•Sept^ei- y, 1S71-3 THE PBLAjnsxAoni u TICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
217 
together about five o'clock in the afternoon on that day. 
The swelling continued to get worse, and deceased got 
no sleep on the Tuesday. She was constantly inclined 
to he sick, and took no food on Wednesday. The head 
"began to blister the same evening as the lotion was 
applied. Mr. Gore ordered tepid water pads to be ap¬ 
plied. On Wednesday evening Dr. Meeres gave deceased 
a composing draught about five o’clock, and about ten 
o’clock witness gave her another. The deceased slept 
about two hours that night. All day Thursday she 
seemed very drowsy, and also on Thursday night. 
About a quarter to eight on Friday morning she died. 
On being cross-examined by Dr. Meeres as to whether 
.she seemed surprised when he came, witness said he did. 
Witness also said he made use of the expression, “ He 
did not care about the liquid running down the neck.” 
The mouth was very much swollen, which prevented 
deceased taking any solid food. Her lips were also 
swollen. She could swallow liquids. After Mr. Gore’s 
visit some other medicines were ordered, which she took. 
Mr. R. T. Gore, of Bath, said that he saw the deceased 
first between five and six o’clock on the afternoon of 
Tuesday, August 29, in company with Dr. Meeres. The 
Read and face were a good deal swollen, and there were 
remains of blisters on the head and on the neck. There 
were also some spots on the head and face, apparently 
the remains of an eruptive complaint. The gums were 
somewhat swollen and tender. Dr. Meeres told him to 
what circumstances the appearances wore to be attri¬ 
buted, viz. that he had applied a strong lotion of corro¬ 
sive sublimate on the day previous. Witness said he 
rather regretted the strength of the application that had 
been made, as from experience ho knew such applications 
were not free from danger. He did not see deceased again 
alive, as he was from home on Friday when sent for. From 
the blistered state of the head when he saw it, it was 
impossible to distinguish the exact nature of the erup¬ 
tion. He thought the swelling of the mouth and head, 
and the general symptoms, were undoubtedly occasioned 
by the application, and were the effects of an over-strong 
application of such a remedy. In cases where there 
were abrasions of the skin, such applications would often 
produce not only local symptoms, but general symptoms 
of poisoning, such as those in the present case were. He 
considered that the corrosive sublimate used was un¬ 
doubtedly the cause of death. He did not at first know 
the strength of the application, but he afterwards found 
it was a very strong one. 
Dr. Meeres requested permission to make a statement 
on oath to the jury, as he thought himself the person best 
acquainted with the case, and most deeply interested in 
putting the whole of the facts candidly before them. He 
was cautioned by the coroner as to the possibility of any 
statements he might make being used as evidence against 
him. He then said that on that day fortnight the deceased 
was brought to him at his house. She was then suffering 
from ringworm. At first he gave her a tonic, and a lotion 
to wash the hair. As it seemed to spread, he ordered the 
head to be shaved, and the previous treatment was con¬ 
tinued until last Monday, when he found the ringworm 
was spreading over the head. He requested her to be 
brought to him in the afternoon, for the purpose of using 
some application to destroy the ringworm, which was a 
sort of fungus in the skin. On the Monday when she was 
brought to him he applied, with a brush, a solution of 
bichloride of mercury, commonly called corrosive sub¬ 
limate. The formula was taken from Dr. Tilbury Fox’s 
work on skin diseases. Ho took the book to the che¬ 
mist, Mr. Laine, of Melksham, and ordered him to make 
up the prescription according to the formula given there¬ 
in. The mixture was made specially for this case on the 
Monday, and the strength was ten grains to the drachm, 
or eight grains to the ounce, dissolved in alcohol. The 
effect of this application was always to blister, and 
it was intended to do so. According to Dr. Fox it 
was never absorbed into the system, but the effect was 
always local. In the present case, unfortunately, the 
mixture by some means got into the system and produced 
salivation. He had on some previous occasions used the 
same application, which he made up himself. He was 
present when the chemist made up the mixture, and he 
saw the ingredients weighed out and gave him the printed 
formula to go by. There were some scratches about the 
forehead of the deceased which he avoided in applying 
the lotion. Ho was satisfied none went into the abra¬ 
sions, but if it had, no ill effect would have followed, as 
the effect of this strong application was to coagulate the 
blood at once. Ho knew it would cause a blister, but 
ho had no recollection of having told the nurse that if 
some went on to the neck of the deceased it would not 
matter. If it had gone into the eye it would probably 
have blinded it. The previous lotion was quite in¬ 
nocuous, and was given merely for the purpose of 
cleansing the head. He continued to attend the deceased 
until her death. On Thursday night he thought the 
swelling of the mouth was abating. There was no 
doubt the mercury by some means got into the system 
and produced the symptoms described. He had applied 
the same mixture and the same strength to children of 
about eight years of ago. No mercury was given inter¬ 
nally in the present case. 
After clearing the room the jury unanimously con¬ 
curred in the following verdict:—“That the said Harriet 
Maria Fowler came to her death on the first day of 
September instant from the effects of poison caused by a 
very strong preparation of bichloride of mercury having 
been applied to the head and neck of the deceased by 
Dr. Edward Evan Meeres, on the 28th of August last 
past, whilst under his care for an eruption on the head; 
and the jury are of opinion that groat blame attaches to 
the said Dr. Edward Evan Meeres.” The coroner and 
jury expressed their condolence with Mr. and Mrs. 
Fowler on the melancholy occurrence .—Daily Neivs. 
Extraordinary Charge of Manslaughter against 
a Chemist. 
On Thursday, August 31, the magistrates at Sidmouth 
were engaged in investigating the charge against Mr. 
Robert Webber, chemist, for feloniously killing and 
slaying William Wall, Esq., at Salcombe Regis. Evi¬ 
dence was given that in the latter part of July deceased 
sent a prescription of an opiate to defendant to make up. 
Defendant sent a mixture, but five minutes afterwards 
discovered he had made a mistake, he having put twenty 
grains of morphia, with directions that half was to be 
taken at once. He immediately despatched messengers 
to Mr. Wall’s house and sent for a doctor, but before 
either reached the place the deceased had taken half the 
quantity as directed, so that when the doctor arrived the 
deceased was senseless. Efforts to arouse him were 
fruitless, and he died five hours afterwards. At the 
inquest the jury did not think the defendant’s careless¬ 
ness sufficient to constitute manslaughter. The Homo 
Secretary, however, had taken up the affair, and ordered 
the present magisterial proceedings. 
Medical evidence was called to show that there must 
have been great carelessness to make such a mistake ; 
whilst another doctor said, although he himself should 
not have made the blunder, yet it was quite.possible that 
a person might have made even a worse mistake, as the 
writing of the prescription was very bad. 
The Defendant was committed for trial for man¬ 
slaughter.— Standard. 
Attempted Suicide by Essence of Almonds. 
At Worship Street, on Friday, September .1, Flora 
Warner, a servant in the employment of a City com¬ 
pany, was charged on remand with having attempted to 
commit self-destruction bv taking a quantity of essence 
of almonds. The facts of this case were of a most pain- 
