JuLr 2, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
19 
as Mr. Giles to see our business raised to the rank of a pro¬ 
fession, but I tbink he is going the wrong way to 'work to 
bring about such a result; at any rate, trying to clean the 
wrong end of the stick first. There are many things of far 
greater importance that want reforming in pharmacy before 
the sale of homoeopathic medicines. Let him go to our 
country towns, large and small, and examine the class of 
business there, including Bristol, and he will find that 70 if 
not 80 per cent., or more even, is mixed up with the business 
of a grocer, hosier, cheesemonger, oil and colour merchant, or 
perhaps even all combined, and not unfrequently a genteel 
liquor traffic to boot. Let Mr. Giles endeavour to rid the 
business of such branches of trade, and I feel assured he will 
have the hearty co-operation of his confreres. 
I am desirous, too, to see the business of a homoeopathic 
and allopathic chemist kept entirely distinct; and I feel 
assured that homoeopaths do not wish pharmacists, for their 
sake, to do anything that is “ inexpressibly painful,” or that 
they “ feel to be a degradation to themselves and their calling.” 
If the two businesses are kept so distinct, I firmly believe that 
homoeopathy will make far greater strides than hitherto; and 
I hope that pharmacists will be more loyal to those “ rational 
principles of therapeutics, such as pharmacy acknowledges,” 
and to “scientific investigation” that the day may not be 
postponed when homoeopathy shall have a “ clear field and no 
favour” from pharmacists. 
Apologizing for thus trespassing upon your space a second 
time, 
I remain, yours respectfully, 
Alfred Marshall. 
Highbury, June 16, 1870. 
Sir,—As one of the offenders against whom Mr. Giles has 
directed his heavy onslaught in this month’s Journal, may I 
be allowed to make a few observations ? 
I am pleased to recognize, and bow down to the lofty 
standard claimed by him for the pharmaceutical chemist, but 
what is the cause of the hot displeasure manifested by him 
towards homoeopathy in particular, when he confesses 
that for Parr’s pills, and other preparations from the quack 
laboratory, he has “considerable respect”? 
At all events, homoeopathy is practised by men of education 
and professional status, whose prescriptions the chemist must 
cither literally follow or reject. Are we, as a body, prepared 
to adopt the latter alternative? But what shall we say of 
the professional standing of the pet quacks of Mr. Giles, 
and what of their scientific (?) preparations ? 
May not any ignorant pretender send as many nostrums 
into the market as he please, and impose, to any extent, upon 
public credulity through his mendacious statements, that he 
is allowed to publish with impunity ? There is no guarantee 
of medical knowledge demanded of him. The law is strict 
only in enforcing the affixing of a stamp of proper value to 
every package he sends out. 
May I use Mr. Giles’s own word, and ask, can “ humbug ” 
towards a nation go further? It is needless, I am sure, to 
place before Mr. Giles a long list of the names of those who, 
entirely ignorant of medical knowledge and therapeutic skill, 
do not hesitate to blazon forth by every roadside, and through 
the universal press, their miserable medicaments, their lying 
protestations, but “luring to destroy.” 
I believe that very many pharmaceutical chemists, as well 
as myself, sell homoeopathic medicines for the same reason 
that we sell quack medicines,—because the public demand 
them. We have no more credence in the practice than Mr. 
Giles himself, but, in fact, look upon homoeopathy, from our 
stand-point, as one of the follies of the day, which now and 
then influence the public mind, to be displaced after a short 
season by some other novelty. 
I should be glad to see a clean sweep made of all such medi¬ 
cal myths from every pharmacy, and I doubt not many share 
in the feeling. With how much pleasure, then, should we 
have received Mr. Giles’s avowal, had it been to this effect, 
that he not only abominated homoeopathy but quackery also ! 
As an advanced man amongst us, he could venture (for the 
love of science) to take the initiatory step, since his business 
status could bear the drawback his yearly returns might show, 
and the pioneer’s glory would perhaps be deemed by him a 
sufficient reward. 
I have but just had my attention called to Mr. Giles’s 
letter in the April number of the Journal, and am amazed at 
his forgetfulness of all proper courtesy towards us, especially 
in that portion of it, in paragraph 3, beginning “ They may 
possibly,” and ending “ I know.” I fear Mr. Giles wrote not 
only calamo currente, and therefore with little reflection, 
but also atramento felleo, hence his fierce and unwarrant¬ 
able deduction. 
I hope Mr. Giles does not assume that he himself is the 
only pharmaceutist influenced by high-souled honour in his 
calling. If he possess it, let him rejoice that others share 
that (to the pharmaceutist) precious treasure. We want all 
the help we can have to elevate our calling to its true posi¬ 
tion, but that can only be done by unity and good feeling; 
such advocacy as that of Mr. Giles, in the passage referred 
to, will effect nothing but disaster. 
Mr. Swenden, in his letter of the 9th of April, has well re¬ 
ferred to the business division of the matter in dispute. I 
will not, therefore, take up more of your space by any further 
remarks of mine. I could not, however, pass over a swoop 
so relentless and uncalled for without entering a protest 
against it. 
I beg to remain, Sir, yours obediently, 
Thomas Witherington, 
Local Secretary. 
Worcester, June 16, 1870. 
Work for Local Secretaries. 
Sir,—Most of the Local Secretaries, whom I have known, 
seem to hold the office in vain; they do nothing for the benefit 
of their brethren, and the office gets no respect. Many of 
them cannot point to any work done, except, perhaps, that 
they have got some unauthorized neighbour into hot water 
for calling himself a “chemist,” or some registered man fined 
because his printer accidentally slipped “pharmaceutical” 
into his address. Now, I would propose to Local Secretaries 
work profitable and pleasant, to make efforts to get the mem¬ 
bers of the trade together, and thus to form scientific and 
trade associations of which it will be an honour to be secretary; 
and one of the first subjects calling for their attention would 
be the prices of drugs, and for dispensing. It is a notorious 
fact, that many well-to-do chemists and pharmaceutists charge 
absurdly low prices—prices which, a little consideration would 
show, cannot pay in a business making such small returns as 
ours does. Some of our brethren forget to charge for skill, 
and want reminding of it. If a person presents a prescription 
to me consisting of— 
Magnes. Sulphat. 5 ] 
Aquae ^viij, 
I consider I am entitled to Is. 6 d. for dispensing it, and 
should make that charge, though I know many of my 
neighbours would charge 9 d. or lOd. for it, and experience 
tells me that my customers like the medicine better at Is. 6 d. 
than at 9 d. Our Local Secretaries may do great service to 
the trade by promoting amicable discussion and settlement of 
prices. There are probably but few in the trade who approve 
of low prices, but they adopt them because they fancy, or 
some unreliable customer tells them, that Mr. So-and-So is 
selling at low prices, and then, not to be outdone, they adopt 
Mr. So-and-So ’3 fancied low scale. 
If he can afford it, let the Local Secretary invite all his 
brethren to supper, or if he cannot, let him suggest such a 
meeting at some suitable place, and try to secure a good at¬ 
tendance; nothing brings men together and sets them at 
their ease like a supper, afterward discuss trade subjects, and 
let the Secretary be prepared to bring the talk to practical 
issue by resolut ions, put into the hands of suitable men. The 
first meeting, well managed, would be sure to result in many 
other such being held. It seems mo3t natural that men in 
the same trade should be friendly with one another, and 
should band together for mutual benefit. Will the Local 
Secretaries try ? 
Quintus. 
Exemption from Juries. 
Sir,—One would imagine when the Pharmaceutical Chemists 
were legally exempt from serving upon juries, that we had got 
rid of a very great nuisance, and so Ave should if we could 
only get our names properly erased from the Jury Lists, and 
so prevent ourselves from being summoned; but there is the 
difficulty. 
You will be surprised to hear that since I have been exempt 
I ha\*e been summoned four or fiAe times, and this has been 
done after my having taken the usual means to prevent it. 
