Manual of Materia Medica. By F. J. Farre, M.D. Cantab.
(Long- mans.) —In the present volume Dr. Faire has reduced Dr. Pereira's great work to about one-third of its original size. He seems to us to have done this without in any way detracting from its value ; he has simply omitted a great mass of matter which was out of place, such as non-pharmacological remedies, the influence of the mind, Fec., and phar- macological remedies not contained in the British pharma.copreia. He arranges his matter according to the chemical classification of the inor- ganic bodies, and the botanical and zoological classification of the plants and animals which yield the organic bodies, from which medicines are derived ; at the end of the volume he gives a list of the latter, classified according to their physiological effects. The work is of course intended for the use of the profession, but there seems no reason why it should not be studied by any person of liberal education who takes an interest in the properties of plants and minerals, and is disinclined to swallow in blind faith even a physician's prescription.
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