474  EDITORIAL. 
And  if  Dr.  Dover,  or  Dr.  James,  or  Dr.  Lugol,  had  chosen  to  manu- 
facture the  celebrated  compounds  which  bear  their  names,  no  one  could 
have  sold  them  under  their  names  without  permission,  though  any  one 
could  use  their  formulae,  wherever  unpatented,  under  any  other  name — 
since  there  can  be  no  exclusive  property  in  that  which  has  once  become 
the  common  possession  of  mankind  ;  and  this  principle  may  be  predica- 
ted in  relation  to  nearly  the  whole  pharmacopoeia.  With  such  a  statute 
in  existence  as  has  been  foreshadowed,  no  apothecary  could  renew,  with- 
out authority,  any  physician's  prescript;on  ;  for,  if  he  did,  he  would  incur 
the  penalty  specially  affixed  to  such  misconduct.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
am  aware  that  many  physicians  would  look  upon  the  prescription  book  as 
an  unnecessary  piece  of  formalism,  and  like  the  ceremonial  law,  calculated 
to  increase  rather  than  diminish  professional  cares  ;  but  if  they  would 
consider  it  in  its  proper  light  of  a  legal  guarantee  of  their  professional 
competency,  able  to  be  of  immense  advantage  to  them  as  evidence,  in 
some  moment  of  supreme  necessity,  they  would  no  longer  hesitate  as  to 
its  acceptance,  nor  have  occasion  to  complain  that  some  remedy  was  not 
within  their  reach. 
In  conclusion,  and  to  add  some  legal  artillery  to  this  army  of  sugges- 
tions, I  would  recommend  that  our  State  Medical  Society  request  of  the 
next  Legislature  the  passage  of  some  such  act  as  the  following,  viz  : 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  etc. : 
1.  No  apothecary,  druggist,  or  retailer  of  medicines,  shall  compound 
any  written  prescription,  unless  it  be  signed  with  the  full  name  and 
address  of  the  person  writing  the  same,  under  a  penalty  of  dollars, 
for  each  and  every  violation  of  this  prohibition. 
2.  Every  apothecary,  druggist,  or  retailer  of  medicines,  who  shall  com- 
pound any  written  prescription,  shall,  immediately  thereafter,  and  on  the 
same  day, write  or  stamp  on  said  prescription,  in  legible  characters,  the  date 
of  such  compounding,  together  with  his  own  name  and  place  of  business, 
under  a  penalty  of  dollars  for  each  and  every  omission  so  to  do. 
3.  Any  apothecary,  druggist,  or  retailer  of  medicines,  who  shall  com- 
pound a  written  prescription,  bearing  upon  its  face  the  certificate  of  an 
apothecary  showing  the  same  to  have  been  already  compounded,  and 
without  a  renewal  of  said  prescription  by  the  person  originally  writing 
the  same,  duly  expressed  by  a  fresh  signature  and  date,  shall  be  charge- 
able with  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  subject  to 
a  fine  of  fifty  dollars  for  each  and  every  offence  so  committed. 
4.  All  fines  and  penalties  incurred  under  this  act  may  be  recovered 
in  a  Justice's  Court,  one-half  to  go  to  the  informer,  and  one-halt'  to  the 
Overseers  of  the  Poor  of  the  county  in  which  such  conviction  shall  be 
had. 
I  am,  very  respectfully,  yours,  John  Ordronaux. 
Roslyn,  N.  Y..  July  23,  1868. 
Ether  Monument. — The  late  Thomas  Lee,  of  Boston,  wishing  to  com- 
memorate the  discovery  of  the  anaesthetic  use  of  Ether  in  Boston,  during 
his  life  conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  a  granite  monument  for  that  pur- 
pose. On  the  28th  of  July,  Dr.  Henry  J.  Bigelow  formally  presented 
the  completed  structure  to  the  Mayor  of  Boston  in  a  set  speech,  which 
is  printed  in  full  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  for  July 
2d.  "The  monument  is  of  white  Concord  granite,  30  feet  high,  and  arises 
from  a  square  basin.  Its  base  is  cubical,  leaving  on  each  vertical  face  a 
niche  containing  a  spouting  lion's  head  with  sculptured  water  lilies  and 
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