326 
STATE OF PHARMACY IN FRANCE. 
So far as the examinations are concerned, in substance, though not in de¬ 
gree, they are the same as those held by the Pharmaceutical Society, but in 
general education how far we lag behind! We need not wonder now that 
Mr. Deane and Mr. ff anbury, as they told us at the late Conference, invari¬ 
ably found in their botanical excursions in France the country pharmacien to 
be a well-educated and intelligent man, but how can we compare such a one 
with our village chemist ? 
One other privilege I may name, which I came across the other day in a 
French law-book, that when a patient dies, among the first claims to be set¬ 
tled are those of the physician and chemist. “ Les creances privilegiees sur 
la generality des meubles sont celles ci-apres exprimees, et s’exercent dans 
l’ordre suivant: 1°, les frais cle justice; 2°, les frais funeraires; 3°, les frais 
quelconques cle la derniere maladie, concurremment entre ceux a qui ils 
sont dus.” Added to this too, it must be remembered that in France no 
medical man dispenses his own medicine. 
I cannot but think that we may gain some hints from these details,—as, 
for instance, may we not find in “ a commission ” a solution of the poison dif¬ 
ficulty ? All seem to agree that it would be advisable to have a set of 
rules, the due observance of which shall exonerate us before a jury from tho 
charge of carelessness or want of precaution, but there is by no means the same 
happy unanimity of opinion as to what those rules should be; and when we 
consider, not only how much businesses vary in their nature, but even shops 
in their arrangements, it must be seen that it is impossible to lay down regu¬ 
lations, unless they are of such a general character as to be worthless, which 
can be made to apply to all. One fears to think what trouble, annoyance, 
and expense even, we should be put to, in the event of all being obliged to 
follow set rules as to labelling, poison cupboards, and the like. Perhaps it 
may be objected that Englishmen would not brook what might be called the 
prying element of a commission ; but shall we not have much more liberty 
under a system which leaves to every man a choice of detail, always subject 
of course to the approval of the commissioners ? 
For a very interesting description of a Lycee, I would refer those who have 
not seen them to two papers by Matthew Arnold, which appeared in ‘ Mac¬ 
millan’s Magazine ’ some eighteen months ago. As he shows, it is a crying- 
evil that we have hardly a good middle-class school in England, certainly not 
one that will bear comparison for a moment with a French public school, and 
I venture to think that, until something is done in this direction with regard 
to the general education of future chemists and druggists, we can hardly hope 
to raise the status of our business ; however, it will be very long, I fear, be¬ 
fore the Board of Examiners of our Society will be able to exact from its 
students, not only a three years’ course of study at its laboratories, but a 
degree, like the French Baccalaureat-es-Sciences, which is esteemed at all 
events as high and is much more difficult to obtain than the degree of Bachelor 
of Arts of our own Universities ; of course the increased expenditure of both 
time and money would be amply met in the increased remuneration and higher 
•standing of our business, or, as it might then be justly called, profession. 
STATE OF PHAEMACY IN FEANCE. 
Paris, August 23rd, 1864. 
Gentlemen,—I send you the following extracts from ‘ La Euche Pharma- 
ceutique ’ for August, as curious illustrations of the present state of pharmacy 
in France. You may possibly think them worth insertion in your Journal. 
S. J. Weston. 
