951 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
[May 27, 1871. 
may in certain circumstances have two meanings. I 
am not prepared to say that tire amendment is illegal, 
or to protest against its introduction, hut this I do say, 
and I say it most emphatically, it would have been a 
much fairer course for the gentleman who has so ably and 
eloquently pleaded for this amendment, if duo notice had 
been given of it. I make this remark, and, in doing so, 
speak strongly for the following reasons :—I know, and 
believe many gentlemen present know, that deputations 
had been organized in different parts of the country—I 
can speak positively as to Glasgow and some other places; 
that these gentlemen had been prepared to come here 
and represent the chemists 'and druggists in various 
towns, had the compulsory question not been understood 
to bo at end; and therefore most of those deputations 
which had been organized would have been in this room 
to-day to oppose this amendment. It is not for me 
to enunciate what my views are, but at a recent meet¬ 
ing of the Council I joined in the almost unanimous 
vote that a certain course of procedure should be adopted. 
That course resulted in the recommendations which 
are before us, and, having emanated from the Coun¬ 
cil, they havo been circulated broadcast throughout 
Groat Britain, and I say it is specially unfair, and I use 
the word with due consideration, to many country gen¬ 
tlemen who are as deeply interested in this question as 
wo are, to push the question of this amendment to a vote. 
So strongly do I feel upon this point, that if the amend¬ 
ment is pressed I may move the adjournment of the 
meeting. 
Mr. Waugh : There has been a great deal of talk 
about honour, and so on, but my experience is this, that 
a man who knows and feels what personal honour is, will 
be very careful how he casts reflections upon the honour 
of other men. It is a very delicate thing, and to all 
rightly-constituted minds that which every man most 
highly prizes. I am perhaps the oldest member of the 
Council hero, and whatever may be the abstract merits of 
this question, I say, do not press that amendment. When 
I came hero to-day, a bit of paper was put into my hands, 
bearing date May 4th, and I must say I felt this was a 
most unusual step, and it looked very much like attempt¬ 
ing to steal a march upon us. How was it that, the 
Journal having been published twice since that date, the 
document was not published ? How was it you never 
published that little private note from your friend, Mr. 
Simon ? It is a close thing, gentlemen, and, in my opinion, 
not a fair thing at all. I must sit down, but I bog you 
not to press that amendment. 
A Memrer : Will not Mr. Giles withdraw the amend¬ 
ment, and make us all a happy family ? 
Mr. Randall (Southampton): I would heartily join in 
what has j ust been said, and bog that at all events in the 
shape it has taken, this amendment may be withdrawn. 
Not because I object to the amendment in itself, for I 
should support it most heartily at the proper time, and 
as it regards mere technicality I think it certainly is an 
amendment, and a reasonable one: but why I think it 
ought not to be taken now is, that it is more than an 
amendment, not less. It proposes that the common seal of 
the Society should be put to certain regulations which will 
give them the power of an Act of Parliament; but I say 
that after what has taken place, supposing wo do this 
to-day, the Privy Council will not admit that it has 
been properly done, and will send it back to us to do 
again; for I am quite satisfied that the Privy Council on 
looking into the matter, would say,—We are very glad 
indeed that these regulations havo been carried, but they 
certainly must bo carried at a meeting at which due 
notice of their being- brought forward has been given. 
I do not think it was necessary to speak quite so strongly 
about honour, and so on; I think we shall bo all agreed 
that we cannot take them as regulations to-day, but I 
do hope that if Mr. Giles should see it right to with¬ 
draw them as such, he may still give some of us an 
opportunity of showing that we do feel that in our cor¬ 
porate capacity wc ought to act exactly in tho same way 
as we should as individuals. I say that if tho members 
of this Society individually had done what we have done, 
as Mr. Giles pointed out to us, we should not one of us 
havo drawn back from taking upon ourselves the burden 
of those regulations; I do not think, as a corporate body, 
we have any right to do anything less. Therefore, al¬ 
though it would not bo proper to pass those now, seeing 
that no notice has been given of them, I quite agroe 
that we ought to pass them some day. Now, gentle¬ 
men, it is only fair to look at the course winch has 
been taken. It was not tho Pharmaceutical Society’s 
Bill that introduced poison regulations, but for some 
reason which I shall not criticize, our Bill was upset 
once, and nearly upset again by attempts to put poison 
regulations in. Then the Pharmaceutical Society said, 
that being the case, supposing Parliament will give us 
a Bill, not just for the promotion of our own interests, 
but a Bill that shall promote, as they think, tho interests 
of the public, whereby, at the same time, our interests 
will be promoted,—wo will put in the next Bill some 
poison regulations. They insisted on having not only 
regulations for selling, but also for keeping poisons. 
The Society has done its best to obtain a Bill; and having- 
in vain attempted to do without poison regulations, now, 
as men of honour, as wc havo had tho regulations forced 
upon us, I think we ought to carry them out straight¬ 
forwardly. That I believe to be our position, and I 
think that we ought to pass those recommendations 
now, and also to pass a resolution that we shall bo 
quite ready to make them regulations if called upon to 
do so. 
Mr. Clark (Leicester): Would you kindly state, Mr. 
Chairman, if in your opinion the passing of this resolu¬ 
tion will give satisfaction to tho Lords of tho Privy 
Council ? If you think it will, or if you think it will 
save us from obnoxious legislation, I should at once ask 
this meeting to pass it unanimously, and would urge 
upon Mr. Giles to withdraw his amendment, upon condi¬ 
tion that Mr. Vizor adopts the same course in regard to 
his resolution. If this plan should bo adopted, I have 
no doubt a favourable impression would be made upon 
the Privy Council, and would have much more weight 
than if carried by only a small majority. 
Tho Chairman : I am not in a position to say that the 
Privy Council would be satisfied with tho recommenda¬ 
tions. I have had no communication myself personally 
with tho Privy Council or its officers in any way what¬ 
ever. Tho letter which has been alluded to came to tho 
Secretary, and, as has boon stated, that letter was laid 
before tho Council. I felt that was no more than I 
could do in my position. Certainly it appears to me 
that any gentleman may make an amendment, and any 
gentleman may make a further amendment. I am de¬ 
sirous 'of doing that which the meeting- approves of; 
and if tho meeting particularly desires that Mr. Giles’s 
amendment should bo withdrawn, and if Mr. Giles is 
willing to withdraw it, I am willing it should be so. 
But I cannot order Mr. Giles to withdraw it; and if ho 
insists upon it being put, I must put it. 
Mr. Squire : From the general spirit of this discus¬ 
sion on both sides, it docs appear to mo that tho Privy 
Council must gather, from what has been said, that tho 
thing requires more ventilation. These regulations con¬ 
sist of three parts, either of which may be adopted by 
chemists; and it does appear to me that they arc still 
imperfect. I think if a law was imposed which wo have 
to follow, it should implicitly state one rule of action. 
Hero are three, and they appear to me to be very diffi¬ 
cult for people to adhere to strictly. I do not think in 
any Act of Parliament this sort of ambiguity would be 
allowed. When I was in tho House of Commons about 
this Bill, Mr. Sandford said to me, “ What do you think 
of that clause?” which I afterwards learnt was a pet 
.use of a gentleman connected with the Privy Council, 
d it was to this effect, that no poison should be sent 
