40 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [July 13, 1372. 
Reporters at the Council Table. 
Sir,—And so tlie skies have not fallen yet! And that 
antiquated gentleman wlio dates bis membership before the 
deluge, will be able to add to what must be a long and varied 
experience ! He will have attained the knowledge that the 
Council of the Pharmaceutical Society have permitted an 
independent report of their last meeting to be made without 
showing themselves to be either fools or conspirators. Rut I 
dare say that he has found out before this tune that we all 
“ live and learn.” 
The role of Nestor has been reverenced for many centuries, 
and gentlemen whose grey hairs have become a crown of 
glory—how white must be the hair of the gentleman in 
question !—are rather partial to attempting the part. This 
is on the whole a fortunate thing for the world; but it is neces¬ 
sary that they should be correct as well as concise in their 
pragmatical utterances, or they will lose reputation as prudent 
counsellors and persuasive orators, and their crinal crowns 
will be mistaken for caps and bells. # . . 
What does our ancient friend mean by saying that it is 
“usual for the deliberations of representative bodies, charged 
with administrative and executive duties only, to be con¬ 
ducted privately ?” Does he go to sleep and only wake up 
once in a millennium ? Did his last somnolence commence 
before the publication of newspapers P If so, I hope that 
before he takes his next nap he will make a note that in the 
present day there are such bodies as school boards, boards of 
works, and vestries,—bodies that although they are charged 
with “administrative and executive duties only,” conduct 
their deliberations in public. 
On the other hand, the remark that “legislative functions, 
on the contrary, are properly exercised in public, but these are 
not within the function of the Council,” is peculiarly unfor¬ 
tunate. For if it can be said of anybody that Parliament 
has delegated to it legislative powers, such may be said of the 
Pharmaceutical Society. And, I agree with the opinion ex¬ 
pressed by a speaker at the Annual Meeting of 1871, that “ it 
is a very proud privilege, a great distinction, to have been 
associated with Parliament in making laws for our own 
government.” As to the evident sneer about boards of 
directors and committees of trades unions, I must confess 
that I do not see the force of it, unless they had represen¬ 
tatives in the days of Noah who bore as bad a reputation as 
they do now. Perhaps your correspondent belonged to an 
antediluvian limited liability company, and lost one of his 
earlier fortunes by it. 
Rut seriously, Sir, I congratulate the Council upon what 
they have done, although it will require tact and judgment on 
the part of the chairman to avoid the bringing forward of mat¬ 
ters better discussed in committee. It will also throw extra re¬ 
sponsibility upon yourself, but I am sure that will be under¬ 
taken cheerfully under the circumstances. The result I 
believe will be a great gain to the Society, by the creation of 
a more active current of opinion between the members and 
their representatives; whilst those individuals whose tender 
consciences and timorous dispositions have hitherto compelled 
them to stand aloof—reaping all the advantages without assist¬ 
ing in purse or person—will be relieved from that painful 
necessity. They will see that our councillors are not persons 
who are continually plotting the injury of outsiders, but 
gentlemen who look upon the welfare of the Society as 
identical with the welfare of the whole trade. 
A Post-Diluvian. 
perience, 1 never came across a similar instance to this. Hac 
the writing of the prescription been completed in the usual 
way, I think there is every probability this lamentable accident 
would not have occurred. „ 
Alexander Ellis. 
Skelton-in-Cleveland , July 9 tn, 18/2. 
The Renevolent Fund and its Donors. 
Pal mam qui meruit ferat. 
Sir,—-In the Calendar of the Pharmaceutical Society, 1871, 
the subscribers and donors to the above-named Fund, are 
marked by an asterisk. Many of our junior members may 
not be aware that at the commencement of our Society, for 
four years, the annual subscription of members was two 
guineas, viz., 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, and the object was- 
that a moiety might go the Renevolent Fund. 
In the First and Second Volumes of the Journal the mem¬ 
bers are styled “ Founders;” and the context shows that 
they were considered founders both of the Society and of the 
Renevolent Fund. Their annual subscriptions formed the 
nucleus of both Funds. This subject is fully admitted in 
the Journal for November, 1844, Vol. IV. p. 198, etc. 
Now, under these circumstances, why is the honour now 
taken from the old members? In the Calendar, why is not 
a star of the first magnitude attached to their names ? 
Joseph Leay. 
Chilcompton , Path, July 1st, 1871. 
Dispensing- Prices. 
Sir,—A few days ago the following prescription m 
brought to me by a retired surgeon to be dispensed 
R. Acid. Nitro-Mur. dil. . . • o f 3 
Extracti Cinchon. Flavse liq. 5ij 
Tincturoe Lupuli.3 iss 
Liquoris Taraxaci . . . ad 3 v j 
M. ft. Mist. 
and for which I charged the very low sum of two suillings, 
cutting it as I imagined as fine as possible, which he thought 
remarkably high; in fact, more than he ever paid for a simi¬ 
lar mixture during a practice of over thirty-five years. 
When he required a repetition, and at the same time being 
desirous of obtaining the same at a reduced price, he went to 
a “ quasi’’-wholesale and retail establishment—at. one tinm¬ 
an eminent house in the City; they asked one shilling and 
ninepence for a single bottle, but would make a reduction if 
two were taken, dispensing double quantity for three shil¬ 
lings, being, in fact, within two or three pence per mixture 
of what the ingredients cost wholesale. 
All that I have to remark is, that if such once eminent 
firm is satisfied with so small a percentage of profit I am 
not, as I have not yet discovered the valuable secret of 
buying and selling at the same price so as to make it pay. 
2Egles. 
Clifton. 
Death prom an Overdose op Morphia at Morecambe 
“ Inquirer .”—We should recommend you to make it ac¬ 
cording to the R. P. formula, omitting the sugar. 
G. E. Crick.— (1) Wanklyn and Chapman’s ‘Water Ana¬ 
lysis ’ and Sutton’s ‘Volumetric Analysis.’ (2) The article- 
on “ Organic Analysis,” in Watts’s ‘ Dictionary of Che¬ 
mistry.’ 
S. E. Pritchard .—-Probably Rentley’s ‘ Manual of Rotany,’ 
Dublished bv J. and A. Churchill, would meet your require¬ 
Sir,—Mr. Johnson, in his evidence before the Coroner says, 
“it is usual to mention in the prescription the materials of 
which the pills are to be made; but it is not usual to say 
divide.” Allow me to inform himThat it is most unusual 
not to say divide, for in 441 prescriptions which I have before 
me, selected from Neligan and Druitt, in no instance are the 
ingredients given for more than one dose of either pills, 
powders or draughts without the word “ divide ” or “ forma 
and where ingredients are directed to be mixed with muci¬ 
lage, syrup, etc., “ q.s. ut fiant piluke xij,” or, as the case 
may be, is the invariable custom. It is also most unusual to 
give verbal directions for dividing pills, when the prescription 
for their ingredients has been handed to the dispenser. I 
have dispensed prescriptions for surgeons in different parts of 
the country for the last fourteen years, and during all my ex- 
ments. 
“ Chemist and Pruggist .”—You appear to have misunder¬ 
stood the purport of the circular. It is not said that persons 
not carrying on business are liable to have their names struck 
off the Register, but that failure to reply to the question as 
to pi’esent address will, after a certain time, become a legal 
justification for the Registrar striking off the names of per¬ 
sons so failing. 
“ Invalid .”—Probably you would obtain the information 
you ask for from any respectable surgical instrument maker. 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Mr. Odling, Dr. F. Porter-Smith, J. W. Yates, Mr. H. C. 
Mason, Mr. R. J. Davis, Mr. Ralmanno Squire, W. R. S.„ 
“ Minor Associate,” “ Glasgowensis,” “ Alpha.” 
