310 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING, EDINBURGH. 
beyond our expectation, and will no doubt exercise a powerful influence in promoting: 
the objects which, as a Society, we have in view, viz. the advancement of pharmaceutical 
science, and the elevation of the standard of pharmaceutical attainment throughout the 
country. 
In conclusion, I have now a very pleasing duty to perform, which is, to introduce Dr. 
Scoresby-Jackson, who has kindly undertaken to open the real business of the session 
by giving us an address. I do not know what the subject is, but having a lively recol¬ 
lection of the excellent paper which he read to us on a former occasion, and knowing 
his ability and the interest which he takes in everything connected with pharmacy, 1 
think we may rest assured that it will be one which will repay our best attention. 
Dr. Scoresby-Jackson, on being introduced to the meeting, gave the following intro¬ 
ductory address:— 
Mr. President and Gentlemen,—I had great pleasure in acceding to the request of 
your Council that I would give the opening address of the session upon which you are 
now entering; but, it was far easier to express my willingness to do what I could to 
promote the welfare of the Pharmaceutical Society, than to call to mind the right way 
of doing it. When, therefore, I began to cast about me for a subject, I felt a little at a 
loss, because, being the first address of the Session, I conceived that I was somewhat re¬ 
stricted to one of a general character, interesting alike to all the members of the Society, 
as touching the history, position, or prospects of the Society itself, and of my qualifi¬ 
cations for the preparation of such a communication I confess I have some misgivings. 
Prompted, however, by a cordial wish for the prosperity of the Societjr, it occurred to 
me that I might offer a few remarks to those who are now entering upon the study of 
Pharmacy, and who will, one day, I hope, adorn the higher ranks of their profession," be¬ 
lieving that nothing can be .dearer to, that nothing can touch more closely the future of 
the Society, than the -welfare of its apprentices. There is only one more prefatory word 
that I would address to all my hearers before turning exclusively to the younger mem¬ 
bers, and it is this, that what I am now about to read to you was written with a running 
pen, for my professional duties, which have the flrst claim upon my attention, have 
left me but little time for the preparation of this address, that I do not presume to speak, 
to you in the name of the profession to which I have the privilege to belong, but simply 
in my own, and, lastly, that the observations which I am about to make are merely the 
expression of occasional thoughts, and are to be received only for so much. 
To you, gentlemen, who are now entering upon the study of Pharmacy, who are still 
untaught in it as an art, and are unacquainted with the sciences upon which it rests, I 
Avish to address myself, endeavouring to point out to you the path which you will have 
to tread, if your object be, as it ought, to attain the highest walk in your calling. The 
occupation of the Pharmaceutical Chemist, which it is presumed you hav r e chosen upon 
sufficient grounds, is divisible into two parts, one professional, the other mercantile. 
With the latter part of your vocation, that which consists in buying and selling, I have 
nothing to do, it belongs exclusively to your guild; but in the professional part I 
take a deep interest, not only on account of my peculiar association with it as a teacher 
of Materia Medica, but also because of my general relations, as a physician, to the 
public on the one hand, whose sanitary welfare is the constant anxiety of the profession 
to which I ha\ r e the honour to belong, and, on the other hand, to you, to whom that 
profession earnestly looks for able, conscientious, and enlightened support. 
It is expected that you bring with you a fair amount of scholastic knowledge, including 
the Latin language, without -which you cannot advance a single step ; and that you 
possess a certain aptitude for your calling, without which you will neither be able to 
comprehend its mysteries, nor to perform the manipulations which its practice requires. 
Being thus fitted to your vocation, let me draAv your attention to your future career, 
and we may view it in three stages, namely, your practical education, your scientific 
education, and lastly, your relations, duties, and privileges as qualified Pharmaceutical 
Chemists. 
By your practical education, I mean that which you are to learn during your appren¬ 
ticeship, respecting the profession of Pharmacy, in the laboratory of a Pharmaceutical 
Chemist. At first your duties are very simple, but by no means unimportant. You are 
to become acquainted with the instruments by means of which all your future operations 
are to be conducted, and you are to acquire, by practice, facility in Aveighing and mea- 
