THE ASHBURTON POISONING CASE. 
107 
of carbolic acid for wood creasote, the admixture of the lighter petroleum oils 
with turpentine or of French with American turpentine, each and all of which 
can be readily detected in this way, are only a few examples of the aid which 
chemical analysis is likely to derive from this valuable instrument. As the de¬ 
scription which I have given of it is, I am afraid, not likely to be very intelli¬ 
gible without the aid of a diagram, I may refer those who are interested in the 
matter to the original paper, which was read before the Royal Irish Academy, 
on January 26th, 1863. and which, besides forming a part of its published pro¬ 
ceedings, has been reprinted in a separate form. 
I hope in my next communication to describe the objects of pharmaceutic 
interest in the Colonial and Foreign sections of the Exhibition. 
Harry Eapier Draper. 
PHARMACY AT THE DUBLIN EXHIBITION. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—In last number, we get credit for the handsome Codeia Bowl exhibited 
by Messrs. Macfarlane and Co. in the Exhibition of 1862. We exhibited there, 
side by side with Messrs. Macfarlane and Co.’s case, a case of opium products; 
and some notoriety was given to a remarkable crystallized Thebaia Bowl (re¬ 
quiring £11,000 worth of opium to produce it) which we exhibited at a very 
remarkable conversazione of the Royal Society here, and which bowl is now the 
property of the University of Edinburgh. These two circumstances blending 
in the mind of the writer on u Pharmacy in the Dublin Exhibition,” no doubt 
caused the innocent mistake, which we beg to set right. 
Yours, etc., 
Edinburgh, 18 th Avgust, 1S65. T. and II. Smith. 
THE ASHBURTON POISONING CASE. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—The Ashburton case of attempted poisoning appears to have created 
considerable correspondence, in the London 1 Times,’ the local papers, and in a 
great number of private letters to myself ; many of the former seem to have 
been written more with the view of bringing the writers’ names before the 
public, than with that of tracing the crime. 
That a rabbit, weighing at most 2 lb., should eat with impunity so much 
belladonna, and absorb so much of it into its system as very nearly to kill four 
full-grown individuals, seems too ridiculous to be entertained ; yet it has been 
put forth as the probable cause of the effects. Another writer has said that 
atropia is very easily detected, because it expands the pupil, forgetting, or being 
ignorant of the fact, that there are other alkaloids which operate in the same 
way, and that it is extremely difficult to eliminate most of the alkaloids from 
butter, fat, common salt, coagulated albumen, and osmazome, all of which would 
be found in a meat pie ; before applying reagents I proceeded thus :—I intro¬ 
duced the rabbit’s leg whole into diluted hydrochloric acid cold, the albumen 
and fat were left upon the filter through which I passed the solution, which was 
then evaporated to dryness ; benzole dissolved from this any remaining fat or 
butter. I acted on the residue with alcohol, which dissolved the alkaloid with 
