BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
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devoted to this matter, that some plans and suggestions made through your Com¬ 
mittee may be found available to prevent the catastrophes of which we so often 
hear. 
Your Committee have thought it well that their deductions and remarks should be 
based upon facts; they have therefore, as briefly as possible, drawn out the leading 
circumstances of all the cases of accidental poisoning recorded in the c Pharmaceutical 
Journal’ for the last two years, viz. from July, 1862, to June, 1864, inclusive. They 
are twenty-five in number, and occur in the following order :— 
No. 1.—A tradesman being ill sent for his medical adviser, and received from him 
two bottles, one containing embrocation for external application, the other a draught 
to be taken internally. On the following morning the embrocation was given, under 
the erroneous impression that it was the draught. 
On examination, the housekeeper said no label was on the embrocation, neither did 
any one apprise her it was poison. The medical man acknowledged that the bottle 
was not labelled “poison,” but submitted that it bore a label intimating that it w r as 
for external use only. 
No. 2. Accidental Poisoning by Arsenic. —In this case it is recorded that Mrs. C-, 
after assisting her son in the preparation of a slieep-dipping composition of arsenic 
and soap, made a pudding for the dinner of her family and servants, and that by some 
means not ascertained, some of the arsenic became mixed with the pudding. One man 
died; the rest of those who partook of the pudding recovered. 
No. 3. Accidental Poisoning by Sulphate of Zinc. —A man, aged 52, took by mis¬ 
take a wineglassful of a concentrated solution of sulphate of zinc, recommended to 
him by a veterinary surgeon for a lotion for a horse. Result fatal. 
No. 4. Accidental Poisoning by Oxalic Acid. —A man, aged 58, died from the 
effects of oxalic acid taken in mistake for Epsom salts. The wife of the deceased went 
to a chemist’s shop for some salts and senna. On opening the packets she found 
both to be apparently the same ; she took them back, but found the shop closed. On 
her return she dissolved the smaller packet of crystals in water, and handed the solu¬ 
tion to her husband, who drank it, and died in consequence. 
The packet was boldly labelled “ Oxalic Acid, Poison,” but it appeared the woman 
could not read. 
No. 5. In this case, a solution of strychnia appears to have been dispensed by a 
surgeon or his assistant, in mistake for solution of emetic tartar. The bottles contain¬ 
ing the two solutions were standing at no great distance from each other, but were 
unlike hi almost every respect, except that they were both labelled “Poison,” and 
both contained colourless fluids. All the ordinary precautions to prevent accident 
had been taken. 
No. 6. Accidental Poisoning by Extract of Aconite. —This was a clear case of error 
in dispensing by a chemist’s assistant; extract of aconite was put into pills in mistake 
for extract of wormwood, with a fatal result. 
No. 7. In this instance, a druggist sold croton oil for syrup of squills, with a fatal 
result. No particulars given. 
No. 8. A father gave to his child, two years of age, a teaspoonful of camphorated 
oil, in mistake for a mixture, “without looking at the label.” The child died. 
No. 9. In this instance a wife administered to her husband oxalic acid in mistake 
for Epsom salts. Result fatal. 
No. 10. This is an instance of tartar emetic being sold for cream of tartar, by a 
wholesale house. Several persons were made ill by it, but no fatal case occurred. 
No. 11. A boy, nine years of age, obtained access to a bottle of almond flavour, sold 
by a druggist to his mother for confectionery; the boy took, as he said, “ just a taste,” 
and died the following morning. The bottle w r as not labelled “Poison,” nor was the 
woman even told it was poison. 
No. 12. In this case cream of tartar mixed with arsenic was sold to several persons 
by a druggist, but no fatal case occurred. 
No. 13. This is a sad case of laudanum being sold by a druggist in mistake for 
black draught. The victim was a lady twenty-eight years of age, a healthy woman. 
Her maid procured for her from a druggist a pill and draught. It appeared that the 
druggist’s shop was being papered and painted, and was in a confused state; through 
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