^""'May^im'"''}    Reviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices.  269 
tions ;  the  answer  was  that  if  sold  at  all  a  license  must  issue  first,  as  there  is 
no  authority  given  to  any  one  to  set  aside  that  law. 
On  motion  adjourned. 
T.  S.  WiEGAND, 
Registrar. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
The  Seventh  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress. — At  the  sixth  Interna-  . 
tional  Pharmaceutical  Congress  held  in  Brussels  in  1885,  the  city  of  Milan 
was  selected  for  holding  the  Seventh  Congress  in  1888  (see  Am.  Jour.  Phar. 
1885,  p.  528).  During  the  past  month  we  have  learned  from,  European  jour- 
nals, that  recently  the  Associazone  Farmaceutica  Lombarda  have  inaugurated 
the  preliminary  steps  for  holding  the  Congress  during  the  month  of  September 
next.  The  various  pharmaceutical  and  kindred  associations  of  Italy  have 
been  addressed  with  the  view  of  securing  their  active  cooperation,  and  it  is 
confidently  expected  that  within  the  comparatively  limited  time  remaining 
the  arrangements  for  a  successful  meeting  will  be  completed. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
The  Beginnings  in  Pharmacy. — An  introductory  treatise  on  the  practical 
manipulation  of  drugs  and  the  various  processes  employed  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  medicines,  in  eight  chapters,  with  numerous  formulas.  By  R. 
Rother,  graduate  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  etc.,  Detroit.  William 
Graham  Printing  Co.    1888.    8vo.    Pp.342.    Price,  $1.75. 
In  1853,  a  committee  appointed  by  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, addressed  a  series  of  questions  to  leading  apothecaries  in  difi'erent 
parts  of  the  United  States,  of  which  the  third  ran  thus  :  "Is  any  personal  in- 
struction extended  to  apprentices  beyond  the  practical  details  of  the  shop, 
as  regards  chemistry,  materia  medica,  and  botany?  "  The  answers  received 
were  summarized,  we  think  by  the  later  Professor  Procter,  and  published  in 
the  Proceedings  for  1854,  pp.  31  and  32.  Every  one  of  these  answers  states 
either  that  no  personal  instruction,  or  very  little  personal  scientific  instruc- 
tion is  given  to  apprentices ;  and  it  is  further  stated  or  intimated  that  but 
few  are  qualified  to  give  it.  •  This  non-qualification  for  giving  instructions 
does  not  necessarily  infer  ignorance ;  for  a  person  may  possess  a  good  and 
sound  knowledge,  without  being  able  to  impart  it  to  others,  or,  in  other 
words,  without  having  the  faculty  of  teaching ;  moreover  the  demands  of 
business  upon  the  time  and  energy  of  the  employer  are  frequently  such  as 
to  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  give  attention  to  it.  To  such  the  book 
before  us  will  be  a  most  welcome  one,  as  it  will  enable  the  employer  to  lead 
his  apprentices  to  proper  methods  for  acquiring  knowledge ;  and  appren- 
tices will  value  it  for  the  same  reason,  the  more  so  as  by  using  it  properly 
