July 6, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
7 
illjarmuccufital $ountaI. 
SATURDAY JULY 6, 1872. 
Communications for this Journal, and boohs for review,etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, TT. Envelopes indorsed u Pharm. Journ 
THE PRESENT POSITION OF PHARMACY AND 
PHARMACISTS. 
The privilege of grumbling exercised by English¬ 
men lias long been proverbial; but there can be 
little doubt that to the disinclination for sitting down 
contented with things as they are, thus called by an 
ugly name, is due much of the greatness of which as 
a nation we are so proud. Therefore, it is not, per¬ 
haps, so much matter for regret that, amongst those 
who are for ever deprecating their particular calling 
as the most unprofitable and unsatisfactory under 
the sun, some should be found who so speak of 
pharmacy. It is no part of our intention to dispute 
the assertion of such persons; on the contrary, we 
feel sure that there are many who will agree with us 
in saying that if it be an exaggerated one, it is, on 
the whole, much nearer the truth than it ought to 
be. Nevertheless, nothing will be gained by silence 
respecting what has been done towards improving 
the trade, or by ignoring the machinery that exists 
for carrying on so desirable a work. 
That pharmacists stand in a better position now 
than they did thirty years since is a proposition 
that would be as difficult to controvert as that the 
improvement is due primarily to the noble and un¬ 
grudged labours of the men who about that lime 
founded the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Bri¬ 
tain. And we believe that the present measure of 
success is only an earnest of what will be attained, 
should the body continue to produce men worthy of 
sitting in their vacated chairs. 
The state recognition of the fact that the pharma¬ 
cist requires a special education—a recognition ob¬ 
tained through the efforts of the Society that has 
done and is doing much to make such education 
possible—was a great step in advance. Although 
it was necessary, in order to do justice to the very 
proper claims of existing rights, to open the doors 
very wide, the effects of that necessity can last but 
for a time, and will ultimately cease. Meanwhile, 
it appears to be to the interest of all pharmacists, 
by assisting to keep the Society in a vigorous and 
healthy condition, to ensure the carrying on the 
work it has so well begun. To persons, who, like 
a recent correspondent, are able to borrow the 
Society’s Journal weekly without paying for it, and 
require information as to what other return they 
would have for their subscription, it would be use¬ 
less perhaps to offer such an argument. But, for- 
tunately, there are those who believe that in this 
country, as in France and Germany, a future may 
be secured for pharmacy in which it will be more 
properly termed a profession than it is at present. 
Much, however, remains to be done; and continually . 
we are receiving letters from assistants, urging ar¬ 
guments and asking questions that are difficult to 
answer satisfactorily. We cull two or three from a 
communication just received. “ Are our hours as 
“ short as they might be, were our employers to work 
“ in combination ?”—“ Considering the qualifications 
“ we are supposed to possess, arc we sufficiently re- 
“numerated for our labour?”—“Has there been, 
“ during the last ten or fifteen years, an increase in 
“ our remuneration proportionate to the increase of 
“ expenditure caused by the higher price paid for 
“ labour and material in other departments of trade ?” 
And lastly, “ What can we do to place ourselves upon 
“ a pecuniary level with other employes." 
To the first of these questions the employers in 
some districts are trying to give a satisfactory an¬ 
swer, and we wish them all success. To the last, the 
reply depends principally upon the assistants them¬ 
selves. Considering what is now taking place in 
many parts of the country, our readers will not be 
surprised to learn that more than one correspondent 
has attempted it by suggesting a “ strike.” 
But such a movement, doubtfully beneficial on the 
part of men content to base their claims upon an 
assumed equality of labour value, would be positively 
injudicious where individual acquirements and talent 
should exercise so much influence upon the terms of 
an engagement as in pharmacy, ltatlier let each 
assistant assert his proper position by exerting him¬ 
self to attain that scientific knowledge of his business 
which is now acknowledged to be essential, and by 
demanding a fair remuneration for the qualifications 
he may possess, and he will find, if he takes care that 
those qualifications equal the estimate he may place 
upon them, that in pharmacy,—certainly not more 
than in any other calling,—it is not the most skilful 
that is left unemployed or unrewarded. 
PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION. 
The first attempt to give a definite form to the 
opinions that have been current in the minds of 
many concerning the best method of providing phar¬ 
maceutical education in the provinces, will be found 
at p. 10. W e hope that it will receive the attention 
to which it is entitled, and that in the shape ot 
opinions, criticisms and suggestions respecting this 
scheme, the columns of this Journal will bear testi¬ 
mony to the interest with which the important sub¬ 
ject of education is regarded by the trade generally. 
