May 27, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
950 
mg the recommendations suggested by the Council, this consider the question calmly, gentlemen, and not he 
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Society is prepared to consider the desirability of confirm 
ing them as regulations at a future meeting. 
Mr. Giles : I have been asked several times whether 
I will consent to withdraw my amendment. I shall be 
very willing to withdraw it on conditions. If I can be 
.assurod, to begin with, that by postponing action at the 
present time, we shall be secured against any action of an 
offensive nature in future. I regret exceedingly that it 
has been considered necessary—not by myself so much 
us by others with whom I have consulted—to mix up 
Ibis question of compulsion and principle with these 
-questions of detail. Mv last intention, after I had sub¬ 
mitted the notice which I gave of this amendment, was 
to move a resolution to the effect that it is the duty of 
this meeting to comply w r ith the provisions of the 
Pharmacy Act, by prescribing certain regulations, leaving 
altogether out of the question the nature of these special 
regulations, in order that they.might be made the subject 
-of further deliberation amongst gentlemen appointed by 
this meeting to confer with the Council. But I am satis- 
tied it is no use to delay. We have delayed for twelve 
months, and I do not think we have fulfilled the kind of 
-engagement we gave when we theh postponed it. I do 
not think the chemists throughout the kingdom have 
.given these regulations a trial. I w ? ould only just say 
one wmrd more in justification of a slight imputation 
on my personal honour in bringing this matter forward 
.at the last hour. To begin "with, notice was given by 
3Ir. Baldock of such a resolution in the Journal; and, in 
the second place, I have an abhorrence of anything like 
a packed meeting. I determined to bring this forward 
do such a meeting as happened to come, and I assure you, 
-on my honour, I have not asked a single person to 
-attend it. Granted the opportunity of packing the 
meeting, no matter what the question is, I will undertake 
to carry it, but do not let any one have the chance of 
jpacking it. 
Mr. Uii wick : I think Mr. Giles ought not to go into 
the question again. If there has been any question asked 
'which he wishes to answer, and the meeting wishes to 
hear him, it might be allowed ; but we ought not to go 
into a discussion again. 
Mr. Edwards : Mr. Giles has an undoubted right to 
jreply. 
Mr. Giles : I understand that I am replying by the 
.courtesy of the meeting. I assume I have cleared myself 
from the charge of bringing this forward in any dishonour¬ 
able way. The question is, shall I withdraw this amend¬ 
ment ? I am willing to meet any compromise which will not 
j>ut us in the position of leaving this room to-day with 
•the effect that we have passed over this opportunity, and 
.have declined to do that which I hold to be our duty, to 
form regulations in accordance wdth the provisions of the 
Act of Parliament. If any gentleman can suggest any 
method, by which that can be done, I am willing to agree 
to it; but if it comes to this, that we withdraw this re¬ 
solution, and let the thing go on as a denial of the obliga¬ 
tion to impose some poison regulations, I do hold that it 
as of all things necessary that we should endeavour, at 
•all events, to keep open a channel of communication 
-between ourselves and the Privy Council. There, I 
think, is the fatal mistake made by our Council. I 
think you should have said w t c are bringing forward a 
thing which may not be agreeable to you, but still, as 
the representative organization of this Society, we think it 
•car duty to keep faith. If we do not succeed in carrying 
this thing through, and we come into collision with Parlia¬ 
ment, we shall at all events be clean-handed in the matter, 
•and can go forward afterwards and make the best terms 
rashly hurried into a decision which will land us in an 
unfortunate position, which we may hereafter have to 
regret. If any gentleman is prepared with a resolution 
which will have the effect of a compromise, I shall be 
glad to withdraw; but if not, I must still insist upon 
my amendment, in order to get a definite expression of 
the opinion of the meeting. 
Mr. Vizer: If Mr. Giles will accede to the amend¬ 
ment which I was going to move, it will solve the diffi¬ 
culty. 
Mr. Giles : I do not know what your amendment 
is. 
The Chairman' : I will read it. This is the amend¬ 
ment suggested by Mr. Vizer, “ That whilst desirous of 
taking every reasonable means for the protection of the 
public, this meeting considers the recommendations of 
the Council unsatisfactory, and therefore refers the 
question for reconsideration to the new Council.” 
Mr. Stacey : I am very glad, Mr. Chairman, to notice 
from what has been said, the implicit confidence which 
the country members evidently have in the Council in 
London. They say that so fully was it understood that 
the Council were going to bring forward these recom¬ 
mendations, that hundreds of members felt there was no 
need for them to attend. I am glad to see that there 
is such confidence in the Council ; but I will call 
their attention to one fact, that having that confidence 
and the Council having given most unusual exertions to 
this matter, they must remember that the Council have 
expressed their full confidence in the views of Mr. Giles 
and Mr. Sandford. Almost every one, certainly every 
one that has spoken has done so. Now the difference in 
the whole discussion lies between those two words ‘‘recom¬ 
mendations” and “ regulations.” The views are the same 
in every other respect. I have been attending to this 
discussion with very great care, and I wish further to call 
attention to one very important principle that was a little 
interfered with in one part of the discussion, namely, 
that this meeting is not a corporate body, that is to say, 
it is not a complete representation of the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain. Now if you once allow that 
principle to creep in, we get into very dangerous con¬ 
siderations with respect to previous meetings. You must 
take this meeting as a meeting of the Society, and its 
actions as such; and I would ask this meeting to con¬ 
sider whether they cannot accept these regulations as the 
express act of the Council, and not merely take them as 
recommendations, which will place this Society in very 
great difficulties with the Government. To say nothing 
else, it will place them in great difficulty with the Privy 
Council, and they are already in a sufficiently difficult 
position. Our position will be rather anomalous, seeing 
that as a voluntary Society we have to carry out an Act 
of Parliament which refers to the whole body of chemists 
in the country. Therefore, I think the Council may ask 
the support of the meeting, and I hope the meeting will 
give them that support in passing these as regulations. 
The Chairman : I will now, gentlemen, put the amend¬ 
ment, but you must bear with me one moment, whilst I 
say that if anything has been done which has proved not 
quite so open as you might have expected, it has been 
simply an error in judgment, not from any desire to mis¬ 
lead. But when I see an amendment in print which 
was intended to be brought forward without having been 
made known to the Council or the Society at large, I 
cannot see how you could complain of another gentleman 
bringing forward an amendment which had not been in 
print. I simply say that, because some of our friends 
have used the word “honour” once or twice, and I think 
we can. That is of the greatest possible importance, and we ought to do, not only that which is honorable, but if 
I do implore you not to be led aside. A gentleman near possible something more. The letter from the Privy 
.me said he did not think this question was understood in Council has been in the hands of every member of the 
•the country; and he is so far right, that it requires a Council for some days, and, therefore, it was quite com- 
.great deal of reading up back evidence, in order to be petent for those gentlemen who reside in the country, 
'quite in possession of the actual facts of the case. Do and who felt so strongly that their friends would be kept 
