104 
NOTTINGHAM. 
purified wood spirit under certain regulations, free from duty. It has been 
suggested that the purified spirit might be flavoured with some essential oil, 
in which state it could be sold for use in perfumery, while possibly other ad¬ 
ditions might be made where it is intended for other purposes. 
NOTTINGHAM. 
Ever since the days of Horace, and probably before, the world has recognized 
the necessity of occasional relaxation. The bow always bent has been too long 
the fit emblem of the pharmaceutist, and we rejoice that the good old times 
are past when continual labour was considered the only and cardinal virtue 
of a business man. Yet nothing should we more deprecate than that the 
trade-science which we exercise should lose its manly and professional cha¬ 
racter, and should sink into a mere social union however friendly and well- 
intentioned. 
We believe the British Pharmaceutical Conference, just held at Nottingham, 
will have precisely the opposite effect. In the first place it is of manifest advan¬ 
tage to bring men of the same calling in personal contact with each other. From 
that day they are apt to forget theiPsmall jealousies, and to take a broader and 
truer view of the conduct and purposes of others,—the grand lesson taught by 
Nottingham is tolerance. 
Secondly, there is no greater stimulus to individual exertion than the direct in¬ 
fluence of those with whose names we may have been for years familiar. Tell 
me with whom thou goest, and I will tell thee what thou doest. Hereafter, 
men will read Faraday as long as the reverence for high philosophy remains; 
they will peruse his works with calm and critical respect; but half an hour’s 
familiar intercourse with the living man would create an interest never to be 
forgotten. This we have all more or less experienced, and we may feel grateful 
that it has entered into the minds of some to place within reach such an admi¬ 
rable and inspiring impetus. Thirdly, this Conference has a strong tendency 
to render us dissatisfied with ourselves. When a man once feels his own com¬ 
parative inferiority, he has passed the Rubicon of inaction—his awakened con¬ 
science goads him on to the achievement of something better than the routine 
of his past life. No pharmaceutist, be he who he may, can help leaving Not¬ 
tingham, without at least intentions practical and excelsior. That many of these 
will perish we know by repeated and sorrowful recollection, but that some will 
bear abundant fruit we may also most confidently affirm. 
Lastly, we hold it no slight matter that these annual gatherings break in upon 
the monotony of the druggist’s life: his path, we may venture to assert, is not 
too thickly strewn with roses, and he has on the average small share in the 
amenities of social life; but he will dispense not the less accurately, or pursue 
his daily avocations with less diligence, because for a few days he was content 
to cast in his lot with some of his fellow-workers. 
The prestige of the solitary hermit has vanished ; a new line has run clean 
through his secluded cell, and the men of these days consider that intercommu¬ 
nication, good fellowship, and personal intercourse, are but three indications of 
the better and more liberal spirit of the age in which we live. 
