THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 1, 1871. 
10 
nor do sailors particularly object to be “ drenched ” 
with it. According to the evidence of Budd, Parkes, 
Bryson and others, citric acid has antiscorbutic vir¬ 
tues, but inferior to those of lime and lemon-juice. 
It appears, indeed, that Mr. Palmer’s communica¬ 
tion includes things new and true, but some things 
that are true and not new, as well as some that are 
new and not true. 
We have, however, to acknowledge his efforts as 
far as citrate of potash is concerned, and propose in 
a future number to lay before our readers the precise 
kind and amount of evidence (up to the present date) 
that exists as to the antiscorbutic value of lime and 
lemon-juice, as well as of all substitutes that have 
hitherto been proposed, and received a fair practical 
trial. Chemists then can judge whether the expe¬ 
rience of the past will avail them in settling what 
is still a vexed question—the exact anti-scorbutic 
principle of lime and lemon-juice. Then, but not 
till then, shall we be in a position to recommend a 
substitute. 
DR. RICHARDSON ON THE PHARMACOPOEIA. 
In an address delivered before the St. Andrew’s 
Medical Graduates’ Association by Dr. B. W. Rich¬ 
ardson, and recently published, occur the following 
remarks upon the Pharmacopoeia, which may be of 
interest to our readers :—• 
“ We had for a long time a book of common forms; a 
Latin book, in Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle editions, full 
of strange tales, 
‘ Of herbs, plants, flowers, and their true qualities,’ 
writ in Latin. At last the strongest man in the practical 
reform of our craft in our time—the Cromwell of physic 
—condemned the book and its mysteries, and now it 
floats, in simple English dress, preparing to make its 
bow and retire altogether. Before I name the hook, I 
must in parenthesis, say who this strong man was. It 
was the man who, opening the locked doors of hospitals, 
nailed them open, and who left behind him a work which 
—though its blasts and its hurricanes are subdued, though 
its noble Saxon tongue, ringing like the hammer of Thor 
on an anvil of silver, hath caught the Norman lisp, and 
though the hand of the poet, born, not made, moves in 
it no more—is, notwithstanding, under the momentum 
of his genius, still one of the most powerful class-jour¬ 
nals in the worlds. The man I mean was the late Mr. 
Wakley. 
“ As for the book which he condemned, and which 
flourishes in this day as the ‘ British Pharmacopoeia,’ 
though the reform in it is not stout winning, it is a good 
giving-up of dead weight, and amidst an ocean of dis¬ 
couragement, is a faint but hopeful sign of advancement. 
It is beyond what it seems. It is leading us to ask whe¬ 
ther simplification cannot be carried out further, and 
whether investigation as to remedies cannot be rendered 
more precise; it affords scope for the introduction of 
principles in therapeutics, and, binding us by a more 
correct nomenclature with advanced chemistry, it con¬ 
nects us closely with one section, at least, of the more 
accurate sciences.” 
We are requested, by the Special Committee 
directing the operations of the Society in reference 
to the Pharmacy Bill, to state that in addition to the 
petitions reported as having been presented to the 
House of Commons, other petitions have been sent 
up from Barnsley, Newark, Norwich, Weston-super- 
Mare, Ipswich, Stoke-on-Trent, West Hartlepool, 
Hereford, Ealing, Flint, Colchester, Basingstoke,. 
Chesterfield, Tamwortli, King’s Lynn, Denbigh, 
Truro, Elgin, Windsor, Dorchester, Newbery, Papon* 
Worcester, Great Yarmouth, Watford, Belfast, Ci¬ 
rencester, Montrose, Barnet, Berwick-on-Tweed, 
Chatham and Kent, Darlington, Stamford, King- 
ston-upon-Hull, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Bridlington, 
Wrexham, Rugby, Oxford, Folkestone, Leith, Brid- 
port, Horsham, St. Alban’s, Whitby, South Shields* 
Dover, Greenock, Knaresborougli, Maidenhead, Wal¬ 
lingford, Tliirsk, Bewdley, Selby. 
We are informed that out of about two thousand 
chemists and druggists in the towns named, about 
eighteen hundred have signed the petitions. 
The following resume of the French regulations as 
to the sale of poisons may, at the present time, be of 
some interest to our readers :—Extract of decree of 
October 29, 1846, concerning the sale of poisonous, 
substances. Poisonous substances for use in medi¬ 
cine can only be sold by pliarmaciens, and from the- 
prescription of a physician, surgeon, officer of health 
or licensed veterinary. This prescription ought to 
be signed, dated, and to detail fully the dose of the; 
said substances, as well as the method of adminis¬ 
tration of the medicine. The pliarmaciens shall 
copy the said prescriptions in a special register, en¬ 
dorsed and signed by the mayor or commissary of 
police. These copies ought to be made one after 
another and without any blank. The pliarmaciens 
shall not return the prescriptions unless stamped" 
with their seal; and after having thereon indicated 
the day when the substances have been delivered 
and the number of the copy in the register. The; 
said register shall be preserved at least twenty 
years, and ought to be produced at every requisition 
of the authorities. Before delivering the medicinal' 
preparation, the pliarmacien shall put on it a label, 
showing his name and residence, and the internal or 
external use of the medicine. Arsenic and its com¬ 
pounds cannot be sold, except for medicinal pur¬ 
poses, unless combined with other substances. The* 
quantities delivered, as also the name and residence 
of the buyers, shall be entered in the special register. 
The sale and use of arsenic and its compounds are 
forbidden for dressing wheat, embalming bodies and" 
the destruction of insects. Poisonous substances 
ought to be always kept by merchants, manufac¬ 
turers and pliarmaciens in a secure place and locked 
up. The following poisonous substances, according- 
to decree of July 8tli, 1850, ought to be always kept 
in a secure place and locked up:— 
