500 
PROCEEDINGS   OF  THE 
Dr.  Guthrie  argued  that  the  instructions  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  were 
on  this  subject  sufficient.  He  regretted  that  the  executorship  of  the  law  should 
be  made  a  political  appointment,  as  it  was  calculated  eventually  to  destroy  the 
whole  force  and  effect  of  the  law,  from  the  frequent  changes  of  officers,  the  exe- 
cution of  whose  duty  requires  great  experience  and  a  minute  acquaintance  with 
drugs  in  general ; — and  urged  that  the  Association  should  protest  against  such 
changes  unless  called  for  by  prominent  and  experienced  druggists.  Dr.  Guthrie 
related  many  instances  that  had  fallen  under  his  observation  while  collecting  in- 
formation, as  to  the  practical  effects  of  this  law,  under  the  instructions  of  the  late 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Corwin,  going  to  show  the  beneficial  effects  of 
the  law,  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  great  good  had  resulted  therefrom,  not 
only  in  its  immediate  effects  in  keeping  out  of  the  market  inferior  drugs,  but  in 
begetting  an  inquiry  and  increasing  demand  lor  good  drugs.  He  also  urged  the 
subject  of  home  adulteration  as  having  been  greatly  checked  by  the  action  of  the 
law,  and  closed  by  an  earnest  appeal  to  his  brethren  of  the  Pharmaceutical  pro- 
fession to  stand  firm  and  unfaltering,  on  the  clear  ground  of  right,  regardless  of 
any  outside  pressure*  come  that  pressure  from  what  source  it  may. 
Mr.  Coggeshall  said  he  would  be  glad  to  have  a  decision  upon  this  vexed  and 
tedious  question — a  decision  now,  by  this  body — that  so  far  as  its  influence  ex- 
tends it  may  be  settled  at  once  and  forever.  This  is  the  third  time  that  this 
question  has  come  before  meetings  of  this  kind,  the  Conventions  of  1851  and  '52, 
and  now  the  Pharmaceutical  Association; — it  had  twice  been  earnestly  debated 
at  much  length,  its  claims  each  time  fully  and  fairly  considered,  and  it  has  twice 
been  rejected  by  an  emphatic  vote.  Is  there  consistency  in  bringing  up  this 
matter  year  by  year  in  the  very  same  words  ?  There  seemed  a  strange  determi- 
nation to  force,  if  possible,  a  declaration  by  this  body,  of  a  principle  as  vague  in 
its  terms,  as  it  would  be  mischievous  in  the  latitude  which  would  be  claimed 
under  it  if  adopted  by  authority.  His  colleague,  Mr.  Merrick,  had  said  that  there 
should  be  no  obstruction  to  trade,  that  every  man  should  be  at  liberty  to  sell  good 
or  bad  articles  as  he  thought  proper ;  his  ideas  of  what  would  best  promote  his 
success  being  his  governing  principle.  He  (Mr.  Coggeshall)  would  not  be  so 
indulgent  to  any  man  who  had  no  other  principle  in  selling  drugs  than  a  pecuniary 
one — he  would  not  allow  a  man  to  sell  false  and  spurious  drugs  to  the  ignorant 
and  unfortunate  who  might  trust  life,  or  hopes  of  restoration  to  health,  upon  their 
proper  action — he  would  not  allow  false  drugs  to  be  trafficked  in  at  all,  and  would 
not  compromise  with  such  iniquity. 
In  regard  to  the  standards,  he  was  very  well  satisfied  with  those  contained  in 
the  instructions  lately  issued  bysthe  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  as  far  as  they  go, 
and  it  is  remarkable  how  well  the  ground  is  covered  by  them.  The  principal 
object  of  pressing  this  loose  proposition  appeared  to  be  to  remove  obstructions  to 
the  influx  of  spurious  (so  called)  Peruvian  barks  and  European  Rhubarb,  if  good 
of  their  kind,  that  is  to  say  not  worm-eaten,  water-soaked,  or  decayed,  but  bright 
and  of  good  appearance,  though  good  for  nothing  as  articles  of  medicine.  He 
considered  the  present  barks,  or  the  great  bulk  of  them,  imported  under  the  names 
Carthagena  and  Maracaibo,  as  altogether  different  from,  and  inferior  to  those  of 
twenty-five  and  thirty  years  ago,  when  they  were  subjected  to  the  examination 
reported  in  the  footnote  of  the  United  States  Dispensatory.  As  to  Mr.  Fish's 
argument  that  the  people  of  Connecticut  had  used  these  barks  and  were  satisfied 
with  them,  why,  they  used  them  because  they  did'nt  know  any  better,  and  he 
was  astonished  that  his  friend  should  live  there  and  not  teach  them  to  be  wiser. 
Mr.  Coggeshall  regarded  European  Rhubarb  as  not  a  legitimate  article  of  medi- 
cine, but  as  used  wholly  as  an  adulteration  of  Russian  or  Chinese,  or  as  a  substi- 
tute in  whole  or  in  part  for  them — the  true  article  of  Russian  Rhubarb  being 
literally  unknowrn  out  of  the  principal  cities.  In  illustration  of  this  fact  he  men- 
tioned having  wanted  some  Turkey  Rhubarb  when  in  a  town  some  hundred  miles 
from  New  York,  and  called  upon  a  druggist,  who  produced  a  large  jar  of  what  he 
remarked  was  "very  handsome,"  but  which  was  pronounced  at  once  to  be  not 
genuine,  to  the  surprise  and  no  small  indignation  of  the  druggist,  who  among  other 
arguments  in  defense  of  his  drug,  stated  that  he  had  bought  it  of  a  first  class 
house  in  New  York,  and  had  paid  $2.25  per  pound  for  it!    Mr.  Coggeshall  be- 
