58 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 20, 137^. 
Even in London, however, young men seem to avail them¬ 
selves very sparingly of the splendid opportunities at their 
disposal. Supposing that every London candidate who passed 
the Minor and Major examinations between July 1,1871, and 
June 30, 1872, had been a student at Bloomsbury Square, the 
number would only have been 43 (36 Minor and 7 Major), 
against 242 from the country (201 Minor and 41 Major), of 
whom I think I may assume two-thirds have benefited by 
the lectures or laboratory, either in this or previous sessions; 
so that even if the country finds most of the money, it gets 
most of the benefit. 
To return to the question: How are the means of syste¬ 
matic pharmaceutical education (beyond what is generally 
attainable in the ordinary routine of business) to be brought 
within the reach and means of provincial students ? and how 
are the largest and most satisfactory results to be attained 
with the least expenditure of money. 
I think Mr. Schacht has solved the problem, or at least, 
laid down correct principles for its solution, in his scheme 
before the Council, its chief feature being payment on results. 
In my opinion, this plan, in its main features, and so far as 
it goes, is unobjectionable, and I also think more feasible 
than any other yet brought forward. The plan of giving 
a money grant to any local association applying for it, with¬ 
out any control over its expenditure, or complete account 
of the results of that expenditure, is impracticable. Where j 
is the local association, a majority of whose committee is j 
known to the Council? According to Mr. Hills’ suggestion, 
this would be required, as the “ certain number ” who are to 
give a guarantee that the money shall be properly expended 
are to be known to the Council, and in order to carry out the 
guarantee, they must constitute a majority of the managing 
body. The Council ought to have some control over the 
manner and as to the objects for which their grants are 
laid out; and the difficulty of securing this control in any 
other way than as proposed by Mr. Schacht, seems insupe¬ 
rable. If this plan is carried out, applications for assistance 
will only be received from large towns, such as those named 
above. In all such towns there is the requisite machinery 
for carrying on the work; and it is only there that anything 
like “systematic and persistent teaching” by means of lec¬ 
tures can be successfully carried on. Courses of lectures, 
delivered and illustrated by competent teachers, are generally 
very expensive, and the expense would be almost the same 
for 10 students as for 50, although the amount received for 
fees, and grant earned, would probably only amount to one- 
fifth. In short, a few good schools of pharmacy spread 
over the country under efficient management, and with first- 
rate teachers, are more to be desired and will yield far better 
results than schools in every small town where a dozen che¬ 
mists can agree to form an association and apply for a grant 
expended at random upon incompetent teachers, and with 
very little good results. 
There are one or two points on which Mr. Schacht’s scheme 
may, in my opinion, be amended and extended. Eor instance, 
I should strongly object to any one on the register of chemists 
and druggists or pharmaceutical chemists being allowed to 
earn payments for results, and still more strongly to their 
being allowed to compete with assistants and apprentices for 
prizes. Chemists and druggists who have earned their title 
bv passing the Minor examination, ought not to be placed 
in a v orse position than those who are such, simply because 
they happened to be in business before 1868. Both should 
be excluded from earning either prize or grant. 
What I look upon as the greatest defect in the scheme is, 
the exclusion from competition of all young men who do 
not, from any cause, attend the required lectures. These 
will, I think, be not less than one half of the entire number 
of assistants and apprentices in the kingdom. Even sup¬ 
posing that lectures were delivered in everylittle town muster¬ 
ing half-a-dozen chemists’ assistants and apprentices, still a 
very large number would be left unprovided for. It is only 
fair to suppose that many of these are making good use of 
the limited means available, and using every exertion, to raise 
themselves to the required standard. Again, large numbers 
in towns would not be able, from a variety of causes, to 
attend lectures, and yet, many of these may be constantly 
and earnestly engaged in learning what it is requisite for 
them to know. I am supposing in these two cases, that the 
young man is struggling against difficulties, including in¬ 
difference or even opposition on the part of his employer, 
who may be unable or unwilling to render any assistance. 
There are besides these, a large nu nber under the care of 
masters in town and country, who endeavour to discharge 
the duty they have undertaken by imparting “ systematic and 
persistent teaching” to their pupils, in other ways than 
lectures, and far more efficiently, too ; for the chief use of 
lectures to the student is to mark out the path to be pursued 
along which he is himself to travel, and not to be carried by 
his guide. This guidance, direction, as well as assistance-, 
can be given better by a competent master, who does not 
wish to shirk his duty, but whose desire and pride it is to- 
thoroughly prepare his pupil, so that at the conclusion of his 
apprenticeship he may at once pass, at least, the Minor ex¬ 
amination. Now, why are young men like these to be- 
altogether shut out from the same examination as the 
lecture attenders are admitted to ? and why are their masters 
to be deprived of the credit which is justly their due, for the 
honest discharge of their duty, and the successful results 
following therefrom ? The former ought to be admitted to- 
examination for prizes; and if no grant can be made to the 
employer in case of success, his name ought at least to be 
published in the pages of the Journal. 
I agree with a suggestion made by one of the Council, that 
in the case of unsuccessful candidates, a small capitation 
grant might be made to the local association, say 5s. for each 
one who obtained under 50 and not less than 30 per cent, of 
marks. The requirements in Mr. Frazer’s amendment are, 
it seems to me, fully provided for by Mr. Schacht’s scheme ira 
its last clause; and in every case, great care should be taken 
that each grant made is faithfully expended on the object 
for which it is given. In most of the large towns, great 
progress has been made in providing libraries and museums, 
so that grants for these objects will be chiefly required by the 
smaller associations where there is not a sufficient number of 
young men to warrant the cost of lectures, but where smalt 
classes for mutual study and assistance, would derive great 
benefit from a little help in this direction, which the local 
association, from the smallness of its numbers, may be unable- 
fully to supply. 
I would suggest that the Council collect and publish sta¬ 
tistics respecting local associations now iu existence; such 
as the number of chemists in business in their respective- 
districts, and of assistants and apprentices, the number 
of members and associates, amount of subscription, what 
attempts have been made in the direction of establishing 
lectures or classes, and by what success attended. What- 
educational appliances are already available, such as libraries, 
museums, apparatus, rooms for lectures, etc. These statistics 
would be of great utility in discussing the great question ia 
hand. 
Thos. D. Walkee. 
Dresden, Staffordshire. 
Sir,—As every one with a thought upon pharmaceutical 
education is now directly appealed to, I have resolved to 
give you mine, which do not seem to have occurred to any of 
the numerous and able speakers at the late Annual Meeting. 
The question appears to be, how to give our young mem 
the best education at the least cost. Under existing cir¬ 
cumstances, the scheme of most intelligent country appren¬ 
tices appears to be to pick up what they can during their 
apprenticeship, and then, if possible, to procure a situation 
in London, where, by giving the larger portion of their time 
to business, they may secure enough to provide for board, 
lodging, and other expenses, while they can at the same time 
attend a portion of the lectures, and occasionally the labora¬ 
tory, at Bloomsbury Square. Prac;ically, perhaps, no better 
or more economical plan for securing a succession of average 
competent chemists could be devised; but, unfortunately, 
London itself will not afford sufficient area for all the im¬ 
provers to secure the required position; hence the agitation 
for provincial schools. 
But are things taking the right course ? Is there not su 
tendency to spread over too much ground ?—and will not the 
end be best attained by giving up any attempt to provide 
general and organized instruction during apprenticeship, and 
to confine our attempts to enlarge the means, to make it- 
more attainable for two or three years afterwards ? 
I would suggest that no attempt be encouraged to orga¬ 
nize provincial instruction in any town with a population of 
less than 80,000 or 100,000 inhabitants. We may then have 
several really efficient centre?, where young men, after their 
apprenticeship, might secure an efficient and thorough edu¬ 
cation; and the area would be considerably extended in. 
