THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 27, 1672. 
tanry installed in its place. To such false gods it 
becomes not true men to do homage ; and we seri¬ 
ously offer a suggestion by which unwilling accom¬ 
plices may honourably escape from the dilemma. 
Let them endorse upon the prescription the formula 
of whatever occult ingredient they may have been 
instructed to prepare, and the prescription will then 
become what it ought to have been from the first, 
viz. an intelligible exposition of the prescriber’s 
intention. 
THE BRIGHTON ARRANGEMENTS. 
As each week passes and brings nearer the time 
fixed for the scientific festival of 1872, evidences 
multiply that the people of Brighton intend to do all 
they can to secure the comfort of their numerous 
expected visitors. Not a little of the pleasure to be 
obtained at such a gathering depends upon the ac- 
eommodation which each person secures in the waj^ 
of board and lodging, and the price he has to pay 
for it. This has not been lost sight of by the Town 
Committee, and they have issued a list of hotels and 
boarding houses, and the average rate of charges, 
which gives a choice of— 
“ Houses of all architectures you please, 
Prom the Greek and the Gothic, Sir, down by degrees, 
To the pure Hottentot, or the Brighton Chinese.” 
Any information or assistance in respect to this 
matter may be obtained of the Agent, Mr. J. W. 
Hem Mings, 4, Duke Street, Brighton. 
Another phase of the subject of accommodation 
bears scarcely so promising an aspect. Although 
the dignitaries of the town appear to be anxious to 
keep up its reputation for hospitality by inviting the 
more notable visitors to become their guests, there 
appears to be a desire in some quarters to go beyond 
this, and at a recent meeting of the town council the 
sub-Committee on the reception of visitors, in their 
report, spoke of the few offers of hospitality to “ un¬ 
known visitors” that had reached them. In the dis¬ 
cussion which followed, one of the speakers evidently 
referred to the apostolic injunction as to the enter¬ 
tainment of strangers and its possible reward. But 
there appears to be a feeling that even scientific 
angels would be all the more welcome if they came 
properly labelled. Nor is this unreasonable, and if 
the reception committee will assist visitors in finding 
places where they may have what they want upon 
payment, and will take every possible precaution 
against extortionate charges, we feel certain that no 
more will be expected or desirable. All offers of hos¬ 
pitality should be spontaneous and ever}' appearance 
■of touting or compulsion should be carefully avoided. 
An announcement has been made that the ‘ Brighton 
Daily News’ will contain full and accurate reports of 
the proceedings from day to day, and that a special 
edition for the twelve days will be supplied daily, by 
post, for 2s. fid. 
The special railway arrangements will affect prin¬ 
cipally those who wish to attend the whole of the meet¬ 
ings of the British Association throughout the fort¬ 
night, and first class tickets will be issued to mem¬ 
bers of the Association, and other learned societies, 
upon presenting their card of membership at the 
London Bridge or Victoria Stations, entitling the 
holder to travel by all trains between London and 
Brighton, for two weeks £2. lOs., for one month, T4. 
In reference more especially to the Conference 
Meeting we are informed by Mr. W. D. Savage 
that the time for ordinary return or excursion tickets 
will be extended from two days to three weeks. 
Upon the same authority we are also able to state 
that a private room for the use of members of the 
Pharmaceutical Conference will be provided at the 
Clarendon Hotel. 
NEWSPAPER SCIENCE. 
The picturesqueness and force with which the 
progress of armies in the field or the details of state 
ceremonies are now described in our first-class news¬ 
papers, require such varied knowledge and such power 
of using it correctly that there need be little wonder 
if now and then there should be a trip. We might 
instance the description in the editorial columns of 
the Times of the recent visit of the Prince of Wales 
to Bethnal Green Museum, where the writer, evidently 
referring to the irruption of fashionable visitors into 
Bisliopsgate Street, speaks of people who had never 
heard of Crosby Hall, apparently forgetting a passage 
in a certain author named Shakspeare with which 
probably most people are acquainted. Another style 
of error more frequently met with, is where the 
penny-a-liner affects the scientific style, instances of 
which we have in the various accounts of the case 
of poisoning recorded at p. 14, in which different 
reporters have attributed the death to the effects of 
“potash and sulxdiuric acid,” “oxalic acid,” and 
“ cyanide of potassium.” But a more ludicrous class 
of errors arise when the penny-a-liner is developed 
into what a contemporary has facetiously called a 
“ young lion of the press,” and in a gushing leader 
proves that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. 
The following, from the ‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ re¬ 
fers to an article of this nature which possibly caused 
surprise to many of its readers, but which is referred 
to as “at once interesting and sensible ” by a con¬ 
temporary which has an amiable weakness for 
considering itself one of the pioneers of pharmaceu¬ 
tical education 
“Oar excellent contemporary, the Daily Telegraph 
has a reputation for fine writing, and, to use an Ameri¬ 
canism, ‘slops over’ on occasions. Quite lately the 
readers of that journal have been treated to a lecture on 
the advantages to be derived from a knowledge of botany 
—the occasion being the sad fate of two lads at Chester, 
who died in consequence of eating the roots, as we sup¬ 
pose, of Water Hemlock— Cicuta virosa , or perhaps of 
