376 
EDITORIAL. 
(Editorial  department. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Convention. — Since  our  last  issue  this  important 
Convention  has  met  and  transacted  the  business  required  by  its  constitu- 
tion, viz  :  Providing  for  its  re-organization  in  1870,  and  appointing  a  Com- 
mittee of  Revision,  with  power  to  print  and  publish  the  new  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  details  of  the  meeting  at  page  370,  are  taken  chiefly  from  the  official 
copy  of  the  proceedings,  furnished  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Convention  to 
the  Committee  of  Revision,  and  are  more  correct  than  the  Reports  taken 
from  the  newspapers,  all  of  which  contain  errors. 
It  will  be  perceived  that  the  pharmaceutical  element  of  this  Convention 
was  duly  appreciated,  and  in  the  Committee  for  carrying  out  the  work  of 
Revision  and  Publication,  a  majority  belong  to  that  profession.  This 
union  in  labor  will  have  the  happiest  effect  in  rendering  the  Pharmacopoeia 
at  once  practical,  and  acceptable  to  those  for  whose  use  it  is  destined.  The 
propriety  of  placing  the  work  at  a  low  price  was  also  agreed  to,  and  there 
is  no  good  reason  why  every  apothecary  and  druggist  in  the  country  should 
not  possess  a  copy.  It  will  be  the  interest  of  the  publisher  to  stereotype 
the  work  and  put  it  at  the  lowest  possible  price,  and  in  that  case  unusual 
exertions  should  be  made  by  the  Colleges  of  Pharmacy  to  extend  its  circu- 
lation far  beyond  that  of  previous  editions.  The  Committee  meets  every 
Wednesday  evening,  (at  8  P.  M.,  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Bache,)  except  the 
first  Wednesday  of  the  month,  and  have  already  had  three  meetings.  Dr. 
Franklin  Bache  is  Chairman,  and  Alfred  B.  Taylor,  Secretary. 
Legislation  on  the  Sale  of  Poisons. — The  apothecaries  were  recently 
taken  by  surprise  by  the  announcement  in  the  newspapers  of  the  passage, 
during  the  late  session  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  of  a  law  on  this 
subject,  which  rendered  them  liable  to  being  fined  for  selling  certain  poisons 
unless  with  specified  precautions.  From  the  Druggist's  Circular  we  learn 
that  the  New  York  Legislature  also  passed  a  law  more  stringent  and  ap- 
plying to  a  larger  number  of  poisonous  articles  than  that  of  this  State.  The 
following  is  the  Pennsylvania  law,  viz.  : 
' '  No  apothecary,  druggist,  or  other  person  shall  sell  or  dispose  of  by  retail 
any  morphia,  strychnine,  arsenic,  prussic  acid,  or  corrosive  sublimate,  except 
upon  the  prescription  of  a  physician,  or  on  the  personal  application  of  some 
respectable  inhabitant,  of  full  age,  of  the  town  or  place  in  which  such  sale  shall 
be  made.  In  all  cases  of  such  sale,  the  word  Poison  shall  be  carefully  and 
legibly  marked  or  placed  upon  the  label,  package,  bottle,  or  other  vessel  or 
thing  in  which  such  poison  is  contained ;  and  when  sold  or  disposed  of  other- 
wise than  under  the  prescription  of  a  physician,  the  apothecary,  druggist,  or 
other  person  selling  or  disposing  of  the  same,  shall  note  in  a  register  kept  for 
that  purpose,  the  name  and  residence  of  the  person  to  whom  such  sale  was 
