The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-13 00:00:00

GUILDHALL.

Mr. Hooper, the chemist and druggist residing by Lon-
don-bridge, appeared before Sir G. Carroll under the
following circumstances:—
On Monday last Mr. M'Dougal, surgeon, made an ap-
plication to the sitting Alderman for his advice, and
stated, that having a patient from the country placed
under his care, he, in the course of his professional at-
tendance, considered it necessary to give a double dose
or medicine of a sedative character, the prescription
of which he wrote, directing that it should be taken at
bed-time. It was sent to Mr. Hooper's, and one of the
a..sistants, instead of using camphorated water and hen-
bane, made the mixture up of henbane, opium, and
spirits, and had it been taken his patient would have
been killed; but the most fortunate circumstance was,
that the assistant made a further mistake by writing on
the bottle the word " Mixture" instead of " The
draught to be taken at bed-time," in consequence of
which it was not taken. On calling twice he could not
,ul
sea Mr. Hooper, and the assistant treated the affair with
great levity, saying that it was " only a mistake."
The Alderman granted a summons for ignorance or
'wilful
a as thenne segipigreencnet.
n. 1 le up. in allowing th© prescription to be
sum-
a. Wbuirtetaotteelnedaerdh,
i 4 end said e
that Mr. Hooper, who
ofhe the'
appeared, not to defend the sum-
case hnaaci beenracter.
gAivnenextpnlana-
t, ,bn of the facts Mr.
3 '.'Dougal, and
in the newspapers, it was .
was perfectly sa•isticd ; but,
E., a report of the applicationneeessaryhatdhat apapneaerxed.
as publicly g
p.:slnation should be
mode of conducting business was given. Mr. Hooper's
this—that if he should
makebut tuenpnseeerl it to a neigh-
, annshtaapnptsenwtoorebneoattthoodmoe
so,toa prescription, his
deep
had de-
regret that
[ bouring chemist. In this instance,
',mh mistake
tha had
parted from that rule, and it was with d
M... Hooper was obliqed to say so.
taken precautions that, for the future,'' suwcehvea__
_r
i should not occur again. With respect to Mr. MDortgal

having called twice, and been told that Mr. Hooper was
not within, that gentleman was perfectly ignorant of the
whole affair until he received the summons, and he had
every reason to believe that on each occasion the as.
sistant had denied him for the purpose of screening him-
self. Under all the circumstances, he (Mr. Wire)
thought there was no occasion to trouble the alderman
with going into evidence which might eventually turn
ont to be not within his power of deciding.
Sir G. CARROLL asked if the complainant was satis-
fied after hearing Mr. Wire's explanation?
Mr. M'Dougal said he was. His only object in sum-
moning Mr. Hooper was to further the object which
the medical profession generally were exerting them-
selves for, and compel chemists and druggists to
undergo an examination, and also that their assistants
should pass through the same ordeal. It was true that
a Pharmaceutical Society existed which had a great
number of members; but the fault was, that they had no
Act of Parliament, and therefore examinations were not
compulsory. On the last occasion he made a slight error
in stating that the bottle was a two-ounce one, whereas it
would only contain an ounce and a-half, and therefore
there could be but an ounce of paregoric.
Sir G. CARROLL—WouId that quantity have had the
same effect? Mr. M'Dougal—The effect would have
been the same, but I am now perfectly satisfied with the
explanation given.
The Chief Clerk intimated to the Alderman that the
assistant was already dismissed from Mr. Hooper's
st,rvice.

Sir CT. CARROLL said that the public were much in-
debted to Mr. M'Dougal for calling the magistrate's
attention to so serious a subject, where the lives of so
many were at the mercy of such persons. Mr. Hooper,
he thought, had given a very satisfactory explanation
through his legal adviser, and therefore the summons was
dismissed.