Reviews. 
(  A.m.  Jonr.  Phanr. 
t      August,  1894. 
quainted  with  the  merits  of  the  National  Formulary  by  placing  in  his 
hands  a  copy  of  the  work,  and  would  it  not  be  a  good  stroke  of  business  to 
do  so  ?" 
This  suggestion  differs  from  almost  all  of  its  contemporaries  by  being  prac- 
tical, anyone  can  try  it ;  in  some  cases,  however,  there  may  be  a  delicacy  on 
the  part  of  the  pharmacist  about  presenting,  and  on  the  part  of  the  physician 
about  accepting,  the  book  ;  cannot  this,  therefore,  become  the  business  of  a 
local  association,  and  thereby  remove  the  personal  element  ? 
The  National  Formulary  has  already  done  much  for  the  pharmacist,  by 
removing  the  mystery  which  surrounds  many  of  the  long-titled  syrups,  elixirs, 
extracts,  etc.,  and  it  can  be  made  to  do  still  more. 
;  The  paper  on  "Starches  in  Different  Commercial  Varieties  of  Cacao,"  which 
occupies  first  place  in  this  number  of  the  Journal,  throws  considerable  light  on 
a  somewhat  neglected  subject.  While  the  author  inclines  to  the  belief  that  we 
may  not  be  able  to  distinguish  the  commercial  varieties  by  the  shape  of  the 
starch  grains,  yet  it  may  be  suggested  that,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  character 
of  these  starch  grains,  the  detection  of  foreign  starches  in  the  prepared  and 
powdered  cocaos  will  become  comparatively  easy. 
This  investigation  has  been  made  possible  by  the  presentation  to  the  College 
of  a  liberal  collection  of  the  commercial  seeds,  and  it  is  the  intention  to  have  a 
chemical  investigation  supplement  Professor  Bastin's  work. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Etude  Monographiquede  la  Famille  des  Globulariees  au  Point  du  Vue  Botan- 
ique,  Chimique  et  Therapeutique,  par  Le  Dr.  Edouard  Heckel,  Professeur  a  la 
Faculte  des  Sciences  et  a  l'Ecole  de  Medicine,  etc.,  avec  la  Collaboration  de 
M.  le  Professeur  Schlagdenhauffen,  pour  la  Partie  Chemique,  et  de  M.  le  Dr.  J. 
Mourson,  Medicin  principal  de  Marine,  pour  le  Partie  Therapeutique.  G.  Mas- 
son,  Editeur.    Paris,  120  Boulevard  Saint-Germain.  1894. 
The  Globulariese  are  a  small  family  of  plants  mostly  natives  of  the  south- 
western countries  of  Europe,  but  occurring  in  the  Orient  and  in  the  Canary 
Islands.  The  family  consists  of  a  single  genus,  Globularia,  containing,  as 
usually  reckoned,  about  a  dozen  species.  It  is  one  of  those  small  groups  of 
plants  which  have  given  systematists  a  good  deal  of  trouble,  first,  to  define 
their  precise  relationships  to  other  families  of  the  Gamopetalse,  the  Brunoni- 
aceae,  the  Dipsaceae,  the  Verbenaceae,  the  Selagineae,  the  Myoporineae,  the 
Compositae  and  the  Scrophulariaceae,  with  all  of  which  these  plants  have  some 
notable  charactistics  in  common  ;  and  second,  in  determining  the  number  and 
limits  of  the  species  within  the  order.  This  number  has  at  different  times  been 
now  increased,  now  diminished  and  now  again  increased,  according  to  the  value 
which  the  investigator  has  placed  upon  certain  structural  differences. 
This  uncertainty  in  the  classification  is  one  of  the  reasons  which  urged  Dr. 
Heckel  to  undertake  anew  the  study  of  the  group,  being  convinced  that  a 
thorough  examination  of  the  microscopic  structure  of  the  leaves  and  stems 
would  throw  the  needed  light  on  mooted  points '  and  establish  not  only  the 
