488 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
entrusted  the  execution  of  the  law  have  the  requisite  qualifications  of  judgment 
and  ability,  or,  in  other  words,  are  honest  and  competent;  and  we  think  that 
such  an  officer,  acting;  under  a  few  general  instructions,  relying  on  a  correct 
knowledge  and  sound  judgment,  with  a  determination  not  to  admit  adulterated 
or  deteriorated  drugs,  will  find  much  less  trouble  in  carrying  out  the  law  satis- 
factorily, than  he  would  under  more  complicated  instructions." — Editor  Amek. 
Jour.  Pharm.] 
C.  B.  Guthrie  moved  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Sale  of 
Poisons  be  postponed  till  to-morrow.  The  motion  was  not  agreed 
to,  and  the  report  was  accordingly  read. 
The  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  "the  subject  of  the  indiscriminate 
sale  of  poisons,  as  now  conducted  by  apothecaries,  druggists  and  others,  as 
regards  the  practicability  of  effecting  some  useful  reform  in  the  present  state 
of  the  traffic,"  Report:  that  they  have  been  engaged  since  the  time  of  their  ap- 
pointment in  endeavoring  to  collect  information  relating  to  the  subject,  and  in 
considering  it  in  view  of  the  object  of  the  Association  ;  yet  they  have  been  but 
partially  successful.  In  the  course  of  their  inquiry  the  measures  adopted  by 
European  legislators,  naturally  claimed  attention,  and  what  they  now  have  to 
offer  will  include  a  notice  of  the  measures  legalized  in  Europe,  the  condition  of 
the  traffic  in  this  country,  and  suggestions  tending  to  regulate  the  sale  of  popu- 
lar poisons  in  this  country. 
In  Prussia,  and  perhaps  in  Germany  generally,  the  law  requires  the  apothe- 
cary to  keep  poisons  in  a  closet  under  lock  and  key,  and  not  to  sell  them  but 
under  certain  conditions  to  persons  free  from  suspicion.  The  poisonous  sub- 
stance, be  it  arsenic  or  other,  must  be  enclosed  in  a  box,  tied,  sealed  and  in- 
scribed with  the  German  or  French  name,  and  the  Latin  name ;  and  marked  with  a 
Death's  head  or  three  Crosses.  It  is  also  necessary,  in  some  of  the  German 
States,  for  the  purchaser  to  give  a  receipt  declaring  the  name  and  quantity  of  the 
poison,  that  it  was  dispensed  according  to  regulations,  and  that  the  seller  is 
exonerated  from  all  blame  for  its  misuse. 
In  France,  the  law  designates  the  substances  considered  poisons  in  view  of 
the  Government,  which  are  required  to  be  kept  under  lock  and  key,  much  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  Pharmaciens.  These  substances  are  Hydrocyanic  Acid,  the 
poisonous  vegetable  alkaloids  and  their  salts,  Arsenic  and  its  preparations,  Bella- 
dona  and  its  extract  and  tincture,  Cantharidet  in  substance  or  extract,  Chloro- 
form, Hemlock  and  its  extract  and  tincture,  Cyanide  of  Mercury,  Cyanide  of 
Potassium,  Digitalis  its  extract  and  tincture,  Tartar  Emetic,  Hyoscyamus  its  ex- 
tract and  tincture,  Nicotine,  Nitrate  of  Mercury,  Opium  and  its  extract,  Phos- 
phorus, Ergot  of  Rye,  Stramonium  extract  and  tincture,  and  Corrosive  Subli- 
mate. 
In  Great  Britain,  the  country  most  analogous  to  our  own  in  the  character  of 
its  population,  and  the  legal  and  economical  usages  that  exist,  the  sale  of  poi- 
sons until  recently  was  completely  unrestrained  by  law,  except  perhaps  a  few 
municipal  regulations.  In  the  latter  part  of  1849  the  subject  of  the  loose  man- 
ner in  which  the  sale  of  poisons  was  conducted,  and  the  frequent  ill  results  that 
followed,  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Commons  by  the  Pro- 
vincial Medical  and  Surgical  Association,  praying  that  no  druggist  be  allowed  to 
sell  arsenic  without  a  license,  under  penalty;  that  no  person  be  allowed  to  sell 
small  quantities  of  arsenic  unless  combined  with  some  distinctive  coloring 
material,  that  every  purchaser  must  have  a  witness,  and  that  every  vender 
should  keep  a  strict  record.  The  petitioners  stated  that,  of  the  fatal  cases  of 
poisoning,  one-third  were  from  arsenic,  and  that  in  1837-8  these  cases  amounted 
to  185! 
Pending  the  action  of  Parliament,  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  Committee  by 
the  Council  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  who,  as  a  preparatory  step,  issued  a 
circular  of  inquiries  to  1600  members,  over  England  and  Scotland,  querying 
whether  the  parties  sold  arsenic ;  under  what  regulations,  if  any,  for  what 
objects  and  to  what  classes  of  persons,  what  trades  employ  it,  whether  general 
