434 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS cancer. There are two invaluable chapters dealing with uv radiation in relation to carcinogenesis these would seem to be of special interest indicating, as they do, not the harm that cosmetics might theoretically produce, but an important sphere in which they might have a beneficial effect. There is inevitably a fairly large content of material in this book which would hardly be intelligible to the reader lacking a biological training, but nevertheless the subject-matter is on the whole dealt with lucidly it is certainly well-illustrated, well- documented and, in fact, technically impeccable in the publishing sense. I hope that it will be studied by cosmetic scientists with the avidity that it deserves. N.j. VAN ABBg EXTRA PHARMACOPOEIA MARTINDALE. 25th Edn. Editor: R. G. Todd. Pp. xxviii q- 1804 (1967). Pharmaceutical Press, London. 150s. "Martindale" has a special place in the hearts and minds of British chemists not only pharmacists have found it invaluable, but many, many others who occasion- ally find themselves dealing with a problem on the boundaries of pharmacy. Indeed, some of us have often been mildly amused to find that our non-pharmaceutical colleagues have mistakenly elevated "Martindale" to the dignity of the B.P. without any notion of the statutory differences. Now we have the first new edition since 1958 and a fairly radical change in style and make-up of the publication the editorial staff have obviously been re-thinking the entire concept and the reader is naturally inspired to examine the outcome critically. Briefly, the Extra Pharmacopoeia sets out to provide up-to-date information on all substances, official, unofficial, and proprietary, that are currently used in medicine and pharmacy. This is clearly a most formidable undertaking with the present growth-rate of the medicinal sciences. Much of the information is, of course, available elsewhere (in the BP and BPC, for example) but many readers seem to like the idea of a single ready-reference handbook. No such book can hope to remain up-to-date for long, but the basic principle seems to be unassailable. The main question is therefore how well it has been carried out. One obvious change in the new edition is with respect to overall size. Previous editions have adopted a small page-size, although the thickness of the volumes would hardly justify any suggestion that they were "pocketable". The 1967 Martindale is considerably larger in both respects. The merits or demerits of this change would not seem to be of great consequence what is perhaps of greater moment is whether the new rougher-textured paper will withstand wear-and-tear as well as its predecessor. A major change is the eclipse of Vol. II or, at least, of most of it. The great bulk of the analytical chemistry and biochemistry, etc. has totally disappeared. I imagine that most people who needed such information were in a position to consult textbooks on the specific subjects and, with the increasing complexity of all such technical fields, it would probably have been a hopeless task to continue the old arrangement. We therefore say goodbye to this nostalgically but without any tears. In a spirit of constructive criticism, I would nevertheless draw attention to various weaknesses:- 1. Location of individual drugs is no easier than hitherto (if anything a little worse

BOOK REVIEWS 435 owing to the double column printing and the rather small typeface used for drug titles). 2. Toxic effects are still described in generalities one might have hoped to see actual data for animal toxicity. 3. There are still a host of clinical references which cannot possibly remain up-to- date for long and one wonders if they serve any useful purpose at all. 4. There is still a list of "counter" remedy formulas, despite the fact that Stamp Duty was abolished over 25 years ago and label declarations have been mandatory ever since. There is undoubtedly a continuing place for "Martindale", since none of the official pharmacopoeial works can hope to cover the whole field adequately nowadays I am not entirely convinced that the editing policy for the new edition is wholly right but experience in using it will allow a more balanced judgement of this in the course of time. N.J. VAN ABB• THE DRUGS YOU TAKE. s. Bradsha•v. Pp. 224. (1966). Hutchinson, London. 30s. This is a chatty, informal yet informative - and frequently forthright - account of the ingredients of currently available patent medicines, assessing their imputed efficacy, indicating where appropriate the hazards of self-medication and yet scrupul- ously avoiding identifying any particular proprietary brand. Attention in book and article, both popular and professional, has often been given to the so-called "ethical" drugs but a much greater proportion of the population take patent medicines in some form or other and no recent assessment has been made. This book is explicitly aimed at the layman and could be regarded as an essay in health education. In this reviewer's opinion it should be prescribed as compulsory reading for every non- medical person: perhaps the National Health Service should supply a soft-cover edition to every household. Dr. Bradshaw - who has experience of military and civil general practice, as a medical adviser in the pharmaceutical industry and latterly a consultant to various food and pharmaceutical manufacturers - begins with a somewhat novelesque treatment of the broad spectrum of proprietary medicine manufacturers. He rightly emphasises the professional advice that a retail pharmacist may give regarding both the presence of generic substance in proprietaries, and the availability of non-branded equivalents. He is not concerned - other than incidentally - with the ingredients of drugs obtained upon medical prescription, but rather with the abundanee of patent medicines that the public-at-large apply to their bodies or pour down their expectant throats. He stresses how remarkable a drug is aspirin: the relief of inflammation, fever and many kinds of minor pains - and yet not euphoric and therefore not liable to addic- tion. Relatively few people are allergic to it or may suffer nausea, and the more widespread risk of slight stomach wall bleeding (whatever the formulation of the aspirin) can usually be avoided by suspending it in a beverage. The author would encourage self medication only within strict limits and then coupled with sound advice on treatment by activity. He explodes a number of therapeutic myths, e.g. the efficacy of bismuth antacids, or phenol down household drains and comments on the