5^6 
Reviews 3  etc. 
{'  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1876. 
is  on  the  whole  correct,  but  it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  for  the  production  of 
some  of  the  rarer  metals  other  more  productive  processes  should  not  have  been  in- 
dicated 5  whether  for  the  preparation  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  instead  of  chalk,  and 
sulphuric  acid,  the  (in  the  laboratory)  more  convenient  source  from  marble  and 
hydrochloric  acid  should  not  have  been  mentioned,  and  whether,  in  view  of  the 
immense  production  of  bromine  from  the  mother-liquors  of  the  salt  brines,  that 
source  should  not  have  been  given  in  addition  to  sea  water. 
Inorganic  chemistry  occupies  the  first  72  pages  5  the  following  30  pages  are  de- 
voted to  organic  chemistry,  and  this  is  followed  by  a  synopsis  of  poisons,  their 
antidotes  and  general  treatment.  The  tabular  arrangement  has  been  adopted 
wherever  practicable,  and  a  ready  and  convenient  way  is  thus  afforded  for  com- 
parison. 
The  work  is  very  well  adapted  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  has  been  prepared, 
and  it  will  be  found  very  useful  by  those  who  have  learned  the  old  notation  and 
wish  to  become  acquainted  not  only  with  the  new  notation,  but  also  with  the  prin- 
ciples and  theories  which  have  led  to  the  very  general  adoption  of  what  is  called  the 
modern  system  of  chemistry.  We  would  not  recommend  it  to  students  for  general 
use,  but  we  commend  it  to  their  careful  examination  with  the  view  of  learning 
therefrom  how  comprehensible  and,  at  the  same  time,  concise  notes  and  excerpts 
from  larger  works  may  be  made,  so  as  to  profit  as  much  as  possible  from  a  close 
application  to  study. 
Micro- photographs  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.    Price,  60  cts.  per  number,  $6,00  per  annum. 
Parts  IV  and  V  contain  hepatic  cells  from  liver  of  a  fly,  leukaemia  of  the  liver, 
blood  corpuscles  of  man  and  of  the  ox.  fat  cells  from  mesentery  of  a  cat,  kidney  of 
a  mouse,  chronic  nephritis,  Malpighian  tufts  and  crystals  of  urea.  The  plates  are 
well  executed,  and  each  one  is  accompanied  by  descriptive  text. 
Du  M 'Boundou  on  Poison  d^epreuve  du  Gabon.    Par  Leon  Kauffeisen.  Montpellier, 
1876.    4to,  pp.  55. 
On  the  M'Boundou,  or  the  ordeal  poison  of  Gabon. 
A  very  creditable  thesis,  presented  and  publicly  sustained  before  the  Ecole  su- 
perieure  de  Montpellier,  August  14,  1876,  for  obtaining  the  degree  of  Pharmacist  of 
the  first  class. 
The  rn  boundou,  also  known  as  casa,  icaja  or  boundou,  is  a  shrub  indigenous  to 
equatorial  Africa,  and  has  been  variously  referred  to  the  family  of  Apocynacese  and 
Loganiaceae,  the  latter  view  being  taken  by  Duchaillu,  Griffon  du  Bellay  and  John 
Torrey,  of  New  York,  and  seems  to  be  the  correct  one  as  far  as  can  be  judged  from 
the  results  of  the  author's  chemical  investigation,  which  resulted  in  the  isolation  of 
strychnia,  while  brucia  appears  to  be  absent. 
In  the  first  chapter  of  his  essay,  the  author  gives  some  notes  of  the  uses  to  which 
the  article  is  put  in  its  native  country,  and  states  that  large  doses  of  palm-oil  are 
there  known  to  act  as  an  antidote,  or  rather,  as  a  preservative  against  its  toxical 
effects.    Descriptions  of  the  roots  and  leaves  are  likewise  given. 
Chapter  II  refers  to  the  physiological  experiments  made  with  boundou  in  France, 
and  gives  the  yield  of  13  extracts  made  with  different  menstrua  from  the  wood, 
bark  and  leaves.  The  experiments  made  with  these  preparations  upon  rabbits  and 
frogs,  detailed  in  the  third  chapter,  proved  that  0*025  gram  °f  tne  extracts  resulted 
in  the  death  of  the  frog  after  five  minutes  with  the  aqueous,  and  in  ten  minutes  with 
the  etherial  extract  of  the  bark.  The  remaining  extracts  were  somewhat  weaker, 
and  the  etherial  and  alcoholic  extracts  of  the  wood  produced  the  same  effect  only 
after  6  hours  and  23  minutes  and  7  hours  and  45  minutes  respectively. 
The  last  chapter  treats  of  the  chemical  examination,  the  principal  result  of  which 
has  been  mentioned  above. 
