434 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November30,1372. 
lectures are delivered in connection with University, 
College, or School of Pharmacy, time should be given in 
the absence of such opportunities in country towns for 
the systematic study of these important subjects, either 
in the morning or evening, as might be found most con¬ 
venient with business arrangements. 
4. As a rule, let the term of apprenticeship be five 
years. 
5. That the study of the different departments should 
be aided as much as possible by the use of books and 
specimens of drugs and chemicals. 
6. At the close of such an apprenticeship, let each 
young man devote as much time as he can to the study 
of practical chemistry, and by keeping up his reading, so 
fit himself to pass his Minor examination. 
Now these propositions are very simple, and will at 
once convey an indication of the kind of aid which I 
think the parent Society ought to extend to her children, 
especially if it can be proved that they are in want of, or 
desire such needful assistance. I have already plainly 
hinted my own feeling as to the direction in which the 
funds of the Society should for the present be spent, and 
if thus taken advantage of, I feel that with our exami¬ 
nations continuing as they now are, there can be little 
fear that either uneducated or illiterate men will ever be 
found filling up the ranks of the pharmaceutical army, 
and so bring down, as many have feared, disgrace upon 
all connected -with our profession. 
Already we have in our pharmaceutical horizon many 
bright constellations, men well known for high intellec¬ 
tual and scientific attainments; but I conceive it is equally 
certain that wfith facilities already given,and still to be ac¬ 
quired, young men generally may be fairly educated, and 
with ordinary application and perseverance, prepare 
themselves to occupy their important and responsible 
position of dispensing medicines to the sick, and thus 
carefully and correctly fulfil the intentions of the pre- 
scriber. 
A discussion then followed on the subject of the 
paper. 
Mr. D. R. Brown (Macfarlane and Co.), said he -was 
now of the same opinion that he had been all along— 
that a thoroughly furnished pharmaceutical chemist re¬ 
quired a much wider and more extensive education than 
the great majority had hitherto got. He thought a very 
great advantage might accrue to them if they looked to 
what w r as past. In former days, the apothecary had a 
much wider education, and a much better pay than the 
ordinary pharmaceutical chemist of the present day. 
He held a very respectable position, indeed, and if they 
just recollected, there was scarcely a branch of science 
but took its origin from the old apothecary. The pre¬ 
sent degraded position of pharmaceutical chemist arose 
from the fact that they permitted science to be taken 
out of their hands by men more competent than 
themselves. There was not an article in the possession 
of the old apothecary—if it were plant or mineral—but 
had been gathered by himself, and if it were a pharma¬ 
ceutical preparation, but had been prepared by himself. 
The pharmaceutical chemists of the present day had 
permitted all these things to be taken out of their 
hands. They went to the manufacturer and bought 
an article, and, very much like the grocer, they sold it 
in retail. The result of that was, that an uneducated 
class of men had come amongst them w r hose only object 
was to live and make money. That w r as all very right 
and proper when carried on in moderation, but those he 
spoke of pursued it too eagerly, and tried to do it at the 
least possible expense to themselves. He held that pro¬ 
gress was absolutely necessary for them. The -world 
was progressing, and what had happened, had happened 
because they allowed themselves to remain stationary, 
whilst others were moving forward. He believed the 
time would come when the making up of prescriptions 
would pass from their hands if they did not take better 
care of themselves. Medicine just now was in a transi¬ 
tion state, had become a science, and knew that che¬ 
mistry, was one of its best handmaids. Medicine had been 
investigating the healthy condition of all the organs of 
the body, examining their secretions, knowing what was 
in them in their normal condition, and learning what 
they became in their abnormal. Another step in the 
practice of medicine, and the pharmaceutist will 
vanish. No such a thing as pharmacy will then be 
in existence. It would become a dead art; and the 
reason was this, that the physician having the science 
at his finger ends would not be content to work on un¬ 
certainties. He w r ould compel the pharmaceutical che¬ 
mist to eliminate the active principles of everything he 
dealt with, and to put them into his hands that he might 
measure them with perfect accuracy. To prevent all this, 
he held that pharmaceutical education should be a much 
wider one than it was at present. He acknowledged 
one of the best steps w r as the Preliminary examination. 
He next held that they could not make their examina¬ 
tions too stringent, but he also acknowledged that Mr. 
Mackay was right in saying that in the present condition 
of the profession it would be wrong to insist upon it. 
He thought that if a man took a lad and bound him ap¬ 
prentice for five years, and took his services, as they were 
taken, for a very few pounds indeed, that master was 
bound to see that his apprentice was educated in his pro¬ 
fession, and educated athis expense too. It was utterly im¬ 
possible, scattered up and down the country as they were, 
that many of their young men could attend lectures. He 
thought that each master should proVide his own mu¬ 
seum, and spend some time upon his apprentices. Why 
should he not undertake various pharmaceutical opera¬ 
tions for himself, if for no other purpose than that of 
educating his apprentices F Why should he not 
undertake some chemical experiments and make a 
good many of the substances in which he dealt. Mul¬ 
titudes of them were easily made, and did not need 
to be manufactured in large quantities. The cost would 
be very little. He saw no other Avay of educating the 
profession as it ought to be educated unless the master 
took the apprentice in hand. It was his duty. In a 
great many places, such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aber¬ 
deen, St. Andrew’s, where large numbers were to be 
found -willing to attend classes, these should be pro¬ 
vided. He was adverse to the Pharmaceutical Society 
of Great Britain providing anything for the apprentices 
but examination. 
Mr. Frazer (Glasgow), said the difficulty he felt was 
brought out by Mr. Mackay. It was impossible to hit 
upon a scheme that would be acceptable to all parts of 
the country and all circumstances. He had tabled his 
proposal in the month of March. They had a surplus 
sum of money of £1500 or £2000. He wanted the 
Council of the Society to set aside what they could 
spare for educational purposes. It was impossible for 
every druggist in the kingdom to go to London for wdiat 
he wanted. Let them put their hands into their 
pockets in each locality, and for every 205. which they 
subscribed, let them ask the Council in London for other 
20.?. or 10s., and spend it on pharmaceutical education as 
they thought would best suit their circumstances. Mr. 
Reynolds’s scheme was to have educational centres in 
Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol, and so on; but he 
held that was but a modification of the evil of one insti¬ 
tute. They had no right to accumulate money as they 
were doing without applying it to any useful purpose. 
He thought they ought to spend it in educating their 
young men; that they ought to reduce their examina¬ 
tion fees, for, compared with other and larger learned 
societies, they were much too large. By these means 
they would get rid of their surplus funds. He would 
not reduce the standard of the examinations. It was a 
wrong thing that they should have to educate their 
young men. But they had got their young men into a 
fix. The masters had passed this law for a conservative 
purpose,—to keep the trade into fewer hands. What- 
