AMjui0yDi',  i874RM'  \   Revieios  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  351 
and  meaning  as  to  do  away  with  the  possibility  of  conflicting  and  vexatious 
decisions  by  revenue  officers.  A  section  clearly  defining  which  medicines  are 
not  stampable,  was  attached  to  bill  No.  3,571  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
by  which  body  it  was  passed  June  2d.  The  Senate  failing  to  agree  with  all  the 
provisions  of  this  bill,  a  Conference  Committee  was  appointed  by  both  Houses 
of  Congress.  The  report  of  this  Committee  has  been  postponed  until  next  De- 
cember. 
The  section  in  question  reads  as  follows  : 
"  Section  22.  That  hereafter  nothing  contained  in  the  Internal  Revenue 
Laws  shall  be  construed  so  as  to  authorize  the  imposition  of  any  stamp  tax 
upon  any  medicinal  articles  prepared  by  any  manufacturing  chemist,  pharma- 
ceutist, or  druggist,  in  accordance  with  a  formula  published  in  any  standard 
dispensatory  or  pharmacopoeia  in  common  use  by  physicians  and  apothecaries, 
or  in  any  pharmaceutical  journal  issued  by  any  incorporated  college  of  phar- 
macy, when  such  formula  and  where  found  shall  be  distinctly  referred  to  in  the 
printed  label  attached  to  such  article,  and  no  proprietary  interest  therein  is 
claimed.  Neither  shall  any  stamp  be  required  when  the  formula  of  any  medi- 
cal preparation  shall  be  printed  on  the  label  attached  to  such  article,  where 
no  proprietorship  in  such  preparation  shall  be  claimed." 
A  circular  of  the  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange,  after  giving  the  information 
of  the  postponement  of  the  report,  continues  as  follows  : 
"  Nevertheless,  as  this  section  was  one  which  met  the  full  approval  of  both 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  thpre  is  no  doubt  of  its  final  pas- 
sage ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Reve- 
nue— in  view  of  the  sentiment  of  these  bodies — will  continue  to  withhold  the 
enforcement  of  his  ruling,  of  October  last,  until  the  final  disposition  of  the 
question  by  Congress." 
KEVIEWS  AND  BIBLIO GK  APHIO  AL  NOTICES. 
Materia  Medico,  for  the  Use  of  Students.  By  John  B.  Biddle,  M.D.,  Professor 
of  Materia  Medica  and  General  Therapeutics  in  the  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege, &c.  Sixth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  with  illustrations.  Phila- 
delphia:  Lindsay  &  Blakiston>  1874.    8vo,  pp.  435.    Price,  $4. 
That  this  work  is  a  valuable  aid  to  the  medical  student  is  proven  by  the  rapid 
exhaustion  of  the  previous  editions;  the  present  one  follows  the  new  Pharma- 
copoeia of  the  U.  S.  in  nomenclature,  and  the  so-called  new  chemical  notation 
has  been  introduced  throughout.  As  far  as  we  have  examined  the  formulas, 
they  are  given  correctly  ;  this  is  also  the  case  for  propylamia  (spelled  by  the 
author  prop/tylamia),  which,  however,  is  not  the  alkaloid  of  herring  pickle,  this 
being  trimethylamia,  of  the  same  elementary  composition  as  the  former.  The 
therapeutical  portion  of  the  work  has  in  many  cases  been  re-written,  and 
appears  to  contain  all  the  most  notable  facts  having  become  known  up  to  the 
time  of  publication.  This  is  also  the  case  with  the  other^portions,  the  most 
important  omission  noticed  by  us  being  Scheffer's  process  for  pepsin,  and  the 
