'^Apriiifm'''"  }    Beviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  223 
An  account  of  the  Institution  and  Progress  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Philadel- 
phia during  a  hundred  vears,  from  January,  1787.  Bv  W,  L.  W.  Euschen- 
berger,  M.  D.   Philadelphia,  1887,  8vo.,  pp.  308. 
In  his  usual  clear  and  systematic  manner  the  author  presents  in  this  volume 
a  history  of  one  of  the  oldest  medical  associations  in  North  America.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  preface  that  the  minutes  are  still  intact,  but  since  other  papers, 
like  reports,  essays,  etc.,  have  not  been  carefully  preserved  or  arranged,  the  task 
of  collecting  the  material  must  certainly  have  been  a  very  laborious  one.  But 
now  that  the  work  has  been  accomplished,  it  will  remain  as  one  of  the  convenient 
and  reliable  sources  of  reference  relating  to  medicine  in  our  country.  To  phar- 
macists it  is  of  particular  interest  that  in  1788  a  committee  was  appointed  to  form 
a  pharmacopoeia  for  the  use  of  the  College.  Such  a  work  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  elaborated  ;  but  early  in  1789  the  College  issued  a  circular  with  the 
view  of  inducing  suitably  qualified  persons  throughout  the  country  to  co-oper- 
ate in  the  formation  of  a  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States,  an  object  which 
in  a  measure  was  accomplished  only  thirty  years  afterwards,  though  the 
Pharmacopoeia  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  published  in  1808  was 
commended  for  its  accuracy.  Further  information  is  furnished  by  the  book 
concerning  the  unabated  interest  shown  by  the  College  in  the  various  revisions 
of  the  national  pharmacopoeia,  and  also  of  the  manner  in  which  pharmacists 
became  connected  with  the  pharmacopoeia,  which  began  with  the  committee  of 
the  College,  in  1839,  secm-ing  the  assistance  of  Messrs.  Wm.  Hodgson  and  Wm. 
Procter  for  the  preliminary  revision,  the  result  being  laid  before  the  Pharmaco- 
poeial  Convention  of  1840. 
TTie  Prescription,  therapeutically  pharmaceutically  and  grammatically  considered. 
By  Otto  A.  Wall,  M.  D.,  Ph.  G.,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Botany 
in  the  St.  Louis  College  of  Pharmacy,  etc.  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  1888.  Published 
by  the  Aug.  Gast  Bank  Note  and  Lithograph  Co.   8vo.,  pp.  184. 
This  work  differs  in  several  respects  from  other  works  on  prescription 
writing,  which  usually  confine  themselves  to  the  construction  of  prescriptions, 
the  calculation  of  doses,  the  grammar,  weights  and  measures.  Such  works  are 
rarely  of  interest  to  others  than  the  young  physician.  The  work  before  us 
takes  a  wider  range,  and  deserves  to  be  read  and  consulted  by  both  physicians 
and  pharmacists,  as  the  facts  stated  by  the  author,  are  expressed  with  clearness 
and  accuracy,  and  the  scope  is  far  more  comprehensive.  We  are  pleased  to 
note  the  fact  that  in  most  of  the  views  expressed  by  the  author  we  can  and  do 
heartily  agree,  though  from  others  we  must  dissent.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
enter  into  elaborate  arguments,  but  we  may  briefly  state  that  the  most  essential 
point  wherein  our  views  diverge  from  those  of  the  author,  are  in  regard  to  "  spe- 
cifying "in  prescriptions  (page  30.)  If  a  preparation — whether  chemical  or 
galenical — agrees  with  the  requirements  of  the  pharmacopoeia,  it  is  a  legitimate 
one  for  dispensing  under  the  pharmacopoeial  title ;  but  if  a  physician  prescribes 
such  a  preparation,  attaching  thereto  a  manufacturer's  name,  he  steps  beyond 
the  pharmacopoeia  and  orders  an  extra-pharmacopoeial  article.  We  do  not 
question  the  right  of  the  physician  to  order  for  his  patients  what  he  considers 
best  to  relieve  their  sufferings,  whether  the  artiqle  be  a  vulgar  nostrum,  a  pro- 
prietary or  elegant  special,  or  of  pharmacopoeial  origin ;  but  we  deplore  the 
supposed  necessity  for  stepping  outside  the  pharmacopoeia  without  cogent 
reasons.  We  are  well  aware  that  such  a  course  has  been  apparently 
justified  by  the  recent  introduction  of  numerous  synthetically  prepared  reme- 
