Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
November,  1896.  J 
Reviews. 
629 
The  humanitarian,  no  less  than  the  scientific,  spirit  of  the  period  was  shown 
by  the  universal  interest  in  the  celebration. 
However  strong  the  claims  of  others  to  priority  in  this  discovery,  the  claims 
of  Dr.  Morton  to  distinction  remain  paramount,  for  he  it  was  who,  with  that 
sublime  faith  in  a  principle,  persisted  in  experiments,  administering  ether  to 
himself  and  others,  as  well  as  to  the  lower  animals,  until  its  efficacy  was  an 
established  fact. 
DEATH  OF  AN  EMINENT  BOTANIST. 
The  death  of  Baron  Ferdinand  von  Mueller  was  reported  from  Melbourne, 
Australia,  October  9th.  Death  was  attributed  to  apoplexy.  The  deceased  was 
born  at  Rostock,  Germany,  in  1825.  He  studied  medicine  and  natural  science 
at  the  University  of  Kiel.  In  1847  he  extensively  explored  Australia  and 
became  Government  Botanist  of  the  colony  of  Victoria  in  1852.  He  has 
received  many  honorary  decorations  and  medals,  and  was  elected  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  in  April,  1893.  Of  his 
numerous  contributions  to  science,  his  best  known  was  "Select  Extra  Tropical 
Plants,"  the  ninth  edition  of  which  appeared  in  1895. 
AN  EXPLANATION. 
The  author  of  the  paper  on  "  Oleomargarine  and  Wasting  Diseases,"  which 
we  commented  on  in  our  October  issue,  has  furnished  us  with  abundant  evi- 
dence that  he  was  in  no  way  connected  with  the  use  made  of  his  paper  by  a 
beef-packing  house  of  Chicago  for  advertising  purposes.  In  clearing  himself, 
however,  the  author  has  placed  the  aforesaid  beef-packing  house  in  a  very  un- 
enviable position,  and  has  shown  that  what  he  intended  for  a  strictly  scientific 
paper  they  garbled  so  as  to  make  an  advertising  circular  for  themselves,  and 
used  it  without  permission. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Nueva  Farmacopea  Mexicana  de  ea  Sociedad  Farmaceutico  de  Mex- 
ico.   Tercera  Kdicion. 
Corregida,  aumentada  y  arreglada  por  los  Profesores  Alfonso  Herrera,  Alfonso 
L.  Herrera,  Alejandro  Uribe,  Jose  Maria  Lasso  de  la  Vega,  Manuel  F.  De 
Jauregui,  Juan  B.  Calderon,  y  Severiano  Perez,  Mexico,  1896. 
The  second  edition  of  the  Mexican  Pharmacopoeia  was  extensively  reviewed 
by  Professor  Maisch  in  the  volumes  of  this  journal  for  1885-86;  therefore,  a  de- 
tailed notice  of  the  various  drugs  and  their  preparations  need  not  be  repeated 
now.  The  third  edition,  however,  has  been  considerably  enlarged,  the  volume 
being  a  quarto  of  589  pages  ;  195  new  articles  have  been  added.  The  divisions 
of  the  work  are  practically  the  same  as  in  the  former  edition,  namely,  Part  I 
is  introductory  and  contains  the  tables  of  weights  and  measures,  reagents,  volu- 
metric solutions,  etc.  Part  II  is  devoted  to  natural  products,  vegetable,  animal 
and  mineral.  This  is  followed  by  the  Pharmacopoeia  proper,  which  is  divided 
into  two  parts;  one  being  devoted  to  chemical  products  and  the  other  to  phar- 
maceutical preparations. 
The  natural  products  described  in  Part  II  are  treated  alphabetically  and  are 
considered  almost  as  fully  as  the  crude  drugs  in  this  country  are  described  in 
the  dispensatories.     For  example,  the  description  of  aconite  is  subdivided  as 
