will send them out from her gates able to understand and to sympathize
with the life of the time. This cannot be done by rules or systems or
text-books. It can come from the subtile, impalpable, and yet powerful
influences which the spirit and atmosphere of the great university
can exert upon those within its care. It is not easy to define or
classify these influences although we all know their general effect.
Nevertheless, it is, I think, possible to get at something sufficiently
definite to indicate what is lacking and where the peril lies. It all
turns on the spirit which inspires the entire collegiate body, on the
mental attitude of the university as a whole. This brings us at once to
the danger which I think confronts all our large universities to-day,
and which I am sure confronts that university which I know and love
best. We are given over too much to the critical spirit and we are
educating men to become critics of other men instead of doers of deeds
themselves.
“This is all wrong. Criticism is healthful, necessary, and desirable,
but it is always abundant and infinitely less important than
performance. There is not the slightest risk that the supply of
critics will run out, for there are always enough middle-aged failures
to keep the ranks full if every other resource should fail. Faith
and hope, and belief, enthusiasm, and courage are the qualities to
be trained and developed in young men by a liberal education. _Youth
is the time for action, not criticism._ A liberal education should
encourage the spirit of action, not deaden it. We want the men whom
we send out from our universities to count in the battle of life and
in the history of their time, and to count more and not less because
of their liberal education. They will not count at all, be well
assured, if they come out trained only to look coldly and critically
on all that is being done in the world and on all who are doing it. We
cannot afford to have that type, and it is the true product of that
critical spirit which says to its scholars: “See how badly the world is
governed; see how covered with dust and sweat the men who are trying to
do the world’s business, and how many mistakes they make; let us sit
here in the shade with Amaryllis and add up the errors of these bruised
grimy fellows and point out what they ought to do, while we make no
mistakes ourselves by sticking to the safe rule of attempting nothing.”
This is a very comfortable attitude, but it is one of all others which
a university should discourage instead of inculcating. Moreover, with
such an attitude of mind towards the world of thought and action is
always allied a cultivated indifference than which there is nothing
more enervating.
“The time in which we live is full of questions of the deepest moment.
There has been during the century just ending the greatest material
development ever seen. The condition of the average man has been
raised higher than before, and wealth has been piled up beyond the
wildest fancy of romance. We have built up a vast social and industrial
system, and have carried civilization to the highest point it has ever
touched. That system and that civilization are on trial. Grave doubts
and perils beset them. Everywhere to-day there is an ominous spirit
of unrest. Everywhere is a feeling that all is not well, when health
abounds, and none the less dire poverty ranges by its side, when the
land is not fully populated and yet the number of unemployed reaches
to the millions. I believe we can deal with these doubts and rents
successfully, if we will but set ourselves to the great task as we
have to the trials and dangers of the past. But the solution will tax
to the utmost all the wisdom and courage and learning that the country
can provide. What are our universities, with their liberal education
to play in the history that is now making and is still to be written?
They are the crown and glory of our civilization, but they can readily
be set aside if they fall out of sympathy with the vast movements about
them. I do not say whether they should seek to resist or to sustain or
to guide and control these movements. But if they would not dry up and
wither they must at least understand them.
“A great university must be in touch with the world about it, with its
hopes, its passions, its troubles, and its strivings. If it is not it
must be content.
‘For aye to be in the shady cloister mewed,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold, fruitless moon.’
“The university which pretends to give a liberal education must
understand the movements about it, see whether the great forces are
tending, and justify its existence by breeding men who by its teachings
are more able to render the service which humanity is ever seeking.”
* * * * *
Professor Fried. Aug. Flückiger died on Dec. 11, 1894, at Berne. He was
the foremost pharmacognosist and scientific pharmacist of his time. An
extended account of his life and works will appear in a later issue of
THE ALUMNI JOURNAL.
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._
See also Bacteriology.
_Photo-Micrography._--H. van Heurick. Eng. Ed. Re-edited and augmented
by the author from the 4th French edition and translated by Wynne E.
Baxter. With Illus. London: Crosby, Lockwood & Son.
_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.
THE MOST RECENT WORK.
_A Seidlitz Powder._--A. Gunn made an examination of some powders and
found the blue powder to consist of magnesium sulphate and sodium
bicarbonate. The white powder consisted of tartaric acid. Evidently
there had been a mistake or else it was a bold attempt to cope with the
cutting system and its cheap prices. One wonders that the makers should
expect the unusual effect of trying to dissolve the contents of the
blue paper to pass unnoticed.--_Pharm. Jour. Trans._, 1894, 534.
_Ointment of Mercuric Nitrate._--C. H. La Wall (_Amer. Jour. Pharm.,
1894, 525_). The following fats have been suggested as a substitute
for the lard oil: Neatsfoot oil, lard, butter, peanut oil, almond oil,
caster oil, palm oil, bear’s oil, ox marrow, beef suet, stearic acid,
petrolatum, and almost all of the other fats from the animal and the
vegetable kingdoms, and even one from the mineral kingdom, appear to
have been experimented with in the vain hope of finding some fat or oil
which would make a good and durable ointment.
Several writers have taken another course and have tried to preserve
the products obtained from former processes. One advises keeping the
ointment in a jar and covering it with a layer of glycerin to prevent
oxidation; others have tried the addition of camphor; still others have
given their attention to the mercurial portion of the ointment, and
suggest making the nitrate from the oxide of mercury instead of making
it from the metal. Some have even been skeptical as to the reliability
of any process, but those who have approximated the truth more nearly
are they who advise careful manipulation, especially as regards
temperature.
The author employs the official ingredients and quantities and heats
the lard oil to 100° C., removes heat, and adds the nitric acid without
stirring and reapplies heat when effervescence ceases until all gas is
expelled. It is best to use a vessel of six times the capacity of the
quantity to be made to allow for the copious effervescence which takes
place. When the foregoing mixture has cooled to 40° C., the solution of
mercuric nitrate is added and the temperature is raised gradually to
60° C., and maintained until no further evolution of gas is noticed. If
it is then agitated until cold, as usual, the resulting product will
comply with the requirements of the Pharmacopœia.
Ointment made by the U. S. P. method, which has become spongy, may
be remedied by elevating the temperature to 60° C. and cooling with
agitation.