28 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
July, 1882. 
<&oxxz&$mbzncz. 
To the Editor of The Australasian Supplement to the Chemist 
and Druggist . 
Sir — I beg to draw your attention to a subject which, I think, 
deserves notice — viz., the time allowed for answering questions 
in the preliminary examination, three hours being insufficient. 
To work out the arithmetic paper properly would take an 
hour and a half, leaving only the same time for the other two 
subjects. 
If the candidate is at all nervous he is sure to get flurried, 
knowing he has to do it in so short a time, thereby greatly 
decreasing his chance of success. 
Hoping you will kindly insert the above — I am, yours, &c., 
Victoria, 18th June, 1882. One Who Has Tried. 
[The time allowed is the same as in England for no more 
difficult paper. — E ditor.] 
To the Editor of The Autralasian Supplement to the Chemist 
and Druggist. 
Sir — Seeing an account of the accident to Mr. F. Fairthorne, 
by the bursting of a tube of nitrite of amyl in this month’s 
Chemist and Druggist , and having once broken one myself, ' 
should feel obliged if you would inform me as to the best way 
of opening the tubes.— Apologising for the trouble given, 
have the honour to be, your obedient servant, 
Murtoa, 23rd June, 1882. Wm. T. Warbreck. 
[The tube containing the nitrite of amyl should be wrapped 
in a folded cloth, and then the end gently scratched with a 
sharp file and broken off. — E ditor.] 
before, one of my firmest supporters, but a kind and valued 
friend, with whom after-circumstances brought me in fre- 
quent contact. 
My introduction to another of my customers, a wealthy 
merchant, was made under circumstances quite as peculiar, 
although of a different nature. 
Exactly opposite my establishment was the mansion of Mr. 
R , a member of the largest importing firm in Sydney, 
This gentleman had never been in my shop to my knowledge, 
nor had I ever had a prescription for any member of the 
family, although I knew there was sickness in the house, for 
I saw the doctor’s carriage go in every day. I was foolish 
enough to be awfully annoyed at this, for I was young and 
inexperienced then, and imagined (as many young beginners do 
at the present day) that because I had opened handy to them, 
every person in the place was in duty bound to close their 
connection with shops in the city, where they had been 
dealing perhaps for years, and transfer their custom then and 
there to mine. 
Well, one day the morning coach brought a parcel for Mr. 
R , directed to my care, from a well-known firm of 
chemists in Sydney, and the address was written on one of 
their labels ; and the fact of its containing medicines was 
announced on shaking it by the gurgling sound of liquid, and 
the rattle of pills. This riled me not a little. I thought it 
bad enough to be overlooked in the dispensing line, but 
to be made use of as a receiver for goods from a firm 
in the same line I was not going to stand, so I gave 
the parcel back to the driver of the coach, on its return 
journey, and desired him to leave it at the place he 
obtained it from. ’Buses run now every five minutes, but 
in those days there was only a coach twice a day, and hardly 
had I sent the parcel off when a servant girl came and asked 
if anything had come from town for Mr. R . I told her 
yes, of course, and what I had done with it, adding, with 
perhaps more truth than prudence, that it was like her 
master’s impudence to have his medicines consigned to my 
care. Whether she told him this I cannot say ; but the same 
night I was called up by Mr. R , who informed me that 
one of his children was bleeding profusely from leech-bites, 
and that he could not stop the blood, and asked me what he 
should do. 
I was on the point of telling him that he had better go to 
Sydney and call up the chemist that he got the leeches from, 
but I did not do so. I simply gave him some lint, with 
instructions how to use it, and desired him to call me again if 
its application did not prove effectual. He thanked me, and 
asked what he had to pay. “Nothing,” I said; “I do not 
charge for advice.” Nevertheless he replied, “ You can’t live 
by giving it.” Thereupon he advanced to the counter as if 
for something he had left, and again thanked me and bade 
me good-night. On preparing to extinguish the gas, I saw 
Mr. R had placed a couple of half-crowns on a glass case. 
These I took up and thankfully appropriated. 
The next day, after the doctor's visit, I received a prescrip- 
tion to dispense, and opened an account with the worthy 
merchant, and then and there began a connection which 
lasted for many years ; and if I did not get the whole of his 
business, I had quite enough to make Mr. R ’s quarterly 
cheque an 3. useful arrival. 
morning he was awakened 
At the inqufc^fi?*#^^*) 
REMINISCENCES OF A PHARMACIST — ( Continued). 
(By J. B. Mummery.) 
“ Two Early Customers.” 
I WAS fortunate in procuring the good-will of the only medi 
cal man in the place, who was glad to have a person on the 
spot capable of dispensing his prescriptions ; and he readily 
promised his support. And, as I was a total stranger to most 
of the people, it was arranged at the doctor’s own suggestion 
that he should place upon his prescriptions a certain mark in- 
dicating those of his patients to whom credit might safely be 
given ; and the want of this mark was the means of intro- 
ducing me under somewhat laughable circumstances to a 
gentleman of exalted position, who afterwards became one of 
my most influential and appreciated customers, 
A few days after opening my shop, a young woman, ap- 
parently of the “servant gal persue si op,” presented a pre- 
scription of Dr. B ’s for a Mr. Holt. R was only a small 
affair, half-a-dozen pills, I think. At all events, ulc charge was 
eighteenpence, which sum as the young lady did not happen j n convulsions, 
to have about her, and the prescription lacked the magical 0 f poisoning by strychnine. Senior Constable Rogers deposed 
mark, which was to be “ open sessame” to the pages of my that on the morning of the 13th inst. he went to a house in 
ledger, I started her off for the cash, which she brought in due * 1 Chester-street, and, on making a search, found the wrapper 
course, got the pills, and departed, and I thought no more of produced, on which the word “ poison” was printed, and 
the matter. “strychnine” written underneath. Witness made inquiries, 
The next day a gentleman called, who, after making some and learned from Digby that on the previous day a man had 
trifling purchase, said — “So you would not trust me CO me into the shop and asked for sixpence worth of strychnine 
eighteenpence last night.” I of course made the best excuse to poison rats. Digby did not like to serve him, as Mr. Wade 
I could, saying that as I was a stranger I did not know the W as temporarily absent from the shop. In a short time the 
good marks from the bad. “Well,” he replied, “I don’t man called again, and was served with the article. Witness 
blame you. I should most likely have done the same had I found no entry of the sale in the poison -book. There was also 
been in your position ; but I may tell you that my name is no name on the label. Digby afterwards proceeded with wit- 
generally considered good here, for eighteenpence at all n ess to the house in Chester-street, and identified the dead 
events, he added, laughingly. My name is Holt, as you see m an as the person to whom he had sold the poison. Defendant 
by the prescription. Thomas Holt, usually dubbed honour- acknowledged the handwriting on the wrapper to be his. This 
able, and my position at present is that of ‘ Colonial Trea- closed the case for the prosecution. Mr. Daly contended that 
surer.’ Now I suppose you will trust me to the value of this Digby was not responsible for the sale, having made it on 
prescription, and, if so, you can make it up and send it down behalf of his employer. It was pointed out, however, that by 
to ‘ Camden Villa.’ ” Of course I replied that I should be only section 10 the assistant was made as liable as the master, and 
too happy to open an account with the honourable gentle- that if the assistant made the sale he was held to be the seller, 
man, which I did ; and Mr. Holt became, not only, as I said jMr. Wade testified that the defendant was his junior assistant. 
