The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 19, 1864.

arias FLOWER, and Secret Letter Writing !" To say
nothing at ail about—Daggers—Blood Money—
Conspiracies—Assassination—and so forth. No—
it is simply idle, it is simply absurd and ridiculous
to talk about Mr. STANSFELD'S resignation, and
Lord PALMERSTON'S acceptance of it, as the result
of any mere factiousness on the part of the Opposi-
tion. The incident was—to express the fact a little
more truthfully—a prudent yielding, at last, on the
part of the Government, before the terror of that
Public Opinion that was felt and known (upon
second thoughts) to be at the back of the Opposition.
A Tory Opposition, if you will, or, at any rate,
a Conservative Opposition, but, at the least, an
English Opposition, not a Mazzinian Opposition.
And, so in the matter of those two other resig-
nations, Mr. LOWE'S and Mr. CHICHESTER FOR-
TESCUE'S. These also are concessions extorted
from the reluctant Government by exceedingly hard
pressure on the part of the Opposition—a pressure,
it is true, only partly brought to bear—but threaten-
ing to become excessively formidable. The Go•
vernment, in each instance, yielding, under ail this
hard pressure—not to the Opposition, bat to the
irresistible force of the Public Opinion that was felt
to be at the back of it. Not a more unpopular man
held office under the Crown than Mr. LOWE. And
the fact of his unpopularity was a thing notorious.
Why, for that matter, time has been down in his own
borough when he has been nearly stoned to death !
He has the knack, somehow,of treading upon people's
corns in a manner the most excruciatingly offensive.
And hence, they come to like him so very much !
Why, we hesitate not to say that_the personal un-
popularity of Mr. LOWE has for a long while past
been as prevalent on one side of the house es upon
the other—that it is up to this hour as intense
and unmistakeable outside the House as in it. His
career as an administrator has been one succes-
sion of defeats. And the defeat he has had at
length to endure at the hands of Lord ROBERT
CECIL has been such that very shame has at last
constrained the unpopular Minister to tender his
resignation. That resignation Lord PALMERSTON
has thought proper to accept. The noble lord
protests, while doing so, that if the House could
have only heard before the late division the
explanations given by his ex-colleague last even-
ing, it would have come to an entirely different
conclusion. If so—why not have tried it ? If so
—why accept the resignation when tendered,
why not fight it out, why not stand by your ill-
treated colleague ? Why ? Simply because Public
Opinion is against Mr. LOWE as President of the
Educational Board, far more than the Opposition is
against him. Meanwhile, in the matter of the
resignation just now of the Under-Secretary of
State, Mr. CHICHESTER FORTESQUE —that has been
consequent, no doubt, upon the very hard pressure
brought to bear against the Government by the
Opposition, nay, indirectly by the right hon. gentle-
man the leader of the Opposition—but it is at the
same time a concession resulting from the Mini-
sters' own violation of the rules of the House of
Commons, those sacred rules that are part and par-
cel of our Constitution—not a concession resulting
from the factiousness of the Opposition. But, while
it is precisely as we have said in all these instances
—the incidents referred to are at the same time
point blank indications of blundering and weakness
on the part of the Government.

There are few more distressing accidents that
occur in domestic life than those which ensue from
poisonous mixtures being taken by mistake. The
shock which such a calamity must cause to the
relatives must be great indeed, and it is quite time
that some very stringent measures be adopted to
ensure more care and caution on the part of che-
mists and their assistants. We are constantly
hearing and reading of such cases, and it seems
truly lamentable that all this suffering and sorrow
should accrue from what must be called, looked at
what way we will, most culpable negligence on the
part of those who make up the prescriptions.
Lately there has occurred at Liverpool a must dis-
tressing instance of this kind. Mr. LINQARD, a
tradesman in that city, had been suffering from a
cold in his eye, and having received a prescription
from a doctor he sent it to a chemist's to be made
up. A part of the medicine was a powder, and
after taking this the deceased expired in great
agony, and appeared as if he had been poisoned.
This was the fact, and Dr. EDWARDS, the analy-
tical chemist, deposed that there had been sufficient
strychnine to cause death. It was attempted to
be shown that great care was employed in the
establishment where the poison was given by mis-
take to prevent accidents by keeping the bottles
that contained any poisonous and dangerous con-
tents on different shelves and using coloured
bottles. However, it afterwards transpired
that this powder in question, " James's
Powder," which had been prescribed by
Dr. NOTTINGHAM, was on the same shelf as the
strychnine bottle. This is of itself sufficient to prove
that great negligence is displayed by those who
have the care of these dangerous compounds and
made up medicines. This is no isolated case, it is
one that is constantly occurring, and no warnings
seem to produce impression enough to contribute to
salutary reform. The jury, in this instance,
have returned a verdict of manslaughter, and it is
to be hoped that the stringent course they
have adopted will be a warning to all in
similar positions of trust and responsibility. Also
the jury made a presentment to the effect " that
there might be a better arrangement of the bottles
than that at present adopted by CLAY and ABRA.-
HAM." This recommendation applies to all those
whose establishments furnish examples of heedless.
ness in this important branch of their department.
It would seem strange, at first sight, that risk to
themselves and great danger to others should be in-
curred by chemists and their assistants, rather than
employ a needful caution and exercise a due vigi-
lance. When a little consideration has been given
to the subject, however, it will be found that pretty
much the same occurs in all classes and ranks, and
throughout all the various departments of business.
Use and custom make all things familiar, and the
assistant who at first may be nervous at the task
of managing the details of a business which
makes him dispense and deal with deadly
poisons will soon become accustomed to the
thing, and be quite at his ease in arranging
the matters which are to others concerns of grievous
anxiety. When we remember, however, that life
and death hang in the balance, and that the happi-
ness or misery of many families may depend upon
his exercising a due amount of caution, it is a matter
of regret that so much haste is used, and so much
carelessness allowed in the dispensation of medicines.
Some years since a lady sent to a chemist for a
black draught for her child, and one assistant called
out to another for it. In the confusion of the
moment the second thought he asked for " black
drop," and accordingly gave that. The first one put
the wrcng label on the deadly mixture, and the result
of course was fatal. This constant recurrence of
fearful calamities seems to point out that more
should be done than has ever yet been attempted to
ensure the proper exercise of care and caution. It
surely cannot be so impossible to make rules end
regulations to guard against the fatal blunders that
are constantly being made; and if some attention
was paid to this most important question by the