FATAL ACCIDENT WITH DIAMOND OIL.” 
323 
Mr. Flowers, the magistrate, in* commenting on the case, made the following state¬ 
ment:—“It was important to make it generally known, and especially to remind all 
who deal in drugs, that an Act had recently been passed, the 31st & 32nd Victoria, 
c. 121, making it unlawful to sell any poison unless labelled with the name of the seller 
and of the article sold, and with the word ‘poison.’ Besides this, certain poisons com¬ 
monly used are not to be sold at all to any one unknown to the druggist, unless the 
stranger be introduced by one whom the druggist knows. As regards these latter kinds 
of poison, the druggist is required to enter in a book the name and address of the pur¬ 
chaser, and what lie wants the drug for, which entry must be signed by the purchaser 
and (if he be a stranger to the druggist) by his introducer. Unless these regulations 
are complied with, the seller is liable to heavy penalties on summary conviction before a 
magistrate. In this case it did not appear that any of the conditions had been complied 
with, but he had not asked the name of the chemist, as he might, perhaps, not have 
known of the Act which had been so recently passed. If, however, he had been brought 
there, he tvould have had no alternative but to impose for the first offence a penalty of 
£5, and should he persist in selling poisons in contravention of the Act, £10 for the 
second offence. He trusted that publicity would be given to this caution, and that for 
the future the provisions of this most salutary enactment would be more scrupulously 
observed.” 
FATAL ACCIDENT WITH “DIAMOND OIL,” 
At the adjourned inquest on the bodies of John Stokoe, Mary Stokoe, Mary Swin¬ 
burne, and Isabella Taylor, who died from the effects of burns received by the ignition 
of a quantity of diamond oil at Washington, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Dr. Joins 
stated that he had experimented with the oil. He put some into a saucer, and held a 
lighted match two inches above it, and the oil ignited. The oil ignited at a temperature 
of 60 degrees. 
Alderman J. L. Bell, Washington Hall, manufacturing chemist, stated that he was not 
prepared to give any opinion as to the chemical constituents of oil, or the source from 
which it w r as obtained ; it was, to the best of his belief, what chemists call a “ hydro¬ 
carbon.” He handed in an elaborate statement of experiments he had made with the 
diamond oil, and opinions as to the use of oils for domestic purposes. After speaking 
of the nature of oils generally, he said :—“ I will now endeavour to show you how far 
the so-called ‘ diamond oil,’ which has been the cause of the calamity engaging your 
attention, fulfils the conditions that I have just laid dowm as being required to ensure 
safety. Assisted by my friend Mr. Percey, we found that a drop or two placed in a tube 
instantly, and without any application of heat, gave off a highly inflammable vapour. 
Poured into a dish, the oil itself indicating a temperature of only 59° F., a lighted 
match communicated flame when held at a distance of one and a half inches from the 
surface of the liquid, which then took fire, and continued to burn. This is simply due 
to the circumstance that, even at this low temperature, an extremely inflammable 
vapour was emitted. A quantity thrown on very moist ground, after being absorbed 
by the earth, took fire instantly on the application of a lighted match, and burnt with 
a large flame, in spite of a violent wind. The specimen of oil sent from that 
supplied to Mrs. Hunter boiled at 130° F., gradually rising to 185°, at which 
point it remained stationary. This change in the boiling-point is due to the gradual 
evaporation of some of the most volatile constituents of the oil in question. Under the 
most careful treatment, therefore, there can be no doubt, that this so-called diamond oil is 
highly dangerous, and utterly unfit for the purpose for which it was supplied to Mr. 
Stokoe. Unfortunately, in the case under consideration, the dangerous properties to 
which it was, from ignorance, as I understand, in the absence of all instructions, 
exposed, were greatly intensified. In the first place, it cannot be too much insisted 
on that all oils, approaching however remotely to the nature of this, should be kept in 
suitably strong vessels. In the present instance, not only was the j'ar, in which it was 
delivered from the dealer, itself of earthenware, but its sides were so thin as to break 
when merely overturned. From the evidence it would appear that the jar, containing 
two gallons of oil, had been for some time in a small kitchen, in which all the cooking 
operations for nine persons were being carried on. An examination of the premises 
would induce me to suppose that in all probability the atmosphere of the small room 
