DEATHS FROM CHLOROFORM. 
495 
drank the contents of the bottle, which was duly labelled “poison,” and then went to 
sleep. He died at half-past five o’clock the following morning. The druggist admitted 
that, though a registered druggist, he did not make an entry of the sale, and he sold the 
poison to the man without any witness being present. The coroner referred him to the 
31 & 32 Yict. c. 21, s. 17, which makes it unlawful to sell preparations of opium 
without duly entering the same in a book, and expressed an opinion that this was one 
of the class of poisons which it was intended should not be sold without a person being 
present as a witness, or the purchaser himself being known to the vendor. The penalty 
for the infraction of the Act was £5 for the first and £10 for the second offence. He 
also quoted the 138th section of the “Bolton Improvement Act, 1854,” which renders 
any person liable to a tine of £5 for selling any virulent poison to any person except in 
the presence of a witness, the name of the purchaser and the witness to be at the same 
time entered in a book kept for that purpose. The coroner, while telling the jury that 
they had no power to make the druggist in this case criminally responsible, said he 
hoped the public prosecutor would take the matter up .—Manchester Guardian. 
Mr. F. B. Benger. Honorary Secretary to the Manchester Chemists’ Association, writ¬ 
ing to the ‘ Manchester Guardian,’ very properly says, with reference to this case,— 
“ The fact is, neither registration of the sale nor witness even is required in the case 
of laudanum or other preparation of opium, only that the bottle be labelled “poison.” 
Mr. Ainscow more than fulfilled the requirements of the law; he gave his customer 
advice as to the proper dose, which, unfortunately, was not followed. 
“In the 31 & 32 Victoria, c. 121, the list of poisons scheduled is divided into two 
parts; the first contains those which are to be registered in a book when sold, and the 
second those which must be labelled ‘poison.’ This apparently simple arrangement 
seems too much for the comprehension of some coroners and couuty magistrates.” 
And Mr. Halliday, of Manchester, writing to the ‘Examiner and Times,’ says,—“A 
few days ago, at an inquest in the same town, syrup of squills was declared a poison.” 
SHEEP DIPPING COMPOSITION.—ACTION FOR DAMAGES. 
A case of considerable importance has been brought before the County Court ^at 
Williton, Somerset. A farmer named Pile sued one William Crocombe to recover £50, 
part of certain damages sustained by the improper and unskilful use of & preparation 
used by him in dipping plaintiff’s flock of over six hundred sheep. Plaintiff proved 
that his sheep were dipped by defendant on the 25th of August last, and two days 
afterwards seventy of the sheep were found dead, and within a week two hundred died. 
Defendant refused to make any compensation, and suggested that the plaintiff caused 
the disaster by adding a certain quantity of powder to the wash without defendant’s 
knowledge at the time. His Honour, in giving judgment for the plaintiff for the full 
amount claimed, with costs, took occasion to caution persons against carelessly using, or 
allowing to be carelessly used, a deadly poison such as the powder in question coplained, 
the principal ingredient being arsenic. He had no doubt the defendant was liable for 
the whole of the loss. 
DEATHS FROM CHLOROFORM. 
On Wednesday, December 29 th, at the Middlesex Hospital, a young man died under the 
influence of chloroform, given during an operation for a diseased bone. The chloro¬ 
form, of which only one drachm was used, was administered on lint, and all seemed to 
go on well until about five minutes after the commencement of the operation, when 
the patient suddenly ceased to breathe. Artificial respiration, after Sylvesters method, 
was adopted, and a galvanic battery was also tried, but without effect. An exami¬ 
nation after death showed a diseased condition of the heart. 
An inquest has been held at York on the body of John Plowman, aged sixty-eight, 
who had been admitted into the York County Hospital for the purpose of having a 
partial amputation of the foot performed. Chloroform was administered by the house- 
surgeon on January 11th. Scarcely a draihm had been inhaled when the patient sud¬ 
denly became rigid, and his pulse stopped.. Artificial respiration and other means were 
tried for a considerable time, but without avail. 
