MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY.
 
 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY, 
 
 INCLUDING THE CONSIDERATION OF THE 
 
 NATURE, PROPERTIES, EFFECTS, AND MEANS 
 OF DETECTION 
 
 OF 
 
 POISONS, 
 
 MORE ESPECIALLY IN THEIR MEDICO-LEGAL RELATIONS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN J. REESE, M.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE AND TOXICOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA 
 PHYSICIAN TO ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL; MEMBER OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF PHILA- 
 DELPHIA; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1874.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT A CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE B. WOOD, M.D., LL.D., 
 
 EMERITTTS PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA; PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF PHILADELPHIA; 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, ETC., 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
 IS DEDICATED, 
 
 AS A TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM FOB HIM AS A PUBLIC TEACHER, 
 
 AKD OF 
 SINCERE PERSONAL REGARD AS A PRECEPTOR, 
 
 BY HIS FRIEND AND FORMER PUPIL, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A NEW work on Toxicology will doubtless be regarded by 
 some as uncalled for, since there already exist so many 
 excellent treatises on this subject, both in our own and in 
 foreign languages. This objection, however, might be equally 
 urged against new publications in almost every department 
 of science : there is scarcely one of which it may not be 
 affirmed that its literature is already abundantly supplied. 
 Yet this does not deter new authors from venturing before 
 the public, prompted, doubtless, by the desire of offering 
 something of at least a passing value, and of adding, it may 
 be, a fragment to the store of human knowledge. 
 
 The author is fully aware that the field of investigation 
 on which he has entered has already been very thoroughly 
 explored by others. Names illustrious in the annals of 
 medical and toxicological science are identified with this 
 subject throughout the civilized world. Yet he ventures to 
 hope that the present treatise will be found a useful text- 
 book, both by the student and the teacher of Toxicology. 
 From an experience of a number of years, he may presume 
 to speak with some authority to the former, as likewise with 
 some degree of confidence to the latter, upon topics with 
 which he is personally familiar. His aim has been to 
 convey his meaning in the simplest style and phraseology, 
 believing this to be the most efficient method of teaching 
 others.
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 The recorded experience of authorities becomes the com- 
 mon property of all who ma} 7 receive it ; and it may be freely 
 used by them, and reproduced, provided always that due 
 credit is awarded to the originals. Influenced by this view, 
 the author feels that he needs no apology for his free quota- 
 tions from standard toxicological and chemical authorities, 
 both native and foreign. Among the former, he would 
 specially mention Wharton and Stille's "Medical Jurispru- 
 dence/' the last edition (1873) of which is so copious and 
 complete;' and Prof. "Wormley's beautifully illustrated "Mi- 
 cro-Chemistry of Poisons." To the latter he is particularly 
 indebted for hints in testing for very minute portions of cer- 
 tain poisons. Among foreign authorities, the classic treatises 
 of Professors Taylor and Guy, of London, of Sir R. Chris- 
 tison, of Edinburgh, of Orfila and Tardieu, of Paris, and of 
 Professor Casper, of Berlin, deserve especial notice : each 
 has contributed not a little to the completeness of the present 
 volume, as the reader will perceive by the numerous refer- 
 ences to their names in the following pages. 
 
 More than a passing reference is due to Dr. A. S. Taylor, 
 of London, from whose elaborate works, "On Poisons," and 
 " Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence," 1873, 
 the author has enriched his present treatise, especially in 
 the matter of illustrative cases, as also in some other par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 It will be observed that more particular attention, in the 
 details, has been bestowed upon certain special poisons, as. 
 for example, Arsenic, Phosphorus, Opium, Strychnia, etc., 
 because of their relatively greater importance to the toxicolo- 
 gist. In the first portion of the work, a chapter has been 
 devoted to the subject of " Post-mortem Imbibition of Poi- 
 sons," and another to the "Duties and Privileges of Medical 
 Experts," topics which the author believes have not received
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 sufficient consideration, and which possess very great im- 
 portance for the toxicologist and the legal physician. 
 
 The subject of spectrum-analysis has not been treated of in 
 the present volume. This truly beautiful method of analyt- 
 ical research has developed the most wonderful results both 
 in chemistry and in other departments of science. In point 
 of delicacy, it far transcends the most subtle and refined 
 chemical reactions ; and as a corroborative means of evi- 
 dence, it will doubtless prove of great value to the toxicolo- 
 gist. But as it deals, so to speak, with infinitesimals, we 
 do not think that it would be safe, in a case of alleged poi- 
 soning, to rest the evidence solely upon the spectral demon- 
 stration of the supposed toxic agent, to the exclusion of the 
 recognized chemical tests. When an accumulated experience 
 with spectral analysis has rendered the identification of the 
 various poisons absolutely and exclusively certain, we can 
 probably aft'ord to abandon altogether the more tedious and 
 complex methods of chemical research. 
 
 The author commits his work to the profession with the 
 assurance that he has striven to perform his part carefully 
 and conscientiously, and promises to profit by any friendly 
 criticisms, if his book should have the good fortune to reach 
 another edition. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 1840 GREEN STREET, 
 March, 1874.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 PAG I 
 
 Preliminary Considerations. Definition of a Poison. Deleterious 
 
 substances not properly poisons i .13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mode of action of Poisons on the animal economy. Local and remote 
 
 effects of poisons ......... 18 
 
 SECTION I. The different modes by which Poisons gain access to 
 the various organs of the body. Nervous communication, or 
 Sympathy. Contiguity of structure ...... 20 
 
 SECTION II. Absorption of Poisons. Circumstances influencing 
 Absorption. Subsequent disposition of the poison. Elimina- 
 tion of poisons. Cause of death by poisons . . . . 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Circumstances which modify the action of poisons. Quantity and 
 Form. Modifying influence of the part of the body to which 
 the poison is applied. Influence of Habit of Idiosyncrasy 
 of Disease of Tolerance ........ 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Post-mortem Imbibition of Poisons. Its influence in medico-legal 
 
 38 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Evidences of Poisoning . . . . , ... 45 
 
 SKCTION I. Evidences afforded by the Symptoms. Diseases re- 
 sembling Poisoning . ' . . . . . . . .45 
 
 SECTION II. Evidences derived from Post-mortem appearances. 
 
 Lesions common to Disease and Poisoning ..... 56 
 
 SECTION III. Inspection of the body. Collection and preservation 
 
 of the suspected materials ........ 62 
 
 SECTION IV. Evidence from Chemical Analysis. Causes of fail- 
 ure in the Chemical Analysis Objects of the Chemical 
 Analysis. Precautions to be observed. Accuracy of the 
 Analysis. Impurities in Reagents ...... 67 
 
 xi
 
 Xli CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 SECTION' V. Evidence derived from experiments on animals. 
 
 Precautions to be observed 80 
 
 SECTION VI. Evidence derived from the circumstances (Moral 
 
 Evidence) 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Compound Poisoning. Antagonism of Poisons. Case of Dr. Paul 
 
 Schoeppe 91 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Method of Chemical Procedure in a case of suspected Poisoning. 
 
 Dialysis ...98 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Medico-legal questions connected with Poisoning 114 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Duties and Privileges of Medical Experts. Subpoenas. Compensation. 
 
 Defrauding of Experts 119 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Classification of Poisons 132 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 CLASS I. Irritant Poisons 135 
 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Sulphuric Acid. Symptoms. Fatal 
 period. Fatal quantity. Treatment. Post-mortem appear- 
 ances. Absorption and elimination. Chemical analysis. 
 Detection in organic matters. Detection of spots. Quanti- 
 tative analysis . % 137 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Nitric Acid. Symptoms. Fatal dose. 
 Fatal period. Treatment. Post-mortem appearances. 
 Chemical analysis. Detection in organic matters. Absorp- 
 tion and elimination. Examination of suspected stains . . 149 
 
 SECTION III. Poisoning by Hydrochloric (Muriatic) Acid. Symp- 
 toms. Fatal dose. Post-mortem signs. Detection in organic 
 matters. Examination of suspected stains. Quantitative 
 analysis . 158 
 
 SECTION IV. Poisoning by Oxalic Acid. Symptoms. Fatal 
 dose. Fatal period. Treatment. Morbid appearances. 
 Chemical analysis. Detection in organic mixtures. Quanti- 
 tative analysis. Examination of stains. Poisoning by Bin- 
 oxalate of Potassa (Salt of Sorrel) 162 
 
 SECTION V. Poisoning by Tartaric Acid Citric Acid Acetic 
 
 Acid . 173
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Poisoning by the Alkalies and their Salts ; also by the Earthy Salts . 175 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Potassa, Soda, and Ammonia. Symp- 
 toms. Fatal dose. Treatment. Morbid appearances. 
 Chemical properties. Chemical analysis of Potassa and its 
 Carbonate. Fallacy. Chemical analysis of Soda and its Car- 
 bonate. Chemical analysis of Ammonia and its Salts. De- 
 tection in organic mixtures . .'.'.. . . > 175 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by the Alkaline and Earthy Salts. Ni- 
 trate of Potassa. Bitartrate of Potassa. Sulphate of Potassa. 
 Alum. Chlorinated Potassa and Soda. Salts of Baryta . 184 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 Irritants having remote specific properties * 193 
 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Phosphorus. Symptoms. Chronic 
 Poisoning. Fatal dose. Fatal period. Treatment. Morbid 
 Appearances. Diagnosis. Chemical analysis. Process of 
 Mitscherlich and Lipowitz The Hydrogen method. Phos- 
 phoric Acid. Tests. Amorphous or Allotropic Phosphorus . 194 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Iodine and Bromine. Symptoms. 
 
 Chemical analysis ......... 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Poisoning by Arsenic. Metallic Arsenic Arsenious Acid. Proper- 
 ties. Symptoms. Chronic poisoning. First appearance of 
 symptoms. External application. Fatal dose. Fatal pe- 
 riod. Post-mortem appearances. Antiseptic power. Treat- 
 ment. Chemical analysis. Eeduction process. Liquid 
 Tests. Sulphuretted Hydrogen Test. Marsh's Test and modi- 
 fications. Eeinsch's Test. Fallacies. Bloxam's method. 
 Detection in organic mixtures. Separation from the tissues. 
 Other preparations of Arsenic ...... 214 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Poisoning by Antimony. Tartar Emetic. Properties. Symptoms. 
 Fatal dose. Fatal period. Post-mortem appearances. 
 Treatment. Slow poisoning. External application. Chem- 
 ical analysis. Sulphuretted Hydrogen Test. Galvanic Test. 
 Marsh's Test. Detection in organic mixtures. Importance 
 of obtaining the metal. Recovery from the tissues. Chlo- 
 ride of Antimony . . . . . . t - , . 253 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Poisoning by Mercury. Corrosive Sublimate. Properties. Symp- 
 toms. External application. Fatal dose. Fatal period.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mortality. Treatment. Post-mortem appearances. Chronic 
 poisoning. Chemical analysis. Reinsch's Test. Galvanic 
 Test. Detection in organic mixtures in the tissues and 
 urine. Relation to salivation. Quantitative determination. 
 Other preparations of Mercury 272 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Poisoning by Copper. Accidental poisoning. Salts of Copper. Symp- 
 toms. Fatal dose. Fatal period. Treatment. Morbid ap- 
 pearances. Chemical analysis. Detection in organic mix- 
 tures in the stomach and its contents in the tissues in 
 the urine. Quantitative estimate 289 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Poisoning by Lead. Accidental poisoning. External application. 
 Contamination of drinking-water. Acetate, or Sugar of 
 Lead. Symptoms. Fatal dose. Fatal period. Treatment. 
 Post-mortem appearances. Chronic poisoning. Painter's 
 colic. Lead-palsy. Chemical analysis. Detection in organic 
 matters in the stomach in the tissues in the urine. 
 Quantitative determination 805 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Poisoning by Zinc, Bismuth, Tin, Iron, and Chromium . . . 322 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Zinc. Sulphate of Zinc. Symptoms. 
 Morbid lesions. Chloride of Zinc. Treatment. Tests. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures 322 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Bismuth. Subnitrate of Bismuth. 
 
 Contamination with arsenic. Tests ..... 827 
 SECTION III. Poisoning by Salts of Tin Preparations of Iron. 
 Preparations of Chromium. Bichromate of Potassa. 
 Chemical analysis 329 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Vegetable and Animal Irritants ........ 331 
 
 SECTION I. Vegetable Irritants. Drastics. Croton Oil. Elate- 
 rium. Aloes. Colocynth. Colchicum. Castor-oil seeds. 
 Savin 331 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Black, Green, and White Hellebore. 
 
 Veratria 337 
 
 SECTION III. Poisoning by Carbolic Acid. Symptoms. Fatal 
 
 quantity. Chemical analysis. Poisoning by Yellow Jessamine 842 
 
 SECTION IV. Poisonous Mushrooms (Fungi) Symptoms . . 345
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Animal Irritants ........... 349 
 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Cantharides. Symptoms. Fatal quan- 
 tity. Treatment. Post-mortem signs. Cantharidin . . 349 
 SECTION II. Poisonous Animal Food. Sausage-Poison. Trichi- 
 
 niasis. Cheese-Poison ........ 353 
 
 SECTION III. Poisonous Fish. Mussels ..... 356 
 
 SECTION IV. Poisoning by Putrescent Food. Poisoned Meat . 358 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CLASS II. Neurotic Poisons. ORDER I. Cerebral Neurotics . . 361 
 SECTION I. Narcotics. Poisoning by Opium. Symptoms. Fatal 
 period. Fatal dose. External application. Morbid ap- 
 pearances. Treatment. Morphia. Fatal dose. Chemical 
 analysis of Opium. Detection of Morphia. Meconic Acid. 
 Tests. Narcotina. Codeia. Narceine. Thebaia. Meco- 
 nin. Detection of Opium in organic mixtures. Examination 
 for Morphia alone. Detection in the tissues and blood . . 361 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Alcohol. Post-mortem appearances. 
 
 Diagnosis. Chemical analysis. Detection in the tissues . 385 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Anaesthetics ............ 389 
 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Ether. Symptoms. Morbid lesions. 
 
 Chemical analysis ......... 389 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Chloroform. Effects and symptoms. 
 Post-mortem appearances. Treatment. Analysis. Hydrate 
 of Chloral. Chemical properties. Detection in the body . 390 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ORDER II. Spinal Neurotics, or Tetanics. Poisoning by Nux Vomica. 
 Strychnia. Properties. Symptoms. Period of invasion. 
 Fatal dose. Fatal period. Treatment. Post-mortem signs. 
 Diagnosis. Chemical analysis. Bitter taste. Color test. 
 Fallacies. Interferences. The Frog Test. Recovery from 
 organic mixtures and contents of the stomach. Detection in 
 the tissues, blood, and urine. Failure to detect. Brucia. 
 Properties. Tests 39tl 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ORDER III. Cerebro- spinal Neurotics. Deliriants .... 436 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Belladonna. Symptoms.- Character of 
 the delirium. External application. Atropia. Fatal dose. 
 Treatment. Morbid lesions Chemical analysis. Detec- 
 tion in organic mixtures. Physiological test .... 436
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 FAOI 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Stramonium. Properties. Symp- 
 toms. Post-mortem appearances. Analysis. Daturia . . 444 
 
 SECTION III. Poisoning by Hyosoyamus. Properties. Symp- 
 toms. Idiosyncrasies. Analysis. Hyoscyamia . . . 447 
 
 SECTION IV. Poisoning by Solanum. Solanum dulcamara, or 
 Bittersweet. Solanum nigrum, or Garden Nightshade. Sola- 
 num tuberosum, or Potato. Solania. Tests .... 449 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 Depressants 452 
 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Hemlock. Properties. Post-mortem 
 appearances. Conia. Treatment. Chemical properties. 
 Tests. Detection in organic mixtures. Other species of 
 Hemlock 452 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Tobacco. Symptoms. External ap- 
 plication. Morbid lesions. Nicotina. Properties. Case of 
 the Count Bocarme. Chemical reactions. Separation from 
 organic mixtures and from the stomach. Poisoning by Lobe- 
 lia. Lobelina. Effects on the system 457 
 
 SECTION III. Poisoning by Aconite. Properties. Symptoms. 
 Morbid lesions. Aconitia. Properties. Treatment. De- 
 tection in organic matters ........ 465 
 
 SECTION IV. Poisoning by Calabar Bean. Properties. Effects 
 on- the system. Treatment. Physostigmia. Chemical prop- 
 erties ... 471 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Asthenias 474 
 
 SECTION I. Poisoning by Hydrocyanic (Prussic) Acid. Proper- 
 ties. Symptoms. Rapidity of invasion. Fatal dose. 
 Treatment. Post-mortem appearances. Tests. Process by 
 distillation. Quantitative analysis. Cyanide of Potassium. 
 Oil of Bitter Almonds. Cherry-Laurel-Water. Nitro- 
 Benzole, or Essence of Mirbane 474 
 
 SECTION II. Poisoning by Digitalis. Symptoms. Post-mortem 
 1 signs. Digitaline. Chemical reactions. Detection in or- 
 ganic mixtures. Physiological test. Case of De la Pom- 
 merais .".... 490 
 
 SECTION III. Poisoning by Cocculus Indicus. Symptoms. Ex-, 
 ternal application. Picrotoxia. Chemical reactions. Sepa- 
 ration from organic mixtures. Poisoning by Laburnum. 
 Yew. Privet. Guelder Rose. Holly 496
 
 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 TOXICOLOGY from rtx<Jy,'a poison, and Ao^o<r, a discourse 
 signifies the science which treats of Poisons. It embraces 
 the consideration of their nature, properties, history, mode 
 of procuring, effects on the animal system, fatal dose, anti- 
 dotes, and means of detection by chemical analysis and by 
 other methods. 
 
 The subject of Poisoning very properly occupies a promi- 
 nent place in medical jurisprudence, since in a large majority 
 of the cases of violent death that claim the attention of the 
 legal physician, the fatal result is directly attributable to 
 poison. Before proceeding to treat of the individual poisons 
 in detail, it will be proper first to discuss some preliminary 
 points of a general character, the correct understanding of 
 which is of the utmost importance to the toxicologist, and 
 indeed, without which knowledge, he will be liable to fall into 
 serious errors, when, on the witness-stand, he undertakes to 
 enlighten the court and jury in some capital case. We 
 would, therefore, at the outset, urge upon the student of 
 Toxicology not only the importance of a thorough acquaint- 
 ance with the chemical methods employed for the detection 
 of the different poisonous agents, but also the necessity of a 
 close observation of all the surrounding circumstances, by 
 which alone he will be enabled to solve the difficult questions 
 
 2 13
 
 14 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 that present themselves in nearly every case of suspected 
 poisoning. 
 
 Among these questions, the following offer special claims 
 to notice: the inferences to be drawn from the origin and 
 progress of the symptoms that have attended the suspicions 
 case; the character of the post-mortem lesions, when the 
 case has terminated fatally ; the proper mode of conducting 
 the autopsy ; the value of the signs afforded by experiments 
 upon the lower animals, as tending to strengthen or to in- 
 validate the suspicion of poison derived from other sources; 
 and finally, the necessity of a rigorous observance of the rules 
 laid down for a strict and impartial chemical analysis. 
 
 Besides the above considerations, there are others that will 
 not escape the attention of the educated toxicologist. Thus, 
 he will give due attention to the conduct and deportment of 
 the persons in attendance upon the patient; he will not fail 
 to notice any unnatural solicitude about the removal of 
 articles of medicine or food, or of the matters ejected from 
 the stomach and bowels; any undue anxiety to exclude all 
 others from waiting upon the patient; and, in case of death, 
 a disposition to avoid a post-mortem examination, and to 
 hasten the interment of the body with an undue haste. These 
 different subjects will therefore receive a proper considera- 
 tion, together with a study of the various circumstances which 
 modify the effects of poisons on the human system, such as 
 age, habit, idiosyncrasy, disease, quantity of the poison, con- 
 dition of the stomach, etc. 
 
 A POISON may be defined to be a substance capable of pro- 
 ducing noxious and even fatal effects upon the system, no matter by 
 what avenue it be introduced ; and this, as an ordinary result, in a 
 healthy state of the body, and not by a mechanical action. It will 
 be observed that the above definition of a poison is carefully 
 worded, in order to convey a correct idea of its meaning. 
 Thus, the poisonous effect must be an ordinary remit of its 
 administration. A substance which affects one person in 
 consequence of some idiosyncrasy or peculiarity of consti- 
 tution, but does not affect others, is not a poison. The most 
 simple articles of food may act poisonously upon certain in- 
 dividuals, through this idiosyncrasy ; we have known a case
 
 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 15 
 
 in which strawberries produced this effect habitually ; and 
 the records of medicine are full of such instances. Again, 
 to constitute a substance a poison, its noxious effects must be 
 produced on the healthy system. It is well known that many 
 diseased conditions of the body render it extremely suscep- 
 tible to impressions by external agents, even those other- 
 wise the most harmless. Thus, in acute inflammation of 
 the stomach, almost any substance even water may excite 
 vomiting and pain; so also, the copious drinking of cold 
 water by a person heated by violent exercise may occasion 
 sudden death; yet water is not a poison. In a certain dis- 
 eased condition (granular) of the kidneys, it has been found 
 that calomel, even in small doses, proves very injurious; yet 
 calomel is not ordinarily regarded as strictly a poison. Again, 
 iu order to bring a substance within the strict definition of 
 a " poison," it must not act mechanically. Certain bodies, 
 such as pins and needles, powdered glass, fragments of iron 
 and other metals, and the stones and seeds of fruits when 
 swallowed, may cause serious and even fatal results by their 
 mechanical action, producing irritation and inflammation of 
 the lining membrane of the alimentary canal ; but these are 
 not poisons. 
 
 According to our definition, a poison produces its delete- 
 rious effects upon the system, no matter by what avenue it be 
 introduced. Most usually, poisons are swallowed into the 
 stomach, and are thence absorbed into the circulation. But 
 they act often with far greater vigor when inhaled into the 
 lungs in the form of vapor, when injected into the rectum, 
 when introduced hypoderrnically, or when applied to an 
 ulcerated or abraded surface. They are also absorbed, though 
 not so rapidly, from the mucous membrane of the vagina, the 
 nose, and the ear, and even from the sound skin. It is to be 
 understood that in all of the above instances, the poison pro- 
 duces its peculiar effects by being absorbed into the circula- 
 tion ; and the rapidity of its effects will always be, coderis 
 paribus, in proportion to the rapidity of its absorption. It is 
 for this reason that when a poison is directly injected into 
 the blood-vessels, its action is so immediate. 
 
 The question of quantity, or size of the dose of the poisonous
 
 16 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 substance, does not enter into the account in case of an in- 
 dictment for poisoning. In medico-legal inquiries, the main 
 object of proof is to connect the results i.e., the symptoms, 
 ksions, and chemical analysis directly with the substance em- 
 ployed, and with the intention of the person employing it. 
 Thus, the law makes no distinction between a murder com- 
 mitted by the administration of a grain of strychnia and one 
 resulting from taking an ounce of oxalic acid, provided both 
 were given with the same evil design ; each is equally fatal, 
 although they differ so widely in their fatal dose. There are 
 some substances, such as sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salt) 
 and chloride of sodium (common salt), which are generally 
 regarded as innocuous, but which have occasioned death in 
 several instances where very large doses have been taken. 
 Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, Am. ed., 1859, p. 19) mentions 
 the case of a young lady who died in the course of a few hours 
 in consequence of swallowing about half a pound of common 
 salt as a remedy for worms. General paralysis set in in 
 about two hours, and all remedies, including the stomach- 
 pump, proved unavailing. The post-mortem appearances 
 indicated excessive irritation of the alimentary canal. Sir K. 
 Christison mentions an instance in which a man died, after 
 swallowing a pound of this salt, within twenty-four hours, 
 with all the symptoms of irritant poisoning; also another 
 case, in which two ounces of the same salt produced very 
 alarming symptoms in a young man. This author also quotes 
 a case of a boy ten years old, who died within one hour after 
 swallowing two ounces of Epsom salt, administered as a 
 remedy for worms; violent symptoms immediately came on, 
 such as great depression, slow and difficult breathing, pulse 
 almost imperceptible, but no vomiting or purging. It is 
 further stated that after death, no morbid appearances were 
 observed in the body. (Christison on Poisons, p. 657.) 
 
 From the above remarks it will be evident that the mere 
 quantity of the substance required to destroy life cannot be 
 made a ground of distinction between a poisonous and a (so- 
 called) non-poisonous article. In the language of Dr. Taylor 
 (loc. c#.), "if a medical witness be asked, What is a poison? 
 lie must beware of adopting this common definition, or of
 
 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 17 
 
 confining the term * poison' to a substance capable of oper- 
 ating as such in a small dose given at once." 
 
 The term deadly poison is popularly applied to such virulent 
 substances as destroy life very speedily and when taken in 
 small doses, such as prussic acid, strychnia, arsenic, nicotina, 
 etc. In the wording of an indictment for poisoning, it is 
 customary to describe every poison as deadly, although, in the 
 strict sense of the term, many fatal poisons cannot fairly be 
 thus described. The question, however, may now be con- 
 sidered as settled by judicial decision that the word "deadly" 
 is not essential to the validity of an indictment (Law Times, 
 April 12,1845); its use, therefore, in this connection may be 
 regarded as superfluous. 
 
 If the substance administered with criminal intent is 
 capable of destro} 7 ing the health or the life of an individual, 
 the law makes no account, so far as the responsibility of the 
 prisoner is concerned, of the manner by which life was de- 
 stroyed, whether by chemical or mechanical means. In 
 order, however, properly to include all the possible methods, 
 the English statute runs thus : " Whoever shall administer, 
 or cause to be taken, any poison or other destructive thing, with 
 intent to commit murder, shall be guilty of felony, and being 
 convicted thereof, shall suffer death." Here the phrase " other 
 destructive thing'' is intended to cover the whole ground, and 
 to preclude the possibility of escape through a faulty indict- 
 ment. The laws of the United States in relation to the ad- 
 ministration of poisons are essentially the same as those of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 In relation to the dangerous results which not unfrequently 
 follow the swallowing of irritating bodies (as already men- 
 tioned), such as powdered glass, pins and needles, etc., which 
 act only mechanically, it should be remembered that many 
 small substances, such as the seeds of various fruits, are liable 
 to cause death by entering into the appendix vermiformis of the 
 cificum, and there exciting a fatal peritonitis. In such cases 
 the effects may be erroneously ascribed to an irritant poison ; 
 and the real cause of death will be revealed only by a post- 
 mortem examination. 
 
 Further, certain substances, when swallowed, may produce
 
 18 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 alarming, and even fatal, effects, by simply over-distending 
 the stomach. A case is mentioned by Dr. Taylor of a young 
 woman who took a quantity of raw rice mixed with milk. 
 She soon became alarmingly ill, suffering with symptoms of 
 over-distension of the stomach. She was much relieved for 
 the time by an emetic; but on the following day the pain 
 and anxiety returned, and she died in twenty-four hours after 
 swallowing the rice. A post-mortem examination revealed 
 an extensive recent peritonitis. It occasionally happens that 
 a person dies from over-distension of the stomach occasioned 
 by eating a hearty meal. In such cases, the actual cause of 
 death is to be ascribed either to apoplexy (arising from the 
 distension), or to shock. Such an accident may happen 
 at any age ; and as the symptoms come on suddenly after 
 eating, and are of a very alarming character, the suspicion 
 of poisoning may very naturally be excited, and the real 
 cause of death will be discovered only by a proper examina- 
 tion of the body. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MODE OF ACTION OF POISONS ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. 
 
 THIS action is of a twofold character: (1) local, and (2) 
 remote. 
 
 1. Local Effects of Poisons. By this is understood the direct 
 impression of a poison upon that part of the body with which 
 it comes into immediate contact. The effects thus produced 
 are, for the most part, of an irritant or corrosive character. 
 The strong mineral acids and alkalies, for example, if applied 
 externally, or taken internally, by virtue of their chemical 
 affinities exert a destructive or corrosive action upon the 
 tissue to which they are applied ; and they may prove fatal 
 either by the shock occasioned to the nervous system (pre- 
 cisely as in the case of a severe superficial scald or burn), or 
 else, through their destructive agency, by causing a perfora- 
 tion of the stomach or intestines, and thus bringing on fatal
 
 REMOTE EFFECTS OF POISONS. 19 
 
 peritonitis. Frequently the local effect of a poison results 
 merely in inflammation of the part, which, however, maj^ pro- 
 ceed to suppuration, ulceration, and gangrene. Examples of 
 this are afforded in the action of such irritants as arsenic, 
 tartar emetic, salts of copper and zinc, cantharides, and nu- 
 merous vegetable substances, all of which produce a local 
 irritant impression when taken internally, or when applied 
 externally ; although some of them may at the same time 
 exert a general or constitutional impression, as e.g. arsenic 
 and tartar emetic. It will be observed that the action of 
 the local poisons above alluded to closely resembles that of 
 mechanical irritants, except that these latter exert no local 
 chemical effects. 
 
 The local effects of another class of poisons appear to be 
 especially directed to the sensory nerves, producing a be- 
 numbing or paralyzing sensation. Thus, aconite root, when 
 chewed, occasions a pricking, benumbing feeling to the 
 tongue and fauces ; chloroform, prussic acid, and veratria, 
 when applied to the skin, produce a sensation of numbness ; 
 opium, prussic acid, and ticunas, if applied directly to the 
 muscles, occasion paralysis ; and belladonna and Calabar bean 
 produce the same influence on the muscular fibre of the iris 
 when directly applied to the eye, the former dilating the 
 pupil, and the latter contracting it. 
 
 2. Remote Effects of Poisons. By this we understand those 
 results which are produced in parts of the system remote 
 from that to which the poison was originally applied. The 
 same substance, however, often exerts both a local and a 
 remote action, as already observed. 
 
 The remote effects of poisons are twofold common and 
 specific. Their common effect is the same as that which would 
 result from any common severe injury inflicted upon the 
 part; their specific effect is that which the poison alone could 
 produce. Moreover, the remote specific effect may be either 
 general producing a general specific impression on the whole 
 frame, as e.g. the general depression caused by tartar emetic, 
 or local, as e.g. the local action of tartar emetic upon the lungs 
 and skin, or that of mercury upon the salivary glands. 
 
 A proper understanding of the remote effects of poisons
 
 20 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 constitutes the really important problem to be determined : it 
 is that which will indicate the poison itself. Thus, a grad- 
 ually increasing stupor is a very significant indication of 
 opium-poisoning; tetanic spasms are strongly suggestive of 
 strychnia; salivation, with fetid breath, points to mercury; 
 certain forms of paralysis are symptomatic of lead or mer- 
 curial poisoning, etc. These remote effects, or manifesta- 
 tions, in fact, constitute a most important class of symptoms 
 of poisoning a very valuable factor in aiding us to arrive 
 at a positive conclusion in a suspected case, but one, never- 
 theless, which must be cautiously employed, since there are 
 many diseases whose, symptoms very strongly resemble those 
 of poisons (vide post). 
 
 In order properly to understand the remote action of 
 poisons, the question must first be determined How do 
 poisons gain access to the different organs of the body after 
 being swallowed into the stomach, injected into the rectum, 
 inhaled into the lungs, or introduced hypodermically into the 
 cellular tissue? This question will be discussed in the suc- 
 ceeding section. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE DIFFERENT MODES BT WHICH POISONS GAIN ACCESS TO THE VARIOUS 
 ORGANS OF THE BODY. 
 
 There are only three conceivable means by which the in- 
 fluence of poisons can be transferred to distant organs, viz., 
 (1) by propagation of their impression by nervous commu- 
 nication to the great nerve-centres ; (2) by contiguity of 
 structure; and (3) by their absorption into the circulation. 
 These three methods of transfer will now be examined. 
 
 1. Nervous communication. Sympathy. In the early history 
 of Toxicology all poisons were believed to act through sym- 
 pathy. This was also the early doctrine with respect to 
 medicines; in both instances, the impression made on a part 
 of the body by the immediate contact of the substance was 
 supposed to be conveyed to distant parts by means of nervous 
 communication, either directly, or by reflex action through 
 the nervous centres. The discovery of venous absorption
 
 MODE OF ACTION OF POISONS. 21 
 
 by Magendie, in 1809, entirely revolutionized the ideas of 
 physiologists on this subject. The present doctrine is in 
 favor of the almost exclusive absorption of both medicines 
 and poisons. Of ihefact of the propagation of impressions 
 by nervous communication, there can be no doubt. Familiar 
 illustrations will readily occur to the practitioner of medicine, 
 as where, in disease, distant organs are affected by sympathy; 
 so that there would seem to be no reason, a priori, why the 
 morbid impression produced by a poison or a medicine should 
 not be transferred in a similar manner. Indeed, the extreme 
 rapidity with which certain poisonous agents, when locally 
 applied to the body, affect the centres of life, rather counte- 
 nances this mode of action; whilst the same velocity appears 
 inconsistent with the idea of its action through the route of 
 the circulation ; thus, a drop of pure prussic acid applied to 
 the tongue of a cat, killed it almost instantly within three 
 or four seconds. But the subsequent experiments of Blake 
 and Hering, by demonstrating the extreme rapidity of the 
 circulation, have served to reconcile the instances of the most 
 speedy action of certain poisons with the theory of absorption. 
 It is, however, undeniable in some cases, e.g. those of rapid 
 death from the action of the corrosives, and where the fatal 
 result is occasioned by what is denominated shock, that the 
 impression is conveyed from the point of injury, through 
 nervous communication, to the great nerve-centres. 
 
 2. Contiguity of structure. Very little need be said on this 
 subject. With the old writers this was a favorite method of 
 accounting for the propagation of morbid impressions. It 
 was subsequently extended so as to embrace the action of 
 remedial and toxic agents ; but at the present day very few, 
 if any, authorities sustain it. The Absorption of poisons 
 will be discussed in the following section.
 
 22 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 ABSORPTION OF POISONS. CIRCUMSTANCES INFLUENCING ABSORPTION. 
 SUBSEQUKNT DISPOSITION OF THE POISON. ELIMINATION OF POISONS. 
 CAUSE OF DEATH. 
 
 3. Absorption of Poisons. This is by far the most impor- 
 tant of all the methods by which poisons act upon the body. 
 The fact that poisons are absorbed into the circulation after 
 being swallowed, or otherwise introduced into the body, is 
 fully established by numerous experiments, both upon man 
 and the lower animals. The proofs of absorption are afforded 
 by their detection in the blood, in the secretions, and in the 
 different organs of the body ; and the list of poisons thus 
 detected includes every substance which can be recognized 
 by its color or 'odor, or by chemical analysis. Tiedernann 
 and Gmelin discovered acetate of lead in the blood of the 
 splenic and other veins of dogs ; and cyanide of mercury 
 and chloride of barium in the blood of the vena portse 
 and of the splenic vein of the horse. Wohler detected, in 
 the urine of dogs and horses, iodine, sulphuret of potassium, 
 nitrate of potassa, sulphocyanide of potassium, the salts of 
 nickel, and oxalic, tartaric, citric, malic, gallic, succinic, and 
 beuzoic acids. Orfila found arsenious and arsenic acids, the 
 arsenites, the soluble arseuates, tartar emetic, iodine, potassa, 
 and its salts, the salts of baryta, the mineral acids, ammonia, 
 muriate of ammonia, and the soluble salts of lead, copper, 
 mercury, gold, and silver. He equally detected the poison 
 in the blood, whether it was swallowed into the stomach, or 
 applied externally (Toxicologie, 1852, i. p. 18). 
 
 Since the time of Orfila, the advance in chemical analysis 
 has further extended the list of poisonous substances that 
 have been detected in the blood, the secretions, and the tis- 
 sues and organs of the body. Even the organic poisons 
 (alkaloids) prove no exception to the rule, as many of these 
 have been discovered in the blood and urine, and a few even 
 in the solids of the body. The recognized duty of the toxi-
 
 ABSORPTION OF POISONS. 23 
 
 cologist of the present day is not merely to discover the 
 poison in the contents of the stomach, but also to find it, in 
 the absorbed state, in the different viscera of the body, or else 
 offer a satisfactory reason for not finding it there. (See post, 
 ELIMINATION OF POISONS.) 
 
 The detection of a suspected poison before death in the 
 urine, and after death, in this and in other secretions, and 
 particularly its discovery in the organs of the body, affords 
 the most unequivocal proof of the administration of the 
 poison before death. 
 
 The absorption of poisons is influenced by a variety of 
 circumstances : (1) Solution. In order that absorption should 
 take place, it is necessary that the substance should be in a 
 state of solution : insoluble bodies are not absorbed. Many 
 substances, however, when swallowed in an insoluble condi- 
 tion, may afterwards become soluble, by virtue of certain 
 chemical agencies set up in the stomach, and then be ab- 
 sorbed. 
 
 To the general proposition that insoluble bodies are not 
 absorbed, there seems to be an exception in the case of finely 
 powdered wood-charcoal. Prof. Oesterlen, of Dorpat, and 
 Mensonides, of Utrecht, assert that they discovered charcoal 
 in the veins and in various organs of animals fed upon this 
 substance several days before. MM. Mialhe, Lebert, and 
 Bernard were, however, not able to verify their results; sub- 
 sequently, MM. Orfila, Robin, and Berard repeated the ex- 
 periments of feeding dogs on charcoal for several days, and 
 then killing them by hanging. By means of a microscope 
 of 450 power, they were able to discover molecules of the 
 charcoal in the blood of the liver and of the lungs, in that of 
 the left auricle, and in a mesenteric gland; but r\ot in the 
 blood of the vena portfe, nor in the ch}'le. In a subsequent 
 experiment with lampblack, performed in the same manner, 
 they were unable to discover the slightest trace of the carbon 
 in any part of the animal's body. Orfila's conclusion was 
 that when particles of charcoal passed into the blood from 
 the stomach, it was owing to the fact of their being " exceed- 
 ingly sharp-pointed and angular (as is the case in the charcoal 
 of wood, but not in lampblack), by which means they forced
 
 24 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 a passage through the delicate capillaries." (Toxicologie, 1852, 
 i. p. 25.) 
 
 (2) Nature of the surface to which it is applied. The rapidity 
 of the poisonous impression is in direct ratio with the ab- 
 sorbing power of the part to which it is applied ; and this is 
 chiefly dependent on its supply of blood, or its vascularity : 
 this is easily understood. Hence, when directly introduced 
 into the circulation, by injection into a vein, the impression 
 is the speediest of all. Sir R. Christison found that when 
 the muriate of conia was injected into the femoral vein of a 
 dog, he was unable, with his watch in his hand, to notice 
 any appreciable interval between the moment at which it was 
 injected and that at which the animal died; certainly the 
 interval did not exceed three or four seconds. (On Poisons, 
 p. 8.) Other poisons injected in the same manner will act 
 with equal celerity. Next in order comes inhalation, in the 
 form of vapor, into the lungs. From the extreme vascularity 
 of the pulmonary air-cells, a vapor-substance introduced into 
 these immediately finds its way into the circulation. Next, 
 the cellular or areolar tissue affords a very speedy mode of 
 introducing a poison by hypodermic injection. The serous 
 membranes come next in order; then the stomach and 
 bowels; and last of all, the sound skin. 
 
 In certain instances, a poison introduced into the rectum 
 acts more promptly than when taken into the stomach, al- 
 though these cases are exceptions. This is asserted to be 
 true of arsenic, corrosive sublimate, strychnia, and the prep- 
 arations of opium. 
 
 In regard to some of the animal poisons, the mucous 
 membrane of the stomach appears to exercise a remarkable 
 modifying influence over them, inasmuch as they may be 
 swallowed with impunity even in large doses, while the 
 smallest fragment of them introduced beneath the skin of 
 the same individual produces rapidly fatal results. Notable 
 illustrations of this fact are furnished in the case of the 
 virus of poisonous snakes and of the mad dog, and that of 
 glanders. Other animal viruses, such as the matter of va- 
 riola and syphilis, are likewise innocuous when swallowed, 
 but produce, as is well known, their specific effects very
 
 ABSORPTION OF POISONS. 25 
 
 speedily when inoculated beneath the skin. This is also 
 true of the woorara poison. 
 
 The absorption by the stomach is modified by the full or 
 empty condition of that organ, being most rapid when the 
 stomach is empty., It is doubtless for this reason, that persons 
 frequently escape death after swallowing large doses of a 
 poison on a full stomach. 
 
 The sound skin may, in some cases, become the avenue for 
 the introduction of poisons by absorption, as seen in the cases 
 of arsenic, corrosive sublimate, sugar of lead, opium, and 
 many other substances which have occasioned serious and 
 even fatal consequences when thus applied. Moreover, after 
 death they have been detected in the tissues of the body 
 showing that they had been absorbed. When the cuticle is 
 removed and the poison is applied directly to the true skin 
 (endermically), absorption is much more rapid. Hence an 
 ulcer, or a wound, is a ready medium for the absorption of 
 poisons. 
 
 (3) Fullness of the blood-vessels. The rapidity of absorption 
 is always inversely to the quantity of the circulating fluid. 
 The fullness of the blood-vessels opposes a mechanical ob- 
 stacle to the entrance of any other fluid. Hence depletion 
 of the vessels by bleeding or purging will favor absorption. 
 For this reason, in a case of poisoning, it is generally con- 
 sidered injudicious to bleed the patient, the loss of blood 
 increasing the further absorption of the poison from the 
 stomach into the general circulation. 
 
 But admitting the fact of absorption, the question arises, 
 Is the fatal effect of the poison to be ascribed to this ? This 
 question must be answered in the affirmative, if it can be 
 shown, on the one hand, that poisons continue to act so long 
 as the blood passes freely from the point of insertion to the 
 tissues or organs affected, and that, on the other, their action 
 is stopped or postponed when the circulation is arrested. 
 
 The oft-mentioned experiment of Magendie establishes the 
 first of these propositions. He divided the leg of a frog from 
 the body, and established a connection between the separated 
 parts by means of quills inserted into the large vessels. Nux 
 vomica was then applied to the foot, when absorption took
 
 26 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 place, and death resulted with the characteristic symptoms of 
 that poison. 
 
 The second proposition is proved both by the foregoing 
 experiment, and by one of Mr. Blake's : Prussic acid was 
 introduced into the stomach of a dog, through an open- 
 ing in its walls. No poisonous effect was produced so long 
 as the vessels passing from the stomach to the liver were 
 secured by a ligature ; but it began to act within one minute 
 of its removal (Ed. Med. and Surg. Jour., Jan., 1840). 
 
 The rapidity of the absorption is remarkable. As the result 
 of numerous experiments upon animals, it has been proved 
 that a poison injected into the cellular tissue will be diffused 
 throughout the whole circulation in a few seconds, and a 
 solution of sulphuretted hydrogen in water injected into the 
 rectum of a dog, passed through the circulation and was 
 eliminated by the lungs in sixty-five seconds (Bernard, Le- 
 90113, p. 59). The rapidity with which absorption goes on 
 will, as before remarked, satisfactorily account for the mode 
 of action of even the most promptly fatal poisons, without 
 the necessity of resorting to any other theory to explain it. 
 
 Subsequent disposition of the Poison. After the poison has 
 entered the circulation, it may either be rapidly eliminated 
 by the different emunctories, especially by the kidney, or it 
 may be temporarily deposited in the organs and tissues of 
 the body, and usually in the following order as to quantity : 
 the liver, spleen, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, and pancreas. 
 Experiment has shown that only a minute quantity of the 
 poison is circulating in the blood at any one time; the effort 
 of the system evidently being to get rid of it as rapidly as 
 possible. Moreover, there is good reason to believe that the 
 poison is active only while circulating in the capillary blood- 
 vessels : while still in the stomach, or after separation from 
 the blood by the emunctories, or when deposited in the solid 
 tissues, it is believed to be entirely harmless. It is a very 
 common mistake to suppose that in a fatal case, death is 
 caused by the very poison discovered in the stomach; whereas 
 this has no actual connection with the fatal result, the death 
 being, in point of fact, attributable to the absorbed portion 
 only (except in the case of the corrosives). The quantity
 
 ABSORPTION AND ELIMINATION OF POISONS. 27 
 
 remaining in the stomach after death is merely the comple- 
 ment of the fatal portion, the surplus of what was necessary 
 to kill. The same is true of that portion of the poison which 
 has been deposited in the liver and other organs of the body : 
 it has been removed, for the time being, out of the sphere 
 of noxious power. But although harmless so long as retained 
 in this situation, it should be remembered that the poison 
 is liable to be reabsorbed into the circulation, when it will 
 again become active. We have no proof that all poisons are 
 deposited in the organs: while the fact is true generally of 
 metallic poisons, and of some of the organic poisons (alkaloids), 
 it has not yet been fully demonstrated in the case of all. The 
 gaseous poisons, as sulphuretted hydrogen, appear to be im- 
 mediately eliminated by the lungs without being deposited 
 in the organs. The experiment of Bernard, quoted above 
 (p. 26), proves this assertion. Another experiment of his still 
 further establishes it: he injected into the jugular vein of a 
 dog one-quarter of a cubic inch of water saturated with sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen, the vein being secured above to prevent 
 the escape of blood, and the liquid being gently propelled 
 towards the heart. A piece of paper wetted with acetate of 
 lead solution was held to the dog's mouth ; it was blackened 
 in from three to five seconds, showing that the gas had been 
 eliminated from the lungs. This elimination was completed 
 in a few seconds (Lemons, p. 59). 
 
 The period when an absorbed poison begins to be removed 
 from the circulation, either by elimination, or by deposition 
 in the organs, varies for different substances, and probably 
 also for different states of the system^ for different ages, and 
 even for, the different sexes. As regards medicinal sub- 
 stances, it is well known that they appear in the urine in a 
 very short time after being swallowed, e.g. iodide of potas- 
 sium in ten minutes, and ferrocyanide of potassium in from 
 one to thirty-nine minutes (Erichsen, Med. Gaz., xxxvi. p. 
 363). It has also been found that the rate of elimination, 
 like that of absorption, is by no means uniform. In relation 
 to the mineral poisons, experiments on animals show that 
 arsenic may be diffused throughout the body in one hour and 
 a half after being introduced. In an experiment by Orfila,
 
 28 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 three grains of solid arsenic were applied to the cellular tis- 
 sue of the back of a dog; the animal vomited in half an hour, 
 and died in four hours. Arsenic was found, on examination, 
 in the liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, heart, brains, alimentary 
 canal, and muscles (Toxicologie, 1852, i. pp. 381, 383). This 
 same poison has been found in the urine of a horse within 
 an hour after administration. 
 
 Dr. Taylor has found arsenic in the human liver in so short 
 a period as four hours, and in another case, in six hours, after 
 being swallowed, the cases having proved fatal in these 
 periods. He thinks that the liver acquires its maximum sat- 
 uration in about fifteen hours. He gives a table of an estimate 
 of the average amount of araenic that will be found in the 
 human liver at different periods of the examination, as fol- 
 lows : In 5| to 7 hours after taking, the quantity found is 
 0.8 grain ; in 8f hours, the quantity is 1.2 grs. ; in 15 hours, 
 the quantity is 2.0 grs. ; in 17 to 20 hours, the quantity is 
 1.3 grs. ; in 14 days, the quantity is 0.17 gr. (On Poisons, 
 1859, p. 116). Ortila's opinion was that arsenic is entirely 
 eliminated from the human system in from twelve to fifteen 
 days. Dr. Maclagan treated a case which recovered from a 
 large dose of arsenic. The poison was detected in the urine 
 from the second to the twenty-fifth day, when it entirely dis- 
 appeared (Ed. Month. Jour., 1852, p. 131). The case of Dr. 
 Alexander, who lived for sixteen days after taking, unknow- 
 ingly, a large dose of arsenic, confirms Orfila's opinion in 
 relation to the period required for its total elimination from 
 the human body. In this case, a careful examination after 
 death failed to detect the slightest trace of the' poison, 
 showing that it had in sixteen days entirely disappeared by 
 elimination. 
 
 The experiments of M. L. Orfila have given us the fullest 
 information upon this subject. From these it would appear 
 that for arsenic and corrosive sublimate, thirty days are 
 required for complete elimination ; for tartar emetic, four 
 months; for nitrate of silver, five months; for acetate of 
 lead and sulphate of copper, over eight months (Tardieu sur 
 rEmpoisonnement, p. 19). 
 
 The question of the elimination of poisons may assume a
 
 ELIMINATION OF POISONS. 29 
 
 serious importance in a medico-legal case, as when there is 
 a failure to discover the poison after death in a person who 
 has died within a few days after the alleged administration 
 of arsenic, and after exhibiting symptoms consistent with 
 this poison. Here, the defense would strongly insist that if 
 the poison had really been taken, it could not be entirely 
 eliminated from all the organs of the body in two or three 
 days, and therefore the failure to detect it in the absorbed state 
 was a proof of its non-administration. Dr. Taylor alludes to 
 a case which he examined, where arsenic had caused death 
 in twenty-six hours; the poison had nearly disappeared from 
 those parts of the body where it is usually found. There had 
 been much vomiting and purgiitg previously. Hence it would 
 not be safe, in trials, to push the above rule in relation to 
 the period of elimination, too far. 
 
 In the case of a person who had been taking arsenic in 
 small doses, medicinally, for some weeks or months before 
 death, and who had died suddenly under suspicious circum- 
 stances, the chemical examination might reveal the presence 
 of the poison in the liver. This fact would, probably be 
 regarded as positive proof of criminal administration, es- 
 pecially if it could be shown that the deceased had not taken 
 the medicine for upwards of fifteen days before death ; and 
 consequently, that the poison found in the liver could not be 
 ascribed to the arsenic which he had taken medicinally. 
 We think it would be very unsafe to admit this plea, under 
 the existing circumstances, since it is quite possible that the 
 elimination in this case might not have been so rapid as 
 is usual ; and again, because we have positive proof that 
 arsenic has been detected in the urine of a person as late 
 as the twenty-fourth day after it ceased to be administered. 
 If, however, in the above case, free arsenic had been dis- 
 covered in the contents of the stomach, especially in any 
 notable amount, then there could be little doubt of the fact 
 of poisoning. Yet even in such a case it would not amount 
 to positive proof, as will be seen on further consideration. (See 
 post.) 
 
 The case may be presented under a different phase as 
 where the criminality of the accused is made to depend upon 
 
 3
 
 30 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 fixing the time required for depositing a certain amount of 
 arsenic found in the liver of the deceased. 
 
 Thus, in a certain case reported by Dr. Taylor (op. tit., p. 
 53), a woman was accused of killing her husband with 
 arsenic. The duration of his illness was about seventeen 
 hours ; and the question was whether he had taken the poison 
 by mistake in the morning, or whether his wife had given it 
 to him later in the day. Dr. Letheby stated, in evidence, 
 that he had discovered eight and a half grains of arsenic in 
 the stomach, and two grains (estimated) in the liver; and he 
 gave as his opinion that the poison could not have been 
 taken more than two or three hours before death, based upon 
 the quantity thus discovered. The prisoner was convicted 
 and sentenced to death ; but a timely interference by distin- 
 guished experts satisfied the authorities that an error had 
 been committed, and that the inference of Dr. Letheby as 
 to the time of the administration was unwarrantable. It will 
 be recollected that the average time of maximum saturation 
 of the liver (about two grains) is stated to be fifteen hours. 
 (See p. 28.) 
 
 In a French case reported in "Ann. d'Hyg. et de Med. 
 Leg.," 1846, p. 149, the conclusion arrived at was directly 
 the opposite of the one just mentioned, viz., that arsenic 
 had been taken only a few hours before death, because the 
 liver contained no trace of the poison I This was much more 
 in accordance with experience. 
 
 The question of elimination of poisons will be again referred 
 to when treating of the individual poisons. 
 
 Cause of Death. The next question to determine is After 
 the poison has reached the different parts of the body by 
 means of the circulation, how does it produce its peculiar 
 effects? How does it destroy life? Much of our knowl- 
 edge upon this point is still speculative; nevertheless, ex- 
 periments on the lower animals, conducted with proper 
 caution, have led to some definite results. In all cases of 
 acute poisoning, where the symptoms run their course 
 rapidly, life is destroyed through an impression either upon 
 the h*mrt, the lungs, the brain, or the spinal marrow ; but 
 why the poison acts upon one of these great centres in pref-
 
 HOW DO POISONS CAUSE DEATH ? 31 
 
 erence to another is a question that brings us to one of 
 the " ultimate facts" of science, beyond which we cannot 
 advance. To say that the poison (and the same is true of 
 medicines) has an affinity for this or that particular organ 
 or tissue, is evidently no explanation of the action. All we 
 can know is the simple fact, and the conditions under which 
 the action takes place. But it is an important point to be 
 able to determine these conditions and the circumstances 
 attending them. To some of these we shall now give atten- 
 tion. 
 
 We start with the admitted fact that poisons enter the 
 circulation, and are thus carried to the different organs of 
 the body, which, as we have seen, are differently affected by 
 them. Some, carried to the heart by the coronary arteries, 
 paralyze that organ ; others act directly on the lungs, caus- 
 ing suffocation by arresting the capillary circulation ; a third 
 class attack the brain, producing fatal coma; a fourth im- 
 press the spinal marrow, exciting fatal tetanic spasms in the 
 respiratory muscles ; and a fifth appear to affect the entire 
 capillary circulation. (Guy's Forensic Medicine, 1868, p. 
 337.) The knowledge of the above facts is derived chiefly 
 from the experiments of Mr. Blake and of Claude Bernard 
 (Med. Times and Gazette, 1860). Moreover, in some cases 
 the same poison will affect different organs according to the 
 dose, and probably also according to the constitution of the 
 poisoned subject. Thus, arsenic, while ordinarily spending 
 its power upon the stomach and bowels, will sometimes affect 
 the heart as indicated by syncope; sometimes the brain 
 as shown by coma; and sometimes the spinal marrow as 
 seen by the tetanic convulsions, numbness, and paralysis 
 that are occasionally manifested. The same is true to a 
 certain extent of oxalic acid, antimony, and some other sub- 
 stances. 
 
 One mode in which death occurs by poisoning is undoubt- 
 edly by shock on the general nervous system. In this way 
 the active corrosives most probably prove fatal their power- 
 ful local action causing a general depression of the system, 
 similar to that occasioned by any severe injury. The nature 
 of this fatal shock cannot be determined by any means at
 
 32 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 present at our command. As in sudden death from concus- 
 sion of the brain, 'there may be no external injury, nor any 
 perceptible internal lesion, to reveal to us the actual cause 
 of dissolution ; although it is highly probable that it is due 
 to some molecular disturbance of the great nerve-centre. 
 
 The fact that most poisons enter the circulation before 
 reaching distant organs, naturally suggests the hypothesis 
 that they first produce some alteration in the character of 
 the blood chemical or physical, the poison itself also un- 
 dergoing change at the same time. Thus, certain substances 
 are supposed to remove oxygen from the blood, in their 
 transit through the circulation, such as phosphorus and 
 arsenic when associated with hydrogen, oxalic acid, alcohol, 
 chloroform, prussic acid, benzoic acid, hydrate of chloral, 
 etc. Chloroform, for example, when swallowed, passes into 
 the circulation, but is obtained from the blood by distillation, 
 as formic acid, its three atoms of chlorine having been 
 replaced by three atoms of oxygen. There is no question 
 that many medicinal substances do undergo a chemical 
 change in passing through the route of the circulation ; but 
 whether this change is effected at the expense of the blood 
 is not so clearly proved. The salts of the vegetable acids 
 (acetates, tartrates, citrates, etc.) are eliminated in the urine 
 as carbonates, affording undoubted evidence of a chemical 
 transformation, and that probably while in contact with the 
 blood. That decided chemical changes may take place in 
 the blood, and prove fatal by the production of poisons from 
 inert substances, is proved by the following experiment of 
 Bernard. The emulsine of sweet almonds and the amygda- 
 line of bitter almonds, both inert substances, when mixed 
 together in contact with water, react upon each other so as 
 to produce prussic acid. Bernard injected fifteen grains of 
 amygdaline dissolved in water into the jugular vein of a 
 rabbit; no injurious eftects resulted. The experiment was 
 then tried with a solution of emulsine, with negative results. 
 But when the one solution was injected into the vein soon 
 after the other, the animal died from poisoning with prussic 
 acid, this substance having been formed in the blood. In 
 this way it is supposed that miasmata and other noxious
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY THE ACTION OF POISONS. 33 
 
 causes of disease may operate, by getting into the circulation, 
 after being inhaled into the lungs ; and when in the blood, 
 generating the poison which proves so detrimental to life. 
 Bernard ascribes these changes to a species of fermentation 
 (Le9ons, p. 96). 
 
 Liebig's theory (at least with respect to the action of the 
 poisonous alkaloids) was that they entered into chemical 
 combination with the nerve-substance, morphia with brain- 
 substance, for instance, and thus the quality of the nervous 
 matter being altered, it became unfitted to support life. 
 Another theory is that poisons act by destroying the vitality 
 of the blood. But, as is justly remarked by Prof. Taylor, 
 this destruction of the vital properties of the blood does not 
 explain the specific differences of poisons, seeing they do not 
 all act alike. 
 
 . As regards any actual alteration in the blood itself, either 
 chemical or physical, nothing has been yet satisfactorily 
 demonstrated, except occasional changes in its color, consist- 
 ence, and coagulability. Microscopic observation has failed 
 to show any alteration in the appearance of the blood-cor- 
 puscles that can be regarded as conclusive. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY THE ACTION OF POISONS. 
 
 THESE may be considered under the three heads of (1) 
 such as relate to the poison itself; (2) such as are connected 
 with the part to which they are applied ; and (3) those which 
 depend upon the condition of the body. 
 
 1. Among the modifying causes connected with the poison 
 itself, the quantity and form alone require a brief notice. As 
 a general rule, the larger the amount of a poison, the more 
 rapid and powerful are its effects. But there are certain 
 exceptions to this rule. When a very large dose of an irritant 
 poison is swallowed, it may be so promptly and completely
 
 34 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 rejected by vomiting, as to prevent its fatal action, whereas 
 a smaller dose would have been retained. Again, it would 
 appear from experiments, that certain substances, when swal- 
 lowed in large doses, seem to produce a local impression on 
 the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels that 
 interferes materially with the power of absorption, and con- 
 sequently the impression upon the system must be modified. 
 The effects of some poisons are materially modified by the 
 size of their dose : thus, a very large dose of oxalic acid will 
 kill almost instantly by shock ; in a smaller dose, it may still 
 prove fatal by its action on the heart; and in yet smaller 
 doses, it affects chiefly the spinal cord and the brain. In 
 most, if not all, of the mineral poisons, small and repeated 
 doses will develop symptoms very different from those pro- 
 duced by a single large dose. 
 
 In relation to the/orwi in which a poison is administered, 
 we have already (p. 23) considered the influence of solubility 
 in promoting absorption, and thereby increasing the activity 
 of the poison. The only other point under this head demand- 
 ing notice is the effect of combination or mixture. As is well 
 known, two powerful poisons may chemically neutralize each 
 other more or less completely, as e.g. the mineral acids and 
 alkalies. Powerful acid poisons in combining with bases, or 
 powerful basic poisons in uniting with acids, produce com- 
 pounds which, if soluble, retain the characters of the more 
 active ingredient: thus, the soluble salts of oxalic acid par- 
 take of the properties of that acid; and the different soluble 
 salts of morphia exhibit the peculiar effects of this alkaloid. 
 In some instances, the chemical combination of two active 
 poisons gives rise to the mixed effects of the two, as in the 
 union of hydrocyanic acid and mercury. The great object 
 in the use of antidotes, in the treatment of poisons, is to con- 
 vert the active noxious substance, by means of a chemical 
 combination, into an insoluble, inert one. 
 
 The effect of mixture upon poisons is sometimes to increase, 
 and at other times to diminish, their power. Thus, acids in- 
 crease the activity of opium, and of the alkaloids generally; 
 oily, mucilaginous, and albuminous substances retard the 
 activity of poisons, chiefly by their mechanical influence,
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY THE ACTION OF POISONS. 35 
 
 protecting the coats of the stomach and enveloping the 
 poison, if in the solid state. Hence the advantage of the 
 free use of such substances in the treatment of irritant 
 poisoning. The subject of compound poisons, or the antagonism 
 of poisons, will be discussed hereafter. 
 
 2. The modifying influence caused by the part to which the 
 poison is applied. As this is dependent simply upon the 
 relative absorbing power of different parts of the body, the 
 reader is referred to what has already been said upon that 
 subject (see ante, p. 24). 
 
 3. The influence exerted by the condition of the body itself. 
 The conditions of the body that influence the activity of a 
 poison are Habit, Idiosjmcrasy, Disease, and Tolerance. 
 
 (1) Influence of Habit. It is well known that the effect of 
 habit is to diminish the po\yer of certain poisons. Daily 
 experience demonstrates this in the case of opium, tobacco, 
 and alcohol. It is true of narcotics especially, that the sys- 
 tem soon becomes accustomed to their effects, and that it is 
 necessary gradually to increase their dose, in order to keep 
 up the desired impression. The confirmed opium-eater, for 
 example, will take with impunity a quantity of the drug ten 
 or twenty times greater than he could have ventured upon at 
 the beginning without a fatal result. It should not be for- 
 gotten, however, that these poisons to which the system 
 seems so easily to adapt itself, produce permanently injurious 
 impressions. This is notoriously true of both alcohol and 
 opium ; also of tobacco, though in a less degree. It would 
 appear that the influence of habit is not equally exerted upon 
 mineral poisons. "We rarely hear of persons becoming habit- 
 uated to these enormous doses of corrosive sublimate, arsenic, 
 or tartar emetic, we mean in the ordinary state of the health. 
 
 An apparent exception to this remark is afforded in the 
 case of the arsenic-eaters of Styria. There seems to be well- 
 grounded authority for believing that the Styrian peasants 
 have, from early practice, acquired the habit of swallowing 
 as much as from three to five grains of arsenious acid (white 
 arsenic) at a single dose, and repeating this practice twice a 
 week with perfect apparent impunity (vide Dr. Roscoe's paper, 
 read to the Manchester Philosophical Society, Oct. 30, 1860 ;
 
 36 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 also Dr. Maclagan's observations in Chem. News, Lond., 
 July, 1865). It is said that this practice of arsenic-eating is 
 resorted to by the men for the purpose of increasing their 
 physical endurance, enabling them the better to make 
 fatiguing marches up the mountains, and by the women for 
 the purpose of improving the complexion. It is proper 
 to observe that medical experience does not confirm these 
 results in ordinary practice. 
 
 The subject may occasionally present itself under a medico- 
 legal aspect, as where the attempt is made by the defense in 
 a trial for arsenic poisoning, to account for its presence in 
 the stomach of the deceased on the ground of his having 
 been an arsenic-eater. It need hardly be observed that such 
 a defense must be worthless, if the symptoms of arsenical 
 poisoning were present before death. 
 
 (2) Idiosyncrasy. By this is meant the individual pecu- 
 liarities of persons. They are almost as varied as the number 
 is great. The effect of idiosyncrasy is usually to render the 
 individual more susceptible to certain impressions than ordi- 
 nary : thus, to some persons the smallest dose of mercury or 
 of opium will act as a violent poison. In the case of others, 
 articles of food that are generally perfectly harmless, will 
 produce the symptoms of violent poisoning. The instances 
 in which idiosyncrasy produces a diminished susceptibility 
 to the action of poisons are rare. An illustration is afforded 
 in the well-known case mentioned by Sir R. Christison (On 
 Poisons, p. 32), where a gentleman unaccustomed to the use 
 of opium took nearly an ounce of laudanum at a single dose, 
 without any effect. 
 
 The subject of idiosyncrasy may become of importance in 
 a medico-legal point of view, as where symptoms of poison- 
 ing follow a meal consisting of a particular kind of food. If 
 other circumstances should happen to favor the suspicion, 
 the most serious error might be committed in attributing to 
 poison what was really due to another cause. (See post.) 
 
 (3) Disease. The effects of disease in influencing the act- 
 ivity of poisons are displayed in two opposite conditions : it 
 sometimes increases, and at other times diminishes, the suscep- 
 tibilit}' of the system to the impression of a poison. Instances
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY THE ACTION OF POISONS. 37 
 
 of the former are witnessed in apoplexy and inflammation 
 of the brain, causing a greater susceptibility to the action of 
 opium and other narcotics; also in certain diseased conditions 
 of the kidney, producing an increased susceptibility to the 
 impression of mercury. As examples of the latter, we may 
 cite the greatly diminished susceptibility to the action of 
 opium in tetanus, mania, and delirium tremeus. In inflam- 
 mation of the stomach and bowels, there is an increased 
 susceptibility to the action of irritant poisons. In paralysis, 
 increased doses of strychnia are borne without bad effect. 
 
 A knowledge of the above facts is important in reference 
 to a charge of malapraxis, where an ordinary dose of a medi- 
 cine, e.g. calomel, has produced a poisonous effect on the 
 system, through some diseased state of its organs. 
 
 (4) Tolerance. By this is understood the ability of the 
 system to bear very large doses of certain poisonous sub- 
 stances, in consequence of a morbid condition of the economy, 
 and altogether independent of habit. A good illustration is 
 afforded in the case of tartar emetic. In acute pneumonia 
 and bronchitis, and in acute rheumatism, immense doses of 
 this substance have been given, not only without producing 
 its usual poisonous effects, but with a positive mitigation of 
 the disease. This practice originated with Tommasini, Ra- 
 sori, and Laennec, and was formerly very much in vogue 
 under the name of the Italian, or contra-stimulant system. 
 The facts connected with the tolerance of certain medicines 
 in poisonous doses are of some medico-legal importance, 
 where, for example, in a case of tartar-emetic poisoning, 
 it might be alleged that this substance is not poisonous be- 
 cause it has so frequently been used in enormous doses ! But 
 the important fact that such quantities are tolerated only in 
 certain morbid states of the system, is studiously kept back. 
 
 The influence of sleep upon the action of poisons may be 
 briefly noticed here. In this state all the functions are car- 
 ried on with less activity, and the system is less alive to the 
 impression of poisons. Hence the action of a poison taken 
 at night, just before going to sleep, is very apt to be retarded 
 for some hours. Sir li. Christison alludes to this in the case 
 of arsenic ; and there is no reason why it should not hold
 
 38 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 good with irritant poisons generally. The artificial sleep 
 produced by opium and other narcotics may exert the same 
 retarding influence: thus, according to Prof. Guy, opium, 
 when given with arsenic, not only masks the symptoms 
 proper to that poison, but appears also to retard its operation. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POST-MORTEM IMBIBITION OF POISONS. 
 
 As being closely connected with the subject of the absorp- 
 tion of poisons, it will be appropriate here to consider the ques- 
 tion of imbibition of poisons after death. Is it possible for a dead 
 body to imbibe a poisonous substance from the soil in which 
 it has been interred ? and is it possible that a poison intro- 
 duced into the stomach or the rectum, or by the hypodermic 
 method, after death, should pass through the tissues by imbi- 
 bition into other viscera of the body, so as to give rise to the 
 suspicion of poisoning, when in reality the death had resulted 
 from a different cause? These are extremely important ques- 
 tions in a medico-legal point of view, and they deserve to be 
 carefully studied. 
 
 In relation to the first proposition, whether a dead body 
 buried in a grave can absorb any poisonous matters from the 
 soil, the question is narrowed down to the case of arsenic, 
 since this is the only poison about which there is ever any dis- 
 pute. It is undoubtedly true that arsenic is frequently found 
 in the soils of certain cemeteries ; but it never exists there in a 
 solubleform, but always in combination with either iron or lime, 
 in an insoluble state. According to the highest authorities, 
 
 O O ' 
 
 it cannot be extracted from such soils by even boiling water 
 alone, but it requires the action of hydrochloric acid to eifect 
 its solution, consequently it is impossible that it should be 
 capable of transudation from the soil into a dead body. 
 
 The only case that could possibly give rise to a suspicion 
 of this sort is where the body has been buried in the earth
 
 POST-MORTEM IMBIBITION OF POISONS. 39 
 
 for so long a period as to have allowed the coffin to become 
 completely disintegrated, *nd the putrefied mass to lie in im- 
 mediate contact with the arsenical soil, and the mixed matters 
 are subjected to chemical analysis. But the cases in which 
 this plea has usually been urged have been those of com- 
 paratively recent death, where there had been no such contact 
 with the soil ; cases, moreover, in which the poison has been 
 detected in the different organs of the body in their interior 
 as well as on the surface, whereas, if by any chance the 
 naturally insoluble arsenic could have been made soluble, 
 and entered the body by imbibition, more of it would have 
 been discovered on the outside than in the interior, which 
 is quite contrary to the facts of the analysis. Hence we 
 must conclude that the idea about the imbibition of cemetery 
 arsenic is an unfounded one ; and wherever this poison is 
 discovered after death disseminated throughout the different 
 organs of the body, and particularly if it can be ascertained 
 that the symptoms before death were those of arsenical 
 poisoning, we think there can be no doubt that it had been 
 administered during life. An experiment of Orfila, quoted 
 by Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 378), would seem to settle 
 this matter. He procured a large quantity of earth from a 
 cemetery known to contain arsenic, and buried in it a full- 
 grown foetus, the liver of an adult, and various portions of 
 dead human bodies. Three months afterwards, these various 
 parts were exhumed, and found to be in a state of complete 
 putrefaction. They were carefully examined for arsenic by 
 the usual processes, but not a trace of the poison could be 
 detected. Hence it appears evident that under the most 
 favorable circumstances, the dead human body does not 
 acquire an impregnation of arsenic from contact with ar- 
 senical earth. 
 
 The other proposition under this head is, whether it is 
 possible for a poison existing in the stomach at the time 
 of death, or introduced into it after death, to be diffused 
 throughout the body by imbibition, so as to be discovered 
 in the organs by chemical analysis. In reply to this we would 
 say that if a poison is discovered very shortly after death in 
 the different organs of a body, it is fair to presume that it
 
 40 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 was deposited there during life, by absorption. Under such 
 circumstances, the viscera will contain as much of the poison 
 in their inteiior as on their surface, which would not be the 
 case if they had derived it by post-mortem imbibition. But 
 if the poison is found in the organs of a body after many 
 years' interment, then the objection may be very plausibly 
 urged that its presence in the different viscera may be ascribed 
 to imbibition from the stomach and bowels. 
 
 Orfila's experiments upon dead human and animal bodies 
 with solutions of arsenic clearly demonstrate that such im- 
 bibition does actually take place, but that it is only partial, 
 affecting mostly only those viscera that were in immediate 
 contiguity with the stomach (see Toxicologie, 1852, i. p. 63). 
 These facts are of practical importance in relation to the 
 proper method of preserving the viscera, in a case of sus- 
 pected poisoning: the liver and other organs should never 
 be put into the same jar with the stomach and intestines, 
 since the former, although entirely free from the poison, 
 might acquire it by imbibition, and give rise to very erro- 
 neous conclusions as regards the absorption and deposition 
 of the poison during life. 
 
 There is one aspect of this question which, 'though an 
 improbable one, is not impossible, viz., the designed intro- 
 duction, after death, of a poison in solution, either into the 
 stomach or the rectum, or hypodermically into the cellular 
 tissue, with the criminal purpose of exciting a suspicion of 
 poisoning against an innocent person. Some of the highest 
 authorities admit the possibility of this occurrence. Sir R. 
 Christison (On Poisons, p. 61) says: "Although I have not 
 been able to find any authentic instance of so horrible an act 
 of ingenuity having been perpetrated, it must nevertheless 
 be allowed to be quite possible." Orfila evidently contem- 
 plated the possibility of such a crime, although he admits 
 never to have heard of its actual occurrence (Toxicologie, 
 1852, i. p. 61). 
 
 Under such circumstances, we must admit the fact of im- 
 bibition or osmosis, on well-known physical principles. In 
 a short time the different viscera would become more or less 
 impregnated with the poison, and an analysis might detect
 
 POST-MORTEM IMBIBITION OF POISONS. 41 
 
 it, even in the liver, spleen, kidneys, etc. ; and such a dis- 
 covery would usually be regarded as satisfactory proof that 
 the poison had been administered during life. A remarkable 
 case of this character occurred in the State of Ohio, in 1871; 
 it is known as the Buffenbarger Case. The deceased was an 
 aged man, who had been treated in his last illness for phthisis 
 pulmonalis; his physician testifying to his having died of 
 this disease, and to his presenting none of the symptoms of 
 arsenical poisoning before death. The body had been interred 
 four years, during all which interval no suspicion of foul play 
 appears to have been entertained. In the mean time the 
 widow married again. After this, for reasons not known to 
 the author, the question of poisoning was raised, the widow 
 was charged with the crime, and the body was exhumed for 
 judicial examination. The autopsy revealed a remarkable 
 state of preservation of the body : " The walls of the abdo- 
 men and skin and the subcutaneous tissue were all quite 
 firm and solid. The stomach was not so well preserved 
 (although the organ was entire, and the tissue parchment- 
 like); the liver was much broken down." Arsenic was 
 discovered both in the stomach and liver by Prof. Wormley 
 (the quantity not stated). 
 
 The main question was to account for the presence of the 
 poison in the viscera. The defense contended that it had 
 been introduced after death into the body, and distributed to 
 the different organs by cadaveric imbibition. The chief points 
 urged by the prosecution were the actual discovery of the 
 poison, and the remarkable state of preservation of the body 
 after an interval of four years. 
 
 In relation to the latter fact, while the antiseptic powers of 
 arsenic cannot be questioned, it is equally well established 
 that it does not always prevent even rapid decomposition of a 
 body; on the other hand, there are well-attested instances of 
 a remarkable resistance to putrefaction in bodies, without the 
 preserving influence of arsenic. What is the real preservative 
 influence in cases of this character is not fully known. The 
 conversion of the tissues into adipocere will sometimes account 
 for it ; but this peculiar change does not seem to have occurred 
 in the present instance. It is a significant fact that there is
 
 42 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 no mention of the presence of any yellow sulphide of arsenic 
 in the alimentary canal or elsewhere, which would almost 
 certainly be the case if the poison had been taken during 
 life. Every toxicologist is aware of this transformation oc- 
 curring after burial, through the agency of the sulphuretted 
 hydrogen of decomposition ; and the longer the interval after 
 death, the more likely will it be to take place. Again, the 
 broken-down or pulpy condition of the liver is rather adverse 
 to the theory of ante-mortem poisoning. Arsenic seems, as 
 it were, to have a special affinity for this organ ; more of the 
 absorbed poison is found in the liver than in any other organ 
 of the body. In our own experience, this organ is always 
 firm and well preserved by the absorbed arsenic, even years 
 after death. 
 
 We are not in possession of all the circumstances con- 
 nected with this singular case ; although we have reason to 
 believe that the opinion of those most conversant with the 
 particulars was that the poison had been designedly intro- 
 duced into the body after death, and not very long before 
 the trial, with the view of creating the impression that the 
 man had been poisoned by his wife. A very significant fact 
 is the circumstance that the case had only a preliminary 
 hearing, after which it was abandoned by the prosecution. 
 As this is the first case of the kind recorded, we regard it as 
 of considerable importance as a leading one in this particular 
 line. 
 
 Orfila lays down the following rules (among others), as 
 aiding us in the diagnosis of such cases: 1. " When irritating 
 and corrosive substances in the solid state are introduced into 
 the body after death, there always remains a very consider- 
 able quantity close to the spot to which they were applied, 
 and none is found in the alimentary canal at any distance 
 from this point. This is especially the case if no great 
 interval of time has elapsed, and if the substance has not 
 been dissolved in the contained liquids. On the contrary, in 
 cases where the poison has been administered during life, 
 only a little is found after death, because the most of it has 
 been expelled by vomiting and purging." In relation to the 
 application of this rule, we would observe that, while it is
 
 POST-MORTEM IMBIBITION OF POISONS. 43 
 
 true in general, it does not meet the exceptional cases (quite 
 numerous) where very large quantities of an irritant poison 
 (arsenic) have been found in the stomach, where the death is 
 known to have resulted from poisoning. It is well l^nown 
 that in some anomalous cases of fatal arsenical poisoning, 
 there has been neither vomiting nor purging; and no evi- 
 dence of irritation or inflammation of the alimentary canal 
 discovered after death. Such cases, according to this rule, 
 might be mistaken for those of post-mortem introduction. 
 
 2. "When the poison has been applied after death, the 
 alteration of the tissues never extends but a small distance 
 beyond the point to which the application was made, so that 
 a well-defined line of demarkation is noticed between the healthy 
 and the diseased tissue, a phenomenon never observed in 
 other cases. The irritation and inflammation resulting from 
 irritant poisons administered during life, although varying 
 in intensity, always extend beyond the point of contact, 
 insensibly decreasing the farther we advance, and never ex- 
 hibiting a well-defined line of demarkation." 
 
 3. " The redness, inflammation, ulceration, and other lesions 
 are much more decided in cases where the poison has been 
 taken during life : hence, if, on examining the body, the 
 rectum or stomach is found covered over with a large quan- 
 tity of one of these poisons, whilst at the same time the 
 lesions are only slightly marked, the presumption would be 
 that the poison had bee\i applied after death." 
 
 4. "Irritant poisons introduced into the digestive canal 
 twenty-four hours after death do not occasion either redness or 
 inflammation, because the vitality of the capillaries is entirely 
 extinct. If the substances are applied within one or two hours 
 after death, they may possibly determine a slight congestion 
 of the mucous membrane; but it would be easy to discover 
 the error." 
 
 5. " In cases of this nature it must not be forgotten that 
 poisons are not rapidly transmitted by imbibition to distant 
 organs after death, even when the digestive canal contains a 
 large amount of them ; and when they do reach these organs, 
 they are found first on their lower surface that which was 
 the nearest to the poison. It should also be understood
 
 44 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 that the poison will not yet have penetrated into the interior 
 of the solid viscera, while it may be detected on their surface; 
 so that it can b'e extracted from a portion taken from the 
 surface of the organ, whilst it would be sought for in vain 
 in its interior. The case is altogether different where the 
 poison has been taken and absorbed during life: then its 
 presence can be demonstrated in any portion of the organ 
 subjected to the examination." 
 
 6. " If the body is not examined for several months after 
 death, when the putrefaction of the alimentary canal would 
 not permit an investigation of the pathological changes which 
 might have existed, and more particularly if, after a still 
 longer lapse of time, the whole of the viscera should be 
 mingled in one indistinguishable putrefied mass, it will be 
 impossible for the expert to arrive at any definite conclusion 
 in relation to the mooted question, without an attentive in- 
 quiry in relation to the previous symptoms of the deceased, 
 the nature and duration of the sickness, together with all 
 the moral circumstances connected with the case such as the 
 existence of a motive on the part of the accused, the proof of 
 purchase or possession of the poison by him, his opportunities 
 for introducing it into the dead body, etc. On the other 
 hand, it may be possible to show that the person who has 
 made the charge against another had the very poison in his 
 own possession, that he had made a solution of it, that he 
 was in possession of a syringe or sound, in the interior of 
 which the remains of the poison may possibly still be found, 
 that he has been seen near the body, turning it over from 
 side to side, etc. Moreover, it may be possible, by a careful 
 examination of the other organs of the body, to prove satis- 
 factorily that death had resulted from natural causes." (Toxi- 
 cologie, 1852, i. p. 63.)
 
 EVIDENCES OF POISONING. 45 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EVIDENCES OF POISONING. 
 
 A KNOWLEDGE of the evidences of poisoning constitutes the 
 chief business of the toxicologist; this it is which enables 
 him to reach a definite conclusion in the cases submitted to 
 his investigation. These evidences comprise, (1) those de- 
 rived from the symptoms; (2) those obtained from the post- 
 mortem examination; (3) those afforded by the chemical analysis ; 
 (4) those derived from experiments on living animals. Besides 
 these, there are some collateral proofs, which may be grouped 
 under the name of (5) moral evidence, and which at times aid 
 very materially in clearing up a suspicious case. These' 
 " evidences" will now be considered in their order. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 EVIDENCES AFFORDED BY THE SYMPTOMS. DISEASES WHOSE SYMPTOMS 
 RESEMBLE THOSE OF POISONS. 
 
 I. Evidences afforded by the symptoms. In any case of sud- 
 den death occurring in a person of previous good health, 
 .without any apparent morbid cause, the suspicion of poisoning 
 is readily awakened in the minds of many persons. These 
 do not consider that sudden death from disease is of frequent 
 occurrence, and they are therefore disposed to assign the 
 cause of such a death especially if the surrounding circum- 
 stances happen to be of a suspicious character to secret 
 poisoning. Such cases demand the most scrupulous investi- 
 gation by the legal physician. He should undertake it with 
 a mind perfectly unbiased in any direction. Whilst minutely 
 examining into every detail for the eliciting of the truth, he 
 should be most careful not to express his opinion until the 
 whole matter has been thoroughly sifted, until every means 
 of research has been exhausted, lest by so doing he give 
 rise to suspicion against an innocent person, whose character 
 
 4
 
 46 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 and reputation may thereby be irreparably injured. It is 
 well to understand, at the outset, what is the true value of 
 the symptoms exhibited by a person supposed to be poisoned, 
 inasmuch as serious mistakes have resulted from attaching 
 an undue importance to them. We regard these symptoms 
 as constituting one important factor in the problem to be 
 determined ; but we think that no medico-legal case of 
 poisoning can possibly be established by symptoms alone, 
 for the reason that there are no characteristic symptoms of 
 any single poison ; if this were possible, and were generally 
 admitted to be so, it is evident that there would be no neces- 
 sity for a chemical analysis. But no court or jury would be 
 satisfied to rest a capital case upon this one item of evidence. 
 Notwithstanding this, it occasionally happens that an " ex- 
 pert," with a zeal outstripping his knowledge, is betrayed 
 by his ardor into stating that from the symptoms alone he 
 had arrived at the conclusion that poison had been adminis- 
 tered. Of course, such a blunder could happen only to some 
 over-anxious individual improvised for the occasion into an 
 " expert :" the practiced toxicologist knows better, and is 
 therefore more reserved in his opinion. 
 
 The strong language of Sir R. Christison is very much 
 to the point. " Not many years ago," says this author, 
 " it was the custom to decide questions of poisoning from 
 the symptoms only ; ... it is now laid down by every 
 esteemed author in medical jurisprudence that the symptoms, 
 however exquisitely developed, can never justify an opinion 
 in favor of more than high probability." (On Poisons, 1845, 
 p. 45.) Again he says: "In contrasting the symptoms of 
 poisoning with those of natural disease, DO one can hesitate 
 to allow that from them alone a medical jurist can never be 
 entitled to pronounce that poisoning is certain. At the same 
 time, he must not, on that account, neglect them. For, in 
 the first place, they are of great value, as generally giving 
 him the first hints of the cause of mischief, and so leading 
 him to search in time for better evidence. Next, they 
 will often enable him to say that poisoning was possible, 
 probable, or highly probable; which, when the moral evi- 
 dence is very strong, may be quite enough to decide the case.
 
 EVIDENCES OF POISONING FROM SYMPTOMS. 47 
 
 Thirdly, although they can never entitle him to say that 
 poisoning was certain, they will sometimes enable him to 
 say, on the contrary, that it was impossible ; and to conclude, 
 when the chemical or moral evidence proves that poison was 
 given, the character of the symptoms may be necessary to 
 determine whether it was the cause of death" (loc. cit,p. 55). 
 
 It is but fair, however, to the above authority to say that 
 he is of the opinion that, in certain exceptional instances, 
 where the symptoms are of a peculiar and violent character, 
 these may be sufficient to settle the diagnosis. These in- 
 stances are poisoning by the corrosive acids, oxalic acid, arsenic, 
 and corrosive sublimate (the two latter under certain conditions). 
 These alleged exceptions will be examined under their appro- 
 priate heads. 
 
 Ortila (Toxicol., i. p. 10) is very decided in the opinion that 
 a case of poisoning can never be proved by symptoms alone. 
 After criticising Christison's assertion that oxalic acid poison- 
 ing might be sometimes established by the peculiar symp- 
 toms, he shows that this opinion differs materially from that 
 published by the same authority, in conjunction with Dr. 
 Coindet, in the Archives Generales de Medecine, ii. p. 276, in 
 which he states that " even when all the symptoms of this 
 poison (oxalic acid) are present, more certain evidence will be 
 afforded by the post-mortem lesions, and the chemical analy- 
 sis." Orfila then proceeds to say : "It will be sufficient to 
 affirm, in order to refute so dangerous an assertion, that there 
 probably does not exist a single case of poisoning occasioned 
 by the substance designated by Dr. Christison, that may not 
 be readily simulated by some disease." 
 
 We are now prepared to enter upon the study of these 
 symptoms, which, we are quite ready to admit, constitute a 
 very important link in the chain of evidence in a case of 
 poisoning ; and in certain peculiar cases, as e.g. the corrosives, 
 they go very far towards establishing the proof. 
 
 1. The sudden occurrence of the symptoms in a perfectly healthy 
 person soon after taking food, drink, or medicine. It is the property 
 of most poisons, when taken in full doses (as is usually the 
 case when they are criminally administered), to produce their 
 effects very speedily after being swallowed; these cannot be
 
 48 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 delayed for any length of time. In some instances the 
 effect is almost immediate, as in the case of prussic acid and 
 nicotine; oxalic acid and strychnia, in large doses, manifest 
 their effects within a few minutes ; and arsenic, together with 
 most of the irritant poisons, exhibits its power generally 
 within half an hour. Such is the general rule; but this may 
 be modified by various causes, such as quantity, state, mode 
 of combination, fullness of the stomach, and sleep ; the latter 
 may advance or retard the rapidity of action. Besides, if 
 the poison be administered in small and repeated doses, 
 constituting what is termed " slow-poisoning," the effects 
 are altogether different, and may very readily be mistaken 
 for those of some natural disease. 
 
 What is chiefly important to be remembered under this 
 head is the fact that many diseases break out just in this 
 manner, suddenly and unexpectedly, in persons previously 
 healthy (or apparently so), and this, too, soon after partaking 
 of a meal. Illustrations are afforded in apoplexy, disease of 
 the heart, perforation of the stomach, cholera, etc. : conse- 
 quently, too much stress should not be laid upon this one 
 symptom. A suspicion of poisoning is often successfully 
 rebutted by showing that no food, drink, or medicine had 
 been taken for several hours before the symptoms manifested 
 themselves. An illustrative case quoted by most authors is 
 that of the Crown Prince of Sweden, who, while reviewing 
 some troops, suddenly fell from his horse, and died in half 
 an hour afterwards. Suspicion of poisoning was strongly 
 excited, which, however, was satisfactorily negatived by its 
 being shown that the prince had partaken of neither food 
 nor drink for four hours previous to his sickness. His 
 death had really been caused by apoplexy. When, however, 
 symptoms resembling those of poison speedily follow the 
 introduction of food or medicine into the stomach, there 
 may be great room for suspicion ; but caution should be 
 observed in drawing inferences, since extraordinary coinci- 
 dences present themselves. The cases of Sir Theodosius 
 Boughton and M. Fougnies may be cited as good illustrations 
 of actual poisoning. The former of these was poisoned by his 
 brother-in-law, Capt. Douellau, who substituted laurel- water
 
 EVIDENCES OF POISONING FROM SYMPTOMS. 49 
 
 in place of his accustomed medicinal draught : the fact that 
 alarming symptoms came on two minutes after swallowing the 
 potion constituted an important part of the evidence. In 
 the case of Fougnies, death took place in five minutes after 
 swallowing nicotine, which was forcibly administered to him 
 by his brother-in-law, the Count Bocarme. As an illustration 
 of the coincidence of a fatal disease suddenly occurring after 
 partaking of food, the case of M. Pralet may be cited. He 
 had dined as usual, in company with his nephew, his heir- 
 at-law ; a few hours afterwards, almost immediately after 
 swallowing a glass of wine, he staggered, complained of feel- 
 ing ill, and became insensible. He subsequently recovered 
 his consciousness partially, but relapsed, with symptoms of 
 paralysis, and died, without convulsions, in about eight hours 
 after the first seizure. On opening the body, great congestion 
 of the brain, together with extravasation of blood, was found; 
 a peculiar odor was also perceived, which was thought to 
 resemble that of prussic acid more than anything else ! and 
 faint traces of the poison were alleged to have been detected. 
 On the strength of this evidence, the nephew was arrested 
 and tried for poisoning his uncle with prussic acid. He was 
 convicted and sentenced ; and was saved from execution only 
 by the timely interference of Ortila, who showed clearly that 
 death was solely the result of disease! (Ann. d'Hyg., 1841, 
 ii. 399; awd 1843, i. 103 and 474.) 
 
 The medical man cannot be too cautious about expressing 
 his opinion in cases of this character. He should never 
 forget that the symptoms before him may really be those of 
 disease. We deem such a person guilty of a flagrant wrong 
 when he gives publicity to the idea of poisoning guided 
 merely by the symptoms alone. Unless he has first properly 
 analyzed the suspected food or drinks, the vomited matters, and 
 above all the urine, he has no right to ventilate the suspicion 
 of poison, and thus to implicate a possibly innocent person. 
 If death is not the consequence, and there has been no 
 chemical examination, as above mentioned, there is no pos- 
 sibility of clearing up the case; and, us Dr. Taylor remarks, 
 "No public retraction or apology can ever make amends 
 for the injury which may, in this way, be inflicted on the
 
 50 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 reputation of another." If death ensues, there is always 
 the opportunity of confirming or refuting the suspicion of 
 poisoning by a careful post-mortem and chemical exami- 
 nation. 
 
 Cases are constantly occurring of this false imputation of 
 poisoning, arising from a mistaken view of the symptoms by 
 the medical attendant. Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 117) 
 alludes to " certain symptoms following the use of food con- 
 taining no poison, and yet from taste and smell, as well as 
 the coincidental effects, there will be a strong disposition to 
 charge the crime of poisoning on others." He speaks of 
 many such cases falling under his own observation in which 
 the idea of poison had been taken up, and so persisted in 
 that even the results of a chemical investigation were doubted ! 
 " In such cases, the symptoms appear to result from the force 
 of imagination" (loc. tit). 
 
 A case of some notoriety (State of Maryland vs. Mrs. E. 
 G. Wharton, for attempting to poison Eugene Van Ness, 
 Annapolis, January, 1873) aflbrds a good illustration of the 
 position above taken in regard to the inconclusiveness of 
 "symptoms" when regarded alone. It was alleged that the 
 prisoner had attempted to poison Mr. Van Ness with prussic 
 acid, tartar emetic, and strychnia, on several different occa- 
 sions; and the suspicion was based solely on the fact that 
 he had exhibited certain symptoms which the "experts" for 
 the State testified were such as indicated, in their opinion, 
 the presence of the above-named poisons. The defense con- 
 tended that all these "symptoms" were perfectly compatible 
 with ordinary sickness (Van Ness had at times complained 
 of somewhat similar symptoms); and, further, that some of 
 them were not compatible with the alleged poisons. More- 
 over, as the medical attendants who acted as "experts" in 
 the case had neglected to make any chemical examination of 
 the suspected food, or the matters vomited, or the urine, and 
 had administered no antidote, at least for the alleged tartar 
 emetic, or prussic acid, we think there was an entire failure of 
 medical proof of the alleged poisoning. The result was a 
 disagreement of the jury; and before the second trial came 
 on, the State virtually abandoned the case. (See Review
 
 EVIDENCES OF POISONING FROM SYMPTOMS. 51 
 
 of the Medical Testimony in this trial, by Dr. H. C. Wood, 
 in N. Y. Medical Record, 1873.) 
 
 2. The additional fact that several persons, partaking of the 
 same food or drinks, all exhibit the same symptoms. This mate- 
 rially strengthens the evidence from the 83'mptoms, since it 
 is not likely that several persons should be attacked by a 
 similar disease, just at the same period of time. Neverthe- 
 less, to show how such a case may be possible, Dr. Taylor 
 (On Poisons, p. 119) mentions the case of a family consist- 
 ing of four persons who sat down to dinner in London, all 
 apparently in good health. Soon after the meal three of 
 these were seized with violent symptoms of irritant poison- 
 ing. Two of the persons died. The son, who was the only 
 member of the family who did not suffer, and who was 
 known to be hostile to his parents, was arrested on suspi- 
 cion of having poisoned them ; but a strict investigation 
 of the case subsequently proved that ,the deaths had been 
 occasioned by malignant cholera, which was prevailing in 
 London at the time. 
 
 It is hence evident that even a simultaneous occurrence of 
 suspicious symptoms merely furnishes & presumption in favor 
 of poisoning, to be supported or rebutted by other circum- 
 stances. If, in the above case, or in others similar, a chem- 
 ical analysis had detected poison in the food or vomited 
 matters, or in the excreta of the sufferers, of course there 
 could be no hesitation in referring the symptoms to poison ; 
 and yet it can be seen how, even in such an extreme case, 
 there might possibly be a coincident disease. If such a con- 
 tingency should ever happen, it will become the duty of the 
 medical jurist to apply those rules of discrimination which 
 are resorted to in cases of violent death from injuries. 
 
 On the other hand, the mere want of this coincidence of 
 symptoms among a number of persons who have partaken 
 of the, same meal, is no proof of the absence of poison ; for 
 it may readily happen that the poison has been introduced 
 into only a certain portion of the food, as in the gravy and 
 not in the meat, in the crust of a pie and not in its con- 
 tents, or in the sauce and not in the pudding, or vice versa. 
 Hence it will turn out that only those who have partaken
 
 52 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 of the one special article of food or drink manifest the symp- 
 toms of poisoning. 
 
 It may be well here to remark that obscure symptoms of 
 poisoning may occur simultaneously in several members of a 
 family, which may give rise to unfounded suspicions against 
 an innocent individual. These may generally be traced to an 
 accidental introduction through the food or drink, as from 
 copper or lead, through a want of proper care and cleanli- 
 ness. Finally, it should not be forgotten that symptoms of 
 irritant poisoning are occasionally manifested simultaneously 
 in a number of persons who have eaten food rendered un- 
 wholesome by disease or decay. (See post.) 
 
 3. The rapidcourse of the symptoms towards a fatal termination. 
 Although this feature is generally regarded as indicating the 
 presence of a poison, it is not of much practical value as a 
 means of diagnosis ; since many of the most active poisons 
 not unfrequently prove fatal after a protracted interval, whilst 
 many diseases run their course very rapidly. 
 
 From what has been said in relation to diagnosticating a 
 case of suspected poisoning, by the symptoms, it will be ap- 
 parent that the real difficulty consists in discriminating be- 
 tween these, and the symptoms exhibited by disease. It will 
 therefore be proper briefly to consider the disorders whose 
 symptoms most resemble those of poisoning. 
 
 The diseases most likely to simulate irritant poisoning are 
 cholera, inflammation of the stomach and bowels, ulceration 
 and perforation of the stomach, peritonitis, ilius, and strangu- 
 lated hernia. Those that may simulate neurotic poisoning are 
 apoplexy, epilepsy, inflammation of the brain, tetanus, and 
 diseases of the heart. These will be briefly considered. 
 
 Cholera. (a) Common cholera morbus resembles in many 
 respects, in symptoms, several of the irritant poisons, par- 
 ticularly arsenic. Thus, it often comes on within an hour 
 after eating indigestible food; there are violent vomiting 
 and purging, with cramps; a cold skin, feeble pulse, thirst, 
 and depression of strength. Mistakes have frequently been 
 made in confounding this disease with arsenical poisoning. 
 The following are the most distinctive points: Cholera mor- 
 bus is usually dependent on some irregularity of diet, and
 
 DISEASES SIMULATING IRRITANT POISONING. 53 
 
 appears chiefly at the latter end of summer ; poisoning by 
 arsenic may occur, of course, at any season. The dejections 
 of cholera morbus are always tinged with bile, and never 
 with blood ; in poisoning, they very often contain blood and 
 mucus. In cholera, there is wanting the sense of burning 
 and constriction of the throat, which are prominent symp- 
 toms in arsenic-poisoning. Besides, there are often certain 
 special and occasional symptoms present in poisoning from 
 arsenic which are wanting in cholera morbus, as the redness 
 of the conjunctiva, the eczematous eruption, and the paraly- 
 sis. The only certain means of diagnosis in a non-fatal case 
 is a chemical examination of the food, the matters vomited, 
 and especially the urine (vide post, ARSENIC). 
 
 (b) The symptoms of Asiatic cholera more strongly resem- 
 ble those of tartar emetic than of arsenic. The copious 
 watery discharges from the stomach and bowels, the profuse 
 cold perspiration, the cramps, the cold and sometimes livid 
 skin, the feeble, fluttering pulse, the extreme prostration 
 occur in each case. A microscopic examination of the dis- 
 charges in cholera, would doubtless lead to a correct diag- 
 nosis. 
 
 Inflammation of the stomach and bowels (Grastro-enteritis). 
 As the irritant poisons spend their force chiefly upon the 
 lining membrane of the alimentary canal, it is not surprising 
 that their most prominent symptoms vomiting, purging, 
 and abdominal pain should be mistaken for the ordinary 
 signs of gastro-enteritis. The following are the points of 
 divergence in their symptoms : Idiopathic gastritis is a very 
 rare disease ; when gastritis does occur, therefore, it may 
 generally be traced to some direct irritating cause, such as 
 poison. The fact of the violent symptoms coming on very 
 soon after a meal, would excite suspicion, although, of course, 
 this would not be conclusive. Again, there is, in cases of 
 poisoning, usually an absence of the fever which accompanies 
 the disease. 
 
 In peritonitis, the constipation would serve as a distinctive 
 mark to prevent its being mistaken for irritant poisoning. 
 Strangulation of the bowete, intussusception, and strangulated her- 
 nia have sometimes given rise to suspicion of irritant poison-
 
 54 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 i 
 
 ing, chiefly from the sudden accession of pain, and the vomit- 
 ing; but a careful examination of all the circumstances of 
 the case, and especially the post-rnortem investigation in a 
 fatal case, will reveal its true nature. 
 
 Among the less frequent diseases may be mentioned 
 rupture of the stomach and duodenum, instances of which are 
 mentioned by Christisou as having occurred under circum- 
 stances which might easily have suggested irritant poison- 
 ing; rupture of the biliary ducts; rupture of the uterus (of which 
 a striking case is given by Christison, and which became 
 the subject of judicial investigation as a case of poisoning); 
 and the effects of drinking cold water. In the above cases, the 
 post-mortem examination alone could clear up the diagnosis. 
 
 Diseases simulating neurotic poisoning. Apoplexy. The symp- 
 toms of this disease so closely simulate those of some of 
 the narcotic poisons, especially opium, that it is often im- 
 possible to distinguish between them by these symptoms 
 alone. The following characters are usually given as diag- 
 nostic marks: Apoplexy is comparatively of rare occurrence 
 before the age of thirty years: it is often preceded by cer- 
 tain premonitory signs ; its symptoms may not come on for 
 several hours after food or drink has been taken, which 
 would negative the idea of poisoning (see ante, p. 47); the 
 coma frequently comes on suddenly, whilst the narcotism 
 from opium is gradual. The pupils are dilated in apoplexy, 
 but contracted, as a rule, in opium-poisoning. 
 
 To the above general symptoms connected with apoplexy 
 there are numerous exceptions: thus, apoplexy does occa- 
 sionally happen in the young, and even in infants; in some 
 instances it comes on suddenly, and soon after eating; occa- 
 sionally the pupils are contracted in apoplexy (see Dr. Wilks' 
 cases of apoplexy of the pons Varolii, Med. Times and Gaz., 
 1863); and in the latter stages of opium-poisoning they are 
 frequently dilated. In fatal cases of opium-poisoning the 
 vessels of the brain and dura mater are generally gorged with 
 blood ; sometimes there is an eft'usion of serum into the ven- 
 tricles and beneath the membranes ; but no extravasation of 
 blood into the substance of the brain, as is usual in apoplexy. 
 
 Epilepsy. Some of the symptoms of this disorder par-
 
 DISEASES SIMULATING NEUROTIC POISONING. 55 
 
 tially resemble those of prussic acid poisoning; but the 
 history of the case will usually be sufficient to clear up all 
 doubts as to its real character. The first epileptic paroxysm 
 is rarely, if ever, fatal. 
 
 Tetanus. This disease is very seldom of spontaneous 
 origin, or idiopathic; it is almost always the result of an 
 injury inflicted upon tendons, nerves, aponeuroses, or fasciae; 
 and frequently it can be traced to very slight injuries of these 
 parts of the bod}-. Tetanic convulsions are also a character- 
 istic result of poisoning by nuxvomica and strychnia. They 
 occasionally also manifest themselves in that protean dis- 
 order, hysteria; and exceptionally, in poisoning from arsenic, 
 antimony, morphia, and some other poisons. The following 
 are the diagnostic signs distinguishing ordinary tetanus from 
 that produced by strychnia: in ordinary tetanus, the spasm 
 comes on gradually ; the rigidit} 7 commences in the jaws, and 
 then advances progressively to the muscles of the neck, trunk, 
 and extremities. According to Mr. Colles (Lect. on Surg., 
 i. p. 72), the muscles of the fingers are the last and least af- 
 fected. This rigidity continues more or less uninterruptedly 
 throughout the whole course of the disease. In tetanus from 
 strychnia, the spasm comes on suddenly, after a shivering, 
 attacking the whole body and limbs simultaneously, and af- 
 fecting the muscles of the jaw last. The paroxysm lasts a few 
 minutes, when a complete intermission occurs, during which 
 there is a perfect relaxation of all the muscles. The dura- 
 tion of the symptoms is also a distinctive mark : whilst the 
 rigidity of the disease may continue for days, the convul- 
 sions of strychnia rarely last over two hours; often they 
 terminate in death in less than half an hour. In the con- 
 vulsions of strychnia, the intellect is unaffected, even in the 
 parox}'sms ; whilst in tetanoid hysteria there is often loss of 
 consciousness, and convulsive motions of the limbs alternate 
 between stiffness or rigidity ; moreover, whilst in tetanus 
 from strychnia the paroxysms are very apt to terminate 
 fatally, in hysteria they never do. Finally, the absence of 
 any wound, burn, or marks of an injury or of exposure to 
 cold would negative the idea of disease, and rather point to 
 strychnia as the cause.
 
 56 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Distension and rupture of the stomach may result in sudden 
 death, with, symptoms of apoplexy; and, as these usual!}' 
 come on after hearty eating, a suspicion of poisoning may 
 arise. A proper examination of the body after death will 
 alone reveal the nature of the case. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 EVIDENCES FROM POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. LESIONS COMMON TO DIS- 
 EASE AND POISONS. 
 
 II. Evidences derived from post-mortem appearances. The 
 evidence obtained from this source, like that derived from 
 the symptoms, can never be absolutely conclusive : it can 
 merely be more or less suggestive. Only a few poisonous 
 substances make such decided impressions upon the living 
 tissues as to warrant even a very strong presumption of their 
 presence : these are the caustic acids and alkalies, which 
 usually produce very decided pathological changes such as 
 erosion, perforation of the stomach and bowels, alteration of 
 color, softening of tissue, etc. Yet there have been fatal 
 cases of poisoning from these substances, with an absence of 
 their usual corrosive effects after death. 
 
 According to Prof. "Wormley (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 
 45), "some poisons leave no appreciable morbid changes in 
 the dead body; and of those that usually do, the appearances 
 are subject to great variety, and in many instances are similar 
 to the effects of ordinary disease, or even the results of cada- 
 veric change." 
 
 Dr. Taylor remarks (On Poisons, p. 154) that " any evi- 
 dence derivable from appearances in the body of a person 
 poisoned will be imperfect, unless we are able to distinguish 
 them from those analogous changes often met with as the 
 results of ordinary disease." 
 
 It was formerly supposed that in cases of death from 
 poisoning, the external appearance of the body presented a 
 peculiar character, such as an unusual degree of lividity and 
 a tendency to rapid putrefaction. This idea is erroneous, so 
 far as relates to the great mass of cases. The exception 
 seems to be in poisoning by sulphuretted hydrogen, in which
 
 EVIDENCES OF POISONING FROM THE LESIONS. 57 
 
 case putrefaction does occur more rapidly than in death from 
 other poisons; on the other hand, arsenic, alcohol, and sul- 
 phuric acid appear to exert an anti-putrescent influence upon 
 the body. 
 
 Under this head, we may mention certain external marks 
 upon the body dead or living which would be very sug- 
 gestive of particular poisons, as, for example, the peculiar 
 stains of the mineral acids on the lips, cheeks, tongue, fauces, 
 etc.. and sometimes even on the dress of the person. Some- 
 times the odor of certain poisons may be detected even before 
 opening the body, e.g. that of prussic acid, opium, alcohol, 
 or nicotine. The open, staring appearance of the eye, to- 
 gether with livid spots about the face, neck, and hands, is 
 suggestive of poisoning with prussic acid; a very long-con- 
 tinued rigidity of the body after death usually attends cases 
 of strychnia-poisoning. 
 
 In relation to the proofs of poisoning presented by an 
 internal inspection of the body, valuable information may 
 sometimes be gained from the peculiar odor exhaled. Thus, 
 frequently, though not always, on opening the body of a 
 person who has recently died from prussic acid poisoning, a 
 very strong odor of that substance can be perceived. The 
 same is sometimes the case where death has resulted from 
 opium, or its liquid preparations; and in phosphorus-poison- 
 ing, the alliaceous odor and the white fumes of phosphorous 
 acid are strongly characteristic of that poison. In poisoning 
 from nicotine, the peculiar penetrating odor of this substance 
 may often be recognized in the dead body ; and in cases 
 of death from sulphuretted hydrogen, the presence of this 
 poisonous gas is detected in a similar manner. So, likewise, 
 in some cases of poisoning with corrosive sublimate, there 
 is found, after death, a peculiar, slate-colored deposit on the 
 lining membrane of the stomach, consisting of reduced mer- 
 cury in a finely-divided state; and at times, as the result of 
 arsenical poisoning, there may be seen white patches, com- 
 posed of arsenious acid, firmly attached to the highly-inflamed 
 mucous coat of the stomach: such patches of inflammation 
 are very characteristic of this poison. Again, the remains of 
 various poisons can be recognized after death, in the stomach
 
 58 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 and bowels, by close inspection either by the naked eye, or 
 with the aid of the microscope. Thus, cantharides, when 
 swallowed in powder, Scheele's green, and orpiment, mix 
 vomica, savin, and various other vegetable leaves and seeds, 
 present characteristic marks, botanical and otherwise, by 
 which they can be identified, after death. 
 
 But there are certain alterations of the tissues and organs 
 
 O 
 
 themselves true pathological lesio'ns resulting from the 
 direct action of poisons, which' it is important to understand. 
 As a rule, the irritant poisons leave behind them very decided 
 evidences of their action on the gastro-intestinal mucous 
 membrane, such as redness more or less diffused and intense, 
 thickening, softening, ulceration, perforation, and gangrene. 
 So, likewise, the neurotic poisons leave their impress upon the 
 nervous centres, in the form of congestion of the vessels of 
 the brain and spinal marrow, effusion of serum (rarely of 
 blood) into the ventricles of the brain, and beneath the mem- 
 branes; sometimes congestion of the lungs, general fulness 
 of the venous system, and of the right side of the heart, etc. 
 
 Considerable importance attaches to the negative evidence 
 from post-mortem inspection. Thus, in a case of alleged 
 poisoning by sulphuric or nitric acid, the absence of all marks 
 of corrosion in the mouth, gullet, and intestinal canal would 
 negative the charge; but while the absence of all traces of 
 inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach and 
 bowels would render the fact of poisoning by arsenic, cor- 
 rosive sublimate, and other irritants highly improbable, it 
 would not necessarily invalidate it, since, as we shall learn 
 hereafter, death may occur from these powerful irritants 
 without leaving behind any pathological lesion. The nega- 
 tive evidence of absence of congestion of the brain, in cases 
 of narcotic poisoning, is weaker. 
 
 It must also be remarked that post-mortem appearances 
 similar to those above mentioned, even though confirmed 
 by the chemical detection of the poison in the stomach, do 
 not furnish absolute proof that death was caused by poison ; 
 for this might, after all, be due to some cause anticipating 
 its fatal action. Such a coincidence could be determined 
 only by a careful post-mortem examination. The detection
 
 LESIONS RESEMBLING THE EFFECTS OF POISONS. 59 
 
 of the absorbed poison in the viscera would go still farther to 
 establish the proof of poisoning. On the other hand, a dead 
 body may bear upon it very positive evidence of violence, 
 such as bruises, stabs, and other wounds, sufficient to account 
 for death, and yet on inspection this may be found to have 
 been actually caused by poison. 
 
 It has already been stated that there are many post-mortem 
 appearances common to poison and disease, -just as is the 
 case with symptoms: it is important to have a clear under- 
 standing of these, so as not to confound them, in making an 
 inspection. 
 
 Redness. This is one of the most common of all the effects 
 of an irritant poison ; but it is likewise a very frequent con- 
 sequence of disease; and, according to the highest authorities, 
 it is often the result of post-mortem changes, independently 
 of any antecedent disease. The researches of Drs. Yellowly 
 and Andral have put this matter beyond a doubt: hence 
 mere redness of the stomach cannot be accepted as any proof 
 of poisoning. In ordinary gastro-enteritis, where the mucous 
 membrane of the stomach and bowels is highly inflamed, 
 redness is, of course, a prominent sign ; and inasmuch as the 
 symptoms before death are very similar to those occasioned 
 by arsenic, or some other irritant, it would be impossible to 
 make out the diagnosis clearly without a chemical analysis; 
 and the result even of this would not necessarily be final or 
 positive; for supposing only a minute quantity of arsenic to 
 be discovered not in the contents of the stomach, but in its 
 tissues, and in the liver and other viscera of the body, this 
 circumstance alone would not be positive proof of death from 
 poison. For it might so happen that the individual had been 
 taking arsenic medicinally, in small doses, for weeks or months 
 previously, and then have died suddenly from an acute attack 
 of gastro-enteritis, under suspicious circumstances ; and after 
 death, the suspicion would appear to be sustained by the chem- 
 ical discovery of the absorbed poison in the viscera. We 
 have met, in our own experience, with just such a case, in 
 which the success of the defense consisted in showing that 
 the absorbed arsenic detected in the liver of the deceased 
 could be satisfactorily accounted for by her having taken
 
 60 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 this substance medicinally for a considerable time prior to 
 her death: the prisoner was acquitted. If, however, in a 
 doubtful case of the above character, where the symptoms 
 and post-mortem lesions were consistent with poisoning, the 
 poison had been found in the contents of the stomach, and also 
 in the absorbed state, in the liver, etc., such a discovery would 
 furnish positive proof of the crime, unless it could be shown 
 that the poison had been introduced into the stomach after 
 death. 
 
 It is proper to state, on the other hand, that when internal 
 redness of the stomach is really due to arsenic-poisoning, 
 this condition may continue, and be recognized many months 
 after death, in consequence, probably, of the antiseptic in- 
 fluence of the poison upon the tissues. 
 
 Ulceration. This result is rare as a consequence of acute 
 irritant poisoning; but it occasionally occurs as one of the 
 sequences of chronic or slow poisoning by arsenic. It is 
 believed to be more commonly the result of disease than of 
 poisoning. It is a very insidious disorder, often lasting for 
 a considerable time without causing much inconvenience 
 to the patient, except occasional nausea and vomiting, and 
 loss of appetite. Dr. Taylor draws attention to the fact that 
 ulceration from poisoning has never been known to occur 
 until after the appearance of symptoms indicative of irritant 
 poisoning : this fact would aid us in making the diagnosis. 
 In ulceration from disease, the mucous membrane is com- 
 monly only reddened immediately around the ulcer; in 
 ulceration from poisoning, the redness is generally diffused 
 throughout the membrane, and extends into the small intes- 
 tines. The clinical history of the case will aid in clearing 
 it up. 
 
 Ulceration must not be confounded with corrosion : the 
 former is a vital process, the parts being removed by ab- 
 sorption ; the latter is the result of chemical action, at once 
 destroying their vitality. It is also a very rapid process : the 
 former is slow. The complete and thorough destruction of 
 tissue produced by the mineral acids, can hardly fail to dis- 
 close the real cause of death. There is no disease which could 
 produce such well-marked appearances in so short a time.
 
 LESIONS RESEMBLING THE EFFECTS OF POISONS. 61 
 
 Softening. The mucous lining of the stomach and bowels 
 may undergo this change, both as the result of poisoning 
 and of disease; also, according to good authority, from the 
 post-mortem solvent action of the gastric juice. In some 
 cases, the coats of the stomach become thickened and hard- 
 ened under the effects of arsenic and other irritants. We are 
 not warranted, from. .softening alone, to infer the existence of 
 an irritant poison. The absence of the peculiar symptoms 
 and of other appearances indicative of poison, together with 
 a failure to discover it by a chemical analysis, would be quite 
 sufficient to disprove such a charge. 
 
 Perforation. When this is the result of poisoning, it is 
 almost exclusively due to the corrosives, especially the min- 
 eral acids. In such cases, the aperture is large and ragged; 
 the edges are soft and friable ; the poison escapes into the 
 abdomen, and can there readily be detected. In perforation 
 from disease (ulceration), the aperture is small; and it often 
 comes on very suddenly after a meal, thus giving rise to 
 a suspicion of poisoning. It is usually fatal, death being 
 ascribed to the consequent peritonitis. 
 
 The following are the diagnostic points: in poisoning, it 
 is preceded by very severe symptoms; in disease, the pre- 
 ceding symptoms are generally mild, and often resemble 
 those of dyspepsia; the attack, however, comes on very sud- 
 denly after eating; vomiting is usually absent, or else is 
 very slight; and instead of purging there is constipation. 
 These, together with the difference in the appearance of the 
 aperture, and the result of the chemical examination, w 7 ill 
 serve to show the true nature of the case. 
 
 Cases of sudden perforation of the intestines from disease 
 are reported, which gave rise to a suspicion of poisoning, the 
 true nature of which was ascertained only by a post-mortem 
 examination. There can be no doubt that the intestines have 
 occasionally been perforated by worms infesting the bowels. 
 A case is reported by Flandin, where this was made aground 
 of defense (Taylor, On Poisons, p. 165).
 
 62 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 INSPECTION OF THE BODY. COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE 
 SUSPECTED MATERIALS. 
 
 Inspection of the body. This is the appropriate place to 
 offer some suggestions in reference to the proper mode of 
 inspecting a dead body with a view to determine the ques- 
 tion whether the death was caused by poison. The duty of 
 the expert may have reference, (1) to the examination of a 
 body recently dead, and (2) to the exhumation and examina- 
 tion of a body dead for a long time. 
 
 In reference to the former, the expert should ascertain, if 
 possible, the exact time of death, and compare this with the 
 first appearance of the symptoms, so as to determine how 
 long the person survived after being attacked. He should 
 notice the attitude and position of the body, as indicating 
 convulsion tetanic or otherwise during life; the state of 
 the countenance, whether livid or pallid, ecchymosed or not; 
 the condition of the dress, whether exhibiting marks or spots 
 of the mineral acids, or of vomited matters; likewise the 
 condition of all surrounding objects, whether stained with 
 vomited matters, blood, etc; He should carefully collect 
 any vomited matters, and remove any suspicious stains from 
 the floor, articles of furniture, etc., by scraping, or otherwise. 
 He should collect, and carefully lay aside, all suspicious 
 papers, boxes, cups, bottles, etc., for further examination. 
 
 When a considerable length of time has elapsed since the 
 death occurred, and for some reason the suspicion of poison- 
 ing has been aroused, a judicial order is obtained, and it 
 becomes necessary to disinter the body. The expert should 
 always be present at the exhumation of the body, and give 
 his attention to the minutest details connected with this pro- 
 cedure. He should take notes of the mode of burial; the 
 nature of the soil; the condition of the coffin, whether 
 sound or decayed, and the state of the clothing of the body. 
 If the body be in good preservation, and the coffin sound, 
 the former should be lifted out, and laid upon a table near 
 by, suitable for making the autopsy; but if, from the long
 
 INSPECTION OF THE BODY. 63 
 
 period of interment, the body be much putrefied, and the 
 coffin much decayed, it will be proper to collect some of the 
 debris adherent, as well as some of the adherent earth, and 
 likewise some of the soil taken from another part of the 
 cemetery, for a comparative analysis. 
 
 The rules governing the autopsy are the same as those 
 which regulate other judicial post-mortem examinations. 
 The first thing to be noticed is the' condition of the body 
 whether well preserved or not; and whether it has been 
 embalmed. One general rule should regulate every such 
 investigation, namely, that it should be so thorough and ex- 
 haustive as to leave no single organ of the body unexamined. 
 We cannot be too emphatic upon this point. Tardieu (Sur 
 rEmpoisonnement, p. 57) uses very decided language on 
 the subject: "Most unquestionably this post-mortem exam- 
 ination should be complete, without omitting a single organ, 
 so as to overlook no lesion whatsoever, and no cause of either 
 natural or accidental death." 
 
 The evils resulting from a careless or superficial autopsy, 
 in such a case, will be apparent on a moment's reflection. 
 Cases of poisoning constantly occur, where the ends of justice 
 are imperiled or defeated by just such an imperfect post- 
 mortem examination. Suppose a case of alleged poisoning 
 by opium : the symptoms strongly resemble those of apoplexy ; 
 the autopsy is conducted in this careless, slovenly manner; 
 the brain not minutely inspected for disease; the spinal cord 
 altogether omitted; the kidneys and other organs neglected. 
 The incompetent " expert," however, ventures upon the 
 witness-stand, and presumes, even under the solemn sur- 
 roundings of a case of life or death, to give his opinion that 
 death was caused by opium-poisoning, because he had dis- 
 covered some congestion of the brain, with, perhaps, some 
 effusion ! no microscopic examination of the minute cerebral 
 vessels, or of the heart ; no inspection of the kidneys for 
 granular disease to indicate ursemic poisoning; and, most 
 probably, no examination of the urine to confirm or rebut 
 this suspicion ! It is positively alarming to contemplate the 
 danger to which, on the one hand, innocent persons, wrong- 
 fully accused, may be exposed, through such ignorant and
 
 64 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 careless work, or, on the other hand, how, by creating doubts 
 in the minds of the jury, a really guilty person may fail to 
 be convicted. 
 
 In cases of suspected poisoning, it is generally recom- 
 mended to place a double ligature at each end of the stomach, 
 and to cut between them, so as to preserve this organ with 
 its contents entire for future examination. Tardieu, however 
 (loc. tit., p. 58), strongly advises to examine the interior of 
 the stomach and intestines on the spot, before any further 
 putrefactive change occurs, which is very apt to be the case. 
 For this purpose, he recommends removing the stomach 
 carefully from the body, without tying it, and then emptying 
 the contents into a proper vessel: the intestine is to be 
 emptied by placing the upper end in the vessel, and then 
 detaching it from the mesentery, gradually pushing the con- 
 tents into the vessel. After this, it will be easy, by cutting 
 open the stomach and intestines, to examine their inner 
 coating. Whichever mode the expert may prefer to adopt, 
 he should be provided, in advance, with several new and 
 clean wide-mouthed glass or stone jars, of the capacity of half 
 a gallon, fitted with sound new corks or glass stoppers. One 
 of these should contain only the stomach and the intestines; 
 or, if only a portion, the upper third, together with the csecum 
 and rectum. None of the other viscera should be placed in 
 the same jar, lest, by imbibition, these might become contam- 
 inated with the poison in the stomach, and so lead to a wrong 
 inference in relation to absorbed poison (see supra, p. 40). The 
 second jar may contain portions of the liver and lungs, spleen, 
 heart, kidney, and the urinary bladder. It is very important 
 to avoid putting any antiseptic liquid into these jars. Even 
 pure alcohol, or chloroform, allowed by some authorities, is, 
 at times, objectionable, as, for example, where phosphorus is 
 to be looked for. The jars should then be securely corked, 
 avoiding the use of sealing-wax (which contains some min- 
 eral ingredient), but fastened by tying over the corks a piece 
 of moistened bladder, or parchment; after which they are to 
 be properly sealed up, and kept under lock and key, so as to 
 prevent the possibility of their being injured, or in any way 
 being tampered with.
 
 INSPECTION OF THE BODY. 65 
 
 The importance of receiving the stomach, etc., into a per- 
 fectly clean vessel may be inferred from the fact, that the 
 showing that this vessel was not perfectly clean, at the trial, 
 would be sufficient to destroy all the chemical testimony, 
 however conclusive this may be as to the discovery of poison. 
 This is well illustrated in a case communicated to the author 
 by Prof. R. Bridges, of Philadelphia, which occurred to him- 
 self. In a case of suspected arsenic-poisoning, the stomach, 
 etc., were carelessly thrown into an old tin can that had 
 formerly contained zinc paint, before being sent to the an- 
 alyst, lie discovered zinc in the viscera, and was at a loss 
 to account for its presence, until he ascertained the above 
 fact. 
 
 For a similar reason, the jars, with their contents, should 
 be guarded with scrupulous care, lest it become impossible 
 to vouch for their identity at the approaching trial. A great 
 point with the defense at such a trial, is to disprove, if pos- 
 sible, the identity of the materials operated upon by the 
 chemist. A singular case of this character was tried at. 
 Leesburg, Va., in 1872 (State of Virginia vs. Mrs. E. E. 
 Lloyd), where a woman was accused of poisoning her chil- 
 dren with arsenic. It appeared in evidence, that the person 
 who had been intrusted to carry the jar containing the 
 stomach to the chemist, in a distant city, had died in the in- 
 terim before the trial ; and there was no one who could swear 
 to the identity of the stomach operated on by the chemist, 
 who declared that he had extracted from the stomach several 
 grains of arsenic ! The court very properly ruled out the 
 whole of the chemical evidence in relation to the stomach, 
 just for the loss of this one link in the chain. 
 
 The contents of the stomach should be collected in a clean, 
 graduated vessel, and their quantity, color, odor, consistence, etc., 
 carefully noted. The condition of the rectum, and of the 
 genital organs of the female, should be inspected; the pres- 
 ence of hardened fteces in the rectum would show that purg- 
 ing had not existed shortly before death, a circumstance 
 which of itself would go far to disprove that death had re- 
 sulted from an' irritant metallic poison, as arsenic, corrosive 
 or tartar emetic. It may be well also to reniem-
 
 66 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 her that arsenic has been introduced into the vagina with 
 a murderous intent. 
 
 One other point should not be forgotten, namely, to ex- 
 amine all the important organs for marks of natural disease, 
 and to note down any unusual pathological conditions, even 
 though, at the time, these may not seem to bear on the 
 question of poisoning. 
 
 In the subsequent examination of the stomach and bowels, 
 after noticing any odor, as indicating the presence of alcohol, 
 phosphorus, prussic acid, opium, etc. (slightly warming the 
 organic matter, if necessary, for this purpose), each portion 
 of the intestinal canal should be in turn spread out upon a 
 clean sheet of window-glass, with the internal surface out- 
 wards. The entire surface should then be carefully exam- 
 ined, first with the naked eye, and afterwards with a lens; 
 every abnormal appearance should be noted and described ; 
 all suspicious particles or powder should be collected and 
 examined ; such portions as present the most marked ap- 
 pearances may then be removed, and spread out upon a 
 glass slide and placed under the microscope. By this means, 
 very satisfactory proof may often be obtained of the presence 
 of certain kinds of food, of certain poisonous vegetable seeds, 
 leaves, chlorophyl, woody fibre, the characteristic granules of 
 the different varieties of fecula, the spores of mushrooms, etc. 
 A striking illustration of the importance of such a minute ex- 
 amination is mentioned by Tardieu (Sur PEmpoisonnement, 
 p. 68). A child twelve years of age died at school, after ten 
 hours of acute suffering, on the day on which its stepmother 
 had brought it several good things to eat. Among the con- 
 tents of the stomach were discovered some fragments of 
 bread, which, when examined by the microscope, were found 
 covered with a fungous growth, showing that the bread was 
 mouldy. This fact was noted down, but no importance was 
 attached to it till, at the trial, one of the witnesses, a servant of 
 the stepmother, stated that her mistress was in the habit of 
 carrying to the child slices of bread and jam ; but that on the 
 day of the death she said that she could not take it, because 
 the bread was mouldy, and had been so for several days. 
 
 In conclusion, a judicial exhumation and examination of a
 
 EVIDENCE FROM CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 67 
 
 body suspected to have been poisoned should never be made 
 except in the presence of the properly qualified officer the 
 coroner, and always in the presence of some representative 
 of the prisoner, and of the defense; otherwise, the matter 
 assumes very much an ex parte character, and the State's 
 expert who conducts it must necessarily be exposed to an 
 unpleasant suspicion of not dealing fairly with the material 
 examined. At any rate, we think it safest and best to avoid 
 all such imputations, by having an expert for the defense 
 present at the examination. An opposite course is calculated 
 to create an unfounded suspicion against even honorable men, 
 who may unwittingly lend themselves to it. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. CAUSES OF FAILURE IN THE 
 CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. OBJECTS OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. PRECAU- 
 TIONS TO BE OBSERVED. ACCURACY OF THE ANALYSIS. IMPURITIES IN 
 REAGENTS. 
 
 III. The actual detection of the poison by means of chemical 
 analysis is generally regarded by the popular mind as afford- 
 ing the most satisfactory and positive evidence of poisoning. 
 Indeed, the idea has been very prevalent that the charge of 
 poisoning can never be made out, without the actual produc- 
 tion of the poison as the corpus delicti. This is, however, an 
 error. All that the law requires is satisfactory proof that the 
 person has died from poison. It does not prescribe the means 
 by which this proof is to be arrived at. The question then is 
 can satisfactory proof be established without the chemical 
 detection of the poison ? The reply to this inquiry is, that it 
 unquestionably can be, in certain cases. There are certain 
 poisons that cannot, at present, be detected by chemical 
 analysis ; such are some of those derived from the vegetable 
 and animal kingdoms, as the cananthe crocata, the laburnum, 
 the poisonous fungi, the woorara, poisonous cheese and meat, 
 the poison of rabies, of glanders, of snakes, etc. ; yet all 
 these can produce most violent, and often fatal, effects. It 
 would be, as Dr. Taylor well remarks, a most dangerous and 
 fallacious doctrine to affirm that no case of poisoning can be
 
 68 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 proved without the actual detection of the alleged poison 
 by chemistry. If this were true, many notorious murderers 
 would be allowed to escape the hands of justice. The truth 
 is, that the fact of poisoning can often be made out by physi- 
 ological and pathological evidence, conjoined with strong 
 moral proof, without the additional aid of chemistry. In 
 many celebrated criminal cases, conviction has ensued in the 
 absence of all chemical proof. We need only mention, among 
 many others, the cases of Donellan, Castaing, and Palmer as 
 illustrations. In none of these instances was the poison found 
 in the body of the deceased, yet in all the " satisfactory 
 proof," which the law requires, was obtained from other 
 sources, and conviction followed. 
 
 It becomes, then, a matter of extreme importance to ascer- 
 tain precisely the position which the chemical proof occupies 
 in the chain of evidence required to establish the charge of 
 poisoning. "We say, then, that if the other factors of evidence 
 the symptoms, the pathological appearances, the poisonous 
 effects of the suspected material on living animals, and the 
 moral proofs all coincide, the chemical analysis is not required 
 to substantiate the charge. Nor is this doctrine opposed to 
 what was before said in reference to the insufficiency of 
 proof, either from the symptoms alone, or from the post- 
 mortem signs alone, or even from both combined; inas- 
 much as these, unless supported by the strongest moral 
 proof, such as purchase and possession of the poison, motive, 
 conduct before and after the victim's death, etc., can merely 
 establish a probability of poisoning. "When, however, the 
 other branches of evidence fail, or are imperfect, if the chem- 
 ical analysis is unsatisfactory, an acquittal must follow."? 
 (Taylor, On Poisons, p. 172.) But on the other hand, even 
 if, under these circumstances, the analysis distinctly re- 
 veals the presence of poison, it simply declares the fact of 
 its presence : it does not necessarily prove that it was the 
 cause of death. Indeed, in the entire absence of the usual 
 symptoms, pathological changes, and moral proofs, the chemi- 
 cal detection of a poison may rather justify the suspicion that 
 this had been secretly introduced into the body after death, 
 for a sinister purpose. (See ante, p. 40.)
 
 EVIDENCE FROM CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 69 
 
 Whilst, then, we do not hesitate to admit that there are 
 cases of poisoning which can be " satisfactorily proved," 
 even in the absence of all chemical evidence, we would not 
 be understood as in any way disparaging or underrating the 
 importance of a thorough chemical analysis. When this 
 demonstrates the presence of a poison, it exhibits a positive 
 and sufficient means of death, with the proviso just mentioned, 
 that the poison could not have been introduced into the body 
 after death. It is usually considered the most satisfactory 
 evidence of the crime, by both court and jury. 
 
 Orfila evidently lays great stress upon the chemical analysis 
 as an important link in the chain of evidence. He says, 
 speaking of the respective value of symptoms, morbid 
 lesions, and the chemical analysis in a case of poisoning, 
 and assigning a paramount importance to the latter, " Sup- 
 pose twenty persons to be poisoned by arsenic : in every 
 one of them the presence of the poison is proven by the 
 analysis, whilst the symptoms experienced, and the post- 
 mortem appearances presented, differ widely in their char- 
 acter. In one, the sickness resembles Asiatic cholera; 
 another, several hours after swallowing the poison, is sud- 
 denly attacked by syncope, without any precursory symp- 
 tom, and dies ; later, some will be found affected with 
 pustules on the skin, delirium, faintings, articular pains, 
 abundant and repeated vomitings, etc., while others exhibit 
 only a few of these symptoms, or else all of them in a very 
 slight degree. And as to the lesions, in one case we will find 
 ecchymoses in the alimentary canal, with several ulcers, and 
 possibly perforation ; in another, a bright, uniform, and ex- 
 tended redness; in still another, a simple injection of the 
 membrane; and in some others even this may be wanting." 
 His conclusion is, that the diagnosis cannot be made out 
 by the symptoms and morbid lesions combined, without the 
 aid of the chemical analysis (loc. tit., p. 11). 
 
 The great value of chemical evidence is seen in the detec- 
 tion of poisons in bodies many months, or even years, after 
 death, when all appearances are destroyed by putrefaction, 
 and also in the excreta (the urine particularly) of the living. 
 In the absence, or failure, of the chemical evidence, in an
 
 70 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 alleged case of poisoning, we think that the proofs derived 
 from the other sources should be so positive and unequivocal 
 as not to admit of the shadow of a doubt. 
 
 Causes of failure in the chemical analysis. These are as 
 follows : 1. The nature of the poison itself: no chemical test 
 may have yet been discovered for it. As already remarked, 
 this is especially true of certain vegetable and animal sub- 
 stances of a poisonous nature. As a rule, the inorganic 
 poisons admit of comparatively easy detection, in the hands 
 of an expert chemist. Some poisons are of an exceedingly 
 volatile nature : they rapidly disappear from the body, by 
 evaporation. This is the case with prussic acid, alcohol, 
 nicotine, chloroform, etc. : so that a chemical examination 
 made a few hours after death, may entirely fail to discover 
 a trace of them. 
 
 2. Loss by vomiting and purging. It is evident that even a 
 large dose of poison may be entirely expelled from the 
 stomach and bowels by vomiting and purging, provided 
 these occur soon after swallowing it. jN'umerous cases are on 
 record where, from this cause, there was an entire failure to 
 discover the poison after death, although this took place with 
 the usual rapidity. Generally, however, when the poison 
 has been taken in the solid state, as in powder, more or less 
 of it remains closely adherent to the mucous lining of the 
 stomach, where it can be easily identified. If the vomiting 
 and purging have not been excessive, and life has not been 
 prolonged over two or three days, a portion, at least, of an 
 irritant poison ought to be found in the stomach. The exact 
 period when the whole of a poison disappears from the 
 stomach by vomiting is subject to much variation. Chris- 
 tison mentions two cases of poisoning by arsenic, which 
 proved fatal in five hours, after much vomiting; in one of 
 which no poison could be detected, and in the other only a 
 fifteenth of a grain could be found. In two other instances 
 of like poisoning, in which death ensued in eight hours after 
 swallowing one and two ounces respectively, not a trace of 
 the poison was discovered in the stomach. On the other hand, 
 Orfila mentions a case in which, after incessant vomiting for 
 two entire days, arsenic was detected in the contents of the
 
 ELIMINATION OF POISONS. 71 
 
 stomach. Prof. Wormley (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 37) dis- 
 covered forty-two grains of arsenic in the stomach of a person 
 who had been vomiting almost incessantly for thirty-two hours. 
 
 3. Loss by absorption and elimination. Attention has already 
 been directed to the rapidity with which poisonous substances 
 are removed from the stomach by absorption (ante, p. 26). 
 Hence it often happens that, after death from poisoning, 
 even though there may have been no vomiting, the analyst 
 may not be able to discover a trace of the poison in the 
 stomach. This is especially apt to be the case where the 
 dose was not excessive, and where death did not ensue very 
 rapidly. In the year 1861 I examined the stomach and 
 intestines of a woman who survived six hours after swallow- 
 ing nearly six grains of stn-chnia. The most careful and 
 repeated analyses by Stas' process failed to reveal a trace of 
 the poison, either by the color-test, or by the bitter taste of 
 the extract. Sir R. Christison failed to detect morphia in 
 the stomach of a person poisoned by taking two ounces 
 of laudanum, although death occurred in five hours (On 
 Poisons, p. 697). 
 
 The elimination of the absorbed poison from the different 
 organs of the body, as we have already seen, commences 
 almost immediately after its ingestion ; but the time required 
 for the complete elimination varies extremely, both for dif- 
 ferent poisons, and for the same poison under different cir- 
 cumstances. Thus, according to Orfila, the period for the 
 total expulsion of arsenic from the human body by elimina- 
 tion is about fifteen days; nevertheless, arsenic has been 
 found in the urine as late as the twenty-first day after the 
 cessation of its administration. From this it follows, that, 
 in case of death from arsenic, if the deceased survived fif- 
 teen or sixteen days, there would be no probability of discov- 
 ering a trace of the poison, either in the stomach, or in any 
 of the organs.' Doubtless, in numerous cases, the period of 
 elimination is much shorter than the one just mentioned, as, 
 for example, where the dose has been only just large enough 
 to cause death ; but in the great majority of cases of poison- 
 ing, the doses are excessive, the symptoms violent, and the 
 death rapid : so that there is usually little difficulty for the
 
 72 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 chemist to detect the poison, both in the contents of the 
 stomach and in the organs. This is particularly true of the 
 mineral poisons; vegetable poisons (alkaloids), although un- 
 doubtedly absorbed into the blood, like the others, have very 
 rarely been detected in the organs. 
 
 4. Decomposition of the poison in the blood, or during its elimi- 
 nation from the system. It would appear from the difficulty 
 that attends the detection of certain poisons after death, 
 more especially those of the organic kingdom, that they 
 probably undergo some chemical alteration in the living 
 body, which renders them insusceptible to the action of the 
 usual reagents. This seems particularly true in the case of 
 opium, and it has also been suggested as belonging to strych- 
 nia. In a former chapter (p. 32) proofs were adduced of the 
 fact that many substances do undergo decomposition while 
 passing through the circulation. The non-detection of most 
 of the organic poisons in the tissues and organs of the bodies 
 of persons killed by these substances, furnishes a very plausi- 
 ble argument in favor of their chemical decomposition in the 
 blood. In relation to the inorganic poisons the mineral es- 
 pecially this change is much less likely to occur: probably it 
 never occurs except as the result of post-mortem putrefaction. 
 
 5. Decomposition, and loss of the poison in the dead body. It 
 cannot be doubted that during the putrefactive changes which 
 occur after death, some poisons may become altered, and even 
 entirely disappear. Such a change would be most naturally 
 expected in the organic poisons. With regard to the mineral 
 poisons, although they may undergo chemical transformation 
 after death, the metal is indestructible : accordingly, it may 
 be found in some new combination. Thus, arsenious acid 
 after a time is transformed into the yellow sulphide, through 
 the agency of sulphuretted hydrogen, the product of putre- 
 faction. The salts of iron are, by the same agent, along 
 with ammonia, converted into the black sulphide. Corrosive 
 sublimate, by the same means also, changes into the black 
 sulphide. Among the organic poisons, cantharides and 
 strychnia appear to possess remarkable powers of resistance 
 to putrefaction. 
 
 The above reasons are amply sufficient to account for the
 
 OBJECTS OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 73 
 
 failure of chemical analysis to detect many poisons in the 
 body after death. But in every case of alleged poisoning 
 fatal or otherwise where there has been a failure of chemi- 
 cal proof, the prosecution must be prepared to account satis- 
 factorily for this failure; or else it will very materially aid in 
 the acquittal of the accused. 
 
 Objects of the chemical analysis. These are: 1. To ascertain 
 the nature of the poison, and the probable quantity admin- 
 istered. If the analysis should discover a different poison 
 from the one mentioned in the indictment, this is not thereby 
 vitiated. The quantity administered can hardly ever be de- 
 termined more than approximately ; but as close an estimate 
 as possible should be made by a careful weighing, or measur- 
 ing, of the solid or liquid material submitted for analysis. 
 The malicious intention of a prisoner may often be inferred 
 from the quantity of poison discovered in the substance 
 administered. For instance, if but a few grains of oxalic acid 
 were detected in a large quantity of some drink, a conviction 
 for an attempt to poison would hardly follow, since so small 
 a quantity would be harmless; but if a large quantity of this 
 acid were discovered, the motive of the act would be apparent. 
 
 There is a very common fallacy connected with the quan- 
 tity of poisqn found in the stomach after death, to which 
 allusion has already been made (ante, p. 26): the question is 
 constantly put to the witness on a trial, whether the quantity 
 found in the stomach was sufficient to cause death? The 
 proper answer to this question is that the poison found in 
 the stomach whether in large or small quantity has nothing 
 whatever to do with the fatal result: it is merely the surplus 
 of that which has been the real cause of death. Hence, to 
 argue that, because only a very small amount of a poison has 
 been discovered in the stomach (which amount was insuffi- 
 cient to cause death in another person), therefore the deceased 
 could not have been poisoned, would be a most serious error. 
 As has been already explained, death may result from poison, 
 and not a particle of it be discovered in the stomach after- 
 wards, simply because it has either been all removed by 
 vomiting, or else (unless the dose was excessive) it has all 
 disappeared by absorption. This principle concerning the
 
 74 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 residual poison found in the stomach after death, cannot be 
 too thoroughly understood. 
 
 In case the poison discovered, either in the stomach, or in 
 the absorbed state, be in very small quantity, it may always 
 be plausibly urged by the defense that it was either accident- 
 ally introduced, or else had been taken medicinally. On the 
 other hand, the presence of a very large quantity might sug- 
 gest the idea of suicide, rather than of homicide, since it 
 might seem to indicate a deliberate and determined purpose 
 on the part of the deceased, and to be inconsistent with the 
 theory of homicide. But caution should be observed in 
 relation to such an admission, especially in connection with 
 arsenic, since a case of murder has been recorded by Sir R. 
 Christison, in which nearly one hundred grains of arsenic 
 were found in the stomach after death. In the celebrated 
 case of Madeline Smith, tried for poisoning L'Angelier with 
 arsenic (Ed. Court of Just., July, 1857), the defense made a 
 very strong point in the fact that eighty-eight grains of arsenious 
 acid were discovered in the stomach of the deceased an 
 amount up to that time unheard of in a case of homicide, 
 and therefore one which justified rather the idea of suicide. 
 
 2. Another important object of the chemical analysis is 
 to discover the administrator. This is often accomplished by 
 a careful analysis of certain implements, articles of food, 
 clothing, cups, etc. The discovery of poison in connection 
 with these may lead to the identification of the true culprit. 
 (See Taylor, On Poisons, p. 188, for some striking illustra- 
 tions.) 
 
 Certain precautions to be observed in performing the analysis. 
 Before commencing this, it is desirable that the toxicologist 
 should inform himself, as far as possible, of the nature of the 
 symptoms and (in a fatal case) of the post-mortem appear- 
 ances observed in the suspected case. Such a knowledge 
 will generally serve at least to put him on the proper track, 
 by indicating to what particular class of poisons he should 
 direct his researches. If, for instance, the symptoms clearly 
 indicated one of the irritant poisons, the analyst would 
 save himself much labor by first directing his examination 
 in that particular line, without making an indiscriminate
 
 ACCURACY OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 75 
 
 search for poisons. For the same reason, if the symptoms 
 had been clearly those of a neurotic poison, his investiga- 
 tions should first be directed to that especial class. 
 
 It is a good rule to observe in the analysis of complex 
 organic materials, to reduce the quantity of the liquid, by 
 evaporation, to the smallest bulk compatible with the appli- 
 cation of the tests to be applied. No doubt, a failure to detect 
 the poison is often dependent upon a disregard of this very 
 precaution, since a very small quantity of a poison diffused 
 through a large amount of material may fail to be recog- 
 nized by the appropriate tests ; whereas, if properly concen- 
 trated, it would have been detected. Again, the action of 
 chemical reagents is more or less modified by the quantity 
 employed. In some instances, a very slight excess of the 
 reagent may entirely prevent the formation of a precipitate 
 which would otherwise appear. On the other hand, a de- 
 ficiency in the quantity of the reagent may materially modify 
 the result : thus, a small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen 
 produces, with a solution of corrosive sublimate, a white pre- 
 cipitate; while a large amount of this gas will occasion a 
 black- colored deposit; and an intermediate quantity will 
 produce a red precipitate. 
 
 Accuracy of the analysis. In order to secure accuracy of 
 result in the chemical analysis, several things are necessary : 
 1. To employ only a portion usually one-half of the ma- 
 terial to be operated on ; the other portion is kept in reserve, 
 in case of accident, or for subsequent experiments. 2. The 
 experimenter should never be satisfied with the result ob- 
 tained from a single test, or from a single line of testing. 
 The suspected substance ought to respond to every known 
 test, or the reason for its not doing so should be distinctly 
 explained. Thus, in testing for prussic acid, the analyst is 
 not justified in stating, as was done in the Schoeppe case, 
 that this poison was present, simply because "faint traces" 
 were observed by the application of only two out of the four 
 recognized tests for this substance, and one of these (the 
 iron-test) very doubtful, inasmuch as no actual precipitate of 
 Prussian blue took place, but only "a bluish coloration." 
 "We think it is the duty of the toxicologist always to employ
 
 76 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the various corroborative tests, no matter how superfluous 
 this may appear in his own judgment ; by omitting to do this, 
 his otherwise excellent evidence may be materially weakened. 
 
 In all cases of poisoning by the metallic compounds (ar- 
 senic, antimony, mercury, copper, etc.), we deem it essential 
 to obtain the metal; and that, too, in such quantity as to enable 
 it to be subjected to all the corroborative tests. Fortunately 
 for the ends of justice, this can generalty be accomplished 
 without much difficulty. The production of the metal in 
 court, together with the recognized results obtained by its 
 manipulation, is justly regarded as the very strongest chem- 
 ical evidence in cases of alleged poisoning by arsenic, tartar 
 emetic, corrosive sublimate, etc. There is more or less fal- 
 lacy in most of the other chemical proofs usually brought 
 forward in cases of metallic poisoning; some plausible ob- 
 jection may, at least, be urged against them, under different 
 circumstances, which must weaken their force as evidence ; 
 whereas, the production of the metal in tangible quantity is a 
 proof that cannot be set aside. It should, therefore, always 
 be rigidly insisted on in criminal trials. 
 
 In relation to the necessity for obtaining the metal in cases 
 of metallic poisoning, which we have so strongly insisted on, 
 it may be proper to remark that Orfila is not quite in accord 
 with M. Devergie, who asserts " that it is a principle in legal 
 medicine that admits of no exception, that the extraction of the 
 metal is required in all cases, in order to prove the presence of 
 a metallic poison." Orfila, in reply, asks how it would be 
 possible to obtain the metal in cases of poisoning by the salts 
 of potash, soda, baryta, and lime all of which have a metal- 
 lic base. He then proposes the question, whether the sub- 
 mitting a suspected salt of copper to all the well-recognized 
 tests, and finding it to respond properly to all these, would 
 not be in effect as strong a proof of the presence of copper as 
 the production of the metal itself. In answer to the above, 
 we would say that in speaking of metallic poisons the phrase 
 is understood to apply to the metals proper, and not to the metals 
 of the alkalies, earths, or alkaline earths. Orfila himself 
 subsequently modifies Devergie's assertion, so as to admit 
 the necessity of isolating the rnetal, in cases where any doubt
 
 FALLACY OF COLOR-TESTS. 77 
 
 arises, especially from the presence of coloring-matters, which 
 might obscure the precipitates. (Toxicologie, i. pp. 6, 7, 8.) 
 
 3. Too much reliance should not be placed on the mere 
 colors of a precipitate ; and this for several substantial rea- 
 sons. In the first place, colors are not always seen alike by 
 different persons : M. Devergie remarks (Med. Legale, iii. p. 
 17) that " nothing is so deceitful as an absolute reliance upon 
 color in testing. Four persons may look at the same colored 
 product, and it will be found to present to each a different 
 shade or tint." Many illustrations of this might be adduced. 
 In 1817, Donnall was tried for poisoning his mother-in-law 
 with arsenic. The chemical tests relied upon for proving 
 the presence of this poison were the two liquid color-tests 
 (the ammonio-sulphate of copper and nitrate of silver), which 
 threw down from the boiled contents of the stomach the 
 appropriate green and yellow-colored precipitates. This 
 was considered conclusive evidence; and a conviction of the 
 accused would certainly have followed, if it had not been 
 shown by another medical man that a decoction of onions 
 would yield with the above-named tests precisely similar 
 colored precipitates! (Beck's Med. Jurisp., ii. p. 580.) At one 
 time, the red color obtained by the action of meconic acid 
 on a persalt of iron was considered as the most reliable test 
 for the presence of opium ; but it has since-been ascertained 
 that the saliva contains a principle (sulpho-cyanide of potas- 
 sium) which gives to the iron-salt a similar color! Dr. 
 Taylor alludes to a case where morphia was believed to 
 have been eliminated in the urine, because the iodic acid 
 test produced with the latter the characteristic reaction ; but 
 it was subsequently ascertained that uric acid and urate of 
 ammonia (constituents of healthy urine) will give precisely 
 the same reaction. (On Poisons, p. 193.) Even the well- 
 known and characteristic color-test of strychnia, which is 
 not imitated by any other known substance, should not be 
 exclusively relied upon in a criminal case, but ought to be 
 corroborated by other tests. 
 
 In employing the sulphuretted hydrogen test for the me- 
 tallic poisons, it is the color of the precipitate which is gen- 
 erally considered so characteristic as a result. Now, when the 
 
 6
 
 78 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 experiment is made with perfectly pure solutions of the metallic 
 salts, the color of the precipitated sulphide may be accepted 
 as a good criterion ; but in the presence of organic matter, with 
 which the mineral poison must necessarily be associated 
 when extracted from a human body, it should never be for- 
 gotten that this test cannot be relied on exclusively; for, in 
 the first place, the presence of organic matter will more or 
 less mask the true color of the precipitate; and secondly, 
 there are certain kinds of organic matter, combined with 
 coloring materials, which, without the presence of any me- 
 tallic salt, in an acid, or even in a neutral solution, will yield 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen colored precipitates bearing 
 strong resemblance to those above mentioned. How dan- 
 gerous, then, would it be, in a medico-legal case, to rely 
 exclusively upon this test for the purpose of determining 
 the presence of a metallic poison ! As if the more clearly 
 to show the impropriety of this partial and exclusive mode 
 of dealing with the metallic poisons, it so happens that this 
 colored precipitate procured from complex organic material, 
 and containing no metallic substance whatever, will behave, with 
 the usual reagents, in a manner strikingly similar to that 
 which has been supposed to be peculiar to the metals. ( Vide 
 infra, ARSENIC and ANTIMONY.) 
 
 The toxicologist should always be prepared to give a 
 positive opinion in relation to the results of his analysis. 
 Either he has, or has not, discovered the poison alleged. 
 The certainty of this result in no wise depends upon the 
 quantity found; for this can often be as well established by a 
 fraction of a grain, as by a pound, of the substance, we 
 mean, of course, the mere presence of the poison. The ques- 
 tion, how the presence of a minute quantity of a poison might 
 be satisfactorily accounted for, is quite another affair, with 
 which the analyst has no concern. The witness should 
 avoid the use of such expressions as " feeble traces" or 
 " mere traces" of poison, since these indicate a doubt in his 
 own mind of the presence of the poison. However minute 
 the quantity discovered may be, there should not be the 
 shadow of a doubt of its actual presence. If he has really any 
 doubts about his results, he ought frankly to say so.
 
 ACCURACY OF THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 79 
 
 One or two other points require consideration here. The 
 analyst should not forget that while the minutest portion of 
 some poisons as e.g. the one-hundred-thousandth of a grain 
 of strychnia may be detected in the pure state, the result is 
 very different if it is mixed with complex organic matters : 
 in the latter case, the difficulty of discovering it is vastly 
 increased, and the minimum quantity capable of detection 
 becomes very considerably augmented. In all cases where 
 the quantity of material is limited, it is advisable to apply 
 the most characteristic test first, and then follow with the 
 other corroborative tests, as before mentioned. To draw any 
 positive inferences from a single reaction would be manifestly 
 very unsafe, since a similar reaction is often produced by very 
 different substances. For example, a slip of bright copper, 
 if boiled in a hydrochloric acid solution of either arsenic, 
 mercury, antimony, or of several other metals, and indeed 
 in certain complex organic solutions acidified, will receive a 
 dark-colored stain. To infer the presence of any of these 
 metals, or indeed of any metal, from this one single reaction, 
 would be a most serious error: a second experiment is 
 needed. On heating the dried coated copper in a reduction- 
 tube, a sublimate of octahedral crystals will indicate arsenic ; 
 whilst mercury is the only substance that will yield a subli- 
 mate of metallic globules ; and a mere amorphous deposit in 
 the tube would indicate organic matter. A third experiment, 
 performed upon these deposits, would bring out the proof 
 with still greater precision. 
 
 The great leading idea that ought to govern the toxicolo- 
 gist in all his chemical investigations is, not to see with how 
 small a number of tests he can prove the presence of the 
 poison sought for, but rather, how many different tests he can 
 adduce to prove his point. I have known a veteran 
 chemist of nearly fifty years' experience in public teaching, 
 rather boastfully to assert on the witness-stand that, in 
 making an analysis for poison, in a capital case, if he had 
 " satisfied himself" of its presence by one or two tests, any 
 further experiments were quite unnecessary. It did not seem 
 to occur to him that further experiments might be required 
 for the purpose of "satisfying" other people !
 
 80 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Poisonous impurities in tests and apparatus. One of the most 
 important cautions to be observed by the toxicologist in his 
 researches, is to obtain perfectly pure reagents a matter 
 often of considerable difficulty. In conducting an analysis 
 in a poison-case, where the question of life or death may be 
 involved, the most scrupulous care must be used to guard 
 against all possibility of error in this direction. It is not 
 sufficient that his reagents have been procured from stand- 
 ard sources and are marked " chemically pure :" before 
 using them, the analyst should each time test them for him- 
 self; otherwise he cannot swear positively to the purity of his 
 reagents. Another caution just here may not be amiss: in 
 these delicate manipulations, the analyst should avoid using 
 the same reagents, bottles, etc., which he is accustomed to 
 employ in the ordinary experiments of his laboratory and 
 class-room. It is very evident that in the latter employment 
 they must be constantly exposed to the action of foreign im- 
 purities, in the form of vapors, etc., and also be liable to 
 constant indiscriminate handling. The rule to be sedulously 
 observed is to guard against every possibility of impurity. 
 
 Very many of our ordinary reagents contain impurities: 
 sulphuric acid is often contaminated with arsenic and lead; 
 hydrochloric acid, with arsenic and antimony ; nitric acid, 
 with iron and sulphuric acid; zinc, with arsenic. Solutions 
 of potash and soda are apt to contain traces of lead if kept 
 in flint-glass bottles; lead is also found in carbonate of am- 
 monia, citric acid, tartaric acid, bicarbonate of soda, etc. A 
 moment's consideration will show the importance of atten- 
 tion to the above facts, since carelessness or ignorance on 
 the part of the analyst might thus ledd to the most serious 
 results. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS. PHYSIOLOGICAL 
 
 PROOF. 
 
 IV. In certain cases, where the symptoms, the post-mortem 
 lesions, and the chemical analysis fail to establish the posi- 
 tive proof of poisoning, we may with great advantage resort 
 to the physiological evidence, or that derived from direct ex-
 
 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS. 81 
 
 periments on living animals. The animals best adapted to 
 this purpose are the dog, the cat, and the rabbit especially 
 the former; and, in certain cases, the frog. Birds are par- 
 ticularly unsuited for experiments of this sort, since they 
 are affected so very differently from man and the animals 
 just mentioned. The exact sort of information obtained by 
 such experiments seems to be limited to proving the fact of 
 poisoning: we can gather no certain data from them relative 
 to the dose,, the rapidity of absorption, the deposition or elimi- 
 nation, in reference to man. We may also, occasionally, learn 
 something of the physiological and pathological action of 
 poisons. The instances of the remarkable discrepancy in the 
 dose of poisonous substances necessary to produce death in 
 man and the lower animals, are numerous. On one occasion, 
 I administered to a dog, subcutaneously, fourteen grains of 
 atropia, in divided doses, without fatal effect a result that 
 entirely confirms the experiments of Dr. Frazer on dogs 
 and rabbits. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that there 
 are some poisons, derived chiefly from the vegetable king- 
 dom, that prove quite innocuous to certain animals, al- 
 though very dangerous to man : among these may be men- 
 tioned the datura stramonium, which is eaten with impunity 
 by cows and goats ; the rabbit likewise will thrive upon the 
 leaves of belladonna, stramonium, and hyoscyamus. 
 
 Important evidence of this kind is sometimes accidentally 
 obtained, which may prove valuable as confirmatory proof 
 of the administration of poison. Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, 
 p. 196) mentions some instructive cases. A woman poi- 
 soned her husband with arsenic mixed with soup, and threw 
 the remains of the meal out of the window into a farm-yard, 
 thinking thus to get entirely rid of it. It happened at the 
 time that a pig and several fowls were feeding under the 
 window, and they ate up the food as it fell to the ground. 
 The whole of these animals died under symptoms of irritant 
 poisoning. The husband also died; no poison was detected 
 in his stomach, although there were traces of its action ; but 
 on opening the bodies of the animals, not only were the usual 
 appearances produced by irritant poisons found, but arsenic 
 itself was also readily detected in the viscera. The pris-
 
 82 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 oner was convicted and executed. In another case, it was 
 proved that the prosecutor, to whom, it was alleged, the 
 prisoner had given arsenic, went out into a back yard and 
 vomited the food. Some fowls near the spot were observed 
 to be ill during the day, and two died. The prisoner had, in 
 the mean time, thrown away the poisoned food, and washed 
 out the vessels which had contained it. As the prosecutor 
 recovered, there could be no examination of his body. Ar- 
 senic, however, was found in the crops of the chickens 
 which had fed at the spot where the prosecutor had vomited, 
 and this supplied sufficient proof of the cause of his illness. 
 Sometimes good negative, as well as affirmative, evidence, 
 may be obtained by the examination of the bodies of ani- 
 mals alleged to have been poisoned. A case in point is 
 related, where a woman poisoned her uncle with arsenic. 
 When required to account for the poison that was found 
 in her possession, she pretended that she had bought it for 
 the destruction of vermin, and actually pointed out a dead 
 mouse, in corroboration of her statement. This turned out 
 to be an unfortunate part of her defense, for the medical 
 witness showed that the mouse had not died from the effects 
 of arsenic (loc. tit.}. 
 
 Orfila, who devoted considerable attention to this subject, 
 and made numerous experiments upon dogs with a variety of 
 poisons, gives the following as the r&sumi of his deductions: 
 1. "Physiological experiments are unnecessary where the 
 presence of the poison can be demonstrated by the chemical 
 analysis. 2. "When the chemical researches are unsatisfac- 
 tory, and there remains some of the suspected material that 
 has not been operated upon, this may be introduced into the 
 stomach of a dog, and its effects noticed. 3. This experi- 
 ment ought never to be performed with the material that 
 has already been submitted to the action of chemical reagents, 
 inasmuch as these latter might vitiate the results. 4. If the 
 suspected matter occasion the animal's death, before con- 
 cluding that there had been poisoning, we must be sure that 
 the person, in whose alimentary canal it was found, had not 
 died from some disease in consequence of which the animal 
 fluids, and particularly the bile, have become infected and
 
 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS. 83 
 
 capable of producing many of the symptoms of poisoning. 
 5. In case the animal should exhibit no very decided symp- 
 toms as the result of swallowing the suspected matter, we 
 have no right to conclude from this single experiment that 
 no poisoning had existed, since there may be many reasons 
 why the matters found in the stomach and bowels of a person 
 really poisoned should not prove poisonous to the animal : 
 thus, the poison may have been decomposed in the stomach 
 by the food, drinks, or by the animal tissues, and even may 
 be combined with them ; for example, sixty centigrammes 
 of corrosive sublimate were swallowed by a healthy man ; 
 symptoms of poisoning were brought on, and death followed ; 
 the body was opened from thirty-six to forty-eight hours 
 afterwards, and the matters found in the digestive canal 
 were given to a dog, which, however, experienced no bad 
 effects from them. This has very frequently occurred. 
 
 " It is evident that, in the case just mentioned, the corrosive 
 sublimate had been converted by the alimentary matters, 
 and even by the mucous membrane of the stomach, into an 
 insoluble substance, which exerted no noxious influence on 
 the animal economy. A similar result may happen if ver- 
 digris (subacetate of copper) is taken either before or after 
 swallowing albumen, and some other animal matters. An- 
 other reason may be assigned: the poison, although in large 
 quantity, may have been expelled by vomiting, and death, 
 nevertheless, have resulted : in such a case, the contents of 
 the alimentary canal, being freed from the poisonous matter, 
 would fail to occasion the death of the animal that might 
 swallow them. Again, it might happen that the poisonous 
 substance may be one that is easily absorbed ; that although 
 the deceased may have taken a large dose, only a very small 
 portion remained in the stomach : here, the negative results 
 obtained by the experiment on a dog, would lead to an erro- 
 neous conclusion." (Toxicologie, 1852, i. pp. 52, 53.) 
 
 Ortila recommends tying the oesophagus, in these experi- 
 ments ; assigning as a reason the great difficulty of making 
 the animal swallow the suspected matters, in consequence 
 of his resistance, and his quickly rejecting them. He states, 
 moreover, that in the attempt it will happen at least once
 
 84 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 in ten times, that a portion of the material will flow back 
 into the larynx, and the animal will perish from asphyxia 
 (loc. tit.). 
 
 The best method to pursue, if the suspected material is in 
 the liquid form, is to detach the oesophagus of the dog, while 
 fasting, from the surrounding 'parts, and to inject the liquid 
 into the stomach by means of a gum-elastic tube ; then to 
 tie the tube, and so to leave it for twenty-four to thirty-six 
 hours. If the material is too thick to be introduced by means 
 of the tube, the oesophagus, after being detached, should be 
 pierced with a small opening, a glass funnel placed in the* 
 opening, and the matter introduced through it. The cesopha- 
 gus should then be tied below the opening. If the suspected 
 matter is in the solid form, so that it cannot pass through a 
 funnel, it should be inclosed in a little roll of tissue-paper, 
 and then pushed into the stomach, through the opening 
 made in the oesophagus ; and then this tube should be ligated 
 as before. 
 
 Of course, the main object of tying the oesophagus, in these 
 experiments, is to prevent the animal from vomiting, and to 
 insure the retention of the substance injected sufficiently long 
 for it to produce its usual effects upon the system. Many 
 objections were made to this method of experimenting, even 
 in Orfila's time ; and these still continue to be urged, though , 
 we think, without sufficient grounds. It has been stated, 
 for instance, that the operation of tying the oesophagus is a 
 hazardous one, and that the effects ascribed by Orfila to the 
 alleged poison were, in reality, due to the operation. This 
 objection is completely refuted by Orfila himself. He experi- 
 mented over fifty times on dogs, often in the amphitheatre 
 of the faculty, in the presence of members of the Academy of 
 Medicine, and with the most positive results. As he rightly 
 observes, the operation must be performed by a skillful hand; 
 in which case, it'need never occupy over two minutes. The 
 oesophagus should be carefully separated from all its attach- 
 ments trachea, vessels, and nerves and then tied. When 
 the ligature is left on for twenty-four to thirty-six hours, the 
 animals merely experience a slight depression, and a little 
 fever; as soon as it is removed, they at once eat and drink,
 
 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS. 85 
 
 and seem perfectly at ease. The wound heals in a few days, 
 without any further attention. 
 
 From the experiments of Orfila, I think the following 
 conclusions warrantable: (1) Tying the oesophagus, even after 
 first opening it, occasions during the first two days merely a 
 slight fever and depression, incapable of causing death in 
 that length of time. (2) If the animal be killed during this 
 time, no pathological lesion is discoverable. It is hence 
 evident that if an animal, caused to take poison a short time 
 before tying his oesophagus, should die in the course of two 
 days, after exhibiting severe symptoms, such as vertigo, con- 
 vulsions, pain, or insensibility, efforts at vomiting, etc., the 
 death should be attributed solely to the poison administered. 
 "What is absolutely confirmatory of this proposition is the 
 fact that if another animal, whose oesophagus is not tied, be 
 made to swallow an equal dose of the sajue poison (and do 
 not vomit it), he will exhibit precisely the same results. 
 These comparative experiments have been actually 'made in 
 the case of strychnia, camphor, the upas tieute, false angus- 
 tura bark, and other substances that were not vomited. The 
 inference, then, seems irresistible that the pathological 
 changes observed in animals which have been poisoned, 
 whose oesophagus was tied, and which have died within forty- 
 eight hours after the operation, should be attributed only to 
 the poisonous substance; since the operation could not have 
 occasioned any alteration, except merely on the part cut. 
 Any one can judge of the effect of the ligature on the oeso- 
 phagus of all the animals to which poison was administered, 
 and which died in two, four, eight, twelve, or twenty-four hours 
 after ; inasmuch as they comprise at least seven-eighths of 
 those operated on. 
 
 Whilst it may happen, in cases where the poison acts but 
 feebly, and life is prolonged for several days, that it becomes 
 difficult, at times, to discriminate between the effects of the 
 poison and those of the operation, such a difficulty could 
 never happen in a case where the oesophagus is tied, vnthout 
 previously opening it. It is for this reason, chiefly, that the 
 latter operation is to be preferred to that of opening the 
 oesophagus before tying it.
 
 86 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The value of tine frog-test in poisoning by strychnia will be 
 more fully discussed hereafter. (See STRYCHNIA, post.) 
 
 Gin poison be introduced into the human system through the body 
 of an animal, without the latter being affected by it? This is an 
 interesting physiological question ; and it may, under certain 
 circumstances, assume an important practical aspect, as where 
 serious symptoms have followed the eating of game that had 
 fed on poisonous vegetables. The rabbit, for example, ac- 
 cording to M. Runge, of Berlin, will eat, and thrive upon, 
 the leaves of belladonna, hyoscyamus, and stramonium ; al- 
 though, on killing the animal, the absorbed poisons may be 
 discovered in its body. The goat and cow will eat the leaves 
 and stalk of the stramonium with perfect impunity, yet 
 their milk may prove poisonous to those who drink it. One 
 insect at least is known that can feed and flourish on strych- 
 nia. The fact is undoubted that, while certain animals, birds, 
 and insects can eat poisonous' plants with perfect impunity, 
 the flesh and secretions of these creatures prove highly 
 poisonous to human beings. Thus, the honey of the bee fed 
 on the kalmia, azalea, and rhododendron, and even the mead 
 made from it, has been found to be poisonous (Guy's Foren. 
 Med., p. 350). Herodotus states that during the celebrated re- 
 treat of the ten thousand under Xenophon the army suffered 
 greatly from using honey collected from the Azalea Pontica. 
 The flesh of hares that had eaten the Rhododendron chrysan- 
 themum, that of pheasants that had fed on the buds and shoots 
 of the Kalmia latifolia, and that of partridges that had par- 
 taken of certain berries during the Canadian winter, and 
 had been imported into England packed in ice, have proved 
 poisonous. This very question was made a ground of defense 
 in the case of Sprague, tried for attempting to poison the 
 Chalker family, and acquitted. It was urged that the bella- 
 donna (the alleged poison) had found its way into the poisoned 
 pie through the flesh of a rabbit that had fed on the plant 
 (Guy's Forensic Med., p. 349). The "Medical Times and 
 Gazette," Sept. 13, 1862, contains an account of several per- 
 sons near Toulouse who were poisoned by a dish of snails 
 that had fattened on the leaves and shoots of the Coriaria 
 myrtifolia.
 
 EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM CIRCUMSTANCES. 87 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES. MORAL EVIDENCE. 
 
 V. The circumstances attending death by poisoning, like 
 those connected with any other violent death, may occasion- 
 ally throw much light upon the case, so much so indeed as 
 to afford most of the required proof of guilt. Although in 
 criminal trials, as a general rule, the expert witness has * 
 nothing to do with this sort of evidence, nevertheless, in 
 poison-cases particularly, the medical and moral circum- 
 stances are often so interwoven that, in order rightly to ap- 
 preciate the latter, and assign to them their proper weight, 
 the aid of the medical witness is invoked. Hence the im- 
 portance of his proper understanding of them. 
 
 1. The first of these " circumstances" to be noticed is 
 the suspicious conduct of the accused before the event, such as dab- 
 bling with certain poisons not in the way of his profession, 
 conversing about them, experimenting with them, etc. This 
 was a very strong circumstance against the Count Bocarme, 
 who was convicted of poisoning his brother-in-law, M. Fou- 
 gnies, in Belgium, by forcibly introducing nicotina (the active 
 principle of tobacco) into his throat. It was proved that 
 the prisoner had given his special attention and study to the 
 most approved methods of distilling this (then) almost un- 
 known poison ; that he had a considerable quantity of it in 
 his possession ; that he had carefully concealed his chemical 
 apparatus; that he used an assumed name in his different 
 purchases, etc. 
 
 2. The purchase, or the possession, of the alleged poison 
 just before the event; the procuring of it secretly, or under 
 false pretenses. This is a very common and familiar cir- 
 cumstance in trials for poisoning, and it generally carries 
 much weight against the prisoner. In the alleged purchase 
 of arsenic, or strychnia, for the destruction of rats, it would 
 be a very suspicious circumstance if the purchaser had not 
 apprised his household of the fact, and warned them against 
 taking it by mistake. 
 
 3. The 2>roof of actual administration of the poison in food,
 
 88 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 drink, or medicine. This proof is very seldom attainable 
 by direct evidence; but it maybe often brought home to 
 the guilty party by a chain of circumstances of a strictly 
 medical nature. William Muir was condemned at Glasgow 
 in 1812 for poisoning his wife. She sickened soon after 
 breakfasting on some porridge, which she suspected had been 
 poisoned. Soon after, a neighbor who had some knowledge 
 of medicine called in, and, hearing the circumstances, ex- 
 amined the wooden bowl containing the remnants of the 
 oat-meal from which the breakfast had been prepared ; this 
 was found to contain shining particles, which subsequently 
 proved to be arsenic. He also examined the barrel contain- 
 ing the family store of meal, which proved to be free from 
 the poison. This circumstance was enough to show that the 
 poison had been mixed with the meal, intended for the 
 woman's breakfast, and on that very morning, before any 
 stranger had entered the cottage, and consequently to fasten 
 suspicion very strongly upon the husband, the only other 
 person in the house. 
 
 A similar case is related by Dr. Taylor (Hartley's case), 
 where a girl was accused of attempting to poison her father 
 by putting oil of vitriol into his coffee. Here the point to be 
 established was, could anybody else besides the prisoner have 
 put the poison into the coffee? She had the opportunity to 
 do it, as also to put it into the coffee-pot at the time she pre- 
 pared it ; whilst others might have put it into his cup after 
 it was poured out. Dr. Taylor ascertained that the coffee- 
 pot was old and rusty; the poisoned coffee in the cup con- 
 tained no trace of iron (which it would have done if the acid 
 had been put into the coffee-pot) ; whereas when a portion 
 of the poisoned coffee was warmed in the pot, it imme- 
 diately became impregnated with sulphate of iron. This 
 analysis satisfactorily established the fact that the poison had 
 not been put into the coffee-pot, but into the cup ; and to 
 this, others besides the prisoner had access. In Humphrey's 
 case, tried at Aberdeen, in 1830, the charge of poisoning her 
 husband by pouring sulphuric acid down his throat while 
 asleep, was rendered all but positive by the detection of stains 
 of this acid on the prisoner's bed-gown and handkerchief. In
 
 EVIDENCE DERIVED FROM CIRCUMSTANCES. 89 
 
 the case of Reg. v. North (Guilford Summer Assizes, 1846), 
 the prisoner was tried for administering oil of vitriol to a 
 young infant. The circumstance that most strongly impli- 
 cated her was of a negative character. She was proved to 
 have carried the child into a closet where she kept a bottle 
 of oil of vitriol; and when she returned, the infant was 
 writhing in great pain, and the mouth covered with a white 
 foam. The accused alleged that the mother of the child 
 had administered the poison by mistake for a composing 
 draught ; but, if this had really been the case, there would 
 have been a blacking of the white sugar in the cup, when 
 the oil of vitriol was poured upon it, which did not occur: 
 consequently, it was impossible that the mother had made 
 the alleged mistake. 
 
 4. The intention of the accused; the possibility of his hav- 
 ing administered the poison ignorantly or unintentionally. 
 This plea is sometimes urged by the defense ; but generally 
 the particulars of the case will serve to expose the falsehood. 
 Mr. Hodgson, surgeon, was tried for attempting to poison 
 his wife, in 1824, by substituting corrosive sublimate in 
 place of some pills of calomel and opium that had been 
 prescribed for her. In his defense, he pleaded intoxication, 
 which had caused him to mistake the bottle when he pre- 
 pared the pills. On another occasion, when the physician 
 sent him to compound a draught of laudanum and water, 
 he brought back a turbid mixture, which the physician found 
 to contain corrosive sublimate. The prisoner again attempted 
 to defend himself by alleging a second mistake, that he had 
 inadvertently substituted for water a solution of corrosive 
 sublimate of a certain strength, which he kept in his shop 
 for a special purpose. The falsehood was shown by the fact 
 that while the latter solution contained but five grains of the 
 salt to the ounce of water, the former contained fourteen 
 grains. 
 
 5. The simultaneous illness of other persons who had partaken 
 of the same articles of food or drink, besides the one more 
 particularly affected ; the researches and opinion of the medi- 
 cal witness are required to substantiate this circumstance. 
 
 6. Suspicious conduct of the accused during the illness and after
 
 90 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the death of the deceased. Many circumstances may occur in 
 this relation which may contribute largely to fix suspicion 
 on the guilty party, and which the medical witness may aid 
 materially in bringing out: such as directly or indirectly 
 preventing medical advice being obtained, or the relatives of 
 the dying person being sent for; taking the exclusive care of 
 the patient, and showing an over-anxiety not to leave him 
 alone with another person ; allowing no one else to give the 
 food or medicine; carefully removing the remains of his 
 food, drink, and medicine, and also the matters vomited, and 
 the excreta ; and expressing the opinion of a speedy death ; 
 after the decease, interposing objections to a post-mortem 
 examination of the body; and, if this is insisted on, taking 
 care to spoil the result as far as possible, by spilling the con- 
 tents of the stomach, as if by accident (as was done in the 
 Palmer case); hastening the funeral, and giving a false 
 account of the illness. 
 
 7. The existence of a motive, or inducement, on the part of the 
 accused, such as a desire for revenge, or the expectation of 
 inheriting property by the death of the party (as in insurance- 
 murders) ; the desire to be relieved of a debt that has been 
 long pressing for payment by the deceased, etc. The latter 
 was illustrated in the celebrated Webster trial in Boston, in 
 1850, where the prisoner was convicted of having killed Dr. 
 Parkman (though not by poison), to whom he had been for 
 some time indebted for a considerable sum of money. 
 
 The above comprise the most common and the most im- 
 portant points of circumstantial evidence that are likely to 
 be brought out at a trial for poisoning. They are substan- 
 tially the same as those contained in Christison " On Poisons," 
 to which work the reader is referred for fuller details. It 
 would be well for physicians who may be consulted as " ex- 
 perts" in such cases to bestow the proper attention to these 
 various " circumstances," as they present themselves on dif- 
 ferent occasions.
 
 COMPOUND POISONING. 91 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 COMPOUND POISONING. ANTAGONISM OF POISONS. 
 
 THE subject of Compound Poisoning is one of much in- 
 terest, as likewise of considerable importance in its medico- 
 legal bearing. In a case of alleged criminal poisoning, the 
 question might arise whether the usual symptoms may not 
 be so modified, or masked by the presence of some other 
 poison, as to escape detection ; and further, whether, after 
 death, the usual morbid appearances occasioned by one or 
 both may be modified, or perhaps be altogether absent. Our 
 knowledge relating to this subject is comparatively limited, 
 at least so far as the human system is concerned. Within 
 the last few years, a number of experiments on the lower 
 animals have been performed for the purpose of determining 
 the question of the antagonism of poisons, the results of 
 which seem to show that in some instances at least, and up 
 to a certain limit as to dose, this antagonism really does exist 
 in the case of some of the inferior animals. Dr. Frazer has 
 demonstrated this conclusively in the case of atropia and 
 pliysostigmia (the active principle of Calabar bean), on the 
 rabbit (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxvi.). 
 
 Sir R. Christison (On Poisons, p. 970) mentions several 
 cases that have fallen under his own notice, where the usual 
 effects of certain poisons appeared to be decidedly modified 
 by the presence of some other poison which had been taken 
 simultaneously, or just before, or subsequently. One instance 
 is that of a man who, after taking twelve ounces of whisky 
 at a debauch, swallowed, an hour afterwards, while partially 
 drunk, a quantity of arsenic, the dose of which could not be 
 ascertained. Fifteen minutes after the arsenic had been 
 swallowed, medical aid was procured, when repeated but in- 
 effectual attempts were made to vomit him. The stomach-
 
 92 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 pump was now resorted to, which removed a fluid from the 
 stomach in which arsenic was easily discovered. No symp- 
 tom of arsenic-poisoning followed, although this substance 
 was taken on an empty stomach, seven hours after eating 
 when all the circumstances were favorable for absorption. 
 Here, the inference would seem justifiable that the alcoholic 
 narcotism did, in some way, suspend, or arrest, the usual 
 operation of arsenic. 
 
 In another similar iustance, death ensued in consequence of 
 the large dose of arsenic taken. A lad aged seventeen years, 
 after a night's debauch, swallowed half an ounce of arsenic 
 in the morning. In two hours and a half afterwards, when 
 seen by a physician, there was no symptom of arsenic-poison- 
 ing, but merely drowsiness and languor. Shortly afterwards 
 there was slight vomiting, which, however, required to be 
 artificially renewed. In eighteen hours he began to sink, 
 and then presented the usual constitutional symptoms of 
 poisoning with arsenic, and in forty-one hours he expired. 
 From first to last, he showed scarcely a single local symp- 
 tom, except the slight vomiting, although after death the 
 stomach presented signs of violent irritation. 
 
 From the above, and similar cases that have come to our 
 knowledge, we think there can be no doubt that alcoholic 
 intoxication has the effect of obtuuding the system to the 
 action of irritant poisons ; and to such an extent as often to 
 neutralize their operation, unless the dose has been extremely 
 large, and there has been little or no emesis to remove the 
 poison from the stomach. 
 
 Another remarkable instance related by Christison (loc. cit., 
 p. 972) was that of a young soldier, who swallowed a mixture 
 of corrosive sublimate and laudanum two drachms of the former 
 and half an ounce of the latter. He at first had no violent 
 symptoms whatever to indicate the ingestion of corrosive 
 sublimate, a very uncommon occurrence. Afterwards there 
 was purging of bloody stools, with tenesmus, but no abdo- 
 minal pain; no tenderness even on pressure; and no vom- 
 iting except under the use of emetics. On the fourth day, 
 salivation set in, and under this and the dysentery he finally 
 sank, dying on the ninth day after the attack, quite uuex-
 
 COMPOUND POISONING. 93 
 
 pectedly. The stomach and bowels were found enormously 
 inflamed, ulcerated, and almost gangrenous. It can scarcely 
 be supposed, as Christison remarks, that the laudanum acted 
 here as a chemical antidote, and that an insoluble meconate of 
 , mercury was formed. "We must rather ascribe the results to 
 the protective power of the narcotic. 
 
 In order that this theory of the antagonism of poisons 
 should have any weight, or be urged with any plausibility in 
 a criminal trial, we think that the circumstantial proofs of 
 the administration of the alleged combination should be 
 most positive and unequivocal, such as the purchase, posses- 
 sion, and actual administration, and especially, in a fatal case, 
 the actual discovery, of one at least of the alleged poisons, 
 after death. It would evidently be a most dangerous prece- 
 dent to establish that, in a case of alleged poisoning, convic- 
 tion should follow, in the absence both of the usual symptoms 
 and of the usual post-mortem signs, as also where there is 
 a failure of the ordinary chemical analysis ; and with nothing 
 to support the charge, except the plea of " compound poison- 
 ing" ! Nothing could possibly warrant such a conclusion, 
 except the most absolute proof of the administration of the 
 " compound poison," and also an equally conclusive proof 
 of the absence of all disease. 
 
 A most extraordinary instance of the attempt to urge this 
 plea of " compound poisoning" occurred in the celebrated 
 trials of Dr. Paul Schoeppe, at Carlisle, Pa., in 1868 and 
 1872, for the alleged poisoning of Miss Stennecke. The 
 prisoner was first indicted for administering prussic acid to 
 the deceased, his patient, who had died with all the symp- 
 toms of apoplexy, more than thirty hours after taking any 
 food or medicine. There was not a single recognized 
 symptom of prussic acid poisoning; nor indeed was the idea 
 of poisoning entertained at all, until some days after her 
 death, when a will was discovered, made by the deceased in 
 favor of the prisoner, to the exclusion of her heirs-at-law. 
 The body was then examined for prussic acid; but the 
 method of analysis pursued by the chemist was so incon- 
 clusive (see HYDROCYANIC ACID), that the Commonwealth 
 abandoned this charge, and substituted another, viz., that of 
 
 7
 
 94 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 compound poisoning by prussic acid and morphia. Here comes 
 in the most remarkable circumstance of this remarkable 
 trial. As the plea of a "compound poison" was entirely 
 novel in the criminal jurisprudence of our country, and no 
 expert could be found to testify to its reality either from , 
 personal experience, or otherwise, the testimony of one of 
 the medical witnesses for the prosecution was allowed to go 
 before the jury, to the following effect: that, some thirty years 
 previously, he (the physician) had experimented upon a 
 chicken-hawk by giving it a mixture of prussic acid, corro- 
 sive sublimate, and laudanum, made up with bread-crumbs; 
 that the bird died on the following day; and that after death, 
 "its eyes looked just like the eyes of the deceased lady;" 
 and therefore he concluded that her death had been caused 
 by a mixture of prussic acid and morphia! For the credit of 
 justice we regret to be compelled to add that this "expert" 
 evidence was made to weigh so powerfully with the jury, that 
 they actually convicted the prisoner of murder, and sen- 
 tence of death was passed upon him ; and he was respited 
 only a day or two before the time fixed for his execution, in 
 consequence of the strong and almost unanimous protest of 
 the medical and chemical professions, throughout the country. 
 For over three years the accused was allowed to remain in 
 prison, when at length another trial was obtained for him, 
 the result of which was a complete overthrow of the Com- 
 monwealth's previous "expert" testimony, and a prompt 
 acquittal by the other jury who tried him. 
 
 In the year 1870 the author performed a number of experi- 
 ments upon dogs, with the view of testing this question of 
 the antagonism of certain poisons. A few of the results 
 only will be here briefly mentioned. 
 
 1. Prussic acid and morphia. The antagonism was found 
 to be very slight, if indeed it existed at all. It was ob- 
 served that when the dose of prussic acid was less than the 
 minimum fatal quantity, and the morphia was in excess, the 
 effects resulting were decidedly those of the latter agent. 
 If, however, both poisons were given in full doses (two 
 fluidrachms of prussic acid, and two grains of morphia), in 
 divided portions, the symptoms of both toxic agents were
 
 ANTAGONISM OF POISONS. 95 
 
 manifested, and with a fatal result. Evidently, the morphia 
 did not counteract the fatal effects of the prussic acid; and 
 it never does, if the latter be taken in a full poisonous dose. In 
 another experiment, in which the quantity of both the 
 poisons was just within the minimum fatal doses, the animal 
 finally recovered, after exhibiting a true combination of 
 symptoms, sometimes those of the one poison following its 
 administration, and sometimes those of the other. 
 
 2. Morphia and atropia. The first point to be noticed here 
 is the remarkable tolerance of the dog for atropia: doses of 
 eight and even fourteen grains did not destroy life ; and doubt- 
 less a larger dose might have been borne. The tolerance of 
 the rabbit is even greater. Dr. Frazer in his experiments 
 found that the minimum fatal dose of sulphate of atropia for 
 a rabbit weighing three pounds, was twenty-one grains. It 
 is well known that this animal will actually fatten on the 
 leaves of the belladonna. Birds also appear to enjoy the 
 same immunity from its poisonous impression. 
 
 The most observable effects on dogs were partial or com- 
 plete loss of muscular power (paralysis), with only slight 
 nervo-excitant effects, such as twitchings, but no distinct 
 convulsions; dilatation of the pupil, and blindness; with 
 dryuess of the tongue and fauces. When the two poisons 
 were given in combination, the results of the experiments 
 did not indicate any real antagonism. In one of these trials, 
 iu which four grains of morphia were injected subcutane- 
 ously, narcotism was fully produced in one hour, when four 
 grains of atropia were similarly administered ; the animal 
 became paralyzed in an hour, but showed no disposition to 
 spasms. In twenty-four hours he had completely recovered, 
 with the exception of a slight dilatation of the pupils. 
 
 In reltaion to the alleged mutual antidotal power of mor- 
 phia and atropia in man, which seems now to be generally 
 admitted, it must be remembered that we are not yet fully 
 authorized to draw inferences from experiments on animals, 
 in relation to the human subject; for the reason that the 
 tolerance of the former for one, at least, of these substances 
 atropia is so vastly greater than in the case of man. 
 
 3. Strychnia and prussic acid. These two powerful poisons
 
 96 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 exhibit no mutual antagonizing properties. "When exhibited 
 together in about the ordinary minimum lethal dose one 
 fluidrachm of prussic acid and three-quarters of a grain of 
 strychnia the immediate effect was that of the former poison, 
 such as panting, respiration, great dilatation of pupils, in- 
 ability to stand, and convulsions. This was followed in four 
 minutes by the tetanic spasm of strychnia ; and a succession 
 of ordinary convulsions and tetanic spasms, alternating, en- 
 sued, until the animal died, eighteen minutes after receiving 
 the poisons. In other experiments in which the substances 
 were administered together, in rather smaller quantity than 
 the minimum fatal dose of each, death ensued, the symp- 
 toms of each being perfectly distinguishable, alternating with 
 one another. Certainly there was no real antagonism be- 
 tween them. 
 
 4. Strychnia and morphia. These alkaloids showed no 
 evidence of any antagonistic power, at least in dogs. One of 
 these animals was completely narcotized by the hypodermic 
 injection of a grain of morphia; he was very drowsy; could 
 not stand ; pupils moderately dilated. Half a grain of strych- 
 nia was then given hypodermically, which manifested its 
 effects in five minutes, and in another minute produced a 
 decided tetanic convulsion, followed by others; death oc- 
 curred in twenty-one minutes. Other experiments on cats 
 indicated satisfactorily that morphia, so far from dimin- 
 ishing the power of strychnia, rather intensified it in this 
 animal. 
 
 5. Atropia andphysostigmia. The interesting experiments of 
 Dr. Frazer with these substances on dogs and rabbits (Trans. 
 Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxvi.), demonstrate very clearly their 
 physiological antagonism. A dose of physostigmia three 
 and a half times greater than the minimum fatal, is com- 
 pletely neutralized by an exceedingly small (comparatively) 
 dose of atropia one-tenth to one-fifth of a grain. In treat- 
 ing a case of poisoning by Calabar bean in man, the atropia 
 should be administered hypodermically one-fiftieth to one- 
 thirtieth of a grain ; and this should be continued until its 
 characteristic impression is produced, as indicated by dilata- 
 tion of the pupils, etc. The action of these two substances
 
 ANTAGONISM OF POISONS. 97 
 
 physiologically, is remarkably distinct, more so than that of 
 any other known poisons. 
 
 6. Atropia and strychnia. There would appear to be an 
 antagonism between these two powerful poisons, judging 
 from an interesting case reported by Mr. S. Buckley in the 
 Edin. Med. Jour., Sept., 1873. A woman, aged twenty-eight 
 years, had taken an unknown quantity of strychnia with a view 
 to suicide. When seen half an hour afterwards, she was in a 
 state of complete opisthotonos, the spasms severe and painful, 
 and the intervals short. The stomach was washed out by 
 the stomach-pump, and chloroform administered with a view 
 to relieve the spasms, but without apparent effect. As an 
 antidote, twenty minims of liquor atropise, equal to one-sixth 
 of a grain, were injected subcutaneously three times, at in- 
 tervals of ten minutes. " Under this treatment, a semi- 
 comatose condition supervened, and after each injection the 
 spasms became milder in character. At this period the heart's 
 action was impetuous and irregular; the pulse 130, and flut- 
 tering; respiration hurried and somewhat stertorous; the 
 pupils widely dilated ; the face flushed, and the features fixed. 
 The atropia was now continued, but in smaller doses, and at 
 longer intervals. The spasms always increased when the 
 injections were long omitted." Chloroform had been discon- 
 tinued. Consciousness returned in about eight hours after 
 the poison was swallowed; and, after sleeping a few hours, 
 she appeared to suffer no further inconvenience except a 
 sense of uneasiness about the throat, and, on the day following, 
 some stiffness of the joints. The whole amount of atropia 
 administered was one and a sixth grains an enormous dose, 
 when it is remembered that one-sixth of a grain has proved 
 fatal under ordinary circumstances. (See articles by the 
 author, On the Antagonism of Poisons, in Arner. Jour. Med. 
 Sciences, Jan. and April, 1871.)
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 METHOD OF CHEMICAL PROCEDURE IN A CASE OF SUSPECTED 
 
 POISONING. 
 
 THE following rules are taken mainly from the excellent 
 treatise of Tardieu and Roussin (Sur I'Empoisonnement, 
 chap. iv.). The two accompanying tables have been also 
 translated from the same authority. 
 
 After being thoroughly satisfied in relation to the identity of 
 the substances submitted for his examination (ante, p. 65), and 
 having obtained all necessary information in relation to the 
 previous symptoms, and (in a fatal case) the post-mortem ap- 
 pearances, as a guide for his manipulations, the toxicologist 
 is prepared to perform the chemical analysis. This may be 
 required not only for the viscera and organs of the dead 
 body, but also for various substances discovered and seized 
 by the officers of the law such as suspected food and drinks, 
 medicinal preparations, vomited matters, dejections from the 
 bowels, urine, and any other matters supposed to aid in the 
 research. In the great majority of cases the poisons to be 
 sought for are those that are well known, and such as can 
 usually be detected with certainty by the skillful chemist. 
 Should, however, the poison be one of great rarity, and one 
 whose analysis has not hitherto been attempted, the chemist 
 must expect to encounter considerable embarrassment in his 
 investigation, unless, by good fortune, some clew to its nature 
 has been furnished him in advance. 
 
 In an examination of a mineral substance, even without 
 any previous knowledge of its nature, a few preliminary 
 experiments will usually lead to the discovery of its true 
 character. But if the substance be of an organic nature, 
 and especially if it be associated with complex animal mat- 
 ters, the analysis becomes far more complicated, and the 
 
 08
 
 METHOD OF CHEMICAL PROCEDURE. 99 
 
 reactions much less certain and definite. In the language of 
 Tardieu : " Changeable and liable to decomposition to an 
 unlimited extent, organic substances are endowed with great 
 mobility, and are with great difficult y operated upon so as to 
 obtain satisfactory results. Their reactions interfere with, 
 confuse, and destroy each other; or they mask one another 
 so as often to deceive the most skillful chemist" (loc. cit., 
 p. 62). Instead of pursuing a different special method for 
 each distinct poison suspected to be present, the better course 
 for the toxicologist is to adopt one or two of the well-estab- 
 lished methods of procedure, which have received the sanc- 
 tion of long experience. 
 
 Before submitting the organs, etc., to chemical analysis, 
 they should be subjected to a thorough physical examination, 
 as already intimated (ante, p. 65). This may lead to the dis- 
 covery of various matters in the stomach and intestines that 
 may throw considerable light on the case such as fragments 
 of leaves and roots, seeds, woody fibre, granules of fecula, 
 portions of powder or fragments of mineral substances, such 
 as arsenic, corrosive sublimate, etc. The state of preserva- 
 tion of the organs should be carefully regarded, as giving, in 
 certain cases, valuable indication of the nature of the poison. 
 The odor exhaled from the interior of the organs will often 
 indicate the nature of certain poisons e.g. phosphorus, 
 chloroform, nicotina, and prussic acid. The acid or alkaline 
 condition of the material submitted should also be first ascer- 
 tained, by means of litmus and turmeric paper. 
 
 As already mentioned, the main and primary object, in a 
 search for poison in animal tissues and products, is to get 
 rid of the organic matters, an object which is sometimes 
 very difficult to accomplish. Although several methods have 
 been devised, at different times, for this purpose, two only 
 will be here described, as being the most perfect and reliable. 
 The first is that recommended by Fresenius and Babo. The 
 solid matters are cut up into small pieces, which, along with 
 the accompanying liquid, are to be put into a clean porcelain 
 dish, and treated with a quantity of pure hydrochloric acid, 
 somewhat greater in weight than that of the solid matter 
 present, together with sufficient distilled water to form a thin
 
 100 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 paste. The dish, with its contents, is next heated on a water- 
 bath, and about twenty grains of powdered chlorate of potassa 
 added to the hot liquid, and this repeated from time to time 
 with frequent stirring, until the solid matter disappears, and 
 the mass becomes perfectly homogeneous, and of a light- 
 yellow color. It is then to be heated until the odor of chlorine 
 has entirely disappeared, a little water being added occasion- 
 ally, to prevent concentration. When entirely cool, the liquid 
 is strained through linen, any solid residue on the strainer 
 being washed with warm water, and the washings, after con- 
 centration, added to the solution ; the mixed liquids are next 
 filtered through paper. Although a very large portion of 
 the organic matter is destroyed and eliminated by this pro- 
 cess, it is never wholly gotten rid of. Still, the ultimate 
 concentrated and filtered solution can be employed in quali- 
 tative testing for the usual mineral poisons. It is not, how- 
 ever, sufficiently pure for accurate quantitative testing. 
 
 The second process is that devised by MM. Flandin and 
 Danger, and is particularly recommended by MM. Tardieu 
 and Roussin. It is the one generally adopted in France; and 
 is named the process of carbonization, from the fact that the or- 
 ganic matters are reduced to charcoal, through the agency of 
 pure sulphuric acid and heat. The organic matters, brought 
 to the consistence of a soft extract by evaporation, are put 
 into a tubulated retort attached to a double-mouthed re- 
 ceiver, along with one-fourth their weight of pure concen- 
 trated sulphuric acid, and the whole heated on a sand-bath 
 for several hours, until the acid vapors cease to escape. After 
 cooling, the carbonaceous mass is removed from the retort, 
 and reduced to powder in a porcelain mortar. This powder 
 is then treated with sufficient strong nitric acid, which will 
 dissolve out all the mineral substances present, and after- 
 wards with a little boiling water. The acid liquor is next 
 to be evaporated to dryness, and the dry residue dissolved 
 in distilled water. This solution will contain those metals 
 the nitrates of which are soluble in water, together with 
 the inorganic constituents of the animal materials operated 
 upon, such as lime, magnesia, iron, alumina, soda, with phos- 
 phoric and hydrochloric acids.
 
 METHOD OF CHEMICAL PROCEDUEE. 101 
 
 If, for certain valid reasons, such as positive information 
 relative to the nature of the poison, or the discovery of some- 
 thing in the preliminary examination, the analyst deem him- 
 self to be on the track of some special poison, he should 
 appropriate a portion of the material say one-fourth for 
 this especial investigation, which he may proceed to make 
 at once ; and if successful in the research, he may confirm 
 his results by further experiments on the remainder of his 
 material ; or he may employ this (in certain cases) in the 
 search for other poisons. But if the chemist has no clew 
 whatever to indicate to him the particular line of investiga- 
 tion, it remains only for him to practice a careful methodical 
 analysis, as follows : 
 
 He commences by dividing into two equal parts each of 
 the suspected organs, and also the liquids in contact with 
 them. These portions are put into two separate vessels, and 
 are destined for two distinct analyses, one for the search 
 for mineral poisons, the other for that for organic poisons. 
 These two separate portions are designated respectively by 
 the numbers I. and II. 
 
 In the general method of research about to be described, 
 the corrosive acids are not included, inasmuch as these pro- 
 duce such characteristic symptoms, and leave behind such 
 well-defined marks of recognition, that it is useless to en- 
 cumber our description with them. The proper method for 
 their investigation will be detailed under their own special 
 headings. 
 
 The two accompanying tables represent at a glance the 
 methods of procedure in both cases. The details of the 
 analysis will now be given.
 
 102 
 
 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 HH
 
 METHOD OF CHEMICAL PROCEDURE. 
 
 103 
 
 Hi : 
 
 O It ** 
 
 S a . 
 cs - ss 
 o a ja 
 
 M .2 ' 
 
 !3 "S >. 
 nil 
 IJJ- 
 
 o s*. ' 2 
 
 o ^- c 
 
 fe "? r u '3 
 ^ ._ c o c 
 fl'S' 3 tC 
 
 5*,bl 
 
 ^ Sj 
 
 *; - o 
 
 a 2 ' 
 
 1 
 
 o dilatation of pupils. The r 
 i easily in water, giving an a 
 i a brown precipitate with i< 
 iving out a nauseous odor (C) 
 
 tetanic convulsions occur, int< 
 s case, moistened with strong 
 ion of a fragment of bichrom 
 t color, which soon changes (7 
 
 leprcssion; intermittent and ii 
 e residue should be soluble i: 
 
 ion, although devoid of alkali 
 c acid. The residue is colorct 
 [8). 
 
 x physiological phenomena, 
 s crystalline , almost insolubl 
 le in caustic potassa. It asa 
 thrown, in powder, into a con 
 solution of persulphate of iro 
 iodic acid; it gives an orang 
 
 ;!. 
 
 fl o ^ 
 
 c ^ "3 T* 
 
 g^Jg-f 
 
 ^ 
 
 "8 22 
 
 U 1 = S I S 
 
 i "o - s 
 
 .2 -2 "S '? 
 
 'If 
 
 Us 
 
 sgg.^g,i 
 
 H 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 il 2 ^ 
 
 a o 
 
 , m ^ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 2 - 
 
 2 "? 
 
 
 
 ^ oo j 
 
 .2 *""" 
 
 te ^ 
 
 
 
 S "^ 
 
 o 73 o 
 
 a d 
 
 
 
 -a ~ 
 
 
 
 
 '" a 
 
 73 o 
 
 
 
 o < a 
 
 . B . 
 
 a "* 
 

 
 104 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 I. Search for mineral poisons. Portion No. L (Table 1.) 
 (1) This half of the material should first be divided into 
 small pieces by means of a knife or scissors, which should 
 be thoroughly clean and bright. The pulpy mass ob- 
 tained as above is first weighed, and then introduced into 
 the apparatus of Mitscherlich (see post, PHOSPHORUS), into 
 which pure and concentrated sulphuric acid equal to one- 
 fourth the weight of the material is poured. If the matters 
 contained in the retort are too thick, distilled water is added 
 in sufficient quantity to insure distillation. The retort is put 
 upon a sand-bath, and cautiously heated for half an hour. 
 
 (2) The appearance of phosphorescence in the course of 
 the distillation will indicate the presence of phosphorus. In 
 order to observe this, it is indispensable that the experi- 
 ment be performed in the dark. (For details, see post, PHOS- 
 PHORUS.) 
 
 (3) The apparatus of Mitscherlich is made to terminate in 
 a bent tube which enters a flask containing a solution of 
 nitrate of silver, without, however, touching the solution. If 
 a white precipitate occurs, it is probable that prussic acid is 
 present. (For details and exceptions, see post, PRUSSIC ACID.) 
 
 (4) If the distillation causes neither phosphorescence, nor 
 a white cloudiness in the silver solution, the apparatus is 
 allowed to cool ; and the contents of the flask are transferred 
 to a tubulated retort well stoppered : these should be intro- 
 duced through the tubulure, by means of a wide-mouthed 
 funnel with a long neck. The flask and funnel should be 
 washed on with a little distilled water, which is then added 
 to the mass ; this should not occupy over a fourth of the 
 capacity of the retort, which should be fitted, by means of an 
 adopter, to a large receiver, kept properly refrigerated. The 
 retort is now placed upon a sand-bath, and its contents care- 
 fully distilled, the process being continued until these are 
 dry. This operation is always tedious, and should be con- 
 ducted slowly; the time ordinarily required is about six 
 hours. When completed, and the apparatus is cooled, the 
 distilled liquid is set aside; and, with the aid of a glass rod, 
 the black and carbonaceous contents of the retort are ex- 
 tracted. (Seepost.) This substance is to be powdered gradually
 
 METHOD OF CHEMIMAL PROCEDURE. 105 
 
 in a porcelain mortar, and then introduced into a glass flask, 
 along with a tenth of its weight of pure nitric acid, and 
 allowed to digest for half an hour at the temperature of 100 
 C. ; then a little boiling distilled water is added, and the 
 whole is filtered. If the carbonization was complete, the 
 filtrate will be colorless. (If it still retains a yellowish color, 
 it must be evaporated to dryness, after having first added a 
 little pure sulphuric acid ; the residue must be again treated 
 with nitric acid ; diluted with water, and filtered the second 
 time.) The charcoal is repeatedly washed on the filter by 
 hot distilled \vater, and the washings added to the filtrate. 
 This liquid is very acid : it contains a large quantity of sul- 
 phuric and nitric acids. After it is completely cooled, it is 
 saturated with pure liquid ammonia, until a white precipitate 
 begins to form. This liquid is next put into a flask which 
 should be just large enough to hold it, and a current of 
 washed sulphuretted hydrogen gas should be passed through 
 it to saturation. The closed flask is left to itself for twenty- 
 four hours; at the end of which time any metallic sulphides, 
 which are insoluble in slightly acid liquids, will be com- 
 pletely precipitated. 
 
 (5) If the precipitate is black, or brownish-black, the super- 
 natant liquid is carefully decanted by means of a siphon, and 
 the flask is again filled with recently boiled distilled water. 
 The decantation and washing are twice repeated, and then 
 the precipitate with its adhering liquid is poured into a small 
 porcelain capsule, and is dried upon a water-bath. To the 
 dried residue several grammes of pure nitric acid are added, 
 and the temperature kept to near the boiling-point, until 
 all the acid vapors have disappeared; after which a small 
 quantity of warm distilled water is added. (Liquid A.) 
 
 (6) A few drops of the preceding liquid are placed care- 
 fully upon a slip of bright copper. After a contact of twenty 
 minutes, this is washed off with distilled water, and dried at a 
 gentle heat. If the copper appears to be whitened, the spot 
 is gently rubbed with the finger of a glove, to brighten it 
 and make it more apparent. If the stain is due to mercury, 
 it will readily disappear when put into the flame of a spirit- 
 lamp. (See post, POISONING BY MERCURY.)
 
 106 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 (7) Some drops of the same liquid (A) being put upon a 
 strip of polished iron cause a red deposit, which is rather 
 adherent, becoming brighter by washing and drying under a 
 slight friction (copper). This red spot on being covered with 
 a drop of liquor ammonise becomes obviously blue, after a 
 short time. (See post, POISONING BY COPPER.) 
 
 (8) A few drops of the liquid (A) treated on a watch-glass 
 with a drop of solution of iodide of potassium will give a 
 yellow precipitate, indicating lead. This precipitate dissolves 
 in a large quantity of boiling water, but is again deposited 
 on cooling, assuming the appearance of shining scales. The 
 liquid will also yield with a solution of sulphate of soda a 
 white precipitate, either immediately or very soon, if it con- 
 tains lead. 
 
 (9) If the liquid saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen 
 throws down a yellow, or yellowish, precipitate, it must be 
 carefully examined. After decantation, it should be washed 
 once only not with pure water, but with a limpid aqueous 
 solution of sulphuretted hydrogen. If this precipitate con- 
 sists only of sulphide of arsenic, it will completely dissolve in 
 a few drops of liquid ammonia, and be precipitated anew on 
 the addition of an acid. If treated with pure boiling nitric 
 acid, it should disappear, in being converted into arsenic acid; 
 and when introduced into Marsh's apparatus, it should fur- 
 nish the characteristic bright metallic deposits on a piece of 
 cold white porcelain, and which will immediately disappear 
 on being touched with a solution of hypochlorite of lime or 
 soda. (See post, POISONING BY ARSENIC.) 
 
 But the yellowish precipitate may turn out to be nothing 
 more than finely-divided sulphur, arising from the decom- 
 position of a portion of the sulphuretted hydrogen under the 
 influence of the air, or of the acid in the liquid (and in case 
 there should be organic matters present, the colored precipi- 
 tate would be composed of both sulphur and organic matters). 
 If the deposit consists exclusively of sulphur, it will possess 
 none of the preceding characters ; moreover, it will undergo 
 fusion at a heat a little above 100 C., and will bum without 
 residue, with a characteristic color and odor. 
 
 (10) If the liquid saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen
 
 METHOD OF CHEMICAL PROCEDURE. 107 
 
 yields no precipitate, or merely one of sulphur, it should be 
 put into a porcelain capsule, and boiled until the odor of sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen has entirely disappeared, and its volume 
 reduced to one-tenth of the original. If now introduced into 
 Marsh's apparatus, it will yield the characteristic spots on 
 porcelain, if it contains arsenic. 
 
 It will be perceived that, in the analysis just described, 
 arsenic is discovered by two different processes (9 and 10) ; 
 the explanation is as follows : During the treatment of the 
 suspected organs with concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids, 
 the arsenical compounds present will have passed, either in 
 whole or in part, into the condition of arsenic acid, which is 
 difficult to precipitate with sulphuretted hydrogen. As this 
 precipitation is somewhat capricious, it may happen that 
 arsenic may sometimes be deposited, and sometimes not. 
 Hence the provision of the two processes for detecting this 
 substance. 
 
 (11) If the liquid saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen 
 yields no metallic precipitate, nor furnishes any spots when 
 tested with Marsh's apparatus, it is because it contains none 
 of the metals mentioned above ; recourse must next be had 
 to the carbonaceous mass left upon the filter: this is to be 
 divided into two parts (a) and (6). 
 
 The first (a) is mixed with some distilled water, and then 
 from half a drachm to a drachm of pure carbonate of soda 
 is added, and the whole boiled for about half an hour; when 
 the whole is thrown upon a paper filter. The mass is repeat- 
 edly washed with water, until the disappearance of all alka- 
 linity, and again washed with very dilute nitric acid. The 
 results of these washings being added to the filtrate, the whole 
 is evaporated nearly to dryness on a water-bath. It is then 
 again diluted with distilled water and filtered anew. If it con- 
 tains lead, it will respond to the usual reactions of this metal, 
 especially with iodide of potassium and sulphate of soda. 
 
 It is easy to understand why lead should be discovered by 
 two distinct processes. Supposing the animal matters to 
 contain a salt of lead ; this would necessarily be converted 
 into the sulphate, in the preliminary action of sulphuric acid. 
 But, as the sulphate of lead is nearly insoluble, a great part
 
 108 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 of it will remain in the carbonaceous mass upon the filter. 
 It may, however, happen that some of it will be redissolved 
 by the nitric acid employed in the treatment of the carbo- 
 naceous mass, and thus be discovered in the filtrate, as above 
 described. Hence, in a medico-legal research, it is proper to 
 provide for each contingency. 
 
 (12) If the first portion of the charcoal-mass yields no re- 
 sult, the other portion (b) should be treated as follows: the 
 black powder is mixed with distilled water, and from half a 
 drachm to a drachm of pure tartaric acid is added, and the 
 whole boiled for a few minutes. It is then filtered, and the 
 filtrate treated with a Marsh's apparatus. If antimony is 
 present, it will yield metallic deposits on porcelain, not dis- 
 appearing on being touched with the solutions of hypochlorite 
 of lime or soda. (See post, POISONING BY ANTIMONY.) 
 
 II. Search for organic poisons. Portion No. II. (Table 2.) 1 
 and 2. The second half of the suspected material is divided 
 into small fragments, and diluted with a little distilled water, 
 if necessary, so as to bring it to the condition of thin soup. It 
 is then introduced into a tubulated retort, the beak of which 
 is connected with a porcelain tube. 
 
 This porcelain tube passes through a small furnace, and 
 has attached to its extremity a set of Liebig's bulbs contain- 
 ing a solution of nitrate of silver, acidulated with pure nitric 
 acid. Through the tubulure of the retort there passes a bent 
 glass tube, which reaches down to the bottom of the contents; 
 its outer extremity being attached by means of a gum con- 
 nector to the nozzle of a bellows, by means of which air can 
 be forced into the retort, and the volatile products carried 
 through the porcelain tube. The retort is heated by means 
 of a sand-bath to about 40 C., and a slow and regular 
 draught of air maintained by the bellows. The Liebig's 
 bulbs serve as a regulator: the rapidity with which the bub- 
 bles of air pass through them indicating to the operator the 
 proper degree of motion for the bellows. After some time, 
 the operation is stopped in order to ascertain if the nitrate of 
 silver solution is at all clouded. The porcelain tube is now 
 to be gradually heated to redness, and the bellows again put 
 into action.
 
 METHOD OF CHEMICAL PROCEDURE. 109 
 
 If, under these conditions, the silver solution does not be- 
 come clouded, the experiment is brought to an end. If the 
 reverse is the case, it is continued until the precipitate ceases 
 to be thrown down. The contents of the bulbs are poured 
 into a test glass, and the precipitate is washed several times 
 by decantation. If this precipitate very soon assumes a 
 violet color on exposure to the light, dissolves freely in am- 
 monia, and is insoluble in boiling nitric acid, it is proof 
 that it consists of chlgride of silver, and that the chlorine 
 or the hydrochloric acid was derived from the' animal mat- 
 ters in the retort; and under the circumstances it is highly 
 probable that it is due to CHLOROFORM (2) contained in these 
 matters. For, since the precipitate could result onty from 
 chlorine or hydrochloric acid, these would have been mani- 
 fested at the commencement of the experiment, if they had 
 existed in the free state. But, inasmuch as the precipitate in 
 the silver solution did not occur until after heating the por- 
 celain tube to redness, it is natural to conclude that some 
 chlorine compound, that has no action on nitrate of silver, 
 was decomposed at a red heat into chlorine or hydrochloric 
 acid, which has produced the reaction. Among the volatile 
 substances known in medicine and toxicology, chloroform is 
 the only one that will produce this result. In a case of this 
 kind, the characteristic odor of this substance would almost 
 certainly be noticed. (3) If the silver solution in the bulbs 
 does not become clouded, the search for the organic alkalies 
 may be at once proceeded with, according to the process of 
 M. Stas, which will be described farther on. If a strong 
 alkaline volatile liquid, possessing the peculiar pungent odor 
 of tobacco, is the result, it is NICOTINA (4). If solid, a portion 
 of it is introduced into the thigh of a frog (5). If it greatly 
 dilates the pupil, and the residue readily dissolves in water, 
 giving a strong alkaline solution, is precipitated brown by 
 iodine, and easily assumes a nauseous odor, it is ATROPIA (6). 
 If the frog is seized with tetanic convulsions, intermittent 
 in their character, and the residue responds to the charac- 
 teristic color-test (sulphuric acid and bichromate of potassa), 
 it is STRYCHNIA (7). If the frog exhibits great weakness, and 
 has irregular and intermittent beats of the heart; and if the 
 
 8
 
 110 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 residue dissolves in warm water, and yields a solution which 
 is not alkaline, but gives a precipitate with tannin ; and if 
 the residue itself is colored green by hydrochloric acid, it is 
 DIGITALINE (8). .If the frog exhibits complex physiological 
 phenomena, and the residue is crystalline, nearly insoluble 
 in water and ether, soluble in caustic potassa, and responds 
 to the recognized tests for morphia (perchloride of iron, 
 nitric acid, iodic acid), it is OPIUM (9). 
 
 Stas' process for separating the alkaloids. This method is the 
 most reliable of any yet discovered: it is the one originally 
 employed by M. Stas for the separation and identification 
 of nicotina in the celebrated Bocarme case. It is a process 
 that requires the greatest delicacy and care on the part of 
 the operator. It is based upon the following ascertained 
 fact: "All the alkaloids known form with acids, and par- 
 ticularly with tartaric and acetic acid, salts, which are soluble 
 in water and alcohol ; and these solutions are easily decom- 
 posed by the fixed alkalies. The alkaloids thus set free 
 nevertheless remain in solution for a few moments, and will 
 dissolve in ether if present in sufficient quantity." 
 
 The regulated use of water, and of alcohol of different 
 degrees of strength, effects a separation of the foreign mat- 
 ters, and allows us to obtain in a small volume the solution 
 containing the toxic alkaloid. 
 
 The organs, or suspected matters, are finely divided, and 
 mixed with about double their weight of pure alcohol at 95. 
 From fifteen to thirty grains of pure' tartaric acid are then 
 added (previously dissolved in a little alcohol), and the whole 
 put into a glass flask, which is heated on a water-bath for 
 half an hour at a temperature of about 70 C. After cooling, 
 it is filtered through paper, the insoluble portion being 
 several times washed with concentrated alcohol and the 
 washings added to the filtrate. The liquid is slowly evapor- 
 ated at a temperature not exceeding 35 C. The evapora- 
 tion may be expedited by a current of air, if convenient. 
 
 When the greater portion of the alcohol is evaporated, 
 there is left a liquid which throws down fatty and other mat- 
 ters ; this should be again filtered through paper previously 
 wetted with distilled water; the filter should be carefully
 
 STAS' PROCESS FOR THE ALKALOIDS. Ill 
 
 washed afterwards. The aqueous liquid is now carefully 
 evaporated, either in a vacuum or under a receiver contain, 
 ing quicklime or strong sulphuric acid. The solid residue 
 thus obtained is completely exhausted by cold absolute alco- 
 hol; this is slowly evaporated either in a current of air or in 
 vacuo. The new residue is dissolved in the smallest possible 
 quantity of cold distilled water, and the solution at once intro- 
 duced into a long narrow flask of such a size that it will 
 occupy about one-fifth of its capacity. Bicarbonate of po- 
 tassa in small quantities is put into the liquid, until effer- 
 vescence ceases. Finally, the flask is very nearly tilled with 
 pure ether, and, after a thorough shaking for several minutes, 
 it is allowed to rest. When the supernatant ether has be- 
 come clear, a small portion of it is carefully removed with 
 a pipette, put into a watch-glass, and allowed to evaporate 
 spontaneously in a dry place. The result is exhibited under 
 two aspects: it is either liquid and volatile, as nicotine; or 
 else it is solid and fixed, like strychnia, or morphia. 
 
 (a) If the toxic substance is a liquid and volatile alkaloid, 
 the preceding ethereal solution, on evaporation, leaves oily 
 streaks, which slowly collect at the bottom of the capsule. 
 If this latter be slightly heated, a sharp and pungent odor 
 will be perceived, varying according to the nature of the 
 alkaloid. 
 
 In order to discover its true character, to the contents 
 of the flask from which the trial test was made are added 
 two cubic centimetres of a solution of caustic potassa (one 
 part to five), and the mixture is shaken up anew. When 
 the ether has completely cleared, it is decanted into a larger 
 flask ; the residue is exhausted by three or four additions of 
 ether, and all the ether solutions are united in the larger 
 flask, to which are immediately added two cubic centimetres 
 of water acidulated with a fifth of its weight of pure sul- 
 phuric acid. The flask is shaken for some time, and then 
 allowed to rest. The ether is now decanted, and the acid 
 liquid is washed with a new dose of ether. The alkaloid is 
 now in the form of a sulphate, and is no longer soluble in 
 ether, but remains dissolved in the acidulated water. In 
 order to extract it perfectly from this solution, a concen-
 
 112 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 trated aqueous solution of caustic soda is added, and the 
 mixture is exhausted by several successive additions of pure 
 ether. The ethereal solution is allowed to evaporate spon- 
 taneously under a receiver containing strong sulphuric acid;- 
 the residue will contain the organic alkali in a state of great 
 purity, which will allow its physical and chemical properties 
 to be tested. 
 
 (b) If the tentative evaporation of the small quantity of 
 ether taken from the flask does not indicate the presence of 
 a liquid alkaloid, a concentrated solution of caustic soda is 
 added to the mixture in the flask, and, after a brisk shaking, 
 the ether is decanted, and more is added, until the mass is 
 completely exhausted. The ethereal liquids, being spontane- 
 ously evaporated in a capsule, leave as a residue an aqueous 
 liquid, which holds in suspension some solid matters. If it 
 contains a solid alkaloid, it will have a decided alkaline re- 
 action ; and, although in every case it yields a disagreeable 
 odor, this will not be acrid or pungent. In order to isolate 
 the alkaloid from foreign matters, we pour into the capsule 
 some drops of water acidulated with pure sulphuric acid, and, 
 after some time, filter the liquid through paper. The filter 
 should be washed repeatedly with distilled water, and the 
 washings united to the filtrate. This liquid is then allowed 
 to evaporate to one-fourth of its original volume, either in a 
 vacuum, or under a receiver with sulphuric acid or quick- 
 lime. Next, a concentrated solution of pure carbonate of 
 potassa is poured upon the residue ; and the whole is finally 
 acted upon by absolute alcohol, which redissolves the alka- 
 loid, and deposits it in the crystalline state, after filtration 
 and evaporation. From this, the physical and chemical char- 
 acters of the substance can easily be determined. 
 
 For separating some of the alkaloids, chloroform and ami/lie 
 alcohol (especially the former) have been found to be much 
 better solvents than ether. The cases to which these are 
 particularly adapted will be duly pointed out hereafter. 
 
 This method, the most exact known, is certainly suffi- 
 ciently minute, and requires to be employed with all possible 
 carefulness. The results are satisfactory in the majority of 
 cases. The alkaloid is easily concentrated in a small volume,
 
 THE METHOD OF DIALYSIS. 113 
 
 and is freed from the greater proportion of the animal mat- 
 ters with which it was associated. It must, however, be 
 admitted that, in spite of every precaution, it scarcely ever 
 happens that all traces of foreign matters are completely re. 
 moved ; besides, a small quantity of the substance is lost in 
 the various manipulations. Although specially designed for 
 the separation of the alkaloids, it is equally applicable to the 
 discovery of digitaline, although this substance is not, properly 
 speaking, a vegetable alkali. 
 
 The very complicated process of Stas, above described, 
 may often be much simplified with considerable advantage. 
 For instance, in separating strychnia from organic mixtures, 
 it is often only necessary to digest for some time in water 
 slightly acidified with acetic acid, then strain and filter ; con- 
 centrate by evaporation ; add liquor potassae in excess, and 
 then shake up with an excess of chloroform. After standing 
 awhile, the chloroform solution of the alkaloid is separated, 
 and allowed to evaporate to dryness, when the deposit is 
 tested in the usual manner (vide post, STRYCHNIA). 
 
 Dialysis. The process of dialysis was originally recom- 
 mended by Mr. Graham, as a very convenient method of 
 separating crystalline bodies from complex organic mixtures. 
 It is essentially the process of endosmose a moist organic 
 membrane being interposed between two different liquids. 
 The substance found to be best adapted for the septum is 
 parchment-paper, which is prepared by soaking unsized paper 
 for a few minutes in a cold mixture of two parts of sulphuric 
 acid and one of water. The dialyser is composed of a light 
 hoop of wood, or, better, of sheet gutta-percha about two 
 inches in depth and five or six inches in w r idth, with a piece 
 of moistened parchment-paper stretched over it, and secured 
 by a string or elastic band around it, so as to form a sieve- 
 like vessel. The liquid mixture to be examined is poured 
 into the dialyser, in quantity not exceeding half an inch in 
 depth ; this is next floated in a perfectly clean glass or porce- 
 lain basin containing distilled water, in quantity about four 
 or five times that of the liquid in the dialyser. Any crystal- 
 line matters (termed crystalloids by Graham) contained in the 
 latter will begin at once to pass through the septum into the
 
 114 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 clear water on the other side; while the non-crystallizable 
 substances (termed colloids) will remain behind. In the 
 course of twenty-four hours the process of diffusion will be 
 completed. The outer liquid, or diffusate, should be evapor- 
 ated on a water-bath to a small volume, or to dryness, and 
 the residue, if sufficiently pure, examined by the proper re- 
 agents. A drop or two of the concentrated liquid may be 
 evaporated on a piece of glass, and the crystals examined by 
 the microscope. 
 
 This process answers very well where the quantity of the 
 suspected (crystalloid) body is considerable : it is especially 
 adapted for the examination of the mineral poisons, as ar- 
 senic, corrosive sublimate, tartar emetic, etc. In identifying 
 the two latter poisons, its use is very appropriate as a pre- 
 liminary test, inasmuch as by it we can separate from the 
 contents of the stomach the identical substance that has 
 caused death, whereas by the ordinary chemical processes 
 this cannot be done, but merely the metallic bases of the 
 salts are obtained viz., mercury and antimony. The pro- 
 cess of dialysis has not been found so well adapted to the 
 separation of the organic crystalloids (alkaloids) ; nor, in 
 general, where the amount of the suspected material is small. 
 In both the latter cases, the diffusate is very apt to be 
 contaminated with impurities (colloids) which have passed 
 through the septum, rendering a further purification neces- 
 sary. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MEDICO-LEGAL QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH POISONING. 
 
 THE matters considered in the preceding chapters embrace 
 nearly all the medico-legal points connected with the subject 
 of poisoning. It may, however, be profitable to the student 
 to group these questions together in their proper order and 
 importance, so as to present a clear and definite picture of 
 the subject. These medico-legal questions will naturally
 
 MEDICO-LEGAL QUESTIONS. 115 
 
 present themselves in every case of poisoning that comes up 
 for trial. Hence it is desirable that the expert should be 
 thoroughly instructed in relation to them, so that, in his evi- 
 dence, he may be able fully to sustain his positions. As 
 many of these questions presuppose a knowledge of medi- 
 cine as well as of chemistry, it will be evident that either 
 the expert should unite in himself this twofold character, 
 or else that two experts a chemist and a physician should 
 be associated in the case. The following are the most im- 
 portant questions that will commonly be asked at a trial of 
 a poisoning-case : 
 
 1. Is the death or sickness to be ascribed to poison ? This ques- 
 tion is fundamental : it underlies all the others, since it com- 
 pels the expert to submit to the court and jury the proofs 
 of the alleged poisoning. It matters not whether the case 
 has proved fatal or not, justice demands that science should 
 bring forward positive proofs of the alleged crime. 
 
 We have already considered these proofs in detail (ante,p. 45). 
 They embrace, (1) the symptoms ; (2) those furnished by the 
 post-mortem signs; (3) those afforded by chemical analysis; 
 (4) those derived from experiments on living animals; to 
 which may be added, (5) the circumstantial proofs. We have 
 seen how impossible it is in any case to determine the ques- 
 tion of poison either by the symptoms alone (since there 
 are no symptoms exclusively characteristic of any poison), or 
 by the pathological lesions alone, or even by both together 
 (ante, p. 68). But it should not be forgotten that it is nearly 
 always in the power of the expert (or of the medical man in 
 attendance) to discover the poison in the matters vomited 
 or purged, in the urine, and in stains upon the clothing, or 
 on articles of furniture. In non-fatal cases especially, the 
 neglect upon the part of the medical attendant, who may 
 suspect the administration of poison, to make these impor- 
 tant examinations of the food and excreta, and his reliance 
 merely on certain symptoms which the patient has exhibited, in 
 order to sustain a charge of poisoning, cannot be too severely 
 reprobated. 
 
 2. What is the nature of the poison that has caused the sickness 
 or death ? It has already been shown (p. 67) that in a case of
 
 116 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 poisoning the law always demands " satisfactory proof " of 
 the fact: it does not prescribe the nature of this proof. It 
 has been held by some, that to establish the legal proof of 
 poisoning, the identical poison that caused the death should be 
 obtained from the body, or other material, and be produced 
 as a corpus delicti. This doctrine is, however, not tenable : as 
 well, it might be urged in reply, might it be required in a 
 case of homicide by a blow upon the head, and where a 
 fractured skull gave unequivocal evidence of the cause of 
 death, that the weapon of the murderer should be produced 
 as the corpus delicti. 
 
 As regards poisoning, the rule to be observed in connec- 
 tion with the chemical proof is, that whenever it is possible the 
 analyst should recover the identical poison alleged to have 
 been taken, and exhibit it in court. But this is not always 
 possible, as in the case of some of the vegetable and animal 
 poisons which undergo decomposition in the body: in such 
 cases we must be satisfied to exhibit all the known and ad- 
 mitted chemical tests, together with (in certain cases) the 
 physiological proofs (see ante, p. 80). But in the case of the 
 mineral poisons it is possible, in many instances, by means 
 of dialysis (see p. 113), actually to recover the identical poison 
 employed e.g. arsenious acid, tartar emetic, corrosive sub- 
 limate, sulphate of copper, etc.; and, further, in each case 
 to obtain the metal in a state of purity ; and from this to de- 
 monstrate satisfactorily all the recognized chemical reactions 
 of the poisonous mineral. 
 
 When all the combinations of a poisonous metal are 
 equally dangerous, it is not essential to the cause of justice 
 that the poison should be detected under the precise combina- 
 tion in which it was administered, provided the metallic base is 
 discovered. Thus, in poisoning from either arsenic, tartar 
 emetic, or corrosive sublimate (although possible for the 
 analyst, as shown above, to produce these identical sub- 
 stances), it is regarded as sufficient if he can satisfactorily 
 determine the presence of the metallic bases of these poisons, 
 viz., arsenic, antimony, and mercury. 
 
 3. Was the substance administered capable of causing death ? 
 This question is likely to arise only in non-fatal cases. It' it
 
 MEDICO-LEGAL QUESTIONS. 117 
 
 can be shown that the substance given with the intention of 
 producing death was really not of a poisonous character (al- 
 though supposed to be so), conviction would not follow. So 
 also, if the substance were poisonous in large doses, e.g. 
 oxalic acid, and only a small quantity a few grains had 
 been administered, it would not come within the statute. 
 (See Taylor, On Poisons, p. 183.) 
 
 4. Was the poison taken in sufficient quantity to cause death ? 
 In many instances the discovery of a large amount of the 
 poison in the body leaves no doubt of the true cause of death. 
 But the expert must beware of falling into the error of sup- 
 posing that the finding of only a minute quantity of the poison 
 necessarily negatives the charge. It has been satisfactorily 
 shown (see ante, p. 70) that in some cases of fatal poisoning 
 not a trace of the noxious substance can be found by the 
 analyst after death. Full and sufficient reasons were given 
 for this failure to detect the poison. It should never be for- 
 gotten that the quantity of poison extracted from the body 
 by analysis does not represent the quantity taken. Of course, 
 the discovery of only a minute quantity of the poison (es- 
 pecially of a substance employed in medicine) will always 
 suggest the possibility of its having been taken medicinally, 
 unless the other elements of proof are sufficiently strong. 
 (See ante, p. 59.) 
 
 5. When was the poison taken ? The settlement of this ques- 
 tion is of importance both to the prosecution and the defense. 
 As a general rule, the symptoms come on soon after the 
 poison is swallowed ; but the exact time varies for different 
 poisons and for different conditions of the system (see ante, 
 p. 48). In the case of poisons administered in small and 
 repeated doses (slow poisons), this question is more difficult 
 to determine; although each fresh accession of symptoms 
 may be regarded as indicative of a fresh dose of the poison. 
 It should be remembered also that, in some cases of fatal 
 poisoning, a true intermission of symptoms occurs, which 
 may lead to a serious error in regard to the time of the ad- 
 ministration of the poison. 
 
 6. Is it possible for the poison to have completely disappeared 
 from the body, without leaving any trace of its presence ? and in
 
 118 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 what time? This question may be answered affirmatively 
 both as regards the living and the dead body. Thus, violent 
 vomiting and purging may remove the whole of it except the 
 small quantity absorbed. And if the individual survive long 
 enough for elimination (sixteen days for arsenic, see ante, p. 
 28), not a trace of it may be discovered after death. In the 
 living body, the analysis of the urine forms a very exact 
 index of the presence of the absorbed poison in the system : 
 this is especially true of mineral poisons. 
 
 7. Could the poison extracted from the body be ascribed to any 
 other source than to poisoning? The presence of poison, es- 
 pecially in considerable quantity, in a body is primd facie 
 evidence of poisoning; but it is not, of itself, positive proof 
 (see ante, p. 68). If found in very small quantity, this may 
 be ascribed to medicinal administration (in the absence of 
 the other proofs of poisoning). Again, it may be traced to 
 accidental contamination ; an instance of which is given, 
 by Tardieu and Roussin (loc. cit., p. 136), where the lining 
 membrane of a stomach was found smeared over with the 
 oxide and carbonate of copper, which was ascertained to be 
 solely due to the presence of a large pin, that had accident- 
 ally fallen into the jar, after the autopsy. 
 
 Again, the impurities contained in the reagents of the 
 chemist, if he is not sufficiently careful, may account for the 
 accidental introduction of certain poisons, as arsenic, anti- 
 mony, lead, etc. Finally, it has been supposed that the 
 natural decomposition of the human body would give rise to 
 certain products which, if not actually identical with, closely 
 resemble, some of the organic poisons. This has been alleged 
 to be the case, at times, with prussic acid. But the allega- 
 tion lacks proof. This question will be discussed more fully 
 under PRUSSIC ACID (post). 
 
 8. Was the poisoning the result of homicide, suicide, or accident? 
 This is a question for the jury to determine, rather than 
 for the expert. Nevertheless, in some cases it will be in his 
 power to throw light upon it, as in the instance of the cor- 
 rosives, where the evidence of resistance on the part of the 
 deceased is shown by the spilling of the fluid upon the 
 face, neck, and chest of the individual, together with other
 
 DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF MEDICAL EXPERTS. 119 
 
 circumstantial evidence of a similar character, all indicating 
 homicide. 
 
 9. Can poisoning be pretended ? There can be no doubt that, 
 as many diseases are simulated for sinister purposes, so an 
 individual may pretend that he has been poisoned, and even 
 exhibit poisonous mixtures alleged to have been vomited, as 
 proof's of his statement. Like any other impostor of this de- 
 scription, such a person must be carefully watched: this will 
 generally lead to his detection. The idea of being poisoned 
 is a very common delusion of the insane. 
 
 The above medico-legal questions have been taken chiefly 
 from the treatise of Tardieu and Roussin, to which the reader 
 is referred for more extended details. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF MEDICAL EXPERTS. 
 
 THE subject of expert evidence is one of the greatest impor- 
 tance, especially in criminal trials for poisoning. Here, indeed, 
 the final issue often depends materially upon the character 
 of the expert testimony. It becomes, then, a question of the 
 utmost consequence to determine what are the proper duties 
 and privileges of medical experts. 
 
 The term " expert witness" literally signifies a skilled wit- 
 ness one who has accurate knowledge of the matter under 
 consideration. Such witnesses are " chosen on account of 
 their special knowledge or skill in particular matters, to testify 
 or make a report embodying their opinions" (Elwell). The 
 "expert" witness does not testify to facts, like the ordinary 
 witness; but he gives his opinion, based upon facts that have 
 been testified to by others. It is his special function carefully 
 to weigh all these facts, to sit in calm judgment upon them, 
 and to deduce conclusions from them, which he delivers to 
 the court and jury as his opinions. 
 
 For the consequences of his opinions he should clearly under-
 
 120 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 stand that he is in no wise responsible. He is bound by the 
 solemnity of his oath to tell all and to suppress nothing of 
 what he conscientiously believes to be the truth, no matter 
 what may be the result to the accused. In the language 
 of Dr. Percival, " he should use his best endeavors that his 
 mind be clear and collected, unawed by fear, and uninflu- 
 enced by favor or enmity." 
 
 How important, then, that the individual, who assumes the 
 functions of an "expert" witness in a criminal trial, should 
 so clearly understand the matter on which he is to testify, 
 and be so familiar with its every detail, as to preclude all 
 possibility of error on his part ! Yet it is notorious that 
 nearly every criminal trial in our country is hampered, if 
 not disgraced, by what has been sneeringly termed by the 
 newspapers the " war of the experts." So much is this the 
 case, that the public have come to expect this collision as a 
 matter of course; and, as a consequence, they are inclined to 
 reject the whole expert testimony as entirely superfluous, if 
 not positively worthless, a result which, it is to be feared, 
 is not unfrequently reached also by the jury, to the great and 
 manifest disparagement of justice. 
 
 In trials for poisoning, it is by no means unusual to find 
 medical men summoned as "experts," both by the prosecution 
 and the defense, who have never made the subject of toxicology 
 a special study, and who must therefore be ignorant of the 
 important details of this science ; but who, nevertheless, be- 
 cause they are doctors, and are erroneously supposed to know, 
 will venture to assume this most responsible function, and 
 will even presume, from the witness-stand, to enlighten the 
 court and jury on one of the most intricate branches of 
 science, and will hazard "opinions" which ma}- probably 
 determine the momentous issues of life and death ! If it 
 were only possible to exclude these improvised experts from 
 poison-trials, and confide the responsibility to men of known 
 and recognized toxicological ability, there would occur far 
 fewer occasions in which this conflict of expert testimony would 
 be witnessed ; for it is to be observed, that among genuine ex- 
 perts persons of purely scientific attainments, uninfluenced 
 by either prejudice or favor, not mere partisans this differ-
 
 DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF MEDICAL EXPERTS. 121 
 
 ence of opinion on a purely professional subject is much less 
 likely to occur. Accustomed to observe the facts as pre- 
 sented, from the same scientific stand-point, and to apply the 
 same chemical tests in order, to determine certain results, 
 there would be a far greater likelihood of their arriving at 
 similar conclusions. 
 
 We have heard it gravely asserted from the bench, in a 
 certain criminal trial for homicide, in the charge to the jury, 
 that " one expert is just as good as another." This doctrine 
 we regard as both unsound and pernicious. If the expert 
 opinion of A, a thoroughly educated toxicologist, is to be 
 neutralized by that of B, who is merely a practitioner of 
 medicine, who does not see what serious danger might re- 
 sult to the cause of justice and of human life, if the jury is to 
 estimate the "opinion" of both as of equal importance? It 
 is easy to understand what might be expected from a jury, 
 instructed as above mentioned from the bench, and bewil- 
 dered and deceived as to the relative value of the "expert" 
 testimony, by a crafty and unscrupulous counsel. 
 
 The question of the proper remedy to be applied to this 
 faulty system of expert testimony has engaged the attention 
 of many able minds. Dr. Wharton says (Wharton and 
 Stille's Med. Jurisp., 1873, ii. p. 1248), "The radical defect, 
 however, of our present Anglo-American practice, in this 
 respect, is the volunteer position of experts, which makes 
 them, to a large measure, the mouth-piece of a party who 
 often only selects them because their pre-ascertained views 
 suit his purposes ; or who only presents them with such 
 materials as subserve his interests. In what way this defect 
 can be removed is one of the most important questions to 
 which social science can now be addressed." In Great 
 Britain and France this arbitrary voluntaryism still prevails. 
 In France, the judge may call in experts according to his 
 discretion ; he is sometimes guided by his own partiality, 
 and sometimes by the popular reputation of some physician, 
 without any assurance that the expert thus called has made 
 the particular subject-matter of the trial his specialty. 
 
 In Germany it is, fortunately, otherwise. In criminal cases, 
 the experts first summoned are exclusively those whom the
 
 122 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 State, after proper examination of their competency and skill 
 iu such particular inquiries, has duly authorized to act for this 
 purpose; while in addition to this, there is organized a tri- 
 bunal of experts, to which the opinions of expert witnesses 
 can be referred (Casper's Gericht. Med., Berlin, 1871, i. 3). 
 
 Under the present head some allusion may be made to the 
 duties of " medical experts" when employed to make exam- 
 inations of a body alleged to have been poisoned. The fol- 
 lowing extract from the late edition of Wharton and Stille's 
 Medical Jurisprudence, 1873, ii. p. 1246, presents very correctly 
 our own ideas in relation to this subject : 
 
 " Examinations made ex parte, when there could have been notice 
 to the other side, are inadmissible. Examinations, for instance, 
 of an alleged lunatic, conducted by a professed specialist, or 
 examination of blood on clothing, or of alleged poison con- 
 tained in the stomach of a deceased person, or in bottles or 
 utensils, can in most cases as readily be made upon notice to 
 the opposing interest, as without notice. For various reasons, 
 such notice, if practicable, should be given. First, it is a 
 familiar principle of law that depositions purely ex parte are 
 inadmissible: such testimony being liable to be affected by 
 fraud or prejudice, and from want of cross-examination 
 being necessarily imperfect. Secondly, there are peculiar 
 reasons why ex parte examinations of the character here 
 noticed should be undertaken only upon notice to the op- 
 posing interest. In such examinations everything depends 
 upon the accuracy of the tests employed; the exhaustiveness 
 of the exploration ; the fidelity and cautiousness of the exam- 
 iner. In questions of poison and of blood-stains, in par- 
 ticular, it is important that there should be on the spot, 
 at the time of the examination, the representative of the 
 adverse interest, for the purpose of seeing that the objects 
 examined had not been previously tampered with ; that no 
 foreign elements were interposed ; that the investigation was 
 conducted with scrupulous conscientiousness." . . . "But 
 when, after these preliminary inquiries (the coroner's inquest) 
 are over, an examination is desired by one of the parties in 
 interest, and when this examination relates to a subject- 
 matter not fleeting, but continuing, then the examination is
 
 DUTIES OF EXPERTS. SUBPCENAS. COMPENSATION. 123 
 
 analogous to the deposition of a witness, and the policy of 
 the law requires that it should be taken only after notice to 
 the other side." 
 
 "Sometimes, perhaps, testimony of value inadvertently 
 taken, will be excluded by the application of this rule; but 
 this will be abundantly compensated for by the suppression 
 of those inquisitorial and imperfect investigations by which 
 the administration of public justice has been so much dis- 
 graced ; and by the investing of expert testimony with 
 checks and sanctions by which alone can its dignity be re- 
 stored." 
 
 The violation of the above equitable principle was very 
 forcibly illustrated in the first Wharton trial at Annapolis, 
 Md., in 1872. In this case, the body of General Ketchum, 
 who was alleged to have been poisoned with tartar emetic, 
 was thrice examined, and each time exclusively by the State's 
 experts; having been also twice exhumed for that purpose, 
 the last time secretly, by order of the court, during the 
 progress of the trial, without even the knowledge of the 
 prisoner's counsel or her expert witnesses ! (See Review 
 of this trial, by the author, in Am. Jour, of Med. Sci., April, 
 1872; also Wharton and Stille's Med. Jurisp., loc. cit.) 
 
 Privileges of experts. Subpoenas. Compensation. The ques- 
 tion has frequently been raised whether an " expert" witness 
 is obliged to obey the process of a subpoena, like any ordinary 
 witness, and testify in a given case as to his opinion, without a 
 previous guarantee of an adequate pecuniary compensation. 
 This is a matter that especially concerns medical experts, in- 
 asmuch as in cases of medical jurisprudence, and particularly 
 in poison-cases, they are so frequently summoned, and the 
 final result so much depends upon their testimony. In an 
 important trial for poisoning, the issues of life and death 
 often hang suspended upon the " opinion" of the expert, as 
 given in his testimony. In order to be able to give this 
 opinion conscientiously, the witness should be personally 
 present throughout the trial, however lengthy this may be; 
 he must listen attentively to all the evidence; he must be in 
 close and intimate conference with the counsel, instructing 
 them in various points of a professional and scientific nature,
 
 124 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 suggesting proper questions to be put to the professional 
 witnesses, pointing out the blunders of careless or unquali- 
 fied chemists and physicians who may have been employed 
 in the case, and often performing experiments in order to 
 verify his positions. Now, to do all this requires the expert 
 to absent himself for a length of time from home and from 
 his daily professional duties, to the manifest detriment of 
 his business. We speak not here of the additional labor, 
 anxiety, and responsibility involved where the expert has 
 been required to make the chemical analysis of the body, 
 in a case of supposed poison. 
 
 The question, then, presents itself with much force how 
 is the expert witness to be compensated for his time and ser- 
 vices? Has the State the right to compel him to attend and 
 testify at the trial ? lias the defense this right also ? Let us 
 examine these questions. 
 
 In the first place, it is perfectly clear that an expert wit- 
 ness cannot be subpoenaed to attend a trial out of his own 
 State. If he goes at all, it must be voluntarily; and he is at 
 liberty, of course, to arrange his own terms ; these would 
 naturally be regulated according to the circumstances of the 
 case. Should, however, the trial occur within the limits of 
 his own State, the matter assumes a different form. Every 
 person is compelled by law to obey the mandate of a sub- 
 poena, within his own State : the medical expert is no excep- 
 tion to this general rule. Such seems to be the naked law 
 upon this question. High authorities, however, have some- 
 times ruled differently. Lord Campbell's opinion in Betts v. 
 Clifford (Warwick Lent Assizes, 1858) was that a scientific 
 witness was not bound to attend on being served with a sub- 
 poena, and that he ought not to be subpoenaed. If the witness 
 knew any question of fact, he might be compelled to attend, 
 but he could not be compelled to give his attendance to speak 
 to matters of opinion. In the case of Webb v. Page (Car. and 
 Kir. Reports, p. 23), the late Mr. Justice Maule ruled as 
 follows : " There is a distinction," said his lordship, " between 
 the case of a man who sees a fact and is called to prove it 
 in a court of justice, and that of a man who is selected by a 
 party to give his opinion on a matter on which he is pecu-
 
 DUTIES OF EXPERTS. SUBPCENAS. COMPENSATION. 125 
 
 liarly conversant from the nature of his employment in life. 
 The former is bound, as a matter of public duty, to speak to 
 a fact which happens to have fallen within his own knowl- 
 edge; without such testimony the cause of justice must be 
 stopped. The latter is under no such obligation; there is no such 
 necessity for his evidence, and the party who selects him must 
 pay him." In the case referred to by Mr. Justice Maule, a 
 skilled witness had been subpoenaed, but he refused to give 
 evidence unless first paid for his services and loss of time. 
 (Med. Times and Gaz., April 26, 1862, p. 432.) A barrister 
 quoting this ruling goes on to say: "There is one reason 
 why I should not advise any person in the position of a skilled 
 witness, totally to disregard a subpoena. It is quite clear that 
 should such a person fail to attend a trial, no attachment 
 could ensue, even if he were called, as is usual, upon the 
 subpoena, because the party subpoenaing him could not make 
 the requisite affidavits that he was damnified by the witness's 
 absence, and in what respect. But such party might bring 
 an action for damages ; and although he would recover none, 
 he might not only worry, but might even put the defendant 
 to considerable expense. Although, therefore, I could not 
 advise a total neglect of the subpoena, the safest course would 
 be to obey it, and demand expenses before giving evidence. 
 Such expenses would be only those allowed for a professional 
 witness (not special fees). To permit him legally to demand 
 a high fee, would perhaps look somewhat like legally coun- 
 tenancing a bribe." 
 
 Dr. Taylor, from whose work on Medical Jurisprudence 
 (Am. ed., 1873, p. 40) the above is quoted, remarks, "that 
 Lord Campbell's dictum in reference to the distinction be- 
 tween/ad and opinion confers no practical benefit on witnesses. 
 It is at all times difficult in science, and in the medical sciences 
 particularly, to separate them ; and if a man appears to testify 
 to a medical or scientific fact, he cannot avoid giving an opinion 
 arising out of the fact." 
 
 Granting all the force of the above opinions, it can hardly 
 be supposed that, in an important trial for murder by poison- 
 ing, the counsel for either the prosecution or the defense 
 would hazard the issue upon the testimony of a reluctant ex- 
 
 9
 
 126 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 pert, who has been dragged perhaps hundreds of miles from 
 his home and professional business, and has been detained 
 for days or weeks, and then insulted with the proffer of the 
 paltry allowance of an ordinary witness. Although the law 
 might compel him to go upon the witness-stand, and to be 
 sworn to state " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
 the truth," who does not see that, while the witness may not 
 violate the letter of the law, his testimony may be practically 
 neutralized by the manner in which he gives it? For, after 
 all, the moral power of the expert, in such cases, is exhibited 
 not so much by his mere answers to categorical questions, as 
 indirectly, by the aid afforded to his counsel in a multitude of 
 ways. He may, for instance, refuse to hold any conference 
 with counsel on the delicate points of the case; he may de- 
 cline to suggest any valuable hints as to the manner of put- 
 ting questions to the witnesses on scientific subjects; he may 
 abstain from performing experiments either for the purpose 
 of confirming or of rebutting certain points of the evidence : 
 in fine, he may take such a passive part as an " expert" wit- 
 ness, that he will prove rather a detriment than a help to 
 the party summoning him. From some experience on this 
 subject, we would strongly advise against the attempt to 
 compel a skilled witness to testify in a trial, without a pre- 
 vious satisfactory understanding as to his adequate compen- 
 sation. 
 
 Let it not be thought that we take too mercenary a view 
 of this matter. On what principle of justice or morality, 
 we would ask, should a professional witness be refused an 
 adequate compensation for services which have cost him 
 years of study and labor, as well as no inconsiderable outlay 
 of money? We desire to speak very plainly and pointedly 
 on this subject: it is one too little noticed and insisted on in 
 works of this character. According to good authority, it will 
 always be proper for the professional expert to ask the court 
 for a proper compensation before he gives his evidence. 
 Generally, some compensation will be allowed by the court, 
 additional to the ordinary witness-fee; but this extra allow- 
 ance is likely to be altogether inadequate to the services 
 rendered. In fact, the whole matter seems to depend very
 
 COMPENSATION TO EXPERTS.. 127 
 
 much upon the generosity of the court, and upon the sup- 
 posed importance of the witness summoned in the case. 
 
 Another point to be noticed is that, where a toxicologist has 
 been employed, either by the State, or by a private party, to 
 make a chemical analysis, in a case of suspected poisoning, 
 he should invariably stipulate beforehand about the payment 
 of his fees ; otherwise, he will very likely be forgotten or 
 totally ignored after the trial is over. He should remember 
 that no subpoena can compel him to render this service. It 
 is perfectly voluntary on his part He may decline it alto- 
 gether, if he so pleases. If he agrees to undertake it, he is at 
 liberty to state his own terms. But, as the result of a some- 
 what extended experience, we would caution him as to how 
 he makes his agreement. For example, it is a very common 
 practice in this country, in a case of suspected poisoning, 
 after an inquest has been held, for the district attorney of 
 the county to send the viscera supposed to contain the poison 
 to some reliable chemist, accompanied by a polite request 
 to him to perform the analysis with the utmost possible 
 expedition, and adding, that an adequate (or perhaps it is 
 worded, reasonable] compensation will be paid him by the 
 county for his services. Probably this letter will be accom- 
 panied by another from some medical man, who has per- 
 formed the post-mortem examination, and who has recom- 
 mended his chemical friend to the authorities, as the proper 
 person to make the analysis. Let him be cautious how he 
 becomes a party in this transaction. Without any intention 
 on the part of any one to wrong him, he will almost cer- 
 tainly be wronged, unless he is very careful how he acts. Sup- 
 pose him to be young in the business : he enters upon the 
 work ardently and diligently; he devotes probably a week 
 or two to the analysis; the result is communicated to the 
 law-officer in due form ; he goes to court, and spends an- 
 other week or two at the trial, where he delivers his evi- 
 dence itself, no trifle; on this evidence mainly will depend 
 the conviction or the acquittal of the prisoner his life, or 
 his death ! After the trial is over, he is probably congratu- 
 lated on his skill and ability as a toxicologist ; but when the 
 question of payment comes up, difficulties thickly beset his
 
 128 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 path. His friend the district attorney has no authority, or 
 funds at his disposal, to pay him ; the county commissioners, 
 or some analogous board, must first meet, and vote his 
 compensation. From the material usually composing such 
 " boards," who would expect that a fair or proper apprecia- 
 tion would be put upon his really valuable and scientific 
 services ? They will, in all probability, vote him a sum about 
 equal to what they pay for some petty mechanic's work done 
 for the corporation possibly about the fifth, or the tenth, of 
 what he is justly entitled to ; and, sad for the poor expert, 
 there is no redress I 
 
 The above is no mere fancy sketch : it has its counterpart, 
 we venture to say, in the experience of nearly every toxi- 
 cologist in our land. What, then, should he do to secure 
 himself against such imposition ? His only remedy is to insist 
 in advance on a bond duly signed by all the commissioners, or by 
 some equally responsible, party, for the payment of the fee agreed 
 upon. However mercenary such a course may appear to the 
 uninitiated, we fearlessly recommend it, after some personal 
 experience, and also as, in the opinion of many leading toxi- 
 cologists, the only safe one for the professional expert, 
 either for his own protection, or for the protection of his 
 profession. Even with such a safeguard it has happened to 
 the author, on one occasion, to be actually compelled to sue 
 "the commissioners" of a certain county in Pennsylvania, in 
 order to recover a fee for the performance of a chemical 
 analysis and giving evidence in court, which they had pre- 
 viously solemnly bound themselves to pay ! In another case, 
 where the court in a neighboring State had ordered a toxico- 
 logical examination to be made, and had agreed with us for 
 the compensation, we were compelled to incur the expense 
 of a lawsuit against the county, and to wait for more than a 
 year before the recovery of our fee. 
 
 A case occurred in a certain county in Pennsylvania, a 
 year or two ago, which forcibly illustrates this anomalous 
 state of affairs. A woman was arrested and thrown into 
 prison, on suspicion of having poisoned another with arsenic. 
 The body of the deceased was examined by a medical friend 
 of the author, and the viscera were sent to Philadelphia with a
 
 COMPENSATION TO EXPERTS. 129 
 
 request for us to make the chemical analysis, and further 
 stating that the authorities would pay all necessary expenses. 
 "Warned by previous experience, an answer was returned 
 stating that, before commencing the examination, it would 
 be necessary for the county commissioners to give a joint 
 bond for the payment of the proper fees. After various 
 quibbles on the part of the authorities, endeavoring to bring 
 about a change in our decision, though ineffectually, we put 
 an end to the ridiculous and disgraceful business (which oc- 
 cupied fully six weeks) by returning the package unopened, 
 by express; the other party taking the risk of loss and 
 breakage by public conveyance ! During all this time a 
 possibly innocent woman was immured in a prison, under the 
 dreadful charge of murder ; and all simply because of the par- 
 simony of the county officers ! "We conceive that a grievous 
 wrong was here perpetrated, both upon the person merely sus- 
 pected of guilt, by an unnecessary detention in custody, and 
 likewise upon the cause of justice; since, if the prisoner was 
 guilty, the State incurred the risk of being unable to prove 
 the guilt by the chemical evidence, in consequence of the long 
 delay, and still more by its loose way of dealing with the 
 viscera supposed to contain the poison, in exposing them to 
 the hazard of ordinary transportation. The final issue of this 
 singular case is unknown to us. 
 
 An expert witness for the defense may sometimes be sub- 
 jected to a similar fraudulent deprivation of his just dues. 
 A single instance only will here be given. About two years ago 
 a case was tried in a neighboring county where a man waa 
 indicted for poisoning his wife with arsenic. A small quan- 
 tity of this substance was discovered by the analyst, in the 
 body of the deceased. Prof. R. E. Rogers and ourselves 
 were engaged by the counsel for the defense as expert wit- 
 nesses to rebut the charge of poisoning, by showing (as was 
 clearly proved) that the amount of absorbed arsenic dis- 
 covered in the body of the deceased might be satisfactorily 
 accounted for, from the fact of her having taken this sub- 
 stance as a medicine, by the advice of her physician (who 
 so testified), for some time previous to her death. The 
 prisoner was acquitted, his acquittal being unquestionably
 
 130 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the result of the testimony of his export witnesses, who 
 were dismissed by the counsel with a profusion of thanks, 
 and promises of speedy remuneration, after being detained 
 at the trial fully ten days, at great personal and professional 
 loss. The remainder of the story must be told, although it 
 reflects severely against a member of the bar, one of the 
 prisoner's counsel. Previous to the trial, this individual, 
 together with his colleague, waited upon us for the purpose 
 of engaging our services as experts, and it was represented 
 that we should be adequately remunerated ; but at the same 
 time a subpoena was served, which we were, of course, com- 
 pelled to obey. Naturally supposing that we were to be 
 dealt with in good faith, we both gave our unremitting atten- 
 tion to the case. Although it is well known that the indi- 
 vidual above alluded to received abundant means from the 
 prisoner and his friends for the express purpose of paying 
 his expert witnesses, he has ignored the whole matter, taking 
 refuge under the wretched pretext that no legal agreement 
 had been entered into between the complainants and him- 
 self! It is to be hoped that our professional brethren will 
 take warning against similar fraud and imposition. 
 
 Another subject of annoyance, and occasionally of posi- 
 tive grievance, to the " expert" witness, is the rude and defi- 
 ant tone assumed by a certain class of lawyers in the cross- 
 examination. Although jt is commonly understood that no 
 gentleman would indulge in coarse and boisterous bravado 
 while examining a scientific witness, yet it does occasionally 
 happen that a barrister is betrayed into it. There is no 
 doubt that the law intrusts almost unlimited powers of in- 
 terrogation to counsel, for the purpose of eliciting the truth ; 
 but, nevertheless, there are bounds beyond which he should 
 not venture. In the language of Chief-Justice Erie, alluding 
 to an imputation having been cast by counsel upon a skilled 
 witness for truthfulness: "The freedom of question allowed 
 to the bar was a public nuisance, and the barrister who made 
 such an imputation ought to be prosecuted." " In his expe- 
 rience, he had seen counsel so abuse their privilege, that 
 he had cordially wished a power could be instituted that 
 they might be prosecuted for a misdemeanor." The same
 
 RIGHTS OF EXPERTS AS WITNESSES. 131 
 
 spirit which betrays the lawyer into the fault just mentioned, 
 will further lead him in his "forcible" address to the jury to 
 misrepresent and distort medical facts, in a manner wholly 
 irreconcilable with truth. 
 
 Prof. Taylor truly remarks (Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 1873, 
 p. 50) : " The treatment of a medical witness, in passing 
 through the ordeal of an examination at a criminal trial, 
 will depend very much upon the class of counsel who is 
 opposed to him. Assuming that he is properly prepared 
 for the discharge of his duties, and that the questions put to 
 him are answered fairly and truly, according to his knowl- 
 edge and experience, without exaggeration or concealment, 
 he has no reason to fear any attempt at intimidation. Bar- 
 risters, for the most part, know that by this line of conduct 
 they lose more with the jury than they gain by the attempt 
 to confuse the witness." "A public writer in commenting 
 on this subject says: 'But the hardest and most unfair part 
 of the system (of cross-examination) is when witnesses have 
 to bear a loud and insulting tone or gesture, without remon- 
 strance or retaliation. A counsel may very plainly imply 
 that a respectable witness is a person of doubtful character 
 and not to be believed on oath, or that he is ignorant, and a 
 bungler in his profession ; but if the witness retorts that the 
 barrister's eloquence and sympathies are hired, or if he gives 
 vent to any other words of retaliation in his natural indigna- 
 tion, the court is against him.' Whatever may be the im- 
 portance of a case to a prisoner, nothing can justify the put- 
 ting of questions in a loud and insulting tone to a skilled 
 professional witness." Those who were present at the two 
 celebrated Wharton trials at Annapolis, Md., in 1872 and 
 1873, will readily recall a counterpart of the above descrip- 
 tion of the barrister of " a loud and insulting tone." 
 
 Prof. Taylor (loc. cit., p. 51), in further reprobating this 
 irritating and uncourteous manner of examining the witness, 
 remarks : " It may be that criminal cases fall more into the 
 hands of the second class of barristers to whom Mr. Stephen 
 alludes, namely, those who disgrace a noble profession." 
 
 The reader will do well to consult Dr. Elwell's medico- 
 legal treatise on " Malpractice and Medical Evidence," also
 
 132 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Dr. Taylor's large work on "Principles and Practice of Med- 
 ical Jurisprudence," 1873, for fuller details in reference to 
 important points in connection with Medical Evidence. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF POISONS. 
 
 AMONG the numerous classifications of Poisons that have 
 been proposed at different times, two only need claim atten- 
 tion. One of these is founded on the source, or natural king- 
 dom from which the poison is derived, and is expressed by 
 the two classes of Inorganic and Organic Poisons; and also 
 by those of Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Poisons. The 
 other classification, which may be termed the physiological, 
 has reference to the effects of poisons upon the healthy 
 animal system. To this latter we give the preference, as 
 being most in accordance with practical usefulness. This 
 method of classification was originally proposed by Fodcre, 
 and adopted by Orfila. It divides poisons into four groups: 
 Irritants, Narcotics, Narcotico-acrids, and Septics or Putre- 
 factives. This arrangement has been substantially followed, 
 with certain modifications, by most modern authorities. The 
 principle on which it is based is undoubtedly the correct one, 
 viz., the mode in which poisons affect the human system in its nor- 
 mal or healthy state. Like any other system proposed, this 
 classification is open to some objections: thus, it necessarily 
 separates from one another substances derived from the same 
 natural kingdom. But this objection has but little practical 
 weight, and is more than counterbalanced by the advantages 
 gained. Tardieu, following out the above principle, divides 
 poisons into five classes: 1, Irritants and Corrosives; 2, 
 Hyposthenisants; 3,Stupefacients; 4, Narcotics; and 5,Nervo- 
 sthenics. Dr. Taylor's division is into two classes : 1, Irri- 
 tants; 2, Neurotics; the latter being subdivided into (a) 
 Cerebral, (b) Spinal, and (c) Cerebro-spinal. Professor Guy's 
 classification is "a convenient compromise between the claims
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF POISONS. 133 
 
 of physiology and natural history." He makes two great 
 divisions: 1, Inorganic; 2, Organic Poisons. The Inorganic 
 are subdivided into (a) Corrosive, and (6) Irritant. The Or- 
 ganic into (a) Irritant; (b) Affecting the brain, (c) Affecting 
 the spinal cord, (d) Affecting the heart, (e) Affecting the 
 lungs. 
 
 The classification adopted in the present treatise is that of 
 Dr. Taylor, with a few modifications, as being the most sim- 
 ple, and, at the same time, sufficiently comprehensive. 
 
 I. IRRITANTS. This class of poisons includes all those sub- 
 stances whose action is exerted especially upon the mucous 
 membrane of the alimentary canal. Their effects are gener- 
 ally sufficiently well marked : these are an acrid and burning 
 taste on swallowing, nausea, vomiting, purging, great pain in 
 the abdomen, increased by pressure, cramps of the stomach ; 
 the matters vomited and purged being frequently mingled 
 with blood. In fatal cases, the autopsy reveals marks of 
 great irritation and inflammation, and, as a result of the 
 latter, ulceration, perforation, and gangrene. 
 
 The Irritants may be subdivided into two orders: 1, Sim- 
 ple Irritants; and 2, Irritants possessing remote specific prop- 
 erties. They may further be separated into three sections, 
 depending on the source from which they are procured, viz., 
 Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal; and the Mineral are again 
 subdivided into (a) Non-metallic, and (6) Metallic poisons. 
 Some of the irritant poisons possess corrosive properties 
 destroying the tissues with which they come in contact, by 
 virtue of chemical affinities. Examples of this are afforded 
 in the mineral acids, the caustic alkalies, corrosive sublimate, 
 etc. The corrosives, as a rule, manifest their action imme- 
 diately ; the other irritants more slowly. Although an irritant 
 may never act as a corrosive, a corrosive will always act as a 
 simple irritant, if diluted. 
 
 II. NEUROTICS. rThe second division of poisons includes 
 those whose action is especially directed to the great nervous 
 centres the brain and spinal cord. The symptoms mani- 
 fested are totally distinct from those usually occasioned by 
 Irritants. They consist of drowsiness, headache, giddiness, 
 delirium, stupor, and sometimes convulsions. In someexcep-
 
 134 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 tional instances, an irritant impression seems likewise to be 
 produced on the alimentary canal. A natural subdivision of 
 this class is into 1, Cerebral; 2, Spinal; and 3, Cerebro-spinal. 
 The first of these comprises (a) the well-known Narcotics, of 
 which opium is the type, and (6) the Anaesthetics ; the second 
 (Spinal) includes those which act primarily and specially upon 
 the spinal cord, of which strychnia is a notable example ; 
 the third (Cerebro-spinal) includes such as influence both 
 brain and spinal cord, producing delirium, coma, convulsions, 
 and paralysis, of which conia, aconitina, and atropia are ex- 
 amples. The cerebro-spinal order of Neurotics embraces by 
 far the largest proportion of this second class of poisons. For 
 facility of description and arrangement, they may be grouped 
 as follows: 1 , Deliriants ; 2, Depressants; 3,Asthenics, or those 
 which occasion death by shock. The above arrangement is to 
 a great extent an arbitrary one, and is, of course, necessarily 
 imperfect. 
 
 As already stated, the boundary-line between these classes 
 of poisons cannot always be clearly drawn. For while some 
 of the irritants will occasionally produce symptoms that 
 would more naturally be expected from the neurotics such 
 as paralysis, convulsions, delirium, and coma, so, on the 
 other hand, the neurotics may at times be attended by the 
 symptoms of an irritant poison. It is, of course, very im- 
 portant to bear these facts in mind, in diagnosticating any 
 particular case of poisoning. 
 
 TABLE OF CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 CLASS I. j Order 1. IRRITANTS PROPER, j MINERAL. { 
 
 IRRITANTS. | Order 2. IRRITANTS PRODUCING RE- 1 VEGETABLE. 
 
 MOTE SPECIFIC EFFECTS. ANIMAL. 
 
 CLASS II. 
 NEUROTICS. 
 
 Order 1. CEREBRAL, f J* 1 " 00 " ?: 
 
 . I Anaesthetics. 
 
 Order 2. SPINAL, or TETANICS. 
 
 | Deliriants. 
 
 Order 3. CEREBRO-SPINAL. \ Depressants. 
 Astheuics.
 
 IRRITANT POISONS. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CLASS I. 
 IRRITANT POISONS. 
 
 IRRITANT POISONS are here understood to include those 
 whose action is chiefly, if not exclusively, exerted upon the 
 mucous membrane of the alimentary canal, causing an irri- 
 tation more or less violent, which often amounts to the most 
 decided inflammation, to corrosion, and even to complete de- 
 struction of the parts with which they come in contact. The 
 term corrosive is applied to such substances as occasion the 
 more violent eifects last mentioned. Nearly all the ordinary 
 irritant poisons belong to the inorganic kingdom ; a few are 
 found among organic bodies, being chiefly of vegetable origin, 
 as the drastics. 
 
 Whilst most of the poisons classed together under the head 
 of irritants appear to produce their effects solely in a local 
 manner, i.e. by setting up an inflammation and its conse- 
 quences in the stomach and bowels, there are some which, 
 in addition to this, do undoubtedly produce a remote specific 
 effect, that seems especially directed to the nervous centres, 
 occasioning symptoms not explicable by their merely local 
 action. Examples of these are afforded in arsenic, tartar 
 emetic, salts of mercury, copper, oxalic acid, etc. To this 
 latter subdivision Tardieu assigns the name of hyposthenisants. 
 Their peculiarities will be noticed under their respective 
 heads. Irritants may very properly be considered under the 
 two subdivisions of (1) Irritants proper, and (2) Irritants oc- 
 casioning remote specific effects. 
 
 Common symptoms. A pungent, hot, or even burning taste 
 in the mouth, sometimes metallic; a sense of burning in the 
 throat, extending to the stomach ; pain, more or less violent, 
 in the stomach, often extending over the abdomen, which is 
 tender on pressure ; almost always, violent vomiting, accom-
 
 136 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 panied with nausea and retching, occurs very early, the 
 matters vomited being often mixed with glairy mucus and 
 blood; generally there is painful purging, sometimes of 
 bloody matters; swallowing is often very painful; there is 
 excessive thirst; the abdomen becomes tumid ; the pulse is 
 small and very frequent; the urine is usually suppressed; 
 finally, the vital powers give way, and death takes place in a 
 period ranging from a few hours to a few days. The above 
 symptoms will be recognized as those which (with a few ex- 
 ceptions) usually attend a severe case of gastro-enteritis. In 
 truth, this is the disorder produced by this division of the 
 irritant poisons. The action of the corrosives, in their un- 
 diluted state, is, of course, much more violent than that of 
 the ordinary irritants, since they occasion immediate de- 
 struction and disorganization of the tissues, by virtue of 
 their chemical affinities. Thus, after swallowing one of the 
 strong mineral acids or alkalies, we find among the matters 
 vomited, shreds of mucous membrane, detached from the 
 oesophagus, through the corrosive action of the poison. 
 
 Where the dose of the irritant or corrosive is small, and 
 the poison diluted, the effects are naturally much less violent. 
 Partial or complete recovery may occur ; but very frequently, 
 especially in the case of a corrosive, the patient dies after 
 months or years of suffering, from stricture of the gullet, 
 the result of the morbid action of the poison on the lining 
 mucous membrane of this organ. 
 
 The post-mortem lesions occasioned by these poisons are 
 generally confined to the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane. 
 In the case of the coirosives, the mucous lining of the lips, 
 cheeks, and throat exhibits patches of different colors, occa- 
 sioned by the contact of the powerful agent; this membrane 
 is softened, and reduced to a pulpy condition, and in places is 
 entirely detached. In the stomach, there may be one or more 
 perforations, through which the contents have escaped into 
 the peritoneal cavity; around these openings the tissue will 
 probably be softened and corroded. The lining membrane 
 of the intestines exhibits, though in a less degree, the marks 
 of the same violent action. The blood is dark-colored and 
 fluid.
 
 POISONING BY SULPHURIC ACID. 137 
 
 SECTION I. 
 POISONING BY SULPHURIC ACID. 
 
 In the five years 1852 to 1856, seventy-seven cases of 
 poisoning by the mineral acids were registered in Great 
 Britain : of these, seventy-three were by sulphuric acid, two 
 by nitric acid, and two by hydrochloric acid. (Guy's Forensic 
 Medicine, p. 394.) 
 
 SULPHURIC ACID, or Oil of Vitriol, in the concentrated state, is 
 a heavy, oily-looking liquid, usually of a light-brownish color ; 
 sp. gr. 1.845; of a strong acid taste and powerful acid reac- 
 tion ; it speedily chars organic substances. When diluted with 
 water, it loses its oily character, and its power to destroy 
 organic substances. When mixed with one-half its weight 
 of water, it occasions very considerable elevation of temper- 
 ature. 
 
 Although instances of poisoning by this acid are far more 
 frequent than by either nitric or muriatic acid, it is com- 
 paratively rarely administered with criminal intent. It is far 
 more frequently taken by suicides, or accidentally. Children 
 have been destroyed by its being poured down their throats; 
 and several cases are reported where persons in a state of in- 
 toxication were murdered in a similar manner. At least two 
 cases have been reported in which it was administered by the 
 rectum, through mistake; also one case in which it was in- 
 jected into the vagina intentionally, with a view of procuring 
 abortion. 
 
 In the case of infants, the act is generally homicidal, and 
 possibly accidental ; in young children, accidental ; in adults, 
 nearly always suicidal. Sulphuric acid is also employed by 
 malicious persons, by throwing it upon others, for the pur- 
 pose of disfigurement of their person or destruction of their 
 dress. 
 
 Symptoms. When swallowed in the concentrated state of 
 oil of vitriol, the symptoms come on immediately. In the act 
 of swallowing, the person experiences a severe burning pain 
 in the throat and gullet, and reaching to the stomach, pro- 
 ducing the greatest agony. There is an escape of gaseous
 
 138 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 and frothy matter from the mouth, followed by retching and 
 vomiting of matters that are powerfully acid, mixed with 
 shreds of mucous membrane, and altered blood of a dark- 
 brown or black color. The lips and inside of the mouth are 
 highly corroded, presenting a whitish appearance, resembling 
 soaked parchment. Around the lips and on the neck may 
 be found spots of a brown color, due to the acid. There is 
 great difficulty in speaking and swallowing; the mouth is 
 filled with viscid mucus. The pain in the abdomen is ex- 
 cruciating; the stomach excessively irritable, rejecting every- 
 thing swallowed. As the case advances, the respiration 
 becomes embarrassed; the skin cold and clammy; the coun- 
 tenance haggard ; the pulse rapid and feeble. The bowels 
 are usually constipated, and the urine scanty. The intel- 
 lect generally remains unimpaired to the last. Death oc- 
 curs in a period varying from a few hours to a few days or 
 weeks. 
 
 The above are the usual symptoms attending an ordinary 
 case of poisoning by sulphuric acid; but there are several 
 important exceptions to be noticed. Thus, when the acid 
 has been poured from a vial or a spoon into the back part 
 of the throat of a child while lying on its back, as in a case 
 mentioned by Dr. Taylor, the mouth may entirely escape the 
 chemical action of the poison. In other cases, its force ap- 
 pears to be spent upon the upper part of the larynx, causing 
 rapid and fatal asphyxia, and none of the poison getting 
 into the stomach. Again, cases are reported in which the 
 vomiting was delayed for three-quarters of an hour, and was 
 then excited only by the liquids administered. The quantity 
 of the concentrated acid swallowed was two ounces. (Ed. 
 Month. Jour., 1850, p. 538.) 
 
 If the acid be taken in the diluted "state, its effects, 
 although the same in kind, are less in degree, and they are 
 less prompt in appearing. The degree of dilution may be 
 so great as entirely to prevent its acting as a corrosive; its 
 effects are then merely those of an ordinary irritant. 
 
 The matters first vomited contain the greater part of the 
 poison, and are highly acid. If they fall upon marble, as 
 on a hearthstone, they will occasion effervescence, from the
 
 POISONING BY SULPHURIC ACID. FATAL PERIOD. 139 
 
 escape of carbonic acid from the stone. Should they fall 
 upon articles of clothing, they produce spots or stains, which 
 may subsequently become valuable evidence of the adminis- 
 tration of the poison. The color of these stains depends on 
 the color of the stuff: thus, on black cloth they are at first red, 
 and afterwards brownish red, and they retain their moisture 
 for a long time. On other colored substances they produce 
 a bright-red color; and on some others, again, a yellowish 
 stain. 
 
 The question whether a person, after having swallowed a 
 fatal dose of this acid, can exert any voluntary powers of loco- 
 motion, has been settled in the affirmative in several cases. 
 These are reported as having been able to walk a consider- 
 able distance, and one as even going up the stairs of a hos- 
 pital. Death frequently comes on suddenly, after a seeming 
 remission of the severe symptoms. 
 
 Fatal period. In fatal cases, death commonly takes place 
 in from twelve to twenty-four hours. As just mentioned, it 
 may occur suddenly and unexpectedly when the patient has 
 been supposed to be recovering. In cases of perforation of 
 the stomach, it is more rapid in four hours; and where its 
 action is spent upon the rima glottidis at the opening of the 
 larynx, the fatal result may be almost immediate, as in the 
 case of the child mentioned by SirR. Christison (On Poisons, 
 p. 132), where it was ascertained that none of the poison had 
 entered the stomach. Other cases are reported in which 
 death occurred in one, two, and three hours. On the other 
 hand, the fatal result, even in acute cases, may be protracted 
 for several days. This difference in duration may doubtless 
 be ascribed to the full or empty condition of the stomach at 
 the time of swallowing the acid, and also, to the fact of the 
 immediate rejection, by vomiting, of the greater part of the 
 poison, or the contrary. 
 
 In chronic cases, when the individual has escaped the im- 
 mediate fatal consequences, death may not result till after 
 the lapse of several months; and it would seem to be imme- 
 diately owing to inanition, from stricture of the oesophagus, 
 or from chronic inflammation of the stomach. The most 
 protracted case on record is the familiar one mentioned by
 
 140 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Dr. Beck (Medical Jurisprudence, ii. p. 472), in which the 
 patient died tico years after taking the acid, from stricture of 
 the oesophagus. 
 
 Fatal quantity. The smallest fatal dose for an adult re- 
 corded is one drachm, a case quoted by Sir R. Christison, 
 where a stout young man died in seven days after swallowing 
 this amount. The same authority mentions another case, of 
 an infant, which was destroyed by swallowing half a drachm 
 of the concentrated acid. The danger appears to depend 
 more on the degree of concentration of the poison than on 
 its absolute quantity. Several cases are recorded of recovery 
 after swallowing as much as one, two, and, in one instance 
 mentioned by Dr. Beck (loc. cit., vol. ii. p. 468), four ounces of 
 the strong acid. 
 
 Treatment. On account of the immediate corrosive action 
 of this acid, chemical antidotes can rarely be employed in 
 time to prevent serious injury. These antidotes consist of 
 solutions of the alkaline carbonates in water or milk, mag- 
 nesia or chalk suspended in milk, soap-suds, the scrapings 
 from a whitewashed wall (in the absence of the other articles), 
 and oily emulsions. Dr. Taylor considers the solutions of the 
 alkaline carbonates preferable to either chalk or magnesia, 
 in consequence of the insoluble particles of the latter ad- 
 hering closely to the coats of the stomach, and thus not 
 coming into immediate contact with the acid. Sometimes 
 it is almost impossible to make the patient swallow, in conse- 
 quence of the disorganized condition of his throat: in such 
 a case the very cautious use of the stomach-pump may be 
 advisable ; but care should be taken to avoid perforation of 
 the O3sophagus. In cases of threatened suffocation, trache- 
 otomy should be performed. In all cases it will be necessary 
 to combat the violent inflammatory symptoms with the usual 
 appropriate remedies. Among the symptoms mentioned as 
 having occurred, particularly in some of the non-fatal cases, 
 is profuse salivation ; and, in some instances, masses of false 
 membrane, moulded into the form and size of the oesophagus, 
 have been expelled by coughing. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. In poisoning by sulphuric acid, 
 it may happen, as already observed, that the lining mem-
 
 SULPHURIC ACID. POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 141 
 
 brane of the mouth entirely escapes the corrosive action, 
 owing to the manner in which the poison was administered, 
 viz., pouring it from a spoon far back into the throat; so, 
 on the other hand, fatal cases have occurred in which the 
 corrosive action has been entirely confined to the mouth 
 and throat, and the stomach has completely escaped. In all 
 cases a thorough examination of the whole alimentary tract 
 should be made, from the mouth downwards. The mucous 
 membrane of the mouth and throat, including the tongue, 
 will be often found whitish, thickened, and softened. The 
 lining of the oasophagus may be greatly corroded, detached 
 in folds, and of an ashy-gray color. The stomach, when not 
 perforated, is collapsed and contracted. Its contents are 
 often of a dark-brown color and tarry consistence, composed 
 of mucus and altered blood. They may, or may not, be 
 acid, depending on the time elapsed and the antidotes ad- 
 ministered. The mucous membrane of the stomach exhibits 
 ull the evidences of intense inflammation, such as striae of 
 deep redness, softening, and thickening. Portions of it may 
 be also detached. When perforation has occurred, the coats 
 are softened, and the edges of the aperture are apt to be 
 black and irregular. If the contents have escaped into 
 the abdomen, the surrounding parts are blackened and cor- 
 roded by the poison. It is probable that, in some instances, 
 the perforation of the stomach takes place after death, from 
 the chemical action of the acid. 
 
 If the case is much protracted, the small intestines may 
 exhibit very decided marks of corrosion, and even of per- 
 foration. It should be remembered that after death from 
 dilute sulphuric acid, although no marks of corrosion may 
 be discovered, the evidences of inflammation will be suffi- 
 ciently distinct. An instructive case is quoted by Dr. Taylor 
 from Journ. de Chimie Med., 1846, ii. 17, where an infant 
 aged two months died from the effects of dilute sulphuric 
 acid. There was an entire absence of all marks of corrosion 
 on the lips, tongue, and throat, oesophagus, and stomach; 
 and no very great amount of inflammation was observed in 
 the stomach. Moreover, no trace of the acid could be dis- 
 covered in this organ by chemical analysis ; but it was proved 
 
 10
 
 142 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 to exist abundantly in spots on the clothing. The prisoner 
 was convicted, and sentenced to hard labor for life. 
 
 According to Casper (Foren. Med., vol. ii. p. 58), the bodies 
 of persons poisoned by sulphuric acid resist decomposition 
 for a long time. This effect is attributed by him to the neu- 
 tralizing of the ammonia resulting from the putrefaction, 
 by the acid. 
 
 Absorption and elimination. As regards the question whether 
 this acid is absorbed into the circulation and eliminated by 
 the emunctories, the cases and experiments reported go to 
 prove the affirmative. Casper states that in cases exam- 
 ined by him, the blood, in every instance, had a cherry-red 
 color, was of a ropy consistence, and had an acid reaction. 
 A case is mentioned by Dr. Beck (Med. Jurisp., ii. p. 475) of 
 a pregnant woman dying from the effects of sulphuric acid, 
 in whom the am ni otic fluid, as well as that of the pleura, peri- 
 toneum, heart, and bladder of the foetus, had an acid reaction. 
 It has also been detected in the urine, during life. 
 
 Chemical analysis. The concentrated acid (oil of vitriol) 
 possesses the following properties: 1. It immediately chars 
 and blackens organic bodies, such as wood, cork, sugar, etc. 
 2. Boiled with wood chips, copper, or mercury, it gives off 
 sulphurous acid fumes, easily recognized by their odor, and 
 by their bleaching effect on colors. 3. When mixed with 
 its own volume of water, it gives out great heat, raising the 
 temperature nearly to 212 F. 
 
 The diluted acid is readily detected by a soluble salt of 
 barium either the chloride or the nitrate. To the suspected 
 liquid a few drops of nitric acid are first added, and then a 
 little of the solution of chloride of barium; an immediate 
 copious white precipitate subsides the sulphate of baryta: 
 this is insoluble in all acids and alkalies. But the mere 
 obtaining of such a white precipitate is not positice evidence 
 of the presence of sulphuric acid, since selenic and hydrofluo- 
 silicic acids produce similar results with a barytic salt. In 
 order to confirm this test, the precipitate should be dried, 
 and thoroughly mixed, either with twice its weight of pow- 
 dered charcoal, or with equal parts of carbonate of soda and 
 cyanide of potassium, or with four or five times its weight
 
 SULPHURIC ACID. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 143 
 
 of well-dried ferrocyanide of potassium, and heated to red- 
 ness on platinum-foil, or in a reduction-tube. This converts 
 the sulphate into a sulphuret: when cooled, the residue is 
 moistened with dilute hydrochloric acid, when the odor of 
 sulphuretted hydrogen is immediately recognized, proving 
 the presence of sulphur in the original acid. Or, the residue 
 may be put upon a moistened glazed card (containing carbo- 
 nate of lead), when it will produce a brown or black stain 
 (sulphide of lead). Or, the residue may be put into a watch- 
 glass and moistened with the dilute acid, and covered over 
 with another glass containing a fragment of paper moistened 
 with a solution of acetate of lead : the latter will very speedily 
 assume a dark-brown color. By any of the above means 
 this acid can be positively recognized, even in very small 
 pVoportions. A solution containing only the one-twenty- 
 five-thousandth part of its weight of sulphuric acid is precip- 
 itated; and less than the one-hundredth part of a grain of 
 the acid will yield sufficient precipitate to admit of the appli- 
 cation of the confirming test. (Wormley.) 
 
 If the precipitate in the above cases had been due to 
 selenic or hydrofluosilicic acid, on ignition there would, of 
 course, be no production of a sulphuret; which would prove 
 the absence of sulphuric acid. 
 
 Two circumstances require attention in the application of 
 the baryta test : (1) this test yields a similar result when ap- 
 plied to a solution of any sulphate ; (2) it throws down also a 
 white precipitate with several other acids when in combina- 
 tion, e.g. carbonic, phosphoric, boric, oxalic, etc. 
 
 In regard to the first, while it is true that a solution of 
 alum, of Epsom salt, or of any other sulphate will precipitate 
 chloride of barium, the presence of any saline matter may 
 easily be detected by slowly evaporating a drop or two of the 
 original solution on a watch-glass, when a residue will be 
 left from a saline solution; whereas in a purely acid solution 
 there will be none. But a case may present where, along with 
 free sulphuric acid, there is present some medicinal sulphate, 
 such as Epsom or Glauber's salt. Here, the simple baryta 
 test would lead to an erroneous inference as to the actual 
 amount of free sulphuric acid present. The error may be
 
 144 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 obviated by precipitating all the free acid by means of finely- 
 powdered carbonate of baryta, first warming tbe liquid ; until 
 effervescence ceases (the carbonate does not decompose any 
 sulphate that may be present). The precipitated sulphate 
 of baryta will represent the free sulphuric acid only. Again, 
 it might happen that in a suspected acid solution there is 
 present some sulphate, as Epsom salt, and some other acid, 
 as citric, tartaric, etc. : here, of course, baryta would give the 
 appropriate reaction ; but the fact of the absence of free sul- 
 phuric acid can be shown here by first evaporating a portion 
 of the liquid to dryness: a residue will indicate some saline 
 substance. The further mode of proceeding will be explained 
 post (p. 145). 
 
 (2) As regards the precipitate occasioned by baryta in salts 
 containing phosphoric, carbonic, oxalic, etc., acids, a simple 
 test will serve immediately to distinguish between these and 
 a sulphate of baryta: the addition of either hj^drochloric or 
 nitric acid will instantly redissolve the former, while no effect 
 is produced on the latter. 
 
 Another delicate test for the presence of dilute sulphuric 
 acid is veratria. This alkaloid, according to Prof. Wormley 
 (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 112), is much more delicate than 
 the cane-sugar test of Runge : it will detect with certainty 
 so small a quantity as the one-thousandth of a grain. A 
 small portion of the alkaloid is introduced into the diluted 
 acid, and carefully evaporated to dryness; a beautiful crimson 
 deposit is left. Moreover, as this test produces no effect with 
 neutral sulphates, but only with the free acid, it serves to 
 distinguish the latter from the acid in combination. 
 
 Detection in organic matters. These, if thick and turbid, 
 should be boiled with distilled water, and filtered through 
 paper supported by muslin. Mere color is no obstacle, pro- 
 vided the solution is clear. A measured quantity of the 
 liquid, concentrated, if necessar}*, should then be acidified 
 with nitric acid, and treated with a solution of chloride of 
 barium, until it ceases to precipitate. The mixture is then 
 warmed and filtered; the deposit washed in the filter with 
 water containing hydrochloric acid, and dried. In medico- 
 legal cases it will always be proper to confirm this reaction
 
 SULPHURIC ACID. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 145 
 
 by reducing the suspected sulphates, in the manner pointed 
 out on page 143. Other parts of the solution may be sub- 
 mitted to the confirmatory tests. 
 
 Although by this process the presence of sulphuric acid 
 can be certainly established, yet it does not follow that this 
 acid existed in the free state, even when the liquid had a 
 strong acid reaction ; for it might happen that some neutral 
 sulphate was present along with any common acid, like acetic, 
 citric, etc. vinegar, for instance or some acid sulphate, as 
 alum ; or, it might be, a mixture of free sulphuric acid and 
 a sulphate. Now, in each of the above supposed cases the 
 baryta test would give precisely similar results: consequently 
 the baryta test alone cannot be relied on for detecting free 
 sulphuric acid, in a medico-legal case. 
 
 If, on evaporating a portion of the clear liquid to dryness, 
 no residue is left, it is certain that the acid existed in the free 
 state ; if, however, a saline residue is left, then there is no 
 positive evidence of the presence of any free acid. More- 
 over, when there has been much organic matter in the 
 original liquid, it may be difficult to determine whether the 
 residue is saline or organic. In this case, the suspected 
 organic matter must be destroyed by repeatedly moistening 
 the residue with pure strong nitric acid and evaporating to 
 dryness by a moderate heat until the residue has a yellow 
 color, after which the heat is raised until the organic matter 
 is entirely destroyed, when, if a salt be present, it will remain 
 as a white mass. If this residue, on examination, proves to 
 be a sulphate, we are still unable to say whether any sulphuric 
 acid was present in the free state. 
 
 In a case like the above, where we wish to determine 
 whether the whole of the acid existed as a sulphate, the fol- 
 lowing process is recommended: A given volume of the 
 solution is acidulated with hydrochloric or nitric acid and 
 precipitated by an excess of chloride of barium, the precipi- 
 tate washed, dried, and weighed. An equal volume of the 
 original solution is evaporated to complete dryness, in order 
 to dissipate any free sulphuric acid, and then dissolved in 
 acidulated water, filtered, and precipitated as before ; and the 
 dried deposit weighed. If no free sulphuric acid was present,
 
 146 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the weight of each of the barytic precipitates would, of course, 
 be equal ; whereas, in the other case, the weight of the former 
 precipitate ought to exceed that of the latter, by exactly the 
 amount of the free acid. 
 
 MM. Tardieu and Roussin (Sur 1'Empois., p. 194), after 
 reviewing the various methods proposed for determining free 
 sulphuric acid when associated with a sulphate, recommend 
 the following process. The object is to saturate the free acid 
 with a base, the sulphate of which is soluble in alcohol ; this 
 base is quinia recently prepared. A clear solution of the acid 
 sulphate of quinia is first precipitated by ammonia in slight 
 excess; the hydrate of quinia is washed with distilled water 
 until the washings yield no precipitate with chloride of ba- 
 rium. In the mean time, the suspected organs, vomited 
 matters, etc., which have been digested in warm distilled 
 water for a sufficiently long time, are filtered, and the filtrate 
 put into a porcelain capsule. The quinia is now added in 
 slight excess, and the whole evaporated on a water-bath. 
 The semi-liquid extract which remains is treated several times 
 with absolute alcohol, which dissolves out the sulphate of 
 quinia formed at the expense of the free acid, and leaves the 
 other matters (sulphates) untouched. The alcoholic solutions 
 are filtered, and evaporated anew; and the resulting extract 
 is dissolved in a small quantity of boiling distilled water, and 
 immediately filtered. If the amount of the free sulphuric 
 acid is at all considerable, the sulphate crystallizes on cool- 
 ing, but if the quantity be too minute to form crystals, it will 
 still be easy to prove the presence of sulphuric acid by the 
 baryta test. 
 
 It may happen that, in consequence of the alkaline anti- 
 dotes administered, the matters vomited, as also the contents 
 of the stomach, have a neutral reaction, the acid existing only 
 in the form of a sulphate. In such a case, after proceeding 
 in the usual way, and obtaining a clear solution, the pre- 
 cipitate obtained by chloride of barium would, of course, 
 indicate only the quantity of the combined acid; and the 
 chemical analysis alone could not furnish proof of poison- 
 ing. Certainly, if the quantity of combined acid thus dis- 
 covered was small, no inference whatever could be drawn
 
 SULPHURIC ACID. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 147 
 
 from the experiment, since the small amount of sulphates 
 normally present in the tissues of the stomach and in the 
 food, as well as any sulphate accidentally present, would 
 satisfactorily account for a small deposit of sulphate of 
 baryta. 
 
 M. Tardieu recommends, in such a contingency, to ascer- 
 tain, as well as possible, the nature of the substances given 
 to counteract the poison, as well as of the food last taken 
 by the deceased. With a knowledge of these facts in his 
 possession, the expert prepares a mixture of meats and 
 articles resembling those supposed to have been present in 
 the stomach ; of these, he uses a quantity equal in weight to 
 that of the vomited matters, or of the stomach and its con- 
 tents : these two masses are dried, and then put into two 
 separate crucibles of the same size, which are heated to 
 redness, until empyreumatic fumes cease to be given off, 
 and the organic substances are charred. These masses of 
 carbon are then to be separately powdered, and each mixed 
 with a fourth of its weight of pure powdered nitrate of 
 potash, free from any sulphate. Each of the masses is then 
 projected, in small quantities, into a red-hot crucible, and, 
 after deflagration has ceased, the cooled residues are dis- 
 solved in distilled water. The solutions are strongly acid- 
 ulated with nitric acid, and treated with an excess of chlo- 
 ride of barium. The two precipitates are washed, filtered, 
 dried, burned, and weighed. If their weight is about equal, 
 the conclusion would be against the idea of poisoning; but 
 if, on the contrary, that of the precipitate derived from the 
 stomach and its contents is decidedly greater than that of 
 the other, then the presumption is very strong in favor of 
 poisoning (loc. cit p. 196). 
 
 From the above considerations it is evident that it will not 
 always be in the power of the toxicologist to prove a case of 
 poisoning by sulphuric acid merely by the chemical analysis: 
 he must seek further evidence in the well-marked symptoms, 
 and the post-mortem signs, together with the circumstances 
 of the case. 
 
 Detection of spots on clothing, etc. The stains produced by 
 sulphuric acid on articles of clothing, etc., are easily recog-
 
 148 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 nized. The texture of the fabric with which the acid comes 
 in contact is more or less destroyed, and the color more or 
 less changed : on black cloth the stain exhibits a red-brown 
 tint; some colors it changes to yellow. The strong acid 
 chars and blackens white linen and cotton fabrics. Al- 
 though the dilute acid does not blacken these articles, yet 
 when impregnated with it they become charred on exposure 
 to a moderate heat. According to Dr. Taylor, the color of 
 black leather is not changed by sulphuric acid. Likewise, 
 articles dyed with either indigo or Prussian blue do not 
 change their color by it (nitric acid changes the color of 
 indigo to yellow). Another fact in connection with these 
 stains is, that they remain moist for a long time, in conse r 
 quence of the affinity of sulphuric acid for water. 
 
 In order to examine the spots chemically, one or two of 
 them should be cut out and soaked for awhile in hot dis- 
 tilled water. A brown-colored solution is obtained, which 
 has an acid reaction, and responds to the usual baryta test. 
 It should, however, be remarked that an acid sulphate will 
 cause a similar stain upon cloth. The salt may be detected 
 in the cloth by incineration. In all such examinations of 
 suspected stains, a portion of the unstained fabric should 
 likewise be examined for the presence of the acid, inasmuch 
 as many articles of clothing contain slight traces of sulphates, 
 though not of free acid. 
 
 Quantitative analysis. Sulphuric acid is usually estimated 
 as sulphate of baryta. The precipitated sulphate, after re- 
 peated washing with hot water acidulated with hydrochloric 
 acid, on a filter, is dried, ignited, and weighed, allowance 
 being made for the ash of the filter. One hundred parts of 
 the sulphate are equal to 42.02 parts of monohydrated sul- 
 phuric acid. 
 
 The following results of different cases reported in the 
 English and foreign journals are taken from Guy's Forensic 
 Medicine, p. 402 : 
 
 Of 36 cases (the majority females) 26 were fatal (all the 
 children, and 18 adults); and 10 recovered (all adults). 
 
 Of 31 cases 20 were suicidal; 3 homicidal (all young 
 children) ; and 8 accidental (2 of them children).
 
 POISONING BY NITRIC ACID. 149 
 
 Among adults, both in accidental and suicidal poisoning, 
 there was 1 recovery to 2 deaths. 
 
 Of the 26 fatal cases, 10 lasted a day or less; 6 more than 
 a day, and less than a week ; 3 less than two weeks ; 1 from 
 two to three weeks; 1 over three weeks; and 5 from five to 
 forty-five weeks. 
 
 The least duration in 5 children was three and a half 
 hours; the greatest, three days. In 20 adults, the least was 
 three and a half hours; the greatest, forty-five weeks. 
 
 The recoveries took place in from 6 to 20 days. 
 
 Perforation of the stomach occurred in 8 cases out of 21, 
 in which the post-mortem appearances are described. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY NITRIC ACID. 
 
 Nitric acid (Aquafortis) as found in commerce is a powerful 
 corrosive liquid, having a yellow or orange color, and a density 
 varying from 1.35 to 1.45. It is apt to be contaminated with 
 sulphuric acid, chlorine, and iron. In its chemically pure 
 state, it is colorless. Although very much employed in the 
 arts, it is very rarely the occasion of poisoning. The cases 
 that do occur are usually the result of accident, or of suicide. 
 Orfila relates a case in which a man poured a spoonful of the 
 acid into the ear of a drunken wife, while asleep, which was 
 ultimately the cause of her death, after the lapse of about 
 seven weeks. This, however, cannot be regarded properly 
 as a case of poisoning. 
 
 Symptoms. These are almost identical with those produced 
 by sulphuric acid. There is the same immediate burning 
 pain on swallowing; the violent pain in the abdomen 
 perhaps more diffused than that produced by sulphuric acid; 
 the gaseous eructations also more copious; similar vomiting; 
 often violent purging, the dejections being mixed with blood. 
 Sometimes there is obstinate constipation, with suppression 
 of urine. The difficulty of respiration is often extreme, 
 rendering the operation of tracheotomy necessary. The 
 lips and inside of the mouth, and the tongue, present at first
 
 150 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 a whitish appearance, which soon becomes of a yellowish hue, 
 and ultimately brown. When drops of the acid have fallen 
 upon the cheeks, neck, or other parts of the body, a per- 
 manent yellow stain is produced. The teeth are white, but 
 yellowish at their junction with the gums. The subsequent 
 symptoms are those of collapse, such as a small, frequent, 
 and feeble pulse, cold skin, and great prostration, and some- 
 times a sort of stupor. The intellect is usually unaffected. 
 As in the case of sulphuric acid, the poison may spend its 
 violence on the respiratory organs, and never get into the 
 stomach. 
 
 The points that distinguish the symptoms of this poison 
 from those of sulphuric acid are the yellowish color of the 
 stains, both in the mouth and on the body; the rather less 
 violent local action of nitric acid on the mucous membrane, 
 and the occasional purging of bloody matters. 
 
 Nitric acid gives oft' powerfully irritating fumes at ordi- 
 nary temperatures, which occasionally produce fatal effects 
 when breathed. In these instances, after death, the mucous 
 lining of the trachea and bronchi were found deeply con- 
 gested. Death was probably occasioned by redema of the 
 glottis. The vapors from a mixture of nitric and sulphuric 
 acids a compound much used in the arts are extremely 
 dangerous to breathe. In these cases, the violent symptoms 
 may not come on for several hours, but, after appearing, they 
 progress with extreme rapidity, and terminate fatally in the 
 course of ten to fifteen hours. 
 
 Fatal dose. In the fatal cases of poisoning by this acid, 
 the quantity taken has not been mentioned. Authorities, 
 however, unite in saying that two drachms of the concentrated 
 acid would prove fatal. A smaller dose would destroy life in 
 infants. Yet much larger doses have been taken with ulti- 
 mate recovery. 
 
 Fatal period. Dr. Taylor records a case where death oc- 
 curred in one hour and three-quarters after swallowing the 
 poison ; while, on the other hand, Tartra relates an instance 
 which did not prove fatal for eight months. The usual fatal 
 period is within twenty-four hours. Out of fifty-six cases of 
 poisoning by nitric acid collected by Tartra, twenty-one com-
 
 NITRIC ACID. POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 151 
 
 pletely recovered, and eight partially making the mortality 
 about one-half. 
 
 Treatment. This is essentially the same as that recom- 
 mended for sulphuric acid (ante, p. 140). 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. In acute poisoning by nitric acid, 
 the inside of the lips, mouth, and throat, together with the 
 tongue, will usually present a yellow hue; sometimes it is 
 grayish white, and more frequently brownish ; sometimes 
 large patches of the membrane are destroyed. The lining 
 membrane of the O3sophagus is also of a yellowish color; it 
 is generally thickened and softened, and sometimes removed 
 in longitudinal streaks. A similar appearance will be no- 
 ticed about the glottis and the interior of the larynx and 
 trachea, if the acid has gained access to these organs. As 
 in the case of sulphuric acid, it may happen that none of the 
 poison has passed into the stomach, but the whole force has 
 been spent upon the respiratory organs. The examiner 
 should not fail to notice particularly any spots or stains 
 upon the face, neck, and other exposed parts of the body, as 
 well as upon the dress. These spots, if due to nitric acid, will 
 exhibit a decided yellow color. Those 011 the clothes, after 
 a time, become brownish, and, unlike the spots made by sul- 
 phuric acid, they become dry, rotting the texture. More- 
 over, as the acid is volatile, if the examination of the stains 
 be deferred for any length of time, it will be impossible to 
 identify them. A few weeks suffice to remove all chemical 
 traces of this acid, differing in this respect vastly from sul- 
 phuric acid, the stains of which, on articles of clothing, 
 remain unaltered and distinguishable for many years. 
 
 The stomach is distended, often exhibiting on its outer 
 surfaces patches of green color, due to the action of the acid 
 on the bile. Too much stress must not be laid upon this ap- 
 pearance, since in certain diseased states of the body the bile 
 itself undergoes a change which imparts to it a very similar 
 green color. The stomach is sometimes adherent to the 
 other viscera, and cases are reported in which this organ was 
 completely destroyed by the corrosive action of the acid, a 
 cavity being left among the surrounding viscera, which con- 
 tained coagulated blood. The contents are usually colored
 
 152 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 yellow. The raucous membrane is softened, thickened, de- 
 tached in patches, deeply congested, the vessels being in- 
 jected with dark coagulated blood. Perforation rarely occurs, 
 but when it does, the contents of the stomach pass into the 
 peritoneal cavity, imparting a yellowish tint to the adjacent 
 viscera, and also producing intense peritoneal inflammation. 
 
 The upper portion of the small intestines will be very 
 likely to exhibit appearances similar to those seen in the 
 stomach ; but these may at times altogether escape cor- 
 rosion. 
 
 The large intestines are not apt to be affected ; and, unless 
 in the exceptional cases where purging has existed before 
 death, they may contain hardened faeces. The other ab- 
 dominal organs are usually inflamed, even when the stomach 
 has not been perforated. The lungs and bronchi are deeply 
 congested in those cases where the force of the poison has 
 been spent upon the larynx and trachea. 
 
 In cases of death from chronic poisoning, the body is 
 greatly emaciated, the stomach and bowels more or less con- 
 tracted and thickened; in one instance reported, where the 
 patient lived three months, the pylorus and the upper part 
 of the duodenum were contracted to the diameter of one or 
 two lines; the mucous membrane was softened and red in 
 patches, and there were several cicatrices of ulcers. (Med.- 
 Chir. Rev., vol. xxviii. p. 553.) 
 
 Chemical analysis. The concentrated acid may be recog- 
 nized, (1) by its giving out white fumes when exposed to the 
 air. (2) By its staining organic substances yellow or brown, 
 the color being heightened by touching with a drop of 
 caustic alkaline solution. (3) By its powerful action on metal- 
 lic copper, evolving copious orange-colored pungent fumes, 
 and leaving a blue solution (nitrate of copper). Other metals 
 are acted on with equal energy, as mercury, zinc, tin, etc. This 
 action of nitric acid, in the cold, upon metals, with the evolu- 
 tion of the red fumes, is quite characteristic. If the acid be 
 diluted, it may require to be boiled before its action on cop- 
 per will be visible. (4) It does not dissolve gold-leaf, even 
 on boiling; but if hydrochloric acid be added, the gold is 
 immediately dissolved.
 
 POISONING BY NITRIC ACID. TESTS. 153 
 
 The dilute acid. On account of the free solubility of the 
 nitrates, no precipitate can be obtained by the use of reagents, 
 as in the case of the other two mineral acids; nevertheless, 
 there is no difficulty in identifying it. (1) Unless very much 
 diluted, when boiled on copper clippings, it yields the char- 
 acteristic red fumes, and leaves behind a blue solution. (2) 
 When neutralized by carbonate of potash, and a piece of 
 filtering-paper is dipped into the resulting solution (nitrate 
 of potassa) and dried, it burns like touch-paper when applied 
 to a flame. (3) If this solution be evaporated, it will yield 
 characteristic lengthened striated prisms of nitrate of potassa. 
 If neutralized with soda, the crystals present the well-known 
 rhombic form of the nitrate of soda. A single drop of the 
 solution evaporated on a glass slide will exhibit, under the 
 microscope, the well-marked characters of each of these 
 salts. (4) A fragment of these crystals is put into a very 
 small test-tube along with a grain or two of copper filings, 
 then moistened with water, and a few drops of sulphuric 
 acid added : either with or without heating, the evolution of 
 the orange vapors and the production of a blue liquid will 
 prove the presence of nitric acid. (5) Proceed as in 4, 
 substituting for copper a small crystal of morphia: it will 
 yield an orange color and a yellowish liquid; the color be- 
 comes fainter by boiling. (6) As in 4, substituting for copper 
 a fragment of brucia: a blood-red color is the result, which 
 is removed by the application of chloride of tin. (7) As in 
 4, using a crystal of narcotina in place of copper: a reddish- 
 brown color is produced, changing by gentle heat to a blood- 
 red. (8) Mr. Horsley has proposed a test, the delicacy of 
 which is confirmed by Prof. Wormley, pyrogallic acid; it is 
 employed as follows: a small quantity of water acidulated 
 with a few drops of sulphuric acid is put into a small test- 
 tube; add a fragment of pyrogallic acid; after which a 
 little concentrated sulphuric acid is allowed to flow down 
 the inside of the tube so as to subside to the bottom ; add a 
 few crystals of common salt, and, when effervescence ceases, 
 drop in a fragment of the suspected nitrate; the acid at the 
 bottom of the tube very soon assumes an intense purple hue, 
 which may extend to the rest of the liquid. (9) The iron test.
 
 154 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Add to a few drops of the dilute 'acid, or to a fragment of 
 a nitrate, in a small test-tube, a large excess of pure concen- 
 trated sulphuric acid; heat the mixture for a short time, 
 and then cool it by immersing the tube in cold water (it is 
 essential that the mixture should be cold) ; then allow a few 
 drops of the fresh solution of protosulphate of iron to flow 
 down the inside of the tube; at the line of junction of the 
 two liquids there will be formed a beautiful purple, or 
 brownish-purple, zone, the intensity of the color depending 
 on the quantity of nitric acid present. This color will ex- 
 tend throughout the liquid, on gently stirring it, so as not 
 to evolve heat. On subsequently heating the tube, the color 
 disappears, with the evolution of the characteristic red fumes. 
 This is a very delicate and satisfactory test, if properly made. 
 Care should always be taken to insure the purity of the 
 sulphuric acid, as even the purest samples are apt to con- 
 tain traces of nitric or nitrous acid ; in which case it would 
 give the above reaction with the iron solution without the 
 addition of any nitric acid. (10) The indigo test. When a 
 weak solution of sulphate of indigo (indigo dissolved in 
 sulphuric acid) is heated in contact with nitric acid (or a 
 nitrate and sulphuric acid), the color disappears. (11) The 
 gold test. Add to the suspected solution, concentrated, or to 
 a fragment of the crystal, a few drops of strong hydrochloric 
 acid along with a slip of gold-leaf, and apply heat; the gold 
 will be dissolved as a chloride. The presence of gold may 
 be recognized, if not in too minute quantity, by protochlo- 
 ride of tin, which produces a purple precipitate, or at least 
 imparts a purple color to the liquid. As hydrochloric acid 
 frequently contains chlorine, it should first be tested alone 
 with gold-leaf, before adding it to the suspected nitrate. 
 
 A similar reaction is also given by chlorates, hypochlorites, 
 chromates, iodates, and bromates; also by the sesquisalts of 
 iron (II. Wurtz, Chem. Gaz., xvii. p. 32). 
 
 Several other tests have been proposed ; but, as they are of 
 inferior value to those detailed above, they need no further 
 notice. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures, contents of stomach, etc. If the 
 mixture is viscid, or contains solid matters, it should be
 
 NITRIC ACID. DETECTION IN ORGANIC MIXTURES. 155 
 
 gently boiled in distilled water for about twenty minutes, 
 allowed to cool, and then filtered; the matters on the filter 
 thoroughly washed ; and the liquid concentrated by evapor- 
 ation. If found to be acid on testing it with litmus-paper, 
 it should be neutralized with bicarbonate of potassa, and 
 allowed to crystallize by evaporation. If the resulting crys- 
 tals are much discolored by the organic matters, the latter 
 may be removed to a great extent by absolute alcohol, which 
 has no material effect on the crystals. These may now be 
 dissolved in a very small quantity of pure water, and re-crys- 
 tallized by evaporation. A few drops of the solution allowed 
 to dry upon a glass slide and examined with the microscope 
 will exhibit the characteristic six-sided striated crystals of 
 nitrate of potassa. The different tests already mentioned 
 may then be successively applied. 
 
 If the original solution contains enough of the acid, the 
 copper and gold tests may be applied directly. 
 
 It may happen, however, that in consequence of the anti- 
 dotes administered lime or magnesia, or one of the alkaline 
 carbonates the matters examined are no longer acid, but 
 neutral; the free acid has combined with a base, and now 
 exists as a nitrate. Under these circumstances, the solution, 
 after boiling, if necessary, and filtration, should be treated 
 with bicarbonate of potassa (or soda), and heated for a short 
 time, to allow the insoluble carbonate of lime or magnesia to 
 subside. It is then filtered, and the filtrate containing the 
 nitrate of potassa is allowed to crystallize by evaporation, 
 and the crystals examined, as before mentioned. If the anti- 
 dote administered was either carbonate of potassa or soda, it 
 will only be necessary to evaporate the clear filtered liquid 
 in order to procure crystals of the nitrates of these alkaloids, 
 which can be tested as above. 
 
 It should be remembered that although the contents of the 
 stomach, or rather organic matters, may have an acid reac- 
 tion, and exhibit the evidences of the presence of nitric acid, 
 yet this acid may not exist in the free state, as e.g. when 
 some nitrate happens to be present along with an ordinary 
 acid. In such a case, the method recommended for sulphuric 
 acid (ante, p. 145) is to be pursued. If the acid exists in the
 
 156 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 free state only, on evaporating a few drops of the original fil- 
 tered solution, no saline residue should be left. 
 
 Orfila considers the sulphate of narcotina arid the protosul- 
 phate of iron (iron test) as two of the most delicate tests for 
 nitric acid. His mode of employing them is as follows. A 
 minute fragment of the suspected nitrate is mixed with 
 copper filings (or a small piece of copper-foil) and put into a 
 very small test-tube with a drop or two of water and five or 
 six drops of pure concentrated sulphuric acid : a small glass 
 tube bent at right angles attached to the test-tube serves to 
 conduct the disengaged gas into another small test-tube con- 
 taining a few drops of a solution of sulphate of narcotina. 
 On heating the first tube, the deutoxide of nitrogen will pass 
 over into the second one, and immediately produce a blood- 
 red color. If the second test-tube contains a solution of the 
 protosulphate of iron, the disengaged gas will immediately 
 cause it to assume a dark-brown or coffee color; if now five 
 or six times its volume of strong sulphuric acid be added, it 
 will acquire a violet or purple hue. (Toxicologie, 1852, i. 
 p. 178.) 
 
 Although these two tests are so very delicate, yet they 
 cannot be regarded as always indicating the presence of 
 nitric acid, to the exclusion of all other bodies. Orfila him- 
 self tells us (loc. ciL, p. 181) that healthy urine will redden 
 uarcotina, and produce a brownish color with the iron, which 
 subsequently turns violet on the addition of sulphuric acid. 
 Urea acts in the same manner; and the serum of the blood 
 drawn from a patient affected with pleurisy, although not 
 acting on the narcotina, produced upon the iron-salt precisely 
 the same effect as that caused by nitric acid. 
 
 Orfila further ascertained that if the nitrate is present in 
 very small quantity, along with a large excess of alkaline 
 chlorides, or of organic matters, the copper and sulphuric 
 acid test fails to produce a gas which will give the charac- 
 teristic reaction with protosulphate of iron (loc. cit.,p. 182). 
 
 Absorption and elimination. According to Orfila, nitric acid 
 is absorbed into the general circulation, and eliminated by 
 the urine. He proved its presence in this secretion, in 
 animals poisoned by the acid, by distilling the urine with
 
 NITRIC ACID. SUSPECTED STAINS. 157 
 
 sulphuric acid, and neutralizing the distillate with potassa: 
 on evaporation, the characteristic crystals of nitrate of potash 
 were obtained. This result does not uniformly follow, but 
 occurs only during certain stages of the poisoning. 
 
 In examining a body poisoned by nitric acid after several 
 months' interment, the poison will, in all probability, be 
 found to have entirely disappeared, having been converted 
 into nitrate of ammonia. But as this salt sometimes occurs in 
 the soil, its presence in the body might be ascribed to per- 
 colation from the ground in which it was buried. In such a 
 case, a portion of the surrounding soil should be analyzed. 
 If putrefaction be not too far advanced, it may be possible to 
 recognize some of the marked post-mortem changes in the 
 alimentary canal. 
 
 Examination of suspected stains. These should be cut out, 
 and soaked for a time in warm distilled water. The presence 
 of a free acid having been tested by litmus-paper, the liquid 
 should be neutralized with bicarbonate of potassa, and fil- 
 tered, and the resulting crystals examined by the micro- 
 scope and subjected to the appropriate tests (see ante, p. 153): 
 the dried filter burns like touch-paper. As nitric acid is 
 volatile, it is soon dissipated, by exposure, from the substances 
 on which it has fallen. After a certain length of time, the 
 spots on woolen or cotton garments turn brownish, become 
 dry and rotten, and lose every trace of the acid. Sir R. 
 Christison was able to detect its presence in stains seven 
 weeks old; and Dr. Guy quotes an instance in which it was 
 discovered, under similar circumstances, after an interval of 
 some mouths (Wormley). 
 
 To distinguish stains of nitric acid from those caused by 
 iodine or bile, test with a weak solution of caustic potassa: 
 the nitric acid stain assumes a bright orange tint, while the 
 iodine (or bromine) stain immediately disappears; and the 
 bile stain undergoes no change. 
 
 11
 
 158 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 HYDROCHLORIC ACID (MURIATIC ACID). 
 
 This acid, sometimes known in commerce by the name of 
 spirit of salt, occurs usually as a light-yellow liquid, powerfully 
 acid, fuming when exposed to the air. It emits dense white 
 vapors when brought in contact with the vapor of ammo- 
 nia. Its sp. gr. is usually about 1.15. When chemically pure, 
 it is colorless; its ordinary yellow color is due to chloride 
 of iron, or chlorine, or both. The commercial acid, also, 
 frequently contains arsenic, nitric acid, common salt, and 
 occasionally antimony. 
 
 Instances of poisoning by this acid are comparatively rare ; 
 especially those of a homicidal character. 
 
 Symptoms. These are, in the main, similar to those already 
 described as resulting from sulphuric and nitric acids. 
 Among these symptoms, Tardieu mentions the grayish 
 appearance of the stains around the mouth and in the in- 
 terior of the buccal cavity, together with the formation of 
 false membrane upon the mucous surfaces attacked by the 
 acid, as characteristic of hydrochloric acid (loc. cit., p. 235). 
 
 Fatal dose. The smallest quantity recorded as having 
 proved fatal is half an ounce. This was swallowed by a 
 woman aged sixty-three years, with suicidal intent, and 
 caused death in eighteen hours (Wharton and Stille, Med. 
 Jurisp., vol. ii. p. 322). As in the case of the other mineral 
 acids, recoveries have occurred after much larger doses have 
 been swallowed, after the use of proper remedies. The 
 period at which death takes place in acute cases varies from 
 live hours and a half (the shortest period) to eight days; in the 
 latter case, two ounces of the stronsr acid had been swallowed. 
 
 o 
 
 In more chronic cases, life was prolonged for eight weeks. 
 
 The treatment is similar to that employed in the case of the 
 other mineral acids (ante, p. 140). 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. These, on the whole, closely re- 
 semble the morbid lesions produced by sulphuric acid. The 
 throat, mouth, aud gullet have been found highly inflamed, 
 their lining membrane detached in masses, or sloughing
 
 HYDROCHLORIC ACID. POST-MORTEM SIGNS. 159 
 
 away. The mucous lining of the stomach is extensively cor- 
 roded, softened and thickened. The contents are sometimes 
 of a yellowish, and sometimes of a greenish, color. On re- 
 moving these, the lining membrane has been found blackened 
 in ridges, as if charred, and the intervening furrows of a 
 bright-red color. This appearance may extend through the 
 duodenum. Perforation of the stomach is comparatively 
 rare ; though in a case reported by Dr. Galtier, this organ 
 was entirely disorganized and softened ; it presented poste- 
 riorly several perforations of different diameters, with rounded, 
 thickened, and inflamed margins, adhering to the adjoining 
 viscera by albuminous deposits. The pyloric orifice was 
 thickened, as well as the mucous membrane of the small 
 intestines. The gullet was thickened throughout, and its 
 mucous membrane was in a state of suppuration. In this 
 case the person survived eight weeks after taking the poison. 
 In the more protracted cases there is a greater tendency to 
 softening and thickening of the mucous lining of the gullet, 
 stomach, and small intestines, with partial removal of this 
 membrane in shreds or patches. In those cases where the 
 force of the poison has spent itself upon the respiratory 
 organs the glottis, larynx, and trachea these will be found 
 deeply injected, often corroded, with more or less detach- 
 ment of the lining membrane, together with engorgement of 
 the lungs and pleura. In cases of this nature the stomach 
 may possibly entirely escape the corrosive action of the 
 poison. 
 
 Prof. Guy (Forensic Medicine, p. 408) has given some 
 good illustrations of the morbid changes in the gullet and 
 stomach resulting from the corrosive action of muriatic 
 acid. The shriveled, worm-eaten appearance of the former, 
 together with the patches denuded of epithelium, as also the 
 black grumotis condition of the inner coats of the stomach, 
 bear a strong resemblance to the condition observed in 
 poisoning from sulphuric acid. He also very properly cau- 
 tions against mistaking for the above condition that state of 
 the mucous membrane resulting from the effects of the acid 
 secretions of the stomach, before and after death, more espe- 
 cially in chronic diseases, as phthisis; in which there may
 
 160 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 be abrasion of the epithelium, together with a similar black 
 granular deposit, alternating with red injected streaks. 
 
 Chemical analysis. 1. The strong acid. This is distinguished 
 from the other acids, (a) by its yellow color ; (6) by its giving 
 off dense white fumes when in contact with ammonia; (c) by 
 its negative action on metallic copper or mercury, either cold 
 or boiling ; (d) by its giving off chlorine gas when heated with 
 peroxide of manganese : this last test is characteristic. It 
 produces a greenish stain on black cloth. 
 
 2. In the diluted state. The failure to cause a precipitate 
 with chloride of barium would prove the absence of sul- 
 phuric acid. The characteristic test is nitrate of silver in solu- 
 tion: this occasions, even in the very dilute acid, a copious, 
 curdy, white precipitate, which soon darkens on exposure 
 to the light. This precipitate is insoluble in boiling nitric 
 acid, and in caustic potassa, but is very soluble in ammonia. 
 When it is dried and heated, it fuses into a yellow liquid, 
 which, on cooling, becomes a soft, horny mass. As any 
 soluble chloride, e.g. common salt, will give precisely the 
 same reaction with nitrate of silver, a drop or two of the 
 original acid liquid should be carefully evaporated, when, if 
 no residue is left, the acid will have been in the free state. 
 Nitrate of silver also produces, in neutral solutions, precipi- 
 tates with other acids or elements ; but all these precipitates, 
 with the exception of that from hydrocyanic acid, are freely 
 soluble in nitric acid. The cyanide of silver is easily distin- 
 guished from the chloride by fusion ; it yields an inflam- 
 mable gas, which burns with a rose-colored flame. (See post, 
 HYDROCYANIC ACID.) 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. As most organic mixtures con- 
 tain hydrochloric acid, free or combined, these will generally 
 yield a whitish precipitate with nitrate of silver. In the con- 
 tents of a stomach we may expect always to find more or less 
 of this acid, as it is one of the constituents of the gastric juice. 
 In some cases of disordered digestion, its quantity is greatly 
 augmented. Dr. Prout once found between four and live 
 grains of pure hydrochloric acid in sixteen ounces of the fluid 
 of water-brash (Philos. Trans., 1824, p. 49). From this it fol- 
 lows that great caution must be observed as regards the in-
 
 HYDROCHLORIC ACID. ANALYSIS. 161 
 
 ferenco of poisoning by hydrochloric acid, from the chemical 
 analysis exclusively. Most certainly, if the symptoms and 
 morbid lesions do not fully warrant the diagnosis, it would 
 be very unsafe to found it upon the chemical results, for the 
 reasons given above. 
 
 As this acid adheres with great tenacity to organic matters, 
 it will be found almost impossible to separate it from the 
 latter, especially if it be present in very small quantity, by 
 the usual process of boiling, filtering, and distilling. Ac- 
 cording to Christison, it will seldom be found in the dis- 
 tillate. Under such circumstances, Orfila recommended to 
 treat the residue in the retort with a strong solution of tannin, 
 filter, and distill the filtrate, as before, to near dryness, avoid- 
 ing a higher temperature than 240 F. But it must be re- 
 membered that this process will indicate hydrochloric acid 
 in a mixture that contains merely a chloride (as common 
 salt) and sulphuric acid. This fallacy can, however, be avoided 
 by proving the absence of sulphuric acid by the baryta test. 
 
 Practically, the following process, recommended by Tar- 
 dieu (loc. cit., p. 238), is found to answer best, in medico-legal 
 cases, where it is important to determine whether hydro- 
 chloric acid is present in the free state in the contents of the 
 stomach, or in other complex organic mixtures. Any solid 
 matters are cut into small pieces, and the mass diluted, if 
 necessary, with distilled water, heated to near the boiling- 
 point for about half an hour, cooled, and filtered. It is then 
 divided into two equal portions, one of which is saturated 
 with an excess of pure carbonate of soda, and evaporated to 
 dryness over a water-bath. The other portion is evaporated 
 in the same manner, but without the addition of the carbo- 
 nate of soda. The two residues are then completely calcined 
 in two separate porcelain capsules, treated with a little dis- 
 tilled water, and filtered. Each solution is then acidulated 
 with pure nitric acid, and precipitated with an excess of 
 nitrate of silver. The two precipitates are separately received 
 on small filters, thoroughly washed, dried, incinerated along 
 with their filters, and finally weighed. If the weight of 
 the chloride of silver is the same in both cases, this will be 
 positive proof that there was no free hydrochloric acid present
 
 162 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 in the original material ; but if the portion saturated with 
 the carhonate of soda yields a greater quantity of chloride of 
 silver than the other portion, this excess of chloride must 
 manifestly be ascribed to free hydrochloric acid. 
 
 Examination of suspected stains. These should be treated 
 in the manner pointed out for the other two mineral acids. 
 Litmus-paper will indicate the presence of a free acid in the 
 solution ; and the silver test will indicate the presence of 
 hydrochloric acid, but not its presence in the free state, ex- 
 clusively. Whether the reaction is due to a Chloride may be 
 ascertained in the manner already pointed out. As hydro- 
 chloric acid is volatile, the examination of the stain should be 
 made as early as possible ; otherwise all traces may be lost. 
 
 Quantitative analysis. Hydrochloric acid is determined 
 quantitatively by first precipitating it as a chloride by means 
 of nitrate of silver, and slightly heating until the whole of the 
 chloride is deposited ; the precipitate is then collected on a 
 small weighed filter, thoroughly washed, dried, and weighed. 
 Every 100 grains of the dried chloride correspond to 25.43 
 parts of anhydrous hydrochloric acid, or about 81 parts of 
 ordinary liquid acid of sp. gr. 1.15. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 POISONING BY OXALIC ACID, AND BINOXALATE OF POTASSA. 
 
 Oxalic acid, although strictly belonging to the organic 
 acids, is conveniently discussed under the present head, inas- 
 much as some of its effects upon the system so thoroughly 
 resemble those occasioned by the corrosive (mineral) acids. 
 
 This acid exists, in combination with lime and potash, in 
 several vegetables, as the rhubarb, or pie-plant, the wood 
 sorrel ( Oxalis acetosella), and several others. It is a compound 
 of carbon and oxygen with the elements of water. It is 
 sometimes called the acid of sugar, because it is procured by 
 the action of nitric acid on sugar or starch. It is a solid, 
 
 O 7 
 
 white, crystalline substance, bearing a considerable resem- 
 blance to Epsom salt (sulphate of magnesia), and white 
 vitriol (sulphate of zinc). It has an intensely sour taste, by
 
 OXALIC ACID. SYMPTOMS. 163 
 
 which it may easily be distinguished from these substances. 
 It is considerably employed in the arts, and has frequently 
 been the cause of accidental death, from having been mis- 
 taken for Epsom salt. It has also been frequently taken for 
 suicidal purposes, especially in England ; and occasionally it 
 has been administered hornicidally. Its intensely sour taste 
 would usually lead to its immediate detection. A case is re- 
 ported in which it was administered with criminal intent in 
 buttermilk, with fatal result. 
 
 Symptoms. These depend very much upon the size of 
 the dose, and the degree of concentration. When swallowed 
 in a large dose half an ounce to an ounce dissolved in a 
 small quantity of water, the effects are immediate and vio- 
 lent. An intensely sour taste is speedily followed by a 
 burning sensation in the gullet, extending to the stomach, 
 increased by pressure; there is also a feeling of constriction 
 of the throat; vomiting soon follows, sometimes of bloody 
 matters, but generally of a greenish-brown or black gru- 
 mous matter; and if the patient survives some hours, there 
 is purging of a similar character. The remaining symptoms 
 are those of collapse, extreme debility, pale and anxious 
 countenance, cold and clammy skin, small and frequent 
 pulse, and hurried respiration. There are also soreness of 
 the mouth, inflammation and swelling of the tongue, painful 
 deglutition, intense thirst, restlessness, difficulty of breath- 
 ing, and distressing cough. Besides the above symptoms, 
 there are frequently cramps and numbness of the legs and 
 arms, acute pain in the back and head, delirium, and con- 
 vulsions symptoms which indicate the very decided action 
 of the poison upon the nervous system. As in the case of 
 other violent poisons, the above-mentioned symptoms are 
 subject to many exceptions and anomalies. Thus, cases are 
 reported in which pain and vomiting have both been absent; 
 or vomiting has not occurred until emetics were adminis- 
 tered. In a singular case referred to by Sir R. Christison 
 (On Poisons, p. 223), a peculiar spotted eruption appeared 
 upon the skin, and leeches applied to the epigastrium soon 
 fell off dead, showing evidently that the poison had beeu 
 absorbed into the circulation.
 
 164 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The general symptoms of oxalic acid poisoning are un- 
 doubtedly those of the irritants; but it may be so diluted as 
 to lose all its irritant and corrosive properties, and yet prove 
 fatal, from its remote specific effects upon the heart and the 
 nerve-centres. The latter impression is evidenced in the 
 acute pains in the back, extending down the limbs, the tetanic 
 spasms, the numbness and tingling in the limbs, approaching 
 to paralysis, and also the occasional narcotic effect observed. 
 In this respect it differs from the mineral acids. 
 
 Fatal dose. The smallest fatal quantity recorded is in the 
 case of a boy aged sixteen years, who died in nine hours after 
 eating about one drachm of the solid crystals. (Case reported by 
 Dr. Barker, Lancet, Dec. 1, 1855 ; and quoted by Dr. Taylor.) 
 The latter authority also reports a case in which a woman 
 aged twenty-eight years died in one hour after swallowing 
 three drachms of the crystallized acid. Serious, though not 
 fatal, consequences have followed the taking of much smaller 
 doses. As a rule, a dose of half an ounce or upwards 
 nearly always proves fatal ; although instances are on record 
 where complete recovery has taken place after taking con- 
 siderably over an ounce of the crystals. 
 
 Fatal period. Oxalic acid, when taken in full dose and in 
 a concentrated state, is one of the most energetic poisons 
 known ; but equal quantities do not always destroy life in 
 the same time. Dr. Ogilvie, of Coventry, reports the most 
 rapidly fatal case known, where death took place within three 
 minutes after swallowing an unknown quantity of the acid 
 (Lancet, Aug. 23, 1845, p. 205). Sir R. Christison calls it 
 " the most rapid and unerring of all the common poisons." 
 He mentions two cases one of a young man, and another 
 
 v O 
 
 of a young lady, who survived only ten minutes after swallow- 
 ing one ounce of the acid. The majority of the fatal cases 
 succumb within one hour. On the other hand, numerous 
 cases have been reported in which death did not occur for 
 several hours, and even days. In one reported by Dr. Jack- 
 son (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. xxx. p. 17), life was 
 prolonged until the tenth day, after swallowing an ounce 
 of the crystallized acid in mistake for Epsom salt; and Dr. 
 Beck (Med. Jurisp., ii. p. 439) alludes to an instance in which
 
 OXALIC ACID. MORBID APPEARANCES. 165 
 
 a woman died from the secondary effects of the poison, after 
 several months' suffering. 
 
 Treatment. The proper antidotes are chalk, and magnesia, 
 or its carbonate, suspended in water or milk. These act by 
 forming insoluble and inert earthy oxalates. The alkalies 
 or their carbonates are inadmissible, since the alkaline oxa- 
 lates are nearly as poisonous as the acid itself. After thus 
 neutralizing the poison, free vomiting should be encouraged 
 by the use of mucilaginous drinks. Lime-water and oil may 
 be employed with advantage. Sometimes the stomach-pump 
 may be employed, as when much liquid has been swallowed 
 with the poison. In the collapse, warmth should be applied, 
 and stimulants freely used. The secondary symptoms should 
 be treated on general principles. 
 
 Morbid appearances. In rapidly fatal cases the lining mem- 
 brane of the mouth, throat, and gullet is usually more or 
 less disorganized, white, and softened, but often covered with 
 a portion of the dark-brown matter discharged from the 
 stomach. The mucous lining of the gullet is often softened 
 and easily detached, and its vessels much congested. The 
 stomach contains a dark-brown mucous fluid, often acid, and 
 having at times a gelatinous consistence. The subjacent 
 mucous membrane will be found generally pale and softened, 
 often without marks of a decided inflammation, if death has 
 been rapid. It is soft and brittle, and easily removed. The 
 small vessels are filled with dark, coagulated blood. In some 
 cases the stomach presents very much the appearance of a 
 case of poisoning by sulphuric acid. Sometimes the upper 
 portion of the small intestines presents a similar appearance, 
 especially if death has not occurred very speedily. In some 
 cases extensive congestion of the lungs has been observed, 
 together with a fullness of the heart and great vessels; the 
 blood being dark-colored. 
 
 As regards perforation of the stomach by oxalic acid, all the 
 authorities unite in saying that it is of rare occurrence. A few 
 cases have been reported in which extensive softening and 
 numerous perforations were discovered after death ; but there 
 is strong reason for believing that these conditions were 
 due to the action of the acid upon the tissues after death. In
 
 166 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 protracted cases, the lining of the stomach is usually much, 
 thickened and corrugated, and much inflamed, and probably 
 ulcerated. Congestion of the brain has been observed in at 
 least one fatal case; but it is by no means a constant lesion. 
 The condition of the heart varies: sometimes its cavities are 
 found to be full of dark fluid blood, and at other times they 
 are found empty, or containing merely a small clot. 
 
 Chemical analysis. (1) In the solid state. Oxalic acid occurs, 
 when pure, in colorless, transparent, four-sided crystals, with- 
 out odor, quite soluble in water, especially when hot; soluble 
 also in alcohol, but insoluble in ether, and nearly so in 
 chloroform. It has an intensely sour taste, which serves to 
 distinguish it immediately from the sulphates of magnesia 
 and zinc, which it strongly resembles in appearance, and 
 for which (especially the former) it has been often fatally 
 mistaken. Another characteristic mark of difference is the 
 action of heat: if a crystal of oxalic acid be heated on plati- 
 num-foil over a spirit-lamp, it will, if pure, be completely 
 volatilized; while the other substances leave a fixed residue. 
 
 (2) As a liquid. First test its acidity by litmus-paper; if 
 acid, evaporate a few drops to dryness: oxalic acid will leave 
 a crystalline residue, consisting of long and slender prisms. 
 The solution is tested, (a) by nitrate of silver : this yields an 
 abundant white precipitate (oxalate of silver), which is dis- 
 tinguished from the chloride and the cyanide by being imme- 
 diately soluble in cold nitric acid (the chloride is not soluble 
 even in boiling nitric acid, and the cyanide is insoluble in the 
 cold acid). If the precipitated oxalate of silver be thoroughly 
 dried, and heated on platinum-foil, it is entirely dissipated in 
 white vapor, with slight puffs or detonations : this does not 
 occur with the chloride or the cyanide, (b) Sulphate of lime. 
 Any solution of lime will precipitate oxalic acid, but the sul- 
 phate is preferable, because it is not acted upon by many sub- 
 stances which precipitate other salts of lime. As the sulphate 
 of lime is not very soluble, it should be added in considerable 
 quantity to the suspected oxalic solution. A fine white pre- 
 cipitate (oxalate of lime) is slowly formed, which is imme- 
 diately soluble in nitric acid, more slowly in hydrochloric 
 acid (in excess), and insoluble in the vegetable acids acetic,
 
 OXALIC ACID. ANALYSIS. 167 
 
 citric, and tartaiic. The addition of ammonia or potassa 
 will enable the sulphate of lime to precipitate the oxalic acid 
 more abundantly ; but, as this might possibly lead to compli- 
 cations in a medico-legal case, it had better not be employed. 
 The only objection that can be urged against the sulphate of 
 lime test is, that it will precipitate even acid solutions of 
 baryta, strontia, and lead ; but this is readily obviated by the 
 fact that the sulphates of these bodies are entirely insoluble 
 in nitric acid; while oxalate of lime is very soluble in it. 
 According to Prof. Wormley, the precipitate from sulphate of 
 lime shows under the microscope oval granule?, while that 
 from the chloride of calcium exhibits octahedral crystals and 
 small plates, somewhat larger than the former, (c) Chloride 
 of barium, nitrate of strontia, and acetate of lead all precipitate 
 oxalic acid in the form of white crystalline deposits; but these 
 tests are liable to more fallacies than the two former ones, 
 and are, therefore, of inferior value, (d) Sulphate of copper 
 causes a faint bluish-white, or greenish-white, precipitate, 
 which is insoluble in acetic acid, and almost so in nitric acid. 
 This reagent also precipitates the carbonates and phosphates, 
 and is decomposed by various kinds of organic matter, yield- 
 ing a somewhat similar precipitate ; but all these deposits 
 are distinguished from the oxalate of copper in being readily 
 soluble in nitric and hydrochloric acids. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. Although oxalic acid is not 
 decomposed by organic mixtures, yet these would be very 
 apt to cause precipitates with two of the tests, viz., nitrate 
 of silver and sulphate of copper. Hence these reagents can- 
 not be relied upon in organic solutions. If the solution is 
 strongly acid, and contains solid matters suspended, it should 
 first be mixed with distilled water, if necessary, and be di- 
 gested at a moderate heat for some time, then cooled and 
 filtered, and the filtrate concentrated by evaporation, and 
 again filtered. A small quantity may now be tested with 
 sulphate of copper, as a trial test. If this causes a bluish- 
 white precipitate not readily soluble in strong nitric acid, 
 it is due most probably to oxalic acid. If the filtered solu- 
 tion is very strongly acid, it may be allowed to crystallize 
 by evaporation ; and the crystals removed and washed, and
 
 168 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 dissolved in water, will respond to the usual tests. If the 
 crystals are very highly colored, they should be redissolved 
 in warm water, and recrystallized. 
 
 Should, however, the solution prove to be only faintly 
 acid, and mixed with much organic matter, after proper 
 warming, filtering, and concentration, it should be treated 
 with acetate of lead in excess, which will precipitate the 
 whole of the oxalic acid as oxalate of lead. The precipitate 
 should be collected and washed with water acidulated with 
 acetic acid ; and afterwards with pure water. The moist 
 precipitate is then diffused in water, through which a stream 
 of sulphuretted hydrogen is passed until all the lead is pre- 
 cipitated as a sulphide; along with this, most of the organic 
 matter will also be thrown down. By filtering, a clear acid 
 liquid will be obtained: this should be moderately heated, to 
 expel any excess of sulphuretted hydrogen; and on evapora- 
 tion, the characteristic crystals of oxalic acid may be obtained. 
 These should be purified by dissolving in alcohol, and sub- 
 sequently in water. The oxalate of lead obtained as above 
 may likewise be decomposed by boiling with dilute sulphuric 
 acid; sulphate of lead is formed, which is separated by fil- 
 tration from the oxalic acid solution. Neutralize cautiously 
 with ammonia; filter again, to remove an}' oxalate of lead 
 resulting from the sulphuric acid; then apply the usual tests 
 to the clear solution. Of the two processes for decomposing 
 the oxalate of lead, the former is the more reliable for obtain- 
 ing the acid in the crystalline form. 
 
 The processes above mentioned will yield the same results 
 whether oxalic acid exist in the free state, or combined 
 with an alkaline or earthy base: consequently, they do not 
 serve to determine this question. Now, in the contents of 
 the stomach, it will probably happen that the poison has 
 been completely neutralized by the antidote administered 
 lime or magnesia: hence the acid would exist as an oxalate 
 of one or other of these bases. In the latter case, the matters 
 may have a neutral reaction ; the suspected solids should 
 then be carefully collected in a dish and thoroughly washed 
 with warm water, and the liquid decanted. If this liquid 
 is acid, it should be reserved; but if not, it may be thrown
 
 OXALIC ACID. EXISTENCE IN PLANTS. 169 
 
 away. The solids should then be diffused in a little pure 
 water, and boiled with a proper quantity of pure carbonate 
 of potassa, for about half an hour; the loss by evaporation 
 being supplied by additions of pure water. A double de- 
 composition will give rise to the soluble oxalate of potassa 
 and the insoluble carbonate of lime, or of magnesia. After 
 cooling and filtering, the filtrate is treated with excess of 
 acetic acid, then precipitated by acetate of lead; the precipi- 
 tate is then decomposed by means of sulphuretted hydrogen ; 
 the sulphide of lead is separated by filtration, the clear liquid 
 is evaporated, and tested as before mentioned. 
 
 In case of the oxalic acid existing in combination with 
 potash, as after partaking of sorrel, an approximative, though 
 not accurate, method of distinguishing between the free and 
 the combined acid, is to evaporate the original acid liquid to 
 dry ness on a water-bath, and extract the residue with very 
 strong alcohol, which dissolves the free acid if present, but 
 leaves undissolved most of the oxalate. The filtered alcoholic 
 solution is now evaporated to dry ness on a water-bath, the 
 residue dissolved in a small quantity of water, filtered, con- 
 centrated, and tested as usual. The portion undissolved by 
 the alcohol is stirred with distilled water, filtered, and the 
 filtrate examined in the usual manner. The above is Ortila's 
 process for separating the free acid from its association with 
 an alkaline oxalate. But Professors Christison and Taylor 
 very properly object to this being considered a safe and re- 
 liable process in medico-legal cases, inasmuch as the strong- 
 est alcohol will always acquire a slight acid reaction when 
 digested on binoxalate of potassa; and hence an analyst 
 would be deceived if he relied solely on this process, and 
 might be led to pronounce that to be free oxalic acid, when 
 in reality it was due only to the alkaline oxalate, accidentally 
 taken by the deceased, as in sorrel-soup ! 
 
 This leads us to notice more particularly the fact already 
 adverted to, that certain articles of food more particularly 
 the rhubarb, or pie-plant, and the sorrel contain a notable 
 quantity of oxalic acid, not, however, free, but combined with 
 lime or potash. It might possibly happen that in a case of 
 poisoning, the discovery of merely a small quantity of the
 
 170 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 acid by the usual tests would be ascribed by the defense to 
 one of these vegetables that had been eaten by the deceased. 
 The answer is very obvious: in a case of true oxalic acid 
 poisoning, the symptoms and the morbid lesions are of such 
 unequivocal character that, unless these can be clearly proven, 
 the discovery of a minute quantity of the acid is no evidence 
 of poisoning; but, on the other hand, if the peculiar symptoms 
 and morbid lesions are present, then the obtaining of only 
 a small quantity of the acid should not negative the charge 
 of poisoning. Sir R. Christison regards oxalic acid as one 
 of the few poisons "of whose operation distinct evidence may 
 sometimes (though certainly not alwaj's) be found in the 
 symptoms." " If," says he, " a person immediately after 
 swallowing a solution of a crystalline salt, which tasted purely 
 and strongly acid, is attacked with burning in the throat, 
 then with burning in the stomach, vomiting, particularly of 
 bloody matter, imperceptible pulse, and excessive languor, 
 and dies in half an hour, or, still more, in twenty, fifteen, or 
 ten minutes, I do not know any fallacy that can interfere 
 with the conclusion that oxalic acid was the cause of death. 
 No parallel disease begins so abruptly, and terminates so soon, 
 and no other crystalline poison has the same effects." (On 
 Poisons, p. 226.) To this Prof. Guy adds: " The post-mortem 
 appearances are scarcely less characteristic. The wrinkled 
 and corroded gullet, the pale, shriveled, and partially de- 
 tached mucous membrane of the stomach, the dark veins 
 ramifying on its surface, and the dark-brown grumous matter 
 which fills its cavity, point strongly to the action of a power- 
 ful corrosive poison, while the absence of the colored spots on 
 the skin would preclude the supposition of the effect being 
 due to either of the mineral acids." (Guy's For. Med., p. 595.) 
 Is oxalic acid a normal constituent of the body? It is ex- 
 tremely doubtful if this acid, in the free state, ever exists 
 in the animal system. Liebig and others suppose that one 
 of the products of the ultimate oxidation of uric acid in the 
 human system is oxalic acid : this change can be readily ex- 
 hibited in a chemical formula, but no one, we believe, has 
 ever demonstrated its presence in the blood or in the tissues. 
 Orfila, Christison, and Taylor all failed to detect it in the
 
 OXALIC ACID. EXAMINATION OF STAINS. 171 
 
 blood or in the organs, in cases where very large doses had 
 proved fatal, and even where it had been previously injected 
 into the femoral vein of an animal which died in thirty 
 seconds (Christison, On Poisons, p. 219). Nevertheless, its 
 presence in the circulation, in some form, would seem to be 
 shown by the fact, already cited, that in two instances on 
 record, leeches applied to persons poisoned by this acid 
 speedily fell off dead. Moreover, Orfila states that he suc- 
 ceeded in detecting the acid in the urine of a person poisoned 
 with it (Toxicol., i. 190). The oxalate of lime is frequently 
 found in the urine as the result of disease, but never as a 
 normal constituent. It also occurs as one variety of calculus 
 in the bladder (mulberry calculus). In case of poisoning, the 
 oxalic acid is, no doubt, excreted by the kidney as oxalate of 
 lime, which can easily be detected in the urine by the micro- 
 scope, in the well-known form of octahedral crystals. It must, 
 however, be remembered that these same crystals will be found 
 in the urine of persons who have partaken of food containing 
 the oxalate of lime, such as the rhubarb or the sorrel-plant. 
 
 In examining the urine for free oxalic acid, or a soluble 
 oxalate, a little acetic acid should first be added, and then 
 it should be evaporated to about one-fourth its bulk, and 
 filtered : to the filtrate an excess of acetate of lead is added, 
 and the resulting oxalate of lead, after thorough washing, is 
 decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, and the filtered solu- 
 tion tested as above. 
 
 Quantitative analysis. Oxalic acid from pure solutions is 
 best estimated as oxalate of lead. The solution is first treated 
 with a little acetic acid, and then with a solution of acetate 
 of lead in excess; and the precipitate collected on a filter of 
 known weight, completely washed, and dried at 212 ; and 
 then weighed. Every 100 parts of the oxalate of lead thus 
 obtained, represents 42.5 parts of the crystallized acid. 
 
 If the acid has been precipitated as oxalate of lime, this 
 should be thoroughly washed and dried, and then exposed 
 for a few minutes to a dull red heat, by which it is converted 
 into carbonate of lime; every 100 parts of which correspond 
 with 126 parts of crystallized oxalic acid. 
 
 Examination of stains. Oxalic acid does not corrode cloth
 
 172 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 and other textures like the mineral acids; but it very slowly 
 produces orange-colored spots, with a red margin, on black 
 cloth, differing in this respect from the other vegetable acids. 
 Proofs of its presence in these stains may be obtained by 
 soaking them in hot water, and applying the proper tests 
 to the solution. The acid is sometimes used to remove 
 writing-ink in cases of forgery; but, usually, traces of iron, 
 existing in the ink, are left upon the paper, which can easily 
 be detected by wetting it with a solution of ferrocyanide of 
 potassium, which will turn it blue. 
 
 BINOXALATE OF POTASSA (Salt of sorrel. Essential salt of 
 lemons). This salt is much used in the arts for bleaching, 
 and for removing ink-stains: it is sold under the absurd 
 name of essential salt of lemons. Its poisonous properties are 
 almost as violent and active as those of oxalic acid. Half 
 an ounce produced death in a lady, in eight minutes, after 
 violent pain and convulsions (Jour, de Chim. Med., 1842, 
 p. 211). In another case, a teaspoonfnl of this salt was taken 
 for three successive mornings, causing severe vomiting; an 
 hour after the third dose, the patient died (Ann. d'Hyg. Pub., 
 1842, xxvii. p. 422). A case is reported of a young lady, aged 
 twenty, who recovered after swallowing an ounce of this salt 
 dissolved in water. The symptoms were vomiting, a scalding 
 sensation of the throat and stomach, great depression, faint- 
 ness, cold and clammy skin, and feeble pulse. There were 
 also great dimness of vision, redness of eyes, and dilatation 
 of the pupils (Med. Gaz., xxvii. p. 480). 
 
 Chemical analysis. This salt commonly occurs in crystals; 
 it is not very soluble in cold water ; much more so in hot 
 water; taste very acid. It is distinguished from oxalic acid 
 by (1) its plumose crystalline form, seen by evaporating a 
 few drops on a glass slide. (2) By heating a portion on pla- 
 tinum-foil: an ash is left (carbonate of potash), while oxalic 
 acid is entirely dissipated. It may readily be distinguished 
 from the bitartrate of potash (cream of tartar), for which it 
 has been fatally mistaken, by the latter not being precipitated 
 by the sulphate of lime. Lime-water will also serve to dis- 
 tinguish them : it throws down a white precipitate with each, 
 but the tartrate of lime is immediately redissolved by tartaric
 
 POISONING BY TARTARIC ACID. 173 
 
 acid, while the oxalate of lime remains insoluble. Common 
 writing-ink immediately loses its color on being warmed with 
 binoxalate of potassa, but it is unaffected by the bitartrate 
 (Taylor). This salt is a natural constituent of the sorrel, which 
 is used considerably in France as an article of food. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 POISONING BY TARTARIC ACID. CITRIC ACID. ACETIC ACID. 
 
 These acids, although not usually classed among poisons, 
 are nevertheless capable of destroying life, if taken in large 
 doses, and in concentrated strength. 
 
 TARTARIC ACID. This is the acid of grapes, and of a num- 
 ber of other fruits. It occurs in large, oblique, rhombic, color- 
 less crystals ; quite soluble in water; less so in alcohol. It 
 may be recognized by the following characters: (a) Its solution 
 gives no precipitate with nitrate of silver, which distinguishes 
 it from oxalic acid ; (6) on evaporation of a few drops on glass, 
 it yields plumose crystals; (c) it precipitates a solution of 
 potash or its salts, when of moderate strength, as a granular 
 powder (cream of tartar) : this precipitate is facilitated by 
 stirring with a glass rod, or by the addition of a little alco- 
 hol ; (d) when the powdered acid is heated on platinum-foil, 
 it burns with a pale reddish-colored flame, evolving a peculiar 
 odor, and leaving an abundant residue of carbon. 
 
 Several cases of poisoning by this acid are on record. One 
 is mentioned by Dr. Taylor, in which a young man swallowed, 
 by mistake, one ounce of tartaric acid dissolved in half a pint 
 of water. He immediately experienced very violent symp- 
 toms, such as burning in the throat and stomach, the patient 
 comparing his sensations to being on tire. Vomiting set in, 
 and, although the proper antidotes were administered, he died 
 in nine days. On inspection, the whole alimentary canal was 
 found violently inflamed. Another case of fatal poisoning 
 by this acid was published by M. Devergie (Ann. d'Hyg., 
 1851, ii. p. 432); and two cases one of them fatal by M. 
 Tardieu (loc. cit., p. 253). 
 
 The proper treatment is free vomiting, to be followed by 
 the exhibition of the alkaline carbonates, chalk, or magnesia. 
 
 12
 
 174 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The resulting inflammation is to be treated on general prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 From organic mixtures, or contents of the stomach, the acid 
 may be extracted by the process of dialysis (ante, p. 113), or by 
 digestion in alcohol, which will dissolve it, and afterwards 
 deposit it on evaporation. 
 
 CITRIC ACID. This is the acid of lemons. Experiments on 
 animals would seem to show that it is a more powerful poison 
 than tartaric acid. We are not aware that any fatal case of 
 poisoning in the human subject has been reported. 
 
 The proper treatment to be pursued is the same as that 
 pointed out for tartaric acid. 
 
 ACETIC ACID. This acid is found in the shops under several 
 forms. Common vinegar is a very dilute impure variety; it 
 contains on an average from four to five per cent, of acetic 
 acid. The vinegar of commerce frequently contains sulphuric 
 acid as an impurity. 
 
 Pyroligneous acid, or wood vinegar, obtained by the destructive 
 distillation of wood, contains from twenty-five to fifty per 
 cent, of the strong acid. A third form is the concentrated, 
 or pure acetic acid. This is a colorless, pungent liquid, pos- 
 sessing a peculiar odor, acting upon the animal tissues as a 
 violent irritant, or even as a corrosive. 
 
 Orfila reports the case of a young woman who was found 
 dying upon the highway : she suffered from convulsions, 
 complained of great abdominal pain, and died in a short 
 time. On inspection, the stomach was found of a deep-black 
 color, the vessels being gorged with dark coagulated blood. 
 The examination showed that death had been caused by 
 strong acetic acid, which had been taken probably as an 
 abortive. (Toxicologie, ii. p. 198.) 
 
 The treatment is similar to that mentioned for tartan e acid. 
 
 Analysis. Acetic acid in organic mixtures may generally 
 be recognized by its peculiar odor: if this does not suffice, 
 the mixture should be distilled in a glass retort, the distillate 
 neutralized with carbonate of potassa, and evaporated. The 
 resulting acetate of potassa, when distilled with sulphuric acid, 
 yields the pure acetic acid.
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES. 175 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES AND THEIR SALTS ; ALSO BY THE 
 EARTHY SALTS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES. POTASSA. SODA. AMMONIA. 
 
 THE effects of the strong alkalies upon the animal system 
 are very similar to those of the mineral acids : like the latter, 
 in their concentrated state they are powerfully corrosive, 
 attacking the tissues by virtue of their chemical affinities, 
 and causing complete destruction or disorganization of the 
 parts with which they come in contact. Although they are 
 in common use for domestic purposes, they are very seldom 
 taken or administered as poisons, except accidentally. 
 
 Pure caustic potassa and soda are kept almost exclusively 
 in chemical laboratories. The substances generally known 
 as potash and soda are the impure carbonates ; they are sold 
 under the names of potash and pearlash, and soda-ash, and they 
 contain a varied proportion of the true alkali. They are, 
 however, powerfully caustic in their effects, and the remarks 
 that follow have reference to them as well as to the pure 
 alkalies. Their general effects upon the system are so very 
 similar that these may conveniently be considered together. 
 Potassa and soda are usually spoken of as \\\Q fixed alkalies; 
 whilst ammonia is termed the volatile alkali. The latter, to- 
 gether with its salts, is dissipated by heat; while the former 
 remain fixed. By this means they are easily distinguished 
 from each other. 
 
 Symptoms. When swallowed in a concentrated solution, 
 a nauseous, acrid taste is immediately perceived. This is ac- 
 companied by a burning sensation in the throat and gullet, 
 which extends to the stomach, and very soon changes to acute
 
 176 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 and violent pain, which is increased by pressure, and followed 
 by excessive vomiting of mucous matters mixed with blood. 
 Sometimes the very acrid and nauseous taste of the substance 
 causes it to be immediately rejected from the mouth without 
 being swallowed. Purging of stringy mucus mixed with 
 blood soon comes on. There is difficulty of swallowing, 
 with hoarseness of voice, and cough. Great muscular pros- 
 tration soon occurs, with small and frequent pulse, clammy 
 perspiration, and other evidences of collapse. If death does 
 not come on very soon, there may be sloughing of the fauces, 
 with increased difficulty of swallowing, constant vomiting of 
 bloody mucus, and tenesmus. Stricture of the oasophagus 
 is a veVy common result, as in the case of poisoning by the 
 mineral acids. The patient may live for months, suffer- 
 ing greatly, and at last perish from starvation, owing to 
 an inability to swallow food. 
 
 The effects of swallowing a strong solution of ammonia are 
 similar to those occasioned by the fixed alkalies, except that 
 they are occasionally more severe and rapid in their action. 
 Cases are recorded where death ensued in six hours; and one 
 is quoted by Sir R. Christison (On Poisons, p. 194), in which 
 a quantity of liquid ammonia poured into the mouth of a man 
 who had been bitten by a mad dog, destroyed life in four 
 minutes. In this case, it is highly probable that the fatal event 
 was hastened by the irritant impression of the vapor upon the 
 organs of respiration. Dr. Tayior records the case of a gentle- 
 man who died in three days after swallowing a solution of 
 ammonia by mistake. The rapor of ammonia has frequently 
 proved fatal from being accidentally or incautiously inhaled. 
 If the patient survives the primary effects of poisoning from 
 solution of ammonia, he is more likely to recover ultimately, 
 than from poisoning by potash or soda. 
 
 Fatal dose. As in the case of the corrosive acids, the fatal 
 result in poisoning by the alkalies depends rather upon the 
 degree of concentration, than upon the mere quantity taken. 
 The smallest fatal dose recorded is in a case mentioned by 
 Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 328), where an ounce and a half 
 of the common solution of potash of the shops, containing 
 about forty grains, proved fatal to an adult in seven weeks.
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES. MORBID APPEARANCES. 177 
 
 Several other cases have occurred in which half an ounce 
 caused death. In each of these instances, death was due to 
 the secondary effects of the poison. 
 
 Strong solution of ammonia has proved fatal in the dose of 
 two drachms. But instances of recovery from taking this 
 alkali are more frequent than from the others. Cases are 
 on record in which persons have survived after swallowing 
 more than an ounce of liquor ammonias. 
 
 Treatment. In all cases of poisoning by the alkalies or 
 their carbonates, the prompt use of some of the mild vege- 
 table acids is indicated: vinegar and water, or lemon-juice, 
 answers well. Large quantities of olive oil, or of other bland 
 oil, are also useful : these act by converting the alkali into 
 a soap. Copious draughts of milk have also been recom- 
 mended. The stomach-pump should not be used, on account 
 of the risk of perforating the oesophagus. In poisoning by 
 vapor of ammonia, the inhalation of the vapor of acetic acid 
 would be beneficial. The resulting inflammatory symptoms 
 should be treated upon general principles. 
 
 Morbid appearances. In acute cases, the lining membrane 
 of the throat and gullet is softened and corroded, the oesoph- 
 agus, stomach, and intestines are inflamed, their mucous 
 membrane abraded more or less in patches; sometimes there 
 are extravasations of disorganized blood upon the walls of 
 these organs, giving them a blackish appearance. As in the 
 case of the mineral acids, we may sometimes find large por- 
 tions of the epithelium detached from the mouth, gullet, 
 and stomach. In chronic cases, besides the above appear- 
 ances, there is usually great contraction of the oesophagus 
 and stomach. The walls of the stomach are also sometimes 
 much thickened, and the lining membrane completely de- 
 stroyed. Sometimes the larynx and bronchi are implicated : 
 this is particularly apt to be the case in poisoning by am- 
 monia. 
 
 In the case of poisoning by ammonia quoted above, which 
 proved fatal in three days, the lining membrane of the 
 trachea and bronchi was softened, and covered with layers 
 of false membrane, whilst the larger bronchi were com- 
 pletely obstructed by casts of this membrane. The mucous
 
 178 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 membrane of the gullet was softened, and the lower end 
 of the tube completely destroyed. The anterior wall of the 
 stomach contained an aperture about an inch and a half 
 in diameter, through which the contents of the organ had 
 escaped. The blackened and congested appearance of the 
 lining membrane somewhat resembled that seen in poisoning 
 by sulphuric or oxalic acid. The immediate cause of death 
 was asphyxia, resulting from inflammation of the air-tubes. 
 No trace of ammonia could be detected by chemical analysis, 
 after death. 
 
 Chemical properties of the alkalies. The alkalies as a class 
 are distinguished from all other bodies by their not being 
 precipitated either by sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphide of 
 ammonium, or carbonate of ammonia. From their carbonates 
 they are easily distinguished by the action of an acid, as 
 hydrochloric, which causes effervescence with the latter (from 
 the escape of carbonic acid), but not with the former. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate produces with the fixed alkalies a 
 yellow precipitate, insoluble in an excess of the alkali ; with 
 ammonia, it causes a white precipitate, soluble in an excess 
 of the reagent. 
 
 All the alkalies possess in common the properties of neu- 
 tralizing acids; of browning a solution of turmeric; and 
 of restoring the blue color to reddened litmus. They unite 
 with oils and fats to form soaps. 
 
 The special chemical properties of the three alkalies will 
 now be considered separately. 
 
 Chemical analysis of Potassa and its carbonate. Caustic 
 potassa, when pure, occurs generally in the form of thin 
 sticks, nearly white. It is very deliquescent, and if exposed 
 to the air it absorbs carbonic acid, and is thus partially con- 
 verted into the carbonate. It is very soluble in water, and 
 also in alcohol : the latter property enables us to separate it 
 from the carbonate, which is insoluble in alcohol. The im- 
 pure carbonate (potash and pearlash) occurs in grayish-white 
 masses: like the former, it is highly alkaline; it has an uncj- 
 tuous feel, is very acrid to the taste, and is freely soluble in 
 water. The pure carbonate (salt of tartar) occurs in white 
 granules: its properties are similar to those of the others.
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES. TESTS. 179 
 
 A solution of potash, or of its compounds, is distinguished 
 (1) by bichloride of platinum, which precipitates from it, if not 
 too dilute, the yellow double chloride of platinum and potas- 
 sium, which soon assumes the form of beautiful octahedral 
 crystals. These are well shown with a drop or two of the 
 reagents under the microscope. According to Prof. Wormley 
 (Micro-Chem. of Pois., p. 75), one five-hundredth of a grain 
 of potash in the form of chloride, in one drop of water, will 
 exhibit this test satisfactorily. 
 
 Fallacy. Bichloride of platinum will yield a similar yellow 
 crystalline precipitate with the salts of ammonia: the ab- 
 sence of these must therefore first be secured before the 
 presence of potassa can be established. This may easily 
 be done by heating a little of the suspected liquid in a 
 test-tube along with hj-drate of lime, or caustic potash : if 
 ammonia be present, the strong odor of this alkali will be 
 perceived. Or the yellow precipitate may be dried and heated 
 to redness: the potassium compound will be resolved into 
 chloride of potassium and metallic platinum; while the am- 
 monium compound will leave only a residue of metallic 
 platinum. The action of nitrate of silver upon the solutions 
 of these two residues will at once show the difference, by 
 yielding a precipitate (chloride of silver) with the former, 
 but none with the latter. 
 
 (2) Tartarie acid, or the tartrate of soda, throws down from. 
 a rather strong solution of potassa and its salts a white crys- 
 talline precipitate of cream of tartar. If the potash solution 
 is dilute, the precipitate is retarded; but it may be hastened 
 by stirring with a glass rod, when it shows itself in streaks 
 upon the sides of the tube; it is also facilitated by the addi- 
 tion of alcohol. The precipitate is soluble in the mineral 
 acids, and in the free alkalies and their carbonates. Hence, 
 when a salt of potassa, e.g. the nitrate, is treated with free 
 tartaric acid, unless the former be in strong solution, the 
 nitric acid which is set free by decomposition may prevent 
 the precipitation of cream of tartar. On this account it has 
 been recommended to employ the acid tartrate of soda in 
 preference to the free tartaric acid, as the reagent. This is 
 made quite readily by dividing a strong solution of tartaric
 
 180 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 acid into two equal parts; neutralizing one of them with 
 pure carbonate of soda, and then adding the other. 
 
 In using the above test, the absence of ammonia should 
 first be proved, silice this alkali yields a similar precipitate 
 with the reagent. 
 
 (3) It is readily distinguished from soda by neutralizing 
 with dilute nitric acid, and evaporating on a slip of glass: 
 the crystals exhibit the characteristic appearance of nitrate 
 of potassa long and slender prisms. Soda, treated in the 
 same manner, yields rhombic plates. 
 
 (4) Heated on a clean platinum wire in the reducing flame 
 of the blowpipe, potassium compounds impart a violet color 
 to the flame. This color may, however, be completely dis- 
 guised if there is the smallest portion of soda present, which 
 would give a bright-yellow color to the flame. 
 
 Other tests have been proposed, but they are of inferior 
 value. These are carbazotic or pieric acid, perchloric acid, and 
 hydrofluosilicic acid. 
 
 The spectrum process will detect the minutest portion of 
 any potassium compound, producing two distinct and well- 
 marked lines or bands one red, and the other indigo-blue. 
 (See Quar. Jour, of Chem. Soc., Oct. 1860.) 
 
 In organic mixtures. The solution will possess a strong alka- 
 line reaction, unless previously neutralized, and a soapy feel : 
 the absence of ammonia should fi^t be established (ante, p, 
 179). The mass may next be evaporated to dry ness, and then 
 heated to redness in a capsule, to char the organic matters. It 
 is then to be digested in water, and filtered: the alkali will 
 be recovered in the form of carbonate. If it is desired to sepa- 
 rate any free alkali from its carbonate, in the original mass, 
 this may be effected by evaporating carefully to dry ness, and 
 digesting the cooled residue in absolute alcohol, which will 
 dissolve out the alkali, and leave the carbonate and other 
 salts, together with most of the organic matters, untouched. 
 The alcoholic solution is now concentrated by evaporation, 
 neutralized by hydrochloric acid, and tested as above; or, if 
 much organic matter is present, the alcoholic residue should 
 be treated as above mentioned, and the residue dissolved in 
 water; and the solution examined in the ordinary manner.
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES. TESTS FOR SODA. 181 
 
 Quantitative estimate. Potash is estimated quantitatively by 
 precipitating it as chloride of platinum and potassium (see 
 ante, p. 179). The precipitate should be washed with strong 
 alcohol, and then collected on a weighed filter, washed again, 
 dried, and weighed. Every 100 parts by weight of the double 
 salt thus ob'taiued represent 22.5 parts of caustic potassa, or 
 28.25 parts of anhydrous carbonate. 
 
 Chemical analysis of Soda and its carbonate. The general 
 appearance and characters of caustic soda are very similar 
 to those of caustic potassa. The impure carbonate (soda-ash) 
 occurs in granular lumps. The pure carbonate is in the 
 form of large colorless crystals; it contains much water 
 of crystallization. They effloresce, on exposure to the air, 
 and are quite soluble in water, but not in alcohol. All the 
 soda compounds are soluble in water, except the antimoniate, 
 carbazotate, and tartrate. 
 
 (1) Antimoniate of potassa will throw down from a strong 
 solution of a soda salt a white, crystalline antimoniate of 
 soda. The presence of the carbonate of potassa prevents 
 the above precipitation, in consequence of dissolving it. As 
 many of the metallic salts are likewise precipitated by this 
 reagent, their absence should first be ascertained before con- 
 cluding that the precipitate is a soda compound. 
 
 (2) Polarized light, as first suggested by Prof. Andrews 
 (Chem. Gaz., x. p. 378), affords a beautiful method of dis- 
 tinguishing soda and its compounds from potassa. Bichlo- 
 ride of platinum, which precipitates the latter, has no such 
 effect upon the former alkali, although it forms with it the 
 double chloride of platinum and sodium. The latter salt 
 possesses the depolarizing action ; but the former does not. 
 The method of applying the test is as follows. A drop of 
 the alkaline solution (converted into the chloride) is placed 
 on a glass slide, and a drop. of the solution of bichloride of 
 platinum is added, avoiding any excess. The mixture is 
 evaporated by a gentle heat until it begins to crystallize ; it 
 is then placed in the field of a microscope furnished with 
 a good polarizer. On turning the analyzer till the field be- 
 comes perfectly dark, and carefully excluding the light later- 
 ally, the crystals exhibit a beautiful display of colors ; whilst
 
 182 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 if no soda be present, but only the bichloride of platinum, 
 or potassa, no effect is produced. Prof. Andrews states that 
 this test is so extremely delicate that he obtained by it a 
 distinct reaction from a quantity of chloride of sodium 
 representing only about one eight-hundred-and-twenty-five- 
 thousandth. part of a grain of anhydrous alkali. 
 
 Prof. "Worm ley confirms the delicacy of the above test 
 (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 86). He recommends to evap- 
 orate the mixture on the glass spontaneously, and not to 
 use heat: by this means, larger crystals of the double salt 
 are observed. 
 
 (3) Both carbazotic and tartaric acids will cause crystalline 
 precipitates in concentrated solutions of soda, which are quite 
 distinct in appearance from the corresponding salts of potassa. 
 These tests, however, are inferior in value to the preceding 
 ones. 
 
 (4) Heated on a clean platinum wire in the blowpipe 
 flame, it imparts to it a bright-yellow color. The spectrum 
 process also yields a very characteristic yellow band. 
 
 The mode of detection of soda in organic mixture is the 
 sjime as that employed in the case of potassa. 
 
 Chemical analysis of Ammonia and its salts. Solution of am- 
 monia (Aqua or Liquor Ammonias) is a colorless limpid fluid, 
 having a very strong pungent odor, an acrid alkaline taste, 
 and a strong alkaline reaction. When heated, gaseous 
 ammonia is given off; and when evaporated to dryness, it 
 leaves no residue. It gives to a solution of sulphate of 
 copper a characteristic purple color. 
 
 The salts of ammonia are colorless, and volatilize when 
 heated. They are mostly soluble in water. Heated with 
 the fixed alkalies, or with hydrate of lime, they readily de- 
 compose, evolving the characteristic odor of ammonia. If 
 the experiment be performed in a small test-tube, and a 
 piece of moistened reddened litmus-paper be placed within 
 the tube, the disengaged ammoniacal gas will very soon re- 
 store the blue color to the paper; and if a glass rod holding 
 a drop or two of hydrochloric acid be held over the mouth 
 of the tube, the characteristic white fumes of chloride of 
 ammonium will be observed.
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALIES. TESTS FOR AMMONIA. 183 
 
 The above methods are amply sufficient to demonstrate 
 the presence of ammonia or its salts. Several other cor- 
 roborative tests may, however, be employed. These are bi- 
 chloride of platinum, which gives with ammonia a precipitate 
 (chloride of platinum and ammonium) very similar in color 
 and crystalline form to that obtained from potash. The 
 mode of distinguishing between them has been pointed out 
 above (p. 179). Tartaric acid and the acid tartrate of soda yield 
 with solutions of ammonia a precipitate almost identical in 
 appearance with that given by potassa. Carbazotic acid like- 
 wise throws down from solutions of ammonia a precipitate 
 of yellow crystals, differing, however, in appearance from 
 the corresponding precipitates with the fixed alkalies. 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia is at once distinguished from the 
 pure alkali, by its effervescing with acids. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. Unless present in very minute 
 quantity, free ammonia will always be made evident by its 
 odor, and by its alkaline reaction. Both ammonia and its car- 
 bonate may be separated from organic mixtures by distillation 
 at a moderate heat, and collecting the vapors by means of a 
 small bent delivery-tube beneath a small quantity of water 
 contained in a well-cooled receiver. The solution of am- 
 monia thus obtained can be tested in the ordinary manner. 
 
 If there is no evidence of ammonia in the distillate after 
 conducting the process for some time, this would be proof 
 that there is no free alkali or its volatile salt present. It 
 might, however, be in the retort in the form of one of the 
 more fixed salts. To ascertain this, the contents of the retort 
 are to be treated with strong alcohol, which will coagulate 
 the organic matter; filter the solution, and distill it along 
 with some hydrate of lime, or solution of potassa. Any 
 ammoniacal salt will now undergo decomposition, and free 
 ammonia will come over, and may be received under water, 
 or in a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid. 
 
 It should be remembered that all animal matters in a state 
 of decomposition give out ammonia: hence it maybe im- 
 possible, under such conditions, to decide upon the true source 
 of the alkali. In a medico-legal case, we would be materi- 
 ally aided in the investigation by the quantity of the poison
 
 184 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 recovered, and also by the s}'mptoms and the post-mortem 
 appearances. 
 
 Quantitative determination. This is effected by precipitating 
 the whole of the ammonia as a double chloride of ammonium 
 and platinum; and proceeding as in the case of potassium (ante, 
 p. 181). Every 100 parts of the double salt represent 7.62 parts 
 of pure ammonia. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY THE ALKALINE AND EAKTHT SALTS. NITRATE OF POTASSA. 
 BITARTRATE OF POTASSA. SULPHATE OF POTASSA. ALUM. CHLORINATED 
 POTASSA AND SODA. SALTS OF BARYTA. 
 
 NITRATE OF POTASSA (Nitre. Saltpetre). This well-known 
 salt is extensively used in the arts; and also in medicine in 
 small doses, as a sedative and diuretic. It occurs in long 
 six-sided prismatic crystals (common saltpetre); and in white 
 globular masses and cakes, made by fusion (sal prunelle). Its 
 taste is peculiar, cooling but sharp; it is very soluble in 
 water. It deflagrates when thrown upon hot coals, and yields 
 nitrous fumes by the action of sulphuric acid. The crude 
 salt of commerce contains chloride of sodium : hence, when 
 acted upon by sulphuric acid, it may give off chlorine, or 
 hydrochloric acid gas. 
 
 This salt constitutes an exception to the general effect of 
 neutralization on the local irritants. Both its acid and its 
 alkali are simple, though powerful, irritants; yet the com- 
 pound salt, although inferior, is still energetic. But its 
 action is something more than merely irritant, since experi- 
 ence shows that it often causes symptoms which indicate its 
 influence upon the nervous centres. 
 
 In small doses, as five to ten grains, it is a valuable medi- 
 cine. Its poisonous effects appear to be owing to its degree 
 of concentration, rather than to the mere quantity of the salt. 
 Thus, it has often been administered medicinally in doses of 
 half an ounce to two ounces in the twenty-four hours, diffused 
 in large quantities of barley-water, or other diluent, without 
 any injurious effect. There can be no doubt, however, that 
 a like quantity taken atone dose, and in a concentrated form, 
 would cause most serious, and even fatal, results.
 
 POISONING BY NITRATE OF POTASSA. 185 
 
 Symptoms. The experiments of Orfila and others upon 
 animals show that this salt has a twofold action, the one 
 irritating, and the other narcotic. Death was preceded by 
 giddiness, slight convulsions, dilated pupil, insensibility, and 
 paralysis. In man, the usual symptoms are vomiting, some- 
 times of blood, violent burning pain in the throat and stom- 
 ach, followed by coldness of skin, weak and frequent pulse, 
 bloody stools, collapse, and death. Nervous symptoms, such 
 as tremors, spasms, loss of speech and sensation, and hallu- 
 cinations, are sometimes exhibited. Occasionally, when very 
 large doses have been taken, the local symptoms have been 
 comparatively slight, whilst the impression on the nervous 
 centres is more decided. 
 
 Fatal dose. In a case recorded by Dr. Beck, a dose of salt- 
 petre, taken in mistake for Glauber's salt, proved fatal to an 
 aged man in half an hour. Ortila quotes the case of a lady 
 who swallowed an ounce of nitre by mistake for other salts. 
 In a quarter of an hour she suffered from nausea, vomiting, 
 and purging; and the muscles of the face were convulsed. 
 The pulse was weak, the respiration feeble, and the limbs 
 cold. There was a sense of burning and severe pain in 
 the stomach. She died in three hours after taking the dose. 
 On inspection, the stomach was found highly inflamed, and 
 the mucous membrane detached in various parts. Near the 
 pylorus, the inflammation was of a gangrenous character. 
 (Toxicologie, i. p. 355.) Dr. Taylor mentions a case of a man 
 who took nearly an ounce aud a half of nitre by mistake for 
 salts. Severe pain of the abdomen, with vomiting, followed, 
 but no purging. He died in two hours after taking the dose. 
 The post-mortem examination revealed a condition of the 
 stomach similar to that of the preceding case. (On Poisons, p. 
 306.) In other instances, the symptoms were those of the 
 most violent cholera, but were more protracted than in the 
 cases above mentioned. 
 
 The largest dose recorded to have been taken is mentioned 
 in Wharton aud Stille's Medical Jurisprudence, 1873, ii. p. 
 334. A German by mistake swallowed three ounces and a half 
 of the salt. He complained of but slight pain or sense of heat 
 in the stomach, and was purged three times within three or four
 
 186 MA> 7 UAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 hours. About five hours after taking the nitre, he suddenly 
 fell out of his chair, and expired. There was no post-mortem 
 examination. In this case there was a remarkable absence 
 of the usual signs of local irritation and inflammation. The 
 poison seems to have acted after the manner of a shock, or, 
 as has been suggested, by destroying the vitality of the blood. 
 The rigor mortis was very imperfect, and the countenance 
 and lips retained their life-like appearance, to a remarkable 
 degree, for three days after death. 
 
 Numerous instances have occurred of recovery after taking 
 large doses of saltpetre, varying from half an ounce to two 
 ounces. In some of these cases the sufferings of the patient 
 were very severe, and lasted for several months. 
 
 Post-mortem, appearances. The eft'ects of this substance in 
 a poisonous dose are observed chiefly in the stomach, which 
 is usually found much inflamed, mottled with dark-colored 
 patches, and the mucous membrane partially detached. The 
 small intestines have exhibited a similar appearance. The 
 contents of the stomach are sometimes deeply tinged with 
 blood. Perforation has been observed in one instance. 
 
 Treatment. There is no chemical antidote. Free vomiting 
 should be encouraged, and mucilaginous drinks copiously 
 taken. The symptoms of depression should be met with the 
 use of stimulants, opium, camphor, etc.; antiphlogistics may 
 be required to combat the inflammatory symptoms. 
 
 Chemical analysis. (See NITRIC ACID, ante, p. 152.) The 
 researches of VVohler prove that nitre is absorbed into the 
 circulation, and eliminated by the urine, in which secretion it 
 has been detected by chemical reagents. Orfila states that he 
 detected it in the liver, spleen, kidneys, and urine of animals 
 poisoned by it. (Ann. d'Hyg., 1842, ii. p. 434.) 
 
 BITARTRATE OP POTASSA (Cream of Tartar}. This salt, al- 
 though not generally considered poisonous, has destroyed 
 life in at least one instance, where an adult male took about 
 two ounces, and died in forty-eight hours, with symptoms 
 and post-mortem appearances much resembling those caused 
 by nitrate of potassa. 
 
 It is usually found in the shops as a white powder: it lias 
 an agreeable acid taste, and is sparingly soluble in water.
 
 POISONING BY SULPHATE OF POTASSA. 187 
 
 "When heated on platinum-foil, it is converted into carbon and 
 carbonate of potassa : the latter is recognized by its effer- 
 vescing with acids. When mixed with organic liquids, owing 
 to its sparing solubility, it is generally found as a sediment. 
 
 The treatment is similar to that recommended for poisoning 
 by nitrate of potash. A dilute solution of the bicarbonate 
 of potassa may be advantageously given, as it reduces the 
 bitartrate to the condition of the neutral tartrate a harmless 
 salt. 
 
 SULPHATE OF POTASSA. This salt, like the two former 
 ones, has given rise to violent and fatal symptoms, when 
 taken in large doses. Ten drachms given in divided doses 
 proved fatal to a French lady, within a week of her confine- 
 ment, in two hours, with the symptoms and post-mortem ap- 
 pearances of an irritant poison. It has occasionally been 
 used in Europe, particularly in France, as an abortive; and 
 has proved fatal in this way. The fatal dose may be con- 
 sidered to be from one to two ounces. 
 
 Sulphate of potash has been found to be occasionally con- 
 taminated with arseniate of potash. M. Bussy found this 
 poison in a sample supplied by a wholesale house of Paris 
 (Pharm. Jour'., May, 1872, p. 954). This impurity might be 
 derived from the arsenical sulphuric acid, in its manufacture. 
 It would be proper to test for arsenic any sample of the 
 sulphate which causes irritation. Arsenic may thus find its 
 way into all medicines in which sulphate of potash is used, 
 e.g. Dover's powder. 
 
 Chemical analysis. Sulphate of potassa is easily recog- 
 nized: it is in the form of hard colorless crystals, soluble 
 in water. Its solution exhibits, with the appropriate tests, 
 the presence of both sulphuric acid and potassa. 
 
 As Dr. Taylor justly observes, there is no doubt that the 
 most simple purgative salts may, under certain circum- 
 stances, and when given in very large doses, destroy life. 
 Instances have already been cited (ante, p. 16) where both 
 sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salt) and chloride of sodium 
 (common salt) caused death, and gave rise to a suspicion of 
 poisoning. 
 
 ALUM (Sulphate of Alumina and Potassa}, in large doses, occa-
 
 188 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 sions severe irritation of the stomach and bowels, causing 
 violent vomiting, and sometimes purging. Orfila found it to 
 prove fatal to animals to which he had given it, in the course 
 of a few hours (Ann. d'Hyg., 1842, ii. p. 433). No authentic 
 record exists of death in the human subject, resulting from 
 alum. 
 
 The proper treatment consists in promoting the evacuation 
 of the stomach by warm diluent drinks, and the administra- 
 tion of hydrate of magnesia. 
 
 Chemical analysis. Alum is a colorless salt, crystallizing in 
 octahedra, and soluble in water; having a sourish, astringent 
 taste; exposed to heat, it fuses and parts with its water of 
 crystallization, being converted into dried or burnt alum. Its 
 solution will indicate sulphuric acid by nitrate of baryta, 
 potash by bichloride of platinum, and alumina by potash, 
 which precipitates it as a white hydrate, soluble in an excess 
 of the reagent. 
 
 CHLORINATED POTASSA AND SODA. These salts are im- 
 properly named chlorides of potassa and soda: they are 
 hypochlorites. They are frequently known under the name 
 of bleaching salts, or powders, and are much used, particularly 
 in France, by washerwomen for cleansing clothes. In that 
 country they are commonly known by the name of Veau de 
 Javellc. 
 
 The following admirable medico-legal report, by MM. 
 Tardieu and Roussin, of a case of fatal poisoning by chlo- 
 rinated soda, is abridged from their work, Sur V Empoisonne- 
 ment. It presents a very satisfactory description of its effects 
 and of the proper method to be pursued for the detection of 
 this poison : 
 
 " A child aged six months had been failing in health for 
 some days, without any known cause. Its mother had no- 
 ticed on several occasions that its lips were strangely white 
 and inflamed, and that its breath had a disagreeable odor, 
 smelling of the eau de Javelle. Coming home one day un- 
 expectedly, she surprised her husband in the act of forcibly 
 giving the child something from a bottle. She seized the 
 child, and likewise the bottle, and ran off to give the alarm. 
 In a few days after, the infant died. On examination, the
 
 POISONING BY CHLORINATED SODA. 189 
 
 alimentary canal was found inflamed, though not violently so. 
 Certain experts employed to clear up the case were not able 
 to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion, and the matter was 
 finally submitted by the authorities to us, with instructions 
 to make a full examination, and report upon the following 
 points : (1) Is not the eau de Javelle, even when diluted and 
 given iu divided doses, a poisonous substance, especially to 
 a child six or seven months old? (2) Might not the gradual 
 absorption of this liquid cause death, without leaving direct 
 traces of the poison ? (3) Are not the peculiar odor of this 
 liquid exhaled by the breath, the persistent irritation of the 
 alimentary canal, the vomiting, and the failing health, certain 
 symptoms of poisoning by this liquid? 
 
 "The mouth-piece of the vial, submitted for examination, 
 was composed of an alloy of tin and lead. It presented on the 
 interior a whitish spot, slightly adherent, which on analysis 
 proved to consist of the chloride and carbonate of lead. A 
 glass bottle, containing a liquid of a light pinkish color, gave 
 out the distinct odor of hypochlorous acid and chlorine : the 
 analysis of this liquid showed it to be composed exclusively 
 of hypochlorite of soda. It was the opinion of the previous 
 expert, that the liquid swallowed was hypochlorite of potassa. 
 
 "The different organs and liquids mentioned below, with 
 the exception of the bottle, gave out no odor of either hypo- 
 chlorous acid or chlorine : and this could not be other- 
 wise, for reasons given farther on. It should also be re- 
 membered that the method used to preserve the organs, by 
 the inconsiderate use of alcohol, was calculated to destroy 
 the last traces of any hypochlorite that might be present. 
 This salt, naturally very unstable, is instantly decomposed, 
 by the mere contact with alcohol, into products that possess 
 none of the characteristic properties of the original. 
 
 " The hypochlorites of potash and soda, so much used in 
 the arts, contain a very storehouse of gaseous chlorine, con- 
 densed under a solid or liquid form. As soon as these hypo- 
 chlorites come in contact with the atmosphere, or with an 
 acid, or with organic matters, chlorine is gradually liberated ; 
 and, acting according to its natural affinities, it combines 
 with hydrogen, corrodes, disinfects, decolorizes, etc., accord- 
 
 13
 
 190 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ing to the nature of the substances on which it acts. The 
 uniform and speedy result of this reaction is the complete 
 destruction of the hypochlorite, and the production simply 
 of an inert chloride. 
 
 " The precise bearing of the above on a medico-legal case 
 is, that after poisoning with a hypochlorite, even though di- 
 luted, and although the examination be made immediately 
 after death, not only will there be a failure to detect the 
 poison, but it will be impossible to recover a trace of free 
 chlorine, or of a hypochlorite. . . . 
 
 "In the special case .before us, the evidence was clear that 
 if the poisoning was occasioned by the eau de Javelle, it must 
 have been administered in small doses repeated, since the 
 child was suffering for a considerable time, and died two 
 months after the first symptoms were manifested. As it was 
 also certain that none of the poison could have been taken 
 within six days of death, it was still more impossible, either 
 by the autopsy or by the chemical examination, to recognize 
 the presence of either chlorine or a hypochlorite. The slight 
 traces of the toxic agent had long since been transformed, and, 
 to a great extent, had been eliminated from the economy. 
 
 " As to the poisonous effects of these hypochlorites there 
 can be no doubt. If taken in their concentrated state, they 
 may occasion death very rapidly; and even when diluted, 
 and taken in small but repeated doses, their deadly action, 
 although retarded, is not the less certain. The peculiar and 
 characteristic odor of the hypochlorites may easily be recog- 
 nized in the breath of a person who has just swallowed a 
 dose of the compound : this affords a very excellent proof of 
 the presence of the poison. 
 
 " From the preceding facts, it follows that the chemical 
 examination for a hypochlorite, several days after death, 
 can yield no positive result, if directed to the detection of 
 free chlorine or hypochlorous acid. For a solution of the 
 problem we must examine the new products resulting from 
 the reaction of the suspected poison, either upon the organs 
 of the body, or upon matters connected with the deceased. 
 In this connection, we derived valuable results from the ex- 
 amination of the urine and kidneys of the deceased child.
 
 POISONING BY CHLORINATED SODA. 191 
 
 " The urine contained a notable quantity of the chloride of 
 sodium, more than half as much again as is usually found in 
 the urine of children of that age. The kidney subjected to 
 complete incineration in a porcelain crucible, likewise fur- 
 nished an abnormal amount of chloride of sodium. The other 
 organs, and the contents of the stomach, contained much 
 smaller quantities. Without wishing to draw any absolute 
 conclusion from these facts, we may remark that the admin- 
 istration of the hypochlorite of soda internally would have 
 precisely the effect of causing an increase of chloride of so- 
 dium in the kidneys and the urine, this being the ultimate 
 product of the decomposition of the hypochlorite. 
 
 " The ordinary alloys of lead and tin, so much employed in 
 domestic use, are not sensibly acted upon by neutral liquids, 
 especially by milk. It is quite otherwise, however, when they 
 are in contact with the hypochlorites, even if dilute. The 
 first effect of the contact would be the formation of the chlo- 
 ride of lead, in the form of a white deposit. This is precisely 
 what was found on the inside of the mouth-piece seized. 
 
 "Finally, the former experts had discovered that one of 
 the little child's caps was stained with numerous spots of a 
 reddish-white color, in the part corresponding to the back of 
 the head. In our opinion, the formation of such stains on a 
 stuff' of black woolen, together with their very position, has 
 a significance that deserves the closest attention. In fact, 
 black stuff's generally resist the action of ordinary liquids, 
 and are deprived of their color only by very powerful agents, 
 among which the hypochlorites of commerce occupy the very 
 first rank as decolorizing agents. Any fabric dyed black, if 
 touched with a solution of a hypochlorite, however lightly, 
 will assume a reddish-brown tint. So, also, the discovery 
 of these stains, especially on the back part of the head, may 
 be easily accounted for. Supposing the poison to have been 
 given to the child, it would naturally be in the recumbent 
 posture, and some of the liquid w r ould be very apt to flow 
 (from the instinctive regurgitation and movements of the 
 child), first along the commissure of the lips, then along 
 the ears, until it would finally accumulate at the back of the 
 head, precisely on the borders of the cap, where most of the
 
 192 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 stains were found. One of the former experts mentioned a 
 superficial inflammation of the cheek and the left ear, for 
 which he could not account. This latter circumstance, taken 
 in connection with the former facts, is not without peculiar 
 significance." 
 
 The conclusion arrived at was : " That the abnormal pro- 
 portion of chloride of sodium found in the kidneys and urine 
 of the deceased, the formation of the chloride of lead on the 
 metallic mouth-piece, the presence of numerous stains of a 
 reddish-white color on one of the black woolen caps of the 
 child, the superficial inflammation of its cheek and left ear, 
 the peculiar and characteristic odor of its breath, noticed 
 on various occasions by its mother, and the discovery of a 
 bottle containing hypochlorite of soda, among other articles 
 seized by the officers of the law, constitute, by their precise 
 and logical connection, a series of facts which warrant the 
 conclusion that the case is one of poisoning by hypochlorite 
 of soda. 
 
 " There is no doubt that the hypochlorite of either soda or 
 potash, even when diluted with water and administered in 
 small doses, is of a poisonous nature, especially in the case 
 of a child six or seven months old. Moreover, it is certain 
 that the gradual absorption of this substance under the con- 
 ditions specified might determine a fatal result, without 
 leaving in the organs any material traces of the poison. 
 
 " The peculiar characteristic odor of the hypochlorites is 
 one of the most valuable indications of poisoning by this sub- 
 stance. The continued irritation of the intestinal canal, the 
 vomiting, and the wasting of the body are decided symptoms 
 of poisoning by the eau de Javelle." 
 
 SALTS OF BARYTA. The chloride and carbonate are the two 
 most poisonous salts of baryta. The former has on several 
 occasions been taken by mistake for Epsom salt, and some- 
 times with fatal effect. The symptoms are those of fhe irri- 
 tants generally (see ante, p. 135), with the addition of violent 
 nervous symptoms, sucli as cramps, convulsions, headache, 
 excessive debility, dimness of sight and double vision, noises 
 in the ears, and violent palpitation of the heart.
 
 IRRITANTS HAVING REMOTE SPECIFIC PROPERTIES. 193 
 
 The morbid appearances are similar to those produced by 
 the alkalies generally. In one case, in which death took 
 place in two hours, the stomach was found perforated (Guy's 
 Forensic Medicine, p. 417). 
 
 Chemical characters. The chloride of barium occurs in ir- 
 regular tabular crystals, soluble in water; it has an acrid taste. 
 In solution, it is precipitated by sulphuric acid, or a soluble 
 sulphate, as the white sulphate of baryta, insoluble in the 
 strong acids; and by nitrate of silver, as the white chloride 
 of silver, insoluble in nitric acid, but very soluble in am- 
 monia. 
 
 Carbonate of baryta, although less powerful as a poison than 
 the chloride, has destroyed life in several cases. The symp- 
 toms are similar to those produced by the chloride. 
 
 It is a- white, insoluble powder, effervescing with acids ; 
 completely soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, from which it 
 crystallizes out by evaporation as the chloride, which may 
 be tested as before mentioned. 
 
 The proper treatment for poisoning with a barytic salt is 
 the free use of sulphate of soda or magnesia as an antidote ; 
 emetics, or the stomach-pump; diluents; and the subsequent 
 use of antiphlogistic remedies. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IRRITANTS HAVING REMOTE SPECIFIC PROPERTIES. 
 
 THIS subdivision of Irritant Poisons differs from the Sim- 
 ple Irritants, in adding to the ordinary symptoms of irritation 
 and inflammation of the stoniach and bowels common to the 
 former, certain other symptoms which indicate an impression 
 upon the great nervous centres. Several of the alkaline and 
 earthy salts, already described, are of this character, and might 
 have been, very properly, considered under the present head; 
 but they were more conveniently, and perhaps more natu- 
 rally, discussed in connection with the Alkalies.
 
 194 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. 
 
 Phosphorus is one of the most universally diffused chem- 
 ical constituents of the animal body: there is not an organ, 
 tissue, or fluid in which it is not found in a state of com- 
 bination. Its presence is essential to the performance of 
 their normal functions; and this is especially true in relation 
 to the great nervous centres, of which it constitutes a com- 
 paratively large proportional part. 
 
 Nevertheless, in \tafree state, phosphorus is a most violent 
 poison ; and although it is not often employed with homi- 
 cidal intent, at least in this country (as its odor, taste, and 
 luminosity would be very apt to reveal its presence), several 
 instances have been reported in England where such attempts 
 have been made, but which were happily frustrated through 
 the means just mentioned. Cases of phosphorus-poisoning 
 of an accidental and suicidal character have, of late years, 
 become very frequent, especially in France, where, accord- 
 ing to Tardieu, it heads the list of all the poisons, being 
 far more frequently used in that country than even arsenic. 
 This may be accounted for from the facility with which the 
 
 / v 
 
 poison may be procured, in the shape of the common lucifer- 
 matches, and vermin-paste, both of which contain it in con- 
 siderable quantity. 
 
 Symptoms. Although phosphorus is a violent irritant poi- 
 son, yet, as a rule, its symptoms do not manifest themselves 
 for some hours after it has been swallowed. The variation in 
 this respect may depend upon the state in which the poison 
 is taken. When, however, they once appear, they are apt to 
 proceed rapidly to a fatal termination. At first a disagree- 
 able, garlicky taste is perceived, which is peculiar to phos- 
 phorus. An alliaceous odor may also often be discovered in 
 the breath. There is an acrid, burning sensation in the 
 throat, with intense thirst and nausea; severe pain and heat, 
 with tenderness and pricking sensation of the stomach; fol- 
 lowed by distension of the abdomen, and violent vomiting, 
 with occasional purging. There is also cold perspiration, with
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. FATAL DOSE. 195 
 
 great anxiety, and small, frequent, and irregular pulse. The 
 matters first vomited generally exhale an alliaceous odor, and 
 are luminous in the dark; their color is very dark green, or 
 like coffee-grounds. The discharges from the bowels have 
 also been observed to be phosphorescent. The pupils are 
 usually dilated, and insensible to light. Sometimes convul- 
 sions precede death 4 at other times the patient dies quietly, 
 in a coma. If the case is protracted for some days, jaundice 
 is apt to occur, and likewise hemorrhage from the stomach, 
 nose, and other parts of the body. The urine is highly 
 albuminous. 
 
 Chronic poisoning by phosphorus is accompanied with nau- 
 seous eructations, frequent vomiting, a sense of heat in the 
 stomach, purging, pains in the joints, wasting of the body, 
 fever, derangement of the stomach, and diarrhoaa, under 
 which the patient slowly sinks. There is a form of slow 
 poisoning produced by inhalation of phosporus- vapor, to 
 which those who manufacture lucifer-matches are exposed. 
 This is a very insidious and fatal form of phosphorus-poison- 
 ing. It generally manifests itself first in the jaw, causing 
 caries of the teeth, necrosis of the bone, and abscesses. 
 There is also frequently great irritation of the respiratory 
 organs, together with bronchitis and wasting diarrhoea. 
 
 Fatal quantity. The quantity required to destroy life is very 
 small. Sir R. Christison quotes several cases, one of which 
 proved fatal in twelve days, after taking a grain and a half; 
 and another, related by M. Martin-Solon, in which a patient 
 affected with 4ead-palsy, who took less than a grain of phos- 
 phorus in the form of an emulsion, was attacked with burn- 
 ing in the gullet and stomach, vomiting, tenderness of the 
 abdomen, general coldness, great prostration, clouded intel- 
 lect, and death in a little 'over two days. A child two years 
 and a half old died after swallowing the phosphorus on eight 
 friction-matches; and a child two mouths old is said to have 
 died from the effects of two such matches (Husemann, Jour, 
 f. Phar., ii. 169). In this case, the quantity was less than one- 
 fiftieth of a grain. Dr. Taylor mentions the case of a lunatic 
 who died from swallowing one-eighth of a grain (On Poisons, 
 p. 315).
 
 196 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 It has been supposed by some to act fatally in consequence 
 of its conversion into phosphorous acid ; but, although such 
 a change may partially occur, it is pretty certain that it is 
 absorbed unaltered into the blood, since the urine voided 
 during life has been observed to be luminous. Hence it is 
 most probably a blood-poison. 
 
 Phosphorus is occasionally used in medicine in minute 
 doses from one-sixtieth to one-thirtieth of a grain, two or 
 three times a day, very gradually increased. Even in these 
 small doses, its effects are uncertain, and it sometimes acts 
 with unexpected severity. 
 
 Fatal period. Phosphorus cannot be classed among the 
 rapidly-fatal poisons. It usually causes death in from one to 
 four or five days; but there is great diversit}' in this respect. 
 Prof. Casper quotes a case of a young lady who died in ttn //v 
 hours after swallowing three grains of phosphorus in the form 
 of an electuary (Foren. Med., ii. p. 100). Dr. Taylor men- 
 tions a case reported by Dr. Habershon, which is said to have 
 proved fatal in half an hour: this is the shortest period re- 
 corded. Sir R. Christison and other authors speak of the 
 case described by Dr. Flachsland, of Carlsruhe, that of a 
 young man, who took an unknown quantity of phosphorus 
 on bread and butter, at the recommendation of a quack, and 
 in whom death took place in forty hours, after intense suffering 
 and continual vomiting, along with a discharge, by the use 
 of injections, of small fragments of phosphorus, which were 
 luminous in the dark, and burnt holes in the bed-linen. The 
 majority of cases of acute poisoning survive for several days. 
 Cases of chronic poisoning may last for several months, or 
 even years. 
 
 Treatment. There is no chemical antidote to this poison. 
 Free emesis should be encouraged, and albuminous and 
 mucilaginous drinks, holding hydrate of magnesia suspended, 
 should be taken largely. The use of oil is objectionable, as 
 this is a solvent for phosphorus, and would consequently tend 
 to diffuse it in the stomach. Of late years, oil of turpentine has 
 been recommended as a good antidote (Wharton and Stille's 
 Med. Jurisp., 1873, vol. ii. p. 349). According to Dr. S. K. 
 Percy (Prize Essay, Trans. Am. Med. Association, 1872), who
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. MORBID APPEARANCES. 197 
 
 has experimented extensively with phosphorus upon dogs, the 
 pure oil of turpentine (hydrocarbon) is not antidotal; but the 
 old oil, which contains 'oxygen, if administered soon after 
 taking the poison, and before the latter is absorbed, appears 
 to be perfectly so. Dr. Percy found the most reliable antidote 
 to be oxygenated water highly charged under pressure, gradu- 
 ally introduced into the stomach by means of an elastic tube. 
 This method, together with inhalations of oxygen, proved 
 remarkably successful in his hands, as an antidote. He also 
 alludes to another antidote, proposed by MM. Eulenberg and 
 Yohl, animal charcoal, in the form of pills: it is said to act 
 antidotally by absorbing the free phosphorus, and thus neu- 
 tralizing its effects. 
 
 Morbid appearances. According to Tardieu (Sur 1'Empoi- 
 sonnement, p. 437), who has given special attention to this 
 subject, the lesions produced by phosphorus vary according 
 to the form in which it is taken. It is when in the pure 
 state, or simply dissolved in oil, that it most frequently 
 occasions lesions in the oesophagus and alimentary canal. 
 Fragments of phosphorus, recognizable by their odor and 
 phosphorescence, may be discovered adhering to the mucous 
 membrane, even in the large intestines: and at these spots 
 the digestive tube is liable to perforation during the exam- 
 ination. In the oesophagus, stomach, and intestines, ecchy- 
 motic or gangrenous spots are scattered about. The mesen- 
 teric glands are engorged, and often softened and friable. 
 
 When the poisoning has been caused by phosphorus-paste, 
 or by the heads of matches, it may happen that no apprecia- 
 ble lesion is discoverable either in the alimentary canal or 
 elsewhere; but generally, even in the absence of redness, 
 ulceration, or any other evidence of inflammation, many 
 hemorrhagic points can be determined. On opening the 
 abdomen, the mesentery and visceral peritoneum appear 
 studded with black ecchymotic patches or points, resembling 
 the spots of purpura. The pleural and pericardial centres 
 contain more or less of bloody serum. Irregular ecchymotic 
 patches are scattered under the pleura, the pericardium, and 
 even under the endocardium. The heart is soft, discol- 
 ored, empty, or contains fluid blood ; the blood itself is very
 
 198 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 dark, fluid, and syrup} 1 , but without notable change in its 
 corpuscles. The experiments of Dr. Percy (loc. cit.), however, 
 prove that the blood-corpuscles undergo a speedy and com- 
 plete disintegration, which seems to be the true cause of the 
 numerous ecchymosed spots seen upon the different organs. 
 Bloody infiltrations occur sometimes in the thickness of the 
 viscera, of the muscles, and of the cellular tissue. The 
 bladder contains bloody urine, and often presents submucous 
 ecchymoses. 
 
 The exterior of the body often exhibits an icterode hue. 
 As regards the cadaveric rigidity, or the tendency to putre- 
 faction, there is nothing special to notice. It may happen 
 that the red or blue coloring-material used on the tops of the 
 matches (together with small fragments of the wood) will 
 be found sticking to the inside of the digestive canal, even 
 a considerable time after death. M. Dionis (d'Auxerre) was 
 able to detect the presence of vermilion in the remains of 
 a man who was poisoned by soup containing match-heads, 
 eighteen months after burial. The general appearance of the 
 gastrointestinal mucous membrane is hemorrhagic rather 
 than inflammatory, ecchymoses being scattered over the 
 pyloric region of the stomach, the duodenum, and the large 
 intestine; but without either ulceration or perforation. The 
 contents of the intestines are liquid and bloody. 
 
 There is one particular pathological condition of the 
 tissues, revealed by the microscope, that constitutes an im- 
 portant part in the evidence of poisoning by phosphorus: 
 this is a fatty degeneratiou^of the liver, kidneys, glands of the 
 stomach, the heart, and the muscles generally. (See on this 
 subject an inaugural thesis by M. Fabre on " The Fatty De- 
 generation in Acute Poisoning by Phosphorus," Paris, 1864; 
 also a paper by Dr. Moore, in " Dublin Med. Press," Novem- 
 ber 15, 1865). M. Tardieu (loc. cit, p. 440) gives an accurate 
 and detailed description of the pathological changes in the 
 different organs, caused by this fatty degeneration ; he like- 
 wise gives an excellent representation, by magnified draw- 
 ings, of the microscopic appearances mentioned above. 
 
 It should, however, be remembered that these fatty de- 
 generations are not peculiar to phosphorus-poisoning, since
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. MORBID APPEARANCES. 199 
 
 they occur in poisoning by many other agents, as ammonia, 
 alcohol, arsenic, antimony, the cyanides, and the sulpho- 
 cyanides; and likewise as the result of certain diseases, 
 acute and chronic. But these changes acquire particular 
 importance from being associated with some of the most 
 notable symptoms of phosphorus-poisoning, such as the 
 jaundice, the muscular pains and weakness, and the albu- 
 minous condition of the urine. 
 
 The contents of the stomach, in some instances, have 
 evolved the odor and white fumes of phosphorus. In the 
 case of Prof. Casper before mentioned, forty-eight hours 
 after death luminous vapors were observed to issue from 
 the vagina, and a grayish-white vapor, strongly smelling of 
 phosphorus, continuously streamed from the anus ! A dis- 
 tinct odor of phosphorus also came from the mouth, but 
 without visible vapor. No smell or vapor of phosphorus 
 could be detected on opening the stomach ; nor was any 
 part of its lining membrane either softened or corroded; and 
 no particles of phosphorus could be detected even with the 
 aid of a magnifying-glass. It contained about half a pint 
 of a bloody fluid, mingled with coagulated milk. The intes- 
 tines were pale, and presented nothing abnormal. The blood 
 was dirty red, and of a syrupy consistence; and the blood- 
 corpuscles were transparent and deprived of their coloring- 
 matter. The liver, spleen, and kidneys were congested ; 
 the lungs contained but little blood; and the heart was al- 
 most completely empty ; but the large blood-vessels contained 
 much blood. The bladder was of a livid color, and con- 
 tained about a tablespoonful of milky urine. The brain and 
 likewise its membranes were moderately congested. 
 
 In Dr. Flachsland's case, referred to on page 196, which 
 proved fatal in forty-eight hours, watery blood flowed in 
 large quantity from the nostrils, and also from incisions made 
 into the skin and muscles of the abdomen; the stomach and 
 bowels externally were inflamed ; the mucous membrane of 
 the stomach presented a gangrenous inflammation, which 
 extended into the duodenum ; the large intestines were con- 
 tracted to the size of the little finger. The mesenteric glands 
 were hardened ; and the spleen and kidneys inflamed.
 
 200 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 In other cases, the lining membrane of the stomach lias 
 been found of a crimson color, softened in many places, and 
 easily detached, with ulcerations in different portions of 
 the organ; the small intestines violently inflamed, together 
 with the rectum. On the other hand, in several instances, 
 where very large doses were taken, the post-mortem exami- 
 nation failed to reveal the slightest lesion of the stomach, 
 or indeed of any of the organs, visible to the naked eye: 
 doubtless, however, if the microscope had been employed, 
 the fatty degeneration of the different tissues above de- 
 scribed, would have been detected. 
 
 Diagnosis. During life, the symptoms of a case of acute 
 phosphorus-poisoning are commonly sufficiently distinct to 
 admit of an easy recognition. If in addition to the gastro-en- 
 teric symptoms already detailed (ante, p. 194), a phosphores- 
 cent vapor is perceived to issue from the mouth, accompanied 
 with a garlicky odor; and if, further, a similar phospho- 
 rescence is observed in the discharges from the stomach 
 and bowels and the urinary bladder, there can be no diffi- 
 culty in arriving at a positive conclusion. In chronic cases 
 accompanied by jaundice, it is possible that the case might 
 be confounded with the disease known as grave or pernicious 
 icterus, acute yellow atrophy of the liver, or general spontaneous 
 steatosis. M. Tardieu (loc. cit., p. 444) is of the opinion that 
 many reputed cases of this disease are in reality only con- 
 cealed cases of poisoning by phosphorus. This, moreover, 
 appears to be the opinion of the majority of the German 
 authorities, notwithstanding the contrary idea of Wunderlich. 
 Tardieu cites the following points of distinction between the 
 two disorders. As a general rule, the primary symptoms of 
 phosphorus-poisoning are less severe than those of spontane- 
 ous icterus; the sensation of heat in the throat, and eructa- 
 tions, and vomiting of matters of a garlicky odor and which 
 are luminous in the dark, would indicate the former. The 
 yellow discoloration of the skin shows itself at a later period 
 in the poisoning than in the disease : it is not so intense, nor 
 is it accompanied with the injection of the eyes, or with 
 the fever, which are never wanting in acute icterus. More- 
 over, the disease lacks the intermissions and the periods of
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. * 201 
 
 prolonged sedation which are observed in cases of poi- 
 soning. 
 
 As regards the fatty degeneration of the liver and other 
 organs, it would seem, from well-instituted experiments, that 
 this pathological change is brought about more speedily in 
 phosphorus-poisoning. The experiments of MM. Fritz, Ran- 
 vier, and Verliac on animals that were made to take phos- 
 phorus, proved that a steatosis of the liver had been pro- 
 duced in a few days ; and Tardieu speaks of having himself 
 witnessed this fatty change in the heart, liver, kidneys, 
 glands of the stomach, and the muscles generally, in forty- 
 eight hours after the ingestion of this poison (loc. cit., p. 445). 
 
 Chemical analysis. Phosphorus is a white, transparent 
 solid, of the appearance and consistency of wax ; sp. gr. 1.83. 
 It fuses at the temperature of 110 F. ; at a higher tempera- 
 ture it takes fire, burning with a brilliant white light, becom- 
 ing converted into the white fumes of anhydrous phosphoric 
 acid. At ordinary temperatures, when exposed to the air, it 
 gives oif white fumes of phosphorous acid, which are faintly 
 luminous in the dark. The smell and taste of phosphorus 
 resemble those of garlic ; by which means it may easily be 
 recognized when mixed with food or drinks. The fuming of 
 phosphorus in the air, as also its luminosity, is completely 
 prevented by the presence of the vapor of alcohol, ether, oil 
 of turpentine, chloroform, and ammonia, even in minute 
 quantities. 
 
 Although insoluble in water, phosphorus may impart 
 poisonous properties to this liquid from the production of 
 phosphorous acid. It is tolerably soluble (especially by the 
 aid of heat) in the fixed and volatile oils; also in ether, chlo- 
 roform, and naphtha; but its best solvent is the bisulphide of 
 carbon. It is insoluble in hydrochloric acid; hot nitric acid 
 converts it into phosphoric acid. 
 
 Phosphorus is always preserved under water, to prevent 
 oxidizemeut: after exposure thus for some time to the light, 
 it loses its transluceney, and becomes covered with a whitish 
 film, which is believed by Rose to be merely another mo- 
 lecular form of the substance. 
 
 Phosphorus in the free state is so readily identified by its
 
 202 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 physical properties especially by its odor, luminosity, and 
 incandescence that chemical proofs need hardly be re- 
 quired. These, however, are readily furnished. If a minute 
 portion of free phosphorus is put into a flask containing the 
 materials for generating hydrogen, phosphuretted hydrogen gas 
 is evolved, which is luminous in the dark, and is sometimes 
 spontaneously inflammable. If this gas be ignited at the 
 extremity of a drawn-out tube, it will burn with a greenish- 
 blue flame. A paper moistened with nitrate of silver exposed 
 to the unignited gas is immediately blackened. When the 
 gas is made to pass through a solution of nitrate of silver, 
 the latter is blackened from the production of metallic silver: 
 phosphoric acid is also formed in the solution, and can be 
 detected on filtration, by the appropriate reagents. When 
 conducted into a solution of corrosive sublimate, the gas pro- 
 duces a yellowish precipitate. 
 
 The methods of Mitscherlich and Lipowitz, which are pecu- 
 liarly appropriate to the detection of the poison in organic 
 mixtures, will be described in the succeeding paragraph. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures, and in the contents of the stomach. 
 Very often a strong suspicion, if not the certainty, of the 
 presence of phosphorus in such mixtures is produced by the 
 whitish fumes exhaled, which have a garlicky smell, and are 
 luminous in the dark. If the mixture to be examined is 
 ammoniacal from putrefaction, it must first be acidulated with 
 sulphuric acid, before it is examined for its luminosity, since 
 the presence of free ammonia prevents this display. It is 
 quite possible, however, that the peculiar odor may be dis- 
 guised, or overpowered, by others of a more powerful kind. 
 All organic mixtures should be carefully searched for parti- 
 cles of the poison, which, if found, may be washed in water 
 and alcohol, and preserved for future examination. Or, the 
 mass may be spread out over a metallic plate, and warmed; 
 on stirring it, the presence of phosphorus will be made evi- 
 dent by frequent bright scintillations. Or, after collecting 
 the suspected particles and washing them, they may be gently 
 heated in a glass tube or flask with water, when they will 
 melt and collect into a globule, which will solidify on cool- 
 ing, and may easily be identified.
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. PROCESS OF MITSCHERLICH. 203 
 
 Owing to its great solubility in bisulphide of carbon, phos- 
 phorus may be separated from many organic matters by 
 digestion with this liquid. In this way it can be procured 
 from flour and phosphorus-paste, or from the residue of the 
 contents of the stomach, after washing and decantation. On 
 the spontaneous evaporation of the sulphide, decanted from 
 the organic liquid or solid, the phosphorus may be procured 
 in small globules or beads, which will ignite on being touched 
 with a hot wire, and burn Avith the characteristic bright 
 flame. 
 
 If, however, the phosphorus be in a state of solution, or be 
 present in too small a quantity to be dissolved out by sul- 
 phide of carbon, its presence may be indicated by one of the 
 following methods: 
 
 Process of Mitscherlich. This is the most delicate method 
 yet devised for the detection of phosphorus. It consists es- 
 sentially in distilling the suspected mixture, acidulated with 
 sulphuric acid, and condensing the vapors in a glass tube 
 surrounded by a condenser (like a Liebig's condenser): the 
 vapor of phosphorus thus condensed produces a continuous 
 luminosity, easily visible in the dark. The suspected mate- 
 rial, diluted with water, if necessary, and acidulated with 
 sulphuric acid, is put into a glass flask, which is connected 
 by means of a bent glass tube with another tube that passes 
 into the glass condenser. The latter is kept surrounded with 
 cold water, in the usual manner. On gently heating the flask, 
 a very distinct and continuous luminosity, usually some inches 
 in length, is observed, in the dark, to play up and down in 
 the cooled portion of the delivery-tube. The phosphorus 
 thus distilled collects with the aqueous vapor in the receiver, 
 to which it imparts the usual alliaceous odor. A. portion of 
 it may even collect in the receiver in the form of small glob- 
 ules or beads, which may be easily recognized. 
 
 So delicate is this process by distillation that, according to 
 Dr. Taylor, in an experiment with the head of one lucifer- 
 match, the luminosity appeared for half an hour in the con- 
 densing-tube. The most absolute darkness is required for the 
 success of this experiment. Prof. Wormley states (Micro- 
 Chem. of Poisons, p. 202) that he distilled the fiftieth part of a
 
 204 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 grain of phosphorus along with two thousand grains of water 
 acidulated with sulphuric acid. A phosphorescent light ap- 
 peared in the cooled tube, several inches in length, and con- 
 tinued for thirty-four minutes. The distillate had a strong 
 alliaceous odor, and furnished evidence of the presence of 
 phosphorous acid, although it contained no globules. The 
 amount of phosphorus that passed through the tube per second 
 must have been something less than the one-hundred-thou- 
 sandth of a grain : yet this gave a luminosity many times 
 greater than would have sufficed to recognize its presence 
 with absolute certainty. We have ourselves verified this 
 experiment with a granule containing one-sixtieth of a grain. 
 It should not be forgotten that the presence of alcohol, chlo- 
 roform, etc. (substances in which the viscera of a body may 
 have been preserved), may entirely prevent the luminosity in 
 the above experiment. But as the more volatile bodies are 
 gradually dissipated by the heat, their interference ceases, and 
 the luminosity will become evident. 
 
 The presence of phosphorus in the distillate (in the form 
 of phosphorous acid) is best shown by first treating the 
 filtered liquid with a little nitric acid, which converts it 
 into phosphoric acid ; then concentrating, and applying the 
 appropriate tests (see post}. This examination of the dis- 
 tillate will be unnecessary if globules of phosphorus have 
 been detected in the receiver. On the other hand, if no 
 globules or luminosity have been observed, the discovery 
 of a small quantity of the oxides of phosphorus in the dis- 
 tillate is not sufficient to warrant the supposition of poison, 
 since these might have been carried over mechanically. It 
 is to be remembered that it is only/ree phosphorus that gives 
 out the luminosity by the above process. The distillation 
 of the blood, brain, or other protein-compounds of animals 
 (which contain it in the state of combination), along with 
 dilute sulphuric acid, entirely fails to produce it. 
 
 Method of Lipowitz. This consists in boiling the suspected 
 liquid, slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, with frag- 
 ments of sulphur, in a retort with a long neck, or one which 
 may be connected with a cooled glass tube (as in the method 
 of Mitscherlich), the experiment being conducted in the
 
 POISONING BY PHOSPHORUS. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 205 
 
 dark. The sulphur has the property of abstracting the 
 phosphorus from even complex mixtures, and combining 
 with it. The boiling is continued for about half an hour, 
 after which the pieces of sulphur are withdrawn and washed 
 with water. They will now emit the peculiar odor of phos- 
 phorus, and be luminous in the dark. On gently heating 
 them with nitric acid, they yield a solution containing phos- 
 phoric acid, together with sulphuric acid. On evaporating 
 this to a small volume, diluting and filtering, the presence of 
 phosphoric acid may be recognized by the usual tests. 
 
 As the distillation proceeds, the peculiar luminosity will 
 usually be perceived in the condenser; and the distillate will 
 also reveal the presence of the oxides of phosphorus. If, 
 however, the amount of phosphorus present in the original 
 mixture was very minute, the whole of it may be retained 
 by the sulphur. 
 
 The hydrogen method. This process depends upon the 
 property possessed by free phosphorus and its lower oxides, 
 of uniting with nascent hydrogen to form phosphuretted 
 hydrogen, a gas easily recognized by its peculiar properties. 
 The suspected material, properly prepared, should be intro- 
 duced into the flask containing the materials for generating 
 hydrogen ; the purity of the latter gas is first proved, before 
 the phosphorus mixture is introduced. The resulting phos- 
 phuretted hydrogen is made to pass over hydrate of potassa 
 or lime, in order to remove any sulphuretted hydrogen that 
 might be present ; it is then ignited as it escapes from the 
 drawn-out end of the delivery-tube, when it will burn with 
 a characteristic greenish flame, which disappears when the 
 tube becomes heated. If a piece of cold porcelain be de- 
 pressed upon the flarne, the latter burns with an emerald- 
 green color at the point of contact, until the porcelain be- 
 comes heated. Moreover, the evolved gas has a peculiar 
 odor, and is luminous in the dark; it likewise yields a black 
 precipitate with the nitrate of silver. Fresenius states that by 
 this method the presence of phosphorus can be recognized, 
 even when in very small quantity and mixed with putrid 
 animal matters; and also in the presence of substances which 
 interfere with the luminosity by the process of Mitscherlich. 
 
 14
 
 206 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Failure to detect the poison. It may readily happen that, 
 owing to the length of time that has elapsed since the phos- 
 phorus was swallowed, it has either all been eliminated from 
 the system, or what remains has been oxidized into phos- 
 phorous, or even phosphoric, acid. In such a case it can no 
 longer be detected, either by the method of Mitscherlich or 
 of Lipowitz. If it exists in the form of phosphorous acid, the 
 hydrogen method will still serve to discover it; but if it has 
 been oxidized to phosphoric acid, other processes must be re- 
 sorted to, which will now be detailed. 
 
 The suspected mixture, after dilution (if necessary), and 
 filtration, is treated with a small quantity of nitric acid, 
 and concentrated by evaporation : this serves to convert all 
 the lower phosphorous oxides into phosphoric acid. It is 
 then treated with a slight excess of pure carbonate of soda, 
 evaporated to dryness, and fused in a porcelain crucible. By 
 this process all the organic matter is destroyed, and pure 
 tribasic phosphate of soda remains. This is dissolved in 
 water, and the usual tests applied. 
 
 This method of testing for phosphorus in a suspected case 
 of poisoning is by no means satisfactory, since phosphoric 
 acid in combination with the alkalies and earths is found 
 in the different animal tissues, and also in many articles of 
 vegetable and animal food. 
 
 The exact time when failure to detect phosphorus after its 
 administration occurs, is not definitively settled. It must evi- 
 dently depend on the usual contingencies of early and copi- 
 ous vomiting, early treatment, etc. One instance is recorded 
 where it was discovered in the contents of the stomach and 
 bowels on the tenth day after it was taken; another, where it 
 was found in the free state in the stomach after fourteen days' 
 burial, and where, moreover, there was considerable decom- 
 position. The longest period recorded is in the case of a 
 child three and a half years old, poisoned by phosphorus- 
 paste. A grain of phosphorus was obtained from the stom- 
 ach and intestines after the body had been buried three weeks 
 (Dr. Ludvvig, Jour, de Chim. Med., 1863, p. 584). 
 
 Quantitative determination- Any phosphorus obtained in 
 the solid state, after washing and drying, may be carefully
 
 PHOSPHORIC ACID. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 207 
 
 weighed as such. If, however, it has been converted into 
 phosphoric acid, it is determined as pyrophosphale of magnesia. 
 For this purpose, the solution is treated with sulphate of 
 magnesia, ammonia, and chloride of ammonium, and allowed 
 to stand for several hours, to permit the complete separation 
 of the precipitate, which is ammonio-magnesian phosphate. 
 This is collected on a filter, washed with water containing 
 a little ammonia, dried, ignited (which drives off the am- 
 monia), and, after cooling, weighed. Every 100 parts of the 
 pure ignited residue correspond to 64 parts of anhydrous 
 phosphoric acid, or 28 parts of phosphorus. 
 
 PHOSPHORIC ACID. This acid, together with phosphorous 
 acid, has proved fatal to the lower animals, when adminis- 
 tered to them in large quantities. It has been supposed by 
 some that the fatal effects of phosphorus on the human 
 subject were owing to its conversion into these compounds. 
 This opinion, however, cannot be maintained, as it is op- 
 posed to experience. 
 
 The chemical tests for phosphoric acid are the following: 
 
 1. Nitrate of silver. -Free phosphoric acid is not precipi- 
 tated by this reagent; but from neutral solutions of the 
 alkaline phosphates it throws down a light-yellow tribasic 
 phosphate of silver, which is readily soluble in ammonia, and 
 in nitric, acetic, and free phosphoric acids. Hydrochloric 
 acid converts it into the white chloride. Nitrate of silver 
 also precipitates a neutral solution of arsenious acid, of a 
 light-yellow color, soluble in ammonia and in free acids; 
 but the precipitates are easily .distinguished from each other 
 by drying, and heating them in a reduction-tube : the latter 
 yields a sublimate of octahedral crystals of arsenious acid, 
 while the former is not at all affected. Again, if the ar- 
 senious solution be acidified with hydrochloric acid and 
 boiled with a piece of bright copper, it will produce a de- 
 posit of metallic arsenic ; no such effect is caused by the 
 phosphatic solution. 
 
 Nitrate of silver also yields yellowish precipitates with the 
 iodides and bromides; but these are insoluble in dilute nitric 
 acid, and only sparingly soluble in ammonia.
 
 208 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 2. Sulphate of magnesia and ammonia. A mixture of sul- 
 phate of magnesia, ammonia, and chloride of ammonium 
 produces with phosphoric acid, both free and in combination 
 with alkalies, a characteristic crystalline precipitate the 
 ammonio-phosphate of magnesia. The crystals have a beautiful 
 feathery stellate appearance, and may be distinctly identified 
 under the microscope from a solution as dilute as the one- 
 hundred-thousandth of a grain in a drop of water. 
 
 Arsenic acid also produces with the ammonio-sulphate of 
 magnesia a similar crystalline precipitate : the latter, how- 
 ever, when dissolved in just sufficient acetic acid, will yield 
 a reddish-brown precipitate with nitrate of silver; while the 
 phosphatic precipitate treated in the same way, yields a white 
 precipitate. 
 
 3. Molybdate of ammonia. This reagent should first be 
 mixed with sufficient nitric or hydrochloric acid to redissolve 
 any precipitate that forms. A small quantity of this mixture 
 is put into a test-tube, and a few drops of the phosphoric 
 solution are added, when the mixture will acquire a yellow 
 color, and the yellow pulverulent precipitate of phospho-molyb- 
 date of ammonia will be thrown down. A gentle heat greatly 
 promotes this reaction. It is requisite that the molybdate of 
 ammonia should be in very strong solution. This precipitate 
 is insoluble in the strong acids, even on boiling; but it is 
 readily soluble in excess of free phosphoric acid, in the alka- 
 line phosphates, the caustic alkalies and their carbonates, 
 and the alkaline tartrates. 
 
 RED, AMORPHOUS, OR ALLOTROPIC PHOSPHORUS, This re- 
 markable variety of phosphorus is prepared by exposing or- 
 dinary phosphorus to a heat of 450 F., in an atmosphere 
 deprived of oxygen (as in carbonic acid gas), for a number of 
 hours, when it will be found changed into a hard, dark-red, 
 brick-like mass, from which any unchanged phosphorus may 
 be dissolved out by means of bisulphide of carbon. 
 
 Red phosphorus, although identical with the common variety 
 in its chemical composition, is totally distinct from it in 
 physical, chemical, and physiological properties. The differ- 
 ences between the two are clearly shown by a reference to 
 the following table, taken from Dr. Percy's essay (loc. tit.} :
 
 POISONING BY IODINE. 209 
 
 Common Phosphorus. Red Phosphorus. 
 
 Poisonous. Innocuous. 
 
 Evolves a strong odor. Nearly odorless. 
 
 Phosphorescent, luminous in the Not phosphorescent, 
 dark. 
 
 Melts at 108 P. Melts at about 500 F. 
 
 Transparent. Opaque. 
 
 Almost colorless. Varies in color from reddish-black 
 
 lustrous, to iron- gray, brick-red, 
 crimson, and scarlet. 
 
 Freely soluble in various liquids. Nearly insoluble in all liquids. 
 
 Distinctly crystalline. Amorphous. 
 
 Soft ; may be indented with the nail. Hard as red brick. 
 
 Flexible as copper or lead. Brittle as glass. 
 
 Oxidizes in the air at ordinary tern- Unalterable in the air. 
 peratures. 
 
 Unites readily with other elements. Is acted on by other elements with 
 
 great difficulty. 
 
 To the above points of distinction we may add that nitric 
 acid acts upon common phosphorus with great energy, oxi- 
 dizing it to phosphoric acid : it produces no effect on the 
 amorphous variety ; and while the former combines with 
 chlorine gas with active combustion and flame, the latter 
 combines with it without flame. 
 
 When the red, amorphous variety is heated to the boiling- 
 point in a gas devoid of oxygen, it is again restored to the 
 state of ordinary phosphorus. Red phosphorus is now very 
 extensively used, especially in Germany, in the manufacture 
 of matches. It is hoped that this may lead to the abandon- 
 ment of the poisonous variety for this purpose. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY IODINE AND BROMINE. 
 
 IODINE occurs in brilliant dark-colored scales, resembling 
 coarse iron-tilings; it has a peculiar disagreeable odor; and 
 gives off, when heated, violet fumes, which are powerfully 
 irritating to the nostrils, throat, and lungs. It is very spar- 
 ingly soluble in water, but readily so in alcohol and ether, 
 and also in the aqueous solution of iodide of potassium. It 
 is found in the shops in substance, and in the forms of tincture 
 and compound tincture.
 
 210 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Symptoms. Like phosphorus, iodine produces hoth a local 
 and a remote effect on the system. The latter is the usual 
 result of the continued use of iodine in small doses. In large 
 doses it acts as a powerful irritant, causing burning heat in 
 the throat, severe pain in the abdomen, with vomiting and 
 purging, the vomited matters having the peculiar odor of 
 iodine, and being of a yellowish color, except when farina- 
 ceous food had been taken, in which case they are blue ; 
 sometimes they are mixed with blood. The discharges from 
 the bowels may also contain iodine, if it has been adminis- 
 tered in the solid state. Besides these symptoms, there are 
 others indicating the absorption of the poison, and its influ- 
 ence upon the nervous system, such as giddiness, headache, 
 thirst, with anxiety, trembling, convulsive movements of the 
 limbs, and fainting. 
 
 In chronic poisoning (iodism) produced by the prolonged 
 employment of iodine, in medicinal doses, or by its external 
 application, the symptoms are vomiting and purging, tremors, 
 palpitatio'n, pain in the stomach, cramps, salivation, general 
 emaciation, and gradual absorption of certain glands of the 
 body, particularly the mammae of females and the testes of 
 males: there is usually an increase of most of the secretions, 
 and enlargement and tenderness of the liver. All of these 
 symptoms are not generally present in every case of iodism, 
 but they have been produced by small doses administered 
 for a few days at a time. 
 
 There is a singular uncertaint} 7 in the action of large doses 
 of iodine, some persons appearing to be insensible to its 
 impression. Sir It. Christison (On Poisons, p. 194, et seg.) 
 mentions cases illustrating this. Dr. Kennedy gave an aver- 
 age of twelve grains daily, in the form of tincture, for eighty 
 days, without observing any effect at all ; Mr. Delisser gave 
 a patient thirty grains in one day, without injury (quoted 
 in Dr. Cogswell's Experimental Essay, p. 23); and Dr. S. 
 "Wright met with the case of an infant three years old, who 
 took three drachms of the tincture at a dose, and only suf- 
 fered from attempts to cough, some retching, and much 
 thirst (ibid., p. 27). On the other hand, severe symptoms 
 have been observed to commence when half a grain was
 
 POISONING BY IODINE. IN ORGANIC MIXTURES. 211 
 
 taken three times a day, for a single week (Gairdner, On 
 the Effects of Iodine, p. 20). Even small medicinal doses, 
 frequently repeated, have been known to break out, like 
 digitalis, mercury, and other poisons, with alarming vio- 
 lence, the symptoms being those of excessive irritation. 
 
 A fatal case is related by M. Zink, a Swiss physician. His 
 patient, after taking too large doses of iodine for about a 
 month, was seized with restlessness, burning heat of the skin, 
 tremors, palpitation, syncope, excessive thirst, very frequent 
 pulse, violent priapism, and copious diarrhoea of bilious and 
 black stools. Death occurred after six weeks' illness. Another 
 case is related in the Provincial Journal, June, 1847, p. 356, 
 in which one drachm of the tincture in about an ounce of 
 spirit is said to have proved fatal. 
 
 Morbid appearances. Redness of the mucous membrane of 
 the stomach and bowels, in some places approaching to gan- 
 grenous discoloration ; corrosion of the lining membrane of 
 the stomach, which may be detached in large patches ; en- 
 largement of the liver ; contraction and redness of the oesoph- 
 agus ; adhesion of the abdominal viscera to one another, with 
 serous effusion into the peritoneum, and sometimes into the 
 pleura. 
 
 Chemical analysis. In the solid form, iodine is easily recog- 
 nized by its physical properties, above mentioned. When 
 its solution is added to cold boiled starch, it instantly imparts 
 to it a tine blue color, which disappears on boiling, and re- 
 appears on suddenly cooling. The color disappears perma- 
 nently by a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen. This is a 
 delicate and characteristic test. If it exist in combination, 
 as an iodide, the iodine must first be liberated before the 
 starch test will act : this is best accomplished by adding fresh 
 chlorine-water, which decomposes the iodide ; an excess of 
 chlorine will bleach the blue color, and cause it to disap- 
 pear. The mineral acids will also liberate iodine from the 
 iodides. 
 
 In organic mixtures. Iodine may be recovered from organic 
 mixtures, if in the free state, by the action of bisulphide of 
 carbon, which freely dissolves it, forming a rich pink solu- 
 tion. By decanting the watery liquid from the sulphide
 
 212 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 solution, and allowing the latter to evaporate, the iodine will 
 be left in the form of crystals. 
 
 As many organic substances convert iodine into hydriodic 
 acid, it is usually to be sought in the latter combination. 
 After dilution, if necessary, and filtration, the starch test 
 may be applied, provided the color of the solution is not too 
 deep. If this is the case, it is recommended to agitate it 
 with one-third its volume of ether, which will separate the 
 free iodine, and will yield the appropriate reaction with 
 starch. Should this process fail, the iodine has probably 
 been converted into an iodide. In this case, Sir R. Christison 
 (On Poisons, p. 199) advises the following course : Add water 
 if necessary, and filter: if the filtrate is tolerably free from 
 color, test a little of it with solution of starch and chlorine. 
 If the color is too deep to admit of this trial, or if the test 
 fails, unite the fluid and solid parts, and transmit sulphuretted 
 hydrogen, to convert any free iodine into hydriodic acid. 
 Drive oft' the excess of gas; supersaturate with a considerable 
 excess of potassa, filter, and evaporate to dry ness. Char the 
 residue at a low red heat in a porcelain crucible; pulverize 
 the carbonaceous mass, and exhaust with water. Evaporate 
 to dryness, and again exhaust with alcohol, which takes up 
 the iodide of potassium and some other salts, leaving some 
 of the salts behind. On evaporating the alcoholic solution 
 to dryness, a residuum is left, which, when dissolved in water 
 and filtered, will give the characteristic reaction with starch 
 and chlorine. 
 
 By the above method, one grain of iodide of potassium 
 may be detected in six ounces of urine. 
 
 Iodide of potassium, although very much employed in medi- 
 cine, in doses as large as five to thirty grains several times 
 a day, occasionally produces violent effects on the system, 
 such as griping pains in- the abdomen, headache, thirst, fre- 
 quent pulse, dyspnosa, arid inflammation of the nostrils and 
 eyes. A pustular eruption also often attends its use, and 
 salivation is an occasional symptom. As found in the shops, 
 this salt is often greatly adulterated, containing sometimes 
 as much as fifty to nearly eighty per cent, of carbonate of 
 potash. (Pereira, Mat. Med., i. p. 489.)
 
 POISONING BY BROMINE. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 213 
 
 Iodide of potassium may be detected in the blood, liver, 
 spleen, muscles, and especially in the urine. 
 
 BROMINE. This is a dark-red, volatile liquid, possessing a 
 very pungent, unpleasant odor, and an acrid taste. The vapor 
 is exceedingly injurious to the eyes and lungs. It is a highly 
 corrosive fluid, acting upon and destroying animal tissues 
 xvith great rapidity. As bromine is much employed in da- 
 guerreotyping, it may readily become the cause of poisoning. 
 The only case of fatal result is reported by Dr. Sayre, of New 
 York. A daguerreotypist, aged twenty-four years, of good 
 health and temperate habits, swallowed one ounce of bromine, 
 for the purpose of self-destruction. The immediate symp- 
 toms were spasmodic action of the muscles of the larynx 
 and pharynx, and great difficulty of respiration. This was 
 soon followed by intense burning heat in the stomach, with 
 great auxiety, restlessness, and trembling of the hands. The 
 pulse was rapid, tense, and corded, and the breathing greatly 
 hurried. The stomach was entirely empty at the time of 
 taking the poison. Various means were tried, unsuccessfully, 
 for his relief, and the symptoms above described increased in 
 intensity; the hands and feet became cold, with failure of 
 the pulse, etc., and death took place seven and a half hours 
 after swallowing the poison. 
 
 On examination, the external surface of the stomach was 
 found vividly injected, as was also the peritoneal coat of the 
 duodenum and the mesentery. The viscera lying near the 
 stomach were stained of a deep yellow color. A softened 
 ecchymosed spot, one inch and a half in diameter, and several 
 others of smaller size, were found upon the peritoneal coat 
 of the stomach. This organ contained about four ounces of 
 thick fluid resembling port-wine dregs, and exhaling a faint 
 odor of bromine. Its whole internal surface was covered 
 with a thick black layer, resembling coarse tanned leather. 
 The mucous membrane was very thin, and there was intense 
 submncous injection. (Wharton and Stille's Med. Jurisp., 
 from New York Jour, of Med., Nov. 1850.) 
 
 Chemical analysis. Bromine maybe separated from organic 
 mixtures either by bisulphide of carbon or by ether, after
 
 214 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the method described for iodine (ante, p. 211). If it exists 
 in the form of a bromide, this may be decomposed by means 
 of chlorine, or by one of the mineral acids. Bromine is 
 characterized by imparting a deep yellow color to boiled 
 starch. 
 
 CHLORINE is a powerfully irritating gas, of a greenish- 
 yellow color. If inhaled into the lungs, it may destroy 
 life by its irritating effects. Orfila found that a strong solu- 
 tion of chlorine given to dogs, caused death in from one to 
 four days ; the symptoms being those of a powerful irritant 
 to the stomach. 
 
 Chlorine is readily recognized by its color and odor, and 
 especially by its powerful bleaching properties. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC (WHITE OXIDE OF ARSENIC ARSENIOUS 
 
 ACID). 
 
 THE term Arsenic is always employed in Toxicology (unless 
 otherwise qualified) to signify the white oxide of arsenic, 
 or arsenious acid. The metal itself is very rarely used for 
 poisonous purposes, although in the form of fly-powder a 
 mixture sold in the shops, consisting of metallic arsenic 
 and arsenious acid it has frequently occasioned death, but 
 chiefly as the result of accident. The symptoms and morbid 
 changes produced by this substance are essentially the same 
 as those occasioned by arseuious acid. 
 
 Arsenic is by far the most important of all the metallic 
 poisons, whether considered as to the frequency of its use, 
 the facility of procuring it, the ease of administration, or 
 the extent of its employment, both in medicine and in the 
 arts. It enters extensively into the composition of the earth, 
 being found in the form of the metal, arsenious acid, the 
 two sulphides (realgar and orpimentj, and as a constituent
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. 215 
 
 of several ores of iron, copper, silver, tin, zinc, nickel, and 
 cobalt. Most of the arsenious acid of commerce is prepared 
 from a native arsenical sulphuret of iron, known as mis- 
 pickel. 
 
 Much of the sulphuric acid found in the shops is con- 
 taminated with arsenic, derived from the iron pyrites used in 
 its manufacture; and as this acid, in its turn, is employed in 
 making nitric and hydrochloric acids, and other chemical 
 products, the impurity is carried into these likewise. The 
 two metals zinc and copper, especially the former, are often 
 found to contain arsenic. 
 
 In the arts, arsenious acid enters into numerous com- 
 pounds, as in the manufacture of glass and of white enamel. 
 Composition candles sometimes contain it. It is employed 
 to prevent "furring" in steam-boilers; ship-builders mix 
 it with tar to protect timber from worms ; it is sold in 
 powders for destroying rats and other vermin; farmers use 
 it to preserve grain for seed, also as an ingredient in dip- 
 ping compounds for sheep. Grooms give it to their horses 
 to improve their coats; and there seems to be sufficient tes- 
 timony to warrant the belief that the peasants of Styria, 
 as also the inhabitants of other countries, habitually take 
 arsenic for the purpose of improving their complexions and 
 rendering themselves capable of greater physical endurance. 
 (See Dr. Roscoe's paper to the Manchester Philos. Society, 
 Oct. 30, 1860 ; also, Dr. Maclagan's paper in Edin. Med. 
 Jour., vol. x. p. 200; also, letter from Dr. Knapp, ibid., p. 
 609.) 
 
 Besides arseuious acid, the other preparations of arsenic 
 which are important in a medico-legal view are the yellow 
 sulphide (orpiment), the arsenite and aceto-arsenites of copper 
 (Scheele's green and Paris green), and the solution of arsenite of 
 potash (Fowler's solution). 
 
 Metallic arsenic sublimes at 356 F. (Prof. Guy has found 
 that small quantities sublime at 230.) Its vapor has the 
 odor of garlic, similar to that of the vapor of phosphorus. 
 Heated in close vessels, it is deposited unchanged ; but 
 heated with access of air, it is oxidized, and deposited in 
 brilliant octahedral crystals.
 
 216 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Properties of arsenious acid. It occurs in commerce in the 
 form of masses, or as a white, heavy powder. The cake 
 when first sublimed is translucent, but on exposure to the 
 air it becomes opaque, resembling white enamel. It is 
 nearly tasteless, or has only a faint sourish taste. It is 
 erroneously described as being acrid to the taste. Its com- 
 parative want of taste renders it easy to be administered with 
 a criminal intent, or to be swallowed by mistake. Its solu- 
 bility in water depends on the manner in which it is treated: 
 thus, water boiled for an hour on arsenious acid, and allowed 
 to cool, dissolves the fortieth part of its weight, or about 
 twelve grains to the ounce. If boiled for a shorter time, 
 not more than one-eightieth part will be dissolved ; cold 
 water allowed to stand for many hours on the poison, does 
 not dissolve more than the one-thousandth to one five- 
 hundredth part of its weight, or about half a grain to one 
 fluidounce of water. (Vide Taylor's Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 
 1873, p. 195.) Its solubility is much increased by the addi- 
 tion of an alkali, but diminished by the presence of organic 
 matter. It is very soluble in ammonia, hydrochloric acid, 
 and carbonate of potassa. Its solution deposits octahedral 
 crystals on evaporation. It possesses a slight acid reaction, 
 combining with alkalies, and forming soluble arsenites. 
 
 When arsenious acid is heated to the temperature of 370 
 to 400 F. (about 280, according to Prof. Guy, Forens. Med., 
 p. 429), it sublimes in the form of a white vapor, which is 
 inodorous, and is deposited on a cool surface either as an 
 amorphous powder or in octahedral crystals. If it be thrown 
 upon red-hot charcoal, the odor of the vapor will be allia- 
 ceous, because the carbon has reduced the arsenious acid to 
 the metallic form, the vapor of which, as already stated, has 
 the garlicky odor. 
 
 Symptoms. These usually set in within an hour after swal- 
 lowing a poisonous dose. There is generally first a sense of 
 faintness, attended with a feeling of heat and constriction 
 of the throat, and with thirst, nausea, and burning pain in 
 the stomach. The pain soon becomes excruciating, and is 
 attended with violent retching and vomiting. The matters 
 vomited are sometimes streaked with blood; the pain in the
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. SYMPTOMS. 217 
 
 stomach is increased by pressure, and soon extends over the 
 whole abdomen. There is generally severe purging, with 
 tenesmus, and frequently bloody discharges from the bowels. 
 The thirst is usually intense ; and sometimes there is great 
 difficulty in swallowing. The features are collapsed, and ex- 
 pressive of great pain ; the pulse is small, quick, and irreg- 
 ular; the skin cold and clammy, but occasionally hot; the 
 eyes red ; the tongue dry and furred ; the respiration labored. 
 Sometimes there are violent cramps in the legs and arms. 
 The urine is often partially suppressed, and passed with 
 pain. In certain cases, stupor, delirium, and convulsions 
 are manifested. In many instances death takes place calmly, 
 the intellect continuing undisturbed to the last. When the 
 poison proves rapidly fatal, death commonly takes place by 
 collapse, or by coma. In more chronic cases, the patient dies 
 exhausted by the violence of the irritative fever, or after a 
 long train of nervous symptoms, terminated by convulsions. 
 Patients who recover may suffer for a length of time from indi- 
 gestion, from a paralysis of the limbs, or from epileptic tits. 
 It must be remembered, however, that cases of poisoning 
 by arsenic present a very great variety of character, com- 
 bination, and severity of the symptoms: consequently we 
 should be prepared for exceptional and anomalous cases. 
 Thus, in one class of cases the symptoms are those above 
 described, in an aggravated form, indicating excessive irrita- 
 tion of all the mucous membranes, along with intense head- 
 ache and giddiness, incessant restlessness, violent cramps, 
 followed, if life be prolonged, by convulsions, tetanic spasms, 
 epileptic fits, delirium, and coma symptoms indicating ex- 
 cessive nervous disturbance. In another class the symp- 
 toms are those of collapse. There is little or no pain, vomit- 
 ing, or diarrhoea; but a cold and clammy skin, extreme 
 prostration, very frequent and feeble pulse, or else one very 
 slow and weak; the rnind is very slightly impaired, but there 
 is some approach to coma, slight cramps and convulsions, 
 and death, without reaction, in four or live hours. Christison 
 reports a case of this kind, where death took place in four 
 hours, without any vomiting, although the patient had taken, 
 emetics. Mr. Fox reports a similar case (Lancet, Nov. 4,
 
 218 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 1848), in which a stout, healthy young man took a teaspoonful 
 of arsenious acid by mistake. No marked symptom was ex- 
 hibited for nearly six hours, when purging suddenly super- 
 vened, and he vomited two or three times; he then became 
 drowsy ; his countenance sunken and livid ; pulse rapid and 
 extremely feeble; body cold and clammy; involuntary stools 
 of a watery character; no pain or tenderness of abdomen; 
 no tenesmus ; mind rational. Soon afterwards he complained 
 of dimness of sight, lay down on the bed, and in a few 
 minutes expired. 
 
 In a third class of cases the patient falls into a profound 
 sleep, deepening into coma, and dies in a few hours, without 
 rallying. Such a case is reported by Mr. T. Wright, of Dub- 
 lin (Lancet, vol. xii. p. 194), where death took place in four 
 hours, succeeding coma. The autopsy here revealed no trace 
 of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach, 
 even in the spots covered with the arsenic. 
 
 In a fourth class the symptoms very closely resemble 
 those of cholera, so much so as easily to be confounded with 
 them. Such was the case of the Duke of Praslin, who died 
 in Paris in 1847, from arsenical poisoning. 
 
 In most cases of acute poisoning by this substance the 
 symptoms steadily run their course ; yet sometimes there is 
 a marked remission, or even an intermission, of the most 
 prominent symptoms, lasting for several hours ; after which 
 these return with increased violence. In some instances this 
 remission has been repeated several times in the same case. 
 
 All the above varieties occur under large and small doses ; 
 and they cannot be accounted for by the quantity, the form, 
 or the mode of administration of the poison. Among the 
 occasional symptoms, a livid appearance of the face, jaundice, 
 and an eczematous eruption have been noticed. It has often 
 happened that in a case of fatal poisoning by a very large 
 dose of arsenic, and where the stomach was found intensely 
 inflamed, the patient had complained of no previous pain 
 whatever. Arsenic would thus appear, in some instances, to 
 destroy sensibility. 
 
 The symptoms of chronic poisoning usually result from fre- 
 quent repetition of a dose of the substance which of itself
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. EXTERNAL APPLICATION. 219 
 
 is too small to be followed by fatal effects. The most prom- 
 inent symptoms are great distress about the stomach,, with 
 the ordinary signs of indigestion ; a sense of burning ex- 
 perienced throughout the alimentary canal ; frequent nausea 
 and vomiting, and painful diarrhoea; inflammation of the 
 eyes; intolerance of light; headaches; giddiness; a jaun- 
 diced skin ; cutaneous eruptions; local paralysis; exfoliation 
 of the cuticle and of the skin of the tongue; falling out 
 of the hair; salivation; great emaciation; hemorrhage of 
 the nose; petechiae; pain of the joints and back; and a 
 general wearing out of the whole system. 
 
 The time when the symptoms first manifest themselves varies 
 considerably. In most instances they appear within half an 
 hour, or an hour, after taking the poison. Cases are reported 
 where the symptoms appeared in the act of swallowing it; 
 others, where they were manifested in eight, ten, and fifteen 
 minutes after. On the other hand, numerous instances are 
 recorded where the time was protracted for many hours after 
 taking it. The longest interval observed was in a case men- 
 tioned by Dr. "Wood (U. S. Dispensatory, 1865, p. 26), where 
 a drachm had been swallowed, and the symptoms of poison- 
 ing were delayed for sixteen hours. The great discrepancy in 
 regard to the period when the symptoms manifest themselves, 
 may be explained in part, at least, by the condition of the 
 stomach at the time of receiving the poison. If it were 
 swallowed soon after a meal, while this organ was full, ab- 
 sorption would necessarily be retarded, and the operation of 
 the poison would be delayed. Again, if swallowed just before 
 going to bed, its action would be delayed by sleep. The state 
 (solid or fluid) of the poison would also influence it. The 
 habitual use of narcotics would likewise tend to retard its 
 action. But, even admitting all this, we must still be at a 
 loss to account for many cases of delay in the manifestation 
 of the usual symptoms. 
 
 The external application of arsenic to abraded surfaces has 
 often been attended with fatal results. Dr. McCready reports 
 a case (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., July, 1851) where a woman ap- 
 plied a mixture of arsenious acid and gin to the head of a 
 child affected with porrigo favosa : it caused death in thirty-
 
 220 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 six hours. Numerous cases are recorded, both in Europe and 
 in America, of the fatal effects of the application of arsenic 
 to open cancers, by the cancer-curers. In some of these cases 
 the poison has been detected after death in the different 
 organs of the body, which had received it by the process of 
 absorption. 
 
 Arsenic has also proved fatal when applied to the mucous 
 membrane of the rectum and vagina. In a case reported by 
 Dr. Mangor, a man poisoned three wives in succession, by 
 introducing arsenic into the vagina (Wormley). In at least 
 two of these instances the poison produced its usual symp- 
 toms, and death in twenty-four hours. In all the cases above 
 alluded to, of death from the external application of arsenic, 
 the usual characteristic symptoms were noticed, such as the 
 burning and constriction of the throat, the thirst, the vomit- 
 ing and purging, the great depression, and the various ner- 
 vous disturbances already mentioned. 
 
 Within a few years a number of cases of chronic poisoning 
 have been traced to persons' occupying rooms hung with 
 paper stained with arsenical pigment (Scheele's green): the 
 dust from the paper, becoming detached, and being inhaled 
 into the lungs, occasioned the results mentioned. 
 
 fatal dose. According to Prof. Lachese, of Angers, one 
 to two grains of arsenious acid may prove 1 fatal to an adult. 
 Dr. Taylor gives a case where two grains of the poison, in 
 the form of Fowler's solution, taken in divided doses during 
 a period of five days, destroyed the life of a woman. The 
 same writer cites another case, reported by Dr. Letheby, in 
 which two and a half grains killed a robust, healthy girl of 
 nineteen years, in thirty-six hours. Much smaller quantities 
 have given rise to alarming symptoms. On the other hand, 
 recovery has taken place from doses of half an ounce, one 
 ounce, and even two ounces of the poison in substance. Dr. 
 A. Stille (Therapeutics, vol. ii. p. 707) gives the case of a 
 woman who swallowed about a dessertspoonful of the poison 
 immediately after a hearty meal ; and although there was no 
 vomiting, and no remedies were administered for an hour 
 and a half, yet within five days complete recovery ensued. 
 
 The following remarkable case is reported by Dr. W. C.
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. FATAL PERIOD. 221 
 
 Jackson (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., July, 1858). A man aged 
 twenty-eight years took, on an empty stomach, not less than 
 two ounces of arsenious acid. Nearly two hours after, there 
 was a slight vomiting, with some traces of the arsenic ; but 
 the greater part of the poison was retained in the body for 
 six hours. Great irritability of the stomach then ensued, 
 with a burning sensation in this organ, and in the throat. 
 This condition continued about six hours, after which the 
 patient rapidly recovered. 
 
 Fatal period. The great majority of deaths occur within 
 twenty-four hours. According to Prof. Guy (Forensic Med., 
 p. 449), the average duration of fatal cases is twenty hours. 
 More than half of these terminate within six hours; two- 
 thirds within eight hours; and more than three-fourths within 
 twelve hours. The shortest period, with one exception, within 
 which it has proved fatal, is two hours, of which three or four 
 instances are on record. Another case, related by Sir R. Chris- 
 tison (On Poisons, p. 240), proved fatal in three hours. Dr. 
 Taylor (Med. Jurisp., 1873, p. 256) relates the most rapidly 
 fatal case yet recorded, of a youth aged seventeen years, 
 who died from the effects of a large dose of arsenic accident- 
 ally swallowed : the symptoms were of a tetanic character, 
 and death took place in twenty minutes after swallowing the 
 poison. On the other hand, death may be protracted for 
 months, and even years, the patient experiencing great dis- 
 tress during the whole interval. Belloc reports the case of a 
 woman who died after two years' suffering from the effects of 
 arsenic applied externally for the cure of itch. (Cours de 
 Med. Leg., p. 121.) 
 
 Arsenic is not a cumulative poison : it is temporarily de- 
 posited in the organs liver, spleen, kidneys, heart, etc., after 
 absorption, but it is rapidly eliminated by the urine, and also 
 by the bile; and if the person survives for a certain length 
 of time, the whole of it may be removed from the body, so 
 that none shall be discovered, after death, by chemical analysis. 
 
 The exact period required for the elimination of arsenic from 
 the human body has not been definitively settled ; although 
 authorities generally agree that fifteen or sixteen days may be 
 regarded as the limit. Orfila held this view. This is on the 
 
 15
 
 222 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 assumption that there is no suppression of urine, or of the 
 other secretions. The case of Dr. Alexander (Med. Times and 
 Gaz., April 18, 1857) is of great interest in this connection. 
 This gentleman accidentally swallowed a large dose of ar- 
 senious acid; and, after suffering from the usual symptoms, 
 he died on the sixteenth day. The chemical analysis detected 
 no trace of the poison in any organ of the body, although it 
 was abundantly contained in the food swallowed by the de- 
 ceased. In this case the arsenic had been completely elim- 
 inated in sixteen days. Dr. Maclagan (Ed. Month. Jour., 
 vol. xiv.,1852, p. 131) reports a case in which a woman swal- 
 lowed half a dessertspoonful of arsenic, but recovered after 
 being under treatment for twenty-five days. The urine was 
 constantly examined, and continued to yield evidence of the 
 presence of the poison up to the twenty-first day. 
 
 The rapidity with which arsenic is absorbed and deposited 
 in the tissues is very great. Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 46) 
 found it in the liver in four hours after it had been swallowed. 
 Dr. Geoghegan's observations lead to the conclusion that the 
 liver acquires.its maximum of saturation in siboutjifteen hours. 
 
 This question of the period of elimination of absorbed 
 arsenic is one of considerable importance in a medico-legal 
 view. For example, if a person who had been taking arsenic 
 in small doses, medicinally, for a length of time, should sud- 
 denly die of gastro-enteritis, under suspicious circumstances, 
 the death might be ascribed to poison ; and the suspicion 
 would appear to be confirmed by the detection of arsenic 
 in the tissues and organs of the body. Now, if it could be 
 conclusively shown that the deceased had been using arsenic 
 medicinally up to three weeks, or even one month, before 
 death, we are of the opinion that the mere detection of the 
 absorbed arsenic, especially if it were absent from the stomach 
 and bowels, would not justify the conclusion that the death 
 had been occasioned by this poison. It is known positively 
 that other metallic poisons, such as antimony, copper, silver, 
 and lead, do remain in the organs many months after they 
 have ceased to be taken; and analogy would lead us to be- 
 lieve that, in some instances at least, the period of the deten- 
 tion of arsenic might be protracted. The case of Lacoste,
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. POST-MORTEM SIGNS. 223 
 
 which occurred in France, in 1844, is one in point. The 
 deceased had, for some time previous to his death, been in 
 the habit of using arsenic as a remedy for some cutaneous 
 disease. He died under somewhat suspicious circumstances; 
 and on examination of the body, nine months afterwards, ar- 
 senic was found deposited in the soft organs. It was proved 
 that the deceased had taken none of the medicine for a 
 period of fifteen days prior to his death, and the prosecution 
 contended that the arsenic found in the tissues could not be 
 ascribed to this medicine, but must have been some portion 
 of the poison subsequently administered, and therefore that 
 the prisoner was guilty of the crime. No arsenic was found 
 in the free state in the bowels, and the stomach does not ap- 
 pear to have been examined ! Under these circumstances, 
 the prisoner was very properly acquitted. The small quantity 
 of the poison found in the organs was considered quite con- 
 sistent with the theory of medicinal administration (vide p. 28). 
 
 Arsenic is known to be deposited in the bones, but not in 
 the hair; neither in the feathers of birds (Taylor). 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. These are to be especially no- 
 ticed as they are presented in the stomach and bowels. They 
 are generally well marked in proportion to the size of the 
 dose, and the length of time elapsing after taking the poison. 
 Arsenic seems to have a specific effect on the stomach, no 
 matter how it may have entered the system whether swal- 
 lowed, or injected into the rectum or the vagina, or inhaled 
 into the lungs, or introduced subcutaneously. Accordingly, 
 in the generality of cases we find the mucous membrane of 
 the stomach exhibiting evidences of active inflammation. 
 Sometimes the whole surface is of a deep crimson color; at 
 other times it is of a deep brownish red; again, it is inter- 
 spersed with dark patches or lines of effused blood, which have 
 been mistaken for gangrene. Occasionally it is much thick- 
 ened and corrugated. When the arsenic has been taken in 
 substance, it is common to find several patches, varying in 
 size from one inch to three inches, consisting of a tough white 
 or yellowish paste of arsenious acid mixed with lymph and 
 mucus firmly adherent to the inflamed membrane, and form- 
 ing so many centres of intense inflammation. White spots
 
 224 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 of arsenious acid are often found between the rugse; and 
 sometimes yellow points of the sulphide, in cases where the 
 examination has been made a long time after death, and 
 where decomposition has advanced. Tardieu very properly 
 cautions us not to mistake, for these, certain little white 
 and yellow specks, frequently found on the inner walls of 
 the stomach, and consisting merely of albumen and fatty 
 matters. 
 
 Ulceration of the stomach is of rare occurrence; but it has 
 been found as early as ten hours after the poison had been 
 taken. 'We have seen a case, where the examination was 
 made about four months after death, in which there was an 
 ulcer about a quarter of an inch in diameter near the greater 
 extremity: it was surrounded by a deep zone of dark, effused 
 blood, and it had penetrated down to the peritoneal coat of 
 the organ. Perforation of the stomach is still more un- 
 common ; although a few instances are reported. 
 
 The inflammation usually extends down the alimentary 
 canal, involving the duodenum and portions of the ileum. 
 Tt is apt to be more decided about the caecum and rectum. 
 The oesophagus also is occasionally the seat of inflammation, 
 and more rarely the mucous lining of the mouth, fauces, 
 and tongue. The lungs and brain have occasionally been 
 found congested, and in some cases the bladder has exhibited 
 signs of inflammation ; but none of these are sufficiently 
 characteristic to be of any medico-legal importance. The 
 blood is usually liquid, and of a dark color. The most 
 remarkable fact connected with the post-mortem sign.-?, is 
 the occasional absence of all traces of inflammation, and of 
 every other characteristic change ; and this, too, where there 
 had been well-marked and violent inflammatory symptoms 
 before death. 
 
 Another point worthy of observation is the antiseptic power 
 of arsenic over the body. .As a rule, the body will be found 
 in a remarkable state of preservation, even many months 
 after death from arsenical poison. This preservative influ- 
 ence is more particularly noticed in the internal parts, where 
 the poison has come into direct contact with the organs. 
 In such cases, a most noticeable fact, in making the autopsy,
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. ANTISEPTIC POWER. 225 
 
 is the absence of all true cadaveric odor: in its stead a pecu- 
 liar smell is perceived, which is described as resembling 
 that of old cheese. Very generally also, in such cases, on 
 opening the abdominal cavity, the contents will present a 
 decidedly yellowish appearance, the color being brighter 
 in spots scattered along the stomach and intestines. This 
 yellow color is due to the yellow sulphide (orpiment), which 
 has been produced, in the process of putrefaction, by the 
 action of sulphuretted hydrogen on the arsenious acid. 
 Christison alludes to this as " the effect of a chemical test 
 applied to the poison by nature." The time at which this 
 change takes place varies : Dr. Taylor has found it as early 
 as twenty-eight days after death, though, of course, the greater 
 the length of time, the more complete would we naturally 
 expect the conversion to be. 
 
 The length of time that the preservative effects of arsenic 
 will last upon a human body seems to vary. It is by no 
 means unusual to find the body in a good state of preserva- 
 tion many months, or even years, after burial. Of course, 
 in the latter case, many portions might be more or less de- 
 composed; but the point of medico-legal interest is, that the 
 poison can thus be discovered years after its administration. 
 Dr. "Webster found it in a body fourteen years after death 
 (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. xxxix. p. 489). 
 
 It is fortunate for the ends of justice that arsenic not only 
 preserves the stomach where surrounding parts are in a state 
 of decay, but that even the characteristic marks of inflam- 
 mation may be present after several months of interment. 
 
 It is proper to state that the antiseptic power of arsenic is 
 not always witnessed in the dead body. In fact, in some 
 cases the process of putrefaction seemed to advance with in- 
 creased rapidity. Besides, it must be remembered that the 
 body is sometimes unusually preserved in ordinary cases of 
 death. Nevertheless, the general fact of the antiseptic power 
 of arsenic cannot be disputed. It is, therefore, evident that 
 the expert witness would not always be justified in asserting 
 that, because the body had resisted putrefaction for an un- 
 usual length of time, this preservation was due to the pres- 
 ence of arsenic, since it may really be attributable to other
 
 226 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 causes (vide ante, p. 41). This question may assume very 
 considerable importance in a trial, where the defense takes 
 tha ground that any arsenic found in the body a long time 
 after burial, has resulted from post-mortem imbibition of the 
 poison, which had been secretly introduced into the stomach after 
 death, and not from ante-mortem poisoning. If, in such a 
 case, it should happen that the body had been better pre- 
 served than usual, the mere fact of such preservation could 
 not, as we have seen, be positively ascribed to the presence of 
 arsenic (ibid.}. 
 
 Treatment. If the patient is not already vomiting freely, 
 a prompt emetic should be administered, such as a combina- 
 tion of sulphate of zinc and ipecacuanha; or, in the absence 
 of this, some warm mustard and water. The vomiting should 
 be assisted by the free use of warm demulcent drinks. After 
 this, the hydrated sesquioxide of iron, in the moist state, should 
 be freely exhibited. This substance may be regarded as the 
 best-known antidote for arsenic. It most probably acts by 
 combining with it, so as to form the insoluble arsenate of 
 iron. This antidote should be administered in large excess, 
 and, as already stated, in the moist state. It may be extem- 
 poraneously prepared by diluting the tinct. ferri chloridi of the 
 shops with water, and adding aqua ammonia to precipitate 
 the sesquioxide. The precipitate should be thoroughly 
 washed, and given in tablespoonful doses. After the em- 
 ployment of the antidote, a dose of castor oil may be admin- 
 istered, to carry the resulting compound through the bowels. 
 
 In relation to the efficacy of this antidote, we believe there 
 can be no doubt. Numerous cases are reported attesting 
 its value in poisoning from arsenic. Prof. Wormley (Micro- 
 Chemistry of Poisons, p. 247) gives the results of twelve ex- 
 periments made upon dogs; these had previously, or simul- 
 taneously, taken a dose of arsenious acid which had by a 
 prior experiment been proved to be a fatal dose : in every 
 instance the animal entirely recovered. 
 
 The freshly precipitated hydrate of magnesia has also been 
 recommended as an antidote. The treatment of the result- 
 ing inflammation and of the other symptoms should be 
 conducted on general principles.
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 227 
 
 Chemical analysis. I. In the solid state. (1) A small quan- 
 tity of the white powder placed on platinum-foil and heated 
 in a spirit-lamp is entirely volatilized, giving off a white, 
 inodorous vapor. (2) Slowly heated in a narrow reduction- 
 tube, it sublimes without melting, and is deposited in the 
 form of a white ring of brilliant octahedral crystals, visible 
 by a good magnifier, or a low power of the microscope. (3) 
 Moistened by liquor potassse, it undergoes no change of color, 
 which distinguishes it from either calomel or corrosive 
 sublimate. (4) Moistened by sulphide of ammonium, and 
 allowing the excess of ammonia to pass off, a yellow sul- 
 phide of arsenic remains. (5) Mixed with some reducing 
 agent, such as charcoal, black flux, cyanide of potassium, or 
 ferrocyanide of potassium, and heated in a reduction-tube, 
 the metal is reduced and volatilized, condensing in the form 
 of a metallic ring or mirror, of great brilliancy, and of a steel- 
 gray color. (6) The sublimed metal in the state of vapor 
 has the odor of garlic. 
 
 The two processes of sublimation and reduction require a little 
 fuller description. In order properly to develop the charac- 
 teristic crystalline appearance of the sublimate of arsenious 
 acid, experience has shown that the white vapor must be 
 received on a warm surface. If the surface is perfectly cold, 
 the deposit is apt to be amorphous and imperfect. The ex- 
 periment may be performed either with the reduction-tube, 
 or with the glass disk, as recommended by Prof. Guy. The 
 reduction-tube should be composed of thin, hard German 
 glass, about three inches in length, and one-sixteenth of an 
 inch in diameter. The inside of the tube must be perfectly 
 clean, and free from moisture. The powder being introduced, 
 and the tube wiped out, if necessary, it is first to be gently 
 heated in the flame of the spirit-lamp a little distance above 
 the contents, after which, the flame is to be directly applied 
 to the bottom of the tube, until the sublimation is accom- 
 plished. Dr. Guy's method (Foren. Med., p. 383) consists in 
 placing the powder, perfectly dried, in a narrow glass tube 
 about three-quarters of an inch in length, and having its mouth 
 covered over with a warm glass slide or disk. On applying 
 heat to the bottom of the tube, a beautiful deposit of crystals
 
 228 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 takes place on the glass cover. The flat surface of the latter 
 renders it peculiarly favorable for microscopic examination. 
 
 It should be remembered that other substances besides 
 arsenious acid will undergo sublimation by heat and will be 
 deposited in white rings, such as calomel, corrosive subli- 
 mate, oxalic acid, and salts X)f ammonia. But most of these 
 substances melt before subliming, and none of them condenses 
 in the form of octahedral crystals. It will be noticed, then, that 
 it is the sublimate composed of octahedral crystals that is 
 the unequivocal proof of the presence of arsenious acid ; 
 and the student will do well to familiarize himself with 
 the appearance of arsenical sublimates, obtained after the 
 methods just described. 
 
 The crystals thus obtained, especially if the original 
 quantity is very minute, are exceedingly small, but still 
 perfectly characteristic. With a power of one hundred di- 
 ameters, we may determine the angles of a crystal that does 
 not exceed one eight-thousandth part of an inch in diameter ; 
 and with a power of two hundred and fifty, crystals measuring 
 only one fifteen-thousandth of an inch may be satisfactorily 
 determined (Wormley). 
 
 The reduction process consists in heating the arsenious acid, 
 along with some reducing agent, in a reduction-tube: the 
 reduced metal rises in vapor, and is deposited, in the form of 
 a bright, steel-gray-colored ring, on the cool part of the tube. 
 In this experiment, there are frequently two rings in the 
 tube : the upper and longer ring has a brown color, and ap- 
 pears to be a mixture of finely-divided metallic arsenic and 
 arsenious acid; the lower ring is small, and has a bright 
 mirror-appearance, like polished steel ; it consists of the 
 pure metal. The inner surface of the latter sublimate pre- 
 sents a bright crystalline appearance. 
 
 Practically, one of the best methods for effecting the 
 reduction of arsenious acid, and one which is equally appli- 
 cable for the sulphides and the arsenites, is by means of the 
 perfectly dry ferrocyanide of potassium, as proposed by Dr. 
 E. Davy, of Dublin (Chem. News, vol. iii. p. 288). This salt 
 is preferable to the cyanide, in that it is not deliquescent. 
 After being thoroughly dried at a temperature of 212, it
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. REDUCTION PROCESS. 229 
 
 should be mixed with the arsenious acid, in the proportion 
 of six or eight parts of the former to one of the latter, and 
 introduced into the reduction-tube. The mixture blackens 
 before fusing. 
 
 When the quantity of the arsenious acid is extremely 
 minute, the tube should be proportionately small. The 
 best mode of procedure, under such circumstances, is to use 
 a thin tube not over three inches long and about one-six- 
 teenth of an inch in diameter. After introducing the mixture 
 into the bottom of the tube, the latter should be thoroughly 
 wiped out with a piece of filtering-paper properly rolled up: 
 the tube should then be heated at a little distance above the 
 mixture by a blowpipe flame, and drawn out into a con- 
 tracted neck. After this has sufficiently cooled, and before 
 it is entirely cold, the heat should be applied to the bottom 
 of the tube, when the metallic sublimate will become very 
 apparent in the contracted neck. According to Prof. Worm- 
 ley, the one-thousandth of a grain of arsenious acid, when 
 treated in this manner, will give a very satisfactory metallic 
 sublimate, which, upon resublimatiou, farther up the neck 
 of the tube, will furnish several hundred octahedral crystals 
 of arsenious acid, many of them measuring one-thousandth 
 of an inch in diameter. 
 
 Although the metallic crust, obtained in the manner just 
 described, is positive proof of the presence of arsenic in the 
 original mixture, still, a witness, on a trial for poisoning, 
 would not be justified in so affirming, without proceeding 
 a step further. Compounds of mercury, cadmium, selenium, 
 and tellurium may, under similar circumstances, yield sub- 
 limates. These, however, may easily be distinguished from 
 the arsenical sublimate, even by the naked eye, though still 
 better by the microscope, which exhibits them in the form of 
 globules or drops. But there are other still more confirmatory 
 tests: (1) the arsenic mirror is wholly soluble in a solution 
 of hypochlorite of soda ; (2) it is also soluble in warm nitric 
 acid; and when this solution is evaporated to dryness by 
 heat, and the residue is touched by a drop of a strong solu- 
 tion of nitrate of silver, a brick-red color is produced, due 
 to the formation of arsenate of silver. If the closed end of
 
 230 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the tube be broken off, and heat be applied to the sublimate, 
 it will readily volatilize, and the vapor combining with the 
 oxygen of the air will condense in the octahedral crystals 
 of arsenious acid. Or, the portion of the tube containing 
 the crust, having been separated by the file, may be broken 
 up and introduced into another reduction-tube : when this 
 is properly heated, the characteristic crystalline deposit takes 
 place. 
 
 The conversion of the metallic crust into the octahedral 
 crystals of arsenious acid by resublimation is a highly satis- 
 factory proof of the presence of this poison ; but we may 
 proceed a step further, and dissolve these crystals in a few 
 drops of water, and subject the solution to the liquid tests 
 (see posf). 
 
 It has been objected that a crust of charcoal, or the em- 
 ployment of a reduction-tube containing lead, might occa- 
 sion an error : it is difficult to understand how a practiced 
 eye could possibly mistake them ; but all room for doubt 
 will certainly be removed by resubliming the suspected 
 crust: the crystalline deposit can occur only if this crust is 
 arsenical. 
 
 II. The liquid tests. These are two in number, viz., the 
 ammonio-sulphate of copper, and the ammonio-nitrate of silver. 
 These tests should both be prepared at the time they are 
 required for use. The former is made by cautiously adding 
 solution of ammonia to a somewhat dilute solution of sulphate 
 of copper, until the precipitated oxide is almost redissolved. 
 When this reagent is added to a solution of arsenious acid, 
 it throws down a light-green, amorphous precipitate of 
 arsenite of copper, known as Scheele's green. This precipi- 
 tate is very soluble in ammonia and. in free acids. From 
 very dilute solutions of arsenious acid, the precipitate does 
 not assume its characteristic color until it has stood for some 
 time. 
 
 The ammonio-nitrate of silver is prepared by cautiously 
 adding a weak solution of ammonia to a solution of nitrate 
 of silver, until the precipitated oxide of silver is nearly re- 
 dissolved. This reagent throws down from a solution of 
 arsenious acid a canary-yellow precipitate arsenite of silver
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. LIQUID TESTS. 231 
 
 which is freely soluble in ammonia, and in nitric and acetic 
 acids. 
 
 The above liquid tests are conclusive only when applied 
 to a solution of pure arsenious acid: in organic solutions 
 they are valueless as proof of the presence of arsenic, since 
 certain organic substances yield with each of the liquid tests, 
 colors similar to those caused by arsenic. Phosphoric acid 
 and the phosphates also give to a solution of nitrate of silver 
 a delicate yellow color. Hence the mere production of these 
 colors is not of itself proof of the presence of arsenic. The 
 danger of placing an undue reliance on these color tests is 
 shown in the celebrated Donnall case, which was tried in Eng- 
 land in 1817. Here, the charge of poisoning by arsenic was 
 sustained chiefly by the results afforded by the two liquid 
 tests upon the boiled contents of the stomach : the yellow 
 and green precipitates were thrown down ; but it was sub- 
 sequently shown that a decoction of onions would produce 
 a precisely similar green color with the copper test, as the 
 one actually obtained by the analyst. (See Beck's Med. 
 Jurisp., vol. ii. p. 580.) 
 
 The liquid tests can, however, be easily confirmed, as fol- 
 lows: (1) by heating either of the dried precipitates (arsenite 
 of silver and arsenite of copper) in a reduction-tube, either 
 alone, or with a reducing agent; a sublimate of octahedral 
 crystals of arsenious acid will be yielded in the first case, and 
 a mirror of metallic arsenic in the second. (2) If a small 
 quantity of the blue ammoniacal solution of the arsenic is 
 poured over a crystal of nitrate of silver, a film of yellow 
 arsenite of silver will appear around the crystal. The silver 
 and copper tests may thus be used to confirm each other. 
 
 III. The sulphuretted hydrogen test. Sulphuretted hydrogen 
 gas, and its solution in water, both give with solutions of 
 arsenious acid slightly acidulated, a bright yellow amorphous 
 precipitate of tersulphide of arsenic, or orpime?it, which is 
 soluble in the alkalies, but insoluble in cold hydrochloric 
 acid, and only partially soluble in the boiling strong acid ; 
 hot nitric acid dissolves and decomposes it to arsenious acid. 
 From very dilute solutions of the poison, the precipitate does 
 not separate until the excess of the sulphuretted hydrogen is
 
 232 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 expelled by heat, or on exposure to the air. In all cases, a 
 gentle heat favors the complete separation of the precipitate. 
 
 There are other substances besides arsenic which give 
 yellowish precipitates with sulphuretted hydrogen, such as 
 cadmium, selenium, and tin: the color of the antimonial pre- 
 cipitate is orange-red. The sulphide of cadmium is in ap- 
 pearance very similar to the sulphide of arsenic ; but they 
 differ entirely in that the cadmium-sulphide is soluble in 
 hydrochloric acid and insoluble in ammonia, while it is just 
 the reverse with the arsenic-sulphide. The bisulphide of tin, 
 when dried, has a dull yellow color; it is partially soluble in 
 cold hydrochloric acid, but sparingly soluble in ammonia. 
 The sulphide of selenium, besides being of very rare occur- 
 rence, soon changes to an orange-red color, and is insoluble 
 in ammonia. 
 
 The confirmatory proofs of the sulphide of arsenic are : 
 (1) when thoroughly dried, and mixed with dry ferrocj-auide 
 of potassium, black flux, or cyanide of potassium and car- 
 bonate of potash, and heated in a reduction-tube, it yields 
 the characteristic sublimate of metallic arsenic. In a small 
 reduction-tube properly drawn out, satisfactory results may 
 be obtained with a precipitate from the one-thousandth of a 
 grain of arsenious acid. (2) Boil the hydrochloric acid so- 
 lution of the yellow precipitate with a strip of bright copper- 
 foil, and proceed as directed for Reinsche's test (see post) : no 
 other substance, thus treated, will yield the characteristic 
 octahedral crystals. (3) Dissolve the precipitate in a little 
 hot nitric acid, evaporate to dryness, and add a drop or two 
 of solution of nitrate of silver : it will yield the brick-red 
 colored arsenate of silver. 
 
 IV. Marsh's test. This valuable test was first proposed by 
 Mr. Marsh, of Woolwich, about the year 1835. The prin- 
 ciple involved in it is, that when an arsenical compound comes 
 in contact with nascent hydrogen, the arsenic combines with 
 the latter, to form arsenetted or arsenuretted hydrogen a gas 
 possessing peculiar properties, by which the presence of the 
 poison may with certainty be recognized. The original 
 Marsh's apparatus consists of a U-shaped glass tube, one leg 
 of which is longer than the other. The longer one is open ;
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. MARSH'S TEST. 233 
 
 the shorter one is closed by a stop-cock furnished with a 
 nozzle, terminating in a minute bore. Hydrogen gas is gen- 
 erated by pouring dilute sulphuric acid through the open end 
 of the tube, upon a fragment of pure zinc; the gas evolved 
 gradually accumulates in the short leg of the tube, and es- 
 capes on opening the stop-cock. If the arsenious acid be 
 now introduced along with the contents of the tube, arsenu- 
 retted hydrogen will be generated, and will escape in a small 
 jet on opening the stop-cock. On ignition, it will yield the 
 characteristic results. A cheaper and more simple form of 
 apparatus may be used, and one which is preferable in toxi- 
 cological investigations, where new apparatus should be em- 
 ployed in every new analysis. It consists simply of the 
 ordinary hydrogen-bottle, fitted with two glass tubes, one a 
 straight funnel-tube, for introducing the materials, the other 
 one bent at right angles, for the delivery of the gas. To the 
 latter may be attached a drying-tube, with the proper arrange- 
 ment for burning the gas, as it escapes. 
 
 In performing this experiment, certain precautions are 
 necessary. In the first place, the zinc and sulphuric acid 
 must be proved to be free from contamination with arsenic. 
 It has already been stated that both of these substances, as 
 found in commerce, are very apt to contain arsenic as an 
 impurity. Secondly, care should be exercised that all the 
 atmospheric air has time to escape from the gas-bottle before 
 lighting the jet, otherwise the mixture of the air and hydro- 
 gen would occasion an explosion, which might be attended 
 with unpleasant consequences. With these precautions, the 
 experiment is performed as follows : fragments of pure zinc 
 are put into the bottle, and a mixture of pure sulphuric acid 
 and water, in the proportion of one measure of the former 
 to four of water, is poured through the funnel-shaped tube; 
 effervescence immediately takes place from the escape of 
 hydrogen gas, which passes oft' through the other bent tube; 
 this latter is connected, by means of a cork, with the drying- 
 tube, which is filled with fused chloride of calcium, or with 
 cotton moistened with strong sulphuric acid : the drying- 
 tube is connected by a piece of india-rubber tubing with the 
 reduction-tube; this should be of hard glass, without lead,
 
 234 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 about an eighth of an inch in diameter, several inches long, 
 contracted in. two or three places, and terminated in a turned- 
 up, drawn-out point, for ignition of the gas. Several of these 
 tubes should be at hand. 
 
 When sufficient time has been allowed for the escape of 
 all the atmospheric air, the jet may be lighted: it will burn 
 with a scarcely-perceptible flame, if it be pure hydrogen gas. 
 The purity of the materials is next to be tested by applying 
 the flame of a large spirit-lamp, or a Bunsen-jet, under the 
 horizontal delivery-tube, until it is heated to redness, just 
 behind one of the contracted portions: if no metallic deposit 
 or stain occurs in the contracted part of the tube, the mate- 
 rials may be considered free from arsenic. Or, if on holding 
 a clean, dry, white porcelain lid over the ignited jet, so as to 
 depress the flame, no metallic deposit or spot is formed, the 
 same conclusion may be held. 
 
 A small quantity of the arsenical solution is next intro- 
 duced through the funnel-tube : its decomposition imme- 
 diately commences, resulting in the formation of arsenetted 
 hydrogen; this is recognized by the following characteristics: 
 
 1. The ignited jet. The moment the arsenic combines with 
 the hydrogen, an obvious change is perceived in the flame, 
 which increases in size, and acquires a sickly bluish tint ; 
 and, unless the arsenic is in very minute quantity, it evolves 
 the white fumes of arsenious acid, and emits a peculiar alli- 
 aceous odor. If these fumes be received into a short, wide 
 test-tube, or on an inverted watch-glass, they will condense 
 into a white powder, which is sometimes crystalline (octa- 
 hedra), and which can be proved to be arseuious acid by 
 any of the tests already described. 
 
 If the flame be made to strike against a piece of cold 
 glass, or white porcelain, held horizontally, it yields a de- 
 posit of pure metallic arsenic, in the form of a brilliant steel- 
 gray or brownish spot. By changing the position of the 
 cold surface, numerous deposits of this nature may be ob- 
 tained. The exact appearance of these spots depends very 
 much upon the quantity of arsenic present, and on the 
 character of the flame. The jet should not be too large, 
 and should burn with a clear, steady flame : to this end, the
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. MARSH'S TEST. 235 
 
 evolution of gas should be moderately slow. When the 
 flame is very small and round, the surface should be held 
 very near its base ; but when the flame is pointed, or con- 
 ical, the porcelain should be held at about its upper third. 
 The color of the spots varies: sometimes they present a 
 very brilliant steel-gray appearance ; again, they may be of 
 a dark, brownish-black color ; and sometimes they may even 
 exhibit a copper hue; but never a black, sooty appearance. 
 
 These spots may be identified as arsenical by the following 
 tests: (1) they are immediately soluble in a solution of 
 hypochlorite of soda or lime; deposits of antimony (which 
 most resemble them) are not thus soluble. (2) "When touched 
 with a drop of sulphide of ammonium (which instantly dis- 
 solves antimony), they do not immediately disappear, but 
 require some time for solution. When the amraoniacal so- 
 lution is evaporated to dryness, a bright yellow spot is pro- 
 duced (sulphide), which is readily soluble in ammonia, and 
 insoluble in cold hydrochloric acid ; under the same condi- 
 tions, antimony yields an orange-red residue, which is in- 
 soluble in ammonia, but soluble in strong hydrochloric acid. 
 (3) The deposits from both metals are dissolved in a drop of 
 warm nitric acid, and yield on evaporation white residues. 
 When, however, these are touched with a drop of strong 
 solution of nitrate of silver, the arsenical spot assumes a 
 brick-red color, while the antimonial spot remains un- 
 changed. (4) The antimonial spot is generally darker and 
 less lustrous than the arsenical : if, however, it is very thin, 
 it may present an appearance precisely similar to that of the 
 arsenic spot. 
 
 There are some other fallacies connected with this test, 
 which deserve a passing notice. Organic matter under cer- 
 tain circumstances, certain combinations of iron and zinc, 
 phosphorus and sulphur, may, under the above conditions, 
 yield stains somewhat resembling those of arsenic. But 
 none of these substances will yield a succession of deposits; 
 and none will yield a single spot possessing the characters 
 above enumerated as belonging to the arsenical deposit. It 
 is to be remembered that the evidence of the presence of 
 arsenic is not based alone upon the obtaining of a spot, or
 
 236 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 spots, by Marsh's test, but upon the identification of these spots, 
 in the manner above described. 
 
 The delicacy of this process is such, that one five-thou- 
 sandth of a grain of arsenious acid may by this means be 
 detected. 
 
 2. Decomposition of the gas by heat. Berzelius modified the 
 original experiment of Marsh by decomposing the arsenetted 
 hydrogen gas by means of heat, as it passes along the hori- 
 zontal tube. For this purpose, the flame of a large spirit-lamp 
 is placed under the tube, about three-quarters of an inch on 
 the inside of one of the contractions. When the tube be- 
 comes red-hot, a small quantity of the arsenic solution is 
 poured into the flask ; as the resulting arsenetted hydrogen 
 passes through the red-hot tube, it is decomposed, and a 
 bright mirror of metallic arsenic is deposited in the con- 
 tracted part of the tube. A series of such mirrors may be 
 obtained by applying the heat to successive portions of the 
 tube. These deposits are highly characteristic, though they 
 may vary somewhat in color from a steel-gray to almost 
 a copper hue : they serve as admirable illustrations of the 
 presence of the metal, which can be exhibited in court, as posi- 
 tive proof of the detection of the poison. Moreover, they 
 may be resublimed into arsenious acid, and this again can 
 be subjected to the liquid tests. 
 
 The delicacy of this modification is even greater than 
 that by which the gas is burned in a jet for the production 
 of the spots. Unless the quantity of the poison be exceed- 
 ingly small, it is always possible to obtain both results by 
 Marsh's process. 
 
 The only fallacy to which this experiment is liable is the 
 presence of antimony. Antimonetted hydrogen, treated as above, 
 will give a deposit of metallic antimony, which might possi- 
 bly be mistaken for one of arsenic. They may, however, be 
 distinguished as follows : since the antimonetted hydrogen 
 is decomposed at a lower temperature than the arsenetted, 
 the deposition of metallic antimony takes place just over the 
 heated spot, or rather on both sides of it, whilst the arsenic 
 is always deposited half an inch or three-quarters in advance 
 of the flame. Again, the autimonial mirror has usually a
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. MARSH'S TEST. 237 
 
 duller black appearance than the arsenical, although some- 
 times this distinction cannot be perceived. Again, there is 
 a marked difference in the volatility of the two deposits : if 
 the flame be applied to the arsenic mirror, it very soon dis- 
 appears, and condenses farther on in the tube in the charac- 
 teristic octahedral crystals ; the antimony mirror is more 
 slowly affected, requiring a higher temperature, and yields 
 a white, amorphous deposit, quite near the point to which 
 the heat was applied. The deposits of the two metals may 
 be further distinguished, as before stated, by the action of 
 sulphide of ammonium, hypochlorite of soda, and nitric acid 
 (ante, p. 235). 
 
 The action of dry sulphuretted hydrogen gas upon the deposits 
 of these two metals affords a further ground of distinction. 
 If a stream of this gas be passed through a tube containing 
 the arsenic crust, and the crust be chased in the opposite 
 direction to the stream of gas by the flame of a spirit-lamp, 
 it is rapidly vaporized and converted into the yellow ter- 
 sulphide, which is deposited a little in advance of the flame. 
 The antimonial crust, treated in a similar manner, deposits 
 a reddish-brown, nearly black, tersulphide of antimony, but 
 much nearer the flame, and requiring also a higher heat. If 
 the tersulphide of antimony be exposed to a slow current of 
 dry hydrochloric acid gas, it rapidly disappears, whilst the 
 tersulphide of arsenic, similarly treated, is unaffected. (Pet- 
 tenkofer and Fresenius.) 
 
 3. Decomposition by nitrate of silver. The nature of the ar- 
 senetted hydrogen may be further proved by the action of 
 nitrate of silver. If the gas be conducted into a solution of 
 this salt, it blackens immediately ; double decomposition takes 
 place, resulting in the production of arsenious acid, which 
 remains in solution, and metallic silver, which falls as a black 
 precipitate. The filtered solution will contain, besides arseni- 
 ous acid, free nitric acid, and any excess of nitrate of silver. 
 On neutralizing with ammonia, this solution will yield a 
 yellow precipitate of arseuite of silver (see p. 230). Should 
 no nitrate of silver happen to be in the solution, a little of 
 that salt, must be added, after the ammonia. Again, after 
 removing any excess of nitrate of silver from the solution 
 
 16
 
 238 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 by hydrochloric acid, and filtering, if the filtrate be treated 
 by sulphuretted hydrogen, it will yield the characteristic 
 yellow precipitate of the tersulphide of arsenic. Or, instead 
 of using sulphuretted hydrogen, the filtrate may be examined 
 by Reinsch's test (see post). Or, finally, if the filtrate be 
 evaporated to dry ness, the arsenic will remain as white ar- 
 senic acid, which, when moistened with a strong solution of 
 nitrate of silver, assumes a brick-red color. 
 
 This reaction with nitrate of silver is extremely delicate : 
 according to "Wormley (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 291), the 
 one-hundred-thousandth of a grain of arsenious acid may be 
 thus detected. 
 
 It must, however, be remembered that it is not the mere 
 production of a black color with nitrate of silver that furnishes 
 the proof required, since several agents will cause this, for 
 example, antimouetted hydrogen, sulphuretted hydrogen, 
 and phosphuretted hydrogen. As regards the antimonetted 
 hydrogen, the resulting black precipitate contains the whole 
 of the antimony in combination with the silver, as an anti- 
 monide of silver: consequently, the filtered solution should 
 give none of the reactions of arsenic. 
 
 V. Reinsch's test. In this process, the liquid containing 
 the arsenic, or the solid dissolved in distilled water, is boiled 
 with one-sixth to one-eighth of pure hydrochloric acid, and 
 a small strip of bright copper-foil is then introduced. The 
 presence of a minute quantity of arsenic is indicated by the 
 copper immediately becoming tarnished from the deposition 
 of metallic arsenic upon its surface. The color of the deposit 
 depends upon the amount of arsenic present: if the quantity 
 be large, the film upon the copper lias a dark iron-gray tint, 
 sometimes almost black; this is apt to scale off, especially if 
 the liquid be long boiled. If the arsenic be in very small 
 quantity, the polished copper will merely acquire a faint 
 violet or bluish tint. The deposit upon the copper is always 
 affected by the degree of dilution, and where the quantity of 
 water present is large, it may require boiling for half an hour 
 before the deposition upon the copper becomes visible. 
 
 This reaction is extremely delicate, and the results are very 
 satisfactory. Certain precautions must be observed to secure
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. REINSCH'S TEST. 239 
 
 success: first, the purity of the hydrochloric acid must be 
 certain; this can, happily, be demonstrated by the test itself. 
 It is only necessary to boil some of the acid, diluted with six 
 or eight parts of pure water, upon a slip of copper-foil: if 
 the latter is not tarnished after the lapse of fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, we may be certain of the absence of arsenic. It is 
 also important that the copper should have a bright surface: 
 this is effected by means of ernory-paper. The purity of the 
 copper-foil should likewise be secured. If the copper, when 
 boiled with the acid liquor containing the arsenic, is not dis- 
 solved, and does not impart a green color to the liquid, it 
 may be considered pure. It is only when the copper is dis- 
 solved in the liquid which is being tested, that the impurity 
 of the metal can affect the result. 
 
 According to Dr. Taylor (Med. Jurisp., 1873, p. 261), cop- 
 per may be best tested for arsenic by the simple method of 
 Mr. Abel: Add to pure- hydrochloric acid, diluted with six 
 parts of water, one or two drops of a weak solution of per- 
 chloride or persulphate of iron : boil the acid liquid, and 
 introduce into it the copper well polished : if it contains 
 arsenic, it soon becomes tarnished; if pure, it retains its 
 brightness. 
 
 It is best not to employ too large a surface of copper in 
 the first instance, but successive strips should be introduced 
 as each one becomes completely coated. By this means 
 the whole of the arsenic may be withdrawn from a solution. 
 Another point to be noticed is, not to remove the copper too 
 soon from the boiling liquid; for if the quantity of arsenic 
 present be very small, it may require a considerable time 
 before the deposit takes place. In doubtful cases the boiling 
 should continue for half an hour, before deciding positively 
 as to the absence of arsenic. But, on the other hand, if the 
 copper be kept in for an hour or longer, it may acquire a 
 dingy appearance, from the action of the acid and air exclu- 
 sively. 
 
 Fallacies. Various other metals besides arsenic are de- 
 posited upon copper under the same conditions, viz., anti- 
 mony, mercury, silver, tin, bismuth, gold, platinum, and 
 palladium ; so also organic matter, especially if it contain sulphur.
 
 240 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The antimonial coating has usually a well-marked violet hue, 
 while the deposits of mercury, silver, and bismuth have 
 generally a bright silver appearance, and that of gold a yel- 
 low color. Under certain circumstances, however, they may 
 all resemble the deposit caused by arsenic. Hence it would 
 be very unsafe to rely solely upon the color of the film, in 
 Reinsch's test. The corroborative proof consists in subject- 
 ing the coated copper-foil to heat, in a reduction-tube. The 
 arsenic will volatilize, and, meeting with oxygen, will con- 
 dense higher up in the tube as arsenious acid, recognizable 
 by the octahedral crystals. The only other metals which could 
 volatilize under such circumstances are antimony and mer- 
 cury; but the sublimate from mercury consists of spherical 
 metallic globules, easily distinguished by the microscope; and 
 that from antimony, although white, is either amorphous or 
 granular, or else in tine acicular crystals; the deposit, more- 
 over, occurs nearer to the copper, and requires a higher 
 heat for its production, than in the case of arsenic. 
 
 Dr. Wormley (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 274) alludes 
 to the fact that when complex organic mixtures acidified by 
 hydrochloric acid are boiled for some time in contact with 
 metallic copper, the metal will be coated with a very percep- 
 tible stain, and yield by heat an amorphous sublimate, which 
 sometimes contains acicular crystals, consisting apparently 
 of a compound of copper. We have frequently verified the 
 above observation in relation to the action of organic matter. 
 "We have experimented upon a mixture of tincture of gel- 
 semium, chloral, and milk, with hydrochloric acid, and ob- 
 tained a decided stain upon copper-foil, which might easily be 
 mistaken for an imperfect stain of either arsenic or antimony; 
 moreover, on subjecting the copper to sublimation, a white, 
 amorphous deposit took place in the tube. From what 
 has just been stated, it follows, that for the complete verifi- 
 cation of Reiusch's test, in the case of arsenic, nothing less 
 than the production of the octahedral crystals, and their subsequent 
 identification, should be admitted in any medico-legal investi- 
 gation. 
 
 In all cases, the size of the reduction-tube should be pro- 
 portioned to the amount of arsenic examined by the above
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. BLOXAM*S METHOD. 241 
 
 test. If the coating upon the copper is very decided, a 
 single slip half an inch square will suffice to give the charac- 
 teristic crystals by sublimation ; if the deposit is very slight, 
 several such pieces of copper should be used at once. Some 
 caution is to be observed in preparing the copper for sublima- 
 tion. After the deposition of the arsenic, the slips should be 
 withdrawn from the liquid and washed thoroughly in dis- 
 tilled water, and then completely dried by bibulous paper. 
 Moisture should be carefully avoided. 
 
 Interferences. Certain substances, if present in the arsen- 
 ical solution, may prevent the deposition of arsenic on copper, 
 as a chlorate e.g. chlorate of potassa, binoxide of manganese, 
 and other substances that decompose hydrochloric acid, 
 giving rise to chlorine. Free nitric acid likewise, when 
 present in notable quantity, or when the solution is much 
 concentrated, will act similarly. In all the above cases, the 
 copper is attacked, and partially dissolved, giving a bluish 
 or greenish-blue color to the solution. 
 
 It may be remarked, in conclusion, that Reinsch's method 
 possesses many advantages : the facility with which it may 
 be applied, the fact that it can be used in complex, .highly- 
 colored organic mixtures, and the complete separation by it 
 of the poison from such mixtures, entitle it to the highest 
 consideration of the toxicologist. 
 
 VI. Bloxam's method. The principle involved here is the 
 same as that in the process of Marsh the formation of 
 arsenetted hydrogen by the action of nascent hydrogen on 
 arsenious acid. Prof. Bloxam employs electrolysis as the 
 means of decomposing the water and liberating hydrogen ; 
 thus dispensing with zinc entirely. The arsenetted hydrogen 
 is made to pass through a horizontal glass tube, in which it 
 is decomposed by heat, as in Marsh's apparatus (see Guy's 
 Forensic Med., p. 441). This method has been found to 
 be very delicate and satisfactory. One precaution is, how- 
 ever, necessary: if the poison exists in the form of arsenic 
 acid, its decomposition does not take place ; it must first 
 be deoxidized by means of sulphurous acid, or a soluble 
 sulphite. 
 
 There are some other reagents, of inferior importance, which
 
 242 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 may be used to detect arsenious acid: these are lime water, 
 iodide of potassium, bichromate of potassa, and sulphate of copper 
 with poiassa ; but, as none of these are characteristic, they need 
 not be further noticed. 
 
 Separation from organic mixtures. As arsenious acid is only 
 sparingly soluble in water, and even less so in organic mix- 
 tures, it may frequently be discovered in lumps, or particles, 
 by diluting the mixture with distilled water and allowing the 
 solid particles to subside, using a lens, if necessary. Any 
 white particles should be carefully removed, washed in pure 
 water, and then in ether, to remove any adhering fat, and 
 examined as recommended for solid arsenic (see p. 227). 
 Some of the particles may also be dissolved in water, and 
 subjected to the liquid tests (see p. 230). 
 
 "Whether the poison is thus discovered or not, the solids 
 and liquids are next to be intimately mixed, together with 
 the addition of hydrochloric acid, and gently boiled for ten 
 or fifteen minutes. When cool, the mixture is to be filtered 
 through muslin, and concentrated by evaporation over a 
 water-bath. A portion may now be tested by Reinsch's pro- 
 cess, fresh slips of copper being added, as long as they acquire 
 a tarnish. If the copper does not receive a coating im- 
 mediately, the boiling should continue nearly to dry ness, 
 before concluding that no arsenic is present. In employing 
 this process, it must be remembered that it is the obtaining 
 of the characteristic octahedral crystals on subliming the cop- 
 per strips, that constitutes the true evidence of the presence 
 of arsenic. 
 
 If this method fails to indicate the poison, it may be con- 
 sidered as absent, unless the presence of some interfering 
 substance can be shown. Should it seem desirable, another 
 portion of the filtrate may be tried by Marsh's test; and a 
 third portion by sulphuretted hydrogen: the resulting sul- 
 phide, when purified, affords good data for estimating the 
 original quantity of the poison. 
 
 Vomited matters. These are to be carefully collected, and 
 searched for any particles of the poison. The mass is then 
 diluted with distilled water strongly acidulated with hydro- 
 chloric acid, and kept boiling for about twenty minutes.
 
 ARSENIC. EXAMINATION OF THE STOMACH. 243 
 
 After cooling, it is filtered, the filtrate concentrated, and then 
 examined in the manner described above. 
 
 It should be remembered that a failure to detect poison in 
 the matters vomited is not, of itself, conclusive evidence that 
 the poison had not been swallowed, since it might have been 
 absorbed into the system before the vomiting occurred, 
 or even might, if in the solid state, adhere tenaciously to 
 the walls of the stomach, and not be rejected in the act of 
 vomiting. 
 
 The stomach audits contents. Before these are subjected to 
 chemical analysis, they should be carefully examined for the 
 presence of any solid particles of the poison, as already 
 mentioned. The stomach should be placed upon a perfectly 
 clean, large porcelain plate (a new one is preferable), and after 
 being cut open through its smaller curvature, should be com- 
 pletely spread out for minute inspection. This is the proper 
 occasion, also, for noticing the pathological changes of this 
 organ. The contents may now either be examined sepa- 
 rately, or, as is more usual, the stomach may be cut up into 
 small pieces (using for this purpose a new pair of scissors, or 
 one known to be absolutely clean), and added to the contents. 
 Distilled water should be added, if the mass is too viscid, and 
 mixed with about one-eighth of its volume of pure hydro- 
 chloric acid, and heated nearly to 212 F., until the organic 
 mutters are completely disintegrated. After cooling, the 
 mixture is to be thrown upon a muslin strainer, and the 
 matters upon the strainer washed several times with pure 
 warm water. The strainer and its contents may be retained 
 for future examination, if necessary. The filtrate should 
 be concentrated by a moderate heat, and, after cooling, be 
 filtered through paper. 
 
 Reinsch's test may now be applied to a given portion of 
 the filtrate, as a trial test, care being taken to have the acid 
 liquid boiling, before introducing the copper slips : these 
 should be successively added as long as they receive a de- 
 posit. The copper pieces, after being thoroughly washed 
 and dried, are heated in a reduction-tube, and the resulting 
 sublimate examined after the manner already mentioned. 
 Another given portion of the filtrate should be examined by
 
 244 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 sulphuretted hydrogen. For this purpose, a stream of the 
 gas prepared by the action of pure dilute sulphuric acid 
 on pure sulphide of iron (artificial) should be slowly passed 
 through the liquid slightly warmed, for several hours, in 
 some instances, for twenty-four hours. It should then be 
 gently warmed, and allowed to stand quietly until the super- 
 natant liquid is perfectly clear. The precipitate thus obtained 
 will have, if arsenic be present, a yellowish color (not the 
 bright yellow of pure sulphide), due to the mixture of organic 
 matter and free sulphur, which are always present in greater 
 or less quantity. 
 
 It is a point of great importance, in toxicological investi- 
 gations, to give due attention to the nature of this precipi- 
 tated sulphide. A careless and hasty conclusion often leads 
 to error in this regard. We have known such precipitates to 
 be mistaken for those of metallic sulphides (especially in the 
 case of arsenic and antimony) when they contained no trace 
 of a metal, but consisted solely of organic matter and free 
 sulphur. In fact, even if arsenic or antimony be present, 
 and the impure sulphide which is thrown down be separated 
 by filtration, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas be again passed 
 through the clear filtrate, a second precipitate will be formed, 
 of a dirty yellowish-brown color, composed exclusively of 
 organic matter and free sulphur. 
 
 There is no doubt that certain kinds of organic matter 
 will yield, under such conditions, more suspicious-looking 
 precipitates than others; but the fact that they are thus pro- 
 duced should be sufficient to make us extremely cautious in 
 our inferences as to the nature of such a precipitated sulphide 
 simply from its color: a further examination, in all cases, 
 becomes necessary. 
 
 The precipitate produced by the sulphuretted hydrogen is 
 collected upon a small filter, washed while still moist, and 
 digested with pure aqua ammonite, which will readily dissolve 
 the sulphide of arsenic, and leave untouched most of the 
 organic matter. The ammoniacal solution is filtered, and 
 the filtrate carefully evaporated to dryness, at a moderate 
 heat. If there is a sufficient quantity of arsenic present, it 
 will have a decided yellow color; but its true nature must
 
 ARSENIC. SEPARATION FROM THE TISSUES. 245 
 
 be established by the methods pointed out under the sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen test (see ante, p. 231). If, however, the 
 dried residue contains only a minute quantity of arsenic in 
 combination with much organic matter, a further purification 
 of it may be necessary before the poison can be positively 
 identified. The method of procedure will be described here- 
 after. 
 
 There are several other methods of examination, which 
 will be noticed in the succeeding paragraph under the head 
 of Detection of the poison in the tissues. 
 
 The intestines and their contents may be examined in the 
 same manner as that above described for the stomach and 
 its contents. 
 
 Separation from the tissues. In all toxicological investiga- 
 tions, the separation of a metallic poison from the different 
 organs of the body should always be attempted, inasmuch 
 as this furnishes incontestable proof of the actual absorption 
 of the poison from the stomach into the tissues; provided, 
 always, the absence of post-mortem imbibition can be proved 
 (see ante, p. 40). Moreover, it is this absorbed portion of the 
 poison which has been the real cause of death, whereas that 
 portion found in the stomach is only the residue, or comple- 
 ment, of that which has produced the fatal result. Besides, 
 it frequently happens, especially when the dose of the poison 
 has not been excessive, that all of it may have disappeared 
 from the stomach before death, so that this organ will furnish 
 none for chemical analysis; whilst the different organs may 
 still contain it in notable quantity, as the result of absorption. 
 Absorbed arsenic is readily deposited in all the soft tissues 
 of the body, and any of these may be examined for it after 
 death; the liver, however, usually contains the largest rela- 
 tive amount. The absolute quantity thus found rarely exceeds 
 a grain in weight. 
 
 All the different methods adopted for the recovery of ab- 
 sorbed arsenic from the tissues have reference to one common 
 end the destruction of the organic matter before applying 
 the usual tests. In some instances, however, the poison 
 may be obtained by simply boiling the finely-divided tissue 
 with dilute hydrochloric acid, and then employing Reiusch's
 
 246 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 method. This mode will often suffice to separate arsenic 
 from the liver. 
 
 The following are the most approved methods of effecting 
 the destruction or carbonization of the organic matters: 
 
 1. -By hydrochloric acid and chlorate of potash. This is the 
 method of Fresenius and Babo, and commends itself by its 
 simplicity, and by the fact that the acid employed is the 
 same as that used in Reinsch's test. The solid organic mat- 
 ter (as, about one-fourth of the liver) is to be finely divided, 
 and brought to the consistence of thick gruel, by mixture with 
 pure water. The whole is then to be digested in a porcelain 
 evaporating-dish, over a water-bath, with an amount of pure 
 hydrochloric acid equal to the weight of the dry solid mat- 
 ter present. About twenty grains of powdered chlorate of 
 potash are then added to the hot liquid, and the addition is 
 occasionally repeated, stirring the liquid, until the organic 
 matters are completely disintegrated. During this process, 
 a little water is added to prevent concentration of the mixture. 
 When the liquid has cooled, it is transferred to a muslin 
 strainer, the solid residue washed repeatedly with warm 
 water, and the washings collected separately ; they are now 
 concentrated in a water-bath, and, after cooling, added to the 
 original filtrate : the mixed liquids are then filtered through 
 paper. Any arsenic present would now exist in the liquid 
 as arsenic acid. 
 
 The liquid is next poured into a flask, and a few drops 
 of a strong solution of sulphite of soda are added, until it 
 smells strongly of sulphurous acid. The object of this is to 
 deoxidize the arsenic acid, and convert it into arsenious acid, 
 which latter condition experience has proved to be more 
 favorable for precipitation by means of sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen. The flask is then heated in a water-bath until all the 
 odor has disappeared; it is then allowed to stand in a cool 
 place for several hours, and any deposit that forms is removed 
 by filtration. The resulting solution may now be examined 
 for arsenic, by the different methods already described. 
 
 A given portion is treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, 
 with all the precautions given on p. 232 ; and when the quan- 
 tity of the poison discovered is to be determined, the most
 
 ARSENIC. SEPARATION FROM THE ORGANS. 247 
 
 scrupulous care is to be observed. The precipitated sulphide 
 should be washed on the filter, at first with water containing 
 
 O 
 
 a little sulphuretted hydrogen, and until the washings no 
 longer contain chlorine. 
 
 This precipitated sulphide, it is to be remembered, con- 
 tains organic matter and sulphur. It will also be mixed with 
 the sulphides of other metals that may happen to be present 
 (antimony, mercury, lead, and copper). For the purification of 
 the precipitate, several methods have been proposed. The 
 one originally described by Otto, and recommended by 
 Wormley, is highly satisfactory. The filter containing the 
 moist precipitate is to be spread out on a porcelain dish, 
 stirred first with distilled water to the consistence of a paste, 
 then with excess of pure aqua ammonise. Any sulphuret of 
 arsenic present, along with more or less of organic matter, 
 will be dissolved, while the other sulphides above mentioned 
 would remain unchanged. The mixture is now transferred 
 to a small moistened filter, and the solid residue washed from 
 the spritz-bottle with diluted ammonia. The filter with its 
 contents should be reserved for future examination, if neces- 
 
 The ammoniacal filtrate, which has usually a dark-brown 
 color, is now evaporated, in a small porcelain capsule, to dry- 
 ness, on a water-bath. It still contains organic matter. A 
 small portion of concentrated nitric acid is next added, and 
 the mixture again evaporated to dryness, the addition of 
 nitric acid being repeated until the moist residue has a yel- 
 low color. The residue is then moistened with a few drops 
 of a concentrated solution of caustic soda, a small quantity 
 of pure carbonate and nitrate 'of soda added, and the well- 
 stirred mass cautiously evaporated to dryness ; the heat is 
 then very gradually increased until the mass becomes color- 
 less, when the organic matter may be considered entirely 
 destroyed. In the performance of this operation, it is of the 
 utmost importance that the nitric acid and the soda com- 
 pounds employed be perfectly free from chlorine, the pres- 
 ence of which might cause a portion, or the whole, of the 
 arsenic to be volatilized as a chloride. 
 
 In the incinerated residue thus obtained, the arsenic would
 
 248 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 exist in the form of the arsenate of soda, mixed with sulphate, 
 nitrate, nitrite, and carbonate of soda. When cool, this 
 mixture is dissolved in warm water, and the solution, after 
 filtration, if necessary, strongly acidulated with pure sulphuric 
 acid, and then evaporated until dense white fumes appear. 
 By this treatment the carbonic, nitrous, and nitric acids are 
 entirely expelled, leaving only the arsenate and sulphate of 
 soda. 
 
 A portion of the strongly acid liquid thus obtained may 
 now be tested by Marsh's process, as before described (see p. 
 232). But if it is desired to apply the other tests, it will be 
 requisite to reduce the arsenic acid to the state of arsenious 
 acid, by the use of sulphurous acid, or the sulphite of soda, 
 in the manner directed at page 246. If the object be to 
 ascertain the amount of the poison present, a given quan- 
 tity of the acid liquid is to be treated with sulphuretted 
 hydrogen gas, as already described, and the precipitated sul- 
 phide, after thorough washing, dissolved in aqua ammonhe, 
 evaporated carefully to dryness, and carefully weighed. 
 Every 100 parts of the dried tersulphide correspond to 80.48 
 parts of arsenious acid. A portion of the dried sulphide, 
 when heated in a reduction-tube, should completely volatilize 
 without charring, or leaving any residue; otherwise, it is not 
 perfectly pure. 
 
 A preferable method of estimating the quantity of arseni- 
 ous acid present in an organic liquid, according to Wormley 
 (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 310), is to introduce a given 
 measure of the above organic liquid into an active Marsh's 
 apparatus, so arranged as to evolve a very slow stream of 
 gas, and conduct the gas into a properly diluted solution 
 of nitrate of silver. As already explained, the whole of the 
 arsenic will be recovered as arsenious acid in solution, while 
 the silver will be precipitated in the metallic form. When 
 the evolved gas ceases to yield any further precipitate, the 
 solution is filtered, and any undecomposed nitrate of silver 
 is precipitated by the cautious addition of hydrochloric acid, 
 as chloride of silver: this is separated on a moist filter; the 
 filtrate is treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, in the usual 
 manner, and the precipitate dried and weighed.
 
 ARSENIC. SEPARATION FROM THE ORGANS. 249 
 
 2. Carbonization by sulphuric acid. Method of Danger and 
 Flandin. The organic tissue is cut up into fragments, and 
 mingled with the liquid matters previously concentrated on 
 a water-bath, and the whole introduced into a glass tubulated 
 retort, which is attached by means of an adopter to a properly- 
 cooled receiver. Strong sulphuric acid is then poured upon 
 the mass, in the proportion of one-fourth its weight. The 
 retort, which should be about one-third full, is now to be 
 carefully heated on a sand-bath, until the black, pasty mass 
 first produced becomes dry and carbonaceous. White fumes 
 of sulphuric acid, highly offensive, are copiously disengaged. 
 After cooling, the black mass is removed from the retort, first 
 carefully breaking it up by means of a glass rod, and -is re- 
 duced to powder in a glass mortar. This powder is moist- 
 ened in a porcelain capsule with about one-tenth its weight 
 of pure concentrated nitric acid, and exposed to the heat of 
 a water-bath for half an hour. By this time all the arsenic 
 will have been converted into arsenic acid. Warm distilled 
 water is now added, and the whole thrown upon a filter. If 
 the carbonization is complete, the filtrate is colorless; if it 
 still retains a yellowish tint, it must be evaporated to dry- 
 ness, first, however, adding a small quantity of sulphuric acid ; 
 the dry residue is treated with pure nitric acid, water again 
 added, and filtration performed a second time. The carbon 
 is washed upon the filter by successive applications of hot 
 distilled water, and the filtrates mixed with the liquid which 
 first passed through. This liquor is very acid, and contains 
 a considerable quantity of sulphuric and nitric acids ; it is 
 next evaporated, first on a water-bath, afterwards on a sand- 
 bath, until the nitrous odor has entirely disappeared. It is 
 now to be mixed with its volume of distilled water, and fil- 
 tered, if any deposit of sulphate of lime takes place. The 
 liquid is then in the proper. condition to be subjected to 
 Marsh's test. Or, the solution may be saturated with sul- 
 phurous acid gas to convert the arsenic acid into arsenious 
 acid, then heated to expel the excess of the gas, and treated 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen. Or, again, it may be examined 
 by the process of Reinsch. 
 
 The distillate, resulting from heating the original material
 
 250 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 in the retort, may contain some of the arsenic in the state of 
 chloride: it should, therefore, be examined for this compound. 
 3. From the fact that when arsenious acid is treated with 
 hydrochloric acid it is converted into the terchloride, advan- 
 tage may be taken to separate this poison from the tissues, 
 or from any organic mixture, by this means. It is necessary 
 completely to dry the tissue, first cut into pieces, by evap- 
 oration on a water-bath; then, after mixing it with about its 
 own weight of concentrated hydrochloric acid, to distill it on 
 
 o *> 
 
 a sand-bath to almost dryness, the distillate being collected 
 in a well-cooled receiver. The residue in the retort may be 
 redistilled with a fresh portion of the acid. 
 
 The distillate thus obtained contains the arsenic as ter- 
 chloride, together with free hydrochloric acid, and some 
 organic matter. A portion of the distillate may be examined 
 by Reinsch's test; other portions, properly diluted, may be 
 tested with sulphuretted hydrogen, and by Marsh's method. 
 
 Should the arsenic have existed in the substance distilled 
 as a sulphide (as sometimes happens in the body many months 
 after death), it will not v appear in the distillate. Under such 
 circumstances, the residue in the retort may be treated with 
 diluted hydrochloric acid, and the occasional addition of 
 chlorate of potassa, until the organic matter is destroyed: 
 the resulting solution, after being treated with sulphurous 
 acid, may be examined as above. 
 
 The urine. This liquid may be concentrated by heat to a 
 small volume, strongly acidulated with hydrochloric acid, and 
 examined by Reinsch's process. Or, it may be evaporated to 
 dryness on a water-bath, the residue treated with hydrochloric 
 acid and chlorate of potassa, in the usual way, and then with 
 sulphurous acid gas : the resulting liquid can be employed 
 for the usual tests. 
 
 The urine appears to be the principal secretion through 
 which arsenic is eliminated from the system. It has been 
 detected in the urine as late as the twenty-first day after 
 being taken. 
 
 The following resume of facts bearing practically on the 
 detection of arsenic in the human body is taken from Guy's 
 Forensic Medicine, p. 444:
 
 ARSENITE OF POTASSA. ARSENIC ACID. 251 
 
 "Arsenic may be detected in the dead body after such 
 long intervals of time as five, seven, ten, or even fourteen 
 years. 
 
 "Arsenious acid, usually found attached to the coats of 
 the stomach as a white powder, or paste, is converted into 
 the yellow sulphide by the sulphuretted hj'drogen generated 
 by putrefaction. 
 
 "Preparations of arsenic preserve dead animal matter. 
 
 "Orn'la affirmed that arsenic is a natural constituent of 
 the body itself; and that it may be discovered both in the 
 fleshy parts of the body, and in the bones. But subsequent 
 researches of himself and others have shown that there was 
 in his first experiments some source of fallacy. 
 
 "Arsenic, when contained in the soil of cemeteries, is 
 generally, if not always, in an insoluble form, in combination 
 with iron or lime. 
 
 "Preparations of arsenic, whether taken in single large 
 doses, or in repeated small ones, are absorbed into the blood, 
 and may be found in the textures and secretions; and they 
 are only slowly eliminated from the body. The limit usually 
 stated for the complete elimination of arsenic from the human 
 body is three weeks; but it has been extended to a month by 
 M. Bonjeau (liankiug's Half-Yearly Abstract, vol. iii.)." 
 
 OTHER PREPARATIONS OF ARSENIC. 
 
 Arsenite of potassa. This is the active principle of Folder's 
 solution, a form in which arsenic is much used in medicine. 
 It contains four grains of arsenious acid to the fluidounce of 
 the liquid. It may be readily tested by any of the methods 
 described for arsenious acid. 
 
 Arsenic acid. This acid, though a powerful poison, is of 
 no medico-legal interest except as being formed in some 
 processes for detecting arsenious acid. It is a white, de- 
 liquescent solid, very soluble in water, not completely vola- 
 tilized by heat, and having a strong acid reaction. It yields a 
 metallic sublimate when reduced by charcoal, and a metallic 
 deposit on copper when treated by Reinsch's process; also a 
 metallic crust by Marsh's test. Sulphuretted hydrogen pro-
 
 252 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 duces in it, after a time, a yellow precipitate ; it is hastened 
 by boiling. 
 
 Its moat delicate test is nitrate of silver in solution, which 
 gives a brownish-red precipitate arsenate of silver. 
 
 Arsenite of copper (Scheele's green). This is a fine green 
 powder, consisting of one part of arsenious acid and two of 
 oxide of copper. It yields distinct crystals of arsenious acid 
 when heated in a reduction-tube, and a residue of oxide of 
 copper. It is soluble both in ammonia and in nitric acid. 
 
 Aceto-arsenite of copper (Schweinfurt or Brunswick green, 
 Vienna green, Emerald green). This pigment is largely used 
 for coloring wall-papers; also to give color to confectioner}', 
 toys, bonbons, etc., and to articles of dress and millinery. 
 It is composed of arsenious acid six parts, oxide of copper 
 two parts, and acetic acid one part. It is readily identified 
 by heating it in a test-tube, when it gives oft' strong fumes 
 of acetic acid, depositing crystals of arsenious acid, and 
 leaving a residue of oxide of copper. 
 
 Paper or other material colored with this pigment will 
 readily indicate the poison by being dipped in a weak solu- 
 tion of aqua ammonias: the material will be bleached, while 
 the solution becomes blue; if now a crystal of nitrate of 
 silver is dropped into it, it instantly turns yellow around its 
 edges, from the formation of the arsenite of silver. Green 
 wall-paper colored with this pigment may at once be tested 
 by applying to it a drop of aqua ammonise, which will pro- 
 duce a deep-blue spot. 
 
 As already mentioned, poisoning frequently occurs from 
 inhaling the line dust or powder detached from walls covered 
 with this sort of green or yellow paper. Persons employed 
 in manufacturing artificial leaves, fruits, and flowers chiefly 
 young women sufter frequently from this sort of chronic 
 poisoning, which may sometimes proceed even to a fatal 
 issue. 
 
 Among the effects produced upon those who work in 
 materials containing arsenite of copper, a peculiar papular 
 eruption, running into pustulation, is one of the most common. 
 It appears about the nostrils, back of the ears, on the bends 
 of the elbows, the inside of the thighs, and then the scrotum.
 
 POISONING BY ARSENIC. SULPHIDES. 253 
 
 Occasionally the fingers are affected, when the nails are apt 
 to drop off. These symptoms disappear on abandoning the 
 employment. 
 
 Sulphides of arsenic. There are two native sulphides, the 
 tersulphide, or orpiment, and the pentasulphide, or realgar. 
 The artificial sulphides are named orpiment, or yellow arsenic, 
 and realgar, or red arsenic. Both of the latter are employed 
 in the arts, as colors. The pigment called king's yellow, as 
 well as the orpiment, contains arsenious acid in considerable 
 quantities : they are both highly poisonous. 
 
 The yellow sulphide is occasionally taken as a poison; and 
 it is often found adhering to the coats of the stomach and 
 bowels after death, having been formed, as before stated, by 
 the union of arseuious acid with the sulphuretted hydrogen 
 generated by decomposition. In organic mixtures, the sul- 
 phides are detected by their characteristic colors : they are 
 soluble in ammonia, and from this solution they are precipi- 
 tated by hydrochloric acid. 
 
 The sulphides, when mixed with black flux or jferro- 
 cyanide of potassium, and heated, yield metallic sublimates 
 (see p. 232). 
 
 The symptoms, post-mortem appearances (except the yel- 
 low color), and treatment, in cases of poisoning from the 
 yellow sulphide, are similar to those already detailed under 
 the head of Arseuious Acid. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. 
 
 UNTIL within comparatively few years, Antimony has not 
 figured largely among poisons. But latterly, cases of slow 
 poisoning by tartar emetic have become quite frequent, es- 
 pecially in England. 
 
 The only preparations of Antimony of medico-legal interest 
 are Tartar Emetic and the Chloride. 
 
 17
 
 254 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 TARTAR EMETIC (Tartarized Antimony. Stibiated Tartar. 
 Tarlrate of Antimony and Potassd). Properties. This is a 
 double salt, composed of tartaric acid in combination with 
 teroxide of antimony and protoxide of potassium. It occurs, 
 when pure, in large, colorless, octahedral crystals, or as a 
 white powder. As found in commerce, it occasionally con- 
 tains traces of arsenic. When heated in a reduction-tube, 
 over the flame of a spirit-lamp, it readily blackens, from the 
 decomposition of its organic acid, and is soon reduced to a 
 mixture of carbon and metallic antimony. Heated on char- 
 coal before the blowpipe, it is also reduced, yielding globules 
 of the metal, which, when cooled, are very brittle, and at the 
 same time an abundant white incrustation of the oxide. 
 
 It is soluble in about three parts of boiling, and fifteen of 
 cold, water. Its solution speedily undergoes decomposition, 
 the organic acid appearing to develop a filamentous growth. 
 It is insoluble in alcohol, this liquid precipitating it from its 
 aqueous solution. From a strong solution in water, it sepa- 
 rates on evaporation in well-defined tetrahedral crystals, or 
 some modification of the cube. Often, both varieties are 
 found in the same specimen. If the solution is very weak, 
 the deposit is apt to be undefined. The best crystals are 
 procured from hot solutions on cooling. 
 
 The taste is generally described as nauseous, acrid, metallic, 
 or austere. On some palates, however, it seems to produce 
 very little, if any, impression. Dr. George B. Wood (Thera- 
 peutics, vol. ii. p. 58) describes the taste as slightly sweetish 
 and somewhat styptic. 
 
 Symptoms. A large dose of tartar emetic is usually followed 
 by the following symptoms: a styptic, metallic taste perceived 
 on swallowing; this is shortly succeeded by nausea, retching, 
 violent and incessant vomiting, a sense of heat in the throat, 
 with difficulty of swallowing, great thirst, burning pain in 
 the stomach and bowels, profuse purging of a watery charac- 
 ter; the dejections from the bowels, as well as the matters 
 vomited, sometimes contain blood, and often bile. There 
 are severe cramps in the extremities; a small, frequent pulse ; 
 great prostration ; a tendency to syncope ; a cold skin (some- 
 times, according to Orfila, an intense heat of skin) ; and a
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. SYMPTOMS. 255 
 
 clammy perspiration. The urine is generally increased in 
 quantity, and is sometimes voided with pain. According to 
 Tardieu (Sur PEmpoisonnement, p. 608), the urine is scanty. 
 Towards the close of fatal cases, it is apt to be scanty and 
 bloody, and even suppressed. Should the case terminate 
 fatally, convulsions and delirium may, in exceptional cases, 
 precede death, just as sometimes occurs in arsenical poison- 
 ing. Large doses occasionally produce insensibility, as one 
 of their earliest effects; and in some rare instances, after a 
 very large quantity has been swallowed, there has been a 
 total absence of vomiting and purging until emetics were 
 administered. (See a remarkable case reported by Dr. 
 Gleaves, in Western Jour, of Med. and Surg., Jan. 1848.) 
 In such cases, according to Orfila (Toxicologie, 1852, vol. i. 
 p. 626), the intensity of the other symptoms is increased. 
 Husemann (Toxicologie, p. 853) speaks of this exceptional 
 form of antimonial poisoning in which there is an absence 
 of both vomiting and purging; the symptoms being intense 
 prostration, cold, clammy sweat, a sense of oppression in the 
 chest, the respiration at first increased, then diminished in 
 frequency, and embarrassed; a rapid, feeble pulse, afterwards 
 becoming slow, intermittent, and irregular; delirium, uncon- 
 sciousness, tremblings; and clonic and tonic convulsions. 
 
 Two cases are recorded by Dr. John Elliotson (Med. Times 
 and Gaz., July, 1856) in which convulsions took place. These 
 were infants, aged respectively fourteen and eight months, 
 and suffering from inflammatory croup. To the former, 
 tartar emetic was administered for four consecutive days, in 
 half-grain doses, every few hours, until twenty-seven grains were 
 taken in the aggregate. The most dangerous prostration suc- 
 ceeded the violent vomiting and purging, and finally convul- 
 sions ensued, in which there was considerable rigidity of the 
 limbs and jaws. The second case was also treated with half- 
 grain doses of tartar emetic every hour, until seven grains had 
 been given in the course of sixteen hours. In this case like- 
 wise, after great prostration, there were convulsions of a rigid 
 character. Both children ultimately recovered. We think 
 it extremely doubtful whether the convulsions in these cases 
 were primarily due to antimony : it is well known that such
 
 256 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 convulsions arc apt to ensue in cases of rapid exhaustion 
 from an}' cause, as from hemorrhage, or serous diarrhcea. 
 
 Another occasional symptom, if the patient survives the 
 third or fourth day, is the appearance over the body of the 
 true pustular eruption which characterizes the external ap- 
 plication of tartar emetic. 
 
 Most frequently, a single large dose does not prove fatal; 
 the prompt and abundant vomiting of the poison preventing 
 its absorption. 
 
 The fact of the tolerance of large doses of tartar emetic in 
 certain diseased states of the human system is sufficiently 
 established. Rasori, Laennec, and others have given it, in 
 pneumonia, acute bronchitis, and acute rheumatism, in enor- 
 mous quantities, without producing the usual poisonous symp- 
 toms. This contra-stimulant plan, as it was named, consisted 
 in administering the remedy, in rapidly-increasing doses every 
 few hours, so that often as much as one or two drachms were 
 taken in the course of a day. If the first dose or two ex- 
 cited nausea and vomiting, the succeeding increased doses 
 appeared to allay these symptoms, so that the system seemed 
 speedily to become accustomed to it. 
 
 From the numerous experiments on man and the lower 
 animals, there can be no doubt that while antimony (tartar 
 emetic) exerts a direct irritant impression on the gastro- 
 enteric mucous membrane, it produces an equally direct 
 depressant effect on the heart ; so that, physiologically, it 
 might very properly be classed among the cardiac depressants. 
 
 Fatal dose. The quantity actually required to destroy life 
 is unknown. Several instances are recorded in which very 
 small doses produced most violent and even fatal effects ; 
 but these are probably to be regarded as exceptional cases, 
 and as due rather to some idiosyncrasy of the patient. Thus, 
 Dr. A. Stille (Ther. and Mat. Med., ii. 346) relates the case 
 of an insane female, of general good health, in whom a 
 dose of not more than half a grain occasioned violent vomit- 
 ing and purging, and a state closely resembling the collapse 
 of cholera. Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 389) records a case in 
 which four grains very nearly proved fatal. Vomiting, purg- 
 ing, and convulsions took place, followed by collapse, with
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. FATAL PERIOD. 257 
 
 failure of the heart's action and coldness of the skin. Of 
 thirty-seven cases of tartar emetic poisoning collected by Dr. 
 Taylor, sixteen proved fatal. Of the fatal cases, the smallest 
 dose was in a child, three-quarters of a grain ; and in an adult, 
 two grains ; but in the latter case the patient had been in a 
 previous enfeebled state of health. (Guy's Hospital Reports, 
 Oct., 1857.) 
 
 Dr. C. A. Lee (N. Y. Med. and Phys. Jour., No. xxx. p. 
 302) reports the case of a child a few weeks old, in which a 
 dose of fifteen grains proved fatal. Dr. Recamier (Orfila, 
 Toxicol., 1852, i. p. 623) details a case of a healthy man, aged 
 fifty years, who died within four days, after taking rather 
 less than forty grains. Probably, twenty to forty grains may 
 be regarded as the usual minimum fatal dose for an adult. 
 
 On the other hand, numerous instances are recorded of 
 recovery after swallowing enormous doses varying from 
 one drachm to an ounce. The last-named quantity was 
 taken in the case reported by Dr. Gleaves, already alluded 
 to. Vomiting was only excited by artificial means an hour 
 and a half after the poison was swallowed. The man re- 
 covered perfectly in about two weeks. In a case related 
 by Dr. McCreery, U. 8. N., a physician swallowed half an 
 ounce of tartar emetic, by mistake for Rochelle salts. In 
 about half an hour, nausea, vomiting, and purging set in, 
 followed by violent cramps of the legs and arms. He took 
 freely of infusion of green tea and tannin, with other rem- 
 edies. Though very much prostrated, he recovered com- 
 pletely in a few days. (Am. Jour, of Med. Sci., Jan., 1853.) 
 
 Fatal period. Prof. Wormley (Micro -Chemistry of Poi- 
 sons, p. 218) relates the case of a child recovering from 
 measles, who died in an hour from the depressing effects of 
 three-quarters of a grain of tartar emetic prescribed as a medi- 
 cine. The same authority quotes a case of Dr. C. Ellis (Bos- 
 ton Med. and Surg. Jour., Dec., 1856), in which an unknown 
 quantity of the poison proved fatal to a young lady, aged 
 twenty-one years, in seven hours. Dr. Pollock reports a case 
 (Lon. Med. Gazette, May, 1850) in which sixty grains proved 
 fatal to a robust, healthy man in the course of ten hours. 
 
 In the greater number of instance*, death does not take
 
 258 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 place so rapidly, several days usually elapsing before the 
 fatal issue. A case is related by Deutsch (Canstatt's Jahres- 
 bericht fiir 1851, Bd. iv. p. 270), in which a woman took by 
 mistake a scruple of tartar emetic: she suffered much from 
 its violent action, and died in a year, from the irritant effects 
 on the intestinal canal. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. M. Tardieu very correctly re- 
 marks (loc. cit., p. 611) that the examination of the body in 
 a case of death from tartar emetic poisoning does not always 
 furnish positive data. It often happens that we can dis- 
 cover no appreciable lesion. This was well illustrated in the 
 case of the two women poisoned by Dr. Pritchard, as detailed 
 by M. Felizet (Archives Gen. de Med., Sept., 1865), who re- 
 marks that the chief matter of scientific interest in the case 
 is that it affords an example of poisoning by tartar emetic, 
 without leaving any anatomical lesions. This observation, 
 however, has reference rather to a case of slow poisoning, 
 in which the tartar emetic was administered in small and 
 repeated doses. 
 
 According to Tardieu (loc. cit.\ most commonly, and espe- 
 cially when a single very large dose has been taken, tartar 
 emetic produces n umerous and extensive lesions. The oesoph- 
 agus is reddened and sometimes ulcerated. The stomach 
 and intestines are extensively inflamed, as shown by a deep 
 redness, with softening, of the mucous membrane, upon 
 which are scattered brownish-red or blackish patches, formed 
 by the infiltration of blood and by hypertrophy of the folli- 
 cles. The inner surface of the stomach and small intestines 
 is covered with a blackish, thick, and viscid secretion, some- 
 times streaked with blood. Occasionally there may be found 
 in the primae via?, and even in the commencement of the small 
 intestines, true pustules filled with pus. 
 
 The liver is generally enlarged, and appears to have under- 
 gone a fatty degeneration. In confirmation of this patho- 
 logical change, it is stated, as a well-authenticated fact, that 
 the peasants of the duchy of Brunswick have long been 
 accustomed to feed their geese upon the white oxide of anti- 
 mony, in order to fatten them. The lungs are often deeply 
 congested : some cases exhibit a true apoplexy ; and the in-
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. MORBID APPEARANCES. 259 
 
 terior of the bronchi and trachea is uniformly reddened. The 
 brain is usually more or less congested, both in its membranes 
 and in its substance : the latter presenting, when cut, numer- 
 ous bloody points. Sometimes there is a slight serous infil- 
 tration at the side of the brain. The heart exhibits nothing 
 
 O 
 
 abnormal. The blood is less coagulated than in health. 
 
 In Dr. Lee's case, before mentioned, the mucous membrane 
 of the stomach was red and softened. The stomach con- 
 tained a small quantity of slimy mucus. The duodenum 
 was of a deep-brown color, almost livid, and contained the 
 same sort of viscid matter as the stomach. The inflammation 
 did not extend into the large intestines. The vessels of the 
 scalp, as well as those of the brain, were distended with blood. 
 The ventricles were half filled with serum ; and there was 
 also effusion beneath the pia mater. 
 
 A series of experiments by Dr. Nevins, detailed by Prof. 
 Guy (Forensic Medicine, p. 460), exhibits the effects produced 
 upon rabbits by small and repeated doses of tartar emetic. 
 The symptoms were loss of appetite, loss of spirit, and ema- 
 ciation. None of them vomited ; diarrhoea occurred in three 
 out of eight. There were no cramps; convulsions occurred 
 in four, just before death. Out of the eleven experimented 
 upon, five died, at intervals of four to seventeen days after 
 commencing to take the poison. 
 
 The post-mortem lesions were congestion of the liver in all ; 
 redness of the mucous membrane of the stomach in most of them ; 
 ulceration in two; the small intestines showed patches of in- 
 flammation throughout in some; the solitary glands were 
 enlarged in two; they were of a yelk>w color, and loaded 
 with antimony; the ccBcwni and rectum were nearly always 
 healthy; the lungs were generally deeply congested ; in some 
 actually inflamed and hepatized; the air-tabes were of a bright- 
 red color; the brain, heart, and spleen were healthy; the 
 kidneys were more or less congested. Bloody exudations were 
 sometimes found in the cavities of the chest and abdomen. 
 
 The poison was discovered in every part of the body, 
 always in abundance in the liver, in less quantity in the 
 spleen; earliest in the tissues of the stomach; later in the 
 kidneys and caecum ; at an early period in the lungs. It was
 
 260 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 difficult to detect it in the muscles and in the blood, but it 
 was found in the bones as late as the thirty-first day after 
 discontinuing the poison. The poison was being constantly 
 eliminated by the kidneys, commencing very early, and con- 
 tinuing for twenty-one days after it had been suspended. 
 
 Treatment. Vomiting should be assisted by warm muci- 
 laginous drinks, and, if necessary, by tickling the throat with 
 a feather; or the stomach-pump may be employed. The 
 proper antidote is tannin in some form, as tincture or infusion 
 of cinchona, and infusion of green tea, or of galls. After 
 evacuation of the stomach, opium may be given with ad- 
 vantage. Stimulants, both internally and externally, are 
 demanded. Any resulting inflammations must be treated 
 on ordinary principles. 
 
 Chronic, or slow poisoning. Many cases have recently come 
 to light, in which death has undoubtedly been occasioned 
 by small and repeated doses of tartar emetic. The symp- 
 toms are nausea, uneasiness, retching, occasional vomiting, 
 diarrhoea, with pasty stools ; the abdomen painful and dis- 
 tended; loss of appetite, and emaciation; the tongue is 
 slimy, and the mouth clammy ; the head feels full and heavy. 
 Later, there is slowness and loss of power in the heart's action; 
 the breathing is difficult ; the complexion is dusky ; there is 
 stiffness of the legs, with great debility. The countenance is 
 pale and anxious; there is a disposition to sleep, with inability 
 to maintain the erect position; faintings; flushing of the face; 
 increase of perspiration, and of the urinary secretion. 
 
 External application. Tartar emetic not only occasions pus- 
 tulation when applied to the skin, but it is capable also of pro- 
 ducing its general impression on the system by absorption 
 from this surface. Even fatal consequences have resulted 
 from its application to abraded surfaces. Tardieu (Sur 1'Em- 
 poisonnement, p. 610) mentions the case of a woman who 
 was induced by a quack to apply to an open sore on her breast 
 a salve composed of equal parts of tartar emetic and lard. 
 The unfortunate patient died some (lays after, with all the 
 symptoms of violent poisoning. 
 
 Chemical analysis. (1) As a solid. When moistened with 
 a solution of sulphuretted hydrogen, or with sulphide of
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. TESTS. 261 
 
 ammonium, it immediately acquires an orange-red color. 
 This ia characteristic of a salt of antimony in its pure state. 
 The action of heat upon tartar emetic iu the solid form has 
 already been described (p. 254). 
 
 (2) As a liquid. (a) On slowly evaporating a drop of the 
 solution on a piece of glass, it will crystallize in tetrahedra, 
 or some other modification of the cube. If the solution be 
 very dilute, the crystallization is confused. (6) Either nitric, 
 hydrochloric, or sulphuric acid, when diluted and dropped 
 into the solution, throws down a white precipitate, soluble 
 in an excess of the acid. Nitric acid is preferable in this 
 experiment, inasmuch as the other two acids precipitate 
 numerous other metallic substances. This white precipitate 
 is easily soluble in tartaric acid, (c) Ferrocyanide of potassium 
 does not precipitate the solution, whereby tartar emetic is 
 distinguished from most other metallic poisons, (d) When 
 acidulated with hydrochloric acid (one-sixth part), and boiled 
 in contact with bright copper-foil, the latter becomes speedily 
 incrusted with a violet or gray-colored coating of metallic 
 antimony, (e) The solution, containing one-tenth part of 
 hydrochloric acid, gives a black coating to a piece of pure 
 fen-foil, in the cold, whereby it is distinguished from arsenic. 
 (/) Sulphuretted hydrogen, or sulphide of ammonium, throws 
 down, from a pure solution, the characteristic orange-red 
 tersulphide of antimony. This action is facilitated by acidu- 
 lating the solution with hydrochloric acid. This precipitate 
 is soluble in the fixed caustic alkalies, but almost entirely 
 insoluble in ammonia (in which respects it differs from sul- 
 phide of arsenic). It is not soluble in dilute hydrochloric 
 acid ; but the hot concentrated acid readily dissolves it with 
 the escape of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The resulting 
 solution (terchloride), if not too acid, when dropped into a 
 large quantity of water, immediately throws down a copious, 
 flaky, white precipitate (the oxychloride, or powder of Alga- 
 roth) : this is quite characteristic of antimony, and the pre- 
 cipitate may be identified as antimonial (1) by its complete 
 solubility iu tartaric acid, and (2) by touching it with sul- 
 phide of ammonium, which will immediately impart to it 
 an orange-red color. The white precipitate obtained by
 
 262 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 treating bismuth as above is not soluble in tartaric acid, and 
 is immediately blackened by sulphide of ammonium. 
 
 (g) The galvanic test. This consists in putting a drop or 
 two of the solution acidulated with hydrochloric acid into a 
 platinum capsule, or upon a piece of platinum-foil, and touch- 
 ing the platinum* through the liquid, with a piece of pure 
 zinc. Metallic antimony is very soon deposited on the 
 platinum surface, at the point of contact, as a black or 
 brownish film. The liquid should then be poured off, and 
 the platinum thoroughly washed in distilled water. A small 
 quantity of sulphide of ammonium poured upon it, speedily 
 dissolves the deposit (if antimony) by the aid of heat ; and 
 on evaporation an orange-red sulphide remains. This may, 
 in turn, be dissolved by a few drops of strong, hot hydro- 
 chloric acid, and the solution, on being dropped into water, 
 will precipitate the white oxychloride (see p. 261). A modi- 
 fication of this galvanic test may be advantageously applied 
 to the discovery of antimony in the organs (see post). 
 
 (h) Marsh's test (antimonetted hydrogen). When a solution 
 of tartar emetic, or of any of the soluble antimonial salts, is 
 subjected to Marsh's test, metallic antimony unites with the 
 nascent hydrogen, and antimonetted hydrogen gas is given off, 
 under conditions precisely similar to those pertaining to ar- 
 senic (see p. 232). Similar precautions should be observed 
 to those mentioned under the head of Arsenic. 
 
 1. If the gas, as it escapes from the orifice of the delivery- 
 tube, be ignited, it burns with a bluish flame, evolving white 
 fumes of the teroxide of antimony, unless the amount of 
 the metal present be extremely minute. If these fumes be 
 received in a short, wide test-tube, held just above the top 
 of the flame, a white deposit of the teroxide may be col- 
 lected : this deposit is not distinctly crystalline, as in the case 
 of arsenic; when touched with sulphide of ammonium it im- 
 mediately acquires an orange-red color. If a piece of cold 
 white porcelain be held low down in the flame, the metal is 
 deposited (as in the case of arsenic) in the form of a black (or 
 nearly black) spot, which is usually surrounded by a grayish 
 ring. By frequently changing the position of the porcelain, 
 any number of these metallic deposits may be procured.
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. MARSH'S TEST. 263 
 
 The only other metal which, under the above conditions, 
 will yield similar spots, is arsenic. A little attention will, 
 however, enable us to distinguish them. They usually differ 
 in their physical appearance, those from antimony being 
 generally dull, resembling soot, while those from arsenic 
 usually present a brilliant metallic lustre, and are of a steel- 
 gray or brownish color. This distinction is not, however, 
 invariably presented : if the antimony be in very minute 
 proportions, and the spots proportionally small, we have seen 
 them exhibit precisely the appearance of arsenical spots. 
 They differ, however, greatly in other properties. Thus, the 
 antimony deposits are slowly dissipated by the flame of a 
 spirit-lamp, while those from arsenic are readily volatilized. 
 Again, the antimony spots readily dissolve in sulphide of 
 ammonium, while the arsenical are but slowly affected by it. 
 Moreover, the antimonial solution, if evaporated to dryness, 
 leaves an orange-red residue, which is insoluble in ammonia, 
 but soluble in strong, hot hydrochloric acid ; whilst that from 
 arsenic yields, on evaporation, a yellow residue, which is solu- 
 ble in ammonia, and insoluble in hydrochloric acid. Further- 
 more, the antimonial spots are insoluble (or nearly so) in a 
 solution of hypochlorite of soda or lime, w r hilst the arsenical 
 spots immediately disappear, on being moistened with the 
 solution. Nitric acid also serves to distinguish them : both 
 are dissolved by it; but on evaporation to dryness, the arsen- 
 ical residue gives to a solution of nitrate of silver a brick-red 
 stain (arsenate of silver), whilst the antimonial residue is not 
 affected at all by the same reagent. 
 
 2. If heat be applied to the horizontal tube in Marsh's 
 apparatus, through which the antimonetted hydrogen is 
 passing, decomposition of the gas ensues, metallic antimony 
 being deposited in the form of a dark-gray, shining ring. If 
 the quantity of antimony experimented upon is very small, 
 the deposit occurs wholly on the inner side of the part to 
 which the flame is applied ; but when in larger quantity, the 
 deposit takes place on both sides of the flame. In the case of 
 arsenic similarly treated, the mirror is formed always outside, 
 or in advance of the flame. 
 
 This reaction is exceedingly delicate: according to Worm-
 
 264 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ley (Micro-Chemistry of Poisons, p. 229) it will detect one 
 ten-thousandth of a grain of the teroxide. These metallic 
 deposits exhibit the same chemical reactions as those pro- 
 duced on porcelain by the ignited gas (p. 262). 
 
 3. Another method of identifying the antimonial mirror 
 is by passing dry sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the 
 horizontal tube, and applying the flame of a spirit-lamp to 
 the mirror : the tersulphide of antimony is formed, which has 
 a dark-brown, or nearly black, color. Under similar circum- 
 stances, arsenic would form the yellow tersulphide of this 
 metal ; but the antimonial tersulphide requires a higher heat 
 for its production, and it is deposited much nearer the flame 
 of the lamp than the arsenical. 
 
 4. If the antimonetted hydrogen be passed into a solution 
 of nitrate of silver, the latter (as in the case of arsenic) be- 
 comes black ; the whole of the antimony is precipitated as 
 antimonide of silver; whereas, in the case of arsenic, metallic 
 silver alone is precipitated, the arsenic remaining in solution 
 as arsenious acid. When only a minute trace of antimony 
 is present, the whole of the precipitate collects in the lower 
 end of the delivery -tube, in the form of a black ring 
 (Wormley). 
 
 It should be remembered that the mere production of a 
 black precipitate, under these circumstances, is not sufficient 
 to prove the presence of antimony, since sulphur, phosphorus, 
 and other bodies might occasion similar-looking deposits. 
 The true character of the antimonide of silver may be shown 
 by collecting the deposit on a filter, washing with warm 
 water, and boiling with dilute hydrochloric acid, in which 
 the antimony will dissolve, while the silver is insoluble. 
 After filtration, the solution is treated with sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen, which will yield the characteristic tersulphide. Or, 
 according to Prof. Hofmann (Quar. Jour. Chem. Soc., April, 
 1860), the washed antimouide of silver may be boiled with 
 a solution of tartaric acid, which readily dissolves the anti- 
 mony, leaving the silver untouched ; the solution is filtered 
 and treated with sulphuretted hydrogen. By either of these 
 methods, an exceedingly small quantity of antimony may be 
 recognized.
 
 ANTIMONY. DETECTION IN ORGANIC MIXTURES. 265 
 
 An additional recommendation of this process is that it 
 enables the analyst to detect either antimony or arsenic in 
 the presence of each other. 
 
 In organic mixtures. As tartar emetic is precipitated by 
 tannic acid, but not readily by albumen or mucus, it may 
 generally be found in the contents of the stomach partially 
 dissolved, provided no antidote has been administered. In 
 a case of suspected poisoning, it would be very desirable to 
 separate the tartar emetic, as such; although the detection of 
 the presence of the antimony alone is usually regarded as 
 sufficient to establish the proof of administration, since this 
 is really the poisonous element. This separation may be 
 conveniently effected by the process of dialysis, already de- 
 scribed (see page 113). The exhibition, at the trial, of the 
 j&n&oTpoison that had caused death, as extracted from the 
 stomach of the deceased, is always very conclusive evidence 
 with a jury. Of course, this same process may be employed 
 to separate the poison from suspected food and drinks, or 
 from vomited matters ; but, obviously, it cannot be used for 
 detecting the absorbed poison, in the tissues or secretions. 
 
 The suspected organic matters, with the addition of distilled 
 water, if necessary, should be acidulated with tartaric acid, 
 and exposed to a gentle heat for about half an hour. When 
 cold, the liquid should be strained through muslin, which is 
 to be washed with distilled water and pressed, the washings 
 added to the filtrate, and the whole carefully evaporated to 
 about one-half. Trial tests may now be made with a portion 
 of this liquid, by adding one-tenth of its bulk of hydrochlo- 
 ric acid, and inserting a piece of pure tin-foil, in the cold: 
 the tin will receive a black coating, if antimony be present. 
 On boiling another acidulated portion, and, while boiling, 
 introducing a piece of bright copper, the presence of anti- 
 mony will be indicated, as explained above (page 261). The 
 remainder of the liquid should next be treated with washed 
 sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which may be allowed to pass 
 through it slowly for several hours, or as long as any pre- 
 cipitate is formed. It should then be permitted to stand in a 
 moderately warm place for several hours, to enable the pre- 
 cipitate to subside. If antimony is present in comparatively
 
 266 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 large quantity, the precipitate will have more or less of an 
 orange-red, or brownish-red, color. The pure, bright orange 
 red is seen only in the absence of all organic matter. 
 
 When organic matters are present (as they must necessarily 
 be in such mixtures), the passing of sulphuretted hydrogen 
 for a length of time through these complex mixtures must 
 cause a precipitate that will be composed largely of sulphur 
 and organic matter. There can be no doubt that in some 
 peculiar complex organic mixtures sulphuretted hydrogen 
 especially if passed through them for many hours will de- 
 termine a reddish, or reddish-brown, precipitate, which might 
 suggest the suspicion of antimony, even though this poison 
 were not present. Such a deposit would, of course, be com- 
 posed merely of organic matter and sulphur, and it should 
 be carefully distinguished from a metallic sulphide. 
 
 We have the authority of Tardieu for saying that, even 
 after the precipitation of the whole of the metal from an 
 acidulated metallic solution mixed with organic matters, by 
 sulphuretted hydrogen, if this gas be again passed through 
 the filtered liquid, it will throw down another colored pre- 
 cipitate. 
 
 Certainly, then, in the search for antimony, in a case of 
 suspected poisoning, the merely getting a reddish, or even 
 orafl^re-reddisb, precipitate by sulphuretted hydrogen, must 
 not be deemed conclusive ; neither will it suffice further to 
 dissolve this precipitate in strong boiling hydrochloric acid, 
 and to throw the solution into water in order to obtain the 
 white, flaky precipitate, supposed to be so characteristic of 
 antimony, since, as we have frequently observed, just such 
 results may be obtained by a similar treatment of the colored 
 sulphur-organic deposits above alluded to : these likewise are, 
 to a great extent, soluble in the boiling acid; and the result- 
 ing solution, if allowed to fall into water, occasions a white 
 precipitate. Now, although this sulphur-organic precipitate 
 may not possess all the characters of the real sulphide of an- 
 timony such as would result from a pure solution it does 
 resemble very closely, in most of its reactions, just such a 
 preparation as we should expect to n'nd in a mixture of anti- 
 mony and organic matters. It is for this reason that we insist
 
 ANTIMONY. DETECTION IN ORGANIC MIXTURES. 267 
 
 emphatically on the insufficiency of this one exclusive line 
 of testing (viz., the sulphuretted hydrogen method) to estab- 
 lish the proof of the presence of antimony, in a case of alleged 
 criminal poisoning with that substance : the most it can do 
 is to furnish an indication of it; but an indication is quite a 
 different thing from a prooj '. We do not wish to be under- 
 stood as undervaluing this important test. In pure solutions, 
 and in the absence of all organic matters, we regard the sulphu- 
 retted hydrogen test, followed up as detailed above, as one 
 of the most positive and valuable tests that we possess ; but 
 only with these reservations. 
 
 In cases of poisoning involving the question of life and 
 death, nothing but the most absolute proof of the detection 
 of the poison by the chemist should be admitted. The ana- 
 lyst may, perchance, relying upon a very long experience, 
 suppose that, while "he has satisfied himself" by this 
 partial and imperfect method of testing, others ought equally 
 to be satisfied. Surely the natural advance made in chemical 
 science must detect and expose such a fallacy. This very 
 question constituted a capital point in the defense, at the 
 celebrated trial of Mrs. E. G. Wharton for the alleged poison- 
 ing of General Ketchum, at Annapolis, Md., in 1872. The 
 chemist employed to make the analysis of the stomach con- 
 fined himself exclusively to the above single line of testing ; 
 and by an extraordinary process of induction comparing, 
 with his eye alone, the bulk of the complex precipitate thus 
 obtained from the stomach of the deceased, with the bulk of 
 another substance, alleged to be sulphide of antimony, and 
 similarly obtained from another complex organic material 
 not connected with the deceased he was led to infer the 
 presence of twenty grains of tartar emetic in the stomach 
 of General Ketchum ! 
 
 Prof. A. S. Taylor (Prin. and Prac. of Med. Juris., 1873, 
 p. 311), alluding to this trial, says: "The symptoms, taken 
 as a whole, bore no resemblance to those observed in poison- 
 ing with antimony, and, but for the alleged discovery of 
 twenty grains of tartar emetic in the stomach after death, no 
 suspicion of poisoning would probably have arisen." "On 
 examining the chemical evidence, it appears that the process
 
 268 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 by sulphuretted hydrogen alone was employed, and a red- 
 brown sulphide, resembling that of antimony in chemical 
 properties, was obtained. . . . No separation of antimony 
 in the metallic state was made to corroborate the inference 
 drawn from the precipitate produced by sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen. No chemical results were produced in court; though 
 twenty grains would have allowed of the production of 
 metallic antimony in a few minutes by copper, tin, zinc, and 
 platinum, and by Marsh's process. The evidence that anti- 
 mony was really there was not satisfactory ; and that twenty 
 grains were present in the stomach was wholly unproved. 
 . . . The jury, upon such weak evidence, properly acquitted 
 the prisoner." 
 
 It may be here remarked that, in a case of suspected anti- 
 monial poisoning, the production of the metal should be 
 rigorously insisted upon, as the only absolute and unequivo- 
 cal proof; and this, too, in quantities sufficient to admit of 
 its positive identification by all the recognized tests. This 
 proof is always required in cases of poisoning by other metal- 
 lic substances, as, for example, arsenic, mercury, lead, copper, 
 and zinc; and certainly there is no reason why it should be 
 regarded as of less consequence in the case of antimony, 
 especially when it is remembered with what facility this 
 extraction of the metal may be accomplished, viz., by tin-foil, 
 by copper, by the galvanic test, by Marsh's process (three 
 modifications), and by the blowpipe. Dr. Taylor, in further 
 commenting upon this subject (loc. cit, p. 314), remarks : "Anti- 
 mony in the metallic state is so easily procured from a small 
 quantity of material by one or the other of the above-men- 
 tioned processes, that on no account should this be omitted. 
 The procuring of the metal may be made subsidiary to the 
 procuring of the sulphide, as the metal can be easily oxidized 
 and converted into sulphide in a pure form, and obtained 
 entirely free from organic matter. A reliance on a small 
 quantity of a colored precipitate from sulphuretted hydrogen 
 alone would be most unsatisfactory as chemical evidence." 
 
 Orfila is very decided upon this point: he remarks (Toxi- 
 cologie, 1852, vol. i. p. 636) : " What difference does it make 
 whether the autimonial preparation occurs in soluble or in
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. OBTAINING THE METAL. 269 
 
 insoluble matters? The process should always be completed 
 by the separation of the metallic antimony ; and when this is 
 obtained, it can easily be converted into the sulphide." 
 Again, when remarking on the impossibility of procuring 
 tartar emetic as such, after absorption, from the organs, and 
 more especially from the liver, he says (p. 637), "we can 
 obtain the metal from at least a portion of what has been 
 absorbed." Once more (p. 638) : " The extraction of metallic 
 antimony from the viscera, or the urine, of persons who had 
 not been using any antimonial preparation medicinally, is 
 an incontestable proof of poisoning." 
 
 Tardieu is equally emphatic on the necessity of obtaining 
 the metallic proof of antimony, in medico-legal researches. 
 He says (Sur I'Empoisonnement, p. 619), after mentioning 
 the two methods of getting rid of the organic matters, viz., 
 by carbonization with sulphuric acid, and by hydrochloric 
 acid and chlorate of potassa, " Finally, we complete the in- 
 dications obtained from the residue by introducing a portion 
 of the liquid into a Marsh's apparatus" (of course with the 
 view of obtaining the metal). 
 
 When it is desired to ascertain the precise quantity of the 
 poison found either in organic mixtures, or in the tissues of 
 the body, the crude sulphide, procured in the manner above 
 indicated from a given portion of the material, must first be 
 brought to a state of absolute purity (see ante, ARSENIC, p. 
 247), and then, after thorough drying, be accurately weighed. 
 Every 100 parts by weight of the pure tersulphide of anti- 
 mony correspond to 85.74 of the teroxide, or 202.85 parts 
 of crystallized tartar emetic. 
 
 The purification of the sulphide may be conveniently ef- 
 fected (Wormley, Micro-Chemistry of Poisons, p. 234) by 
 washing the precipitate and transferring it to a thin porcelain 
 dish, treating it with a few drops of concentrated nitric acid, 
 and cautiously evaporating it to dryness ; the operation being 
 repeated, if necessary, until the organic matter is well car- 
 bonized. Any antimony present will now exist as antimonic 
 acid. The residue is then moistened with a few drops of a 
 strong solution of potassa, evaporated to dryness at a mod- 
 erate heat, and the dry residue very gradually heated to 
 
 18
 
 270 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 fusion. The cooled mass is stirred with a little water, the 
 mixture acidulated with tartaric acid, then boiled for some 
 minutes, and the solution filtered. The whole of the anti- 
 mony will now be present in the filtrate, which, if the opera- 
 tions have been conducted with care, will be perfectly color- 
 less. This solution, slightly acidified with pure hydrochloric 
 acid, is to be treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, as already 
 described (p. 247). The product is the pure sulphide, which, 
 when properly dried and weighed, will afford the data re- 
 quired. 
 
 The above authority states that by this method the sul- 
 phide of antimony produced from the one-hundredth of a 
 grain of the teroxide of the metal may be recovered from a 
 very complex organic mixture, without any apparent loss. 
 Should the final tartaric acid solution prove to be colored, 
 then, instead of treating it with sulphuretted hydrogen, it 
 may be put into a Marsh's apparatus, and the resulting anti- 
 monetted hydrogen be received into a solution of nitrate of 
 silver; the washed black precipitate of antimonide of silver 
 is boiled with tartaric acid, and the solution filtered, and 
 treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, as above. 
 
 In the tissues. As already mentioned, antimony, when 
 swallowed into the stomach, speedily passes into the circula- 
 tion, whence it is soon deposited in the various tissues and 
 organs of the body. Of these, the liver and kidneys gener- 
 ally contain the largest amount of the absorbed poison. A 
 weighed portion of the liver (about one-quarter) should be 
 cut up into fine pieces, and boiled in pure water acidulated 
 with one-sixth of hydrochloric acid. After some time, a 
 trial test may be made with a slip of pure copper, allowing 
 sufficient time for any deposit to take place. This deposit 
 should be verified in the manner pointed out on page 240. 
 On heating one or more of these dried copper slips in a clean, 
 dry reduction-tube, there will be a white sublimate deposited 
 in the cool portion of the tube. This is not composed of 
 octahedral crystals, as is the case with arsenic (see ARSENIC, 
 Reinsch's test, p. 238), but will be found to be either granular, 
 or composed of very fine acicular crystals (Millar's Inorganic 
 Chemistry, p. 602). Mercury, under similar circumstances, is
 
 POISONING BY ANTIMONY. IN THE TISSUES. 271 
 
 deposited in minute metallic globules, easily recognized by 
 means of a magnifier. 
 
 The true nature of this antimonial deposit may be shown, 
 as first advised by "Watson, by boiling the coated copper in 
 a dilute solution of caustic potassa, the metal being occasion- 
 ally withdrawn from the liquid and exposed to the air to 
 favor the oxidation of the antimony, when, after a time, the 
 deposit will be entirely dissolved as antimoniate of potash. 
 On now removing the copper-foil, acidulating the liquid with 
 hydrochloric acid, concentrating by evaporation, and treating 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen, the pentasulphide of antimony 
 will be precipitated of an orange-red color. The whole of 
 the antimony may be thus removed, by using successive slips 
 of copper. 
 
 Another mode of detecting antimony when in very minute 
 quantity in the organs, is by a modification of the galvanic 
 test (described on page 262), as recommended by Prof. Tay- 
 lor (Prin. and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 1873, p. 314). Coil a 
 portion of pure zinc-foil around a portion of clean platinum- 
 foil, and introduce the two metals into the hydrochloric acid 
 decoction of the tissues, just sufficiently dilute to prevent too 
 violent an action on the zinc. Warm the organic liquid, and 
 suspend the coils in it. Sooner or later, according to the 
 quantity of antimony present, the platinum will be coated 
 with an adhering black powder of metallic antimony. Wash 
 the platinum-foil, and digest it in strong nitric acid. So soon 
 as the black deposit of antimony is dissolved from its surface, 
 the platinum should be removed. Add a few drops of nitric 
 acid, and evaporate to dryness. The residue redissolved in 
 hydrochloric acid, and the solution diluted and treated with 
 sulphuretted hydrogen, will yield the pure sulphide; or the 
 black deposit on the platinum may be dissolved off by sul- 
 phide of ammonium (see p. 26:?). 
 
 The absorbed antimony may also be extracted from the 
 tissues by means of hydrochloric acid and chlorate of potassa, 
 as recommended for Arsenic (p. 246). In the case of anti- 
 mony, however, there is no occasion to employ sulphurous 
 acid or a sulphide. The precipitated sulphide should be 
 purified as directed on page 269.
 
 272 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The urine should always be examined for absorbed anti- 
 mony. The elimination of this metal by the kidneys com- 
 mences very soon after it has been taken, and continues for 
 some time after it has been discontinued (see p. 260). The 
 urine should be evaporated nearly to dryness, when it may 
 either be treated with hydrochloric acid and chlorate of po- 
 tassa (see p. 246), and the antimony procured as a sulphide; 
 or it may be boiled with water and hydrochloric acid, and 
 tested by the copper, the tin, and the galvanic test, and by 
 Marsh's process ; or it may be carbonized by sulphuric acid 
 and heat, and the antimony extracted as mentioned, under 
 the head of ARSENIC. 
 
 CHLORIDE, OR BUTTER OF ANTIMONY. This is a strong 
 corrosive poison, and has caused death in several instances. 
 Its symptoms and post-mortem appearances resemble those 
 produced by strong hydrochloric acid. When thrown into 
 water, it produces a copious, white, flaky precipitate, by which 
 it is readily identified : when this is touched with sulphide of 
 ammonium, it assumes an orange-red color. The clear liquid 
 is proved to contain hydrochloric acid, by the addition of 
 nitrate of silver. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 POISONING BY MERCURY. 
 
 IN the metallic state, mercury is not regarded as a poison. 
 It has frequently been administered in large quantities by 
 physicians in the treatment of constipation, in which affection 
 it is supposed to act remedially by virtue of its gravity and 
 liquid form the metal passing rapidly through the bowels. 
 The vapor of mercury is very poisonous in its effects. There 
 is no doubt that this vapor passes off from the metal at 
 ordinary temperatures, so that persons exposed to breathing 
 it become speedily affected with mercurial salivation, or pty- 
 alism. A noted instance of this fact is afforded in the case
 
 POISONING BY MERCURY. CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. 273 
 
 of the British ship Triumph, in the year 1809, which had 
 received on board from a Spanish wreck a quantity of quick- 
 silver contained in leather bags. In consequence of the 
 defective storage of this cargo, some of the bags were broken, 
 and the liquid mercury escaped into the hold of the ship. 
 The effect was that in a very short time every living creature 
 on board became salivated; even the lower animals, as cows, 
 horses, and poultry, were thus affected, and many died. 
 
 Artisans who work in this metal, such as smelters of the 
 ores, looking-glass platers, water-gilders, and barometer- 
 makers, are very liable to become poisoned by the fumes. 
 The symptoms of this sort of poisoning sometimes commence 
 suddenly and at other times come on gradually ; and they may 
 or may not be accompanied by salivation. The general mor- 
 bid condition thus induced is termed mercurial fremors, shaking 
 palsy, and tremblement mercuriel. The upper extremities are 
 commonly first affected, and then, by degrees, all the muscles 
 of the body. There is a general unsteadiness of motion in 
 the arms and legs, so that the patient cannot grasp any object 
 or plant his foot firmly on the ground. In bad cases, he 
 cannot either speak or masticate his food. If the disorder 
 is not checked, it proceeds to a fatal termination, attended 
 with a loss of memory, insomnia, and delirium. Another 
 curious symptom, not generally recognized, although very 
 constantly present, is a brittle state of the teeth, causing them 
 to chip. (Guy's Forensic Medicine, 1868, p. 474.) 
 
 The proper preventive treatment of this affection consists 
 in cleanliness and good ventilation, together with the free 
 use internally of albumen in the form of white of eggs. 
 
 All the compounds of mercury are more or less poisonous ; 
 but the one of most medico-legal importance is corrosive 
 sublimate. 
 
 CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE (Protochloride of Mercury}. This salt 
 was formerly named bichloride of mercury. The difference in 
 the nomenclature arises from the circumstance that the chem- 
 ical equivalent of mercury was formerly taken as 200; whereas 
 at present 100 is regarded as its true equivalent. According 
 to this latter view, calomel must be considered as a subchloride.
 
 274 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Properties. It occurs either in heavy, semi-transparent, 
 crystalline masses, or as a white, amorphous powder. It has 
 a peculiar, nauseous, styptic taste ; it is soluble in twenty 
 parts of cold and in two parts of boiling water. It is still 
 more soluble in alcohol and ether : the latter solvent is em- 
 ployed to separate it from the aqueous solution. 
 
 Symptoms. These generally come on immediately or very 
 soon after the poison is taken. A nauseous, metallic taste 
 is perceived in the act of swallowing. There is a sense of 
 heat or constriction in the mouth and throat; nausea, and 
 violent retching ; vomiting of matters frequently tinged with 
 bile and blood ; pain in the abdomen, which usually is swol- 
 len, and tender to the touch; severe purging, sometimes of 
 bloody matters, accompanied with tenesmus, as in dysentery ; 
 great anxiety ; flushed and swollen countenance, though 
 sometimes it is pale and anxious. The pulse is small, fre- 
 quent, and irregular, and is scarcely perceptible when the 
 symptoms become aggravated. The tongue is white and 
 shriveled; the skin cold and clammy; the breathing diffi- 
 cult; intense thirst; scanty or suppressed urine; cramps of 
 the extremities; stupor, fainting, convulsions, and death. 
 The external parts of the mouth are found to be swollen, and 
 often present a white appearance, as if the cavity had been 
 washed with a solution of nitrate of silver; the lips are often 
 swollen. In cases which do not prove rapidly fatal, salivation 
 is usually superadded, as well as the painful train of nervous 
 symptoms caused by the specific impression of mercury on 
 the system. 
 
 There are occasional exceptions to some of the above- 
 mentioned symptoms of poisoning by corrosive sublimate : 
 thus, there may be an absence of abdominal pains, and also 
 of vomiting and purging; and cases are reported in which 
 the pulse underwent no change until just before death. In 
 some instances the symptoms partially remit. 
 
 This poison differs from arsenic, according to Dr. Taylor 
 (On Poisons, p. 399) : 1, in having a well-marked taste ; 2, in 
 producing violent symptoms in a few minutes; 3, the evacu- 
 ations are more frequently mingled with blood. If the pa- 
 tient survive several days, the symptoms resemble those of
 
 MERCURY. CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. SYMPTOMS. 275 
 
 dysentery, violent straining, and shreds of bloody mucus 
 in the discharges from the bowels being frequently noticed. 
 
 The external application of corrosive sublimate has some- 
 times been followed by fatal consequences; and it is a re- 
 markable fact that in such cases both the symptoms and the 
 post-mortem lesions resemble very closely those attendant 
 upon an ordinary case of poisoning by swallowing. 
 
 Dr. Vidal (Gazette des Hopitaux, July, 1864) reports a case 
 of a woman aged twenty-eight years, who accidentally had 
 applied to the surface of her body the acid nitrate of mercury 
 instead of a liniment. Besides intense inflammation of the 
 skin, there were several large eschars upon different parts of 
 the body; there was bilious vomiting, which was afterwards 
 tinged with blood, abundant diarrhoea of a dysenteric char- 
 acter, cramps, extreme anxiety, great pain in the abdomen, 
 suppression of urine, swollen and bloody gums, along with a 
 bluish line at their junction with the teeth. Nervous symptoms 
 appeared on the sixth day, together with extreme feebleness ; 
 death occurred on the ninth day. On examination, the in- 
 terior of the stomach was found reddened, the vessels injected, 
 and there were ecchymosed spots. A similar appearance was 
 observed under the mucous coat of the bladder and throughout 
 nearly the whole intestine. The blood was black and fluid. 
 The microscopic examination of the kidneys disclosed con- 
 siderable injection of the parenchyma, especially around 
 the Malpighian bodies ; the epithelial cells were deformed, 
 granular, and partially destroyed. M. Flandiu, by chemical 
 analysis, obtained a sensible quantity of mercury from the 
 liver, but not from the other organs. 
 
 Other cases of fatal result from the application of corrosive 
 sublimate are on record. In one, the subject was a child, 
 who died in about a week, after suffering the severest con- 
 stitutional effects. In two others, also children, aged respect- 
 ively seven and eleven years, an ointment composed of two 
 drachms of corrosive sublimate to an ounce of tallow was 
 rubbed upon the scalp for the treatment of porrigo favosa. 
 Excessive suffering immediately ensued, and in forty minutes 
 the children were completely delirious. They vomited contin- 
 ually a green-colored matter, and had great pain in the bowels,
 
 276 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 with diarrhoea and bloody stools. In the youngest, there was 
 complete suppression of urine. Death occurred in one on 
 the seventh, and in the other on the ninth day. There was 
 no ptyalisra. (Wharton and Stille, Med. Jurisp., 1873, vol. 
 ii. p. 407.) 
 
 A case of fatal poisoning by the external application of 
 corrosive sublimate is reported in the London Chemist and 
 Druggist, Sept. 15, 1871. For a child nine years of age suf- 
 fering from ringworm of the scalp, a lotion containing two 
 grains of the salt to a drachm of alcohol was prescribed, as 
 an application to the shaven scalp, by means of a brush. 
 This is stated by the physician to be the formula given by 
 Dr. Tilbury Fox. The application at first gave no pain, 
 but in the course of a few hours the child suffered greatly, 
 the head and neck being also much swollen. The pain and 
 swelling continued to increase in spite of every effort to 
 check it, and the child died in the course of a few days. Only 
 a single application was made. According to Dr. Fox, the 
 lotion generally produces blistering of the skin, which is the 
 design in using it, but it is not absorbed. In the present 
 instance, however, absorption of the poison, unfortunately, 
 took place, and with fatal effect. 
 
 Fatal dose. The smallest dose reported to have destroyed 
 life is three grains. Dr. Taylor considers that under favor- 
 able circumstances from three to five grains, or even less, 
 would destroy an adult (On Poisons, p. 412). Very large 
 doses have been taken with impunity, having been speedily 
 vomited, or neutralized by antidotes promptly exhibited. 
 
 Fatal period. The shortest fatal period on record is that 
 of a case reported to Dr. Taylor, in which death occurred 
 in less than half an hour, from an unknown amount of the 
 poison. Some cases prove fatal within three or four hours; 
 but generally life is protracted from one to five days. 
 
 In a summary of nine cases given by Prof. Guy (Forensic 
 Med., 1868, p. 475), about half the number died in less than 
 twelve hours, and the remaining half in a period varying 
 from three to eleven days. In the case of this poison, as 
 with arsenic, the fatal period is very variable. 
 
 Mortality. More than half the cases.
 
 COKROSIVE SUBLIMATE. MORBID APPEARANCES. 277 
 
 Treatment. If free vomiting has not taken place, the evac- 
 uation of the stomach should be aided by warm diluent drinks. 
 The best antidote is albumen, as found in eggs. This decom- 
 poses the mercurial salt, forming an insoluble inert com- 
 pound ; but this is redissolved by a large excess of albumen. 
 The white of one egg is generally supposed to be sufficient 
 to neutralize four grains of corrosive sublimate. In the 
 absence of eggs, gluten, or wheat flour made up into paste, 
 may be employed. The free use of milk is also recom- 
 mended. 
 
 The early and free use of albumen is nearly always at- 
 tended with success. Various other antidotes have been 
 recommended at different times, such as the protosulphide of 
 iron, iron-filings, a mixture of gold-dust and iron-filings, as recom- 
 mended by Dr. Buckler, of Baltimore, protochloride of tin, etc. 
 None of these, however, can compare in value with albumen, 
 which has stood the test of many years' experience. 
 
 Post-mortem, appearances. The mucous membrane of the 
 mouth, throat, and gullet is often found softened, of a white 
 or grayish color, and sometimes inflamed. The action of 
 this poison upon the stomach and bowels is generally more 
 decided than that of arsenic. The coats of the stomach 
 may be found more or less corroded and softened, presenting 
 a slate-gray color, which is by some ascribed to the deposit 
 of fine reduced mercury. Sometimes dark gangrenous spots 
 are observed. Similar appearances have been seen in the 
 large and small intestines, especially in the csecum. Sir R. 
 Christison mentions a case where the patient survived thirty- 
 one hours, in which there was perforation of the stomach. 
 The urinary organs are generally found greatly inflamed, the 
 bladder much contracted and empty, and the kidneys highly 
 congested, especially about the Malpighian bodies, and the 
 epithelial cells deformed, granular, and partially destroyed. 
 
 In chronic or slow poisoning with corrosive sublimate, the 
 following symptoms are generally observed : a coppery taste 
 in the mouth, loss of appetite, a fetid breath, tenderness of 
 gums, pains in the stomach and bowels, nausea, inflammation 
 and ulceration of the salivary glands, swelling of the tongue, 
 increased flow of the saliva, a quick pulse, hot skin, great
 
 278 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 muscular debility, and emaciation. A bluish line is fre- 
 quently observed around the edges of the gums, like that 
 occasioned by lead-poisoning. 
 
 It may be well to remember that salivation is not an in- 
 variable attendant on acute mercurial poisoning; but it is 
 nearly always observed in the chronic form. There is a 
 very marked difference in the susceptibility of persons to 
 the mercurial influence. In some, the smallest dose will 
 speedily excite the most profuse ptyalism, as in a case men- 
 tioned by Sir R. Christison, where two grains of calomel 
 caused ptyalism, extensive ulceration of the throat, exfolia- 
 tion of the lower jaw, and death. It should not be forgotten 
 that salivation may be caused by other substances besides 
 mercury : among these may be mentioned iodide of potas- 
 sium, digitalis, antimony, arsenic, etc. 
 
 In a suspicious case, the chemical detection of mercury 
 in the saliva would settle the question as to its mercurial 
 origin. 
 
 Chemical analysis. I. As a solid. Heated on platinum-foil, 
 it fuses and is wholly dissipated in white, acrid fumes. If 
 the vapor be received on a cool surface, it condenses in 
 groups of peculiar-formed, white, radiating crystals. "When 
 touched with a drop of liquor potassse, it turns of a brown- 
 ish-yellow color: calomel, under similar treatment, becomes 
 black. A solution of iodide of potassium immediately 
 causes it to assume a bright scarlet color: this reaction is 
 very delicate, and serves to detect the minutest fragment of 
 the salt. If a drop of the iodide of potassium solution be 
 placed upon a piece of bright metallic copper, in contact 
 with the smallest portion of corrosive sublimate, the latter 
 will be decomposed, and a bright silvery stain will be seen 
 upon the copper, especially if it be rubbed with the finger 
 or other soft substance; a drop of hydrochloric acid may be 
 substituted for the iodide of potassium. This stain is imme- 
 diately dissipated by heat. Sulphide of ammonium applied 
 to a small portion of the powder at first turns it yellowish, 
 but subsequently black. Heated in a reduction-tube along 
 with dried carbonate of soda, a sublimate is deposited in the 
 form of a white ring, which, under the microscope, is found
 
 POISONING BY CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. TESTS. 279 
 
 to be composed of globules of metallic mercury. The white 
 residue, when dissolved in water by the aid of heat and a 
 little nitric acid, may be proved to contain chlorine by the 
 action of nitrate of silver, which precipitates the white chlo- 
 ride of silver. 
 
 II. As a liquid. (a) A drop of the solution, not very dilute, 
 if evaporated on a glass slide, will yield a deposit of long, 
 needle-shaped or prismatic crystals. The presence of organic 
 matter readily interferes with the crystallization of this salt. 
 (b) It is easily decomposed by albumen, fibrin, casein, gluten, 
 and tannic acid: hence the usefulness of these articles as 
 antidotes to this poison. (c) Solution of potassa or soda in 
 excess throws down the yellow oxide of mercury. If not in 
 excess, the precipitate has a brownish color. This precipi- 
 tate may be identified by drying and heating in a reduction- 
 tube : a sublimate of globules of mercury will be deposited, 
 with the evolution of free oxygen gas. (d) Ammonia causes 
 a white precipitate (ami-chloride of mercury) : this is soluble 
 in a large excess of the precipitant. If the precipitate be 
 dried and heated, it volatilizes without residue, in which 
 respect it differs from all other metallic precipitates pro- 
 duced by ammonia, (e) Solution of iodide of potassium causes 
 a bright scarlet iodide of mercury, readily soluble in excess 
 of the precipitant. At first the color is yellow, but it quickly 
 becomes scarlet. When this iodide is dried, and heated in 
 a reduction-tube, it volatilizes unchanged, and condenses in 
 a yellow, semi-crystalline deposit, which slowly changes to 
 a scarlet color. (/) Protochloride of tin in limited quantity 
 causes with corrosive sublimate a white precipitate of the 
 subchloride (calomel) ; if the reagent be in excess, a dark- 
 gray precipitate of metallic mercury takes place, which runs 
 into distinct globules on being boiled. (g) Sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen and sulphide of ammonium in minimum quantities 
 produce, in a solution of corrosive sublimate, a precipitate, 
 the color of which is gray or white, at first ; on adding more 
 of the reagent, the color changes to reddish and black, and 
 finally becomes completely black (the black sulphide). This 
 progressive change of color, under the circumstances men- 
 tioned, is peculiar to the persalts of mercury. Any of these
 
 280 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 precipitates, if dried and mixed with dry carbonate of soda 
 (or with iron-filings, Ortila) and then heated in a reduction- 
 tube, will yield a sublimate of metallic globules, (h) The 
 copper test. If a piece of bright copper-foil or copper wire be 
 plunged in a solution of corrosive sublimate acidulated with 
 hydrochloric acid, it speedily becomes coated with a bright 
 silvery deposit of metallic mercury. When the copper is 
 thoroughly dried, and heated in a reduction-tube, a subli- 
 mate of metallic globules will be obtained, easily recognized 
 under the magnifier. This test is exceedingly delicate, and 
 will serve to detect one ten-thousandth of a grain, if the 
 deposit be received on a very small surface of copper and 
 the latter heated in a very small reduction-tube. But even 
 much more minute portions may be recognized, according to 
 Wormley (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 339), by the following 
 method. A quite thin and perfectly clean tube of the diameter 
 of about one-tenth of an inch is drawn out into a small capil- 
 lary neck. The coated copper is then introduced through 
 the wider portion of the cooled tube to the point of con- 
 traction, and the wider end very carefully fused shut by 
 means of the blowpipe. The appearance of the tube then 
 resembles that of a small thermometer-tube the bulb con- 
 taining the coated copper. The tube is now heated at the 
 point containing the copper, and then the capillary end is 
 closed. It is then wiped, and examined under the micro- 
 scope, when a well-defined ring of mercurial globules will 
 be seen in the narrow tube, a short distance above the con- 
 tracted portion. The tube thus closed may be kept for future 
 reference; though, after long periods, the sublimate gradually 
 becomes fainter and finally disappears. This method has 
 also the advantage of allowing the higher powers of the 
 microscope to be applied, on account of the extreme thin- 
 ness of their walls. According to Prof. Wormley, one five- 
 hundred-thousandth of a grain, treated as above, yielded 
 as many as twenty satisfactory globules of mercury, the 
 largest of which measured one three-thousandth of an inch 
 in diameter, though most of them averaged from one five- 
 thousandth to one ten-thousandth of an inch. A power of 
 about two hundred and fifty diameters is the highest that
 
 POISONING BY CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. TESTS. 281 
 
 can be successfully used, on account of the curvature of the 
 glass (loc. tit., p. 340). 
 
 In case the metallic sublimate on the sides of the reduction- 
 tube should be very faint and uncertain, M. Tardieu (Sur 
 PEmpoisonnement, p. 580) recommends a neat and satisfac- 
 tory method. A minute crystal of iodine is pushed into the 
 tube, by means of a platinum wire, as far as the sublimate; 
 the open end of the tube is then stopped up with wax, and 
 it is kept in a horizontal position, at a temperature of 30 to 
 40 C. In about twelve hours, the deposit, if it be composed 
 of mercury, will assume a lively scarlet tint, due to the pro- 
 duction of the red iodide of mercury. After removing the 
 fragment of iodine, the tube may be gently and progressively 
 heated from below by the flame of a spirit-lamp, when the 
 scarlet color will change to yellow, which latter hue will 
 continue as long as the tube remains warm ; but on cooling 
 the tube, or on contact with a foreign body, it will resume its 
 scarlet color. 
 
 (i) The galvanic test. This consists in the employment of a 
 strip of gold wound around a strip of zinc (tin or iron will 
 answer in place of the latter), and introducing them into the 
 mercurial solution, slightly acidulated with muriatic acid. In 
 a short time the gold will be covered with a silver-colored 
 film of metallic mercury. On washing the gold in water and 
 ether, carefully drying it, and heating in a reduction-tube, 
 the characteristic sublimate of mercurial globules may be 
 obtained. A very simple method of employing the galvanic 
 test, according to Prof. Guy (Forensic Medicine, p. 467), is to 
 take a narrow strip of zinc, sufficiently small to be introduced 
 into a reduction-tube, moisten it, and take up as much gold- 
 leaf as will adhere to it; introduce this into the acidulated 
 solution : the gold will soon be covered with a gray film. 
 Wash and dry it carefully ; introduce it into a reduction-tube 
 and heat with the flame of a spirit-lamp ; a ring of metallic 
 globules will be formed. This is considered one of the most 
 delicate of all the tests : it is generally employed in the de- 
 tection of the poison in organic mixtures. 
 
 In the employment of the copper and the galvanic test, 
 it must be remembered that it is not the silvery deposit
 
 282 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 upon the copper or gold that affords the proof of the presence 
 of mercury, but only the actual obtaining of the metal in the 
 form of globules, by sublimation. 
 
 In organic mixtures. As corrosive sublimate is soluble, it is 
 rare to meet with it in the solid form ; but, since it may be 
 administered in mass, some of the poison maybe discovered 
 among the other substances, by merely stirring the liquid, 
 at the same time adding, if very viscid, distilled water; the 
 corrosive sublimate, from its weight, will subside in lumps, 
 and may be collected and identified. But, as this poison is 
 readily decomposed by albumen, fibrin, gluten, tanuic acid, 
 and other substances, it will most probably be found in a 
 state insoluble in water. Still, under these circumstances, 
 sufficient of the mercury in the soluble condition can usually 
 be detected in complex fluids, even after a considerable time. 
 Hence we may expect to find this poison in both conditions 
 dissolved and in combination. In the former state, the 
 liquid should be obtained clear by filtration, after boiling 
 with water, if necessary. The solid matters should be pressed, 
 dried, and set aside for future examination. The liquid por- 
 tion should be slightly acidulated with hydrochloric acid, 
 warmed, and tested with a slip of bright copper, the latter 
 being allowed to remain in the liquid for some hours, if no 
 deposit occurs in a short time. When the quantity of cor- 
 rosive sublimate in the solution is large, it may be removed 
 by means of ether. The filtered liquid containing the poison 
 is put into a stoppered tube containing twice its volume of 
 pure ether, and the contents thoroughly agitated at intervals. 
 Allow the liquid to subside, remove the ether by means of 
 a pipette, and allow it to evaporate spontaneously. As the 
 ether passes off, the corrosive sublimate will be deposited in 
 white, silky prisms. These may be purified, if necessary, 
 by solution in water or alcohol, and again crystallized. Cor- 
 rosive sublimate may thus be separated from arsenic and 
 other mineral poisons. 
 
 Tardieu (loc. ctt., p. 581) objects to this mode of separation 
 by ether, on two grounds : first, because the poison can never 
 be wholly separated by this means; and secondly, because 
 the ether must necessarily dissolve a considerable quantity of
 
 POISONING BY CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. IN THE TISSUES. 283 
 
 fatty matters, which are deposited by evaporation of the ether, 
 along with the mercurial salt. It should, moreover, be re- 
 membered that any mercurial salt associated with an alkaline 
 chloride, such as chloride of sodium, would be acted upon by 
 ether in a similar manner: consequently, the single fact of 
 the presence of corrosive sublimate in the ether is not positive 
 proof that the poisoning was occasioned by this particular salt. 
 
 As regards the solid portions, supposed to contain the 
 poison in combination with certain organic substances, they 
 may first be boiled with distilled water for about half an 
 hour, stirring frequently. When cold, filter, and concentrate, 
 by heat ; then examine in the manner directed for the first 
 liquid portion (p. 279). If no evidence of the presence of 
 mercury is given, the solid matters should be boiled in water 
 containing hydrochloric acid until complete disintegration 
 occurs ; filter when cooled, and test as above. Another 
 method, sometimes pursued, is to dry the solid matters 
 thoroughly and digest the dried residue in warm nitro- 
 muriatic acid, by which the insoluble mass is converted 
 into the soluble corrosive sublimate. The acid liquor 
 must be evaporated to dryness, and the residue dissolved 
 in distilled water, and filtered. The corrosive sublimate 
 may now either be dissolved out by ether or at once tried 
 with the protochloride of tin, or by the galvanic test. 
 
 In the tissues and urine. The urine should be evaporated to 
 dryness, and the dried residue treated by the process next to 
 be described for the tissues. 
 
 From four to eight ounces of the liver, kidneys, spleen, or 
 other organs to be examined, should be dried, broken up, and 
 then boiled, until dissolved, in one part of pure hydrochloric 
 acid and four parts of water. When cool, the liquid should 
 be strained through linen, and the residue pressed. The 
 liquid, if in large quantity, should be concentrated by gentle 
 evaporation, and, while still warm, a small piece of pure cop- 
 per-foil should be introduced. The copper will acquire a 
 coating of a silvery or silver-gray appearance in the course of 
 a few minutes, or after a longer time. It may be removed, 
 washed in water and alcohol, and examined by a magnifier, 
 which will serve to distinguish the deposition of any metallic
 
 284 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 film. The copper is next to be rolled up and heated in a re- 
 duction-tube, when the deposition of metallic globules in the 
 form of a ring, on the inside of the tube, will establish the 
 presence of mercury in the original acid solution. 
 
 If arsenic had been present in the tissues at the same 
 time with the mercury, the boiling of the acid liquid upon 
 the copper would cause a deposit of both metals upon the 
 latter; and when this is heated in the reduction-tube there 
 will be seen a mixture of mercurial globules with octahedral 
 crystals of arsenious acid in the sublimate. In the cold acid 
 liquid arsenic would not be deposited on the copper, while 
 mercury would be, at all temperatures. By this means we 
 may separate these two metals when they exist in the same 
 solution. 
 
 Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 420) mentions a case of this 
 nature where arsenic had been criminally administered to 
 the deceased, and where also two grains of calomel had 
 been taken, medicinally, two days before death. Twenty-one 
 months after burial, the presence of both arsenic and mer- 
 cury was distinctly proven through the sublimates obtained 
 by means of the copper process. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that a person may die from poison- 
 ing by corrosive sublimate and yet no mercury be found 
 in the tissues. Dr. Taylor cites two cases of this character : 
 one of these patients survived fifteen days, after taking a large 
 dose of the poison in whisky. Although the local effect on 
 the mouth, throat, stomach, and bowels was of the most in- 
 tense kind, the chemical analysis could detect no trace of 
 mercury in any of the viscera: it had been entirely elimi- 
 nated (Med. Gaz., vol. xlvi. p. 253). It also occasionally 
 happens that this poison, like many others, cannot be de- 
 tected after death, in the stomach. Taylor mentions several 
 instances of this character (loc. tit.}. In two, death occurred 
 on the fourth day, after taking two drachms of the poison; 
 in another, two drachms proved fatal in six days ; and in 
 a fourth, three drachms destroyed life in six days. In none 
 of these could the poison be discovered in the stomach or 
 intestines. 
 
 Many other metallic poisons are doubtless eliminated from
 
 POISONING BY CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE. SALIVATION. 285 
 
 the body through the saliva; a chemical examination of this 
 secretion might often lead to their ready detection. 
 
 The above-described examination of the tissues and secre- 
 tions can merely establish the presence of mercury, but not 
 in the particular form of corrosive sublimate: the proof of 
 the latter must be sought in the stomach and intestines, 
 either by dialysis, or by the action of ether on the aqueous 
 solution obtained from these last-mentioned organs. It must 
 not be forgotten that the mere detection of small quantities 
 of mercury in the tissues, organs, and secretions is no evi- 
 dence of poisoning by this substance, unless it be supported 
 by the character of the symptoms before death, and by the 
 post-mortem lesions. The administration, before death, of a 
 dose of calomel, blue-pill, etc., could readily account for the 
 presence of mercury in the different viscera after death, on 
 the well-recognized principle of absorption. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the importance of analyzing 
 the saliva in a case of suspected mercurial ptyalism. This is 
 readily effected by acidulating that secretion with one-fourth 
 part of muriatic acid; a piece of bright copper attached to 
 a platinum wire should then be immersed in it, and the 
 whole kept at a warm temperature for several hours. If 
 mercury be present in the saliva, the copper will become 
 whitened. By heating the copper, after washing and dry- 
 ing, in a reduction-tube, the sublimate of characteristic 
 mercurial globules will establish the proof of the presence 
 of this metal. 
 
 The exact relationship between salivation and poisoning by 
 corrosive sublimate is a matter of considerable medico-legal 
 importance. It is well known, in the first place, that there 
 is no fixed or definite period at which ptyalism comes on, 
 after the poison has been swallowed. In some cases of acute 
 poisoning it does not appear at all; and very rarely, unless 
 the patient survive two or three days. Thus, in a case which 
 occurred to Dr. Venablea, in which two drachms of this sub- 
 stance had been taken, and the woman survived eight days, 
 there was no salivation. But in another case, reported by 
 Mr. "Wood (Edin. Med. and Surg. Jour., li. 141), in which 
 half a teaspoonful of the poison had been swallowed, saliva- 
 
 19
 
 286 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 tion was profuse in the course of a few hours. Dr. Percy 
 relates a case in which the saliva was flowing profusely one 
 hour and a half after a woman had taken a dose of thirty 
 grains (Med. Gaz., 1843, i. p. 942). In these cases of early 
 salivation, it is alleged that the fetor of the breath is absent, 
 and that the abundant flow of saliva is to be ascribed to the 
 local irritant effect of the poison, rather than to the result of 
 absorption. It must certainly be admitted that the direct 
 irritant action of corrosive sublimate upon the tongue and 
 mouth may cause a profuse discharge of saliva, with swelling 
 of the lips. (See case reported in Prov. Med. Jour., Nov. 
 18, 1843, p. 127.) 
 
 Another point for consideration is the difference in the 
 susceptibility of persons to the mercurial impression. As 
 a general rule, children are less susceptible than adults ; the 
 robust, less than the delicate. Certain morbid conditions of 
 the system particularly predispose to its injurious impression, 
 among which may be mentioned albuminuria and anaemia. 
 In an apoplectic patient of Dr. Bright's, five grains of calo- 
 mel placed on the tongue produced, in three hours, violent 
 salivation, and such swelling of the tongue as to render 
 scarification necessary. Three grains of corrosive sublimate 
 in three doses have caused violent ptyalism ; three five-grain 
 doses of blue-pill, one every night, have proved fatal ; two 
 grains of calomel have caused ulceration of the throat, ex- 
 foliation of the jaw, and death ; and the external application 
 of three drachms of mercurial ointment has destroyed life in 
 eight days. (Guy's Forensic Medicine, 1868, p. 471 ; from 
 Christison on Poisons.) 
 
 It is generally admitted that mercurial salivation may be 
 intermittent ; that is, it may cease for a time, and reappear 
 without any mercurial preparation being given in the in- 
 terim. Such cases are, however, rare ; but the fact of the 
 possibility of their occurrence is of importance in connec- 
 tion with medical jurisprudence. One case of this kind is 
 quoted by Mr. Swan (On the Action of Mercury, 1847, p. 4), 
 in which salivation recurred after an interval of six months. 
 
 Another fact of importance to the legal physician is, that 
 salivation may be produced by other agents besides the
 
 POISONING BY MERCURY. SALIVATION. 287 
 
 preparations of mercury ; so that this symptom when taken 
 alone can never furnish evidence of poisoning by mercury. 
 Salivation may arise spontaneously, from disease of the sali- 
 vary organs, or even from a mechanical cause, such as the 
 irritation of a set of artificial teeth. It not unfrequently 
 follows the internal use of iodide of potassium, iodine, the 
 preparations of copper, bismuth, lead, antimony, gold, ar- 
 senic, digitalis, croton oil, cantharides, colchicum, and other 
 articles of the materia medica. The usual diagnostic points 
 of difference between mercurial and non-mercurial salivation 
 are said to be the presence of the coppery taste, the fetor of 
 the breath, and the spongy and ulcerated condition of the 
 gums in the former, while they are wanting in the cases 
 of salivation occasioned by other causes. But it would seem 
 that these characters have been equally met with in the 
 salivation produced by arsenic and by bismuth. (Prov. Med. 
 Jour., Oct. 22, 1845, p. 638 ; also, Lancet, June 13, 1846, 
 p. 654.) 
 
 The disease named cancrum om, or canker of the mouth, not 
 unfrequently occurs among children brought up under bad 
 hygienic influences, or while recovering from exhausting dis- 
 eases, especially from hooping-cough and measles. Among 
 the symptoms of this affection are ulceration of the gums 
 and a falling out of the teeth, along with gangrene of the 
 cheek. In such cases, if a preparation of mercury should 
 have happened to be given, it might easily become a serious 
 question to determine whether death actually resulted from 
 mercury acting as a poison, or from the disease. Dr. Taylor 
 (On Poisons, p. 406) cites a case in point. A charge was 
 made against a medical practitioner of having caused the 
 death of a child, aged four years, by administering an over- 
 dose of some mercurial preparation, for the treatment of 
 hooping-cough. On the fourth day, the child complained 
 of soreness of the mouth, the teeth became loose and fell 
 out, the tongue and cheek were much swollen ; and the child 
 died in the course of a few days, from gangrene of the left 
 cheek. The answer to the charge was, that not a particle of 
 mercury had been exhibited, a fact clearly proved from the 
 prescription-book of the medical attendant ! This, then, was
 
 288 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 an instance in which gangrene from spontaneous causes had 
 been mistaken for mercurial poisoning. Had the medicine 
 prescribed contained any mercury, a verdict affecting the 
 character of the practitioner would probably have been re- 
 turned. An important case of this character, in which the 
 medical witness relied upon the " mercurial fetor" as char- 
 acteristic and distinctive, will be found in the "Lancet," June 
 13, 1846, p. 654 (loc. cit.). As before observed (p. 285), the 
 chemical analysis of the saliva would settle any question of 
 this kind. 
 
 Quantitative analysis. Corrosive sublimate may be esti- 
 mated as a sulphide, by first carefully washing and drying 
 the precipitate obtained by sulphuretted hydrogen. Every 
 100 grains of the dried sulphide are equivalent to 116.81 
 grains of anhydrous corrosive sublimate. By employing 
 the chloride of tin with a known quantity of the mercurial 
 solution, the metal is precipitated in the form of globules: 
 it should be purified, by first boiling it in a solution of po- 
 tassa, and afterwards in hydrochloric acid. Every 100 grains 
 of metallic mercury are equivalent to 135.5 grains of cor- 
 rosive sublimate. 
 
 The other compounds of mercury which may occasionally 
 prove poisonous are red precipitate, white precipitate, red oxide, 
 cinnabar or red sulphuret, calomel, the nitrates, and the sulphates. 
 
 A case of poisoning by red precipitate is reported in the 
 " Irish Hospital Gazette," Oct. 15, 1873, that of a girl, aged 
 fifteen years, who swallowed half an ounce by mistake. No 
 urgent symptoms were manifested; an emetic of sulphate 
 of zinc was administered, and the liberal use of milk en- 
 joined as a diet. The following day, her lips, gums, and 
 mouth were very sore, swollen, and reddened ; there was the 
 mercurial fetor from the breath, with headache, and pains 
 in the epigastrium. She took Battley's sedative mixture, to- 
 gether with an alum gargle for her mouth; poultices were 
 applied to the abdomen. Improvement commenced imme- 
 diately ; and, after a dose of castor oil, she had no further 
 trouble, except a soreness of the mouth for about a week, 
 and the loss of two front teeth.
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. 289 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. 
 
 COPPER in the metallic state is not poisonous. But if taken 
 into the stomach, it is soon acted upon by the secretions and 
 contents of this organ, and soluble compounds are generated 
 which may prove highly poisonous. Copper coins are some- 
 times swallowed by children, and may produce injurious 
 effects both by their mechanical irritation, and by the poison- 
 ous action of the resulting compounds. Many instances of 
 this character have been recorded, in some of which colicky 
 symptoms, irritation of the bowels, nausea and vomiting, 
 emaciation, and death have resulted. Such cases sometimes 
 are protracted for several years. 
 
 Instances of accidental poisoning by inhaling copper alloy 
 in fine powder are afforded in persons who are engaged in 
 what is termed printing in gold. The alloy is applied on the 
 sized letters in the state of an impalpable powder, so light that 
 it floats in the atmosphere, and is constantly being inhaled 
 into the lungs of the workmen. The symptoms produced 
 are vomiting of a greenish fluid, heat and constriction of the 
 gullet, pain in the stomach, loss of appetite and rest, and a 
 severe itching in all the parts covered with hair ; these, on 
 examination, are found to be of a deep-green color. (Fal- 
 coner on Copper-Poisoning.) 
 
 Cases of accidental poisoning by copper are very frequently 
 to be traced to want of cleanliness in cooking, or to keeping 
 food in copper vessels. Many kinds of food are contaminated 
 by contact with copper, especially such as contain a vegetable 
 acid, as vinegar, an alkaline chloride, as common salt, or any 
 kind of oil or fat. Hence pickles, or preserves in acid, are 
 soon impregnated with copper under such circumstances ; so, 
 also, salt provisions, as fish, etc., very soon acquire poisonous 
 properties if kept in copper vessels; likewise, articles of food 
 of a greasy or fatty nature soon become affected with the
 
 290 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 poisonous contamination. In all these cases the poisonous 
 impression appears to be produced chiefly about the line of 
 contact between the particular substance and the external 
 air, as is denoted by a greenish discoloration. So long as the 
 copper utensils employed in cooking are kept perfectly clean 
 and bright, no risk is incurred in their use; but if cleanli- 
 ness be neglected, and a deposit of the green carbonate be 
 allowed to accumulate, this latter, being a very poisonous 
 salt, will impart very noxious properties to the food which 
 may happen to come in contact with it. 
 
 Dr. Falconer found that distilled water kept several weeks 
 on a polished plate of copper neither injured its lustre, nor 
 acquired any taste, nor became colored by ammonia; and 
 Drouard afterwards observed that distilled water, kept for a 
 month in copper tilings, did not contain any of the metal. 
 If, however, the water contain common salt in consider- 
 able proportion, it will certainly become contaminated (Chris- 
 tison on Poisons, p. 450). Eller has shown that milk, tea, 
 coffee, beer, and rain-water, kept in a state of ebullition 
 for two hours, do not contract the slightest impurity from 
 clean copper; the same is true (according to Falconer) of 
 turnips, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions, rice, and barley 
 (ibid.}. 
 
 Whilst no danger might result from boiling acidulous 
 liquids in clean copper vessels, it would be very unsafe to keep 
 these fluids cold, in the same vessels. In the latter case the 
 atmospheric air begins to act, while in the former it was 
 expelled by ebullition. It has been observed that in pre- 
 paring food or preserves in copper vessels, it is only when 
 the fluid ceases to cover the metal, and is reduced in tem- 
 perature, that solution of the metal begins. Inattention to 
 this difference has been the cause of fatal accidents, of which 
 the following case will serve as a good example. A servant 
 left some sour-krout for only a couple of hours in a copper 
 pan which had lost its tinning. Her mistress and daughter, 
 who ate of the cabbage, died after twelve hours' illness. 
 Wildberg found the cabbage so strongly impregnated with 
 copper that it was detected by metallic iron. (Ibid., p. 452.) 
 
 It may be inferred from the preceding observations that
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. ACCIDENTAL. 291 
 
 there is hardly any article of food or drink which may not 
 be contaminated, if kept in copper vessels, as there are few- 
 articles that do not contain either an acid or some fatty mat- 
 ter; and it further appears that the impregnation scarcely 
 ever takes place during the boiling of these articles, but only 
 during the preservation of them in the cold state. For ordi- 
 nary use, it would certainly be safer to dispense altogether 
 with copper vessels, and substitute iron or tin. Indeed, 
 copper vessels are now usually tinned, to prevent accidental 
 impregnation. As the tinning consists of an alloy of tin and 
 lead, it might happen, according to Dr. Taylor, that lead-poi- 
 soning may thus be substituted for copper-poisoning. As most 
 of the copper of commerce contains arsenic, it might readily 
 happen, in the use of copper vessels for culinary purposes, in 
 which the metal is converted into cupreous compounds by 
 means of acids and fats, that arsenic might be found in the 
 green incrustations. Dr. Taylor states that he has never 
 found any dissolved arsenic, where the copper thus forms an 
 insoluble salt. This author also alludes to an impure gold 
 alloy, largely composed of copper, being used by the lower 
 class of dentists for forming the plates for the support of 
 artificial teeth. These have been known to aft'ect seriously 
 the health of persons wearing them; the secretions of the 
 mouth favoring the production of poisonous salts of copper, 
 and probably, also, liberating arsenic. (Med. Jurisp., Am. 
 ed., 1873, p. 176.) 
 
 Another source of accidental poisoning by copper is men- 
 tioned by the English and French writers, in the use of an 
 alloy resembling gold for ornamenting cakes and confection- 
 ery ; and also of blue and green papers colored by copper 
 for wrappers of bonbons, etc. The alloy may readily be 
 distinguished from gold by its solubility in nitric acid, which 
 gives a blue-colored solution. In France, an ordinance pro- 
 hibits the use of the colored wrappings above mentioned, on 
 account of their poisonous nature. Still another source of 
 contamination by copper has been pointed out as occurring 
 on the continent of Europe, and especially in France, namely, 
 the adulteration of bread with a very small quantity of sul- 
 phate of copper, with the twofold purpose of making the
 
 292 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 bread whiter and at the same time increasing its weight, by 
 causing the dough to absorb more water. Orfila proved this 
 to be the case by incinerating several loaves of bread, and 
 detecting copper in the ashes. Still, as Tardieu recommends, 
 in any case of suspected adulteration of bread with copper, 
 where the latter exists only in minute quantities, it will be 
 well first to ascertain whether it might not have been acci- 
 dentally introduced by means of the flour or water employed. 
 In one instance it was traced to the meal, which had been 
 contaminated from the copper cylinders used to grind it. 
 
 In the making of many preserved fruits and pickles, the 
 salts of copper (blue vitriol and verdigris) are quite fre- 
 quently employed to impart a fine green color to them. This, 
 of course, is a very pernicious practice, and ought to be dis- 
 countenanced. Dr. Hassall states that he found copper in 
 sixteen different samples of London pickles, and it was most 
 abundant in those that were green (Food and its Adultera- 
 tions, p. 388). Dr. Taylor detected copper in a sample of 
 preserved green gooseberries that had produced symptoms 
 of poisoning in a child. 
 
 An easy method of detecting the adulteration is to place 
 the pickles or fruit in a solution of ammonia, when, if copper 
 be present, the substance will turn them blue. A simpler 
 method is to plunge a bright needle into the pickle or other 
 substance : if copper be present, it will speedily receive a 
 reddish coating; this may easily be examined by ammonia. 
 
 All the salts of copper are poisonous ; but those of medico- 
 legal importance are the sulphate (blue vitriol or blue-stone) 
 and the subacetate (verdigris). The arsenite (Scheele's green) 
 and the aceto-arsenite (Schweinfurt green) have already been 
 described under ARSENIC. What is sometimes termed natural 
 verdigris is the carbonate of copper, which is produced by the 
 action of moist air on the metal : this is first slowly oxidized, 
 and then converted into a carbonate by the carbonic acid of 
 the atmosphere. It constitutes the greenish incrustation 
 that collects upon copper or brass vessels which are not kept 
 properly cleaned. 
 
 It is seldom that the copper salts are administered as 
 poison with a homicidal intention, since they are so easily
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. SYMPTOMS. 293 
 
 detected by their color and taste. Neither would they be 
 likely to be accidentally taken, for the same reason: occa- 
 sionally they have been employed stiicidally. 
 
 Symptoms of acute poisoning. Blue vitriol may be taken as 
 the type of the copper salts. This has frequently been given 
 as an abortive. In a large dose it speedily produces very 
 violent vomiting, which may have the effect of expelling the 
 whole of the poison from the stomach, whereupon the patient 
 recovers. There is headache, pain in the abdomen, of a 
 colicky character, with purging. The vomited matters are 
 distinguished by being of a blue or green color; the latter 
 tint might be owing to the presence of bile, in which case 
 it will not acquire a blue color on the addition of ammonia, 
 which it would do if the green color were due to copper. In 
 bad cases there are severe cramps, and sometimes convul- 
 sions. Dr. Percival met with an instance in which violent 
 convulsions were produced in a young woman by two 
 drachms of the sulphate of copper. The pulse is small, 
 frequent, and irregular, and there may be great dizziness, 
 with difficulty of breathing, anxiety, cold sweats, extreme 
 thirst, and suppression of urine. Paralysis, insensibility, 
 and even tetanus have preceded death, when the poison was 
 administered to animals. Among the occasional symptoms 
 in man may be mentioned jaundice, which, according to 
 Sir R. Christison, is never observed in poisoning by either 
 arsenic or corrosive sublimate. 
 
 The symptoms of slow poisoning by copper are generally 
 caused by its accidental introduction into the system in arti- 
 cles of food, as already mentioned. These are much the 
 same as those just described, although varying in degree. 
 According to Orfila, there is an acrid, styptic, coppery taste 
 in the mouth ; parched and dry tongue; a sense of strangu- 
 lation in the throat; coppery eructations; continual spit- 
 ting; nausea and vomiting or retching; shooting pains in 
 the stomach, often severe ; gripings ; diarrhoea of bloody or 
 blackish stools, with teuesmus ; debility, with anxiety in the 
 prsecordia; small, tense, irregular, and frequent pulse; heat 
 of skin ; great thirst; cold sweats; scanty urine; headache, 
 vertigo, faintness, cramps of the legs, and convulsions.
 
 294 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 (Toxicologie.) Another occasional symptom is a green line 
 on the margin of the gums. 
 
 Fatal dose. This has not been positively established. In 
 Dr. Percival's case of the young woman mentioned above, 
 two drachms of the sulphate occasioned most violent convul- 
 sions, although the patient recovered. Dr. Taylor men- 
 tions an instance where half an ounce of verdigris destroyed 
 the life of a woman in sixty hours; and another of a child, 
 where about twenty grains of the subchloride caused death 
 (On Poisons, p. 524). Dr. Beck quotes a case of a man, aged 
 forty years, who destroyed his own life by taking one ounce 
 of sulphate of copper: it proved fatal in twelve hours (Med. 
 Jurisp., ii. p. 667). In another instance, seven drachms of 
 blue vitriol with three drachms of sulphate of iron caused 
 the death of an adult in three days. On the other hand, 
 cases are reported where an ounce and upwards has been 
 swallowed, without a fatal result. The usual medicinal dose 
 of the sulphate as an emetic is five to fifteen grains; and 
 this may be repeated until emesis is effected. 
 
 Fatal period. This is subject to considerable fluctuation. 
 In the instance mentioned by Sir R. Christison of a mother 
 and daughter being poisoned by sour-krout that had been 
 exposed to contact with copper, the latter died in twelve 
 hows, the former an hour later. A child, aged sixteen 
 months, died from the effects of an unknown dose of solid 
 sulphate of copper in four hours: this is the most rapidly 
 fatal case on record. Usually, death does not occur for 
 several days. 
 
 Treatment. Free vomiting should be promoted by the 
 copious use of warm mucilaginous drinks ; the stomach- 
 pump may be employed, if necessary. The best antidote is 
 albumen, in the form of white of eggs, very freely taken. 
 It acts, as in the case of corrosive sublimate, by forming an 
 insoluble albuminate. Milk is asserted to be equally effectual 
 with albumen : it acts by forming an insoluble caseate of 
 copper. All the other reputed antidotes, such as iron-filings, 
 ferrocyanide of potassium, magnesia, etc., are of much in- 
 ferior value. 
 
 Morbid appearances. These indicate a powerful irritant
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 295 
 
 action on the alimentary canal, which is almost the exclusive 
 seat of pathological change. In acute cases, the inside of 
 the stomach and bowels often exhibits a bluish or greenish 
 appearance, due to the color of the salt taken : it should not 
 be forgotten that a somewhat similar appearance may be 
 caused by altered bile. The proper method of distinguishing 
 between them has been pointed out above (p. 293). The lining 
 membrane of the stomach is generally inflamed and softened, 
 and has occasionally presented an ulcerated, and even gangren- 
 ous appearance. The gullet has also shown signs of inflamma- 
 tion. The intestinal lining membrane exhibits a similar 
 appearance ; and cases are reported where the intestines were 
 perforated, with the escape of their contents into the cavity 
 of the abdomen. The intestinal tube is usually much dis- 
 tended with gas. According to Tardieu (Sur PEmpoisonne- 
 ment, p. 525), there is a remarkable absence of the bloody 
 extravasations, or ecchymoses, in the alimentary canal and in 
 other places, which are so characteristic of some other irritant 
 poisons. The lining membrane of the alimentary canal has 
 been found throughout of a deep-green color, owing to small 
 particles of verdigris adhering to it. In some cases of fatal 
 poisoning, the stomach and intestines have been found in a 
 perfectly natural condition. 
 
 Chemical analysis. Metallic copper is easily recognized by 
 its red color, and by nitric acid, which acts upon it with great 
 energy, and converts it into the blue nitrate of copper. All 
 the salts of copper are either of a blue or a green color, by 
 which they may generally be identified. Only a few other 
 metallic salts are thus colored : thus, some of the salts of 
 cobalt are blue, and some of those of nickel, chromium, and 
 uranium are green. Any of the salts of copper, when heated 
 in the inner (reducing) flame of the blowpipe, impart a 
 beautiful green color to the flame, and when mixed with dry 
 carbonate of soda and heated on charcoal, the same flame 
 reduces them to metallic copper, in globules, which may 
 readily be identified. 
 
 The sulphate, or blue vitriol, occurs in large, beautiful, blue 
 crystals, eflervescent, very soluble in water, having a nau- 
 seous, metallic, styptic taste. Its solution has a blue color,
 
 296 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 recognizable when diluted to one five-thousandth of its 
 weight. The solution has an acid reaction. 
 
 The verdigris of commerce is usually a mixture of the sub- 
 acetate with other acetates of copper. It generally occurs in 
 masses of a pale-green or bluish color. It has an unpleasant, 
 acetous odor, and a nauseous, styptic taste. It is not entirely 
 soluble iu water, but deposits an insoluble basic acetate. 
 It is completely soluble in dilute nitric and hydrochloric 
 acids. Sulphuric acid decomposes it, forming the sulphate 
 of copper, and liberating acetic acid, which is recognized 
 by its characteristic odor. 
 
 The proper tests for copper in solution are the following : 
 (1) Ammonia produces in solutions of a copper salt a bluish- 
 white, amorphous precipitate hydrated oxide of copper, 
 which is immediately dissolved by an excess of the precipi- 
 tant to a clear, dark, purple-blue solution. With very dilute 
 solutions, ammonia may fail to yield a precipitate, but it 
 immediately causes the liquid to assume a blue color : this 
 color is at once destroyed on adding an acid. This test will 
 readily distinguish one ten-thousandth of a grain of the 
 sulphate in a drop of water (Worraley). This reaction is 
 quite conclusive, provided the absence of salts of nickel, 
 cobalt, and chromium be secured: thus, the salts of nickel 
 yield with ammonia a partial precipitate of a light-green, 
 hydrated oxide of nickel, readily soluble in excess of the 
 reagent, forming a deep-blue solution. Cobalt gives with 
 ammonia a blue precipitate, soluble in excess, and forming a 
 reddish-brown liquid. Sesquioxide of chromium yields a 
 bluish-green precipitate, soluble in excess, and forming a 
 pink solution. 
 
 (2) Ferrocyanide of potassium throws down in moderately 
 strong solutions of a salt of copper a copious reddish-brown 
 precipitate of ferrocyanide of copper, insoluble in an excess 
 of the reagent, and also in acetic and hydrochloric acids, 
 but sparingly soluble in ammonia to a bluish-green liquid, 
 from which it is reprecipitated by acetic acid. If the copper 
 solution be very dilute, no precipitate may fall, although the 
 liquid will assume a decided reddish-brown color. Accord- 
 ing to our experience, this test is even more delicate than the
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 297 
 
 ammonia test. Dr. Wormley says that even less than a one- 
 hundred-thousandth solution can be detected by it. This 
 reagent will act upon the violet-blue solution produced by 
 ammonia, provided it be diluted, and a few drops of diluted 
 sulphuric acid be added to neutralize the ammonia: one 
 portion of the liquid may thus be tried by the two tests. 
 
 The salts of uranium also give a reddish-brown precipitate 
 with ferrocyanide of potassium, but the uranium precipitate 
 is changed to a yellow compound on adding an excess of am- 
 monia, while the copper precipitate is changed to a bluish-green 
 liquid. Besides, the uranium salt gives with ammonia a 
 yellow precipitate, insoluble in an excess of the reagent, which 
 is totally different from the behavior of a copper salt with 
 ammonia. As the salts of copper are very apt to contain 
 iron, the presence of the latter may modify the action of 
 ferrocyanide of potassium, by imparting a blue tint to the 
 precipitate, so as to disguise it. 
 
 (3) Sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphide of ammonium produce 
 in solutions of copper a deep brownish-black precipitate, 
 the sulphide of copper, even in acid solutions. If the solution 
 is weak, the precipitate has a light-brown color. This pre- 
 cipitate is slightly soluble in an excess of sulphide of ammo- 
 nium, but insoluble in fixed alkaline sulphides, and in the 
 caustic alkalies. It is only sparingly soluble in cold concen- 
 trated nitric acid, but is readily dissolved in the hot acid, even 
 when somewhat diluted, forming the blue nitrate, together 
 with a little sulphate of copper. 
 
 The delicacy of this test is about equal to that of the two 
 former ones. It should be remembered, however, that other 
 metals besides copper are precipitated of a brownish color by 
 sulphuretted hydrogen: consequently, the suspected sulphide 
 requires the corroborative proof by hot nitric acid : the re- 
 sulting blue solution is to be evaporated to dryness, dissolved 
 in pure water, and then subjected to the foregoing tests. 
 
 (4) The iron test. This is a simple and very satisfac- 
 tory test, inasmuch as it produces the poison sought, in the 
 metallic condition. It consists in immersing a piece of bright 
 iron or steel in a slightly acidulated solution of a copper 
 salt. Sooner or later, according to the strength of the solu-
 
 298 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 tion, the latter will be decomposed, metallic copper being 
 precipitated upon the iron, while a portion of the latter re- 
 places the copper in the salt, becoming combined with its 
 acid : thus, if it was a solution of the sulphate of copper, 
 there would result a sulphate of iron, after the precipitation 
 of the copper. The thickness of the deposit of the copper, 
 and consequently the delicacy of the test, will depend very 
 much upon the extent of surface over which the metal is 
 distributed. Hence, in very dilute solutions, only a very 
 small surface of iron should be exposed : a small, bright 
 sewing-needle answers well on such occasions. If the needle 
 be left some days in the solution, the iron will be slowly re- 
 moved, and a hollow cylinder of metallic copper will remain. 
 This may be dissolved in dilute nitric acid, and tested with 
 the foregoing tests. Or the coated needle may at once be 
 immersed in a small quantity of ammonia, and exposed to 
 the air; the liquid then slowly becomes blue. According to 
 Dr. Taylor, half a grain of sulphate of copper dissolved in a 
 pint of water may thus be easily detected. Orfila, long ago, 
 proposed to substitute phosphorus for polished iron : this 
 substance effectually separates copper from its solutions, 
 even when in contact with organic substances. 
 
 (5) The galvanic test. This test, like the preceding, gives 
 us the copper in the metallic form. If a few drops of a 
 copper solution, slightly acidulated with sulphuric or hydro- 
 chloric acid, be placed in a platinum dish, or on platinum- 
 foil, and a piece of bright zinc be then introduced, so as 
 to touch the platinum through the liquid, metallic copper 
 in its well-known red color is immediately deposited on the 
 platinum. When the quantity of copper is small, there is 
 merely a brown stain ; but on pouring a few drops of am- 
 monia upon it, and exposing it to the air, a blue liquid is 
 slowly formed. A coil of fine platinum and zinc may be 
 substituted for the other arrangement. The copper deposit 
 may also be proven by dissolving it oft' the platinum by 
 means of dilute nitric acid, evaporating to dryness, moist- 
 ening with water, and testing as before described. 
 
 (6) The blowpipe, as already mentioned, may be used 
 with great certainty for identifying copper in the metallic
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. ORGANIC MIXTURES. 299 
 
 state, in any suspected solid. A fragment of the substance, 
 previously mixed with an excess of dry carbonate of soda, 
 is placed upon a charcoal holder, and the inner flame of a 
 mouth-blowpipe is made to play upon it. The metal is re- 
 duced ; and on removing the cooled saline mass from the 
 charcoal, pulverizing in an agate mortar, and washing off 
 the powdered charcoal, minute beads or globules of the 
 metal are procured, having the red color and other charac- 
 teristic marks of this metal. 
 
 The above tests are amply sufficient to establish the pres- 
 ence of copper under all circumstances. Some others, how- 
 ever, are mentioned by authors, such as potassa, arsenite of 
 potassa, ferricyanide of potassium, iodide of potassium, chromate 
 of potash, etc., which are of much less value than those be- 
 fore described. 
 
 In organic mixtures. The oxide of copper is liable to be 
 precipitated from its salts by certain organic principles, such 
 as albumen, casein, fibrin, and mucous membrane ; but, as the 
 resulting compounds are easily redissolved by acids and other 
 matters, we may expect to find a portion, at least, of the cop- 
 per dissolved. In such cases the liquid is usually of a bluish 
 or greenish color, and has a strong coppery or metallic taste, 
 even when the amount of the copper salt is far below the 
 poisonous proportion. A portion of the clear liquid, after 
 concentration, if deemed best, may be tested by immersing 
 into it, previously acidujated, a bright sewing-needle, for 
 several hours. Any reddish deposit upon it should then be 
 tested as directed for the iron test (p. 297). It should be 
 remembered, in the application of this test, that the needle 
 may acquire a reddish coating, independently of the pres- 
 ence of copper, simply of the oxide of iron; but this may 
 usually be distinguished by means of a hand-lens, though 
 with greater certainty by means of ammonia, or nitric acid 
 (see p. 296). Another caution to be observed in applying 
 the iron test is, to avoid acidulating the liquid too strongly 
 before immersing the iron ; otherwise the deposit will be 
 black, and the result unsatisfactory. If the foregoing trial 
 test reveals the presence of a large amount of copper, the 
 remainder of the liquid may be subjected to the action of
 
 300 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 sulphuretted hydrogen, and the precipitated sulphide of 
 copper be decomposed by hot nitric acid, and the solution 
 of the nitrate tested in the manner before described. 
 
 If, however, the copper is present in very small quantity, 
 probably the best method of proceeding is to employ the 
 galvanic test, as follows. A portion of the filtered liquid, acid- 
 ulated with sulphuric acid, is placed in a platinum capsule 
 or crucible, and a strip of zinc-foil is introduced so as to 
 touch the platinum successively over its whole surface. At 
 the different points of contact, metallic copper is deposited, 
 until all the inside is coated over with the metal. The liquid 
 is now removed, and the capsule well washed out. The de- 
 posited copper is next dissolved out by dilute nitric acid, 
 and the resulting solution tested as already mentioned. 
 Should the trial test just spoken of fail to detect the presence 
 of copper in the liquid portion of the material submitted to 
 examination, there can be little doubt of its entire absence. 
 Still, the solids separated from the liquid by filtration may be 
 boiled, with water and a little hydrochloric acid, for about 
 fifteen minutes, and the solution obtained examined either 
 by the iron test or by sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 
 It has already been stated that the sulphate of copper, as 
 found in commerce, sometimes contains arsenic. Dr. Taylor 
 states that ten grains of the crystals will be sufficient to 
 yield evidences of this adulteration. Even when the sul- 
 phate has been given as an emetic, traces of arsenic have 
 been discovered in the matters vomited, or in the contents 
 of the stomach. (Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 1873, p. 175.) 
 
 The stomach and its contents. The inside of the stomach 
 and intestines should always be carefully examined for small 
 particles of the sulphate or acetate of copper, which are 
 indicated by bluish or greenish discolorations. The contents 
 of the stomach having been carefully collected in a clean 
 porcelain dish, the inside may be thoroughly scraped, and 
 the scrapings mixed with the contents; or the organ may 
 be cut up into small pieces, and the whole, with the addition 
 of pure water, if necessary, strongly acidulated with hydro- 
 chloric acid, boiled at a gentle heat until the solid matters 
 are broken up. When cooled, the mass is filtered, the fil-
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. IN THE TISSUES. 301 
 
 trate concentrated, and again filtered. A polished sewing- 
 needle may now be used as a trial test; or the galvanic test 
 (p. 298) may be so emplo} T ed. A stream of sulphuretted 
 hydrogen should now be slowly passed through the liquid, 
 and the deposit, after standing for some hours, should be 
 collected on a filter, well washed and dried, and then dis- 
 solved, by the aid of heat, with dilute nitric acid. The 
 solution may be evaporated to dryness, the residue heated 
 with a little distilled water and subjected to the appropriate 
 tests; or a few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid may be 
 added to the nitric solution, which is then to be evaporated 
 to dryness, when the copper, if present, will remain in the 
 form of the sulphate. On dissolving this in distilled water, 
 and filtering, the usual tests may be applied. 
 
 If the precipitate by sulphuretted hydrogen contains much 
 organic matter, the latter must be got rid of before the 
 final testing. To this end, the residue obtained after solu- 
 tion in nitric acid and evaporation to dryness is moistened 
 with concentrated nitric acid, and heated until the organic 
 matter is entirely destroyed. If necessary, the process should 
 be repeated. The dry mass is now treated with a little dilute 
 nitric acid, again evaporated to dryness, the residue dissolved 
 in pure water, and the tests applied as before. 
 
 Detection in the tissues. Copper has been detected in the 
 different organs and tissues of the body, after administration, 
 by various observers. It remains in the organs much longer 
 than arsenic and some of the other poisons, as long as sixty 
 days in the liver and lungs, according to M. L. Ortila. It is 
 eliminated by the urine from the commencement of the active 
 symptoms, but disappears from this secretion very soon after 
 it has ceased to be taken; in which respect also it offers a 
 contrast with arsenic. 
 
 In the examination of the organs for absorbed copper, dif- 
 ferent methods are recommended. The object in all of them 
 is to effect the complete destruction of the organic matter ; 
 and, as copper is not a volatile metal, this can readily be ac- 
 complished without danger of loss. A portion of the liver, 
 for example, should be cut up into small pieces, thoroughly 
 dried, and incinerated in a porcelain capsule; the residuary 
 
 20
 
 302 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ash should be digested in pure hydrochloric acid by heat, 
 and then evaporated nearly to dryness. The residue may be 
 dissolved in a small quantity of pure water, and examined 
 by the usual tests, particularly by the polished needle. 
 
 Or, the solid matter, in pieces, may be mixed with nitric 
 acid diluted with several volumes of water, and the mixture 
 gently heated, with the occasional addition of chlorate of 
 potassa, until the destruction of the organic matter has been 
 accomplished, as indicated by the liquid becoming perfectly 
 clear. It should then be diluted with water, and, after cool- 
 ing, be filtered, and evaporated to dryness. The residue 
 contains the copper, if present, as a nitrate, mixed with some 
 organic matter. This is again put into a porcelain capsule, 
 covered with pure nitric acid, along with chlorate of potassa, 
 and moderately heated until it is perfectly dry; the heat 
 is then urged to redness until the organic matter is com- 
 pletely destroyed, when the mass becomes almost white. 
 On boiling this residue in nitric acid, slightly diluted, any 
 copper present, together with the iron, which is usually found 
 in minute quantities, will be taken up as nitrate. The solu- 
 tion should now be carefully evaporated, to expel the excess 
 of nitric acid, and the residue dissolved in a little warm 
 water, and tested. If it is desired to get rid of the iron that 
 may be present, this metal may be separated by adding to 
 the final solution ammonia in excess, which will precipitate 
 the oxide of iron and leave the copper in the deep-blue solu- 
 tion. On filtering, and adding acetic acid to the filtrate, and 
 afterwards ferrocyanide of potassium, the characteristic red- 
 dish-brown ferrocyanide of copper will be precipitated. Or, 
 the iron may be separated by acidifying the final solution 
 with hydrochloric acid, and transmitting sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen through it: all the copper will be precipitated as a sul- 
 phide, while the iron will remain in the solution. 
 
 Tardieu recommends to char the organs to be examined, by 
 means of pure sulphuric acid and heat, in a porcelain capsule; 
 the heat to be applied by means of a sand-bath, and urged 
 until the bottom of the crucible is red-hot. The resulting 
 carbonaceous mass is finely powdered after cooling, and 
 treated with pure nitric acid, and evaporated at a gentle
 
 POISONING BY COPPER. IN THE URINE. 303 
 
 heat; the residue is diluted with water, and filtered; the 
 filtrate evaporated to dryness, and heated, to expel all the 
 nitric acid, and the residue dissolved in dilute nitric acid. 
 Finally, sulphuretted hydrogen is transmitted through this 
 solution, and the precipitate dried, treated with a few drops 
 of nitre-muriatic acid, in a porcelain capsule, and evaporated 
 to dryness. Solution of ammonia is now added, which will 
 receive a blue coloration if copper be present, unless in 
 excessively minute quantity: this solution is evaporated to 
 dryness, and the residue treated with dilute hydrochloric 
 acid. This last solution should respond to all the charac- 
 teristic tests for copper. 
 
 In this connection it may be worth while to notice an obser- 
 vation of Tardieu (Sur I'Empoisonnement, p. 544) in relation 
 to the employment of a porcelain crucible in preference 
 to one of platinum, in the foregoing investigations. This 
 author noticed that when beef's blood (and doubtless other 
 animal matters) was incinerated in a platinum crucible, and 
 treated with nitric acid, etc., and the resulting solution was 
 brought in contact with a rod of polished iron, a reddish and 
 somewhat brilliant deposit was made upon the iron, resem- 
 bling copper in appearance. This does not occur if the 
 experiment be performed in & porcelain capsule. M. Tardieu 
 accounts for it by suggesting that probably the nitric acid, 
 reacting upon the chlorides present in the animal matters, 
 develops aqua regia, which dissolves a little of the platinum; 
 and that the colored deposit on the iron is due to this metal. 
 A natural inference from the above is, to avoid the use 
 of platinum in this method of research for copper in the 
 tissues ; and likewise not to conclude that copper is present 
 merely because the polished iron receives a reddish deposit 
 from the suspected liquid. 
 
 Detection in the urine. About six ounces of the suspected 
 urine are evaporated to dryness ; and the residue treated with 
 strong nitric acid and chlorate of potash, with the aid of heat, 
 to complete incineration. The resulting ash will contain the 
 copper present, together with any iron : this is dissolved out 
 by hot dilute nitric acid, and the liquid evaporated to dry-
 
 304 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ness. The residue is dissolved in warm distilled water, and 
 the solution tested in the usual way. 
 
 In relation to the question whether copper exists in the 
 human body as a normal constituent, the weight of modern 
 authorities is decidedly opposed to it. M. Tardieu informs 
 us that his colleague, M. Roussin, experimented upon the 
 body of a soldier suddenly killed in Algeria, with a view of 
 determining the presence of normal copper in the tissues and 
 organs, but with negative results (loc. cit., p. 543). This metal 
 does undoubtedly exist in minute quantities in the vegetable 
 kingdom : its presence here has been ascribed to the soil in 
 which the plants were grown. This would suggest the idea 
 that it is an accidental, rather than a normal, constituent even 
 of plants. At all events, the discovery of mere traces of 
 copper in the human body after death ought never to be 
 assumed as indicating copper-poisoning, unless the strongest 
 evidence of this had been afforded by the symptoms, the 
 morbid lesions, and the circumstances attending the case. 
 As we have seen, copper may so easily and unknowingly be 
 introduced into the system, through the food, and by other 
 means, that an opinion of poisoning, based simply upon such 
 slender grounds, would be altogether premature and unwar- 
 ranted. 
 
 Quantitative estimate. Use for this purpose the precipitated 
 sulphide, which is to be dried and dissolved in hot, dilute 
 nitric acid. To the boiling solution liquor potassse is added 
 as long as the oxide is precipitated, after which the boiling 
 is continued for some time. After cooling, the precipitated 
 black oxide is separated from the supernatant liquid by de- 
 cantation, collected on a filter of known weight, thoroughly 
 washed with warm water, and dried. It is then separated, 
 as far as practicable, from the filter, and strongly ignited in 
 a platinum capsule; and the ash of the filter, burned sepa- 
 rately, is added to it; and, after cooling, the whole is weighed. 
 Every 100 parts of the anhydrous protoxide represent 314.21 
 parts of pure crystallized sulphate of copper.
 
 POISONING BY LEAD. 305 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 POISONING BY LEAD. 
 
 IN its metallic state, lead appears to be destitute of poison- 
 ous properties. But as it is readily acted upon by the animal 
 secretions and other matters found in the stomach and bowels, 
 it undergoes oxidizement, when swallowed, and is converted 
 into soluble, poisonous compounds. All the salts of this 
 metal are more or less poisonous with perhaps, the single 
 exception of the sulphate, which is very insoluble. 
 
 Cases of acute poisoning by the salts of lead are very rare : 
 those that have occurred were chiefly due to accident. The 
 acetate is one of the most active of these salts, and has been 
 the most frequent cause of acute poisoning. 
 
 Slow or chronic lead-poisoning, on the other hand, is of 
 very frequent occurrence. Of all the metals, none is so con- 
 stantly and insidiously introduced into the human system as 
 lead, under various forms : it even surpasses copper in this 
 respect. In the arts, numerous classes of workmen are ex- 
 posed to chronic lead-poisoning : thus, smelters of lead-ores 
 inhale the fumes of the oxide; manufacturers of white and 
 red lead receive it into their lungs in the dry powders of the 
 carbonate and red oxide; the workmen who whiten Brussels 
 lace by beating white lead into the fibre, constantly breathe 
 an atmosphere of the poisonous carbonate, and often die 
 from its effects ; manufacturers of glazed cards suffer from 
 the same cause. Painters, plumbers, pewterers, and glazers 
 of pottery are all very much exposed to the same danger, 
 the former from inhaling the vapor of the oil of turpentine 
 impregnated with the carbonate of lead ; the latter, by the 
 oxide employed in the glaze. Even sleeping in a freshly- 
 painted room has been known to cause violent symptoms of 
 colica pictouum,and even paralysis, in consequence, no doubt, 
 of the volatile emanations containing the carbonate of lead.
 
 306 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 434) alludes to himself as having 
 suffered from severe colic though respiring the vapor of fresh 
 paint. To show the frequency of this kind of poisoning, 
 Dr. Clemens states that in ten years there were 1898 cases of 
 chronic poisoning by lead among workmen admitted into the 
 hospitals of Paris; and out of 1330 cases received in five 
 years, 655 were among workers in white lead and painters. 
 (Casper's Viertelj., 1853, ii. p. 177, quoted hy Taylor.) The 
 frequent handling of pewter vessels, and also of new type, 
 has been known to produce lead-palsy : in the latter case the 
 paralysis was purely local, being confined to the right hand. 
 The sharp edges of the type caused abrasions of the thumb 
 and fingers, a condition favorable to absorption. In the 
 course of a week the paralysis was so complete that the 
 hand dropped, and could not be voluntarily raised. There 
 was also a faint blue line at the edge of the gums. (Jour, 
 de Chimie, July, 1858, p. 434 ; quoted by Taylor.) 
 
 In domestic and culinary use, numerous cases occur of 
 slow and accidental poisoning by lead. One of the most 
 common examples is that afforded by the use of glazed pot- 
 tery vessels. The inside glaze of these vessels is readily 
 acted upon by ordinary acids, as vinegar, also by fats and 
 oils, and likewise by alkalies. As vessels of this character are 
 extensively used to contain various kinds of food, the oxide 
 of the glaze is more or less dissolved, and is taken into the 
 system along with the food. Dr. Taylor mentions an in- 
 stance where milk was so much contaminated by being kept 
 in glazed earthen pans, as to produce violent symptoms of 
 colic, with vomiting, in four men who partook of it along 
 with rhubarb-pie. In the matters vomited, lead was detected 
 (loc. cit., p. 447). 
 
 Cider and beer, if drawn through leaden pipes, acquire 
 poisonous properties, in consequence of the formation of the 
 malate or the carbonate of lead, which, although insoluble, 
 may be diffused through the liquid and so be taken into the 
 stomach. In some cases of the latter character, lead has 
 been detected in the urine of the person using the beverage. 
 Sometimes shot are employed to clean out wine-bottles, and, 
 through carelessness, are not always removed before refilling
 
 POISONING BY LEAD. ACCIDENTAL. 307 
 
 the bottles with wine. In such cases the wine, even if of the 
 better qualities (port and sherry), will after a time become 
 more or less impregnated with the resulting salts of lead 
 (principally the carbonate). So long as the wine is not agi- 
 tated, this crust remains at the bottom, and the wine may be 
 drunk with impunity. Domestic wines, such as those made 
 from the currant, gooseberry, etc., contain much acid, and 
 act readily upon the leaden shot in the bottles, speedily 
 becoming contaminated with the poisonous salts of lead. 
 
 New rum is apt to contain lead, derived from the leaden 
 worm of the still ; while old rum, curiously enough, is free 
 from this adulteration. Dr. Traill ascribes this difference, 
 with great plausibility, to the fact that the old rum, being 
 kept in oak casks, is deprived of its lead by the tannic acid 
 contained in the oak, which precipitates it in an insoluble 
 form. A most reprehensible practice formerly prevailed in 
 France and England of adding litharge (protoxide of lead) 
 to sour wines for the purpose of sweetening them : this 
 proved to be a very prolific source of lead-poisoning. Even 
 distilled water has been found to be impregnated with lead, 
 when pipes of this metal have been used for condensing the 
 vapor. In this way, also, such aromatic oils as are prepared 
 by distilling the plants along with water, may become con- 
 taminated with lead. 
 
 Certain medicinal substances are frequently found to contain 
 lead, which has been derived from their mode of manufac- 
 ture. Thus, carbonate of ammonia, which is sublimed in leaden 
 vessels; borax and other salts when crystallized in leaden 
 pans; tar taric acid, according to M. Chevallier, from the em- 
 ployment of lead to sink the strings in the crystallizing solu- 
 tions ; and acetic acid, which, according to Dr. Taylor, has 
 been found to contain as much as two per cent, of acetate of 
 lead. Solutions of potash and soda, as is well known, when 
 kept in flint-glass bottles, soon become contaminated with 
 lead ; and commercial oil of vitriol nearly always contains 
 sulphate of lead, derived from the leaden chambers. 
 
 Various substances extensively used in the domestic econ- 
 omy are found to be occasionally contaminated with lead, 
 such as flour, sugar, snuff, tobacco, chocolate, etc. A curi-
 
 308 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ous source of the adulteration of flour with lead was traced 
 to the grinding of the wheat : a portion of the machinery 
 had been stopped with lead cement and covered with plaster; 
 the latter had given way, and the salt of lead, which fell out, 
 had been ground up with the flour. (Jour, de Chim., 1857, 
 p. 278.) A similar instance is mentioned in Taylor's Med. 
 Jurisp. (Am. ed., 1873, p. 173): whole families, in one of the 
 counties of the State of New York, in the year 1866, were 
 poisoned by the use of flour manufactured at a mill the 
 owner of which had been in the habit of filling the cavities 
 of the millstones with lead. Refined sugar may contain 
 traces of lead derived from the painted cones into which 
 the syrup is poured. Snuft' is often adulterated with red 
 lead and chromate of lead to improve its color. Dr. Hassall 
 detected out of forty-three samples of popular kinds of snufi', 
 chromate of lead in nine, and oxide of lead in three sam- 
 ples (Food and its Adulterations, p. 591). The danger of 
 using such snuflT is very great, causing paralysis, wasting, 
 and even death. (See Taylor on Poisons, p. 449.) 
 
 The practice of using an article termed patent tin-foil as a 
 wrapper for tobacco, chocolate, bonbons, and farinaceous 
 food for infants, has been attended with dangerous conse- 
 quences. This foil is composed chiefly of lead, with a very 
 thin outer coating of tin. When exposed to damp, this me- 
 tallic alloy undergoes changes, resulting in the production of 
 carbonate of lead, which impregnates the articles in contact 
 with it. In France, the use of this spurious tin-foil has been 
 interdicted, under a heavy penalty. 
 
 The external application of lead and its preparations is 
 known to produce serious results. The effects of constant 
 handling of pewter vessels and new type have already been 
 alluded to. Hair-dyes and cosmetics notoriously contain lead, 
 and have frequently occasioned paralysis, ophthalmia, and 
 other unpleasant symptoms. A case is reported by Galtier, 
 where a lead-plaster applied to an ulcer on the leg occa- 
 sioned chronic lead-poisoning. 
 
 A case is reported in the British and Foreign Medico-Chi- 
 rurgical Review (Oct., 1857, p. 525), where the external ap- 
 plication of white lead to a scalded surface, as a dressing,
 
 POISONING BY LEAD. ACTION OF WATER. 809 
 
 produced unmistakable symptoms of lead-colic such as acute 
 abdominal pain, retraction of the umbilicus, constipation, and 
 discoloration of the gums. 
 
 It is, however, chiefly through drinking-water that lead 
 proves such a frequent and unsuspected cause of accidental 
 poisoning. The conditions under which this result is brought 
 about should be thoroughly understood by the medical jurist, 
 as well as by the physician. It has been ascertained that 
 absolutely pure water (containing no atmospheric air) has 
 no action upon bright lead, if kept out of the air, in a her- 
 metically-sealed tube ; but the same water, if exposed to the 
 air, soon deposits a milky Him upon the surface of the metal, 
 which in the course of twenty-four hours becomes a collec- 
 tion of pearly scales, either loosely adhering to the lead, or 
 collected as a sediment at the bottom of the tube. This 
 compound is a mixture of the hydrated oxide and the car- 
 bonate of lead. Although this compound is not soluble in 
 the water, it is nevertheless diffused through it, and renders 
 it highly poisonous for drinking purposes. Rain and snow 
 water are the purest of all natural waters : they are destitute 
 of saline ingredients, resembling in this respect artificially 
 distilled water. Consequently, when such waters are col- 
 lected from a leaden roof, or are kept in leaden cisterns, or 
 are conveyed through leaden pipes, they soon become con- 
 taminated by lead, and acquire very poisonous properties. 
 A notable instance of this is alluded to by Sir R. Christison 
 (On Poisons, p. 526) as having occurred in Amsterdam. 
 Previous to the use of lead instead of tiles for the roofs of 
 the houses, lead-colic was of very rare occurrence; but 
 after the introduction of leaden roofs the disease prevailed 
 very extensively, and was of great violence, in consequence 
 of the habitual use of the rain-water which fell from, the 
 roofs. Instances like the above are of very frequent occur- 
 rence, and they ought to serve as a warning against the 
 dangerous practice of employing rain-water that has in any 
 way been in contact with lead. 
 
 As regards the action of spring and river waters upon me- 
 tallic lead, very much will depend upon the purity of the 
 water, i.e. the amount and the nature of its saline ingredients :
 
 310 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the purer the water, the greater the liability to contamina- 
 tion, and vice versa. This will be better understood when it is 
 remembered that the presence of certain salts in the water 
 particularly sulphates, carbonates, and chlorides determines 
 the speedy production of the corresponding salts of lead, 
 which, being insoluble, form an incrustation upon the surface 
 of the metal, that completely protects it from further chem- 
 ical action, and thus acts as a preservative against future 
 contamination by the metal. If the inside of a leaden pipe, 
 through which spring or river water has been flowing for a 
 long time, be inspected, it will be found coated over with a 
 whitish incrustation composed of one or more of these salts 
 of lead. The water supplied to Tunbridge, England, in the 
 year 1815, was conveyed through leaden pipes, and produced 
 an outbreak of lead-colic in that town. This water was found, 
 on analysis, to be remarkably pure, containing only about 
 one thirty-eight-thousandth part of its weight of solid in- 
 gredients, three-fourths of which were a feebly-protecting 
 salt the chloride of sodium. On the other hand, the waters 
 which may be conveyed through leaden pipes without risk 
 are such as contain a much larger proportion of saline con- 
 stituents, sufficient to produce the deposit on the surface, 
 just mentioned. This is, fortunately, the case with the great 
 majority of rivers and springs : hence the immunity from 
 danger to those using such waters, although these are con- 
 veyed to their houses through lead pipes. According to 
 Christison, the water of Edinburgh, although containing but 
 about one twelve-thousandth part of solid matter, is almost 
 entirely protected from the action of lead. The river Thames 
 contains about seventeen grains of saline matter to the gal- 
 lon, and is remarkably free from any action of lead. The 
 Claremont water, which contains only five grains of salines 
 to the gallon (of which one-half is chloride of sodium), pro- 
 duced a very severe form of lead-colic in the course of a few 
 months, in a number of persons who drank them. The 
 water of the river Schuylkill, which chiefly supplies the city 
 of Philadelphia, contains from six to eight grains of saline 
 matters to the gallon: it has never been known to produce 
 lead-poisoning, although conveyed through leaden pipes.
 
 POISONING BY ACETATE OF LEAD. 311 
 
 The salines which are most'protective to the water are the 
 sulphates; next to these, the carbonates; and last, the chlorides. 
 It has been found that while certain waters may be preserved 
 in leaden cisterns with impunity, if these be covered with 
 leaden lids the latter will become coated with an incrustation 
 of carbonate of lead, arising from the contact of the vapor of 
 water (which may be considered as distilled water) with the 
 surface of the metal. This may in time fall into the cistern, 
 and so contaminate the water. It is quite possible that some 
 instances of rapid corrosion of lead in contact with water 
 containing salines, are due to a galvanic action. The presence 
 of small portions of other metals in the lead would be quite 
 sufficient to set up such an action ; as, for example, where 
 sheets of lead are connected together by solder. 
 
 ACETATE OF LEAD. SUGAR OF LEAD. This salt may be 
 taken as the type of the preparations of lead which occa- 
 sion acute poisoning. It commonly occurs in heavy crys- 
 talline masses ; white, or nearly so ; somewhat resembling 
 loaf-sugar in appearance, for which it has been mistaken. 
 It has an acetous odor, and a sweetish, astringent taste; it is 
 very soluble in water, producing with ordinary water a milky 
 solution, owing to the carbonic acid contained. It is less 
 soluble in alcohol. 
 
 Sugar of lead cannot be regarded as a very active poison. 
 It is frequently given in medical practice to the extent of 
 twenty grains, or more, daily, without injurious effects; 
 although the continuation of such quantities for many days 
 would be likely to bring on the specific action of lead. In 
 doses of one or two ounces the symptoms are as follows : a 
 burning and pricking pain in the throat and gullet, thirst, 
 vomiting, colic pains, with tenderness of the abdomen, and 
 obstinate constipation ; retraction of the walls of the abdomen; 
 cramps ; cold sweats ; and, in fatal cases, convulsions and te- 
 tanic spasms. The urinary secretion is generally diminished. 
 Occasionally there is a variation in some of the above symp- 
 toms : thus, in some instances there is severe and bloody 
 purging; again, the discharges from the bowels are hard, dry, 
 and of a black color. The pulse is usually slow and feeble, but
 
 312 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 sometimes quickened. The intellect generally remains clear. 
 Should the case be protracted, there would likely be cramps 
 in the legs, pain in the insides of the thighs, numbness, and 
 sometimes paralysis of the limbs. Other acute nervous 
 symptoms occasionally observed are giddiness, torpor, and 
 even coma. The peculiar blue line upon the gums, which 
 is so generally attendant upon chronic lead-poisoning, may 
 also be sometimes noticed in acute cases. 
 
 Fatal dose. In the few fatal cases reported, the quantity 
 taken could not be accurately determined. Instances are 
 mentioned where an ounce was swallowed with impunity; 
 but, as a rule, this quantity would be very apt to be followed 
 by dangerous, if not fatal, consequences. 
 
 Fatal period. Dr. Taylor mentions two cases where a 
 solution of the subacetate (Goulard's extract) taken by two 
 children respectively, in unknown doses, destroyed life within 
 thirty-six hours. The symptoms, at first, resembled those of 
 Asiatic cholera, there being violent vomiting and purging. 
 (On Poisons, p. 430.) Dr. Beck refers to a case of a soldier 
 who swallowed an unknown quantity of sugar of lead in 
 solution : he was soon seized with violent symptoms, indi- 
 cating gastro-enteric irritation, and died in great agony at 
 the end of three days. Another case is quoted by Sir R. 
 Christisou (On Poisons, p. 430): an unknown quantity of 
 Goulard's extract was swallowed by a soldier ; on the second 
 day he was affected with loss of appetite, paleness, costive- 
 ness, and extreme debility ; on the third day he had severe 
 colic, retraction of the abdomen, loss of voice, cold sweats, 
 trismus, and convulsions; he died before the close of the 
 same day. 
 
 Treatment. In cases of acute poisoning by acetate of lead, 
 free emesis should be excited by sulphate of zinc, which, 
 besides evacuating the stomach, acts an tidotally by convert- 
 ing the poison into the insoluble sulphate of lead. This may 
 be followed by copious draughts of milk and white of egg, 
 as both casein and albumen form insoluble compounds with 
 oxide of lead. The stomach-pump may be occasionally em- 
 ployed with benefit. Sulphate of magnesia, or sulphate of 
 eoda, should then be administered, with the twofold purpose
 
 POISONING BY ACETATE OF LEAD. LEAD COLIC. 313 
 
 of acting as an antidote and as a cathartic. Castor oil and 
 croton oil have also been recommended as purgatives. M. 
 Bouchardat has proposed the hydrated persulphide of iron as 
 a good chemical antidote. The urine should be frequently 
 examined, for the purpose of tracing the disappearance of the 
 poison from the body. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. According to Dr. Taylor, the 
 lesions observed in cases of acute lead-poisoning are very 
 characteristic. The mucous lining of the stomach and bowels 
 is covered with a thick white or whitish-yellow layer of 
 mucus mixed with a salt of lead, beneath which the mem- 
 brane is reddened, or ecchymosed. In some cases this 
 membrane has been found abraded in several places, par- 
 ticularly near the pylorus, and other parts of the stomach 
 have been in a state of high inflammation. It appears that 
 it is the neutral salt alone which acts as a corrosive, this 
 effect not being manifested when the acetate is combined 
 with an acid. The intestines are sometimes much con- 
 tracted. It should not be forgotten that acute poisoning 
 by lead may result fatally, without leaving behind any very 
 noticeable pathological changes. 
 
 CHRONIC POISONING. Symptoms. Deleterious effects are 
 more frequently observed from the slow and insidious in- 
 troduction of lead into the system, than in the case of any 
 other metal. Chronic poisoning may result from any of the 
 preparations of lead, but is most commonly traceable to the 
 carbonate (white lead) and litharge, in the artisans connected 
 with lead-works, or to the accidental impregnation of drink- 
 ing-water and other beverages, or of articles of food. These 
 effects first show themselves in lead colic, and subsequently in 
 lead palsy. 
 
 Lead colic (colica pictonum, or painter's colic] is characterized 
 by excruciating pain in the abdomen around the umbilicus, 
 which is generally relieved by pressure. The abdomen is 
 hard, its muscles strongly contracted, and its walls more or 
 less drawn inwards ; the bowels are usually obstinately con- 
 stipated, though often attended with a feeling of desire for 
 their evacuation. Scanty evacuations are sometimes passed, 
 with much suffering. The urine is scanty, and voided with
 
 314 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 difficulty. The countenance is dull and anxious; the skin 
 bedewed with cold perspiration ; the pulse either about 
 natural, or else accelerated ; the breathing quick and catch- 
 ing; fever is very rare; there is loss of appetite, and dryness 
 of the mouth and throat. The skin is dry and icterode, and 
 there is often a metallic or astringent taste in the mouth. 
 The breath is fetid. The blue or saturnine line at the edge of 
 the gums, first pointed out by Dr. Burton, is nearly always 
 observed in cases of chronic lead-poisoning. This discolor- 
 ation is ascribed, with great plausibility, to the elimination 
 of the poison in the buccal secretions, in the form of the 
 dark-colored sulphuret. It is said to be most marked around 
 the upper incisors. Although this blue line is a valuable 
 indication of lead-poisoning, it should be remembered that it 
 occasionally occurs as the result of the introduction into the 
 system of other metals, as mercury and silver. Moreover, 
 cases of undoubted poisoning by lead do occur where this 
 sign is altogether wanting: so that, while its presence may 
 generally be regarded as indicative of lead-poisoning, its 
 absence is no! to be taken as a proof that this poison is not 
 in the system. In some cases in which the blue line has 
 been absent, the gums have presented a fungous appearance, 
 and have bled very easily. (Med. Times and Gaz., Jan. 30, 
 1858.) 
 
 The earliest period at which this blue line on the gums 
 first shows itself is not ascertained. Dr. Burton states that 
 he has seen it produced in twenty-four hours after giving four 
 doses, of five grains each, of acetate of lead ; and he thinks 
 that it would occur still earlier, if larger doses were taken. 
 When it is once established, it is very persistent. Instances 
 are mentioned of its presence being still visible four ycurs 
 after exposure to the source of poisoning had ceased. (Med. 
 Times and Gaz., 1848, p. 195; quoted by Taylor.) 
 
 Lead-colic may terminate in recovery, or it may pass on to 
 the second form of chronic poisoning kad-palsy. This is 
 sometimes the termination of a single attack of colic; but 
 more commonly it supervenes after repeated seizures. Again, 
 it may come on without any previous attack of colic. It 
 affects chiefly the upper extremities. There is first a dull,
 
 'CHRONIC POISONING BY LEAD. 315 
 
 numb feeling in the skin, especially of the lingers and fore- 
 arms; trembling of the arms and legs, unsteadiness in walk- 
 ing, loss of power in the hands and arms, which gradually 
 waste away. This loss of muscular power is chiefly confined 
 to the extensors of the hand, so that when the arm is raised 
 the hand drops by its own weight : whence the common ex- 
 pression " wrist-drop," or " hand-drop." Symptoms of brain- 
 affection sometimes present themselves, such as giddiness, 
 torpor, and apoplexy. In cases which pursue a slow course 
 to death, the paralysis may gradually extend to all the 
 muscles; epileptic paroxysms occur at intervals, and there is 
 general oedema, with whitened skin, indicating the increas- 
 ing anaemia. Sometimes the case is further complicated with 
 albuminuria; locomotion becomes impossible, and the patient 
 dies in convulsions or coma, or from paralysis of the respira- 
 tory muscles. After death, lead has been found in the tissues, 
 especially in the gray matter of the spinal cord. (Comptes- 
 liendus de la Soc. de Biol., iv. 1862; quoted by Dr. H. C. 
 Wood in his " Therapeutics," 1874.) 
 
 Workers in white-lead factories are particularly exposed 
 to the danger of slow poisoning by lead, more especially if 
 the carbonate be ground in the dry state, in which condition 
 it is diffused through the atmosphere and freely respired 
 into the lungs. It is also introduced through the skin, ad- 
 hering to the cutaneous secretions, owing to the general ab- 
 sence of cleanliness on the part of the workmen. Since the 
 practice of grinding the white lead under water has prevailed, 
 cases of colica pictonum arising from this source have very 
 sensibly diminished in number. The best practical means 
 of avoiding the danger is the strict enforcement of cleanli- 
 ness, especially before eating, and the habitual use, as a 
 beverage, of very dilute sulphuric acid. 
 
 There is no doubt that obscure cases of supposed spinal, 
 cerebral, or heart disease are really due to the unsuspected 
 and insidious introduction of lead into the system. In such 
 cases, a close and critical examination should be instituted 
 into the employment, mode of living, and particularly the 
 source and mode of conveyance of the drinking-water used 
 by the patient.
 
 316 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Chemical analysis. 1. In the solid state. The acetate, when 
 heated on a piece of porcelain, first fuses, and is reduced to 
 a white, anhydrous mass: if the heat be continued, the mass 
 again fuses, and then becomes dry and charred, slowly assum- 
 ing a reddish-brown color, and consisting of a variable mix- 
 ture of the oxides of lead. The carbonate treated in the same 
 manner does not fuse, but is converted into a similar colored 
 mixture of the oxides. A fragment of the acetate placed 
 on charcoal, and exposed to the inverse flame of the blow- 
 pipe, is decomposed, with the production of bright malleable 
 globules of metallic lead, and a surrounding yellow incrusta- 
 tion of the oxide. A fragment of acetate of lead dropped 
 into a solution of iodide of potassium assumes a bright yellow 
 color, due to the formation of the iodide of lead. This is 
 soluble in an excess of the reagent. This is a very delicate 
 test: even one ten-thousandth of a grain, if deposited on one 
 point of the iodide of potassium solution, gives the yellow 
 hue (Wormley). 
 
 If the same experiment be made in a solution of bichromate 
 of potassa, it likewise assumes a yellow tint, from the forma- 
 tion of chromate of lead. Sulphuretted hydrogen, or sul- 
 phide of ammonium, immediately imparts a black color to a 
 fragment of the acetate. If the powder be boiled in a tube 
 with diluted sulphuric acid, acetic acid, recognized by its 
 odor and volatility, escapes. 
 
 2. In the liquid state. (1) A few drops of the solution of the 
 acetate allowed to evaporate spontaneously on glass will crys- 
 tallize in opaque needles, which are colored yellow when 
 touched with a drop of solution of iodide of potassium, or 
 chromate (or bichromate) of potassa; and black, by sulphide 
 of ammonium. (2) Dilute sulphuric acid produces a copious 
 white precipitate (sulphate), soluble in hydrochloric acid, and 
 in a large excess of caustic potassa. If the lead solution be 
 very dilute, the precipitated sulphate does not separate until 
 after some time, (o) It is precipitated bright yellow by 
 iodide of potassium: the precipitated iodide of lead is soluble 
 in caustic potash, and in concentrated hydrochloric acid. It 
 is also soluble in boiling water, which deposits it in brilliant 
 yellow six-sided tables, on cooling. This is an excellent and
 
 POISONING BY LEAD. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 317 
 
 reliable test. (4) Bichromate of potash also precipitates it as 
 yellow chroraate of lead: this is>eadily soluble in potash, 
 but only slowly soluble in hydrochloric acid, which converts 
 it into white chloride of lead. (5) Sulphuretted hydrogen is the 
 most delicate of all the tests. According to Dr. Taylor, a 
 current of this gas when properly applied will reveal a quarter 
 of a grain of a salt of lead in a gallon of water, or about 
 one three-hundred-thousandth part. The color of the pre- 
 cipitated sulphuret of lead is black ; but as there are other 
 metals, some of whose salts give with sulphuretted hydrogen 
 or with sulphide of ammonium black precipitates, such as 
 mercury, silver, copper, cobalt, nickel, bismuth, tin, and iron, 
 the suspected sulphide must be subjected to a further proof 
 before deciding that it contains any lead. Its true character 
 may be established by placing a fragment on a piece of char- 
 coal and applying the inner flame of the blowpipe upon it: a 
 metallic globule will be obtained, possessing all the characters 
 of lead. Or, the precipitate may be dissolved in dilute nitric 
 acid with the aid of heat, evaporating to dryness, dissolving 
 in water, and applying the usual tests for the liquid form of 
 lead compounds. 
 
 The precipitated sulphide of lead is insoluble in dilute 
 mineral acids, and also in the caustic alkalies. It is soluble 
 in hot hydrochloric and nitric acids, forming, in the first in- 
 stance, white chloride of lead, which, unless it be in very 
 minute quantities, separates, as the liquid cools, in the form 
 of beautiful crystalline plates. With hot nitric acid it forms 
 a nitrate of lead with the separation of free sulphur. If the 
 acid be concentrated and the heat be continued, the free 
 sulphur becomes oxidized to sulphuric acid, which displaces 
 the nitric acid, and unites with the oxide of lead to form a 
 sulphide. 
 
 (6) The zinc or galvanic lest. This is a very delicate and 
 satisfactory test. A drop or two of the suspected solution, 
 acidified with acetic acid, is placed upon clean platinum-foil, 
 and a thin, polished strip of zinc is made to touch the plati- 
 num, through the liquid : crystals of metallic lead are in- 
 stantly deposited on the zinc. Or, a drop of the fluid is put 
 into a watch-glass, and a fragment of zinc is dropped into 
 
 21
 
 318 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 it: very soon metallic lead is precipitated upon the zinc 
 in a beautiful arborescent form (lead tree), which should be 
 viewed under the microscope at once, before any deposition 
 of the carbonate occurs. A salt of tin, under similar cir- 
 cumstances, will also give an arborescent precipitate of me- 
 tallic tin. Hence the true nature of the metal thus obtained 
 must be verified by converting it into a salt by nitric acid, 
 and then applying the usual tests. 
 
 Several other tests are noticed in the books, such as polassa 
 and ammonia, the alkaline carbonates, oxalate of ammonia, yellow 
 and red prussiate of potassa; but, as these are not character- 
 istic, and are inferior in value to those already mentioned, 
 the} 7 need not be here detailed. 
 
 Detection in organic matters ; and in the contents of the stomach. 
 As acetate of lead is readily decomposed by various organic 
 substances, such as albumen, mucus, and tannin, which pre- 
 cipitate the oxide of lead, the mixture presented for exami- 
 nation may contain the poison in either the solid or the 
 liquid portion, or in both. As a trial test, it may be proper 
 first to filter oft' a portion of the liquid, and test it with 
 sulphuric acid ; or with sulphuretted hydrogen, by exposing 
 a piece of bibulous paper dipped into the liquid to a current 
 of this gas : a brown stain upon the paper would indicate 
 the presence of lead, though not of this metal exclusively. 
 If the paper is not stained brown, no perceptible quantity of 
 lead can be present. 
 
 Supposing the trial test indicates the presence of lead; 
 the mixture should be acidulated with pure nitric acid and 
 boiled for some time : this will dissolve to a great extent the 
 organic compounds of lead. After cooling, it should be 
 filtered, and the solids on the filter thoroughly washed and 
 reserved for future examination. The filtrate should now 
 be concentrated by evaporation, and a stream of washed 
 sulphuretted hydrogen gas passed through it, to the point 
 of saturation. After standing for some time in a warm 
 place, the precipitate is collected on a filter, from which it 
 is carefully washed into a test-tube or capsule, by a jet of 
 water. After the precipitate has subsided, the supernatant 
 water may be removed by decaatatiou, a small quantity of
 
 LEAD. EXAMINATION OF THE TISSUES. 319 
 
 nitric acid added, and a gentle heat applied. By this means 
 the sulphide is converted into the soluble nitrate, with the 
 separation of free sulphur. A small quantity of distilled 
 water is now added, the mixture filtered, and the filtrate 
 subjected to the usual tests for lead, as already pointed out. 
 Should the quantity of the liquid be too small for the appli- 
 cation of all the tests, it would be best first to employ sul- 
 phuric acid : if this agent cause a white precipitate, soluble 
 in potassa (proved to be free from lead), and this solution be 
 turned black by sulphide of ammonium, the presence of lead 
 may be regarded as established. According to Prof. Worm- 
 ley (loc. cit., p. 370), the one-thousandth of a grain of oxide 
 of lead diffused through ten grains of water, and precipi- 
 tated as sulphide, when treated with one drop of nitric acid, 
 will yield a clear solution which gives very visible reactions 
 with the appropriate tests for lead. 
 
 In case no lead is found dissolved in the liquid portion ex- 
 amined, the solids reserved should be boiled for some time 
 with water containing about a fourth part of nitric acid; 
 the cooled solution filtered ; the filtrate evaporated to dry- 
 ness, and incinerated, in order to destroy the organic matter. 
 The residue is to be dissolved in a little nitric acid, and 
 properly diluted for testing. 
 
 In all the above reactions, care must be taken to expel the 
 whole of the nitric acid (or else carefully to neutralize it by 
 pure potassa), as an excess of the acid will show a yellow 
 color with the Iodide of potassium test, although no lead be 
 present. 
 
 The contents of the stomach should be examined as above, 
 by boiling with dilute nitric acid, etc. If dilute sulphuric 
 acid, or an alkaline sulphate, had been administered as an 
 antidote, the poison would probably be found in the form 
 of an insoluble white sulphate of lead, adhering to the 
 coats of the organ. Under such circumstances, the suspected 
 substance should be carefully scraped off, and boiled in a 
 strong solution of pure potassa (which dissolves it), and the 
 lead precipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 
 From the tissues. The solid organ, the liver, for example, 
 in sufficient quantity, is cut into fine pieces and boiled in a
 
 320 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 mixture of one part of pure nitric acid to four parts of dis- 
 tilled water until the mixture becomes homogeneous. It 
 has been recommended by some authorities to employ chlo- 
 rate of potassa along with the nitric acid, with a cautious 
 application of heat, until the disappearance of all vapors. 
 When the mixture has cooled, it is to be filtered, and the 
 filtrate evaporated to dryness ; the residue moistened with 
 nitric acid, and again evaporated to dryness ; and the heat 
 cautiously increased until all vapors cease to be given off, 
 and the residue is reduced to a carbonaceous mass. This 
 mass is powdered and boiled with a small quantity of strong 
 nitric acid diluted with water, the solution filtered, the fil- 
 trate evaporated to dryness, and the residue dissolved in a 
 little water acidulated with nitric acid. This solution, filtered 
 if necessary, is saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen ; the 
 precipitated sulphide, after being washed, is boiled in dilute 
 nitric acid; and the resulting solution subjected to the usual 
 tests. 
 
 M. Tardieu recommends, among other methods of destroy- 
 ing the organic matters, carbonization by means of concen- 
 trated sulphuric acid and heat. In this case, however, it 
 must be remembered that the greater portion, if not all, of 
 the lead will be found in the state of sulphate, mixed up 
 with the carbonaceous mass. This mass is to be finely pow- 
 dered, and boiled for one hour with a solution of carbonate of 
 soda or potassa. The black-colored mixture is then filtered; 
 the solids on the filter are first thoroughly washed with pure 
 water until the washings cease to be alkaline, and then fre- 
 quently with very dilute nitric acid, for the purpose of dis- 
 solving the carbonate of lead formed. The acid liquids 
 being mixed together are then saturated with sulphuretted 
 hydrogen ; and after standing for several hours, the pre- 
 cipitated sulphide is treated in the manner already de- 
 scribed (loc. tit, p. 737). 
 
 Still another method of treating the solid organs is, first 
 to dry them thoroughly, and then to incinerate them in a 
 porcelain crucible, and dissolve out the lead by means of 
 strong nitric acid; evaporate the residue to dryness; dilute 
 with water, and precipitate by sulphuretted hydrogen. In
 
 POISONING BY LEAD. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS. 321 
 
 case of the detection of minute portions in the organs of a 
 body suspected of being poisoned, a careful inquiry should 
 always be instituted in reference to the particular occupa- 
 tion, mode of living, etc., of the individual; remembering 
 how insidiously and unsuspiciously lead may be introduced 
 into the system, and that, too, many months before death. 
 
 The urine. As it is chiefly through this secretion that lead 
 is eliminated from the system, the examination of the urine 
 ought never to be neglected, especially in obscure cases of 
 suspected lead-poisoning. For the purpose of analysis, fifteen 
 or twenty ounces of urine, acidulated with nitric acid, should 
 be evaporated to dryness, the residue carbonized with nitric 
 acid, and the carbonaceous mass treated in the manner 
 directed for the detection of lead in the tissues (p. 319). 
 
 Quantitative determination. Lead is usually determined as a 
 sulphide ; which is precipitated from a slightly acid solution 
 by a slow stream of washed sulphuretted hydrogen in a 
 warm place, until the whole of the precipitate has subsided. 
 This is then collected on a filter of known weight; thoroughly 
 washed, dried until it ceases to lose weight, and weighed. 
 
 Every 100 parts of the dry sulphuret represent 93.31 parts 
 of oxide of lead, or 158.37 parts of crystals of the acetate. 
 
 Every 100 parts by weight of dry sulphate of lead are 
 equivalent to 125 parts of crystallized acetate.
 
 322 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 POISONING BY ZINC, BISMUTH, TIN, IRON, AND CHROMIUM. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY ZINC. 
 
 CASES of poisoning by the preparations of Zinc are rare, 
 except from accident. Although metallic zinc is harmless so 
 long as it retains its metallic condition, it would never- 
 theless be likely to occasion serious results if swallowed, in 
 consequence of its easy conversion into soluble salts from 
 contact with the contents of the stomach. The sulphate and 
 the chloride are the preparations of zinc that are the most 
 common causes of poisoning. 
 
 The zinc of commerce (spelter) very often contains arsenic, 
 cadmium, antimony, iron, lead, and other impurities. 
 
 SULPHATE OF ZINC ( White Vitriol). This salt usually occurs 
 in white, prismatic crystals. It has a metallic, astringent 
 taste; is very soluble in water; insoluble in alcohol and ether; 
 and effloresces on exposure to the air. 
 
 Effects on the system. Sulphate of zinc is a very prompt and 
 powerful emetic, and is much used for this purpose in cases 
 of narcotic poisoning. It has been given medicinally in 
 quite large doses for a considerable length of time, without 
 producing any injurious effects. The late Dr. Babington 
 administered it, in cases of epilepsy, to the extent of two 
 scruples three times a day for a period of three weeks, with- 
 out even occasioning any symptoms of irritation. The medi- 
 cine was first given in small doses, gradually increased. A 
 tolerance of the medicine seemed to have been established, 
 similar to that attending the exhibition of antimony as ad- 
 ministered on the contra-stimulant plan. 
 
 When swallowed in doses of half an ounce to an ounce, 
 the effects are those of a powerful irritant poison. A strong 
 metallic taste is perceived, attended with a sense of burning
 
 POISONING BY CHLORIDE OF ZINC. 323 
 
 and constriction of the throat and gullet; nausea; violent 
 vomiting and retching; intense pain of the stomach and 
 bowels; frequent purging; small and frequent pulse; great 
 anxiety ; cold perspiration ; extreme prostration, and death. 
 The intellect is generally unaffected to the last. 
 
 Dr. Taylor mentions the case of a man who recovered in 
 a few days after taking an ounce of sulphate of zinc by mis- 
 take for Epsom salts. There were early vomiting and purg- 
 ing of a violent character, with great prostration of strength. 
 (Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 1873, p. 183.) A fatal case is quoted 
 by Prof. Wormley from the "Am. Jour, of Med. Sci.," July, 
 1849, that of a woman who swallowed, by mistake for Epsom 
 salt, a solution containing an ounce and a half of sulphate of 
 zinc. Death ensued in thirteen hours and a half, after most 
 violent vomiting and purging, and pain in the abdomen 
 and the limbs, together with extreme prostration and anxiety, 
 and small and frequent pulse. A sister of this woman, aged 
 thirty-five years, took a similar dose of the poison, but 
 recovered, after suffering from its effects for several days. 
 
 Morbid appearances. These vary somewhat in different 
 cases. Sometimes there is simply inflammation of the stom- 
 ach, in patches. In other cases there are evidences of the 
 most violent irritation and inflammation, such as a softened, 
 gelatinous condition of the mucous membrane, which is easily 
 scraped off; ecchymosed patches, and sometimes ulceration, 
 together with injection of the small intestines; a yellowish, 
 pultaceous matter covering the inner surface of the stomach 
 and bowels; congestion of the brain and its membranes; 
 bloody effusion into the pleura ; congestion of the lungs, and 
 a flaccid condition of the heart. The above lesions do not 
 all occur in the same cases; but they represent the general 
 post-mortem appearances observed. 
 
 CHLORIDE or ZINC, in the liquid form, is sold in the shops 
 under the name of " Sir Wm. Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid." 
 It is much used as a deodorizer. It contains about two hun- 
 dred grains of the anhydrous salt in each fluidounce. It is 
 a powerfully corrosive fluid, and has been frequently the 
 cause of death, being taken either by mistake, or suicidally.
 
 324 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The symptoms of poisoning by this substance are, in general, 
 similar to those produced by the sulphate, only more intense 
 in their character, and resembling somewhat those of the cor- 
 rosive acids. These violent symptoms come on immediately 
 on swallowing the liquid; the matters vomited and purged 
 are frequently tinged with blood and mixed with shreds of 
 mucous membrane. There has been observed frothing at 
 the mouth, with a white appearance of the inside of this 
 cavity. 
 
 The period at which the chloride of zinc proves fatal varies, 
 as in poisoning from other substances. Dr. Taylor records 
 the most rapidly-fatal case known, that of a woman aged 
 twenty-eight years, who swallowed an ounce of this fluid and 
 survived only/owr hours. On the other hand, the case may 
 become chronic, and the patient perish at last, after months 
 or years of suffering, from stricture of the oesophagus, or from 
 the resulting exhaustion and emaciation. 
 
 The post-mortem appearances in poisoning by the chloride of 
 zinc are those of a corrosive as Avell as of an irritant. In 
 some cases the coats of the stomach have been found hard 
 and leathery, thickened and corrugated ; in others, the stom- 
 ach was reddened externally, the mucous membrane of a 
 deep-purple color, and partially corroded and destroyed. 
 The pyloric opening was constricted, and its mucous mem- 
 brane appeared as if it had been cauterized. Constriction 
 of the oesophagus has been noticed ; together with a pseudo- 
 membranous deposit on the lining membrane. The lungs 
 have been found congested, as also the vessels at the base of 
 the brain. The heart is usually unaffected. In very protracted 
 cases, the stomach has been found so much contracted as to 
 contain only four ounces of fluid; with one or more perfora- 
 tions. 
 
 Treatment. Free emesis should be encouraged by the co- 
 pious use of warm, mild, mucilaginous drinks : the stomach- 
 pump may sometimes be advantageously used. Albumen 
 should be freely given. The excessive irritation is best 
 combated by opium. 
 
 Chemical analysis. In the solid state, the sulphate may be 
 distinguished from Epsom salt and oxalic acid (which it
 
 POISONING BY ZINC. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 325 
 
 closely resembles in appearance) by the action of chromate of 
 potassa: a solution of the latter applied to a grain or two of 
 the sulphate, in a watch-glass, changes it to a yellow color, 
 and it soon becomes converted into a mass of small, yellow 
 granules. 
 
 The blowpipe affords an easy method of identifying a salt 
 of zinc. A small fragment, previously mixed with a little 
 carbonate of soda, is placed on a piece of charcoal, and the 
 inner flame made to play upon it. It quickly fuses, and 
 is soon dissipated into vapor of the oxide, which forms a 
 yellowish incrustation upon the charcoal, which on cooling 
 becomes white. Under the blowpipe cobalt imparts a green 
 color to the fused bead of zinc. 
 
 In solution: (1) The fixed alkalies and ammonia throw 
 down a white, hydrated oxide of zinc, soluble in excess of the 
 precipitant. (2) The alkaline carbonates precipitate the white 
 hydrated carbonate, insoluble in excess of the precipitate, 
 but soluble in excess of carbonate of ammonia. (3) Ferro- 
 cyanide of potassium gives a white precipitate, insoluble in 
 acids and alkalies. (4) Sulphuretted hydrogen, or sulphide 
 of ammonium, occasions a white, amorphous precipitate (sul- 
 phide of zinc) in neutral or alkaline solutions, insoluble in 
 the alkalies and organic acids, but readily soluble in hydro- 
 chloric acid. The precipitate is white only if the zinc be 
 perfectly free from iron and other impurities. The white 
 precipitate should always be further verified, inasmuch as 
 a whitish deposit, consisting chiefly of free sulphur, may be 
 thrown down from other solutions by sulphuretted hydrogen 
 and sulphide of ammonium. The suspected sulphide of zinc 
 should be collected on a filter, boiled in hydrochloric acid, 
 the solution filtered and diluted, and subjected to the usual 
 liquid tests. 
 
 Other tests may be employed, such as carbonate of potassa, 
 phospJiate of soda, and oxalic acid; but they are not character- 
 istic, and are of inferior value to those before mentioned. 
 
 The acids in the compounds may be recognized by their 
 appropriate tests : sulphuric acid by chloride or nitrate of 
 barium; hydrochloric acid, by nitrate of silver. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. The contents of the stomach,
 
 326 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 or other organic mixture supposed to contain the poison, 
 should be mixed with a little acetic acid, and heated gently 
 for some time, in order to dissolve out the zinc that may 
 have combined with any albumen, fibrin, or casein. After 
 cooling, the solution is to be filtered, concentrated, if neces- 
 sary, and then treated with sulphide of ammonium, or sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen, as long as any precipitate is thrown 
 down. The latter is collected on a filter, washed, and digested 
 in nitric acid : this converts it into a nitrate. It is now to 
 be evaporated to dryness, in order to expel the excess of acid; 
 the residue dissolved in distilled water, and the filtered liquid 
 examined by the ordinary zinc tests. As the preparations of 
 zinc generally contain iron, the presence of the latter metal 
 may more or less modify the chemical reactions of the former. 
 The iron may be separated by adding an excess of ammonia, 
 which precipitates the oxide of iron, whilst it retains the 
 zinc-oxide in solution. After filtration, the zinc may be 
 precipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 
 Detection in the tissues. Absorbed zinc may be procured 
 from the tissues or organs by reducing them to small frag- 
 ments, and boiling in nitric acid somewhat diluted, until all 
 the organic matter is thoroughly dissolved. When cold, the 
 solution is strained, and the liquid evaporated to dryness. 
 Pure nitric acid is sprinkled over the residue, which is heated 
 until the organic matter is completely destroyed. The dry 
 mass thus obtained is treated with distilled water containing 
 a little hydrochloric acid ; and the filtered liquid evaporated 
 to dryness. The residue is dissolved in distilled water, and 
 precipitated with sulphide of ammonium: the precipitate 
 should be identified in the manner already pointed out. Or, 
 the viscera, after being thoroughly dried, may be incinerated 
 in a porcelain crucible, and the resulting ash treated with 
 nitric acid ; the solution filtered and evaporated to dryness ; 
 the residue dissolved in water acidulated with hydrochloric 
 acid ; again evaporated to dryness, and then dissolved in 
 pure water, and tested by sulphide of ammonium, as just 
 described. 
 
 Inasmuch as chloride of zinc is frequently used for embalm- 
 ing and preserving dead bodies, the discovery of zinc in the
 
 POISONING BY BISMUTH. 327 
 
 tissues in a suspected case is no evidence of the death having 
 resulted from this poison, unless supported by other proofs. 
 
 Absorbed zinc has been detected in the tissues and in the 
 blood after death, after comparatively long periods. 
 
 Quantitative determination. Zinc is generally determined as 
 an oxide. The solution is heated to the boiling temperature, 
 and precipitated with a dilute solution of carbonate of soda 
 until all the precipitated carbonate subsides. This should 
 then be collected in a filter, washed with hot water, dried, 
 and ignited. The protoxide of zinc thus obtained is now 
 weighed. Every 100 grains represent 354.13 grains of pure 
 crystallized sulphate, or 167.77 grains of anhydrous chloride 
 of zinc. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY BISMUTH. 
 
 Subnitmte of bismuth. Pearl white. Magistery of bismuth. 
 This substance is considerably employed both as a cosmetic 
 and as a medicine. For the latter purpose it is frequently 
 administered in doses of five to thirty grains, in certain 
 derangements of the stomach and bowels. Several fatal 
 cases have been reported as resulting from large doses of this 
 substance: Dr. Taylor records one in which two drachms pro- 
 duced death in an adult in nine days. The symptoms were 
 those of the powerful irritant mineral poisons, identical, 
 indeed, with the symptoms commonly seen in arsenical poison- 
 ing. This authority states (Prin. and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 
 1873) that the medicinal subuitrate generally contains arsenic 
 as an impurity. He detected it, in a comparatively large pro- 
 portion, in samples obtained from three respectable London 
 druggists. Three specimens out of five contained it. The 
 arsenic may readily be discovered by dissolving the sub- 
 nitrate in pure hydrochloric acid, slightly diluted, and using 
 a Marsh's apparatus. The same adulteration has been occa- 
 sionally found to exist in the subnitrate of bismuth sold in 
 our own shops; and it should be looked to by physicians, as 
 being the probable cause of the irritation which occasionally 
 follows the use of this medicine.
 
 328 ' MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Dr. Fullerton, of Hillsbordugh, Ohio, relates an instance 
 of poisoning by impure subnitrate of bismuth. A physician 
 having occasion to put himself under this remedy noticed 
 in a few days a puffiuess of his eyelids and some gastro- 
 intestinal irritation, which symptoms disappeared on dis- 
 continuing the medicine, but were again manifested on its 
 renewal. On analysis, a large proportion of arsenic was 
 detected in the subnitrate. (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., Jan., 1874.) 
 The editor of the above journal also quotes a case of an infant, 
 recorded by Dr. Herbert in "Le Mouvement Medical," Nov. 
 22, 1873, where the irritating symptoms resulting from the 
 employment of subnitrate of bismuth for a diarrhoea were 
 traced to the adulteration of the medicine by arsenic. 
 
 This impurity may essentially modify a medico-legal opin- 
 ion as to the presence of traces of arsenic in a body, where 
 bismuth had been previously administered medicinally. An 
 interesting case of this nature (State of Virginia v. Mrs. E. E. 
 Lloyd, 1872) was recently tried, in which the defense strongly 
 contended that the existence of a fractional portion of arsenic, 
 alleged to have been found in the liver of the deceased, was 
 to be ascribed to the subnitrate of bismuth which had been 
 taken before death : this bismuth was afterwards found to be 
 contaminated with arsenic. The prisoner was acquitted. 
 
 By the process recommended by the present U. S. Phar- 
 macopoeia, the bismuth is entirely freed from arsenic. 
 
 Subnitrate of bismuth occurs in the form of a white 
 powder, insoluble in water, but soluble in nitric acid ; the 
 solution, when thrown into water, yielding a copious white 
 precipitate. It is blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen and 
 by sulphide of ammonium. 
 
 A piece of paper wetted with a solution of sulpho-cyanide 
 of potassium, and dried, is a very sensitive and characteristic 
 test for a soluble salt of bismuth, a beautiful yellow spot 
 appearing at the point of contact. According to MM. Ber- 
 geret and Mayeo^on, after the administration of the sub- 
 nitrate the metal may thus be always detected, after a few 
 hours, in the urine. (Journal de 1'Anatomie, 1873, p. 242; 
 quoted in Dr. H. C. Wood's "Therapeutics.")
 
 POISONING BY IRON. 329 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 POISONING BY TIN, SALTS OF IKON, AND CHROMIUM. 
 
 SALTS OF TIN. The only preparations of tin requiring 
 notice are the chlorides. A mixture of the protochloride and 
 perchloride, in solution, constitutes what is sold under the 
 name of Dyers' Spirit. 
 
 The effects of these salts upon the system are those usually 
 attendant upon the mineral irritants. Cases of poisoning from 
 them are very rare. 
 
 The protochloride of tin is distinguished by the following 
 properties: (1) It is precipitated of a dark chocolate color by 
 sulphuretted hydrogen ; also by sulphide of ammonium, the 
 precipitate being soluble in an excess of the reagent. (2) 
 Bichloride of mercury gives a gray precipitate of metallic 
 mercury. (3) Chloride of gold gives a fine purple precipitate, 
 the purple of Cassius. (4) A fragment of zinc immediately 
 precipitates metallic tin in a beautiful arborescent form, very 
 much as in the case of lead. 
 
 The perchloride is precipitated yellow by sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen and sulphide of ammonium, the precipitate being soluble 
 in an excess of the reagent. This yellow precipitate is dis- 
 tinguished from the yellow sulphide of arsenic by being 
 insoluble in ammonia; and from sulphide of cadmium, by 
 being insoluble in hydrochloric acid. Corrosive sublimate 
 and chloride of gold give no precipitate with it. 
 
 The preparations of silver, gold, and platinum are highly 
 irritant and corrosive; but they so rarely occasion poisoning 
 in the human subject, that further notice of them is un- 
 necessary. 
 
 PREPARATIONS OF IRON. The only salts of iron necessary 
 to mention as possessing poisonous properties are the sul- 
 phate (green vitriof) and the chloride. 
 
 The sulphate, in large doses, is a powerful irritant, and has 
 proved fatal in several cases recorded by Sir R. Christison, 
 Orn'la, and others. 
 
 The chloride, in the form of tincture (muriated tincture of 
 iron), is much used in medicine ; but in large doses it is a
 
 330 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 powerful irritant and corrosive, giving rise to symptoms very 
 like those produced by the mineral acids, such as dryness and 
 swelling of the throat, burning pain in the stomach, vomit- 
 ing of blood, and black evacuations from the bowels. Dr. 
 Christison relates a case of a man who swallowed, by mis- 
 take, an ounce and a half of this liquid: death occurred in 
 about five weeks. The stomach was found inflamed, and 
 thickened towards the pyloric orifice. 
 
 It may be well to remember that this substance is some- 
 times employed by pregnant women as an abortive. 
 
 PREPARATIONS OF CHROMIUM. Two salts of chrome the 
 neutral chromate and the bichromate of potassa are manu- 
 factured extensively, and are much used as dyes. 
 
 The chromate of potash is of a yellow color. The bichromate 
 of potash occurs in beautiful orange-red crystals, in the form 
 of rhombic plates or prisms, very soluble in water. This salt 
 is a powerful irritant, and has proved fatal in several in- 
 stances. In one case, communicated to Dr. Taylor by Mr. 
 Wood, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, two drachms killed a 
 woman in four hours, with symptoms of violent irritation : 
 the post-mortem appearances were those of a corrosive poison. 
 Mr. Wilson, of Leeds, mentions a fatal case in which there 
 was an entire absence of vomiting and purging (Med. Gaz., 
 vol. xxxiii. p. 734). In this case the salt appeared to have 
 acted not so much by its irritant properties, as by the in- 
 direct effect upon the nervous centres. Certain kinds of ink- 
 powder, composed of this salt, have been known to produce 
 injurious, and even fatal, effects. 
 
 Workmen engaged in the manufacture of the bichromate 
 are often exposed to its noxious influences. Several fatal 
 cases have occurred in Baltimore, where it is largely manu- 
 factured. Dr. Baer, of that city, reported a case of a laborer 
 who, attempting to draw off from a receiver a solution of this 
 salt, accidentally imbibed, through the siphon, a small quan- 
 tity into his mouth. In a few minutes he experienced great 
 heat in the throat and stomach, which was followed by vio- 
 lent vomiting of blood and mucus. The vomiting continued 
 incessantly till his death, which took place in Jice hours. On
 
 POISONING BY VEGETABLE IRRITANTS. 331 
 
 dissection, the raucous lining of the stomach, duodenum, and 
 a portion of the jejunum was found destroyed in patches. 
 (Beck's Med. Jurisp., vol. ii. p. 666.) 
 
 Chemical analysis. Bichromate of potassa is distinguished 
 from all other salts by the deep orange-red color of its crys- 
 tals. Its solution has a similar color, and possesses an acid 
 reaction. It may be identified by the following tests: (1) 
 Acetate of kad gives with it a bright-yellow precipitate (chro- 
 mate of lead) ; (2) nitrate of silver yields a deep-red precipitate; 
 (3) sulphuretted hydrogen gives a dingy-green precipitate. Po- 
 tassa may be discovered in it by the bichloride of platinum. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL IRRITANTS. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY VEGETABLE IRRITANTS. CROTON OIL. KLATERITJM. ALOES. 
 COLOCYNTH. CASTOR-OIL BEANS. COLCHICUM. SAVIN. 
 
 THE vegetable kingdom furnishes numerous substances 
 possessing a highly acrid, poisonous nature. Those only will 
 be briefly noticed here that are employed in medicine, and 
 overdoses of which have been known to occasion violent 
 symptoms, and even death. 
 
 These irritants appear to owe their activity to the presence 
 of either an acrid oil or a resin ; in which respect they differ 
 notably from the neurotics proper, in which the active principle 
 is either an alkaloid or a neutral body. An exception to 
 this, however, is afforded in the case of colchicum and elate- 
 rium, the former of which contains an alkaloidal principle 
 colehicina, and the latter a neutral substance elaterin. 
 
 The drastic cathartics, as a class, are distinguished for their 
 powerful irritant impression on the mucous membrane of the 
 alimentary canal. In medical practice, it is customary to give 
 them in combination with one another small doses of each,
 
 332 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 by which means their individual acrimony is diminished; 
 but if they are taken in excessive doses, and especially in a 
 debilitated state of the system, they may produce alarming 
 prostration, terminating in death. 
 
 The symptoms produced by this class of poisons are those 
 of irritation of the alimentary canal vomiting, purging, 
 pain in the abdomen, cramps, tenesmus, and strangury. The 
 patient falls into a state of collapse, attended occasionally 
 with drowsiness and slight nervous symptoms. 
 
 The post-mortem signs are those indicative of inflammation 
 of the gastro-euteric mucous membrane, in its different 
 stages. 
 
 The most powerful drastics are croton oil,elaterium, scam- 
 mony, gamboge, colchicum, and hellebore. 
 
 CROTON OIL. This is a fixed oil, extracted by pressure 
 from the seeds of the Croton tigliam. It is a prompt and pow- 
 erful purgative in the dose of one or two drops. Overdoses 
 occasion violent irritant symptoms, with collapse, resembling 
 some of the worst cases of cholera. M. Chevallier reports two 
 cases of poisoning by this oil. In one, a druggist swallowed, 
 by mistake for cod-liver oil, half an ounce of crotou oil. He 
 felt a burning sensation in his throat and stomach, soon 
 followed by vomiting and copious purging, with symptoms 
 of collapse. He did not recover until after a fortnight. In 
 the other case, quoted from Devergie, a man aged twenty- 
 five swallowed by mistake two drachms and a half of the oil. 
 The most violent purging, with collapse, took place, and the 
 patient died in four hours. (Ann. d'Hyg., 1871, i. p. 409.) 
 The following abstract of a case described by Dr. Greenhow 
 (Med. Times and Gaz., Aug., 1866, p. 143) affords a good 
 example of this form of poisoning. An old lady took by 
 mistake an embrocation containing thirty minims of the oil. 
 When seen two hours afterwards, she had all the appearance 
 of a person in the cold stage of cholera. There hud been 
 profuse purging of matters exactly resembling the rice-water 
 stools of cholera patients, together with severe cramps. The 
 surface was cold, the features shrunken, and the skin even 
 more blue than is usual in cases of true cholera ; the pulse
 
 POISONING BY VEGETABLE IRRITANTS. 333 
 
 thready and almost imperceptible ; and the respiration gasp- 
 ing. She was very restless, but her intellect remained un- 
 impaired : she died ten hours after taking the poison. 
 
 We have seen several cases of the accidental swallowing 
 
 O 
 
 of a croton oil embrocation, but where the quantity of the 
 poison was not so great as in the instance last mentioned : 
 after very severe symptoms of gastro-enteric irritation, re- 
 covery took place under the use of demulcents and opiates. 
 
 The poisonous properties of croton oil depend upon a 
 peculiar fatty acid (crotonic acid), which it contains in vari- 
 able quantity. When deprived of this acid, the oil is per- 
 fectly harmless. 
 
 Analysis. Croton oil is of a light-yellow color, has a very 
 unpleasant odor, and a hot, acrid, burning taste. It is very 
 soluble in ether, by means of which it may be separated from 
 other substances. When warmed with nitric acid, it turns 
 of a dark-brown color. 
 
 ELATERIUM. This is the product of the Momordica elaterium., 
 or squirting cucumber. The juice of this fruit deposits, on 
 standing, a sediment or fecula, which constitutes the sub- 
 stance in question. The English elaterium is a very active 
 drastic purgative in the dose of one-eighth to one-fourth of a 
 grain. It owes its activity to a neutral crystalline principle, 
 elaterin, which constitutes about one-fourth of the extract. 
 With cold sulphuric acid it gives a red-brown solution, made 
 darker by heating. Nitric acid does not change its color. 
 
 ALOES. COLOCYNTH. JALAP. Sc AMMONY. GAMBOGE. 
 These substances are much employed in medicine, in small 
 doses, as active cathartics; but in large quantities they act 
 as powerful irritants, producing violent vomiting and purg- 
 ing, with other symptoms of active irritation. Some of 
 them constitute the active ingredients in several popular 
 purgative pills. 
 
 A mixture of aloes and canella has long been known 
 under the name of hiera j)icra, or holy bitter : it is used as a 
 popular abortive, and cases are reported of serious results fol- 
 lowing its use in the pregnant female. The active principle 
 of aloes, termed aloin, is soluble in water: it is distinguished 
 
 22
 
 334 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 by imparting to cold sulphuric acid a yellow color, which is 
 heightened by warming it, and at a high heat changes to 
 green. Nitric acid turns it orange. 
 
 Colocynth and jalap owe their power to neutral princi- 
 ples colocynthin and jalapin. Scammony and gamboge are 
 inspissated juices, and are classed among the gum-resins; 
 the resin is the active principle. 
 
 CASTOR-OIL SEEDS. These are derived from the JRicinus 
 commimis (Palma Christi), or castor-oil plant. By pressure, 
 they yield the castor oil of the shops. The beans or seeds 
 contain a powerful irritant principle, which appears to be 
 dispelled at a certain temperature, and which, consequently, 
 does not exist in the commercial oil when properly prepared. 
 Two or three of these seeds, when chewed and swallowed by 
 an adult, will generally act as an active drastic cathartic. 
 They have occasioned death in more than one instance, 
 their effects being altogether disproportionate to the amount 
 of oil contained. Three seeds have destroyed the life of an 
 adult male in forty-six hours ; and twenty seeds proved fatal 
 to a young lady in live days, after violent purging and vomit- 
 ing, cold skin, shrunken features, small and wiry pulse, thirst, 
 pain in the abdomen, and serous discharges a combination 
 of symptoms strongly resembling those of malignant cholera. 
 A post-mortem inspection revealed violent inflammation of 
 the stomach and small intestines ; together with abrasion of 
 the mucous lining of the stomach and bowels. (Taylor, Prin. 
 and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 1873, p. 329.) 
 
 COLCHICUM (Meadow Saffron}. The Colchicum autumnale, or 
 meadow saifron, contains a powerful alkaloidal principle, 
 colchicina, which resembles veratria in many of its properties. 
 This abounds chiefly in the bulb or corm and seeds of the 
 plant; though the leaves and flowers are also stated to have 
 produced poisonous effects. These effects are such as usually 
 accompany the more active irritants, such as burning pain in 
 the throat, great thirst, vomiting and serous purging, cramps, 
 cold collapsed skin, small and feeble pulse, suppression of 
 urine, and rapid exhaustion. The nervous system does not 
 appear to be affected; the intellect remains clear, and neither
 
 POISONING BY COLCHICUM. COLCHICINA. 335 
 
 convulsions nor loss of consciousness are reported among its 
 effects. 
 
 The precise quantity necessary to occasion a fatal result is 
 unknown : it sometimes happens that an ordinary medicinal 
 dose will occasion alarming depression. A drachm of the 
 wine of the fresh root has been known to produce violent 
 irritation of the stomach and bowels. Dr. Taylor mentions 
 a case reported to him, in which three and a half drachms 
 of wine of colchicum, taken in divided doses, caused death 
 on the fourth day. In another case, in which an ounce of the 
 wine was taken, death occurred in thirty-nine hours. And 
 in another case, a gentleman swallowed, by mistake, one 
 ounce and a half of the wine : he was immediately seized 
 with severe pain of the abdomen ; other symptoms of irrita- 
 tion set in, and he died in seven hours. Mr. Fereday reports 
 a case in which two ounces of the wine were taken : the 
 symptoms did not come on for an hour and a half; death 
 ensued in forty-eight hours, after violent irritant effects, but 
 with no signs of cerebral disorder. (Med. Gaz., x. p. 161.) 
 
 A frightful accident happened in Montreal, Canada, in 
 November, 1873, to a company of eight or ten persons. Some 
 one of the number had procured (by theft, it is supposed) a half- 
 gallon bottle, full of what was believed to be wine, but which 
 was in reality wine of colchicum, that had been sent to some 
 druggist's shop. Nearly all the party freely partook of it, 
 and were made violently sick in the course of a few hours. 
 Nausea, severe vomiting, excruciating pain of the abdomen, 
 cramps, purging, and prostration were among the promi- 
 nent symptoms. Five of the cases terminated fatally, within 
 thirty-six hours. 
 
 The morbid appearances are often of a negative character; 
 no marked evidences of inflammation are present in numer- 
 ous cases ; while in others there are patches of inflammation 
 in the stomach and intestines, with softening of their mucous 
 membrane. In one instance, the vessels of the pia mater 
 were much injected, while there was no redness of the 
 mucous membrane of the stomach. (Ann. d'Hyg., 1836, 
 ii. p. 394.) The lungs have been found deeply congested. 
 
 The alkaloid colchicina occurs in fine, white crystals. It is
 
 336 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 soluble in water, has a feeble alkaline reaction, and a bitter, 
 acrid taste. Its solutions give a white precipitate with tannic 
 acid, a yellow one with chloride of platinum, and a brownish 
 one with iodine. Its best test is nitric acid, which, when con- 
 centrated, produces with it a violet color, changing to blue 
 and brown. The solubility in water distinguishes it from 
 veratria, as also the fact of its not occasioning sneezing, like 
 that substance. It may be procured from organic mixtures, 
 and from the contents of the stomach and organs of the 
 body, by the process of Stas, as described on page 110 (see 
 also STRYCHNIA). Less than half a grain of colchicina has 
 proved fatal. There is no known antidote. The treatment 
 consists in the speedy evacuation of the poison by an emetic 
 (mustard will answer very well), castor oil, with demulcents, 
 opium, and stimulants. 
 
 SAVIN. The tops of the Juniperus sabina abound in a yellow, 
 volatile oil (oil of savin), which maybe obtained by distillation. 
 Both the powder and the oil are employed in medicine; and 
 both possess powerfully irritant properties. 
 
 Savin is seldom, if ever, resorted to directly for its poison- 
 ous properties ; but it is much used popularly for its reputed 
 powers as an abortive: many fatal cases are recorded result- 
 ing from its employment with this view; and in the majority 
 of instances death has resulted from the violence of the in- 
 flammation set up, without the expulsion of the foetus. It 
 is not believed to possess any specific powers as an abortive, 
 the uterine contraction being due to the violent shock upon 
 the system. In cases of poisoning by powdered savin, the 
 latter may be recognized, after death, by microscopic exam- 
 ination of the portions of the leaves found in the stomach or 
 bowels, or of the matters vomited. 
 
 The oil can be recovered by distilling the matters supposed 
 to contain it, and agitating the distillate with one-third of 
 its bulk of ether, in which the oil is completely soluble. It 
 is recognized by its peculiar powerful, terebiuthiuate odor. 
 Nitric acid in the cold slowly imparts to it a dark, red-brown 
 color.
 
 POISONING BY BLACK AND GREEN HELLEBORE. 337 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY BLACK, GREEN, AND WHITE HELLEBORE. 
 
 There are several species of hellebore, but the above- 
 named alone require our attention. 
 
 The root of the black hellebore (Helleborus niger) formerly 
 named Melampodium is sometimes used in medicine. It 
 possesses drastic properties, and produces other powerful 
 irritant effects, such as violent vomiting, pain in the abdo- 
 men, cold sweats, convulsions, insensibility, and death. In 
 the several cases of poisoning by it, reported at different 
 times, the most violent symptoms followed its use, resem- 
 bling the collapse of malignant cholera. The post-mortem 
 lesions were such as follow the most active inflammation. 
 The infusion of the root and leaves, which is a popular remedy 
 in England for worms, has proved fatal in several instances. 
 
 GREEN HELLEBORE ( Veratrum viride. American Hellebore. 
 Indian Poke). This species of hellebore is likewise possessed 
 of very active properties, and has occasioned violent and 
 alarming symptoms, and, in some instances, even fatal results. 
 The tincture of veratrum viride is officinal in the British and 
 United States Pharmacopeias, and is used in medicine as a 
 powerful depressant to the circulation. 
 
 In an instance recorded in the "American Journal of the 
 Medical Sciences," October, 1865, p. 563, two gentlemen 
 swallowed, by mistake, each about a tablespoonful of the 
 fluid extract of veratrum viride. In about half an hour one 
 of the patients was found almost speechless, retching and 
 vomiting incessantly, bathed in profuse cold perspiration, and 
 with a scarcely-perceptible pulse. On the administration of 
 a teaspoonful of laudanum, the vomiting ceased, and he 
 rapidly recovered. In the other case, where no laudanum was 
 administered, the vomiting continued for some hours, with 
 a total loss of speech and of locomotion for some time. A 
 case is also mentioned where an ointment of veratrum viride 
 applied to an ulcer -on the leg, produced vomiting. 
 
 A case of poisoning by the tincture was mentioned to the 
 author by Mr. George Ashmead, a druggist, of Philadelphia.
 
 338 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 A physician, aged seventy-five, of feeble health, had accus- 
 tomed himself to the daily use of the tincture in doses of 
 eight or ten drops. On one occasion he incautiously swal- 
 lowed about fifteen drops of the fluid extract. In about twenty 
 minutes he went into the store and remarked that he had 
 taken an overdose. He swallowed some tincture of ginger 
 and laudanum, after which he vomited and retched severely. 
 His countenance became pale and ghastly; his respiration 
 feeble and labored; his pulse weak and fluttering, and finally 
 could not be felt. He fell back as though dead ; conscious- 
 ness was not lost. Recovery gradually took place under the 
 free use of brandy, carbonate of ammonia, and compound 
 spirit of lavender, together with sinapisms to the feet, spine, 
 and stomach. 
 
 According to M. Oulmont(Bul. Gen. de Ther.,t. Ixxiv. p. 
 145), veratrum viride, although resembling veratrum album 
 in its general sedative effect, differs from the latter in its 
 less intense action on the alimentary canal, and in leaving 
 no post-mortem signs of inflammation in that organ. 
 
 Two active alkaloidal principles exist in this drug, named 
 veratroidia from its resemblance to veratria and viridia, 
 the latter closely resembling, and by some believed to be 
 identical with, the jervina of veratrum album. Veratroidia 
 and viridia were believed by their discoverer, Mr. Charles 
 Bullock, of Philadelphia (Proceed, of Am. Phar. Assoc., 
 1867), to be nearly identical in their relations ; but they have 
 certain distinct properties. The former is soluble in ether ; 
 the latter is not. Veratroidia, although it resembles veratria 
 in causing sneezing, is distinguished from the latter by its 
 higher melting-point, by its producing intense redness in 
 contact with concentrated sulphuric acid, and by not answer- 
 ing to Trapp's test for veratria (see post). 
 
 WHITE HELLEBORE (Veratrum album). This is the most 
 poisonous of all the species of hellebore. The powdered root 
 produces a strong local effect on the system, and causes vio- 
 lent sneezing. Taken internally, it produces a sense of burn- 
 ing heat, and constriction of the mouth and throat, great 
 anxiety, nausea, violent vomiting and purging, pain in the
 
 POISONING BY WHITE HELLEBORE. VERATRIA. 339 
 
 bowels, trembling of the limbs, great prostration, cold sweats, 
 very feeble pulse, followed by giddiness, dilatation of the 
 pupils, convulsions, insensibility, and death. Some instances 
 are recorded in which purging was absent. 
 
 In one case, related by Wibmer, twenty grains of the 
 powdered root caused convulsions and death in three hours ; 
 and in another, a man after eating the root died in six hours. 
 Death was preceded by vomiting of bloody mucus, and by 
 cold sweats. Its external application to the epigastrium has 
 occasioned vomiting, as in the case of the American helle- 
 bore ( V. viride). 
 
 The active principle of white hellebore is the alkaloid 
 veratria, which likewise exists in the Veratrum sabadilla, and in 
 sabadilla or cevadilla the seeds and fruit of Asagrsea officinalis. 
 The precise nature of this active principle is not yet posi- 
 tively settled. Two new alkaloids barytina and jermna 
 were discovered in it by Simon ; and these are believed by 
 Dr. Peugnet to be identical with the veratroidia and viridia 
 of Bullock (N. Y. Med. Record, 1872, p. 121) ; but this is 
 denied by Dr. H. C. Wood (Therapeutics, 1874, p. 141). 
 
 The identity of veratria with the active alkaloid existing 
 in veratrum viride appears to have been established by the 
 researches of Worthington (Jour, of Phil. Col. of Phar., vol. 
 xxix.,p. 204), J. G. Richardson, Prof. S. R. Percy, and G. J. 
 Scattergood (ibid.}. 
 
 Veratria. As found in the shops, this alkaloid is in the 
 form of a nearly colorless powder. It can be crystallized, 
 though with considerable difficulty. It has a very acrid and 
 somewhat bitter taste, followed by a sense of dry ness of the 
 fauces. In its perfectly pure state, it is devoid of bitterness. 
 It occasions violent irritation of the nostrils, causing excess- 
 ive and prolonged sneezing. 
 
 It is insoluble in water, but more or less soluble in alcohol, 
 ether, chloroform, benzole, and amylic alcohol. It has a 
 slightly alkaline reaction, and forms soluble salts with the 
 acids. When heated on porcelain, it darkens and melts into 
 a yellow liquid, blackens and spreads into an abundant car- 
 bonaceous layer. The vapor has a disagreeable, pungent odor, 
 and, when received on a clean dish, deposits detached crys-
 
 340 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 talloids or crystals, described as rhomboidal, but among 
 which several octahedra can be discovered. When heated 
 on platinum-foil, the alkaloid is entirely consumed. (Guy's 
 Foren. Med., p. 618.) 
 
 Effects. As found in the shops, veratria varies much in 
 strength. According to Dr. Wormley, two grains of nearly 
 colorless commercial veratria given in solution to a cat, im- 
 mediately laid it prostrate ; the animal frothed at the mouth, 
 and died in less than a minute after taking the dose. Three 
 grains of the same preparation given to a young dog, caused 
 immediate vomiting and purging, involuntary urination, and 
 great prostration, followed by death in two hours after swal- 
 lowing the dose. Of another sample, two grains were given 
 to two small dogs, each, without producing any appreciable 
 symptoms other than slight prostration. 
 
 On man, veratria is capable of producing very violent ef- 
 fects. Dr. Taylor (On Poisons, p. 510) mentions the case of 
 a lady in whom one-sixteenth of a grain occasioned the most 
 alarming symptoms, such as insensibility, cold surface, failing 
 pulse, and collapse. 
 
 The proper treatment consists in speedy evacuation of the 
 stomach, and the administration of stimulants with lau- 
 danum, or some other preparation of opium. The latter 
 medicine is peculiarly appropriate. Tannin has also been 
 recommended as an antidote. 
 
 The post-mortem lesions are not characteristic. The stomach 
 and bowels have been found inflamed, and sometimes con- 
 tracted. The lungs, liver, and heart have been seen gorged 
 with blood. 
 
 Chemical analysis. The most characteristic test is sulphuric 
 acid. When the pure alkaloid is touched with a drop or two 
 of the concentrated acid, it assumes a yellow color, then a 
 reddish tint, and slowly dissolves to a pinkish solution, which, 
 after several minutes, acquires a deep crimson-red color. 
 These changes are brought about immediately on the appli- 
 cation of heat. Even if the acid be very dilute, this charac- 
 teristic test is brought out, by evaporating to dryness. (See 
 SULPHURIC ACID, ante.) 
 
 The delicacy of this test is such that, according to Worm-
 
 POISONING BY VERATRIA. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 341 
 
 ley, less than one ten-thousandth of a grain can readily be 
 detected by first warming the veratrine deposit, and then 
 adding a drop of the acid, and continuing the heat. 
 
 It has been objected to this test that other substances will 
 give a red color with sulphuric acid, such as solanine, nar- 
 ceine, salicine, piper ine, etc.; but all these substances are im- 
 mediately colored by cold sulphuric acid, whereas veratria 
 requires the lapse of some minutes before it assumes the 
 characteristic crimson-red tint on the application of the cold 
 acid. Moreover, the colors produced with the above-nanied 
 substances and sulphuric acid, under the prolonged applica- 
 tion of heat, are different from the color produced by veratria. 
 
 Trapp's test is asserted to be even more delicate. This con- 
 sists in warming the colorless solution of veratria in concen- 
 trated hydrochloric acid, when a very persistent dark-red 
 color ensues. This test is stated to be especially useful when 
 the veratria is impure. 
 
 Other tests mentioned in the books are chloride of gold, 
 which gives a yellow, amorphous precipitate, soluble in 
 alcohol, also on being heated; iodine in iodide of potassium 
 gives a reddish-brown precipitate, soluble in alcohol; bromine 
 in hydrochloric acid yields a yellow, amorphous deposit, 
 soluble in alcohol, which, on evaporation, leaves it in the 
 form of groups of prismatic crystals; bichromate of potassa 
 throws down a yellow, amorphous precipitate, soluble in 
 strong alcohol; tannic acid throws down a white, flocculeut 
 precipitate. 
 
 In organic mixtures. Veratria may be separated from the 
 contents of the stomach, and from the blood, by a modifica- 
 tion of Stas' process, and the chloroform extract tested by 
 sulphuric acid. Another portion dissolved in water, with a 
 little acetic acid, may be tried with the different liquid tests 
 above mentioned. Dr. Wormiey states that by the sulphuric 
 acid test he was enabled to recognize the presence of veratria 
 in an ounce of the blood of a cat which had been killed in 
 less than one minute by two grains of veratria. This shows 
 the great rapidity with which the poison had entered the 
 circulation. He likewise detected its presence, by means 
 of the same test, in six fluidrachms of the blood of a dog
 
 342 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 which had died in two hours from a dose of three grains of 
 veratria. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 POISONING BY CARBOLIC ACID. 
 
 This substance, in its impure state, is known as creosote. 
 When pure it is in the form of delicate, white, needle-shaped 
 crystals, which are very deliquescent ; they melt at 95 F., 
 and the oily-looking liquid boils and is entirely volatilized 
 at 370. It has a peculiar, powerful odor and taste, which 
 would naturally prevent its being administered as a poison 
 homicidally. It is procured by the fractional distillation of 
 coal-tar, and is extensively used as a disinfectant. It has 
 been the cause of death in several instances. In its concen- 
 trated form it acts as a powerful irritant, both externally and 
 internally, whitening and hardening the skin and mucous 
 membrane, and blunting the cutaneous sensibility. In one 
 instance it is reported to have destroyed life by its external 
 application (Brit. Med. Jour., Oct. 8, 1870). 
 
 A case of poisoning by the external use of carbolic acid is 
 reported in the " Canada MedicalJournal," July, 1870. A man 
 aged eighty years, affected with acute eczema, which almost 
 literally covered his whole body, was treated in the Montreal 
 General Hospital with an ointment consisting of one part of 
 carbolic acid to four of lard, spread upon lint : it was applied 
 over the arms and thighs, and covered with oiled silk. In an 
 hour and a half the man was reported to be dying. lie was 
 found in a profound coma; the pupils firmly contracted; 
 breathing stertorous; pulse weak, rapid, and flickering;" 
 surface of the body livid; extremities cold ; much mucus in 
 the bronchial tubes; inability to swallow, and profound 
 insensibility. By the application of powerful stimulants 
 internally and externally, he at last recovered, after free 
 vomiting. The peculiar odor was distinctly noticed in the 
 vomited matters. Carbolic acid also affects the brain like a 
 narcotic. 
 
 Symptoms. In the concentrated state, it produces a burn- 
 ing sensation in the mouth, throat, O3sophagus, and stomach,
 
 POISONING BY CARBOLIC ACID. TESTS. 343 
 
 in the act of swallowing, in this respect resembling the 
 effects of the strong mineral acids and alkalies. There is 
 violent pain in the abdomen, with vomiting of frothy mucus ; 
 cold and clammy skin; the lips, eyelids, and ears are livid; 
 pulse small and frequent; respiration difficult, with frothing 
 at the mouth. There is a marked odor of carbolic acid per- 
 ceived in the breath, and also in the surrounding atmosphere. 
 The pupils are contracted and insensible to light; general 
 insensibility supervenes, which soon passes into coma, with 
 stertorous breathing. The stools and urine, when passed, 
 have been dark-colored, the latter almost black. 
 
 Post-mortem lesions. The inside of the mouth and throat 
 is whitened, and sometimes corroded ; the gullet is white, 
 hardened, and corrugated; the lining membrane of the 
 stomach has been found much hardened, without the usual 
 signs of inflammation. The lungs have been found deeply 
 congested, and the bronchi tilled with a brown-red, thick 
 mucus. 
 
 Fatal quantity. Dr. Taylor reports the following cases. A 
 woman died from swallowing a wineglassful of carbolic acid, 
 probably a weak, aqueous solution. She did not speak 
 after taking it, and died in about half an hour. (Phar. Jour., 
 July, 1872, p. 75.) A child died at Guy's Hospital in twelve 
 hours after swallowing two teaspooufuls of the ordinary 
 brown liquid carbolic acid. In another case a tablespoonful 
 proved fatal to a young man. In another instance an adult 
 died in fifty minutes after swallowing one or two tablespoon- 
 fuls of the liquid acid. (See Husemann's Jahres., 1872, p. 523.) 
 
 In a case reported in the "Journal de Pharmacie et de 
 Chimie," December, 1871, an unknown quantity of a solution 
 of carbolic acid was swallowed by a man aged thirty-two, in 
 mistake for wine. He was immediately seized with nausea, 
 cold sweat, stupor, and unconsciousness. There were in- 
 sensibility and contraction of the pupil; rapid, stertorous 
 respiration, with trachea! rales; small and frequent pulse; 
 irregular heart-beat; suppression of urine; and death from 
 asphyxia in about nine hours. 
 
 Chemical analysis. The strong, peculiar odor perceptible 
 in the breath and in the matters vomited, as likewise in
 
 344 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the body after death, will generally be sufficient to identify 
 it. It has a slight acid reaction, and forms salts with bases. 
 It is soluble in water and in alcohol, and gives a greasy stain 
 to paper. It imparts a deep-violet color to perchloride of 
 iron, and a bluish tint to ammonia and to hypochlorite of 
 lime. Heated with the addition of cyanide of potassium it 
 gives a red tint. The above are the best chemical tests at 
 present known ; but the peculiar od.or is probably the most 
 reliable criterion of its presence. 
 
 Carbolic acid has been detected in the urine both by the 
 odor and by chemical reagents. The urine should be agi- 
 tated with an excess of pure ether and allowed to stand ; the 
 ethereal layer is then to be removed by a pipette and evap- 
 orated in a glass vessel. A minute oily residue is left, having 
 the physical characters of carbolic acid. This, when dis- 
 solved in water, will yield the above-mentioned chemical 
 reactions. 
 
 As an antidote in carbolic acid poisoning, Dr. T. Husemaim 
 recommends a saturated solution of saccharate of lime. 
 (Neues Jahres. fiir Pharm., Sept., 1871.) 
 
 The root of the Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempernrens), 
 growing in the Southern States, has been found by Dr. 
 Wormley to contain a very powerful, poisonous alkaloid, 
 gelseminia: one-eighth of a grain given hypodermically killed 
 a rabbit in an hour and a half; there were great prostration, 
 inability to move, gasping respiration, dilated pupils, but no 
 convulsions. He also discovered another organic principle 
 gelseminic acid. This is crystalline, and when treated in the 
 solid state with a drop of concentrated nitric acid it becomes 
 .yellow or reddish, according to the quantity employed. When 
 an excess of ammonia is added, it acquires a blood-red color. 
 The solution in potassa is fluorescent, presenting a deep-blue 
 color on the surface. Gelseminic acid was thus detected in 
 the contents of the stomach some mouths after death. (Amer. 
 Jour, of Pharmacy, Jan., 1870.) 
 
 Yellow jessamine has been considerably employed in medi- 
 cine, particularly in the Southern States. Several cases are 
 recorded of fatal results from its administration.
 
 POISONING BY YELLOW JESSAMINE. POISONOUS FUNGI. 345 
 
 Prof. "Wormley has reported a fatal case of a young, 
 healthy married woman, several weeks advanced in preg- 
 nancy, who took three teaspoorifuls of the extract. Two 
 hours afterwards she complained of pain in the stomach, 
 nausea, and dimness of vision. These symptoms were soon 
 succeeded by great restlessness, ineffectual efforts to vomit, 
 and free general perspiration. In about five hours, the pulse 
 was feeble, irregular, and sometimes intermittent; there was 
 great prostration, with irregular breathing and slow respira- 
 tion ; the skin was dry, extremities cold, pupils expanded 
 and insensible to light, the eyes fixed, and inability to raise 
 the lids. Sinking gradually took place without convulsions, 
 and death occurred in about seven and a half hours after 
 the poison had been taken. Judging by comparison with 
 other samples experimented upon, Dr. Wormley estimated 
 that the quantity of the alkaloid gelseminia swallowed could 
 not have exceeded one-sixth of a grain. This would seem to 
 indicate that this alkaloid is one of the most potent poisons 
 known. 
 
 The post-mortem appearances in this case presented nothing 
 peculiar. The membranes and substances of the brain and 
 medulla oblongata were normal; the lungs natural in appear- 
 ance, with the superficial veins congested; the heart normal 
 in size, its superficial veins injected, and its cavities greatly 
 distended with dark, grumous blood, inside of which was 
 found a well-defined membrane, identical in appearance with 
 that found in diphtheria and pseudo-membranous croup; the 
 stomach, intestines, peritoneum, liver, all healthy; the left 
 kidney congested. Dr. Wormley succeeded in detecting both 
 the alkaloid and the peculiar acid (gelseminic) in the con- 
 tents of the stomach (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., April, 1870, p. 
 531); although these had undergone considerable decompo- 
 sition, and the examination was not made for several months 
 after death. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS (FUNGl). 
 
 Among the numerous species of Fungi many are edible, 
 and many are poisonous. In this country and Great Britain
 
 346 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 only a very few species are regarded as wholesome, viz., 
 Agaricus campestris, or common mushroom; Tuber cibarium, 
 or common truffle; and Morchella esculenta, or morelle. In 
 France and Germany, and especially in Russia, a large num- 
 ber of other species are considered wholesome, and, in fact, 
 constitute an important part of the common food of the people. 
 
 The following facts may be regarded as established con- 
 cerning these vegetable products. Certain fungi usually 
 considered noxious become safe after being dried : this is 
 the case, according to Fodere, with the Agaricus piperatus 
 (Med. Leg., iv. 61). Boiling in water has a still more de- 
 cided effect. According to Dr. Pouchet (Jour, de Chim. 
 Med., 1839, p. 322; quoted in Christison on Poisons), the 
 poisonous principle of two of the most deadly fungi, Amanita 
 muscaria and A. venenata, may be completely removed by boil- 
 ing in water. A quart of water in which -five plants had 
 been boiled for fifteen minutes killed a dog in eight hours, 
 and again another in a day ; but the boiled fungi themselves 
 had no effect on two other dogs, and a third which was fed 
 on boiled amanitas for two months actually fattened on this 
 food. From the above facts, it would appear that the poi- 
 sonous principle of these fungi is of a volatile nature, and 
 capable of being dissipated by heat. Climate and cultiva- 
 tion appear also to influence their deleterious properties : 
 thus, according to the same authority, the Agaricus piperatus, 
 the A. acris, and the A. necator, which are considered to be 
 poisonous in Britain and France, are freely eaten in Russia; 
 and the Amanita muscaria, which is regarded even in Russia 
 as violently poisonous, is used in Kamschatka for preparing 
 an intoxicating beverage. 
 
 So, on the other hand, our common edible fungi appear at 
 times to acquire noxious properties in very moist seasons, 
 and towards the close of summer and autumn. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that certain persons cannot eat the 
 most harmless mushrooms without suffering severely from 
 irritation of the stomach and bowels, together with narcotic 
 symptoms. This is, however, dependent on idiosyncrasy: 
 the same thing occurs in reference to other kinds of diet, 
 more particularly certain varieties of n'sh.
 
 POISONING BY MUSHROOMS. SYMPTOMS. 347 
 
 It is impossible to determine, at present, what is the pre- 
 cise character of the poisonous principle of the noxious 
 fungi, or whether this principle is identical in them all. 
 M. Braconnot ascertained that some of them contain a sac- 
 charine matter, others an acrid resin, and others again a 
 volatile acrid principle: they all contain a spongy substance, 
 to which the name fungin has been given. Later, M. Letel- 
 lier discovered in some of the fungi two poisonous princi- 
 ples : one, a very volatile acrid matter, easily removed by 
 boiling and drying, or by weak acids, alkalies, and alcohol ; 
 the other principle more fixed, as it resists heat and the above 
 solvents, but is soluble in water, and is capable of forming 
 crystallizable salts with acids. To this latter substance he 
 attributes the narcotic effects of the fungi. (Arch. Gen. de 
 Med., xi. p. 94.) 
 
 Symptoms. The effects of poisonous mushrooms on man 
 are those of the narcotico-irritants ; that is, they occasion vio- 
 lent vomiting, purging, pain in the abdomen, thirst, anxiety, 
 and cold sweats, together with giddiness, dimness of vision, 
 trembling, staggering as if from intoxication, delirium, dis- 
 position to rave and wander about, illusions, stupor, coma, 
 dilatation of the pupils, and convulsions, especially in fatal 
 cases. 
 
 It is somewhat singular that the very same fungi have acted 
 on some members of a family as irritants merely, and on 
 others as narcotics. Generally speaking, when the narcotic 
 symptoms are the more prominent, they come on very soon 
 after partaking of the noxious variety, within an hour or 
 two; but when the irritant effects are the more evident, often 
 these do not appear for many hours after eating, sometimes 
 later than twenty-four hours; and in these cases narcotism 
 is apt to follow the irritant operation. Orfila (Toxicol., ii. p. 
 433) relates the following interesting case of poisoning of a 
 family of six persons by the Amanita citrina. The wife, the 
 servant, and one of the children had vomiting, followed by 
 deep stupor; but they recovered. The husband had violent 
 cholera; he recovered also. The two other children became 
 profoundly lethargic and comatose; emetics had no effect, 
 and death soon ensued. The individuals who recovered
 
 348 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 were not completely well till three weeks after the fatal re- 
 past. Dr. Taylor relates a similar result from the same poi- 
 sonous fungus (Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 1873, p. 231). The 
 above cases show the tendency of the poisonous fungi to 
 cause in one person pure irritation, and in another pure 
 narcotism. 
 
 The morbid appearances that have been observed in persons 
 thus poisoned are imperfectly described. The body is gen- 
 erally livid; the blood fluid; cadaveric rigidity is absent; 
 there are numerous ecchymoses in the serous membranes 
 and the parenchymatous organs; decomposition of the tis- 
 sues; signs of violent, and even gangrenous, inflammation of 
 the stomach, and congestion of the cerebral vessels. 
 
 The only medico-legal interest connected with this subject is 
 in the fact that the symptoms occasioned by eating poisonous 
 fungi might be attributed to some other poison, homicidally 
 administered. A microscopic examination of the contents 
 of the stomach and bowels will usually reveal the botanical 
 character of the fragments of the fungi, if the poisoning has 
 been due to them. Sir R. Christison (On Poisons, p. 929) 
 mentions a remarkable case, which shows how easily criminal 
 poisoning might be accomplished by mingling arsenic, for 
 example, with some of the noxious fungi, eaten at a meal. 
 A servant-girl poisoned her mistress by mixing arsenic with 
 a dish of mushrooms. She died in twenty-four hours, after 
 suffering severely from vomiting and colicky pains. Dissec- 
 tion revealed inflammation of the stomach, with gangrenous 
 spots, clots of blood, and redness of the intestines. The death 
 was, however, ascribed to the unwholesome mushrooms; 
 and the real cause was not discovered till thirteen years 
 afterwards, when the culprit confessed the crime. 
 
 (For an excellent and full description of the Medicinal 
 and Toxicological Properties of the Cryptogamic Plants of 
 the United States, consult Dr. F. Peyre Porcher's Essay, in 
 Trans, of the American Association, vol. vii. See also Orh'la 
 and Christisou, on the subject of Poisonous Fungi.)
 
 POISONING BY CANTHARIDES. 349 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 ANIMAL IRRITANTS. 
 
 CANTHARIDES. POISONOUS ANIMAL FOOD. SAUSAGE-POISON. TRICHINIASIS. 
 CHEKSK-POISON. POISONOUS FISH. MUSSELS. PUTRESCENT FOOD. POI- 
 SONED FLESH. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY CANTHARIDES. 
 
 THE Cantharis vesicatoria, or Spanish fly, is much used in 
 medicine, externally as a vesicant, and also sometimes inter- 
 nally. In overdoses it is capable of producing very violent, 
 and even fatal, effects, by its powerful irritant action on 
 the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, and on the genito- 
 urinary organs; and in fatal cases, causing decided cerebral 
 symptoms. The fly owes its active properties to a peculiar 
 crystalline principle termed cantkaridin, which exists in the 
 proportion of about one grain to half an ounce of the powder. 
 (Guy's Forensic Med., p. 631.) 
 
 The Spanish fly is distinguished by the shining, golden- 
 green color of the head, legs, and wing-cases. It is kept in 
 the shops in the form of powder, tincture, liniment, and plas- 
 ter. The powder and plaster are readily identified by the 
 numerous shining, golden-green particles which they contain. 
 Prof. Guy (loc. tit) recommends a very simple mode of dis- 
 tinguishing the powder, namely, by heat. A very minute 
 portion even the one-thousandth of a grain is placed on 
 a flat porcelain slab (a small crucible-lid reversed answers 
 well), within a ring of glass, and a glass disk is laid over it. 
 On raising the temperature to about 212 F., a white subli- 
 mate appears on the glass disk; and when this is examined 
 by the microscope, it is found to consist of crystals of canthari- 
 din. If the sublimate be amorphous, or not distinctly crystal- 
 line, it should be dissolved in a few drops of ether, which, 
 on evaporation, will deposit it in the crystalline form. 
 
 Symptoms, When taken in the dose of two or three 
 drachms of the powder, or of one or two ounces of the tincture, 
 
 23
 
 350 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 cantharides occasion a burning sensation in the mouth and 
 throat, great difficulty of swallowing, with a sense of con- 
 striction. This sensation speedily extends to the gullet and 
 stomach, and is succeeded by violent pain in the abdomen, 
 increased by pressure. There are nausea and vomiting of 
 bloody mucus and shreds of membrane, along with great 
 thirst and dryness of the fauces. Very soon the character- 
 istic impression on the genito-urinary organs displays itself; 
 there is a heavy, dull pain in the loins, an urgent and inces- 
 sant desire to urinate, which is attended with great pain and 
 the voiding of merely a few drops of bloody urine, accom- 
 panied with tenesmus. Priapism frequently occurs in males, 
 with occasional satyriasis and seminal emissions ; and swell- 
 ing and heat of the labia in women, together with abortion, 
 in the pregnant condition. 
 
 It has been stated that the female genital organs are fre- 
 quently attacked with gangrene, even in cases where no 
 sexual excitement has been manifested. (Wharton and Stille, 
 Med. Jurisp., 1873, ii. p. 474.) 
 
 Purging generally supervenes, the matters discharged being 
 mixed with blood and mucus, and accompanied with tenes- 
 mus. A careful inspection of the discharges from the stom- 
 ach and bowels will generally reveal the shining green 
 particles already alluded to, if the poison has been swallowed 
 in the form of powder. Sometimes profuse salivation occurs ; 
 and in fatal cases death is preceded by faintuess, giddiness, 
 and convulsions. Cantharides have the popular reputation 
 of possessing aphrodisiac properties ; and they have been fre- 
 quently administered with the view of exciting the sexual 
 passions, and sometimes with serious, and even fatal, con- 
 sequences. 
 
 When the tincture has been taken, the symptoms come on 
 more rapidly ; and the burning and constriction of the mouth 
 and throat, together with the difficulty of swallowing, are 
 more strongly marked. 
 
 All the above symptoms, even to the fatal result, have been 
 produced by the external application of this poison. The 
 painful effect on the genito-urinary organs, termed straitg'/ry, 
 occasioned in many persons by the application of an ordinary
 
 POISONING BY CANTHARIDES. LESIONS. 351 
 
 fly-blister, is familiar to every physician. Dr. Taylor (On 
 Poisons, p. 513) mentions the case of a young girl who was 
 killed by the external application of a blistering ointment, 
 that was rubbed over her whole body in mistake for sul- 
 phur ointment, which had been prescribed for the itch. Al- 
 though the ointment was washed off', the cuticle came off 
 with it, and the girl died in five days with the symptoms 
 above described. Guibourt has reported a case of a young 
 man suffering from pleurisy, who had a large blister applied 
 to his side : the result was violent irritation of the urinary 
 passages, followed by collapse and death. (L'Abeille Med., 
 xv. 153.) 
 
 Fatal quantity. The medicinal dose of cantharides is one 
 to two grains of the powder, and ten to thirty drops of the 
 tincture, gradually increased until slight symptoms of stran- 
 gury are produced. But, as the powdered flies speedily 
 deteriorate, it frequently happens that all the preparations 
 of cantharides, as found in the shops, are nearly, if not quite, 
 destitute of active properties, a circumstance that will ac- 
 count for the large quantities that have been taken without 
 producing serious results. The smallest quantity of the 
 powder that has destroyed life is recorded by Orfila, in the 
 case of a young woman, who aborted and died in four days 
 after taking twenty-four grains in two doses. In this instance, 
 however, the death may have been indirectly due to the 
 abortion. An ounce of the tincture occasioned death in four- 
 teen days, in a boy aged seventeen years. 
 
 Treatment. There is no antidote to this poison. It should 
 be removed as speedily as possible from the system by the 
 free use of emetics and cathartics. Opium, in the form of 
 enema or suppository, is especially advantageous for relieving 
 the painful strangury; and likewise the free use of demul- 
 cent drinks. Leeches, and other applications to the abdomen, 
 may be required. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. The whole alimentary canal has 
 been found in a state of violent inflammation. The lining 
 membrane of the mouth and throat has been completely de- 
 stroyed. In one case, in which life was prolonged for four- 
 teen days, the mucous membrane of the stomach was not in-
 
 352 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 flamed, but it was pulpy, and easily detached. Generally, the 
 ureters, kidneys, and bladder are more or less inflamed. The 
 brain has been found congested. The most satisfactory post- 
 mortem evidence of the nature of the poison is the presence of 
 the green, metallic-looking points scattered over the gastro- 
 intestinal mucous membrane. These may often be recognized 
 by the naked eye, and always by the aid of a good lens. The 
 suspected liquids, after being mixed with alcohol, may be 
 suffered to evaporate on a plate of glass, which will enable 
 the observer to identify the shining-colored particles, when 
 dry. Or, the stomach and intestines may be inflated and 
 dried, after which, on cutting them open and examining 
 them upon a flat surface, the shining points maybe observed 
 closely adherent to the mucous membrane. 
 
 According to Orfila, the powder is not affected by putre- 
 faction, it having been recognized nine months after death. 
 If, however, the tincture has been taken, then, of course, this 
 physical examination would be impracticable. In this case 
 it would be necessary to endeavor to procure the evidence of 
 cantharidin, by the means to be presently described. 
 
 Chemical analysis. The powder is to be identified in the 
 manner above pointed out. If this cannot be done, the sus- 
 pected solids and liquids should be dried and digested in 
 successive portions of ether until exhausted. This will dis- 
 solve out the cantharidin. The ethereal solution is to be 
 evaporated to an extract, and some of the latter, spread upon 
 oiled silk, should be applied on the lips, or on a thin portion 
 of the skin of the arm, when the resulting vesication would 
 denote the presence of cantharidin. Chloroform may be 
 used in the place of ether. 
 
 Cantharidin occurs in colorless crystalline plates, of vari- 
 ous forms and thickness. It may be identified by the action 
 of heat (212 F.), causing it to sublime in crystals, as before 
 described (ante, p. 349). Again, the negative action of both 
 sulphuric and nitric acids upon it serves to distinguish it from 
 all the poisonous alkaloids or neutral principles. Further, 
 its vesicant property will serve to identify it. The one- 
 hundredth of a grain, dissolved in ether, is said to possess 
 vesicating powers.
 
 SAUSAGE-POISON. TRICHINIASIS. 353 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONOUS ANIMAL FOOD. SAUSAGE-POISON. TRICHINIASIS. CHEESE- 
 POISON. 
 
 It occasionally happens that certain kinds of animal food 
 will produce violent symptoms in persons partaking of it, 
 resembling those of an irritant poison. Sometimes this effect 
 can be explained by an idiosyncrasy of the patient ; but where 
 several persons partaking of the same food are simultaneously 
 affected with the same symptoms, such an explanation will 
 not suffice, and the cause must be referred to some noxious 
 agent, either introduced from without, or else inherent in the 
 food itself. Such cases may readily come within the scope 
 of a medico-legal inquiry, as the symptoms might very natu- 
 rally be referred to the effect of an irritant poison adminis- 
 tered with criminal intent. 
 
 The articles of food that have been the most frequent 
 sources of irritant poisoning are sausages, cheese, diseased 
 pork, certain shell-fish, especially mussels, poisoned flesh, 
 and diseased or putrefying flesh. 
 
 SAUSAGE-POISON. The precise nature of this animal poison 
 has never been determined. It is of an acrid, narcotic nature, 
 and produces very alarming symptoms, which may result 
 fatally. They are usually slow in appearing, several days 
 elapsing before they are developed. It is chiefly in Germany, 
 where the sausages, after being cured and dried, are generally 
 eaten uncooked, that the most formidable cases occur. Ac- 
 cording to some authorities, the poisonous principle is the 
 result of a partial decomposition or putrefaction, determining 
 the production of a peculiar fatty acid, named by Buchner 
 botulinic acid. This is a non-volatile product, soluble in alco- 
 hol, insoluble in water, having a peculiar nauseous odor and 
 disagreeable, oleaginous taste, followed by an extraordinary 
 dryness of the throat for several hours. It proved fatally 
 poisonous to dogs in the course of a few days. Physicians 
 and physiologists of the present day are disposed to attribute 
 the formidable effects of sausage-poison to a certain species 
 of eutozoon named trichina sinralis, which especially infests the
 
 354 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 muscles of the pig ; and which, when the pork is eaten by 
 man, unless it has been thoroughly cooked by being exposed 
 for a long time to a temperature above 212 F., very soon 
 penetrates the muscular coat of the intestines, and thence 
 spreads through the muscles generally. It has been ascer- 
 tained by repeated researches that the trichina is a vivipa- 
 rous parasite, which passes the greater part of its existence in 
 the chrysalis state in the muscles of the pig. They appear 
 as small, ovoid bodies, or capsules, resembling white specks, 
 to the naked eye, but distinctly perceptible by means of a 
 magnifier. They are often so numerous as to give the flesh a 
 speckled appearance. There can be no doubt that much of 
 what is termed measly pork is really of a trichinous nature. 
 According to Dr. Keller, as many as three hundred thousand 
 have been counted in half a pound of raw meat. When this 
 flesh is eaten as food, the parasite finds in the human stomach 
 a proper medium for its full development into a worm. The 
 period of incubation in the stomach and bowels of man or 
 of warm-blooded animals, is from six to eight days; and 
 during this time it there thrives and propagates to an almost 
 incredible extent. Dr. Keller states that in three or four 
 days a single female produces one hundred or more young 
 ones, which begin in the sixth day to leave the parent ani- 
 mal; and he estimates that in a few days after eating half a 
 pound of infected meat, the stomach and intestines may 
 contain thirty millions of these worms. 
 
 When once introduced into the alimentary canal, these 
 worms leave their capsules, produce young which migrate 
 through the walls of the intestines into the various muscles 
 of the body, where they become encysted in new capsules 
 formed at the expense and by the destruction of the mus- 
 cular tissue. The sudden liberation of a multitude of these 
 parasites produces the characteristic irritation of the bowels, 
 and the subsequent loss of muscular power, so generally wit- 
 nessed in the disease. 
 
 The symptoms of trichiniasis usually manifest themselves 
 within a few days after the iugestion of the diseased meat. 
 There is first loss of appetite, pain in the bowels, purging, 
 sickness, prostration, swelling of the eyelids and joints, pro-
 
 POISONING BY CHEESE. 355 
 
 fuse, clammy perspiration, and fever of a typhoid character. 
 Death results either from paralysis, or from peritonitis and 
 irritative fever. No mode of medical treatment has availed 
 to arrest the disease, when it is once established in the system. 
 It might readily happen that the symptoms above described 
 might be attributed to slow poisoning by one of the mineral 
 irritants: hence the importance of a proper understanding 
 of this subjection medico-legal grounds. A careful micro- 
 scopic examination of the suspected food, and, in case of 
 death, of a piece of the muscle, will reveal the true parasitic 
 cause of the disorder. (For a full account of trichiniasis, see 
 paper by Dr. Keller, of Darmstadt, also Dr. Liicke's paper, 
 in Casper's Yierteljahr., 1864, No. 1, p. 103, and No. 2, p. 
 269 ; also, Dr. Dalton's paper, in N. Y. Med. Record, April 1, 
 1869; also, Chicago Med. Jour., Aug., 1866; and Canada 
 Med. Jour., 1870-1.) 
 
 CHEESE-POISON. The symptoms which occasionally result 
 from eating cheese strongly resemble those of an irritant 
 poison. What is the precise nature of the noxious material 
 in the cheese, has never been positively determined. In 
 some instances, where a number of persons have suffered 
 from severe cholera morbus after partaking of cheese, it has 
 been impossible to discover any injurious substance, either 
 of an inorganic or organic nature, on the most careful analy- 
 sis. In other instances, the morbific cause has been traced 
 to a chemical change arising from an imperfect fermentation 
 of the curd, whereby certain new products of an irritant 
 quality are generated. These are believed by Hiinefeld and 
 Sertiirner to be analogous to, if not identical with, caseic and 
 sebacic acids. In the process of fermentation in cheese- 
 making, there is a gradual conversion of the casein into the 
 caseate of ammonia, which, in some cheese, is always united 
 with excess of alkali. But if the fermentation has been too 
 much hastened, or allowed to go too far, a considerable ex- 
 cess of caseic acid is formed, as well as some sebacic acid. 
 According to Braconnot, the caseic acid of Proust is only 
 a modification of acetic acid and an acrid oil. It is certain 
 that such an oil can be extracted from the poisonous cheese 
 by means of ether.
 
 356 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 According to Hiinefeld, the injurious cheese is yellowish- 
 red, soft, and tough, with harder and darker lumps inter- 
 spersed; it has a disagreeable taste, reddens litmus, and 
 becomes flesh-red, instead of lemon-yellow, under the action 
 of nitric acid. The instances of cheese-poisoning are much 
 more common in Germany than in either England or the 
 United States. 
 
 The symptoms, as they appear in man, are very similar to 
 those caused by sausage-poisoning: they usually come on 
 within a few hours after the cheese is eaten. These have 
 sometimes been attributed, erroneously, to the accidental 
 impregnation of the milk by copper; and sometimes they have 
 been traced to noxious vegetables eaten by the cows. (See 
 Christison on Poisons, pp. 641-2.) 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 POISONOUS FISH. MUSSELS. 
 
 Many kinds of fish prove poisonous, i.e. they excite severe 
 gastro-intestinal symptoms, resembling cholera morbus, in 
 certain persons. This may depend either on idiosyncrasy in 
 the patient, or on some peculiar, undiscovered organic change 
 that has taken place in the food itself. Sir R. Christison con- 
 siders "the subject of fish-poisoning to be one of the most 
 singular in the whole range of toxicology ; and none is at 
 present veiled in so great obscurity." (On Poisons, p. 618.) 
 
 Among the shell-fish which are commonly nutritive but 
 which sometimes acquire poisonous properties, the common 
 mussel is the most conspicuous. In many parts of Europe, 
 this shell-fish is used considerably as a common article of 
 food ; but on various occasions, without the possibility of 
 being able to ascribe it to any definite or rational cause, it 
 has occasioned the most violent and alarming symptoms, 
 which have not unfrequently resulted in death. 
 
 The effects produced by eating poisonous mussels are not 
 uniform. Sometimes they are those of a simple irritant, 
 occasioning nausea, vomiting, pain in the stomach, purging, 
 cramps, and a small, quick pulse. The fatal cases disclosed, 
 on post-mortem examination, evident signs of inflammation.
 
 POISONING BY MUSSELS. SYMPTOMS. 357 
 
 In other instances the gastro-enteric symptoms have been 
 slight, while the constitutional disturbance has been more 
 marked, the most conspicuous symptoms being a peculiar 
 eruption like nettle-rash, and a violent asthma. Other cases, 
 again, have been attended with dyspnrea, lividity of the face, 
 delirium, insensibility and convulsive movements of the ex- 
 tremities, and coma. As a rule, the symptoms do not come 
 on until about twenty-four hours ; but in some exceptional 
 instances they have made their appearance within a few 
 minutes. Most of the cases appear to have recovered under 
 the use of emetics. In most of the fatal cases, no appearance 
 was discovered after death to account for the result. 
 
 The following cases are referred to by Dr. Taylor (Med. 
 Jurisp., 1873, vol. i. p. 339). A woman picked up some mussels 
 which she found at the bottom of the basin of a ship-canal. 
 She distributed them among her neighbors, and during the 
 night twenty-one persons who had eaten them were attacked 
 with symptoms of poisoning. Three children died, and six 
 persons were placed in imminent peril ; the rest were soon out 
 of danger. In October, 1862, an accident occurred at Liver- 
 pool, in which a woman died in about four hours after eating 
 mussels that had been taken from a ship in the docks. Severe 
 pain and vomiting were among the symptoms, which gen- 
 erally resembled those of arsenic-poisoning. Several other 
 persons were made seriously ill, but recovered. 
 
 As to the cause of the noxious properties in mussels, vari- 
 ous opinions and speculations have been formed. It has 
 been vulgarly ascribed to the presence of copper, which has 
 been supposed to have been received from the copper sheath- 
 ing on the bottoms of ships. This idea is, however, unten- 
 able, since chemical analysis has failed to detect the presence 
 of this metal in the majority of the cases. Another theory 
 refers the cause to putrefaction ; but this cannot be sustained, 
 inasmuch as in nearly all the cases reported the mussels 
 were perfectly fresh. Still another theory ascribes the poi- 
 sonous principle to some disease of the fish; though no one 
 has yet been able to determine what this disease is. Neither 
 does the locality where the mussel has been found throw 
 any light upon the subject, since some have been attached
 
 358 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 to wooden logs, some to rocks, and some to the stones of a 
 dock. Nevertheless, according to Dr. Combe's description 
 of the poisoning at Leith, every person who- ate of the mus- 
 sels taken from a particular spot were more or less severely 
 affected; and in this last instance certain animals suffered 
 as much as man, a cat and a dog having been killed by eat- 
 ing the mussels. From what has been said, it is evident 
 that the poisonous effects must be due to some peculiar ani- 
 mal principle, either generated, or developed under unknown 
 conditions. Other shell-fish besides mussels have occasion- 
 ally given rise to similar symptoms. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 POISONING BY PTTTRESCENT FOOD. UNSOUND MEAT. 
 
 The effects resulting from eating meat that has undergone 
 putrefaction must not be confounded with those caused by 
 a diseased condition of the animal. The meat of the most 
 healthy animal after it has become putrescent is poisonous 
 to man. It not only produces, in common with the flesh of 
 diseased animals, symptoms of irritant poisoning, but also, 
 in addition, those of a typhoid character, or septicaemia, indi- 
 cating a true blood-poisoning. The general symptoms arising 
 from partaking of such food strongly resemble those of some 
 of the irritant mineral poisons, and might readily give rise 
 to the suspicion of such poisoning. There are vomiting and 
 purging, giddiness, heat of the throat, general numbness, 
 with redness of the eyes. The early vomiting that is excited 
 usually seems to expel the noxious substance from the sys- 
 tem. In the matters vomited, the presence of sulphuretted 
 hydrogen can readily be detected. The tendency of putre- 
 faction to impart deleterious qualities to animal matters 
 originally wholesome, has long been known. To those not 
 accustomed to the use of tainted meat, the very commence- 
 ment of decay is enough to render it disgusting to the taste, 
 and highly irritating to the stomach and bowels. The game 
 that has been kept long enough to delight the taste of the 
 epicure, has produced a severe cholera in persons not accus- 
 tomed to its use.
 
 POISONING BY DECAYED MEATS. 359 
 
 Putrid animal matter, when injected into the blood, proves 
 quickly fatal, after causing typhoid symptoms. It is well 
 known that the putrid animal matter of the dissecting-room 
 entering the blood through an abrasion of the skin, causes 
 the most alarming symptoms, which often terminate fatally. 
 There is extensive local inflammation of the veins and ab- 
 sorbents, together with diffusive cellular inflammation, and 
 great constitutional fever of a low character. 
 
 Even the emanations of decaying animal matter have proved 
 fatal to dogs that were made constantly to breathe the exha- 
 lations; and doubtless similar effects would be produced on 
 man, if exposed to the like noxious influences. It is highly 
 probable that certain low fevers, very similar in their symp- 
 toms and general history to typhoid fever, may be excited 
 by constantly breathing an atmosphere tainted by the impure 
 emanations arising from decaying animal matters, as, for ex- 
 ample, from privies. Yet, on the other hand, as if to refute 
 the idea of the emanations from putrefying animal matter 
 being unwholesome, we are pointed to the famous establish- 
 ment at Montfaucon, close by Paris, where the contents of 
 the city privies are collected, along with thousands of bodies 
 of horses, dogs, and cats; the whole decomposing together, 
 and giving rise to a stench perfectly insupportable to the 
 uninitiated; and yet the workmen and their families appear 
 actually to thrive upon these exhalations, since they are stout, 
 healthy, and long-lived. 
 
 Sir R. Christison cites an instructive instance of the poi- 
 sonous effects resulting from eating decayed flesh. Four 
 adults and ten children partook of a stew made from meat 
 taken from a dead calf that had been found on the sea-shore. 
 After the lapse of three hours, they were all seized with pain 
 in the stomach, efforts to vomit, purging, and lividity of the 
 face, succeeded by a soporose condition, like the stupor caused 
 by opium, except that when roused the patient had a pecu- 
 liar wild expression. One person died comatose in six hours ; 
 the rest eventually recovered, after free purging and vomit- 
 ing ; but they required the most powerful stimulants to 
 counteract the exhaustion and collapse which followed the 
 stupor (On Poisons, p. 647). The conjecture is thrown out
 
 360 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 that, in consequence of the animal having long lain in the 
 water, an adipocerous degeneration had commenced, and that 
 in the course of the putrefaction some poisonous principle, 
 like that of cheese or of German sausage, had been devel- 
 oped (ibid.). 
 
 M. Lassaigne has examined chemically the putrid matter 
 formed by keeping flesh in close vessels, and has found it to 
 consist of carbonate of ammonia, much caseate of ammonia, 
 and a fetid volatile oil, the last of which is probably the 
 poisonous ingredient (ibid.). 
 
 POISONED MEAT. The cases above considered are alto- 
 gether different from those in which the flesh of an animal 
 which has been previously poisoned by arsenic, strychnia, or 
 some other substance, has been the cause of the poisoning 
 in man. Birds may thus become poisoned by feeding on 
 grain that has been steeped in a solution of arsenic previous 
 to sowing. In some of these cases, where the game has 
 been kept for any length of time, it may be a question 
 whether the poisoning is to be ascribed to the noxious sub- 
 stance fed upon, that has impregnated the flesh of the animal, 
 the latter being in a perfectly sound condition, or to the re- 
 sults of a putrefactive change. It is quite certain that the 
 body of an animal may become the vehicle or medium for 
 conveying a poison to another, which has proved wholly in- 
 nocuous to itself (see ante, p. 86). Frequent cases of poison- 
 ing have occurred in this country from eating the flesh of the 
 common pheasant (Tetrao umbellus) during the winter season. 
 This is usually ascribed to the birds having eaten the leaves 
 and buds of the laurel (Kalmia): these have been found in the 
 crops of the birds. But, as the symptoms are almost iden- 
 tical with those caused by putresceut food, it would not, 
 probably, be entirely safe to insist upon the former reason.
 
 NARCOTICS. POISONING BY OPIUM. 361 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CLASS II. 
 NEUROTIC POISONS. 
 
 THIS Class embraces the second general division of poisons, 
 viz., those whose effects are displayed chiefly on the great 
 nerve-centres. It includes the narcotics proper, or such as in- 
 fluence the brain primarily; the spinants, or those that affect 
 the spinal cord ; and the cerebro-spinants, or those whose im- 
 pression is directed to both these nervous centres. The most 
 prominent symptoms are drowsiness, headache, giddiness, 
 stupor, delirium, convulsions of various kinds, and paralysis. 
 These all point unmistakably to the brain and spinal marrow 
 as the organs affected. This class of poisons produces 
 little, if any, local irritant impression on the stomach and 
 bowels, in which respect they differ totally from those already 
 considered under the first class the Irritants. The morbid 
 appearances are by no means well marked, or characteristic. 
 A fullness of the vessels of the brain and its membranes, 
 with, rarely, effusion of serum, and still more rarely of blood, 
 is, for the most part, all that can be distinguished; and as 
 these very lesions are common as the results of various cere- 
 bral diseases, it follows that it is impossible to diagnosticate 
 the case as one of neurotic poisoning by these lesions exclu- 
 sively. This Class, for the sake of convenience of reference, 
 will be considered under several Orders and Subdivisions. 
 
 ORDER L CEREBRAL NEUROTICS. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 HARCOTICS. 
 POISONING BY OPIUM. MORPHIA. 
 
 Opium and its preparations constitute the most frequent 
 of all the causes of poisoning, both in this country and Great 
 Britain. In the latter, according to Dr. Taylor, three-fourths 
 of all the deaths by opium take place among children under
 
 362 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 five years of age. This, however, forms but a small propor- 
 tion of the total number of cases, since there is no other kind 
 of poisoning wherein recoveries are so frequent. 
 
 Opium is a vegetable extract, the inspissated juice of the 
 unripe capsules of the Papaver somniferum, or white poppy. 
 Its odor is strong and peculiar; its taste, bitter and narcotic. 
 It imparts its virtues to water and alcohol. It has a very 
 complex composition, which, moreover, differs somewhat in 
 the several commercial varieties. Along with gum, resin, 
 coloring-matter, and inorganic substances, it contains .nu- 
 merous crystallizable organic bodies, the most important of 
 which are morphia, narcotina, codeia, narceine,meconin or opianyl, 
 and a peculiar acid, the meconic. Of these, the most im- 
 portant and interesting in a medico-legal point of view are 
 morphia and meconic acid. In fact, in a medico-legal inquiry 
 in a case of opium-poisoning, it is to the detection and identi- 
 fication of these two substances that the chemical analysis is 
 directed. 
 
 As the poisonous properties of opium depend chiefly on 
 the contained morphia, it is well to remember that the amount 
 of this alkaloid varies considerably in different specimens of 
 the drug, from two per cent, (in Bengal opium) to six or 
 eight per cent, (average in ordinary Smyrna opium). In the 
 latter variety the quantity varies from three per cent, to over 
 thirteen per cent. This variation in the proportion of the 
 active principle will satisfactorily account for the discrepancy 
 resulting in the effects produced by similar doses of the prep- 
 arations of opium. This is especially noticeable in Lauda- 
 num, which is the ordinary tincture of opium. "When this 
 preparation is made according to the officinal formula, each 
 fluidrachm should represent about five grains of opium, 
 which is equivalent to one grain for twenty-five drops. But 
 the strength of this tincture is, of course, much influenced both 
 by the quality of the opium and by the strength of the spirit 
 used, and also by the period of maceration ; consequently, 
 the laudanum of the shops varies greatly in its strength. 
 
 The other preparations of opium in common use as medi- 
 cines are the Camphorated Tincture, or Paregoric Elixir, which 
 contains two grains of opium to the fluidounce; Acetum Opii,
 
 POISONING BY OPIUM. SYMPTOMS. 363 
 
 made to take the place of the old Black Drop, which is 
 about double the strength of laudanum ; Wine of Opium 
 (Sydenham's Laudanum), which is about the strength of laud- 
 anum ; Battley's Sedative Solution, which is of unequal strength, 
 but is more active than laudanum ; Dover's Powder, which 
 contains one grain of opium in every ten ; Aromatic Powder, 
 which contains one grain of opium in fort} 7 ; the Compound 
 Kino Powder, which contains one grain in twenty ; and some 
 others of less importance. The Extract may be regarded as 
 a very pure form of opium ; it contains a larger proportion 
 of morphia : three grains are usually considered as equiva- 
 lent to five of the crude drug. The medicinal dose of opium 
 is from one to three grains. 
 
 Symptoms. These vary considerably, according to the size 
 of the dose. If opium be taken in a full but not poisonous 
 dose, there is at first a period of general excitement of the 
 whole system, as evidenced by an increase of the force and 
 frequency of the circulation, a warm skin, flushed face, and 
 brilliancy of the eye; also increased activity of the brain, as 
 denoted by a more vivid imagination and greater loquacity. 
 This soon gives place to a period of calm repose ; which in 
 its turn is succeeded by the soporific stage, the patient falling 
 into a profound sleep, which lasts for several hours, during 
 which there is general relaxation of the system. In propor- 
 tion as the amount of opium is increased, the first period of 
 excitement or exhilaration is diminished; so that when the 
 dose is sufficiently large to produce death, this first stage 
 may not be perceived at all, but the more characteristic 
 soporific effects will manifest themselves very early. In such 
 a case, there will be dizziness, drowsiness, rapidly passing 
 into deep sleep or stupor, from which there is difficulty in 
 arousing the patient: this stupor gradually passes into com- 
 plete insensibility. The profound stupor not preceded by 
 delirium is characteristic of opium-poisoning. When under 
 its full influence, the patient lies in a deep lethargy ; the eyes 
 are closed; the pupils most generally contracted, and insen- 
 sible to light; the pulse full and slow; respiration slow and 
 stertorous; the skin warm; and the face rather flushed. As 
 the case advances, the countenance becomes pale and ghastly;
 
 364 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the lips livid; the skin cold and clammy; the respiration 
 very slow, sometimes, as we have noticed, amounting to 
 only five or six in a minute ; the muscles are relaxed ; the 
 lower jaw drops ; the pulse becomes feeble, and scarcely per- 
 ceptible ; the sphincters relax, and sometimes convulsions 
 occur just before death ; these, however, are more common 
 in children than in adults. Sometimes there is vomiting, 
 and even purging; and if free vomiting takes place early, 
 there is a good hope of recovery. This symptom is generally 
 observed when a very large dose has been taken. In some 
 cases during the comatose state the skin, though cool, is 
 bathed in a profuse perspiration. If recovery occurs, there 
 are nausea and vomiting, with more or less headache, to- 
 gether with a general itching of the skin. 
 
 Opium has the property of diminishing all the secretions, 
 with the exception of that of the skin, which it tends to 
 increase : hence the copious perspiration generally observed 
 in cases of poisoning by this drug. 
 
 There are occasional variations in the symptoms which 
 deserve attention. The pupils are sometimes dilated instead 
 of being contracted : this is more apt to occur in the advanced 
 stage of the case. Occasionally one pupil may be contracted 
 and the other dilated. Dr. Taylor alludes to a case of this 
 kind (On Poisons, p. 520). The reflex function is active and 
 easily excited, although the general insensibility is complete. 
 The pulse is sometimes quite natural; but towards the fatal 
 termination it becomes small, frequent, and irregular; severe 
 tetanic spasms, with difficulty of swallowing, and partial opis- 
 thotouos symptoms strongly resembling those of strych- 
 nia have been noticed in a case of poisoning by acetate of 
 morphia (Med. Times and Gaz., March 7, 1857). In some 
 instances there has been a remarkable absence of all narcotic 
 symptoms, with sudden death ; and in others, a long post- 
 ponement of the symptoms, together with a partial recovery 
 and a fatal relapse. 
 
 The contracted state of the pupils, which is generally 
 regarded as a diagnostic sign of opium-poisoning, may like- 
 wise unquestionably result from disease. Mr. Wilks alludes 
 to the fact that in apoplexy which is seated in the pous
 
 POISONING BY OPIUM. FATAL PERIOD. 365 
 
 Varolii the pupils are also contracted. He describes two 
 cases of this form of apoplexy which were mistaken for 
 poisoning by opium in consequence of this condition of the 
 pupils (Med. Times and Gaz., 1863, i. p. 214). 
 
 First appearance of symptoms. This depends, in some de- 
 gree, on the condition of the stomach at the time, whether 
 full or empty, and also on the amount and the form of the 
 narcotic as swallowed, whether liquid or solid. When in 
 large quantity, and in the fluid state, the poison may begin 
 to act in a few minutes, and coma may be fully established 
 in half an hour. As a general rule, the symptoms usually 
 commence in an adult within an hour after swallowing the 
 poison ; but there is considerable variety in this respect. 
 Thus, in a case quoted by Dr. Taylor, the patient was found 
 totally insensible in fifteen minutes. "We have more than once 
 witnessed profound sleep produced within five minutes, in 
 a patient suffering from violent pain, from the hypodermic 
 injection of a quarter of a grain of morphia. Christison 
 refers to several cases in which the symptoms were mani- 
 fested within the above time; and to one in which the sopor 
 was fairly established in fifteen minutes after swallowing 
 two drachms of solid opium ; although in another remark- 
 able case, where eight ounces of solid opium were taken, an 
 interval of an hour elapsed before any symptoms were ob- 
 served (On Poisons, p. 706). On the other hand, the same 
 author alludes to an extraordinary case communicated to 
 him, of a man swallowing an ounce and a half of laudanum, 
 and in an hour and a half as much more. Though some 
 excitement and a slight numbness followed, he appeared so 
 natural for seven hours that at that period his story was not 
 credited by the medical man to whom he related it. Stupor 
 did not set in until the eighteenth hour; and two hours later 
 he was completely narcotized. After seven hours' assiduous 
 treatment he was aroused, and eventually recovered. There 
 seems good reason to believe that the state of alcoholic 
 intoxication tends to postpone the time for the development 
 of the usual symptoms. Many other cases have been reported 
 in which this interval amounted to from five to ten hours. 
 
 Fatal period. According to numerous observations, the 
 
 24
 
 366 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ordinary duration of fatal poisoning by opium is from seven 
 to twelve hours; although many exceptions occur in both 
 extremes. Dr. Lyman reports a case in which an ounce of 
 laudanum taken by a female, aged fifty-two years, produced 
 violent symptoms in thirty-five minutes, and death in three- 
 quarters of an hour (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1854). Dr. 
 Coale, in the same journal, reports a case in which death 
 took place within the same period. When a patient sur- 
 vives twelve hours, there is usually good hope for recovery. 
 
 On the other hand, instances are recorded in which death 
 was delayed much beyond the usual period, as late as 
 twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 
 
 Fatal dose. This cannot be stated with accuracy. An 
 ounce of laudanum (equivalent to about forty grains of 
 opium) has frequently proved fatal. Dr. Wormley mentions 
 the case of a robust, healthy girl, aged seventeen years, who 
 died in seven hours after swallowing two fluidrachms of 
 laudanum (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 460). Dr. Toogood 
 mentions a case in which twelve drops of Baltley's Sedative 
 which is believed to be two or three times as strong as 
 common laudanum caused death in a feeble woman, aged 
 fifty-five years, on the day after it was taken (Prov. Med. 
 and Surg. Jour., Nov., 1841). Sir R. Christison quotes a 
 case where four and a half grains mixed with nine grains of 
 camphor caused death in an adult in nine hours; and Dr. 
 Taylor alludes to two cases, one of which proved fatal from 
 a dose of ten grains, and the other, from eight grains. 
 
 From all that can be learned from experience, and from 
 recorded cases, four or jive grains may be regarded as the 
 minimum fatal dose for an adult. 
 
 It should not be forgotten that young children are ex- 
 tremely susceptible to the narcotic impression of opium. 
 Many instances might be cited where death has ensued to 
 very young infants from a dose of one or two drops of laud- 
 anum. It should be remembered, in this connection, that 
 old samples of laudanum, kept in bottles which are frequently 
 opened, are considerably stronger than that which is freshly 
 prepared, in consequence of the evaporation of the spirit. 
 Hence it is quite possible that a single drop of laudanum
 
 POISONING BY OPIUM. FATAL DOSE. 367 
 
 taken from the dregs of a bottle might possess the strength 
 of two or three drops of the ordinary preparation. Severe 
 symptoms, and even death, have followed the taking of a 
 single grain of Dover's powder by a very young infant. 
 Trousseau states that he has seen narcotic effects in children 
 from a dose of the wine of opium equivalent to less than 
 the one-hundredth of a grain of this drug. It is well known 
 that a child may be narcotized by the milk of a nurse who 
 has taken opium. Bouchardat relates that nine new-born 
 children were narcotized by the decoction of a single poppy- 
 head. For further cases under this head, see Taylor " On 
 Poisons," p. 533. This extreme susceptibility on the part 
 of children to the action of opium should suggest caution 
 in its administration to this class of patients. 
 
 On the other hand, recoveries are constantly taking place 
 from very large poisonous doses of opium. Dr. Jackson re- 
 ports the case of a woman who swallowed ninety grains of solid 
 opium, and who, when seen by a physician three hours after- 
 wards, was laboring under all the symptoms of opium-poison- 
 ing. Yet she recovered, under active treatment. (Am. Jour. 
 Med. Sci., 1854, p. 385.) Dr. Wormley records the following 
 remarkable case taken from the "American Medical Record," 
 vol. xiii. p. 418. A pregnant woman, aged thirty-two years, 
 took, suicidally, between seven and eight ounces of solid opium. 
 "When seen by a physician about an hour afterwards, she 
 was able to give a connected account of the case. Prompt 
 and repeated vomiting brought away large quantities of the 
 solid drug. She fell into a deep sleep; but after a time 
 reaction took place, and symptoms of phreuitis manifested 
 themselves : finally, however, she recovered. 
 
 The following cases are taken from "Wharton and Stille's 
 " Medical Jurisprudence," 1873, vol. ii. p. 543. A gentleman 
 aged seventy-two years recovered from the effects of twelve 
 drachms of laudanum. Another recovered after taking up- 
 wards of an ounce. An infant of twelve months recovered 
 from the effects of seventy-two drops; another, six days 
 old, after taking two grains of opium; and a child nearly 
 six years old, from a dose of seven and a half grains. 
 
 The deleterious effects arising from the constant and ig-
 
 368 MANUAL OF TOX.COLOQY. 
 
 norant use of the different nostrums everj-where sold as 
 " soothing" potions for infants are but too well known. It is 
 very certain that many infants annually perish from this single 
 cause. We have witnessed an instance in which a drachm 
 of " "VVinslow's Soothing Syrup" came very near proving fatal 
 in an infant a few weeks old. Profound narcotism, with ex- 
 tremely contracted pupils, resulted; but the child recovered 
 under the cautious use of the tincture of belladonna. 
 
 External application. Opium applied to the skin, and es- 
 pecially to an abraded surface, or used as an injection, or in- 
 troduced into the nostril or the ear, may produce dangerous, 
 or even fatal, results. M. Touruon, of Bordeaux, relates a 
 case in which death was attributed to four grains of opium 
 introduced into the ear (Guy's Foren. Med., p. 505). Well- 
 authenticated cases are reported where the application of 
 laudanum to the sound skin has been followed by fatal 
 coma. It is especially dangerous in the case of infants. Sir 
 R. Christisou relates two instances where the external appli- 
 cation of laudanum proved fatal to adults. In these cases 
 a poultice saturated with laudanum was applied over the 
 abdomen to relieve pain : fatal narcotism followed, death 
 taking place after some hours. In one of these cases, a 
 strong odor of opium was exhaled from different parts of 
 the body, on post-mortem examination, showing how com- 
 pletely the poison had been absorbed. 
 
 The very decided and even fatal effects of opiate enemata 
 and suppositories are familiar to physicians. The introduc- 
 tion of morphia hypoderrnically, now so much and so advan- 
 tageously employed in medicine, is sometimes attended with 
 serious, and even fatal, results. 
 
 The influence of idiosyncrasy and habit is particularly observ- 
 able in the case of opium, and is of sufficient medico-legal 
 importance to admit of a brief notice here. Christison men- 
 tions an instance of a gentleman who was always narcotized 
 by only seven drops of laudanum ; and Taylor observed 
 alarming symptoms from the injection of only one grain of 
 opium. Grisolle states that he saw narcotism induced in a 
 lady by half a grain. Every physician can recall cases where 
 patients have been unable to take even the smallest quantity
 
 POISONING BY OPIUM. MORBID APPEARANCES. 369 
 
 of this drug, owing to some peculiarity of constitution. 
 Sometimes, though more rarely, there is a remarkable 
 natural tolerance of opium, which cannot be ascribed to 
 habit. It is more usual, however, to meet with cases like 
 the above in the course of certain diseases. In aged persons 
 affected with catarrh, an ordinary dose of opium may occasion 
 alarming and even fatal consequences. Several instances of 
 this character are given by Christison; and they should be 
 remembered by the legal physician, since similar ones might 
 be brought forward as instances of intentional poisoning. On 
 the other hand, severe nervous diseases, such as tetanus and 
 mania-a-potu, will tolerate enormous doses of opium. 
 
 Every person is aware of the effects of habit in modifying 
 the tolerance of opium. Thirty, fifty, and even a hundred 
 grains a day are taken by some opium-eaters. De Quincey, 
 the English opium-eater, brought himself to drink nine ounces 
 of laudanum, equivalent to three hundred and thirty-three 
 grains of solid opium, a day ! (See " Confessions of an Opium- 
 Eater.") 
 
 Morbid appearances. The only post-mortem indications 
 of opium-poisoning are fullness of the vessels of the brain 
 and of its sinuses. Occasionally there has been found an 
 extravasation of serum in the ventricles and between the 
 membranes; but very rarely of blood. Sometimes there is 
 engorgement of the lungs, and of other vascular organs, 
 more especially if death has been preceded by convulsions. 
 The stomach is often perfectly natural in appearance ; though 
 at times it is somewhat reddened. But this might easily be 
 ascribed to accidental causes. The blood is apt to be fluid. 
 From this description it will be perceived that there is abso- 
 lutely nothing in the morbid appearances that can with cer- 
 tainty indicate poisoning by opium. Sometimes the above 
 signs are altogether absent ; and again, when they are present, 
 they are equally ascribable to disease. In some cases there 
 is a strong odor of opium perceived on opening the stomach, 
 if the poison has been swallowed in the solid or liquid state, 
 and has not previously been evacuated by emesis. The sur- 
 face of the body is usually livid ; and the animal heat is said 
 to persist for a long time, even after cadaveric rigidity has
 
 370 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 set in. All authorities unite in the opinion that it is altogether 
 impossible to draw any positive conclusion as to opium-poi- 
 soning from the post-mortem appearances alone. 
 
 Treatment. The first effort should be to remove the poison 
 from the stomach. This can usually be accomplished by 
 emetics, the most appropriate of which is sulphate of zinc. 
 The dose of this should be at least double the ordinary 
 quantity, in consequence of the torpor of the stomach. In 
 the absence of sulphate of zinc, mustard and warm water 
 may be advantageously employed. The emetic should be 
 repeated, if the first dose fails to act. If emesis cannot 
 be effected, the stomach-pump should be used, the stomach 
 being thoroughly washed out with warm water. The next 
 point is to overcome the constantly-increasing lethargy. For 
 this purpose cold water should be dashed upon the face and 
 chest ; and when somewhat aroused, the patient should be 
 kept walking about between two attendants, the tendency 
 to relapse into stupor being counteracted by shaking him 
 and shouting to him. When sufficiently aroused, he should 
 be made to swallow a cup of strong coffee without sugar 
 and cream. If these means do not succeed, electro-magnet- 
 ism should be at once employed, the current being sent be- 
 tween the upper part of the spine and the chest. This latter 
 means is usually very efficacious. In desperate cases, artifi- 
 cial respiration should be resorted to. 
 
 No chemical antidote can be relied upon, to the exclusion 
 of the above-mentioned means. Tannic acid, and the 
 iodated iodide of potassium, form insoluble precipitates with 
 morphia, and have hence been recommended as antidotes. 
 Belladonna, or its alkaloid atropia, is now generally regarded 
 as a true physiological antidote to opium. Cases are every 
 year accumulating to testify to its value and reliability ; and, 
 conversely, opium, or its alkaloid morphia, is the antidote to 
 belladonna. 
 
 The experiments of Dr. John Ilarley seem to prove the 
 reverse of the above statement, in regard to the lower 
 animals, and that their combination rather increases the 
 effect. Some experiments of our own on dogs, made a 
 few years since, also go to show that there is no real an-
 
 POISONING BY OPIUM. MORPHIA. 371 
 
 tagonism between morphia and atropia in these animals. 
 Nevertheless, judging from our own experience, as well as 
 from the accumulated testimony of others, in reference to 
 the human subject, we cannot withhold our conviction that 
 they are antidotal to each other in man. (See papers by the 
 author in Am. Jour, of Med. Sci., April and July, 1871.) 
 In a case of opium-poisoning, the tincture of belladonna, or 
 an equivalent solution of atropia, should be carefully admin- 
 istered in successive doses, until the pupils begin to dilate 
 and the breathing becomes increased in frequency. Should 
 the patient be unable to swallow, the atropia may be admin- 
 istered hypodermically. Out of nine cases of opium-poison- 
 ing treated by belladonna, and eighteen of belladonna-poi- 
 soning treated by opium, collected by Dr. W. F. Norris, of 
 Philadelphia, only two of the former, and one of the latter, 
 proved fatal. (Am. Jour, of Med. Sci., Oct., 1862, p. 395.) 
 
 MORPHIA. Morphia, when pure, occurs in colorless, rhom- 
 bic prismatic crystals ; taste, very bitter. It is very slightly 
 soluble in water; soluble in alcohol, especially when hot; 
 slightly soluble in commercial ether; and nearly insoluble in 
 chloroform. When ether is agitated with morphia immediately 
 after the alkaloid is liberated from one of its salts by the addi- 
 tion of an alkali, it will dissolve a much larger proportion. 
 Amylic alcohol is a rather better solvent for it than common 
 alcohol. Common acetic ether is the best solvent; one part of 
 the ether, according to Wormley, dissolving seventy-five parts 
 of morphia. It is freely soluble in the fixed alkalies; less so in 
 ammonia. When heated on platinum, the crystals fuse to a 
 brownish liquid, burn like resin, evolving white fumes, and 
 leaving a carbonaceous mass. Heated on a porcelain slab, it 
 yields a crystalline sublimate of peculiar form. Its solution, 
 in common with the other alkaloids, is precipitated by tannic 
 acid. The salts of morphia are freely soluble in water and in 
 diluted alcohol ; but they are insoluble in ether, chloroform, 
 amylic alcohol, and pure acetic ether. 
 
 The symptoms produced by morphia in the main resemble 
 those of opium. As a rule, they manifest themselves rather 
 earlier than in the case of the crude drug. Some have supposed
 
 372 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 that the convulsive effects occasionally witnessed after 
 taking a poisonous dose of opium are especially due to 
 morphia. A number of cases have been reported in which 
 morphia, when given in poisonous doses, has occasioned de- 
 cided convulsions. In the celebrated case of Dr. Castaing, 
 a pupil of Orfila, who was tried and executed in Paris in 
 1823 for poisoning Auguste Ballet with morphia, the accused 
 was proved to have recently purchased twelve grains of tartar 
 emetic and twenty-six of acetate of morphia. The deceased 
 had, in addition to vomiting and purging, convulsions, locked 
 jaw, rigid spasms of the neck and abdomen, inability to swal- 
 low, and loss of sensibility in the legs. The prisoner was 
 believed to have administered the morphia to his victim first, 
 and afterwards the tartar emetic for the purpose of removing 
 all traces of the former from the stomach. The suspected 
 poison could not be detected by analysis after death. 
 
 An anomalous case of poisoning by morphia, in which the 
 symptoms might have raised the suspicion of strychnia, al- 
 though there were obvious points of difference, is reported 
 by Dr. Ferris in the "British Medical Journal," November 
 11, 1871. A woman aged sixty years took twenty-five drops 
 of a solution of morphia for a bad cough and diarrhoea. 
 The strength of the solution is not given ; though it is 
 stated that it was poured from the shop-bottle of a drug- 
 gist, labeled "ten to sixty drops for a dose." Two hours 
 after, she was found bathed in perspiration, face swollen 
 and eyeballs protruding. Both sides of her mouth were 
 twitching; the arms were bent and moved backwards and 
 forwards convulsively. In a moment the convulsions ceased, 
 and she complained of great pain in the chest and was 
 unable to take a long breath. After a time the convulsions 
 returned, and there was great pain in the back, and partial 
 opisthotonos. When seen by the physician, four hours after 
 taking the morphia, she complained of great pain in the chest 
 and bowels; the breathing was short and quick; there was 
 twitching in the legs and down the spine, together with 
 pain in this region. The pupils were extremely contracted. 
 There never was any disposition to sleep. There was an 
 entire absence of trismus. The convulsive movements re-
 
 POISONING BY MORPHIA. FATAL DOSE. 373 
 
 curred several times after a complete cessation. The patient 
 gradually recovered; her last symptoms being slight sick- 
 ness, pain in the head, and contracted pupils. 
 
 The salts of morphia most used are the sulphate in this 
 country, and the hydrochlorate and acetate in Great Britain. 
 These are usually estimated to have about six times the 
 strength of opium. 
 
 Fatal dose. Dr. Taylor (Prin. and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 
 1873, vol. ii. p. 358) mentions four recorded cases in which 
 one grain of hydrochlorate of morphia proved fatal to adults: 
 in one, in solution; in the second, in pill; in the third, in 
 powder; in the fourth, by hypodermic injection. In the 
 first of these cases, the morphia was taken in divided doses 
 in six hours : the patient died in about seven hours. The 
 second case died in thirteen hours, the symptoms coming 
 on in three hours : no morphia was discovered in the stomach 
 after death. In the third case, death ensued in ten hours, 
 the symptoms appearing in about three hours. In the fourth 
 instance, one grain of morphia was administered hypodermic- 
 ally in three divided doses, all within ten hours. The man 
 slept quietly for two hours ; he then took dinner, and en- 
 gaged in conversation ; but in another hour he suddenly 
 became insensible, and died two hours after, in profound 
 narcotism. We have known the case of a gentleman in 
 whom about three-quarters of a grain taken hypodermically 
 proved fatal within twenty-four hours. 
 
 On the other hand, enormous doses of this alkaloid have 
 been swallowed without fatal consequences, and quite inde- 
 pendently of the effect of habit. One of the most remarka- 
 ble cases yet reported is related by Dr. W. F. Norris (Amer. 
 Jour. Med. Sci., October, 1862, p. 395). A druggist aged 
 nineteen years, for the purpose of self-destruction, swallowed 
 seventy-jive grains of sulphate of morphia. No marked symp- 
 toms appeared for an hour and a half afterwards, when he 
 began to feel sleepy, and had a staggering gait. Soon after 
 this, emetics were given, causing free emesis. He then became 
 unconscious; the pupils contracted to a point; the pulse was 
 soft and frequent ; respiration slow and labored ; but under 
 the active use of remedies, including extract of belladonna,
 
 374 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 galvanism, and the cold douche, he was quite well on the 
 second day after the occurrence. 
 
 The external application of morphia to abraded surfaces, 
 as also in the form of enema, has sometimes been attended 
 with fatal effect. One grain sprinkled over a blistered sur- 
 face on the back of an aged lady produced, in about two 
 hours, the most alarming symptoms, from which she barely 
 recovered. Much smaller doses than this have occasioned 
 very serious symptoms. Dr. Austie met with a case in which 
 three grains given by enema caused death in sixteen hours. 
 
 There are no characteristic post-mortem appearances to indi- 
 cate death from morphia. There may be, as in the case of 
 opium, fullness of the cerebral vessels, with serous effusion, 
 and bloody points on section of the brain-substance. It pro- 
 duces no local irritant action on the stomach and bowels. 
 
 Chemical analysis of opium. As opium is a very complex 
 substance, there are no chemical tests for it as such: it can 
 be identified by its physical properties of odor and taste, and 
 by its action on living animals. As the peculiar odor de- 
 pends on a volatile principle, it may soon disappear after 
 exposure of the material to the air, or on heating it. Again, it 
 may be concealed by other odors, or it may be destroyed in 
 consequence of some organic change undergone by the mate- 
 rial in the stomach before death. The only means of identi- 
 fying the opium in a case of suspected poisoning, is to detect 
 its contained meconate of morphia, and especially its meconic 
 acid. The identification of this latter ingredient is absolute 
 proof of the presence of opium or of some of its preparations, 
 since it is found exclusively in opium. In poisoning by 
 morphia or its ordinary salts (except the mecouate), the me- 
 conic acid is, of course, always absent. 
 
 Detection of morphia. The chemical tests are best applied 
 to the morphia in the solid state. (1) Concentrated nitric 
 acid dropped upon a fragment produces a rich orange-red 
 color, and dissolves it with effervescence, and the production 
 of ruddy fumes of nitrous acid. The orange-red solution 
 slowly fades to a yellow. If the morphia be in solution, the 
 acid should be in large excess : in this case the color is lighter 
 than when the morphia is in the solid state. Nitric acid also
 
 POISONING BY MORPHIA. TESTS. 375 
 
 strikes a red color with brucia, which, on the addition of pro- 
 tochloride of tin, changes to a bright purple; whereas no 
 change is produced in the case of morphia. (2) Strong 
 sulphuric acid slowly dissolves it without change of color: 
 if now a crystal of bichromate of potassa be stirred in the 
 solution, it slowly acquires a green color, from the production 
 of the oxide of chrome. If heat be applied to the original 
 sulphuric acid solution, it assumes a brown color. Prof. Otto 
 says that a very minute quantity may be detected by first 
 dissolving it in a drop or two of concentrated sulphuric acid 
 by the aid of heat; after cooling, dilute with a little water, 
 and add a crystal of chromate of potassa ; the liquid acquires 
 an intensely mahogany-brown color. (3) A drop of a solu- 
 tion of a salt of morphia (as the acetate), exposed for a few 
 moments to the vapors of ammonia, will deposit the alkaloid 
 in the form of prismatic or hexagonal crystals, easily distin- 
 guished under the microscope. (4) Neutral sesquichloride 
 or persulphate of iron dropped on a crystal of morphia ren- 
 ders it deep blue, turning to green, if added in excess. 
 For the success of this experiment it is indispensable that 
 no free acid be present. Tardieu (Sur 1'Empoisonnement, 
 p. 879) gives the following formula for properly preparing 
 the solution of persulphate of iron. Introduce into a small 
 receiver a mixture of one part of pure sulphuric acid and 
 one and a half parts of distilled water, saturated by an excess 
 of sesquioxide of iron, at the temperature of a water-bath. 
 When the liquid has become saturated with the oxide, it is 
 filtered, and the clear filtrate is properly preserved. An ex- 
 cess of acid, a degree of heat above 122 F., and the presence 
 of organic matter will prevent the production of the blue 
 color. (5) lodie acid. Dissolve a small quantity of this acid 
 in a drop of cold, freshly-made starch, place it on a white 
 slab, and add the fragment of "morphia. Iodine is liberated, 
 and immediately imparts the characteristic blue color to the 
 starch. M. Dupre advises that the morphia or its solution 
 be first treated with a drop of the starch-solution ; the mix- 
 ture is then carefully evaporated to dryness, and the residue, 
 after cooling, moistened with a solution of iodic acid. In 
 this manner a residue containing only one ten-thousandth
 
 376 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 of a grain of the alkaloid will yield a distinct blue color 
 (Wormley). (6) Put a small fragment on a porcelain slab, 
 with a glass disk properly supported over it, and apply a heat 
 of about 330 F. : a crystalline, feathery sublimate is formed, 
 of peculiar appearance, and varying according to the degree 
 of heat. The one-hundredth of a grain will thus yield highly 
 satisfactory results, easily visible by the microscope. (Guy's 
 Forens. Med., p. 499.) 
 
 (7) Sulpho-molybdic acid. This is made by dissolving with 
 a gentle heat five or six grains of powdered molybdate of 
 ammonia in two drachms of strong sulphuric acid. The 
 liquid should be freshly prepared, and kept from contact 
 with air and organic matter. When one or two drops are 
 rubbed with dry morphia, or any of its salts, an intense pur- 
 plish or crimson color is produced ; this changes to a dingy 
 green, and ultimately to a splendid sapphire-blue. A very 
 minute trace of morphia is thus revealed. This test produces 
 no change on strychnia, the mixture slowly acquiring a pale- 
 blue tint. On brucia and veratria it ultimately produces a 
 dark-blue color. The action on salicine closely resembles 
 that produced on morphia. (Taylor's Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 
 1873, p. 210.) 
 
 (8) lodie acid with sidphide of carbon (Taylor). A solution 
 of iodic acid should be mixed with its volume of sulphide of 
 carbon : there ought to be no change of color. On adding 
 a small quantity of the mixture to morphia or its salts, either 
 solid or in solution, the iodine is liberated and is dissolved 
 by the sulphide, which sinks to the bottom, acquiring a pink 
 or red color, varying in intensity according to the quantity 
 of morphia present. The presence of morphia may thus 
 (according to Dr. Taylor) be distinguished in one drop of 
 laudanum, in chlorodyne, and other liquids, in spite of the 
 presence of organic matter. 
 
 Several other tests are mentioned in the books, but they 
 are not so characteristic as those above described. These 
 are iodide of potassium and iodine, ter chloride of gold, bromine in 
 hydrobromic acid, etc. 
 
 MECONIC ACID. This acid is pecular to opium, in which
 
 OPIUM. TESTS FOR MECONIC ACID. 377 
 
 it occurs in combination with morphia. Its detection, there- 
 fore, in a suspected material may be regarded as positive 
 proof of the presence of opium. In its pure state, it is in 
 the form of colorless crystalline plates, tolerably soluble in 
 water, especially if hot ; more so in alcohol. It is believed 
 to be inert in the human system, judging from experiments 
 made upon animals. 
 
 Tests. (1) By far the most delicate chemical test is sesqui- 
 chloride or persulphate of iron, each of which strikes with 
 solutions of raeconic acid, and also with the acid in its solid 
 form, a blood-red color, which is not removed by dilute 
 acids, by corrosive sublimate, or by chloride of gold, but is 
 discharged by protochloride of tin and sulphurous acid. 
 This test succeeds even in very dilute solutions of meconic 
 acid ; and it is owing to the presence of this acid that a 
 minute quantity of laudanum, or of other liquid preparations 
 of opium, diffused in a large quantity of water, will yield a 
 red color on the addition of a persalt of iron. The only 
 fallacy that would be likely to occur in a medico-legal case is 
 from the presence of some sulphocyanide in the material exam- 
 ined, as the sulphocyanide of potassium of the saliva, which 
 yields a similar red color with a persalt of iron. We have 
 frequently verified the experiment with human saliva. Of 
 course, if the contents of the human stomach (which must 
 necessarily contain more or less saliva that has been swal- 
 lowed) be subjected to the above test, in a suspected case of 
 opium-poisoning, an erroneous inference might be drawn if 
 this single test were relied on : it should always be supple- 
 mented by the addition of a solution of corrosive sublimate, 
 which instantly dissolves the red sulphocyanide of iron, but 
 has no effect on the meconate. 
 
 Another fallacy, although less likely to occur than the 
 foregoing, is that occasioned by strong acetic acid or its salts, 
 both of which give a red color with persalt of iron ; and 
 this color, moreover, is not removed by corrosive sublimate 
 or chloride of gold. But if previously boiled with dilute 
 sulphuric acid, the acetate gives no color with the iron salt, 
 and is thus distinguished from a meconate. Again, an acetate 
 solution differs from a mecoiiate in not yielding any precipi-
 
 378 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 tate with acetate of lead. A concentrated solution of 
 mustard also imparts a red color to a persalt of iron, which, 
 however, is immediately removed by corrosive sublimate, 
 but not by chloride of gold. 
 
 (2) Acetate of lead yields a yellowish-white precipitate me- 
 conate of lead, insoluble in an excess of acetic acid. This 
 reagent is thus employed to separate the meconic acid in the 
 analysis of a case of opium-poisoning. (3) Chloride of barium 
 yields a white, crystalline depositof a peculiar form. (4) Nitrate 
 of silver produces an amorphous precipitate of a yellowish or 
 white color, which becomes red on the addition of a persalt 
 of iron. Other tests are ferrocyanide of potassium, chloride of 
 calcium, and hydrochloric acid. 
 
 Although the other alkaloidal constituents of opium are 
 not usually sought for in cases of poisoning by that drug, it 
 may be proper here to allude to these very briefly, mention- 
 ing the characteristic tests for each. 
 
 NARCOTINA. This alkaloid, when pure, occurs in colorless, 
 transparent crystals, or as a granular powder. It has a bitter 
 taste; is insoluble in water, but readily soluble in alcohol 
 and ether, and still more so in chloroform. Narcotina is usu- 
 ally considered inert. Orfila found that thirty grains were 
 required to kill a dog; and, according to Gmelin (Handbook 
 of Chemistry, xvi. p. 137), doses of one hundred and twenty 
 grains are said to have been given to man without effect. 
 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, took thirty grains, 
 with no appreciable result (Effect of Opium and its Deriva- 
 tive Alkaloids: Am. Jour, of Med. Sci., Jan., 1870, p. 23); 
 but he found, by an unexplained anomaly, that this substance 
 acts, in doses of two to sev^n grains, as a powerful convul- 
 sant on pigeons, terminating in speedy death. This effect 
 contrasts remarkably with that of morphia, of which enor- 
 mous doses are required by birds in order to produce effect. 
 Both alkaloids excite in them spasms, which are frequently 
 tetanic in character. Neither of them produces stupor. 
 
 Unlike morphia, narcotina produces no color with a persalt 
 of iron or a mixture of iodic acid and starch. Its character- 
 istic test is the action of sulphuric acid and nitrate of potassa.
 
 CODEIA. NARCEIKE. 379 
 
 If a minute fragment of narcotina, or the deposit resulting 
 from evaporating a small portion of the solution, be dissolved 
 in a few drops of strong sulphuric acid, and a small crystal of 
 nitre be stirred in the solution, it will quickly acquire a deep 
 blood-red color. This color disappears on adding an excess 
 of nitric acid. 
 
 CODEIA. This alkaloid has much stronger basic properties 
 than narcotina. It occurs in white crystals; it is quite soluble 
 in water, alcohol, ether, and chloroform. Its taste is bitter. 
 Codeia is regarded by Magendie as a hypnotic and stupefier. 
 Drs. Harley and S. W. Mitchell deem it to possess but feeble 
 hypnotic powers. In man, it first causes excitement, with 
 contracted pupil, slight giddiness, and some gastro-intestinal 
 derangement. On birds, however, Dr. Mitchell found that 
 it acted as a more powerful convulsant than narcotina ; death 
 occurring from smaller doses and in a shorter time. It dif- 
 fers from morphia in not decomposing iodic acid, and in not 
 being reddened by nitric acid. From narcotina it is distin- 
 guished by not being turned red by sulphuric acid and nitrate 
 of potassa. Nitric acid and potassa form one of its best tests. 
 When strong nitric acid is added to a small quantity of co- 
 deia, it dissolves it, with the evolution of nitrous fumes, and 
 on evaporation leaves a yellowish residue. On touching this 
 with a drop of caustic potassa, it assumes a beautiful orange 
 tint. 
 
 NARCEINE. This is usually considered to be a neutral 
 principle. It exists in opium in about the same proportion 
 as morphia. Narceine is regarded by M. Bernard as a hyp- 
 notic of even greater power than morphia ; but this idea 
 does not seem to be supported by the experiments of Harley 
 and Mitchell. The latter was not sensible of any soporific 
 effect after taking a dose of five grains. The same is also 
 true of birds (loc. cit., p. 26). It is not acted upon by a per- 
 salt of iron. It crystallizes in delicate, needle-shaped tufts. 
 It is very insoluble in water ; strong sulphuric acid gives it 
 a reddish-brown color, which, on the application of heat, 
 changes to a deep red. When dropped into concentrated 
 hydrochloric acid, it becomes blue, and dissolves into a color-
 
 380 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 less solution. All samples will not yield this blue color when 
 treated as above. 
 
 THEBAIA, or PARAMORPHIA, is another of the alkaloids found 
 in opium. Its tetanizing power has long been known, a 
 dog, according to Dr. Harley, being killed by two grains 
 given hypodermically. In Dr. S. W. Mitchell's experiments 
 it proved speedily fatal to pigeons, exciting in them the 
 most violent tetanic convulsions, closely resembling those of 
 strychnia, in the course of a minute or two, and with only 
 one-third of a grain given hypodermically. In fact, of all 
 the principles of opium, this substance was found to be the 
 most powerful toxic to birds. 
 
 MECONIN, or OPIANYL, is a neutral crystalline substance 
 occurring in delicate needles or in long prisms ; taste, some- 
 what bitter. Strong sulphuric acid dissolves it to a colorless 
 solution, which, on being heated, becomes of a beautiful blue 
 or purple color. A very minute portion will yield satisfac- 
 tory results with this reagent. 
 
 Detection of opium in organic mixtures, or in the contents of the 
 stomach. It occasionally happens that the strong odor of 
 opium can be recognized in organic mixtures, as e.g. in the 
 matters vomited, or in the contents of the stomach after 
 death : this, of course, will assist very materially in the diag- 
 nosis of the case. As a rule, however, this aid will not be 
 furnished, and when we come to apply the characteristic 
 chemical test to the stomach after death we shall fail to 
 recognize the poison sought, in consequence of its removal 
 by vomiting, or by digestion, decomposition, or absorption. 
 Especially is this true in the case of infants who have per- 
 ished after a very small dose, e.g. from a few drops of lauda- 
 num. The highest authorities unite in the opinion that in 
 cases of poisoning by crude opium or its liquid preparations 
 it is the exception, and not the rule, for the analyst to be able 
 to recognize it in the stomach after death. (See Christison 
 and Taylor on Poisons, art. Opium.') It is much more 
 likely to be found in the matters vomited. In any case, the 
 proper mode of proceeding is to cut up the solid matters, if 
 any, into very small pieces, adding distilled water, if neces-
 
 DETECTION OF OPIUM IN OEGANIC MIXTURES. 381 
 
 eary, with a little alcohol, acidulating with pure acetic acid ; 
 the materials should be well mixed together, and subjected 
 to a gentle heat. A trial test should now be made of a por- 
 tion of the clear liquid with nitric acid and a persalt of iron 
 for morphia and meconic acid respectively. If the liquid be 
 highly colored, it will be advisable to dilute it with water 
 before applying these tests. It will be remembered that the 
 iron test will detect a very minute quantity of meconic acid. 
 
 After heating the mixture, as above described, for about 
 half an hour, it should, after cooling, be strained through 
 muslin, the solid residue well washed with strong alcohol, 
 and pressed, the washings being added to the first liquid. 
 The liquid is next to be evaporated over a water-bath to a 
 small volume ; and, when cooled, it is to be filtered through 
 filtering-paper previously wetted. The filter is to be washed 
 with dilute alcohol, and the washings added to the filtrate. 
 To the clear filtrate acetate of lead is added in slight excess : 
 this precipitates the meconic acid as meconate of lead, and 
 leaves the morphia in solution as an acetate. Any sulpho- 
 cyanide present in the stomach would also remain dissolved. 
 "When the precipitate has completely subsided, the whole is 
 transferred to a moistened filter, and the solid residue is 
 completely washed with distilled water. 
 
 (a) The impure meconate of lead on the filter is to be 
 washed into a deep glass, by piercing the filter and using 
 a wash-bottle. A stream of sulphuretted hydrogen is now 
 passed through the water containing the diffused meconate, 
 as long as any sulphide of lead is thrown down. The lib- 
 erated meconic acid will remain in solution. The liquid is 
 now filtered, and the clear filtrate is concentrated by a gentle 
 heat, which also serves to expel the excess of. sulphuretted 
 hydrogen. A few drops of the solution may now be examined 
 by a persalt of iron, and if the presence of meconic acid is 
 decidedly indicated, the remainder of the liquid may be tested 
 with the other proper reagents. On proper concentration, 
 the liquid will yield crystals of meconic acid, provided this 
 be present in sufficient quantity. If, however, little or no 
 indication of meconic acid is given, the liquid should be 
 carefully concentrated to a small volume, and a drop or two 
 
 25
 
 382 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 should be tested with the iron and other tests, before deciding 
 on the absence of the poison. 
 
 As the presence of foreign matters interferes with the 
 delicacy of these operations, it may be advisable either to 
 evaporate the liquid to complete dryness, and dissolve the 
 residue in warm water and filter, or to reprecipitate with 
 acetate of lead, and decompose, as before, with sulphuretted 
 hydrogen. 
 
 Another method for decomposing the meconate of lead is 
 to digest it at a moderate heat with dilute sulphuric acid, 
 which throws down the lead as an insoluble sulphate, and 
 leaves the meconic acid in solution. The former process 
 is, however, on the whole, to be preferred. 
 
 (6) The original filtrate, it will be remembered, contains 
 all the morphia in the form of an acetate, together with an 
 excess of acetate of lead. It should be treated with sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen until all the lead is precipitated, then 
 filtered, and the filtrate concentrated by gentle heat to dry- 
 ness. The residue should be dissolved in a little warm, dis- 
 tilled water, and a drop or two examined for morphia with 
 nitric acid and perchloride of iron, as trial tests. Whether 
 or not these tests indicate the presence of morphia, the re- 
 maining liquid, diluted with distilled water, if necessary, is 
 made distinctly alkaline by carbonate of potassa, and allowed 
 to stand for some time ; then it is to be agitated with several 
 volumes of absolute ether. Under these circumstances none 
 of the morphia is taken up by the ether, which only separates 
 certain foreign matters. The ethereal solution is to be care- 
 fully decanted, and set aside for future examination. The 
 remaining alkaline liquid is now to be shaken violently with 
 four or five times its volume of a mixture consisting of two 
 parts of absolute ether and one of pure alcohol. This opera- 
 tion is best performed in a long glass tube. By this process 
 the morphia is separated, and will be contained in the super- 
 natant ethereal mixture. On carefully decanting this, and 
 allowing it to evaporate spontaneously in a watch-glass, the 
 morphia will often be left in a crystalline form ; but if it exists 
 in very minute quantity, and is mixed with much foreign 
 matter, the deposit will be amorphous. In the latter case,
 
 DETECTION OF MORPHIA IN THE TISSUES. 383 
 
 Prof. Wormley advises to wash the dry residue by gently 
 rotating a few drops of pure water over it in the glass, and 
 then decanting the liquid. Small portions of the solid residue 
 are now to be tested by nitric acid and perchloride of iron, 
 and the remaining portion of the residue is dissolved in a 
 few drops of water, with the aid of sufficient acetic acid. 
 This solution may then be subjected to the various liquid 
 tests (ante, p. 375). A few drops of this solution, if exposed 
 to the vapors of ammonia, will become alkaline, and, after 
 some hours, will deposit the alkaloid in its characteristic 
 crystalline form, as shown by the microscope. 
 
 The process of Uslar and Erdmann is recommended by 
 good authorities as of equal, if not superior, value to the one 
 above described. By this method, amylic alcohol is employed 
 to dissolve out the morphia from the alkaline solution, instead 
 of ether and alcohol. Two or three volumes of hot amylic 
 alcohol are shaken up with the liquid, and, after being allowed 
 to rest for some time, the upper or alcoholic stratum is to be 
 removed by means of a caoutchouc pipette, and allowed to 
 evaporate to dryness in a watch-glass by the aid of a gentle 
 heat : sometimes the morphia may be recovered by this 
 means in the crystalline form, though it is more likely to be 
 left in an amorphous state than when deposited from an 
 ethereal solution. Should the residue be amorphous, it may 
 be redissolved in a small quantity of ordinary dilute alcohol, 
 and allowed to evaporate spontaneously. 
 
 Examination for morphia alone, or its salts. When there 
 is reason to believe that the poisoning has been occa- 
 sioned by one of the salts of morphia, the same method of 
 analysis of the suspected material is to be followed, with 
 the omission of the acetate of lead and sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen, inasmuch as no meconic acid is present. The ultimate 
 extraction of the alkaloid may be effected by the alcohol- 
 ether, or by the amylic alcohol. 
 
 Detection in the tissues- and blood. Thus far there has been 
 an almost entire failure to detect the poison in any of the 
 organs of the body. Prof. Wormley succeeded in showing 
 the presence of both morphia and meconic acid in the blood 
 of several dogs and cats, by the nitric acid, ammonia, and
 
 384 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 iron tests. There is considerable doubt about the detection 
 of these principles in the urine, inasmuch as the results 
 alleged to have been produced by certain reagents, and sup- 
 posed to indicate the presence of morphia or meconic acid, 
 have since been proved to be due to substances existing nor- 
 mally in the urine. 
 
 As there is no medicine more freely prescribed than opium 
 and its preparations, the discovery of mere traces in the 
 stomach after death should not be considered as of itself in- 
 dicating death from poison. 
 
 Before taking leave of this subject, it is proper to guard 
 the analyst against a too hasty conclusion as to the presence 
 of opium or its alkaloid, in a medico-legal case, derived from 
 the color alone. In a preceding chapter (p. 77) we have taken 
 occasion to point out the dangerous fallacy of relying merely 
 on the color of different tests in a medico-legal examination. 
 Ortila tells us that MM. Ruspini and Cogrossi found that a 
 decoction of a calf s intestines, although no morphia was 
 present, acted on iodic acid like that alkaloid (Toxicol., ii. p. 
 232). In another case morphia was pronounced to be present 
 in urine by reason of the action of the extract of this liquid 
 on iodic acid. The effect was found to be due to uric acid 
 and urate of ammonia. Dr. Taylor cites a very instructive 
 case in which sudden death from apoplexy was imputed to 
 opium, and where a decoction of the contents of the stom- 
 ach of the deceased, treated with nitric acid, yielded a red 
 color, similar to that produced by morphia; but no morphia 
 was separated, and no mecouic acid found, or even sought 
 for. Upon this very questionable result, a distinguished 
 chemist (?) who made the analysis deposed at the inquest that 
 he had found in the stomach "distinct traces of morphia," 
 and that the quantity discovered was about the tenth of a 
 grain ; and the smallness of the quantity was ascribed to ab- 
 sorption. The facts which subsequently transpired showed 
 that there could have been no morphia or opium present 
 in the stomach; but that the person had died from purely 
 natural causes. The author quoted further justly remarks, 
 that " unless morphia or meconic acid, or both, have been 
 separated and obtained from the suspected liquid, no man
 
 POISONING BY ALCOHOL. SYMPTOMS. 385 
 
 is justified in swearing that opium is present, and still less 
 that it has been the cause, of death. The correspondence 
 on this subject conveys an important lesson to medical 
 witnesses, and especially to the ' experts' in the chemical 
 branch of medical jurisprudence." In the above case it 
 was fortunate that some of the medicine last taken by the 
 deceased remained, so that the absence of morphia was 
 proved by analysis ; otherwise the husband who adminis- 
 tered it, or the druggist who compounded it, might have 
 been charged with manslaughter, especially as the symptoms 
 (apoplexy) resembled those of opium-poisoning, and this was 
 further supported by the oath of the " expert." 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY ALCOHOL. 
 
 The poisonous effects of Alcohol are of a twofold character: 
 1, those with which we are most familiar as the result of 
 habitual intoxication, as witnessed in common drunkards; 
 and 2, those which follow the iugestion of a single very 
 large dose of alcoholic spirits. The latter only will be con- 
 sidered under the present head. Instances of this kind of 
 poisoning are most commonly witnessed in those silly and 
 criminal cases where for a wager, or as a mere bravado, a 
 large quantity of spirits is drunk off at one time, and also in 
 cases of young children who have accidentally swallowed, or 
 who have been made to take, a large draught of some strong 
 alcoholic beverage. In both cases, it is to be observed, the 
 poisonous and fatal effects are produced not so much upon 
 persons who are accustomed to the use of alcohol, as upon 
 those who are not thus habituated. 
 
 The symptoms of this acute alcoholic poisoning are well 
 marked. The individual, after swallowing the large pota- 
 tion, almost immediately falls into a profound coma. There 
 is little or none of the previous excitement which is usually 
 so characteristic of the early stages of common alcoholic 
 intoxication. There is a vacant, ghastly expression of the 
 features, which are sometimes suffused or bloated; the lips
 
 386 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 are livid; the pupils dilated and fixed; the conjunctivas are 
 suffused ; an alcoholic exhalation from the breath is recog- 
 nized ; there are apt to be convulsive movements of the 
 limbs; respiration, at first stertorous, becomes more and 
 more difficult ; a bloody froth appears on the lips ; involun- 
 tary evacuations occur ; and death ensues sometimes in half 
 an hour, or even earlier, after the fatal drink (Tardieu). In, 
 other instances, the individual may apparently recover from 
 the first effects, and then suddenly become insensible, and 
 die in convulsions. 
 
 If the dose has not been so overpowering, other symptoms 
 may precede the profound coma, such as headache, giddiness, 
 confusion of mind, loss of muscular power, staggering gait, 
 stammering speech, and slight convulsive movements. Re- 
 covery may take place after a prolonged sleep, or sooner, if 
 vomiting occurs. The very large quantities seem to destroy 
 life by shock. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. A remarkable absence of putre- 
 faction of the body is generally observed. There is usually 
 intense congestion of the stomach, as indicated by a deep-red 
 color, either diffused or in patches. More or less congestion 
 of the brain and lungs may always be expected, together with 
 serous effusion. Tardieu mentions a case where clotted and 
 thickened blood was found in the cavity of the arachnoid, 
 and also in the lungs (op. cit,, p. 847). Usually a strong odor 
 of alcohol can be perceived in the different tissues of the 
 body ; but the organs for which this poisonous fluid displays 
 the greatest affinity are the brain and liver, and, accordingly, 
 it is from these organs, especially, that we may expect to 
 recover the alcohol, after death, by distillation. If life has 
 been protracted for several hours, all traces of the odor may 
 have disappeared both from the stomach and from the other 
 organs ; though it is more permanent in the latter. 
 
 The diagnosis of a case of acute alcoholism is generally 
 sufficiently easy. The odor, when it exists, will serve to 
 distinguish it from opium-poisoning. In the latter the pupils 
 are nearly always contracted ; while in the former they are 
 dilated. Cases may occur where, in the absence of the 
 characteristic odor, and from an ignorance of the attending
 
 POISONING BY ALCOHOL. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 387 
 
 circumstances, it might be difficult to distinguish between 
 the symptoms and those of concussion of the brain. In such 
 cases, the autopsy may throw some light upon the matter. 
 
 Chemical analysis. Alcohol may usually be recovered after 
 death, by distilling the stomach and its contents, provided 
 the case has not been protracted so long as to have permitted 
 the poison to escape by absorption. In the latter case, the 
 attempt should be made to separate it from the brain and 
 liver, by the same process. The whole of the suspected ma- 
 terial should be put into a capacious retort, and distilled on a 
 water-bath, with a proper condensing apparatus. If it has 
 an acid reaction, it should first be neutralized by the addition 
 of carbonate of potassa or soda. The distillate should be 
 mixed with chloride of calcium or quicklime, and distilled 
 a second time. The second distillate is to be shaken with an 
 excess of carbonate of potassa, and allowed to stand. The 
 stratum of alcohol which will after a time rise to the surface 
 may be separated by a pipette, and submitted to the following 
 tests : (1) Its taste is hot and pungent ; its odor characteristic. 
 (2) It burns with a pale-blue flame, leaving no carbonaceous 
 residue ; the products of its combustion are carbonic acid 
 and water: the former will cause a milky appearance in 
 lime-water. (3) It dissolves camphor. (4) Add to it some 
 solution of bichromate of potassa and sulphuric acid: the 
 green oxide of chromium is developed, along with the pecu- 
 liar odor of aldehyde. This latter test is very delicate, and 
 will serve to detect an amount of alcohol too minute for the 
 other processes. In this case, the experiment should be per- 
 formed by moistening a few fibres of asbestos with a mixture 
 of a strong solution of bichromate of potassa and sulphuric 
 acid ; they are then to be placed in the tube connected with 
 the retort in which the distillation is going on : the smallest 
 portion of alcoholic vapor coming in contact with the moist- 
 ened asbestos will be indicated by the production of the green 
 coloration due to the oxide of chromium. 
 
 Both ether and pyroxylic spirit will produce this last effect, 
 and likewise give most of the results of alcohol. Ether may 
 be distinguished by its odor, and by the yellow color of its 
 flame, as also by its smoky deposit on porcelain. Pyroxylic
 
 388 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 spirit may be recognized by its peculiar odor, and by its smoky 
 flame on burning. 
 
 In the tissues. The proof of the absorption of alcohol ia 
 afforded in its detection in the blood and urine, and in the 
 different tissues of the body. It has been frequently sepa- 
 rated from the brain and liver by distillation. Dr. Percy 
 detected it in the liver, blood, urine, and bile. An exceed- 
 ingly delicate process has been devised by Buchheim for 
 detecting it in small quantity in the blood or tissues, based 
 on the conversion of the vapor of alcohol into aldehyde and 
 acetic acid, when it is passed over platinum-black, contained in 
 a platinum tray. As much as possible of the material, neutral- 
 ized first by carbonate of potassa, should be introduced into 
 a capacious retort, along with a little water, and distilled on 
 a water-bath. The neck of the retort should be slightly in- 
 clined, and wide enough to hold a platinum tray about two 
 inches long and half an inch wide, containing the platinum- 
 black. Hanging over each end of the tray is placed a slip 
 of moistened litmus-paper, and touching the platinum-black. 
 The tray is now pushed forward towards the body of the 
 retort. As soon as the vaporization of any alcohol that may 
 be present occurs, it will be manifested by the reddening of 
 the litmus-paper at the farther end of the tray, in consequence 
 of the production of acetic acid, while the paper nearer to 
 the body of the retort will remain blue. If no reddening of 
 the paper occurs, no alcohol can be present ; if the redden- 
 ing rapidly occurs, the tray should be removed, and the vapor 
 should be condensed in the usual way. 
 
 As both ether and wood spirit produce a similar effect with 
 platinum-black, this process offers no advantage over the 
 chromic process above described, except when putrefaction 
 has taken place, and sulphuretted hydrogen is evolved : this 
 would reduce chromic acid, but it does not affect the plati- 
 num-black. (Taylor on Poisons, p. 643.) 
 
 A new test for alcohol is given by Lieben (Phar. Jour., 
 1869). A few grains of iodine and a few drops of a solution 
 of caustic soda are introduced into a test-tube along with the 
 suspected fluid : it is then heated without boiling, when iodo- 
 form is precipitated. It is stated that one part of alcohol in
 
 POISONING BY ETHER. MOHBID LESIONS. 389 
 
 two thousand of mixture can thus be detected ; also, that it 
 may thus be discovered in the urine after drinking, by first 
 distilling it. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ANAESTHETICS. 
 
 THIS subdivision of the Cerebral Neurotics comprises those 
 substances which display their power chiefly by producing 
 insensibility to pain. The only anaesthetics noticed here are 
 Ether and Chloroform. Under this head it will also be con- 
 venient to speak of Hydrate of Chloral, although its action 
 on the system differs somewhat from that of the others. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY ETHER. 
 
 The term ether is used here to designate the substance 
 procured by the distillation of sulphuric acid and alcohol, 
 and known generally as sulphuric ether. It is a limpid, color- 
 less liquid, of a peculiar odor, and hot, pungent taste; highly 
 volatile and inflammable; sp. gr., 0.735 ; boils at 95 F.; 
 it burns with a bright-yellow flame, and deposits carbon on 
 a cold porcelain surface. It is sparingly soluble in water, 
 and very soluble in alcohol. 
 
 Symptoms. Swallowed in large doses, it produces very 
 nearly the same effects as a large amount of alcohol. There 
 is usually a short period of delirious excitement, which is- 
 followed by coma and other symptoms of narcotism, similar 
 to those caused by alcohol. 
 
 Morbid lesions. From its less solubility in water, ether is 
 a more powerful local irritant than alcohol. In the body of 
 a dog poisoned by ether, the stomach was found to be vio- 
 lently inflamed, as also the mucous lining of the duodenum, 
 though in a less degree. The heart contained black blood,
 
 390 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 partly coagulated ; the lungs were gorged with fluid blood. 
 (Ortila, Toxicologie, ii. p. 531.) 
 
 The inhalation of the vapor of ether is extensively em- 
 ployed, as is well known, as an ancestketic agent. When thus 
 breathed into the lungs, it is so rapidly carried into the cir- 
 culation that its effects upon the brain are much more 
 prompt and decided than when it is swallowed. Although 
 it has produced fatal effects in a number of instances when 
 thus employed, either through want of proper caution, or 
 owing to some constitutional peculiarity of the patient, this 
 result has been far less frequent than in the case of chloro- 
 form. The immediate operation of ether, when inhaled, is 
 that of a stimulant, as denoted by a quickened pulse, flushed 
 face, suffused eye, and mental excitement. This is soon 
 followed, if the dose be sufficient, by a state of stupor and 
 complete insensibility to pain. This last condition may be 
 prolonged for a considerable time by continuing the inha- 
 lation. There is occasionally a departure from the above 
 effects : thus, there may be violent excitement at one time ; 
 at other times, a state of incoherence ; and again, nausea and 
 vomiting. 
 
 Chemical analysis. Ether is recognized by its taste and 
 smell ; by its combustion ; by its volatility ; and by its action 
 on a mixture of sulphuric acid and bichromate of potassa 
 the same as in the case of alcohol. 
 
 From organic mixtures it is recovered by the same process 
 of distillation as for alcohol. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY CHLOROFORM. HYDRATE OF CHLORAL. 
 
 Chloroform is a colorless, limpid liquid, very volatile, giving 
 off a dense vapor ; sp. gr., 1.497 ; boiling at 142 F. It has a 
 characteristic, agreeable odor, and a sweet, pungent taste. It 
 is very soluble in ether and alcohol ; nearly insoluble in water, 
 in which it sinks in globules. It is not inflammable, like 
 ether and alcohol. It is a powerful solvent of many organic 
 substances, among which the alkaloids deserve special notice.
 
 POISONING BY CHLOROFORM. SYMPTOMS. 391 
 
 At a red heat, its vapor is decomposed into chlorine and 
 hydrochloric acid. 
 
 Effects and Symptoms. Chloroform, like ether, has ob- 
 tained much notoriety as a powerful anaesthetic agent. This 
 impression is more rapidly produced by it than by ether. 
 There is, moreover, an absence of the preceding excitement 
 that is witnessed in ether, and the patient almost immediately 
 loses his sensibility, while the muscular system becomes 
 completely relaxed. It appears to act as a depressant to the 
 system from the first ; and if administered in the concentrated 
 state, and not properly diluted with atmospheric air, it may 
 produce very rapidly fatal effects. In some instances death 
 has occurred within two minutes from the commencement of 
 inhalation. In one case the fatal result took place in one 
 minute after breathing only thirty drops in the state of vapor; 
 and in another case only fifteen drops proved fatal in a very 
 short time. Occasionally, death has occurred even after the 
 withdrawal of the vapor, apparently by its cumulative effects 
 on the system. It is undoubtedly a far more dangerous an- 
 aesthetic agent than ether; and instances of its fatal effects 
 are constantly being reported in the medical journals. Cer- 
 tain constitutional disorders render a patient particularly 
 liable to danger from the inhalation of chloroform : among 
 these may be especially mentioned fatty degeneration of the 
 heart. The immediate cause of death from chloroform vapor 
 appears to be, in the majority of cases, syncope, or a cessa- 
 tion of the heart's action ; and in others, asphyxia. 
 
 The effects of chloroform, when taken internally, particu- 
 larly claim the attention of the toxicologist. These effects 
 are those of a local irritant to the stomach, together with 
 those of a powerful narcotic, causing speedy insensibility, 
 stupor, convulsions, dilated pupils, flushed face, a full and 
 oppressed pulse, and foaming at the mouth. Other cases 
 have been reported in which the pupil was contracted. 
 
 When swallowed, chloroform does not act with nearly the 
 activity and speed that it exhibits when breathed into the 
 lungs. It has frequently been given in medical practice in 
 doses of one or two drachms w r ith impunity ; but many cases 
 are reported where it produced alarming and even fatal
 
 392 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 symptoms in doses of half an ounce and upwards. The 
 smallest fatal dose yet recorded is mentioned hy Dr. Taylor 
 (On Poisons, p. 652), where a boy, aged four years, died in 
 about three hours after swallowing one drachm of chloroform. 
 He soon fell into a state of complete insensibility, with cold- 
 ness of skin and failure of pulse, at first, but subsequent 
 reaction and stertorous breathing followed, without restora- 
 tion to consciousness. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. In death from liquid chloroform, 
 the characteristic odor will usually be apparent, together 
 with a slow putrefaction of the body, and persistent rigor 
 mortis. In several fatal cases reported, there was evidence 
 of great irritation of the lining membrane of the stomach, 
 proceeding to actual softening, and in one case also to ulcera- 
 tion. 
 
 In cases of death resulting from chloroform-t'/?or, the most 
 common lesions are great congestion of the lungs and bron- 
 chial tubes, with a dark and fluid condition of the blood. 
 Sometimes there is congestion of the vessels of the brain ; 
 but very often nothing whatever is discovered after death to 
 indicate the manner in which this was produced. 
 
 Treatment. In poisoning by liquid chloroform, the stomach- 
 pump should be immediately employed. When the vapor 
 has caused the danger, the chloroform should be immediately 
 withdrawn from the nose, and the patient freely exposed to 
 a current of air; cold affusion should be practiced; the 
 tongue should be drawn out of the mouth to facilitate respi- 
 ration ; artificial respiration, and the direct electrical current, 
 may also be employed. 
 
 Chemical analysis. Organic mixtures, as the contents of 
 the stomach (if they have not been too long exposed to the 
 air), will readily yield any contained chloroform by distil- 
 lation over a water-bath. The first distillate may be dis- 
 tilled a second time along with chloride of calcium ; and the 
 product subjected to the proper tests for chloroform, taste, 
 smell, solubility, volatility, etc. To recover it from the blood 
 and tissues, in cases of inhalation, the process devised by 
 Duroy is recommended. The blood, liver, brain, etc., finely 
 divided, with the addition of distilled water, if necessary, are
 
 POISONING BY CHLOROFORM. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 393 
 
 put into a large glass flask, the neck of which is fitted with 
 a cork perforated to contain a hard glass tube bent at right 
 angles, and from twelve to fifteen inches long. The flask 
 is gradually heated in water to 140 P., and at the same time 
 the middle of the tube is heated red-hot by a gas-jet. At a 
 red heat, chloroform-vapor is decomposed into chlorine and 
 hydrochloric acid. A slip of moistened litmus-paper placed 
 at the mouth of the tube will be first reddened, and then 
 bleached. Starch-paper wetted with iodide of potassium is 
 rendered blue; and nitrate of silver solution is whitened by 
 the production of chloride of silver, which may easily be 
 identified. In cases of great delicacy, it will be advisable to 
 use a porcelain retort, with a tube inserted through the tubu- 
 lure, which communicates with a bellows : by this means a 
 regulated current of air can be kept up so as to force the 
 chloroform-vapor through the neck of the retort, which is 
 kept at a full red heat by means of a small furnace. To 
 the extremity of this neck are attached the Liebig's bulbs, 
 containing a solution of nitrate of silver. Any chloroform- 
 vapor arising from the contents of the retort is forced over 
 the heated neck, where it suffers decomposition, and the 
 chlorine and hydrochloric acid resulting are indicated by the 
 white precipitate in the bulbs. The absence of any free 
 hydrochloric acid in the original material should always 
 first be insured by the addition of carbonate of soda or 
 potash. 
 
 It is important to remember that if hydrate of chloral had 
 been taken by the patient just previous to death, and the 
 alkali be added to the tissues, the chloral would be decom- 
 posed into chloroform, and produce all the above reactions. 
 
 Certain important medico -legal points connected with 
 chloroform in its anaesthetic relations, and especially the 
 question " whether chloroform can be used to facilitate rob- 
 bery," will be found ably discussed by Dr. Stephen Rogers, 
 of New York, in the " Journal of Physiological Medicine," 
 October, 1871. Dr. II. C. Wood states (Therapeutics, p. 
 253) that experiments made at the Philadelphia Hospital 
 have proven that persons in a sound sleep may be chloroformed 
 without their being awakened ; but this cannot be produced
 
 394 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 on a person partially awake, or even sleeping lightly, without 
 his knowledge. 
 
 HYDRATE OF CHLORAL. This is a solid, crystalline sub- 
 stance, procured by the action of chlorine on alcohol. It 
 has been introduced into medicine within a few years as a 
 substitute for opium, as a sedative, narcotic, and hypnotic. It 
 is generally efficient in doses of twenty to thirty grains; but 
 much larger quantities have been used, not only with im- 
 punity, but with actual benefit. Nevertheless, its employ- 
 ment in large doses has occasioned dangerous and even fatal 
 results in a number of reported instances. The fatal result 
 has usually been sudden, the victim passing from sleep to 
 death without any remarkable symptoms. 
 
 Considerable discrepancy exists as regards the fatal dose 
 of chloral hydrate. A large number of cases has been col- 
 lected, showing, on the one hand, that a fatal result not 
 unfrequently follows an ordinary dose, and, on the other, 
 that the most enormous quantities may be swallowed with 
 impunity, and this too without any rejection of the drug by 
 vomiting. Dr. B. II. Richardson, of London, considers two 
 drachms to be the maximum safe dose for an adult: under 
 any circumstances he regards three drachms as a fatal dose. 
 Evidence, however, can be adduced to show that a much 
 larger amount may be taken without a necessarily fatal result. 
 Dr. Ludlow reports the case of a nurse in the Philadelphia 
 Hospital who was believed to have swallowed four hundred 
 and sixty grains. She was found in an unconscious condition, 
 from which she was with great difficulty rescued by vigorous 
 flagellation, and by the application of electricity. (Phila. 
 Med. Times, Oct. 15, 1870.) Dr. Williams relates (Bait. 
 Med. Jour., Feb., 1871) the case of a man who took, it was 
 supposed with suicidal intent, about six hundred grains of 
 chloral, the only appreciable effect of which was the pro- 
 duction of profound coma, lasting eighteen hours, and end- 
 ing in complete recovery without any medical treatment. 
 The purity of the drug was shown by an examination of 
 the portion left in the package. The above is probabh' the 
 largest dose on record not attended with fatal consequences.
 
 POISONING BY HYDRATE OF CHLORAL. TESTS. 395 
 
 On the other hand, Dr. H. "W. Fuller reports a case in 
 which thirty grains produced alarming symptoms; and an- 
 other, in which the same dose caused death (Lancet, March 
 27, 1871). Dr. N. R. Smith, of Baltimore, met with cases 
 in which sudden death followed ordinary doses; and one 
 instance in which an enema containing ninety grains pro- 
 duced rapid insensibility, and death in three hours (Lancet, 
 1870, ii. p. 476). From what is known of this drug, it does 
 not appear safe to administer it in doses exceeding thirty 
 grains, or to repeat it ofteuer than every six or eight hours. 
 Many instances of its fatal operation have been traced to the 
 continuance of its use in gradually increasing doses. 
 
 The post-mortem appearances that have been observed com- 
 prise congestion of the brain and its membranes, with exu- 
 dations in the pia mater of a sero-gelatinous character. In 
 one case reported, the brain itself was pale and friable, with 
 injection only of the choroid plexus. 
 
 Chemical properties. Hydrate of chloral is a white, brittle, 
 crystalline solid, of a peculiar odor and a pungent, bitter 
 taste. It is not inflammable. Heated on platinum it vola- 
 tilizes. It is soluble in water. Potassa added to its boiling 
 aqueous solution converts it instantly into chloroform, which 
 escapes with effervescence, and into formic acid, which com- 
 bines with the alkali. It decomposes a salt of copper like 
 grape-sugar. 
 
 Dr. Liebreich, of Berlin, supposes that chloral, while cir- 
 culating in the blood, undergoes decomposition into chloro- 
 form and formic acid, through the agency of the alkalies of 
 the blood. Following out this idea, its physiological and 
 its therapeutical action have been by some ascribed to the 
 chloroform thus produced. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures, or in the contents of the stomach. 
 The principle involved in the chemical analysis has refer- 
 ence to the conversion of chloral into chloroform through 
 the agency of an alkali, as explained above. The solid 
 matters should be properly divided, water added, if neces- 
 sary, and the whole rendered alkaline by caustic potassa, 
 and heated in a flask, after the manner described under the 
 head of CHLOROFORM.
 
 396 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OKDER II. SPINAL NEUROTICS, OR TETANICS. 
 POISONING BY NUX VOMICA. STRYCHNIA. 
 
 Nux VOMICA is by far the most important poison included 
 under the Order of Tetanics, or such substances as primarily 
 affect the spinal cord and excite tetanic convulsions. 
 
 It is the seed of the Strychnos nux vomica, a tree growing in 
 India. Several seeds are inclosed in a yellow fruit, which 
 is about the size of an ordinary orange. These seeds are 
 circular disks, an inch or less in diameter, concave on one 
 surface, and convex on the other. Their color externally is 
 light brown ; they are covered with whitish, silky hairs, 
 radiating from the centre. The body of the seed is nearly 
 white ; its texture is extremely hard and horny, which 
 renders it very difficult to pulverize. The interior of the 
 seed is dyed a rich orange-color when touched with a drop 
 of nitric acid, and is tinged green by perchloride of iron. 
 The taste is intensely and persistently bitter. It contains 
 two powerfully-active alkaloidal principles strychnia and 
 brucia, united with igasuric or strychnic acid. The quantity of 
 strychnia has been variously estimated to amount to from 
 one-half to one per cent, of the seed. 
 
 Nux vomica is officinal in the different Pharmacopoeias in 
 the forms of the powder, extract, and tincture. In overdoses 
 it acts as a terrific poison. The symptoms, post-mortem ap- 
 pearances, treatment, etc., will be fully noticed under the 
 succeeding paragraph on STRYCHNIA. The smallest fatal dose 
 of nux vomica recorded is thirty grains of the powder (about 
 the weight of one seed), and three grains of the alcoholic 
 extract. 
 
 STRYCHNIA. This alkaloid exists in several species of the 
 Strychnos, besides the S. nux vomica : it is the poisonous 
 principle of Strychnos Ignatia, or St. Ignatius' bean ; and it is
 
 POISONING BY NUX VOMICA AND STRYCHNIA. SYMPTOMS. 397 
 
 also found in false Angustura bark, which is the bark of S. nux 
 vomica. Strychnia is often employed for the destruction of 
 wild and other animals. It has frequently been the cause of 
 accidental and suicidal poisoning, and of late years its use 
 for homicidal poisoning has been decidedly on the increase. 
 The celebrated Palmer case, which occurred in England in 
 1856, has brought it ver} T prominently before toxicologists. 
 
 This alkaloid is found in the shops both as a white powder 
 and in colorless crystals. It has several distinct crystalline 
 forms : those most commonly seen are the rectangular prism, 
 and the octahedron. If allowed to crystallize from a drop 
 of the solution of the acetate, by exposure to the vapor of 
 ammonia, it is exhibited usually in the form of well-marked, 
 lengthened prisms, which cross one another at an angle of 
 60. If allowed to crystallize from an ethereal or chloro- 
 form solution on a glass slide, a variety of forms will be 
 noticed, such as prisms, rosettes, plumose leaves, crosslets, 
 and stellate needles. The fact of the diversity of the crys- 
 talline forms of strychnia should be borne in mind by the 
 toxicologist, lest an undue importance be given to this branch 
 of the investigation in a criminal case. The special chem- 
 ical characters of strychnia will be described hereafter. 
 
 Symptoms. The symptoms occasioned by nux vomica and 
 strychnia are similar in kind, though they vary somewhat in 
 the rapidity of their development, which is doubtless owing 
 to a difference in the rapidity of their absorption. As a 
 general rule, the symptoms appear soonest after taking strych- 
 nia. In either case, after the ingestion of a large dose, the 
 individual first experiences a feeling of general uneasiness and 
 restlessness, with a sense of impending suffocation, and of a 
 want of air; very soon twitching of the muscles and jerking 
 movements of the limbs and head come on. These are fol- 
 lowed suddenly by a violent tetanic convulsion, which may 
 pervade the w^hole body ; the legs are stretched out stiffly 
 and involuntarily, widely separated from each other, and the 
 feet arched, and usually incurvated or turned inwards. The 
 arms are flexed, and tightly drawn across the chest ; the head 
 is rigidly bent back, and the whole body arched backwards, 
 so as to rest upon the head and heels (opislholonos). As the 
 
 26
 
 398 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 muscles of the abdomen and chest are rigidly contracted, 
 the respiratory movements become arrested ; the face is con- 
 gested and livid, especially about the lips ; the eyes promi- 
 nent and staring; the pupils dilated; the muscles about the 
 mouth contracted to such an extent as to impart a ghastly 
 expression to the face (risus sardonicus) ; the pulse is extremely 
 rapid and feeble. Sometimes there is foaming at the mouth, 
 and the froth may occasionally be tinged with blood. During 
 all this time the intellect remains perfectly clear; the patient 
 experiences the most intense suffering, gasping for breath, 
 and seeking in vain for relief in asking to be turned over, or 
 moved, or held. The jaws are not always fixed during a 
 paroxysm; the patient may hence be able to speak, and, as 
 great thirst is one of the prominent effects of the poison, he 
 may ask for water, but the attempt to swallow it is very apt 
 to intensify the spasm, as in the case of hydrophobia, or to 
 reproduce it if there is an interval of calm. 
 
 The paroxysm may last from half a minute to two or more 
 minutes, when complete relaxation takes place; the patient 
 feeling exhausted, and being often bathed in perspiration. 
 In some cases, the pupils, which were dilated during the 
 paroxysm, contract during the intermission. After a little 
 time, varying from a few minutes to half an hour, the fit 
 returns : it is usually preceded by a sense of the impending 
 danger, the special senses being exceedingly acute. The 
 spasm may be brought on by the slightest cause, such as an 
 attempt to move, a current of air from fanning, a sudden 
 noise, a mere gentle touching of the patient. Often it comes 
 on without any apparent cause. In some instances the vio- 
 lence of the tetanic seizure has been such as to jerk the 
 patient off the bed. In a case likely to prove fatal, the par- 
 oxysms increase both in frequency and violence, until at last 
 death ensues, either from asphyxia, the patient dying in a 
 paroxysm, or from apuoea, death occurring during the in- 
 termission, from pure exhaustion. 
 
 As already stated, the intellect remains perfectly clear 
 throughout the attack, except, in some instances, just before 
 death, where the brain may have become clouded from the 
 effects of the asphyxia. The patient usually has a vivid ap-
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. SYMPTOMS. 399 
 
 prehension of dissolution, as likewise of suffering, and while 
 anticipating the approach of a paroxysm he will frequently 
 ask to be held. As a general rule, when the paroxysms of 
 strychnia-poisoning are once established, they progress either 
 towards a fatal termination or a cure, within two hours of 
 the seizure. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, 
 which will be alluded to hereafter. 
 
 The time of the first manifestation of the symptoms varies from 
 a few minutes to several hours : the average may perhaps be 
 stated to be from fifteen minutes to half an hour. A number 
 of cases are recorded illustrating both extremes. Thus, 
 Dr. Gr. H. Barker reports (Araer. Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1864, 
 p. 399) the case of a young healthy married woman, to whofti 
 had been administered, with criminal intent, not over six 
 grains of strychnia: violent symptoms were present in three 
 minutes, and death took place, in a convulsion, in half an 
 hour after taking the poison. This is believed to be the 
 most rapid case, in regard to symptoms, on record. In Dr. 
 "Warner's case, who took, it is supposed, less than half a 
 grain, the symptoms were manifested in five minutes, and 
 death occurred in about eighteen minutes. In a case men- 
 tioned in the Auuales d'Hygiene, 1861, i. p. 133, convulsions 
 came on in fii'e minutes. On the other hand, this interval 
 may be protracted for two or three hours. Dr. T. Anderson 
 reports (Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., April, 1848, p. 562) the case 
 of a gentleman who took in mistake three grains and a half 
 of strychnia, and experienced no particular symptoms for 
 two hours and a half, when he suddenly fell backwards; but, 
 on being immediately raised, he was able to walk home. 
 He soon felt better, and in five hours after taking the dose 
 he repeated it. In ten minutes afterwards, he was seized 
 with violent tetanic spasms, which continued, with inter- 
 missions, for several hours, after which he finally recovered. 
 Undoubtedly, the form in which the poison is administered 
 will have considerable influence on the rapidity with which 
 the symptoms will be developed. This is shown in a case 
 cited by Dr. Taylor (Prin. and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 1873, p. 
 405), that of a boy, aged twelve years, who swallowed a 
 pill containing three grains of strychnia, in whom no symp-
 
 400 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 toms were shown for three hours ; they then set in in the usual 
 way, and death took place in ten minutes. The pill had 
 been prepared with muoilage, eight months before, and was 
 consequently hard and difficult to dissolve. In the celebrated 
 Palmer case, Cook took two pills containing strychnia: no 
 symptoms were observed for an hour and a quarter, after 
 which death occurred in twenty minutes. It is unnecessary 
 further to multiply examples of this diversity in the length 
 of time before the exhibition of the 8}'mptoms of strychnia- 
 poisoning: although the delay, may often be ascribed to the 
 form in which the poison is administered, there are cases in 
 which the unusual delay cannot thus be accounted for, but 
 where it must be referred to some individual peculiarity of 
 the patient. 
 
 Dr. Wormley (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 40) mentions a 
 case (recorded in the Chicago Med. Jour., Nov., 1860) where 
 the remarkable postponement of the appearance of the usual 
 symptoms seemed to be owing to the effects of large doses 
 of opium taken simultaneously. Three grains of strychnia, 
 a drachm of opium, and an indefinite quantity of quinine 
 were taken at the same time. No symptoms of any kind 
 appear to have been observed for tivelve hours ; and then they 
 partook of a mixed character, slight tremblings alternating 
 with cerebral symptoms. Another remarkable case is re- 
 ported in the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences," 
 January, 1863, p. 259. A young druggist, with suicidal intent, 
 at half-past eight o'clock at night, swallowed between eight 
 and ten grains of strychnia in an ounce of bitter almond 
 water. A little later, he took an additional dose of twelve 
 grains of strychnia. Feeling nothing peculiar, he took, at 
 nine o'clock, ten grains of acetate of morphia dissolved in 
 an ounce of bitter almond water, and then lay down in bed. 
 Ten minutes later, to hasten his death, he poured chloroform 
 on his pillow. Partial insensibility now manifested itself, 
 and continued for about an hour and a half, when he was 
 seized with violent cramps and cessation of respiration, but 
 without pain. Loss of consciousness then supervened, but 
 he soon revived and had another attack of convulsions. 
 Emetics and taunic acid were now administered, and two
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. FATAL DOSF. 401 
 
 days afterwards no trace of poisoning remained. In both 
 the above instances we must suppose that the ordinary im- 
 pressions of strychnia were undoubtedly modified and, so to 
 speak, held in abeyance by the powerful doses of the nar- 
 cotic taken along with it. Nevertheless, in some experiments 
 of our own on animals, with strychnia and morphia combined, 
 the latter poison, far from antagonizing the former, appeared 
 rather to intensify it (see ante, p. 96). 
 
 If the poison be injected subcutaneously, or even applied 
 to the healthy mucous tissue, its effects are manifested much 
 more speedily. Dr. Shuler relates a case of amaurosis, in 
 which about one-twelfth of a grain of strychnia was intro- 
 duced into the corner of the eye. In three or four minutes 
 symptoms of poisoning appeared, such as convulsive respi- 
 ration, violent tetanic shocks, and an appearance of impend- 
 ing death. The patient, however, ultimately recovered. (Med. 
 Times and Gazette, July, 1861.) 
 
 Some interesting clinical experiments of Prof. J. J. Chis- 
 olm, of Baltimore, with strychnia on patients affected with 
 amaurosis, show very conclusively that the human system 
 speedily acquires a remarkable tolerance of this substance. 
 Finding that doses of strychnia which at first were beneficial 
 in this form of disordered vision soon ceased to be effective, 
 Dr. Chisolm was led to augment the quantity gradually, until 
 he reached the large amount of half a grain per diem, given 
 in three separate doses. It was also ascertained that as 
 regards this tolerance of the drug it makes no difference 
 whether it is administered hypodermically or by the stomach. 
 (Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., April, 1872, p. 342.) 
 
 Fatal dose. The susceptibility of different individuals to 
 the action of strychnia varies greatly, as in the case of other 
 poisons. The average medicinal dose is one-sixteenth of a 
 grain : it is customary to commence with a rather less quan- 
 tity, and gradually increase it up to one-twelfth or one-eighth 
 of a grain. According to Taylor, one-sixteenth of a grain 
 has proved fatal to a child between two and three years old, 
 in four hours. Dr. G. B. Wood mentions the case of a 
 lady who was thrown into alarming spasms, almost threat- 
 ening suffocation, by one -twelfth of a grain (Therapeutics,
 
 402 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 vol. i. p. 834). Wormley cites another instance reported by 
 M. Duriau, where one-sixth of a grain, taken by a woman 
 aged twenty-eight years, produced, ten minutes afterwards, 
 violent tetanic convulsions, in which the whole body became 
 rigid; these continued at intervals, and were succeeded by 
 a sense of burning in the epigastrium and pharynx and 
 great irritability of the stomach, which lasted for six weeks 
 (loc. cit., p. 542). The smallest fatal dose for an adult (where 
 a record has been kept) is half a grain in the case of Dr. 
 Warner. Prof. Guy states that "a quarter of a grain may 
 destroy life," without, however, specifying the age of the 
 subject. Dr. Ogston reports a case where three-quarters of a 
 gram killed a man in three-quarters of an hour. Instances 
 are numerous in which death has resulted from a grain and 
 upwards of this poison. A fatal dose of strychnia for an 
 adult may be stated to be from half a grain to a grain. 
 
 It would appear, from some recorded instances, that this 
 poison possesses somewhat of a cumulative power. It is, 
 however, more probable that after the system has become, 
 as it were, saturated with the drug, from its continued use in 
 small doses, a very slight increase of the dose may develop 
 alarming symptoms. 
 
 On the other hand, numerous recoveries have occurred 
 after swallowing very large doses of strychnia, sometimes 
 with, and sometimes without, any antidote. In the " Lan- 
 cet," for 1863, i. p. 54, Dr. Angell describes the case of a 
 girl who recovered in six or seven hours from a dose of four 
 grains of strychnia. Her convulsions were very violent, with 
 difficult respiration, and fear of impending death. She had 
 only three paroxysms. Another instance of recovery, after 
 taking seven grains, is given in the " Medical Gazette," vol. 
 xli. p. 305. Whartori and Stille quote three cases of recovery 
 after four grains of the poison had been swallowed (Med. 
 Jurisp., 1873, ii. p. 575). Prof. Wormley mentions an in- 
 stance related by Dr. Givens, where a young man swallowed, 
 with suicidal intent, two large pills containing not less than 
 ten or twelve grains of strychnia. Violent convulsions set in, 
 which, however, subsided in seven hours, but leaving the 
 patient in a prostrate condition, from which he entirely
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. FATAL PERIOD. 403 
 
 recovered in a week. Very early vomiting had occurred in 
 this case, to which the immunity may have been due. Dr. 
 "Wilson has reported a case (Amer. Jour, of Med. Sci., July, 
 1864, p. 70) where a young man, aged twenty-two years, re- 
 covered in fifteen hours, although he was believed to have 
 taken forty grains of strychnia. Early vomiting also occurred 
 in this case. In these instances, where excessive doses have 
 been taken, there is strong reason for believing that the 
 poison was not of full strength, but was probably adulterated 
 with some inert substance. 
 
 Fatal period. This, like the fatal dose, is liable to a con- 
 siderable variation. In the case of Dr. Warner, already 
 mentioned, death occurred in about eighteen minutes, after 
 taking not over half a grain of strychnia. Dr. Taylor records 
 two cases those of a man and wife that occurred in Bel- 
 gium, in 1870, of still more rapid death. The husband died 
 in a quarter of an. hour after taking seven grains and a half 
 of what he supposed to be chloride of morphia, but which 
 proved to be largely mixed with strychnia ; and the wife, who 
 took a similar dose, died in ten minutes. Dr. J. Gray refers 
 to a case which proved fatal in jive minutes. In Dr. Barker's 
 case, already alluded to, six grains caused death in thirty 
 minutes ; and in Dr. Theinhart's case (Amer. Jour, of Med. 
 Sci.; Jan., 1848, p. 303), thirty grains of the poison proved 
 fatal in half an hour. 
 
 On the other hand, life has been prolonged, even after 
 taking large doses, for several hours. In the case of Cook, 
 .poisoned by Palmer, death occurred in about an hour and a 
 quarter after swallowing the poison. In a case reported to Dr. 
 Taylor by Mr. "VVilkins, death did not take place until six hours 
 after taking three grains. In a case of a woman examined by 
 the author, in 1861, death did not occur until after six hours 
 after swallowing six grains of strychnia. (See report of this 
 case in Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1861, p. 409.) These two 
 last-mentioned cases are probably the longest on record, as 
 regards the fatal period. In the majority of instances the 
 poison destroys life within two hours. 
 
 In poisoning by mix vomica, death may occur within two 
 hours; but a case is reported by Christison in which a man
 
 404 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 died in fifteen minutes after taking a dose. This is probably 
 the shortest period known. 
 
 Treatment. Prompt and free emesis is of the greatest im- 
 portance. Copious draughts of warm mustard and water, 
 or a mixture of sulphate of zinc and ipecac, answer well for 
 this purpose; or the stomach-pump may be resorted to. On 
 account of the rigidity of the jaws and the difficulty of swal- 
 lowing, it maybe impossible to get anything down the throat; 
 the attempt to do so often bringing on a convulsion. We would 
 strongly recommend the employment of chloroform by in- 
 halation in all these cases. Numerous recoveries under its 
 use attest its great value. Dr. Clark (Buffalo Med. and Surg. 
 Jour., Nov., 1866, p. 135) reports the case of a man laboring 
 under delirium tremens, who swallowed over twenty grains 
 of strychnia: there was early vomiting, and the patient was 
 kept under the constant use of chloroform for eight consecu- 
 tive hours, during which time all attempts to suspend its use 
 were attended by a recurrence of the symptoms. In eigh- 
 teen hours he was convalescent. Dr. Dresbach, of Ohio, who 
 appears to have been the first to administer chloroform in 
 poisoning by strychnia, gave two drachms internally to a 
 man who, by mistake, had swallowed a solution containing 
 three grains of the poison, and who had most violent symp- 
 toms in twenty minutes. There was complete relief in less 
 than twenty minutes afterwards. (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., 
 April, 1850, p. 546.) A case is also mentioned in the " United 
 States Dispensatory," 1865, p. 1357, where a young man took 
 four grains of strychnia, and had most violent tetanic spasms. 
 Complete recovery took place under the use of chloroform, 
 administered by inhalation and by the stomach. The patient 
 was kept under its influence for thirteen consecutive hours, 
 during which time two pounds of the anaesthetic were con- 
 sumed by inhalation. 
 
 Another physiological antidote is bromide of potassium. 
 From the known efficacy of this drug in controlling ordinary 
 convulsions, it might be inferred that it would exert some 
 power over strychnia-convulsions. Many instances of its 
 influence over the latter might be cited. Dr. C. B. Gillespie, 
 of Freeport, Pa., reports the case of a man who, after swal-
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. TREATMENT. 405 
 
 lowing fully two grains and a half of strychnia, in about 
 two hours was seized with the usual tetanic spasms and other 
 symptoms pertaining to this poison. After administering a 
 teaspoonful of tincture of hyoscyamus (the only medicine at 
 hand), eighty grains of bromide of potassium, dissolved in 
 half an ounce of water, were given to him every half-hour. 
 The paroxysms gradually became less violent and frequent, 
 and had entirely ceased by the time the last dose was taken. 
 In thirty-six hours he had completely recovered. (Amer. 
 Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1870, p. 420.) Another instance in 
 which the bromide of potassium seemed to act antidotally 
 is related by Dr. W. W. Hewlett, of Babylon, L.I. (N. Y. 
 Med. Jour., March, 1871). A farmer, aged thirty years, 
 took, by mistake, five grains of strychnia at night, immedi- 
 ately after which he went to bed, and slept for two hours : 
 he then awoke " feeling very much confused." Pains in the 
 abdomen, with twitchings of the limbs, ensued, which were 
 soon followed by violent tetanic convulsions. As he was of 
 intemperate habits, and had been accustomed to the use of 
 elixir of opium, his friends gave him this medicine, suppos- 
 ing his spasms were owing to drink. He took six teaspoon- 
 fuls of it in the course of two hours. Nausea and vomiting 
 soon ensued, after which he felt better, and remained quiet 
 for two hours. The convulsions now returned, and so con- 
 tinued alternately, with vomiting artificially excited, until 
 five o'clock next morning. At this time the convulsions had 
 returned with great violence. As a dernier ressort, bromide 
 of potassium was ordered, in doses of ninety grains and up- 
 wards, every half-hour. In twenty minutes after taking the 
 first dose, the improvement was perceptible. The bromide 
 was then given in drachm doses, every hour; but the con- 
 vulsions coming on again with greater severity, the remedy 
 was given every fifteen minutes, for one hour. Again he 
 felt better. The bromide was now administered in smaller 
 doses for a day and a half. In thirty-six hours after taking 
 the poison he was able to walk about, feeling a little weak, 
 and occasionally a slight twitch. 
 
 A few cases have been put on record in which hydrate of 
 chloral has been successfully used in the treatment of strych-
 
 406 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 ma-poisoning. In the " Glasgow Medical Journal" for Feb- 
 ruary, 1871, Dr. J. St. Clair Gray gives the results of numer- 
 ous experiments made with various alleged antidotes for 
 strychnia, on the lower animals. After alluding to chloro- 
 form, Calabar bean, woorara, and chloral, as the substances 
 most likely to neutralize the effects of strychnia, though 
 admitting their inefficacy if administered after the accession 
 of the tetanic spasms, he suggests the trial of nitrite of ainyl 
 as being well worthy of confidence in a case of strychnia- 
 poisoning in man. In his hands it proved more efficacious 
 (although by no means always successful) than any of the 
 other reputed antidotes. 
 
 The latest proposed antidote is atropia, which appears to 
 exercise a true antagonizing effect over strychnia. Mr. S. 
 Buckley relates (Edin. Med. Jour., Sept., 1873) an interesting 
 case of this in a woman, aged twenty-eight, who had taken, 
 at 4 P.M., an unknown quantity of strychnia. When brought 
 to the Manchester infirmary, half an hour afterwards, she 
 was in a state of perfect opisthotonos ; the spasms painful 
 and severe, and the intervals short. After chloroform had 
 been administered ineffectually, atropia was given in repeated 
 small doses, with remarkable benefit. The patient ultimately 
 recovered. (See post, ATROPIA, for fuller details of this case.) 
 
 Among other reputed antidotes, tobacco has been recom- 
 mended. This substance, originally proposed by Prof. Haugh- 
 ton, of Oxford, on physiological principles, has been fully 
 tried, by various authorities, but without encouraging results. 
 For the purpose of testing its antidotal powers, Prof. Worm- 
 ley made thirteen experiments upon cats, administering to 
 each animal half a grain of strychnia, along with an infusion 
 of twenty grains of tobacco, and in some instances repeating 
 the latter substance. As the result of these experiments, all 
 the animals, with a single exception, died, and, in most in- 
 stances, within the usual period. In some of the cases the 
 strychnia-symptoms did not appear to be at all modified by 
 the tobacco ; while in others they were of a complex charac- 
 ter, indicating the action of both the toxic agents. In the 
 exceptional case mentioned, the animal that had taken the 
 mixed poisons, after vomiting, and exhibiting some stiffness
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. MORBID LESIONS. 407 
 
 of gait, appeared to have completely recovered in the course 
 of an hour. These negative results with tobacco are entirely 
 confirmed by our own experiments made on dogs, and re- 
 ported in the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences," 
 April, 1871, p. 382, et seq. In some of these there did not 
 seem to be the slightest antagonizing influence exerted by 
 it; and in one only did the toxic impression of strychnia 
 appear to be at- all modified by the tobacco. In the latter 
 instance, although some controlling influence was undoubt- 
 edly exerted, it could hardly be said to amount to an antago- 
 nism, since the final fatal symptoms were those of strychnia. 
 As regards the antidotal powers of tincture of chloride of iron, 
 tincture of iodine, and aconitia, with all of which we have ex- 
 perimented on dogs, we have not found them to yield any 
 results that would entitle them to confidence. (See paper 
 above referred to, p. 385.) 
 
 Finally, in relation to the alleged powers of tannic acid, 
 animal charcoal, iodo-iodide of potassium, camphor, etc., no reli- 
 ance whatever should be placed upon them as antidotes. 
 Doubtless, recoveries have occurred both in man and in ani- 
 mals, from poisonous doses of strychnia, after taking the 
 above-named substances; but certainly in no authentic in- 
 stance without early and free vomiting of the poison. 
 
 Post-mortem signs. The characters furnished by the autopsy 
 are not always similar, nor are they by any means character- 
 istic. Nevertheless, as remarked by Tardieu, although there 
 may be no positive signs by which to identify the case, certain 
 negative signs may be deduced that are not without value, 
 when these are compared with the symptoms exhibited during 
 life. Probably the lesions most commonly observed are 
 congestion of the brain and its membranes, and sometimes 
 of the upper part of the spinal cord, with engorgement of the 
 lungs, and a dark and fluid condition of the blood. The 
 heart is sometimes empty and contracted; at other times it is 
 partially empty and flaccid. The urinary bladder is empty. 
 Congestion of the liver, spleen, and kidneys has also been 
 observed. As usually viewed after death, the body is in an 
 exceedingly rigid state. Although the individual may have 
 died in a frightful tetanic convulsion, there is a universal
 
 408 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 muscular relaxation, immediately after death ; this, at least, is 
 the general rule (it uniformly occurs in animals poisoned by 
 strychnia); but very soon in animals as well as in man 
 cadaveric rigidity sets in, and is very persistent. We have 
 known it to be exhibited in a marked degree six weeks after 
 death. Along with the rigidity of the body, there is usually 
 noticed a livid appearance about the mouth and tongue, also 
 of the fingers and toes; both the latter are tightly flexed. 
 As regards the alimentary canal, nothing whatever of a dis- 
 tinctive character is shown. It should be remembered by 
 those who might be led to attach an undue weight to the 
 congested state of the cerebral and spinal vessels, that pre- 
 cisely such lesions are seen as the result of various disorders 
 of the cerebro-spinal cord, and which, moreover, may have 
 been attended with tetanic convulsions (Abercrombie). "We there- 
 fore must infer that before a diagnosis of strychnia-poisoning 
 can be established exclusively from the lesions, or even from 
 the symptoms conjoined (unless the latter possess all the 
 striking characteristic marks), the absence of all disease of 
 the spinal cord must first be unequivocally proved. 
 
 Diagnosis. It is of the utmost importance that an expert, 
 summoned to pronounce upon the reality of a case of alleged 
 strychnia-poisoning, should have clear and definite ideas in 
 relation to the symptoms presented during life, inasmuch as 
 these, along with the moral evidences, may constitute the 
 sole proof that can be offered in the case. We shall see 
 hereafter that there may be an entire absence of chemn-'i.l 
 proof. In the celebrated Palmer case, in England, this ques- 
 tion was most thoroughly sifted by both sides. Indeed, this 
 very case affords an illustration of just the sort of difficulties 
 that present themselves in forming a correct appreciation of 
 these symptoms. The only real difficulty consists in properly 
 discriminating between the symptoms of the poison and those 
 of disease. In the Palmer trial, the defense brought for- 
 ward a large number of diseases which, as remarked by 
 Tardieu, " have but a faint resemblance to, and often a 
 complete diversity from, the characteristic phenomena of 
 strychnia-poisoning." Among those cited on the occasion 
 mentioned were delirium tremens, eclampsia, hysteria, epi-
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. DIAGNOSIS. 409 
 
 lepsy, apoplexy, angina pectoris, and even syphilis! The 
 only diseases whose symptoms could by any possibility be 
 mistaken for those occasioned by strychnia are tetanus, in its 
 varieties of traumatic, idiopathic, and hysterical, and possibly 
 some forms of epilepsy. Let us briefly examine the differen- 
 tial signs of these disorders. 
 
 Tetanus constitutes the really important disorder whose 
 symptoms might be possibly confounded with those of 
 strychnia. If the expert were obliged to decide solely from 
 the convulsion apart from its mode of invasion and seizure, 
 its duration and termination, the condition of the intervals 
 between the paroxysms, in fine, apart from the whole history 
 of the attack he might be unable to discriminate between 
 the disease and the poisoning. But where a careful exami- 
 nation of all these attending circumstances has been insti- 
 tuted, there can be no possible difficulty in reaching a satis- 
 factory conclusion. The really distinctive characters are 
 the following: (1) In traumatic tetanus, the history of the 
 case, as being connected with some injury, such as a lace- 
 rated or contused wound, involving tendons, nerves, fasciae, 
 and aponeuroses, will always throw sufficient light on the 
 case to admit of an easy diagnosis; but it must not be for- 
 gotten that a very trifling injury (apparently), such as a small 
 splinter of wood getting beneath the fascia of a limb, or the 
 accidental insertion of a nail into the hand or foot, may after 
 the lapse of several days bring on this frightful disorder, 
 while the patient in the mean time has entirely forgotten 
 the real cause. Such a case might possibly be mistaken for 
 idiopathic tetanus. As regards the latter form of this disorder 
 (idiopathic), the first point to be noticed is its extreme rarity, 
 especially in temperate climates; secondly, its mode of inva- 
 sion (as likewise that of traumatic tetanus), the duration of 
 the attack, and the character of the symptoms are entirely 
 different from those of strychnia-poisoning. In idiopathic 
 tetanus, according to Bouillaud, Valleix, and Gimelle, there 
 are always certain prodromes, such as chills, faintiness, in- 
 somnia, vertigo, headache, and painful tension about the 
 diaphragm, which may last several days. These, of course, 
 are entirely wanting in poisoning by strychnia; and they
 
 410 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 never can be mistaken for the agitation and general uneasi- 
 ness which precede, for only a few minutes, the sudden out- 
 burst of convulsions, in the case of the poison. Thirdly, the 
 first phenomena that characterize the invasion of tetanus are 
 the painful stiffness of the neck and jaws, and a difficulty of 
 moving the head ; then, after some passing convulsions over 
 the different muscles of the body, the rigidity spreads gen- 
 erally to the trunk, and thence to the limbs. In some 
 instances the contractions -reach their greatest intensity in the 
 course of a few hours; in others, some days elapse before thia 
 takes place. In contrast with this picture, a case of strychnia- 
 poisoning presents the following points. Instead of the 
 gradual development of the rigid spasms observed in the 
 case of tetanus, and commencing always in the muscles of 
 the neck and jaw (trismus), we have, in poisoning, a sud- 
 den tetanic seizure of all the muscles of the body simulta- 
 neously. Here, the violent spasmodic contraction of the 
 muscles of the neck and back, which jerks back and fixes 
 the head as in a vise, and which arches the back like a rigid 
 bow, can scarcely be confounded with the slow and gradual 
 progress of the convulsions of the disease. Again, while the 
 muscles of the neck and jaw are never the first to be affected 
 in strychnia-poisoning, but are often the very last to be 
 tetanized, the reverse is always the case in the disease, the 
 trismus being the first indication of its approach. A fourth 
 distinction is founded on the further progress of the two 
 cases : whilst the violent and universal spasm produced by 
 strychnia lasts from half a minute to one or two minutes, 
 and is then followed by complete relaxation and absolute 
 calm, in tetanus, on the contrary, the rigidity of the affected 
 parts is generally permanent, and if there be exacerbations, 
 the intervals never exhibit the character of the complete 
 intermission witnessed in the poisoning. Fifthly, the termi- 
 nation of the cases is widely different : a case of idiopathic 
 tetanus never terminates fatally in two or three hours ; but 
 several days usually elapse before this event. On the other 
 hand, in a case of poisoning, after three or four rapidly- 
 recurring paroxysms, death may occur in a period varying 
 from less than half an hour to two hours : as a rule, recovery
 
 POISONING BY STKYCHNIA. DIAGNOSIS. 411 
 
 may be expected if the patient survives the last-mentioned 
 period. 
 
 Dr. L. Starr reports a case of traumatic tetanus fatal in less 
 than twelve hours after the first appearance of muscular 
 twitchings, and within one hour and a half after the first con- 
 vulsion (Phil. Med. Times, vol. iii. p. 311). A still more 
 rapid development of symptoms occurred in the remarkable 
 case witnessed by Prof. Robinson, of Edinburgh, that of a 
 negro who lacerated his thumb by the accidental fracture 
 of a china dish. He was seized with convulsions almost 
 instantly, and died with tetanic symptoms in a quarter of 
 an hour (Watson's Lectures, art. Tetanus). 
 
 There are also other differential signs, such as the mode 
 of contraction of the arms, hands, and feet, the peculiar feel- 
 ing of apprehension and alarm before each paroxysm, the 
 cry of the patient, &c., which, although not positively diag- 
 nostic, are nevertheless highly suggestive of the presence of 
 the poison. 
 
 As regards the hysterical form of tetanus, although its very 
 existence has been denied by some, especially as connected 
 with the male subject, other authorities of equal weight de- 
 scribe this variety of the disorder, and mention cases illustra- 
 tive of it. It is well known that this protean affection, hys- 
 teria, may assume the appearance of nearly every other 
 disease, and there is no doubt that in some of its phases it 
 may put on the semblance of tetanus. Of course, in a sus- 
 pected case, a knowledge of the antecedent history of the 
 patient would serve to clear up the diagnosis, as well as to 
 distinguish it from poisoning by strychnia. 
 
 In relation to epilepsy, the only other disease that need be 
 noticed, the diagnostic signs are sufficiently distinct. The 
 whole features of an epileptic seizure are very different from 
 those of a paroxysm induced by strychnia. The uncon- 
 sciousness alone would serve to distinguish them. Then the 
 peculiar clonic convulsive movements of epilepsy are totally 
 distinct from the characteristic tetanic spasm of strychnia- 
 poisoning. Again, after the termination of an epileptic con- 
 vulsion there is always a deep stupor, the patient sleeping 
 profoundly sometimes for hours ; whereas the tetanic spasm
 
 412 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 occasioned by strychnia is followed by complete relaxation 
 and wakefulness ; there is no loss of consciousness whatever. 
 Again, whilst death may possibly occur in a first epileptic 
 fit, it has never been known to occur in the first tetanic 
 spasm from strychnia. Nevertheless, the case is supposable 
 where an epileptic paroxysm has terminated fatally under 
 suspicious circumstances; here the death might, very natu- 
 rally, be attributed to poison, and nothing but an accurate 
 autopsy would be able to reveal its real cause. M. Tardieu 
 (loc. tit., p. 934) gives an instructive instance of this character, 
 which fell under his own observation. A rich foreigner, who 
 had long been subject to convulsive (epileptic) attacks, 
 resulting from habits of intoxication, on one occasion 
 succumbed to an attack, after having taken a powder of 
 unknown composition. The disturbed interests and excited 
 feelings of the survivors suggested suspicions of poisoning, 
 which the position, title, and large fortune of the deceased, 
 no less than the peculiar circumstances of his death, would 
 not suffer to remain quiet. An echo of Palmer's crime 
 had been sounded, and the name of strychnia had been 
 pronounced. Tardieu conducted the examination of the 
 body. He found in the brain marks of deep and old struc- 
 tural changes, which, in connection with the well-attested 
 antecedents of the deceased, were sufficient to do away 
 with all ideas of poisoning by strychnia. 
 
 Chemical analysis. As already stated, strychnia occurs both 
 as a white powder and in the crystalline form (see p. 397). 
 It is almost insoluble in water; one part of the alkaloid re- 
 quiring from seven to eight thousand parts of cold water for 
 its solution. It is rather more soluble in hot water. Abso- 
 lute alcohol dissolves one part in a little over two hundred; 
 common whisky, one part in four hundred (\Yormley); ainy- 
 lic alcohol, one part in one hundred and twenty-two; benzole, 
 one part in two hundred and fifty ; commercial ether, one part in 
 about one thousand ; pure ether, one part in about fourteen hun- 
 dred ; chloroform, one part in eight of the menstruum. From 
 the above, it will be seen that chloroform is better adapted 
 for separating strychnia from its aqueous solutions, than 
 ether; although the latter solvent will answer very well, and
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 413 
 
 is much employed for this purpose. The alkaloid is in- 
 soluble in the fixed alkalies, and only sparingly soluble in 
 ammonia. 
 
 The salts of strychnia are for the most part very sojuble 
 in water and in alcohol; much more so in the latter fluid 
 than the pure alkaloid. They are also very slightly soluble 
 in ether. 
 
 The taste of strychnia is extremely and persistently bitter. 
 This taste is one of its characteristic qualities. It is, in fact, 
 the bitterest substance known. As the result of numerous 
 experiments, we have found a distinct bitterness yielded by 
 a solution of one grain of strychnia in several gallons of 
 water. The books usually state the extent of this bitterness 
 to be one grain in a gallon, or seventy thousand grains; but 
 according to our experience it far exceeds this limit. The 
 bitter taste we regard as one of the strongest corroborative 
 proofs of the presence of strychnia, in a medico-legal investi- 
 gation. Unless the ultimate extract obtained by the manip- 
 ulation affords some evidence of bitterness to the taste, we 
 need hardly expect to prove the presence of the poison by 
 the usual chemical tests. But, on the other hand, the mere 
 presence of bitterness is not evidence of strychnia, since this 
 quality also belongs to a great number of other substances, 
 such as quinia, morphia, aloes, colocynth, quassia, picro- 
 toxia, etc. 
 
 The concentrated mineral acids produce no coloration with 
 strychnia, if the latter is pure ; if it contains any brucia, it 
 will impart a reddish color to nitric acid. Heated on porce- 
 lain, it melts slowly into a brown liquid, and is decomposed, 
 giving off dense white fumes, and leaving a carbon. If 
 heated in the spirit-lamp, it takes fire, burning with a yel- 
 lowish, smoky flame. According to some authorities, it 
 cannot be sublimed without undergoing decomposition. Prof. 
 Guy, on the contrary, asserts that the sublimation test is an 
 admirable mode of identifying it, even with such minute 
 quantities as the one-hundredth down to one ten-thou- 
 sandth of a grain. The mode of procedure is to place the 
 minute fragment on a clean, dry porcelain lid, in the centre 
 of a ring of glass; a glass disk or microscope-slide is dried, 
 
 27
 
 414 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 heated in the flame of a spirit-lamp, and placed on the 
 ring. The flame is then applied to the porcelain until it is 
 sufficiently heated, when a mist will appear on the glass; and 
 upon.this, in succession, several milk-white spots, sometimes 
 distinct and sometimes coalescing, will form. These may, 
 or may not, be crystalline, though they often, under the 
 microscope, present a variety of crystalline forms, some of 
 which ar-e pennate, or feathery. Although none of these 
 forms, thus procured, can be considered positively charac- 
 teristic of strychnia, they serve admirably for the further cor- 
 roborative proof by the color test, which will be explained 
 below. 
 
 1. The color test. This test is so named from the beautiful 
 succession or play of colors that is developed by it. It con- 
 sists in the application of a drop of pure concentrated sul- 
 phuric acid to a small fragment of strychnia, placed on a 
 white porcelain surface, or on a watch-glass over white paper. 
 If the strychnia be perfectly pure, it will dissolve in the acid 
 without coloration. If now a minute fragment of bichromate 
 of potassa, ferricyanide of potassium, permanganate of potassa, 
 binoxide of manganese, or peroxide (puce oxide) of had, be stirred 
 in contact with the solution, by means of a pointed glass rod, 
 this play of colors is instantly manifested. At first it is a 
 rich deep blue ; this gradually passes into a violet or purple, 
 which in its turn fades into a pink, and finally into a red. 
 The relative duration of these different shades of color de- 
 pends on the quantity of strychnia operated on, and also on 
 the relative amounts of the acid and the color-developing 
 substance. The success of the experiment greatly depends 
 upon the proper proportioning of these different agents. 
 Thus, if the quantity of strychnia be extremely small, the 
 blue color may continue only for a moment, or it may even 
 be entirely absent, the mixture developing only a violet or 
 purple hue, which quickly passes into red. Where the quan- 
 tity of the poison tested is almost infinitesimal, as, for exam- 
 ple, one half-millionth of a grain, or even less, the most that 
 can be expected, under the very nicest adjustment, as the 
 mixture is made with the glass rod, is an evanescent flash of 
 violet, succeeded by a reddish hue.
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. THE COLOR TEST. 415 
 
 The principle involved in the color test is the action of 
 nascent oxygen (developed by the acid on the various oxi- 
 dizing substances above named) upon the strychnia. For the 
 performance of the experiment, it is immaterial which of 
 the color-developing substances is used, provided no im- 
 purity be present. Different authorities evince a preference 
 for one or another, according to their individual tastes. The 
 successful result depends much more on the purity of the 
 reagents, and on the freedom of the strychnia from foreign 
 matters. It is, however, probably true that, if the strychnia 
 be associated with organic impurities (as it is apt to be in 
 a medico-legal examination), the permanganate will be less 
 likely to be interfered with than the others. As a general 
 rule, the pure bichromate of potassa, used in the form of a 
 minute crystal, answers every purpose. It has also been 
 claimed that the primary blue tint is more intense and more 
 durable, when developed by the permanganate, the binoxide 
 of manganese, or the oxide of lead, than by the bichromate; 
 but, as remarked by Dr. Wormley, this is true only of given 
 quantities of the alkaloid, and depends upon the physical 
 state of these different reagents. 
 
 In an excellent practical paper, by Dr. J. B. Lyman, in 
 the "New York Medical Gazette," March 18, 1871, the 
 subject of testing for strychnia, both in its pure state and 
 as associated with organic matters, is fully discussed. The 
 author thinks that for the detection of pure strychnia any 
 of the usual color-producing substances may be indifferently 
 employed ; but where the poison is mixed with organic im- 
 purities, he found the most reliable reagents to be the per- 
 manganate of potassa and the hydrated peroxide of manganese (the 
 latter is not the commercial black oxide, but is prepared by 
 precipitating a solution of the chloride by a filtered solution of 
 chloride of lime); the former will give the appropriate color- 
 reaction under circumstances when the others entirely fail 
 or are obscured. Dr. Lyman experimented with strychnia 
 mixed with a great variety of organic substances, such as 
 qninia, morphia, sugar, flour, tannin, etc., and also with 
 animal matters: he found that while the permanganate 
 would give with them, and indeed with most organic sub-
 
 416 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 stances, in the absence of strychnia, a violet color, which 
 fades away without passing into red, the presence of the mi- 
 nutest portion of strychnia always insures the true charac- 
 teristic reaction, viz., the production of the succession of the 
 colors violet, passing into pink and red successively. 
 
 It is very important to have clear ideas ahout this color 
 test for strychnia. It should be remembered that it is not 
 the mere production of a blue or violet color by the re- 
 agents that is the diagnostic sign : other substances besides 
 strychnia may do this; it is the regular succession of tints, 
 commencing with the blue (sometimes with violet) and 
 proceeding on to pink and red the last continuing for a 
 considerable length of time, and giving place ultimately to 
 a greenish hue. So far as is known at present, strychnia 
 is the only substance that responds to the above requisition. 
 Certain substances that react somewhat similarly will be 
 noticed hereafter under the head of Fallacies. 
 
 The exceeding delicacy of the color test deserves to be 
 considered. If the strychnia be perfectly pure, and the 
 manipulation be properly performed, so minute a quantity 
 as one-millionth of a grain may be detected by it. This we 
 have frequently verified in our own experience, and it is 
 corroborated by other experimenters. The ability to identify 
 such an almost infinitesimal quantity depends simply on the 
 delicacy of the manipulation and the purity of the materials 
 used. In order to procure for experimenting so minute a 
 quantity of the poison as that above mentioned, a pure solu- 
 tion of strychnia in water acidulated with a little acetic acid 
 is first made, of definite strength. This may then readily be 
 reduced to any degree by the addition of distilled water. 
 Fractional portions of the last solution may then be obtained 
 by using a pipette drawn out to a capillary point, which will 
 deposit minute droplets on a warmed, clean porcelain or glass 
 surface. The object here is to concentrate the quantity to be 
 experimented on into as small a space as possible. The drop 
 should then be evaporated to dryness spontaneously ; a small 
 drop of pure concentrated sulphuric acid is then applied to 
 the deposit by means of a finely-pointed glass rod ; and, last 
 of all, a very minute fragment of crystallized bichromate or
 
 STRYCHNIA. INTERFERENCES WITH COLOR TEST. 417 
 
 ferricyanide of potassium, or of any of the other oxidizing 
 agents, is plaped alongside of the acid solution, and then by 
 means of the pointed rod it is drawn through the solution, 
 and gently stirred with it. Dr. Lyman advises (loc. cit.\ in 
 experimenting with these very minute amounts of strychnia, 
 to employ an extremely small drop of sulphuric acid, and to 
 dilute the powdered bichromate with some inert powder (such 
 as that scraped from a slate-pencil), and to use but a minute 
 portion of the latter. He recommends to rub up the per- 
 manganate of potassa or the hydrated peroxide of man- 
 ganese with a drop or two of sulphuric acid on a porcelain 
 surface, with a glass rod, and to use a small portion of this 
 solution along with the sulphuric acid, on the dried residue. 
 For this fractional testing he rather gives the preference to 
 the permanganate and the ferricyanide of potassium, as the 
 oxidizing agents. Dr. Taylor regards the permanganate as 
 objectionable, on account of its solubility, and of its being 
 already colored; but if it is used as above directed, the 
 objection does not seem to hold good. 
 
 Interferences. The color test properly applied will detect 
 an exceedingly, small amount of pure strychnia, as above 
 mentioned. There are many organic substances, however, 
 whose presence will serve materially to modify, and even 
 completely to mask, the usual color-reactions. Brieger, in 
 1850, first announced that the reaction was more or less 
 interfered with by morphia, quinia, and sugar (Chem. Gaz., 
 vol. viii. p. 408); and since then the list of such substances 
 has been much extended. Dr. "Wormley has likewise investi- 
 gated this subject (Ohio Med. Jour., Jan. and March, 1864), 
 with similar results. 
 
 Dr. Lyman also experimented on strychnia in the presence 
 of morphia (loc. tit.}. He first tried a solution containing 
 twenty-five parts of morphia to one of strychnia, and this 
 was deposited in minute fractional drops on porcelain, and 
 dried; spots were also formed containing the same amount 
 of morphia, but no strychnia. To both, the tests were ap- 
 plied in the usual way. None of the tests except the permanga- 
 nate gave any satisfactory evidence of the strychnia : this, however, 
 gave a purple color, passing to light red. The test applied to
 
 418 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 the morphia alone, also gave a light purple color, which 
 faded gradually away, without passing to the red. 
 
 When strychnia is mixed with a large excess of sulphate of 
 quinia, it refuses to respond to any of the color tests except 
 the permanganate, which gives the characteristic change of 
 colors. The latter will also give to quinia alone, as to mor- 
 phia, a violet color, which, however, gradually fades away 
 without changing to red. (Ibid.) 
 
 The fact of these interferences must, then, be admitted. 
 Practically, however, they may be avoided in a medico-legal 
 investigation, by the employment of chloroform instead of 
 ether as the solvent to extract the strychnia from organic 
 mixtures; the interfering substances (morphia, the nitrates, 
 tartar emetic, etc.) are insoluble in this menstruum. 
 
 That morphia, among other substances, when associated 
 with strychnia in certain proportions, has the property of dis- 
 guising the usual color test of the latter alkaloid, is abun- 
 dantly established, although the proposition has been denied 
 by some eminent authorities. The author made an elabo- 
 rate series of experiments for the purpose of settling this 
 question, the results of which were published in the "Ameri- 
 can Journal of the Medical Sciences," October, 1861, and 
 April, 1862. These results very clearly prove that when 
 these two alkaloids are mixed together in minute quantities 
 either in their pure state, or associated with complex organic 
 matters the usual color test for strychnia is certainly inter- 
 fered with ; and, further, that the degree of interference "de- 
 pends upon the relative quantity of the two alkaloids, the strychnia 
 not being discoverable when the morphia is in excess, and barely 
 discoverable when in equal quantity." To establish this proposi- 
 tion the following experiments are quoted from the above- 
 named article : 
 
 " Exp. 1. The one-hundredth of a grain of strychnia was 
 put into a pint of water, together with several ounces of 
 beef finely cut up, some starch, common salt, and a few 
 drops of acetic acid (the object being as nearly as possible to 
 represent the contents of the stomach after eating). The 
 whole was subjected to a moderate heat, strained, pressed, 
 and evaporated, and finally treated after the process of M.
 
 STRYCHNIA. EFFECT OF MORPHIA ON COLOR TEST. 419 
 
 Stas. The ethereal solution on being concentrated yielded 
 clear proof of the presence of strychnia, both by the color 
 test and by the bitter taste. 
 
 " Exp. 2. This was a repetition of the last, except that to 
 the one-hundredth of a grain of strychnia there was added 
 three times that quantity of morphia (one-thirty-third of a 
 grain). Although precisely the same process was employed, 
 not the slightest trace of strychnia could be discovered by 
 the color test. 
 
 " Exp. 3. This resembled the preceding experiment, ex- 
 cept that the one-fiftieth of a grain of morphia was added 
 to the strychnia (or double instead of treble the quantity) : 
 here likewise the color test entirely failed. 
 
 " Exp. 4. In this case an equal amount of morphia, or the 
 one-hundredth of a grain, was added to the strychnia, the 
 same method being still pursued : the result was that the 
 faintest possible evidence of the presence of strychnia was 
 afforded, and only after repeated trials." 
 
 These experiments were all purposely performed with very 
 minute quantities of strychnia. It was not deemed neces- 
 sary to experiment upon such large amounts as one grain, 
 or, indeed, any portion over one-fiftieth of a grain. The 
 detection of such comparatively large quantities presents no 
 practical difficulties, either with or without the presence of 
 morphia. But it is far otherwise when the toxicologist has 
 to deal with such fractional portions as the one-thousandth 
 down to one jive-hundred-thousandth of a grain. In the latter 
 case, as before remarked, the interfering influence of morphia 
 becomes very apparent. As the results of various experi- 
 ments made with minute portions of the two alkaloids in the 
 pure state, i.e. free from all organic mixture, it was found 
 that not only is the difficulty of detecting strychnia greatly in- 
 creased by increasing the proportion of morphia, but also that 
 the actual amount of it discoverable is nearly in the inverse 
 ratio with the amount of combined morphia. For example, 
 when the quantity of the two alkaloids was in the proportion 
 of one to one, so small a quantity of strychnia as one Jive- 
 hundred-thousandth of a grain could be detected. From this, 
 the minimum amount discoverable progressively rose with the
 
 420 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 increase of the proportion of the associated morphia, until 
 in the last experiment, made with one proportion of strych- 
 nia to twenty of morphia, the smallest quantity that could be 
 detected had increased to one five-thousandth of a grain. 
 Doubtless, if the relative quantity of the morphia had been 
 further increased, the minimum quantity of strychnia dis- 
 coverable would also have progressively augmented. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the above-mentioned minute 
 quantities have reference only to the alkaloids when em- 
 ployed in the pure state. But in order more fully to settle the 
 question, and to meet the objection that the result might 
 have been different if the two alkaloids had been in the stott<"<-/<. 
 of a living animal, the following experiments were made. 
 "Half a grain of pure strychnia was given to a cat, which 
 died in convulsions in eleven minutes. The stomach, exam- 
 ined on the following day by Stas' process, afforded clear 
 proof of the presence of strychnia by the color test. To a 
 second cat, a quarter of a grain of strychnia and the same 
 quantity of morphia were given ; and the stomach wa* 
 examined as before. The faintest possible evidence of 
 strychnia was obtained, exactly coinciding with a previous 
 experiment made with the organic mixture. To a third cat, 
 one-twentieth of a grain of strychnia and one-tenth of a 
 grain of morphia (double the quantity) were given. Here 
 there was a total failure to obtain the color test; although 
 the bitterness of the extract, and the fact that the solution 
 produced the characteristic tetanic convulsions in a number 
 of frogs, distinctly proved its existence." 
 
 We are therefore of the opinion that the proposition laid 
 down has been abundantly established by the foregoing ex- 
 periments, viz., that "in experimenting on very minute quan- 
 tities of strychnia, the presence of morphia has the power of 
 disguising the usual color test, especially if the latter alkaloid be 
 in excess" 
 
 Certain authorities have taken exception to the above 
 conclusions, and have maintained that there is no such in- 
 terference. The late Prof. R. P. Thomas, of the Philadelphia 
 College of Pharmacy, gives this as his opinion (Amer. Jour. 
 Med. Sci., April, 1862, p. 340), based upon a number of his
 
 STRYCHNIA. EFFECT OF MORPHIA ON COLOR TEST. 421 
 
 experiments ; and the distinguished authors of the " United 
 States Dispensatory" (twelfth edition, 1865) adopt the same 
 view, quoting Prof. Thomas's paper as the basis of their 
 opinion. But both these authorities have fallen into the error 
 of not distinguishing between an experiment made with the 
 two alkaloids strychnia and morphia, where ether was em- 
 ployed as the ultimate solvent (as in Stas' process), arid one 
 in which chloroform was the solvent used : in the former case, 
 both alkaloids would be dissolved, whereas in the latter, only 
 the strychnia would enter into solution (since morphia is 
 nearly insoluble in chloroform). Of course, then, since Prof. 
 Thomas used chloroform instead of ether (which latter was the 
 solvent employed in our experiments), he did not meet the 
 mooted question at all, for, as we have seen, he did not, in 
 point of fact, experiment upon the combined alkaloids, because 
 there was no morphia present: it had all been left behind in the 
 alkaline aqueous solution ! 
 
 In order that we may not be misunderstood, we quote ver- 
 batim from Prof. Thomas's paper (loc. cit., p. 343) : " The 
 solution of caustic potassa was selected for several reasons : 
 ... it dissolves morphia, but does not dissolve strychnia." 
 "As the solution of potassa dissolves morphia and rejects 
 strychnia, while chloroform has the reverse property of taking 
 up the strychnia and rejecting the morphia, it must be evi- 
 dent that the conjoint use of these fluids would effect an entire 
 separation of the two alkaloids." 
 
 In the only experiment out of the many detailed by Prof. 
 Thomas that even appears to lead to a result different from the 
 results of the author, he says : " equal weights [the amount is 
 not stated] of the pure alkaloids were rubbed together in a 
 mortar and tested." Here, comparatively large quantities 
 of the solid alkaloids were subjected to the experiment. Of 
 course, as we have explained above, he could not fail to get 
 the color test, even though the morphia might be " twenty 
 times" in excess of the strychnia; but no mention is any- 
 where made of similar experiments performed upon very 
 minute portions. 
 
 Finally, upon this branch of the subject, we entirely assent 
 to the recommendation of Prof. Thomas which is also that
 
 422 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 of all the best modern toxicologists to employ chloroform 
 instead of ether as the proper ultimate solvent for strychnia, 
 especially in the presence of morphia. 
 
 In practice, the toxicologist will probably encounter the 
 most troublesome interference from the complex organic sub- 
 stances which are so apt to be present along with the strych- 
 nia in the ultimate extract obtained either by chloroform or 
 by ether. The proper method of effecting their separation 
 will be described below, under the head of Detection in Organic 
 Mixtures. 
 
 Fallacies. Exceptions have been taken to the color test on 
 the ground that other substances besides strychnia will yield 
 colors somewhat similar, if not identical, when subjected to 
 the same reagents. The substances alluded to are curarine 
 (the active principle of woorara), aniline, veratria, cod-liver oil, 
 salicine, santonine, pyroxanthine, narceia, papaverine, and solania. 
 But in relation to all of them, with one or two exceptions, 
 it may be remarked, as a radical ground of distinction, that 
 they are colored by sulphuric acid alone which is not the 
 case with strychnia. A salt of aniline is not colored by sul- 
 phuric acid alone, but on the addition of bichromate of po- 
 tassa it acquires a yellowish or greenish tint, shows bluish 
 streaks, and finally assumes a deep-blue color, which lasts 
 for some time, but ultimately becomes nearly black. In this 
 case, the only resemblance is the deep-blue color; but the 
 point of divergence is the relative sequence of the colors : 
 in the case of strychnia, the blue always appears first, and 
 is soon succeeded by the violet and red, and ultimately the 
 green; whilst in the case of aniline, the blue is very slowly 
 developed, but is very permanent, giving place finally to a 
 black hue. 
 
 As regards curarine, the active principle of woorara or 
 curara, there are some points of resemblance with strychnia 
 which deserve notice. Like strychnia, it has an intensely 
 bitter taste, and it yields under the combined action of sul- 
 phuric acid and an oxidizing agent, as bichromate of potassa, 
 a succession of colors very much resembling those of strych- 
 nia. Moreover, its solution forms with the bichromate solu- 
 tion a yellow, amorphous precipitate, which, when touched
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. TESTS. 423 
 
 with sulphuric acid, gives the characteristic play of colors. 
 The points of difference are, that it and its compounds are 
 uncrystallizable ; it is colored by sulphuric acid alone; it is 
 nearly insoluble in chloroform, and readily soluble in potash, 
 and its solutions are not precipitated by the alkalies. Its 
 physiological effects are the opposite of those of strychnia. 
 
 Cod-liver oil, when treated with sulphuric acid alone, yields 
 a play of colors very similar to that produced by strychnia. 
 In relation to the other substances mentioned, they all pre- 
 sent characters abundantly sufficient to distinguish them 
 from strychnia. 
 
 2. The galvanic color test. This method, devised by Dr. 
 Letheby, acts on the same principle as the ordinary color- 
 developing substances, by the evolution of nascent oxygen, 
 but in this instance by means of galvanism. A drop of a 
 very dilute solution of strychnia is placed in a small platinum 
 capsule, allowed to evaporate to dryness, and then moistened 
 with a drop of strong sulphuric acid. The capsule is then 
 connected with the positive pole of a single cell of a Grove's 
 or Smee's battery, and the acid touched with the platinum 
 terminal of the negative pole. In an instant the violet 
 color will flash out with great intensity, and will remain on 
 removing the pole. We do not think this method offers 
 any peculiar advantage over the test as commonly applied. 
 It is, moreover, quite as much open to interferences and fal- 
 lacies as the former; and in our hands it has not been quite 
 so successful for the recognition of very minute portions of 
 the poison. 
 
 3. Potassa and ammonia. These alkalies precipitate from 
 somewhat concentrated salts of strychnia a white, amorphous 
 deposit of the pure alkaloid, which shortly assumes the crys- 
 talline form. The best mode is to expose a drop of the strych- 
 nia solution for a few moments to the vapors of ammonia, and 
 place it under the microscope : the formation of the mass of 
 long stellate crystals can easily be distinguished. The true 
 character of the crystals may readily be determined by touch- 
 ing them with a drop of strong sulphuric acid and a fragment 
 of bichromate of potash, when the play of colors will take 
 place.
 
 424 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 4. Bichromate of potassa. A solution of this salt produces 
 with a solution of a salt of strychnia an immediate bright- 
 yellow precipitate, which speedily becomes crystalline, and 
 is insoluble in an excess of the precipitant. If the alkaloidal 
 solution be dilute, the formation of the crystals is delayed : 
 it may be facilitated by stirring the mixture with a glass rod. 
 Seen under the microscope, this crystallization is very satis- 
 factory : it usually consists of dendroidal groups, intermingled 
 with small octahedral plates. These crystals must be con- 
 firmed by touching them, when dry, with a drop of pure 
 concentrated sulphuric acid, when immediately the character- 
 istic succession of colors will be developed. By this method 
 one five-thousandth to one ten-thousandth of a grain of 
 strychnia may be identified; and also by it, two of the most 
 characteristic tests may be applied to the same portion of 
 strychnia. 
 
 5. Picric or carbazotic acid. This reagent is especially recom- 
 mended by Prof. Guy, as one of the most reliable corrobora- 
 tive tests for strychnia. An aqueous (or alcoholic) solution 
 of the strength of one two-hundred-and-fiftieth is used, a drop 
 of which is added to a drop of the strychnia solution on 
 a glass slide, and is viewed under the microscope. An 
 abundant yellow precipitate first forms, which is soon con- 
 verted into tufts of crystals of a peculiar claw-like form, 
 resembling tufts of grass. This peculiar crystalline form 
 seems to belong exclusively to the carbazotate of strychnia. 
 The deposit may also be subjected to the color test, by dis- 
 solving it in a drop of sulphuric acid, and adding one of the 
 usual oxidizing bodies. 
 
 6. Corrosive sublimate in solution causes an abundant white 
 precipitate, which assumes the form of groups of radiating 
 crystals attached to a granular nucleus. This test, according 
 to "Wormley, fails in solutions weaker than one five-hun- 
 dredth of a grain of strychnia to the drop of water. It is 
 consequently much less delicate than the preceding tests. 
 
 7. Ferricyanide of potassium produces in strong neutral solu- 
 tions of strychnia a yellowish, amorphous precipitate, which 
 is soon converted into a mass of beautiful groups of crystals. 
 This test is likely to fail in solutions of less strength than
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. TESTS. 425 
 
 one grain to five hundred of water. The deposit may (as in 
 the bichromate of potassa test) be subjected to the color 
 test simply by the addition of a drop of sulphuric acid, which 
 will develop the usual play of colors. In point of delicacy, 
 however, it is much inferior to the bichromate test. 
 
 8. Bichloride of platinum occasions in solutions of salts of 
 strychnia a pale-yellow, amorphous precipitate, which soon 
 assumes a crystalline form, which is insoluble in acetic and 
 dilute nitric acids. It will give a perceptible reaction when 
 the strychnia is diluted to one ten-thousandth. This reagent 
 also yields precipitates with many of the other alkaloids, of 
 a similar color ; but the crystalline forms are different in the 
 other instances. 
 
 9. lodated iodide of potassium. The aqueous solution of 
 iodine in iodide of potassium will precipitate a number of 
 organic substances, and particularly the alkaloids. In a 
 strychnia solution, even when dilute, it occasions a reddish- 
 brown, amorphous deposit, which is soluble in alcohol, but 
 only sparingly so in acetic acid. This deposit, after a time, 
 assumes a crystalline form, which in the case of strychnia 
 is peculiar, but it is readily interfered with by the presence 
 of foreign matter. According to "Wormley, from one fifty- 
 thousandth to even one hundred-thousandth of a grain will 
 respond to this reaction. 
 
 The precipitate thus obtained is regarded by Tardieu (loc. 
 cit., p. 953) as the best material for procuring the strychnia 
 in a state of purity. After repeatedly washing it in water 
 slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, the water is decanted 
 off', and a few drops of water acidulated with one-tenth of its 
 weight of sulphuric acid are added, together with a pinch of 
 clean iron-filings. In a few minutes all the precipitate is 
 dissolved, and the liquid becomes almost colorless. When 
 all disengagement of hydrogen ceases, ammonia, in slight 
 excess, is added: this precipitates both the strychnia and the 
 oxide of iron. The mass is next put upon a filter, and 
 thoroughly washed, in order to remove the soluble salts ; the 
 filter is next carefully dried between bibulous paper, and then 
 cut into pieces, and introduced into a flask along with pure 
 alcohol ; it is kept at a boiling temperature for an hour, fre-
 
 426 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 quently stirring. It is next filtered, and the filtrate evapor- 
 ated to dryness. The deposit, although colored, is generally 
 crystalline, and may be used for experiments. 
 
 10. Sulphocyanide of potassium yields in a moderately strong 
 solution of strychnia a deposit which soon changes to beau- 
 tiful masses of long, radiating prisms. These crystals are 
 about the largest and best defined of the microscopic de- 
 posits obtained from strychnia. 
 
 Tardieu considers chlorine gas to be a very delicate test for 
 strychnia. When a small stream of this gas is slowly passed 
 into a small quantity of a dilute solution of strychnia, each 
 bubble of the gas becomes surrounded by a white film, and 
 ultimately quite a copious white amorphous deposit takes 
 place. This is soluble in ammonia. According to the above 
 authority, no other alkaloid gives this reaction with chlorine. 
 Besides the above tests, there are others mentioned in the 
 books, as chloride of gold, tannic acid, bromine in bromide of 
 potassium, iodo-hydrargyrate of potassium, etc. 
 
 The physiological or frog test. The extreme susceptibility of 
 frogs to the influence of strychnia was employed by Dr. 
 Marshall Hall as a test for this powerful poison. His plan 
 was to immerse the frog partially in the solution of strychnia, 
 when, sooner or later, according to the strength of the solu- 
 tion, the animal was seized with tetanic spasms, in which 
 the extremities became perfectly rigid and extended. Dr. 
 Hall states that by this method he could detect one five- 
 thousandth part of a grain of strychnia. Dr. Harley subse- 
 quently applied the test by injecting it into the thoracic or 
 abdominal cavity of the frog: he found that by this means 
 one sixteen-thousandth of a grain would occasion the char- 
 acteristic convulsions. 
 
 We have ourselves employed this test very extensively. 
 In the journal already alluded to, some of these results were 
 communicated. Undoubtedly, the frog test is one of the 
 most delicate, as also one of the most reliable, of all the tests 
 for strychnia, as will be seen from some of our experiments, 
 which are here transcribed : 
 
 "A small frog, weighing about forty grains, was immersed 
 in a solution containing one grain of strychnia to twelve pints
 
 POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. THE FROG TEST. 427 
 
 of water (one minim of which would contain less than one 
 ninety-two-thousandth of a grain) : tetanic spasms were pro- 
 duced in fifteen minutes. 
 
 "A solution of one-half the strength of the foregoing, in 
 which one minim would represent a little over one two- 
 hundred-thousandth of a grain, produced decided convulsions 
 in a frog weighing twenty-nine grains, after half an hour's 
 immersion. 
 
 "The one five-hundredth of a grain of strychnia was put 
 into the throat of a middling-sized frog : it was convulsed,, 
 and died in about thirty minutes. The extract obtained 
 from the abdominal viscera by Stas' process, although it 
 afforded no perceptible color test, had a bitterish taste, and 
 produced tetanic spasms in several small active frogs. 
 
 " In these experiments, the frog was put into a small quan- 
 tity of the solution not more than about half a fluidrachm 
 so as simply to cover the hind legs and a portion of the 
 body. The quantity actually absorbed through the skin 
 must, necessarily, have been extremely minute: hence the 
 great delicacy of the test, and its value, as a corroborative 
 proof, in medico-legal investigations." 
 
 Prof. Wormley's experiments with the frog test gave results 
 of similar delicacy. He found one ten-thousandth to one 
 fifteen-thousandth of a grain, injected into the stomach of 
 the animal, to be about the limit for this test (loc. czY.,p. 577).. 
 
 Being desirous of ascertaining whether the presence of 
 .morphia, which, as we have seen above, has the power of 
 disguising the color test for strychnia in small quantities, offers 
 any obstacle to the employment of the frog test, we made 
 the following experiments : 
 
 "A frog weighing forty grains was immersed in a solution 
 containing one grain of strychnia and eight grains of mor- 
 phia to a pint and a half of water: it exhibited tetanic 
 spasms in five minutes. 
 
 " A frog weighing one hundred grains was immersed in a 
 solution of the strength o one grain of strychnia and twelve 
 grains of morphia in three pints of water: it exhibited the 
 usual tetanic spasms in fifteen minutes. 
 
 "A frog weighing thirty-five grains was immersed in a
 
 428 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 solution containing one grain of strychnia and thirty-two 
 grains of morphia in six pints of water : it was convulsed in 
 twenty minutes. Another animal, rather smaller, was affected 
 in five minutes. 
 
 "A cat was poisoned by taking one-twentieth of a grain 
 of strychnia and one-tenth of a grain of morphia (double the 
 quantity). The stomach, on being examined by Stas' pro- 
 cess, failed to yield the color test ; but the watery solution of 
 the extract produced the most decided tetanic convulsions in 
 eight frogs, generally resulting in death." 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. Contents of the stomach. Any 
 solid matters present should be cut up into small pieces, pure 
 water added, if necessary, and a sufficient quantity of acetic 
 acid to give a distinct acid reaction. If the elaborate process 
 of M. Stas is to be employed, the strongest alcohol is used, 
 instead of water, as the first solvent. In either case, the 
 mass should be digested at a very moderate heat about 160 
 F. for several hours (a high temperature is objectionable, 
 as it dissolves out the starchy matters). After cooling, it is 
 to be first strained through fine muslin, and the solid residue 
 washed with dilute alcohol, and strongly pressed. The liquid 
 should next be concentrated at a moderate heat to a small 
 bulk, again strained, and filtered through paper. It is gener- 
 ally recommended to evaporate, next, to about dryness. Any 
 strychnia present would now be in the residue in the form of 
 acetate, mixed with more or less organic matter. This resi- 
 due should be thoroughly stirred with a small quantity of 
 water containing a drop or two of acetic acid, then filtered, 
 and the filter washed with a small portion of water ; the fil- 
 trate (concentrated, if necessary) is then transferred to a stout 
 glass tube or flask, and an excess of solution of potassa (or 
 soda) is added, which liberates the strychnia from the saline 
 combination. Pure chloroform, about equaling in volume 
 the mixture, is next added, and the whole thoroughly shaken 
 together for about a minute, when it is set aside to settle. 
 The chloroform will dissolve out the alkaloid, and, being of 
 greater specific gravity, it will settle to the bottom of the 
 tube or flask. 
 
 The best practical method of separating the chloroform
 
 STRYCHNIA. DETECTION IN ORGANIC MIXTURES. 429 
 
 solution from the supernatant liquid, according to our expe- 
 rience, is to transfer the whole to a stoppered funnel, or, 
 what answers quite as well, a glass syringe of proper size, 
 after removing the piston, and having previously contracted 
 the nozzle to a very fine aperture by means of the flame. 
 Before introducing the liquid, the small aperture should be 
 temporarily stopped up by means of a splinter of wood, and 
 about half a drachm of pure chloroform should first be 
 poured into the syringe, so as about to fill its narrow portion. 
 The mixture is now to be carefully poured in, and sufficient 
 time should be allowed for the subsidence of the chloroform 
 solution. By placing the thumb over the larger aperture of 
 the syringe, and withdrawing the wooden plug, it will be 
 very easy to control the flow of the contents. A few drops 
 may be allowed to fall successively, as each one dries, upon 
 a warmed porcelain surface or watch-glass; for a trial test, by 
 means of sulphuric acid and bichromate of potassa (see p. 
 414). The whole of the chloroform is then permitted to flow 
 out into one or more capsules or watch-glasses, great care 
 being observed not to allow any of the other mixture to 
 escape along with it. It may be proper to wash the remain- 
 ing alkaline liquid with a fresh portion of chloroform, shaking 
 them together, as before, in the tube or flask, and again 
 separating them by means of the syringe. All the chloro- 
 form is now allowed to evaporate spontaneously to dry ness. 
 The contained strychnia, if in notable quantity, may be found 
 in the crystalline state in the deposit. 
 
 It is, however, much more apt to be in an amorphous con- 
 ditio.n when obtained from complex organic substances, as 
 the contents of a stomach. A portion of this extract should 
 now be examined by the taste, by the color test, and by in- 
 troducing some of it beneath the skin of a small frog. The 
 remaining portion of the extract should be dissolved in a 
 minute quantity of distilled water, containing a trace of 
 acetic acid. The solution, if turbid, should be filtered ; and 
 the clear filtrate should be tested with the different reagents 
 mentioned at p. 423. 
 
 If the chloroform extract is found to be mixed with much 
 organic matter, as denoted by its yellowish color, a drop or 
 
 28
 
 430 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 two of strong sulphuric acid is to be added to the solid resi- 
 due and thoroughly stirred with it by means of a glass rod, 
 and then a few drops of water added. (The acid destroys 
 and carbonizes all the organic matter, but only converts the 
 strychnia into a sulphate.) After standing some time, the 
 resulting dark liquid is filtered, caustic potassa is added in 
 excess, then an equal bulk of chloroform, and the whole 
 shaken together as before. The deposit from this second 
 chloroform solution is usually sufficiently pure for all prac- 
 tical purposes. Or, instead of treating the solid extract with 
 sulphuric acid, the acidulated aqueous solution obtained from 
 it may be rendered alkaline by potassa, and again shaken 
 with pure chloroform, which will deposit the strychnia 
 generally in great purity. 
 
 When the organic mixture is very complex, as is apt to be 
 the case when taken from the contents of the stomach, con- 
 siderable trouble may be experienced in the separation of the 
 chloroform from the alkaline solution. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that, on shaking up the latter with chloroform, a white, 
 saponaceous mass results, resembling an emulsion, from 
 which the chloroform refuses to separate, even after standing 
 for some hours. In such cases Dr. Wormley advises (loc. cit., 
 p. 581) to agitate the mixture with about half its volume 
 of pure water, and allow it to repose for several hours, if 
 necessary, when more or less of the water will separate 
 as a highly-colored fluid ; this is decanted, and the opera- 
 tion repeated with fresh portions of water so long as this 
 liquid becomes colored. After removing all the water, the 
 mixture is to be slightly acidulated with acetic acid, trans- 
 ferred to a small dish, and evaporated to dryness on a water- 
 bath; the residue is stirred with a very small quantity of pure 
 water; the solution, after filtration, if necessary, is rendered 
 slightly alkaline by potassa, and again agitated with pure 
 chloroform, which will now usually separate, and may be 
 evaporated as before mentioned. 
 
 The method of dialysis has been recommended by some 
 authorities as well adapted to the separation of strychnia 
 from complex organic liquids. The details of this process 
 have already been given (p. 113). The concentrated solution
 
 STRYCHNIA. DETECTION IN THE TISSUES AND BLOOD. 431 
 
 prepared from the contents of the stomach, as before ex- 
 plained (p. 428), are put into a dialyser, which is floated in a 
 vessel of water containing four or five times the bulk of the 
 former. After twenty-four hours, the diffusate is transferred to 
 a porcelain capsule, evaporated to dryness on a water-bath, 
 and the residue examined, as before. We have no personal 
 experience with this process ; but some carefully-conducted 
 experiments by Wbrmley, as well as by others, go to show 
 that it is not so thorough or exhaustive as the ordinary one 
 by chloroform, before explained. 
 
 Detection in the tissues and blood. There is no longer any 
 doubt that strychnia is absorbed into the circulation, and 
 deposited in the organs, just like arsenic or antimony, and 
 that the absorbed poison may be detected in the solids of the 
 body, and likewise in the blood. The rapidity with which it 
 is absorbed is shown in a case mentioned by Taylor (Prin. 
 and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 1873, p. 414), where a man took 
 five grains of strychnia by mistake, and died in half an hour. 
 The analyst discovered in the stomach a quantity of the 
 poison, estimated at one grain ; it was also detected in small 
 quantities in the liver and in the tongue. This case shows 
 that within half an hour four-fifths of the poison had been 
 removed from the stomach (or at least could not be detected 
 there by chemical means), and that in that period it had been 
 diffused and distributed through the body. It would appear, 
 however, that there is much variation in this respect. Thus, 
 Prof. Casper reports a case of poisoning from five or six 
 grains of strychnia. The deceased lived three hours and a 
 half, and on analysis after death three grains of the poison 
 were extracted from the stomach; but none was detected 
 either in the tissues or blood (Horn's Yierteljahr. fur Gericht. 
 Med., Jul., 1864, p. 7). In this respect, strychnia is simply 
 on a par with the other poisons, in which, as we have seen, 
 there is often a failure to detect their presence in the tissues 
 and organs of the body after death, under circumstances that 
 might have been regarded as favorable for so doing. 
 
 The process to be pursued is the following. The organs to 
 be examined should be cut up into small pieces, and, together 
 with the fluid, digested with strong alcohol, acidulated with
 
 432 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 sulphuric acid, in the proportion of about eight drops of the 
 concentrated acid to each fluidounce of the mixture. It 
 should he kept at the temperature of about 180 F. for 
 half an hour or an hour, and, after cooling, strained, fil- 
 tered, and concentrated as before directed (p. 428). The 
 residue is next to be nearly neutralized by caustic potassa, 
 care being taken, however, to maintain a decided acid re- 
 action, then filtered, and the filtrate evaporated on the water- 
 bath nearly to dryness. To the cooled residue a drachm or 
 two of strong alcohol is added and thoroughly stirred with 
 it : this dissolves out the sulphate of strychnia, leaving the 
 sulphate of potassa and organic matters. The alcoholic so- 
 lution is now filtered, evaporated to almost drj*ness, the 
 residue stirred with a little water, rendered alkaline by po- 
 tassa, and finally agitated with chloroform, which deposits 
 the alkaloid, if present, on evaporation. 
 
 Prof. Taylor recommends the use of alcohol and acetic add, 
 in these cases, for the extraction of the strychnia; and also 
 ammonia as the preferable alkali. The impure residue ob- 
 tained from the first chloroform or ether evaporation is to be 
 purified by washing it with a few drops of sulphuric acid, 
 adding water, neutralizing by ammonia, and again agitating 
 with chloroform. By this process he detected strychnia in 
 the liver of a person who died from this poison, although this 
 organ was in a highly putrescent state (loc. cit. t p. 413). 
 
 A somewhat similar process has been employed for detect- 
 ing strychnia in the blood. About four to six ounces of this 
 fluid should be used for the analysis, which is rather compli- 
 cated and tedious. The blood is first treated with water, 
 alcohol, and sulphuric acid : the precise quantity of the latter 
 varies for different specimens of blood; if the acid is not in 
 sufficient quantity it fails to separate the strychnia, all of 
 which will be apt to be retained by the solid albuminous 
 matters. Enough of the acid should be used to merely sepa- 
 rate a portion of the solid matters. By adopting this method, 
 Dr. Wormley (loc. cit., p. 589) succeeded in recovering strych- 
 nia from the blood of six cats and of two dogs, poisoned by 
 comparatively small doses (as half a grain). In two of the 
 cases, death took place in three and six minutes respectively,
 
 POISONING BY' STRYCHNIA. FAILURE TO DETECT. 433 
 
 which shows the extreme rapidity with which this poison is 
 absorbed. 
 
 Detection in the urine. The urine should be acidulated with 
 acetic acid, and evaporated on a water-bath to the consistency 
 of syrup. When cooled, this should be stirred with about an 
 ounce of pure alcohol, the solution filtered, the solids washed 
 and pressed, and all the liquids evaporated to near dryness. 
 The residue is to be stirred with a little pure water, filtered, 
 if necessary, mixed with caustic potassa in excess, and agi- 
 tated with chloroform as usual. 
 
 Failure to detect. There can be no doubt that cases of 
 strychnia-poisoning occur, where the most careful chemical 
 analysis fails to detect it after death, and that, too, under ap- 
 parently the most favorable circumstances. The causes' that 
 interfere with the chemical detection of poisons have already 
 been explained (ante, p. 70). Of some of these failures in re- 
 gard to strychnia it is difficult to give a perfectly satisfactory 
 explanation, whilst in others the reasons may be sufficiently 
 obvious. The mere fact of the putrefaction' of the body is no 
 obstacle to the chemical analysis, as has been shown in 
 numerous instances, in some of which the poison has been 
 recovered months after death and when the material was in 
 quite an advanced stage of decomposition. In the cele- 
 brated case of Cook, who was poisoned by Palmer, in 1856, 
 there was a failure to discover the poison in the stomach 
 by Dr. Taylor ; but this seems to be satisfactorily accounted 
 for by the fact that the stomach had been tampered with 
 before coming into his hands: it had actually been cut open 
 and the contents lost! The above authority mentions the 
 case of Mrs. Salter, who died from taking strychnia in two 
 or three hours, but the most careful examination of the 
 stomach and liver by Mr. Horsley, of Cheltenham, led to a 
 negative result. The failure here was ascribed to the rapid 
 absorption and elimination of the poison before death. lu 
 1861, the author examined the body of a woman poisoned, 
 it was alleged, by about six grains of strychnia: she survived 
 the dose for the rather unusual period of six hours. Six 
 weeks after death the body was exhumed, and was found 
 to be in a good state of preservation, and very rigid. The
 
 434 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 stomach and bowels were examined two weeks later. No 
 trace of the poison was discovered, either by the bitter taste 
 of the ultimate extract, or by the color test, although several 
 careful and separate analyses were made of the stomach and 
 a portion of the intestines. Evidently, the poison had either 
 disappeared from these organs by elimination, or some inter- 
 ference had occurred to obscure the usual reactions. In order 
 to be sure of the accuracy of the process employed, we made 
 trial with it on one-hundredth of a grain of strychnia min- 
 gled with a pint of complex organic matters, animal and 
 vegetable, and succeeded without difficulty in recovering 
 the alkaloid (see p. 418). 
 
 BRUCIA. Brucia is the other alkaloid generally found asso- 
 ciated with strychnia in the different species of Strychnos. 
 In the S. nux vomica it occurs in greater quantity in the bark 
 (false Angiisiura bark) than in the seeds, which is the reverse 
 in the case of strychnia. 
 
 Properties. Brucia is found in the shops both as a white 
 powder and in the form of colorless, prismatic crystals. It 
 is more soluble both in water and in ether, than strychnia. 
 In chloroform and absolute alcohol it is very freely soluble. 
 It is insoluble in the fixed alkalies, and almost so in ammo- 
 nia. It has an intensely bitter taste. It forms soluble salts 
 with the acids. Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves it and 
 its salts, imparting to them a faint rose color. Bichromate of 
 potassa and the other oxidizing bodies used for the color test 
 of strychnia, when stirred in the sulphuric acid solution, 
 merely impart to it a yellowish color, which soon becomes 
 greenish : there is no appearance of the color-reactions of 
 strychnia. Hydrochloric acid causes no change of color. 
 Nitric acid produces, with a fragment of brucia, a deep blood- 
 red color, more intense than with morphia; this slowly fades 
 to yellow. 
 
 The poisonous properties of brucia are similar in kind to 
 those of strychnia, but much inferior in degree. They are 
 estimated to be from one-twelfth to one-sixth weaker. As 
 cases of poisoning by this alkaloid have occurred, and as the 
 symptoms resemble precisely those occasioned by strychnia,
 
 POISONING BY BRUCIA. TESTS. 435 
 
 although more slowly developed, the toxicologist should be 
 on his guard against being deceived, in making a medico- 
 legal investigation, in the event of his notytiscovering strychnia 
 by the use of the color test. In such a case, it will be always 
 proper for him to employ the proper reagents for brucia. 
 
 Tests. (1) The most characteristic test for brucia is nitric 
 acid and chloride of tin. A fragment of this alkaloid, or the 
 dried solid residue from the chloroform or ether solution, 
 if touched with a drop or two of strong nitric acid, instantly 
 assumes a deep blood-red tint, and speedily dissolves into 
 a similarly-colored solution. If this be heated, the color 
 changes to a yellow. If, after cooling, a drop of the solution 
 of protochloride of tin be added, the mixture immediately ac- 
 quires a beautiful purple color, which is discharged by an 
 excess of the tin solution, or of nitric acid. The heating of 
 the nitric acid solution is essential if the quantity of brucia 
 is very small, in order to obtain the reaction of the tin com- 
 pound. This is a highly satisfactory test for brucia when it 
 is carefully performed. The deep-red color produced by 
 nitric acid on morphia can hardly lead to any error, inas- 
 much as the addition of the tin salt to the latter causes no 
 purple color, but at most changes it to a yellow. 
 
 (2) Sulphuric acid and nitrate ofpotassa. This test is a modi- 
 fication of the former. On applying strong sulphuric acid 
 to brucia, as already mentioned, a faint rose color is produced, 
 which, on the addition of a small crystal of nitre, changes to 
 a deep orange-red. If the quantity of brucia be very minute 
 as one ten-thousandth of a grain the color produced will 
 be rather more faint, though distinctly orange. (3) Potassa 
 and ammonia yield with not very dilute solutions of brucia 
 beautiful tufted crystals. (4) Sulphocyanide of potassium pre- 
 cipitates from a brucia solution an amorphous matter, which 
 after a while assumes a beautiful crystalline form. Other 
 reagents are ferricyanide of potassium, bichloride of mercury, 
 bichloride of platinum, carbazotic acid, etc. 
 
 The application of brucia to frogs is followed by tetanic 
 convulsions of precisely the same character as those occa- 
 sioned by strychnia, the only difference being in the relative 
 amount of the two alkaloids required to produce the result.
 
 436 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The separation of bruciafrom organic mixtures is effected in 
 a manner similar to that employed for strychnia (ante, p. 428), 
 If the nitric acid an^l chloride of tin test fails to produce the 
 characteristic colors in the ultimate extract, the other testa 
 will not succeed. Brucia has been detected in the blood of 
 animals poisoned by it. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ORDER III. CEREBRO-SPINAL NEUROTICS. 
 
 DELIRIANTS. 
 
 THIS subdivision of the Neurotics has received the name 
 of Deliriants, or Delirifacients, for the reason that active de- 
 lirium constitutes one of their prominent symptoms in the 
 human subject. They also occasion other symptoms in com- 
 mon, such as illusion of the senses and extreme dilatation 
 of the pupil, heat and dryness of the throat, a flushed face, 
 and frequently a redness of the skin and of the mucous lining 
 of the throat. Occasionally there is irritation of the stom- 
 ach and bowels, with dysuria, or suppression of urine. They 
 all belong to the same natural order, Solanaceae, and also to the 
 same Linnaean class and order, Pentandria Monogynia. They 
 comprise Belladonna, Stramonium, Hyoscyamus, and differ- 
 ent species of Solanum. From their physiological property 
 of dilating the pupil, they have also received the name of 
 Mydriatics. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY BELLADONNA. ATROPIA. 
 
 BELLADONNA (Deadly Nightshade}. The leaves, berries, 
 seeds, and root of the Atropa Belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade, 
 are all poisonous, and produce identical symptoms. The 
 leaves and root are the parts used in medicine. Children 
 are frequently poisoned from eating the berries. 
 
 The symptoms are as follows. A sense of heat and ex-
 
 POISONING BY BELLADONNA. SYMPTOMS. 437 
 
 treme dry ness of the mouth and throat, with difficulty of 
 swallowing, nausea, vomiting, giddiness, impaired vision, a 
 flushed face, sparkling eyes, delirium of an excited maniacal 
 character, spectral illusions, convulsions, followed by stupor 
 and coma. The pupils are extremely dilated, arid insensible 
 to light. Cases have been reported where the pupils'were 
 contracted during sleep, but dilated in the waking state. 
 Irritation of the urinary organs is not uncommon, such as 
 strangury, suppression of urine, and haematuria. A scarlet 
 eruption on the skin, resembling that of scarlatina, is fre- 
 quently observed. 
 
 The delirium is of a peculiar character. The illusions are 
 sometimes pleasing, exciting violent laughter ; at other times 
 they produce furious actions. There is loss of consciousness. 
 The symptoms generally manifest themselves within one or 
 two hours after swallowing the poison ; but in poisoning 
 from the berries they may be delayed for several hours. la 
 cases of recovery, the symptoms are sometimes very long in 
 disappearing. 
 
 The following case is quoted from the "New York Journal 
 of Medicine," vol. viii. p. 284. A man ate a pie made with 
 the berries of belladonna and apples. A few minutes after- 
 wards he complained of feeling drowsy ; the lethargy soon 
 increased ; his countenance changed color; the pupils be- 
 came dilated, and he experienced a coppery taste in the 
 mouth. On going up-stairs he staggered, and upon entering 
 his room he fell, and became insensible. He subsequently 
 became delirious and convulsed, and died the following 
 morning. A child to whom a portion of the pie had been 
 given died on the same day. 
 
 The following instance of recovery is related by Dr. Gray 
 (K Y. Jour, of Med., Sept., 1845, p. 182). A child between 
 three and four years of age swallowed from eight to twelve 
 grains of the extract of belladonna. About half an hour 
 afterwards, the expression of the patient was that of terror ; 
 the pupils were widely dilated, and immovable; the con- 
 junctivas highly injected; and the whole eye prominent and 
 very brilliant. The face, upper extremities, and trunk of 
 the body exhibited a diffused scarlet efflorescence, studded
 
 438 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 with numerous papillae, like the rash of scarlatina. The skin 
 was hot and dry; pulse increased in force and frequency; 
 respiration anxious and stridulous. There was a constant 
 but unsuccessful attempt at deglutition, with spasmodic ac- 
 tion of the muscles of the throat and pharynx; and parox- 
 ysms of violent motion, with rapid, automatic movements, 
 attended with convulsive laughter. Under the action of an 
 emetic, the alarming symptoms passed off in about three 
 hours, and the child recovered, with the exception of a mod- 
 erate diarrhoea, and a slight enlargement of the pupil. 
 
 The external application of belladonna, as also its adminis- 
 tration as an enema, has occasioned serious and even fatal 
 results. A case is related in which the injection of the de- 
 coction of the root caused death in five hours; and another, 
 in which only two grains of the extract, administered in like 
 manner, produced alarming symptoms. Dr. Lyman relates 
 an instance in which the application of a small belladonna 
 plaster to the chest of a nervous woman produced all the 
 usual symptoms of poisoning by that substance, from which 
 she did not entirely recover for four or five days. Cases in 
 which a lotion of belladonna has produced similar results 
 are mentioned in the " Chemical News" (Lond., Nov., 1866, 
 p. 216). 
 
 The botanical characters of the leaves, fruit, and seeds of 
 belladonna can usually be detected in the particles remaining 
 in the alimentary canal after death. The seeds are very 
 email, of an oval shape, and of a dark color. Under a low 
 magnifier they present a honeycombed surface. The hen- 
 bane-seed, which the belladonna-seed somewhat resembles, 
 exhibits more irregular depressions. The purple coloring- 
 matter of the berry is turned green by alkalies. 
 
 Atropia. This alkaloid is the active principle of bella- 
 donna. It is a very powerful poison, producing symptoms 
 essentially similar to those already described as resulting 
 from belladonna, only more speedily. Symptoms of poison- 
 ing have been produced by the application of a weak solu- 
 tion of atropia to the eyes. One-eighth of a grain injected 
 beneath the skin for the relief of sciatica, caused all the 
 symptoms of belladonna-poisoning. Other instances are
 
 POISONING BY ATROPIA. FATAL DOSE. 439 
 
 related in which much smaller quantities even the one- 
 hundredth of a grain used hypodermically, produced alarm- 
 ing effects. Employed in this manner, in combination with 
 morphia, its activity would appear to be in some manner 
 modified. The author habitually uses, in his practice, a 
 combination of one-fourth of a grain of morphia and about 
 one-fortieth of a grain of atropia by hypodermic injection ; 
 and he has never witnessed any evidences of belladonna- 
 poisoning resulting. 
 
 Fatal results may occur from the external application of 
 atropia. Dr. Ploss, of Leipsic, reports a case in which an 
 ointment composed of fifteen parts of sulphate of atropia to 
 seven hundred parts of lard, applied as a dressing to a blis- 
 tered surface on the neck of a man, caused death, under the 
 most violent symptoms of belladonna-poisoning, within two 
 hours. (Am. Jour. Med. Sci., April, 1865, p. 541.) 
 
 Fatal dose. This has not been absolutely determined; but, 
 from the known severe effects of doses less than one grain, 
 it is highly probable that death would ensue from as small 
 a quantity as one-half to three-quarters of a grain, provided the 
 proper remedies were not applied. The following case is cited 
 by Worm ley from the "American Journal of the Medical 
 Sciences," July, 1866, p. 269. A stout, healthy man swal- 
 lowed from one-sixth to one-quarter of a grain of the alkaloid 
 in solution. An hour afterwards, the patient was in a fearful 
 state of excitement; the tongue was swollen, and projected 
 between the teeth, and he incessantly moved it and his lips 
 in a stammering manner, but without emitting a single intel- 
 ligible sentence. The eyes were staring, the head hot, and 
 the countenance livid ; the pupils dilated to their utmost ex- 
 tent, and insensible to light. The pulse was rapid, full, and 
 strong, and there was a constant but ineffectual attempt to 
 urinate. During the following hour the excitement continu- 
 ally increased, when the subcutaneous injection of one-fifth of 
 a grain of acetate of morphia into the right temple was soon 
 succeeded by a state of calm. After two hours more, the 
 excitement had again attained almost its former height; but 
 it was again subdued by a repetition of the morphine injec- 
 tion. The patient now gradually recovered, the only syrnp-
 
 440 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 toms remaining twenty-four hours after taking the poison 
 being extreme weakness, dryness of the throat, slight twitch- 
 ing of the limbs, and dilatation of the pupils. Dr. Taylor 
 also records a case from the " Medical Times and Gazette," 
 July 6, 1865, p. 34, that of a man who was very nearly 
 killed by swallowing a grain of sulphate of atropia in solu- 
 tion. He did not fully recover for a fortnight ; his pupils 
 continued dilated for a week, and for several days there 
 was partial paralysis of the bladder. 
 
 The criminal administration of atropia is a rare event. A 
 trial for murder by this alkaloid took place at the Manches- 
 ter Lent Assizes, 1872 (Reg. v. Steele). The prisoner, who 
 was a nurse in a work-house, was charged with administering 
 atropia to the senior surgeon, Mr. Harris, and thereby causing 
 his death. The deceased was taken suddenly ill after his 
 breakfast, and died with the usual symptoms of poisoning 
 with atropia in about twelve hours. The poison was detected 
 in the body by Mr. Calvert, and also in the liquid found in 
 the room a solution of atropia in spirit. Milk was the 
 vehicle through which it was taken. As sent from the 
 kitchen, this contained nothing injurious, but that found in 
 the room of the deceased was tasted by two of the nurses, 
 both of whom suffered from poisoning by atropia. Although 
 the prisoner was proved to have had a strong motive for the 
 murder, she was acquitted, from want of evidence as to the 
 fact of putting the poison into the milk. (Taylor's Med. 
 Jurisp., 1873, Am. ed., p. 251.) 
 
 The diagnosis of poisoning by belladonna or atropia is not 
 always easy. The symptoms strongly resemble those caused 
 by stramonium and Jiyoscyamus. The dilatation of the 
 pupils one of the most characteristic symptoms may be 
 occasioned by other causes. There seems to be a special 
 tendency to the elimination from the system of the active 
 principle (atropia) by the kidney. Prof. Guy states (Forens. 
 Med., p. 512), on the authority of Dr. John Harley, that the 
 presence of atropia in the urine can be readily proved within 
 twenty minutes of the injection under the skin of one forty- 
 eighth to one ninety-sixth of a grain, by the action of the 
 urine on the eye. Twelve drops out of eight ounces of urine
 
 POISONING BY ATROPIA. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 441 
 
 secreted in two and a half hours, while a patient is under 
 the influence of one forty-eighth of a grain, will largely dilate 
 the pupil, and will maintain it in that state for several hours. 
 
 Treatment. The immediate evacuation of the stomach 
 should be secured, either by a prompt emetic or by the 
 stomach-pump. No chemical antidote is known, although 
 various substances have been employed with this view, as 
 tannin, animal charcoal, iodine in iodide of potassium, and 
 hydrate of magnesia. The true physiological antidote is mor- 
 phia, which has been repeatedly administered subcutane- 
 ously with the happiest result. Under the head of OPIUM, 
 we have already remarked upon the antagonism between 
 these two alkaloids in the human subject: each of them 
 eeems to be antidotal to the other, at least to a certain 
 degree. 
 
 Morbid lesions. These are not by any means characteristic 
 of the poison. The vessels of the brain are more or less 
 congested, and there are red patches in the pharynx and 
 oesophagus, and at the cardiac end of the stomach. In some 
 cases the whole gastro-enteric membrane has been found of 
 a dark-purple color, probably dyed by the juice of the ber- 
 ries, and portions of the berries and some of the seeds have 
 been discovered in the alimentary canal, or in the stools. 
 The blood is usually liquid and dark-colored. 
 
 Chemical analysis. When pure, atropia is in the form of 
 white, crystalline tufts. Its taste is bitter and acrid. It is 
 very slightly soluble in water, but very soluble in alcohol, 
 ether, and chloroform. Heated on porcelain, it easily melts 
 into a colorless liquid. It sublimes at 280 F. Its sublimate 
 is less distinctly crystalline than either morphia or strychnia. 
 Its color is not changed by either sulphuric, nitric, or muri- 
 atic acid. It has decided basic properties, neutralizing the 
 strongest acids, and forming salts, several of which are crys- 
 tallizable. Ammonia added to a solution of sulphate of 
 atropia does not separate the alkaloid in distinct crystals, as 
 in the case of morphia and strychnia. 
 
 Tannic acid precipitates the alkaloid from its solutions ; but 
 the most effectual precipitant, according to Winckler, is the 
 chloriodide of potassium and mercury, which throws down a
 
 442 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 dense, white precipitate even in feeble solutions. By the use 
 of this reagent he was able to determine the proportion of 
 atropia contained in the powder of the dry leaves and root. 
 In the leaves the alkaloid varies from 0.41 to 0.49 per cent., 
 and in the root it amounts to 0.48 per cent. (Phar. Jour., 
 June, 1872 ; quoted by Taylor.) Atropia is also precipitated 
 by chloride of gold; but, unlike strychnia, it is not precipitated 
 by sulphocyanide of potassium, or by chromate of potassa. 
 An alcoholic solution of carbazotic acid produces in a solution 
 of a salt of atropia a yellow, amorphous precipitate, which 
 after a time becomes more or less crystalline, the crystals 
 being in the form of transparent plates aggregated together. 
 According to "Wormley, one-thousandth of a grain will give 
 a distinct crystalline deposit under the microscope when 
 treated as above. This authority considers bromine in hydro- 
 bromic acid to be the most characteristic test for atropia. 
 The precipitate at first is amorphous, and of a yellow color; 
 but in a little time it becomes crystalline. It is quite in- 
 soluble in acetic acid, and very slightly so in either of the 
 strong mineral acids. So small a quantity as one ten-thou- 
 sandth to one twenty-tive-thousandth of a grain will yield 
 with this reagent a satisfactory result. (Micro-Chemistry of 
 Poisons, p. 631.) Although this reagent produces yellow 
 precipitates with the other alkaloids, yet they all, with the 
 exception of that from meconin, remain amorphous; while 
 the latter deposit differs from that of atropia in its form. 
 This reagent likewise produces with daturia (the active prin- 
 ciple of stramonium) a precisely similar precipitate ; and 
 this latter alkaloid is regarded by Wormley and others as 
 being identical with atropia. 
 
 Examination of organic mixtures and the contents of the stomach. 
 The separation of atropia from complex organic mixtures 
 is a different process. The one recommended by Prof. 
 Wormley is a modification of the method of Stas, and is de- 
 serving of confidence. The solids having been properly cut 
 up, the mixture is treated with an equal volume of strong 
 alcohol, slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, and gently 
 heated for about half an hour. When cool, it is strained 
 through muslin, the residue wathed with alcohol, and all the
 
 POISONING BY ATROPIA. PHYSIOLOGICAL TEST. 445 
 
 liquids concentrated on a water-bath to a email bulk. If y 
 during the evaporation, much insoluble matter separates, it 
 is removed by a strainer. The cool, concentrated liquid is 
 passed through a moistened filter, then transferred to a test- 
 tube, and washed by agitating it with twice its volume of 
 pure ether, which, after standing, is decanted and reserved 
 for future examination. This washing with ether is again 
 repeated the object being to remove foreign matters. The 
 aqueous solution is now rendered slightly alkaline by potassa, 
 and thoroughly agitated with twice its volume of pure chlo- 
 roform, which will dissolve the liberated alkaloid, if present. 
 After complete separation of the liquids, the chloroform is 
 removed, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously on a watch- 
 glass. The evaporated residue should be dissolved in a few 
 drops of water containing a trace of sulphuric acid, and then 
 examined by the different reagents. The bromine test should 
 first be tried on a single drop of the solution : if it fails to 
 yield the characteristic reaction, the other tests may also be 
 expected to yield negative results. 
 
 In case the bromine test gives a precipitate which will not 
 crystallize, the remaining portion of the solution is diluted 
 with a small quantity of water, then rendered alkaline by 
 potassa, and the alkaloid again extracted with chloroform. 
 On evaporating, the alkaloid is usually left in the crystalline 
 state, which may be dissolved in a few drops of water and 
 examined as before. Dr. Wormley was able, by the use of 
 this method, to detect atropia in the stomachs of animals 
 poisoned by comparatively small quantities of fluid extract 
 of belladonna ; and also in their blood (loc. cit., p. 636). 
 
 The physiological test consists in the application of a por- 
 tion of the ultimate extract to the eye, either of man or of 
 one of the lower animals. Carnivorous animals are the 
 most susceptible to its influence. According to Headland 
 (Action of Medicines, p. 294), one three-thousandth of a grain, 
 dropped in solution into the eye of an adult, will produce 
 the characteristic effect. It must, however, be remembered 
 that the other narcotics of this class will produce a similar 
 impression.
 
 444 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 I 
 
 POISONING BY STRAMONIUM. DATURIA. 
 
 The Datura stramonium, called also Thorn-apple, and James- 
 town or Jimson weed, is a very common plant, abounding both 
 in this country and in Europe. It grows very freely on the 
 commons and waste grounds contiguous to towns. Other 
 varieties are found in India and in other countries. All parts 
 of the plant are poisonous, but especially the seeds and fruit. 
 The seeds and leaves are employed in medicine. It owes its 
 activity to a poisonous alkaloid named daturia. 
 
 Numerous instances of poisoning by stramonium have 
 been recorded; but they have usually been the result of 
 accident, and chiefly in cases of children, who have plucked 
 and eaten the seeds. 
 
 Symptoms. These are very similar to those produced by 
 belladonna. There is the same dryness of the throat, with 
 difficulty of swallowing; the dilated and insensible pupil; the 
 incoherent and violent delirium ; the headache, nausea, and 
 vomiting; the blindness, ringing in the ears, and vertigo; 
 the spectral illusions, and trembling of the limbs, followed 
 by stupor and coma. Sometimes there are convulsions and 
 paralysis, together with a scarlet eruption on the skin. Dr. 
 H. Y. Evans, of Philadelphia, has reported (Amer. Jour. 
 Med. Sci., July, 1866) an instance where seven children, 
 aged from six to nine years, had each swallowed, it was 
 stated, only ten of the seeds. Four hours after, the pupils of 
 all were dilated to the utmost. In three of the children, who 
 had swallowed the seeds without chewing them, the effects, 
 which were slight, soon passed off; but in the four other 
 cases, in which the seeds had been chewed, there were, in 
 addition to dilatation of the pupils and perverted vision, con- 
 fusion of intellect, deafness, intoxication, slow respiration, 
 full pulse, and general loss of control over the muscles of the 
 body. These symptoms were succeeded in a few hours by 
 coma, and in one case by violent delirium. Emetics having 
 failed to act, the stomach-pump was used. On the third 
 day all remnants of the poisoning had completely disap- 
 peared, the pupils being the last to yield.
 
 POISONING BY STRAMONIUM. SYMPTOMS. 445 
 
 Dr. Calkins reports a case (Amer. Med. Monthly, Sept. 
 1856, p. 220) where a child, four years of age, swallowed 
 over a tablespoonful of the seeds, and recovered after vomit- 
 ing and purging, although they had remained in the stom- 
 ach upwards of seven hours. Death may take place even 
 although the whole of the seeds have been ejected, provided 
 they have remained in the body for a sufficiently long period 
 to allow of the absorption of the active principle. A case 
 of this character is given by Mr. Duffin in the "Medical 
 Gazette," vol. xv. p. 194, that of his own child, aged two 
 years, who swallowed about one hundred seeds of stra- 
 monium, without chewing them. In the course of an hour 
 the usual symptoms were manifested, such as flushed face, 
 dilated pupils, incoherent talking, wild spectral illusions, 
 and furious delirium. In two hours and a half she lost 
 her voice and the power of swallowing. The child died in 
 twenty-four hours, although twenty seeds were ejected by 
 vomiting, and eighty by purging. 
 
 In some instances the singular movements would appear 
 to be owing to the perverted vision, which prevents the indi- 
 vidual from properly appreciating the distance of objects. 
 
 The infusion of the leaves has likewise occasioned poi- 
 sonous effects ; as has also the alcoholic decoction of the 
 seeds. An overdose of the extract an officinal preparation 
 has produced death. Even the external application of the 
 bruised leaves to the sound skin has given rise to the symp- 
 toms of poisoning ; and Dr. Beck states (Med. Jurisp., ii. p. 
 877) that the bruising of the leaves in a mortar has caused 
 dilatation of the pupil and irritation of the skin. 
 
 In India, the datura is much employed by the Thugs and 
 other professional poisoners, not so much for the purpose 
 of destroying life, as with the view of rendering the victims 
 insensible, and consequently a more easy prey to robbery. 
 According to Dr. Chevers (Med. Jurisp. for India, in Med. 
 Times and Gazette, Feb., 1871), the Indian varieties are the 
 D. alba, D.fastuosa, and D. ferox. Both the leaves and seeds 
 are used, but particularly the latter, which are prepared by 
 parching, decorticating, and pounding them, and in some 
 instances by distilling from them an essence. The powder 
 
 29
 
 446 MANUAL 'OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 is mixed with curry or other food or drink of the intended 
 victim, or given along with tobacco to smoke; while the 
 essence is added to the sweetmeats so commonly used in the 
 East. Death seldom results from the administration of the 
 poison ; but it is followed by very rapid insensibility, pre- 
 ceded by delirium. The effects vary according to the dose 
 taken: sometimes stupor only is the result; at other times 
 complete insensibility ensues. When the victim recovers 
 from the immediate effects of the drug, he remains for some 
 time in a fatuitous or delirious condition, often wandering 
 about in a sort of intoxicated state, and completely oblivious 
 of what had occurred. 
 
 Post-mortem, appearances. In some cases there is congestion 
 of the brain, with effusion of bloody serum into the ventri- 
 cles; patches of extravasation of blood in the stomach; 
 marks of diffused inflammation over its lining membrane; 
 congestion of the lungs; and the remains of the poisonous 
 seeds in the stomach and intestines. In other cases nothing 
 of an abnormal character has been discovered. It is quite 
 certain that the lesions alone can lead to no conclusions as to 
 the real cause of death. 
 
 The treatment is the same as that recommended for poison- 
 ing by belladonna. After the thorough evacuation of the 
 poison, the hypodermic injection of morphia affords the most 
 reliable means of relief: it should be persevered in until its 
 effects are manifested by the contraction of the pupils. 
 
 Analysis. The seeds are of a light-brown or black color, 
 flattened, kidney-shaped, with a corrugated surface. They 
 are much larger than those .of belladonna or henbane. Ac- 
 cording to Prof. Guy, it requires one hundred and twenty 
 henbane-seeds, and ninety of belladonna, to weigh one grain; 
 but only about eight stramonium-seeds. There is no known 
 chemical test to distinguish daturia from atropia. The only 
 possible means of making the diagnosis is by identifying the 
 seeds or portions of the leaves, by their physical and botanical 
 properties. 
 
 Daturia. This alkaloid is now regarded as being identical 
 with atropia. The two are similar in appearance, chemical 
 composition, solubilities, behavior with chemical reagents,
 
 POISONING BY HYOSCYAMUS. FATAL DOSE. 447 
 
 and physiological action. The method of procuring daturia 
 from the different preparations of the plant, as also from 
 organic mixtures, including the contents of the stomach, the 
 blood, and the urine, is precisely similar to that recommended 
 under the head of ATROPIA, p. 441. The carefully-conducted 
 experiments of Prof. Wormley on this subject would seem 
 to leave no doubt as to the identity of the two alkaloids. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 POISONIKG BY HYOSCYAMUS. HYOSCYAMIA. 
 
 The Henbane plant (Hyoscyamus niger) grows both in Europe 
 and America. The leaves are officinal. The root is tapering, 
 and somewhat resembles a small parsnip, for which it has 
 been eaten in mistake. The seeds somewhat resemble those 
 of belladonna, but are rather smaller: they are of a dark 
 color, and thickly covered with ridges, easily recognized by 
 a magnifier. Both the root and the seeds produce violent 
 poisonous effects, which strongly resemble those of bella- 
 donna and stramonium. The preparations from the leaves 
 (tincture and extract) are extremely variable in strength : 
 frequently they are nearly, or quite, inert. The activity of 
 the plant depends upon the soil, the period of its growth, the 
 time of its collection, and the mode of preparation. 
 
 A curious instance of the effects of this narcotic is quoted 
 by Taylor from the London "Lancet," July 6, 1844, p. 479. 
 In a monastery, where the roots had been eaten for supper 
 by mistake, the monks who partook of them were seized 
 in the night with the most wonderful hallucinations, so that 
 the place became like a lunatic-asylum. One monk rang 
 the bell for matins at twelve o'clock at night ; and of those 
 of the fraternity who attended the summons, some could not 
 read, some read what was not in the book, and some saw the 
 letters running about the page like so many ants. 
 
 As regards the fatal dose, we have no positive data : the 
 great uncertainty of the preparations of the drug as found 
 in the shops, prevents any positive determination on this 
 point. The dose of the officinal tincture is from half a drachm 
 to two drachms; but Dr. Burder states that he has observed
 
 448 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 great inconvenience to follow from a dose of ten minims 
 repeated every six hours (Lancet, July 6, 1844, p. 480). Dr. 
 Cabot, of Boston, gave three teaspoonful doses of the tinc- 
 ture at intervals of an hour. Ten minutes after the last 
 dose, the face began to swell, and became red and polished ; 
 the eyes were closed, and the patient could scarcely speak, 
 on account of the swelling of the tongue and lips. The red 
 discoloration of the skin extended as far as the umbilicus, 
 and was attended with intolerable itching and burning (Am. 
 Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1851). According to Wibmer, twenty 
 seeds have produced complete delirium; and the same writer 
 states that in one instance alarming symptoms were caused 
 by seven grains of the extract. Fatal results have very rarely 
 occurred. The use of a decoction of the plant as an injection 
 has been attended with all the symptoms of apoplexy, with 
 the exception of the stertorous breathing (Orfila). 
 
 Doubtless there may be an idiosyncrasy with respect to 
 this drug, as in the case of opium. Dr. J. A. McFerran, of 
 Philadelphia, related to the author the following instance 
 which occurred in his practice. A man, aged about forty 
 years, affected with a chronic cough, took two grains of the 
 English extract of hyoscyamus. Within fifteen minutes he 
 was completely narcotized ; he had widely-dilated pupils, 
 optical illusions, delirium, dry tongue and throat, inability to 
 swallow, and disposition to stupor, so that he was obliged to 
 be kept walking about to prevent his falling asleep. On the 
 following day, his physician, scarcely crediting his story, ad- 
 ministered to him one grain of the same extract ; and within 
 fifteen minutes the same symptoms were again manifested, 
 though in a slighter degree. 
 
 Analysis. When the vegetable has been eaten, it can be 
 identified only by the physical and botanical characters of the 
 portions discovered in the alimentary canal. Hyoscyamia, the 
 active principle, is an alkaloid, which occurs iu white, silky 
 crystals, inodorous when pure, but, as usually prepared, hav- 
 ing a disagreeable odor, like that of tobacco, and an acrid 
 taste. It is very difficult to isolate. There is no character- 
 istic chemical test for it. Its effect in causing dilatation of 
 the pupil, when applied to the eye, would not distinguish it
 
 POISONING BY SOLANUM NIGRUM. 449 
 
 from either atropia or daturia. According to Dr. Harley, it 
 speedily passes into the urine, after being swallowed ; and 
 it may be detected in this secretion by shaking it up with 
 chloroform, evaporating the chloroform solution to dryness, 
 and applying the extract to the eye. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 POISONING BY SOLANUM. SOLANIA. 
 
 Three species of the genus Solarium are usually referred to 
 in the books as possessing poisonous properties : these are 
 the S. dulcamara, Bittersweet, or Woody Nightshade; the S. 
 nigrum, or Garden Nightshade; and the S. tuberosum, or the 
 common Potato. They all contain a common active alkaloid 
 principle Solania, which in its physiological effects closely 
 resembles the alkaloids existing in the other members of 
 the class Solanacese. 
 
 The Solatium dulcamara, or Bittersweet, is a native of Great 
 Britain, and is cultivated in our gardens. The dried stems 
 are officinal. Its purple flowers and bright-red berries are 
 sometimes eaten by children, on whom they act poisouously. 
 They proved fatal to a boy four years of age, while two 
 older sisters who ate them at the same time escaped with 
 trivial symptoms. The fatal case was marked by vomiting 
 and purging, convulsions and insensibility alternating, and 
 death in convulsions in thirty-six hours after swallowing 
 them. In two other instances, an unknown number of the 
 berries proved fatal to two children. The dried stems, which 
 are employed in medicine, possess extremely feeble narcotic 
 properties. 
 
 The Solarium nigrum, or Garden Nightshade, produces white 
 flowers and black berries. Its leaves and berries, when eaten 
 by children, have given rise to symptoms of an acrid, nar- 
 cotic nature. An instance cited by Tardieu,from M. Magne, 
 exhibited the following effects. Two children about three and 
 a half years old ate the leaves, and within two hours began 
 to show signs of poisoning. One died in twelve hours, after 
 having exhibited pain in the abdomen, with nausea, vomit- 
 ing, and restlessness, followed by delirium. This increased
 
 450 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 to such an extent as to require restraint. The pulse was very 
 quick, and scarcely perceptible, the respiration hurried, the 
 face pale, and the pupils widely dilated. Convulsions of the 
 limbs followed, which ended in coma and death. The child 
 who survived was restless, frightened, and troubled with illu- 
 sions, and the pupils strongly dilated. (Sur rEmpoisonne- 
 ment, p. 755). 
 
 There is great discrepancy among authorities about the 
 poisonous properties of the above two species of Solanum. 
 This may possibly be ascribed to a real difference in the 
 amount and in the strength of the poisonous principle, de- 
 pendent upon the season and mode of growth. Some have 
 supposed that the cases of poisoning that have been ascribed 
 to these species were, in reality, to be accredited to the 
 Deadly Nightshade (Belladonna), which had been mistaken 
 for the others. 
 
 The berries and young shoots of the Solanum tuberosum, or 
 common potato, have proved poisonous ; and the berries 
 have caused death, as in the case of a girl aged fourteen 
 years, reported by Mr. Morris, in the "Lancet," June 28, 
 1858, p. 715. There were great restlessness and jactitation, 
 and an anxious expression of countenance ; the skin was 
 cold, livid, and covered with a clammy perspiration ; the 
 pulse quick and very weak; respiration hurried; the jaws 
 contracted; the speech lost; the patient constantly spat a 
 viscid froth through the closed teeth. She died on the 
 second day. 
 
 Sir R. Christison quotes from Dr. Kabler, of Prague, an 
 instance where four persons in a family were seized with 
 alarming symptoms, such as vomiting, coma, and convul- 
 sions, after eating potatoes that had commenced to sprout 
 and shrivel. 
 
 Solania (solanine) is the active alkaloid principle common 
 to all three of the above vegetables. When pure, it occurs 
 in delicate, acicular, interlaced crystals. It is much less 
 powerful in its action on man and animals than most of the 
 other alkaloids. Schroff states that it has no influence over 
 the iris. 
 
 Chemical properties. It is nearly insoluble in water, very
 
 POISONING BY SOLANIA. TBSTS. 451 
 
 soluble in alcohol; sparingly soluble in absolute ether; very 
 insoluble in chloroform. From aqueous solutions it is best 
 extracted by hot amylic alcohol, or, better still, by a mixture 
 of alcohol and ether. Either chloroform' or ether may be 
 employed to remove foreign matters from organic mixtures 
 containing it. 
 
 Cold sulphuric acid immediately produces with solania 
 an orange-yellow solution, which becomes brown on being 
 heated. Nitric acid at first causes no change of color, but 
 after a time it imparts a rose-red tint, which, on being heated, 
 changes to a faint yellow (Worrnley). The most character- 
 istic test is cold, concentrated sulphuric acid. When a few 
 drops of this are placed in contact with solania or its salts 
 in the dry state, the deposit instantly assumes an orange- 
 brown color, which slowly becomes an orange-yellow so- 
 lution ; in about an hour this acquires a purplish-brown color 
 and throws down a brownish precipitate. After several 
 hours, the solution becomes colorless, and the precipitate 
 acquires a yellowish or dirty-white color (Wormley, loc. cit., 
 p. 663). Many reagents which precipitate the other alka- 
 loids have no effect upon solania, such as chloride of gold 
 and platinum, iodide of potassium, ferrocyauide and ferri- 
 cyanide of potassium, etc. 
 
 From organic mixtures solania is best recovered by adding 
 a drop or two of sulphuric acid, and gently warming with 
 half its bulk of alcohol. The cooled mass is then strained 
 and evaporated on a water-bath, and again filtered; the fil- 
 trate is next evaporated almost to dryness, then stirred with 
 a little pure water, and the solution filtered. This solution, 
 which contains the sulphate of solania, may be decomposed 
 by hydrate of lime, and the solania separated from the sulphate 
 of lime by warm alcohol, and this evaporated to dryness. 
 (Wackenroder; quoted by Wormley.)
 
 452 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 DEPRESSANTS. 
 
 UNDER this subdivision are conveniently arranged several 
 very active Neurotic poisons, which agree in the property of 
 causing great depression of the muscular system, although 
 in some other respects they may differ from one another. 
 
 In thus grouping together different poisons it is not in- 
 tended to imply that they all possess one identical physio- 
 logical mode of action. The substances that will be consid- 
 ered under this subdivision are Hemlock (Conia); Tobacco 
 (Nicotind) ; -Lobelia ; Aconite (Aconitia); and Calabar bean 
 ( Physosticfriiia}. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY HEMLOCK (CONIUM MACULATTTM). CONIA. 
 
 The spotted hemlock of Great Britain and America is 
 believed to be the same plant as the Cieuta of the ancient 
 Greeks, the one that furnished their celebrated state poison. 
 It belongs to the natural order Umbelliferae, which also in- 
 cludes several other very poisonous plants, the ^Ethusa 
 cynapium, or Fool's parsley, the Cieuta virosa, or water hem- 
 lock, and the CEnanthe crocata, or hemlock water-dropwort. 
 
 Every part of the Conium maculatum possesses poisonous 
 properties, and emits a peculiar, disagreeable, mousy odor, 
 which becomes more perceptible when it is bruised in a 
 mortar along with a solution of potassa. This odor depends 
 upon its volatile active principle. The leaves and fruit are 
 used in medicine in the form of succus (which is procured 
 from the fresh leaves), and extract. The former is the only 
 reliable preparation. 
 
 Poisoning from hemlock is nearly always the result of ac- 
 cident, the leaves having generally been eaten in soup by 
 mistake for parsley, which it somewhat resembles. The 
 accounts of its action upon the human system are somewhat 
 contradictory. Some authors ascribe to it positive narcotic
 
 POISONING BY HEMLOCK. CONIA." 453 
 
 properties, while others, who have experimented with it upon 
 themselves, deny that it possesses any soporific power, whilst 
 they experienced dryness of the throat, headache, a numb- 
 ing, pricking sensation gradually extending up the limbs, 
 and almost amounting to temporary paralysis. The eyes 
 were likewise affected, giving the sensation of objects ob- 
 structing the vision. Dr. John Harley experimented upon 
 himself with five and a half drachms of the succus. The 
 effects were general muscular lethargy, loss of muscular 
 power, particularly of the eyelids, which were kept open 
 with difficulty; the pupils were dilated. The mind remained 
 unaffected. (Phar. Jour., 1867.) 
 
 The post-mortem appearances in the few fatal cases noticed 
 were those of apncea, with redness of the mucous membrane 
 of the stomach, and congestion of the brain signs of no 
 characteristic significance. Sometimes the remnants of the 
 seeds or leaves may be identified by the microscope, and 
 by rubbing them in a mortar with liquor potasses, when the 
 peculiar mousy odor will be developed. 
 
 According to Dr. Harley, its influence appears to be in pro- 
 portion, not to the muscular strength, but to the motor activity 
 of the individual ; so that a person of active, lively habits is 
 much less affected by it than one of indolent, sluggish dispo- 
 position. Thus, " an active, restless child will often take with 
 scarcely any appreciable effect a dose sufficient to paralyze an 
 adult of indolent habits." It seems to have no effect upon 
 the cerebrum, since even when given in fatal doses, "while 
 the eyes will be completely fixed and the pupils dilated, while 
 all power of motion is lost, and the individual appears to 
 be in the most profound coma, the perceptive faculties and 
 reasoning powers may be as acute as ever." (The Old 
 Vegetable Neurotics, 1868.) Death appears to be the result 
 of paralysis of the muscles of respiration, including the dia- 
 phragm. It is generally preceded by convulsions. The heart 
 has continued to beat after all other signs of life had ceased. 
 
 Conia. This alkaloid, known also under the name of 
 conine and conicine, exists most abundantly in the seeds of the 
 plant. It is one of the most actively fatal poisons known, 
 almost equaling prussic acid in this respect. Sir R. Chris-
 
 454 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 tison states that a single drop of the alkaloid applied to the 
 eye of a rabbit killed it in nine minutes ; and three drops 
 applied in the same manner killed a strong cat in a minute 
 and a half. Five drops put into the throat of a small dog 
 began to act in thirty seconds, and proved fatal in one min- 
 ute; and two grains of the chloride injected into the femoral 
 vein of a young dog killed it before there was time to note 
 the interval. (On Poisons, p. 655.) In Prof. Wormley's ex- 
 periments, a single drop being placed upon the tongue of a 
 large cat, the animal was inclined to stand still, and mani- 
 fested an unsteady gait when disturbed; in two minutes and 
 a half it fell upon its side, voided urine, had violent convul- 
 sions of the limbs, with trembling of the body ; and it died in 
 three minutes from the time of the administration of the 
 poison. In another animal, the pupils became dilated and 
 immovable, the legs became powerless, and death occurred 
 in four minutes, being preceded by violent convulsions. 
 
 Treatment. Prompt emesis by mustard and water; active 
 stimulation, both external and internal. Pereira suggested 
 strychnia as a physiological antidote, on account of its oppo- 
 site effects on the system. 
 
 Chemical properties. Conia, in its pure state, is a colorless, 
 transparent, volatile, oily liquid, having a strong alkaline 
 reaction ; its odor is peculiar, repulsive, and suffocating, re- 
 sembling that of a stale tobacco-pipe. When diluted with 
 water it emits an odor resembling that of mice. This pecu- 
 liar odor is perceptible even when it is diluted with fifty 
 thousand times its weight of water (Wormley). It gives a 
 greasy stain to paper; burns with a bright, smoky flame ; its 
 taste is disagreeable and persistent; it boils at about 350 F., 
 but it distills over with the vapor of water. It speedily 
 changes when exposed to the air, becoming yellowish, then 
 brownish, and is finally resolved into a resin and ammonia. 
 It is partially soluble in water, very soluble in alcohol, ether, 
 and chloroform : the two latter will separate it from its 
 aqueous solutions. 
 
 Tests. If a drop of the alkaloid be placed in a watch-glass, 
 and covered by another glass holding a drop of hydrochloric 
 acid, both glasses immediately become filled with dense
 
 CONIA. DETECTION IN ORGANIC MIXTURES. 455 
 
 white fumes, and the drop of conia soon becomes a mass of 
 beautiful, delicate, crystalline needles, which are permanent 
 in the air. Even diluted solutions of the alkaloid will yield 
 similar white fumes when exposed to the acid vapor, which 
 are followed by the formation of crystals on concentration. 
 Sulphuric acid gives with it a pale-red solution, which after 
 a few days deposits crystalline needles. -Nitric acid causes 
 with it dense white fumes; it deepens its color, and ulti- 
 mately deposits crystals. Strong hydrochloric acid imparts to 
 it a pale-red tint, which gradually becomes much deeper: on 
 evaporation, needle-shaped crystals are deposited. Oxalic 
 acid forms with it prismatic crystals of the oxalate of conia. 
 Like the fixed alkaloids, it yields precipitates with tannic 
 acid, iodo-iodide of potassium, terchloride of gold, corrosive 
 sublimate, carbazotic acid, and some other reagents ; but not 
 w r ith bichloride of platinum, iodide of potassium, ferrocyanide 
 and ferricj-anide of potassium, or bichromate of potassa. Its 
 liquid, oily condition, together with its peculiar odor, will 
 serve to distinguish it from all other substances except nico- 
 iina : the points of difference between these two alkaloids 
 will be mentioned under the head of Nicotina. 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. Conia may be separated from 
 organic mixtures, as the contents of the stomach, the urine, 
 or the blood, by the process of M. Stas, somewhat modified. 
 "Wormley recommends to exhaust the material with dilute 
 acetic acid, as in the process for nicotina (see post, p. 4(52). 
 Dr. Harley macerates the suspected substance fora few days 
 in water acidulated with one-fiftieth of its bulk of sulphuric 
 acid; this should be evaporated to a syrup, the residue 
 mixed with an equal bulk of a strong solution of potassa, 
 transferred to a long tube, and agitated with its bulk of ether 
 several times during twenty-four hours. The ether is then 
 decanted, and the residue washed several times with fresh 
 ether. On distillation of the ethereal solution, impure conia 
 remains. This is to be shaken with a small quantity of di- 
 lute sulphuric acid, which separates the alkaloid from the 
 impurities. From this solution of sulphate of conia the base 
 is separated in the usual way, viz., by evaporation, mixing 
 with caustic potassa, and shaking with ether; and then
 
 456 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 evaporating, to obtain the characteristic oily globules, which 
 should respond to the several tests above mentioned. 
 
 Dr. Harley gives a salutary caution in regard to relying too 
 strongly on what is supposed to be the characteristic odor iu 
 the search for conia in organic mixtures, especially the urine. 
 He remarks : " In examining the animal fluids or tissues for 
 conia, we must bear in mind that the addition of caustic 
 potash to them will often develop an odor indistinguishable 
 from conia; and that nothing short of the isolation of the 
 principle itself should satisfy us" (loc. tit., p. 19). He also 
 relates a case iu which he could not distinguish an ethereal 
 extract, obtained from a patient's urine who had not taken 
 conia, when treated with potassa, from an aqueous so- 
 lution of conia, used for comparison. Dr. Taylor, speak- 
 ing of the same fallacy, says that "an incautious operator 
 may readily come to the conclusion that he has found 
 * traces,' and ascribe death to the poison." He then cites an 
 instructive case that occurred in Germany, where a man 
 died in a few hours after going to bed, and it was alleged 
 that his wife had poisoned him. Those who examined the 
 body deposed that they had found traces of conia in the 
 stomach, intestines, and kidneys; and the wife was accused 
 of having administered hemlock. Some doubts having 
 arisen in the minds of the authorities, the matter was referred 
 to Mitscherlich and Casper, who found that the chemical 
 process pursued failed to detect conia in the body; that 
 there was nothing to indicate that the deceased had taken 
 hemlock iu any form ; but that, on the contrary, after having 
 eaten and drunk freely, he had vomited after going to bed, 
 and a portion of the food had entered the trachea and had 
 suffocated him. (Med. Jurisp., Amer. ed., 1873, p. 242.) 
 
 The other hemlocks Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, 
 (Enanthe crocata, or hemlock water-dropwort, and JElhusa cyna- 
 pium, or Fool's parsley, or lesser hemlock are all extremely 
 poisonous, producing symptoms of an acrid, narcotic charac- 
 ter. The CEuanthe is particularly dangerous, being, iu fact, 
 one of the most poisonous of the umbelliferous plants. Xo 
 alkaloid has as yet been isolated from any of those just 
 mentioned.
 
 POISONING BY TOBACCO. EXTERNAL APPLICATION. 457 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY TOBACCO. NICOTINA. 
 
 The dried leaves of the Nicotiana tabacum, a plant belonging 
 to the natural order Solanacece, constitute the well-known to- 
 bacco so universally employed throughout the world. It owes 
 its activity and poisonous properties to a volatile liquid alka- 
 loid of an oily consistence, nicotina, which somewhat resembles 
 conia, and which exists in different proportions in different 
 specimens of the leaves, varying from two to seven or eight 
 per cent. 
 
 Symptoms. A large dose of tobacco (or even a small one 
 in those unaccustomed to its use) produces very decided 
 symptoms. Very soon after taking it, the individual expe- 
 riences vertigo, sense of confusion of the head, nausea, 
 vomiting, severe retching, heat in the stomach, great anxiety, 
 excessive prostration, cold, moist skin, trembling of the limbs, 
 and sometimes severe purging. The pulse is small, weak, 
 and scarcely perceptible; there is difficulty of breathing, and 
 involuntary urination. In some cases there is violent pain 
 in the abdomen ; in others, there is rather a sense of sinking 
 or depression in the region of the heart, passing into syncope, 
 and a feeling of impending dissolution. The pupils do not 
 seem to be always similarly affected. Dr. Taylor states that 
 they are dilated ; whilst Dr. Pereira (Mat. Med., ii. p. 494) 
 speaks of tobacco as differing from belladonna and stra- 
 monium, in causing contraction of the pupils, both when 
 applied directly to the eye, and when taken internally; and 
 also by the absence of delirium, and of dryness of the throat. 
 Whartou and Stille (Med. Jurisp., 1873, vol. ii. p. 609) state 
 that the pupils are but slightly affected, and that they pre- 
 serve their sensibility to the light. Death is often preceded 
 by convulsions and paralysis. 
 
 The external application of tobacco to abraded surfaces, 
 and even to the healthy skin, will occasion severe and some- 
 times fatal consequences. Tardieu mentions several in- 
 stances where decided symptoms were produced by the 
 application of the dried leaves to the naked body (Sur 1'Em- 
 poisonnement, p. 780). A decoction of tobacco applied by a
 
 458 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 man for the cure of an eruptive disease, caused death in three 
 hours. (Am. Jour, of Med. Sci., Jan., 1865, p. 268.) 
 
 Its fatal effects when administered by the rectum are well 
 known to physicians. Pereira mentions a case where half a 
 drachm, given in the form of an enema, caused death; and 
 Dr. Tavignot witnessed a case in which fifteen grains thus 
 administered produced a fatal result in a robust man, aged 
 fifty-five years (Rev. Med., Nov., 1840). Even tobacco-smoke, 
 diffused through water and swallowed, has caused the death 
 of a young infant. (Wharton and Stille, loc. cit, p. 610.) 
 
 The smoking of tobacco has been known to produce violent 
 and even fatal effects. Two instances of the latter are related 
 by Gmelin, as resulting from excessive smoking, in one case 
 of seventeen, and in the other of eighteen, pipes of tobacco 
 at a sitting. 
 
 The rapidity of the action of tobacco on the human system 
 varies with the dose and the mode of application. In one 
 case, an unknown quantity of snuff swallowed in whisky 
 caused death in an hour. In another case, quoted by Beck 
 ,(Med. Jurisp., ii. p. 878), an enema of tobacco used by a 
 female for the expulsion of worms, produced violent convul- 
 sions, and death in fifteen minutes. In another case, quoted 
 by Christison, a tobacco enema caused death in thirty-five 
 minutes. The application of nicotina to the tongue of an 
 animal has caused death within two minutes. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. No special anatomical lesion 
 characterizes this poison. A diffused redness of the omen- 
 turn and of the stomach and bowels, with patches of ex- 
 travasation in the mucous membrane, together with an empty 
 state of the heart and blood-vessels of the abdomen, is about 
 all that has been observed. If the leaf or powder has been 
 swallowed, these may be recognized by their physical and 
 botanical characters when examined microscopically. In a 
 case reported by Dr. Taylor, in which death resulted in seven 
 hours from swallowing an ounce of crude tobacco, the brain 
 and upper portion of the spinal marrow were congested ; 
 the heart was empty, small, and contracted; the liver and 
 kidneys much congested; the intestines contracted through- 
 out ; the mucous membrane reddened and partially abraded.
 
 POISONING BY NICOTINA. EFFECTS. 459 
 
 The bladder was empty and contracted ; the blood was 
 liquid and dark-colored. No peculiar odor was perceived. 
 
 In a case of suicidal death from nicotina, occurring in Lon- 
 don in 1858, and examined by Dr. Taylor, the post-mortem 
 appearances were general relaxation of the muscular system, 
 staring eyes, bloated and livid features, the vessels of the 
 scalp and membranes of the brain, and those of the lungs, 
 gorged with black blood, and the cavities of the heart, with 
 the exception of the left auricle, empty. There was intense 
 congestion of the mucous membrane of the stomach, and of 
 the liver. The blood was black and liquid, and in some 
 parts had the consistence of treacle. No peculiar odor was 
 perceptible. (On Poisons, p. 661.) 
 
 NICOTINA (Nicotine). This alkaloid, when pure, is a color- 
 less, oily liquid, which assumes a light yellowish tint on ex- 
 posure to the air, and deepens and thickens by keeping. It 
 produces a greasy stain on paper, like conia, which dis- 
 appears on exposure. It is usually described as possessing 
 an acrid, unpleasant odor : this is true of the samples gen- 
 erally found in the shops, but in a perfectly pure specimen 
 the odor is ethereal and pleasant. Prof. Guy states that this 
 odor has been retained for several years in two specimens in 
 his possession. It has a strong alkaline reaction, and a density 
 of 1.048. 
 
 It is freely soluble in water, and even a very dilute aque- 
 ous solution will retain the peculiar odor. It is also soluble 
 in alcohol, ether, chloroform, the fixed oils, and in oil of 
 turpentine. Either chloroform or ether may be employed to 
 extract it from its solutions in water. Its taste is very pun- 
 gent and acrid, even when much diluted, producing a pecu- 
 liar sensation in the throat ard air-passages. It slowly distills 
 at about 295 F., and boils at about 470. It may be distilled 
 unchanged in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas. Heated on 
 platinum or on paper, it burns with a bright flame, emitting 
 a thick, black smoke. 
 
 Nicotina is one of the most rapidly-fatal poisons known : 
 it rivals hydrocyanic acid in this respect. A single drop 
 destroyed a rabbit in three and a half minutes. In fifteen
 
 460 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 seconds the animal lost all power of standing, was violently 
 convulsed in the legs and back, the latter being arched 
 (opisthotonos). (Taylor's Med. Jurisp., Am. ed., 1873, p. 
 227.) In Wormley's experiments, one drop put into the 
 mouth of a full-grown cat produced immediate prostration, 
 continued convulsive movements of the extremities, and 
 death in seventy-eight seconds. Another cat died from a simi- 
 lar dose, and with similar symptoms, in seventy-jive seconds 
 after taking the poison. 
 
 In the celebrated case of the Count Bocarme, who was 
 executed in Belgium, in 1851, for poisoning his brother-in- 
 law, Gustave Fougnies, nicotina was the agent used. An 
 unknown quantity was forcibly put into the throat of the 
 victim, the countess assisting her husband as an accomplice 
 in the murder. Death was believed to have taken place 
 within five minutes. The poison was detected by M. Stas in 
 the tongue, throat, stomach, liver, and spleen of the deceased, 
 ahid also from stains on the floor near where the act was com- 
 mitted. From the admirable and exhaustive report of the 
 examination of the body by M. Stas, we may note the follow- 
 ing particulars. The appearance of the tongue indicated the 
 action of some highly acrid agent: it was swollen, black- 
 ened, softened, and friable; the epithelium was detached with 
 facility. This was also the condition of the mucous lining 
 of the mouth and pharynx : it was reddened as if cauter- 
 ized, and was removed with the greatest ease by the handle 
 of the scalpel. The lining membrane of the stomach was 
 intensely injected, exhibiting large patches, which were livid 
 and black. The vessels were filled with a black coagulum, 
 which resembled blood that had been treated with strong 
 sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. The duodenum was also 
 highly injected. There were no ulcerations or perforations 
 of the stomach or bowels. The lungs were gorged with 
 black blood, and exhibited the usual characters of asphyxia. 
 The heart was normal ; its cavities contained black blood, 
 not coagulated. No mention is made of any peculiar odor 
 being noticed in the body. (For a fuller account of this 
 interesting case, see Orfila's Toxicologie, ii. p. 498; also, 
 Wharton and Stille's Med. Jurisp., 1873, ii. p. 612.)
 
 POISONING BY NICOTINA. TESTS. 461 
 
 Chemical reactions. If a drop of nicotina be put into a 
 watch-glass, and this covered with another glass, inverted, 
 containing a drop of either hydrochloric or nitric acid, the 
 glass will become filled with white fumes: these are not so 
 dense as those produced by conia under similar circum- 
 stances, nor do they give rise to the formation of crystals. 
 The strong acids, when applied directly to it, produce no 
 characteristic effect. 
 
 Nicotina unites freely with acids, forming salts, which 
 retain the peculiar taste of the alkaloid, but are destitute of 
 odor. They are mostly soluble in water and alcohol, but not 
 in ether or chloroform. If a salt of nicotina be distilled with 
 a caustic alkali, the free alkaloid will be found in the distil- 
 late, and usually associated with ammonia. If the distillate 
 thus obtained be neutralized by oxalic acid, then gently 
 evaporated to dryness, and the residue treated with alcohol, 
 the oxalate of nicotina will be dissolved, while the oxalate 
 of ammonia will remain nndissolved, and may be separated 
 by filtration. The alcoholic solution, on evaporation, will 
 yield pure oxalate of nicotina. 
 
 (1) Bichloride of platinum produces in an aqueous solution 
 of nicotina a yellow, turbid precipitate, which ultimately as- 
 sumes a crystalline form, well marked under the microscope, 
 and of a character totally distinct from that of the double 
 chloride of platinum and potassium, or ammonium. 
 
 (2) Corrosive sublimate throws down a copious white, curdy 
 precipitate, which soon acquires a yellow color, and deposits 
 beautiful groups of colorless crystals, which are permanent 
 in the air. In very dilute solutions of nicptiua, this reagent 
 at first causes a turbidness, but after a time, especially on 
 stirring with a glass rod, the peculiar crystals appear, which 
 resemble flowers, winged insects, and rosettes. Although 
 corrosive sublimate produces white precipitates with ammo- 
 nia and with many of the alkaloids, yet all these deposits, 
 unlike that of nicotiua, remain amorphous, except the pre- 
 cipitate from strychnia; and in this case the crystals are 
 wholly unlike those obtained from nicotina. Prof. Wormley 
 considers this to be the most valuable test yet discovered for 
 nicotiua (Micro-Chem. of Poisons, p. 433). 
 
 30
 
 462 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 (3) Carbazotic add yields with aqueous solutions of nicotina 
 a yellow, amorphous precipitate, which ultimately becomes 
 a mass of yellow, crystalline tufts, to be identified by the 
 microscope. 
 
 (4) lodo-iodide of potassium yields a brownish-red, or yellow, 
 amorphous deposit, which, after a time, may entirely disap- 
 pear, to be at once brought back on further addition of the 
 reagent. A similar result is produced with most of the 
 alkaloids: hence it is not a characteristic test. But as its 
 reaction is extremely delicate for nieotina, serving to detect 
 even less than the one-hundred-thousaudth of a grain, it is 
 obvious that, if a suspected solution of nicotina fails to yield 
 a precipitate with this test, it will be useless to expect any 
 results from the other reagents. 
 
 (5) Terchloride of gold produces a yellow, amorphous pre- 
 cipitate, even in very dilute aqueous solutions of nicotina, in 
 common with many of the other alkaloids. The same is true 
 of bromine in hydrobromic acid. 
 
 As ammonia gives very similar reactions with some of the 
 above reagents, it is important to be able to distinguish be- 
 tween them. Tannic acid gives a white, amorphous precipitate 
 with nicotina, but merely imparts a red color to ammonia. 
 Gallic acid yields no precipitate with nicotina; with ammonia 
 it produces a pinkish-red color, rapidly changing to an olive- 
 green. Iodine-water gives a brown precipitate, while with 
 ammonia there is no precipitate, but the color is discharged. 
 
 Separation from organic mixtures, or the contents of the stomach. 
 The process already described in the former part of this 
 work (p. 110) as the process of Stas, is especially adapted for 
 the recovery of nicotina from organic mixtures. In fact, it 
 was the very process employed by its originator in the Bo- 
 carme case, above alluded to. Other good authorities have 
 somewhat modified the original process. Wormley exhausts 
 the suspected material with water instead of alcohol, acidu- 
 lated with acetic acid; Taylor employs sulphuric acid; fStas 
 originally used tartaric acid. After proper maceration, filtra- 
 tion, and concentration, the residue containing the nicotina 
 salt may either be neutralized by caustic potassa, and dis- 
 tilled over; or (as is most usual) it is rendered alkaline by
 
 POISONING BY LOBELIA. LOBELINA. 463 
 
 potash or soda, and thoroughly shaken in a stout tube, with 
 about two volumes of chloroform, or about five volumes of 
 ether, and the mixture allowed to repose until the fluids have 
 completely separated. The chloroform (or ether), having 
 been carefully separated, is allowed to evaporate spontane- 
 ously on a watch-glass, when any nicotina present will bo 
 left in the form of oily streaks or drops, having the peculiar 
 odor of the impure alkaloid, which is made more evident by 
 heating gently. This should be corroborated by making a 
 solution with a very small quantity of pure water, and ap- 
 plying the above-mentioned reagents, using first the cor- 
 rosive sublimate test. A drop of the solution may also 
 be put within the beak of a small bird, or in the mouth of a 
 rabbit. 
 
 Nicotina may also be readily detected in the tissues and 
 in the blood, in the absorbed state : the process to be em- 
 ployed is essentially the same as that above described. M. 
 Stas was probably the first to show that it is possible to 
 recover an absorbed alkaloid from the tissues. About the 
 same time, Orfila procured the same poison (nicotina) from 
 the liver and spleen of dogs killed by this substance (Toxi- 
 cologie, ii. p. 493). 
 
 For a full detail of the mode of separating nicotina from 
 organic mixtures, the reader is referred to Wormley's "Mi- 
 cro-Chemistry of Poisons." 
 
 POISONING BY LOBELIA. LOBELINA. The Lobelia mflata, or 
 Indian tobacco, is a native of North America. It is exten- 
 sively used both in this country and in Great Britain as the 
 standard remedy by a set of quacks denominated Tliomsonian, 
 or Botanical doctors. According to Dr. Letheby, thirteen 
 cases of poisoning by this substance had occurred in Eng- 
 land within three or four years; and Dr. Beck states that 
 " thousands of individuals in the United States have been 
 murdered by the combined use of capsicum and lobelia 
 administered by tbe Thomsonian quacks" (Med. Jurisp., 
 vol. ii. p. 736). The leaves and seeds are the parts of the 
 plant employed. They owe their activity to a fixed alkaloid 
 named lobelina.
 
 464 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 Effects on the system. In small doses, lobelia acts as an 
 expectorant; in larger doses, as a powerful emetic and de- 
 pressant. In poisonous doses, it produces distressing nausea 
 and vomiting, sometimes purging, copious perspiration, ex- 
 treme relaxation, anxiety, prostration, very feeble pulse, con- 
 tracted pupils, insensibility, occasionally convulsions, and 
 death. A drachm of the powdered leaves has occasioned 
 death. 
 
 The post-mortem appearances that have been noticed were 
 inflammation and softening of the mucous membrane of the 
 stomach, and inflammation of the bowels. The vessels of the 
 brain are sometimes strongly congested. \Vhen employed 
 by enema, it occasions very much the same alarming and 
 fatal depression of the sj-stem as tobacco. 
 
 Lobelina (lobeline) is a yellowish liquid, lighter than water, 
 of somewhat aromatic odor, and very acrid, persistent taste. 
 It is soluble in water, but more so in alcohol and ether: the 
 latter readily separates it from its aqueous solutions. It has 
 an alkaline reaction, forming soluble salts with the acids. A 
 boiling heat decomposes it. Tannic acid immediately pre- 
 cipitates it from its solutions. It resembles nicotina in many 
 of its properties, just as lobelia resembles tobacco. By ex- 
 periments on animals, lobelina seems to produce the narcotic, 
 but not the emetic, effects of the plant. (See paper by Prof. 
 Procter, in American Journal of Pharmacy, ix. p. 105, and 
 xiii. p. 1.) 
 
 In a case of death from the use of lobelia, the diagnosis 
 would be materially aided by the discovery of fragments of 
 the leaves, or the seeds, in the alimentary canal, which might 
 be identified by the microscope. No case has been recorded, 
 so far as we are aware, of the administration of lobelina with 
 either a homicidal or a suicidal intent. (For the report of 
 two interesting trials for fatal poisoning by lobelia, under 
 the " botanical" treatment, see Whartou and Stille's Med. 
 Jurisp., 1873, vol. ii. pp. 586 and 963.)
 
 POISONING BY ACONITE. SYMPTOMS. 465 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 POISONING BY ACONITE. AOONITIA. 
 
 The Aconiium napdlus (Monkshood, or Wolfsbane) is in- 
 digenous in Europe, and is cultivated in our gardens. It 
 belongs to the natural order Eanunculacecz. All parts of the 
 plant are poisonous, but the root is the most so: The root 
 and leaves are officinal, and are easily identified by their 
 appearance. The root has occasionally been fatally mistaken 
 for horseradish root; but their characters are totally distinct. 
 
 The root of the aconite is conical, rapidly tapering to a 
 point, and throwing out numerous curling fibres; it has a 
 dark-brownish color; and when a fragment of it is chewed 
 it imparts to the lips, tongue, and fauces a peculiar tingling, 
 numbing sensation, which is quite persistent. The horse- 
 radish root, or stick, is cylindrical, and truncated, not con- 
 ical; its color is whitish; and when chewed, as is well known, 
 it leaves merely a sweetish, pungent impression, totally dis- 
 tinct from that of aconite root. 
 
 Aconite root has been administered with criminal intention 
 in at least one recorded case, where the powdered root was 
 mixed with pepper, and sprinkled over the greens used for 
 dinner by the deceased (Dublin Jour., July, 1841). 
 
 Symptoms. On animals. According to Dr. Fleming, aco- 
 nite, when introduced into the system of one of the lower 
 animals, produces, successively, weakness of the limbs and 
 staggering; accelerated or laborious breathing; paralysis; 
 diminution, or total loss, of sensibility of the surface; in- 
 creasing difficulty of breathing; and, after a few spasmodic 
 twitches, death by asphyxia. In a few instances there were 
 decided convulsions, and even opisthotonos; the pupils 
 were generally contracted (this is contrary to the experience 
 of Headland in the case of animals, and also differs from 
 the recorded cases of poisoning in man, in all of which the 
 pupils were more or less dilated). On opening the body 
 after death, the heart was found beating with considerable 
 strength ; there was great congestion of the venous system, 
 with distension of the right side of the heart.
 
 466 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 On mail. There is a sense of burning, tingling, and numb- 
 ness of the mouth, throat, and stomach, followed by nausea 
 and vomiting, with pain and tenderness of the epigastrium. 
 The numbness and tingling speedily become general, with 
 diminution of the sensibility of the surface, vertigo, dullness 
 of vision, or complete blindness ; tinnitus aurium, with occa- 
 sional deafness; frothing at the mouth ; sense of constriction 
 of the throat and of weight at the stomach ; great muscular 
 weakness; a slow, feeble pulse; difficulty of breathing; 
 cold, clammy skin; blanched countenance; perhaps a few 
 convulsions, and death. The mind throughout seems to be 
 unaffected, the patient retaining consciousness to the last. 
 The brain appears entirely unaffected ; there is no tendency 
 to sleep or to coma. In a few exceptional cases, death is pre- 
 ceded by delirium and convulsions. Death is apt to super- 
 vene suddenly. In fifty-three cases of aconite-poisoning col- 
 lected by Dr. Tucker, of New York (K Y. Jour, of Med., 
 March, 1854), cited by Wharton and Stille, general convul- 
 sions occurred only in seven, and delirium and stupor only 
 in three. In seventeen out of twenty cases the pupils were 
 dilated. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. The autopsy reveals nothing char- 
 acteristic. There is usually considerable engorgement of the 
 vessels of the brain, and likewise of the lungs and liver. 
 There is sometimes redness of the mucous membrane of 
 the stomach and bowels, which are frequently found empty. 
 The blood is generally fluid, and of a dark color. These are 
 merely the usual attendants on death from asphyxia ; and 
 from the fact that in animals poisoned by aconite the heart 
 has been found beating after death, it would seem as if this 
 poison destroys life by asphyxia. In some cases, death ap- 
 pears to be due to syncope. 
 
 The quantity necessary to destroy life is undetermined. 
 This probably arises from the variable strength of the prepa- 
 rations of aconite, as found in the shops. These preparations 
 are the tinctures of the leaves and roots, and the alcoholic 
 extract. The latter especially is apt to be very inert. Sir R. 
 Christison gave six grains of a carefully-prepared extract to 
 a woman suffering with rheumatism, without visible effect
 
 POISONING BY ACONITIA. TREATMENT. 467 
 
 (On Poisons, p. 667) ; whilst Dr. Fleming speaks of two 
 grains producing alarming effects, and of four grains prov- 
 ing fatal. One drachm of the tincture has caused death on 
 several occasions. The case related by Dr. Easton (Glasgow 
 Med. Jour., July, 1853), in which twenty-five minims of the 
 tincture were taken, shows probably the smallest dose that 
 has proved fatal. Whartou and Stille mention an instance 
 where twentj'-tive drops proved fatal in four hours, in the 
 case of a gentleman who took it by mistake (Med. Jurisp., 
 ii. p. 629). An excise officer in England died in a few hours 
 after merely tasting Fleming's strong tincture: he had swal- 
 lowed probably not over a teaspoonful. Dr. Pereira speaks 
 of a case where two doses of six drops each, taken at an in- 
 terval of two hours, produced most alarming symptoms in a 
 3'oung man (Mat. Med.,ii. p. 1091); and Dr. Worm ley alludes 
 to a case falling under his own observation, in which five 
 drops of Thayer's fluid extract of the root produced most 
 decided symptoms of poisoning, with alarming prostration, 
 which continued for about two hours (loc. tit., p. 611). 
 
 On the other hand, as in the case of the other violent 
 poisons, recoveries occur after swallowing very large doses. 
 In such cases, most of the poison has been removed through 
 jprompt and active emesis. In fatal cases, death generally 
 occurs within two or three hours ; though sometimes life is 
 prolonged for twenty-four hours. 
 
 ACONITIA (Aconitine). This alkaloid is the active poisonous 
 principle of aconite. It abounds most in the root, although 
 its proportion here is only from one-tenth to one-fifth of one 
 per cent. (Wormley). In \tspure state, it is probably the most 
 violent poison known : Pereira states that one-fiftieth of a grain' 
 nearly proved fatal to an elderly lady (loc. cit., 1093). Much 
 of the aconitia sold in the shops is almost, if not entirely, 
 inert. Dr. Pereira swallowed one grain of a French prepa- 
 ration without experiencing the slightest effect; and Wormley 
 says that of three German specimens examined by him, two 
 were entirely inert, and the third nearly so. The only reli- 
 able article, heretofore, has been that prepared by Morson, of 
 London. 
 
 Treatment. There is no known chemical antidote. The
 
 468 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 poison should immediately be evacuated from the stomach 
 by the use of active emetics or the stomach-pump. Stimu- 
 lants should be freely used both outwardly and inwardly. 
 Finely-powdered animal charcoal, mixed with water, has 
 been recommended b}* Headland and others, as also tannin, 
 or astringent infusions. Dr. Wormley cites the case of a 
 child, live years old, to whom the tincture of nux vomica 
 was administered as an antidote to the tincture of aconite, 
 on physiological principles, after unavailing efforts to excite 
 vomiting had been employed. The effect of the first dose of 
 the antidote was to increase the force of the heart's action 
 and the strength of the respiration. A second dose of tinc- 
 ture of nux vomica (three drops) was administered at the end 
 of twenty minutes, which was followed by vigorous vomit- 
 ing, and a speedy recovery (Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., Jan., 
 1862, p. 285). Dr. Fleming recommends friction to the 
 spine and limbs by means of warm cloths; and for the great 
 dyspnoea and extreme feebleness of the heart's action, slight 
 galvanic shocks to be passed through the heart, and the em- 
 ployment of artificial respiration. 
 
 It would appear that digitalis has the power of acting as a 
 physiological antidote to aconite. It was discovered by Dr. 
 J. Milner Fothergill (Digitalis, Lond., 1871) that where digi- 
 talis is administered to frogs under the influence of aconite, 
 the heart is visibly relieved from the depression produced 
 by the first poison. Even when all the cardiac action had 
 apparently ceased, digitalis had power to recall the systolic 
 movements, until, finally, a return to the normal state was 
 brought about. A case is reported in the "British Medical 
 Journal" of December 11, 1872, where recovery took place 
 after swallowing an ounce of Fleming's tincture of the root. 
 The patient when first seen was apparently dying. Twenty 
 minims of the tincture of digitalis were injected hypoder- 
 mically, and after twenty minutes the man had revived suf- 
 ficiently to swallow; a fluidrachm of the tincture was given 
 along with brandy and ammonia, and was twice repeated 
 within an hour. (Dr. II. C. Wood's Therapeutics.) The 
 above facts certainly warrant the trial of digitalis in a case 
 of aconite-poisoning.
 
 POISOXING BY ACONITIA. PROPERTIES. 469 
 
 Pure aconitia occurs as a white, transparent, granular 
 solid (it has lately been procured in crystals). Its taste is at 
 first acrid, soon followed by a feeling of tingling and numb- 
 ness of the lips and tongue. Its solution applied to the skin 
 occasions a feeling of heat and numbness. So active is this 
 poison that, according to Dr. Headland, one three-hundredth 
 of a grain will kill a mouse ; one-twentieth of a grain, a cat; 
 and one-tenth of a grain, a man. One-thousandth of a grain 
 causes tingling and numbness on the tip of the tongue ; and 
 one-hundredth of a grain dissolved in spirit and rubbed 
 into the skin, causes loss of feeling, lasting for some time 
 (Guy's Foren. Med., p. 566). 
 
 Aconitia is unchanged by exposure to the air. Heated on 
 porcelain, it fuses into a yellow liquid, which gradually be- 
 comes darker, and finally is reduced to carbon. It has strong 
 basic properties, forming salts with the acids, several of which 
 are crystalline. It is very slightly soluble in water; quite 
 soluble in alcohol and chloroform ; less so in ether. Its salts 
 are very soluble in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether. 
 None of the strong mineral acids causes any change of 
 color in it, when cold; but sulphuric acid when warmed im- 
 parts to it a brown tint; heat causes no change with the other 
 acids. There is not a single chemical test that is charac- 
 teristic of aconitia. The alkalies, carbazotic acid, chloride 
 of gold, iodo-iodide of potassium, and bromine in hydro- 
 bromic acid, all yield precipitates with a solution of aconitia, 
 but nothing of a peculiar character. Bichloride of plati- 
 num, the chromate of potassa, and ferrocyanide and ferri- 
 cyanide of potash, do not precipitate it. Its presence can 
 be established (in a medico-legal case) only by the physio- 
 logical test, i.e. the peculiar tingling sensation imparted 
 to the tongue and lips on the application of a minute por- 
 tion of the ultimate extract obtained from the suspected 
 material, or by a similar application to the skin, resulting in 
 the characteristic tingling and feeling of numbness; together 
 with its introduction into some small animal, hypoder- 
 mically. 
 
 If the poisoning has occurred from swallowing the leaves 
 or root of the plant, a careful microscopic inspection of the
 
 470 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 matters vomited and purged should be made, in order to 
 identify its botanical characters. 
 
 In 1844, a trial took place in Albany County, New York 
 (State v. Hendrickson), for alleged poisoning by aconite. It 
 is chiefly remarkable for the testimony of two of the State's 
 "experts," in relation to the methods of identifying this 
 poison; and it furnishes another instance of the folly of at- 
 tempting to diagnosticate a case of poisoning by such a sub- 
 stance, by a partial and incomplete mode of procedure. For 
 instance, the medical man who made the post-mortem ex- 
 amination inferred, " from the emptiness of the stomach and 
 small intestine, the corrugation of their mucous coat, and 
 the presence of a reddish, viscid mucus in the stomach, that 
 vomiting had taken place, and that this vomiting was produced by 
 aconite'' ! The individual who undertook the chemical analy- 
 sis testified " that he tested a small portion of the stomach and 
 a small portion of the duodenum for prussic acid, and for most 
 of the mineral poisons; then for morphine, strychnia, 'stra- 
 monine,' and other poisons, none of which he discovered." 
 He then inferred the presence of aconitine from the fact that, 
 after digesting a small portion of the stomach and duodenum 
 in alcohol, evaporating, filtering, and purifying finally with 
 animal charcoal, and then testing the filtered solution by 
 boiling in sulphuric acid, it was " turned to a deep port-v^i,c 
 red color" ! (See review of this trial, by Prof. C. A. Lee, in 
 Am. Jour. Med. Sci., Oct., 1844.) 
 
 Detection in organic mixtures. Acouitia may be recovered 
 from organic mixtures and from the contents of the stomach 
 by means of Stas' process, somewhat modified, as described 
 for nicotina (supra, p. 462). Chloroform is preferable to 
 ether, as the ultimate solvent for depositing the alkaloid. 
 The residue thus obtained should be dissolved in a few 
 drops of distilled water very slightly acidulated with acetic 
 acid, and a drop of the solution should first be applied to 
 the tongue, in order to recognize the peculiar tingling im- 
 pression caused by aconite. Without a distinct recognition 
 of this physiological proof (a large quantity of the solution 
 being used for this purpose, if necessary, and the experi- 
 ment repeated), it will be very unsafe to rely upon any mere
 
 POISONING BY CALABAR BEAN. EFFECTS. 471 
 
 chemical reaction, for the reason already mentioned. If, 
 however, the physiological evidence is decided, the solution 
 should be subjected to all the reactions mentioned above. 
 
 Dr. Wormley (loc. ciL, p. 620) states that by means of the 
 process described, he was able to establish the presence of 
 aconitia in the stomach of a dog, which had been killed in 
 fourteen minutes by a drachm of the ordinary tincture. He 
 also succeeded in detecting aconitia in the blood of a small 
 dog, poisoned with forty minims of the tincture of the root. 
 The animal died in sixty-four minutes after swallowing it. 
 Twelve fluidrachms of its blood were treated as above; 
 the ultimate chloroform deposit was stirred with two drops 
 of water containing a trace of acetic acid: a drop of this 
 placed upon the tongue gave positive evidence of the pres- 
 ence of the alkaloid. The remaining drop, diluted with two 
 drops of pure water, was examined by the carbazotic acid, 
 the chloride of gold, and the bromine test, with satisfactory 
 results. It was estimated that in this instance not more 
 than one three-hundredth of a grain had been operated upon 
 by the various tests. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 POISONING BY CALABAK BEAN (PHYSOSTIGMA YENENOSUM). 
 
 The ordeal bean of Calabar is a large, leguminous seed, from 
 an inch to an inch and a half long, and of a brownish-black 
 color. It is imported from the west coast of Africa, where 
 it is used by the natives as the ordeal test for witchcraft, 
 the suspected person being compelled to drink a decoction of 
 the poisonous beans. It owes its activity and poisonous prop- 
 erties to .the alkaloid physostigmia, also named eserina: this 
 resides chiefly, if not exclusively, in the cotyledons. These, 
 when touched with nitric acid, assume an orange tint; and 
 a yellowish brown when treated with perchloride of iron 
 
 Effects on the system. "We are indebted chiefly to the re- 
 searches of Dr. Fraser, of Edinburgh, for our knowledge of 
 the action of physostigmia on the animal economy. (See 
 Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., vol. xxiv.) A small, fatal dose given
 
 472 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 to one of the lower animals first occasions a slight tremor, 
 extending from the hind quarters to the fore limbs and head, 
 and then paralysis and muscular flaccidity, setting in in the 
 same order. The rectum and bladder are then emptied. 
 The pupils generally contract; the breathing becomes slow, 
 irregular, and stertorous, and a frothy mucus escapes from 
 the mouth. There appears to be a complete abolition of all 
 reflex action, although sensibility is evinced whenever the 
 animal is injured in any way, so long as the condition of the 
 motor system allows it. This is exactly the opposite of the 
 action of strychnia, which, as we have seen, so remarkably 
 increases the excito-motor power. The muscular tremors 
 persist throughout the paralysis; and they sometimes even 
 assume the force of real convulsions (Fraser). Conscious- 
 ness is preserved to the last, the animal dying quickly, as 
 the respirations become progressively fainter. The pupils 
 usually dilate immediately after death. The heart is found to 
 be still beating for some time after death, unless the animal 
 has perished from the effects of a very large dose of the 
 poison ; in which case its paralyzing force appears to have 
 extended to this organ in common with the other muscles of 
 the body. But even here the contractile power of the heart 
 will respond to the galvanic current. 
 
 On man the symptoms are similar in character to those 
 described in the preceding paragraph. There are giddiness, 
 great muscular weakness, a sense of general torpor, and of 
 faintiness; feebleness of heart-action, with, generally, con- 
 traction of the pupils, and occasional vomiting and purging. 
 The consciousness is preserved. (See Phar. Jour., 1855, p. 
 474, for a full description of the effect of Calabar bean, as 
 experienced by himself, by SirK. Christison.) 
 
 The physiological action of physostigrnia is precisely the 
 reverse of that of nux vomica and strychnia: it appears to 
 be a direct spinal depressant, while the latter is a true spinal 
 excitant. For this reason it has been used beneficially in the 
 treatment of tetanus, and likewise in the tetanic convulsions 
 of strychnia-poisoning. 
 
 Its most characteristic physiological action is the property 
 of contracting the pupil, which serves at once to distinguish
 
 POISONING BY CALABAR BEAN. CHEMICAL PROPERTIES. 473 
 
 it from belladonna and the other mydriatics (see ante, p. 436). 
 It differs from conia and woorara (which it resembles in some 
 of its effects) in causing contraction of the pupils. 
 
 Treatment. Only a few cases of poisoning by Calabar bean, 
 in the human subject, have been reported. In such cases 
 free emesis should be at once practiced, and the cautious 
 administration of atropw be employed hypodermically, com- 
 mencing with about the thirtieth of a grain, and gradually 
 increasing it until dilatation of the pupils is manifested. 
 From the carefully-conducted experiments of Dr. Fraser (loc. 
 cit.) and others, there undoubtedly exists a real antagonism 
 between these two powerful poisons, so that they may justly 
 be regarded as being mutually antidotal. 
 
 Chemical properties. Physostigmia is a colorless alkaloid, 
 crystallizing in thin rhomboidal plates, and having a slightly 
 bitter taste. It is sparingly soluble in water, but much more 
 so in alcohol, chloroform, and ether. It forms salts with the 
 acids. A water solution of it, and of its salts, in contact 
 with potassa or soda, when exposed to the air, acquires a red 
 color (in consequence of the absorption of oxygen), which 
 subsequently changes to yellow, green, or blue. This prop- 
 erty is said to detect the one-hundred-thousandth part of the 
 alkaloid in solution. Bromine in bromide of potassium (the 
 most delicate test for atropia) will precipitate a very dilute 
 solution of physostigmia. Dragendortf found it to act in a 
 solution of one ten-thousandth part. It gives a red color 
 with less than one-thousandth of a grain. The chloriodide of 
 potassium and mercury also precipitates it in a very dilute so- 
 lution. Chloride of gold throws it down as a blue precipitate, 
 from which the gold soon becomes reduced. According to 
 Dr. J. B. Edwards (Med. Times and Gazette, 1864), it reacts 
 with sulphuric acid and bichromate of potassa very much 
 like strychnia, yielding a violet color, which passes into red. 
 
 The most satisfactory test is probably the physiological one. 
 This consists in placing a drop or two of the suspected 
 poison into the eye of a rabbit, or other small animal : con- 
 traction of the pupil will take place in the course of fifteen 
 or twenty minutes if physostigmia be present. Dragendorff 
 has succeeded in separating it from the tissues by a process
 
 474 MANUAL OP TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 similar to that of Stas, employing benzole instead of ether 
 avS the solvent. It is said to be rapidly eliminated from the 
 body by the saliva and the excretions under putrefaction. 
 (Husemann's Jahresbericht, 1872, p. 570.) 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ASTIIENICS. 
 
 THIS subdivision of Cerebro-Spinants comprises those 
 poisons which destroy life by asthenia, or failure of the heart's 
 action. It is not intended to assert that death may not be 
 produced by them, in some cases, in another way, as e.g. by 
 shock, or by asphyxia. But, as their most strongly-marked 
 symptoms are such as indicate a failure of the action of the 
 heart, this name answers sufficiently well for grouping to- 
 gether a few of the neurotic poisons that especially display 
 this property. The two most important members of this 
 group are Hydrocyanic Acid and Digitalis. Cocculus Indi- 
 cus is considered under the same head, merely for the sake 
 of convenience. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. PRUSSIC ACID. 
 
 Hydrocyanic acid is one of the most energetic and rapidly- 
 fatal poisons known. According to the statistics, its employ- 
 ment for criminal purposes is on the increase both in Europe 
 and in this country. It occurs as a natural product in various 
 vegetables, as the bitter almond, the kernel of the peach, 
 apricot, plum, and cherry, the pips of apples, and the flowers 
 of the peach and cherry-laurel. From the latter, a very poison- 
 ous water is distilled (cherry-laurel-water). It also exists in 
 the root of the mountain ash. Properly speaking, hydrocyanic 
 acid does not pre-exist in these vegetable substances, but is
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. SYMPTOMS. 475 
 
 the product of their decomposition by the reaction of water, 
 at a certain temperature. 
 
 Prussic acid, in its pure state (anhydrous), is a compound of 
 cyanogen and hydrogen, HCy. It is a colorless, limpid liquid, 
 extremely volatile, and having the odor of bitter almonds. It 
 is among the most powerful and rapidly-fatal poisons known : 
 a single drop placed upon the tongue of a large dog caused 
 death in a few seconds. The anhydrous acid is very rarely 
 met with except in the laboratory of the chemist: it possesses 
 no medico-legal interest. It is the dilute or medicinal acid 
 that is so frequently the cause of death. 
 
 The dilute or medicinal acid is merely a solution of the 
 anhydrous acid in water. It occurs in the shops under two 
 forms : (1) the officinal acid, of the average strength of two per 
 cent.; and (2) Scheele's acid, of the average strength of five 
 per cent. It should, however, be remarked that specimens 
 of both varieties of the dilute acid vary considerably in 
 strength; some samples of the commercial article being 
 found not to contain a trace of the acid. This may be ac- 
 counted for, at least partially, by the proneness to decom- 
 position of the dilute acid when exposed to the action of light 
 and air. The dilute acid is colorless, and has the bitter- 
 almond odor, and a hot, pungent taste. 
 
 Symptoms. These vary with the size of the dose. If taken 
 in a large quantity half an ounce to an ounce of the dilute 
 acid the symptoms usually commence in the act of swal- 
 lowing, or in the course of a few seconds. It is seldom that 
 they are delayed beyond one or two minutes. Tardieu de- 
 scribes them as coming on with lightning rapidity. There is 
 an immediate loss of muscular power; the patient staggers, 
 and falls to the ground ; the respiration becomes hurried and 
 gasping, the pulse imperceptible, the extremities cold, the 
 eyes glassy and prominent, the pupils dilated and insensible 
 to light; and sometimes convulsions occur. Towards the 
 end, the respiratory movements appear to be suspended for 
 a time, and then to be performed in convulsive tits, like 
 sobbing, with forcible expiration. Occasionally the bladder 
 and rectum are evacuated involuntarily. As regards the 
 occurrence of a peculiar cry, such as is frequently heard in
 
 476 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 animals poisoned by prussic acid, the experience of all 
 observers is against its existence in the human subject. A 
 strong characteristic odor of bitter almonds is usually exhaled 
 from the patient. The face is either livid or pallid ; the jaws 
 are spasmodically closed; there is frothing at the mouth; 
 and death occurs sometimes in a violent convulsion, and at 
 other times is preceded by coma, with stertorous breathing. 
 This latter symptom (stertorous breathing) should not be 
 overlooked, as it might possibly lead to a mistake in the 
 diagnosis. It is particularly alluded to by Christison, Taylor, 
 and Tardieu. 
 
 Fatal period. Death generally occurs within ten to fifteen 
 minutes after swallowing a fatal dose of the poison. Rarely 
 is it protracted beyond half an hour. One case is recorded 
 where one hour supervened. Although the fatal result is 
 so speedy, the insensibility is not always immediate. This 
 is a circumstance of some medico-legal interest, as where, 
 iu a doubtful case, the suspicion of suicide might seem to be 
 negatived by the fact of the deceased being found lying 
 calmly in bed, the bedclothes properly adjusted, and the vial 
 that contained the poison corked, and put away in a bureau- 
 drawer, or in a distant part of the room. From numerous 
 cases on record, there is no doubt that, after swallowing even 
 a large dose of prussic acid, a sufficient length of time is 
 allowed to perform all the above, and other voluntary acts, 
 before the fatal insensibility sets in. One or two instances 
 may be cited to sustain this assertion. Dr. Sewall reports 
 (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., xxxvii. p. 322) the case of a 
 gentleman who, after swallowing seven drachms of Scheele's 
 acid, equivalent to twenty-one grains of the anhydrous acid, 
 walked from the table in the middle of his room to the door, 
 unlocked it, called for assistance, then walked to a sofa, and 
 stretched himself upon it; a little while afterwards he was 
 found iu an insensible condition, with stertorous breathing, 
 and he soon died. Dr. Taylor mentions another remark- 
 able case that of a gentleman, aged forty-four, who swal- 
 lowed half an ounce of prussic acid (strength not stated). 
 He then walked ten paces to a flight of stairs, descended 
 the stairs, seventeen iu number, and went to a druggist's
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. FATAL DOSE. 477 
 
 shop forty-five paces distant, where he had previously ob- 
 tained the poison, entered the shop, and said, in his usual 
 tone of voice, "I want some more of that prussic acid." 
 lie then became insensible, and died in from five to ten 
 minutes after taking the poison, without convulsions. 
 
 When taken in a large though non-fatal dose, the symp- 
 toms are confusion of head, giddiness, a sense of pressure 
 on the brain, great loss of muscular power, inability to stand, 
 nausea, and occasional vomiting, foaming at the mouth, and 
 tetanic convulsions. This latter symptom is, however, more 
 apt to be the result in fatal cases. The respiration is always 
 difficult and oppressed ; and several days may elapse before 
 the health is completely restored. 
 
 When applied externally to the skin, this poison has pro- 
 duced serious and even fatal consequences. M. Tardieu (Sur 
 1'Empoisonnement, p. 1034) relates the case of a photographer, 
 who, wishing to remove some stains of nitrate of silver from 
 his hands, rubbed them over with a piece of cyanide of po- 
 tassium, and inadvertently got a fragment under one of the 
 nails. He shortly experienced a sharp pain, which was fol- 
 lowed by extreme vertigo. In order to rid himself of the 
 offending substance, he unfortunately applied vinegar to his 
 hand, which had the effect of decomposing the cyanide and 
 liberating free prussic acid. The vertigo was greatly in- 
 creased, accompanied with rigors, pallor of the face, excessive 
 loss of muscular power, and inability to speak, but without loss 
 of consciousness. This condition lasted for nearly ten hours. 
 
 The same author mentions the case of a medical student, 
 who very nearly lost his life from incautiously breathing the 
 vapor of prussic acid which escaped from a vessel in which 
 he was preparing it. 
 
 Sir R. Christison reports the case of a man in whom the 
 liquid acid applied to a wound in the hand caused death in 
 an hour afterwards. 
 
 Fatal quantity. From numerous cases reported, we may 
 conclude that nine-tenths of a grain of anhydrous acid, 
 equivalent to about fifty minims of the usual medicinal acid 
 of the shops, is the smallest fatal dose for an adult. Mr. Hicks 
 reports a case of this kind (Med. Gaz., vol. xxxv. p. 896). 
 
 31
 
 478 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 The largest dose from which an adult recovered was prob- 
 ably in the case reported by Mr. Buruam (Lancet, Jan. 14, 
 1854), in which one drachm of Scheele's acid, equivalent to 
 2.4 grains of anhydrous acid, was swallowed by mistake. 
 The individual recovered, most probably because remedies 
 were immediately applied (inhalation of ammonia and the 
 cold affusion). 
 
 Sir R. Christisou has reported a case (Brit, and For. Med.- 
 Chir. Rev., April, 1854) in which a gentleman who had 
 taken a little less than two grains of the anhydrous acid was 
 with great difficulty recovered. Mr. Bishop relates an in- 
 stance (Lancet, Sept., 1845, p. 315) of a man who entirely 
 recovered after taking forty minims of a solution containing 
 one grain and a third of anhydrous acid. In both these 
 cases, as in the former one, the recovery was undoubtedly 
 owing to the prompt and vigorous measures adopted. 
 
 Treatment. Such is the rapidity with which prussic acid 
 produces its fatal effects, that there is scarcely any opportu- 
 nity for the employment of remedies. The cold ajf'usion, con- 
 sisting in the dashing of cold water over the face and chest 
 of the patient, has been found, on the whole, the most effi- 
 cient remedy. The cautious inhalation of ammonia and 
 chlorine vapors may also be employed, along with stimu- 
 lants internally and externally applied. As a chemical anti- 
 dote, it has been proposed to use a mixture of the protosul- 
 phate and sesquisulphate of iron, followed by a solution of 
 carbonate of potassa. Such a mixture would produce with 
 prussic acid, if present in the stomach, the insoluble and inert 
 Prussian blue. This experiment has been found successful in 
 animals. 
 
 Post-mortem appearances. The body is said to maintain its 
 rigidity longer than usual. Its putrefaction is neither has- 
 tened nor retarded. The face is either pallid or livid; the 
 eyes are often glistening and staring, with the pupils dilated; 
 the lips blue; jaws firmly set, with, at times, a bloody froth 
 about the mouth. The blood throughout the body is fluid, 
 and of a dark-blue color. The vessels of the brain are con- 
 gested. Tardieu (loc. cit., p. 1037) speaks of sanguine and 
 aero-sung uiue effusions at the base of the brain as an occa-
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. TESTS. 479 
 
 sional occurrence, and one that might lead to suspicion of 
 apoplexy, which, however, would be cleared up by the ab- 
 sence of hemiplegia, and by the rapidity of the death. 
 
 The lungs and liver are congested ; and the mucous mem- 
 brane of the stomach, especially about the cardiac extremity, 
 is described as being nearly always in a state of high con- 
 gestion. 
 
 The exhalation of the peculiar odor of the acid is one 
 of the most important post-mortem characters. This odor 
 is sometimes perceived even before the body is opened, 
 especially in recent cases, but is particularly noticeable on 
 opening the cavities of the abdomen and thorax, often when 
 the brain is opened, and more frequently in cutting into the 
 stomach. But, as the poison is extremely volatile, it may 
 happen that the odor will have completely disappeared in a 
 few hours, or days, after death, especially if the body has 
 been much exposed. Again, the odor may be disguised by 
 other more powerful smells, as of tobacco, mint, etc., or 
 concealed by the putrefactive odor. The mere absence of 
 the characteristic odor is, therefore, by no means a proof 
 of the non-existence of the poison. 
 
 In the case of the seven Parisian epileptics, who died in 
 periods varying from fifteen to forty-five minutes, no odor 
 of the poison was perceived in any part of the body twenty- 
 four hours after death, although the dose was a large one 
 over five grains of anhydrous acid (Braithwaite's Retro- 
 spect, xii. p. 125). On the other hand, in Mr. Hicks's case, 
 in which only nine-tenths of a grain of the acid were taken, 
 the odor of the poison was plainly perceived on opening the 
 chest, and was also strongly emitted from the contents of 
 the stomach, ninety hours after death. 
 
 Chemical analysis. There are four recognized tests for 
 prussic acid, which may be briefly designated as the silver, 
 iron, sulphur, and copper tests. The first three are charac- 
 teristic ; and they all may be applied to the acid either in its 
 form of liquid, or vapor. 
 
 1. The silver test. A solution of hydrocyanic acid, or of a 
 soluble cyanide, gives with a solution of nitrate of silver a 
 white, crystalline precipitate, distinguishable from the white
 
 480 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 chloride, as follows: (1) by its cr} T 8talline character (prisms 
 and needles): the chloride is amorphous; (*2) its sparing 
 solubility in ammonia: the chloride is readily soluble; (3) 
 the permanence of its color when exposed to light : the 
 chloride becomes dark-colored ; (4) its solubility in boiling, 
 strong nitric acid: the chloride is insoluble; (5) when per- 
 fectly dried and heated in a small reduction-tube, the cya- 
 nide is decomposed, giving off free cyanogen gas, which 
 burns with a characteristic roseate flame. One-hundredth 
 of a grain of the cyanide may thus be recognized. 
 
 A satisfactory method of identifying the cyanide of silver 
 is the one proposed by MM. Henry, Jr., and II. Hubert, and 
 recommended by Ortila and Tardieu. The supposed cya- 
 nide, after thorough washing and drying, is introduced into a 
 small glass tube close.d at one end, from five to seven inches 
 long, and containing at its closed extremity a rather less 
 quantity of pure iodine. On heating this end of the tube 
 very gently, beautiful snow-white crystals of iodide of cyano- 
 gen are deposited upon the cool portions of the tube. These 
 crystals may be preserved indefinitely in sealed tubes; and 
 they may be used for the production of Prussian blue, by 
 dissolving them in a solution of potash and adding a mixture 
 of the protosalt and persalt of iron. 
 
 The silver test is particularly delicate when applied to 
 prussic acid in the state of vapor. For this purpose, the 
 material containing the poison (such as the stomach, etc., cut 
 into pieces and diluted, if necessary, with distilled water) is 
 put into a wide-mouthed flask, and a watch-glass containing 
 a drop of nitrate of silver solution on its concave surface is 
 inverted over the open mouth of the flask, which may be 
 gently heated by immersion in warm water. The vapor of 
 the acid rises, and, coming in contact with the nitrate of 
 silver, forms an opaque, white spot the cyanide of silver 
 which can easily be recognized by the microscope and the 
 other tests mentioned above, besides being corroborated by 
 the sulphur and iron tests, as will be shown presently. If, 
 however, the material is in an advanced stage of putrefaction, 
 this vapor test cannot be applied, since the black sulphide of 
 silver, resulting from the sulphuretted hydrogen of decom-
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. TESTS. 481 
 
 position, would obscure the white cyanide, even if present. 
 The silver test, as thus employed, is the most delicate of 
 all the vapor tests. According to Wormley (Micro-Chem. 
 of Poisons, p. 179), one hundred-thousandth of a grain of 
 prussic acid can thus be recognized. For this delicate ma- 
 nipulation, a single drop of water containing one hundred- 
 thousandth of a grain of prussic acid is put into a watch-glass, 
 over which is placed another glass holding on its concave 
 surface a small drop of solution of nitrate of silver. On 
 warming the lower glass by the hand, the vapor of the 
 hydrocyanic acid will escape and act upon the silver solu- 
 tion, producing a whitish deposit, more evident at the mar- 
 gins of the drops. The crystals can be identified by the 
 microscope. Prof. Guy (Forensic Medicine, p. 575) mentions 
 that a single apple-pip, bruised and moistened with water, and 
 placed in a watch-glass, yielded twenty-two distinct reactions, 
 each spot exhibiting by the microscope crystals of cyanide 
 of silver. 
 
 2. The iron test. This consists in adding to the suspected 
 solution a little liquor potassse, and then a mixed solution of 
 the protosulphate and persulphate of iron : a dirty-greenish- 
 blue precipitate is thrown down, which, on the addition of a 
 few drops of pure hydrochloric acid, becomes the clear Prus- 
 sian blue. If the amount of the hydrochloric acid be very 
 small, the color of the solution, after adding the hydrochloric 
 acid, will be greenish blue, and a considerable time may 
 elapse before any really blue precipitate, takes place. This last 
 result, however, should always occur, if prussic acid has been 
 present, even though in minute quantity; and time should 
 be allowed for the precipitate to form, since this is perma- 
 nent, and (in a criminal case) can be exhibited to the court 
 and jury, as a characteristic evidence of the poison. 
 
 In the uncertainty arising from the presence of only a 
 minute quantity of the poison, it is recommended to throw 
 the disturbed liquid, after the addition of hydrochloric acid, 
 upon a small white filter-paper: the yellowish liquid portion 
 will thus be removed, and the blue deposit on the paper, after 
 being washed with water slightly acidulated, will become very 
 distinct upon the white ground of the paper. The latter,
 
 482 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 moreover, when dried, can be preserved and exhibited as 
 evidence at the trial. 
 
 In manipulating with minute portions of prussic acid with 
 the iron test, caution should be used in the proper adjustment 
 of the reagents. Too much potash will redissolve the pre- 
 cipitated Prussian blue, and an excess of iron solution may 
 likewise retain it in solution. 
 
 The iron test may also be used as a vapor test. Moisten 
 the watch-glass with a drop of liquor potassse, and, after ex- 
 posure to the suspected vapors, add a drop or two of the 
 mixed solution of protosulphate and persulphate of iron, 
 and develop the Prussian blue by a drop of dilute hydro- 
 chloric acid. 
 
 3. The sulphur test (Liebig's test). If sulphide of ammo- 
 nium be added to a solution of hydrocyanic acid, and gently 
 heated to dryness, a white sulphocyanide of ammonium is 
 formed: when this is touched with a drop of perchloride or 
 persulphate of iron, a beautiful blood-red sulphocyanide of 
 iron results, which is very characteristic and conclusive of 
 the presence of prussic acid, in the absence of meconic acid 
 and the soluble acetates. (The meconate and the acetate of 
 iron both possess a reddish color, but they can easily be 
 identified. See ante, p. 377.) 
 
 The sulphur test is very advantageously employed as a 
 vapor test, as follows. Moisten a watch-glass with a drop of 
 sulphide of ammonium, and invert it over the vessel contain- 
 ing the prussic acid ; on gently heating the vessel, the vapor 
 of the acid will rise, and form the snlphocyanide of ammo- 
 nium upon the watch-glass. When this is allowed to dry, by 
 evaporation, and a drop of the neutral persalt of iron is ap- 
 plied to it, the blood-red color is immediately developed. If 
 the evaporation be not complete, the application of the iron 
 salt may produce a black stain (sulphide of iron), which may 
 obscure the result. 
 
 The sulphur test may also be applied to confirm the silver 
 test. For this purpose, the spot of cyanide of silver on the 
 watch-glass should be moistened with a drop of sulphide of 
 ammonium, and, when thoroughly dried, touched with a drop 
 of the persalt of iron : the characteristic blood-red color may
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. TESTS. 483 
 
 be seen, in spite of the black' sulphide with which it is asso- 
 ciated. 
 
 4. The copper test. The liquid is first rendered slightly 
 alkaline by liquor potassse, and, on adding a dilute solution 
 of sulphate of copper, a greenish-white precipitate is thrown 
 down : on the addition of a little hydrochloric acid, the pre- 
 cipitate becomes nearly white. 
 
 This test may also be used in the form of vapor, the 
 watch-glass being moistened with the copper solution, made 
 slightly alkaline, and, after exposure, a drop of dilute hydro- 
 chloric acid being added. 
 
 As regards the relative delicacy of the tests described, ex- 
 periments show that for the liquid hydrocyanic acid the iron 
 and the sulphur tests both exceed the silver test; but for the 
 acid in the form of vapor, the silver test far surpasses all the 
 others. 
 
 A new test, and one of extreme delicacy, which is attributed 
 to Schoenbein, has lately been brought to notice. It is made 
 as follows. Dissolve forty-five grains of guaiacum in three 
 ounces of alcohol, and with this solution saturate a sheet of 
 thin, white filter-paper, which is then to be gently dried, and 
 cut into proper slips. Next dissolve fifteen grains of sulphate 
 of copper in an ounce and a half of distilled water. When 
 the test is to be applied, dip a slip of the test-paper into the 
 copper solution, and hold it over the vessel or substance 
 containing the hydrocyanic acid; very soon the paper assumes 
 a deep-blue color. The author of the test states that it will 
 detect one-millionth of a grain of the acid. (Brit, and For. 
 Med.-Chir. Rev., Oct., 1869.) 
 
 This is certainly a test of extraordinary delicacy, as we 
 have ourselves verified by actual experiment. A single 
 drop of ordinary medicinal prussic acid (two per cent.), when 
 diluted in an ounce of water, will readily produce the blue 
 color upon the test-paper. This is about equivalent to one 
 part of anhydrous acid diluted with nearly twenty-nine thou- 
 sand parts of water. Unfortunately, this test is not charac- 
 teristic of prussic acid, since the same blue color is brought 
 out by the presence of ozone in different forms. Besides, in 
 experimenting in cases where the hydrocyanic acid was sup-
 
 484 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 \ 
 
 posed to be present in exceedingly minute quantity, and the 
 vessel believed to contain it was warmed, we have found that 
 the mere drying of the test-paper will cause it to assume a 
 blue color even in the absence of the poison. 
 
 Process by distillation. This process is usually resorted to 
 for the purpose of separating prussic acid from organic mix- 
 tures, as the stomach, blood, articles of food, etc. The mix- 
 ture should first be carefully examined for its odor, and then 
 tested for the presence of free prussic acid. If not found to 
 be distinctly alkaline, it should be distilled without the addi- 
 tion of any sulphuric acid. It is very important in a toxico- 
 logical investigation to remember this latter point. Sup- 
 posing no free hydrocyanic acid to be present in the contents 
 of a stomach, and these to be subjected to distillation along 
 with sulphuric acid, it might readily happen that the sulpho- 
 cyauide of potassium that exists in the saliva as a normal con- 
 stituent (and which, of course, would get into the stomach), 
 as well as any ferrocyanide and ferricyauide of potassium 
 which might accidentally be present, would undergo decom- 
 position in the act of distillation, and traces of the developed 
 prussic acid would be discovered by the usual tests. We 
 therefore consider it an error, in a medico-legal case, to em- 
 ploy any acid along with the suspected materials in the pro- 
 cess of distillation, since by so doing the chemist inevitably 
 puts it out of his power to determine whether the traces 
 of prussic acid which he discovers are due to the poison 
 originally existing in the free state, or merely to the prussic 
 acid which he has actually manufactured by the process used. 
 Of course, if cyanide of potassium had been the poison em- 
 ployed, the contents of the stomach would have an alkaline 
 reaction ; in which case the addition of sulphuric or some 
 other acid would be perfectly proper. 
 
 In employing the distilling process, the materials should, 
 if solid, be cut into small fragments, and a sufficient quan- 
 tity of distilled water added ; they should then be intro- 
 duced into a proper-sized glass retort, connected with a 
 good condensing arrangement. The retort should not be 
 heated beyond 200 F. About one-fourth of the contents 
 should be allowed to distill once : these should be subjected
 
 POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC ACID. DISTILLATION. 485 
 
 to the different tests already mentioned. They frequently 
 reveal the characteristic odor. 
 
 In the celebrated case of Dr. Paul Schoeppe, at Carlisle, 
 Pa., in 1868 and 1872, where the allegation first was, that 
 the deceased had been poisoned with prussic acid, and subse- 
 quently that it was by a mixture of prussic acid and morphia, 
 the defense very properly took the ground that the " faint 
 traces" of prussic acid alleged to have been discovered by 
 the analyst were really produced or manufactured by the 
 process which was employed for its detection, viz., distillation 
 with sulphuric acid ; and for the reason mentioned above 
 the decomposition of the sulphocyanide of the saliva by 
 the acid. This view seemed, moreover, to receive con- 
 firmation from the fact that the traces described by the analyst 
 must have been exceedingly faint, inasmuch as the iron test 
 merely revealed what was described to be a bluish discolora- 
 tion, which did not become a definite precipitate : the actual pre- 
 cipitate is always essential for proof. The sulphur test (the 
 only other one employed) jdelded a rather equivocal reddish 
 coloration. Moreover, there was an entire absence of any 
 characteristic symptom of the alleged poison, before death 
 (see ante, p. 93). 
 
 One of the latest American authorities, speaking of this 
 acid, says: "It may certainly become a question of serious 
 import whether the traces of it found afterwards may not be 
 due to some other cause than its ingestion into the stomach. 
 Thus, if the contents of the stomach be subjected to distilla- 
 tion with an acid, it may possibly happen that the sulpho- 
 cyanide of potassium, which sometimes exists in minute 
 traces in the saliva, may be decomposed, and evidences of 
 prussic acid be thus obtained." (Wharton and Stille's 
 Med. Jurisp., 1873, ii. p. 516.) 
 
 The source of the poison found in the distillate, when an 
 acid has been employed, may be determined by treating 
 a portion of the reserved liquid with a few drops of hydro- 
 chloric acid, stirring the mixture for a short time, and then 
 adding a solution of the perchloride of iron. If the liquid 
 treated contains either a ferrocyanide or a sulphocyanide, 
 the former will be indicated by the formation of Prussian
 
 486 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 blue, and the latter by the production of the red sulpho- 
 cyanide of iron ; whereas a simple cyanide (cyanide of potas- 
 sium) will not give any reaction under the circumstances. 
 As commercial cyanide of potassium may be contaminated 
 with the ferrocyanide, traces of the latter may be present in 
 poisoning by the former. 
 
 As regards the question whether prussic acid may be 
 spontaneously generated by the distillation of putrescent ani- 
 mal matters, Orfila appears to have inclined to this belief, 
 and has recorded some experiments that seem to countenance 
 it (Toxicologie, ii. p. 465). Later authorities, however, 
 discredit it. Still, we are of the opinion that in an im- 
 portant medico-legal case, involving the life of the accused, 
 something more should be insisted upon as proof than the 
 finding of mere traces of prussic acid, since these might pos- 
 sibly be the result of some spontaneous animal decompo- 
 sition, brought about under conditions not yet perfectly 
 understood. Especially should this be insisted upon where 
 the symptoms preceding death did not agree with those 
 characteristic of the alleged poison. 
 
 Period after death when the poison may be found. On account 
 of its great volatility and its ready decomposition, all traces 
 of prussic acid may disappear very shortly after death. Prof. 
 Casper mentions a case in which it could not be discovered 
 twenty-six hours after death. On the other hand, Dr. Taylor 
 alludes to two cases in which the poison was identified re- 
 spectively in twelve and seventeen days after death. 
 
 Mr. West was able to detect it on distillation by the odor 
 and by the silver and iron tests twenty-three days after death, 
 although no pains had been taken to insure its preservation 
 (Prov. Med. Jour., July 23, 1845); and M. Brame was equally 
 successful, after the lapse of a similar period, in the case of 
 a young man of Tours, who had poisoned himself with a 
 very large dose of prussic acid (Comptes-Rendus, No. 20, 
 Nov. 13, 1854). In a German case it was also detected three 
 weeks after death (Brit, and For. Med.-Chir. Rev., April, 
 1860). 
 
 The mere fact of putrefaction is no obstacle to its detection; 
 but when the viscera containing the poison have undergone
 
 POISONING BY OIL OF BITTER ALMONDS. 487 
 
 putrefaction, no traces of it may be discoverable either by 
 its vapor or by distillation. In this case it may have been 
 converted into sulphocyanide of ammonium by the sulphide 
 of ammonium resulting from the putrefaction. The sulpho- 
 cyanide should be dissolved out of the dried viscera or liquids 
 by alcohol, and the solution evaporated to dry ness; the residue 
 is then dissolved in water, and tested by a persalt of iron. 
 
 Quantitative analysis. The free hydrocyanic acid is precipi- 
 tated by nitrate of silver, as a cyanide ; this, when washed 
 and dried, is weighed: every 100 parts correspond to 20.15 
 parts of anhydrous acid. 
 
 CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM. This substance is now extensively 
 used in the arts, especially in the processes of photography 
 and electrotyping. It is exceedingly poisonous, causing death 
 in doses under five grains. 
 
 It is a white, crystalline, deliquescent salt, very soluble in 
 water; its solution, when pure, is colorless; giving off the 
 strong odor of prussic acid; it has an alkaline reaction. It 
 is not very soluble in alcohol. The symptoms, post-mortem ap- 
 pearances, and treatment are similar to those of prussic acid. 
 
 Chemical analysis. 1. It is decomposed by all acids, setting 
 prussic acid free, which may be identified by the usual tests. 
 2. It gives, with a solution of nitrate of silver, the white 
 cyanide. 3. The potash is precipitated by tartaric acid and 
 bichloride of platinum. 4. The iron and copper tests, as 
 applied to prussic acid, act similarly here, only the addition 
 of liquor potassje is not needed. 
 
 In organic mixtures, the prussic acid may be obtained by 
 neutralizing the alkali with sulphuric acid, and distilling it 
 at a low temperature. 
 
 OIL OF BITTER ALMONDS. This is procured by the distil- 
 lation of the pulp or emulsion of bitter almonds. It con- 
 tains a variable proportion amounting to from eight to 
 fourteen per cent. of anhydrous prussic acid, together with 
 hydride of benzule, benzoin, and benzoic acid. 
 
 Its poisonous properties are due to the prussic acid. When 
 entirely freed from the latter, the oil is stated to be harmless. 
 
 Properties. Ordinary oil of bitter almonds has a light-
 
 488 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 yellow color, a peculiar, pungent odor, due to the prussic acid, 
 and a bitter, pungent, and aromatic taste. It is heavier than 
 water, which only partially dissolves it; it is soluble in alco- 
 hol and ether; it has a slight acid reaction. A liquid sold 
 as almond flavor, or essence of peach-kernels, consists of this oil 
 dissolved in seven or eight parts of spirit : it is too dangerous 
 a substance for domestic use. 
 
 Oil of bitter almonds is a violent poison, producing the 
 same eft'ects as prussic acid. The symptoms, post-mortem ap- 
 pearances, and mode of treatment are the same as those already 
 described under the head of prussic acid. 
 
 The fatal dose is about twenty drops. 
 
 Cherry-laurel-watcr, obtained by distilling the leaves of the 
 cherry-laurel (Primus lauro-cerasus), contains also a portion 
 of an essential oil similar to the oil of bitter almonds. It 
 owes its poisonous properties to the hydrocyanic acid it con- 
 tains. Cherry-laurel-water has more than once proved fatal ; 
 but it has been specially identified with the celebrated case of 
 Sir Theodosius Boughton, who was poisoned by his brother- 
 in-law, Captain Douallan, in 1781. 
 
 The kernels of the apricot, peach, and cherry have all proved 
 poisonous in some instances fatally so when swallowed 
 by children. Dr. Keating has reported (Trans, of Phi la. 
 Coll. of Physicians, vol. iii. No. 3) an interesting case, in 
 which he succeeded, by the affusion of cold water, in restoring 
 a child three years of age, who had eaten a quantity of peach- 
 kernels. The child was seized suddenly, and, when seen, was 
 insensible, with slow, deep, sobbing respiration, no convul- 
 sions of the limbs, but slight twitching of the mouth, cold 
 extremities, finger-nails livid, hands tightly clinched, eyes 
 prominent, and pupils dilated. A strong odor of prussic 
 acid was perceived about the mouth. An emetic brought up 
 a quantity of peach-kernels, emitting the characteristic odor. 
 
 The case is supposable in which death is alleged to have 
 resulted from prussic acid, and where the chemical analysis has 
 revealed traces of this poison, that these should be ascribed, 
 by the defense, to kernels of the peach or apricot, or even to 
 apple-pips, found in the stomach of the deceased. An instance 
 of the latter is mentioned by Taylor (Oil Poisons, p. 602). Any
 
 POISONING BY NITKO-BENZOLE. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 489 
 
 doubts in the matter would be cleared up by finding a larger 
 quantity of hydrocyanic acid than could be satisfactorily ac- 
 counted for from the above substances. Moreover, death 
 could hardly result from the ingestion of these, without 
 their subsequent discovery in such large quantities as would 
 entirely preclude the idea of the administration of prussic 
 acid in substance. 
 
 NlTRO-BENZOLE, OR ESSENCE OF MlRBANE. This Substance 
 
 is a product of the action of nitrous acid on benzole. It is 
 a pale, lemon-colored liquid, with a strong odor resembling 
 that of bitter almonds. It has of late years been introduced 
 into use in perfumery and confectionery as a cheap substi- 
 tute for the oil of bitter almonds. It is a powerful narcotic 
 poison, resembling in its general effects those of the oil of 
 bitter almonds or prussic acid, although much slower in its 
 operation than the two latter. After the first characteristic 
 symptoms have continued for about four hours, the patient 
 falls suddenly into a coma as in an apoplexy, which usually 
 proves fatal in about five hours. 
 
 In a fatal case described by Dr. A. Taylor (Med. Jurisp., 
 p. 310), the appearances after death were flushed face, livid 
 lips ; the superficial vessels of the body, especially about the 
 throat and arms, were gorged with black and fluid blood; 
 the lungs were somewhat congested. The cavities of the 
 heart were full of blood ; the liver was of a purple color, and 
 the gall-bladder distended with bile ; the brain and its mem- 
 branes were congested, with much bloody serosity in the 
 ventricles. Nitro-benzole, as well as aniline, into which it 
 appears to be partially converted in the body, was detected 
 in the brain and in the stomach. 
 
 This poison operates more powerfully in the form of 
 vapor, than as a liquid : a number of fatal cases resulting 
 from the inhalation of the fumes have been recorded. The 
 rapidly-fatal cases might possibly be mistaken for apoplexy ; 
 but the poison would be identified by its powerful odor. 
 
 Chemical analysis. It is distinguished from all other liquids, 
 except oil of bitter almonds, by its odor; and from this oil 
 by the following test. Pour a few drops of each upon a 
 plate, and add a drop of strong sulphuric acid : the oil of
 
 490 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 bitter almonds acquires a rich crimson color with a yellow 
 border, while the nitro-benzole produces no color. It gives 
 none of the reactions of prussic acid with the ordinary tests 
 of this acid. 
 
 When associated with organic liquids, it may be separated 
 by first adding sulphuric acid, and then distilling. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 POISONING BY DIGITALIS (FOXGLOVE). DIGITALINK. 
 
 The purple foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is indigenous 
 to Europe, and is cultivated as an ornamental plant in our 
 gardens. All parts contain the poisonous principle digitaline, 
 which, however, abounds most in the leaves of the second 
 year's growth. According to most authorities, the fresh 
 leaves contain less than one per cent, of the active princi- 
 ple; while Ch. Blaquart asserts that ten to twelve per cent, 
 of crystallizable digitaline can be extracted from the crude 
 drug (L 5 Union Pharmaceutique, Nov., 1872). 
 
 Symptoms and effects. Cases of poisoning by digitalis are 
 comparatively rare. Most of our knowledge of its toxic 
 effects is derived from experiments on animals. Its chief 
 and important impression is made directly upon the circula- 
 tion : under its influence, the pulsations of the heart are 
 diminished in- frequency, but increased in power. Hence it 
 is now generally regarded as a direct heart-stimulant. The 
 poisonous symptoms, in man, are vomiting, purging, and 
 severe abdominal pains ; a sense of heat in the head, vertigo, 
 and disordered vision; dilated pupils; the pulse may be full 
 and slow in the horizontal position, but becomes feeble and 
 rapid on the patient's sitting up. Prostration then comes on, 
 with tendency to syncope; the pulse becomes feeble, small, 
 and irregular, although the heart-beat may be strong and 
 hard. The eyes are very prominent; the pupils fixed and 
 dilated; the sclerotic, according to Tardieu, acquires a pecu- 
 liar blue color, which he regards as an almost characteristic 
 sign. Sometimes there is abundant salivation; the urine is 
 generally suppressed. Towards the close there are usually 
 delirium and stupor; and convulsions are very apt to precede
 
 POISONING BY DIGITALIS. DIGITALINE. 491 
 
 death, which does not, as a rule, occur within twenty-four 
 hours, and is sometimes postponed for several days. Tardieu 
 mentions a case communicated by M. Earth to the Societe 
 Anatomique, 1849, of an anasarcous woman, who swallowed 
 twenty-five grammes of tincture of digitalis that had been 
 prescribed for external use. Death occurred in three-quarters 
 of an hour; the only symptoms being copious vomiting, a 
 general malaise, and a very severe abdominal pain (loc. cit., 
 p. 636). In cases of recovery, the patient is not fully re- 
 stored to health for a considerable time, sometimes for 
 weeks. 
 
 The differential symptom of poisoning by digitalis is the 
 irregular, intermittent, enfeebled pulse, which varies so re- 
 markably between the supine and the erect posture: this, 
 conjoined with the sense of heat and pain in the head, the 
 violent vomiting and abdominal pains, the profound debility, 
 and the troubled vision, will usually be sufficient to indicate 
 the cause. Another very characteristic effect of digitalis is 
 its cumulative power its tendency suddenl}' to break out with 
 extreme violence, after a continued apparent inertness. 
 
 The post-mortem appearances are turgescence of the vessels 
 of the brain and redness of the lining membrane of the 
 stomach. 
 
 The minimum fatal dose of either digitalis or its active 
 principle is not known. A drachm of the powder has been 
 taken without producing death ; although most violent vomit- 
 ing resulted. The tincture has been given in as large quan- 
 tity as half a fluidounce without any serious result, although 
 in medical practice the ordinary dose is from ten to thirty 
 drops. Of digitaline, it is probable that one-fourth to one- 
 half a grain might prove fatal. Ortila states that from one 
 to two grains killed dogs in a few hours, unless speedily 
 thrown off by vomiting. 
 
 DIGITALINE. As this active principle possesses neither acid 
 nor alkaline properties, it is classed among the neutral bodies. 
 As usually met with, it is an amorphous powder, of a pale- 
 yellowish color. It has, however, lately been obtained in the 
 form of fine, white, needle-shaped crystals, by M. Nativelle 
 (Pharm. Jour., 1872, April 27, p. 865). This crystalline sub-
 
 492 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 stance is now generally admitted to possess about equal 
 strength with the amorphous variety ; but it is difficult to 
 reconcile this with their alleged respective percentage in the 
 crude drug. Thus, according to Taylor, Guy, and Pereira, 
 the proportion of digitaline (amorphous) is only one per cent., 
 while, according to Blaquart (as already noticed), that of the 
 crystallizable variety is ten to twelve per cent. 
 
 There would seem to be a true physiological antagonism 
 between digitaline and aconitia. According to Boehm 
 (Ptiiiger's Archiv, Feb., 1872), in digitalis-poisoning of the 
 frog, even when the heart has ceased to contract, its move- 
 ments are restored by aconitia, muscaria, and delphinia; and 
 Dobie reports a case (Brit. Med. Jour., Dec., 1872) of re- 
 covery after the ingestion of an ounce of Fleming's tincture 
 of aconite, apparently due to the hypodermic injection of 
 twenty minims of tincture of digitalis, and the exhibition 
 by the mouth of three doses, within an hour, of a drachm 
 (each) of the tincture, brandy, and ammonia (H. 0. Wood's 
 Therapeutics, p. 125). As yet, no case of digitalis-poisoning 
 in man has been recorded where any of the above-named 
 substances have been employed antidotally." It must be 
 remembered that whilst there might exist a physiological 
 antagonism, so far as their operation upon the heart is con- 
 cerned, this might not extend to their influence upon the 
 cerebro-spinal axis. 
 
 Chemical reactions. As already stated, digitaline occurs 
 under two forms the amorphous and the crystalline. It has 
 an intensely bitter taste. It is sparingly soluble in hot and in 
 cold water; very soluble in alcohol, both cold and hot; al- 
 most insoluble in pure ether, but easily dissolved if the ether 
 contains a little alcohol. Chloroform is one of its best sol- 
 vents, and, according to MM. Homolle and Quevenne, is the 
 one best adapted for its separation. Its aqueous or alcoholic 
 solution gives no reaction with litmus or turmeric-paper, indi- 
 cating its neutral character. The alkalies, even when diluted, 
 gradually destroy its bitter taste. Cold, concentrated sulphuric 
 acid imparts to it, at first, a brownish-black color, which 
 gradually passes into a red. If it be warmed, the color 
 rapidly becomes brown. If to the cold, brown sulphuric acid
 
 POISONING BY DIGITALINE. ORGANIC MIXTURES. 493 
 
 solution two or three times its volume of distilled water be 
 added, it assumes a green color, arid deposits a green powder, 
 and the liquid gradually assumes a yellowish tint (Tardieu). 
 Acetic acid dissolves it without color; strong nitric acid acts 
 upon it energetically, with the escape of orange-colored 
 fumes, imparting to it an orange-yellow color, which becomes 
 a pale yellow on standing. Hydrochloric acid imparts to it 
 a light-greenish tint. According to Tardieu, if the digitaline 
 is perfectly pure, it is not colored at all by this acid. 
 
 M. Grandeau states that if sulphuric acid be applied to 
 a small deposit of digitaline, obtained by evaporation of a 
 solution, it assumes a rose-color, which, on exposure to the 
 vapor of bromine, becomes a violet; but M. Tardieu denies 
 that this is at all characteristic, since he found that numerous 
 substances, including many of the animal secretions, when 
 thus treated with sulphuric acid and bromine vapor, will yield 
 a violet color, transient, but well marked (loc. cit., p. 655). Its 
 solution is precipitated by tannic acid, but not by bichloride 
 of mercury, nor by chloriodide of potassium and mercury, 
 both of which act upon the true alkaloids. It is not affected 
 by iodic acid. 
 
 Detection in organic, mixtures, or in the contents of the stomach. 
 As before remarked, poisoning by digitalis is compara- 
 tively rare : the cases heretofore reported have been chiefly 
 the result of accident, and the majority of them have not 
 proved fatal. At least one instance is on record where death 
 resulted from digitaline administered hornicidally the cele- 
 brated case of De la Pommerais, which occurred in France in 
 1863. All that need be said under the present head may be 
 included under the search for this poison in the dead body. 
 
 In a' suspected case, the first duty of the toxicologist will 
 be to institute a very careful examination of the interior of 
 the stomach and intestines for any fragments or powder 
 of the leaves, in case the poison has been swallowed in this 
 form ; if it has been taken in the form of tincture, the in- 
 terior of the stomach may present a greenish color, and may 
 even emit a peculiar odor, which will be suggestive. If 
 digitaline has been taken, as this is generally found in the 
 form of granules, a close inspection of the digestive canal 
 
 32
 
 494 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 may reveal some little remnants of the latter not thoroughly 
 dissolved. The vomited matters especially demand attention 
 on this account (vide ante, p. 99). After these preliminary 
 investigations, the organs, cut into small pieces, are put into 
 a large glass flask containing pure alcohol at 95. This 
 is gently heated on a water-bath, and frequently stirred, to 
 favor the solution. After digesting twenty-four hours, the 
 contents of the flask are strained, and filtered through paper, 
 the solids being repeatedly washed with strong alcohol. All 
 the washings being united to the filtrate, it is again filtered, 
 and concentrated by evaporation to the consistence of a soft 
 extract : this may be used for experiments on animals. An- 
 other solution of this extract in strong alcohol, followed by 
 filtration and a new evaporation, will eliminate an additional 
 quantity of foreign matter, and the resulting purified extract 
 may also be employed for physiological experimentation. It 
 is not recommended to precipitate the solution of the ulti- 
 mate extract by tannic acid, as it has been shown by Tardieu 
 and Roussin that the matter thus thrown down does not 
 represent the active principle in such cases. 
 
 The above authorities also distinctly assert the impossi- 
 bility of determining the presence of digitaline, in a medico- 
 legal case, either by the post-mortem signs or by the chemical 
 analysis. They deem it essential in every such case to resort 
 to the physiological test; and this step seems to be justified, 
 first, by the circumstance of the inability to identify the 
 poison with any degree of certainty by a chemical analysis, 
 and secondly, by the fact that it produces a perfectly-recog- 
 nized impression upon a particular organ, the heart. 
 
 As the result of numerous experiments with this agent 
 upon animals, by various persons, it seems well established, 
 on the one hand, that death takes place from a sudden ces- 
 sation of the heart's action, and on the other, that the ven- 
 tricles undergo a most decided and rapid rigidity at the 
 moment of death. In dogs, this occurs almost immediately 
 after the last ventricular systole (Tardieu) ; and in frogs, 
 according to Pelican, the ventricle comes to a stop always in 
 the state of strong contraction. If, then, there be introduced 
 under the skin of the thigh or abdomen of a frog a portion
 
 POISONING BY DIGITALINE. CASE OF DE LA POMMERAIS. 495 
 
 of the ultimate extract obtained from the vomit or from the 
 organs of a person poisoned by digitaline, it will be found 
 that the heart-beats lose their regularity, and, after six min- 
 utes, fall to sixteen pulsations; after twenty minutes, to one- 
 half this figure ; and after twenty-five minutes, to one-third ; 
 in half an hour they cease completely. Such, moreover, is 
 the irregularity of the heart's action, that, notwithstanding 
 the remaining strength of its pulsations, this organ never 
 completely empties itself of blood ; and when finally it ceases 
 to beat, the ventricle is contracted, and the auricle dilated. 
 
 In experimenting with the suspected material upon either 
 dogs or frogs, it will always be proper to institute a rigid 
 comparison between the results thus obtained and those pro- 
 cured from similar experiments made with digitaline itself 
 upon similar animals. 
 
 Tardieu reports a number of cases of poisoning by digita- 
 line taken accidentally and suicidally, the majority of them 
 not fatal. He also gives the medico-legal report of the cele- 
 brated case of Couty de la Pommerais, a homoeopathic practi- 
 tioner of France, who was tried and convicted for poisoning a 
 woman named Pauw, with digitaline, in the year 1864. The 
 circumstances connected with this unique case are of such a 
 character as to justify our giving a short abstract in this place. 
 The prisoner had renewed his intimacy with this woman, 
 who was forty years of age, after a long absence, and had 
 induced her to insure her life in various insurance-offices 
 for a very large sum of money, quite disproportionate to her 
 circumstances. Very soon after this, being previously in 
 good health, she was suddenly seized with violent vomiting, 
 and died after an illness of twenty-four hours. Immediately 
 after her death, he put in a claim for the insurance-money. 
 Suspicion was aroused, and the body was disinterred and 
 examined thirteen days after death. The examiners, MM. 
 Tardieu and Roussin, found all the organs perfectly healthy: 
 they revealed no natural cause of death. A chemical an- 
 alysis of the alimentary canal revealed no poison. The 
 symptoms during life, so far as they were imperfectly recol- 
 lected, were excessive vomiting, with great depression of the 
 heart's action, and exhaustion. Failing to detect any poison
 
 496 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 by the chemical research, they resorted to the physiological 
 test, the administration of the extract, obtained from the 
 stomach and bowels, to small animals, the effects of which 
 were the exciting of repeated vomitings and a very notable 
 diminution of the number of heart-beats: the action of the 
 heart was irregular and intermittent, and the respiration was 
 deep and painful. 
 
 Another experiment was made with an extract obtained 
 from the scrapings of the floor upon which the deceased woman 
 had vomited: it was introduced into the thigh of a dog, and 
 the animal, after suffering from vomiting and depression of 
 the heart's action, died in twenty-two hours, without coma 
 or insensibility, i Thirty-one grains of the same extract ad- 
 ministered to a rabbit proved fatal in less than three hours. 
 This extract possessed all the chemical properties of digita- 
 line : thus, it had a bitter taste, and a disagreeable odor; its 
 solution precipitated tannic acid, and responded to the acid 
 and other tests (vide p. 492). The suspicious circumstances 
 connected with the prisoner were of a very damaging charac- 
 ter. It was shown that he had in his possession a large num- 
 ber of deadly poisons, among them digitaline ; that he had 
 at different times purchased this poison, to the amount of 
 fifty-two grains, of which much had been used; and that 
 this was altogether inconsistent with his requirements as a 
 homoeopathic practitioner. In short, he had the motive, the 
 opportunity, and the means for accomplishing this purpose. 
 The prisoner was condemned and executed. (See Tardieu 
 and Roussin's treatise, p. 694, for full details of this inter- 
 esting case.) 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 POISONING BY COCCULUS INDICUS. 
 
 The Cocculus Indicus (Levant nut) is the fruit of the Ana- 
 mirta cocculus, a tree growing in the East Indies. The kernel 
 of the berry is the only poisonous part : it has an intensely 
 bitter taste, and contains a highly poisonous principle, called 
 picrotoxine. Cocculus Indicus is employed chiefly as a fish- 
 poison, and also, in Great Britain, for the malicious destruc-
 
 POISONING BY COCCULUS INDICUS. SYMPTOMS. 497 
 
 tion of game. It is also popularly believed to be extensively 
 used for adulterating malt liquors, by imparting to them 
 increased intoxicating properties with a diminished amount 
 of hops and malt. 
 
 The symptoms produced by this drug are somewhat remark- 
 able, and clearly indicate its action on the cerebro-spinal 
 centres. Along with gastric irritation, there is a singular 
 sort of narcotism, which is described by Dr. Taylor as " a 
 strong disposition to sleep, and, at the same time, wakeful- 
 ness. There is a heavy, lethargic stupor, with a conscious- 
 ness of passing events, but a complete loss of voluntary 
 power. It is a kind of nightmare feeling; altogether dif- 
 ferent from healthy sleep." (Prin. and Prac. of Med. Jurisp., 
 1873, p. 395.) 
 
 Only a few authenticated cases have been reported of 
 poisoning with this substance, on man. One of these was 
 a boy aged twelve years, who swallowed a composition for 
 poisoning fish, containing Cocculus Indicus. It caused a 
 burning pain in the gullet and stomach, not relieved by fre- 
 quent vomiting. There was much febrile excitement, fol- 
 lowed by delirium and purging, under which the patient sank 
 on the nineteenth day. On inspection, the pia mater was 
 congested with dark-colored liquid blood; there was serous 
 effusion into the ventricles of the brain ; the right lung was 
 congested ; and the abdomen presented all the marks of an 
 advanced peritonitis. The coats of the stomach were dis- 
 colored, and were softer and thinner than natural. (Canstatt, 
 Jahresbericht, 1844-5, p. 298.) 
 
 The late Dr. Fish, of Philadelphia, has reported several 
 cases of accidental poisoning by this substance, witnessed 
 by himself while resident physician in the Philadelphia 
 Hospital, Blockley. A strong decoction of the berries is 
 used in that institution for the destruction of vermin upon 
 the paupers. The vessel containing it was unfortunately 
 placed near some tonic infusions in use by several patients. 
 Through the ignorance of the nurse, a wineglassful of this 
 decoction was given to each of three persons, and two table- 
 spoonfuls to three others, in mistake for their usual medi- 
 cine. Two of those who took the largest quantity were
 
 498 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 seized with convulsions about twenty minutes after taking 
 the poison, and died in about half an hour. The contraction 
 of the muscles was still apparent over twelve hours after 
 death. The remaining four, who were seized within a few 
 moments of each other, and within half an hour after swal- 
 lowing the poison, exhibited faintness, mental confusion, 
 giddiness, dimness of vision, nausea, excessive thirst, severe 
 pain in the abdomen, and, in one case, insensibility. The 
 pulse was much weakened, and the respiration was slow and 
 labored. These all recovered under the use of emetics, and 
 afterwards of mucilaginous drinks and stimulants; but they 
 suffered greatly from headache during the rest of the day. 
 (Wharton and Stille, Med. Jurisp., 1873, ii. p. 596.) No post- 
 mortem examination is stated to have been made in the 
 abo^e fatal cases. 
 
 The external application of this substance has been fol- 
 lowed by violent and even fatal effects. Dr. W. B. Thomp- 
 son, senior house-surgeon in the Emigrants' Hospital, New 
 York, relates two instances of this character. A child aged 
 six years, whose head, after the removal of the hair, had 
 been washed with an alcoholic tincture of Cocculus Indicus, 
 was seized, in less than half an hour after the application, 
 with tetanic spasms. The pupils, during the convulsions, 
 were extremely contracted, but in the interval between the 
 spasms they were widely dilated. The child, although en- 
 ergetically treated, died in a few hours. On post-mortem 
 examination, no changes of any kind were observed. A 
 younger sister of the deceased, who had been subjected to 
 the same process, was also attacked in a similar manner. 
 Under the use of counter-irritation by mustard, and inges- 
 tions of the tincture of assafetida, she recovered, the con- 
 vulsions gradually subsiding. The next day a scarlatinous 
 eruption appeared upon the body and arms, which graduall)" 
 faded during the day. (Phila. Med. Examiner, April, 1852.) 
 
 PICROTOXIXE (Picrotoxia). The active principle of Coc- 
 culus Indicus is generally considered to be an alkaloid, 
 although in some of its reactions it differs from that class of 
 bodies. It exists in the kernel of the berry in about the 
 proportion of one per cent. It crystallizes in colorless, slender,
 
 POISONING BY COCCULUS INDICUS. TESTS. 499 
 
 \ 
 
 six-sided prisms, having a silky gloss. It is sparingly solu- 
 ble in cold water; more soluble in boiling water. It is very 
 soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, and in amylic alcohol. 
 Heated in a tube, it evolves an acid vapor like digitaline. 
 Cold sulphuric acid does not affect it; but when warmed, it 
 imparts to it an orange-yellow color, which becomes pale 
 yellow by dilution, and brown if heated. 
 
 On the addition of bichromate of potassa, the green oxide 
 of chromium is developed. Strong hydrochloric and nitric 
 acids dissolve it without change of color. Neither tannic 
 acid nor chloriodide of potassium and mercury precipitates it 
 from its solutions. When boiled with a solution of potassa 
 and the sulphate of copper, it precipitates the red oxide of 
 copper, like grape-sugar. It is said to belong to the gluco- 
 sides, like salicine (Taylor, loc. tit., p. 396). 
 
 Unlike the alkaloids generally, it does not appear to com- 
 bine with acids to form salts, but unites readily with bases: 
 hence a weak solution of potash will dissolve it without diffi- 
 culty. It may therefore be easily separated from the alkaloids 
 by strongly acidulating the mixture and shaking it up with 
 ether, which readily takes up the picrotoxine, and leaves the 
 alkaloidal salts. From organic liquids, such as beer and 
 porter, picrotoxine may be readily obtained by first acidu- 
 lating with hydrochloric acid, and then shaking with ether, 
 which holds the poison in solution and deposits it in crys- 
 tals. This method has been successfully practiced by Mr. 
 Langley (Pharm. Jour., Dec., 1862, p. 277). He was enabled 
 to detect so small a quantity as one seven-hundred-and-tif- 
 tieth of a grain of picrotoxine in a pint of ale. He likewise 
 separated it, by the same process, from the stomach of a cat 
 that had been killed by this poison. 
 
 A curious case of attempted criminal poisoning by the 
 unbroken berry of the Cocculus Indicus occurred in Eng- 
 land (Reg. v. Clauderay) in 1849. Two berries had been 
 given to an infant: one of these was vomited, and the other 
 passed through the bowels unbroken; no bad effects fol- 
 lowed. The accused was tried for poisoning, but urged in 
 his defense that the unbroken pod did not come within the 
 statute, not being properly " a poison or other destructive
 
 500 MANUAL OF TOXICOLOGY. 
 
 thing." The objection was overruled, and a verdict of guilty 
 was rendered. On appeal, the judgment was sustained, and 
 the prisoner was condemned. Here, the intention of the 
 accused had undoubtedly great weight with the court. 
 
 There are several other vegetable poisons of minor im- 
 portance : among them may be mentioned the bark and 
 seeds of the Laburnum (Cytisus Laburnum), a very common 
 tree or shrub of Great Britain. It contains an active poison- 
 ous principle, cytisine. Its effects are those of a narcotico- 
 irritant. Both the bark and the seeds have produced fatal 
 effects. 
 
 The leaves and berries of the Yew (Taxus baccata) act power- 
 fully as an acrid, irritant narcotic, even in small quantities. 
 Its active principle has not yet been isolated. Under the 
 same head may be mentioned the berries of the Privet (Ligus- 
 trum vulgare)', those of the Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)', 
 and those of the Solly (Ilex aquifolium).
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Absorption, action of poisons through. 
 22. 
 
 circumstances influencing, 23. 
 
 effect of, in removing poisons be- 
 yond the reach of analysis, 71. 
 
 extreme rapidity of, 26. 
 Acetate of lead, 311. 
 
 of morphia, 373. 
 Acetic acid, 174. 
 Aceto-arsenite of copper, 292. 
 Acid, acetic, 174. 
 
 arsenic, 251. 
 
 arsenious, 216. 
 
 citric, .174. 
 
 hydrochloric, 158. 
 
 hydrocyanic, 474. 
 
 igasuric, 396. 
 
 meconic, 376. 
 
 nitric, 149. 
 
 oxalic, 162. 
 
 phosphoric, 207. 
 
 strychnic, 396. 
 
 sulphuric, 137. 
 
 tartaric, 173. 
 Acids, mineral, nature and effects of, 
 
 136. 
 Aconitia, properties of, 469. 
 
 fallacies of tests for, 470. 
 
 physiological test for, 470. 
 
 separation from organic mixtures 
 
 and the tissues, 470. 
 Aconite root, poisoning by, 465. 
 
 fatal dose, 466. 
 
 fatal period, 467. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 466. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 465. 
 
 treatment, 467. 
 Aconitum napellus, 465. 
 Alkalies, distinguishing properties of, 
 175. 
 
 fatal quantity, 176. 
 
 period when fatal, 176. 
 
 Alkalies, post-mortem signs of, 177. 
 symptoms caused by, 175. 
 treatment of poisoning by, 177. 
 Alkaloids, recovery by dialysis, 113. 
 by Stas' method, 110. 
 by Uslar' and Erdmann's 
 
 method, 383. 
 Aloes, poisoning by, 333. 
 Ammonia, 182. 
 
 effects of vapor of, 176. 
 
 period when fatal, 176. 
 
 properties of, 182. 
 
 salts of, 182. 
 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 
 183. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 176. 
 Anaesthetics, 389. 
 Analysis, chemical, 67. 
 accuracy of, 75. 
 causes of failure in, 70. 
 importance of, 68. 
 objects of, 73. 
 precautions to be observed 
 
 in, 74. 
 
 when impossible, 67. 
 Aniline, a source of fallacy, 422. 
 Antagonism of poisons, 91, 94. 
 Antimonetted hydrogen, 262. 
 Antimony, poisoning by, 253. 
 
 necessity for extracting the metal, 
 
 268. 
 
 poisonous salts of, 253. 
 quantitative determination of, 
 
 269. (See Tartar Emetic.) 
 recovery from the tissues, 270. 
 separation from organic mixtures 
 
 and the stomach, 265. 
 Appearances, post-mortem, liability 
 of, to be confounded with the 
 effects of diseases, 69. 
 post-mortem, value of, in poison- 
 ing, 66. 
 
 Aqua ammonia, properties of, 182. 
 poisoning by, 176. 
 
 601
 
 502 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aqua fortis, 149. 
 Arsenic, metallic, 215. 
 
 compounds of, 215. 
 eaters of, 35, 215. 
 white, 216. 
 Arsenious acid, 216. 
 antidotes for, 226. 
 antiseptic properties of, 224. 
 detection after long periods, 225. 
 in the stomach, 243. 
 in the tissues, 245. 
 in the urine, 250. 
 in vomited matters, 242. 
 external application of, 219. 
 failure to detect, 222. 
 fallacies in Reinsch's test, 239. 
 in sulphuretted hydrogen 
 
 test, 232. 
 fatal dose, 220. 
 * fatal period, 221. 
 liquid tests, 230. 
 Marsh's test, 232. 
 delicacy of, 238. 
 fallacies in, 235, 236. 
 modifications of, 236. 
 
 Bloxam's, 241. 
 nitrate of silver modification 
 
 of, 237. 
 
 post-mortem signs, 223. 
 quantitative analysis of, 248. 
 reduction process, 228. 
 Reinsch's test for, 238. 
 
 interferences in, 241. 
 solubilities of, 216. 
 sublimation test for, 227. 
 sulphuretted hydrogen test, 231. 
 
 interferences, 232. 
 symptoms produced by, 216. 
 taste of, 216. 
 time of first manifestation of 
 
 symptoms, 219. 
 treatment for, 226. 
 varieties of, 216. 
 Arsenite of potassa, 251. 
 Asagraea officinalis, 339. 
 Asthenics, 474. 
 Atropa belladonna, 436. 
 Atropia, 438. 
 
 antagonism of, with morphia, 95. 
 chemical properties of, 441. 
 external application of, 439. 
 physiological test, 443. 
 poisoning by, 438. 
 post-mortem signs, 441. 
 recovery from the blood, 443. 
 separation from complex organic 
 
 mixtures, -l-li'. 
 
 subcutaneous injection of, 439. 
 tests for, 441. 
 treatment of poisoning by, 441. 
 
 B. 
 
 Belladonna, poisoning by, 436. 
 
 poisoning by, treatment for, 441. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 436. 
 Bichromate of potassa, 330. 
 Binoxalate of potassa, 172. 
 
 poisonous symptoms, 172. 
 Bismuth, subnitrate of, 327. 
 
 arsenic in, 328. 
 Bittersweet, 449. 
 Bloxam's method for detecting arsenic, 
 
 241. 
 
 Blue vitriol, 293. 
 Bromine, poisoning by, 213. 
 Brucia, poisoning by, 434. 
 
 physiological effects of, 434. 
 tests for, 435. 
 
 solubility, 434. 
 
 special chemical properties, 435. 
 
 test for nitric acid, 153. 
 Burnett's disinfecting fluid, 323. 
 
 C. 
 
 Calabar bean, poisoning by, 471. 
 
 effect on system, 472. * 
 
 chemical properties of physostig- 
 
 mia, 473. 
 Carbolic acid, poisoning by, 342. 
 
 chemical analysis, 343. 
 
 fatal quantity, 343. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 343. 
 
 symptoms, 342. 
 
 treatment, 344. 
 Case of Buffenbarsrer, 41. 
 
 of Castaing, 68, 372. 
 
 of the Count Bocarme, 49, 87. 
 
 of De la Pommerais, 460. 
 
 of Donellan, 48, 68. 
 
 of Donnall, 77, 231. 
 
 of the Duke of Praslin, 218. 
 
 of Hartley, 88. 
 
 of Hendrickson, 470. 
 
 of Mr. Hodgson, 89. 
 
 of Humphrey, 88. 
 
 of Mrs. E. E. Lloyd, 65, 328. 
 
 of North, 89. 
 
 of Palmer, 403, 433. 
 
 of M. Pralet, 49. 
 
 of Dr. Paul Schoeppe, 93, 485. 
 
 of Sprague, 86. 
 
 of Madeline Smith, 74. 
 
 of Mrs. E. G. "Wharton, 60. 267. 
 Castor-oil beans, poisoning by, 334. 
 Causes modifying the effects of poi- 
 sons, 33. 
 
 Cerebral neurotics, 301. 
 Cerebro-spinal neurotics, 436.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 503 
 
 Chemical analysis, failure of, 70. 
 importance of, 67. 
 objects of, 73. 
 
 decomposition of poisons, 72. 
 reagents, purity of, 80. 
 tests, fallacies in, 79. 
 Chloride of zinc, poisoning by, 323. 
 Chlorinated soda, poisoning by, 188. 
 Chromium, poisoning by, 330. 
 Classification of poisons, 132. 
 Cocculus Indicus, poisoning by, 496. 
 Codeia, physiological effects of, 379. 
 properties of, 379. 
 tests for, 379. 
 
 Colchicina, properties of, 335. 
 Colchicum, poisoning by, 334. 
 
 morbid appearances, 335. 
 Color tests, fallacy of, 77. 
 Compensation of medical experts, 123. 
 Compound poisoning, 91. 
 Conia, distinguished from nicotina, 
 
 461. 
 
 effects of, 454. 
 general properties of, 454. 
 separation from the blood and 
 
 tissues, 455. 
 solubility, 454. 
 Conium maculatum, 452. 
 Copper, metallic, 289. 
 
 poisoning by, 289. 
 contamination of food by, 289. 
 effects of salts of, on the system, 
 
 292. 
 
 fatal dose of sulphate of, 294. 
 fatal period, 294. 
 post-mortem signs, 295. 
 quantitative determination, 304. 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 299. 
 from the stomach and tissues, 
 
 301. 
 
 from the urine, 303. 
 subacetate of, 29G. 
 sulphate of, 295. 
 symptoms, 293. 
 tests, 296. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 294. 
 Corrosive sublimate, poisoning bA T , 
 
 273. 
 
 symptoms, 274. 
 tests for. 278. 
 treatment, 277. 
 chemical properties of, 274. 
 chronic poisoning by, 277. 
 external application, 276. 
 failure to detect, 284. 
 fatal dose, 276. 
 fatal period, 276. 
 post-mortem appearances, 277. 
 quantitative analysis, 288. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate, recovery from 
 
 organic mixtures, 282. 
 from the tissues, 283. 
 from the urine, 283 
 reduction test, 280. 
 salivation from, 278, 285. 
 Croton oil, poisoning by, 332. 
 Curara, 422. 
 Curarine, 422. 
 
 D. 
 
 Danger and Flandin's method for ar- 
 senic, and other metals, 100, 249. 
 Datura stramonium, 444. 
 Daturia, chemical properties of, 446. 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 
 447. 
 
 tests for, 446. 
 
 Deliriants, or delirifacients, 436. 
 Depressants, 452. 
 Dialysis, method of, 113. 
 Digitaline, 491. 
 
 chemical reactions of, 492. 
 detection in organic mixtures, 493. 
 case of De la Pommerais, 495. 
 Digitalis, poisoning by, 490. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 
 
 491. 
 
 symptoms of, 490. 
 Disease, effects of, confounded with 
 
 those of poisons, 58. 
 modifying influence of, on the ac- 
 tion of poisons, 36. 
 Diseases simulating poisoning, 52. 
 Duties and privileges of medical ex- 
 perts, 119. 
 
 E. 
 
 Elaterium, poisoning by, 333. 
 Elimination of poisons, 27. 
 Evidence from chemical analysis, 67. 
 
 from circumstances, 87. 
 
 from experiments on animals, 80. 
 
 from morbid lesions, 56. 
 
 from symptoms, 45. 
 Evidences of poisoning, 45. 
 Experts, medical, rights of, 123. 
 
 F. 
 
 Failure to detect poisons, 70. 
 Fresenius and Babo's method for de- 
 tection of metallic poisons, 99, 246. 
 
 H. 
 
 Habit, modifying influence of, on 
 
 poison, 35. 
 
 Hellebore, American, 337. 
 black, 337.
 
 504 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hellebore, white, poisoning by, 338. 
 symptoms of, 337. 
 treatment, 338. 
 Hemlock, poisoning by, 452. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 
 
 453. 
 
 symptoms, 453. 
 treatment, 454. 
 properties of, 452. 
 water, 456. 
 
 Hydrochloric acid, 158. 
 fatal dose, 158. 
 fatal period, 158. 
 post-mortem signs, 158. 
 properties of, 158. 
 quantitative analysis, 162. 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 
 160. 
 
 symptoms, 158. 
 tests for, 160. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 158. 
 Hydrocyanic acid, 474. 
 
 external application of, 477. 
 fatal dose, 477. 
 fatal period, 476. 
 post-mortem appearances, 478. 
 properties of, 474. 
 quantitative determination, 487. 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 
 484. 
 from the tissues and blood, 
 
 484. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 475. 
 tests for, 479. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 478. 
 Hyoscyamia, 448. 
 Hyoscyamus, poisoning by, 447. 
 chemical analysis, 448. 
 fatal dose of, 447. 
 
 I. 
 
 Idiosyncrasy, influence of, 36. 
 
 Igasuric acid, 396. 
 
 Imbibition, post-mortem, of poisons, 
 
 38. 
 
 Indian poke, 337. 
 Intestines, perforation of, 61. 
 Iodine, poisoning by, 209 
 Irritant poisons, effects of, 135. 
 
 poisoning, morbid appearances in, 
 136. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jamestown weed, poisoning by (see 
 Stramonium), 442. 
 
 L. 
 
 Laudanum, 362. 
 Lead colic, 313. 
 
 poisoning by, 305. 
 
 Lead, accidental poisoning by, 306. 
 acetate of, effects of, 311. 
 
 chronic poisoning by, 313. 
 fatal dose, 312. 
 fatal period, 312. 
 post-mortem signs, 313. 
 properties of, 311. 
 quantitative analysis, 321. 
 symptoms of poisoning by, 
 " 311. 
 treatment of poisoning by, 
 
 312. 
 
 contamination of water by, 309. 
 detection in the urine, 321. 
 external application of, 308 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 
 318. 
 
 tests, 316. 
 Lobelia, poisoning by, 463. 
 
 M. 
 
 Marsh 's test for antimony, 262. 
 
 test for arsenic, 232. 
 Meconic acid, 376. 
 
 chemical properties of, 377. 
 
 fallacies in detecting, 377. 
 
 iron test for, 377. 
 
 physiological effects of, 377. 
 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 381. 
 
 tests for, 377. 
 Meconine, 380. 
 Medico-legal questions, 114. 
 Mercury, metallic, 272. 
 
 compounds of, 273, 288. 
 
 detection in the organs, 283. 
 in the urine, 283. 
 
 physiological effects of, 273. 
 
 protochloride (calomel), 288. 
 Metal, necessity of obtaining the, 76. 
 Method of chemical procedure in the 
 
 search for poisons, 98. 
 Microscope, application of, 66. 
 Mineral acids, 137. 
 Monkshood, 465. 
 Morphia, 371. 
 
 effects of, 371. 
 
 external application of, 374. 
 
 failure to detect, 380. 
 
 fatal dose, 373. 
 
 fatal period, 366. 
 
 general chemical properties, 375. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 374. 
 
 recovery from stomach, 380. 
 from the blood, 383. 
 from the tissues, 383. 
 from the urine, 384. 
 
 separation from organic mixtures, 
 380.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 505 
 
 Morphia, symptoms of poisoning by, 
 371. 
 
 tests for, 374. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 370. 
 Muriatic acid, 158. 
 
 N. 
 Narceia, or narceine, physiological 
 
 action of, 379. 
 properties of, 379. 
 tests for, 379. 
 
 Narcotico-irritant poisoning, 132. 
 Narcotics, 361. 
 Narcotina, physiological action of, 
 
 378. 
 
 properties of, 378. 
 test for nitric acid, 153, 156. 
 tests for, 378. 
 
 Neurotics, properties of, 133. 
 Nicotia, or nicotina, 459. 
 fatal dose of, 459. 
 fatal period, 459. 
 post-mortem signs, 458. 
 recoTery from tissues and blood, 
 
 462. 
 symptoms produced by, 457. 
 
 case of the Count Bocarme, 
 
 460. 
 Nicotiana tabacum, properties of, 
 
 457. 
 
 Nightshade, deadly (belladonna), 436. 
 garden, 449. 
 woody, 449. 
 Nitrate of potassa, 184. 
 Nitric acid, poisoning by, 149. 
 antidotes for, 151. 
 fatal dose, 150. 
 fatal period, 150. 
 fumes of, fatal, 150. 
 general chemical properties, 152. 
 post-mortem appearances in poi- 
 soning by, 151. 
 recovery from organic substances, 
 
 154. 
 
 stains produced by, 150, 157. 
 symptoms produced by, 149. 
 test for, 152. 
 
 Nux vomica, properties, 396. 
 fatal dose, 396. 
 
 symptoms produced by (see Strych- 
 nia). 
 treatment of poisoning by (see 
 
 Strychnia) . 
 uses, 397. 
 
 O. 
 
 (Esophagus, tying of, 83. 
 
 Oil of vitriol, 137. 
 
 Opianyl, physiological eifects of, 380. 
 
 properties of, 380. 
 
 tests, 380. 
 
 Opium, nature and properties of, 362. 
 
 external application of, 868. 
 
 failure to detect, 374. 
 
 fatal dose, 366. 
 
 fatal period, 365. 
 
 inequality of strength of, 362. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 369. 
 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 380. 
 
 separation from stomach and tis- 
 sues, 380. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 363. 
 
 tests for, 374. 
 
 time of symptoms, 365. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 370. 
 Orpiment, 253. 
 Oxalic acid, properties, 162. 
 
 fatal dose, 164. 
 
 fatal period, 164. 
 
 post-mortem lesions, 165. 
 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 167. 
 
 from the tissues and urine, 
 171. 
 
 stains produced by, 171. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 163. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 165. 
 
 P. 
 
 Papaver somniferum, 362. 
 Phosphoric acid, 207. 
 tests for, 267. 
 Phosphorus, 194. 
 
 fatal dose of, 195. 
 
 fatal period, 196. 
 
 fatty degeneration occasioned by, 
 198. 
 
 hydrogen test, 205. 
 
 Lipowitz's test, 204. 
 
 Mitscherlich's test, 203. 
 
 post-mortem signs, 197. 
 
 properties of, 201. 
 
 quantitative determination, 206. 
 
 recovery in the free state, 202. 
 from organic mixtures, 202. 
 
 symptoms, acute, 194. 
 chronic, 195. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 196. 
 
 varieties of, 208. 
 Physostigma venenosum, 471. 
 Physostigmia, 473. 
 Picrotoxia, 498. 
 Poison, definition of a, 14. 
 Poisoned flesh, 360. 
 Poisonous cheese, 355. 
 
 fish and mussels, 356. 
 
 meats, 358. 
 
 sausages, 353. 
 Poisons, classification of, 132. 
 
 failure to detect, 70.
 
 506 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Polarized light a test for soda, 181. 
 Post-mortem appearances as evidences 
 
 of poisoning, 56. 
 examinations, proper mode of 
 
 conducting, 62. 
 imbibition of poisons, 38. 
 Potassa, poisoning by, 175. 
 fatal quantity, 176. 
 fatal period, 176. 
 . post-mortem appearances, 177. 
 quantitative determination, 181. 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 180. 
 
 salts of, poisoning by, 184. 
 special chemical properties, 178. 
 symptoms, 175. 
 tests for, 179. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 177. 
 Prussic acid (see Hydrocyanic Acid). 
 
 R. 
 
 Ratsbane 215. 
 
 Reagents, chemical, impurities in, 80. 
 
 Realgar, 253. 
 
 Reinsch's test, 238, 270. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabadilla, 339. 
 
 Soda, poisoning by, 175. 
 
 properties of, 181. 
 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 182. 
 
 tests for, 181. 
 Solania, properties of, 450. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 449. 
 Solanum dulcamara, 449. 
 
 symptoms produced by, 449. 
 
 nigrum, 449. 
 
 tuberosum, 450. 
 
 Spinal neurotics, or tetanics, 396. 
 Spirit of salt, 158. 
 
 Stas' process for recovering the alka- 
 loids, 110. 
 
 St. Ignatius's bean, 396. 
 Stomach, redness of, 59. 
 
 rupture of, 56. 
 
 softening of, 61. 
 
 ulceration and perforation of, 60, 
 
 61. 
 Stramonium, poisoning by, 442. 
 
 effects on the system, 444. 
 
 post-mortem signs, 446. 
 
 properties of, 442. 
 
 seeds, poisoning by, 442. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 446. 
 Strychnia, poisoning by, 396. 
 
 bitterness of taste, 413. 
 
 Strychnia, color test for, 414. 
 delicacy of, 416. 
 effect of morphia on, 418. 
 fallacies of, 422. 
 interferences with, 417. 
 external application of, 401. 
 failure to detect, 433. 
 fatal dose, 401. 
 fatal period, 403. 
 frog test for, 426. 
 galvanic test, 423. 
 
 period of invasion of symp- 
 toms, 399. 
 
 physiological test, 426. 
 poisoning, diagnosis of, 408. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 
 
 407. 
 
 properties of, 397. 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 428. 
 
 from the stomach, 428. 
 from the tissues and blood, 
 
 431. 
 
 from the urine, 433. 
 tests for, 423. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 404. 
 Strychnos nux vomica, 396. 
 
 Ignatia, 396. 
 
 Sugar of lead, poisoning by, 311. 
 Sulphate of copper, 292. 
 of indigo, 154. 
 of lead', 316. 
 of zinc, 322. 
 
 Sulphuric acid, absorption and elim- 
 ination of, 142. 
 fatal dose, 140. 
 fatal period, 139. 
 general chemical properties, 142. 
 poisoning by, 137. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 
 
 140. 
 
 properties of, 137. 
 quantitative determination, 148. 
 recoverv from organic mixtures, 
 
 144. 
 
 from the stomach, 145. 
 stains produced by, 147. 
 symptoms produced by, 137. 
 tests for. 142. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 140. 
 Symptoms, as evidences of poisoning, 
 45. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tartaric acid, poisoning by, 173. 
 Tartar emetic, poisoning by, 254. 
 
 chemical properties of, 254. 
 
 external application, 260. 
 
 fatal dose, 256. 
 
 fatal period, 257.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 507 
 
 Tartar emetic, importance of obtain- 
 ing the metal, 208. 
 post-mortem signs, 258. 
 quantitative analysis, 269. 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 265. 
 
 from the stomach, 266. 
 from the tissues and blood, 
 
 270. 
 
 from the urine, 272. 
 symptoms produced by, 254. 
 tests for, 260. 
 
 treatment of poisoning by, 260. 
 Tetanics, 396. 
 
 Tetanus, distinguished from strych- 
 nia-poisoning, 55. 
 Thorn-apple, 444. 
 Tin, poisoning by, 329. 
 Tincture of opium, 362. 
 Tobacco, poisoning by, 457. 
 
 symptoms of, 457. 
 external application of, 457. 
 smoking of. 458. 
 Trichiniasis, 353. 
 
 symptoms of, 354. 
 
 U. 
 
 Uslarand Erdmann's method of recov- 
 ering the alkaloids, 383. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vegetable irritants, 331. 
 Veratria, poisoning by, 339. 
 chemical properties of, 339. 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 341. 
 
 symptoms, 340. 
 test for sulphuric acid, 144. 
 tests, 340. 
 Veratrum album, poisoning by, 338. 
 
 symptoms, 338. 
 viride, poisoning by, 337. 
 
 symptoms, 337. 
 Verdigris* 296. 
 
 W. 
 
 White hellebore, 338. 
 
 vitriol, 322. 
 Wolfsbane, 465. 
 Woorara, properties of, 422. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zinc, poisoning by, 322. 
 
 post-mortem appearances, 323. 
 recovery from organic mixtures, 
 
 325. 
 
 sulphate, 322. 
 
 symptoms of poisoning by, 322. 
 tests, 325. 
 treatment of poisoning by, 324. 
 
 THE END.