THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
609 
liad reason to Iiope, from tlie number of students of some former years, that 
the Society would have been quite free from pecuniary loss. While, how¬ 
ever, expressing this disappointment, the important results of the instruc¬ 
tion afforded by the Society must not be overlooked or undervalued. If 
the number of those who have availed themselves of the school be below the 
desired standard, the qualification has assuredly been up to it, and our labora¬ 
tory pupils are spread abroad throughout the country, giving tone to the trade. 
The Morning Lectures of the Professors continue to attract good classes ; 
and the Evening Meetings for the discussion of matters of pharmaceutical 
interest were never better attended than they have been during the past 
session. Many important questions have been discussed, and whether re¬ 
garded as opportunities for improvement by an interchange of ideas, or as 
tending to promote good feeling among us, these meetings are undoubtedly 
important and worthy of all support. The British Pharmacopoeia naturally 
affords many subjects of interest; and at the request of the Council, our 
Professors, Redwood and Bentley, as well as Dr. Attfield, have each kindly 
given lectures upon it. The very full attendance at these lectures is evidence 
that they were well appreciated by our Members and Associates. 
Within the year a slight modification has been made regarding the Bell 
Scholarships. By the original arrangement, one was to be given as a Minor 
and one as a Major; by this means the founders sought to encourage two 
classes : first, those who in an apprenticeship had given evidence of ability 
and a love of their profession ; and secondly, those superior men who might 
be led to take a higher position in the world of science. The same regulations 
are still in force, but the latter class of scholars rarely arise, and in 1862-63 the 
Major scholarship was not awarded, or even applied for; consequently the 
Council decided that in the event of no candidate appearing for, or being 
found worthy of, one or other of the scholarships, two in one class might be 
given. Two Minor scholarships were thus given at the commencement of 
the present session. 
Certain questions affecting the general well-being of the trade have en¬ 
gaged the attention of the Council. In the inability to obtain any remedy for 
the methylated spirit grievance from the Board of Inland Revenue, an appeal 
was made to the medical authorities of the various hospitals and dispensaries 
throughout the kingdom to discountenance as far as possible the use of this 
spirit in medicine. At our last meeting Mr. Pauli’s Bill for the Prevention 
of Bird-killing was under consideration of Parliament, and it became neces¬ 
sary to watch its progress narrowly; for going considerably beyond its original 
purposes, it assumed the features of a general Poison Bib, and that too, of 
a very objectionable character. Earnest representations were made to the 
framers of the Bill and other members of the House of Commons, and ulti¬ 
mately it was reduced to an unobjectionable measure, and passed. 
At "the end of June, “ A Bill for the Prevention of Accidental Poisoning” 
was introduced by Lord Raynham; it was extremely short, but long enough 
to contain provisions which would have been utterly impracticable, and was 
rejected when brought up for second reading. 
Mr. Ewart’s Bill to introduce the Decimal and Metrical system of weights 
and measures into England was considered of sufficient importance to call for 
a Special General Meeting of our Society ; a petition in its favour was pre¬ 
sented to Parliament. The Bill passed a second reading, but was not proceeded 
with; it has been renewed in a modified form this Session, and will, if carried, 
render the use of the system permissive. A much more important question 
arose on the issue of a Report of a Committee of the General Medical Council 
in the shape of an Amended Medical Act, which proposed to bring Phar¬ 
macy within the scope of the Medical Council, and chemists and druggists 
