ON THE CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS BILL. 125 
prevent the examination from being so severe, on the one hand, as to restrain the 
trade, and at the same time so loose as to allow improper persons to enter. 
Mr. Roelv.cJc.~] 264. That will include all poisonous substances ?—I have already 
said there is no difference between poisons and medicines. I can put that fact before 
you. Here are two packets of the same substance (arsenic) ; one is a poison, the 
other is a medicine. ( The Witness produced two small paclcets in paper.) That is a 
medicinal dose of arsenic (one-twentieth of a grain). Here I have the same substance 
in another form. That is the poison (a packet containing two grains of arsenic), and 
this is the medicine ( pointing to the two pachets). All I can say is, a medicine, in a 
large dose, may act as a poison, while a poison, in a small dose, may act as a medicine. 
303. I want to know whether it is requisite to institute an examination of all per¬ 
sons ?—We agree, in reference to innocuous drugs, it is not required. 
304. In all cases of innocuous drugs no examination is required ?—Not for the 
safety of the public. 
327. You can make laurel-water in the house?—It requires a little skill, but it 
can be done. With regard to these poisons, such as hemlock and nightshade, the 
poison is in the plant, and it is very difficult to extract it. No one would let a 
stranger obtain any of the alkaloids. If you attempt to use the plant by itself, it has 
a strong taste. It is powerful, and noxious. We owe it to the credit of a large 
number of chemists and druggists, and Pharmaceutical Chemists, that they have 
themselves done what the law lias left free ; they have put restrictions, of their own, 
accord, on the sale of these very dangerous substances, or the extent to which life 
might be destroyed in London and large towns would be very great indeed. There 
is an eminent chemist in London who deals in these things, and he told me this : At 
the time of Palmer’s trial public attention had been called to the subject; and a 
person came into the shop, and requested him to prepare ten pills with one grain of 
aconitina. This gentleman, who had a knowledge of the proper dose, said, “ If you 
are a medical man, you must know that one of these pills might be a fatal dose, and I 
decline to make them up.” 
Mr. Ayrton .] 330. Do you think, according to your meaning, you could seriously 
assist in preventing poisoning, unless you passed a law to prevent these active poisons 
being sold without a medical prescription ?—No, I do not think I could. I believe, 
as I have already stated, a great deal is already done by respectable chemists to pre¬ 
vent danger to life ; but what the public have to fear are, the ignorance and careless¬ 
ness of those who are in the lower branches of the trade. 
Sir Fitzroy Kelly. ] 335. You have shown there are some considerable difficulties 
in drawing the line in the way of prohibition in the sale of poisons, both as to per¬ 
sons who sell and things that are to be sold; do you see any difficulty or complication 
at all in subjecting to an examination chemists and druggists in relation to the mak¬ 
ing up of prescriptions in the ordinary form, Latin ?—I see no difficulty ; I think it 
will be like the Apothecaries’ Society starting with a sort of compulsory examination, 
which would not preclude the selling of these things. It would be desirable, in the 
first instance, not to have too severe an examination, and to accustom the public 
and the profession gradually to it; the Apothecaries’ Society succeeded in that. 
Their Act has been in operation since 1815 ; and, after a period of four or five years, 
they added to the subjects for examination. There is at present a great confusion 
between the medical profession and the druggists’ profession with regard to the sale 
of drugs. Druggists do not require such a high standard of knowledge as a profes¬ 
sional man must have, therefore of course it would be improper to make an examina¬ 
tion so stringent as to create a monopoly. 
Mr. Ayrton. ] 337. The great bulk of medical prescriptions embrace the selling 
of innocuous drugs ?—Do you mean medical as distinguished from chemical ? 
338. According to Dr. Abernethy, nine-tenths of the disorders spring from de¬ 
rangement of the stomach, which are cured by simples, and giving things like aconite 
is quite unnecessary ?—Yes ; the fact is, if a period was fixed, it might lead To the 
absorption of the lower trade into a better class of persons, beginning at first with 
the lowest class. As you are aware, there are some apothecaries, now living, who 
have only their license to practise by, having practised before the 1st of April, 1815 ; 
I have seen one of them in twenty years ; but the greater number have died off, and 
