THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
49 
U-f no. 4- S'. 
November, 1881. 
QiW’t 
INDEX TO LITERARY CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Leading Article — 
A Failure of Justice 49 
Tiie Month 50 
Meetings— 
Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria .... 50 
page 
Tiie Annual Dinner of tiie Pharma- 
ceutical Society of Victoria 50 
Pharmaceutical Society’s Medal in Gold 53 
Definition of a New Tree from East 
Australia 53 
PAGE 
Personalities 53 
Legal and Magisterial — 
Charge of Murder 54 
Notes and Abstracts 56 
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THE LIBRARY. 
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to 4.30 p.m. 
BIRTH. 
Marshall.— On the 8th November, at *251 Chapel-street, Windsor, the wife 
of W. J. Marshal], pharmacist, of a daughter. 
DEATH. 
Thomas. — On the 5th November, at Albert-street, Windsor, Hugh Roberts 
Thomas. 
A FAILURE OF JUSTICE. 
The horrible tragedy at Sandhurst, which resulted in the 
death of an unfortunate young woman, excited throughout 
the colony a feeling of disgust and indignation ; and when 
it became known that the punishment meted out to the 
wretched impostor who perpetrated the foul deed which 
ended so fatally, was so absurdly inadequate, every right- 
minded person felt that justice had not been done. The 
notorious J. E. Wall, who has for years been practising 
as a medical man illegally and ignorantly, has escaped 
almost “ unwhipt of justice.” The true story of this 
man’s life will never be known ; could it be, we have no 
doubt but that horrors upon horrors would accumulate. 
All the details of the case of the Queen v. Wall are so 
disgusting that it is most painful to read them, bringing 
disgrace upon our common humanity; and, moreover, 
that this convicted quack and murderer is on the roll of 
registered pharmaceutical chemists causes us deep regret 
and indignation. We trust that the Pharmacy Board 
will at once take steps to remove Wall’s name from the 
register which he has so disgraced. We have no doubt 
but that the Board will resolutely do its duty. 
The remarks made in a forcible leader in the Bendigo 
Independent are so thoroughly in accordance with our 
feelings upon this case, that we have no hesitation in 
quoting them. The italics are our own : — 
“Here we have had in our midst for twenty-nine long 
years a man who, without legal qualifications to act as a 
medical practitioner, has nevertheless usurped the func- 
tions conferred by law on men who have, by years of 
previous training, fitted themselves to perform the humane, 
honourable, and responsible duties of a doctor of medicine, 
or of a surgeon. Pursuing his calling — we cannot call it 
his profession — for nearly thirty years, how has he 
contrived to live ? Holding for many years the position 
of a registrar of births, marriages, and deaths, the mind 
shudders at the thought of this man’s life history being 
one day laid bare. But the true history of his life will 
probably never be written, or, if written, would never find 
a publisher. From what little we know as facts, his 
unknown deeds can easily be surmised. On several 
different occasions he has been called on to answer for 
his malpractices. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say 
that he has lived in continual fear of the law, but 
until now he has contrived to escape punishment; yet 
when conviction at last overtook him, to what did it actually 
amount? Tried for murder, for one of the foulest crimes 
ever perpetrated in the district, the jury retitrns a merciful 
verdict of manslaughter, and the judge sentences the culprit 
to a year's imprisonment — less by six months than the 
sentence inflicted in the same court only two days before on 
a man for stealing a few shillings' worth of sheepskins. It 
is the old story — crimes against the person are of little 
regard in the eyes of the law ; it is blasphemy of the 
rankest to interfere with the rights of property. With 
another judge presiding this — to use the politest language 
— excessively mild sentence might, according to recent 
precedents, have been expected ; but when in dealing 
with the Mitiamo shooting case — rising out of a 
drunken quarrel — His Honour Judge Williams, addressing 
the prisoner Sugrue, stated that offences against the 
person were more heinous than offences against property, 
and should be punished accordingly, we scarcely antici- 
pated that Mr. Williams would be found outdoing in 
unwarrantable leniency the decision of Judge Holroyd at 
the recent sittings of the Central Criminal Court, to which 
we referred in last Monday’s issue. This time next year 
James Egan Wall will again be loose on society, his odious 
calling well advertised by the trial throughout the length 
and breadth of Victoria and of the neighbouring colonies. 
Granting that he possesses some medical skill, will his 
twelve months’ incarceration change the past character of 
the man? In other words, will he, when he emerges 
from the Sandhurst gaol, come out a changed being, 
determined to use whatever knowledge he has in a manner 
