December 31, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
531 
®jje pjannactutical Jotmral. 
-+- 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1870. 
Communications for this Journal, and boohs for review, etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
eidge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes endorsed “ Pharm. Journ.” 
THE PROPOSED POISON REGULATIONS. 
Our correspondence columns are again crowded 
witli letters that have been forwarded on this sub¬ 
ject, and we have been enabled to lay before our 
readers the following important communication :— 
[Copy.] 
“Medical Department of the Privy Council Office, 
u 22>rd December, 1870. 
“ Sir, 
“I am directed by my Lords of Her Majesty’s 
Council to request that you will call the attention of 
your Council to the power which is, by the Pharmacy 
Act, 1868, given to the Pharmaceutical Society to make, 
with the consent of the Privy Council, regulations as to 
the keeping, dispensing, and selling of poisons. 
“ My Lords believe it to have been the opinion of Par¬ 
liament that proper regulations in this matter are re¬ 
quired for the protection of the public, and, as more than 
two years have elapsed since the passing of the Act 
without the Pharmaceutical Society having proposed 
any such regulations, my Lords think it right to inquire 
whether the Pharmaceutical Society intends, within any 
time you can specify, to propose such regulations to 
their Lordships. They direct me therefore to request 
that you will have the goodness to give me, at your 
earliest convenience, the information required by their 
Lordships. 
“ I am, 
“Sir, 
“Your obedient servant, 
“The Registrar, < “John Simon. 
“ Pharmaceutical Society.” 
Considering tlie near approach of the opening of 
Parliament, the Importance of this official statement 
of the views held by the Privy Council will be appa¬ 
rent to our readers. 
% As further material for consideration by the 
readers of this Journal we also add the following 
extract from the editorial columns of the Lancet of 
last week. 
“We are glad to observe that the Council of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society have again decided to recommend to 
the Annual Meeting of the Society for its adoption cer¬ 
tain specific regulations for the keeping of poisons. It 
is to be hoped that these, or similar regulations, will be 
accepted by the body of pharmaceutists as the solution 
of a much-vexed question. In the discussions which 
have from time to time taken place on the subject of ac¬ 
cidental poisoning, public opinion has expressed itself in 
unmistakable terms in favour of the enforcement of 
precautionary measures of the nature of those now just 
formed by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society, 
and which, indeed, are identical with those rejected by 
the Society last year. The public, moreover, will not be 
satisfied until some regulations of the kind are in force. 
“ A large amount of new blood was infused into the 
Council last year, and in such a way as to make it truly 
representative of the different interests of pharmaceu¬ 
tists ; and it is this Council which calls upon the latter 
to accept certain alternative and compulsory plans for 
keeping poisons, viz. in separate “poison” compart¬ 
ments or drawers, or in bottles of a distinctive kind, or 
in vessels secured in such a way as to arrest the atten¬ 
tion of the dispenser. 
“ It is with regret that we still observe in a few persons- 
a spirit of antagonism to the acceptance of any regulation 
whatsoever for the keeping of poisons. We venture to- 
hope, however, that they will find themselves in a very 
small minority at the approaching Annual Meeting of 
their Society. If the pharmaceutical body" allows the- 
present opportunity of legislating for themselves in the 
matter of the keeping of poisons (and thereby augment¬ 
ing the confidence of the public towards themselves) to 
slip, they may find the tables tinned against them, and 
the pressure of public opinion from without subjecting- 
them to enactments of a still more stringent and, to 
them, even of a vexatious character.” 
MISNOMERS. 
We take this opportunity of protesting against an 
instance of tlie abuse of names, which may be in 
itself harmless, though it is none the less a violation 
of the principle that the names given to things- 
should be distinctive and not liable to be mistaken 
for each other. We refer to the application of the 
term “ Cliloralum ” to a solution of muriate of alu¬ 
mina which is being introduced as an antiseptic and 
disinfectant by Professor Gamgee. Without wish¬ 
ing in any degree to disparage the usefulness of this 
material, we cannot omit to point out the great 
similarity between the name given to it and the 
term chloral—long before in use—as an objection, 
which makes the term cliloralum altogether inappro¬ 
priate and inadmissible. 
There is the more reason for urging this objection,, 
since the use of a hyphen between the two syllables 
would obviate the difficulty, especially if a capital 
letter were used for the initial of the second syllable.. 
We therefore suggest that it would be advantageous 
to the prospects of this material if its name were 
always written Clilor-Alum, and pronounced in sucli 
a manner as not to be confounded with chloral. 
PRESCRIPTIONS FOR PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATIONS^ 
We have been requested by Mr. Joseph Ince to 
make known his thankful acknowledgment of the 
receipt of sixty assorted prescriptions, contributed 
by Mr. Albert Ebert, of Chicago, and we willingly? 
comply with his request. 
The London collection is now finished, but 870' 
still remain to complete the provincial series. A 
few words of explanation may be of service. 
Both collections (London and Provincial) are 
under the direct sanction and personal approval of 
the Council and the London Board of Examiners. 
