professor taylor’s report on poisoning. 183 
deaths in this establishment. As it was, each child had taken a quantity just within 
the fatal dose of arsenic. 
This poisonous liquid for cleansing boilers appears to be still in use in some quarters, 
for in December, 1863, an inquest was held in the east of London on the body of a man 
who by mistake had drunk some beer from a can which had contained the arsenical 
cleansing liquid. He died from its effects, and five other men were made seriously ill. 
From the cases recorded in this report, it will be perceived that, without defining the 
precise extent of the evil, injury to health and danger to life frequently result from the 
ignorance, incompetence, and carelessness of persons who are employed in retailing 
drugs; and that those criminals who are disposed to destroy life by poison have the 
greatest facilities afforded to them for this purpose. Further, the careless custody and 
reckless use of poisons lead occasionally to a large amount of illness, and in some 
instances cause a great destruction of life. 
The suggestions which I beg leave to offer for diminishing these evils are :— 
1. That none but qualified persons, educated to the trade of druggists, should be 
allowed to vend by retail drugs or medicines capable of acting as poisons. 
2. That the sale of poisonous drugs by chandlers, grocers, oilmen, drapers, or small 
shopkeepers should be strictly prohibited. 
[A licence might, if necessary, be granted, enabling these persons to sell 
certain specified medicines used by the poorer classes.] 
3. That the sale of arsenic, strychnia, and other specified poisons should, after a 
certain date, be restricted to Pharmaceutical Chemists and Licentiates of the 
Apothecaries’ Society. Any other persons acting as druggists not to be per¬ 
mitted to sell them, until they have proved their knowledge of poisonous drugs 
by undergoing a proper examination. 
4. Under no circumstances should boys or girls, or persons who cannot read or 
write, be permitted to sell poisonous drugs. 
5. Some rules are required for the management of a licensed retail trade in poison¬ 
ous drugs. No youth should be allowed to dispense or sell them who is not 
above the age of eighteen years, and who has not been for at least one year 
engaged in the practice of pharmacy, under a Pharmaceutical Chemist or Licen¬ 
tiate of the Apothecaries’ Society. This restriction not to be applied to one 
who has passed an examination either at the Pharmaceutical Society or at 
Apothecaries’ Hall, as to his knowledge of poisonous drugs. 
C. That poisonous drugs and medicines having a similar colour and appearance 
should not be kept near to each other in similar bottles, drawers, or boxes with 
similar labels. 
7. That less facility should be given for the purchase of arsenic, strychnia, and 
other deadly poisons, which can be used for the purpose of suicide or murder. 
8. That no poisonous drugs should be sold to girls or boys under the age of twenty 
years, on any pretence whatever, and that in all cases of purchase there should 
be a witness of adult age. 
9. All poisonous drugs sold should be distinctly labelled with the name of the drug, 
the address of the vendor, and the date of sale. 
10. That noxious substances, such as arsenic, corrosive sublimate, sugar of lead, and 
tartar emetic, and others of the like nature, when stored in large quantities in 
casks or packages, should be distinctly labelled, and kept apart from other 
substances of an innocent kind which they resemble. 
[Many of the accidents which occur from carelessness in dispensing, and 
ignorance in administering, medicines, might be prevented by the adoption 
of Mr. Thonger’s patent labels, which are provided with a sand-paper 
border. If these labels were generally employed in shops to mark poi¬ 
sonous drugs, and were used in all cases on bottles containing liquids of a 
noxious kind, and intended for outward use, there would be a great saving 
of life, so soon as this simple distinction had become known to the public. 
The mere feeling of the label, even in the dark, would be sufficient to call 
attention to the nature of the contents.] 
It will be perceived from the reported cases, that the public are at present without any 
sufficient legal protection against mistakes which are so often fatal. In nearly all cases 
