288 
OBITUARY. 
vast  importance  of  the  results  he  aims  at  to  rational  medicine,  and  the 
deep  almost  romantic  interest  which  gathers  around  such  subjects  as 
opium,  bark,  nux  vomica  and  calomel,  viewed  from  the  stand-point  of  the 
practising  physician,  have  sufficient  interest  to  pharmaceutists  who  aim  at 
something  beyond  the  pestle  and  mortar,  to  invite  their  perusal  of  this 
admirable  volume. 
The  half  yearly  Abstract  of  the  Medical  Sciences. — Being  an  analytical 
and  critical  digest  of  the  principal  British  and  Continental  medical 
works  published  in  the  preceding  six  months.  Vol.  xliv.  July — De- 
cember, 1866.  Philadelphia:  Henry  C.  Lea,  1867.  pp.299,  octavo. 
From  the  publisher. 
We  have  only  space  to  say  that  this  volume  is  rich  in  valuable  articles, 
among  which  there  are  many  on  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics. 
Gathered  from  all  sources  in  the  new  books  and  medical  journals  of  Europe 
and  America,  this  work  maybe  viewed  as  the  cream  of  that  class  of  medical 
essays,  and  is  a  useful  occupant  of  the  physicians  office-table  to  keep  him 
reminded  of  the  progress  of  medicine. 
OBITUARY. 
Alexander  Dallas  Bache,  formerly  of  Philadelphia,  and  for  many 
years  the  able  Superintendent  of  the  Coast  Survey,  died  last  month,  at 
Newport,  from  cerebral  disease,  induced  probably  by  excessive  mental 
engagements.  Prof.  Bache  graduated  at  West  Point  Military  Academy 
in  1825,  at  the  head  of  his  class,  and  was  immediately  after  promoted  to 
assist  the  professor  of  military  engineering  in  that  institution.  After  a 
short  service  in  the  army,  he  received  the  appointment  of  Professor  of 
Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry  in  the  collegiate  department  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1827.  If  our  recollection  serves,  he  was 
the  first  principal  appointed  to  the  High  School  of  Philadelphia,  and  left 
that  station,  for  the  presidency  of  Girard  College,  in  1836,  over  which, 
however,  he  never  presided,  as,  before  its  organization,  he  was  appointed 
to  the  Coast  Survey,  on  the  death  of  Hassler,  in  November,  1843.  "  In 
conducting  this  great  work,"  (says  Silliman's  Journal,)  "  few  men  could 
have  carried  to  it  such  ample  scientific  preparation,  so  much  practical 
wisdom,  and  such  signal,  almost  unrivalled,  administrative  talents."  He 
was  chosen  President  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  established  by 
Act  of  Congress  in  1863,  by  that  body  for  six  years.  He  was  genial, 
generous  and  obliging,  and  leaves  a  large  circle  of  friends  to  feel  his  loss. 
