330 
REVIEW. 
penterand Westley have received maiw applications from the curious for a peep. We 
are enabled to state that this new adaptation of Mr. Dircks’s discovery does not pretend 
to rival the celebrated “ Ghost,” but that it exhibits many startling effects which have 
not been shown in public, and have only been seen by Messrs. Carpenter and Westley’s 
personal friends. The exhibition is strictly private. 
REVIEW. 
He la Piiarmacie. Par M. Fumouze, Pharmacien, President honoraire do la Societe de 
Prevoyance. Paris. 1863. 
This little work, which to some extent is a reprint from articles which have already 
appeared in “La France Medicale et Pharmaceutique,” is an historical survey of pharmacy, 
tracing the successive stages from its rise, to its final establishment as a recognized trade 
science. It is always interesting to study either the failure or success of systems not our 
own, for thus we may learn to estimate rightly both our weakness and our strength. 
The style of this unpretending volume is singularly clear, nor is it disfigured by that 
affectation of short and startling sentences which has pervaded modern French literature 
since the date of Victor Hugo. 
In April 11, 1803, Pharmacy was definitely created a branch of Government education ; 
three schools were established, one at Paris, the second at Montpellier, and the third at 
Strasburg. Several of the provisions of the Act being open to objection, a new decree, 
bearing date August 21, 1854, became the basis of the organization which more or less 
prevails at present. There are three distinct systems of pharmacy, each having undoubted 
advantages of its own. 
1. English pharmacy, the type of absolute free trade. “ En Angleterre, le premier 
venu, savant ou illettre, peut ouvrir boutique de medicaments, preparer et vendre des 
remedes simples et composes, executer sous sa responsabilite' les ordonnances du corps 
medical.” [In England, whoever likes, learned or otherwise, may open a physic shop, 
prepare and sell simple and compound remedies, and make up the prescriptions of medi¬ 
cal men on his own responsibility.] He may sell what best he chooses and be a codex 
to himself. There are nevertheless some true pharmaceutists who do not take the license 
which the law permits. 
2. The Northern system, the type of the extreme exclusive. To Prussia may be as* 
signed the honour of its creation, and it is now followed by the whole of Germany and 
even in Russia, although with certain modifications adapted to each State. The pharma¬ 
ceutist is here a sort of Government officer, his number is limited precisely in the same 
manner as the notaries in France. The whole body of pharmaceutists is admirablv 
well instructed, and a rigid course of examination is adopted in order to obtain the re¬ 
quisite diploma, without which no one is allowed to practise pharmacy. The sale of 
general articles is forbidden ; the price of drugs and remedies is fixed by law, though 
pharmaceutists may sell under the published tariff, on condition of such price being con¬ 
spicuously marked upon the label. In Russia there are only from 700 to 800 pharma¬ 
ceutical establishments; St. Petersburg with 500,000 inhabitants boasts only forty-one. 
3. The French system, which is a mixture of these two. On the one hand there is no 
limitation of number nor Government tariff; on the other, a course of scientific study is 
essential, and the trade in sundries is forbidden. The author is of opinion that the 
English system of liberty, carefully restricted to those working under the sanction of a 
diploma, is the best, not only for the interest of the pharmaceutist but also for the safety 
of the public. 
But as no change can be effected without some definite proposition, M. Fumouze gives 
the following summary of an amended legislation :—1. Fusion of the three head schools 
of pharmacy with the three schools of medicine. 2. The title of doctor of Dharmacy to 
be awarded to pharmaceutists received in the three superior schools, and that of pharma¬ 
ceutist only to those who have passed the preparatory schools. 3. The right of com¬ 
mencing business anywhere in France. 4. Certain medicines to be delivered to the pub¬ 
lic without a prescription from the physician. 5. The right of preparing and vending 
