LIVE11P00L CHEMISTS* ASSOCIATION. 
57 
Mr. Abraham proposed the following toast, “ The Pharmaceutical Society of Great 
Britain.” In the course of his speech, he said, “ Of the matters agitating the Pharma¬ 
ceutical mind at present, one was the proposed introduction of the French system of 
weights and measures. He did not doubt that that system was better than our own, but 
he thought that many who supported its speedy introduction had hardly realized the em¬ 
barrassment which would be occasioned. If their customers would ask for what they 
wanted in grammes and litres, their multiples and sub multiples, and if the medical profes 
sion would prescribe in like manner, he saw no difficulty in the way of Pharmaceutical 
Chemists selling and dispensing by those weights. But he thought that it would be a 
long time before their customers would learn to ask for a four-grain blue pill, or an ounce 
of salts in the new terms, and before the medical profession would abandon the grain 
and the drachm. In the meantime, if the Bill before Parliament were passed, even with the 
amendments which we all agreed were necessary, the trouble and inconvenience would 
far exceed anything which we suffer now. Even if we could overcome these difficulties, 
what would our wives and daughters say if they were required to buy their butter by the 
kilogramme, their milk by the litre, and their ribbons by the metre ? He thought that 
they ought to disuse unnecessary weights in their own system, to decimalize it where 
practicable, as in the uses of the cental instead of the hundredweight, and to decima¬ 
lize their coinage by making tenpence a shilling, and that changes should be made gra¬ 
dually.” 
Dr. Edwards responded on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Society, and also made some 
remarks respecting the Weights and Measures Bill, and the Poisoned Grain Bill. 
Mr. Gossage next proposed “ The Health of the President, John Shaw, Esq.” 
The President, in reply, thanked Mr. Gossage for the very kind manner in which he had 
proposed his health, and also the company for the warm reception with which the toast 
had been honoured. He felt convinced that he was not personally entitled to such an 
enthusiastic response, and must therefore believe that the honour was more especially due 
to the office. He assured the company that he very much appreciated the honourable 
position which he occupied as President of the Liverpool Chemists’ Association, and that 
the time which he had devoted to the Society was a source of pleasure and satisfaction. 
He regretted that their time that evening was rather limited, otherwise he should have 
been glad to have heard some further remarks in reference to two or three Bills at pre¬ 
sent before Parliament, in which they were more or less interested. He alluded particu¬ 
larly to that entitled “ The Poisoned Grain Bill,” the origin of which he believed might 
be traced to suggestions and influence exerted by game-preserving landlords. The de¬ 
struction of sparrows and other small birds was perhaps greater than need be, and very 
likely impolitic as regards the farmers’ interest; but if such was the case, we may wonder 
that the farmers themselves have not been the prime movers of the bill, but on the con¬ 
trary, for many years past have authorized parish and township voluntary rates to be 
levied for the purchase of all sparrows destroyed, and this practice still exists to a large 
extent in several parts of England. He believed that the prohibition of the use of 
arsenic at seedtime in many districts, and an indirect additional game-preserving bill, 
in which sparrows, etc., are to be included, would not be conducive to the interest of the 
British farmer. 
With regard to the Weights and Measures Bill, he was decidedly of opinion that the 
adoption of the metrical system in this country was very desirable. The principle he 
thought was good, and the system, when fairly introduced, would much expedite busi¬ 
ness. The great difficulty would be its introduction into general use; but surely if France, 
Belgium, and several other countries have overcome that difficulty, England need not 
fear to grapple with it. The time mentioned in the bill at which it is to be made compul¬ 
sory, he considered much too short, and thought that ten years at least would be required 
for the whole community to become acquainted with and accustomed to the change, and 
during that time every effort might be made by government and school teachers, etc., to 
thoroughly instruct the public in the new system. Another objectionable feature in the 
bill he considered was the retention of the terms pound, pint, quart, etc.; this had been 
one of the evils attending former alterations in weights and measures, and he thought 
that if the metric system is adopted in this country, the names of the various weights 
and measures should be precisely the same as those used in France, and this he thought 
would render the change more decided and satisfactory eventually. 
The following toasts were afterwards proposed and duly honoured :— 
