March 18,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
759 
ask men who will take no pains for the establishment of pro¬ 
per arrangements, whether or not they object to being made 
to do so by compulsory regulations. 
One thing, however, seems imperative, and that is, that if 
medical men will keep open shops for the sale of drugs, they 
should be liable to similar coercive regulations. Certainly, 
the public safety seems to require it quite as much in the one 
ease as in the other. 
One who has Known the Drug Trade 
MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS. 
Sir,—Having carefully and regularly perused the very vo¬ 
luminous correspondence regarding the poison regulation 
question appearing in your valuable journal from week to 
week, it has occurred to me as somewhat strange that w r e have 
been favoured with so few editorial remarks on this very 
important subject, the more so from the fact of the Journal 
being the property of the Society, under whose auspices the 
regulations emanate. 
I am certain that such would have been gratefully received, 
and might have tended to soothe the fears of those who con¬ 
sider they are about to be bridled with something of a very 
stringent nature, and put aright the vaunters of such frivo¬ 
lous excuses as we have seen in those pages since the regula¬ 
tions were mooted,—such as infringement of trade rights, 
•compulsory education, on toxicological etiquette, etc ,—from 
members of the trade throughout the country. 
There is one particular point about which I would like to 
clearly understand, viz. do the Pharmaceutical Council intend 
using their influence with the Medical Department of the 
Privy Council to extend the poison regulations to those who, 
under present circumstances, will be exempt by virtue of being 
under the wing of the medical profession ? Surely, if the 
public safety demand a greater safeguard than exists at pre¬ 
sent from us, as examined druggists, the Privy Coimcil cannot 
possibly object to a measure to include medical men, whose 
shops for the retailing of everything constituting the business 
of a chemist and druggist are in many cases their chief source 
■of income,—as is the case in this city, where there are three 
retail shopkeeping surgeons to every druggist. 
And I tell you, Sir, that on those grounds particularly, the 
regulations will be strongly opposed from this district. 
In the Chemists and Druggists’ Association of this city, of 
which I have the honour to be a member, there has scarcely 
been a single murmur against the poison regulations as issued 
by the Pharmaceutical Council, except that they are not uni¬ 
versally adapted for the object in view. 
A Registered Assistant. 
Glasgoiv, March 7th, 1871. 
[*#* Our correspondent is referred to leaders at pp. 92 
and 489 of the present volume, also to the statement of reasons 
issued by the Council.—E d. Pharm. Journ.] 
The ‘Chemist and Druggist’ and the Poisons 
Regulations. 
Sir,—I enclose you a circular I received this morning. I 
can scarcely express the astonishment I felt when I read its 
purport. And so we are to have a Red Republic in phar¬ 
macy, I thought! Sir, I trust the pharmacists of this coun¬ 
try will repudiate this scandalous and barefaced intermeddling 
busybodyism. What right has the Chemist and Druggist 
to call for a plebiscite of the trade ? But I suppose it is a 
good stroke of business; and smells strongly of the shop— 
shoppy. F. m. Rimmington. 
Dispensing Reform and Poison Restrictions. 
. Sir,—I must say wonders never cease. It certainly is asto¬ 
nishing the amount of wisdom put forth and maintained by 
the promoters of Pharmacy Acts and amendments. If these 
people think they are going to elevate the trade by making 
stringent and oppressive laws, with respect to the selling, 
keeping and storing of poisons, the names of which are given 
m the schedules (each reformer having his pet scheme as to 
the kind of poison, the locality and the kind of bottle and 
label), they are much mistaken. Any man who has his reason 
would, for his own sake, take the amount of precaution 
necessary in these things. But if a man is careless, no Act of 
I arliament will make him careful; it may punish him when 
he has made a mistake. And, again, these reformers must 
know, if they are or have been at all connected with the 
trade, that the sale of most of the poisons mentioned in the 
schedules is very small, and the amount of profit so small that 
it would not pay for the least possible alteration, i. e. dis¬ 
tinguishing bottles, cupboards, partitions, etc. 
I think we, who have spent our time and money in passing 
the examination, should have a little more justice done us by 
these reformers. Would it not be far better for them to try 
to enlighten the conscience of those men who charge for dis¬ 
pensing the following prescription for pills at one shilling per 
dozen:— 
R. Pepsin. Porci gr. vj 
Eerri Redact, gr. j 
Sol. -Ether. Phosphori -mil 
Pulv. Rhei gr. j 
Pulv. Capsici gr. j 
Mucilaginis q. s. fiat pilula. 
The twelve pills would contain 72 grains of pig-pepsin. 
What profit would there be for the dispenser who faithfully 
prepares these pills at a shilling per dozen? At the same 
establishment the charge for eight-ounce mixtures, one table¬ 
spoonful. doses, is the enormous sum of eightpence; and also 
one shilling was charged for the following :— 
R. Chlorodyne, C. B.’s, 5hj 
Aq. ad Jviij 
St. 3j, omni nocte. 
This has been done by one who has been in business, I be¬ 
lieve, over forty years, in one of the best situations in a large 
manufacturing town,—one who stands amongst the “ foun¬ 
ders,” a “ member ” of the ££ Society ” and the ££ Conference,” 
and a local secretary. Such line of conduct might have been 
passed over had he been ££ hard-pushed,” or a young man just 
“ commencing.” But it is far from it. I should blush to 
give the name of the town in which I reside, though it might 
be said to be justice to the trade to do so. I refrain for pity’s 
sake. 
Now, with respect to the poison question. I will give you 
a rule which, if observed, is the only way to prevent poison¬ 
ing by accident. 1st. Have every bottle or parcel distinctly 
labelled. 2nd. That the bottle or parcel contain the article 
indicated by the label. 3rd. In dispensing, keep the mind 
upon the work; look at and read every label before taking 
out the stopper; examine every weight before putting it into 
the scale pan; and in measuring, let nothing else but the 
quantity and article occupy your mind. 4tli. Do everything 
by system. 5th. Do nothing by “use.” 6th. Use best 
articles, and charge according to the class of customer. If 
first-class, charge accordingly. If you have mostly poor 
people, adapt your charges to their circumstances; but never 
charge less than cost price, for that is dishonest to yourself 
and fellow-dispenser. If your customer is too poor to pay 
you, give him a bottle or two of medicine, for if he cannot 
pay for his medicine he will not be able to pay the doctor. 
But, instead of the poor, it is those that are able to pay who, 
in an extra prescription, are charged under cost price, in 
order to “catch,” or are afraid lest it should give an offence. 
I think it would be much better for our pharmacy re¬ 
formers to look at these rules with their minds unprejudiced. 
They would find it much better than their distinguishing 
bottles, separate cupboards and partitions scheme. 
Now a word of common sense to our Council and phar¬ 
macy reformers. We are in the trade, and have a right to 
live by it. I would say, then,—Do not oppress the trade with 
a lot of measures unnecessary and unprofitable. Do all you 
can to protect our interests, and to obtain for us the "sole 
right to deal in drugs, and to sell castor oil, salts, senna, and 
all those things which are the chief source of revenue to us. 
Do all you can to keep the sale of such articles from those 
who do.them for a grocer’s profit, for it is well known we 
cannot live upon 2} per cent, on our small returns; we should 
not have the pleasure of paying much income-tax. Try to 
do something to regulate the present system of so-called 
“ wholesale druggists ” in large towns. Many inquiries are 
made, What do you charge for so much of so-and-so ? When 
the price is mentioned, their reply is, “ Oh! we pay so much 
at the wholesale druggists.” Attention is required to this 
far more than to poisons. 
A Pharmaceutical Chemist 
by Examination. 
