998 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[Jane 8, 1872. 
was no desire to suppress anything which ought to he 
published. The reports of the last two meetings of the 
old Council were said to be more full than they ever had 
been before; but the fact was that the subjects were 
more particularly interesting to the country, and could 
therefore be published with advantage, and also their 
reporter had, he thought, given them better reports of 
late, which he explained in this way,—that coming 
amongst them twelve months ago a perfect stranger, he 
did not understand the proceedings so well as he did 
when he was better acquainted with them. Taking the 
.sheets sent in by the reporter, it was now only necessary 
to draw a pencil through such parts as were not to be 
published, and leave the rest almost entirely unaltered. 
He therefore thought it would be much more satisfac¬ 
tory to appoint a Committee without affirming the 
principle now; because the matter must be looked in 
the face, and they must consider who they were going 
to invite. If reporters in general were admitted, they 
could not ex61ude one and admit another, and all papers 
connected with the trade, and perhaps the medical jour¬ 
nals, might claim to send reporters, which he thought 
would be very inconvenient. 
Mr. Williams said he would second the amendment 
in order that it might be discussed, because he thought 
the real question was whether they should have one 
reporter under their own control, or other reporters not 
under their own control, and he was certainly an 
advocate for having one reporter under the control of 
the Council. In his opinion it would be very objection¬ 
able to have strangers present whom they could not 
control in any way, or direct as to what should be pub¬ 
lished and what not. 
Mr. Savage said he would much rather leave it to the 
.gentlemen who were accustomed to report proceedings 
of public meetings. He had sufficient confidence in re¬ 
porters to believe that they would not publish anything 
improper. There was of course a great deal said there 
which no one would like to see in print, but he believed 
that reporters would only give the matter which would 
be interesting to the members at large. He did not care 
about anything he said or did being reported, but one 
incident had occurred to him which illustrated the 
matter. He gave a notice of motion at the suggestion 
of others, to the effect that it was desirable to keep open 
the Library in the evening, and there was no notice 
whatever taken of that until the notice appeared in the 
Journal that the library was to be opened. Now he 
could see no objection whatever to have reported that the 
question was brought forward by Mr. Savage at such a 
time, and then those gentlemen who had communicated 
with him on the subject, would have known that he had 
brought it forward, whereas he had to write to them to 
tell them that it was under consideration. He felt sure 
that whether there were one or more reporters present, 
they would be quite safe in their hands, and a great deal 
of trouble would be saved to the Committee who now 
superintended the publication. 
Mr. Owen supported the resolution, and said it would be 
quite competent to the Council to request the reporters to 
leave the room if any private matter were under discussion. 
Mr. U it wick said he fully agreed with publicity him¬ 
self, and was quite willing to trust to the reporters, who, 
he was sure, generally speaking, flattered most people in 
their reports. He should therefore support Mr. Betty, 
but with the understanding of a Committee being ap¬ 
pointed, because he did see difficulties in the way. 
Mr. Stoddart said there were matters occasionally 
coming up which members would have difficulty in 
speaking upon'if they thought they would be reported 
the next day, and many instances would occur to the 
minds of gentlemen present of questions which were 
discussed, and which ought to be discussed, but which it 
would not be pleasant to see published. But, if these 
difficulties could be obviated, he saw no objection to 
.reporters being present. 
Mr. Schacht hoped Mr. Sandford would not press his 
amendment, for it would be a very invidious and unplea¬ 
sant task if any committee, such as he proposed, were to 
be appointed to have to go through all the shorthand 
writer’s notes of the past year and report whether the 
Publication Committee had done their duties honestly 
and fairly. Speaking, however, on the abstract principle, 
as far as he understood the matter, he thought there 
ought to be the fullest possible publication of their pro¬ 
ceedings, and he could not help thinking that in any 
public business the more gentlemen were aware that 
whatever they said would be reported, the more careful 
they would be as to what they said and their delibera¬ 
tions would be conducted with more dignity, and perhaps 
with better judgment. There would, no doubt, be a 
difficulty here and there, but he had expected to hear 
much more on that point than he had. The only point 
of much consequence appeared to be that occasionally 
questions arose touching individuals in the trade which 
would naturally not be laid before the whole world; but 
all such personal questions might surely be discussed 
beforehand in committee, and they would not be broached 
in the Council room until the matter had been completely 
sifted and verified. He certainly hoped that Mr. Betty’s 
motion would be carried unanimously, and thought they 
would then find that the Council and its constituents 
generally would be at one. 
Mr. Baynes thought the reporting might be safely left 
in the hands of the reporters who were, as far as his expe¬ 
rience extended, free from any political or other bias, and 
were thus able to report any matter which came before 
them freely, fairly and impartially. But he must say 
that in years gone by, when he had taken part in public 
proceedings, he had gone home somewhat nervous as to 
what he had said, and had been quite rejoiced the next 
morning on reading the report. He was quite sure, 
therefore, that those gentlemen would exercise a reason¬ 
able discretion, and that no one need fear anything 
being improperly published. With all respect to the 
gentlemen who had acted as the Publication Committee, 
he thought it must be a most unpleasant duty for them 
to supervise the speeches of gentlemen from whom they 
might materially differ, and would be exceedingly difficult 
for them in such a case to give the whole force and effect 
of what was meant by the speaker. A reporter having 
no feelings whatever on the matter would see very much 
clearer what the speaker was aiming at, and if he was 
obliged to report only one fourth of what was said, 
he would make the speech a much better one in reading 
than it was when delivered. 
Mr. Sandford said, in order to meet Mr. Schacht’s 
objection, he would omit the last words of his amend¬ 
ment respecting the reporter’s notes, and substitute for 
them the following words : “ in order to assist them (the 
Committee ) in the consideration of the matter .” He really 
wished they would look through the reports, because 
there was a sort of charge against the Committee of 
having suppressed matters. It was said that they had 
not reported fully, but it was a most remarkable circum¬ 
stance that during eleven months of the year there was 
not a member of the Council who ever said that the 
report was insufficient. He challenged them all on that 
point. With regard to the instance mentioned by Mr. 
Savage, he did not know that it was ever usual to report 
notices of motion until they were brought on for dis¬ 
cussion. 
Mr. Sutton said Mr. Schacht had nearly expressed 
his views on the matter, but he should like to put for¬ 
ward a second amendment to the effect:— 
“That the reporter now engaged to take shorthand 
notes at the Council Meetings be required to take 
full reports of the proceedings of Council, and that 
the same be published in the Journal, except in so 
far as may be otherwise ordered by the Council.” 
Mr. Brown said he should vote for Mr. Betty’s mo- 
