€74 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[February 22, 1873. 
ever keep what was strictly speaking' poison, such as 
corrosive sublimate or chloroform; therefore, the draught 
could not he chloroform. lie, some days ago, sent his 
son over a bottle of chloric ether, when preparing a 
cough mixture for a gentleman who called. The bottle 
remained with Dr. Geo. Smith, and the chloric ether 
which it contained was made up of one drachm of chloro¬ 
form to twenty drachms of spirits of wine. The chloric 
ether was quite innocuous, and in the full bottle pro¬ 
duced there would not he l-19th part of a drachm; 
therefore, it was perfectly innocuous, and would he so 
even to a child. Chloric ether was not precluded under 
the schedule of the Act of Parliament, and the Act of 
Parliament did not speak of chloroform preparation in 
the same way that it did of the preparation of opium. 
Dr. George Smith said that the prisoner bought both 
bottles of him, and said that she wanted to poison rats. 
Dr. Smith said he did not know if the vermin de¬ 
stroyer would kill human beings or not, hut he thought it 
might. It would require to he spread upon bread for 
rats, and it would have been very difficult to have taken 
it. Whether the chemicals in question came under the 
Act of Parliament or not, he would not allow any of 
them to be sold again without the proper and necessary 
caution. As to the vermin destroyer, it was sent through 
the country by the maker in London just as produced 
there. 
The prisoner was discharged, and the explanation of 
Dr. Smith being deemed satisfactory, the case was not 
proceeded with. 
Inquiry at Sheffield. 
( An inquest was held on Friday, February 14th, at 
'Sheffield, upon the body of a young woman, who it was 
supposed had died from the result of attempting to procure 
abortion. It appeared from the evidence that three 
weeks S lice deceased, appearing to be unwell from a 
cold, medicine was obtained from Mr. Collier, druggist, 
of Sheffield Moor, who was attending her father. °Mr. 
Collier then saw her every day until the previous Tues- 
day, when a medical gentleman was called in, but she 
died the same evening. There was proof that deceased 
L.ad had a miscarriage. In a post-mortem examination 
no marks of violence were observed, and it was found 
that death had been caused by intro-peritonitis. 
On behalf of Mr. Collier it was stated that he was 
ready to answer any question the jury might think 
proper to put to him. 
The coroner said there was no complaint at all against 
Mi. Colliers treatment of the woman, and the jury 
thought it was not necessary to call Mr. Collier. 
The coroner, in summing up, said he was glad the 
surgeons agreed as to the cause of the death, as at first 
the case looked a rather suspicious one. Now, however 
there did not appear to be blame attaching to any per¬ 
son. I he question did not come before them whether 
Mr. Collier "was justified in setting himself up as a sur¬ 
geon and attending persons who had fever, as Mr. 
Collier had done, and he should advise them to return a 
verdict in accordance with the medical testimony. Ac¬ 
cordingly the jury returned a verdict “ That deceased 
died from intro-peritonitis.” 
Alleged Acceleration of Death ey a Cough 
Mixture. 
An inquest was held at Grange, U1 version, on Wed¬ 
nesday, the 29th ult., before Mr. Holden, coroner, upon 
the^body of the infant son of a farm labourer. 
Eleanor Booth deposed : Deceased was my child, and 
ne v as ten weeks old. He was a A r erv healthy child, 
but last Thursday he had a little hit of a cold, and I 
went to the shop of Me. Downward, the druggist, and I 
asked for something for the child’s cough. " A bottle 
was given to me by some one in the shop, containing 
some mixture. It was given to me by Mr. Herbert 
George Forbrooke. He told me to give the child a tea¬ 
spoonful two or three times a day. On Thursday even¬ 
ing, about six o’clock, I gave "the child the first tea¬ 
spoonful. It slept all Thursday night and all day on. 
Friday, and to about one o’clock on Saturday morning. 
I went up to its bed four or five times on Saturday to 
try to rouse it in order to feed it, but it just opened its 
eyes and went to sleep again. It*'went without the 
breast or any food the whole of Friday. From the 
time it awoke on the Saturday morning it sucked the 
wdiole time until I got up at five minutes to six. I then 
gave it another teaspoonful. It slept all day on Satur¬ 
day, and until about twelve o’clock on Saturday night. 
About five I tried it with the breast, but it just gave a 
draw, and went to sleep again immediately. It was 
very cross on the Sunday morning, and between four 
and five o’clock I gave it another teaspoonful of the 
mixture. It slept until it died at two o’clock in the 
afternoon. I sent for Mr. Beardsley about half-past 
nine on Sunday morning. His son came first, and exa¬ 
mined it, but did not treat it in any way. He ordered 
me to give it a little brandy and water, and I did so. 
About half-past one o’clock he came again with the 
assistant, and gave it a teaspoonful of some medicine that 
had previously been sent up. The child died while they 
were there. During the Friday its breathing was short, 
but natural. During the Saturday its breathing was 
noisy, and there was rattling on its chest. On Sunday 
morning its breathing was short and noisy, and for some 
time before it died I could hardly tell whether it was 
living or dead. It opened its eyes before its death, and 
I tried to see if it was sensible to my touch, but it was 
not. Its hands were clenched from shortly after it took 
its first dose of the mixture to the time of its death. 
Herbert George Forbrooke, of U1 version, deposed: 
I am an apprentice with Mr. Downward, druggist, and 
have been with him two years and two months. I do 
not remember Mrs. Booth coming to the shop on the 
Thursday named. The bottle produced came from our 
shop, judging from the label and the bottle. I did not 
compound the syrup. It is kept in a pint bottle in the 
shop, and given out in small quantities to the customers. 
Either Mr. Downward or his assistant would make up 
the mixture. The pint bottle at present in use would be 
made up on Friday or Saturday week—the week before 
last Saturdajn Looking at the mixture in the bottle, 
and j udging from the colour of it, I would not give it to 
any customer for a child ten weeks old—if I knew what 
I was doing. 
At the conclusion of this witness’s testimony, the 
Coroner decided to adjourn the inquest till Friday, for 
the production of further evidence. 
The inquiry was resumed on Friday last, when 
Mr. C. H. Downward gave evidence as to the nature 
of the cough mixture sold at the shop of Mr. John Down¬ 
ward. Amongst other ingredients were two ounces of 
the syrup of poppies. 
Dr. Lowther, of Cartmel, said he had made a post¬ 
mortem examination of the body. He ascribed death to 
congestion of the lungs with attendant congestion of the 
brain, which he said in all probability arose from natural 
causes, accelerated by the mixture administered, the dose 
being larger than ought to have been given to a child 
only ten weeks old. 
Verdict accordingly. 
Poisoning an Hospital Patient by Mistake. 
On Saturday, February loth, Mr. Bedford held an in¬ 
quest at St. George’s Hospital, touching the death of 
Mary Geary, aged 40 years, who died at the hospital on 
Thursday morning, from the effects of a dose of carbolic 
acid, administered to her in mistake for senna by Sarah. 
How, a nurse in the hospital. Mary Keefe identified 
the body as that of her mother, whose husband is at 
present abroad. 
