250 
Book  Reviews. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1919. 
The  small  quantities  grown  by  lady  herbalists  since  the  war  com- 
menced in  19 14,  so  far  as  my  examination  of  them  has  gone,  only  in 
two  cases  proved  to  be  genuine  A.  Napellus,  so  that  even  the  small 
amount  of  "  English  aconite  "  in  commerce  at  present  is  of  doubtful 
origin.  Fortunately  homceopathists  in  this  country  are  more  careful 
to  secure  the  genuine  species  and  a  definite  variety  of  it,  and  by 
preparing  the  tincture  from  the  fresh  plant  collected  in  May,  when 
the  characters  that  distinguish  the  flower  can  be  seen,  their  "  mother  " 
tincture  can  generally  be  depended  upon  to  .give  promptly  the 
physiological  action  of  the  plant.  I  would  suggest  that  in  the  next 
pharmacopoeia  the  tincture  of  Aconitum  Napellus  should  be  prepared 
from  the  fresh  plant,  collected  in  May  and  grown  in  Great  Britain. 
This  would  exclude  nearly  all  the  other  species  grown  in  gardens, 
since  they  flower  later,  and  the  plant  if  collected  as  soon  as  the 
flowers  begin  to  expand  would  show  the  shallow  helmet  character- 
istic of  the  best  form  of  A.  Napellus. 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
Squibb's  Atlas  of  the  Official  Drugs,  by  William  Mansfield, 
A.M.,  Phar.D.  Published  by  E.  R.  Squibb  &  Sons,  New  York, 
N.  Y. 
While  recognizing  the  fact  that  this  book  has  been  prepared  and 
distributed  to  a  large  extent  as  a  means  of  advertising  the  products 
of  a  pharmaceutical  manufacturing  house,  we  appreciate  also  that 
in  this  publication  a  distinct  service  has  been  performed  to  phar- 
macy. A  working  knowledge  of  drugs  is  far  too  limited  among 
those  whose  duty  it  is  to  supply  medicines  and  who  should  be  well 
equipped  with  such  information.  Any  work  that  will  encourage  the 
study  of  pharmacognosy  and  stimulate  the  pharmacists  and  the  stu- 
dents of  pharmacy  to  acquire  a  more  intimate  and  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  materia  medica  is  a  welcome  addition  to  the  pharma- 
cist's library  and  this  book  is  well  calculated  to  render  such  a  service. 
The  intent  of  the  author  to  present  in  a  practical  manner  what 
he  terms  "  the  living  materia  medica,  the  standardized  drugs  of  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia  and  of  the  National  Formulary "  is 
well  carried  out.  We  cannot,  however,  refrain  from  criticizing  the 
language  of  this  statement  as  there  are  many  articles  of  materia 
