286 
THE 33ENEVOLENT FUND. 
Interest carries men a long way, and there does not seem to be any interest to 
induce the Medical Council to oppress Chemists and Druggists. If any one 
will attentively read through the Medical Act of 1858, he will be perfectly satis¬ 
fied that its object was to gather into one department—to centralize, if you will 
—all that relates to physic or surgery. The whole profession was to be regu¬ 
lated thereby, and each branch of it was to be represented therein. The exist¬ 
ing Examining Boards were recognized and continued, but certain powers were 
given to the General Council to interfere if the examinations should at any time 
fall short of the necessary standard (vide clause 20, Medical Act). 
And now it is deemed desirable to add Pharmacy to Physic and Surgery. Of 
its intimate connection therewith, no doubt can exist. The means proposed may 
not be perfect,—they are open to amendment,—but we cannot regard the spirit 
of the proposition as inimical or intolerant. 
The Council has not started an examination to be conducted by any body of 
men other than Pharmaceutical Chemists themselves (the rights of the Apothe¬ 
caries’ Company being of course reserved as heretofore), and it has named the 
only authorized Examining Boards now in existence as sufficient for its purposes. 
We would not be insane enough to hand Pharmaceutical Chemists, bound 
hand and foot, over to Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries ; but when a pro¬ 
posal for an object which we all admit to be desirable is made in a liberal spirit, 
we would meet it with a like spirit. Half the individual grievances of the 
world are brought on by men trying to elbow their way through it; angular 
bodies do not pass each other comfortably, and it is far wiser to reserve such 
means of progression until they are needed ; improperly used, they often retard 
progress. But few professions or trades stand entirely alone, and certainly 
Pharmacy does not. 
One extravagant fear which seems to have taken possession of the minds of 
some Chemists and Druggists on the present occasion seems to be that the proposed 
Act would extinguish existing rights. Such legislation never occurs in England. 
Let them look back to the Apothecaries Act of 1815, and then let them satisfy 
themselves, by a reference to the ‘ Medical Directory,’ that many practitioners 
even now, just half a century after the passing of that Act, hold no other authority 
for their position than that of having been “ in practice prior to 1815.” 
There may be a registration to protect vested interests, but there could be 
no great hardship in that. Such a registration was offered in 1853 when the 
Pharmacy Act was granted on the voluntary principle,—there was no exclusive¬ 
ness in the invitation to join ; and had the prospect of any compulsory measures 
been sufficiently distinct at that time there would be no occasion for alarm now. 
THE BENEVOLENT EUND. 
There is a page in our present Journal which will, we think, be perused with 
pleasure by every reader,—that which contains the statement of the receipts and 
disbursement of the Benevolent Fund for the past year. 
In drawing attention to this fund at the end of 1862, we ventured to remind 
the members of the Pharmaceutical Society of its importance, of the easy means 
by which it might be enriched, and of the fact of its having been one of the 
original objects contemplated in the formation of the Society; and it is now no 
small satisfaction to find the subscriptions and donations of 1863 are more than 
fourfold those of the preceding year. We have had two unusually large dona¬ 
tions—larger perhaps than we may be justified in expecting frequently—and 
this should be an incentive to those who are not already subscribers to come 
forward with their smaller sums, and to Local Secretaries to endeavour to collect 
such contributions with the ordinary annual subscriptions from members and 
associates, that the gross receipts of 1864 may not fall short of 1863. 
