Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
December,  1895.  J 
Reviews. 
639 
Index  to  the  Literature  of  Didymium,  1842- 1893.  By  A.  C.  Uang- 
muir,  Ph.D.  Washington  :  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1894. 
8vo,  20  pp.  From  Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collections,  Vol.  38  (Number 
972). 
On  the  Densities  of  Oxygen  and  Hydrogen,  and  on  the  Ratio  of 
Their  Atomic  Weights.  By  Edward  W.  Morley,  Ph.D.  Washington  : 
published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1895.  4to,  117  pp.  From  Smith- 
sonian Contributions  to  Knowledge,  -Vol.  29  (Number  980). 
The  following  from  the  announcement  by  Secretary  Langley  fully  explains 
the  scope  of  the  work  : 
"The  present  memoir  is  the  result  of  a  series  of  investigations  by  Professor 
Morley,  which  have  been  aided  to  some  extent  during  the  past  two  years  by 
the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
"In  his  investigation,  Professor  Morley  has  studied  the  problem  by  two 
methods: 
"  (1)  By  the  synthesis  of  water,  in  which  he,  for  the  first  time,  has  achieved 
completeness  by  actually  weighing  the  hydrogen,  the  oxygen,  and  the  water 
formed,  whereas  all  his  predecessors  took  one  or  another  of  these  factors  by 
difference. 
"  (2)  By  the  density  ratio  between  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  In  this  method 
he  has  weighed  the  gases  of  greater  purity  and  in  larger  quantity  than  hitherto, 
and  he  has  in  some  instances  operated  without  the  intervention  of  stopcocks, 
and  therefore  with  no  possibility  of  error  due  to  leakage.  He  has  also,  as  a  cor- 
rection to  the  density  ratio,  redetermined  the  composition  of  water  by  volume. 
By  both  methods  he  reaches  the  same  result : 
"  O  =  15*879,  with  variation  in  the  fourth  decimal  place  as  between  the  two." 
An  Account  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution:  Its  Origin,  History, 
Objects  and  Achievements.  By  G.  Brown  Goode.  Washington,  1895. 
38  pp- 
Any  one  interested  in  the  rise  and  development  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution cannot  but  be  entertained  by  a  perusal  of  this  pamphlet. 
Proceedings  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Eighteenth  Annual  Meeting,  1895.  We  believe  that  more  original  papers  are 
printed  in  the  proceedings  of  this  association  than  in  those  of  any  other  State 
in  the  Union,  and,  probably,  we  would  not  be  far  wrong  to  say,  more  than  occur 
in  the  proceedings  of  all  the  other  States  combined.  The  present  volume  is 
fully  up  to  the  average  in  this  respect,  and  it  has  been  made  attractive  in  other 
ways  by  the  liberal  distribution  of  illustrations  through  the  book,  of  the  scenery 
near  the  meeting  place  at  Eaglesmere.  The  frontispiece  is  a  portrait  of  the 
late  Edward  C.  Jones. 
Proceedings  of  the  Florida  Pharmaceutical  Association.  Ninth 
Annual  Meeting,  1895.  The  most  important  paper  in  this  volume  is  by  Dr.  J. 
B.  Read,  on  the  History  and  Therapeutical  Value  of  the  Sazv  Palmetto. 
Proceedings  of  the  Georgia  Pharmaceutical  Association.  Twenti- 
eth Annual  Meeting,  1895.  The  most  interesting  and  important  paper  of  the 
volume  is  on  The  Cultivation  of  the  Castor  Oil  Bean,  which  we  reproduce  in 
full,  on  page  624  of  this  issue. 
