74 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 27, 1872. 
gntoml frmartums. 
TYNESIDE CHEMISTS’ ASSISTANTS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
A meeting of the above association was held on Thurs¬ 
day evening, the 18th of July. 
In the absence of the President, Mr. Marshall was 
voted to the chair. The paper announced was by Mr. 
Crozier, on “ Camphor,” and it proved to be both instruc¬ 
tive and interesting. The discussion was carried on to 
a considerable extent by Messrs. B. S. Proctor, Marshall, 
Spence, Foggon, Kerse and Crozier, after which a vote 
of thanks was proposed by Mr. Ileslop, seconded by Mr. 
Anderson, and carried unanimously. 
^arliamtntarj ani fato frowtMngs. 
HOUSE OF LORDS. 
The Petroleum Bill. 
On Friday, July 19th, their Lordships having gone 
into Committee on this Bill, the Earl of Morley proposed 
an amendment postponing the operation of the test until 
the 1st of February, 1873, so as to enable the stocks of 
petroleum now in hand to be disposed of, which was 
agreed to, and the Bill as amended passed through 
Committee. 
On Tuesday, July 20th, the reports of amendments 
was received, and the third reading is fixed for Thursday, 
July 25th. 
Adulteration of Food, Drugs, Etc., Bill. 
On Tuesday, July 23rd, this Bill was brought from 
the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be 
printed. 
HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
Thursday , July 18 th, 1872. 
The Metric System. 
In answer to Mr. J. B. Smith, 
Lord Enfield said that the French Government 
have intimated that the International Commission on 
the Metrical System, the sittings of which were 
Interrupted in 1870, will meet again on the 24th 
•September next. It is understood from the Board 
of Trade that Mr. Chisholm and Professor Miller 
will attend on behalf of this country. 
The Public Health Bill. 
T \ e . House having resolved itself into Committee 
on this Bill, Clauses 1 and 2 were passed without 
discussion. 
On Clause 3, which divides the country into urban 
and rural sanitary districts, Mr. Goldney said that 
the proper and successful carrying out of the pro- 
■\ isions of the Bill would depend much upon the 
selection of a suitable body in whom to vest the 
powers. Boards of Guardians had failed to dis¬ 
charge the duties imposed upon them by previous 
statutes, and he believed that a Countv Board would 
perform the duties created by the present Bill in a 
more effective manner. Its accounts would be regu¬ 
larly published, and its proceedings would receive 
greater publicity and be more widely criticized than 
those of the guardians, the only effectual check to 
whom would be the Local Government Board. The 
County Boards he proposed would be formed of 
.county magistrates elected at quarter sessions, with 
an equal number of representatives elected by Boards of 
Guardians. These would have under their supervision 
the sanitary arrangements of the county; and he thought 
there would be a great advantage to the ratepayers that 
such a Board should have to deal with an extensive 
area. 
Mr. Corrance concurred in the amendment, as also 
did Mr. Dalrymple; and in reply to a remark made on a 
former occasion as to the power the Bill would place 
in the hands of the medical profession, the latter gentle¬ 
man said that without the aid of that profession sanitary 
reform would be nowhere. There were some hierarchies 
that were probably worse than a hierarchy of doctors. 
There was the hierarchy of engineers, who thought the 
earth was created that they might operate upon it, and 
it was even possible to have such a thing as a hierarchy 
of lieutenant-colonels. 
Sir M. Beach thought the Bill eminently unsatisfac¬ 
tory in the choice of local authorities, and was opposed 
both to Town Councils and Boards of Guardians. 
Sir C. B. Adderley, on the other hand, was strongly 
in favour of Boards of Guardians, which, among other 
advantages, existod already, and could be set to work 
at once. If County Boards were created they would be 
split up into Local Committees, and would, in fact, soon 
become identical with the Boards of Guardians. 
Mr. Stansfeld, in defending the Union as the unit of 
administration, denied that the Guardians had failed to 
do their duty, and stated that he had ascertained that 
the majority of them were prepared to undertake these 
sanitary functions. 
Mr. Hunt objected to Boards of Guardians, which had 
been tried and found wanting. He preferred a County 
organization. 
Mr. Whitbread, one of the Commissioners, supported 
the plan for taking Boards of Guardians. 
Mr. F. Powell, also a Commissioner, supported the 
clause ; and, Mr. Goldney having withdrawn his amend¬ 
ment, the opinion of the Committee was taken on an 
amendment moved by Mr. Corrance to Clause 5, which 
raised the point in a more direct form. On a division, 
the Committee decided in favour of Boards of Guardians 
by 84 to 7. 
The House remained in Committee until long past two 
o’clock, and succeeded in disposing of all the clauses up 
to Clause 41. Many verbal changes were made, but the 
amendment of most importance was to constitute (in 
Clause 18) the Corporation of London the Port Sanitary 
Authority for London. This was done, Mr. Stansfeld 
explained, at the instance of the Corporation, which had 
offered to bear all the necessary expenses out of the 
Corporation funds. Colonel Hogg, the chairman of the 
Metropolitian Board, thankfully accepted the offer on 
behalf of the ratepayers, and expressed a hope that the 
public spirit of the Corporation would not stop here. 
In Clause 32, which transfers to the Local Govern¬ 
ment Board certain statutory powers now vested in the 
Board of Trade, Mr. Kay-Shuttle worth moved to include 
in the transfer the powers exercised under the Metropo¬ 
litan Water Acts. Mr. Clay, on behalf of the Water 
Companies, objected to the transfer, and Mr. Crawfurd 
spoke in the same interest. 
In the next clause, the Borrowing clause, Mr. R. 
Gurney proposed to extend the term of repayment from 
thirty to fifty years. Mr. Stansfeld at first accepted the 
amendment, but objection being taken by Sir M. Beach 
and others, he proposed that the period should be limited 
to the term of years prescribed by the existing Acts. 
Friday, July 19 th. 
The consideration of this Bill in Committee was re¬ 
sumed, Mr. Russell Gurney having proposed as an amend¬ 
ment the extension of the time of repayment of borrowed 
money from thirty to fifty years, Mr. Stansfeld assented 
to it, coupled with a proviso that in determining the time 
