September 24, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
259 
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. 
Pharmaceutical Titles. 
Sir,—I liacl hoped that the opinions expressed by your cor¬ 
respondent on the 20th ult. on the subject of pharmaceutical 
titles would have been supported by an abler pen than mine ; 
but, rather than the matter should be allowed to drop, I 
would fain ask for a small space in your Journal to say how 
fully I endorse his sentiments. 
It seems to me, Sir, that this distinction of titles is the 
one great desideratum to the younger members of our pro¬ 
fession. While all right-minded men would be disposed to 
grant a certain licence to the older members of the Society, 
those who have borne the burden and heat of the day, and 
have laboured hard to bring the Pharmaceutical Society to 
the prominent place it now holds among the scientific bodies 
of the country, I think they would also be equally disposed 
to insist upon the younger ones standing on their own merits. 
No wonder the public is bewildered by the multiplicity of 
titles now adopted to impose upon their credulity,—titles, we 
must admit, perfectly just in themselves, but which fail to 
distinguish the mere chemist and druggist from the man who 
has qualified himself by passing an examination of so high a 
s andard as that of the “ Major” of our Society. 
Nor can we wonder at men stopping short at the “ Minor,” 
when the only recompense in the -way of title they get for 
their time and toil devoted in qualifying themselves for the 
Major is the vague and now almost meaningless name of 
“ Pharmaceutical Chemist.” 
This subjecthannot be too strongly urged upon our Execu¬ 
tive Council, and I hope they will not be slow to appreciate 
its importance, and act upon it accordingly; and 1 would 
suggest that other members who feel interested in the matter 
should ventilate it in these columns. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Another Aspirant to the Major. 
“Free Trade in Surgical Instruments.” 
Pear Sir,—Seeing a letter from Messrs. Maw, Son and 
Thompson in your Journal of 10th inst. defending their 
policy, and explaining their reasons for sending their cata¬ 
logues to surgeons, I shall feel obliged if you will give these 
observations of mine a place in your columns in reference 
thereto. A year or two ago Messrs. Maw asked us to for¬ 
ward to each of our surgeon-customers one of their cata¬ 
logues, and, at the same time, to inform them that we could 
supply Messrs, Maw’s goods at catalogue prices (off which 
they allowed us 25 per cent.). Some months after this they 
issued a fresh catalogue (net at six months or 5 per cent, 
cash), but, strange to say, many of the articles at net prices 
were the same as those formerly subject to 25 per cent. 
The effect of this was to compel us to break faith with our 
customers, or else to sell Messrs. Maw’s goods at no profit ; 
the latter course I preferred to adopt. Messrs. Maw ex¬ 
plained this in saying that by taking 25 per cent, off they 
were selling at a loss; and yet these were their own terms, and 
should have been discovered before the first catalogue was 
issued. I think we are fully j ustified in condemning Messrs. 
Maw’s conduct towards us. They made use of us to distri¬ 
bute their catalogues, and they now supply surgeons (who 
keep no stock, only buy an article just as they want it, and 
who make extraordinary prices of the same) upon precisely 
the same terms as ourselves. 
There is one other feature in Messrs. Maw’s conduct to¬ 
wards us which presses still more heavily upon retail che¬ 
mists. Upon this Messrs. Maw do not touch. 
I should very much like their explanation and defence upon 
what appears to me a most extraordinary and unparalleled 
course of conduct for a wholesale house to adopt towards its 
customers. I refer to their sending their catalogue to the 
chairman or clerks of the various Poor Law Boards through¬ 
out the kingdom. 
Is it common justice to the trade that every Poor Law 
Guardian throughout the kingdom (and, of course, their 
friends) should be made acquainted with the cost price of 
druggists’ sundries,—elastic stockings, bandages, waterproof 
sheeting, trusses, air- and hotwater-cushions, ladies’ belts, 
enemas, breast-bottles, conversation tubes, electro-magnetic 
machines, inhalers, spray producers, suspenders, riding-belts, 
bottles of all kinds, lint, sponges, piline, medicine chests, 
elastic syringes, spread-plasters, etc. ? 
I have heard of Messrs. Maw’s catalogue being used in 
some instances by the union clerks as a drawing-room book. 
The policy Messrs. Maw are adopting towards the trade is to 
me even a greater evil than the co-operative store system, of 
which doubtless, whether in London or in country, we all feel 
more or less. 
I asked Messrs. Maw’s representative when he called on 
me last if he had waited upon the chairman of the Yeovil 
Board of Guardians for an order, for I scarcely thought it 
consistent for him to call upon me after having sought to do 
business directly with my customers. T. C. Maggs. 
Brighton Chemists’ Association. 
Sir,—In the list of delegates from the various provincial 
societies to the Pharmaceutical Conference I see the name of 
Mr. Savage mentioned as representing the Chemists’ Asso¬ 
ciation of Brighton. May I be allowed, through the medium 
of your columns, to inquire in what part of Brighton the 
Association is located, and who are its officers ? 1 have been 
a resident in the town for a period of two years, and during 
that time have made several inquiries respecting the said 
Association, but have never received any definite reply that 
it at present exists. That such an Association did exist at 
some remote period there is not a doubt, and a recent corre¬ 
spondent in the Journal has informed us that there is still a 
nucleus for the reconstructing of one; if such be the case, 
why do not the pharmacists of so large and popular a place 
as Brighton awake out of their present dormant state, and, 
by incorporating the whole body of principals and assistants 
located here, establish an Association worthy the reputation 
of the town, so that at future Conferences the veteran worker 
in the cause of pharmacy—Mr. Savage—may be the repre¬ 
sentative of a reality, and not of a Society that has ceased to 
exist? Veritas. 
Brighton. - ■ - — 
Hospital Dispensing. 
Dear Sir,—I who have been for sixteen years a hospital 
dispenser, see nothing extraordinary in a hospital physician 
or surgeon writing (scrawling, if that term better suits Mr. 
Fitch) as well as he can upon a patient’s greasy card or paper, 
H j mist, cinch, rosse c. acid. I used to consider it very thought¬ 
ful on the part of the doctors when they did “ write it short.” 
The prescriber know r s very well that it is only intended for 
their own dispenser, and that he will understand it. Most 
hospitals have private formulae, and for very good reasons. 
Mr. Fitch is evidently not well up in hospital work. As a 
rule, hospital prescriptions are dispensed as well and with as 
good ai’ticles as those used in private establishments. 
To try to “run down” the medical profession, is not the 
way to elevate ourselves. 
Let us not copy the Lancet. 
Edward Barber, Another 3I.P.S.G.B. 
P.S. “ Mist. D.D.D. t.d.” and “ Mist. M.A.C. t.d.” would 
puzzle Mr. Fitch, but hospital dispensers here understand it. 
Sir,—If Mr. Simon reflects and looks a little farther, he 
will find larger dispensing establishments requiring his nurs¬ 
ing other than the pharmacists. Early this month a re¬ 
spectable married woman obtained advice at Bartholomew’s 
Hospital; a prescription was handed her for the dispensary; 
there the first w r ords were, “ Your bottles! ” The woman 
answered, “ I have none.” “ Then go and buy some.” This 
she did (two wine bottles); the one was filled with a “ gargle,” 
the other a “ mixture,” both being handed to her, together 
with two corks and two labels, with the sweet sound from 
some one within, “ Take them away.” This, I fear, is an 
average type of hospital dispensing,—in other words, a waste 
of public money. If the corks fitted, why not have kept 
them there ? if not, it was an insult to have given them; and, 
again, was this poor w r oman to be made the judge as to which 
was to be taken, and which w r as “not”? To discern between 
them was accomplished by some difficulty by 
London, 13 th September , 1870. A Pharmacist. 
