Some cautionary tales for Christmas — there but for the grace of God ... Recently we asked readers to write to us with their worst pharmacy experiences.
Our selection below will, we hope, amuse, illuminate or relieve readers [more] [PDF (50K)]

Poisons, the police and the Pharmaceutical Society: cannabis and the law in the 1920s Jim Mills relates exotic tales from far-flung colonies, of police bungling, shaky science and media excitement that eventually led to cannabis substances becoming subject to British law [more] [PDF (55K)]

Death at the hands of doctors In the 17th to 19th centuries, the school of heroic medicine pushed blood-letting and purging to the furthest limits, and some of the casualties were notables. Philip II of Spain suffered a purging and bleeding assault by his doctors for two months before succumbing. Louis XIV only just escaped lethal poisoning by his physicians. George Washington was undoubtedly killed by his. Ray Sturgess, MRPharmS, of Knaresborough, takes a trip through time [more] [PDF (45K)]

Poisoners and politics Peter Cooper, FRPharmS, examines how men and women have used poisons for their own political or social advancement [more] [PDF (45K)]

Christmas quiz This year, the Christmas quiz has been set by PJ staff. Winning entries will be drawn on 7 January. The first correct entry will win a case of wine or equivalent. Two runners up will each receive vouchers to buy books from the Pharmaceutical Press [more] [PDF (40K)]

Famous murderer caught by the wire Geoff Miller tells the story of an Englishman who became a pioneer of Australian community pharmacy and a pillar of the Sydney Quaker community but had a criminal past and was eventually hanged for murder [PDF (150K)]

The English patient Joy Wingfield's trip was meant to be an opportunity to "meet with" academics and lawyers specialising in pharmacy law, and escape the dull days of November at an island resort on Florida's north east coast. Instead, it turned out to be a first hand experience of the American health service, complete with an encounter with ER (the emergency room) [more] [PDF (65K)]

Weights, measures, medicines and the calendar In this article, John Hunt, FRPharmS, tracks the various systems of weights and measures over time and includes details of how revolutionary France attempted to introduce a decimal calendar [more] [PDF (45K)]

Medicine minders: tribes and sects Within Great Britain, a strange tribe has been discovered: the medicine minders. Its division into sects particularly interests anthropologists. This preliminary report, by Malcolm Brown, may assist the compilation of a field guide [more] [PDF (35K)]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? With tongue partly in cheek, past president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Ian Caldwell, wonders whether the Government would benefit from an overhaul similar to that facing the health professions [more] [PDF (50K)]

The death of a Scottish soldier: a tale of remembrance Gary Lewis, MRPharmS, chief executive of A1 Pharmaceuticals Plc, tells the sad story of a Scottish pharmacist’s family during the 1914–18 war [more] [PDF (90K)]

A national serviceman's brief memoirs, culminating with a visit to the Empire Games In this article, Dr Hopkin Maddock, FRPharmS, a former president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, shares some of his experiences during his service in the Royal Navy [more] [PDF (45K)]

Top tips for inexperienced hospital pharmacists on call this Christmas In this article, Ann Page, senior lecturer/practitioner, Bradford school of pharmacy, spares a thought for those newly qualified hospital pharmacists who are slaving away on call while the rest of us are enjoying our Christmas dinner [more] [PDF (60K)]

The apothecaries: myth, legend and reality Nicholas Wood, a member of the Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London and a past president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, explores the history of the Society of the Apothecaries and looks at its modern day links with pharmacy [more] [PDF (65K)]

"Best for me, best for you" — a history of Beecham's Pills 1842–1998 Beecham’s Pills were promoted as a cure-all remedy for over 150 years. In this article Stuart Anderson and Peter Homan describe the origins and changing fortunes of this proprietary medicine, which played a central role in the foundations of what was to become one of the largest global pharmaceutical corporations [PDF (200K)]

Jesse Boot and the rise of Boots The Chemists In this article Simon Phillips focuses on aspects of the relationship forged between Boots The Chemists and the nation in the period 1883 to 1945 [PDF (325K)]

The log of the good ship Pharmasea In September 1986 a group of hospital pharmacists, spurred on by coping with a summer of staff shortages, set sail from Falmouth to find the sunset isle of Jersey and the golden conference of the BPC. They boldly went where the conference had never gone before to discover new heights of pharmacy. This is their story as told by the late Jeffrey Ashford, who died earlier this year [more] [PDF (105K)]

A certificate's story Malcolm Brown, MRPharmS, of Beccles, Suffolk, offers this story [more] [PDF (60K)]

Talk about diving on a ski slope! If you have ever considered joining the branch meeting speaker circuit, here is your chance to find out more and follow in Dr Brian Lockwood's footsteps [more] [PDF (40K)]

The Neema project: pharmacy in rural Tanzania In October 2001 Lucy Philpott left the security of a basic grade job to spend three months as a volunteer in a dispensary in Tanzania, trading her bleep and white coat for a sarong and T-shirt to dispense into paper envelopes [more] [PDF (90K)]

A pharmacy student in Madagascar With third year examinations behind her, Lynn Martin set off for a summer’s work experience in Hopitaly Vaovao Mahafaly mission hospital in Mandritsara, Madagascar [more] [PDF (55K)]

How to provide help for Africa Tom Chapman, a pharmacist and chairman of Essential Nutrition Ltd, tells how a chance question at a meeting inspired him to bring aid in the form of pharmaceutical expertise to East Africa [more] [PDF (35K)]

Innocents abroad in Indonesia Four British pharmacists, Alison Eggleton, Sadia Khan, Rachel Kenward and David Scott, visited Surabaya in Java, Indonesia,earlier this year to teach at the University of Surabaya. Here they describe their experiences [more] [PDF (95K)]