478  Reviews  and  Bihliographical  Notices.  {^'^oit^l;m\^'^' 
posed  in  St.  Louis  for  holding  the  next  annual  meeting.  From  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic,  where  pharmaceutical  colleges  are  in  successful  operation  in  the 
principal  cities,  and  where  State  associations  have  been  formed  in  at  least  two 
States,  to  those  enterprising  prairie  cities,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  there  is  a 
vast  country,  stretching  a  thousand  miles  from  east  to  west,  with  a  fertile  soil 
and  with  thriving  factories,  with  cities  of  fifty  and  even  over  a  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants.  In  that  large  territory,  from  the  great  lakes  in  the  north,  south  to 
the  Ohio  River,  there  is  hardly  a  single  college  of  pharmacy  or  pharmaceutical 
society  that  has  acquired  sufiBcient  solidity  and  shows  a  healthy  vitality.  It  is 
likely,  however,  that  the  influence  of  the  twentieth  meeting  ©f  the  national 
association  will  be  felt  north  and  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  in  forming 
new  local  societies  and  infusing  new  light  and  vigor  into  those  which  may  have 
existed  before.      In  Union  there  is  strength." 
Galangal. — As  an  addition  to  Mr.  Hanbury's  interesting  historical  notes  on 
galangal  published  in  the  present  number,  we  take  occasion  to  state  that  this 
root  is  little  known  in  American  pharmacy,  and  perhaps  never  employed  here 
in  the  regular  practice  of  physicians.  It  is,  however,  frequently  sold  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  by  pedlers  and  travelling  "  medicine  men,"  either  as  a, cure- 
all,  or  by  those,  perhaps,  less  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  charlatanry,  under  the 
less  pretentious  claim  of  a  "  sure  cure"  for  dyspepsia,  diarrhoea,  headache  or 
tooth-ache.  During  the  last  five  or  six  years,  we  have  repeatedly  received 
samples  from  various  parts  of  the  country  where  it  had  been  sold  under  the 
names  of  China,  Indian  and  East  India  root,  and  probably  under  other  names. 
Under  the  latter  name  it  was  lately  ofi'ered  in  the  streets  in  close  proximity  to 
several  of  our  best  Philadelphia  wholesale  drug  houses,  and  sold  at  the  rate  of 
about  25  cents  per  oz.,  a  moderate  charge  as  compared  with  that  exacted  in 
some  western  localities,  where  50  cents  per  oz.  has  been  paid  for  it.  This  is  at 
the  rate  of  $8  per  pound,  but  the  percentage  of  profit  is  sufficient  to  insure, 
with  a  tolerably  extensive  sale,  a  handsome  income,  and  we  question  whether 
the  celebrated  cundarango,  at  $100  per  pound,  affords  the  same  percentage  on 
the  net  cost. 
EEVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Practical  Therapeutics  ;  considered  chiefly  with  reference  to  articles  of  the 
Materia  Medica.  By  Edward  John  Waring,  M.  D.,  F.  L.  S.,  &c.  Second 
American,  from  the  third  London  edition.  Philadelphia :  Lindsay  &  Blakis- 
ton,  187L    Bvo,  765  pages.    Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $5  ;  in  leather,  .$6. 
The  author  is  well  known  to  the  medical  profession,  and  his  work,  in  its  former 
edition,  has  been  favorably  received.  The  plan  upon  which  the  voluminous 
material  has  been  arranged  is  exceedingly  simple,  and,  for  that  reason,  extremely 
useful  to  the  busy  practitioner.  The  work  commences  with  an  introduction, 
mainly  devoted  to  the  art  of  prescribing  medicines,  which  is  briefly  considered 
in  all  its  bearings.    Part  first,  which  follows,  treats  of  '-Articles  of  the  Mate- 
