May 3, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
879 
fettsputittwe. 
*** No notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily 
for 'publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. 
The Benevolent Fund. 
Sir,—I have to thank Mr. Clark for his reply to my 
former letter, and to assure him that his wishes concerning 
me shall be gratified. 
His allusion to forbearance convinces me that he is 
a courteous disputant, I only regret he has put the right 
thing in the wrong place. Forbearance more properly was 
due to the fund at which Mr. Clark has attempted to aim 
a deadly blow,* and in defence of our fund I shall strike 
out as vigorously as I am able. 
He clears up what appeared some slight inconsistency in 
his previous dealings with the fund by an explanation that 
“ his opinions had not been formed by the recent corre¬ 
spondence,” they had in fact existed “for a long time,” but 
were rendered inert by, “perhaps, a slight carelessness con- 
cerning the appropriation of the donations.” No fair 
penitent could confess her shortcomings in a more self- 
excusing apologetic strain; but from a doctor of charity 
could we not have looked for more explicit and seemly 
credentials ? 
I presented figures in my first communication, which 
demonstrated how utterly Mr. Clark’s pet local relief scheme 
would have failed in his own city of Leicester. The figures 
are not disputed; but the argument founded on them is 
declared “ somewhat absurd,” and for this reason, because 
the greater the failure there, the greater the success 
elsewhere. 
This is a staggerer! 
Misfortune is ever in our midst heeding not whatever 
limits we may define, nor is it in the habit, if my recollec¬ 
tion is correct, of inquiring into the state of district relief 
funds before it casts its gloomy shadow on a household, in 
which, as in its lair, lurks the gaunt spectre destitution, a 
veritable social beast of prey, ready to spring upon the 
feeble, the sick, the aged. Hence true charity has ever 
boasted of her universality. 
On the other hand what does Mr. Clark propose ? A 
system (if so it can be termed) to work somewhat in this 
fashion: Want comes upon a chemist and druggist living 
in one of these local spheres of amiability, let us say in the 
district of Benevolentia-sine-Nummo, for there are many 
such. Is relief given or is he spurned ? Neither the one nor 
the other. The poor man is left with want as his com¬ 
panion, and he is presented with a potfull of flattering 
unction which he may, if he possesses much philosophy, 
apply to his soul; for does it not suffice him to know, that 
whereas he is poorer, others are just so much the richer ? 
possessing his share in addition to their own. “ O charity, 
what blunders cannot be committed in thy name !” 
Will Mr. Clark, if he has nothing better to say for his 
system, unite with us in consigning it to the depths of 
Erebus ? 
I met the censor’s proposition with figures, I shall meet 
his own selected case with facts. 
That I may not by any possibility misrepresent him, I 
quote his words—“ Some time since we had two annuitants 
to vote for, three to choose from who were all approved. 
Could we have taken £30 from that year’s subscriptions 
and from those of following years, that third person might 
have been made happy.” 
Here we behold the writer who, a fortnight ago, railed 
against annuities now complaining that the Council did not 
efect three instead of two candidates. I am pleased to see 
that Mr. Clark no longer conceals his liking for annuities. 
I may mention to him that, however desirable it may be to 
grant annuities, their number must be limited by circum¬ 
stances. I am informed that the Council will, next October, 
grant at least two additional ones, and I should calculate, 
* “I would ask in the name of all that is right and 
charitable, that members in each town should unite their 
subscriptions, taken from the Benevolent Fund, to relieve 
the destitute poor of their own neighbourhood. 
that by carrying on his votes to the approaching election, 
last year’s third candidate is certain to succeed. 
Ah ! but during these long months of expectancy how 
has it fared with him ? What have the Council done ?' 
It appears to me two courses were open to them. They 
might have assured Mr. K. that though he was left out in 
the cold the others felt all the warmer for it; or they 
might have been mindful of their duties as almoners, and 
given aid to the extent of their power. 
On reference to the Benevolent Fund accounts, I see the 
Council from July 1872, to April 1873, that is within ten 
months, voted £35 to him. 
Thus, according to the scale laid down by Mr. Clark, 
that a person can be made happy for £30 a year, the third 
candidate has been rendered even more than happy ; and 
that by the method he proposed, by sums of money taken 
from the year’s subscriptions. One is tempted to ask if it 
is by such ignorance of facts that hostility to the Benevo¬ 
lent Fund can prevail ? Can this be the case, which, when 
challenged to proof, the accuser puts forth to convict the 
Council of a dereliction of duty ? It really is so, and I am. 
yet unconvinced that the Council is deaf to voices round, 
but if facts are truth, the accuser is blind to both. 
I know too well what I am writing about to feel one 
moment’s uneasiness for our present annuitants; they are 
in a position of security against all contingencies; it is 
based on the elegant simplicity of Government securities, 
which fact, like the meat in the soup, is the making of it. 
I rather feared that a check to the influx of subscriptions 
and donations might be possible, if strictures such as I 
have endeavoured to answer had been left unnoticed; and 
1 trust the facts cited may have drawn Mr. Clarke and 
myself more into unison of thought, and guided both of us 
to the same conclusions. 
A Subscriber to the Fund, 
The Pharmacy Act, 1865. 
Sir,—Within a radius of one mile from my shop, I should 
say there are no less than forty or fifty small grocery and 
provision shops, the proprietors of which carry on a certain 
amount of trade, which I think ought to be strictly and 
exclusively confined to us, viz., the vending of medicinal 
substances and preparations bearing the names of pare¬ 
goric, Godfrey’s cordial, etc., containing no opium nor any 
ingredient comprised in the second part of Schedule A of 
the Pharmacy Act; thereby they keep outside the operation 
of the law. 
I think this matter ought to be thoroughly investigated, 
and a stop put both to the sale of drugs by unregistered 
persons, and also to wholesale firms supplying the above- 
mentioned persons with the articles alluded to. 
A Registered Chemist (by Exam.). 
Leeds, April 25th, 1873. 
A Question Respecting the Adulteration Act. 
Sir,—A chemist in the country who sells a gallon or two 
of laudanum per week, in small quantities of from Id. to 
Is. worth, applied to me for information respecting the 
Adulteration Act. His proportion for making it is 8 oz. 
opii to the gallon of proof spirit, and as B. P. formula 
orders 12 oz. to one gallon, he is afraid when an inspector 
is appointed under the Adulteration Act, he possibly might 
be found in error. He asked for my opinion, and as I could 
not enlighten him as to whether making laudanum of 
weaker strength than B. P. was adulterating it, I promised 
I would try to get some information, and if I should not 
be trespassing on your kindness too much, I should feel 
obliged if you would give me the information in order to 
satisfy my country friend, who has been in the habit of 
selling laudanum of that strength for twenty years. The 
reason he has not made it hitherto in accordance with 
B. P. form, was from fear that his customers might be 
injured if it were stronger, as many are ignorant and would 
be unable to read a caution label if the strength wa3 
altered. Quaerens. 
April, 1873. _ 
A Trade Grievance. 
Sir,—I trust you will find a few words on a commercial 
subject affecting the trade not out of place in your Journal. 
The gradual rise in every department of labour, material, 
