174 
ON THE PRESENT STATE OE PHARMACY IN IRELAND. 
I will conclude these stray notes by an account of the extraordinary effects 
of the roots of Clematis Douglasii , Hook., on exhausted horses. It was at 
a horse-racing of the Nez Percez Indians that it was witnessed. One horse 
was seen which had fallen down. The Indian put a piece of the root (the 
outer coat scraped off) into the nostril of the animal. The effect was sur¬ 
prising. The creature sprang up under convulsions, and was then brought 
to the river and bathed, and “ I found several which had been so treated, 
afterwards grazing with the herd apparently without having sustained any 
injury.”* 
What I said in the introduction to these fragmentary notes, I may now 
repeat in conclusion, viz. that they are by no means complete, especially iu 
the latter section. Often you see vegetable products in possession of the In¬ 
dians, when either through want of opportunity, season, or inclination on the 
part of the possessor, it is impossible, even should the plant yielding grow at that 
season and in that part of country, to discover the botanical name of it, or ob¬ 
tain a specimen. Again, an Indian sorcerer, doctor, or “ wise woman ” will 
search for a whole day for the proper plant, and however ridiculous we may 
look upon its virtue, they think otherwise, and naturally are in no way willing 
to ventilate the secrets by which they earn large fees.f The present memo¬ 
randa may, however, serve as examples of the superstitions of a fast dying off 
race. 
ON THE PRESENT STATE OE PHARMACY IN IRELAND. 
TO THE EDITORS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Gentlemen,—I read with no little astonishment Mr. Monaghan’s letter in 
the July number of your deservedly popular Journal. He has misrepresented 
the facts, and as a result arrived at the most erroneous conclusions. 
The law, coming into force before the Pharmaceutical Society was in 
existence, very properly confined the dispensing of prescriptions to apotheca¬ 
ries. Doubtless, had there been Pharmaceutical Chemists at that time, their 
claims would have been duly recognized. Persons are not by law prevented 
selling medicines. 
The Apothecaries’ Society has never rigorously enforced the powers vested 
in it. I know several unqualified persons keeping apothecaries’ establish¬ 
ments, and several apothecaries who keep apprentices that have not passed 
any preliminary examination. Mr. Monaghan seems to think that knowing 
by rote the “ national Pharmacopoeia ” is enough to constitute any person a 
dispenser of medicine. A deal must be learned before the Pharmacopoeia can 
be thoroughly understood, and a great deal, more especially of a practical 
nature after it is understood, before a man can be said to be fit to compound 
medicine. An Irish apothecary is justly something more than a “ pure 
pharmacien.” Surely, the course required for the apothecaries’ licence enti¬ 
tles the possessor of it to practise medicine, If not, what course of study 
does P The licence of the Apothecaries’ Society is one of the most difficult 
to obtain in Ireland; and will always be recognized as such by unprejudiced 
medical gentlemen, notwithstanding the jeers of some physicians and sur¬ 
geons, more especially those who, being unable (from the amount of learning 
they possess) to graduate in their own kingdom, take a trip to North Britain, 
pay £25, have a special examination, and return full fledged surgeons and 
* Geyer, Hooker’s Jcurn. Bot., vol. vi. p. 66. 
f I have known one woman get five blankets, valued at £2. 10s., for allaying a very 
simple swelling. 
