DEBATES ON PHARMACY BILL. 
71 
Me. Lowe: I very much object to this proposed amendment, for it is equivalent to 
saying that there shall be no new poison defined without a new Act of Parliament. 
The Privy Council, as my honourable and learned friend must know, are entrusted with 
the exercise of powers quite as large as the proposed one in this clause, and surely they 
may be trusted with such a power as this, which may be found most useful in practice. 
Besides the Pharmaceutical Societj^ will, with the consent of the Privy Council, say 
what the new poison is, and together, proper directions will be given with regard to it 
in the Gazettes. 
Mit. Neate : I entirely concur with the views of my right honourable friend the 
Member for Caine. 
Mr. Lusk : I think if new poisons are discovered, they ought to be designated in a new 
Act of Parliament. 
Lord Elcho : I asked the Pharmaceutical Society what their opinion is, and they 
said they saw no reason why the words should not be struck out of the clause. 
Mu. Lowe : I do not represent the Pharmaceutical Society; I object to the words 
being struck out on the part of the public; I think it will be for the good of the public 
that they should be retained. 
The question was put, that the words should stand part of the clause, and the Speaker 
declared that the “Noes” had it, consequently the words were struck out. 
Mr. Lowe : I think that this amendment, which has been carried by an agreement 
between the noble lord and the Pharmaceutical Society, amounts to a breach of faith 
with the House. 
Mu. H. A. Bruce : The amendment is entirely inconsistent with other amendments 
which the House has already sanctioned. 
Mr. Lowe : I now propose to add after the words in the fourth line from the end of 
the clause “ under this Act,” the words “ under the written prescription of a legally 
qualified medical practitioner,” and if these words be not agreed to, all directions 
against the sale of poisons will be liable to be evaded in some cases; for instance, any 
man may enter a shop and ask for some strychnine in an ounce of water, and the 
chemist may give it to him in his shop, and it may be drunk off, and against the 
chemist there will be no remedy whatever. That is what my amendment will neu¬ 
tralize ; and if it be not inserted, all the provisions of this Bill may be neutralized. If 
you say that chemists and druggists may dispense anything they please themselves, 
they will be able to make up compounds of the most deadly poisons and sell them as 
they like, and this Act will not stop them or give any remedy against them, and conse¬ 
quently all your precautions will go for nothing. It will be better far to lose the Bill 
altogether, and that I prefer if this amendment should be rejected. 
Lord Elcho : My right honourable friend complained just now of a breach of con¬ 
tract, but though I deny that there was any on my part, I must say that this amendment 
is very much like one on his part. Two days ago this matter was very much discussed, 
and this clause has been drawn up in the form thought to be the most desirable, and is 
one which it was hoped would pass through this House. If, therefore, what my right 
honourable friend complained of was a breach of contract, which I demur to, certainly 
this is a stronger breach of contract, because my right honourable friend never inti¬ 
mated on 'Wednesday that he intended to propose these words. The gentlemen repre¬ 
senting the Pharmaceutical Society say that these words were not in any clause agreed 
to on Wednesday last. What my right honourable friend seems anxious to do is to pre¬ 
vent any dispensing whatever, except under the signature of some legally qualified 
medical practitioner. What does dispensing mean ? When I asked this question I was 
told it meant the making up of medicine and not prescribing, but these gentle¬ 
men say that physicians do not sign their name in full but merely their initials, so 
that you will require that a chemist residing, say at Exeter, shall know the signature 
of a physician residing at Edinburgh or Aberdeen, or he shall not dispense the medicine. 
Such an amendment will involve us in many difficulties, and I hope it will not be in¬ 
sisted upon. 
Mr. Bruce : If this amendment be not agreed to at the instance of the noble lord, 
he will stultify his own clause. What is this clause ? It is that chemists and druggists 
shall not sell poisons unless to persons known to them. It is so as regards certain articles, 
and it is now proposed that they shall not dispense the poisons unless under the pre¬ 
scription of some other person. 
