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Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 991, 10 May 1862, Page 2

, The Poisonous Green Flowers.—Dr. Letheby recommends the following method of detecting the presence of arsenic in wreaths and dresses:—" Put a drop of strong liquid ammonia (liquor ammonite the druggist calls it) upon the green leaf, or dress, or paper, and if it turns blue copper is present, and copper is rarely, if ever, present in these tissues and fabrics without arsenic being also present, the green compound being arsenite of copper. I have tested papers and dresses in this manner more than a hundred times, and have never failed to discover arsenic when the ammonia changes the green into blue. It is, therefore, indirectly a very reliable test; and if every lady would carry with her when she is shopping a small phial of liquid ammonia, instead of the usual scent bottle, the mere touch of the wet stopper on the suspicious green would betray the arsenical poison, and settle the business immediately. Population of Scotland.—The results of the census in Scotland have just been published, The total population is 3,061,251, the females preponderating slightly. The population of Scotland iv 1801 was 1,608,420; in 1811, 1,805,864; in 1821, 2,091,521; in 1831, 2,364,386; in 1841. 2,620,184; and in 1851, 2,888,742. The • Lancet' states that in the Windham case 15 of the jurors considered the alleged lunatic of sound mind, while 7 thought otherwise.