THE ERROR AND THE REMEDY. 
127 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—It has been for a long time past my intention to address you upon the 
same subject as Mr. Barling has done so ably in your last number of the Journal, 
and I ask permission to occupy some space in your next upon the same privi¬ 
lege, namely, long connection with the Society. I feel now, and have felt for 
many years, the utter uselessness of paying an annual subscription for the mere 
purpose of being entitled to the distinction of a Pharmaceutical Chemist, while 
there are so many around me, not members, who enjoy the confidence of 
the public not a whit less for their being plain chemists and druggists. It is 
very nice to have a body of intelligent men banded together for the high pur¬ 
pose of raising the standard of our trade, and it would be more agreeable to me 
to be able to be in constant communication with such men ; but at the same time I 
cannot see that it is politic to raise the status of the trade to that of a profes¬ 
sion. We are to all intents and purposes tradesmen ; our daily avocations tend 
to £. s. d. and the greater part of our daily toil is that of any other trades¬ 
man, the transfer of our goods for profit. I quite agree with your Cor¬ 
respondent that a good practical knowledge of the drugs we deal in, and of 
the language prescriptions are written in, is the great matter desired; such 
knowledge is, or ought to be, sufficient to make a man eligible for member¬ 
ship ; and how great is the number of outsiders who would come up to this 
standard, yet would not be able to pass the scientific examinations now required 
by the Council! For those who seek for instruction by the attainment of know¬ 
ledge in the science of our trade, let there be distinctive grades in Chemistry, 
Botany, etc. ; you will then find men who will seek and obtain them, and in 
so doing will enjoy the laurels they obtain without crushing, as it were, those 
who now do not belong to us. It does not follow that the best assistants are 
those who have passed the examinations, for, as a rule, the aptitude for study 
destroys the qualities of a tradesman. Few professional men are business men 
(I acknowledge exceptions); but the young man who has passed an apprentice¬ 
ship in a well- conducted establishment is generally not only a good business 
man, but has a good and useful knowledge of his trade, and is well fitted to fill 
the post he occupies; yet the same person may not be well up in mathematics, 
structural and physiological botany, the wide range of chemistry, and such like 
sciences. These are the men who would put aside the ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal’ 
to read the trade hints of the ‘Chemist’ or the ‘Technologist,’ and put them to prac¬ 
tical use, and though not scientific or learned enough to pass the examinations, 
they will be nevertheless useful men of their day, and will obtain the confidence 
of the public equally with the “members by examination.” Mr. Barling’s 
suggestions are so good that they need no addition from me; and I am glad to 
back them up, and am gratified to find that I am not alone in the opinion that 
“ our Society is too hard to enter, and when in, that it gives too small an 
advantage to its members.” I hope others will well consider this matter, and 
by the force of their arguments, and the co-operation of “ outsiders,” effect such 
a reform in the Society that it may become a flourishing, and not a forced, 
plant. I am, Sir, yours obediently, 
John Astley. 
Coventry, August 8, 1883. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—On perusal of this month’s ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ I was surprised at 
the tone of superiority assumed by a writer under the name of “ Major Asso¬ 
ciate,” and the supercilious manner in which his provincial brethren are addressed 
by him. 
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