Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
December,  1896.  j 
Reviews. 
689 
is  giving  way  to  synthetic  remedies,  which  may  be  administered  in  any  of  the 
forms.  In  all  these  methods  of  medication  the  manufacturer  has  done  the 
head  work  ;  the  physician  has,  in  modern  parlance,  done  little  more  than  press 
the  button,  unless  he  has  a  head  of  his  own  and  employs  his  own  methods  of 
prescribing.  With  each  craze  the  public  learns  a  little  more  of  self-medication. 
If  anybody  suffers  more  than  the  regular  physician  who,  by  encouraging  the 
various  fads,  plays  into  the  hands  of  the  public  and  the  quacks,  we  fail  to 
see  it. 
REFORM  SPEWING  OF  CHEMICAL  TERMS. 
The  editor  of  the  Chemical  News,  for  October  23,  1896,  incidentally  refers 
to  this  subject,  and  suggests,  concerning  the  growing  American  custom  of 
omitting  the  final  e  from  the  halogens  and  their  binary  compounds,  that  we 
might  go  a  step  further  and  use  the  terms  fiuor,  chlor,  brom,  etc.  This,  he  says, 
would  bring  us  into  harmony  with  Continental  usage,  to  which  we  may  add — and 
satisfy  a  longing  possessed  by  many  Americans  for  things  "made  in  Germany." 
The  moral  we  wish  to  draw  is,  that  when  reform  in  spelling  once  starts  there 
seems  to  be  no  convenient  stopping-place.  If  chlorin,  why  not  chlor?  If 
phosphor,  why  not  fosfor?  We  are  aware  that  this  subject  has  been  consider- 
ably agitated  during  the  past  half-dozen  years,  and  many  converts  to  the 
reform  system  have  been  made,  but  all  do  not  carry  the  change  to  the  same 
point.  A  reform  botanical  nomenclature  has  recently  been  adopted  by  a  large 
number  of  writers  on  that  science,  but  many  others  adhere  to  the  old  system, 
the  result  just  at  present  is  chaos,  but  we  look  and  hope  for  dawn  at  no  very 
distant  date. 
A  PATENTED  CHEMICAL  ELEMENT. 
In  the  last  number  of  this  Journal  we  very  briefly  announced  that  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  element  was  claimed  by  one  Barriere,  of  France,  which  he  had 
named  lucium.  It  now  appears  that  this  element  and  its  application  to  incan- 
descent gas  lighting  have  been  patented.  The  patentee  claims  that  lucium 
exists  in  monazite  sand  to  the  extent  of  r8o  percent.  Evidently,  Berzelius, 
Davy,  and  others,  who  gave  their  discoveries  to  the  world,  were  not  alive  to 
their  opportunities. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
The  Timber  Pines  of  the  Southern  United  States.  By  Charles  Mohr, 
Ph.D.  Together  with  a  discussion  of  the  structure  of  their  wood,  by  Filibert 
Roth.  Prepared  under  the  direction  of  B.  E.  Fernow,  Chief  of  the  Division  of 
Forestry.    Bulletin  No.  13.    Washington.  1896. 
The  Southern  pines  and  their  products  have  always  been  an  interesting  study 
to  the  botanist  and  chemist.  In  the  monograph  under  consideration  we  have 
many  questions  concerning  this  interesting  group  of  forest  trees  ably  answered. 
Dr.  Mohr,  by  his  special  attainments  and  long  residence  in  the  pine  district, 
has  been  able  to  collect  much  valuable  information,  and  it  is  now  presented  in 
a  way  to  be  of  lasting  value. 
The  work  is  a  quarto  volume  of  160  pages,  judiciously  illustrated  with  twenty- 
seven  excellent  plates  and  a  number  of  figures. 
The  introduction  by  Mr.  Fernow  treats  of  forestry  in  general,  and  its  applica- 
