590  Reviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  {%ec0li 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1874. 
of  each  drug  from  the  time  when  it  was  first  used,  traces  its  employment  by 
different  nations,  its  influence  upon  commerce,  its  value  at  different  periods., 
cultivation,  name,  &c. 
This  is  followed  by  an  account  of  the  Collection  of  the  drug,  and  its  man- 
afacture  or  preparation  for  the  market,  in  all  such  cases  where  this  information 
is  likely  to  explain  its  physical  properties,  which  are  described  under  the  sec- 
tion Description,  and  followed  by  the  Microscopical  Structure,  paragraphs? 
which  are  admirably  written. 
In  the  section  Chemical  Composition  the  sometimes  conflicting  views  of  dif- 
ferent investigators  have  been  carefully  sifted,  and  in  many  instances  their 
value  has  been  decided  by  experiments  performed  by  the  authors.  Processes 
for  preparing  the  proximate  constituents,  their  physical  properties  and  chem- 
ical characters  have  been  entirely  excluded,  or  mentioned  merely  when  of  im- 
portance for  the  assaying  of  the  drug. 
Interesting  and  valuable  statistics  and  other  trade  information  are  found  in 
the  division  Production  and  Commerce,  which  is  followed  by  an  account  of  the 
Uses,  giving  in  a  few  words  the  medicinal  properties  and  economic  uses. 
The  section  Adulteration,  wherever  it  occurs,  is  brief,  and  relates  mostly  to 
such  substances  which  are  either  very  frequently  used  for  such  a  purpose,  or 
which  have  not  been  observed  by  others.  The  surest  way  to  detect  adultera- 
tions, of  whatever  kind,  is  to  be  found  in  a  perfect  familiarity  with  all  the  lead- 
ing characters  of  the  pure  article. 
The  head  of  Substitutes,  which  will  be  found  to  follow  some  drugs,  enume- 
rates and  briefly  describes  such  drugs  as  are  occasionally  used  in  place  of  the 
former,  without  being  actually  employed  by  way  of  adulteration. 
From  the  foregoing  brief  resume  it  will  be  seen  that  the  authors  have  strictly 
confined  themselves  to  the  title  of  their  work.  It  is  neither  botany,  chemistry, 
therapeutics  or  pharmacy  they  proposed  to  treat  of,  but  what  in  our  colleges 
of  pharmacy  is  called  by  the  somewhat  indefinite  term  of  Materia  Medica.  As 
such,  it  is  the  only  work  of  lasting  value  in  our  language,  that  we  are  acquainted 
with,  and  if  we  have  to  express  any  regret,  it  is  that  the  plan  of  the  au- 
thors excluded  all  drugs  which  find  their  origin  in  this  country,  and  are  not 
employed  in  Europe.  But  since  the  most  important  drugs  are  used  medicinally 
in  all  civilized  countries,  the  authors'  Pharmacographia  is  a  work  of  the  utmost 
utility,  likewise,  to  the  American  pharmacist  and  druggist,  and  as  such  we 
confidently  recommend  it  to  every  one  of  our  readers. 
Nouveau  Dictionnaire  des  Falsifications  et  des  Alterations  des  Aliments,  des 
Medicaments  et  de  quelques  Produits  employes  dans  les  Arts,  V Industrie  et 
V Economie  Domestique.  Par  J.  Leon  Soubeiran,  Professeur  a  l'Ecole  Supe- 
rieure  de  Pharmacie,  de  Montpellier.  Avec  218  figures.  Paris  :  J.  B.  Bal- 
liere  et  Fils,  1874.    8vo,  pp.  634. 
New  Dictionary  of  the  Falsifications  and  Alterations  of  the  Alimentary  and 
Medicinal  Substances  and  of  some  Products  used  in  the  Arts,  Industrial 
Pursuits  and  Domestic  Economy.  By  Prof.  J.  Leon  Soubeiran.  With  218 
illustrations. 
The  author  justly  considers  everything  a  falsification,  whether  injurious  or 
