3 1 8  Reviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  {AmjJ°e?i89hi?rM" 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Pharmakognosie  des  Pflanzenreiches.  Von  F.  A.  Fliickiger,  Dritte  Auflage. 
Mit  einem  geschichtlichen  Anhange.  Berlin.  1891.  R.  Gaertner's  Verlags- 
buchhandlung.    8vo.    Pp.  xvi  and  11 17. 
Pharmacognosy  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Third  edition.  With  a  historical 
appendix. 
The  first  edition  of  this  work  made  its  appearance  in  1867.  Since  that  time 
pharmacognosy  in  its  various  branches  has  been  cultivated  by  many  scientists 
and  specialists,  and  very  considerable  progress  has  been  made  in  our  knowledge 
of  vegetable  drugs — aside  from  their  medical  properties  and  therapeutic  appli- 
cation.   The  results  of  these  researches  are  embodied  in  the  work  before  us. 
Of  similar  works  by  the  learned  author,  perhaps  the  one  best  known  in 
North  America  is  "  Pharmacographia,"  of  which  two  editions  have  been  pub- 
lished, the  first  one  by  the  author  conjointly  with  the  late  Daniel  Hanbury. 
This  work  will  give  some  idea  of  the  scope  and  the  manner  in  which  the  subject 
is  treated  in  the  "  Pharmakognosie."  This  latter  work,  however,  confines  itself 
chiefly  to  the  drugs  in  common  use  in  Central  Europe,  considering  at  the  same 
time  the  different  varieties  coming  from  various  localities  or  from  closely 
related  plants,  and  such  impurities  or  substitutions  as  are  occasionally  met  with 
in  commerce. 
The  arrangement  of  the  work  is  essentially  identical  with  that  followed  in 
the  preceding  editions,  with  some  slight  modifications,  and  is  based  upon  a 
systematic  grouping  together  of  the  material  according  to  external  characters. 
The  drugs  are  first  divided  into  such  without  organic  structure  and  into  organ- 
ized substances.  The  former  class  comprises  the  gums,  gum-resins,  oleo-resins, 
resins,  etc.,  in  all  ten  divisions,  against  only  three  divisions  of  the  second 
class,  namely,  pulverulent  drugs  (starch,  lycopodium,  lupulin,  kamala),  galls, 
and  plant  organs  or  parts  of  plants.  This  last — the  thirteenth — division  is 
obviously  the  largest  one  ;  it  embraces  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  entire  work, 
and  is  subdivided  into  cryptogamous  and  phanerogamous  drugs,  the  latter 
requiring  over  two-thirds  of  the  book,  and  being  divided  into  two  series.  Sub- 
terraneous or  partly  subterraneous  organs  comprise  the  first  of  these  series, 
and  naturally  are  separated  into  rhizomes  and  roots  of  monocotyledons  and  of 
dicotyledons,  the  further  classification  being  based  upon  characters  of  taste, 
and  the  presence  or  absence  of  starch,  laticiferous  ducts,  etc.  Aerial  parts  of 
plants  constitute  the  second  series,  with  five  natural  groups,  viz  :  stems,  barks 
(including  cork),  phyllomes  (bulb-scales,  leaves  and  herbs,  inflorescences, 
flowers  and  parts  of  flowers),  fruits  and  parts  of  fruits,  and  finally  seeds  and 
parts  of  seeds. 
The  heading  for  each  drug  contains  its  Latin  and  German  names,  the  former 
according  to  the  nomenclature  used  in  Central  Europe.  Some*  idea  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  subjects  are  considered,  may  be  formed  by  briefly  quoting 
the  subheadings  of  one  drug  with  its]  allied  varieties.  Thus,  under  "  Gummi 
arabicum  "  are  considered  its  formation  in  the  tissue  ;  the  plant  and  its  dis- 
tribution ;  collection  ;  properties  ;  composition  ;  chemical  behavior,  and  his- 
tory, the  whole  occupying  over  nine  pages.  Then  follow  upon  six  pages  the 
other  gums  resembling  gum  arabic,  and  notably  Senegal  gum  ;  then  gums 
from  other  parts  of  Africa,  from  India,  from  Australia,  from  South  America 
