144 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
BATH MEETING-, 1864. 
The first sitting of the Conference was held on Wednesday, September 14, 1864, 
at 41, Milsom Street, Bath, at 10 A.M. 
The members present at this and subsequent sittings included Messrs. II. Deane, 
F.L.S.; Daniel Bell Hanbury; Daniel Hanbury, F.L.S.; J. C. Brough; S. Gale, 
E.C.S.; W. E. Heathfield, E.R.G.S.; J. Robbins; J. Wade; W. Symons, F.C.S; 
II. Hodge; H. Matthews, F.C.S.; and Dr. Attfield, F.C.S.,—of London : H. B. 
Brady, F.L.S., of Newcastle: R. Reynolds, F.C.S., of Leeds : S. U. Jones, of Leam¬ 
ington : T. B. Groves, F.C.S., of Weymouth : W. Groves, of Blandford : J. Abraham ; 
N. Mercer; and Dr. Edwards, F.C.S.,—of Liverpool: W. Hearder, of Torquay: J. 
Leay, of Chilcompton: R. W. Giles and G-. F. Schacht, of Clifton: F. C. Clayton, of 
Kelvedon : Dr. Parkinson, of Bradford : A. P. Balkwill, of Plymouth : W. W. Stod- 
dart, of Bristol: F. W. Joy, of Cardiff: W. A. Hope, of Wellingborough : F. Roberts, 
of Stroud : and F. Barnitt, W. Bright, W. Clatworthy, R. Commans, C. Ekin, R. O. 
Harding, T. Harding, W. C. Jameson, F. W. Kent, J. R. King, J. H. Marsh, J. Mer- 
rikin, F. Nurthen, M. Parker, J. C. Pooley, H. Rickwood, J. P. Tylee, and W. Walker, 
—of Bath ; and many other gentlemen whose names could not be ascertained. 
The President, H. Deane, Esq., F.L.S., delivered the following address :—- 
It must necessarily be a somewhat embarrassing task to take the chair at a first 
meeting of this sort. In an older Association, after a few gatherings have taken 
place, a President might, by consulting the conduct of his predecessors by walking in 
the line of their successes as far as lay in his power, and avoiding the shoals on which 
they might have foundered, possess a fair chance of steering his course to a happy 
result. As it is, my one advantage is that there is no standard for comparison, though 
I might perhaps add to it the confidence which is inspired by the kindly feeling of 
those who have placed me in the position I occupy. 
I need not enter into the history of the causes which have led to our meeting here. 
It was a happy thought of those who were instrumental in the organization of this 
little body, that something might be done towards the proimdgation of brotherly 
feeling and sympathy, not less than towards the advancement of pharmacy, in a way 
which could scarcely be compassed by any existing society ; that an Association might 
be formed in which a social element might be combined, meeting in different parts 
of the island so as to give all interested in its objects an opportunity for co-operation, 
and labouring systematically towards the end in view, yet still free from the drawbacks 
of a complicated constitution and expensive working. The experiment was not an 
untried one ; our brethren on the other side of the great Atlantic had weighed the 
scheme in the balance of practical experience, and had not found it wanting. And 
without unduly exalting their example or depreciating our own powers, we may point 
to many of the researches which have been made under their auspices as patterns 
which we shall do well to imitate. That the profession in which we are all interested 
is in some of its conditions different from its corresponding transatlantic development 
is a fact which speaks only in the favour of a principle so elastic. If, as some think, 
we in this country are more divided amongst ourselves, more split up into sections, 
each section with a different interest, and pursuing it in a diverging line, it is all the 
more important that a body of neutral politics, open to all, should exist, to bind 
together the links that ought to form one chain. It seemed to me that this increase 
of fellow-feeling, of sympathy in its best sense, was no small object at which to aim ; 
but I confess my views did not go further than the boundaries of our own kingdom. 
It seems that a still wider prospect is open to us, and that we are to become the 
means of a manifestation of the same idea as relating to two continents. A letter 
will be laid before you from the Secretary of the American Pharmaceutical Associa¬ 
tion. Through some accident the engrossed copy of the resolutions alluded to in it 
has not yet come to hand, but we have their substance in the resolutions recorded 
in the copy of their Transactions now laid on the table, which, for our purposes, will 
answer the same end; and I trust that you will see fit to direct that a reply be sent 
to these, expressing our high appreciation of the offers of friendly intercourse therein 
