556 
TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY 
which he would have felt on that particular evening, when a Bill was being in¬ 
troduced to Parliament, to add the keystone to the structure of which he had 
laid the foundation. 
But perhaps, Gentlemen, you scarcely knew, as I did, the history of those two 
prints ; and I may therefore be excused for reminding you of a promise,—no, 
nor a promise, but half a promise is binding on some men,—of our friend Hills 
last year. He then proposed to publish a print from Landseer’s admirable por¬ 
trait, and devote the proceeds,—mind, I don’t mean the profits only,—to found¬ 
ing a prize for excellence among pharmaceutical students. Those two unfinished 
prints were placed there to mark the progress of the work. 
It has ever been the rule of our Society scrupulously to abstain from in¬ 
terference with matters which might be, or even seem to be, questions best left 
for the judgment of each member in his own private trade; but circumstances 
sometimes arise in which it is of great importance that the practice of all should 
be alike, and an effort to promote that uniformity of action, conducive alike to 
our private interest and our reputation as a class, cannot, I think, be deemed 
an intrusion. It is of the utmost importance that the public should find no 
difference in the medicines supplied to them by different dispensers ; and, unless 
all work by one rule, the chances are very great that they will do so. Now the 
issue of a new Pharmacopeeia must necessarily create a difficulty, and you may 
perhaps remember that when I had the honour of presiding here at our last 
annual meeting, I spoke of the uncertainty we had all felt during the three 
years in which the first British Pharmacopoeia had been, or ought to have been, 
our text-book. Its successor had just been sent forth by the Medical Council, 
and within a month afterwards an official notification appeared that that, and 
that only, was to be the future guide for dispensers. The Vice-President concurred 
with me in thinking it to be our duty to bring this announcement immediately 
under the notice of every member of our Society. There were various reasons for 
our doing so : our duty to the highest medical authority in the kingdom ; our 
feeling that the utmost confidence should exist between prescribers and dispensers, 
as well as between customers and their chemists ; and lastly, but certainly not 
least, our strong sense of the annoyance and positive damage which must result 
to pharmaceutists, individually and collectively, if the new preparations were 
used in one establishment and the old in another. There are cases in which 
a deviation from the authorized forms might be of serious moment; indeed, we 
have lately seen one severely commented on, in which solution of morphia, P. L., 
was used were the P. B. solution was intended. There are other preparations 
varied in flavour and appearance, and although their medicinal effect may not 
be materially altered, mixtures compounded with their predecessors of the 
old Pharmacopoeia would cause doubt and distrust on the part of patients, who 
may from necessity or choice go from shop to shop with the same prescription. 
Gentlemen, I think I but utter the sentiments of the founders and upholders 
of the Pharmaceutical Society when I say,, that it is more pleasant to hear our 
customers express confidence in Pharmaceutical Chemists generally, than to be 
told by them that they prefer bringing their prescriptions to us, because the 
mixtures they get elsewhere are different to- our own. There is room for us all, 
and let each man live in his own neighbourhood or connection. 
That there are difficulties in the way of the universal adoption of the new 
Pharmacopoeia—in some cases, insurmountable difficulties—must be allowed by 
all ; therefore, when we advised' the practice of adhering to it as our only legal 
guide, unless an indication to the contrary appeared in the prescription, we by 
no means desired that blind compliance which would put the exercise of a constant 
discretion on the part of dispensers out of use. That discretion is one of the 
great safeguards of the public, and indications may exist which are not positively 
written. We are not mere machines. Nor, on the other hand, did we desire 
