200 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 3, 1870. 
Communications for this Journal , and boohs for review , 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
*** 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. 
Hospital Dispersing. 
Sir,—The Lancet finds fault with your editorial comments 
in regard to the above topic. Whilst the Lancet takes me¬ 
dical affairs under its especial charge, the Pharmaceutical 
Journal may surely be allowed to criticize the dispensing 
arrangements of the hospitals and dispensaries without being 
accused of a sinister motive. The safety of the poor is as 
much the interest of the State as that of the rich, and I know 
of no valid reasons why lotions, liniments, etc., of a delete¬ 
rious character should not therefore be supplied to out-door 
patients in “ poison ” bottles. If it became the rule to do so, 
the poor are not so ignorant as not to become aware why 
such bottles are given them, and they would soon learn to 
keep them for their legitimate use. To provide such bottles 
the funds of the hospitals are available. 
The majority of the members of the Pharmaceutical Society 
have indeed objected—rightly so, I think—to any interference 
with the internal arrangement of their pharmacies, believing 
that the individual pharmacist can best provide for the safety of 
the public by storing poisons in his own way, and according 
to the special circumstances he has to deal with. The Lancet 
has forgotten to note the errors of the class which it essays 
to represent. “ Those who live in glass houses should not 
throw stones.” How many medical men—dispensers of their 
own physic—send out mixtures, lotions, etc., in one descrip¬ 
tion of bottle ! Will they consent to submit their surgeries to 
inspection, or their pharmaceutical knowledge to the test of 
our examinations ? Let me also inquire whether medical men 
are less liable than chemists and druggists to poison people 
by mistake ? I trow not. Whilst the Lancet is advocating 
penal enactments against those who are assumed to be so 
presumptuous as to invade the domain of the surgeon and 
the physician, let the Pharmaceutical Journal draw atten¬ 
tion to “ unqualified ” pharmacists. Their name is legion, 
and they abound most in that body of which your contempo¬ 
rary is the accredited organ. “A fan- field and no favour” 
is the motto of yours truly, 
August 29th, 1870. Minor Associate. 
Plaster-spreading. 
Sir,—In your issue of August 13th there is a paragraph 
relating to the fixing of paper margins in plaster-spreading. 
No doubt the suggestion there made is effectual as regards 
adhesion, but will it not be open to the objection of leaving a 
sticky margin liable to discoloration ? The plan I have used 
for some years past is to cut out the margin, in one piece, from 
brown paper, thoroughly soak it in water, then lay it out flat on 
the counter, and remove the superfluous moisture with a 
cloth; the other side, which will be quite wet, is laid on the 
skin, and firm pressure applied with the cloth. If this be 
properly managed,—and it requires but little practice,—suffi¬ 
cient adhesion takes place, so that, when the paper is re¬ 
moved, a clean and smooth margin is left, free from stickiness. 
This method I know to be followed by many dispensers, but 
still it may be a wrinkle to others. 
Liverpool. T. H. Hustwick. 
Professor Redwood’s Annuity. 
S IE ,—I quite agree with every word of the letter addressed 
to you by Mr. Halliday. He happened to be a fellow-student 
of mine at Bloomsbury Square; and, though I do not know 
whether the students of that session were specially favoured 
by Dr. Redwood, I believe few of them would object to the 
vote of the Council as regards his annuity, or fail to regard 
with surprise the opposition it received at the Council meeting. 
I could say a good deal upon this point, but, with your 
permission, I will simply state that much of the voting upon 
that occasion by some of the “ new blood ” was entirely at 
variance with the way I should have voted myself, and is far 
from the way I expected they would act. 
W. Y. Brevitt. 
Wolverhampton, August 27th, 1870. 
Sir,—Though anonymous letters should be passed over in 
silence, as productions which the author himself is ashamed 
of, still, since “ Pharmaceutist,” in last week’s Journal, 
assumes to award the “ thanks of the whole members ” (sic) 
of our Society to those gentlemen who so strongly resisted 
the motion for an annuity to Mr. Redwood, I, for one, desire 
to be excepted from such company, preferring to range my¬ 
self on Mr. Halliday’s side. I see nothing to be proud 
of in curtailing the moderate salaries and incomes of those 
who have spent their best years in teaching us. If some of 
their pupils claim to be more clever now than their former 
teachers, this, if true, would only prove that teacher and 
pupils have both done their duty; in a properly-regulated 
mind it would produce a sense of gratitude, not a desire for 
persecution. 
J. Schweitzer. 
86, ICing's Load, Brighton, August 27th, 1870. 
How to Drive away Mosquitoes. 
Sir,—In the last Journal you have a paragraph headed 
“ How to Drive away Mosquitoes.” I was last autumn at 
Venice in the “mosquito season.” The special curtains 
round the bed quite failed to exclude the blood-thirsty vil¬ 
lains, so I went to the “ Farmacia Reale,” and was supplied 
with some pastilles to burn. They appear to be composed of 
coarsely-powdered Byrethrum roseum, made into a mass (with 
solution of olibanum or other odorous gum), rolled out about 
half an inch thick, and roughly cut into conical pieces one 
and a half inch long. The attractive label, “Sonni tran- 
quilli,” is not to be withstood by sleepless foreigners. I 
nearly choked myself by burning three or four at a time in¬ 
side the mosquito nets, and the only appreciable effect was 
that the wretches were driven mad, and attacked with insa¬ 
tiable fury. Directly the candles went out they charged 
through the clouds of incense, and the morning light showed 
on blistered face and half-closed eyes how little they care for 
what you euphoniously term “the immemorial and most 
beautiful rite of burning frankincense.” I send you the rem¬ 
nant of a box—possibly, the museum has no specimen of these 
pastilles. Yours obediently, 
Wm. Matthews. 
12, Wigmore Street, August 2Wi, 1870. 
The virtue of mosquito curtains depends upon their 
being properly arranged, and carefully tucked in all round 
the bed. Of course if this be done with one or more mos¬ 
quitoes inside the curtain, the other tenant of the bed is 
likely to suffer.—E d. Ph. J.] 
Co-operative Trading. —Our correspondent “Anti-Stores” 
appears to be under some misconception in regard to the 
price-list he mentions, which is one advertised by a grocer’s 
firm, not by a co-operative store. The prices quoted are, in 
some instances, very low, but it seems nevertheless'to be a 
case of fair competition,—always provided that the goods are 
of proper quality. 
Mr. B. M. Johnson informs us, with reference to Professor 
Tuson’s paper on pepsine, that he has once been supplied 
with pepsate of lead instead of pure pepsine. 
31. Ii. J. (Chipping Sudbury).—Application should be 
made at Apothecaries’ Hall. 
A. B. (Hertford).—The question is a legal one. You 
should consult your own Solicitor, or apply to the Solicitor to 
the Excise at Somerset House. 
James Batharn (Manchester).—The formula for Syr. Ferri 
Phos. c. Quinia et Strychnia (Easton) is given at page 125. of 
the last edition of Squire’s £ Companion to the Pharmacopoeia.’ 
Mr. J. Coles, of Coleshill, has forwarded a copy of the en¬ 
closed prescription, in order to elicit through these columns the 
opinion of the trade as to how he ought to have dispensed it. 
R. Acid. Nit. Mur. 5ij 
Inf. Quassiai §xij 
3 j ter die. 
R. Podophyllin. gr. xv 
Ext. Coloc. Co. gr. xxxvj 
ij p. o. n. 
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