DUNDEE CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
367 
after the model of the old hall in Glasgow, and although provided with sufficient 
means, and patronized by the whole of the medical faculty in Edinburgh, it came to 
nought; just for being deficient of the one thing needful, viz. experience and thorough 
knowledge .of their business, and thus sacrificed one of the best openings that ever was, 
or will be in Edinburgh. I held an appointment there for two years, but seeing what 
was likely to be the result, I gave in my resignation, and turned my attention towards 
Dundee. The business at that time was chiefly confined to four,—Scott and Moncrief 
in the old town, and Manderson and Gardner in the new town. Scott was considered to 
be at the top of the tree, and looked upon as a millionaire ; Manderson also made money, 
got into the town council, and became afterwards Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 
It would have been degrading for any of these gentlemen to have donned an apron 
and appeared behind the counter in those days; all the general practitioners dispensed 
their own medicines by apprentices ; the pure physicians, such as Gregory, Abercrombie, 
the Hamiltons, etc., sent their prescriptions to the shops, but there are no such things as 
surgeries now in Edinburgh. No wonder that the keen business eye of Mr. Duncan, 
then of Duncan and Ogilvie, of Perth (now of Duncan, Flockhart, and Co., Edinburgh), 
saw and took advantage of the opening that then presented itself; he well knew how to 
embrace it. I think it was in 1820 that he made a most brilliant opening in the North 
Bridge. I may say that he took the town by storm; it could not be otherwise, with his 
indefatigable industry and steadiness of purpose, that he succeeded in rearing a busi¬ 
ness second to none in the kingdom. Most of all the old shops gradually dis¬ 
appeared, and have been succeeded by men of a different stamp, both in science and in¬ 
telligence. It was Mr. Duncan who gave the first impulse to the improvement in fitting 
up shops in Scotland. The Glasgow Hall was not long in following his example ; pre¬ 
vious to opening a branch establishment their manager made a tour through England, 
and, on his return, fitted up a most splendid affair. It would be difficult to say whether 
Glasgow or Edinburgh carries the palm in this respect; previous to 1820, Glasgow was 
as much of the old school as Edinburgh. I must now draw my narrative to Dundee, 
where I landed in May, 1831. I remember well on one drizzly morning leaving Edin¬ 
burgh by stage-coach; on arriving at Newport I was rowed across the Tay in open boat 
(no steamboats then) to Dundee; at that time the population was computed to be about 
32,000, but is now about four times that number. Dundee, as contrasted with Edinburgh 
at that time, was one of the dirtiest towns I ever was in, and I had some misgivings as to 
making it my permanent residence. I found there were four druggists’ shops in the town 
when I came here: one on the north-east corner of High Street, one under the Town 
House, kept by an old weaver, one in the Murraygate, and another kept by a Mrs. 
Syme in the Overgate. Much to the credit of the old man under the Town House, he 
seemed to carry the day for a considerable time ; it was the first, the original shop, where 
drugs were sold in Dundee; the country-people knew nowhere else to go. The fittings of 
this shop were, of course, in the most primitive style ; flint glass and gold labels were the 
exception, with an abundance of serpents, snakes, and rare fish displayed in his window. 
The medical practice was inthehandsof four individuals, viz. Drs.Nimmo,Ramsy, Bell, and 
Crichton. Anything like local prescriptions were not to be seen, so that the business of 
the druggist was much curtailed in consequence, and the impression was general that 
prescriptions could not be correctly prepared by the druggists, As to the young practi¬ 
tioners, poor fellows, they could hardly make as much as to keep a decent coat on their 
backs, such was the hold the old doctors had on the community. As an instance of the 
up-hill work the young doctors had to contend with, when a vacancy occurred in the 
dispensary, the salary being then only £10, there was as much canvassing for the situation 
as would be now r for that of an M.P. for the borough; now, when the salary is five times 
as much, the thing sometimes goes a-begging. I have thus shadowed forth the great 
changes that have taken place, both in the medical profession and also of the chemists 
and druggists during the last half-century. As to our present position, you are as able 
to judge of it as I am; but I may be permitted to say that the general aspect and ac¬ 
quirements of our society which has now been formed, will bear a favourable comparison 
with that of the principal towns in Scotland. It might be well, however, were we to 
direct our special attention to the collateral sciences, viz. chemistry, botany, and the 
microscope, and so enable us to stand on the same platform as our brethren in the 
south. Those who were privileged' to attend the meetings of the Pharmaceutical Con¬ 
ference, lately held in Dundee, must have been highly gratified, and convinced of the 
