112 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 10, 1872. 
It was moved by the President, seconded by the 
Treasurer, and unanimously resolved :— 
That this Council accepts the resignation of Dr. Tilden 
with regret at the loss of his valuable services, and 
desires at the same time to express its great satis¬ 
faction at the zealous and able manner in which he 
has for nine years discharged the duties devolving 
upon him in the Educational Department of the 
Institution, and its sincere good wishes for his 
success in the new sphere of duty upon which he is 
about to enter. 
The appointment of a successor to Dr. Tilden was 
referred to the Library, Laboratory and Museum Com¬ 
mittee. 
Parliamentary. 
The Report of the Parliamentary Committee was read, 
the most important item being a paragraph having- 
reference to Vermin Killers, and recommending the 
addition of some explanatory words to the “ Regulations 
required by the Pharmacy Act, 1868, to be observed in 
Selling by Retail and Dispensing Poisons,” which were 
issued to the trade about two years since. The additions 
recommended were as follows:— 
In the tabular statement of the “ List of Poisons 
within the meaning of the Act,” in Part 1 insert, 
“Vermin Killers. (Every compound containing a 
“poison)” in Part 1, and sold for the destruction of 
vermin.) ” 
In Part 2, the paragraph under the head “ Vermin 
Hillers, ” to read as follows (the addition is in Italics) :— 
“Vermin Killers. (Every compound containing a 
“poison” in Fart 2, and sold for the destruction of 
vermin.) ” 
The report also stated that the amendments in the Food, 
Think and Drugs Bill were satisfactory to the deputa¬ 
tion -who waited upon Lord Salisbury. The Secretary 
added that the Bill had now passed the House of Lords. 
Mr. Betty moved the adoption of the report, saying 
that he hoped this vexed question of vermin killers 
might be grappled with, and settled at last once for all. 
The great necessity for it had been shown more fully 
-week by week since it had been first discussed, many 
reports of poisoning by means of vermin killers having- 
been published in the newspapers. At the time when 
the letter was drawn up for the instruction of coroners 
as to the working of the provisions of the Act of Par¬ 
liament, it was not considered politic to send any official 
communication on this subject unless the table issued to 
their own trade, relating- to the sale of poisons, were not 
•only complete in itself and easily understood, but so ar¬ 
ranged as not to be liable to misinterpretation. He 
therefore thought it his duty to urge upon the Parlia¬ 
mentary Committee the great necessity of some more 
explicit directions being given to the trade with regard 
to th) sale of vermin killers. During the last two or 
three months, the Act of Parliament had been read in a 
different light by two legal gentlemen, one coroner 
having laid it down that all vermin killers could be sold 
under part 2, whilst another was decidedly of a contrary 
opinion. No doubt, some little misunderstanding ex¬ 
isted as to the meaning of the Act of Parliament,'’and, 
therefore, he thought it would be a wise thing to issue 
another table to every member of the trade, in which 
attention should be especially drawn to the provisions 
under which these articles might be sold. The alteration 
or addition which he would make to the table previously 
issued was simply that described in the report, intro¬ 
ducing vermin killers, in both part 1 and part 2, so that 
by bringing them into juxtaposition, chemists and drug- I 
gists throughout the country might better see under 
what restrictions such vermin killers ought to be sold, i 
Thus, in part 1, he would insert after “ Strychnine and 
its preparations,” “ Vermin killers or compounds con¬ 
taining poisons, in part 1, and sold for the destruction 
of vermin.” lie concluded by reading a few lines from 
the judgment of the coroner at Leeds, in a casein which 
the chemist pleaded by his counsel that vermin killers 
could be sold under part 2. The coroner said that the 
articles came within the 17th section of the Act of Pai- 
liament, and the sale of them ought to be conducted 
under the restrictions provided for the sale of poisons, 
and if any case of a similar description came before him 
after that, he should deem it his duty to direct the prose¬ 
cution of the druggist for acting in contravention to the 
Act of Parliament. He would therefore move the adop¬ 
tion of the report, and also that the Secretary send a 
short letter to each member of the trade calling their 
attention to the matter. 
Mr. Hampson seconded the motion. 
Mr. Stoddart thought this action would only lead to 
more difficulty. If all chemists would do as he did him¬ 
self, when anybody came to buy a vermin killer treat it 
as if it were in part 1, there would be no difficnlty, 
and no accident could arise. At any rate they would 
not be open to such observations on the part of coroners. 
A chemist might have half-a-dozen kinds of verminkillers 
in his shop, and he was not supposed to know what they 
contained until they were analysed. If therefore they 
could advise every one to enter these articles in their 
poison books as if they came under part 1, whether they 
absolutely did so or not, they would be perfectly safe. 
He had spoken to several coroners on this subject, 
being somewhat engaged in analytical chemistry, and 
he found some looked upon it in one light and some in 
another, but whatever view they took there was no con¬ 
vincing them they were in error. 
Mr. Williams said if the sale of vermin killers could 
be confined to registered chemists and druggists it would 
be all right, then there would be no difficulty, but that 
was not the fact. He should be very glad to do what 
Mr. Stoddart suggested, but it was impossible to say 
what a vermin killer was without actual analysis, and 
the question was, were they to attempt to prohibit the 
sale of vermin killers by any one who was not a registered 
chemist and druggist. 
Mr. Sutton thought it would be a good plan if they 
could get the G-overnment to adopt the French system, 
and to require the manufacturers of vermin killers to 
state what was the chief poisonous ingredient in their 
composition, there would then be no imeertainty as to 
how they should be dealt with. 
Mr. Atherton said if the “Regulations” previously 
issued were indefinite, the sooner the matter was put 
right the better. No doubt chemists were at the pre¬ 
sent time running a risk in sending out these poisons 
under part 2. There would be a great disadvantage in 
agricultural districts in putting them into part 1, for 
the sale in such neighbourhoods was enormous, in some 
cases amounting to hundreds in a day. At the same 
time it was necessary to be secure, and therefore, at all 
events, those containing strychnine should be put into 
part 1. 
Mr. IIampson said the very fact of vermin killers 
being sold for the purpose of destroying rats, and being- 
represented as extremely destructive, tended to show 
that they contained deadly poison, and he thought the 
majority of chemists would for their own safety treat 
them as being under part 1. Unless they did so, 
they might find themselves in a great difficulty. It 
would no doubt be a good thing if Government passed 
an Act obliging the makers to state what the constitu¬ 
tion of their article was, but still he thought Mr. Betty’s 
resolution was a step in advance, and no doubt would 
have a beneficial effect. 
Mr. Radley supported the view of Mr. Stoddart, 
thinking it would only be perpetuating a difficulty to 
have the new regulations under both heads, 1 and 2. 
They must remember that throughout the country there 
