538 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 30,187L 
qii^cjtrin with water containing 10 per cent, of sul¬ 
phuric ^old, that it is a glucoside, which decomposes 
xinder the wi uence 0 f the acid into glucose and querce¬ 
tin according to+hg following formula):— 
+ 251 0 = 2(C t H 13 0 6 ) + C^HsoO,,. 
Quercitnn. Water. Glucose. Quercetin. 
Quercetin is a crystalline powder, of a bright lemon 
colour, and of a much richer L uo than quercitrin. It 
has no taste, is insoluble in cold w&ter, and only slightly 
soluble in hot, but is freely soluble 1-n alcohol. It is 
soluble in alkalis, to which it communicates an orange- 
yellow hue. Its alcoholic solution gives orange preci¬ 
pitates with the salts of lime, baryta and lead. It 
assumes an orange colour with perchloride of iron. 
Although quercitron bark gives a fine yellow colour 
on woollen goods, when mordanted with salts of tin, to 
which has been added alum or cream of tartar, still its 
employment has greatly decreased of late years, owing 
to its colour assuming a reddish hue when exposed to 
the atmosphere. 
Within the last twenty years a preparation from it 
has been imported into this country from America, 
under the name of flavine, which in reality may be con¬ 
sidered as commercial quercetin. It is now manufac¬ 
tured in England by two different processes. The first 
consists in boiling half a ton of quercitron bark with 
sixty-three pounds of soda crystals in about 2000 gal¬ 
lons of water; after boiling for about a quarter of an 
hour, 250 pounds of concentrated oil of vitriol are added. 
The whole is then maintained at the boil for two hours, 
when it is run off on to woollen filters, washed until free 
from acid, pressed and dried, and is ready for market. 
The second process, which I consider the better one, 
consists in boiling for two hours 100 parts of quercitron 
bark with 300 of water and 15 of oil of vitriol, and then 
washing, pressing and drying, as in the first process. 
100 parts of quercitron bark gave 85 of flavine, which 
have a dyeing power equal to 250 parts of quercitron. 
Flavine is not much employed in calico-printing as a 
yellow dye, its principal use being to communicate a 
brown and orange hue to madder reds. 
The best mode of estimating the value of a sample of 
quercitron bark or flavine is to dye some mordanted 
cloth in the same way as in testing tho value of a madder 
or garancine. 
[To be continued.) 
^parlismtntarjj ititir fate fnrmMitgs. 
A Wrong Label. 
On Monday, December 18th, an inquest was held at 
Southport, on the body of a child ten months old, the 
son of Richard Rimmer. 
From the evidence of the mother it appeared that as the 
child had been suffering from a cold, she had sent to the 
shop of Mr. Barrow for a pennyworth each of oil of al¬ 
monds and syrup of violets. The bottle had a new label on 
when it came back, and she noticed that it was different 
to the one it had on when sent by her. She thought 
the new label was “ Essence of Almonds,” instead of “ Oil 
of Almonds;” but it had on the word “Poison.” On 
account of the different label being on the bottle she 
put it in the cupboard, declining then to give the child 
the mixture, and had never given it any until Satur¬ 
day night last, when she took it from the cupboard, 
thinking the medicine might be right and the label 
wrong. She intended, during the week, to take it back 
to the druggist, but this she neglected. When sending 
for the mixture for the child, she also instructed the girl 
to purchase her a small quantity of antimonial wine, 
laudanum, and essence of aniseed, for her own cough, 
but she never gave any of the mixture to the little one. 
On the previous Saturday she gave the child a teaspoon- 
ful, when it appeared to be choked, and, notwithstand¬ 
ing her efforts to restore it, died shortly afterwards. 
Dr. Davies stated that he was called in and found tho 
child dead. On asking tho mother what she had given 
it she showed him a bottle labelled, “ Essence of Bitter 
Almonds—Poison.” He took the bottle home, but could 
find no trace of essence of bitter almonds in the contents. 
He had made a post-mortem examination, and had come to 
the conclusion that death arose from suffocation, caused 
by spasm of the glottis, produced by the improper admi¬ 
nistration of the medicine whilst tho child was scream¬ 
ing. Such an effect might have been caused by a drop 
of water or saliva, more particularly by a thick sub¬ 
stance like syrup. The bottle he found to contain oil of 
almonds and syrup of violets, but it was wrongly labelled. 
Mr. James Barrow, chemist and druggist, 209, Lord 
Street, was now examined. He remembered the gild 
coming for the mixture, and she was carefully supplied 
with the drugs asked for. Unfortunately the bad divi¬ 
sions in the drawer allow the labels to get mixed, 
but the label in question was taken from the right 
compartment. The labels had slipped from one par¬ 
tition to another. He said he could mention several 
instances where the same medicine had been taken 
regularly. He examined the medicine, and found it 
perfectly right. It did not contain any prussic acid, 
or any essence of bitter almonds. The oil of almonds is 
quite innocuous, and there is not one instance in which 
it has proved dangerous. The medicine was frequently 
used, and there was no necessity for him to put the 
word “poison” on the bottle. He assured the jury 
that he took every possible precaution to prevent acci¬ 
dents, and had supplied oil of almonds out of the same 
bottle for some time. The key of the poison cupboard- 
lie always kept in his pocket. 
The coroner, in addressing the jury, said there was 
not much for them to do, as he thought the death was 
purely accidental. The result of the entire evidence 
showed that there had been no mistake whatever on the 
part of the chemist, with the exception, of course, of 
labelling the bottle, and in that there had been no harm. 
The mistake was in the mother not giving the child the 
medicine properly. The chemist could not be blamed in 
the least, but he should show more caution in getting 
the labels. 
The jury consequently returned a verdict of “Died 
through misadventure .”—Southport Independent, 
American Diplomas. 
On Thursday, December 21st, at Shrewsbury, Mr. 
Thomas Andrews, of Keltown, was charged with an in¬ 
fringement of the Medical Act, by falsely assuming the 
title of M.D. It was proved that defendant, who had 
been for some years a druggist in the town, had recently 
sent out a bill for professional attendance, had attached 
M.D. to his name, and had “M.D.” painted underneath 
his name on a lamp in front of his door.* For the de¬ 
fence, it was showm that defendant had received a diploma 
of the Medical University of Pennsylvania; and Mr. 
Motteram, barrister, who appeared for the defence, con¬ 
tended that even if the college had no power to grant 
the diploma, if defendant believed that it had, the charge 
must fall to the ground, and cited cases in support of his 
view. He called Mr. George Lever to swear to the 
authority of the diploma, which he did. Being asked to« 
read it (it was in Latin), the witness declined to do so ; 
and, subsequently, said that the knowdedge of Greek and. 
Latin was looked upon as a secondary consideration in 
the medical university alluded to. He visited the uni¬ 
versity and attended lectures; but he believed diplomas, 
after an examination by a duly authorized board in this 
country, were granted. He had no idea, however, what 
the nature of the examination was. 
The Bench fined defendant £20 ; but granted, on the 
application of Mr. Motteram, a case for the superior 
Courts. 
* See Pharm. Journ., ante, p. 515. 
