rd. " ' 
January, 1882. THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 65 
INDEX TO LITERARY CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Leading Article— Tiie Sale of Poison in 
THE FORM OF PATENT MEDICINE 65 
The Month 66 
Meetings— The Pharmacy Board of Victoria 67 
The Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria 67 
New South Wales 67 
New Zealand 68 
page 
Scientific Summary 68 
Definitions of some New Australian Plants 68 
Modern Pharmaceutical Study 69 
Legal and Magisterial — 
Accident with Liquor Ammonias 70 
Suicide of the Rev. A. F. Harding 70 
Suicides by Poison 71 
PAGE 
Accident to Mr. Alfred Felton 71 
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 71 
Death of Mr. A. J. Cooley 71 
Correspondence 71 
The “Australasian Veterinary Journal” 71 
Note on Glycerinum Acidi Gallici 72 
Troches of Borax 72 
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THE LIBRARY. 
The Library is open to Members daily, from 9.30 a.m. 
to 4.30 p.m. 
exception allowed in favour of this class of preparations by 
the sixteenth section of the Pharmacy Act has often been 
commented upon as unreasonable, and not long ago Dr. 
Hubbard, of St. Mary’s Hospital, justly denounced it as a 
stultification of the Act, and a fertile source of fatal disaster. 
Speaking from his own experience of the conditions under 
which these preparations can be obtained, and of the conse- 
quences attending their indiscreet use, he showed that there 
were strong reasons for restricting the trade in them, and at 
least making those who use them more acquainted with the 
nature and properties of the articles they are taking. 
These suggestions of Dr. Hubbard’s had a general reference 
to the “ patent medicines” containing potent drugs which are 
recommended by advertisements as specific remedies ; but 
they appear to have a still more cogent applicability to prepa- 
rations of such an article as chloral, and the very disclosure of 
the fact that this substance is an ingredient of the preparation 
makes it the more evident that the label should bear some 
impressive caution by the word “ Poison.” 
Dr. Hubbard casts some reproach upon the framers of the 
Pharmacy Act for the careful and courteous consideration 
which he thinks they have shown for manufacturers of patent 
medicines in the sixteenth section of the Act, on the assumption 
that it was voluntarily inserted by them ; but in this respect 
he has misjudged them, and has failed to take into account 
the influence and varied interests involved in the patent 
medicine business. That influence was so strong that it would 
have been impossible to resist it at the time the Pharmacy Act 
was passed ; and the exemption of patent medicines from the 
operation of the Act may be looked upon as having been then 
inevitable, so far as chemists and druggists were concerned. If, 
BIRTH. 
Blackett.— On the 27th December, at Fitzroy, the wife of C. R. Blackett, 
M.L.A., of a son. 
MARRIAGE. 
Sharpe — Cooper. — On the 8th November, at St. Saviour’s, Clarborough, 
by the Rev. L. D. Rowarth, Edwin Sharpe, pharmacist, late of Australia, 
to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late Charles Cooper, Moor- gate, 
Retford. No Cards. 
DEATHS. 
Griffiths.— On the 28th December, at 119 High-street, St. Kilda, James 
William, late of Ballarat, chemist, aged 54 (after a very short illness). 
Jones.— On the 31st December, at 303 Bay-street, Sandridge, Walter 
Llewellyn, infant son of Walter and Adeline Jones, aged four months. 
THE SALE OF POISON IN THE FORM OF PATENT 
MEDICINES. 
In the October number of the Pharmaceutical Journal the 
following observations upon this important subject are so much 
to the purpose that we feel sure that our readers will fully 
appreciate them. This question has the same interest for us, 
and is of as much importance to the public at the antipodes 
as it is in the mother-country : — 
A recent inquest furnishes another instance of the danger, 
attending the inadvertent use of nostrums containing potent! 
drugs; and although the preparation which was the cause of 
Miss Ashfield’s death does not lie under the objection of having 
its possibly poisonous influence concealed under a fanciful 
designation, it is, nevertheless, one of a class of preparations 
which ought not to be sold without the precautionary measures 
that the Pharmacy Act prescribes in its seventeenth section as 
proper to be observed for the protection of the public. The 
however, it can be shown that the sale of patent medicines 
containing potent drugs, as at present conducted, involves 
danger to the public, the case would be a very proper one to 
bring under the notice of the Legislature from a medical point 
of view, and we have every reason for believing that the appli- 
cation for suitable restrictions upon the sale of such prepara- 
tions would meet the approval of all qualified pharmacists. 
We do not hesitate to express our opinion that such a case 
might well be made out as suggested by Dr. Hubbard. 
The need for such a step has not been overlooked by the 
Council of the Pharmaceutical Society ; and quite recently, in 
drafting a Bill for the Amendment of the Pharmacy Act, the 
labelling of patent medicines being or containing poison was 
provided for by a clause which required that on the preparation 
for sale (whether by wholesale or by retail) of any patent 
medicine or any article bearing a patent medicine stamp, being 
or containing a poison within the meaning of the Pharmacy 
Act, the person so preparing the same shall cause the box, 
bottle, or vessel containing it to be labelled with his name and 
address, and the word “Poison.” In the same spirit it is 
provide_d_by another clause of this hilLi^o^aW without delay 
will proceed with the erection of suitable premises, fitted with 
the latest conveniences to facilitate the execution of orders 
and manufacture of drugs. 
Steps are being taken to amalgamate the pharmacy lectures 
of the Technical College with those of the Pharmaceutical 
Society. The same lecturer is employed by both institu- 
tions, and the same persons attend both courses of lectures. 
The outcome of the amalgamation will probably be the 
establishment of a School of Pharmacy in our city. 
