"May 10, la*3.] 
THE PHARMACEUTIC A] 
JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
833 
SluirmamUicul Journal. 
- ❖- 
SATURDAY, MAY 10, 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 t.ie 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Breji- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, 2\ew Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed "Bharm. Journ. 
THE COUNCIL REPORT. 
Probably before, or at least as soon as, the present 
number of the Journal is in the hands of our readers, 
a copy of the Council’s Annual Report will have been 
sent to all members of the Society, and consequently 
although the official publication of this document 
will not take place until the Anniversary Meeting on 
the 21st inst., it will not be out of place for us to 
refer to its more prominent features now that the 
trade in general is more directly affected by the 
proceedings of the Society than was formerly the 
case. 
In the first place we may state that though the 
Report of this year is remarkable for its brevity, it is 
by no means wanting in matter of deep interest and 
importance. Moreover it may be inferred that the 
conclusions arrived at as the result of the Council’s 
labours have been such as to command general ap¬ 
proval, since the Report opens with a declaration of 
the advantage ensured by full representation in the 
governing body of different shades of opinion. We 
believe that with the exception of those whose occu¬ 
pation would be gone if they did not, under the sem¬ 
blance of criticism, carp and cavil at all that is, there 
will be few who will fail to appreciate the soundness 
of the principle involved in the declaration just re¬ 
ferred to—few who will not regard its practical recog¬ 
nition as amply compensating for that retardation of 
results inseparable from the ordeal of discussion 
which measures must pass through more slowly, when 
different shades of opinion are represented, than when 
the governing body is of a more paternal form. 
Passing from generalities to particular points in 
the Report, it must be noticed that there is no 
decrease in the financial well-being of the Society, 
while there has been a considerable increase in the 
numbers of Members, Associates, and Apprentices. 
In regard to legislative measures, the Council has 
the satisfaction of reporting that the Government pro¬ 
poses to act upon its representations as to the desira¬ 
bility of relieving dispensers of medicine from that 
interference with their daily avocations which results 
from liability to serve on juries. In like manner, 
its remonstrances in reference to the wording of a 
portion of the Adulteration Act resulted in an 
amendment of the clauses complained ol. Lastly, 
the appointment of several Pharmaceutical Chemists 
as analysts under this Act may be regarded as the 
most effectual recognition of the views submitted 
to the Local Government Board by the deputation 
from the Council last year. In all these cases it. 
will be evident that the Council has been zealous 
in furtherance of the interests ol the trade in general, 
and that its action in this direction has been no less 
successful than its vigilance has been constant. 
Passing over the references made in the Report to 
prosecutions under the Pharmacy Act, and to the late 
revision of the Registers, as well as to the suojcct of 
Provincial Education, which has been found too 
vague to admit of any organized system being; 
adopted at present, we may mention that the account 
given of the steady increase in the number oj. sub¬ 
scribers and amount of subscriptions to the Benevo¬ 
lent Fund, as well as of the mode in which the Fund 
has been applied, will be calculated, togetnei with 
the recent discussion on this subject, to augment till 
more the ranks of its supporters. 
Last, though not least, we must refer to the action 
taken by the Council in regard to the Examinations. 
The nature of the revised regulations will be hesh in 
the memory of our readers, and it would be super¬ 
fluous to dwell either on their importance or on the 
propriety of seconding the endeavours of the examine is 
by such regulations, as that requiring candidates loi 
the qualification to carry on the business of a I hai- 
macist to lie of the full age of twenty-one years, and 
to produce certificates of having been employed for 
three years bv a Pharmaceutical Chemist or Chemist 
and Druggist, and in dispensing and compounding 
prescriptions. 
JOHN STUART MILL. 
The scientific world will hear with profound regret 
that Mr. John Stuart Mill died of erysipelas on. 
Thursday at Avignon. The blow is all the more 
poignant because unexpected. Three weeks ago Mi. 
Mill was in London, and, to the eye of his most 
intimate friends, seemed in the enjoyment of his 
wonted good health. The full significance of the 
loss which his death entails upon science it will take 
long to realize. His mind, sensitive as it was to so. 
many points of scientific and social interest, was; 
active and prolific to the close. Thirty years have 
elapsed since his u System of Logic: Ratiocinative 
and Inductive,” marked an epoch in the history o£ 
research, and it has now assumed a permanent place 
in the library of the savant and on the bookshelves- 
of the student. Mr. Mill was much more than an 
abstract reasoner, or an analyst of mental processes. 
He had made solid acquisitions in science ; and while 
still a lad—he was never at either public school or 
university—he had earned a high reputation as a 
botanist, adding not a few varieties and e\’en species 
to the existing classifications of the British Flora- 
His controversies with AVhewell, De Morgan, and 
Spencer gave evidence of his intimate familiarity 
