November 16, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
391 
BRIGHTON ASSOCIATION OF PHARMACY. 
The opening meeting of this association was held in 
Hanover Lecture-room, Church Street, on Friday even¬ 
ing, November 8th. There was a fair attendance, and, 
without any preliminaries, the president, Mr. W. D. 
Savage, read the following paper:— 
Gentlemen,—At the commencement of a new under¬ 
taking, or the resuscitation of an old one, it would seem 
to he, by practice, the proper thing to say something 
as to the objects likely to he obtained by the organiza¬ 
tion, and what efforts will he necessary to secure their 
accomplishment. 
The second rule of the association defines the object 
to he the mutual improvement and general advancement 
of the interests of all its members; and the tenth rule 
indicates the way by which this is to he attained, viz., 
by lectures and reading of pharmaceutical papers. In 
practice we may find it necessary to transpose the posi¬ 
tion of these, and so begin with the reading of suitable 
papers, feeling our way by degrees to higher things as 
opportunity and means become available. I contem¬ 
plate, however, a much wider sphere of usefulness in 
the whole being brought together (apart from social 
gatherings arising out of these associations), the inter¬ 
change of thought and the force of example will go a 
long way either to sustain or mar the efforts of the 
leaders of the undertaking. It too frequently happens 
that by a spasmodic effort an association is formed which 
soon withers and dies. This mainly arises from re¬ 
laxed energy on the part of the promoters ; or more fre¬ 
quently, perhaps, from the removal of some one who 
had the necessary time and perseverance to uphold it. 
The principals and assistants engaged in this renewed 
effort, must feel mutually bound to aid each other, and 
to support by their presence at the meetings, and to 
take such part in the proceedings as to justify the be¬ 
lief that they are anxious for the success of the under¬ 
taking. The mere formal acquiescence in the establish¬ 
ment of such an association is not enough,—to become a 
member is essential. But unless some little sacrifice on 
the part of the principals is made, it must sooner or 
later end in failure. The parties more immediately in¬ 
terested in the success of this association are the appren¬ 
tices and assistants ; the former, by the means at their 
disposal, will be enabled to advance their pharmaceuti¬ 
cal education, and the latter to strengthen and enlarge 
that which they have already obtained. But I cannot 
help thinking that all who are connected with the trade 
must rejoice at the opportunity that this association 
affords of removing a stigma from our town, and of 
being able to help those who are desirous of helping 
themselves; and thus it is that the originators of this 
undertaking have wisely (I think) combined the interest 
of employers and employed in having associated on the 
committee of management principals and assistants. 
It may be thought by some that such a combination 
is injudicious and will prove impracticable in working. 
As the majority of our establishments have but 
one assistant, how can principal and assistant leave 
at the same time ? This of course cannot be; but 
the difficulty may to a certain extent be removed 
by an arrangement that the principal should attend 
monthly, or other meetings where his presence and 
experience would be most required, whilst the weekly 
meetings for practical instruction would be most advan¬ 
tageously promoted by the attendance of assistants and 
apprentices. By a little concession and mutual desire on 
the part of both that such arrangements should be 
carried out, beneficial results must follow, until the good 
time comes when our shops can be closed and business 
engagements cease at eight o’clock, so that all may then 
be free to attend such gatherings. In the meantime we 
must make the most of our opportunities ; and when we 
contemplate the limited means at the disposal of such 
men as Faraday, with the noble results that he achieved, 
we have no cause of despair, but on the contrary, grea 
encouragement to persevere and avail ourselves of the 
many facilities placed within the reach of all who will 
but use them, in every department of science or com¬ 
merce. Education is the cry, and in none just now is 
the appeal made more urgent than in that of Pharma¬ 
ceutical Education. We have the various schemes pro¬ 
pounded by Messrs. Reynolds, Schacht, Attfield,. 
Wootton, and Redwood, and locally we have our friend, 
Mr. Schweitzer’s suggestions, read at the Conference. 
Amidst such a variety of plans and opinions you cannot 
wonder at the perplexity of the Pharmaceutical Council, 
and their hesitation to adopt any scheme until the diffi¬ 
culties that at present surround the question are cleared 
away, and more experience acquired to enable them to 
decide equitably. On reviewing the different proposals 
we may perhaps be permitted to consider some of the 
distinctive characters of each plan, beginning with that 
of my esteemed friend, Mr. Richard Reynolds, of Leeds ; 
for although his views, as enunciated at the Leeds As¬ 
sociation (see the Journal of March of this year), are later 
than those of the Provincial Education Committee of 
the Council, which appeared in the proceedings of 
Council, March 2nd, 1870,—yet, as a member of that 
Committee, we may fairly infer, that if not the author, 
he was the promoter of those suggestions of having in. 
large towns the means of acquiring technical education. 
And whilst the parent Society could not initiate such 
schools of pharmacy as the report indicates as necessary, 
and as Mr. Reynolds advocates, still they could. materi¬ 
ally aid the same after their formation and having fur¬ 
nished evidence of their vitality and usefulness. It is 
said that the plan is analogous to that of the medical 
profession, whose wants are supplied by the. eight 
schools of medicine established in the principal 
towns of England. Such a provision connected .with 
the Pharmaceutical Society (although entirely inde¬ 
pendent of it so far as management i3 concerned) 
would place those favoured towns in somewhat the same 
position as London, so far as to enable students 
to attend lectures and receive practical instruction. It 
has been argued that places like London would then 
be resorted to by apprentices and improvers. This, to 
a certain extent, would prove to be so, but the parent 
Society remaining as now an examining body would be 
all the better off by such institutions preparing the stu¬ 
dents to pass creditable examinations ; and the students 
themselves would not require to be so far from home, 
nor, consequently, to incur such a large expenditure. 
Mr. Schacht again deserves much credit for the elaborate 
scheme which he proposes for provincial education, and 
its general principles were approved by the Council. 
Without, however, entering into every particular, espe¬ 
cially as the details have not been furnished, certain pro¬ 
positions based on the science and art programme of 
Kensington, of payment for results, seem to me imprac¬ 
ticable. As at present propounded it is imperativethat 25 
lectures on chemistry and. botany shall be given by 
competent teachers ; that they shall be on different days, 
and be of one hour’s length; and that the student do 
attend at least 20 of these lectures. How is it possible 
that such an arrangement can be carried out ? Mr. 
Reynolds, in a letter to the Journal of July 27, very 
ably suggests difficulties that would arise in attempting 
to carry out Mr. Schacht’s scheme. Amongst others, he 
points out the awkwardness' of having two examining 
bodies, for the Pharmaceutical Society are to send exa¬ 
miners. Suppose, for illustration, that we had a class 
arrangement on Mr. Schacht’s principle, and one of our 
students did so well that he obtained a prize for him¬ 
self and £2 for the Association. The same young man, 
under a different system of examination, goes up for 
his Minor, and is plucked ! How disagreeable and un¬ 
satisfactory such a state of things would be, and^ still 
there is nothing improbable in such a result. Lut I 
must pass on to consider the next proposition suggested 
