THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
621 
3. That for the reasons above set forth, and because believing that the Bill will not be 
generally acceptable, either to the Members of the Pharmaceutical Society, or to Che¬ 
mists and Druggists, this meeting would urge upon the Council its reconsideration. 
4. The Local Secretary is desired to forward copies of these resolutions to the Council 
and to the Editors of the Journal. 
There was a great difference in the position of the Pharmaceutical Chemists. In 
London they were nearly all the leading men, but in the towns they were sometimes 
in a minority, and had to meet outside men who were quite as good as those within. 
Those men were also working for the good of pharmacy generally, and the prevalent 
feeling was that this Bill treated these men with injustice, and in a manner which he 
and those he acted with could not bring themselves to do. He hoped the Society would 
not incur the great expense of going to Parliament without a better prospect of being 
successful, for he believed they would be met with a strong opposition. 
Mr. Dickenson said the movement in favour of legislation had originated with the 
outside chemists and druggists, and not with the Pharmaceutical Chemists. He felt 
certain the Council would not have taken action unless the movement had originated 
from without. The principle of having only educated chemists and druggists would be 
a great boon, because it would be one means of stopping the supply of chemists and , 
druggists’ shops, and the body must be blind to their own interests not to support the 
Society in everything they did. His individual opinion was, that the probabilities were 
against the passing of the Bill in its integrity. They, no doubt, would obtain an Act in 
some form or other, because all the different bodies were agreed that something should 
be done, and if they did not do it somebody else would do it for them. The Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Chemists he considered the best body to do it, and those who headed the chemists 
and druggists in their opposition were acting in the right way to absolve themselves from 
going to Parliament, and throw it on the Pharmaceutical Society. A great deal had 
been said about Mr. Edwards having moved on a former occasion a similar motion to that 
now proposed by Mr. Collins, but the latter should recollect the surrounding circum¬ 
stances were very different then from the present state of things. The late Sir Robert 
Peel changed his opinion before he carried the repeal of the Corn Laws, but nobody 
blamed him for having done so, and he did not see that Mr. Edwards should be blamed be¬ 
cause circumstances had occurred which had caused him to change his opinion. He thought 
they were doing quite right in trying to pass this Bill. It was well known that he was 
not in the habit of praising the late Jacob Bell, but he thought he deserved praise for 
the trouble and expense he went to in getting into Parliament for the purpose of carry¬ 
ing his Bill. Mr. Bell was told he would never succeed, but he succeeded in carrying a 
measure which, though not in the form in which he introduced it, had proved a boon to 
the Pharmaceutical Chemists of this country. He advised the Council to persevere, and 
it would be to the interest of the chemists and druggists to join them. He thought Mr. 
Collins’s argument of the Golden Pill went against their opening the door as proposed, 
for if they had such a registration as he wanted, they would immediately have plenty of 
persons selling golden pills. He advised the chemists and druggists to join this Society 
heart and.hand, and gain, if possible, this great boon. 
Mr. Hartley, as an examined member, had no wish to quarrel with the Council, 
on the contrary, he was perfectly satisfied with what they had done, and he admitted 
that they had on all occasions acted wisely and discreetly for the interests of the Society. 
He felt satisfied that the examined members as a body had no desire to place themselves 
higher at the expense of others, but rather to advance that which was for the general 
interests of the trade. 
Mr. Edwards rose to reply. He said: I shall not repeat again the arguments which 
have been used, but leave them to rest upon you with the weight you may please to give 
them, but respect for the opinions uttered at this meeting demands that I should say a 
few words in reply, and before I do this, let me direct your attention to the independence 
you perceive in the Council; you have seen how freely and fully every man has not 
hesitated to maintain his opinion, even when conscious that he was opposed to the ma¬ 
jority of his brethren. You may be sure then that your representatives do not hesitate 
at all times fully to maintain that which they consider to be for your benefit, however 
unpopular it may be. Let me tell first, then, my friend Mr. Collins that I have not turned 
my coat, or altered my opinion, but that twelve years have made a great difference in 
the state of the case. I did wish all those referred to had joined us then, I wish it now 
YOL. V. 2 T 
