470 
EDITORIAL. 
cautions  as  will  throw  the  responsibility  of  error  where  it  belongs,  if  they 
are  conscious  of  innocence. 
Poisoning  by  Strychnia. — It  is  stated,  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgi- 
Journal  of  July  15,  that  on  the  23d  of  June,  Ann  Maria  Phinney  bought 
a  quantity  of  strychnia  (between  3  and  4  grains)  of  William  Nowell,  at 
the  drug  store  of  Charles  G.  Greene,  and  died  in  consequence  of  having 
swallowed  it.  Although  the  apothecary  took  the  legal  precautions,  the 
Coroner's  jury  think  that  the  poison  was  sold  recklessly,  and  used  the  fol- 
lowing language  in  their  verdict : — 
"  The  Jury  furthermore  feel  bound  to  say,  that  the  law  concerning  the  sale  of 
poisons  does  not  operate  to  protect  the  public  sufficiently.  They  have  dis- 
covered that  a  large  proportion  of  the  druggists  are  entirely  ignorant  of  any 
law  upon  the  subject.  The  purchase  of  such  articles  for  purposes  not  known 
to  the  seller,  are  of  daily  occurrence  in  this  city.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  pro- 
curing fatal  doses  of  poisonous  drugs  by  any  one  who  may  choose  to  take  the 
trouble  to  buy  in  minute  quantities  at  different  stores,  till  he  has  obtained 
enough  to  accomplish  his  object. 
"  The  Jury  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  except  in  medicinal  doses,  poisons 
are  not  needed  in  families.  The  use  of  arsenic,  corrosive  sublimate  and  strych- 
nine for  the  destruction  of  vermin,  is  merely  an  evidence  of  a  want  of  cleanli- 
ness and  care,  which  any  person  may  avoid  by  an  equal  amount  of  labor 
expended  in  a  perfectly  safe  manner. 
"  The  Jury  hope  that  a  representation  may  be  made  by  the  Coroner,  or  the 
proper  authority,  if  he  be  not  such,  to  the  Legislature,  of  the  valueless  charac- 
ter of  the  present  law  concerning  registering  the  sale  of  poisons.  Tn  their 
opinion,  no  retail  druggist  should  be  permitted,  under  penalty  for  non-com- 
pliance, to  sell  any  poisonous  drug,  except  upon  a  physician's  prescription ;  that 
such  prescription  should  contain  the  directions  for  its  use  legibly  written,  and 
should  be  signed  by  the  physician  prescribing  it;  that  such  directions  should 
be  fully  copied  upon  the  package  containing  the  poisonous  article ;  and  that 
the  prescription  itself  should  be  retained  by  the  druggist." — Boston  Med.  and 
Surgical  Journal. 
All  this  is  very  well  in  theory;  we  grant  that  restraint  is  greatly  needed 
in  the  sale  of  poisons  to  the  public  for  legitimate  purposes.  We  should 
like  to  see  one  of  the  jurymen,  who  signed  the  above  verdict,  go  to  his 
physician  and  pay  him  a  fee  for  a  prescription  to  get  a  quantity  of  arsenic 
or  corrosive  sublimate  for  a  legitimate  use.  No;  he  would  expect  his  cha- 
racter to  be  sufficient  guarantee  of  his  right  to  use  it.  So  annoyed  were 
we  with  this  very  difficulty — offence  at  refusal  to  sell  arsenic — that  for 
many  years  past  we  have  wholly  declined  to  keep  it  for  sale,  to  avoid  the 
necessity  of  discrimination.  We  believe  apothecaries  would  do  well  to 
throw  every  difficulty  in  the  way  of  this  trade  that  is  reasonable,  for  their 
own  protection,  as  well  as  that  of  the  public,  and  they  will  save  by  it  in 
the  end. 
Sugar  Coated  Pills,  Granules,  and  Resinoids  qf  Tilden  &  Co.— We 
have  received  from  Mr.  Henry  A.  Tilden,  a  series  of  sugar-coated  pills  and 
granules,  and  several  resinoids,  manufactured  at  their  laboratory.  The 
