924 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 24, 1873. 
fetaadiotts ».f tljc f Itmirarnttital Itotiritr. 
MEETING OE THE COUNCIL. 
May 21$£, 1873. 
ME. A. F. HASELDEN, F.L.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
MR. W. SCOTT BROWN, VICE-PRESIDENT. 
Present—Messrs. Atherton, Betty, Bottle, Frazer, 
Greenish, Hampson, Hills, Owen, Radley, Sandford, 
Savage, Schacht, Shaw, Stoddart, Sutton, Urwiclc, and 
Williams. 
Several members, associates, and apprentices who had 
paid their subscriptions since April 30th, were ordered to 
be restored to their former status in the Society, on pay¬ 
ment in each case of a nominal fine. 
The Vice-President asked if it was the rule for the 
Secretary to apply direct to all members who had not by 
the end of March paid their subscriptions to the local 
secretaries. He believed some members felt themselves 
aggrieved at having their names erased from the list with¬ 
out previously having a reminder. 
Mr. Sutton said he always informed gentlemen in his 
district who had not paid by a certain time that they must 
forward their subscriptions to the Secretary direct. 
Mr. Stoddart having spoken to a similar effect, 
The President, referring to the minutes, said the reso¬ 
lution directed the Secretary to apply to all members 
who had not paid their subscriptions by a certain date. 
Mr. Sandford said he believed there was a little mis¬ 
understanding on this matter. The resolution was passed 
in order to prevent the occurrence of a difficulty which 
had sometimes happened, of gentlemen losing their votes 
at the annual meeting in consequence of their subscrip¬ 
tions being retained in the hands of the local secretaries. 
The Secretary was therefore directed to apply personally 
to gentlemen who had not paid by the end of March, but 
he believed that was only intended to apply to gentlemen 
whose votes would be' endangered by the nonpayment of 
their subscriptions, not to associates or apprentices. 
The Secretary said that was certainly the understand¬ 
ing. The first week in January he sent to all local secre¬ 
taries a list of members and associates in business, but he 
never sent out a list of apprentices and associates not in 
business, because they were very migratory, and it would 
be giving local secretaries unnecessary trouble. A circular 
was sent, in April, to members and associates in business 
who had not paid, and if this were not attended to, a 
second was sent, besides which the notice appeared con¬ 
stantly in the J ournal. 
Mr. Sutton said he should be very glad if the local 
secretaries were relieved altogether of the duty of collect¬ 
ing subscriptions. 
The New Bye-Laws. 
The amended bye-laws were passed a third time by the 
Council preparatory to their confirmation by the General 
Meeting. 
Shop Hours’ Regulation Bill. 
Mr. Betty asked if the attention of the Parliamentary 
Committee had been called to a Bill now before Parlia¬ 
ment called the Closing of Shops Bill ? 
The Secretary said the Bill was set down for the 18th 
June, before which time there would be an opportunity of 
considering it. 
The Vice-President said it was hardly possible for 
such a Bill to pass the House of Commons, but it would 
not do to assume too much, and therefore he had no 
doubt that the Parliamentary Committee would give 
their attention to it. 
THE THIRTY-SECOND 
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
Wednesday, May '21st, 1873. 
MR. A. F. HASELDEN, F.L.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The Thirty-second Annual General Meeting of the 
Members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 
was held at 17, Bloomsbury Square, on Wednesday, May 
21st, at twelve o’clock. 
The Secretary having read the notice convening the 
meeting, the Chairman said :— 
Gentlemen,—For the third time I find myself in the 
honourable position of Chairman at the Annual General 
Meeting—the thirty-second of our Society— and I venture 
to congratulate you upon the steady and prosperous con¬ 
dition which has been maintained up to the present time, 
and which, as regards the past year, the Report presented 
by your Council fully declares; it is always a pleasure to 
meet old friends, more especially when the sky is clear 
above, and there are no volcanic rumblings underground. 
The science of pharmacy steadily progresses, and the 
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is highly es¬ 
teemed on the Continents—East and West; but I am 
more particularly desirous of referring to home questions 
interesting to and affecting ourselves. 
The appointment of a professional short-hand writer to 
attend at and report the proceedings of the Council is- 
satisfactory to all concerned, and has in no way taken 
from the spirit and earnestness of the debates, whilst it 
has removed a great weight of responsibility from the 
members of the Committee who previously did that some¬ 
what difficult work. 
The alterations (coming into force in October, 1874) 
which have been made by the Council in the regulations 
for conducting the examinations are, in my opinion as a 
constant attendant and as chairman ex officio of the board, 
also from an examiner’s point of view, not merely judicious 
but desirable. Statements respecting the examinations 
are partially current to which I should have wished, if 
possible, to have turned a deaf ear, but I could not. The 
opinion is entertained by some that the chances of passing 
are in favour of those who have attended the lectures and 
laboratory in Bloomsbury Square; for this I say most 
emphatically there is not the remotest foundation. As a 
rule the examiners know nothing of the antecedents of 
the candidates; on the contrary, it is somewhat notorious 
that young men from the provinces, who have never 
attended the lectures in London, and students from other 
schools, have been, numerically, the most successful in 
passing. Complaints have appeared in the “ Correspond¬ 
ence ” columns of the Journal against the manner of 
conducting the Preliminary examination; these strictures 
should not, as I take it, have been made against the 
mode prescribed for carrying out the examination, but 
that occasionally a superintendent has not performed that 
part of the duty imposed upon him as he should have 
done. It appears to me that the remedy for this would 
be to appoint certain towns as centres, where the writing 
of the papers should take place, and if required, that a 
member either of the London or Scotch board should be 
sent to superintend. It may be well, perhaps, to remind 
you that “ Certificates of having passed the Local Exa¬ 
minations of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, or 
Durham, the Examination of the College of Preceptors, or 
of those of any legally-constituted examining body, pre¬ 
viously approved by the Council, provided Latin and arith¬ 
metic be included in the subjects, are accepted in lieu of this 
examination but to give up our own and compel all to 
go to one of those Boards would be unwise and unfair. 
To have passed in silence over this, which has been so 
freely handled by correspondents, would have been a weak¬ 
ness on my part. How gladly and willingly would I, if I 
could, report upon improvement in the answers furnished 
