Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
May,  1921.  ) 
Book  Reviews, 
367 
substitution  of  this  intoxicant  for  grain  (ethyl)  alcohol,  this  sub- 
stance has  been  added  to  the  list  of  volatile  poisons.  Aside  from 
minor  corrections  of  the  text,  the  omission  and  correction  of  certain 
tests,  the  introduction  of  a  few  new  tests  of  recent  appearance  in  the  / 
literature,  and  the  expansion  of  the  index  to  include  authors  as  well 
as  subjects,  no  changes  of  importance  have  been  made  in  the  last 
edition  of  this  work." 
Laboratory  workers  and  students  in  toxicological  chemistry  will 
do  well  to  include  this  book  in  their  "five-foot  shelf."    Being  quite 
comprehensive,  it  will  be  found  generally  useful,  whether  for  experi-. 
mental  practice  or  for  guidance  in  isolating  and  estimating  poisons 
in  cadaveric  material,  food,  etc. 
The  scheme  of  analysis  divides  poisons  into  three  groups,  which 
are  dealt  with  in  the  first  three  chapters.  Group  I  includes  those 
substances  which,  when  heated,  volatilize  without  decomposition  and 
distil  with  steam  from  an  acid  solution.  The  members  of  Group  II 
are  non-volatile  organic  substances,  which  do  not  distil  with  steam 
from  an  acid  solution,  but  which  may  be  separated  from  extraneous 
matter  by  extracting  with  hot  alcohol  containing  tartaric  acid.  Group 
III  includes  all  metallic  poisons.  A  few  poisons  such  as  mineral  - 
acids,  caustic  alkalies,  oxalic  acid  and  potassium  chlorate  are  tested 
for  by  separate  tests,  owing  to  inherent  peculiarities  of  these  sub- 
stances. Chapter  IV  embraces  this  group.  Chapter  V  is  devoted 
to  special  qualitative  and  quantitative  methods  for  arsenic,  alkaloids 
and  salicylic  acid.  The  quantitative  estimation  of  alkaloids  and  other 
active  principals  in  raw  materials  and  preparations  according  to  the 
German  Pharmacopoeia,  is  taken  up  in  Chapter  VI.  Chapter  VII 
deals  with  the  detection  of  carbon  monoxide  blood,  blood  stains  and 
human  blood. 
In  the  appendix  are  given  formulae  for  the  preparation  of  general 
alkaloidal  reagents  and  the  other  reagents  and  solutions  used. 
In  short,  the  treatment  of  this  subject  is  quite  thorough  and  sys- 
tematic, with  liberal  explanatory  notes  and  many  references  to  origi- 
,  nal  articles.  The  book  commends  itself  to  those  interested  in  toxico- 
logical and  alkaloidal  work. 
R.  R.  F. 
