PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES  OF  TRAVEL. 
9 
graduates,  under  the  name  of  apothecaries,  practise  minor  sur- 
gery, and  prescribe  for  ordinary  diseases,  keeping  a  stock  of 
medicines,  and  dispensing  these  to  their  own  patients  and  others. 
The  pharmaceutical  chemists,  who,  in  London,  number  about 
six  hundred,  do  not  prescribe,  but  keep  shops  and  dispense 
medicines  by  physicians'  prescriptions  and  otherwise,  as  with  us. 
These  obtain  the  diploma  of  the  London  Pharmaceutical  Society, 
by  passing  an  examination  conducted  by  a  Board,  which  is  quite 
independent  of  the  faculty  of  the  school,  nor  is  an  attendance 
upon  the  school  requisite  before  being  examined.  This  arrange- 
ment is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  American,  which  requires  at 
least  two  courses  of  Lectures  before  the  examination  is  allowed, 
and  thus  keeps  up  the  classes  in  the  schools.  A  separate  Ex- 
amining Board  exists  in  Edinburgh,  where  there  ^is  no  regular 
school,  though  but  few  applicants  present  themselves.  In 
several  of  the  principal  cities  there  are  systematic  courses  of 
instruction  open  to  students  of  pharmacy,  facilitating  their  quali- 
fying themselves  for  these  examinations. 
In  some  cases,  these  are  connected  with  the  Medical  Schools, 
though  in  others  they  are  conducted  with  exclusive  reference  to  the 
education  of  Pharmaceutists.  In  Liverpool,  a  course  of  in- 
struction is  kept  up  during  the  winter  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Edwards,  a 
competent  chemist  and  pharmaceutist,  who  has,  usually,  about 
twenty  students  ;  these,  after  qualifying  themselves  under  his 
direction^  may  present  themselves  before  the  Examining  Board 
of  the  parent  Society,  and  obtain  the  same  diploma  as  the  stu- 
dents of  the  London  School. 
The  practical  working  of  the  pharmaceutical  business  was  a 
subject  of  so  much  interest  to  me,  that  I  lost  no  opportunity  to 
acquaint  myself  with  it,  and  although  I  feel  that  it  is  delicate 
ground  to  tread  upon,  I  shall  endeavor  to  carry  the  reader  a  lit- 
tle behind  the  neat  exteriors  of  some  of  the  English  shops ;  this 
I  may  do  with  the  more  freedom,  since  I  saw  so  much  to  admire 
and  approve,  and  so  little  that  I  could  wish  to  suppress. 
There  is,  in  London,  less  show  of  business  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  done,  than  with  us;  some  of  the  most  extensive 
pharmaceutical  establishments  will  scarcely  attract  the  attention 
of  a  stranger,  although  many  of  them  have  extensive  laborato- 
ries and  storehouses,  and  arrangements  for  manufacturing,  either 
on  the  same  premises  with  the  dispensing  shop  or  elsewhere. 
