February io, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G67 
antr gteto gtmciwgs. 
Croydon County Court. — Monday, oth February , 1872. 
Before H. J. Stoxor, Esq., Judge. 
The Pharmaceutical Society v. Harrington. 
This case had been by the Judge adjourned until this 
day. 
Mr. Lucas (from the office of Messrs. Flux), on behalf 
of the plaintiff, informed the Judge that the defendant 
had not made payment into court or procured himself to 
be placed on the register, and therefore he (Mr. Lucas) 
asked judgment for the penalty. 
An attorney appeared on behalf of the defendant, and 
pressed that his Honour would not give judgment, inas¬ 
much as Mr. Bremridge’s appointment as Registrar had 
not been proved; and the defendant now alleged a good 
defence to the action under the seventeenth section of 
the Act, which section provides that the business of a 
“ wholesale dealer” in drugs shall not be affected by the 
Act. 
The Judge said that any contest that the transaction 
was one of “wholesale dealing” was out of the question; 
the quantity supplied was “ one pennyworth,” and if 
the sale of a pennyworth in Croydon could be described 
as wholesale, it would be difficult to say what might, in 
a village, be a retail transaction. And with respect to 
the other question, the objection should have been taken 
“ as a ground of nonsuit ” before entering on defence by 
the defendant. However, if the defendant were dissatis¬ 
fied, he might, on affidavit properly prepared and sworn 
to, move for a new trial. His judgment was for the 
plaintiff. Verdict for £5; costs of attorney and wit¬ 
nesses ; ^execution to issue in a fortnight. 
Poisoning by Laudanum. 
On Wednesday, Feb. 1st, an inquest was held at 
Wakefield upon a young man named James Quarmby. 
It was stated in evidence that the deceased, who had 
been suffering from pains in the stomach, had obtained 
an ounce of laudanum from his cousin, Mr. Quarmby, 
chemist and druggist, Westgate, and the bottle was 
afterwards found in his pocket, properly labelled. De¬ 
ceased was discovered in an iasensible state, and died 
without being roused. Medical evidence was given that 
the symptoms indicated poisoning by repeated small 
doses of laudanum, and a verdict was returned to that 
effect. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
A Dictionary of Chemistry and the Allied Branches 
of other Sciences. By Henry Watts, B.A., F.R.S., 
F.C.S. Assisted by many Eminent Contributors. 
Supplement. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 
1872. From the Publishers. 
Jahresbericht uber die Fortschritte der Chemib 
UND VERWANDTER TlIEILE ANDERER AVISSENSCHAFTEN 
f-ur 1869. Giessen. 1871. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal,’ Feb. 3; the ‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
Feb. 3; the‘Lancet,’ Feb. 3; the ‘Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ Feb. 7; ‘ Nature,’ Feb. 3 : the ‘ Chemical News,’ Feb. 
3: ‘English Mechanic.’ Feb. 2; ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ 
Feb. 3: the ‘Grocer,’ Feb. 3; the ‘Journal of the Society of 
Arts,’ Feb. 3; ‘Journal of Materia Medica’ for December; 
‘ Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter,’ Nos. 770-773; 
* Journal of Applied Science’ for February; ‘The British 
Pharmacist’ for Februarv; ‘The AYakefield Press,’ Feb. 3; 
‘Journal of the London Institution’ for February; ‘Trans¬ 
actions of the Odontological Society’ for January; ‘British 
Journal of Dental Science’ for February; ‘Journal de Phar- 
macie et de Chimie ’ for January; ‘ Food, Water and Air,’ for 
February; ‘American Chemist’ for January; ‘The Clinic’ 
(Cincinnati) for January. 
Coxmpvtott. 
*** Mo notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is in tended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith. 
Pharmaceutical Education. 
Sir,—If by “matters political” your correspondent, Mr. 
Ernest J. T. Agnew, refers to pharmaceutical politics, Man¬ 
chester is quite able and willing to bear the sneers which in 
all time it has been the privilege of the defeated to throw at 
the successful party; if to national politics, the subject is 
scarcely a suitable one for discussion in your columns. Still, 
Manchester has little need to be ashamed of her “reputa¬ 
tion,” and, in the experience of much older and more experi¬ 
enced persons than Mr. Agnew, it is not an “unenviable” 
one. 
Manchester pharmacists have been actuated, both in phar¬ 
maceutical politics and in questions of pharmaceutical educa¬ 
tion, by honest convictions. They are not, therefore, likely 
to be much discomfited by “ obnoxious epithets,” whether 
couched in plain English or in elegant French. 
I am surprised that any one possessing ordinary ability to 
appreciate an argument, to say nothing of the varied accom¬ 
plishments which Mr. Agnew implies to be his, should so far 
misunderstand the general tone of Mr. Siebold’s lecture, as 
to consider it reactionary even in the one particular of 
“botany;” and surely it is unjust to taunt Manchester on 
opinions expressed by one citizen. 
In what way the questions for the Preliminary, with the 
percentage of candidates who tailed to answer them satisfac¬ 
torily, “ prove the most striking answer to Mr. Siebolu’s 
complaints,” I fail to understand. 
We are, as yet, unable to bring to our examinations young 
men sufficiently educated to meet our present requirements. 
They are, therefore, argues Mr. Agnew, below “lower third 
form boys in any public school.” If we add to our require¬ 
ments “geometry,” “algebra,” “mineralogy,”” geology,” 
“ zoology,” “ Greek,” the extraction of square and cube 
roots, the laws of arithmetical, geometrical and harmonical 
progression and .logarithms,” with “ French or German,” 
the percentage of unsuccessful candidates will be discover¬ 
able without much calculation. Of course, no one doubts the 
value which knowledge of these subjects proves to the pos¬ 
sessor, be he a pharmacist or anything else. But so also 
does a knowledge of astronomy, physiology, common law, 
metaphysics, political economy, Sanskrit and a thousand 
other subjects, though we may doubt the absolute necessity 
of such knowledge for the proper discharge of our duties to 
the public. I am only surprised that Mr. Agnew does not 
insist upon many other branches of education, when I find 
him placing geometry as one of the “ two most important 
preliminary studies, and the most useful in rendering intelli¬ 
gible the rudiments of chemistry.” 
Our first care, as it seems to me, must be to secure for our 
trade the services of men possessing those qualifications and 
acquirements which experience has shown to be necessary. 
Let us decline to take apprentices until they have passed the 
Preliminary as it now stands, and let us persevere in the 
establishment of schools of pharmacy throughout the country. 
This will occupy us all for the present, and be better than 
visionary projects of making “Admirable Crichtons” of us 
all. 
Mr. Agnew’s scheme of converting Bloomsbury Square 
into a botanical garden is certainly a bold one. He wisely 
abstains from giving too many details of his plan, but Mr. 
Agnew’s extended information will doubtless enable him to 
preserve his medicinal and “subtropical or brightly-coloured 
plants ” from those atmospheric influences which render the 
foliage of the existing plane-trees “smoky” and the grass 
“dingy.” By the bye, I am glad to hear that castor oil is 
now obtained from a species of palm in addition to its usual 
source. 
I do not profess that skill in English composition of the 
value of which Air. Agnew has had such “abundant pecu¬ 
niary proof.” I will not, therefore, trouble you with re¬ 
marks on other portions of his letter. I would, however, 
strongly recommend Air. Agnew to adhere to two very admi¬ 
rable rules when writing his next epistle,—1st, to take care 
to understand the subject he has to write about; and, 2nd, 
