EDITORIAL. 
539 
The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Henry  Deane,  of  London,  who 
devoted  a  portion  of  his  address  to  the  subject  of  the  then  recent  trial  at 
Liverpool,  in  which  Messrs.  Clay  and  Abrahams  were  compelled,  by  the 
construing  of  Lord  Campbell's  act,  to  pay  heavy  damages  (£1500)  to  the 
family  of  a  man  whose  death  was  occasioned  by  a  dose  of  poison  inadvert- 
ently dispensed  from  their  establishment.  This  unrighteons  verdict  has 
produced  much  feeling  in  pharmaceutical  circles  in  England.  We  have 
elsewhere  given  an  account  of  this  case,  (see  pages  502  and  510)?  and 
may  appropriately  here  quote  from  the  address  of  President  Deane  his 
remarks  bearing  upon  the  liability  of  pharmaceutists. 
"  The  next  subject  I  have  to  refer  to  is  one  the  importance  of  which 
to  us,  as  responsible  persons  in  the  sale  and  despensing  of  medicines,  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  overestimate. 
"  The  result  of  the  trials  on  the  late  case,  the  acquittal  of  the  assistant, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  dispensed  the  medicine,  from  the  charge  of  man- 
slaughter, on  the  score  of  its  being  a  pure  misadventure,  and  the  unavoid- 
able compromise  with  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  show  that  every  one  of 
us  is  standing  on  a  mine  which  may  at  any  moment  explode,  and  send  us 
to  pecuniary  perdition  and  despair.  It  matters  nothing  what  amount  of 
care  and  expense  has  been  bestowed  on  arrangements  to  secure  the  pub- 
lic from  accident ;  it  matters  not  that  the  proprietor  of  an  establishment 
is  in  no  way  to  blame,  or  that  the  patient  has  died  through  a  pure  mis- 
adventure, the  law  requires  that  a  jury  shall  award  compensating  dam- 
ages to  the  injured  family.  We  all  know  what  that  means  to  nineteen  in 
twenty  of  those  following  the  business — it  means  utter  ruin. 
"  Allow  me  to  state  our  case  and  position  in  society  as  an  important 
branch  of  what  is  called  a  liberal  profession.    In  the  first  place — 
"  All  the  responsibilities  of  professional  men  are  laid  upon  chemists 
without  either  the  dignity  or  emolument.  We  are  treated  as  shopkeepers, 
with  profits  less  than  those  of  an  ironmonger. 
"  Rich  and  poor  of  all  grades  do  not  hesitate  to  consult  them  in  all 
sorts  of  difficulties,  and  obtain  freely  and  gratuitously  that  for  which  a 
physician  or  consulting  chemist  would  charge  a  handsome  fee. 
"  That  the  information  thus  freely  accorded  to  all  is  truly  valuable  is 
proved  by  the  fact  of  the  constancy  of  the  practice,  and  the  needless 
jealonsy  of  many  professional  men. 
"  To  obtain  this  amount  of  public  confidence,  a  large  expenditure  of 
means,  careful  observation,  energy,  study,  and  integrity  of  purpose  are  re- 
quired. 
"  The  more  extensive  the  business  of  a  chemist,  the  greater  the  re- 
sponsibility ;  but  not  so  the  profits. 
"  When  the  public  confidence  is  secured,  it  is  the  interest  of  the  chem- 
ist to  maintain  it  by  all  and  every  means  in  his  power. 
Foremost  amongst  the  means  are  the  obtaining  good  assistants,  and 
making  such  arrangements  in  the  establishment  as  shall,  as  far  as  practi- 
cable, obviate  all  chances  of  accident,  and  ensure  the  detection  of  errors, 
and  the  sources  of  them.  Having  done  this,  and  exercising  constant 
watchfulness,  all  that  a  man  can  do  has  been  done.  Proof  of  successful 
care  is  shown  in  the  small  number  of  known  errors  made  by  dispensing 
chemists. 
"Thus,  a  man  may  dispense  50  prescriptions  daily,  on  an  average  of  300 
days  in  a  year,  equal  to  15,000  prescriptions,  each  of  which  will  average 
