.February 4, 1371.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
027 
DR. LANKESTER’S REPORT FOR 1870. 
It appears from an analysis contained in this Report 
that in cases of suicide, women, as a rule, prefer taking- 
poison and drowning- themselves. Of twenty-three 
cases of female suicide in 1868-9, six were from poison 
and ten from drowning. Men, on the other hand, adopt 
the more violent methods, such as cutting their throats, 
hanging, jumping out of windows, etc. 
With regard to poisons, the third on the list of means 
of suicide in proportion to their frequency, it will he seen 
“that during the past seven years the most frequent 
deaths have arisen from cyanide of potassium. This is a 
most deadly and certain poison. It can he bought of 
almost any druggist or seller of photographic chemicals, 
without any questions being asked. It is used in im¬ 
mense quantities by photographers, and every amateur 
photographer possesses a certain quantity in his stores. 
It is well known in families where it is sold and used as 
a poison. It is in this way the most readily accessible, 
and perhaps the best known of all poisons, as it is gene¬ 
rally labelled, when sold, as ‘poison.’ On this account 
it seems to offer a terrible temptation to those inclined to 
commit suicide. Thus the word ‘ poison ’ only acts as 
a preventive of accidental poisoning, for persons disposed 
to commit suicide might know nothing of the properties 
•of a substance unless it was thus labelled. In a recent 
case of poisoning by Calvert’s carbolic acid, used for dis¬ 
infecting purposes, the bottle containing it not being- 
labelled ‘poison,’ the mistress of a family told her ser¬ 
vant she must bo very careful of the acid as it was a 
strong poison. The consequence was that the girl got 
up in the night and swallowed a quantity of the carbolic 
acid, and was found dead the next morning. Labelling- 
poisons ‘poison’ will not prevent suicide, nor will any 
restriction on the sale of poisons prevent suicide. The 
only restriction that can be of any service is on the sale 
of poisons, which may easily be administered to other 
persons on account of the small bulk or absence of any 
physical property, and which can be easily employed for 
the purposes of murder. There is no doubt that writing- 
the word ‘ poison ’ frequently prevents accidental poi¬ 
soning, but I am of opinion that nothing will prevent 
this amongst ignorant and careless people but the send¬ 
ing out of poisonous substances in bottles or boxes that 
should at once be recognized by the sight and feeling as 
devoted to the reception of poisons alone. 
“ The next most frequent agent used in suicidal poi¬ 
soning is oxalic acid. This is used by saddlers and 
harness-makers, shoemakers, and also for certain house¬ 
hold purposes. Just as photographers and their wives 
and families poison themselves by cyanide of potassium, 
so shoemakers and saddlers and their wives and families 
poison themselves with oxalic acid. It is seldom taken 
•by mistake or used for purposes of murder; it is usually 
sold with the word ‘ poison ’ written on it, and is well- 
known as a tolerably efficacious poison. I say tolerably, 
because I believe cases of recovery from oxalic acid 
poisoning are much more frequent than from cyanide of 
potassium. 
“After these two instances come the preparation of 
opium. These cases are not so numerous as formerly, 
and even my tables seem to point to a decrease. The 
facility of obtaining cyanide of potassium and oxalic 
-acid may explain this. The chemist and druggist is 
very careful over the sale of laudanum, selling it only 
in small quantities, and then only to persons whom he 
supposes are not going to misuse it. But in the great 
majority of cases where persons take laudanum for 
suicidal purposes, they have bought it in small quantities 
•and added them tog-ether, and thus have taken sufficient 
to effect their object. But a large number of the cases 
of poisoning by opium or its preparations arise in drug¬ 
gists’ shops and medical men’s dispensaries, to which 
servants or others desirous of committing suicide have 
access. 
“ This is more so the case with hydrocyanic or prussic 
acid. In nearly every instance of suicide by poisoning 
with this agent, it has occurred with medical men, drug¬ 
gists, or their families and servants. It may be bought, 
but great precautions are taken in the sale, and its sale 
and use is almost entirely confined to chemists who 
make, it, druggists who sell it and medical men who em¬ 
ploy it. 
“Poisoning by oil of bitter almonds comes next. It 
is used as a scent and also employed to flavour food. 
The few cases which have occurred during the last seven 
years are principally amongst servants and courtesans. 
It is easily procured in druggists’ shops. It should, 
however, be known that the essential oil of bitter 
almonds is not a poison, and it is only when it is im¬ 
pure and contains hydrocyanic or prussic acid that it 
acts as a poison. I have never held, that I recollect, 
an inquest in a case of accidental poisoning from oil of 
bitter almonds, as it is never taken in sufficient quantity 
when used as an article of diet. It is, however, an un¬ 
pleasant fact to know that you may be taking a dose of 
hydrocyanic when eating a custard at dinner. 
“ Following oil of bitter almonds in the number of 
their victims arc sulphuric and hydrochloric acids. 
These articles are known in commerce as oil of vitriol 
and spirit of salt, and are used for various purposes and 
by various workers. They are known to be poisonous, 
but they are generally known also to kill by their- caustic 
action on the flesh of the body. The death which follows 
the swallowing either of them is most agonizing and 
cruel, the victim frequently not dying for some hours, 
or even days, after taking them. They are employed 
by persons who are too poor or too ignorant to have 
recourse to anything else. The drunken brass-finisher, 
or his wife, or any other artisan who works at his busi¬ 
ness with these materials, in the moment of frenzy, 
seize on one or other of these acids which may be nearest 
to them, and thus finish their existence by one of the 
most painful deaths that man can die. 
“ The last substance mentioned is strychnia. It is 
contained in powders sold for the destruction of vermin. 
In the two cases recorded the strychnia has been taken 
in this way.” 
POISONING BY BATTLE’S VERMIN KILLER. 
We have been favoured by a correspondent with the 
following account of a case of poisoning by Battle’s Ver¬ 
min Killer, that has come under his notice:— Jan. 7, 1870, 
12.30. I was called to Mrs. —, who I was told was dying. 
On arriving I found her in tetanic convulsions and quite 
asphyxiated. She recovered from the convulsions just 
after my arrival, when her father told me she had taken 
a 3 cl. packet of Battle’s Vermin Killer. She gave me 
the key of her box, where I found one empty and an¬ 
other full packet of the above poison. She said she had 
taken it thirty minutes before. I immediately ordered 
her a mustard emetic, and hastened back for antidotes. 
On arriving again in about five minutes, I found she had 
vomited a quantity of green fluid, and that another 
convulsion was just commencing. I gave her a few 
whiffs of chloroform, which relieved it, and then another 
emetic mixed in strong coffee. About 12.45 I adminis¬ 
tered “ jij of chloral hydr.” in a little starch as an in¬ 
jection, after which she had “ no more convulsions ” and 
slept, waking up every hour till 5 next morning. On 
seeing her about 9 she said she had only a little pain in 
her legs, and felt rather languid. The next day she was 
out of bed, sat up, and is now perfectly recovered. 
COUGH REMEDIES. 
As at this season of the year, and more especially the 
present year, succeeding to the great and long-continued 
heat of last summer and autumn, coughs, colds and 
catarrhs, and all of this class of affections of the bron¬ 
chial membrane of the air-passages arc prevailing to an 
