The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-19 00:00:00

it, but with laudanum in

it to be paregoric, gave her infant, who was

ops in a little s

t appeared in evidence that the son, who was ten
asked the apprentice, whom he found in the :hop,
whom he received the phial, how many drops he
re to a child nine weeks old, and the boy answered

t.c.11 tf pa.
The Surgeon, on being examined, said :—" it is impossible
to say exactly what quantity will cause death to a child nine
weeks old. I should consider it very dangerous to give even
m pure. I never give more than half a drop. I cannot
msitively that three or four drops would destroy a child
but I should be afraid of the consequences. Two

of that _a-.
or three drops would be likely to cause convulsion
. ,

1 have not

I have tried

regoric; the colot

is lighter than

that of opium, but there is a considerable resemblance. In
looking at the bottle I think a person not very conversant
might mistake one for the other. There is much less of
opium in paregoric than in laudanum. In an ounce of lauda-
num there are twenty-four grains nearly. In an ounce of
English paregoric two grains; in the Scotch paregoric eight
ild n the shops here is the

Lry paregoric

further Pfc

c bottle stood side

party guuty of that negligenc
It you think there wvs nc
of the prisoner you wilt find him guilty

V of negligence,
is also
gligence

ath ensue

—if not,

you must acquit him
The jury fount'

guilty, and the Court sentenced him

5 to the King.

remarked in continuation that there wer

persons in evidence before them—the father and mother of
the child, and Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon. He then recapitulated
the evidence, remarking strongly on the fact that Mrs. S.
first directed half-a-teaspoonful (or about 30 drops) to bt
taken, and afterwards drew back, and direct

three or four
!at difference.

he given, in which there was av

a was, whether there
skill as to brine the

.ct within thy as ma►►-
liquid had been found to be laudanum,
without syrup, and that
_it had been given, when syrup

of car

for, the offence would be mauslaughte

A mere administration, by mistake, of any medicine that
proved fatal, would not constitxte that . offence. He (Mr.
Curry) having had some doubts on the subject, had written
to Mr. Crompton, than whom he did not know a more acute
crown lawyer : and that gentleman had kindly read the
depositions, and had sent his. pinion in the letter beheld in his
hand. (Mr. C. here read the letter, the principal point of which
was, that if a medicine different from that asked for were given,
and death ensued from its use, the offence would undoubtedly
be manslaughter.) The verdict could not affect Mr. Sheldon
himself, as it did not appear in- evidence that he had autho-
rised the medicine to be dispensed. With respect to the wife,
unless she gave a drug different from that asked for, she
would stand acquitted of the manslaughter. Much depended
on the analysis, and Mr. Brett said there was in the drug
some syrup, or saccharine, so that it might be that which
was sold at Mr. Sheldon's for syrup of poppies, though not
properly compounded. as it ought to have been. If they
thought there was not sufficient evidence to affect Mrs.
Sheldon, they must then be thrown upon the consideration
whether the parents had not administered an overdose, in
which case their verdict would-be against both of them—both
having assisted to administer it—as a case of " chance med-
ley," which meant that the drug was administered with a
Cowl intent, but produced death. _ . .

buileluryl after' some minutes consideration, brought in a
verdict of Chance medley," as affecting the parents, and
appended to their verdict their strong reprehension of the
negligent conduct of Mr. Sheldon, in conducting his husi-

The Coroner, addressing Mr. Sheldon. said this was not
the first, second, or third enquiry over which he had had the
painful duty to preside, in which death had ensued from drugs
prescribed from his (Mr: S.'s) shop. It was Mr. S.'s duty
to confine himself solely to the dispensing of such drugs as he
received prescriptions for from competent professional men.
From the time the jury had taken to consider their yerdict,
it was evident to him that Mrs. Sheldon had had a narrow
escape from a verdict of manslaughter, in which case it would
have been' his duty to commit her to Lancaster Castle for
trial. He hoped, however, the result, though not so serious,
would have a salutary effect.
Mr. Sheldon said he should take means to prevent a re-
currence of such a fatality, as regarded his shop, and added
that he would have attended the court at the appointed time,
but that he had been in the country on business, and that on
g a wheel of the coach in which he was
his return that morning
broke down, by which he was delayed.

UNION OF THE OPHTHALMIC AND EAR
. INSTITUTIONS.

For some time it has been considered desirable that the
ophthalmic and Ear Institutions should be united, and we
have now the pleasure of stating that this object has been
accomplished• Yesterday, the annual meeting of the friends
and subscribers tb both charities was held in the Clarendon.
rooms, South John-street, for the purpose of the business
usual on such occasions being transacted, and for their assent

There were present

ul7ona
a forty, includik
Bold, the Rev. R. L.
Chester), Sir J. Salusbuk,,
and Messrs. John Crossfield, Gordon, Sharpe, R. C. Dawson,
Neill, Joshua Edwards, John Ripley, Oxley, J. R. Chorley,
`Vim Chorley, Hadwen, Hutchinson, and Hanmer.
ROBERTSON GLADSTONE, Esq., was unanimously called
to the chair.

❑e Rev. Rector Brool

The CHAIRMAN, opened the proceedings by stating tha'

Innuai meeting of the subscribers to the E tr and
)phtbalmic Institutions. The report of the com-
mittee of the Ophthalmic Institution would first be read, and
afterwards a proposition would be made for uniting the two,
which, as far as he could see, appeared to be very desirable.

.--fierTRE.ASUREIt of the Ophthalmic Institutioil then pre-
sented a statement of his accounts. It appeared that in the
course of the year donations had been received to the amount
of £B3 13s. 11d, but that after including the annual subscrip-
tions there remained a balance due to him of £66 14s. 10d.
Mr. NEIL, surgeon, then read the report, which was a
very long document. Owing to the accidental loss of the
is of the charity, it commenced with a brief but inte-

lcement

:s comi

resting history of its operations
next expressed the regret of the committee at the treasures
statement showing a heavy debt, and explained that it had
been caused by repairing the house at the corner of Harford-
street, which had beea.granted to the charity by the corpo-
ration. The annual income from subscriptions, the report
stated, was £lB7 ss. 6d., whilst the outlay in the past year
had bcdu £354 135., thus leaving a large sum to be made up
by the chances of charitable donations. Alluding to the
utility of the charity, the report stated that since its com-
mencement no less than 92,19 persons had received surgical
assistance ; that in the past year 21,86 new cases had been

;'that in the same period 49 persons bad I
rated upon for cataract or artificial pupil

rther st

that since 1

atients since the conic

hole number or

Along with the rc-

there w

the charity, 21 year
port Mr. Neil produced a statistical table of the treated
each month, and of the state of the atmosphere, which he
did not read, but which, he said, skewed that eye disease de-
creasedy, and increased from July to
from Christmas to Jul
Christmas.
On the motion of Mr. GORDON, seconded b
WARDS, the treasurer's account
just
the su'

together with the report
) be printed, and circulated among

ing he given to the.officcrs of the charity, for their valuable
services during the past year..--The Rev. R. L. TOWNREN D
having seconded the motion, it was unanimously carried.
The business of the day,
with regard to the Opthalmic In-
stitution, terminated with the re-appointment of the cum-

mittee.
The TREASURER for the Ear Institution then produced
his accounts. It appeared that, after defraying every expense,

surer added, that if this institution were-amalgamated with
the OphtlOmic, the greater part of its expenses would besaved
to the public, and a great deal of valuable time to the gentle-
men who formed the committee. As there was yet an ex-
pense of about £3O, it would be necessary to collect the sub-
scriptions for the present year. •
Mr. NIEL then read the report—which was the first made
since the establishment of the charity 18 mouths ago. It ap-