176 
SALE  OF  POISONS  IN  FRANCE. 
the  acid  on  cooling,  it  was  reduced  in  strength  to  80-01  of  an- 
hydrids,  and  to  a  specific  gravity  of  1-838. 
4.  The  weak  acid  obtained  in  the  last  experiment  was  kept 
for  one  hour  at  560'^  F.  On  cooling,  it  had  increased  to  81-62 
per  cent,  of  anhydrids,  and  the  specific  gravity  was  1-84792. 
As  a  general  result  of  these  experiments,  it  follows  that  the 
old  specific  gravity  of  1-848  is  more  correct  than  that  given  by 
Beneau  and  Marignac;  that  there  is  a  true  monohydrate  of 
sulphuric  acid  which  loses  anhydride  near  its  boiling  point,  but 
not  below  550^.  The  latter  temperature  should  not  be  exceed- 
ed in  the  concentration  of  oil  of  vitriol  Lon.  Chem.  News, 
Jan.:,  1861. 
SALE  OF  POISONS  IN  FRANCE. 
A  medical  student,  named  Delorme,  and  a  retired  apothecary, 
named  Boucaumont,  have  been  tried  before  the  French  Tribunal 
of  Commerce  on  the  charge  of  homicide  by  imprudence.  The 
following  were  the  circumstances  of  the  case  : — A  yoang  girl, 
eighteen  years  of  age,  went  astray,  but  after  a  while  was  seized 
with  remorse,  and  determined  to  commit  suicide.  A  friend  re- 
monstrated, and,  as  he  thought,  succeeded  in  persuading  her  to 
abandon  the  intention.  A  few  days  sfterwards  she  called  on 
Delorme,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation  took  up  a  phial  con- 
taining an  arsenical  compound.  "  Do  not  touch  that,  "  he  said 
i'it  is  poison."  "I  am  not  afraid  of  poison,"  she  replied  ;  and 
from  what  afterwards  transpired,  she  appears  to  have  secreted  the 
phial,  and  went  away.  Two  days  later  she  commited  suicide  by 
means  of  this  poison.  The  phial  having  been  traced  to  Delorme, 
he  was  arrested  and  tried  for  his  imprudence  in  allowing  the  girl 
to  obtain  the  poison,  and  Boucaumont  for  supplying  the  poison, 
contrary  to  the  regulations  in  force.  The  defence  on  the  former 
was,  that  he  did  not  know  that  the  girl  had  taken  the  phial, 
and  of  the  latter,  that  it  was  supplied  with  the  understanding 
that  it  was  required  for  experiments.  The  tribunal  condemned 
each  to  three  months'  imprisonment,  with  the  addition  of  a  fine 
of  50f.  in  the  case  of  the  apothecary — Lon.  Pharm.  Jour. 
