AMA^gDi',  i872RM'}  Reviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  383 
not  everywhere  "  the  adjacent  apothecary  is  (or  can  be)  selected  to  provide 
the  sure  and  speedy  poison." 
Soda  Water — What  is  it  ? — For  the  benefit  of  our  readers  who  make,  sell 
or  drink  soda  water,  we  clip  the  following  from  the  "  Winedealers'  Gazette,'' 
San  Francisco,  of  April  last ;  the  information,  we  suppose,  is  strictly  reliable, 
because  the  editor  says  that  he  is  somewhat  of  a  chemist  himself,  although  we 
fancy  that  his  chemical  views  have  very  little  prospect  of  being  adopted  by  Eng- 
lish and  German  chemists  and  European  pharmacologists,  or  by  those  of  the  new 
world  either. 
"  We  are  satisfied  they  have  imported  the  machinery  for  the  new  English 
process  in  manufacturing  Sodas,  wherein  the  base  is  Carbonate  of  Potass.  The 
new  process  consists  in  part  of  passing  carbonic  acid  gas  through  a  solution  of 
sub  carbonate,  and  evaporating  at  a  temperature  of  212°  to  crystallization.  This 
new  process  is  indorsed  by  English  and  German  chemists  and  European  phar- 
macologists, as  a  4  wholesome  effervescing  draught.'  The  base  of  the  old  style 
Soda  was  Sulphate  of  Potass  or  Salt  of  Tartar.  ? 
We  have  long  known  the  deleterious  effects  of  many  of  our  so-called  Soda 
Waters.  Some  are  made  in  the  old  style,  even  out  of  Bi-sulphate  of  Potass, 
which  is  nothing  more  than  a  high  character  of  Nitric  Acid." 
The  Forty-first  Annual  Exhibition  of  the  American  Institute  will  be 
held  in  New  York,  from  September  4th  to  November  13th.  The  importance 
of  these  periodical  exhibitions  of  new  inventions  and  improved  manufactures, 
and  their  value  to  both  the  producer  and  consumer,  are  well  understood. 
With  the  increased  accommodations,  the  approaching  fair  will,  in  point  of  in- 
terest, be  fully  equal  if  not  superior  to  those  which  preceded  it.  The  Secretary 
of  the  American  Institute  is  Mr.  John  W.  Chambers. 
EEVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Archives  of  Ophthalmology  and  Otology.  Edited  and  published  simultaneously 
in  English  and  German.  By  Prof.  H.  Knapp,  M.D.,  in  New  York,  and  Prof. 
S.  Moos,  M.D.,  in  Heidelberg.  Yol.  II,  No.  2.  New  York :  William  Wood 
&  Co.  Carlsruhe  :  Chr.  Fr.  Muller'sche  Hofbuchhandlung,  1872.  8vo,  316 
pages. 
This  number  of  the  Archives  is  fully  equal  to  the  preceding  ones  in  elegance 
of  dress  and  in  the  number  of  interesting  and  important  essays,  several  of  which 
are  illustrated  by  well  executed  wood-cuts  and  by  excellent  lithographs,  two  of 
which  are  handsomely  printed  in  colors.  All  the  papers  are  original ;  about 
one-third  of  them  are  by  American  authors,  the  remainder  written  in  Germany 
and  translated  here  for  this  work.  The  importance  of  the  specialities  to  which 
the  Archives  are  devoted,  and  the  subjects  discussed  by  writers  of  note,  render 
this  periodical  very  valuable  to  the  practitioner. 
OBITUARY. 
Dr.  G.  F.  Reuter,  director  of  the  botanical  garden  and  of  the  botanical  con- 
servatory at  Geneva,  died  on  the  23d  of  May. 
