554 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[January 11, 1873. 
freehold of their own establishment. He should quite 
agree that that would be a proper and a right investment 
ot the Society s funds, and he hoped that would be borne 
in mind before any great expenditure were incurred ; in 
fact that had been one reason which weighed upon his 
mind in voting against the last motion. He hoped the 
Council, in agreeing to send this matter to the Com¬ 
mittee, woidd be prepared to act in a bolder spirit than 
they had hitherto done, and to take steps which would 
result in providing something like a proper home for the 
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. 
. ^Tr. Hampson said he had noticed when the examina¬ 
tions were going on a great confusion in the building, 
the stairs and passages being crowded by the students. 
The President before putting the motion said, he 
thought the inconvenience of the examinations had in 
some respect been exaggerated. With regard to the 
Modified examination, the numbers did not generally ex¬ 
ceed forty, and the candidates were never all in the 
room at the same time ; and with respect to the ordinary 
examinations, it was now arrang’d that the number 
seluom exceeded twenty-five, in fact the examiners would 
not take more than that number in one day, so that 
generally not more than fifteen were in the room at one 
time. The Library was large enough to hold all the 
students who came, and they all assembled there at the 
beginning of the day, and the lounging about the stair- 
cases which had been referred to, arose, he believed, from 
young men waiting after they had finished their exami¬ 
nations in the hope of getting some information as to 
the result, instead of going away. 
The motion was then put and carried unanimously. 
Lady Students. 
nr. Hampson, in accordance with notice, moved: — 
I hat all persons attending' the Professors’ morning 
lectures be eligible to compete for the prizes and 
certificates given at the end of the session.” 
lie was sorry to trouble the Council again so soon, but 
he biought forward the subject again because of its 
urgency, ami this being the season of the year when 
good, resolutions were usually made he hoped to 
obtain a favourable vote. If the minds of members had 
beemfree from prejudice, it would not have been neces¬ 
sary to introduce the matter at all, because the published 
regulations provided that all students might compete for 
prizes and certificates, and lady students being now ad¬ 
mitted to the lectures, it appeared to him to follow 
necessarily that they should have an opportunity for 
competing for the prizes. It was simply giving a full 
and legitimate eftect to their admission. Their fees had 
been taken, and so long as the present regulations were 
in force, the Council ought, both legally and honour- 
ably, to give them an equal share of the privileges for 
which they had paid. During the last discussion Mr. 
Dottle had raised a very wide question as to making the 
competition perfectly equal, and no doubt as far as 
possible this should be done; but it had never been 
attempted for the male competitors, and it would be 
utteily impossible, in fact, to effect it. He repeated 
■that it was very undesirable that any delay should take 
place m settling this question, and he hoped it would 
now be settled in a favourable sense. 
I he Vice-President seconded the motion, saying’ he 
did not see how, having admitted the ladies to the lec- 
xures, they could be precluded from competing for the 
piizes. At any rate, he should be glad to hear any ob¬ 
jections stated. 
Mi. Letty objected to the way in which these resol u- 
tions came forward. . He thought it was rather a round¬ 
about way of bringing forward the question. If the 
intention was to. encourage ladies to enter the business, it 
ougnt to be plainly stated, and a vote taken upon it in 
an open and straightforward way. It must also be re- 
membered that the sessional prizes were not a permanent 
institution, for in the course of a longer ora shorter time 
their whole educational arrangements might be modified 
and there might not be even a laboratory or lectures con¬ 
nected with the institution. It therefore seemed to him 
uncalled for to bring forward such a resolution now. 
Mr. Schacht said the last speaker had insinuated that 
there was an ulterior object in the minds of those who 
advocated that which he himself did not quite approve 
of, but he saw no ground for such an assertion. On the 
last occasion he (Mr. Schacht) stated that he had no 
other object in the matter than what was plainly and 
straightforwardly stated on the motion. Mr. Hampson 
could, no doubt, answer for himself; but he certainly did 
not think it was at all necessary to suppose that in 
this matter there was any other consideration than that 
which came plainly before them. There was a distinct 
application made to the authorities at the institution to 
know whether ladies could be admitted. That was 
brought before the Council by a direct proposition, and 
it was determined that they should be admitted to the 
lectures but not to the laboratory. Next came the ques¬ 
tion whether they were to be fully admitted or only half 
admitted; another application being made by the ladies 
to know if they were entitled to the full privilege of 
students. That also had to be answered by the Council, 
and a direct proposition was made for the purpose of ob¬ 
taining a decision. As far as he could see, nothing 
could be more straightforward. He did not wish to in¬ 
troduce any more ladies into the business than those who 
wished to come, but if they wished to attend, and the 
Society was oound to admit them on the Register, they 
ought to have the same opportunities as others to qualify 
themselves for the duties. That position had never yet 
been answered, nor did he see how it could be. 
Mr. Shaw endorsed the argument of Mr. Schacht. 
He said he had before deprecated the reintroduction of 
this question over and over again, as he thought it very 
undesirable that ladies should be admitted to the privi¬ 
leges of the Society, but with regard to the immediate 
resolution before them, inasmuch as lady students had 
been admitted, it appeared to him that the bye-laws 
were conclusive that they were entitled to compete for 
the prizes. He therefore scarcely saw the necessity for 
the resolution—unless, indeed, the Council had the 
power to veto the presentation of prizes to ladies 
simply because of their sex. He did not, however, think" 
they would come to that conclusion. 
Mr. Stoddart said he could not yield to any man in 
kindly feeling towards the ladies, but, at the same time, 
his. opinion was that the school of pharmacy was not 
their proper place at all. He considered it quite an act 
of grace to admit them to the lectures. To take a case 
in point. If he sent his own daughter to that institu¬ 
tion,_ and^ she were admitted to the classes, he should 
consider himself very much obliged for the favour, and 
should certainly never dream of her coming to compete 
for the prizes. He therefore could not vote for the 
resolution. 
Mr. Baynes said he was bound to vote not exactly 
according to his own personal feelings, but taking a 
broad view of the whole question. He did not think there 
was any probability, in his day at least, of ladies being 
members of Council or filling the Presidential chair, 
but, nevertheless, if in accordance with the times such a 
thing were to happen, he for one should be prepared to 
accept it. The chief difficulty in his mind was this, not 
whether ladies should be put upon the same footing as 
all other students—and he thought they should, for having 
once admitted them he saw no other course open—but that 
although the institution was formed for the promotion of 
pharmacy, as he took it, amongst persons actually in the 
business, yet mere amateurs, medical students, or any 
one else might attend the lectures, and if they did they 
might compete for the prizes. The bye-laws appeared 
to him a little defective in this respect, but so long as 
they stood in their present shape he could not make any 
distinction between a male and female student. 
