PRESENT STATE OF PHARMACY IN ENGLAND. 1 1 
praise. Instead of again sinking into apathy, or raising 
triumphant cries of exultation, they calmly and wisely ex- 
amined into their real condition, and the causes existing 
among them for the outcries of their enemies. The maxim 
that "in union there is strength," was first adopted. The 
leading minds saw the wisdom of pursuing a plan which 
should unite in one body, the respectable chemists and 
druggists of the whole kingdom. The second was that 
they should resort to means for self education — for the im- 
provement of themselves and the advancement of the art 
they represented ; thirdly, that they should provide efficient 
means for educating the rising generation who, as assistants 
and apprentices, were numerous throughout the country; 
and finally, that a benevolent fund should be provided for 
the relief of disabled members who might be deserving of 
the assistance of their brethren. There were wise heads 
concerned in the formation of the Pharmaceutical Society 
of Great Britain. They knew well the nature of the ma- 
terial from which they had to build their edifice, and con- 
structed it in relation thereto. Perhaps in no country 
where the number of pharmaceutists is so great, does so 
large a proportion of those of inferior grade exist. For the 
better qualified to have drawn a magic ring around their 
limited numbers, by excluding all whose qualifications in 
scientific regards were too low, would have caused a division 
in the ranks at once, and made enemies of the majority. 
In movements of reform, numbers and means are all power- 
ful ; on many occasions the voice of an ignorant, equals in 
influence that of a qualified member, and as the intentions 
of the founders were catholic, they not only wished to im- 
prove themselves, and those that came after them ; but to 
raise the standard Jof every existing druggist, if so be it 
were possible. They therefore, at first, opened wide the 
doors of entrance into the Society, requiring no further 
qualifications than acknowledged respectability, and the 
education usual at that day. 
