358 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[November 2, 1872, 
feraptkntt. 
*** No 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 
for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith. 
Payment op Local Secretaries. 
Sir,—I am glad to see the above subject is beginning to 
attract attention, and as I am not now a local secretary, I feel 
that I can speak the more freely upon the propriety of paying 
local secretaries for at least some part of their services. I 
need not enter into detail regarding the duties of the office, 
but may state generally that a secretary who studies the 
constitution and interests ot the Society is of great value, 
and renders services which it would be impracticable to repay 
in money, but which may be considered to be met by his own 
consciousness of doing good, by the status (small though that 
may be) which his office gives him, and by any acknowledgment 
on the part of the Society, such as that Mr. Hills proposes, 
i.e., paying his railway fare to and from London on the occa¬ 
sion of his attending the annual meeting. I do not think 
that there is any tear of the meetings being inundated in 
consequence ot such an arrangement; most provincial chemists 
are too much tied to their counters to think of spending a 
day or two on a journey to London, simply from having their 
railway fare paid by the Society. 
But as regards examinations, or any other definite work 
which is required from local secretaries, I think it is only just 
that it should receive a fair remuneration. The Board in London 
receive pay for their work, and I am not aware that any one 
outside ot the Board grudges them their well-earned fee, nor do 
I suppose that any on the Board feels it infra dig. to accept it. 
I once received a guinea for six or seven hours spent in the 
Board-room (I believe the fee is now two guineas), and though 
I acknowledge that the work was more laborious and respon¬ 
sible than that of superintending tho writing of papers by a 
student or two, it was also occupation of a much more interest¬ 
ing character, and one to which more honour was attached. If 
superintendents of Preliminary examinations are in future to 
receive a fee of halt a guinea (or five shillings a student when 
there are more than two), I have only to regret that in most 
cases the payment will be so small, considering that the day 
and hour are fixed, without reference to the individual con¬ 
venience in each case. I would rather see the whole subject 
of local secretaries reconsidered and their duties rearranged 
and defined. Looking over the list of towns at which exa¬ 
minations were held (page 331), we find there were fifty-eight 
in which one student only was present for examination. 
I do not know any reason why the single student in Gates¬ 
head should not have walked a mile to be examined along 
with the three in Newcastle, and so economize the examining 
power. Nor do I think there is any reason why those at 
Shields, Sunderland, and Durham, should not also have come 
to Newcastle, in which case the examiner in the latter town 
would have had ten students under his superintendence, and 
might reasonably have received a fee of a guinea and his ex¬ 
penses if he required to hire a room, etc. When in office I 
repeatedly had candidates from small towns twenty or thirty 
miles distant, and if it is practicable for them to travel so 
far, I think it would be equally practicable, and in many 
respects advantageous to arrange that all within a certain 
radius should meet at some convenient centre. The secre¬ 
tary at Leeds, whose time was devoted to two unsuccessful 
candidates, might just as well have had those from Ripon, 
Harrogate, Ivnaresborough, and perhaps some other towns. 
Five-and-twenty or thirty large towns might be selected 
in England that would afford all reasonable facility to can¬ 
didates for the Preliminary. A fee of a guinea per exami¬ 
nation to the secretaries in these towns would put the 
Society to only a trifling expense, and if perchance any of 
these gentlemen should feel, like your correspondent this 
week, that it was infra dig. to receive money he had earned 
there is always the Benevolent Fund ready to relieve him 
and profit by his dignity. J 
Newcastle, October 28 th, 1872. 
Barnard S. Proctor. 
Sir,—As one of the local secretaries of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, may I be allowed to enter a protest against the 
kindly-intended suggestion of Mr. Sutton, that “The secre¬ 
taries should receive some remuneration for their services.’' 
I think the proposition would be favourably entertained by 
very few of those now holding office. 
Mr. Hills’ proposal would, however, I think, be generally 
acceptable, and would be a courteous and sufficient recogni¬ 
tion of their services. 
I believe, too, that the local secretaries’ presence at the- 
anniversary meetings would be found useful to the pharma¬ 
ceutical body, as many suggestions might be offered by them, 
of a practical and instructive character. 
I do not think the Council need to fear that too many 
would accept the invitation ; we all know the compulsory tie- 
that binds every pharmaceutist to his business, so that, even 
under such a persuasive call to Bloomsbury Square, a largo 
majority would be compulsory absentees. 
Thos. Witherington. 
Worcester, Oct. 28th, 1872. 
Sunday Closing. 
Sir,—In regard to the present agitation in favour of early 
closing, what is meant by “ Sunday closing ? ” I see that 
some of my friends in this city, in the neighbourhood of 
Broughton and Cheetham Hill, include the latter in their 
programme. Is it meant that not even medicine is to be 
supplied on Sundays, and no attendance given at any time 
during the day for that purpose expressly ? It would be a? 
very delightful thing to me if I could dismiss my young- 
men to their friends every Saturday evening, and enjoy a 
day’s quiet repose in the bosom of my own family, without- 
the dread of that eternal bell; feeling as entirely untram¬ 
melled with regard to shop duties as my neighbours Smith, 
the greengrocer, and Jones the shoemaker. The very thought 
of such a state of bliss makes one’s mouth water. But I can’t see 
how it is to bedone. Here is a family whoare regular customers. 
A member of it is dangerously ill, the doctor attends every day* 
and every day for a week, I have supplied the medicine 
prescribed by him; Sunday comes, the patient is worse, and 
a new prescription is written and sent to me. What is to be 
done ? Is the patient to wait till Monday, or may I expect 
my customer will send to some other chemist who does not 
close on a Sunday, and then return to me on the Monday ? I 
should be glad to see my way clear as to this matter, and 
respectfully ask what is meant by “ Sunday closing.” 
J. T. Slugg. 
Manchester, October 25th, 1872. 
Patent Medicine Licences. 
Sir,—I cannot agree with either of your correspondents, 
relative to the amount they would recommend as an uniform 
rate throughout the country. Where I am in business, 5s. is 
the price of the licence. The idea of raising that to £2 seems 
a monstrous proposition, and I am sure your correspondent, 
Mr. Ellis, is mistaken if he thinks “ most of the trade ” would 
agree with him. I differ also from him in supposing that the 
amount, if even raised to £2, would deter our grocers and others 
from _ selling patent medicines. An uniform 10s. would not, 
be objected to by the country, if it were intended as a relief to- 
the town chemists, but beyond that, I trust no suggestion 
will be made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who'does not 
need stimulation to put on the screw. 
An old Country Pharmacist. 
Sir.—With your permission, I will state my objections to 
raising the licence to £2, as proposed, and offer another course 
for consideration. 
If, instead of the three present rates of charges, we had 
an uniform one of 105. for retailers, it would relieve our Lon¬ 
don friends ; and those who pay 5s. now would not complain. 
By raising all the licences to £2, you might, perhaps, benefit 
a few chemists by diminishing competition in their particular 
neighbourhoods, but it would not affect our worst competi¬ 
tors, the co-operative stores. Supposing the advance of £2 
took place, I believe you would soon find that those people 
who discontinued their licences would push the sale of Dinne- 
ford’s, De Jongh’s, Moller’s, Condy’sand Goddard’s prepara¬ 
tions, and everything that was not stamped. It is also a 
question whether they would not open packages of Hollo¬ 
way’s and other Pills, Steedman’s Powders, etc., to sell them 
out in small quantities, and so evade the licence. 
Should any alteration take place, I propose two separate- 
licences. A £2 licence for wholesale dealers, and a 10s. one- 
for retailers. 
_ Vendors who sell both wholesale and retail to take out bothi 
licences. 
