Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
April  1,  1873.  J 
Editorial. 
191 
(JrMtorial  Department 
Bogus  Diplomas  Again. — In  our  last  volume  we  have  repeatedly  referred  to 
the  nefarious  trade  in  bogus  diplomas  which  had  its  head-quarters  in  Philadel- 
phia The  illegal  transactions  having  been  proved  before  a  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  that  body  promptly  repealed  the 
charters  of  several  so  called  universities  and  colleges.*  We  are  sorry  to  have 
to  inform  our  readers  that  this  repeal  of  its  charter  appears  to  be  invalid  in  the 
case  of  at  least  one  of  these  concerns,  as  we  learn  from  the  following, -which  we 
clip  from  a  newspaper  of  this  city  : 
"  Judge  Agnew  of  the  Supreme  Court,  has  decided  that  the  Legislature  has 
no  power  to  repeal  a  charter  granted  prior  to  the  constitutional  amendment  of 
1857,  and  that  a  committee  of  the  Legislature  has  not  the  judicial  power  to  in- 
vestigate and  declare  that  a  corporation  has  been  guilty  of  unlawful  acts.  The 
opinion  was  in  the  case  of  Allen  vs.  Buchanan,  in  which  the  validity  of  the 
Eclectic  Medical  College  charter  was  in  question,  and  the  Court  decides  that 
the  Act  of  1872,  repealing  the  charter,  was  without  legislative  force  and  void, 
4  The  corporation,'  said  the  Judge,  '  is  entitled  to  a  trial  in  due  course  of  law,  to 
ascertain  its  breach  of  duty,  before  its  charter  can  be  taken  away.  A  franchise 
is  a  valuable  privilege,  and  is  property  in  the  contemplation  of  law  ;  and  the 
body  possessing  it  is  as  much  entitled  to  a  judicial  determination  of  its  right  or 
want  of  right  to  hold  it  as  a  natural  person  is  of  his  right  to  his  lands  or  his 
goods.' " 
Meanwhile  the  business  of  selling  diplomas  has  been  going  on  uninterruptedly 
in  Europe.  The  headquarters  of  the  European  agency  appear  to  have  been 
established  in  Jersey,  Great  Britain,  and  one  Dr.  P.  A.  van  der  Yyver  appears 
to  act  as  chief  commissioner  for  several  of  those  concerns  who  were  supposed 
to  have  been  swept  out  of  existence  by  legislative  authority.  Advertisements 
have  appeared  in  various  publications  in  Germany,  Austria,  Spain,  and  proba- 
bly other  European  countries,  advertising,  as  we  have  been  informed,  the  Eclec- 
tic College  of  Medicine,  the  University  of  Philadelphia,  etc.,  as  willing  to  grant 
to  those  who  are  hungry  for  cheap  honors,  and  in  consideration  of  a  round  sum 
of  money,  any  desired  degree  in  absentia. 
We  call  upon  our  European  cotemporaries  to  expose  this  swindle,  and  hope 
that  measures  may  be  devised  and  proceedings  instituted  in  this  city,  which 
will  bring  the  home  offenders  to  a  speedy  justice,  and  put  a  stop  to  a  business 
which  has  for  too  long  a  time  disgraced  the  fair  name  of  a  city,  a  State,  and,  in 
fact,  of  our  whole  country. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Manual  of  Chemical  A?ialysis  as  Applied  to  the  Examination  of  Medicinat 
Chemicals.  A  Guide  for  the  Determination  of  their  identity  and  Quality, 
and  for  the  Detection  of  Impurities  and  Adulterations.  For  the  use  of  Phar- 
maceutists, Physicians.  Druggists  and  Manufacturing  Chemists,  and  of  Phar- 
maceutical and  Medical  Students.  By  Frederick  Hoffmann,  Ph.D.,  Pharma- 
ceutist in  New  York.    New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1873.    8vo.,  pp.  393. 
Spp  American  Jcnrnal  of  Pharmacy,  1S72.  page  191. 
