PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 761 
Contributions have also been received from McGuffie and Co., Liverpool, and 
Henry Peake of Dover. 
Mr. Bland said the subject which had been so ably brought before them by 
Mr. Ince was one of very great interest, but he could not quite go with him 
in all that he had advanced upon it. No doubt it would be a matter of just 
pride to the Society to possess an unrivalled collection of prescriptions, but, on 
the other hand, it seemed to be imagined by Mr. Ince, that it was the duty of 
the gentlemen who were employed in instructing students to teach them how 
to read and dispense prescriptions. It seemed to him that this would entail so 
much additional labour that a new professorship would have to be instituted 
for the purpose. On the other hand, as far as his experience went, he believed 
it was impossible to teach a student the art of dispensing prescriptions simply 
by the aid of a professor or a book. The difficulties which young men met with 
in dispensing prescriptions, arose from various causes. In the first place, there 
was the question of handwriting, and he must say he could not agree with Mr. 
Ince in applying such a term as caligraphy to the writing of a certain physician, 
many of whose prescriptions had passed through his hands ; if he had said caco- 
graphy , the term would have been more expressive, and certainly more correct. 
They knew that medical gentlemen sometimes said hard things of pharmacists, 
but he really thought if they were inclined to retaliate, they might often do so 
with effect on the subject of prescriptions. But passing over the question of 
handwriting,—for men in other professions sometimes wrote badly,—there w T ere 
other difficulties. On taking up another prescription, it would be evident that 
the writer was either ignorant or oblivious of the very elements of the Latin 
grammar. Take another, and it would appear that the writer knew nothing 
whatever about the most simple chemical reactions. For instance, within the 
last month he had had brought to him a prescription, in which diluted sulphuric 
acid and prepared chalk were used in the same mixture. Of course the medi¬ 
cine failed to accomplish the object for which it was prescribed, and the physi¬ 
cian becoming further enlightened, on repetition omitted the acid. Going a 
little further, it would be evident that the writer of the next had not seen-or 
studied the British Pharmacopoeia, as it contained terms perfectly obsolete, 
which were only to be found in pharmacopoeias now extinct. But passing by 
these things, it’seemed to him that the fashion of prescriptions was constantly 
changing, so that even if they got students well up in this magnificent collec¬ 
tion which Mr. Ince was now preparing, in ten years’ time they would have 
again to study the peculiarities of a new school of physicians. He was quite 
certain, from his own experience, that no one could readily dispense the pre¬ 
scriptions of certain physicians unless they had been initiated into their peculi¬ 
arities under a practical instructor. 
The Chairman said it was quite true that a practical knowledge of the art 
of dispensing could not be acquired by looking at a collection of prescriptions, 
but, at the same time, by studying a large number of specimens, a certain degree 
of facility in reading bad handwriting would be acquired. 
Professor Attfield said that he did not understand that Mr. Ince was 
anxious to make this grand collection of prescriptions merely educational, or that 
the existing or any future professors should be called upon to teach dispensing, 
or any part of it, even if it were possible to do so, by showing the students a 
number of prescriptions in a book. His idea was, that the collection should be 
one for reference, open as well to students as to others. Certainly, as a teacher 
of chemistry, lie should consider himself fortunate if he were able to refer a 
student to the particular prescription which Mr. Bland had mentioned, in which 
the constituents of plaster of Paris were ordered in a mixture. It showed that 
