Am.  Jour.rharm. ) 
April,  1883.  ( 
Reviews,  eic. 
223 
.although  they  have  been  somewhat  employed  in  medicine.  The  ammo- 
miiim  compounds  are  appended  to  those  of  the  alkaUne  metals,  and  the 
cyanides  are  described  among  the  halogen  compounds.  The  processes  by 
which  the  different  metals  and  their  compounds  may  be  obtained,  merely 
experimentally  as  well  as  on  the  larger  scale,  are  fully  described  and  ex- 
plained, the  reactions  being  further  elucidated  by  formulas  and  equations. 
The  tests  of  identity  are  given,  the  differences  of  the  reaction  of  allied  bodies 
.are  described,  and  the  nature  of  impurities  and  the  mode  of  their  detec- 
tion are  pointed  out.  Historical  notes  are  frequently  met  with,  and  are  not 
•only  interesting,  but  often  very  useful,  like  those  which  give  the  various 
views  entertained  in  regard  to  the  exact  composition  of  some  of  the  com- 
pounds. 
Throughout  the  entire  volume  its  usefulness  for  practical  purjooses  on  the 
•  one  hand,  and  for  theoretical  instruction  on  the  other  hand,  is  quite  appar- 
ent, and  its  inherent  value  has  been  clothed  in  a  very  approi:)riate  garb— the 
itypographical  execution,  the  illustrations,  and  the  paper,  leaving  nothing 
to  desire-  A  full  index  for  the  first  and  second  volume  is  quite  a  desirable 
-addition. 
The  third  volume,  containing  the  organic  compounds,  will  complete  the 
work. 
jLn  Introduction  into  the  Studij  of  Organic  Chemistry.  By  Adolph  Pinner, 
Ph.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Berlin.  Translated 
and  revised  from  the  fifth  German  edition,  by  Peter  T.  Austen,  Ph.  D., 
F.  C.  S.,  Professor  of  Analytical  and  Ajd plied  Chemistry  in  Rutger's  Col- 
lege and  the  New  Jersey  State  Scientific  School.  New  York  :  John  Wiley 
&  Sons,  1883.    1-mo,  pp.  403.   Price  $2.50. 
The  plan  of  this  work,  which  has  been  very  favorably  received  in  Ger- 
many, is  based  upon  the  system  adopted  by  Prof.  A.  W.  Hofmann  for  teach- 
ing theoretical  chemistry  of  the  carbon  compounds.  Its  object  is,  as  far  as 
possible  in  our  present  state  of  knowledge,  the  evolution  of  the  more  or  less 
complicated  compounds  from  the  most  simple  ones  in  existence,  and  in 
this  gradual  progression,  from  the  simple  to  the  complicated,  lies  its  intrin- 
sic value  and  usefulness  for  theoretical  study.  That  the  plan  has  its  disadvan- 
tages cannot  be  denied  since  it  renders  impossible  the  consecutive  consid- 
eration of  analogous  compounds  like  the  alcohols,  ethers,  aldehyds,  acids, 
etc.,  a  grouping  adopted  by  many  teachers,  having  likewise  obvious  advan- 
tages, but  representing  a  system  which  in  inorganic  chemistry  has  long 
since  been  abandoned  by  the  large  majority  of  teachers. 
The  work  opens  with  an  introductory  chapter  on  general  considerations 
concerning  organic  compounds,  and  proceeds  then  to  the  compounds  be- 
longing to  and  derived  from  the  hydrocarbons  of  the  marshgas  group,  me- 
thane being  first  described  with  the  substitution  and  addition  compounds 
generated  by  the  halogens,  by  hydroxyl,  by  sulphur  and  sulpho-compounds, 
nitrogen  and  nitrogen  groups,  phosphorus,  arsenic,  antimony,  bismuth, 
and  other  metals.  In  the  same  order  the  ethane  compounds  are  considered 
together  with  ethylene  and  acetylene ;  then  follow  propane,  butane,  pen- 
tane,  and  hexane,  with  their  allied  and  isomeric  hydrocarbons  and  deriva- 
tives.   The  higher  hydrocarbons  of  the  marshgas  group  are  not  specially 
