344 
BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
every day of our life. A very old and familiar friend on our shelves is the aqua lauro- 
cerasi or cherry-laurel water, and it is astonishing how few know from what tree this 
uncertain medicine is distilled, and still fewer are aware that it is no true laurel at all, not 
even belonging to the laurel tribe, hut more nearly related to the rose. Castor oil, 
again, is a medicament, perhaps of all things the one most frequently handled and sold. 
Whilst weighing out this nauseous but useful article, did it ever occur to the Bristol 
Pharmaceutist, that just a century ago, a Bath physician introduced it and prescribed it 
as a new agent in conjunction with the Bath waters? Within the last few years we 
have had the Italian variety, free from smell and taste. I dare say every druggist in the 
kingdom has it in stock ; but how few know what constitutes the difference—that the 
simple process of decortication and pressure, without great heat, deprives the oil of the 
acrid, nauseous principle, without decreasing its aperient qualities! or how few are aware 
that the castor-oil plant belongs to the Order which includes the deadly Euphorbium and 
the nutritious tapioca ! On our shelves we have rows of essential oils, which have each 
a different and characteristic appearance when viewed with oblique light, and which we 
have observed hundreds of times without troubling or caring to inquire why. How 
many are there that can explain the cause of the wondrous and ghastly blue that we 
see in every bottle of quinine mixture that we dispense, and which appears in sunlight 
rather than candlelight ? Now, if the slightest bit of curiosity had prompted us to in¬ 
quire the reason of all these phenomena, we should have been led into the consideration 
of some of the most exquisite facts of physical science. I must not, however, take up 
your time longer by giving examples of what must occur to the minds of all, but would 
again ask if the addition of a little knowledge would not invest our mere trading em¬ 
ployment with interest and delight, even if we had no higher motive ? It is for the 
elimination and enlargement of our ideas that we form an association such as that we 
now inaugurate, and for which we, one and all, wish God speed. Only let me persuade 
you to try my advice, and I feel confident that none will repent the experiment. Of all 
professions, none equals ours in points of interest,—it only wants the will to explore 
and the mind to unravel. In the words of a favourite poet, though originally alluding 
to another matter:— 
“ I do not know; nor will I vainly question 
Those pages of the mystic book which holds 
The story still untold ; 
But without rash conjecture or suggestion, 
Turn its last leaves in reverence and goodheed, 
Until the end I read. 
In such a spirit would I direct your inquiry, and sow the seeds for a rich harvest of 
knowledge. But I fancy I hear some of my valued Pharmaceutist forerunners crying 
out, as I have often heard in reality, Hold ! hold ! business before pleasure, if you please. 
Well, be it so ; nevertheless, I cannot conceive that I should be one bit less a man of 
business, if I pursued the retail drudgery with a little zest to lighten the toil, or dispense 
a prescription any the worse because, by knowing the properties of the ingredients, I 
avoided a result which may trouble both the dispenser and the patient by variation in 
taste and colour. A scientific knowledge of the properties of drugs and chemicals will 
enable you to produce compounds in the best possible condition for promoting the thera¬ 
peutic wishes of the physician ; will gain his goodwill on the one side, and, by being 
correct, conscientious, honest, and truthful, obtain the implicit confidence of the patient 
on the other. Hardly a day passes without chemistry proper coming in to our assist¬ 
ance, either in some unexpected complexity, or to answer the questions of some anxious 
inquirer. Without such an aid, how could we tell if our goods were not the product of 
some dishonest adulteration, except by mere guess-work? Far be it from me to recom¬ 
mend vain ostentation, or to elevate one’s ideas above the proper level; on the contrary, 
I would rather cultivate a humble, persevering spirit,—always striving to do all things 
well, and to use the best means in our power for the alleviation of suffering and disease, 
and to see that all the articles of Materia Medica in our establishments are up to the 
proper standard. It is possible, I admit, that a man may conduct a prosperous business 
without any regard to the principles of science or even morality ; but I contend that the 
man of integrity and industry, combined with a fair amount of knowledge, will always 
be the one most certain to succeed. I cannot imagine the feelings of a Pharmaceutist 
