August 17, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
127 
be let drop entirely; and to Mr. Reynolds, far more 
lhan to myself, and to the able executive assist¬ 
ance of Dr. Attfield, this Conference owes its origin. 
It was a mere chance that I happened then to he 
local secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society in 
.Newcastle; a mere chance, I may say, that Newcastle 
happened to he the place that year at which the British 
Association t held its meeting, and, therefore, I was 
dhe victim, practically, of circumstances, and no credit 
or the very least belonged to me. Hence I always 
feel to a certain extent guilty when placed in the 
prominent position which I have occupied through 
.your favour in past years, and especially through your 
favour now, in connection with the history of the Con¬ 
ference. Well, sir, we met firstly at Newcastle. We 
had a little meeting; and it gives me great pleasure to 
see some here now who were present at that meeting. I 
;sce Mr. Dean, Dr. Edwards, Dr. Attfield, Mr. Reynolds, 
-and some one or two others. Our first meeting was a 
very little one held in the parlour of an hotel, and we 
.have gone on growing ever since. We grew enormously 
by the time we got to Bath. We went on growing till 
we went northward again, firstly to Birmingham, and 
then to Nottingham, and then to Dundee, and then to 
Norwich, Exeter, Liverpool, and Edinburgh, and now 
again here. Really I don’t know what we shall grow to! 
When a society beginning with twenty members reaches 
two thousand, what may it not become in another ten 
years F I take it that this is simply an evidence that 
the views of Mr. Schacht, Mr. Reynolds, Dr. Attfield, 
Mr. Dean, and the rest were emphatically those which 
fitly met the circumstances of the case, and provided 
for what was a real and true and veritable want. And 
we are now at Brighton. We owe much to Brighton. 
Brighton is vindicating its claim upon the consideration 
<of all scientific men, not only in the reception which the 
British Association is about to receive, not only in the 
.splendid reception which we, the British Pharmaceutical 
■'Conference, have received, hut in many other ways is 
Brighton showing evidence of its regard for science. You 
■cannot look at the great aquarium which they have just 
built without feeling that, although there may he some 
.•slight commercial element concerned in it, there are in 
.that aquarium the elements of what may bring about an 
-enormous advance of science. We have hut to refer to 
the debates in the House of Commons last week; for, 
w r as it not the Member for Brighton who brought forward 
•certain resolutions in the House, showing how a poor 
ill-used man, unable to protect himself, a very sucking- 
dove of a statesman, the present Chief Commissioner of 
Works, had been violently attacked and scarcely allowed 
his life, by a ferocious ^savage from the Himalayas F 
Was it not shown on that occasion that science was a 
very small thing when compared to the law F Was there 
mot shown the superiority of forensic considerations 
wherever questions of the material and immaterial world 
were concerned F It was left for Brighton, or the Mem¬ 
ber for Brighton, to unhouse all the disastrous conse¬ 
quences of the savage attacks of scientific men upon 
statesmen in general, and the present docile and mild 
Chief Commissioner of Works in particular. Well, 
:gentlemen, I trust I have said enough to vindicate the 
.claims of Brighton to the especial consideration of 
.scientific men; and I am quite sure that we who have 
.occupied the whole day in education have at least been 
-educated up to that point that we are prepared to add 
.our testimony to the claims which Brighton has to the 
.consideration of not only the Pharmaceutical Conference, 
hut of science in general. I can only, sir, in conclusion, 
■thank you most heartily on behalf of the Conference for 
your reception of us here to-day, for the kind way in 
which you have spoken of the Conference and that which 
pertains to it, and for the prosperity which you have 
wished it. I must also, on my own account, thank you 
for the kind way in which you have associated my name 
with the toast. 
Mr. Brew proposed “ The President and Council of 
the Pharmaceutical Society,” and, in doing so, contrasted 
the smallness of the Society at its beginning with its'pre- 
sent status. He said that there had been many difficul¬ 
ties to contend against, hut the persevering efforts which 
had been made had been rewarded. Much had been 
done, h\it much still remained to he done. The interest 
of the Society depended upon the President and Council; 
and gentlemen more competent than those now occupying 
those positions could not he found. The President was 
a teacher of pharmaceutists, and many of the Council had 
been pupils of the Society. Though there might he dif¬ 
ferences of opinion existing in the Council, the sole aim 
of them all was the advantage and benefit of the Society. 
Mr. IIaseldex, President of the Pharmaceutical So¬ 
ciety, acknowledged the toast. He said that he did 
so with great pleasure, and, although many gentlemen 
who made after-dinner speeches said that they wished 
that the duty had fallen into better hands, he himself 
wished no such thing, for wherever he made his appear¬ 
ance among pharmaceutists he was always received with 
kindness and favour. A few years ago he became an as¬ 
sociate of the Pharmaceutical Society, because he believed 
it was the right thing to do, and he then made up liis 
mind to follow out a course which would one day, if his 
life were spared, place him in the presidential chair. He 
could not claim Bloomsbury Square as his alma mater , 
but he had, nevertheless, attended the lectures of Mr. 
Fownes at that place at a cost of 10s. 6 cl. } and he could 
say that he had been a student at Bloomsbury Square 
ever since his connection with the Society, for he never left 
one of the evening meetings without being a wiser if not a 
better man. He felt that in his long-coveted capacity of 
President he had many shortcomings, but he was always 
well received, and more than well received. At the time 
the Pharmaceutical Conference was first started he felt that 
it was a step in the right direction; and although he 
had some suspicion that it would take away certain 
papers which ought to be read at the Society, he never¬ 
theless approved of it. It brought the country members 
into close association with the London members, and 
such an effect would promote science and promote or¬ 
ganization. He believed that he was the. first member 
of the Council of, the Society who put his name down 
as a member of the Conference. He must not conclude 
without adverting to the kindness with which the Con¬ 
ference had been received at Brighton. Circumstances 
had prevented his attending any previous Conference, 
but he had said that when they came nearer to London 
he would attend, and he now had great pleasure in doing 
so. He must speak honestly and freely of the kindness 
which he had received on all hands in this town. 
Mr. Sx odd art said that he had to propose the health 
of the officers of the Pharmaceutical Conference. lie 
said that the Conference had led to many friendships. 
Happy was the man who possessed the friendship of 
such men as Dr. Attfield, Mr. Benger, Mr. Schacht, and 
Mr. Reynolds. The success which the. Pharmaceutical 
Conference had met with in its whole circuit was some¬ 
thing marvellous. He joined it at Bath ; and he could 
only say that everybody who had derived the same ad¬ 
vantage from the companionships to which it led as he 
had done must be glad of having joined it. He trusted 
that the success would never be less than it was in the 
present year. The time might come when the members 
of the Conference would meet at Bristol. . He was sure 
that Mr. Giles and Mr. Schacht would join with him in 
promising that when that happened they would try to 
emulate what their Brighton fricnds.had done. In every 
place which the Conference had visited they had left 
nothing but good fellowship behind, and he should be 
sorry ever to see any record of their having failed to do 
so. He trusted they would never leave a place without 
leaving' there some little root from which might spiing 
some benefit to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great 
Britain—an institution which he venerated, and with 
