Persons selling or compounding Poisons, or assuming the Title of Chemist and Druggist, to be qualified.

Section 1. From and after the 31st day of December, 1868, it shall be unlawful for any person to sell or keep open shop for retailing, dispensing, or compounding poisons, or to assume or use the title "chemist and druggist," or chemist or druggist, or pharmacist, or dispensing chemist or druggist, in any part of Great Britain, unless such person shall be a pharmaceutical chemist, or a chemist and druggist within the meaning of this Act, and be registered under this Act, and conform to such regulations as to the keeping, dispensing, and selling of such poisons as may from time to time be prescribed by the Pharmaceutical Society with the consent of the Privy Council.

Articles named in Schedule (A) to be deemed Poisons within the Meaning of this Act.

Section 2. -The several articles named or described in the Schedule (A) shall be deemed to be poisons within the meaning of this Act, and the council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (hereinafter referred to as as the

Pharmaceutical Society) may from time to time, by resolution, declare that any article in such resolution named ought to be deemed a poison within the meaning of this Act; and thereupon the said society shall submit the same for the approval of the Privy Council, and if such approval shall be given, then such resolution and approval shall be advertised in the London Gazette, and on the expiration of one month from such advertisement the article named in such resolution shall be deemed to be a poison within the meaning of this Act.

Regulations to be observed in the Sale of Poisons.

Section 17.—It shall be unlawful to sell any poison, either by wholesale or by retail, unless the box, bottle, vessel, wrapper, or cover in which such poison is contained be distinctly labelled with the name of the article and the word poison, and with the name and address of the seller of the poison; and it shall be unlawful to sell any poison of those which are in the first part of Schedule (A) to this Act, or may hereafter be added thereto under Section 2 of this Act, to any person unknown to the seller, unless introduced by some person known to the seller; and on every sale of any such article the seller shall, before delivery, make or cause to be made an entry in a book to be kept for that purpose, stating, in the form set forth in Schedule (F) to this Act, the date of the sale, the name and address of the purchaser, the name and quantity of the article sold, and the purpose for which it is stated by the purchaser to be required, to which entry the signature of the purchaser and of the person, if any, who introduced him shall be affixed; and any person selling poison otherwise than is herein provided shall, upon a summary conviction before two justices of the peace in England or the sheriff in Scotland, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for the first offence, and to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds for the second or any subsequent offence, and for the purposes of this section the person on whose behalf any sale is made by any apprentice or servant shall be deemed to be the seller; but the provisions of this section, which are solely applicable to poisons in the first part of the Schedule (A) to this Act, or which require that the label shall contain the name and address of the seller,

shall not apply to articles to be exported from Great Britain by wholesale dealers, nor to sales by wholesale to retail dealers in the ordinary course of wholesale dealing, nor shall any of the provisions of this section apply to any medicine supplied by a legally qualified apothecary to his patient, nor apply to any article when forming part of the ingredients of any medicine dispensed by a person registered under this Act: Provided such medicine be labelled in the manner aforesaid with the name and address of the seller, and the ingredients thereof be entered, with the name of the person to whom it is sold or delivered, in a book to be kept by the seller for that purpose; and nothing in this Act contained shall repeal or affect any of the provisions of an Act of the session holden in the 14th and 15th years in the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to Regulate the Sale of Arsenic."

(No. 50.)

SCHEDULE A.

PART I.

Arsenic and its preparations.

Prussic acid.

Cyanides of potassium and all metallic cyanides.

Strychnine and all poisonous vegetable alkaloids and their salts. Aconite and its preparations.

Emetic tartar.

Corrosive sublimate.

Cantharides.

Savin and its oil.

Ergot of rye and its preparations.

PART II.

Oxalic acid.

Chloroform.

Belladonna and its preparations.

Essential oil of almonds unless deprived of its prussic acid.
Opium and all preparations of opium or of poppies.

CHAPTER VIII.

ADVICE TO SANITARY AUTHORITY.*

4. HE SHALL BE PREPARED TO ADVISE THE SANITARY AUTHORITY ON ALL MATTERS AFFECTING THE HEALTH OF THE DISTRICT AND ON ALL SANITARY POINTS INVOLVED IN THE ACTION OF THE SANITARY AUTHORITY, AND IN CASES REQUIRING IT HE SHALL CERTIFY, FOR THE GUIDANCE OF THE SANITARY AUTHORITY, OR OF THE JUSTICE, OR TO ANY MATTER IN RESPECT OF WHICH THE CERTIFICATE OF A MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, OR A MEDICAL PRACTITIONER, IS REQUIRED ON THE BASIS OR IN AID OF SANITARY ACTION.

THE duty of advising the sanitary authority will probably be found the most difficult as well as important of all the duties assigned to the officer. It is not unlikely to bring him into conflict with neighbouring medical practitioners on subjects which are to a very large extent matters of opinion, as, for example, the injurious character of a nuisance or any particular influence, and he must be prepared to find occasions on which his opinions will be controverted or even overruled in the meetings of the sanitary authority. It is also possible that the views on which he founds his advice may not agree with those of the inspector of the district or of the Local

* See also page 181.

Government Board, and generally the duty will be more arduous than agreeable.

At the same time it is an honourable distinction to be the adviser of an authority regulating and controlling the most important influences in a locality, and the position may be one of supreme utility.

Hence it is of the highest moment that the medical officer should realise the difficulty of the task imposed upon him, and adopt such measures as may lessen it. Foremost amongst these are the following :—

1. To advise with great caution, and after due consideration, avoiding, when possible, all instant decisions.

2. To obtain, when practicable, the request in writing, and to supply written answers.

3. To make the replies concise and clear, and by keeping copies to avoid giving different replies at different times on the same subject.

4. To keep a careful record of such questions and

answers.

5. To systematically read and study the literature on the
numerous subjects involved in the discharge of his
duties, and to prepare well-arranged references to
the most important papers, discussions, decisions,
and inventions, as they come to his knowledge.
6. Although it is most desirable that he should have

confidence in and act upon his own judgment, he
will find it useful to be prepared to quote authori-
ties in support of his views-relying however less
upon the authority of names than of arguments
and facts.