THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 27, 1871. 
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MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. 
J Lay VItli, 1871. 
MR. HASELDEN, F.L.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
Present—Messrs. Atherton, Bottle, Bourdas, Brown, 
Carr, Deane, Dymond, Edwards, Evans, Groves, Hills, 
Mackay, Reynolds, Sandford, Stoddart, Sutton and Wil¬ 
liams. 
Mr. Bourdas was elected Vice-President, and took 
the chair accordingly. 
The Secretary presented a list of members whose sub¬ 
scriptions had been tendered subsequently to the 30th 
April. 
Resolved—That the said members be restored to their 
original status on payment respectively of a nominal 
fine of one shilling. 
The following letter was read, and ordered to be en¬ 
tered on the minutes :— 
“Medical Department of the Privy Council , 
May Uh, 1871. 
“ Sir,—The Lords of Pier Majesty’s Council, observing 
that the Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society 
js’to be held in the course of the present month, direct 
me to refer you to my letter of the ‘23rd December, 1870, 
.and to say that they trust that such regulations will then 
be made (under the first section of the Pharmacy Act, 
1868) in regard to the keeping, dispensing and selling of 
poisons, as will be sufficient to secure the safety of the 
public. 
“ Their Lordships think it right to apprise the Council 
,of the Society that, should no such regulations be sub¬ 
mitted for their approval after the approaching meeting, 
they will feel it their duty to endeavour to protect the 
public by proposing to Parliament further legislation. 
“ I am, Sir, 
“Your obedient servant, 
“John Simon. 
“ The Secretary to the 
“ Pharmaceutical Society, 
“ Bloomsbury Square.” 
Resolved—That the letter be read at the Annual Ge¬ 
neral Meeting, and that copies be distributed among 
the members present. 
The Council then adjourned to the Annual Meeting. 
THE 
THIRTIETH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 
OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
Wednesday, May With, 1871. 
MR. A. r. HASELDEN, E.L.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The Secretary having read the notice convening the 
meeting, the President delivered the following address:— 
Gentlemen,—Two months ago I little expected that I 
should on this day have the honour and pleasure of 
addressing you from this chair. As there is no rose 
without a thorn, so the pleasure comes not unalloyed. 
You will readily understand the allusion, viz. the retire¬ 
ment of Mr. Sandford from the post I now fill. I feel 
assured that you will not only look for it from me, but 
strongly approve of my paying a passing tribute to the 
merits of that gentlemen, one of the best Presidents the 
Society ever had. I know his value well. You cannot 
estimate too fully the loss of so upright, so able, and last, 
but not least, so patient a chairman.; 
Thirty years ago a paper was read “ On the Consti¬ 
tution of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain,” 
at the Introductory Pharmaceutical Meeting, held May 
11th, 1841. For as many years have I, first as an asso¬ 
ciate, then as a member, watched the steady advance¬ 
ment of the Society. Duriug that time I have observed 
many changes. I have seen the good ship threatened 
by storms from within and from without, surrounded 
ofttimes by shoals and quicksands, but ever buoyant, 
ever seaworthy, coming safe into harbour, avoiding 
Scylla and not falling into Charybdis. I call to mind 
now words spoken by one who has grown grey in your 
service, “ that the Pharmaceutical Society would at some 
future day become a very great and influential Society.” 
I endorsed his words then, I endorse them now; and 
why F Because it is based upon good sound principles ; 
by educational means expanding, training and raising 
the mental qualities, striving by union for the good of 
each other, and conferring a corresponding advantage 
upon the general public by providing for it not merely 
an intelligent class of pharmaceutists, but also an edu¬ 
cated intelligence, for natural talent and intellect lose 
nothing, but gain much, by cultivation. “The human 
mind, without education, is like marble in the quarry, 
which shows none of its inherent beauty until the skill 
of the polisher fetches out the colour.” 
Foliovring the steps of those who have preceded me, I 
might remind you of novelties introduced and of the 
results of scientific research during the past year, but 
all these are now so freely published that they who run 
may read. Nevertheless, there is one preparation in 
particular which I cannot pass unnoticed, the hydrate of 
chloral; known before the past year, yet happily never 
before called so largely into requisition at home or abroad 
(during the war) for the relief of thousands of suffering 
fellow-creatures. In a lecture delivered in February 
last, Dr. Richardson stated that nearly fifty tons of the 
hydrate had been used in England during the previous 
eighteen months. He also stated—and this may be inter¬ 
esting to pharmaceutists, as showing the necessity of 
discretion in its employment—“that in professional 
hands, now that its action is better understood and the 
novelty of its application worn off, the employment of it 
is less than it was some months ago; while the practice 
of resorting to it by the public is on the increase, and a 
new class of cases is thereby becoming known, marked 
by particular symptoms, and assuming in some instances 
a serious character.” 
Among many other things which during the year 
have engaged the attention of correspondents in our 
Journal I have observed the question of early closing ,— 
a question eminently interesting, and meriting earnest 
attention; but I have always felt, that whilst it is a 
matter in which each may do much by example and 
otherwise in his own immediate neighbourhood, it would 
be quite out of character for residents in one quarter of 
any large city to legislate for those in another. At 
some establishments in this metropolis closing com¬ 
mences at 8 o’clock p.m., an hom' at which in others the 
main business of the day virtually begins, when an 
assistant so situated might exclaim, with Sterne’s star¬ 
ling, “I can’t get out—I can’t get out!” The reason 
put forward not unfrequently in favour of early closing 
is, that apprentices and others may have time for study ; 
and the reason, so far, is a good one. No one can well 
appreciate the value of opportunities for study more 
than those who have known and felt the want of such. 
"Where were they thirty years ago ? I trust that those 
who have opportunities will not only value them, but 
make much of them. 
“ To catch dame Fortune’s golden smile, 
Assiduous wait upon her; 
And gather gear by ev’ry wile 
That’s justified by honour: 
Not for to hide it in a hedge, 
Nor for a train-attendant, 
But for the glorious privilege 
Of being independent.” 
This reminds me that I should make some remarks 
