940 
THE 
PHABMACEU' 
lCAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [May 24, 1873. 
culty in finding in the charter sufficient in the context and 
in the sanction of the long usage from the commencement of 
the Society to the present day to warrant the exclusion of 
women from membership. He would also remind the meet¬ 
ing that when the last Reform Act was passed it spoke of 
persons and men; and the ladies’advocates went tooneof the 
courts, with the Act of Parliament and with Brougham’s Act 
in their hands, and contended that ladies were admitted to 
the fianchise. The courts, however, held the contrary, and 
it seemed to him that the ruling in that case was strictly 
applicable to this one. He would point also to the differ¬ 
ence between the admission to the register and the admis¬ 
sion to membership. The register "was simply a creation of 
the Act of Parliament, and all persons duly examined 
were bound to be admitted to it. But though the Act 
of Parliament gave the members of the body the privilege 
of going on the register, it did not give to those on the re¬ 
gister the right of becoming members of the body. The 
body itself was the creation of the charter, and at the very 
beginning - of the charter it would be found that certain 
gentlemen having associated themselves together for a cer- 
tain purpose, they were to establish a fund for the relief of 
their widows and orphans ; they did not find the word 
widower there. And that very sentence was repeated in the 
last Act of Parliament. He did not profess to have formed 
a strong opinion on this subject, for, until coming there, he 
never imagined that it would be seriously discussed in the 
sense in which it had been ; but he did not wish to have it 
said that he sanctioned the idea that the law would compel 
them to admit ladies. If the matter was to be fought out 
in a court of law,—speaking as a lawyer,—he should pre¬ 
fer fighting on the side which he believed would win, 
and if he had his choice on which side he should he it 
would not be on the ladies’ side. 
Mr. Hills asked, if the meeting decided to admit ladies 
would there be any legal difficulty in doing so ? 
The Solicitor replied, that if the admission of ladies 
was voted, there was nothing to prevent a gentleman 
going to the court for a mandamus calling upon the 
C ouncil to show cause why the ladies were admitted. 
Mr. Hills said he had given this subject a great deal 
of consideration, and he had taken a considerable time 
to make up his mind upon it. He had not voted against 
the ladies as yet, and as he had not heard anything to 
convince him that they ought not to be admitted he 
should vote in favour of the proposition. 
Mr. Ward inquired what would be the consequence if 
a lady became a member of the Society, and carried on 
business, and afterwards took a husband, and changed her 
name. AVoidd she be allowed to retain her maiden name 
on the register, or would it be altered to the married one ? 
The Solicitor said he had had to consider that question 
with regard to the register, when he advised as he should 
again, that the register ought to describe the individual 
by that. individual s known name or designation for the 
time being; and that the register might have to be cor¬ 
rected in the same way as it would be if a gentleman 
Mr. Schacht said, it seemed rather a bold thing for a 
changed his name. 
layman to utter an opinion which was in any sense 
opposed to that of a professional man, but he could not 
help thinking that Mr. Plux was quite correct in saying 
that he had scarcely given this matter sufficient considera¬ 
tion ; and, curiously enough, the quotation he had made, 
seemed to him to bear against his conclusion. He said 
the usage in these matters very materially determined 
the conclusion arrived at, and that the context of that 
word which would seem to admit ladies, served to show 
that they would be excluded, because the usag-e ■would 
be against them. Now, he must have forgotten that 
usage up to the present time had not excluded women at 
all. He had seen numbers of cases in which women had 
been employed as pharmacists behind the counter, and it 
was not denied that they were quite at liberty by law to 
be recognised as pharmacists by being on the register. 
I urther than that, the Society admitted them to a course 
of instruction, and surely those arguments would be quite 
sufficient, at any rate, to give them a locus-stancli in any 
court to which they might apply for a mandamus. It 
was also said, that if the Council thought it right 
to admic ladies to membership, it would be open to 
a man to apply for a mandamus to show cause why 
they had done so, but he apprehended that if they 
admitted any particular man, say John Jones, it would, 
legally speaking, it would be open to anybody else.’ 
Mi. Thomas Smith, to apply for a mandamus 
to compel the Council to show why they had admitted 
him. If the solicitor thought there was a legal difficulty 
in the way, which he did not see his way to giving an exact 
answer to, that was a very good reason they should adopt 
Mr. Giles’s suggestion and postpone the matter for further 
consideration. He had always voted on the Council in 
favour of the admission of women, because he thought it 
was only just, and he could not help saying that if there 
weie any doubt as to the justice of the matter, generosity 
should lead them to give way. They need not fear that 
there would be more than two or three at the most. 
Beyond that it must be remembered that now members of 
the Society had control over the whole trade to a certain 
extent, and if once women were admitted to the register 
he did not see they had any right to exclude them from, 
their fair share of executive control over the occupation 
they had adopted. 
Mr. Betty .(London) said, the subject logically and 
practically divided itself into two portions—one, the right 
of women to carry on the business of chemists and drug¬ 
gists, and the other, and the main question, whether they 
should be admitted to take part in the conduct of the 
Society, and form a portion of the governing body. This 
was a matter eminently fitted to be decided by public 
opinion, and therefore the Council had delegated it to the 
Annual Meeting, especially looking to what had been done 
in othei kindred societies and to the feeling in the country 
at large. The question was being agitated for the admis¬ 
sion Oi ladies to vote for members of Parliament, and 
when they found public opinion year after year decidedly 
averse to such an innovation it behoved them to very 
carefully consider before they went in opposition to the 
general feeling of public bodies throughout the country. 
He very much objected to the admission of ladies to the 
lectures, and had he not been accidentally absent should 
have voted against the motion on the Council; indeed he ■ 
was much surprised to find that it had been carried. The 
Fiench proverb ce n est que le ’premier pas qwi codte was 
particularly applicable to all dealings with ladies. It did 
not so much matter how the negotiations were begun : 
they might be comparatively harmless ; the difficulty was 
you could never tell to what lengths they might go after¬ 
wards.. He very much objected to the mixture of the 
sexes in educational establishments, as he had himself 
seen what inconveniences—to use the mildest word—might 
hoA e ^ ai isen therefrom. As a public body, therefore, he 
hoped they, would be guided by the truly English feeling 
that the delicacy of an English lady should be above suspicion. 
When there was a mixture of the sexes at Eton, Harrow, 
Marlborough, and Rugby, then he would say, let them lie 
associated togetner in the public school of pharmacy. 
Mr. Burden (London) rose to address the meeting, but 
was met -with so many cries of “Vote” that he resumed 
his seat. 
Mr. Atkins said, no doubt time was valuable, but he 
had come up at some personal inconvenience on purpose to 
hear this discussion, and he thought everyone ought to 
have an opportunity of expressing his opinion. 
Mr. Burden thought this was one of the most important 
questions which could be debated, and he deprecated its 
being decided by mere passion or prejudice. He should 
tie glad if it could be postponed until it could receive fur¬ 
ther consideration, and when everyone had expressed their 
opinion. . He had been waiting for a long - time to hear 
some solid argmnents why women should not be admitted 
to practise pharmacy, but had not yet heard them. He be- 
