PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
413 
essential to the reputation of the pharmaceutist, to the assistance of the physician, and 
to the safety of the public, to he attained ? And the inevitable reply is, By suitable 
Education. 
The cultivation of the pharmaceutical mind may be divided into three stages :—first, 
the education of the apprentice; second, the improvement of the associate ; third, the 
maturing of the member; for, like physicians, pharmaceutists are but students at the 
close of their career, and through life those of equal advantages differ only in the expe¬ 
rience of age. 
I have only to deal with the first stage of education, that of the apprentice. One of 
the more prominent features in the operation of the Pharmaceutical Society is the en¬ 
couragement given to the younger students of pharmacy. It is sometimes urged as an 
objection to pharmaceutical education, or rather as a plea for ignorance, that the office 
of a Pharmaceutical Chemist is merely to vend drugs already prepared by the wholesale 
dealers, and to dispense physicians’ prescriptions, and that consequently, except for the 
few, many of the details of scientific and practical pharmacy would be an unnecessary 
tax on the mind as well as the pocket of the student. This is not the advice given by 
the Pharmaceutical Society; every now and then we read able addresses by the seniors 
to the juniors of the Society, urging them to prepare themselves by diligent study for 
assuming the functions and responsibilities of their calling, and for attaining that high 
position which merit alone can claim. It is not to be forgotten that pharmacy is a 
science as well as an art, or at least that it is an art founded upon several important 
sciences, and that the prosecution of pharmacy is a profession as well as a trade. The 
Pharmacien is a man of no mean position, and if the Pharmaceutist of this country 
has not yet attained the same parallel, it is all the more desirable that those who are 
now entering upon their calling should be so educated as to entitle them to it. It seems 
to me that there are few fields open to young men in which there are so many laurels 
to be gained. Those who have gone before, and many of those who are still occupying 
prominent and honourable positions in pharmacy, have been striving against the diffi¬ 
culty which attends all founders and reformers; they have had to dig through a surface 
of prejudice and apathy to seek a suitable foundation. But those who are now following 
in their footsteps will make their start in life from a higher platform, and it is for them to 
remember that although they have missed the privilege of working at the foundation of 
the building, it is still open to them to place the crown upon its summit. 
And this brings me to the consideration of the teaching of pharmacy in Edinburgh. 
My remarks will apply equally, perhaps, to other large towns having medical schools ; 
but I speak of Edinburgh more particularly, because, from the reputation of its medical 
school, the fact of its having in reality no school of pharmacy at all is somewhat re¬ 
markable. 
Now, although it would be utterly impossible for the physician engaged in practice 
to pursue the study of pharmacy to such an extent as would keep that science and art 
au courant with the progress of the day, nevertheless it is essential to the due perform¬ 
ance of his functions that he be generally well-informed concerning it; and in order 
that he may be able with facility to adopt the enlightened views of those who devote 
themselves entirely to the study of pharmacy, it is important that he should, during the 
period of his medical education, enjoy the opportunity of making himself acquainted 
with the subject. And such opportunity is, I think, fairly afforded. But the educa¬ 
tion that is sufficient for one who is subsequently to depend greatly upon others for his 
information, is scarcely enough for him who is to work out his own knowledge.. If the 
medical profession is to relax its grasp of pharmacy, and let it fall entirely into the 
hands of the Pharmaceutical Chemist, it can only be on the distinct understanding that 
not only by opportunity in after life, but also by education, he is better endowed for 
the undertaking. The present teaching of pharmacy may be sufficient for the medical 
student, but I submit that it is inadequate to the wants of the pharmaceutical student; and 
I have no doubt whatever that, overwhelmed as he appears to be by strictly medical sub¬ 
jects, if an opportunity were offered of obtaining a higher knowledge of pharmacy, the 
medical student would also embrace it. 
The art of pharmacy rests upon several sciences, the chief'of which are chemistry and 
botany, not to mention zoology and mineralogy, which are of minor importance; and 
it is to be supposed that the student of pharmacy has enjoyed the advantages of a liberal 
scholastic education, including somewhat of natural philosophy. Materia Medica is an 
