ANNUAL MEETING. 
795 
They had been told, over and over again, that Government expected this of them ; 
and though there were certain tilings which might be objected to, as obviously Rule l’ 
yet the regulations as a whole were good, and could not be thrown overboard with 
safety. He would recommend that the subject be taken into consideration by the 
incoming Council, and that a further report be made at an adjourned meeting. He 
would propose as an amendment, 
That the consideration of the question be referred to the in-coming Council, 
who shall report to a future special meeting.” 
IMr. Brown said Ma\ Sutton s question had not been answered,—whether these re¬ 
gulations vcie intended to apply to apothecaries and medical men in dispensing medi¬ 
cines ? if they were not, and he could not suppose for a moment that the Council 
would dare to propose their application to that large and influential body,—was it 
right that they should be asked to impose upon themselves a yoke which, he was sure, 
would be found extremely burdensome, and which was not borne by the body of gentle¬ 
men m whose hands lay the greater part of the dispensing in the United Kingdom ? 
He certainly thought Mr. Sandford rather unfortunate in his illustration of the effect of 
putting lotions into distinctive bottles, for if the nurse had been educated to the 
proper point she would have used her eyesight and read the label, instead of trusting 
to the general appearance of the bottle. It seemed to him an argument to show the 
fallacy of such restrictions, and that no safety could be expected from them. He 
thought they had all gone too much into minutice, and on the general principle he was 
decidedly opposed to substituting slavery for the enfranchisement which they had been 
led to look for. 
Hie Chairman said he had two questions to answer before putting the question. 
W ith regard to tne application of these regulations to apothecaries a«d medical men, 
he could only say that they had no power to legislate for those gentlemen at all. The 
second question, as to the necessity of making some regulations on the subject, that 
obligation arose out of the first clause ot the Act, and lie would ask their legal adviser, 
Mr. Flux, to give his opinion upon it. 
Mr. Flux said he must confess there w r as, in his opinion, no danger of a mandamus 
being issued calling upon the Society to pass these regulations ; but whether the 
public would not consider that the clause did impose an obligation to pass some regula¬ 
tions, and that, refusing to pass any, the subject was remitted back to the public to be 
dealt with, as Parliament might in its wisdom think best, was a matter for the con¬ 
sideration of the members. Before reading the clause, he would say that in many 
cases the Judges had considered the word “ may ” as equivalent to “shall;” as he 
had already said, that was not the construction which he should put upon the clause, 
but still, when it was found that this interpretation was sometimes given, it showed, 
at any rate, a sense on the part of the Judges that when Parliament used the word 
“ may,” it did impose an obligation. He then proceed to read the first clause of the 
Pharmacy Act, 1868, and also the letter which appeared in the April number of the 
Pharmaceutical Journal from the Privy Council, with regard to preparations contain¬ 
ing poison ; which letter of course was based upon the opinion of the Attorney- 
General and Solicitor-General. 
The Chairman then put the amendment to the meeting, when the show of hands 
was in favour of it. 
Mr. Carteighe demanded that a regular division should be taken, but, after some 
delay and difficulty in arranging for so doing, he ultimately withdrew his demand. 
The Chairman said it was now his duty to put the amendment as a substantive 
motion, but, before doing so, he must put the amendment proposed by Mr. Hucklc- 
bridge,—“That the consideration of the question be referred to the in-coming Council, 
who shall report to a future special meeting. 
Mr. Brown said that, practically, the amendment which had been carried bv the 
show of hands did all that this second amendment proposed to do. Of course it 
would be the first duty of the new Council to take into consideration this very im¬ 
portant question, and he hoped they would come to a happier conclusion than" their 
predecessors had succeeded in doing. He, therefore, submitted that this amendment 
would be useless. 
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