290 
Reviews. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1899. 
Medica  and  Botany  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.  Seventh  edition. 
Revised  by  Henry  C.  C.  Maisch,  Ph.G.,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica 
and  Botany  in  the  Medico-Chirurgical  College  of  Philadelphia,  Department  of 
Pharmacy.    Philadelphia  :  Lea  Bros.  &  Co.    1899.    PP-  523- 
A  close  acquaintance  with  this  work  for  a  decade  and  a  half  of  years,  has 
made  it  seem  like  a  valued  friend  whose  face  we  are  always  glad  to  see. 
The  present  edition  shows  evidence  of  careful  revision  along  certain  lines, 
and  lack  of  it  along  others.  The  index  has  been  very  carefully  revised,  and  a 
number  of  titles  introduced  which  were  formerly  in  the  text  but  not  mentioned 
in  the  index.  The  following  new  drugs  have  been  described  at  length,  viz  : 
Eucalyptus  Gum,  Saw  Palmetto,  Thyroid  Gland,  and  brief  mention  made  of 
the  fruits  of  Setaria  glauca,  Echinochloa  crus  galli,  and  of  Indian  and 
Japanese  fennel. 
Tne  constituents  of  the  drugs  mostly  correspond  with  recent  investi- 
gations, notably  in  the  case  of  podoplryllum.  The' constituents  of  Pulsatilla 
should  have  been  stated,  so  as  to  make  them  clearer  to  students  ;  following 
anemone  camphor  should  have  been  the  words,  the  latter  is  oily,  crystallizing, 
etc.,  etc.,  as  it  now  stands  it  is  not  clear  to  which  of  the  four  constituents  this 
description  applies.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  few  of  the  titles  differ  from 
those  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  incorrect  impressions  are  created  thereby  in  the 
minds  of  students  which  are  hard  to  eradicate.  Coca  leaves  are  official  as 
Coca,  not  as  Erythroxylon  ;  Hyoseyamus  leaves  are  official  as  Hyoseyamus,  not 
as  Hyoseyamus  folia  ;  arnica  flowers  as  Amices  flores,  not  as  arnica  ;  Conium 
fruits  as  Conium,  not  as  conium  fructus.  The  following  corrections  should  be 
made  in  botanical  origins  ;  amygdala  is  derived  from  Prunus  amygdala,  De 
Candolle,  not  A.  communis  ;  Rhus  toxicodendron  from  R.  radicans,  Linn£, 
not  Rhus  toxicodendron.  Strophanthus,  according  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  is 
derived  from  Strophanthus  hispidus,  De  Candolle,  the  Materia  Medica  classes 
them  under  the  head  of  False  Kombe  Seeds.  Cinchona  rubra  should  be  men- 
tioned under  the  head  of  Official  Cinchona  Barks,  as  being  official  in  the 
U.S  P. 
The  following  corrections  should  be  made  in  the  text: 
Under  the  head  of  "Tests  for  Pancreatin,"  sodium  chlorine  should  be 
sodium  bicarbonate. 
Under  the  head  of  Oleum  Bubulum,  o°  C.  is  stated  to  be  equal  to  820  F. ;  it 
should  be  320  F. 
Under  the  head  of  Oleum  Lini,  the  congealing-point  is  stated  as  —  270  C. 
( —  16  50  F.);  agreeing  in  this  respect  with  former  editions  of  the  National 
Dispensatory,  the  la^-t  edition  of  the  latter,  however,  agrees  with  the  U.S. P.  in 
making  it  —  20°  C.  (—  40  F.). 
The  dose  of  Grindelia  is  stated  to  be  2-4  grams  (gr.  xv  —  gi);  it  should  be 
(gr.  xxx  —  51). 
Chenopodium  is  stated  to  be  nearly  2  millimetres  (TV  inch)  in  diameter,  as  is 
also  stated  in  the  U.S. P.  of  1880  and  1890,  and  in  Culbreth's  Materia  Medica. 
If  this  fruit  be  compared  in  size  with  the  seeds  of  Sinapis.  nigra  (which  is  cor- 
rectly stated  in  both  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  Maisch's  Materia  Medica  to  be 
about  1  millimetre  {,}z  inch)  in  diameter),  it  will  be  found  to  be  smaller  ;  the 
size  should  be  stated  as  about  o-8  millimetres       inch)  in  diameter. 
Podophyllum  is  stated  to  be  inodorous,  anyone  acquainted  with  the  rhizome 
