46 
THE BILLS BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 
different line of policy ; but the interests we advocate are those of pharmacy and 
of the whole body of pharmaceutical operatives. If the proposed bill be carried 
into effect, it will necessarily cause a complete revolution in the state and prac¬ 
tice of pharmacy in this country, involving, no doubt, many important changes 
in the constitution of the Pharmaceutical Society. Such changes would be ren¬ 
dered necessary by the altered circumstances under which all future dispensers of 
medicine would be required to possess a certificate of qualification. The sphere 
of action for the Society would be greatly widened, but at the same time it is 
probable that the nature of its operations would in some respects be restricted. 
Above all things, however, it is to be desired that the objects and interests of 
those who are engaged in the practice of pharmacy should, as far as possible, be 
carried out by united action and harmonious co-operation among the members 
of the trade generally. 
THE BILLS BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 
If th£ present session of Parliament has been less than usually prolific of im¬ 
portant legislation, it certainly has not been deficient in small attempts at the 
passing of laws with which the readers of this Journal cannot fail to be interested. 
The committee appointed by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society has been 
kept in a constant state of watchfulness and uncertainty by the proceedings 
which have taken place in the Legislature. Crude, undigested measures have been 
introduced, withdrawn, re-introduced, altered, and from time to time modified, 
so as to render it very difficult to know what was intended to be done or likely 
to occur. Now that the session is drawing to a close, and it will probably be 
ended before this is read, we have one bill, u Tlie Poisoned Grain Prohibition 
Bill,” that has passed,—one, the “ Bill for preventing Accidental Poisoning,” 
that has been summarily rejected,—one, “The Alkali Works Regulation Bill,” 
which at this moment hangs between life and death,—one, “ A Bill for Decima¬ 
lizing our Weights and Measures,” which, having passed a second reading with 
unexpected success, has been allowed to die a natural death,—and one, “The 
Exhibition Medals Bill,” which is quietly passing at the end of the session with¬ 
out opposition. Those of the above measures not previously published in this 
Journal are inserted in the present number. 
The bill for the prevention of Accidental Poisoning, which was introduced by 
Lord Raynham, and to which a brief allusion was made in our last number, we 
now publish verbatim , as a curiosity in its way; it may be interesting, histori¬ 
cally, to refer to this bill hereafter in connection with the many attempts that 
have been made to legislate on the subject. 
The Poisoned Grain Prohibition Bill, has been completely altered several 
times, but at last it has settled down to a comparatively inoffensive measure, the 
object of which is to prohibit the sale of poisoned grain, seed, or meaZ, or the 
placing of such poisoned substances upon any ground, or other exposed place or 
situation, where it may prove destructive to the life of animals. We have great 
doubts of the necessity or expediency of this measure, even in its present mild 
form, and especially since at the last moment the word ‘meal’ has been added to 
grain and seed. With this exception, however, the bill appeared to be rendered 
as little objectionable as it could be to have any effect at all. The ostensible motive 
for introducing the bill was the desire to protect small birds from destruction, 
much evil being stated to have occurred in some places abroad from the almost 
entire destruction of insectivorous birds. But we are not aware that evidence 
has been adduced to show that there was any danger of a similar result occurring 
in this country, or that there was occasion for granting immunity to sparrows 
