402 
ADULTERATION OE FOOD AND DRUGS. 
made, in accordance with the feeling so strongly expressed, by which persons 
hereafter passing the Minor Examination, and being registered as Chemists and 
Druggists, will be eligible to be elected Associates of the Society, having, how¬ 
ever, the option of acquiring the voting powers of members by the payment of 
members’ subscriptions, and Assistants and Apprentices, in compliance with the 
resolution proposed by Mr. M. Carteighe at the last annual meeting, will only 
take the same grade ; it was formerly proposed that on commencing business on 
their own account they should be eligible for membership, but this would have 
placed them in a superior position to men who had passed the Minor Exami¬ 
nation ; they will be put on exactly the same footing as the “Minors,” now 
holding the same grade in the trade as themselves, although already connected 
with the Society. To have done more would have been exceeding all precedent, 
to a greater extent perhaps than was justifiable. 
Our readers will be glad to see by a report we give elsewhere of the interview 
with the Home Secretary, how completely he entered into the spirit of the Bill 
submitted for his consideration, and in a correspondence which has been since 
going on between that Right Honourable gentleman and the President, he has 
promised to support (indeed there is still strong reason to hope that he will 
introduce) such a measure in Parliament as will settle the question of Pharma¬ 
ceutical legislation satisfactorily to all parties. 
f ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRUGS. 
In the year 1860 an Act was passed “to prevent the adulteration of articles 
of food and drink,” which was founded upon the results of the investigation 
of a committee of the House of Commons. The subject of adulteration had, 
at that time, attracted a good deal of public attention, and the opinion was 
very generally entertained that some legislative enactment was required to pre¬ 
vent or mitigate what was felt to be a great and growing evil. The inquiry 
which had preceded the introduction of the Bill of 1860 applied to drugs as well 
as food ; but it was shown that much had been done to diminish the adultera¬ 
tion of drugs through the measures adopted by the Pharmaceutical Society, 
and the means of applying a remedy was rendered more easy and simple by 
confining the application of the Act to food and drinks. 
The Act was intended to deal with two sorts of transactions:— 
1st. The sale of articles so adulterated as to prove injurious to health. 
2nd. The sale of articles warranted to he pure or unadulterated , which prove 
to be adulterated or impure. 
For either of these offences the offender was rendered liable to a penalty not 
exceeding five pounds; and if, after being convicted, he shall commit the like 
offence, the justices before whom the case has been proved may cause the 
offender’s name, place of abode, and offence, to be published in such newspaper, 
or in such other manner as the justices may think desirable. 
Then, to facilitate the operation of the Act, it was provided that the paro¬ 
chial or other local authorities in the several districts throughout the country 
may, if they think proper, for their respective districts, appoint or remove one 
or moJ?e persons possessing competent medical, chemical, and microscopical 
knowledge as analysts of all articles of food and drink purchased within such 
districts, and may also provide a convenient office, etc., for such analysts, and 
may pay to such analysts such salary or allowance as they may think fit. 
It will be seen that these methods of putting the Act into operation was left 
entirely optional with parochial and other local authorities. 
