THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 22, 1871. 
72 
that chemists and dispensers of medicines generally 
should he compelled to keep all poisonous packets in 
paper of a distinct colour reserved expressly for that 
purpose. The suggestion is a simple one, and the facts 
which give rise to it certainly warrant a suspicion that 
there is something wrong in the internal economy of 
these gentlemen’s establishments. It appears from evi¬ 
dence given that it is the custom at the Islington Dis¬ 
pensary to keep powders in a drawer containing sixteen 
divisions. Every one of those divisions has a label; but 
the slightest error in assigning the powder to the proper 
place is, of course, likely to lead to unfortunate conse¬ 
quences. In addition to this it is stated to be the 
custom at Islington to keep ‘ kino powders,’ which are 
composed of opium, in the very next compartment to 
one containing very harmless packets of rhubarb and 
soda, and so it happened the other day that the apothe¬ 
cary made a little mistake, and the result was that two 
children of a Mrs. Ford were subsequently found dead in 
their bed. As the apothecary had clearly no intention 
to take the lives of Mrs. Ford’s children, a verdict of 
death from accidental causes was agreed upon; but it is 
certain that if some very simple precautions had been 
adopted the victims of this accident would have been 
still alive. There is, we believe, a Society of Chemists 
and Druggists who are very conspicuous at times in 
urging upon the Legislature the necessity of forbidding 
anybody to prepare prescriptions who has not passed an 
examination in Horace and Yirgil; but it would, per¬ 
haps, be more to the point if they joined in recommend¬ 
ing the trade to make some little distinction between 
the external appearance of harmless and poisonous 
X^owders.” 
We presume the Pharmaceutical Society is here 
referred to, but our contemporary does not appear to 
be aware that the object of the Pharmaceutical So¬ 
ciety, in its long-continued efforts to ensure the com¬ 
petence of dispensers, w T as mainly one conducive to 
the public interest, or that those efforts—now se¬ 
conded by law—have been the means of inducing 
chemists to adopt, more generally than was at one 
time the case, precautions calculated to prevent the 
possible substitution of a poisonous drug for a harm¬ 
less one. In this respect, therefore, his strictures 
are altogether inappropriate ; and as regards the par¬ 
ticular case of mistake referred to, he seems to have 
overlooked the fact that it occurred at a dispensary, 
and not in a chemist’s shop. We hope it would now be 
very unusual to find a chemist’s shop where “ kino 
powders ” and packets of rhubarb and soda were 
kept in such careless proximity that one could be 
readily mistaken for the other. 
Dr. J. Baker Edwards, Ph.D., F.C.S., formerly a 
member of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society 
of Great Britain, has been appointed Professor of 
Chemistry and Microscopy in the Medical Faculty 
of Bishop’s College University at Montreal. The 
University has also conferred upon him the degree 
of D.C.L. honoris causa. 
At Brighton a numerous committee has already 
been formed to make arrangements for the reception 
of the British Association in 1872. Steps are being 
taken to secure the attendance of as many foreign 
savants as possible. 
MNEMONIC STIMULANT. 
A German philosopher has said “ olme Phos¬ 
phor kein Gedanke” (without phosphorus there 
can be no thought), and one of his countrymen 
appears to have taken advantage of the statemeut, 
and turned it to practical account. We see the 
British Medical Journal reports that— 
“ A person named G. M. Ranfer puffs and sells for 
three shillings, under the name of ‘ lemonade for 
strengthening the memory,’ a fluid mixture of about 
30 grammes, containing 15 parts of phosphoric acid, 
15 of glycerine and 70 of water. This is sold in 
Vienna.” 
We tliink if there be any reality in the virtues 
alleged to be possessed by this preparation, that it 
might indirectly be a source of great relief to Lord 
Chief Justice Bovill, the Solicitor-General, and 
all concerned in the case of Tichborne v. Lushing- 
ton ; that is to say, provided the claimant could be 
induced to put himself under a coinse of it. 
The Chemical Section of the British Association 
will be presided over by Professor Andrews, of 
Belfast. The Vice-Presidents will be Professors 
Anderson and Brazier, and the Secretaries, Messrs. 
J. G. Buchanan, A. Vernon Harcourt, and T. E. 
Thorpe. 
The American Pharmaceutical Association will 
hold its nineteenth Annual Meeting in the city of 
St. Louis, Missouri, on Tuesday, the 12th of Septem¬ 
ber next. Arrangements are being made for an ex¬ 
tensive display of objects in any way connected with 
pharmacy, and a special appeal is issued to obtain 
specimens of crude drugs indigenous to the south 
and -west, so that the materia medica of the great 
valley of the Mississippi may be efficiently repre¬ 
sented. 
We are informed in Nature that the meeting of 
the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science will be commenced at Indianopolis, Indiana, 
on the 17tli of August, under the presidency of 
Professor Asa Gray. 
Professor Attfield’s paper on the “ Chemical 
Nomenclature of the Pharmacopoeia” is the subject 
of a review in the 'American Journal of Pharmacy, 
in winch an approval is expressed of the sugges¬ 
tions made in the paper. The reviewer concludes 
by saying, “ Our view’s coincide in principle with 
those advanced by Professor Attfield, and w r e 
heartily commend them to the consideration of the 
committee having in charge the revision of the 
United States’ Pharmacopoeia.” 
