364 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 31, 1873. 
Death from an Overdose of Laudanum. 
An inquest was held at Amble on Monday, May 19, to 
inquire respecting the death of W. E. Melrose, who had 
been found dead in his bed, and a bottle labelled “ lauda¬ 
num, poison,” near him. 
After evidence as to the finding of the body had been 
given, Mr. Thomas Brewis deposed that he was a chemist 
and druggist, and resided at Amble. Deceased went to 
his shop on the previous Thursday evening and asked for 
a small quantity of laudanum. Witness inquired what 
he was going to do with it. Deceased replied that witness 
need not be afraid to let him have it, as he had been in 
the habit of taking laudanum which he had obtained from 
a medical man, but that he had come away and left his 
bottle. To a question how much he took for a dose de¬ 
ceased replied “twenty drops.” He also said that he 
took it because be could not sleep on account of pain in 
his leg. Witness gave him an ounce in a bottle bearing a 
similar label to that on the bottle produced. The lauda¬ 
num was his own preparation, and was of the usual 
strength. 
Dr. R. Wilson, who had made a post mortem examina¬ 
tion of the body, stated his opinion that death had been 
caused by a narcotic poison like opium, and the jury re¬ 
turned a verdict “ Died from the effects of an overdose of 
laudanum accidentally taken .—From the Alnwick Mercury. 
Adulteration of Milk. 
At Liverpool, Charles Edward Shakeshaft, milk-dealer, 
was charged before Mr. Raffles with having sold a mix¬ 
ture purporting to be milk, which, on being analysed, was 
found to be mixed with water. Mr. Atkinson, deputy 
borough solicitor, conducted the prosecution. William 
Goodier, clerk in the office of the Inspector of Nuisances, 
gave evidence to the effect that on the 20th ult. he had 
gone to the defendant’s shop, where he purchased a penny¬ 
worth of milk. This milk had been handed over to the 
borough analyst, *who certified that it contained 6 per 
cent, of water. The defendant stated that he did not 
keep cows himself, but was supplied with milk by farmers 
who lived at a distance. No adulteration had taken place 
to his knowledge. Mr. Raffles, remarking that mixture 
of water with milk to the extent of 6 per cent, must be 
apparent to anyone, fined the defendant 20s. and costs. 
When called upon to pay the fine, the defendant empha¬ 
tically declared that such a penalty was worse than a 
highway robbery, a remark which drew from Mr. Raffles 
the intimation that if it was repeated the defendant would 
be committed to prison .—Liverpool Albion. 
Charge of Selling Adulterated Cocoa. 
At the Richmond petty sessions, Mr. Cave, a grocer, 
was summoned for having sold “ Fry’s Soluble Cocoa ” as 
an unadulterated substance. The article had been ana¬ 
lysed by the county analyst, who stated that it was adul¬ 
terated, as it contained a mixture of sago and sugar, 
though nothing injurious to health. But it was shown 
that the label attached to each packet distinctly stated 
the cocoa to be “ manufactured,” being “ combined with 
•other perfectly pure and wholesome ingredients.” It was 
further alleged that an Act of George IY. sanctioned such 
mixtures, especially with reference to cocoa, and that there 
was no attempt at concealment or deception, no selling of 
a positively hurtful commodity, and no breach of the law 
so far as either manufacturer or retailer understood it. 
The magistrate dismissed the case, with the remark, that 
when a customer could not read his attention should be 
drawn to the nature of the statement on the label.— 
Daily Telegraph. 
gUMctos. 
Lessons in Elementary Physiology. By Thomas H. 
Huxley, L.L.D., F.R.S. Sixth Edition. London : 
Macmillan and Co. 1872. 
First Principles of Human Physiology, and a few 
Applications of them ; with Suggestions for Practical 
Work. . By W. T. Pilter, Certificated Teacher of 
the Science and Art Department. London: John 
Kempster and Co. 
The study of physiology is not only of surpassing 
interest, but it is of great practical importance. It 
teaches us how we live and how we move ; it tells us the 
use of each part of those wondrous pieces of mechanism 
which we call our bodies ; and it shows us the complicated 
arrangements by which they are all made to work har¬ 
moniously together. It is hardly possible to conceive of 
any pursuit more enticing than the endeavour to gain 
such knowledge as this, and we are inclined to wonder 
that everyone does not try to learn something regarding 
his corporeal being, even supposing that he should thereby 
do nothing more than gratify his curiosity. But interest 
is not the only recommendation which a study of physi¬ 
ology possesses. An acquaintance with the conditions 
requisite for life and health must necessarily involve more 
or less knowledge of those which induce disease or en¬ 
courage it to spread, and its possessors are thus induced 
to seek for the former and avoid the latter. Such being 
the recommendations of physiology, it is astonishing that 
it has been so long neglected in schools ; but it is now 
being very generally taught throughout the country, 
thanks to the exertions of Professor Huxley. Indeed, one 
of the great hindrances to the teaching of physiology in 
schools was the want of a proper text-book, as most of the 
treatises on the subject before the appearance of Professor 
Huxley’s were either so meagre as to be of little service, 
or so technical as to be adapted rather for the use of 
university students than of school boys. In the present 
volume the author’s extraordinary powers of exposition 
are displayed to a remarkable extent, every fact being- 
stated with such clearness that it cannot fail to be ap¬ 
prehended by the meanest capacity. The admirable ar¬ 
rangement also assists the memory so much that the 
contents of the book are retained with ease, and it is only 
after comparison with other works that one fairly com¬ 
prehends the immense amount of information it contains. 
Although it only bears the modest title of ‘ Elementary 
Lessons in Physiology,’ it might well be called the 
Essentials of Physiology, for there is hardly anything of 
importance which has been entirely omitted. On com¬ 
paring the present edition with the second, we do not 
observe any great alteration in the text. The absence of 
valves in certain veins is noticed, and a much fuller ex¬ 
planation is given of the nature of the pulse and of the 
conversion of the jerking flow of blood in the arteries into 
a quiet stream in the veins. Some additions are made to 
the account of the physiology of the liver and of digestion 
in the intestines. A fuller description is given of the 
anatomy of the eye-ball, and the necessity of some parts 
of it for distinct vision is more clearly explained. With 
the view of impressing the nature of reflex actions more 
strongly on the memory, an account is given of the method 
of showing them upon a frog. The notice of epithelium 
has been somewhat extended. In the preparation of this 
edition, as in former ones, the author has been assisted by 
Dr. Michael Foster. The chief alterations are in the 
woodcuts, which number 103 in the present edition, in¬ 
stead of 86 as in the second. Many of these are, of 
course, new, but several of .those which were also found 
in the second edition have been enlarged and rendered 
more distinct. In some instances, also, representations 
of parts of the human body have been replaced by drawings 
of the same parts in the dog, rabbit, sheep, or frog. 
This has been done, as the author explains in the preface, 
