CORRESPONDENCE. 
375 
in the business have had friends who, just 
previous to the passing of the Act, put them 
in business, and who, soon after the Act 
became law, discontinued business and went 
on again as assistants. Hence the injustice: 
a class who have had friends to give them a 
helping hand over the stile, are now eligible 
as members of the Society on their again 
opening shop, whereas those who have been 
perhaps twenty years or more engaged in the 
business must pass an examination, and 
then be only eligible as associates. 
I am not induced to write this in order 
that we, the senior assistants, should be ad¬ 
mitted members of the Society without an 
examination, hut this I think in common 
fairness ought to be accorded to us, viz., 
that after passing the Modified Examination, 
we, and also those who were associates of 
the Society before the passing of the Act, 
should be allowed on commencing business 
to become members of the Society, for which 
purpose I think a new bye-law w r ould not 
be an unreasonable thing to ask for. Trust¬ 
ing that you will give this a place in the 
Journal, and that the liberal precedent of 
the Council, in admitting to the Modified 
Examination the assistants engaged in 
dispensing and wholesale houses, etc., will 
induce that body to take the necessary steps 
to admit the senior assistants members of 
the Pharmaceutical Society. 
I am, dear Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
A Senior Assistant. 
Prices. 
Sir,—In proof of the desirability of some 
general agreement as to prices, aliow me to 
state the following facts:—I had repeatedly 
dispensed a 12 oz. Scudamore’s mixture (dose, 
an eighth part twice a day), for which I had 
charged the reasonable country price of two 
shillings. The same prescription was taken 
to a house in London—whether or not be¬ 
longing to that new species a “ ‘co-operative’ 
chemist,” does not appear; but it was charged 
ten pence ! 
The following was presented with the 
question what the charge would be for four 
times the quantity :— 
It. Potassii Bromidi 3iij» 
Syrupi Simplicis 5j, 
Aquae Destillatae ad 3yj. 
M.; ft. Mistura. Capiat cochleare amplum ter 
die. 
Not wishing, in these necessitous times, 
to lose a customer, I quoted 3s. 6d., and was 
told that in this fashionable watering-place 
I was considerably higher than any other 
house. 
I hope, Sir, to see the day when the same 
sense of honour which influences medical 
men will descend to chemists; or when, at 
least, chemists will be capable of combining 
honourably to promote the interests of their 
profession, as artisans unite for their trade 
purposes. 
I am, Sir, yours truly, 
An Island Chemist. 
November 18 th, 1869. 
The Modified Examination. 
Sir,—In your last issue you advise “ A 
Modified Man” to make a “further effort” 
to pass the regular examination. About the 
“ Modified Man” I have nothing to say; but 
I doubt not your advice will come home 
sadly to many chemists who are somewhat 
lightly esteemed for lack of this “further 
effort;” and it is on behalf of these I would 
put in a plea. 
Mr. Deane has justly described pharmacy 
as “a laborious and ill-paid profession.” 
There are many worthy chemists throughout 
the country who occupy what I may call 
solitary stations. Unassisted, the whole work 
of a shop devolves upon them personally; 
they are “ head men and bottle-washers.” To 
change the adage, “ ex uno disce multos.” 
Suppose a man (and the case is not altoge¬ 
ther hypothetical) to be between 30 and 40 
—young enough to remember his Latin 
Syntax and Greek Paradigms—educated 
enough to enjoy, in his rare intervals of lei¬ 
sure, a Greek play, or with Horace “ Trojani 
belli scriptorem relegere;” or, it may be, in 
some of the myriad paths of science he seeks 
some solace for his daily drudgery. He does 
not fear brainwork ; he would fain enter the 
lists with his younger brethren in this “fur¬ 
ther effortlike Entellus. 
“Non laudis amor, nec gloria cessit Pulsa 
metu;” but “ res angusta domi.” He may 
be the father of a family; or even “ without 
encumbrance,” he may find it difficult enough 
to make an honest living. His question is 
the cash-box. He sets down the fees; he 
calculates the cost of additional books and 
apparatus ; he considers the expense of two 
separate journeys to London (from which he 
may be far distant); he adds the salary and 
travelling expenses of a managing assistant 
on two separate occasions; and perhaps he 
arrives at the conclusion that it will cost not 
less than £30. To be exempt from serving 
on j uries may be very desirable; to be an 
“ examined member,” with the fullest status 
the Society can give him is a laudable ambi¬ 
tion ; but they are as grapes to the fox in 
the fable. Other considerations—such as the 
nervous fear which wise men have, lest there 
should be some weak point which might 
prove fatal; or a shrinking from examina¬ 
tion by fellow-tradesmen, who need not ne¬ 
cessarily be his seniors, may make him hesi¬ 
tate ; but the pecuniary consideration is an 
“ adliuc, sed non ultra.” 
I do not mean to charge the Society with 
the straitness of a man’s circumstances; nor 
