NEW LITERATURE.

Readers desiring any of the works contained in this list can obtain them through B. Westerman & Co., 812 Broadway, Gustav E. Stechert, 810 Broadway, or other foreign booksellers.

Bacteriology.

Mikrophotographischer Atlas der Bakterienkunde.—C. Fraenkel u. R. Pfeiffer. 2 Aufl. 11, u. 12. Lfg. Berlin: August Hirschwald.

Mikrophotographischer Atlas der Bakterienkunde.—Itzgerott u. Niemann, Leipzig: J. A. Barth.

Botany.

Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Bestandtheile von Cnicus benedictus mit hauptsächliche Berücksichtigung des darin enthaltenen bitter schmeckenden Korpers.—Karl Schwander. Inaug.—Diss. Univ. Erlangen.

An examination of the constituents and particularly the better principle of Cnicus benedictus.

Beitrag zur Kenntniss des Bitterstoffes von Citrullus colocynthis.—Rud. Speidel. Inaug.—Dissert. Univ. Erlangen.

Weitere Beiträge zur Cheimischen Kenntniss einiger Bestandtheile aus Secale cornutum.—Hans Zeeh. Inaug.—Diss. Univ. Erlangen.

Uebersicht der Leistungen auf dem Gebiete der Botanik in Russland während des Jahres, 1892.—Zusammengestellt von A. Famintzin u. S. Korshinsky unter Mitwirkung von Anderer. Aus dem Russ. ubers. von F. Th. Köppen. Leipzig: Voss. A review of the history and events in botanical works in Russia during 1892.

Atlas der officinellen Pflanzen.—A. Meyer u. K. Schumann. 1892-1894. Leipzig: A. Felix. Darstellung und Beschreibung der in Arzneibuche für das Deutsche Reich erwähnten Gewächse. Zweite verbesserte Auflage von “Darstellung und Beschreibung sämmtlicher in der Pharmacopœia Borussica aufgefuhrten officinellen Gewächse von O. C. Berg u. C. F. Schmidt.”

Chemistry.

A Text-Book of Organic Chemistry.—A. Bernthsen. Translated by G. M’Gowan. 2d Eng. Ed. Revised and Extended by the Author and Translator, London: Blackie.

Chemie médicale.—Corps minéreaux. Corps organiques. L. Garnier. Paris: Rueff et ciè.

Nozioni di Fisicia. Chimica e Mineràlogia ad Uso delle Scuole techniche e delle Preparatorie alle Normal.—M. Borzone. Torino.

Grundzüge der mathematischen Chemie.—Georg Helm. Leipzig: Wm. Engelmann. The author discusses the transformation of energy by reason of chemical action.

Kurzes Repetitorium der Chemie.—1. Theil Anorganische Chemie. 2. Aufl. Ernst Bryk. Wien: M. Breitenstein.

Grundzüge der Chemie und Mineralogie für den Unterricht an Mittelschulen.—M. Zaengerle. 3. Aufl. Munchen: J. Lindauer.

Hygiene.

Text Book of Hygiene.—G. H. Rohe. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co.

A comprehensive treatise on the principles and practice of preventive medicine from an American standpoint.

Materia Medica.

Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy. Illustrated. By Prof. L. E. Sayre: P. Blakiston & Co., Philadelphia.

In these days of degenerate rivalry among educational institutions, and particularly among the different classes of technical schools, when their officers are wont to prefer the very poorest of text-books, written by one of their own number, for the best of them should it emanate from a rival institution, we have become accustomed to looking upon publications of this sort as serving merely, like an electoral vote, to count one among the general collection. It can scarcely be expected that text-books written from such standpoints and with such motives can have much permanent value, and the future educational historian will doubtless look with amazement upon the trash of this character which has been brought to light during the present era. In the midst of this wearisome train of events it is refreshing to have presented to us a new text-book, whose publication constitutes, as to its main part, a real event in the history of pharmaceutical education.

Prof. Sayre’s work on Pharmacognosy has a real reason for existence in its scope, arrangement and execution. It is new and original, and will stand by itself as a prominent American text-book. If it possesses glaring and in some respects fatal defects, it at the same time presents the merit of ingenuity in construction as well as in the selection of subject matter, and it cannot fail to become a much-used reference book, not only by the pharmaceutical profession for whom it is intended but by physicians as well. It is perhaps unfortunate that so many individuals, and nearly all of them students, should have been given a free hand in the working out of the various departments, and that their products have not been in all cases perfectly harmonized by the master. It is also unfortunate that so many statements should have been taken, without investigation, from other authors. A brief scrutiny of the pages will suffice to reveal this composite origin, even if one does not read the acknowledgments of the author in his preface. Doubtless Prof. Sayre, while he has not greatly interfered with the individuality of presentation of these different subjects, has taken pains to verify the accuracy of the facts and conclusions recorded. Should such prove upon closer investigation to be the case, the defect referred to must doubtless be considered as one of style merely.

The appearance of an American work on Pharmacognosy is of so much importance that it is not inappropriate that it be analyzed with some degree of fulness. The book consists of two parts with three appendices. Part 1 is on “Pharmacal Botany,” while part 2 is upon “Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy.” It is impossible to review this work fairly in the interest of the public as well as of the author without recording the opinion that the eighty-two pages comprising Part 1 should never have been published, if we regard either the reputation of the author or the welfare of students of pharmacy.

Our American text-books on Pharmaceutical Botany, (not “Pharmacal Botany,” as the author unhappily calls it, which would mean the Botany of the Pharmacy, or of the place in which pharmaceutics are practiced,) bears no evidence that any author has yet comprehended the needs of pharmaceutical students in this direction, or has adjusted his instruction so as to accomplish the object for which it was devised. The idea invariably indicated by the writings, even if not intended by the writers, is that as the application of botanical knowledge to the practice of the pharmacy is limited, its teachings may therefore be superficial, indefinite and vague. The true idea it seems to us is, that it should be curtailed and limited only as to the portions of the field covered; but these requisite portions should be taught with a fulness of illustration, a clearness of presentation and a simplicity of style, all the more marked because the student is deprived of the enlightening effect contributed in other cases by those portions which are here necessarily omitted.

As a synopsis, or summary of knowledge, intended to guide the teacher instructed in the subject, these eighty-two pages will answer fairly well; but to enable a student who is proceeding de novo to gain a knowledge of structural botany for the purposes of pharmacognosy, we can see nothing but failure. Herein we criticise the book, not specifically the author. Publishers’ books are not always authors’ books. It is doubtful if any publisher can be found willing to publish as a business enterprise, a perfect text-book of Botany for pharmaceutical students.

When such appears, it will be as a labor of love, by one whose regard for the subject is such as to lead him to donate his time and labor, and whose means enable him to bear the burden of a financially unsuccessful enterprise.

The part of the work under criticism is a mere series of definitions, illustrated in a highly unsuccessful manner, and frequently losing sight of the requirement that a definition must include the whole of the thing defined and nothing else. It is very naive to say: “All organic matter containing a green coloring matter called chlorophyl, belongs to the vegetable kingdom,” without directly stating that no other class does, which statement would leave out the fungi, a part of the definition of which is that they contain no such matter. To define Morphology as treating—“Of the organs of plants and their relations to each other,” is not to define it at all, as that would include the whole of Organography, and does not even exclude Physiology, except by virtue of the author’s preceding clause. Systematic botany, defined as “That division which treats of the arrangement and classification of plants,” does not suggest the vital characteristics of that subject. It would be more philosophical to refer to the distinctive characteristics of Phanerogams as the manner in which the embryo is produced within a true seed, than to intimate that the embryo is entirely foreign to cryptogamic reproduction. These definitions, taken from less than two pages of matter, indicate to our mind a lack of the expenditure of time requisite to bring forth a set of new definitions more perfectly in accord with the fullest knowledge of to-day than any list which has yet appeared; and yet when the instruction given in a new text-book is chiefly limited to definitions, that is the very least that should have been attempted.

Some of the morphological definitions are actually at variance with accurate descriptive usage, as that of primary and secondary roots, duration, etc. To call a stem an “axis” and a root an “axis” of a different kind, is to perpetuate a term at the expense of all regard for that accuracy which is the most important element of scientific language. Such subjects as venation are of prime importance to the pharmacist, and so far from restricting the teachings to several of the more important terms presented in ordinary text-books on botany, the classification should be elaborated in its fullest details. Compare the definition of classes, as “Plants resembling one another in some grand leading feature,” and of orders or families, as “Plants that very closely resemble each other in some leading particular,” with the clear presentation of ranks in class characteristics, given by Agassiz a generation ago, and which should, if anything, have been improved upon in the light of modern knowledge and perfected usage.

The subject of nomenclature, the recent agitation of which has done more to expose and shatter erroneous practices in scientific thought and custom than any other influence, and whose correct apprehension is the very corner-stone of pharmacopœial definition, we do not see anywhere treated.

It is a pleasure to turn from a contemplation so depressing to the spirits of one who has labored hopefully for years to secure a just and rational treatment of his favorite study at the hands of Pharmaceutical educators, to Part II. of Prof. Sayre’s book, a work so bright and practical, so replete with new and helpful ideas in the teaching of practical Pharmacognosy, and so full of information, both standard and exceptional, though unhappily marred by many errors, as to secure for it at once a prominent place upon the shelves of the “Handy Book Case.”

The principle is here adhered to of making a single volume do duty as a text-book of Pharmacognosy and of “Materia Medica,” as the latter term is commonly used. We have never looked upon this method as being practicable, but Prof. Sayre resorts to a most ingenious device never before resorted to, by which it must be admitted that better results have been obtained than have previously been reached. What might be called a “Pharmacognostical Key,” or a synopsis of Pharmacognosy, is presented separately in advance of the main body of Part II. Here the drugs are numbered to correspond with the consecutive numbering prominently displayed under the second arrangement, that by natural orders, the proper method for retaining and displaying the natural relationships of active constituents and medicinal properties. The “Pharmacognostical Key” appears to us a failure in its practical workings, owing to indefinite characterization, by reference to taste only of the headings. If a drug is both bitter and aromatic, we have to look for it both in Class I. and Class III. A bifurcating key is here required, or better, we might take a combination of characters for each heading. On the whole, this key, while elaborate and very full, and subject to great improvement by a few trifling changes, we must regard as inferior to that of Maisch’s text-book. Prof. Sayre very sensibly omits all attempt to classify volatile oils, except by indicating their sources.

The arrangement of the matter of the second part is, first, a brief description of the ordinal characters, followed by a list of the drugs belonging to that order, those official in heavy-faced capitals; then the drugs are taken up separately, the official names and synonyms in the important languages presented, the definition, botanical characteristics, sources, related, and similar articles, description of drugs, with the more important characters printed in heavier type, accompanied generally by a picture of the plant and of the drug, gross and structural, important constituents, actions and uses, and a synopsis of the official preparations. The doses of the drugs are given, but not of the preparations, though the strengths of the latter are stated. An unfortunate feature, as in Part I., is the illustrations. They are not at all uniform in effect. While the method followed has given exceptionally good results in some cases, yet in many others they are very unsatisfactory, and this is more particularly true from a scientific than from an artistic point of view.

Valuable a contribution as is Part II., there is an evident unfamiliarity with, or disregard of, the commercial aspects of drugs. For instance, the important distinctions between Cassia vera and C. lignea, and the subject of Batavian Cassia, a correct understanding of which is a great aid in the economy of the drug store, are entirely omitted. The distinctions between Coto and Paracoto are not clear, and in the facts concerning commercial occurrence are reversed. Mace is not, as described, a “membrane,” neither does it “invest the kernel.” Moreover, nothing is said about Wild Mace, now so extensively used as an adulterant that it is possible that it constitutes the larger part of commercial Mace. “Reddish brown” boldo leaves are old and worthless. The description of Piper longum is only partly true, according to the variety under consideration, and the individual parts are not “berries.” The part rubbed off from Piper album is not correctly described as an “epidermis.” The important characteristics distinguishing true from false cubebs is not given.

Appendix “A” is a valuable contribution on the subject of insects injurious to drugs.

Appendix “B” is no less important, it being an account of the contributions of organic chemistry to materia medica.

Appendix “C” treats of “Pharmacal Microscopy” in such a fragmentary and superficial way that it will scarcely be found of service to any one in these days.

H. H. Rusby.

Pharmacy.

Einführung in die Maassanalyse.—M. Vogtherr. Für junge Pharmaceuten zum Unterricht und zum Selbststudium. Unter Berücksichtigung des Arzneibuches für das deutsche Reich und der Ergänzung desselben durch die ständige Commission für die Bearbeitung dieses Arzneibuches. 2. Aufl. Newied: Heuser’s Verlag.

Pharmaceutisk Haandboog for 1895.—E. P. F. Peterson. Kjobenhaven: F. Host & Sons.

Photo-Micrography.

Photography.

Deutsches Photographen Kalender.—K. Schwier. Taschenbuch und Almanach für 1895. 14. Jahr Weimar.

Physics.

Manual of Physico-Chemical Measurements.—W. Ostwald. Translated by James Walker. London and New York: Macmillan.

A Laboratory Manual of Physics and Applied Electricity.—E. L. Nichols. 2 vols. London and New York: Macmillan.

Anfangsgründe der Physik mit Einschluss der Chemie und Mathematischen Geographie.—K. Koppe. 20. Aufl. Ausgabe B in 2 Lehrgängen. Für höhere Lehranstalten nach den preuss. Lehrplänen von 1892. Bearbeitet von A. Husmann. II. Th.: Hauptlehrgang. Essen: G. D. Baedeker.

Elementi di Fisica ad Uso delle Scuole secondarie.—F. Cintolesi. Livorno.

Thermo Dynamics treated with Elementary Mathematics.—J. Parlseo. London: S. Low & Co.