March 4, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
713 
Hay, D., Nelson-in-Marsden, Burnley. 
Hunter, H., Layport Street, Alnwick. 
Ingham, J., Upper Tooting, S.W. 
Johnson, M., Huyton, near Liverpool. 
Knowles, W. H. H., Upper Bridge, Holmfirth. 
Lake, R., 17, Bloomsbiuy Square, W.C. 
Luff, W., jun., Oxford. 
Mason, J. H., Workington. 
Metcalfe, W. C., Burneston, Bedale. 
Mills, W., Sydney, New South Wales. 
Moore, R., Post-Office, Dale Street, Ossett. 
Nashill, T., Holmcside, Sunderland. 
Owen, R. J., 53, Bath Buildings, St. Mary Charter- 
house, E.C. 
Parker, J. S., Messrs. Stir/ton and Sons, Peterborough. 
Pennington, T., 14, Bolton Street, Bury, Lancashire. 
Phillips, G-. W., 43, Leather Lane, E.C. 
Pick, R., South Parade, Northallerton. 
Potter, H., Sutton, Surrey. 
Priestly, J., Beech Street, Sunderland. 
Pritchard, J., 67, Chorlton Road, Manchester. 
Robinson, J., 2, North Gate, Darlington. 
Sargent, D., 222, Albany Road, Camberwell, S.E. 
Savory, H. B., Painswick, Gloucestershire. 
Skidmore, J., Chilworth Street, Paddington, W. 
Smith, W. H., County Hospital, Brighton. 
Spence, P., Pendleton Alum Works, Manchester. 
Squire, A., 1, Bush Lane, E.C. 
Squire, A. P., 1, Bush Lane, E.C. 
Steel, F. W., 283, Liverpool Road, Islington, N. 
Steward, J., High Street, Brierley Hill. 
Sykes, T. H., Lord Street, Southport. 
Thompson, H., Moor Street, Sunderland. 
Thompson, W., 87, High Street East, Sunderland. 
Truman, H. V., Anglesido Villas, Streatham, S.W. 
Watling, A., 59, Camberwell New Road, S.E. 
Weaver, E., 29, Chapel Street, Belgrave Square, S.W. 
While, W. J., 45, Westbourne Road, Bayswater, W. 
Windsor, G., Torpoint, Devonport. 
Wink, J. A., 17, North Bridge, Edinburgh. 
Candidates for Membership .—Gentlemen sending in 
their names to the London Secretary, Professor Attfield, 
17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C., and enclosing the sub¬ 
scription, 5s., and 7^d for postage (in stamps or P.O.O. 
payable to John Attfield, at the Bloomsbury Office), will 
receive, by return of post, a copy of the ‘ Year-Book.’ 
The price of the volume to non-members is 7s. 6d. 
VACANCIES AND APPOINTMENTS IN CONNEC¬ 
TION WITH PHARMACY. 
The Editor will be glad to receive early notice of any 
vacancies of pharmaceutical offices connected with public 
institutions, and likewise of appointments that are made ,— 
in order that they may be published regularly in the Journal. 
VACANCY. 
The office of Dispenser at the Great Northern Hospital, N. 
Candidates are requested to send their applications, with 
copies of testimonials, to Mr. George Reicl, Secretary, 40, 
Great Coram Street, W. C. 
MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Monday . Medical Society, at 8 p.m. 
London Institution, at 4 p.m. —“ On Astro- 
nomy.” By Mr. R. Proctor. 
Tuesday Royal Institution, at 3 p.m. —“The Nutri- 
tion of Animals.” By Professor Foster. 
Wednesday ...Society of Arts, at 8 p.m. —“The Cultivation 
and Uses of Sugar Beet in England.” By 
Dr. Augustus Voelcker. 
Royal Microscopical Society, at 8 P.M. 
Thursday . Royal Society, at 8.30 p.m. 
London Chemists’ Association, at 9.30 p.m. 
“ Remarks on Structural Botany.” By Mr. 
J. H. Jessop. 
Thursday . Royal Institution, at 3 p.m.— “Davy’s Dis¬ 
coveries in Chemistry.” By Prof. Odling. 
Friday . Quekett Club, at 8 p.m. 
Saturday ...Royal Botanic Society, at 3.45 p.m. 
Iurliimtcntiirjr anil ibfo f ramMitgs. 
Suicide py Prussic Acid. 
An inquest has been held at Falmouth to inquire into 
the death of a young woman named Mary Pitts, who had 
been found dead in a room where she had been lodging 
a few days. 
Mr. Mitchell, chemist, Market Strand, identified the 
deceased as having called at his shop to purchase some 
chloroform for a toothache, after which she wished to be 
supplied with a small quantity of prussic acid, stating' 
she used it for the purpose of cleaning her jewellery. 
He informed her of its deadly nature, and she replied 
that she had no difficulty in obtaining it in London, as 
she had a brother practising there as a physician. Being- 
thrown off his guard by her manner, he supplied her 
with half an ounce. Witness produced his register which 
she had signed, calling herself “Isabella Vaughan,” and 
identified the bottle that had contained the poison as 
having been supplied by him. The next day she again 
called and said that while cleaning her jewellery she had 
accidentally broken the bottle, and he believing her 
statement, supplied her with another half ounce. 
Dr. Guppy said that upon being called in, he found 
the deceased cold and stiff, and judged she had been 
dead several hours. Fie picked up pieces of paper 
from the floor, which on being placed together formed 
the label that had been removed from the bottle. In 
reply to a juror, he said that deceased could not have 
lived more than two minutes after taking the poison. 
He thought she was pregnant. 
The jury returned a verdict that the deceased died 
from the effects of poison, but as to the state of her mind 
at the time there was no evidence to prove. 
Case of Poisoning by Chloral Hydrate. 
In a report of the case of death from an overdose of 
chloral noticed in the Pharmaceutical Journal, p. 636, 
furnished to the British Medical Journal by Messrs. W. J. 
Hunt and R. W. Watkins, they state that the deceased 
first had the prescription (which had been sent to him by 
a relative) dispensed by a chemist, but afterwards procured 
from him the chloral alone in ounce-bottles. The che¬ 
mist, Mr. Tite, thinking he was taking larger doses than 
was safe, cautioned him as to the use of it, and showed 
him an article in the Pharmaceutical Journal describ¬ 
ing the ill effects of an overdose, loss of power in the 
lower extremities being the most prominent one. He 
informed Mr. Tite that on one occasion, after taking three 
doses in one night, he had felt that effect in the morning, 
having fallen down twice on getting out of bed. Mr. 
Tite estimated that on that occasion he had taken 
seventy-five grains. He subsequently procured a copy 
of that number of the Journal, and in it there happened 
to be an advertisement of hydrate of chloral from a 
wholesale house. This, it would seem, induced him to 
obtain from that firm a box containing sixteen ounce- 
bottles of hydrate of chloral, half of which he had ex¬ 
pressed his intention of sending to a relation. The 
housekeeper had often seen him dissolving the chloral 
in water, in a half-pint bottle (labelled “ Chloral Hy¬ 
drate, 1870 ”), from which he was in the habit of taking 
a wincglassful at bedtime; but she did not know the 
quantity of chloral dissolved each time. She had seen 
him take a dose from the bottle the night before his 
death. On January 17th, he had purchased from Mr. 
