GOLD-DUST AND IRON-FILINGS AS ANTIDOTES. 339 
in contact out of the stomach. The action of these metals as 
an antidote to the insoluble compounds of mercury generally, 
and their effect in our third experiment, in which three grains 
of the white oxide of mercury* were given, may, however, 
be explained by the phenomena which occur in one of the 
methods of making hydriodate of potash: it is known to che- 
mists, that iodine and potash may remain in water without 
forming the above salt, unless a piece of iron be dropped in, 
when a play of affinities is at once aroused, and the iodine, 
leaving the iron, for which it has a powerful affinity, untouch- 
ed, combines instantly with the potash. Now a part analo- 
gous to that which the iron here plays, is performed by the 
stomach, when the insoluble compounds of mercury are 
swallowed, and gold and iron are at the same time present: 
* A medical gentleman of our city, ordered for a convalescent patient 
half an ounce of phosphate of soda ; the prescription was taken to an apo- 
thecary, who sent, in its stead, half an ounce of white oxide of mercury. 
The nurse in attendance, when about to mix and administer the dose, sus- 
pecting - it was not the medicine intended, sent it back to know if it was 
right ; the apothecary, whose hardihood only equalled his ignorance, de- 
clared it to be the medicine ordered. With this assurance, the nurse pre- 
pared and gave to the unfortunate patient, the whole half ounce of white 
oxide, which soon produced the most violent symptoms, and proved fatal 
in about thirty-six hours. A short time after the dose had been given, 
the physician was sent for, and believing his patient had taken poison, he 
went to the apothecary and asked to see the bottle from which his prescrip- 
tion had been supplied: he was shown a bottle marked phosphate of soda; 
but which was found, on examination, to contain white oxide of mercury, 
the apothecary still persisting to the contrary: sufficient evidence that the 
mistake was not the result, of accident, but could only be attributed to the 
grossest ignorance. 
This fact, like many others that might be adduced, shows the absolute 
importance of our having a College of Pharmacy; indeed, in every place 
where physicians have, very properly, ceased to keep their own medicines, 
and have resigned into the hands of others one of the most important 
branches of our science, a College of Pharmacy, with full power to grant 
diplomas, appoint inspectors of medicine, and regulate the sale of poisons, 
has been found indispensable. So intimately is the apothecary identified 
with the physician in the public mind, that any fault of the former will 
be visited on the latter, and any act of ignorance on the part of a dispenser 
