MISCELLANEA. 
381 
rude construction, and stowed in large vats, with escape-holes at the bottom, whence 
exudes an oil, known as camphor-oil, and used by Chinese practitioners for its medicinal 
properties in rheumatic diseases. Samples of this oil have been sent home, and it may 
eventually become a desideratum in Europe. From the vats the camphor is stowed in 
bags to contain about a pecul each, and is thus exported. The Chinese Government has 
empowered the Formosan authorities to claim on its account all the timber produced by 
the island for ship-building purposes; and it is on this plea the Taotai appropriates the 
prescriptive right of dealing in camphor. About 0000 peculs of the drug are annually 
produced in the neighbourhood of Tamsuy.— Extracted from Paper read before the 
British Association at JSewcastle. 
MISCELLANEA. 
The late Poisoning's by Prussic Acid and Tincture of Aconite.—The 
following are the principal facts of this terrible case. On Saturday evening, November 7, 
Charles Gould, a cabman, when on his stand at Camberwell Green, was hailed by a 
woman and two little girls, and he was told to drive them to the Great Eastern Railway 
Station. He had not proceeded far when he was stopped by a man, who said he knew 
the lady and wished to go with her. He accordingly got into the cab. When they 
arrived at Nortonfolgate, he was directed to pull up at the shop of Mr. Cyrus Fane, 
chemist, when the woman got out and asked for a draught for a gentleman who had 
taken too much drink. She was supplied with a mixture composed of bicarbonate of 
potash, sal volatile, and compound tincture of cardamoms, with cinnamon water. She 
also purchased a medicine glass in a case. The cabman then drove them to the rail¬ 
way station. 
On the same evening, about twenty minutes past eight, James Parker, a cabman who 
•was on the stand at the Great Eastern Station, was called by a man who had with him a 
woman and two little girls, and requested to drive them to the Royal Oak, Westbourne 
Grove, by way of the City. When he had driven as far as the Green Dragon, Bishopsgate 
Street, he was directed by the man to procure a pint of half-and-half. This he did, and 
shortly afterwards the man put the pint-pot out of the cab-window, and the driver took 
it back to the public-house. They then continued their journey as far as Furnival’s Inn, 
when the man pulled him up, and getting out, shut the door before the cab stopped. 
The man then paid the fare, told the driver to take the others to the Royal Oak, and then 
walked away. On his arrival at the Royal Oak, the cabman found the youngest child 
lying on the front seat, and the mother, with the eldest, at the bottom of the cab. The 
bodies were then taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, where they were examined by Mr. 
Coombes, one of the house surgeons, who, from a post-mortem examination he had made, 
had no doubt they had died from prussic acid. 
In consequence of the published description of the man who accompanied the woman 
and two children as given by the cabmen, the suspicions of a letter-carrier, Prescott, were 
aroused as to a person named Hunt, residing at Camberwell, and he communicated with 
the police, who, on Monday night, November 9th, arrested Hunt at his own house. From 
the evidence of Inspector Meloy, it would appear that immediately before the arrival of 
the police, Hunt had swallowed poison, for he began to vomit violently, and the retching 
continued for about an hour after he reached the police-station, when he died. Before his 
death, he acknowledged that he might have taken tincture of aconite; he requested to 
have writing materials, and began a letter to the effect that his employers, Messrs. Butler 
and McCulloch,* owed him £120, which he wished to be given to his children if living. 
Dr. Puckle stated that he administered emetics of sulphate of zinc; he also used the 
stomach-pump. A bottle found in Hunt’s room, which contained a few drops of liquid, 
Dr. Puckle examined, and found it to give the characteristic effects of aconite. He had 
made a post-mortem examination of the body, and, on analysing the contents of the sto¬ 
mach and applying the physiological test, the presence of aconitine was conjectured. 
The chemical tests applied were bichromate of potash, and sulphuric acid, which gave 
the characteristic reactions of aconitine. It was proved, by the shopman of Messrs. 
Butler and M‘Culloch, that Hunt had, on the Monday, obtained both tincture of aconite 
* Messrs. Butler and M‘Culloch have given an unqualified denial to the truth of this 
statement of Hunt. 
