LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
355 
The President said that complaint had been made, and that considering the preva¬ 
lence of fever in Bootle, it was their duty to see that the water was of good quality. 
The President then read the Inaugural Address, in the course of which he made the 
following observations:— * 
Everywhere we see the competitive principle of examination, as to a man’s fitness 
for a post of trust or emolument, prevailing; everywhere we see great inquiry, and, in 
fact, a revolution in the ideas of education. There is a growing desire to cultivate, to a 
greater extent, the study of the natural sciences in preference to that exclusive reliance 
on classics and mathematics as the only mental calisthenics, and if this be so in old 
Universities, in public schools, ought we to escape? The answer is the Act of Parlia¬ 
ment of last Session, rendering compulsory in future that every one calling himself 
chemist and druggist, every one aspiring to be a dispenser of medicines, must give evi¬ 
dence of his fitness for that post by undergoing an examination. 
Whether we all rejoice at this or not, we all must respect a fact, and our duty is to 
look it boldly in the face, brace ourselves up, and quit ourselves in the emergency like 
men. It does not come within the scope of this address to enter into an explanation of 
the character of the examinations, which are of two kinds, more especially as this has 
been so fully done in the recent numbers of the Pharmaceutical Journal, and the article 
in last month’s, entitled, “ The Dread of Examination,” is so good, and one calculated 
so completely to remove the fears of a class of young men, assistants, who might think 
themselves hardly used, that I hope every one of you who have not read it will do so. 
My purpose is to state what your Society has done, recognizing the altered state of 
affairs to meet the emergency. 
This has engaged the most serious attention of your Council, who felt they would not 
he discharging their duty if they did not provide thoroughly efficient means by which 
its members might be fitted to fulfil the requirements of the Legislature. They have 
therefore made arrangements, so that in addition to the Chemical Class, conducted by 
Mr. Davies, F.C.S., and Lecturer on Experimental Physics at Queen’s College, which will 
be held on Tuesday evenings from seven to nine o’clock,—there will also be classes for 
the study of Materia Medica and Pharmacy and Botany, conducted by W. Carter, M.B., 
B.Sc., F.R.C.S.I., Lecturer on Botany and Zoology at Queen’s College, on Monday 
evenings. These classes will be conducted not only to the scientific training of the 
student, but also to the requirements of the Major Examination of the Pharmaceutical 
Society. 
We have thus provided the means and appliances; you must do the rest. Let me 
say a word or two on this point, and bear with me while saying it. I would remind 
the masters who are released from the necessity of passing the ordeal of examination, 
by that respect for vested rights inherent in all British legislation, how much they can 
do in clearing the way for assistants and apprentices to attend these classes, and in 
stimulating them to undertake at once and in right earnest the task of self-education 
and training requisite. Some self-denial will be required of them to do this, but I feel 
confident it will not be wanting. I would here say a word or two, though perhaps I 
am wandering from my province, on a subject that will come up more and more by-and- 
by, and that is, the long hours of business custom and habit have imposed upon the 
trade. I say custom and habit, because my experiem^—extending over twenty years of 
personal observation of nearly all businesses, from Birmingham to Newcastle, from Hull 
to Whitehaven, embracing all hours of closing, as early as seven p.m., and none so late as 
those in vogue in this town, and much discussion on this subject with the principals of 
these businesses—has convinced me that while a general rule, or time to close, cannot 
be uniform or enforced on all without special cases of injury, and that even in different 
quarters of the same town, different habits of a population prevail,—still, that the 
public do not require this at your hands, do not value you one jot the more for it, that 
it is entirely unnecessary, and only requires grappling firmly with to convince any one 
of the fact. I venture to say this much, for I have but little hope of much good coming 
out of the private studies of youths, whose hours of business reach from eight in the 
morning till ten in the evening. 
To the youths of our body I can only speak in terms of the sincerest congratulation 
on the prospect before them. I believe the future of the young chemist and druggist of 
to-day is bright with promise, and the Act just passed he will find of unmixed good to 
him, making his trade into a profession, and throwing into his daily drudgery some of 
