EDINBURGH MEETING. 
327 
that there should be no limit to this, and that a Pharmaceutical Chemist will be all the 
better fitted to discharge his duties if he has a knowledge, more or less, of all the sub¬ 
jects usually embraced in a regular medical curriculum. Without, however, disputing 
this view, the Society has, we think wisely, adopted the course of confining the atten¬ 
tion of those whom they seek to instruct to three or four branches, bearing more im¬ 
mediately on their requirements. These subjects are botany, materia medica, chemistry, 
and pharmacy. We are at one in believing that a knowledge of these is essential, and 
we have every assurance that no long time can elapse before such will be imperative on 
all who look forward to occupying the position of a Pharmaceutical Chemist or Chemist 
and Druggist in this country. Does it then not become us to inquire what provision 
have we for this instruction being given ? 
That we have most efficient and accomplished teachers of these sciences in this 
City, the numbers who flock to it from all parts of the world to sit at their feet, is suf¬ 
ficient evidence; but we know too well that in so far as the majority of our assistants 
and apprentices are concerned, they derive but little benefit from these sources of instruc¬ 
tion. It is not from any deficiency in so far as respects the subjects taught, for few 
cities in the empire can boast of such a galaxy of eminent names as those which adorn 
our medical school, but rather to other reasons that we must look for an explanation; and 
none appear to me more prominent than those occasioned by the high fees required, the 
risk the assistant or apprentice encounters under present arrangements in having his at¬ 
tention diverted from his legitimate occupation, and the want hitherto of the necessary 
stimulus. 
The last-named reason must speedily disappear; and as to the second, those of us who 
have had any experience in the management of a business know full well the incon¬ 
venience which often arises when one, or it may be more, of those engaged in it are 
during a portion of each day occupied in what is familiarly called “ attending the 
classes.” We are aware of the gradual process by which the mind becomes diverted 
from those duties which heretofore engaged both time and attention, and how after a 
struggle in the effort to conjoin the one set of duties with the other, the youth from 
the effects of association soon falls into the current of student life, becomes enamoured 
of its whirl, or of its study, bids speedily good-bye to apron, spatula, and scissors, and 
in a few years turns up a full-fledged medico, connected it may be with the Army or 
Navy ; or possibly finds a resting-place in some country district, where his shop acquire¬ 
ments prove of no little advantage in enabling him to dispense with ease and accuracy 
those remedies required for the use of his patients. That this is not an uncommon case, 
and that it has happened often with the most promising of our young men, will not, I 
think, be disputed; and the remedy appears to lie in the adoption, if possible, of special 
classes for the subjects required morning or evening, as they have at Bloomsbury Square, 
and with fees in keeping with the scale there adopted. And it appears to me that if we 
are really desirous of upholding the character of the Society in Scotland, and as a con¬ 
sequence these meetings, we must lose no time in adopting efficient means, so that those 
who are likely to follow us shall at least have the opportunities for acquiring an intelli¬ 
gent acquaintance with those sciences which it is expected, that during their earlier 
years, they ought to become familiar with. 
That the Society did, from the first, contemplate such means, I think is evident from 
the following sentences, which oceur in an early number of the Journal:— 
“ When the school in London is completely established, and has realized our expecta¬ 
tions, it will be time to consider the propriety of forming branch schools in other parts 
of the country, where the amount of population and the zeal of our brethren in the 
cause of improvement, are such as to give scope for the undertaking.” 
Now, there can be no doubt of the complete establishment of the school in London ; 
and there need be as little doubt that the establishment of a school of some kind in 
Scotland would have a most salutary effect on the advancement of pharmacy here. 
I enter not into what at the present time is actually required, but that something is 
wanted I humbly submit, and I do not believe there is any want of zeal on the part of 
our assistants and apprentices, or on the part of their employers, participating as they 
would so largely in the benefits arising from their increased ability and intelligence ; and 
I do further believe that in the immediate prospect of a legislative enactment, de¬ 
manding such knowledge from all connected with the business, numbers would not 
now be wanting to support such a school, where a series of lectures on the different 
