LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
227 
ANNUAL REPORT. 
In laying before you the Report of the Eighteenth Session of the Chemists’ Associa¬ 
tion, your Council feels that this Institution has surmounted the obstacles which beset 
its early life, and while justly proud of the laurels it has acquired, would jealously avoid 
losing that actively aggressive character which commands attention. 
To prevent this from being the case, your Council has used its earnest endeavours, and 
trusts, that by the energetic co-operation of the members, this Association may continue 
second to none in raising the position of the responsible portion of the community to 
which we belong. 
It admits of no dispute, that to the successful prosecution of a business which comes 
in contact with so many branches of science should be brought a mind well stored with 
the facts and principles of those sciences, together with a large amount of general know¬ 
ledge. This information is demanded more and more as the general public advance in 
education, and as, owing to the demands made upon your time by the requirements of 
your business, the difficulties in your case are perhaps greater than in that of others, 
greater diligence will be necessary to keep pace with the age. To aid you in this is the 
object of this Association, and you are entitled to ask how far it has fulfilled its mission. 
The principal means at its disposal is the reading of papers on various subjects re¬ 
lating to the practice or science of pharmacy. In this department your Council believes 
that there has been no falling off in comparison with former years; several papers of a 
high degree of excellence having been contributed. It remarks with great pleasure that 
several of the new members have come forward with a readiness which augurs well for 
the future. It is hoped that in the coming Session no lack of willing helpers will be 
found to fill up our ranks, and to impart to their fellow-members any special informa¬ 
tion which they possess. 
The experiment of devoting evenings to short miscellaneous communications has been 
tried during the Session with success, and your Council believes that these may be made 
of the highest value if energetically supported. 
The Library is in a state of efficiency, considerable attention having been given to it. 
Your Librarian reports that 300 volumes have been circulated among 45 readers, being 
a diminution of 20 volumes on the previous Session. 
A complete revision of the books has been made, the periodicals have been bound, and 
to render these treasures more accessible to the student, a new catalogue has been pre¬ 
pared. Your Council trusts that the members will more freely avail themselves of it, 
and thus bring to the work of to-day the wisdom of the past. 
The Museum is capable of being made a more valuable means of instruction. Inclu¬ 
ding a large variety of rare and interesting specimens, it needs rearrangement, in order 
that reference may be made easy, and information obtained without loss of time. A 
beginning has been made in this work, and your Council leaves its completion as a legacy 
to the coming Session. It is intended to form in the Museum a complete representation 
of British Materia Medica. 
The Chemistry Class, your Council regrets to say, has not been so well supported as 
the importance of the study renders desirable. Chemistry being one of the foundation- 
stones of the Pharmaceutical edifice, it is hoped that a sufficient number of members 
will come forward and join the Class, to enable the Council to continue the advantages 
of practical and theoretical instruction. The advent of a new systematic arrangement 
of the science, which threatens to render our old guides obsolete, is a fact recognized in 
the new Pharmacopoeia, and calls upon us all to realize its importance. 
After a long period of transition, during which much inconvenience has been experi¬ 
enced, the British Pharmacopoeia of 18G7 offers, it is hoped, a resting-place for years. 
By unanimous consent, it is recognized as admirable, both in matter and arrangement, 
and our most earnest efforts should be directed to make it the one practical as it is the 
one legal authority. During the Session, it is expected that this important volume will 
afford subject for several papers, elucidating points of difficulty, and pointing out its 
variations from the old standards. 
Your Council calls attention to the prospect of united action in obtaining that legisla¬ 
tive interference which will raise the status of pharmaceutists by rendering a due quali¬ 
fication imperative. If a sacrifice is called for on the part of some by the scheme at pre¬ 
sent proposed, it is hoped that eventually they will be rewarded by seeing that their 
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