2o6  Editorial.  {Am^™\l%!m- 
as  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  drug,  and  his  sobriety,  and  that  defendant  was  s 
Isfied  that  he  was  sober,  and  it  was  right  and  proper  that  he  should  have  the  dn 
then  defendant  had  committed  no  offence,  and  the  verdict  should  be  not  guilty. 
After  a  few  minutes''  deliberation,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  "  not  guilty.'" 
Substitutions.— The  formula  for  an  effervescent  laxative  draught,  furnished  by  Mr. 
Jos  Rhinehart,  for  the  March  number,  is  there  stated  to  yield  a  cheaper,  equally 
efficient,  quite  pleasant  and  more  expediously  made  preparation  than  citrate  of  mag- 
nesium, and  as  such,  deserves  the  attention  of  physicians  and  pharmacists,  to  be 
prescribed  by  the  former  for  poor  patients,  or  furnished  by  the  latter  when  a  pleasant 
dose  of  "  epsom  salt"  is  desired,  particularly  since  it  may  be  prepared  in  a  minute 
or  two.  No  one,  however,  should  find  in  it  a  recommendation  to  put  up  such  an 
article,  label  it  "  citrate  of  magnesium,"  and  sell  it  as  such  5  such  a  course  would  be 
outright  fraud. 
We  are  prompted  to  these  remarks  by  having  received  two  communications,  re- 
commending to  prepare  citrate  of  magnesium,  by  lessening  the  officinal  quantity  of 
citric  acid  and  making  up  the  deficiency  in  activity  by  the  addition  of  more  or  less 
magnesium  sulphate.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  such  a  reprehensible  practice 
exists  to  some  extent ;  in  extenuation,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  said,  that  such  private 
formulas  date  back  to  the  time  before  the  present  '*  Pharmacopoeia"  was  published, 
when  the  then  officinal  formula  did  not  yield  a  permanent  preparation.  But  since  we 
have  an  officinal  formula  yielding  a  preparation  which  leaves  little  or  nothing 
to  desire,  there  can  be  but  one  of  two  motives  found  for  persisting  in  such  a  course, 
either  the  desire  for  greater  gain,  or  the  wish  to  undersell  a  conscientious  neighbor. 
If  such  a  preparation  was  sold,  not  under  the  officinal  name,  but  designated  so  as 
to  indicate  its  composition,  no  fault  could  be  found.  But  the  worst  feature  of  the 
practice  is  that  it  is  "  home  adulteration,"  and  if  allowable  in  apparently  unimport- 
ant matters,  where  is  its  limit  ?  The  pharmacist  guilty  of  it  creates  at  least  a  suspi- 
cion as  to  his  honesty  in  other  important  matters. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Examining  Board  has  made  the  following  report  for  the 
year  1876; 
To  the  Hon.  William  S.  Stokley,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  : 
The  "  Pharmaceutical  Examining  Board"  respectfully  report  that  during  the  year  1876  they  re- 
ceived applications  from  forty  elerks  for  examination  and  registration  as  "  qualified  assistants."  Of  this 
number  twenty-three  were  rejected  as  not  posessing  the  requisite  knowledge  and  qualifications  to  take 
charge  of  a  retail  drugstore  during  the  temporary  absence  of  the  proprietor.  Seventeen  were  deemed 
safe  for  the  position,  and  were  registered  accordingly,  and  received  their  certificates,  making  them 
legally  '*  qualified  assistants." 
Eleven  applicaiions  for  examination  were  made  by  persons  wishing  to  open  stores  as  proprietors 
thereof,  four  of  whom  did  not  appear  when  notified  to  do  so.  Of  the  seven  examined,  four  were  found  so 
deficient  in  the  knowledge  of  chemistry,  materia  medica,  pharmacy,  and  doses  of  active  remedies,  that 
the  Hoard  was  unwilling  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  granting  them  certificates.  Three  persons 
passed  the  examination  satisfactorily  and  were  registered  as  "  Proprietors." 
During  the  year  ten  graduates  of  Pharmacy  enteiing  into  business  were  registered  according  to  law 
without  examination  by  the  Board.  The  total  number  on  the  register  on  December  31st,  1876,  was  five 
hundred  and  ninety  proprietors,  and  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  (325)  qualified  assistants. 
It  is  believed  that  many  retail  drug  stores  have  been  opened  in  the  city  by  persons  who  evade  the  law 
requiring  them  to  be  registered,  the  one  where  a  fatal  mistake1  occurred  recently  being  a  melancholy 
l  'this  case  was  reported  in  our  last  number,  page  141. — Editor  Am.  Jour.  Phar, 
