THE ERROR AND THE REMEDY. 
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trolling power should bo exercised by somebody, but at the same time very de¬ 
sirable that it should not be subject to popular influences, and that individual or 
class interests or prejudices should not affect its decisions. 
In the new Medical Bill, it is proposed that the regulation and control to be 
exercised over the qualification and examination of practitioners in pharmacy, as 
well as in every other department of medicine, should be vested in the Medical 
Council. This does not imply any attempt at interference with the regulations 
for the management of trade associations having a view to mutual protection and 
improvement, and the general advancement of the interests of the body, but it 
aims at the production of a comprehensive, complete, and consistent system of 
education and examinations, which shall tend to ensure a sufficient qualification 
among practitioners in every department of medicine, and thus contribute to the 
safety and welfare of the public. 
“THE ERROR AND THE REMEDY” 
In our last Journal we published a letter from Mr. Barling on u Tke Error 
and the Remedy .” “ The Error” on which he treats is the course pursued by the 
Pharmaceutical Society from its commencement to the present time ; he asserts 
that u we have aimed a great deal too high all at once, and have quite overshot 
our mark that, instead of u a good ‘practical knowledge of the drugs in which 
they deal, and of the language in which prescriptions are written ,” we have re¬ 
quired of candidates for admission to our Society “ a theoretical knowledge of 
many other things besides that we have been “ trying to obtain a full-fledged, 
vigorous Society all at once, instead of letting it grow naturally .” Surely Mr. 
Barling, who describes himself as an old member of the Society, must have for¬ 
gotten that at its commencement chemists in business were enrolled as members, 
and assistants and apprentices as associates, without examination ; that at the 
first establishment of the examinations they were extremely lenient, and that 
greater stringency has only been introduced very gradually, and as justified by 
the increased facilities for Pharmaceutical education, and, we may add, the 
greater amount of it possessed by chemists generally. These are facts which, if 
our correspondent had watched the course of the Society, must have been obvious 
to him ; for the present requirements, we feel assured that the Board of Examiners 
would be only too happy to receive a visit from him when engaged in their 
labours, that he would leave them fully convinced of the thoroughly practical 
nature of the examination as now conducted, and satisfied that a theoretical 
knowledge of subjects unconnected with the drugs in which we deal is not re¬ 
quired of candidates who seek certificates of fitness to undertake the responsi¬ 
bilities of pharmaceutical chemists. 
The consequences of the error, according to Mr. Barling, are— that pharma¬ 
ceutical chemists bear but a small proportion to druggists in general; that out¬ 
siders are quite shut out; and that our legislators will not allow of any ex¬ 
clusive legislation by which an examination, far beyond the present attainments 
of the bulk of those interested, will be made compulsory . 
To this we answer, that there is nothing in our constitution or arrangements 
which shuts out men who possess such an amount of education as the Pharmacy 
Act requires, and Mr. Barling states in his letter to be essential; that if our 
legislators will not render such an examination compulsory, we have abundant 
evidence that they deem it necessary, and make the passing it a title to privileges 
much coveted by the “ outsiders,”—privileges which have aroused those who, so 
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