119 
^ v * & 
August 10, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
promote and to assist in providing an uniform system of 
education of those practising pharmacy. 1 think I have 
■conclusively shown that they have done neither one nor the 
other, for the country members of the trade. I cannot agree 
with you, in your leading article in the Journal for July 20th, 
where you say, “it may fairly be said that the Society, as a 
voluntary association, has already completed its labour in the 
cause of education, and that, in having succeeded in making 
education compulsory, it has done the work it originally pro¬ 
jected.” In my last letter to you, I said that in my next, 
“ I will endeavour to show why the Council should assist 
Provincial Pharmaceutical Education, and how thev can do 
it.” 
Thirty years ago the Society obtained a charter of incor¬ 
poration from the Queen, the first clause of which states that 
it was granted for this special purpose. Subsequent Acts 
of Parliament have rendered still more imperative their duty 
in this respect. It will be a breach of faith, both towards 
the Queen and towards Parliament, if they do not do so. 
Nothing can be more unsatisfactory than the present position 
of pharmaceutical education in the provinces. In truth, there 
is no. such thing as a regular system of scientific education 
existing there. Nothing has been done by the Society for 
this purpose. What little has been done, has been by the 
unaided efforts of its country members. Had Jacob Bell 
lived, the pioneer ot pharmaceutical education and progress, 
this subject would have received a satisfactory solution long 
since. It is no argument at all, because the Institute in 
Bloomsbury Square has not proved the success which it could 
have been wished (and it reflects no credit on the town mem¬ 
bers of the trade that such should be the case), that no effort 
should be made to assist scientific education in the country. 
A residence of six months in London, to attend a full course 
of lectures at the Institute, means an expenditure of £100. 
When you consider the circumstances of the parents from 
whom the supply of country apprentices are obtained, it is an 
expenditure which very few can afford. Our apprentices are 
mot drawn from the wealthy members of Society, but are the 
sons of people of moderate means. 
The Society has established compulsory registration and 
compulsory examination. I think it has started at the top of 
the tree, instead of the bottom. Had it first provided a 
universal system of education for a few years, and then made 
it compulsory, together with examination, it would then have 
acted in a fairer spirit towards the country members of the 
trade. What has been the effect of the Act passed in 1868 
rendering examination compulsory ? Nothing can be more 
unsatisfactory. Young men who cannot afford a prolonged 
residence in London, are driven to take advantage of the 
institutions advertised in the Journal, where the information 
necessary to pass the Minor is blown into them in a month, 
and by the same mysterious process for the Major, in three 
months. Can anything be more unsatisfactory than this ? 
The result of it is seen in the case of the young man, twenty- 
six years of age, a Minor Associate, reported in last week’s 
Journal, who translated “ si opus possit ” to be taken “ with 
posset.” I think my case is now complete. 
I will now endeavour to show how the Society may pro¬ 
mote scientific education in the country. My views on this 
subject have been expressed in a paper on Provincial Phar¬ 
macy Schools, read before our local association, and which 
appeared in the Journal on April 13th; in the few remarks 
which I made at the Annual Meeting of the Society in May ; 
and in my letters which have appeared in the correspondence 
■columns of the Journal. I advocate the establishment of a 
number of pharmacy schools in some of the large towns of 
the kingdom. I wmuld take the provincial medical schools 
as a standard to go by in founding the schools of pharmacy. 
These schools ought to be affiliated with the parent Society. 
A complete curriculum of education satisfactory to the Council, 
on chemistry, materia medica, practical pharmacy and botany 
should be required from them. Every lecturer ought to be a 
■certified teacher approved of by the Council. I also think 
that it would be a great advantage if the Council would pre¬ 
pare a syllabus of the lectures to be delivered each session in 
■every school. No student should be permitted to attend a 
course of lectures on these subjects until he has first passed 
his Preliminary examination. No student ought to be allowed 
to present himself for the Minor examination without pro¬ 
ducing a certificate signed by a certified teacher that he has 
attended regularly a certain* number of courses of lectures 
on the above subjects. The number of courses to be deter¬ 
mined hereafter by the Council; at the same time he shall 
also produce satisfactory evidence that he has served an ap¬ 
prenticeship ot a certain number of years to a member of the 
trade. This system, if faithfully carried out, 'would in a 
short time produce a body ot educated pharmacists. No 
person should be allowed to present himself for the Major with¬ 
out producing the certificate of a certified teacher that he has 
attended a further course of lectures on the subjects required 
for that examination. 
I am well aware that pharmacy schools cannot be estab¬ 
lished in every town in the kingdom. In those cases where 
they cannot, I think assistance may be rendered to promote 
class-teaching. After a young man has served an apprentice¬ 
ship in a town where no such school exists, he should endea¬ 
vour to obtain a situation in one where he can have these 
privileges. 
The question will now be raised, how are these schools to 
be supported, museums formed, laboratories established, 
prizes given and payments for results provided for ? I repeat, 
what I have stated on previous occasions—by liberal grants 
from the parent Society; by subscriptions from the local 
members; and by fees from the students. This is the scheme 
that I submit for the Society’s consideration. It would 
probably have been more satisfactory to the members of the 
Society in general had the Council, who have seen for many 
years past the working of their school, been prepared with 
a scheme of their own. 
It may be urged against this scheme that it would revo¬ 
lutionize the trade. I think it is very probable that it would 
eventually have that effect, and I think it is extremely 
desirable that it should. The present position of pharmacy 
in this country, both in its relation to the medical profession 
and to the public, is in a very unsatisfactory condition. I 
forbear from entering upon a discussion of it now, for it 
would open too wide a question for discussion, and reserve 
my remarks on it for a future occasion. 
Atkinson Pickering. 
Hall, August 6th, 1872. 
Payment by Results and its Working. 
Sir,—In order that I may give, as I promised in my last 
letter, an ideal representation of the Society, local committee, 
teacher and student, under Mr. Schacht’s scheme, I will 
begin with the Society. 
The Societg must be like the Committee of “ My Lords ” 
of the Science and Art Department, which bestows money 
grants, gives prizes to students, appoints teachers, and sees 
that the money in hand is properly expended, the classes 
properly conducted, and that certificated teachers are ap¬ 
pointed to the classes. 
The Local Committee .—In order that the designs of the 
Society may be carried out, it will be necessary that the 
Society be in correspondence with the local committee, con¬ 
sisting of several responsible persons. Many communications 
will pass between the two; from the local committee, on the 
wants of a town or neighbourhood of a school; from the 
Society on the approving or negativing a demand. The 
Society will of course have certain plans or regulations laid 
down for their guidance which every local committee must 
adhere to. 
At the outset these communications will be tedious to each 
party. The regulations respecting the obtaining of apparatus 
have been before us some time. A complaint arose that the 
stipulations or regulations to be gone through made the gift 
hardly worth the getting. 
The Teacher must be an examined pharmaceutist; he 
must be considered the servant of the committee, although 
he must, in the first place, be approved of by the Society, and 
his certificates forwarded to London to know if he be duly 
qualified to teach a class. In the event of the teacher not 
being duly qualified, no class can be held, since, it will not 
have a pharmaceutical teacher. 
There is no sweetness in being a servant of a committee; 
for generally the committee-men know little or nothing of 
the subjects taught, and, on the teacher asking even for a 
slight favour, he meets with a “snubbing.” 
The teacher must adhere to a syllabus of instruction, which 
the Society will draw out. He must keep a register of 
attendance, or payments for results cannot be obtained. The 
number of lessons having been given, the time comes when 
the students will sit. for examination. The teachers will not 
be allowed to be present at the examination; the other 
etceteras according to the ‘ Directory.’ 
