942 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 18,1872. 
and evidently by a large majority of this meeting. That 
alteration will have to be considered at two subsequent 
meetings of the Council, and a special meeting of the 
Council will then have to be summoned to approve of 
the amended bye-law, and lastly it will have to be sub¬ 
mitted to the Privy Council. I believe the alteration 
suggested by Mr. Vizer is a very proper and just one, for 
I do not think matters affecting our legal position should 
be brought forward at annual meetings without previous 
notice, and after having passed in a very thin and inat¬ 
tentive meeting should then be submitted to the Privy 
Council, and have full force of law binding on the whole 
trade. That is a state of things not to be desired in any 
point of view; and I do not think there is a member of 
the Council who would object to any proper and legiti¬ 
mate alteration that could be effected in conjunction with 
our legal adviser, to prevent such a thing. With that 
object I pledge myself that this shall have attention at 
the very earliest meeting of the Council, and if that 
will satisfy Mr. Yizer, and he will withdraw his reso¬ 
lution, I am perfectly sure that the feeling which 
has been expressed will have its influence upon the 
Council. 
Mr. Yizer : I feel, after the assurances given by 
yourself and by Mr. Brown, which are amply sufficient 
to answer my purpose, I cannot do better than leave it 
in your hands, and therefore I beg leave to withdraw the 
resolution. 
Mr. Wheeler (London) then drew attention to a pam¬ 
phlet issued by the Associated Traders’ Company, carry¬ 
ing on business at Bishopsgate Street Without, and also at 
Wigmore Street, containing announcements that pre¬ 
scriptions left before eleven in the morning would be 
ready by four in the afternoon, but those left after 
eleven, would not be ready until after eleven the next 
morning. He wished to know if this could be done 
legally, and if prescriptions could be dispensed at an 
establishment in no way connected with the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society. He had raised the question as dis¬ 
tinctly as possible, and would not occupy more time 
about it, but should be prepared, if necessary, to submit 
a resolution. He would rather hear a little discussion 
upon it at first, if gentlemen were so disposed. 
The President said this appeared to be a question 
affecting the co-operative store movement, and he did 
not think it came within the business of the day. 
A Member thought there would be no harm in the 
solicitor answering the question whether it could be 
legally done. 
Mr. Wheeler said he would submit a resolution in 
order to raise the question fairly, viz.: “ That this 
meeting is of opinion that the dispensing of prescriptions 
by any association of traders not on the Register of the 
Pharmaceutical Society is illegal, and requests the 
Council, through their proper officer, to take such im¬ 
mediate proceedings as shall decide the question, in a 
court of justice. 
Mr. Giles said he should be very glad indeed to 
second the resolution, but he thought the first step 
should be to ascertain from their legal adviser whether 
it was illegal. This was a subject of immense interest 
to all persons engaged in the trade, and if they were at 
all jealous of their privileges in any direction, it should 
be against these abominable institutions which were 
growing up amongst them, and which he ventured to 
say, were likely to produce not only very great social, 
but political mischief. 
Mr. Mack ay said the words which had been read by 
Mr. Wheeler appeared to show that the prescriptions 
were sent out to be made up by a properly qualified 
person. Before the Solicitor answered the question, it 
would be important to know whether they were made 
up on the premises. 
A Member said he apprehended the Act did not 
allow it to be done even in that way. 
Another Member said it was a common thing in the 
Haymarket. He had seen one of his own customers 
coming out of the co-operative stores with a bottle of 
medicine in his hand. 
The Solicitor : G-entlemen, I fancy that your proceed¬ 
ings at this meeting are to a certain extent public pro¬ 
perty, and it may not be expedient for you to have 
explicit answers given to all questions you choose to ask. 
I can point out to you the clause in the Act of Parlia¬ 
ment which says that it shall be unlawful for any 
person to sell, or keep open shop for the retailing, dis¬ 
pensing or compounding poisons. 
A Member : Is that all ? 
The Solicitor : I know of no Act of Parliament in 
restraint of trade which goes further. 
Mr. Wheeler : Most prescriptions do contain poison. 
The President : The Council have given great atten¬ 
tion to this subject. If you really want your solicitor’s 
opinion, you should ask him whether if a prescription 
proved to contain poison and to be dispensed by one of 
these associations can be legally attacked, and whether 
it would be wise to do so, supposing it to be dispensed 
by a competent person of your own body. 
Mr. Urwick: I would remind you, gentlemen, that 
this question ought to receive very careful handling. 
If you should find you could not sustain your proceed¬ 
ings, you would simply be acting as an advertisement to- 
the store, so that I think the matter requires a great 
deal of caution. No one feels more than I do the evil of 
these stores, and if this system could be stopped I 
should only be too glad to do so, but at the same time- 
we should be careful not to advertise them. 
Mr. Wheeler : In the meantime the evil exists, and 
unless something is done to put it down it will in¬ 
crease. The question is, can that something be done 
legally ? 
Mr. Malden remarked that he did not think it pro¬ 
per for the Pharmaceutical Journal to be the medium 
of an advertisement to the effect which appeared in its- 
columns not long ago, that the Co-operative Society in 
Oxford Street required a manager to conduct the che¬ 
mist department. He thought such advertisements- 
should appear in other journals. 
Mr. Pickering asked if the Act applied to persons 
keeping a shop and employing a qualified person to make¬ 
up medicines. 
The Solicitor : I should advise without hesitation, 
that I, as an unqualified person, could not keep open 
shop for the sale of poisons, and cover myself by em¬ 
ploying a qualified assistant; and I should also advise 
that what would apply to a single individual would ap¬ 
ply to many. 
Mr. G-iles said it appeared to him it was a question of 
principle, and they wanted some assurance from the 
Council that it would not be allowed to drop. He should 
like the question to be thoroughly investigated with legal 
assistance. He understood that no one could keep open 
shop to dispense poisons unless he were himself quali¬ 
fied. He did not know whether the clause relating to 
executors affected it. 
The Solicitor : So long as an executor, administrator,, 
or trustee, carries on business as such, he is within the 
distinct protection of the Act of Parliament. But when 
he becomes a beneficiary in his own right, his character 
is changed, and he comes under the penal clauses of the 
Act. 
Mr. Giles : I understand that if a man offends against 
the law he is amenable to the law. 
The President : I think you may safely leave this- 
in the hands of the Council to take such proceedings 
as they may be advised. 
The Scrutineers having been appointed, 
Mr. Jameson moved, and Mr. Vizer seconded, a cor¬ 
dial vote of thanks to the President and to the Council, 
which was unanimously adopted, and the meeting was 
adjourned until Friday morning at eleven o’clock. 
