117 
August 10,1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
woman, had complained of pains in her head, and on 
Sunday was found in a dying state. In reply to ques¬ 
tions, she"said she could bear them no longer, so she had 
taken poison; and it was subsequently ascertained that 
she had taken a large quantity of Battle’s Ver min 
Killer. A verdict was returned of “ Suicide whilst of 
unsound mind.”— Echo. 
Poisoning by Barium Compound. 
An inquest has been held at Salford on the body of 
Patrick Kennedy, a dyer. It appeared that the deceased 
was employed at the works of Messrs. Walker and Nor¬ 
ris, Adelphi, and after complaining of a pain in his chest, 
went to the storeroom, in which was kept a supply of 
sago and several kinds of salts, and obtained about thi’ee 
ounces of a whitish powder, which he supposed was 
heavy salts.” He made a solution of this in a small 
■vessel, and drank it. The powder was in reality com¬ 
pounded of several drugs used in the dyeing process, 
and its principal ingredient was chloride of barium. 
This compound had recently been introduced into the 
works, and the foreman stated at the inquest that every 
employe had been warned of its poisonous nature. The 
■deceased went to the dispensary and told the house 
surgeon that he had taken “ heavy salts.” An emetic 
was given him; but he died. Mr. H. Latham, house 
surgeon at the Dispensary, said he had made a post-mor¬ 
tem examination of the deceased, and was convinced that 
lie had died from the effects of poison. He added that 
a much smaller quantity of chloride of barium than the 
deceased was said to have swallowed was sufficient to 
cause death. Other witnesses said that the deceased 
had no business in the storeroom whatever. The jury 
returned a verdict of poisoned by chloride of barium 
taken in mistake. 
Conviction of a Begging Impostor. 
At the Police Court, Cardiff, on Friday, August 2nd, 
"William Mackley, formerly a chemist’s assistant, was 
•charged with begging and being an impostor. Mr. F. 
W. Joy, chemist, Duke Street, said that the prisoner 
•came to his shop on Wednesday, and said he was a Mr. 
Teear, a chemist, of Leicester, and that he had been 
broken down by ill-health. He was making his way 
■down to Neath to his wife’s relations. Witness believed 
the story, and gave him Is., and also recommended him 
to a house for a night’s lodging. He came again on 
Thursday, and said he had seen Mr. Kemick, who had 
piroposed, amongst the members of the profession, that 
his (the prisoner’s) wife should have her railway fare 
paid to Neath, and that they would pay the fare between 
them. Witness then went to two or three chemists in 
the town soliciting their contributions. He had pre¬ 
viously told the prisoner that if he found everything 
right, he would give him the tickets for the journey to 
Neath. , Witness could not find the address of the 
]irisoner’s brother-in-law at Neath in any directory as 
given by the prisoner, and telegraphed to the Local Se¬ 
cretary of the Pharmaceutical Society at Leicester, and 
got a reply, in consequence of which he gave the prisoner 
in custody. The prisoner said he was formerly an as¬ 
sistant in the employ of Mr. Teear, a chemist, of Leices¬ 
ter, and previously to that time he was four years in the 
British service. He had since been very unfortunate, 
which had led him to falsify his name and to tell lies. He 
was down in the world and could not get into his pro¬ 
fession again. He had even tried to get an honest 
living by hay-making, but he could only earn Is. 8 d. a 
day. He was sentenced to seven days’ imprisonment 
with hard labour.— Western Mail. 
Embezzlement by Wholesale Druggists’ Clerk. 
Frank Gypson, 36, a respectable looking man, was 
Placed at the bar before Mr. Benson, at the Southwark 
Police Court, for final examination, charged with em¬ 
bezzling about £160, received by him for and on account 
of his employers, Messrs. Yates and Co., wholesale 
chemists, Park Street, Southwark. 
Mr. Redpath appeared for the prosecutors, and said 
the prisoner had been in then’ employ as ledger clerk at 
a salary of £150 a year. It was not his duty to receive 
money; in fact, he was forbidden to do so. Notwith¬ 
standing, he had collected various sums from customers; 
in one instance intercepting a letter enclosing a cheque 
for £9. 18s., and converting it to his own use. They 
had discovered deficiencies amounting to upwards of 
£160, which had been going on for three years past. 
Mr. Yates was called, and said the prisoner had no 
right to receive any moneys, and whatever he may have 
taken he should have paid over immediately to the 
cashier. He had gone through the books, and found 
the deficiencies to amount to above £160. 
Three witnesses were called, who proved paying the 
prisoner various sums which he had not accounted for. 
The landlady of the Queen’s Head Tavern, in the Bo¬ 
rough, produced the cheque for £9. 18s., which she cashed 
for the prisoner and paid into her bankers. 
The prisoner here said he pleaded guilty, and threw 
himself on the mercy of the court and the prosecutors. 
He trusted they would deal leniently with him for the 
sake of his wife and family. 
The prosecutors wished his worship to deal with him, 
and not send him for trial. 
Mr. Benson told the prisoner he had a good situation 
and a good salary, and that ought to have kept him 
honest. He sentenced him to six months’ hard labour. 
— Echo. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Science and Commerce : Their Influence on Our 
Manufactures ; A Series of Statistical Essays and 
Lectures Describing the Progressive Discoveries of 
Science, the Advance of British Commerce, and the 
Conditions of Our Principal Manufactures in the 
Nineteenth Century. By. P. L. Simmonds. London: 
Hardwick. 1872. 
Magnetism and Deviation of the Compass. For the 
Use of Students in Navigation and Science Schools. 
By John Meriiifield, LL.D., F.R.A.S, London: 
Longmans. 1872. 
A Letter to the Most Noble the Marquis of 
Salisbury on the Public Health Bill. By Gil¬ 
bert W. Child, M.A., M.D. London: Longmans. 
1872. 
!mli Queries. 
NUTS.—I must remind Mr. Simmonds that the 
Tung-shu tree of the Chinese Mat. Med., is an Elccococcm 
or a Jatroplia according to the province. The Faulownia 
imperialis (which yields no oil) is called the Tang tree. 
The Aleutrites triloba , or “Stone Chestnut,” is called 
Shih-lih in Chinese. The Buddhist creed, which 
teaches compassion for human and animal life, has in¬ 
duced the Chinese to work up the vegetable sources of 
oils and fats to an enormous extent.—F. Porter Smith. 
*** The following is Mr. Simmonds’ reply to the 
above note :— 
“ I thank Mr. Porter Smith for his corrections and 
suggestions as to the brief allusion which I made in my 
lecture “ On Nuts ” to the Tung-shu or Jung-shu. The 
name seems to have an extended signification to several 
plants in China I took my information from one of our 
Consular Reports, but am quite aware that Elccococcus 
verrucosus is the recent botanical name of Brown s 
A. corclata. — P. L. Simmonds. 
