Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
August.  1898.  J 
Reviews. 
417 
tended  use  of  serotherapy  and  organotherapy,  the  diagnostic  value  of  mal- 
lein  and  tuberculin,  and  the  Widal  test  for  typhoid  fever,  and  also  the  use 
of  serums  and  antitoxins  as  prophylactics  against  diphtheria  and  typhoid. 
The  newer  monographs  on  aloes,  calcium  compounds,  chelidonium,  digitalis, 
compounds  of  mercury  and  iron,  mustard,  opium,  orange,  rose,  mescal  but- 
tons and  other  drugs  have  been  noticed.  The  therapeutic  index  has  been 
extended,  and  now  includes  a  classified  list  of  antidotes  to  various  poisons. 
The  revolution  in  the  official  strength  of  alcohol  is  explained  by  two  tables, 
which  will  be  found  of  practical  utility  for  the  preparation  of  the  "several 
degrees  of  dilution."  Numerous  medical  references  to  medicinal  agents  have 
brought  the  Extra  Pharmacopoeia  up  to  date.  The  well-merited  reputation  of 
this  work  for  the  conciseness  of  treatment  of  drugs  and  preparations  and  an 
up-to-date  discussion  of  the  same  is  sustained  in  the  ninth  edition.  As  we  have 
already  said  (Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1S95,  p.  338),  ' 1  the  book  is  a  valuable  one  for 
reference,  not  only  by  those  using  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  but  by  every 
one  who  prescribes  or  dispenses  medicines." 
A  Laboratory  Guide  in  Qualitative  Chemical  Analysis.  By  H.  L. 
Wells.    New  York  :  John  Wiley  &  Sons  ;  London  :  Chapman  &  Hall.  1898. 
This  is  a  cloth-bound,  octavo  volume,  intended  for  students  who  are  to  work 
under  the  supervision  of  an  instructor.  The  contents  are  divided  into  three 
parts,  to  which  are  appended  a  list  of  apparatus  and  two  sets  of  labels. 
Part  I  covers  seventy  pages.  It  is  devoted  to  directions  for  the  detection  of 
the  positive  inorganic  radicals  and  the  inorganic  negative  radicals.  In  these 
directions  the  author  presents  a  method  of  instruction  which  he  has  developed 
in  teaching  the  subject.  This  method  consists  in  having  the  student  apply  rea- 
gents to  labelled  solutions  of  twenty-seven  metals  and  seventeen  acids,  and  in 
requiring  him  to  determine  for  himself  the  results  of  the  operations.  An  idea  of 
the  system  may  be  gained  from  the  following  abstract  of  the  directions  given 
the  student  for  the  study  of  the  qualitative  behaviors  of  lead  and  of  its  detec- 
tion in  a  solution  containing  soluble  salts  of  lead,  silver  and  mercurous  mer- 
cury :  Find,  by  experiment,  which  of  the  twenty-seven  solutions  of  the  metals 
gives  precipitates  when  a  few  drops  of  hydrochloric  acid  are  added.  To  learn 
the  process  of  analysis,  take  separately  in  small  beakers  portions  of  the  three 
solutions  which  give  precipitates  with  hydrochloric  acid,  and  in  another  beaker 
make  a  mixture  of  about  the  same  quantity  of  these  solutions.  Label  the 
beakers  accurately,  and  in  all  subsequent  operations  take  care  that  no  mistakes 
in  the  identity  of  the  substances  are  made.  To  each  of  the  four  solutions  add 
hydrochloric  acid,  filter  off  the  precipitates,  wash  them  with  boiling  water,  and 
to  the  filtrate  from  the  mixed  chlorides  add  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  Find  which 
of  the  metals  has  given  the  reaction  by  adding  sulphuric  acid  in  the  same  way 
to  the  filtrates  from  the  separate  chlorides.  The  recognition  of  silver  and  mer- 
curous mercury  is  then  directed  to  be  undertaken  in  a  similar  manner. 
By  means  of  this  method,  the  author  aims  to  obviate  thoughtless  and 
mechanical  work  on  the  part  of  the  student,  and  to  develop  in  him  the  powers 
of  observation,  inductive  reasoning  and  memory.  The  thirty  pages  of  Part  II 
explain  the  formation  of  formulas  and  equations,  and  some  other  points  of  the- 
ory which  have  a  special  bearing  upon  the  course  of  study,  including  the  sub- 
ject of  ionization. 
Part  III  occupies  fifty-two  pages.    It  consists  of  an  alphabetical  arrangement 
