INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
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plication of the principles of free trade,—the latter to the increased goodwill of 
the body with whom, most of all, it is our interest to work in harmony. We now 
and then have evidence that, even yet, there exists some remnant of an old 
jealousy. It sometimes shows itself in the correspondence columns of the 
medical periodicals, it may be traced in recent parliamentary debates, and 
we are conscious of it even in the proceedings of the Medical Council; and 
seeing that pharmacy can never take its right place until it is in complete har¬ 
mony with the other divisions of medical practice, it is worth while to seek 
the cause of this lingering mistrust, and to learn how far it is remediable. The 
charges brought against us take a number of forms :—we are held answer- 
able for the effects of the law in respect to patent medicines, for vexatious 
Excise regulations, and for other similar anomalies ; but in whatever way it 
is surrounded, by whatever collateral circumstances it is supported, the com¬ 
plaint is invariably centred in the practice of “ counter-prescribing.” 
I know this is delicate ground to enter upon in an assembly of pharma¬ 
ceutists, but it embraces a question of infinite importance, which must be 
settled without reference to personal interest, real or supposed ; and it is more 
than ever urgent at the present juncture that it should be fairly and openly met. 
So long as it can be said in the General Council representing the medical pro¬ 
fession, as it was in effect said but a few months ago, that our efforts towards 
improving the status of pharmacy ought to be opposed, because they show no 
disposition to prevent chemists from acting as medical practitioners, there 
should be no mistake as to the views we entertain on the subject. It was not for 
us to introduce clauses into our Bill imposing impracticable restrictions of what¬ 
ever sort, but it is for us to say, as we can say very distinctly, that the course 
our Society has consistently followed for the past thirty years has been to oppose 
all interference on the part of chemists with offices for which they have no 
qualification,—in other words, to promote to the full the distinction between 
prescribing and dispensing medicines. I am far from believing that any 
hard line of demarcation can be drawn between the medical sciences or the 
practices founded upon them : surgery, medicine, and pharmacy are as much 
an example of “ continuity ” as the development of species or the correlation 
of the physical forces : but I do urge that the offices pertaining to each de¬ 
partment should, in common fairness, if from no better reason, be left to 
those who have special qualifications for their fulfilment. I trust I am dis¬ 
tinctly understood that by this I do not animadvert on the occasional recom¬ 
mendation by chemists of simple remedies in cases of emergency, or for those 
little ills of daily life, commonly regarded as too trivial for anything beyond 
homely treatment. This is not what medical men complain of. What is depre¬ 
cated is a deliberate trespassing in a province distinct from our own,—the in¬ 
terception of practice rightly pertaining to the qualified prescriber. We each 
have a duty in this matter, and my conviction is that the line of duty coincides 
with that of our own interest. I am well aware that there are some amongst us 
who uphold the state of things which still exists, more or less, in respect 
to counter-practice, urging in defence that their legitimate calling is in¬ 
jured by so many medical practitioners dispensing their own medicines. No 
doubt this is a grievance, but it is no defence. In a large number of in¬ 
stances it w T ould be impossible for a medical man to practise without dis¬ 
pensing also, and in many cases in which we think a separation of the two 
functions would be easy we must make large allowances for a custom, strictly 
legal, which is often followed out of deference to the convenience of the 
public, even in opposition to the tastes of the practitioner. The relations 
between medicine proper and pharmacy have been till now so ill-defined that 
much forbearance is needed on all sides whilst things are settling into their 
proper order. Medical practitioners, from time immemorial, have been ac- 
