i88i.] 
Chemical Shams . 
285 
The medical public analyst is another gentleman who 
generally stands high in popular estimation. In the eyes of 
the many the fadt of his being a “ Doctor ” guarantees his 
abilities as a chemist. If the public only knew that the 
subje(5t of their adoration had enjoyed only a six months’ 
course of chemical lectures, at some University or College, 
during the winter session, and three months’ practice during 
summer in qualitative analysis, and that as a rule very 
'superficially gone through, — as very often students are not 
allowed the use of the regular laboratory, but extempore 
benches are fitted up in the ledture or tutorial room, and 
then only an hour is allowed for the class each day unless 
the pupil wishes to enrol himself for the regular laboratory 
curriculum, — what, then, would the public think, especially 
the trading community ? Here, then, is our analyst, em- 
powered to examine a sample of milk, sugar, or coffee, and 
the dealer is liable at any time, on the strength of his 
results, to be convidted and muldted in a heavy penalty. 
What would our decent tradesman say if he understood 
what is, in contrast, the training of a really qualified che- 
mist ? He would say it was a piece of quackish presumption 
on the part of the medical man to hold such a post. We 
cannot, however, brand the whole medical world as not 
being trustworthy chemists, since some of our most able 
scientists belong to that honoured faculty. There are seve- 
ral — in fadt, a great many — who after graduating almost 
entirely abandon pradtice, and give their whole heart and 
soul to scientific pursuits, looking upon their professional 
degree as a resource for a rainy day, and as the guarantee of 
a high class University education. There is one plea for the 
medical pseudo analyst, which is that no thoroughly qualified 
chemist will take the billet in the distridt where the medical 
man resides, as the retaining fee may be a miserable pittance 
barely sufficient to supply reagents, and the fee for each 
analysis perhaps as low as two and sixpence per sample ; 
which, taken together at the year’s end, would be barely 
sufficient to pay the rental of a laboratory and cover acci- 
dental breakage of apparatus. Fortunately the authorities 
of different towns are beginning to see the necessity of having 
a qualified chemist, as several dubious convidtions have 
lately happened, and the idea current among private che- 
mists who have analysed duplicates of the samples was that 
the defendants were innocent. One qualified chemist can 
now have his laboratory in the city, and yet be public analyst 
for several provincial towns, thereby leaving the pseudo medi- 
cal analyst to his legitimate profession. 
