OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
597 
cases to tlieir active principles isolated in tlie form of alkaloids ; in some to 
complex chemical preparations ; and in others even to the agents elaborated 
by Nature herself for the purposes of digestion or assimilation in the organs 
of the lower animals, now to be transferred to the human stomach. With 
such changes constantly going on, the Pharmaceutist who would keep pace 
•with the times needs a far higher scientific education than formerly sufficed, 
indeed, more than he can‘obtain under ordinary circumstances dunpg 
apprenticeship, and the Council have always endeavoured to make the Lecture 
and Laboratorv arrangements fully adequate to supply this want. 
At the commencement of the last Session there was no candidate for the 
Senior Bell Scholarship, and the Council consequently awarded two Juniors, 
one to Mr. Hall, the other to Mr. Applegate. Of these two students the 
former is still pursuing his studies in the Laboratory, the career of the latter 
was cut short by death a few weeks after he entered ; so for hall a Session a 
portion of this valuable fund lies dormant. . 
In the early part of the year the attention of the Council uas specially 
directed to Pharmaceutical Legislation, but the hope expressed in the last 
Report, that the Chemists and Druggists’ Bill then pending m the House 
of Commons would take its place in the Statute Book was not fulfilled. 
All the witnesses examined before the Committee of the House of Commons 
agreed on the necessity for an educational qualification for Dispensers, and 
afl agreed equally in describing the Examinations instituted by this Society 
as well adapted 'for the purpose, and the Examiners appointed under the 
Pharmacy Act as the right men for the discharge of such duties as might be 
imposed by any future compulsory measure. But the Session of 1865 was 
terminated before the usual date of prorogation to give time for the election 
of a new Parliament, and the Committee, after having resolved, that there 
should he no compulsory examination or registration of persons already in 
business as Chemists arid Druggists , but that, after a certain date to he fixed, 
no other verson should sell certain dangerous drugs unless he he examined and 
registered, concluded their Deport to the House with the following resolu¬ 
te That , inasmuch as there appears to he little prospect of any satisfactory 
termination to the labours of the Committee in the present Session , it is desir¬ 
able that the evidence , so far as it has been already taken, and the proceedings 
of the Committee he reported to the House, accompanied by a recommendation 
that the Government should, early in the new Parliament , bring in a Bill on 
the subjects referred to the Committee . . , , , 
The'representatives of the Pharmaceutical Society received assurance that 
no action would be taken by Government without clue reference to and con¬ 
sideration of the Society, and from all that passed it was abundantly evident 
that there would be no attempt to supersede the Board of Examiners pro¬ 
vided by the Pharmacy Act. It was, however, apparent from the whom 
tenor of the proceedings, that no measure would have any chance of 
success unless it dealt 'fairly and liberally with all rested interests; the 
interests alike of those who were and those who were not already enrolled 
in the Pharmaceutical Society. Had the Committee of the Llouse of 
Commons pursued its investigation a little further, it would have found 
ample proof that the Society had prepared means for giving all men regis¬ 
tered under the proposed Bill the opportunity of exercising what was called 
“ a voice in the governing body.” n 
In taking leave of the Parliamentary proceedings of I 860 , the Council 
cannot refrain from recording their high appreciation of the labours of bir 
Eitzroy Kelly, who undertook the charge of the Chemists and Druggists 
Bill No. 1 . Always at his post in the House, always accessible to members 
