February 17, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G75 
the College. The specimens will probably prove to be 
almost free from carbonate. 
Prof. Maisch stated that the specimen of capsicum, 
presented by Mr. Heinitsh at a former meeting, was the 
Capsicum minimum , indigenous to Mexico. Air. Heinitsh 
said that it had been introduced from Mexico into 
several of the Southern States by some army officers, 
and that the name given to it by the Mexicans signified 
“mad pepper.”— Amcr. Journ. of Fharm. 
IJarlianwntarj rair fate fromtogs. 
Attempted Poisoning by Oxalic Acid. 
On Tuesday, February 6th, Jane Sutton was charged 
at the Liverpool Borough Police Court with attempting 
to poison her brother, Thomas Sutton. From the evi¬ 
dence it appeared that a child nine years old was sent 
for some oxalic acid, which the prisoner afterwards put 
into some drink that she gave to her brother. It was 
stated by two of the witnesses that the person who sup¬ 
plied the poison was in drink at the time. 
Henry Hedsbury* said he was assistant at Dr. Hor- 
xock’s* chemist’s shop, Scotland Road. They sold oxalic 
.acid to any person; it was greatly used to clean brass. 
The oxalic acid furnished to the witness Sheath was in 
crystals, and was marked “ Oxalic acid. Poison.” 
Mr. Raffles remarked that it was rather a disgraceful 
.account which had been given, of a man not perfectly 
.sober dealing with drugs in a chemist and druggist’s 
.shop. 
The prisoner, when asked what she had to say to the 
charge, said that she did not mean to do anything, nor 
to hurt either her brother or herself. She was remanded. 
Action for Supplying Wrong Medicine. 
In the Consolidated Chamber in Dublin, before Mr. 
•Justice O’Brien (10th February), a Miss O’Reilly, a dra¬ 
per’s assistant, moved for leave to file what is termed a 
replication to the defences of Mr. Wells, a druggist of 
this city. The case, as stated by the plaintiff, is as fol¬ 
lows :—In the month of December last, Dr. Barker pre¬ 
scribed for Miss O’Reilly aromatic iron mixture, which 
she got, but on sending for a fresh supply, the bottle, 
which was accompanied by the original prescription, 
was filled with tincture of perchloride of iron. On taking 
half a wineglassful of the contents, her tongue became 
contracted, and her mouth swollen. She was sent to 
Jervis Street Hospital. She stated that from that hour 
until the present, time, she had been unable to attend to 
her business. Mr. Nolan, on her leaving the hospital, 
gave her a certificate, stating that the medicine she had 
taken was of an injurious nature. Afterwards Dr. Nolan 
called upon her, and stated he had been commissioned to 
offer her £20 to settle the action, which the plaintiff 
agreed to accept. The replication that plaintiff’s counsel 
wished to file, was that this compromise was effected by 
-deliberate misrepresentation and fraud on the part of 
Mr. Nolan, acting for Mr. Wells. 
Mr. Seeds, who appeared for the defendant, stated that 
he should be able to controvert this when the proper time 
came, and that plaintiff expressed her perfect willing- 
mess to accept £30. 
His lordship said he thought it a clear case for grant¬ 
ing liberty to file the replications. 
Mr. Wells is a druggist of considerable standing in 
^Dublin. 
* Neither of these names occur on the Register of Chemists 
••and Druggists for this year. 
Ifintto. 
On Fluid Meat. A New Preparation of Meat, espe¬ 
cially adapted to Weak Stomachs and for Invalids 
generally', with Remarks on Food. By Stefhen 
Darby, F.C.S., Pharmaceutist, etc. London: J. & 
A. Churchill, New Burlington Street. 
The author commences this pamphlet with the fol¬ 
lowing modest declaration :— 
“ Any addition to the knowledge of human food, or 
any new variation imparted to it, must be interesting to 
all persons, but more especially to medical men at the 
present time, w r hen the regulation of diet has become an 
essential point of practice. I therefore trust it needs no 
apology or further preface in offering this small pam¬ 
phlet to their notice and consideration.” 
To pharmaceutists also w r e venture to think that it 
will prove equally 7 interesting as the w'ork of an accom¬ 
plished practical chemist, an old pupil of the illustrious 
Liebig and Will, well known as the translator of Witt- 
stein’s ‘ Pharmaceutical Chemistry 7 ,’ and remembered by 
most of the younger generation as formerly and for 
many years an amiable examiner in chemistry on the 
Board of Examiners of the Pharmaceutical Society. 
Mr. Darby first alludes to the ignorance of the general 
public and deficiency of knowdedge possessed by many 
medical men of the chemistry of food, and points, as an 
example to be avoided ip. the future, to the varieties of 
pure starches bearing high-sounding names, which are 
so frequently and ignorantly recommended as food for 
children and delicate persons. 
Brief remarks follow on the chemical constitution and 
physiological properties of animal flesh, in which the 
importance, as nutritives , of fibrin, albumen, gelatine, as 
well as extractives and salts, in restoring the body and 
repairing the daily waste, are insisted on; and we are 
then led to the consideration of the qualities of beef tea 
prepared by various methods, and value of Extractum 
Carnis “ Liebig” as an article of diet. 
Our author refers to Von Bibra’s analysis of dry 7 lean 
beef, from which it appears that 14 per cent, only of the 
original weight of meat is extracted in the manufacture 
of Liebig’s extract, so that 86 per cent, of the total 
amount of dry solid material, containing the most nutri¬ 
tive and valuable constituents, are entirely lost. 
Authorities, both medical and pharmaceutical, differ 
widely as to the value of beef tea made with Extractum 
Carnis ; and an interesting discussion on this subject took 
place at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Pharma¬ 
ceutical Conference. The balance of evidence tends to 
show that the extract has been vastly over-rated; that 
while it undoubtedly possesses valuable qualities, they 
are rather stimulant, as chemists would infer from the 
presence of kreatinc, kreatinine, sarcosine, etc., rather 
than to any great extent nutritive. Like ordinary China 
tea, it seems to stimulate and prevent waste, and to be 
similarly incapable, without the addition of other sub¬ 
stances, of supplying the place of solid animal food. 
Liebig himself has, w 7 ith commendable candour, ad¬ 
mitted the imperfection of the preparation which bears 
his name as containing that portion only 7 of the meat solu¬ 
ble in water. This will be seen from the following com¬ 
munication to \%ie Lancet in 1865, respecting his Extractum 
Carnis, which was then beginning to excite attention. 
He says, “ Were it possible to furnish the market at a 
reasonable price with a preparation of meat combining 
in itself the albuminous, together with the extractive 
principles, such a preparation would have to be preferred 
to the Extractum Carnis, for it w'ould contain the nu¬ 
trient constituents of meat.” 
And again, speaking of his own preparation, he say r s, 
“I have already stated that in preparing the extract of 
meat, the albuminous principles remain in the. residues ; 
they are lost for nutrition, and this certainly is a great 
disadvantage.” 
