Suicide By Ammonia

No poison Irings death with more maddening atri.ny iban ammonia, but that fact does not seem to discourage the suicide. Tbe man Harrowitz, wbo deliberately swíllowed a fatal done of the drug in New Yoik recently, is only one of the inany who have gone tlie ammonia route to death in spite of the excruciating pain Dr. Blyth has recorded thirty cases of ammonia poisoning n the hinall London district of which he is hwilth officer; Professor Mitchell mentions twenty-two cases, and four have occurred dnring tlie short titue Dr. Jenkins has been connected with the coroner's office in New York. Cases of slow poisoning from ammonia are of constant occurrence among men who work in its manulaclure, or even in decompoeing substances which give ii 'ff in considerable quanitites. Ammonia, sdowly and from day to day taken into the tystem, causes the complexión lo lose its freshneBS, and tbe skin of men who get heavily inipregnated with it has a disagreeably blotched and discolored appearance. Taken into the stomach from day to day in even the small quantities use'd to adultérate food, such as baking powder, it not only injures the complexion but attucks the lining of the stomach, and is tlii-source of muoh general ill health. The iecent rapid in rease in tbe use of ammonia for varioua purposea, and the consequent increase in its manufacture, have made it one of the most easily obtained poisuns and, although everybody is familiar with it in some form, tb era is a surprising amount of ignorance of its dangerous qualities. lts use as an adulterant in any food preparation is simply a crime, and as a crime should be punished.