MISCELLANEA. 37 
swallowed sufficient to cause death, though several were much frightened, and suffered a 
little from the effects of the drug. 
Assassination by Poisoned Clothing 1 . —A trial of a very remarkable kind has 
just taken place at Bermuda. A man of the name of Edward Cook Swan was indicted 
for having in his possession a number of trunks containing a quantity of clothing which 
had been worn by persons who had died of yellow fever; this was mixed with new 
flannels and other articles. The defendant was charged with having these things in his 
possession under circumstances which threatened, to his knowledge, a real danger to the 
neighbourhood. After a lengthened inquiry, the main charges were proved to the satis¬ 
faction of the jury, who brought in a verdict of guilty. 
The case is one of much interest, not only from its novelty, but from the fact that 
Dr. Blackburn, a Confederate surgeon at present under arrest at New York, will shortly 
he tried in that city for attempting to import yellow fever into the northern ports of 
America by the introduction into them of clothing which had been worn by persons 
who had died of that disease. As to the existence or non-existence of this plot, the 
chief justice who presided at the trial of Swan reminded the jury that they must not 
permit their just indignation or natural horror of so foul a scheme to prejudice their 
minds against the prisoner. The conviction of Swan has invested the subject with a 
painful interest as to the complicity of Dr. Blackburn in a plot of at once so novel and 
revolting a kind.— Lancet. 
Child Poisoned with Godfrey’s Cordial. —An inquest was held at the Cleve¬ 
land Hotel, Hartlepool, on Wednesday, before Mr. Settle, coroner, on the body of 
William, infant son of William Taylor, bolt maker, Nugget Street, California, who had 
died suddenly on the previous day. From the evidence of the mother it appears the 
child was two months old, and was a healthy child, but in consequence of the child 
being very cross the mother w r as persuaded to give deceased some of Godfrey’s Cordial. 
She obtained some, and administered it occasionally, and the child was pacified thereby. 
On the evening of Monday, a pennyworth of the cordial was obtained from a small shop, 
kept by Mrs. Jordison. About nine o’clock the mother administered a teaspoonful, and 
the child shortly afterwards made a peculiar noise in the throat. The sound appearing 
to become worse, the husband went to Dr. Botham’s, who sent a bottle of medicine, but 
the child was in a state of stupor, and the medicine could not be administered. The 
child remained in that state up to the time of its death, which was at three the follow¬ 
ing morning. Mrs. Jordison, grocer, said she was aware that Dr. Botham ordered mag¬ 
nesia for the child, but it was not until she had recommended Godfrey’s Cordial. She 
obtained the cordial from Mr. Mandall, of Stockton, and it is the first bottle she had 
ever had for sale. The dose she ordered was half a teaspoonful. She believed the 
cordial would be strong, as the bottle was near the bottom. Dr. Botham said his opinion 
was, that the child had died from an over-dose of opium. Mrs. Jordison was recalled, 
and admitted that she had put ten or fifteen drops of laudanum into the pennyworth of 
Godfrey’s Cordial for the child. The jury returned a verdict of “ Died from an over-dose 
of opium, sold and administered in ignorance of its effects.” They also strongly ex¬ 
pressed an opinion, that there should be further legislative restrictions as regards the 
sale of poisons .—Newcastle Weekly Chronicle , May 27th, 1865. 
Death from Opium.— At an inquest held before Mr. Richards, at Upper George 
Street, Bromley, on the body of Mary Ann Beale, aged 69, it appeared that the deceased 
had been in the habit of taking opium for the last twenty years,_ and had purchased 
fourpennyworth (four scruples) of solid opium of Mr. Bailey, chemist, Bow. She dined 
about one o’clock, and, as was her custom, went to lie down. She was suddenly seized 
with a fit, and died. A post-mortem examination was made, and the medical evidence 
given was to the effect that death had resulted from serous apoplexy, accelerated by 
small doses of opium. 
Are 'Vichy 3Lsozenges a Drug or a Sweetmeat? —Great commotion has been 
excited among the Paris grocers and confectioners by a prosecution instituted against 
one of their number by the Ecole de Pharmacie. ^ These persons had hitherto always 
sold the Vichy lozenges without opposition, but the Ecole de Pharmacie maintained that, 
being composed of bicarbonate of soda, they are neither more nor less than a diug, and 
that their sale by other than licensed pharmaciens had been merely tolerated, and would 
henceforth be disputed. “ But,” replied the confectioners, “ Vichy waters themselves, 
solely on account of the soda they contain, are medicinal; and yet an Imperial decree 
