OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
56A 
hours which chemists were subjected to in their business, it was not to be 
wondered at that they were not very much inclined to take time for study 
out of that which was really required for repose. Early closing was what 
they required, but their poverty stood in the way. Great as the difficulties 
were, however, they might be overcome by perseverance. The matter ought 
to be taken up by the masters, but, failing them, it would have to be taken 
in hand by the assistants. As he had said, poverty stood in the way, but he 
believed that would only be perpetuated by a system of late hours; an over¬ 
worked, ill-paid class could never do justice to the interests of their employers. 
He hoped the masters would make such arrangements as were reasonable, but, 
if they did not, he should be glad to see the assistants looking into the matter 
themselves. He knew this was not a very popular way of speaking, in a 
meeting of masters, but he was only applying to others what he applied to 
himself, and the golden rule required no more. He did not believe there was 
the slightest occasion for any shop in the country or in London to keep open 
on the Sabbath Day. A medical man in the greatest request did not sit all 
day on Sunday with the house-door open, because someone might be taken ill ; 
a dispenser might be constantly in attendance and the door-bell might be con¬ 
stantly going, but it was most injurious to the morale of the trade to have 
the shop open and the shutters down on the Sunday. With short hours 
must come that increased spirit of study which they should seek to cultivate. 
All their indebtedness to the men who had brought the Society to its pre¬ 
sent state could not be expressed, but at the same time there were numbers 
of young men in the country who could not take advantage of the museum, 
library, and laboratory, and who could not see the sights which had delighted 
him the previous evening; he wished they could, but as they could not they 
must consider what could be done for them. Science classes, in connection with 
the South Kensington department, could be established everywhere at an almost 
nominal cost, and amongst the subjects should be organic and inorganic che¬ 
mistry, animal and vegetable physiology, and botany. Turning to another 
point, he thought the advertising and quack-medicine business should be dis¬ 
couraged as much as possible; they must not expect to accomplish everything 
suddenly, but he did not think this part of trade belonged to their beau ideal 
of a chemist’s business, and he hoped it would be discouraged rather than placed 
under the patronage of medical men, as was now threatened. Lastly, they 
should aim at as close an intimacy as possible with medical men. How many 
chemists were there in the constant habit of making up prescriptions from phy¬ 
sicians whom they hardly knew ! Frequent consultations, and if possible, 
opportunities of meeting on common ground for discussion, were much wanted. 
Other matters might be mentioned if time permitted, but these, although not 
exactly bearing on the Report, were, he thought, not inappropriate to the object 
of the meeting. 
Mr. Watts thought the co-operative movement in some respects largely 
affected the interests of the trade, and he should be glad to hear any remarks 
upon it. 
The President said it was a matter in which of course the Society could 
take no action, but his own opinion was that it would be a nine days’ wonder. 
He had been glad to hear Mr. Balkwill’s remarks on early closing; that was 
a subject in which the Council as well as the Society at large took a deep 
interest. 
Air. Hills concurred in what had been said on the subject of early 
closing. He believed it was about twenty years since the early closing move¬ 
ment was set on foot, when a meeting of Chemists and Druggists was held -on 
the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, at or about 6 o’clock in the morning. 
Mr. Jacob Bell attended the meeting, and on his return told him, Air. Hills, 
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