996 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[June 8, 1872. 
no less than 70 towns, entitled by the number of mem¬ 
bers to have a Local Secretary, there had been no return 
whatever. 
The Council then elected Local Secretaries for the en¬ 
suing year. The list will he published next week. 
Conversazione. 
Resolved—That the best thanks of this Council be 
given to their Lordships the Committee of Council 
on Education for the use of the South Kensington 
Museum on the loth of May, for the purpose of 
holding the Society’s Annual Conversazione. 
Resolved—That the best thanks of this Council be 
given to the Offical Staff of the South Kensington 
Museum for the excellent arrangements for the 
Society’s Conversazione on the loth of May, and for 
the courteous and efficient manner in which they 
were carried out. 
Sessional Address in October. 
Mr. Stoddart, of Bristol, being requested, consented, 
to deliver the inaugural sessional address in October. 
Finance Report. 
The Report of Messrs. Haselden, Betty and Greenish, 
who acted as the Finance Committee in auditing the ac¬ 
counts for the past month, was presented, showing on 
the General Fund account a balance of £3685. os. M., 
and submitting for payment accounts amounting to 
£989. 4s. 8(7. On the Benevolent Fund account a balance 
of £670. 18s. 5d. 
England and Wales. 
May, 1872. 
Candidates. 
Examined. Passed. Failed. 
5 .. 2 .. 3 
49 .. 24 .. 25 
54 26 28 
Preliminary.—Certificates received:— 
Law Society. 1 
College of Preceptors. 3 
University of Oxford .. 2 
,, Cambridge . 1 
7 
Mr. Schacht inquired whether candidates who passed 
the examination were entitled by virtue thereof and on 
paying the fees to assume the name of chemists and 
druggists and go into business without any inquiry as 
to whether they had had any experience in the trade ? 
The Secretary said the examiners were bound to ex¬ 
amine all candidates who presented themselves irrespec¬ 
tive of where or how they acquired their information. 
Mr. Williams said that was the principle which the 
Society had always held, that they would not insist upon 
apprenticeship, but that provided candidates satisfied the 
examiners of their capacity to conduct a business, they 
were allowed to do so. 
Examinations. 
Major... 
Minor... 
Resolved—That the Report be received and adopted, 
and payments made. 
Resolved—That the Treasurer be requested to pur¬ 
chase Stock on the following accounts:— 
General Fund.New Three per Cents. £1000 
Benevolent Fund ..Consols . £500 
The Report of the Parliamentary Committee was re- 
-ceived. 
Resolved—That the Report and recommendations of 
the Library, Museum and Laboratory Committee be 
received and adopted, and that the following books 
be purchased for the Society’s library :— 
Pharmacopoeia Germanica. 
Buchner’s Commentar zur Pharmacopoeia Ger¬ 
manica. 
Silver’s Outlines of Elementary Botany. 
Miller’s Chemical Physics, 5th edition. 
Davies’ The Preparation and Mounting of Micro¬ 
scopic Objects. 
Balfour’s Class Book of Botany, 3rd edition. 
Johnson’s How Crops Grow, revised by Church 
and Dyer. 
Latham’s English Grammar. 
Benevolent Fund. 
Election of Annuitants. 
Resolved — That it is expedient and desirable that 
notice be given in the Journal that this Council 
will be prepared to elect, in October next, two an¬ 
nuitants on the Benevolent Fund; each annuity of 
the value of £30. 
REPORTS OF THE BOARDS OF EXAMINERS. 
Scotland. 
April, 1872. 
• Candidates. 
/ - ' * s 
.Examinations. Examined. Passed. Failed. 
Major. 3 .. 2 .. 1 
Minor. 9 ., 7 2 
Modified 4 ., 2 .. 2 
16 11 5 
Mr. Betty then rose to move the resolution of which 
he had given notice :— 
“ That such reporters as the Council may decide to 
invite be allowed the opportunity of reporting the 
proceedings of the Council.” 
He said about three years ago the first motion for pub¬ 
lishing the proceedings was given by Mr. Brady, of 
Newcastle, but at that time the idea seemed so utterly 
impracticable that it was not acted upon in any way. 
Last year, however, on his own motion for the admission 
of reporters, the stronghold of secretiveness fell down like 
the walls of Jericho at the trumpet blast. The gentlemen 
who had been previously contented to sit at the Council 
Board and conceal their opinions as far as their con¬ 
stituents were concerned, for that was what it amounted 
to then, so far conceded the point that it was decided 
that the proceedings should be published, but only in a 
certain manner. Being able no longer to contest the 
principle, they fell back on a way of defeating it to some 
extent, which consisted in filtering the reports so finely 
through the Publication Committee as to make some 
people, at all events, suppose—and they ought to avoid 
all suspicion of the sort—that they filtered the very 
essence out of the proceedings. Now, what was the 
nature of the resolution proposed at that time P It 
was that the proceedings should be submitted to a 
committee, consisting of the President, Vice-President, 
and one other member of the Council. He contended 
that this arrangement was undignified in every way, and 
not conducive to the best interests of the Society. He 
also believed that such a mode of proceeding encouraged 
the diffusiveness which occupied a great deal of time, 
and detracted from the efficiency of their labours. If 
gentlemen who spoke at the Council were persuaded that 
they were speaking coram populo , and that what they 
said here would be attributed to them outside, they would 
not be as often led away from the business in hand, and 
the work would be much better dono. In addition to 
this, he took it to be an impossibility that any one who 
took an active part in a debate could be a proper person 
to judge of the feelings, sentiments and impressions of 
those who had been opposed to him. It was a psycho¬ 
logical impossibility for the President, for in¬ 
stance, to fairly appreciate those arguments which did 
not commend themselves to his own mind, and, 
