Am.  Jour.  PharirO 
December,  1898.  J 
Reviews. 
629 
An  appendix  contains  a  table  of  atomic  weights,  Squibb's  alcohol  table  and 
the  pharmacopceial  rules  for  reducing  the  percentage  of  alcohol  to  any  given 
strength  by  admixture  of  water. 
The  book  is  clean  and  free  from  typographical  errors,  but  on  p.  71  the  change 
of  the  reference,  "  page  859,"  was  overlooked,  and  on  page  177  the  various  sub- 
headings, which  treat  of  the  employment  of  volumetric  solution  of  potassium 
permanganate  might  be  made  more  conspicuous. 
A  well  compiled  index  of  eighteen  pages  adds  to  the  ready  usefulness  of  the 
book. 
To  sum  up,  Volume  II  now  before  us  as  might  be  expected  from  the  hands  of 
Professors  Sadtler  and  Trimble,  is  a  well-poised  and  admirable  treatise  on 
Analytical  Chemistry  and  Pharmaceutical  Assaying. 
Any  student  in  pharmacy,  whether  a  beginner  or  experienced  in  that  art, 
may  follow  it  with  confidence  and  profit.  Results  of  personal  experimentation 
and  details  of  manipulation  are  not  often  recorded  in  text-books  with  the 
faithfulness  and  exactness  we  find  in  this  volume.  We  commend  the  work  as 
one  that  should  be  on  the  shelf  of  every  assayist  involved  in  pharmaceutical 
determinations. 
John  Uri  Lloyd. 
Commercial  Organic  Analysis.  By  Alfred  H.  Allen.  Third  edition,  with 
revisions  and  addenda,  by  the  author  and  Henry  Leffmau,  M.D.,  Vol.  I. 
Alcohols,  neutral  alcobolic  derivatives,  sugars,  starch  and  its  isomers,  vege- 
table acids,  etc.    Philadelphia  :  P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  Co.  1898. 
For  the  practical  working  chemist  to  whom  the  miscellaneous  problems  of 
commercial  analysis  are  presented  from  day  to  day  under  a  variety  of  forms, 
it  is  safe  to  say  no  work  has  proven  of  equal  value  with  "Allen's  Commercial 
Organic  Analysis,"  and  it  is  therefore  certain  to  find  a  place  on  his  reference 
shelf.  The  immense  field  covered  in  the  plan  has  made  it  necessary  to  spread 
the  work  over  four  volumes,  of  which  the  third  appeared  in  three  parts,  and 
as  the  author  says  in  the  preface  to  Volume  IV,  which  has  just  appeared,  "the 
production  of  the  second  edition  of  my  'Commercial  Organic  Analysis '  has 
extended  over  fourteen  years."  So  it  happens  that  the  second  edition  of  this 
Volume  I  appeared  in  1885,  and  has  been  out  of  print  for  several  years.  For 
this  new  edition  Mr.  Allen  has  furnished  some  new  material,  and  Dr.  Leffman, 
the  American  editor,  has  supplied  still  more. 
Thus,  under  the  subject  of  specific  gravity,  Dr.  Leffman  has  introduced  the 
Squibb  specific  gravity  bottle  in  its  latest  form,  and  added  a  foot  note,  explain- 
ing the  difference  in  graduation  of  the  Baume  hydrometer  in  England  and  in 
America,  which  is  very  helpful.  With  his  complaint  of  the  want  of  accuracy 
of  the  Westphal  balance  and  inability  to  obtain  satisfactory  results  with  it, 
however,  the  writer  is  not  able  to  agree,  as  for  many  volatile  liquids  it  can  be 
made  to  give  more  reliable  results  than  any  other  form  of  apparatus. 
Considerable  use  has  been  made  of  the  published  processes  of  the  American 
Association  of  Official  Agricultural  Chemists,  and  much  valuable  information 
taken  therefrom.  Thus,  the  very  complete  discussion  of  the  Kjeldahl  process, 
the  determination  of  fusel  oil  in  spirits,  the  applications  of  polarimetry  in  urine 
analysis,  and  the  examination  of  starch  and  glucose  products  are  all  valuable 
additions  from  this  source. 
The  improved  method  for  the  determination  of  acetone,  by  Kebler,  is  given, 
