LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
531 
The President acknowledged the obligations of the Society to Mr. Atkinson for his 
laborious records of results on this important subject. He regretted the uncertainty 
as to the state of comminution of the solid ingredients of tinctures in which the B. P. 
left chemists. The Pharmacopoeia of the U. S. was much more explicit, and gave 
five degrees of coarseness, each indicated by the number of meshes per inch in the sieve 
used. 
Many members took part in the subsequent discussion, and, on the motion of 
Mr. Horsfield, seconded by Mr. Abbott, the best thanks of the meeting were voted 
to the author of the paper. 
LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
Seventh General Meeting, held at the Royal Institution, January 21st, 1869 ; the 
President, Mr. J. Robinson, in the chair. 
The following donations to the library were announced:—‘The Modified Examina¬ 
tion,’ by Mr. Lescher; ‘ The Chemist and Druggist’; ‘New York Druggists’ Circular.’ 
The thanks of the meeting were passed to the donors. 
Mr. Shaw mentioned three cases of poisoning reported in one day’s paper, not one of 
which could have been prevented by the provisions of the new Act. 
The President asked whether the artificial oil of bitter almonds was as poisonous as 
the real in the crude state. 
The Secretary said that several cases of poisoning by nitrohenzol had been reported. 
The President said that the purified oil of bitter almonds was not nearly so much used 
as the crude, and that it was complained that the purified oil had not so much flavour. 
Mr. Redford asked if prussic acid could be again produced in the purified oil, as it 
had been asserted in the ‘Pharmaceutical Journal’ that it could. 
The Secretary said that it was impossible, as the pure oil of bitter almonds did not 
contain nitrogen, without which prussic acid could not be formed. 
Charles Symes, Ph.D., then read a paper on “ Practical Pharmacy.” 
The author first stated the difficulty he had in selecting a subject for the evening 
without encroaching on preoccupied ground ; he thought, however, that the progressive 
nature of pharmacy would allow him to say a few words on its practice without attempt¬ 
ing to supersede Mohr and Redwood’s excellent work. He spoke of apprenticeship as 
the first process by which we become initiated into the art of pharmacy, and considered 
that youths rarely found their preconceived notions of its operations carried out in the 
duties they had to perform, weighing Epsom salts being the nearest approach to taking 
specific gravities, etc. Nevertheless, education is essential, a good education invaluable ; 
it gives a power which nothing else can do. There are positions, perhaps, in which 
education creates dissatisfaction, but these are unfrequent. 
Practical pharmacy in this country at present means anything between selling hair¬ 
pins and brooches, and dispensing a carefully written prescription of an eminent phy¬ 
sician ; it would therefore be somewhat difficult to classify; there is just a slow gradation 
from the sublime to the ridiculous. 
The highest aim, the object, and end of all pharmaceutical operations is supplying the 
public with medicinal substances in the most efficient form for the relief or cure of dis¬ 
ease, and all processes which tend directly or indirectly to this end might be considered 
the essentials of the art of pharmacy. The retailing of drugs and chemicals in the con¬ 
dition in which they are purchased cannot be considered to involve much art , yet expe¬ 
rience teaches that considerable care is necessary. 
Mr. Symes then considered the portions of the Pharmacy Act intended to enforce this 
case, which in his opinion completely failed to effect the object intended. He thought 
that, having provided that the pharmaceutist of the future should be a well-educated, 
responsible man, he should have been left to conduct his business in the manner he 
considered most suitable to its safety. Several instances were quoted in which the car¬ 
rying out of the Act to the letter would entirely destroy its object. Exception was also 
taken to that portion of the Act which allowed the restrictions to remain on all pro¬ 
prietary articles, but removed them from patent medicines , as tending to propagate 
quackery. 
The author then referred to the progress pharmacy had made since the establishment 
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