588 
PHARMACEUTICAL LEGISLATION. 
Red Bark, with a white epiderm, and is nearly, if not quite, the same with that 
described by Spruce as the Cuchicara sort of Red Bark. Its contents are, qui- 
nidine, 1*34 ; cinchonine, 1‘00 ; or together, 2*34 per cent, of alkaloid. 
Several questions remain to be solved, but the present brief notice will, I 
hope, justify the statement I have made of the existence of these crystals of alka¬ 
loid in the bark, and their being visible under the microscope by any person 
who will use the precautions indicated. A microtom for cutting sections of 
regulated thickness, though desirable, is not absolutely necessary ; and furnished 
with a good razor and a tolerable microscope, any of your readers following 
closely the instructions in this paper, can pursue the investigation for them¬ 
selves. 
Reference to Plates. 
a , Parenchyma. 
b , Fibres of the Liber. 
c, Kinovate of Quinine. 
d, Kinovate of Cinchonine. 
<?, Aggregation of contents of cell. 
f Kinovate of Quinidine. 
g, Crystal cells. 
h. Globules (of alkaloid ?). 
L Cubical or lozenge-shaped Crystals (of 
Alkaloid ?). 
j\ Resin cells. . 
k, False medullary rays. 
/, Kinovate of Cinclionidine. 
PHARMACEUTICAL LEGISLATION. 
HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
Wednesday , March 29, 18G5. 
Chemists and Druggists Bill, No. 1. 
Numerous petitions were presented in favour of both Nos. 1 and 2 Bills. 
On the order for the second reading of No. 1 Bill— 
Sir Fitzroy Kelly rose and said,—Sir, in moving the second reading of this Bill. I 
have to state to the House that it is designed for the regulation of the qualifications of 
Chemists and Druggists in Great Britain. This is a measure which has been long and 
urgently required for the protection of the public, and. a measure which has been 
desired by all the more respectable and worthy members of the profession of Chemists 
and Druggists throughout the kingdom. I shall be able, I trust, in a very few words to 
explain to the House the object of this Bill, and also the means by which that object is 
sought to be carried into effect. Sir, it is well known to the House, and, I fear, it is too 
well known to most of us here, perhaps personally known to us, that as the law now 
stands, there is absolutely no protection whatsoever to the public in general against the 
mistakes of those persons who are permitted to carry on the trade or business of a 
Chemist and Druggist, and, consequently, of those persons who are allowed to make up 
medical or physicians’ prescriptions, and which are made up by persons who, as is well 
known, are ignorant and incompetent for that duty. (Hear, hear.) Sir, I believe that 
the law ought to provide some protection against the evils and dangers to which the 
general body of the public are now exposed in this respect. I have been informed that 
the Medical Council have recently called the attention of her Majesty’s Government to 
this most important subject, in the hope that the right honourable baronet, the Secretary 
for the Home Department, would himself introduce a Bill to provide a remedy against 
the many evils complained of, and I can say with all sincerity that I should have been 
very glad if the Government had accepted the suggestion of the Medical Council, and 
had introduced a Bill upon this subject; but as the Government have shown no disposi¬ 
tion to act upon the suggestions made to them, the Pharmaceutical Society, which has 
been long established, and whose acts and proceedings have conferred a great benefit 
upon the public generally, have thought it to be their duty to submit this measure to 
the consideration of the House and the country. The Medical Council called the atten¬ 
tion of the right honourable baronet to the defects and to the present state of the law, 
under which any person may dispense or make up medicines, and that Council expressed 
an opinion that some enactment is required to prevent persons from keeping open shop, 
for the purpose of such dispensing or making up of the prescriptions of physicians and 
