144 
REGULATIONS OF TIIE BOARD OF EXAMINERS: 
of a definite chemical nature, such as extracts, tinctures, the simple aud the compound 
powders, etc.; to describe the composition of such as are compound, and to give the 
proportions of the active ingredients. 
Mateiia Medica. —To recognize the several specimens of roots, harks, leaves, fruits, 
resins, gums, etc., contained in the Materia Medica of the Pharmacopoeia, to give the 
botanical names of the plants yielding them, the Natural Orders to which they belong, 
the countries from which they are obtained, and the officinal preparations into which 
they enter; also, to recognize and describe the sources of the more important animal sub¬ 
stances used in medicine. 
Botany. —To recognize the medicinal plants of the Pharmacopoeia ; and to possess a 
knowledge of the elementary structure of plants, and of the general characters aud struc¬ 
ture of root, stem, leaf, flower, and fruit. 
Chemistry .—To recognize the several acids, oxides, salts, and other definite chemical 
bodies ordered in the Pharmacopoeia; to describe the processes by which they are pro¬ 
duced, the composition of such as are compound, and the decompositions that occur in 
their production. 
No candidate shall be admitted to this examination until he has completed the nine¬ 
teenth year of his age, and has passed the “ Preliminary/’ Examination or complied with 
the provision stated below.* 
Major Examination. 
Prescriptions and Posology. —The candidate is required to render in good Latin, pre¬ 
scriptions written in English, to detect errors in written Latin prescriptions, and to dis¬ 
cover the occurrence of unusually large doses when such are prescribed. 
Practical Dispensing .—If sufficient dexterity has been manifested in ordinary dispen¬ 
sing operations at the “Minor” Examination, the candidate will not be required to re¬ 
peat them. He will be examined with reference to his knowledge of the strength of 
simple solutions ordered in the Pharmacopoeia, by which he may be enabled readily to 
make practical application of such knowledge; also with reference to the best excipients 
and methods of manipulation, for forming emulsions with oils, resins, balsams, and other 
substances not otherwise miscible with aqueous liquids, and for giving a good pilular 
condition to substances which are administered in that form. 
Pharmacy. —The candidate is required to explain the processes employed for the pre¬ 
paration of medicines which have not a definite chemical composition, including macera¬ 
tion, percolation, evaporation, etc., and to manifest an acquaintance with published im¬ 
proved processes for pharmaceutical preparations. 
Materia Medica. —The examination will extend to the qualities of Drugs, the means 
of estimating these qualities, aud of distinguishing the genuine from the spurious. It 
will comprise a knowledge of the active proximate constituents of the most important 
drugs, and of the methods of obtaining these in a separate state and testing their purity. 
Botany. —The candidate will be expected to possess a more intimate acquaintance with 
the subjects referred to in the “ Minor ” Examination, and also to have a knowledge of 
the characters by which some of the more important Natural Orders of plants are dis- 
tinguished.f 
Chemistry .—The examination will comprehend, the laws of chemical combination, tho 
means of determining, by tests, the composition of chemical substances used in medicine, 
and especially of detecting impurities ; also the means of detecting poisons, and the best 
antidotes for poisons, to be administered in cases of emergency. In this part of the exa¬ 
mination will also be comprehended chemical physics, as far as this branch of knowledge 
is treated of in Fownes’s ‘ Manual of Chemistry.’ 
No candidate shall be admitted to this examination until he has completed the twenty- 
first year of his age, and has passed the “Minor” Examination at least three months 
previously, excepting that, with reference to the last-named condition, the Board may 
depart from the rule under special circumstances which appear to them to justify such a 
departure. 
* Candidates who have not passed the preliminary examination, may pass it at the same 
time as the Minor Examination, upon giving previous notice to the Secretary. 
f A Schedule of the Natural Orders and Genera of Plants referred to, may had of 
the Secretary. 
