142 
Editorial, 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharjt. 
(.  March  1,  1871- 
Editor  and  Committee  had  fully  expected  to  be  able  to  publish  the  work 
before  the  end  of  the  year  1870,  but  the  phonographic  reporter  failed  to  render 
the  first  part  of  his  report  until  the  27th  of  October,  and  the  last  portion  until 
the  23d  of  November,  more  than  two  months  after  the  meeting;  hence  the 
printer  was  left  waiting  all  that  time,  as  the  minutes  involving  that  report 
had  to  appear  first  in  order.  If  it  be  possible,  some  understanding  should  be 
had  with  the  reporter  for  the  prompt  preparation  of  the  manuscript  in  future. 
In  our  November  issue  such  a  full  notice  was  given  of  the  meeting  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  go  over  the  ground  as  regards  the  minutes,  and  we  have 
already  printed  several  of  the  special  reports.  It  remains  to  notice  the  Report 
on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy.  This  document  occupies  96  pages,  and  in  its 
general  aspects  is  framed  like  several  that  have  preceded  it,  but  is  about  60 
pages  less  in  extent  than  the  report  pf  1869,  and  less  elaborate  in  its  details. 
The  plan  of  giving  a  skeleton  of  papers  is  a  great  improvement  on  the  earlier 
plan  of  a  mere  repetition  of  their  titles,  and  enables  the  reader  to  form  an  idea, 
of  their  scope  and  interest,  and  makes  the  work  very  suggestive  to  the  reader 
and  inquirer. 
The  report  is  creditable  to  the  Association,  and  a  worthy  additio»^  to  the 
labors  of  Dr.  Mahla,  previously  published. 
The  official  report  on  the  exhibition  of  specimens  at  Baltimore,  varies  some- 
what from  that  published  by  us  in  November,  from  the  newspapers,  yet  does  not 
very  essentially  differ.  This  is  followed  by  the  address  to  the  North  German 
Apothecaries  Association  on  the  occasion  of  their  50th  anniversary,  prepared 
and  forwarded  by  the  Committee— ^Dr.  Hoffmann,  Prof.  Maisch  and  Mr. 
Sargent.  The  final  chapter  embraces  the  laws  relating  to  the  practice  of 
Pharmacy  passed  in  the  United  States  during  the  year  1870.  These  are 
three  in  number:  one  by  Rhode  Island,  embodying  the  chief  provisions  of 
the  draft  of  a  law  offered  in  the  proceedings  of  1869,  included  in  13  sections. 
The  second  is  the  Baltimore  law,  passed  by  the  Maryland  Legislature,  contain- 
ing 9  sections,  which  is  also  a  registry  law,  and  requires  that  no  person  not  in 
business  at  the  passage  of  the  act,  and  registered  under  the  act,  shall,  after  its 
date,  open  a  store  for  the  dispensing  of  medicines  without  a  certificate  of  effi- 
ciency from  the  commissioners  appointed  under  the  law,  unless  said  person  has 
a  diploma  from  a  college  of  pharmacy,  based  upon  a  regular  apprenticeship  to 
the  apothecary  business.  Already,  as  noted  above,  this  act  has  been  carried 
into  effective  operation. 
The  third  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  in  March,  1870, 
and  is  entitled  ''An  Act  to  Prevent  and  Fafush  the  Publication  of  Obscene  Ad- 
vertisements and  the  Sale  of  Noxious  Medicines^  This  law  is  aimed  at  that , 
class  of  advertisers  and  medicines  that  relate  to  venereal  diseases  and  the  pro- 
duction of  abortion,  as  well  as  to  those  apothecaries  who  aid  and  abet  by  sell- 
ing quackeries  intended  for  the  last  base  purpose,  and  has  a  penalty  not  ex- 
ceeding 1000  dollars,  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  6  months.  The  law 
excepts  medical  illustrations  used  ia  the  tuition  of  regular  medical  colleges 
and  those  in  standard  medical  books. 
This  law  has  already  greatly  improved  the  character  of  the  newspaper  adver^ 
tisements  against  which  it  was  directed. 
