51G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 33, iS7i. 
man. The hill-head had been made out by an assistant, 
since his examination. 
The Judge suggested that the case should be adjourned, 
In order that the plaintiff might give particulars of his 
claim and amend his bill. 
This course was strongly objected to by Mr. Chandler 
on behalf of the defendant. He said they wanted no 
better particulars ; the inference was that the bill was a 
professional man’s bill. Plaintiff came there as a medi¬ 
cal man ; if he were such, he would be on the register, 
and defendant would have no answer; if not, why was 
defendant brought there ? He denied that he was in¬ 
structed by any other person than the defendant, and 
objected to the proposed course, even if the expense was 
borne by the plaintiff. 
The Judge, however, considered that the right course 
would be to give the plaintiff' an opportunity of amend¬ 
ing his particulars ; and, in spite of a vigorous protest 
from Mr. Chandler, the case was adjourned for that 
purpose. 
Poisonous Christmas Cakes. 
On Friday night, December loth, Professor Thorpe, 
of Anderson’s University, Glasgow, while passing a 
pastry baker’s shop near the centro of the city, observed 
in the window a Christmas cake garnished with a suspi¬ 
cious green-coloured substance. He purchased the cake, 
and, on analysis, discovered that the green tint was pro¬ 
duced by arsenic. On the following day the Professor’s 
assistant purchased two cakes similarly coloured. The 
police were informed of the circumstances, and on the 
shop in question being searched, another cake of the 
same description was found. The proprietor of the shop 
admitted that he had painted part of the sugar ornamen¬ 
tation with what is called “ emerald green,” which he 
purchased in a drysalter’s shop in the city. He was 
taken into custody on Saturday night, pending inquiry. 
Poisoning by Lucifer Matches. 
On Friday, December 8, a very distressing event oc¬ 
curred at Dalton Green, near Huddersfield, namely, the 
poisoning of a child through eating lucifer matches. 
The child was between two and a half and three years 
old, the daughter of Mr. John Hutchinson, traveller. On 
Friday morning she went to play, and at noon, when 
having dinner, she began to vomit. As the food left her 
stomach the smell which is perceptible after a match has 
been struck was noticed. It was at once thought that 
the child must have been eating matches, and the mother 
proceeded upstairs, when she found that a large number 
of .matches had been spilled on the floor, and it became 
evident the child had been playing with them. Between 
two and three o’clock the child was taken to Dr. Scott, 
York Place, Huddersfield, where an emetic was adminis¬ 
tered ; and he recommended that she should be taken 
to the Infirmary to have the stomach pump applied. 
The child was taken home and grew worse. Its grand¬ 
mother imagining that she was suffering from inflam¬ 
mation of the lungs, treated it for that complaint, but 
the treatment did it no good, and some time after tea 
Dr. Booth was sent for. Dr. Booth attended, but in the 
meantime the child had died .—Leeds Mercury . 
The Poisoning Case at Hoxton. 
On Monday, December 19, Mr. John Humphreys, the 
Middlesex coroner, resumed the investigation respecting 
the alleged murder of William Dent Russell, aged seven 
months, who was supposed to have been wilfully killed 
*>y poison. 
The evidence of Mrs. Amelia Russell proved that the 
deceased was her son, and that she lived at 8, Rahere 
Street, Goswell Road. She was the wife of a cabinet¬ 
maker, named William Dent Russell. On Monday fort¬ 
night her son became ill, and her husband said that he 
hated to hear it cry. She, therefore, bought a cough 
mixture to prevent its crying. She got the mixture at 
Mr. Hodaile’s, a chemist, in Cross Street, Shepherdess 
Walk. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday she gave 
the deceased some of it, and it did him good. On the 
following day, Thursday, she gave the child some of the 
mixture and he became ill, and she ran with him to her 
mother’s. On the following Friday the child died. Her 
husband had been drunk on the Monday, but the follow¬ 
ing days he was sober. She could not tell how oil of 
vitriol got into the cough mixture. Only she and her 
husband had access to the locked coal cellar in which 
the oil of vitriol was kept. The cough mixture was 
kept in a cupboard in the sitting-room. 
After some further evidence, the jury returned a ver¬ 
dict to the effect that the deceased was killed by the 
wilful mixing and administration of poison, but by 
whom the poison was mixed and administered there was 
no evidence to prove. The coroner said that was tanta¬ 
mount to an open verdict of wilful murder. 
Susfected Poisoning by Antimony. 
The inquest at Bilston, upon the body of a child whose 
death was suspected to have been caused by antimony, 
which has been twice adjourned to allow of the exhuma¬ 
tion and examination of two other children, was resumed 
on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Dr. Hill deposed that he had de¬ 
tected the presence of antimony in the body of the third 
child, William Griffiths. This child died on the 10th of 
October, and the death was registered on the 13th of 
that month, the medical certificate attributing the death 
to “asthenia” and “gastric fever,” six days. The 
surgeon deposed that he did not believe the mother 
carried out his instructions in respect of the diet ordered, 
and that his medicine had nothing like antimony in it. 
The coroner having reviewed the evidence that had 
been given, the jury deliberated about half an hour and 
returned a verdict of “Wilful Murder” against the ac¬ 
cused in respect of all the three children, and she was. 
committed for trial at the next Staffordshire Assizes. 
Infringement of the Pharmacy Act. 
The following case was heard before the Wrexham 
County Bench on Monday, Dec. 18th:—George Gibbons, 
of Adwy’r Clawdd, was summoned for having, on the 29th 
of November, unlawfully sold by retail two bottles con¬ 
taining poisons, laudanum and syrup of poppies, without 
either of the bottles being distinctly labelled with the 
name of the article and the name and address of the 
seller. 
Mr. Acton, instructed by Mr. J. F. Edisbury, Local 
Secretary to the Pharmaceutical Society, appeared to 
| prosecute, and Mr. J. A. Hughes appeared for the de¬ 
fendant. Mr. Hughes said his client admitted the 
offence. 
Mr. Acton said the information was laid under the 
17th section of the Pharmacy Act. The Bench would 
be aware that there was an Act passed for the regula¬ 
tion of the sale of poisons, by which persons not regis¬ 
tered were only to sell according to certain precau- 
j tions. It was a matter of considerable consequence, and 
he might be permitted to say that there was a machinery 
provided for that Act by the Pharmaceutical Society of 
Great Britain so that it may not become a dead letter, 
j The offence was selling poisons without labelling them 
j with the name and address of the seller, although the 
bottles were labelled “ Poison,” which it was important 
i should be done, so that if anything went wrong they 
, might know who was the seller. 
