Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
JSIov.,  1876. 
Reviews,  etc. 
527 
Specimen  Fasciculus  of  a  Catalogue  of  the  National  Medical  Library ,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Surgeon-General  U.  S.  A.  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Government  Print- 
ing-office, 1876.    4-to,  pp-.  72. 
The  praiseworthy  efforts  which  have  been  made  to  establish  as  complete  as  pos- 
sible a  National  Medical  Library  has  been  so  far  successful,  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  year  it  contained  about  40,000  volumes  and  about  the  same  number  of 
single  pamphlets.  It  is  the  Medical  Section  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  now 
under  the  direction  of  the  Surgeon-General  U.  S.  A.,  in  connection  witk  the  Army 
or  National  Medical  Museum.  To  make  such  a  library  really  as  useful  as  it  should 
be,  a  good  catalogue  is  absolutely  necessary,  and  the  specimen  fasciculus  now  before 
us  proves  that  its  preparation  has  been  entrusted  to  competent  hands.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  Congress  will  appropriate  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  to  have  the  whole  catalogue 
printed,  which  will  doubtless  be  very  voluminous,  its  comprehensiveness  being  such 
that  page  72  closes  with  the  subject  Air  [atmospheric). 
The  Library  includes,  also,  works  on  pharmacy,  and  there  are  at  present  missing 
in  it  only  the  January  and  July  numbers  of  the  "American  Journal  of  Pharmacy," 
for  1857,  to  make  that  serial  complete.  If  any  of  our  readers  should  be  able  to 
supply  them,  the  Librarian,  Surgeon  John  S.  Billings,  U.  S.  A.,  will  either  pay  a  fair 
price  for  them  or  furnish  in  exchange  from  the  valuable  publications  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office. 
Niichterne  Betracbtungen  iiber  die  in  Frage  stehende  Reform  des  Pharmaceutischen 
Lehrplanes  in  Oesterreich.  Von  P.  R  Stolzissi,  Apotheker  in  Waizenkirchen. 
Wels  :  Joh.  Haas,  1876.    8vo,  pp.  37. 
Sober  considerations  on  the  projected  reform  of  the  pharmaceutical  education  in 
Austria. 
This  pampelet  is  more  than  of  local  interest,  since  it  discusses  a  question  which 
has  on  several  occasions  also  come  up  in  this  country,  namely,  the  relation  and 
sequence  of  the  practical  instruction  in  the  store  and  the  theoretical  instruction  at 
a  college  or  university. 
A  plan  had  been  proposed  for  Austria,  according  to  which  the  apprenticeship  of 
the  pharmacist  was  to  be  reduced  to  two  years,  to  be  followed  by  one  year's  in- 
struction at  a  special  school,  and  subsequently  by  a  prolonged  attendance  at  a  uni- 
versity. As  might  have  been  expected,  such  a  plan  aroused  the  opposition  of  those 
pharmacists  who  do  not  take  lightly  the  duty  of  training  the  young  apprentices  en- 
trusted to  their  care,  and  who  naturally  expect  a  fair  and  equitable  recompense  for 
their  care  and  trouble.  But  the  question  is  of  far  deeper  importance,  involving  the 
possibility  of  becoming  a  good  and  reliable  pharmacist  in  the  short  space  of  two 
years,  even  though  the  standard  of  preliminary  education  be  as  high  as  it  is  de- 
manded in  many  European  countries,  and  likewise  the  possibility  of  remaining  a 
reliable  pharmacist  after  having  discarded  the  practical  business  duties  for  several 
years'  theoretical  study  at  the  university.  Mr.  Reithammer  addressed  letters  of  inquiry 
to  a  number  of  the  most  prominent  apothecaries  and  pharmaceutical  teachers.  Schroff" 
had  proposed  a  greater  extent  of  store  practice,  and  his  views  like  those  advocated 
by  Reithammer  and  the  author  are,  in  the  main  points,  coincident  with  those  expressed 
in  the  answers  of  such  well-known  men  as  Danckwortt,  DragendorfF,  Duflos 
Fliickiger  and  many  others.  The  pamphlet  contains  in  full  the  answers  received 
from  Wittstein,  Hager,  Landerer,  Hirzel,.Lade  and  of  one  teacher  at  a  pharma- 
ceutical institute  of  a  university,  whose  name  is  withheld,  but  can,  we  think,  be 
readily  guessed  by  those  who  are  acquainted  with  his  valuable  contributions  to  sci- 
ence. With  singular  unanimity  they  advocate  an  apprenticeship  of  not  less  than 
three  years,  and  afterwards  a  service  as  assistant  of  from  one  to  three  years  previous 
to  the  academical  course.  The  duration  of  the  latter  should,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
majority  of  those  named  above,  not  be  fixed  at  more  than  three  semestres  preceding 
the  admission  to  the  examination  ;  indeed,  Hager  lays  particular  stress  upon  a  long 
