Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  | 
Oct.  1,  1873.  J 
Editorial. 
477 
eighteen  months  ago  (see  Amer.  Journ.  Phar.,  1872,  139)  by  a  committee  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  it  appears  strange  that  the  proper  prosecuting 
authorities  should  have  required  additional  "official"  inform..tion  to  institute 
legal  proceedings  against  a  concern  which  has  extensively  advertised  its  diplo- 
mas in  absentia,  and  the  foreign  headquarters  of  which  are  at  40  iving  street, 
Jersey,  England,  while  the  home  manufactory  is  located  in  t he  City  of  Phila- 
delphia. At  the  meeting  of  the  City  Councils,  held  September  9th,  a  message 
was  presented  from  Mayor  Stokley,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  Consul  of 
Spain  had  officially  brought  to  his  notice  the  fact  that  medical  diplomas  were 
issued  by  an  institution  in  this  city,  styled  the  "American  University  of  Phila- 
delphia," in  a  manner  apparently  illegal  and  to  persons  unqualified  to  receive 
them.  The  Mayor  recommended  the  passage  of  a  resolution  requesting  the 
Attorney  General  to  sue  out  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  to  test  the  question  and 
put  a  stop  to  the  proceeding. 
In  conformity  with  this  request,  a  resolution  was  passed  and  approved, 
requesting  the  Attorney  General  of  the  Commonwealth  to  sue  out  a  writ  of 
quo  warranto  to  inquire  into  the  legality  of  the  medical  diplomas  issued  by  the 
institution  known  as  the  "  American  University  of  Philadelphia." 
Attorney  General  S.  B.  Dimmick  will  apply  for  the  writ  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  Pittsburg,  October  (5th. 
"What  is  Cincho-quinine  ?  " — Under  this  caption  an  article  has  been  pub- 
lished lately  in  many  medical  journals,  laudatory  of  a  preparation  which  has 
been  chemically  examined  by  W.  T.  Wenzell,  of  San  Francisco,  whose  results 
were  published  in  the  April  number,  1870,  of  the  "  Pacific  Medical  and  Surgi- 
cal Journal  "  and  copied  into  the  July  number,  1870,  of  this  journal.  For  the 
benefit  of  our  cotemporaries  we  again  copy  here  the  concluding  paragraphs  of 
Mr.  Weuzell's  paper,  which  will  furnish  an  answer  to  the  above,  or  rather  to 
the  query,  What  ivas  cincho- quinine  in  March,  1870? 
"  Cincho-Quinine,"  although  having  the  advantage  of  being  nearly  tasteless, 
does  not  contain  quinia,  quiuidia,  and  cinchonidia,  and  thereiore  does  not  rep- 
resent the  whole  of  the  active  principles  of  the  bark. 
It  cannot  exert  the  full  effects  of  sulphate  of  quinia  in  the  same  dose,  inas- 
much as  the  stated  dose  of  *  Cincho-Quinine  "  is  troin  five  to  thirty  grains. 
Although  "Cincho-Quinine"  appears  to  cost  less  than  sulphate  ot  quinia,  it 
does  not  follow  that  commercial  "  Cinchonia,"  sold  at  four  tunes  its  vaiue,  is  a 
desirable  substitute  for  quinine  in  .in  economical  point  ot  view. 
And,  lastly,  one  very  important  principle  should  by  no  means  be  lost  sight 
of,  namely  :  that  a  physician  should  always  know  what  he  is  prescribing,  and 
therefore  the  substitution  of  a  remedy  of  less  efficiency  and  uncertain  medici- 
nal value,  is  altogether  unwarrantable  and  often  hazardous. 
The  Excursions  to  and  from  the  Richmond  Meeting  of  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association  were  participated  in  by  a  larger  number  of 
members  than  those  to  any  previous  meeting.  The  excursion  party,  which 
left  Cincinnati  on  Saturday,  September  13th,  was  unfortunately  detained  upon 
the  Ohio  river  by  low  water,  and  could  not,  for  this  reason,  make  the  railroad 
connections  in  time  to  carry  out  the  original  programme  of  spending  Sundaj 
at  White  Sulphur  Springs  and  reach  Richmond  Monday  evening.    The  excur- 
