October 21,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
333 
realities of life, and a careful performance of its meanest 
details. 
To look at the past. There -was a time, and it is start¬ 
lingly near to our own, when there was'no science of 
chemistry, nothing hut haphazard, uncomprehended ex¬ 
periment. This was the case in all its depai'tments, hut 
in medicine there was no attempt at system. Even when 
plants ceased to he gathered under fixed planetary in¬ 
fluence, the cause of their specific influences was veiled hy 
the impossibility of separating one definite suhstanco 
from an organic, heterogeneous mass. But pure che¬ 
mistry came to the rescue; and we owe to it the long list 
of vegetable alkalies, many vegetable acids, and we may 
hope that every drug will, in time, yield its active prin¬ 
ciple, to he administered in a small compass, and with¬ 
out nauseous accompaniments, which in many cases are 
useless. 
In these researches there was at least some idea of 
immediate use, and a definite object was before the expe¬ 
rimenter’s mind ; but, not bound by the actually exist¬ 
ing, the chemist begins to create new compounds not 
found in nature, and which to many are the sheerest 
nonsense, waste of time and thought. Yet in medicine 
alone we owe to such men chloroform, chloral, carbolic 
acid, etc., now recognized as most valuable means of 
healing; and no doubt yearly additions will be made to 
the list. Apomorphia seems certain to win a place in 
our pharmacopoeias, and Dr. Richardson is making ex¬ 
periments with bichloride of methylene, chloride of me¬ 
thyl, amylene, hydride of methyl and methylic ether, 
which promise to give us an anaesthetic without the 
danger and nausea of chloroform,— methylic ether seem¬ 
ing to be the nearest to perfection. 
It has occurred to me that a promising field for inves¬ 
tigation would be the study of the state of combination 
in which the more powerful active principles are found 
in the plant. The probability is that, whilst the more 
striking properties of an alkaloid, such as the narcotic 
effects of morphia, are seen in the free alkaloid or any 
of its salts, the action of the acid cannot be null. As, in 
mineral chemistry, salts containing the same metal differ 
widely in their properties, so it cannot be of indifference 
what acid we combine with vegetable alkaloids. It is 
fashionable to exclude all mention of design now, and to 
urge that quinine and morphine w r ere meant for the use of 
man is to sacrifice one’s reputation for scientific sanity; 
yet I cannot give up this old-fashioned notion, and, if it 
be true, is it not at least probable that the natural combi¬ 
nation will have valuable properties ? Meconate of 
morphia is a preparation in point, and quinate of qui¬ 
nine and igasurate of strychnine would, I think, be 
worthy of trial. 
Hie pharmacist may say, what is all this to me ? 
Simply this : he will have, ere long, to deal in these 
things; and ignorant handling of edge tools, as these 
unquestionably are, is a fertile source of accident. It 
should never be forgotten that to pharmacists w 7 e owe 
many of these potent remedies, and the names of Robi- 
quet and Pelletier are indelibly associated with the or¬ 
ganic alkaloids. We need not, however, confine our 
attention to organic chemistry; in mineral chemistry 
new remedies are constantly springing up, and the che¬ 
mist should know what those new salts mean. In the 
old time, wdien there were scarcely any pure definite 
medicines, the chemist might do without chemistry, and 
his vegetable materia medica was the sine qua non. Now 
wo bid fair to make chemistry the chief study, and in 
the future the knowledge of the actual sources of our 
medicinal agents may be only interesting to pharmacists 
in general as objects of curiosity, which they are not 
called upon to handle. 
In connection with this subject, it is remarkable that, 
at the last meeting of the Pharmaceutical Conference, 
the greatest prominence was given to such subjects as 
apocodeia, hesperidine and other definite chemical sub¬ 
stances. 
I therefore call upon all students—and, I trust we are 
all included in that class,—but especially on young men, 
to make their knowledge of chemistry, as of every other- 
branch of study, thorough so far as it goes. “ Learn to 
know it, not to know about it,” to use Canon Kingsley’s, 
advice; and depend upon it you will pass a better exa¬ 
mination, and more intelligently appreciate anything 
new than by an attempt at “ technical ” knowledge. 
Cramming is the worst phase of this one-sided work, 
and should be hated as a lie. For it is a lie, it is a pre¬ 
tence of knowledge to veil ignorance, and like all lies, 
lands its user in disgrace And it is a transparent veil, 
for any examiner up to his work is sure to detect it; it 
has an artificial look and is sure to have weak points. 
Practical w 7 ork is the best means of avoiding this snare, 
and although lectures, illustrated as fully as possible, 
are the best moans of showing the formation of chemical 
bodies in the actual position of most pharmaceutical 
students who have no laboratories and not too much 
money or time, yet analysis, qualitative at least, can be 
| carried on with half-a-dozen test-tubes and the chemicals 
| around them. But then the knowledge of this should 
j be more than that such a test reveals the presence of 
such an impurity, and then, when the reason of the test 
is shown, the student finds that each analysis includes a 
i synthesis, and thus both sides of chemical practice aro 
! seen at once. The present state of pharmacy in England 
will justify me in making my address mainly a call to 
exact scientific knowledge. Knowledge was always 
good, now it is indispensable, and from pharmacy will 
| shortly be banished the reproach that it w 7 as the one 
business that a man could conduct without any know¬ 
ledge of the things he dealt in. The grocer knows the 
quality of his tea and sugar, the draper is profound in 
fractional differences of value in his wares, and the 
pharmacist should be at least as well informed in his 
line, nay, rather should be incomparably more so, for 
you or I can form a fair idea of our food and clothing 
for ourselves, but the outside world have and can have 
no means of ascertaining the value of w 7 hat they get out 
! of a chemist’s shop, wdiilst the issues involved in the two 
! cases have no standard of comparison. I shall survive a 
| bad coat, and possibly may a cup of Moning congou, 
; but the quality of a drug may make the difference of 
life and death. Who, then, will any longer speak of the 
hardship of having to prepare for so responsible a voca¬ 
tion F 
Then the examinations have a distinct and definite 
value. Conducted under independent control, the public 
have a guarantee that they are a real protection, and 
Dr. Greenhow’s report on the examinations will impart 
a confidence to the public which I fear they were losing. 
Perhaps the Tall Mall Gazette may have exaggerated the 
terrors of the public when it suggested the desirability 
of hanging a chemist, but such a suggestion would have 
| fallen very flat if it had been known that every chemist 
knew w 7 hat he was about and that no ignorant man was 
in the profession. In one generation this vision will be 
realized; and before that time year by year will thin 
the ranks of the incompetent, and swell those of men 
whom the w r orld will trust without fear. 
I have no wish to trespass on such dangerous ground 
! as that of regulations for storing poisons. Yet the cry 
for them, not at all general I grant, seems to me the 
| natural result of the action of chemists themselves. 
! Have they not urged the importance of compulsory exa- 
j minations, and pointed to the public the danger of un- 
! educated men being allowed to handle poisonous drugs : 
i Can it bo wondered that the world believes what it has- 
been so earnestly told by those who ought to know best, 
and that as the men are there and cannot be turned out, 
precautions should be insisted on ? May an outsider, in 
one sense, be permitted to make the suggestion that 
voluntary regulations, to be any good in satisfying a 
public demand, must be made public, and that the world 
must know who does and who does not adopt them .- I 
