April G, 1872.] 
817 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
Conviction of an Assistant for Culpable Homicide. 
At the Ayr Spring Circuit Court, on Tuesday, April 
2, George Deans, a druggist’s assistant, was charged 
with causing the death of Margaret Conner. The evi¬ 
dence given was to the effect that on the 16th February 
the deceased had sent her daughter to the shop of Mrs. 
King, Irvine, Ayrshire, for a pennyworth of Rochelle 
salt, and that the prisoner had supplied her with a packet 
containing salt of sorrel instead. Mrs. Conner, having 
received the packet, dissolved the contents in water, 
drank the greater portion, and died the same day in 
consequence. The jury, by a majority of nine to six, 
found the prisoner guilty, but unanimously recommended 
him to mercy. The Lord Justice Clerk sentenced him 
to two months’ imprisonment. 
Poisoning by Paregoric Elixir. 
An inquest was held by Mr. Bedford on Tuesday, 
April 2, at St. Martin’s Vestry Hall, on the body of Mary 
Dunn, aged 50. Mr. P. Dunn, bootmaker, 65, Drury- 
lane, stated that deceased was his wife, and that they had 
been married thirty-two years. Soon after marriage she 
became addicted to intemperate habits. About six weeks 
ago she left her home without assigning any reason, and 
had since been in an almost continual state of intoxication, 
and sleeping in a common lodging-house. 
Mr. Thomas, chemist, 44, Drury-lane, said that during 
the last twelve years deceased had been constantly in the 
habit of purchasing paregoric at his shop. She took 
about six ounces every day, and sometimes twelve ounces, 
which would contain twenty-four grains of opium. On 
Good Friday she was supplied with about an ounce to 
to act as a sedative, as she had drunk ten quarterns of 
rum over night. 
Police-constable Parker proved finding deceased in an 
insensible state on Good Friday, and taking her off to 
the Bow-street station, where she was at once seen by 
the divisional surgeon, who ordered her removal to the 
hospital. The house surgeon of the hospital stated that 
on admission, deceased was suffering from opium poison¬ 
ing, and, notwithstanding the application of the stomach 
pump, she died in the evening. 
The coroner remarked that the police had in this case 
exercised a proper discretion in consulting a medical 
man without delay, and that the comments in the public 
press on this subject had probably done some good. The 
jury found that the deceased had died from opium 
poisoning, but that the opium had not been taken for 
the purpose of causing death.— Echo. 
The Betts Suits. 
We extract from ‘The Weekly Notes’ a report of a 
test case on questions as to the costs argued before the 
Vice-Chancellor Bacon on the 16th March. 
Betts v. Cleaver. 
Adjourned summons, on the application of defendant, 
for the purpose of reviewing the certificate of the taxing 
master, disallowing the charge for attending and perusing 
plaintiff’s affidavit of documents ; and (2) the fees of em¬ 
ploying a leader (Mr. Kay, Q..C.) in addition to two 
other counsel. 
The plaintiff had filed fifteen bills against infringers 
of his patent, and by decree dated the 29th June, 1870, 
these bills were dismissed with costs. With respect to 
the first item of disallowance, it appeared that the de¬ 
fendant’s solicitor attended at the Record Office, and 
perused the affidavit in Betts v. Cleaver, and finding 
that it corresponded, word for word, with a similar 
•affidavit filed in Betts v. Willmott (of which he had 
taken an office copy), did not take an office copy of it. 
The question on this item was, whether defendant’s 
solicitor was entitled to a fee for perusal, although he did 
not take an office copy at the time. 
With respect to the second item, it appeared that as 
soon as the bills were filed, Mr. Rolt, Q.C., was retained 
in one of the suits by a common retainer on behalf of the 
defendant, and shortly afterwards the papers were laid 
before him and Mr. Eddis to advise on behalf of the de¬ 
fendants, and they appeared upon a motion for leave to 
file a concise statement and interrogatories to be used in 
all the causes. 
Mr. Rolt was shortly afterwards elevated to the bench, 
and Mr. Eddis continued to act as counsel for the defen¬ 
dants. Upon a motion by defendants, in May, 1869, to 
remove the causes from the paper until the cross-exa¬ 
mination of the plaintiff should be completed, Air. Kay, 
Q.C., was employed as leader to Mr. Eddis. An order 
was obtained upon this motion, and arrangements were 
made regulating the hearing of the causes. Before the 
hearing, Mr. Eddis took silk, and at the hearing, briefs 
on behalf of defendant were delivered to Mr. Kay, U.C., 
Mr. Eddis, Q.C., and Mr. Langley. The taxing-master 
had disallowed the fee on Mr. Kay, Q.C.’s brief on the 
hearing, and the charge for a third set of papers, stating 
as his reasons that there was nothing in the nature, im¬ 
portance, or difficulty of the case to take it out of the 
general rule of the Court as to the allowance of more 
than two counsel, except the position of Mr. Eddis; that 
Mr. Kay, Q.C., had never been retained in the ordinary 
way for defendants, and his employment as leader to 
Mr. Eddis upon the interlocutory application on behalf of 
the defendant in May, 1869, did not amount to a retainer. 
Kay, Q.C., and Eddis, Q.C., in support of the appli¬ 
cation to review the certificate of the taxing-master, 
contended, (1) that defendant’s solicitor was not to be 
deprived of his fee for perusing because he did not take 
the unnecessary steps of taking an office copy ; (2) that 
Mr. Kay, Q.C., having been already retained as a leader 
when Mr. Eddis took silk, the employment of three 
counsel ought to be allowed on taxation. 
The Vice-Chancellor held the certificate wrong on both 
points, holding that defendant’s solicitor was not to be 
deprived of his fee for perusing because he had not taken 
office-copies, and that there had been a retainer of Mr. 
Kay, by his having been engaged or employed in the 
course of the case. The case was an exception to the 
general rule that there must not be more than two 
counsel. The charge of 4 d. per folio, and also the fees 
to Mr. Kay, would, therefore, be allowed. 
©bitojr. 
We are sorry to record the death of Mr. Benjamin 
Peppercorn, of Lincoln, one of the founders of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, and for several years the Local 
Secretary. He died suddenly, whilst attending to his 
business, at the age of 47. He was much esteemed by 
the members of the profession in the city, where he had 
for years resided and conducted a lucrative business. 
We regret also to announce the death of Mr. Charles 
Thomas Anderson, of Jersey, on the 25th of March, 
aged 66. Mr. Anderson was one of the annuitants from 
the Benevolent Fund, having been elected in 1870. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal,’ Mar. 30; the ‘Medical Times and Gazette, 
Mar. 30 ; the ‘Lancet,’ Mar. 30; the ‘ Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ April 3 ; ‘ Nature,’ Mar. 30; the ‘ Chemical News,’ Mar. 
30; ‘English Mechanic,’ Mar. 29; ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ 
Mar. 30; the ‘ Grocer,’ Mar. 30-; the ‘Journal of the Society 
of Arts,’ Mar. 30; the ‘ British Journal of Dental Science’ 
for April; the ‘ Doctor ’ for April; the * Oldham Chronicle,’ 
Mar. 30; the ‘Oldham Standard,’ Mar. 30; the ‘Medical 
Record,’ Mar. 22; the ‘ Educational Times ’ for April; the 
‘Florist and Pomologist’ tor April; Evans, Reseller and 
Evans’ ‘ Monthly Price Current ’ for April; ‘ Le Moniteur 
Scientifique-Quesneville ’ for April; the ‘ Journal of Applied 
Science’ for April; the ‘ Grocery News,’ Mar. 30. 
