Committee of the National Association of General Practitioners, with a certain number of other Members of the Association, to be nominated according to their standing in the profession, this would be the first step towards a mutual reconciliation. It should be a condition that all those who are admitted as Fellows should cease to keep open shops, and the regulations respecting future practitioners might be in accordance with the present views of the College. This plan would have one important advantage: it would establish an inducement to separate Pharmacy from Medical Practice. The desire to become Fellows would encourage medical men to "cut the shop"-to discontinue the sale of jalap and rhubarb, horse-medicines, perfumery, &c. &c., and to adhere more strictly to their own legitimate functions. By this means the competition between the Apothecaries and Chemists would gradually subside, and a feeling of mutual confidence might be established, which would tend materially to diminish the prevalence of "counter-practice." As long as any jealousy exists between the Apothecary and the Chemist, the latter is obliged in self-defence to give advice in cases in which he would gladly refer the patient to a medical man; but he dare not send patients to the Apothecary, who keeps a shop in every respect like his own-he might in this way transfer his whole business to his neighbour. This is not a theoretical view of the case. We speak from actual experience in stating that it is a great advantage to a Chemist to be on good terms with the Apothecaries in his neighbourhood, especially if they adopt the practice of writing prescriptions, a plan which experience has shown to be mutually beneficial in those localities in which it has been tried.

The regulation which we suggest, in reference to the Fellowship, would promote this amicable arrangement between the two classes, and would be attended with public benefit, besides removing the source of jealousy which at present exists. The change would be gradual and voluntary on both sides, and this method of reform is much more desirable than a system of restrictions and penalties, which foster unpleasant feelings between the parties,

and which may be constantly evaded, giving rise to frequent litigation. If the Medical Bill were to be adopted in the form above described, no individual in the profession would have any cause to complain-the rank of each would be in proportion to his merit, and if he aspired to a higher grade no obstacle would exist, provided he could prove himself worthy of promotion.

Instead of a College of General Practitioners being created, which would perpetuate the confusion, and raise fresh obstacles to the separation of Pharmacy from Medical Practice, the bulk of the profession would belong to the College of Surgeons, either as Fellows or Members, according to the option of each individual in reference to the prescribed conditions.

Considerable tact is necessary in completing the details respecting education and examination, so as to avoid a collision of interest between the several schools, and to keep each branch of the profession in its proper place. The plan of consulting each party separately has failed, and is not at all likely to succeed, because whatever measure may be approved by the first party, will, of course, be crippled by the second, and the result will be cut to pieces by the third. Each party having taken out a slice and put in a slice, the compound is a wreck of patchwork alike unpalatable to all.

We think this inconvenience might be avoided by the appointment of a small committee, consisting of the representatives of the several grand divisions of the profession, who might be brought face to face before a Committee of the House of Commons conversant with the subject of Medical Reform, and competent to weigh the respective arguments and prejudices in the balance.

By the method above described, coupled with a disposition on all sides to discuss the question rationally and dispassionately (an experiment hitherto untried), the disputes among medical men might easily be settled. The supplementary Bill for the regulation of Pharmacy would be attended with little or no difficulty. This Bill should constitute Pharmaceutical Chemists as an educated body, which should also be represented in the Council

of Health. The machinery of the PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, which is already in active operation, would require but little modification to adapt it to the general purposes of an Act of Parliament, which has from the commencement been kept in view as the ultimate object of the Society. The management of the body being vested in its own Council, annually elected by the Members at large, and under the superior control of the Council of Health, the examinations and other proceedings would be conducted according to the principles established in the other branches of the profession; and similar penalties should be instituted for the fraudulent assumption of any name or title, implying that the party is qualified under the Act. The education of the Chemist being regulated by a competent Board, under an Act of Parliament, his duties would be more clearly defined than they have hitherto been, and it would be the duty of the Board to ensure the competence of all candidates for whatever functions they might be called upon to perform. It would be particularly desirable to avoid the error of conferring on Chemists a Medical qualification, and thus producing a repetition of the difficulties which arose in the case of the Apothecaries, who by this means have been displaced from their original position. At the same time, the education of the Chemist must comprise a knowledge of the properties and doses of medicines, the usual mode of combination and administration, the antidotes for poisons, with a sufficient amount of therapeutics to qualify him to answer the ordinary questions of patients in reference to the preparations of the Pharmacopoeia. It would be impossible as well as impolitic to prohibit altogether the sale of drugs by unqualified persons; but in the same manner as a Chemist would be liable to a penalty for pretending to be a Medical Practitioner-an unqualified tradesman should be liable to a penalty for pretending to be a Chemist. If the public prefer the advice of a quack, or the drugs of a grocer or farrier, no law will prevent the exercise of this propensity; but every person who applies for such advice, or such drugs, ought to be fully aware that the party is not qualified.

9

PROCEEDINGS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY,

IN REFERENCE TO THE MEDICAL BILL.

A NUMEROUS meeting of the Chemists and Druggists of London and its vicinity was held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Strand, on Monday, the 2d of June; Mr. MORSON, Vice-President of the PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN stated, that the Meeting had been called by the Council of the PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, in consequence of the introduction of a clause into the Medical Bill now before Parliament, which, if passed into law, would seriously affect the body which they represented, in common with every other Chemist and Druggist throughout the country, as well as the public at large. The clause to which he alluded was as follows :

"And be it enacted, that every person who, after the passing of this Act, shall act or practise as an Apothecary in any part of England or Wales, without having been registered by the said Council of Health as a General Practitioner in Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of twenty pounds, to be applied to the use of the said College, to be recovered by action of debt in any of Her Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster."

The PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY had been established with the two-fold object of promoting the education of the Pharmaceutical Chemists of this country, and of protecting its members against any unjust encroachments upon their accustomed rights and privileges. The Council had always had these objects in view, and, although unwilling, by appealing to Parliament to impose any obstacles to the settlement of the question of Medical reform, yet felt it their duty to offer a strenuous opposition to the Bill in its present form. In doing this, however, they were anxious to avoid collision with the other branches of the Medical Profession; they had no wish to interfere in any way with the General Practitioners; and he trusted that the Meeting would set an example, by the temperate manner in which they expressed themselves, and by the moderate and reasonable nature of their demands, that might be followed with advantage by their brethren throughout the country. The Council had, in the first instance, addressed a memorial to Sir James Graham, respectfully calling his attention to the injurious operation of the clause in question, and requesting the favour of an interview on behalf of the Society. In the belief that some obstacle existed to a compliance with this request, they had considered it their duty to call the Meeting; but a communication had subsequently been received from the Home Office, which they hoped might lead to a favourable result. This, however, being at present unknown, they could not do otherwise than proceed with the business for which they had assembled. The Chairman was glad to inform the Meeting that he had been favoured with an interview with

Mr. Warburton, who had expressed much interest in the proceedings of the Chemists, and had readily consented to advocate their cause in Parliament if it should be found requisite to make any exertions in that quarter.

Mr. JACOB BELL moved the first resolution :

"That this Meeting observes with regret and apprehension the alterations recently made in the Bill for Regulating the Profession of Physic and Surgery now before Parliament, and feels bound to offer to the Bill, in its present state, the most strenuous opposition."

Mr. BELL observed, that the present Bill was more objectionable than that of Mr. Hawes, as the definition of the term "acting as an Apothecary" was omitted, and this might be interpreted so as to subject Chemists to constant penalties. It was not the wish or the interest of Chemists to become Medical men. This would result in their place being supplied by another class, and they would ultimately be as badly off as the Apothecaries, whose position, he contended, was by no means enviable. But the Chemists were often called upon to give an opinion as to the doses and properties of Medicines; in some trifling cases they were applied to by the poor, who could not get medical advice; and in cases of emergency, such as poisoning, it was their duty to administer an antidote, or use their endeavours to give relief. In all these cases they would be liable to a penalty by the proposed Bill. The dispensing of prescriptions was also according to recognised authorities and definitions comprised in the office of the Apothecary, although practically it was chiefly performed by Chemists. The ancient Apothecaries were merely dispensers of Medicines; and as late as the year 1815 it was a disputed point whether the Chemists had a legal right to perform that office. By the Apothecaries' Act of 1815, the Apothecaries were recognised as Medical Practitioners, and the Chemists as Dispensers. There was but one clause in any Act of Parliament which gave Chemists this legal right, and that clause was about to be repealed. As the law would not be administered by those who had framed it, the interpretation might be very different from that which was intended, and Chemists would be liable to constant persecution, or be reduced to the condition of mere venders of simple drugs. Mr. Hawes, while he proposed to restrict Chemists, proposed also to raise their character, to make them an educated body, to give them rank and privileges. The present Bill did not even recognise their existence, while it indirectly inflicted very objectionable restrictions without giving any privileges whatever. The Bill would also be injurious to prescribing Surgeons, who are not in the habit of furnishing Medicines, and who, by the clause under consideration, would be liable to the penalty if on ahy emergency, or under any circumstances, they acted as Apothecaries, unless they happened to belong to the New College of General Practitioners, as well as to the College of Surgeons. It was therefore, for several reasons, absolutely necessary to oppose that portion of the Medical