•September 16,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
237 
•whitened, the lungs smelt strongly of carbolic acid, the 
■stomach was intensely inflamed, also the small intes¬ 
tines and mucous membrane. The stomach contained a 
pint of dark fluid, also dark globules, which, after the 
application of tests, were found to he carbolic acid ; and 
the cause of death was poisoning by carbolic acid. 
The jury returned the following verdict:—“ Death 
from poisoning by carbolic acid, taken by accident.”— 
Daily News . 
Suicide by Corrosive Sublimate. 
On Friday, September 8, an inquest was held at the 
Middlesex Hospital, Charles Street, touching the death 
of Mr. Samuel Dutton, a smith and bellhanger, residing 
in Soho. Henry Alder said he had been employed by 
■deceased. On Tuesday last he was called out of the 
shop into the yard, when deceased said he had taken 
.corrosive sublimate. "Witness brought some salt and 
•water, but he would not take it. He brought him in a 
>cab to the hospital. Dr. Lucas stated that deceased was 
admitted into the hospital on Tuesday, and died the 
.same day. He was suffering great pain from an irritant 
poison, and was in a state of collapse. He had swallowed 
mbout 75 grains of corrosive sublimate, which was the 
cause of death ; but he had vomited so freely that there 
was no reaction. The stomach was much inflamed. 
"Verdict, “ Suicide whilst of unsound mind.”—> Standard . 
Case of Suicide at Leeds. 
An inquest was held by Mr. Emsley, the Leeds 
horough coroner, on September 8, touching the death of 
John Marshall, aged sixty-six, a gentleman who lived 
with his brother-in-law, Mr. Fox, in Grafton Street. 
The deceased was formerly in business as a sawyer in 
America, where he resided for twenty years, and from 
which he returned about a year since. Whilst in Ame¬ 
rica he had a sunstroke. This caused him to have 
violent pains in his head at intervals, and sometimes he 
•expressed himself afraid that he might lose his senses. 
On Wednesday afternoon the pain attacked him with 
great severity. He went to the Stag Inn, in Camp Road, 
and there he was observed to be very strange in his 
manner. He told Mrs. Bateson, the landlady, as he was 
leaving the house, that he should never come back 
■again, and, pulling out his watch, he asked her to note 
the hour. He went home, and his conduct being so 
singular, Mrs. Bateson thought it proper to follow him, 
and to see him in the house. She found him lying on 
Hie sofa, all trembling. Asking him what was the 
matter, he pointed to his throat, and he signified that he 
had swallowed some strychnine, a quantity of which 
poison still remained in a small bottle he pulled out of 
Lis pocket. He told her that he had brought the poison 
from America. Death took place in about half an hour, 
and the symptoms all pointed to strychnine poisoning. 
Mr. Seaton, surgeon, who was called in, stated that the 
Lottie contained about forty grains of strychnine. The 
jury returned a verdict “ That the deceased committed 
suicide whilst influenced by temporary insanity.” 
[*** It is worthy of note that in this case, as in many 
•others that have been published, the poison used by a 
suicide had been in his possession for a considerable 
time, and had been obtained from a source extraneous 
to that of a retail purchase from a chemist.—E d. Pharm. 
■J OURN.j 
The Weights and Measures Act. 
On Monday the magistrates of the city of Canterbury 
gave rather an important decision under this Act. The 
Chatham Paper Mills Company, who have a manufac¬ 
tory in Canterbury for the preparation of rags, were 
summoned by the local inspector for having an unjust 
weighing machine. The fact of the machine being in¬ 
correct was not so much questioned as the right of tho 
inspector to enter the premises; it being argued, on tho 
latter head, that he had no power under the Act to test 
weights and measures other than those which were used 
for ascertaining the measure or weight of goods exposed 
for sale. The company’s premises were used as a ware¬ 
house simply, and it was contended that the inspector 
had no more right to enter, in order to test the weights, 
than he had to make visits to the residences of private 
persons, where weights, etc. were probably kept to test 
the quantities of goods brought into the house. The 
Bench held the objection to be valid, and dismissed tho 
information.— Times . 
°£vfi)ieto. 
Storia della Farmacia e dei Farmacisti, appo in 
Principali Popoli del Mondo. Per Federigo Ivcrnot. 
Naples. 1871. 
The Italians have shown during the last twenty years 
so many sterling qualities in their struggle to regain 
their former position among the nations, that every ad¬ 
ditional proof of their vigour and activity in whatever 
direction it may show itself must be heartily welcomed, 
and we therefore gladly bear witness to the intrinsic 
value of Mr. Kernot’s work both as a national and as a 
pharmaceutical achievement. The author has studied 
his subject well, and he has the gift of interesting, even 
fascinating writing; he is an enthusiastic pharmacist 
(the title-page shows a picture of his shop-window), but 
his enthusiasm is of a lofty and high-minded character; 
the sentiment of an ancient pharmaceutical obligation at 
the beginning of the first chapter vibrates through the 
whole book, “ Je jure et promets avant Dieu . . . de 
donner aide et secours indifferemment a tous ceux qui 
m’emploieraient, et finalement de ne tenir aucune mau- 
vaise et vieille drogue dans ma boutique.” 
In many countries where, as in England, the pharmacist 
is more of a tradesman, there is, as with us, an earnest 
and hopeful endeavour to raise him to the more digni¬ 
fied position of a professional man, which he has long ob¬ 
tained in Germany and elsewhere; and we must be very 
much mistaken unless this book will greatly assist in 
elevating the Italian pharmacist in his social and profes¬ 
sional position. 
The book is divided into two parts, viz. ancient and 
modern pharmacy. Tho first part, and we intend to 
speak to-day of this only, leaving the second for future 
consideration, consists of seven chapters, most of which 
are very interesting, while others do not bring many 
new facts ; and this is not to be wondered at, if we con¬ 
sider that it is the first Italian book ever written on 
pharmacy proper. 
In tracing; back the history of pharmacy Mr. Kernot 
has no hesitation in beginning with the beginning. Ho 
goes back to Adam, because with his fall human 
nature became heir to all bodily infirmities, and reme¬ 
dies were empirically employed long before the science 
of curing had been born. Many quotations from Scrip¬ 
ture are given in proof of the application of pharmaceu¬ 
tical remedies. 
In these warlike times it will be interesting to learn, 
that the first ambulance was established under the walls 
of Troy by iEsculapius’ two sons, Maeonius and Poda- 
lirius, who had collected all medicaments required by 
the warriors. 
The first shop is mentioned by Aristophanes 1160 b.c. 
in one of his plays, where a certain Lamachus, with a 
broken leg, and another roisterer with a broken head 
arc taken to Doctor Pittalo s iatrion, which meant a 
