The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-02-19 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL APOTHECARIES' COMPANY.

TT has been a subject of serious consideration whether any
I notice should be taken, or reply given, to a libellous at-
tack upon the Liverpool Apothecaries Company, lately esta-
blished in this town, contained in a letter published in the
newspaper called the LIVERPOOL STANDARD, under the sig-
nature On !! !" Anonymous and scurrilous publications
ought in general to be treated with the contempt they deserve,
by being passed over in silence. Such would, in this in-
stance, have been the case, were it not that an extensive cir-
culation had been given to this libel, by its being reprinted in
the form of a letter, and being forwarded by the post to almost
all the Druggists in the country. Upon this being known it
was judged an imperative duty on the part of the Directors to
counteract the effect produced, or likely to be produced,
merely by a plain statement of the facts.
The charge made against the Company is :
That the Manager has purchased a parcel of Spurious
Bark, which is sold and compounded by the Company as
genuine Peruvian Bark or Cinchona.
At first sight it must appear obvious to every one, that a
more ridiculous or unfounded charge could not have been
made. To suppose that the Managing Directors, mostly pro-
fessional men, who have a reputation at stake, could sanction
such a purchase, is contrary to common sense ; it is equally
so to denominate an article as spurious, because it was bought
at a low price. The facts are—The only' parcel of Bark,
purchased by the Manager in Liverpool, consisted of twenty-
four serons, imported from Lima, by the Isabel, Captain
Graves, consigned to Messrs. C. Tayleur, Sons, and Co.,
and bonded under the Queen's lock, on the 2d March, 1838,
.it was offered to him by sample, and he having examined the
bulk very carefully, effected the purchase-on the 26th Sept.,
1838, paid the duty, and caused the serons to be taken to the
Company's warehouse. This bark, on being analysed by Mr.
Brett, (the head of the Company's chymical laboratory,) was
found to contain Cinchonine, the active property belonging
to that species of Cinchona called Cinchona Condaminea,
(Lindley,) Crown or .Lora Bark, thus clearly proving the
genuine character of the substance submitted to examination,
inasmuch as no spurious Bark contains the medicinal prin-
ciple which distinguishes the Peruvian Bark.

THE DIRECTORS CHALLENGE ENQUIRY INTO THE
ACCURACY OF THIS ANALYSIS AND STATEMENT OF
FACTS.
This transaction, therefore, instead of casting blame on the
Company, or its management, cannot fail (contrary to the
hopes and expectations of " OH ! ! !") to raise them yet more
in the public estimation, when it is seen and universally
known that such pains are taken not to admit into the Com-
pany's stock any article which cannot stand the test' of their
able and talented chemical superintendent.
It is easy to conceive that parties, who, from not having
the same means as the Company of ascertaining the real and
intrinsic value of drugs offered for sale, and debarred thereby
from making purchases on terms equally favourable, should
feel the effects of ,the advantages the Company possesses, and
the well-founded claim it has to public support ; but it is sub-
mitted to a discerning public, whether this disappointment
justifies those parties to try to regain the ground they have
lost by slanderous and libellous publications.
(Signed) T. W. WAINWRIGHT,
Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Liverpool, sth Feb. 1839.