BOOK REVIEWS 227 of Hilditch and Levern) is in error. The literature references (and data) on lanolin are not the latest. One of the more valuable sections is on antibiotics with its extensive listing of unusual an tibiotics isolated in pure form. Volume IV contains six different chapters. Of them chapter 7, on terpenes, and chapter 9, on starch, will be the most interesting to cos- metic chemists. Portions of all the chapters, excepting possibly that on explosives, are valuable. The terpene chapter could be embellished with the more recent work of Haagen-Smith, Stoll and Naves. It is interesting to find the statement that lanosterol and agnos- terol are triterpenes. The work on ambrien could be more expanded. The fact that squalene is the iden- tifying factor in oil of olives and is present in skin sebum is not men- tioned. Hassid's chapter on starch is good but does not contain the latest in- formation on ca•boxymethyl and hydroxyethyl starches, for example. The non-wetting and non-gelling starches are completely by-passed. Chapter 11, by Hanford and Sar- gent, covers "Reppe" chemistry and polyethylenes among other reactions of organic gases under pressure. The work throughout the four volumes of Gilman published to date is of the highest caliber. It suffers from only one fault that this re- viewer can see, and that is, the au- thors do not cover their subject up to the latest date. The older work is well screened. Occasionally, as in Hassid's chapter, newer phases of a development are completely by- passed while the academic aspects are well and thoroughly done. Regardless, Gilman and his con- tributors are continuing a needed work. It is one we all will want and use in our libraries.--M. G. I)E- •N•TA V'A RR E. SKIS THER^PEVTmS, by M. K. Polano. Elsevier Press, Houston 6, Tex. 1952. 276 pages, 6 X 9 inches, indexed. Price $6.50. The author is head of the Derma- tological Department of the Munici- pal Hospital at The Hague. Basi- cally, the book is supposed to be a system used to facilitate the pre- scribing of dermatological therapy. The author further claims to offer the right ointment for the correct treatment of each skin disease. The following statement on page 11, is hard to accept, "The dispens- ing of the ointments cannot wholly be entrusted to the chemist" (phar- macist in U.S.A.) this reviewer finds that this responsibility cannot be entrusted completely to the average dermatologist because of his lack of knowledge of bases and of incompatibilities. So much so that it becomes easy and necessary for the dermatologist to prescribe com- pounded specialty medication. The presentation is not uniform. In some cases abbreviations are used. In others the same words are spelled out. The mixture of Latin and English is really confusing. There is an error in the statement that aureomycin "is a mixture of several antibiotic substances." On the same page (117) "systematically" is used in place of systemically. On page 110 the amount of methyl paraben as preservative is glven as 0.5 per cent which is far too much since either 0.1 to 0.15 per cent is generally believed to be sufficient. On page 73 the author mentions that methyl parabenum is a mixture of methyl and propyl p-hydroxy- benzoates, which it is not. In some places he calls it methylbeni other times it is methyl paraben. Colclay is given for volclay on page 70, line 9. In addition there is a question of the use of 4 per cent

228 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS bentonite in a calaminelotion. This would be quite thick. The formula on page 71 for U.S.P. XIV calamine lotion has been proved unsatisfac- tory but no note is made of this. There is also a question of the com- patibility of the formulas using "quats" as germicides on page 149. All in all, the book is a confusion of Latin-English, poor uniformity of presentation, poor English transla- tion, and questionable achievement of the author's goal. Some ninety pages of tables giving equivalent drugs used in the various pharma- copoeias and official compendia is its major contribution. If redone in English, as we know it in English- speaking countries, the book could be greatly improved. But it still reflects a rather superficial knowl- edge of dermatological vehicles and their compatibilities.--M. G. r•E- NAVARRE. DISEASES OF THE SKIN, by Oliver S. Ormsby and Hamilton Montgomery. Eighth Edition, Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, Pa. 1954. 1503 pages, indexed and illustrated. Price $22. The most authoritative derma- tologic textbook in the English language has now appeared in its 8th edition. This new edition is par- ticularly welcome since the 7th edition in 1948 was published before the great advances which have been made in many fields of dermatology. The introduction of the steroids and the antibiotics alone have changed so many of our therapeutic ap- proaches to grave dermatologic dis- orders that these by themselves would merit a revision of the ther- apy in any textbook. When Hamilton Montgomery be- came a co-author the contents of previous editions became more au- thoritative especially in histopathol- ogy. Now with such contributors as De Lamater, Farber, Kierlsand, and Lobitz, other fields of derma- tology in which these authors have contributed a great deal in the last few years have been brought up to date. Particularly important is the re- vision on fungus diseases, the ther- apy of lupus erythematosus and the whole concept of melanogenesis. There is a fine discussion of the anatomy and embryology of the skin and the section dealing with nail formation and growth has been especially well presented. The clas- sification of the diseases of the skin has not been changed to any extent over the previous editions, nor has the presentation of the material as a whole with the exception that emphasis has been changed on cer- tain aspects of diseases of the skin. The reviewer agrees that although the discussion of the psychosomatic aspects of diseases of the skin is con- fined to relatively few pages, prob- ably for a book 'of this type'it is quite enough. Certainly an elabora- tion of these chapters would be in the realm of pure speculation and would need rapid revision. Throughout the book much em- phasis has been placed on physi- ology in relation to disease. This is particularly true of certain derma- tologic disorders where the etiology is still obscure. Of special impor- tance in this regard is the section on the diseases of the sweat glands. Perhaps the next edition will give us some information on the role of the radioactive isotopes in therapy. The weakness of the book is the failure to list in the index physical- therapeutic modalities such as cold quartz, ultraviolet light, etc. Tho- rium X is not listed. This material has become readily available in the last few years and is a most valuable adjunct in the treatment of keloids, eczema, and psoriasis. It is the