5 9 S 
PHARMACEUTICAL LEGISLATION. 
which received the close attention of a Select Committee of which my right honourable 
friend the Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Bouverie) was chairman, and the Bill which was 
brought in was, after a careful inquiry, most essentially altered by the Select Committee, 
and the House adopted the recommendation of that Committee. (Hear, hear.) It was 
the same as regards the Medical Registration Act of 1858, as to which I recollect the 
difficulty that was experienced in bringing together the different branches of the medical 
profession ; and it was only after repeated communications that gentlemen could be in¬ 
duced to come before a Select Committee; but after a careful inquiry before thatCommittee, 
an amended Bill was submitted, which met with very general concurrence, and which 
Parliament ultimately adopted, with the approval of the medical profession. (Hear, 
hear.) I have received representatives of the Pharmaceutical Society, and also repre¬ 
sentatives of the United Society of Chemists and Druggists, and my advice to them all 
was that they should meet together and endeavour to agree upon a general outline of a 
Bill. (Hear, hear.) I carefully considered the Bill of the Pharmaceutical Society. I 
may say they wished me to introduce it; but I could not undertake to do so ; and 
I pointed out certain objections to the Bill. Unhappily, though it was perhaps not a 
matter of surprise, there were mutual jealousies existing among members of the same 
profession, and the difficulty was, that it was almost impossible to bring them together 
and induce them to agree to the principles of a Bill, or agree to one Bill. Now, the 
Bill of the honourable and learned gentleman opposite is good as far as it goes, but it 
professes to deal with only a very limited portion of the subject. (Hear, hear.) It pro¬ 
poses to provide only an examination for Chemists who are to make up the prescriptions of 
medical practitioners, and it omits all reference to a large portion of those persons who 
carry on the trade or business of Chemists and Druggists. (Hear, hear.) In the other Bill, 
which has been introduced by the honourable baronet, the Member for Westminster, there 
are important provisions which relate to the sale of poisons and deleterious drugs, and it 
would be extremely desirable when dealing with the subject to embody these provisions. 
(Hear, hear.) I think there are in both Bills points which recommend them to the con¬ 
sideration of this House, and I think also that both Bills should be referred to a Select 
Committee, with power to take evidence and call persons before them; and they may 
also bring before them the representatives of the conflicting societies and also persons 
who are engaged in the business of Chemists and Druggists. Now, if this be done, a 
Select Committee may be able to make one good Bill, and thus effect to the fullest ex¬ 
tent the object in which we have so deep an interest. The course, therefore, which I 
would recommend is, that both Bills shall now be read a second time, and then referred, 
to the same Select Committee ; and that is the course which I think will be the most 
satisfactory to the House. (Hear, hear.) 
Lord Elcho. —Mr. Speaker, I wish, Sir, to say a few -words upon this Bill. I have 
come down to the House prepared to vote for this Bill, and if the honourable and learned 
gentleman still presses it to a division I shall be prepared to follow him into the lobby; 
and I do so although I declined to bring in the Bill which he has brought in, and which 
is now under the consideration of the House. I w T as asked by the Pharmaceutical 
Society to undertake the conduct of this Bill through this House for the reasons, as I 
apprehend, that in 1858 I took a very active part, from feeling strongly on the subject, 
in the Medical Reform that was much needed at that time, both with regard to the 
standard for education and the number of bodies, and amongst others the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, who granted degrees, all bidding one against each other. At that time the 
standard of medical education was very low in consequence, and it was then thought 
desirable that as certain bodies had a monopoly of our bodies, and those who had quali¬ 
fied themselves at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other parts, were not allowed to attend us 
except with the fear of a prosecution, which however never took place, that we were not 
doing justice to the public nor to the medical profession in allowing such a monopoly 
to be established, and when the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society came to me I 
pointed out, that by their Bill they went a little too far in one respect, and that an 
injustice would be done to one class to whom my honourable friend the Member for 
Westminster has not done justice, namely, to those who keep what are called village 
shops. I hold that whatever this House does with regard to the large body of Chemists 
throughout the country, that you must allow those persons who keep these village shops 
to sell drugs, but regulate, if you can, the sale of poisons, and also allow them to dis¬ 
pense prescriptions. I feel strongly upon this point; for it happened that last year I met 
