480 
Reviews,  etc. 
(  Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
1      Sept.,  1883. 
results  obtained  will  be  a  welcome  aid  to  the  beginner.  Though  the  scope 
is  intentionally  limited,  the  book  will  be  found  a  useful  and,  we  think,  a 
reliable  guide  for  the  student  entering  upon  analytical  work. 
The  American  Ilomceopathic  Fharmacopceia.    Second  Edition.  Thor- 
oughly revised  and  augmented  by  Joseph  T.  O'Connor,  lately  Professor 
in  the  New  York  Homoeopathic' Medical  College.    Compiled  and  pub 
lished  by  Boericke  &  Tafel,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago.  1883. 
8vo,  pp.  511. 
The  work  partakes  less  of  the  nature  of  a  pharmacopoeia  than  it  does  of 
the  dispensatories  in  use,  with  the  physiological  and  therapeutical  proper- 
ties and  uses  omitted.  There  is  scarcely  an  attempt  made  at  describing 
the  crude  drugs,  brief  botanical  descriptions  of  the  plants  and  their  habitat 
being  substituted  in  place  thereof.  The  few  attempts  at  the  characteriza- 
tion of  the  histological  structure  are  made  without  a  clear  comprehension 
of  the  subject ;  thus  it  is  said  of  black  hellebore :  "  Imbedded  in  the  pith,  but 
not  reaching  its  centre,  are  six  to  ten  wedge-shaped  bundles  of  wood  fibre 
which  radiate  and  extend  into  the  substance  of  the  bark."  The  botanical 
terms  are  likewise  frequently  used  erroneously  or  in  an  inexact  manner. 
Levant  wormseed,  cina,  is  said  to  be  frequently  mixed  with  the  scales  of 
the  calyx  ;  the  strobiles  of  hop,  lupulus,  are  stated  to  bear  rudimentary  leaf- 
lets on  a  central  irregular  stalk,  etc.  The  chemicals  are  somewhat  better 
off  than  the  vegetable  drugs ;  but  there  appears  to  be  little  uniformity  in 
the  extent  to  which  the  processes,  the  physical  characters  and  the  chemical 
tests  are  referred  to. 
The  chief  interest  for  us  in  this  work  lies  in  the  materia  medica  list  and 
in  the  pharmaceutical  processes.  Of  the  latter  we  propose  to  speak  in  a 
future  number.  Regarding  the  former,  we  find  that  the  drugs  used  in 
regular  practice  are  likewise  employed  by  homoeopathic  practitioners,  and 
in  addition  thereto  a  large  number,  which  are  used  in  domestic  practice,  or 
which  w^ere  formerly  recognized  and  are  now  discarded  by  most  pharma- 
copoeias, though  from  time  to  time  one  or  the  other  is  galvanized  into  a 
short-lived  notoriety  by  an  enthusiastic  physician.  A  number  of  drugs  in 
use  in  foreign  countries  and  rarely  seen  here,  have  likewise  found  a  place 
in  this  pharmacopoeia. 
The  drugs  derived  from  the  animal  kingdom  bear  a  striking  resemblance 
to  those  generally  employed  about  two  centuries  ago.  The  poisons  from 
half  a  dozen  or  more  reptiles  and  from  some  insects  ;  the  gall,  liver  and 
lungs  of  the  fox,  the  saliva  of  the  South  American  toad ;  the  fresh  hide 
with  the  hair  on,  of  the  Brazilian  stag;  fresh  bedbugs,  spiders,  plant  lice, 
etc.,  form  a  collection  of  remedies  which  may  possibly  possess  some  histori- 
cal interest,  but  beyond  this  have  no  claim  to  be  considered  as  remedial 
agents.  Psorinum,  the  pus  from  the  itch  pustle;  variolinum^  the  contents 
of  a  ripe  small-pox  pustule  and  other  similar  substances  have  been  retained 
in  the  present  edition  ;  but  others  which  were  honored  with  some  notice  in 
the  first  edition,  have  been  omitted ;  among  them  such  with  suggestive 
names  like  buboinum,  gonorrhin,  syphilinum,  etc. 
The  book  is  well  gotten  up,  and  will  doubtless  prove  of  interest  to  those 
who  may  seek  an  acquaintance  with  homoeopathic  materia  medica  and 
pharmacy. 
