October 26,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
327 
®jje Ijknnatcutital $rantal. 
-♦-- 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1872. 
Communications for this Journal, and boohs for review,etc., 
thould be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and dissociates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Ella.8 Brem- 
Bidge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square , W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed u Bharm. Journ 
PHARMACEUTICAL REMUNERATION. 
The labourer is worthy of his hire, and despite all 
the inequalities and injustice which exist, he gene¬ 
rally gets the value of his abilities and attainments 
in an open market. The employer who engages a 
•servant at wages below those current in the labour 
market, as a rule discovers defects in the service 
performed. If not, the servant quickly discovers 
the value of his labour, and either takes it to another 
market, or demands increased pay. In public ap¬ 
pointments, to which the salaries affixed are limited, 
in order to obtain the right men for the right places, the 
vacancies are announced, with the emoluments at¬ 
tached to them, in the most suitable channels for at¬ 
tracting the eye of would-be candidates. If a church 
living becomes vacant, the Times announces the death 
-of the vicar, and that the living, which is in the gift of 
■so-and-so, is worth so much. To replenish the ranks 
of the army the recruiting sergeant, with his ribbons 
and jests, haunts taverns and frequents fairs and 
markets, where loiterers and idlers are to be met 
with. But a more frequent way of making these 
■announcements is by an advertisement in a public 
journal. Whether it be an errand boy, a secretary, 
-or a professor that is wanted, he is advertised for. 
The plan has many advantages; it generally draws 
a choice of candidates to select from, and evades the 
possibility of round men being placed to fill square 
ffioles. 
A Birmingham correspondent, at page 340, has 
-•directed our attention to one of these advertise¬ 
ments. The hospital for women in that city, being 
in want of a dispenser, advertised the vacancy, offer¬ 
ing the modest salary of “ ^20 a year. Horn's 
/from 3 to 6 or 7 p.m.” His letter tells its own tale. 
The poor we have always vitli us, and Birmingham, 
we know, nobly supports its charities. The gover¬ 
nors of these have a duty to perform in seeing 
■that the funds entrusted to them are judiciously 
and economically disbursed. Nevertheless, justice 
comes before generosity, and to offer a candidate 
competent to fill the post such a salary is defraud¬ 
ing him of his due. The hours are short, but they 
are the golden hours of a pharmacist’s day; and one 
in whose hands is entrusted the balance of life and 
death of thousands annually, ought to receive a 
higher remuneration than threepence per hour for 
Ms services. 
When such tempting offers as the above are held 
before the poor disciple of 2Esculatius and Galen, 
need we wonder that the faint-hearted ones amongst 
us, deterred by examinations, as well as by poverty, 
should leave our ranks to join those of Mars, 
whose humblest worshipper, the raw recruit, is 
better remunerated than the Birmingham dispen¬ 
ser. Should his lot be cast in with Falstaff’s fol¬ 
lowers, and he likes them not so well as his first 
love, he may still adhere to this with advantage 
both to pocket and to pride, if we may judge 
from the following extract from a contemporary,* 
which another correspondent has kindly sent us : 
“ Sergeant Wade, now serving as hospital-sergeant of 
the Dublin City Militia, has been appointed dispenser 
of medicines at the Royal Hibernian Military School. 
This is an appointment of great responsibility, and is worthy 
the ambition of many a young fellow who has passed 
some of his time with a chemist and druggist before en¬ 
listing in the army. There are several such appoint¬ 
ments in the army, and they are all, well paid, and the 
holders of them comfortably lodged.” 
They manage tilings differently in Ireland, but 
we think the elected candidate would have better 
certified his fitness for the appointment if he could 
have shown a qualification superior to that which 
at one time accepted the recruiting sergeant’s offer. 
In all these appointments we hope the day is not 
far distant when the candidates for them must show 
that they possess a pharmaceutical qualification. 
The old-fashioned apothecary is, in hospitals and 
dispensaries, either a non cst, or he is above per¬ 
forming the duties the pharmacist is proud to do. 
Hence, the dispensing is frequently left to be done 
by porters, errand bo} T s, and “ compounders,” who 
are frequently unaware that ether and spirit of 
ether are not synonymous, and do not know the 
difference chemically between a perchloride and a 
subchloride. 
THE SALE OF QUININE WINE. 
If we may judge from the numerous inquiries 
received respecting the sale of Quinine "W ine, con¬ 
siderable doubt and anxiety exist amongst chemists 
and druggists as to the regulations of the Board of 
Inland Revenue in reference to it. We therefore 
readily give insertion to the following letter, which 
has been kindly placed at our disposal by a corre¬ 
spondent who applied to the Board of Inland Re¬ 
venue upon the subject:— 
tl Inland Revenue. Somerset House, London, IV. C., 
“ 9th October, 1872. 
u —In reply' to your inquiry of the 5th instant, 
I am desired by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue 
to acquaint you that no licence is required for the sale or 
quinine wine, if made according to the recipe m the 
British Pharmacopoeia, and not sold as a proprietary or 
patent medicine. 
“ I am, sir, 
“ Your obedient servant, 
“ Mr. J. Ingall.” “ 0- W- Plowman. 
* Weekly Dispatch, Oct. Otli, 1872. 
