THE BENEVOLENT FUND. 
347 
mittee on the subject, and are so framed as to afford a wide scope to the adminis¬ 
tration of relief, and to place the power of electing annuitants in the hands of 
Members, Associates, and subscribers. 
The Council have determined also upon an important step in attempting to 
provide for the orphan children of deceased Members and Associates. In the 
December number of this Journal, the candidature of W. Bentley was commended 
to the notice of subscribers to the British Orphan Asylum. The Council are of 
opinion that in cases like this, when the father has been long connected with 
this Society, and dies in impoverished circumstances, the Benevolent Fund will 
be well applied (under certain conditions) in endeavouring to secure a home for 
at least one of his children in some asylum for orphans. 
We believe that the determination they have arrived at, and the revised rules 
under which it is now proposed to give annuities to the needy and afflicted, will 
meet with the unanimous approval of our readers. 
But mere approval will not alone suffice. The Council ask all who are 
interested in the Society to come forward with a helping hand. It is a dictum 
accepted among our household words, that “ the good men do lives after them. 17 
He must be unobservant indeed who fails to recognize its truth. In so far as 
benevolent institutions are concerned, they who run may read, when they look 
on those now flourishing among us ; some founded by men long since departed, 
some by those who laboured in our own day. Hospitals and dispensaries abound. 
Special charities for the blind, the deaf, the crippled, and the incurable, meet 
our eye. Almshouses innumerable shelter their humble inmates. Asylums 
for the widow, the fatherless, and the imbecile, give their fostering care h> 
those who are unable to help themselves. Foundation schools are thronged 
with pupils. In short, London and our other great towns are abundantly 
able to attest that the large hearts and liberal hands of Richard Whittington 
$tnd Jenken Carpenter have had their representatives in each succeeding ge¬ 
neration. 
Among the more remarkable, however, of the modern developments of the 
spirit of philanthropy, is the noticeable fact that the members of the several 
trades and professions (to a greater extent probably than at any previous period) 
have shown a readiness to organize assistance for the destitute of their respective 
callings. We wish emphatically to urge this fact upon every chemist and drug¬ 
gist in Great Britain. To those who are not Members or Associates of our 
Society we would especially point out, that if the projected Pharmacy Bill 
becomes law our Benevolent Fund will be open to any chemist then in business, 
whose circumstances may require it. 
For the enrichment of the Fund we appeal to all. whether members or non¬ 
members, to put aside minor differences, and recollect that— 
“We do pray for mercy 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy.” 
