278 PROGRESS OF PHARMACY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
one would have an addition of nearly £200 a year to his 
present income. But this evil it appeared wasnot confined 
to the capital ; it was declared to be a morbific infection,^ 
that it began at the capital as a central point, but diffused 
its deadly breath from thence to all the cities and towns 
throughout the kingdom. Nor stopped the contagion here. 
From the larger cities and towns it was beheld propagating 
itself to the smaller cities and towns, till at length, so gene- 
ral was the disease, there was scarcely to be found a village 
or hamlet without a village or hamlet druggist. If the sale 
of medicines and giving of advice was not here sufficient to 
support the vender, he added to his own occupation, the 
sale of mops, brooms, bacon, butter, and a thousand such 
articles besides." 
A committee of twenty was appointed, funds subscribed, 
a general correspondence entered into with various parts of 
the country, and a vast mass of facts collected bearing on 
the condition of the druggists ; a petition to Parliament fol- 
iov/ed, but nothing issued from that authority bearing on 
the druggists and chemists. In fact the effects were bene- 
ficial-, as it induced a community of interest and prepared 
the way for a strongly manifested opposition to subsequent 
attempts by the apothecaries and physicians. 
In 1813, the Association of Apothecaries caused a bill to 
be introduced into Parliament, containing several clauses 
extremely objectionable to chemists and druggists. A general 
meeting of the latter was held on March 4th, 1813, to con- 
sider the best means of opposition. A committee was 
appointed of som-e of the most talented of their number, of 
which the late William Allen was chairman, which acted 
in the most energetic manner. Funds were collected, the 
members in other cities corresponded with, petitions pre- 
sented, &e., which was so effective in its results, as to cause 
the withdrawal of the offensive clauses, and thus gained the 
object of their appointment. The excess of funds thus sub- 
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