected 
with  that  Association.  There  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by  a  call  emanating 
from  the  National  Government— the  presence  of  two  government  officials  in  the  "  Convention  "  would  be 
a  move  in  that  direction ;  and  as  the  formation  of  State  Boards  of  Health  is  rapidly  extending,  the  day 
may  not  be  far  distant  when  we  shall  have  a  "  Minister  o'f  Health  "  to  call  our  "  NationakConvention," 
and  to  represent  the  great  medical  and  sanitary  interests  of  the  country  in  the  Cabinet  of  the  United 
States.  C. 
Principles  of  Theoretical  Chemistry,  with  special  reference  to  the  constitution  of 
Chemical  Compounds.  By  Ira  Remsen,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  the  John  Hopkins  University.  Philadelphia:  Henry  C.  Lea,  1877.  nmo, 
pp.  232. 
As  the  title  indicates,  this  volume  is  devoted  to  the  principles  upon  which  the 
theoretical  structure  of  modern  chemistry  is  based,  and  as  such  it  is  a  very  valuable 
addition  to  our  literature,  inasmuch  as  it  discusses,  in  a  clear  and  comprehensive 
manner,  the  various  laws  governing  chemical  combination  and  decomposition,  and 
the  various  theories  which  have  been  advanced  for  explaining  observed  facts.  Part 
first,  being  devoted  to  the  general  discussion  of  atoms  and  molecules,  forms  the 
ground-work  for  the  second  part,  which  treats  of  the  constitution  or  structure  of 
chemical  compounds.  Considering  the  multitude  of  compounds,  and  particularly 
the  more  complex  ones  of  carbon,  the  so-called  organic  compounds,  it  is  without 
question  of  considerable  importance  to  the  investigator  to  have  a  knowledge  of  the 
grouping  together  of  the  various  elements  forming  a  compound,  since  the  nature  of 
such  groups,  and  their  relation  to  each  other,  determine  the  chemical  behavior  of 
the  body.  Such  considerations  have  gradually  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  so-called 
structural  formulas,  which  are  explained  in  the  second  part,  and  in  regard  to  which 
the  author  says  : 
As  for  the  value  of  the  structural  formulas,  which  are  discussed  at  some  length  in  the  second  part  of 
the  book,  it  need  only  be  said  that,  if  it  be  borne  in  mind  what  they  are  intended  to  represent,  they  are' 
not  quite  so  absurd  as  some  chemists  are  just  now  trying  to  make  us  believe  they  are.  These  formulas 
certainly  represent  known  facts  in  regard  to  the  constitution  of  chemical  compounds.  They  do  not 
represent  these  compounds  as  a  photograph,  for  example,  represents  a  building;  but  rather  somewhat  in 
the  same  way  that,  in  Physics,  lines  represent  forces  in  their  magnitude  and  direction.  Take  the  formulas 
