•February 2?, 1873.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
079 
Ciormptoa. 
*** jYo notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. 
The School of Pharmacy. 
Sir,—An article appeared in tliis month’s issue of the 
* Chemist and Druggist ’ which would seem to convey the im- 
pressiou that everything connected with the School of 
Pharmacy at 17, Bloomsbury Square, is in a disgraceful con¬ 
dition, and that the students themselves are grossly neglected. 
A reply addressed to the editor of the Chemist and Druggist 
•could not appear without considerable delay, and, therefore, 
I should feel obliged by your allowing the following to 
appear in your columns. As I am now working in the labo¬ 
ratory, I think I may be allowed, as well as “one who has 
■been there,’ to make a statement concerning the present 
'•state of affairs. 
Tnis morning I made a sort of canvass of the students at 
present working in the laboratory in order to obtain their 
opinions. I am glad to say that in no case did a student 
consider he was neglected, but each agreed that if he were in 
-any difficulty, by applying either to the Director or his assis¬ 
tants during their visits, or when at their desks, he always 
received a most courteous reply and a full explanation. 
Prom a number of twenty-five to whom I mentioned the 
subject, there were three who complained that they were not 
pushed on sufficiently, but this differs materially from 
neglect, for I contend that the student who, after proper 
-direction, is left to work for himself, is much more likely 
to succeed than one who has knowledge continually thrust 
upon him. 
Sydney Plowman. 
17, Bloomsbury Square, February 2.0th, 1873. 
The Admission of Outsiders. 
Sir,—Though what is called an “outsider,” yet as an old 
druggist, having been apprenticed 41 years ago, I have been 
soften amused in reading what has been said on several occa¬ 
sions on the subject of admitting outsiders as members of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, and the fee to be charged. I notice 
that in discussing this question, invariably both speakers and 
writers assume that it is a very great privilege to be such a 
member that by becoming such, a man is put into possession 
of some very great advantage. Hence at the last meeting of 
the Council, Mr. Shaw asked, whilst a member who had 
fallen into arrears had to pay five guineas in order to be rein¬ 
stated, “ what justice was there in admitting another man on 
payment of one guinea only ? ” And the President “ did not 
think it would be just to those who had paid two guineas to 
reduce the entrance fee to new comers.” 
Will 3 'ou allow me very civilly and most respectfully to ask, 
except the very shadowy privilege of voting once a year for 
a few gentlemen of whom you know little or nothing, what 
ad\ antage accrues to an outsider on becoming a member of 
the Society P W hat is there to make a man ardently desire 
such a thing ? In answer to this question I was once told 
that in return for a yearly subscription of a guinea I should 
receive the Journal; in answer to which I replied that as it 
was I received it for 17s. 4 d. a year. 
I seriously ask, is it not much more to the advantage of the 
'Society to receive the outsiders, than to that of the outsiders 
to receive the Society ? 
An Old Druggist. 
The Preliminary Examinations. 
Sir,—The indignation so warmly expressed by Mr. Whit¬ 
field in his letter in the Journal may be perfectly justi¬ 
fiable so far as he personally is concerned, as also a great 
•many others who honestly do their duty. But Mr. Whit¬ 
field may rest assured it is not universally so with all local 
secretaries. From what I have heard any amount of crib¬ 
bing can be done. At the same time, I should deeply regret 
•to see a bye-law passed that would necessitate all future can¬ 
didates to go to London for this purpose, and I should con¬ 
sider it a point deserving the strongest opposition of the 
'Whole trade. 
_ F. M. Rimmington. 
Bradford, February loth, 1873. 
Sir,—Respecting Mr. Whitfield’s letter in the Journal of 
the loth, it is obvious that he cannot be held responsible for 
the failings of his colleagues in. olhce ; neither can his virtues 
be imputed to them. I should be sorry to brin nr a sweenm 0, 
charge against local secretaries in general; but I should wish 
to put some personal questions to a youth, as to the man¬ 
ner in which liis Preliminary examination had been con¬ 
ducted, before signing his indentures. Only a few days since, 
a friend was conversing with me about the unsatisfactory 
manner in which two examinations attended by his appren¬ 
tices had been conducted. There had been no supervision, 
the candidates helped one another as they listed; nor was 
there any safeguard against the introduction of crutches for 
the lame in the shape of ready-made translations and sundry 
useful “ keys.” Local secretaries arc sometimes appointed 
for their long standing and the general esteem in which they 
are held as townsmen rather than for any special qualifica¬ 
tion for the office, or for any zeal they have manifested in the 
cause of pharmacy. They have probably been consulted by 
the parents of the candidates, and are unwilling to be thought 
harsh or severe. They are too good-natured to place obstacles 
on the threshold of a calling to which youths aspire; and so 
by the manifestation of mistaken kindness in the form of 
leniency at the outset, apprentices enter the trade with false 
views ot the stringency and importance of examinations; 
they get a false start, and after toiling halfway up the hill’ 
they abandon the task in despair, having lost two or three of 
the most valuable years of their life. 
In these days a journey to London is no great undertaking 
But if it is considered impracticable, might not special exa¬ 
miners attend at half-a-dozen provincial centres, at stated 
periods, to conduct the “ Preliminary ” ? 
In such a connection it would be invidious to mention 
names or places, from which unjust inferences might be 
drawn against individual secretaries. 
February Yltli, 1873. 
Henricus. 
Sir,—As the Preliminary examination is now attracting 
attention, allow me to state an instance which has come under 
my notice:—A local secretary and pharmaceutical chemist 
conducted the examination of his apprentice and another 
young man; he, not keeping an assistant, w r as obliged to 
leave them by themsolves, in order to attend to some cus¬ 
tomers ; they expecting this, had some books at hand. Of 
course they both passed. 
An Associate. 
Pharmaceutical Women. 
Sir, Before the admission of ladies to the privileges and 
membership of our Society, I think it only fair and just that 
the rising generation of chemists should be permitted to give 
their views on this important subject; or that we should be 
represented in the Council by one of ourselves, in order that 
we may have some voice in a matter that will principally 
affect us in the future. 
It appears to me that the present position of chemists’ 
assistants is far from being an enviable one; and that our 
salaries are.not so high, that we can afford to have ladies 
enter into opposition to us, especially as it is a well-known 
fact that women are paid at a smaller rate than men, and 
their establishment would certainly tend to lessen our own 
too small pay, and must ultimately lead to the absence of 
good men from the Society. 
I think with others our field of competition is quite large 
enough, and the admission of women would damage the pro¬ 
fession, and more than is at present understood or even 
thought of. The present aspect of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, that an assistant ought to look forward to as a means 
of ascending a little higher “the tree of knowledge,” has 
commenced to give him a shadow of hope for the future, and 
this would I think be too great a concession. 
I trust that this matter will be taken up by abler hands 
than mine, and gain the support it most certainly ought from, 
the ones most conerncd. 
“Pharm. Brit.” 
London, February 18 th, 1873. 
