60 
DEBATES ON PHARMACY BILL. 
Mr. Lowe : I now move to leave out the words I have just read (see above), and to 
insert in their place, “ it shall be lawful for the Privy Council, from time to time as it 
may see fit, to order that other articles (being drugs or compounds of drugs which may 
be dangerous to life) shall be poisons within the meaning of this Act, and every 
such order of the Privy Council shall be published.” 
Mr. Headlam : This amendment raises precisely the same question as that just 
decided, and I must oppose it. 
Mr. H. A. Bruce : I hope the Committee will reconsider their decision, as more 
power should, on the part of the public, be given to the Privy Council. There is a 
medical department of the Council, and more power should be given to the chief officer 
of it, in order that he may say what evils arise from the present practice of selling 
poisons. It is a department of the State acting for the public interests. 
Mr. Thomas Cave suggested the insertion of the words after “ Great Britain,” “ or 
other legally constituted medical body,” and said he should be quite willing to meet the 
objection of the right honourable gentleman. 
Lord R. Montagu : I trust the right honourable gentleman will not press this 
amendment, for it is substantially the same as that which the Committee have already de¬ 
cided, and after disposing of this there will be no other important amendment to deal with. 
Mr. Lowe : The difference is this, the other amendment referred to poisons and 
regulations touching the sale of them, and this one refers to what shall be poisons, and 
in the interest of the public I must press it for consideration. 
Mr. Headlam: As the clause stands there will be sufficient security to the public, 
for all new poisons will be published in the Gazette. 
Sir R. Collier : It appears to me that the Pharmaceutical Society will know more 
about this matter than the Privy Council, and that they will attend to it in a much 
better manner. 
Lord R. Montagu : There is already a great list of poisons in the schedule of the Bill, 
and all others resolved upon will be included from time to time. 
Mr. Loave : If there be one poison more used than another it is opium in various 
forms, and this will not come under any regulations, not being named in the schedule. 
Lord R. Montagu : It can be inserted when we come to the schedule. 
Mr. Lowe : The Pharmaceutical Society would leave it out, and it is a most dan¬ 
gerous poison. Perhaps because more prorit is got out of the sale of this poison it is 
not proposed to deal with it. 
Mr. T. Cave : The object of not inserting it was not so much as it concerns the 
Pharmaceutical Society as it does the grocers and others who sell this article without 
any control whatsoever. The schedule can be extended when under consideration. 
Mr. Ayrton : I have sat on two Select Committees, unfortunately, and we could not 
come to any agreement, and it is now proposed that the chemists shall be allowed to en¬ 
large their list of poisons just as they like, and it will be nobody’s business to restrict them. 
Mr. T. Cave : Yes. Nothing will be in the schedule without the consent of the 
Privy Council. 
Mr. Ayrton : The Privy Council will give themselves up to any theory that may be 
suggested, and this schedule will grow and grow to the manifest injury of trade in this, 
country ; because those who have been disappointed in love have drunk the contents of 
a bottle, therefore, it is proposed to put oxalic acid into the schedule, and to prevent its 
sale to servant maids, except by persons who have undergone a serious examination. 
When on the Select Committee, we examined upstairs a large number of scientific 
witnesses, and day after day we heard a vast lot of nonsense. I can see no good reason 
for what is now proposed by the clause, and it seems to me that the matter should be 
left with the Privy Council. I think oxalic acid ought to be struck out of the 
schedule. 
Mr. Paull : The honourable and learned Member attributes greater ignorance to 
persons than is justifiable. As this question is a large one, it will be better to report 
progress. 
The amendment was then put from the chair and negatived. 
Lord R. Montagu : After the word “ London ” insert “ and Edinburgh Gazettes,’” 
agreed to. 
Mr. Eykyn proposed to include “ Dublin.” 
Lord R. Montagu : The Bill does not extend to Ireland. 
