November 25,1S71.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
437 
distinguished from the good ones by means of a hot 
soap-bath, which only slightly affects the good, while 
the inferior are almost entirely destroyed. The woods 
also are sometimes used for the adulteration of garancine. 
I may state, before leaving this subject, that the decoc¬ 
tion of these woods yield very beautiful pink lakes, which 
are principally used by paper-stainers. 
Common red ink is also prepared by adding a little 
alum and acid to an aqueous solution of these woods. 
{To be continued.) 
pwlKuimitarj fate 
Death from Opium-eating in a Workhouse. 
On Thursday, November 16th, an inquest was held 
at the Salford Workhouse, concerning the death of 
Elizabeth Owen, aged sixty-eight, an inmate. 
Mr. John Tatham, medical officer to the workhouse, 
said, on the evening of the 14th inst. he was sent for by 
one of the day nurses to visit the deceased. She was in 
bed, and almost insensible. He endeavoured to rouse 
her, but could'only do so partially. From her appear¬ 
ance he suspected she had taken an overdose of opium. 
He ordered her to be got out of bed, and to walk about 
the room for some ten minutes to keep her awake, and 
while an emetic was being prepared. An emetic was 
administered to her, and he afterwards used the stomach- 
pump, but the emetic did not act. The deceased had 
gradually 7 become more insensible, and died about nine 
o’clock. He made an examination of the body, and 
found the vessels of the brain enormously loaded with 
blood, quite sufficient to account for death. He was 
clearly of opinion that congestion was the result of her 
having taken a narcotic poison. He did not think it 
necessary to examine the stomach, as in all probability 
the traces of opium would have been removed. Deceased 
could only have got opium in sufficient quantity to pro¬ 
duce the effects he saw from outside the house. It was 
contrary to the rules of the house to import anything 
whatever into it for the use of the inmates. He per¬ 
fectly well remembered having taken more than ordi¬ 
nary notice of the deceased when he went his rounds on 
the day of her death. The medicine she was taking 
contained but a small quantity of opium, and she might 
have taken all that was in the bottle without any ill 
effects following. No other poison would, he thought, 
produce all the symptoms he found, coupled with the 
congestion of the brain. 
Evidence was given by a paid nurse that in August 
last she received a piece of opium, about three times the 
size of a pea, from one of the male inmates with a re¬ 
quest to give it to deceased. Witness handed it to the 
superintendent. Upon deceased being spoken to about 
it she promised not to offend again. Another nurse said 
that she had received a piece of opium from deceased 
which she gave to the superintendent. It was also 
stated that deceased was in the habit of taking laudanum 
before she went into the workhouse. 
The jury returned a verdict in accordance with this 
evidence, and the coroner wrote a letter to the Salford 
Board of Guardians, calling attention to the great pro¬ 
bability, almost amounting to certainty, that the de¬ 
ceased was supplied with opium by ot^ier inmates, who 
were from time to time allowed to leave the house tem¬ 
porarily .—Manchester Courier. 
Adulteration of Bread by Alum. 
At the Manchester police court, on November 17th, 
three bakers appeared in answer to summonses, upon 
a charge of mixing alum with the bread made by them. 
The prosecution was instituted by the Manchester and 
Salford and District Master Bakers’ Association, and 
one of the defendants was a member ef the Association. 
Evidence was given as to the purchase of certain loaves, 
which were ticketed and sent to Mr. Jones, Owens Col¬ 
lege, for analysis. 
Mr. Jones said he had examined the loaves with the 
following result:—One loaf contained 6'41 grains of 
alum per lb.; a second o*7-3 grains per lb., and the other 
0'55 grains per lb. The quantity of alum was sufficient 
to produce some effect upon a person eating the bread. 
The cases were adjourned for a month. 
Death from an Overdose of Chloral Hydrate. 
An inquest has been held at Leicester to inquire into 
the circumstances attending the death of Mrs. A. Turner. 
A servant in the employ of the deceased deposed that 
being unable to obtain an answer from her mistress tho 
room was entered, w r hen Mrs. Turner was found dead in 
her bed, and a bottle labelled “ Syrup of Chloral Hy¬ 
drate,” lying near her. 
Samuel Goodhall Cox said, I am a chemist and drug¬ 
gist, residing in Gallowtree-gate, Leicester. I knew tho 
deceased lady, from her having been an occasional cus¬ 
tomer. On Monday evening last, between five and six 
o’clock, she came to my shop alone, and asked me for tho 
mixture of chloral hydrate, which she had had before. 
On my giving the mixture to her in a four-ounce bottle, 
the deceased asked me if I would make it of double 
strength. She said she had taken two teaspoonfuls of 
the mixture she had had before, and she wanted to have 
the dose in one teaspoonful. I prepared the chloral 
hydrate as the deceasod wished, and had no hesitation in 
doing so. I particularly impressed upon her that I had 
made it double the strength of the other she had had, 
and she seemed perfectly to understand its properties 
and action. She also purchased a quantity of sal vola¬ 
tile and eau do Cologne. She then went, away, and 
nothing more took place. I had only supplied the de¬ 
ceased with one bottle of chloral hydrate previous to 
Monday 7 last. On that day she told mo she could not 
get any sleep without it, as she suffered from neuralgia. 
The deceased bad asked for quinine for neuralgia, and I 
served her with that drug also in a bottle. That drug 
she also had in a concentrated state for convenience in 
taking it. The bottle which contained the chloral hy¬ 
drate is a four-ounce bottle, is properly labelled, and 
w r ould contain about thirty-two doses. The bottle is 
now nearly half empty 7 , and I should think that about 
twelve doses are gone from it.—(By 7 the jury) : I have 
seen a quantity of chloral hydrate equal to four tea- 
spoonsful of the strength contained in the bottle pro¬ 
duced, taken without ill effect. If sal volatile were to 
be taken at the same time as chloral hy 7 drate, it would 
increase the action of the latter. The contents of the 
chloral hydrate bottle are poisonous if taken in an un¬ 
reasonable quantity, but it is not a legal poison, and 
druggists are not obliged to label it “poison.” There 
are poisons which are obliged to be registered, and others 
which are only labelled. Chloral hydrate is not a poison 
that has to be labelled as such.—(By the coroner): The 
bottle now shown to me is the one in which I supplied 
the sal volatile to the deceased on Monday. It is now 
empty 7 . 
Mr. C. Bowmar, surgeon, said that he had been sent 
for to Mr. Turner’s. He found tho deceased had been 
dead for some hours. There had been no sickness or 
purging, indicative of any irritant poison having been 
taken. The four-ounce bottle produced, which contained 
chloral hydrate, was lying by 7 her side, and nearly 7 half 
empty. He saw that the bottle was properly labelled, 
and where it was from. There was a sufficient quantity 
gone from the bottle to cause death. His opinion was 
that death arose from taking an overdose of chloral h> 7 - 
drate. There was no appearance of struggling. He 
had been deceased’s medical attendant for some time. 
She had frequently said, “You must give me something 
to sleep me.” He had heard her complain of pains in 
the face and head, but not often. He had prescribed 
