September 17, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 , 1870 . 
THE BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
The Seventh Annual Meeting has been a great 
success in every respect. After the President had 
delivered the admirable address published in another 
column, the reading of papers was continued until 
4 o’clock, when the members adjourned to the Ex¬ 
hibition, where a number of objects interesting to 
pharmaceutists were collected and arranged in a 
manner that afforded great facilities for examination. 
We shall refer more particularly to some of these 
hereafter, but cannot now omit to mention the very 
excellent exhibits of Messrs. Hopkin and Williams, 
Messrs. Southall, Dymond and Co., and Messrs. 
Macfarlane, comprising the new compounds of 
chloral, Indian drugs and alkaloids. 
The dinner was well attended, and the presence of 
the President of the Society was heartily appre¬ 
ciated. One of the most interesting points was the 
transmission by telegraph of a message of greeting 
from the Conference to the Pharmaceutical Associa¬ 
tion now meeting at Baltimore, a reply being re¬ 
ceived from America the following morning. 
At the meeting of the second day the discussion 
of the Education question was one of the main fea¬ 
tures of interest. Many members spoke, and though 
the discussion did not result in any practical sug¬ 
gestion, it was evident that much attention had been 
given to the subject. 
It augured well for progress in British Pharmacy 
to hear the statement boldly put forward, and appa¬ 
rently assented to, that many druggists who take 
apprentices are either incompetent to give instruction 
requisite, or if they were competent to do so, did not 
take the trouble. At the same time great difference 
of opinion was expressed as to the way in which aid 
could best be given to promote the education of ap¬ 
prentices and assistants. In many cases, it was 
m'ged that the previous education, or want of educa¬ 
tion, rendered apprentices unfit for acquiring a know¬ 
ledge of chemistry and other sciences, or availing 
themselves of the advantages within their reach. 
The most practical feature of the discussion was the 
reference to the Preliminary examination of the 
Society, and the proposal that the passing of this 
examination should invariably be required of all ap¬ 
prentices before they are received. 
If this measure were generally adopted, no doubt a 
great advance would be made towards raising the 
future status of pharmacists. 
Another suggestion, tending in the same direction, 
had reference to the propagation of the scientific 
training now given at the School of Pharmacy, by 
enabling the successful students of that School to em¬ 
ploy themselves in teaching throughout the country. 
If this could be effected, there is reason to believe that 
the results would far surpass those attainable by 
any other means in many instance. At places where 
there are medical schools in existence, tills might 
be superfluous if a course of pharmacy were given in 
connection with those schools, as at the University of 
Durham and at Newcastle. One main thing ne¬ 
cessary in any step of this kind, is the suppression 
of cramming. 
It was a matter of general regret that Mr. Schacht, 
who has taken so much interest in the subject of pro¬ 
vincial education, was not present at the Conference ; 
but, to judge from the general spirit evinced by those 
present, there is reason to hope that his efforts will 
find numerous supporters, and we trust that those 
who are able to put forward suggestions as to the 
means of promoting pharmaceutical education in 
the provinces will not fail to do so in the columns of 
this Journal. The means of aiding in this work may 
be more in the hands of the individual members of 
the trade than is generally believed. The judicious 
introduction of science into the educational training 
of the young is a measure that we hope to see rea¬ 
lized before long, and if that be done in such a way 
as to substitute for mere teaching the education in 
scientific habits of thought, which would develop e 
not only a capacity for appreciating natural facts 
but also a taste for scientific knowledge, it would be 
of vast benefit to the country at large and especially 
conducive to the elevation of Pharmacy, notwith¬ 
standing its frequent necessary connection with the 
trade element prevailing in the business of country 
places. 
HOSPITAL DISPENSING. 
Since we last referred to this subject in a few re¬ 
marks which have attracted the attention of two of 
our medical contemporaries, another and a somewhat 
singular instance of accidental poisoning has oc¬ 
curred. An old woman, starting on a long railway 
journey, provided herself, as she thought, with her 
gin bottle, and, by way of being polite to her fellow- 
travellers, offered them a little alcoholic refreshment, 
which was accepted by two females, who, being 
strangers, of course, drank first. It was not until 
after they had each swallowed their dose that the 
liberal old lady, in taking her turn and applying a 
more appreciative palate, discovered that her new 
acquaintances had swallowed unknowingly a wine- 
glassful of a lotion meant for external use only. 
Their quiet absorption of this liquid speaks volumes 
for their politeness, and something also for the pa¬ 
tient endurance with which the poor swallow very 
vile liquor, indeed with the hope of deriving some 
consolation from the consequent alcoholic exhilara¬ 
tion. Fortunately the train just then reached Slough, 
where, amid what is described as a scene of great 
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