8 PRESENT STATE OF PHARMACY IN ENGLAND. 
a society be then formed, called the Pharmaceutical Society 
of Great Britain. 
After the meeting, the members of the committee to the 
number of one hundred, signed an instrument constituting 
themselves members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great 
Britain, the list headed by William Allen, F. R. S. 
Five thousand copies of the report were printed and cir- 
culated throughout the country. 
Between this time and the 1st of June, the committee 
were engaged at frequent meetings in digesting a constitu- 
tion and code of by-laws, and on that day, at a general 
meeting of chemists and druggists, duly convened, they 
were adopted in form, and the members of the committee 
constituted to act as the council until the meeting in May, 
1842. To the energetic action of this body, must, in a large 
degree, be attributed the fortunate results which have fol- 
lowed the formation of the Society. 
One of the chief causes concerned in producing the rapid 
growth of the Pharmaceutical Society, was the establish- 
ment of a Journal for the publication of its transactions. 
This periodical, now known as the "Pharmaceutical Jour- 
nal," was commenced by Jacob Bell, its present editor, on 
his own responsibility, with a view to gratuitous distribu- 
tion, as a vehicle of information to the profession. The 
first number extended to 34 pages, and contained a paper 
from the pen of the editor, on the constitution of the Society, 
which exhibited the designs intended by the council, and 
being spread far and wide, made known to the members of 
the trade throughout the island, the great and valuable 
objects of the Association. This essay defined the position 
of Pharmacy, and exhibited a succinct account of its condi- 
tion in other parts of the world, in order to show how far 
behind many other civilized nations the English were in 
pharmaceutical reform. It proved clearly the vast advan- 
tages that result from combination in the promotion of our 
Scientific Art, and in qualifying members by the support 
