254 
THE POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF PHARMACY. 
infusion a dirty-looking olive-green, and a precipitate ; witli tlie oil dissolved 
in spirit a bright green similar to the cloves. If I am correct, and I have re¬ 
peated my experiments several times, as long as these substances have been 
used or can be obtained separately, the colour-tests as I have applied them 
seem sufficient, assisted by other circumstances, such as odour, etc., to dis¬ 
tinguish them from each other; but if they should exist in combination, either 
by accidental or intentional admixture, then considerable obscurity would 
exist, from the blending of the red or green and blue colours ; and no satis¬ 
factory conclusion could, I think, be arrived at without the elimination and 
actual production of the mor]3hia salt. In trying the nitric acid upon some 
other of the volatile oils, I do not in any case obtain an exactly corresponding 
tint of colour. To say the least, it appears to me an interesting subject, and 
as Dr. Darre justly observes, deserving of especial attention. 
“ Semper tibi pendeat hamus : 
Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.”— Ovid. 
18, Conduit Street^ IQth September, 1866. 
THE POSITION AND PEOSPECTS OF PHARMACY. 
BY J. R. COLLINS. 
I have read with some considerable interest Mr. Ince’s clever essay on 
“ Pharmaceutical Ethics,” read at the Nottingham Conference. I admire 
the literary ability of the author, and can give assent to many of his proposi- 
sions; but from others I must dissent, believing them to be both impractical 
and unsound. That Mr. Ince should entertain such views is by no means 
surprising, seeing that his trade associations are exclusively with the upper 
ten thousand; but these scarcely qualify him to pronounce upon the trade 
customs and interests of the chemists who cater for the outside millions. 
He takes what I may designate an aristocratic vieic of the question,—one 
applicable to a few dozen West End establishments ; and it is to his scarcely- 
suppressed condemnation of probably nine-tenths of his metropolitan brethren 
that I take exception. A pure dispensing business can, without much diffi¬ 
culty, be made and maintained by competent men of means, and well placed in 
the poY\iQ faubourgs of Belgravia, Tyburnia, and AIayfair,and also in the great 
West End thoroughfares,—for this simple reason, that the affluent classes, as 
a rule, recognizing the advantage of a division of labour, employ prescribing 
“ Doctors,” whose prescriptions are compounded by the chemists in their re¬ 
spective neighbourhoods. But in five-sixths of the metropolis (I speak of 
London as knowing most about it, but doubtless the analogy is applicable to 
country), where the genus “ apothecary ” reigns triumphant, where would the 
chemist be if forbidden to sell soaps, scents, cosmetiques, pomades, tooth¬ 
brushes, hair-washes, cum multis aliis, down to that last thing out, “ the extract 
of lime-juice and glycerine,” and also prescribe whenever opportunity presents 
itself with safety ? Mr. Ince’s educational views are, I apprehend, too 
exalted. Not but that the necessity of improved education must be conceded 
by all who have felt the elevating influence of a liberal education; but you 
may have too much even of a good thing, and where much book-learning is 
required a corresponding amount of time must be devoted to its acquisition. A 
good sound academic education, up to 15 or 16 years of age, standing an exami¬ 
nation test, is all that is required. With some ndivetS, Mr. Ince states that 
he escaped the horrors of the “ middle passage” from boyliood to manhood 
