July 22, 187L] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G7 
lion of its solution with, alcohol, is rubbed together with 
the carbonate of potash; the mixture becomes soft and 
changes in colour, in consequence of the formation of 
carbonate of iron and the liberation of water of crystal¬ 
lization. Powdered tragacanth is now added, and by 
beating with a few drops of syrup a very good pill-mass 
is obtained. The proportions may be seen from the 
following:— 
Jb Ferri Sulphat. pur. 
Potasses Carbonat. pur. aa. 5ij 
Pulv. Tragaeanthae Jss 
Syrupi Simplic. gtt. v-vj 
M. ft. pilul. No. 60. 
Sulphate of iron always gives more or less trouble in 
"the formation of pill-masses with the usual excipients. 
In many cases a little glycerine will probably be found 
•superior to any other, as is the case with the following 
prescription, which will give a crumby, unsatisfactory 
mass with syrup, honey and mucilage, but is unobjec¬ 
tionable when glycerine is employed: 
lb Ext. Nucis Vom. gr. x 
Ferri Sulphat. gr. xx 
Quiniae Sulphat. 3ij 
Glycerine, gtt. v-vj 
M. ft. pilul. No. 20. 
_ It is remarkable what a large amount of the other ex¬ 
cipients the above mixture will take up, while five or six 
'drops of glycerine will have a by far better result. 
THE PHARMACY BILL. 
NORTH BRITISH BRANCH OF THE PHARMA¬ 
CEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
At a meeting- of the Council of the North British Branch 
of the Pharmaceutical Society, Mr. Baildon submitted 
a motion, which was seconded by Mr. Ainslie, that the 
Council approves generally of the Amended Bill. The 
motion was carried, one member only dissenting. 
PHARMACEUTICAL AND CHEMICAL 
ASSOCIATION, SHEFFIELD. 
The following letter, submitted to this Society by Mr. 
G. B. Cocking (Vice-President), and unanimously 
adopted, has been forwarded to Members of Parliament:— 
“ Pharmaceutical and Chemical Association Rooms , 
“ Sheffield , July 14 th, 1871. 
“ To A. B., Esq., M.P. 
“ Dear Sir,—At a meeting of the Council of the above 
Association held last evening, it was resolved to solicit 
your continued opposition to the ‘Act to amend the 
Pharmacy Act, 1868,’ as amended by the Right Honour¬ 
able W. E. Forster, believing that the objections to the 
principles contained in the said Act, as already petitioned 
against by the members of this Association, remain as 
strong as ever. 
“Any protection against poisoning, to be complete or 
.•satisfactory, must include the dispensers in private sur¬ 
geries, public hospitals, infirmaries, parish and other dis¬ 
pensaries, as well as those in ‘open shops.’ Medical 
prescriptions are dispensed in private surgeries (for other 
than private patients) in this and other towns, yet in 
the amended Act they w r ould be exempt from the poison 
regulations. 
“ If the public safety requires any precautionary enact¬ 
ment such as that now proposed, it is certainly desirable 
and just that all persons, without exception, who keep, 
sell, or dispense poisons should be equally subjected to 
any penal restrictions that the Government may adopt. 
“The amendments proposed by Mr. W. E. Forster can¬ 
not be considered either fair and just to pharmacists or 
satisfactory to the public, unless the followdng sentences 
be eliminated therefrom, viz.:— 
“ 1. In notice of motions, page 1939, 2nd amended 
clause, 4th line, ‘ Who keep open shop for the,’ the clause 
then reading thus, ‘All persons retailing, dispensing/ 
etc. 
“ 2. In 3rd amended clause, 1st lino, ‘ Who keeps open 
shop for the,’ the clause then reading thus, ‘ Every per¬ 
son retailing, dispensing,’ etc. 
“3. Page 1940 (schedule), 2nd line, substitute ‘all 
persons’ for ‘ by persons keeping open shop.’ 
“ With these or equivalent alterations the Act might 
be considered fair and impartial. 
“ We are, dear Sir, on behalf of the aforesaid Council, 
“ Yours respectfully, 
“ J. T. Dobb, President. 
“ Henry W. Maleham, Sec.” 
LETTER ADDRESSED TO MEMBERS OF 
PARLIAMENT. 
The followdng is a reprint of a circular posted to 
Members of Parliament on Saturday last, and referred to 
by Mr. Sandford in his letter.* 
“ loth July , 1871. 
“Sir,—In 1868, when the Pharmacy Bill w r as before 
Parliament, the Pharmaceutical Society had to resist, as 
strongly as possible, the introduction of restrictive 
clauses which w r ould have seriously fettered chemists in 
their daily avocations. This could only be done on the 
plea that legislators, being utterly unacquainted wdth 
the details of the business, w'ere not fairly able to make 
regulations respecting it, and that chemists themselves 
were the only fit and proper persons to perform that 
duty. Acknowledging the force of the arguments used 
on that occasion, Parliament left the details of the regu¬ 
lations to be observed in the sale and keeping of poisons 
in the hands of the Pharmaceutical Society and the 
Privy Council conjointly; the former to initiate, the 
latter to approve. The Council of the Society, with 
great care and ti-ouble, framed a code of regulations, 
simple, practicable, sufficiently elastic as they believed 
to prevent serious inconvenience, and yet highly con¬ 
ducive to the safety of the public; the regulations were, 
in fact, taken from the systems of precaution practised 
in the best regulated establishments. The Society, in 
whom the power was vested, did not support the views 
of its Council, and refused by its vote to sanction the re¬ 
commendation of these or of any regulations for the 
approval of the Privy Council with the view of their 
being made compulsory. Thus occasion has been given 
for the introduction of the Pharmacy Bill now before 
the House of Commons. That Bill, as it came from the 
House of Lords, w r as certainly objectionable in some of 
its provisions. It gave the Privy Council too absolute 
powder, and left untouched many shops kept by medical 
men and others, wdio have special exemptions under the 
Act of 1868. Mr. Forster’s amendments of the Bill wall 
remove both these objections ; the first by embodying in 
a schedule the regulations framed by chemists them¬ 
selves, thereby relinquishing at once the proposed arbi¬ 
trary power of the Privy Council; the second by making 
the provisions of the Bill applicable to all persons w r ho 
sell or dispense poisons in open shops. Medical practi¬ 
tioners, in the ordinary exercise of their profession, 
w r ould have perfect immunity from the provisions of this 
Bill, but in an open shop for the sale and dispensing of 
medicine, a doctor becomes a retail dealer, and in that 
shop should conform to rules as other retail dealers. 
Believing that an early settlement of this question w r ill 
conduce to the welfare of chemists and druggists, as w T cll 
as to public safety, tve have presumed to point out to you 
* See p. 79. 
