252 
Reviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  { 
V 
EEVIEWS  AND  BIBLIO GKAPHIO  AL  NOTICES. 
A  Treatise  on  Pharmacy  ;  designed  as  a  text-book  for  the  student,  and  as  a 
guide  for  the  physician  and  pharmacist,  containing  the  officinal  and  many 
unofficinal  formulas,  and  numerous  examples  of  extemporaneous  prescrip- 
tions. By  Edward  Parrish.  Fourth  edition,  enlarged  and  thoroughly  re- 
vised by  Thos.  S.  Wiegand,  G.  P.    Philadelphia:  Henry  C.  Lea,  1874.  8vo, 
This  work  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  pharmacists  of  this  country  for  so 
long  a  period  that  we  may  well  assume  that  all  our  readers  are  familiar  with  the 
previous  editions,  so  that  it  is  mainly  necessary  for  us  to  notice  the  difference 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  matter  of  the  present  edition,  and  the  changes  made 
necessary  by  the  appearance  of  the  new  Pharmacopoeia  and  by  the  general  pro- 
gress of  science. 
The  preliminary  matter  has  been  arranged  in  two  parts,  the  first  of  which 
treats  of  shop  furniture,  implements,  store-room,  cellar  and  laboratory,  and 
introduces  several  new  topics,  like  ice  vault,  furnace  heat,  &c.  Part  II  is 
devoted  to  pharmacopoeias,  weights,  measures,  specific  gravity,  and  the  gene- 
ration and  application  of  heat.  Part  III  is  taken  up  with  inorganic  pharma- 
ceutical chemistry  ;  Part  IV  with  pharmacy  in  its  relation  to  organic  chemis- 
try;  Part  V  with  pharmacy  proper  (galenical  pharmacy),  and  Part  VI  with 
extemporaneous  pharmacy,  which  is  followed  by  an  appendix  similar  to  that 
contained  in  former  editions. 
Each  part,  as  heretofore,  is  divided  into  several  chapters,  and  the  various 
preparations,  pharmaceutical  as  well  as  chemical,  are  conveniently  grouped 
together  into  syllabi,  thus  showing  their  most  important  relations  to,  and  their 
striking  differences  from  each  other  at  a  glance.  One  of  the  most  acceptable 
features  of  the  work,  through  its  various  editions,  has  been  the  generalization 
of  facts,  whether  scientific  or  elaborated  merely  for  convenience  of  study,  and 
the  grouping  together,  under  such  general  headings,  of  the  chemical  and  phar- 
maceutical preparations  used  in,  or  merely  of  interest  to  pharmacy  and  medi- 
cine. This  plan  has  been  adhered  to  in  the  edition  before  us,  which  will  be 
found  of  equal  usefulness  as  the  preceding  ones. 
Several  chapters  of  the  work  have  been  almost  entirely  rewritten,  and  the 
entire  book  gives  evidence  of  the  care  bestowed  upon  its  revision.  The 
recent  pharmaceutical  literature  and  the  new  Pharmacopoeia  have  received 
due  attention,  although  a  few  changes  in  the  latter  have  escaped  the  editor's 
notice,  as,  for  instance,  the  sources  of  Levant  wormseed,  which  is  erroneously 
given  on  pages  412  and  437  ;  and  of  gamboge,  on  page  425,  which  is  not  in 
accordance  with  the  results  of  Daniel  Hanbury's  researches  and  the  facts 
accepted  by  all  recent  pharmacopoeias. 
We  should  have  preferred,  in  this  as  well  as  in  the  previous  edition,  to  see 
the  working  formulas  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  not  merely  mentioned,  but  like- 
wise briefly  commented  upon,  and  the  short  criticism  on  page  753,  of  which  we 
approve,  we  consider  of  sufficient  weight  to  have  warranted  the  omission  of 
nearly  all  the  preparations  of  the  so-called  eclectic  school.   We  miss,  on  pages 
pp.  977 
