Am.  Joub.  Pharm.  "I 
June  1, 1871.  j" 
Ediiorial. 
283 
thereto,  signed  in  the  name  of  the  directory,  by  Mr.  W.  Dauckwortt,  the  pre- 
siding officer,  under  date  of  Magdeburg,  Feb.  14th,  1871. 
The  New  York  Board  for  Examining  Apothecaries. — Last  winter  the  New 
York  newspapers  raised  an  outcry  against  the  murderous  drug  clerks.  The 
excitement  thus  created  served  as  an  excuse  for  increasing  the  political  patron- 
age of  the  Mayor.  During  the  last  session  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  not 
less  than  three  different  bills  were  before  that  body,  out  of  which  number  not 
the  best  one  has  been  adopted,  that  which  was  favored  by  the  New  York  Col- 
lege of  Pharmacy  having  been  ignored.  The  provisions  of  the  law  now  in  force 
are  as  follows  : 
Sect.  1.  Authorizes  the  Mayor  to  appoint  a  board  to  consist  of  one  skilled 
pharmaceutist,  one  practical  druggist,  and  two  regular  physicians,  who  are  to 
examine  all  druggists  and  clerks;  it  also  forbids  the  putting  up  or  attempt  to 
make  up  physicians'  prescriptions  without  previously  having  received  the  cer- 
tificate of  the  board  ;  fine  not  more  than  $500,  or  imprisonment  not  over  six 
months,  or  both. 
Sect.  2.  Vacancies  are  to  be  filled  by  the  appointment  of  some  other  physi- 
cian, chemist  or  druggist. 
Sect.  3.  Organization  of  the  board  must  take  place  within  ten  days  after 
appointment.  A  practical  druggist  is  to  be  appointed  as  secretary  of  the 
board. 
Sect.  4.  Duty  of  the  board  :  Examination  of  all  persons  employed  or  hereafter 
to  be  employed  in  putting  up  prescriptions  or  dispensing  medicines  in  the  city 
of  New  York  ;  if  found  competent,  they  receive  a  certificate,  which  shall  be 
deemed  as  a  license  to  engage  in  such  employment. 
Sect.  5.  The  board,  with  the  approval  of  the  Mayor,  fix  the  sum  to  be  paid 
for  the  certificate;  the  money  thus  received  shall  be  used  for  the  payment  of 
the  salaries  and  other  expenses,  and  any  surplus  paid  into  the  city  treasury  ; 
a  return  of  receipts  and  disbursements  is  to  be  made  to  the  city  Comptroller 
once  in  3  months. 
Sect.  6.  The  board  of  Supervisors  shall  fix  the  compensation — not  to  exceed 
$2500  per  annum — of  each  member  of  the  board,  and  of  the  secretary,  and 
shall  raise,  by  tax  on  real  and  personal  property  in  the  city  of  New  York,  such 
sum  as  may  be  necessary  to  pay  any  balance  for  expenses  and  salaries  not  cov- 
ered by  the  examination  fee. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  appointment  and  removal  rests  with  the  Mayor, 
and  since  this  officer  in  all  our  large  cities  is  nearly  always  elected  for  political 
reasons,  it  will  not  be  long  before  this  examining  board  will  consist  of  poli- 
ticians, rather  than  of  men  who  have  the  welfare  of  pharmacy  at  heart.  Since 
a  distinction  is  made  in  Sect.  1  between  pharmaceutists  and  druggists,  the 
framers  of  the  bill  evidently  intended  that  the  former  should  be  and  remain  in 
the  minority  in  a  board  that  has  to  pass  judgment  on  the  capability  of  pharma- 
ceutists, while  one-half  of  the  board  consists  of  physicians,  who,  as  such,  have 
no  idea  of  the  requisites  of  a  reliable  prescriptionist.  The  careful  wording  of 
Sect.  2  seems  even  to  indicate,  as  if  the  small  voice  allowed  to  the  pharmacists 
in  this  board  may  be  abrogated  altogether  ;  for  vacancies,  from  whatever  cause, 
shall  be  tilled  by  some  other  physician,  chemist  or  druggist:  the  word  pharma- 
ceutist does  not  occur  here. 
It  is  also  noteworthy  that  no  provision  is  made  for  apprentices  to  learn,  under 
the  guidance  and  supervii^ion  of  others,  how  to  put  up  prescriptions. 
