435 
November 30, 1372.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
ever was the motive, that was the result of it ? They 
had got their young men into a cage, and they ought to 
help them out of it. The young men had no means of 
educating themselves to the standard the masters had 
raised. They were therefore hound to give them every 
facility they had in their power to attain this standard. 
His proposal about the examination fee, which had not 
been ventilated yet, he should like considered. He pro¬ 
posed that where a young man was able to do it, he 
should be allowed to take the Minor and Major exami¬ 
nations at one step. Where a young man was able to 
take it at one step, they had no right to say, “You must 
take the Minor first,” and make him pay for that five 
guineas, when he was able to take the two for six. He 
was satisfied that the examination fees, considering the 
rate at which the young men in Scotland were remu¬ 
nerated, were too high. The effect of this was that 
many left the trade. The passing through examinations 
•at their time of life had a deterrent effect on many, alto¬ 
gether irrespective of their power to pass them, and 
.therefore the examinations ought to be made as few as 
possible. If they did as he proposed, they would find a 
large proportion taking the Minor and Major at once. 
The Society could only lose about £300 by this being 
done, and by many more taking the Major than now 
did, that sum would be made up. He thought the 
suggestion of Mr. Brown that each chemist should have 
his own museum was one of the best practical hints that 
he had heard. 
Mr. Mackenzie thought that Mr. Mackay’s paper 
.contained some good suggestions. He quite endorsed, 
he remarked, what that gentleman had said about the 
present manner of education—that it was contrary to the 
spirit of the age, and must sooner or later succumb. It 
sfiould be altered so far, that any young man coming up to 
be examined, no matter how or where he got his education, 
should be placed on an equal footing with all others, if 
he proved himself possessed of the requisite knowledge. 
He believed that the standards of the examinations were 
already as high as they prudently should be made. He 
was not exactly prepared to admit what Mr. Brown had 
said regarding the present pharmaceutical chemist. The 
old apothecary was a sort of mongrel. He was neither 
a druggist nor a doctor, but a little of both. He was an 
educated man because he had graduated at the university. 
He thought that Mr. Brown’s ideas were rather Utopian 
regarding the master’s duties to his apprentices. He 
would gladly see this, but where could they find a master, 
with a good business, who had time to do all this ? He 
thought with Mr. Brown, however, that each master 
should have his museum; but it could not be expected 
in many cases that he could turn schoolmaster for his 
apprentices. It had been asked how were the apprentices 
in rural districts to be enabled to compete with those 
who were able from their situations to attend colleges 
and lectures, for the examiners allowed no difference 
between the two classes when they came up for examina¬ 
tion? They had heard a great deal about the money 
that the Society had acctimulated also. He did not think 
it wise that this money should be allowed to go on ac¬ 
cumulating without any definite or good purpose. He 
thought the fees should remain as they were, but he 
would most decidedly have the young men who were 
prepared to pass both examinations at once permitted to 
do so. But returning to the question how the young 
men through the length and breadth of the land were 
to be put on an equal platform, he suggested that the 
^Society, instead of paying certain learned men to be 
lecturers, should pay them or other competent men to 
compose or edit a work of the nature of ‘ Cassell’s Popu¬ 
lar Educator,’ containing the information imparted in 
the lectures so that the young men should be able to 
educate themselves. The lessons might be graduated as 
in the work he had mentioned, and one number or part 
might be published every week. The progressive lessons 
might gradually lead the student up to the Minor and 
then to the Major examination. This might be done by 
a system of question and answer, embracing chemistry 
and botany amongst other things, and leaving to the 
master that sound practical work which he was bound 
to teach his apprentices. Let them consider what had 
been done in all the different departments of knowledge 
by means similar to those he suggested. It would place 
the young man in the most secluded part of the country 
upon an equal platform with those employed in the towns 
and cities. If they were going to apply the surplus 
funds of the Society to a general educational scheme, he 
thought this was the best w r ay they could do it. 
Mr. Ainslie (Gardner and Ainslie) said he fully 
concurred in most of the remarks made by Mr. 
Mackay. He thought they were sensible and practi¬ 
cable. He had a suggestion to make in regard to 
the examinations. On the occasion of almost every 
examination they had young men coming before them 
who were ignorant of the names of certain drugs and 
preparations. He believed that one great cause of this 
w r as, that these young men had been, perhaps, but a 
short time at the trade. He thought it would be an im¬ 
provement if every young man before he came up for 
examination had been not less than four’ or five years 
at the business. He thought the idea of having a 
museum and library of reference in most towns a very 
good one, and although it would cost a good deal of 
money, it would be the best way the Pharmaceutical 
Society could help the young men in their course of 
study. A great deal had been said about the difficulty 
of passing the Minor examination; this w’as much 
exaggerated. A young man w T ho veent systematically 
into the study of chemistry, materia medica and botany 
need have no fear of the examination. He thought the 
young men of the present day washed to have too much 
done for them. He thought they did not exert themselves 
as they might do, especially with their shorter hours of 
labour in most towns. He suggested the plan that he him¬ 
self adopted when an apprentice, of getting up at six in 
the morning and having about two hours’ study before 
commencing the work of the day. He thought if every 
young man of average ability were to do so, w r e would 
not hear so many complaints of the difficulty of the 
Minor examination. He thought that examination very 
well as it was ; some thought it not scientific enough, 
but he thought it w r as quite sufficient to make them 
correct dispensers of medicines, as well as persons in 
whom the public might place the utmost confidence. 
Mr. Kemp (Portobello) thought it should be understood 
in the discussion of that night, that they were not pro¬ 
posing any immediate revolution, but that what they 
proposed had all relation to the future. Any change 
that took place would, he believed, reserve all rights, so 
that those already in the trade wnuld pass under the 
present examinations. The question before them was, 
Should the Society expend any money for the education 
of future pharmaceutists in the provinces ? It w r as ad¬ 
mitted that the Society had all along had a desire to do 
this, had already done something in this direction, and 
was anxious to discover how it could do more. The 
question was, Is the education to be brought to the 
student or the student to go to the education ? He 
thought it wnuld be utterly impossible to have a 
great many centres of education. As regarded the 
Minor examination he thought Mr. Mackay -was light 
in saying that the Minor examination w r as quite 
within the reach of any young man who was dis¬ 
posed carefully and perseveringly to study his business. 
They had had many examples of students passing with 
the greatest credit who had never attended any lectures. 
But he thought that the two sides of the question did 
not hang together. Mr. Mackay had admitted that this 
examination was quite within the reach of the ordinarily 
industrious student. But then there was a proposal to 
spend a great deal of money in providing centres of 
education, and another proposal had been made to make 
