Jine 28, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
1039 
giftc jfirarmamituai Journal 
*-♦- 
SATURDAY , JUNE 28, 1873. 
Communications for this Journal, and books 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- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed “Pliarm. Journ.” 
THE BENEVOLENT FUND. 
Among the official notifications appearing in the 
advertisement columns of this week’s Journal is one 
relating to the Benevolent Fund, to which we desire 
to call especial attention. 
The inability of the Council to elect more than 
one annuitant on the Benevolent Fund this year, 
which was reported in the minutes of the last meet¬ 
ing, must have caused general regret to the readers 
of this Journal. 
The correspondence which has appeared in our 
pages recently on this subject is proof, we trust, that 
the prosperity of the Fund is deemed a vital matter 
by members of the Society ; but those who have 
constantly j oinecl in the cry “Give ! give !” from the 
Fund, must now, to render that possible, reverse their 
cry, and urge all to give to the Fund. 
We know that in the opinion of some persons, an¬ 
nual subscriptions and donations might fairly be em¬ 
ployed in paying annuitants, as well as in giving 
casual assistance to the needy. This point was in¬ 
deed urged by one speaker at the General Meeting, 
but others speedily condemned the suggestion, and 
entirely endorsed the more cautious system adopted 
by the Council. 
It seems to us that those whose kindly feeling we 
must honour, even while combating their impru¬ 
dence, do not take into account either the existing 
Bye-laws regulating the Fund, or the amount of its 
annual income, and the increased demands on it. 
On reference to Sect, xix of the Bye-laws, it will 
be seen in Clause 2 that “ Donations in aid of the 
Benevolent Fund shall be invested in Government or 
real securities ; ancl no part of the invested capital of 
such Fund shall he distributed among the recipients 
of relief .” 
The words which we have italicized plainly show 
the original intention, on the one hand, of providing 
an inalienable Fund to give settled assistance, and on 
the other, of leaving only the annual subscriptions at 
the disposal of the Council for making casual grants, 
supposing the interest to be absorbed as it now is by 
Annuitants. 
Now it must never be forgotten that when once an 
annuitant is elected he is morally assured of an an¬ 
nuity for life. The Council for the time being are 
Trustees in charge of his maintenance, and nothing 
should be allowed to shake his confidence in them. 
Supposing, however, that the monthly grants equalled 
in the year the annual subscriptions, to what source 
could these Trustees look for the means of meeting 
their liabilities ? 
Here we shall be told there is no fear on this 
point; that the more you give the more you will 
receive. But pounds, shillings, and pence are hard 
matters to deal with, and we have therefore taken 
the trouble to ascertain exactly how the case stands; 
not by looking to past years, because the applications 
for aid in past years afford no safe data on which to 
calculate the future. Naturally, as the Society grows 
older its members grow older also, and the number 
of needy men may be fairly expected to increase. 
Again, the field for distribution has been at least 
trebled by the eligibility of “ all persons who may 
have been, and have ceased to be , Members or Associates 
of the said Society , or who may be or have been duly 
registered as Pharmaceutical Chemists or Chemists and 
Druggists , and the widows and orphans of such per¬ 
sons." 
The amount of subscriptions received during the 
first six months of the present year is £634 19s. 10c?., 
while the casual grants made by the Council within 
the same time amount to £235 15s. When in addi¬ 
tion it is remembered that by far the greater part 
of the subscriptions are paid in the beginning of the 
year (with the annual subscriptions of membership), 
whilst the applications for relief may go on even in 
an increasing ratio to the end of the year, we think 
there seems but little prospect of a surplus which 
would justify the Council in electing more annuitants 
than the interest on capital would warrant. 
We commenced by saying that the inability to 
grant more than one pension would be regretted by 
all. To us it is a lamentable circumstance. Of 
course no comparison can be made between the Be¬ 
nevolent Fund of a small special class and the 
greater institutions which give relief generally, and 
thus fairly claim general support. The former is a 
fund to be distributed solely among the needy of one 
class, and is consequently dependent almost exclu¬ 
sively on the members of the same class, while the 
latter are so universal in their benefits as to be deemed 
worthy of advocacy from the pulpits of the whole 
country. Still we cannot but think that the chemists 
and druggists of Great Britain, numbering about 
fourteen thousand, could, without much personal 
sacrifice, at least treble the annual subscriptions 
to a Benevolent Fund from which any of them 
might in adversity receive assistance. On a previous 
occasion in publishing the list of contributions to 
the Benevolent Fund of the Society, we pointed out 
the disparity between their gross amount and the 
numbers of the trade, and urged upon the considera¬ 
tion of our readers that contributions to this Fund, 
the benefits of which were available to the whole 
trade, should be very much more general than 
they were. God grant that the time of need may 
