ses by drink it is no excuse. He is held answerable both for being
under the influence of alcohol or of any other drug, and for the acts
such influence induces.

=Inebriates Act= (1898-1900).--If an habitual drunkard be sentenced to
imprisonment or penal servitude for an offence committed during
drunkenness, or if he has been convicted four times in one year, the
court may order him to be detained for a term not exceeding three years
in an inebriate reformatory.

PART II

TOXICOLOGY

I.--DEFINITION OF A POISON

Though the law does not define in definite terms what a poison really
is, it lays stress on the _malicious intention_ in giving a drug or
other substance to an individual. It is a _felony_ to administer, or
cause to be administered, any poison or other destructive thing with
intent to murder, or with the intention of stupefying or overpowering an
individual so that any indictable offence may be committed. It is a
_misdemeanour_ to administer any poison, or destructive or noxious
thing, merely to aggrieve, injure, or annoy an individual. For a working
_definition_ we may state that a poison is a substance which, when
introduced into or applied to the body, is capable of injuring health or
destroying life. A poison may therefore be swallowed, applied to the
skin, injected into the tissues, or introduced into any orifice of the
body.

II.--SALE OF POISONS; SCHEDULED POISONS

The sale of poisons is regulated by various Acts, but chiefly by the
Pharmacy Act, 1868, and by the Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908. Only
registered medical practitioners and legally qualified druggists are
permitted to dispense and sell scheduled poisons. They are responsible
for any errors which may be committed in the sale of poisons. If a
druggist knows that a drug in a prescription is to be used for an
improper purpose, he may refuse to dispense it. The practitioner who
carelessly prescribes a drug in a poisonous dose is not held
responsible, but the dispenser would be if he dispensed it and harmful
or fatal consequences followed on its being swallowed. When a dispenser
finds an error in a prescription, it is his duty to communicate with the
prescriber privately pointing out the mistake.

A great responsibility rests on the medical man who does his own
dispensing, as there is no one to check his work.

If a doctor prescribes a drug with the intention of curing or preventing
a disease, but that, contrary to e