August 19, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
147 
®|je ^{mnnarntral |ouraal 
-♦-* 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 , 1871 . 
Communications for this Journal, and books for review , etc., 
•should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
tiidge, Secretary , 17, Bloomsbury Square , TV.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
.Street , London, IV. Envelopes indorsed u Pharm. Journ.” 
HOSPITAL DISPENSING. 
In the Journal of the 20tli August last year we 
took occasion to comment on this subject, making 
use of a casualty that had occurred at the Royal 
Free Hospital as our text. And we now recur to it 
for the purpose of reminding those interested, that 
the duties of a hospital dispenser are entirely differ- 
•ent from those of a chemist pure and simple, both in 
•the kind of work, and in the way that that work is, 
•or ought to be, accomplished. Great and constant 
•care is required in both these walks of life, but we 
fake it that hospital dispensers, whether in ‘ Service’ 
•or civil institutions, appreciate too little the impor¬ 
tance of sticking to orders, and of giving out nothing 
that is not strictly prescribed in ‘black and white.’ 
The dispensary of a large hospital is a field in which 
work must be done quickly as well as accurately, 
.and there are a thousand and one temptations to the 
loose performance of duty. Hospital out-patients, 
particularly in the country, are by no means clever 
in receiving or understanding verbal directions, so 
that little or nothing on this head should be left to 
•common sense. For, though a struggling and by no 
means civilized crowd of sick people, all fighting 
then* way to the dispensary window, by no means 
•conduce to a placid frame of mind, dispensers are 
not on that account exempt from the results of care¬ 
lessness. And often, in the midst of the work of the 
out-patient department, sisters and nurses make con¬ 
tinual verbal appeals for this or that draught, mix¬ 
ture, or extra, accompanied by the assurance that 
the written order shall be soon produced. Some 
nurses are careful and perfectly trustworthy, 
but according to our knowledge, belief, and ex¬ 
perience, no hospital dispenser should give out 
<l medicine or drug of any sort or land with¬ 
out an authority in writing, from the respon¬ 
sible officers. We firmly believe that a strict 
adherence to this rule would save trouble and pre¬ 
vent serious misadventures; and we are sure that 
this is the very decided opinion of those who have 
had much experience in the administration of large 
public institutions. It is, of course, impossible to 
legislate with success for the wonderful eccentricities 
of stupidity; and we doubt very much whether yellow I 
labels, triangular, or “ knobbed” Hals or all the inge¬ 
nious machinery for the prevention of therapeutical 
casualties that have lately been introduced into prac¬ 
tical pharmacy, avail much, where common sense 
and ordinary prudence are absent. A good hospital 
dispenser may do much useful service to the hospital 
with which he is connected, by keeping a wholesome 
check on the expenditure, and advising the adminis¬ 
tration as to how and where savings can be effected 
in the purchase of drugs. Medical men are seldom 
good financiers, and cannot be supposed to know 
much about the market value of the medicines that 
they prescribe. But these matters come fairly within 
the range of a dispenser’s duties, and an officer who 
can recommend when and how to buy to advantage 
may be the means of economizing hospital funds in 
Ills own department to a very considerable extent. 
It may, perhaps, be thought that the above remarks 
refer only to a small section of our readers, but they 
are worthy the attention of all who are now, or who 
are likely to become, public officers, in that which is a 
very important branch of all hospital establishments. 
CONDURANGO, THE NEW REMEDY FOR CANCER. 
The new reputed cure for cancer, condurango or 
cundurango bark, a report of an analysis of which 
was recently published in this Journal (p. 03), ap¬ 
pears to be creating considerable interest in the 
United States. The New York Tribune says that 
the surprising results following its use in cases of 
cancer have caused a great demand for it, as many 
as twenty or thirty letters a day being received by 
Dr. Bliss, to whom a small quantity had been sent 
by the Ecuadorian minister, and as many more by the 
State department, asking for supplies of it. Amongst 
the cases quoted where benefit lias followed from its 
use is that of the mother of Vice-President Colfax, 
who it is stated, with less than five ounces of the 
condurango, has been nearly cured of a cancer, which 
it was expected would end her life within the year. 
Dr. Bliss, being convinced that condurango is a spe¬ 
cific for cancer, sent an order for five hundred pounds 
to a business house in Guayaquil, but was informed 
that it was not an article of commerce, and not ob¬ 
tainable by the ordinary commercial methods. He 
has therefore dispatched his partner, Dr. Keene, to 
Ecuador to obtain a supply; and in order to facilitate 
liis mission, that gentleman was made the bearer of 
official dispatches to the Government of Ecuador, 
and furnished with letters of recommendation by 
President Grant, Mr. Colfax, Mr. Fish and other 
prominent persons. 
Dr. Keene writes that the task of obtaining the 
condurango is more difficult than was expected. The 
roads to the Loja district are rough and unfrequented, 
the rainy season is not yet over, the streams are 
swollen, and dangerous to cross, and the Indians are 
disposed to throw every obstacle in the way of 
