274 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



correct ; whether the statements that the son of the 

 chemist was often left in charge of his father's 

 branch shop, and that he passed his examination 

 when he was fifteen years of age, were also cor- 

 rect ; and whether, in view of such an alarming acci- 

 dent, the Government would give facilities for the 

 consideration of the Pharmacy Bill now before the 

 House, which was intended to provide against such 

 accidents by requiring all managers of branch shops 

 to be qualified and registered. The following com- 

 ment appeared in a newspaper of June 3Oth, 1888 : 



Sir W. Hart Dyke had no reason to doubt the accuracy of 

 the statements, &c., but in the present state of public 

 business, &c., he could not undertake, &c. In fact, the 

 Vice- President gave the usual answer in the well-known way. 

 Now this is too grim a subject to joke about, but it must 

 have reminded readers of Pickwick of the swearing-in episode 

 in the trial of Bardell versus Pickwick. To wit : " ' I am to 

 be sworn, my lord, am I ? ' said the chemist. ' Certainly, 

 sir,' replied the testy little judge. ' Very well, my lord,' 

 replied the chemist in a resigned manner. ' Then there'll 

 be murder before this trial's over; that's all. Swear me, if 

 you please, sir,' and sworn the chemist was before the judge 

 could find words to utter. * I merely wanted to observe, 

 my lord,' said the chemist, taking his seat with great delibera- 

 tion, ' that I've left nobody but an errand boy in my shop. 

 He is a very nice boy, but he is not acquainted with drugs ; 

 and I know the prevailing impression on his mind is that 

 Epsom Salts means oxalic acid, and syrup of senna, laudanum. 

 That's all, my lord."' 



To match fiction with fact, I will now relate an 

 incident of a similar kind which came under my 

 notice many years ago in a Northern village. A 

 pedlar sold peppermint lozenges to some children, of 

 whom several died after eating them, and the post- 

 mortem examination showed that arsenic was the 

 poison. It came out in Court that the manufacturer 

 of these lozenges was in the habit of adulterating 



