Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  19 18. 
Book  Reviews. 
393 
graphs  with  appropriate  headings  show  at  once  where  to  look  for  the 
botany  or  chemistry,  the  composition,  action,  uses,  doses,  etc. 
As  an  untitled  part  of  the  book,  there  appears  as  a  sort  of  prefa- 
tory a  number  of  chapters  containing  important  information,  much 
of  which  is  however  of  the  character,  that  in  other  works  is  placed 
in  an  "  appendix."  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  "  Abbrevia- 
tions ; "  "Titles  of  Journals  and  Books  Referred  to  in  the  Text;" 
"  Glossary  of  Medical  Terms ; "  "  Index  of  Diseases,"  of  especial  in- 
terest to  the  practicing  physician ;  "  The  Food  and  Drugs  Act " 
with  the  several  Amendments  and  the  Regulations  and  numerous 
Food  Inspection  Decisions,  which  should  be  of  great  value  to  the 
mercantile  interests ;  the  "  Harrison  Narcotic  Act  "and  the  Regula- 
tions framed  for  its  enforcement ;  and  a  well-compiled  "  Index  "  of 
these  two  federal  acts  and  the  regulations  thereon. 
Part  I  has  been  mainly  restricted  to  the  consideration  of  drugs 
and  formulas  official  in  the  United  States  and  British  Pharmacopoeias 
and  the  drugs  of  the  National  Formulary  have  been  generally  rele- 
gated to  Part  II  and  the  consideration  of  all  the  N.  F.  formulas  lim- 
ited to  a  condensed  abstract  in  Section  2  of  Part  III  unaccompanied 
by  comments  either  pharmaceutical  or  medical. 
This  method  of  the  division  of  subjects  has  introduced  many  in- 
congruities and  minimized  the  consideration  of  many  drugs  and 
preparations  that  from  their  extended  use  must  be  considered  as  im- 
portant in  American  medical  practice  and  given  undue  prominence 
to  some  that  are  of  scant  use  and  relatively  unimportant.  This  is 
the  one  feature  of  the  book  which  we  feel  called  upon  to  criticize  ad- 
versely. 
No  well-defined  rule  has  been  adhered  to  in  deciding  what  was 
to  be  admitted  to  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  and  what  was  to  be  in- 
corporated into  the  National  Formulary.  In  the  absence  of  an  es- 
tablished principle  on  this  question  and  as  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act, 
that  has  been  given  such  prominence  in  this  Dispensatory,  designates 
both  as  "  official "  and  of  equal  authority,  we  regret  to  note  the  atti- 
tude of  the  authors  regarding  the  N.  F.  standards  and  the  minimized 
treatment  accorded  to  these.  Many  of  the  N.  F.  standards  from 
either  a  commercial  or  medical  viewpoint  are  of  far  more  importance 
than  are  some  of  the  foreign  pharmacopoeial  subjects  discussed  in 
Part  II.  As  examples,  convallaria  flowers  and  root,  cocillana,  con- 
durango,  euphorbia  pilulifera,  cypripedium,  geranium,  echinacea,  etc., 
treated  as  N.  F.  drugs  in  Part  II,  are  certainly  more  used  and  of 
