592 
PHARMACEUTICAL LEGISLATION. 
the report of a select committee could enlighten or assist the House,—I should be the last 
to stand up, fora single moment, and object to it. But upon the statement which I have 
made,—and, I hope, I have not unfairly stated the general effect of the honourable baro¬ 
net’s Bill, and I am correct in stating mine,—I am at a loss to conceive, as both are 
agreed that some qualification is necessary, and that it should be on the certificate of 
examiners upon an examination,—as both are agreed upon that point, and as the only 
question is, whether we are to have this long-established, practical, and successful ex¬ 
amination, or an untried, conjectural, and speculative examination proposed by the 
honourable baronet,—that being the case, I should say, that that question might as 
well be discussed here, as before a select committee or any other tribunal. Under 
these circumstances, Mr. Speaker, I have to move that this Bill be now read a second 
time. 
Sir John Shelley. —It may be convenient to the House if I now say a few 
words on the proposition made by the honourable and learned gentleman. And, in the 
first place, I beg to state distinctly, on the part of those I represent on this occasion, that 
they have not the slightest intention of infringing or interfering with the privileges of 
that chartered body who are the clients of the honourable and learned gentleman who 
has moved the second reading of this Bill. The question is really a public one, and simply 
whether one of the recommendations of Dr. Taylor, the Government Commissioner, to the 
Government, as to the sale of poisons, shall be carried out or not. Now the honourable 
and learned gentleman, the Member for Suffolk, has correctly pointed out the difference 
between his Bill and that which I propose presently to ask the House also to read a 
second time. The honourable and learned gentleman’s Bill goes, however, no further 
than this, that it lays down a certain examination which every one shall go through, 
under the superintendence of the Pharmaceutical Society, before they shall be allowed 
to make up a prescription, but beyond that it does not go. Now, I beg respectfully to 
point out to the House that this does not touch the trade of a Chemist and Druggist, 
because everybody knows a large proportion of the trade do not carry on the lucrative 
trade of dispensers; and that, in fact, many of them do not see a prescription once a 
month , nor once a week, and the honourable and learned gentleman’s Bill does not in 
any way affect that portion of the trade. These persons who carry on the trade of 
Chemists and Druggists must be divided into two classes, namely, those who wish to 
become scientific chemists, and those who carry on the business of a Chemist and 
Druggist with, in point of fact, very little education, and who require little or no qualifi¬ 
cation for the branch of the trade in which they have embarked. Now, if I may be 
allowed, or may venture to say so, the Bill of the honourable and learned gentleman will 
interfere with all Druggists throughout the country, and not with those only who carry 
on business strictly as Chemists and Druggists. The position of the Pharmaceutical 
Society is this :—The Society is stated to have been in existence for many years, and to 
have acted under the Pharmacy Act since 1852. It has no doubt done a vast deal of 
good, at least so I have been informed, but I am also informed that the most good which 
has been done has been in towns, and that the operations of the Society have not 
reached the agricultural and other large districts of the country, nor, in fact, reached the 
public at large. Now this fact I think the House ought to know, and also that the 
Pharmaceutical Society once numbered about 4000 members, and that it has dwindled 
down to about 2300, including foreign and colonial members. (Hear, hear.) Now the 
United Society of Chemists and Druggists, whose Bill I shall have the honour of pro¬ 
posing to the House for a second reading, is composed of over 3000 members. (Hear, 
hear.) It is clear, I consider, that the examination prescribed by the Pharmaceutical 
Society will be too expensive for many Chemists and Druggists to go into, and no doubt 
this accounts for the falling off in the number of its members, and the superior 
numerical strength of the United Society of Chemists and Druggists. Now, in looking 
at the petitions which have been presented, it appears to me that the two Societies are 
squabbling over these matters ; but the House ought to take care that while the doctors 
differ the patients shall not die. There can be no doubt that this great Pharmaceutical 
Society possesses many privileges and much wealth, but with them all it has not managed 
to obtain the affection or get into its meshes the large United Society of the Chemists 
and Druggists. With a view of guarding the public interests, it is the duty of the House 
to sec that some regulation shall be made by which the sale of poisons shall be efficiently 
protected. fHear, hear.) Now, so far as I understand the Bill of my honourable and 
