Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-12-15
THE MEDDLER.
~ he Goat MS yOn PIT n on"


sion that there have been fewer falls
In front of the American house since
the advent of the no.license regime IN
that hostelry. However this may be,
the average under present conditions
was greatly increased by the number
of people who failed to maintain their
equilibrium there Monday evening. AT
least six people were seen to slip down
in front of the American house that
night, and some of them were fortu'
nate in escaping serious injury. The
trouble was not due to anything that
came from the hotel itself but to the
fact that someone had forgotten to
have the sidewalk shovellcd The
Meddler presumes it's up to Crosby
& Adams.
Ii couldn't have been very diff
cult examination to which the physi-
clans who had failed TO record their
certificates were subjected Tuesday.
The local doctors left for Rutland
Monday night and returned home
early Tuesday morning. None of them
looked as if his mind had been sub
| iected to over-strain. Probably the
examining board took the very sensi-
BILE course of questioning the physi-
clans Just enough to be sure that they
had not forgotten any more than they
ordinarily would be expected to for
get. That ought to be enough IN the
ease of men who have passed one
thorough examination and have prac-
tised successfully since. The only re-
grettable feature of the matter, as far
as the doctors themselves are con-
cerned. is that their negligence in
complying with the law cost them $l5
apiece not to mention expenses.
Just how close to the letter of the
law the holder of druggists license
ought to keep is question that seems
open to some discussion. The statute
sets forth in plain terms that the IL
cense holder shall sell only upon pre-
scription and then goes on to say Just
how the prescription shall be made out,
but il does not say whether the drug
pist is bound TO exercise his judgment
as to the fitness of the persons to
whom legal prescriptions have been
given. There has arisen in Brattle-
boro a case where a druggist has sold
to one person during one month more
liquor than he could possibly use for
medicinal purposes, yet in tins ease
every prescription was legally made
out and the man was never in such a
condition as would indicate that he
was making bad use of the liquor.
Probably the druggist did not realize
until the end of the month how many.
prescriptions the man had brought in,
and even if he had he might not have
thought there was any good reason for
refusal.
II seems unfair to blame druggists
for occurrences of this kind when the
real fault lies with the physicians
who write the prescriptions. If every
doctor would live up to the dictates of
his own conscience on matters of this
kind there would be no occasion to
question the motives of any druggist;
he would either be complying with
the law or violating it. As it is, the
records often place the druggists in
an entirely unfair position.
The village water committee makes
public this week the report of sec
ond engineer who says that after a
personal inspection of the various
sources mentioned in the Davis report
he believes the south branch of the
Milestone has the greatest merit as
a gravity supply. This is interesting,
but it would lead the ordinary person
to believe that if 10 engineers were
employed each would have different
idea as to the most available source.
Engineer No. 2 makes another state
ment which is still more interesting
if true. He says that the sanitary
condition of the present gravity
sources is menace to the health of
the consumers. This ought to be In
vestigated at once without waiting to
settle the question of municipal own
ership. It's too important matter to
put off.
Speaking of the question of pure
water puts The Meddler in mind of
story he recently heard about the state
laboratory, or more correctly, on the
state laboratory An ice dealer wish
ing to have the product of his various
ponds analysed wrote to the labora-
tory to know what he should send in
the way of samples. He was told
that a sample of the present and the
previous year crop would be needed.
Not having any last years ice on
hand the man took one large cake
from each pond, sawed the cakes in
two, labelling one half 1901 and the
other 1902, or whatever the years
were. When he received his analyses
the different year S crop varied in the
case of each pond.
The Meddler.