OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
699 
complete absurdity, for he did not know a single member of the Council except 
Mr. Randall. 
Mr. Richardson agreed with the resolution entirely, but not with all that 
had been said about voting, since the younger members of the Society, at any 
rate, who had been up to London to pass their examination, were not entirely 
ignorant of the qualifications of the candidates. 
Mr. Reynolds asked if Mr. Pedler could not support the resolution as it 
stood, with the addition, if desired, of the word u monthly” to make it more de¬ 
finite. He desired to leave all details as much as possible in the hands of the 
Executive. 
Mr. Pedler said he had no desire to cause a division ; he was only anxious 
to make the thing complete. 
Mr. Squire said that if the votes on all questions were reported, they would 
be very long reports of very unimportant matters. There could be no objection 
to the votes on all important matters being published. 
The Chairman remarked that if the whole of the minutes taken by the 
Secretary were published, they would fill the Journal. 
Mr. Randall, although a member of the Council, saw no reason why he 
should not give his opinion upon this most important matter. It was highly 
desirable that all votes of any importance should be published, but if there were 
no discretion, some very awkward things would sometimes appear. He sug¬ 
gested therefore that it should be left in the hands of the Council, who he was 
quite sure would take care that information should be afforded as to all sub¬ 
stantial matters, and as to who of their number worked and who did not, so 
that they would be ‘able to vote accordingly on future occasions. There were, 
however, many personal matters constantly coming before them, some with re¬ 
ference to the Benevolent Fund, some to persons alleged to be improperly on 
the register, which it would be very undesirable to publish, and indeed if such 
a course were adopted, it would at once put an end to all freedom of action and 
of speech. He thought the meeting might be quite satisfied to leave the matter 
in the hands of the Couucil to do what was right. 
Mr. Edwards quite agreed with what had been said by Mr. Randall. For 
some years he had been of opinion that a fuller report of the proceedings of the 
Council was desirable, but still it was a matter which ought to be left in the 
hands of the Council themselves, or else in some cases serious consequences might 
ensue. Even in the case of parliamentary reports, the House of Commons had 
had to interfere on more than one occasion to prevent actions for libel iu con¬ 
sequence of what had been said, and to take another instance, the Senate of the 
United States frequently sat in secret session. The Council would have but one 
desire, to give the fullest information possible of what was done. 
Mr. Bottle was of the same opinion as Mr. Randall and Mr. Edwards. He 
quite agreed with Mr. Reynolds that the members should have fuller information, 
but they must proceed cautiously and step by step; if the proceedings were 
fully reported, the size of the Journal would be quite inadequate, and he thought 
the Council would be quite disposed to do all that was really desirable. 
Mr. Brady said there were difficulties in almost everything, but he should 
not like the meeting to break up without expressing an opinion upon the resolu¬ 
tion which had been proposed. 
Mr. Hills did not see where the difficulty lay in the present case. He should 
support the resolution. 
Mr. Stoddart (Bristol) said he had had many opportunities as local secretary 
of learning how acceptable to provincial members would be such a measure as 
was contemplated by the resolution. 
The Chairman then put the resolution (the word “monthly” being added), 
which was carried almost unanimously. 
3 b 2 
