Am.  Jour.  Pharm. \ 
June,  1903.  / 
Notes  and  News. 
299 
worse  instead  of  better  in  the  last  few  years.  At  any  rate  the  matter  is  of  such 
importance  as  to  merit  investigation.  The  committee,  which  consists  of 
Charles  Baskerville,  L.  M.  Dennis,  W.  F.  Hillebrand,  H.  P.  Talbot  and  the 
president  of  the  Society  as  chairman  ex  officio,  is  collecting  data  to  show  the 
extent  of  the  evil  of  adulteration  or  wrong  labeling,  and  requests  information 
from  all  members  of  the  Society  who  have  had  experience  in  the  matter. 
This  information  should  be  sent  to  Prof.  H.  P.  Talbot,  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tute of  Technology,  Boston.  The  committee  will  be  glad  also  to  receive  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  best  means  of  practically  correcting  the  present  unsatisfactory 
condition.  —Jour.  Amer.  Chem.  Soc,  May,  1903,  p.  548. 
Newspaper  Misrepresentation. — "The  trade  is  tainted  with  fraud." 
Thus  does  the  New  York  Times  refer  to  the  drug  trade  in  commenting  on 
Governer  Odell's  veto  of  the  notorious  Bostwick  bill.  And  the  Medical  Record, 
to  which  the  trade  has  a  right  to  look  for  at  least  impartial  criticism,  says  that 
the  stand  of  the  druggist  against  the  bill  is  neither  "judicious,  convincing  nor 
sincere,"  and  bitterly  refers  to  "  fiagrance  of  malpractice  in  pharmacy." 
Words  are  insufficient  to  reply  to  such  perversions  of  the  truth.  It  is  time 
that  the  trade  resented  the  insults  which,  with  increasing  virulence,  are  being 
hurled  at  it  day  by  day,  not  by  words,  but  by  deeds.  The  medical  press  de- 
pends for  its  very  existence  upon  the  support  of  the  drug  trade,  and  the  daily 
press  owes  much  of  its  prosperity  to  the  same  interests,  and  yet  no  slander, 
however  vile,  but  is  acceptable  to  the  editors  of  both,  provided  only  it  be 
directed  at  the  hapless  retailer.  .  The  tune  to  which  these  men  dance  is  played 
by  practically  the  same  hands,  and  they  are  hands  to  which  the  feel  of  the 
almighty  dollar  is  everything — the  practice  of  medicine,  the  practice  of  phar- 
macy, the  good  of  humanity,  nothing,  despite  their  blatant  sympathies  in 
behalf  of  "  the  suffering  patient."  And  side  by  side  with  malicious  comment 
upon  the  druggist  we  find  on  every  hand  the  press  standing  unanimous  in  con- 
demning the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  because  of  his  approval  of  a  bill  which 
attempts  to  strangle  the  press  in  almost  exactly  the  same  manner  in  which 
the  Bostwick  bill  would  have  strangled  the  druggist.  It  is  an  ideal  example 
of  the  truth  of  the  old  adage,  "Let  the  shoemaker  stick  to  his  last."  The 
remedy  for  newspaper  misrepresentation  and  slander  is  in  the  druggist's  own 
hands.  He  should  see  to  it  that  the  editors  of  responsible  newspapers  are 
correctly  informed  regarding  the  real  purpose  of  measures  or  movements 
affecting  his  interests. — Editorial  in  Amer.  Drug.,  /8gj,  p.  280. 
Christian  Science  was  struck  another  legal  blow  on  May  4th,  when  the 
Supreme  Court  decided  that  the  "  First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist,"  of  Phila- 
delphia, is  not  deserving  of  a  charter.  According  to  the  Public  Ledger,  the 
opinion,  written  by  Justice  Potter,  upholds  the  late  Judge  Arnold  and  former 
Judge  Dimner  Beeber,  the  referee  to  whom  the  application  for  a  charter  had 
been  referred. 
Judge  Beeber  reported  adversely  upon  the  application,  mainly  on  the  ground 
that  the  Christian  Science  doctrine  that  there  were  no  maladies  or  contagious 
diseases  was  a  menace  to  the  health  of  the  community. 
Judge  Arnold  sustained  this  view,  and  went  farther  by  saying  that  as  teachers 
of  the  doctrine  were  required  to  sell  Mrs.  Eddy's  book,  the  Church  was  an 
organization  for  profit. 
