AVa0rU,r;4harm'}  Editorial.  141 
A  Pharmacy  law  in  Maine  has  been  recently  passed,  and  received  the  sanction 
of  the  Governor  February  9th.  According  to  its  provisions  the  Governor  has  to 
appoint  three  suitable  persons  to  be  commissioners  of  pharmacy,  who  are  to  examine 
every  applicant  desiiing  to  engage  in  the  business  of  an  apothecary  5  said  applicant 
must  have  been  employed  in  an  apothecary  store  where  physicians'  prescriptions  are 
compounded,  at  least  three  years,  or  must  have  graduated  from  some  regularly  estab- 
lished medical  school  or  college  of  pharmacy,  and  be  competent  for  the  business.  The 
act  does  not  apply  to  physicians  putting  up  their  own  prescriptions  or  to  the  sale  of 
proprietary  medicines. 
The  law  seems  to  be  wisely  framed,  if  by  the  suitable  persons  mentioned 
above,  pharmacists  are  understood.  The  power  of  the  board  to  inquire  into  the 
competency  even  of  graduates  appears  to  be  very  judiciously  conferred,  since  several 
concerns  have  been  established,  here  and  elsewhere,  where  pharmaceutical  diplomas 
may  be  obtained  without  putting  the  searcher  after  such  honors  to  any  trouble  of 
studying,  or  requiring  of  him  any  practical  experience. 
A  Fatal  Mistake  occurred  recently  in  this  city,  in  consequence  of  which  a  young 
lady  died  after  suffering  great  agonies.  Tt  appears  that  the  victim  sent  to  a  drug 
store  for  a  dose  of  castor  oil,  to  be  prepared  so  that  it  could  be  readily  taken.  The 
shop  bottle  containing  hydrochloric  acid  was  placed  near  the  one  containing  mint 
water,  and  the  former  liquid  was  used  for  the  mixture  in  place  of  the  latter,  the 
mistake  not  being  discovered  until  nearly  the  whole  contents  of  the  tumbler  had 
been  swallowed.  Although  vomiting  took  place  and  antidotes  were  administered, 
the  corrosive  poison  did  its  fatal  work,  and  the  druggist  who  made  the  mistake  is 
now  awaiting  the  action  of  the  grand  jury. 
This  is  one  of  those  cases  the  occurrence  of  which  would  have  been  impossible 
if  the  poisonous  articles  had  been  kept  in  a  place  entirely  separate  from  the  non- 
poisonous  drugs  and  preparations,  and  should  be  a  warning  to  those  who  still  follow 
that  practice.  The  pharmacist  has  to  be  constantly  on  the  alert,  and  simple  pru- 
dence alone  should  dictate  a  separation  of  the  milder  and  more  powerful  remedies. 
Bogus  Degrees.: — We  learn  from  several  European  journals  that  an  enterprising 
fellow  advertises  in  some  German  papers,  offering  academical  degrees  hi  absentia,  to 
be  applied  for  under  an  address  in  Jersey,  England.  The  "Chemical  News"  calls 
attention  to  this,  and  states  that  the  degrees  offered  emanate  from  the  "University 
of  Philadelphia."  We  think  that  it  should  be  pretty  well  known  in  Europe  by  this 
time  that  such  an  institution  has  no  existence  in  this  city,-  and  if  there  are  still 
dupes  to  be  found  who  spend  their  money  for  a  worthless  piece  of  paper,  it  would 
be  but  charity  and  commiseration  with  such  child-like  simpletons  to  inform  them 
once  more  of  this  fact,  and  that  the  frauds  who  are  at  the  bottom  of  this  rascality- 
have  not  the  slightest  connection  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  this  city. 
Correction.— The  statement  on  page  88  should  read  that  Miss  Clara  Marshall 
fills  the  chair  of  Materia  Medica  at  the  Woman's  Medical  College,  and  instructs 
the  lady  students  in  pharmacy  during  the  spring  term. 
