r. nW so : <f-ao . '?&) . 
June, 1882. THE CHEMIST 
AND DRUGGIST. 
9 
INDEX TO LITERARY CONTENTS. 
_ , PAGE 
Leading Article— The Sale of Poisons as 
Patent Medicines 9 
Tiie Month ’ ’ ’ ’ io 
Meetings— Pharmacy Board of Victoria 10 
Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria . . 11 
PlIARMACBUTICAL SOCIETY OF N. S. W 11 
Pharmacy Board of New Zealand 11 
Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand 12 
Notes on some Leguminous Plants 12 
Quarterly Examinations of the Pharmacy 
Board 13 
School of Mines Science Society, Sand- 
hurst 13 
Legal and Magisterial — Magisterial In- 
quiry 15 
Prosecution under the Pharmacy* Act 15 
The Failures of Police Prosecutions at 
Ballarat iq 
Reminiscences of a Pharmacist 16 
Correspondence 17 
A Pharmaceutical Curriculum ’ * for 
Great Britain ig 
Notes and Abstracts ' * is 
©l)e antr HEfruggtst. 
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THE SALE OF POISONS AS PATENT MEDICINES. 
“The subject of patent medicines containing poison has 
been so frequently commented on of late, and the practice 
of allowing them to be sold without a poison label being 
attached has been so strongly condemned by medical 
men and by the press, that there is reason to believe that 
this subject will before long receive the attention of the 
legislature. 
“ It is chiefly from this point of view that we think it 
will be useful to place before our readers an account of 
what took place at an inquest held at Devonport, 
to inquire into the cause of death of a child aged two 
years and seven months, who died suddenly on Good 
Friday. According to the evidence given, the child had 
been in good health for some three months previous to its 
death, with the exception of a cold, to relieve which the 
mother gave him, on the recommendation of a neighbour, 
several doses of the preparation sold under the name of 
‘ linseed compound.’ On the Friday, after the child was 
put to bed, some red marks were observed on its face ; 
and, as it was thought the child was in a fit, a spoonful of 
brandy was given, together with a warm bath, after having 
which the child died in a few minutes. It was further 
stated that, though the child did not usually sleep during 
the afternoon, it had frequently gone to sleep since it had 
been taking the medicine, and had slept more than usual 
during the past week. 
“ The evidence of the medical man who was called in to 
see the child had reference only to.the post-mortem exami- 
nation, as he was, when first sent for, engaged with a 
patient that he could not leave. His observations led him 
to conclude that death was due to narcotic poisoning, the 
symptoms being such as are invariably produced in such 
cases. At the same time, it appears from the report that 
the doctor also said there was some difficulty in reconcil- 
ing the evidence with the presumption of narcotic poison- 
ing, but it is not quite clear what was here referred to. 
As regards the medicine given to the child, the doctor 
stated that a bottle of what the mother had administered 
was given to him, and he described it as bearing a notice 
on the label in the words, ‘ Registered under the Sale of 
Poisons Act,’ apparently inferring that these words 
applied to the preparation in the bottle. This view was 
also adopted by the coroner, who spoke of the medicine 
as containing something that made it a registered poison. 
This, however, was evidently a mistake, for the words 
referred to merely indicate that the makers of the article 
are registered under the Pharmacy Act. It is strange 
that such a mistake should have been made by the medical 
man who gave evidence in this case ; but as regards the 
coroner there is perhaps less room for surprise on this 
account, as he was not a medical man. 
“In another part of the medical evidence we find it stated 
that the medicine in question is ‘a dangerous narcotic,’ 
the effects produced by it are similar to laudanum, and 
that he 4 believed a number of children had been killed 
by its use unknown to the parents.’ These are strong 
statements, and would seem to point to the necessity for 
the use of a poison label as a precautionary measure. We 
give them as they appear in the newspaper report, and are 
unable to say on what grounds they were based. It may, 
however, be inferred from the doctor’s remarks on the 
danger of administering opium to young children, that he 
has reason for thinking the preparation he spoke of con- 
tains opium, and that on that account it was open to the 
objection of bearing a label which, in his opinion, was 
misleading, since linseed contains no poison, and is one of 
the most harmless medicines known. 
“ The remarks of the coroner were chiefly directed to this 
point, exonerating those who had used the medicine while 
