February 11,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
653 
the keeping of poisons, and a3 it would apparently be 
well that you should be in possession of his views on 
these matters before the next meeting of your Council, 
he would bo glad to have an opportunity of conferring 
with you some day next week, and would suggest Tues¬ 
day next, the 24th, at 3 o’clock. Please let me know 
whether you can come. 
“Yours faithfully, 
“ W. Rotton. 
“ The Registrar of the Pharmaceutical Society.” 
In compliance with this request the Registrar reported 
that he had, accompanied by the President, attended at 
the Privy Council Office. 
The alterations which Mr. Simon considered necessary 
in the regulations as to the keeping of poisons were merely 
verbal, calculated to make their meaning more clear; but 
he most urgently desired that the ^regulations as to the 
dispensing of poisons, which he deemed of vital importance 
to the public safety,' should be restored. 
The following is the form in which Mr. Simon thought 
the regulations should be remodelled:— 
Proposed Regulations as to the Keeping and Dispensing of 
Poisons. 
1. In the keeping of poisons each bottle, vessel, box 
or package containing a poison shall be labelled with 
the name of the article, and also with some distinctive 
mark indicating that it is poison. 
2. Also in the keeping of poisons, each poison shall 
be kept on one or other of the following systems, viz. 
(a) in a bottle or vessel tied over, capped, locked or 
otherwise secured in a manner different from that 
in which bottles or vessels containing ordinary 
articles are secured in the same warehouse, shop 
or dispensary; or 
(b) in a bottle or vessel readily distinguishable by 
touch from the bottles or vessels in which ordi¬ 
nary articles are kept in the same warehouse, shop 
or dispensary; or 
(e) in a bottle, vessel, box or package kept in a 
room or cupboard set apart for dangerous articles. 
3. All liniments, embrocations, and lotions containing 
oison shall be sent out in bottles readily distinguishable 
y touch from ordinary medicine bottles, and there shall 
also be affixed to each such bottle (in addition to the 
name of the article, and to any particular instructions 
for its use) a label giving notice that the contents of the 
bottle are not to be taken internally. 
Resolved—That the proposed Regulations as to the 
keeping and dispensing of Poisons now presented be 
received and entered on the minutes. 
Moved by Mr. Sutton, seconded by Mr. Woolley, 
That the discussion on the second letter of Mr. Simon, 
and upon the proposed Poison Regulations gene¬ 
rally, be postponed to the 1st of March. 
For the motion (5)— 
Messrs. Atherton, Carr, Savage, Sutton and Woolley. 
Against (10)— 
Messrs. Bourdas, Deane, Dymond, Edwards, Evans, 
Groves, Haselden, Hills, Sandford and Williams. 
The motion was therefore lost. 
Moved by Mr. Dymond, seconded by Mr. Deane, 
That though the adoption of the proposed Regulations 
for the Keeping, Sale, and Dispensing of Poisons 
rests with the Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Society, yet inasmuch as they will affect a large 
number of the members to whom it will be imprac¬ 
ticable to attend that meeting, and as it is necessary 
that the subject should, if possible, obtain a final 
settlement, it is desirable that the Regulations, as 
now submitted by the Council, be sent to each 
Member of the Pharmaceutical Society, together 
with a statement of the reasons which have induced 
the Council to suggest them. 
For the Motion (11)— 
Messrs. Bottle, Bourdas, Deane, Dymond, Edwards, 
Evans, Groves, Haselden, Hills, Sandford and 
Stoddart. 
Against (2) — 
Messrs. Sutton and Woolley. 
The Motion was therefore carried. 
In pursuance of the above resolution, a statement of' 
reasons was submitted to the Council, and a Committee, 
consisting of the President, Vice-President, Messrs. 
Deane, Dymond and Edwards, was appointed to revise 
and issue it. 
The Committee subsequently met and instructed the 
Secretary to send a Copy of the following Circular to- 
each Member of the Society and to each Associate of the 
Society in business:— 
A Statement of the Reasons which have Induced the Council 
to Suggest Regulations regarding the Keeping , Dispen¬ 
sing and Selling of Poisons. 
The Council of the Pharmaceutical Society, feeling it 
to be of primary importance that the question of the- 
adoption of regulations for the keeping and dispensing 
of poisons should receive early and definite settlement, 
earnestly desire to call the serious attention of the mem¬ 
bers generally to it, with a view to its receiving their 
final judgment at the ensuing Annual Meeting in May. 
The course of legislation on the subject of poisons is 
one which many members of the Council have, in their 
official capacity, carefully watched for many years. 
Prior to the passing of the Pharmacy Act of 1868 at¬ 
tempts had been made in Parliament at various times to- 
enforce regulations for the sale of poisons (of which the 
Act regulating the sale of arsenic is an illustration), and 
it is due to the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society to 
say that, but for their vigilance, measures which would 
have proved most injurious to the true interests of che¬ 
mists, and of the public, would in all probability have 
passed the Houses of Parliament and become law. The 
desire of the Council has always been, whilst, on the one 
hand, conscious of the just claims of the public on those 
who are the responsible dealers in dangerous poisons, on 
the other hand, to restrict legislation on this subject to- 
those moderate and practical measures which they knew 
to be in accordance with the exigencies of the trade. 
They venture to think that their efforts in this direction 
have not been devoid of success. 
The history of the Pharmacy Act of 1868 is well 
known. When, in 1865, the Council of the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Society, encouraged by public opinion (but more- 
especially by the opinion of the medical profession), that 
dispensers of medicine should be an educated class of 
men, introduced their “ Bill to regulate the Qualifica¬ 
tions of Chemists and Druggists,” it contained no allu¬ 
sion to poisons whatever. There is every reason to 
believe that Bill would have passed had not a second, 
emanating from the United Society of Chemists and 
Druggists, led the Government to infer that we were 
not agreed as to the best course to pursue. In the Bill 
of the United Society poison clauses were prominently 
introduced, and a Committee of the House of Commons- 
reported that it was desirable to legislate on that subject. 
The Council, therefore, were compelled to accept the- 
regulation of the sale of poisons as one basis of future- 
legislation, or forego their efforts to extend the Phar¬ 
macy Act. They drafted a Bill accordingly, for which 
they obtained the approval of Government, but, owing 
to the great pressure of public business, could not 
get it introduced as a Government measure. Fortu¬ 
nately, Earl Granville took charge of this Bill, passed 
it readily through the House of Lords, and Mr. Head- 
lam ably stood sponsor for it in the Commons. There,, 
however, a much more severe treatment was in store for 
it. Propositions were made to render the poison clauses 
so restrictive that, had they passed into law, the trade ot 
a chemist and druggist would have become almost im- 
