The Pharmacopoeia of the United States

For well over a century, the United States Pharmacopoeia has functioned as a Who's Who for the countless remedies and other agents of use to the medical and allied professions. It is a valuable storehouse of information concerning hundreds of items after which the magic symbols of "U.S.P." have been affixed. In addition, the reader will find an extensive appendix on a wide variety of subjects-reagents, test solutions, indicators, tables of atomic weights, etc.-which he may find of service. It is in the nature of encyclopedic compilations for penicillin to share the limelight with lemon oil and aromatic rhubarb symp; a bit puzzling, however, is the fact that such significant recent developments as streptomycin, folic acid, and heparin have not yet been accorded official sanction. No doubt the supplementary volume will fill in the gaps. Dr. Willmer, with his experience as a histologist, has given an excellent short review of the structure and relations of the retinal elements and their adaptation to theories of color vision. Recent experimental work related to the known action of rods and cones is discussed in terms of the phenomenon of color vision. Speculations and suggestions are found throughout the seven chapters to bring to the reader's attention a possible theory that the cone, a dark-adapting rod and a non-adapting or day rod, each with its own spectral sensitivity, could fulfill the essential conditions for complete color vision. The relationship of the receptor elements to the bipolar cells is examined in various parts of the retina and an attempt is made to correlate the physiological and structural data into a hypothesis that satisfies the demands of the trichromatic theory of color. There are four colored plates and seventy-seven figures and charts. The book also has complete author and subject indexes and a list of references discussed in the text. Prior to the invasion of Holland, a team of investigators was formed at the University of Leiden for the study of influenza. The opportunity soon came with a sharp outbreak in 1941, and the authors succeeded in isolating the agent or in demonstrating it serologically in 44 instances as influenza A. The collaboration of clinicians and pathologists has served to round out this careful study.