164 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
who were obnoxious to a prudent suggestion. There are, of course, nume¬ 
rous precautions affecting the accurate execution of those duties which are ex¬ 
clusively ours, which it is incumbent upon us to observe. It is not necessary 
to describe any of them in this communication ; it is sufficient for the ethical 
treatment of the subject to acknowledge that our responsibilities obviously in¬ 
volve the adoption of every precaution which offers additional security for 
the safety and welfare of the sick, whose lives and whose health depend upon' 
our accuracy, and, let me add, upon our honour. Taking a selfish view of 
the case, he is an unwise man who does not secure his own peace of mind by 
surrounding himself with every safeguard which can diminish the risks of a. 
business begirt with perils. In thus endeavouring to bring about a safe 
system of prescribing and supplying medicines, we shall deserve the gratitude 
of the public, and shall not incur the reproach of attempting to use the Phar¬ 
macy Act as an instrument for establishing an injurious monopoly which, 
above all things, it is desirable that we should avoid. 
The views which I have endeavoured to place before you in the foregoing 
remarks resolve themselves into this : Let us complete our own reform, and 
when we have put our house in order internally, we may hope to arrange our 
outside relations with the public upon a mutually advantageous footing. We 
must have patience, and must not expect too much. Moreover, we must be 
prepared to give a full equivalent in services for all that we demand in ex¬ 
change. We ought not to desire (most certainly I do not desire) extravagant 
prices, but we have a right to expect such prices as will enable us to supply 
medicines of genuine quality, reliable for the cure of disease, compounded and 
dispensed by qualified assistants who shall be adequately remunerated for 
their labours, and such as will afford to the industrious pharmaceutist a rea¬ 
sonable prospect of providing for his latter days without the aid of the 
Benevolent Fund. We also have a right to expect that the importance of 
our duties, when conscientiously discharged, and the nature of the qualifica¬ 
tion which we are required to possess, should raise us in the social scale 
somewhat above the status of ordinary trades, and that the profession of 
pharmacy, instead of proving, as it now does, an obstacle to the honourable 
status of a gentleman, should be held to imply all those qualities which make 
the name of ‘ gentleman ’ desirable. 
High. W. Giles. 
Mr. Deaxe said that it was unquestionable that the profits of the drug trade were 
larger formerly than at present, although the working expenses of the chemist were 
now much increased, and he had to expend a much larger sum upon his technical train¬ 
ing. It was desirable to obtain statistics, showing the reductions in profits that had 
occurred within a term of years, and he hoped that some one would lay these before- 
some future meeting. 
Mr. Gostling (Diss) also spoke on the relations of country chemists to this question.. 
(End of First Day s Sittings.') 
THE DINNEB. 
On Tuesday evening, August 18th, at 7 o’clock p.m., a complimentary 
dinner was given to the visitors by the members residing in Norwich and the 
neighbourhood. II. Fitch, Esq., F.G.S., F.S.A., Sheriff of Norwich, and 
Vice-President of the Conference, occupied the chair; Mr. Cubitt, the vice¬ 
chair. Most of the officers of the Conference, the Vice-President and Secre¬ 
tary of the Pharmaceutical Society, the delegates from various provincial 
