MANCHESTER CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
405 
The passing comments in the medical journals on the conduct of our trade, and 
especially in reference to the misadventures which unfortunately do occasionally occur, 
as well as in the marked opposition which the passing of the Pharmacy Act aroused in 
the minds of many of the profession, evidence, I regret to say, the existence of a certain 
degree of soreness, and a sense of distrust towards us. It is quite as well to analyse 
this unfavourable feeling, and if possible, without in any way sacrificing our inde* 
pendence and self-respect, to transform it into a friendly and mutual appreciation. 
You all know the principal reasons accounting for this inharmonious relationship, but 
simply knowing the reasons will not remove them. 
It is absolutely necessary, and now that a new, and I hope a brighter, day has dawned 
on the pharmaceutic horizon, it is a most suitable time to attempt to bring about a 
better state of things. Since it is no longer optional for those beginning business to be 
traiued according to a scientific standard, we are deeply interested in placing our con¬ 
nection with the medical profession on a stable and natural footing. The rising gene¬ 
ration of Pharmaceutists, who will gradually fill our vacant ranks, thinned by advancing 
age, will not, I am convinced, after having passed a professional curriculum, be satisfied, 
or suited either, to be mere adepts at mixing paint, or in dealing out goods from the 
incongruous stocks which fill the chemists’ shops of the present day. 
I would not, if I could, draw a line too narrow or rigid, or presume it possible to 
transform, as it were, “ in the twinkling of an eye,” the chemist’s shop of to-day into 
the pure and simple pharmacy of to-morrow ; but if we are to be chemists in pharmacy, 
let us at least obtain our true sphere of work, viz., the dispensing and preparing of 
medicines. We must remember, too, that the trades about us are gradually but surely 
encroaching on the miscellaneous branches of our business, and have only need to men¬ 
tion the articles of soap, perfumery, pomades, etc., which at one time were almost ex¬ 
clusively sold by us, to confirm us in the necessity of increasing what may be termed 
the distinctive and legitimate part of our business. 
As an illustration of especial interest to the Manchester chemists, let us estimate how 
much of our proper work we do here in Manchester. 
There are in Manchester and Salford, including the suburbs, about 246 chemists, and 
234 physicians and surgeons. As far as I can ascertain, only 46 of the latter write pre¬ 
scriptions, and the remaining 188 dispense their own medicines. Supposing each 
prescribing medical man writes ten prescriptions a day,—and I don’t think he writes 
more, if a daily average could be taken,—there would only be two a day for each 
chemist in Manchester and Salford to dispense. If, on the other hand, the medical 
men of Manchester and Salford ceased to dispense their own medicines, and, as a con¬ 
sequence, we had the dispensing to do, if my estimate be a correct one, each chemist 
would then have about ten prescriptions a day to dispense. This would be a very 
pleasing transformation, and would that I had the power to call it forth! 
This rough dip into statistics educes figures which are anything but satisfactory or 
assuring. In the majority of towns the number of prescriptions dispensed by chemists 
are very much less than here, and in some towns a prescription is seldom seen. 
With this condition of things prevailing, how can we expect much real or abiding 
interest, excepting in so far as the law requires, in pharmaceutic knowledge or attain¬ 
ment ? and the educating of a host of young men at this time to a Bloomsbury Square 
proficiency, is something like teaching navigation to a sailor without giving him the 
chance of seeing the ocean, or of ever being afloat. In truth, there is only a very insig¬ 
nificant and inadequate demand for the educated pharmaceutist; and it is utterly im¬ 
possible for the great majority in the trade to attempt to live upon the scanty amount 
of genuine pharmaceutic business which exists. We may attempt to rear with becoming 
pleasure schools of pharmacy, and have learned professors to teach the needed science ; 
but unless there be a demand created for the trained pharmaceutist, the knowledge 
gained will not bear its wonted fruit, and will only be acquired like a painfully im¬ 
posed task, and, because found practically needless, will soon be forgotten again. 
Partly in self-defence, and partly as a result of usage, the chemist, in order to make 
up a paying sufficiency of business, and to fill a gaping void through which the wolf 
might creep, is compelled to prescribe himself in lieu of dispensing the prescriptions of 
medical men, which are not forthcoming; and some even enjoy a reputation little infe¬ 
rior to medical men. It is especially the chemists located in the poorer quarters of our 
towns who prescribe to a large extent; but I doubt if there be one present to-day but 
