August SO, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
149 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 , 1870 . 
HOSPITAL DISPENSING. 
A case tried at one of tlie London police courts 
"tliis week will serve to show that some of those 
medical authorities who are most urgent in pressing 
the adoption of stringent restrictions upon dis¬ 
pensing by pharmaceutists are by no means the 
most earnest and careful in themselves adopting 
such precautions. Jane Brant, aged thirty-four, a 
married woman, was brought before Mr. Cooke by 
•the police. They had been called to the defendant’s 
apartments, and there found her suffering severely 
from the effects of poison which she had taken. She 
was an out-patient of the Boyal Free Hospital, 
Gray’s Inn Road, and had a lotion and some medi¬ 
cine given her. Both the medicines were in quart 
bottles; the lotion was labelled poison in large letters, 
but in the dark she had drunk some of it by mistake. 
It was rather an odd reversal of the usual current of 
affairs under such circumstances, to find the prisoner 
•charged with criminal negligence before the magis¬ 
trate. But the woman, it was stated, was not un¬ 
known at the court; they placed her at the bar to 
have the matter investigated. She was, of course, 
•discharged, but she got the reprimand which would 
probably have fallen to the share of the institution 
had that been one of a private character instead of 
being public. 
There is unquestionably a good deal of careless¬ 
ness about bottles, and labels too, at a great many 
hospitals. The patients usually find their own bot¬ 
tles and jars, and any poisonous compounds find 
their way into harmless and familiar vessels, the 
customary receptacles of various household drinks 
and domestic dainties. Very strange and potent 
confections find their way into old jam-pots. Hem¬ 
lock and the deadly nightshade are passed into ves¬ 
sels long identified with British wine and stronger 
drinks; and the same bottle may be seen making 
alternate pilgrimages to the public-house and the 
dispensary of the best-regulated hospitals. 
So much laxity in high places is not without its 
dangers, both of fact and effect, inherent and by 
example. If the system of poison-bottles be anywhere 
openly set at defiance, it is at hospital dispensaries 
in the out-patient departments; and tliis, too, in 
dealing with the least educated and most careless 
part of the population; those who have the smallest 
opportunities of precaution in storage of their pre¬ 
scribed medicines, and who are the most liable, by ab¬ 
solute ignorance and by intemperate habits, to omit 
to study their labels. 
HELP FOR THE WOUNDED. 
The eloquent appeal made by the ‘ Times ’ last 
Monday in behalf of the sick and wounded in the 
present war, will doubtless meet with a cordial re¬ 
sponse throughout the kingdom. A society has been 
formed for this purpose, under the presidency of the 
Prince of Wales, and considerable subscriptions 
have already been given, the Queen heading the 
list with a contribution of 1500. This Society 
works under the Red Cross, adopted by the Govern¬ 
ments of Europe at the Convention of Geneva as the 
badge of neutrality. Its agents are respected as neu¬ 
tral, and they succour the wounded of both sides 
alike. 
A Committee of Ladies has been formed for col¬ 
lecting, preparing, and issuing materials, while the 
Central Working Committee, presided over by Lieu¬ 
tenant-Colonel Loyd Lindsay, will provide for surgi¬ 
cal and other aid being sent out at once. 
Believing that many who are connected with phar¬ 
macy would gladly contribute towards tliis laudable 
undertaking, we venture to suggest that they should 
do so in concert, and that a fund should be raised to 
hand over to Colonel Lindsay’s Committee as the 
contribution of British Pharmacists. This body 
numbers no less than some 12,000 members, and 
though some might say that what they could afford 
to give would be little assistance to such a great un¬ 
dertaking, it must be remembered that even a small 
subscription individually, would amount to a very 
considerable sum in the aggregate. We hope there¬ 
fore that this suggestion will be favourably received 
by the trade generally, and all connected with it, 
each helping to the extent of his ability. We do 
not fear in that case obtaining a result that will be 
creditable to the whole body. Contributions are 
requested of money, lint, sticking-plaster, chloro¬ 
form, chlorodyne, quinine, morphia, carbolic acid, 
etc. We propose publishing weekly a list of Sub¬ 
scribers to the Fund, and we have -much pleasure in 
stating that Mr. Bremridge has consented to act as 
Treasurer. 
THE REGISTER OF CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS. 
A recent correspondent, in referring to the fact 
“ that grocers who have sold drugs are now regis¬ 
tered chemists,” adds, “ time, of course, will settle 
the many sham druggists now afloat,” and no doubt 
he is so far correct in Iris opinion; but there is no 
need for the realization of this result being left en¬ 
tirely to the sure though slow agency of time. There 
is now an official Register of Chemists and Druggists, 
which contains a list of all members of the trade, 
with statements of their respective qualifications. 
This book is supplied by Government, just as the 
Medical Register is, to all the law courts in the 
kingdom, and to various public officials, numbering in 
all 1300, so that it is easy for magistrates or judges 
