Augusi 31,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
171 
paratus, and material involved in the delivery of a lec¬ 
ture, illustrated with, experiments; therefore the project 
of 1870 proposed to include the payment of part of the 
salary of a lecturer’s assistant, or curator of specimens 
and apparatus. If some six or eight schools, such as 
I have roughly indicated, could he established in con¬ 
venient parts of the kingdom, at a cost to the Society of 
as many hundreds of pounds per annum, I should regard 
the money as thoroughly well spent, and the ground 
prepared for the subsequent enforcement of such a cur¬ 
riculum as sketched above. This, it appears to me, is 
the right course to pursue, and the only course to pro¬ 
mote good, sound, pharmaceutical education in the 
provinces. 
Newcastle , August, 1872 . 
Pharmaceutical Ethics. 
BY S. R. ATKINS. 
The advantages derivable from these Annual Con¬ 
ferences cannot be too highly rated, supplying, as they 
do, an opportunity for the interchange of kindly feeling, 
and the discussion of questions vitally affecting our 
interests. 
That these meetings are destined to grow in importance, 
there can be to the thoughtful observer little doubt. It 
is an age of synods, congresses, and the like. The old 
conditions of severance and disintegration are. giving 
place to those of combination and confederate action. No 
class of the community stood more in need of this than 
the important one represented here on the present occa¬ 
sion. Until recently, the life of a chemist in one of our 
provincial towns was largely an isolated one, and with 
that isolation were associated necessarily narrowness and 
ignorance—ignorance of each other. The character of 
his business fostered the same result; unlike other 
tradesmen, the exigencies of his business did not re¬ 
quire a periodical visit to London, hence he settled down 
to his life-work in a contracted groove, yet doing that 
work in an honest, painstaking, persevering spirit, which 
demands from this generation, with its greater light and 
superior culture, the most distinct and ungrudging meed 
of praise. 
Tout cela est change. And whatever may be the 
extent of conservatism of feeling we cherish as we look 
back on that past, and whatever may be.our regret in 
witnessing the spirit of unhealthy competition that has 
invaded our ranks, yet we cannot but recognize, in the 
changes of the last quarter of a century the attainment 
of a large amount of substantial good, and the promise of 
better things to come. 
In again attempting to work the lode, which on prior 
occasions has engaged my attention, I offer no apology, 
deeming it better that in the vast field of observation 
and research lying before us all, we shall best subserve 
the general good by each one specially cultivating some 
particular allotment in that field. There can, moreover, 
be little doubt that at the present moment, and for some 
time yet to come, during what is clearly a period of 
transition, the ethics of pharmacy will claim no small 
share of our attention, and this Conference will deepen 
its hold on the constituency it represents by giving them 
a prominent place in its debates. 
The field of pharmaceutical ethics, we have said, is a 
large one; some portions have been already well ploughed 
• up, and good seed sown therein, destined to ripen into 
valuable results. Other portions await their turn, which 
assuredly will arrive when those immediately engaging 
our attention are disposed of. There are, however, three 
questions of primary importance at the present juncture, 
which I desire once more should engage the attention of 
Conference. 
It will be only in harmony with natural selection in 
the order of time, if we start with the matter of— 
The Preliminary Examination. —A real, though gradual 
improvement, has been already effected. Candidates 
are presenting themselves in better condition for the 
test: still the proportion of failures is both humiliating; 
and disappointing. Since the Edinburgh meeting I 
have taken the trouble again to write to valued cor¬ 
respondents in different parts of the kingdom, tabu¬ 
lating a series of questions on this subject, and their 
kindness in procuring and furnishing me with valu¬ 
able information I take this opportunity of publicly 
acknowledging. The results roughly put, though care¬ 
fully examined, may be thus epitomized :—Students are- 
better prepared; greater anxiety and sense of responsi¬ 
bility in reference to the examination is producing a 
healthful stimulus. As might be expected, a larger pro¬ 
portion of “plucked” are amongst the senior candidates 
a considerable number of this class not presenting them¬ 
selves a second time for examination, an important 
inquiry suggests itself, are they quitting the business 
for some other avocation, or are they merely deferring; 
their difficulties to the indefinite future ? The premium, 
having been paid, the probabilities are that parental 
pressure renders the latter alternative the real answer to 
the inquiry. 
Again, and yet again, we must enforce the proposi¬ 
tion, until it be recognized as a first principle, that the 
Preliminary examination, or its equivalent, should be 
passed prior to the commencement of apprenticeship ; 
and I hold that any chemist neglecting to stipulate for 
this condition, in the face of the overwhelming amount 
of evidence adduced in its favour, does both himself and 
his pupil an act of injustice. A compulsory clause to- 
this effect would be a positive boon. 
But what can be done for these youths, who, placing; 
their finger on the wax seal, have uttered the binding 
words, “ I deliver this as my act and deed ? ” It is now 
generally admitted that to lower the standard of examina¬ 
tion would be most impolitic, unjust to those who hav& 
gone before, and not an act of real kindness to their suc¬ 
cessors. Let it be known, for the encouragement of ap¬ 
prentices who have not yet passed, that, assuming they 
have received a respectable education, the available leisure 
to be secured in three months, if diligently used, is- 
sufficient to enable any lad of fair ability to surmount, 
the difficulty. 
With all due deference I submit to the Conference- 
for discussion, and to the Council of the. Pharmaceutical 
Society for their deliberation, whether it would not be- 
desirable entirely to change the practice in regard to- 
this examination ; in fact, abolish it so far at least as the- 
provinces and local secretaries are concerned, and accept 
as the uniform mile what is now the exception only—the 
local examinations of the university and the College of 
Preceptors. 
As Local Secretary, I have now for some years been, 
called on to superintend the Preliminary Examination,, 
and whilst I believe the system has worked fairly, I am 
still disposed to think the university test would be- 
preferable. . L u 
Two objections probably will be raised on the studentrs- 
side—the additional cost in money and study. As to 
the extra guinea, the Council in consideration. of the 
Society’s incidental expenses being lessened, might be 
disposed to reduce the registration fee to. one guinea, and 
so equalize the cost. The second objection foi un¬ 
doubtedly the university test is a more, stringent, one 
than our own—might be met by prospective legislation . 
thus, only those youths who were apprenticed after a 
certain date, to come under the operation of the l aw * 
Apprenticeship. —The important matters of the 1 ic- 
liminary Examination and apprenticeship, are, as we 
have seen, intimately allied, but not always in the oidei 
here stated. ,, , 
Let us now assume that a well-educated youth having 
passed the initial test, his friends are desirous of 
placing him in the establishment of some respectable 
