224 
Reviews. 
A.m.  Jonr.  Pharru. 
April,  I8y5. 
It  has  been  just  about  a  year  since  the  first  volume  of  this  truly  magnificent 
work  was  reviewed  in  this  journal. 
Two  hundred  and  forty-seven  editors,  selected  from  the  front  ranks  of  English 
and  American  scholars,  have  been  engaged  upon  this  book. 
About  five  years  have  elapsed  since  this  work  was  undertaken,  and  $960,000 
were  expended  before  a  copy  was  offered  for  sale. 
To  give  some  idea  of  the  advances  made  in  the  language  in  modern  times,  we 
may  quote  the  following  comparisons  :  Johnson's  Dictionary  contains  45,000 
vocabulary  terms  ;  Worcester 's,  105,000  ;  Webster's  International,  125,000  ; 
Century  (six  volumes),  225,000  ;  Standard,  301,865,  exclusive  of  the  appendix, 
which  contains  47,468  entries. 
One  of  the  attractive  features  of  the  work  is  the  magnificent  colored  plates. 
That  of  the  solar  spectrum  and  typical  colors  is  especially  noteworthy. 
Some  of  the  titles  are  defined  so  as  to  be  encyclopaedic  in  character.  As  an 
illustration,  we  may  meution  the  term  oils,  under  which  are  given  the  name, 
source,  use  and  properties  of  337  different  oils. 
About  four  pages  are  devoted  to  the  term  measure;  and  weight  receives  a 
similar  exhaustive  treatment.  Different  systems  under  both  of  these  titles  are 
compared  so  as  to  be  especially  instructive. 
The  title,  pharmacy,  is  defined  as  "  the  branch  of  materia  medica  that  treats 
of  the  compounding  of  drugs  and  other  substances  for  use  in  medicine,  includ- 
ing also  their  collection,  preservation  and  identification  ;  the  art  or  business  of 
compounding  and  dispensing  medicines."  Those  of  us  who  claim  that  phar- 
macy is  a  profession  cannot  extract  much  consolation  from  such  a  definition. 
Medicine  comes  off  a  little  better  as  "  the  healing  art  ;  the  science  of  the 
preservation  of  health  and  of  treating  disease  for  the  purpose  of  cure."  We 
can  hardly  agree,  however,  with  the  following  statement:  "Plants  and 
minerals  are  the  source  of  most  medicines."  Since  the  introduction  of  serum 
therapy  and  the  flesh  extracts,  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  caution  in  making 
sweeping  statements,  besides  it  is  stretching  a  point  to  assign  the  origin  of 
many  of  the  new  synthetic  remedies  to  either  plants  or  minerals;  the  source  is 
too  remote. 
We  have  no  wish,  however,  to  find  fault  with  what  is  undoubtedly  the  greatest 
dictionary  of  modern  times.  Its  two  volumes  stand  in  strange  contrast  with 
the  ponderous  six- volume  Century  Dictionary ,  which  does  not  contain  as 
much  information. 
The  reception  given  to  the  Standard  Dictionary  has  been  so  universal  and 
so  enthusiastic  that  we  feel  sure  it  will  become  //^standard  for  America,  if  not 
for  all  English-speaking  countries. 
The  following  prices  will  be  of  interest  to  many  : 
Sold  Only  by  Subscription. 
Single-volume  Edition.  Price. 
Half  Russia   $12  00 
Full  Russia    /  with  Denison's  patent  reference  index  \  '  '  '  1400 
Full  morocco  ^                                                            J    ...  iS  00 
Two-volume  Edition. 
Half  Russia   $15  00 
Full  Russia     /vvithBenison's  patent  reference  index)   ■  '  '  1700 
Full  morocco  <-                                                        >    ...  22  00 
