Abstract
THIS work is a very complete summary of researches carried out during the year 1910 in therapeutics, and, to a less degree, in the chemistry of drugs. Full and interesting accounts of the cacodylates and of kephir from their introduction into therapeutics occupy a considerable part of the volume. From the references to arsacetin and atoxyl the latter appears to have certain.advantages over the former, especially in cases of trypanosomiasis. Messerschmidt's benzidine test for blood is discussed in detail, and seems to have value as a negative rather than as a positive test. Light is thrown upon the mode of action of chrys-arobin in skin diseases by Unna and Goldsetz's observation of its oxidation on the skin to oxychrys-arobin and chrysaloxin. The introduction into the German pharmacopœia of the formaldehyde sulphuric acid test for chloroform is commended, although admittedly the nature of the impurities excluded by it are not known. In view of the fatal effects that are from time to time reported of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic, it is essential that stringent tests to ensure its purity should be adopted. The report should prove especially valuable to medical practitioners and to pharmacists, as it contains in readily available form abstracts from journals, many not easily accessible, relating to the constitution and action more particularly of modern synthetic remedies.
Annual Report of Recent Advances in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Therapeutics.
Vol. xxiv., pp. 419. (Darmstadt and London: E. Merck, 1911.) Price 1s. 6d.
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GREENISH, H. Annual Report of Recent Advances in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Therapeutics . Nature 88, 479 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/088479b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/088479b0