V HAUMACEUTI C A L LE G I SLA TION. 
591 
carried on with success, and the approval of all classes and bodies of men, by the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society, I think I need not say more to the House than that here are at 
once all the requirements of this Bill, which will satisfy the House, that while, on 
the one hand, no undue restrictions will be imposed on any branch of a trading commu¬ 
nity, protection will be afforded to the public by that examination to which many have 
been subjected, and with the effect of which I have spoken; and that should this Bill 
pass into a law in its present form, we shall have all the protection that can properly be 
afforded by an Act of Parliament. (Hear, hear.) I should have contented myself w r ith the 
few observations T have made, and have sat down, but I feel bound, in courtesy, and in 
discharge of my duty to the House, to allude to the Bill on the same subject which the 
honourable baronet, the Member for Westminster, has before the House. That Bill has 
two objects in view—one identical in object with the Bill I have now submitted to the 
House, the other, a much more extensive object,—being nothing more nor less than to 
prescribe the form and conditions upon which the sale of poisons, and of drugs, and of 
what are called chemicals in general, shall hereafter be sold. With regard to the latter 
branch, if I might so call it, of the honourable baronet’s Bill, I have no more to say than 
this, that I believe it is a matter far too difficult, and far too complicated, and interfering 
too much with the freedom of many branches of trade, to be made the subject of a Bill 
in this House, except by and under the authority of her Majesty’s Government. (Hear, 
hear.) And whenever her Majesty’s Government shall undertake that question, the 
experience I have acquired in preparing this measure I shall be happy to bring forward 
and apply to the consideration of any such Bill; but in the meantime, with all humility 
and confidence, I do protest, most emphatically, against any such measure emanating from 
any individuals or body of persons. (Hear, hear.) With regard to that part of the 
honourable baronet’s Bill -which might be considered identical with that which 1 pro¬ 
pose now to read a second time, I have only to say this,—we are agreed that some 
protection should be offered to the public against the incompetence and ignorance of 
certain persons carrying on this trade, and we are agreed that some examination should 
be applied,—that all such persons should be subjected to some examination, the result 
of which is to determine whether they shall be permitted, with a view to the security of 
the public, to carry on the trade of Chemists and Druggists. The whole question, therefore, 
between the two Bills, and which can be determined without the slightest difficulty by 
the House, is whether, if you find a body of examiners, and a mode and course of exami¬ 
nation now in being, recognized and sanctioned by law, which has been carried on with 
effect and success, with the entire approval of the trade and the public in general, as 
well as that of her Majesty’s Government, or, at all events, an important department of 
the Government,—whether or not we shall at once sweep away, set aside, and disregard 
that which is ready at our hands, and adopt that which the honourable baronet pro¬ 
poses, which is nothing more or less than to create a new corporate body, by a sort of 
general council of the whole of the Chemists and Druggists of Great Britain. The 
Chemists ar.d Druggists are to elect a council, I think, of some twenty-one members, but 
what their qualification for the office is to be w r e are not told. They are to appoint a certain 
number of examiners, of whose qualification we know nothing, and these examiners are to 
administer some sort of examination, as to which we are also left in ignorance ; and upon 
their report, the Chemists and Druggists of the country are to be declared duly qualified. 
That is the difference then between these two Bills, and that, I contend, may be decided, 
with little discussion, by this House, the Pharmaceutical Society’s examinations having 
met with the entire approval of the public,—unless the House should think that the 
system already established, and which has been carried on with universal approval and 
success for years, is to be set aside, and prefer something of a speculative character which 
may or may not ever come into existence, there being no compulsory powers in the Bill, 
—unless, as I have said, the House shall prefer that sort of conjectural speculation to the 
established successful practical system which we find ready to our hands, established by 
the Pharmaceutical Society. Now, Sir, that is the question to be decided ; and I shall, I 
hope with confidence, ask the House to agree to the second reading of this Bill. (Hear, 
hear.) I must, however, say one word more. It has been suggested that this and the 
other Bill shall be referred to a select committee. (Hear, hear; No, no.) Now, if there 
■was anything in these two Bills upon which the select committee could obtain informa¬ 
tion, or could afford information or counsel to the House,—if there were any matter of 
doubt which might be the subject of evidence before a select committee, and upon which 
