236 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
“18" followed by the letter “b,” to stand for the Polish word for cups. This 
was followed by the word meaning “dry." The “b" was mistaken for a figure 
6, and the unfortunate patient actually suffered 186 dry cuppings. Our contem- 
porary thinks it well that wet cuppings were not ordered. 
In Chicago a death has resulted from the use of 200 grains each of chloral 
hydrate and potassium bromide. The amount ordered was a 6 ounce mixture,, 
containing 10 grains each of potassium bromide and chloral hydrate to each fluid 
drachm. The druggist stated in an interview that while the dose (2 fluid 
drachm 8 every two hours) was not excessive, he thought the quantity was, and 
so cut it down one half. 
Obituary. — The Pharmaceutical Journal records the death at Paris of M. 
Bouchardat, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, in his eightieth year. In 1832' 
M. Bouchardat was a competitor with Dumas for the professorship of 
Pharmacy and organic chemistry to the Faculty of Medicine, and in 1850 was 
appointed to the chair of organic chemistry. M. Bouchardat was the author of 
a large number of memoirs on chemical and physiological subjects, and was 
connected with the journal at one time known as the Pipertoire de Pharmacies 
Some time ago the Pesth correspondent of the Standard reported that a 
large number of arrests had been made in certain villages in South Hungary, 
chiefly inhabited by Serbs and Roumanians, the evidence going to show that a 
wholesale epidemic of poisoning had broken out among the women of the place, 
who administered arsenic to their husbands whenever they wanted to marry 
somebody else. The first of the trials came on at Pancsova recently, and ended 
with the conviction of a young peasant woman (Draga Radovancey), who was 
sentenced to be hanged. 
The income of the British Medical Association for 1885 was £23,713 4s., 
of which £11,812 16s. 3d. was from subscriptions, and £10,564 from advertise- 
ments and sale of the Pritish JMedical Journal. The cost of the journal was : 
— Editorial, £3098 5s. 5d, ; printing, £9307 16s. 6d. ; and commission on 
advertisements, J£1632 18s. 8d. ; altogether, £14,039 0s. 7d. All other expenses- 
in connection with the Association amounted to £6361 2s. 8d., so that the 
year ended with a balance of £3313 0s. 9d. to the good. The invested funds 
of the Association now amount to close on £20,000. 
About 275 kegs of red herrings which were recently imported by the ship 
Talavera from London were, on Thursday morning, 10th June, condemned by the 
local board of health as being unfit for human consumption. It appears that, 
when the herrings were ready for delivery, Mr. T. H. Young, customs agent, of 
Market-street, who was acting on behalf of the consignee, heard that arsenic had 
been spilled over the casks. He thereupon saw the agents of the ship, and held 
a preliminary survey on the goods with the captain, who stated that the so-called 
arsenic was nothing but whiting. Mr. Young, however, was somewhat dubious 
on the point, and asked Mr. F. Dunn, public analyst, to test the matter. That 
gentleman, therefore, proceeded to the sheds and took samples of the powder, and 
found that it contained arsenic and some other deadly poison. The analyst and 
Mr. Yhmng at once reported the matter to the proper quarters, with the result 
stated. 
Mr. Geo. Harrison, R.N., had an interesting letter in the Argus of a recent 
date on the subject of “ Erythroxylon Coca" (cocaine) “ Will you permit me 
to draw your attention to the April number of Chambers ’ Journal for the 
current year, and the subject ‘cocaine* (Erythroxylon Coca), which is there 
described as one of the wonders of the world. Some 60 years ago I was on the 
coast of Peru when there was a story extant that the Indians in Alta Peru were 
in the habit of chewing the leaves of a plant or shrub, which would stave off 
