170 
EDITORIAL. 
The  following  is  taken  from  the  Richmond  Mail.  The  comments  of 
the  editors  of  five  of  the  Richmond  papers,  were  entirely  in  opposition  to  the 
bill,  but  whether  their  sympathy  with  quackery  had  any  connection  with 
their  income  from  quack  advertisements,  we  are  not  prepared  to  determine. 
Meeting  of  the  Druggists. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Druggists  of  Richmond 
held  in  their  Society  Hall,  Mr.  Alexander  Duval  was  called  to  the  Chair, 
and  Wm,  S.  Beers,  Esq.,  appointed  Secretary. 
Mr.  John  Purcell  offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted: 
That  whereas  a  certain  bill,  entitled  "  a  bill  requiring  that  the  box,  bottle, 
or  envelope  containing  any  nostrum  or  quack  medicine  exposed  for  sale  in 
this  Commonwealth  shall  have  connected  therewith  a  label  in  which  the  in- 
gredients of  such  nostrum  or  quack  medicine  shall  be  printed  in  English," 
is  now  pending  in  the  Senate  of  the  State,  which  had  its  origin  with  certain 
members  of  the  profession  in  this  city,  who  have  endeavored  to  strengthen 
its  position  by  the  influence  and  action  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia, 
which  will  seriously  interfere  with  us  in  our  business,  and  by  so  doing  inju- 
riously operate  on  the  commercial  interests  of  the  city  and  State,  by  forcing 
beyond  our  border  such  trade  as  we  now  have  from  Tennessee  and  North 
Carolina,  and  injure  the  revenues  of  the  State  :  and  whereas  we  regard  this 
effort  on  the  part  of  such  physicians  as  a  mere  scheme  to  put  money  in  their 
pockets,  and  force  such  as  are  now  relieved  by  the  use  of  such  medicines  to 
resort  to  them  for  trivial  diseases  when  they  might  be  as  effectually  and  more 
cheaply  relieved  by  many  of  the  standard  specific  medicines,  now  before  the 
public  ;  and  whilst  we  do  not  intend  to  give  recommendation  to  any  of  the 
class  of  remedies  alluded  to,  yet  the  public,  who  have  used  them  and  have 
tested  their  efficiency,  yield  to  them  a  reputation  which  gives  them  a  cur- 
rency, and  value  with  the  people  ;  and,  moreover,  whilst  we  have  no  desire  to 
enter  the  lists  with  the  physicians,  yet  we  feel  that  this  effort  on  their  part  is 
a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  Code  of  Ethics,  formed  for  our  mutual  govern- 
ment. Therefore, 
1st.  Resolved,  That  whilst  we,  in  common  with  others  of  our  fellow-citizens, 
look  to  our  household,  yet  have  an  ardent  desire  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  City  and  State,  and  will  deprecate  any  action  of  the  Legislature  which 
may  tend,  however  remotely,  to  injure  the  Commerce  of  either. 
2d.  Resolved,  That  we  would  regard  the  passage  of  this  bill  as  an  act  of 
tyranny  and  a  violation  of  our  personal  rights  and  the  rights  of  the  people. 
3d.  Resolvedy  That  whilst  we  do  not  give  any  special  recommendation  of 
any  particular  one  of  the  many  proprietary  medicines  before  the  public,  yet 
we  know  that  many  of  them  are  good  in  their  effects,  and  we  are  supported 
in  the  opinion  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of  not  only  thousands  of  the 
people  of  the  State,  but  by  many  physicians  who  have  prescribed  them. 
4th.  Resolved)  That  when  we  adopted,  in  conjunction  with  the  Medical 
Society,  a  Code  of  Ethics  for  our  mutual  government,  we  did  so  in  good  faith, 
and  it  was  not  claimed  that  these  medicines,  now  become  so  ojectionable  to 
certain  physicians,  were  ostracised  or  aimed  at  by  the  Code. 
5th.  Resolved)  That  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  physicians  relieves  us 
from  all  obligations  longer  to  adhere  to  the  Code  as  a  Compact,  the  spirit  of 
which  they  have  violated. 
6th.  Resolved,  That  we  regard  this  measure,  coming  as  it  does  from  phy- 
sicians, as  an  evidence  of  the  value  of  the  class  of  medicines  so  attacked,  and 
originating  not  so  much  from  a  desire  to  subserve  the  good  of  the  public  as 
for  the  promotion  of  their  own  personal  interest. 
7th.  Resolved)  That  we  have  heretofore  and  will  continue  to  act  with  be- 
