THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
117 
by the examinations. Looking at this matter from the point of view of the 
Society’s interest, it must also be remembered that, while the class of chemists 
and druggists was created by statute, and had certain rights and privileges, 
the Society was charged with the duties of safeguarding the public as to 
qualification, and of defending those rights. It is, therefore, quite reasonable 
that the persons obtaining qualification should pay a fee sufficient to cover all 
expenses of the examinations, and of the proceedings involved in protecting their 
interests.” 
The organisation of provincial schools at Birmingham and Newcastle are 
among the events upon which the readers of the article are especially congratulated. 
Concerning the abortive Bill designed to deal with the sale of poisons, which 
was shelved at the instance of the Pharmaceutical Society, the following pertinent 
observation is made : — “ There was no sufficient recognition of the principle that 
the adequate education of the dealer in poisons is the one real means of 
ensuring the protection of the public ; there was no provision for enhancing the 
demand for qualification on that basis, but merely proposals to establish 
certain rule-of-thumb regulations that might be strictly carried out by 
incompetent persons without necessarily ensuring the object desired, while, for 
persons competent to deal with poisons, those regulations were for the most 
part superfluous.” 
The facts that Queensland and Quebec have come under the regulation of 
Pharmacy Acts are enumerated. 
It is stated : — “ The total number of entries for all the examinations during 
the year was 2339, or 110 more than in the year 1884.” 
The income of the Benevolent Fund during the past twelve months (not 
including income on investments) was £2207 4s. 5d. 
The comparative failure of the Brussels Congress is referred to, and a 
hope is expressed that the want of adequate provision for the interchange of 
opinion in any other language but French, the absence of a system whereby the 
official status of an intending representative could be determined, and other 
defects, may be remedied on future similar occasions. 
The issue of a revised edition of the “National Pharmacopoeia” — eighteen 
years having elapsed since the previous publication — is favourably commented 
upon, although it is complained that the errors of the work indicate that an 
alteration is required in the constitution of the board of revisers. Says our 
contemporary : — “ The unquestioned advantages of professional learning require to 
be supplemented by technical skill and practical familiarity with the subject 
matter of a pharmacopoeia.” 
The quotations from the article referred to, apropos of the proceedings of 
the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and of the objects which are sought 
to be attained, are so pertinent to the position and aspirations of Australasian 
pharmacists that we make no apology for rehearsing them so fully. The 
interests of pharmacists are identical all the world over; and this journal, in 
advocating the establishment of a general scientific training, as being essential 
to the public safety and to the upraising of the social status of pharmacists 
throughout the colonies, is only in accord with the teachings of the leaders of 
enlightened professional opinion in the head-centres of science. 
Let us hope that the Australasian record of 1886 will show that some, at 
least, of the objects which colonial pharmacists so earnestly desire have been 
achieved ; and that the federation of Australasian pharmacists under the one 
standard of examination, having a system of apprenticeship and a law common 
to all, and, thereout, the establishment of reciprocity between the several colonies, 
will be in a fair way towards realisation. 
