THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
G35 
had no desire to prescribe in the strict sense of the word over the counter; but whilst 
medical men sent out medicine, he thought they ought not to object to chemists and 
druggists prescribing any simple remedy over the counter. If they dealt in those matters 
they knew the penalty which attached to it, and, should application be made to them, 
every sensible man, when he saw a case of difficulty, would advise the applicant to apply 
to a properly qualified man. 
Mr. Hills said that he had never heard it mentioned that the Medical Council wished 
to prevent Pharmaceutical Chemists from prescribing over the counter. 
Mr. Collins said it appeared so from the report published by the Medical Council. 
The President said it went only so far as to say, that the Bill now before Parliament 
should not be supposed to give any authority to practise. The object was to dis¬ 
courage it as much as possible. It was a mere expression of opinion, and not binding 
upon any one. 
Mr. Collins said he thought there was something behind it, and asked for an expla¬ 
nation of what was meant by “ any branch of medicine.” His opinion was, that under that 
clause, a chemist and druggist might be prevented from prescribing a simple chalk mix¬ 
ture, under the plea that he was practising a branch of medicine, and he called upon the 
Council to strongly oppose any restriction being placed upon their present liberty with 
regard to prescribing. What the chemists and druggists wanted to be was not pre¬ 
scribes, but the sole compounders of medicines. He next called attention to the discon¬ 
tinuance on the voting-paper of the number of attendances of the respective members 
of the Council. Probably there were good reasons for it. 
Mr. Hills said Mr. Collins would find the information he required in the Journal. 
Mr. Collins said that was so, and he had been obliged to go there for it, and at much 
pains and trouble he had arrived at it, and he thought it showed the misapprehension 
that existed as to the desirability of having so many country members on the Council. 
There had been eleven meetings of the Council during the last year, and he found that 
although one country member, Mr. Savage, had attended ten meetings, yet others had 
only attended four or five times. The attendance of country members must necessarily 
be less than town members, and the election of so many country members of the Council 
had the practical effect of throwing the management of the Society into the hands of the 
few London members who attended. All the Committee work was done by the town 
members, and the country members were only required to attend and receive their reports. 
He had thought it right to mention the matter, and he hoped it would be reported in 
the Journal. It was found on a former occasion highly important and necessary that 
the information now withheld should be given, and he saw no reason why it should not 
be continued. In conclusion, Mr. Collins called attention to the ‘ Chemists and Druggists 
Bill (No. 2)’ which he characterized as a most monstrous Bill, but he hoped something 
might be done between the two Bills that would give the public and the profession 
satisfaction. 
Mr. Savage said he must reply to Mr. Collins’s remarks, although he was one of those 
who had been complimented by him. He felt that many of the members of the Council 
had been unfairly represented b^ that gentleman, because the attendance of the Council, 
as given in the Journal, was no criterion of the amount of work performed by the various 
members; besides, it would be very unjust towards the Society if the country members 
of the Council incurred large expenses for travelling, when their attendances were not 
absolutely required. Mr. Collins was wrong in his statement with reference to the num¬ 
ber of meetings. There had been fourteen, and out of that number he had attended 
twelve of them, and the same applied to many other of the members. Allusion had 
been made to Mr. Edwards, but surely it was not desirable that that gentleman, and 
others, who reside at a great distance from town, should come up, at a great expense, if 
there was no business to be transacted which required their especial attention; and it 
was desirable to avoid, as much as possible, two members of the Council coming from 
the same place. It had been urged that it was only by the number of attendances that 
the members could know hov? to vote for the re-election of the Council, but he begged 
to inform him that it was a most fallacious test, and no publicity of the kind would give 
the remotest idea of the quantity of work performed by each individual member of the 
Council; it could only be obtained from inquiries on the spot, and he thought it would 
be unwise, injudicious, and unfair, from the circumstances he had stated, if the Council 
were to publish a summary of the attendances. In justice to the other members of the 
