CASES OF POISONING—ACCIDENTAL AND CRIMINAL. 8G9 
liar radicle which is referred to. The peculiarity of this hydrogen is, that it 
can be replaced by a metal. Thus, C 2 H^0 2 is acetic acid; when allowed to 
act upon a metal it loses one-fourth of its hydrogen and takes to the metal 
instead, thus forming a new salt. In order to express this, the formula is 
generally written HC 2 H 3 0 2 , which implies that the first atom of H can be 
displaced by a metal, but the other three cannot. For these reasons the body, 
which, in the B.P. is called anhydrous acetic acid, is incorrectly so termed, 
since it does not form salts by losing hydrogen, and combining with metals in 
the place of it. Acetic acid is called a monobasic acid, because in each mole¬ 
cule there is only one replaceable atom of hydrogen, and because, consequently, 
with each metal it forms only one salt. 
CASES OF POISONING—ACCIDENTAL AND CRIMINAL. 
Poisoning by NTitric Acid, —An inquest has been held on the body of John 
Francis Heath, a dyer at Sherborne, Dorset. It appeared from the evidence that he 
indulged freely in drink. He went to a tavern, where Mr. Yeatman, the landlord, 
showed him a bottle of some liquid purchased of a travelling hawker, for the purpose 
of cleaning harness, asking him if he could tell what it was. Daring the temporary 
absence of the landlord, he drank a portion of the contents of the bottle. It appears 
that more than an hour elapsed before medical aid was sought, and then it was too late, 
and the poor fellow died in great agony. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental 
Death,” censuring Yeatman for trusting a man of such intemperate habits with the 
bottle. 
Accidental Poisoning by Laudanum. —On Saturday, May 7th, an inquest was 
held by Mr. W. Weedon, coroner, at Shaw, near Newbury, on the body of Frances 
Everett, wife of the Rev. G. F. Everett, Vicar of Shaw, who died on the previous day. 
The evidence went to show that deceased had suffered intensely from toothache, and 
had used various remedies for the relief of the pain. On Thursday morning, about two 
o’clock, she rushed upstairs, and called the cook, exclaiming, “ Get up, I have taken 
laudanum in mistake for sal volatile.” Dr. Palmer, the family medical man, was in 
prompt attendance, and found Mrs. Everett insensible. On examining the apartment, 
a decayed tooth was found in a basin, which appeared to have been extracted by Mrs. 
Everett herself. On a table was an empty bottle labelled “ Laudanum—Poison,” it had 
apparently contained 2 drachms ; there was another bottle which had contained chloro¬ 
form, and a third labelled “ Sal Volatile.” On a chair by the bedside was some wet 
cotton-wool, which smelt of laudanum. Dr. Palmer, with the assistance of Dr. Bunny, 
of Newbury, used the stomach-pump and other remedies, and, for a short time, the pa¬ 
tient rallied, but afterwards became convulsed, and expired between ten and eleven 
o’clock on Friday morning. Dr. Palmer stated that 2 drachms of laudanum was not 
sufficient to produce a fatal result, but his supposition was, that Mrs. Everett had inad¬ 
vertently mixed laudanum with chloroform instead of sal volatile, which would be quite 
enough to cause death. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with this view, to 
the effect that death was caused by the deceased having accidentally taken a mixture 
of laudanum and chloroform instead of sal volatile. 
Poisoning with Belladonna and Opium. —A case is recorded by Dr. S. K. 
Cotter, of St. Helena, in the ‘ Medical Times and Gazette’ of May 21st, of a lady who 
swallowed by mistake about an ounce and a half of the following liniment; extract of 
belladonna, gr. 120:—tincture of opium §ij, glycerine giij, water ^ij, misce. Although 
the symptoms were very severe, the patient completely recovered ; had the same quan¬ 
tity, either of opium or belladonna, been taken by itself, the result would most probably 
have been fatal, and Dr. Cotter considers that the recovery in this case can only be ac¬ 
counted for on the supposition of mutual counteraction. 
