Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  "I 
July  1,  1871.  I 
PJiarmacy  in  Austria. 
319 
tartar  was  offered  by  his  agent  at  less  than  market  price,  but  being 
tried  with  liquor  potassae,  it  left  a  sediment  of  about  twenty  per  cent., 
w^hich,  under  effervescence,  was  readily  dissolved  by  nitric  acid,  and 
from  that  solution  precipitated  by  oxalic  acid. 
The  writer  would  not  have  considered  this  article  worth  mentioning, 
trusting  in  the  circumspection  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  profession,  if 
said  agent  had  not  exhibited  cards  of  some  drug  firms  who,  as  he  said, 
liad  bought  from  him  or  promised  to  buy  as  soon  as  they  needed  any. 
Yours  respectfully, 
*C.  E.  CLACIUS. 
Chicago^  April ^  1871. 
—  The  Pharmacist,  May,  1871. 
PHARMACY  IN  AUSTRIA. 
Among  the  many  political  and  social  questions  which  are  discussed 
in  Austria  just  now,  the  relation  of  the  pharmacist  to  the  State  is  not 
forgotten.  There,  as  in  Germany,  the  pharmaceutical  business  is 
strictly  under  Government  control ;  the  number  of  pharmacies  is 
limited,  etc. 
Some  members  of  the  profession  at  Vienna — for  it  is  a  profession 
there  and  not  a  trade — have  lately  petitioned  their  parliament,  the 
Reichsrath,  in  favor  of  free  trade,  and  they  are  strongly  opposed  by 
the  Austrian  United  Society  of  Apothecaries,  consisting  of  more  than 
500  members  from  different  parts  of  the  empire.  They  contradict 
point  after  point  the  arguments  adduced  by  the  free-traders  in  a  long 
document,  likew'ise  addressed  to  the  parliament. 
As  to  the  state  of  pharmacy  generally,  they  say  the  Pharmacopoeia 
is  the  Codex,  prescribing  what  articles  are  to  be  kept,  and  of  what 
quality.  Professional  inspectors  ascertain  by  personal  visits  every 
year  the  efficienc}^  of  the'  pharmaceutical  establishments,  and  their 
annual  reports  are  most  favorable. 
In  order  to  prove  that  the  limitation  of  the  business  to  a  certain 
number  is  most  conducive  to  the  true  interests  of  the  public,  they 
point  to  those  countries  in  which  free  trade  in  pharmacy  does  exist. 
It  is  stated  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  in  all  large  towns  in  this  coun- 
try a  few  only  of  the  many  pharmacies  enjoy  public  confidence.  In 
London,  it  is  asserted  not  more  than  20  out  of  3000  pharmacists' 
shops  command  undoubted  confidence ;  but  these  20  establishments 
are  of  such  an  extent  as  to  employ  30  assistants  each.    The  natural 
