LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
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make regulations in the matter, shall directly or indirectly provide for the establishment 
of a legal criterion as to what is culpable carelessness in the sale of drugs and poisons, 
and shall thus render every such carelessness an offence punishable at law.” 
I wish that I had the time and ability to go further into this subject, but here I must 
stop. The foregoing remarks I feel to be exceedingly crude, and unworthy of the occasion; 
but such as they are, I hope you will receive them in the spirit of kindness and candour 
in which they are made. I can only thank you, Gentlemen, for the patience which you 
have exhibited, and apologize for thus detaining you to this protracted hour. 
Mr. N. Mercer eulogized the able and lucid address with which the President had 
favoured them, and augured from it the success that would accrue to the Association 
from the guidance of the worthy head during the session. 
The proposition was seconded by Mr. J. H. Shaw in appropriate terms, and unani¬ 
mously acknowledged. 
The President returned thanks, and called upon the Hon. Secretary to read “ The 
Suggestions of the late Pharmaceutical Conference at Bath,” which was to be the subject 
of discussion of the evening. 
The discussion was opened by Mr. N. Mercer, who passed the several “ suggestions ” 
in review, remarking upon their comparative merit and practicability. He concluded by 
asserting that considering there were at least 10,000 prescriptions compounded in this 
kingdom daily by the profession, nothing could testify more strongly to the great care 
and vigilance of dispensers, than the fact that during two years only eleven mistakes 
were recorded against them, in the ‘Pharmaceutical Journal.’ 
Messrs. Shaw, Dutton, Jones, and Bird also submitted their views, but the lateness 
of the hour precluded the members from entering more fully into the subject. 
The second General Meeting was held at the Royal Institution on Thursday evening, 
October 27,—the President, Mr. A. Redford, in the chair. 
Mr. G. F. Williams was duly elected a Member of the Association. 
The following donations were announced to the Library and Museum, and the thanks 
of the Meeting awarded to the donors :—‘ The Chemist and Druggist ’ for the current 
month, from the Society; a sample of Scammony Root, collected near Killis, Asia Minor, 
in 1864, from Mr. William Ransom, of Hitchin, per, and by request of, Mr. J. Abraham. 
The President announced the steps which the Council had taken towards having the 
Library placed at the Royal Institution, and then called upon Dr. Edwards for his 
address relative to the “ suggestions” of the late Pharmaceutical Conference at Bath. 
Dr. Edwards opened his remarks by referring to an expression of the late Mr. Jacob 
Bell, to the effect “ that it was an unsafe thing to place a weak fence around a pit that 
•was considered dangerous,” and continued by alluding to the various “ fences” which 
had been suggested to guard against “accidental poisonings,” such as sand-paper labels, 
encased and spurred bottles, etc. etc.; contending, however, that the safest “ fence” was 
a sound education, which warned the Pharmaceutist of danger more thoroughly than any 
of those referred to. He then dwelt upon the advantages which a good education con¬ 
ferred, showing that, in addition to other qualities, it induced habits of careful attention 
and precision in the various duties of the shop. He concluded an interesting address by 
inculcating the application of the adage, “ Take care of the pence, and the pounds will 
take care of themselves,” to the dispensing of medicine, implying by “ the pence” inno¬ 
cuous drugs, and by “ the pounds” poisonous ones. 
Mr. N. Mercer, after complimenting Dr. Edwards, referred to the Pharmaceutical 
class, in connection with the Association, as a great means for imparting that degree of 
education to which Dr. Edwards alluded, and regretted that such use was not made of 
the laboratory as was anticipated by the Association, and which the benefits derivable 
from it merited. 
The President and Dr. Edwards further referred to the advantages which would accrue 
to the members by studying in the laboratory, and expressed their hopes that it would 
be more generally patronized for the future. 
Dr. Edwards occupied the remaining part of the evening with a discourse upon the 
properties of “ Light” as indicated by the spectrum, in the course of which he showed 
the difference which is manifested by sunlight and the light emitted from the combus¬ 
tion of other bodies. He pointed out the variation of refrangibility of the principal rays 
