THE TWO SOCIETIES. 
501 
Tlie men who united their means and applied their energies for the carry¬ 
ing out of these objects, comprised all the leading members of the drug trade, 
both wholesale and retail, in town and country. Many of these men may 
now be spoken of as belonging to a past generation, including the venerable 
William Allen, the first President of the Society, and Charles James Payne, 
the second President, and John Barry, and Bichard Battley, and John Bell, 
and Jacob Bell, and Joseph Gifford, and Thomas Herring, and William Hud¬ 
son, and William Ince, and Bichard Hotliam Pigeon,—all of whom were men 
of mark, some of them ranking among the great benefactors of their race ; and 
these, with many hundreds more of similar position, who are still active mem¬ 
bers, were among the founders of the Society. Around them were gathered 
in association about sixteen hundred druggists, men engaged in business 
throughout the country, and a still larger number of assistants and appren¬ 
tices, making altogether about four thousand individuals, who for several years 
subscribed—the members two guineas, and the assistants one guinea each, per 
annum—for the establishment and support of the Society. The result has been 
the formation of a great institution which ranks now among the best appointed 
and most efficient of the institutions of a similar description not only in this 
metropolis, but in the world. Here are extensive museums and library, and labo¬ 
ratories, and examination and lecture arrangements, all in full and active and effi¬ 
cient operation, contributing to stimulate those who are either practising or pre¬ 
paring to practise pharmacy, to the acquirement of the knowledge by which 
alone they can become qualified for their occupation, and not only stimulating 
them,but also helping them to its acquirement. Ho other society but the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society has contributed to this result, or has independently under¬ 
taken anything of the same sort, and, had it not been for the work thus clone, the 
Chemists and Druggists of Great Britain would have remained to the present 
day what they were before 1S4T, a disunited body, calling themselves Chemists 
and Druggists, but having little or no knowledge of chemistry, and a ver} r 
inadequate knowledge of drugs, and of the means by which they should be 
prepared for use in medicine. The association of good and earnest men who 
commenced the good work in 1841, and who in 1843 numbered sixteen hundred 
members, besides associates and apprentices, continued at about this number 
until in 1852 the Pharmacy Act was passed. At that time one of the con¬ 
ditions to membership involved the passing of an examination, which limited 
the number joining the Society, but helped to raise the character of the asso¬ 
ciation, by making professional qualification the basis of membership. 
While the Pharmacy Act of 1852 was before the Legislature, the value of 
the services which had been rendered by the Pharmaceutical Society was 
fully acknowledged, and to this Society was entrusted the carrying out of the 
provisions of that Act, the Members of the Society being made the basis of 
the privileged body of Pharmaceutical Chemists. The members, however, 
instead of keeping the conferred privilege to themselves, and admitting only 
by examination, the way by which alone they were compelled to admit others 
to a participation with them, threw the door open and said, “ Come, you of 
our brethren who have like standing with ourselves in the business, enter now 
freely and partake with us of what the Legislature offers, and with it 
partake also of all the benefits of our institution.” Many hundreds of Che¬ 
mists and Druggists responded to this invitation, and consequently in 
1853 the number of subscribing members of the Society rose to 2455, which 
is the largest number there has been in any year. Since that time no one 
has been admitted without examination, and through the influence of the So¬ 
ciety thus exerted a large number of well-educated and fully qualified men 
have been added to those engaged in the practice of pharmacy throughout 
the country. It is true that the number above stated has not been fully kept 
