485 
THE LAW AFFECTING METHYLATED MEDICINES. 
We have received a copy of correspondence on this subject from the “York Chemists’ 
Association,” but as the questions put to the authorities at Somerset House, and the 
answer received, are almost identical with those published in our last number, page 366, 
we have not thought it advisable to print them. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Alleged Poisoning by Mistletoe Berries. —A singular case of poisoning 
came before Mr. Richards at an inquest held in the Commercial Road, on a child named 
Emma Fuller, aged one year and three months. It appeared from the evidence of Maria 
Fuller, that she gave deceased into the arms of her danghter Margaret, who was only 
six years old, and told her to mind the baby, and to be sure not to go away from the 
street-door. The little girl, however, went off with the child, and did not return till 
one o’clock. The deceased was then very ill, and continued to get worse during the 
day. At night Margaret confessed that she had got a quantity of berries like white 
currants, and finding that they were too bitter to eat herself, she had given them to the 
baby, who had eaten a quantity of them. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidentally 
poisoned by mistletoe-berries.” 
With reference to the above case, the ‘Lancet’ observes:—It is somewhat difficult to 
make oneself believe that these berries possess any very active poisonous properties. As 
they contain, however, a viscid principle similar to caoutchouc, and are decidedly purga¬ 
tive, it is just as well at the present time, when children have free access to them, that 
people should be put upon their guard to prevent their being eaten or chewed. The 
medicinal virtues traditionally ascribed since the Druids’ time to the mistletoe are as 
marked as the veneration with which the plant was regarded ; but the leaves and berries 
have been frequently exhibited without ill result, and, as report says, with good effect. 
On the other hand, some of the ancients regarded the plant as poisonous. An old her¬ 
balist, Gerarde, in the sixteenth century, speaks of it, however, very favourably“ A 
few berries of the mistletoe, bruised and strained into oil, and drunken, hath presently 
and forthwith rid a grievous and sore stitch ; ” and Galen affirmed that it was a wondrous 
remedy applied outwardly for “humours.” Birds feed freely on the berries without 
harm. The wood and bark were used in epilepsy, and Colbach recommended the 
powdered leaves or twigs in drachm doses or as an infusion. In Prussia the branches 
and leaves have been mixed with rye-flour, and made into bread, and not unfrequently 
given to sheep, who have enjoyed them. In none of these instances has any ill effect 
resulted; nor in its formerly more superstitious use, as a charm to insure fecundity, or 
a protection against witchcraft and the devil. The verdict, therefore, of the jury in the 
case referred to is not altogether satisfactory. 
The Sale of Methylated Spirit as a Beverage. —The ‘North British Daily 
Mail ’ gives the following example as one of the effects of the Forbes Mackenzie Act:-^ 
Lately, as may have been observed from the police reports, a liquid known as “ finish,” 
a compound of methylated spirits and French polish extensively used by furniture- 
polishers, has, from its superior cheapness and strength, come into vogue, and its effects 
upon its victims are so dangerously maddening that the police have taken the matter 
in hand with the view of suppressing the traffic. Latterly these low “ druggists ” have, 
in addition to their usual surreptitious Sunday dram-trade, been doing an enormous 
business in “ cholera mixtures,” the panacea being of course the whisky. The police 
authorities determined to make a beginning on one of the most notorious of these 
drugo-ist-shebeeners, and in order to procure evidence against him sent a detective in 
plain clothes to his shop on Sunday, with directions to ask for a dose of cholera mixture. 
The druggist was no fool, however, and, previous to handing his treacherous customer 
.the usual dose, he quietly dropped into his glass a few drops of croton oil. The detec¬ 
tive tossed it off, and very soon found to his cost that it was a cholera mixture with a 
vengeance. The story was not long in spreading through the force, and we are assured 
that it is not easy now to find men ready to venture on liquor-drinking in plain clothes 
in shebeens as a means of obtaining evidence. Before the adventure of our friend with 
the cholera mixture, evidence derived from taste was in high favour in the force. 
