192 MAINE AGRICULTURAL, EXPLRIM^NT STATION. I909. 



departures from a professed standard in the case of a fertilizer 

 would certainly result in loud complaints on the part of the 

 agricultural community and the criminal prosecution of the 

 offender. 



In the case of a drug it is just as serious for it to be above 

 strength as to be below strength. There are three ways, 

 depending upon the individual, in which the law may be vio- 

 lated. The law may be violated because of a hope of obtaining 

 pecuniary advantage ; in this case it is from fraud. The law 

 may be violated because through trusting to memory, poor 

 weighing or measuring, or other slack methods, the goods were 

 not properly prepared; this is carelessness. Or the law may 

 be violated because the pharmacist is making his preparations 

 from antiquated and displaced formulas ; this is ignorance. 



The physician depends upon the pharmacist •to compound the 

 medicine and his reputation as well as the health and possibly 

 the life of the patient are involved in the goods that go out from 

 the drug store. In the practice of medicine the quality of the 

 drug and the dose are all important. It matters little whether 

 the departure of the goods from the standard and the resulting 

 wrong dosage be due to fraud, to carelessness, or to ignorance. 

 The result upon the reputation of the physician and upon his 

 patient is the same in either case. 



All correspondence relative to the laws regulating the sale of 

 food and drugs, feeding stuffs, fertilizers, seeds and creamery 

 glassware, should be addressed to 



Director Chas. D. Woods, 



Orono, Maine. 



