108 
THE CHEMIST AKD DRUGGIST OF AUSTRALASIA. 
April 1 , 1887 . 
and men -who would show that they had received a liberal 
education and were fit to enter the ranks of scientific bodies.” 
Mr. Blackett would seem to be a believer in the virtue of a 
homa^opathic dose of culture when he can speak so hopefully 
over the introduction of a single book of Virgil as an alterna- 
tive at a scholboy’s examination, for a book of Ciesar. It is 
hard to see what t4ie Pharmacy Board has to do with culture, 
its function ought to be, in the first place, to see that only 
qualified men are allowed to dispense to the public, and in the 
second to encourage pharmacists to become as proficient as 
possible in the science of their profession. The direction that 
a man's culture should take, like that of his religion, should 
he left to himself. As a matter of fact the only reason that 
the pharmacist has for bothering himself with Latin at all is 
because the medical profession Avill insist on using it as an ef- 
fective means of commanding the respect of uneducated people. 
When the medical profession becomes enlightened enough to 
feel ashamed of the quackery of its present method of writing 
prescriptions, the pharmacist will be spared the necessity of 
learning a smattering of Latin. Every other branch of science 
has abondoned the use of Latin (except botany, where the 
the abandonment is, however, almost complete) and in the 
purely scientific departments of medicine no writer dreams of 
using it. Plowever, as the British >Society makes a book of 
Virgil an alternative for a book of Caesar, the colonial societies 
and boards are wise to follow its lead, seeing that it would be 
rather hard on our future pharmacists if their British fellows 
could take a lofty stand of superior culture on the strength of 
a book of Virgil. 
With respect to the papers set at the preliminary examin- 
ation in Great Britian and in the colonies the main general 
difference that one notices between the British and colonial is 
that the latter have an amateurish ring about them as if written 
by men with no practical educational exx^erience. For 
example, in the Victorian preliminary Latin examination of 
last September we have the following as a x^art of question 3. 
What peculiarity of Caesar’s style do you notice' in the first 
sentence in (^/) (a Latin x^aragraxfii constituting the first 
question)? 
How is a schoolboy who has read one book .of the Gallic 
AVar, to know anything of Cresar’s x>eculiarities of style? To him 
the whole thing is one big x^eculiarity. Cmsar’s x:ieculiarities are 
p)oints in which he differs from all other Latin authors, to find 
them out without a knowledge of any other author is a x:>roblem as 
difficult to the schoolboy as that Avhich confronts Frederic in 
the Pirates of l^enzance when he has to decide whether his 
old nurse Ruth, the only woman he has ever seen, is beautiful 
or not. Again a little further on Ave have the question 
AVhat kind of a numeral is •‘singuli”? 
This is a x^ure cram question. Of Avhat value to any boy is 
a knOAvledge of the mere name Distributive numeral given by 
grammatrical classifiers to such adjectives? All that he 
should be concerned Avith is its exact meaning. 
The first of the x>i’eliminary examinationg of the Pharma- 
ceutical Society of South Australia AA'asheldin the middle of last 
year. Perhax:)S liberal alloAvance ought to be made for a first 
effort, but the English of the English x^^i'X^er is not all that 
could be desired. Question IV. starts AAuth 
AVhat is .neant by strong and Aveak verbs? 
The logical ansAver to AA’hich Avould be — everything that 
English verbs can mean. The real question that the exam- 
iner Avished to ask is correctly put in the next English paper 
in December 
AATiat is the distinction betAA'een “strong” and “Aveak” con- 
jugations of verbs? Examiners should look to their oaa’ii 
English especially Avhen they quarrel AAuth that of a x^ooi’ 
droAvning man as they do in question V. 
Exxfiain the strict sense of the droAA'ning man’s AA'ords “I 
Avill be droAA'ned and nobody shall saA’e me.” If any error, 
correct it. 
On the Avhole it can be said that the standards of the x^i’e- 
liniinary examinations are about the same in all the colonies, 
where such are held as in Great Britain, but in x^assing on to 
the comparison of the standards of the examinations AA’hich 
qualify a man for registration Ave are met Avith the difficulty 
that the British examinations are oral, so that Ave have no 
printed x>apcrs to serve as a definite means of comx^arison. 
HoAvever, Ave can, in the first place, comx^are the different 
syllabuses. 
The details of the Minor Examination of the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain are as follow : — 
“ PimscTvirxioxs. — The candidate is required to read,AA’ithout 
abbreviation, autograx^h prescriptions ; translate them into 
English, and render a literal, as Avell as an ax)X>rox)riate, trans- 
lation of the directions for use ; to detect errors, discover 
unusual doses, and have a general knoAvledge of Posology ; 
also to render in good Latin ordinary prescriptions Avritten in 
English. 
“ PuACTiCAL Dispexsino. — To AA^eigli, measure, and comx)ound 
medicines, Avrite the directions in concise language in a neat 
and distinct hand, to finish and prox)erly direct each package.. 
(The thne taken by the candidate is taken into account.) 
“ Pharmacy. — -To recognise the preparations of the Pharma- 
copoeia, AA’hich are not of a definite chemical nature, and have 
Avell- marked x^hysical characters, such as extracts, tinctures, 
poAvders, etc. ; to give the xu'oportions of the active ingredients, 
and possess a knoAvledge of the processes and 
ciples of the processes by AAdiich they are made, and of the 
best excipients and methods of manipulation for forming 
emulsions, pills, etc. 
“ Matekia Medica. — To recognise sx^ecimensof roots, barks, 
leaA’es, fruits, resins, gums, animal substances, etc., used in 
medicine ; give the botanical and zoological names of the 
X>lants, etc., yielding them, and the natural families to Avhich 
they belong ; name the countries and sources from which they 
are obtained, the official preparations into which they enter, 
and judge the quality and freedom from adulteration, or 
othei’AA’ise, of the sx^Jecimens. 
“Botany. — To recognise the more imx^ortant indigenous- 
plants used in medicine ; to possess a general knoAA’ledge of the 
elementary structure of plants, and the structure and distinctive 
characters of roots, stems, leaves, and their x)arts; to name and 
describe the various parts of the fiower. 
Chemistry. — To recognise the ordinary chemicals used in 
medicine. To possess a practical knoAvledge of the x^i-’ocesses 
by Avbich they are produced, the composition of such as are 
compound, and explain the decompositions that occur in their 
X^roduction, and admixture by equations or diagrams. To de- 
termine practically by means of tests the x)i’ese^ice in solution •: 
of the chemicals in common use, and exx^lain the reactions ; 
AA’hich occur in each case. To x^ossess a general knoAvledge of ; 
the laAvs of chemical philosophy, and a x^ractical knoAAiedge of | 
the means of determining sx^ecific gravities, densities and ! 
temperature, and of the instruments apx^ertaining thereto, and | 
the physical and chemical constitution of the atmosphere. 
In NeAv Zealand and New South Wales the above scheme is 
adoxoted, as regards prescrixAtions, xu'actical dispensing (in New 
Zealand candidates are required to comxAOund medicines by j 
the metrical, fis Avell as by the English system) and XAharmacy. | 
But as regards botany and chemistry, imxAortant alterations j 
are made, AA’hich, as a whole, may he described as a substitu- ; 
tion of the British Major Examination requirements in x>lace < 
of the above minor ones. The British Major Examination in- ! 
eludes only materia medica, botany and chemistry. ! 
In Materia jMeoica, hotii NeAv Zealand and NeAV South 'j 
Wales adoxAt the scheme given above. Ngav South Wales j 
simply tacks on the British Major Scheme thus : — J 
Materia Medica Avill also comprise a xAvactical knoA\dedge of 
the methods of estimating the value of important drugs, of \ 
obtaining their active pi'oximale constituents in a separate j 
state, of identifying them, and ascertaining their or 1 
imxnn'ity, by tests. « 
Ngav Zealand merely adds the Avords — j 
“ And the method of obtaining their actWe XAroximate con- 
stituents in a sexAarate state.” .• 
The folloAA’ing are the detailed requirements of the Pharma- 
ceutical Society of Great Britain in their Major Botany 
Examination: — 
This comprises an intimate acquaintance with the pai'ts of 
the fioAver, fruit and seed ; the functions and mode of arrange- 
ment of the different organs of x^lants ; a knoAvledge of the | 
general xAi’incixAles of classification, and of the Linmcan and .• 
De Candolle’s systems. The candidate must be able to dis- 
tinguish xAvactically betAveen each of the folloAving natural 
orders :~Ranunculace^, Pax^averacea? CrucifeiTp, Malva- 
ceje, Leguininosfe, Rosacea*, Cucurbitacea?, XJinbellifera, ’ 
CompositfD, Gentianacea^ Convolvulacea), Solanacea^ Atro- ' 
X>acea, Labiata, Scrox)hulariacea^, Polygonacea, EuxAhorbia- ^ 
cea', Orchidacea, Liliacea, Melanthacea, Graminacere, and 
refer to their respective orders such specimens as may be 
sheAA-n to him. 
NeAv South Wales adopts this unaltered, AA’hile Ncav Zealand, 
