430 
Reviews,  etc. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
\    August,  1883. 
EEVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGEAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Alumni  Association,  with  the  Exercises 
of  the  Sixty-second  commencement  of  tlie  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy, for  the  year  1882-1883.    8vo,  pp.  180. 
The  title  of  this  good-sized  and  well  printed  pamphlet  explains  only  in 
part  its  contents,  or  rather  the  "  Report"  embraces  all  the  transactions  of 
the  Alumni  Association  during  the  preceding  year :  the  minutes  of  the 
Executive  Board  ;  minutes  of  the  social  meetings,  together  with  the  papers 
then  read  and  the  discussions  on  these  and  kindred  subjects;  minutes  of  the 
annual  meeting ;  the  commencement  exercises;  the  introductory,  valedic- 
tory, and  other  addresses  ;  account  of  the  examinations  of  the  College;  re- 
port of  the  Zeta-Phi-Alpha  Society  ;  list  of  members,  etc.  The  publication 
will  doubtless  be  prized  by  the  numerous  alumni  of  the  College  for  the  in- 
formation it  contains  about  College  matters  and  student's  life  at  the  present 
time  ;  and  by  the  members  of  the  last  class  for  the  record  of  transactions  in 
which  they  participated.  The  report  being  considerably  more  voluminous 
than  its  predecessors,  would  be  improved  by  the  addition  of  a  table  of  con- 
tents.   
Proceedings  of  the  Connecticut  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  Seventh 
Annual  Meeting,  held  in  Hartford,  February  6  and  7,  1883.  New  Haven, 
8vo,  pp.  104. 
Among  the  papeis  read  we  notice  more  particularly  the  following:  On 
Emulsions  Containing  50  per  cent,  of  Oil,  by  C.  F.  Gorman ;  On  the  De- 
tection of  Adulterations  of  essential  Oils,  by  P.  L.  Lind ;  On  Ointment  of 
Nitrate  of  Mercury,  by  J.  Hodgson.  The  officers  for  the  present  year,  are 
E.  S.  Sykes,  Hartford,  President ;  N.  J.  Beers,  New  Haven,  and  J.  C. 
»  Nichols,  New  London,  Vice-Presidents  ;  F.  Wilcox,  Waterbury,  Secretary  ; 
G.  P.  Chandler,  Hartford,  Treasurer ;  and  E.  A.  Gessner,  Local  Secretary^ 
The  next  annual  meeting  will  be  held  in  New  Haven,  in  February,  1884. 
Elixirs,  their  History,  Formulae,  and  Methods  of  Preparation,  including 
practical  processes  for  making  the  popular  elixirs  of  the  present  day  and 
those  which  have  been  officinal  in  the  Old  Pharmacopoeias ;  together 
with  a  resume  of  unofficinal  elixirs  from  the  days  of  Paracelsus.  By  J. 
U.  Lloyd,  Professor  of  Pharmacy  in  the  Cincinnati  College  of  Pharmacy,, 
etc.    Cincinnati :  Robert  Clarke  &  Co.,  1883,  pp.  187. 
This  little  book  opens  with  a  letter  from  Dr.  Charles  Rice,  explaining 
the  derivation  of  the  word  "  elixir  "  from  the  Arabic,  being  composed  of  the 
article  at  or  el  and  the  word  iksir,  the  latter  being  the  Greek  xirion,  which 
in  medical  works  means  any  "dry  powder,"  and  in  alchemy  was  used  to 
denote  the  "  magical  transformation  powder,  so  much  sought  after,  a  pinch 
of  which  would  convert  a  whole  mass  of  base  meta]  into  gold."  In  this 
sense  iksir  is  identical  with  the  Arabic  term  kimiyd,  which  is  also  derived 
from  the  Greek  and  from  which  the  word  "  chemistry  "  originated.  Later 
the  word  "elixir"  was  used  as  synonymous  with  "liquid  tincture,"  the 
first  step  in  the  preparation  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  or  it  designated  any 
compound  preparation  of  supposed  "sublime"  properties,  reputed  to  pro- 
