November 5, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
379 
that the Pharmacy Act prevents any, excepting the “foun¬ 
ders,” from' obtaining the honour without examination. 
2nd. The recognition and reliance placed in this class of 
men by the medical profession, though there may be no per¬ 
sonal knowledge of the dispenser on the part of the pre¬ 
scribe^ further than that he holds the rank and title of a 
Pharmaceutical Chemist. 
3rd. Pharmaceutical Chemists, being the only fully quali¬ 
fied body, are empowered to elect the largest number of their 
body to the Council, so that as a natural consequence they 
will always occupy an influential position. 
4th. The preference given by Government and local go¬ 
verning bodies to Pharmaceutical Chemists as dispensers or 
analysts. 
5th. Exemption from serving on juries, a matter of no 
small moment, as our young friend will find when he gets 
into business. 
In conclusion, let me remind any other “ Aspirants to the 
Major” that the examinations, like those of the legal and 
medical professions, are fitting to the requirements of the 
times, and adapted more especially to the wants of practical 
pharmacy, and if young men think they deserve higher dis¬ 
tinctions for what they know let them measure their abilities 
-against the standard of any of our learned universities, and 
there seek the high degrees and diplomas ambition leads 
them to crave after. Pharmacist. 
* # * Our correspondent might also have added that Phar¬ 
maceutical Chemists are alone eligible for the responsible and 
eminently honourable position of Examiner, and that they 
alone receive the special original diploma with which the public 
and medical men have been gradually taught to associate 
'high, professional attainments. No other graduates in phar¬ 
macy, whether examined or not, receive a diploma. 
In regard to connection with our Society—which is alto¬ 
gether voluntary—“Majors” are eligible, immediately after 
they have passed, to be elected full Members of it; while 
“Minors”and those who pass the Modified Examination are 
at no time eligible for membership. The highest position the 
latter can obtain, even when in business, is that of Associate. 
It is obvious that when the aspiring youths of 1870 shall 
have become the successful hardworking pharmacists of the 
future, the anomaly of which they now complain will have, in 
great part if not entirely, disappeared by efflux of time, and 
the Society will be constituted of Members who will be ex¬ 
amined Pharmaceutical Chemists, and Associates who will 
be examined Chemists and Druggists. 
This correspondence, which must now close, seems to indi¬ 
cate that to avoid being mistaken for an wwexamined com¬ 
petitor, or for one who has passed only the Modified Examina¬ 
tion, the safest way is to “go in” heart and soul for the 
“Major,” so as to win a living title which cannot be assailed 
or simulated, that of a highly educated and accomplished 
professional man.— Ed. Ph. J. 
Loss op Spirit in Making Tinctures. 
Sir,—The kind remarks of your correspondent Mr. J. T. 
Slugg, of Manchester, upon my communication “The Loss of 
Spirit in Making Tinctures of the British Pharmacopoeia ” 
(Pharmaceutical Journal, October 22nd), require some 
further explanation from me. 
The loss of 37'5 per cent, of alcohol (’838) in making tinct. 
zingib. fort, in accordance with the Pharmacopoeia is strictly 
correct, as the “ sufficiency ” to produce the measure there 
ordered is represented by the volume of the final product, 
plus 37’5 per cent. 
Now the Pharmacopoeia does not mention (as in other 
tinctures) the application of pressure to the contents of the 
percolator, and for the reason that its compilers well knew 
that such a large quantity of ingredient was only to be ex¬ 
hausted by the displacement of one pint of fluid. 
Perfection would seldom have been attained had the per¬ 
colation been made with 75 per cent, of the alcohol (as 
tinct. zingib.), or even with the whole of the spirit, and then 
pressure applied to the ingredients, finally making up the 
measure. 
No pharmacist would (as Mr. Slugg has properly queried) 
consider as worthless any marc containing such a large per¬ 
centage of alcohol; he would, of course, resort to pressure or 
heat for its recovery. By the former method he would ob¬ 
tain 12 per cent., and by the latter, with suitable apparatus, 
at least 20 per cent, should be recovered. 
The subject of hydraulic pressure, as adapted to small 
pharmacies, I hope shortly to comment upon. 
Charles Umnet. 
Laboratory, 40, Aldersgate Street, E.C. 
Druggists’ Charges. 
Sir,—The following is a copy of a prescription dispensed 
to-day, and which will be charged more than “half-a-crown,” 
which appears to be the utmost value put on any prescrip¬ 
tion by some of our “ medical friends.” It may perhaps in¬ 
terest some of our “pharmaceutical brethren ” to see it. 
E. Quince Disulph. 5iss 
Acidi Nitrici dil. 5iij 
Aquae ^j- 
M., signa: A teaspoonful to be mixed with 6 oz. cold water 
and two tablespoonfuls to be taken twice or thrice a day. 
Cheltenham, Oct. 2 oth, 1870. D. C. L. 
The Major Examination. 
Dear Sir,—Allow me to give, in reply to “ A Candidate for 
the Major,” the following extract from the Pharmaceuti¬ 
cal Journal of March, 1869:— 
“Do not be misled by those who state it to be a ‘mere ba¬ 
gatelle.’ Get up as thoroughly as you can the different 
branches mentioned in the synopsis, and, if practicable, spend 
at least a week in daily attendance at the library and museum 
of the Society. You will then find it comparatively easy; 
but if you come up the day before with an idea that it is 
nothing, and without that preparation, you will probably be 
numbered with those"(of whom there is more than one West- 
End assistant) who, in failing, have only to blame their own 
carelessness.” 
Wakefield, Oct. 31 st, 1870. Thomas W. Romans. 
Pharmacy and Medical Practitioners. 
Sir,—“ Reformer’s ” letter is so offensively worded, that it 
entitles us to unusual liberty of speech respecting it, and, as 
in the attack he leaves open his most vulnerable side, I shall 
not hesitate to throw a spear. 
We are charged, I understand, with “prescribing,” high 
charges, and “general insubordination” to the profession. 
Well, I suppose, to the first charge we must plead guilty; 
and, speaking for myself, I wish I were more guilty of this 
offence, and, for these reasons:—Firstly, I consider myself quite 
as competent as some medical men to deal with small matters. 
If the parties applying to me are satisfied with the aid they 
obtain, and they ought to be the sole judges of their own 
affairs, it is not for medical men to feel aggrieved because they 
will not accommodate themselves to public requirements. 
Secondly, because the medical man frequently keeps what 
he calls an “open surgery,” where he vends pennyworths of 
senna, salts, etc., to servant girls, and yellow ochre for the 
joiners’ planes. 
Now, as to high charges for dispensing, I believe the usual 
charge for an 8-oz. mixture, coming from a surgery, is 2s. Qd. 
exclusive of an additional charge for investigating the patient’s 
complaint at the surgery; whereas the druggist’s charge for 
the same mixture averages from Is. 6d. to 2s. at the most; it 
is usually infinitely better prepared, more neatly and atten¬ 
tively finished, probably contains very superior ingredients, 
and has not been put together by his wife or by a man who 
also serves as groom. 
A surgeon of standing, extracted a guinea from my pocket 
in less than five minutes, for an opinion upon a rather trifling 
matter, although I called at his house for it, and he knew me 
to be a druggist; on the other hand, a perfect stranger, pass¬ 
ing through the town, came to me with his wife and family, 
and was surprised that I did not take cognizance of his being a 
medical man and make a large reduction upon, the mixture 
and other things he was taking. The acquisitiveness of 
druggists is not to be compared to that of the medical man— 
M.D. shall I say P—who bargains with “Reformer’s” incom¬ 
petent druggist that he is to get for 9 d. that for which he 
himself charges his patient 2s. Qd., without even the trouble 
of sending it home. _ ... 
A.s to the third charge, I consider myself and my fraternity 
