ON THE .REMOVAL OF STAINS FROM SILK. 
509 
give to families amongst whom by far the majority of fatal mistakes occur. 
Whatever form may be decided upon, it must be evident to ever}' - one interested 
that curiously-devised labels would not do ; neither will a round, square, flat, 
oval, or octagon bottle covered with such a label, because all these shapes are 
used for dispensing, and (I am sure that I am not stating too much) to the 'per¬ 
sistent use of these shapes for strong and poisonous preparations may he traced 
nearly all the fatal mistakes that take place. To shorten my communica¬ 
tion, I will give a case which some time ago came under my observation, and 
which bears so strongly upon this question, that I think the most dubious will 
admit that immunity must be sought for in peculiarity and uncommonness of 
shape. A gentleman in the north of England was under treatment by a me¬ 
dical friend of mine, who sent out his medicine in six-ounce oval bottles, la¬ 
belled with the ordinary narrow slip used by surgeons. In the same room the 
patient had a six-ounce oval bottle of liquid blister, covered entirely on one 
side with a printed label. Notwithstanding this difference, he went into his 
room for a dose of medicine, took up the blister bottle, poured out a dose, and 
took it. M/y medical friend was immediately called in, who administered an¬ 
tidotes, and the patient ultimately recovered, though slowly. When asked 
how he could have made such an egregious mistake, he replied (and now mark), 
“ Oh! the bottle happened to be the same shape as the one containing my me¬ 
dicine, which so misled me that I never once thought about the label.” I 
could give similar cases, but I think this one may suffice to show that 
immunity must be sought for in peculiarity of shape. In this case, had the 
liquid blister been in a six-ounce conical octagon, the shape would have ar¬ 
rested attention, the gentleman would have read the label, and avoided a very 
nearly fatal mistake. 
I have represented the York Glass Company upwards of twenty-three years, 
and during this time have had numerous conversations on this subject with all 
the principal dispensing chemists in Scotland, part of Ireland, and the Northern 
and Midland Counties of England, and, with few exceptions, all these gentlemen 
have admitted over and over again, that curiously-devised labels upon the ordi¬ 
nary shaped bottles do not answer, and that safety is onty secured by peculiarity 
in shape. I am not, then, giving my own ideas in particular, but opinions the 
result of conversations and discussions. My letter, therefore, may be con¬ 
sidered entitled to some share of consideration, which, I think, the import¬ 
ance of the question requires. I did intend following up this subject by re¬ 
commending another shape, the direct square, as standard dispensing bottles 
for all poisonous liquids and powders ; but having already trespassed too far, 
I shall reserve what I have to state for another occasion. 
Yours respectfully, 
Henry Fall. 
ON THE REMOVAL OF STAINS FROM SILK. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Si r> —I send you the following particulars, thinking they may be interest¬ 
ing, if not useful, to some of your readers who may be yet uninformed on the 
subject:— 
Being anxious to discover some means by which the colour could be restored 
that had been extracted from a violet silk dress by acid-juice having been acci¬ 
dentally thrown upon it, I applied to more than one chemist and druggist, 
thinking there must be some chemical agent which would restore violet, as 
spirit of hartshorn, it is well known, will restore black. 
Not being able to obtain any information on the subject, I thought of try¬ 
ing some experiments for myself; the first proving successful may be worth 
yol. y. 2 m 
