PHARMACY  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. 
391 
botany,  would  he  have  been  cautioned  against  neglecting  his  business? — Yes  ; 
I  acquired  my  knowledge  of  botany  chiefly  on  Sundays.  I  had  no  theoretical 
instruction  but  what  I  got  myself  from  books. 
"795.  Are  there  a  great  number  of  persons  who  call  themselves  chemists 
without  possessing  the  least  education  whatever  in  chemistry  and  pharmacy  ? 
I  should  think  that  that  is  a  lamentable  fact. 
"  796.  Have  you  been  induced  to  support  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  with 
a  view  of  raising  the  standard  of  qualification  of  chemists  and  thus  benefit- 
ing the  public'? — Entirely  with  that  view. 
"  797.  You  have  been  an  examiner,  I  think  ? — I  have,  from  the  first  estab- 
lishment of  the  Society. 
"  800.  Do  you  think  there  has  been  an  improvement  in  qualification  since 
the  Pharmaceutical  Society  was  formed'? — I  think  a  very  great  improve- 
ment. 
"  809.  Can  you  state  the  nature  of  the  examination  % — The  nature  of  the  ex- 
amination is  simply  this:  a  young  man  is  called  upon  to  read  prescriptions, 
with  their  terminations,  and  not  in  short  dog  Latin.  They  are  also  called 
upon  to  translate  these  prescriptions,  and  to  translate  them  not  only  literally 
but  in  an  elegant  manner.  They  are  then  asked  if  they  know  the  nature  of 
each  of  the  ingredients  in  the  prescriptions,  and  to  give  a  reason  why  such 
and  such  things  should  be  put  together,  and  what  chemical  decompositions 
take  place  in  the  different  admixtures;  in  short  to  form  a  judgment  on  the 
prescription  as  to  whether  it  is  a  chemical  or  unchemical  one,  in  order  that, 
they  may  be  able  to  give  a  hint  to  medical  men  hereafter,  if  they  are  not  up 
to  chemistry,  that  they  may  set  themselves  right  in  future.  I  think  that  very 
necessary,  because  I  have  frequently  found  that  medical  men  were  not  so 
well  versed  in  pharmacy  and  chemistry  as  our  body  ;  and  I  think  that  those 
hints  are  very  valuable  to  medical  men,  and  by  those  means  one  profession 
assists  the  other.  Then  we  examine  them  upon  materia  medica,  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  quality  and  action  of  the  drugs.  They  are  called  upon  to 
state  what  part  of  a  plant  they  have  before  them  ;  to  what.natural  order  it 
belongs  ;  what  are  its  uses  in  medicine  and  what  are  its  particular  properties. 
They  are  not  examined  beyond  stating  what  the  doses  of  those  medicines 
are.  They  are  also  examined  chemically  as  to  the  chemistry  of  the  pharma- 
copoeia. They  are  examined  also  upon  toxicology  and  botany  ;  and  I  think 
when  I  have  said  that  I  have  stated  all  our  examination. 
"810.  By  who  mare  the  examiners  appointed] — The  examiners  are  appointed 
by  the  Council. 
"811.  How  many  examiners  are  there'? — Eight  1  believe." 
Mr  Thomas  Herring,  wholesale  druggist,  London. 
"  824.  You  have  been  many  years  a  wholesale  druggist? — I  have  been  in 
business  about  43  years. 
"826.  Does  your  business  bring  you  in  communication  with  the  chemists 
and  druggists  throughout  the  kingdom? — It  brings  me  in  contact  with  the 
chemists  iu  London  and  in  the  provinces  j  and  in  Scotland  and  in  Ireland ; 
I  have  visited  them  and  know  them  personally. 
"829.  Do  you  consider  from  what  you  know  of  the  body  of  chemists  and 
druggists  that  they  are  properly  qualified  for  their  business? — Not  generally  ; 
a  very  great  deal  of  mischief  arises  from  want  of  knowledge  ;  for  instance, 
take  any  gentleman  who  is  a  qualified  person,  and  knows  his  business,  and 
he  would  not.  buy  any  thing  but  what  is  of  proper  quality  ;  but  a  great  many 
of  those  who  purchase  drugs  are  men  not  educated,  by  which  means  a  vast 
quantity  of  medicines  are  sold  of  an  inferior  quality. 
"831.  Are  those  persons  competent  to  judge  of  the  quality  of  the  drugs 
which  you  sell  ? — Certainly  not  ;  and  moreover,  when  they  order  an  article 
which  is  poison  or  a  medicine  of  stringency,  not  knowing  the  Latin  name,  re- 
quire the  English  name  also. 
