266  Chemistry  for  the  Pharmacist — Reviews.  {Am'iT£i8&arm* 
CHEMISTRY  FOR  THE  PHARMACIST. 
By  William  B.  Thompson. 
There  are  many  reasons  why  pharmacists  who  seek  avenues  for 
the  application  of  scientific  knowledge  should  make  especial  study 
of  the  chemistry  of  agriculture  and  the  chemistry  of  soils.  Soil 
analysis  is  wholly  within  the  possibility  of  scientific  investigation. 
In  the  growth  of  plants  and  trses,  soil  loses  nothing  appreciable  of 
its  ponderous  material.  The  elementary  substances  which  enter 
into  it  are  exhausted  by  absorption  and  the  processes  of  vegetable 
growth.  Nature  has,  it  is  true,  her  own  occult  method  of  supplying 
these,  but  art  is  a  most  valuable  factor  in  supplementing  or  aiding 
the  operations  of  natural  causes.  Science  has  done  much,  and  there 
is  yet  much  to  be  done,  and  agriculture  much  needs  the  principles 
and  theories  of  science  applied  to  its  practice.  Themes  for  study 
are  to  be  sought  in  determining  the  action  of  manures  and  other 
animal  and  mineral  fertilizers — the  terms  or  periods  necessary  for 
the  proper  recuperation  in  cleared  and  open  lands,  where  the  chemi- 
cal elements  are  only  to  be  derived  from  the  air,  artificial  treatment 
not  being  feasible;  the  character  of  sub-soil  as  it  affects  top  soil  ; 
the  action  of  infiltration  and  absorption  ;  the  upward  and  down- 
ward movements  of  moisture.  In  cattle  manures  the  important 
office  of  the  saturating  urines,  which,  by  a  species  of  fermentation, 
gradually  develop  the  ammonias,  these,  in  turn,  combining  with 
acids,  and  thus  oxidation  forms  less  volatile  and  more  soluble  salts. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the 
Forty-second  Annual  Meeting,  Held  at  Asheville,  N.  C,  Septem- 
ber, 1894. 
By  far  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  proceedings  of  the  last  meeting  is  the 
Report  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy.  It  constitutes  a  sort  of  pharmaceutical 
encyclopaedia  for  the  year  from  June  30,  1893,  to  July  1,  1894.  The  only  regret 
we  have  in  regard  to  it  as  a  whole,  is  that  it  is  not  usually  available  to  members 
until  some  months  after  it  is  presented  at  the  meeting.  We  are  not  disposed 
to  find  fault  with  the  Secretary  on  this  account,  as  he  has  no  doubt  been  delayed 
by  others.  In  selecting  a  printer,  the  Secretary  or  Council  should  take  time 
into  account  as  well  as  the  lowest  bid.  While  the  original  communications  are 
not  on  a  par  with  the  above-mentioned  report,  still  there  are  a  few  very  credit- 
able ones.  The  great  majority,  however,  had  better  remained  in  the  hands  of 
the  Publishing  Committee. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  one  member  should  load  the  Proceedings  with  six 
communications  on  queries,  stone  of  which  could  be  answered  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  every  intelligent  pharmacist  by  a  simple  negative  or  affirmative. 
