EDITORIAL.  85 
• 
Now  what  is  the  remedy  ?  what  influence  is  sufficiently  potent  to  reach 
this  crying  evil — incompetent  dispensers?  Education  and  training  in  a 
Pharmaceutical  College,  under  the  guarantee  of  the  diploma  (subject  to 
the  action  of  the  common  law  for  neglect  of  duty).  Such  an  institution 
has  been  in  operation  in  this  city  for  nearly  half  a  century.  It  teaches 
the  history  and  quality  of  all  drugs  and  their  active  principles  ;  the  man- 
lier of  making  and  dispensing  medicines,  and  the  chemical  laws  and 
principles  which  govern  the  processes  employed.  We  have  carefully 
looked  over  the  annual  class  list  of  this  School  of  Pharmacy  for  eight 
years  past,  and  do  not  find  the  name  of  the  young  man  who  committed 
this  unfortunate  error.  Had  he  attended  that  school,  in  all  probability 
this  sad  calamity  would  not  have  happened.  A  wholesome  public  opinioa 
should  demand  that  those  to  whom  the  life  and  death  business  of  dis- 
pensing is  committed,  should  be  properly  educated  and  trained  for  the 
service.  That  poisons  are  necessary  agents  in  the  cure  of  disease  is 
admitted  in  all  systems  of  medical  practice.  In  England,  where  acci- 
dents from  poisoning  are  more  frequent  than  in  this  country,  and  where, 
until  recently,  the  greatest  latitude  existed  in  the  sale  of  poisons  by 
druggists  and  grocers,  the  authority  of  Parliament  has  at  last  interfered, 
and  by  an  act  passed  in  July  last,  made  it  obligatory,  after  the  first  of 
January,  1869,  on  every  person  not  then  in  business,  who  sells  any  of 
the  poisons  indicated  in  an  appended  schedule,  to  pass  an  examination 
as  to  qualification  for  that  service,  by  a  board  of  examiners  appointed  by 
the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain.  This  is  a  great  step  in 
advance  as  regards  that  kingdom,  and  was  rendered  possible  by  the  wide- 
spread influence  and  able  management  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  in 
taking  a  firm  stand  for  the  right  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  pharmacy, 
causing  the  government  to  have  confidence  in  their  execution  of  the 
delicate  and  responsible  duty  of  conducting  the  examinations.  In  the 
present  state  of  pharmaceutical  institutions  in  the  United  States,  it  is 
not  probable  that  any  such  universal  power  will  be  granted  by  Stale 
Legislatures,  much  less  by  Congress,  to  anyone  institution  now  existing; 
yet  this  should  not  discourage  the  friends  of  progress.  Let  colleges  or 
societies  be  established  in  every  city  ;  let  these  join  their  efi'orts,  through 
the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  eventually  they  will  be 
able  to  influence  Congress  to  legislate  for  the  security  of  life  in  the  sale 
of  poisons,  just  as  it  now  does  in  reference  to  the  management  of  steam- 
boat boilers  and  other  sources  of  danger  to  the  public  health  and  life. 
The  preliminary  steps  are  already  taken  to  exert  an  influence  on  State 
Legislatures  by  a  committee  of  the  Association. 
Our  School  of  Pharmacy. — On  the  7th  of  October  Prof.  Edw.  Parrish 
opened  the  courses  at  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  at  the  new  hall  of  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  in  a  general  Introductory,  chiefly 
occupied  with  a  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  institution,  em- 
