July 2, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
7 
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1S70. 
THE ‘ LANCET ’ AND THE MUTUAL MEDICAL 
AID SOCIETY. 
We are glad to find that the leading medical jour¬ 
nal has taken up the subject of co-operative trading 
as applied to the medical profession. There is no 
doubt that the Mutual Medical Aid Society, to which 
we alluded in our last number, would affect medical 
men much more than pharmacists; for although it is 
proposed that medicines as well as advice should be 
supplied to those who subscribe to the association, 
yet the subscribers would, in most cases, belong 
to the class of persons who generally get advice and 
medicine together from a general practitioner. But, 
admitting that our members would probably not be 
directly affected by the particular institution referred 
to, to so great an extent as others, still the influence 
of this extension of a system from which chemists 
are already suffering would be felt as an aggravation 
of the evils they have so much cause to complain of. 
The ‘ Lancet ’ denies the statement which had been 
made in one of the daily papers, to the effect that 
the proposal to establish a Mutual Medical Aid So¬ 
ciety had received the sanction of the medical pro¬ 
fession, and says “ the exact contrary is the case.” 
Referring hi a subsequent article to a statement in 
the ‘ Graphic,’ that, if the Mutual Medical Aid So¬ 
ciety is not really self-supporting, persons of honour¬ 
able feeling, however strained hi means, would 
shrink from associating themselves with it, while, on 
the other hand, if it is self-supporting there could be 
no reason for refusing any one desirous of subscribing, 
—for why should persons of unlimited means pay more 
for services than the market value ?—the ‘ Lancet ’ 
very justly observes, “ We would advise the eminent 
medical promoters of this trading scheme to look out 
sharply for their own fees. How do they know that 
the Committee will not begin by putting up the 
posts of consulting surgeon and physician to public 
competition, in order to ascertain the market value 
of the commodity they require ? Such a competition 
might not add to the dignity of the profession, but it 
would perhaps enable us to estimate the value of 
consultees from a trading point of view.” 
THE TREATMENT AND UTILIZATION OF 
SEWAGE. 
Many of our readers are no doubt aware that a 
Committee, appointed by the British Association, “to 
report on the treatment and utilization of sewage,” 
has been in operation for some time. It was first 
appointed in 1808 at the meeting of the Association 
at Norwich, and was reappointed last year at Exeter. 
The subject was considered by the Association to 
be one deserving of a thorough investigation, but this 
would necessarily involve considerable expense for 
experiments, especially analyses; and as the Asso¬ 
ciation has no funds adequate and available for such 
purpose, an appeal was made to the various munici¬ 
pal authorities and other governing bodies ofiicially 
interested in the subject, for the funds required for 
the investigation. It appears that a sufficient amount 
to defray the expenses has thus been raised, and the 
Committee, comprising men eminent in their respec¬ 
tive departments, and possessing the requisite en¬ 
gineering, chemical, medical, and agricultural know¬ 
ledge, to qualify them for such an inquiry, have al¬ 
ready obtained much valuable information, espe¬ 
cially with reference to the methods adopted in most 
civilized countries of dealing with town refuse, and 
with reference to the engineering questions involved 
in methods that have been adopted or suggested. 
Much of this information was obtained in the first 
year of the Committee’s operations, with a grant of 
only .£10, but, with the accession of much larger 
funds, disagreement has arisen among the mem¬ 
bers of the Committee as to the method of doing and 
paying for the work. 
It appears that a majority of the Committee have 
decided that the independence and disinterestedness 
of the members of the Committee should be placed 
beyond suspicion by their duties being of a strictly 
honorary character, and all paid work being obtained 
from without, while two of the chemists in the Com¬ 
mittee differ on this point, and contend that it would 
be perfectly consistent with their position, and con¬ 
ducive to the interests of those who have contributed 
the funds, that the chemical work should be done 
under the guidance and supervision of chemical 
members of the Committee, to whom mere working 
expenses should be paid. 
Both of these appear to be legitimate modes of pro¬ 
ceeding under special circumstances, the nature of 
which may determine the preference for one or the 
other, and it is much to be regretted that the success¬ 
ful issue of an important investigation should be en¬ 
dangered by a public dispute on such a question. 
SALE OF POISONS (IRELAND) BILL. 
The Bill for regulating the sale of poisons in Ire¬ 
land, which, as introduced in the House of Commons 
on the 24tli of May, by the Solicitor-General for 
Ireland, was given in extenso in our number issued 
on the 1st of June, is now waiting a second reading 
in the House of Lords. It has undergone one or 
two slight alterations, as, for instance, in section 1, 
the proviso that the Apothecaries’ Hall of Dublin 
might, with the sanction of the Privy Council, add 
to the schedule of poisons, has been struck out, and 
that power is now given to the King and Queen’s 
College of Physicians in Ireland. In the schedule 
of poisons, the preparations of prussic acid, of the 
I T> Q 
