'586 
APPOINTMENT OF LOCAL SECRETARIES. 
to whose names they are appended. In these respects our members throughout 
the country, and especially our local secretaries, may render valuable service by 
giving information to the registrar, where errors are observed. 
The 1 Calendar ’ is in some respects a less pretentious work than the ‘ Registers, 1 
but it contains a good deal of information on several important subjects. It not 
only represents the existing position of the Pharmaceutical Society, but shows 
how it has gradually attained to this position. Like the L Registers,’ this smaller 
w ork has been increased in thickness since the previous publication of it, being 
now 223 pages instead of 168 pages as formerly. We observe an alteration, 
W'hich appears to us an improvement, in the arrangement of the names of mem¬ 
bers, town and country members being included in one list, instead of forming 
two separate lists. 
APPOINTMENT OE LOCAL SECRETARIES. 
There are so many subjects likely to occupy the attention of members of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, at and up to the time of the Anniversary Meeting in 
May, that some of them may possibly fail to receive a due share of considera¬ 
tion. We are therefore induced to offer a few remarks on one of these subjects, 
with the view of reminding members of a duty they have to perform w T ith refer¬ 
ence to it. The appointment of Local Secretaries is made annually by the 
Council, on the recommendation of the members residing in the districts to 
which the duties of the office relate. Every town returning a member to Par¬ 
liament, or in which there are three or more members of the Society, is entitled 
to have one of the members placed in the position of Local Secretary. The 
office is honorary, and it has sometimes been looked upon more in the light of a 
complimentary distinction than a post of responsibility, involving a sacrifice of 
time and the exercise of some important qualifications. The Council, however, 
have repeatedly had occasion to acknowledge the great value of the services 
rendered to the Society by its Local Secretaries, and the position the Society 
has now assumed will render the necessity for such services more urgent, and 
the qualifications required for their efficient performance of a higher order than 
has hitherto been the case. It is to the Local Secretaries the Council must 
look for information and assistance, to enable them to carry into effect some of 
the provisions of the law, the execution of which has been intrusted to them by 
the legislature. Without this assistance it would be difficult if not impossible 
to enforce the requirements of the Act relating to the sale of poisons, and the 
practice of pharmacy. Their assistance is also required in conducting the pre¬ 
liminary examination of apprentices and students, in accordance with the recent 
regulations of the Board of Examiners. The following reference is appropriately 
made to these officers in the ‘ Calendar,’ which has just been issued:—“ The in¬ 
terests of the Pharmaceutical Society in the provinces is watched over by Local 
Secretaries, appointed by the Council on the recommendation of the members 
residing in the districts for which such Secretaries are to act; and these gentle¬ 
men are of great importance when it is necessary to obtain information, or 
rouse the whole body to action. Such occasions have occurred repeatedly. In 
1862 a Bill was introduced into Parliament, for the purpose of amending the 
old Juries Act, and the united efforts of the Society obtained the exemption of 
pharmaceutical chemists from service on juries by an addition to that Bill. 
“ More recently we may point to the service of the Local Secretaries during 
the various Sessions of Parliament in which the ‘ Bills,’ terminating in the 
Pharmacy Act of 1868, were under consideration.” 
What we wish to impress upon the notice of members is, that it is their duty 
to recommend to the Council, for appointment as Local Secretaries, such persons 
as they consider best qualified for it, by their positions, abilities, and willingness 
