'American Pharmacy' by American Authors

The first impression of the book on the reviewer has been most pleasing and satisfying. In design, printing and format, in the organization, classification and treatment of the subject-matter, in the wealth of upto-date information, and in well-chosen illustrations, the book has reached a level of excellence well above the average. ' American Pharmacy ' represents a new trend in the Planning of textbooks in the field of pharmacy, in that it is a 'multi-author' book and not a one-man compilation (22 authors. 6 advisory authors, 1 technical editor and 1 editor-in-chief). It has been planned as a textbook where each chapter has been written by an outstanding American teacher of experience and repute. It therefore represents the best pharmaceutical thought of our time, as expressed through the medium of a textbook. The only criticism which may be levelled against this design of textbook writing is that a certain degree of unevenness in presentation and duplication of details would be evident since individual chapters are written by different authors. However, it is a credit ,t,o the editor-in-chief that he has succeeded in maintaining a surprising balance of quality all through, excepting perhaps the sections dealing with biologicals where the treatment of the text is slightly sketchy and lacks emphasis in certain details when compared to the earlier sections. The book is divided into three parts?part I deals with the fundamental principles of the basic science