CORRESPONDENCE. 575 
hit. Lumley Smith. In this case I should submit, this being brought before the Court 
ou public grounds, that it is not a case for costs. 
Mr. Quain. —I do not ask for costs, iny lords. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
-Notes for Students in Chemistry: be- 
ing a Syllabus of Chemistry and Practical 
Chemistry compiled from the Manuals of 
Gmelin, Miller, Fownes, Berzelius, Na- 
quet, Gerliardt, Gomp-Besanez, etc. By 
Albert J. Bernays, Pli.D., etc. Fifth 
Edition. London: John Churchill and 
Sons. 1870. 
Map of the Geographical Distribu¬ 
tion of the Medicinal Substances 
contained in the British Pharma¬ 
copeia of 1867. By a Lecturer on Ma¬ 
teria Medica. 
A Manual of Qualitative Analysis. 
By Robert Galloway, F.C.S.,etc. Fifth 
Edition. [Rewritten and enlarged. With 
Plate and other Illustrations. London: 
John Churchill and Sons. 8vo, pp. 415. 
1870. 
The Food Journal; a [Review of Social 
and Sanitary Economy, and Monthly Re¬ 
cord of Food and Public Health. No. 1, 
Vol. I. London, February 3,1870: J. M. 
Johnson and Son, 3, Castle Street, Hol- 
born. 
correspondence. 
Communications for this Journal, and hoolcsfor review, should he addressed 
to the Editor, 17 , JBloomsbury Square, as early in the month as possible, and 
in no case later than the 20 th of the month, if intended for 'publication in the 
next number. 
t 
Several communications have been received too late for publication this month , 
and some are postponed on account of press of matter. 
Medicine Stamp and Licence. 
Dear Sir, — I was greatly surprised to 
find that some members of the Council of 
the Pharmaceutical Society were disposed to 
abolish the licence for selling patent medi¬ 
cines ; a good reason for so doing cannot, I 
think, be advanced; there are many why it 
■should be retained and even increased. I 
quite concur in the. remarks made by your 
correspondent from Barnstaple, and think if 
thelicence were abolished, every country shop¬ 
keeper or hawker would begin to sell all kinds 
of medicines, and accept almost any price for 
them. If the London trade feel the £2 
licence to be a burden, by all means let them 
abandon the sale of patent medicines; but 
why try and involve the whole of the trade 
throughout the country in this retrograde 
policy, and fling open to all the retailing of 
proprietary medicines, including some of a 
poisonous kind, without any bar or restric¬ 
tion ? By all means, as your correspondent 
suggests, equalize the licence,—make it 10s. 
or 20s., if you will, but do not interfere with 
a profitable branch of hundreds of country 
businesses. It would be well for the mem¬ 
bers of the Council to get thoroughly ac¬ 
quainted with the nature and requirements 
of a country trade, before they attempt to 
legislate for their more unfortunate brethren, 
whose lot is cast in small towns in the mid¬ 
land counties of England. I always thought 
it was the desire of the Council to elevate, 
if possible, by sound and judicious enact¬ 
ments, the condition of the trade through¬ 
out the kingdom; but if they attempt to 
weaken the walls of commerce, and foolishly 
imagine that what will do for London must 
do for the kingdom, they will bring about 
their ears a nest of hornets, or raise an op¬ 
position which may shake to its foundation 
the fair fabric of Pharmacy as now existing 
at Bloomsbury. 
It is to be hoped we have heard the last 
of the patent medicine question, unless it be 
to lift it high and dry above the reach of all, 
except registered Cnemists and Druggists, 
or raise the licence to 10s. for town and 
country. Apologizing for thus troubling 
jou, 
I am, dear Sir, yours, etc., 
G. W. 
Sleaford, February 20th, 1870. 
Sir,—I had not intended writing upon the 
stamp and licence question, from the feeling 
that I did not understand the merits of the 
case to my own satisfaction; but, after read- 
