154 
THE JOURNAL. 
practical instruction was not likely to upset the prospects of even a chemist and 
druggist. Now if this theory be true, its details must be from time to time 
brought before the world; there must be a record of its transactions, a vehicle 
for the interchange of sentiment between its members; there must be an official 
chronicle of its various doings. Hence the necessity for the Journal. No Jour¬ 
nal, no Society : they stand or fall together. 
lleing, then, both the property and representative of the Society, indeed its 
visible embodiment, it is shut out from many of those aids and appliances which 
materially favour the welfare of an irresponsible periodical. Gladly would any 
editor welcome the breath of competition, with its healthy stimulus to exertion, 
imparting inevitably a vitality which, if not real, is galvanic; but from the 
moment the Journal had to trust only in its own resources, though its success as 
a work of literature might be enhanced, its essential character would cease. 
No journal con hope to compete with proprietary periodicals that is under 
the hard necessity of being indebted for its support to unpaid contributors, un¬ 
less we can reckon on some considerable amount of self-devotion. Literature is 
a poor living, but an excellent assistance; and a writer soon discovers that 
though he may be neither Bulwer nor George Eliot, he may, without overstrain¬ 
ing his capabilities, realize sufficient by his pen to clothe himself from head to 
foot. No young man of good education and industrious habits needs to starve, 
so long as literature retains amongst her patrons Charles Dickens, Chambers, 
or John Cassell. 
Pharmaceutists of moderate income and of good ability are not slow to avail 
themselves of such aid ; and this must be counted as one of the hindrances of an 
editor who can offer no other remuneration to his contributors than a sense of 
honour. 
This intrinsic difficulty is increased by the special character of the Society 
represented. It is formed of a community of persons of more or less scientific 
tendencies, with pecuniary trade interests. It is the nature of their actual 
occupation that their trade success depends upon the possession of certain for- 
mu'se which they or their fathers have discovered, or else on the adoption of 
forms cf manipulation which have won favour from the public. Not one frac¬ 
tion of this special information will ever find its way into the columns of a 
monthly periodical. In class journals connected with the arts the trade interests 
of contributors are protected by patent rights: mere business circulars have 
little to conceal. ‘The Horological’ is glad to advertise its watches, and ‘ The 
Grocer ’ to exclaim, “In the name of the prophet, figs!” This is a stumbling-block 
to that large class of readers who so amiably accept scraps of intelligence on 
trade minutiae as information. When a new publication starts on its perilous 
career, there is a marvellous supply of advice gratis shot into its pages, ranging 
from theories on the comet to a receipt for blacking. Many readers are en¬ 
chanted, though had they referred to an old file of the ‘Family Herald’ they 
might have wondered at the similarity of facts. Of oue thing they may rest 
profoundly sure, that with regard to the minor details of pharmacy they will 
never get beyond Cooley’s ‘ Practical Cyclopaedia ’ or Beasley’s admirable com- 
peudiums. Let us at once admit the existence of these peculiar trade interests, 
and then we may more readily understand the inevitable bias towards generali¬ 
zation, and the selection of subjects of scientific rather than of immediate daily 
interest. 
But if there are difficulties inherent to the actual position of the Journal, 
there are others which should not certainly exist. 
In the last financial report of the Council occurs this item :—“ Expenditure: 
Journals, postage, etc., £173. 13s. 4tf,” Knowing the financial working of an¬ 
other journal (non-pharmaceutical), I took the amount stated for a misprint; 
nor was I enlightened until reading the discussion which ensued. Some present 
