Much 22, 1873.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
751 
Ufa fHiarnmratiiral Journal. 
-4- 
SATURDAY , MARCH 22, 1873. 
Communications for this Journal, and boohs for review, etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
ridgEj Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed “Pharm. Journ .” 
PHARMACY IN IRELAND. 
It lias been suggested in some sort, as a consolation 
to Mr. Gladstone for the break-down of his Irish 
Education Bill, that if it had been passed the Irish 
would have been reduced to a state of total destitution 
in the matters of grievances ; but this is not strictly 
the case, for there is, besides the grievances complained 
of by Irish Catholics in regard to University Educa¬ 
tion, an old standing Pharmaceutical grievance, to 
which attention has several times been directed in 
these columns. In Ireland the dispensing of medi¬ 
cines is entirely in the hands of the apothecaries, and 
it is unlawful for chemists and druggists to dispense 
any prescription. 
About two years since some move was made to¬ 
wards attempting to assimilate the law as to the prac¬ 
tice of Pharmacy in Ireland with the enactments 
which exist for Great Britain. A draft Bill was pre¬ 
pared by the Company of Apothecaries, which was to 
have been introduced into Parliament by Sir Dominic 
Corrigan. That body proposed to grant licences to 
persons—other than medically qualified apothecaries 
—to assume the title of Pharmaceutical Chemists, and 
to keep open shop for the retailing of drugs and for 
dispensing medicines. Some opposition was offered 
on the part of the chemists and druggists, and at a 
meeting held in Dublin it was resolved that they 
would not place themselves under the control of the 
Apothecaries’ Hall of Ireland. 
Since that time the matter has remained in abey¬ 
ance, but not without some advance having been 
made towards more harmonious action between the 
apothecaries—who have the command of the position 
at present—and the druggists, who desire to enjoy 
equal advantages in regard to dispensing. Only a 
few weeks since we announced the formation of a 
Society of Chemists and Druggists, which was to aim 
at raising the condition of the trade and obtaining 
for Pharmacists in Ireland a status similar to that 
secured by the Act of 1868 for the rest of the king¬ 
dom. At a recent meeting of this society, attended 
by all the principal druggists in Dublin, it was pro¬ 
posed that an endeavour should be made to arrange 
terms with the Apothecaries’ Company, with a view 
to establishing a system of examination similar to 
that of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, | 
as a qualification for compounding physicians’ pre¬ 
scriptions. A deputation was authorized to commu¬ 
nicate with the Governor and Company of the Apo¬ 
thecaries’ Hall on the subject, and to ascertain the 
views of that body. 
At this meeting the clauses of the draft Bill, 
drawn up two years since, were read and discussed 
seriatim , and it was finally arranged that the United 
Society of Chemists and Druggists of Ireland should 
frame a Bill and submit it for approval to the Apo¬ 
thecaries’ Company preparatory to its being intro¬ 
duced into Parliament. 
It seems, therefore, that an opportunity exists now 
for effecting some satisfactory reform, and in all pro¬ 
bability the importance of the subj ect will attract the 
attention of the Council at its next meeting in April, 
especially since it has been suggested by the Irish 
chemists that they should petition the Society to 
extend the general operation of the Pharmacy Act, 
1868, to Ireland, in the same way that the provisions 
of that Act relating to sale of poisons has already 
been made to apply in that portion of the kingdom. 
No doubt there are certain difficulties which stand 
in the way of such an extension of the Pharmacy Act.. 
It would certainly be opposed by the apothecaries if 
it were to give any person on the register of chemists'' 
and druggists a right to practise pharmacy in Ireland, 
and we can well understand that in any compromise 
they may agree to, they would insist on some higher 
test of qualification than that vdiich now suffices for 
obtaining in Great Britain a licence to keep open, 
shop for compounding medicine and for the sale of 
drugs. 
The great argument by which the licentiates of the 
Apothecaries’ Hall have hitherto maintained their 
monopoly w r as based upon the incompetence of the 
druggists, as a class, for dispensing medicine. In 
the present temper of society, however, the Hall 
could scarcely expect to maintain its monopoly any 
longer than it could guarantee to the public the 
superiority of its licentiates’ qualifications over those 
of a class of pharmacists, admittedly better educated 
than it was the w r ont to be. In short, we cannot 
perceive what reasonable objection can be raised to 
throwing Irish pharmacy open to examined pharma¬ 
ceutical chemists. Such a course would, we believe, 
do away with much dissatisfaction in Ireland, and it 
would, we hope, be of some avail on this side of St. 
George’s Channel tow r ards awakening a healthier ap¬ 
preciation of that higher qualification wdiich it has 
been the chief aim of the Pharmaceutical Society to 
make general in the trade. 
Altogether this subject is one eminently deserving 
of the most careful treatment by our Council, and 
the need for its consideration at the present moment 
comes opportunely as a means of diverting the cur¬ 
rent of its deliberations from the vexing question of 
woman’s rights in matters pharmaceutical. 
