Under this head is included the greater proportion
of those substances which are employed as the instruments
of crime; for they are generally of easy access,
require but little preparation, and are so destructive in
small doses, and, at the same time, so little disgusting
in flavour, as to furnish the assassin with the sure and
secret means of destruction. Fortunately, however,
for the ends of justice, such agents are pre-eminently
the objects of successful analysis. In treating of the
history of the individual substances derived from this
210kingdom, we shall consider, 1st. their external characters,
such as form, colour, odour, taste, specific gravity;
2d. their chemical composition, and habitudes;
3d. the tests by which their presence may be recognised;
4th. the symptoms which they occasion; 5th.
their physiological action; 6th. their different modes
and forms of application; 7th. the lesions of structure
they occasion; 8th. the phenomena presented on dissection.
The greek word Αρσενικον was employed by Dioscorides,
and other writers of that period, to denote a
particular mineral of a reddish colour, which Aristotle
had already described by the name of σανδαρακη,[214]
and his disciple Theophrastus, by that of αρρενικον.
It was employed by the ancients both as a pigment
and as a medicine, and appears to have been a compound
of Sulphur, and a peculiar metal, to which
the name of Arsenic is now exclusively applied. At
what period this metal was first discovered seems
very doubtful; and although a process for obtaining
it is described in the Pharmacopœia of Schroeder, published
in 1649, yet its peculiar nature was examined,
for the first time by Brandt, in 1733.
The metal, Arsenic, is distinguished by the following
properties, viz.
211It has a bluish-grey colour, not unlike that of steel,
and a considerable lustre; its texture is grained, and
sometimes scaly; its hardness not very considerable,
but its fragility is so great that it falls to pieces under
a moderate blow of the hammer, and admits of being
easily reduced to a very fine powder; according to
Bergman its specific gravity is 8·31. When cold, it
emits no sensible odour, but if heated, it yields a
strong alliaceous, or garlic-like smell, which is to be
considered as the most characteristic of its properties.
Its point of fusion is unknown, for it is the most volatile
of all the metals, and sublimes, before it melts,
at the temperature of 540° Fah., and if the process be
conducted slowly in close vessels, the metallic sublimate
will assume a tetrahedral[215] form of crystallization;
if the air be admitted, and the temperature
still farther raised, it will burn with an obscure
bluish flame.
Arsenic is extremely susceptible of oxidation, and,
by mere exposure to the air, shortly loses its metallic
lustre; and yet it may be kept under the surface of
cold water, for any length of time without exhibiting
the signs of oxidation, or solution; a covering of
this fluid, or of alcohol, is therefore considered as
affording the best means of preserving the metal in a
state of integrity.
Arsenic is capable of combining with two proportions
of oxygen, and of forming two definite compounds,
which we shall hereafter consider under the
title of Arsenious and Arsenic acids. The substance
described by some authors as the black oxide of this
metal would seem to be an indefinite mixture of the
metal itself, and the arsenious acid.
212Arsenic does not appear to possess any deleterious
properties, but it is almost impossible to reduce the
metal to powder, so as to adapt it for exhibition without
its becoming oxidized. M. Renault therefore, in
order to decide the question, had recourse to its alloys;
and he found that Mispickel (an alloy of Arsenic
and Iron), when given to the extent even of two
drachms, scarcely produced any effect; a result
which very satisfactorily accords with the conclusion
drawn by Bayen, in his work on Tin, and which
proves that the arsenic contained in that metal, need
not excite the least alarm, since it exists in a metallic
state. We have upon another occasion[216] observed,
that the vapours characterised by an alliaceous odour
are probably less noxious than the arsenical fumes
which are inodorous; and that the little injury experienced
by workmen who solder silver filligree with
an arsenical alloy, may probably depend upon the deoxidized
state of its fumes.
ARSENIOUS ACID, or WHITE OXIDE OF ARSENIC.
This is justly considered as the most fatal of all
mineral poisons, and is the one more frequently
selected than any other, as the instrument of assassination
and suicide; while its numerous applications
in medicine and the arts, by making it an article of
general and indiscriminate sale, have rendered it an
accidental as well as criminal source of suffering and
death.
It is seldom prepared by the chemist, since it exists
in a native state, and is moreover procured abundantly
and economically, during the extraction of the
213other metals from their ores.[217] In the commercial
world the substance is still known by the name of
White Arsenic; and continues to be expressed in popular
language, by the simple term Arsenic.
It generally occurs in the form of white compact
masses, opaque on their exterior surface; transparent,
and presenting a vitrified aspect in the interior. Its
taste is acrid and corrosive, but not to a degree corresponding
with its virulence. Specific gravity 3·7. When
reduced to powder it bears a strong resemblance to refined
sugar, for which it has sometimes been fatally
mistaken, and with which it has been often mingled for
criminal purposes. At the temperature of 383° Fah.
it is volatilized, and is capable of crystallizing in
tetrahedrons with truncated angles, or rather in octohedrons;
by a strong heat, in close vessels, it is vitrified
and becomes pellucid, and acquires the specific
gravity 5·000[218]; but when exposed to the air, it shortly
returns to its former appearance. In the state of vapour
it is quite inodorous, although the contrary is
positively asserted in several chemical works of high
authority, and it is stated to be characterised by a
smell like that of garlic; the fact is, that the alliaceous
or garlic-like smell is wholly confined to metallic
arsenic in a state of vapour; and whenever the arsenious
214acid seems to yield such an odour, we may very
confidently conclude that its decomposition has taken
place, and that it has been reduced to its metallic
state. Such a reduction will generally happen when
it is projected upon ignited charcoal, or when heated
in contact with those metallic bodies which readily
unite with oxygen, such as Antimony, Zinc, &c.
It is stated by Orfila and other writers, that if it be
projected upon heated copper the alliaceous odour is
evolved. This assertion is undoubtedly true, but
the fact requires to be explained with more precision,
or we may fall into an important error respecting it.
The author has shewn by several experiments, already
published in his Pharmacologia,[219] that the phenomenon
takes place only when the copper is in a state
of ignition, at which temperature its affinity for oxygen
enables it to reduce the arsenious acid, and consequently
to develope the metallic odour. We have
ascertained by repeated experiments that if a few
grains of arsenious acid be heated on a plate of copper,
by means of a spirit lamp or the blow-pipe, no
odour is perceptible; for, in this case, the whole of
the acid will be dissipated before the copper can
acquire a temperature sufficiently exalted to deoxidize,
and reduce it. If the arsenious acid be heated
on a plate of zinc, the smell will not be evolved
until the latter metal is in the state of fusion. If,
instead of the foregoing surfaces, we employ in our
experiments those of gold, silver, or platina, no alliaceous
smell whatever is produced, at any temperature,
provided every source of fallacy be carefully
avoided; but it deserves particular notice, that the
author has found the flame of the spirit lamp to be in
itself, capable of decomposing the arsenious acid, in
215consequence, it is presumed, of the operation of its
hydrogen;[220] a fact which is very likely to betray the
experimenter, as in the first instance it did the
author, into a belief that the arsenious acid does
actually yield the odour in question.
The term Arsenious acid was first bestowed upon
this substance by Fourcroy, since it was found to possess
many of the essential habitudes of an acid; as
for instance, that of combining with the pure alkalies
to saturation. It dissolves in water; but, according
to Klaproth, although it requires for its solution 400
parts of that fluid, at the temperature of 60° Fah. it
requires not more than 13, at 212°; and it moreover
appears that if 100 parts of water be boiled on the arsenious
acid, and suffered to cool, it will retain 3
grains in solution, and deposit the remainder in
crystals. This fact shews the great importance
of employing boiling water in every chemical examination
of substances supposed to contain arsenic. It
proves also that a fatal dose of the poisonous mineral
may be very easily administered in any watery vehicle,
a fact which was denied on the trial of Ogilvy
and Nairne[221] by Dr. James Scott, who deposed that
“Arsenic would not dissolve in warm water, but almost
instantly subside to the bottom of the vessel,”
although, at the same time, he acknowledged that
“if it were put into tea with milk and sugar, and
stirred about, it might be suspended long enough to
kill those who should drink the potion.” It is soluble
in alcohol, and in fixed oils, the former taking up
216two per cent. By the addition of an alkali, an arsenite
of great solubility will result, and a solution of
extreme virulence may be thus effected. With lime-water
arsenious acid produces a white precipitate of
arsenite of lime, but which is soluble in an excess of
the acid. With magnesia it also forms a very soluble,
and extremely active, arsenite.
Symptoms of Poisoning by the Arsenious Acid.
Hahnemann, in his work on Arsenic, proposes a
classification of its effects founded on their relative
duration and violence, and which it is our intention
to adopt on the present occasion, without any other
alteration than that of reversing the order of the
classes.
Poisoning by Arsenic may accordingly be considered
as admitting of three degrees of intensity, viz. 1st.
Where the case, although attended with dangerous
symptoms, does not terminate fatally. 2d. Where
death does not follow until after a lapse of twenty-four
hours. 3d. Where death takes place within
twenty-four hours after the exhibition of the poison.
1. Symptoms of the first and lowest degree. In the
slighter cases in which the operation of arsenic is recorded
as producing poisonous effects, the symptoms
were, uneasiness of the præcordia; cholics; thickness,
redness, and stiffness of the palpebræ; soreness of
the gums; ptyalism; itching over the surface of the
body, sometimes attended with a slight eruption;
restlessness; cough; head-ache; strangury, and ardor
urinæ. Where the dose of poison has been somewhat
greater, although still inadequate to the destruction
of life, violent vomiting is commonly the
first symptom, preceded in some instances with a
sense of heat and dryness in the fauces; in such
217cases where the vomiting has very shortly succeeded
the ingestion of the Arsenic, and the stomach has at
the same time been filled with food, the patient may
owe his escape to the poison being discharged before
it had time to act. Morgagni relates a case of poisoning
at an Italian feast, where the dessert was intentionally
sprinkled with Arsenic instead of flour;
those who had previously eaten but little speedily perished,
but those who had eaten heartily were saved
by vomiting. Although in this degree of poisoning
the life of the patient may be spared, yet a variety
of consecutive symptoms may continue to harrass
him for a longer or shorter period, such as indigestion,
debility, partial paralysis, and epilepsy. The
history[222] of the cases of Mr. Turner and his family,
of Chancery lane, for the poisoning of whom Eliza
Fenning was executed, will afford a striking illustration
of this fact. The hair of the head has also been
observed, in some cases, to fall off. Dr. Male is also
of opinion that the long protracted and injudicious
use of this mineral, as a medicine, will induce exostosis
and caries of the bones.
2. Symptoms of the second degree. In this case
where the patient lives two or three days, or perhaps
longer, as in the case of William Mitchell above described
(p. 190), the earliest symptoms are heat and
thirst, or vomiting, and inexpressible uneasiness and
anxiety, the former of which is less frequently observed
than the two latter; purging, or sometimes a
repeated but ineffectual desire to go to stool; wandering
pains; quick, but feeble pulse; head-ache; distended
and painful abdomen; priapism; towards the
close of the scene the patient often becomes more tranquil
and is inclined to sleep, although, in some instances,
218the pains, attended with convulsions, continue
to the latest moments. In general, death takes place
suddenly. In cases where the effects of the poison are
not immediately fatal, we must necessarily expect
the occurrence of many phenomena, indicative of the
re-action of the system, and which will be better
illustrated by a reference to the history of individual
cases, such for instance, as those of William Mitchell,
(p. 190) and Mr. Blandy, (Appendix) than by any
general description which can be given in this place.
It is also worthy remark that in such cases, from the
length of time, there will necessarily occur a greater
opportunity for the co-operation of other contingent
causes, whether they be connected with previously
existing diseases, or the action of remedies; and the
intelligent practitioner will not neglect to appreciate
their influence in modifying the character of each
particular case. There are besides symptoms highly
characteristic when they do arise, but which are of
comparatively rare occurrence, such as the ulcerated
condition of the fundament, as in the case of Mr.
Blandy, and the inflamed eyes and state of the mucous
membranes, in that of William Mitchell.
3. Symptoms of the third and highest degree. Soon
after a large dose of Arsenic has been swallowed, an
austere taste, and a sense of heat and constriction of
the pharynx and œsophagus are perceived; in a short
period excruciating pains in the stomach and bowels,
accompanied with vomiting of the most violent character,
the matter voided being generally of a brown
colour, and not unfrequently mixed with blood; with
these symptoms are conjoined an inexpressible anxiety
about the præcordia, and frequent faintings; the
stomach at the same time acquires such a high degree
of irritability, as to reject the mildest fluids.
219The alvine discharges now become frequent and painful,
and consist of dark and extremely fœtid matter,
frequently mixed with blood. The thirst is unquenchable,
and the heat of the surface becomes extreme.
The pulse is small, frequent, and irregular;
palpitations of the heart, violent cramps in the legs,
sometimes a painful strangury and bloody micturition
ensue. The powers of life begin to fail, respiration
becomes laborious, cold sweats break out,
hiccup occurs, the countenance assumes a singular
character of anxiety and distress, a livid circle appears
around the eyes, the pulse is imperceptible,
the body swells and sometimes becomes covered with
a species of miliary eruption, or with dark purple
spots. In some cases convulsions ensue, but delirium,
or loss of reason, is very rarely the consequence
of this species of poisoning, and the unfortunate
sufferer is conscious until a few moments before
the termination of his existence. Such are the general
symptoms, but it is rare to see them all united in
the same case; sometimes the greater part of them
are absent. M. Chaussier reports the case of a robust
middle aged man, who swallowed a quantity of
arsenious acid in large lumps, and died without discovering
any other symptom than slight syncope; other
cases are related where only vomiting and purging[223]
have been observed, and the symptoms have been
mistaken for those of cholera spontanea.
The practitioner is therefore not to withhold his
belief in a case of poisoning, on account of the absence
of several of those symptoms which are enumerated
in systematic works on Toxicology.
It is only by the study of individual cases, that he
220can learn to appreciate the just value of those pathognomonic
combinations which afford the least exceptionable
evidence upon such occasions.
The different modes of Poisoning by Arsenious Acid.
It has been proved by numerous experiments that
the life of an animal may be destroyed with equal
certainty by arsenious acid, whether it be internally
administered, or externally applied to abraded surfaces,
sores, or bleeding wounds; and it has been,
moreover, shewn, that in either instance the symptoms
will be analogous, except in the latter case they
will often be more rapid in their course.
Lionardo di Capoa relates the case of a child killed
by the violent vomiting and purging arising from a
slight wound made in the head by a comb, wet with
oil in which arsenic had been infused for the purpose
of killing vermin; and we have numerous instances
on record, where the application of arsenical
cerates and ointments has been followed by violent
and dangerous symptoms. We also learn from the
different historians of the Plague of London, that the
arsenical amulets which were worn, as preservatives,
on that occasion, were sometimes attended with deleterious
consequences; Crato[224] observed an ulcer of
the breast produced by them. Verzascha, violent pains
and syncope. Diemerbroeck,[225] and Dr. Hodges,[226]
death itself. Amongst the foreign authors who have
related cases of poisoning by the external application
of arsenic we may mention Desgranges,[227] who records
the history of a chambermaid, poisoned by having
221rubbed her head with an arsenical ointment for
the purpose of destroying vermin; and Roux,[228] who
confessed to have killed a girl of eighteen by an application
of the “Pâte Arsenicale” to a cancerous
breast. M. Renault has also given us the results of
his experiments upon Arsenic when applied externally
to dogs; when the skin was sound, it excited a
pustular eruption without inflammation; but, when
the skin was broken, more serious effects followed,
both general and local, and in some cases death.[229].
In an experiment performed by Mr. Hunter,
and Mr. Home, in which arsenic was applied to a
wound in a dog, the animal died in twenty-four hours,
and the stomach was found to be considerably inflamed.
Mr. Brodie repeated the experiment several
times, always with the precaution of tying a bandage,
to prevent the animal licking the wound; the results
were uniform; the stomach was, in every case, not
only more violently, but more rapidly, inflamed, than
when the poison had been internally administered, and
it even preceded any inflammatory appearance of
the wound. In the Journal de Medecine, the following
case is related of a woman who was killed by her
husband having insinuated powdered arsenic into the
vagina,[230] at the moment of enjoying the conjugal
222rites. “A woman at Leneux, departement de l’Ourthe,
aged forty, having died after a short illness, attended
with considerable tumefaction of the genital parts,
uterine hemorrhage, vomiting, and purging, the body
was inspected by order of the mayor, when the surgeons
reported that they found the vulva in a state
of gangrene, the abdomen much distended with air,
and the intestines inflamed and gangrenous. The
culprit was arrested, convicted, and executed.” In
the Acts of the Society of Copenhagen, a similar crime
stands recorded, and which was also committed by a
peasant; in this latter case, although some small
pieces of arsenic were found within the vagina, yet
some doubts arose respecting the possibility of such
a species of poisoning, and the magistrates accordingly
consulted the College of Medicine of Copenhagen,
who decided the question in the affirmative,
having first instituted a series of experiments upon
horses.
Death may also be produced by the introduction
of arsenic into the rectum; it is said that Sir Thomas
Overbury, after the failure of the various poisons[231]
that were administered to him, was at last despatched
by an arsenical glyster.
With respect to the quantity of arsenic required
for the production of such effects it is difficult to offer
a decided opinion, as its operation must in every case
be liable to contingency; but a very few grains are
in general amply sufficient.
223
Physiological action of Arsenious Acid.
It had long been supposed that arsenic occasioned
death by inflaming the stomach; but Mr. Brodie[232]
has very satisfactorily proved, that its influence arises
from its being absorbed, and that it must be regarded
as a vital rather than as a chemical agent, and as having
a constitutional, not a local mode of operation.
In the first place, he has in many instances found
the inflammation of the stomach so slight,[233] that on
a superficial examination it might have been easily
overlooked; and in most of his experiments with
arsenic, death took place in too short a period to be
considered as the mere effect of inflammation. In the
next place we have already shewn that in whatever
manner the poison is applied, whether externally to a
wound, or internally, to the alimentary canal, the
same inflammatory appearance will be visible in the
stomach; a fact which can only be explained by admitting
that the poison is absorbed, and that it acts
upon these organs through the medium of the circulation;
it acts at the same time upon the brain, and heart,
but with different degrees of force in different cases; so
that it is sometimes difficult to ascertain which of these
organs is the first to fail in its functions. According
then to these experiments and observations, inflammation
of the alimentary canal is not to be considered
as the general cause of death in poisoning by arsenic;
and yet cases will occur, where the local affection
224may prove fatal, the animal having survived the effects
produced on the organs more immediately subservient
to life, as the brain and heart. Mr. Henry Earle
communicated to Mr. Brodie a case highly illustrative
of this fact, which occurred in St. Bartholomew’s hospital;
a woman had taken arsenic, and having recovered
from the alarming symptoms which first occurred,
died at the end of four or five days, when
upon dissection, there appeared extensive ulcerations
of the stomach and bowels. This then was evidently
a case of “Consecutive” poisoning.
The dissertation of Dr. Jaeger, to which we have
before alluded, contains the result of a very extensive
series of experiments, in illustration of the physiological
action of the arsenic. He diligently examined
its effects upon all classes of organized beings, as well
of the vegetable as of the animal kingdoms. The
general conclusions which he has drawn from his
experiments on vegetables are, that arsenic is in
most cases a rapidly destructive poison to them,
with the exception perhaps of a few of the simplest
forms of existence;[234] and that their death was induced
by means of the gradual absorption and distribution
of the poison by the vessels and cellular membrane,
so that the parts died in succession, as the particles
of the poison reached them. Dr. Jaegar also
found that arsenic was a quick and destructive poison
to animals, and that death was preceded, in every
instance, from the infusory animalcula up to man, by
inordinate motions; and that the secretion was most
remarkably increased from the mucous membranes.
225His experiments also proved that arsenic exerted the
most powerful effects, when it was injected into
the veins, or applied to a bleeding wound; next,
when it was introduced into the stomach; but less
so, when injected into the large intestines, which have
fewer absorbing vessels.[235]
Organic Lesions, discovered on Dissection.
The examination of the bodies of persons poisoned
by arsenic, must not be expected to furnish constant
and uniform results, since they will be found to vary
very considerably in different cases. As we have
already considered the value of accelerated and retarded
putrefaction, as an indication of poisoning,
we shall at once proceed to the description of the
morbid phenomena which are presented by the internal
organs on dissection. The stomach and intestines
are the parts in which we may expect to find the most
decided marks of the ravages from arsenic. The
former viscus will be found more or less inflamed;
in some instances, the dusky redness will appear in
patches, interspersed with points and streaks of a
brighter hue; the villous coat of the stomach will be
almost always softened, and, as if macerated, can be
easily rubbed off in pieces with the fingers from the
coats beneath; actual ulceration and sloughing are,
according to the observations of Mr. Brodie, never
found unless where death is late in taking place, in
which case extensive ulceration of all the coats,
amounting to actual perforation, may be expected to
happen. This statement agrees with the observation
of Ruysch, who says that where there had been sufficient
time, he found the stomach ulcerated in those
226who had died from the effects of arsenic, but that if
death supervened earlier, he only discovered bloody
points, distant from each other, throughout the viscus.
On the subject of sloughs upon such occasions,
our enlightened author remarks, that anatomists have
often been betrayed into a fallacy respecting their
true nature; on opening the stomach of a dog which
had taken a large quantity of arsenic, Mr. Brodie
observed a dark brown spot about an inch in diameter,
having all the appearance of a slough; on a closer
examination, however, it appeared that this spot was
no other than a very thin layer of coagulated blood,
of a dark colour, and adhering very firmly to the
surface of the mucous membrane, and having a few
particles of arsenic entangled in it. He states that
he has at several times observed a similar appearance
but occupying a less extent of surface; and he informs
us that, in the Hunterian museum, there is a human
stomach, which was preserved for the sake of exhibiting
what was considered a slough, produced by
the action of arsenic; but that, on examining the
preparation carefully, the dark coloured spot was
discovered to be simply a layer of coagulated blood,
similar to that before described. Dr. Baillie and Dr.
Yelloly have found the stomach thickened in several
parts, as if by coaguable lymph, and in one case the
thickening of the coats was the only alteration of
structure observable; and M. Renault relates a case,
where the arsenic was taken in large pieces, which
produced no other effect than slight syncope on the
approach of death; and that, upon opening the body,
the arsenic was found in the state it was swallowed,
but there was neither inflammation nor erosion of the
stomach. Where the arsenic has been swallowed in
substance, it will be generally found attached to the
227membrane of the stomach by a peculiar glairy fluid;
if the poison should have been administered in solution,
the same organic lesions will be discovered, but
the presence of the arsenic in the stomach can scarcely
be expected, although the contents of the viscus,
as well as all the matter ejected from the body before
death, must be carefully examined by a chemical
process to be hereafter described. The duodenum,
like the stomach, generally affords evidence of the
same inflamed and disorganized condition; and the
whole track of the intestinal canal will be found more
or less affected, according to the quantity of arsenic
that has been administered, the period of time which
has elapsed before death, and other circumstances
which have been already enumerated as capable of
modifying the action of this destructive substance.
It however deserves notice that in many cases the
rectum appears to be more affected than the other
intestines; Dr. Male[236] states, that he has frequently
found it abraded and ulcerated, and even more inflamed
than the stomach itself; Mr. Brodie likewise
observed, in his physiological experiments upon this
substance, that the inflammation produced by it was
greatest in the stomach and the rectum. Dr. Baillie
has recorded several instances where a mortification
of the rectum followed as an effect of this poison;
and in the case of Mr. Blandy, detailed in the Appendix,
p. 237, Dr. Addington stated, that the extremity
of the rectum was extremely painful, and surrounded
by excoriations and ulcers.
Mr. Brodie has stated, in the paper to which we
have so often alluded, that the organic lesions occasioned
by arsenic are confined to the stomach and intestines,
228and that he never found any appearance of
inflammation in the pharynx or œsophagus. This
statement, however, is at variance with a great weight
of authority; we have ourselves witnessed cases in
which dissection has demonstrated extensive inflammation
in these parts; indeed it would appear, that
this poison acts more particularly on the mucous
membranes; and it is reasonable therefore to conclude,
that those with which it comes in actual contact
will not escape its virulence. The serous membranes
which receive less blood, and more lymphatics,
are necessarily less affected by it.
In the case of William Mitchell, as related at page
188, the patient complained of soreness of the eyes,
heat and uneasiness in the mouth and throat; and
the surgeon observed the membrane on the palate
and uvula to be detached; so in that, again, of Mr.
Blandy, Dr. Addington found on inspection that
“his tongue was swelled, and his throat inflamed
and excoriated; his lips, especially the upper one,
dry and rough, and having angry pimples on them;
the inside of his nostrils in the same condition, and
his eyes a little blood shot.” (Append. l. c.). In the
celebrated Scotch case of Oglivy and Nairne (see
page 184) Peter Meik, surgeon of Alyth, deposed,
that, upon inspecting the body four or five days afterwards,
he found “the tongue swelled beyond its
natural size, and cleaving to the roof of the mouth,
which he had never observed after a natural death.”
Many more instances might be adduced to shew that
the fauces, pharynx, and œsophagus are very frequently
inflamed and excoriated by the ingestion of
arsenic. Mortification of the pudenda[237] has been
229said to be an effect peculiar to the action of arsenic;
certain it is that in males, priapism is sometimes a
symptom of this poison, and the penis is found swollen
and red after death, as was observed in the case
of William Mitchell (p. 190). The scrotum was also
enlarged and of a dark colour. We have been long
aware that persons exposed to the fumes of arsenic,
or accustomed to handle any of its preparations, have
been liable to a peculiar affection of these parts, but
we have generally explained the fact by supposing
that the poison had in such cases, been locally applied
to them. The author has been lately informed by
his friend Mr. Parkes, that several persons in his
establishment were thus attacked, during the time
they were engaged in preparing an arsenical solution,
as a dye for the calico printers; and we have stated
on another occasion,[238] that the smelters and workmen
engaged in the copper works, and tin burning
houses of Cornwall, are occasionally affected with a
cancerous disease in the scrotum, somewhat similar
to that which infests chimney sweepers. It is also
singular that Stahl, in describing the putrescent tendency
in the bodies of those who die from this poison,
mentions in particular the gangrenous appearances
of the parts of generation. The other organs of the
body do not exhibit any particular appearances,
which ought to be regarded as characteristic of death
by arsenic; we must necessarily expect to find the
traces of morbid action, especially where life has
been unusually protracted; and the serous effusions
found in the body of William Mitchell, are to be
referred to such a cause.
Mr. Brodie has stated that, in animals killed by
arsenic, the blood is usually found fluid in the heart
230and vessels after death; this agrees with the observation
of Ruysch, who says that he never found the
blood coagulated in the human body, after death occasioned
by this poison; as well as with that of Dr.
Jaeger, who describes the cavities of the heart, especially
of the right side, to be, upon these occasions,
turgid with blood, but that coagula are very seldom
found in them.
A question, of a very considerable importance in a
forensic point of view, has arisen with respect to the
means, by which we may distinguish whether arsenic,
found in the body, had been introduced into the digestive
canal during life, or after death. In general,
this fact is placed beyond suspicion by the testimony
of those to whose care the body had been confided,
previous to dissection. But cases have occurred
where a poisonous substance has been introduced into
the rectum of a dead body, with the diabolical intention
of accusing an innocent person of having been
the perpetrator of the poisoning. We are not aware
of any English case of this kind, but M. Orfila states
that in the proceedings of the Criminal Court of
Stockholm such a case stands recorded. Fortunately
there would not be much difficulty in detecting the
crime; for were the arsenic applied to the rectum
after death, the change of structure would not extend
beyond the part in actual contact with it, but
would be distinctly separated from the rest of the intestine
by a well defined line of demarcation, which can
never happen where the arsenic has acted during life;
for, in this latter case, the transition from the diseased
to the healthy structure will be gradual, and
the limits of each imperceptible.
Before we conclude our observations upon the organic
lesions occasioned by arsenic, we may caution
231the anatomist not to confound the red or violet colour
which characterises inflammation, with that which
has been occasionally found to arise from the ingestion
of certain coloured drinks. The following case
related by Foderé, and cited by Orfila, may serve to
illustrate this subject. “A private person of Châlons
sur-Marne, who was in a state of convalescence from
a disease under which he had laboured, took a slight
purgative, and died very shortly afterwards. He was
believed to have been poisoned through some error in
the medicine, and in order to be assured of this, the
body was opened. The œsophagus and stomach were
found to be red, and in certain places livid, as if in a
state of gangrene. These appearances at first induced a
belief that the deceased had died from poison; but
M. Varnier, a physician of Châlons, concluded from
the appearances, that death was the consequence of
the disease, and that the apparent convalescence was
only an insidious respite. It became therefore necessary
to give some account of the state of the œsophagus
and stomach; and having learnt that the deceased
was in the habit of using a strong infusion of red poppies,
the idea immediately struck him that the extraordinary
colour of these organs might possibly depend
on this infusion. In order to determine the validity
of this explanation, he caused a dog to swallow, several
times, a similar infusion; when upon opening
its body, he discovered that the corresponding parts
of this animal had assumed the same colour as had
been observed in the stomach of the deceased above-mentioned,
and, moreover, that this violet red colour
was so firmly fixed that it resisted the action of repeated
washings.” Tincture of Cardamoms will also
be liable to occasion a coloured appearance in the
232stomach, as described in Mr. Stanley’s case of the
death of a woman by a dose of opium.[239]
Of the Chemical Processes, by which the presence of Arsenious Acid may be detected.
This poison may either be submitted to the judicial
physician for examination, in its solid form, or in
that of solution; and in this latter state it may be
mixed with various alimentary substances, whose presence
will necessarily embarrass the inexperienced
operator, and multiply the apparent difficulties of his
task. It becomes our duty, therefore, upon this occasion,
to enter very fully and minutely into the history
of the various processes, which have been proposed
for the solution of the important problem under
consideration; to appreciate the relative value
of each, and to point out the sources of fallacy and
failure, to which they are severally exposed.
Such a review of the subject would, moreover, appear
to be essentially necessary at the present period,
since the evidence, lately delivered on an extraordinary
trial,[240] has, to a certain extent, very unjustly
shaken the public confidence in the tests of chemistry.
We shall therefore proceed to consider the processes
which are calculated to lead to the detection of
Arsenic, in relation to the different circumstances
under which it may be presented for investigation,
viz. 1, In a solid form; 2, In the simple state of solution;
and 3, In the state of combination with various
alimentary substances.
1. The Arsenic is in a solid form. This is the most
simple case which can occur, and the experiments by
233which its presence is to be demonstrated, will constitute
the basis of the inquiry, which we shall be hereafter
called upon to institute, for the detection of the
same substance under other circumstances of mixture
and combination.
The order of succession to be observed in the different
experiments which we are about to describe,
must, in a great measure, be regulated by the quantity
of the material to be submitted to examination.
Should it be small, it will be prudent to reserve the
process of metallization, by which a considerable loss
must necessarily arise, until we have submitted it to
the various re-agents which are calculated to afford
indications of its nature. If, on the contrary, the
quantity of the substance exceed two or three grains,
it will be adviseable to proceed in its examination by
the following processes, reserving a portion for future
analysis.
A. By its reduction to a metallic state. Mix a portion
of the suspected substance in powder, with three
times its weight of black flux[241]; put the mixture
into a thin glass tube, about eight inches in length,
and a quarter of an inch in diameter, and which is
hermetically sealed[242] at one end. Should any of the
234powder adhere to the sides of the tube it must be
carefully brushed off with a feather, so that the inner
surface of its upper part may be perfectly clean and
dry. The closed end of the tube, by way of security,
may be thinly coated with a mixture of pipe-clay
and sand[243]; but this operation is not absolutely
necessary. The open extremity of the tube is
to be loosely plugged with a piece of paper. The
coated end must now be submitted to the action of
heat, by placing it in a chaffing dish of red hot coals,
for ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour; when, if
our supposition respecting the nature of the substance
has been correct, metallic arsenic will sublime, and
be found lining the upper part of the tube with a brilliant
metallic crust. The glass tube, when cold,
may be separated from its sealed end by the action
of a file, which will enable us to collect and examine
the metallic sublimate. If a portion of this brilliant
matter be laid on heated iron, it will indicate its nature
by exhaling in dense fumes, having a powerful
smell of garlic. Another portion should be reserved
for future experiments.
This method of detecting the presence of Arsenious
acid has been considered the most decisive, and
indeed the only unexceptionable one, but of this
we shall speak hereafter; at present we have only to
observe, that it is very far from being a minute test,
235for Dr. Bostock[244] confesses that where less than
three-fourths of a grain were used, he could not say
that the metallic crust was clearly perceptible; and
Dr. Black[245] appears to have considered that one
grain was the smallest quantity which could be distinctly
recognised by such a process.
Chemists were formerly[246] in the habit of at once
projecting any substance, supposed to be Arsenic,
on some burning body, in order to develope the
alliaceous odour; we have accidentally stumbled
upon an instance of this kind, in the fourth volume
of the London Medical and Physical Journal,
which may serve as an illustration; it is a case
communicated by F. Thackeray, Esq. of a child
poisoned by arsenic, in which the author says,
“the inner surface of the stomach was very red, and
was studded throughout with a white powder, which
236when exposed to the flame of a candle, yielded fumes,
and a garlic odour was emitted, proving it was arsenic;
of which there can be no doubt, as the girl afterwards
confessed that she had given arsenic to the infant.”
After the facts we have offered with respect to the
alliaceous odour of arsenical fumes, it is only necessary
to state, in this place, that such a test, when conducted
in the manner just related, must be considered
as extremely equivocal.
Another method of identifying “White Arsenic,”
by metallization, is to form at the moment of its reduction,
an alloy with copper, which may be easily
effected in the following manner: Mix the suspected
powder with black flux, as in the former experiment,
and place the mixture between two polished plates of
copper; bind them tightly together by iron wire, and
expose them to a low red heat; if the included substance
contain arsenic, a silvery white stain will be
left on the surface of the copper, which is an alloy of
the two metals. In this, as in the former experiment,
the presence of an alkali in the flux is essential,
since it forms immediately an arsenite of potass, and
thereby fixes the arsenious acid, and prevents it
from being volatilized before the temperature is sufficiently
high to enable the charcoal to decompose it;
we therefore differ with Dr. Bostock, when he states
that powdered charcoal may be substituted for the
black flux.
The property of whitening copper is regarded as a
very satisfactory test of the presence of arsenic; but
Dr. Bostock has pointed out some circumstances attending
it, which we shall here enumerate for the instruction
and satisfaction of the less experienced operator.
“It may be necessary,” says he, “in the first
237place, to describe the phenomena that take place
when copper is heated according to the process that
is described above, but without the addition of the
arsenic. Two copper disks, of nearly an inch and a
half in diameter, scoured bright with sand, had one
grain of powdered charcoal, made into a paste with
oil, placed between them; they were bound together
with an iron wire, and then kept red hot for ten minutes.
When they were withdrawn from the fire,
the metal was found to have lost its former appearance,
and to have acquired the dull white colour of
lead or zinc; the insides of the disks were found to
present the same whitish appearance, except on the
spot where the charcoal was placed, a small part of
which still remained unconsumed. As the disks
cooled the whitish matter which covered them began
to separate, and fly off with some force, in the form
of small scales, leaving a clean surface of the proper
copper colour. The charcoal was rubbed off, and
the surface below it was found smooth and polished;
it had acquired a light colour, resembling that of
brass; and, near the centre, there was a small spot,
which approached to a steel grey. This appearance
still continued, after it had been rubbed with fine
sand. The above description,” concludes Dr. Bostock,
“will probably impress the Society[247] with
the same idea, that, I confess, it gave to myself, that
if I had performed this experiment upon a substance,
which had been suspected to contain arsenic, and I
had not been aware of the appearance that I was to
meet with, I should have conceived that I had detected
its presence. Upon repeating the process, in
precisely a similar manner, except that one grain of
238arsenic was added to the charcoal, the oxidation of
the copper took place as before, and a small part of
the charcoal remained unconsumed; but upon rubbing
it, the white stain was perfectly visible. However,
when these disks were compared with those in
which the former experiment had been made, the
difference between them seemed more in degree than
in kind; so that I should not choose to decide upon
the presence of arsenic, as indicated by this test,
unless the result were more obvious than we can ever
expect to find it, where the quantity of arsenic is so
small. It may be proper to observe, that copper,
whitened in this manner by arsenic, is very subject
to tarnish; in three days I could with difficulty distinguish
which of the disks had been employed in
these two experiments.”
In connection with the different modes of identifying
arsenic by metallization, we may relate a test
lately proposed by Mr. A. Thomson, which, as a
collateral proof, merits some attention. “Into any
solution, in which arsenic may be suspected, stir a
moderate quantity of charcoal powder; allow it to
settle; then pour off the clear supernatant liquor, or
filter the mixture; and when the powder which remains
on the filter is dry, sprinkle some of it on a red
hot poker; if the solution contain arsenic, the odour
of garlic will be rendered sensible. This effect becomes
more obvious if a few grains of dry sub-carbonate
of potass be added to the dried charcoal powder.”[248]
If, instead of Black flux, or charcoal, the arsenious
acid be heated in a glass tube with quick-lime, a sudden
ignition will take place, when one part of the
239white arsenic will be metallized, and the other
farther acidified, so as to produce an arseniate of
lime; in this case, therefore, a certain portion of the
arsenious acid is robbed of its oxygen to complete
the acidification of the rest.
The habitudes of arsenious acid with the nitrates,
as first observed by Kunkel, deserve also some attention.
If they be heated together, the former will be
oxygenated at the expense of the nitric acid, nitrous
acid vapour will be disengaged, and an arseniate of
potass remain. The forensic chemist may avail himself
of these facts, and obtain a very useful test,
which may be applied in the following manner.[249]
Take a grain or two of the suspected powder, and
mix it with double the quantity of Nitrate of Potass;
introduce this mixture in a small glass tube, and apply
the flame of a spirit lamp under the powder;
when, if it contain arsenic, the nitrate will be decomposed,
nitric oxide and nitrous acid be evolved in
a gaseous form, and an arseniate of potass remain.
The acid vapour may be easily recognised by its
colour and smell, or by placing a piece of moistened
litmus paper within the tube. The arseniate may be
identified by the brick-red precipitate, produced in its
solution, by Nitrate of Silver. So small is the quantity
of arsenic required for this latter mode of trial,
that Mr. Smithson, in a late paper, observes “that a
drop of a solution of arsenious acid in water, which
at the height of 54·5 Fah. contains not more than
1/80th of the acid, put to nitrate of potass in a platina
spoon, and fused, affords a considerable quantity
of arseniate of silver. Hence when no solid particle
240of oxide of arsenic can be obtained, the presence of
it may be established by infusing in water the matters
which contain it.”[250]
B. By the application of certain re-agents, or tests, to its solutions.
a. Fused Nitrate of Silver, or Lunar Caustic. For
this test we are indebted to Mr. Hume, who first
suggested its application in the Philosophical Magazine
for May 1809, (vol. xxxiii). His method of
using it is as follows: into a clean Florence flask introduce
two or three grains of the suspected substance,
in the state of powder, to which add about
eight ounces of rain or distilled water, and heat the
solution until it begins to boil; then while it boils
frequently shake the flask, and add to the hot solution
a grain or two of sub-carbonate of potass, agitating
the whole to make the mixture uniform. Pour into
a wine glass about two table spoonsful of the solution,
and touch the surface of the fluid with a stick of lunar
caustic. If arsenic be present, a beautiful yellow
precipitate will instantly proceed from the point of
contact, and settle towards the bottom of the glass as
a flocculent and copious precipitate. By this test the
60th part of a grain may be satisfactorily recognised
in two ounces of water. The presence of some alkali
is essential to the success of the experiment, since
arsenious acid is incapable, by the operation of simple
affinity, to decompose the nitrate of silver.[251]
241The validity of this test has been questioned on several
distinct grounds, and which the author has endeavoured
to answer in another work[252]; such, however,
is the importance of the question in its judicial
consequences, that we shall re-consider it on the present
occasion.
Objection 1. The alkaline Phosphates are found
to produce precipitates with silver, analogous in colour
and appearance to the arsenite of silver. This constituted
one of the principal points in the evidence for
the defence, on the trial of Donnall for the murder
of Mrs. Downing (see Appendix, p. 299), and it must
be admitted as a valid objection, if the experiment
be performed in the manner just stated; but there
are other reagents which will immediately distinguish
these bodies, as we shall presently have occasion to
state, under the history of the Ammoniuret of silver,
as a test for arsenic. The author has also shewn
that there is a mode of so modifying the application of
the present test, that no error or doubt can arise in
the use of it, from the presence of any phosphoric
salt. This method consists in conducting the trial on
writing paper, instead of in glasses; thus—drop the
suspected fluid on a piece of white paper, making
with it a broad line; along this line a stick of lunar
caustic is to be slowly drawn several times successively,
242when a streak is produced of a colour resembling
that known by the name of Indian Yellow; and
this is equally produced by the presence of arsenic,
and that of an alkaline phosphate, but the one from
the former is rough, curdy, and flocculent, as if effected
by a crayon, that from the latter is homogeneous
and uniform, resembling a water-colour laid smoothly
on with a brush; but a more important and distinctive
peculiarity soon succeeds, for, in less than two
minutes the phosphoric yellow fades into a sad green,
and becomes gradually darker, and ultimately quite
black; while, on the other hand, the arsenical yellow
remains permanent, or nearly so, for some time,
when it becomes brown. In performing this experiment
the sun-shine should be avoided, or the transitions
of colour will take place too rapidly. It would
be also prudent for the inexperienced operator to
perform a similar experiment on a fluid known to
contain arsenic, and on another with a phosphoric
salt, as a standard of comparison.
In this way the nitrate of silver, without the intervention
of any other test, is capable of removing
every ambiguity, and of furnishing a distinguishing
mark between the chemical action of arsenic and
that of the phosphates. Mr. Hume[253] states that
he has repeated this modification of his experiment
with entire satisfaction; and that, in a late unfortunate
case of poisoning, he derived considerable information
by its application. One of the great advantages
of this test is the very small quantity that is
required for examination, and which will therefore
never prevent our pursuing the subject through the
other channels of investigation.
Objection 2. The muriates produce precipitates
243with silver, so copious and flocculent, as to overcome
every indication which the presence of arsenic would
otherwise afford.
From the general use of common salt, the chemist
must be prepared to meet with a muriate in almost
every examination after arsenic, besides which this
latter substance is occasionally adulterated with the
muriate of baryta and by sulphate of lime. Dr. Marcet
proposes to obviate the difficulties which the presence
of a muriate must occasion, by adding to the fluid to be
examined dilute nitric acid, and then cautiously applying
the nitrate of silver until all precipitation ceases; in
this way the muriatic acid will be entirely removed,
while the arsenic, if present, will be retained in solution,
and may be afterwards rendered evident by the
affusion of ammonia, which will instantly produce
the yellow precipitate in its characteristic form. It
must, however, be confessed, that this mode appears
complicated, and, moreover, requires some chemical
address for its accomplishment; it should be also known
that the yellow precipitate thus produced is not always
permanent, for it is soluble in an excess of ammonia.
Under these circumstances, it is surely preferable to
precipitate at once from the fluid under examination,
all the substances which nitrate of silver can affect,
and then to expose the mixed and ambiguous precipitate,
so obtained, to a low heat, in a glass tube,
when the arsenious acid will be separated by sublimation.
In this way the presence of muriates and
even phosphates, may, in certain cases, be serviceable,
especially if the quantity of arsenic be very minute;
for, by increasing the bulk of the precipitate, we shall
decrease the difficulty of its examination.
Objection 3. Chromate of potass produces with
nitrate of silver a yellow precipitate, which, when placed
244side by side with one produced by arsenious acid, cannot
be distinguished by colour or appearance from it.
This fact has lately been announced by Dr. Porter,
of the University of South Carolina (Silliman’s Journal,
iii. 355); but as the presence of Chromate of
Potass can never be suspected in any research after
arsenic, in cases of forensic interest, it is unnecessary
to enter into any details respecting it.
We have stated above, that in consequence of the
inability of arsenious acid to decompose nitrate of
silver by simple elective attraction, the presence of
some alkali becomes indispensable in the examination;
and for this purpose Dr. Marcet suggested the
superior advantages which would attend the application
of ammonia, in all those cases where the arsenic
had not been previously combined with a fixed alkali;
since the former does not, when added singly, decompose
nitrate of silver; a circumstance which, in
using the fixed alkalies, is very liable to occasion
fallacy. This led Mr. Hume to improve his original
plan, by forming at once a compound,[254] which he calls
the Ammoniaco-nitrate of silver, but which may with
more propriety be designated, as an ammoniuret of
that metal.
b. The Ammoniuret of Silver. This is an improvement
of considerable value; for, while it obviates the
necessity of ascertaining the exact proportion[255] of
245alkali required in each experiment, it possesses the
desirable property of not in the least disturbing the
solution of phosphate of soda.
c. Sulphate of Copper. This test of arsenic is the
one discovered by Scheele; when added to the arsenite
of potass a beautiful green precipitate (constituting a
pigment known by the name of Scheele’s green) is
produced; “so decidedly,” says Dr. Bostock, “does
this phenomenon indicate the presence of arsenic,
that I thought it desirable to ascertain, as exactly as
possible, what were the best proportions in which
the ingredients should be employed, and in what way
they should be mixed, so as to exhibit the effect in
the most obvious manner. After a number of trials,
in which the substances were employed in various
quantities, and under different circumstances, I am
disposed to recommend that the proportions of the
arsenic, the potass, and the sulphate of copper, should
be to each other as the numbers one, three, and five,
respectively; for instance, if one grain of arsenic and
three grains of potass, be dissolved in two drachms
of water; and, in another equal quantity of water,
five grains of sulphate be dissolved, we have two
solutions, which are transparent, and nearly colourless;
but upon mixing them together, the whole is
converted into the most beautiful grass-green, from
which a copious precipitate of the same hue slowly
subsides, leaving the supernatant fluid nearly without
colour. If the same materials are employed,
in the same manner, but without the arsenic, a delicate
sky-blue is formed, which is so decidedly different
from the former colour as not to admit of the possibility
of error.” In this experiment then, as well as
in that with the nitrate of silver, it is necessary that
the arsenious acid should be combined with an alkaline
246base; and for the same reason, in order to bring
the double elective attractions into play; Mr. Hume
has accordingly availed himself of the property of
ammonia, to form an ammoniuret of copper, which is
to be made according to the formula already given
for the preparation of the silver test.
d. Ammoniuret of Copper. In using this test care
must be taken that it be not too highly concentrated,
for in that state it will not produce precipitation.
Notwithstanding the confidence with which Dr.
Bostock has supported the pretensions of the Sulphate
of Copper, as an infallible test for arsenic,
its validity has been lately called in question, and
it has been stated that a decoction of onions has the
property of imparting to the copper precipitate, produced
by a fixed alkali, a green colour and appearance
completely analogous to that which is occasioned
by the presence of arsenic. This opinion was boldly
advanced, and supported, on the trial of Donnall, before
alluded to, and of which we have given a very
ample report in the Appendix. Since this event an
opportunity occurred which enabled the author to
examine this alleged fact, by a fair and appropriate
series of experiments,[256] the result of which has
247satisfactorily proved that the opinion was grounded
on an optical fallacy, arising from the blue precipitate
assuming a green colour, in consequence of having
been viewed through a yellow medium.[257] The
248phosphoric salts may also, under similar circumstances,
be mistaken for arsenic; for the intense blue colour
of the phosphate of copper will, when viewed through
a yellow medium, necessarily appear green. Such
instances of optical fallacy are by no means uncommon
in the history of chemical reagents; thus corrosive
sublimate has been said to possess alkaline characters,
in consequence of appearing to turn the
syrup of violets green, whereas this apparent change
is to be solely attributed to the optical combination
of the yellow hue of the sublimate with the blue colour
of the violet.
Whenever therefore such a source of fallacy can
be suspected, the operator would do well to repeat
his experiment on white paper, in the manner we
have already pointed out, when treating of the silver
test; and let it be remembered that the results, when
obtained in glasses, should always be examined by
day light, and viewed by reflected, and not by transmitted
light. Dr. Bostock observes, that a weak
solution of the sulphate of copper, without any addition,
when held between the eye and the window,
frequently presents a greenish tinge. It should be
also known that the usual reaction of the ammoniuret
of copper, upon a diluted solution of arsenic, is prevented
by the presence of tannin; strong tea may
therefore render the test inefficient.
e. Sulphuretted hydrogen. This is a very delicate
test for arsenic, producing with its solution a beautiful
golden coloured liquor, which, after a short time,
lets fall a precipitate, and which will take place sooner
if a small quantity of acetic acid be added. By this
249re-agent so small a quantity as 1/100000 may be detected
in solution. The test, however, is not, says
Dr. Bostock, sufficiently discriminative to be depended
upon alone; since tartarized antimony and
some other bodies, will produce phenomena that may
be mistaken for the effects of arsenic. It has, however,
the merit of not being affected by tannin, and
may therefore be conveniently employed for precipitating
arsenious acid, when dissolved in tea.
f. Lime water produces with the solution of arsenic
a beautiful white precipitate of arsenite of lime, which
easily dissolves in an excess of arsenious acid.
The precipitates occasioned by the foregoing reagents,
should be carefully collected, and treated
with black flux, in a glass tube, for the purpose of
obtaining the metallic sublimate, as above described.
We cannot quit this part of our subject without
directing the reader’s attention to the chemical evidence
given by Dr. Addington, on the trial of Mary
Blandy (see Appendix, p. 241) to prove that arsenic
was contained in a powder with which she was supposed
to have poisoned her father. To those in the
least acquainted with the habitudes of arsenious acid,
it must be evident, that no one of the appearances
described by Dr. Addington indicates the presence of
arsenic;[258] and his evidence is only to be reconciled
upon the supposition that, instead of the arsenic itself,
he, in this case, detected the foreign substances with
which it had been adulterated; thus it has been before
stated that white arsenic, as sold by the druggists,
is often adulterated with sulphate of lime; and the
decomposition of this substance by the sub-carbonate
250of ammonia (“Spirit of sal-ammoniac”) or by the
sub-carbonate of potass (“Lixivium of tartar”) would
occasion the precipitation of a white substance, as
stated in the evidence; it is however difficult to account
for the “considerable precipitation of a lightish
coloured substance” by muriatic acid (spirit of
salt) by the presence of any impurity likely to be
contained in the arsenic, or in the water employed
for its solution. If any lime were present, it would
probably give “white glittering crystals” of sulphate
of lime, by the addition of sulphuric acid
(spirits of vitriol). The only plausible evidence of
the presence of arsenic in the suspected powder is
“the alliaceous smell and white flowers” which Dr.
Addington describes as occurring when it was thrown
on red hot iron; it must however be confessed, that
from the fallacy of the other experiments, it is even
impossible to place any confidence in those last mentioned.
Arsenic does not blacken a knife by which it is cut,
as stated on the trial of Eliza Fenning; nor does it,
when mixed with dough, prevent its rising.[259]
We have now concluded our history of the different
tests which have been proposed for the detection
of arsenic. Much has been said and written upon
the relative degree of confidence to which they are
respectively entitled, and it has been asserted on several
occasions, that nothing short of the reproduction
of the metal ought to be received by the tribunals
of justice, as an unequivocal proof of the presence
of arsenious acid. (See Dr. Neale’s Evidence
on the trial of Donnall. Appendix, p. 297.) In taking
251an impartial review of all the evidence which
the investigation of this subject can furnish, it must
appear to the most fastidious, that the Silver and
Copper tests, above described, are capable, under
proper management and precaution, of furnishing
striking and infallible indications; and that in most
cases they will be equally conclusive, and in some
even more satisfactory in their results, than the metallic
reproduction upon which so much stress has
been laid; and for this obvious reason, that unless
the quantity of metal be considerable, its metallic
splendour and appearance is often very ambiguous
and questionable. The author is personally acquainted
with a case, where the medical person, by no
means deficient in chemical address, actually ascribed
the presence of arsenic to that which was no
other than a film of finely divided charcoal: in this
state of doubt the last resource was to ascertain
whether it yielded, or not, upon being volatilized,
an alliaceous odour. Surely an unprejudiced judge
would prefer the evidence of sight, as furnished by
the tests, to that of smell, as afforded in the experiment
to which we allude; especially after the various
fallacies, which we have shewn in the course of the
present enquiry, to have occurred with regard to this
latter sense. But the question at issue may be easily
disposed of to the satisfaction of all parties; for let it
be remembered, that the application of chemical reagents
on solutions suspected to contain arsenic, so
far from throwing any obstacle in the way of the metallic
reproduction of that substance, are the very steps
which should be adopted as preparatory to the “experimentum
crucis.” It is only necessary to collect
the precipitates, and to decompose them in the manner
already described; and this confirmation of our
252results should never be neglected, for it is the bounden
duty of the forensic chemist, who is called upon
to decide so important a question as the presence of a
corrosive poison, to prosecute by the fullest enquiry
every point which admits of the least doubt; he
should also remember that in a criminal case, where
the life of a human being depends upon his testimony,
he has not only to satisfy his own conscience, but
that he is bound, as far as he is able, to convince the
public mind of the accuracy and truth of his researches.
2. The Arsenious Acid is mixed with various alimentary and other substances.
The detection of the presence of arsenic, amidst a
complicated mass of alimentary matter, has long been
a problem of interest and difficulty. In the directions
which have been already offered for the discovery
of arsenic in solution, we have in some measure
anticipated several of the resources, of which we are
now to avail ourselves. It has been seen how greatly
coloured fluids are capable of obscuring, and changing,
and even altogether preventing, the arsenical
indications. M. Orfila, with an assiduity and accuracy
which so eminently characterise all his toxicological
labours, has accordingly investigated the peculiar
appearances assumed by the arsenical precipitates
in different media, such as bile, tea, coffee, wine,
broth, jelly, &c. Since the publication of the great
work[260] in which these phenomena are recorded, its
author has proposed a new method[261] of removing its
253difficulties and embarrassments, occasioned by the colouring
matter of the above media; which consists in
a previous application of Chlorine, so as to change
the colour to a shade, that will not offer any optical
impediment to the characteristic indications of the
tests in question. We are ready to admit that such
a mode of proceeding may, on certain occasions, assist
the accomplished chemist in his analysis; but in
the hands of a person less accustomed to chemical
manipulation, we hesitate not to declare that it is
subject to fatal fallacies; whereas, by collecting the
precipitate, and submitting it to the process of sublimation
we shall at once obtain the arsenious acid in a
pure form, and be enabled to test it, in distilled
water without the chance of error. Why then should
we attempt to pursue our game through the windings
of a labyrinth, when a direct road lies before us by
which we may drive it into the open plain?
We accordingly recommend the juridical chemist,
who suspects the presence of arsenious acid in broth,
coffee, or any coloured liquid, to add a solution of
ammoniuret of silver, and thus to precipitate indiscriminately
all the bodies which it may be capable of
so affecting. The precipitate may then be collected,
and submitted to heat in a glass tube, as before directed.
But the Arsenious acid may perchance be so mixed
with various foreign matter as to render its separation
by filtration difficult; in such a case, after having
boiled it in distilled water, in order to procure all the
soluble matter from it, the residual mass may be evaporated
to dryness, care being taken that the heat
applied for such a purpose never exceeds 250° Fah. or
we shall lose the arsenic, should any be present, by
volatilization. The residue thus obtained may then be
254submitted to a higher temperature in a subliming vessel,
in order to procure the arsenious acid in its pure
state. This process applies particularly to the examination
of the matter vomited, or the feculent evacuations
passed, by the patient. Should the arsenious
acid have, in the first instance, been dissolved in oil,
Dr. Ure proposes to boil the solution in distilled
water, and to separate the oil afterwards by the capillary
action of wick threads. If the arsenious acid
be mixed with resinous bodies, Oil of Turpentine may
be employed as their solvent, which will leave the
arsenic untouched. Dr. Black directed the application
of alcohol for this purpose, but this is obviously
improper, since arsenious acid is soluble in that fluid.
If the physician be called upon to investigate the
contents of the alimentary canal after death, and the
arsenious acid cannot be discovered amongst the
suspected matter, the stomach itself must be cut into
small pieces, and in compliance with the directions of
Orfila, boiled in ten or twelve times their weight of
distilled water, which should be renewed as fast as a
portion of it flies off in vapour; this liquor should be
cooled and decanted, in order to put a few drops of
it into the solutions of the different re-agents which
we have before described. If the precipitates should
indicate the presence of arsenic, we may proceed according
to the directions we have already laid down;
if, on the other hand, the fluid offers no indication
of poison, the mass exhausted by water should be
treated, according to the process suggested by Rose,
by boiling it for some time in a solution of potass, by
which means the stomach will be partly decomposed
and dissolved, and the arsenious acid, with which it
might have been combined, saturated by the alkali.
In this state the liquor is to be filtered, again boiled,
255and nitric acid added, little by little, until it passes
from a dark to a clear yellow colour. The object of
the acid in this stage of the process being to decompose
and destroy the animal matter. The excess of
acid should be saturated with potass, when an Arsenite
of Potass will be formed, if there really existed
any arsenious acid in the stomach. This M. Orfila
recommends us to precipitate by the Hydro-sulphuret
of Ammonia, and a few drops of nitric acid; (Rose
prefers lime water for the same purpose); a yellow sulphuret
of Arsenic will be the result, from which the
whole of the metal may be obtained, by drying it
upon a filter, mixing it with an equal bulk of potass,
and melting it in a small glass tube.
This complicated mode of proceeding will rarely
be found necessary; but it should not be neglected,
where the presence of arsenic cannot be otherwise
detected in the alimentary canal of those who are
suspected to have died from its ingestion, especially
in the examination of a body where, from the length
of time it may have been under ground, there is reason
to suppose that the acid exists in a state of intimate
combination with the animal matter. And we
may take this opportunity to observe, that advanced
putrefaction, however disagreeable it may render
such researches, will not, in the case of arsenic, defeat
their success; let the forensic physician, then,
remember, that the length of time which may have
elapsed since the death of the body, ought never to
be urged as a plea for not having proceeded in its
dissection. The task may be personally disagreeable,
but it will be less painful than the reflections which
must attend a breach of duty; upon such an occasion
we would address the anatomist in the quaint but expressive
256words of Teichmeyer[262], “Præstat enim
manus quam conscientiam cruentare et contaminare.”
Arsenic Acid, and its Salts.
It has been stated, that the Metal Arsenic is susceptible
of two degrees of oxidizement, the result of
its first degree being Arsenious acid, and that of its
second Arsenic acid. This latter compound, of which
we are now to treat, may be obtained by the repeated
distillation of white arsenic with nitric acid.
In a solid state it is white, not crystallizable; of a
sour, and at the same time, metallic taste; its specific
gravity is 3·391; when exposed to the action of
heat in a close vessel, it does not become volatile,
but melts and vitrifies; thrown on burning coals, it
swells, parts with its water, and becomes opaque; if
the process of deoxidation be continued, it will, at
length, rise in vapours, like those of arsenious acid,
and which, like them, will yield an alliaceous odour,
or not, according to the circumstances already explained.
The Arsenic acid dissolves very readily in
water, and is even indeed deliquescent. With alkalies,
earths, and oxides, it constitutes a class of
salts, called “Arseniates,” all of which, as well as
the pure acid, are extremely active poisons; fortunately,
however, they are not much employed[263] in
this country, and are not likely to become the instruments
of crime. These salts, like those of the arsenious
acid, are obedient to the different re-agents
257which were enumerated under the consideration of
this latter substance, but with different results; thus
the silver test, instead of producing the yellow indication,
occasions an equally characteristic precipitate
of a red, or brick colour. The ammoniuret, and
acetate of copper, furnish a bluish-white precipitate.
The arsenic acid, in a solid form, or the arseniate,
mixed with black flux, will, like white arsenic,
furnish a metallic sublimate, when heated in a
glass tube.
The Sulphurets of Arsenic.
There are two Sulphurets of Arsenic: the yellow
variety known in commerce under the name of Orpiment,
and the red sulphuret, termed Realgar. The
bodies, as they occur native, do not appear to be endowed
with the virulent powers which distinguish
the other compounds of arsenic. M. Renault[264] gave
as much as two drachms of the native orpiment to
dogs of different sizes, from which they experienced
no inconvenience. Hoffman[265] also offers his testimony
of the inertness of this substance. The same
observations apply to the Realgar. It is not a little
singular that while these native sulphurets of arsenic
should be so harmless, those which are produced by
artificial fusions, are extremely virulent in very
small doses. M. Renault supposed that this remarkable
difference of effect was owing to the arsenic
being oxidized in the latter compound, and in its
metallic state in the former. This explanation, however,
is not considered as satisfactory by M. Orfila,
who states that it does not embrace all the varieties
258of the case, for that the sulphuret, which is artificially
obtained by pouring the arsenious acid into a solution
of sulphuretted hydrogen, is as inert as the native
compounds; besides which, chemical analysis has
proved that there is no oxygen in any of these sulphurets,
and that they only differ from one another, by a
greater or less proportion of their two ingredients.
This apparent anomaly induced M. Orfila to institute
a series of experiments for its investigation, but the
results which he has obtained are too unsatisfactory
to enable him to decide the question.
The presence of an Arsenical Sulphuret is to be
sought for by calcination with caustic potass, in a small
glass tube. The sulphuret is decomposed in a few
seconds, yielding its sulphur to the potass, while its
metallic element is volatilized with the usual phenomena.
Mercury, or Quicksilver[266], was known in the
earliest ages. Its external characters are too familiar
to require any particular description in this place.
Its specific gravity is 13·568.[267] In its metallic state
it exerts no action on the living system, except that
which may depend upon its mechanical properties,
although a different opinion has been entertained,
(see Pharmacologia, art. Hydrargyrum.)
Several of the combinations of this metal are, however,
highly destructive in small doses, and are consequently
objects of forensic interest.
259
Corrosive Sublimate.
Oxy-muriate of Mercury. Bi-chloride of Mercury.
This metallic salt is by far the most active of all the
mercurial preparations. According to the latest
views of Chemistry it is a compound of two proportionals
of chlorine, and one proportional of metallic
mercury, and is therefore a bi-chloride of Mercury.
It generally occurs in the form of a crystalline mass,
made up of very small prismatic crystals, which undergo
a slight alteration by exposure to air, becoming
opaque and pulverulent. Its taste is extremely
acrid, with a metallic astringency, occasioning a sensation
of obstruction in the throat which continues for
some time. Its specific gravity is 5·1398[268]. When
pulverised and thrown upon burning coals, it is immediately
volatilized, giving out a thick white smoke,
of a very pungent smell, not at all resembling garlic,
but which irritates the mucous membranes extremely,
and is highly dangerous to those who breathe it. It
is soluble in eleven parts of cold, and in three of
boiling water; and this solubility may be farther increased
by the addition of a few drops of rectified spirit,
or of muriatic acid. When swallowed in small
quantities it acts as a most virulent poison.[269]
Symptoms of Poisoning by Corrosive Sublimate.
The effects, as well as the modus operandi, of this
salt, will vary with the quantity swallowed. We
shall, therefore, first consider the acute symptoms
which supervene a dose sufficiently powerful to destroy
life in a few hours; and afterwards those which
260may arise from its long continued use in small quantities,
and at different intervals.
1. Symptoms which follow a large dose. A most
painful burning and sense of constriction is experienced
in the fauces; dryness of the mouth and lips;
excruciating pain in the stomach and bowels, increased
by the slightest pressure, and generally attended
with considerable distention; excessive vomiting
and purging of frothy mucus; the countenance is
frequently red and swollen, and the eyes exhibit a
sparkling appearance, accompanied by contraction of
the pupils. The pulse is in general quick, small,
and hard; suppression of urine takes place, and
cold sweats; anxiety; universal pains; convulsions,
and death. If the patient survives long enough, a
violent ptyalism, and sloughing of the mouth and
gums may take place.
2. Symptoms which are produced by the repetition of
small doses. In this case the mercurial salt acts as
an “Accumulative Poison.” (See page 148). The
most striking of the symptoms are those arising from
its specific action upon the salivary glands, in consequence
of which an increased flow of saliva takes
place, the gums become tender and sore, the breath
intolerably offensive, and if the use of the salt be not
discontinued, the teeth loosen, and even fall out, and
their loss is sometimes followed by that of the bones
of the palate, or maxillæ; at the same time other
evils, although perhaps less apparent, soon arise;
the strength and muscular powers of the body begin
to fail; emaciation proceeds rapidly; cardialgia, dyspepsia,
diarrhæa, and a train of morbid symptoms
succeed; violent pains are experienced in the muscles,
tendons, or joints; tremors of the limbs, and
even paralysis may result; and in some cases, pulmonary
261consumption terminates the existence of the
unhappy sufferer. It has been asserted that Corrosive
Sublimate, when taken for a long time in small
quantities, will sometimes occasion all the symptoms
of debility above enumerated, together with hectic
fever, without producing salivation. This is a truth
which the author’s personal experience will enable
him to confirm. The Countess of Soissons, mother
of the celebrated Prince Eugene, was accused, at
the latter end of the seventeenth century, of having
destroyed her husband by these means. A question
of considerable importance has arisen, with regard
to the specific effects of mercury, which demands
some notice in this place. Whether salivation, after
having entirely subsided, can ever return without a
fresh exhibition of Mercury? Two instances are related
by Dr. Mead of the return of salivation, after
an interval of several months, when not a particle of
mercury had been administered, in any form, during
that period.[270] Dr. Male, in his work on Juridical
Medicine,[271] relates an analogous case which occurred
in his own practice: “In March, 1815,” says he,
“I gave a small quantity of triturated mercury to a
respectable woman in this town, who had been long
ill; she became suddenly and unexpectedly salivated.
She soon recovered, and enjoyed better
health than she had done for a considerable time. In
October, without (as she informed me) having taken
any medicine whatever, the salivation returned with
extreme violence, her mouth sloughed and mortified;
and in a few weeks she died.” Dr. Hamilton, the
Professor of Midwifery in Edinburgh, relates in his
lectures the case of a married lady, who had been
262under the necessity of going through a course of mercury,
under the care of the late Mr. Bennet, who,
from motives of delicacy did not enquire very minutely
into the particular circumstances; but, according
to the rule of the day, gave his patient a sore
mouth. Four months afterwards she miscarried, and
salivation again came on. It was removed for a week,
at the end of which it returned, and harrassed her for
about twelve months.[272] The author, in his Pharmacologia,[273]
has cited a case from Hufeland’s Journal,
(vol. ix) wherein mercurial influence, after its
complete subsidence, had been renewed by doses of
opium. In the trial of Miss Butterfield, at the Croydon
assizes, for poisoning Mr. Scawen, in the year
1775, the merit of the case entirely hinged upon this
question. See vol. 1, p. 303.
Physiological action of Corrosive Sublimate.
When this salt is introduced into the stomach in a
large dose, it immediately exerts a corrosive action
on that organ, in consequence of which the heart
and brain become sympathetically affected, and death
results from the suspension of their functions. For
this view of the modus operandi of this mercurial salt
we are indebted to Mr. Brodie,[274] whence it would
appear that its physiological action is very different
from that of arsenious acid; the former acting as a
simple escharotic, on the coats of the alimentary canal,
263the latter requiring to be absorbed, before it can
display its energies. These observations, however,
apply only to those cases in which the quantity of
poison has been so considerable as to destroy life in a
few hours; where the dose has been small, and the
symptoms have arisen from its frequent repetition,
the salt produces its effects by a different mode of
operation. In this latter case it is absorbed, and
carried into the current of the blood, so as to be distributed
to every part of the living system; and it has
been asserted that, after the long continued and improper
use of mercury, it has been discovered in different
parts of the body, and even in the brain, in
the form of globules. In this way then deleterious
effects may arise from the external application of corrosive
sublimate, and numerous instances are recorded
where such consequences have followed the
injudicious use of lotions and plasters, into which it had
entered as an ingredient.[275] In the Medical Repository,
for December, 1821, Mr. Sutleffe has communicated
the case of a girl of five years of age, who became
salivated, and died, in consequence of an application
made to the head for tinea capitis, consisting
of pomatum rubbed up with a few grains of corrosive
sublimate.
Antidotes to Corrosive Sublimate.
After the view which we have taken of the operation
of this salt in large doses, it necessarily follows
that copious dilution is the very first object which we
have to accomplish, and then the ejection of the fluid
by vomiting. Sydenham relates an interesting case of
poisoning by this substance, which was successfully
treated by copious draughts of water, and repeated
264vomiting.[276] But it becomes a question of great
practical importance to enquire, whether there may
not exist some counterpoison or antidote which, by
decomposing the salt, will at once disarm it of its virulence?
This question has been investigated in a very
masterly style by Orfila, who has clearly proved by
experiment, that neither the alkaline salts and earths,
the sulphurets of potass and of lime, nor the martial
alkaline tinctures, as proposed by Navier,[277] deserve
the least confidence; for although the salt may by
some of these bodies be decomposed, yet the resulting
oxide will prove as virulent as the original compound;
equally inefficient are the other substances which
have been proposed as counter-poisons, such as sulphuretted
hydrogen, solutions of sugar,[278] the infusions
of Peruvian bark,[279] and metallic mercury.[280]
M. Orfila having observed the facility with which
albumen decomposes corrosive sublimate, and gives
rise to a triple compound of albumen, muriatic acid,
and protoxide of mercury, induced him to ascertain
by experiments whether the white of eggs might not
265prove an antidote to that poison; the result of his
inquiry has shewn that this is the case; and that by
mixing such albuminous matter, in large quantities,
with the diluents given to provoke vomiting, the
happiest effects may be anticipated. Many examples
are recorded of the success of this practice. In the
Transactions of the King and Queen’s College of
Physicians in Ireland, an interesting case of this kind
is related by Dr. Lendrick; it is, however, but justice
to state, that there are instances also of the failure
of this antidote. In the 41st volume of the London
Medical and Physical Journal, p. 204, the reader
will find the case of a girl who was poisoned by a
drachm of sublimate, and who, notwithstanding the
copious administration of albumen, died in ninety
hours afterwards.
It has lately been discovered that vegetable gluten,
as existing in wheat flour, is capable of producing
upon corrosive sublimate the same chemical decomposition,
as that which we have stated to arise from
the action of albumen; whence the administration of
wheat flour and water has been suggested as a ready
antidote. On the trial of Michael Whiting, for administering
poison (corrosive sublimate) to his brothers-in-law,
George and Joseph Langman, the housekeeper,
Catharine Carter, stated in evidence, that the
flour, (which was subsequently proved to contain
corrosive sublimate) could scarcely be made into
dumplings with milk[281]; and another witness, Mrs.
266Hopkins, a neighbour who took charge of the dumpling
that had not been boiled, described it as “a comical
sort of paste; like glazier’s putty more than
paste, though not greasy.” In order to ascertain the
correctness of this statement, we mixed powdered
sublimate with wheat flour, and proceeded to make it
into dough with milk; when the same difficulty as
that stated by the above witnesses, embarrassed the
process, and satisfied us of the truth of their testimony.
The phenomenon would appear to depend
upon the mutual chemical changes which arise in the
gluten and mercurial salt.
Organic Lesions discovered on Dissection.
The œsophagus and stomach will be found inflamed,
and sometimes eroded, as in poisoning by
arsenic. Salin has asserted, that this salt never produces
perforation of the intestinal tube; this, however,
is not the fact; and we know not of any exclusive
appearances, by which the organic lesions inflicted
by this poison can be distinguished, unless
indeed it be the black appearance of the stomach, as
if it had been burnt, which occasionally presents
itself.
267
Of the Chemical Processes by which the presence of Corrosive Sublimate may be detected.
As the chemist, devoted to forensic enquiry, will
be required to identify this substance under very
different states of mixture and combination, we shall
proceed to enumerate the various obstacles that may
possibly oppose his researches; and, at the same
time, to suggest the expedients by which they may
be successfully evaded. Unlike arsenious acid, corrosive
sublimate is so readily decomposed by various
alimentary substances, that, when we attempt to demonstrate
its presence in such mixtures, we shall be
more frequently compelled to rest our proof upon
the products of the analysis, than upon the actual reproduction
of the salt.
We shall proceed to consider the best modes of
establishing the presence of this salt, in the different
forms in which it may occur, viz. 1, In the solid
form; 2, Dissolved in water or spirit; 3, In various
coloured liquids; 4, In a state of mixture with various
solids; 5, Combined with solid or liquid aliments, by
which it undergoes decomposition; 6, In a state of combination
with the textures of the alimentary canal.
1. The sublimate is in its solid form. The external
characters by which this salt is distinguished will go
far to establish its identity; but the fact should always
receive the support of a chemical proof; and
as this is to be derived from the phenomena afforded
by its solutions through the intervention of various
tests, it will meet with full consideration in the following
section, viz.
2. The salt is in the state of solution, in water, or
spirit. Let us then suppose that we have a solution
of some body in distilled water, which we suspect to
268be corrosive sublimate, by what means are we able to
identify it?
(a) By its metallization, through the agency of
galvanism. We are indebted to Mr. Sylvester for first
suggesting the mode by which galvanic electricity
might be applied for the detection of minute quantities
of corrosive sublimate in solution. His method
is as follows. A piece of zinc or iron wire, about
three inches in length, is to be twice bent at right
angles, so as to resemble the greek letter π, the two
legs of this figure should be distant about the diameter
of a common wedding ring from each other, and the
two ends of the bent wire must afterwards be tied to
a ring of this description. Let a plate of glass, not
less than three inches square, be laid as nearly horizontal
as possible, and on one side drop some sulphuric
acid, diluted with about six times its weight of
water, till it spreads to the size of a halfpenny. At a
little distance from this, towards the other side, next
drop some of the solution supposed to contain corrosive
sublimate, till the edges of the two liquids become
joined; and let the wire and ring, prepared as
above, be laid in such a way, that the wire may touch
the acid, while the gold ring is in contact with the
suspected liquid. If the minutest quantity of corrosive
sublimate be present, the ring, in a few minutes,
will be covered with metallic mercury on the part
which touched the fluid.
The above experiment may be beautifully simplified
in the following manner[282]. Drop a small quantity
269of a solution, supposed to contain the salt in
question, on a piece of gold, and bring into contact
a key, or some piece of iron, so as to form a galvanic
circuit; when, if sublimate be present, the gold will
immediately be whitened.
A solution of nitrate of silver will, under similar
treatment, occasion on gold a white precipitate; but
as no amalgamation takes place, it is readily wiped
off, and cannot therefore occasion any fallacy.
(b) By precipitating metallic mercury from its solution,
by the contact of a single metal. It should be
generally known that, by virtue of superior affinity,
certain metals will decompose the solution of corrosive
sublimate, with different phenomena; in those
cases where the precipitating metal is capable of forming
a direct union with mercury, we shall find the
precipitates to consist of an amalgam of the metal
employed; where no such combination takes place,
the mercury may be frequently seen standing on the
surface as a metallic dew. This is particularly striking
when iron or steel has been employed. In the
evidence given on the trial of Mary Bateman[283],
270better known by the name of the “Yorkshire Witch,”
Mr. Thomas Chorley, surgeon at Leeds, stated that
he had received from his assistant, Mr. Hammerton,
a jar which he had carefully preserved in his possession,
and of the contents of which he gave the following
account. “Upon tasting a portion, it was
very acrid, styptic, and permanent upon the tongue;
I then took a small quantity of it upon a clean knife,
and rubbed it with my finger; a change of colour
immediately appeared; further rubbing produced numerous
globules of quicksilver, and the knife was, at
the same time, blackened by it; this change of colour
led me to suspect that it must be a mercurial composition,
and having made a solution of it, and subjected
it to a series of tests and experiments, it is my
opinion, that the mixture in the pot did contain honey,
and corrosive sublimate of mercury. In order, however,
more fully to satisfy myself upon this point, a
mixture was made of these ingredients, when it was
found to yield the same results.” In the above experiment,
the steel knife decomposed the sublimate,
forming a chloride of iron, while the mercury, thus
disengaged in its metallic form, being unable to amalgamate
with the iron, appeared in globules[284] upon
271its surface. At the same time the knife became blackened
owing to the precipitation of carbonaceous matter
from the steel.
(c) Carbonate of Potass. A saturated solution of
this salt, added to that of corrosive sublimate, will
produce a deep brick coloured sediment, which is
stated to consist of per-carbonate of mercury[285];
while a muriate of potass will be found to remain in
solution. The sub-carbonate of potass will occasion
a somewhat different precipitate, of a clear brick
colour, and consisting of a mixture of the carbonate,
and oxide of the metal.[286]
(d) Ammonia. A solution of the volatile alkali
produces a white precipitate, which is an insoluble
triple salt, composed of muriatic acid, ammonia, and
oxide of mercury; being heated it grows yellow; it
passes afterwards to red, and according to Orfila
gives out ammoniacal gas, nitrogen, calomel, and
metallic mercury. In this operation the oxide of
mercury is supposed to be deoxidized by the hydrogen
which results from a portion of the decomposed
ammonia.
(e) Lime water. This reagent may be said to decompose
corrosive sublimate more perfectly than any
alkaline body; occasioning a precipitate of a deep
yellow colour, which will be found to be a peroxide
of mercury; unless indeed the quantity of lime water
be very small, when it will be a sub-muriate of the
peroxide.
272(f) Nitrate of Tin. According to Dr. Bostock[287]
this test is capable of detecting the three-millionth
part of a grain in solution. A single drop will produce
an immediate and copious dark-brown precipitation.
All the above precipitates, if rubbed on a bright
plate of copper, will render its surface silvery white,
in consequence of the amalgamation which takes
place.
Brugnatelli has lately proposed a method of distinguishing
corrosive sublimate from arsenic, which
we have repeated to our satisfaction; but the experiment
requires some nicety of manipulation to secure
its success. Take a quantity of fresh wheat starch,
mix with water, and add a sufficient quantity of iodine
to give the liquid a blue colour; if either of the
above poisons be now introduced into it, the colour
will be destroyed, and assume a reddish tint; but
if the change has been effected by the latter substance,
a few drops of sulphuric acid will restore the
blue colour; whereas if it has been produced by the
former, it is not recoverable by such means.[288]
3. It is dissolved in various coloured liquids. Under
this subdivision we have to consider the corrosive
sublimate as existing in a state of solution, in liquids,
whose colour will be liable to obscure the characteristic
indications which the several reagents would
otherwise occasion. It has been proposed to obviate
such impediments by the previous addition of chlorine,
which will discharge the colour in question.
Orfila recommends such a process, where the salt
has been dissolved in wine. The same objections
which we urged against this mode of proceeding,
273under the consideration of arsenic, appear to us to
apply to corrosive sublimate.
It will be preferable on these occasions to precipitate
the salt by an appropriate reagent, and then to
assay the precipitate for metallic mercury; or to
evaporate the solution, and to submit the matter so
obtained to the process of sublimation, when the sublimate
may be dissolved in distilled water, and examined
by the tests above described. This circuitous
process may, however, in many cases be rendered
unnecessary, by dropping the solution on the surface
of white paper, and in such a situation proceeding to
its examination by tests; when the colour of the
precipitate will rarely be exposed to any optical fallacy.
The Galvanic process of metallic reduction
will also furnish a satisfactory solution of the problem.
4. It is mixed, or combined, with some medicinal
body in a solid form. As persons have been poisoned
by empirical remedies, and other medicines containing
sublimate, accidentally or by design, it is necessary to
point out the readiest mode by which the investigation
may be pursued. If it should form part of a plaster,
it will be adviseable to cut it up in small pieces, and
boil them for a quarter of an hour in distilled water;
this fluid, after standing for some time, should be
filtered, and examined as we have before directed.
It is evident that, if the sublimate is neither decomposed,
nor strongly retained by the materials which
compose the plaster, it ought to be found in the
above solution; if, however, no such result can be
obtained, the solid portion should be dried in a capsule,
and mixed with potass; and in this state submitted,
in the usual manner, to the process of sublimation,
when the appearance of metallic globules
274will announce the existence of the salt in question,
or, at least, of the presence of some mercurial preparation.
5. It is united with alimentary substances which have
effected its decomposition. It has been frequently
stated during the course of the present inquiry, that
corrosive sublimate is easily susceptible of decomposition,
and that various alimentary substances, of
animal as well as vegetable origin, have the power
of converting it into calomel.[289] This important fact
was first noticed by Chaussier[290] and has been more
fully investigated and confirmed by Orfila.[291] Where
the quantity of mercurial salt has been considerable,
we may generally obtain, on washing the alimentary
matter, a sufficient portion for experiment; but
where the dose has been small, or where it has been
ejected by frequent vomiting, the whole residue may
be decomposed; in which case we must seek to establish
the fact of poisoning, through the detection of
metallic mercury, by the processes of calcination and
sublimation.
6. It is decomposed, and a part exists in intimate
combination with the membranes of the alimentary canal.
If all the preceding experiments have failed in detecting
the presence of corrosive sublimate, it becomes
our duty to examine the textures with which
it may be supposed to have come in contact; the
coats of the canal should be cut into pieces, and
calcined with potass, when, if they have been acted
upon by sublimate, they will yield metallic mercury
275by sublimation. “The alimentary canal,” says M.
Orfila, “acts upon the sublimate like all other animal
substances; muriatic acid is disengaged, and
muriate of mercury ad minimum (calomel) is formed,
which combines with the substance of the viscus.
It may be objected,” continues this distinguished
experimentalist, “that this chemical action does
not take place in the living animal; that our texture,
while endued with the vital principle, is not subservient
to the same laws as inorganic substances: I am
not ignorant of the extent to which this objection
is well-founded; but admitting the justice of it, the
conclusion is not less true, that if the stomach contains
corrosive sublimate at the moment of death,
this body will, from that moment, act on the texture
of the viscus itself. If the stomach contain a large
quantity of aliment, the effects of such an action
may be scarcely perceptible; but on the contrary,
they will be easily applicable, should the viscus be
empty, and especially if the examination of the body
takes place several days after death.”[292]
In conducting experiments upon this, and indeed
all other mineral poisons, the chemist must be prepared
to meet with anomalies depending upon the
impurities or adulterations of the substance under
examination.
Red Oxide of Mercury. Precipitate per se.
We are not aware of any instance of death having,
from accident or design, taken place in consequence
of the administration of this substance; indeed its
red colour, insolubility in water, and comparative
276rarity, will protect mankind sufficiently against mistake,
and at the same time render its secret administration
extremely difficult. It is, moreover, mild in
its effects, unless in large doses, or, under particular
circumstances of constitution. It may be identified
by its form, which is that of minute crystalline scales,
of a deep red colour, and by exposing it to heat in
a glass tube, by which it undergoes decomposition,
giving out metallic mercury, adhering to the sides of
the tube, and oxygen gas, which is disengaged.
Red Precipitate, or Nitric Oxide of Mercury.
This is, strictly speaking, a sub-nitrate of mercury,
and is much more poisonous than the preceding substance.
Plouquet[293] relates the case of a man, who
swallowed by accident some red precipitate, when
he immediately experienced violent colics, copious
vomitings, a trembling of his limbs, and cold sweats.
Its external characters will at once enable the chemist
to identify it.
Other Preparations of Mercury.
The various saline compounds of this metal, as the
acetate, sulphate, and nitrate, are all highly poisonous,
but they do not appear to us to merit a separate consideration;
and more especially as we have already
explained the various processes by which every variety
of preparation may be identified. We may just
remark that the sulphuret, better known by the name
of cinnabar, or vermilion, has been known to occasion
deleterious effects. Dr. Gordon Smith[294] states,
277upon the authority of Mr. Accum,[295] that “Vermilion
has been detected as a poisonous ingredient in
cheese:” this may be very true, but he should have
stated at the same time, that the deleterious effects
produced by it, did not arise from the mercurial sulphuret,
but from the red lead with which it happened
to be adulterated; and it is necessary to acquaint the
forensic chemist, that such a fraud[296] is by no means
uncommon; it may be very easily detected by burning
a small portion of the suspected sample on a piece
of bread in the candle, when metallic globules will
announce the presence of lead; for the oxide of mercury,
although revived by the process, will at the
same time be volatilized. The bread by combustion
affords the carbon by which the metallic reduction
is effected.
The presence of very minute quantities of vermilion
may, according to Mr. Smithson, be detected by the
following simple experiment. Boil a portion with
sulphuric acid in a platina spoon, and lay the sulphate
thus produced in a drop of muriatic acid, on a
piece of gold, and then bring a piece of metallic tin
in contact with both, when the white mercurial stain
will be produced.
Although the ancients were entirely ignorant of
this metal, they were well acquainted with several of
278its combinations,[297] Basil Valentine, a German Benedictine
Monk, was the first who described the process
for obtaining it from its ore; to this work, originally
written in high Dutch, and known by the title of the
“Currus Triumphalis Antimonii,” which was published
towards the end of the 15th century, we are indebted
for almost all our knowledge respecting this metal.
Antimony is of a greyish white colour, having considerable
brilliancy; its texture is laminated, and
exhibits plates crossing each other in every direction;
its specific gravity is 6·7021; when rubbed upon the
fingers it communicates to them a peculiar taste and
smell; it is very brittle, and fuses at the temperature
of 809°, but does not appear to be volatile; when
fused, with the access of air, it emits white fumes,
consisting of an oxide of the metal, which formerly
was called Argentine flowers of Antimony. When
the metal is raised to a white heat, and suddenly
agitated, it enters into a state of combustion, and is
converted into the same white coloured oxide.
According to Thenard,[298] antimony is susceptible
of no less than six different degrees of oxidation;
Proust, however, has shewn that they may all be reduced
to two, viz. protoxide and peroxide. The former
of which alone exerts any sensible activity upon
the human body; but this constitutes the basis of
several preparations, which although in common use
for medical purposes, are so extremely poisonous in
larger doses, as to render them objects of interest to
the forensic physician.
279
Emetic Tartar.[299] Tartarized Antimony.
This saline body appears in the state of white
crystals, whose primitive figure is the regular tetrahedron,
although it assumes a variety of secondary
forms. Its chemical composition is still involved in
some obscurity; it is stated, in the different dispensatories,
to be a triple salt, consisting of tartaric acid,
oxide of antimony, and potass, and that it ought
therefore, according to the principles of the reformed
nomenclature, to be termed a Tartrate of Antimony
and Potass. The truth of these views, however, we
have already[300] ventured to question; Gay Lussac
has stated that in the various metalline compounds
of which Super-tartrate of Potass is an ingredient,
this latter substance acts the part of a simple acid;
an opinion which receives considerable support from
the great solvent property of cream of tartar, and
from the striking fact that it is even capable of dissolving
various oxides which are insoluble in tartaric
acid, of which the protoxide of antimony is an example.
In such a state of doubt, a better name could
not be found than that of tartarized antimony.
The salt, according to Dr. Duncan, is soluble in
three times its weight of distilled water at 212° Fah.
and in fifteen, at 60°.
When it is heated red hot in an earthen crucible, it
blackens, and undergoes decomposition like a vegetable
body, leaving a residuum of metallic antimony,
and slightly carbonated potass.
280
Symptoms of Poisoning by Emetic Tartar.
A question has arisen whether this salt can be considered
as a poison, capable of occasioning death? In
general where a large dose has been administered, it
is all rejected by the vomiting which it excites; we
accordingly find in the works of Morgagni and other
pathologists, the history of various cases in proof of
the innocence of this salt. Hoffman, however, relates
the case of a woman who experienced very
severe symptoms shortly after having taken tartar
emetic, and that she ultimately died,[301] and there
are other similar instances recorded in the works of
Foderé and Orfila. It also deserves notice, that tartarized
antimony is very liable to produce deleterious
effects, where, from the insensibility of the nervous
system, the operation of vomiting cannot be excited,
as in apoplexy, drunkenness, and in that state of
coma, which follows the ingestion of narcotic vegetables.
M. Cloquet communicated to Orfila a case
highly illustrative of this fact, in which a person,
labouring under apoplexy, received into his stomach
more than forty grains of tartar emetic, without exciting
either nausea or vomiting. On opening the
body, independent of the morbid state of the brain,
which must be regarded as the immediate cause of
death, extensive organic lesions were discovered in
the alimentary canal, which could alone be attributed
to the action of the tartar emetic. This fact will
suggest a very important precaution to the practitioner,
who may be called upon to treat a person
labouring under a state of the system which will prevent
the act of vomiting.[302].
281The symptoms produced by this salt will resemble
those of a corrosive poison; and where vomiting is
produced, it frequently happens that although the
patient may be eventually saved, an irritability of
stomach, so great as to cause the rejection of all aliments,
will remain for a considerable period; and
Dr. Male states that in the only case of poisoning by
this salt which he had ever seen, the person was
affected with violent convulsions, which returned at
intervals for several weeks after recovery from the
immediate effects of the poison.[303] M. Orfila, after
detailing several cases of poisoning by emetic tartar,
concludes by saying that the general symptoms, upon
such occasions, may be reduced to the following:
a rough metallic taste; nausea; copious vomitings;
frequent hiccup; cardialgia; burning heat in the epigastric
region; pains of the stomach; abdominal colics;
inflation; copious stools; syncope; small, contracted
and accelerated pulse; skin cold, sometimes
intensely hot; breathing difficult; vertigo, loss of
sense, convulsive movements; very painful cramps in
the legs; prostration of strength,—death.
Sometimes to the above symptoms is joined a great
difficulty of swallowing; deglutition may be suspended
for some time. The vomiting and alvine evacuations
do not always take place, the necessary consequence
of which is an increase in the violence of the other
symptoms.
Antidotes.
The great indication to be fulfilled in a case of this
description, is the ejection of the salt by vomiting.
MM. Orfila and Berthollet rely very confidently upon
282the effects of bark, strong tea, infusion of galls, and
other vegetable astringents, which have undoubtedly
the power of decomposing the salt. They ought,
therefore, to be employed as diluents to assist vomiting,
but they are not to be considered as antidotes
which can render this latter operation less indispensable.
Physiological action of emetic tartar.
M. Majendie has shewn by experiment, that if
tartarized antimony be injected into the veins of a dog,
the animal vomits, and has frequent stools; his
breathing becomes difficult; his pulse frequent and
intermitting; a great degree of disquietude, and
tremblings are the precursory signs of death, which
generally takes place within the first hour from the
injection of the emetic tartar. On opening the body
great alterations are perceived in the lungs; they are
found of an orange or violet colour, have no crackling,
are distended with blood, and of a tight texture.
The mucous membrane of the intestinal canal, from
the cardia to the extremity of the rectum is red, and
strongly injected.
If, instead of thus injecting the emetic tartar into
the veins, it be injected into the stomach, and the
œsophagus is tied to prevent vomiting, M. Orfila informs
us that the same alterations will be found after
death. The very same effects will also arise from the
application of the emetic tartar to the different absorbing
surfaces, such as the cellular substances, &c.
Mr. Brodie[304] has also thrown considerable light
283upon the action of this salt. He observes that the
effects of emetic tartar so much resemble those of
arsenic, which we have already described, and those
of muriate of baryta, which will form a future subject
of inquiry, that it would be needless to enter into a
detail of the individual experiments which he made
with it. When applied to a wound in animals which
are capable of vomiting, it usually, but not constantly,
operated very speedily as an emetic; in other respects
he found no material difference in the symptoms
produced in the different species of animals,
which he had been in the habit of employing as subjects
of experiment. The symptoms were paralysis,
drowsiness, and, at last, complete insensibility; the
pulse became feeble, but the heart continued to act
after apparent death, and was maintained in action
by means of artificial respiration; but never for a
longer period than for a few minutes. Whence it
would appear, that this poison acts by being absorbed,
and that it directs a sedative influence upon the
heart, as well as the brain, but that its principal action
is on the latter. The length of time which
elapses, from the application of the poison to the death
of the animal, varies; in some instances Mr. Brodie
found that it did not exceed three quarters of an
hour, but in others, it was two or three hours, or
even longer, before death took place. When a solution
of emetic tartar was injected into the stomach of
a rabbit, Mr. Brodie observed the same symptoms to
take place, as when it was applied to a wound.
Organic lesions discovered by dissection.
Mr. Brodie, in his examination of animals poisoned
by emetic tartar, sometimes found the stomach
bearing the marks of inflammation, but at other
284times, its appearance was perfectly natural. In no
case did he discover any traces of inflammation in the
intestines. The reader must compare this account
with that already given by M. Majendie, at p. 282.
1. Tests for the detection of emetic tartar.
1. The poison is in a solid form. Dissolve a portion
of the suspected salt in about fifteen times its
weight of boiling distilled water; if it be emetic tartar,
the following reagents will identify it, viz.
(a) The hydrosulphurets will occasion a reddish-yellow
precipitate, which is a combination of oxygen
and antimony, proceeding from the emetic tartar;
and of hydrogen and sulphur, from the reagent employed.
If it be dried on a filter, and mixed with
charcoal and the potass of commerce, it gives, by
the action of heat, a cake of metallic antimony.
(b) Tincture of galls. This is regarded as the most
sensible test of this salt, affording a precipitate of a
curdled, dirty white colour, inclining to yellow.
(c) Lime water. This reagent produces a white
precipitate, which is extremely thick, and is easily
redissolved by pure nitric acid. In this case the lime
forms an insoluble tartrate, and the tartrate of antimony,
thus rendered insoluble, subsides along with it.
(d) Concentrated sulphuric acid gives a white precipitate,
which consists of the oxide of antimony retaining
a small portion of the acid. It redissolves in
an excess of the precipitant.
(e) Vegetable extractive, occasions in the solution
of this salt, a reddish-yellow precipitate, which
has been found to consist of oxide of antimony, and a
portion of vegetable matter.
285
2. It is mixed with various alimentary substances.
If our attempts should fail to procure a solution of the
salt by filtration, answering to the above reagents,
we must rely upon the proof of metallic reproduction.
Various circumstances may invalidate the action of
our tests, such, for instance, as the ingestion of some
vegetable infusion or decoction, especially that of
galls, or yellow bark.
With respect to the other preparations of antimony,
it is unnecessary to waste our time in their
consideration; the precepts already given will afford
the practitioner every requisite hint for the prosecution
of the enquiry.
This metal, with the exception of gold and silver,
and perhaps tin, was known earlier than any other
metal; but its applications were entirely confined to
the arts. It was first discovered by the Greeks in the
island of Cyprus, whence its name; and we learn
from Homer, that even during the Trojan war, the
combatants had no other armour but what was made
of bronze, which is a mixture of copper and tin.[305].
The external characters of the metal are too well
known to require minute description. Its taste is
styptic and nauseous; and the hands when rubbed
for some time on it, acquire a peculiar and disagreeable
odour. When melted, its specific gravity is
8·667; but after being hammered it is 8·9. It is only
susceptible of two degrees of oxidation. If the protoxide
286be native, it is red; if artificial, orange coloured.
The peroxide is black.
Copper, on exposure to a moist atmosphere, becomes
tarnished, absorbs a portion of its oxygen, and
passes into the state of an oxide, which shortly unites
with the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, and forms
a greenish carbonate of copper.
Metallic copper, perfectly pure, does not possess
any deleterious properties. We have already cited
instances[306] sufficiently conclusive to establish this
fact. It becomes, therefore, a subject of no little interest
to enquire, under what circumstances it may
become poisonous by combination. M. Orfila observes
that it has been long maintained, that milk
heated, or allowed to remain in vessels of copper not
oxidized, dissolved a portion of this metal, and acted
as a poison. Eller, a philosopher of Berlin, has,
however, very clearly proved such an opinion to be
incorrect. He boiled in succession, in a kettle well
freed from verdegris, milk, tea, coffee, beer, and
rain water; after two hours boiling, he found it impossible
to discover, in any of these fluids, the least
vestige of copper. M. Drouard has also shewn that
distilled water, left for a month together on the
filings of this metal in a glass bottle, did not dissolve
an atom of it. The celebrated toxicologist above
cited, after relating these important facts, concludes
by observing, that the phenomena are very different,
if, instead of pure water, we substitute that which contains
a certain quantity of muriate of soda. Eller has
demonstrated the presence of a very small quantity of
copper in water, which contained 1/20th of its weight of
287muriate of soda, and which had been boiled in a brass
kettle. This fact is of the highest importance, for it will
explain the reason why highly seasoned aliments have
proved deleterious, when cooked in vessels of copper.
But we are indebted to Mr. Eller for a still more important
discovery; he found that if, instead of heating
a simple solution of common salt in copper vessels, the
salt be previously mixed with beef, bacon, and fish,
the fluid resulting from it does not contain an atom
of copper.[307] In relating this fact, M. Orfila observes,
“however astonishing it may appear, it is
quite correct, M. Eller was the first to announce it,
and I have several times ascertained the truth of it;
it is probable,” continues Orfila, “that the combination
of several kinds of aliments destroys the effect of
the solution of the muriate of soda; which consequently
ought to render the cases of poisoning by aliments
cooked in copper vessels, which are not oxidized,
extremely rare.”
Copper combines with sulphur, and affords a black
sulphuret.
Oxide of Copper.
By oxidation, copper becomes poisonous. The
substance may be easily recognised by the change of
colour which it produces in ammonia; this alkali will
dissolve it instantly, and assume a beautiful blue
colour. It is wholly insoluble[308] in water. In oils
288and fatty matter it is easily and copiously dissolved at
the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. Such
bodies also, when boiled in vessels of perfectly clean
copper, facilitate their oxidation, especially if left to
cool a few minutes before they are poured out.
Green Carbonate of Copper—Natural Verdegris.
This substance forms spontaneously on surfaces of
copper and brass; it differs from the oxide in its
green colour, and in effervescing with dilute sulphuric
acid; with ammonia, however, it demeans itself
in the same manner, and is likewise insoluble in
water. It is poisonous.
From the above history of these substances the medical
practitioner will easily perceive under what circumstances,
and by what bodies, metallic vessels of
copper may be rendered dangerous. The oxide and
carbonate, formed in them, will easily dissolve in acidulous
and oily aliments, whence it follows that all
preparations of such food, if conducted in vessels
whose surfaces have contracted this change will be
liable to prove deleterious.[309] If the vessels be perfectly
clean, acid preparations may be safely boiled
in them, but they must be poured out immediately,
and not suffered to remain sufficiently long to allow
the copper to become oxidized. To the formation of
the oxide of copper, and to the acetic acid contained
in the wine, vinegar, beer, and cider, M. Orfila attributes
the production of the acetate which forms
289about the corners of the cocks in vessels containing
these liquors. Upon the same principle the soda
water sold in this town, in a draught, from the pump,
is liable to metallic impregnation, as we have fully
satisfied ourselves.
Equally important is it for the forensic physician to
be acquainted with the various other sources from
which copper poison may be derived. In consequence
of the fact of the oxide of copper forming, with
the acids, compounds of a beautiful green colour, the
metal is often employed in cookery to impart a vivid
hue to various articles; the sale of pickles, for instance,
frequently depends upon the liveliness of
their green colour; whence we find, in works[310] on
cookery, directions for ensuring such an effect, by
boiling the pickles with copper coin, or by suffering
them to stand for some time in vessels of that metal.
In the third volume of the Medical Transactions of
the College of Physicians we shall find an interesting
history, related by Dr. Percival of Manchester, of a
young lady who amused herself, whilst under the
hands of the hair-dresser, with eating pickled samphire,
of which she consumed two breakfast plates
full; she shortly afterwards complained of great
thirst, pain in the stomach, and a rash appeared
upon her hands and breast. After an illness of nine
days, during which she suffered severe vomitings,
and tormina of the bowels, she expired. Upon examining
the samphire, Dr. Percival found that it was
very strongly impregnated with copper. In the preparation
of confectionary, especially sugar-plums,
and sweatmeats of a green colour, copper is very generally
290introduced, and many instances are recorded of
their having proved highly deleterious. Catsup is
also said to be occasionally impregnated with verdegris;
and vestiges of this metal have been detected
in the well known cordial, called Shrub.
In order to prevent the contingent dangers attendant
upon copper vessels, they ought always to be tinned;[311]
and it is a very curious and interesting fact, that
this latter metal, although it may cover the copper
surface only imperfectly, will nevertheless protect us
from its effects; for M. Proust has shewn that the superior
readiness with which tin is oxidized and acted
upon by acids, when compared with copper, will not
allow this latter metal to appropriate to itself a single
atom of oxygen.
But copper vessels, notwithstanding this fact, unless
well tinned, should be dismissed from the service of
the kitchen. The Senate of Sweden, in the year
1753, prohibited them entirely, and ordered that
none but such as were made of iron should be used
in their fleets and army.
Verdegris. Ærugo.
The verdegris of commerce is a compound mass,
consisting of the acetate, and sub-acetate of copper,
carbonate of copper, and copper partly metallic, and
partly oxidized; it, moreover, contains the stalks of
grapes and other extraneous matter. Boiling water
dissolves it in part, and, at the same time, occasions
in it a chemical change, by transforming one portion
of the sub-acetate into the soluble acetate, and
another, into an oxide of copper, which is precipitated.
With cold water, verdegris demeans itself
very differently; the acetate is dissolved by it, whilst
291that portion which is in the state of sub-salt remains
suspended in the form of a fine green powder. Vinegar
converts all the ærugo into a soluble acetate.
Sulphuric acid poured on its powder decomposes it
with effervescence, and vapours of acetic acid are
disengaged; a character by which this substance may
be easily identified.
Blue Vitriol. Sulphate of Copper.
Blue Copperas—Roman Vitriol.
This salt occurs in crystals of a deep rich blue colour,
and whose form is that of a rhomboidal prism;
their taste is harsh, acrid, and styptic; on exposure
to air they slightly effloresce, and assume a greenish
hue. When treated with sulphuric acid, no effervescence
occurs, a circumstance which at once distinguishes
this salt from ærugo.
Symptoms of Poisoning by the Salts of Copper.
The operation of these bodies, upon the human
system, is betrayed by an acrid, styptic, coppery
taste, in the mouth; nausea; head-ache; a dry and
parched tongue; vomiting; coppery eructations; a
cutaneous eruption; violent pains in the bowels;
very frequent alvine evacuations, sometimes green, and
often bloody and blackish; great and painful distention
of the abdomen; small and irregular pulse; heat
of skin; ardent thirst; difficult and laborious respiration;
hiccup; syncope; cold sweats; convulsions—death.
It does not, however, kill so speedily as
arsenic, or corrosive sublimate.
Organic Lesions discovered on Dissection.
Where death has been speedily produced by a
cupreous poison, dissection will generally discover
292inflammation, and even gangrene in the mucous membrane
of the alimentary canal. Like other poisons of
the corrosive class it will also be found to have occasionally
extended its inflammatory action to all the
coats of the canal, producing sloughs, easily detached,
and leaving perforations. Dr. Male has also remarked
that inflammation will sometimes be observed
in the brain; but that this is not an universal effect
of copper poison. It has been stated, that the fluids
contained in the primæ viæ are, upon these occasions,
very frequently tinged with a green colour.
Chemical Tests by which the presence of the preparations of Copper may be detected.
1. The suspected body is in a solid form.—We have
already pointed out the characters by which the principal
preparations of copper may be identified. Our
judgment, however, upon these occasions will require
that confirmation from experiment, which the following
processes are calculated to afford.
A. By its reduction to a metallic state. If the
copper presents itself in the form of an oxide, it may
be easily reduced by heating it, in the usual manner,
in contact with some carbonaceous matter; an earthen
crucible will furnish the most convenient vessel for
the occasion. If the substance has been scraped from
a surface of copper, it is probably in the state of carbonate,
(natural verdegris,) and may be calcined with
charcoal in order to procure the metal. Should the
substance in question be true ærugo, we may at once
heat it to redness in an earthen crucible, when, without
the aid of any carbonaceous matter, we shall obtain
metallic copper.
293B. By the application of certain reagents, or tests, to its solutions.
It may happen that the quantity of the above substances
is not sufficient to allow their metallic reduction
by calcination. In that case, we must proceed
to obtain a solution; but since neither the oxide,
nor the carbonate, is soluble in water, it will be
necessary to bring them in contact with concentrated
acetic acid, so as to obtain an acetate of copper;
which will furnish the following indications with the
respective tests.
a. A surface of clean iron. If dipped into the solution
will become coated with metallic copper, and
appear as if transmuted into that metal.
b. Ammonia. This test, when added in a quantity
more than sufficient to saturate any excess of
acid, will strike a beautiful blue colour; in the first
instance we shall obtain a deep blue precipitate, but
this will be redissolved by an excess of alkali. To
detect the presence of copper, therefore, in pickles,
it is only necessary to cut them into small pieces, and
to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with an equal bulk
of water, over them in a stopped phial: if the pickles
contain the most minute quantity of this metal, the
ammonia will assume a blue colour. In the same
manner cupreous impregnations may be discovered in
the various articles of confectionary above enumerated,
and in those foreign conserves which are imported
into this country, and usually sold in round
boxes.
c. Sub-carbonate of Potass. By this re-agent a
precipitate of a pale blue colour is produced.
d. Arsenite of Potass instantly occasions a copious
294precipitate in the acetate of copper, which is of a
green colour, and is in fact an arsenite of the metal.
e. Triple Prussiate of Potass. This test gives a
brown precipitate with a solution of verdegris,
which is found to consist of prussiate of copper,
and prussiate of iron; while the liquor contains an
acetate of potass.
2. The suspected poison is mixed and combined with various alimentary substances.
We have in this case the same embarrassments to
encounter, as those already noticed under the consideration
of arsenic. Our tests may produce their
respective precipitates, but they will present different
colours according to the nature of the fluids with
which the substance happens to be mixed; whence
the circumstance of colour, so characteristic on other
occasions, cannot be received as a satisfactory indication.
In such a difficulty, we may collect the precipitates,
and calcine them in a crucible with charcoal,
in order to obtain the metal; or we may at once
evaporate the whole of the alimentary mass, and
submit it to a high temperature, by which means all
the vegetable and animal principles, which can form
a part of the liquor vomited, will be decomposed and
converted into several volatile productions, and into
charcoal; this combustible body will decompose the
oxide of copper, and reduce it to its metallic state.[312].
Nor is this process without its fallacies; it is often
difficult to recognise the metal, dispersed as it necessarily
must be, in small quantity, through a considerable
mass of charcoal; in this case we are recommended
295by Orfila to place the product of the calcination
in water, when in a short period, the copper,
from its superior specific gravity will subside from
the lighter particles of charcoal. But it would be
still better to pour nitric acid upon the product of
the calcination, and thereby to obtain a solution of
nitrate of copper, which by filtration might be immediately
prepared for the application of appropriate
re-agents.
It merits notice, however, that in certain cases of
poisoning by copper, no vestiges of the substance can
be found in the matters voided from the stomach. In
that case, Orfila directs that the mucous membrane of
the stomach, and of the intestines, should be scraped
off, dried, and submitted to the action of a strong
heat in a crucible. “I have,” says this distinguished
experimentalist, “twice obtained metallic copper,
by calcining in this manner a portion of the membranes
of the stomach of two dogs that I had poisoned
with verdegris. This effect particularly takes place
when the mucous membrane is of a bluish colour,
hard, and strongly adhering to the substance of the
stomach.”
It is clearly established by the experiments of
Bayen and Charlard,[313] as well as by those of
Proust,[314] that this metal possesses no poisonous
properties. Its muriate, however, has been shewn
by Orfila to possess highly corrosive properties. It
excites violent vomiting, great depression, and death,
without convulsions. Its antidote is milk, which it
speedily coagulates; and by chemical combination
296with it, the poison is rendered inert. On dissection,
the stomach is said to have been found corrugated
and indurated, and has been compared to tanned
skin, but its colour is not altered.
As this substance is never likely to become an
object of forensic interest, in this kingdom, we shall
pass it over without farther notice.
The ancients were acquainted with a mineral to
which they gave the name of Cadmia,[315] from Cadmus,
who first taught the Greeks to use it. They
knew that when melted with copper it formed brass;
and that when burnt, a white spongy kind of ashes
was volatilized, which they used in medicine.[316]
This mineral contained a good deal of zinc; and yet
there is no proof remaining that the ancients were
acquainted with that metal. It has a brilliant white
colour, with a shade of blue, and is composed of a
number of thin plates adhering together; its specific
gravity is 7·1. When strongly heated in a crucible,
it quickly goes into fusion, absorbs the oxygen of
the atmosphere, and burns with a beautiful white
flame, inclining to green, and extremely brilliant.
The oxide of zinc thus formed, is diffused through the
atmosphere, and is there condensed into extremely
light flakes of a beautiful white appearance. This
oxide was formerly known under the fanciful names
of nihil album; lana philosophorum, &c.
In its metallic state it is quite inert; but late experiments
by Vauquelin and Deyeux, have proved
that it is very easily acted upon by water, the weakest
297vegetable acids, some saline substances, and butter;
a fact which is hostile to the proposal of employing
this metal for the manufacture of culinary utensils.
White Vitriol. Sulphate of Zinc.
This salt occurs in masses, consisting of crystals
which are four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided
pyramids. Their taste is styptic, metallic, and
slightly acidulous. They are soluble in 2·5 times their
weight of water at 60°, and in less than their own
weight of boiling water, but they are quite insoluble in
alcohol. Thus dissolved they redden the tincture of
tournesol.
Symptoms of Poisoning by Sulphate of Zinc.
This salt, like tartarized antimony, from the high
degree of emetic virtue which it possesses, generally
proves its own antidote; still, however, it must be
considered as a poison; for several cases are on record,
where the most alarming symptoms, and indeed
death itself, have been the effect of its ingestion.
Metzger[317] mentions the case of a woman, who accidentally
ate a trifling quantity of a cake, into which
White Vitriol had been introduced for the purpose of
shortening the days of an old man. The woman died;
but the intended victim escaped, after severe vomiting.
M. Orfila has also related several cases of poisoning
by this salt. The symptoms which presented
themselves on these occasions were, an astringent
metalline taste, a sense of constriction in the fauces,
so distressing as even to excite in the patient a fear of
298suffocation; frequent vomitings; copious stools;
pains in the epigastric region, extending afterwards
over the whole abdomen; difficulty of breathing;
frequency of pulse; paleness of the countenance, and
coldness of the extremities.
We have lately heard of a case in which a noble
lord swallowed a solution of white vitriol, which had
been sent to him by mistake, for Epsom salts, to
which it bears some analogy. Fortunately, however,
the violent emetic effect which followed removed the
poison from the stomach, and obviated any farther
injury.
Organic lesions discovered on Dissection.
We have no well authenticated dissection of a
human being who had died from the ingestion of this
poison. The examination of animals[318] who have
been so killed has shewn nothing more than an inflammation,
not very severe, of the membrane with which
it had come in contact; sometimes dark blood is observed
to be extravasated upon the muscular coat of
the stomach and intestines.
Chemical processes for the detection of Sulphate of Zinc.
The chemist must remember that the White Vitriol
of commerce always contains sulphate of iron, and
sometimes sulphate of copper. When dissolved in
distilled water it may be identified by the following
re-agents; viz.
a. Potass, and Ammonia, precipitate an oxide of a
greenish white colour, easily soluble in an excess of
the latter of these alkalies. The oxide obtained by
potass, being washed and dried, and calcined with
299charcoal, is revived, provided the temperature be
very much elevated. It should be known, that if the
salt has been previously purified, the above tests will
occasion a white precipitate.
b. Prussiate of Potass produces a precipitate of a
rather deep blue colour; which, consists of a mixture
of the prussiates of zinc and iron. If the salt has been
divested of all impurity, the precipitate will be
white.
c. The Hydro-sulphurets instantly occasion a
blackish precipitate, which, like the former, will be
found to be a mixture of zinc and iron, in the state of
an hydro-sulphuret. If the salt, however, is pure, its
colour will be white with a tinge of yellow.
This metal does not exert any influence on the
living body; but its oxide in combination with nitric
acid constitutes one of the most corrosive of all the
metallic salts.
Lunar Caustic. Nitrate of Silver.
Lapis Infernalis.
The usual state in which this substance occurs is
in that of small cylinders, having been cast into
moulds for the purpose of imparting to it a form best
adapted for the purposes it is designed to answer.
Its action on animal matter is highly caustic, and
when introduced in any considerable quantity into
the stomach, will induce death by corroding the
texture with which it may come in contact. At the
same time there is reason to believe that the whole,
or part of its composition, may be absorbed; for we
have many instances on record where the frequent
300repetition of this metallic salt, in small doses, has
imparted a blue tinge to the skin, which can only be
explained on the supposition that the oxide of the
metal has been actually deposited in the rete mucosum[319].
We are not aware that there is any modern case of
poisoning by this salt[320]. The medical practitioner,
however, ought to know, that common salt, is its true
antidote; indeed so completely does it decompose
and separate it from water, that if a saturated solution
of nitrate of silver be filtered through common
salt, it may be afterwards drunk with impunity. M.
Orfila, by a series of experiments, has shewn that if
the muriate of soda be administered a very short time
after the ingestion of lunar caustic, it will disarm it
of its virulence by transforming it into an insoluble
muriate, possessing no power of acting on the animal
œconomy.
Chemical processes for the detection of Lunar Caustic.
If a small portion of the salt can be procured it
may be dissolved in distilled water, and immediately
identified by the following tests.
a. Muriatic acid, or any soluble Muriate, will precipitate
the muriate of silver, which is white, curdled,
very heavy, insoluble in water, or nitric acid; but
soluble in liquor ammoniæ; when exposed to the air
it acquires a black colour.
301b. Potass, Soda, and Lime water, will occasion a
precipitate of the oxide, of a deep brown colour.
c. Ammonia. This alkali will form an ammoniuret
of silver, and in consequence of the solubility of this
new product, little or no disturbance is occasioned by
the test.
d. Arsenite of Potass. As all re-agents must be
considered as reciprocal in their operation, it is
hardly necessary to state that this is one of the best
tests for nitrate of silver. See the history of its effects
at p. 240.
If it should be necessary to discover the nitrate of
silver amongst the fluids vomited, or those contained
in the stomach of the deceased, we are very properly
directed by M. Orfila to filter, and then assay by the
appropriate tests; if, however, the different aliments
should disguise the characteristic colour and appearance
of these precipitates, we must proceed to desiccate
and calcine them in order to obtain the silver in
a metallic state.
These must be regarded as the most terrible of all
corrosive poisons. Their action is so immediate and
energetic, as generally to destroy the membranes of
the stomach, before their peculiar antidotes can be
applied. Notwithstanding the obvious suffering
they must occasion, and the facility with which they
may be detected, such bodies have frequently, especially
in France, been the instruments of suicide
and murder; whilst in this country, we have had
many lamentable illustrations of their deadly force,
by their ingestion from fatal carelessness. In conformity
with our general plan we shall proceed to
consider the individual substances included under
302this general class, although the symptoms do not
materially differ in the different kinds, nor are the
indications of cure peculiar to any of them. There
are however chemical characters which exclusively
belong to each acid, with which the forensic physician
must be accurately acquainted, in order that he
may be enabled to detect their presence.
Oil of Vitriol. Sulphuric Acid.
This acid, when perfectly pure, exists in the form
of a colourless liquid, without smell, and of an oily
consistence; whence its popular name. Its specific
gravity is 1·85, so that, in round numbers, it may be
stated that an ounce, by measure, will weigh fourteen
drachms. It acquires a brown tinge from the smallest
portion of carbonaceous matter; mere exposure to
the atmosphere is sufficient to effect this change, in
consequence of the acid disorganizing and carbonating
the vegetable and animal matter suspended in the
air. This fact sufficiently explains why we generally
find the acid of commerce of a brown colour.
Its taste is highly acid and caustic. So powerful
is its affinity for water, that upon its admixture with
this fluid, a heat, sufficiently great to boil water, may
be produced. When exposed in its concentrated
state to the air, it will imbibe at least seven times its
own weight of water, and so rapidly as to have its
weight doubled in a month. Straw, wood, and all
vegetable substances, when immersed in the sulphuric
acid, without heat, are disorganized, softened, and
blackened, and there is separated from them a certain
portion of charcoal. Like the other mineral acids,
the Oil of Vitriol has never been obtained in an
insulated state without water; according to the latest
303views of Sir H. Davy, the composition of the strongest
acid may be expressed as follows. Sulphur 30,
oxygen 45, water 17.
Symptoms of Poisoning by Oil of Vitriol.
An extremely austere, acid, and burning taste; a
painful heat in the fauces and throat, along the œsophagus,
and in the stomach; excruciating pain;
nausea, and excessive vomiting; at one time the
fluid vomited is as black as ink, at another reddened
by arterial or venous blood, producing in its passage
through the throat, the most intense pain, accompanied
with a sensation of bitterness quite intolerable;
if, by chance, a portion of it should fall on the
hearth or pavement, or on any other calcareous substance,
it will denote its true nature by an effervescence;
constipation, or sometimes bloody stools;
gripes and excruciating pains over the abdomen, with
a tenderness of these regions, so exquisite as not to
allow the slightest pressure without torment; pains
of the breast; difficulty of breathing; extreme anxiety;
the pulse becomes frequent, small, contracted,
and irregular; shiverings; great restlessness, dejection,
and agitation; convulsive motions of the countenance;
sometimes a cutaneous eruption betrays
itself. Amidst all these symptoms, the intellectual
powers remain unobscured. The parts about the
fauces, the uvula, &c. having lost their vitality,
slough, and become detached, which occasion an indescribable
fetor of the breath, while they produce a
perpetual cough, and the voice becomes so altered,
that it resembles the sounds of a person labouring
under croup.
304
Organic lesions discovered on Dissection.
As this substance destroys life by simply acting as
an escharotic, it is not difficult to anticipate the disorganization
which dissection will display. The
extent of the lesion, however, must in every case
depend upon the quantity and degree of concentration
of the acid, the state of the stomach in relation
to its alimentary contents, and other incidental circumstances
not to be exactly appreciated. The
mucous membrane of the mouth, the tongue, and
œsophagus, will in general be found destroyed, and
converted into a pulp.
Antidotes.
The great indications to be fulfilled in this distressing
case, is the immediate dilution, saturation, and
expulsion of the poison. Copious draughts of water,
holding calcined[321] magnesia in suspension, should
be administered without any loss of time. If this is
not in readiness, soap and water should be administered;
mucilaginous drinks, milk, and even warm
or cold water, in the absence of more eligible potations,
should not be neglected. It must be never
forgotten, exclaims Orfila, that success upon these
occasions depends upon the activity of the practitioner;
the delay of a few moments will entirely
change the fate of the patient, as the sulphuric acid
destroys the texture of the organs with a fearful
celerity. After having thus neutralized the caustic,
it will be our duty to obviate the effects it may be
305likely to occasion; the lancet must be used with boldness,
and the detraction of blood repeated at short
intervals; at the same time emollient clysters may be
advantageously injected.
Chemical processes for the detection of Oil of Vitriol.
In the pure state, there can exist no difficulty in
identifying it; its specific gravity, and its action on
vegetable matter, will, without any other tests, be
quite sufficient to fulfil our object. If heated with
metallic mercury, it will disengage sulphurous acid
gas; and if united with lime, a sulphate of lime will
be produced, which the chemist may easily recognise
by dissolving a portion in distilled water, and assaying
the solution by muriate of baryta, which will produce
with the sulphate a precipitate, insoluble in
nitric acid. By the last mentioned tests we shall be
enabled to detect the presence of sulphuric acid, in
whatever state of complication it may happen to
exist with alimentary matter.
Nitric Acid.
This acid, when pure, assumes the form of a limpid
fluid, emitting white fumes of a suffocating odour;
its taste is highly acid, and corrosive; and it is at
once distinguished from all other acids, by its tinging
the skin indelibly yellow. When of the specific
gravity 1·5 it contains 74·895 per cent of dry acid,
(whose ultimate elements are one proportional of nitrogen,
and five of oxygen) the complement 25·105
parts, is water.[322] It is decomposed with violent
action by all combustibles, and when mixed with volatile
oils it causes their inflammation.
306From the facility with which this acid undergoes
decomposition, it is rarely found in commerce in a
colourless condition; indeed the action of light is
sufficient to impart a tawny tinge to it; when this
change has proceeded to such an extent as to render
the acid orange coloured, it is called Nitrous acid,
or, in the language of the arts, aqua fortis, although
in a chemical point of view, such a nomenclature
is incorrect, for it is nothing more than nitric
acid, holding nitrous acid gas loosely combined.
Symptoms of Poisoning by Nitric Acid.
This acid has been so frequently swallowed in France,
for the purpose of committing suicide, that it has
enabled the pathologists of that country to afford a
very satisfactory account of its operation, and effects.
To M. Tartra we are particularly indebted for a very
full and interesting investigation of the subject, and
we shall avail ourselves upon the present occasion, of
the many facts and observations with which his treatise[323]
abounds. In describing the symptoms occasioned
by the ingestion of this acid, M. Tartra establishes
four different gradations, viz. 1. When the
death is speedy, for it is never sudden, it commonly
takes place from the primary effects in about twenty-four
hours, varying from six to forty-eight hours.
2. When it proves fatal from its secondary effects, at
different intervals, from fifteen days to several years.
3. When death does not take place, but the recovery
is imperfect. 4. When a perfect cure is sooner or
later obtained. The first case is illustrated by the
307following example, which will serve to convey a very
just idea of the progress and intensity of the symptoms.
“A man, driven by distress to commit suicide,
under the greatest agitation of mind, and upon
an empty stomach, swallowed, at a draught, two ounces
of concentrated nitric acid. Instantly he was seized
with the most excruciating pains and agitation, and
could not lie in bed, but rolled himself upon the
floor. Vomiting came on, accompanied by a general
sensation of coldness, especially in the extremities.
Every time he vomited, the matter effervesced upon
the pavement. A solution of soap and oil was administered
to him, and in two hours he was brought to
the hospital, often having vomited, and stopped on
the road to drink. On his arrival, he had emollient
drinks, especially linseed tea, in great abundance.
He was in continual agitation, and his countenance
was greatly altered. He now vomited every instant
a blackish glairy matter; he opened his mouth easily,
and his tongue was white, with a tinge of yellow; he
complained of acute pains in his mouth, along the
œsophagus, and in his stomach. His belly, slightly
tense, could not bear the slightest pressure, without
great torment. The surface of the body was cold;
the pulse small and frequent; he had hiccup, and
the respiration was laborious.
His symptoms increased. He uttered sighs and
lamentations; his limbs became icy; a cold sweat
covered his whole body; his pulse was scarcely
perceptible; the pain was constant; still he could
rise and make continual but useless efforts to quench
his thirst, and satisfy his urgent desire to void urine,
and go to stool. He continued in this state during
the night; the matters vomited became more clear,
308and of a yellow colour. He at last made a few drops
of urine. The shocking appearance of his body
already resembled that of a corpse, but he retained
his senses, and was speaking when he expired, nineteen
hours after swallowing the acid.” The burning
heat and pains which are commonly the immediate
effects of the ingestion of this acid are very variable
in their intensity and duration, and M. Tartra observes
that, in general, they are not in proportion to
the quantity or strength of the acid swallowed. It
often happens that persons who have taken only a
small dose, are seized with the most excruciating
and dreadful pains, and some of those who have
swallowed a great quantity, two or three ounces for
example, have had scarcely any suffering, but remained
very tranquil. In the first case, the patients
either recover, or survive a long time; in the second,
speedy death is almost always the consequence; thus
a young man of twenty died in twenty hours, without
any agitation or signs of acute pains. On opening
the body, the highest degree of disorganization appeared,
perforations of the stomach, and great effusion
of its contents into the abdomen. The second
variety of the progress and termination of poisoning
by nitric acid, exhibits, at first, the same phenomena
as the preceding; but less alarming symptoms succeed
by degrees; after some months, the inner membrane
of the alimentary canal detaches itself in portions,
the patient falls into a marasmus, and dies.
We are here presented with a case of consecutive poisoning,
see page 147.
The third termination is in imperfect recovery. A
slow and progressive amendment ensures the safety
of the patient; but there still remains some complaint;
obscure pains in the throat, and especially in
309the epigastric region; habitual constipation, occasional
vomiting, and increased sensibility of the
stomach, so that it can only support light nourishment
and bland liquors; in short, they continue invalids
during the rest of their lives; they are subject
to repeated and even habitual indispositions, and
sometimes to pain and insupportable heat of the stomach;
but they are able to follow their occupations,
and long survive their poisoning.
The total disappearance of the symptoms produced
by swallowing nitric acid; or complete and absolute
recovery without leaving any consequences, is the
last variety of termination.
Organic lesions discovered on Dissection.
Tartra has furnished us with the following interesting
account of the dissection of those who have
died of the primary effects of nitric acid. The external
appearance of the body presents no alteration;
every part is sound and natural, and possesses, in a
certain degree, the firmness and freshness of life.
The epidermis of the margins of the lips has commonly
an orange colour, more or less deep. It seems
burnt and easily separates. Sometimes yellow spots
are discovered on the hands and other parts of the
body, caused by the contact of the acid. A yellow
fluid, in some cases very abundant, flows from the
mouth and nostrils, and the belly is considerably distended
with air. The alimentary canal is remarkably
affected. All the internal membrane of the mouth is
burnt, and has sometimes a white colour, but is more
commonly yellow; it is separate in some places, and
adheres in others. The teeth are often loose, and
have a very marked yellow colour at their crown.
310The mucous membrane of the pharynx exhibits the
same change, or is in a state of inflammation of a
dirty red colour. The whole extent of the œsophagus
is lined with a dense mass of a fine yellow colour, dry
on its surface, unctuous and greasy to the touch, and
which seems to be formed both of the mucous membrane,
altered in a particular manner, and of the
albumen contained in the viscid fluid which exudes
from the membrane of the œsophagus, solidified by
the nitric acid. This lining adheres in very few points,
and is easily detected from the other membranes of
the œsophagus, which are brown and blood-shot.
When the stomach is not perforated, it has commonly
a considerable size; externally, its membranes are
slightly and partially inflamed, but very much towards
the pylorus and beginning of the duodenum.
Its colour is faded, livid, of a yellowish green, with
large gangrenous spots. It adheres every where to
the neighbouring parts, the diaphragm, liver, spleen,
and transverse arch of the colon, by means of a concrete
lymphatic exudation; its sides, which are thin
and yellow in some places, and thick and black in
others, exhibit net-work of dilated blood-vessels
filled with black coagulated blood. Often there are
several points of the stomach dissolved, and ready to
burst with the slightest touch; it contains a great
quantity of gas, which has a peculiar smell, resembling
that of bitter almonds; it also very commonly
contains a great quantity of yellow matter, of a
pultaceous consistence; the substance of the stomach
is generally swelled in some places, and deeply
marked with black, without being dissolved; this
effect is most remarkable at the great end, into which
the acid seems to fall by its weight; the rugæ of the
stomach are very brown, and are reduced to a mucilaginous
311consistence. The other parts of the alimentary
canal exhibit the same organic lesions, although
the phenomena have less intensity in proportion as
the part is more distant from the stomach.
In those cases where the stomach is found perforated,
its bulk is very small; the holes commonly
occur in the large and small extremities; their form
is circular, and their edges thin, and as if dissolved.
The urinary bladder contains no urine, although the
patient have not discharged any.
The appearances upon dissection of those who die
of the secondary effects are entirely different from
those above described. It would be difficult to find
an example of greater emaciation, more advanced
consumption, or more disgusting form. Nothing is
equal to the degree of withering, and decrepitude of
the whole organs; their colour is faded; the internal
cavities do not contain the usual serum; the cellular
and muscular systems are almost annihilated; the
bones become dry, as in persons of advanced age,
and break with extraordinary facility; but these
changes are general and secondary, and depend upon
local organic derangement of the alimentary tube.
The stomach and whole intestinal canal are contracted
to an extremely small size; the intestines are not
larger than the little finger, sometimes not exceeding
a thick writing quill; their coats are very thick, their
cavity almost obliterated, and containing only a little
mucosity. The stomach, which often resembles a
portion of a small intestine, appears sound externally,
and only presents some adhesions to the neighbouring
viscera; internally, the most remarkable change is
the contraction of the pylorus, the passage through
which will scarcely admit a probe; and the membranes
of the stomach itself are so thickened and compacted
312around it, that they have lost all their natural
suppleness. On the internal surface, there are irregular
spots, or rather smooth and red places, which
seem to be covered with a regenerated mucous membrane,
less villous than that which had been destroyed
by the action of the acid; these cicatrices are
particularly large and numerous in the great end of
the stomach, and around the circumference of the
pylorus.
Chemical processes by which the presence of Nitric Acid may be discovered.
If the acid be in any quantity, and without mixture,
there cannot exist any difficulty in demonstrating
its presence. If added to copper filings, there
will be a copious disengagement of orange-coloured
fumes, and a nitrate of copper of a blue colour will
remain, as the product. If it be saturated with potass,
we shall at once obtain by due evaporation the
well known substance, nitre; this salt will announce
its nature by deflagrating with charcoal or sulphur.
This latter test is the one we must employ for the detection
of nitric acid, when mixed with vinegar, and
other liquids. Where the acid has combined with
the animal matters with which it may have come into
contact, they must be boiled for an hour in a solution
of pure potass, when the solution will assume a reddish
appearance; this must be filtered, and evaporated
in a capsule of porcelain, when the mass so
obtained will leave a residuum of nitrate of potass.
Dr. Marcet, in a paper just published in the Philosophical
Transactions,[324] on the composition of sea
313water, employed a new mode of assaying the solution
for nitric acid, and for which he acknowledges himself
indebted to Dr. Wollaston. Having concentrated
the bittern in a glass vessel, until it began to
deposit solid matter, he added sulphuric acid and
gold leaf, and boiled the mixture; the gold leaf was
not in the least acted upon, nor was any smell of nitric
acid perceived; but on adding the smallest quantity
of nitre to the same mixture, the gold was dissolved,
and the smell of aqua regia instantly perceived. The
rationale of the experiment is obvious, gold, although
insoluble in muriatic acid, is instantly dissolved on
the addition of nitric acid, in consequence of the developement
of chlorine.
Spirit of Salt. Muriatic Acid.
The liquid acid, of which we are about to treat, is
a solution of muriatic acid gas in water; when of the
specific gravity 1·16, according to Davy, it contains
32·32 per cent. of the gas, which recent experiments
have proved to be a compound of Chlorine (oxy-muriatic
acid) and hydrogen, in equal volumes. It has
accordingly received a name expressive of its composition,
and is called Hydro-chloric acid. Its odour is
strong and peculiar; when exposed to the air it emits
white fumes; its taste is intensely sour and caustic;
it is, however, the weakest of the three mineral acids,
and no remarkable elevation of temperature is produced
by dilution. It readily combines with potass,
soda, &c. and furnishes a class of salts which may
be easily recognised by their characters.
Symptoms of Poisoning by Muriatic Acid.
As the effects of muriatic acid do not differ from
those which have been described, as the consequences
314of poisoning by the other mineral acids, it will be unnecessary
to enumerate them. Orfila, however, remarks,
that the patients who have swallowed a certain
quantity of it, emit, in the first moments of the accident,
a thick smoke of a white colour, and very pungent
smell.
Chemical processes for the detection of Muriatic Acid.
This acid, in its free state, immediately announces
its nature by the fumes which it emits. When the
acid, however, exists in a more questionable shape,
as in the matter vomited by the patient, or in that
found in the digestive canal after death, it will be
necessary to saturate the liquid part with pure potass,
and to boil it for some time, when we shall obtain a
fluid, from which the nitrate of silver will throw down
a dense precipitate. By evaporation, we shall obtain
a crystallized muriate, which may be identified by the
following tests: 1, When concentrated sulphuric
acid is poured upon it, a brisk effervescence is immediately
occasioned, and the muriatic acid is disengaged
in the form of white vapours, which are thick,
and of an excessively pungent smell. 2, If instead
of employing concentrated sulphuric acid, this acid
be used in a state of dilution, and the muriate be
mixed with some substance which easily yields its
oxygen, the muriatic acid will be decomposed, its
hydrogen, combining with the oxygen so as to form
water, while the chlorine will be disengaged, and by
its pungent and peculiar odour at once announce the
nature of the acid under examination.
315
Oxalic Acid. Acid of Sugar.[325]
This salt occurs in small crystals, whose form is
that of a four sided prism. It is extremely acid to
the taste, so that by applying the tongue to one of
its crystals, its nature may be immediately discovered.
It dissolves in twice its weight of cold, and in an
equal weight of hot water; it is also soluble in
boiling alcohol which takes up about half its weight;
the solutions act powerfully on the vegetable
colours, and at once denote their acid properties.
On account of the strong resemblance which the crystals
of this acid bear to those of sulphate of magnesia,
or Epsom salts, many fatal accidents have occurred.
We are not aware that it is ever purchased, in retail,
for any other purpose than as a detergent, to clean
the tops of boots; in the large way, it is an article of
extensive trade with the calico printers. Its salts[326]
are likewise employed for various purposes in the arts.
Amongst the many schemes which have been proposed
to secure the public against the possibility of
mistaking this acid for Epsom salts, there does not
appear to be one which admits of successful application;
nor are we able to propose any test of discrimination
which is not far inferior in accuracy and convenience,
to that which is afforded by the mere taste
of the crystal; indeed we cannot understand how so
316acid a solution can be swallowed, without an immediate
discovery.
Symptoms of Poisoning by Oxalic Acid.
From the history of the many cases on record, it
appears that this acid produces all the grievous
symptoms, which characterise the action of a corrosive
poison; its operation upon the stomach is similar
to that of any other powerful acid; and dissection
displays the same destruction of parts, as that we
have already described under the consideration of
the mineral acids.
Antidotes.
We should endeavour to form as quickly as possible
an insoluble oxalate of lime; copious draughts
of lime water, or magnesia and water, should be
administered; and vomiting immediately excited.
Chemical tests for the detection of Oxalic Acid.
If any of its crystals can be obtained, we shall be
immediately able to identify them. They dissolve
very readily in water, and since the oxalic has a
greater affinity for lime, than any other acid, and
forms an insoluble salt with it, we have thus a ready
test of its presence, for it will decompose all the calcareous
salts, not even excepting the sulphate.
Many cases are recorded of the death of children
from the ingestion of boiling water; an accident
which will be always liable to occur, as long as the
peasant allows his family to quench their thirst by
drinking the cold water through the spout of the tea
kettle. It has been very generally supposed that fatal
317effects have, on these occasions, supervened the high
state of inflammation produced in the æsophagus and
stomach by the boiling liquid. Dr. Marshall Hall
has, however, lately published a very interesting paper
on this subject, in the twelfth volume of the Medico-Chirurgical
Transactions; from which it would
appear, that the patient, under these circumstances,
actually dies of suffocation as in croup; and that the
boiling water is arrested in its progress to the stomach
by the convulsive action of the muscles of the pharynx.
In passing, however, to the posterior part of the
mouth, it scalds the epiglottis, and glottis, which afterwards
become more and more swollen, until at length
the rima glottidis, or orifice into the larynx, becomes
completely obstructed. Here then we have a new instance
in which the operation of laryngotomy, or of
tracheotomy, may be performed with the effect of
preventing impending suffocation, and perhaps of saving
life. Dr. Marshall Hall relates four cases in
illustration of this interesting fact; of which one recovered
from imminent suffocation immediately after
screaming[327]; two died from suffocation, one 10, the
other 17 hours, after the accident; the fourth was
completely relieved by the operation of tracheotomy,
and survived 34 hours, but died, exhausted by the
irritation produced by the primary affection.
An instance stands recorded in the history of the
destruction of the Eddystone-light house, by fire,
where a quantity of melted lead fell into the mouth,
318and was swallowed by a person who was attentively
watching the conflagration. It is very singular, that
this man lived many days after the accident; a fact
which at least shews what extensive injury the stomach
will occasionally sustain, without the immediate
destruction of life. The lead taken out of the stomach
after death, in this case, weighed exactly seven
ounces, five drachms, and eighteen grains.[328]
These bodies are distinguished by a highly corrosive
and peculiar taste; they change the blue[329] juices
of vegetables to a green, and the yellow to a brown;
they are soluble in water, and have the power of
imparting the same property to oils, by combining
with them, and thus forming saponaceous compounds.
With the different acids they constitute peculiar salts.
When applied to the flesh of animals they act as powerful
caustics, destroying its texture, and ultimately
dissolving it; they are accordingly arranged with
great propriety under the head of corrosive poisons.
There are three[330] alkalies—potass, soda, and
319ammonia. To the two former the epithet fixed has
been applied, since they require a very high temperature
for their sublimation; while to the third,
that of volatile has been assigned, because, when uncombined,
it exists in a state of gas. Potass, as it
was considered the product of vegetation, has received
the name of the vegetable alkali, while soda, as the
base of rock salt, has been distinguished by that of
mineral alkali. The distinctions, however, originally
established by Avicenna, must now be abandoned,
for they have not the slightest foundation in
truth; potass, so far from being the exclusive product
of vegetation, exists as a constituent part of the
Granite, which forms the foundation of our globe; it
has also been discovered in the Pumice stone; in some
minerals of the Zeolite family; in the Leucite; in the
aluminous ores of La Tolfa, &c. and, although potass
is undoubtedly procured by lixiviation from the ashes
of burnt wood, and other vegetable substances, yet
there is ample grounds for supposing that the living
plant receives it from the soil in which it vegetates.
Potass, or Potash—
Liquor Potassæ—Potassa Fusa, or Kali Causticum—Lapis
Infernalis—Causticum commune acerrimum.
Potassa cum Calce—Potassæ Sub-carbonas,
or Salt of Tartar—Potash—Pearl ash.
Potass is rarely met with in a pure form, except in
the laboratory of the philosophical chemist, and is
320therefore not likely to become an object of judicial
enquiry; but in various states of mixture, as presented
in the different preparations above enumerated,
it may become the accidental, as well as criminal
means of poisoning; we shall therefore consider
the chemical history of these different preparations
separately, and then describe the symptoms
which they generally occasion.
Liquor Potassæ.
This may be considered as a nearly pure solution
of potass, although, as it is usually prepared,
it contains small portions of muriate and sulphate
of potass, silica, and lime. It is a limpid, dense,
colourless solution; when rubbed between the fingers
it feels soapy, in consequence of a partial solution
of the cuticle. As it constitutes a medicine in common
use, and, moreover, forms the basis of many
quack medicines, as well as of those preparations
which are sold under the name of Depilatories, it may
readily become the accidental instrument of mischief.
Chemical Tests for its detection.
There cannot exist any difficulty in this investigation;
its highly alkaline characters will be immediately
announced by its effects on the vegetable test
papers, and by its power of saturating acids; while
the particular species of alkali may be readily identified
by the following reagents.
(a) Carbonic acid; or water saturated with the gas.
This will not produce any[331] disturbance in the solution
321of potass; a fact which at once serves to distinguish
this alkali from the earths, baryta and lime.
(b) Deuto-muriate of Platina occasions a canary-yellow
precipitate, consisting of the deutoxide of
platina, potass, and muriatic acid; as this precipitate
is, to a certain extent, soluble in water, the test
may fail through dilution. With soda, this reagent
will not occasion any precipitate, a fact which depends
upon the solubility of the triple salt formed,
and affords an easy method of distinguishing the fixed
alkalies from each other.
(c) Tartaric acid. If an excess of this acid be
added, we shall obtain crystals of a bi-tartrate; a
phenomenon which will not take place if soda be the
alkali employed.
Potassa Fusa, or Kali Causticum.
This substance, which occurs in sticks, or cylinders,
is an extremely caustic and deliquescent substance;
it is principally employed in surgery, to
establish an ulcer; or, instead of incision, to open a
tumour. See Pharmacologia. As it differs from potass,
only in the degree of purity, it is unnecessary
to offer any farther remarks.
Potassa cum Calce.
This is a mixture of the preceding substance with
lime, which is added with a view to diminish the deliquescent
property of the alkali, and thus to render
it more manageable as an escharotic. There will be
no difficulty in separating these ingredients. Their
different solubilities will furnish an easy mode of
effecting it to a certain extent, and we may then precipitate
322the remaining portion of lime, by carbonic
acid.
Sub-carbonate of Potass—Salt of Tartar—Pearl-ash—Potash.
Although potass becomes comparatively mild, by
its union with carbonic acid; yet the present preparation
retains so much causticity as to render it poisonous,
if administered in any considerable dose.
Plenck reports a case of this kind, where a patient
having swallowed an ounce of salt of tartar, was
shortly afterwards seized with a violent vomiting,
which continued for forty-eight hours, followed by a
violent inflammation of the stomach; from which,
however, he ultimately recovered.
Symptoms of Poisoning by any of the above preparations of Potass.
A styptic, urinous, and caustic taste; a severe heat
in the throat; violent vomiting, generally of alkaline
matter, turning the syrups of violets green, and where
the alkali has been in the state of carbonate, effervescing
with acids; sometimes the matter thus ejected is
mixed with blood; copious alvine evacuations; severe
pain in the epigastric region; excruciating tormina
of the bowels; depravation of the intellectual
faculties, and death. It will be easily perceived that
the above symptoms merely indicate the operation of
a corrosive poison. They offer no characteristic peculiarities
which can enable us to decide upon the
particular substance that has been swallowed, unless,
indeed, the matter vomited can be submitted to examination.
323
Antidotes.
From the experiments of Orfila, it appears that
vinegar, diluted with water, is the remedy which can
be administered with the greatest success, where any
preparation of this alkali has been swallowed in a
poisonous dose.
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
In consequence of the peculiar action of this alkali
upon animal matter, we shall generally find the stomach
perforated, and its coats extensively dissolved.
We shall moreover discover the usual indications of
violent inflammation in this viscus, as well as in the
intestines.
Soda.
We have already stated by what chemical reagents
this alkali may be distinguished from potass; it only remains
for us to observe that its physiological action, the
symptoms arising from its ingestion, and the organic
lesions discovered on dissection, are strictly analogous
to those we have described as the effects of potass.
Ammonia, and its Carbonate.
Ammonia, in its uncombined state, exists in the
state of gas, and is incapable of application; its affinity,
however, for water, enables it to combine with
that fluid, and to form liquid ammonia, (Liquor Ammoniæ)
in which state it is useful in medicine, and in the
arts. This solution is colourless; its taste extremely
caustic; and its odour strong, pungent, and peculiar.
Exposed to the action of heat, the ammoniacal gas
324is driven off, and may be recognised by its characteristic
odour, as well as by its effects upon moistened
turmeric paper. When brought into contact with
muriatic acid, it will form dense white vapours, consisting
of muriate of ammonia. A most elegant and
sensible test for ammoniacal gas is afforded by a
mixed solution, consisting of arsenious acid and nitrate
of silver; these substances when mixed in solution
do not occasion the least disturbance in each
other, for reasons already explained, (see page 240)
but upon spreading a portion of the liquid upon glass
or paper, and bringing ammoniacal gas into contact,
a beautiful yellow cloud immediately diffuses itself
over the surface of the solution.
Sub-carbonate of ammonia occurs in solid, white,
semi-transparent masses, of a highly pungent and ammoniacal
odour. Its chemical composition has been
found to vary materially according to the circumstances
under which it has been prepared; Mr. R.
Phillips, who has made some highly interesting experiments
upon this subject, considers the sub-carbonate
to be a sesqui-carbonate, composed of 3 atoms
of carbonic acid, 2 atoms of ammonia, and 2 of water.
By long exposure to the air, its pungency is lost, and
it is converted into an inodorous carbonate.
Symptoms of poisoning by Ammonia.
Cases wherein death has been produced in a few
minutes, from the ingestion of liquid ammonia, stand
recorded on the authority of Martinet, Huxham, Haller,
and other physiologists. In such cases the lips,
tongue, and fauces are described as being burnt by
the causticity of the fluid; while hemorrhage of the
intestines marks the organic lesions which it occasions.
325The nervous system would appear also to
suffer greatly, at the same time that the abdominal
organs are affected with violent inflammation.
Under this division, we have to consider the two
earths, Lime and Baryta; both of which are highly
corrosive, although they essentially differ from each
other in their physiological action. In this respect
they may be compared to corrosive sublimate and
arsenic, and offer an additional illustration of the imperfection
of the present classification; for while
lime acts as a local caustic upon the parts with which
it comes in contact, baryta will require, for its action,
to be absorbed and carried into the current of the
circulation.
Quick Lime.
This earth is of a white colour, and of a hot caustic
taste; with acids it forms peculiar salts; a fact which
we shall shew affords the most decisive means of identifying
its presence. It changes vegetable blues to a
green, and reddens turmeric; it is capable of fusion;
so great is its affinity for water, that it will absorb
and solidify one third of its weight of that fluid, and
yet remain perfectly dry. The heat, therefore, that
is evolved in the process of slacking lime, evidently
proceeds from the water, which yields its caloric, as
it passes from the liquid to the solid state.
Symptoms of poisoning by Lime.
It is perhaps the least energetic of the corrosive
poisons; and yet, when taken in any quantity, it will
326produce nausea, vomiting, colics, frequent stools,
and all the symptoms which characterise, or are complicated
with, inflammation of the stomach and intestines.[332]
Lime in combination with carbonic acid
is not considered as poisonous.
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
In examining the body of an animal that has been
killed by caustic lime, we shall find the mucous membrane
of the stomach reddened, and evincing marks
of inflammation in those parts which have been in
contact with it.
Tests for the detection of Quick-lime.
We may proceed, if the substance be free from
mixture, to obtain a solution of the earth in distilled
water, and to assay it by the following reagents.
(a) Carbonic acid, and the soluble alkaline sub-carbonates
produce a copious white precipitate, which is
soluble in an excess of carbonic acid. The carbonate
of lime, of which this precipitate consists, is also decomposed
by muriatic acid, with effervescence, a
soluble muriate remaining.
(b) Oxalic acid, and oxalate of ammonia. They
precipitate lime-water of a white colour, and the resulting
oxalate is not soluble in an excess of acid.
(c) Sulphuric acid. This acid does not precipitate
lime water, since the sulphate of lime formed does not
require more than 300 parts of water to dissolve it.
Whereas, says M. Orfila, the smallest quantity of an
exceedingly diluted solution of baryta becomes instantly
turbid on the addition of that acid, because
327the sulphate of baryta is insoluble in several thousand
times its weight of water. By this test, therefore, we
are at once enabled to distinguish lime-water, from
barytic water.
Baryta, and its Salts.
Baryta, like lime, is a solid, heavy, alkaline earth,
having an acrid and peculiar taste; and turning the
syrup of violets green, and the juice of turmeric red.
When perfectly calcined, it absorbs water very rapidly,
disengaging at the same time a quantity of
caloric; the phenomenon is similar to that of slacking
lime, and admits of the same explanation. It dissolves
in about 20 parts of water, at the temperature of 60°;
but boiling water will dissolve half its weight of this
earth, part of which will crystallize on cooling.
Muriate of Baryta. This salt crystallises in
square plates, or four-sided prisms; its taste is acrid
and pungent. It dissolves in 2½ parts of distilled
water at 60° Fah. The solution is limpid and colourless,
and has been employed in medicine, as a remedy
in scrofula, cancer, some forms of syphilis, and in
hectic fever connected with ulceration. Dr. Johnstone
says that he has seen a delicate female take as
much as thirty drops of a saturated solution of this
salt, repeatedly, without nausea; whence he concludes
that it would require at least 2 or 3 drachms
to do mischief.[333]
Symptoms of poisoning by Baryta.
All the soluble compounds of this earth are poisonous,
especially the muriate; which, whether injected
328into the veins, introduced into the stomach, or externally
applied to an abraded surface, will occasion
death in a very short period. We are not aware
that any case stands recorded of poisoning by baryta.
Orfila[334] and Brodie[335] have, however, investigated
the symptoms which this poison produces on animals,
and they appear to be analogous to those occasioned
by the ingestion of arsenic. The muriate, on account
of its greater solubility, would appear to be much
more active than the pure earth, or its carbonate.
Physiological action of Baryta.
Barytic poisons require to be absorbed before they
act on the system; they may therefore destroy by external
application, although it would appear that,
unlike arsenic, they act sooner when internally administered.
Mr. Brodie thinks that the muriate of
baryta occasions death by acting upon the brain and
the heart; at the same time it exerts a local action,
and corrodes the viscus with which it comes into
contact.
Antidotes.
It has been shewn by the experiments of Orfila,
that the soluble sulphates, as Glauber or Epsom salts,
by converting the baryta into an insoluble sulphate,
will act as antidotes to its virulence. In the first instance,
therefore, it will be prudent to produce this
chemical decomposition in the poison, and then to
expel it, as quickly as possible, by emetics.
329
Chemical tests for the detection of Baryta.
Where the pure earth, baryta, or its solution in
water, is presented for our investigation, it may be
identified by the following reagents.
(a) Sulphuric acid, and the soluble sulphates. These
bodies precipitate from the barytic solution, a white
sulphate of the earth, insoluble in water, and nitric
acid.
(b) Carbonic acid gas, and the alkaline sub-carbonates,
produce in it a white carbonate of baryta.
(c) Muriatic acid combines with baryta, and furnishes
a salt which is capable of being identified by
numerous reagents. M. Orfila has furnished us with
the following satisfactory compendium of its habitudes.
“A salt which does not redden the tincture
of tournesol, which does not turn the syrup of violets
green, which is not precipitated by the alkaline hydro-sulphurets,[336]
nor by ammonia; but which, on
the contrary, is precipitated by the sub-carbonate of
ammonia, soda, or potass; which is not soluble in
concentrated alcohol; which furnishes, with the sulphate
of potass, or the sulphuric acid, a white precipitate
insoluble in water and in the nitric acid, and
which gives with the nitrate of silver a curdled precipitate
of muriate of silver, likewise insoluble in the
nitric acid, can be no other than the muriate of baryta.”
But it may happen, that the above salt is so mixed
with alimentary matter, as to defy the action of the
tests; in this case we must endeavour to obtain from
it the pure earth, by precipitating the suspected fluids
330by the sub-carbonate of ammonia; when a carbonate
of baryta will fall down, which must be dried on a
filter, and calcined with charcoal.
Cantharides are imported into this country in their
entire state, and are so kept in the shops; their form
and general appearance are too well known to require
description, and they will rarely become the
objects of inquiry; in powder, however, they may be
presented to us for investigation, and it is therefore
essential that the forensic physician should be acquainted
with the appearances which they assume in
the state of disintegration. This powder has a greenish
colour, tinged with grey, and abounding with
shining points of a very beautiful green colour, and
which may be recognised in whatever state of division
the powder may exist, even after it has passed through
a silken sieve. Its odour is acrid and nauseous; when
thrown on burning coals it emits that peculiar
smell, which generally attends the destruction of animal
matter by heat. The chemical history of cantharides
is still involved in some obscurity; according to
Robiquet, who has furnished us with the most satisfactory
analysis, they contain various fatty principles;
the phosphates of lime, and magnesia; and the
acetic and uric acids; together with a peculiar crystalline
principle, in which the vesicatory properties
wholly reside, and to which the name of cantharidin
331has been given by Dr. Thomson.[338] It may be obtained
in plates, having a micaceous lustre; when
perfectly pure it is insoluble in water, but it is rendered
soluble in that fluid, by the presence of a yellow
matter which exists in native combination with it;
it is very soluble in oils.
Symptoms of poisoning by Cantharides.
As this substance forms an article of the materia
medica it may become an accidental source of poisoning;
whilst a general belief in its aphrodisiac
powers may induce a trial of its efficacy, to goad the
exertions of exhausted nature, or to incense the passion
of females, whose seduction is meditated. In
the annals of crime in this country, we are acquainted
with but few instances in which cantharides
have been given with the view of destroying
life; we have already referred[339] to the case of
Vaux, who was executed for poisoning with cantharides;
there is also that of Sir Thomas Overbury,
who, on the confession of the person who gave
it to him, is said to have taken it, mixed with
his sauces. Cantharides may be administered in
the form of powder, infusion, or tincture. The following
may be considered the more prominent symptoms
which will follow the ingestion of a large dose.
Violent retching; copious alvine evacuations, frequently
bloody; very severe colics; active inflammation
of the stomach and intestines; sometimes universal
convulsions, attended with a horror of liquids,
resembling that which occurs in hydrophobia; furious
332delirium, &c. But the affections of the urinary passages,
and organs of generation, may be regarded,
κατεξοχην, as the peculiar symptoms of poisoning by
cantharides; such as heat in the bladder, bloody micturition;
horrible strangury; painful and obstinate
priapism; satyriasis, &c. If the dose has not been
sufficient to occasion speedy death, it may produce
marasmus.
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
Where the poison has been administered internally,
we shall find the stomach and intestines presenting
an appearance of inflammation, very similar to that
which we have described as the general result of
corrosive poisons. Marks of inflammatory action,
and sometimes ulceration, will be also discovered in
the urinary and genital organs; especially in those
cases where the person dies shortly after the ingestion
of the poison.
Methods of detecting the presence of Cantharides.
Where the poison has been administered in substance,
we shall generally discover some of its particles
mixed with the ejected matter; or, after death,
adhering to the coats of the stomach, or to the folds
of the intestines, and which may be easily identified
by their peculiar green and brilliant hue. If the poison
should have been administered in the form of infusion,
or tincture, our chemical resources will fail
us, and we must rely alone upon the evidence furnished
by the symptoms, and organic lesions.
333
This singular substance was accidentally discovered
by Brandt, a chemist of Hamburgh, in the year 1669,[340]
as he was attempting to extract from human
urine a liquid capable of converting silver into gold.
It was also subsequently discovered by Kunkel and
by Boyle, without these latter chemists having, in
any way, participated in the researches of each other.
Phosphorus, when pure, is semi-transparent and
of a yellowish colour; but when kept some time in
water, it becomes opaque externally, and then has a
great resemblance to white wax. Its consistence is
nearly that of wax; it may be cut with a knife. Its
mean specific gravity is 1·770. It generally occurs in
sticks. When exposed to the air, provided the temperature
be not lower than 43°, it emits a white
smoke, which has the smell of garlic, and is luminous
in the dark. This smoke is more abundant, the
higher the temperature is, and is occasioned by the
gradual combustion of the phosphorus. When heated
to 148° it takes fire, and burns with a very bright
flame, and gives out a great quantity of white smoke,
which is phosphoric acid. Oils dissolve phosphorus,
provided the temperature be a little raised. Water
has no effect upon it, unless it be aerated, when it
renders the surface of the phosphorus opaque and
white, which in a short time becomes red. This
change depends upon oxidation.
Symptoms of poisoning by Phosphorus.
This substance, whether introduced into the stomach
in its pure form, or dissolved in oil, will occasion
334the most violent symptoms, from its escharotic
action,[341] It has been employed in medicine,[342] in a
state of minute division, in the dose of one-fourth of
a grain, and is said by Leroi to be very efficacious in
restoring and establishing the force[343] of young persons
exhausted by sensual indulgence, and of even prolonging
the life of the aged.[344] It has also been
given as a stimulant in local fevers. We are, however,
greatly inclined to question the safety of such a
practice, notwithstanding the diminutiveness of the
dose. The reader will find some interesting cases
of poisoning by phosphorus, translated from the
German work of Weickard, in Hooper’s Medical
Dictionary, under the consideration of that article.
Should such a case present itself for the investigation
of the forensic physician, he will not find any difficulty
in identifying the substance; its external character,
its smell, and, above all, its peculiar property
of yielding luminous vapour, are too palpable
and distinctive, to admit the possibility of error.
We have already examined the pretensions of these
bodies to the rank of corrosive poisons, (page 145)
and we should have not reverted to the subject, but
from a wish to introduce the account of “a case of
335Schirrus in the intestines, arising from hairs remaining
in the canal,” as related in the Edinburgh Medical
Journal,[345] by Dr. Burrell, and which had, on the
former occasion, escaped our notice. The subject of
this history, Laurence Harding, æt. 35, being a private
soldier, was admitted into the regimental hospital,
for an unrelenting constipation of the bowels;
but it appears also that he had been affected with
dyspeptic symptoms, and pain in his abdomen, for several
years; which pain was aggravated by the ingestion
of solid food. He received but little benefit from
the remedies that were administered, his strength
gradually declined, and, about a month after his admission,
he expired.
“On laying open the abdomen, the stomach was
found much thickened throughout its whole substance,
and the pylorus very much contracted, which contraction
continued down the duodenum. Through
all the intestines this thickening and gristly appearance
was observed. The colon was prodigiously enlarged
in its calibre, until where it forms its sigmoid
flexure; at which point there were three distinct
holes ulcerated through the coats of the intestine,
and forming a communication with the abdominal cavity.
Beyond the sigmoid flexure the intestine was
contracted in its diameter, so as hardly to admit the
little finger to pass downwards. On cutting open the
pylorus and small intestines, the internal coats were
found to be covered with a soft substance, which resembled
size. The internal coats of the colon were
of a dark colour, and in general were completely
ulcerated, and hanging in shreds. The colour of the
colon was of a dark lurid red. At the sigmoid flexure
336there was much contraction, and the thickening was
so great on one side, and the valve found so considerable,
as hardly to admit a common bougie through
it. The portion forming the sigmoid flexure was cut
out; and on laying it open, and removing some
hardened fæces, five or six hog’s brittles were seen distinctly
crossing each other in different directions; they
were partially invested in the villous coat, which had
grown over them, and which had retained them in
the different positions in which they were placed;
and so firmly were they kept down by those partial
coverings, that it required some force to draw them
out. The mesenteric glands were of a cartilaginous
appearance; the liver was suffused with blood, and
the gall-bladder full of bile. The spleen was very
small, and compressed into an oblong shape, probably
arising from the pressure of the colon when distended
with feculent matter.
This man had formerly been a shoemaker. There
was no evidence as to the period at which he swallowed
these hairs; but, from the derangement which
always existed in the bowels, and the pain referred
to the sigmoid flexure, little doubt can be entertained
but that these hairs were the cause of all his complaints,
and ultimately of his death.”
This metal appears to have been known in the earliest
ages; and is mentioned several times by Moses.[346]
It has a bluish-white colour; is very brilliant
when first cut with a knife, but soon tarnishes by
337exposure to air; when rubbed violently, it emits a
peculiar smell; it is malleable and ductile, but possesses
very little tenacity. It is scarcely sonorous;
being the softest of all the metals, it yields readily to
the hammer. Its specific gravity is 11·35; it melts at
612°. According to the experiments of Dr. Thomson,[347]
it is susceptible of four degrees of oxidation, presenting
us with four distinct, and well defined oxides,
viz.
| Yellow |
(protoxide) |
contains of lead |
91·5 |
oxygen |
8·5 |
| Yellow |
(deutoxide) |
contains of lead |
90·5 |
oxygen |
9·5 |
| Red |
(tritoxide) |
contains of lead |
88· |
oxygen |
12· |
| Brown |
(peroxide) |
contains of lead |
80· |
oxygen |
20· |
Lead, in its metallic state, does not exert any action
on the living system; but, when oxidized, or in
the state of salt, its virulence is very considerable,
producing a train of symptoms, so peculiar to itself,
as to justify our placing its preparations in a separate
class, under the title of astringent poisons, as explained
at page 202.
Metallic lead, although per se inert, may occasion
deleterious effects when introduced into the stomach,
in consequence of its meeting with acids in the primæ
viæ; from the same cause, liquids which are liable to
become in any degree acidulous, if kept in leaden vessels,
may be productive of much danger to those who
drink them. Pure water, provided the air be excluded,
does not appear to exert any sensible action
upon this metal; but the combined influence of
these agents converts the lead into a carbonate: a fact
which is at once exemplified by the white line which
is so constantly visible at the surface of the water preserved
338in leaden vessels. So well acquainted were
the ancients with this fact, that we find frequent allusions
in their works to the dangerous property of
leaden utensils. Vitruvius[348] published a very strong
remonstrance against leaden pipes, when used for the
purpose of conveying water; and Galen cautions us
continually, not to employ water that has flowed
through pipes of this metal; since he had observed
that the sediment of such water, (υποσταθμη του τουιουτου υδατος)
rendered such as swallowed it, δυσεντερικους, subject to
disorders in the intestines.
Dr. Lambe, to whom we are indebted for an important
work[349] upon this subject, states, that there
is a great diversity in the corrosive powers of different
waters; in some places the use of leaden pumps has
been in part discontinued, from the expense entailed
upon the proprietors by the perpetual want of repair;[350]
and if any acidity be communicated to the water,
from the accidental intrusion of decayed leaves or
other vegetable matter, its power of dissolving this
metal will be increased to a very dangerous extent.
The noted colic of Amsterdam is said by Tronchin,
who has written a history of the epidemic, to have
been occasioned by leaves falling and putrefying in
339leaden cisterns, filled with rain water. Van Swieten[351]
has also related an instance of a whole family who
were afflicted with colic from a similar cause; and
Dr. Lambe[352] entertains no doubt but that the very
striking case recorded in the Medical Commentaries,[353]
proceeded more from some foulness in the cistern
than from the solvent power of the water; in this instance,
the officers of a packet vessel used water out
of a leaden cistern; the men also drank the same
water, except that the latter had been kept in wood;
the consequence was, that all the officers were seized
with colic, while the men remained healthy. Sir
George Baker has furnished the following striking
illustration of the subject. “The most remarkable
case that now occurs to my memory, is that of Lord
Ashburnham’s family, in Sussex; to which, spring
water was supplied from a considerable distance in
leaden pipes. In consequence, his lordship’s servants
were every year tormented with colic, and some of
them died. An eminent physician of Battle, who
corresponded with me on the subject, sent up some
gallons of that water, which were analysed by Dr.
Higgins, who reported that the water had contained
more than the common quantity of carbonic acid; and
that he found in it lead in solution, which he attributed
to the carbonic acid. In consequence of this
representation, Lord Ashburnham substituted wooden
for leaden pipes; and from that time his family have
experienced no particular complaints in their bowels.”
But the most extensive and dangerous source of
poisoning by lead, is the presence of this metal in various
wines, and acescent drinks, and meats, and
340which may arise either from accident or design. A
knowledge of the different avenues, through which
this poison may gain admittance into the human body,
is therefore of great importance to the forensic physician,
and we shall accordingly proceed to the investigation
of the subject.
That certain wines were occasionally liable to
produce endemic colics, is a fact which has been long
known; although the disease was universally ascribed
to a mistaken origin, until the publication of the
elaborate researches[354] of Sir George Baker, into the
cause of the Devonshire colic; which, like the same
disease observed in other countries, was attributed to
the acidity of the liquor so abundantly drunk[355] in
these districts. This celebrated physician, however,
was early led to entertain doubts with respect to the
truth of this doctrine: “when I consider,” says he,
“that this colic of Devonshire is precisely the same
disease as that which is the specific effect of all saturnine
preparations, and that there is not the least
analogy between the juice of apples and the poison
of lead, it seems to me very improbable that two
causes, bearing so little relation to one another,
should make such similar impressions on the human
body.” The investigation of the subject completely
341established the justness of these views; and no doubt
remains, but that the endemic colic, which harrassed
the cyder drinkers in Devonshire for some years, was
the effect of saturnine impregnation, derived from the
lead used in the construction of the apple mills and
cyder presses; and in some cases, from the pernicious
practice of introducing a leaden weight into the cask,
or even racking the cyder into leaden cisterns, where
the liquor fretted too much, and was thereby in
danger of becoming acetous. Sir G. Baker also states
that the custom of boiling the must in vessels capped
with lead, affords another source of saturnine impregnation;
and he informs us that, a few years ago,
this very practice produced the Devonshire colic in
the county of Kent. Some cyder, which had been
made in a gentleman’s family, being thought too
sour, was boiled with honey in a brewing vessel,
capped with lead. All, who drank this liquor, were
seized with this disease; some more, others less violently;
one of the servants died very soon in convulsions:
several others were cruelly tortured a long
time. The master of the family, notwithstanding all
the assistance which art could give him, never recovered
his health; but died miserably, after having
for nearly three years languished under a tedious
and incurable malady. Dr. Lambe observes, that
the saturnine colic is not endemial in Devonshire, or
the other cyder countries, during the whole year, but
is confined to those months when the liquor is still
new, crude, and the fermentation incomplete. When
the liquor becomes fine, the noxious matter in a great
measure separates, and is carried to the bottom of
the vessel, as the feculencies subside. Tartar is generated
during the vinous fermentation, the acid of
which, uniting with the lead, forms a salt, scarcely, if
342at all, soluble in water; and hence the purification
which the liquor receives. But although this new
salt is insoluble in water, it is otherwise in regard to
vinegar; for this acid dissolves a small quantity, and
forms a triple compound, an aceto-tartrate of lead;[356]
and since no cyder, or perhaps wine, is wholly destitute
of vinegar, it necessarily follows that if the
liquor has been once contaminated during the first
stages of fermentation, it is impossible for it ever to
become entirely pure, except by processes which
would render it unfit for drinking.[357] It has very
lately been discovered, that Gallic acid and tannin
are capable of combining with lead in solution,
and of forming a perfectly insoluble substance, which
falls to the bottom of the cask; hence all liquors
which have been kept in oak casks, for a certain
time, must be freed from lead. This explains a fact
with respect to the effect of new rum in the West
Indies, of some importance. This spirit, when newly
distilled, is found to contain traces of lead, derived
from the leaden rims of the coppers, and the leaden
worm, used for its condensation; but, by keeping
about twelve months in oaken casks, it loses its deleterious
properties, and no longer exhibits any traces
of this metal.[358]
Another source, from which acescent liquids may
contract saturnine impregnation, is afforded by the
metallic glazing of earthenware[359]; that for instance
343of the common cream coloured ware is composed of an
oxide of lead,[360] and is accordingly easily acted
upon by vinegar, and saline compounds; jars and
pots of this description ought therefore never to be
used for preserving pickles, jellies of fruits, marmalade,
and similar conserves. For the same reason,
Sir George Baker protests against the custom of baking
fruit tarts in such ware.[361] Stone ware is glazed
with muriate of soda, and is therefore not liable to
such an objection.[362]
344The custom which prevails in some parts of England
of keeping milk in leaden vessels, is extremely
improper; Dr. Darwin[363] has illustrated this subject
by the following case; “A delicate young girl,
the daughter of a dairy farmer, who kept his milk in
leaden cisterns, used to wipe off the cream from the
edges of the lead, and frequently, as she was fond of
cream, licked it from her finger. She was seized
with the saturnine colic, and semi-paralytic wrists,
and sunk from general debility.” We are informed
by Mr. Parkes,[364] that in Lancashire the dairies are
furnished with milk-pans made of lead; and that when
he expostulated with some individuals on the danger
of this practice, he was told that leaden milk pans
throw up the cream much better than vessels of any
other kind.
There is, says Dr. Darwin, a bad custom in almost
all families, and public houses, of washing out their
wine bottles by putting a handful of shot corns into
them, and by shaking them about forcibly to detach
the super-tartrate of potass from their sides; that such
a practice may occasionally give origin to serious
consequences, will become evident by the relation of
the following case.[365] “A gentleman who had never
in his life experienced a day’s illness, and who was
constantly in the habit of drinking half a bottle of
Madeira after his dinner, was taken ill three hours
after dinner with a serious pain in the stomach and
violent colic, which gradually yielded within twelve
hours to the remedies prescribed by his medical
attendant. The day following he drank the remainder
of the same bottle of wine which was left the preceding
345day, and within two hours afterwards he was
again seized with the most violent pains, head-ache,
shiverings, and great pain over the whole body. His
apothecary becoming suspicious that the wine he had
drunk might be the cause of the disease, ordered the
bottle, from which it had been decanted, to be
brought to him, with a view that he might examine
the dregs, if any were left. The bottle happening to
slip out of the hand of the servant, disclosed a row of
shot, wedged forcibly into the angular bent-up circumference
of it. On examining the beads of shot, they
crumbled into dust, the outer crust (defended by a
coat of black lead with which the shot is glazed)
being alone left unacted on, whilst the remainder of
the metal was dissolved. The wine, therefore, had
become contaminated with lead, and perhaps arsenic,
for in order to form shot the former metal is alloyed
with the latter.”[366]
But we have, hitherto, only directed the reader’s
attention to the different sources from which wine,
and acescent liquors, may accidentally derive saturnine
impregnation. We have now to state that such
liquors have, in different ages and countries, been
fraudulently adulterated with lead. It appears to
have been early discovered, that wines which have
become morbidly acescent may be corrected by the
addition of lead; whence, in those countries where
Rhenish, Moselle, and other similar wines are drunk,
the saturnine colic has been endemic. The celebrated
colic which raged in the province of Poitou, towards
the end of the sixteenth, and in the beginning of the
seventeenth century, was evidently the effect of such
346adulteration.[367] We find that, in the year 1487,
there was a Recessus Imperii promulgated at Rotenberg;
and, in the year 1498, at Friberg; which was
enacted, in the year 1500, at Tubingen; and, in the
year 1508, at Frankfort; and, in the year 1577, in
the same place. By which decrees it was made a capital
crime to adulterate wines with litharge, or to
use bismuth in the fumigation of them; it having
been, at several periods, represented to the Emperors,
that great mischief had accrued from such
adulterations; and that they had been the cause of
insuperable and mortal diseases. It should seem,
that these laws were not carried into strict execution;
and, indeed, that in the latter end of the seventeenth
century, it was hardly known in Germany that such
laws existed. In consequence of which, an epidemic
colic arose, which was at length traced to the effects
of lead in the wines.[368] A representation of this
fact having been made to the Duke of Wirtemberg,
it was ordained a capital crime to mix litharge with
347wine, or even to sell it in the shops, by a decree,
bearing date March 10, 1696. But, notwithstanding
the severity of this law, we are informed by Zeller,
that in the year 1705, the same dangerous experiments
were repeated in the circle of Zwaabe, with a
view to correct the acidity of the weaker wines.
Bishop Watson[369] informs us that, in the year 1750,
the Farmers general in France being astonished at the
great quantities de vin gaté which were brought into
Paris, in order to be made into vinegar, redoubled
their researches to find out the cause of the great increase
in that article; for nearly thirty thousand
hogsheads had been annually brought in for a few
years preceding the year 1750, whereas the quantity
annually brought in forty years before, did not exceed
1200 hogsheads. They discovered that several
wine merchants, assuming the name of vinegar merchants,
bought these sour wines, and afterwards, by
means of litharge, rendered them potable, and sold
them as genuine wines.[370] Dr. Warren[371] has related
the cases of thirty-two persons in the Duke of
Newcastle’s family, who were residing in Hanover in
June, 1752, and were seized with the Colica Pictonum,
after having used, as their common drink, a
small white wine that has been adulterated with lead.
Nor has the English vintner been less regardless of the
health of his employer. In a popular work on wine
making by Graham,[372] which has gone through six
editions, and may therefore be supposed to have done
348some mischief, we find under the article of vintner’s
secrets, the following receipts.—
“To hinder wine from turning,
“Put a pound of melted lead, in fair water, into a
cask, pretty warm, and stop it close.”
“Put in a little vinegar, wherein litharge has been
well steeped, and boil some honey to draw out the
wax. Strain it through a cloth, and put a quart of
it into a tierce: and this will mend it, in summer
especially.”
We have already alluded to the presence of lead[373]
in the new rum of the West Indies, as the cause
of the disease known in that country by the name of
the dry belly-ache; it remains for us to state that the
excise officers frequently avail themselves of the peculiar
power of the sub-acetate of lead to precipitate
colouring matter, in order to remove from seized
Holland gin, the colour which it obtains by being
long kept in the tubs in which it is smuggled over.
A practice which it is said renders the gin liable to
gripe.
According to the important experiments of Proust,[374]
it appears, that if lead be associated with tin, it
will be incapable of furnishing to acids any saturnine
impregnation. The following are the interesting conclusions
at which this philosopher has arrived, viz.
“That the tinning, which contains even so large a
proportion as an equal part of lead, cannot be dangerous;
since it is sufficient that the lead should be
349combined with tin, in order to prevent it from being
dissolved, either in lemon juice, or vinegar, the two
acids most to be feared. The tin, being more oxidable
than the lead, dissolves exclusively in these
acids, and prevents the second from being attacked.
The lead cannot appropriate to itself an atom of oxygen,
but the tin would carry it off in an instant.”
This salt of lead, to whose presence the numerous
accidental maladies above enumerated are to be chiefly
attributed, occurs in commerce in the form of irregular
masses resembling lumps of sugar, being an aggregation
of acicular four-sided prisms terminated by
dihedral summits; its taste is sweet and astringent.
It is soluble in 25 parts of water, hot, or cold; when
common spring water, however, is employed for
such a purpose, a white precipitate occurs from the
presence of a certain proportion of sulphates and carbonates.
When this salt is exposed to the action of heat, it
undergoes aqueous fusion, then dries, and at length
is decomposed, leaving a globule of metallic lead,
mixed with the yellow protoxide, and an acid product
of a fetid smell. This decomposition is similar
to that which vegetable substances undergo when
heated for some time. The quantity of metallic lead,
thus obtained, will be more considerable if the salt
has been previously mixed with charcoal, and particularly
if it be submitted for a long time to the action
of a powerful heat. The strong sulphuric acid of
commerce, when poured upon sugar of lead in powder,
decomposes it with effervescence, and disengages
vapours of acetic acid.
350This must be considered as an active preparation,
and may, when administered in doses of a few drachms,
speedily occasion death. At the same time, like
other poisons, it may by judicious administration,
become a valuable remedy. See Pharmacologia, art.
Plumbi Super-acetas.
In consequence of the sweet taste of this salt,
children have been induced to swallow it.
This liquor is a saturated solution of the sub-acetate
of lead. Spring water, from the salts which it
contains, produces with it a very milky and turbid
appearance; and even when distilled, in consequence
of the carbonic acid diffused through it, it will occasion
precipitation. It is principally used as an external
application to diminish inflammation, an effect
which it probably produces by paralysing the nerves
of the part. Cases have occurred where this lotion
has been accidentally swallowed, and the usual symptoms
of saturnine poisoning have supervened. How
far its external application may be capable of occasioning
mischief, will form a subject of inquiry under
the consideration of the physiological action of the
preparations of lead.
The substance, known in commercial language by
the name of White Lead, has received at different
times, very various appellations, in consequence of
the fluctuating opinions which have prevailed respecting
its composition. Thus it has been successively
styled a sub-acetate, an oxide, and a sub-carbonate;
351of which the last is unquestionably the correct name.
In the large way it is prepared by exposing sheets of
metallic lead to the fumes of vinegar. The sub-carbonate
so produced appears as a white, brittle, and
scaly substance, on the surface of the lead; which is
scraped off, and afterwards ground in mills fitted for
the purpose. Formerly, it was ground dry, and the
workmen suffered severely from the operation; it is
now ground in water, and the sub-carbonate is afterwards
dried in earthen pans placed in stoves, heated
by means of flues; still, however, persons employed
in grinding white lead, as well as painters[375] who
are constantly using it, occasionally suffer severely,
from the want of cleanliness in not washing their
hands before eating, by which some of the white lead
is introduced into the stomach with their food.
This is a yellow protoxide of lead, which has been
melted, and left to crystallize by cooling. It is in
the form of small reddish, or yellowish scales, which
are brilliant and vitrified. Its character is so peculiar
that it cannot easily be mistaken. It is employed for
various purposes in the arts, and is the saturnine preparation
more usually selected for the purpose of removing
acidity from wines, as above related.
When treated with a muriatic salt, and submitted
to a high temperature, a muriate of lead is produced,
of a bright yellow colour, the brilliancy of which may
be much heightened by grinding it as usual with oil.
In this state it forms the pigment known by the name
352of Turner’s yellow, or patent yellow.[376] It is very
poisonous.
This red oxide of lead is easily distinguished by its
colour, weight, and the facility with which it yields
metallic lead, when heated with carbonaceous matter.
Common red wafers, which derive their colour from
this oxide, afford a striking illustration of this fact,
for if burnt in a candle, globules of metallic lead will
be observed to flow from them. It is poisonous;
and we have already alluded to a case where Gloucester
cheese[377] occasioned deleterious effects, in
consequence of its adulteration with red lead. (p. 277)
It is destructive also to inferior animals, apparently
in very small quantities; red wafers prove poisonous
to birds who may pick them up; and the same paste
is sold for the purpose of destroying beetles, in which
it succeeds very effectually. Since it is employed as
a pigment, it may on many occasions prove an accidental
cause of poisoning; there is indeed one very
common and dangerous source, mentioned by Sir
George Baker,[378] which deserves to be particularized
in this place, viz. the practice of painting toys with
red lead, and other poisonous substances; children,
observes this distinguished physician, are apt to carry
every object which gives them delight to their mouths,
the painting of toys, therefore, with poisonous colours,
353is a practice which ought to be abolished, and
is the more open to censure, as it is of no real utility.
Symptoms of poisoning by the different preparations of Lead.
The effects of this poison will vary considerably
according to the quantity swallowed, and the circumstances
under which it is taken. We shall, therefore,
first consider its operation, in doses sufficiently
large to occasion at once violent effects; and then
describe its agency as an accumulative poison, where
it is introduced into the system gradually, and in
small quantities, so as to act slowly and imperceptibly,
and to lay the foundation of irreparable mischief,
before any alarm is occasioned.
1. Symptoms which follow a large dose. Where a
salt of lead has been taken in a considerable dose, the
patient soon experiences excruciating pains in the
abdomen, accompanied with sickness and vomiting;
the colic increases to a violent degree, but admits of
temporary alleviation by pressure, a circumstance
which at once distinguishes it from the effects of corrosive
poison. Although it is necessary to observe,
that inflammatory symptoms may afterwards occur,
where the dose has been very considerable, and the
consequences direct and speedy.
The patient describes the pain as if produced by a
boring instrument, and the abdominal muscles become
knotted, and sometimes painfully retracted with
all the contents of the abdomen towards the spine.[379]
The sphincter muscles of the bladder and anus are
354always affected; sometimes strangury and tenesmus
are the consequences; at other times, a total incapacity
of making any water at all, and so great a contraction
of the sphincter ani that a clyster can hardly
be introduced. After suffering these torments for a
period of an indefinite duration, delirium and cold
sweats may supervene, and the patient die in convulsions.
If, however, the treatment has been prompt
and judicious, and the quantity of poison has not
been excessive, he may recover from its immediate
effects, and live to testify the severity of the consecutive
phenomena. A most inveterate constipation of
the bowels will continue for a considerable period,
and there will be an occasional recurrence of colic;
at length a peculiar species of palsy will supervene in
the upper extremities, especially affecting the muscles
of the fore arm, and wrist,[380] Citois has given
us a striking description of this stage of the saturnine
disease. “Per vicos, veluti larvæ, aut arte progredientes
statuæ, pallidi, squalidi, macilenti conspiciuntur,
manibus incurvis et suo pondere pendulis, nec nisi
arte ad os et cæteras supernas partes sublatis, ac pedibus
non suis, sed crurum muculis, ad ridiculum, ni
miserandum, incessum compositis, voce clangosa et
strepera.” It does not appear that the train of symptoms
above described has ever been excited by any
other external cause than the one here assigned.
Whenever we meet with colic, attended with paralytic
symptoms of the extremities, we may at once
conclude that it has arisen from the influence of lead.
The disease has been described by authors under
355the name of the colic of Poitou,[381] or colica Pictonum,[382]
from the circumstance of its having raged with such
epidemic fury in that province, in consequence of the
adulteration of its wines with lead. It is also mentioned
as the painter’s colic, since this class of artists
is very commonly visited by the disease, in consequence
of the white lead contained in their pigments.
At the Lead Hills, it is known to the miners, under
the provincial name of milreek; and in Derbyshire,
under that of belland.[383]
2. Symptoms arising from the introduction of lead into the system, by small and repeated doses.
The effects produced upon various artists by the
imperceptible operation of lead, sufficiently shew the
power which this metal possesses of accumulating in
the human system, and it is probable, says Sir George
Baker, that from an observation of such slow, but
certain effects of lead, the French and Italians derived
the hint of preparing their celebrated poisons,
called “Poudres de Succession;”[384] the basis of
which has been supposed to have been some preparation
of that mineral. Zeller mentions a certain chemical
operator, near the confines of Bohemia, who,
after having diligently applied himself to the composition
of poisons, did, by means of lead, combined
with some more volatile and corrosive substance,
prepare a most slow poison, which given to dogs and
356other animals, had the power of destroying them,
without producing any violent symptoms, after several
weeks, or even months.[385]
The following-curious case,[386] communicated by
Dr. Wall, of Worcester to Sir George Baker, will
serve to illustrate the present subject, and to shew
that lead may gain admittance into the human body,
unobserved, and even unsuspected. “A gentleman
of Worcester was the father of a numerous offspring,
having had one and twenty children, of whom eight
died young, and thirteen survived their parents.
During their infancy, and indeed until they had
quitted the place of their usual residence, they were
all remarkably unhealthy; being particularly subject
to disorders of the stomach and bowels. The father,
during many years, was paralytic; the mother, for
as long a time, subject to colics and bilious obstructions.
She died at last of an obstinate jaundice. This
disease had been several times removed by the use of
the Bath water; but it always came on again soon
after her return to Worcester; and at last eluded
every method and medicine which was tried. After
the death of these parents, the family sold the house
which they had so long inhabited. The purchaser
found it necessary to repair the pump. This was
made of lead; and, upon examination, was found
to be so corroded, that several perforations were observed
in the cylinder, in which the bucket plays;
and the cistern in the upper part was reduced to the
thinness of common brown paper, and was full of
holes like a sieve. The waters of this town are remarkably
357hard. It is then more than probable that
the water of this pump, thus impregnated with lead,
occasioned the unhealthiness of the family who drank
it. I have been just informed by the plumber,” adds
Dr. Wall, “that he had several times repaired the
pump in question; and that he had done so not
more than three or four years before the gentleman’s
death; when he found it nearly in the same
state as it has been described; so that the corrosion
was effected in a short time; and consequently
the water must have been very strongly impregnated
with the noxious quality of the metal.”
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
The reports of the dissection of those who have been
destroyed by saturnine poisons are far from being satisfactory.
Where the person has died from the primary
effects of a large dose of the acetate of lead, the
stomach has betrayed a state of inflammation, similar
to that which results from the action of a corrosive
poison; black points and spots, from venous extravasation,
have been also observed in the interior of
this viscus; M. Orfila states that he has seen in the
stomach of animals who have taken a large dose of
the acetate of lead, and have not vomited, a membraneous
lining tolerably thick, of an ash colour,
easily detaching in small pieces; the origin of which
appeared to be owing to the decomposition of a part
of the acetate of lead by the mucous, bilious, and
other fluids, contained in this viscus. The mucous
membrane lying under this lining, was of a dark grey
colour throughout its whole thickness, and appeared
to have exercised the same action on the acetate of
lead. The case is very different in those who have
358died from the slow action of this metal; all anatomists
agree in reporting, that in the colica pictonum, the
digestive canal exhibits no vestige of inflammation;[387]
but the diameter of the large intestines, especially
that of the colon, is generally contracted; thus displaying
the effects of that operation, which is supposed
to be characteristic of the compounds of lead,
and which has bestowed upon them the peculiar designation
of astringent poisons. Foderé states that the
mesentery and its glands; and the lacteal and lymphatic
vessels, are inflamed and obstructed, and the thoracic
duct almost obliterated; the liver, spleen, pancreas,
and lungs often inflamed, tumefied and purulent,
and even the heart shrivelled;[388] and the
whole body, in consequence of the constriction of
the chyliferous vessels, in a state of complete marasmus.
Upon this passage Orfila makes the following
observation. “We are under the necessity of declaring,
that almost all these signs are wanting in the
majority of the cases of simple colic of lead, terminated
by death.” Fourcroy, in a note to his translation
of Ramazzini, “De Morbis Artificum,” observes
that the intestines have, in these cases, been discovered
distended by air, parched, and slightly altered
in colour; and that in the larger ones, balls of dry,
dark coloured, excrementitious matter, have been
found.
Physiological action of Lead Poisons.
The preparations of lead seem to act upon the nervous
system, destroying its energy, and thereby producing
paralysis. Whether this is effected through
359the medium of the circulation, or whether they produce
their effects without being absorbed, appears to
us to be a question which has not hitherto received a
satisfactory answer. It must, however, be admitted
that they act upon the alimentary canal, by coming
into contact with its nerves; and in some cases,
where the dose of the acetate has been large, it may
have produced death by the local injury which it inflicted.
Dr. Lambe observes upon this subject, that
“certain facts render it probable that lead does not
operate entirely through the medium of the circulation,
nor by nervous sympathy; but also topically,
affecting the part to which it is applied more than the
other parts of the body.” This latter position is
clearly established by the beneficial effects occasioned
by the topical application of lead to inflamed surfaces;
nor can any doubt exist as to the fact of such applications
having produced local paralysis. There is a
paper in the third volume of the Medical Transactions
by Dr. Reynolds, in which the case of a gentleman
is detailed, who brought on a temporary paralysis of
the sphincter ani, by freely using Goulard’s lotion for
the cure of piles. Foreign writers have also maintained
that saturnine applications have frequently occasioned
impotence; for further information upon
this subject the reader may refer to Istitutione di Medicina
Forens: di Tortosa, vol. 1, p. 58; also Fritze
Compend: sopra i Malat. Vener. p. 189; and Monteggia
Annotat. sopra i Mali Venerei, p. 36. Sir
George Baker states that he has some reason to doubt,
whether litharge, the common basis of our plasters,
when used for the purpose of dressing issues, has not,
in certain irritable constitutions, produced some of
the ordinary effects of saturnine preparations taken
internally. There have been instances of children
360thrown into convulsions, by cerusse, sprinkled on
excoriated parts. Zeller quotes, on the authority of
Molingius, a remarkable instance of the pernicious
effects of litharge, externally applied.[389] Sir George
Baker met with a most violent and obstinate colic,
which seemed to have been occasioned by some
litharge, mixed in a cataplasm, and applied to the
vagina, with a view to allay a troublesome itching;
and he says that he was informed by Dr. Petit that
Goulard’s poultice applied for some time to a patient’s
knee, in St. George’s hospital, occasioned violent
pain in the bowels, which did not cease until the
poultice had been removed; nor are authorities deficient
to prove, that the fashionable application of
cerusse to the skin has been followed by obstinate colics,
pains, and tremors. We have been desirous of
laying before our readers the above authorities, in
proof of the constitutional effects which may be occasionally
produced by the external application of lead,
since the fact has been questioned, and is still considered
by many as involved in doubt and uncertainty.
Dr. Lambe is inclined to believe, that “to the production
of the saturnine colic, it is necessary that the
metal should be applied immediately to the stomach
and intestines.” If this hypothesis be just, he excludes
nervous sympathy, as well as absorption, as a
proximate cause of saturnine colic; and, consequently,
no dependence can be placed on the accounts given
by the above pathologists with regard to the production
361of such an effect by lotions and cataplasms of
lead.
Of the chemical processes, by which the presence of lead may be detected.
These will necessarily vary according to the different
states of combination in which it may be supposed
to exist; we shall, therefore, proceed to consider the
modes of establishing its presence, 1, In solution in
water; wine; spirit; and oils. 2. In a state of mixture
with various solids. 3. Combined with solid or
liquid aliments.
1. The lead exists in some unknown state of combination
in solution in water. We are greatly indebted
to Dr. Lambe[390] for the able directions which he has
afforded us for ascertaining the presence of minute
portions of lead in water; and we recommend the
practitioner, who may be engaged in such an investigation,
to peruse his work with attention. The following
are the reagents through which our analysis
must be conducted.
(a) Sulphuretted hydrogen. A solution of this gas
in distilled water is a very delicate test for lead,
throwing down a precipitate of a very dark brown colour,
approaching to black. The competency, however,
of this test to the discovery of very minute
quantities of lead, in certain states of combination,
has been questioned by Dr. Lambe; who was enabled
to detect the presence of this metal, by other methods,
in water that manifested no indication with
sulphuretted hydrogen. He detected it, for instance,
in the precipitate occasioned in such water by the
362carbonate of potass or soda. In operating on these
waters, he noticed the following appearances.
1. The precipitate, produced as above stated, when
re-dissolved in nitric acid, formed a dark cloud
with sulphuretted hydrogen.
2. Although the sulphuretted hydrogen formed no
cloud, the precipitate itself became darkened by
it.
3. The precipitate re-dissolved in nitric acid, (as
in 1) formed, with sulphuretted hydrogen, a
white cloud.
4. Sulphuretted hydrogen neither formed a cloud,
nor darkened the precipitate.
5. In the cases 2, 3, 4, if the precipitate be heated
to redness, in contact with an alkaline carbonate;
and after dissolving out the carbonate, it be redissolved
in nitric acid; then sulphuretted hydrogen
will form a dark cloud with the solution.
In these experiments it is necessary that the
acid used to redissolve the precipitate be not
in excess; if it should so happen, the excess
must be saturated, before the test is applied.
It is better to use so little, that some precipitate
may remain undissolved. The nitric acid,
used in these experiments, should be perfectly
pure; and the sulphuretted hydrogen test
should be recently prepared by saturating distilled
water with the gas.
(b) Sulphate of soda, or potass. This test will produce
a white precipitate in water, containing one
hundred-thousandth of its weight of lead; and is considered
by Dr. Thomson as the most unequivocal reagent
363of that metal which we possess. “The precipitate
is a fine dense powder, which speedily falls to
the bottom, and is not re-dissolved by nitric acid;
no other precipitate can be confounded with it, except
sulphate of baryta, and there is no chance of the
presence of baryta in solution in water.”[391]
(c) Muriate of soda. One of the methods of analysis
proposed by Dr. Lambe, consists in precipitating
the lead by common salt; but as the muriate of
lead is partly soluble in water, this test cannot be applied
to small portions of suspected water. The precipitate
must, therefore, be collected from two or
three gallons, and heated to redness with twice its
weight of carbonate of soda. The alkaline carbonate
is then to be dissolved out, and nitric acid added, in
order to saturate any superfluity; the sulphuretted
hydrogen test will then produce its indication.
(d) Reduction of the metal. This is undoubtedly
the most satisfactory of all the tests; and, except the
trouble of collecting a large quantity of precipitate, is
not embarrassed with any difficulty. The precipitate
may be mixed with its own weight of alkaline carbonate,
and exposed either with, or without, the addition
of a small proportion of charcoal, to a heat sufficient
to melt the alkali. On breaking the crucible, a
small globule of lead will be found reduced at the
bottom. The precipitate from about fifty gallons of
water yielded Dr. Lambe about two grains of lead.
2. The lead is dissolved in wine. For the detection
of this dangerous fraud, the reagent invented by Dr.
Hahnemann affords a ready and convenient test. It
consists of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen
364gas, and acidulated with muriatic acid;[392] this
latter ingredient is added for the purpose of preventing
the precipitation of any iron, which the wine
might accidentally contain. This liquor will, if
added in the proportion of one part to two of wine,
produce with the smallest quantity of lead, a dark
coloured, or black precipitate; which, if collected,
dried, and fused before the blow-pipe on a piece of
charcoal, will yield a globule of metallic lead. Or
we may modify the experiment by passing a current of
sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the wine, having
previously acidulated it with muriatic acid, to prevent
the precipitation of the iron.
A farther proof of the presence of lead in wines is
the occurrence of a precipitate, on adding a solution
of the sulphate of soda.
The most satisfactory proof, however, is derived
by distilling off the alcohol, and calcining the residuum
with charcoal, in order to obtain the metallic
lead.
The quantity of lead which has been detected in
sophisticated wine, may be estimated at forty grains
of the metal in every fifty gallons,[393] but this will of
course be liable to vary with the degree of acidity it
was intended to correct.
3. The lead is dissolved in oils. In this case the
lead may be detected by shaking, in a stopped phial,
one part of the suspected oil, with two or three parts
365of water, impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen.
This test will announce the presence of the deleterious
metal, by occasioning a dark brown, or black
colour.
4. The lead is mixed with alimentary matter. M.
Orfila has furnished us with the following directions
for assaying the matter vomited, or that which may
be found in the digestive canal, after death. “After
having expressed the fluid portion through a piece of
fine linen, it must be assayed by the tests, which have
been already enumerated as being capable of detecting
the salts of lead; and if the precipitates obtained
are of a nature to induce a belief, that the fluid contains
some preparation of this kind, it must be evaporated
to dryness, and calcined with charcoal in a crucible;
when, at the expiration of three quarters of an
hour, metallic lead will be obtained. If all the experiments
made on the fluid portion of the matter vomited,
for the discovery of this poison, should be
fruitless, the whole of the solid portions, previously
dried, should then be calcined with potass and charcoal,
by which means metallic lead will be obtained.”
366
The poisons of which we are about to offer the
physiological and chemical history, although more
numerous than those which belong to the mineral
kingdom, are, notwithstanding, of far less importance
in a forensic point of view. With the exception
of opium, and some few others, they must be considered
as objects of accidental, rather than of criminal
poisoning; and even with respect to the former
narcotic, it may be said to afford more frequently the
means of destruction to the suicide, than to the
assassin.
The sensible qualities of smell, taste, and sometimes
colour, which so eminently characterise deleterious
plants, must necessarily render them ill calculated
to favour that secresy, which constitutes the
indispensable companion of crime; while their bulk,
and the pharmaceutical preparation which they require,
are alike inconsistent with the hope of concealment.
Thus we receive, as it were, from Nature, that
protection which art can no longer supply; and the
commission of crime is either prevented or discovered,
in cases where the powers of chemistry would
fail in its detection.
The objects which constitute the vegetable kingdom
differ from every species of mineral matter, not only in
their peculiar organized structure, but in the chemical
arrangement of their elements; those of inorganic
matter are generally combined in very simple proportions,
367as one and one, or one and two, &c. whereas
in organized bodies, their proportions are much
more complicated; and Dr. Ure observes,[394] that
such substances derive the peculiar delicacy of their
chemical equilibrium, and the consequent facility
with which it may be subverted and new modelled,
to the multitude of atoms grouped together in a compound;
hence too, as Mr. Children[395] has observed,
is one reason of our utter inability to reproduce even
the simplest body of this class, when once its elements
have been separated; it is not in the diversity
of these elements, but in the manner in which they
are grouped, that this peculiarity consists, for, continues
the accomplished chemist last mentioned, “vegetable
substances seldom contain, as essential, more
than three principles—oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon,
and sometimes azote. With four simple elements
then, a brief alphabet for so comprehensive a history!
has a bountiful Omnipotence composed the beautiful
volume of the living world, where, turn to what page
we may, fresh loveliness meets the eye, fresh cause
of admiration and delight.”
The analysis of vegetable bodies resolves itself into
two parts, each of which constitutes an equal object
of interest to the forensic physician; who, it will be
shewn, may occasionally derive important information
from both. The first relates to the discovery of the
proximate principles of a vegetable substance. The
second, to that of its ultimate elements. By the proximate,
or, as they are sometimes termed, the immediate
principles, we mean those compound substances
which exist in the living plant in a state identical
368with that, under which chemical processes exhibit
them, and are chiefly separable by the action of different
solvents. The number of these principles is
considerable, as gum, starch, sugar, gluten, extractiue,
tannin, oils, acid, &c. &c. By the ultimate elements,
we understand those, of which the proximate
are composed, as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and
azote. In submitting a plant to destructive analysis,
for the purpose of obtaining its ultimate elements, we
shall derive compounds, which formed no part of the
vegetable structure, and which result from a new
arrangement of the elements composing it; acetic and
carbonic acids, for example, are obtained by the destructive
distillation of several vegetable substances,
in which neither of these acids existed ready formed,
but only their elements.[396] It may easily be imagined
to what numerous fallacies such a law of composition
must have given origin, in the earlier periods
of chemical inquiry; and it is equally evident,
that the utmost refinement of chemical science, and
the most rigorous methods of analysis, will be required
to enable us to deduce any satisfactory conclusion
with respect to the quality of a plant, from
these data. Such perfection, indeed, has not hitherto
been attained, but the period is probably not far distant,
when our most sanguine anticipations upon this
point may be realised. We have only to trace the
history of this branch of chemistry for the last century,
to become satisfied of its gradual and important
progress towards such an epoch, and of the improvements
of which this department of vegetable analysis is
farther susceptible; let us, for the sake of illustration,
369only compare the rude results obtained by the
academicians of Paris, at about the commencement of
the seventeenth century, with those of MM. Gay-Lussac
and Thenard[397], or with those, very lately
instituted in this country by Dr. Ure,[398] and we
shall perceive that while the former of these experimentalists,
by the aid of heat, were unable to form
the slightest distinction between the most inert, and
the most poisonous species of plants, the latter, by
means of the same agent, aided by the modern doctrine
of equivalent ratios, has succeeded in establishing
the proportions in which the elements of each
vegetable body combines; and with such accuracy, as
to discriminate between substances, which bear the
greatest analogy to each other; as between the varieties
of sugar, and those of oil; and even between
common flax, and the same substance prepared according
to the improved process of Mr. Lee. This
statement is sufficient to show the capability of ultimate
analysis, on certain occasions, to identify vegetable
bodies; but we are, at present, scarcely advanced
far enough in such an investigation, to make
it subservient to the detection of vegetable poisons.
Nor has our knowledge with regard to proximate
analysis, been less successfully advanced. The late
researches of the French and German chemists have
demonstrated the existence of several new alkaline
bodies in the class of vegetable poisons, to which
some of these plants appear to be exclusively indebted
for their activity, as the poppy, hellebore,
colchicum, &c.; and whose characters are so distinct
and striking, as to enable the chemist to recognise
370their presence by appropriate re-agents. In other
cases, the virulence of a plant would appear to depend
upon the combination of several[399] proximate
principles; while in some few instances there exist in
the same individual vegetable, two distinct elements
of activity, as illustrated by the interesting history of
tobacco.
In cases of vegetable poisoning it will occasionally
occur, that some remains of the plant may be collected;
and seeds, portions of the fungi, and leaves, may be
found in the contents of the stomach; whence a knowledge
of botany becomes indispensable. This branch
of science is, moreover, important to the toxicologist,
as enabling him to pursue the study of plants with
greater precision; for experience has shewn that
there is a wonderful analogy between the structure of
those plants which resemble each other in medicinal
operation. Thus those which, from their dismal and
dusky appearance, have been arranged under the
title of Luridæ, are in general highly poisonous;
they also possess a very peculiar and disagreeable
smell, so that Nature has, upon this occasion, kindly
given us notice of approaching danger, by means of
our senses.
Of equal importance with the knowledge of the
generic and specific characters, is that of their sensible
qualities, and the changes which these latter
undergo by pharmaceutical preparation.
371
Most of the subjects of this class constitute articles
of Materia Medica; so that ignorance on the one
hand, and accident on the other, may render them
the unexpected source of mischief. With respect to
the physiological action of these bodies, the reader
has only to refer to our classification at page 207, to
perceive that it will not admit of generalization; for
each division, it will be observed, contains individuals
which belong to the class of acrid poisons.
As the history of most of these articles is to be
found in works on Materia Medica, we shall not
enter so fully into their properties, as we might
otherwise have considered necessary.
This beautiful gum-resin is obtained by making
incisions in the leaves and young sprouts of the Stalagmitis
Cambogioides[400] (Polygamia Monæcia—Nat.
ord. Tricoccæ. Wild:) It is first collected, in the
kingdoms of Siam and Ceylon, in cocoa-nut shells,
and is thence transferred into large earthen jars,
where it remains until it is nearly dried to a cake,
when it is formed into rolls, and wrapped up in
leaves. It is imported into Europe[401] in cases and
boxes. Its deep yellow colour, which is so materially
brightened by being wetted, and its shining
fracture, are characters sufficiently striking to
372enable the practitioner to identify it; and when we
add to these the history of its habitudes with different
menstrua, the chemist will have no difficulty in
detecting its presence, viz. when triturated with
water, two-thirds of its substance are speedily dissolved,
and a turbid solution results; alcohol dissolves
nine-tenths, and forms a yellow transparent tincture,
which is rendered turbid by the addition of water;
sulphuric ether dissolves six-tenths of the substance;
it is also soluble in alkaline solutions, and the resulting
compound is not rendered turbid by water, but is
instantly decomposed by acids, and the precipitate so
produced is of an extremely brilliant yellow colour,
and soluble in an excess of acid.
Its action upon the animal œconomy is that of a
powerfully drastic purge. We are, however, not
acquainted with any case in which death followed its
administration. From the experiments made upon
animals, it would appear to produce its effects by a
local action on the textures, with which it comes in
contact, and it will accordingly be found in the third
class of our physiological classification, (page 207.)
This is undoubtedly the true hellebore of the ancients.
It is a native of the mountainous parts of
Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and Russia. Those specimens
which are cultivated in our gardens flower in
July. The root is the only part employed in medicine,
but every part of the plant is extremely acrid
and poisonous. Upon the animal œconomy it acts as
373a violent cathartic and emetic; producing bloody
stools, excessive vomitings, great anxiety, vertigo,
tremors, sinking of the pulse, syncope, cold sweats,
convulsions, and death. There are many cases on record,
where such effects have followed the ingestion
of this plant. Helmont reports that a royal prince
died in the course of three hours after taking a scruple
of this poison, which induced convulsions; and Vicat[403]
relates the case of a tailor, his wife, children, and
workmen, who having taken soup, in which, through
mistake, the root of white hellebore had been introduced
instead of pepper, were seized with a universal
coldness, and such extreme debility, as to become
nearly insensible. At the expiration of two hours,
the eldest child, who was not four years of age, began
to vomit copiously, but with considerable straining;
the rest were shortly after in the same condition.
Vicat, who was called in at this critical period, ordered
them to take a considerable quantity of warm
water and oil; shortly after which he administered an
infusion of mallow sweetened with honey; by which
means, we are informed, they were relieved, and
ultimately restored. According to the testimony of
various physiologists, as well as from the experiments
of Orfila, it appears that this plant, if externally applied,
will produce the same effects. Etmuller says,
that the external application of the root to the abdomen
will produce vomiting; and Schroeder observed
the same phenomenon to take place in a case where it
was used as a suppository; the juice of the plant has
been also applied to the purpose of poisoning arrows.
It must, therefore, act by being absorbed into the
circulating current, thereby destroying the energy
374of the nervous system. It accordingly finds a place
in the second division of our classification. Late experiments
upon this substance have shewn that its
activity depends upon a peculiar alkaline principle, to
which the name of veratria[404] has been given; and
that it exists in native combination with an excess of
gallic acid, (super-gallate of veratria).
When taken internally, as a poison, the most effectual
antidote is said to be a very strong infusion of
nut-galls.
This plant, which has derived its name from the
dark colour of the root, is a native of Austria, the
Apennines, and Italy; it has, however, obtained a
place in our gardens,[405] and from the circumstance of
its flowering from December till March, it has acquired
the name of the christmas rose. The fibres of
the roots are the parts employed in medicine; their
odour is fœtid, and their taste bitter and acrid. Its
action upon the animal œconomy is similar to that of
the preceding species. Morgagni relates the history
of a person who took half a drachm of black hellebore,
and expired eight hours afterwards. M. Orfila
states that inflammation of the rectum is a constant
occurrence, where the animals who have taken
this root, have survived its administration for a few
hours.
375
This plant is a native of England, growing in shady
places, on a chalky soil, and flowering in March and
April. Like the former species of hellebore, it is
capable of producing fatal effects. A case is related
in the London Chronicle, 1768, no. 1760, of a child
who died in consequence of taking the root of this
plant in the pulp of an apple.
This plant is a perennial native of the south of Europe,
flowering in June and July; it is cultivated in
England, but does not survive the severity of our
winters. The fruit (poma) has the appearance of a
small oval cucumber, of a greyish colour, and covered
with prickles. When fully ripe it quits the peduncal,
and casts out the seed and juice, with great force, and
to a considerable distance, through the hole in the
base where the foot-stalk is inserted, whence the
name of squirting cucumber. The author has instituted
numerous experiments upon this plant, the results
of which will be found fully detailed, under its
history, in the fifth edition of his Pharmacologia.
The plant appears, from the testimony of Dioscorides,
and other writers, to have been employed by
the ancient physicians with much confidence and success
as a cathartic; all the parts of the plant were
considered as purgative, although not in an equal degree;
thus Geoffroy, “radicum vis cathartica major
376est quam foliorum, minor vero quam fructuum.” This
question, however, has been very lately set at rest,
by the valuable experiments of Dr. Clutterbuck,[406]
which prove that the active principle of this plant
resides more particularly in the juice which is lodged
in the centre of the fruit. The forensic physician,
however, will scarcely be liable to meet with a case
of poisoning by the fruit of this plant. It is from that
preparation of the juice, which is admitted into our
Pharmacopœia, under the title of Extract of Elaterium,
that we may expect to meet with mischief.
This substance subsides spontaneously from the
juice of the fruit; and occurs in commerce in little thin
cakes, or broken pieces, bearing the impression of
the muslin upon which it is dried; its colour is greenish,
its taste bitter, and somewhat acrid; and when
tolerably pure it is light, pulverulent, and inflammable.
Notwithstanding its extreme activity, it
does not, according to our experiments,[407] contain
more than a tenth part of active matter, which
is a vegetable proximate principle, sui generis, and
to which we have given the name of Elatin. By
treating the Elaterium with alcohol, this principle
may be obtained; it imparts to the spirit a most brilliant,
and beautiful grass green colour—but see our
experiments upon this subject. The action of elaterium
is that of a most violent drastic cathartic, especially
affecting the rectum. It destroys life by its
local action, and consequently finds a place in the
third division of our classification.
377
This is the fruit of the Cucumis Colocynthis (Monœcia
Monodelphia, Nat. Ord. Cucurbitaceæ) an
annual of Turkey and Nubia. It is of the size of an
orange, of a yellowish-white colour, devoid of smell,
round, dry, light, spongy, and smooth on the outside,
when ripe; it is trilocular, each cell containing
many ovate, compressed, whitish seeds, enveloped
by a white spongy pulp. It is imported into this
country, after having been peeled, and dried in a stove.
Its taste is extremely bitter and acrimonious. It acts
upon the human body as a powerfully drastic purgative.
Fordyce,[408] relates the case of a woman who
was subject to colics for the space of thirty years, in
consequence of having taken an infusion of this fruit
in beer. Tulpius[409] has also furnished us with an
account of the tremendous effects produced by an
overdose of the same article; and Orfila has shewn,
with his usual accuracy, that it acts not only locally
upon the primæ viæ, but by being absorbed, and carried
into the circulation.
This gum resin is imported from Barbary, in drops,
or irregular tears; its fracture is vitreous; it is inodorous,
but yields a very acrid, burning impression
on the tongue. Its acrid constituent resides exclusively
in that portion which is soluble in alcohol.
This poison has been sometimes administered imprudently
378as a purgative when it has produced vomiting,
and bloody stools. Lamotte speaks of a clyster prepared
with it, which proved fatal. It acts as a caustic
upon the textures with which it comes in contact, and
thus destroys life by a local action; indeed its nature
is so acrid that when applied to the hair, or to warts,
it causes them to fall off. Scopoli mentions the case
of a person who, having the eye-lids closed, allowed
them to be rubbed with the juice of this plant; in
consequence of which inflammation followed, and
the sight was lost. In pulverizing the gum-resin,
the parmaceutist should take the precaution of previously
moistening it with vinegar, or the powder
will rise, excoriate his face, and excite violent inflammation
of the eyes. There are many species[410]
of Euphorbium, or spurge, which are highly poisonous;
and, being indigenous, they have frequently proved
the cause of mischief; during the last summer the
author was consulted on the occasion of a family of
children having been seized with a violent inflammation
of the eyes, and eruption on the face, when the
phenomenon was very satisfactorily traced to the
action of the Euphorbia peplus, which was growing
very luxuriantly in the garden where the children
had been playing.
This shrub is a native of the south of Europe and
the Levant; but has been long cultivated in our gardens.
379The leaves and tops of the plant have a strong,
heavy, disagreeable odour, and a bitter, hot taste,
with a considerable degree of pungency; qualities
which depend upon the presence of an essential oil.
Upon the animal system it acts as a very powerful
stimulant, and has been received into the list of the
materia medica, as an active emmenagogue; while it
has long enjoyed, amongst the vulgar, the reputation
of being capable of producing abortion.[411] Upon
this point we have only to observe, that it does not
exert any specific action on the uterus; but as a violent
medicine, acting upon the general system, it
might, in common with other stimulants, produce so
much disturbance as to be followed by abortion. The
experiments of Orfila have shewn that savine exerts
a local action, but that its effects depend principally
on its absorption, through which medium it acts on
the nervous system, the rectum, and the stomach.
There are several species of aconite, all of which
are poisonous. The monkshood is a well known plant,
met with in our gardens, and when swallowed in any
quantity will produce the symptoms, characteristic of
vegetable poisons. All the parts of aconite, in the
fresh state, when chewed, produce a sense of heat,
and shortly afterwards a sensation of numbness in the
lips and gums, which does not subside for several
hours.
380In ancient authors, we frequently meet with aconite
as a poison, but it has been fairly questioned whether
any particular plant was designated by the term[412];
like that of cicuta, it seems to have been a word expressive
of poisons generally. The most powerful
form in which this vegetable poison exists is in that
of extract, or inspissated juice[413], and, if prepared according
to the improved process of Mr. Barry,[414] it
will prove highly dangerous in small doses. M. Orfila
relates several fatal accidents from the ingestion of
this plant; his experiments have also shewn that it
will produce its effects by an external application.
We agree, however, with Mr. Brodie in considering
that it acts, without being absorbed, on the brain,
through the medium of the nerves; and we have accordingly
placed it in the first division of our classification.
The plants already enumerated are sufficient to
illustrate the symptoms and physiological action of
the acrid poisons of the vegetable kingdom. We
shall, therefore, conclude the history of this class
with some account of the nitrate of potass, which has
been ranked both by Fodéré and Orfila under this division
of their classification.
381
The sensible qualities of this salt are too well
known to require any description. It generally occurs
crystallized in six-sided prisms, terminated by
dihedral summits. It is composed of one proportional
of nitric acid, and one proportional of potass. It
dissolves in seven parts of water at 60°, and in its own
weight at 212° Fah. Its solution is attended with a
great reduction of temperature. It is permanent in
the air, melts when exposed to a moderate heat; and,
when cast into moulds, constitutes what is known in
commerce by the name of sal prunelle. When mixed
with inflammable matter it undergoes, in a strong
heat, a rapid species of combustion, which, in chemical
language, is termed deflagration. Concentrated
sulphuric acid, when poured upon this salt in powder,
decomposes it at the ordinary temperature, and
disengages vapours of nitric acid, which are white,
and not very abundant.
Symptoms of poisoning by Nitre.
This salt, when taken in a large dose, acts violently
on the stomach and bowels, and occasions
syncope and death. There are several cases recorded
of its having been taken by mistake for Glauber’s salt.
On these occasions, the patients have been seized
with violent vomiting and purging of blood, attended
with severe pains in the bowels, and a sense of burning
heat, referred to the chest and stomach; cold extremities,
fluttering pulse, laborious breathing, syncope,
and death. The above effects have been produced
by an ounce and a half of nitre; although, as
382Dr. Gordon Smith has observed, the same quantity of
this salt has been inadvertently swallowed without the
production of such tremendous consequences.
From the experiments of Orfila, it appears that if
this salt be inserted into a wound, it occasions a fatal
gangrene. Its action is undoubtedly the effect of its
acrid nature, destroying the vitality of the textures
with which it comes in contact. It is not absorbed.
Organic lesions discovered by dissection.
In those recorded cases of death from the ingestion
of nitre, the stomach has been found red, scattered
over with blackish spots, and its mucous membrane
disorganized.
Chemical processes for the detection of Nitre.
The property which this salt possesses of deflagrating
with combustible bodies, affords a ready indication
of its presence. The process also, which we have
described under the history of nitric acid, (p. 312) as
the one suggested by Dr. Wollaston, and adopted by
Dr. Marcet in his examination of sea water, furnishes
an elegant mode of ascertaining the presence of a
nitric salt.
These constitute a class of vegetable poisons, less
extensive, perhaps, but of far greater importance and
interest, than the one we have already considered.
It would not be easy to enumerate the various purposes
to which the active imagination of man has applied
the tribe of narcotic plants. Medicines, poisons,
383intoxication, and madness, lie concealed beneath
their juices. They have, in their turn, arrested the
pangs of disease, and inflicted death upon the unsuspecting
object of hatred and revenge; they have animated
the courage of the warrior, inspired the enthusiasm
of the poet, soothed the sorrows of the wretched,
and furnished the debauchee with a daily source of sensual
gratification; effects which, although apparently
incompatible with each other, may be commanded by
the same substance, in a different dose. It would be
foreign to the plan of this work to enter into a physiological
inquiry into the modus operandi of these
extraordinary agents; and the author relinquishes
the labour with less regret, as he has already, in
another work,[415] very fully considered the several
theories which have been advanced for its explanation.
This well known drug is the inspissated juice of the
Papaver Somniferum (Polyandria Monogynia. Nat.
Ord. Rhoedææ, Linn. Papaveraceæ Juss.) obtained by
making incisions in the half ripe capsules, at sun-set,
when the night dews favour the exudation of the
juice, which is collected in the morning by old women
and children, who scrape it from off the wounds with
a small iron scoop, and deposit the whole in an
earthen pot, where it is worked by wooden spatulas
in the sun-shine, until it attain a considerable degree
of spissitude. It is then formed by the hand into
cakes, which are laid in earthen basins to be further
exsiccated.[416] Two kinds are found in commerce,
distinguished by the names of Turkey, and East Indian
384opium. The latter kind is regarded as being
inferior to the former.
Turkey opium occurs in flat pieces, of a solid compact
texture, possessing considerable tenacity; its
specific gravity is 1·336, so that, when compared with
concrete juices of other plants, it is heavy, being exceeded
only in this respect by opoponax and gum
arabic. It is of a reddish-brown, or fawn-colour,
and has a peculiar, heavy, and narcotic odour; its
taste is acrid, bitter, and hot. By long exposure to
the air, it becomes hard, and breaks with a glimmering
fracture, owing to the presence of a few saline
particles. It is plastic, and when worked with the
fingers is adherent to them. When brought near a
lighted candle it inflames, and burns with a brilliant
light, but its odour at that time is not narcotic. It
is partially soluble in water, alcohol, æther, wine,
vinegar, and lemon-juice. When triturated with hot
water, five parts in twelve are dissolved, six suspended,
and one part remains perfectly insoluble,
and resembles the gluten of wheat, but is of a dark
colour. The alcoholic is more highly charged with
its narcotic principle than the aqueous solution; but
spirit, rather below proof, is its best menstruum.
Few vegetable substances have been more frequently,
or more ably submitted to analysis; and
the history of the successive steps by which our knowledge
respecting its composition has advanced, must
encourage us in hoping that we shall shortly be enabled
to identify, by chemical tests, the presence of
opium, with as little difficulty and as great precision
as we are already capable of recognising a metallic
poison.
According to the latest chemical views respecting
the composition of this body, it may be stated to consist
385of the following principles, viz. resin, gum,
bitter extractive, sulphate of lime, gluten, and the
three lately discovered bodies, narcotine, morphia,
and meconic acid.
In the year 1803, Derosne first obtained from
opium a crystalline substance, which he found to dissolve
in acids, but he does not appear to have instituted
many experiments, for the elucidation of its
nature and properties. In 1804 Seguin discovered
another crystalline body, and although he described
many of its properties, what appears very extraordinary,
he never even hinted at its alkaline nature.
Sertuerner, at Eimbeck in Hanover, had at the same
time as Derosne and Seguin, obtained these crystalline
bodies, but it was not until the year 1817, that
he first proclaimed the existence of a vegetable alkali,
and attributed to it the narcotic powers which distinguish
the operation of opium; to this body, he gave
the name of Morphia, and it would appear to be the
same as the essential salt of Seguin. The salt of Derosne
was also at first mistaken for the same principle,
but the experiments of Robiquet have pointed
out its distinctive properties, and it has received the
name of Narcotine.
Morphia, upon which the soporific powers of
opium depend, appears to exist in native combination
with a peculiar acid, to which the name of meconic
acid has been bestowed. The following are the
essential characters of this alkaline body, when procured
in a state of purity.[417]
It crystallizes in fine, transparent, truncated pyramids,
the bases of which are either squares or rectangles,
386occasionally united base to base, and thereby
forming octohedra. It is sparingly soluble in boiling
water, but dissolves abundantly in heated alcohol,
giving rise to an intensely bitter solution; in æther
it is far less soluble. It has also the characters of an
alkali; affecting test papers tinged with tumeric or
violets, uniting with acids and forming neutral salts,
and decomposing the compounds of acids with metallic
oxides. It unites with sulphur by means of heat,
but the combination is no sooner formed than it is decomposed.
It fuses at a moderate temperature, when
it resembles melted sulphur, and like that substance
crystallizes on cooling; it is decomposed by distillation,
yielding carbonate of ammonia, oil, and a black
resinous residue, with a peculiar smell; when heated
in contact with air, it inflames rapidly, and like vegetable
matter, it leaves a carbonaceous residue.
When analyzed by means of the deutoxide of copper,
it yields carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the atomic
proportions of which have not yet been ascertained.
The nitric acid of commerce, when dropped on morphia,
communicates to it a beautiful red colour. Sertuerner
387has given us an account of the effect of the
alcoholic solution of morphia on himself, and three
of his pupils; he found that repeated small doses of
half a grain produced at first decided excitation;
then weakness, numbness, and tendency to fainting;
after swallowing vinegar while in this condition, violent
vomiting was excited; in one delicate individual,
profound sleep intervened, and on the following day
he suffered from nausea, vomiting, head-ache, anorexia,
constipation, and heaviness.[418] This case is
sufficient to shew, that although morphia possesses the
characteristic powers of opium, its strength is by no
means commensurate with its supposed state of concentration.
When uncombined, it exerts little or no
action, in consequence of its insolubility in water,
and in the fluids of the stomach. When, however, it
is combined with an acid, particularly the acetic, or
the meconic, with the latter of which we have before
stated that it exists in opium, it displays its properties
in a very eminent degree. It is also very soluble
in oil; and, according to the experiments of M. Majendie,
the compound acts with great intensity.
The meconic acid, when separated from the residuum
of the magnesian salt, as described in the process
for the preparation of morphia (note p. 386) does
not appear to possess any medicinal activity. Its distinguishing
chemical character is, that it produces an
intensely red colour in solutions of iron, oxidized ad
maximum; and a deep blue, with solutions of the
salts of gold. Narcotine is the salt originally obtained
by Derosne, and is supposed by MM. Majendie
and Robiquet to be the peculiar principle which
produces the excitement experienced by those who
388take small doses of opium. It may be entirely removed
by macerating the extract of opium in sulphuric
æther.
Symptoms of poisoning by Opium.
In considerable doses, the primary action of this
substance, as a powerful and diffusible stimulant, is
not apparent; for the powers of life are immediately
depressed, drowsiness and stupor succeed, and these
are followed by delirium, stertorous breathing, cold
sweats, convulsions, and apoplectic death.
The quantity of opium necessary for the production
of such effects must be regarded as relative. In no
two cases can we ensure a similar result, by the administration
of the same dose. But, of all the circumstances
capable of modifying the power of this drug,
habit is the most remarkable; in illustration of which
we have only to adduce the history of the opium
eater, or laudanum drinker; a species of debauchee
by no means uncommon, as every London chemist
can testify, for he frequently experiences considerable
doubt and difficulty in distinguishing persons, to
whom habit has rendered large doses of opium necessary,
from such as purchase it with a view to suicide.[419]
The lowest fatal dose, to those unaccustomed to
it, seems to be about four grains; but the Turk will
take three drachms in the morning, and repeat the
same dose at night, without any other effects than that
of cheerfulness and exhilaration. This temporary
impunity, however, is dearly purchased by years of
suffering and sorrow. The effects of opium, says
Russel, on those who have been addicted to it, are at
389first obstinate costiveness, succeeded by diarrhœa and
flatulence, with loss of appetite, and a sottish appearance;
their memories soon fail, they become
prematurely old, and then sink into the grave objects
of scorn and pity.[420]
Where a person has, from accident, or design,
swallowed a large dose of pure opium, or laudanum,
the symptoms produced are so characteristic and
striking, that the practitioner, who may be summoned
to render assistance, will have no difficulty in
ascertaining their cause.
Insensibility, with a scarcely perceptible respiration,
although in some cases it is attended with an
apopletic stertor; the countenance is livid and cadaverous;
the skin cold; and the muscles of the limbs
and trunk in a state of extreme relaxation. The pupils
are insensible to the impression of light, and the
pulse is almost imperceptible. In some stages, the
patient, by being strongly shaken, may be roused for
a few moments from the lethargy; there is generally
a narcotic odour distinguishable in the breath. Vomiting
may also take place upon the first impression
of the laudanum upon the stomach; although after
its action has been displayed upon the brain, it will
be difficult to excite emesis by the most powerful
means; the reason of which may be very satisfactorily
deduced from the ingenious experiments of M. Majendie
on the mechanism of vomiting; by which he
proves, that without the influence of the brain, the
muscles, whose actions constitute an essential part of
the operation, are incapable of performing their duty,
and that vomiting therefore cannot take place. This
is a very important doctrine, inasmuch as it suggests
390to the pathologist several expedients, by which he
may be enabled to occasion vomiting, by recalling
the excitability of the brain. The period which will
elapse, between the ingestion of the poison, and the
death of the sufferer, may be stated to be from six to
twenty-four hours; but it will in each case be liable
to vary, not only from the quantity of opium swallowed,
but from the habit and peculiar circumstances
of the individual submitted to its operation.
Physiological action of Opium.
It is still a question for the decision of future physiologists,
whether the narcotic principle of opium
destroys the functions of the nervous system by a local
impression upon the stomach,[421] or by being absorbed,[422]
and brought into contact with the brain in
the course of the circulation. We are inclined to
adopt this latter opinion, and have therefore placed
opium in the second division of our classification; at
the same time, we think that it may occasionally
produce an effect upon the nervous extremities of the
stomach, and we have accordingly placed an asterisk
against the word, by which we denote this double
mode of operation. But, by whatever medium it
may act, it is evident that it occasions death by destroying
the functions of the brain; in consequence
of which the muscles of respiration, no longer supplied
391with nervous energy, cease to contract, and the
animal dies in a state of suffocation.[423]
Of the treatment in cases of poisoning by Opium.
The first object is the evacuation of the stomach by
vomiting; for which purpose, the patient should be
made to swallow from fifteen grains to a scruple of
sulphate of zinc; or, from five to ten grains of sulphate
of copper dissolved in water; and the vomiting
should be kept up for a considerable time, and urged
by irritation of the fauces. Where the act of vomiting
cannot be established, in consequence of the paralysed
state of the nervous system, cold affusion,
applied by means of a shower bath, has been said to
restore the energy of the brain, and thus to render
the patient susceptible of the stimulus of an emetic.[424]
Venesection has also, under the same circumstances,
been greatly extolled; and, as vascular congestion
in the brain is one of the effects of this poison, it is
reasonable to conclude that, by unloading the vessels
of this organ, we may restore its lost sensibility.
Tissot has strongly recommended the practice,[425] and
the experiments of Orfila have shewn that it never
aggravated the symptoms of poisoning by opium, nor
accelerated the moment of death; but on the contrary,
392that in some instances he found that it restored
the animals which would have died, if it had
not been put in practice. Where the operation is
performed, the blood should be drawn from the jugular
vein, in preference to any other. Should these
means prove insufficient to provoke vomiting, M.
Orfila asks, whether one or two grains of tartarized
antimony, dissolved in one or two ounces of water,
might not be injected into the veins? It was formerly
proposed by Boerhaave to empty the stomach
of its poisonous contents, by the introduction of a
syringe; an operation which, it is said, has been
lately performed with success.[426] Vinegar and vegetable
acids were long considered as antidotes to opium;
but the experiments of M. Orfila have clearly established
that, as long as any portion of the opium
remains in the stomach, these potations, so far from
relieving, aggravate the symptoms of poisoning by
this narcotic, in consequence of the power which
they possess of dissolving it. Where, however, the
opium has been expelled by vomiting, these acid
drinks possess the property of diminishing the consecutive
symptoms, and of thus realising the expectations
which Virgil[427] has so poetically raised,
----“quo non præsentius ullum
Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena.”
The powers of the habit should, at the same time,
be supported by brandy, strong coffee, and cordials.
The sufferer should be kept awake; and, if possible,
393in a continued gentle motion. Dr. Currie[428] has
recommended the affusion of warm water at 106°, or
108°, for removing the stupor.
A case is recorded by Dr. Marcet, in the first volume
of the Medico-chirurgical Transactions, where
six ounces of laudanum were taken by a young man,
and remained for five hours in the stomach before
any remedies were applied for its removal; a strong
dose of sulphate of copper, however, provoked vomiting,
and by judicious treatment he eventually
recovered.
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
It has been very truly remarked that although
the instances in which opium has proved fatal to
human life have been very numerous, yet that
the accounts which we have received of the appearances
of the body post mortem, are by no means
so satisfactory as we could desire. M. Orfila asserts
that no alteration can be discovered on dissection, in
the digestive canal of persons who have swallowed
any narcotic poison; and that if facts contrary to this
assertion be met with in various authors, it is because
there have been administered irritating substances capable
of producing inflammation.[429] The lungs,
394however, frequently exhibit morbid phenomena;
their colour is sometimes violet, and frequently a
deeper red than in the natural state. Their texture
is also more dense, and less crepitating; and they are
marked by livid spots. The blood contained in the
ventricles of the heart, and in the veins, is said to be
found in a liquid state; but Orfila advances a diametrically
opposite opinion, and asserts that it is frequently
coagulated. The brain and its membranes
often exhibit a state of vascular congestion; in the
case recorded by Mr. Stanley, in the sixth volume
of the Transactions of the College of Physicians, the
cellular tissue of the pia mater was found to contain
water.[430]
Of the detection of Opium.
There is no mode of identifying opium, whether in
a liquid or solid form, so satisfactory as that which
is at once afforded by its powerful and highly characteristic
odour. In fatal instances, we shall always
meet with it in the contents of the alimentary canal,
and in such quantities as will leave no doubt as to its
nature. The chemist may also proceed to a farther
examination, by obtaining morphia from its solution,
by a process which we have already described under
the chemical history of opium.
395
Henbane is an indigenous annual, frequent on
waste grounds, and at the sides of roads, particularly
on a calcareous soil, flowering in July. The whole
of the plant is poisonous when eaten; and in the
recent state the odour of the leaves occasions stupor
and delirium. The root of this plant when in full
vegetation is very powerful; and there are several
cases on record, where it has been eaten in mistake
for parsnips,[431] which it strongly resembles in its
sweet and agreeable flavour. Its operation is very
analogous to that of opium; producing sickness,
stupor, delirium, and coma, with dilation of the
pupils.
The pulse, at first hard, gradually becomes weak
and tremulous; petechiæ frequently make their appearance,
and death ensues. Late experiments have
shewn that a peculiar alkaline body constitutes the
active principle of this plant, and it has accordingly
received, from its discoverers MM. Meissner and
Brandes, the name of Hyoscyama.
Boerhaave experienced a trembling and drunkenness,
in consequence of having prepared a plaister,
into whose composition henbane entered as an ingredient;
and the experiments of M. Orfila have shewn
that it acts nearly in the same manner, whether applied
upon the cellular texture, introduced into the
stomach, or injected into the veins. Hence it follows
that the active principle of this plant is carried into
the circulation, and exerts a remarkable action on
396the brain and nervous system, producing an extraordinary
state of delirium, which is succeeded by stupefaction.
The physician will never probably be
called upon to investigate a case of wilful poisoning
by this narcotic; and should he be summoned to attend
a person who, through mistake or accident, had
swallowed it, we can hardly anticipate any peculiar
mystery which requires elucidation.
There are several other species of henbane, as hyos.
alb. aureus, physaloides, all of which are poisonous,
although not in the same degree as the hyoscyamus
niger, whose history we have just considered.
The Laurel (Prunus lauro-cerasus) and its distilled water. Bitter Almonds, and their essential oil.
Hydro-cyanic acid exists in a great variety of native
combinations in the vegetable kingdom, and
imparts to them peculiar qualities, which have been
long known. It is, however, only within a few
years, that this singular body has been obtained in
its separate and independent form[432]; indeed it was
not until the publication of the celebrated memoir of
Gay-Lussac upon this subject, in the year 1815, that
its chemical composition was fully understood. In
this memoir, it was clearly shewn to consist of a peculiar,
gaseous, and highly inflammable compound
of carbon and nitrogen, to which the name of cyanogene
has been assigned, and hydrogen; the latter
397body acting as the acidifying principle; whence the
term hydro-cyanic acid is very happily contrived to
express its composition.
When obtained in its most concentrated form, by
the process of M. Gay Lussac,[433] it has the following
characteristic properties, viz. At ordinary temperatures,
it is liquid, colourless, and transparent;
possessing an extremely powerful odour, very analogous
to that of the blossom of the peach, or bitter
almond tree; its taste is, at first, bland and sweetish,
but afterwards pungent, bitter, and peculiar.
Its extreme volatility is such, that when a drop of it
is exposed to the air, on the end of a glass rod, it is
rapidly crystallized. The same phenomenon takes
place, if a drop be suffered to fall on a sheet of paper.
Its specific gravity is ·7055; but, when in a concrete
form it is only ·9, while that of its vapour is ·947.
If inhaled, it produces almost immediate pain in the
head, with deafness, unless very largely diluted with
air or water.[434] It is decomposed by a high temperature;
and by the action even of light it is, in the
course of a very short time, resolved into carbonic
acid, ammonia, and carburetted hydrogen, a carbonaceous
matter remaining behind.[435] When brought
near a body in a state of combustion, it instantly
inflames and burns with a blue light. In water it is
sparingly soluble; alcohol dissolves it copiously.
398The “medicinal Prussic acid,” as it has been called,
as being the preparation lately introduced into medicine,[436]
differs only from that we have just described,
in its degree of concentration. It is, in fact, the
Prussic acid of Scheele, and may be considered as
equivalent to the preparation of Gay-Lussac diluted
with six times its volume, or eight times and a half
its weight, of distilled water.
The hydro-cyanic acid has been discovered, in a
state of perfect formation, in a variety of vegetables,
whose peculiar odour at once announces its presence;
such are bitter almonds; the kernels of apricots,
cherries, particularly the Cerasa Juliana, and
several plums; the leaves of laurel; and peach blossoms;
and the bark of the prunus padus, or bird-cherry
tree. The only mineral substance, in which
hydro-cyanic has yet been detected is the Fer Azuré
of Hauy.[437] Animal substances, although they do not
contain it ready formed, yet, when treated with an
alkali at a high temperature, they yield it in great
abundance, in consequence of the combination of its
elements.
Action of hydro-cyanic Acid as a Poison.
The experiments which have been instituted with
a view to ascertain the exact effects of this substance
upon animal life, very clearly prove that the acid of
Gay-Lussac is one of the most active poisons in nature;
and that the various vegetable bodies, into
whose composition it enters, exert an energy, corresponding
399with the quantity of this constituent, and
the degree of concentration, in which it exists. The
experiments of M. Orfila were made with Prussic
acid, prepared according to the process of Scheele,
and consequently containing a great proportion of
water, as we have already explained; and yet the
effects which followed its administration were extremely
energetic. From the Annales de Chimie, for
October 1814, we learn that a professor of chemistry,
having inadvertently left on his table a phial filled
with a solution of Prussic acid in alcohol, a female
servant, who had been seduced by its agreeable smell,
drank a small glass-full of it, and fell dead at the
end of a few minutes, as if struck by apoplexy.
The following case is quoted by Dr. Granville,
from Hufeland. D. L. a robust and healthy man,
aged 36 years, while about to be seized as a thief by
the police officers, snatched a small sealed phial from
his pocket, broke off the neck of it, and swallowed
the greatest part of its contents. A strong smell of
bitter almonds soon spread around, which almost
stupefied all present. The culprit staggered a few
steps; then, without a groan, fell on his knees, and
sunk lifeless down to the ground. Medical assistance
being called in, not the slightest trace of pulse
or breathing could be found. A few minutes afterwards,
a single and violent expiration occurred,
which was again repeated in about two minutes. The
extremities were perfectly cold, the breast and abdomen
still warm, the eyes half open and shining, clear,
lively, full, almost projecting, and as brilliant as
those of the most ardent youth under violent emotion.
The face was neither distorted nor convulsed, but
bore the image of quiet sleep. The corpse exaled a
strong smell of bitter almonds, and the remaining liquid,
400being analysed, was found to be a concentrated
solution of Prussic acid in alcohol. Cases also stand
recorded where, from imprudent exposure to the vapours
of the Prussic acid, persons have exhibited all
the appearances of being poisoned. Some writers
assert that Scheele himself, who died suddenly, while
engaged in some inquiries into the nature and formation
of this acid, was affected by its deleterious qualities.
Orfila relates that Scharinger, Professor at
Vienna, prepared some pure concentrated Prussic
acid, and having diffused a certain quantity of it
upon his naked arm, he died a short time afterwards.
The professor, however, did not die in consequence
of this accident; it appears, upon inquiry, that he
was seized with apoplexy while sitting in a coffee
house in the evening.
The distilled water of the cherry laurel[438] has been
proved, by numerous awful examples, to be a most
energetic poison; and from the fatal effects to which
the officinal preparation of it gave rise, it was early
expunged from the Pharmacopœia of the London
College. In the Philosophical Transactions for the
year 1731, we shall find the history of its effects upon
a woman of the name of Boyce, who, with a view to
disprove an allegation, that one Mary Whaley had
died in consequence of drinking a small quantity of
laurel water, swallowed three spoonsful, and, afterwards,
two more of the same liquid; after which she
died in a very short time, without making the least
complaint, and without any convulsion.
Foderé informs us that during the period he was
pursuing his studies at Turin in 1784, the chambermaid
401and man servant of a noble family of that town,
for the purpose of regaling themselves, stole from
their master a bottle of distilled laurel water; fearful
of being surprised, they hastily swallowed several
mouthsful of it; but they soon paid the price of
their dishonesty, having almost instantly expired in
convulsions. Works on Toxicology also abound
with the relation of experiments, made by numerous
physiologists on different animals, with this deleterious
liquid. Amongst the experimentalists we may
enumerate the names of Madden, Mortimer, Browne,
Langrish, Nicholls, Stenzelius, Heberden, Watson,
Vater, Rattrai, the Abbé Rozier, Duhamel, Fontana,
and Orfila. In this country we have had several
fatal cases of poisoning by laurel water. In the
year 1782, Dr. Price, of Guildford, having professed
to have converted mercury into gold, offered
to repeat his experiments before a competent tribunal,
but the unfortunate philosopher put a period to
his existence before the day appointed for his exhibition,
by a draught of laurel water; a mode of death
which had been, no doubt, suggested by the celebrated
trial of Donellan, for the murder of Sir Theodosius
Boughton, that had taken place in the preceding
year, and left a strong impression upon the public
mind; and whose details, it has been justly observed,
are not more important from the elucidation of the
effects of this poison, than from the strange display
of professional testimony to which it gave origin, (see
Appendix, page 243.) There are those who still
profess to believe that the prisoner was unjustly convicted
upon that occasion; Dr. Male states, without
the least reserve, that it was neither proved that the
deceased was poisoned, nor that any poison had
402existed.[439] We feel no difficulty in declaring that
we hold a directly opposite opinion; and we consider
that many of the weaker points of professional evidence
delivered on the trial, have received powerful
support and elucidation from the experiments and observations
of later physicians.
Nor are the leaves of this plant wholly free from danger;
it is true that they have, for many years, been in
general use among cooks, to communicate an almond
or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams,
blanc-mange, and other delicacies of the table; but
the custom has not always been harmless; a fact
with which it behoves the forensic physician to be
acquainted. In some parts of the continent milk is
boiled with one or two leaves of the cherry-laurel in
it, and Ingenhouz states that he saw people much
affected by it. In the Literary Chronicle (no. xxii,
p. 348, 1819) we find the following illustrative case:
“Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity
of Richmond, having partaken of some custard
flavoured with the leaves of the cherry-laurel, four of
them were taken severely ill in consequence. Two
of them, a girl of six, and a boy of five years of age,
fell into a profound sleep, out of which they could
not be roused for ten hours, the other two complained
of severe pains in the epigastric region. By proper
medical treatment, they all recovered, after an illness
of three days.”
The essential oil of bitter almonds is equally poisonous;
and the water distilled from them is highly
403dangerous if incautiously taken. Duvignau and Parent
instituted some experiments upon themselves to
ascertain this fact; they commenced by taking six
drops of the water distilled three times, in an appropriate
vehicle, without producing any other than a
transient impression. On taking eighteen drops, however,
vertigo was experienced, and a disposition to
sleep, accompanied with a tingling of the ears and
dimness of sight. When the dose was increased to
twenty-two drops, alarming symptoms followed, such
as convulsions, and vomiting; which, although the
experimenters succeeded in allaying by antispasmodics,
cured them completely of any ulterior wish
to ascertain how far this substance might be deleterious.
A drachm of the distilled water of bitter almonds
has killed a moderate sized dog. The essential oil is
proportionally more active; Mr. Brodie[440] found
that one drop, when applied to the tongue of a cat,
killed it in five minutes; no sooner did the poison
come in contact with the organ than the animal was
seized with convulsions. When two drops of the
same oil were injected with half an ounce of water
into the rectum of a cat, it was not seized for two
minutes, but it died, as in the former experiment,
after the expiration of five minutes. While engaged
in this inquiry, Mr. Brodie dipped the blunt end of a
probe into the essential oil, and applied it to his
tongue, with the intention of tasting it, and not having
the least suspicion that so small a quantity could
produce any of its specific effects on the nervous system;
but scarcely had he applied it, when he experienced
a very remarkable and unpleasant sensation,
404which he referred chiefly to the epigastric region, but
the exact nature of which he could not describe, because
he knew nothing similar to it. At the same
time there was a sense of weakness in his limbs, as if
he had not the command of his muscles; and he
thought that he should have fallen. The fascinating
liqueur noyau, créme de noyau, is indebted for its
flavour to the essential oil of the bitter almond, or
peach; and is undoubtedly deleterious if taken in
excess. In the Journal des Debats, for 1814, we
find that the late Duke Charles de Lorraine had
nearly lost his life from swallowing some drops of
eau de noyau too strongly impregnated with the essential
oil of peach kernels.
The bitter almond itself, in consequence of the
manner in which its deleterious principle is modified
by the natural state of combination in which it exists
with sweet oil and albumen, does not produce an
effect corresponding with the proportion of essential
oil which it yields. The experiments of Orfila, however,
prove that the almond, in doses of a drachm,
is destructive to cats; and there can be no doubt but
that it would be equally deleterious to the human
species; but the quantity required for the production
of such an effect must ever prevent the bitter almond
from becoming either the accidental or criminal instrument
of death.
Physiological action of Prussic acid.
The numerous experiments, which have been made
with this poison, have clearly established that its action
is upon the nervous system, whose energies it
would seem to extinguish without any ostensible injury
to respiration and circulation; for in all those
405animals which were killed by it, in the experiments
of Orfila, Brodie, and others, the heart was found
acting regularly, and circulating dark coloured
blood, and in some cases this phenomenon was visible
for many minutes after the animal was in other respects
apparently dead. Orfila considers that he has
fully demonstrated that these effects depend on the
absorption of the poison, and its transmission to the
brain through the medium of the circulation. We
have accordingly placed Prussic acid in the second
division of our classification. The essential oil of
bitter almonds would, according to the experiments
of Mr. Brodie, appear to act through the medium of
the nerves, and it has accordingly been referred to
our first division. This is undoubtedly an anomaly,
which it is not easy to reconcile; the experiments,
however, which led Mr. Brodie to the conclusion appear
to us to warrant such a deduction; the instantaneousness
with which the poisonous effects were produced,
and the fact of its acting more speedily when
applied to the tongue, than when injected into the
intestines, although the latter presents a better absorbing
surface, seem to oppose the idea of the oil
requiring to be absorbed, before it can display its
energies. M. Vogel, of Munich, has lately discovered
some facts respecting the composition of this
oil, which may perhaps hereafter lead to the true
explanation of this apparent anomaly; this distinguished
chemist succeeded in separating the Prussic
acid from the volatile oil with which it is combined,
by agitating the whole in a concentrated solution of
potass, and distilling to dryness; the oil volatilized
together with the water, while the residuum in the
retort was found to contain cyanide of potassium.
The oil, thus separated from the Prussic acid, is
406without odour, and heavier than water; its taste is
extremely acrid and burning; in order to discover
whether it was still poisonous, M. Vogel put a drop
of it on the tongue of a sparrow, when it died in a
few seconds, after a very violent convulsion; he also
poisoned a dog, two months old, with four drops of
it; whence he concludes that the volatile oil, divested
of its hydro-cyanic acid is still a poison,
although less energetic than that which has not
undergone such a change. Do there exist then two
independent principles of activity in the bitter almond?
If such a fact were established it would not
be solitary, for we shall hereafter shew that the energies
of tobacco are dependant upon an analogous
arrangement; and that our ignorance of the fact, at
first, occasioned apparent anomalies, as embarrassing
as those which at present involve the physiological
history of the oil of almonds.
Antidotes.
Orfila, in his celebrated Toxicology, informs us that
vinegar, or the vegetable acids; coffee; a solution of
chlorine in water; camphor; emollient drinks; and
bleeding, have been successively, but not successfully
recommended.[441] With respect to the first of these
pretended antidotes, it deserves notice, that instead
of palliating the symptoms, it actually quickens, and
gives more energy to the action of the poison. Coffee,
as far as it may stimulate, might be employed with
advantage; but its powers are not sufficient to meet
the exigency of the case. Bleeding seems decidedly
407a fatal measure. The authors of the paper on Prussic
acid, inserted in the American Recorder, consider at
length the claims of every substance which has been
proposed as an antidote to it; and they conclude by
saying that, we are entirely ignorant of a counter-agent
of this poison. There is every reason, says
Dr. Granville, to believe that the Prussic acid taken
in large quantities, and in its concentrated state, is
partially, if not wholly absorbed ere it reaches the
stomach;—else how happens it that scarcely a minute
after its exhibition, I have, in common with others,
been unable to detect its presence within that organ.
If so, then all chemical attempts must be nugatory,
no decomposition, or fresh combinations can be produced
to render it harmless; nor will an emetic, although
so much recommended, be of much more service
in freeing the system of its presence. But
although chemical remedies are thus shewn to be of
no avail, we may derive from the class of vital agents
some powerful antidotes; all medicines taken from
the class of diffusible stimuli will be useful in supporting
the powers of the system against the sedative
influence of the poison. Hot brandy and water, with
ammonia, camphor, and other similar stimulants,
are the resources to which we should fly upon such
occasions.
Organic lesions discovered on Dissection.
The recorded dissections of persons, who have
been poisoned by Prussic acid, are too few and vague
to furnish any satisfactory generalization. In the
case related by M. Foderé, of two servants who died
after a draught of laurel-water, the dead bodies were
carried to the University at Turin, and examined,
408when the stomach was found slightly inflamed, but
the other parts were in a sound state. We feel much
hesitation in giving credit to this report, the death
was too immediate to allow the access of inflammation;
we are rather disposed to consider the appearances
of the stomach to have arisen from that species
of sanguineous congestion, which we have before
alluded to, as sometimes occurring in cases of sudden
death. In other cases the coats of the stomach are
said to have been black and relaxed; the vessels of
the brain injected; the lungs have also been described
as presenting unnatural congestions, and purple
spots; and the smell of Prussic acid seemed as if it
pervaded the whole system, and was embodied, as it
were, with the very substance of the muscles. In
other cases, again, not the slightest trace of any morbid
appearance could be discovered. Some authors
have stated that in cases of death by this poison the
cornea of the eye does not collapse, but retains its fulness,
and even its lustre, for a considerable period.
Chemical processes by which the presence of hydro-cyanic acid may be ascertained.
The strong odour yielded by the body on dissection,
will furnish a satisfactory proof of the presence
of this poison. Instances may occur, when the practitioner
will be called before a tribunal to answer,
from his professional knowledge, whether a particular
case of death can have happened from the action of
the hydro-cyanic acid, or any of the compounds in
which it may enter as an ingredient; it therefore becomes
an object of great importance to inquire
whether any farther tests might be made subservient
to our purpose. Dr. Granville, who has directed a
409great share of his attention to the history of this poison,
has given some directions upon this point, which
appear to us to be useful and judicious; we shall,
therefore, present them to our readers. “After collecting
the blood contained in the ventricles of the
heart, a portion of the contents of the stomach, and
of the superior intestines, together with a certain
quantity of any fluid which may chance to be present
within the cavity of the head, chest, or abdomen;
and having agitated the mixture for some time in distilled
water, and filtered the liquid, taking care to
keep the whole at a low temperature, proceed to the
following experiments.
A. To a small quantity of the liquid add a few
drops of a solution of caustic potass in alcohol.
B. To this, a few drops of a solution of sulphate
of iron must be added, when a cloudy and reddish
precipitate, of the colour of burnt Terra-Sienna
will fall down.
C. Some sulphuric acid is now to be introduced
into the tube, when the colour of the precipitate
will instantly change to that of a bluish-green,
which by a permanent contact with the
atmosphere, becomes gradually of a beautiful
blue, assuming at the same time a pulverulent
aspect.
A. Treat the filtered liquid with carbonate of
potass.
B. Add a solution of sulphate of iron with a
small quantity of alum: a precipitate, as in
the former method, will fall down, which if
treated by free sulphuric acid, will also become
410blue and pulverulent. During this latter
part of the experiment, there is a disengagement
of carbonic acid.
Evidence may be pushed still farther, and the
existence of the Prussic acid proved in a most positive
manner by decomposing the precipitate, above
described, and which is a true Prussian blue, so as
to separate the acid. For this purpose, heat the
precipitate with an equal quantity of tartaric acid, in
a glass retort, at the temperature of 150°, when the
hydro-cyanic vapours will soon exhale from the mixture,
and may be received in water.”[442]
We have already stated our objections to this division,
and our apology for adopting it. See page 205.
This plant is an indigenous perennial, found in
many parts of Great Britain, particularly in shady
places where the soil is calcareous, in large ditches,
and on the edge of hilly woods; flowering in June,
and ripening its berries in September. Every part
of the plant is poisonous; and numerous instances
have occurred where children, and the ignorant, or
those suffering from hunger, allured by the beautiful
and tempting appearance of the berries, have fallen
victims to their deadly power. The root of this plant
411partakes also of the same qualities as the leaves and
berries, but is perhaps less virulent.
“Or have we eaten of the insane root,
That takes the reasoner prisoner.”—Macbeth.
The inspissated juice (Extractum Belladonnæ
Pharm. Lond.) is also extremely poisonous, when
properly prepared; but, as usually met with in
commerce, it is of very variable strength; when prepared
according to the improved process of Mr.
Barry, its activity is so considerable that a dose of
two grains is followed by unpleasant effects. (See an
account of its effects in the Pharmacologia, vol. 2, p.
199.) M. Brandes has lately ascertained that the
active principle of this plant is a peculiar alkaline
body, to which he has assigned the name of atropia.
Symptoms of poisoning by Belladonna.
Shortly after the ingestion of the berries, leaves,
or root, of this plant, the patient complains of extreme
dryness of the lips, tongue, palate, and throat;
the deglutition becomes difficult, and the pupil of the
eye immoveably dilated; nausea, rarely followed by
vomiting; symptoms of intoxication succeed, accompanied
with fits of laughter, dreadful ravings, violent
gestures of the body, and continual motion of the
hands and fingers; sometimes the patient sinks into a
state of fatuity, but rarely of stupor; redness and
tumefaction of the face, a low and feeble pulse, paralysis
of the intestines, livid spots on different parts
of the body, profuse sweats, convulsions, and death.
In the cases where recovery has taken place, there
has been an insensible restoration to health and
reason, without any recollection of the preceding
state.
412
Physiological action of Belladonna.
The results of the experiments of Orfila authorise
us to arrange the nightshade under the second division
of our classification; for it is evidently absorbed,
carried into the circulation, and is thus enabled to act
upon the nervous system, and particularly on the brain.
At the same time it exerts a local action upon the
stomach, although less violent than that occasioned
by the acrid poisons. It, moreover, appears on
some occasions to act directly through the medium of
the nerves, like those substances which constitute
our first class; or else how shall we explain the fact
of the pupil of the eye becoming permanently dilated,
by the contact of the belladonna with the tunica conjunctiva?
It would, therefore, appear that this plant
unites within itself all the three great modes of action,
upon which we have attempted to found our physiological
arrangement of poisons, as expressed by the
tabular classification at page 207.
Organic lesions discovered on dissection.
The bodies of those who have perished by belladonna,
are extremely prone to decomposition; they
soon putrefy, swell remarkably, and are covered
with livid spots; blood flows from the mouth, nose,
and eyes, and the stench is insufferable. The stomach
and intestines will sometimes display extensive
marks of inflammation, extending in some cases to
the mesentery and liver; and several cases are recorded
in which the stomach appeared ulcerated. The
lungs are usually found livid, gorged with venous
blood, and studded with black spots; the heart has
been also observed to be livid.
413
Modes of detecting the presence of Belladonna.
Where the berries of this plant have been swallowed,
we shall generally detect them in the matter
vomited; or, in the event of death, in the stomach,
on dissection, for they would appear to be very indigestible;
in a case of poisoning by this plant, recorded
in the history of the French Academy for the year
1706,[443] the stomach was found to contain some berries
of the belladonna crushed, and some seeds.
Where the quantity of the plant is sufficient, we may
proceed to identify it, by obtaining atrophia[444] from
it. For this purpose, the leaves, or the crushed
berries, or any other part of the suspected plant,
must be boiled in distilled water; the decoction must
then be pressed out, and filtered; after the albumen
has been thrown down by a little sulphuric acid, potass
must be added as long as any precipitate is produced;
when the precipitate is to be washed in pure water,
re-dissolved in muriatic acid, and re-precipitated by
ammonia. This last result will be atropia. It is
white, and collects in acicular crystals, insipid, little
soluble in cold water, or even in alcohol, but very
soluble in this latter fluid at a boiling temperature,
from which, however, it is deposited on cooling.
The thorn apple is an annual plant, a native of
America, which gradually diffused itself, from the
414south to the north, and is now naturalized to this
country, and is to be found very commonly about
London growing on dunghills, and by road sides. It
flowers in July and August. Every part of this plant
is a strong narcotic poison, producing vertigo, and
most of those symptoms which we have described as
the effects of belladonna, although the former plant
appears to excite the brain more violently. Dr. Barton
mentions the case of two British soldiers, who ate
it by mistake, for the chenopodium album; one became
furious, and ran about like a madman; and the
other died, with the symptoms of genuine tetanus.
In the fifth volume of the Edinburgh Medical and
Philosophical Commentaries, two cases are related by
Dr. Fowler; and others are to be found in the writings
of Haller, Krause, Sproegel, Gmelin, and Orfila,
illustrative of the effects of this plant upon the
human species. There is reason to believe that this
plant has been long known, and that it has been very
generally used by uncivilized nations, on account of
the narcotic effects which it occasions.
Tobacco is an annual plant, a native of America,
from whence it was imported into Europe. We learn
from Humboldt that it has been cultivated from time
immemorial by the native people of the Oroonoko;
and was smoked all over America at the time of the
Spanish conquest. Hermandez de Toledo sent it into
Spain and Portugal in 1559, when Jean Nicot[445]
415was Ambassador at the court of Lisbon, from Francis
II, and he transmitted, or carried either the seed, or
the plant to Catherine de Medicis, as one of the wonders
of the new world, and which, it was supposed,
possessed virtues of a very extraordinary nature.
This seems to be the first authentic record of the
introduction of this plant into Europe. In 1589 the
Cardinal Santa Croce, returning from his nunciature
in Spain and Portugal to Italy, carried thither with
him tobacco; and we may form some notion of the
enthusiasm with which its introduction was hailed,
from a perusal of the poetry which the subject inspired.
It is said that the smoking tobacco was first
introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh on his return from
America; and the avidity with which the custom was
immediately adopted is shewn by the philippic written
against it by King James, entitled the “Counterblaste
to Tobacco.”
As an object of Medical Jurisprudence, its claims
to our attention are numerous and important; not
only as having occasionally been the means of destroying
human life, but as furnishing, in its most
romantic history, a striking illustration of the triumph
of popular opinion over a series of legislative enactments[446]
which had no other origin than that of ignorance
and prejudice.
416Tobacco was at one period of our history raised to
a considerable extent in Yorkshire; but the cultivation
of it for the purposes of trade have been long
prohibited; and this country, as well as the greater
part of Europe, is chiefly supplied from Virginia,
where the plant is cultivated in the greatest abundance.
The recent leaves do not possess any considerable
odour, nor have they much flavour; when
dried, however, their odour becomes strong, narcotic,
and somewhat fœtid; their taste bitter, and extremely
acrid. We have stated, upon another occasion,[447]
that tobacco would appear to contain two independent
elements of activity, an essential oil, and a
proximate principle, of an acrid nature, to which
Vauquelin has bestowed the name of Nicotin. The
essential oil is an extremely virulent poison. Mr.
Barrow, speaking of the use which the Hottentots
make of it for destroying snakes, says, “A Hottentot
applied some of it from the short end of his wooden
tobacco-pipe to the mouth of a snake, while darting
out his tongue. The effect was as instantaneous as
an electric shock; with a convulsive motion that was
momentary, the snake half untwisted itself, and never
stirred more; and the muscles were so contracted,
that the whole animal felt hard and rigid, as if dried
in the sun.” The author has ventured a conjecture in
his Pharmacologia,[448] with respect to this virulent
417oil, which he takes this opportunity of repeating, that
“the juice of cursed hebenon,” by which, according to
Shakspeare, the King of Denmark was poisoned, was
no other than the essential oil of tobacco.
----“Sleeping within mine orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears, did pour
The leperous distilment.”
In the first place, the learned commentator Dr.
Gray observes, that the word here used (hebenon) was
more probably designated by a metathesis, either of
the poet or transcriber, for henebon, i. e. henbane.
Now it appears from Gerarde that tabaco was commonly
called “henbane of Peru” (Hyoscyamus Peruvianus);
and when we consider how high the prejudice
of the court ran against this herb, as so strikingly
evinced by the ‘Counterblaste’ of King James, it seems
very likely that Shakspeare, who was fond of playing
the courtier, should have selected it, as an agent of
extraordinary malignity, upon such an occasion. No
preparation of the hyoscyamus with which we are
acquainted, would produce death by an application
to the ear; whereas the essential oil of tobacco might,
without doubt, occasion a fatal result. The term
distilment has also called forth a remark from Steevens,
which is calculated to add a little farther weight[449]
to our conjecture; “surely” says he, “this expression
signifies, that the preparation was the result of
a distillation.”
418
Symptoms of poisoning by Tobacco.
The leaves of tobacco, whether whole, or reduced
to powder, as they are daily met with in commerce,
or in the form of infusion in water or wine, or in the
state of smoke, are endued with poisonous properties
of extreme energy. Their administration is shortly
followed by vertigo; severe nausea; vomiting; a general
tremor of the body, which is rarely the result
of any other poison; cold sweats; syncope; and
death. The author remembers witnessing a lamentable
exemplification of the action of tobacco upon a
person labouring under a strangulated hernia. The
patient had been under the care of a medical practitioner
in the vicinity of London, who after repeated
and fruitless efforts to return the intestine, injected
an infusion of tobacco into the rectum, and sent him
in a carriage to the Westminster hospital, for the
purpose of undergoing the operation; but the unfortunate
man expired very shortly after his arrival, in
consequence of the effects of the tobacco clyster.
The external application of tobacco, in the form of
cataplasm, or infusion, will occasion all the effects
above related. A woman applied to the heads of
three children afflicted with tinea capitis, a liniment
consisting of powdered tobacco and butter, soon after
which they experienced vertigo, violent vomiting,
and fainting.[450]
It was formerly a practice to inject the smoke of
tobacco into the anus, by means of a bellows of a peculiar
construction, in cases of suspended animation,
with a view to stimulate the rectum, and thereby to
revive the vital powers; we have already commented
419upon this most dangerous and mistaken notion, (see
page 88.)
In the process of smoking tobacco, the oil is separated,
and being rendered empyreumatic by heat, it
is thus applied to the fauces in its most active form;
whence vertigo, nausea, and all its characteristic
symptoms speedily arise upon that occasion; although
the system becomes easily habituated to the action of
this narcotic, and we continually see a large portion
of the community using it daily, in various ways, and
in great quantities, as a luxury, without experiencing
any other bad effect than that which arises from their
inability to relinquish the habit.
The well known errhine, snuff, is prepared from
the dried leaves of tobacco, and possesses all the
powers of the plant. The celebrated Santeuil experienced
vomiting and horrible pains, amidst which he
expired, in consequence of having drank a glass of
wine, into which some Spanish snuff had been introduced.[451]
Physiological action of Tobacco.
The deleterious effects of this plant appear to depend
on an especial action upon the nervous system;
but farther experiments are required to establish
through what medium its powers are conveyed to the
sensorium. Orfila concludes that the active part of
the plant is absorbed, and carried into the circulation.
Mr. Brodie’s experiments, however, would lead to
the conclusion that it operates through the medium
of the nerves; and, what is extremely singular, they
shew that the essential oil operates very differently
420from the infusion of tobacco; for that while the former
appears to act exclusively on the brain, leaving
the power of the circulation unimpaired, the latter
acts on the heart at once, suspending its action even
before the animal ceases to respire, and kills by producing
syncope. This apparent anomaly at first led
Mr. Brodie, as he has since informed the author, to
suspect the accuracy of his experiments; but their
careful repetition rendered this impossible. We suggested
to him, whether a probable explanation might
not be found in the late chemical results respecting
the composition of tobacco, which seemed to shew
that this plant possesses two active elements.[452]
Hemlock is a biennial, umbelliferous, indigenous
plant, growing very commonly about the sides of
fields, under hedges, and in moist shady places. It
is at once distinguished from other umbelliferous
plants, with which it may be confounded, by its large
and spotted stem, the dark and shining colour of its
lower leaves, and their disagreeable smell; which,
when fresh and bruised is said to bear a strong resemblance
to that of the urine of a cat. Many[455] cases of
421persons who have been poisoned by this plant are to
be found in the writings of different toxicologists.
The extract, if properly prepared, is a very energetic
substance, and gives rise, in large doses, to all
the symptoms which we have so often described as
the result of narcotic poisons. In those fatal cases,
where the bodies have been examined, post mortem,
inflammation of the stomach, and sanguineous congestion
in the brain, have been the most prominent phenomena.
It would appear that the active element of
this plant is absorbed and carried into the circulation,
through which medium it exerts its action on the nervous
system, and more particularly on the brain. At
the same time it seems to excite a local irritation, capable
of producing an inflammation more or less violent.
The best antidote is vinegar, after the stomach
has been evacuated, and the cerebral excitement reduced
by bleeding and purging.
The Cicuta Virosa, or water hemlock, with which
the conium maculatum has been often confounded, is
still more virulent; it is however to be distinguished
from the latter, by having its hollow roots always
immersed in water, while those of the conium never
are. M. Orfila has related several cases of poisoning
by the water hemlock.
The tree[456] which produces these seeds grows in
Ceylon, upon the coast of Coromandel, and in Malabar.
The nux vomica is round and flat, about an
inch broad, and nearly a quarter of an inch thick,
422with a prominence in the middle on both sides, of a
grey colour, covered with a kind of woolly matter,
but internally hard and tough. The kernel discovers
to the taste a considerable bitterness, but makes little
or no impression on the organs of smell. There is a
popular belief that this substance is poisonous to all
animals, except man. Instances, however, are not
wanting to illustrate its deleterious effects upon the
human species. It proves fatal to dogs in a very
short period; it has also poisoned hares, foxes,
wolves, cats, rabbits, and even some birds. Loureiro
relates that a horse died in four hours after taking
a drachm of the seed in an half roasted state. Its
effects, however, on different animals, and even on
those of the same species, are somewhat uncertain,
and not always in the proportion to the quantity
given. With some animals it produces its effects
almost instantaneously: with others, not until after
the lapse of several hours, when laborious respiration,
followed by torpor, tremblings, coma, and convulsions
usually precede the fatal spasms, or Tetanus,
which so especially distinguishes the operation of this
poison. Hoffman reports the case of a young girl of
ten years of age, who, labouring under an obstinate
quartan fever, took, at two doses, fifteen grains of
nux vomica, and died very shortly afterwards. MM.
Pelletier and Caventou have discovered in these
seeds, a peculiar proximate principle, to which their
virulence is owing; it was originally named Vauqueline,
in honour of the celebrated French philosopher,
but in deference to the opinion of the French Academy
of Sciences, the discoverers have substituted
the name Strychnia,[457] because “a name dearly
loved, ought not to be applied to a noxious principle!”
423Strychnia is highly alkaline, and crystallizes in
very small four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided
pyramids; its taste is insupportably bitter,
leaving a slight metallic flavour, and is so powerful
as even to be perceptible when a grain is dissolved in
eighty pounds of water;[458] it has no smell. So extreme
is its activity upon the animal system, that in
doses of half a grain it occasions serious effects, and
in larger ones, convulsions and death. It is, perhaps,
the most powerful, and, next to hydro-cyanic
acid, the most rapid of poisons. M. Majendie has
killed a dog with one-eighth of a grain; and the
editor of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal
has seen one die in two minutes after the injection
of one-sixth of a grain into the cavity of the
pleura.
Nux vomica is supposed by Orfila to exert a specific
action on the spinal marrow, thereby producing
tetanus, immobility of the thorax, and consequently
asphyxia, of which the animal dies. That this effect
is produced by the absorption of the poison, and its
passage into the circulation, is clearly established by
the interesting and important experiments of M.
Majendie.[459]
This is the fruit of a shrub (Menispermum Cocculus)
which grows naturally in the sand, in the midst
of the rocks, on the coast of Malabar, in the island
of Ceylon, and in other parts of the East Indies.
424The berries are imported into this country in a dry
and shrivelled state. In India they are employed
for killing fish, which they intoxicate and poison,
when thrown into fish ponds. M. Goupil,
a physician of Nemours, communicated to the Society
of Medicine some interesting facts on the subject
of this poison;[460] and he has shewn that it is
not only destructive to fishes, but also to different
carnivorous quadrupeds, and, very probably, to man.
He also states that the poisonous principle of this
substance is not sensibly changed by the gastric
juices, and the vital action of the organs of digestion;
but, on the contrary, that it passes into the
absorbent system with all its properties unimpaired;
and that the flesh of those fishes which have eaten it,
irritates the stomach and bowels of the animals to
which it is given, nearly in the same manner as the
Cocculus Indicus itself. All the fishes who eat it do
not die in an equal space of time. Roach, pollard,
breme, perch, tench, and barbel, are affected in an order
corresponding with that in which they are here arranged;
the roach is killed the easiest of all; the
barbel is the last to die, and is moreover said to be,
of all fish, the one whose flesh the most frequently
occasions accidents in those animals who eat it; probably,
says M. Goupil, because these fish, taking a
longer time to die, the poison is longer subjected to
the action of the digestive juices, and a considerable
quantity of it is consequently absorbed.[461]
Late experiments[462] have shewn that the active
principle of the cocculus Indicus is an alkaline body,
425crystallizable, bitter, and extremely poisonous; to
this principle, M. Boullay has given the name of
picrotoxine, and the experiments of M. Orfila have
confirmed the idea of its constituting the only active
element of the seeds.
The common mushroom, or champignon, (Agaricus
Campestris) has been long esteemed an article of epicurean
delicacy; and is eaten in its fresh state either
stewed or boiled; and as a preserve, in the form of
pickle or powder. Its juice, moreover, furnishes the
sauce so well known by the name of ketchup,[463] or
catsup. Mr. Miller informs us that the true eatable
mushroom may be easily distinguished from the poisonous
and unpleasant species by the following characters.
“When young, it appears of a roundish
form, smooth, like a button; which together with
its stalk, is white, especially the fleshy part of
the button; the gills within, when broken, are
livid. As it grows larger, it expands its head
by degrees into a flat form; the gills underneath
are at first of a pale flesh-colour, but become
blackish on standing.” There are besides a vast
number of species which may be eaten with perfect
impunity; the Agaricus Procerus, or tall mushroom,
is sometimes exposed for sale in Covent Garden market,
and is quite harmless; although, when preserved
in pickle, it is very apt to run into the vinous
fermentation. With equal safety the Agaricus
Pratensis, or Scotch bonnet, as it has been called,
may be eaten; it occurs in those patches which are
426well known by the popular name of fairy rings. The
Agaricus deliciosus is considered by Withering to
have been the mushroom which formed the vehicle
of poison to Claudius Cæsar, as related at page 134
of this volume, and which has been celebrated by the
satiric pen of Juvenal, and the epigrammatic muse of
Martial; a species of mushroom, observes Withering
which is still highly esteemed in modern Italy, as it
was in ancient Rome. Schæfer and Clusius, however,
consider the plant in question to have been the
Agaricus Xerampelinus, a species which although
esculent, has a strong, and by no means an agreeable
flavour. The common champignon has never, as far as
we can learn, produced any mischief, although a popular
opinion prevails that soil, shade, and other
local circumstances, may render it virulent. If any
unpleasant symptoms were to follow its ingestion, we
should be inclined to regard them as the result of the
peculiar idiosyncrasy of the individual, rather than as
the consequence of an absolute poison; indeed a question
has been raised how far such an explanation
may not apply to all the cases of poisoning from this
tribe of plants; for it has been observed that in many
parts of Europe several of those species of mushroom
are eaten with impunity, that are regarded by us as
most virulent poisons; of this number we may reckon
the Agaricus Piperatus, or Pepper Agaric, which is
eaten in great quantity by the Russians, who fill
large vessels with them in the autumn, seasoning
or pickling them with salt, and then eating them in the
ensuing lent.[464] There is, however, too much direct
evidence in favour of the existence of an acrid poison
in certain Agarics, to allow the supposition of their
427being relative[465] in their operation, as exemplified
in the history of the Agaricus Muscarius, or Bugagaric,
which is so called from its power in destroying
these insects; and for which purpose the inhabitants
of the north of Europe infuse it in milk, and
set it in their windows. It constitutes the Mouchomore
of the Russians, Kamtschadales, and Koriars,
who use it for the sake of intoxication; upon some
occasions they eat it dry, but generally it is steeped
in a liquor made with the Epilobium Angustifolium;
upon drinking which, they are seized with
convulsions in all their limbs, followed by raving delirium:
an effect which renders it a desirable potation[466]
to those who intend to accomplish any desperate
act, or premeditated assassination. It is also
stated that those who drink the urine of persons intoxicated
by this agaric, experience the effects of the
mushroom. Withering,[467] who has been very assiduous
in the display of this species, acknowledges ten
varieties, all of which are natives of Britain. The
Agaricus Semi-globalus of this botanist, and which is
identical with the A. Glutinosus of Curtis, is extremely
poisonous, and has proved fatal in several instances
in this country. There are a great many other species
equally destructive, but notwithstanding the labour
that has been bestowed upon this branch of natural
knowledge, much remains to be explained.
The ancients appear to have taken considerable pains
in discriminating between esculent and poisonous
fungi; among the moderns, Clusius has furnished a
mass of information. Withering has described with
428great botanical minuteness and accuracy the different
species and varieties of this extensive genus of the
cryptogamia; but he has failed in pointing out the
poisonous, from the esculent and harmless species.
Orfila, in his late lessons on Poisons,[468] has bestowed
considerable labour with a view to establish a practical
distinction, and has enriched his work with highly
illustrative engravings. Upon the present occasion,
it is scarcely necessary to observe, that it would be
foreign to the plan of this work to enter into such botanical
details as the full elucidation of this subject
would require; the research would, in itself, occupy
a quarto volume; we must therefore rest satisfied
with general observations. The following indications
should excite a suspicion of mushrooms. A marshy
and shady locality; an ugly or lurid physiognomy;
a glairy or moist surface; a change of colour when
cut, and a soft, porous, and moist texture; a virulent
smell; a bright colour, or a combination of distinct
colours. We ought also to reject as dangerous
all those which have bulbous and soft stems, or
which have fragments of skin glued to their surface.
Symptoms of poisoning by Mushrooms.
Exhilaration of spirits, laughter, vertigo, sickness,
griping pains, vomiting, and purging, suffusion
of the eyes, stupor, cold sweats, syncope, convulsions,
death. Numerous records of sickness and
death might be adduced in illustration of this subject.
The celebrated musician, Schobert, and, with
the exception of one child, his whole family, together
with a friend and a physician who dined with him,
429were all fatally poisoned by a dish of mushrooms,
which he had himself gathered in the fields of Saint
Gervais, a village in the environs of Paris. It is not
known to what species the plants belonged. In the
Gazette de Santé, for August 1812, we have the following
narrative. “M. Dufour, a physician of Montargis,
gathered in the neighbouring forest some
mushrooms, which were stripped of their skin, and
their stem, cut into pieces, and cooked in their juice
with butter and fine herbs, under a camp oven. They
were served up at table. The servant girl, aged
twenty years, who had eaten the greatest quantity,
very shortly complained of confusion of the head,
giddiness, and a slight heaving of the stomach; her
face was red and inflamed, the eyes starting and
lively, the pulse full and undulating. The eldest
daughter of M. Dufour experienced the same symptoms
without any nausea. A little child, eighteen
months old, that had only eaten some bread dipped
in the gravy, slept quietly for sixteen hours, contrary
to his usual custom, and exhibited no other remarkable
phenomenon. The other child, aged eleven
years, complained of confusion of the head and intoxication;
the parents did not experience any ill effects.
Upon investigation it was discovered that two mushrooms
of the Agaricus Muscarius, having been confounded
with the proper one, had entered into the
composition of the dish.”
Amongst the cases which have occurred in this
country, we may particularize that related by Mr. E.
Brande, in the third volume of the London Medical
and Physical Journal, p. 41, “J. S. gathered early
in the morning of the third of October, in the Green
Park, what he supposed to be small mushrooms;
these he stewed with the common additions in a tinned
430iron[469] saucepan. The whole did not exceed a
tea-saucer full, which he, and four of his children ate
the first thing, about eight o’clock in the morning, as
they frequently had done without any bad consequence;
they afterwards took their usual breakfast of tea,
&c., which was finished about nine, when Edward,
one of the children (eight years old) who had eaten a
large proportion of the fungi, was attacked with fits
of immoderate laughter, nor could the threats of his
father or mother restrain him. To this succeeded
vertigo, or stupor; the pupils of his eyes were, at
times, dilated to nearly the circumference of the cornea,
and scarcely contracted at the approach of a
strong light; his breathing was quick, his pulse very
variable, at times imperceptible, at others too frequent
and small to be counted, latterly very languid;
his feet were cold, livid, and contracted; he
sometimes pressed his hands on different parts of his
abdomen, as if in pain, but when roused and interrogated
respecting it, he answered yes, or no, evidently
without any relation to what was asked. About
the same time the father, aged forty, was attacked
with vertigo, and complained that every thing appeared
black, then wholly disappeared; to this
succeeded loss of voluntary motion and stupor; in
about ten minutes he gradually recovered, but complained
of universal numbness and coldness, with
great dejection, and a firm persuasion that he was
dying; in a few minutes he relapsed, but recovered
as before, and had several similar fits during three or
four hours, each succeeding one being less violent,
and with longer intermission than that preceding.
431Harriet, twelve years old, who had eaten but a very
small quantity, was also attacked at the time with
slight vertigo. Charlotte, a delicate little girl, ten
years of age, who had eaten a considerable quantity,
was suddenly attacked in the presence of Dr. Burges
and myself, with vertigo and loss of voluntary motion.
Martha, aged eighteen, who had eaten a small
proportion, was attacked with similar symptoms.”
By judicious treatment they all recovered. Upon investigation
Mr. Sowerby determined the mushroom
to have been a variety of the A. glutinosus of Curtis
(Flora Londinensis) the same with Dr. Withering’s
A. semi-globatus; and yet no notice of its deleterious
properties is taken by either of these botanists.
A less fortunate case of poisoning by Fungi is related
in the twentieth volume of the same journal by
Mr. Parrott, surgeon of Mitcham, of which the following
is a sketch. The subject of the history was a
family of six persons, viz. William Attwood, ætat.
45; Eliza, his wife, 38; and their daughters, Mary,
æt. 14; Hannah, 11; Sarah, 7; Eliza, 5. They all
ate stewed champignons, at one o’clock, on Monday
the 10th of October, which stew was made in an iron
vessel, and consisted of the articles already mentioned
with the addition of butter and flour, pepper, salt,
and water only; and each of the parties (Hannah
excepted) was supposed to have eaten more than half
a pint. Within ten minutes after they had eaten
their meal, they felt their spirits exhilarated, and
the eldest daughter said to her mother “how funny
you look.” All the parties continued cheerful till
about six o’clock, when having taken their tea, they
were attacked with stupor, which was soon succeeded,
by severe pains in the bowels, accompanied with violent
vomiting, and copious purging, which continued
432till the following afternoon, when the parents became
alarmed and sent for the surgeon. The treatment
which was pursued appears to have been, in every
respect, judicious, and Mary had so far recovered on
the following day (Wednesday) that she walked into
the village about a quarter of a mile from home; in
the evening, however, the symptoms returned; on
Thursday evening she became convulsed, and died on
Friday morning at two o’clock. Eliza did not complain
much of her sufferings, but became convulsed
at the same time as her sister, and died half an hour
after her. Sarah never complained of pain in the
head, but was continually suffering under extreme
pain in the bowels, which was aggravated by pressure,
but no tension existed; she died on Saturday
morning, in the same convulsed state as her sisters.
A dog which had partaken of the stew died on the
Wednesday night, apparently in great agony. The
father recovered, the mother, who was two months
advanced in pregnancy, miscarried, but ultimately
became convalescent. Mr. Wheeler, of St. Bartholomew’s
hospital, a gentleman who has been long
known to the profession as an eminent botanist, no
sooner heard of the event than he repaired to the
spot where the mushrooms had been gathered, when
he immediately recognised the Agaricus semi-globatus,
which had nearly proved fatal in the instance
related by Mr. E. Brande, and which, upon being
shewn to the father, he instantly pronounced to be
similar to those, of which the family had so unfortunately
eaten.
433
Organic Lesions discovered on Dissection.
In the above case of the family of Attwood, the
body of Mary was examined, but no morbid appearance
whatever could be discovered. In collecting the
different phenomena exhibited in other recorded
cases, they may be reduced to the following: “violet
coloured spots over the integuments; abdomen extremely
bulky; the tunica conjunctiva of the eye as
if it were injected; the pupil contracted; stomach
and intestines inflamed, and scattered over with gangrenous
spots; and, in some cases, they have exhibited
very considerable contractions, so much so as
almost to obliterate the canal. In no case have any
remains of the mushroom been found. The lungs
have been observed inflamed, and gorged with black
blood.”
There cannot, however, be any doubt but that the
different species of poisonous agarics act very differently.
Antidotes.
In all cases, the first object is to evacuate the offensive
matter by emetics. After which, stimulants, especially
ammonia, will be found highly serviceable.
In treating of the action of this substance upon the
human body, it may be considered as a slow, or
quick poison; as one which, according to the circumstances
of its administration, may either implant the
seeds of disease and death, by an insidious, and
scarcely perceptible operation, or extinguish the
principle of animation in the space of a few hours.
434Its effects as an accumulative[470] poison are principally
interesting to the physician in their relations to
therapeutics, although their history may perhaps suggest
some few points of interest to the founders of
medical police.
We shall, therefore, observe, with regard to the
habitual use of fermented liquors, that the bodily
evils which arise from the custom rather depend upon
the quality, or, in other words, the state of combination
in which the alcohol exists in such liquors,
than on the absolute quantity of the libation, or the
frequency with which it is repeated. Daily experience
convinces us that the same quantity of alcohol
applied to the stomach under the form of wine, and
in a state of mixture with water, will produce very
different effects upon the living body, as well with
reference to the immediate symptoms, as to the remote
consequences of the potation; it has, for instance,
been clearly demonstrated that port, madeira,
and sherry, contain from one-fourth to one-fifth
their bulk of alcohol;[471] so that a person who takes a
bottle of either of these wines, will thus take nearly
half a pint of pure alcohol, which is equivalent to a
pint of brandy! The remote consequences too of
alcohol in these different states, are as striking and
distinct as their immediate effects. It is well known
that diseases of the liver are the most common, and
the most formidable of those produced by the use of
ardent spirits; it is equally certain that no such disorders
follow the intemperate use of wine that is perfectly
pure; let it be remembered that the greater
435proportion of that which is drunk in this country
contains uncombined brandy, purposely added to
meet the demand of the British market; and Dr.
MacCulloch thinks that it is to the unwitting and concealed
consumption of this uncombined spirit, that we
ought to attribute the prevalence of those hepatic
affections which are comparatively little known to
our continental neighbours. But although wine, in
a state of purity, may be thus fairly excluded from
the general obloquy which attaches to spirituous potations,
it must not be regarded as entirely free from
imputation. “The effects of wine,” says Rush “like
those of tyranny in a well formed government, are
first felt in the extremities; while spirits, like a bold
invader, seize at once upon the vitals of the constitution.”
And even with respect to ardent spirits, although
they can only be regarded as diluted alcohol,
still each species appears to possess a peculiarity of
operation; owing, no doubt, to the modifying influence
of the other elements of the liquid; thus brandy[472]
is said to be cordial and stomachic; rum more
heating and sudorific; gin and whiskey, diuretic;
and arrack, styptic, heating, and narcotic. It seems
also that a modified effect is produced by the addition
of various other substances, such as sugar and acids;
which latter bodies, besides their anti-narcotic powers,
appear to act by favouring a more perfect combination
and mutual penetration of the particles of spirit
and water. The effects also which are produced by
the habitual use of fermented liquors differ essentially
436according to the kind that is drunk; thus ale
and porter, in consequence of the nutritive matter,
and perhaps the invigorating bitter with which they
are charged, and the comparatively small proportion
of alcohol which they contain, dispose to plethora,
which is sometimes terminated by apoplexy.[473]
Symptoms of Poisoning by Alcohol.
The ordinary effects of an excessive dose of any
spirituous liquor are too well known to require description;
and generally pass off without the necessity
of professional interference. In cases, however,
where the draught has been very large, the person
has suddenly fallen down in a state of complete insensibility,
and has exhibited all the phenomena of apoplexy;
or, in some instances, he has expired almost
immediately. The insensibility of the patient may
render it difficult for the practitioner to distinguish
the immediate cause of the symptoms; although
his history for the last few hours, and the spirituous
odour of his breath, will generally announce
the true nature of his situation. Mr. Brodie observes
that there is a striking analogy between the symptoms
arising from the ingestion of spirits, and those produced
by injuries of the brain; concussion of the
brain, which may be considered the slightest degree
of injury, occasions a state of mind resembling intoxication;
pressure on the brain, which is a more
severe injury than concussion, produces loss of motion,
insensibility, dilation of the pupils, laborious
and stertorous respiration, and death.
437
Physiological Action of Alcohol.
We shall not enter into the history of the slow
operation of repeated doses of spirit upon the human
body; but limit our present inquiry to the modus
operandi of this agent, as a quick and destructive
poison.
Large draughts of liquids containing alcohol,
would appear to destroy, at once, the functions of
the brain, without occasioning that previous stage of
excitement, which is produced by smaller quantities
of spirit—whence coma and insensibility are the immediate
consequences; and the nervous energy being
no longer conveyed to the muscles of respiration, the
breathing becomes laborious, and the patient dies,
as he does in apoplexy, for want of those changes in
the blood which are produced by the respiratory
functions.[474] In the greater number, however, of
fatal cases of inebriety, life has been destroyed by
circumstances purely accidental; such as improvident
438exposure to cold, as explained at page 59, or suffocation
from an imperfect act of vomiting, during
which a portion of the contents of the stomach are
forced into the trachea, (see page 58,[475].) It having
then been clearly established that the brain is the
organ principally affected by a large dose of alcohol,
it remains to be explained in what manner, and
through what medium such an effect is produced;
upon this question we are inclined to concur with
Mr. Brodie, and to consider that alcohol acts sympathetically
on the brain by means of the nerves of the
stomach; for it has been observed that animals
which die under such circumstances, exhibit a decided
inflammation of the stomach; and, in the next
place, the effects produced by this agent are too instantaneous
to admit the possibility of absorption,
while repeated instances have shewn that vomiting
will often restore the intoxicated individual to his
senses. At the same time, we think it very probable
that, upon some occasions, the alcohol passes into
the current of the circulation, and is thus carried to
remote organs. Dr. Cooke[476] has related a case, on
the authority of Sir A. Carlisle, of a person who was
brought dead into the Westminster hospital, in consequence
of having drunk a quart of gin for a wager,
at a draught; and that upon examination, a considerable
quantity of a limpid fluid was found within
the lateral ventricles of the brain, distinctly impregnated
with gin. We well remember this case, for it
occurred during the period that the author of the
439present work held the situation of physician to that
hospital. See Pharmacologia, vol. 1, p. 138.
Treatment of Persons in a State of Inebriety.
In the first instance we should endeavour to evacuate
the stomach; for which purpose a brisk emetic
of sulphate of zinc, or tartarised antimony may be administered.
Blood should also be taken from the jugular
vein, or temporal artery; more especially if there
appear a considerable determination of blood to the
head. The head should be also washed with cold
water, or some evaporating lotion.
For reasons which we have already explained, the
patient should be carefully preserved in a warm atmosphere;
and his body should be placed in an easy
reclining posture, and be disencumbered of all tight
bandages. These precautions are of the utmost moment,
for many of those cases of inebriety which
stand recorded in our journals, have terminated
fatally, for want of attention to them.
440
This extensive kingdom of Nature presents us
with a variety of objects destructive to human life;
their agency, however, is on many occasions involved
in impenetrable obscurity, and we are not even able
to discover whether their deleterious effects depend
upon certain definite principles, or upon the combination
of circumstances connected with the individuals
upon whom they act; and which thus render
many substances relatively poisonous, that are innocuous
to the general mass of mankind. With regard
to the chemical laws by which animal compounds are
governed, and the principles upon which their analysis
may be conducted, the same observations will
apply as those with which we introduced the consideration
of vegetable poisons.
Of the whole class of serpents, which according to
Linnæus contains 132 species, Plenck assures us
that only 24 are venomous. Of these, Europe has
only 5, and England but 2; all of which are vipers,
viz. Coluber Aspis; C. Chersea; C. Prester (black
viper, peculiar to England); C. Illyricus (inhabits the
mountains of Sclavonia); C. Berus, (the common
viper of Germany, Spain, Italy, and England.)
The venom of the viper is contained in a bag situated
on both sides of the head, beneath the muscle
441of the superior jaw; it is secreted from the blood by
a gland which lies just behind the orbit of the eye;
from which a duct proceeds to the above-mentioned
bag; in the upper jaw are situated two moveable
teeth, very sharp towards the point, and hollowed
nearly throughout their length. When the animal
intends to bite, he presses the bag by means of the
muscle, the venom comes out, arrives at the base of
the tooth, passes through the sheath which envelopes
it, and enters into its cavity by a hole which is found
at this base; then it flows along the hollow of the
tooth, and issues into the wound by the opening
which is near its end, for the point itself is solid and
sharp, in order that it may better penetrate the flesh
of its victim. If these fangs be removed, or their
structure destroyed, the viper is necessarily rendered
harmless; whence Galen has observed that the mountebanks
used to stop these perforations of the teeth
with some kind of paste, whenever they suffered the
vipers to bite them before spectators.
Symptoms occasioned by the Bite of a Viper.
Acute pain in the wounded part, attended with
almost immediate tumefaction; the part appears
first red, and then livid; the local affection extends
itself, and the surrounding skin becomes similarly
affected. The pulse is small, frequent, and irregular;
the respiration is disturbed; the patient complains
of great debility, and faintness which often
amounts to syncope; vomiting takes place; pain is
felt in the umbilical region, and he becomes jaundiced;
and, in fatal cases, the wound assumes a malignant
character, and gangrene takes place.
442In this country the affection is rarely mortal,[477] although
the circumstances of constitutional debility,
unusual heat of season, and injudicious treatment,
have in several instances led to a fatal issue.
Physiological action of the Poison of Vipers.
The result of numerous experiments justify us in
referring this poison to the second division of our classification.
The symptoms which it produces evidently
depend on its absorption, and its passage into
the circulation, when it exerts its peculiar action on
the blood. It is somewhat singular that this poison
should be perfectly inert when taken into the stomach;
a fact, however, which appears to have been
well known from the earliest periods; whence such
wounds were commonly sucked[478] with impunity;
and we learn that when Cato marched the remains of
Pompey’s army through Africa, he very wisely informed
the soldiers, who, although dying from thirst,
feared to drink the waters which contained serpents,
that no evil could arise from such indulgence.[479]
“Noxia Serpentum est admisto sanguine Pestis,
Morsu Virus habent, et Fatum Dente minantur,
Pocula Morte carent”----
Among the insects of Britain some will be found to
possess fluids highly stimulant, and sometimes, although
rarely, occasioning death. These British
insects, however, cannot be compared in virulence
with the Furia Infernalis, Pulex Penetrans, the
Scorpion, and the Tarantula; but their natural history
443is nevertheless interesting, and the instances of
mischief arising from an application of their venom
are not unimportant. Of the genus Vespa we have
three species, each of which possesses the property of
producing violent and painful inflammation, sometimes
followed by considerable danger, where the
injury has been inflicted on parts of great sensibility,
and in irritable habits, viz. Vespa Crabro, the hornet;
V. Vulgaris, common wasp; C. Coarctata, small
wasp. Instances are recorded of the wasp, having
been introduced into the mouth with fruit, and produced
by its sting on the velum palati a sudden swelling
which has so intercepted the respiration as to occasion
suffocation.[480] Of the Apis there are seven
British species; the most remarkable of which are the
Apis Rufa, or small field bee; A. Mellifica, the common
hive bee; A. Terrestris, humble bee; and A.
Subterranea, or great humble bee.
The sting of a single bee cannot be regarded as attended
with danger, except in certain constitutions;
but there are many instances of men and animals having
suffered most terribly, and even fatally, by an
attack of a swarm of these insects.
The supposed poison of the toad is a subject which
we have already disposed of, under the literary history
of poisons, page 139.
A question has long since arisen, how far the ingestion
of animal matter, in a state of putrefaction,
is liable to affect the health? On the one hand it has
444been maintained that the custom of eating game, venison,
and other species of animal food, in a state of
incipient putrescence, has never been attended with
any inconvenience; but appears, on the contrary, to
afford a repast of easier digestion, than the flesh of
recently killed animals. On the other hand, it has
been asserted by Foderé,[481] and corroborated by the
testimony of others, that corrupted meat, fish, and
eggs, are undoubted poisons; if, through inadvertence,
necessity, or extreme hunger, they are taken
in any quantity. The same distinguished writer relates
that, during the siege of Mantua, several persons
who were shut up in the town were seized with
gangrene of the extremities, and scurvy, in consequence
of having been driven to the alternative of
eating the half putrid flesh of horses. In Crantz’s
history of Greenland we read an account of the death
of thirty-two persons, at a missionary station, called
Kangek, shortly after a repast upon the putrid brains
of a Walrus.
It would appear that under circumstances not
hitherto understood, certain parts of animal bodies
become poisonous; and the virus would not seem to
be connected with any stage of putrefaction, nor with
any previous disease in the animal. As far as our
limited experience upon this subject will allow us to
generalize, the brain and the viscera would appear to
be particularly susceptible of such a change. Some
curious and highly interesting observations have
lately been published by Dr. Kerner, of Wurtemberg,
respecting the probable existence of a species
of animal poison not hitherto known. He informs
us that the smoked sausages, which constitute so
445favourite a repast to the inhabitants of Wurtemberg,
often cause fatal poisoning. The effects of the
poison occasionally manifest themselves in the spring,
generally in the month of April, in a degree more or
less alarming. He states that out of seventy-six persons,
who became sick from having eaten such sausages,
thirty-seven died in a short time, and that several
others remained ill for years. Upon these
occasions it has been observed, that the most virulent
sausages were made of liver. M. Cadet, of Paris,
analysed all the meats, examined all the vessels in
which they had been prepared; and inspected the matters
vomited, or found in the stomach after death, without
being able to trace the vestige of any known poison;
nor was there the slightest evidence in these
cases of malevolence or negligence. Similar accidents
have occurred at different periods in Paris; upon
which occasions, the police officers visited the pig
dealers, and were perfectly assured that the animals
had never been fed with unwholesome food; the use
of poison for rats, with which these places abound,
was interdicted, and every precaution taken. What
then, asks M. Cadet, is this poison found in sausage
meats—is it Prussic acid—is it a new matter? It is
evidently not the effect of putrefaction, since it exists
in meats perfectly well preserved. To the above
queries of M. Cadet, the author of the present work
begs to add one more—may not the skin enclosing
the sausage meat be the part in which the poison resides?
It is well known that the bodies of animals
who die of various diseases, are capable of communicating
fatal diseases to the human species; and experience
has shewn that such animal poison is particularly
energetic in those parts that are commonly
called the offals, in which term are included the
446intestines; in the history of fish-poison, which will
hereafter offer itself to our notice, we shall find
numerous instances of dogs, cats, hogs, and birds,
dying from eating these parts, while persons, who
have partaken of the fish to which these offals belonged,
remained uninjured. But to account for
the deleterious change of which these parts appear
to be occasionally susceptible, it does not appear necessary
to suppose that the animal died in a state of
disease. Captain Scoresby, in his “Account of the
Arctic regions,”[482] states that although the flesh of the
bear is both agreeable and wholesome, the liver of
that animal is poisonous; sailors who had inadvertently
eaten it, were almost always sick afterwards,
and some actually died; while in others the
cuticle has peeled off their bodies. The ancients appear
to have entertained a fear with regard to the
wholesomeness of the viscera of certain animals, and
of the fluids which they secrete. Pliny says that the
gall of a horse was accounted poison; and, therefore,
at the sacrifices of horses in Rome, it was unlawful
for the Flamen (priest) to touch it. Mr. Brodie has
lately favoured the author with the communication of
a fact, which goes far to support the theory we have
offered with respect to the possible source of poison
in sausages. He states that he has twice met with
evidence of the acrid and poisonous nature of “dog’s
meat,” as sold in the streets of London, which manifested
itself by producing ulcerations, of a peculiar
character, on the hands, and swelling in the axillæ,
of the venders! May we venture to ask whether the
prosecution of this inquiry might not possibly lead to
some new and important conclusions respecting the
origin of hydrophobia?
447Where animals have died from disease, their flesh has
undoubtedly produced affections by external contact,
as well as by its ingestion. At the Somerset assizes in
1819, a case was tried, whose merits wholly turned
upon the question now under discussion. A cow, having
died of some disease, was thrown into the river
Yeo, and several cattle that afterwards drank of the
water died of a similar complaint. An action was accordingly
brought against the owner of the cow for damages.
The defendant, however, obtained a verdict,
apparently from the evidence of a medical person, who
asserted that animal matter in a state of putrefaction
will not communicate contagion. But we must here
beg to observe that this is quite another and distinct
question; the merits of which we have already considered.[483]
The physiological question involved in
the preceding case, is whether the carcase of an animal,
whose fluids have been depraved by antecedent
disease, is capable, or not, of producing morbid and
fatal affections in the living animals with which it
may come in contact? The facts collected by MM.
Enaux and Chaussier, in their work entitled “Methode
de traiter les Morsures des Animaux enragés,”
prove in a very satisfactory manner that the Anthrax,
or Malignant Pustule, has for its cause a septic virus
engendered in diseased animals, and transmitted to
man.[484] The following are amongst the more striking
examples cited from these authors by Orfila. “A
shepherd bled one of his sheep, which had just died
suddenly; he carried it home on his shoulders; but
the blood penetrated his shirt, and was rubbed upon
his loins. Two days after, a malignant pustule appeared
upon this spot.”
448“A boy employed in skinning an ox which had
been killed at an inn at Gatinais, because it had been
sick, put the knife into his mouth. Shortly after
which the tongue swelled; he experienced a tightness
of the chest; the whole body was covered with
pustules, and he died on the fourth day, in a state of
general gangrene. The inn-keeper, who was pricked
in the middle of the hand by a bone of the same animal,
suffered great pain; gangrene seized the arm,
and he expired on the seventh day. The servant
girl received on her right cheek a few drops of the
blood of the same ox, which produced inflammation,
followed by gangrene.”
In this country, a case has occurred highly illustrative
of the present subject. A pupil of the veterinary
college accidentally inoculated himself, during
his dissection, with the matter of a glandered horse;
the student soon experienced the usual symptoms of
a septic poison; abscesses formed in various parts of
his body, and he sank under the disease. Upon inoculating
a healthy horse with some of the matter
from the abscesses, the animal was attacked with the
glanders.
This subject necessarily leads us to the notice
of those effects which are frequently produced in
the anatomist, by a puncture made during dissection.
From the history of those cases which stand recorded,
it does not appear that the poisonous effects are either
connected with the putrefactive state of the body
under dissection, or with the peculiar disease of
which it died; but rather with the depraved state of
the operator’s health; for it has been repeatedly remarked
that those students who enjoy high health
universally escape the evil, however repeatedly they
may have been exposed to its causes.
449
The number and validity of recorded cases establish
the fact, beyond dispute, that certain fish, especially
the muscle, (Mytilus Edulis) and others of the shell
tribe, have occasionally proved fatal to those who
have eaten them; but it has been doubted whether
such effects have arisen from a specific poison, or
from the peculiar state of the stomach,[485] or idiosyncrasy
of constitution, in the persons affected. In
other words, ought we to consider the fish, so circumstanced,
as an absolute or relative poison? Each
of these theories has met with its advocates, and many
striking facts and illustrations have been adduced in
their support. The weight of authority, however,
as well as of argument, strongly inclines in favour of
the existence of a specific virus, generated under circumstances
which we are at present unable to appreciate.
At the same time, it would be vain to deny,
that certain fishes are more obnoxious to the stomach
of one individual than to that of another; there are,
for instance, those persons who are disordered whenever
they eat a muscle; others who are incapable of
taking an oyster without considerable disturbance of
the digestive functions. This is obviously Idiosyncrasy,
and must not be confounded with those cases
where a number of persons have been simultaneously
affected from a particular food, which, on all former
occasions, had been eaten by the same individuals
with perfect security. We must, therefore, at the
very outset of our inquiry, admit the occasional action
450of these articles of diet as relative poisons;
although it is evident to demonstration, that an absolute
virus is generated in particular fishes, by the operation
of causes hitherto unknown.
As a subject, highly important in its relations to
maritime œconomy, the history of fish-poison constitutes
an interesting branch of naval hygiene; instructions,
therefore, for its investigation, ought always
to be given to the naturalists and chemists who may
be appointed to attend voyages of discovery. The
notice of the scientific men who accompanied Peyrouse
was officially directed to this important object;
but the unhappy fate of that celebrated adventurer
rendered the commission fruitless. The obscurity
which attends this branch of toxicology has in many
cases occasioned a corresponding degree of credulity;
and sailors, as well as others, entertain an unfounded
prejudice against various fish, that are not only
innocuous, but even useful as articles of food. It
would, however, appear that those which are harmless
in one latitude may prove poisonous in another;
it may be stated generally, that fish are more deleterious
within the tropics, than in other seas.
In torrid regions the softest kinds are the most susceptible
of that change which renders them poisonous,
and hence the policy of the Hebrew legislator
becomes apparent; “whatsoever has no fins nor scales
in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.”
Levit. c. xi, v. 12, and Deut. cxiv, v. 9, 10.
The most complete history of this intricate subject,
and of the dissertations to which it has given rise, is
to be found in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal,[486] by Dr. Chisholm, who has brought together,
451and cited a great number of authorities, biblical
and classical, foreign and domestic, for its illustration.
An interesting paper is also published on
the same subject in the Medical Repository,[487] by
Dr. Burrows. To the above sources we must beg to
refer the reader who is desirous of farther information
than can be afforded him by the present work.
Symptoms of Fish-poisoning.
Nausea; thirst; tormina of the bowels; vomiting;
an eruption on the skin, resembling the nettle-rash;
tumefaction of the face; head-ache; difficult respiration;
distention of the abdomen; sometimes cholera
morbus; vertigo; delirium; cold sweats; convulsions;
death. Such is the train of symptoms, liable
of course, to variation in the order of succession,
which are produced by the ingestion of fish-poison,
as occasionally existing in salmon, herrings, eels,
mackarel, many of the testaceous and most of the
crustaceous fish of this country; and in a great number
of fish[488] inhabiting the tropical seas.
The species of fish, from which deleterious effects
have more commonly arisen in this country, are the
Mytilus Edulis, or muscle. Dr. Burrows has given
us an account of two cases of death from eating these
fish, which occurred at Gravesend, under the care of
Mr. Rogers, surgeon of that place, upon whose
452authority the statement is drawn up.[489] The subjects
of the history were two youths of the ages of
nine and fourteen, who had each eaten about a dozen
of small muscles, which they had picked from the
side of a fishing smack, in a dead and tainted state.
In the Gazette de Santé,[490] and in the works of Fodéré,[491]
and Behren,[492] similar cases are recorded.
Vancouver,[493] in his voyage to the coast of America,
relates that several of his men were ill from eating
some muscles which they had collected and roasted
for breakfast; in an hour after which they complained
of numbness of the face and extremities, sickness, and
giddiness. Three were more affected than the others,
and one of them died.
Origin of Fish-poison.
If we admit that the symptoms which are occasionally
produced by the ingestion of certain fish, depend
upon the presence of poison, we have next to inquire
into its nature and origin. Dr. Burrows considers
that all the opinions which have been advanced upon
this subject may, for the greater perspicuity and facility
of discussion, be arranged under seven heads, viz.
does the poison exist—1. In the skin?—2. In the
stomach and intestinal canal?—3. In the liver or gall
bladder?—4. In the entire substance of the fish?—5.
In the food of fishes?—6. Is it a morbid change in the
system of the fish?—7. Is it a poison, sui generis?
453Upon these several questions Dr. Burrows has
offered some observations. There do not appear to
be any facts which can induce us to consider that the
poison resides only in the skin.
Experience has shewn that the virus is particularly
energetic in the viscera, commonly called the offals;
and yet there are no grounds for concluding that it
exclusively belongs to these parts. Captain Cook,
and Messrs. Forster were poisoned by eating a piece
of the liver only of a species of tetrodon; yet they
who ate of its substance were also poisoned.
An opinion has long prevailed that the poisonous
principle is derived from the substances upon which
the fish feeds; and that of muscles, in particular,
from copper; this latter hypothesis has received the
sanction of Dr. Chisholm. We however agree with
Dr. Burrows in considering that it has neither the
support of observation or analogy. Dr. Beune has
supposed that the acrid principle is no other than the
spawn of the stella marina, an insect which very commonly
lodges in the muscle. It seems, however,
more probable that it is a product of decomposition,
but which requires the concurrence of certain circumstances
for its developement.
Before we conclude the history of septic poisons,
there appears to be a species of death, particularly
noticed by Dr. Gordon Smith,[494] which merits our
attention, as having some relation to this class of
agents—the fact of persons having been “eaten to
death by maggots!” Such a death has been assigned
to Sylla, by Plutarch; and to Antiochus Epiphanes,
by Josephus, and the writer of the book of Maccabees.
The fate of Herod is ascertained by Scripture. In
454modern history we have similar instances in Charles
IX of France, and Philip II of Spain.
Numerous cases are recorded, in different medical
works,[495] of the generation of maggots, i. e. the larvæ
of different species of fly, not only in external sores
and excoriations, but in the internal cavities of the
human body. Dr. Lempriere[496] has related the
case of an officer’s lady, who had gone through an
acute fever, but in whom these maggots were produced,
which burrowed, and found their way by the
nose through the os cribriforme, into the cavity of the
cranium, and afterwards into the brain itself, to
which she owed her death. But of all the cases of
this kind, that related by Dr. Gordon Smith is of the
most revolting kind. “In the month of July 1809,
a man was found near Finglas, in Ireland, lying
under the wall of a lime-kiln, at an early hour in the
evening, with his face on the ground, apparently
dead. On turning him on his back to ascertain the
real state of the case, it was discovered that he was
yet alive, but under the most appalling circumstances.
On removing his coat, the whole surface
of his body appeared to be a moving mass of worms.
His face was considerably injured as if from a fall, or
bruises; his eyes were dissolved, and their cavities,
as well as those of the ears, nose, and mouth, were
filled with a white living mass, from which such innumerable
quantities of maggots were continually
pouring out, that the skull seemed to be filled with
nothing else. After some time he recovered strength
enough to walk, and regained recollection and voice
sufficient to tell who he was, where he lived, and how
455he had been brought into that situation. It appeared
that he was returning home upon a car the evening
before; having drank to excess, he fell off, and remained
in a state of insensibility until he was discovered.
He could neither account for the wounds in
his head, nor for his being so far from the road; but
it appeared probable that he had received the contusion
from the fall, and had insensibly crawled to the
place where he lay. It was conjectured that the state
of the atmosphere, as to humidity and temperature,
had brought on a solution of the solids in the bruised
parts, already disposed to putrescency, and now in
close contact with the moist earth. In these, the eggs
of innumerable insects being deposited, their generation
proceeded with rapidity under circumstances so
favourable. Every attention was paid to the unfortunate
individual; he was removed to shelter,
the parts were washed with spirits and vinegar, and
the loathsome objects removed, as far as was possible.
Cordials were poured down his throat, but he swallowed
with difficulty; and in a very short time spasms
took place which prevented him from swallowing
altogether. The putrescence advanced; in a short
time he became insensible; and about noon the following
day he died, in a state of total putrisolution.”
456
Under this division we include all those deleterious
substances which can be administered through the
medium of the atmosphere.
Those gases, the respiration of which occasions
death by the negative operation of excluding oxygen,
are not ranked under the class of poisons, for the history
of such bodies involves physiological views peculiar
to themselves, and belongs more correctly to
the subject of suffocation, under which head it has
already met with full consideration, vol. 2, p. 48.
Aërial poisons are of very undefined extent, and
their history is involved in considerable obscurity.
Every poison, capable of volatilization, may be admitted
into the division; and even those substances
which are generally regarded as fixed, may be mechanically
suspended in the air, and thus produce their
effects on the living system, through the medium of
the lungs, stomach, or nerves. In the present state
of our knowledge, we have, perhaps, only an imperfect
idea of the distinction between a fixed and a volatile
body. A very interesting paper on this subject
was read before the Royal Academy of Berlin, by
Professor Hermbstaed,[497] in which he observes that,
generally speaking, we might consider all bodies as
volatile, as it is most probable that, could we produce
a sufficient degree of heat, no substance could
resist it. The professor also states that many bodies,
hitherto considered as fixed, are actually volatilized
at the temperature of boiling water; such he found to
be lime, baryta, strontia, and potass. We apprehend,
however, that the professor has, in these instances,
457mistaken a phenomenon for volatility, which it is
highly important to distinguish from it, viz. the elevation
of a certain portion of a fixed body, by the carrying
power of a vapour; thus, fixed oil may, in a minute
proportion, be carried up with the steam of
water. Certain bodies, however, which have been
long considered as perfectly fixed at the ordinary
temperature of the atmosphere, have been lately discovered
to undergo a slow and almost imperceptible
evaporation under such circumstances; and the discovery
has led to a very satisfactory solution of several
problems which were previously unintelligible.
We shall adduce a striking exemplification of this
truth, under the consideration of mercurial vapours.
The substances, included under the head of Aërial
poisons, may be conveniently arranged in two orders,
viz.
I. Those, whose particles exist mechanically suspended
in the atmosphere.
II. Those, which are presented to us in a vaporous
or gaseous form.
Of the first division the various arts will furnish
ample illustration, as for instance the occupations
of the colour-maker, plasterer, cotton-spinner, dry-grinder,[498]
stone-cutter, hatter, furrier, miller, &c.
&c. In all of which a subtle matter is given off,
458which becoming mechanically suspended in the air,
penetrates the structure of the pulmonary organs, and
excites disease, and even death.[499] In illustration
of the second division, we have the trades of water-gilders,
acid manufacturers, night-men, bleachers,
and various others, many of which have been already
noticed under the medical and chemical consideration
of nuisances, vol. I, p. 330.
In the present chapter we cannot attempt an enumeration
of every substance which may act as an
aërial poison; we shall confine our attention to the
history of a few bodies which are calculated to afford
general elucidation, and are likely to become objects
of forensic interest.
Mercurial Vapours.
It is not the least interesting fact in the history of
aërial poisons, that substances, which are found to
be extremely slow in their action, or even quite
inert, when administered in their solid or liquid state,
exert a very rapid and energetic operation when
they are presented to the human body in the attenuated
form of vapour. This fact is well illustrated by
the subtlety and activity of metallic mercury in the
state of vapour; a substance which, according to the
highest authorities, is quite inactive when introduced
in its grosser form into the stomach. It is thus that
the workmen employed in gilding, silvering looking-glasses,
constructing barometers, &c. experience such
dreadful effects; that such effects arise from the metal
in a state of vapour, and not, as some have supposed,
from the oxide,[500] is a fact capable of demonstration, for
459the artists at Birmingham affix an apparatus in their
chimneys as a system of economy, in order to collect
the mercury, which is always found in its metallic
state.[501] From the late interesting experiments of
Mr. Faraday,[502] it appears that mercury rises in vapour
at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere;
the knowledge of which fact will afford a very satisfactory
explanation of several phenomena, which
were previously unintelligible. Dr. Hermbstaed, in
the memoir, above mentioned, “on the volatility of
substances hitherto considered as fixed bodies,” relates
the following curious fact with regard to the
volatility of mercury. “At the Royal Manufactory
of looking-glasses in Berlin, during a severe winter,
the artificers who worked in a room, which had originally
served for the process of silvering the glasses,
lighted a fire, and thus heated the apartment to between
86° and 96° Fah. In a few days the whole of them
were, to their great surprise, affected by a strong salivation,
460as there was no trace of mercury in, or near
the room. They consulted on the subject, and suspecting
the real cause of the event, had the flooring
of the room taken up, when about 40 lbs of the metal
were found spread about in different parts, where it
had fallen at various times during the operation of
silvering, which had been executed in that room before.”
With such facts before us, we shall no longer
be unable to explain the effects which were produced
on board his majesty’s ship Triumph, off Cadiz, in
April 1809, by the bursting of leathern bags containing
quicksilver, and the consequent dispersion of
not less than three tons of the metal through the vessel.
The interest excited by this case has been very
great, and as the facts, involved in its history, are of
high medical importance, we were induced to apply
for permission to search the journals of the ship; and,
through the kindness of Dr. Burnett, one of his majesty’s
commissioners for victualling the navy, and
the assistance of Mr. Plowman, who held the situation
of surgeon to the Triumph, we have been enabled
to obtain a correct and detailed history of the
event. Previous to the circumstances we are about to
describe, “the ship’s company had been tolerably
healthy, when unfortunately a quantity of quicksilver
was received on board, and diffused over the ship in
consequence of the bursting of the leathern bags, in
which it had been enclosed; when its effects were
soon displayed upon the crew, by occasioning ptyalism,
partial paralysis, affections of the bowels; so
that in three weeks, no less than two hundred men
were in a state of salivation. In consequence of
which two transports were taken up as hospital ships,
in which the slighter cases soon recovered; but as many
fresh cases occurred daily, Vice-Admiral Pickmore
461ordered a survey on the ship, and ship’s company, by
the surgeons of the squadron, on the third of May,
who reported the necessity of sending the ship into
port, in order to clear her hold, change part of her
provisions, into which the quicksilver had insinuated
itself, and to purify her by means of ablution. This
was accordingly done; but on stowing the hold
afresh, every man so employed, as well as those engaged
in the steward’s room, were attacked with
ptyalism. Fresh cases happened daily, until they
took their departure from Cadiz on the 13th of June;
after which but few occurred, which was attributed
by the surgeon to the coldness of the weather, the
fresh breezes from the north-east, from the men having
been kept constantly on deck, and not allowed to
sleep on the orlop, and from not suffering those affected
with ptyalism to lie on the lower deck; as
well as from the constant attention paid in the ventilation
of the ship by means of wind-sails. But, notwithstanding
all these precautions, the ship had
not been more than ten days at sea, when many
of the men became worse, and it was found necessary
to send twenty-four seamen on board the Goshawk,
and two transports. On the arrival of the
Triumph in Cawsand Bay, on the 5th of July, there
did not remain one case of ptyalism on their list.
During this extraordinary visitation two men died
from excessive ptyalism, one of them at Cadiz, having
previously lost his teeth, and both cheeks at the
time of his decease being in a state of sphacelation;
the other, who died at Gibraltar, had lost the whole
of his teeth, two-thirds of his tongue, and, at the
time of his death, the lower lip was in a state of gangrene.
To the interesting facts above related, Mr.
Plowman adds, that the interior of the ship was covered
462with a black powder, and that the copper bolts
displayed the mercurial influence. The mercurial
vapours proved fatal to the living stock on board, for
nearly all the poultry, sheep, pigs, mice,[503] goats,
cats, a dog, and even a canary bird, died from its
influence.”
Sulphuretted Hydrogen Gas.
This gas is transparent and colourless; it has the
property of inflammability, and when set on fire in
the open air, burns with a bluish flame, and deposits
a certain portion of sulphur. It is distinguished by
an excessively fœtid smell, which has been aptly compared
to that of rotten eggs. Its habitudes with
other gases are interesting and important; by admixture
with chlorine, it immediately undergoes decomposition,
yielding its hydrogen, so as to form hydro-chloric
acid (muriatic acid), and consequently depositing
its sulphur; with ammoniacal gas it combines,
and forms an hydro-sulphuret of ammonia; when
mingled with sulphurous acid gas, the hydrogen of
the former combines with the oxygen of the latter,
and the sulphur of both is precipitated; when passed
over ignited charcoal it is converted into carburetted
hydrogen gas, and sulphur is deposited.
It is soluble in water, and the solution precipitates
the different metals from their saline solutions, in the
463form of sulphurets; a property which at once distinguishes
this gas from every other.
It has been long considered a very energetic poison,
and it would, at the same time, appear to be a very
insidious one; for sensibility is quickly destroyed by
it, without any previous suffering. We are acquainted
with a chemist who was suddenly deprived of
sense, as he stood over a pneumatic trough, in which
he was collecting the gas. It would seem to act upon
the nervous system through the medium of the blood, in
which it is extremely soluble. It constitutes the particular
gas of privies, and is the immediate cause of
those accidents which we have already described in a
former part of this work, vol. 1, page 100; since the
printing of which we have heard of the death of four
persons from emptying a privy at Brompton. This
gas will be sometimes developed during the imperfect
combustion of wet coals[504]; and it was probably
owing to its presence, or to that of carburetted hydrogen,
that the accident arose which is recorded
by Mr. Sutleffe in the Medical Repository. “He
was hastily summoned to a neighbouring family
at bed-time, where he found a female domestic labouring
under a shrill, laborious inspiration; she
had taken up from a good kitchen fire, a panful of
live coals, from which a sudden suffocating blast
seized her.”
464
Carburetted Hydrogen Gas.
This gas is developed by several chemical processes.
We have just stated that if, during the
burning of charcoal, moisture be present, it is evolved
in abundance. It appears to be particularly fatal
to animal life. Dr. Beddoes made many experiments
upon the subject, from which it would seem to destroy
life by rendering the muscular fibre inirritable
without producing any previous excitement. In
order to decide this question, Sir Humphry Davy[505]
ventured to take three inspirations of the gas produced
from the decomposition of water by charcoal.
“The first inspiration produced a sort of numbness
and loss of feeling in the chest, and about the pectoral
muscles; after the second,” says he, “I lost all
power of perceiving external things, and had no distinct
sensation, except a terrible oppression on the
chest; during the third expiration, this feeling disappeared;
I seemed sinking into annihilation, and
had just power enough to drop the mouth-piece from
my unclosed lips. There is every reason to believe,
that if I had taken four or five inspirations, instead of
three, they would have destroyed life immediately,
without producing any painful sensation.”
Chlorine—Oxy-muriatic Acid Gas.
This gas, which is now considered as an elementary
body, has received from Sir Humphry Davy the
name of chlorine, from the green colour which characterises
465it. Its odour is so penetrating and insupportable
that it is impossible to respire it, even when
considerably diluted with atmospheric air, and yet it
will support combustion. It discharges vegetable
colours, whence it forms the basis of various bleaching
preparations. According to the experiments[506]
of M. Nysten, this gas is not absorbed when respired
pure, but appears to act only by irritating the bronchiæ
locally; and so energetic is its action, that the
animal dies before there is sufficient time for asphyxia
to take place from the circulation of black blood.
When it is respired in a dilute form, it produces a
severe cough, and, according to Fourcroy, it occasions
a phlegmonic inflammation of the bronchial
membranes. The death of the ingenious and indefatigable
Pelletier was occasioned by his accidentally
inhaling a proportion of this gas; a consumption
was the consequence, which in a short time proved
fatal. In the London Medical and Physical Journal
for November, 1821, a case of a person is recorded
who was poisoned by bleaching liquor.
Sulphurous Acid Gas.
The gas is generated by the combustion of sulphur.
It is colourless; has a pungent smell, resembling
that of burning sulphur, and is very soluble in water.
It would appear to destroy life by a peculiar action
on the blood.