222  Reviews  J  etc,  {^""kv^I'S^' 
sufficient  now  to  merely  state  that,  as  repositories  of  the  scientific  and  prac- 
tical pharmaceutical  literature  during  the  preceding  year,  they  are  fully 
equal  to  their  predecessors,  sustaining  the  rej^utation  which  they  have 
acquired  in  the  past,  and  that  they  should  have  a  place  in  the  library  of 
every  pharmacist.  A  new  feature  has  been  introduced  by  Professor  Diehl 
in  his  classified  report  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy,  which  will  be  appre- 
ciated by  those  who  consult  it,  namely,  the  introduction  of  cross  reference 
to  subjects  treated  of  under  a  different  heading.  It  deserves  to  be  men- 
tioned yet  that  the  "Proceedings"  are  embellished  with  the  portrait  of  the 
first  First  Vice-President  of  the  Association,  the  late  George  W.  Andrews, 
of  Baltimore. 
JLehrbueh  der  Pharmaceutisehen  Chemie.  Von  Dr.  Hugo  Schwanert, 
ordentl.  Professor  der  Chemie  an  der  Uiiiversitat  zu  Greifswald.  In  drei 
Banden.  ZweiterBand.  Mit25  Holzsehnitt-Illustrationen.  Braunschweig: 
C.  A.  Schwetschke  und  Sohn,  1883.    8vo,  pp.  815. 
Pharmaceutical  Chemistry,  in  three  volumes.    Vol.  II.,  with  25  wood  cuts. 
It  is  just  three  years  when  we  noticed  the  publication  of  the  first  volume 
of  .this  work  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  April,  1880,  p.  236).  In  commenting 
upon  it  then  we  pointed  out  the  aims  and  objects  which  the  author  had 
evidently  in  view  in  writing  his  valuable  work,  and  which  may  be  sum- 
marized in  this  to  furnish  a  practical  and  reliable  guide  for'synthetical,  and, 
incidentally,  also  for  analytical  chemical  work  in  its  special  application  to 
medicinal  and  otherwise  important  compounds.  These  views  have  guided 
the  author  likewise  in  the  volume  now  before  us,  which  embraces  the 
metallic  elements  and  their  comj^ounds. 
After  a  brief  historical  exposition  of  the  nature  and  general  characters  of 
the  metals,  they  are  classified  in  the  following  groups  :  1.  Metals  of  the 
alkalies,  K,  Na,  Li,  Rb,  Cs.  2.  Metals  of  the  alkaline  earths,  Ba,  Sr,  Ca. 
3.  Metals  of  the  earths,  Al,  Be,  In,  G,  Y,  Er,  La,  Ce,  Di.  4.  Metals  proper  : 
{a)  magnesium  group,  Mg,  Zn,  Cd  ;  (6)  lead  group,  Pb,  Tl ;  (c)  silver  group, 
Ag,  Hg,  Cu ;  {d)  bismuth  group,  Bi,  V,  Ta,  Nb  ;  (e)  tin  group,  Sn,  Zr,  Ti, 
Th;  (/)  iron  group,  Fe,  Mn,  5Ii,  Co  ;  {g)  chromium  group,  Cr,  Wo,  Mo,  Ur; 
{h)  gold  group,  Au,  Pt,  Pd,  Bu,  Rh,  Ir,  Os.  Each  group  is  characterized, 
their  behavior  to  heat  and  oxygen,  and  the  nature  of  their  oxygen  com- 
pounds furnishing  the  chief  particulars  for  comparison. 
In  treating  of  the  metals  only  those  have  been  selected  of  which  one  or 
more  compounds  are  used  in  pharmacy  or  medicine,  or  in  chemical  analy- 
sis. The  poisonous  nature  of  thallium  ascertained  by  Marni6,  Lamy,  and 
others,  and  the  occurrence  of  this  metal  in  a  few  mineral  springs,  or  salts 
obtained  from  them,  have  secured  for  it  a  place  among  the  more  strictly 
medicinal  metals,  and  the  same  distinction  has  been  accorded  to  strontium, 
which  is  frequently  present  in  minute  quantities  in  natural  mineral  waters. 
Of  the  various  compounds  of  these  metals,  those  with  oxygen,  sulphur, 
and  the  halogens  are  in  all  cases  considered  more  or  less  in  detail  as  their 
importance  seemed  to  demand,  while  the  oxysalts  are  as  a  rule  confined  to 
those  which  are  of  some  importance  within  the  limits  defined  above ;  thus 
the  phosphates  of  potassium,  zinc,  and  a  few  similar  salts  have  been  omitted, 
