138 
MISCELLANEA. 
evidence of deceased’s father that she had been suffering from smallpox, and was at¬ 
tended by Mr. J. J. Johnson, surgeon, Croydon. About five o’clock on Friday evening 
last Mr. Evans was attracted to the deceased’s bedroom by screams, and on proceeding 
up stairs found her vomiting. In reply to his question, deceased said, “ Oh! father, I 
have drunk a glass of the stuff from that bottle,” pointing to the mantelpiece, where the 
bottle which contained the disinfecting fluid stood. He said, ‘‘ How did you come by 
it?” She auswered, “I asked my brother Charles (who was present in the bedroom) 
to pour me out some, and I took half a glassful.” There was no other bottle on the 
shelf, her own medicine being placed by her bedside on a chair within her reach. From 
a remark made to her mother by the deceased, it was believed by the father that she 
knew the fluid was of a poisonous nature. The fluid was bought on the recommendation 
of Mr. Johnson, as the smallpox had been in the house among the family. The deceased 
took half a wine-glass of the disinfecting fluid at five o’clock, and died at ten minutes 
before seven. Mr. Johnson was sent for, but not being at home, did not arrive till after 
the girl died. The medical testimony went to show that Mr. Johnson found her dead; frothy 
mucus w'as coming from the mouth ; the legs were drawn up in a cramped position ; the 
hands were natural, but the eyes were dilated. He smelt and tasted the fluid, and found 
it contained chloride of zinc. He understood the symptoms the deceased laboured under 
after drinking that fluid, which he knew, from reported cases in Taylor's work, was a 
corrosive irritant poison. The quantity taken by the deceased had been known to de¬ 
stroy life, and in this case he was of opinion that death resulted from drinking that poison. 
The coroner having explained the legal points of the case, the jury viewed the body, and 
afterwards returned a verdict that the deceased’s death was the result of accident, at the 
same time adding they were of opinion that a fluid of so dangerous a nature to human 
life as Burnett’s Patent Disinfecting Fluid ought not to be sold without proper precau¬ 
tion being taken to show that it was poisonous. The coroner said that he wouldwrite 
to the firm and enclose them a copy of the verdict. 
A correspondent of the ‘ Times,’ “ G. H.G.,” July 29th, in commenting on the evil of 
allowing an article of so dangerous a nature to be sold without a label of “ poison,or 
anything to denote its escharotic properties, upwards of twenty cases of death having 
resulted from taking this fluid by mistake for medicines, states that in the melancholy 
case at St. Leonards, he had been informed by an eminent chemist that the lady’s life 
might probably have been saved had carbonate of soda been quickly administered ad 
libitum , as it would have immediately decomposed the chloride of zinc into insoluble car¬ 
bonate of zinc and common salt. If the composition of the fluid was known to the skilful 
medical men who attended the case, he is surprised that so simple a remedy was not tried. 
Treatment of Poisoning' by Corrosive Sublimate.—When a solution of cor¬ 
rosive sublimate is placed upon a bright piece of gold and touched with an iron point, 
it undergoes decomposition, a thin film of metallic mercury being deposited on the sur¬ 
face of the precious metal. Dr. J. C. Johnston, of Baltimore, by the practical applica¬ 
tion of this fact, has succeeded in saving the life of a gentleman in that city who had 
swallowed two scruples of the bichloride of mercury. In less than half an hour after¬ 
wards he had given his patient a bolus composed of half a book of gold-leaf, having 
previously sprinkled a drachm of iron reduced by hydrogen between its leaves. This 
dose was retained but a short time, when it was repeated with the happiest results ; the 
vomiting and distress ceased ; and the man recovered rapidly under the ordinary treat¬ 
ment for gastritis. Dr. Johnston thinks that if the gold-leaf had been rubbed in a 
mortar with bright iron filings, and the mixture given with water, it would have been 
more speedily successful than the plan he adopted in his hurry.— Boston Med. and Surg. 
Journal, and Chemical News. 
Accidental Poisoning by Morphia.—An inquest has been held before Mr. 
Bedford, at the Ship tavern, Vauxhall Bridge Road, on the body of Walter Henry 
Deeley, an infant. The mother had been confined on the 3rd of August, and was 
attended by Dr. Battie, who had previously prescribed for her a preparation of morphia. 
It appeared that the nurse, Emma King, had inadvertently taken up the bottle contain¬ 
ing the morphia instead of one of similar shape containing dill-water, and had given a 
* We learn by a letter from Messrs. Burnett and Co., in reply to the above, that the 
suggestion respecting a coloured label with the word u Poison ” has already been adopted; 
and that the fluid is now sold in coloured, fluted bottles. 
