408 
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE RIGHT HON. GATHORNE HARDY 
AT THE HOME OFFICE ON THE QUESTION OF PHARMA¬ 
CEUTICAL LEGISLATION. 
The Home Secretary having consented to receive a deputation from the 
Council of the Pharmaceutical Society on the 4th of February, the following 
gentlemen proceeded to the appointment:—Mr. Sandford, President; Mr. 
Hills, Vice-President; Messrs. M. Carteighe, Evans, Haselden, Morson, and 
Waugh, members of the Parliamentary Committee; Mr. Flux, Solicitor, and 
Mr. Bremridge, Secretary; accompanied by Mr. Hornby, of Sheffield, and 
Messrs. Pass and Wade, of London. 
A copy of the Bill proposed by the Pharmaceutical Society had been pre¬ 
viously left at the Home Office for consideration. 
(The Bill is printed, in extenso , in our present number.) 
The President, in introducing the deputation, stated, that although he had 
only asked the Home Secretary to receive some members of the Council of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, he had ventured on bringing three other gentlemen— 
Mr. Hornby, Mr. Wade, and Mr. Pass—not connected with the Society, for 
the purpose of proving that those who opposed the Bill (No. 1) of 1865, were 
fully satisfied with the present proposition, and anxious, on the part of the 
trade generally, to support it. That the clauses in the Bill regulating the ad¬ 
mission of chemists and druggists in business, prior to its passing, were satis¬ 
factory, and had removed their ground of objection. 
Mr. Hardy asked if there were not some other association of chemists 
besides the Pharmaceutical Society, and was informed that, with the exception 
of local societies, the “ United Society ” was the only other, and that Mr. Hornby 
was its President; whereupon Mr. Hornby at once expressed his full concur¬ 
rence, and stated that the Bill contained nothing objectionable to the trade. 
Mr. HaVdy considered the prospects greatly improved by this unanimity, 
and drew attention first to the fact, that the compounding of medicines from 
the prescriptions of persons not duly qualified under the Medical Acts would 
still be left open to unqualified dispensers. 
The President and Mr. Flux explained that it had been deemed necessary, 
in drawing the Bill, to have some well-defined limit to the prohibition, and no 
other course seemed open, but to follow the example of the Medical Council 
Act. 
Mr. Hardy inquired in what manner the schedule of “Poisons” had been 
drawn ; and was informed by Mr. Morson, that those most commonly used for 
criminal or suicidal purposes had been chosen. 
After a general conversation, in which Sir James Fergusson took part, as 
to the proceedings of the Committee of the House of Commons in 1865, the 
Home Secretary said, that personally he approved of all the propositions sub¬ 
mitted to him ; he entirely concurred in the necessity for an educational quali¬ 
fication in persons who were entrusted to compound medicines, but that he saw 
no chance of proceeding with legislation on the subject before Easter, and that 
he could not, without consulting his colleagues, say whether or not the Govern¬ 
ment would introduce a measure on the question. 
Mr. Sandford, on the part of the deputation, replied, that they were so 
thoroughly convinced of the greater chance of success if the Bill were intro¬ 
duced by Government, that they would gladly, with Mr. Hardy’s permission, 
leave it at present in his hands for further consideration and consultation, to 
which the Right Honourable gentleman assented, promising to communicate the 
result to Mr. Sandford. 
