472 
EDITORIAL. 
(Editorial  Hepartmcitf. 
Fifteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation.—Before  this  number  will  reach  some  of  our  subscribers,  this 
meeting  will  take  place  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  the  Local  Secre- 
tary, in  conjunction  with  a  committee  from  the  New  York  College  of 
Pharmacy,  has  made  preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  Association. 
"When  the  meeting  was  last  held  in  New  York,  in  1860,  it  was  probably 
the  largest  gathering  of  pharmacists  in  the  United  States  up  to  that  time, 
and  now,  after  a  lapse  of  seven  years,  we  may  confidently  expect  that 
the  coming  meeting  will  be  of  still  greater  importance,  and,  as  far  as  num. 
bers  are  concerned,  assume  still  greater  proportions.  We  have  received 
letters  from  nearly  every  section  of  the  United  States,  the  writers  express- 
ing the  hope  of  greeting  old  friends  again  on  the  10th  of  September  next, 
and  of  deliberating  with  them  about  the  welfare  of  the  Association,  and  of 
the  profession  of  pharmacy  in  this  country.  The  delegates  to  the  Inter- 
national Pharmaceutical  Congress,  which  was  held  at  Paris  during  the 
latter  part  of  August,  may  probably  return  in  time  and  report  to  the  meet- 
ing. The  following  members  had  been  duly  accredited  to  that  duty  :  — 
Professor  Win.  Procter,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia  :  John  Faber,  of  New  York  ; 
Thos.  E.  Jenkins,  M.D.,  of  Louisville,  Ky. 
We  have  been  informed  that  the  Union  Place  Hotel,  corner  of  Broadway 
and  Fourteenth  Street,  has  been  selected  as  the  headquarters  of  the  mem- 
bers during  the  meeting,  which  will  convene  at  the  University  Buildings 
on  Tuesday,  Sept.  10th,  at  3  o'clock,  P.  M. 
Prescriptions — whose  Property  are  they? — If  our  memory  serves  us 
correctly,  this  or  a  similar  query  was  discussed,  some  years  ago,  in  the 
English  journals,  but  we  do  not  remember  the  conclusion  arrived  at.  In 
central,  northern,  and  eastern  Europe,  the  prescriptions  which  have  been 
compounded  are  handed  back  to  the  patient  for  whom  they  were  prescribed ; 
the  pharmaceutist  retains  them  only  in  case  they  are  not  paid  for,  and  the 
very  fact  of  the  prescription  being  in  his  possession,  is  evidence  of  his 
claim  for  the  amount  which  he  is  legally  authorized  to  charge  for  the 
same.  In  this  country  the  custom  prevails  of  the  prescriptions  being  re- 
tained by  the  apothecary.  Neither  in  Europe  nor  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  in  this  country  has  the  right  of  the  patient  been  questioned  to  have 
a  prescription  renewed  as  often  as  he  pleased.  For  a  number  of  years 
past,  however,  we  have  known  several  physicians  in  this  city  who  had  a 
sort  of  a  contract  printed  upon  the  papers  used  by  them  for  writing  their 
prescriptions  upon,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  "  this  prescription  is  to 
be  retained  by  the  pharmaceutist,  who  will  neither  furnish  a  copy  nor  re- 
new it  without  the  written  order  of  the  prescriber."    To  the  best  of  our 
