POISONS can be lawfully sold retail only by registered CHEMISTS (g.r.), and in certain cases by medical practitioners ana veterinary surgeons ; and, in the case of poisonous substances to be used exclusively in agriculture or horticulture for the destruction of insects, fungi, or bacteria, or as sheep-dips or weed-killers which are poisonous by reason of their containing arsenic, tobacco, or the alkaloids of tobacco, by persons licensed by the local authority ; and even when sold wholesale there must be a strict observance of the appropriate statutory regulations as in the case of retail transactions. The general statute on the subject is the Pharmacy Act, 1868, as amended by the Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908, but to these must be added, with regard to arsenic, the Arsenic Act of 1851. Poisoned grain or flesh can be dealt with, and poison placed on or in land or buildings, only in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of the Protection of Animals Act, 1911 (see GRAIN). It would seem that no scientific definition of the term poison, under the Pharmacy Acts, is recognised by the law, for by the above Acts it is merely generally provided that the several articles specifically described in the schedules thereto, and any other articles added to the schedules under the approval of the Privy Council, are to be deemed to be poisons within the meaning of the Acts. At the foot of this article will be found the schedule as it now stands, and it will be seen to be divided into two parts. In section 17 of the Act of 1868 appear the regulations necessary to be observed in the sale of poisons, but these must be read, in appropriate cases, in conjunction with the provisions of the Arsenic Act. poison of the following substances, viz. sulphuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, soluble salts of oxalic acid, can be lawfully sold, either by wholesale or retail, unless the box, bottle, vessel, wrapper, or cover in which it is contained be distinctly labelled with the name of the article and the word " Poisonous," and with the name and address of the seller of the poison. No poison of those contained in the first part of the schedule can be lawfully sold unless labelled with the word " Poison," or to any person unknown to the seller, unless introduced by some person known to the seller. On every sale of any such article the seller must, before delivery, make or cause to be made an entry in a book to be kept for that purpose stating, in the form pre scribed by statute, 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 must be affixed. Any person who sells poison otherwise than so provided, renders himself liable to a penalty of £5 for the first offence, and to a penalty of 1)10 for any subsequent offence. The person on whose behalf a sale is made by an apprentice or a servant is deemed to be the seller. But so much of these regulations (which are solely applicable to poisons in the first part of the schedule) as requires that the label shall contain the name and address of the seller, does 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 do any of the
regulations entirely apply to a medicine supplied by a legally qualified 'apothe cary to his patient, nor to any article when forming part of the ingredients of a medicine dispensed by a registered person. A medicine must be labelled, however, in the above manner, with the name and address of the seller, and the ingredients.,thereof must 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. " Name " here includes any trade name under which the chemist carries on business (Edwards v. Pharmaceutical Society). The prohibition does not apply to the sale of a mixture containing an infinitesimal quantity of poison, such as a trace of morphine estimated at not more than one-fiftieth to three-fiftieths of a grain per ounce (Pharmaceutical Society v. Delve), but if the quantity of poison in the mixture is appreciable, as in chlorodyne or certain vermin killers, the prohibition will apply (Pharmaceutical Society v. Piper ; Ibid. v. Weldon). Nor does the prohibition apply to a sale by and through a mere agent, as where a seedsman took the order and forwarded it to the manufacturers who themselves delivered the poison to the purchaser (Pharmaceutical Society v. White). A limited company may lawfully sell poisons through a qualified assistant (Pharmaceutical Society v. The London and Provincial Supply Association). Arsenic.—On every sale of arsenic, including arsenious acid and the arsenites, arsenic acid and the arseniates, and all other colourless poisonous prepara tions of arsenic, the seller must forthwith, and before delivery to the pureha,ser, enter certain prescribed particulars of the sale in a book to be kept for the purpose. These particulars he must obtain from the purchaser before delivering the arsenic. It is necessary to have a witness to the sale if the purchaser is unknown to the seller, and such witness must be known to both seller and purchaser, and the sale must be made in his presence. He must also sign his name and address in the book before the arsenic is delivered. Arsenic must not be sold to a person not of full age. Nor may it as a general rule be sold unless, before the sale, it is mixed with soot or indigo, in the proportion of 1 oz. of soot or it oz. of indigo at the least to each pound of arsenic. The exceptions to this rule occur in three cases :— (1) Where the purchaser states that the arsenic is not required for agricul tural purposes, but for some other purpose for which he states such an admixture would render it unfit. The arsenic may then be sold to the purchaser without any admixture, but not in any quantity less than 10 lbs. at any one time ; (2) Where the arsenic is sold forming part of the in gredients of a medicine required to be niade up or compounded according to the prescription of a medical practitioner ; (3) Where the sale is by whole sale to retail dealers, upon orders in writing, in the ordinary course of wholesale dealing. A X20 penalty is incurred by any one who sells arsenic without making the necessary entries and obtaining the necessary signatures, and by any purchaser who gives false information, and by any one who signs his name as a witness to persons unknown to him.