EDITORIAL. 
285 
The  whole  is  very  systematically  arranged,  and  if  the  numerous  classes 
and  sections  are  duly  represented,  the  exhibition  will  be  very  comprehensive. 
So  far  as  we  have  heard,  but  little  general  effort  is  being  made  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  chemistry  and  pharmacy  less  than  an  average  of  the  other 
branches  of  industry. 
Editors  vs.  Postage. — For  some  years  past  we  have  frequently  been  ap- 
plied to  through  the  post-office  for  information  on  pharmaceutical,  chemical, 
and  other  subjects,  which  inquiries  we  have  cheerfully  endeavored  to  answer 
to  the  extent  of  our  ability.  The  new  post-office  law,  requiring  pre-payment 
for  all  letters,  will  make  it  necessary  for  us  to  pass  unnoticed  all  communi- 
cations strictly  relating  to  the  business  or  interest  of  the  writers,  unless 
their  importance  should  cause  us  to  waive  the  rule.  We  do  this  in  justice 
to  ourselves,  as,  already,  we  have  been  at  considerable  expense  in  this  way 
from  the  thoughtlessness  of  some  correspondents.  We  trust,  therefore,  in 
all  cases  where  a  correspondent  expects  an  answer  relative  to  his  own  busi- 
ness, that  a  stamp  will  be  enclosed. 
Domestic  Medicines. — Under  this  caption  the  editor  of  the  New  Jersey 
Medical  Reporter  presents  the  following,  viz. : 
"If  mankind,  in  general  convention  assembled,  were  allowed  to  vote  on 
the  question  of  death,  or  no  death,  we  have  little  doubt  but  the  hour  of  dis- 
solution would  be  11  postponed  indefinitely,''  by  a  majority  thai  would 
laugh  a  veto  to  scorn.  Yet  there  is  no  foregone  conclusion  so  inevitable,  as 
that  the  pathway  of  life,  whether  strewn  with  flowers  or  thorns,  by  a  des- 
cent, sometimes  gentle,  sometimes  abrupt,  ends  in  an  open  grave.  This 
doom,  however  philosophically  met,  is  met  by  the  larger  part  of  mankind 
with  great  reluctance,  and  the  drowning  man  who  catches  at  a  straw,  is  an 
apt  illustration  of  the  absurd  and  irrational  attempts  often  made  to  prolong 
life.  It  is  this  innate  dread  of  di-ath  that  has  called  into  being  the  profes- 
sion of  medicine,  and  the  business  of  the  apothecary.  It  is  this  also  that 
has  led  mankind  to  torture  nature  in  pursuit  of  that  chimera,  the  elixir  of 
life,  and  induced  so  many  mercenary  individuals  to  speculate  in  human  dis- 
tress and  infirmity  as  ruthlessly  as  they  would  in  the  funds  of  the  Stock 
Exchange,  if  they  had  the  ability.  VVith  what  success  this  is  done,  may 
be  *een  in  the  palaces  reared  by  quackery  in  most  of  our  large  cities. 
It  is  astonishing  to  what  an  extent  the  uncertain  and  often  deleterious 
preparations  made  by  these  men,  are  consumed  by  all  classes  of  society ;  and 
there  is  no  question  but  such  a  wholesale  consumption  of  drugs,  having  no 
guarantee  of  their  purity  or  innocuity  but  that  of  a  single  mercenary  indi- 
vidual, is  calculated  to  do  untold  injury  to  the  health  of  the  community. 
But  there  is  a  demand  for  domestic  remedies  which  these  preparations  are 
intended  to  supply,  and  the  question  arises  whether  this  demand  can  be 
supplied  in  a  manner  that  will  guard  against  the  venality  of  using  drugs  of 
uncertain  properties  or  deleterious  qualities. 
A  considerable  portion  of  the  time  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
is  consumed  every  year  in  discussing  plans  for  the  suppression  of  quackery. 
This  is  certainly  a  consummation  devoutly  desiied  by  all  who  have  any 
regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  sick,  and  the  only  question  is  one  of  expedi- 
ency. 
We  respectfully  throw  out  the  following  suggestions  on  the  subject,  pre- 
