The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

TIIE SALE OF POISONS.

A bill has been brought into the House of Lords
by the Lord President of the Council " to restrict
and regulate the sale of poisons." The preamble
recites that the existing restrictions on the sale of
arsenic have been found to be insufficient, and that
the unrestricted sale of other poisons facilitates the
c In-mission of crime and occasions frequent fatal
accidents. Clause 3 attempts the difficult task of
defining what " poison" really is. The word is
construed to include certain drugs, simple or com-
pounded, mentioned in the schedule A of the
Act. These consist of a large number of pharma-
copoeial and other preparations, most of which are
in common use as articles of medicine. The list is
as follows—namely, arsenic and its compounds ;
corrosive sublimate (the bichloride of mercury) and
its compounds ; the poisonous vegetable alkaloids
(as strychnine, drn.) ; prussic acid; the cyanides of
potassium, mercury, and silver ; the chlorides of
zinc and antimony ; the essential oil of bitter
almonds, and any mixture containing it (as
" almond flavour") ; cantharides and its pre-
parations ; belladonna (nightshade) and its pre-
parations ; hemlock and its preparations ; aconite
and its preparations ; opium, in tincture, extract,
and powder; foxglove (digitalis) and its prepara-
tions ; stramonium and its preparations, chloroform
and its compounds, oxalic acid and binoxilate of
potash, nux voinica seeds and bark, tartarised anti-
mony (tartar emetic), and its solution, cocculus in-
dices (used to adulterate beer and porter), ergot
of rye, savin, lobelia, and all liquids or solids con-
taining or consisting wholly or in part of the above
mentioned poisons, poisonous drugs, and herbs
The penalty for violating the act will boa fine of 20/'
for the first, and 501. for every subsequent offence.•
Druggists will be disqualified from acting as such
by a second conviction.

Lord and Lady Willoughby de Eresby entertained at
dinner, last evening, at their mansion on the Terrace,
Piccadilly, his Excellency the Russian Minister and the
Countess Chreptowitch, the Count Pahlen, the Countess
of Jersey and Lady C/ementina Villiers, the Earl of
Euston, the Countess of Tankerville, Viscount Chelsea,
Lord and Lady Macdonald, Mr. Knightley, &c.
Lord and Lady Downes and family have arrived at
their house in Grafton-street, for the season.
The feeling with regard to Russian railway shares,
when fairly tried in the open market, has been illus-
trated yesterday in the case of those of the Riga line.
The character of this railway is in every respect supe-
rior to that of the military lines lately attempted to be
introduced in London and Paris, but upon the notifi-
cation of a call of 41. per share they have at once
dropped toe discount.
TESTIMONIAL TO Ma. JOHN MASTERMAN.—The sub-
scription voluntarily entered into for a testimonial to
Mr. Masternian, on hie retirement from the representa-
tion of the City of London, already exceeds 1,100/., and
will, it is expected, speedily reach 2,0001., as many lead-
ing commercial men have signified their desire to enrol
their names on the subscription list. The form of testi-
monial has not yet been determined upon.
DIABOLICAL OUTRAGE.—Last night, about half-pa 4
11 o'clock, a packet containing gunpowder and other ex-
plosive matter was thrown down the area of Lindsay's
Quadrant Hotel, Air-street, Piccadilly, and its explosion
broke all the windows of the basement. The servant
boy, who was asleep at the time, within a few feet of the
window, had a narrow escape. No clue to the perpe-
trator of the outrage has yet been ascertained.
EMIGRATION TO THE WESTERN CONTINENT.—LIVER-
POOL, Wednesday.—The royal mail screw steamship
Canadian, Captain Eallantyne, sailed this morning for
Quebec and Montreal, with 100 cabin and 250 steerage
passengers, the Canadian mails, and a full cargo of mer-
chandise on freight. The Liverpool and Philadelphia
Company's screw steamship City of Washington, Capt.
Jellard, sailed this afternoon for New York, with 120
cabin and a large number of steerage passengers, and a
full cargo. She carried a sealed mail.
LARGE ARRIVAL OP HOMEWALD BOUND SHIPS IN THE
RlVER.—Within the last two or three days, a large fleet
of ships, which had been detained beating about in the
chops of the Channel, by the long continuance of the
easterly winds, have arrived in the London, West India,
S. Katherine, and other docks on the Thames. This
timely arrival has been the means of giving employment
to several hundreds of dock labourers. A number of
homeward-bound ships was reported yesterday coming
up channel, and as the wind has got rather fresh from
the westward, a small fleet may he expecte.' up the river
daily, every tide. There are arrivals from China, East
Indies, Mauritius, Australia, West Indies, South Ame-
rica, New York, and almost every part of the globe.
THE EXPEDITION TO CHINA.—PORTSMOUTH, May 20.
—The 82d Regiment and three companies of the 23d em-
barked to-day in the dockyard for Hong Kong. Seven
companies, including headquarters, went on board the
Assistance, screw troopship, and the other three com-
panies on board the Adventure, screw troopship, with
three companies of the 23d Regiment. The troops did
not go on board in quits so orderly a manner as usual,
especially the 82d. The men of that regiment made
rather too free last night, and sadly disturbed the peace
in certain localities. Some three hundred were reported
as absent this morning. As the day went on many were
brought into the dockyard in cabs, &c., more or less
intoxicated and some of them seriously injured in fightQ,
&c. 'A number of windows were broken, and one house
was forcibly entered and robbed. The perpetrators were,
however, captured, and to-day have been committed to
the assizes for trial.

FATAL RAILWAY BOILER EXPLOSION.—LIVERPOOL,
May 20.—The inquest on the bodies of Joseph Ford,
driver, and Seth Foulkes, fireman of the locomotive
engine St. Patrick, who were killed by an explosion of
the boiler at the Edge-hill station of the London and
North-Western Railway, closed to-day before tho coro-
ner for the borough. The jury came to the following
verdict :—" We find that the deceased, Joseph Ford,
cams to his death by the bursting of the firebox of an
engine called the St. Patrick, at the Eige-hiil station
of the London and North-Western Railway, the firebox
of the said engine being completely worn out and unfit
for use. We are also of opinion that the superintendent
of the engineering department did not exercise proper
attention when the engine was repairing in the months
of August and September last." The same verdict was
returned in the case of Foulkes,

FATAL ACCIDENT ON BOARD THE WAVERLEY
STEAMER.—Yesterday an accident took place on board

the Citizen Company's steam-boat Waverley, by, IwhiOh.
a fine young man, aged 20, one of the crew of the
steamer, suddenly lost his life. It appears that
about half-past 12 p.m., the Waverley arrived at Lon
don-bridge. Shortly after landing the passengers, the
deceased was kneeling on one of the paddle•boxes, giving
directions to some one below, when the Waverley re-
ceived a slight concussion from an in-coming steamer,
and the shock threw the youth off the paddle-box into
the river. The accident occurred so suddenly that no
assistance was rendered, at least in time, and the de-
ceased was not seen to re-appear above the water. It
is supposed that the tide carried him rapidly below
bridge, as the body was not discovered, although the
drags were used as soon as possible after the accident
had occurred.
THE FORTHCOMING TRINITY TERM, - To-morrow
(Friday) Trinityterm, the last before the long vacation,
commences, and before the next term it is probable that
several changes will take place on the bench, as also
that there will be a new Solicitor-General. There ;s a
good deal of business for the term. The arrears of the
three common law courts number 150 rules, &c. In
the Queen's Benchthere are 53, in the Common Pleas 52,
and in the Exchequer 45. Of new trials the number in
the three courts is 76, of which 26 are in the Bench,
23 in the Pleas, and 22 in the ExcheqUer. The number
of summonses at chamber have increased, and the
learned judges have been occupied with their duties
occasionally to late hours. As there is no breakfast
this term at the Lord Chancellor's residdnce, the several
law and equity courts will commence business at 10
o'clock.

&WHITED MURDER AT num.—A correspondent in
Truro states that a young woman named Grace Bond and
her father have been taken into custody on suspicion of
having murdered the child of the former, aged three
years. The child
,had been buried, but circumstances
having created a suspicion that it had been poisoned, the
body was exhumed, and on analysis by Mr. lierapath a
large quantity of arsenic was detected.