749 
“ METHYLATED FINISH.” 
There are several points in connection with this Bill that call for serious con¬ 
sideration. The existing state of the law affecting the practice of pharmacy in 
Ireland is by no means satisfactory, and we do not conceive that the Bill now 
introduced will in any way remove the objections which have long been felt to 
the limitation of the right to dispense medicines in Ireland to apothecaries, 
while no qualification is required in those who sell poisons. The Bill first in¬ 
troduced, on the 9 th of May, would, as it was understood, have gone to the root 
of the evil, and we should be glad to know why that Bill was withdrawn. Its 
title was a “Bill to Regulate the Sale of Poisons in Ireland, and to alter and 
amend an Act passed by the Parliament of Ireland in the thirty-first year of the 
reign of his Majesty King George the Third, chapter thirty-four, intituled 1 An 
Act for more effectually preserving the health of his Majesty’s subjects, for 
creating an Apothecaries’ Hall in the City of Dublin, and regulating the pro¬ 
fession of an Apothecary throughout the Kingdom of Ireland,’ ’’ ordered to be 
brought in by Mr. Solicitor-General for Ireland and Mr. Chichester Fortescue. 
The Bill was read a second time on Thursday, the 26th, and ordered to be 
committed on Monday, the 30th of May. 
In a supplementary number of this Journal which we shall have occasion to 
issue about the middle of this month, we purpose giving a copy of the Act 
referred to above, by which the Apothecaries’ Hall of Dublin was established, 
and authority given to its Council to regulate the examination of apothecaries 
for Ireland. 
“METHYLATED FINISH,” ITS COMPOSITION AND THE 
REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW WITH REFERENCE TO IT. 
Most of our readers are aware that the term “ methylated finish ” is applied 
to a weak solution of shellac in methylated spirit, such a solution being used by 
French polishers for finishing off their work. If this solution be made in ac¬ 
cordance with the regulations of the Board of Inland Revenue, it may be sold 
by retail without the seller being required to have a licence. Methylated finish 
is sometimes used for other purposes than those of the French polisher, as it is 
the most simple form in which chemists and others, not having a retail licence, 
can supply small quantities of duty-free or methylated spirit; and in these cases 
it is desirable to have as little of the shellac in it as the excise authorities will 
allow. 
The regulations relating to the preparation and sale of methylated finish have 
been made from time to time by the Board of Inland Revenue, who require 
that the solution should be of at least a certain stipulated strength, so as to 
bring it under the definition of a manufactured article, which may then be sold 
by any person without a licence, while the spirit used in making it can only be 
sold by licensed dealers. Iu the first instance, the Board issued an “ Order” to 
the effect that the solution must contain not less than three ounces of shellac or 
other resinous substance in every gallon to entitle it to the name of “ finish 
but it was represented to the Board, that when made of this strength it was un¬ 
suited to some of the purposes for which it was required, and accordingly the 
strength was reduced to one ounce to the gallon. This latter order was issued 
in April, 1857, but the annual cost of a licence was then £2, and many chemists, 
finding that for some purposes the weak “ finish,” which required no licence, 
could be substituted for methylated spirit, sold only the former, and thus saved 
the expense of a licence. In 1867 another chauge was made, the cost of the 
licence being reduced to ten shillings; and the Board on this occasion, by a new 
“ Order,” required that methylated finish should be restored to the original 
