Section 25. “_if Upon the Trial of Any Person Charged With the Felony

above mentioned the jury shall not be satisfied that such person is guilty thereof, but shall be satisfied that he is guilty of the misdemeanour above mentioned, then, and in every such case, the jury may acquit the accused for such felony and find him guilty of a misdemeanour._”

=Administration of Noxious Drugs.=--The law throws on the medical witness the responsibility of the definition of a noxious thing, and whether it was given in excess, or liable to cause annoyance or injury to health. At a Bodmin Assize, Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn, after consultation with Mr. Justice Hawkins, delivered an important judgment on the subject. A man was charged with having administered cantharides with criminal intent. The judges ruled that there must not only be an administration of a noxious drug with a guilty intent, but the drug must have been administered in such quantities as to be noxious, whereas the dose here given was too small to be seriously deleterious. Distinction was drawn between a drug like cantharides, which is only noxious when given in excess, and strychnine, a well-established poison. Acquittal was therefore directed. In the case of R. v. Cramp, the prisoner was charged with having administered half an ounce of oil of juniper with intent to procure abortion. He was convicted, but appealed on the legal ground that the substance must be noxious in itself, and not only when given in excess. Lord Coleridge ruled that “if a person administers with intent to produce miscarriage something which as administered is ‘noxious,’ he administers a ‘noxious thing.’”

=The Sale of Poisons.=--The law, by the Pharmacy Act, 1868, and its amendments, restricts the sale of poisons to pharmaceutical chemists, chemists and druggists, and registered medical practitioners. The Acts define and indicate by schedule “Poisons within the meaning of the Act.” The Schedule of Poisons, as amended in the “Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908,” and “Additions to Schedule 1913,” is:

SCHEDULE OF POISONS [As amended by Orders in Council]