August 31,1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
179 
©l)itar£. 
FELIX ROBERT GARDEN. 
AVe regret to record this week the death of a former 
member of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of 
Great Britain. Mr. Felix Robert Garden, late of 372, 
Oxford Street, died at Yentnor, August 2 nd, 1872. Mr. 
Garden was educated at the London University College, 
where he received a good classical education.* When a 
youth he. selected the church for his future career. 
After a brief sojourn, however, with a clergyman in the 
country with whom he was placed to go through his 
preparatory studies, he changed his mind, and decided on 
following his father’s calling as a chemist and druggist. 
Mr. Garden wap for many years a member of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, and was elected a member of the 
Council. In consequence of delicate health, Mr. Gar¬ 
den was for several years unable to apply himself 
closely to business, and in January, 1863, he retired 
from it altogether. The name of his firm, however, was 
continued as Garden and Robbins until January, I 860 . 
We believe that Mr. Garden’s father was at one time a 
partner with the celebrated Mr. Accum, with whom 
he carried on business for some years in Compton 
Street, Soho. When Mr. Accum left the country, Mr. 
Garden settled in Oxford Street. 
WILLIAM HUSKISSON. 
The Pharmaceutical Society has lost another of its 
founders by death, in the person of Mr. William Hus- 
kisson, who died on Saturday last, August 24th. Mr. 
Huskisson was born in 1793 at the Old Bath House, 
Gold Bath Fields, Clerkcnwell (since pulled down), and 
after leaving school, went into the chemical business of 
Ris father and cousin (Huskisson and Towers). On the 
commencement of the Pharmaceutical Society he became 
a life member, and always felt the warmest interest in 
sthe welfare of the Society. He was of a quiet and re¬ 
tiring disposition, and, though he enjoyed the private 
friendship of most of the distinguished chemists of the 
last generation, he rarely mixed with society. He joined 
heartily, however, in the scheme of his friend Dr. Birk- 
beck to establish the London Mechanics’ Institution, and 
was a member from its commencement to the time of his 
decease. He lived for many years and died in the same 
house, in Mecklenburgh Square, which his old friend, 
Mr. Samuel Parkes (author of the Catechism), had occu¬ 
pied previously. 
ALFRED UTLEY. 
On August 26th, at Ryde, after a lingering illness, 
borne with great patience, Mr. Alfred Utley, Pharma¬ 
ceutical Chemist, of Mount Vernon Road, Liverpool. 
Aged 32. 1 
Notice has also beenreceived of the following deaths :— 
On the 22 nd July, Mr. John Nicholas, pharmaceutical 
chemist, of Narberth, Pembrokeshire. Mr. Nicholas had 
been a member of the Pharmaceutical Society since 1853. 
On the 17th August, Mr. John Beaton, pharmaceutical 
chemist, of 6 , St. George’s Terrace, Kilburn. Mr. 
Leaton had been a member of the Pharmaceutical 
Gociety since 1851. 
On the /th July, Mr. H. Miller, chemist and druggist, 
late of Battersea. ° & ’ 
On the 9th August, Mr. G. H. Ellcome, chemist and 
druggist, late of Fareham. 
On the 15th August, Mr. C. Goodbame, chemist and 
druggist, of Brighton. 
Cffrosptimttt. 
* notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
or publication , but as a guarantee of good faith. 
Examination- Fees. 
• Sl *“ Three su 1 fi ects °f great importance arc at (he present 
time before the Pharmaceutical Council, and will beyond doubt 
receive the most careful and ample consideration of our re¬ 
presentatives, viz., Provincial Education, Minor Examina¬ 
tions, and Examination Fees. 
. U P on Mr. Schacht’s proposed scheme for provincial educa¬ 
tion on which you have invited and received many criticisms 
and suggestions, I will not at present enter. So far as I have 
been, able to look into it, I confess myself but little enamoured 
with it, believing* it will require very material alteration 
before it can possibly be made applicable to the work of our 
Society. 
The wider scope of subjects for the Minor examination, to 
which I ventured to refer in my remarks at the last annual 
meeting^ has now been officially brought before the Council 
by Dr. Greenhow in his report presented at the late meeting 
of Council, and this will, therefore, at once receive the atten¬ 
tion it demands. The necessity for that examination beino* 
more searching will, I feel sure, be acknowledged by most 
persons, when it is considered that instead of its being looked 
upon as the stepping-stone to the Major, as was invariably 
the case in days gone by, it is now accepted as the legal evi- 
dence of full qualification; the result being that not only do 
those wbo go through the ordeal deceive themselves, but the 
real benefit intended for the public good by the compulsory 
examination is reduced to its very lowest degree. 
But the point to whicbl more particularly desire to direct 
attention is that of examination fees. It is one of great im¬ 
portance, and I believe at present stands as a serious barrier 
to our progress as a Society, and to the real improvement of 
pharmacists generally. Mr. Mackay, in a letter lately addressed 
to this Journal, p. 118,remarks that “ the time may come when 
such a course (lessening fees) might be deemed advisable for 
the interests of the Society ; but a change such as this would 
require very great consideration before a step so serious could 
be safely taken.” Mr. Frazer in the same Journal tells us 
he has already given notice of certain resolutions upon the 
subject to be considered at the September meeting of Council. 
With regard to Mr. Mackay’s fears, I question whether, when 
an error has been discovered it is not better at once to face, 
and, if possible, remove it rather than to delay; but, on the 
other hand, whether the resolutions proposed by Mr. Frazer 
do not go too far, and would not be fraught with untold diffi¬ 
culties and inconveniences to the Board of Examiners I 
seriously doubt; to say nothing of the almost pauper class of 
students implied by the conditions suggested. These are, 
however, questions on which we must expect differences of 
opinion; but however widely we may differ therein, I can¬ 
not help thinking it a pity and want of good taste, to give 
expression to such uncalled-for sneers and personalities as 
have been seen of late in the correspondence column. Such 
utterances add no weight to the argument, and reflect no 
credit on the writer. 
. My earnest desire is to see the whole trade as far as pos¬ 
sible united into one body, each member as such holding a 
responsible position, to be used for the benefit of the whole. 
It has been with this desire that I have ever advocated the 
adoption of a liberal policy towards those we are in the habit 
of regarding as outsiders ; and it is for the furtherance of the 
same object that I desire now to see a radical change brought 
about m the examination fees. 
Educational qualification has always been held as the 
sine qua non of membership; upon due evidence of its posses¬ 
sion (either assumed, as in the case of those who are ad¬ 
mitted by virtue of having been in business before a certain 
date, or proved by examination), membership alone has been 
obtained. In future, those only who pass the Major ex¬ 
amination will be eligible for election as members, but 
unfortunately the advantages of membership, as viewed bv 
outsiders, are so few that a very small proportion only, of 
those who aspire to the higher grade of pharmaceutical 
chemist, deem it necessary or desirable to join themselves to 
