596 
TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY 
that notwithstanding the original members are removed—as by the common 
law of nature they must be in an increasing ratio year by year—others join 
in more than sufficient numbers to fill their places and carry on the work so 
well begun by the founders a quarter of a century ago, although the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society is still but a voluntary institution, and admission to it must 
be preceded by examination. 
The Council cannot but feel great satisfaction at having been enabled to 
augment the general fund investment, wdiicli at the end of 1863 was re¬ 
duced to £1000, and at Christmas, 1864, amounted to £1564. 19s. 5 d., to 
£2702. 4^. 9(0 during 1865 ; and they trust the improvement may so go on 
that at no very distant date that fund may be equal to what it was before the 
expenditure which took place in 1860-61, for the improvement of the labora¬ 
tories and premises generally. 
It will doubtless be observed that the Benevolent Pund account no longer 
forms part of the general financial statement. Owing to its gradual develop¬ 
ment the Council have deemed it right to separate it entirely from the ordi¬ 
nary monetary transactions of the Society. The increase of this fund and its 
extended application must be a subject of congratulation to every Member 
and Associate. Its institution was one of the first objects contemplated at 
the formation of the Society. Secondary, of course, to the one great design, 
of advancing Pharmacy b}" the better education of those who should practise 
it in Great Britain, but prominently enough to show the importance attached 
to it by the founders, a “ Fund for the relief of distressed Members and Asso¬ 
ciates, their widoios and orphans ,” stands forth in the Charter of Incorpora¬ 
tion granted to the Pharmaceutical Society. 
At the last annual meeting certain new regulations were announced; or it 
might perhaps be more properly said that it had been determined then to 
commence the system of annual relief in the shape of settled pensions, which 
was planned some time previously, but had never been carried out. That 
determination seems to have been productive of much good, for the subscrip¬ 
tions to the Benevolent Fund rose from £153. 2s. in 1864 to £215. 155. in 
1865 ; the donations, from £13. 135. to £135. 15., and the small increase in 
the interest on invested capital made the whole income £540. os. 11c?. as com¬ 
pared with £347. 85 . 11 c?. in-the previous year. On the other side of the 
account, it will be seen that relief was granted to the amount of £232. 15 . 2d., 
besides two annuities of £30 each, of which the first quarters were paid in 
1865. This commencement of pensions is a great epoch in the annals of the 
Benevolent Fund. Ever}( Member and Associate of the Society, and every 
contributor of half-a-guinea, has a voice in the election of annuitants, and wiii 
therefore feel an increased interest in the matter. It will be no small gratifi¬ 
cation to all to be assured that these pensions have been wmll bestowed ; that 
by one of them an original member of the Society has been rescued from the 
lowest depths of poverty, and restored to comparative comfort for the re¬ 
mainder of his days. 
In both Lecture and Laboratory pupils the Council had the satisfaction of 
seeing a small increase in 1865, but in the latter department the students 
fell short of the number which might be accommodated, and which, it 
was hoped, would avail themselves of the opportunities the Society has, at 
so great a cost, placed within reach. That better means exist now than for¬ 
merly of obtaining the required knowledge of scientific Pharmacy and Che¬ 
mistry during an apprenticeship, owing to the higher educational status of 
chemists throughout the country wdio take apprentices, has been before re¬ 
marked and cannot be doubted; but it must create surprise that the School 
of Pharmacy in Bloomsbury Square is not more extensively resorted to. 
Year by year old simple remedies fall into disuse, giving place in some 
