2S6 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 7,1871. 
POISON BY POST. 
During tlie recent investigation into a charge of 
poisoning at Brighton, nncontraclicted evidence was 
brought forward that some person or persons had 
forwarded anonymously packages of poisoned food 
by the ordinary means of conveyance, and that in 
one or two instances the recipients were sufficiently 
incautious to allow them to be eaten. It might 
have been hoped that these instances were excep¬ 
tional, but Professor Attfield, in a letter to the 
Times , mentions two others which have come under 
his notice. We republish the letter because the 
warning contained in it is evidently necessar}", hut 
we demur to the inference drawn by him, for we 
think that where there is sufficient malice or mis¬ 
chief present to prompt to such an action, the 
difference of a few pence in the postage would hardly 
stay the hand. The suggestion that because the 
cases mentioned by Professor Attfield came under 
his notice during the existence of the late sample 
post regulations, therefore the caution becomes so 
specially necessary upon the introduction of a new 
parcels post, appears to have a slight tinge of the 
post hoc propter hoc style of argument. 
“Just before the public was deprived of that short¬ 
lived boon, the old parcel post, a lady received by its 
means a few ounces of tea. Thinking the tea was sent 
for purposes of advertisement, and that a letter would 
follow, she, no doubt injudiciously, allowed the sample 
to be used at table. Every person who joined in that 
meal was more or less seriously ill, the tea, as proved by 
analysis, being dexterously impregnated with poison. 
The name of the latter, and the process by which evi¬ 
dently it had been introduced need not be disclosed, for 
I think it undesirable to add to the knowledge which 
the malicious only too easily gain from newspapers. 
“ The above circumstance I should have published at 
the time it occurred, but hoped it was a solitary case, 
and that another would not arise, but a similar one under 
the sample post has since come to my knowledge, and 
recently a still more serious affair of poisoned parcels of 
food has agitated the minds of all the inhabitants of a 
large southern town. It becomes my duty, therefore, 
on the re-introduction by the postal authorities of what 
is in effect a new parcels post to caution heads of families 
against using articles of food that may reach them 
through a channel in which all responsibility as to 
quality, purity, or harmlessness is lost. 
“ This letter need not occasion alarm or annoyance to 
any one. The householder is forearmed if forewarned. 
The dealer in food who proposes to advertise by help of 
the new postal tariff will see that, as the local guarantee 
of shop and person cannot travel with his samples, indis¬ 
criminate distribution of the latter is of questionable 
advantage. To the Post Office itself any profit on the 
carriage of a few specimens of such things as tea and cocoa 
is too small to be worthy of notice.” 
We learn from the Times that the Committee of 
Delegates representing the various districts abutting 
on the Thames, which, at the suggestion of the 
Privy Council, was organized a short time since 
for the purpose of instituting a systematic inspection 
of all vessels entering the Thames, and to arrange 
other joint action in view of the apprehended visita¬ 
tion of cholera, is now threatened with disruption. 
in consequence of the representatives of the East 
London parishes having very generally declined to 
make any contribution unless the assessment is based 
on the rateable value of the whole metropolis. This 
course has been approved by their constituents. An 
opinion has been expressed that the staff of officers 
is not large enough so to carry out the quarantine 
regulations of the Custom House as to prevent the 
importation of epidemic disease; and it is argued 
that as the expenses would be incurred for the bene¬ 
fit of the whole community, therefore the whole me¬ 
tropolis should bear the cost. 
In connection with the East London district, we 
are pleased to notice that, in advertising for a person 
to fill the office of Inspector of Nuisances, the Poplar 
District Board of Works has evinced a recognition of 
the necessity of special qualifications for the right 
performance of the duties. It is stipulated that can¬ 
didates shall possess a competent and practical 
knowledge of applied chemistry and mechanics, and 
it is intimated that they will undergo examination 
as to their qualifications by the medical officers of 
the Board. The person appointed will be required 
to devote the whole of liis time to the carrying out of 
the several Acts, and hi return the Board offer a 
salary of T150 a 3 'ear. Applications are to be made 
before the 12 tli instant, and further information may 
be obtained on application to the Clerk of the Board. 
The discovery of extensive salt mines at Stassfurt 
has created a mighty industry, and has naturally 
led to boring experiments in other parts of German}", 
some of which have been rewarded by extraordinary 
results. Early in 1807 operations were commenced 
at Sperenberg, about twenty-five miles from Berlin, 
and after passing through 280 feet of gypsum and 
anhydride, rock salt was found, in October. A con¬ 
tinuous layer of this has been bored through for a 
thickness of 2902 feet, the total depth reached at the 
end of last year being 3212 feet. In August, 1870, 
notwithstanding the war, another mine was sunk at 
a distance of 2000 feet from the first; and here, 
again, rock salt was reached at a depth of 309 
feet. This Sperenberg salt deposit appears, there¬ 
fore, to be by far the most extensive known. At 
Segeberg, in Holstein, rock salt has also been disco¬ 
vered at a depth of 910 feet; a stratum of salt, 21 feet 
thick, had already been passed through, when. the 
boring tools broke, and it became necessary to start 
afresh. This was done at half an hour’s distance, 
and salt was found at a depth of 310 feet, remark¬ 
able for its purity. From these preliminary trials, 
made at great distances, it appears evident that Ger¬ 
many may, in a short time, prove to be the country 
richest in salt, and these discoveries cannot fail to 
exercise a marked influence upon industry. All the 
salt mines are at present in the hands of the Go¬ 
vernment, the salt tax yielding a considerable share 
of the revenue; and it remains to be seen what effect 
in this respect the discovery of these enormous natu¬ 
ral riches will have. 
