38 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 8,187T- 
should not supply that quantity, unless we knew the 
man had taken it before, or that he was familiar with its 
properties. 
Mr. Hewby, surgeon, said that he found the body per¬ 
fectly cold and rigid; the face was congested and the 
hands were blue. In the absence of a post-mortem ex¬ 
amination, he thought death had been caused by an over¬ 
dose of the mixture of chloral hydrate. 
The jury returned a verdict that death was caused by 
an overdose of chloral hydrate, administered by himself 
without any intention to destroy life. 
Selling Poison without a Label. 
On Tuesday, July 4, at the Clerkenwell Police Court, 
William Jackson, of 11, Macclesfield Street North, City 
Road, was summoned before Mr. Cooke by Inspector 
James Taylor of the N division, charged as follows : 
“ for that you on the 23rd day of June did unlawfully 
sell by retail certain poison, to wit, ‘prussiate of potash,’ 
without the box, bottle, vessel, wrapper or cover in 
which such poison was contained being distinctly la¬ 
belled with the name of the article and the word ‘ poi¬ 
son,’ and with the name and address of the seller, 
contrary to the statute,” etc. 
Police-constable Nursey, 251 N, said that the defend¬ 
ant kept a small druggist’s shop, and on the day in 
question he went there and asked to be served with a 
small quantity of prussiate of potash. He saw the de¬ 
fendant’s wife and she went to the back of the shop and 
fetched the defendant. He said he would not let him 
have what he wanted, because he had got in trouble a 
short time before for selling poison. He had been given 
to understand that the defendant was a bricklayer by 
trade. 
Mr. Thomas Shaw, a licentiate of the Apothecaries’ 
Society of London, and registered, in answer to Mr. 
Cooke, said that prussiate of potash was a metallic cya¬ 
nide and\ a poison. 
Inspector Taylor said that these proceedings were 
taken owing to a man having poisoned himself with 
arsenic that had been purchased at defendant’s shop. 
4 The defendant, in reply to the charge, said that the 
constable, when he entered, was in his shirt sleeves, and 
saying that he was a shoemaker, asked for the stuff 
in the regular course of trade. He had that morning 
purchased one pennyworth of the same stuff without 
there being any label on it. It could be purchased at 
any oil shop in London, and more especially in St. 
Luke’s. 
Mr. Cooke said that did not justify the defendant in 
acting as he had done. The Act under which these 
proceedings were taken was passed expressly to regulate 
the sale of poison, and the defendant might have been 
charged with two offences, for the poison the defendant 
had sold was classed in schedule A of the Act. The 
defendant had committed an offence by selling that 
poison to^ any person whom ho did not know, or who 
was introduced by some one he did not know. The only 
charge he had to deal with was the one before him, but 
the fact that a man had poisoned himself with poison 
that had been purchased at the defendant’s shop only 
showed how important it was that the provisions of the 
Act should be fully carried out. He should have to 
make an example of the defendant for the sake of the 
public good, and should order him to pay a line of £3 
and the costs, or in default six weeks’ imprisonment in 
the House of Correction. The defendant was removed 
in custody .—Clerkemvell News. 
[*** The person prosecuted in this case was the owner 
of the shop referred to in the report of a case of poisoning 
by arsenic which was illegally sold at that shop. (See 
Vol. I., 3rd Scr., p. 1000.)—Ed. Ph. Journ.] 
Hates antr faeries. 
*** In order to facilitate reference , correspondents are 
requested to mark their ansivers in each case with the title 
and number of the query referred to. 
No notice can be taken of anonymous communications. 
All queries or answers should be accompanied by the name 
and address of the ivriter. 
NOTICE .—To prevent delay, correspondents are re - 
quested to send their communications to the Journal Depart- 
ment, 17, Bloomsbury Square , JP.C., and not to the Fub- 
lishers. 
EMPLASTRUM VESICANS MEDIOLANENSIS- 
Milanese Flies (Mouches de Milan) :— 
Burgundy Pitch, purified, 
Yellow Wax, 
Spanish Flies, powdered, of each 50 grammes. 
"White Turpentine, 10 grammes. 
Oil of Lavender, 
Oil of Thyme, of each, 1 gramme. 
Melt the two first substances together, add the flies and. 
digest over a water-bath for two hours, after which add 
the turpentine, and when that is dissolved, remove the 
vessel from the fire, taking care to stir continually till 
the mass is half cooled down, then aromatize with the 
volatile oils. 
When specially indicated, dispense this plaster divided 
into small flattened balls weighing one gramme, wrapped 
into a piece of black taffeta 6 centimetres (2f in.) in 
diameter, folded upon itself. The plaster is spread out 
upon this when used. 
This elegant form of dispensing empl. cantharid. is. 
common in France, although it is one of those prepara¬ 
tions, the keeping on hand of which is not made obliga¬ 
tory on French apothecaries by their Pharmacopoeia.— 
American Pharmacist. 
CHLORAL HYDRATE AND COD-LIYER OIL.— 
The Gaz. Farm. Ital. advocates the addition of chloral- 
hydrate to cod-liver oil; it renders it much less nauseous, 
and prevents the night sweats of the phthisical pa¬ 
tient, induces sleep, and creates appetite. It is pre¬ 
pared as follows:— 
10 gr. pure chloral-hydrate crystals with 190 gr. cod- 
liver oil, digested in a sand-bath with gentle heat^ 
Dose, six tablespoonfuls daily. 
[266.]—SYRUPUS QUINLE ET MORPHIA? 
BROMIDI.— F. J. II. asks for a formula for Syrupus-' 
quiniae et morphias bromidi (Dr. B. W. Richardson’s). 
[267.]—LEMONADE POWDERS.— A. and F. will 
bo obliged to any one who will favour them with a good' 
formula. 
[268.]—'VARNISH FOR PILLS,—Would some of 
your readers be good enough to furnish me with a good 
recipe for varnishing pills to shine well. I have not 
found the usual process satisfactory.—J. T. Abbott. 
[269.]—REMOVAL OF COFFEE STAINS.— E- 
II. C. would be obliged if any one would inform him how to 
remove coffee stains from a book ; the paper is unglazed, 
of a rather common quality and slight blue shade. 
[270.]—CEMENT FOR CORK.—Can any reader- 
inform me of a substance that may be used for gum¬ 
ming strips of cork to bottle stoppers which will not give? 
way like gum arabic when wet F or a composition that, 
may be used for the same purpose ?—J. S. 
