490 THE PEOPOSED EXTENSION OF THE PHAEMACY ACT. 
men. But, call them exemptions or call them disqualifications, none can exist 
for persons whose names are not enrolled on some public register. To sup¬ 
pose that men are exempted from serving on juries as a reward for superior 
learning or position, is to suppose that the Legislature would try to make 
bad rather than good juries. 
INowit cannot 1)0 denied that the presence of a chemist in his dispensary is 
Tery similar in importance to the immediate attendance of a physician in ur¬ 
gent cases; and on that ground a great effort was made to obtain the inser¬ 
tion of a clause in the new Jury Bill, to exempt chemists from the service. The 
justice of the thing was acknowledged by Parliament, but the question arose, 
SoiD are we io know loho is a chemist 1 Is every grocer loho chooses to sell 
salts and senna to ho strticJc off the jury-list V' And to this the reply was 
read}^, which, after a sharp battle between Lords and Commons, settled the 
mvXtev,Ihar'inaceniical Chemists are a class registered, after due examination, 
under the 'provisions of the 15 Sf 16 Viet. cap. 56.” On this qualification, and 
this only, could exemption be granted ; and the charge that the Society had 
secured a special privilege for its members, although really true, should have 
been no cause of reproach. 
Thus much for the benefit of registration; and now for the means by which 
registration was obtained. 
When, in 1841, the druggists were threatened with interference by Mr. 
Hawes’s bill, a few far-seeing and public-spirited members of the trade saw 
the opportunity of forming themselves into a society capable of protecting 
their own interests. Such associations had been formed before; they had 
perhaps served the purpose of the hour, and then collapsed. To give this 
new union stability, these enlightened men saw that besides a vitality from 
within, it needed support from without, and to obtain that support must 
minister to the public good. Education was the one great thing needed, and 
to education they at once turned their attention. This was the secret of 
success : by its development the science of Pharmacy has been advanced, the 
whole body of Pharmaceutists elevated. The higher medical authorities 
have gladly recognized the fact, and thankfully acknowledged their obliga¬ 
tion to the Pharmaceutical Society, which has scattered throughout the 
country dispensers able to carry out the wishes of those who prescribe. 
Can it be wondered at that this confidence should extend from the physi¬ 
cian to the public, from the public to the Governmental departments where 
medicines are in question, and from all these to the House of Commons, 
which sooner or later embodies the public will in its acts .P The fact that 
there is already a corporate body working under Act of Parliament, and 
working to the satisfaction of all who understand the matter, must bring 
conviction to the minds of those who would in 1865 have established a 
second Board to regulate the qualifications of chemists and druggists, that 
such a proceeding, being unnecessary, could never be effected; and we think 
it only required such a conference as that which took place at Bloomsbury 
Square on the 19th ultimo, to dispel the false impressions which had been 
so industriously conveyed to them of the illiberality of the “ Suggestions ” 
put forth by the Pharmaceutical Society for the extension of the Pharmacy 
Act. 
As our readers will find a record of that meeting in this Journal, we need 
not describe it here. The only real point at issue was the constitution of the 
Society and the Council. As to the former, it was clearly proved, and 
acknowledged, that the mode of electing members hitherto in use was the 
most simple ; that there was no reason to apprehend any opposition to their 
admission ; but that, on the contrary, it must be the interest of the Society to 
enlarge its borders to the fullest extent, and embrace if possible the whole 
