512 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
of 1867 unless “P. L.” were put upon the prescription. If they all agreed to 
follow this course, and made it generally understood that such was their rule, he 
felt assured that medical men would thank them for it. They could not say 
too plainly that they desired to act in obedience to the law, and to follow the 
only existing legal Pharmacopoeia in this country ; but at the same time, if any 
medical men wished to prescribe according to the London or any other Phar¬ 
macopoeia, their wishes would be always implicitly complied with, if they clearly 
indicated on their prescriptions what their intentions were. In adhering in all 
cases, where nothing to the contrary was indicated on the prescription, to the 
formulae of the new Pharmacopoeia, there was one great satisfaction, which was 
that in almost every instance in which an alteration had been made in the 
strength of the preparations contained in the present Pharmacopoeia as com¬ 
pared with the London Pharmacopoeia, the strength had been reduced. The 
only material exception to this was in the case of one of the preparations of 
arsenic, which was but little used, and there the name had been altered, which 
would serve to distinguish it. Speaking as a dispenser of medicines, he thought 
they ought to bow to the wishes of the Medical Council, as expressed in the 
notice they had issued, and which notice applied as much to prescribes as dis¬ 
pensers. If it were generally understood, as he hoped it would be, that dis¬ 
pensing chemists w r ould always follow the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867, unless 
otherwise directed, he thought the knowledge of what was the uniform prac¬ 
tice in dispensing would be of great assistance to medical men, and would con¬ 
tribute more than anything else to the general adoption of the British Phar¬ 
macopoeia by prescribes. The difficulty they had hitherto experienced would 
thus be soon got over. He had himself experienced the difficulties attend¬ 
ing the introduction of new editions of Pharmacopoeias, with reference to the 
London Pharmacopoeia, and had always found that, with proper management, 
they were of short duration. He believed that such would be the case in refer¬ 
ence to the present Pharmacopoeia, if they acted in the way indicated. 
Mr. Waugh thought this subject, which had arisen incidentally out of the 
discussion of the subject introduced by Mr. Wood, was, perhaps, and especially 
at the present time, the more important subject of the two. He thought it 
might be desirable that the Pharmaceutical Society should issue their advertise¬ 
ment, and that they should intimate to medical men that they intended to 
follow the British Pharmacopoeia as the only legal standard in all cases where 
no other Pharmacopoeia was indicated, and that they would thus act in obe¬ 
dience to the requirements of the law and the wishes of the Medical Council, 
throwing the responsibility upon the prescribers of medicines if they failed to 
do their duty in pursuing a similar course. 
The Chairman fully agreed with what had been said by Mr. Hills and Mr. 
Waugh on this important subject. Speaking as a wholesale druggist, 
he could say that the firm to which he belonged had already intimated 
to their customers in the country that every preparation they sent out, would 
be made according to the formulae of the British Pharmacopoeia, unless 
otherwise ordered. If dispensing chemists were generally to adopt the same 
course, the difficulty would soon be got over. As the hour at which they 
usually adjourned was already passed, l)r. Attfield’s communication must stand 
over for another occasion. He had to announce that in the following month 
(the 19th of May) there would be a conversazione held there as usual, on the 
day preceding the Anniversary Meeting of the Society, and the Council would 
be glad to receive from members and their friends assistance in providing 
objects of interest for the occasion. 
