158 CASES OF POISONING—ACCIDENTAL AND CRIMINAL. 
deceased, the jury returned the following verdict:—“Suicide with essential oil of 
almonds while in an unsound state of mind.” 
Illegal Sale of Arsenic.— Charles Hazard Gare, the druggist who sold arsenic 
to the woman, Fanny Oliver, who has been sentenced to death, but the sentence since 
commuted to transportation for life, for poisoning her husband, was brought before the 
Dudley magistrates on Saturday, July 25, and fined £1 and costs. 
At Church Stretton, Mr. Lester, grocer, was charged for selling a packet of sheep 
powder called “Cooper’s Sheep-dipping Powder,” containing 8 ounces of arsenic, 
without entering the sale in a book, and thus infringing the Act. The complainant, 
Mr. Phillips, a chemist, said an Act was passed in 1868 to prevent unqualified persons 
selling poisons; that the defendant was not a qualified person, and that the powder 
sold by him was shown by analysis to contain 24 parts each of sulphur and arsenic, and 
4 parts of soda and other impurities. Mr. Cooper, a member of the Veterinary College, 
said-that “Cooper’s Sheep-dipping Powder” had been sold for upwards of twenty 
years that no attempt had previously been made to stop its sale, and that the com¬ 
plainant, Mr. Phillips, had applied for the agency of the powder, but had been refused. 
The decision of the magistrates was reserved. 
CASES OF POISONING—ACCIDENTAL AND CRIMINAL. 
A Cause of Lead Poisoning.— Mr. F. Taylor, of Romsey, in a letter to the 
editor of the ‘ Medical Times and Gazette,’ states that he has had several cases of lead 
po.soning arising from ginger beer, containing tartaric acid, being fermented in the 
- bushel pans” commonly used for kitchen purposes. The glazing of the pans is pro¬ 
duced by dusting them, whilst the clay is damp, with litharge and barley-meal pre¬ 
viously to their being “ fired ” in the kiln ; Mr. Taylor observes that in all the cases he 
has met with the glazing has been completely removed by the acid, and he wishes to 
warn people to use oaken tubs for all purposes for which these hurtful pans are now 
used. 
Poisoning by Nitro-Glycerine. —A case is noticed in the ‘Medical Record ’ in 
which a servant in a restaurant drank half a wine-glassful of nitro-glycerine in mistake 
for wine There was severe pain, but the vomiting which ensued rendered an emetic 
unnecessary. Almond emulsion, with opium and other demulcents, were used with 
success. Intense headache and loss of appetite lasted for three days. 
Suicide by " Mouse Poison.”— An inquest has been held at Great Bridge re¬ 
specting the death of Charlotte Hannah Davis, a child aged 11 years. It appeared from 
the evidence of the mother, that her daughter had been obtaining goods on a false pre¬ 
text and upon her remonstrating with deceased, she threatened to poison herself, which 
threat she carried out by swallowing some “ mouse powder.” Medical assistance was 
obtained but the efforts were unsuccessful. Thomas Austin, a chemist, said deceased 
came to his shop and asked for a packet of “ mouse powder,” which was supplied with a 
caution as to its use. The packet contained strychnia. A verdict was returned to the 
effect that deceased committed suicide by taking poison while in an unsound state of 
m if would appear that these so-called « vermin killers ” are in much demand for cri¬ 
minal purposes, possibly restriction on the sale of the scheduled poisons in the Phar¬ 
macy Act having closed some of the avenues, recourse has been had to those which 
at present are not within the letter of the law. The public papers record another case 
in which a man at Sheffield has been sentenced to five years’ penal servitude for 
attempting to poison his mother and sister, by putting Battle s “ Vermin Killer 
into a saucepan in which food was being cooked ; fortunately the appearance and taste 
of the food saved the intended victims. 
Allegred Poisoning.— On Monday, August 9th, the boy Charles Gritt, who con¬ 
fessed t?having poisoned Miss Emily Collier, of Newport, Monmouthshire, was brought 
before the borough magistrates on that charge. The boy does not deny the charge, 
but confesses that he gave the young lady some poisoned wheat, for the purpose ot 
