384 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
It tlius appears tliat in England and Wales, with a population of twenty 
millions, there are sixteen thousand chemists and druggists of ail sorts, in¬ 
cluding apprentices and assistants. The returns do not indicate what propor¬ 
tion of these are engaged in business on their own account, but they classify 
them according to their ages, and we thus find that of the 16,000 there are 
only 12,638 of the ages of 20 years and upwards. There are therefore 3388 
■who are under 20 years of age, and who no doubt constitute the class of 
apprentices. Of the 12,638 persons of 20 years of age and upwards who are 
engaged in the practice of pharmacy, a large proportion occupy the position 
of assistants. Although the census returns afford us no means of showing 
exactly how many are principals and how many assistants, yet we may form 
a pretty good estimate of this by referring to the statistics of such a place as 
London. Mr. Coke, one of the compilers of the “ statistical charts of the 
population,” in his very useful and compendious tables, has calculated the 
average number of the population in London to every chemist and druggist, 
and this shows that there is one chemist and druggist to 3505 of the popula¬ 
tion. If the same proportions exist throughout the country, we should thus 
get 5700 as the number of chemists and druggists for England and Wales. 
We may put them at 6000, and then we should have equal numbers of prin¬ 
cipals and assistants or apprentices, of 20 years of age and upwards. 
.Referring back to the census returns of 1851, we find that the total number 
of chemists and druggists, including apprentices and assistants, was then 
14,03S, of whom 3193 were under 20 years of age, leaving 10,846 of and 
above that age. The increase in the number of chemists in the 10 years from 
1851 to 1861, taking those of 20 years of age and upwards, has been at the 
rate of 17 per cent., while the increase in the population has been at the rate 
of only 12 per cent. This is worthy of remark, especially as it appears that 
little or no increase has taken place in the class of medical practitioners. 
According to the returns, physicians, surgeons, and other medical men, 
including students and assistants, were 19,190 in 1851, and they were onlv 
19,548 in 1861. 
We shall probably have to refer to these statistics on a future occasion. 
TRANSACTIONS 
OP 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
AT A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL, February 3rd , 1864, 
Present:—Messrs. Bird, Davenport, Deane, George Edwards, J. B. Edwards, Ilanbur}', 
Haselden, Herring, Hills, Meggeson, Morson, Reynolds, Sandford, Savage, Squire, and 
Waugh,— 
The following were elected 
MEMBERS. 
Eastbourne.Clayton, Henry. 
Esher.Ling, Edwin. 
Florence.Groves, Henry. 
London .'..Bass, James. 
Portobello .Nesbit, John. 
Rio de Janeiro .Ferreira, Antonio Alves. 
Selby.Cutting, Thomas John. 
