90  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations.  { A%{°bu^f7hs?rm- 
that  it  might  be  enabled  legally  to  receive  gifts  of  money  from  its  members  or  others. 
This  proposition  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  and  at  a  meeting  held  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1877,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report  on  the  subject.  This  it  did  in  the 
following  month,  and  then  took  the  requisite  steps  to  communicate  with  the  gov- 
ernment officials  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  desired  object.  A  decree  has 
now  been  issued  by  the  President  of  the  Republic  granting  the  privilege  sought,  and 
confirming  the  modified  statutes  which  had  been  drawn  up  to  suit  the  altered 
circumstances  of  the  Society.  From  among  these  statutes  the  following  is  selected  as 
indicating  in  a  general  way  tlie  nature  of  the  Society. 
The  object  of  the  Society  is  defined  to  be  the  establishment  of  intimate  relations 
among  the  pharmacists  of  France  and  of  foreign  countries  as  well  as  to  improve 
the  art  of  pharmacy  and  to  advance  the  sciences  which  relate  to  it.  The  number 
of  Members  is  limited  to  sixty,  resident  in  Paris,  besides  which  there  are  twenty 
Associates  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  Provincial  Correspondents  5  the  number  of 
Foreign  Correspondents  as  well  as  that  of  Honorary  Members  is  not  limited. 
One  of  the  necessary  steps  to  obtain  the  recognition  of  the  Government  was  the 
presentation  of  an  historical  account  of  the  Society,  setting  forth  its  origin,  organi- 
zation, object,  and  the  services  it  had  rendered.  From  this  it  appears  that  the 
Society  took  its  origin  as  a  consequence  of  the  suppression  of  the  old  College  of 
Pharmacy,  together  with  other  trade  guilds  and  fraternities,  in  1791.  The  business 
of  the  pharmacist  being  thus  thrown  open  to  all  without  the  necessity  of  special 
education,  accidents  became  frequent,  and  gave  rise  to  so  many  complaints  that  the 
Committee  of  Public  Health,  then  presided  over  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Guillotin, 
applied  for  and  obtained  a  decree  reviving  the  law  and  regulations  relating  to  phar- 
maceutical education  as  well  as  to  the  preparation  and  dispensing  of  medicines,  To 
quote  the  report,  "  The  two  years  of  anarchy  which  preceded  this  step  served  at 
least  to  teach  a  lesson  that  should  not  be  forgotten,  for  they  furnished  in  a  high 
degree  evidence  of  the  necessity  of  regulating  the  practice  of  pharmacy  by  special 
laws.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  freedom  of  trade  was  invoked,  since  it  was  out  of 
place,  and  the  interests  of  the  public  health  ruled  the  whole  discussion  of  the 
subject." 
Subsequent  to  this  decree  the  pharmacists  of  Paris,  including,  amongst  other 
names  eminent  in  science,  Vauquelin,  Pelletier,  Bouillon  le  Grange,  Le  Canu  and 
Parmentier,  formed  themselves  into  a  voluntary  society,  having  the  object  of  pro- 
moting the  progress  of  science,  and  especially  of  pharmacy,  chemistry,  botany  and 
natural  history.  In  1797  the  Directory  recognized  this  Society  under  the  title  of 
the  Free  School  of  Pharmacy.  Subsequently  the  title  was  changed  to  that  of  the 
Society  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris,  its  constitution  and  statutes  being  almost  the  same  as 
those  of  the  present  day. 
In  1^09  an  important  step  was  taken  in  the  establishment  of  an  official  organ  of 
the  Society  under  the  title  of  the  "  Bulletin  de  Pharmacie,"  which  in  1815  became  the 
"Journal  de  Pharmacie  et  des  Sciences  Accessoires,"  and  this  in  its  turn  was  suc- 
ceeded in  1842  by  the  "Journal  de  Pharmacie  et  de  Chimie.'" 
As  regards  the  connection  that  exists  between  the  teaching  organization  and  the 
scientific  society  it  is  mentioned  that  the  former  rarely  exists  without  being  accom- 
panied by  the  latter.    In  this  manner,  in  France,  the  Academy  of  Medicine  is  the 
