February 8, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G31 
particular colour. No one had shown that the occupa¬ 
tion of pharmacy was unsuited for ladies, and that being 
taken for granted, it seemed to him an act of tyranny to 
exclude any one from the advantage of that Society. 
He therefore hoped the resolution would be carried by a 
large majority. 
Mr. Bottle asked under what section of the bye-laws 
it was proposed to admit the ladies. He did not think 
section 10 met the case, because that applied to persons 
who were assistants or apprentices, which he did not 
understand these ladies to be. He suggested a compro¬ 
mise, that the ladies should be made honorary associates, 
and ventured to hope that the matter might stand over 
for another month, in order that this idea might be con¬ 
sidered. 
Mr. Betty also advocated an adjournment of the 
question. 
Mr. Ur wick said the ladies did not wish to be ad¬ 
mitted on any but equal terms with the opposite sex. 
The President said he did not see why ladies should 
be admitted to the Society simply because they had 
passed the Preliminary examination; many gentlemen 
passed that examination who never went any further. 
He should vote for the amendment. 
The amendment was then put with the following re¬ 
sult : — 
For —Messrs. Atherton, Betty, Bottle, Greenish, Hascl- 
den, Radley, Sandford, Stoddart and Williams. 
Against —Messrs. Baynes, Hampson, Hills, Mackay, 
Owen, Savage, Schacht, Shaw, Sutton and Urwick. 
The amendment was therefore lost. 
The original motion having again been put,—• 
Mr. Williams moved the following amendment, which 
was seconded by Mr. Greenish:— 
“ That the question of the election of Alice Marion 
Hart, Louisa Stammwitz, and Rose Coombes Mins- 
hull, be deferred until the meeting of Council in 
June next.” 
Mr. Baynes said he did not see the use of deferring a 
decision unless it stood over to a new Council. 
Mr. Bottle suggested that it should stand over till 
the meeting of the Council in June; seeing that it was 
an extremely important subject, and as they were ap¬ 
proaching the eve of a general election, the question 
would then go to the country and members would be 
returned to the Council after having expressed their 
opinions upon it. He therefore suggested that Mr. 
Williams should alter his amendment to that effect. 
Mr. Shaw said the election of members of Council was 
not to hinge on that single question. 
Mr. Williams said the course now proposed would 
give an opportunity for discussing it at the general 
meeting. 
Mr. Owen said if it were deferred at all, it should be 
deferred to a new Council. 
Mr. Urwick thought it a great mistake to defer a 
matter of this sort which might very well be dealt with 
at the present time. 
Mr. Betty supported the adjournment of the ques¬ 
tion. 
Mr. Hills said although he had voted against Mr. 
Sandford’s amendment, he thought it might be better to 
delay a final settlement until after the annual meeting. 
Mr. Mackay said that what had been said did not 
alter his opinion one iota that the Society would be stul¬ 
tifying itself to a certain extent if it refused admission 
to these ladies. Under the Act of 1868 no one denied 
that ladies were to be admitted to the Modified exami¬ 
nation, or that several ladies came up for that examina¬ 
tion, passed it, and were at this moment on the Register 
as chemists and druggists. And so far as he knew no one 
was able to show that they were not in all respects as 
fully qualified to conduct the business as any one else. 
He could not follow the argument advanced as to the 
propriety of deferring this question until the annual meet¬ 
ing ; for he thought if they were not competent to settle 
such a simple question, they were not worthy of their 
position as councillors of the Society. He was not beset 
by the terrible fear which some seemed to feel, that if 
ladies were admitted to the educational department of 
the Society, and to the position of apprentices, associates, 
and members, they would come forward in such num¬ 
bers as to swamp the male element. But even if a 
dozen, 100 or 500 ladies entered the Society, it did not 
follow that they would be elected on the Council. They 
could not be so elected unless it were the general wish 
of the whole body, and if it should happen that that 
was the case, he should certainly have no objection to 
seeing ladies sitting there. Still he looked upon that as 
not at all probable, though barely possible. He thought 
deferring this question for four months was quite un¬ 
necessary. 
The amendment being put, the following gentlemen 
voted :— 
For- —Messrs. Atherton, Betty, Bottle, Greenish, 
Haselden, Radley, Sandford, Stoddart and Williams. 
Against —Messrs. Baynes, Hampson, Mackay, Owen, 
Savage, Schacht, Shaw, Sutton and Urwick. 
Mr. Hills did not vote on this division, consequently 
the numbers were equal, whereupon the Chairman gave 
his casting vote in favour of the amendment. 
Finance. 
The report of the Finance Committee was received 
and adopted, and sundry payments ordered to be 
made. 
North British Branch. 
Mr. Mackay presented the account of the North 
British Branch, audited by three gentlemen whom he 
named; and he stated he should be happy to give any 
further particulars which might be required. There was 
a balance of £67. 19s. 5d. in favour of the Society, which 
would go to carry on the current expenses of the present 
year. With regard to the payments in connection with 
furnishing the new rooms, it would be in the recollection 
of the members that £100 had been voted for that pur¬ 
pose, and the committee in Edinburgh had gone to work 
as economically as possible, still they had spent that 
amount and £32. 9s. 4 d. in excess ; but he believed very 
full value was obtained for the money, as might be seen 
by looking at the particulars. He also stated they were 
much in want of a set of specimens for the purpose of 
the Examiners. The reading-room and library, and 
especially the museum, were being taken advantage of 
by young men to a very gratifying extent; several 
students coming up, spending a fortnight or three weeks 
in close reading, etc., and examination of the specimens 
in the museum. They still looked forward to the 
President, or a deputation from the Council, coming 
down and seeing what was being done, and what their 
requirements still were. The President was ex officio a 
member of the Examining Board, and two former Presi¬ 
dents had done them the honour of visiting them ; 
namely, Mr. Jacob Bell and Mr. Evans. He hoped, there¬ 
fore, that at the approaching examination in April, the 
President, perhaps accompanied by some other mem¬ 
bers of the Council, would come down and see what they 
were doing. 
Mr. Shaw said he had looked over the particulars 
and thought the money had been expended very econo¬ 
mically. He had no doubt that when it was known to 
wholesale druggists and others throughout the country 
that specimens were required, they would be very soon 
forthcoming. 
Mr. Schacht remarked that he hoped the Council 
would at once order the supply of everything which was 
necessary for the proper conducting of the examinations 
in Edinburgh; and if that was the proper time, he should 
be happy to move a resolution to that effect. 
Mr. Hampson suggested that the North British 
Branch should prepare a statement of what they required, 
when he had no doubt the Council would supply it. 
