290 THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
time before the Act came into operation. This fact is uncontradicted, and there- 
fore he is entitled as of right to the certificate under the Act. 
Mr. Isaacs, on behalf of the Board to show cause, argued that there is 
nothing in the Act which imposes a duty on the Board to grant a certificate; 
it is discretionary with them. Where the Legislature intended to impose a 
mandate on the Board it has done so in express terms— e.g., Section 11 provides 
that “The Board shall, from time to time, cause the names of all persons, 
certified by the Board as duly qualified for registration as registered pharma- 
ceutical chemists, to be registered, etc,” but the Act nowhere provides that in 
any given case an applicant shall be entitled as of right to a certificate. 
Section 18 is merely restrictive, and negative words are used, which have 
only the effect of limiting the Board’s power, so that the Board 
cannot give a certificate until at least the conditions mentioned in 
that section have been fulfilled. The Board is elected from the 
body of registered chemists, and is intended to protect the public. To 
enable it to do so it must be entitled to take into consideration the sanity of 
an applicant and other matters necessary for the public safety. Under the words 
of the section an applicant might have been an assistant at an age when it was 
impossible to have obtained any proper knowledge of the business, and he might 
afterwards, at any distance of time, provided he was twenty-one years of age, 
apply to the Board, and, if the Board had no discretion, he would be necessarily 
registered. Under the concluding words of the section a person is entitled to 
be registered if he holds a certificate of qualification, so that, if a person who 
can bring himself under Clause II. of Section 18 is entitled as of right to a 
certificate, the Board would be bound to register him as a chemist, although he 
might have been, to the knowledge of the Board, guilty of improper practice in 
the sale of noxious drugs, or was a drunkard. The Board has clearly a discre- 
tion, and the Court will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion. 
His Honour delivered the following decision : — The interpretat on of this 
section is very difficult, but it is unnecessary to place any interpretation upon 
it, as this is probably the last case which will arise under it. The rule will 
be made absolute with costs. 
Mr. Michael Carteighe has been re-elected President of the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain; Mr. Thomas Preston Gostling is vice-president (vice 
Mr. Atkins) ; Mr. John Robbins was re-elected treasurer ; Mr. Richard 
Brembridge was re-appointed secretary and registrar ; and Dr. B. H. Paul and 
Mr. P. Passmore retain their positions as editor and sub-editor of the Phar- 
maceutical Journal. 
A. paper by Mr. J. F. Brown, “ Syrup. Ferri Iodidi.,” was presented at a recent 
meeting of the Dover Chemists’ Association. Mr. Brown contended that instead 
of boiling the solution of iodide of iron with a portion of the syrup, with a 
view to the conversion of its sugar into glucose, to aid in the preservation 
of the ferrous syrup (according to the new B.P.) — there was a practical con- 
venience in adding the glucose already formed. “ Since glycerine is so excellent 
a preservative, I used the compound which forms such a capital excipient, viz. — 
Glucose syrup, 12 parts ; glycerine, 4 parts ; water, 1 part — all by weight. 
Wr rking formula : — Diluted glucose syrup, 4oz. (pond.); white sugar, 1 Jib. ; 
distilled water, 12oz. Dissolve and strain into a bottle marked at 31 fl. oz. 
Shake together in a flask or stoppered bottle — bright iron wire, 3oz. ; iodine, 2oz. ; 
