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EDITORIAL. 
This  uew  medical  journal  enters  the  field  with  a  fair  promise  of  success, 
being  supported  by  a  long  array  of  proposed  contributors  and  an  enter- 
prising publisher.  Its  origination  appears  to  have  been  the  result  of  the 
deliberate  consideration  and  approval  of  more  than  one  hundred  phy- 
sicians, gathered  in  a  meeting.  *'  The  Medical  Times,  therefore,  appears 
as  the  result  of  no  mere  private  enterprise,  nor  as  the  organ  of  any  school 
or  party,  but  as  a  journal  which  may  fairly  claim  to  represent  the  medical 
profession  and  medical  interests  of  Philadelphia."  "  The  position  to 
which.it  aspires  is  one  free  alike  from  pure  local  interests  and  from  par- 
tizan  spirit.  The  only  aims  which  shall  be  recognized  in  its  management 
are  the  advancement  of  medical  and  surgical  science,  the  detection  and 
reform  of  abuses  and  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of  the  profession  at 
large."  With  these  aims  the  Editor  asks  for  it  a  welcome  from  the  entire 
medical  profession  of  the  country. 
A  Cydopaedia  of  Quantitative  Chemical  Analysis.  By  Frank  H.  Storer, 
A.M.,  Prof,  of  General  and  Analytical  Chemistry  in  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology.  Fart  1.  Sever,  Francis  &  Co.,  Boston  and 
Cambridge,  1870. 
It  is  something  new  to  present  the  details  of  quantitative  analysis  in 
the  form  of  a  dictionary.  Prof.  Storer  has  conceived  the  idea  that  the 
processes  of  analysis  may  be  so  arranged  that  the  views  of  the  best 
observers  on  each  subject  may  be  brought  together  when  their  importance 
justifies  the  space  required,  and  where  the  several  m^ethods  that  have  been 
suggested  may  be  placed  side  by  side.  The  author  says  he  has  drawn 
freely  from  the  best  works  on  analysis,  and  from  other  works  when  neces-- 
sary,  and  further  says,  "It  is  noteworthy  that  the  tendency  of  all  the 
works  recently  published  on  quantitative  analysis  is  towards  condensation 
and  abbreviation,  while  the  aim  of  the  present  book  is  to  show  that  per- 
spicuity can  be  best  gained  by  amplification  if  need  be  and  methodical 
arrangement.  The  author  believes  thai  the  interests  of  chemists  and 
chemical  students  alike  demand  two  kinds  of  books  upon  quantitative 
analysis.  The  one  kind  looking  to  completeness  in  all  directions,  while  the 
other  is  given  over  either  to  special  instruction  or  to  the  discussion  of 
special  applications  of  analysis  in  some  one  of  the  various  departments, 
of  chemistry."  The  present  part  contains  articles  on  acidimetry,  alcohol- 
ometry,  alkalimetry,  but  is  chiefly  occupied  with  carbon  and  carbonic 
acid,  ending  with  carbonate  of  silver. 
Temperatures  are  given  by  centigrade.  To  avoid  increasing  the 
volume  wood-cuts  are  omitted.  This  is  certainly  a  mistake,  as,  besides 
increasing  the  clearness  of  descriptions  of  processes,  outline  figures, 
showing  the  relation  of  parts  and  their  shape  in  apparatus,  give  ideaa 
more  correctly  than  simple  descriptions,  and  render  these  much  briefer. 
Judging  the  coming  volume  by  this  first  part,  it  will  prove  very  useful  to 
the  chemist  as  well  as  to  the  student;  to  the  former,  by  grouping  pro- 
cesses of  which  he  needs  a  reminder ;  to  the  latter,  as  affording  advice 
and  assistance  in  every  variety  of  analysis,  and  in  a  form  easily  reached. 
