458 
Reviews. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I   September,  1894. 
Lessons  in  Qualitative  and  Volumetric  Chemical  Analysis.  By  Dr.  Charles 
O.  Curtman.  Including  Lessons  in  Qualitative  Chemical  Analysis,  by  Dr.  F. 
Beilstein.  Fourth  edition.  St.  Louis,  Mo.  John  L.  Boland  Book  and  Sta- 
tionery Company.    1894.    Pp.  295. 
The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  a  small  volume  of  154  pages,  issued  as 
"  Beilstein's  Chemical  Analysis,"  and  was  to  a  great  extent  a  translation.  The 
author  has  since  made  a  great  stride  in  adapting  the  book  to  the  uses  of  the 
American  student  and  pharmacist.  As  now  perfected  it  is  a  complete  work  on 
qualitative  and  volumetric  analysis.  While  the  qualitative  portion  is  in  part  a 
translation,  the  volumetric  part  bears  evidence  of  being  the  fruit  of  the  author's 
own  ripe  experience. 
Among  the  notable  features  of  this  edition  are  :  a  section  on  the  examination 
of  drinking  water,  which  has  been  recast  from  the  previous  edition  so  as  to 
embody  the  recent  advances  made  in  this  important  field  of  hygienic  investi- 
gation ;  a  section  on  urine  analysis,  which  has  been  largely  rewritten,  and 
copious  additions  to  the  section  on  volumetric  analysis,  so  that  it  now  forms  a 
complete  commentary  on  the  volumetric  assays  of  the  last  revision  of  the  U.  S. 
Pharmacopoeia. 
The  author  has  adopted  the  orthography  to  conform  to  the  rules  of  the 
chemical  section  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
While  we  are  not  prepared  to  condemn  this  method  of  spelling  chemical  terms, 
we  are  inclined  to  the  belief  that  the  authors  of  pharmaceutical  text-books 
should  make  them  conform  to  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
Proceedings  of  the  Connecticut  Pharmaceutical  Association,  at  the  eighteenth 
annual  meeting,  held  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  February  6  and  7,  1894. 
The  feature  of  this  number  is  the  "Report  on  Progress  of  Pharmacy,"  by 
A.  Felton  Wood.    The  secretary  is  Frederic  Wilcox,  Waterbury,  Conn. 
The  Medicinal  Plants  of  Tennessee. — Arranged  and  published  under  the 
direction  of  T.  F.  P.  Allison,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  by  A.  Gattinger, 
M.D.,  Nashville,  Tenn.  1894.  Pp.128.  The  commercial  values  of  the  plants 
receive  considerable  attention,  and  the  part  of  each  plant  employed  is  stated, 
as  well  as  the  best  time  of  year  for  collection.  A  tabular  statement  is  made 
of  the  prices  paid  to  collectors,  which  cannot  but  be  of  value  to  those  contem- 
plating a  trial  at  this  business. 
The  author,  in  his  preface,  gives  a  few  instances  of  practical  field  work  of  the 
character  this  book  is  intended  to  introduce  and  encourage,  among  them  being 
the  following  :  Three  miles  from  the  eastern  limits  of  the  city  of  Nashville 
grows  abundantly  Sweet  Cicily  (Osmorrhiza  longistylis),  in  moist  copses  and 
shady  groves.  The  root,  which  may  be  quickly  lifted  from  the  loose  leaf-mould 
in  which  it  luxuriates,  is  quoted  at  18  cents  a  pound,  twenty-five  or  thirty 
roots  making  a  pound,  and  several  hundred  roots  could  be  collected  in  a  few 
hours.  To  the  right  and  left  of  the  Lebanon  Pike  stands  any  number  of  a  two- 
foot  high,  homely  weed,  White  Vervain  ( Verbena  urticcefolia).  The  root  of  this 
plant  brings  8  cents  per  pound.  It  can  be  pulled  out  of  the  ground  by 
taking  hold  of  the  stem.  Wintergreen  (Gaultheria  procumbens)  often  covers 
whole  mountain  sides  in  a  dense  sward.  It  may  be  cut  with  a  scythe,  dries 
easily,  weighs  rather  heavily,  and  sells  for  4^  cents  a  pound.  It  pays  well  for 
the  labor  of  cutting  and  baling  it.    On  the  summits  of  the  Bald  and  Smoky 
