ACCIDENTAL POISONING BY ACONITE. 
527 
vinced the decimal system would have to be adopted as trade increased between England 
and France ; that its adoption would bring about a great saving of expense, time, and 
trouble, and ensure more perfect calculations ; and that if lectures were given every day 
for a fortnight, the Custom-house clerks would be able to keep the accounts of the 
country on the decimal system. The discussion was continued by several gentlemen, 
including Mr. Fitch, M.A., and Professor Leone Levi. The meeting passed a resolution 
approving of the metric system, and remarking that it was desirable the Committee of 
Council on Education should introduce questions on the metric system into the exami¬ 
nations of candidates for school teacherships. A vote of thanks to the chairman was 
given at the close of the meeting. 
ACCIDENTAL POISONING BY ACONITE.—THE CHARGE AGAINST 
MR. NOAKES. 
This case, the proceedings of which, before the magistrates, were reported in our num¬ 
ber for October last, was tried at Lewes, on Wednesday, March 21, before Chief Justice 
Erie, who, in his charge to the Grand Jury, thus referred to the case :— 
“ There is a charge of manslaughter against a chemist, who appears to have sent aconite 
to the deceased at a time when the deceased expected henbane to be sent to him. In re¬ 
spect to that bill I commend it to your careful notice, because, as I read the depositions, 
I think that the charge is not made out against the accused. You are well aware that 
the essence of the charge of manslaughter is, that death should have been caused by the 
unlawful act of the accused ; and I think it is doubtful to my mind whethei there is 
evidence on which I could act if I was on a jury,—that is, whether death was caused by 
the act of the accused. There is, to my mind, so much doubt, that if I was on the jury 
I could not say the act of the accused was an unlaivful act. The accused appears to be 
a chemist very much relied upon by deceased, Mr. Boys. He had been in the^ habit, of 
having medicine from him; he was eighty years old, and had a complaint, a dangerous 
complaint, bringing him approximately to the brink of death at all times, that was a 
complaint of the heart. He had been in the habit of receiving from the defendant a me¬ 
dicine called henbane and a medicine called aconite for the disease he had; and he had a pe¬ 
culiarity of being determined to have his medicine supplied to him in his own bottles which 
he chose to send. The bottle which was used for aconite had been an eau de Cologne bottle, 
and was marked‘Poison—Aconite’ outside; and the bottle he chose to send for henbane was 
a common bottle, marked on the outside ‘ Poison,’—poison only. His disease of the heart 
was bringing him so approximately to death, that his wife states that they made it a point 
on no occasion to interfere with the will of deceased. He was a man of great intelligence 
and very firm decision, and having a diseased heart whatever he chose to think was done 
without resistance. A few days before his death he sent the bottle intended for henbane 
with a bottle intended for some liniment. He sent both bottles wrapped up, and with a 
verbal message to the chemist, ‘please to fill them and to return them to Mr. Boys. 
There was no prescription, no written instructions; and the accused was m the habit of 
sending both henbane and aconite to him. Upon this occasion he put aconite into the 
bottle intended for henbane. Deceased shortly afterwards took thirty drops of aconite, 
and perhaps,—perhaps that quantity of aconite did bring on some accelerated action ot 
the heart and so caused death. But I should be of opinion that if Mr. Boys had lived 
and brought an action against Mr. Noakes for damage done to him by his sending aconite 
instead of henbane, that under these circumstances Mr. Boys was really as responsible as 
Mr. Noakes, for that which had happened. He chose to have bottles of his own, he chose 
to send them without written instructions, he chose to be on these terms that noboay 
could say a word to him; he.had been in the habit of having both henbane and aconite 
from Mr Noakes, and one bottle was filled with aconite instead of henbane, and ot this 
he took a dose rather larger than was conducive to health. The evidence of the medical 
men as to the cause of the death of Mr. Boys shows clearly that death arose from disease 
of the heart, from which he had long been suffering ; and at the post mortem examina¬ 
tion it was found that the state of the heart was clearly such as would lead to death. 
The diseased heart had caused death. But other medical opinions have come in, and the 
supposition is that the taking of the aconite, perceived in the course of the night, did 
