398 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[November 16, 1872, 
there is likely to be—a great many more legally qualified 
chemists than can possibly obtain a living by the practice of 
pharmacy; hence a large proportion are compelled to eke out 
a subsistence by adding other trades to their own legitimate 
one, by counter prescribing, and sometimes by even less ex¬ 
cusable incursions on the domain of medicine and surgery. 
This is the direct result of there being many more persons 
embarked in the calling than there is any need for. Many of 
these persons—in the country especially — have as boys 
picked up a rudimentary knowledge of drugs in apothe¬ 
caries’ surgeries, or as porters in the service of druggists, and 
from their social position and antecedents, are tolerably satis¬ 
fied if they can clear from their business as much as a 
skilled mechanic receives as wages. Others have been indeed 
apprenticed to a druggist of some sort or other, but either 
through their own apathy, or through lack of opportunity, 
their knowledge of pharmacy and its allied sciences is little or 
nothing in advance of the first named. Now it is to be ex¬ 
pected and desired that both these classes of persons should 
gradually disappear; and I do not hesitate to say, that if 
pharmacy is to be made worth the attention of educated 
young men as a business career, that the number of “ chemists 
shops” in proportion to the population must greatly de¬ 
crease, their place being taken by a much small number of 
pharmacies, and a considerably increased number of oilmen, 
Italian warehousemen, booksellers, photographers, etc. 
This gradual separation of incongruous businesses will of 
course be a work of time, but the sooner it takes place the 
better for the public and ourselves. There will be in the 
future a difference both in quantity and quality; and there is 
urgent need that the first decrease and the second improve. 
Meanwhile there need be no “ searchings of heart ” for some 
time to come with regard to a falling off in the number of 
registered practitioners of pharmacy. 
¥m. H. Hayward. 
Trowbridge. 
Sir,—Anonymous correspondence, as a rule, does not de¬ 
serve the same attention as if authenticated by name and 
address of the writer; but I cannot allow the remarks of 
* An Underpaid Assistant ’ to pass without calling in ques¬ 
tion their correctness. There are few, if any, assistants “well 
up ” in their business here who would accept a salary of £50 or 
even £60 per annum. I know many, anything but well up, 
receiving higher salaries; but this is, to some extent, beside 
the question at issue, as there are other reasons, as well as 
those given, why assistants are leaving the business, such 
as long hours and confining employment, as compared with 
other businesses. My statement, however, I adhere to, viz., 
that the present scale of examination fees has not only 
pressed heavily on some who have gone forward to the ex¬ 
aminations, but has deterred others from going forward at 
all. And I gave this as a reason, among others, why the 
fees should be reduced instead of raising them as proposed 
by Mr. Vizer and Mr. Carteighe; but ‘ An Underpaid As¬ 
sistant ’ seems to doubt this. I have to remind him, how¬ 
ever, that it is not a question of “ three guineas ” at all, but 
five guineas, and in some cases eight and nine guineas, and 
with Mr. Carteighe’s addition would perhaps be twelve 
guineas, some of our young men having had to pay one and 
two guineas additional for the Preliminary and the same for 
the Minor. Of course, they were “ plucked ” once or twice; 
but this is a contingency always to be looked forward to, and 
I do not think the Society should make capital out of it. 
Then the fee for the Preliminary is two guineas of itself, 
while the medical Preliminary here is only 10s. 6 d. It is 
little wonder therefore that a young man preparing to study 
should choose the cheapest, especially when the future pros¬ 
pect is better. Your correspondent thinks the cry for a re¬ 
duction of fees comes from the wrong quarter ; I should like 
to know from whence it should come, and when. I do not 
think there is much prospect of it coming from the assi¬ 
stants who are leaving the trade in disgust; and it will cer¬ 
tainly not be time for employers to do so when the business 
has been drained of its best hands. 
17, St. George's Cross, Glasgow, J. M. Fairlie. 
Nov. mh, 1872. 
The Sale of Poisons. 
Sir,—I shall be glad if you will be kind enough to inform 
me through the columns of your Journal whether or not 
grocers ara allowed to sell chlorodyne and Winslow syrup. 
It has recently been decided (Pharmaceutical Journal, 
3age 94), that the sale of Battle’s Vermin Killer must be regis¬ 
tered; and as it is equally as well known that the two prepa¬ 
rations I have named owe their sudorific effects to morphia 
as it is that the active ingredient in Battle’s Vermin Killer is 
strychnine, it seems to me that the Sale of Poisons Act must 
be applied to all patent medicines containing poison, if ap¬ 
plied to one; and in that case chlorodyne and Winslow’s 
syrup must be classed under part 2, schedule A, Pharmacy 
Act, 1868. 
If my supposition is correct, I shall be obliged if you will 
further inform me if it is the duty of the Pharmaceutical 
Society to take steps against parties contravening the Act. 
Thos. Brewis. 
Amble, September 30 th, 1872. 
Pharmaceutical Education. 
Sir,—As one of the “ poor unfortunates ” mentioned in ther- 
letter of an assistant in last week’s Journal, I would suggest 
that instead of spending time and energy in trying to obtain' 
“ some privilege,” they should take lor their motto, “ Nil 
dosperandum,” and qua ify themselves for the existing ex¬ 
aminations. 
I must confess that at one time I might have added my 
voice to his, in pleading for privilege, but that now I write 
from the other side the hedge, and if the following brief 
sketch will prove a stimulus or encouragement to any assist¬ 
ant, my letter will not be in vain. The only schooling I was- 
fortunate enough to receive was obtained at a small village 
school, where Latin was indeed a dead language. At the 
age of fourteen years, I was apprenticed for five years to a. 
chemist in a country town, and during the whole term, only 
studied very little by fits and starts, never dreaming of a com¬ 
pulsory examination. My term having expired, I took a 
situation in one of the large manufacturing towns in the- 
north, and when within three months of my 21st birthday 
I was informed by a commercial friend that I had two exami¬ 
nations to pass, I could hardly believe him; but having ascer¬ 
tained that it was a fact, I set to, and without losing a day at 
business (with the exception of half a day for the Preliminary 
and two days for the Minor), with scarcely any aid, and at a 
cost of under £12, including fees, traveling expenses, etc,, 
within a year I was so fortunate as to receive a star in the 
Minor, and can now look back on the compulsory examina¬ 
tions as among the good things of life, seeing that knowledge 
is power and I may add pleasure too. 
An Associate in Business. 
The Annual Subscription. 
Sir,—Attention has been drawn to the fact, that a great- 
number of those who have qualified themselves as Pharma¬ 
ceutical Chemists do not become members of the Society; one 
cause is, doubtless, that many cannot afford the extra half¬ 
guinea ; for the young Major, from want of practical know¬ 
ledge, or it maybe years, often finds himself compelled to accept 
a junior’s berth and salary. I venture to suggest, as a remedy, 
that Major associates not in business be admitted to member¬ 
ship without extra subscription ; this would be an addition to 
the few inducements offered to students to take this qualifica¬ 
tion. 
A Young Major. 
London, November 6th, 1872. 
The Library. 
Sir,—In the interest of provincial pharmaceutical edu¬ 
cation, may I suggest the desirability of bringing under the 
notice of the Council the rules which at present regulate the 
use of the library of the Society by country members. 
The rules for the issue and retention of books apply equally 
to all, and, as a consequence, while to the town member they 
merely regulate the use of the library, to the country mem¬ 
bers ..they almost close it. The postage to and fro of any 
book of moderate size, and this doubled if the book be 
retained beyond the fortnight, forms a tax which is almost 
prohibitory. 
What I would suggest is, that to remove in some degree the 
disadvantage under which country members labour with re¬ 
gard to the library, the Society pay the outward postage of 
books to the provincial members, and that they be allowed to> 
retain them three weeks instead of a fortnight. By this 
means the extra expense now incurred by them would be re- 
