498 
PREPARING FOR EXAMINATION. 
cannot be obtained. So much has been said from time to time in recommenda¬ 
tion of the more efficient means which for many years past have been provided 
for students who could happily make full use of them, that the less efficient 
means which alone are available for less fortunate youths have received but slight 
notice, and perhaps have too often been referred to disparagingly. 
But, as stated at the commencement of the article referred to, we have now 
entered upon a new era; the voluntary system is at an end, and a change has 
come suddenly and unexpectedly upon a large number of men of all ages and 
of various terms of experience as chemists and druggists, who find themselves 
in danger of being excluded from the business of their adoption, to which they 
have devoted, it may be, many years of their lives. We refer to those 
who are either apprentices or assistants without certificates of qualification, 
or adequate means for acquiring them in the usual way. The law says that 
these men shall not be allowed to carry on the business to which they have 
been wholly or partially trained, and for entering which they have most 
of them paid apprentice fees, unless they pass an examination. If the law 
had existed before they entered the business, there would have been no hard¬ 
ship in this ; but if, without previous notice, they are now called upon for 
a qualification which they have not the means of acquiring, they certainly have 
some ground for complaint and a strong claim for assistance. The Phar¬ 
maceutical Society recognized the claims of these men for special consideration 
in framing their Bill, which, as introduced into Parliament, exempted most of 
them from the necessity of passing any examination; and the Legislature, al¬ 
though not to the same extent, yet to some extent, has acted on the same 
principle by admitting some of them to a Modified Examination. 
Now, these are the men to whom we addressed our remarks last month. As 
the law stands, those who at the passing of the Act were of full age, and had 
for three years been engaged in dispensing medicines for a chemist and drug¬ 
gist, are admitted to an easy examination; but those who do not come within 
that definition must pass the ordinary examinations of the Society. In both 
these classes we have reason to believe there are very many who have no other 
means of preparing for examination than those which books and specimens 
supply for self-instruction. Having been appealed to on behalf of this class, we 
have endeavoured to give them such advice and assistance as a long and not un¬ 
successful experience has taught us to believe would best serve their purpose 
and advance their interests. To have told them to attend lectures where none 
exist, or that they should repair to London for attendance at a practical school 
while they lack the means of doing so, would simply have been to make a 
mockery of their misfortunes. 
Our object has been to show the necessity for systematic study in preparing 
for examination, whatever the nature of the examination may be ; to show the 
importance of starting with a clear conception and well-considered plan of what 
is to be accomplished, and to indicate the means best suited for the attainment 
of what is required by those who, from circumstances over which they have no 
control, are limited almost entirely to the use of books, and such simple aids as 
may be obtained at small cost. There are many instances of good results ob¬ 
tained with even these limited means, but it must be by proceeding in the sys¬ 
tematic way we have pointed out. To pursue the simile we have already used, 
the building should be constructed according to some plan, the materials should 
be well selected, and put together with judgment on a sound foundation. It is 
thus, and thus only, that a permanent and useful structure may be raised, be it 
a palace or a less pretentious edifice. 
As regards the nature and importance of the work to be done, and the 
method by which it may best be accomplished, we have nothing to add to or 
alter from what we stated last month ; but we wdsh it to be understood that the 
