BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
697 
have traversed, and out beyond girdling the glorious landscape the deep blue sea, a 
perfect setting to nature’s fairest and most enchanting picture. And, gentlemen, we 
stand to-day on such a mountain summit, and though here and there the mists still 
hang thick and heavy, we can see something of the glorious prospect before us, and 
the wide sea of knowledge and of science circles the landscape round, and bids us 
press on and on, to fathom the yet unexplored depths of truth and wisdom, and to 
search and sound the vast expanse which every new gleam of light opens up afresh. 
I do not propose to enter at any length into what I conceive to be the defects of the 
Pharmacy Bill of 1869 ; we are in good hands, and may rest satisfied that those who 
have done the work so well, will not leave it incomplete. But I must say this, that 
having imposed upon us as a profession certain, and to a very large extent wise, re¬ 
strictions, and having demanded from us that in the future all who enter the portals 
of pharmacy shall properly qualify themselves for its important duties, we must not 
rest until the State assigns and secures to us as pharmaceutical chemists, the sole and 
exclusive right of vending and dispensing every class of medicine; shutting out once 
and for ever all who act as unqualified men, and whose existence, in the rural districts 
especially, offers the most easy opportunity for the mischief caused by ignorance and 
inefficiency. 
That a chemist may, if he must , in order to eke out a subsistence, sell shoes, or 
newspapers, or sugar, may be granted, but that a grocer, utterly unqualified, should 
be allowed to deal in medicine, of the properties of which he knows nothing, and upon 
whose proper preparation and purity the very lives of the community depend, we 
utterly repudiate. 
And no legislation will be complete until every possible means are exhausted, to put 
a stop to a system at once so dangerous and unfair. Our present position is a some¬ 
what anomalous one, the recent Act wisely and properly includes, in its system 
of registration, all chemists in business in December 1868, and most of whom, 
although some of them have passed no examination, are fully qualified by knowledge 
and practical experience for their duties. 
But our claims to be recognized as a profession will only be fully admitted when the 
public feel that we have a right to the title not only by Acts of Parliament, but by 
indisputable qualifications of our own. 
And gentlemen, if you will allow me to express what, perhaps to some, may seem a 
heterodox opinion, I do not believe those claims will ever be conceded, until we tho¬ 
roughly expunge from our business every quack remedy, and quackery in all its forms. 
I am well aware that the subject is surrounded with difficulties, and that a way of 
escape from the trade in patent medicines is not easy ; all I do say is, that until this 
is done, we may call ourselves what we please, and present or future Acts may confer 
upon us titles or privileges ; the public will properly refuse to recognise as professional 
men, dealers in every variety of nostrum. We may hope that with increasing intelli¬ 
gence amongst the masses, and a higher education amongst ourselves, this difficulty 
will eventually clear itself away. 
The business side of pharmacy, as it at present exists, demands a passing notice. 
It is a popular theory, but unhappily for us, a popular delusion also, that our profits 
are about elevenpence out of the shilling, and that the chemists and druggists of Great 
Britain are very prosperous men. 
I have taken some pains to ascertain the average amount of returns (not profits re¬ 
member) of the retail and dispensing chemists throughout England and Wales, and 
after many calculations I cannot make them more than £440 per annum. 
Now, when it is remembered that out of this magnificent sum, rent, taxes, gas, 
salaries, wages, and general trade expenses have to be disbursed, in addition to the 
cost of goods, and interest upon capital, the whole preceded by an expensive education 
and apprenticeship,—it is evident that even at the best the results are almost ludi¬ 
crously small; and I do not hesitate to say, that there is no business in existence de¬ 
manding so much from its members, and giving so little in return. 
The question of prices is out of my province, and I shall therefore content myself 
with saying, that I think some scale of fees for the dispensing or purely professional 
part of our business, based upon the number of doses ordered, might with advantage 
be agreed upon. 
VOL. XI. 2 z 
