March 1, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
699 
affection, or family affliction, they are called upon to unravel 
the mysteries of a death-dealing or life-giving prescription ! 
It is age alone which gives to women care and prudence, and 
I can only look with terror on the proposition to confide to 
young and possibly thoughtless girls the issues of life and 
death. 
And, Sir, let me add a word in justice to the thousands of 
•assistants who, after a severe apprenticeship, honestly ful¬ 
filled, after a well-tried service in duties of the most pre¬ 
carious and important character, see themselves confronted 
with the vision of female competition, and its inevitable 
pecuniary results. It is not the mere question of jealousy or 
rivalry that prompts the impulse of opposition, although in 
this respect the success of female candidates at Examinations 
might serve as a stimulus to laggards. Nor can we look for the 
cause in the prospect of fan' traders in drugs. It is rather to 
be believed that the duties themselves, which, though labori¬ 
ous and inadequately paid, convey yet to the performer a 
sense of pride and reposed confidence, are the points really at 
stake. When these attractions are removed, and the func¬ 
tions rendered purely clerical in their nature, there remains 
but the trifling remuneration, soon to be reduced by com¬ 
petition, to contend for. 
But, Sir, there is another, and, I apprehend, clearly fatal 
objection to the employment of female pharmaceutists. I. 
refer to the common occurrence of prescriptions and remedies 
dealing with maladies of the most revolting nature. It is 
impossible to suppose that these cases could be entirely pre¬ 
vented from passing through their hands, and necessarily 
arousing an inquiry, whose inevitable tendency would be to 
blunt the moral feelings, and open the pathway to an exceed¬ 
ingly undesirable field of investigation. I cannot for a 
moment believe, although we have lady doctors, that a truly 
conscientious and right-minded mother would knowingly 
expose her child to familiarity with subjects which possess 
the power to appal and disgust the sternest member of the 
sterner sex. 
II. L. 
TJxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush. 
February 25 th, 1873. 
Tiie Examinations. 
Sir,—Perhaps you will not consider a few animadversions 
on the Preliminary and Minor examinations out of place in 
the Journal. 
With regard to the Preliminary, I think Ccesar —whose 
Latin is little more than a concatenation of military terms— 
might be advantageously replaced by Celsus, since it is not 
military but medical technicalities which we want to learn. 
I think, moreover, that besides the metrical system which 
is, in the curriculum for 1874, very properly transferred from 
the t Minor to the Preliminary, botanical geography should 
be, likewise—or, rather, that a general knowledge of geo¬ 
graphy should be required therein. The same may be said of 
algebra (to simple equations), a knowledge of which would 
be most useful in working the chemical equations required in 
the Minor. 
With regard to the Minor itself, all I have to say is that it 
seems to me hard, when a candidate fails in only one sub¬ 
ject, that he should beheld to have failed in all; suppos¬ 
ing one to have got even honour marks in all except phar¬ 
macy, is it fair because his memory proved a little treacherous 
in this dry branch that he should have the anxiety of keep¬ 
ing up his other subjects to the boiling-point for another 
three months ? 
In conclusion, allow me a word on the subject of our 
titles. 
An Associate is nothing more than the lowest grade of all 
scientific societies; therefore, why not give this title to those 
who have passed the “ Preliminary ? ” A Chemist and 
Druggist ” is to all intents and purposes licensed to practise 
pharmacy; then let him be called a “ Licentiate of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society,” and since “ Major” men may fairly con¬ 
sider themselves something better than oddfellows, why not 
call them “ Fellows of the Pharmaceutical Society ? ” At pre¬ 
sent, I assure you, Sir, they are frequently mistaken for 
the former. 
L. Y. Rees. 
520, Oxford Street, Bondon, TF.C. 
P.S.—I know that with reference to “ minors ” being called 
licentiates, it may be objected that it is the examination 
■diploma, not the belonging to the Society, which licenses one 
to practise pharmacy. To this my answer is, that the sooner 
the Pharmaceutical Society is converted from an anomaly of 
this sort into a society such as that of the apothecaries (to 
belong to which does not cost a guinea a year—to 3 well sur¬ 
plus funds—but simply an examination) the better. 
Sir,—A few weeks ago I noticed in the Journal an un¬ 
usually large number of rejected candidates for the Minor 
examination—twenty-five being rejected out of a total num¬ 
ber of forty-tw r o. This state of things is much to be re¬ 
gretted, but I think if the candidates would adopt a very 
simple precaution, much disappointment would be avoided. 
I need scarcely say at the onset, that the success of every 
student depends entirely upon his own exertions, and it 
matters not whether he be at Bloomsbury Square or in a re¬ 
mote country town, he has to depend upon his own individual 
efforts; and I would say, in passing, that there is nothing 
required in the Minor examination, but what a little deter¬ 
mination can successfully accomplish. My experience has 
taught me that the best precaution auy young man can take 
to prevent his rejection, is to get some one who possesses the 
Major qualification to ask him a few questions now and then 
upon the several subjects upon which he will be examined. 
It takes little time, .but does an immense deal of good; 
for it not only gives him an idea of the ques ions that will be 
asked, but it points out to him hisfdeficien cies, which a really 
earnest student will soon master. Fortunately, it is a remedy 
that is in the reach of nearly every one who will seek it, as 
there are few towns that do not contain one or more persons 
who have passed the Major, and I venture to say, there are 
but few (if any) who would decline to render such a simple 
though useful service to any really anxious young man. I 
have seen so much good done by it, that I recommend every 
student to adopt it. 
Out of many instances which have come under my notice 
I will mention two. One w T as that of a gentleman actively 
engaged in business on his own account, and with but little 
spare time for study—he attended for a very short time a 
chemistry class, but was entirely self taught in pharmacy, 
materia medica and botany. He called upon me one day and 
asked me to allow him to come some spare evening with a 
view of my examining him as to his fitness to pass—it was 
easily seen he had worked well, but the first six questions 
I asked him he could not answer; he said they were ques¬ 
tions that never occurred to him, and yet they were very 
simple; after spending an hour with me he went home, 
and I never saw him again until I had read his name in 
the Journal, when I saw he had passed with honours. 
The other instance was an assistant, who, when he came 
to reside with me, literally knew nothing either of chemistry 
or botany, but had within him a great desire to know them 
and also to pass the then voluntary examinations. He attended 
no class or lecture whatever, either in botany or chemistry, 
but was entirely self-taught, the only assistance I rendered 
him being to answer an occasional question he would ask me, 
and these were mostly appertaining to the subjects it was 
necessary to be perfect in. But there was no mistake about 
it; he worked well, and entirely out of business hours. He 
went to London on Monday morning, and with the kind 
assistance of Mr. Hills obtained a ticket for the Botanical 
Gardens, where he saw the majority of medicinal plants for 
the first time. The next day he passed his Minor.examina- 
tion, and not only passed, but passed with honours, and at the 
end of the year received the prize of books for passing the 
best during that year, and it is with much pleasure I occa¬ 
sionally see his name in the Journal as a lecturer to the 
students of a provincial pharmaceutical institution. 
Compare this with the state of things that exists in most ot 
the large towns where classes and lectures are provided. Ask 
the gentlemen who lecture how many students they see at the 
end of a course, or how many they see at all, compared with 
the number they should. No; it is now as it was sixteen 
years ago, when I heard a laboratory pupil at Bloomsbury 
Square ask the assistant there, if there was any difficulty in 
passing the examinations; his answer was, 3 “ You will pass 
if you try,” and that is the great secret. 
I should also like to add that there is often much harm done 
by the examiners asking the candidates for the Minor ques¬ 
tions, which I consider, should only be asked in the Major; 
such questions rapidly spread among intending candidates, 
which sometimes have the effect of frightening them, and 
preventing their appearance at all. There were two young 
men from this part rejected about a year or so ago, who, re¬ 
siding in the heart of the black country, have about as much 
