270 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
student-life in the memories that crowd round each familiar thing. And 
surely, if aught that could he said might bind the young men who now throw 
in their lot with us in fellowship with those who have preceded them, might 
induce them to emulate the successes of some of their forerunners, or with in¬ 
creased opportunities to strive towards yet higher things, your Council would 
need no other justification in adopting this formality of an introductory ad¬ 
dress. 
But before I devote myself to that special duty with which I have been 
charged, I may be permitted to express, very briefly, a few thoughts that 
have arisen in my mind on the present aspect of pharmacy in its social and 
ethical relations,—considerations which can scarcely be out of place when we 
reflect that the events of the past few months form the basis, on which the 
position of the rising generation of pharmaceutists must rest. We may be 
pardoned if on re-assembling after so eventful a recess, mutual congratulation 
should take the place of our customary greetings. In this interval another 
great advance has been made towards enlightened legislation in respect to 
pharmacy,—the greatest step, possibly, since the first recognition by the 
State in 1841 of the claims of special education as set forth in our Charter of 
Incorporation. We are no longer, as we were stigmatized in the House of 
Commons but the other day, a “ mere voluntary association,” but now stand 
in the same relation to Government as other professional bodies who hold 
compulsory examining powers. But with new powers and a correspondingly 
improved position, are associated new and increased responsibilities which 
must not be forgotten. 
The latest Pharmacy Act is but the consummation of twenty years’ steady 
effort in a fixed direction, and embodies the acceptance of principles the 
Pharmaceutical Society was founded to support; and we may well now pause 
for a moment to see exactly where we are—how we stand in respect to the 
community at large, and to the higher branches of the medical profession. 
The legislature has, with general approval, given to us as a body a certain 
monopoly on an educational basis, as it has done heretofore to lawyers, sur¬ 
geons, and others. How, with the horror that exists of anything like a pro¬ 
tective policy such a step could not have been taken without a prospect of 
some adequate advantage in return, and this is looked for in the increased 
safety that must accrue from having a specially educated body of men 
to perform certain duties,—precisely the same object, in fact, as that 
for which similar privileges have long been enjoyed by other professional cor¬ 
porations. There are still many matters left unsettled, which one day or 
other will need the attention of the Legislature, but in this one thing there 
is nothing more that can be done for us:—Parliament has done all that lies 
in its power to make pharmacy a profession. It rests with us, and most of 
all with our younger members, who will be the first to reap the full advantage 
of the newly accorded privileges, to qualify ourselves for the enlarged sphere 
opened to us. Ho mere curriculum of college instruction can impart that 
sort of intellectual cultivation and tone of thought that places a man above the 
category of tradesmen. This is true of the already recognized professions, 
much more so of us ; and we may well look to those now commencing their 
studies, who in the course of nature may expect to see the new order of things 
that time must bring, to qualify themselves by closer mental training for that 
higher social position which it will be their own fault if they do not occupy. 
Amongst the most gratifying features in our recent parliamentary experience 
are the absence of opposition on the part of the public, and the general approval 
with which the provisions of the Act have been received by the medical pro¬ 
fession ; the former testifies to the spread of intelligent views in respect to 
the just privileges of educational qualifications, as opposed to a specious misap- 
