42 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
caused symptoms of syncope. Dr. Ziem states that seventeen cases have been 
recorded in ophthalmological literature in which toxic effects have followed the 
use of cocaine. Dr. F. de Haviland Hall also describes a case ( Lancet , 21st 
Hov., p. 946) in which cocaine spray applied to the posterior nares caused 
laryngeal spasm, which indicates in his opinion that cocaine should be employed 
with caution. How far these symptoms may be due to idiosyncrasy, and how 
far to decomposition products of cocaine, will perhaps be determined when our 
knowledge of the alkaloid itself is more complete than at present. A satis- 
factory means of preserving the solution and of preventing the hygroscopic 
character of the gelatine discs are, however, subjects which demand the atten- 
tion of practical pharmacists. 
THE BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
The “Year Book of Pharmacy” issued by the British Pharmaceutical Conference 
is expected shortly to arrive, and will be distributed by the honorary colonial 
secretary (Mr. H. Shillinglaw). On this occasion the whole of the copies of the 
Year Book will be sent to Melbourne, and forwarded from thence to the members 
of the Conference. This step is taken in consequence of the unsatisfactory manner 
in which the copies were delivered by post. 
Members who have not yet paid their subscriptions for the year are invited to 
forward the same to the hon. colonial secretary at the College of Pharmacy, 
Swanston-street, Melbourne, to whom complaints of the non-receipt of the volume 
should also be addressed. 
The subscription is 7s. 6d. per annum, free of all postage or carriage. 
POISONING CASES. 
De. Yotjl held an inquest on the 26th December on the body of George Robert 
Ellis, a selector, aged 45. Deceased came to Melbourne on the 20th December, 
and lodged at the Albion Hotel in Bourke-street. Constable Fitzgerald found 
deceased lying in the Richmond reserve, near the Botanical Bridge, in an 
apparently drunken state. A bottle of brandy was by his side, and he told 
Fitzgerald that he had poisoned himself. He was taken to the Melbourne 
Hospital, where he died 20 minutes after admission. A box containing a 
mixture of strychnine and lard was found in the lining of his hat. The jury 
found that the deceased had poisoned himself whilst of unsound mind. 
A sad case of suicide occurred on Tuesday, the 29th December, when a 
young married woman named Annie Eliza Timms, who had been for some time 
suffering from acute pain, swallowed a quantity of muriatic acid. She was 
removed to the hospital, where she died shortly afterwards from the effects of 
the poison. 
A child named Emily Clough, five years old, died on Tuesday, the 29th 
December, at Wee Wee Rup, Kerang, from drinking gin. She drank it out of 
a bottle when no one was near. 
We would ask all thoughtful and enterprising chemists to read carefully 
the advertisement of Frederick Stearns and Co., Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. 
These pharmacists, we are informed, are particularly in a condition to relieve 
the retail chemists of a vast amount of labour and expense. Their plan of 
supplying pharmacists with handsomely-made preparations to meet the imme- 
diate requirements of the sufferer is a good one. Messrs. Rocke, Tompsitt 
and Co. will supply any of these lines. 
