2 CHSMiCAI, DISCOVERY AND INVENTION 



commonly said to be well educated can only be regarded as 

 scandalous, but evidence as to the gullibility of the public is 

 supplied daily by every newspaper. To confuse Faraday with 

 Fahrenheit may be thought a fallacy which offends only against 

 sentiment, but the grossest practical mistakes would be avoided 

 if a small amount of knowledge of principles and some capacity 

 for independent observation were in the possession of everyone. 



But in view of the too common credence accorded to the 

 supposed phenomena of spiritualism, to Christian science and 

 the water dowser it is hopeless to expect to see the world freed 

 from baseless superstitions, the parasites associated with ignor- 

 ance, for many a generation to come. In the meantime no 

 antidote is likely to be so successful as the cultivation of natural 

 science and the provision of easy and attractive opportunities of 

 learning something of the accumulated stores of knowledge 

 derived from careful observation of nature. 



With regard to the branch of Science called Chemistry and to 

 its applications one considerable source of confusion in England 

 is to be found in the fact that the name Chemist has long been 

 associated with the calling which is more appropriately styled 

 " pharmacy," that is the dealing with drugs (^dp^aKov, a medicine 

 or drug). 



In Germany the compounder of medicines is entitled " apothe- 

 ker," while in France he is called a " pharmacien." In the 

 British Isles, however, the assumption of the title Chemist and 

 Druggist for a century or more by the competitors of the apothe- 

 caries has become so completely established in the public mind 

 that to speak of a chemist invariably implies in common parlance 

 the person who compounds and sells medicines. And this 

 custom has been ratified by the Act of Parliament (Pharmacy 

 Act, 1868) which secures to the members of the pharmaceutical 

 body the exclusive right to the title " Chemist and Druggist " or 

 " Pharmaceutical Chemist," according to their qualifications, 

 It is not to be denied that a small number of pharmacists do 

 actually possess such a knowledge of chemistry as to qualify 

 them to undertake analytical work or to manufacture chemicals 

 or pursue chemical research, but this is not the essential part 

 of their calling, and the anomaly lies in the fact that if Sir 

 Humphry Davy himself were now living he could not legally 

 call himself a chemist, his name not being on the pharmaceutical 

 register. 



