October 19,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
313 
of Parliament requiring that every apprentice should 
spend one or more sessions at these establishments, and 
thereby do away with the necessity or temptation to that 
bugbear and sham, ‘ cram,’ and show to the public and 
our brethren that we have not only obtained what we 
had long sought, but know how to appreciate the boon, 
both to our own and the public weal.” Mr. Taplin 
moved the following resolution :— 
“ That in the opinion of this meeting the time has 
arrived for the establishment of one or more pharma¬ 
ceutical halls or colleges, and that action should be taken 
by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society for this 
purpose.” 
He wished to say, with regard to Mr. Schacht’s scheme, 
that it was not sufficiently comprehensive. It might do 
very well, as Mr. Stoddart said, in a place like Bristol, but 
how would it act in small towns such as Clevedon, Taunton, 
or Bridgewater, where young men had very few oppor¬ 
tunities for qualifying themselves beyond the ordinary 
routine of the shop ? He submitted that young men in 
such towns ought to have the opportunity given them 
of going to some public institution where they could 
obtain scientific instruction of the highest character. 
The payment for results would answer pretty well in 
Bristol, where they had such men as Mr. Stoddart, Mr. 
Leipner, Mr. Coomber, and Mr. Schacht, but they would 
not find their equals in a place where there were only 
three or four chemists. A great inj ustice would be done 
to young men in small towns if they were placed on the 
same level with students in towns of larger size and 
possessing convenient educational appliances. With 
respect to the proposed halls, he would have three or 
four only—at Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, and 
Glasgow or Edinburgh. Residence in one of these halls 
should be compulsory before proceeding to the examina¬ 
tions in London, by which means they would do away 
with the system of “cramming.” The sessions need 
not be too long, costing about £ 25 each, including board, 
lodging, and education, and if necessary the members of 
the Pharmaceutical Society should increase their sub¬ 
scriptions to two guineas rather than lower them to 
2s. Qd., as suggested by Mr. Schacht. He did not care 
whether any one seconded his resolution or not. It 
embodied his own convictions on the matter, and he 
wished to place it on record. 
Mr. Schacht, as a matter of order, said they could not 
discuss Mr. Taplin’s resolution now, unless it was to be 
moved as an amendment. 
Mr. Taplin declined to move his proposition as an 
amendment. 
The President invited the opinions of the students 
present. 
Mr. Sampson (a student) inquired whether payment 
for results worked well in connection with South Ken¬ 
sington. If the system worked well there, they might 
have every hope that it would do the same in pharmacy ; 
if not, it would be a great pity to follow it. 
Mr. Giles asked the President whether he understood 
him to say that ho gathered that the universal expression 
of opinion was that it was the duty of the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society to provide education ? 
The President: Not quite that; but that the idea and 
intention of the founders and early supporters of the 
Pharmaceutical Society was that it should be and con¬ 
tinue to be an educating body. 
Mr. Giles said he was quite content with that. There 
was no doubt the Pharmaceutical Society was established 
as an educating body. They had, however, arrived at a 
new epoch, and the less they looked back and the more 
they looked forward the better. They had heard that 
the Society had expended some £100,000 in education, 
and it would be utterly beyond its powers to provide 
education over the whole country. It never undertook 
to do so, and could not be accused of failure if it de¬ 
clined what it had never undertaken. Let them see 
what were the circumstances of the trade. The law re¬ 
quired a candidate to pass a certain examination as laid 
down by the Pharmaceutical Society. The Society had 
laid down a Preliminary, Minor and a Major examina¬ 
tion, but the Legislature had cut out the Major and re¬ 
duced the standard. He thought the Legislature did 
wisely in coming to the conclusion that the standard was 
too high. It was advantageous and honourable to have 
among them their Bradleys and Stoddarts ; but it would 
have been a most lamentable thing if the standard had 
been placed so high that the large majority of those de¬ 
sirous of being chemists and druggists must have failed. 
Looking at the various schemes of education, Mr. Giles 
said they would all help to form their views into shape 
and prevent their rushing blindly at this important 
stage into any definite course. He did not think it re¬ 
quired much assistance to attain to the qualification as 
fixed by the Legislature for a chemist and druggist. Cer¬ 
tainly they did not want any assistance in Bristol, nor 
did he see that assistance was wanted in smaller places,, 
because any man capable of ordinary application, with 
ordinary assistance, could pass the Minor examina¬ 
tion. He did not want to see the system of pharmaceu¬ 
tical education made too easy. In law and medicine 
there were no means of obtaining collective instruction. 
Pupils knew the conditions of entering those trades, and 
they fulfilled them. So in their own trade, especially as 
they had not come to a very high standard, it should 
bring men prepared mentally and financially to meet 
the requirements of the trade. Mr. Giles therefore ex¬ 
pressed an opinion that the Pharmaceutical Society 
should confine its assistance to those who desired to go- 
further than the Minor examination. Iffiat was the 
kind of education the Society was established to pro¬ 
mote, and not that kind that every young man could 
get for himself behind the counter, or by reading; and 
it was a question whether it was proper to limit to such 
the school of pharmacy in Bloomsbury Square, or whe¬ 
ther they should have a kind of matriculation examina¬ 
tion in the Minor and extend the school to high phar¬ 
macy. He was pleased to hear Mr. Taplin enunciate 
the opinions he had expressed at Brighton, that they 
should establish a few schools in various parts of the 
country. He had said that the time had arrived for that 
to be done in Edinburgh, but it was not at all fair to 
come on the Pharmaceutical Society to pave the way 
for people to slip into the trade in an easy manner. 
They should tax themselves to advance the higher phar¬ 
maceutical education, such as exists at Bloomsbury Square, 
by utilizing the opportunities of scientific instruction 
existing in the country and also by encouraging local 
organizations. By so doing they w r ould effect a great 
national good to other classes besides their own. He did 
not think they wanted anything more than the organiza¬ 
tions throughout the country already provided for. 
Science schools should only be kept up in certain 
centres. There would be outside places in everything; and 
they could not suppose that young men would have the 
same opportunities at Stoke Pogis as in Bristol. Things 
always equalized themselves, and there were few young 
men who would not get to London or some other big town. 
The question resolved itself into this—that, having made 
the Minor examination compulsory, they should asso¬ 
ciate with that the Major examination for which some 
special training was required. Now all that was requi¬ 
site had dwindled down to the Minor; every young man 
with fair opportunities as an apprentice ought to pass, as 
the difficulties were not of that nature to require any 
heroic exertion. The Pharmaceutical Society should 
keep the higher standard of pharmacy up to a satisfac¬ 
tory point. 
Mr. Schacht said he was obliged to Mr. Sampson for 
his inquiry. Possibly his faith in the scheme had been 
somewhat shaken by a correspondent asserting from time 
to time in the Pharmaceutical Journal that the South 
Kensington scheme had been an utter failure. But he 
was happy to say, on the authority of the ‘ Blue Book,’ 
