236 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Professor Attfield, before more direct discussion commenced, wished to al¬ 
lude to the probable educational effects of the measure. The Act would bring 
every future chemist and druggist within the elevating influences of extended 
knowledge. In enforcing examination it would place every apprentice under cir¬ 
cumstances in which the smallest spark of desire for information would have an 
opportunity of being fanned into flame ; and there were few breasts in which such 
a spark did not exist. His experience of the gentlemen who entered the labora¬ 
tories of the Pharmaceutical Society showed that all admitted their time and 
money to be well invested, whether they spent a longer or a shorter time in the 
institution. It was not unusual for students to tel) him that they only wished for 
so much instruction as would enable them to pass the examinations, but after 
having gained this, their views altered, and they wished to extend their course 
of instruction. The new Pharmacy Act would require young men to gain 
that introduction to knowledge which he (Professor Attfield) was convinced 
would give them a thirst for much deeper draughts from the same fountain. 
This was an important reason why the Act should receive their cordial support. 
Mr. Carteighe resumed the consideration of the clauses seriatim , commencing 
with clause 5. 
In clause 6, Mr. Kinninmont (Glasgow) spoke strongly of the feeling in Scot¬ 
land against the fees for the Minor and Major examinations being so high as they 
are at present. 
Clause 9 : Mr. Groves suggested that the aid of the Local Secretaries might 
be called in to assist the Registrar in placing upon the register all chemists and 
druggists now in business. 
The Registrar said that the suggestion seemed to him to be a very useful 
one, and he should be disposed to adopt it. 
Clause 15 : Mr. Atherton pointed out that deviations from the formulae of 
the British Pharmacopoeia were punishable by fine under this clause. Other 
members queried what then must be done when physicians who were known not 
to have adopted the British Pharmacopoeia sent prescriptions. The reply to this 
was, that the responsibility of using the British Pharmacopoeia rested much 
more with the physician than was recognized by a recent minute of the General 
Medical Council, and that the dispenser should clear himself of responsibility 
by requesting individual physicians either to state generally their wishes, or to 
indicate them upon each prescription. 
Clause 17 : The distinction between the sale of poisons by wholesale and by 
retail was pointed out, the Act being a dead letter as regarded large quantities 
of a poison, but not so for small ones. 
The remaining clauses did not excite much discussion, but clause 4 was again 
brought forward to enable Mr. H. S. Evans to make an important statement. 
Mr. Evans said that counsel’s opinion had been sought by the Council of the 
Pharmaceutical Society to ascertain the construction to be put upon the term 
“ Assistant ” in the Act. Now, he was not able to read in extenso the opinion 
that they had received, because it had not yet been laid before those to whom 
it was addressed, but he felt justified in stating thus much, viz., counsel ad¬ 
vised that in this Act “ Assistant ” included apprentice, and thus any assistant 
of full age at the passing of the Act, and who had been engaged in com¬ 
pounding prescriptions for three years, whether as a paid assistant or as an 
apprentice, would only have to pass the modified examination in order to be 
registered as a “ Chemist and Druggist.” 
The meeting thanked Mr. Carteighe for his very interesting and clear ex¬ 
planation of the Act. 
Concluding Resolutions. 
Mr. Deane, V.P., said that now they had arrived at the conclusion of their 
