A Dictionary of Natural Products

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education,  Winter 2000  by Coker, Samuel T

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GEORGE MACDONALD HOCKING. A Dictionary of Natural Products. Medford NJ: Plexus Publishing, Inc., 1997. xxix + 994 pp., $139.50.

George M. Hocking has devoted over 68 years of his professional career to the study and research of natural products. He has been referred to by reviewers as "the grand old man of pharmacognosy." Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, published his first edition in 1955, A Dictionary of Terms in Pharmacognosy and other Divisions of Economic Botany. The compilation of A Dictionary of Natural Products began as soon as the first edition was published. No comparable book is available. Dr. Hocking has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. In addition to English, he has a reading knowledge of German, French, Spanish and Portuguese. This ability enabled him to search the scientific literature around the world and compile a dictionary that is international in scope.

The author made every effort to reduce the verbiage of definitions by freely using common and geographical abbreviations and symbols used in pharmacognosy and botany. Seven appendices simplify and further support the content of the text. Appendix A documents 2798 references cited by number in the text. Appendices B and C include general references on pharmacognosy and economic botany and important serials in related fields. Appendix D defines terms, properties and therapeutic uses of drugs and pesticides. It also defines some pathologies referred to in the text. This appendix makes the text more understandable to laymen and scientist in related fields. Appendices E, F and G contain some diagrams and schemes of plant and animal classifications.

The text of the dictionary contains over 18,000 entries. The definitions in the body of the text are divided into the following categories: Botanical or zoological; Families (plant and animal); Latin titles; English official titles; Vernacular or common names of plants and drugs; Active plant principles; Special technical terms used in pharmacognosy; Botanical terms; Pharmaceutical preparations containing crude things; Animal products; Minerals uses in pharmacy/medicine; and Agricultural and processing industry terms.

Where appropriate the entries also contain reference to geographical distribution, parts) used, constituents, application and use and production areas. The scope of the text focuses on drug and food related products. There are relatively few diagrams and illustrations in the book and this could be considered a weakness. Also many of the references cited are old and not readily available.

This book was designed to meet the special needs of students and practitioners in the health professions (pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, nursing, and veterinary medicine). Natural product wholesalers, manufacturers, dealers and importers would find this book useful as well as laymen with an interest in herbals and natural products. This book should be in the libraries of all natural product professionals, all health, biological, agricultural and natural science libraries. Also all university and city libraries with a large lay readership should contain this book.

Samuel T. Coker Auburn University

Copyright American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Winter 2000
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