THE CHEMIST AND DEUGGIST OF AUSTRALASIA 
Jan. 1st, 1886 
10 
(Ebitorial llotes. 
THE PHABMACY ACT AMENDMENT BILL, VICTOBIA. 
The Pharmacy Act, 1885, Victoria, brought in as “A Bill to 
amend the Pharmacy Act, 1876,” passed without amendment, 
and was assented to on December 18. It is hardly intelligible 
without constant reference to the preceding Act. 
W(e give some account of the modiftcations made by its 
provisions in those of the Pharmacy Act, 1876. 
Section 1 gives the short title as “ Tlie Pharmacy Act, 1885,” 
and states that it is to bo construed as one with the Pharmacy 
Act, 1876, called the princiijal Act. 
Section 2 repeals the words “in Victoria,” in the second 
section of the i)rincipal Act, so that the definition of a chemist 
and^ druggist under the Act includes those who have 
carried on business as a chemist and druggist, not only in 
Victoria, but also anywhere else. This enables the Pharmacy 
Board to register as pharmaceutical chemists any i^erson who 
may have carried on ])usiness as a chemist and druggist, for 
not less than two months, for the dispensing of 2 >i’cscriptions, 
or been employed as a dispensing assistant in an open shoi) 
for not less than three months, before the commencement of 
the princiiial Act, Lc., December, 1876 (provided that the 
necessary declarations arc signed in a colony. See section 1.3.) 
Section 8 gives the President of the Board power not only 
to take evidence on oath of any witness who may appear 
before the Board, but also to summon any person before the 
Board for the purpose of being examined, or for the purpose 
of answering any iiuestions in respect of matters within the 
jurisdiction of the Board. 
Section 4 permits the registration of the residences or the 
2)lacen of husincs.^ of registered pharmaceutical chemists. 
Section 5 rej^eals section 14 of the principal Act, and re- 
enacts it with considerable modifications. It reciuires phar- 
maceutical chemists to give notice of change of place of 
business, as well as of change of residence, and imposes a 
penalty of £5 on any deputy-registrar who fails to give notice 
of the death of any pharmaceutical chemist within two months 
of receipt thereof. The deputy-registrars are defined accord- 
ing to the Act under which they are appointed, and it is 
enacted that all notices shall be sent to the Secretary instead 
of the President of the Board. 
Section 6 increases the power of the Board to erase names 
from the register, by making any offence under the Act, or antj 
fclontj or mifidcmeaiwur, a suflicient reason for erasure. 
Section 7 makes considerable alterations in the conditions 
required to be complied with before an apprentice can be 
registered as a pharmaceutical chemist. It is made compul- 
sory to pass a preliminary examination before the commence- 
ment of apprenticeship. The four years’ ai^prenticeship may 
be served not only in the shop of a registered pharmaceutical 
chemist, or chemist and druggist, or homoeopathic chemist, 
but also in any dispensary of any friendly society or dispen- 
sary kept in connection with any public hospital under the 
management of a registered pharmaceutical chemist. It is not 
clear that the PTiendly Sooicties’ dispensary must be under 
the management of a registered pharmaceutical chemist). It 
is made compulsory to attend one course of lectures, and pass 
an examination one in materia medica, hotany, 
cliemixtry, and i)ractical chemistry (medical botany omitted). 
As before, these lectures and examinations are to be at the 
University of Melbourne, or some school or college of phar- 
macy recognised by the Board; but the practical pharmacy 
examination is to be i^assed before the Board, or before exami- 
ners thereby appointed. 
Section 8 is such a remarkable innovation on all Phar- 
macy Acts with which we are acquainted, that we quote it in 
full : — 
“It shall be the duty of every registered pharmaceutical 
chemist who has an apprentice to allow such apprentice, 
during the last year of his appuenticeship, a reasonable time 
for the purpose of attending lectures in accordance with the 
requirements of the last innceding section, and such duty to 
allow such reasonable time shall be deemed to be a condition 
of the contract of such apprenticeship, and the failure or 
refusal to allow such reasonable time shall be a breach of such 
contract of apjirenticcship.” 
This is an experiment, the result of which we shall be 
interested to watch. The security for proper study given to 
apprentices, must be balanced against the tendency of the 
enactment to discourage study during the earlier years of 
apprenticeship . 
Section 9 makes some contingent alterations in sections 19 
and 21, and in section 20 gives power to the Board to control 
and direct the preUminary and all examinatiom, indudiny 
practical pharmacy. The practical pharmacy examination 
only was under the control of the Board under the Act of 
1876. A rejected candidate may present himself for re- 
examination after a period of three instead of six months. 
Section 10 will make to water the mouths of all pharmacists 
in Great Britain. Wherever the word person occurs in part 
IV. of the principal Act, it is to include any corporation, com- 
pany, or society. Clause 25 is the only one in part IV. to 
which this would apply to any extent, and it imposes penalties 
for carrying on, or attempting to carry on, business as a 
chemist and druggist or homoeopathic chemist, or to assume 
any similar name or title. 
Section 11 makes a formal alteration in section 22 of the 
principal Act, and reduces to tico months, instead of twelve, 
the time during which the executor, administrator, or trustee 
of the estate of a deceased chemist may carry on his business, 
unless by the permission of the Board of Pharmacy. 
Section 12 adds some very sweeping words to the sub-section 
of the principal Act, which makes penal the use of the name 
or title of a pharmaceutical chemist, Ac., Ac. This now 
includes, “or other words of similar import, or to use or 
exhibit any title, sign, or symbol which may be construed to 
mean that he is qualified to perform the duties of a pharma- 
ceutical chemist.” 
Section 18 makes certain alterations in the declarations 
required respecting a chemist who was in business before 1876, 
and a dispensing assistant, or apprentice. These declarations 
have to be made in any colony ; but the business need not in 
either case have been situated therein. 
Section 14 repeals the first, third, and fifth schedules of the 
principal Act, and re-enacts them with formal alterations, 
except in the first, which requires that the llegister shall be 
signed by the llegistrar alone, instead of l)y the I?resident and 
two members of the Pharmacy Board of Victoria. 
The general effect of these alterations is to extend the 
powers of the Board (sections 8, 6, 7, 9), and of the registrar 
(section 14), and the sweei:) of the penal clause relating to 
titles (section 12). ; to make the Act apply so far as possible 
not only to Victoria, but to all colonies, Australasian or other- 
wise (sections 2, 18) ; to make alterations in the llegister 
(section 4), and the duties of de 2 )uty-rcgistrars (section 5), in 
the i)Owers of executors (section 11); and in the curriculum 
for apprentices, for whom it i^rovides leisure for study during 
their fourth year (sections 7 and 8) ; it brings under the 
penal clauses of the Act, corporations, coniiianies, and societies 
(section 10). 
THE PHABMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH 
AU8TBALIA. 
From the reports on page 4 it will be seen that the Phar- 
maceutical Society of South Australia, the last established of 
the jiharmaceutical organisations of Australasia, has started on 
its career in a direction that commands success. The history 
of the mother country, and ^irobably of its daughters also, 
shows many instances where associations bound together by 
trade interests, or for social jpuiqioses, have flourished for a 
time, till some petty irritation has dissolved the tie that kept 
the com23onent parts together. But there is hardly an instance 
to be found of a similar fate befalling a combination of men 
seeking to improve their 2 >osition by raising the common 
standard of education. 
One of the youngest of these bodies, the Institute of 
Chemistry, of London, an association of professed or analyti- 
cal and consulting chemists, was received with some ridi- 
cule at its inception ; but in the course of a very few years 
it has made its influence felt, and is now one of the scientific 
forces of the United Kingdom. 
The two half-yearly examinations that are to be established 
for apprentices or students, and for assistants res 2 )ectively, 
will be found to be the backbone of the Society. The younger 
men coming forward to pass these examinations, will find 
that they enjoy a better position than was ever afforded to 
their elders, whose labours have secured it. 
We would urge all budding druggists to enter for these 
examinations at once. We know by experience that they will 
