446 
QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE PHARMACY BILL. 
proportions prevail throughout the country, this would give 5700 as the total' 
number of Chemists and Druggists engaged in business on their own account.—a 
number which corresponds very well with the proportion that may be supposed 
to occupy the position of principals out of the 12,638 Druggists of all sorts re¬ 
turned at the census. 
It may be said, it is true, taking the whole number of Chemists and Druggists- 
at 6000, that the two thousand and odd Pharmaceutical Chemists, who are in¬ 
corporated and recognized by Act of Parliament, form but a minority when 
compared with those who are outside the Society. But there are other points 
to be considered in estimating the position and influence of the Pharmaceutical 
Society besides the mere numerical relation which its members bear to the total 
number of Chemists and Druggists. The Pharmaceutical Society represents a 
principle, and its members acquire an influence which the recognition of this 
principle is calculated to give them. The basis of membership in this Society is 
professional qualification, and one of the principal objects of the Society has been 
to raise and equalize the standard of qualification not only among its own mem¬ 
bers, but also among the members of the trade generally. It is something to be- 
able to show that the Pharmaceutical Chemists, who number more than two- 
thousand, and constitute one-third of the entire body of Chemists and Druggists, 
have for upwards of twenty years been the promoters and supporters of the only 
systematic arrangement existing in England for providing efficient professional 
instruction to those who are engaged in the practice of pharmacy, and for test¬ 
ing the knowledge of such as claim the confidence of the public on the score of 
professional acquirements. It may no doubt be said, as it has been said, that 
many—nay, a majority, of the members of the Society have never been examined, 
and are no better than some who have not joined the association. The admission 
of such men prior to 1853 was a matter of necessity for the foundation of the 
Society ; but even these can claim the merit of having recognized the principle 
referred to, of having contributed to support a system of education, of having to 
the extent of their power as men already in business partaken of the means of 
education and improvement provided, and of having been for twelve years or 
more engaged in business on their own account. If all these circumstances be 
duly considered, and if, moreover, the position occupied and the business done 
by the leading members of the Pharmaceutical Society in the principal towns 
throughout the country be taken into the account, it will be found that neither 
in numbers nor in the influence which its members possess, can the Society be 
justly represented as an unimportant bod} r , or as only a small section of the 
Chemists and Druggists of England. 
But it has been further stated that the Pharmaceutical Society has neglected 
the interests of the body they pretend to represent, and that they have even con¬ 
spired to sacrifice the interests of their brethren by handing them over to the 
tender mercies of the medical profession. This is a very unjustifiable imputation,, 
for which there is no ground whatever. The Society can confidently appeal to 
the results of their operations since 1841 for abundant evidence of the zeal and 
consistency with which they have watched over, fought for, and maintained the 
interests not only of their own members, but of those of their brethren who have 
not been associated with them. 
With reference to the amendments proposed to some of the clauses of the Bill 
by the meeting at York, we think they are neither judicious nor just. The ex¬ 
clusion of the present race of apprentices from the necessity of passing the pro¬ 
posed examinations, and the admission of all existing Chemists and Assistants 
into the Pharmaceutical Society on the mere payment of the annual subscrip¬ 
tion, without any other condition being required, would have the effect of un¬ 
doing much of the good which has resulted from the past labours of our Society, 
and of throwing back to a still distant period the attainment of the object for 
