Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
March,  1909.  / 
Book  Reviews. 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
Geschichte  der  Pharmazie.  By  Dr.  Hermann  Schelenz. 
Verlag  von  Julius  Springer,  Berlin. 
Every  science  has  its  history  and  many  historical  works  have 
been  published,  for  instance,  "  A'  History  of  Chemistry  "  by  Ernst 
von  Meyer,  translated  into  English  by  George  McGowan,  which  is 
of  special  interest  to  the  pharmacist. 
But  our  dear  old  "  Mater  Pharmacia  "  has  been  treated  some- 
what step-motherly  until  after  ten  years'  work  the  well-known 
German  author,  historian  and,  we  are  proud  to  state,  apotheker, 
Hermann  Schelenz,  Cassel,  published  a  master-work  in  his  "  History 
of  Pharmacy." 
In  this  excellent  book  of  about  iooo  pages  Schelenz  gives  the 
history  of  pharmacy  of  all  nations  from  the  oldest  times  to  the 
present  day,  divided  into  nineteen  periods. 
Schelenz  gives  the  history  of  the  various  drugs,  their  cultivation, 
marketing  and  even  adulterations.  The  history  of  galenical  prepa- 
rations is  not  only  traced  to  Claudius  Galenus,  but  even  to  Dios- 
corides.  Etymology,  that  important  and  interesting  study  of  the 
origin  and  derivation  of  the  names  of  drugs,  in  fact  of  all  names 
connected  with  pharmacy,  is  one  of  Schelenz's  specialties. 
The  history  of  nostrums  and  the  development  of  the  nostrum 
evil  are  not  forgotten  in  this  book. 
Furthermore,  Schelenz  gives  the  biographies  of  celebrated  phar- 
macists, botanists  and  pharmacognosists,  alchemists  and  chemists, 
physicians  and  pharmacologists.  We  find  in  this  work  the  history 
of  the  Pharmacopoeias,  Dispensatories  and  Formularies  of  all 
nations,  also  pharmaceutical  laws  and  price-taxes. 
Schelenz  gives  a  review  of  pharmaceutical  literature  and  journals, 
also  the  history  of  the  universities;  and  allied  sciences  from  the 
earliest  times  to  the  present  day. 
A  5-page  list  of  scentific  reference  works  which  have  been  con- 
sulted by  the  author,  and  a  very  complete  index  of  100  pages  and 
containing  26,000  words,  conclude  the  book. 
Schelenz's  "  Geschichte  der  Pharmazie "  is  just  the  book  to 
awaken  in  the  young  pharmacist,  the  apprentice  and  the  student  a 
love  for  his  work  and  studies,  and  it  is  also  well  suited  to  strengthen 
the  love  for  his  profession  in  the  pharmacist  and  apothecary.  Let 
