93 G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 24, 1873. 
the £10 it was not a very large matter. Their object in 
making the application was to establish a principle which 
should govern the application of these large savings or 
accumulations in the hands of the Society, so that they 
might be made more available throughout the country. 
Prom the statement just made, it appeared as if Aber¬ 
deen had presumed to ask a great deal more than 
they were entitled to, in proportion to their subscriptions, 
lie had not the figures with him, but in addition to the 
ten or twelve guineas per annum from annual subscrip¬ 
tions, he believed that as Aberdeen formed the centre for 
almost the whole of the north of Scotland, there was a 
very large sum sent up in the shape of fees for preliminary 
examinations—he should think several hundred pounds. 
The application they made for assistance was simply in 
order to set the Society going, and they had spent out of 
their own pockets four or five times as much. They had 
hired a suite of rooms, and engaged gentlemen to give 
senior and junior courses of lectures, extending over three 
months ; and though these lectures were not supported to 
the extent they could heve wished, still they had about 
twenty-five students, twelve or thirteen in each class. 
There was no difficulty in Aberdeen, or any similar place, 
as he believed, in finding gentlemen who would give, 
partly from a desire to benefit their fellow-citizens, and 
partly in return for what remuneration could be afforded 
them, such courses of lectures as would enable the students 
to see their way and follow them up by a proper system of 
,reading and study. He had no hesitation in saying that 
anyone who had attended the course he had mentioned would 
.fee enabled to carry on his education with vei'y great facility. 
The great difficulty of finding a generally acceptable scheme 
had been referred to, and he thought that was the great mis¬ 
take. It would be impossible to make a scheme suitable to all 
parts of the country; each district and county differed in 
its habits and customs ; what suited one would not suit 
another, and therefore he thought it a pity to attempt to 
have one stereotyped scheme for all. If the Council 
-would, as men of business, make such inquiries as they 
deemed proper with regard to the status, size, and require¬ 
ments of any large centre of population which applied for 
a grant, and then give what they could afford, and take 
.an account after twelve months had elapsed as to what 
use had been made of it, continuing it or not, as circum¬ 
stances might dictate, he thought a great deal of trouble 
might be saved in endeavouring to devise a universal 
scheme. When it was known that there was a large sur¬ 
plus available, and that in London these classes were kept 
up by the Society at a loss of £400 or £500 per annum, 
it was hardly likely that the country members would re¬ 
main satisfied so long as the accounts contained this item, 
“ Grant for provincial education, £10.” 
Mr. Brown said the offer to the Aberdeen Society 
could not be properly characterized as a loan. At that 
time the regulation by which the Council were governed 
prevented the absolute grants of money, and the grant 
was made for the purchase of apparatus. Now Mr. Reid 
himself advocated the principle of the Society retaining 
some control over the grant so made, and that was all 
they proposed to do. It not unfrequently happened that 
these provincial societies had but a very ephemeral exist¬ 
ence, and therefore it was a very proper condition that in 
case it were dissolved before the end of three years the 
apparatus should be returned to the Society. 
The resolution for the adoption of the Report was then 
put and carried unanimously. 
Mr. Hampson (London) was then called upon by the 
Chairman to move the resolution of which he had given 
notice as follows :— 
“ That inasmuch as the Examiners of the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Society are empowered by law to test the 
qualifications of persons —female as well as male — 
before the state permits them to be registered as 
persons fitted to ‘keep open shop’ to practise phar¬ 
macy, and as all persons having passed the Major and 
Minor examinations are eligible for admission into 
the Society, as members and associates, that they 
may exercise control and direction over the working 
of the Pharmaceutical Society, and have the benefit 
of its associative influence and protection, this 
meeting is of opinion that it is contrary to the plain 
intention of the statutes to refuse admission to 
female persons, who, having conformed to the legal 
tests of the Examiners and the regulations of the 
Society, may desire to become connected with the 
Pharmaceutical Society in the capacity of appren¬ 
tices or students, or associates, or members.” 
He said : Mr. President and Gentlemen, I dare say 
this motion may not be as pleasant, in some respects, to 
speak upon as many others ; and, perhaps, it may be 
unpopular ; nevertheless, I feel bound, in duty to my 
own conscience and my own general principles, to pre¬ 
sent it to you. I do not think there is any apology re¬ 
quired for its introduction, but am disposed rather to 
think one is required for the necessity of its introduction 
from those who have opposed female students having all 
the privileges of the Society in the same way as male 
students. I dare say many of you think that too much 
has been made of this question, simply because a few 
women are concerned. I quite agree in that opinion, inas¬ 
much as I think, where principles are at stake, it is as 
important to see to the interests of a few persons, as of 
a large and powerful class. I desire, as much as possible, 
and I hope all speakers will follow me, to address myself 
strictly to the resolution. I do not want to see you 
wander off into any outside questions which may be 
accidentally connected with it ; but I desire as much as 
possible to confine myself to the words of the resolution. 
There is one thing I feel bound to mention at this stage of 
my remarks, and that is, that our Editor has thought pro¬ 
per to introduce a political article into last week’s Journal 
with a view to bias this discussion. I do think that is a 
most reprehensible course. The organ of this Society is in 
no way a political organ, and I do not think it is a right 
thing for an article of the kind to which I refer to 
be introduced. I shall not endeavour to define what is a 
woman’s avocation or duty. I think the public and the 
women themselves will find that out. All that we have to 
do is to consider the relationship of persons, qualified under 
the Act of Parliament, with this Society. There is no 
doubt about this, that a certain number of female persons 
(as the Act terms them) are entering into the vocation of 
pharmacy ; a number are getting their living by pharmacy, 
in London especially, and two or three have sought in¬ 
struction here. I was exceedingly pleased that the Coun¬ 
cil allowed them to receive that instruction on the same 
terms as the other students ; and I certainly did hope that 
when the legitimate consequences of that instruction came 
about by examination, that they would also receive the 
same reward and be entitled to the same privileges. The 
question is this : Have we any moral or legal right to keep 
women out from the Society ? You remember that when 
the list of apprentices or students was brought before the 
Council for admission into the Society, the names of three 
ladies appeared on that list, and I can assure you the scene in 
the Council was something extraordinary. Thenames of those 
three individuals—and one them had stood at the top of the 
tree as regards the Preliminary examination—were separated 
from the rest, as if they had to go into quarantine, or had 
been affected with a plague. We had a separate resolu¬ 
tion whether they should be admitted or not, and I am 
sorry to say I was not successful in procuring them ad¬ 
mission. But I will just call your attention to clause 10 
of the Pharmacy Act, 1852—“Every such person who 
shall have been examined by the persons appointed as 
aforesaid, and shall have obtained a certificate of quali¬ 
fication from them, shall be entitled to be registered by 
the registrar according to the provisions of this Act, upon 
payment of such fee or fees as shall be fixed by the bye¬ 
laws ; and every such person duly registered as a phar¬ 
maceutical chemist shall be eligible to be elected as a 
member of the said Society ; and every such person duly 
