March 25, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
767 
through Parliament, and the discussion upon them would 
he found in the Pharm. Journ. 1868-9, pp. 58 ct seq. It 
would there he found that the struggle was, not as to 
the question whether compulsory regulations were to he 
made,—upon which point both parties in the State ap¬ 
peared to he agreed,—hut as to the question who should 
make them. The present Chancellor of the Exchequer 
(Mr. Lowe) and the present Home Secretary (Mr. Bruce) 
were of opinion that the Privy Council should he em¬ 
powered to make them, hut Mr. Headlam said that the 
nohle Duke at the head of the Privy Council (the Duke 
of Marlborough) had introduced the words “Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society, with the consent of the Privy Council,” 
as the proper persons, and he supported that view. So 
also did Lord Robert Montagu and others ; Mr. 
Alderman Lusk saying “that he had no fear of the 
Pharmaceutical Society not doing their duty.” The 
Act passed, and the Privy Council, possessing a co-ordi¬ 
nate authority, called on the Pharmaceutical Society to 
make the regulations contemplated by it. Mr. Abra- 
Iiam quoted the speech of the late President of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, Mr. Sugden Evans, in intro¬ 
ducing the recommendations of the Council at the last 
Annual Meeting, to show that the Council did so as a 
duty imposed on the Society by Parliament, and not ex 
proprio motu. The meeting referred the propositions 
hack, with instructions to make a further report. Accord¬ 
ingly, the Council having again considered the subject, 
its propositions will come before the general meeting of 
the members on the 17th of next month, in Bloomsbury 
Square. By that meeting, and not by the Council, the 
matter will be determined, and the question was, what 
duty, good faith and prudence required them to do. No 
power existed to take any authoritative vote, except 
from the members then present. It was not to be as¬ 
sumed, however, that they could have all their own way, 
and that the matter would end there. He had shown 
them that both parties in Parliament required regulations 
do be made, and the Privy Council had, in the letter of 
January 17th, expressed the opinion that some such re¬ 
gulations w r ere absolutely necessary for the public safety. 
These being the facts, what would follow the rejection of 
all regulations ? Was it not almost certain that Govern¬ 
ment would seek new powers, and that another hand 
than their own would frame the regulations, and seeing 
how unwilling the Pharmaceutical Society were to adopt 
them, that their adoption would be enforced by inspec¬ 
tion ? And who would the inspectors be ? The Privy 
'Council was empowered to appoint a visitor to watoh 
the examinations of the Society, and had appointed not 
a pharmacien, but a medical man. He believed that if 
all regulations were rejected by the Pharmaceutical 
Society, the result would be that they would be forced 
upon them, and that a medical man would be authorized 
to come behind every one of their counters. On the 
other hand, what was it they were afraid of ? He could 
not conceive any difficulty in observing the regulations. 
He observed them himself, but if it could be shown that in 
•any shop in the kingdom they could not be easily observed, 
they ought not to pass without amendment; and he did 
think that the regulation with respect to dispensing re¬ 
quired amendment. No power but Parliament could 
authorize inspectors to visit them; if they acted in har¬ 
mony with the Privy Council, he believed that no at¬ 
tempt would be made to do anything of the sort, but if 
they set at defiance the expressed wishes of Parliament 
and of the Privy Council, he had already intimated what 
he thought would follow. If he thought that there was 
the least prospect of their being able to influence the 
Privy Council he would be glad to join in representing 
the objections which were so strongly entertained. 
Mr. Charles Symes, Ph.D., moved an amendment. 
He said,—Last year I voted against them as a compul¬ 
sory measure. As being new and untried, we could not 
tell how they would work; now we have had oppor¬ 
tunity for a twelvemonth’s trial, and no one who has 
adopted them unbiassed can say they are impracticable; 
indeed, it is admitted by all that they are good, but 
should emanate as a recommendation from the Council 
and be left for voluntary adoption. For twelve months 
they have been precisely in this position; and now let 
me ask, have one-half of the chemists throughout the 
country given them a trial ? Nay, I venture to say, not 
50 per cent, have ever read them carefully through, or 
thought about them other than as an oppressive measure, 
which, if passed into law, would rob them of their 
liberty. What then becomes of the voluntary system ? 
Many improvements have been suggested, but all fall 
short of effectiveness and simplicity compared with the 
original regulations; to get at any proper idea of the 
remedy we must first ascertain the cause. You speak of 
education as the only remedy (no one is a stronger advo¬ 
cate for education than myself); but let me ask you, 
gentlemen, do not educated men make mistakes ? The 
true cause of 90 per cent, of the accidents (so called) is 
not ignorance but preoccupation of the mind; the per¬ 
sons who commit them are thinking of something else; 
and anything which brings a man back to a remem¬ 
brance of what he is doing must be, to a great extent, 
an important and effectual remedy. But, gentlemen, 
this is a question in which principle and honour are in¬ 
volved ; it is a fact which it is impossible for any can¬ 
did man, who would take the trouble to inquire into 
the matter to deny, that it was part and parcel of 
our arrangement with the Government at the passing of 
the Act, that some compulsory regulations should be 
adopted. We have made a bargain (a bad one, if you 
like to think it so) as binding as any between man 
and man; let us then in all fairness as honourable and 
honest men carry it out. Some jealousy exists on ac¬ 
count of the exemption of dispensing medical men. 
I should be very sorry to associate the dispensing of 
the surgery with that of the pharmacy; the public 
know something of the difference even now; but the 
fact of this law not applying to the surgery, and that 
medicines and lotions were sent from it in similar 
bottles, would only serve to make more vivid that line of 
demarcation which already faintly exists in the public 
mind and would be of considerable benefit to us. Air. 
Symes then moved the following amendment:—“That 
this meeting approves of the proposed poison regula¬ 
tions as suggested by the Pharmaceutical Council.” 
Mr. Wright said that for the sake of seeing how 
many would support it, he would second the amend¬ 
ment, though he should vote against it. 
Mr. Sumner said that whenever this question had 
been discussed, it was always necessary to fall back 
upon education, and that was the only safeguard. He 
did not for one moment suppose that the Government 
would pass any law making such regulations compul¬ 
sory ;* they had altered their opinions since last session, 
and he thought they would settle this matter much in 
the same way as they had the control of the railways, 
and conclude that no man was more competent to take 
charge of his poisons than the qualified pharmacist him¬ 
self. It appeared to him that the Pharmaceutical Council 
thought it better to teach the hand, and leave the head 
to Act of Parliament for protection, in case of a mistake 
being made. 
The resolution was supported by Messrs. Ball, Jones, 
Holt, Wright, and was carried by a large majority. 
Three votes only were accorded for the amendment. 
The Secretary was requested to send a copy of the 
resolution to the President of the Pharmaceutical Society, 
to be read at the Annual Meeting in May next. 
Mr. Hampson, of Manchester,who attended as a dele¬ 
gate from the “ Chemists’ Defence Association,” being- 
called upon, urged the importance of united action; in¬ 
vited those present to join the association, and several 
members were enrolled. 
A vote of thanks was unanimously passed to the 
Chairman and the procecdiugs terminated. 
