Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
July,  1876-  I 
Editorial — Reviews,  etc. 
335 
of  solution  which  is  not  precipitated  by  the  aqueous  liquids  of  the  stomach.  In 
judging  of  the  activity  of  pills,  their  solid  condition  should  never  be  lost  sight  of, 
and  the  materials,  more  particularly  the  excipients  and  coatings,  if  any,  should  be 
such  only  which  in  the  presence  of  aqueous  liquids  are  easily  dissolved,  if  the 
quickest  activity  attainable  with  pills,  is  desired.  Dry  gum  acacia  is  freely,  but  not 
readily  soluble  in  water,  even  with  such  a  "  churning",  motion  as  is  attributed  to 
the  stomach,  and  pills  made  with  it  are  known  to  have  become  so  hard  and  prac- 
tically insoluble,  as  to  pass  through  the  intestinal  canal,  without  having  been  affected 
to  any  great  degree,-  yet  such  pills  (of  quinia,  &c),  when  moistened  with  saliva 
and  moved  about  upon  the  tongue,  will  in  a  short  time  develop  a  bitter  taste. 
Sweet  Gum. — Some  weeks  ago,  Louis  Hughes,  Ph.  G.,  has  sent  us  from 
Dyersburg,  Tenn.,  specimens  of  branches,  fruit  and  exudation  of  Liquidambar 
styraciflua,  accompanied  by  the  following  information,  concerning  the  tree  and 
balsam  or  sweet-gum. 
"  The  sweet-gum  tree  is  abundant  here,  and  is  found  in  the  Bottoms  and  highlands. 
In  the  bottoms  it  is  quite  large,  from  30  to  50  feet  high,  with  rather  few  and  short 
branches  5  in  the  highlands,  it  is  lower  and  more  spreading.  Its  appearance  is 
different  from  what  we  recogize  as  the  gum-tree  in  the  Middle  and  Southwestern 
States.  The  wing-like  ridges  of  cork  are  generally  found  on  the  bark  of  the  small 
branches  of  the  lower  limbs,  and  more  fully  developed  in  trees  growing  in  the  low- 
lands. The  "gum"  exudes  through  cracks  in  the  bark,  and  wounds  in  the  trunk, 
during  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  hardens  on  exposure  to  the  air.  I  have  found  it 
soluble  in  Alcohol  and  have  made  a  very  nice  syrup  of  it,  very  much  like,  and 
almost  as  pleasant  as  Tolu.  The  "gum"  is  much  esteemed  by  the  resident  chil- 
dren for  chewing,  but  they  select  that  which  is  rather  hard.  During  the  last  three 
months,  our  house  has  been  shipping  upwards  of  100  pounds  per  month  to  a 
Chewing  Gum  Manufactory,  and  it  makes  a  very  pleasant  article." 
For  further  information  on  "sweet  gum,"  the  reader  is  referred  to  an  essay  by 
W.  L.  Harrison,  in  "Am.  Journ.  Pharm.,  "  1874,  p.  161;  and  to  various  other 
papers  published  prior  to  that. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Microphotographs  in  Histology,  Normal  and  Pathological. — By  Carl  Seiler,  M.D.,  in 
conjunction  with  J.  Gibbons  Hunt,  M.D;,  and  Joseph  G.  Richardson,  M.D. 
Philadelphia:  J.  H.  Coates  &  Co.  4to.  Monthly  numbers.  Price,  60  cents 
each,  or  $6  per  year. 
The  object  of  this  publication  is,  on  the  one  hand,  to  replace  the  microscope,  as 
tar  as  possible,  for  those  physicians  who  have  neither  opportunity  nor  leisure  to 
make  such  observations  for  themselves,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  furnish  microscop- 
ists,  for  comparison,  correct  representations  of  typical  specimens  in  the  domain  of  nor- 
mal and  pathological  histology.    The- editors  are  well  known  in  the  medical  pro- 
