BERRY V. HENDERSON. 
573 
Mr. Justice Lush.— There is no reason to suppose that it would not kill anybody. 
Mr. Quain. —That is a very small quantity. Yon may dilute prussic acid to such an 
extent that it becomes perfectly innocuous. 
Mr. Justice Rannen. —Has he entered the name of the person to whom he sold or deli¬ 
vered? It is plain he has not entered the name of the person to whom it was delivered. 
The question is, have you proved that you have entered the name of the person to whom it 
was sold. So far as it is a question of fact, there is no finding of the fact that there was 
such a person as Mrs. Newton. That must depend upon the fact whether he believed there 
was such a person as Mrs. Newton. Upon that there is no finding at all. 
Mr. Quain. —The justices, no doubt, put it upon that ground. They have not found that 
there was no such person. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —They put us two questions which, as at present advised, I am unable 
to answer as matter of law one way or the other. This very same thing may be poison or 
may be medicine. 
Mr. Quain. —That is not found in the case. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —You will hardly say that any person going into a shop without any 
prescription at all, and saying, I want two drachms of prussic acid in a two-ounce bottle 
with rose-water, and if he had sold that he would not have been within the requirements o 
the section unless he marked it poison. 
Mr. Quain. —That would depend upon whether it was intended for medicinal purposes or 
not. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —I am putting the case of a person going in, and asking for it with¬ 
out saying anything at all. 
Mr. Quain. —I should say that was within the Act; but this was a prescription written 
in the regular medical language. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —But if he goes under such circumstances that no reasonable person 
could believe it to be a prescription, then it is not a thing that will be a medicine. I do net 
impute it to him that it is so, but, before giving judgment upon an important section Hies - 
this, it seems to me that we ought to have all the facts. 
Mr. Quain. —I believe it was proved, my lord. I do not know why it does not say soy 
that there was a Mrs. Newton living within 300 yards of the place. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —There is no finding. We do not know the fact. Prim'd, fade, he 
sold poison. 
Mr. Quain. —I should have thought that if they had to convict him for a penalty, all that 
should have been proved. The onus is upon them evidently, and not upon us. 
Mr. Justice Lush. — I do not know whether they intended that we were to draw our own- 
inferences, as they sent up the prescription and the bills, and all that to us. 
Mr. Lumleij Smith. —The justices seemed to have acted upon the view that it was for the; 
defendant to show that there was a Mrs. Newton. At any rate, they do not seem to have- 
thought that it was for them to prove it. As far as the case goes, it throws a doubt on the 
existence of Mrs. Newton. It speaks of some person for whom it was alleged to be 
bought. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —On the other hand, you could hardly suppose that he should, at his. 
peril, ascertain whether there was such a person. 
Mr. Quain. —I understand the bottle is produced to show that it was what is called a» 
corrugated bottle, showing that it was such a bottle as is used for external applications. If 
you cannot get a prescription made up until you have proved that there is in existence the 
person for whom it is used, a man might be dead before that proof was produced to the 
satisfaction of the chemist. If that is the law, the conviction is a very important one. 
Mr. Lumley Smith. —I do not know that the conviction itself is of great importance.. 
You appear for the Pharmaceutical Society, do you not? 
Mr. Quain. —Yes; but they do not desire to have a conviction against one of their 
members. 
Mr. Lumley Smith. —I should think this was a case in which the object of both parties 
was to have an enunciation of the law, and that the mere conviction is of no importance. I 
appear for the police authorities, and my learned friend appears for the Pharmaceutical 
Society. The mere actual conviction is not of much importance. 
Mr. Justice Lush. —Then, I think we need not trouble you any further, Mr. Quain, 
Assuming that we arc to draw inferences, which, at present, I am not disposed to, as under 
