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ENGLISH  AND  FRENCH  PHARMACY. 
after  and  keep  pace  with  the  galaxy  of  nostrums  :  they  are 
bought,  however— the  cost  price,  retail  and  wholesale  prices, 
duly  affixed  ;  they  scarcely,  if  ever,  repay  the  original  outlay, 
and,  in  addition  to  this  annoyance,  there  is  another  row  of  nasty 
little  bottles  for  the  eye  to  contemplate. 
These  are  but  drops  in  the  ocean  compared  with  the  long  list 
of  advertised  secret  remedies — a  subject  too  vast,  too  delicate, 
and  too  disheartening  for  me  to  undertake ;  nor  would  I  have 
glanced  at  its  troubled  waters  were  it  not  to  describe  the  diame- 
trically opposite  course  pursued  abroad.  Nothing  can  be  more 
strict  than  the  execution  of  the  law  in  France,  which  utterly 
puts  down  all  private  formulae  and  secret  remedies.  Charity,  so 
called,  cannot  smuggle  in  a  benevolent  ointment,  still  less  can 
either  ambition,  gain,  or  quackery,  invade  with  impunity  the 
sacred  precincts  of  the  Codex.  No  wandering  herbalist  can 
usurp  the  physician's  place  ; — no  pious  clergyman  can  commit 
a  pious  fraud,  and  relieve  the  nerves  of  suffering  humanity  for 
half-a-crown  ; — no  Eastern  traveller  can  open,  gratuitously,  the 
eyes  of  his  fellow-creatures  with  his  Turkish  salve — please  to 
enclose  six  stamps, — and  no  energetic  chemist  can  publish  a 
weekly  catalogue  of  novelties,  and  continue  to  receive  from  the 
profession  fresh  testimonials  of  his  skill.  Facts  are  stubborn 
things,  let  three  of  these  stern  witnesses  suffice  : — 
L  ,  a  herbalist,  appeared  before  the  Correctional  Tribunal 
charged  with  illegal  practice  of  Medicine  and  Pharmacy,  and 
with  acting  contrary  to  the  Royal  Edict  of  October  29,  1846, 
by  mixing  a  poisonous  substance  in  a  preparation  which  could 
only  be  sold  by  a  Pharmacien  for  medical  use.  He  had  pre- 
scribed the  remedy  for  a  woman  who  had  cramp  and  colic.  No 
sooner  had  the  dose  (two  table-spoonfuls)  been  administered  than 
she  became  dangerously  ill.  An  analytical  chemist  said  that  it 
was  an  ammoniacal  liniment,  which  should  only  be  applied  ex- 
ternally, and  which  also  contained  a  double  amount  of  the 
ammonia  indicated  in  the  Codex.  A  medical  man  declared  that 
a  dose  of  ammonia  like  that  given  by  the  herbalist,  taken  inter- 
nally, might  produce  serious  results,  and  even  endanger  life. 
The  facts  being  proved,  L  was  condemned  to  ten  days'  im- 
prisonment and  a  fine  of  200  francs. — (Jan.  1,  1858). 
At  the  same  time  and  place,  P  ,  a  Pharmacien,  was 
