Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
December,  1920.  j 
Book  Reviews. 
939 
The  informal  reception  was  largely  attended.  The  American 
Journal  of  Pharmacy  is  pleased  to  note  the  good  fortune  of  this 
College,  and  extends  its  sincere  best  wishes  for  continued  prosperity 
and  progress. 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
A  History  of  Chemistry  from  the  Earliest  Times.  By  the 
late  James  Campbell  Brown,  D.Sc=,  LL-D.,  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry in  the  University  of  Liverpool.  Second  edition,  edited  by 
Henry  Hilton  Brown.  P.  Blakiston's  Son  &  Co.,  Philadelphia, 
1920. 
The  literary  executor  of  Prof.  Campbell  Brown  has  arranged  in 
chronological  sequence  the  series  of  lectures  relating  to  the  history 
and  development  of  the  science  of  chemistry  that  he  was  wont  to 
give  as  part  of  his  university  course.  An  acquaintance  with  the 
history  and  the  evolution  of  his  calling  is  very  rightly  considered  as 
an  important  part  of  the  education  of  a  professional  student  and  the 
value  of  this  book  should  appeal  to  every  scholarly  follower  of  this 
science. 
This  collection  of  historical  data  was  first  published  in  1913  and 
the  second  edition  now  appearing  attests  its  popularity  and  useful- 
ness. Each  of  the  fifty  chapters  is  presumed  to  consider  a  distinct 
topic  relating  to  some  particular  period,  theory  of  the  time,  special 
problem  of  chemistry  or  philosophy  accompanied  by  brief  sketches 
of  those  then  dominating  the  teaching  of  the  chemical  sciences  or  the 
events  portrayed  . 
The  author  has  divided  the  presentation  of  the  lectures  into  two 
parts.  Part  I,  Ancient  History,  considers  the  earliest  developments 
of  which  we  have  knowledge  and  even  that  which,  antedating  our 
records,  must  be  viewed  as  prehistoric  down  through  the  periods 
when  the  art  of  the  magician  and  the  fruitless  search  of  the  alchemists 
for  the  philosopher's  stone  that  would  "give  perfection"  and  trans- 
mute the  baser  metals  into  gold  held  sway  until  about  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century  A.D.  when  the  "alchemists  altered  their 
point  of  view — when  they  applied  their  minds  to  the  search  for 
knowledge  instead  of  the  search  for  gold. 
In  Part  II,  Modern  Chemistry;  in  this  is  considered  the  progress 
of  the  chemical  arts  and  the  workers  in  that  science  since  the  dawn 
of  the  I atrochemical  Period  about  1500  A.D.  to  the  present  date. 
