606 
Rei'iews,  etc. 
Am  Jour.  Pliarm. 
Nov.,  1884. 
errors  have  crept  into  the  tables  on  pages  386  and  387,  where  the  different 
drugs  are  enumerated  according  to  the  parts  of  plants  they  represent. 
Kamala  is  said  to  be  the  fruit  and  the  berry  ;  Dulcamara  the  whole  plant 
and  the  tops  ;  Meatha  piperita  and  M.  viridis  the  flowers  or  buds,  etc.,  and 
a  distinction  between  fats  and  volatile  oils  is  not  made. 
We  have  chiefly  dwelt  upon  the  descriptive  portion  of  materia  medica, 
which  though  in  the  main  correct,  is  in  need  of  careful  revision.  That 
portion  referring  to  therapeutics,  we  believe  to  be  free  from  inconsistencies, 
but  we  must  leave  this  to  the  judgment  of  physicians.  The  third  part  of 
the  book  on  general  therapeutics  comprises  about  150  pages  and  discusses 
the  action  and  uses  of  remedies  under  the  headings  of  the  physiological 
systems  of  the  body,  like  digestion,  circulation,  respiration,  etc.  The  com- 
pactness of  the  work  and  its  fulness  we  think,  will  render  it  valuable  to 
the  medical  student. 
American  Medicinal  Plants;  an  illustrated  and  descriptive  guide  to  the 
American  plants  used  as  homoeopathic  remedies,  their  history,  prepara- 
tion, chemistry  and  physiological  effects.  By  Charles  F.  Millspaugh, 
M.D.  New  York  and  Philadelphia:  Boericke  &  Tafel.  No.  1-5.  Price,  $5. 
The  first  part  of  this  work  was  issued  in  1882;  but  the  publishers  have 
deemed  it  better  to  issue  it  in  fascicles  of  five  parts,  containing  30  plates, 
with  the  necessary  text.  We  have  commented  on  the  first  part  in  this 
Journal,  1882,  p.  478,  and  are  pleased  to  say  that  the  improvements  which 
we  then  considered  necessary  have  been  made,  so  that  now  it  merely  re- 
mains to  state  that  two  such  fascicles  will  be  published  each  year,  and  that 
probably  within  two  years  the  work  containing  100  illustrations,  will  be 
completed.  To  judge  from  the  present  fascicle  the  work  will  not  be  con- 
fined to  plants  indigenous  to  North  America,  but  will  also  contain  those 
which  have  become  naturalized  like  Berberis  vulgaris,  Melilotus  officii!  alist 
Chelidonium  majus  and  others. 
The  Elements  of  Physiological  and  Pathological  Chemistry.  A  hand-book 
for  medical  students  and  practitioners  ;  containing  a  general  account  of 
nutrition,  foods  and  digestion,  and  the  chemistry  of  the  tissues,  organs, 
secretions  and  excretions  of  the  body  in  health  and  in  disease  ;  together 
with  the  methods  for  preparing  or  separating  their  chief  constituents  as 
also  for  their  examination  in  detail,  and  an  outline  syllabus  of  a  practical 
course  of  instruction  for  students.  By  T.  Cranstoun  Charles,  M.D.,  F.C.S., 
etc.  Illustrated  with  38  engravings  on  wood  and  a  chromo  lithograph. 
Philadelphia  :  Henry  C.  Lea's  Son  &  Co.,  1884.  8vo.  pp.  463.  Price  $3.50. 
With  the  exception  of  urinalysis,  this  branch  of  applied  chemistry  is  not 
nearly  as  extensively  cultivated  as  its  importance  requires,  and  even  the 
special  application  referred  to  is  frequently  resorted  to  merely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  determining  qualitatively  the  presence  or  absence  of  one  or  two 
normal  or  morbid  constituents.  With  the  extension  of  the  field  of  chemis- 
try to  the  continuously  occurring  changes  within  the  living  body,  and 
with  the  improvements  in  methods  and  apparatus  suggested  by  close  obser- 
vation of  apparently  insignificant  distinctions  in  the  properties  of  products, 
the  number  of  distinct  principles,  wholly  or  partly  isolated  from  vegetable 
