December 2,1371.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
419 
might 
give 
evidence before the Committee as to what 
took place prior to our agreeing to go to Parliament for 
a joint Act. At a private meeting in my house Mr. 
Duncan, Mr. Macfarlan and myself were unanimously 
of opinion that we were entitled to he recognized as a 
distinct branch cf the Society in Scotland; that we 
ought to have an examining hoard, endowed with the 
same powers as the examining hoard in London, and 
that we must he recognized as such under the Act of 
Parliament then contemplated. Mr. Jacob Bell—looking 
upon it as of great importance that this union should 
he effected for one common object, namely, the advance¬ 
ment of pharmacy in Great Britain—considered our view’s 
reasonable and proper, and undertook to recommend them 
to the London Council; and our members of Parliament, 
in accordance with our instructions, had the 12th clause 
inserted, with the consent of the London Council, in the 
Act of 1851, wdiich fully recognized our standing and 
powers. 
Those who possess the 1st series of the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Journal v T ill find the full particulars of this ar¬ 
rangement in Yol. XI. pp. 49 and 63, and I am sure it 
will interest them if they refer to these pages. My best 
thanks are due to the Committee for the kindness and 
■courtesy shown in permitting me to read a paper going 
pretty fully into the history of our Branch Society from 
its origin to the present time ; and the result of the deli¬ 
berations of the Committee wans the following resolu- 
tion : —“ It is the opinion of this Committee that it is ; 
the duty of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 
to provide better rooms in Edinburgh for carrying on, in 
•a satisfactory way, the examinations and for the general 
augment 
also to 
Council further 
the 
think 
“ To thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” 
And again,— 
“ Take the instant way, 
For honour travels in a strait so narrow 
Where one but goes abreast: keep thou the path. 
For emulation hath a thousand sons 
That one by one pursue : if you give way, 
Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, 
Like to an enter’d tide, they all rush by, 
And leave you hindmost.” 
Industry, with average abilities, will arrive at the 
goal before genius without it. Let each of you then 
recollect that, to some extent, you cannot tell to how- 
great, the continued success of the Pharmaceutical Society 
depends upon you. You possess advantages for the suc¬ 
cessful prosecution of the science of wffiicli the last gene¬ 
ration knew absolutely nothing; but how zealously the 
founders of our Society have w'orked for you need not 
be told, nor how" deep a debt of gratitude you own to 
our honoured founder, J acob Bell. Carry on, then, the 
good work, winch has changed a trade into a profession, 
and I doubt not you will live to see the pharmacists of 
Great Britain equal to, if not in advance of, the pharma¬ 
cists of any other nation. The North British Branch 
has been peculiarly favoured in obtaining the valuable 
assistance of professors and others of the'highest stand¬ 
ing, wffio have contributed scientific papers of great in¬ 
terest at our evening meetings. Amongst others, I may 
mention Sir Robert Christison, Bart., Professors Balfour, 
D. Maclagan, Crum-Brown, the late Dr. George Wilson, 
Professor Archer, Dr. Stevenson Macadam, Dr. Angus 
use of the Society in Scotland 
library and museum there. The , _ r , .. , T . 1T ,- 
that a paid officer should be appointed to perform secre- : Manunna^d, and the late Dr. Scorcsby Jackson, and r trust 
tarial and other duties for the Society under the direc- j we^may bo equally fortunate m the future and I v enture 
tion of the Honorary Secretary.” At the meeting of the 
London Council on the 1st of November this report w r as 
brought up, w r hen Mr. Deane’s letter was read, and the 
following resolution, being a conjoined motion by Mr. 
Hills and Mr. Sandford, was unanimously carried, “ That 
the recommendations of the Special Committee on Mr. 
Deane’s letter on the North British Branch of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society in Scotland be adopted, and that the 
President and Vice-President be requested, to put them¬ 
selves in communication with the Council of the North 
British Branch, to ascertain wffiat fresh arrangements 
are required and at wdiat cost they could be carried out.” 
I congratulate the members on the entire success 
wdiich has attended our efforts in connection with Mr. 
Deane’s letter, and I trust that the increased facilities 
for successful study w-hich will in a few months be avail¬ 
able to our students wdll be taken advantage of to their 
fullest extent. To the young students in pharmacy I 
w-ould say, if resident in Edinburgh, either temporarily 
•or permanently, you wdll soon possess great advantages. 
With suitable rooms, open every day, an excellent library 
of reference, and an ample museum, taken in conjunction 
with the favourable arrangements made for you by our 
Honorary Secretary for your instruction in botany and 
•chemistry,—and w r e trust soon to be able to add also in 
materia mcdica,—if you do not avail yourselves of your 
favoured position you wdll have cause for self-reproach 
nnd unavailing regret in after years. I wdll not be¬ 
lieve that this will be so, but, on the contrary, that 
you will use the present season of youth to enable you 
to fill an honourable place in your profession, W’hilst, at 
the same time, you wdll have taken the surest road to 
.success in life. Many years ago I recollect seeing in a 
solicitor’s office in this city the following words, framed 
and placed conspicuously over the mantelpiece, “ Lost 
between sunrise and sunset two golden hours, each set 
with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for 
they are gone for ever.” This may be said of every 
w’asted hour of life. I would say to you, in the lan¬ 
guage of our great dramatist,— 
to hope that masters, assistants and apprentices will con¬ 
sider it both a duty and a privilege to be present on these 
occasions. The attendance has not ahvays been what the 
Council wnuld like to see; and nothing wdll afford me 
more pleasure as your President, than that it should 
be good during my year of office. 
I cannot close this address wdthout reminding you of 
the very pleasant and instructive meeting in this city, 
in August, of the Pharmaceutical Conference, which 
j wars declared by one of its founders to be the most suc¬ 
cessful that has yet taken place. It w'as a very great 
pleasure to others and to myself to be privileged to enjoy 
the society of the very elite of our profession, who were 
members of the Conference. 
Very able addresses have recently been given by tw’O 
much-esteemed members of the Pharmaceutical Society, 
the one by our Honorary Secretary, at the opening of 
the London session, and the other by Mr. Stanford, at 
the commencement of the Glasgow" pharmaceutical year. 
Both addresses were well worthy of careful study by all 
pharmaceutical students, and are replete with valuable 
information and advice. 
Mr. Mackay and myself, as office-bearers of the North 
British Branch, w r ere much pleased to receive a very kind 
invitation from our friends in Glasgow to be present at 
the opening of the session, and wffiich we had great 
pleasure in accepting. The cordial welcome and hospi¬ 
table reception given to us were most gratifying, mani¬ 
festing the kind feeling entertained towards the Council 
of the North British Branch by our friends in the West. 
At the close of the address, Mr. Mackay moved a vote 
of thanks to Mr. Baildon, not only for the excellent re¬ 
marks wffiich he had just made, but also because he had, 
for the second time, taken the office of President. One 
of the earliest members of the Pharmaceutical Society, 
he had ever been one of its warmest and earnest sup¬ 
porters. On a recent occasion Mr. Baildon had proved of 
essential service in placing before the Special Committee 
in London certain evidence in regard to the position of the 
Society in Scotland, and thereby earned the thanks of 
