ILLEGAL SALE OF POISON. 
38 » 
ns I was returning from the Trinity Street Railway Station. Cross-examined by Mr. 
Richardson : The young woman had been in my service about three months. I do not 
know where she had been employed before. I had sent her on errands for me at various 
times, and occasionally for drugs, chiefly almond flavour, which we use for scenting pud¬ 
dings and confectionery generally. She has fetched almond flavour about three times 
or once a month. I have not served an apprenticeship to the confectionery business, and 
have only been in it about six months. I have sent the young woman Catherine Joyce 
to Mr. Griffin’s, druggist, for almond flavour ; she had no special order to go to Mr. 
Goodman’s for it. I saw her in Mr. Goodman’s shop about an hour and a quarter after 
she left my premises. I am quite sure it was her. I knew almond flavour was poison¬ 
ous. We only use it in drops. It gives confectionery an agreeable flavour. 
Police-sergeant Chadwick said :—In consequence of information I had received, I went 
to the shop of Mr. Goodman on Saturday last, and had an interview with him. I asked 
if he had sold any poison to a young woman last night. He replied, “Not that I know 
of.” I then said a young women who had been seen buying something in his shop on 
the previous night, had died suddenly in the street. I said she was twenty-four years of 
age, of middle size, and rather stout. Mr. Goodman then said, “ I did sell half an ounce 
of almond flavour to a woman of that description.” I then asked him if it was poison, 
and he replied that it was poison in its pure state, but that it was so reduced when he 
sold it to the young woman that it was not poisonous. 
Dr. Settle said:—On Sunday last I made a post mortem examination of the body of 
the young woman, Catherine Joyce. I examined the stomach and found it contained 
about six ounces of half-digested food, wich smelled very strongly of bitter almonds. 
We tested the contents of the stomach for the spirit, and we found it to be prussic acid, 
which is contained in the essential oil of almonds. It is my opinion that death resulted 
from prussic acid. Cross-examined : Almond flavour would be quite harmless if used in 
confectionery in small quantities. 
Mr. Richardson said there would be no difference of opinion on the material facts of 
this case. There was no evidence to show that Mr. Goodman did sell almond flavour to 
the woman who had poisoned herself, though the circumstances attending the matter 
indicated that; but he should not rest anything on that point. Mr. Goodman admitted 
that almond flavour was sold as had been put forward by the prosecution, and that was 
the general practice of the trade, as would be evident by an extract he read from Dr. A. 
S. Taylor’s ‘ Manual of Medical Jurisprudence,’* and he might add, that all the druggists 
in the town sold the article in the same manner as Mr. Goodman had done in this in¬ 
stance. It was quite clear that Mr. Goodman was in no way auxiliary to the death of 
the young woman, and no injury had been inflicted upon society in this case by the non- 
observance of the law, therefore he trusted their worships would be of opinion that a 
nominal penalty' would suffice in this case. Mr. Goodman had done nothing more than 
follow the general practice of the trade. 
Mr. Hey wood said he thought large quantities should not be sold except to parties 
constantly using it. If sold promiscuously, it should be in very small quantities. 
The Mayor (after a short consultation with his brother magistrates) said the Bench were 
* In reference to Dr. Taylor’s remarks on this subject it may be of interest, and the more 
so as a correspondent deals with the subject in our columns this morning, to give, not only 
the part read by Mr. Richardson, but the whole paragraph, which is as follows :—“The bitter 
almond itself is a poison, and it owes its poisonous properties to prussic acid. It is, however, 
a remarkable fact, that none of the acid exists ready-formed in it, nor is the poison ever pro¬ 
duced except by the agency of water on the almond pulp. Thus, the very act of mastication 
produces from this pulp the poison which destroys life. There are one or two cases on re¬ 
cord, wherein the almonds, when eaten in large quantity, have, led to fatal symptoms and 
death. The essential oil has given rise to a great number of accidents, and has caused toxi¬ 
cologists to direct their attention to it. Its poisonous properties are entirely due to the pre¬ 
sence of hydrocyanic acid, which is intimately combined with it. I ivc pounds of the almonds 
are said to yield about half-an-ounce of the oil, and the quantity of hydrocyanic acid com¬ 
bined in it, varies from 8 to 14 per cent. (Christison). It must, therefore, be regarded as an 
active poison.” The doctor then gives several cases, and adds, “I cannot avoid remarking, 
that we have here another instance of the disgraceful state of medical police in this country, 
in the fact that a deadly poison like this, is allowed to bo sold by confectioners and others for 
the purpose of giving flavour to pastry and liqueurs.” 
