REPORT ON MEDICAL EDTTCATION, &C. 249 
of the Pharmacopoeia, and are not in a state of perfect purity. 
The following quotation will show how far Mr. Field is 
qualified to take a general superintendence of the drugs and 
preparations vended at the Hall. It is also another specimen 
of the inconsistency and contradiction displayed by all the 
witnesses of the Apothecaries' Company. 
" Does your Society purchase any of the articles that it 
sells from the wholesale druggists ? From the wholesale 
druggists, certainly. Does your Society purchase of the 
chemical manufacturers those chemical articles, only, which 
are prepared wholesale by them as articles of general com- 
merce : does it not purchase any preparations of a different 
description from the chemists? I believe not. How does it 
provide itself with sulphate of quinine? It all comes from 
France; it is all manufactured in a wholesale way by the 
manufacturers of certain articles. How do you account for 
its being all prepared in France? They prepare it better and 
cheaper than we can here. Is it the cheapness of alcohol in 
France that occasions the preparation of the salts of quinine 
in that country ? This is one important cause : I have no 
doubt but the French are very clever in manufacturing, and 
they get a better produce from the same thing than we do. 
Is there not equal chemical knowledge on the part of many 
individuals in England? They have so large a practice in it, 
and they have a skill which moderate practitioners have not. 
Is not sulphate of quinine subject to considerable duty on 
import? About a penny an ounce, which is merely nominal. 
What is the wholesale price of sulphate of quinine? About 
six or seven shillings an ounce. I recollect it as high as thirty 
shillings. 
"Robert Christison, Esq., M.D., Professor of Materia 
Medica in the University of Edinburgh called in and ex- 
amined. Is alcohol used in France for preparing sulphate of 
quinine ? I think not, because more than one process has 
been contrived by the French chemists for preparing it with- 
out alcohol. The processes without alcohol are the cheapest ? 
