POISONING  BY  CYANIDE  OF  POTASSIUM. 
461 
not  to  be  taken  into  account.  Should  exact  accuracy  be  desired, 
the  sub-carbonate  can  very  readily  be  assayed  ;  a  careful  ignition 
and  weighing  being  all  that  is  necessary.  The  muriatic  acid 
employed  should  be  the  chemically  pure  ;  the  ordinary  acid  being 
too  much  contaminated  with  sulphurous  and  sulphuric  acids  to 
produce  a  correct  result.  Perhaps  the  presence  of  tersulphate 
of  iron  in  the  tincture  might  not  be  regarded  as  a  very  serious 
impurity,  but  it  can  be  so  easily  avoided,  and  the  purity  of  the 
tincture  guaranteed,  by  the  use  of  chemically  pure  muriatic  acid, 
that  the  small  extra  outlay  (about  10  cents  per  pint)  is  not 
worthy  of  mention. 
The  writer  has  thus,  very  imperfectly,  it  is  true,  laid  before 
the  readers  of  The  Pharmacist  his  individual  experience  in  the 
preparation  of  this  tincture ;  will  not  some  of  them  reciprocate 
by  giving  him  the  benefit  of  their  experience  in  the  preparation 
of  Pharmacopoeia  or  other  compounds,  and  thus,  at  the  same 
time,  help  to  make  The  Pharmacist  what  it  is  intended  to  be — a 
sort  of  mental  exchange  for  the  relation  of  experiences,  and  the 
comparison  of  views  and  opinions  on  all  subjects  connected  with 
the  Pharmaceutical  interests. — The  Pharmacist^  June ^  1869. 
POISONING  BY  SUBSTITUTION  OF  CYANIDE  OF  POTAS- 
SIUM FOR  CARBONATE  OF  AMMONIA. 
Inquest  held  in  Dublin  on  the  late  Mr.  F.  Grattan  Guinness,  7th  and  8th 
of  June,  1869. 
The  above  case  of  accidental  poisoning  has  created  in  Dublin 
intense  excitement,  partly  from  the  rarity  of  such  accidents  in 
Ireland,  and  also  from  the  social  position  which  Mr.  Guinness 
held.  The  inquest  extended  over  two  days.  Mr.  C.  Swayne, 
the  assistant  who  compounded  the  medicine,  was  in  custody  dur- 
ing the  first  and  part  of  the  second  day's  proceedings.  He  was 
an  assistant  to  the  firm  trading  under  the  name  of  Hamilton, 
Oldham,  Long,  and  Company,  who  have  two  establishments  in 
Dublin,  and  are  now  about  to  open  another  at  Kingstown.  Mr. 
Darley,  Q.  C,  appeared  for  the  relations  of  the  deceased,  and 
Mr.  Macdonogh,  Q.  C,  represented  the  firm  in  whose  establish- 
ment the  mistake  occurred. 
