July 27, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
of repayment of a loan, the Local Government Board 
shall have regard to the probable duration and con¬ 
tinuing utility of the works in respect of which the 
loan is required. This amendment was, upon division, 
carried. 
Sir M. Lopes moved as an amendment that not more 
than per cent, interest should be paid for money 
borrowed from the Loan Commissioners. 
Mr. Gladstone objected that Government sometimes 
had to pay more than that rate, and upon a ^division 
the amendment was lost. 
Mr. Gladstone then said that as “ 3£ per cent.” would 
not be the minimum, he would propose to insert after 
those words, “or such other rate as may in the judg¬ 
ment of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury be 
necessary in order to enable the loan to be made without 
loss to the Exchequer.” This was agreed to. 
The remaining clauses were then amended and 
agreed to, and the Bill passed through Committee. The 
.amendments are to be considered on Thursday, July 25. 
Monday, July 22nd. 
Adulteration of Food, Drugs, etc., Bill. 
This Bill was read a third time, and passed. 
Purlic Health and Local Government Bill. 
The order for going into committee on this Bill was 
read and discharged and the Bill withdrawn. 
Suicide ry an Enormous Dose of Arsenic. 
An inquest held on Tuesday, July 2nd, at the Bristol 
Infirmary, upon the body of Mrs. Jarrett, who had com¬ 
mitted suicide by taking arsenic. 
The husband of deceased deposed that some years ago, 
he was a porter in the employ of an ironmonger. At 
the death of his employer he assisted the son of that 
employer in the sale of drugs. Some of the drugs were 
given to him to dispose of at a commission, and among 
them was a bottle of arsenic. He w'as not able to find 
a purchaser for the arsenic, and, as his employer told 
him either to throw it away or keep it, he labelled it 
“ Poison,” and used it for killing mice. This occurred 
.seven years ago. 
Other evidence was given that the deceased was in 
very low spirits in consequence of an accident which had 
temporarily disabled her husband, and that she was found 
in bed in a dying state, with the bottle of arsenic by her 
side. 
Dr. Shingleton Smith, house surgeon at the Infirmary, 
said the deceased woman was taken to the Infirmary 
about a quarter to two on Sunday last. She appeared 
to be suffering from intense irritant poisoning, and was 
in a state of profound collapse. The bottle of arsenic 
and glass were brought to the Infirmary with her. It 
was pure arsenic, unadulterated in any way. The de¬ 
ceased never rallied after her admission. He had made 
a post-mortem examination of the body, and found a large 
quantity of arsenic in the stomach. He found about 
four ounces in all, 2£ ounces of which was congealed in 
■one mass. Four grains were a sufficient dose to prove 
fatal, and the deceased had taken at least 1000 grains, 
so that she had swallowed a dose sufficiently powerful 
to kill 250 persons. 
The jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased 
committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity. 
— Western Daily Press. 
Accident near Dunfermline.— An Assistant 
Drowned. 
On Friday last a sad case of drowning occurred at 
Limekilns, near Dunfermline. It appears that about 
lour o’clock, Mr. John Kemp, who was employed as as- 
75 
sistant to Mr. Brown, druggist, High Street, proceeded 
to take a bathe in what is called “the basin,” not far 
from Limekilns harbour, accompanied by two boys. The 
tide was receding at the time, and Mr. Kemp had not 
been long swimming in the water, when he gave indica¬ 
tions of having been seized with cramp, on observing 
which the boys gave the alarm. Help was quickly on 
the spot, but meanwhile Mr. Kemp had sunk. The 
body was recovered in a short time, and medical assist¬ 
ance obtained, but life was extinct. Mr. Kemp was a 
native of Inverness-shire, and came to Dunfermline 
about four months ago, and during that time he gained 
the esteem of all who came in contact with him, on ac¬ 
count of his very unassuming and courteous disposition, 
and the thorough knowledge of his profession which he 
displayed. 
To the above extract from a Dunfermline newspaper, 
we may add that a notice had been received from Mr. 
Kemp of his wish to compete for the Pereira medal 
during the present week. 
Supposed Poisoning of a Family. 
A case of supposed accidental poisoning of a family 
occurred on Monday in Birmingham. It appears that 
after dinner a quantity of lemon-kali was purchased, 
of which the mother and four children drank, and in a 
very short time afterwards symptoms of poisoning ex¬ 
hibited themselves by excessive vomiting. The youngest 
was immediately taken to the Queen’s Hospital, the 
others being at first too ill to be removed, but they were 
subsequently also taken to the hospital. The children, 
who were very prostrate and suffering a great deal 
from shock, an indication of poisoning, were detained at 
the institution as in-patients, but the mother, after the 
proper remedies had been administered, was able, to 
return home. At a late hour the children were lying 
in a somewhat critical condition. The lemon-kali un¬ 
consumed will be analysed in order to discover whether 
it contained any poison. The husband, who was from 
home at the time of the occurrence, states that nothing 
was kept in the house likely to produce the effects from 
which his family are suffering.— Echo. 
Poisoning by Turpentine. 
At Birkenhead, on Tuesday, July 23rd, a child five 
months old, named Eliza Russell, was poisoned with a 
dose of spirits of turpentine administered by mistake. 
It appeared that the child was crying, and the father 
told his daughter to give it some peppermint, and took 
down the bottle for this purpose, and poured out a 
spoonful of the liquid, but it proved afterwards to be 
spirits of turpentine. The child quickly died, with all 
the symptons of poisoning. A coroner’s inquest will be 
held, and the matter will be investigated by the magis¬ 
trates .—Liverpool Courier. 
Suicide by Carbolic Acid. 
On Monday the Liverpool borough coroner inquired 
into the circumstances attending the death of a woman 
thirty-nine years of age, named Elizabeth M‘Dowell, 
the wife of a bricklayer. From the evidence of her 
husband it appeared that the woman was in the habit of 
drinking to excess, and he described her as sometimes 
queer in her ways and furious in her temper. "VY hen he 
went home to dinner on the previous Wednesday his 
wife went upstairs. A few minutes afterwards s i< 
called to him, and on his going into the room, she held 
up a glass, saying, “Jim M‘Dowell, here’s your very 
good health.” Before he could interpose, she drank 
about a wineglassful of what proved to be carbolic acid, 
and then said, “You’re too late.” She did not speak 
