BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
695 
For centuries .up to this date there had been little or no interchange of thought 
or friendliness amongst the English pharmacists. They had kept apart, not from any 
ill-feeling or jealousy, but simply because there was no cohesive power at work. All 
honour to the men who, in face of many difficulties and serious opposition, and desirous 
at once to promote a kindly feeliug amongst all ranks of chemists and druggists 
throughout the land, and to set themselves steadily to work for the advancement and 
improvement of English pharmacy, commenced a movement the results of which, 
as w r e see them now, must exceed their most sanguine expectations. 
Assailed by the Apothecaries, who, in London at all events, were at issue with the 
chemists, they united themselves partly in their own defence, and to protect their 
interests and preserve their independence ; and a few meetings held at each other’s 
houses resulted in a general meeting, held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in the 
Strand, and in the formation of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1841. 
A very short time made it plain that, alike in London and in the country, there 
was a wide-spread and eager desire for a higher education and more ample opportuni¬ 
ties for study and improvement, and that the only true shield against the sometimes 
merited attacks of those w T ho looked upon the chemists as ignorant interlopers, w T as 
to provide a systematic and technical education, and eventually to make the training 
compulsory, and to unite the chemists and druggists of Great Britain into one osten¬ 
sible , recognized, and independent body. 
So completely was the Society a necessity, and so truly did it meet the requirements 
of the time, that, within little more than a twelvemonth, it became a strong and 
powerful institution ; had opened its now famous house in Bloomsbury Square, ob¬ 
tained 203 Members and 196 Associates in London, and 781 Members and a similar 
number of Associates in the provinces,—making up a total constituency of nearly 2000, 
with an income of over £3000. 
The future progress of the Society, its museums, lectures, school of pharmacy, pro¬ 
fessors, and examinations,—the steps by which it has, after nearly thirty years of patient 
and incessant labour, and, with the assistance of the Society of Chemists and Drug¬ 
gists, obtained for us our present position and privileges,—I merely notice. 
There are many amongst us w r ho have been more than watchers of its progress— 
who for vears have been earnest workers ; and I leave for them the pleasant task of 
giving you the history of their labours. 
The veteran warrior, covered with his jewels and orders, loves to gather his children 
and grandchildren round him, and in the kindly light of home to tell his stories of 
the battle ; and I hope, some winter’s evening, we may be listening to some such story 
of the pharmaceutic war. 
But, before I pass on to the concluding portion of my subject, namely “ The Present 
Position and Future Prospects of Pharmacy,” there are some few names amongst the 
founders and teachers of the Society which demand at least a passing mention. And 
amongst those to whose learning, industry, and euthusiasm we owe so much, there 
stands out with marked prominence one whose memory will be always fragrant to the 
students of materia medica, and who, more than any man of the last century, has 
assisted to expound and investigate the properties of the endless variety of substances 
which call for the study and attention of the chemist. 
Need I say that I refer to Dr. Jonathan Pereira ? 
Born at Shoreditch in 1804, he appears to have received an indifferent education, 
and at the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a surgeon practising in the City Koad, 
London. Here he set an example to the apprentices of 1870, by a close and diligent 
attention to his duties, and by a systematic course of study, particularly directed to 
the classics. 
Before he was out of his time, he prepared a vocabulary of medical terms,—an in¬ 
dication of, and a preface to, his future works. 
Entering as a pupil at St. Bartholomew’s, he was an earnest attendant on the lectures 
of Cl utter buck, Lamb, and Birkbeck, and in 1823 accepted the post of apothecary to 
the Aldersgate Street Dispensary, being then only nineteen years of age. The Society’s 
license was required, before he could enter on this post, and he passed the necessary 
examination with distinguished honour. 
Very soon his aptitude to teach developed itself, and he became a favourite with 
