PHARMACY IN JAMAICA. 
511 
enrolments in this island, and be entitled npon doing that, and that npon the payment 
of a fee of ten shillings to the registrar, to be registered as a duty-qualified chemist and 
druggist. The fifth clause provides that after the passing of the Act no person shall 
presume to compound and dispense any medicines, drugs, and chemicals as a druggist, or 
in any manner to act as such within this island, without having first duty recorded in 
the manner aforesaid the certificate he may be possessed of, and being registered ac¬ 
cording to the provisions of the Act. The following' are the remaining clauses of the 
Bill, verbatim :—- 
“ Sixth.—Any person who shall, after the passing of this Act, pretend to be, or take 
or use the name of druggist, or any name or description implying that he is a registered 
druggist under the Act, or shall dispense drugs and charge for the same, even though 
the money has not been received, shall, upon a summary conviction before any two jus¬ 
tices of the peace, pay a fine not exceeding [ten'] pounds ; but nothing in this Act con¬ 
tained shall be construed to extend to prevent any person from vending patent medicines 
without being registered as a druggist. 
“ Seventh.—The registrar shall, on the (first) of (July), one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty (four), and (first) day of (January), one thousand eight hundred and sixty 
(five), and on every succeeding (first) day of (July) and (January), or within (thirty) 
days thereafter, cause to be published in the ‘ Jamaica Gazette,’ by authority, a list, 
signed by him, of the names, in alphabetical order, according to their surnames, of the 
several chemists and druggists on the register on every such (first) day of (July) and 
(first) day of (January), under a penalty of (twenty) shillings for every neglect. 
“Eighth.—A copy of the 1 Jamaica Gazette,’ by authority, containing a list of the 
names of chemists and druggists, published as by this Act is directed, shall be evidence 
in all courts, and before all justices of the peace and others of the registration, accord¬ 
ing to the provisions of this Act, of the several persons whose names are mentioned 
therein. 
“Ninth.—Upon the passing of this Act, the Governor shall appoint in every parish of 
this island one or more qualified practitioners of medicine and surgery, who shall have 
power and authority, and are hereby required, at reasonable and convenient times, as 
often as to them shall seem expedient, to enter into any shop, store, or house of any 
person whatsoever in which medicines, drugs, or remedies for internal or external use are 
kept or prepared for sale, and to search, survey, prove, and determine if the said medi¬ 
cines, drugs, and remedies shall be of good, sound, and wholesome quality, and cause to 
be burnt, or otherwise destroyed, all such medicines, drugs, and remedies as they shall 
find false, adulterated, corrupt, or decayed ; and every person who shall obstruct, or cause 
to be obstructed, any such authorized practitioner of medicine and surgery in the execu¬ 
tion of his said duty, shall be subjected to a penalty not exceeding [ten] pounds. 
“Tenth.—All persons vending poisons, or poisonous drugs, shall keep the same in a 
separate place, under lock and key, under the penalty of [thirty] pounds. 
“ Eleventh.—Any penalty imposed by this Act may be recovered in a summary manner 
before two justices of the peace of the parish or precinct wherein the penalty was in¬ 
curred, and may be proceeded for and recovered or enforced under the provisions of the 
thirteen Victoria, chapter thirty-five, or any Act now or hereafter to be in force relating 
to summary proceedings ; and, when recovered, one-half thereof shall be carried to the 
credit of the general revenue of this island, and the other half be given to the informer 
or prosecutor ; and such informer shall, notwithstanding, be a competent witness for the 
prosecution in the case. 
“ The measure stands for a second reading in the House, and we hope it will meet with 
the careful consideration which it deserves from honourable members. There can be no 
doubt that legislation is required in this direction, as it is notorious that there are many 
individuals in different parts of the island engaged in the vending of drugs who are 
utterly unqualified for such an occupation. We venture to say thatqn no country is 
such licence permitted in this respect as is allowed in Jamaica. It is high time that 
some remedy to this state of things should be devised ; and we trust that the ‘ collective 
wisdom’ of the country will be able, without prejudice to existing interests of a legiti¬ 
mate character, to impose some effectual check upon the indiscriminate and careless way 
in which medicines are now vended throughout the country.” 
