518  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.        {"^"'  ocrisLs'"'"" 
the  more  important  factor  in  the  matter,  his  professional  service  rendered 
in  dispensing  and  other  parts  of  his  avocation  was  to  be  regarded  as  the 
true  standard  of  value.  It  was  necessary  to  consider  the  qualification  of 
the  pharmacist,  his  competence  to  verify  the  purity  and  potency  of  every 
article  he  deals  with,  the  intelligence  and  skill  implied  in  this  competence, 
the  responsibility  involved  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions,  a  responsibility 
to  be  measured  by  the  momentous  consequences  which  might  ensue  from 
any  inadvertence,  not  only  of  himself,  but  of  any  agent  employed  by  him, 
which  involved  personal  attention  unknown  and  uncalled  for  in  any  other 
business,  together  with  the  many  other  qualities,  both  of  head  and  hand, 
necessary  to  constitute  a  true  pharmacist.  Considering  all  these  points, 
the  question  of  intrinsic  value  sank  completely  into  the  shade.  The  ques- 
tion how  to  apply  the  principle  of  professional  remuneration  was  more 
ditficult.  In  other  professions  the  range  of  professional  service  was  more 
uniform  and  limited,  and  the  scale  of  remuneration  was  consequently 
more  easily  understood.  In  the  practice  of  pharmacy  the  range  of  service 
was  wider  and  multifarious  ;  there  might  be  endless  discrepancy  of  opin- 
ions amongst  pharmacists  themselves  as  to  its  value,  and  the  public  would 
still  less  readily  understand  paying  money  and  receiving  something  tan- 
gible for  it  as  being  a  transaction  exactly  like  paying  a  doctor  or  a  lawyer. 
The  problem  was  intricate,  to  be  solved  only  by  acting  on  the  principle 
enunciated  and  making  a  fair  estimate  of  the  intangible  elements  in  their 
transactions,  namely,  the  intelligence,  skill,  responsibility  and  special 
knowledge  required  independently  of  the  value  of  the  materials  dealt  with. 
By  concerted  action  on  that  principle  the  results  would  be  more  satisfac- 
tory to  pharmacists  and  not  disadvantageous  to  the  public.  The  practice 
of  working  on  such  a  principle  had  come  into  operation  since  the  earlier 
years  of  his  experience  ;  it  had  its  origin  in  Edinburgh,  and,  as  far  as  he 
knew,  it  had  afforded  entire  satisfaction.  The  President  referred  to  another 
matter  which  he  regarded  as  a  legitimate  inference  to  be  drawn  from  his 
premises,  that  the  qualification  of  the  pharmacist  should  cover  all  his  deal- 
ings with  legal  poisons,  independent  of  all  other  restrictive  regulations. 
What  more  was  necessary  than  the  ascertained  qualification  of  those 
authorized  to  deal  with  poisons?  Poisoning  by  inadvertence  could  never 
be  prevented  by  Act  of  Parliament,  any  more  than  intentional  poisoning. 
By  the  qualified  pharmacist  labeling  would  be  done  without  the  present 
restrictions ;  nevertheless  these  did  no  actual  harm,  and  he  would  urge 
that  all  poisons,  however  sold,  whether  covered  with  the  Government 
stamp  or  not.  should  come  under  their  operation.  Still  the  qualification 
of  the  pharmacist  was  the  only  real  security  against  preventible  poi- 
soning which  the  Legislature  was  called  upon  to  take.  It  had  already 
charged  itself  with  that,  and  any  further  legislation  on  grandmotherly 
lines  would  be  as  much  out  of  place  now  as  the  pharmacy  of  the  days 
of  Romeo  or  the  apothecary  of  Mantua  himself  would  be.  Still  another 
inference,  drawn  from  the  President's  initial  proposition,  was  the  need 
of  discountenancing  quackery  in  every  shape  or  form,  as  the  outcome 
of  ignorance,  cupidity  and  credulity.  It  found  a  congenial  soil  on  the  field 
of  medicine,  and  especially  that  part  of  it  occupied  by  pharmacy  ;  one  of 
its  most  mischievous  results  being  to  give  rise  to  exaggerated  notions  as  to 
