44 
“ PROTECTION ” IN PHARMACY. 
it, wlio is to object? Not my friend Groves, of Weymoutb ; on tlie con¬ 
trary, he is the very man to say to a good “ Conference blade ” at Newcastle, 
Bath, Birmingham, Nottingham, or Dundee, “ Why, I wonder you don’t join 
the Pharmaceutical Society. You are on the Register and eligible, let me pro¬ 
pose you ; you are one of us at heart, why not join our body ? And here’s 
Edwards, he ’ll second you.” That our Society would be strengthened by the 
addition of such good men and true, our friends, who protest, freely admit; 
but they say, Such additions w r ould be few, and there would be a rush of 
three-feet-letter men, who will annoy the public by their “spectrum analy¬ 
sis.” Well, my friends, this went on in the leading thoroughfares of Corn- 
hill and Oxford Street, while William Allen and John Bell made their quiet 
businesses in Plough Court and at 338. You should see the signs' in Boston 
and New York. He who runs can read all day, I assure you ! These signs, 
at any rate, show which way the wind blows ; and although some may “ as¬ 
sume a virtue though they have it not,” such an effervescence is but of short 
duration, and can inflict no serious injustice or injury on the man of real 
knowledge and worth. Let the Council, therefore, receive the support of all 
ranks in the Society, and the accession of a large number of like-minded 
supporters from withbut. 
The character and morale of a Society, after all, is not determined by the 
straitness of its gates, but by the intellectual and moral growth of its 
members. The Society has of late years been chiefly strengthened by the 
development of its resources at the Pharmaceutical Conferences, and this 
luxuriant development will not be restrained by the withes and bands of con¬ 
ventional formalities. In Canada we have, within the last two years, com¬ 
pulsory examination for the pharmacien under the licence of the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons of Lower Canada. But this has been a yoke put 
on our shoulders by the medical body. In some places it galls. And as there 
exists here little or no association for co-operative purposes, the advantage to 
the public is less than under our own voluntary Society. It would be trite 
to remark, that unity is strength, yet the sentiment is sometimes forgotten, 
although as true as ever. 
Heartily wishing the Council success in their measure, and the unanimous 
support of their Members at the Special General Meeting, 
I am, your faithful servant, 
John Baker Edwards, Ph.D. F.C.S. 
Montreal , May 17, 1867. 
“ PROTECTION ” IN PHARMACY. 
TO THE EDITORS OE THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Gentlemen,—At the Special General Meeting held at Bloomsbury Square 
on the 15th of May, as reported in your Journal for June, at page 702, a 
speech made by Mr. Edwards, of Dartford, on a former occasion , is incor¬ 
rectly quoted by Mr. J. R. Collins. 
The actual words used by Mr. Edwards are reported in your Journal, 
Yol. I., Second Series, page 600, thus ;—“ The tendency of modern legisla¬ 
tion was in the direction of free trade, and they might as well expect to get 
a slice of the moon as ‘ protection .’ ” 
Mr. Edwards does not mean that the Legislature would not protect the 
public against the evils of ignorance arising from want of education, but that 
the Legislature would not protect chemists in any matter of competition in 
business. 
