January 28, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G15 
considerations which belong to this subject, hut one must 
stop somewhere. I cannot, however, part from you with¬ 
out expressing my very strong sense of the debt which 
we owe to that great investigator whom I have already 
quoted so many times. I think there are few precedents 
of research so fruitful as those of M. Pasteur, if we con¬ 
sider, not only the theoretical importance, I mean with 
regard to our knowledge of the processes of life, and the 
origin of life, of his investigations regarding germs in 
the air, and these processes of fermentation; but if we 
take into account also the fact that he has succeeded in 
working out one of the most complete practical applica¬ 
tions of it in a process like wine-making and keeping,— 
we cannot refrain from admiring the truly perfect adap¬ 
tation of the highest science to a useful purpose. I will 
now proceed to open these two sets of bottles, some of 
which have been heated and some not, and I hope the 
result will be satisfactory. 
The samples of wine were then tasted by the audience, 
the difference being most remarkable, not only in taste, 
but also in colour and general appearance. 
At the conclusion of the lecture, Mr. Foster, the secre¬ 
tary, proposed a vote of thanks to Professor Williamson, 
which was carried with acclamation, and suitably ac¬ 
knowledged. 
LONDON INSTITUTION. 
On Wednesday evening, Professor Tyndall delivered 
his interesting lecture on “Dust and Disease,” in the 
theatre of the London Institution, Finsbury Circus. The 
theatre was filled with an audience of ladies and gentle¬ 
men, who seemed quite absorbed in the interesting ex¬ 
periments and the important facts brought under their 
notice. As the lecture is a repetition, with some slight 
variations, of the one which was delivered some time ago 
by the learned professor at the Royal Institution, it would 
he superfluous to enter into a repetition of details, but it 
may be generally stated that the object of the paper was 
to show that “ dust” existed in abundance in the atmo¬ 
sphere; that, mixed with this “dust” were “germs” 
which were the origin of vegetable and even animal ex¬ 
istence; that these were most injurious to health, and 
“that it was now becoming an object with surgeons, and 
especially with Mr. Lister, of Edinburgh, to endeavour 
to prevent the entrance of these germs into the human 
body, in which, if they once got a lodgment, they pro¬ 
duced fermentation and putrefaction. The air could be 
purified by strong heat, by chemical processes, and by 
filtration. The application of the latter method had al¬ 
ready been productive of much good in certain trades. 
The lecturer was greatly applauded at the conclusion of 
his lecture, which lasted over an hour .—Daily News. 
MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Monday . Medical Society, at 9 p.m. 
London Institution, at 4 p.m. —“The First 
Principles of Biology ” (Educational 
Course). By Prof. Huxley. 
Tuesday . Loyal Institution, at 3 p.m. —“The Nutri¬ 
tion of Animals.” Professor Foster. 
Wednesday. ..Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, at 
8.30 p.m. “ The Microscope and its Reve¬ 
lations.” Dr. Carpenter. 
Society of Arts, at 8 p.m. 
Thursday . Loyal Society, at 8.30 p.m. 
Loyal Institution, at 3 p.m. —“Davy’s Dis¬ 
coveries in Chemistry.” Professor Odling. 
London Institution, at 7.30 p.m. —“ The Ac¬ 
tion, Nature and Detection of Poisons.” 
F. S. Barff. 
Linnean Society, at 8 p.m. 
Chemical Society, at 8 p.m. 
Friday . Loyal Institution, at 9 p.m. —“Some Ex¬ 
periments on Successive Polarization of 
Light made by Sir C. Wheatstone.” W. 
Spottiswoode. 
farliwittsqr anh ITato $ramWitp. 
Death from an Overdose of Morphia. 
On Wednesday, January 18th, an inquest was held at 
Mossley on the body of a child eleven months old, the 
daughter of Mr. Henry Jones, chemist and druggist. 
On the 15th of December the child, being unwell, was 
seen by Mr. Dex Bean, surgeon, of Mossley, who inti¬ 
mated his intention of prescribing for it, and that a mix¬ 
ture would be supplied from his surgery. Upon return¬ 
ing home that gentleman, following his usual custom, 
wrote out a prescription in a book kept for the purpose. 
The ingredients ordered were two drachms of solution of 
tartarized antimony with syrup of hydrate of chloral, 
and colouring matter. This prescription was left to be 
compounded by his pupil, Mr. John Simeon Dyson, who 
had been employed in the surgery a year and three- 
quarters. Upon receiving the mixture, Mrs. Jones gave 
a teaspoonful of it to the child, who five minutes after¬ 
wards fell into a deep sleep. Mr. Bean, calling in the 
afternoon, noticed that the child was breathing very 
heavily, and had it removed from the cradle where it 
had been placed, when Mr. Jones, who was present, imme¬ 
diately exclaimed that the child was narcotized. It ap¬ 
peared to be perfectly comatose ; remedies were applied 
without effect; convulsions followed, and the child died 
the following morning. After the death, Mr. Bean and 
Mr. Jones experimented upon a cat with some of the con¬ 
tents of the bottle. The cat was not affected until nearly 
an hour afterwards; it then became almost motionless, 
lying on the floor, discharging saliva from its mouth, 
and there appeared to be a contraction of the pupils of 
the cat’s eyes. The animal recovered, however, and Mr. 
Jones’s suspicions being somewhat allayed, the child was 
buried. After the burial he obtained an analysis of the 
contents of the bottle, upon the receipt of which he com¬ 
municated with the coroner, and the body was exhumed. 
At the inquest Mr. Bean, in his evidence, stated that 
in the surgery he kept a solution of hydrochlorate of 
morphia. The quantity of morphia he always used him¬ 
self and directed Mr. Dyson to use was four grains to an 
ounce of water. The drugs were left to be compounded 
by his assistant, Mr. Dyson. No other person was 
authorized, or even able to compound the medicine. He 
had not interfered with the dispensing department for 
the last twelve months. He could not say where the 
bottle containing chloral was kept exactly. Mr. Dyson 
had had one and three-quarter years’ experience in dis¬ 
pensing. The solution of morphia was kept in a violet- 
blue glass bottle with glass stopper. The solution of 
antimony was kept in a white flint-glass ounce bottle. In 
answer to questions put to the witness by a solicitor who 
was present on the part of Mr. Dyson, he said that Mr. 
Dyson had made up thousands of prescriptions, and had 
exhibited such an amount of knowledge of his profes¬ 
sion as to cause no fear. He had often examined him as 
to his knowledge of the drugs he dispensed. Mr. Dyson 
had made them up without supervision for sixteen months. 
He considered the art of dispensing to be merely mecha¬ 
nical, and that the previous education of a person would 
not have much to do with it. 
Mr. Edward Davies, F.C.S., of the Royal Institution, 
Liverpool, described the result of an analysis made of 
the contents of the bottle. He found chloral, morphia, 
sugar and some colouring matter, which he believed to 
be cochineal. He tested for antimony, but found none. 
On one occasion, when making experiments, he gave 
three grains of sulphate of morphia to a cat, and it pro¬ 
duced no perceptible effect upon it. He could not. say 
exactly how small a quantity of morphia would kill a 
child; but as the result of reading he should say that 
one-eighth of a grain would be sufficient. In the mix¬ 
ture he analysed there would be about one-fifteenth of a 
grain in each spoonful. The effects of a dose would 
depend, in a great measure on the idiosyncrasy of the 
recipient. 
