ENGLISH  AND  FRENCH  PHARMACY. 
433 
a  charity  in  the  noblest  sense — the  nuns  displayed  excellent 
tact,  and  supplied  good  physic.  But  when  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  France  education  became  universal,  a  new  order 
of  things  arose.  The  Physician  first  caught  the  genial  inspira- 
tion, and  the  Pharmacien  next.  A  School  of  Pharmacy  was 
established,  which  exacted  certain  duties,  entailed  grave  ex- 
penses, and  conferred  distinct  privileges  in  return.  As  one  in- 
centive to  closer  application,  it  authoritatively  declared  that 
none  could  practise  pharmacy  who  had  not  obtained  a  first-class 
diploma.  On  the  faith  of  this  edict  the  Paris  student  hastens  to 
the  seat  of  learning,  hires  a  back  room  in  a  back  street  in  the 
Quartier  Latin,  eats  one  franc  dinners,  dreams  of  oxygen,  and 
nearly  works  his  heart  out.  Up  to  this  point  the  career  of  the 
English  and  French  student  is  almost  identical ;  in  each  case 
the  same  influences  are  at  work ;  there  are  the  same  hopes  to 
stimulate,  the  same  difficulties  to  overcome,  and  the  same  goal 
to  reach.  But  here  Jean  Jacques  bids  farewell  to  John  James, 
and  having  passed  his  examination  with  distinction,  packs  up 
his  books,  and  commences  business  in  a  country  town. 
There  he  discovers  to  his  horror  a  large  establishment  directed 
by  nuns,  without  a  title  and  without  a  diploma,  and  consequently 
under  neither  responsibility  nor  guarantee.  Besides  this  (and 
the  statement  is  taken  directly  from  an  actual  sufferer),  in  most 
of  the  principal  towns  « there  exist  Pharmacies  without  Phar- 
maciens,  directed  by  religious  communities  of  various  orders, 
who,  under  the  title  of  hospital,  hospice,  or  house  of  charity, 
prepare  and  sell  all  Pharmaceutical  products  to  the  public,  and 
make  up  the  prescriptions  of  medical  men.  Such  a  system  is 
injurious — 
"  1.  To  the  development  of  Pharmaceutical  Studies  : 
"  2.  To  the  prosperity  of  Schools,  or  Faculties  of  Pharmacy, 
as  well  as  to  a  great  number  of  district  Colleges: 
"  3.  To  the  station  and  fortune  of  all  young  men  who,  having 
completed  their  studies,  seek  in  Pharmacy  an  honorable  position, 
sufficiently  lucrative  to  allow  them  to  bring  up  their  families  : 
"4.  To  the  public  safety." — (lithe.  Fortoul,  Journal  de 
Ohimie  Medicale.    Janvier,  1858.) 
It  is  a  bad  case  indeed  which  has  no  friends,  and  this  licensed 
illegality  finds  a  strenuous  defender  in  the  wholesale  Paris 
28 
