950 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 27, 1871. 
upon the resolution, because the resolution does not raise, 
as it appears to me, the vital point which is at the bottom 
of the whole thing. I find it necessary therefore to move 
an amendment, and I will just state to you what that 
amendment is. It is in effect a repetition of the same 
motion applied to the present regulations, which motion 
was brought before you a year ago by the Council. But 
I will tell you why I desire to do so. It is, that wo may 
decide now upon the principle which underlies the ques¬ 
tion of the imposition of these regulations; that is to 
say, whether we have contracted an obligation to Par¬ 
liament which we are bound to fulfil in prescribing cer¬ 
tain regulations, I care not now much what they are, be¬ 
cause in considering the details of such regulations, we 
are led away from the point, whether it is our duty to 
prescribe them or not. There has been a great deal of 
very verbose discussion upon the matter, and there was 
a very lengthened meeting a year ago. Ever since that 
time there has been continual discussion of it in letters 
in the Journal and elsewhere. But I venture to assert 
that the main point of the question, the intrinsic essence 
of it, has been very much kept in the background, 
while questions of detail have been under consideration, 
which are only of secondary importance, or questions 
which do not concern us, as for example, the necessity 
for these regulations at all. Sir, we are not the conser¬ 
vators of the public safety. Parliament is the conser¬ 
vator of the public safety, and Parliament has said in 
terms, about which there has been no vagueness or un¬ 
certainty or dispute, that regulations are necessary. It 
is then a question for us whether we will fulfil the obli¬ 
gation imposed upon us by Parliament, or whether we 
intend to measure our feeble power against its omnipo¬ 
tence. I wish to call your attention to what the obliga¬ 
tions are which we have undertaken, and I venture to 
say that no person who ha3 read carefully, as I have 
done, the Act itself, the debates which occurred in the 
two houses of Parliament upon that Act, and the leaders 
in our own Journal at that time, can come to any other 
conclusion than that it was the intention of Parliament 
to impose upon us the obligation of prescribing some 
regulations, that we understood it so at the time, and 
that we accepted the Bill and the privileges which the 
Bill conferred, laden with that obligation. The first 
clause of the Act has been already read, all that is 
essential to us I will read again. That the persons 
privileged by this Act shall “ conform to such regu¬ 
lations as to the keeping, dispensing and selling of 
such poisons as may from time to time be prescribed 
by the Pharmaceutical Society, with the consent of 
the Privy Council.” I cannot conceive that you 
can rationally interpret that Act of Parliament, unless 
you suppose it contemplated that these regulations 
should be prescribed. But let us turn to the debates 
which took place upon the passing of that Bill through 
the House of Commons. Permit me, however, first of 
all, to turn to the leading article in our own Journal 
to show r how that Act was interpreted at the time. 
“ The provisions for preventing the improper use of 
poisonous substances will not be complete, notwith¬ 
standing the labours which the Legislature has devoted 
to the subject during this and previous sessions of Par¬ 
liament, until some^further arrangements and regulations 
Rave been made regarding dangerous medicines. Such 
regulations are contemplated in the Act which has just 
been passed, and they may be made from time to time 
by the Pharmaceutical Society, with the concurrence of 
the Privy Council. The subject is one of considerable 
importance, involving several points of detail, and it 
merits the serious attention, not only of pharmaceutists, 
but of members of every branch of the medical pro¬ 
fession. Questions will naturally arise as to the best 
methods of arranging and labelling the bottles in which 
dangerous and other drugs are kept for use in dispensing, 
of distinguishing, when dispensed, such medicines as 
may be safely administered internally from those which 
arc intended for external use, and of drawing attention 
to those medicines intended for internal administration 
which require great care or special precautions to be ob¬ 
served in using them.” Then there are some other 
matters which I need not read. But then occurs this, 
passage:—“ Many of these regulations relate so exclu¬ 
sively to the internal arrangements of the shop or dis¬ 
pensary, that those only who have practical experience 
in dispensing can fully judge of the extent to which they 
are likely to realize the required object. Details of this, 
description will therefore be most successfully devised 
and carried out by those who have the strongest and 
most direct interest in their operation.” So far as to 
the way in which we interpreted the intention of the- 
Act. Now let us see what the Legislature has thought 
and said upon that subject. I find that Mr. Lowe- 
said when the Bill was about to be introduced into the- 
House,—“The noble lord the Vice-President of the 
Committee of Council gave notice that he would move 
that the Bill should he referred to a Select Committee, 
but that notice has, I am sorry to see, been withdrawn, 
and some amendments have been put on the notice^ 
paper in substitution, but they do not seem to touch the-, 
main question, which is, whether powers of licensing: 
persons to sell clangorous drugs shall be entrusted to 
persons who are in truth a mere voluntary association. 
I hope the Government will take care that an oppor¬ 
tunity be given for discussing the principle of the Bill, 
and that the Bill be not allowed to pass through Com¬ 
mittee between two and three in the morning without, 
discussion. The Government ought to obtain some sc- 
curity from this voluntary association that the provisions- 
of the Bill will be properly carried into effect.” Again 
we find he says in reference to clause 1, “ I move to 
leave out the words Pharmaceutical Society with the- 
conscnt of;” the effect of that would be that it would, 
have taken out of the hands of the Pharmaceutical 
Society any control, and would have vested the whole 
matter in the hands of the Privy Council. Mr. Headlam 
contended against that, and said, “The regulations as- 
to the keeping and selling of poisons will be prescribed, 
by the Pharmaceutical Society with the consent of the- 
Privy Council. It seems perfectly clear that these two- 
bodies, the Pharmaceutical Society, who will prepare^ 
these regulations which will relate to their own trading, 
and the Privy Council, will act together; for the latter 
will have to give their consent to the regulations. Ik 
cannot be objected that there ought to be some regula¬ 
tions relating to the sale of poisons ; nor can it be ob¬ 
jected, I think, that these regulations ought in the first, 
instance to be framed by the Pharmaceutical Society.”” 
Mr. Headlam took charge of this Bill through the House,, 
being in correspondence with our authorized representa¬ 
tives and negotiators, and he said, speaking in that ca¬ 
pacity, “ It cannot bo objected there ought to be some 
regulations relating to the sale of poisons, or that the- 
Pharmaceutical Society are the proper persons to framo 
them.” I am trying to show the intention of Paidiament 
with reference to this Bill which we accepted. Mr. Lowa 
further on says, “ I think the clause as framed is non¬ 
sense. The idea is, that the persons referred to shall 
conform to certain regulations which, with the consent 
of the Privy Council, shall be prescribed by the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, etc.” So far as regards the House- 
of Commons. Now in the House of Lords I find that 
Lord Redesdale was exceedingly pertinacious in an 
endeavour to introduce into the body of the Bill pro¬ 
visions as to the kind of bottles to boused in dispensing and 
sending out liniments, embrocations and poisons, which, 
constitutes one of the provisions of these regulations. 
Lord Redesdale is chairman of committees in the House ; 
he is a man of exceedingly great influence, and, at last, 
he very unwillingly yielded, upon the understanding- 
that it would be done by the Pharmaceutical Society.. 
But I want to read you the way in which his opposition 
I was overcome by Lord Granville, who, also on behalf of 
