THE FATE OF BILLS NOS. 1 AND 2. 
109 
sons clause can be shown to be popular, the leaders of opinion amongst us will 
join to swell its triumph ! 
And now as regards the opposition of the United Society. It could hardly 
have been predicted that it would take the shape that it ultimately assumed. It 
was hardly probable that what I may advisedly call an impossible measure would 
have been started, in order to throw Bill No. 1 off the rails by a collision. We 
might have expected that the United Society would have shown the formidable 
front which it can exhibit when it thinks itself attacked, would have made claims 
somewhat greater than it was disposed finally to exact, and that a compromise 
would have been happily effected. There was unfortunately in Bill No. 1 but 
too much room for such claims. It may have represented the views of its 
framers, but showed scant consideration for the possible opinions of those be¬ 
yond the pale. A railway Bill having a formidable rival \Y 0U ltl have been 
•charged with conciliation, if a parliamentary battle could have been thereby 
avoided. 
That negotiation between the two Societies is not out of the question has 
been shown by its having occurred after the opening of the sittings of the Select 
Committee. Probably half the concession, if made three months earlier, would 
have effected what was then too late. It is only right to bear in mind that the 
opinions now expressed have been advanced repeatedly by members of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society during the past twelve months, and that they have been, and 
doubtless still are, the opinions of a minority of the Council. The difference be¬ 
tween the minority and the majority has now been submitted to the crucial test 
of experiment, with what result we all know. I believe that Bill No. 1 was 
sound in its main feature, of registering every existing member of the drug 
trade, and in making two grades. The differences of locality demand such an 
arrangement, and the two classes would regulate themselves according to their 
local requirements. Without two classes, we should have to lower irrecoverably 
the status of the present Pharmaceutical Chemist, and in a few years should 
have to create afresh a new grade to supply his place. The members of the 
Pharmaceutical Society have a responsibility which they can hardly delegate 
entirely to their Council. With regard to the details of any measure, unques¬ 
tionably the Council possesses means of information superior to those at the 
command of private individuals, but as far as the broad principles of such legis¬ 
lation are concerned, the members generally, and especially those living in the 
great centres of activity, owe to the body politic the duty of stating their 
opinions. A generous support to the Council may be given without accepting 
all its conclusions as infallible. We need not quarrel because differing in 
opinion. 
In a circular issued June 29, 1865, and signed by the President of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, the members are urged to bring their influence to bear upon 
candidates for Parliamentary seats. Mr. Sandford says,—“The absurdity of 
elevating the responsibility of vending dangerous drugs beyond that of com¬ 
pounding them, as well as the great difficulty of fettering mere sales, and the 
comparative ease of regulating dispensing, should be strongly pointed out.” 
Now, I am not aware that the Pharmaceutical Society has adopted opposition 
to a poison clause as a canon of belief, and certainly if the temporary reception 
of such a sentiment has materially conduced to our defeat in 1865 we shall be 
but prudent to avoid it in 1866.^ 
* The ‘Saturday Review,’ of August 5, offers the following opinion-.—“The evidence taken 
by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Chemists and Druggists Bill fully 
hears out the conclusions which that Committee has derived from it. There were two principal 
.evils which these Bills were designed to remedy :—1. It is said that the dispensing of medicines 
ought to be confined to a class of men whose knowledge of the nature and properties of drugs 
has been tested by examination. 2. Some restriction is demanded upon the existing free trade 
