378 
EDITORIAL. 
mistaking the article in the physician's prescription, put up for chloride 
hydrargyri, the bi-chloride, and thereby, as it is reported, caused the death 
of Mr. James Hall, who took it. We cannot conceive how such an error 
could have occurred with any kind of carefulness on the part of the apo- 
thecary. Bottles may be misplaced, yet that would not afford an excuse; 
or even the bi-chloride may have been in the wrong bottle, which is still 
more reprehensible. The fact is, many of our apothecaries are not suffi- 
ciently educated, and not careful enough in compounding and dispensing 
medicines. Too much limit is allowed the apprentice in dealing with arti- 
cles of such potency. It has often been advocated in the pages of this 
Journal, that the sale of such potent chemicals should be regulated by law ; 
and further, that the apothecary should receive a medical education, and be 
duly qualified before entering upon his very responsible office. As the law 
now exists, any one can set himself up as an apothecary, even if he cannot 
tell buchu from senna leaves. In a future number we shall have something 
further to say on this subject. 
In the case referred to, upon the verdict rendered by the jury of inquest, 
who investigated the circumstances attending the death of Mr. Hall, Mr. 
Coroner Smith entered a complaint in the Police Court against Mr. Wake- 
field, the apothecary, charging him with manslaughter. Mr. Wakefield 
was arrested, and brought before Justice Merrill, when, waiving an exam- 
ination, he was required to furnish bail in $5000 for his appearance at the 
ensuing term of the Municipal Court for trial on the charge made against 
him. 
We have seen no account of this fatal mistake except the above, 
and do not know under what circumstances it occurred ; whether the 
apothecary was solely to blame or not — whether the error arose from 
the ignorance of himself or his apprentice, or whether the physician, by 
the improper use of terms, may not in some measure have been in- 
strumental in bringing about the casualty. We may safely say that 
there are none more strict in enforcing the obligations and responsi- 
bility of the apothecary to the medical profession and the public than 
ourselves: we hold that in every instance he should, before compound- 
ing a prescription, feel assured, as far as the circumstances of the case 
will admit, that what is written is the true expression of the phy- 
sician's wishes, and does not embrace an error of inadvertence or of 
ignorance; for we do not have to go beyond this city to show that 
there are members of the medical profession grossly ignorant of the 
pharmaceutical and chemical relations of the drugs and medicines 
they prescribe. We admit, without hesitation, that even in this city, 
where the means of pharmaceutical education are greater and have 
existed longer than elsewhere in the Union, a number of unqualified 
persons are engaged in the apothecary's business, and will continue, 
until some legal restraint shall be enforced to compel the proper quali- 
fication, — yet we believe, in many instances where errors have occur- 
red in compounding prescriptions, some blame should attach to the 
physician, either for imperfect chirography, or by the use of terms, 
