I 
EDITORIAL.  87 
to  120°  F.,  where  they  laid  thirty-six  hours,  by  which  they  lost  sixteen 
pounds.    A  then  informed  B  that  his  cantharides  were  damp  and 
unmerchantable,  and  had  to  be  dried,  and  as  they  lost  16  per  cent.,  he 
claimed  an  allowance.  B  replied  that  they  were  good  fresh  cantharides, 
and  were  as  be  bought  them,  and  that  they  must  have  been  over  heated  or 
baked,  and  consequently  refused  to  make  a  deduction  in  the  price  or  to  take 
them  back,  unless  they  were  put  in  the  condition  they  were  in  at  the  time 
of  the  purchase.  A  said  he  would  make  them  as  they  were  when  bought, 
by  pouring  on  16  lbs.  of  water,  and  would  return  them.    B   replied 
if  returned  in  that  condition  he  would  send  them  to  auction  and  have  them 
sold  on  A  's  account.    A  carried  out  his  declaration  by  watering 
the  flies.    B  had  them  sold  on  A  's  account  for  106  dollars  below 
cost,  which  difference  B  claimed  of  A  ,  and  being  refused  entered 
the  suit  against  him. 
The  questions  of  fact  to  be  decided  were,  1st,  What  are  merchantable 
cantharides?  2d.  Were  the  cantharides  sold  by  B  merchantable?  3d. 
What  is  the  amount  of  the  "  natural  moisture  "  of  commercial  Spanish 
flies?  4th.  Would  the  heat  to  which  they  were  subjected  injure  the  flies 
medicinally?  5th.  Would  flies  with  sixteen  per  cent,  of  moisture  keep 
without  undergoing  decomposition  ? 
The  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  testified  to  the  good  quality  of  the  flies 
at  the  time  they  were  sold ;  a  specimen  of  the  same  lot,  kept  in  a  bottle  ever 
since,  was  exhibited.  They  believed  the  loss  Was  occasioned  by  excessive 
heat  or  baking  to  the  damage  of  the  article  and  not  to  evaporation  of  water, 
and  that  in  sending  it  to  auction  they  viewed  the  flies  in  the  light  of 
damaged  goods.    They  therefore  claimed  a  verdict  in  their  favor. 
The  witnesses  for  the  defendant  testified  that  the  flies  were  quite  damp 
when  they  were  delivered  ;  that  they  never  before  had  had  occasion  to  dry 
cantharides  previous  to  powdering  them;  that  the  flies  were  put  on  the  heated 
surface  (the  brick  work  above  the  boiler)  on  Saturday,  just  before  the  fires 
were  put  out,  and  remained  till  Monday  morning ;  that  when  the  boilers 
were  in  full  operation  the  hand  could  be  borne  on  the  drying  surface  ;  that 
the  flies  had  lost  nothing  but  water,  which  water  had  been  returned  to  them, 
and  that  they  were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  good  when  they  were  re- 
turned as  when  received,  and  he  therefore  claimed  as  being  free  of  all  obli- 
gations in  regard  to  the  flies,  and  asked  a  verdict  accordingly. 
In  the  course  of  the  testimony  much  was  said  about  the  "  natural 
moisture  "  of  cantharides,  and  it  was  positively  stated  that  flies  with  16 
per  cent,  of  moisture  would  not  keep  but  would  putrify,  and  that  that 
amount  of  water  could  only  be  present  by  accident  or  design.  The  princi- 
pal witness  for  the  defendant,  an  experienced  druggist,  averred  that  com- 
mercial flies  never  contained  more  than  six  per  cent,  of  moisture,  that  the 
flies  in  question  were  not  merchantable,  and  that  the  mode  of  drying  them 
did  not  injure  them. 
