THE JOURNAL. 
153 
Professor Archer spoke at some length, and expressed the great interest which ques¬ 
tions in pharmacy had for him, and he could not comprehend how it should be other¬ 
wise with any educated man brought into contact with the numerous interesting matters 
belonging to it. He had been much abroad of late, and knew the position taken by 
their Continental brethren ; and if they would allow him to give a word of counsel, it was, 
to aim high enough. Let them always maintain their right to be considered an essential 
branch of the medical profession. 
ORIGINAL AND EXTRACTED ARTICLES. 
THE JOURNAL. 
IJY MR. JOSEPH INCE. 
Most of us remember well the manner in which we wrote themes at school. . 
Given, a particular vice,—say, for instance, Envy,—and we remarked infallibly, 
-• Of all the vices that disturb the human breast, that of envy is the most bane¬ 
ful and pernicious. Butler, with his usual sagacity, has well observed [here 
quotation from the ‘ Analogy ’] ; and even Gibbon, in spite of his scepticism, 
avers” [fill up with a passage from the ‘ Rise and Fall’]. 
Nor when the medium of a learned language w'as enforced did the mode of in¬ 
spiration vary. 
Fiducia is not a startling excellence, yet, beyond all question, we commenced 
as follows:— u Omnium virtutum quse [sentence from Ainsworth’s Dictionary] 
non clubitandum est, quin Fiducia preeclarissima et maxime nobis laudanda sit.” 
Cicero now took the place of the pious bishop ; but in the main the two themes 
betrayed a common origin of species. 
Years bring experience, and in later life we learn to moderate our lights and 
shadows, and to recognize as at least one qualification in a writer, that he should 
distinguish between things that differ. Notwithstanding which judicious obser¬ 
vation, I am about to preface my remarks with the old stereotyped phrase, and 
to state that of all the journals difficult to conduct there is none more difficult 
than our own. 
This is the key to the enigma, that not only is the Journal the representative 
organ of a Society, but that the Society it represents is essentially unique in 
its constitution. So obvious has the difficulty appeared, that it has been sug¬ 
gested that the Journal should be abolished, or, were that extreme measure 
not carried out, that at least its organization should be remodelled, that hence¬ 
forth it should cease to be distributed gratuitously to the members, that it 
should run its chance with periodicals of kindred nature, and thus reap the 
advantage which the impetus of competition can alone bestow. 
Both suggestions are the result of a want of knowledge. The question to be 
decided is whether the Society, as such, be worth maintaining? whether the 
advantages resulting from its establishment be true or false? Some years ago it 
was perceived that England was the only place where the pursuit of pharmacy 
was not accompanied with honour; where no qualification was exacted, educa¬ 
tional or otherwise, and where the balance was held with rigid impartiality be¬ 
tween grocery and physic. It was determined (rightly or wrongly it is not the 
present business to decide) to change the system, to elevate the pharmaceutist, 
and thus indirectly to advance the interests of the public. It was thought that 
the man would be more satisfied with a higher standard of acquirement, and the 
world in general more content to entrust matters of life and death iu the hands 
of a competent individual rather than in those of an ignoramus. Under this 
impression was founded what is called the Pharmaceutical Society, essentially an 
educational and preparatory establishment. It was deemed logic that a sound 
