^une^mr  }  Bevieiosand  Bibliographical  Notices.  303 
Sugar  of  Lead  Sold  for  Sugar  of  Milk. — A  correspondent  writes  that  he 
received  from  a  wholesale  drug  house,  in  this  city,  a  package  marked  "  sugar 
of  milk,"  which,  on  examination,  proved  to  be  acetate  of  lead.  In  some  places 
milk  sugar  is  used  as  an  addition  to  milk  and  other  food  for  babies,  and  the 
result  of  such  a  mistake  must  necessarily  be  serious,  unless  discovered  and 
rectified  in  due  time.    In  the  course  of  his  remarks  our  correspondent  writes  : 
"And  now  the  moral.  What  does  this  occurrence  teach  ?  Not  alone  a  want 
of  proper  care  on  the  part  of  the  assistant  who  made  the  blunder,  but  a  lack  of 
proper  surveillance  on  the  part  of  his  employer  and  preceptor.  I  have  been 
in  both  branches  of  the  business,  and  in  several  firms,  and  I  know  that  in  the 
matter  of  care  and  supervision  some  of  our  wholesale  dealers  fall  lamentably 
short  of  their  duty." 
To  which  we  add  that  this  case  is  another  illustration  of  the  necessity  of  ex- 
amining every  drug  and  preparation  before  it  is  dispensed,  no  matter  how  re- 
liable the  house  from  which  it  has  been  purchased.  The  pharmacist  who 
neglects  this  duty  is  not  excusable  if  injury  is  done.  As  human  beings,  we  are 
liable  to  err  ;  to  reduce  this  possibility  of  making  mistakes  to  an  almost  abso- 
lute impossibility,  constant  watchfulness  is  necessary  not  only  in  the  whole- 
sale drug  store,  but  likewise  in  the  dispensing  store,  from  the  time  a  drug  is  re- 
ceived until  it  leaves  the  establishment  in  some  form  or  other.  This  is  a  solemn 
duty,  which  we  are  bound  to  perform;  for  when  the  remedial  agent  leaves  the 
pharmaceutical  establishment,  it  has  reached  the  hands  of  those  who  are  pre- 
sumably ignorant  of  its  physical  and  chemical  qualities,  and  are  therefore  com- 
pelled to  put  their  trust  into  the  attainments  of  him,  who  by  following  the 
business  of  a  druggist  or  apothecary,  assumes  its  responsibilities,  and  holds 
out  to  the  public  the  assertion  of  his  competency. 
We  entirely  approve  of  the  suggestion  of  our  correspondent,  that  antiquated 
terms  like  white  vitriol,  green  vitriol,  blue  stone,  etc.,  should  be  discarded  ; 
they  are,  we  believe,  very  little  used  by  druggists,  except  in  their  intercourse 
with  the  public. 
EEVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES, 
Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  1874.    8vo.,  pp.  52. 
This  pamphlet  contains  the  commencement  exercises,  noticed  on  page  247 
of  our  last  number,  together  with  the  addresses  delivered  on  this  occasion,  the 
minutes  of  the  annual  meeting,  of  the  executive  board,  and  of  the  conversa- 
tional meetings,  papers  read  at  the  latter,  the  constitution  and  by-laws,  roll  of 
members,  etc.  In  a  paper  by  Geo.  W.  C.  Phillips,  entitled  "  Latent  Pepsin," 
the  author  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that,  while  a  carefully  made  wine  of  pepsinr 
not  containing  over  ten  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  may  and  does  contain  pepsin, 
it  exists  in  a  latent  state,  and  that  when  diluted  with  the  juices  of  the  stomach, 
at  the  normal  temperature  of  that  organ,  it  regains  its  activity  and  will 
perform  its  digestive  fuuctions. 
