THE CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP. 
3 
lie must now apply to be admitted as an Associate. This would be granted, 
as a matter of course, on his presenting his certificate of qualification, and pay¬ 
ing the annual subscription of half-a-guinea,—the same as he paid as a Regis¬ 
tered Apprentice. Associates, as well as apprentices or students, enjoy the 
same privileges and benefits of the Society as members, excepting the right of 
being present at the general meetings of the Society, or of holding office, or 
voting in the Society. 
The position and title acquired by passing the Minor Examination and being 
registered as a qualified assistant are held under the authority of the Pharmacy 
Act, and may be retained throughout the lifetime of the possessor. Not so, 
however, the position of Associate of the Pharmaceutical Society, for as the 
charter requires that associates shall be assistants to chemists and druggists, it 
follows that they must cease to be associates when they go into business on their 
own account. They must, then, become members or cease to belong to the 
Society. This, at least, is the present state of the law and regulations of the 
Society ; but it will be recollected that, according to the proposed new Phar¬ 
macy Bill, the Minor Examination will afford a qualification for men in busi¬ 
ness as well as for assistants. 
Following out the case of the individual whose course we have traced from 
the commencement of his apprenticeship, we may assume that he now desires 
to take the highest grade, by passing the Major Examination. On presenting 
himself for this examination, he must show that he is at least twenty-one years 
of age, but no other condition is imposed upon him. It is not necessary that 
he should have attended any lectures, or pursued any particular course of study; 
all that is required is that he should satisfy the examiners that he possesses the 
requisite amount of knowledge on the subjects on which he is examined. On 
passing the examination, he pays a fee, which, including what he has previously 
paid, amounts to ten guineas, and he is registered as a Pharmaceutical Chemist. 
He has now fulfilled all that the law requires. He may go into business, and 
call himself a pharmaceutical chemist. But here again, as before, the registra¬ 
tion does not connect him with the Society, or make him a member. If he 
wishes to be a member of the Pharmaceutical Society, he must apply for admis¬ 
sion, and pay the subscription of one guinea a year, or the life-member’s com¬ 
mutation fee of twenty guineas. But there is yet another condition essential 
to membership, and that is, that he should either be or have been in business on 
his own account. He may pass the Major Examination before going, or even 
intending to go, into business. He may, therefore, be registered and have the 
title of pharmaceutical chemist while he is yet an assistant, but he cannot yet 
take up his membership in the Society ; and if he desires to retain his connec¬ 
tion with the Society, he must remain as an associate until he enters into busi¬ 
ness on his own account. 
It will thus be seen that those who pass the examinations and are registered 
as pharmaceutical chemists, assistants, and apprentices under the Pharmacy 
Act, do not necessarily belong to the Pharmaceutical Society, although all who 
belong to the Society are necessarily registered, and none can now be registered 
without being examined. The register contains the names of all those who 
possess the qualifications required by law as specified in the Pharmacy Act. It 
comprises all the members, associates, and registered apprentices of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, but it also includes others who, having passed the examina¬ 
tions and thus become registered, have rested satisfied with these distinctions, and 
have not sought the more prominent position acquired by connection with the 
Society. The list which is published annually and is appended to the present 
number of this Journal, contains the names of the members, associates, and 
apprentices of the Society, but this list does not comprise all who are registered, 
and those, therefore, who do not belong to the Society, although registered, will 
not find their names in this list. Some of those who have stopped short at the 
