■June 15, 1372.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
1021 
Poisoning by a Baryta Compound. 
On Friday, June 7th, Mr. Thomas Taylor, coroner, 
held an inquest at Bradford, touching the death of Wm. 
Lawrence, a cotton-warp sizer. 
Dr. Isaac Mossop said he was called into see the deceased 
on Thursday afternoon, and found him suffering from 
symptoms of irritant poison. The deceased was quite 
■sensible, and said he had taken some chemical in mis¬ 
take for Epsom salts. He said he had taken it at the 
works at which he was employed. Witness was not 
•shown any of the chemical. 
Some of the compound was here produced, and Dr. 
.Mossop said it had, at a distance, the appearance of 
Epsom salts, but if the crystals were examined by any 
one who was acquainted with the appearance of Epsom 
.salts, they would see a material difference. He was 
mot aware of the nature of the poison until the deceased 
died. He treated the man for irritant poisoning, and 
he could not have done more if he had known the nature 
of the poison. The deceased died at six o’clock on 
Friday morning. Paralysis had set in, and witness had 
no doubt that death was the result of the paralysis of 
the voluntary muscles of the body. He had examined 
samples of the salts produced, and found that twelve 
-grains would be sufficient to kill a dog and two drachms 
would kill a horse. A man had been known to die in 
an hour after taking an ounce of such poison. He had 
told the deceased how to treat himself, and he could not 
have altered the result if he had stayed in attendance on 
him until death. 
The Coroner here read a circular referring to the 
poison, which stated that it was a sizing salt, to 
strengthen the warps, prevent dust, etc. The manufac¬ 
turer and patentee, the circular stated, was Mr. A. 
Heald, 52, Dantzic Street, Manchester, and the name of 
the compound was “ Heavy Baryta sizing Salts.” The 
Coroner remarked that nothing was said in the circular 
from beginning to end that it was at all poisonous. 
A Juror observed that if twelve grains would kill a 
dog, there must be thousands of grains given off the 
warps for which the salts were used when they were 
being manufactured. 
Dr. Mossop explained that the salts were exceedingly 
soluble. 
The Coroner: If they are soluble, there would be 
nothing much diffused but steam, and that might be 
pure water. 
Mr. Seth Blakey, cotton warp sizer, said : I knew the 
deceased. He had been in my employment about fourteen 
years, as a cotton warp sizer. He took the management 
of the dyeing of the coloured work. The heavy baryta 
sizing salts came into my possession about a week ago. 
I had never used it before, but was going to make an 
experiment with it. The deceased along with the 
other foreman would see the circular sent with the 
salts. 
In answer to a Juror, Dr. Mossop replied that he 
believed the salts would be injurious if taken in the 
pores of the skin. He believed he had read cases of 
death being occasioned by absorption. 
Mr. Blakey said that the manner in which the salts were 
used did not necessitate the men touching it at all with 
their hands. The warps were sized and dried entirely 
hy machinery. He did not know that the salts were 
poisonous. They were in the room where the deceased 
worked, and were open for the men to use just as they 
wanted them. He had learnt that one other man about 
the place mixed a teaspoonful with a pint of water and 
tasted it twice. The man did not take more than a 
a teaspoonful of the mixture, but suffered from severe 
vomiting. The deceased told him that he had taken a 
piece of the salts about the size of a bean in a glass of 
water. The chemical is not generally used in the dyeing 
business in Bradford, but it has been used in the cotton 
business at Manchester. The only thing he found 
fault with about the circular was that it was not men¬ 
tioned that the chemical was a poisonous matter. Ep¬ 
som salts were not used at taskworks,Jbut they were used 
in some works. 
Mrs. Lawrence said her husband left home about 
half-past six o’clock on Thursday morning. He was 
brought home about half-past ten o’clock. He said he 
had taken a little bit of Epsom salts in a glass of water, 
and some time after he felt an inclination to vomit. He 
vomited freely at the works, and when he got home and 
had some milk, he again vomited freely. It was two 
o’clock in the afternoon before he was seen by the 
doctor. 
A conversation took place amongst the jury, and 
several of them expressed the opinion that it was repre¬ 
hensible on the part of the patentee and manufacturer of 
the salts to send them out without a warning that they 
were poisonous. The Coroner said that there was cer¬ 
tainly no criminality in the matter. The manufacturer 
did not send the chemical out to be taken in that way, and 
it appeared that in its proper use it was not necessary 
that it should be touched so that any injury might be 
done by absorption. 
The Jury then agreed on the following verdict:— 
“That deceased was poisoned by taking a quantity of 
sizing salts instead of Epsom salts.” The jury thought 
that a representation should be made to the manufac¬ 
turer of the salts, to the effect that in their opinion he 
ought not to have sent it out without a notice that it 
was dangerous to life ; and that they wished to condemn 
the practice of sending such things out without some 
precaution to prevent mistakes. 
The Coronor said that Mr. Blakey had very properly 
opened communications with the manufacturer of the 
salts, and no doubt he would convey to him the opinion 
of the jury. Mr. Blakey intimated that he would do so. 
The proceedings then closed .—Bradford Observer. 
Elements of Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical. 
By William Allen Miller, M.D., D.C.L., LL.D. 
Revised by Herbert M'Leod, F.C.S. Part I. 
Chemical Physics. Fifth Edition, with additions. 
Longmans. 1872. 
Miller’s ‘ Chemical Physics’ has been so long known and 
so justly commended as a text-book, that any further 
eulogy of it would be superfluous. The present edition 
differs but little from the last, the most important ad¬ 
ditions made by Professor M'Leod relating to Solar 
Chemistry, and the development of the theory of 
Atomicity. . 
Under *the former head we have a very clear and in¬ 
teresting account, well illustrated by woodcuts, of the 
discoveries made during the last three years with refe¬ 
rence to the solar chromosphere and protuberances. The 
theory of Atomicity is scarcely required in connection 
with the physical part of chemistry, and it would per¬ 
haps have been better to defer it altogether to the second 
volume, especially the very doubtful explanation of the 
variation of the atomicity or combining capacity of an 
element by pairs of units, the supposed universality of 
which has been disproved by the recent investigations of 
Dr. Roscoe on the chlorides and bromides of tungsten. 
In connection with this subject we think it desirable 
to direct attention to a proposition (found also in the 
earlier editions) relating to the Law ot Multiples and the 
Atomic Theory. On page 22, after the hypothesis of the 
atomic constitution of matter has been laid down in the 
usual terms, it is stated, as one of the consequences ot this 
hypothesis, “ that when the same elements unite in seve¬ 
ral proportions, these proportions must vary according to 
the terms of a simple series of multiples , since each atom 
of one element must unite with the other element in the 
ratio of 1, of 2, or of 3 atoms, or in some other ratio almost 
