Am.  Jour.  Pharm  ") 
Sept.,  1882.  j 
Editorial. 
475. 
We  should  not  have  taken  any  notice  whatever  of  this  attack  if  the 
charges  had  not  found  their  way  into  many  periodicals  published  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country.  To  the  intelligent  physician  and  pharmacist 
they  need  no  refutation,  since  they  bear  the  stamp  of  absurdity.  Our 
readers  are  aware  that  this  journal  has  always  denounced  corrupt  practices 
in  the  preparation  and  dispensing  of  medicines ;  but  during  a  long  service 
in  the  pharmaceutical  ranks  we  have  found  integrity  and  conscientous- 
ness  to  be  the  rule,  and  want  of  probity  to  be  the  exception,  the  same  as 
in  other  professions  and  trades.  The  abortionist  is  a  despicable  individual, 
but  his  vile  practices  do  not  cast  a  stain  upon  the  escutcheon  of  medicine. 
In  an  identical  relation  towards  pharmacy  is  he  who  adulterates  and  sub- 
stitutes as  charged  above.  The  Trade  Association  of  Philadelphia  Drug- 
gists has  taken  a  sound  position  in  this  matter  :  a  committee  appointed  by 
it  has  asked  for  the  proofs  of  the  charges  made,  and  offered  to  prosecute, 
under  the  adulteration  clause  of  the  Philadelphia  Pharmacy  law,  any  one 
against  whom  such  proof  may  be  furnished.  As  far  as  we  are  aware,  nei- 
ther names  nor  evidences  have  been  forthcoming. 
At  a  later  stage  of  these  tirades  against  pharmacists,  the  "Press"  has 
seen  fit  to  pour  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters,  and  to  prepare  the  following 
healing  balm  for  the  wounded  : 
The  revelations  do  not  strike  at  the  whole  retail  drug  trade.  The  swindlers  are  in  a 
small  minority,  but  there  are  enough  of  them  to  make  it  worth  while  to  lay  their  prac- 
tices bare.  And  happily  there  are  so  many  druggists  of  established  reputation  and 
unquestioned  integrity  that  the  customer  may  have  a  wide  range  of  choice  and  still  be 
within  the  bounds  of  safety. 
A  Western  paper,  commenting  on  the  above  charges,  very  properly 
states  that  there  is  no  safeguard  against  such  alleged  defraudations  except 
the  integrity  of  the  apothecary. 
Chemical  Nomenclature.— It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  point  out  the 
advantages  which  would  result  if  a  uniform  nomenclature  would  be 
adopted  by  writers  on  chemical  subjects.  The  Pharmacopoeia  of  1870  had 
made  a  few  changes,  which  have  in  most  cases  met  with  general  approval. 
Several  additional  changes  will  be  found  in  the  new  Pharmacopoeia  now 
in  course  of  publication,  and  will  doubtless  lead  towards  greater  unifor- 
mity in  the  nomenclature  of  pharmaceutical  literature.  Improvements  in 
this  respect  might,  perhaps,  have  been  pushed  still  farther ;  at  any  rate  we 
think  that  our  readers  will  recognize  in  the  following  plan  a  comprehen- 
sive effort  at  systematizing  the  nomenclature  of  chemical  compounds. 
This  plan  was  elaborated  by  the  British  Chemical  Society  in  1879,  and  was 
recently  republished,  with  several  slight  modifications,  with  the  view  of 
promoting  uniformity  of  nomenclature  and  notation  in  papers  communi- 
cated to  the  Society.  We  omit  the  instructions  relating  to  the  notation, 
which  refer  mainly  to  graphic  formulas. 
1.  Employ  names  such  as  sodium  chloride,  potassium  sulphate,  ethyl  acetate, -And  use 
the  terminals  ous  and  ic  only  in  distinguishing  compounds  of  different  orders  derived 
from  the  same  elementary  radicles,  e.  (j.,  mercurous  and  mercuric  chloride,  sulphurous 
and  sulphuric  acid. 
2.  Term  compounds  of  metallic  and  alcoholic  radicles  with  (OH),  hydroxides  and 
not  hydrates,  (?.  f/.,  potassium  hydroxide,  phenyl  hydroxide,, the  name  hydrate  being. 
