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past niistakes. This is to be coiiiiiiended but should riot be carried so far as t o become prohibitive. T h e hest results \vi11 be reached when good judgiiieiit miti coiiserx,.atisiii g o liand i i i liaiitl. J l a i i y will doubt tlie wisdom of the cliaiige made i n tlie coiistitution itself, proliibitiiig a n y cliniige. except 111. uiianiliious conseiit, in tlie methods of fertilizer aual!-sis until aii opportunity shall have been giveii all official clieiiiists to tr). the saine. T h i s gi1.r.s to a n y one iiieiiiber a power to delap actioii ivliicli niany w i l l think should be held by tlie majorit>. aloiie. "lie appointment of reporters for two !.c,trs, a i i d associates wlio s1i:ill fit tlicmselves to becoiiie reporters oii tlie special liiies of noi-k, sliould iiiect the approval of all clieiiiists and niay he far-reacliing in i t s re..;ult:;. The Secretary of tlie .Issociatioil has not felt himself iiii1)oiveretl to make ally a1tcr:itioris whatever i i i the wording of tlie iiietliods ; arid it is pleasing to learn that a special coniiiiittee lias 1)eeri appointed to rewrite tlie iiietliods and put them in creditable Eiig-lisli. There is a growing feeling in the Associatioil that it is reachiiig the point n-liere it can \vel1 enlarge its scope. In the past it has coiifined itself strictly to analytical processes. but t h e desire seems t3 be increasing for iiii.estigatioiis along the line of availability i n fertilizer and food material and to make more of a study of proxiiiiate coiistituents. Geiieral dissatisfactiori is expressed with the preseiit " citrate-soluble phosphoric acid, ' ' " crude f i l m - , " nitrogen-free extract," etc., and i t is to be hoped that tiissatisfaction will lead to renewed iiivestigatioiis. The Associatioil lias a n atlbitioiial axid uiiliiiiited field of usefulness for itself along this line. C . I,. I'.\KSOSS. ACETo-XcXTIc1:STF:R A S I ) ITS DF:KIV.\TLYI?S. IllrP A V L €1. S H Y M O L ' R , bI.S.,I S S T R U C T O K IX CHEMISTRY, 1,;\KI< 1:OKEST LTSIV. S m i t h s o n i a n RIiscellaneous Collections, No. 910. pp. 14;. X'ashington: S m i t h s o n i a n I n s t i t u t i o n . 1894. Price 75 cents.
B I I ~ I , I O ~ ~ K OF ,~i~f~\~
T h e rapidly increasing literature of aceto-acetic ester makes this volume of great value. T h e author has given brief abstracts of tlie articles that have appeared upoii tlie subject of the bibliography from 1840-18gr, ' I omitting what had 110 relation to aceto-acetic ester. ' ' "lie abstracts are clear, and full eiioug.11to
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accomplish their time-saving purpose. Misprints are infrequent. On page 1 0 7 , however, we find ‘‘ uvitic acid” and “ carbuvitic acid” instead of uvic acid and carbuvic acid. Excellent author and subject-indexes accompany the abstracts. I,. B. H. REPORTON THE EXTENT AND CHARACTER O F F O O D .4ND DRUG ADULTERATION, BULLETIN NO. 41, u. s. D E P ~ R T M E NOF T AGRICULTURE, DIVISIONOF CHEMISTRY. BY ALEX. J. WRDDERBURN. pp 64. Washington : Government Printing Office. 1894. EIGHTHANNUAL REPORTO F THE DAIRY A N D FOOD COMMISSIONER O F OHIO. BY F. B. MCNEAL,COLUMBUS, OHIO. FIRSTA N X C A L REPORT O F THE COMMISSIONISR O F AGRICULTURE O F ~ ’ E WYORK. BY F. C. SCHRAUB, ALBANY,N. Y. A COMPILATION O F THE PHARMr\CY A N D D R U G LAWSO F THE S E V E R 4 t STATES AND TERKITORIES, RtILLETIN N O . 42, u. s. DEPARTMENTO F AGRICULTURE,DIVISIONO F CHEMISTRY. BY ALEX. J. WEDDEKRURN. pp 1 5 2 . Published by order of Congress. 1894.
There seeins to be a growing interest among our legislators and among the general public in reference to pure foods and drugs. Many of the states and, in fact, a majority have laws making druggists responsible for the drugs they sell, requiring that only pure dairy products shall be sold, and placing a standard on commercial vinegar, but in most instances the laws have simply served to adorn the statute books. Much work has been done to arouse the public, and in view of the strict control exercised on adulteration in niost other advanced countries, it is surprising that it has not met with more inmediate success. T h e cause has undoubtedly been injured by grossly exaggerated articles claiming general impurity of all our food products, but enough adulteration, proved by actual analysis by competent chemists, is now coming to light to demand ininiediate enlargement and enforcement of our laws. T h e chief records of recent opinions and analyses will be found in the above reports. Among the replies received by the special agent of the Department of Agriculture and recorded in Bulletin No. 41, will be found many statements by some of our best chemists. These are, in general, noteworthy for their conservative tone but, a s a rule, each has had soiiie form of adulteration come under his personal notice, and those whose duties have caused thein to investigate the matter, give many examples of foods,
