958 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 27, 1871. 
imposed upon us "by Act of Parliament. If we were not 
to oppose so many difficulties, but to take advantage of 
every modern improvement.—like early closing, shutting 
up on Sundays, and so on,—we should he in a much better 
position than we are now. We have not any time to our¬ 
selves, not because we could not have it, hut because we 
-choose to impose this collar upon ourselves; and we allow 
the public to suppose that a chemist is at their beck and 
■call any moment they like, instead of making them pro¬ 
vide for their wants in our business the same as they 
would in any other case. 
Mr. Dymond (Birmingham) : I hope, Mr. Chairman, 
that whatever we do, we shall make up our minds to settle 
the matter now, without postponing it or adjourning the 
meeting. I have listened with the greatest interest to 
what has taken place, and the more I have listened the 
•clearer has my mind come to the conclusion that the 
-Council have done right in presenting the motion which 
they have. We have here opinions most ably stated by 
Mr. Giles, in which I may say I most cordially agree. 
"We have other exactly opposite opinions, also ably stated 
"by Mr. Yizer, and it seems to me that the recommenda¬ 
tion of the Council exactly lies between them. If one 
side will give way a little, and the other will give way 
and meet at the point proposed by the Council, we may 
come to a unanimous conclusion. These recommenda¬ 
tions I am sure, from my own experience of what has 
taken place in the Council, have been the result of long 
and anxious deliberation. We have, on the one hand, 
known all that Mr. Sandford has told us of what tho 
Privy Council has done, of what has been attempted in 
previous Acts of Parliament, and indeed have become 
familiar with the whole history of the question, with 
opportunities which few others have possessed. Knowing 
this, a large majority of the Council felt that the regu¬ 
lations, in their compulsory form, were those which the 
country ought to accept. On the other hand, we have, 
since these first resolutions were arrived at, had mani¬ 
festations of opinion throughout Great Britain, by means 
of meetings and memorials addressed to the Council, the 
meaning of which has been unmistakable, and which it 
would have been folly to ignore. Tho Council is but a 
representative body ; it was bound to take notice of the 
■opposition thus manifested, and it would not have been 
Si fair representation of the opinion of our constituents to 
.attempt to pass these resolutions compulsorily. We 
f here fore went again into the matter with, speaking for 
anyself, convictions still unshaken of the desirability of 
.such regulations and of the obligations which the Society 
.had incurred by the passing of the Pharmacy Act, but 
yet conscious that the chemists of the country were un¬ 
prepared for such a measure. Convinced of that, I, as a 
member of the Council, say it was not our business to 
-carry forward that measure in a compulsory form. Yield¬ 
ing to that which we see is the opinion of the trade, we 
have brought forward these measures in the form of re¬ 
commendations ; and I am convinced, in proposing that 
recommendatory form, we have done the only thing pos- 
.sible to do, and which I believe it is wise for this meeting 
to accept. I do ask you to settle the question now, by 
passing the moderate measure which we have proposed. 
Mr. Linford : I perfectly agree with what Mr. Dy- 
mond has said, but what if the Privy Council will not 
accept that only as a recommendation ? Are we any 
nearer to. our end at all P Is it not possible that the 
•only way in which it can be successfully presented would 
be that the recommendations should be adopted for a 
year on the distinct understanding that if they are found 
practicable, they, or some other recommendations which 
may be amendments of these, should be adopted as com¬ 
pulsory at the meeting this day twelvemonths. I think 
by that means we may arrive at a medium course, which 
•may, to a certain extent, satisfy the Privy Council, and 
•enable us to still hold in our own hands the regulations, 
which, if we once give them up to those who arc not ac¬ 
quainted with the trade, will be imposed upon us in a 
very different shape. I have heard a great deal about 
objection's to these regulations, but I myself have con¬ 
ducted business in the country and in London. I have 
dealt in paints, oils and colours, as well as drugs ; and I 
have had the entire conduct of a largo West-End busi¬ 
ness ; but I have never yet heard any distinct and spe¬ 
cific accusation against any one of the regulations as 
impossible to be carried out. I should like some country 
member to tell us what it is he cannot do. If he can¬ 
not lock up his cask, he can put some sandpaper on the 
lid, or put a rim of sandpaper round it; there are many 
things which will be strictly in conformity with these 
regulations, and which are perfectly easy of adoption. 
There is, perhaps, no business where it would be more 
difficult to carry them out than whore I am at the pre¬ 
sent time, but I think even there I could manage to 
carry them out without any insuperable difficulty ; and 
being able to carry them out without fear of inspection 
is an advantage which we ought not to lose sight of. 
Mr. Squire : I think Mr. Linford’s observation, if 
put in the form of an amendment, would be carried 
almost unanimously by the meeting,—that is, to adopt 
these regulations for a year. 
Mr. Edwards : I will not go over the whole ground 
which has been gone over already to wearisomeness; 
but two things I will notice. We are charged with 
having unfairly published this letter, or rather with 
keeping it back as a threat. Now, when the first letter 
of Mr. Simon’s came, it was published immediately; and 
we were charged with doing that which we had no busi¬ 
ness to do until the Council saw it. It was said that 
the Editor of the Journal had no business to publish 
that letter until it was laid before the Council; there¬ 
fore, this letter was not published until the Council had 
seen it. One other remark I would make about the in¬ 
spection. I shall not go at all deeply into that, except 
to state that the fear of inspection is a perfect fallacy in 
my mind, unless you refuse these regulations, and then, 
I believe, it looms in the distance, and is not very far 
off. But the Council have done what they could do. 
You know their opinion, and their opinion is un¬ 
changed still; but if you will not have these regu¬ 
lations, the Council have ceased to wish to force them 
upon you, and they throw the responsibility upon your¬ 
selves. But I, as a member of the Council, cannot 
help warning you that, if you wish for inspection 
with all your heart, you had better reject these resolu¬ 
tions. The Committee of the Privy Council, if they 
bring any bill into Parliament, will not omit inspection ; 
and depend upon it you will have yourselves to thank 
for that which you might have avoided. We are not 
entitled to say that we know they are quite satisfied 
with them, but we have every reason to believe that, if 
you pass them, it is all they require. I remember a 
little time ago sitting at a board of health, and some Act 
of Parliament was mentioned. I said to the solicitor: 
“But supposing it is not done, how is it to be enforced ?” 
“Enforced,” said he, “like every other Act of Parlia¬ 
ment. If a man breaks the law, and is found out, he 
will be punished.” It was not that an inspector was 
needed. Where is there an inspector for gunpowder ? 
Where is the inspector under the Arsenic Act ? It 
rests on the same ground as every other law; if you do 
not obey it, you do it at your peril. You will find there 
is no inspection necessary; but I must tell you, whether 
you think it popular or unpopular, if you wish to have 
inspection, you cannot adopt a surer method to obtain it 
than by refusing to pass these resolutions. 
Mr. Townsend : I think, with regard to the amend¬ 
ment of Mr. Giles, there is a very serious difficulty, from 
the fact of a circular having been sent to the whole 
trade which, by implication, led tho country members to 
infer that the regulations would be adopted to-day as 
recommendations only. I think this difficulty might be 
solved, and the subject might be calmly considered, if 
some such resolution as this were passed, that in adopt- 
