42 
Editorial, 
<  Am.  Joub.  Pharm_ 
\     Jan.  1, 1872. 
soluble  tartar  excipient  does  not  appear  well  suited  to  this  salt.  Robert 
England  expressed  a  preference  for  manna  as  an  excipient  in  making  difficult 
masses.  Dr.  Pile  and  others  use  a  mixture  of  tragacanth  and  glycerin  with 
satisfactory  results.    After  further  conversation  the  meeting  adjourned. 
Olemmons  Parrisb,  Registrar. 
(ifciiorial  Sep  ailment 
Scientific  Journals  Pecuniarily  Considered. — Some  two  or  three  months 
ago,  we  received  from  a  valued  friend  the  following  communication,  which  we 
have  been  compelled  to  lay  aside  for  want  of  room,  but  which  we  now  insert: 
Dear  Sir  : — A  common  expression  with  us  out  West  is  "  business  is  busi- 
ness." As  an  inducement  to  patronize  scientific  journals,  especially  pharmaceu- 
tical, I  may  be  permitted  to  offer  the  following  :  A  few  days  since,  one  of  our 
customers,  who  had  been  in  ill  health  for  some  time  past  and  had  just  returned 
from  New  York,  where  he  had  been  to  consult  some  of  the  eminent  doctors  of 
medicine,  brought  us  several  prescriptions,  which  he  wished  to  know  if  we  could 
prepare,  as  he  would  want  them  filled  before  long.  I  read  them  over  ;  all  plain 
enough  except  the  last,  which  read  :  44  Syr.  Calcis  Lacto-phosphatis,"  &c.  The 
person  being  an  intelligent  gentleman,  I  told  him  the  prescription  contained  a 
new  remedy — an  article  with  which  I  was  not  acquainted — but  that  if  he  could 
wait  a  few  days,  I  thought  I  might  come  across  it  in  some  of  the  pharmaceuti- 
cal journals  which  I  had  ;  that  owing  to  press  of  business,  &c,  I  had  got  behind 
in  reading  them.  He  agreed.  The  next  night,  after  reading  the  May  number 
of  the  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  I  took  up  the  June  number,  and  began  cutting  the 
leaves;  and  I  must  acknowledge,  somewhat  to  my  surprise,  found  the  second 
article  was  on  the  same  new  preparation  which  it  was  necessary  forme  to  know 
about,  by  the  very  person  on  whose  blank  the  prescription  was  written.  I  will 
just  add,  that  in  this  short  communication  I  found  what  was  equal  in  dollars 
and  cents  to  at  least  one  year's  subscription,  to  say  nothing  of  the  satisfaction  it 
afforded.  H. 
While  endorsing  the  foregoing  sentiments,  we  desire  to  add,  that  we  wish  sin- 
cerely all  the  members  of  our  profession  might  be  as  liberal  as  the  author  of  the 
formula  mentioned,  and  like  a  number  of  others  of  our  fraternity,  had  no  secret 
formulas  of  their  own,  but  were  disposed  to  let  others  profit  from  their  experi- 
ence. The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  is  open  to  all  who  desire  to  dis- 
seminate the  results  of  their  practical  or  scientific  experience. 
Credit  to  whom  Credit  is  Due. — Our  predecessor  in  the  editorial  chair  of 
this  Journal  has  repeatedly  been  under  the  necessity  of  complaining  of  the  dis- 
regard of  journalistic  right  by  several  contemporaries,  and  we  are  constrained 
to  reiterate  the  statements  made  by  him  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  volume, 
as  applicable  also  for  the  past  year,  namely:  that  a  number  of  original  articles, 
translations  and  abridgements,  furnished  to  this  Journal,  have  been  going  the 
rounds  under  false  colors.  We  respectfully  suggest  to  editors  the  propriety  of 
giving  proper  credit  to  the  Journal  to  which  it  may  be  due,  even  though  but  a 
paragraph  or  two  may  be  clipped  from  our  "  Gleanings,"  "Varieties  "  or  orig- 
inal matter.    It  has  been  our  aim  in  no  case  to  omit  such  reference. 
