22 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
July, 1880. 
Mr. J. K. Blogg, for some time well known as town traveller 
for one of the principal wholesale drug-houses, has retired from 
that position, and has taken charge of the manufacturing de- 
partment for the same firm. Mr. M. Brown succeeds Mr. Blogg 
as traveller. 
We notice, with pleasure, the return to Melbourne of Mr. 
Geo. Swift, so well known as a member of the firm of Francis 
and Swift, Bourke-street. On his retiring from that firm Mr. 
Swift entered into business in Sale, Gippsland, where he has 
been for the past year, and he returns to the metropolis as 
the proprietor of the old-established and well-known business 
of Wm. Ford and Co., Swanston-street, Melbourne. So 
esteemed a pharmacist as Mr. Swift will, we trust, meet with 
that measure of business success he so well deserves. 
We are glad to hear that Mr. Alfred Brady, whose registra- 
tion we lately recorded, has been engaged as town traveller by 
one of our leading wholesale drug houses. Mr. Brady is a 
brother of the well-known English pharmacist of that name, 
whose researches on Foraminifera are known to all micro- 
scopists, and, though a new comer, his knowledge of the drug 
trade ought to well qualify him for the post he has obtained. 
We learn that the business in Elizabeth-street North, carried 
on for many years by the late Mr. Jelfs, has been sold to Mr. 
Alfred E. Hughes, for some time past assistant to Mr. Henry 
Francis, of Bourke-street. Another change has also to be 
recorded in the purchase of Mr. Swift’s business, at Sale, by 
Mr. George Wilson. Mr. Wilson was apprenticed several 
years ago to Mr. Bosisto, and has been since in business at 
Beaufort, and subsequently at Deniliquin. 
THE ACCIDENTAL POISONING CASE AT COLAC. 
The inquest on the death of Joseph Joshua Clark was held on 
the 30th July, at the courthouse, Colac, before Mr. Heron, 
P.M., coroner. 
The jury having answered to their names, the first witness 
called was 
George Farmer Turner, who deposed — I am a chemist 
residing in Colac. I remember Mrs. Clark coming to my shop 
on the evening of 14th July. She had a child in her arms. 
She asked me to give her something for a tightness at the 
child’s chest. I put up a mixture of almond oil and syrup of 
squills, and my apprentice, John Moir, put up some hartshorn 
and sweet oil and some soothing powders. I mentioned what 
1 had given her, and labelled the bottles. I recollect being 
called to see Miss Moore between eight and nine o’clock that 
same evening. I was called by my apprentice. I did not 
see the prescription. I saw it first about nine the next 
morning. The lad did not ask me for any directions as 
to making it up. I first found out that a mistake had been 
made with Dr. Dobie’s prescription the next morning between 
nine and ten. I went to look over the previous day’s prescrip- 
tions, as I usually do. The thingthat drew my attention to the 
prescription was that it was very badly written. It was 
signed by Dr. Dobie. This is the prescription. Noticing the 
top line written in a very bad style, I called my apprentice, 
who has been with me two years and two months, and' pointed 
out that line to him, and asked him how he read it. He 
answered, “ L’aqua morphia acet.” I knew from the nature of 
the prescription more than from the reading of that line that 
it was “ L’aqua ammonia acet.” intended. I felt very much 
stunned by the blow. I immediately said, “ Whatever comes, 
the child must not take another dose.” I immediately made 
up the prescription correctly, and sent it down to Mrs. Clark 
by the apprentice. I told him to give them the bottle, and 
tell them that a mistake had been made. I told him to ask 
for the first bottle in exchange. I did not see any directions 
that may have been given the night before. The prescriptior. 
directs a teaspoonful to be taken every four hours. The boy 
has been with me two years and two months. He has been 
very careful and intelligent. 
Mr. Heron— Does it not strike you that, to put the mildest 
face upon it, you were very lax in not looking at this 
prescription before the lad made it up. Was that not a neelect 
of duty ? 
Witness — No thought occurred to my mind. 
Mr. Heron— I ask you again why you did not, on the 14th 
of July, when this prescription was brought to you by Miss 
Moore to make up, look at it before the boy made it up. Your 
feeling that it might not be right because Mr. Dobie had left 
Dr. Foster’s service ought to have made you more careful. 
Witness— I never entertained any suspicion of the pre- 
scription. I did not know it was badly written. The next 
morning I found out that the prescription had been wrongly 
made up. I did not apply to Dr. Foster or Dr. Dobie to do 
anything to save the child. I knew the child must have taken 
some of it, but it did not occur to my mind to do more than 
acquaint the parents. I did not think of it. I saw Dr. Foster 
that morning before discovering the mistake. He told me the 
child was dying. He said I had prescribed for a child named 
Clark. It was between nine and ten. I told him I had 
not prescribed, and never did. Selling medicines and 
labelling them as such is a very different thing from pre- 
scribing. Mrs. Clark did not ask for the particular medicine 
I gave her. She paid for it. Dr. Foster said there would be 
some difficulty in the matter ; that he should not give a 
certificate as to the cause of death. I did not take any other 
steps to save the child’s life. 
The Foreman — Has your apprentice passed any examina- 
tion qualifying him to dispense prescriptions ? 
Witness — No. 
To Mr. Hebb — Have you allowed your apprentice to make 
up prescriptions before ? 
Witness — Occasionally, when I have been busy. 
Mr. Hebb — Did you warn your apprentice that the pre- 
scriptions were badly written ? 
Witness— All his previous prescriptions have been well 
written. 
To Mr. Hebb — Have you ever had any previous mistake ? 
Witness — No. This is the first I have ever had in the place. 
To Mr. Hancock — The lad has been with me two years and 
two months. He has been very careful. He has assisted me 
in putting medicines up. I have given my assistant the 
necessary instructions to qualify him for dispensing, and he 
has studied the necessary books. 
John Moir — I am an apprentice to Mr. Turner, chemist, 
of Colac. I remember Mrs. Clark coming to the shop with 
the baby on the 14th of July. She spoke to Mr. Turner. She 
said, “ My baby has a little tightness on the chest; will you 
give me something for it?” He said, “I will give you some 
syrup of squills and oil of almonds. ” He went and looked at the 
baby ; he did not examine it. I do not know what he said. 
He gave some syrup of squills and oil of almonds. I do 
not know whether she paid for it. She gave the baby a dose 
of it in the shop. He told her to rub its chest and back with 
hartshorn and oil, and give it the mixture every four hours. 
About eight that night Miss Moore came to the shop. She 
said she brought a prescription from Dr. Dobie. She told me 
to make it up. I said I would not till Mr. Turner came. Mr. 
Turner was out then at Mr. Robertson’s committee rooms. I 
went up and found him. I took the prescription with me. I 
asked Mr. Turner whether “ L’aqua morphia acet.” was the j 
same as that in the bottle labelled “ L’aqua morphia.” He 
said it was. I did not show the prescription to Mr. Turner. I 
I had it in my hand. I thought they were the same, but was 
not sure. I did not then know the difference between the ; 
two names. Mr. Turner told me they were the same thing. 
I put up the medicine when I had found out the dose. Mr. 
Turner did not ask me anything about the prescription. I j 
mean by finding out the dose consulting some medical } 
authority. I was not competent enough to make it up from 
my own experience or training as a chemist. When he dis- 
covered that a mistake had been made, Mr. Turner said they \ 
must not, on any account, have an opportunity of giving 
another dose. Mr. Turner put up another bottle himself. He ■ 
sent me down with it to Mrs. Moore’s. I asked for Mrs. Clark, j 
and told her a mistake had been made in the medicine. I J 
asked her to give me the other bottle and I would give her the t 
right one. She said, “ It was no use, the child was dying.” I ' 
came back and told Mr. Turner. This would be about eleven ; 
o’clock. Nothing was done to acquaint Dr. Foster, or to try 
and save the child. I said nothing about it. 
To the Foreman — I went to Mr. Turner twice. It was at 
the first time that he told me that “L’aqua morphia acet.” I 
was the same as “ L’aqua morphia.” The second time I told 
him I had a prescription from Dr. Dobie for Mrs. Clark. 
Then he came to the shop, and said to Miss Moore, “ You have 
been to Dr. Dobie ; you can please yourself.” 
To the Coroner— Mr. Turner’s evidence was quite correct on 
that point. 
To Mr. Forbes — I did not think to show Mr. Turner the 
prescription. 
To Mr. Hebb— I understand the nature of poisons. I 
thought the quantity ordered enormous till I looked at the 
book and found the dose to be from ten to sixty minims. 
