EDINBURGH MEETING. 
353 
the same protective and legislative power should determine and exact, on behalf of the 
public interest, that the assistant ought, before he became proprietor and head of a dis¬ 
pensing establishment, to give unmistakable evidence of qualification and fitness to fill 
such a responsible position in society. This is all the length the law will, or at the 
present can go; and, as the master is entirely responsible for the proceedings and act¬ 
ings of both apprentices and assistants, it remains with him to be satisfied with the 
attainments of those who are allowed to dispense prescriptions and vend drugs as well 
as their various compounds. In what follows, it is not my intention to go through this 
new Act line by line. I am the more disinclined to do this, because a good deal has 
already been said about the Bill generally in other quarters, and because several of the 
clauses are so plainly and distinctly expressed that no one can mistake their meaning. 
Any statement, however, implying a doubt, or which can bear misconstruction, will be 
referred to, and explained as judiciously and concisely as I can. And now, at the very 
outset, let me carry you back for a few years, throughout which the war of pharmaceu¬ 
tical legislation has waged fiercest and strongest. For a moment glance with me at 
that meeting of earnest men who, in 1841, assembled together for the foundation of our 
now well-known and prosperous association. Let me, however, specially single out 
that noble and heroic man, Jacob Bell, who for many years stood so boldly and fear¬ 
lessly at the helm of our newly-launched vessel, and whose untiring energy, whose 
varied talents, whose constant assiduity, whose unflinching determination, whose un¬ 
ceasing exertions, whose far-seeing confidence, whose princely munificence carried us 5 
safely over so many stormy and boisterous seasons, and to whose care, courage, and 
good sense we owed the safe, though imperfect, anchorage which he gained for us by 
the statute of 1852. Any society may well feel proud of a leader who, by dint of sheer 
talent and perseverance, gains for that society both a position and a name, and who, in 
addition to these labours, fights his way into Parliament, and even there makes himself 
heard in earnest appeals on behalf of what was to be the watchword and foundation of 
the Society for which he so industriously toiled, viz. increased pharmaceutical education. 
I repeat, when such a man has lived and died, we may well admire his wonderful career, 
and lament that he was so soon removed from the sphere of successful labour and in¬ 
creasing usefulness. Can it be questioned that, had God in his Providence spared Jacob 
Bell to the present hour, he would not have hailed with intense delight the success 
which has now placed pharmaceutical legislation on so fair a footing by the passing of 
the Pharmacy Act of 1860? All honour to his memory ! and long, long may his well- 
known name, read by the light of his unwearied exertions, prove a beacon light, ever 
bright and ever enduring, leading others to follow that course which endeared him to all 
who came within the charmed circle of his acquaintance, and a recollection of whose 
many virtues has done so much to enshrine his memory in the hearts of many who have 
endeavoured, though perhaps feebly, to follow on his track. After giving a clear and 
lucid exposition of the different clauses of the Bill, and having explained the future opera¬ 
tion of the Act generally, Mr. Mackay concluded as follows*;—Such are the leading features 
of the Pharmacy Act of 1868, which many look upon as involving a certain degree of 
hardship and injustice, chiefly because it insists on compulsory education as a quali¬ 
fication. It is undeniable that there are some cases in the country which deserve our 
sympathy. One young man called upon me lately, who was living as an assistant with 
a chemist and druggist, in a town having a population of about 20.000, and asked me 
how he could ever qualify himself for examination. I replied, by reading elementary 
works and studying the different branches required. His answer was, “ I possess no 
books of my own, while in the shop there is not a work on botany or chemistry even for 
reference.” Now, such a case, I doubt not, is a very exceptional one, and whether it be 
so or not, aids us with a most powerful argument that the sooner such a state of things 
comes to an end the better. I am satisfied that nothing short of compulsion, under such 
an Act as the one so recently obtained, can place the chemist and druggist in the edu¬ 
cated position he is entitled to occupy. Comparisons are sometimes neither advisable 
nor pleasant; but look for an instant at the Continent, where some of the most eminent 
and skilled scientific chemists have been dispensing druggists. There the onerous task 
of dispensing is really looked upon as a profession, and perhaps the best evidence I can 
offer of the real status of the pharmacien abroad is, to give the following extract from 
an address delivered some years ago to this Society by Professor Christison, in which he 
.says, “ When I repaired to Paris, to study practically the higher branches of chemistry, 
