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MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL RESPONSIBILITY. 
remitting attention to Iris business, but in the case of a fatal mistake all this 
would be forgotten by the public generally. 
The druggist who has assistants or apprentices is in a still more dangerous 
position than the man who manages his business alone, as he is evidently liable 
to a heavy penalty should a mistake be made by any of them. I do not know 
how far the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society can move in this matter, 
but I should be glad to see them taking some active steps. I think it would 
be necessary to demand an entrance fee so as to raise a fund which should be 
at once available, but that afterwards a very small annual subscription will be 
necessary, as I sincerely hope that no subscriber will ever have the misfortune 
to seek help from the fund; for as it is better to pay to a fire office for a life¬ 
time and not have a fire, so will it be greatly to the advantage of a druggist 
never to have a mistake in his establishment. 
I merely throw out the suggestion, leaving it for others to mature plans, or 
propose some scheme which shall more effectually relieve those engaged in 
dispensing prescriptions from one great source of anxiety, 
I am, yours respectfully, 
Bewdley, Sept. 7,1864 Eobert Newman. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—In relation to the late case at Liverpool, I beg to offer one suggestion 
that seems to me the only one, if rightly acted on and adopted, that can meet the 
difficulties into which Lord Campbell may possibly place any of us. It is this, 
that all the members of our Society, and I would add all dispensing chemists, 
at once agree to insure against accidents which, with the greatest care, may yet 
occur to any of us. 
I care not what machinery is adopted, provided a bond fide result is obtained. 
A very small sum per annum would, I trust, be quite adequate for our purpose. 
An actuary may assist us in ascertaining the amount probably required from 
each subscriber. 
Permit me, whilst writing on this subject, to earnestly press on my brother 
dispensers how much more may be done in the way of prevention of accidents in 
our business avocations. My own practice for very many years has been, first, 
so to dispose of the situation of my bottles as to render a mistake more difficult. 
In the next place, I always place the word “poison” on bottles of that nature. 
And, lastly, I have for a long time selected one drawer labelled u poison” for the 
more active poisons, such as strychnine, morphia, etc. Arsenic and corrosive 
sublimate I place entirely on an upper shelf, where it is some trouble to get at. 
And now, Sir, I must ask, are these gentlemen at Liverpool to bear the brunt 
of this misfortune in the payment of nearly £2000 in addition to what they 
have suffered already ? I do trust that for once the whole of their brethren, 
and all the chemists in the kingdom, will unite to defray the damages and costs 
of this civil action, without losing sight of that insurance fund which I hope to 
see immediately begun. I need hardly say I shall gladly subscribe to both. 
I am, Sir, yours respectfully, 
Exmouth, 8th September, 1864. Samuel Thornton. 
DISPENSING DEPAETMENT. 
TO THE EDITORS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Gentlemen,—-In the Journal for the present month you have inserted a 
casual remark made by myself at the Pharmaceutical Conference at Bath on 
the above subject. 
