The morning news., 1892-02-01
The Sale Of Poisons.


worse than crime. is hardly literally true.
In common law the intent constitutes the
crime, and inasmuch as a bIunder is under
stood to mean an error Of judgment. or
failure to accomplish the end in view
through some unforeseen cause, the blum
derer is rarely, II ever, held to strict ac-
countability for the disastrous effects he
may cause.
This is notably true in cases Of poisoning
by laundering druggists or druggists
clerks who. through want Of care. COM
pound deadly mixtures in place of benef-
cial drugs or harmless nOstrums, or put up
morphine powder in place Of quinine.
Numerous tragedies resulting from such
carelessness or thoughtlessness are to be re-
called in every community. But it could
always be shown that there was no malice
or intent to do injury On the part Of the
clerks, 80 they have not been held RESPONSE
| BILE personally OF in law. Isolated cases Of
prosecutions for criminal carelessness have
occurred, but the result Of these especial
cases reached no further than their own en-
/ vironments.
As a matter Of course numerous safe
guards have been thrown around the sale
Of poisons. but nothing yet proposed has
reached the root Of the evil. Each state has
its own peculiar pharmacy laws under
which poisons are dispensed some are severe
in letter and spirit, others are little better
than farce, and all are poorly ad-
ministered. Georgia's law on the subject is
about the same as that of the majority OF
the states, requiring that packages contain
| \ - a
the person to whom the poiron is delivered
shall know of its character and represent
that it is TO be used for legitimate purpose"
The druggist is required to keep a book of
such sales, and violation of the statute is
made misdemeanor, punishable by an OPP
tional fine or imprisonment not exceeding
s., 900 or six months in the county jail, at
| the discretion Of the court. No mention is
| made of the careless sale of toxic drugs,
even though that carelessness be so fragrant
as to be criminal. Happily, however, Geor-
gia pharmacists are painstaking and at
tentive class Of men, and deaths. by reason
Of their errors, are very few and far be-
tween. But they sometimes occur.
Recently several very sad cases of poison
ing ''by accident" have occurred in other
states drawing the attention of the au-
| thorities to the laws on the subject At
present the Maryland general assembly has
| before it two bills covering the matter. One
| Of them provides that all poisons shall be
| kept in boxes or vials, green in color, of a
triangular shape, with a Device consisting
of a skull and cross-bones, marked
! or engraved thereon In such a manner
| or vial is at the same time destroyed or
| broken, and containing also written or i'm
printed thereon in clear, bold type or
characters the word poison" The penalty
provided is Imprisonment not exceeding
two years.
The second bill provides, among other
| things, that ''if the article be kept or dis.
| pensed in bottles or viels, said bottles or
vials shall be made with rough edges or
projecting points on the outer surface, or in
| such other way as will at once indicate to
the touch Of the person handling the same
the dangerous nature of the contents. and
call attention, even in the dark, to the char
acter Of the medicine or subsistence about to
be used" The penalty for violation is a
| fine Of $40 to 500.
Recognizing that it is impossible to legis-
late carelessness out OF mankind, the trend
of all effort is toward devising some method
whereby druggist, clerk or even novice in
toxicology cannot handle such drugs with
out knowledge of the fact.
An electric apparatus which rings a bell
when a dangerous bottle is touched has
! been devised and placed in some drug stores.
but the use OF such contrivance can hardly
become general under existing conditions
| The odd-shaped package is commendable
as being a step in the right direction, but it
is hardly more than one step. The laity,
and even druggists themselves would be-
| come as careless in course Of time with an
odd-shaped bottle by using it for non
poisonous medicines as they are at present
with the multitude Of styles in use The
use of colored retainers-green, for in
stance, as provided in the Maryland bill
will not be effective, because ninety-nine
| One-hundredths of such mistakes occur in
not noticing the bottle at all; the dispenser
usually judges by its being in a particular
place.
An act by the legislature imposing such
restrictions as will weed out all incompe-
tent persons engaged in compounding or
dispensing medicines, it seems. would be one
of the first things needful; then If it is
thought best to provide bottles and boxes
with even the spines of "fretful porcu-
pine" try that, and work up to something
better il it does not answer every purpose.
Death by blunder is death in a most pitia-
| BILE form.
Under its financial department, in the
column devoted to the bulls and bears of