March 4,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
715 
that Jefford had not taken the beer, but that ho had be¬ 
gun to drink from a bottle which contained carbolic acid, 
which had been placed by some one at the top of the 
boxes. Jefford was at once removed to the Royal In¬ 
firmary, where he became insensible, and after lingering 
five hours died.— Standard. 
Attempted Suicide by Oxalic Acid. 
A young woman was brought up at the Greenwich 
Tolice Court on Tuesday, charged with attempting to 
commit suicide. It appeared she had been found at 
her master’s house, suffering from the effects of having 
swallowed a quantity of oxalic acid, which she said she 
had purchased of a neighbouring chemist. She was re¬ 
manded for a week. 
HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
Adulteration oe Wines. 
On Thursday, Feb. 23, Sir J. Lawrence asked the Chan¬ 
cellor of the Exchequer if his attention had been called 
to a statement that a recent test of sherry wines, described 
as of superior quality, had shown that they were adul¬ 
terated with an acid highly injurious to health; whether 
it was true that the adulteration had been made in the 
docks, with the knowledge of the officers of Customs; and 
whether the officers of Customs had received instructions 
4o afford every facility for the adulteration of wines in 
bond, provided the owners declared such adulteration to 
he for the purpose of fortifying the wine. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that he had 
made inquiry and had been informed that no adultera¬ 
tion had been carried on with the cognizance or permis¬ 
sion of the officers of Customs. Orders were not given 
to tolerate any adulteration whatever, but that persons 
having wines in bond should be permitted to fortify those 
wines, that being absolutely necessary for their preserva¬ 
tion. They were also allowed in the event of the wines 
becoming “ cloudy,” to use some means of refining them; 
hut the officers are strictly forbidden to allow any adul¬ 
teration whatever. 
Sir J. Lawrence gave notice that he would move for a 
return of the quantity of Hamburg and other spirits 
used in the docks for fortifying wines. 
Opium Cultivation in India. 
Mr. Grant Duff brought forward the Indian Budget 
on Friday, Feb. 24. In the course of his speech he said 
concerning the Indian finances, that the one great fact of 
the year 1870-71, just drawing to a close, was that opium 
had come to the rescue. When Sir Richard Temple made 
his statement in April last, nothing could be much more 
gloomy than the prospect of the opium revenue for the 
financial year which had just begun. From almost all 
quarters came prophecies of evil, the prophecies from 
China being the gloomiest of all. Her Majesty’s late 
representative at Pekin even went to Calcutta to confer 
with the Governor-General about the increased growth 
of the poppy in China. Owing to some unknown cause, 
all these anticipations had been falsified. Sir Richard 
Temple took the price of the chest of Bengal opium for 
the year at 975 rupees, whereas the average by the latest 
advices had been 1113 rupees. In spite, however, of the 
favourable results of this year, he thought it necessary 
that the opium revenue should be watched with extreme 
care. Considering the enormous extent of country, even 
in Asia alone, where the poppy can be grown with fair 
success, it was too much to hope that the Indian drug 
will continue to be so distinctly preferred by those who can 
buy it as to enable us to lighten by many millions year 
after year the price which India pays for civilized govern¬ 
ment; for whatever might be said against the opium 
revenue, it should not be forgotten that hardly any of it 
comes out of the pockets of our Indian fellow-subjects, 
and if it were done away with, India would not be 
lightened of an impost, but robbed of a splendid estate. 
He said also that the sudden death of Dr. Anderson had 
not prevented them continuing the arrangements that 
gentleman had made for naturalizing the ipecacuanha 
plant in India. 
Mr. Cave said that in Bengal opium was a Govern¬ 
ment monopoly. Government not only taxed it, but 
they grew, manufactured and sold it. This opium re¬ 
venue had an ugly look in more ways than one, for wc 
charged so high for the drug that we had fostered its 
growth not only in China, where at present it had found 
no suitable soil, but in Persia, where he understood it 
was nearly as good as in India, so that we might possibly 
lose this source of revenue without having the credit of 
giving it up for conscience’ sake. 
Mr. W. Fowler maintained the opinion he expressed 
a year ago about the opium revenue. It had been justly 
compared to a revenue derived from an enormous distil¬ 
lery carried on at the public expense. Such a thing 
would not be tolerated for a moment, and yet we talked 
of the opium revenue as perfectly innocent. In his 
opinion it was an immoral thing for the Government to 
have a hand in, and the sooner they got rid of it the 
better. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Dr. Dobell’s Reports on the Progress of Practical 
and Scientific Medicine in Different Parts of 
the World. Vol. II. June, 1869, to June, 1870. Lon¬ 
don : Longmans and Co. From the Publishers. 
Uebersicht der Cinchonen von H. A. Weddell. 
Deutsch bearbeitet von Dr. F. A. Fluckiger. Scliaff- 
hausen und Berlin. 1871. From Dr. Fliickiger. 
©Mtarg. 
COUNT CYPRIAN WOLLOIVICZ. 
On the 20th of February, Staff Assistant-Surgeon Count 
"Wollowicz died at Netley, after a prolonged illness, in 
the thirty-second year of his age. The deceased gentle¬ 
man belonged to a distinguished Polish family, and took 
an active part in the unsuccessful attempt to re-establish 
the independence of his native country. Upon the failure 
of that attempt, he studied medicine at Berlin and 
Munich, taking in 1862 the degree of Doctor of Modi- 
cine at Munich University. After visiting France, 
Spain and Italy, he eventually came to England, where 
he became naturalized. In 1867 he entered her Ma¬ 
jesty’s service as Assistant Staff-Surgeon, having taken 
the second place among forty-four competitors in the 
combined Chelsea and Netley examinations. Ho after¬ 
wards served in the Abyssinian campaign, where, it is 
supposed, he contracted the disease which ultimately 
proved fatal to him. Upon his return he went again to 
Netley, where he was associated with Professor Parkes, 
F.R.S., in a course of experiments on the influence of 
wine and alcohol on the human body, which formed the 
subject of two papers read before the Royal Society and 
abstract® of which have been published in recent num¬ 
bers of this Journal. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘ British 
Medical Journal,’ Feb. 25 ; the ‘ Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
Feb. 25; the ‘ Lancet,’ Feb. 25; the ‘ Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ March 1; ‘Nature,’ Feb.23; the‘ChemicalNews,’ Feb. 
24 ; ‘Journal of the Society of Arts,’ Feb. 23; ‘Gardeners’ 
Chronicle,’ Feb. 25; the ‘ Grocer,’ Feb. 25; ‘ Produce Markets’ 
Review,’ Feb. 25; the ‘English Mechanic,’ Feb. 24; the 
‘Journal of Applied Science’ for March; the ‘Doctor’ for 
March; the ‘Brewers’ Guardian’ for March; the‘Educa¬ 
tional Times’ for March; the ‘Falmouth and Penrhyn 
Times;’ the ‘ Chester Chronicle.’ 
