136 
MISCELLANEA. 
portion of tannic acid also present it is not a good thing for weak digestions. Its re¬ 
markable restorative power lias given it a further great reputation as an aphrodisiac. 
Another species of this genus, Paullinia Cup ana, also enters into the composition of a 
favourite national diet-drink. Its seeds are mingled with cassava and water, and 
allowed to pass into a state of fermentation, bordering on the putrefactive, in which 
state it is the favourite drink of the Orinoco Indians.— Proceedings of the Botanical 
Society of Edinburgh, in Gardeners’’ Chronicle. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Accidental Poisoning by Laudanum.—An inquest was held August 13th, by 
Mr. W. W. Driffield, deputy-coroner for the borough of Liverpool, to inquire into the 
circumstances connected with the death of Mrs. Emily Harriet Brown, wife of Mr. G. M. 
Brown, banker, residing at No. 10, Prince’s Park Terrace, Prince’s Park, who died on 
Saturday morning, August 8th, under the following circumstances :—The deceased was 
twenty-eight years of age, and was generally a healthy woman. Up to Thursday, Au¬ 
gust 6th, she had enjoyed good health, although for about a month previously she oc¬ 
casionally complained of languor, which she attributed to change of climate. On 
Thursday she complained of being bilious, and of having a pain in her back, and said 
she would prescribe for herself a blue pill and a black draught, as had been prescribed 
for her two years before, while residing at Leamington. This was before her husband 
went to town to business, and when he returned home in the evening she w r as sitting by 
the drawing-room fire, and complained of being chilly and feverish. On retiring to bed, 
about eleven o’clock, she told her husband that she had taken a pill; and on Friday 
morning, about half-past six o’clock, she took the black draught, which was handed to 
her by the housemaid, Beatrice White. The draught was put into a glass, and on taking 
it into her hand the deceased said, “ How nasty it smells !” and after swallowing it she 
said she felt “ giddy and sick,” adding, “Is it possible I have been poisoned?” Her 
husband laughed off the idea, and soon afterwards left the room. At a little before nine 
o’clock her husband went into the bedroom, and found that she had been asleep. He did 
not return till about seven o’clock on Friday night, he having, by previous arrangement, 
gone to dine at Crosby. While there a message was conveyed to him, intimating that 
the deceased was very ill. He proceeded home as fast as possible, and on arriving 
there found her in a state of insensibility, and her breathing intermittent. Three 
medical men were in attendance. She w r as in a sinking state, and never rallied, 
but died about four in the morning of Saturday. From the evidence of George Ross 
Iliffe, butler to Mr. Brown, it appeared that he was sent on Thursday afternoon by 
the cook for a blue pill and a black draught, which he obtained at the shop of Mr. 
Pearson, druggist, Park Road, having stated that it was for a lady. On Friday morn¬ 
ing he got a bottle from Beatrice White, which he washed in warm water. It had a 
peculiar smell, and what remained of its contents had a dark red colour. The same 
forenoon, between eleven and half-past eleven, the cook and housemaid left home to see 
the ‘ Great Eastern,’ leaving witness and the deceased alone in the house. He did not 
see the deceased at anytime that day, although he had been several times in the drawing¬ 
room. The female servants returned about four o’clock, and White, the housemaid, im¬ 
mediately went to the bedroom, from which she soon returned, saying Mrs. Brown was 
asleep. The witness then went to Liverpool with his master’s clothes, and on return¬ 
ing home about seven o’clock, it was found that the deceased was very ill, and that 
her countenance was livid. He was immediately sent for a doctor, and after some diffi¬ 
culty got one (Mr. Hamilton), who attended. In the course of Wednesday afternoon 
this witness was taken to Mr. Pearson’s shop, where he was shown two bottles, one of 
them containing laudanum, the other black draught. The bottle which he got from 
Beatrice White, and which he washed, smelt like the laudanum, and not like the black 
draught. In cross-examination, this witness stated that when he went to Mr. Pearson’s, 
the shop was in course of being papered and painted, and was in a confused state. The evi¬ 
dence of Beatrice White was confirmatory of the previous testimony as to giving the de¬ 
ceased the contents of the bottle. Mr. Hamilton, surgeon, was the first medical witness. 
He had been called between seven and eight o’clock on Friday night to attend the deceased. 
