View report page

157
"The cases referred to having been reported to the Sanitary Com"mittee
of the Corporation of London, I have been instructed to direct
"your attention to the importance of this point, which, if not carefully
"observed by yourself and your assistants, may render you liable to
"proceedings under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts.
As a result of these proceedings some firms in the City now affix a special
label to all bottles of medicine compounded by them, of which the following is
an example:—
"N.B.—In conformity with the new requirements of the Board of
"Health Department of the City of London, this Prescription has been
"accurately measured into the bottle ; rendered necessary on account
"of the inaccurate fluid capacity of bottles. It is suggested that a
"graduated glass measure should at all times be used to correctly
"measure the dose. Aug. lst, 1907.
The only exception that can be taken to this label is that the requirement is
no new one, and the words "requirements of Pharmacopoeia Britannica"
should be substituted for the words "new requirements of the Board of Health
Department of the City of London."
Later in the year it was found necessary to take proceedings against several
chemists for not making up prescriptions in accordance with the formula
asked for. These resulted in the imposition of three fines of £5, and one of
£2, with 17s. 6d. expenses in each instance.
In none of these cases was it suggested that the offenders attempted in any
way to defraud the purchaser, and the prosecutions were instituted solely with
a view of protecting the public from the ill effects likely to be caused from
carelessness in dispensing, and to induce chemists to take the requisite means
for ensuring that the stock preparations and drugs are exactly what they are
represented to be by the wholesale manufacturers from whom they obtain
their supplies. In one case where a mixture made from a prescription which
ordered Iodide of Potassium and Tincture of Cinchona was certified to
be deficient in cinchona alkaloids to the extent of 18 per cent., the wholesale
dealer subsequently acknowledged that the article they had furnished the
chemist with was not up to standard.
Such cases, however, in no way relieve the dispensing chemist from his
obligations to the public and the medical profession, he is supposed to have the
necessary knowledge to be able to test his stock, or he can take the precaution
of purchasing all tinctures, &c., under a warranty, which latter is a good defence
in any proceedings that may be taken against him.
In commenting on the prosecutions referred to above, it has been pointed
out in an article in the Pharmaceutical Journal on "Inaccurate Dispensing,"
that although up to the present, faults in compounding have been dealt with by