February 25, 1371.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
689 
sidered, and after considerable discussion and the read¬ 
ing of a letter, expressing the opinion of an individual 
member, the following resolution was passed:—“ That 
this Society views with regret the decision arrived at by 
the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society, to recommend 
to the notice of their Annual Meeting the institution of 
Compulsory Poison Regulations.” 
The formation of the Museum was then brought for¬ 
ward, and Mr. Atherton agreed to supply specimens of 
chemicals, and Mr. Rayner the various roots. A fund for 
the furtherance of the same object was then formed, and 
contributions to the amount of £3. 5s. were promised. 
The Annual Supper of this Society was held at the 
Maypole Hotel on Tuesday evening, the 7th of February; 
the President, Mr. J. H. Atherton, in the chair, the 
vice-chair being occupied by Mr. Fitz Hugh, the Yice- 
President. 
After the usual loyal toasts and that of the medical 
profession, Mr. W. H. Parker expressed the pleasure it 
gave him to propose “ The Pharmaceutical Society and 
Council.” As the governing body of the profession, it 
commanded their respect, and they would all wish to 
contribute to its prosperity. They could readily sympa¬ 
thize with the Council in the many difficult matters they 
were called upon to decide; and, perhaps, never had a 
more particular subject been brought before them than 
that of the proposed Compulsory Poison Regulations. 
It was unnecessary for him to say how much he was op¬ 
posed to any compulsory measures. A thorough change 
had been wrought in the constitution of the Council by 
those regulations, and he thought the new Council must 
have some very good reasons for now recommending 
that which many of them formerly objected to. Under 
any circumstances he objected to the compulsion, but he 
hoped the discussion by the Council and members at the 
Annual Meeting would result in the adoption of a 
thoroughly practical measure, free from anything ob¬ 
jectionable to the members generally. There was one 
other subject which he (Mr. Parker) wished to mention. 
The income of the Pharmaceutical Society must be some¬ 
thing like £7000 or £8000 a year, a considerable portion 
of which was gathered from the provinces, and he would 
like to see a portion of this money applied freely to the 
various provincial associations requiring aid for pro¬ 
moting the educational object for which they were esta¬ 
blished. As before observed, a large portion had been 
drawn from the provinces, and he thought it only right 
that the Pharmaceutical Society, who are unable to edu¬ 
cate the number of students at the present time requir¬ 
ing instruction, should make some sort of return in aid¬ 
ing those societies that acted as so many feeders of the 
parent Society, which eventually reaped a corresponding 
benefit from their efficiency and extension. Nottingham 
had the honour of being represented in the person of 
their worthy President, Mr. Atherton, and he thought 
they might rely on his efforts to do what he could to 
promote the welfare of such societies, and in calling 
upon them to respond to the toast, he begged to couple 
therewith the name of Mr. Atherton. 
Mr. Athertox, in responding, expressed the pleasure 
Re felt in being associated with such a body of men as 
the present Council; and assured them that whatever 
might be the differences of opinion on particular ques¬ 
tions, they might take it for granted that the truest and 
best interests of pharmaceutists and chemists generally 
throughout the country would be safe in such hands. 
After referring at some length to the questions affecting 
the welfare of their body, and in special reference to the 
remarks of Mr. Parker, Mr. Atherton explained the posi¬ 
tion of the Council in reference to the proposed poison 
regulations, and deprecated the action of the Privy 
Council in the matter. Personally he objected to the 
principle of compulsion, and thought that a code of sim¬ 
ple regulations coming as a recommendation from the 
Council would have answered every purpose, would have 
been favourably received by the trade and generally 
adopted. The onus of any one neglecting these or other 
suitable precautions would be thrown upon the indi¬ 
vidual, and their responsibility would neither be increased 
nor diminished if the regulations were to be compulsory. 
The majority of the Council were in favour of the resolu¬ 
tions being adopted, and their opinions were entitled to 
respect, but in a matter of such importance, and in the 
face of so much opposition to any interference with the 
freedom of the trade, he thought that the Council would 
do well to take the opinion of the chemists throughout 
the country before the final decision was taken at the 
annual meeting in May. Another point for their con¬ 
sideration was the one-sided nature of these proposed 
regulations. They did not apply to surgeons or dispen¬ 
saries, but simply to chemists; he would like to know, 
if chemists were compelled to submit to compulsory re¬ 
gulations, why should not the same principle be applied 
to all who dealt in and made use of the articles proposed 
to bo scheduled P In conclusion, he thought that if the 
matter were properly represented to the Privy Council, 
some other arrangement might be arrived at, more satis¬ 
factory to the majority. 
The President proposed the toast of the evening, 
“ Success to the Nottingham and Notts Chemists’ Asso¬ 
ciation,” and referred to the advantages offered to those 
who choose to avail themselves of the opportunities, and 
to the moral obligation of all the chemists within the 
influence of the Society to support it in every possible 
way, after congratulating the members upon the success 
which had attended their efforts during the past session, 
expressed his gratification that the Council of the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society had intimated their readiness to assist 
such Societies by grants of money, books, or apparatus, 
according to the wants of each case. 
The other toasts proposed were, the President, Mr. 
Atherton; the Vice-President, Mr. Fitzhugh, and Coun¬ 
cil; the Treasurer, Mr. Rayner; the Hon. Secretary, 
Mr. Mayfield; the Lecturers to the Society, Mr. Elder 
and Mr. Mayfield; the Ladies. After having enjoyed 
a most agreeable evening, the meeting separated, 
SHEFFIELD PHARMACEUTICAL AND 
CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
A Meeting of this Association was held on Wednesday, 
February 8th, when A. H. Allen, Esq., F.C.S., Chemi¬ 
cal Lecturer to the Association, delivered an interesting 
lecture upon “Our Weights and Measures, with some 
Proposed Alterations and Improvements.” 
The President, Mr. Dohb, occupied the chair, and 
there was a moderate attendance. 
The lecturer said that measures of length had first 
been taken from the various parts of the human body, 
and we thence had the foot, the cubit, the span, the 
hand’s-breadth, the inch, and the nail; but such standards 
were highly unsatisfactory, varying as they did in differ¬ 
ent individuals and nations. Until recently, the English 
inch was defined to be the length of three barleycorns, 
taken from the middle of the ear, and placed in contact 
end to end; now, however, the inch bore a relation to 
the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds. In esta¬ 
blishing a standard of length it was desirable that it 
should be readily reproducible on an accurate mathe¬ 
matical basis, in the event of all reliable copies being 
lost or destroyed, and there would be a much better 
chance of its universal acceptance, if it were not localized. 
The most philosophical system at present established 
was that of the French, who took as their standard the 
length of a line passing through Paris, and extending 
from the Equator to the Pole, and then diriding this by 
10 ,000,000 they obtained the “metre,” equal to about 
thirty-nine of our inches. 
Professor Piazzi Smyth, who had carefully taken the 
dimensions of the Great Pyramid, had found that the 
height bore to twice the base the ratio 3*14159, or the 
