532 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 30, lf/1. 
be made to tlie Pharmacy Act, specifying the articles 
that cannot legally he sold to brewers or dealers in 
beer. A conviction under the Act would, to many, 
be ruin; and as the Legislature considers the sale 
of prohibited articles to brewers and dealers in beer 
a more serious offence than the sale of poisons to the 
public, it cannot be said that the subject is too unim¬ 
portant for action to be taken in the matter. The law 
supposes every man who embarks in any trade to 
be acquainted with the Acts of Parliament governing 
that trade, and on this account we have directed 
attention to the Act 50 Geo. III. c. 58, to impress 
upon our readers the necessity of exercising great 
caution when trading with brewers or other persons 
engaged in the beer trade. 
MEDICAL DECLARATION RESPECTING ALCOHOL. 
A memorandum has been published on the subject 
of the duty of medical men in regard to the pre¬ 
scribing of alcohol, which, from the long list of 
honourable and influential names appended to it, 
irrespective of the importance of the subject, merits 
careful consideration. It is as follows :— 
“ As it is believed that the inconsiderate prescription 
of large quantities of alcoholic liquids by medical men for 
their patients has given rise, in many instances, to the 
formation of intemperate habits, the undersigned, while 
unable to abandon the use of alcohol in the treatment of 
certain cases of disease, are yet of opinion that no medical 
practitioner should prescribe it without a sense of grave 
responsibility. They believe that alcohol, in whatever 
form, should be prescribed with as much care as any 
powerful drug, and that the directions for its use should 
be so framed as not to be intei’preted as a sanction for 
excess, or necessarily for the continuance of its use when 
the occasion is past. 
“ They are also of opinion that many people immensely 
exaggerate the value of alcohol as an article of diet; and 
since no class of men see so much of its ill effects, and 
jiossess such power to restrain its abuse, as members of 
their own profession, they hold that every medical prac¬ 
titioner is bound to exert his utmost inlluence to incul¬ 
cate habits of great moderation hi the use of alcoholic 
liquids. 
“ Being also firmly convinced that the great amount 
of drinking of alcoholic liquors among the working classes 
of this country is one of the greatest evils of the "day, de¬ 
stroying, more than anything else, the health, happiness 
and welfare of those classes, and neutralizing, to a large 
extent, the great industrial prosperity which Provi¬ 
dence has placed within the reach of this nation, the 
undersigned would gladly support any wise legislation 
which would tend to restrict, within proper limits, the 
use of alcoholic beverages, and gradually introduce habits 
of temperance.” 
Doubtless this memorandum will give rise to con¬ 
siderable discussion and divergence of opinion, but 
in any case the British Medical Journal and the 
Lancet are in accord on this subject (not being too 
•closely connected with “ circulation ”); for while the 
one informs us the memorandum had its origin at 
an interview between the Secretary of the Tem¬ 
perance League and Mr. Ernest Hart, consequent 
upon some editorial remarks which appeared last 
September in its columns, the Lancet refers to senti¬ 
ments expressed in an article published six veeks 
ago, as being in some cases very similar to, f not 
identical with, some points of the memorandum 
The Medical Times and Gazette, howevei, con¬ 
siders that there is a certain vagueness in tin open¬ 
ing sentence, which might be construed tc imply 
that the signataries believe medical men tc be re¬ 
sponsible for a large part of the intemperance of the 
dav. Mr. F. C. Skey also, in a letter to tie Times, 
objects to the memorandum as being “ dictatorial, 
assailing the deliberate judgment of a large number 
of eminent members of the profession.’ He also 
doubts the existence of the “many instances” of 
“ intemperate habits engendered by the medical 
administration of alcohol.” And from a letter pub¬ 
lished in the Medical Times and Gazette, this opinion 
appears to be shared by Dr. Lionel Beale. 
Another class who may be expected to express an 
opinion upon the matter are those who consider that 
the nature of the alcoholic drink makes a great dif¬ 
ference, for at the recent meeting of the St. Andrew’s 
Medical Graduates’ Association, when Dr. B. W. 
Richardson pointed out that the different alcohols— 
ethylic, metliylic, amylic, etc.—had very different phy¬ 
siological actions, this point was further illustrated 
by Dr. Shorthouse, who said he could support Dr. 
Richardson’s opinion by great practical experience. 
He thought that effervescing wines were far less 
harmful than sherry or even bitter ale, and, amid 
great laughter, proceeded to inform the meeting of 
the quantity of champagne he drank daily. Cham¬ 
pagne, he said, never did jlffm any harm; he had 
drunk some before coming to the meeting, and would 
pledge himself at that minute to “ tlmead a needle or 
to pick a flea’s eye out.” 
THE CHICAGO COLLEGE FUND. 
Professor Attfield, writing from the country, 
tells us that he is preparing a third list of donations 
for publication in the next number of the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Journal. Contributions from provincial 
towns are beginning to flow in; subscriptions and 
books having been received from Edinburgh and 
Colchester. The Council of the Chemical Society- 
lias also presented a set of the Journal and Transac¬ 
tions. 
The first election of Council of the Ontario Col¬ 
lege of Pharmacy, under the Ontario Pharmacy Act 
passed last February, has taken place. "\Ve notice 
that Mr. William Saunders and Mr. E. B. Shuttle- 
worth (editor of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Jour¬ 
nal) are respectively first and tliird on the list. 
At the last Evening Meeting, Dr. Tilden called 
attention to a cabinet for holding labels so arranged 
as to prevent the confusion that sometimes aiises 
from their becoming mixed. Though apparently 
only a matter of detail, the importance that may 
attach to it is shown by a case reported at p. 538, 
