Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
March,  1918. 
Book  Reviews. 
223 
the  'author's  preface.  In  speaking  of  the  scope  of  the  lectures,  he 
refers  to  the  long  course  of  study  necessary  to  enable  a  physician 
to  prescribe  intelligently,  and  says :  "  Any  one  who  undertake.- 
to  treat  disease  with  a  lesser  preparation  faces  serious  legal 
complications,  and  even  more  grave  moral  responsibilities,  .... 
Indeed  it  would  be  far  better  for  the  public,  and  even  for  the 
pharmacist  himself,  that  the  pharmacist  should  be  entirely  ignorant 
of  medical  actions,  than  that  he  should  become  possessed  of  the 
dangerous  conceit  that  he  is  competent  to  advise  or  prescribe.  "  As 
a  professional  man,  he  can  cooperate  with  the  prescribing  physician 
much  better,  if  he  has  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  broad 
principles  which  guide  treatment,  of  the  objects  which  are  to  be 
accomplished,  and  of  the  means  that  are  utilized.  The  pharmacist 
himself  will  be  protected  against  many  blunders  in  the  exercise  of 
his  higher  professional  function,  the  compounding  of  prescriptions. 
He  will  be  able  to  protect  the  public  against  the  errors  of  others, 
as  well  as  his  own.  He  may  by  the  exercise  of  tact  put  the  physi- 
cian under  lasting  obligations.'' 
The  arrangement  of  part  of  the  book  seems  quite  peculiar; 
following  Corrosive  Poisons,  we  have  Astringents  and  then  Anti- 
septics and  Disinfectants.  Following  Uterine  Drugs  and  Anti- 
spasmodics, we  have  Tonics,  Alteratives  and  Expectorants,  etc. 
To  an  outsider  there  does  not  seem  to  be  a  logical  sequence  in  this 
arrangement,  although  some  other  chapters  follow  each  other 
naturally. 
The  different  articles  treated  of  are  handled  in  an  intelligent 
and  extremely  interesting  manner  which  makes  the  book  good 
reading.  The  articles  are  at  times  extremely  brief  and  unless  the 
student  has  more  basic  knowledge  than  most  pharmaceutical  stu- 
dents have,  will  call  for  considerable  explanation. 
Dr.  Sollman  is  quite  a  nihilist  regarding  the  value  of  manv 
drugs.  Of  phosphorus  he  says:  "To  administer  the  ordinary  dose 
of  phosphorus  with  the  idea  of  nourishing  nerve  tissue  has  about 
as  much  sense  as  to  take  water  in  five-drop  doses  with  a  similar 
object,  for  nerve  tissue  contains  considerable  more  water  than  it 
does  phosphorus."  Of  camphor,  "internally  it  is  said  to  be  a  sort 
of  popular  cure-all.  As  used  by  the  laity,  its  effects  are  probably 
imaginary."  Of  mineral  waters  he  says:  "Most  if  not  all  of  the 
natural  mineral  waters  are  marketed  under  exaggerated  or  even 
