The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-27 00:00:00

LONDO.V, MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1865.

Among the many deaths that yearly take place
among us from us from preventable causes few are
more painful and shocking in their nature than
those which arise from the accidental administra-
tion of poisons. The circumstances are so painful,
the death so rapid and terrible in its nature, and
frequently attended with such severe suffering, that
it forms one of the saddest pages in domestic tragedy.
It would appear at first sight as if such a disaster
ought to be of very rare occurrence, and as if the
commonest precaution would serve to avert it ; but
experience proves to the contrary, and the Registrar-
General in the course of the year finds occasion to
include a great many such cases in his death list.
Sometimes the catastrophe occurs from domestic
carelessness. A child reaches down a cup or a bottle
containing some poisonous mixture used for house-
hold purposes. A change in the arrangement of a
cupboard entails the loss of a life, as in a recent
case where a girl, going to take a glass of her
sister's medicine, drank deadly poison instead, and
died in a few minutes. Sometimes the accident re-
sults from such culpable carelessness that the sur-
vivors are scarcely to be pitied for the sufferings
they have brought upon themselves. There -wag
one instance of this sort, in which some parents
strewed some poisoned bread for rats on a shelf on
which they were accustomed to put food for their
children. Such catastrophes cannot be provided
against by law. They can only be avoided by a
proper exercise of caution and reasonable care on
the part of all who have occasion to employ
poisons of any kind, and especially by the
heads of families discouraging the unnecessary use
of poisons of any kind in their households. In the
case of their use some one person should be made
responsible, and keep them under lock and key. A
few minutes time and trouble may often save years
of sorrow and unavailing regret.
But there is another class of accidents, sadly too
common, over which there is more hope of obtaining
some control. We allude to the very frequent in-
stances in which the careless compounding of medi-
cines or the misreading of prescriptions causes fatal
results. The substitution of laudanum for some
less dangerous drug is the most common cause of
such disasters. A mother Sending for " Black
draught, a simple domestic remedy for an ailing
"
child, received in return " Black drop," one of the
strongest forms of opium. A lady, residing in
Liverpool, some short time since took some medicine
according to her doctor's prescription, went to sleep,
and never woke again. Instances might be multi-
plied ad infinitum of this kind of carelessness or
ignorance and its fatal consequences, and unhappily
they are such as no amount of prudence or watch-
fulness can certainly avert. it is easy to know
laudanum and a few other poisons by the smell or
taste, but there are many deadly drugs with little
flavour and harmless appearance, while even those
most readily recognisable when pure may escape

detection when mixed with others more powerful in
odour though more innocuous.
,It is against such dangers that the new Bill to
regulate the qualifications of chemists and druggists
attempts to guard us, and if it becomes law we shall
certainly have a better chance of safety. Whether
all the provisions of the Bill will pass unchallenged,
whether professional jealousy may resent the promi-
nence given to the Pharmaceutical Society, or
whether some of its ends may be attained by simpler
or surer means remains to be discovers in the course
of its progress through Parliament, but the general
tenor and object of the measure must commend
themselves to the good sense of every important
critic.

Its great principle is to prohibit any person
from carrying on the business of a chemist and
druggist, in the keeping of open shop for the com-
pounding of medical prescriptions unless on a
register, which register is also to include their adult
assistants. It would be difficult, if not impossible,
as the framers of the bill observe, to prohibit per-
sons from vending drugs cr chemicals, or from their
admixture, since they are continually required for
purposes not medicinal, for departments of trade
and manufacture and chemical experiments. Such
legislation might well be resented as unduly ham-
pering the ordinary business of life, and, therefore,
the Bill restricts itself to the prohibition of the use
of the titles of Chemist and Druggist, and the keep-
ing of open shops for making up doctors' prescrip-
tions by unregistered persons. No law, it is urged,
prevents a man's neighbour from performing a
surgical operation, or administering drugs to him,
only the public are protected from ignorant practi-
tioners, by the license necessary for the appropria-
tion of the titles of Physician, Surgeon, Apothecary.
Persons can if theychoose consult unlicensed advisers,
and they continually do so to their cost ; but the
Medical Act provides that if they go to a man bear-
ing a recognised title they can insure a certain
amount of professional knowledge. At present there
is nothing to prevent any person from commencing
business as a chemist and druggist, be he ever so

ignorant of pharmacy : nay, he may undertake to
make up prescriptions with scarcely any knowledge
of Latin, and therefore it is not surprising that acci-
dents in the compounding of medicines, whether
from the substitution of one drug for another, or
from a mistake in the quantity, are of such fre-
quent occurrence. The Medical Council recently
passed a resolution which called the attention of
the Home Secretary to the present defective state
of the law, and expressed the opinion of the Coun-
cil that some legislative enactment was urgently
called for to protect the public from reckless incom-
petence. By the passing of this bill no hardship
would be inflicted on tradesmen already established
in business, since the fourth clause of the act pro-
vides that all persons now in such business shall be
placed on the register if they produce a certificate
from a duly qualified medical practitioner
stating that they have been in the habit of
compounding prescriptions. Their assistants
will also have the same advantage, and we are glad
to find that such assistants are specially mentioned
in the act, since accidents much more frequently
result from the carelessness or ignorance of these
youths than from the neglect of their masters. The
Registrar is to be bound to print and publish an ac-
curate report containing a correct register of all per-
sons entitled to carry on the business of chemists and
druggists, so that the means of proof will be simple
and easily obtained. Certain penalties are attached
to the falsification of the register, the obtaining of
registration by false pretences, or the keeping of an
open shop for dispensing prescriptions unless duly
qualified. By these means ignorance and presump-
tion will be guarded against, and if persons choose
to seek them out the risk of disaster lies at their own
doors. The bill has been framed by Sir FITZROY
KELLY, Mr. KINGLAKE, and Mr. STAFFORD NORTH-

COTE, whose names are a sufficient guarantee against
hasty or imperfect legislation. We hope, therefore,
that the House of Commons will give. the measure
full and fair consideration, and we have little doubt,
considering its substantial merits and the social im-
portance of the question, that it will ultimately
become law.

Last Saturday an interesting ceremony took place
in the modern Athens. Two public statues were
inaugurated to the memory of departed worthies.
One was a colossal bronze figure of the late Pro-
fessor JOHN WILSON. It has been subscribed for
by his friends and admirers and fellow-citizens. A
very impressive ceremony took place, alike worthy
of those whose memory it was sought to honour,
and of the city where it took place. The Lord
Justice-General made an admirable speech in pre-
senting the WILSON statue to the city, and thus
appropriately explained the feelings which actuated
those who erected it :—" The friends and admirers of
WILSON were many, his countrymen were proud of
him; foreigners joined in the admiration of his talents ;
his literary reputation extended through every
quarter of the globe; his high poetic genius, his lofty
sentiment, his critical acumen, his vast and varied
knowledge, his exalted patriotism, his powerful
talents and the manly and generous use he made of
them, his lively humour, and his kindly heart,
secured the warm esteem and attachment of all
who knew him well, and commanded the respect
and admiration of many who to him were strangers."
A more earnest and eloquent tribute could not have
been paid to the memory of the famed CHRISTOPHER
NORTH ; and the genial manner in which this ad-
dress was delivered rendered it a particularly fitting
epitaph for one who in his life was so renowned for
his gracious manners, and attracted so many by, his
frank and friendly spirit. The Lord Justice-
General explained the object which they had in
vwiieswheind tto erect a monumenthuspresentingtstat to la
statue to the City;
for ages
theyages
by which the living might honour the illustrious
dead. Edinburgh was, of course, the fitting spot
for the erection of such a memento, being the place
best known, the city he
and the metropolis of the
where the departed was.
adorned by his genius,
country so proud to rank him among her distin-
guished sons. Sir J. M'NEILL,
in presenting the
statue of the poet ALLAN RAMSAY to the city,
observed that he had the interesting duty to per-
form of offering to their acceptance another memo-
rial of another citizen of Edinburgh, who had
departed this life a hundred years ago, but had left
behind him a name still familiar in every cottage in
Scotland, and still fresh in the hearts of his country-
men. An interesting feature of Saturday's proceed-
ings was appropriately alluded to by Sir J. M'NEILL,
and that was the circumstance of both these statues
being executed by the same artist, and that artist a
Scotchman. Hitherto when it has been sought to
erect statues to departed worthies of Scotland they
have been brought from beyond the border. Mr.
STEELL has, however, come forward to do honour
to himself in honouring others, and has gained
deserved reward by his assiduous efforts to repro-
duce the illustrious dead to adorn the cities where
their memories are held in repute. The Lord
Provost, in responding to the gifts, declared that
the inhabitants were grateful for the gifts which had
that day been bestowed upon them ; they added to
the decorations of the city, which wou'd soon rival
those of ancient times in works of art. No better
tribute can be desired by those who shine out con-
spicuous among their fellow-men, dear sons of

memory, great heirs of fame, than that their monu-
ments should be placed in the cities of their birth,
or the places where they have been best known, and
hence it may be considered that this inaugurative
ceremony at Edinburgh was a happy event, worthily
designed and successfully accomplished; and it is to
be trusted that the liberality will long be remem-
bered with gratitude which has presented those
statues to the magistrates and Town Council of
Edinburgh, as the Lord Justice-General truly ob-
served, "in trust, for preservation in all time

coming."

Those who have entertained hopes that the seri-
ous
differences between masters and men which I
caused the lock-out would be speedily adjusted
must have found out their mistake by this time. It
is sad indeed to contemplate the prospect that lies
before the. infatuated individuals whose perversity
prolongs and sustains the conflict. From the re-
ports of the various meetings, it would seem as if
much had yet to be gone through before any settle-
ment is definitively made. It augurs ill for a speedy
termination, that in some quarters the men are pre-
paring to act as if there was no prospect of the
lock-out being soon terminated. Liberal offers of
help have been made from many quarters to the
men, so that it is idle to expect that want of re-
sources will drive them to surrender in a hurry,
before their wishes have been complied with. The
Earl of LICHFIELD has taken great pains to com-
promise matters as far as possible, and it is earnestly
to be trusted that the praiseworthy efforts of his
lordship may eventually be crowned with success,
but at present not much has resulted. There is no
task more arduous or thankless than the endeavour
to make a neutral ground upon which adverse parties
may meet, and therefore it is the more creditable to
any one who makes the essay. Lord LICHFIELD
has met the masters and men separately, and it is
in contemplation that the men should meet their
own masters in the presence of his lordship, and,
further on, meet other masters if such a step be
deemed desirable. A better proof of the suicidal
nature of this dispute cannot be found than
in the fact that many are emigrating, and
this week some of the most skilful hands will
depart to America. Emigration agents are busy at
work to induce the men to seek employment in other

lands, so that, however the matter be settled, there
can be no doubt that the services of many valuable
workers will be lost to the manufacturers of Eng-

land. Among those men who do not belong to the
Union, there is great distress, and this is shown by
the circumstance that nearly two hundred applicants
appeared at the workhouse to break stones, and
others are waiting for their cases to be considered
for relief. It is satisfactory to find that active and
able agents are not wanting to lend their aid in
settling the dispute, and Mr. DOYLE, the Inspector
for the district to the Poor-law Board, is using
every exertion to bring the affair to a settlement,
and is endeavouring to introduce the practice long
successfully tried upon the Continent. One good
sign is, that a severance is contemplated between
the Gateshead Executive and the Brierley-hill
Council in consequence of the refusal of the former
to attend the meeting at York. A check has been
put to American emigration from Newcastle by the
timely arrival of a letter, from a Durham miner,
sent from Ohio, where the writer has been eight
years. In this he says that it is fallacious to sup-
pose there are so many advantages across the
Atlantic ; there is no medical attendance gratis ;
rent is very dear, and so are coals, with several
other drawbacks. It is said that the effects of the
lock-out are beginning to tell heavily upon the pud-
dlers and mill-men at Middleborough, and doubtless
these are but the forerunners of other cases.