Am.  Jour.  Priarm. ) 
July,  1897.  J 
Pharmaceutical  A ssociation . 
383 
Prof.  F.  X.  Moerk  then  read  an  interesting  contribution  entitled  ''Notes  on 
Opium  Assaying  ;  see  page  ^44  of  this  number. 
"Analytical  Processes  and  Laboratory  Notes,"  by  C.  H.  LaWall  followed. 
This  paper  may  be  seen  in  full  by  referring  to  page  350. 
The  Committee  on  Membership  reported  thirteen  new  members.  The  Secre- 
tary read  a  telegram  bearing  fraternal  greeting  from  the  Colorado  Pharma- 
ceutical Association,  which  was  in  session  at  the  time.  He  returned  the  cour- 
tesy on  behalf  of  the  Pennsylvania  Association. 
The  Committee  on  Legislation  reported  that  the  pharmacy  law  known  as  an 
act  to  regulate  the  practice  of  pharmacy,  sale  of  poisons,  etc.,  approved  May 
24,  1887,  and  subsequently  amended  in  June,  1891  and  June,  1895,  upon  being 
tested  as  to  its  efficiency  to  meet  the  requirements  and  purposes  for  which  it 
had  been  enacted,  failed  to  withstand  the  crucial  test  of  the  courts.  The  first 
section  was  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  Superior  Court  on  January  29, 
1897,  on  account  of  the  so-called  unlimited  widow's  clause,  which  decision,  on 
an  appeal,  was  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court  on  May  7,  1897.  The  com- 
mittee at  once  began  work  to  secure  the  speedy  enactment  of  a  new  law,  which 
would  be  free  from  the  objections  that  had  brought  such  disastrous  results  to 
the  former  law.  With  this  object  in  view,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  House 
on  March  1,  1897,  and  one  of  like  import  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  on 
March  15,  1897.  This  latter  bill  passed  second  reading  in  the  Senate.  The 
House  bill  met  with  a  formidable  resistance,  and  was  amended  in  such  manner 
as  to  require  compulsory  registration  of  physicians  as  pharmacists  without  the 
semblance  even  of  an  examination  by  the  pharmacy  board.  This  provision  met 
with  a  determined  opposition,  and  its  advocates  were  notified  that  the  pharma- 
cists of  the  State  would  never  accept  legislation  of  that  character,  but  would 
demand  and  insist  upon  the  enactment  of  such  legislation  as  would  place  them 
on  a  parity  with  the  laws  governing  the  medical  profession.  Some  12,000  to 
15,000  circulars  and  reprints  of  bills,  including  petitions  to  be  signed  and  for- 
warded to  the  members  of  the  Senate  and  House,  were  mailed  to  the  druggists 
throughout  the  State,  with  the  gratifying  effect  of  arousing  an  almost  united 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  original  measure  and  against  the  proposed  amend- 
ment ;  and  the  committee  had  the  satisfaction  of  the  prompt  passage  by  the 
House  of  the  bill  without  the  objectionable  amendment.  The  bill  was  next 
passed  by  the  Senate,  but  with  a  further  slight  amendment,  which  the  committee 
feels  sure  will  be  accepted  and  promptly  concurred  in  by  the  House.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  copy  of  the  bill : 
An  act  supplementary  to  an  act  entitled  An  act  to  regulate  the  practice  of  pharmacy  and 
sale  of  poisons  and  to  prevent  adulterations  in  drugs  and  medicinal  preparations  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  approved  the  twenty -fourth  day  of  May, Anno  Domini  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty-seven,  further  regulating  the  practice  of  pharmacy,  the  compounding  and 
dispensing  of  prescriptions  and  the  sale  of  drugs,  chemicals,  medicines  and  poisons,  and  pro- 
viding a  penalty  for  the  violation  thereof. 
Section  i. — Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Pennsylvania  in  General  Assembly  met,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  same,  That 
hereafter  no  person  whosoever  shall,  directly  or  indirectly,  open  or  carry  on  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  any  retail  drug  store  or  chemical  store,  or  compound  or  dispense  medicines  or 
prescriptions  of  physicians,  or  engage  in  the  business  of  selling  at  retail  any  drugs,  chemi- 
cals, poisons  or  medicines  without  having  obtained  a  certificate  of  competency  and  qualifica- 
tion so  to  do  from  the  State  Pharmaceutical  Examining  Board,  and  without  having  been  duly 
