158 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
describe the physical characters of the drugs, to point out their place of growth and 
manner of preparation, as well as to notice their therapeutic applications, the Pharma¬ 
copoeia of India will have somewhat the character of a dispensatory. It is not intended 
to introduce into it chemical processes ; and certain drugs and preparations specified in 
the British Pharmacopoeia will probably be omitted from that of India, as being either 
superfluous or not adapted to a hot climate such as that of India. It is intended that the 
work shall contain lists of drugs in some of the principal Indian languages, in order to 
facilitate the identification of drugs met with for sale in the bazaars. 
The other subject to which I alluded in my last year’s address was that of poisons, 
and the responsibilities of pharmaceutists in connection with them. Danger from this 
source has by no means diminished since the Bath meeting, but has rather assumed a 
new phase, which may be best illustrated by an extraordinary case reported in the 
‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ vol. vi., new series, p. 539. I refer to it to show, or rather to 
remind you, how open and liable we all of us are to be placed in a most trying position 
without fault of our own, or even previous idea of what is in store for us, and how need¬ 
ful it is to have our senses awake to every source of misconception and mischief in all 
cases of such a nature. Any one can get a powder or two from an apothecary or 
chemist, and a little poison from another,—or, as at Emsborough, from the farmer’s pri¬ 
vate store,—and artfully substitute the one for the other, and so fix the stigma of crime 
or carelessness on a perfectly innocent person. The motive for such an act may be either 
malice towards the vendor of the medicines, or to conceal or ward off suspicion from the 
real criminal. The result would be equally disastrous in either case. An apothecary or 
chemist whose habits are somewhat irregular would be especially open to a trick of this 
kind, and render himself liable to a verdict of manslaughter. We know now what has 
occurred and may any day occur again: the lesson should not be lost. 
In this instance, which I take to be familiar to you from the report above referred to 
in the ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ the source of the poison was most unequivocally in¬ 
dicated by the microscope, and all suspicion was removed from the proprietor of the 
patent medicine, through the agency of which the fatal effects were said to have been 
produced. A few copies of the report of the proceedings at the inquest are on the table, 
which are at the service of those who take an interest in the matter. I hope to 
have the opportunity of placing before you under a microscope a portion of one of the 
substituted Steedman’s powders, and a portion from that which had been used by the 
shepherd in dressing his sheep. From these it will be evident to you that the sublimate 
which had caused the death of the child had been taken from the farm stock used by the 
shepherd, and not supplied direct from any chemist’s shelves. 
A similar case, recorded by Mr. Orridge, in the ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ vol. vi., new 
series, p. 287, where the substitution was of oxalic acid for sulphate of magnesia, and a 
suicide committed for the purpose of cheating an insurance office, shows our liability to 
unfair treatment, and the necessity for vigilance against foul play. The discovery of a 
few crystals of sulphate of magnesia in the folds of the packets indicated the fraud. A 
case of poisoning by tobacco is noticed in the same volume, p. 311, and is very remark¬ 
able and suggestive. Before closing the subject, I may perhaps be allowed to refer you 
to the report of a committee on “ Poisoning, and the Means of Prevention,” read at one 
of the pharmaceutical meetings at Edinburgh, vide vol. vi., p. 4G3. I think we must all 
arrive at much the same conclusion, namely, that cases of poisoning resolve themselves 
into two classes, those arising from design , and those determined by what is called 
accident , the latter often “ having associated with it somewhere germs of carelessness.” 
Nevertheless, I still retain my already expressed opinion, that as a body we are prover¬ 
bially careful, and that a man must be more than mortal to be free from such liability. 
It is, however, his bounden duty, by the exercise of care and vigilance, according to the 
nature of his businesss, to endeavour to reduce risk to its minimum. 
Much has been said—I myself have said much, but must still add a few words relative 
to the social position of Pharmaceutical Chemists. For many years past there has been 
an increasing desire that those engaged in the dispensing of medicine, and in the practice 
of pharmacy and chemistry, should be considered rather as engaged in an honourable 
profession , than as following a mere trade , however reputable that may be,—the former 
title implying the educational and other qualifications of a gentleman, the latter mostly 
a limited education, keeping it on the level of handicrafts. There is no doubt but that 
for some years past the increase of knowledge following increased facilities for acquiring 
