28 
NOTES  OF  TRAVEL  IN  EUROPE. 
the  annual  shoots  are  cut  off  with  the  grain,  or  avoided  by  the  reapers, 
according  to  the  manner  of  gathering  the  cereals. 
Among  the  staples  of  Southern  Italy  is  argols,  and  is  generally  the  red 
variety,  as  the  grapes  are  usually  fermented  with  their  skins.  Mr.  Kernot 
said  that  at  almost  any  time  one  might  buy  1000  casks  of  tartar,  of  1200 
lbs.  each,  in  the  Neapolitan  market.  Both  sweet  and  bitter  almonds  are 
largely  produced  ou  the  east  coast,  in  the  Bari  district,  whilst  saffron 
{Crocus  sativusj  grows  wild  in  the  pasture  region  of  ultra  Southern  Italy, 
and  is  collected  to  some  extent  for  commerce  in  districts  near  Taranto. 
We  should  not  leave  Naples  without  saying  that  we  visited  the  apo- 
thecary shop  at  Pompeii,  and  stood  behind  its  earthen  counter  ;  and,  in 
the  Museo,  saw  some  of  the  implements  used  therein  for  making  pills — a 
tile  and  spatula,  with  a  pill  box  containing  some  remains  of  Pompeian 
skill — certainly  the  oldest  existing  samples  of  fossil  pharmacy  out  of 
Egypt. 
The  trip  from  Naples  to  Rome  is  comfortably  made  by  rail  in  9  or  10 
hours,  passing  through  Caserta,  Capua  and  Frosinone,  and  winding 
around  the  southern  side  of  the  Alb  an  Hills,  the  train  soon  brought  us 
in  sight  of  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's,  which  towers  more  than  three  hundred 
feet  above  the  highest  of  the  Seven  Hills  in  Rome,  and  after  sweeping 
along  nearly  parallel  with  miles  of  ruined  remains  of  Roman  aqueducts, 
we  entered  the  Eternal  City. 
Pharmacy  in  Rome. — The  municipal  laws  of  Rome  require  that  the 
pharmaceutist  should  be  educated  before  he  enters  into  the  practice  of  his 
art.  To  provide  for  this  education  there  are  lectures  on  materia  medica, 
botany,  pharmacy  and  chemistry,  with  which  are  connected  two  examina- 
tions. Beginners  enter  as  apprentices,  and  pay  a  bonus  or  entrance  fee  of 
from  200  to  400  dollars,  previous  to  which  there  is  a  preliminary  exami- 
nation of  the  applicant  as  to  his  fitness  for  the  business.  The  tuition  at 
the  University  appears  to  be  part  of  the  medical  system,  and  not  dis- 
tinct and  separate  for  pharmaceutists  alone.  There  are  some  accomplished 
pharmaceutists  in  Rome,  but  many  who  are  of  but  medium  grade.  Mr. 
Sinimberghi  (member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain) 
informed  me  that  there  is  no  society  of  pharmaciens  in  Rome  for  scientific 
advancement,  all  depending  on  individual  action,  or  through  the  faculty  of 
the  University.  The  law  is  strict  that  the  apothecary  must  be  examined, 
but  is  not  always  carried  out  to  the  letter.  The  law  regulating  competi- 
tion apportions  a  shop  to  every  3000  inhabitants.  Physicians  write  their 
prescriptions  both  in  Latin  and  Italian.  In  dispensing  prescriptions,  the 
original  is  always  given  back  to  the  patient,  a  copy  being  taken,  and  the 
prescription  usually  in  the  best  stores  is  stamped  with  the  proprietor's  seal. 
The  best  stores  are  careful  in  dispensing  and  labelling  their  preparations 
and  prescriptions,  but  a  great  many  shops  do  it  carelessly,  and  often  neg- 
lect it  entirely.  There  is  no  law  regulating  the  sale  of  poisons  by  apothe- 
caries, except  that  which  requires  that  no  poison  be  sold  without  a  physi- 
