108 
Reviews,  etc. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(.       Feb.,  1886. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
A  Text-hook  of  Medical  Chemistry  for  Medical  and  Pharmaceutical  Students  and 
Practitioners.  By  Elias  H.  Bartley,  M.  D.,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry, 
and  Lecturer  on  Diseases  of  Children  in  Long  Island  College  Hospital,  etc. 
With  40  illustrations.  Philadelphia:  P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  Co.,  1885.  12ino, 
pp.  376.    Price,  $2.50. 
This  work  is  not  solely  devoted  to  medical  chemistry  as  might  be  inferred 
from  the  title ;  but  it  embraces  the  elements  of  chemical  science,  giving,  how- 
ever, prominence  to  those  elements,  compounds  and  reactions  which  are  of 
special  interest  or  importance  to  the  physician,  while  those  matters  which  have 
no  direct  bearing  upon  medicine,  as  a  rule,  are  disposed  of  in  a  concise  manner. 
Viewed  from  this  standpoint,  the  scope  as  well  as  the  arrangement  of  the  work 
has  been  judiciously  accomplished,  and  it  will  doubtless  be  found  useful  for  the 
medical  student. 
Part  I.  gives  a  condensed  account  of  chemical  physics,  and  Part  II.  discusses 
briefly  but  lucidly  the  general  chemical  theories.  The  descriptive  chemistry 
is  found  in  Parts  III.  and  IV.,  of  which  the  former  contains  over  150  pages 
devoted  to  inorganic  chemistry,  and  the  latter  about  80  pages  devoted  to  or- 
ganic chemistry.  In  most  cases  the  medical  properties  of  the  different  sub- 
stances are  briefly  mentioned,  as  well  as  an  outline  of  the  treatment  in  cases 
of  poisoning.  A  short  chapter  on  poisons  and  their  antidotes  is  appended  to 
Part  IV.  The  appendix  contains  various  tables,  most  of  which  are  of  especial 
usefulness  to  physicians,  and  a  glossary,  explaining  the  meaning  of  many  anti- 
quated terms  and  such  which  are  rarely  used,  but  also  many  which  are  in  daily 
use. 
The  definitions  given  in  the  glossary  in  some  cases  will  scarcely  be  considered 
as  satisfactory  to  the  chemist  or  pharmacist ;  thus  milk  of  lime  is  defined  as 
being  "  whitewash,"  and  spirit  of  hartshorn  is  said  to  be  a  "  solution  of  ammonia 
in  alcohol."  Similar  inaccuracies  are  occasionally  met  with  also  in  the  text. 
On  page  189  it  is  stated  that  an  aqueous  solution  of  potassium  iodide  dissolves 
iodine,  forming  the  compound  "tincture"  of  iodine.  On  page  112  chlorine  is 
said  to  be  made  from  sulphuric  acid,  sodium  chloride  and  "  manganic  oxide." 
Picrotoxin  and  salicin  (p.  299)  are  enumerated  among  the  alkaloids,  and  cin- 
chonine  is  stated  to  be  "insoluble"  in  ether  (p.  298).  These  and  some  other 
vague  or  incorrect  statements  will  doubtless  be  corrected  in  a  future  edition. 
The  illustrations  are  mostly  contained  in  the  two  first  parts  of  the  work. 
The  apparatus  figured  on  page  114  is  well  adapted  for  the  preparation  of 
chlorine  water,  but  not  for  that  of  hydrochloric  acid.  The  manufacture  of 
flowers  of  sulphur  on  a  large  scale  has  been  singled  out  for  illustration  (p.  120), 
while  other  far  more  important  products  have  not  been  similarly  honored, 
although  many  of  them  may  be  conveniently  prepared  on  a  small  scale. 
American  Medicinal  Plants;  an  illustrated  and  descriptive  guide  to  American 
plants.  By  C.  F.  Millspaugh,  M.  D.  New  York  and  Philadelphia :  Boericke 
&  Tafel.   Nos.  11  to  15.    Price,  $5.00. 
Of  the  thirty  plants  presented  in  this  fascicle,  eight  are  of  foreign  origin,  but 
either  cultivated  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  namely :  Agrostemma, 
