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Magic in a Bottle

By MILTON SILVERMAN, Ph.D. Pp. i–xi, 1–332. The Macmillan Company, New York. 1941

This is an entertaining volume devoted to the description of the discovery of some of the most valuable drugs now employed in the treatment of disease. It is written for popular consumption and considers the discovery of morphine, digitalis, cocaine, antisepsis, the synthetic drugs, the vitamins, and others and, while the dialogue in the various descriptions is evidently fictitious, the general facts are apparently correctly reported, although some glaring errors are noted. For instance, it is stated that the mosquito becomes infective for malaria two days after biting an infected individual, and that the chill follows the fever in malaria. Hookworm is stated to have been known in 1776, the author writing that Louis XVI purchased the secret of the specific male-fern treatment for it in that year, whereas what Louis XVI really purchased was the cure of tape-worm by male fern. The hook-worm was not described until 1843, sixty-seven years later.