PROVINCIAL EXAMINATIONS. 
66 
relaxation from their severer studies, a theme so rich in associations and so 
fertile in results P 
Haply a stray, sight-worn English tourist, tired of the theatre and sickened 
with the glare and glitter of Mabille, may be glad to seek refuge on some 
quiet autumn morning in the more placid though not less pleasurable scenes 
of the Jardin d’Acclimatation. 
26, St. George's Place , Hyde Parle Corner. 
PROVINCIAL EXAMINATIONS. 
TO THE EDITORS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Gentlemen,—In this month’s Journal there appears a letter from a Regis¬ 
tered Apprentice, urging the Society to carry out the views of “ Opifex” by 
way of supplying what he considers a long-felt want , viz. Provincial Examina¬ 
tions. He states that many young men will not go to the expense of passing 
the examinations in London, when the advantages ihey derive from being con¬ 
nected with the Society are so few, and that the Pharmaceutical Society will 
lose much of that sympathy which it ought to have from those connected with 
it, if it does not adapt itself to their wants. 
Again, in another part of his letter, he admits that the Society has steadily 
gained ground, and also requests that we do not sit down in a state of lethargy, 
when a little exertion on the part of a few would greatly increase our numbers. 
Now, gentlemen, I think it will be pretty generally acknowledged that your 
correspondent, if not lost to the Society, is in a great measure oblivious to the 
advantages derived from being connected with it, so that it may not be out of 
place here to mention a few of the more important, viz. the recognition of the 
Society by the Legislature in the Pharmacy Act, accompanied by the privilege 
of using a title which implies professional qualification ; the exemption of re¬ 
gistered Pharmaceutical Chemists from serving on juries; and the restriction of 
the privilege of service as dispensers in the Army to those who hold the Major 
Certificate of the Society. Having passed the Society’s examination, is the best 
recommendation to obtain a situation in the best houses in London, more than 
one of the highest of which will, I believe, take only those assistants who belong* 
to the Society. For the information of your correspondent, it may be as well 
to inform him that physicians and medical men generally are more interested in 
the welfare of the Society than he is probably aware of, as the following will 
sufficiently testify :—A London physician of some note lately wrote a prescrip¬ 
tion for a lady of good family, residing in the suburbs of town, which was left 
with her family chemist for preparation. The prescription was for drops, ^iss, 
of a sedative nature, and the direction u Coch. magnum pro dosi, in aqua su- 
menda.” The dispenser, observing the dose to be unusually large, had not time 
to refer to the writer, so, acting on the impulse of the moment, unfortunately 
diluted the drops to suit the prescribed dose, instead of correcting the error in 
the directions, which had evidently been made by a slip of the pen. The patient, 
however, remembering the doctor’s instructions, had the prescription immedi¬ 
ately made up at another place, and the drops were returned, presenting a very 
different appearance as compared with the previous prescription, and the tea¬ 
spoonful Jose on the label answering in every respect the physician’s instruc¬ 
tions. The lady returned the drops first made up to the chemist, with a request 
that the family account be sent in instanter ; and on his communicating with the 
physician to give an explanation, received a reply to the effect that the cha¬ 
racter of the medicine ought not to have been altered without referring to the 
writer, and that his prescriptions for that family were only intended to be made 
