February 25, 1371.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
6S7 
Joitntd. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1871. 
Communications for this Journal, and books for review, etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
for tliey leave altogether unprovided for the sale of 
spurious and counterfeit articles; they would involve 
the necessity of proving an admixture to be injurious, 
and they afford an opportunity for all lands of eva¬ 
sion being practised by unscrupulous persons willing 
to avail themselves of the plea that they did not 
know they were selling adulterated articles or that 
the admixtures would be injurious. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, TV.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, Mew Burlington 
Street, London, JF. Envelopes indorsed u JPharm. Journ.” 
ADULTERATION. 
THE PROPOSED POISON REGULATIONS. 
The British Medical Journal, in commenting on 
tills subject, remarks that Mr. Simon has “ wisely 
insisted on the introduction of” regulations* as to 
the kind of bottles to be used for lotions, etc., con¬ 
taining poison; and it then proceeds to censure the 
action of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society 
Ever since the time when Accum startled the 
world by the publication of his work entitled ‘ Death 
in the Pot,’ the subject of adulteration has excited 
great popular interest, and at times inordinate 
alarm. Attempts have been made to obtain protec¬ 
tion against the practice of adulteration by the 
formation of supply associations, but these and 
other less respectable projects arising out of the 
•dread of being poisoned by our daily meat and 
drink were short-lived and unsuccessful. Few sub¬ 
jects have been more mercilessly encumbered with 
nonsense and exaggeration in the statements put 
forward, and it is mainly owing to this circumstance 
that there has been great difficulty in devising and 
Instituting any thorough and efficient measures for 
dealing with adulteration. On the other hand, it 
is with many still a question whether adulteration 
is really practised at all or to any great extent. In 
saying this much it is, however, necessary to guard 
ourselves against the imputation of in any degree 
•apologizing for adulteration, and it is the more 
necessary to do so since this Journal is the or¬ 
gan of a class of traders to whom the provisions 
of Adulteration Bills are intended to apply, and 
for whom we confess to tliink that there would 
be less possibility of an admissible excuse being 
made than for dealers in food or drink. 
But at the same time we protest against the ab¬ 
surdities perpetrated by popular writers and by 
legislators who deal with the subject of adulteration, 
and we believe it would scarcely be possible to 
imagine any evidence more strongly in favour of 
this view than is afforded by the Draft Bill pub¬ 
lished in another part of this week’s Journal. We 
have not space at present to do more than refer to the 
strange limitation of the provisions in the Bill to the 
■admixture of food, drink and drugs with ingredients 
other than they profess to be, to the sale of articles 
containing ingredients injurious to health, and to the 
-case of such adulteration being practised with the 
knowledge of the seller. The features of the Bill 
are, we believe, alone sufficient to prove fatal to it, 
in a manner which we do not think is merited. But 
at the same time w r e tliink it right to extract the 
remarks of our contemporary for the purpose of 
illustrating the views held in certain quarters, and 
since it is desirable at the present moment that 
Members of the Society, as well as the trade gene- 
rally, should have before them all information re¬ 
garding this question. 
“ In these regulations Mr. Simon has very wisely in¬ 
sisted on the introduction of the third series. With the 
perfectly characteristic selfishness which is common to all 
corporations, the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society 
had omitted them. They wished to protect the chemist, 
but were willing to leave the door as widely open as ever 
to all the calamities which spring from carelessness or 
ignorance of persons dealing with medicines once dis¬ 
pensed, although well knowing that this is a sadly fertile 
source of accidental poisoning. Such a course is pecu¬ 
liarly shocking to the conscience ; and it is well that the 
Privy Council retained its power of guarding the public 
safety, which the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society 
were perfectly walling to throw overboard, apparently 
regardless of the sacrifice of life, provided that they could 
make a show of activity and save their privileges, while 
they conciliated their constituents. In this their conduct 
seems to us deserving of very severe and enduring cen¬ 
sure. It will be satisfactory to the medical profession 
and to the public to learn of any mitigating circumstance. 
These regulations, however, are likely to meet with serious 
opposition from chemists who wash to pursue their busi¬ 
ness without regulations, and are unwilling to recognize 
any moral duty of the many to submit to precautionary 
measures which the few already voluntarily adopt. We 
may w r am these gentlemen that prolonged opposition 
will end in more complete restriction. The adoption of 
such precautions was part of the parliamentary under¬ 
standing on which they were secured a monopoly of the 
pharmaceutical trade; and the public safety demands 
them. The weakness of the Pharmaceutical Society’s 
action in this matter lies in the anomalous and composite 
character of the Society. It is at once a trade-union 
society, aiming at the protection of trade interests, and 
a governmental regulating body, empowered to make 
binding regulations in the interest of the public ; a school 
at wdiich teaching is carried on for profit, and an ex¬ 
amining body which gives diplomas to its own pupils, 
and enjoys a monopoly of that business in England. 
This fourfold capacity includes doubly conflicting duties; 
and it is obviously only by the utmost discretion, and a 
willingness properly to abandon the exclusive considera- 
* Sec ante, p. 5G3. 
