618 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [January 27 , 1872. 
Witness continued : The poison is used in ophthalmic 
cases. The nurses apply it. It would have to be got 
from the surgery. The nurses know it is a deadly 
poison; it is always labelled. I have been in the habit 
of going into Mr. Harris’s room every morning ; but I 
do not remember ever seeing bottles of poisons lying 
about. There is, however, a case in his room containing 
four blue bottles. I do not know of any purpose to ac¬ 
count for the bottle in Mr. Harris’s room being there. 
When he pointed it out to me I took possession of it, 
and had it sealed. 
J. W. Guillmette said: I am dispenser and surgeon’s 
assistant at the Manchester Workhouse Hospital. I 
supplied Professor Calvert with the bottle of atropine 
taken out of the dispensary. Some of the nurses have 
been supplied with the poison in phials. I inform them it 
is a deadly poison. The paupers had no means of getting 
the poison. The nurses did not always return the phials, 
although I tell them to do. 
Mr. Headlam (a magistrate): Do you keep a record as 
to whom you give poisons ? 
Witness : Yes, in my private notebook. 
Mr. Headlam: If you had supplied poison to Mrs. 
Steele, would you have a record of it ? 
Witness: Most undoubtedly. 
Mr. Cobbett (.on behalf of the prisoner): Is it a fact 
that several nurses have been found with atropine bottles 
upon them ? 
Witness: Yes. 
After some further evidence the inquiry was adjourned 
for a week. 
Suicide by taking Laudanum.—Censure of a 
Chemist by a Coroner. 
An inquest was held at Northampton on Monday, 
Jan. 1, before Thomas Green, Esq., deputy-coroner, on 
the body of Elizabeth Lewin, who had died the previous 
day from the effects of laudanum. Evidence having been 
given as to the circumstances connected with the death— 
Edmund Herbert Cooke was examined, and said: I am 
an apprentice at Mr. Jeyes’s, chemist. I saw deceased 
on Saturday evening, about half-past nine o’clock, when 
she asked for some laudanum, and I supplied her with 
only two-pennyworth. I had never seen her before to 
my knowledge. I recognized the bottle when the police 
brought it to me. I had not served any laudanum be¬ 
fore on that day. I labelled the bottle “poison,” and 
the name and address of Mr. Jeyes. I did not enter the 
name in a book. 
The Coroner: You are bound to enter the names and ad¬ 
dresses of the customers in a booh , with their signatures. 
Witness continued: The woman seemed well enough. 
She appeared as if she had been drinking slightly. She 
said she wanted opium to mix with pills. She took a 
pennyworth of rhubarb for making pills. I do not gene¬ 
rally supply people with poison who look as if they were 
in the habit of drinking. 
Mr. W. M‘Kinnell, chemist, deposed: The deceased 
was known to me only as a customer. I knew she lived 
in Cow Lane, but did not know her name. She called 
upon me about ten minutes after nine on Saturday night, 
and wanted four-pennyworth of laudanum. She always 
appeared when in my shop in a maudlin state of drunk¬ 
enness. I told her she must come again another day, 
as I could not let her have any then. She had not had 
laudanum from me at any time before. 
The jury returned a verdict of “ Accidental death,” 
and, in doing so, expressed their opinion that it was 
wrong for so young a man as the witness Cooke to be 
allowed to serve poisons. 
The Deputy-Coroner entirely agreed with the jury. 
[*** We are informed that the witness Cooke is 
twenty years of age, and has passed the Preliminary 
examination. —Ed. Pharm. Journ.] 
Death from a Patent Medicine. 
An inquest has been held in the Cambridge Barracks, 
Portsmouth, before Mr. W. H. Garrington, on the body 
of Rose Ann Moore, aged fifteen months, the daughter of 
a colour-sergeant of the 88th regiment. The child had 
been ill with whooping cough, and two doses of “ Mrs. 
Winslow’s Soothing Syrup” were given to her, after 
which she went to sleep for an hour. On awaking the 
child’s appearance was alarming, and she was taken to 
the residence of Dr. Heath, the assistant-surgeon of the 
regiment, who found the deceased suffering from the 
effects of a narcotic. Death took place the 'same evening. 
Dr. Heath said he had no doubt the syrup, which was 
much used by the public, contained some narcotic ingre¬ 
dients, but what he could not tell. He was of opinion 
that from the symptoms during life, and the results of 
the post-mortem examination, death was caused by nar¬ 
cotism, produced by the two doses of syrup. The jury 
returned a verdict accordingly. 
Sudden Death of the Hon. G. C. Vernon. 
On Saturday afternoon Dr. Lankester, the coroner for 
the central division of the county of Middlesex, held an 
inquest at 37, Montagu Square, on the body of the 
Hon. Gowran Charles Vernon, the Recorder of Lincoln 
and second son of Lord Lyvedon. 
The coroner, in opening the case, remarked that, in ^ 
accordance with the wishes of the Middlesex magistrates, 
he had determined not to hold a post-mortem examina¬ 
tion. In his opinion it was perfectly unnecessary; but 
if the jury, after hearing the evidence, were still unsa¬ 
tisfied, then he would issue the requisite order. 
The Hon. Greville Richard Vernon, of Kilmarnock, 
stated that he was the brother of the deceased, who was. 
forty-seven years of age, and was Recorder of Lincoln. 
For some time past he had complained of pains in his 
head; he had consulted several medical gentlemen, and 
had never left his home without being accompanied 
by Mrs. Vernon. He was in the habit of using “ neu- 
raline,” a patent medicine, to soothe the pains in his 
head. On Monday, the 15th inst., he went out for a 
walk with his wife, and on his return he was seized 
with a fit. Drs. Watton, Comberbach and Williams were 
sent for, and attended him in the drawing-room. They 
determined that he was suffering from neuralgia and epi¬ 
leptic fits. He had complained of severe pains in his 
head, and had used “ neuraline,” with which he painted 
his face with a camel’s-hair brush, purchased from Leatk 
and Co., St. Paul’s Churchyard. 
Mr. Arthur Wynn Williams deposed that he was 
called on Monday last, and found the deceased lying in 
bed. His features were perfectly placid. He had been 
in the’habit of using “neuraline,” the application of 
which was harmless unless the skin was broken. 
Mr. George Harley, M.D., M.R.C.S., formerly phy¬ 
sician to the University College Hospital, stated that he 
made an analysis of the contents of the bottle marked 
“neuraline.” It was an extract of monkshood,—called 
by botanists “ aconite,” the active poison of which is 
“aconitine,”—mixed with rose water, and contained 
chloroform; one drop and a half of Fleming’s tinc¬ 
ture being sufficient (in half a bottle) to destroy life. 
Dr. Watton stated that he declined to give a certificate 
of death, in consequence of its suddenness. 
The coroner remarked, that owing to communications 
he had received he had determined, notwithstanding- the 
deceased was attended by four medical men, to hold the 
inquiry. He had read letters from Lord Rokeby and 
others, and there was no doubt that the deceased had 
expired from natural causes. In deference to the feel¬ 
ings of the friends, he held the inquiry at the residence 
of the deceased. There was no doubt he was seized 
with a fit of convulsions, from the effects of which he 
expired. The jury returned a verdict of “Death fuom 
Natural Causes.”— Times. 
