Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
.  -November,  1895.  J 
Reviews. 
585 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Etidorhpa,  or  the  End  of  the  Earth.  The  strange  history  of  a 
mysterious  being  and  the  account  of  a  remarkable  journey,  as  communicated 
in  manuscript  to  Llewellyn  Drury,  who  promised  to  print  the  same,  but  finally 
evaded  the  responsibilit)',  which  was  assumed  by  John  Uri  Lloyd,  with  many 
illustrations  by  J.  Augustus  Knapp.  Author's  edition,  limited.  Published  by 
John  Uri  Lloyd,  Cincinnati,  O.,  1895. 
If  it  be  asked  what  pharmacy  has  to  do  with  a  volume  having  the  foregoing 
title,  the  answer  may  be  given  that  it  contains  many  scientific  matters  woven 
into  the  thread  of  the  story  in  a  way  to  make  it  especially  attractive  to  all 
thinking  pharmacists  ;  then,  too,  Professor  Lloyd,  whom  we  may  designate  as 
the  sponsor,  if  not  the  writer,  of  the  volume,  is,  or  has  been,  associated  with 
pharmac3'  in  all  its  phases.  He  has  most  creditably  prepared  his  part  of  the 
work,  and  produced  a  book  which  will  be  externally,  as  well  as  internally,  an 
ornament  to  any  library. 
The  body  of  the  work  is  a  manuscript  which  was  communicated  to  one 
Llewellyn  Drury,  of  Cincinnati,  thirty  years  ago,  who  for  some  reason  failed  to 
make  it  public,  and  the  duty  has  devolved  upon  Professor  Lloyd.  The  manu- 
script details  the  wanderings  of  a  man  who  was  abducted  from  his  home  for 
publishing  the  secrets  of  the  society  to  which  he  belonged,  and  who  was  taken 
on  a  long  journey  into  the  mysterious  regions  of  the  earth's  centre.  We  are 
told  that  the  story  has  more  truth  than  fiction  in  it,  and  the  ingenious  selection 
for  its  principal  character  bears  this  out,  for  many  will  recognize  him  as  William 
Morgan,  of  Freemason  fame,  who  was  abducted  at  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  in  1826. 
The  story,  interesting  as  it  is,  must  take  second  place  in  considering  the 
value  of  the  work,  for  so  much  science  and  philosophy  have  been  moulded 
into  it  as  to  make  it  worthy  of  a  reading  for  these  alone.  Since  we  have  nothing 
more  than  the  most  superficial  knowledge  of  what  constitutes  the  interior  of 
our  globe,  a  journey  to  its  interior  recesses  furnishes  room  for  the  widest  kind 
of  speculation,  and  we  return  from  the  voyage  with  the  belief  that  all  our 
knowledge  of  everything  is  as  superficial  and  unsubstantial  as  the  mere  film  of 
the  earth's  crust,  which  has  been  explored  by  man. 
There  has  never  been  any  book  like  this  one  written.  If  it  be  said  to  resemble 
some  of  Jules  Verne's  works,  the  distinction  may  be  drawn  that  ■  •  Etidorhpa  "  is 
logical  ;  no  miracles  were  performed  to  extricate  the  traveller  from  the  numer- 
ous perilous  positions  in  which  he  found  himself,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  was 
always  released  by  what  appeared  to  be  perfectly  rational  methods.  The  physi- 
cal phenomena  described  are  apparently  without  a  flaw,  and  some  new  princi- 
ples, notably  the  diffusion  of  liquids  of  different  densities  through  porous  media, 
are  enunciated,  and  will  stand  the  test  of  actual  experiment,  as  the  writer  of 
this  review  knows  from  having  tried  them.  The  chemistry  of  the  work  is 
faultless — so  different  from  that  to  which  we  are  treated  by  most  literary  writers, 
who  usually  disgust  one  with  their  bad  nomenclature  and  impossible  chemical 
reactions. 
The  subjects  treated  are  such  as  require  the  most  careful  handling,  for  many 
of  them  border  on  the  unknowable,  and  it  is  only  by  the  most  acute  reasoning 
that  the  author  prevents  the  story  from  becoming  "top  heavy,"  but  he  has 
succeeded  by  the  most  plausible  methods.    Materialists  will  derive  little  con- 
