801 LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
the name or title of a Physician, Doctor of Medicine, Licentiate in Medi¬ 
cine and Surgery, Bachelor of Medicine, Surgeon, General Practitioner, 
or Apothecary, or any name, title, addition, or description, implying that 
he is registered under this Act, or that he is recognised by law as a 
Physician, or Surgeon, or Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery, or a 
Practitioner in Medicine, or an xlpothecary, shall, upon summary con¬ 
viction for any such offence, pay a sum not exceeding Twenty Pounds.” 
That is what the legislature have done with regard to medical aid. 
I would inquire still further. What has been done to ensure that the 
medicine prescribed will be dispensed by persons properly trained and 
educated in a knowledge of drugs, so as to minimise the risk of being 
poisoned instead of obtaining the desired benefit. 
In ‘ The Sale of Poisons and Pharmacy Act Amendment,’ passed 
31st July, 1868, Clause 15 provides that, “From and after the 31st day 
of December, 1868, any person who shall sell or keep an open shop for 
the retailing, dispensing, or compounding of poisons, or who shall take, 
use, or exhibit the name or title of Chemist and Druggist, or Chemist or 
Druggist, not being a duly registered Pharmaceutical Chemist, or shall 
fail to conform with any regulation as to the keeping or selling of poisons, 
made in pursuance-of this Act; or who shall compound any medicines 
of the British Pharmacopoeia, except according to the formularies of the 
said Pharmacopoeia, shall for every such offence be liable to pay a penalty 
or sum of five pounds, and dealt with in the manner provided by the 
Pharmacy Act, for the recovery of penalties under this Act, and nothing 
in this Act contained shall prevent any person from being liable to 
any other penalty, damages, or punishment to which he would have been 
subject if this Act had not been passed.” 
1 do not for one moment think that any of my hearers will consider 
that too much precaution has been taken to preserve ourselves from harm. 
Are we, therefore, to deny our dumb and patient servants and faithful 
companions the same measure of protection that we have obtained for 
ourselves ? Up to the present time we have denied them that protec¬ 
tion, and will continue to do so till a satisfactory Act on this subject has 
been placed on the statute-book. 
Not being a parliamentary draughtsman, I am unable to place before 
you the exact terms of the Act that we as a profession desire, and that 
could secure for the domestic animals the same protection we require 
and have for ourselves, But, to begin, I would style it, the Veterinary 
Surgery and Medicine Act; I would have it to recite part of our 
Charter, and provide a penal clause with relation to the title of veteri¬ 
nary surgeon, and also a clause securing for the lower animals a certain 
amount of safety from being poisoned, as they may be at present, by 
requiring that all persons selling or dispensing drugs for them will have 
some knowledge of their composition and action, and that this knowledge 
will be certified by an examination. 
To conclude, an Act of Parliament, like most other things worth 
having in this world, costs money, and 1 would suggest, as the funds of 
the body corporate can ill afford the expense an Act would cost, that 
every member of the profession should subscribe the sum of half a guinea 
for the attainment of this object.” (Applause.) 
A long and very animated discussion took place, in which nearly all 
members and friends took part, all of whom (with one exception) were 
of opinion that the time had arrived when such an Act was very de¬ 
sirable, and no doubt, if obtained, would prove of great benefit to the 
profession at large. 
It was proposed and seconded “ That a committee be formed to con- 
