614 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[February 1, 1873. 
price depending on the differences between the East and 
West,, the poor and rich, a considerable difference in 
price is to he expected for articles much more delicately 
chosen, .more carefully prepared and issued. But the 
fact which medical writers may he expected to bear in 
mind is, tliat there is the best reason for desiring to 
iemo\e the position of a pharmacist from that of a per¬ 
son bound to merely trade considerations. Patients and 
P{i) sicians have a common interest in encouraging the 
higher education of pharmacists—in offering the re¬ 
wards of higher remuneration and higher social stand¬ 
ing for. better education, professional trustworthiness, 
the cultivation of nice skill, and a professional standard 
■of decorum.. These are things which are to he encou¬ 
raged by being paid for. The skill of the chemist, and 
his professional self-respect and knowledge, are appre¬ 
ciable elements in his value and in the value of his 
drugs. The extra sixpence or so on the bottle of medi¬ 
cine or the box of pills represents not only the return 
for the larger capital needed for a high-class business, 
but. the tax which we are willing, within reasonable 
limits, to pay for greater neatness and elegance, promp¬ 
titude, security, freshness of drugs, a large and well 
drilled staff, and a known reputation, won slowly, and 
scrupulously preserved. We are willing to pay for 
these immaterial elements in our dispensing, even more 
than for the material. It is absurd and mischievous for 
medical writers to ignore these considerations. A dead 
level of low prices is incompatible with the constant 
progress of pharmaceutical education and practice, which 
it is an important object to promote.” 
WOMEN AS PHARMACISTS. 
The Repertoire de Pharmacie for the present 
month refers to the recent decision of the 
Council to admit female students to the lectures 
at the London School of Pharmacy, and also to 
the two other questions raised before the 
Council, viz., the admission of women as members 
nf the Pharmaceutical Society, and their admission 
to compete for prizes at the end of the session, re¬ 
marking that when these questions came before the 
Council they were rejected by the less gallant mem¬ 
bers, who would not admit the possibility of a woman 
taking part in the Council, or perhaps one day pre¬ 
siding over its deliberations. England, however, is 
not the only country where this question is being 
agitated. According to the Gazette cV Augsbourg, 
the President of a Society established at Bremen 
for providing women with a means of subsistence 
has proposed that all similar societies in Germany 
should join in a petition to the Federal Council of 
the Empire, asking that the calling of pharmacist, 
-—or at least, that of assistant-pharmacist,—should be 
opened to women. The Prussian regulations are 
opposed to the adoption of this measure, since they 
require compliance with certain conditions before 
entering a pharmacy ; but these conditions might be 
replaced by a certificate of a course in a superior 
female school recognized by the State, and proof of 
a knowledge of Lathi sufficient to understand the 
pharmacopoeia and medical prescriptions. The ques¬ 
tion lias also been considered hi Pomerania, especially 
at Koeslin, and it has been determined in Holland. 
In fact, the industrial school for women, established 
at Amsterdam in 1809, has already trained five 
young women for the profession of pharmacy, and 
it is training at the present time seven others 
for the same destination. 
A CHEMIST AND DRUGGISTS’ SOCIETY IN 
IRELAND. 
The first meeting of the Chemists and Druggists* 
Society of Ireland, established “with a view to 
obtain a status similar to that secured by Act of 
Parliament to the Pharmaceutical Society of Eng¬ 
land,’’ was held in Grafton Street, Dublin, on Mon¬ 
day > January 0th. Amongst the objects set forth in 
the prospectus are the regulation of prices, the 
raising the standard of the trade by making it com¬ 
pulsory that youths should pass examinations before 
being received as apprentices, and the promotion of 
friendly intercourse between chemists and druggists. 
The next Evening Meeting of the Pharmaceutical 
Society will be held on Wednesday, February 5th, 
when a paper will be read by Dr. Arthur Leared 
upon “ Some Drugs from Morocco.” The chair will 
be taken at half-past eight o’clock. 
We learn from the Brighton Gazette that a va¬ 
cancy on the bench of magistrates for the Borough 
of Brighton has recently been filled by the appoint¬ 
ment to that honourable] office f’of Mr. William 
Dawson Savage. 
According to a recent consular report from Guaya¬ 
quil, so great has been the falling off in the demand 
for cundurango that, instead of that drug fetching 100 
dollars per quintal, as it did for a time, several com¬ 
mercial firms in New York have declined to receive 
consignments of it unless the freight is prepaid, 
since they cannot sell it for enough to cover the cost 
of its carriage from Guayaquil to New York. 
Two important cases relative to the sale of drugs 
in France have recently been decided. On the 
lltli of June, 1872, the Ninth Chamber condemned 
a wine merchant to a fine of 500 francs and 50 francs 
costs for having sold quinine wine, he not being a 
pliarmacien. The wine merchant having appealed 
against this judgment, it came before the tribunal 
on the 5tli of December, when not only was the 
judgment confirmed, but a second penalty of 500 
francs with 100 francs costs was imposed upon him 
for having sold quinine wine at the Exposition of 
Domestic Economy. 
On the 29tli of November, also, the Ninth Cham¬ 
ber condemned a female herbalist to a penalty of 
500 francs for having sold cod-liver oil; and to 50 
francs penalty and 300 francs costs for a sale of 
extract of cod-liver oil capsules. Upon appeal 
this judgment was confirmed a few days since. 
