26 
NOTES  OF  TRAVEL  IN  EUROPE. 
and  dropping  anchor  in  the  commercial  port,  Naples,  rising  like  an  amphi- 
theatre from  the  waters  to  the  heights  of  St.  Elmo  and  Capo  di  Monte, 
stood  before  us  in  all  her  beauty.  During  a  week's  stay  we  did  all  that 
earnest  industry  could  do  to  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  numberless 
objects  of  interest  presented,  visiting  Vesuvius,  Pompeii,  Herculaneum, 
Pozzuoli,  Lake  Agnano,  the  Grotto  del  Cane,  &c,  and  spent  as  much 
time  in  the  Museum,  where  the  spoils  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  are 
gathered,  as  possible.  But  these  things  are  foreign  to  this  letter,  already 
too  much  filled  with  irrelevancies,  and  the  remaining  space  must  be 
devoted  to  a  few  notes  on  Pharmacy  in  Naples,  and  other  matters. 
Previous  to  the  Kevolution  of  1860  there  was  an  Association  or  College 
of  Pharmacy  in  Naples,  which,  by  nine  months'  study,  granted  a  right  to 
practice  Pharmacy,  and  consequently  many  persons  entered  the  profession 
who  were  unqualified.  In  18G0  the  Government  handed  the  regulation  of 
pharmaceutical  education  over  to  the  University,  which  now  requires  four 
years'  study  and  practice  from  the  student;  but  from  what  I  could  learn 
this  is  more  the  intention  than  the  accomplished  reality.  An  old  law 
requires  that  the  apothecaries,  or  dispensers,  shall  not  set  up  shops  within 
75  geometrical  paces  of  each  other,  but  without  reference  to  the  number  of 
inhabitants.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  better  class  of  pharmaceutists  that 
the  number  should  be  regulated  by  the  proportion  of  inhabitants  rather 
than  by  distance.  In  a  population  of  550,000  there  are  230  shops,  and 
among  them  only  about  twelve  first-class  pharmacies.  Mr.  Kernot  (Eng- 
lish pharmaceutist  and  member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great 
Britain),  of  Strada  San  Carlo,  informed  me  that  the  English  prescription 
business  is  chiefly  in  the  spring  and  autumn.  The  usage  here,  as  else- 
where, is  to  return  the  prescription,  keeping  a  copy.  Physicians  are 
required  to  sign  their  full  name  to  prescriptions,  and  the  apothecary 
may  refuse  to  compound  them  otherwise,  and  each  apothecary  has,  or  is 
expected  to  have,  a  list  of  physicians'  autographs.  This  rule  is,  however, 
constantly  overlooked.  The  usage  is  to  charge  for  each  item  in  a  prescrip- 
tion separately,  and  as  Italian  prescriptions  are  usually  very  simple  in 
their  composition  they  are  not  lucrative.  An  existing  law  requires  that 
no  poison  is  to  be  sold  without  a  physician's  prescription,  and  even  tartar 
emetic  is  included  in  the  list.  Ordinary  clerks  get  60  francs  ($12)  a 
month,  and  apprentices  pay  a  bonus  of  300  to  400  francs  on  entry.  There 
is  no  chemical  or  pharmaceutical  journal  published  at  Naples,  but  the 
"  Bulletino  Farmaceutica  Organico  delPAssociazione  Farmacetica  Lom- 
barda,"  published  at  Milan,  is  taken  by  some  of  the  pharmaceutists.  Pre- 
vious to  1860  the  sciences  taught  were  general  chemistry,  botany,  mine- 
ralogy, and  materia  medica.  The  new  curriculum  at  the  University 
includes  organic  chemistry  and  zoology.  I  did  not  learn  that  practical 
pharmacy,  as  a  distinct  branch,  was  included.  The  examination  is  said 
to  be  quite  rigid,  and  the  student  may  obtain  his  tuition  elsewhere  if  he 
pleases,  provided  he  can  stand  the  ordeal. 
