752 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 22, 18'3 
THE SALE OF DRUGS IN FRANCE. 
A few of our correspondents, if we may judge “by 
the tone of their communications, have a certain 
vague impression that the Pharmaceutical Society is 
empowered to regulate not only the sale and dis¬ 
pensing of poisons, hut also the sale of almost every 
other substance which finds a place in a druggist’s 
shop. Of course this is not the case, and the Council, 
even if it were desirous to do so, is not able to prevent 
grocers or any other tradesmen from retailing articles 
not included in the poison schedule of the Pharmacy 
Act, nor is it likely to be. “Monopoly” is a word 
peculiarly obnoxious to the Englishman of the present 
day, and it was pertinently remarked at the last 
annual meeting that the Pharmacy Act,—even so far 
as it goes,—is the only legislation in restraint of trade 
existing in this country. At present, therefore, it 
would be wise to rest content with the vantage 
ground that a registered qualification and the sole 
right to deal in certain indispensable drugs imparts ; 
to assist individually in securing the privileges—not 
so inconsiderable as some would pretend—which the 
present law accords, rather than by over-reaching to 
make both these and those that are desired im¬ 
practicable. 
“ We must not make a scarecrow of the law, 
Setting it np to fear the birds of prey, 
And let it keep one shape, till cnstom make it 
Their perch and not their terror.” 
In France, however, with its greater capabilities 
for paternal government, they manage things dif¬ 
ferently. Recently our pages recorded penalties 
imposed upon unauthorized persons for selling cod 
liver oil and quinine wine ; to-day the point may be 
further illustrated by a letter which has been issued 
by the Prefet of the Haute-Sadne. That functionary 
having been informed of the existence in some 
communes of medicine stores kept by undiplomatized 
and unqualified persons, warns such persons that they 
are violating the law, and that it is his duty to pro¬ 
ceed against them. But, recognizing the inconveni¬ 
ence sometimes experienced in districts at a distance 
from an authorized pharmacy, he announces his 
intention to carry into effect, as an experiment, the 
recommendations of a commission appointed to con¬ 
sider the subject. Medicine stores will be allowed 
to be established in such communes, upon tolerance ; 
the privilege to be revoked in case of abuse. The 
drugs are in no case to be sold ; and are to be 
delivered to the patient by the doctor in person. 
These communal depots are to be subject to an 
annual visit from the inspector of pharmacy, and the 
stores are to be limited exclusively to the following:— 
1. Emetic (ten packets of 5 centigrams each). 
2. Ipecacuanha in powder (four packets of 1 gram 
each). 
3. Sulphate of Quinine (four packets of 1 gram each). 
4. Chloroform (30 grams in a stoppered bottle). 
5. Laudanum (20 grams in a stoppered bottle). 
6. Solution of Perchloride of Iron (30 grams in a 
stoppered bottle). 
7. Mustard Leaves (ten). 
8. Sulphuric Ether (30 grams in a stoppered bottle). 
9. Calcined Magnesia (50 grams in a wide-mouthed 
bottle). 
10. Carbolic Acid, in crystals (30 grams in a stoppered 
bottle). 
11. Solution of Ammonia (50 grams in a stoppered 
bottle). 
12. Ergot of Rye (5 packets of a gram each). 
13. Exti'ait de Saturne (100 grams in an ordinary 
flask). 
“ Adioe nationes servitutem pati possunt : populi 
Romani est propria libertas.” At least, so said 
Cicero. 
PATENT MEDICINE LICENCE. 
Occasionally we are asked the question whether 
one licence empowers a person to deal in patent 
medicines in more than one place. The following 
letter from the Assistant-Solicitor of Inland Revenue 
is a reply to an inquiry made with the object of set¬ 
ting the matter at rest: — 
Inland Revenue, 
Somerset House, 
22 nd February, 1873. 
Dear Sir,— 
In answer to your letter of the 20th February instant, 
I beg to acquaint you that a person holding a £2 licence 
as a medicine vendor may sell anywhere in any number 
of places in Great Britain; and a person holding a more 
limited licence may sell in any number of places if they 
are not within the places mentioned in the reservation in 
his licence. 
I am, Dear Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
Stephen Dowell, 
Assistant-Solicitor of Inland Revenue, 
E. Bremrid/je, Esq. 
The cultivation of the poppy for the production 
of opium seems to be occupying some attention in 
South Africa just now. A commercial firm at Port 
Elizabeth, Cape of Good Hope, having received a 
parcel of fresh poppy seed from Calcutta, have dis¬ 
tributed it to persons in the colony desirous of cul¬ 
tivating it and giving it a fair trial. It is stated to 
be the opinion of competent j udges at the Cape, that 
the poppy can be grown successfully on the coast 
lands, where there is little or no danger to be appre¬ 
hended from frost ; consequently there seems to be 
no reason in the opinion of the colonists why the 
production of opium should not be successfully car¬ 
ried on, and another valuable article of commerce 
added to the Cape list of exports. 
A curious case of poisoning by carbolic acid is re¬ 
ported from Wurtemberg. Two men suffering from 
the itch were each supplied by a medical man with 
30 grams of carbolic acid dissolved in alcohol and 
water,’ which they were told to rub briskly on the 
parts affected. This they did so effectually that one 
of them died within an hour, and the other narrowly 
escaped with his life. The prescriber, so it turned 
ut, had somewhere read that carbolate of soda was 
an efficacious remedy for the disease in question. 
