190 
EDITORIAL. 
by  the  medical  and  pharmaceutical  organizations  of  the  districts  in  which 
they  are  to  officiate  ;  or,  what  would  be  still  better,  the  appointments 
should  be  made  only  after  a  thorough  examination  before  the  medical 
boards  of  examination  of  the  army  or  navy.  By  such  an  examination 
the  competency  of  candidates  might  be  most  thoroughly  and  effectually 
determined,  and  the  true  intentions  of  the  law  be  best  secured.  These 
Boards  meet  annually,  under  the  orders  of  their  respective  departments. 
Second.  The  salaries  offered  by  the  law  are  not  at  all  in  proportion  to 
the  required  integrity,  knowledge,  and  skill.  The  highest  salary,  namely, 
that  of  sixteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum  for  the  port  of  New  York,  is 
no  adequate  compensation  for  the  faithful  and  capable  examination  of 
some  six  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  drugs  and  medicines,  with  the  ne- 
cessary records,  reports,  statistics,  etc.,  which  should  belong  to  the  office. 
Again :  the  thorough  and  faithful  execution  of  the  ofiice  where  such  vast 
quantities  are  presented,  and  so  much  at  stake,  is  entirely  beyond  the 
possible  capacity  of  any  one  person,  no  matter  what  his  skill  or  knowledge 
may  be.    Therefore,  the  officer  should  be  an  inspector,  rather  than  an 
examiner,"  and  should  be  allowed  an  assistant,  to  be  appointed  by  his 
own  selection  and  nomination,  at  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars  per  an- 
num. The  inspector  should  received  at  least  three  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  at  this  port,  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars  at  the  other  ports,  and 
should  be  provided  with  the  proper  office  accommodations,  and  the  ne- 
cessary apparatus  and  reagents.  The  present  law  appears  deficient 
upon  all  these  points,  since  it  supplies  only  a  single  man,  and  at  a  sala- 
ry below  that  of  a  fair  merchant's  clerk,  and  fails  to  provide  him  with  the 
means  necessary  to  the  performance  of  his  duty,  whilst  he  thus,  unaided, 
is  made  responsible  for  the  quality  of  some  six  millions  of  dollars  per  an- 
num worth  of  articles  of  primary  importance  as  food  and  medicine,  and 
also  of  revenue. 
At  the  suggestion  of  the  President  of  the  College,  the  subject  was 
brought  before  the  last  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Philadel- 
phia College  of  Pharmacy,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  examine  whether 
the  College  should  recommend  any  course  of  action  to  the  appointing  pow- 
er, or  take  any  other  steps  in  the  matter.  That  Committee  have  since 
reported  a  memorial  to  ba  submitted  to  a  special  meeting  of  the  College 
on  the  4th  of  March.  In  the  discussion  which  occurred  anterior  to  the 
appointment  of  the  Committee,  the  views  of  the  joint  medical  and  phar- 
maceutical bodies  of  New  York,  as  set  forth  in  a  communication  from  one 
of  their  representatives,  were  considered,  especially  the  propriety  of  re- 
commending the  Government  to  avail  themselves  of  the  Naval  and  Army 
Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  but  the  sense  of  the  meeting  seemed  against 
that  suggestion,  as  not  being  so  well  calculated  to  produce  practically  effi- 
cient officers  as  an  examination  in  which  the  Colleges  of  Pharmacy  took 
part.  To  us  the  merit  of  the  New  York  suggestion  rests  mainly  in  the 
fact  that  the  Government  would  have  confidence  in  the  impartiality 
of  the  Navy  or  Army  Medical  Examiners  in  their  decision  of  the  scientific 
merits  of  the  candidates  ;  in  regard  to  the  practical  business  fitness  of  the 
candidate  who  might  be  theoretically  qualified,  they  would  have  to  call  to 
their  aid  the  testimony  of  other  parties.  We  confess,  however,  to  have  but 
little  confidence  in  the  probability  of  much  improvement  in  the  working 
of  the  law  whilst  it  has  to  contend  with  the  side  issues  of  political  as- 
pirants. 
