280 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 1,1870. 
These latter must either be of service or the contrary; common 
consent will admit the necessity; if so, medical men deserve to 
be protected in then* interest, otherwise there is little chance 
of the high standard being attained among us which Non- 
Malefactor ” seems to expect. It certainly will not mend 
matters for Pharmaceutical Chemists to do the work for us, 
—they are not educated for the purpose, so, to say the least, 
it is hardly honest on their part. 
Both doctors and chemists must look forward to the day 
when their relative position and duties shall be defined by law, 
as is the case in many Continental countries. 
September 20 th. Percy Leslie, M.D. 
Dear Sir,—In the Lancet of Saturday the 17th ult. appeared 
a somewhat more decent, temperate, and logical article on che¬ 
mists than it has been accustomed to publish of late. The 
basis of the article is a letter from a correspondent with the ap¬ 
propriate signature of “Reformer,” and he well deserves that 
title, since in the latter part of his communication he says, in 
reference to prescribing by chemists, “ that this kind of thing 
should be put a stop to, for I can clearly see, as time advances, 
that it will get worse. Is it not possible, in this Medical Bill 
which will be again shortly before Parliament, to get a clause 
inserted to somewhat restrict this kind of thing? The only 
other remedy I can see will be for all general practitioners to 
supply then* own medicines, as in former days (which cer¬ 
tainly is rather infra dig.), and thus to wrench back from 
druggists that of which evidently they are depriving the pro¬ 
fession.” It would be quite as fair for druggists to agitate 
for a prohibition of doctors doing their own dispensing, as 
for chemists being prohibited from prescribing; and it seems 
nothing more than is to be expected, that as long as “ the 
profession” dispense their own physic, so long will chemists 
do a little pulse-feeling, tongue-scrutinizing, counter-pre- 
scribing, which at least has been of some use to ££ the pro¬ 
fession;” for ££ Reformer ” says in the letter already quoted, 
££ that in the town in which he resides he was one day greatly 
amused” (by the tenour of his letter he does not seem greatly 
amused, but possibly some time has passed, so the amusing 
effects have worn off) ££ at seeing the people, one after the 
other, come in to be doctored, the druggist actually in my 
presence feeling then* pulses, etc.” It certainly was not a 
pleasant sight for one of ££ the profession ” to witness “people, 
one after another, come to be doctored,” while his time and 
services were not in such great requisition; and then he and 
the other doctors of the town had generously given up dis¬ 
pensing their own physic, an act which I am sure you will 
coincide with me in saying deserved a better retaliation and 
which perhaps accounts for the rather bitter epistle of “ Re¬ 
former.” 
But there must be something in the people flocking to the 
chemists and leaving the doctors. Is it on account of ££ the 
profession’s ” excessive charges or in their desire for keeping 
on with their patients, for both of these are complaints often 
urged against them by the people; or is it, as the Lancet 
says in the article referred to, that the price charged by 
druggists for dispensing doctors’ prescriptions is high and of 
itself “ a heavy and exhaustive bill to people in humble means, 
so that they can ill afford to pay the doctor’s fee in addition. 
Mixtures they say are charged at the rate of Is. 8 d. to 2s. 
each, and other medicines correspondingly; so that the dis¬ 
pensing of an ordinary prescription easily amounts to 2s. 6d. 
or 3s.” This is really an immense amount to obtain for 
twenty minutes’ work, and the drugs, chemicals, bottles and 
labels employed, and the risk of making a mistake, for which 
one might be mulcted in a penalty of £1000, as was Mr. 
Abraham; for when a mistake is made by chemists it is always 
found out and generally published, whereas if any mistake is 
made in writing in doctors’ prescriptions, the chemists, as a 
body, are most scrupulous in keeping it from the knowledge 
of the patient and the public. And this amount, which in 
the majority of prescriptions, does not reach 2s., is grudged 
by ‘the profession,” after taking of the “person in humble 
means a sovereign for a fee. Whether chemists, or even 
the people, see as “the profession” see, may be doubted. 
It the doctor dispensed his own physic, would the charge be 
much less than Is. 8 d. or 2s. for dispensing, or is not the 
doctor s usual price from 2s. Qd. to 3s. for the 8 oz. mixture of 
, ^ er thin Q s in the same proportion ? that is, 
nearly double what the Lancet calls heavy and exhaustive 
prices charged by the chemist to the “person in humble 
means. This price is not warranted by the extra skill used 
by the doctors in dispensing, seeing that the majority use 
ready-made mixtures and pills, which do for a large proper* 
tion of patients, aud the dispensing is generally done by assist¬ 
ants whose pharmaceutical knowledge a very modified exa¬ 
mination would “pluck.” Nor is it the greater cost of the 
drugs employed, as those who supply dispensing members of 
“the profession” know, nor a more concentrated form, as 
those who take them know. 
It would have looked much more becoming a learned pro¬ 
fession if they had treated a newly State-recognized Society 
with some amount of generosity, and encouraged it in its; 
laudable efforts to raise the standard of pharmaceutical edu¬ 
cation in the country, instead of throwing cold water on its 
well-meant, if at present weak efforts, or entering on a new 
crusade “to wrench back from the druggist” the small mo¬ 
dicum of dispensing they have granted him. Apologizing 
for the length of this letter, 
I remain, yours very obediently, 
“Audi Alteram Partem.” 
“ Improvement in Stoppered Bottles.” 
Sir,—Mr. Mayhew’s letter in the Journal last week is a 
very sensible one ; but I, however, also suggest that a small 
groove be made in the neck of the bottle to correspond with 
the groove at the top of the stopper, so as to keep the string 
in its place. There would be less danger of the string slipping 
from its position. Mr. Mayhew is an experienced man; I 
was a fellow-assistant with him in Cheltenham in 1838. 
Louth, September 2 6th, 1870. John Hurst. 
Thomas Lay (Manchester).—Persons desiring to present 
themselves for the Minor and Major examinations must have 
passed the Preliminary examination, unless they, being 
twenty-one years of age, had been in business three years 
before the passing of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, and have also 
applied before 31st December, 1868, to be allowed to pass the 
Modified examination. 
£. K. Larnshaw (Putney).—Yes. 
“ Amor Justitice.” —Such a person can be registered without 
examination upon making the statutory declaration, a form 
of which will be supplied by the Secretary on application. 
“ Inquirer .”—The Apothecaries’ Hall certificate would be 
accepted by the Board of Examiners in lieu of the Prelimi¬ 
nary Examination. 
“ Inquisitive ” (Morecambe).— Vide 32 & 33 Yict. s. 1. 
“Spes ” writes, saying that in the Conspectus of the Ex¬ 
aminations of the Pharmaceutical Society, for the Minor 
Examinations in Chemistry, the candidate is requested to 
give a description of the processes by which acids, oxides, 
salts, etc., of the Pharmacopoeia are produced, and to state 
the composition of such as are compound. “Spes ” would be 
greatly obliged if any of our correspondents would give one 
or more examples of the above compounds. 
“ Quarens” (Greenwich) (1) wishes to be informed what 
Oil of Hermes is. (2.) Tourmaline is the name of a group of 
double silicates, usually found in granite, gneiss or mica 
slate. The term artificial tourmalines has been applied to 
crystals of sulphate of iodoquinine on account of their optical 
properties. An article in which formulae are given for the 
preparation of these crystals will be found in Pharm. Journ., 
1st ser., Yol. XIII. p. 419. (3.) Pimpernel water is distilled 
from the root. It is acrid, and of a blue colour. 
V. G-. (Notting Hill.)—Sulphide of arsenic and unslaked; 
lime are sometimes used for the purpose in combination with 
starch. Another method is to use a strong solution of sul¬ 
phide of barium made into a paste with powdered starch. 
“Ink Pot.” —(1.) Bloom of Roses is a solution of carmine 
in ammonia. You will find forms for its preparation in any 
work on cosmetics. (2.) Pharm. Journ., 2nd ser., Yol. IX. 
p. 434. (4.) See the schedule to the “ Petroleum Act,” and 
numerous articles in the Pharmaceutical Journal, (dJ 
The rule for anonymous communications is that no notice- 
can be taken of them. 
G-. H. H. will find a recipe for Glycerine and Lime Cream 
in Pharm. Journ., 2nd ser., Yol. VIII. p. 679. 
Instructions from 3Iembers and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
ridg-e, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, JVC. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, Neiv Burlington 
Street, London, TV. Envelopes to be endorsed for “Pharma 
Journ.” 
