May 20, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
939 
*** No notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. "Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith. 
Early Closing. 
Sir,—I am liappy to find that the importance of early 
closing to pharmaceutical students has been commented upon 
in your columns, and I think that if it were thoroughly in¬ 
vestigated by the Council, the desired issue would be obtained. 
I have often wondered why drapers, grocers, etc., could close 
at an early hour, merely to give their young men an oppor¬ 
tunity of enjoying themselves after their day’s toil, whilst 
chemists cannot entertain the idea, although it would only 
afford those facilities for study which might be reasonably 
expected from an employer, especially during apprenticeship. 
I quite agree with T. S. M. that compulsion is the only 
means by which early closing could be carried out effectually. 
The jealousy generally existing between pharmacists prevents 
anything being settled amicably by them. Like the dog in 
the manger, if they cannot derive any good from it them¬ 
selves, they all take good care that no one else does. 
Milford, May 15th, 1871. Filix. 
Some Abuses. 
Sir,—The ethical code of pharmacy dates even before the 
formation of the Pharmaceutical Society, and when Mr. Ince 
indited his well-meaning paper pharmaceutical ethics were 
practically a long stride ahead of what he apparently wished 
to inculcate. That a pharmacist be a gentleman is now gene¬ 
rally admitted, the examinations proving an ordinary colle¬ 
giate education without the special technical instruction 
required before obtaining the diploma. Jacob Bell, the 
founder of the Society, could never have wished that in statu 
■quo in the matter of pharmaceutical progress that has cha¬ 
racterized pharmacy since his lamented demise. 
We require, as pharmacists, the respect, not only of the 
public, but of the medical profession. But very few of our 
■craft are aware of the contemptuous manner in which the 
majority of doctors arc in the habit of depicting to their 
patients our supposed contumacious, ignorant and unautho¬ 
rized acts. That some enlightened, liberal and generous in¬ 
tellects would scorn so to do I am fully aware and gladly 
admit, but they unfortunately are the exceptions that prove 
the rule. 
How many country surgeons or general practitioners, well 
able to diagnose a disease, and capable of calmly calculating 
the effect of quinine or iron on a debilitated system, rush to 
their dispensaries, and hurriedly throw together a mixture 
with enough sal volatile to precipitate the quinine or carbo¬ 
nate of soda, to render a soluble tincture insoluble and nearly 
inert. 
As long as we, qualified pharmacists, are content to remain 
inactive on the subject of our rights and our just monopolies, 
so long must we—in order to obtain a livelihood, and some 
even a bare pittance—endeavour to snatch what few crumbs 
drop from the professional table. It has now passed into an 
axiom that as long as medical men dispense, pharmacists will 
prescribe. And yet I venture to say that no pharmacist ever 
does so without certain twinges of conscience. But what is 
he to do ? Send the patient to Dr. X., who dispenses his 
own medicine? Nay! Why should he? To be rewarded 
by Dr. X.’s injunctions to the patient to distrust the whole 
body of chemists, and himself in particular, as ignorant 
meddlers? It is probable that the less enlightened mem¬ 
bers of the profession think that, if they were to give up dis¬ 
pensing their own medicines, the chemists would not give up 
counter-prescribing. 
Then crede experto! I have lived on the Continent a 
number of years, and have made a study of pharmacy in its 
relation to medicine in various countries, and nowhere have 
I found so cordial an entente between two such hand-in-hand 
professions as in those countries where an official and recog¬ 
nized status is given to each. And when the pharmacist, in¬ 
stead of wasting his time in listening to a long detail of a 
child’s health, sends the patient to Dr. L., in the certainty of 
seeing ere long a customer with a prescription and a con¬ 
tented countenance, is he likely to interfere in any such 
arrangement so eminently advantageous and mutually bene¬ 
ficial ? Then why this apparent distrust on the part of the 
profession ? They could now perform a graceful act, raising' 
their own status, by recognizing, as Parliament has done, 
the separate and distinct qualifications of an educated and 
examined body of pharmacists. 
Optimists say that this desired change is gradually being 
effected. I do not think that on reflection we can endorse 
that statement. Eminent men of large practice, and others 
whose increasing calls on their time necessitate the employ¬ 
ment of every means to expedite their visits, naturally prefer 
writing a prescription to the bother of dispensing and send¬ 
ing out medicines. But in country towns and throughout 
England generally, I am sure that three-fourths of the work 
that ought to fall to the pharmacist is withheld from him, to 
the prejudice of a class legally qualified and officially in¬ 
tended to perform it. True principles of political economy 
are here violated, and continental countries, whose legislators 
it is the fashion to sneer at, have at least the merit of a 
clearer appreciation of the respective functions of medical 
and pharmaceutical science. Having obtained a legal status, 
it is the duty of pharmacists as a body to use their utmost 
endeavours to ensure their right of being the only legally- 
qualified dispensers of medicine, and to bring to an end the 
illegal dispensing by surgeons and other practitioners. The 
heads of the profession are in its favour, and a wholesome 
and firm agitation on the part of those most concerned couid 
but be fruitful of ultimate benefit and success. We are cer¬ 
tainly entitled to some privileges and considerations for all 
the stringent examinations and regulations voluntarily im¬ 
posed upon ourselves in deference to the wishes and opinions 
of the public. A recent writer in the Standard, on the aban¬ 
donment of the Poison Regulations Bill, mentions “the great 
privileges accorded to pharmacists.” As yet, they seem 
totally intangible and imaginary, unless the exemption from 
serving on juries be considered a set-off to the innumerable 
difficulties which beset the thorny path that attends the ob- 
tainment of even a bare livelihood as a chemist and druggist. 
E. A. 
The Minor Examination and ire Provincial 
Associations. 
Sir,—In your Journal of May 6th are tw T o or three letters 
on the subject of early closing,—w T ant of time for study being 
brought forward as the main argument. One writer takes it 
for granted that where early closing is introduced, an associa¬ 
tion Avith classes, etc., wall follow. In many towns this has 
been the case, but do these associations fulfil their purpose? 
With some honourable exceptions, I think they do not. In 
the city of 80,000 people from which I write, and which we 
will call Cathay, is an association of this sort. The following 
rough statistics will show how it is getting on:— 
Number of pharmacies in the city, 40. 
,, assistants, 12. 
„ apprentices, 40. 
Average time of closing, 7.30. 
The association was started last autumn (solely through the 
laudable exertions of tw T o assistants) with ample funds and 
about forty members, with many- of the masters as honorary 
members. 
Three classes on separate subjects have met each week, and 
the result is that the attendance at these classes averaged 
twenty-two for the first three weeks of the session and nine 
for the last three, at which number, I fear, it will remain all 
through the next session, should the association survive so 
long. 
I attribute this falling off to the fact that the class-teachers 
go into their subjects thoroughly. To do this is not the ob¬ 
ject of the great majority of apprentices. They prefer to 
solve the problem as follows:—Given, utter ignorance of 
theoretical pharmaceutics as a base for three months’ despe¬ 
rate cramming; required, to wriggle through the Minor 
Examination and then to fling up study in toto. 
Till the Major is looked upon as the natural sequence to 
the Minor and the need is felt of getting up each subject 
thoroughly, the comparatively slow method of teaching by 
classes will not answ T er, except for students who have the 
whole day at their disposal. Let additional inducements 
(such as the title of Fellow) be held out to pass the Major, 
and this state of things will be altered. Instead of being 
regarded as a hideous ogre, holding up the bar of the Minor 
