502 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [January 20, 1872. 
the same. A knowledge of qualitative analysis is not 
absolutely necessary, hut appears to me highly desirable; 
and where means and ways are at hand to obtain the 
same, it would he folly to neglect them. 
The study of materia medica merits the same atten¬ 
tion on the part of our young men as that of chemistry. 
It is. here that they learn to recognize our numerous 
roots, leaves, seeds, gums, resins and the like by their 
outward appearance, to distinguish between good and 
inferior qualities of those substances, and to detect adul¬ 
terations. The botanical and geographical sources of 
the drugs and their doses likewise form part of the 
study. 
That branch of materia medica which is called phar¬ 
macology is taught principally to medical students; it 
treats chiefly of the medicinal effects produced by the 
substances alluded to on the different organs of the 
human body, and a superficial knowledge of it amply 
suffices for the purposes of a chemist and druggist. I 
hardly need to point out the great utility, or rather the 
necessity, of a good acquaintance with chemistry and 
materia medica to the pharmacist. Without it, his 
daily work will be that of a machine, and not that of a 
reflecting being, and great indeed must be the danger to 
which his ignorance may expose him. We should be able 
to judge whether the articles we receive from wholesale 
houses are really what they are meant to be, and whether 
they are good and pure enough for the intended pur¬ 
poses. AVholesale houses may make mistakes, which, if 
not discovered by us, might lead to serious results. Not 
very long ago powdered binoxalate of potash was sent to 
me instead, of cream of tartar, and was labelled “potass, 
bitart.,” and, if I had overlooked the mistake, who knows 
what the consequences might have been ? The whole¬ 
sale druggists of this country deserve the highest credit 
for the careful and admirable manner in which their 
business is conducted, and mistakes of a serious nature 
very rarely occur; yet we ought not to be entirely de¬ 
pendent on them, and we are so if we cannot identify 
the substances purchased or see whether they are of the 
required quality, strength, etc. 
Need I say a word about the importance of our know¬ 
ing the doses of poisons and those preparations of them 
with which we are dealing F Who can deny that, but 
for our knowledge and care in detecting overdoses of 
poisons, hundreds of human lives would be sacrificed every 
year by the errors in medical men’s prescriptions ? No- 
thing, indeed, can be more apparent than the absolute 
necessity of our daily manipulations being guided and 
assisted by scientific knowledge, but, clear and true as 
this is to everybody, in reference to chemistry and 
materia medica, the same, I feel sure, cannot be said with 
regard to botany. I venture to assert that a chemist 
ami druggist can fulfil all his professional and business 
duties, in the most perfect and efficient manner, without 
knowing much of botany, and, unless this assertion can 
be disproved, you must admit that the study of that 
science need not form part of a pharmacist’s education. 
No doubt it is very interesting, highly instructive and 
cultivating to the mind; but so are astronomy, anatomy, 
physiology and other branches of the great domain of 
natural science, which nobody deems necessary to force 
upon us. In private conversation on this subject, I have 
met with the reply that many chemists in country dis¬ 
tricts collect, or cause to be collected, some of the leaves, 
roots, etc. used in pharmacy, from plants growing in 
their neighbourhood, such as Digitalis, Conium , Valerian 
and others, and that they could not do this without being 
able to recognize those plants. This is very true; and, 
although, by far the greater number of chemists do not 
collect and dry, but purchase their drugs in the dried 
state, as w r ell as the narcotic extracts made from the fresh 
herbs, I should be the last to dispute the desirability of 
chemists and druggists knowing the indigenous plants of 
the British Pharmacopoeia. But there is a vast differ¬ 
ence between being able to recognize a few dozen fresh 
plants, and possessing an intimate knowledge of struc¬ 
tural and systematic botany. Upon drying parts of 
fresh plants, such as llyoscgamus leaves, for instance, 
their appearance changes so very much, that the shape 
and other characteristics of the fresh articles differ widely 
from those of the substances in the dried state, in which 
only they can be kept by us. For the latter, we are de¬ 
pendent upon our knowledge of materia medica, and stu¬ 
dents of this science cannot be too strongly recommended 
to avail themselves of a good collection of specimens, as 
supplied by several wholesale houses. But though I 
feel persuaded that the study of botany is not needed by 
our young men for the purposes of their profession, I do 
not forget that it is required in the Minor and Major ex¬ 
aminations, and I must, therefore, advise them not to 
neglect it, but to make themselves familiar with the 
organs of plants as well as their functions, and, above 
all, with the characteristic features of the indigenous 
medicinal plants. Here, as in the study of materia me¬ 
dica, specimens are very useful, and collections of dried 
plants, as well as coloured plates of the fresh ones, are of 
great service. If the pupil has the opportunity, he 
should get up an herbarium by collecting and drying his 
own plants. 
The fourth subject which requires the attention of our 
pupils is called pharmacy, and comprises the English 
and French systems of weights and measures, the anti¬ 
dotes for poisons, the methods for making tinctures, 
extracts, emulsions, etc., the strengths of some impor¬ 
tant solutions and compound preparations and the read¬ 
ing of physicians prescriptions ; in fact, all those details 
of pharmaceutical knowledge which cannot exactly be 
treated under the heads of chemistry and materia medica. 
With the aid of his employer or teacher, the student can 
easily collect the requisite information from the Phar¬ 
macopoeia, from the copy-book for prescriptions and 
from his own practical occupation. 
Some apprentices commit a great mistake in devoting 
the first year to the study of one science—say chemistry 
•—only; then taking materia medica in the next, and 
perhaps botany and pharmacy in the third year. In 
this way they will probably forget during the second 
and third years what they have learnt during the first. 
They will work best by following the plan, almost uni¬ 
versally adopted in schools, of devoting a certain time— 
say about two hours a week—to each subject, thus going 
through them all within the same period; and in that 
case the student will find that the facts of one science 
will help him to understand those of the others. 
From the question of pharmaceutical education, let us 
now turn our attention to the tribunals of Bloomsbury 
Square, London, and Princes Street, Edinburgh, by 
whose judgment it is decided whether our students’ 
labours have ended in success or failure. First of all, 
let us bear in mind that the only legitimate object of 
pharmaceutical examinations is, or at least ought to be, 
to ascertain whether the candidate presenting himself is, 
or is not, competent to perform the important functions 
of a chemist and druggist; to admit to the rank and 
privileges of our profession all who are qualified for its 
duties, and to reject and exclude those whose short¬ 
comings make them really unfit for the position they 
aspire to fill. Hence it follows that, in the Minon exa¬ 
mination at any rate, nothing should be demanded 
which a thoroughly qualified chemist can well dispense 
with ; whilst such knowledge as is by no means essential, 
but which may be considered desirable or useful for us 
(in our capacity as chemists, of course), might be ex¬ 
pected in the Major examination. Let us now see whe¬ 
ther these examinations are conducted with sufficient 
ability and fairness to ensure the attainment of the re¬ 
sults above alluded to. As a teacher of pharmacy, I 
have, of com-se, felt deeply interested in this important 
question, and have collected as many and as full reports 
as I could of the details of the Minor and Major exami¬ 
nations (chiefly of the former), both from successful and 
