HISTORICAL NOTICES OF CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS. 207 
The Apothecaries Act, we are told, dissatisfied its promoters, by not doing 
enough, i. e. it was restricted to those who “ practise as apothecaries,” and 
as it left us, the Chemists and Druggists, free with the farriers, cuppers, 
dentists, and others, to do much the same as before the passing of the Act, 
we can very readily imagine that all who had been striving to limit the power 
of the druggist felt disappointed at the result,—much of the same kind of 
disappointment was experienced by the Chemists and Druggists who were 
anxious for restrictive powers when the Pharmaceutical Society obtained 
their Act of incorporation ; but a review of our own position in connection 
with the Act of 1815, should teach us a lesson not to be too exacting, but 
rather to rely on individual exertion and voluntary efforts than upon Acts of 
Parliament. Illustrative of this, we find that it took one hundred and fifty 
years to determine what was meant “ to practise physic;” indeed the Court 
of Xing’s Bench went so far as to give verdicts, at the instance of the College 
of Physicians, against persons for selling articles accompanied with a printed 
description of their virtues, and it was only by taking a more determined 
stand, as in the case of King v. Rose, when the House of Lords decided 
the matter in favour of the sellers of medicines, that this question was finally 
settled. 
We have had at various periods since the passing of the Apothecaries Act 
to contend for our rights, but until the organization of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, it was matter of individual responsibility and defence; and it the 
Pharmaceutical Society had done no other good than this, the thanks ot 
every member is due to the late much-respected Jacob Bell, and those who 
co-operated with him in the formation of a Society that should relieve indivi¬ 
duals from the very onerous and expensive process of protecting their common 
rights. We are told, like the apothecaries (from whom we seceded), that 
our Act of Parliament, like theirs, did not go far enough, that the grocers, 
oilmen, and others, should not be allowed to deal in drugs ; to a certain ex¬ 
tent this complaint at the time seemed to be well founded. When the sub¬ 
ject is fairly considered, there are many difficulties and, it might be in some 
cases, great hardships; for instance, in a village, whose population is large 
enough to support a general dealer, usually denominated a grocer, but 
who has, for the purpose of obtaining a living, to combine groceries, earthen¬ 
ware, stationery, oilman, and druggist,—in such a case it is quite evident that 
drugs alone would not do ; then arises the difficult question, are the inhabi¬ 
tants to be compelled to go some six or seven miles to the nearest druggist 
when they want some salts or senna or other equally simple remedy ? 
The value of a Pharmaceutical Chemist will, when thoroughly understood 
by the public, be estimated at its proper value, and will be more effective in 
securing confidence and ensuring business than would any prohibitive mea¬ 
sure against grocers and others selling drugs. Some may be disposed to say, 
but you who have lived a few years longer than us, claim an equal right to 
the title, without having to undergo the same ordeal. This is all very righk 
but then to such I would reply. There must be a beginning,- that Acts ot 
Parliament are never retrospective,—indeed it would be very unfair to the 
man who had possibly earned the confidence of the public by a long life of 
practical usefulness to be called upon to go to school again; I say such a 
course would be unreasonable, impracticable, and subversive of individual 
and public rights ; and if the public cannot always judge betwixt the M. P. S. 
by examination and those who have not, they have at least prima facie evi¬ 
dence what one lacks in educational status he has a counterpoise in experience; 
it then behoves every one who is entitled to use the emblems of his connec¬ 
tion with the Society in Bloomsbury Square, to do so, in order that the 
public may observe and recognize it. 
