THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 4,1871. 
806 
ilie German student, on leaving the university, is 
more highly educated than the average of those who 
pass the Major in England, and I attribute this 
mainly to the early education he receives, an educa¬ 
tion on which it is easy to raise any required scien-; 
lilac superstructure. 
I now approach some of those laws by which j 
pharmacy is governed in North Germany. The ques- 
tion will very naturally occur to the English phar-: 
imacist, Is this Government concession and limita- • 
tion of pharmacies an advantage to the public, or 
conducive to the best interests of pharmacy ? The 
question is very difficult to answer, hut some facts 
may he mentioned which have a direct hearing on 
the subject. In every place I visited, from Ham¬ 
burg to Dresden, it was remarked how difficult it had 
become to obtain apprentices, although no premium 
was ever expected from them. The reason assigned 
was, that the high-class education required, and the 
severe examinations which follow, deter them from 
entering the business, while the prospect of possess¬ 
ing a business themselves is remote and uncertain. 
It follows that assistants also are scarce. As an 
instance, I had in my hands one number of the 
JPhar maceutische Zeituny , in which there were ten 
advertisements for apprentices, six for situations, 
and 124 for assistants. For these the prospect of 
business is remote and uncertain; they may have 
passed their Major examination, and shown them¬ 
selves fitted for conducting a pharmacy, yet assis¬ 
tants they must remain until a vacancy occurs by 
death or retirement, and even then the purchase- 
money required is so large that comparatively few 
can ever hope to possess it. 
Having qualified, what inducement is there for 
continuous study ? None, but an inherent love of the 
science. Once established in business, competition 
is not feared; and that most natural incentive to 
progress is entirely wanting. Again as regards the 
Arznei-taxe,” it the taxed list of prices be quite 
proper for the wealthy, it must press very hard upon 
the mechanic. In England it is usual to study the 
means of the working classes, but in Germany medi¬ 
cines are regulated by one code of prices. 
There seems to me a general lack of interest in 
pharmacy in towns like Hanover and Brunswick, 
and also in Dresden; there is a want of union among 
the principals, and there are no societies where ap¬ 
prentices and assistants have opportunities of study. 
In Great Britain there is a cry from different parts 
of the country, reaching the parent Society in 
Bloomsbury Square, asking for assistance in money, 
books, diagrams and apparatus. It may be difficult 
to satisfy those wants, but they indicate vitality and 
a healthy feeling. I have heard nothing of the land 
in North Germany. 
The data which I have here brought before you 
have been obtained with much care and labour, 
usually from two or more independent sources in 
every town or city; I believe them to be facts and 
not coloured. For the inferences I am alone respon¬ 
sible. I know, at the same time., that on this sub¬ 
ject opinions in Germany are much divided; those 
who are now in business believe in the present con¬ 
dition of things, those who are not, and “ their name 
is legion,” think otherwise. 
^ I take this opportunity of stating the pleasure it 
afforded me to hear how highly the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain is appreciated by the phar¬ 
macists of North Germany; but I cannot avoid the 
conclusion that pharmacy there is now suffering 
from over-legislation, that the limitation of establish¬ 
ments and Government protection is not conducive 
to its best interests, and that it has at the present 
time, looming before it, the most serious questions— 
questions which press for solution, and must one day 
be grappled with and solved; and I believe that it is 
not at the present time in a satisfactory and progres¬ 
sive condition. 
Leaving Dresden, and with it Northern Germany 
on my way to Austria, I shouldered my knapsack, 
and crossing the Elbe, spent a few days in Saxon 
Switzerland, where, amidst the moss-grown and 
lichened rocks of that romantic spot, I forgot, for the 
time, that there existed such a science as pharmacy.* 
DIGITALIS, f 
BY J. MILNER FOTHERGILL, M.D. 
(■Concluded from page 324.) 
Action on Frogs .—These have purposely been put last, 
on account of the large number of experiments to which, 
they have been subjected by various writers. Frogs 
have been made much use of by experimenters, on ac¬ 
count of their great susceptibility to medicines, and the 
ease with which experiments could be carried on. Dyb- 
kowsky and Pellikan abroad, and Hilton Fagge and 
Stevenson in England, experimented largely on them, 
with uniform results as regards the state of contraction 
of the heart observed. Dr. Fothcrgill found that when 
digitalis was administered by the mouth, or hypoder¬ 
mically, its effects were quickly apparent. First, the 
contractions became somewhat quicker, and the contrac¬ 
tion more complete. Soon the peristaltic action became 
more marked, the systole being longer and more perfect. 
Then the distension became less complete, especially at 
the apex, which remained white and firmly contracted. 
The action of the ventricle became almost vermicular in 
its slowness, and the diastole was most imperfect, till the 
ventricle came ultimately to a standstill in firm contrac¬ 
tion, the heart being much diminished in size,—and in 
size, shape and colour, much resembled an unripe apple- 
pip. The frogs did not seem much affected otherwise, 
the poison seeming to be confined, as regarded its action, 
purely to the heart. If released, they hopped about un¬ 
concernedly, nor did the removal of the contracted heart 
by scissors cause them any apparent inconvenience. 
They merely seemed to die ultimately from the arrested 
respiratory changes: a slow mode of death in cold¬ 
blooded animals. The results were uniform as regards 
the contracted condition of the ventricle. To other frogs 
were administered belladonna, caffein, strychnin and 
aconite. The first produced rather marked contraction ; 
caffein somewhat less so. Strychnin produced no per¬ 
ceptible effect, contrary to anticipation. Aconite pro¬ 
duced paralysis and arrest of the heart in diastole. A 
still more interesting series of experiments was performed. 
To some frogs, digitalis and aconite were administered, 
side by side, and the opposite actions contrasted. The 
experiment was then varied; and, after the action of 
each drug was well established, the other wa $ adminis¬ 
tered— i. e., after the effects of digitalis were well esta¬ 
blished, aconite was administered; and to others, after 
the action of aconite was well brought out, digitalis was 
given. Over the action of digitalis, aconite certainly 
had an influence, but it could scarcely be called a marked 
one, and did not ultimately arrest the contraction pro¬ 
duced, even when pushed. On the contrary, the ad¬ 
ministration of digitalis was followed by the most marked 
* The author purposes dealing with the subject of Phar¬ 
macy in Austria in a future paper. 
f Abstracted from the Hastings Prize Essay, for 1870, 
published in the British Medical Journal, Nos. 548 to 553. 
