September?, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
193 
a petition signed by all the pharmacists of Baltimore 
the good, bad, and indifferent—and another from all 
the leading physicians, and a third from all the influen¬ 
tial citizens, and those petitions asked for the passing of 
a Paarmacy Act for the city of Baltimore alone. All 
the country members of the legislature who opposed the 
previous Act said, “ If the city of Baltimore wants this 
Act only for itself, let it have it.’ That measure passed 
without any trouble, and the Act has only about five 
sections. The principal points were that on and after 
the passing of the Act no person should be allowed to 
open a pharmacy unless he had observed a regular ap¬ 
prenticeship of four years and passed an examination 
before the Examining Board, or unless he could pro¬ 
duce a certificate with the degree of graduate in phar¬ 
macy from some recognized college of pharmacy, that 
certificate being dependent on a four years apprentice¬ 
ship. By that means they effectively killed off the 
diplomas given by some of the cheap colleges, who, 
finding it profitable, had given their diplomas to some 
persons who had merely attended lectures and never had 
anything to do with the practical work of pharmacy. 
Furthermore, the different Pharmacy Acts do not 
recognize the right of a person holding the degree 
of M.D. to practise Pharmacy. They consider both 
professions perfectly distinct. Most of our schools, 
successful as they are, have relied mainly upon the in¬ 
telligence of the community and on moral influence. 
We have not in Massachusetts now—we. would rather 
not have—legislation. If it comes we simply take an 
interest in it. We have influence enough in the legis¬ 
lature to defeat any Act that would not suit us, and we 
have done so already several times, when political huck¬ 
sters were going to make capital out of pharmacy. 
Mr. Haselden said: I had no intention to offer one 
word upon education, because I came here more with 
the idea of listening, in order that I might obtain a 
knowledge of the wishes of the community at large con¬ 
nected with pharmacy, and also because I was afraid that 
anything that I might say, being President of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, would be taken as a dictum . Now 
I hope that the few words that I say will be taken in 
my capacity as a private member of the Conference, and 
not as President of the Pharmaceutical Society. I rise 
more particularly to speak upon the subject of the exa¬ 
minations, because I have heard the word “examina¬ 
tion” a great many times, and I have heard no gentle¬ 
man say a word either in favour of the examinations or 
against them, except in so far as they have been .men¬ 
tioned in our Professor’s paper. I believe, and it is the 
opinion also of Dr. Greenhow, that for the present our 
examinations are sufficient. The Doctor has stated that 
they are conducted in as satisfactory a manner as they 
could possibly be conducted. Indeed, to use his own 
words, he said they are as near perfection as human 
nature can arrive at, and yet I am told to-day that they 
are a long way off perfection. I was for some time an 
active member of the Board of Examiners, and, of 
course, as President of the Society I am now ex officio 
Chairman of the Board of Examiners. I have paid great 
attention to the examinations and great attention to the 
examiners and their capabilities, and I must say that I 
am quite of opinion that for the present they are suffi¬ 
cient for all our wants. Doctor Greenhow says that the 
Minor examination which turns a gentleman out fully 
qualified to commence business, and consequently, to a 
certain extent, having the lives of Her Majesty’s subjects 
in his hands, should be a little more practical. There I 
quite agree with him ; but he also says, “ before you carry 
that out give twelve months’ notice, and let the candidates 
know what they will have to undergo.” I think the 
Doctor is right there also. I am very sorry for what 
Professor Attfield says as to the standard of the examina¬ 
tion, because I cannot agree with him. He says that it has 
been lowered enormously. Now I maintain that it 
has not been lowered at all. The printed directions 
for the examiner’s guidance are what they were formerly 
when the examinations were voluntary, but with this ad¬ 
dition, that in the Minor examination for pharmacy 
the candidates are required now to know something 
about the decimal system of weights and measures in 
accordance with the Pharmacopoeia, lhat portion of 
the examination being carried out, the standard can¬ 
not be lowered. It is rather increased than other¬ 
wise. In practical chemistry candidates are required now 
in the Minor examination to give proof that they 
are acquainted with the system of testing. . I cannot,, 
therefore, agree that there is any diminution in the 
examination. I go further, and. say that in practical 
dispensing and reading prescriptions I am certain that 
the examination is quite stiff enough for any of those 
who come up. If I were to bring forward anything 
to support this opinion, I might simply mention that 
in the last examination for the Minor there weie, 1 
believe, 38 candidates, and no less than 24 of them were 
plucked. As regards the qualifications of an examiner, 
which have been specially pointed out, I suppose, in some 
measure for our guidance, I must say that I think they ai e 
very good as far as they go, and that it is not merely neces¬ 
sary that an examiner should know his subject to its fullest 
extent, but he should also have a. certain amount of dis¬ 
cernment and discretion in working the candidates t at 
come before him. It is also said that we should have special 
examinations, and that the subject should be carried out 
to a greater extent over a large area. Well, gentlemen, 
if we were to go much further than we do, or at 
least if we were to occupy much more time than we do, 
we should never get through the examinations, unless you 
gave us fewer candidates and many more hours to 
deal with them. Now there are two classes of candi¬ 
dates who always obtain a larger' amount of time. 1 
know that a botanical examiner does now, and he did on 
former occasions, when he finds a young gentleman well 
up in his subject, carry him on for the pleasure of the 
thing, to see how far he can go. And then theie is 
another class of candidates not. well up, and the exa¬ 
miner says, “I must have a little patience with this 
man, and I must give him five or ten minutes l° n S er than 
the ordinary men, in order to find out what he has any 
doubt about, and to make an allowance for nervousness, 
or something of that kind.” Then it has also been said 
that the School of Pharmacy m Bloomsbury Square 
should be separated from the examinations. i imow 
there is a disposition to separate them, but the exami¬ 
nations are conducted by quite a different par ) o 
gentlemen from the educational portion. I he educa¬ 
tional portion is conducted by professors : the examina¬ 
tion is conducted by ourselves. You may call pharmacy 
a profession if you like ; I call it a business a piesen . 
We are men in business, and who is better qualified to 
examine candidates to become chemists and druggists 
than a man who is in the business and kiiov s e - 
ness ? Well, it has also been stated.that it is not a ^ood 
plan that the education should be picked up here there, 
and everywhere. Now, I believe that it is a good. plan I 
do not care myself where a man has been educated, if he 
has only the knowledge which I wisn him to have. 
I vou educate your young people by a certain, routine, <md 
by a set class of professors, and by those P^essors 
alone, what will the consequence be ? ™ 
these professors’ books^by heart, and they 
other 1 It was stated formerly m the examination 10 
lations that the candidates should he acquainted Jith 
117 pages of Bentley, as regards the vegetable kingdom, 
and alio three other pages as reg^ds ^produeborn 
Well what was the consequence? When you askeu a 
candidate any question not in those 117 PW 8 lk > 
“That is not in Bentley’s 117 pages 
result of compelling your young men to be educated by 
a certain class of men only. Now, withregard to Bloon. 
bury Square, and what Bloomsbury 
have said it before, and I say it again, that it took a io g 
