56 
A  Defence  of  Elixirs,  etc. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharw  „ 
\    Feb.  1,  1873. 
haps  years  of  experience,  thinking  and  toil),  the  profession  step  in 
and,  like  Turpin  modified,  demand,  "  Your  formula  or  your  profes- 
sional credit.  We  don't  care  if  you  do  tell  us  that  there  is  so  much 
of  this  and  that  in  it,  we  want  to  know  hoiv  you  do  it,  and  besides  we 
want  it  published  in  the  journals/' 
Sequel.  The  formula  is  published  in  the  journals,  some  rich  chemi- 
cal pirate  sees  it,  thinks  it  is  a  good  thing,  gets  it  for  nothing,  and 
goes  into  it  wholesale  and  retail,  with  gilt  labels,  plenty  of  advertise- 
ments, and  lots  of  sale.  The  poor  fellow  who  first  got  it  up  loses  all 
except  his  self-respect,  and  for  nothing  else  except  to  satisfy  public 
opinion.    Is  this  just  ? 
Now  I  would  suggest,  with  all  due  deference,  a  remedy.  Let  there 
be  attached  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  with  a  channel 
of  publicity  through  the  "  Journal,"  a  library  of  formulas,  these  for- 
mulas to  be  acted  upon  by  two  or  three  professors  of  the  College.. 
Let  them  be  divided  into  officinal  (when  accepted  as  worthy  of  that 
name),  and  unofficinal,  with  a  subdivision  of  this  class,  according  to 
merit,  into  A,  B,  C,  D.  As  a  reward  to  the  inventor,  let  the  College 
confer  a  diploma  conveying  a  degree  commensurate  with  the  value  of 
the  formula,  and  attach  to  it,  to  pay  the  expenses,  a  fee  of  five  dollars,, 
upon  the  payment  of  which  the  inventor  would  be  entitled  to  his 
diploma.  This  money  would  be  willingly  paid,  and  would  show  con- 
clusively that  he  was  the  originator,  no  matter  what  thief  would  steal 
it  after  it  became  public. 
Then,  to  crown  the  whole  thing,  with  your  December  number  issue- 
a  supplement  (with  a  sufficient  additional  charge)  of  all  these  for- 
mulae, classified,  with  the  authors'  names,  etc. 
This  would  change  entirely  the  aspect  of  affairs,  and  the  College 
would  take  the  position  it  ought  to  take,  i.  e.,  the  intelligence  and 
brains  of  the  profession,  standing  on  the  dry,  safe  ground  of  experi- 
ence, reaching  out  a  helping,  kindly  hand  to  its  children  who  are  strug- 
gling in  the  mire,  and  seeking  recognition  from  respectability. 
Longwood,  Mich*%  Jan.  13,  1873. 
Remarks  by  the  Editor. — It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  here,, 
that  the  position  taken  by  our  correspondent  in  this  question  is  not 
our  own.  We  hold  that  no  pharmacist  has  a  right  to  secret  formulas 
for  any  medicinal  preparation,  regarding  this  as  an  ethical  question 
which  has  long  since  been  settled  for  the  medical  profession,  the  mem- 
