August 17,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
129 
pjaniutctultcal Journal. 
-♦-- 
SATURDAY AUGUST 17, 1872. 
Communications for this Journal, and books 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 Bkem- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square , TB.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed “Fharm. Journ.” 
THE BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Every well-wislier to the progress of pharmacy 
will be glad to learn that the Ninth Annual Meeting 
•of the British Pharmaceutical Conference, which 
during the present week has been held in the Royal 
Pavilion at Brighton, has been a very successful 
•one. Whether regard be had to the number of 
leading English pharmacists who attended it, the 
ability displayed in the papers read, the interest at¬ 
tached to the gorgeous building in which the meet¬ 
ings were held, or the splendid hospitality extended 
by the local pharmacists to their visitors on Tuesday 
evening, it may at least be said that the meeting at 
Brighton has not been surpassed by any previous 
gathering of this now eminently successful organiza¬ 
tion. 
The subject of education, as might have been ex¬ 
pected, occupied a prominent position in the business. 
Forming no small portion of the subject-matter of 
the presidential address, which is printed on another 
page, it was also dealt with in papers by Professor 
Attfield, Mr. Schweitzer and Mr. B. S. Proctor, 
.and in letters which Professor Attfield had received 
from Mr. G. W. Sand ford, Mr. John Mackay, Mr. 
Gilmour, Mr. Peter Squire and Mr. Edward Smith. 
The reading of the above was followed by a long- 
discussion, lasting the remainder of the day, and 
only terminated by the necessity for adjournment. 
Professor’s Attfield’s paper, which formed the 
principal topic of the discussion deprecated the pre¬ 
sent prevalence of superficial teaching, and ad¬ 
vocated that sound education would be best guaranteed 
by making the examinations more thorough, and 
. supplementing them by demanding from a candidate 
for the Minor certificates that he has worked for a 
certain time at practical pharmacy, and that he 
has attended certain courses of instruction in a 
recognized school of pharmacy. 
But nothing is more remarkable in this discussion 
than that, with one object in view, scarcely two are 
.agreed as to the best mode of attaining it. As was 
truly said by one speaker, “ Quot homines tot opi- 
niones.” This lends weight to the opinion that 
the question of Provincial Pharmaceutical Edu¬ 
cation is not yet ripe for settlement. In the mean- 
iime, each day brings us nearer to the goal, and 
it is probable that the real solution of the difficulty 
of providing Pharmaceutical Education in small 
towns will, in Mr. Atkins’s words, in the main be 
found in the slow but certain advances in technical 
knowledge amongst pharmaceutical employers. This 
is an opinion which has been before uttered in these 
columns, and one that is shared by many well quali¬ 
fied to judge. Every perfectly trained pharma¬ 
ceutical student who leaves the metropolitan or any 
other school and commences business, himself be¬ 
comes an important medium for disseminating sound 
pharmaceutical education.- 
Wednesday was devoted to the reading of several 
valuable papers of a more particularly technical cha¬ 
racter; in several cases the subjects of the papers 
were discussed with great interest, but the remaining 
time was too short to allow of this being done to 
any great extent. The papers read were, Calabrian 
Manna, by Mr. Daniel Hanbury, F.R.S.; Occur¬ 
rence of Manganese in Certain Dings, by Professor 
Fluckiger; Succus Scapi Taraxaci, by Mr. H. 
Barton ; Pill Coatings, by Mr. T. Haffenden ; 
Tinctures, by Messrs. Stoddaiit and Tucker ; 
Guaiacol, by Mr. J. Williams, F.C.S.; Laboratory 
Notes, by Mr. Edward Smith ; Kamala, by Mr. T. B. 
Groves, F.C.S.; New Derivatives from Morphia 
and Codeia, by Professor Wright, D.Sc.; Orris 
Root, by Mr. Henry Groves ; Tincture of Per- 
cliloride of Iron, by Mr. T. Hustwick ; Koegood, a 
new Drug from South Africa, by Mr. G. A. Key- 
worth ; Researches on the Constituents of Aloes, by 
Dr. Tilden and Mr. Rammell ; Notes on Green 
Extracts, by Mr. Richard W. Giles; A Cheap 
Disinfectant, by Mr. Edward C. C. Stanford, F.C.S. 
ADULTERATION OF FOOD, DRUGS, ETC., ACT. 
The Bill to prevent the adulteration of food, drink ? 
and drugs, to which we have before alluded, has be- 
come law, with its most objectionable features re¬ 
moved. It will be remembered that originally the 
wording of Sect. 2 was so ambiguous that it was 
uncertain whether a man who sold an impure article 
in perfect innocence might not be liable to severe 
penalties. We have no sympathy either with the 
wilful adulterator or with the retailer who, for the 
sake of a little extra profit, buys an article so much 
below the market value that common sense must 
point to adulteration; but when we think of the 
terrible difficulty which a druggist finds in procur¬ 
ing some drugs positively pure,—notably, scam- 
mony, opium and musk,—we cannot but consider 
that the Deputation from the Pharmaceutical So¬ 
ciety which waited on Lord Salisbury did good 
service in inducing him to provide that the man, 
who knowingly and fraudulently sells adulterated 
articles, cind no other, shall be deemed guilty of 
offence. This seems to us to be in the true spirit of 
English law. 
