183 
ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION 
IN THE PROVINCES. 
BY MR. G-. F. SCHACHT. 
It is not perhaps advisable (even were I competent to the task) that the 
valuable time of this Conference should be occupied with any attempt of 
mine to add a single grace to the already ornate tribute of praise which so 
many able men have, ere now, helped to raise in honour of Science and her 
eternal charms. The subject has long constituted, and still continues to com 
stitute, a theme that never fails to enlist, on the one hand, the highest elo¬ 
quence amongst us, and, on the other, the utmost sympathy and attention. 
I may perhaps venture to indulge myself with the expression of a hope 
that topics of such higli import will ever be welcome in a company of phar¬ 
maceutists, but they are not my theme to-day,—the ears that I address have 
long been open to callings such as these, and, as I think, they that heard 
have answered. 
Neither shall I trouble you with any special efforts to exalt the impression 
of the dignity, or deepen the conviction of the responsibility that attaches 
to our duties. These considerations, with their important and interesting 
issues, have also been enlarged upon frequently and well. I leave them, 
therefore, as requiring no advocacy from me, and shall ratber assume in this 
paper (as I believe I am justified in assuming) that the labourers to whom I 
have referred have not laboured in vain,—that their leaven has worked 
well,—that the members of our entire body are fairly alive to all their obli¬ 
gations,—and that young and old are alike regarding scientific study, in, at 
least, one of two aspects, namely, either as a delight or as a necessity. 
With all gratitude, then, to those whose labours have borne so fair a fruit, 
I venture upon the consideration of a question of at least equal practical 
importance. 
Hitherto we have been chiefly solicitous to create a demand, is it not now 
time to consider the supply ? Public opinion has at last confirmed in a very 
practical manner the doctrines we have been so long advocating ; an Act of 
Parliament has been passed which necessitates a certain standard of scientific 
proficiency in every pharmaceutist; for this, if what I have said be true, we 
are largely responsible ; is it not then but simply fair that we now set our¬ 
selves to provide sufficient opportunities for the culture of those attainments 
we have done so much to make compulsory ? 
Let me first say a word as to numbers. I find upon the authority of the 
Register lately issued in accordance with the provisions of the Pharmacy 
Act, that there are 11,638 Chemists and Druggists in England, AYales, and 
Scotland. For several reasons I have determined to limit the scope of my 
remarks to England and Wales. As the population of Scotland is to that of 
England as one to seven, the deduction of one-eighth of the above number 
(viz. 1454) will give 10,184 as the number of master Chemists and Druggists 
in England and Wales. The proportion which the Assistants and Appren¬ 
tices bear to the principals is a little difficult to determine absolutely, but, 
from the evidence of a few lists I have made of their exact numbers in places 
of somewhat varied character, I come to the conclusion to estimate them as 
1J to 1. This would give the number of the Assistants and Apprentices, or 
the student class of our body, as I shall call them, as 13,578. Again, I 
estimate the average length of time a young man remains in the ranks of 
this class (taking into account the chances of his removal by death, by 
change of occupation, and by promotion to the rank of master) to be about 
