332 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING, EDINBURGH. 
and therefore the one most deserving of the confidence of the public, and most likely, in 
some good measure, to enjoy it. 
As there is perhaps no class of tradesmen, merchants, or professional men, whose cha¬ 
racters are more thoroughly canvassed by their employers than those of pharmaceutists, 
it is of great importance that, as regards their business and moral qualities, they should be 
able to bear the closest scrutiny, in order to which they must be men of intelligence, of 
principle, and moral worth. 
One thing, however, is plain, which is, that the public expect to find them so, or at 
least above reproach in those respects, before they entrust them with duties which in¬ 
volve health and even life ; and hence, as a general rule, they extend their patronage 
and support to those only who they believe are professionally and morally qualified for 
their duties as practitioners of pharmacy. 
It is also evident that the medical profession require it, and therefore if pharma¬ 
ceutists are to be specially employed in dispensing physicians’ prescriptions, which they 
very properly regard as their legitimate duty, for which they have been trained and 
educated, they must have the confidence of medical men, for the obvious reason that the 
right discharge of that duty is one in which they have not only a scientific and profes¬ 
sional interest, but regarding which they have some degree of moral responsibility, 
which does not cease when the prescription is written, but extends to the administra¬ 
tion of the medicine and its effects; and hence it is necessary that they should know, or 
have good reason to believe, that their instructions will be scrupulously carried out by 
men of intelligence and moral principle. 
It is, therefore, both the duty and the interest of pharmaceutists to adopt a moral, as 
well as a scientific standard of attainment and practice, and thus increase the intrinsic 
value of their services, which, as it becomes understood and appreciated, will do much 
to secure for them an honourable position among their professional brethren, and a just 
and proportionate reward. 
I have purposely abstained from referring minutely to the various details of the busi¬ 
ness to which these principles are to be applied, and from making special allusion to the 
different classes of pharmaceutists, by whom they are to be exemplified and carried out, 
because I was anxious to avoid being tedious, and because I thought every pharma¬ 
ceutist, whether principal, assistant, or apprentice, would know them very well already, 
and at once remember many instances in which the operation of these principles would 
have prevented errors, annoyance, and loss, and thus secured the safety of the public, 
with comfort and benefit to all concerned. If, then, a moral standard is to be uniformly 
applied to the business of pharmacy, it must be so by pharmaceutists of every grade : 
principals must be careful to set the example ; there must, on their part, be no equivocal 
proceedings, no attempts to evade or ignore their moral responsibility, because these 
would, in ail probability, be imitated by others in their employment, and thus the fabric 
of business integrity would be shaken, if not altogether destroyed. Assistants and ap¬ 
prentices also should remember that without moral principle, or conscientiousness, on 
their part, in the performance of their duties, the most stringent shop-rules will be of 
little value in securing their faithful service, without which the best motives and the 
most strenuous efforts of their employers will often fail to make their pharmaceutical 
preparations reach the scientific, commercial, and moral standard which they desire to 
attain. 
It is, therefore, clearly necessary, that all engaged in the practice of pharmacy, in any 
department, should not only feel, but practically acknowledge their moral responsibility, 
that they should take a large and enlightened view of duty, and resolve to be faithful 
to the trust committed to them in their respective positions; for they will then find, 
from experience, that an intimate knowledge of the business, combined with moral prin¬ 
ciple, is not only beneficial to themselves and the public, and the best guide in all depart¬ 
ments of duty, but, all things considered, the best foundation for success and eminence 
in the practice of pharmacy. 
At the close of the President’s remarks, Dr. S. Macadam made a communication on 
“The Testing of Waters for Impurities.” The following is an abstract of the leading 
features of the paper:— 
It was stated that the present condition of many of the well-waters of our towns and 
villages was extremely unsatisfactory, and from the daily examiaation of samples of 
