516  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
BRITISH  PHARMACEUTICAL  CONFERENCE. 
On  Tuesday,  Sept.  8th,  the  twenty-second  annual  meeting  of  the  British 
Pharmaceutical  Conference  was  commenced  at  the  appointed  hour  in  the 
Hall  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Institute,  Aberdeen,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Mr.  J.  B.  Stephenson,  of  Edinburgh.  After  the  members  had 
been  welcomed  to  Aberdeen  by  the  convener  of  the  Local  Committee,  Mr. 
James  Sim,  and  the  welcome  had  been  acknowledged  on  their  behalf  by 
the  Chairman,  the  report  of  the  Executive  Committee  was  read  by  the 
senior  Honorary  General  Secretary,  Mr.  S.  Plowman.  This  shows  that  the 
Conference  is  maintaining  its  prosperity  and  extending  its  influence  to 
India  and  the  Colonies.  The  Treasurer,  Mr.  Umney,  next  submitted  the 
Financial  Statement,  showing  that  the  subscriptions  of  members  during 
the  year  had  exceeded  £750,  the  balance  being  practically  of  the  same 
amount  as  last  year. 
The  President's  Address,  w^hich  followed,  was  devoted,  in  the  first  place, 
to  a  review  of  the  true  character  of  pharmacy  and  its  present  position  in 
Great  Britain.  Taking  the  ground  that  pharmacy  is  essentially  an  integral 
part  of  medicine,  having  a  well-defined  and  increasingly  important  charac- 
ter, he  insisted  that  it  could  be  only  adequately  cultivated  by  a  class  of 
workers  devoted  to  its  practical  exercise,  its  chief  function  being  indicated 
and  defined  by  the  word  "dispensing."  The  recognition  of  this  more 
purely  professional  aspect  of  pharmacy  was  gaining  ground,  not  only  with 
the  medical  profession,  but  with  the  public  at  large,  at  least  in  theory, 
however  much  there  might  still  remain  desirable  in  practice.  It  was,  he 
considered,  also  recognized  by  the  Legislature  in  the  Pharmacy  Act,  1868, 
which  constituted  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  the  statutory  exponent  of 
that  position.  Although,  however,  this  statutory  recognition  existed,  it 
was  not  unaccompanied  by  indications  of  jealous  regard  for  other  interests, 
among  which  he  referred  to  the  requirement  that  the  examiners  appointed 
by  the  Council  of  the  Society  should  be  approved  by  the  Privy  Council, 
the  separation  of  the  office  of  examiner  from  that  of  a  member  of  Council, 
and  the  provision  for  the  examinations  being  attended  by  a  representative 
•of  the  Privy  Council.  Notwithstanding  the  jealousy  thus  indicated  by  the 
State,  in  charging  itself  with  the  responsibility  involved  by  these  require- 
ments, he  held  that  there  was  ample  evidence  of  the  true  position  of  phar- 
macy being  recognized  by  the  Government  of  the  country,  so  that  the 
Pharmaceutical  Society,  being  the  recognized  statutory  exponent  of  phar- 
macy, it  had,  not  only  the  right  to  regulate  the  examination,  but  had  also 
imposed  upon  it  the  duty  of  taking  such  steps  for  rendering  them  eflfective 
as  might  from  time  to  time  appear  necessary. 
Mr.  Stephenson  contended  that  the  principle  involved  in  the  require- 
ment of  pharmaceutical  qualification  was  not  only  right  and  proper  from 
an  abstract  point  of  view,  but  that  it  was  also  of  great  practical  importance 
on  account  of  the  consequences  that  naturally  followed  from  it  and  of  the 
reiiults  which  could  only  be  hoped  for  by  strenuously  endeavoring  to  uphold 
that  principle,  and  he  proceeded  to  enforce  this  view  of  the  matter  by 
directing  attention  to  several  corollaries  inevitably  proceeding  from  the 
