tain delay is necessary for the change; and the different nations are alone capable of fixing its duration. Let us observe in the meantime that experience in several countries has proved that a too long delay does not have the effect of sensibly facilitating the accomplishment of this task. Thus it is desirable that Governments take, henceforth, the following measures, viz.:

1. To order the teaching of the metric system in public schools, and to require that it should form part of the public examinations.

2. To introduce its use into scientific publications, in public statistics, in postal arrangements, in the custom houses, and other branches of Government administration.

3. The commission does not consider, as appertaining to its mission, the duty of making standards the exact prototypes of those of Paris. The Government of each country will take upon itself the verification of each of these standards.

The commission declares that the present report contains the expression of its deliberations and conclusions. It expresses a wish that different nations will yield to the solicitations of science and the manifestation of opinion. Lon. Chem. News, July 12, 1867.

Castor Oil Bean in California.-The San Francisco Bulletin says: The experiments made last year in cultivating castor beans in this State may be set down on the whole as successful. And yet the success was not so as to warrant any very heavy ventures in this direction.

The bean plant grows luxuriantly and the yield is very great, surpassing, in those instances which came under our observation, that of any other oil seed save the sunflower. But there is no way of gathering the crops known to our people, which dispenses with a large amount of hand labor. The seeds do not ripen simultaneously, but a few only at a time, ranging over a period of several weeks. If the seeds are not gathered as soon as ripe the balls snap, the beans are scattered over the ground, and in that condition are hardly worth the cost of gathering. When labor can be had cheap, as for instance that of children or Chinamen, no doubt the crop can be raised at a large profit.

The beans will even plant themselves and grow with very little attention, often monopolizing the grounds to the exclusion of weeds. But the trouble is they cannot gather themselves, or ripen so that a clean job can be done by any agricultural machine yet invented. There is likely to grow up here a large demand for the castor bean, and no doubt the difficulties we have noticed will be finally overcome. The making of castor oil will soon come to be a special business, and we may say that much more skill is required in the manufacture of merchantable castor oil than is required in the production of any other of the vegetable oils. With a powerful press the grinding process may be wholly dispensed with; but the bleaching and clarifying process requires considerable skill and some knowledge of chemistry.-Jour. App. Chem., May, 1867.

Editorial Department.

PHYSICIANS PRESCRIPTIONS; SHOULD THEY BE RENEWED WITHOUT A WRITTEN ORDER?-During the past year several portions of the medical profession have been exercised on this subject, and many articles have appeared in the medical and pharmaceutical journals bearing upon it. Beyond this, and brought into the discussion by some of the writers and speakers, various charges and allegations of malpractice or unprofessional conduct have been adduced as calling for united action on the part of the medical profession to abate it on the part of the apothecaries. The East River Medical Association of the City of New York, in a communication to the Association, set forth certain resolutions it had passed some months before, and requesting their consideration, and which were previously printed in the September number of this journal. Owing to the late period at which they were introduced, they were not considered, but passed to the next meeting of 1868 with other unfinished business. By comparing the original resolutions published in our journal with the resolutions as presented to the Association, a marked difference will be seen, the word "pecuniary" and others being omitted in those presented to the Association, which, in our opinion, was honestly and openly expressed in the Society, and should have been sent unaltered to the Association. They considered their pecuniary interest injured by the repetition of prescriptions without an order, and hence in great measure arose the movement for which a good reason had to be given; and in the second resolution this is found, viz.: That the practice of renewing prescriptions without orders endangers the interests and lives of patients. If the matter is kept on this basis, and the physician will live up to it, that is to say will take the grave responsibility it involves of refusing his patient the medicine he has ordered, unless it is again ordered in writing, all honorably disposed apothecaries will cheerfully accede and in good faith carry out the arrangement. But it cannot be done otherwise. the prescription carry on its face, either printed or written, the direction not to repeat without a written order from the physician, who should sign and date it. The patient can then see it, and the very fact that he presents it is an acknowledgement that he agrees to the contract with the physician and will abide by it.

Let

In matters of this kind usage is law, to a great extent, and the customs of the old countries from which we derived our ideas of medical and pharmaceutical practice is quite contrary to the view of the resolutions, it being the universal custom to return the original prescription to the patient or his representative, and this is equivalent to giving him the right of renewal. Here custom has to a great degree sanctioned the retention of the original prescription by the apothecary who usually, when requested, gives a copy to the patient, but not otherwise. Custom also

sanctions the repetition of prescriptions by the verbal request of the patient or by the simple presentation of the label, and this custom is based, in nine cases out of ten, on the verbal direction of the physician to the attendant, and of which the apothecary can have no personal knowledge. With this custom so deeply impressed on the habits of the physicians themselves, and on the heads of families, how is it possible to adopt any such general and sweeping rule as the East River Medical Association's Resolution, viz: "That we respectfully request that no druggist will renew the prescriptions of any physician connected with this Society, without due authority for each and every such renewal." Physicians may be called out of town unexpectedly, may omit a visit after directing the medicine then prescribed to be continued, or may forget to give the written order for renewal, and in various other ways come in conflict with such a rule. How then is the apothecary to act? Must be take the responsibility to supply the medicine, or, entrenched behind the letter of the order, let the patient suffer until he has permission to get the means of relief under the red tape of authority?

That ill consequences have flowed from the injudicious continuance, by repetition, of prescriptions, none can doubt who for a series of years have been engaged in an active business; but the mischief thus occurring would, in our opinion, be but a small fraction of that which would arise from the strict carrying out by apothecaries of the rule as promulgated by the East River Medical Association.

As regards the other charges perhaps the most serious one is that of giving advice, or, as it is termed, prescribing over the counter. That this is done to some extent in many neighborhoods can hardly be doubted. The wonder is not that it is done, but how in some places it can be avoided. Much of the prescribing is for the very poor, to whom in many cases it is a real charity. A large portion of it is done by medical men who are the proprietors of stores, and the example of such does not tend to prevent the apothecary proper from doing likewise. Both practically and theoretically we have honestly advocated the separation of the Medical function from Pharmacy, and shall continue to do so in justice to the physician (and the patient) in all cases appropriate for his aid, but we believe in all stores and in every neighborhood there is a certain amount of information that will always be expected at the hands of the apothecary, and to refuse which would destroy much of his real usefulness to society. The charges of interfering with physicians, criticizing them before patients, substituting one medicine for another, etc., are so gross and indefensible that we shall only state them to denounce them as not to be justified on any grounds, and so far as we know they must be confined to a limited class. We believe the true interest of physicians and apothecaries should lead them to the utmost friendliness and candor towards each other in ethics. The reputation of the physician should be as dear to the apothecary as his own, and he should always be ready to uphold it

as part of his duty so long as it is beyond reproach, by the observance of those ethical rules embraced in the paper of advice issued jointly by the County Medical Society of Philadelphia and the College of Pharmacy.

THE COLLEGE BUILDING.-The Committee of sixteen having in charge the subject of obtaining a new College Hall have, since our last issue, sold the present building for the sum of $15,000, and are proceeding to raise the necessary additional funds required to erect the new building, by an appeal to the pharmaceutists and druggists of Philadelphia. Several liberal contributions have been made, and already one-half of the sum needed has been raised. As the new building is intended to embrace a much more liberal accommodation for the convenience of members; and as it is hoped that the usefulness of the College to the members personally will thereby be greatly enhanced, it is particularly desirable to interest all the members in the project, so that when it gets into operation they will be prepared to take part in carrying forward the improvements in the management of the College affairs which it is proposed to inaugurate, including a reading room and museum.

KANSAS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY.-We are informed that a convention of druggists and pharmaceutists met at Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 12th of November, 1867, to inaugurate a Pharmaceutical Association for that State, and that the following list of officers were elected on that occasion:

W. S. Greene, of Topeka, for President; T. O. Bigney, of Leavenworth, and B. W. Woodward, of Lawrence, for Vice Presidents; Robt. J. Brown, of Leavenworth, for Secretary; R. Parham, of Leavenworth, for Treasurer; and Messrs. Egersdorff, Armes and Brecklein for Trustees.

It is proposed to seek an act of incorporation. We will be pleased to receive information of the progress of the Society, which has our best wishes.

BOSTON JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY.-During the past year a monthly sheet has been issued under this head, in Boston, by J. R. Nichols & Co. The sheet contains a selection of items of general interest, with some original communications, and is neatly printed. Price, 50 cents per annum.

TOURTELOT'S EXTRACT OF BEEF.-This form of extract of beef is now prepared in vacuo by the Messrs. Tourtelot, of Chicago, of a quality equal to the best in the market, and put up in small jars for convenience. Its consistence is nearly as firm as the extract of Borden, and claims to be more readily soluble, from retaining a portion of moisture. We have observed it during the past two months under circumstances favorable for change, if disposed to spoil, and it has retained its characteristic odor and appearance, a permanence not possessed by their former less con

centrated extract. It is strongly recommended by medical officers of the army, who have extensively used it in hospital practice.

A Manual of Inorganic Chemistry, arranged to facilitate the experimental demonstration af the facts and principles of the Science. By Charles W. Eliot and Frank H. Storer, Professors of Analytical and of Industrial Chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Second edition, New York; Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co., 1868; pp. 664, 12 mo. A pretty thorough glance over the pages of this book has left an impression highly favorable to its merits as a "Manual of Inorganic Chemistry." It is written in a style at once agreeable and effective, arranges the subjects in natural groups, and at the commencement demonstrates every step in advance by experiment, until the student is rendered familiar with the analytical and synthetical methods of chemical investigation, and brings in, where most appropriate, the discussion of principles and the explanation of processes, laws and methods, so as to impress the beginner in each case with an example in the discussion of the subject then before him.

Commencing with oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, air and water are very fully considered, and in the demonstration of their composition the nature of atoms and molecules, the processes of distillation and solution, the diffusion of gases, the nature of combustion, flame and oxidation are explained. At this early stage ammonia and its composition and relationships is discussed, followed by the explanation of empyrical and rational formulæ, impressing the student with the nature of those two schemes of composition, carefully guarding him from too great a reliance on the latter.

The chapter on chlorine compounds commences with the nature, preparation, and uses of hydrochloric acid before speaking of chlorine, after which the other compounds of chlorine, followed by bromine, iodine and fluorine. The next chapter, a most interesting and instructive one, is on ozone and antozone, in which the remarkable properties of these modifications of normal oxygen, as far as their occult character will permit, are developed.

The sulphur group is then discussed, in which the nature of the pro. cesses of crystallization are explained, followed by the subject of combination by volume as applied to the numerous gaseous compounds previously noticed. Phosphorus, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are grouped together as in close relation to nitrogen. Here toxicological researches bearing on the subject are brought in, and the process of liquid diffusion as developed by Graham under the name of dialysis applied and explained.

The next group is carbon boron and silicon. Under carbon some of the leading subjects in chemical philosophy are brought in; also the preperties of charcoal as a disinfecter, absorber, reducer and decolorizer. The authors, in considering the important relations of carbon with organic matter, use the following language: "The best definition of the so-called