BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
163 
the concentrated and virulent poisons, or a small bottle of each sufficient for present 
use, the bottles being tilled from store bottles in another and larger store cupboard or 
room, as required. 
They also recommend, that the labels upon all shop and store bottles be in future 
so placed or shaped that the whole of the label can be seen at a glance, instead of 
curling round the bottles in the usual way ; and 
That the new series of Latin labels introduced by Messrs. Ford and Shapland be 
taken as examples of the plan of labelling shop bottles recommended by your Com¬ 
mittee. 
Your Committee approve the suggestion that, wherever practicable, every prescrip¬ 
tion be checked by a second person before it is sent out. 
They also strongly recommend that liniments, lotions, and poisonous preparations 
of all kinds, be invariably dispensed in the caution bottles before adverted to, and with 
labels printed in red ink. 
In the retailing of poisons, your Committee recommend very cordially the sugges¬ 
tion that the more concentrated and potent poisons, such as strychnia, morphia, 
prussic acid, etc., should not be sold in an unmixed state, without a medical order, 
under any circumstances whatever. 
Also, that no poison be sold in a dangerous quantity by any assistant or apprentice, 
without the express sanction of the principal. 
Again, that every specially dangerous substance, in addition to its name, be dis¬ 
tinctly labelled “ Poison,” in white letters on a black ground, before it is sent out, 
excepting medicines dispensed from a prescription where the dose or use of it may be 
considered sufficient. 
Lastly, your Committee strongly recommend that dry poisons, such as oxalic acid, 
sugar of lead, red and white precipitate, etc., be invariably folded in paper of a dis¬ 
tinctive character; and, in addition to the name of the article, that a label with the word 
“ Poison,” in bold white letters on a black ground, be carefully attached to each packet. 
Your Committee, however, cannot conclude their report without expressing their 
firm conviction, that no amount of ingenious contrivance, or of education, will avail to 
prevent repetitions of the sad occurrences that have been brought before us, without the 
cultivation of a steady, thoughtful, anxious yet composed mind, bent on business when 
in business, and alive to the clangers and responsibilities incident to the retailing and dis¬ 
pensing of medicines. 
Your Committee have devoted much and earnest deliberation to the subject en¬ 
trusted to them ; they have endeavoured to trace the principal causes of accident, and 
they are bound to confess that in many instances they can only ascribe them to gross 
and culpable neglect. 
They therefore beg to urge upon their brethren the necessity on their part of a care¬ 
ful surveillance by responsible parties ; a thorough revision of their mode of conduct¬ 
ing business, in all its details; and the discouragement of long and late hours of 
business, so detrimental to the energies of mind and body of their assistants and 
apprentices; for, however conscientious they may be in the discharge of duty, we 
must remember that they lack the wholesome stimulus to continuous exertion which 
we enjoy in a consciousness of proprietorship. 
The successful management of a business so nearly allied to a profession must place 
a man in a position higher than the mere retailer of goods, for it demands a higher 
cultivation of the mind, and is therefore deserving of a higher rate of remuneration ; 
and this will be gained in the respect and confidence of his customers, who are often 
pleased to treat their chemist as a confidential friend. 
Let it, then, be our ambition to aim at perfection in our legitimate business ; there is 
in it abundant scope for the exercise of all our powers, and without this we shall never 
rightly fulfil our duties, or meet the requirements of an exacting and discerning public. 
Your Committee have yet to perform a simple act of justice, by tendering their 
acknowledgments to our esteemed secretary, Mr. Pooley, for his assistance and en¬ 
couragement in completing a report, which they trust will not be without some prac¬ 
tical results. ^ (Signed) J. Raymond King. 
J. IP. Marsh. 
F. W. Kent. 
John 13. Merrikin. 
