OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
695 
and the funds of the charity ; so much so, that when the next financial 
statement is put before you it will appear that about £1500 resulted froin 
the dinner of 1867. A very t^ratifying proof of interest in tlie cause was 
afforded also by the Junior Members of the trade, who inaugurated a ball in 
aid of the Fund, and handed over the proceeds (£30) to the Society. At this 
moment the invested capital amounts to £9000 ; and the Council earnestly 
trust, by the hearty co-operation of the Society, to see the long-desired 
“ ten thousand ” secured before the Christmas of ’68 comes round. There 
have been applicants to whom temporary relief has been granted, who, in the 
judgment of the Council, should be introduced as candidates for annuities. 
Headers of the Journal have doubtless observed a statement that an invi¬ 
tation has been sent to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to attend 
the International Congress of Piiarmacy to be held in Paris in August next. 
The programme sets forth some objects for discussion which may, at present, 
appear impossible of attainment; but the tendency of such a gathering is 
undoubtedly good, and several gentlemen connected with the Society have 
accordingly been requested to attend. 
The prospect of an extension of the Pharmacy Act, which in 1866, owing 
to the unsettled condition of the business before Parliament, seemed obscure, 
shone more brightly at the opening of the present session. The Council had 
never ceased to consider the question earnestly and honestly. Indeed, in 
February, 1866, suggestions framed in accordance with the report of the Select 
Committee of the House of Commons, which sat in the previous year, were 
handed to the Home Secretary, and presented again at the Home Office this 
year. It is well known that the chief causes of failure in 1865 were, first, 
the absence of regulations regarding the sale of poisons ; secondly, the want 
of concurrence in the details of the proposed measure on the part of chemists 
and druggists not connected with the Pharmaceutical Society. As time 
rolled on, those who had been opponents changed their views; they saw that 
their effort to establish a second Board of Pharmacy, while one, tried and 
found efficient, was already in existence, could not be attended with suc¬ 
cess, although perhaps it might prevent any other settlement of the ques¬ 
tion. They were anxious for restrictive legislation for the future, and accord¬ 
ingly they held a public meeting of Chemists and Druggists at the London 
Coffee-House, to consider the “ Suggestions” of this Society. 
It may seem tedious to recapitulate events on which so much has been 
said and written during the last three months; but it is the duty of a 
Council, in summing up their proceedings of the year, to state fully to their 
constituents the course of action which has been pursued, and more espe¬ 
cially on so important a subject as this. 
At the interview which took place between the representatives of the che¬ 
mists who attended the meeting at the London Coffee-House and this Council, 
the points on which they differed wmre extremely small. Having regard to 
the great public objects for which the Pharmaceutical Society was estab¬ 
lished, and a full conviction that any elevation of private interest over public 
good would be productive of mischief, the Council, acting in the spirit of 
the Special Meeting of the Society held in 1864, and using the discre¬ 
tionary power entrusted to them, had removed one difficulty by conceding 
the privilege of membership to those who might hereafter be registered 
under the proposed Bill as Chemists and Druggists, i.e. to persons actually in 
business at the time of the passing of the Bill, and assistants of the same date 
on commencing business, as well as such as may hereafter pass tho Minor 
Examination ; but reserving always the title of Pharmaceutical Chemist for 
those who shall pass the Major Examination, and the right to sit on the 
Council to Pharmaceutical Chemists. 
