42 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       Jan.,  1875. 
tical  matters,  by  becoming  contributors  of  all  such  facts  or  observations  that  may- 
appear  to  be  possessed  of  large  or  even  apparently  trivial  interest. 
The  Philadelphia  Pharmacy  Law,  it  seems,  is  destined  to  be  contested,  upon 
what  special  grounds  we  are,  as  yet,  unable  to  determine.  On  December  8th,  the 
City  Solicitor  had  summoned  before*  Alderman  Beitler  three  apothecaries  for  a  vio-  • 
lation  of  the  Pharmacy  law  of  1872,  in  carrying  on  the  apothecary  business  without 
having  obtained  the  certificate  of  competency  to  conduct  the  business,  as  the  law 
requires.  On  the  part  of  two,  it  may  have  been  mere  negligence,  while  one  of  the 
accused  had  failed  to  pass  the  examination  as  proprietors  5  but  it  was  shown  that  they 
had  due  and  timely  warning  in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  the  City  Solicitor  de- 
ferred legal  proceedings  until  near  the  close  of  the  year,  to  give  the  tardy  ones  ample 
time  for  complying  with  the  requirements  of  the  law.  Besides  the  cost  each  was 
fined  ^100,  this  being  the  penalty  for  each  week  j  so  that,  if  the  entire  penalty  was 
to  be  imposed,  it  would  amount  to  between  ^4000  and  ^5000  in  each  case.  The 
fines,  we  understand,  will  be  paid  over  to  the  Guardians  of  the  Poor. 
Whether  these  proceedings  aroused  the  sleeping  displeasure  of  others,  or  whether 
other  causes  created  the  outburst  of  indignation,  we  are  not  able  to  say.  At  any 
rate,  on  December  17th,  a  meeting  of  all  physicians  and  druggists  opposed  to  cer- 
tain propulsions  (Italics  our  own)  in  the  Drug  law,  as  it  now  stands,  was  called  and 
held  at  the  appointed  time.  A  pharmacist  who  was  called  to  preside,  stated  that  he 
was  a  graduate  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy,  but  his  sentiments  were  against  the 
law,  which  he  considered  unconstitutional  and  oppressive.  The  newspaper  account, 
however,  does  not  explain  the  unconstitutional  and  oppressive  provisions.  Another 
speaker  said  that  he  had  served  a  long  apprenticeship,  and  had  been  in  the  drug 
business  for  many  years,  but  he  was  opposed  to  going  before  a  board  of  young  ex- 
aminers. The  law  operated  as  a  tax  upon  the  poor  drug  clerks.  Still  another 
speaker  thought  physicians  were  equally  interested  with  apothecaries  in  opposing 
the  law. 
We  do  not  know  how  large  this  meeting  was,  nor  are  we  acquainted  with  any 
one  of  the  speakers  mentioned  in  the  daily  papers,  except  with  the  presiding  officer; 
but  we  have  looked  in  vain  for  the  certain  provisions  in  the  Drug  law  being  enume- 
rated by  any  one  of  the  participants  ;  for  the  law  does  not  require  the  members  of 
the  Examining  Board  to  be  of  a  more  mature  age  than  every  one  of  the  candidates 
who  may  be  required  to  appear  before  them.  What  are  these  certain  provisions  in 
which  physicians  are  so  much  interested  t  Is  one,  perhaps,  that  which  does  not 
allow  a  graduate  in  medicine  to  practice  pharmacy  without  first  showing  that  he  is 
competent  to  do  so,  and  can  distinguish  rhubarb  from  opium  t  Alas  !  on  this  ques- 
tion we  have  been  left  in  the  dark;  but  we  think  the  wisest  thing  the  meeting  could 
have  done  was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  five  to  receive  subscriptions  and 
draw  up  a  series  of  resolutions  expressive  of  the  sense  of  the  meeting.  When  the 
resolutions  appear  in  print,  we  shall  be  better  able  to  weigh  the  justness  of  the  com- 
plaints. In  the  meantime,  however,  we  hope  the  Mayor  will  enforce  the  law,  and  we 
think  that  the  courts  and  the  people  will  sustain  its  provisions,  which  merely  aim  to 
prove  to  the  community  a  sufficient  qualification  for  conducting  a  business  in  which 
the  health  and  life  of  the  public  are  dependent  not  only  on  the  honesty,  but  likewise 
on  the  knowledge  of  proprietor  and  assistant. 
