'""v/aTis^o""'  }  Reviews,  etc.  285. 
the  many  patient  investigations  undertaken  by  competent  men,  the  various  transfor- 
mations of  organic  compounds  in  the  living  body  are  mostly  involved  in  obscurity, 
so  that  biological  chemistry  can  scarcely  as  yet  be  ranked  with  the  exact  sciences. 
It  is  for  this  reason  the  more  important  that  what  has  been  accomplished  should  be 
presented  to  the  student,  not  as  isolated  facts,  but  in  groups  as  natural  as  the  nature 
of  the  numerous  principles  will  admit.  The  little  work  before  us  is  one  which  we 
think  will  be  studied  with  pleasure  and  profit. 
After  a  brief  chapter  on  manipulations,  the  organic  proximate  principles  taking 
part  in  the  animal  economy  are  described,  commencing  with  the  fatty  and  other 
acids,  which  are  followed  by  the  sugars,  the  principles  found  in  urine,  flesh  and  bile, 
the  albuminoid  and  allied  bodies,  and  the  animal  pigments.  Of  each  principle  there 
is  usually  given  its  origin,  mode  of  preparation,  properties  and  tests,  and  in  case  two 
or  more  resemble  each  other,  the  differences  are  pointed  out.  The  descriptions, 
though  brief,  are  clear,  and  in  most  cases  sufficient  for  the  purpose  ;  frequently,  also, 
further  elucidated  by  acceptable  wood-cuts,  illustrating  the  shape  of  crystals,  appa- 
ratus, etc.  Where  briefness  is  an  object,  certain  portions  may  always  be  picked  out 
by  the  critical  that  would  seem  to  deserve  more  detailed  consideration.  In  this 
respect,  the  book  will,  in  nearly  all  cases,  meet  general  approval.  Among  the  few 
instances  noticed  by  us,  where  some  additional  facts  appear  to  be  deserving  of 
greater  detail,  are  the  action  of  the  various  ferments  in  the  presence  of  acids  and 
alkalies. 
Part  II  treats  of  the  analysis  of  secretions,  excretions,  etc.  The  author's  famili- 
arity with  his  subject  is  everywhere  evident  in  the  selection  of  the  processes  for  sep- 
aration, identification  and  estimation.  The  same  is  also  observed  in  Part  III,  which 
treats  of  the  detection  of  poisons,  and  is,  as  the  author  tells  us  in  the  preface,  mod- 
eled on  the  plan  of  Bowman's  chemistry. 
We  regard  the  work  not  only  very  well  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  medical  stu- 
dent, but  we  are  convinced  that  the  physician  and  the  pharmacist  will  find  it  very 
useful  in  giving  reliable  advice  in  the  examination  of  urine,  calculi,  blood,  milk  and 
other  animal  matters,  and  in  the  detection  and  identification  of  poisons.  In  useful- 
ness, as  well  as  in  appearance,  the  work  will  be  a  desirable  addition  to  the  medical 
and  pharmaceutical  library. 
A  Guide  to  the  Practical  Examination  of  Urine ^  for  the  use  of  Physicians  and  Students. 
By  James  Tyson,  M.D.,  Professor  of  General  Pathology  and  Morbid  Anatomy 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  etc.  Third  edition.  Philadelphia  :  Lindsay 
&  Blakiston.    1880.    izmo,  pp.  183.    Price,  ^1.50. 
It  is  little  more  than  a  year  ago  since  we  reviewed  the  second  edition  of  this  work, 
and  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  state  that  the  present  revised  one  deserves  all  the  praise 
accorded  to  the  preceding. 
The  Art  of  Perfumery^  and  the  Methods  of  Obtaining  the  Odors  of  Plants^  etc.  By 
G.  W.  Septimus  Piesse,  Ph.D.,  F.C.S.,  etc.  Fourth  edition.  Philadelphia: 
Presley  Blakiston.     1880.     8vo,  pp.  506. 
Piesse's  "  Perfumery"  is  too  well  known,  and  has  been  for  such  a  longtime  in  the 
