io8  Reviews,  etc.  { ^Zj^' 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
The  Chemists'  and  Druggists"  Diary,  1879.    London,  England.  4to. 
A  number  of  useful  formulas  of  perfumery,  cocmetics,  flavoring  extracts,  etc., 
and  other  interesting  information  are  republished. 
A  Manual  of  Prescription  Writing,  etc.  By  Matthew  D.  Mann,  A.M.,  M.D  ,  Lec- 
turer on  Clinical  Microscopy,  etc.,  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
New  York.  New  York:  G.P.Putnam's  Sons,  1878.  i6mo,  pp.  155.  Price, 
90  cents. 
This  little  work  attempts  to  be  more  than  merely  an  aid  for  writing  prescriptions 
grammatically  correct,  but  it  covers  pretty  much  the  ground  of  knowledge  neces- 
sary for  the  proper  formulation,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  brief  account  of 
its  contents:  Definition  and  parts  of  a  prescription  5  weights  and  measures  ;  offici- 
nal and  non-officinal  preparations  5  grammatical  construction  of  a  prescription; 
list  of  words  and  phrases,  with  pronunciation  and  proper  abbreviations  ;  the  vari- 
ous forms  for  extemporaneous  prescriptions  (a  chapter  particularly  full  of  useful 
information  to  the  physician);  doses  of  medicines  ;  the  metric  system  (a  very  good 
and  practical  exposition  of  its  advantages);  medicinal  combinations  ;  incompatibility. 
Each  chapter  indicated  above  has  evidently  been  written  with  a  thorough  apprecia- 
tion of  its  importance  to  the  young  physician,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  wants  of 
the  more  experienced  practitioner  have  not  been  lost  sight  of.  Nearly  all  of  them 
will  also  be  advantageously  consulted  by  apothecaries.  The  most  important  short- 
coming, if  such  it  can  be  considered,  is,  in  our  opinion,  the  want  of  a  guide  for  the 
proper  quantity  of  very  active  and  poisonous  medicines  to  be  given  within  a  day. 
We  appreciate  the  difficulty  and  even  the  impossibility  of  drawing  a  line  between 
the  allowable  and  dangerous  daily  dose  ;  but  the  difficulty  can  scarcely  be  greater 
than  for  fixing  the  single  dose,  and  if  the  line  be  drawn  at  any  point  we  believe  that 
it  would  render  both  the  physician  and  pharmacist  more  careful  in  overstepping  it. 
The  want  of  such  a  posological  table  in  our  National  Pharmacopoeia  we  regard 
one  of  the  most  serious  defects  of  that  work. 
The  Cell  Doctrine:  its  history  and  present  state.    For  the  use  of  studei  ts  in  medi- 
cine and  dentistry;  also,  a  copious  bibliography  of  the  subject.  By  James  Tyson, 
M.D.,  Prof,  of  General  Pathology  and  Morbid  Anatomy  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  etc.    Second  edition — revised,  corrected   and  enlarged.  Phila- 
delphia :  Lindsay  &  Blakiston,  1878.    i2ino,  pp.  20a.    Price,  $2.00. 
The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  reviewed  in  this  journal  1870,  page  186.  All 
that  has  been  said  there  in  praise  of  it  is  equally  applicable  to  the  present  issue,  in 
which  not  only  a  critical  re-examination  of  the  original  sources  of  information  is 
apparent,  but  which  bears  also  abundant  evidence  that  the  researches  of  the  numer- 
ous investigators  in  this  fascinating  department  of  science  up  to  the  time  of  publi- 
cation have  been  carefully  examined  and  accurately  reported.    The  historical 
accounts  of  the  views  entertained  by  scientists  of  the  origin  and  development  of 
cells  is  very  appropriately  followed  by  a  chapter  giving  a  brief  summary  and  dwell- 
ing more  especially  upon  "  the  present  state  of  the  cell  doctrine,"  and  likewise 
embodying  the  author's  views  on  the  same  subject.    The  bibliography  occupies 
over  40  pages,  and  enumerates  the  different  works  published  separately  and  the 
-essays  on  this  subject  which  have  appeared  in  various  journals.    The  work  con- 
tains two  plates  and  a  number  of  other  illustrations  printed  in  the  text.  The 
mechanical  portion  of  the  book  is  very  commendable. 
