274 
LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
ay, and to our common humanity, to counteract the baneful influence of what may be 
truly designated despicably base; and therefore, as I have already said, the time is now 
that we ought to express what our aim and what our objects are. What would be 
thought of societies such as ours if this town of Liverpool was parcelled out into limits 
like the wards of the borough, and no man permitted to trade beyond these despotic 
lines,—or the physician’s prescription confined in the same way,—or the doctor tethered 
by a chain, the length and limit being the ward in which he lives,—or the public pro¬ 
scribed from seeking the best articles at the lowest price ? What would be thought if 
the old emblem of the healing art—“the barber’s pole”—must be hoisted as the 
standard beyond which none of the great and honourable of their calling should be 
permitted to advance, and the whole faculty shut up to remedies long lost sight 
of ? or if by some weak link the doctor broke the chain that bound him, were we to dog 
his steps and fulminate his path, sending him prematurely into the great unknown from 
which, as long as may be, he seeks to save his patients ? What would be thought if the 
greatest dunce and the most idle dolt in every business establishment must be taken as 
the standard and limit for all his fellows? And you, most praiseworthy of your class, 
who take and tutor the youth, and make him from a raw lad into a man of business,— 
shall there ever be a power so despotic as to forbid your noble work, or with mock 
modesty out of kind consideration for you, limit the load to which you yoke yourself ? 
The very basis and framework of everything that is lasting gives a loud and an em¬ 
phatic No! Forgive me if I have been led away with what perhaps I should not have 
imported into the business of this opening Session, but it really does seem the business 
of every man to raise his voice and rack his brain if haply something may rise to the 
surface to guide and govern associations of men and trades which shall commend itself 
“For the public good.” Come, then, fellow-members of this association, let us apply 
ourselves to the work we have set before us,—“ Self-improvement and the public good.” 
Mr. Shaw proposed a vote of thanks to the President for his able and suggestive 
address, and urged the members to reduce to practice the advice given to them. 
Mr. Bedford seconded the motion, and expressed his admiration of the address. He 
recommended the younger members to avail themselves of the opportunities now offered 
for the study of chemistry and botany. 
The President returned thanks, and the meeting closed. 
Second General Meeting, held October 24th, 1867 ; the President in the chair. 
The following gentlemen were duly elected members:— 
Mr. J. W. Linley, Mr. Joseph Whitton, Mr. F. Taylor, Mr. C. H. Bishop, Mr. C. Mason, 
and Mr. T. G. Bennett. 
Mr. C. H. Lee was elected an Associate. 
The Secretary announced the following donation to the Library :—‘The Inaugural 
Address of the Royal Infirmary School of Medicine,’ by Mr. A. B. Steele, M.R.C.S. 
Thanks were voted to the donor. 
The President exhibited a root from Africa, used by the natives for medicinal 
purposes. 
Mr. Shaw alluded to the sale of quinine wine, and read a notice stating, that quinine 
wine, prepared as directed in the Pharmacopoeia, and sold as medicine, would not require 
a licence. 
The President said, that in Liverpool he had always found the Customs authorities 
disposed to afford every facility for the sale of medicinal preparations. 
Mr. Mason exhibited some kola nuts from Africa. 
The President then called upon Mr. Abraham to read a paper, entitled, * Notes on 
the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867.’ 
Since the termination of the last session, the second British Pharmacopoeia has ap¬ 
peared. It is a work of great interest to most of us, and I have written a few notes 
with the view of introducing a discussion upon it. 
It has been received, as far as I have learned, with general expressions of satisfaction. 
This has certainly been the case in England, and I hope also in Ireland and in Scotland, 
although our friends in those countries must have had to concede something to attain 
the result, for certainly a feature of the new work is a return to some of the names and 
preparations of the London Pharmacopoeia. 
