PHARMACEUTICAL LEGISLATION. 
589 
others, without having previously undergone an examination. (Hear, hear.) I think 
many sound reasons exist why the Government should have undertaken the duty of 
bringing in a Bill. However, the right honourable gentleman has thought it right not 
to move in the matter, and consequently the society of Chemists and Druggists, which has 
been long established in Bloomsbury Square, and with whose proceedings, as I have 
already stated, the public are well acquainted, have done so; and, under the instructions of 
the Council of the Society, the Bill which I have now the honour of submitting to the 
House has been prepared. Sir, I may say that this Bill is neither more nor less than 
this—there being now no qualification whatsoever, that is to say no qualification making 
it necessary for any person who desires to follow the trade of a Chemist and Druggist to 
undergo an examination, or to take out a license, before he commences business, nothing 
in fact which, by force of any law, makes it necessary for a Chemist and Druggist, 
or any other person, no matter however incompetent or ignorant he may be, to be 
examined before he commences carrying on this business. (Hear, hear.) Sir, by this 
Bill it is proposed, and it is thought to be expedient for the safety of the public, that all 
persons who desire to carry on this business, in the keeping of open shop, shall possess a 
competent practical knowledge of such business, and that they shall, before commencing 
such business, be duly examined as to their skill and knowledge: and it is submitted that 
this is the only mode by which the public can be protected from the dangers to which 
they are liable. Therefore, with certain exceptions to which I will refer presently, it is 
proposed that all Chemists and Druggists shall submit themselves to an examination, and 
upon the result of that examination they will be allowed, or otherwise, to carry on the 
business. Sir, this course will, I think, be considered a very obvious remedy for the 
grievance which has been so long allowed to remain amongst us ; the proposition in the 
Bill is, that all persons who shall hereafter carry on the business shall be subject to an 
examination, and, upon receiving a certificate of fitness, shall be registered in a register 
to be kept by the Pharmaceutical Society, and upon that registration they shall be 
allowed to carry on the business of a Chemist and Druggist, and to make up medical 
prescriptions. (Hear, hear.) The register will be kept, as I have mentioned, by the old- 
established Pharmaceutical Society. The only question which remains for consideration 
is, what is to be the nature of the examination, by whom shall it be conducted, and 
where shall it be carried out ? Upon this point I may state to the House, with the most 
perfect confidence, that there already exist the means and the machinery—an entire 
system of machinery—upon which these examinations may take place with the most 
perfect security and greatest satisfaction to and of the public. They can take place 
within the building of the Pharmaceutical Society itself. (Hear, hear.) In consequence 
of the powers conferred by charter upon the Pharmaceutical Society, I may state that 
certain rules and regulations have been promulgated by the Society, the existence of which 
dates from the year 1843, when it was incorporated; and since 1852, other regulations 
have been made under what is called the Pharmacy Act, which was sanctioned by Par¬ 
liament in that year. The benefits conferred upon the public by the Pharmaceutical 
Society have been founded upon a system of examination of all persons who desired to 
carry on business as Chemists and Druggists, and these examinations were instituted for 
the purpose of preventing persons appearing before the public without a certificate of 
fitness, granted under such circumstances as should satisfy the public that the person 
named in it was duly qualified to dispense medicines. (Hear, hear.) The subjects upon 
which these persons are examined are chemistry, botany, materia medica, and the 
Latin language, and the body of gentlemen appointed to act as examiners undertake to 
grant certificates to the successful candidates, and these certificates show that each holder 
of them is qualified to be and to act as a Member or Associate of the Society. (Hear, hear.) 
It is proposed by this Bill—the whole substance and effect of this Bill (hear) may be com¬ 
prised in this single proposition—that all persons who shall hereafter be desirous of 
carrying on the business of a Chemist and Druggist and of preparing medical prescriptions 
shall not be permitted to do so without first submitting themselves to an examination 
by the Pharmaceutical Society, and that upon a certificate of fitness they will be allowed 
to commence business. I should state to the House that after the examination the 
candidates will have to pay a small sum to the Society for being registered, and I may 
also state that if this Bill shall be passed into law certain duties will arise under it in 
regard to the regulation of fees to be paid to the Society ; but as to this there is a pro¬ 
vision in the Bill that every arrangement made by the Society shall be subject to the 
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