874 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
two about correspondence, I would say we 
want help, guidance, and information, in as 
large quantities as we can get them, and 
the less of controversy the better. We can 
spend our time, and the pages of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Journal may be occupied, with 
more advantage than in writing hard things 
against each other. 
I may or may not consider it right to sell 
homoeopathic medicines, but it must be left 
to every man’s own judgment to determine; 
for it is difficult to see how my brother 
chemist can in any way be affected by it, 
and he certainly is not justified— 
“ In compounding for sins he is inclined to, 
By damning those he has no mind to.” 
An opinion as to its policy may be admis¬ 
sible if properly and judiciously expressed. 
But no man, whatever his position in the 
trade, has any right to send his ipse dixit 
throughout the land. 
Now with regard to an increase of prices, 
it is an absolute necessity that something 
should be done in this respect; many of us 
labour comparatively in vain, and almost 
spend our strength for nought. Well, how 
are things to be mended? that is the ques¬ 
tion. The only remedy I can see is to have 
associations in each large town or district, 
and to have the prices arranged on some¬ 
thing like a uniform scale. We cannot ex¬ 
pect to establish West-End charges through¬ 
out the kingdom, but there might be a great 
improvement effected in this respect. 
Not only are our charges too low for dis¬ 
pensing (which, by the bye, I believe is in 
many instances the worst paying depart¬ 
ment of all), but this applies also to the sale 
of drugs: for instance, sweet nitre, 3d. per 
oz., tinctures, 3 d. per oz. I lately saw a 
bottle sent out by a pharmaceutical chemist 
by examination, labelled “ Paregoric Elixir, 
warranted to contain no opium,” and having 
something of the appearance of London 
milk, largely diluted with water; price for 
the bottle, containing 20 oz. was 3s. How 
paregoric can be called such that contains 
no opium I cannot understand; and with 
men who will resort to such practices not 
much can be done, unless they are punish¬ 
able by law for adulteration. 
Another customer was lost to me because 
I would not make up an 8 oz. mixture con¬ 
taining ( according to the prescription ) 
“5ivss Liq. Opii Sed. Batt.” with other in¬ 
gredients, for 10d., the price the patient’s 
father had been paying at two different 
chemists’ shops for the same, and which I 
have every reason to believe to be a true 
statement. Such a state of things could 
scarcely exist under any system of associa¬ 
tion properly carried out. 
Another point I would call the attention 
of my brother chemists to, is a matter they 
have in their own hands. Do not give a 
place in your establishments to proprietary 
articles which do not yield a good profit. 
We have a right to expect that those who 
bring out these commodities should arrange 
the prices so as to leave a fair margin of 
profit for the retailer, who, in the case of 
many of them, often has to see them in stock 
a long time, and too frequently has to sus¬ 
tain loss from breakage, soiling, etc. 
In conclusion, let me say my object in 
sending you these crude remarks and sug¬ 
gestions is entirely with the hope that some¬ 
thing may be done to make the drug trade 
a more desirable pursuit for those young 
men who are now expected to go through a 
scientific training before entering it. 
Yours respectfully, 
One who has Known the Drug Trade 
MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS. 
Citrate or Magnesia, so called. 
Sir,—The very wide margin of prices that 
exists, for the article commonly called citrate 
of magnesia, would lead the better informed 
members of the trade to conclude that there 
probably existed also an equally wide range 
in the quality, notwithstanding the oft-re¬ 
peated asseverations, that “ the article offered 
is as good as any that can be manufactured.” 
It was this reflection, coupled with the fact 
that I have never been thoroughly satisfied 
that these cheaper kinds did come up to the 
standards of excellence required, that in¬ 
duced me to give some little attention to the 
subject, with a view to find a tolerably ready 
means of determining the quality of this 
preparation, in a more definite manner than 
by the taste. 
It will be found that the quality of the 
article for producing an agreeable efferves¬ 
cing draught, depends entirely on the amount 
of carbonic acid it contains, and the quantity 
is influenced by two causes:—First, bad 
manufacture; secondly, deficiency of bicar¬ 
bonate of soda, this being rendered necessary 
by the addition of sugar, as well as to econo¬ 
mize tartaric and citric acids. Hence the 
estimation of the carbonic acid gives the 
key to the whole problem. There is a con¬ 
siderable loss of the gas in the process of 
manufacture, and therefore a bad workman 
may greatly deteriorate an otherwise good 
preparation; but still the test given will be 
found the measure of its quality. 
Yours respectfully, 
F. M. Himmington. 
Bradford, May 2, 1870. 
Preservation of Eggs. 
Sir,—The preservation of eggs by chemists 
and druggists is not of general occurrence, 
yet, as a rule, they are expected (profes- 
