THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
443 
Some months ago, writes the Pharmaceutical Journal , a very remarkable case 
of poisoning of several children occurred at Nottingham, which attracted con- 
siderable attention at the time, because of a suspicion that some mistake had 
been made in the preparation of a medicine that had been given to the children for 
whooping cough. This was a mixture containing almond oil, syrup of violets, 
ipecacuanha wine, and syrup of squills. Two of the children who had taken it died, 
and the symptoms were of such a natnre that it was at first supposed the fatal 
effect might have been due to digitalis. A very careful inquiry was instituted 
by the medical man holding the office of public analyst for the borough of 
Nottingham, and it was eventually ascertained that there was no ground for 
supposing that any mistake been made in preparing the medicine. ... Of 
the other cardiac poisons which cause a final arrest of the heart in systole, most 
of them may be excluded from consideration in this case, as being most unlikely to 
be found in a chemist’s shop, perhaps with the exception of Convallaria majalis . 
It has been suggested that some bulbs of this plant may have been accidentally 
mixed with the squills used in making the syrup. But Dr. Truman doubts the 
probability, and he concludes that the toxic agent was really syrup of squills of 
exceptional strength, though no evidence of want of care in preparing it could be 
found. 
The American Pharmacist reprints from the Druggists * Circular an account 
of a death at San Antonio, Tex., through a mistake on the part of a pharmacist, 
who dispensed two ounces of a solution supposed to contain Ep-om salts, but 
which was in reality a concentrated preparation of chloral hydrate. The 
pharmacist stated that the fatal accident occurred by reason of the poison 
bottle being in an unaccustomed place, an assistant having, while relabelling, 
placed the chloral by the side of the solution of Epsom salts. T ie bot tles were 
alike, and the dispenser either failed to look at the label or to realise its 
import. 
At Wigan, England, recently, a mother, on the recommendation of a neighbour, 
infused several poppyheads, and gave a sick child some of the infusion, as the 
result of which it died. The post mortem examination showed that death was due 
to opium poisoning, and the jury returned a verdict to that effect. 
A little boy aged three years, a son of Mr. Wm. Fisher, of Megunga, got hold 
of a box of wax matches, and sucked the heads of a number of them before 
being discovered. As he showed no immediate symptoms f poisoning, the 
anxiety of the parents was somewhat relieved. About 24 hours after he had 
sucked the matches, he became very ill, and though a doctor w is at once called 
in, medical skill was of no avail, as the boy expired in a few hours. 
Contribution to Pharmacy from Queensland, by Joseph Bane i oft, M.D 
Life Histories of Plants, by Professor D. M‘Alpine. London: Swan, 
Sonneuschem, Lowrey and Co., Paternoster-square. A detailed, notice of ibis 
excellent book will appear in our next issue. 
Hand-book of New Zealand, with maps and plates, by James I feet or, M.D., 
C.M.Gr., &c. 
Inaugural Address at the Eighteenth Meeting of the Aucklnn ; Ins'i'ure, by 
J. A. Pond, Colonial Analyst. 
The Twenty-second Annual Report of the Alumni Association, P dadehffiia. 
