January, 1882. 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
71 
After some further consideration it was decided to remand 
the case for seven days. 
On this decision announced, Mr. Gillott said he and his 
client would rather plead guilty and throw themselves on the 
mercy of the bench than be put to the trouble of coming to 
the court again, which would be a worse punishment than the 
bench were likely to inflict. He admitted his client had sold 
the article named. The sale was effected, however, with no 
intention of fraud, or desire to evade the law. It had been 
after due inquiry thatthe preparation had been dispensed. No 
entry had been made, nor any signature obtained. They had 
sold the preparation in the usual way. 
Mr. Keogh : Yes ; and you have a perfect right to do so. 
After some consultation, the Mayor said that although the 
defendant had admitted the offence a majority of the bench 
thought there was no case against him, and they had decided 
to dismiss the case. 
SUICIDES BY POISON. 
During- the past month the following cases of suicide by 
poison have been reported by the police to the Pharmacy 
Board : — 
James Jamieson, aged fifty years, South Preston, died from 
taking strychnine. 
Geo. Smith, Camperdown, attempted to commit suicide by 
taking strychnine. Recovered. 
A recently married woman, aged about twenty, who resides 
at Dover-road, Williamstown, made a desperate attempt upon 
her own life on the 27th December. Mrs. Dooley, it would 
appear, had some altercation with her husband, after which 
she deliberately went for a bottle of liniment, containing a 
mixture of aconite and belladonna, in sufficient quantity to 
poison several persons, and drank off the contents. Mr. Goldie 
arrived at Dooley’s house half an hour afterwards, at half-past 
five o’clock, and found that some one had prevailed upon the 
woman to swallow some mustard, by which vomiting had been 
induced. Mr. Goldie administered another emetic, and had 
recourse to the stomach-pump. At half-past ten Mr. Goldie, 
who was continuing the use of restoratives, pronounced the 
young woman’s condition extremely critical. 
William A. Black, Little Lonsdale-street, who committed 
suicide on the 5th January by taking strychnine. 
A peculiar poisoning case formed the subject of investigation 
at the hands of Dr. Youl on the 29th instant. An elderly 
couple named Benjamin and Mary Anne Morden have been 
living for some time in Greig-street, Emerald Hill. On 
Saturday last an acquaintance called in and remained to tea. 
It would appear from the evidence that the husband, being 
rather deaf, conceived the idea that his wife was making dis- 
paraging remarks about him to their visitor, and, when the 
latter left, he commenced addressing her in an angry tone of 
voice. This treatment so influenced the woman’s mind that 
she went to her room, opened a box containing strychnine, 
mixed a quantity of it in water, and then drank it off. Shortly 
afterwards she told her husband what she had done, and Dr. 
Barrett was sent for, but arrived too late to be of any service, 
as the woman died immediately after his arrival. The jury 
brought in a verdict of death from strychnine poisoning. 
ACCIDENT TO MR. ALFRED FELTON. 
We are glad to be able to state that Mr. Felton, who met with 
a eevere accident while travelling overland from Sydney to 
Melbourne some time since, is progressing in a satisfactory 
manner, and, we trust, will soon be convalescent. Mr. Felton 
is still at Goulburn, and will not be able to be removed for 
some time. 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT 
BRITAIN. 
MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. 
Wednesday, 2nd November, 1881. 
MR. THOMAS GREENISH, PRESIDENT ; MR. GEORGE FREDERICK 
SCHACHT, VICE-PRESIDENT. 
THE SALE OF CHLORAL HYDRATE . 
The council went into committee to consider a notice of 
motion given by the president, with regard to the sale of 
chloral hydrate. 
On resuming, the following resolution was passed unani- 
mously : — “ That the Law and Parliamentary Committee, in 
consideration of the frequent deaths occasioned by the use of 
chloral hydrate, a poison within the meaning of the Pharmacy 
Act, be requested to consider and report what steps, if any, 
should be taken with a view to enforce, on the sale of that sub- 
stance and its preparations, the requirements of the said 
Act.” 
DEATH OF MR. A. J. COOLEY. 
We regret to announce the death, on Friday, 28th October, of 
Mr. A. J. Cooley, the author and compiler of the Cyclopaedia 
of Practical Receipts. Although in failing health for two or 
three years past, he still maintained a lively interest in 
technical subject with which he was well qualified to deal, 
and, as a man of integrity, was esteemed by those who had 
dealings with him. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
Coiresponbencc. 
To the Editor of The Australasian Supplement to the Chemist 
and Druggist. 
Sir— The “ Personalities” column in your last issue leads off, to 
my astonishment, with the announcement that some one “ has 
succeeded” to my business here. Your informant has been 
misinformed. I have not disposed of my business ; and, instead 
of any one having “ succeeded” to it, I have to thank my old 
customers for their not only continued, but increased, support 
in my new premises. Being a member of the Pharmaceutical 
Society of many years’ standing, I trust you will allow me the 
amende honorable in your next issue. — I am, sir, yours obe- 
diently, Alexander Hall, 
Pharmaceutical Chemist, Williamstown. 
29th December, 1881. 
[The paragraph referred to was taken from the following 
circular, issued by Mr. Massey : — “ H. J. Massey begs to inform 
the inhabitants of Williamstown that he has commenced 
business at the above address — in the premises lately occupied 
by Mr. A. Hall — and trusts, by careful and assiduous attention 
to business, to merit a share of public patronage.” — Ed.] 
PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
According to the Pharmacist , the members of the American 
Pharmaceutical Association who attended the recent meeting 
in Kansas city must have undergone a mild form of martyrdom 
through their zeal for pharmacy. Kansas city appears to 
have retained her hottest days for the visitors, and a scorching 
sun, clay dust, “ roily” Missouri water, and mosquitoes, are 
said to have conspired to make life a burden. All the time 
that the meeting was in session the thermometer ranged 
between 104° and 105° F. night and day, and there was no 
breeze. At the meeting the “comical sight was presented of 
scientific men sitting in earnest deliberation with coats and 
vests removed, suspenders down, and shirt sleeves rolled up, 
all the while manipulating their palmetto fans like so many 
dames of the ball-room.” 
THE AUSTRALASIAN VETERINARY JOURNAL. 
We have received the first number of the Australasian 
Veterinary Journal , a monthly journal of veterinary science, 
embracing the breeding, feeding, and management of stock in 
health and disease ; edited by Graham Mitchell, F.R.C.V.S. , 
Thomas Chalwin, M.R.C.Y.S., and William T. Kendall, 
M.R.C.V.S. The editors in their address say “In issuing 
this our first number of the Australasian Veterinary Journal , 
we have to state that, contrary to our original intention of 
publishing it quarterly, we have thought it advisable to bring 
out a monthly number, with the object of having it registered 
as a newspaper, similar to the medical and pharmaceutical 
journals. This will not only secure the advantage of the cheap 
postal rates, and thus bring it within the reach of every 
veterinary surgeon and stockowner in the colonies, but will 
also be meeting the views of many of our subscribers who 
desire to have replies to their communications oftener than 
once a quarter. 
“ The urgent necessity for a periodical devoted alike to the 
interests of the veterinary profession and breeders and owners 
