TI1E JOURNAL. 
155 - 
took exception to the homoeopathic figures, and a member of the Council had to 
explain that “ Members generally would be glad to know that the cost of the 
Journal, beyond the amount expended for wrappers and postage, was only £4. 
Of the £178 that had been referred to, £169 was actually spent in postages and 
wrappers.” I am not glad to know it. Wlien a friend of mine comes on the 
parish, I accept it as a dire necessity, and I am not in a state of jubilation that 
his living should be so cheap; and I feel sure that so long as members are proud 
of floating the Journal on so wretched an ebb-tide it will not reward the Society 
as a source of profit. 
Lastly, there is one giant difficulty, which, if once removed, would cancel all the 
rest. I have thought it right unshrinkingly to point out actual hindrances, con¬ 
scious that a known danger is half met, and that thus from our inherent weak¬ 
ness we may be driven to our true source of strength. Let us not be a Society 
in name, and let the eternal distinction between London and the country cease. 
With the exception of a few London members, the idea has never yet been prac¬ 
tically received that the Journal is our own representative, and that we all. 
whether in town or country, are answerable for its success. To judge from, 
appearances, there is an impression that it can produce itself; that by some mys¬ 
terious conjuring it is safe to come together, and that the requisite number of 
sheets and pages will make their due appearance on the first of every month. 
Glancing at the index at the close of each succeeding volume, it transpires that 
its entire compilation is due to the energy of about a dozen writers. Here and 
there, at spasmodic intervals, appears a letter, complaining bitterly that the sub¬ 
jects treated of are monotonous, that trade interests are neglected, and that 
practical communications are angelic in their visits. 
Happy for the poor editor of not his own, but a brother member’s journal, 
if this be all. Up comes an epistle, branding his Society as a mistake and 
consigning his Journal to the butterman. Such a communication has just been, 
received from a marine member of many years’ standing. It may be epitomized 
in three heads, thus:—1. He has watched the Society going gradually to the 
bad; it has now reached its culminating point, and had better close, start fair 
on a retrograde basis, and hope, in the course of years, eventually to become 
what it is. Poor Society! it seems as often under repair as the pump in St. 
James’s, Piccadilly, which useful hydraulic apparatus has just disappeared alto¬ 
gether. 2. He and some friends (names not given) prefer assistants who know 
nothing, and -whose qualification has been to jump from behind one counter to 
behind another. 3. He has never received a hint of the slightest benefit from 
Lis Journal, although he is making pounds by information gained elsewhere. 
Uow, as a London member, I also may be allowed to register a grievance. T 
have been for many years connected with the Journal as reader and contributor, 
and to the best of my knowledge I have never yet received a spark of practical 
intelligence from this particular correspondent, though perhaps this is one of the 
errors about to be remedied in future. 
Upon what ground do not occasional complainers (taking no other share in 
the Society’s transactions) instantly set their shoulders to the wheel to effect a 
change? Why not, from their own experience, furnish something to the com¬ 
mon store? 1 believe it to be in the power of every well-educated pharmaceut¬ 
ist, from time to time, to write some true and sensible and instructive things. 
Let us have this real help, instead of vain tirades about the Society and the 
poverty of its literary productions. Members of the Society, take your own affairs 
into your own hands; become the personal conductors of your own Journal, and 
before the opening of a new year it will not only stand before the w r orld as your 
real instead of official representative, but also be the best practical exponent of 
English pharmacy. 
20, St. George's Place, Hyde Parle Corner. 
