THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 21 , 1871. 
034 
trust this guarded allusion to the subject may not expose 
me to the wild attacks of some warriors who show that, 
-alas, man is a fighting animal by nature, and can hardly 
believe that any one who opposes them is sane or honest. 
Few things are more remarkable in our English man¬ 
ners and customs than the respect we pay to the right of 
•ever}' man to do wrong. I know that there are laws 
and penalties for breaking them, but there is a tenderness, 
especially for highly respectable sinners, that contrasts 
.sharply with the practice of our Continental neighbours, 
.and even of the Americans. In nothing is this more 
strikingly shown than in our laws with regard to adul¬ 
teration. First there is a statement that there is a great 
deal of adulteration, that adulteration is a very bad thing 
and ought to be punished; and then follows a law 
screening the malefactor in every possible way, and 
giving the utmost possible trouble to any one moving in 
the affair, coupled with conditions to render a conviction 
impossible unless the adulterator is an absolute ass, 
which, as a rule, he is not. The public conscience is then 
.satisfied, and we wait for a time to see what will follow. 
Of course, nothing follows, until a roused British public 
•again stirs itself, to be pacified with a repetition of the 
farce. Nothing will put down adulteration until the 
law makes the seller responsible for all adulterations, in¬ 
jurious or not, and then let him, if innocent of actual 
knowledge, have his remedy against the manufacturer. 
I say adulterations, injurious or not, for in many, nay, 
most cases, the admixture is one which no chemist can 
.stand in a witness-box and swear is in itself injurious to 
.health. It is robbery which is to be punished quite as 
much as doing bodily harm, but who can tell the injury 
done to health by a mere diminution of nutritive power 
in food by the addition of a substance harmless per se. 
Certainly, if a man sold anything openly as a mixture, 
no objection could be taken; but what a disgrace to 
English tradesmen that it is supposed to be necessary to 
.ask them if their goods are pure, and that if you do not, 
_you are to have no remedy, the assumption being that 
jyou were a fool to trust to their honour. 
Among pharmacists I am willing to believe that there 
is not much wilful addition to their drugs; and in this I 
am borne out by the analysis of some 150 articles pur- 
■chased by the Sanitary Association of Manchester several 
years since and analysed in a laboratory in which I was 
an assistant. But the use of inferior qualities of drugs, 
I fear, cannot be denied, and no Act of Parliament will 
.ever reach this. Nothing but a higher sense of honour, 
.a feeling that it is a shame to violate the trust placed in 
them, which we may hope to be a result of higher edu¬ 
cation, will remove the temptation from what I believe 
to be a minority of pharmacists, to swell their profits 
this way. Of course, I may be told the public are them¬ 
selves to blame, they will have food and medicine cheap, 
and therefore must have it so, and also nasty, but I do 
not see that this is the necessary result, and I would ask, 
is not the public more tempted than tempting ? 
A question which is in my opinion of the highest im¬ 
portance to you as subject to the Pharmacy Act, is, how 
•.this education, which we all say is a good thing, can be ob¬ 
tained F I have no means of obtaining a correct figure, 
hut may say that in Liverpool there are many young 
men who will have to pass an examination before they 
can begin business. 
I or chemistry there are many places where instruction 
:is given, though I regret that in connection with our 
own Association, the opportunities are imperfect. I 
■should be glad to be able to afford time for two classes, 
in one of which the higher branches of chemistry, espe¬ 
cially a fair amount of organic chemistry, could be 
"taught. But this I cannot manage ; and I am of opinion 
■that it will be found necessary eventually to have an in¬ 
dependent school of pharmacy, where instruction in all 
branches necessary to be known by pharmacists, can be 
■obtained. But then two things will be necessary, 1st, a 
more thorough conviction on the part of employers that 
they have duties as well as rights towards young men in 
their employ. Opportunities for attendance on instruc¬ 
tion must be more freely given, and not only so, but time 
for study. This no doubt involves the other question of 
late hours of business. I cannot work mentally with 
any effect when I am physically tired; and though there 
will always be a few who to indomitable perseverance 
unite physical strength, yet it is not fair to expect these 
advantages in all. 2nd. Those who enter upon this call¬ 
ing must expect to find their education costly in com¬ 
parison with that of their predecessors. Education given 
gratis, or indeed at anything under the fair market price, 
ought not to be looked for, nor can it be depended upon 
as a certainty. To ask a young man intending to enter 
upon the calling of pharmaceutist to spend, say £10 each 
year of his apprenticeship on lectures and practical che¬ 
mistry, may seem hard, but so far as his calling is to be 
looked upon as a profession, there must be a professional 
training. If this could be done in Liverpool, we could 
have proper sj'stematic teaching, not spasmodic efforts, 
but a regular school, and surrounding towns would, no 
doubt, send us students. 
During the session I hope this subject will have full 
consideration. 
And now with regard to our own Association, in whose 
prosperity I have felt much interest ever since my arrival 
in Liverpool. There is always a risk of falling into a 
state of apathy in a society when its freshness of youth 
has gone, but I should like to see some new life in¬ 
vigorating it. 
I hope that I have shown sufficient field for scientific 
chemistry in the department of pharmacy to induc6 the 
scientific chemists of Liverpool to take more interest in 
the Association. This is not a trade society, it does not 
lay down laws for the regulation of business, nor inter¬ 
fere with the right of every member to pursue his own 
course of action. Its expressed object is “ the advance¬ 
ment of chemical and pharmaceutical science.” All 
therefore who wish for this are welcome, and if they oan 
tell us something new, whether money can be made out 
of it or not, they are doubly welcome. At the same 
time, the Association is not a speculative society, with 
no practical action. Business, yours and mine, must be 
attended to, we must live, at least we see the necessity ; 
and improvements in carrying on such business, or social 
reforms bearing on it, are fair subjects for our considera¬ 
tion. Your Council in their report ask for more phar¬ 
maceutical papers. I hope I shall not be supposed to be 
advocating a course of opposition to the Council in any 
remarks that I have made, rather, as Arnold said of 
religious books, we do not want more of these, but rather 
woihs on secular subjects religiously treated, so I do not 
ask for pure chemistry papers, but pharmaceutical papers 
treated in the spirit of pure chemistry ; and not chemistry 
alone, but botany, hitherto conspicuous by its absence, 
should have its fair share of attention, and I trust that 
materia medica, both chemical and botanical, will be 
represented in the report of the proceedings of this 
session. 
The results of the microscopical examination of drugs 
as a test of their purity is another subject worthy of no¬ 
tice. In the discussions let there be life. If the reader 
of the paper is wrong, correct him; if you differ from 
him, do not fear to express it. I would rather be soundly 
attacked, and put on my mettle in defence, than receive 
nothing but formal thanks. Most readers of papers, I 
think, will feel with me that criticism—sharp, if neces¬ 
sary—is preferable to want of interest or unfelt adulation, 
so long as it is good-humoured and fair. 
The Council’s call for short papers I will endorse. It 
is a rather serious thing to set oneself the task of occu¬ 
pying an entire evening of the Society; but surely a 
single observation, fairly studied and worked out, is 
within the reach of many of our members. We should 
thus get some original observations, I hope, and greatly 
increase the value of our proceedings. 
