362  Editorial.  l^XJii™' 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Acetic  Acid  Pure — A  correspondent  has  directed  our  attention  to  the  identity  of 
the  article  on  page  293  of  our  June  number,  with  one  published  years  ago  by  a 
manufacturing  house  of  New  York,  and  on  comparing  the  two  we  have  found  them 
to  agree  with  each  other,  ^verbatim  et  literatim,  with  very  few  and  entirely  unim- 
portant verbal  changes.  The  pamphlet  containing  the  article  referred  to  was  pub- 
lished in  the  year  1870,  by  Messrs.  E.  J.  Mallett,  Jr.,  &  Co.,  72  William  St.,  N,  Y. 
Pharmaceutical  Legislation  in  Pennsylvania. — We  have  received  from  our 
friend  G.  W.  Kennedy  a  copy  of  the  bill  which  was  introduced  at  Harrisburg  early 
in  February  by  Hon.  Mr.  Ringgold,  and  to  which  we  alluded  in  our  last  number. 
Mr.  Kennedy  has  accompanied  the  "dead  innocent"  by  some  comments,  from 
which  we  take  the  following  : 
"  The  bill  was  at  last  found  in  possession  of  the  Committee  on  Vice  and  Immo- 
rality, the  very  last  place  we  expected  to  find  it,  and  had  it  not  been  for  my  friend, 
an  associated  press  reporter,  I  would  have  given  it  up  as  lost.  Its  reference  to  this 
committee  put  it  into  the  place  where  it  properly  belonged,  and  was  very  properly 
'  killed1  by  being  indefinitely  postponed. 
"  On  glancing  over  the  bill  it  is  readily  observed  that  it  is  not  what  the  educated 
pharmacists  of  the  State  desire.  There  is  no  question  but  it  was  framed  and  worded 
for  the  interest  and  benefit  of  those  who  have  been  engaged  in  this  dishonest  and 
disreputable  practice  of  selling  diplomas.  If  the  bill  was  intended  for  the  good  of 
the  people,  and  for  protecting  them  from  unreliable  and  dishonest  druggists  in  the 
compounding  and  dispensing  of  their  medicines,  why  was  it  not  brought  before  a 
body  of  pharmacists  for  their  sanction  or  approval  ? 
"  No,  this  would  not  suit  the  framers  of  the  bill,  as  they  knew  that  it  never  would 
have  been  presented  in  the  shape  in  which  it  was  5  at  least,  there  would  have  been 
some  provision  made  as  to  the  standing  of  the  institutions  issuing  the  diplomas. 
You  will  observe  by  reference  to  Section  I  that  it  simply  requires,  in  order  to  be 
proprietor  or  manager  of  a  store,  to  be  the  possessor  of  a  diploma  from  some  med- 
ical college  or  college  of  pharmacy,  stating  that  he  has  studied  pharmacy.  What 
a  flimsy,  transparent  section  this  is !  They  would  also  have  liked  to  abolish  the 
Board  of  Examiners  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  which  has  done  so  much  good  for 
the  community  in  preventing  incompetent  persons  from  commencing  the  drug  and 
apothecary  business. 
"  But  the  managers  of  the  bill  were  foiled  in  their  attempt  to  push  this  obnoxious 
bill  through,  thanks  be  to  our  Senators  and  members  of  the  House.  So  long  as  we 
have  such  men  to  legislate  for  us  as  Senator  Keefer  and  Representative  Potts,  from 
Schuylkill  county,  and  others,  there  need  be  no  apprehension  that  such  a  ridiculous 
bill  may  become  a  law ;  for,  in  order  to  vote  intelligently,  they  make  it  their  busi- 
ness to  examine  into  the  merits  critically  before  voting.1'  G.  W.  K. 
AN  ACT 
To  regulate  the  Practice  of  Pharmacy  and  Sale  of  Poisons,  and  to  Prevent  the  Adulteration  of  Drugs 
and  Medicinal  Preparations  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 
Whereas,  The  safety  of  the  public  is  endangered  by  want  of  care  in  the  sale  of  poisons,  whether  to 
be  used  as  such  for  legitimate  purposes  or  employed  as  medicine  and  dispensed  on  physicians'  prescrip- 
tions ; 
And  whereas,  The  power  of  physicians  to  overcome  disease  depends  greatly  on  their  ability  to 
obtain  good  and  unadulterated  drugs  and  skillfully  prepared  medicines  ; 
And  whereas,  The  act  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  academic  degrees,  approved  May  19th,  1871,  does 
away  with  the  necessity  of  irresponsible  pharmaceutical  examining  boards  ; 
And  whereas,  The  class  of  persons  to  which  the  preparation  and  sale  of  drugs,  medicines  and  poi- 
sons properly  belong,  known  as  chemists,  druggists,  should  possess  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  pharmacy  in  its  various  business  relations  ;  therefore 
