OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
691 
merits, all Chemists and Druggists must cause their names to be placed on the 
Register. The compilation of that Register, which lies on your table, has been 
a work of great labour, anxiety, and expense ; hereafter it must appear in the 
month of January, but it was impossible to prepare the first copy of such a 
volume by so early a period in this year, as applicants for insertion were given 
until the 31st of December to send their notices to the Registrar, and it was 
not, as it will in future be, a mere matter of correction and addition. While 
the Registrar had, on the one hand, no desire to exclude illiberally men who 
had really been engaged in the trade prior to the 31st of July, 1868, he had, 
on the other, a plain duty imposed on him by the Act, and a neglect of that 
duty would have rendered him liable to fine or even imprisonment. It is quite 
possible that some members of this Society who may take that book home for 
examination, may find names therein of persons who have no claim whatever to 
be classed as Chemists and Druggists,—the indispensable qualification is, that 
they must have kept “ open shop for the compounding of the prescriptions of duly 
qualified medical practitioners.''’ Certainly no names are inserted regarding 
which the required certificates have not been given by “duly qualified medical 
practitioners,” or “ magistrates,” but sometimes the signing of a certificate is 
regarded as a mere matter of form. Many false representations have been sent 
in, carelessly rather than criminally, so far as the medical practitioners, or ma¬ 
gistrates, are concerned, which, on inquiry, have been withdrawn ; there may 
have been others, perhaps, presenting no feature suggestive of erroneous de¬ 
scription, which have secured admission for the applicants. If so, the remedy 
lies in an appeal to the Council, who have the power to erase names improperly 
inserted, as well as to insert names improperly excluded, and as much has been 
done by the Legislature for the advancement of this Society, it becomes the 
duty of every member honestly to assist in protecting the public by purging the 
Register of persons who have no right to be on it. 
Consequent on the Pharmacy Act of 1868, the Bye-laws of the Society re¬ 
quired revision and additions, to enable the Council to carry out the new enact¬ 
ments. The alterations were very carefully considered, and will, it is believed, 
work satisfactorily. Already many Chemists and Druggists claiming admission 
under the provisions of the 18th section have been elected members of the 
Society. Regarding the Board of Examiners as destined hereafter to stand in 
a more responsible relationship to the public, the Lords of the Privy Council 
suggested certain modifications in its constitution ; a limitation as to the num¬ 
ber and age of its members, and their dissociation from the Council, except as 
concerns the President and Vice-President, who will always be ex officio mem¬ 
bers of the Board. These restrictions are undoubtedly right in principle, and, 
as they will not come into operation before 1871, will probably be unattended by 
any inconvenience. It will still be for the Council to control the regulations 
of the Board of Examiners, and to affix its seal and signature to all diplomas. 
In future, a man who passes the Major Examination, and is consequently re¬ 
gistered as a Pharmaceutical Chemist, will at once receive a diploma. 
Among other alterations, it has been necessary to have more frequent meet¬ 
ings of the Board of Examiners, and the labour of the gentlemen composing that 
Board has been greatly increased. When it is stated that nearly 3000 As¬ 
sistants have established their claim, under Sect. 4, to the “ Modified” Examina¬ 
tion, that they cannot be taken at the rate of more than fifty in a day, and 
that it is scarcely possible to hold more than two such examinations per month 
in addition to the ordinary meetings, it will be seen that there is much heavy 
work in store for the Board. 
Feeling that the introduction of the word “immediately” into Schedule E by 
some unknown hand, in the Pharmacy Act of 1868, inflicted a hardship on 
many Assistants who correspond exactly with the description given in Sect. 4 
