Am.  Jour.  Pharni. 
Oct.,  1890. 
}    British  Pharmaceutical  Conference, 
519 
the  official  standards  which  embody  the  best  skill  and  knowledge  in  dealing 
with  drugs  and  menstrua,  concentrations  two  or  three  times  over  and  above 
those  that  can  with  safety  be  practised  are  now  an  every-day  requirement. 
Then  came  the  fashion  of  prescribing  ready-made  physic,  which  was  said  to  be 
increasing  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  positively  alarming  and  was  denounced 
as  a  delusion  and  a  snare  to  those  who  desire  to  retain  the  art  of  orthodox  pre- 
scribing. The  last  fashion  in  medicine  particularized,  was  the  injudicious 
selection  by  the  public  of  medicine  to  be  used  as  household  remedies  and  the 
preference  displayed  for  those  covered  by  a  medicine  stamp.  .By  this  practice, 
the  speaker  said,  the  medical  art  is  deprived  of  much  opportunity,  pharmacy 
undermined,  and  the  public  not  benefited,  but  on  the  contrary  greatly  dam- 
aged. Some  of  these  preparations,  it  was  admitted,  are  simple  in  their  nature, 
safe  in  the  hands  of  the  public,  and  not  inappropriate  as  household  remedies  ; 
but  others,  it  was  contended,  are  unsuited  as  remedies  except  in  the  hands  of  a 
medical  practitioner,  while  many  of  them  are  of  such  composition  that  they 
should  not  be  sold  except  under  the  restrictions  that  accompany  the  sale  of 
substances  included  in  the  poisons  schedule  and  the  Pharmacy  Act.  In  i860 
the  revenue  from  medicine  stamp  duty  was  ,£43,000,  whilst  for  the  present 
year  it  has  been  computed  at  ^220,000 ;  in  the  same  time,  however,  the  ven- 
dors- have  only  increased  from  10,000  to  23,000,  indicating  that  the  average 
sales  by  each  vendor  have  practically  doubled.  The  amount  paid  "by  the 
public  annually  for  stamped  medicines  was  estimated  at  not  far  short  of 
^1,500,000,  only  a  portion  of  which,  if  diverted  into  the  channels  of  legitimate 
medicine  would  involve  great  advantages  to  the  medical  profession  and  phar- 
macy. After  referring  to  the  demoralizing  effect  of  the  medicine  stamp  law 
through  the  facilities  it  affords  for  obtaining  from  a  grocer  or  stationer  supplies 
of  opiates  that  would  be  refused  by  the  pharmacist,  the  President  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  medicine  stamp  should  be 
abolished  and  when  the  question  might  be  raised  whether,  in  the  interest  of 
the  public,  the  compounding  of  proprietary  medicines  might  not  be  placed 
under  restrictions  similar  to  those  which  obtain  on  the  continent.  A  congratu- 
latory reference  was  then  made  to  the  recent  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
pharmacists  to  advise  the  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  of  the  Medical  Council, 
and  the  address  concluded  by  an  appeal  to  pharmacists  to  assist  in  counteract- 
ing the  depressing  influence  of  the  cloud  that  hangs  over  pharmacy  by  indi- 
vidually and  collectively  seeking  to  maintain  and  advance  all  matters  having  a 
scientific  bearing  upon  this  art. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  which  was  listened  to  with  close  attention, 
and  evoked  repeated  demonstrations  of  approval,  Dr.  Thresh  proposed  a  vote 
of  thanks  to  the  President,  which  was  carried  by  acclamation. 
The  reading  of  papers  was  then  commenced  with  the  report  of  the  Unofficial 
Formulary  Committee,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  Martindale  as  its  Chairman.  The 
report  simply  recorded  the  publication  at  the  end  of  last  year  of  an  Addendum 
to  the  Unofficial  Formulary,  and  stated  that  the  work  of  the  Committee  was  at 
present  in  abeyance,  pending  the  issue  of  the  expected  Addendum  to  the 
British  Pharmacopoeia. 
Hyoseyamus. —  In  a  very  interesting  paper  Mr.  Gerrard  gave  the  results  of  a 
number  of  experiments  .extending  over  a  period  of  four  years  and  having  for 
