THE EXTENDED PHARMACY ACT. 
381 
tlie minds of those who would he interested in it into two or three definite 
questions, viz.:— 
1st. What is really wanted ? 
2nd. By whom is the want felt ? 
And lastly. How far will the proposed extension of the Pharmacy Act 
supply the existing want ? 
in reply to the first query, what is wanted ? we may reply, knowledge is 
wanted.; for it is an object patent to the observation of all that many persons 
undertake the grave responsibility of dispensing powerful drugs to the public 
who are equally ignorant of their poisonous character and of their own in- 
competency to conduct such a business. The qualification for such service to 
the public was formerly secured by the Apothecaries Act; but that body 
of dispensers having become absorbed into the ranks of the medical profes¬ 
sion, the public have now no protection against that kind of ignorance which 
is more pretentious than true knowledge, and which obtains (unfortunately) 
fey appealing to the ignorance of the public a false and meretricious reward. 
It is true that the present Pharmacy Act throws the responsibility of the 
choice between ignorance and knowledge upon the public, but those who have 
conducted such a business know well that the exercise of such discrimination 
is restricted to the educated class of customers, and that the public, as a 
whole, is incompetent to make such distinction. Something more therefore 
than knowledge and ignorance in open competition is wanted, viz. a guaranteed 
standard of qualification upon which the public as a whole may rely. 
Sndlyi By whom is the want felt P 
Firstly, by the medical bodies generally , as expressed by thp Medical Coun¬ 
cil and endorsed by almost every practitioner, especially when be leaves the 
local circle of known dispensers and writes his prescription not knowing into 
whose hands it may fall. Secondty, by the patient who rather than trust to 
a local and unknown compounder, sends an order to his chemist in town for 
his usual remedies (if he can afford to pay for this extra insurance of exacti¬ 
tude) ; but the general public have no such guarantee, and feel still more 
urgently the want of a responsible and qualified dispenser in every open 
chemist’s shop. Thirdly, by the wholesale dealer in drugs and chemicals, who 
feels that his best customer is the man who understands his business, and one 
who knows and appreciates good quality in drugs and purity in chemicals, 
but whose daily worry consists in the ignorance of so many dealers who know 
little beyond the names of the many articles in which they trafiic, and whose 
merit as shopkeepers lies in their chaffering ability to “ buy in the cheapest, 
sell in the dearest market. 5 ’ 
jSior is the want unfelt by the honest, struggling, and intelligent trades¬ 
man, who having entered the business under fair auspices, has found no op¬ 
portunity of embracing the advantages of a voluntary education and exami¬ 
nation, although he recognizes their value and would fain confer these benefits 
upon his sons. How many of these are to be found both within and without 
the ranks of the Pharmaceutical Society! men who have never seen their 
opportunity of coming forward to take educational honours, and find in the 
unfair and cheap competition of ignorance around them a perpetual source of 
annoyance and degradation. How can he be justly paid for care, attention, 
and incessant conscientious discharge of his duty to an ignorant public, if he 
has to compete with ignorant and pretentious dealers on equal terms? He 
wants, therefore, to have his education and knowledge recognized as the first 
and fair charge upon liis goods. 
Lastly, let us endeavour to see how far the proposed extension will meet 
the existing want. In the first place, by making education and character the 
key-stone of the arch. This we have in the existing Pharmaceutical Society, 
