August 27, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
171 
Cjtf fount;!. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1870. 
MAJORS AND MEMBERS. 
A glance at tlie Calendar and at the monthly re¬ 
port of the Council’s proceedings, shows that whilst 
the number of candidates for the Major examination 
is happily increasing, only a few of those who pass 
take up their membership before commencing busi¬ 
ness on them own account. At the present time there 
are, we believe, no fewer than 200 examined Phar¬ 
maceutical Chemists, who are not on the list,—nearly 
one-tenth of the total number of members. 
We desire to call attention to this subject, because 
it still seems not to be generally known that every 
one who has passed the Major examination is eli¬ 
gible to be elected a member of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, whether he be in business or not: that it 
is only necessary to apply to the Secretary, who will 
in due course present to the Council the names of ap¬ 
plicants for election. 
Though it is an obvious truism, it cannot be too 
often reiterated, that the Society’s future strength 
and usefulness are in a great degree dependent upon 
the young examined men. Their number is now 
considerable, and the Society cannot afford to wait 
for the prestige it would derive from the accession of 
such valuable alumni. 
They may be regarded as the highly trained sol¬ 
diers of Pharmacy who are destined to replace that 
noble band of volunteers who have manfully held the 
ground for nearly thirty years, in the confident hope 
that every successful student would, at the earliest 
moment, rush eagerly to the front to relieve them. 
We constantly need the daily practical experience 
of educated assistants as well as of employers ; they 
can render material assistance in the endeavour to 
deal with the difficult subject of storing poisons. 
Their views would be of special service for deter¬ 
mining the most efficient method of spreading pro¬ 
fessional knowledge throughout the provinces, so 
that the poorest apprentice might himself pave the 
way towards passing a creditable examination. 
Their solicitude in maintaining the high standard of 
the examinations and the qualifications of examiners, 
would also be of real service, while at no distant 
time, some of the more distinguished of them will be 
required to fill up vacancies in the Board of Exa¬ 
miners ; for, independently of technical qualification, 
the Examiners must be members of the Society. Nor 
can we omit to mention the privilege of voting, see¬ 
ing how much our internal welfare and material 
prosperity depend upon a thoughtful and judicious 
exercise of the power which it confers. In order 
not to be misunderstood, let us disclaim the idea that 
we are pleading for an extra half-guinea subscrip¬ 
tion. The last balance-sheet proves that the Society 
is not only free from pecuniary wants, but that it is 
investing money largely. We desire, and we hope 
to secure, the personal support far more than the 
money of those who constitute the truly professional 
element in pharmacy and to whom we now address 
ourselves. 
We do not hesitate to assert that in regard to 
influence with the public, in regard to the means for 
developing a system of liberal education for the 
rising generation of chemists and, in regard to faci¬ 
lities for generally diffusing sound practical science, 
the capabilities of our Alma Mater are vastly in¬ 
creased by each single educated pharmacist who 
becomes in every sense a member of the Society. 
MR. SIMON ON THE PHARMACY ACT. 
The reports of the medical officer of the Privy 
Council will henceforth be documents which will 
have an official interest and authoritative value for 
the members of the pharmaceutical profession. As 
the Privy Council is the controlling authority in re¬ 
spect to the working of the Pharmacy Act, while 
the medical officer of the Privy Council is the official 
adviser of that body in all concerning the inter¬ 
pretation and administration of the Act, we shall 
have to look to his reports for the indication of the 
views of the Government, so far as it concerns itself 
with our body. Perhaps, on the whole, the less it 
does concern itself with us, at present, the better for 
the public, for ourselves and for every one. But since 
the pharmaceutical profession has received consider¬ 
able privileges as well as a responsible and important 
monopoly, it will of course, in the future, have to 
reckon with official supervisors, while hitherto it has 
been entirely free and unfettered. We may state 
that it will be found that the twelfth report, which is 
about to issue, gives an account of the work done by 
the department up to the beginning of the present 
year, in respect to the Pharmacy Act. This is de¬ 
scribed as consisting in the approval of a code of 
consolidated and amended bye-laws, under which 
admission is granted to the practice of pharmacy, 
additions to the schedule of poisons annexed to the 
Act, and the appointment of a visitor to the exami¬ 
nations of the Pharmaceutical Society on the part of 
their Lordships. 
“ It had long,” says Mr. Simon, “ been a desidera¬ 
tum in Great Britain, as regards the practice of 
pharmacy, that tins skilled commerce—where unskil¬ 
fulness means very serious danger to the public 
health—should only be open to persons whose quali¬ 
fications for practising it safely had been tested by 
proper examination; and the appended reports ap¬ 
pear to me to give ground for much public satisfac¬ 
tion, as showing that the system which the Pliar- 
