Am.  Jour.  Pharm."! 
January,  1896.  J 
Reviews. 
47 
A  Practical  Treatise  on  Materia  Medica  ani>  Therapeutics.  By- 
John  V.  Shoemaker,  M.D.,  L,L.D.,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica,  etc.,  in  the 
Medico-Chirurgical  College  of  Philadelphia.  The  F.  A.  Davis  Company,  Pub- 
lishers, Philadelphia.    Third  edition.  Revised. 
This  is  a  work  of  over  eleven  hundred  pages,  and  as  it  treats  of  all  of  the 
official,  and  a  large  number  of  the  unofficial  drugs,  both  from  the  pharma- 
cological and  therapeutical  standpoints,  and  of  many  of  them  in  much  detail, 
it  constitutes  one  of  our  most  comprehensive  text-books  on  the  subject. 
This  third  edition  has  been  extensively  revised,  and  includes  the  description 
of  many  new  drugs  which  have  come  into  prominence  since  the  last  edition 
was  issued.  Also,  as  the  author  tells  us,  "  The  subject  of  treatment  by  means 
of  animal  extracts,  secretions  or  juices,  and  immunized  serum  or  antitoxins 
has  been  rewritten,  and  the  endeavor  has  been  made  to  give  a  fair  presentation 
of  the  present  state  of  knowledge  concerning  the  value  of  these  agencies  in 
combating  disease." 
On  the  whole  we  have,  in  Dr.  Shoemaker's  work,  a  treatise  intelligently  con- 
ceived and  executed,  and  one  which  embodies  the  results  of  the  latest 
researches. 
The  volume  consists  of  three  parts.  Part  I  is  devoted  to  classification  of  the 
materia  medica,  the  pharmacy  of  drugs,  prescription  writing,  etc.  Part  II 
takes  up  the  various  drugs  and  treats  of  them  in  alphabetical  order,  giving  (i) 
the  botanical  or  chemical  definition  and  physical  characters  of  the  remedy,  with 
the  strength  and  dosage  of  the  various  preparations;  (2)  its  physiological 
actions,  including  toxicology  and  antidotes,  with  special  effects,  if  any,  upon 
individual  organs  and  tissues;  and  (3)  the  therapeutical  indications,  with  illus- 
trative formulae,  suggestions,  etc.  Part  III  is  devoted  to  non-pharmacal  reme- 
dies, including  electro-therapeutics,  massage  and  rest-cure,  pneumotherapy 
hydrotherapy,  climatotherapy,  diet  in  disease,  psycotherapj',  etc. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  that  in  a  work  of  this  character  some  shortcomings 
should  not  be  observed.  For  example,  on  page  453,  it  is  stated  that  the  bark 
of  the  root  of  pomegranate  is  official,  while  that  of  the  stem  is  not,  whereas  the 
U.  S.  P.  of  1890  distinctly  recognizes  both.  Also  the  author  apparently  uses 
ine  and  in  indiscriminately  as  the  terminal  syllables  of  the  names  of  active 
principles,  a  practice  which  must  be  confusing  to  the  student,  since  by  general 
consent,  in  this  country  at  least,  the  names  of  alkaloids  should  terminate  in 
ine  while  those  of  the  non-alkaloids  should  terminate  in  in. 
The  author's  classification  of  the  drug-yielding  plants,  a  classification  essen- 
tially like  that  adopted  by  Brunton,  is  behind  the  times.  Drs.  Shoemaker  and 
Brunton  are  by  no  means  alone  among  writers  on  materia  medica  in  ignoring 
the  progress  which  botanical  classification  has  made  within  recent  years.  It 
would  be  a  refreshing  sign  and  a  decided  novelty  to  meet  with  some  work  on 
the  subject,  whose  botanical  classification  was  really  abreast  of  the  times. 
Another  shortcoming  we  note  is  in  the  author's  statement  of  the  composition 
-  of  the  oil  of  wintergreen.  He  reiterates  the  statements  of  Cahours,  made  over 
a  half  century  ago,  that  90  per  cent,  of  the  oil  consists  of  methyl-salicylate,  and 
10  per  cent,  of  gaultherilene,  while,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  demonstrated 
years  ago,  by  Pettigrew  and  others,  that  the  percentage  of  methylsalicylate  is 
at  least  99  per  cent.,  and  that  1  per  cent,  or  less  consists  of  a  resin  solid  mixture, 
whose  composition  has  not  been  completely  ascertained. 
