This is the final determination of the matter, and it is not necessary to discuss it further. The Legislature has thus done much to place medical eclecticism on a firmer foundation. With a strong incorporated State society and vigorous auxiliaries, a college having a superior rank in point of scientific advantages and practical instruction, and two dispensaries in active operation, the eclectic practice may now, with freshened energy, make new advances into the field which it is destined yet to Occupy and maintain. Legislation in regard to Medical Prescriptions. WE are gratified to see that the Legislature has enacted a law regulating the preparation of Medical Prescriptions. According to this law, no one shall prepare a medical prescription, unless he has served two years' apprenticeship in a drug-store, or is a graduate of a medical college, or a college of pharmacy. And the violator of this law shall be fined one hundred dollars or imprisoned six months in the county jail; and the proprietor of the drug store that permits such violation shall be fined a sum vibrating between one thousand and five thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in the State prison between two and four years. This is a righteous law, and one that the carelessness of drug-clerks rendered imperatively necessary. We hail it with pleasure, and feel confident it will diminish the number of casualties resulting from the dispensing of poisons, instead of the drugs prescribed. We append the act alluded to: CHAPTER 478. An Act regulating the preparation of Medical Prescriptions, The People of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: § 1 No person employed or in attendance at any drug store or apothecary shop, shall prepare a medical prescription unless he has served two years' apprenticeship in a drug store, or is a graduate of a medical college or a college of pharmacy, except under the direct supervision of some person possessing some one of the before. mentioned qualifications; nor shall any one having permanent charge as proprietor or otherwise, of any store at which drugs are sold by retail, or at which medical prescriptions are put up for sale or use, permit the putting up or preparation thereof therein, by any person, unless such person has served two years as apprentice in a retail drug store, or is a graduate of a medical or a college of pharmacy. § 2. Any person violating the provision of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not to exceed six months in the county jail; and in case of death ensuing from such violation, the person offending shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and be punished by a fine not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in State prison for a term of not less than two years, or by both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion. of the court. §3. This act shall take effect immediately. Honor Conferred. MADISON COLLEGE, SHARON, MISS., Prof. J. M. F. Browne, A. M. M. D., Eclectic Medical College, New York City. SIR: I have the pleasure of informing you that the Trustees of Madison College have this day, upon the recommendation of several of your friends, conferred upon you the honorary degree of "Doctor of Laws" with all the honors and privileges thereunto pertaining. Very respectfully, M. J. M'KIE, Prest. Board Trustees, Mad. Col. W. L. C. HUNNICUTT, Secretary pro-tem. Treacle. MANY words of the English language possess a peculiar historic interest and bring with them the memory of customs long past, and of incidents long forgotten. One of these is the word treacle. This term, which is now applied to the viscous fluid, known as molasses, imported from Louisiana and the West Indies, is derived from the Greek word Onptov which signifies a wild beast, an animal with a venomous bite, or, specifically a serpent or viper. But what connection, it may be asked, is there between a viper and treacle? And how came it to pass that so sweet a substance should have received its name from a poisonous reptile? The explanation is found in a superstition of the olden time. It was a popular belief among the nations of old that a viper's bite could be cured only by the application of the juice of viper's flesh, or by a decoction of the same, called viper's wine. This superstition was very prevalent in the second century of the Christian era; and a relic of it survives even at the present day, as may be recognized in the advice frequently given by the old toper to the youthful debauchee: "Take a hair of the dog that bit you: 1:" "Take a glass of brandy to steady your nerves." The celebrated Galen of Pergamos, under the patronage of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, prepared and published a system of pharmacy which, in allusion to this superstition, he called Theriaca; and this when freely translated, significs antidotes to poisons, or remedies for disease. The decoction of viper's flesh was known as theriake. This, in the course of a few generations. became theriac. By and by theriac was transformed into the diminutive theriacle; theriacle into triacle, and triacle, by the substitution of e for i, into treacle. There are sundry words in our vocabulary that have undergone this alterative process; as, for example, the word cravat. This term we got from the people of Croatia. These people are called Croats, and, in early times, contrary to common usage, they wore a cloth or "suggin" around the neck. By and by others began to wear cloths about the neck, and, as the custom was borrowed from the Croatians, they called the neckcloth a "croat." This soon became corrupted into" Crovat," and this, finally, into Cravat. Many similar examples might be given, illustrative of this process of change. But to return to the word treacle. This term changed its meaning and application with its various changes of form. First it signified the decoction or confection of viper's flesh applied to the viper's bite. Then it meant any antidote whatever, no matter what its composition-no matter what the evil it was intended to cure. Then it came to mean "the sugary confection" intended to disguise the nauseous taste of medical prescriptions. This "sugary confection," by the way, was usually honey, jelly or jam, and was not always at hand when medicine was to be taken; when, therefore, molasses was imported it proved a sort of godsend, as supplying the place of the confection less easily procured. Hence it received the name of treacle, and so completely has it usurped the name that few are aware that it ever had any other meaning. ment. earing of Eye-glasses. THE unsophisticated country-farmer who visits New York, or any of our larger cities, for the first time, is surprised to see so many young people of both sexes wearing eye-glasses. And were he to consult a physician as to the cause of this phenomenon, he would be told that the necessity for wearing glasses may be caused by either of a brace of diseases, one of which is affectation, the other, amaurosis, the former utterly incurable, the latter sometimes amenable to treatIn regard to the first disease we have nothing to say at present. There is no use in wasting time in idle speculations as to its pathology or treatment. The unfortunate patient who is attacked by it, is beyond hope, and we are obliged, however reluctantly, to leave him to his fate without an effort for his relief. But in regard to amaurosis, we desire, for the benefit of the honest farmer, to say a few words as to its cause. The word itself is Greek, and signifies obscurity, or darkness or imperfect vision.-Persons affected with this disease cannot see objects distinctly although they may have the aid of the most brilliant light. They often lose the faculty of distinguishing color. In reading, they miss words or lines, and are obliged to follow them by moving the eye, the head, or the whole body. Various causes may produce this disease, but at the present day, it is brought on, in a large number of cases, as we firmly believe, by the beastly practice of masturbation. This secret vice slays its thousands every year. It saps the constitution, and gradually and insidiously dries up the life-fountains. Few are aware of the extent of its ravages. It emaciates the body; it unsteadies the step; it taints the breath; it dulls the hearing; it dims the vision. In hundreds of cases the amaurotic eye is the result of this practice too loathsome to speak of-too abominable to contemplate. And the honest farmer who stares at the young gentleman with "spectacles on nose," may regard it as a rule, that the youthful wearer of eye-glasses, however dainty his cane or elegant his kids, is either an affected fop or a filthy onanist. Eclectic Life Insurance Company of New York. Tuis company has furnished us their new Manual, which contains matter of great interest upon the subject of Life Insurance. It is a neat volume of 40 pages, printed on tinted paper, and hand somely gotten up with an elegant cover. The hand Manual bas thirty-two pages. In artistic style and valuable information, it is complete. This company has met with great success, under the able management of its President J. W. Barker, and his co-laborers. Although it has been in operation about nine months and carrying an insurance of about one million seven hundred thousand dollars, it has not sustained a single loss. Mercurial Amalgam for Teeth Filling. THE use of mercurial amalgam for filling the teeth cannot be too strongly condemned. Its action is in the highest degree pernicious. We have examined the teeth of many persons who had worn it for several years, and in every instance, we found unmistakable evidence of mercurial disease of some kind. In the greater portion of the cases there was ulceration around the teeth. In some instances all the adjoining teeth had turned quite black. In some there was more or less mercurial neuralgia, in others mercurial paralysis. The dental profession in this country is one of great importance. Its progress is remarkable, its success complete. We regret its resort to mercurial amalgam as a tooth-filling agent, and hope it will accept without delay such measures as will ensure the discontinuance of its use. Appreciation. WE are pleased to learn that the ladies in attendance at the Eclectic Medical College of New York have expressed their appreciation of the instructions therein received, in a few beautiful stanzas composed by one of their number and addressed to the professors of the college. We e are sorry that space forbids us to publish these stanzas, and can only assure our readers that we regret very much to deprive them of this poetical treat. The Craig Microscope. WE have lately examined one of these beautiful and ingenious little instruments, and have been much pleased with its action. Although of comparatively recent introduction, it has become exten |