Octoler 21,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
33L 
an existence. The time has been within the memory of 
the present chemists and druggists when most powders 
had to he ground, rubbed and thumped in a-mortar by 
the strong and powerful arm of the druggist himself or 
his apprentice. Never shall I forget the hard work, the 
struggle 1 had with a nice bit of a mill, the size of a 
domestic coffee mill, for grinding pepper. Even the 
grinding o; paints on a slab with a muller was all done 
by the chemist and druggist in the country. Let us be 
thankful th&t the colour manufacturer and the wholesale 
druggist hare relieved the present race of chemists and 
druggists from all this drudgery, and that our young- 
men will ha\e more time at their disposal for cultivat¬ 
ing their minis, and acquiring that scientific knowledge, 
not only for passing their examinations, but for uphold¬ 
ing the honour and status that the trade is aspiring and 
panting for,—changing, I trust, the trade of a chemist 
and druggist into an honoured and scientific profession. 
Workmen labour less hours than formerly, so do clerks, 
manufacturers and merchants. There is a movement in the 
same direction amongst shopkeepers. Take the dispen¬ 
sing chemist in London and throughout the country; the 
hours are from eight in the morning until ten or eleven at 
night in London ; in the country, eight to eight, nine or 
ten at night. These hours are too long. They have a 
most depressing effect, preventing energy in business 
and determination in study. I grant there is the danger 
in our early closing of our young men abusing these 
hours of liberty, devoting their time to pleasures and 
amusements (so liberally provided in all large towns, 
places literally used to entrap the young), instead of 
using these golden hours in study, and striving to fit 
themselves for their duties and the battle of life. Pro¬ 
vided the hours taken from business were used and not 
abused by our young people, early closing would be 
indeed a blessing to all engaged in the trade. Every 
encouragement should be given to lessen the hours of 
labour. It should, in my opinion, be done gradually, to 
see if these leisure hours are properly used. Let us culti¬ 
vate in our youths a tendency to come to our rooms. The 
time is drawing near when they will find out that it is a 
necessity for them so to do. Unless they avail them¬ 
selves of the opportunity to acquire a knowledge of our 
specimens of drugs, the pharmaceutical preparations, 
and an acquaintance with our library in this room, there 
is every probability when they go to London for exami¬ 
nation they will return plucked. A few examples of the 
simple-minded plucked ones would, I think, do a power 
of good to our cause,—contributing more to a good 
attendance at our rooms and our lectures and our classes 
than all the persuasive powers of the Council of this 
Association. There is one thing stands very much in 
the way of this early-closing movement. I allude to 
the custom and habit of putting up the shutters, but 
leaving the door of the shop on the latch. The gas 
burning bright inside is like an invitation to all passers- 
by that they can obtain what they require inside that 
establishment, though the shop is “supposed to be 
closed,” and all the staff done work. This custom and 
habit is of long standing. Those who would close are 
thus prevented by their neighbours. They say, I wll 
make no pretence of closing. When I put up the shut¬ 
ters I will close the door, and have done with the 
labours of the day. The medical faculty do not stop in, 
waiting for patients; the physician’s hours are defined 
except for appointments. I do not see that the public 
require these late hours of business. I do not see that 
they even benefit us in a pecuniary sense. And I trust 
the time has arrived when we may gradually give them 
up, and find time to cultivate our minds and enjoy the 
blessings of life,— 
“ Not alwajs working, not always playing, 
Doing both, and enjoying both.” 
Most of you are acquainted with the early history and 
struggles of the Pharmaceutical Society. There also 
sprang up the Society of Chemists and Druggists, to pre¬ 
vent what they thought the monopolizing tendency of 
the old Society. These two Societies struggled, one for 
supremacy, the other for equality. Better counsels and 
better feelings alternately prevailed. They had felt each 
other-’s strength and power; each saw the other had some- 
good properties ; united they would be strong. Lord 
Elcho advised them to settle their differences ; his advice 
was carried out, and we became an incorporated trade. 
From the passing of this Act commenced a new era in. 
our history; take Sheffield as an example of the rest of 
the provinces. A local Association has been formed in 
connection with and attached to the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain, the object being the education 
of our members, and to enable them to rise to the stan¬ 
dard of the Pharmaceutical Society. There is now a fair 
and open field for those who desire to enter the ranks of 
the profession of a pharmacist—a profession they cannot 
enter except by careful study, fitting themselves for 
responsible duties that -will bring honour to the profes¬ 
sion, and conduce to the interests of the public. Our: 
trade has been maligned, and twitted with trenching 
upon the vocation of the medical man. Where do the 
quacking druggists come from F—the men who place a 
few coloured bottles in a shop-window as ostensible- 
druggists, and who go out and visit patients, contesting 
the rounds with the medical faculty. Is it the young mem 
who have served an apprenticeship to the trade F —is it 
the young men who have passed the examinations of the- 
Pharmaceutical Society F My impression is it is not this, 
class of men. I think you will find most of them come 
from the surgeries of the medical faculty—students who 
could not or had not the means of passing their medical 
examinations ; -who had been educated and drilled to 
visit patients. Stable-boys are sometimes taken into a 
surgery to assist ; after a while the dispensing is en¬ 
trusted to their care; when arrived at mature years, on. 
the ground of wages or other circumstances, they are re¬ 
placed by other youths. What becomes of these men F If 
they have got a smattering of the knowledge of medicine,, 
such men have often commenced as chemists and drug- 
gists, visiting patients and administering such physic as 
they were accustomed to make up in their masters’ sur¬ 
gery. It has often been proclaimed to the public through 
the medical journals that chemists and druggists more 
or less live upon quackery, and are a class whose privi¬ 
leges should be curtailed. When you see a drug-gist 
visiting patients, you will generally find he has acquired 
the habit and learned the rudiments of such a practice- 
in a surgery. Who is responsible for such a state ef 
affairs F I assert, the medical profession ; they had edu¬ 
cated the men for such a style of business, and it is a. 
libel on the trade to charge us with that for which they 
themselves are principally liable. I advise our members-, 
on no account to poach on the domain of the medical 
faculty by leaving their shop to visit patients, but hold 
on to their right of prescribing behind the counter. Yon 
have as great a claim to that right as the medical faculty 
have to dispense their own medicines. When they are- 
prepared to give up such a practice, then it will be time- 
for the chemist and druggist to consider the propriety of 
giving up prescribing behind the counter. Let us be- 
thankful that this practice of going out to visit patients- 
will, to a great extent, become an experience of the past. 
I cannot imagine a man who has obtained his diploma, 
as a pharmaceutical chemist, or as a chemist and drug¬ 
gist, adopting the practice of visiting. Should ho do so,, 
he would at once lose caste, and take a low standard in 
the scale of his profession. There is a bright and pro¬ 
sperous future open for apprentices and students who- 
qualify themselves to pass the examinations of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society. There cannot be that amount of 
huckstering competition that has been the rule hitherto. 
We, the old and middle-aged chemists, may not live to 
see our hopes realized ; but we shall have this conscious¬ 
ness that we have fought to clear the way for our- 
