384 
EDITORIAL. 
renders  necessary  so  much  less  of  that  substance  in  its  application  to 
various  uses,  to  say  nothing  of  the  satisfaction  derived  from  the  assurance 
of  its  purity  and  healthfullness,  the  cost  is  quite  balanced.  But  as  an 
article  of  diet  in  sickness,  considerations  of  economy  become  insignificant 
in  comparison  with  purity  and  high  nutritive  character,  and  your  com- 
mittee deem  it  but  a  duty  to  their  fellow  practitioners,  to  call  their  attention 
to  it,  as  a  valuable  adjunct  in  the  sick  room,  especially  in  the  convales- 
cence of  children/' 
An  Investigation  into  the  Facts  and  Theories  of  Fermentation  and  Putrefac- 
tion. By  Henry  Pemberton,  Practical  and  Analytical  Chemist. 
Medical  Examiner,  for  May,  pp.  257-295. 
We  call  the  attention  of  our  readers  to  the  above  essay,  on  one  of 
the  most  obscure,  and  at  the  same  time  interesting  subjects  that  ap- 
pertains to  chemistry  on  the  one  hand,  and  medicine  on  the  other,  entering 
as  it  does,  so  much  in  o  -game  chemical  reaction  in  disease,  and  in  the  cause 
of  disease  by  miasmatic  influence.  We  hope  to  be  able  to  present  our 
readers  with  the  chief  facts,  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Pemberton,  in  our 
next  number. 
An  Outline  of  Medical  Chemistry  for  the  use  of  Students.  By  B.  Howard 
Rand,  A.M.,  M.D.,  &e.  Philadelphia,  Lindsay  &  Blakiston.  1855.  pp. 
259  ;  12mo. 
Chemistry  has  grown  into  proportions  so  extensive  and  complicate,  that 
to  get  even  within  the  threshold  of  the  subject,  the  medical  student  is  com- 
pelled to  give  so  large  a  share  of  his  attention,  that  all  serious  expectation 
of  mastering  its  details,  as  presented  in  the  more  complete  treatises  of 
Graham,  Kane,  and  others,  during  the  distraction  occasioned  by  the 
more  (medically)  prominent  branches  of  anatomy,  materia  medica,  and 
practice,  is  frequently  abandoned.  To  meet  this  deficiency  several  smaller 
works  have  appeared,  more  or  less  extended  as  regards  their  grasp 
of  the  subject,  and  the  little  work  of  Dr.  Rand  belongs  in  the  catego- 
ry. If  we  understand  the  author,  his  object  has  been  to  present  the 
primary  and  important  facts  of  chemistry,  philosophical  and  material,  in 
so  condensed  a  form,  and  so  stripped  of  complexity  of  details,  that  the  stu- 
dent may  get  a  correct  outline  idea  of  the  subject,  be  conscious  of  the 
ground  plan  and  leading  points  of  the  superstructure,  so  as  to  be  able  in 
his  subsequent  reading  to  intelligibly  refer  what  he  learns  to  its  proper  po- 
sition, and  not  get  confused.  It  is  in  fact  to  be  an  auxiliary  of  the  lec- 
turer, who  is  expected  to  fill  up  the  details  in  his  teachings. 
Although  much  condensed,  Dr.  Rand's  book  embraces  a  large  number 
of  important  facts  in  the  chemistry  of  bodies  used  in  medicine,  organic 
and  inorganic,  and  by  the  judicious  use  of  symbolic  formulae,  much  exact 
information  is  conveyed.  It  will  certainly  find  many  admirers  among  the 
extensive  class  of  persons  to  whom  it  is  specially  addressed. 
