Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
December,  1898.  J 
Reviews. 
627 
protection  to  secure  extraordinary  profits  should  not  have  contributed  their 
share  with  the  manufacturers  of  protected  medicines.  But  the  conditions  as 
they  prevail  to-day  should  cause  the  absolute  repeal  of  Section  20. 
"Several  weeks  ago  Commissioner  Scott,  according  to  Bulletin  of  Pharmacy, 
asked  the  collector  of  each  district  to  make  a  careful  observation  of  the  work- 
ings of  the  tax  and  to  send  in  his  opinion  concerning  the  changes  which  would 
make  the  act  less  burdensome  and  unjust,  less  hampering  to  business,  and  less 
provocative  of  friction  and  annoyance.  The  answers  to  this  request  will  form 
the  basis  of  the  Commissioner's  report  to  Congress,  and  Congress  will,  no 
doubt,  be  largely  influenced  by  the  Commissioner's  findings."  Now,  if  the 
stamp  tax  is  to  remain,  it  ought  to  be  reconstructed,  and  that  with  justice  to 
all  business  enterprises.  "  But  why,  forsooth,  should  it  remain  in  existence? 
The  policy  of  our  country  is  against  the  imposition  of  any  tax  which  is  not 
warranted  by  public  necessity."  So  great  is  the  injustice  of  the  present  bill 
to  the  retail  pharmacist  and  so  perplexing  are  the  interpretations  of  the  local 
collectors  and  further  confusing  the  rulings  from  the  Washington  Department, 
that  the  Western  Druggist  says:  " The  vexatious  complications  arising  from 
the  new  war  revenue  act  appear  to  be  increasing  in  number  daily,  until  it  would 
seem  that  the  retail  druggist  is  veritably  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea  in 
his  efforts  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the  law  and  at  the  same  time 
save  himself  from  being  plundered  to  the  point  of  bankruptcy."  Let  us  hope 
that  Congress  will  speedily  reconstruct,  at  least,  if  not  repeal,  the  law  as  relat- 
ing to  the  retail  druggist  and  manufacturer  of  medicines. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
A  Text-Book  of  Chemistry.  Intended  for  the  use  of  pharmaceutical  and 
medical  students.  By  Samuel  P.  Sadtler,  Ph.D.,  F.C.S.,  Professor  of  Chemis- 
try in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy;  author  of  "A  Hand-Book  of 
Chemical  Experimentation,"  "A  Hand-Book  of  Industrial  Organic  Chemis- 
try "  and  Chemical  Editor  of  "  The  United  States  Dispensatory."  And  Henry 
Trimble,  A.M.,  Ph.M.,  Professor  of  Analytical  Chemistry  in  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy;  author  of  "  Practical  and  Analytical  Chemistry  "  and  of 
a  monograph  on  " The  Tannins."  Second  revised  and  enlarged  edition.  In 
two  volumes.  Vol.  II,  Analytical  Chemistry  and  Pharmaceutical  Assaying. 
Philadelphia  :  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company.  London  :  66  Henrietta  Street, 
Co  vent  Garden. 
The  handy  volume  of  336  pages  before  us  is  a  material  enlargement  of  Part 
V  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work.  Many  subjects  important  to  the  operating 
scientific  pharmacist  which  would  have  added  considerably  to  the  bulk  of  the 
one  volume  of  the  first  edition,  together  with  many  valuable  experimental 
details,  are  incorporated  in  the  present  book.  The  subject  matter  of  this 
volume,  which  deals  with  analytical  chemistry  and  pharmaceutical  assaying, 
is  divided  into  five  parts. 
Part  I  of  sixty-five  pages  is  an  admirable,  condensed  treatise  on  the  qualita- 
tive analysis  of  bases  and  acids,  including  some  organic  acids,  e.  g.,  tartaric, 
benzoic,  tannic  acids,  etc.  This  part  is  carried  from  the  first  edition  with  a  few 
slight  alterations  or  additions. 
The  uniform  use  of  formulae  to  express  the  names  of  reagents  not  only 
