386 
PHARMACY  IN   GREAT  BRITAIN. 
to  undergo  an  examination,  and  thus  obtain  a  license  to  practice 
before  opening  stores.  They  also  sought  powers  as  an  examining 
body,  agreeing  in  that  case  to  abandon  the  educational  functions 
which  the  Society  had  voluntarily  performed  from  its  commence- 
ment, leaving  the  candidates  at  liberty  to  obtain  the  requisite 
knowledge  where  they  pleased,  provided  they  were  able  to  pass 
the  examinations  in  chemistry,  materia  medica,  pharmacy  and 
toxicology.  A  Bill  was  introduced  by  a  motion  of  Mr.  Bell,  on 
the  12th  of  June,  1851,  and  read  for  the  first  time  June  13th.  On 
the  second  of  July  Mr.  Bell  moved  a  second  reading,  and  supported 
the  motion  by  a  speech,  embracing  an  historical  account  of  the 
circumstances  which  attended  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  body 
asking  for  the  Act,  going  back  to  the  early  difficulties  with  the 
apothecaries  before  the  Charter  in  1815,  and  showing  that  the 
object  of  the  bill  was  not  to  create  a  monopoly,  or  to  interfere  with 
the  parties  at  present  engaged  in  business,  or  with  any  of  the 
medical  corporations,  but  was  intended  to  improve  the  qualifica- 
tion of  the  practitioners  of  Pharmacy,  and  thus  eventually  raise 
the  status  of  the  whole  pharmaceutical  profession. 
Several  objections  arose  on  the  part  of  members  not  conversant 
with  the  object  of  the  bill,  in  reference  to  the  extent  of  power 
delegated  to  the  Society;  whilst  others,  among  whom  was  Mr. 
Wakley  of  the  Lancet,  advocated  it,  when  it  was  suffered  to  be 
again  read,  on  condition  that  final  action  should  not  be  pressed  at 
that  Session. 
It  was  soon  found  in  its  progress  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
that  opposition  would  be  made  from  various  sources  to  the  bill  as 
introduced,  and  that  the  powers  aimed  at,  and  the  privileges 
conferred,  would  have  to  be  greatly  curtailed.  The  druggists 
and  chemists  of  Edinburgh  held  a  meeting  to  consider  the  bill, 
and  required  that,  so  far  as  Scotland  was  concerned,  the  Ex- 
amining Board  should  be  appointed  by  members  of  the  Phar- 
maceutical Society  resident  in  Scotland.  At  another  meeting 
held  at  Aberdeen,  the  chemists  and  druggists  agreed  in  this 
suggestion,  and  expressed  a  "  desire  that  Scotland  might  par- 
ticipate in  the  benefits  of  the  Bill."  The  Liverpool  chemists 
suspecting  that  <e  an  infringement  of  their  privileges  was  contem- 
plated," opened  a  correspondence  with  Mr.  Bell,  and  appointed 
a  committee  to  watch  the  progress  of  the  measure.    A  member  of 
