90 
EDITORIAL. 
$2 ;  Professors  fees  $6  each  ;  Diploma  fee  $5.  The  terms  of  graduation 
are  the  same  as  those  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.  We  under- 
stand that  a  fair  beginning  has  been  made,  and  the  effort  has  our  warm- 
est sympathy  for  its  entire  success.  "We  would  suggest  to  our  Chicago 
friends  to  ground  their  prospects  for  the  future  mainly  on  the  fact  that  their 
efforts  deserve  success,  because  they  are  necessary  and  right,  and  not  because 
present  enthusiasm  burns  brightly.  There  may  come  a  period  when  this 
will  cool  with  many,  and  it  will  need  a  few  earnest  united  laborers  to 
carry  forward  the  College  through  such  a  discouraging  season.  Let  them 
be  prepared  for  this,  and  they  will  the  sooner  become  firmly  established. 
Poisoning  by  Sulphate  of  Morphia. — It  is  with  painful  regret  that  we 
feel  called  upon  to  chronicle  a  case  of  poisoning  by  the  accidental  substitu- 
tion of  Sulphate  of  Morphia  for  Sulphate  of  Quinia,  in  a  prescription  for 
the  latter  substance,  dispensed  at  the  store  of  one  of  our  most  accomplished 
apothecaries,  by  which  an  estimable  lady  met  an  untimely  death.  It  was 
alleged  in  the  testimony  before  the  Coroner's  jury,  that  the  prescription 
was  for  twenty-four  grains  of  Sulphate  of  Quinia,  in  eight  pills  ;  that  it  was 
received  at  the  store  by  the  chief  clerk,  who,  having  read  it,  and  being 
busily  engaged  himself,  requested  an  apprentice  to  weigh  the  quantity  of 
Quinia:  that  the  apprentice  took  the  Morphia  bottle  by  mistake,  although 
it  was  distinctly  labelled  (and  checked  by  the  word  "poison,"]  and  weighed 
out  the  narcotic,  which  in  this  manner  came  to  be  dispensed.  These  are 
the  simple  facts  of  the  case.  The  clerk  delegating  the  business  of  weighing 
the  Quinia  was  amply  qualified  as  regards  knowledge,  and  a  graduate  in 
Pharmacy  •  the  person  executing  that  request  had  been  a  year  in  the  store, 
and  a  priori  would  be  presumed  to  be  competent  to  perform  so  simple  a 
service.  But  whether  he  erred  from  absence  of  mind  or  carelessness,  or 
from  misunderstanding  the  order,  his  unfitness  for  the  task  was  proved  by 
the  result.  Enough  has  been  said  to  prove  how  vulnerable  are  the  best 
regulated  stores  to  the  occurrence  of  accidents,  and  to  demonstrate  that 
nothing  but  sleepless  vigilance  on  the  part  of  disciplined  and  responsible  per- 
sons can  guard  against  these  distressing  events. 
It  is  proper  to  reiterate  on  this  occasion  three  simple  rules,  that  if  habitu- 
ally followed  would  go  far  to  guard  against  such  errors  in  prescriptions. 
1st.  Whoever  engages  in  dispensing  a  prescription,  let  him  place  the  recipe 
before  him,  and  concentrate  his  faculties  upon  it  until  it  is  clearly  understood. 
2d.  Let  him  never  remove  a  substance  from  a  bottle  without  reading  the  label 
upon  it,  and  feeling  satisfied  that  it  indicates  the  medicine  intended  by  the 
prescriber* 
*  As  there  are  so  many  synonyms  for  medicines,  and  physicians  vary  so  often 
from  the  officinal  names  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  the  shop  bottle  and  the  prescrip- 
tion often  disagree  in  the  letter. 
