AmAu°g?x8P7h7arm"}  Reviews,  etc.  429 
•  REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Medicinal  Plants ;  being  Descriptions  with  Original  Figures  of  the  Principal  Plants 
employed  in  Medicine,  etc.  By  Rob.  Bentley,  F.  L.  S.,  and  Henry  Trimem, 
M.  B.,  F.  L.  S.    Philadelphia  :  Lindsay  &  Blakiston. 
Parts  20  and  21 — Part  19  has  not  been  received  yet — are  of  particular  interest  to 
the  American  pharmacist  and  physician,  containing,  as  they  do,  full  accounts  of  not 
less  than  six  North  American  medicinal  plants,  and,  in  addition  thereto,  of  several 
others  indigenous  or  cultivated  in  the  tropical  parts  of  the  Western  hemisphere. 
The  following  plants  are  described  and  figured :  Aloe  vulgaris,  Areca  Catechu 
(betel-nut  palm),  Arenga  saccharifera  (sago  palm),  Boswellia  Carterii  (frankincense 
tree),  Chenopodium  anthelminticum,  Eupatorium  perfoliatum,  Ferula  sumbul, 
Hedeoma  pulegioides,  Monarda  punctata,  Pimenta  (Myrcia)  acris,  Pirn,  officinalis, 
Plantago  ispaghula  (spogel  seeds  of  India),  Sambucus  canadensis,  Simaruba  amana 
and  Xanthorhiza  apiifolia. 
Recherches  pour  ser<vir  d  Vhistoire  chimique  de  la  racine  de  gentiane  ,•  presence  cTun 
tannin.  These  piesentee  el  soutenue  a  l'ecole  superieure  de  pharmacie  de  Mont- 
pellier  le  18  Mai,  1877.    Par  Jules  Ville.    Montpellier.    4to,  pp.  56. 
Researches  on  the  Chemical  History  of  Gentian  Root,  regarding  the  Presence  of  a 
Tannin. 
These  researches  were  prompted  by  the  discussion  last  year  between  E.  L.  Patch 
and  J.  M.  Maisch  in  relation  to  the  same  subject.  The  author  arrives  at  the  same 
conclusion  previously  maintained  and  proven  in  this  country,  that  the  dark  colora- 
tion or  even  precipitation  produced  by  ferric  salts  in  liquid  preparations  of  gentian 
is  due  to  gentianic  (gentisic)  acid ;  but  he  regards  this  principle  as  a  kind  of  tannin 
and  proposes  for  it  the  name  of  gentianotannic  acid.  In  his  review  he  has  scarcely 
done  justice  to  the  observations  made  by  Patch  and  Maisch,  neither  of  whom 
worked  with  the  compound  tincture  of  gentian,  but  with  the  simple  tincture  and 
the  infusion.  That  these  are  precipitated  by  gelatin  has  been  noticed  before,  but 
that  this  precipitate  after  washing  with  water  retains  none  of  the  gentianic  acid  is 
ignored  by  the  author.  His  most  important  experiment  for  sustaining  his  position 
was  performed  by  mixing  20  grams  of  a  solution  of  gentian  with  20  grams  of  fresh, 
well-scraped  and  cut  skin,  of  which  the  hairs  were  shaved  off.  The  mixture  was 
tested  from  time  to  time  with  ferric  chloride,  the  coloration  becoming  less  intense, 
and  after  eight  weeks  ceased  altogether.  Bitter  orange  peel  treated  in  the  same 
manner  yielded  the  same  coloration  at  the  expiration  of  this  time  as  at  the  begin- 
ning. In  attempting  to  observe  the  effect  of  gentian  in  making  leather,  the  author 
was  satisfied  with  the  properly  prepared  skin  presenting  des  traces  trls-apparentes  de 
tannage  after  a  contact  of  one  month.  The  author  refers  also  to  the  investigation 
of  gentisic  acid  by  Hlasiwetz  and  Habermann  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1875,  P-  2°7)> 
and  points  to  the  similar  decomposition  of  moritannic  acid ;  but  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  protocatechuic  acid  (the  isomer  of  gentisinic  acid)  as  well  as  phloro- 
glucin  are  produced  from  numerous  substances  which  are  not  tannins.    The  differ- 
