566 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
SALE OF POISONS. 
“ CASE ” RAISING POINTS SUBMITTED TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL BY THE COUNCIL 
op the Pharmaceutical Society por Legal Advice and Opinion. 
There is difficulty in the construction of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, upon those items 
in the Schedule A which are as follows:— 
In Part I. Arsenic and its preparations. 
Aconite and its preparations. 
Ergot of Rye and its preparations. 
In Part II. Belladonna and its preparations. 
Opium and all preparations of opium or of poppies. 
Other poisons appear in each part of the schedule without special reference to their 
preparations ; they are— 
Prussic Acid. 
Cyanide of Potassium and all metallic cyanides. 
Strychnine and all poisonous vegetable alkaloids, and their 
salts. 
Emetic Tartar. 
Corrosive Sublimate. 
Savin and its oil. 
Oxalic Acid. 
Cantharides. 
Essential Oil of Almonds. 
Some of the last-mentioned poisons form compounds, and are ingredients in articles 
in common use, called by proper names; as, for instance, tartar emetic is an ingredient 
in an article called antimonial wine. 
Section 2 of the Act contains a pow r er under which articles not enumerated in the 
schedule may be made “ poisons ” within the meaning of the Act, so that, whether 
preparations of prussic acid and other poisons scheduled in like manner, are in strictness 
poisons within the meaning of the statute or not, there is clear power for making them 
so by a course of action on the part of the Privy Council and the Pharmaceutical So¬ 
ciety ; but the statute does not contain any provision for the converse of the case, and 
therein lies the difficulty. There is an absence of any power under which any authority 
under Parliament can declare that an article, being a preparation of arsenic, or aconite, 
or ergot of rye, or belladonna, or of opium, or of poppies, is not a poison within the 
meaning of the Act; and it is, therefore, material clearly to ascertain the meaning of 
the statutory word “ preparations,” as used in the schedule. 
Opium presents an illustrative or test case. The British Pharmacopoeia is a publication 
issued under the authority of the Medical Act,.and is particularly referred to in section 
15 of (but not elsewhere in) the Pharmacy Act, 1868. The reference in section 15 is 
as follows :—“ Any person . . . who shall compound any medicines of the British Phar¬ 
macopoeia excepting according to the formularies of the said Pharmacopoeia shall, for 
every such offence, be liable to pay a penalty or sum of £5.” 
The British Pharmacopoeia contains a heading “Opium,” and under it certain direc¬ 
tions, then a description of the article and its dose, and then a sub-heading, “ Prepara¬ 
tions,” under which there is a long list, from which the following may be selected :— 
“Tinctura Camphors Composita, 2 grains to 1 fluid ounce“ Tinctura Opii, 33 grains 
to 1 fluid ounce.” 
2 grains to 1 fluid ounce is practically the proportion of 1 in 240; 33 grains to 1 
fluid ounce is the proportion of 1 to 14. 
In another part of the British Pharmacopoeia (and in its order) there appears a dis¬ 
tinct heading “Tinctura Camphorse Composita—Compound Tincture of Camphor,” and 
a statement of the ingredients of which it is to be composed, showing opium in the above- 
stated proportion of 1 in 240. Also in another part of the same book (and in its order) 
there appears another distinct heading “ Tinctura Opii—Tincture of Opium,” and a 
statement of the ingredients, showing opium in the proportion above stated of 1 in 14. 
Thus, although tinctura camphorse composita and tinctura opii are in the list of pre- 
