December 24, 1870.] THE Til ARM ACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
COD 
♦ 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1870. 
Communications for this Journal,and books for review, etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instr’uctions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Breji- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes endorsed “ Pharm. Journ.” 
THE PROPOSED POISON REGULATIONS. 
In referring last week to the decision of the Coun¬ 
cil to submit a code of regulations for the keeping of 
Poisons to the Annual Meeting of the Society in 
May next, we felt constrained to express a hope 
that the prevailing divergence of opinion on this sub¬ 
ject might not be allowed to damage the real in¬ 
terest (by which we meant the advancement) of 
Pharmacy as a craft. The letters which we pub¬ 
lish this week evidently show that earnest attention 
is being directed to the subject. • Several others, 
which have arrived too late for insertion in this 
number, also tell the same story. It cannot be 
denied that there is a great difference of opinion, 
and it will, we presume, he readily admitted, that 
both parties to the argument are honest, the one in 
advocating, the other in deprecating, any action in 
this matter. While abstaining from comment on 
the arguments brought forward by our correspon¬ 
dents, it seems that, in furtherance of the hope we 
expressed last week, it is our duty to urge upon 
members of the trade, for the sake of avoiding that 
.mischance which struck us as possible, they should, 
in discussing this question, carefully dismiss from 
their minds every feeling of antagonism and, before 
the Annual Meeting, very carefully consider the 
proposition put to them by the Council,—a Council 
consisting of practical men, whose interests and 
mode of conducting business are identical with 
those of chemists and druggists in all parts of the 
•country. 
We think, too, that bejmnd mere consideration, 
there is ample time for practical trial of the me¬ 
thods proposed for storing poisons, and that such 
trial would enable both the advocates and oppo¬ 
nents of regulations to speak more confidently as 
to the advantages or inconveniences attending 
those methods when the subject comes on for 
discussion in May next. There can he little doubt 
that there is a demand on the part of the pub¬ 
lic for some restrictions and that the officers of 
the Privy Council agree with and support that de¬ 
mand: moreover, our Council considers that the 
Pharmaceutical Society, in accepting the Phar¬ 
macy Act of 1868, also accepted the duty of pro¬ 
moting public safety and by implication, that of 
making regulations. It should be remembered, too, 
that the Council received instructions from the 
meeting of 1870 to consider this subject carefully, 
and present it again in 1871. It should also be 
borne in mind that, if we are to have regulations, no 
persons can be so well qualified to determine the 
nature of them as experienced men of our own body. 
For all these reasons, tlierefoie, we say, let the 
Council have credit for honesty and independence, 
and at least a fair hearing. 
Having said thus much in the hope of confining 
controversy to its proper limits, we will conclude by 
again describing in detail the regulations as now 
proposed, noting also the alterations that have been 
made by the Committee, in the hope that our readers 
will test their applicability. 
The first rule, and the only one to be universal, is 
that every poison shall be marked with its name, 
and shall bear, beyond that, a distinguishing mark 
which will be known to the dispenser as indicative 
of poison. 
The alteration here is that the word “Poison,” 
which it was feared would strike terror into the mind 
of customers, is exchanged for any mark a chemist 
may choose to emplo} T , intelligible to himself and his 
assistants—say, a triangle, circle, or square. 
We have then a proposition of three different and 
alternative modes in which poisons may be kept, 
and it should be distinctly understood the Committee 
does not recommend that a man should be compelled 
to select one of those three and apply it to all his 
poisons; such a course would be obviously impracti¬ 
cable. A chemist may apply any of the modes as 
best suited to his convenience; the first to one 
poison, the second or third to others. 
These three modes of keeping poisons have not 
been altered in substance, but are now stated more 
clearly than formerly. It is proposed that poisons 
shall be kept either in— 
(1.) A separate compartment for dangerous 
articles; 
or, 
(•>.) Distinctive bottles or vessels ; 
or, 
(3.) Bottles or vessels so tied over or secured that 
the} 7- cannot be opened by mere unstopping 
as the ordinary bottles are. 
We observe that the proposal, to send out com¬ 
pounds, intended for external use in distinctive bottles, 
when they contain poisons, lias been omitted from 
the new code. This alteration we understand was 
made by the Committee on account of difficulties 
which might arise as to procuring or keeping in stock 
