THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
SECOND SEHIES. 
YOL. V.—No. XI.—MAY 1st, 1864. 
THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION AFFECTING PHARMACY. 
In another part of our Journal will be found the Bill which has been pre¬ 
pared by the Council as an extension of the Pharmacy Act of 1852; the Bill 
which, if passed, will render compulsory the submission of future chemists 
and druggists to examination before they are permitted to commence business 
as dispensers of medicine under the prescriptions of medical men. To hare 
ashed the Legislature to grant authority of the same kind over those who only 
sell drugs or chemicals in their simple forms would have been considered too 
great an interference with trade. Rhubarb and senna are as much legitimate 
articles of commerce as tea and coffee. It is true that, as our contemporary 
the * Lancet ’ suggested a fortnight since, it would be highly desirable to en¬ 
trust the sale of dangerous poisons to persons only who by knowledge oi 
their properties could appreciate and mitigate the danger ; but the difficulty 
of drawing a line between virulent poisons powerful medicines has hitherto 
baffled all attempts at legislation in that direction, and we should perhaps risk 
desirable propositions which are attainable by combining them with others 
which, although desirable, seem at present to be unattainable. Virtually, we 
believe greater safety will arise indirectly from this Bill even in the sale of 
poisons, inasmuch as the public will in due time understand more fully the 
security given them by the examination and registration of chemists and 
druggists; and as they do so, the occupation of the unqualified vendors of 
physic will cease. Already the better informed classes know that the title of 
pharmaceutical chemist implies something more than a mere desire on the 
part of its possessor to assume a high-sounding name ; and although some 
persons will always be found careless or credulous in such matters, they will 
be the exceptions we think to the ordinary rule, just as we now find that a 
few individuals are satisfied to trust their lives and limbs in the hands of 
quacks and bone-setters rather than physicians and surgeons. 
Legislative language is always obscure, and we propose therefore to give a 
description of the provisions of the Bill, which shaU be more clearly compre¬ 
hensible than the mere marginal descriptions of its various sections, or than 
the text of the Bill itself to the generality of non-legal minds. We may pre¬ 
mise that the Council was asked by chemists and druggists, not members of 
the Pharmaceutical Society, to endeavour to obtain a new Bill, or an extension 
of the Pharmacy Act, which should— 
Render compulsory the examination of all persons commencing the business 
of chemists and druggists hereafter ; 
Reserve the vested rights and interests of chemists and druggists already 
in business at the time of its passing into law; 
Give to the whole trade a full and fair representation in its governing 
body ; and— 
. vol. v. 2 N 
