24 
EDINBURGH MEETING. 
fur the printing of the Journal, which confirmed him in his opinion, and at the next 
meeting of Council which he attended in London he carried his point, and this reform 
has produced the most gratifying results. The first year he effected a saving of £434, 
and now, in place of a loss, a clear profit accrues to the Society from the Journal of be¬ 
tween £300 and £400 a year. I would claim the indulgence of the company whilst I read 
a few extracts from a mass of letters received by Mr. Ainslie and myself from our Southern 
brethren, which show that our friend has won the esteem of those gentlemen, a number 
of whom have voluntarily applied to be permitted to add their names to our Scottish 
list, and which it would have been ungracious to refuse, although it was originally in¬ 
tended to confine our testimonial to members north of the Tweed, (Mr. Baildon then read 
letters from the President of the Pharmaceutical Society, Mr. Sandford; from Professor 
Bentley, Professor Attfield, Mr. Hyde Hills, of the firm of J. Bell and Co.; Mr. Bremridge, 
and Mr. Brady.) These extracts, he continued, must be most gratifying both to Mr. Mackay 
and ourselves. After this brief statement, there only remains the pleasing duty of pre¬ 
senting the pieces of plate, in the name of the subscribers, to Mr. Mackay. The inscrip¬ 
tion upon the salver expresses our feeling towards him. It is as follows:—“Presented 
to John Mackay, Esq., Ph. Ch., F.C.S., with other pieces of plate, value £15Q, on the 
27th May, 1869, by his professional brethren, in token of their esteem; and in recog¬ 
nition of his arduous services, gratuitously rendered to the Pharmaceutical Society of 
Great Britain, as honorary secretary for Scotland, during the long period of twenty-eight 
years.” I now ask you to dedicate a bumper to his health, with a sincere wish that he 
may be spared to give the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain his valuable ser¬ 
vices. 
Mr. Mackay, who was received with applause, said:—There are occasions when, it has 
been said, the heart is too full for utterance, and, as I now rise to reply, I feel most 
truthfully that no words I can express will convey to you who are now present a sense 
of my feelings at this time. To be able simply to thank you and resume my seat would 
be, in one point of view, a relief, because, were my silence fairly construed and under¬ 
stood, it would be the best reply to all those who have contributed towards the very 
handsome testimonial which has just been presented to me in such eloquent and kind 
terms by my friend Mr. Baildon. I cannot, however, help feeling that it might appear 
to some singularly strange if I did not make an effort to say a few words in connection 
with an event which must ever be looked upon by me as one of the most interesting, if 
not important, in my life’s history. In receiving and gratefully acknowledging these 
beautiful and substantial tokens of your appreciation and regard, it would be mere affec¬ 
tation were I to deny that I have spent much of my time during the last twenty-eight 
years in the endeavour to improve and elevate pharmaceutical education. Pharmacy in 
Great Britain was, as many round the table well know, at a very low ebb when our 
Society commenced its operations, and continued in a comparatively feeble state for 
many years. Stimulated by the example and zeal of many noble-minded men, I felt 
eager and anxious to assist in raising the standard of education in pharmacy, so that the 
ordinary, and, in many cases, uneducated dispensing druggist might become the more 
dignified and polished pharmacist. Many years ago, I once heard from the lips of the 
ever-to-be-remembered and admired founder of our Society the feeling of shame with 
which, in the days of the passport system, he, on entering France, declared his occupa¬ 
tion to be that of chemist and druggist, for he felt at a loss to understand why, though 
in the same position as the dispensing chemist on the Continent—many of whom shone 
as the brightest constellations in the pharmaceutical firmament—he yet should occupy 
a niche so far beneath him in all that appertained to scientific acquirement and recog¬ 
nition. What, however, has happened since these words were uttered ? Well may we 
say— 
“ Whether doing, suffering, or forbearing. 
We may do miracles by persevering.” 
Certain I am that many of those who were interested in the progress of pharmacy, and 
who watched our onward movement—slowly, it is confessed, but not the less surely—can 
truly at the present time join in expressing wonder and amazement at the results which 
have attended our efforts. When I look upon the elegant testimonials which your kind¬ 
ness and that of others has bestowed upon me, I do so with deep and very peculiar feel¬ 
ings. I think of the past, linked with many endearing and, in some respects, sad asso- 
