142 REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE PR1YY COUNCIL. 
We have seen lamentable instances where the result has seemed to justify 
such an inference,—some indeed where the word “ Poison,” in addition to the 
name of the article, has been apparently disregarded—and we confess that we 
tremble for the result when we think of a dispenser who can, under any circum¬ 
stances, weigh or measure from a bottle without first reading its label. This 
is just the kind of carelessness which men of the greatest experience, when 
discussing the merits of “ Poison Bills,” have believed w T ould be increased by 
cunningly-devised bottles. A dispensary contains so many poisons, that poison- 
bottles must be common therein. Morphia is a poison, so is strychnia, so is 
aconitine ; but there is as much care required in distinguishing between these 
three medicines as between tincture of opium and many other tinctures of the 
same colour and appearance. The label only must be the dispenser’s guide, 
however much poisons, as a class, may be hedged about with further precau¬ 
tions. 
Dr. Taylor concludes with certain suggestions, which in the main are doubt¬ 
less good, for diminishing the evils he has been considering. He commences 
with the one broad and important provision, u That none but qualified persons, 
educated to the trade of druggists, should be allowed to vend by retail drugs 
or medicines capable of acting as poisons.” 
This is but an extension of the principle set forth in the Pharmaceutical 
Society from the beginning, and acted upon continuously, that the public safety 
should be secured and the status of the trade advanced , by the requirement of a 
certain educational qualification of those who intend to practise Pharmacy . Sug¬ 
gestion 2 may seem unnecessary if No. 1 be enacted ; 3 is a due acknow¬ 
ledgment of this Society and testimony to its usefulness; but here the diffi¬ 
culty of schedules will come in, as it always has done when legislative enact¬ 
ments have been proposed, and the impossibility of making a catalogue of 
“ noxious substances, such as ” seems almost insurmountable. The labelling 
is but enforcing a practice which is invariable with all careful druggists at 
present. Provisions for age on the part of dispensers are wise and possible, not 
so the requirement that buyers shall bring proof of being twenty years old; 
that is a point which must, and may safely, be left in the hands of the properly 
qualified vender. 
We bring this report prominently before our readers, because it treats of sub¬ 
jects of considerable interest and anxiety to our whole body—such anxiety 
as none but those engaged in the daily practice of pharmacy can appreciate. 
Those who have taken an interest in the proposed legislation affecting pharmacy, 
will hail it as another aid in the right direction, and an assurance that our 
course has hitherto been wise; it is another recognition of our Society, which 
up to this time has had only power to give a distinctive title without trade pri¬ 
vileges, and an evidence that men in a position to form a sound judgment are 
prepared to take that Society as a means already in existence to ameliorate 
existing evils. 
It is true that our proposed extension of the Pharmacy Act contains no sale 
of poisons prohibition clauses; but it is equally true that some of the persons 
acting on the Committee which framed the new Bill, as well as those indeed who 
prepared the first Pharmacy Bill, were fully impressed with the necessity of 
adding them, and were only deterred by the fear of risking what may be called 
an educational measure by the introduction of regulations belonging in some 
sort to police. It will be better in many respects that the demand for such pro¬ 
visions should come from without, and our wisdom will consist in complying 
with that demand. 
