228 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST OF AUSTRALASIA. 
Oct. 1, 1895. 
VICTORIA. 
street at Bendigo. This advertisement was the subject of 
the action, and the judge described it as grossly malicious, 
slanderous, and libellous. Defendant’s counsel said Richards 
was now in England. 
Condy’S Fluid. — The Warrnambool case, which turned 
on the question whether Condy’s Fluid, malt extract, and 
other articles were drugs, and should therefore be supplied 
in an hospital contract without extra charge, has again 
received notice in the local papers. During the hearing of 
the case, Mr. R. F. Kennedy, chemist, said that Condy’s 
Fluid was a solution of Permanganate of Potassium. Condy 
<fe Mitchell, under date July 26, write to the Warrnambool 
Echo to contradict this statement, and to assert that Condy’s 
Fluid has valuable antiseptic qualities not to be found in a 
solution of that sort, and reminding readers that they take 
proceedings against all cases of such substitution and 
infringement. 
A Medical Provident Institute exists at Carlton, where 
it was established some time ago by Dr. Cranston. In the 
District Court, on September 13, he sued a Mr. and Mrs. 
Fowler for the recovery of £6 16s. 6d., said to be due for 
medical attendance upon the latter, and the defence set up 
was that Mrs. Fowler had joined the institute, and was, 
therefore, entitled to the attendance as a member. She had 
paid the admission fee of 2s., she said, and 6d. weekly 
thereafter. The doctor said he had originated the institute 
for necessitous persons only, and did not consider that Mrs. 
Fowler came under that class. Besides, she was in arrears 
with her payments, and he therefore charged her as a 
private patient. A verdict was given for £3 8s, 3d., being 
half the amount claimed. 
Poisoning’ Cases. — Near Colac lately several members 
of a family showed symptoms of poisoning, and examina- 
tion of some sugar bought at the local store revealed the 
presence of bluestone in large quantity. A young man 
named M‘Donald committed suicide at Condah on Sep- 
tember 12 by means of arsenic. John Coton was before 
the Prahran bench during the month on a charge of 
swallowing some oxalic acid with suicidal intention. 
The six months old child of people named Carroll, at 
Carlton, was accidentally poisoned by the mother while 
under the influence of drink. According to the mother’s 
story a visitor gave the child spirits of salts in mistake for 
salad oil, but the mistake it was soon seen rested with the 
mother herself, and the jury gave a verdict as above. Mr. 
Blackett found abundance of chlorides in the stomach, but 
could detect no free hydrochloric acid. 
The Veterinary Surgeons Act — Mr. Murray, M.L.A., 
has introduced into Parliament a Bill to amend the Veteri- 
nary Surgeons Act for the purpose of reducing the length 
of the term of practice before the passing of the Act which 
entitles to registration. The Act, as it was introduced in 
1887, made no provision for registering any but those who 
had recognised diplomas, or passed examinations. In its pas- 
sage through the House, a clause was added providing that 
anyone who had been seven years in practice in Victoria as a 
veterinary surgeon should be entitled to registration. In 1889 
an amending Bill was introduced, which would have made 
it compulsory to apply before the middle of 1890 for registra- 
tion under this provision, but the Bill was received with so 
little favour that it was withdrawn. Mr. Murray was one 
of its opponents at that time. The suggestion in the present 
Bill which, however, has not been circulated, is in the oppo- 
site direction — that anyone who had practised for two years 
in Victoria prior to the passing of the Act should be entitled 
to registration. The veterinary surgeons have waited upon 
the Government, asking them oppose the section, and bring 
forward as one of the arguments that the rapidly developing 
trade in frozen meat requires that it should be properly 
inspected before exportation, and that it would be disastrous 
if it became known or suspected that those who had the 
work of inspection were not fully qualified. Speaking on 
September 26, Mr. Murray asked leave to postpone the Bill 
for a fortnight, and used the ambiguous phrase, that “ when 
one-tenth of the veterinary surgeons now practising could 
not sign their own names, some steps in the direction he had 
originally proposed were necessary.” The second reading 
is down for October 9. 
DENTAL MATTERS. 
A Dental Fee, rightfully belonging to the London Dental 
Institute, Melbourne, was paid by mistake to another estab- 
lishment, and Morris Davis, who accepted and gave a receipt 
for the sum (21s.) had to explain the matter in court. He 
pleaded that he was not aware of what he had done, having just 
previously had an attack of delirium tremens, and the Bench 
ordered him to appear again in a week’s time to be dealt 
with, refunding the money meantime. 
THE DENTAL BOARD OF VICTORIA. 
A special meeting of the Dental Board was held on 
Monday, September 16, at 4.30 p.m. (Present — The President, 
Drs. Gresswell, Mullen, and Springthorpe, and Messrs. 
George, Iliffe, Kernot, and Oldfield), to consider a letter 
from the Chief Secretary to the following effect: — 
[On August 31 this letter was received from the Chief 
Secretary’s office. It is almost self-explanatory, and we 
print it below, only adding in square brackets brief state- 
ments of the contents and objects of the clauses referred to 
by numbers. — Editor. 
No. 4562. Chief Secretary’s Office, 
Melbourne, August 31, 1895. 
Sir, — I have the honour, by direction, to inform you that 
the proposed amended regulations forwarded to the Chief 
Secretary by the Dental Board of Victoria on the 3rd ult. 
have been submitted to the Honourable the Attorney-General, 
who advises, in regard to the regulations and in regard to 
the power of the Governor-in-Council to make regula- 
tions : — 
1. That it is the Dental Board which is to conduct the 
examinations prescribed, and to satisfy itself as to the com- 
petency of the candidates, and that it ought not. so to 
sneak, to delegate its functions in this respect to any other 
person or body of persons. 
2. That, apart from age and passing the necessary 
examinations before the Board, the only other qualification 
required to entitle an applicant to registration as a dentist 
is that, for four years continuously, he should have been 
engaged in acquiring professional knowledge, and that as 
long as he can satisfy the Board for the time being that he 
has complied with this condition, that is enough, and it is 
not competent, therefore, to prescribe a certificate of matricu- 
lation or indenture of apprenticeship as an essential, or to 
insist on any particular mode of acquiring the professional 
knowledge required by section 54 (n). It is sufficient that 
the applicant should, for the time prescribed by the Statute, 
be engaged in acquiring the knowledge, and, so long as he is 
doing it in a reasonable, legitimate, and bona-fide manner, 
it is not competent for the Board to ask for some other 
mode of doing it. As to whether the necessary knowledge 
ha^ in fact been acquired, it is for the Board to judge by 
means of the examinations at which the applicant’s fitness 
is tested. 
The Attorney-General therefore advises that clauses 5, 8, 
and 9 of the proposed amended regulations (as well as of 
the present regulations) are ultra vb'es. — [These clauses 
impose a preliminary examination, the registration of 
indentures, and an extensive curriculum as “ evidence of 
acquirement of professional knowledge.” — Editor.] 
In regard to clause 7 [which fixes the professional exami- 
nation twice a year and the “modified” when required], he 
also states that the Governor-in-Council should actually 
prescribe the times of examination, and not delegate to the 
Board the power of fixing the time ; also, that clause 14 (a) 
[providing a modified examination, without curriculum, for 
certain students indentured before the regulations were 
made] is either new legislation, and therefore opposed to 
the Act, or is an attempt to fetter the hands of the Board 
itself for the time being by depriving it of the discretion 
given by the Act ; and that clause 18 [arranging for a 
Diploma of Licentiate of Dental Surgery of Victoria] is 
ultra vires, as the Act merely provides for the registration 
of dentists. 
The Attorney-General further advises that such of the 
existing regulations as are tdtra vires should be repealed, 
