MISCELLANEA. 
235 
hereby obtained, not to deter, but to encourage the inventor to proceed with his task, 
and the incentive was based on the simple hypothesis that if so many unsuccessful at¬ 
tempts have been made to secure some simple, efficient, and inexpensive mode of stop¬ 
pering bottles, there is still room for further efforts, so long as the original and still 
existing method is considered imperfect, and therefore capable of improvement. 
It is also proposed to apply the stopper to a barrel, by which not only is the old bung, 
with its attendant hammerings and injury to the cask, superseded, but the vent-plug 
is also dispensed with, as the reception or exclusion of air can be effected by a single turn 
of the hand. 
The capsule is made of tinned iron, enclosing a cork disk, and it is stated that they 
can be made as low as three farthings each. Fig. 1 represents the bottle with the 
stopper affixed. Fig. 2, the stopper closed. Fig. 3, the same open, showing the cork disk. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Accidental Poisoning' by Laudaimm.—Another case of accidental poisoning by 
the substitution of laudanum for tincture of rhubarb, occured at Hull, on Wednesday, 
October 14th. Mrs. Ann Long, it appears, sent a person named Johnson to the shop of 
Mr. Elliott, druggist, Osborne Street, for one ounce of tincture of rhubarb. The woman 
was served by Mr. Elliott, and took what she had purchased to the deceased, who drank 
about half of it. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Long experienced a feeling of numbness, and 
Mr. Elliott was sent for, who, as soon as he had examined the remaining portion of the 
contents of the bottle, said it was laudanum, and that he had mistaken the laudanum 
bottle for the one containing tincture of rhubarb. He at once administered an emetic, 
but as the deceased continued to get worse, Dr. Usher was called in, who pronounced 
her recovery impossible. She continued to sink rapidly, and died in about three hours 
from the time of taking the draught. An inquest was held, at which Dr. Usher stated 
that he had made a post-mortem examination, but was unable then to account for the 
cause of death ; he therefore requested that the contents of the stomach should be ana¬ 
lysed for that purpose. Ultimately, a verdict was returned to the effect “ That the 
deceased had died by misadventure ; and they recommended that for the future Mr. 
Elliott should be more careful as to placing poison bottles amongst his other ordinary 
shop medicines.” 
Poisoning by Belladonna.—On Saturday, October 3, six children, of ages varying 
from two to five years, living in Wolverhampton, having been attracted by the berries of 
the Atropa Belladonna in a garden, ate very freely of the poisonous berries. About an 
hour afterwards the usual symptoms made their appearance : first, there was an unusual 
desire for sleep, followed by hysterical agitation. Medical aid was obtained, and remedies 
were administered, which with the elder children proved successful; but the younger boy 
gradually sank into a stupor, which on the following day ended in death. 
Suicide by Gyanide of Potassium.—On Saturday, October 3, Dr. Lankester 
held an inquest on the body of James Lamb, of Charlton Street, Somers Town. It was 
stated that the deceased had been afflicted for some time with a tumour on the under 
lip, which he thought to be cancer, and fancied that there was no cure for it. He seemed 
to have suffered much pain, and on the Wednesday night previous was in great agony, 
and on the following morning he was found by his wife unable to speak. Mr. Wesley, 
medical officer of the St. Pancras Dispensary, was sent for, who, on his arrival, found 
Lamb quite dead ; a bottle and tumbler, both containing cyanide of potassium, were 
found by his side. A post-mortem examination left no doubt that the deceased had died 
from the effects of cyanide of potassium, which, according to the evidence of the wife, 
had been procured for use in photography. 
It was proved that the deceased had not been afflicted with cancer, but there was no 
doubt that it was the fear of death from cancer that induced him to take the poison. 
Dr. Lankester observed that the use of this poison in cases of self-destruction had become 
much more frequent, which might be accounted for by the cyanide having become 
an article of general use in the practice of photography. 
The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased had committed suicide 
while in an unsound state of mind. 
