64 
DEBATES ON PHARMACY BILL. 
Mr. W. E. Forster : The words as they now stand have this effect, that if no men¬ 
tion is made in the prescription according to which Pharmacopoeia it is to be prescribed, 
the chemist will have power to prescribe in any way. 
Lord R. Montagu : That is not my intention. If these words bear that interpreta¬ 
tion we had better alter them, but I do not think they do. 
The clause, as amended, “or who shall compound any medicines of the British Phar¬ 
macopoeia except according to the formularies of the said Pharmacopoeia,” was agreed 
to and ordered to stand part of the Bill. 
On clause 16, 
Mr. Thomas Cave : This clause is as follows:—that “ nothing hereinbefore contained 
shall extend to or interfere with the business of any duly qualified medical practitioner, 
or of any member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of Great Britain ; nor 
with the making or dealing in patent medicines; nor with the business of wholesale 
dealers in supplying poisons in the ordinary course of wholesale dealing; nor with the 
retailing of arsenic, oxalic acid, cyanide of potassium, or corrosive sublimate for use in 
manufactures; and upon the decease of any pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and 
druggist actually in business at the time of his death, it shall be lawful for any executor, 
administrator, or trustee of the estate of such pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and 
druggist, to continue such business if and so long only as such business shall be bond 
fide conducted by a duly qualified assistant, and a duly qualified assistant shall be, 
according to the meaning of this clause, a pharmaceutical chemist or a chemist and 
druggist, registered by the registrar under the Pharmacy Act or this Act.” I beg to 
move the omission of the following words :—“ the business of any duly qualified medical 
practitioner, or of any member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of Great 
Britain, nor with.” My simple object in moving this amendment is, that after the 
passing of this Act, duly qualified medical practitioners and members of the Royal 
College of Veterinary Surgeons shall be under the same provisions of this Act with refe¬ 
rence to the sale of poisons, as the general body of chemists and druggists. 
Lord Elcho : I hope the Committee will not assent to this amendment. 
Mr. Thomas Cave : I don’t think the noble lord quite understands the object of my 
omitting these words. My object is not to interfere with duly qualified persons, but 
simply to alter their mode of proceeding, so that as the public would be prevented from 
having these poisons from unqualified persons, the same facilities shall not be open to 
them to obtain them from qualified persons. By the clause as it at present stands, as I 
understand it, medical practitioners and veterinary surgeons will be able to do that 
which you wish to prevent others from doing. 
Lord R. Montagu : By the clauses we have already passed nobody but qualified per¬ 
sons can sell these poisons. I confess I am at a loss to understand the object the 
honourable Member has in moving to omit these words. 
Mr. Lowe : The effect of the amendment, if carried, would be that these persons 
shall not sell poisons unless they passed an examination as Pharmaceutical Chemists. 
These words, if adopted, will limit the sale of poisons to certain persons only. 
Mr. Cave withdrew his amendment. 
Mr. Lowe : I move to omit the words “ nor with the retailing of arsenic, oxalic acid, 
■cyanide of potassium, or corrosive sublimate for use in manufactures.” I think we 
ought to interfere with the retailing of these poisons, because at present they can be 
retailed to any extent, and in any shop, and by any person, which I am sure is a state 
of things no honourable Member can wish to see perpetuated. A gentleman, a friend 
of mine, by way of experiment, went into a general shop in Oxford Street, and asked 
for some cyanide of potassium, when he was supplied, without question, with a quantity 
.sufficient to have poisoned the whole of the people residing in Oxford Street. There 
are numerous instances of poisoning through mistake, from the facility of obtaining 
these poisons. We profess to regulate the sale of poisons by this Bill, yet we propose 
to leave the most subtle poisons to be sold by ignorant and disqualified persons because 
it is said they are used and required in ordinary manufactures and household duties. I 
think it is most absurd to attempt such legislation as this. 
Lord R. Montagu: The words were not originally in the Bill, but on the represen¬ 
tation of certain persons in Bedfordshire that oxalic acid is used to a great extent in the 
whitening of straw-plait, and that also many of these poisons are daily used in ordinary 
household duties it was thought advisable to insert the words, or else the public would 
