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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 3,1671. 
all practising the art of pharmacy, it is for us, with 
respect and decision, to affirm our purpose to maintain, 
if possible, undecorated freedom. The standard of pro¬ 
fessional education required by the Pharmacy Act com¬ 
prehends the best regulations for the storage and dis¬ 
pensing of poisons, while the time, study and cash in¬ 
volved in attaining that standard, along with all trade 
considerations to precautions against accident, are the 
best guarantees that any open suggestions coming from 
the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society as safeguards 
at once to chemists and the public will be welcomed and 
adopted where requisite and applicable ; and before we 
leave what may be termed the incidents of our associa¬ 
tion, may be mentioned the facts that our associates are 
privileged to attend at members’ fees the lectures on 
chemistry given at the Mechanics’ Institution and at the 
Young Men’s Christian Association, and, lastly, the 
handsome donation of £10 from the Pharmaceutical 
Society for the purchase of books now added to our 
library. 
The apparatus of our association may bo expressed in 
a few words:—Cabinet of materia-medica specimens, 
library, diagrams and maps; the occasional courses of 
lectures given, the classes for instruction in Latin held, 
■ the room we rent for these uses, and may be added the 
monthly meetings. It w T ould have been cheering had 
we been enabled to report that these facilities for im¬ 
provement were more largely used than they have been, 
specially by the young men for whom they are chiefly 
intended ; at the same time, these advantages have not 
been without fruit, in aiding several to fit themselves for 
passing the degrees of ordeal required by the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society. It may not be out of place here to re¬ 
mind those who seek instruction, and would receive from 
our association what it is capable of yielding, that our 
classes can consist only of those who attend; that the 
interest of teacher or lecturer may be raised or depressed 
by the number and the application of those who form 
his audience. With the admirable chemical courses ac¬ 
cessible to our students, it would be a doubtful gratuity 
on our part to attempt the establishment of lectures on 
chemistry; but could we secure, as we should do, a suf¬ 
ficient number of earnest learners to form a good class 
for the study of materia medica and botany, each one 
composing such a class would be a benefactor to his com¬ 
panions by contributing his share to inducements to the 
maintenance of the class he attended. Our association 
affords facilities for the establishment of some such course, 
and all who are interested in the success of the associa¬ 
tion would be gratified by seeing that the gifts and their 
care designed to make our society a source of good to 
its younger members, have in this important particular 
secured practical results. 
It has been pronounced in various quarters that now 
. that the Pharmaceutical Society has, in consequence of 
the Pharmacy Act, become more an examining than an 
educational bod} r , its educational functions will soon ex¬ 
pire. While I am not prepared to endorse that opinion, 
it cannot but be evident to us all that the Pharmaceutical 
Council cannot undertake the education of the large 
number who have to pass the scrutiny of its examiners, 
and consequently that pharmaceutical education and the 
various appliances that promote it, must, for the most 
part, be conducted in the provincial centres, accessible 
to those aspiring to be the pharmacists of our land. 
And now I may be permitted the expression of a few 
thoughts bearing on the examinations—a subject that 
concerns us all, whether instructors or instructed; and 
because so much has been said, and said so well on this 
topic, I shall occupy but little of your time with it. It 
may be said that the enlightenment of some, and the 
ignorance of others, who favour us with their custom, 
are reasons -why we should be equal to the position we 
assume, and the duties we undertake. Society, whether 
by its intelligence or its confidence, requires in us the 
ability to acquit ourselves of the responsibilities of the 
place we occupy in it; and on this hangs the claim for 
evidence of proficiency in the art we practise. 
We live in times when value of all sorts is being 
weighed, measured and sifted, and these are the condi¬ 
tions, and not from any ambition on the part of the 
Pharmaceutical Society,.or whim of the Parliament, that 
brought into being the inevitable Pharmacy Act. We 
cannot sever ourselves from the circumstance; nor would 
we. It lays on us obligations, but it brings to us hope. 
With the demand comes the recompense, and with the 
test the pledge that merit shall not go unrecognized. 
Your minds may for the moment revert to the prevalence 
of shams and delusions in our day—shams in science and 
in art, in commerce and religion, and indeed in every 
region of thought and practice that sham can invade; 
but what do these intrusions of the false on the precincts 
of the true imply, other than that real worth has a place 
in the esteem of men ? and hence that the counterfeit 
borrows credit only from its likeness to the standard 
coin. Gems of “paste” and gold-“washed” jeweller}' 
find acceptance, inasmuch as they signify that there are 
things of more value than they are. Influences similar 
to those that induced the Pharmacy Act have developed 
the more extensive measure of State education; so that 
it is well for us, oven for our own sakes, to be informed 
by appointed examiners of our sufficiency or insufficiency 
to respond to the expectations of an educated public; 
not that it is probable that the instruction given in our 
national schools will lift many above the ordinary mental 
status of those who practise pharmacy, but the advanced 
education given to the people will dispose and enable 
them to look for a corresponding advance in our attain¬ 
ments. 
From these observations it will be manifest that the 
institution of examinations in pharmacy, as in anything 
else, is not to ascertain whether the candidates can just 
endure the appointed ordeal, but as data whereon to as¬ 
sure the public of their competence to meet the expecta¬ 
tions they would raise in the minds of others by the 
offices they proffer to render to society at large. 
The details of the examinations and the numerous 
aids to preparation for them, have never been more ably 
discussed than in addresses that have recently appeared 
in the pharmaceutical press,—addresses that I would 
commend to the studious perusal of our associates rather 
than occupy your time by attempting to reiterate their 
contents. Having noted the source and the reasonable¬ 
ness of the examinations, permit me to say a word or two 
on the motives to readiness for them,—they are but ap¬ 
peals to the honour of those w r ho would approve them¬ 
selves to their countrymen. We ask for respect, support 
and confidence ; and we do not pretend to return for these 
full value in the wares we vend. The balance to mate¬ 
rial is to be given in the form of shill, and, by examina¬ 
tions, wo [Drove we. have secured that article, and so in 
fairness can expect remuneration for it. It i3, then, for 
us but to demonstrate by our whole deportment that we 
supplement our goods with our qualifications. Fit your¬ 
selves for the place you aim at in society, and that will 
comprehend fitness for the examinations. 
Before closing, I now venture a few suggestions to our 
students, affecting not only the examinations, but your 
position and progress. It is well to remember, plain as 
the fact is, that our shops are neither schools nor colleges. 
We must learn trade as well as science. From practice 
we have to filter theory, and our province lies in art 
applied. These thoughts often present may sustain our 
aspirations while they suppress discontent. 
Do not weary of the routine of your daily occupation; 
repetition is but the confirmation of what we learn. It 
takes about two years to convert the recruit into an 
efficient soldier. The novice might during the first week 
he wore regimentals understand what it was to march and 
to halt, to load and to fire, to fall into line and to form 
solid squares and all the etcetera of ordinary martial 
drill, and, because he knew so much, conceit himself an 
