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MEDICAL  JURISPRUDENCE
                 BY

     THEODRIC ROMEYN^GK,

              M. D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF MATEEIA MEDICA IN THE ALBANY MEDICAL COLLEGE ; MEMBER OF
   THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY ; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE
     MEDICAL SOCIETIES OF RHODE ISLAND AND CONNECTICUT,
                &c., &c.;
                AND

         JOHN B. BECK, M. D.,

PltOFESSOR OF MATERIA MEDICA AND MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE IN THE COLLEGE
  OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK; CORRESPOND-
    ING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE OF PARIS;
      CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF
             LONDON, ETC., ETC., ETC.
TENTH  EDITION
   VOL. II.

             ALBANY:
LITTLE & COMPANY, LAW BOOKSELLERS,
           53 STATE STREET.
        H. H. VAN DYCK, PRINTER.
               1851. 
w
 600

 '\«5I
       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,

                   by T. ROMEYN BECK ;

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of the
                     State of New York. 
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
. XIV.	Persons Found Dead, ...	1
u	Persons Found Dead, (Part II.)	151
XV.	Wounds on the Living Body,	- 287
XVI.	Poisons, -------	367
XVII.	Irritant Poisons, -	- 423
XVIII.	Irritant Poisons, (continued,) -	489
XIX.	Irritant Poisons, (concluded,)	675
XX.	Narcotic Poisons, -	735
XXI.	Narcotico-acrid Poisons,	- 813
XXII.	Medical Evidence, - -	915
 
 
MEDICAL   JURISPRUDENCE.
CHAPTER XIV.
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
Duties of the office of coroner—imperfect manner in which it is often exe-
  cuted—duties of medical witnesses. Frequency of sudden death indepen-
  dent of violence.
1.  Medico-legal dissection. Preliminary directions.  Examination of ex-
  ternal lesions—of the head—spine—thorax and abdomen.  Distinction be-
  tween natural appearances and the effects of violence.  Haemorrhage—
  fluidity of the blood—ecchymosis—effect of blows  on the dead body—san-
  guineous congestions—wounds—pseudo-morbid appearances. Examination
  of the skeleton—cases.  Whether  the hair  grows after death.  Changes
  induced by death and putrefaction.  Observations of Orfila on this—not to
  prevent medico-legal dissection.
2. Of sudden death from natural causes.  From apoplexy—rupture
  of aneurisms or cysts—affections of the heart—haemorrhage—idiopathic
  asphyxia. Christison's remarks on latent diseases—directions for discrimi-
  nating.
3. Of death from violent causes. Explanation of the term asphyxia—
  anatomical changes that accompany it.  Whether death arises from suicide.
  A. Of persons dead from cold.  Its effects—appearances on dissection.
  Death from drinking cold water, and its probable  cause.  B. Of persons
  dead  from hunger.  Appearances on dissection in man and animals.
  C. Of persons dead from lightning. Appearances.  D. Of persons
  found burnt to death.  Effects of burns on the dead and living body.
  Praeternatural combustibility of the human body—cases—theories to ex-
  plain  it.  E. Of persons dead from wounds.  Meaning of the word
  wound in legal medicine.  Whether the wounds are the result of suicide,
  accident or homicide. Wounds from fire-arms—cases.  Examination of the
  skeleton—cases in which murder was detected.  Chemical investigations to
  ascertain the peculiarities in the blood of man and other animals.  The
  hair—foot prints.


   Death, even when it is  the consequence of  disease, is

often  an unexpected event.  But if an  individual expire

under his own roof, surrounded  by friends and relatives, we

are disposed  to  consider it as an ordinary dispensation of

Providence, and  one  to which all of us are sooner or later

doomed.   The features of the case differ materially, when a

person is found  dead on the highway, on the  banks  of a

   VOL. II.                      1 
2
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
river, or in a lonely place.   Indeed, if he be discovered to
have  paid  the  last debt of mortality, either in a sudden
manner, or at a distance from his home, the laws  of civilized
society demand an investigation of the cause, and over this
investigation, the officer called  a  coroner, is appointed to
preside.
  It will readily be observed from the above remarks, that
the office in question is an important one.   The duty of the
coroner extends to an examination  of  the  circumstances
connected  with every case of sudden or suspicious death,
and he is to make this  with the aid of a jury, summoned by
him for the  purpose.   Future  proceedings are regulated by
the verdict that they may pronounce.
  That the duties of this office are imperfectly understood,
and often most negligently  performed, hardly admits of a
doubt.  The individuals appointed are frequently unfit  for
the situation, both from habits and  education, while  the jury
are too commonly desirous of hurrying through  the investi-
gation.   It has been proposed to remedy the first difficulty,
by selecting coroners from among medical men, and there is
no doubt that the administration of criminal justice  might
be promoted thereby.*  Every inquest involves a  medical
question, and even although the case may at the  first glance
appear so  clear, and the facts so certain, as hardly to need
a professsional examination, yet before the trial is ended,
there will   often be extreme regret,  that  a medico-legal
dissection had not been pursued.
  The medical witness has, however, several obstacles and
discouragements  to  encounter in the performance of  his
duty.  The power of the coroner  and his jury to stop him
in the progress of his  examination seems  unquestioned  at
least it is constantly exercised, in spite of his remonstrances.
" On  a late occasion, one of these grave bodies declared that
they  would apply to the governors of a London hospital to
put a stop to unnecessary dissections, and in many cases they


  * In England, and indeed  in this country, considerable efforts have been
made of late  to procure the election of medical coroners. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
3
have told an inspecting surgeon to stop in the midst of his
work, because they themselves were satisfied*
  Again, no compensation is allowed to the surgeon for the
dissection, nor to  the chemist for his analysis,  while he
incurs at the same time the high responsibility of deciding
on  the guilt or innocence  of the accused.   Certainly, no
plan could be  suggested  more effectually to deter  all  and
every medical man from engaging in these thankless inves-
tigations.!  In my remarks on medical evidence,  I shall
offer some suggestions for improving  this  very  imperfect
portion  of our criminal code.   At present, conceding that
the  physician or  surgeon is obliged to attend, when sum-
moned at these inquests, I will offer for his  consideration
some preliminary cautions.
   The first is, not to  permit sudden prejudice to warp his
mind.  There is  nothing more common among the populace,
who crowd around the bodies of persons  found  dead, than
to  suspect  that  they  have been  murdered, and the idea,
instead of being judiciously combatted, if untrue, is permitted
to  gain  strength by repetition.  Against charges  of  this
nature, the physician should always be prepared, and never
allow them  to  have any  influence  over him.   He should
proceed  to  the examination  of the body with a  mind  free
from prejudice.   He should also recollect, that sudden death

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 190.
  t "On a  trial of an indictment for manslaughter,  the surgeon will  be
allowed only for his attendance on the trial, and not for his fee for opening
the body by order of  the coroner."  (5 Carrington and Payne, p. 301.  Kex
v Taylor )  Our Revised Statutes of New-York, (vol. 2, p. 742,} declare,
that " it shall be the duty of the coroner to cause some surgeon or physician
to be subpoenaed to appear as a witness upon the  taking of an inquest,  but
does not notice the compensation.
  In France, the judicial officers, or those of the police, are expressly ordered
to subpoena medical men, to make the necessary examinations, in all cases of
violent death, or where the cause of sudden decease is unknown  If circum-
stances render a disinterment necessary, the police officers must be assisted
in that duty by a physician or surgeon.  (Code ^Instruction Criminelle,
articles 44 and 81.)                                ,     ,.  ,
  Within a short time past, some allowance has been granted to medical exa-
miners, in such cases, in England, but it is evidently still left too much at the
discretion of the coroner or the magistrates.               .  .
  In Pennsylvania, Judge Lewis in 1844 decided, on general principles, that
a physician has a right to compensation for making a post-mortem examina-
tion at the  request of the coroner.  (Amer. Journal Med. Sciences,  J*, b.
vol. 12, p. 538.) 
4
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 is  not  an uncommon event, and  that  those  who,  at  one
 moment, we see before us in the full enjoyment of life, may,
 at the next, be cold and inanimate.  The  secret, operating
 causes  of this change may remain unknown to us, and we
 can perceive only its effects.  In addition  to this, there are
 many circumstances which may be the origin of the sudden
 decease, and to which the  person affected has been for a
 time exposed, without any knowledge of their consequences.
 Of this  nature are the breathing of noxious gases,  the use of
 improper aliments, or of unhealthy water.  The passions,
 also, if  highly excited, or a  purely  accidental cause may
 respectively  have induced the sudden death.   And lastly,
 the destruction of life may have been caused by the person
 himself.  All these possible circumstances  should  be recol-
 lected, before a case of this kind is referred  to a criminal
 court, on  the  decision of a physician.   The importance of
 medico-legal dissection is thus inculcated, not only by every
 sentiment of professional pride, but even by the dictates of
 common humanity.  It is but a sorry excuse, after  a sus-
pected  individual has lain for months in a  jail,  on  the
 strength of his opinion, then to  come into court and say,
that he  drew wrong inferences from external appearances,
or on the other hand, to meet a brother practitioner, who
invalidates his opinion, and demonstrates the crudeness and
insufficiency of his investigations.
  In further  noticing this subject, I shall consider it under
the following general divisions:
  1. Of MEDICO-LEGAL DISSECTION.
  2. Of SUDDEN DEATH FROM NATURAL CAUSES.
  3. Of DEATH FROM VIOLENT CAUSES.
  The subject of wounds generally, and of poisons, would
probably, in perfect strictness, belong to the present title,
but as they are very extensive and important in their nature,
I prefer considering them  in distinct  chapters,  and this
separation will also allow us to notice their effects on  the
living body.*
  * I am obliged, from want of space, to omit a notice of the signs  of real
and apparent death.  Some of them, however, are  briefly considered in the
next section. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
5
                 I.  Of medico-legal dissection.

   Under this head, I  propose to give general  rules only for
the  examination of dead bodies, applicable to all the cases
that may be supposed to occur.   Every species of  violent
death  requires an investigation  peculiar, in some degree, to
itself,  and the minutiae of this will be more profitably noticed
in succeeding sections and chapters.*  I am also to suppose
the  reader acquainted  with ordinary anatomical dissection,
and  hence may be be  allowed to omit many things contained
in elementary treatises on the science.
  Before proceeding to the  dissection, and particularly if
called before the  body is removed from the place where it
was found, it is proper to notice  its  situation and attitude,
the  state of the clothes, and the  condition of the ground,
whether it bears the marks of footsteps, and their direction.
We should remark also, whether there are any indications of
struggling, or any weapons  left  in the vicinity.f   In our
first general survey of the body, the following rules may be
observed.  1.  If  death be  apparently caused by  a  wound,
the  body should be first viewed, if possible, exactly in the
position in which it was found.  By moving it,  the attitude
of the extremities may be altered, or the state of a fracture
  * The following are the principal authorities on this subject: Marc's Trans-
lation of Rose's Manual.  Mauchartius' Dissertation in Schlegel, vol. 1, and
which indeed anticipates the former in many respects.  Chaussier on Medico-
Legal Dissection and  on  Ecchymosis, &c.  These two dissertations, which
occupy the greater part of his " Recueil de Memoires," were given, as he
states, the one to Dr. Renard, and the other to Dr. Rieux, for their respective
inaugural dissertations.  Fodere, vol. 3, chap. 1.  Mahon, vol. 2,  p. 217.
Dease's Remarks on Medical Jurisprudence.  Paris' Medical Jurisprudence,
vol. 3.  Dr.  John  Gordon, in art. Anatomy, Supplement of Encyclopedia
Britannica, vol. 1.
  t A few illustrations will serve to show the importance of attending to
these circumstances.  Mr. Jeffries was murdered  at Walthamstow, in  Eng-
land, in 1751, by his neice and a servant.  Here the perpetrators were sus-
pected to be domestics, from the single circumstance of the dew on the grass
surrounding the house not having been disturbed on the morning of the mur-
der, which must have happened, had the murderer left the premises.  Mr.
Taylor, of Hornsey, was murdered in December, 1818, and his body thrown
into the river.  No investigation was needed to ascertain whether he had
gone alive into the water, as the hands were found clenched and, contained
grass, which, in his struggle, he had torn from the bank.  Again, the marks
of footsteps measured and found to correspond with the shoes of the suspected
person, have in more than one instance, led to  the detection of the guilty.
(Paris, vol. 3, pp. 38, 41.) 
6
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
or a luxation changed,  since the internal parts vary in their
position with one another according to the general position
of the body.  If it is absolutely necessary to remove it, it
should be done with  great  caution.  2. The clothes should
be removed,  as  far as is necessary, and it should be noted
what compresses or bandages (if any) are applied to particu-
lar parts.  3. After these preliminaries, we must examine
the  color of the  skin, the temperature of  the body,*  the
rigidity  or flexibility of the  extremities, the state  of the
eyes, and of the sphincter muscles, noting at  the same time
whatever swelling,  ecchymosis,  wound,  ulcer,  contusion,
fracture or luxation, may be present; also any fluid flowing
from the  nose, mouth, ears, sexual organs, &c, and indeed
every thing  varying from  the natural state.  The  above
cavities  should  be inspected, and particular attention must
be paid to the state of the  skin,  so as not to mistake that
bluish-brown  tinge which indicates the commencement of
putrefaction, for ecchymosis.   The distinction between these
we shall presently explain.
  From the period when the  dissector commences, until he
concludes, there should be  a clerk at hand to  take down all
the facts he may from time  to  time communicate,  and this
should  not  be delayed until  the examination is completed,
as many circumstances of importance  may then have esca-
ped his memory.
  If there be any external lesion present, it should first be ex-
amined,  and its  nature described—its  length, breadth and
depth—also  whether it has been inflicted  with a cutting,
pointed, or round instrument—whether it  is accompanied
with inflammation or gangrene, and whether any foreign bo-
dies  are found in it, such  as balls  or pieces of cloth.  The

  * It is probably a prevalent opinion, that the body, after death, soon ac-
quires the temperature of the surrounding air, particularly if it be lisrhtlv
covered.  This is, however, far from being invariable, and as to the internal
organs, Dr. John Davy has shown that they remain for many hours of a
higher temperature.  See his " Researches Anatomical  and Physiological »
Dr. Dowler of New Orleans has also published some remarkable cases! after
death from yellow fever, in which the natural temperature continued for
several hours  (Western Journal Med. and Surgery, vol 10, p. 287 ; Medical
Examiner, vol. 8, p. 455.)                           r 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
7
scalpel should then be employed to trace its extent, but with
judgment, so as not to render our researches useless, and to
prevent a comparison of the external wound with the inter-
nal injury.   The nerves and blood-vessels, and particularly
the arteries that are wounded, should be named, as should
also the viscera, if any are in that state.  If there be a con-
tusion without a solution of continuity, the injury found in the
internal parts should be particularly noticed,, such as extra-
vasation, rupture of vessels, &c.   If the cause of death is a
burn,  its degree  and extent should be examined, together
with the state of  the parts affected, whether inflamed mere-
ly, or covered with blisters—the fluid contained in these
blisters, and the condition of the neighboring parts, whether
sphacelated or gangrenous.   If a luxation or fracture be
present, notice the surrounding soft parts—the  nature of the
injury, whether simple  or complicated, and the phenomena
indicating the progress of disease or of recovery.
   Having stated all these circumstances, it is next necessary
to proceed to the dissection in a systematic manner, and the
common rule is,  to commence  with the examination of the
abdomen.  Chaussier, however,  dissuades  from this,  and
advises that it be the  last, as  putrefaction is there first de-
veloped, and the  offensive odor may be in a great measure
avoided, by previously noticing the other parts.  In all our
examinations, care must be  taken, not "to  make wounds
while we are examining for them,'''' and  we must  not desist
because we suppose  that  the  cause of death is perfectly
discovered  in one or  the other cavity; all of them  should
be inspected.
  On viewing the head, the integuments, and all injuries done
to them, are first to be  noticed.  In particular, if a wound
appear to  be  inflicted by a sharp pointed instrument, its
depth, direction  and  connnexion with the brain, should be
minutely traced.  The presence of inflammation,  oedema or
sphacelus, must also be remarked.  These observations apply
also to  injuries  from cutting  instruments.  And in all of
these  examinations, the  hair should be previously removed
either by cutting or with a razor.   We next proceed to lay 
8
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
the bones of the cranium bare.  This is done by an incision
from one ear to the other over the top of the head, and then
another transverse to  it, from the top of the  nose to the
occiput.   On dissecting these flaps, we shall be able to dis-
cover whether any injury has been  done to the hard parts.
Search is to  be made, if there be  any fractures or fissures,
taking care at the same time not to mistake irregular sutures
for them; and for this  purpose, they should be  rubbed over
with ink.   The strength of these bones is also deserving of
minute inspection,  as  they are not unfrequently so thin or
soft as to render a blow, that under ordinary circumstances
would only produce slight injury,  very destructive.   The
fracture  should  always be followed throughout its whole
extent.
   The skullcap may now be removed; and this requires to
be done with extreme caution, lest we wound the dura mater.
Dr. Gordon advises that this should  be done  by sawing
through the outer table, and then breaking through the inner
with a chisel and mallet.  On the other hand, Renard directs
that four holes be made with the trephine at proper distances,
and through these openings, the cranium separated from the
meninges, with the handle of a delicate scalpel.   The saw
is then to be used in the direction  of the trepannings, and
the skullcap is readily raised and removed.
   This, however, will  not suffice in all cases,  since  many
fractures occur  in the occipital portions, and at the base of
the brain.  Here  similar careful incisions are necessary with
the proper application of the saw, to discover the extent of
the injury.
   The membranes and the substance of the brain must now
be carefully inspected.   Let  it be noticed whether any pus
or blood is interposed between the dura mater and the bones
or whether it is detached or inflamed.  So also  of the other
membranes, and the brain itself.   All  morbid  appearances
in structure deserve attention; and  the state of the blood-
vessels, the quantity of fluids present, and their situation
are highly deserving of attention.   It  should,  however  be
remembered, that an extravasation or an injury is not unfre- 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
9
quently found on  the  side opposite to which  the  blow was
given : and again, that death  sometimes follows from blows
on the head, when  no internal lesion can be found on dis-
section.  It has been abundantly proved, that the connexion
between the  brain and the viscera of the thorax  and abdo-
men,  is  the  cause  of this, and  the injury must in such
instances be looked for in the latter.
  There are several sources of fallacy in the examination of
the brain, which will be presently noticed.
  We should not neglect an examination of the base of the
brain, since by this, fractures otherwise scarcely discovera-
ble, have been found.  I allude particularly to cases where
injury has been inflicted through the orbits of the eyes.*
  The vertebral column must be viewed through its whole
extent,  as to  its being fractured,  or dislocated, or contused.
In any doubtful case, it requires strict attention, since inju-
ries of it are often  of a very complicated nature.  Fodere
quotes a case from  Jaeger, of a  person who was  struck on
the neck, by  a loaded wagon, with such violence, that both
his upper and lower extremities became paralytic.  He  died
in eighteen hours after  the accident.  No external appear-
ances of injury could be observed, although an examination
readily  indicated that the seat of the disease was somewhere
near the sixth cervical vertebra, and accordingly,  on dissec-
tion, its spinous apophysis was found broken at its base, and
separated from its  body, while blood was  extravasated  to
the amount of four ounces.  In  such and  similar cases, it
may  be  expedient  to  remove the whole of  the cervical
column, and  which  may  be done by sawing off the trans-
verse processes, and raising  it from its  position.   All indi-
cations  of inflammation, or of a want of mobility should be
duly considered.
  In examining the  neck, Chaussier and Gordon  advise us,
first, to make an incision from the chin to the sternum, then
from the upper  point, to cut along the  margin of  the lower
jaw, to  its  angle, and from  the  lower point towards the
* Paris, vol. 3, p. 51. 
10
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
clavicle.   By continuing the dissection, every part may thus
be examined in succession.   If necessary, the jaw may be
removed by a saw.
  We should inquire carefully, whether the neck bears any
marks of external injury, or traces of ecchymosis, or pres-
sure on it.  Examine the great blood-vessels, whether they
are filled with blood or empty, and the nerves, whether they
are in  their natural state.  The larynx, trachea, pharynx
and oesophagus, and their contents, must be noticed in suc-
cession, removing or reverting  the  former when  we have
completed our investigation.   If wounded, detail  the extent,
depth and shape of the injury, and particularly if the lesion
is caused by fire-arms; its course, also, and the loss of sub-
stance, together with the inflammation  or suppuration  (if
any) existing, should be stated.
  On proceeding to the thorax, it should first be ascertained
whether the injuries it has received are superficial, affecting
the integuments and muscles merely, or whether they extend
to  its cavity.   This cannot  be  determined  satisfactorily,
without an inspection, and for this purpose " an incision is
made through the integuments, from the top of the sternum
to the pit of the stomach.  The flaps are then to be dissected
down to the ribs, and backwards  about an inch and  a half
beyond the junction of the cartilages with the osseous sub-
stance of the ribs.  Cut through these cartilages close  to
their joining, beginning with the second riband ending with
the seventh.  Pull forward the lower part of the sternum a
little;  introduce a  scalpel behind it, and detach the dia-
phragm and mediastinum ; then saw through it immediately
below  the connexion  of the  first rib.   The  cavity of the
chest will thus be sufficiently exposed."
   The viscera require very careful examination.  The lungs
and their internal  as well as  external  condition, the peri-
cardium and its contents, the heart and its great vessels the
thoracic duct, all should be  inspected.  Remove the blood
with a sponge, so as  to ascertain  the  exact  degree of
color that is present in the various parts, and in particular
attention must be paid to the degree of consistence, or fluidity 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                11
of the blood.  The importance of these  directions will be
presently explained.
  Lastly, as to the abdominal cavity;  its external covering
forms a subject of inquiry.   Every spot, swelling, or extra-
vasation  should be noticed;  as  also  whether hernia be
present, and whether there is  any tumefaction of the part.
The mode of opening  into  the cavity, needs hardly to be
detailed.   A crucial incision  may be made, and if this be
not sufficient, the pubal bones on each side may be  removed
with  the saw.   The condition of the peritoneum  then re-
quires attention, and the presence or absence of fluid in the
cavity.  The organs peculiar to either sex should be exam-
ined, and  also  the various viscera  contained  here—the
stomach, mesentery, liver,  spleen, gall-bladder, intestines,
bladder,  &c, &c.   We should view  each  part as to the
quantity  of blood  which naturally belongs  to it;  trace all
extravasations, as to their quantity and nature ; and particu-
larly inquire whether the changes observed are the  result  of
disease, or of sudden injury.  Professor Mahon recommends
the use of a blunt-pointed bistoury in examining the intes-
tines, as  this may prevent injury during the  dissection.
   Although I shall have occasion hereafter to  notice the
subject in detail, I  must not omit to remark, that if  there be
any suspicion of poisoning, the  whole  of the alimentary
canal, from the oesophagus to the rectum, should be carefully
removed  for further inspection.   Dr. Gordon's  directions
may be followed for this purpose.  He advises that a double
ligature be applied  at the very commencement of the jeju-
num, and the intestine divided between the  two threads; a
similar ligature is then to be applied to the ileum, close  to
its termination in the colon, and the tube divided in  the same
manner.  The root  of the mesentery being now cut through,
the  whole  jejunum and  ileum are removed together.  A
double ligature is  next to be applied  to the rectum as low
down as  possible ;  and being divided  between the cords, it
is to be  removed with the whole of the colon.  The oeso-
phagus,  stomach and duodenum, are then  to be extracted 
12                PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

together, taking care  previously to tie a ligature round  the
top of the oesophagus.
  The mode of  conducting  the analysis of the contents of
these parts, will find a place under the head of Poisons.*
  The above remarks do not apply exclusively to the  sto-
mach.   If any  viscus  appears  to  require a  more  strict
investigation than can  be given to it in situ, it should be
removed from the body after the general  dissection;  and  I
may add, that it is often of extreme importance to preserve
those parts,  on the appearance  of which  our evidence is
founded.  Thus in cases of supposed poisoning, the stomach
and  duodenum may be  preserved in alcohol, to  meet  any
conflicting testimony, or to elucidate doubts; and Dr. Pans
has well illustrated the value of this advice in its full extent,
by referring to the preservation of the uterus in the case of
Miss Burns.
  Having completed the  dissection, the notes should  be ta-
ken  and reduced to order ; and in preparing the report, or in
giving testimony, it should be as plain and  simple as  possi-
ble,  avoiding  all those terms  which are  unintelligible  to a
court and jury.
  It is evident even from the brief notice  that I have now
given, how necessary an accurate knowledge of anatomy is in
these doubtful cases,  and how important it is not to mistake
natural appearances  for  extraordinary occurrences, or the
effects of disease or death for those of violence.  The igno-
rant are ever ready to make mistakes  on these points, and
we should be prepared  to encounter them.  A notice  of the
more prominent will therefore  form a proper commentary on
what has been said, in order to establish  such distinctions
as may be applicable in these investigations.
   Haemorrhage is supposed by many to indicate the existence
of  the circulation when it  commenced;  and accordingly
they deem  its occurrence as prima facie evidence  that life

  * How necessary it is to be very cleanly in these operations, is illustrated
by the observations of Renard, (p. 116,) who states, that in one instance, the
stomach was negligently laid on some fine white sand.  At the subsequent
examination, particles of this were found, and gave rise to an idea of poison
by means of powdered glass. 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
13
was present when the supposed violence was offered.   Such
an  opinion, however, if adopted universally,  must lead to
dangerous errors.  It is frequently observed by anatomists,
on opening the bodies of those dead from apoplexy, or vari-
ous forms of protracted or malignant fevers, that blood flows
from the mouth,  nose or ears.  In these instances, however,
it is of a  dark color, and evidently more fluid than  in the
natural state.  Again, blood often flows also from incisions
on the dead body, on altering its  position;  and this has un-
questionably,' in many instances,  given rise to the idea of
its  occurrence when the murderer approached.   In our re-
marks on  Persons dead from  Wounds, some cases of this
kind will be noticed.
  Haemorrhage,  then, if observed, on  the  dead body, is of
itself no proof, that a lesion  has been inflicted on the living
one.   Still, the medical examiner must pursue the investiga-
tion in as minute a manner as possible, and particularly so,
when the haemorrhage is internal.  If effusions of blood are
observed in the thoracic or abdominal cavities, all the blood-
vessels should be looked to.   A wound may be found  in one
of the smaller ones,  or a rupture in the larger, and  thus the
cause and its occurrence during life are at once established.
  But haemorrhage  may be wanting, and on dissection, the
blood is found fluid in  the heart and its large vessels, the
spinal canal, the lungs, or the brain.   Is this  to be deemed a
proof of violent death ?  I  apprehend not.   All that can be
said is, that fluidity is most common in  such cases, as from
narcotic poisons, lightning and the like ;  but it is also ob-
served in sudden death from ordinary causes, and particularly
in apoplexy,  and even is  occasionally not wanting in the
usual forms of disease that come  under the observation of
the  anatomists.*  The  reason of this  diversity we cannot

  * This question was agitated not long since in  London, in consequence of
the late Mr. Brookes stating under oath, that  he had never seen the blood
fluid after death from a natural  disease.  The case which  gave rise to this
testimony, and the subsequent discussion  concerning it in the London and
Westminster Medical Societies, was that of an individual, who, after extreme
intoxication, was found dead, and on dissection,  a large quantity  of fluid
blood was observed in the brain and heart.  It became a question whether
strangulation or apoplexy had been the cause of death.  The proofs in favor 
14
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 explain, but the fact is undoubted.   " Although vital  effu-
 sions," says Professor Christison, " are usually coagulated,
 they are not so always."  On the other hand, " where blood
 flows from  a body after  death, or where a wound has  been
 made after death, the blood  is  never found in a state of co-
 agulation."*
   Mr. Paget, in his observations on the " coagulation of the
 blood after death," makes it appear, that the separation of
 the parts of the  blood goes on very much  as it does  with
 blood  drawn in a basin.   He  advises,  particular  atten-
 tion to the condition of the coagula as illustrating the posi-
 tion of the body for  some hours after death.  In an individual
 who remained in  the sitting posture three hours after death,
 there was less separation in the  auricles, than in the superi-
 or cava, &c.  The  reverse occurs in the recumbent posture,
 as gravitation manifestly operates.!
  What I have now stated concerning blood and its effusion,
will better enable us to discriminate between divers appear-
ances  that are frequently noticed on  the dead  body,  and
 of the first were extremely slight, and only acquired importance in conse-
 quence of the above testimony.  For an interesting discussion on this sub-
 ject, between many of the most  eminent men in London, see Lancet, N. S ,
 vol. 4, pp. 48, 84, 119.  On the fluidity of the blood after death, see 'Elliot-
 son's Blumenbach, p. 13; Bostock's Physiology, vol. 1, p. 354. And for cases
 of its occurrence  after ordinary diseases,  see Medico-Chirurgical  Review
 vol. 15, p. 186.                                        .            '
  Dr. Collins, in his Treatise on Midwifery, mentions an instance of fatal
 puerperal fever, m which the blood was found fluid in all parts of the bodv
 (British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 2, p. 95.)                     '
  Dr. Dunglison gives an account of an individual,'dying in severe agony, on
 whom the blood m the bram was seen fluid sixteen hours after death (Amer
 Journal Med. Sciences, N. S. vol. 1, p. 544.)                     v-"-""^.
  Dr  John Davy has more particularly attended to this point.  In his ob-
 servations on 164 bodies examined shortly after death, the blood was found
 coagulated m 115 .cases, while in 9 it was liquid, and did not coagulate on
 exposure to the air.  Of these nine, death was owing in  a  maioritv of in-
 stances to violent causes, but one of them was caused  by effusion of blood
 into the bronchia and two, by the same into the air cells of the lungs (Edin-
 burgh Med.  and Surg. Journal, vol. 51, p. 370.)                &  ^am
  * Paris, vol. 3, p. 31  « It may not  always be easy to distinguish inter-
 nal hsemorrhage, according as it occurs  before or after death "  ThoZt
 discriminating circumstances, according to  Christison, whom T now ow*
 are the marks of compression on any organ within the cavity • the extent of
the hemorrhage; the coagulation of the blood; and particularly the:rupture
of an artery, with its correspondent effects   All these indicate that it  has
happened during life.  (Edinburgh Medical  and  Surgical Journal/vol. 3l!
  t London Med. Gazette, vol. 27, p. 613. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
15
which are  liable  to be  confounded.   They have various
names attached to them,  according as  they are supposed to
originate from  different causes;  and  with  an  explana-
tion of these, I shall introduce this intricate but important
point.
  The  term  contusion  is derived from the Latin word con-
tundere, to bruise  or pound; and  hence  conveys a similar
meaning.   Ecchymosis is a Greek term, and is  equivalent to
effusion or  spreading of blood into the cellular tissue.   It is
present whenever the contusion is  sufficiently  violent to in-
duce the rupture of a blood-vessel;  and  the natural result
is, to communicate a color more or less livid to the skin, and
it sometimes extends to  a considerable distance beyond the
seat of  the injury, depending in a great measure on the na-
ture of the  surrounding tissues.   When the quantity of blood
is sufficiently large to produce  a tumour or swelling of any
magnitude, it is called a thrombus.
   These various states are deemed to indicate  the existence
 of life when  they occurred.   Ecchymosis is a sub-cutaneous
 haemorrhage, generally arising from external causes^ although
 it may  also from strictly internal ones, as coughing, vomit-
 ing,  efforts  at  stool, &c.;  and its  course  is  gradually to
 diminish in intensity of  color at its circumference, retaining
 the livid appearance  longest at the  centre.   The shades
 produced by the gradual absorption of the blood are familiar
 to  all medical men, and they serve to show the  distinction
 between livid spots  occasionally noticed  during life, and
 which are  uniform in color throughout  their whole extent.*

  * This subject has been illustrated by an able Memoir of Dr. H. Bayard,
 (Annales D'Hygiene, October,  1843) on the diagnostic character of ecchymo-
 ses.  He divides them into two forms, as follows ;
   Traumatic ecchymoses,l. Are the result of external causes.  2. They have
 at times a considerable extent, but generally exist in only one place.   3.  Tu-
 mefaction, more or less  apparent,  often elastic and presenting a shining ap-
 pearance, attends them,  and a change in the coloration of the part soon takes
 place.  At first the color is livid or lead-colored, but it becomes violet or red-
 dish.   4. In these ecchymoses the coloration is most intense at the centre.
 5. The temperature of the part is above that of the surrounding surface.  6.
 The blood generally coagulates, but when effused in large quantity  it does
 not coagulate, but gives  rise to the formation of abscesses.  7. The  seat of
 the effusion is quite indeterminate and accidental.  8. The capillary vessels
 are ruptured;  the coloration  of the vessels disappears on maceration.  9.
 The coincidence of illness or general disorder of the system is quite accidental. 
16                 PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.


  If this then be recognized as the effects of injury, whether

intentional or accidental, during life, it remains to designate

the post  mortem appearances that may  be mistaken tor it.

For them the term sugillation has been  proposed by tfelioc

and others, and although objected to  by  Chaussier, may

serve  in the  place of a better.  It is applied to those livid

spots  of various sizes which are noticed  on the bodies of the

dead,  generally after they become stiff and cold.   They are

seen  on depending parts, as the  back and loins;  but occur

also on the neck, head and genitals.  They are of a uniform

color, and according to Chaussier and  Renard,  consist in  a

congestion  of blood in  the capillary  tissue  alone, and not ex-

tending to the subcutaneous.   This can be proved by cutting

into them; and Dr. Paris  proposes, as these discolorations

are often  mistaken  for signs  of violence, to  prevent  the

possibility of dispute, " that a layer of  the skin where such

lividness  is present, be removed, to show that it is confined

to  this organ,  and is not attended with infiltration of blood

into the cellular membrane."*

   This  livid appearance now described under the  name of

sugillation, is  to be ascribed  to  the effects of gravitation.

 The blood obeys  physical laws in the dead body, and hence

 it  is found in  the most depending situations as the back of

 the body, and  the  posterior portion of  the lungs.   So well


 10. The haemorrhage of the mucous membranes is the result of accidental
 causes.
   Spontaneous ecchymoses, 1. Are the  effect of internal  causes.  2. Are
 limited to a small space, but then the spots are numerous. 3. Generally exist
 without any tumefaction; the blackish tint changes little  and  only slowly
 disappears.  The color is generally brown, or like the lees of wine.  4. In
 these ecchymoses the shade of color is uniform over all the spot.  5. The tem-
 perature is the same as that of the sound parts.  6.  Blood is only effused in
 small  quantity and remains fluid.  7. General ecchymoses are observed over
 the whole body; local ecchymoses generally occur in  the limbs, and especially
 en the lower extremities.   8. The capillary vessels are not ruptured, in gen-
 eral ;  the coloration of the tissue does not, disappear on maceration.  9. A
 disease, or general illness, or organic disease, almost always precedes, and is
 the cause of spontaneous ecchymoses. 10. The mucous membranes are fre-
 quently the seat  of spontaneous hsemorrhages.
    It may be necessary to add here that viscera have  been ruptured by violent
 blows, whilst the external integuments show no marks on them.  I shall men-
  tion some remarkable instances in the chapter on  wounds.
    * Chaussier, pp. 385—430.  Belloc, p. 315. Rieux, p. 251.   Renard, p.
  86.  Paris, vol. 3, p. 104.  I have thought myself justified in somewhat vary-
  ing the definition of sugillation, as given by Belloc. 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
17
is  this established, that if the body be reversed and placed
with its face downward, the lividity will change places, and
occupy the  front  part of the body.  Dr. Beatty  indeed
states  that he has seen the lividity already formed on the
back,  to  disappear when the body was  turned before it
became cold.*
   Sometimes also, either from the pressure of the clothes,
or  from the inequality of the ground, on which the dead
body has lain, the sugillation is not always uniform in color,
or regular in  appearance.  White lines  of greater or less
extent, have in consequence been found, traversing it.
   It is  an  illustration of the acuteness  of  Zacchias, that
he should propose, in the infancy of the science,  the follow-
ing as  a discriminating  mark   between ecchymosis and
sugillation : When the discoloration is the effect of external
violence,  a congestion of thick concrete blood will be found;
but in the  spontaneous  spot, the blood, on incision, will
 be seen fluid.                                     ,
   We are not, however, to imagine that the blood in every
 case is confined to the  capillary  tissue.  With the progress
 of putrefaction, the fluid blood collects in the more lax and
 distensible  parts of the sub-cutaneous tissue, as the  loins,
 scrotum, &c.  This pseudo-ecchymosis is, however, uniform
in its color, and explains its doubtful points by its situation
 and the progress of decomposition.!
   Probably the most puzzling cases will be those in which
 severe epidemics,  as petechial  fevers or small-pox,  have
been the cause of death, while suspicions of violence  are at
 the same  time excited.  The system here is, during the last
 stage of life, verging to putrefaction, and extravasated blood
 of considerable consistence is not unfrequently found.f

   * Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, vol. 3, p. 321. Art. Persons found
 dead.
   The reader must not suppose that this lividity occurs in every case.  The
 skin is often remarkably pale, even in the depending parts when death has
 originated from hsemorrhage, either accidental or by violence. An instance
 of this description is related by Devergie, vol. 1, p. 82, in an  individual who
 cut his throat with a razor.
   t Orfila's Le§ons, 2d edit. vol. 2, p. 238.
   j Mahon, vol. 2, p. 210, who quotes in illustration,  some dissections of
 Stoll.
VOL. II.
2 
 18                PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.

   Belloc relates an instructive case which came  within his
 own observation.   During  the prevalence  of an epidemic
 small-pox,  a husband maltreated  his wife, who was  five
 months advanced in pregnancy.  He gave her several kicks
 on the thighs and abdomen.  A week afterwards, she  was
 seized  with the small-pox and died in a fortnight after the
 injury, covered with dark-colored spots, and also with marks
 of the disease.  In this condition  she was  buried, but her
relatives  hearing of the ill  treatment  she had received,
complained of the husband, and  the body was accordingly
disinterred  and examined by  physicians.   They decided,
both from the symptoms  present  during her illness, such as
 violent haemorrhage from the nose, and from the appearances
 observed on bodies dead from this  epidemic, that the cause
 of death  was the small-pox, and that the sugillations were
the consequences of its malignity.*
   Rieux, in  the  conclusion  of his remarks on this subject,
proposes the question, whether contusions, and their conse-
quence, ecchymosis, can be produced  on the dead body'?
The inquiry  is important, not only  from the possibility  that
injury  may  be inflicted  on a corpse for the  purpose of
 implicating an innocent person, but particularly from the
 rough  treatment that bodies brought to  the  dissecting-room
 often receive.   We should,  at  least, understand whether
 these have been subjected to violence during life.
   Our author does little towards solving the case.   If the
 blows (he observes) have been  given  shortly after  death,
 when the body is still warm, the blood fluid, and the muscles

 •  *a\fl°Ci P' V~\' Sl% 8l!,Eof1?c sugillatione inforo cauti dijudicanda,
 in Schlegel, vol. 4, p 67.  The following case may be read with profit by all
 medical men:  John Stringer was tried at the Lent assizes, held at Kingston,
 m the county of Surrey, in the year 1765, before the late Chief Baron Smythe
 for the murder of his wife, and found guilty.  It appeared that they had fre-
 quently quarrelled, and a young surgeon gave it  as his opinion, that some
 appearances m the corpse were somewhat the appearances of a mortitlratinn
 occasioned by bruises. Mr. Carsan, an eminent surgeon in the neia-hWhond
 had, on the report of the murder, from mere curiosity, examined the body
 and it was so clear that there were no marks of violence thereon that \l hn\i
 not the least apprehension of the possibility of Stringer's ui^l AT • rT
 but hearing of it, he stated the case to the ArchMshop"of clnlLT    ^
 tained a respite from Baron Smythe, and  finally was the mean* of'i£lJ' •
 a complete pardon from the King.  (Phillips^> ol'Evidence,A^SS 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                19

retain their contractility, some difficulty may be experienced
in discriminating; but even here, he adds, there will  be no
tumefaction, no infiltration, and the blood issuing from the
lacerated orifices  will remain fluid.*
  Dr. Christison, however, in some  investigations conse-
quent on  the murders  by Burke and  his  accomplices at
Edinburgh, has materially added to our  knowledge.   The
spine of the murdered female Margery  Campbell, was rup-
tured in several of its ligaments, and a mass of thick, black
semi-fluid blood was  collected on the sheath.  There was,
in several parts of the body, effusion of semi-fluid blood, but
not indicated by any external mark.   Having  good reason
to believe that some of these injuries, and particularly that
to the spine, had been inflicted after death, he was led to
ascertain, by experiment, the effect of blows  on the dead
body, within a few hours after life had departed.
   The conclusions deduced  from these, are  the  following:
" For some hours after death, blows will cause appearances
which,  in point of color, do  not differ from the effects of
blows inflicted recently before death.   The discoloration,
like lividity or sugillation, generally arises from  an effusion
of the thinnest possible layer of the fluid part of the blood
on the  outer  surface of the true skin,  but  sometimes also
from an effusion of thin blood into a perceptible  stratum of
the true skin itself.   Dark fluid blood may  even be  effused
into the subcutaneous  cellular tissue  in the  seat  of the
discolorations, so as to  blacken or redden the  membranous
partitions of the adipose cells, but this last effusion is never
extensive."
  Thus severe blows  inflicted  very  shortly after  death,  will
exactly  imitate slight  contusions inflicted during life.   It is
evident that the blows producing  the last  must be trivial.
  When the blow during life is more severe, it leaves seve-
ral effects not to be  found on the  dead  subject;  such as
swelling from the extent of the extravasation—a yellow
* Rieux, p. 272.  Chaussier, p. 470. 
20                 PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
margin round the black mark*—effusion  of blood into the
cellular tissue, and an incorporation of blood with the whole
true skin, rendering it black, and increasing  its firmness and
resistance.  It is possible that clots of blood might  occur
from lacerating a  considerable vessel in the  neighborhood
of loose cellular tissue; but this he had  never noticed on
the dead body.
  Even the inconsiderable  appearances of injury first  no-
ticed, could only be produced within about three hours after
death.  As soon as the body became cold, and the muscles
acquired rigidity, contusions could hardly  be imitated.
  Internal haemorrhage, from  the laceration of a considera-
ble blood-vessel, and more especially of a vein, may be pro-
duced by violence on the dead body.  And  the fluid portion
will have a tendency to collect in the lowest part.
  Another  fact noticed by observers  and corroborated by
Dr. Christison,  is that the blood will remain fluid in some
parts, as in the  vessels within the head and spine, while it
coagulates in others.f
   Contusion without ecchymosis,  i. e. without rupture  of  the
capillary vessels must generally be  deemed unimportant,
unless we include, with Devergie, under this head, the  effects
of  compression, with a cord, handkerchief,  &c.   The result
in these instances, is a removal  of  the fluids from the parts
compressed, a condensation of the  skin and cellular  tissue,
and a hardened, yellowish state of the former, resembling
parchment.   This is often seen in the neck in cases of hang-
ing and strangulation, and will be more particularly  noticed
in the sections on these modes of death, but it may occur in
 any part, that is not fleshy, and where the pressure is resisted

   * On this Dr. Chowne remarks:  "lam disposed, however, to  consider,
 that the yellow margin round the black mark does not so much indicate the
 severity of the blow, as the time at which it was inflicted."
 .  ■(■ Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  31, p. 244. The follow-
 ing authors on Ecchymosis, &c, are worthy of consultation.  Chaussier, Re-
 nard and Rullier, in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Medi'cales.  " Christison,"
 says Professor Channing in a letter to the  author,  " in his admirable paper
 on the effects of blows after death, says  that he  has known the blood coagu-
 late firmly eight hours after death.  I have seen the blood coagulate firmly
 as it flowed in a post mortem  examination, in one case, twelve hours after
 death, and in another, upwards of thirty hours after." 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
21
by the bones.  It is important to add, that it can be produced

on the recently dead, as well as on the living,*

   Sanguineous congestions  are  often  found  in persons who

have been subject to disease.   They may also be the effect

of violence.   And in addition  to this, they may be formed

after death.   The texture of the organs themselves becomes

affected by transudation of blood, and  this is particularly

seen in the brain, heart, lungs, stomach and veins.   To dis-

tinguish  these appearances  they have been  styled pseudo-

morbid.   I must  preclude  myself from  going into   detail

concerning them.f The most important changes thus induced

in reference to legal medicine, are those of the stomach and

intestines, and  these  I  shall  hereafter  have occasion to

notice.

   It would  appear  that  they  can be artificially imitated.

Thus Chaussier  by injecting ink into the veins, found it to

tinge the  neighboring organs within a short time.f   So also

with blood introduced after death.   It is  important  not to

mistake these alterations for the supervention of gangrene.§

   Mr. Hodgson,  in a paper read before the British associa-

tion, in 1839, " On the red apearance of the internal coat of

   * Devergie. vol. 2, p. 54.
  t The exact period after  death, at which the dissection is commenced,
should always be stated.  If prolonged for twenty-four hours or more, many
pseudo-morbid appearances may be mistaken for lesions.   Magendie on the
Blood.  (Lancet, N. S. vol. 23, p. 826.)
  t Page 230.
  § The following are important authorities on this subject: Chaussier, p.
244, 269.  Dr. Yelloly, on the vascular appearance of the stomach, which is
frequently mistaken for inflammation  of that organ, in Medico-Chirurgical
Transactions, vol. 4. Rigot and Trosseau on the changes that take place after
death in the appearance of the blood-vessels, lungs, &c. in Edinburgh Medi-
cal and Surgical Journal, vol. 28, p. 149.  Andral's  Pathological Anatomy,
vol. 1, p. 43. He divides hyperemia, (or  preternatural accumulation of
blood in the capillary vessels,) produced after death, into three species, from
dependent position, from transudation of the blood or some of its component
parts, and from chemical affinities.  Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, vol. 3,
art. Pseudo-morbid appearances, by Dr. Todd.  Cruvelheir lays it down that
a nv111-    redness without vascular injection or dotting is cadaverical.
  Clinical Lectures on Pseudo-morbid appearances, by Dr. Chowne, in Lan-
cet, vol. 2, for 1838-39. Dr. Patterson on Pseudo-morbid appearances of the
  £mV :fdlIlbFgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 57, p. 106.
   *i? VAanninS of Harvard University has been kind enough to mention to
me the following case: " A man died  at the hospital so calmly that those
about him hardly knew of the event.  I saw around his right wrist a broad
discolored circle, deeply livid as if it had been violently beaten.  I called the
attention of the students to this case, and begged them to observe, that here,
quite round the wrist, was a mark that might most easily and as we say natu-
rally have been taken for violence during life " 
22                PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
arteries," remarked that this was far  ^m Jways ^pend-
ing on inflammation, and that it was found in subjectoa
ages, and in healthy as well as morbid coats   He related
the experiments of Leennec and Andral, whichproved that
this red appearance might be communicated after death  by
immersing the vessels in blood. As to the efficient^ause he
stated, that it  might  proceed from imbibition   When^de-
pendent on inflammation, it will be found affecting th  nne
coat only ;  but when on other causes, it will  often pervade
the elastic or middle coat as well as the serous.
  In hot climates, and in the warm season in our own coun-
try, the progress of this  change is proportionally  rapid
Thus  Dr. John Davy at Ceylon, found that if the interval
between death and the examination  was  twenty or thirty
hours, the serous and mucous  membranes appeared red  and
inflamed, and particularly those  parts which are most ex-
posed to the action of the blood, as the valves and the lining
membrane of the heart and blood-vessels.  The viscera also
were dark and livid.  He  attributes this to the exudation of
bloody serum, tinging the parts.f
   The presence  or the quantity of serum must be considered
with reference to the remarks already made.   Magendie has
 shown that a certain portion is natural to the brain, and we
 shall hardly be safe in  drawing unfavorable inferences from
 its  accumulation.   The same  remark applies to what  are
 deemed appearances of inflammation  in the head and lungs.
 The membranes are to be examined more in reference to any
 change of structure that they may have undergone,  than as
 to redness or congestion.   So also with the heart.J

   * London Athenseum, 1839, p. 706.
   •f Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 10,  p. 89. The lungs, as I have
  already intimated, are often gorged, and in most instances, this occurrence
  can be explained on the principles now laid down.  If, however, the lower
  part be peculiarly congested, while the body has lain in its usual position, on
  the back, does it not indicate that the body has been for some time in an erect
  posture, and may it not have arisen from violence, as suspension by the neck ?
  (Chaussier, p. 83.  Renard, p. 109.)
    X Some useful remarks on the examination of  the head may be found in
  Shaw's Manual of Anatomy, vol. 1.  See also Andral on the serous fluid, vol.
  1, p. 235.  The following extract from  Lizars deserves to be remembered:
  "The cavity which first ceases  to contract, at death, is  the left ventricle ;
  secondly, the left auricle; thirdly, the right ventricle; and lastly, the right' 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
23
   Wounds,  accompanied  with  a solution of continuity,  if

received before death, are marked  by red, bloody and sepa-

rated edges.  Blood is also more or less  collected in the

cellular tissue;  while  those  inflicted  afterwards are livid,

and their  edges close  to each other.   It would, however,

seem from the experiments of Orfila, that a wound inflicted

with a  cutting  instrument immediately  after death, is with

difficulty discriminated.*

   Mr. Wallace of Dublin also observes  that in three cases

of instant  death from  wounds  of the  heart, all the  above

signs were wanting.  There was no external  haemorrhage ;

but there was an internal effusion of blood  into the pleura

and an  emphysematous  infiltration of  the  cellular tissue,

"  neither of which appearances, could in all probability, have

taken place, if the wound had been inflicted  after  death."

There was also  more  blood  effused into  the  pericardium,

than could by any  possibility have been poured into it by a

wound inflicted after death.f


 auricle, which continues the longest to vibrate.  Hence when the heart is
 laid open, very little blood is found on the left side, while  it is accumulated
 on the right." (Anatomical  Descriptions, p. 144.)
   I also add the following as  worthy of constant remembrance :
   State of the Arteries  and Veins after Death.—The  fact of the  arteries
being found empty after death,  except under very peculiar circumstances, is
a  physiological or anatomical fact which has been known from the earliest
times.  It has also been  long known that general capillary congestion is one
of the first symptoms of decomposition after death. The skin becomes sugil-
lated with red streaks, the conjunctiva is bloodshot and the mucous membrane
livid.  If the interior of the body is examined, the venous capillaries are
everywhere found gorged with blood.  The fluid contained in the serous cavi-
ties also become tinged with blood, and the larger veins are empty as well as
 the arteries.  M. Devergie, in his work on Legal Medicine, (vol. 1, pp. 166,
214,) accounts for these anatomical appearances, by the decomposition of the
fluids, the gases developed  in the blood-vessels propelling that fluid into the
capillaries.  M. Devergie's interpretation of the above  phenomena is gene-
rally adopted by the French medico-legists.  (Lancet, April 13, 1844.)
   * Orfila's Lemons, 2d edit., vol. 2, p. 540.
   f Lancet,  N. S. vol. 14, p.  144.  Mr. Taylor made a simple incised wound
 in the calf of the leg two minutes after its removal from the body by ampu-
 tation.  The skin retracted,  and there was but little haemorrhage. At the
 expiration of twenty-four hours, the edges were seen red, bloody, and everted,
 but the skin was merely somewhat flaccid, and not in the least degree tumefied;
 at the bottom of the wound was found a small quantity of very loose coagulated
 blood.  In a second experiment, made ten minutes after  the amputation, the
 skin appeared to have lost its elasticity, as the edges of the wound became
 but very slightly averted, and scarcely any blood escaped.   On examination,
 twenty-four hours afterwards, the edges were seen pale and perfectly col-
 lapsed.  Still at the bottom of the wound, there were a few coagula. Lastly,
 when the incised wound was made two or three hours after the removal of
 the limb, although a small quantity of liquid blood was effused, no coagula 
24
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  We are also informed that when a patient dies during the
progress of a  wound, it exhibits  some remarkable appear-
ances after death.  " The edges, as well as the granulations
sink ; they become pale, and  the  commencement of cicatri-
zation  does  not appear distinct from the other parts of the
wound, so that  it is more difficult to form an opinion as to
the age of the wound after death, than during life."*
  " The question whether there has been a fracture of the
cranium  previous to death, is sometimes more difficult to
decide than  a person who is not  accustomed to make dis-
sections would imagine.  If the fracture has occurred imme-
diately before the patient's  death, there will be coagulated
blood found  upon the bones and in the fissures ; if the pa-
tient has survived for some time,  there will be marks of in-
flammation and perhaps pus  in contact with the skull; but
if a fracture has  been produced  in making the examination,
(which sometimes happens in even very careful dissector's
hands,) the blood in the fracture will not be coagulated, nor
will there be any effusions around the portions."!
  Mr. Alcock, some years since,  stated in a public lecture
at London, that  he had known a fracture of the base of the
skull, produced  by  the awkward  and violent tearing of the
upper  portion, the  saw not penetrating deep enough to di-
vide the bones, and  this was mistaken by the inexperienced
operator, for fracture of the skull producing death.  Being
a medico-legal case, it  might  have led to melancholy conse-
quences, had not the error been detected by an observer.
   The  following remarks  are  copied from Dr.  Godman :
" We  frequently find the bones of subjects  brought for
dissection,  singularly  fractured; sometimes the  skull  is
broken and depressed, or the  pelvic junctions  separated,
with other injuries  of  a similar character.   These,  if found
on a body submitted for medico-legal investigation, would
be readily enough attributed  to violence  done previous  to
death.  Perhaps the best mode of deciding in  these  cases
were found. In the case of a wound  made twenty-four hours after death the
edges were yielding, inelastic, and in close approximation. (Med Jurisnru
 dence, p. 276.)                                          v
  * Watson on Homicide, p.  21.         f Shaw's Manual, vol. 1, p. 45, 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
25
will  be to examine  the muscles, which are usually broken
in the dead subject at the same time with the bone, and ex-
hibit no effusions of blood, whereas it would be found in
quantity, if the injury preceded death."*
  I may now conclude this portion of my subject with the
following narrative as illustrative of  the difficulties that at-
tend it, and the caution that is required :
  The widow Montbailly of St. Omers, aged sixty, and of
a very gross habit, was much addicted to intoxication, and
in fact was  inebriated daily.  On the 27th of July, 1770, at
7 A.M. she was found dead in her chamber, lying on a trunk
which had sharp edges.  A physician and surgeon visited
the body on the next day, (thirty-two hours after her death
had been discovered,) and reported that they found ecchy-
mosis and contusions on the arms, thorax,  and particularly
over the third, fourth, and fifth ribs.   The neck and upper
part of the breast were also  ecchymosed.   The head was
swelled—blood was extravasated under the skin of the face,
and the nose was filled with clotted blood.   On the eyelid
 there was a wound  of nine or  ten lines  in extent, which
 penetrated  to the  orbit, and might  have been caused by a
 sharp or cutting instrument, but could not, in their  opinion,
 have produced sudden death.   On opening the body, all the
internal parts were found in a natural state.
   The reporters  gave it as their opinion, that the ecchymo-
sis,  the swelling of the head,  and the extravasated blood,
 were  occasioned either by a fall,  or by  blows from  an
opposing body,  and that the female  had  died  either  from
the  haemorrhage occasioned by the  wound,  or from  suffo-
 cation.
   A physician, who from curiosity had attended the exami-
 nation, but who was not of the commission, stated that the
 eye was ecchymosed, and that the edges of the wound were
 irregular and indented.
   On combining the results of this inspection, with the fact
 that the defunct had formerly repeated quarrels with her son
* Physiological Investigations. 
26
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
and daughter-in-law, it became the  prevailing opinion that
they had murdered her.   The superior court of Arras, be-
fore whom the cause was  tried, condemned Montbailly and
his wife to be broken on  the wheel, and it was actually ex-
ecuted upon him.  The wife claimed a delay on account of
her pregnancy, which was granted.  During this interval, a
revision of the trial was procured, and the celebrated Louis
was  consulted,  as to the  point whether the facts  stated
proved that  the  woman had been assassinated.   The result
of his investigation was, that  there was no certain proof of
the commission of murder, and that all the circumstances
enumerated, were strong proofs of the individual having died
from apoplexy,  than from any other cause.  The following
are some of  his reasonings and remarks :
  Intemperance predisposes to  sanguineous  apoplexy, and
the reporters have neglected  their duty in not opening the
head of the deceased,  since by doing so, the condition of
the internal parts would have explained the cause of the
haemorrhage. Again,  a person in a state of intoxication,
and predisposed  to this complaint, would, on falling against
any sharp edged substance, naturally lose a considerable
quantity of blood, and also have the arteries and veins of
the head much distended.   He totally discards the idea that
the haemorrhage  from the wound of the eye was a cause of
death.
   As to the  ecchymosis or livid spots found on the thorax
and arms of the deceased, and  which the reporters attribu-
ted to blows or  falls,  M. Louis observes, that they are the
ordinary appearances found on those who die in a state of
intoxication, and among  others, quotes  the following case
in confirmation, from  Morgagni:  A beggar went  to  bed
drunk,  and  died suddenly during the night.  This was at
the end of January, 1746.  On the next evening  he  was
 carried to the anatomical hall in Padua, and on the third day
 after his death he was dissected.  Morgagni found the body
 still warm.   The scrotum was ecchymosed, of a red color
 the face filled with blood, not only under the skin, but all
 the  muscles, the  membrane  that  separated  them and the 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
27
glands appeared engorged.   Louis remarks, that these spots
should have been particularly examined, in  order to have
founded any charge upon them.
  It appeared further, that  the body was examined at the
end of the month  of  July.  Might there  not  have been
some incipient putrefaction present, and would not this ac-
count  for  the swelling of  the  head, the  lividness of  the
thorax, and other similar symptoms 1   As to the wound in
the eye,  the reporters themselves leave its effect uncertain,
while  the cause might have been accidental.
  On these grounds, Louis  gave it as  his opinion, that the
report was  inconclusive, and that  there were no proofs of
assassination.
  The superior court of Arras accordingly, in 1772,  revoked
their decision, exonerated  the memory of  Montbailly, and
enjoined the  physicians  and surgeons thereafter to extend
the examinations to every part of the bodies of those found
dead,  and also to state in their reports the scientific reasons
for all opinions they  might give.*
   * Fodere, vol. 3, p. 64, from the Causes CiUbres.  See also, at page 98, a
 similar case from the same, Cause de Chassagnieux.
   The following case I find mentioned in the lectures of the late Mr. Ash-
 mun, Professor of Law at Harvard University.  Those relating to Medical
 Jurisprudence, are in a course of publication in the American Jurist:
   On board a ship coming from Calcutta, there had been a disturbance, and
 one of the sailors was said to have received a blow in the  side from a hand-
 spike.  The evidence was discordant  as to his condition subsequent to this.
 Four months, however, after this, and when he had been in port several days,
 and was freely on shore, he one day ate a large dinner and drank freely.  He
 was taken ill, and a physician was sent for, but he died before any aid could
 be administered.
   An examination took place.  The stomach was highly inflamed,  and still
 retained the  food of the previous  day.  The liver was much diseased, and
 there were numerous abscesses in it. The gall-bladder was also  natural.
 The fifth and sixth ribs were found to have been fractured, so near the ster-
 num, as to occasion a slight depression of it; but the bones were so entirely
united as  to give no indication of the age  of the fractures.  The heart and
 lungs were sound.
  On these appearances,  the medical examiner gave  it as his opinion, that
 there was a probability that the fracture of the ribs had produced the dis-
 eased appearance  of the liver, and that the influence of  the latter had ex-
 tended to the stomach.  The persons accused of injuring the deceased, were
 on this testimony committed by a justice of the peace, to take their trial for
 murder.
  They were, however, soon brought up again on a writ of habeas corpus
 before two judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and in the mean-
 while the Professor of Anatomy in Harvard University had made a further
 examination of the disinterred body.  The stomach was found to contain a
 quart of undigested food,  mixed with gin.  Its internal surface was highly 
28
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  It will  readily occur  to the  reader,  that the  preceding
observations are incomplete, unless some notice be taken of
the  Skeleton.   Its  examination is often necessary, either
as a whole or in- part, and this, both from the decay of the
soft parts and the period that  may have elapsed since death.
It is highly necessary to be familiar with the variations in-
duced  by age and sex.   In children the bones  have a larger
portion of gelatine;  in youth this and the earthy matter are
probably  equal, while  in  old age, the  phosphate  of  lime
greatly predominates.   This explains  why sutures are then
obliterated, and the alveolar processes absorbed. The follow-
ing table, taken from the Memoir of Sue,* will serve in de-
termining  the mean proportions  of the  skeleton at various
ages:

A child of one year old, measures in length 1 foot 10£ inches; length of the
  trunk, (from the vertex to the symphysis pubis,)  13 inches 6 lines ;  of the
  superior extremities, (from the edge of the acromion to the extremity of
  the fingers,) 9 inches;  and  of the inferior extremities, (from the symphy-
  sis pubis to the soles of the feet,) 9 inches.
                                Length of trunk. Sup. extr.    Inf. extr.
 Child of three years, 2 feet 9  inches,  19 inches,  14 inches,  14 inches.
 Child of ten years,.. 3 ft. 8 in. 6 lines,  2 feet,     1 ft. 7 in.,  lft. 8 in. 61.
 14 years,...........4 ft. 7 inches,     2 ft. 4 in.,  2 ft. 6 lines, 2 ft. 3 in.
20 to 25 years,......5 ft. 4 inches,     2 ft. 8 in.,  2 ft. 6 in.,   2 ft. 8 in.
  After the last age, subjects present no variation in their proportions.

   Dr.  Gordon  of Edinburgh, on the  other hand, assuming
 the mean stature of the male, at the time of maturity, to be
 five feet eight inches, English measure, gives the following
 measurements:
inflamed, and particularly at the cardiac orifice.  There were four or five
ounces of water in the pericardium.  In the liver were several tubercles, one
of which had suppurated, but it had no connection with the fractured ribs.
Indeed the  " liver was so situated, that it could not  have been wounded by
the fractured ribs without penetrating the diaphragm, and the lower part of
the lungs."  Yet these parts were sound.
  The blood-vessels of the heart were highly congested, the ventricles con-
tained much serum, and there was  a general dropsical effusion throughout
the body.                                                    6
  No other opinion could be given than that the present was a case of gene-
ral disease, induced by intemperance, and that the immediate cause of death
was the overloaded state of the stomach.  The prisoners were in consequence
discharged.   (American Jurist, vol. 14, p. 20.)
  * Quoted by Orfila, Le§ons, vol. 1, p. 79. 
                   PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.                 29

                                                         Inches.
From the crown of the head, to the top of the pubes,..............  34. 00
From the crown of the head, to the lower margin of the chin,......   9 . 75
From the lower margin of the chin, to the top of the breast,........   3 .85
From the top of the breast, to the pit of the stomach,..............   6 . 08
From the pit of the stomach, to the navel,.......................   6 .08
  And from the navel to the top of the pubes,....................   6 .08
From the top of the prominence of the shoulder, to the fold of the
      elbow,..................................................  12.06
From the fold of the elbow, to the top of the hand,................  10.02
The hand, measured in the palm, from the lower fold  of the wrist, to
      the point of the middle finger,............................   7 . 75
From the top of the inside of the thigh,  to the inside of the joint of
      the knee,...............................................  14 .06
From the last to the sole of the foot,.............................  18 .05
The foot, measured on the sole, from the posterior margin of the heel,
      to the point of the great toe,..............................   9 .75

   The average height of the female, he considers to be about
five feet five inches ; and, of course, the length of the differ-
ent regions is proportionably less.*
   It  is very  important to remember that the height  of  a
 skeleton is less than  that of the individual during  life, by
about one inch; as for  example, a person measuring 5 feet
 8 inches,  his  skeleton will be 5  feet 7 inches.  The weight
 of a skeleton of a  middle-sized adult  ranges between 160
and 200 ounces; and that  of the female a little lower, from
 100 to 150 ounces.f
   In none  of the osseous parts,  is the distinction between
the sexes more marked than in the pelvis.   No less than six
 differences are  pointed out by Dr. Blundell.   "In the male,
 there is a certain roughness andbulkiness and weight, which
 strikingly contrast  it  with the  lighter  and smoother and
 more elegant pelvis of the female.   In the male  pelvis, the
 ilia or wings of the ossa innominata are  more erect;  in the
 female, more expanded.   In the male,  the  brim is more

   * Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 1, p. 255.
   f Ibid, on the  authority of Soemmering.  Craigie's Anatomy, p. 78. Dr.
 Draigie found a male skeleton measuring 5 feet 6 inches, to weigh 168 ounces,
 or 10^ pounds avoirdupois. I presume that a skeleton anatomically prepared,
 will be proportionably still less in height than what is stated above.
   Orfila, from a number of recent experiments, thinks we should add from an
 inch and a half to two inches, to the height of the skeleton. (Exhumations,
 vol. 2, p. 380.) 
30                PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

rounded,  though somewhat tending to an ellipse, the long
diameter of which  stretches from before backward ; in the
female, the brim,  though  somewhat rounded, is generally
oval, and  the  long diameter lies between the sides.  The
male pelvis is deep, the female shallow; the male outlet is
very small, the female very capacious.  Lastly, in the male,
the arch of the pubis is contracted; in the female, it is  ca-
pacious, to make room, for the ready passage of the  head.'"
   With regard to all the bones, indeed, the female ones are,
caterisparibus, smoother and rounder; the cylindrical  more
slender, and the flat thinner.!
   After this unavoidably general  sketch, it may be useful to
give some illustrations of the necessity of attending to the
subject.
   An individual in one of the northern settlements of Upper
Canada was suddenly missed, after having been seen to  go
into the woods.   Diligent search was made,,but  in  vain.
About twenty years afterwards,  portions of a human skeleton
were discovered by some  laborers;  and remembering the
above  circumstances,  they were taken to the  deceased's
friends.   Anxiety  was excited to^ascertain  by these, the
age of the person ; and for this purpose, the lower jaw, from
which all  the  teeth had fallen out,  was selected.   Great
diversity of opinion arose concerning it, both on the spot
and in  London; but  most of the medical examiners pro-
nounced it to be the jaw of an  adult, and probably an aged
one.  On  a more minute  investigation, however, the per-
manent teeth were seen cased in their sockets,  not one  of
them having  appeared above  the  level of  the  alveolar
process.   It was evidently the  jaw of a child.J

   * A comparative table of the dimensions of the pelvis  of various  human
races, by Dr. Vrolik, is given in the Bulletin des Sci. Medicales, vol. 9, p. 290.
   The whole subject of the changes in the bones, (and particularly the teeth,)
from birth to old age, is treated in detail by Orfila, (Lemons,  3d edit. vol. 1,
p. 102, and Dunglison's Physiology, 3d edit, book 4.)
   f Elliotson's Blumenbach, p. 412.
   % Lancet, vol. 10, p. 758.  A somewhat similar case is related by Mr. Per-
fect, in Lancet, N. S. vol.  23, p. 704.   One brother was supposed to have
murdered another, and the crime was, after the lapse of many  years, thought
to be brought to light by the accidental discovery of the bones. Mr. P  exa-
mined these before the coroner's jury, and found that they were of'an'aged
female. 
                  PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.                31

   In 1800, at the English Devon assizes, Thomas Bower-
 man was preferred  to the grand jury for the murder of a
 bastard child, by pushing an awl into its  head.   The body
 had been disinterred by order of the coroner; and on  the
 inquest, a hole was found on the side of the head near  the
 ear, agreeably to the testimony of a witness.   Mr. Sheldon,
 a surgeon of Exeter, hearing of this case, attended the grand
 jury.  He examined the skull, and found that the supposed
 hole was the natural perforation of a vein;  and in proof ©f
 this, pointed out a sort of enamel round the  opening, which
 could not have been there if made by force or art.   In further
 illustration, he exhibited  several skulls, all having similar
 perforations, and each hole having a small channel, and the
 rim  or edge of the whole smooth and polished.*
   Eugene  Aram, the recollection of whose case  has been
 recently revived by the popular novel of Mr. Bulwer, was
 indicted in 1758, for the murder of  Clarke in 1745.  An
 accomplice  indicated where the bones could be found, viz.
 in St. Robert's Cave near Knaresborough.   The skull  of
 Clarke was produced in court.  "On its left side was a
 fracture, that, from its nature, could not have been made but
 by the  stroke of some blunt instrument, and could not  be
 replaced but from within.   Mr. Locock, the surgeon who
 produced it,-gave it  as his opinion that no such breach could
 proceed from any natural  decay; that it was not a recent
 fracture by  the  instrument with which it  was dug up, but
 seemed to be of many years' standing."
  Aram, in his celebrated defence, suggests that these might
 have been  the  bones of hermits or  anchorites, and cited
cases of caves or cells where such had been found.  As  to
the fracture, he stated that in 1732, the remains of William,
Archbishop of York, were  taken up by permission, and the
bones of the skull were found broken; yet no violence had
been offered to him while living.  Knaresborough  also had
a castle besieged during the time  of the  Parliament, and
many were  killed near it.
* Paris, vol. 3, p. 80. 
32                 PERSONS FOUND DEAD.


  Notwithstanding the ingenuity and force of these remarks,

he was  convicted;  and  before  execution confessed  his
crime.
 L11LLC.                                                ,  •,,
  I will only add the following case, and  I have no douDt

that its interest will compensate for the necessary detail:

  A  Piedmontese  soldier, aged 46,  named  Bonino,  had

retired  to  a village near  Montpelier.  He  disappeared in

1823, and  it was reported that he had gone to  Spain; but

soon  after  it was whispered that he had been assassinated,

by a  girl with whom he lived and a person named  Diamont,

who  had long been intimate with her and  married her, nine

months after the disappearance of Bonino.   Two years more,

however, passed  before an investigation, when the authori-

ties caused  a search to  be made, and a body  was found in

the garden of the suspected person.   The only peculiarity

recollected about Bonino, was that he had a sixth finger  on

the right hand, and a sixth toe on the left foot.

   On the  30th of April, 1826, (three years after his disap-

pearance,) Dr.  Delmas  attended  the  disinterment, at the

request of the magistrate, and it is  his  narrative which I am

 now giving :

   At the  depth of eighteen  inches, a  human skeleton was

 found lying on  its back ; the head was slightly bent forward,

 and  the lower jaw was separated from the  upper.  The arms

 were crossed  on the breast.  The ribs still retaining the

 form of the thorax were separated  from the sternum, which

 was found lying  on  the opposite  vertebrae.   Some black

 hair and  a metal  button were imbedded in a moist earthy


   * Dodsley's Annual Register, 1759, p. 355.  For his defence, see Paris, vol.
 3, p. 311.  The whole trial has been recently republished at Boston.
   It is doubtful whether any aid can be furnished by chemistry, to ascertain
 the age of bones.  Girardin and Priesser assert that they found in an ancient
 buried bone, and in the fossil bones of animals, a much greater quantity of
 phosphate of lime (in the form of sesquiphospate, crystallized,) than in recent
 bones.  They also found fluoride of calcium in fossil ones, but could not detect
 it in ancient human bones.  Of this opinion are Fourcroy and Vanquelin,
 Klapsoth and Dr.  Rees. But on the other  hand, Berzelius, Morichini, Dr.
 Daubeny and Mr. Middleton, have  detected it in recent bones.  The latter]
 however, states that in these it is in less quantity than in fossil ones.  (London
 andEdin. Philosophical Magazine, vol. 24, p. 154.  Vol. 25, pp. 14,122, 260.
 See also Dr. J. L. Smith, in Silliman's Journal, vol. 48, p. 99, Dr. Wilson, in
 Edinburgh New Phil. Journal, vol.  41, p. 205.)  This last asserts that be has
  detected the presence of fluorine in blood and milk. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
33
matter, which covered the anterior surface of the sternum.
The vertebral column unbroken, had retained its  relations
with the head and pelvis.  The inferior extremities stretched
out, and  on the same level as the trunk, followed  the
direction of the axis of the body, and inclined towards each
other.   The right foot, which alone we saw in place was
still in the  shoe, a little bent on the leg and inclined to its
outer edge; the left had in digging been removed  with the
shoe, in which we found only a part of it.
  The  head, removed from  its position,  was dry  in  the
frontal region, while the occipital was still moist and lubri-
fied by a  fatty matter, among which some black  hair was
seen.  On attentively observing the skull, a  deformity was
observed  at the right external orbitar angle, but evidently
arising from an  injury long anterior  to  death, since nature
had produced a cure.  Another lesion, but also of ancient
date, existed  on the left side of the coronal suture.  The
left temporal  bone, however, attracted most attention.  Its
squamous portion, almost separated from the parietal bone,
was divided into three portions by three cracks, which pro-
ceeded from  the circumference of the bone and before the
external  auditory canal, united  to a  fourth, which turning
round the base of the zygomatic process, terminated in the
glenoid cavity.   The form of this fracture, and the  sound-
ness of the  zygomatic arch and mastoid  process, induced us
to  suppose  that  it was made with  a blunt  instrument of
small size.  From the absence of any apparent operation of
nature to  effect a cure ; from  the  separation of the osseous
pieces, and  the oozing which took place through the differ-
ent points of the fracture,  we think it had taken place at a
time very  near death.  Indeed it is evident  that the injuries
observed were the result of a violent blow, that must have
brought on a cerebral commotion, which, without consider-
ing other .accidents, would instantly  deprive the individual
of the use of his senses and every means of defence.
  The shoes in which the bones of the foot were  found3
some  pieces of woollen cloth surrounding the  vertebrae of
the neck,  metal  and wooden buttons, a knife, of which the
  VOL. II.                    3 
34
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
blade was folded in the handle and found at the left side of
the breast,  some fragments of cloth and velvet, all  these
inclined Dr.  Delmas  to  believe that the body had  been
buried, covered with a part, at least, of its clothes.
  As to the time during which  this body had lain, it proba-
bly was three years, according to the descriptions generally
given on this subject.  This was confirmed by the absence
of all gaseous  products—by the foetid odor being replaced
by an odour of mouldiness, and by  the remains consisting of
earthy, friable, fatty, brownish and  black matter.   The only
soft  parts found were vertebral ligaments,  and these, as
assimilating more  nearly in  composition  to the nature of
bone, ought of course to  be the last to disappear.
  The bones were  now all collected, and the examinations
continued on the subsequent day.   The vertebrae, ribs  and
bones of the pelvis were articulated.  The outlet of  the
pelvis was narrow, the  width of the passages small com-
pared with the depth, the descending rami of the pubis  had
their anterior face directed outward, with but a small sepa-
ration.  All these led to  the opinion that it was the skeleton
of a male.
  Next as to age.   The complete developement of the bones,
that of the processes to which the  muscles are attached, the
state of the teeth,  being complete, with  the exception of
the fourth molar of the right side of the lower jaw, (which
had been long out, as the alveolar cavity was ossified,) these
induced the witnesses to say that  he had attained his 40th
year.  According to  the comparative  tables of Professor
Sue, his height was determined at about five feet five inches.
  The bones of the extremities were nearly complete,  and
the right foot, which was preserved in the shoe, was articu-
lated.   Some bones of the left foot were lost in digging.
They found only  the os calcis, astragulus, scaphoid  and
cuboid, the five metatarsal and three phalanges.   This pre-
vented  any articulation,  and  they  were unable'to ascertain
whether any thing was  peculiar.  The head of  the fourth
metatarsal was rounded, extending outwards, and presenting
a small  articular surface, "which might have been produced 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
35
by an extra articulation; but not having seen in what man-
ner this bone  was  articulated with the first phalanx, we
could not  determine if  there had  been a sixth toe attached
to it."
  Except  some small bones of the carpus, all those of the
right hand were found.   The  fifth bone of the  right  meta-
carpus  at  once  attracted  attention.   Shorter  and thicker
than that of the  other hand, its extremity towards the pha-
lanx separated into two parts, one of which, truly articular,
smooth, narrow, rounded and prominent, had the direction
of the  axis of the bone, whilst the other corresponding to
the cubital edge, formed with it an angle of  about eight
degrees—not continued  so far as the  first, it was equally
smooth, and presented  an articular surface, which differed
from  it only in its less rounded form.   Having tried to
articulate  the  first phalanx  of  the little finger, it fitted
exactly upon the first articular head, and presented upon the
side corresponding to the second,  a depression, the obliquity
of  which was  in relation with the direction assigned to the
second surface.
   It was evident from this examination, that a sixth finger
must have  existed, although the bones  could  not be found.
The left hand exhibited  no peculiarity.
  The  deductions made by Dr. Delmas, were that the indi-
vidual, whose skeleton he had inspected, was a  male, of the
age of  forty or upwards, that he had six fingers on his right
hand and  possibly  a sixth toe on the left foot, that he had
been  murdered by  a violent  blow from a blunt instrument,
which fractured the left temporal bone, and that he had been
buried in his clothes.  Diamont and his wife were tried and
convicted, and  before execution,  confessed to Dr. Delmas
their guilt in the manner specified by him.*

  *  This remarkable case I have taken from the North American Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 4, p. 176. That Journal, however, copied it from the
Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science, who  again translated it from the
Ephemerides Midicales  of Montpelier.  It is also quoted in full by Orfila,
(Exhumations, vol. 2, p. 360,) who, while he allows due credit to Dr. Delmas
for his successful investigation, makes the following objections to his deduc-
t ions : The age is not at all certain; it might have been of a person aged 25
or 30, as well as one aged forty and upwards.  It is equally impossible to fix 
36
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
   Some additional cases will be found in the works referred

to below.*

   I must not omit in this  place, a very curious case, related

by Mr. A. S. Taylor, and in which  the contested Identity

was determined  by the teeth.   It might have  been related

under the above title, but there are some recent occurrences

which  induce me  to place it here without any  additional

reference to them.  The case is given in the words of Mr.

Taylor:

   " It was a case which Mr. H. Reynolds and myself were

called upon to investigate.   It was a trial for murder, under

circumstances in which the body was never discovered, and

in which, as it happened, an important question of identity

arose, founded on the  presence  of  the incisor teeth  in a

female of advanced age.

   " The  case to  which I allude is that of Elizabeth Ross,

who was tried at the Old Bailey Sessions in December, 1831,

for the murder of a female of  the  name of Caroline Walsh.

   " It appeared,  in  evidence,  that the deceased  Caroline

Walsh, who was an  old Irish  woman, had been repeatedly

solicited by the prisoner, to come and  live with her and her

husband, but the deceased refused.  By much persuasion on


the period since interment, with so much precision.  And lastly, the facts
presented do  not positively prove that the fracture  was inflicted before
death.
  t Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  15, p. 214.  Examination of bones found in a
cellar, by Dr. Boys De Loury.  The most interesting facts ascertained here
were that the bones (they were  those  of a male and female, each aged from
50 to 60 years) had probably been interred at least thirty or forty years pre-
vious.  This appeared from their being entirely converted into phosphate of
lime; every vestige of animal matter having disappeared, and from their
falling into dust on the slightest pressure. (Ibid. vol. 16, p. 375.  Report by
Dr. Valette.)  All the long bones had lost their epiphyses and they were
quite small.  It was hence the skeleton of a child.  Many of the teeth of the
upper jaw were wanting.  The incisives had been renewed, and of these three
remained.  The two canine were still concealed at the bottom of the socket
and the three large molar teeth  had come out. In the lower jaw were equally
evident marks of the second dentition.  Dr. Valette was hence led to the
---             __  ------ 7—"»--  ~l. ruicbbt; Was nence iea to tne
conclusion, that the age of this individual was about eight or nine years and
from further examination, that it was a male.  No marks of iniurv 'were
present.   (London Medical Gazette, vol 18, p. 493.)  Medico-legal disinter-
ment in India, (from  the India Medical Journal.)  A man was supposed to
have been murdered by beating, and a body was disinterred three  months
thereafter for the purpose of examination. Mr. Cheek, the surgeon, however,
proved the want of identity.  The  whole of the bones were found clean and
free from periosteum, ligaments and cartilage, and in his opinion, this could
not have occurred within the year.                    r 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
37
the part of the prisoner, however, she at last consented, and
went for that  purpose to the prisoner's lodgings in Good-
man's Field, on the  evening of the 19th of August, 1831,
taking with her her bed, and  an old basket, in which she
was accustomed to sell tape and other articles.   From that
evening all traces of the deceased were lost, and when the
prisoner was required  by her  relatives to account  for her
disappearance, she prevaricated, but finally asserted that she
had gone out early in the morning of  that day, and had not
returned.
  " The testimony of the prisoner's son,  who was the chief
witness for the crown, went to prove most clearly, that the
deceased had been wilfully suffocated on the evening of her
arrival  by his mother  (the  prisoner) placing her hands over
the mouth of the deceased, and pressing on her chest. He
deposed that  on the following  morning, he saw the dead
body in the cellar of  the house, and  on  the .evening of the
 same day, he saw his mother leave the house with some-
 thing large and heavy in a sack.   This was at the time mur-
 ders were being perpetrated  in London,  to supply the Anatomi-
 cal Schools with subjects for dissection.
   " Now it happened, most singularly, that on the  evening
 of the  20th of August, the day following the alleged  mur-
 der,  an old woman,  of the  description of the supposed
 deceased, was found lying in the  street in the  immediate
 neighborhood, in a completely exhausted condition, and in
 a most filthy and squalid state.   On  being  questioned, she
 stated that her name was Caroline Welsh, and that  she was
 a native of Ireland.   Her  hip was found to be fractured, in
 consequence  of which,  she was conveyed  to  the  London
 Hospital,  where she  subsequently died and was buried.
 The  prisoner, Ross, when apprehended,  insisted that this
 was the female whom  she was accused of having murdered.
 Hence, setting aside the direct contradiction given to this
 statement by the  evidence of her son,  it became highly
 important  for the  ends of justice,  that  the   identity  or
 non-identity of the two women  should  be clearly  estab-
 lished. 
38               PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.

  "The extraordinary resemblance of names, and thes exact
coincidence  of time, struck every one in  court, but by the
examination of about twenty witnesses, the following points
of difference were elicited.  It was stated  that they  were
both Irishwomen, but Caroline Walsh came from Kilkenny,
Caroline Welsh from Waterford.  The former, (the alleged
murdered  person,) was eighty-four  years of age, tall, of a
sallow complexion,  gray hair, and had  (an extraordinary
circumstance for her years) very perfect incisor teeth.  The
latter, Caroline  Welsh, (who died in the  London Hospital,)
was  about sixty years of age, tall  of stature, dark, like a
mulatto, but had no front teeth, in addition to which it was
deposed by  a medical witness, that the alveolar  cavities
corresponding to them, had been obliterated for a considera-
ble time.  The witness brought the skull and jaw into court,
for the body had been previously exhumed for examination,
but the judge would  not allow it to be produced, and said he
would  be  satisfied with  the witness'  statement respecting
the condition of the jaw.
  " Other circumstantial  points of difference were deposed
to—as, for example, Caroline Walsh was healthy, cleanly,
and  neat  in her person, and her feet was perfectly sound;
Caroline Welsh was considerably emaciated, in a dirty and
filthy condition, her  hip broken, her foot covered with bun-
nions and excrescences, and one toe overlapped another.
   " The  dress  of the  two women  was  somewhat similar.
That of Caroline Walsh was most  clearly proved to have
been sold by the prisoner, Ross, to different persons, and
almost every article was reproduced in court,  and sworn to
by witnesses.  The  clothes of Caroline Welsh were proved
to have been burnt by order of the parish authorities.  Both
of these women had similar baskets in their possession, but
that of Caroline Walsh had  no lid or cover, while that of
 Caroline  Welsh had.   Lastly, the  body of the latter was
taken up  from the burial-ground of the London Hospital, for
the  purpose of identification, and it was sworn, by two of
 the grand-daughters of Caroline Walsh,  not to be the body
 of their grandmother. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
39
  " This is perhaps one of the most singular cases of dis-
puted  identity, that has come before a British court of law.
We have a coincidence of name, time, place, age, occupation,
and  circumstances, so extraordinary, that but for two cir-
cumstances, it is probable the prisoner would  have escaped
on the presumption of a mistake, the body of the deceased
never having been found, although all  the dissecting rooms
in London were repeatedly searched for it.  These circum-
stances were,  1st, that the relatives of the deceased swore,
that the exhumed body was not that of the missing woman,
and  2d the medical proof of the entire  obliteration of the
alveolar cavities in the  jaw of  the exhumed  body, proving
that the incisor teeth  must have been lost long before death,
while several  witnesses  testified to the  presence of  these
teeth, as a striking peculiarity in the missing female.  Even
had the features of the exhumed female been obliterated by
putrefaction, the non-identity would have been established
by this medical fact.
  " The prisoner was convicted and executed."*
  The  Hair is  another  part of the body which continues
long unchanged, and  its presence may hence  aid us in iden-
tifying individuals.  It is frequently found in a perfect state
on bodies buried a century or more, and  indeed is seen but
little altered on the mummy. Whether it grows after death,
is at present a disputed point with many.   Dr. Good informs
us that examples of this may be found in Heister and  Cam-
erarius, where not only the beard was  found grown, but
hair  had sprouted forth from every  part of the body.  Many
of the old writers mention such cases.  Pariset and Villerme
in the French  Dictionary of Medical Sciences, both profess
their credence in this  occurrence; and  the former relates  of
a father who preserved the remains of a much loved son for
some time,  and  when he went to view them, the beard,
which  had  been shaven after death, was so grown, that he
could scarcely persuade  himself but that it was  a sign  of
life.f  Bichat remarks, that it is a generally received opinion
  * London Med. Gazette, vol. 38, p. 481.
  f Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, Articles Barbe and Poil. 
40
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
that the hair and nails grow after death; but while he  con-

cedes  that we have but few well  established facts, observes

that he has certainly noticed a lengthening of the beard in

one instance, where the head  was submitted to  maceration

for several days.*
   On  the  other  hand, we may  quote  as an  unbeliever, the

name  of Haller, a host in itself.   He conceived it to be only

apparent and not real, and owing to a shrinking of the skin.

"Among the  old  writers," says Dr.  Bostock,  "we meet

with  narratives,  apparently well authenticated,  where the

hair is  said to  grow after death,  and even to attain  an

extraordinary length;  but upon whatever  authority  they

may appear to  rest, we may safely  conclude that there  is

some fallacy or inaccuracy in the statement."!

   If we turn to individual cases  which might be supposed

to settle the question, we find no corroborating proofs.   It

has been said  that  the hair of Charles the First of England,

was found grown;  but Sir Henry Halford  does not mention

this, and it  certainly would not  have  escaped him.  The

body of Hampden was disinterred a century and a half after

his death—his hair was found in a perfect state of preservation,

but nothing is said of its growth.J


  * Anatomie Generale, vol. 4, p. 825.
  t Physiology, vol. 1, p. 74.
  X London Quarterly Keview, vol. 47, p. 516.  At the last meeting of the
Microscopical Society of London,  Mr. John Quekett, the microscopic demon-
strator to the Royal  College of Surgeons, read a very interesting  paper on
the importance of the microscope in the determination of minute structures
of a doubtful nature.  The author stated that his object in bringing this
communication before the society, was to  point out how minute portions of
skin, which had been exposed to the air for centuries, could be recognized as
human.  There existed in this country, certain traditions, that persons who
had committed sacrilege were flayed, and their skins nailed  to the doors of
the churches they had robbed, as a terror to the sacrilegists, and three por-
 a ?f fwUC\fn0 kd. ken f0™"'^11 to the  author for examination, by
Albert  Way  the Secretary of the Archaelogical Society.' The first was taken
from one of the doors of Worcester cathedral, where now only portions remain
underneath the ornamental clamps and hinges.  The second specimen was
taken from the church door of Hadstock in Essex, where it had been protected
for many-centuries, by an iron grating; this portion of skin was said to have
been that of a Danish  pirate, and is supposed to be  nearly 900 vears old
The third specimen was taken from the church door of Copford  also in F^pt'
On all the specimens, Mr. Quekett succeeded in finding two 'or three Tni™
which the microscope clearly proved to be  human.  Thus this valuable instru-
ment is able to confirm a tradition, and  prove the former nrevale    f

G^ette* W JUsST d°Ubted  ^ ^^ arCh*°l0gist8-  (Londo» MedYcal 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
41
  On the whole, I look upon this as a point which must have
been long since settled by anatomists, from their own expe-
rience.  Generally, I believe, they discredit it, except as to
the beard, and its partial elongation ; and for this, we have
a sufficient explanation in the  opinion of Haller.  I shall,
however, presently quote a case, in which this growth after
death was contended for.
  It will form a proper conclusion to this section, to  notice
the subject of Putrefaction, in its bearing on legal medi-
cine.
  The earliest changes that take place in a body after life
has  departed, are coldness, stiffness and lividity.   Of all,
besides what has been already said, I may remark, that their
supervention is far from being uniform.   The bodies of the
adult and the  aged take them  on sooner than those  of the
young, and again the  nature of the disease has a manifest
influence.  But the importance of these phenomena in doubt-
ful cases deserves a more minute notice.
   It should then be  understood as the most ordinary occur-
rence, that cadaveric rigidity does not supervene until the
animal heat is  somewhat dissipated—in other words, cold-
ness precedes stiffness.  And  this stiffness commences in
the muscles of the trunk and neck, then attacks the muscles
of the upper  extremities, and  lastly those of  the  lower.*
It disappears in the  same order.  Nysten states, that in pro-
portion to the delay of its coming on, will be the length of
its continuance  and vice versa.  Hence also the operation
of different causes will vary the period of accession.  If
death originates from acute inflammation of the  stomach or
intestines, from irritant poisons, from the inhalation of dele-
terious irritant gases, which exercise no specific influence on
the  contractile  power of the muscles, as ammoniacal gas,
chlorine or deutoxide of nitrogen, severe rigidity ensues and
continues for some time.   But if death arises from a disease
of a debilitating character, from the inhalation of sulphur-

  * Nysten is the authority for this, but Devergie observes, that it involves
a contradiction, since the trunk longest preserves its heat and therefore
should be the last to become rigid: vol. 1, p. 63. 
42                 PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.

etted hydrogen, or indeed, in any case where there has been
great exhaustion of the  system prior  to dissolution, the
rigidity supervenes speedily and again disappears after two
or three hours.
  From these facts, it will readily occur that rigidity may
be delayed by keeping  the  body in a warm  atmosphere, or
more certainly by immersing it  in  a warm bath, while cold
will produce a contrary effect.   In some cases of asphyxia,
and particularly from hanging,  or from the inhalation of
carbonic acid gas,  the  animal heat being retained later than
usual, the  rigidity  will be slower in its approaches.
  It must, however, be remembered that there is a spasmo-
dic rigidity in some instances, following, or  remaining after
death while the animal heat remains or is but little impaired.
This may be the result of nervous  diseases as apoplexy, in-
flammation of the  brain and  its membranes, tetanus,  &c,
and also of intoxication, and some  of the forms of asphyxia.
It is considered by  some  as apparently the  result of  a
last  contraction of  the  muscles — and  it continues  for
an hour or more—coldness then follows, and at last true
cadaveric  rigidity is present.
   The application of this in legal medicine is important. In
the case of a person  who dies asphyxiated, and when the
limbs are  stiff, while the heat is  but little impaired, Orfila
infers,  that  the death must have been very  recent, and this
spasmodic  rigidity  may thus in some instances be a guide as
to the time when it occurred.*
   After a certain  period,! these  phoenomena are succeded
by the occurrence of putrefaction, but many circumstances

  * Orfila, Lemons, vol. 2, p. 194.  Taylor's  Med. Jurisprudence, p. 69.
British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 2, p. 425.  I am indebted to this last
for a proper  view of this important point.  Some cases, illustrative of its im-
portance, are noticed in the section on strangulation. In a person who com-
mitted suicide, (in Feb. 1837,) rigidity was complete one hour and a half after
death, while the animal heat remained.  (Case by Dr. Handyside, Edinburgh
Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 49, p. 221.)
   ■f Devergie has given some rules  for ascertaining the time  since death,
 grounded on the progress of the above phoenomena, but they are evidently
 only approximations, as many circumstances may interpose to delay their
 consecutive developement.  I will briefly state his deductions :
   First period.  Some heat  remaining with more  or less relaxation of the
 muscles; death may have occurred from two to twenty hours. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
43
are found to develope or delay its progress.   Heat, humidi-
ty, and the  contact  of air, accelerate it;  and it is almost
always rapid when from  the  presence of  typhoid  disease,
it  appears to commence  before life  is  extinguished.  In-
terment, also, if made early, procrastinates it.  Some species
of earth have a similar effect.   It  is not, however, all de-
grees of heat, that accelerate  it.  If it be too high, it may
even be prevented, owing to the rapid dissipation of moist-
ure.  In the route  from  Tripoli to Mourzouk, Dr. Oudney
often found the  ground strewed with  the  skeletons of the
unfortunate  victims  of  the slave  trade.    The  skin  and
membranous substances were seen  shrivelled and dry, and
the thick muscular and internal parts were alone decayed.
If the dry and hot air of the  desert produces such effects,
we can readily imagine how similar causes, although acting
in a less powerful manner, may operate in different countries,
at particular seasons of the year.
   Cold, on the  other hand, is also well known to retard pu,-
trefaction.   " Below 50°  Fahr., the process is  slowly per-
formed, and at 32°, it  is altogether suspended.  The tem-
perature most favorable to its perfection, is from 60° to 80°
or 90°.  This is the temperature of our summer, and hence
at this time, putrefaction most readily goes forward." *
   This is a brief statement of the principal causes that ac-
celerate or retard the process in question.  It will, however,
be understood, that several accessary ones may occasionally
have an effect.   And among these, there is none more de-
serving of remembrance, than that pointed out by Mr. Alfred

   Second period. The heat is gone, cadaveric rigidity is present; death has
occurred from ten hours to three days.
   Third period. All the parts are relaxed, the color of the skin is natural;
the muscles do not contract when electricity is applied;  death has happened
from three to eight days.
   Fourth period. The size of the body is increased by the developement of
gas, the abdomen is of a greenish color; death from six to twelve days.
   All these, however, suppose the body to have been unburied and exposed
to an ordinary temperature.  (Vol. 1. p. 86.)
   * Dr. Beatty, Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. Persons found dead,
vol. 3, p. 322.  "Nous savons que tout etant egal d'ailleurs,  la putrefaction
s'Smpare plus lentement du cadavre d'un individu mort par hemorrhagic, que
de celut dont les vaisseaux sont distendues par le sang."  (Orfila's Exhuma-
tions, vol. 1, p. 329.) 
44
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 Taylor, viz. that  there will be a material difference in  the
 advance of putrefaction, according as the body is mutilated
 or entire.  " Those parts," he observes, "which are affected
 at the time of death, by contusions, ecchymosis or extrava-
 sations of blood, become  much more speedily decomposed
 than those parts which are in a normal condition.  If there
 be any solution of continuity, or  loss of substance, accom-
 panying these extravasations, the effect will be much more
 strongly marked."  The correctness of this has  also been
 verified by Mr. Taylor on bodies in the dissecting-room.
 Those in which incisions  were made, advanced much more
 rapidly towards decomposition, than such as wTere left  un-
 touched.  The application of all  this in legal medicine is
 obvious. " When the body of an individual who is suspect-
 ed to have died from external violence, is  not  seen until
 some time after dissolution, the injuries will  appear to be
 of a much more  aggravated nature than they ought  to be
considered by the medical  jurist."*
  I will now give the details of a case already referred to,
and which excited great interest  some  years  since, in  the
United States.  The leading points agitated were, the period
 when putrefaction supervenes, and the growth of the hair after
 death:
  Francis Baker, left Moore's tavern, in the town of______-
(Kentucky,) after having slept there, at about sunrise of the
 2d of November, (Tuesday,) 1824.  He  proceeded to Dog-
 gate's and breakfasted in  company with Desha and others,
at an early hour.  Baker and Desha left Doggate's at very
 nearly the same time, and were again seen together at a
 quarter of a  mile from that tavern.  Baker was  not seen
 after this, until he was found a corpse six days after, (Mon-
 day.)   His throat was cut, and there were  five wounds  on
 the side of his head, apparently from blows, as  the skin was
 broken. There appears to  have been a wound on the breast
but concerning this there was some conflicting  testimony '
  The place where the -body was found was a hollow, though
not steep until you approached near to the  body.  One of
     * Taylor's Med. Jurisprudence, p. 90. Devergie, vol. 1, p. i56. 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.               45
the witnesses, on being asked whether the sun could shine
on it, replied, that he did not suppose that it could; it was
his impression that the body was rather from the sun.   The
woods were tolerably thick around the place, there being a
good deal of undergrowth.  The body  was  lying near a
log; the thighs were next to the road, and the head down
hill.
  Desha was indicted for his murder, and it became an im-
portant  question to ascertain whether the state of the  body
was compatible with the idea of violent death inflicted six
days previous. I shall endeavor to condense all the evidence
on this point.
  One witness (Major Lacey) stated that the weather was as
usual at that season of the  year.  Friday of the first week
of November had a cold, rainy morning.  Gen. Reed said
that the weather was fine, and he did not think it was cold
enough  to have fire.  J. Douglas was  laying brick during
the first week  in November ;  at night  the mortar would
freeze.   It was too cold  for him to commence work in the
morning before breakfast.  It snowed on  some of the last
days of the week.  Mr.  Holt said that the weather was un-
usually warm for the season.  Indeed, some of the  members
of the legislature apprehended much sickness from this cir-
cumstance.  It rained on Thursday.  Mr.  Coleman corro-
borated this testimony.  Tuesday and Wednesday were fine
days.  " On Friday it rained and snowed a little. On Satur-
day, we (the legislature) sat in  the  church; the  members
thought it too cool to be without fire ; the chimneys which
were erected to the  church, dried very soon.  Sunday was
pretty cool.  On  the whole, I call  it mild weather for the
season."   Question.  Although the  days were pleasant for
that season of the year, were not the nights frosty 1  Answer.
 I think it is probable there was  frost; though the first three
 or four days was charming weather, the  last of  the  week
 was somewhat colder.  Mr. January deposed that the nights
 were  cool, as the workmen were  obliged to cover their
 work at night.  He heard them say that  some scales came
 off that were frozen. 
46
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  The corpse was  a  little stiff when taken up; but after
carrying it for some time, it became limber.  It had no smell
of putrefaction.  On Tuesday there was  no alteration in it,
and but little on Wednesday.  On Thursday it turned black,
and was somewhat offensive.  The wounds appeared to be
fresh, and bled much, when Dr. John Drake examined them.
The body  was not swollen when found ; but on Wednesday
or shortly before it was interred, (which was on Thursday,)
the abdomen and face were greatly  swollen.  A fire had
been kept in the  large  room where the corpse lay.
  Dr. John Drake examined the body on Wednesday, after
it had been washed and dressed.  He  thinks there were five
wounds on the head, all severe, and generally two inches in
length.  There was a large wound of  the throat, about four
inches in length; another on the breast, and another on  the
shoulder.  There were no symptoms  of putrefaction about
the body, and  hardly any smell.  Dr. Charles  Scudder saw
the body  (probably)  on  Wednesday, and observed some
blood or bloody  water issuing from the wound.  This, he
stated, was such as would result after the corpse had lain
for some time, and  not as from a fresh wound.  In answer
to a question whether he inferred that the wounds had been
recently made, he replied, that he did  not examine those on
the head, but that on the throat did not appear fresh.
  The discussion elicited by these  facts, is not without
interest.   Dr. Drake was  asked, whether  it was according
to the  animal economy, that the body of a man after death
should be  ten days without putrefying, unless it was frozen 1
4ns. If there was a discharge of much blood, as I suppose
was the case with  this man, it  might.  Quest.  Would not
the contents of the stomach  produce putrefaction ?  Ans.
They would, unless there had been spirits drunk.   Quest.
Do you think that spirits  would lie  in the stomach of a dead
man for ten days 1   (It appeared that Baker had drunk twice
before leaving Doggate's.)  Ans. I am not prepared to say,
but I think it would have its  effect to  a certain  extent!
Quest. Unless the body was frozen, did you ever know an
instance of the suspension  of putrefaction 1  Ans.  I don't 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
47
know that I have, but I suppose there might be an instance.
Quest.  Would you suppose one would lie seven, eight or ten
days in the woods, without attracting the buzzards 1  Ans.
It would depend much on the season, and on the posture in
which the body lay.   Mr. Lacey deposed that he had known
dead bodies, such as hogs, dogs, &c, to lay a considerable
time at that  season  of the year, without becoming putrid.
Gen. Reed,  on the  contrary, never knew any thing  to  lay
that length of  time, (eight or ten days) without exhibiting
greater signs  of putrefaction  than Baker  did.  It was re-
marked, (he  says,) the morning after the corpse was found,
that he did not look as if he had been killed more than  one
night.
  Dr. Frazer stated that it was not unusual for a corpse, in
eight or ten days after death, to become limber;  and upon
being moved, to discharge from the wounds, nostrils, &c, a
part of the  serous portion of the blood,  inasmuch as a re-
laxation of the muscles, and a loss of the coagulable powers
of  the blood, were the first symptoms of putrefaction;  that
the length of time before any symptoms of putrescence can
be  discovered, depends  much on the weather, whether cold
or  warm, and  on the manner  of death; as he had  known
bodies to lie throughout the winter, without exhibiting any
symptoms of it; and as the process of putrefaction is much
slower to commence in a body that has died from great  loss
of  blood, than in ordinary cases of death.
   The counsel for  the  prisoner, of course, dwelt much on
this absence of putrefaction, as a proof that the death must
have been recent.  The judge (Shannon) himself inclined
to  this belief.  " It is  difficult to suppose (said  he) that a
body, at  this or any season of the year, could have remained
 that long, without exhibiting some symptom of putrescence :
 connect, also, that in two or three days after it was  found,
 it did show such symptoms as in that time might naturally
 be expected."
    As  to the other point, it would appear from the testimony
 on the inquest, that the beard was quite short when first
 seen,  and had  the appearance  of being recently shaven. 
48
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
In the interval between Tuesday and Thursday, it appeared

to have got a little longer.  It was stated, at the same time,

that the face had become swollen.

  The counsel for the prisoner appears to have taken it as a

conceded fact,  that  the beard will grow after death.  Mr.

Rowan, an eminent advocate,  said that  the fact was tested

in numerous  instances  of disinterred bodies.  " An acorn,

(said he,) after it has fallen produces the oak.   Cut down a

buck-eye in the  spring when the leaves are just budding, and

they will grow until  the sap which is up  is exhausted: just

so in relation to the beard."

  If this position was  deemed correct, it furnished another

proof against the supposed  period  of  the  murder.  The

medical  witnesses, however,  were far  from  agreeing to so

positive  an opinion.   They  conceded that, in some cases,

the  beard appeared  to grow after death; but that this was

owing to the  collapse or shrinking of the flesh, which thus

gave it a more prominent appearance.*


  *  " Trial of Isaac  B. Desha, for the murder of Francis Baker, held at Cyn-
thiana, Kentucky, before the Hon. George Shannon : Reported by Robert S.
Thomas  and George W. Williams, Lexington, 1825." I am indebted for this
pamphlet to the kindness of Dr. Daniel Drake, of Cincinnati.  Desha was
found guilty; but a new trial was granted on some legal grounds, and he  ap-
pears to have escaped from the United States into Texas, where he died some
years since.  On his deathbed, he is said to have confessed the murder; but I
have no authority for this except the newspapers.
  I find that this last statement is incorrect, but  prefer leaving it, and adding
the following, which is contained in a public letter of Mr. Kendall, Postmaster-
General of the United States, dated June 8, 1837.  It  should be premised that
the father of Desha was then Governor of the State of Kentucky:
  " The son was charged,  and finally twice convicted of murder ; the father
held the pardoning power, and believed him innocent.  There were circum-
stances which justified a father in so believing.  After the son had been a
second time convicted, and a new trial had been a second time granted,  the
whole of the second jury, as I understood, and a part of the first, petitioned
for his pardon.   The first conversation I ever had with the Governor upon the
subject, was introduced by him with a statement of these facts.
  " He proceeded to say, that his son had sent for him to the prison__had pro-
tested his  innocence in the strongest terms—had declared his unalterable
purpose not to live, unless he was acquitted by a jury; and had told him that
if he sent  to him a pardon, he would the next hour put an end to his exist-
ence. It was found impossible to procure a third unbiassed jury, and  the
wretched man remained in jail from term to term.  Finally,  on that day of
horrors, when Beauchamp was executed for the murder of Col. Sharp, after
the suicide of his wife, and his own unsuccessful attempt,  young Desha  cut
his throat  with a razor, severing the  windpipe quite in two.  In that awful
moment, when he believed himself entering into eternity, he  beckoned for
pen and ink, and wrote a solemn protestation of his innocence, while his life-
blood was  streaming upon the paper.   I saw it afterwards in the hands of hia
 father, so besmeared with blood, as to be scarcely legible." 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
49
  The presence of the putrefactive process is not, however,
to deter us from the necessary examination.  We  have an
efficient agent in the chloride of lime or soda to remove any
unpleasant odor.   And it should be  sprinkled  around the
room, or on  the  table  where the body lies, and not on the
body itself, since it is  found to  change both the color and
consistence of the parts.  Not unfrequently, indeed, a sub-
carbonate of  lime has  been formed on the surface, from the
union of the  liquor with the gases that are emanating.
  Although dissection may  thus be pursued with advantage,
and often to the elucidation of doubtful cases,  yet this is
precisely the period when  disputes concerning the identity
of dead  bodies frequently  occur.   The  characteristic  fea-
tures become lost, and we  can only depend with safety, on
such peculiar physical marks as may have been present.
On a trial that took place some years since at Edinburgh,
for stealing subjects where  the body had been interred nine
weeks before the recognition,  Dr. Barclay, the anatomist,
testified, that the longest time he ever knew,  during which
the features remained  recognizable, was a fortnight.  Yet a
witness  swore particularly to the identity of the body.*
   For an accurate  knowledge of the  successive changes of
the body in its progress to complete decomposition, we are
indebted to the indefatigable labors of Orfila, and I will con-
clude this section with a short abstract of the more  striking
facts noticed by him.
  The epidermis  is very  rapidly destroyed.   It separates
from the surface ; is converted into a greasy, reddish brown
substance, and finally disappears.  If, however, it has been
detached during life, by an effusion of serum beneath it, it
will then long resist putrefaction.  The nails soften and are
readily detached.  They lose their  semi-transparency,  and
in process of time become dry.  The hair strongly resists
decomposition, and remains unaltered for years.  The cutis
  * G. Smith's Forensic Medicine,  2d edit, p. 506.  There must, however,
be sufficient latitude allowed for the season, and the  nature of the ground in
which the body has been interred.  All I mean to urge is, that grievous mis-
takes are often made from too great confidence.  In the notes to the chapter
on Age and Identity, several instances are given by Dr. Dunlop.
   VOL. II.                    4 
50
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
    is at first yellowish, but soon takes a greenish, reddish, and
    violet tint.  At a later period, small, sand-like granulations,
    consisting of phosphate of lime, form  on it.  It  gradually
    dries, becomes darker in color, and is  covered with  the
    greasy mould already spoken of.  The subcutaneous cellular
    tissue dries on the anterior portion of the body, but becomes
    infiltrated, soft and  tender,  on  the dependent part.  At a
    later period the adipose part of it begins  to saponify, and is
    of a grayish white color,  and of  the consistency of suet.
    This, however, is not invariable.  Finally, what is not thus
    converted, becomes dry, brown, and is at last destroyed.
      The  muscular tissue softens at first, takes a greenish tint,
    is gradually reduced to a jelly, and in fat bodies changes to
    soap; in others it dries.   The aponeuroses and tendons pre-
    serve for a long time their brilliancy and  firmness, but after
    a while become  yellow and then  brown.   The tendons
    resist putrefaction longer than any other part.   The liga-
    ments and cartilages resemble the tendons in their changes.
    The last, however, before they disappear, become  black and
    fragile.   The  bones  and  teeth  are  indestructible by  this
    process.   The serous tissues become gray,  and  softened,
    then from blue  to black  before they disappear.  Orfila
    recognised the pleura, in a body interred in a thick coffin,
    and raised fourteen months after death.   The brain does  not
    putrefy so rapidly as might be supposed from what happens
    when it is removed out of the cranium.  For several weeks
    after interment, if the weather be moderate, it preserves so
    much of its natural appearance, that we can trace its differ-
i    ent parts.  After this, however, it  softens gradually to  a
    thin  greenish  paste, at  first  intolerably foetid, but finally
    without this, and  much  diminished in bulk.  The nerves
    remain permanent for many months.  The eyes  sink and
    rapidly decay.  Nothing is then found but the fat peculiar
    to dead bodies.  In not a single instance of disinterment did
    Orfila find a vestige of them four months after death.
      The  lungs are at first congested in the  manner we have
    already described, and their structure does not alter rapidly.
    They finally  become  green, soft and  shrunken, and lastly, 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                51

dry and black. The diaphragm also decays slowly, and both
it  and  the  lungs  have often  on their surface  the white
granulations of  phosphate of lime.   The  heart   softens,
grows gradually darker in color, collapses, and is  reduced
to a few  blackish filaments.   The blood-vessels for  two or
three months after interment,  contain  a certain  amount of
black blood, either fluid or coagulated.  They also  change
in color, and their  respective  coats  are readily  separable.
The stomach presents a great variety  of appearances  shortly
after death.  Much of this depends on the quantity of blood
accumulated in  its vessels, and the comparative  state  of
health or disease  in that organ during life.   So also with
the intestines.  In a short time, the mucous membrane of
both becomes greenish and sensibly softened, then dark and
black, and  finally, the whole  substance  dries into  mem-
branes, which at last are converted into a moist black mould.
The liver softens, forms  granulations  on  its surface, then
becomes  blackish brown, and not unfrequently instead of
drying is converted into  a black substance, resembling  the
grease of wheels.*  The gall-bladder  alters slowly.   The
other viscera  soften soon, lose their texture, and are con-
verted into the greasy  matter  already noticed.
   In all  his  examinations  of  disinterred  bodies,  every
portion of  the face was  destroyed  between the third and
fourth month, although  the bones  still remained  slightly
attached by their articulations.  The thorax  rarely under-
goes  any change for  the first three months.   So also with
the abdomen, except the change of color in its integuments.
After that,  it collapses, and its parietes become very thin.
   Orfila also  observed, that the shorter the time between
death and  burial, the  more  slow will be the progress of
putrefaction.   So also in proportion  to  the depth of  the
  * Ollivier D'Angers and Chevallier, have recently discovered a peculiar
substance produced from all or most of the soft organs, but particularly the
liver, about three months after interment. It is a white, hard matter, in the
form ol irregular granulations, and disposed either in bands or zones.  It is
found on the surface or in the interior of the liver, and on the internal wall
ol the veins and arteries. On analysis, it was found to consist of  an ammo-
niacal salt, a fatty matter, muriate of soda, and traces of some other salts  It
is thus evidently formed from the decomposition  of the body, and cannot be
mistaken for poison:  (Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 40, p. 488.) 
52
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
grave.   If buried naked, it  occurs more rapidly than  when

clothed.   Contrary to the received  opinion, which  assigns

at  least,  three years, he  has  in a majority of  cases, found

bodies  reduced to  a skeleton  at  the end of  14, 15 or  18

months, even when buried in coffins and wrapped in clothes.

   With respect to the fat or soapy matter, of which I  have

repeatedly spoken, Orfila conceives  that it is  never  formed

but in  those parts of the body  in which there  exist  fat and

azotic  matter.  This is the  adipocire of  the older chemists,

which  according  to Chevreul, consists principally of  mar-

garic and oleic acids, and ammonia.   Nearly three years are

necessary to convert bodies buried in earth into it, while in

water,  as we  shall hereafter  show, the  transformation is

much more rapid.   The soil also, and the  number of bodies

interred  together, have a striking effect in producing this

change.   If  not fat, but dry  and  meagre,  and lying  in

separate  graves, saponification rarely occurs.*

   In some instances, margarate and  oleate of lime, and car-

bonate  or sulphate of ammonia are formed, owing, as Orfila

supposes, to water  containing the salts  of lime, infiltrating

through the earth to the bodies.f


  * Orfila's Exhumations, vol. 1, p. 22.
  j This is of course but a very brief analysis of the Exhumations Juri-
diques of Orfila.  The parts relative to bodies found in water,  I shall  notice
under the head of persons found drowned, and the state of the stomach and
intestines under that of poisons.  I must add, that I have been indebted to an
excellent analysis of the first volume, in the North American Medical and
Surgical  Journal, vol. 12, p. 42.
  Cryptogamic Vegetations on  the Mucous Coat of the Stomach after Death.
Dr. Lee  describes the appearances found in the stomach and upper part of the
intestinal canal of a corpse which had been interred for three months, and
then exhumed for medico-legal investigation.  The mucous surface  of the
stomach  was of a deep chocolate color, and  on it were scattered numerous
white circular bodies, elevated at the edges and depressed at the centre; some
of these  were very minute and had the appearance of  a white powder  sprin-
kled on the membrane.   This appearance has been noticed bv Orfila, as one
of those  which had been mistaken for arsenic.   Buchner, too," has mentioned
a white, granular substance containing fat,  which  was found lining  the
stomach.  The question arises, what is the intimate nature and origin of these
bodies?  Are they fungi? They are certainly not calcareous depositions
They are partially soluble in alcohol, and they melt before the blowpipe
(Dublin  Journal.)  A correspondent in the Provincial Journal found similar
appearances in a body which had been interred fifteen months.  These parti-
cles, examined  chemically, yielded the same  results  as adipocire  of  which
they probably consist.  (Lancet, April 20, 1S44.)  Certainly this last  is  the
correct solution. Orfila examined these appearances, (found equally in the
stomachs of those who had had  not been poisoned,) and ascertained that thev
consisted of fat and albumen.                                       J 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
53
       II.  Of sudden death from natural causes.
  Sudden death from natural causes  most commonly origi-
nates from one or other of the following affections: apo-
plexy ; rupture of an aneurism  or of a large vessel into one
of the cavities; bursting of purulent cysts; ossification of
the valves  of the heart; rupture of this organ; bursting of
some blood-vessels into the air-passages, and idiopathic
asphyxia.   And of all these, the passions, whether exciting
or depressing, (but most commonly the former) are frequently
the agents in producing the fatal termination.
   Apoplexy is a disease which in some instances may be
mistaken in its early symptoms, and may terminate fatally
in situations which  preclude any observation of the event.
We should here attend to the conformation of the body—
the large head, short neck and plethoric frame, to the posture
in which the person is found, the food that he  has recently
eaten, the  ligatures that surround any part;  and, above all,
to the appearances on dissection. There is, however, a form
of this  disease,  denominated  simple apoplexy  by Dr. Aber-
crombie, which is often fatal within the twenty-four hours,
and leaves in the dead body no traces, not even congestion
of the vessels within the head.   Here, if there be no marks
of injury, we are of course precluded from a charge  of vio-
lence ; and it  is only necessary to remember, that persons
seized with apoplexy  may  have fallen from a height, and
thus wounded themselves.*
   The ruptures or  burstings that I have enumerated, have
sometimes  been indicated by  premonitory symptoms ; but
even if  their previous history  be  unknown, dissection will
explain  their nature.f

    Dr. Bright mentions several instances that came under judicial examina-
tion, in which the cause of death was  shown to be apoplexy.  In some of
these, he  found nothing but very slight effusion, and tumors in the choroid
plexus. (Medieo-Chirurgical Review, vol. 20, p. 7.)
   t See art. Rupture of the Heart, by Dr. Townsend, in Cyclopedia of Prac-
tical Medicine, vol. 4. Rupture of the  aorta, mistaken at first for poisoning,
Lancet, N. S., vol. 8, p. 227.  Also, a valuable essay on Rupture of the Heart,
and the morbid appearances associated with it, by Dr. Hallowell, in American
Journal Medical Sciences, vol. 17, p. 74. Dr. H. states that there are no less 
54
persons  found dead.
   Idiopathic asphyxia was first described by Mr. Chevalier.

 The patient often  apparently  in  perfect  health,  becomes

 faint, and  suddenly  expires.   On dissection the  heart  is

 found flaccid, and all  its cavities are empty of blood.   Dr.

 Beatty  relates  a  case  that occurred  to him  of a  healthy

 female in the ninth month of pregnancy, who suddenly ex-

 pired,  after a  very  slight sickness and  attempt to vomit.

 Every part was  carefully examined, and he observes, that

 he had never seen a healthier condition of the organs.  The

 heart, however, though sound, was flaccid, and all  its cavi-

 ties were empty, while its proper veins were much distended

 with blood.*

   As examples of sudden  passion hurrying these diseases

 to a fatal  crisis, the  following may  be  cited  from Paris :

 " Dr. Gordon Smith mentions the following case as occurring

 in one of the midland counties of England.   In the course

 of an altercation  between a man and  his wife, the woman

 died, and a  clamor was raised that the husband had murdered



 than sixty cases on record—with a very few exceptions, death occurred in-
 stantaneously.
  I omit a long list  of references to individual cases, that I have collected for
 examination and comparison, and will only further refer  to Dr. Copland's
 Dictionary, art. Rupture of the Heart, and  an analysis  of Dezeimeris' essay
 on the same, in Medico-Chirurgical Review,  vol. 33, p. 531.
  Cruveilhier (Anatomie Pathologique, 30 me Livraison) asserts that the seat
 of the rupture is exclusively the left ventricle, and nearly always at or near
 its top. This, however, is not confirmed by other examiners.  Out of forty-
four cases,  noticed by Townsend and Bayle, six  were rupture of the ri°-ht
ventricle.   (London Med. Gazette, vol. 26, p. 559.)
  * Chevalier and Wood's cases, Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1, p.
 157; Beatty, Cyclopedia  of Practical  Medicine,  vol.  3, p. 325.  The total
want of blood in the heart would not,  however, appear  to be invariable,  as
 Professor Christison, quotes an undoubted case from Rochoux, in which the
auricles contained a large quantity of it.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 31, p.  242.)                                       b
  This is confirmatory of the remarks of Devergie,  who in  his observations
on the modes in which  death may supervene, divides those originating in the
heart, into  three kinds.  1. From syncope.  In this instance, he observes
congestion in any particular organ is not to be looked for, but the blood is more
or less generally diflused.  2. From a spontaneous or accidental rupture of
the right side of the heart.  Here, its contractions  diminish  or cease  less
blood is sent to the head, which also loses its power ;  thus less force is impart-
ed to the inspiratory muscles.. On examination, the veins are seen filled with
blood, and there is but little in the lungs, brain and left heart. The chemical
phenomena necessary to life have first ceased, and then  the mechanical   3
When the left side  is affected in  a similar way, the order is reversed—the
mechanical first cease to act, and  on dissection, the lungs and left heart are
seen  gorged with blood; the arteries are empty, while the right side of the
 heart, and the veins contain but little.  (Devergie, vol. 1, p. 54.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
55
her.  An  inquest was held, a verdict returned against him,
and he  stood his trial  at the following assizes.  He was
however acquitted, for it appeared in evidence that he had
not even touched his wife during the quarrel.  The deceased
was a person of extremely violent temper, and  on opening
her  body, it  was found that  she had been laboring under
suppuration of the liver, and that an abscess had burst into
the cavity of the abdomen, in consequence of the agitation
into which she  had been thrown."   Again,  Baron Larrey
describes  the case of a  person who  had  been severely
wounded in the  thorax, in a  duel, but was  progressively
recovering, when in the fourth month from the period of the
injury, he  died suddenly during  a violent fit of anger.   On
dissection, the  heart and  pericardium exhibited traces of
inflammation.*
  Dr. Christison, in a recent publication,  has added some
very valuable observations and useful cautions to  this branch
of our subject.f  The facts, that " sudden death from latent
causes  frequently occurs, where  collateral  circumstances
lead to  a suspicion of violence,  and  that  these are apt to
prove suddenly fatal, from the operation of slight violence,
or of circumstances incidental  to violence,  as anger, strug-
gling, and the like, and that the appearances they leave may
present the same characters which those from death by vio-
lence," are so many strong circumstances to demand a careful
examination.
  *  Paris, vol. 3, p. 15. There is also a remarkable case related by Professor
Mott, of sudden death in a female deserted by her paramour.   She had been
dissolute and probably intemperate, but was robust, and had not complained
of any indisposition beyond slight rheumatic pains.  She was dejected on
going to bed, and in the morning was found dead, without any appearance of
suffering.  On dissection,  the left ventricle was found ruptured, and an ab-
scess was also seen in its parietes.  The pericardium contained a large quan-
tity of coagulated blood.  (Transactions of the Physico-medical Society of
New-York^ vol. 1, p. 151.) A case of rupture of the duodenum without
external injury, but originating in a fit of anger, is mentioned by Dr. Dupuy,
in the Journal Medicale de la Gironde, vol. 6, p. 147.
  t Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, vol. 4, art. Latent Diseases.  There
is also a good article on the causes  of sudden death, in the London Medical
Repository, vol. 27, p. 725. Dr. Southwood Smith has considered this subject
in six lectures, (part of his course on  Forensic  Medicine,) published in the
London Med. Gazette, vols. 21 and 22.
  See also Dr. Edward Warren, on Sudden Death, in Amer.  Journal Med.
Sciences, vol. 24, p. 294, and a discussion on  the same subject at the West-
minster Med. Society, reported in the Lancet, N. S. vol. 27, pp. 306, 309, 311. 
56                PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

  The principal diseases that he enumerates as often exist-
ing for a long time, without seriously incommoding the pa-
tient  or  alarming his friends, are of the head, sanguineous
apoplexy and inflammation of  the cerebral membranes, or
of the substance of  the brain.  As to the first, he remarks,
that the  presence of a clot in the brain, particularly if it be
plainly of some standing,  would  not of itself be enough to
account  for  death.   Inflammation of the membranes may
proceed  to such an extent as that considerable effusions and
even suppuration may be present, without marked symptoms.
And this circumstance  is applied to a  medico-legal case.
A son,  in a state of intoxication, was left struggling with
his father, aged  seventy,  of  passionate disposition, but in
good  health.  Seven minutes after, the old man was found
dead, on his back, with  the mark  of two blows on the nose
and forehead, not particularly  severe.   On  dissection, no
fracture, extravasation  or laceration could  be  found; but
there was an effusion of half a pint  of reddish serum in the
ventricles, and also towards a pint of serum in the cavity of
the pleura  on each side  of  the chest.   Some medical men
ascribed death to the effusion, and the effusion to the blow.
But undoubtedly this effusion could not have  occurred in
seven minutes, and was  more probably the result of previous
disease.   Softening  or  ulceration of the substance  of the
brain is  also frequently  observed in  those dying suddenly.
   Of the latent diseases of the  chest, Professor  Christison
enumerates pleurisy,  peripneumony and organic diseases of
the heart.   Each of these may pursue its course for a long
period, without exciting suspicion.*   So also of ulcerations
of the membranes of the  stomach  and intestines, chronic de-
rangements  of the viscera, extra-uterine conceptions of va-

   * Dr. Ollivier D'Angiers has published some cases of sudden death de-
pending on a spontaneous lesion of the lungs.   In two instances, a violent fit
of anger preceded the fatal termination, and in one of these the lungs were
emphysematous and in the other there was pulmonary apoplexy.
   The cases (from the Archives Generates) are given in the Edinburgh Med.
and Surg. Journal, vol. 44, p. 533.
   The same author has published several  cases of sudden death occasioned,
as he supposes, by the' spontaneous  developement  of a gaseous fluid in the
 blood, and its accumulation in the heart.   No organic lesion beyond this was
discovered.  (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 33, p. 572.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
57
rious kinds.   Some develope themselves sooner than others,
but all have  occasionally concealed their formidable nature
until the last moment.
   In  recurring to the fact, that all of these are most apt to
prove suddenly fatal, under  the operation of violence,  and
thus  bring the case before a legal tribunal, Dr. Christison
advises attention to  the following sources  of exculpatory
evidence:  1. When the morbid appearances indicate that
derangements  of structure or function  have been induced,
incompatible with the continuance of circulation or respira-
tion.  As  when  a rupture  of the heart  produces  a large
effusion of blood into  the pericardium.  2. When appear-
ances are  seen,  which although  not incompatible, as we
should suppose,  with life, yet  are  known seldom  or never
to occur, except  when death speedily follows.  Of this may
be mentioned, rupture of the gall ducts  or gall bladder,  or a
recent perforation of the stomach.   3. Another description
of evidence is derived from the symptoms immediately be-
fore  death corresponding with the appearances discovered.
4. We  can  often decide, and particularly in cases  of  sus-
pected  poisoning, that the circumstances noticed will not
bear  out the  idea.  5.  It is not an unfrequent occurrence for
sudden  death from latent disease to take place during the
early stage  of  convalescence  from  other  diseases—from
some unusual or violent exertion—or from some emotion of
mind, and  particularly anger.*
   I   subjoin  as  interesting,  the  following statement  by
Devergie.   In forty cases  of sudden death, examined by
him, the causes were as follows :

  * On the first appearance of malignant cholera at Sunderland, a female
attacked with it died in twenty-four hours. She had been engaged in a brawl
the day before, and had received a slight wound with a fork.  " This death
occurred at an early period of the epidemic, when many influential persons,
including some medical men, were loudly asserting that no unusual disease
existed in the town. It was therefore very generally asserted, that the patient
had died of the wound and of blows on the head and face, the marks of which,
it was  said, were so very obvious."  The body was examined in the presence
of medical men of both opinions, and the questions finally set at rest by a
coroner's jury.   (Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 38, p. 124.)
  In the section on Strangulation, I shall mention some cases of accidental
death,  or rather of apoplexy mistaken for it. 
58
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
Apoplexy,..........................■•; * *
Serous apoplexy with pulmonary congestion,..
Congestion of the brain and spinal marrow,.. •   3
                    •                              12
Pulmonary congestion,.....................
Pulmonary and cerebral congestion,..........  12

Hcematemesis,.............................
                                                    3
Syncope,................................
Rupture of the Heart,......................
Rupture of the pulmonary artery
                                                        40

  The  age most liable is from 40 to 70 years—the subjects

were principally from  the male  sex, and the  majority  of

cases occurred in the winter.  Lastly intemperance was one

of the most common eauses.*

  Dr. Tourdes reported in 1842, to the Scientific Congress

meeting at Strasburg, a notice of the sudden deaths in that

city.   In twenty-six  cases, as  ascertained  by dissection,

they were

     Apoplexy (cerebral hemorrhage).............   1

     Serous apoplexy,..........................   1

     Cerebral congestion,.......................   4

     Cerebral and pulmonary congestion,.........   1


  * Devergie on Sudden Death, in Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 20, p.  145.  We
must not forget that sudden  death sometimes occurs during pregnancy, par-
ticularly extra uterine, as where the fallopian tube is ruptured;  or during
labor, when the aorta, or other large vessel gives way. (Dr.  Merriman men-
tions two cases in which the internal iliac vein suddenly ruptured and imme-
diate death followed.)  Dr. Meigs relates a case of death in 36 hours, when
the female previously had been in good health, from a rupture of the fallo-
pian tube, which contained a foetus of probably six weeks,  Philadelphia
Med. Examiner, vol. 2, p. 709, and Dr. Gavin a similar one in eight and a half
hours from the same cause in Lancet, No. 894, p. 135. Dr. Lindsly, Ibid.,
death in 25 hours.  Boston  Med. and Surg. Journal, vol.  29, p. 9.  Mr.
Meadows in Lancet, No. 1079, May 4, 1844.  Haemorrhage of the ovum in
the fallopian tube.  Death in 54 hours.
  Dr. Munk relates a fatal case of rupture of the fallopian tube, in a female
eighteen years of age, who had never menstruated, and in whom the menses
had accumulated to such a degree as to cause the injury.  Death however did
not occur under several days.  (London Med. Gazette, vol. 27, p. 867.)
  Alex. Watson, death in 32 hours, from rupture of an extra uterine con-
ception within the fallopian tube.  (Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal vol  60
p. 362.)
  There is also an interesting case of sudden death, in a female,  from rup-
 ture of the spermatic vein, related by Dr. J.  McNaughton  in Transactions
 Med. Society State of New-York, vol. 4, p. 334.  There was here, however,
 no pregnancy present. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                59
    Hcemoptisis,..........,....................  1
    Foreign bodies in the bronchise,.. *...........  2
    Pulmonary congestion,..................... 13
    Syncope,.................................  1
    Perforation of the Intestines,................  2

                                                 26
  The blood was fluid or mixed with diffluent clots, in two
thirds of the cases, while in the same number, there was
organic disease of  the heart—hypertrophy. The cases were
most numerous in the winter.*

           III. Death from violent causes.
  This division of our subject may, with  justice, be consi-
dered as the most important in  the whole range of medical
jurisprudence.  It is so, not only from the number but the
variety  of cases  that  come  under examination.  In com-
mencing their investigation, it is necessary to remark, that
a particular term has of late  years been much employed  to
express the peculiar mode of death that occurs  in most  of
them.  I refer to the word asphyxia.  As  at present under-
stood, it means " those cases  of the cessation of the heart's
action, which arise  from a particular cause, namely, the
interruption of respiration—or to speak more correctly, the
interruption of the effect produced by that function on the
blood."
  The phenomena of respiration are twofold—mechanical
and chemical.   To the  former we refer the motion  of the
ribs and diaphragm in performing inspiration and expiration,
and to the latter, the inspiration of oxygen and its results.
Now, it is rather  the  popular  idea  to consider asphyxia
principally in reference  to the  chemical changes  induced.
There cannot, however, be  a doubt but that  mechanical
obstructions are equally efficient agents.   The  following
division of asphyxia, by Savary, and many other modern
writers, will illustrate these ideas:
* London Med. Gazette, vol. 31, p. 526. 
60               PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
  1. Asphyxia from mechanical impediments to respiration, as
by compression of the chest and abdomen, and seen in cases
of large quantity of ground falling on persons digging, &c.;
by air entering into the cavities of the chest  or  abdomen;
by a wound of the diaphragm, with pressure of the abdomi-
nal viscera towards the stomach.  2. Asphyxia from want of
power in the respiratory vessels, as from a division  of the
spinal marrow; from lightning; from cold; and from general
debility, as in new-born  children.   3.  Asphyxia from  want
of air, by its rarefaction; by suffocation; by submersion; by
strangulation. 4. Asphyxia from want of respir able air.  And
lastly, 5. Asphyxia from irritating or deleterious gases.
  While each of these causes has phenomena in some degree
peculiar to itself, and which will be most usefully considered
under its appropriate head, there are still some common to
all, which may be here briefly indicated.
  The symptoms consequent on  impeded respiration are
more  or  less striking, as well  as rapid in succession, ac-
cording as the  obstruction to it is more or less complete.
Among the earliest are a sensation of distress, and an effort
to dilate the chest.  The struggle is longer or shorter,
according  to circumstances, and  convulsive movements
accompany it, with  suffusion of the face, swelling  of the
veins, protrusion of the eyes, &c.   Torpor, before long, suc-
ceeds—often with a general relaxation even of the sphincter
muscles.  The  heart, however, even now continues for  a
brief period to propel the venous blood it receives from the
pulmonary vessels.  This also ceases, and  life  is  at the
instant of departing.
  In more protracted cases, it has been noticed that there is
less suffusion of the face, but a more extensive discoloration
of the skin, on other parts of the body.
  On examination after death, these spots are found and
they are distinguished from those observed in dead  bodies
kept in one position, by being seen in all parts, and accord-
ing to Dr. Roget, by having their seat chiefly  in the mucous
membrane of the  skin.   Rigidity generally occurs late, but
is more strongly marked, and continues probably longer than 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
61
in other cases of suddeli death.  The eyes are distended and
the pupils prominent.
  A great accumulation of blood is observed in the pulmo-
nary vessels, and in the right auricle and ventricle and their
great veins, while the left auricle  and ventricle are  com-
paratively  empty.  The  liver,  spleen  and  kidneys, are
gorged;  the lungs distended, and the blood thick and dark-
colored,  and but rarely  coagulated.   If the  struggle  has
been violent, the vessels of the head are found full, particu-
larly the veins and sinuses; and a section  of the cerebral
substance exhibits an unusual number of red points,  and
this last is often accompanied with an effusion of serum in
the ventricle.   On the contrary, when the death has been
easy, the vessels of the brain are often natural.
   These are the principal appearances noticed.  There are
others, which will hereafter  be  pointed out  as peculiar to
various causes.
   My limits preclude me from going into detail concerning
the theory of asphyxia.   In addition  to  a  reference to
authorities worthy of  examination, I will only remark, that
the earliest  opinion entertained was, that the cessation of
the motion of the  heart in these cases  was owing " to some
mechanical  impediment  to  the  transmission  of the  blood
through  the  lungs, arresting its course, and preventing its
access to the left auricle.   But the  experiments of Goodwin
and others have sufficiently proved that no such mechanical
obstruction exists, and that even after the fullest expiration,
the air remaining in  the air vesicles of the lungs distends
them sufficiently  to permit the  blood  to circulate  freely
through them."  Hence originated the  opinion that chemical
changes  take place in the blood.  It can no longer be con-
verted from venous into arterial blood, and in this state is
deleterious to the  organs to which  it is sent.   To Goodwin
and Bichat, we are indebted for this theory.  The blood is
supposed by the latter to act on the brain, and through it on
the whole nervous system. Whenever then this  in its
venous state reaches the brain, the loss  of sensibility takes
place, and  not before.  Hence also  the convulsions  that 
62
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
occur.   The  effect of this now poisonous fluid is extended
to the  capillary vessels of the lungs.  They transmit less
and less blood, until  finally the action of the heart ceases,
leaving the right side  full and  the left nearly empty.
  Among later experimenters  on this subject, are Edwards,
Williams, Kay and Alison.  Dr. Williams, from his investi-
gations,  deduced the following  conclusions:  That  the
passage of blood  through the  lungs is  obstructed on the
suspension of respiration, while its circulation through the
other parts of the body is continued; that this obstruction
is not  mechanical, but arises  from the deprivation of pure
atmospheric air; that this obstruction or  interruption  to the
motion of the blood through the lungs, is one of the princi-
pal causes of the emptiness of the arteries after death ; and
finally, that  the immediate cause  of the cessation  of the
action  of the heart, is a privation of its natural stimulus,
arising from the interruption of the movement of the blood
through the lungs.
  The  experiments and  inquiries of Dr. Kay have led him
to the following deductions : That the circulation is arrested
after respiration ceases : because from the exclusion of oxy-
gen and the consequent non-arterialization of the blood, the
minute pulmonary vessels which usually convey arterial
blood,  are incapable of conveying venous blood, which then
stagnates in  the lungs.  The  functions of the muscular
organs cease  in asphyxia, because  the  circulation is thus
arrested in the lungs, and as a result from these  opinions,
he infers that  venous blood does not possess  any  noxious
quality, but is  simply less nutritous and stimulating, than
arterial blood.
   Professor Alison of Edinburgh, presented to the British
Association for the advancement of Science, at its  meeting
in Dublin in  1835, an account of his investigations, and the
following is a brief abstract of them :
   He  considers it well established by the  experiments of
Drs. Williams and Kay, that in ordinary  cases  of asphyxia,
the circulation of the blood is brought  to a stand  not in
consequence  of the  venous  blood  penetrating either the 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
63
nervous or the muscular textures of the body, but in conse-
quence of its gradually failing to penetrate the lungs, and
not being delivered to the left side of the heart, in sufficient
quantity  to  maintain effective actions  there.   Hence the
admission of air into the  lungs in  respiration, is in some
way or other, a powerful auxiliary cause of the circulation
through these organs, and if withdrawn, the contractions of
the right side  soon become ineffectual in propelling  the
blood through the lungs.
   The question then occurs, as to the manner in which the
action  of respiration affords this auxiliary power to the cir-
culation through the lungs.   The doctrine of Haller was,
that the  actions of respiration  are  a merely  mechanical
auxiliary to the circulation, and that  asphyxia depends
simply on the blood stagnating in the lungs, in consequence
 of the suspension of the natural alternate  contractions and
 expansions  of  their  substance.  And  as  the subsequent
 theories of Goodwin and Bichat have both been shown to be
 erroneous,  it is not surprising that  the opinion  of Haller
 should have been revived  and advocated.
    The best method of bringing the theory to the test of ex-
 periment, is to ascertain what occurs in an animal breathing
 a  gas  which contains no  oxygen,  where the mechanical
 change  is  going  on, but  the chemical is suspended.   Dr.
 Alison, therefore,  thought that by  confining an animal in
 azote, not until it became  insensible, but  until its  respira-
 tion became labored, and then taking it out and killing it in-
 stantly,  he might have  an opportunity  of  ascertaining,
 whether the blood fails to make its way through the capilla-
 ries of the lungs, even while the mechanical actions of  res-
 piration are going on with full force.
    A  rabbit was accordingly thus  confined, and then killed
 by a  blow on the  head.  It never inspired afterwards, but
 was strongly convulsed.   On opening the chest, Dr. Alison
 was surprised to find that the right side of the heart con-
 tracted, although  feebly, and that  the movement of the
 blood towards the right side of the heart by the great veins
  likewise continued  to a certain degree.   The right side of 
64
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 the  heart was  distended^with  blood, and the left compara-
 tively empty and motionless.
   It would  thus appear that the  circulation fails equally,
 and is obstructed at the same spot, although the movements
 of respiration continue, if oxygen be not inspired, and that
 air, or a gas containing oxygen, is possessed of a peculiar
 efficacy in promoting the flow of blood through the lungs.
   In what way  then, are we to suppose that the inspired  air
 acts  on the circulation 1   If we suppose it to act as a stimu-
 lus  to the capillaries of the lungs, the  theory is open to
 objection, inasmuch  as it has  not been proved that these
 vessels are capable  of contraction.  On the other hand, if
 we believe it to  cause relaxation or distension, it certainly
 operates differently from what it does on every other vessel
 exposed to it.  Dr. Alison,  therefore, comes to the conclu-
 sion, that the motion of the blood  through  the lungs  is
 partly determined by causes  which are independent of any
 impulse from the solids containing the blood.  And he sug-
 gests that it may be caused by something analogous to what
 Purkinje has discovered  of currents visible in  the air-pas-
 sages of animals, and " that their real cause is more accurate-
 ly expressed by the terms  used by  a recent French author,
 who ascribes them to a jeu d^attraction et repulsion between
 the living fluids and the air."*

  * Edinburgh Med. and Surgical Journal, vol. 45, p. 103.
  I refer those who  are desirous of studying this subject, to the following
 authorities:
  Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, vol. 2, art. Asphyxia, by Savary.
  Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. Asphyxia, by Dr. Roget.
  Copland's Dictionary, art. Asphyxia.
  Mr. Brodie's views, in Paris' Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 16.
  Godwyn, Kite, Kay, on Asphyxia.
  Williams, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journ., vol 19 p 524 • Kay
in do., vol. 29, p. 37 ; and in North of England Med. and Surg.'Journal, vol
 1, p. 453.
  Lancet, N. S. vol. 14, pp. 315, 387.
 Reviews of Kay, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal vol 42  p
216; Medico-Chirurg. Review, vol. 25, p. 92; and London Medical Quarterly
Review, vol. 3, p. 46.                                    ^      J
 Review of Roget, in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol 39 n 394
  Goodwyn's answer to Bichat, Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal  vol 34
p. 74.                                                 '   *  '
 Thomas on Asphyxia, in Lancet, N. S. vol. 9, p. 814.
 Hodge on Sedation, American Journal of Medical Sciences  vol 10  d  104
 An Analysis of Edwards on the Influence of Physical Agents on Life- Me'
dico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 22, p. 1.              °          ' 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
65
  In further noticing this subject, I shall arrange my remarks

under the following subdivisions :

     A.  Of persons found dead from cold.

     B.  Of persons found dead from hunger.

     C.  Of persons found dead from lightning

     D.  Of persons found dead from burns.

     E.  Of persons found dead from wounds.

     F.  Persons found dead from noxious inhalations.

     G.  Of persons found hung.

     H.  Of persons found strangled.

     J.  Of persons found smothered.

     K.  Of persons found drowned.

  The subject of poisoning, as  I have already stated, is  so

extensive, that I shall postpone it to a distinct chapter.

  I may also premise that in many medico-legal cases, a most

difficult question often arises, after all doubt is removed  as

to the immediate cause, and that is,  whether death is owing

to suicide or homicide.  I shall have occasion to notice this


  Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 1, chap. 1.  On Asphyxia.
  Hays' American Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. Asphyxia, by Pro-
 fessor Dunglison.
  Dr. Marshall Hall's Gulstonian Lectures.   (London, 1842.)
  Dr. Jno. Reid  read a paper before the British Association at Glasgow, in
Sept. 1840, " On the manner in which vital actions become suspended in As-
phyxia."  The correct knowledge of this suspension, he stated, depended on
the explanation of the nature of the impediment of the circulation of blood
through the lungs, and of the cause of the arrest of the sensorial  functions.
Three causes have been assigned to explain  the first—the cessation of the
mechanical movements of the chest—the  effect of venous blood on the con-
tractility of the heart—and the  difficulty of  transmitting the  venous blood
through the capillaries of the lungs, when the chemical changes which goon
there have been arrested.  Dr. Reid minutely described  the mode by which
he conducted the experiments entered into,  to decide which of these is the
true explanation, and from  which he concluded that the impediment to the
circulation through the lungs, arose entirely from the cessation  of the chemi-
cal changes, which go forward there in a state of health, and  not upon the
arrestation of mechanical movements in the chest, or the impairment of the
irritability of the  heart by  venous blood. The suspension of the sensibility
in asphyxia was concluded to depend upon the accumulation of venous blood
in the vessels of the brain, and not on the diminished quantity of blood trans-
mitted through these vessels. (Edinburgh Med. and Surgical Journal, voL
55, p. 437.
  In the same work, (vol. 63, p. 1,) will be found, an Experimental Inquiry
into the Pathology and Treatment of Asphyxia, by Mr. Erichsen.  He arrives
at the following conclusions:  That the cause of the stoppage of the circula-
tion in asphyxia is three-fold; depending 1. Upon the arrest of the respiratory
movements. 2. Upon the weakening of the heart's action, and 3.  Upon the
obstruction offered to the blood (propelled with diminished force) by the re-
fusal of the pulmonary veins and minute arteries to receive venous blood.
VOL. II.                       5 
66
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
undermost of the subdivisions, and will now only direct the

reader's attention to some preliminary inquiries.

  The  moral  history of the  individual, should if possible,

be ascertained, his disposition of mind and his  worldly con-

dition.   The insane, we  know, are  very prone to commit

suicide, and therefore any circumstance tending to establish

a disordered state of mind, deserves notice.  It is proper to

ask, whether the individual has met with  any losses or  dis-

appointments,  whether he  has been  solitary  in his habits,

and whether any of his family or connexions,  have an inte-

rest in  his death.   It is sometimes said, that apart from the

influence of fanaticism or insanity,  suicides will generally

select a certain and easy mode of death, but this is too broad

an assertion for all cases.   In some, however, the mode itself

is presumptive either for or against.*

   The  season of the year may have some  effect, and in  very

many instances dissection developes some  chronic affection

of  long standing, which may have had its influence.  Thus

Morgagni  found  in the brains of maniacs an  extraordinary

hardness, and Durande and Fourcroy, along with this condi-

tion, observed, an induration of the liver, and calculi in the

gall-bladder.   Esquirol  and  Osiander  mention  scrofula,

affections  of  the  genitals, organic  diseases  of  the heart,

 chronic  enteritis, &c,  as especially predisposing to the

 commission of suicide.

   Each case, however, has its peculiarities, and demands a

 close and deliberate examination.!

   * " In France, the proportion of suicides to homicides is nearly as five to
 three ; consequently, if a dead body be found in France, without any evidence
 appearing for the cause of death, there is much greater probability of the de-
 ceased having fallen by self-violence, than by the hands of an assassin. If it
 appears that the deceased has died by suffocation or strangulation, the proba-
 bilities  for suicide are so greatly increased, as in the absence of other evidence,
 to justify a verdict."  (Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. 16, p. 108. Amer. Edit.)
 I have strong doubts whether this is  an accurate deduction, as it purports to
 be, from the remarks of Quetelet. At all events, unless hanging  be included
 under the general term strangulation, the probability is certainly, in the in-
 stances specified, directly the opposite.
    f The following  case (from Hecker's Annalen,) in addition to several
  others, that I shall notice particularly, under Wounds, will serve to show the
  difficulty that sometimes happens in discriminating :
    A Silesian butcher caught his wife in the act of adultery.  The effect was
  to drive him into a  state of distraction. He dashed his head several times
  against the wall, but finding this ineffectual, he took a cleaver and struck 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
67
            A. Of persons found dead from cold.

  Death from exposure to cold, if it happens at a distance
from towns or dwellings,  is generally characterised by cir-
cumstances not to be mistaken.  It may,  however, occur in
populous places, and is then more  liable to misconstruction
and suspicion.
  The common and  early effects  of severe cold are sleepi-
ness, stupor and numbness.  The  individual is unwilling to
be roused from  this state, and has no apprehension of its
fatal  consequences.  In the  march from  Moscow,  where,
however, the French soldiers  labored  under the combined
effects both of hunger and cold, the insensibility and dispo-
sition to sleep  often came on while they  were walking.
And although able to continue this for a short time, yet they
could not be made to understand anything addressed to them.
Beaupre remarks, that the muscles of the  trunk were  the
last to lose the power of contraction.   The pulse was  small
and insensible, and there was a quiet delirium present.*
   It is evident that the effects  of  extreme cold,  are  to con-
tract the external capillaries,  and thus  drive the blood to
the internal parts, and  some explain  the  constant tendency
to lethargic apoplexy, to the  determination to the head that
is thus  induced.
   According to  Mr. Brodie, the  effects of cold, are 1.  To
lessen the irritability and impair the functions of the nervous
system.   2. To impair the contractile power of the muscles.
3. To cause contraction of the capillaries, and thus lessen
the superficial circulation, and stop the cutaneous secretion.
As to the mode of its operation  he  imagines,  that " it proba-

himself violently on the forehead with the edge of the instrument  until he
fell dead  from the loss of blood.  It is supposed that he must have inflicted
at least one hundred wounds on himself.
  This was done in the presence of several persons, but suppose  his dead
body had been found with these marks of injury upon it, and no countervail-
ing evidence, would not murder have been suspected ?  (London Medical Re-
pository, vol. 28, p. 83.)
  * Beaupre" on  Cold, translated by Dr. Clendenning.  Larrey's  Surgical
Memoirs, p. 78.  Any thing that weakens  the nervous  system, as hunger,
intoxication, &c. renders the individual insensible to the effects of cold. 
68
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
bly destroys the principle of vitality equally in every part,
and does  not  exclusively disturb  the functions of any par-
ticular organ."*
  We  have but few accounts of dissection  in these cases.
Dr. Kellie of  Leith,  examined  the  bodies of two persons
found dead after a severe storm, on the night of the  3d of
November, 1821.   There was  nothing remarkable in  the
external appearance of either.   But  little blood  flowed on
dividing the  scalp.   The  dura  mater  was  congested  and
suffused, and its sinuses loaded with black blood.  The pia
mater  was turgid and congested.   In each, also, between
three and four ounces of serum were found in the ventricles
and at the base of the brain.  Not only did the appearances
in the head thus correspond in  these two individuals, (a
male and  female,) but even the stomach and small intestines
were precisely similar.  The stomach was of its usual pale
color, the small intestines were deeply colored from a gene-
ral and minute injection of their vessels.  The liver was
congested.
   Dr.  Kellie  does not  deem the effusion of serum a post
mortem production, and inclines  to the opinion that it  was
produced in the short interval between their exposure  and
death.  Its occurrence in  both, is certainly  a forcible argu-
ment in favor  of this supposition; but it may, as in a former
case, have been existing previous to the accident.
   Our author  states that he could  find but one recorded  dis-
section on this subject,  and that is by Quelmalz, in the 6th
volume of Haller's Disputationes.   Here " the  vessels of
the brain were turgid with  blood, and in the ventricles  was
an effusion of  serous lymph."f   Other authorities, as Rosen,
Cappel and Martin, (but all uniting in the same statement,)
are, however, quoted by Kay and Copland.
   As the cases on record  are so few, the following related
by Dr. Vose of Liverpool, may  be added in this place :

   * Paris, vol. 2, p. 61.
   t Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1, p 84  There is also
 a case of recovery from the effects of cold, given by Dr.  Kellie, in the Edin-
 burgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 302. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
69
  A  healthy  boy,  when greatly heated and exhausted by
play, was seen to plunge his head and neck several times in
a vessel of cold water.   The  same night,  his  bedfellow
heard him  rise several times,  when  he  was  attacked  with
violent retching.  On the next morning, he required assist-
ance in dressing, but walked without support into the next
room, complaining  only  of sick-headache.  Dr. Vose  saw
him at 5 P. M. He was in a drowsy state, and moaning in
a low tone.   He was roused when  sharply spoken to, and,
for a short time, would answer coherently to the questions
addressed to  him.   His countenance  was depressed, the
eyes were bloodshot, but bore exposure to the light without
causing suffering.  The pupils were of the natural diameter,
and the iris contracted  readily.   There was no  complaint of
headache  or ringing of the ears.  The breathing was some-
what hurried ; the  abdomen soft,  and free from tenderness ;
the tongue moist, and very white ; and the pulse about 104,
slightly irregular and vibrating.  Upon causing the patient
to sit up, an effort which he was able to make unassisted,
he  became suddenly wild  and  violent in his  manner and
language.  He made rio complaint of  pain, except in such
a manner as  prevented any confidence in his statements:
thus he would, at one  moment, refer his uneasiness to the
side; and when questioned in a few minutes afterwards, he
said it was the shoulders that gave  him pain.  Despite the
absence of any decided local  suffering,  the  restlessness,
alternating with drowsiness and the general expression of
the countenance, were such as to excite great apprehensions
of his safety.
  Dr. Vose  directed leeches  to the head, a blister to the
nape of the neck,  and  the  exhibition of a mercurial purge,
but, in less than two hours after his visit, he was sent for in
great haste,  and found his patient dead.  It  had not been
 preceded  by convulsions or spasms.
   Dissection, twenty-four hours after  death.   There was more
than the  ordinary amount  of cadaveric congestion  at the
 surface.   The blood was  universally fluid.  The external
 coverings of the cranium were singularly exsanguine.  The 
70
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
meningeal vessels  were minutely injected;  those of the

substance of the brain were in  a similar state.   There was

no  effusion either  between  the membranes or  into any of

the cavities of the brain, nor could any softening be detect-

ed anywhere.  The morbid appearances were those which

indicate extreme congestion.  The encephalon was of large

size, and weighed 3| pounds.

  The lungs were very closely connected with the costal pleura

by broad,  short adhesions :  these were all cellular.   There

was no fluid in  either  pleura; and  the substance of the

lungs, with the exception of the inferior lobe of that upon

the left side, was healthy.   The upper three-fourths of the

lobe  were condensed,  friable,  and of a deep purple color.

Upon examining the  surface of the  inflamed lobe, where it

had been incised, its areolar structure was seen to be oblite-

rated and  the granular  appearance characteristic of hepati-

zation,  was distinct.   The  pleura,  where investing the

affected part  of the  lung,  was  crusted by  two or three

patches of albuminous exudation:  these were thin,adherent

to the membrane, and apparently recent.*

  * Edinburgh Monthly Journal Med. Science, vol. 1, p. 190.  Dr. Vose, in
his remarks  on this interesting case, says that it is by no means an anoma-
lous one. All are familiar with the dangerous results to Alexander from
plunging, when worn out with toil, into the waters of the Cydnus.  Dr.
Franklin once knew an instance of  four  young men, who, having worked at
the harvest  in the heat of the day, with a view of refreshing themselves,
plunged  into a spring of cold water : two died on the spot: a third, the next
morning; and the fourth recovered with great difficulty.  Dr. Currie, also,
in his Reports, gives an account of an individual who, after a fatiguing jour-
ney on foot, plunged, at the close of the day, into a stream of water.  " No
reaction succeeded, but a feverish chill remained for some time, with small,
frequent pulse, and flying pains over the body.  Warm liquids and friction
brought on, at last, considerable heat;  and, towards morning, perspiration
and sleep followed.   Next day, this person was extremely feeble, and, though
he had only  to perform a short distance he was obliged to take the assistance
of a carriage."
  Such are the facts on this subject, but their causes have been as yet but
imperfectly  studied.  Dr. Edwards has  done little more, when speaking of
the momentary effects of cold to the surface, than to announce  his arrival, by
a series of inductive experiments, at the knowledge of a fact, valuable if it
do no more than indicate the  fallacy of former opinions, and' furnish a clue
to future research.  He observes :—" There is  more than the prolongation
of a strong impression from the exposure to cold, more than a simple affec-
tion of the nervous system : there is an  alteration of function, a diminution
in the production of heat."
  The appearances found on dissection, according to Dr. Vose, closely resem-
ble those detailed by Dr. Kellie, of Leith, in an account which he has pub-
lished of two instances of death from exposure to cold. In his cases as in
Dr. Vose's, very little blood escaped upon  dividing the investments  of the 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
71
  The absence of any marks of injury is a guide in cases of
this kind, especially when other circumstances  point to the
cause in question.   " When a person is found dead from the
effects of extreme cold, there are no marks of external vio-
lence, or internal suffering.  The body lies as if in a  deep
and calm sleep, without any external appearances to guide
us  as  to the cause of death, except perhaps a swelling of
the extremities, which has  come on prior to death."*
   As a supplement to this division, I must say a few words
on sudden  death  from drinking cold  water.   Dr. Rush was
the first writer who distinctly noticed it.   He states, that
during the warm weather of summer, but seldom unless the
heat is above 85°, as many as four or five persons have died
in a day, from drinking a large  quantity of cold water.-  The
symptoms induced  were dimness of sight, muscular weak-
ness,  so that  the  patient suddenly falls down,  difficult
breathing, rattling in the throat, suffused countenance, livid
 extremities, imperceptible pulse, and death, all in the course
 of some five or ten minutes.  Others again were seized with
 spasms, and died in them.
   The fatal consequences at the season in question, are not,
 according to Dr.  Rush, restricted to cold water alone,  as he
 has known  punch, beer or toddy, drunk under similar cir-
cumstances, to produce equally fatal effects.
   It  has, however,  been strongly questioned, whether the
cold  drink  is  so important  an  agent in  producing  these

 cranium, while, internally, extreme turgesence of the meningeal vessels was
 noticed.
   " The unequivocal signs of inflammation, presented by the lungs in this
case, is a singular and  apparently inexplicable occurrence, from the. very
few hours which elapsed between death and the enjoyment of perfect health,
 and, during which, the patient had no symptoms of pectoral affection.
   * Dunlop's M. S. Lectures on  Medical Jurisprudence.   Dr. Ozanam of
 Lyons, mentions the following case, as another mode in which cold may cause
 death.   A cruel stepmother, after a long course of ill  treatment by beating
 and starvation, took her daughter, aged eleven, on a cold morning in Decem-
 ber, and forced her to enter a barrel filled with water.  Although extricated
 by a servant after some  time, she was  again replaced by the brutal mother,
 and in it she died.  On the trial for this crime she was condemned  to im-
 prisonment for life.  This refined species of cruelty, remarks Dr. Ozanam,
 presents a new subject for inquiry in  legal medicine.  There was no sub-
mersion, nor the ordinary effects of cold, nor any internal lesion, but an ac-
 tual assideration, (a word which  I confess I do not understand,) produced
 by the external application of cold. (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 6, p. 207.) 
72
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
effects, as was supposed.  It is urged that the heat of the
body  varies  but  little at any time; that farmers  during
harvest, constantly drink water drawn from wells, which is
decidedly colder  than the water in cities, and  yet these
effects are unknown in the country.   Again, Dr. Dickson of
Charleston, South Carolina, a  city in the "fervid  south,"
states that such cases are unknown there.  He  has never
heard of one during the whole period of his  practice, and
yet ice and iced  waters  are in constant use.   An  English
traveller, speaking of Naples,  observes, " It surprises some
strangers to see that the  Neapolitans, at the hottest time of
the day,  and when  they  are in a state of the  most profuse
perspiration, from the effects of work, or of walking in the
broiling sun, will stop before one of these temples and take
off a large glass full of the coldest water at a draught and
with impunity.  But this they  all do daily in the hottest
weather several times in the course of the day.   We believe,
also, that few foreigners live long at Naples, without doing
precisely the same thing and with just the same impunity."*
  These  discordant  observations inclined many physicians
to believe that a state of  commencing apoplexy was present
in many  of the  instances, induced by the heat of the sun,
or isolation as it is called, by the exhaustion from severe labor,
for it is  generally laborers who  are  attacked, and by the
previous irregular habits, since some, though not by any
means all, had been intemperate.  The drinking of a large
quantity  of cold water at once, when these symptoms were
impending, and the  patient  already feels a great  degree of
muscular debility, was supposed to have a decided effect in
producing the instant developement of the attack.
   The whole matter has been elucidated by the observations
and researches of M. Guerard.  From his elaborate essay
on this subject, the following remarks are condensed :
   The causes of the dangerous and even fatal effects  from
drinking cold liquids when heated, are—injuries of innerva-
tion—affections of the digestive apparatus, and affections of
the circulating system.
                * Penny Magazine, 1834, p. 348. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
73
  The nervous symptoms are violent local pains, trismus,
various spasmodic phenomena and sudden death.   Those of
the two last classes, are inflammations of the digestive  and
circulating systems.
  In illustration of the first cause assigned, Guerard asserts,
that every species of cold liquid, (wine and beer, as well as
water,) will  produce these dangerous effects, if taken when
the body is heated by  exercfse or  violent  passion,  and
further that it is not the coldest liquids that will cause this, but
those having the ordinary  temperature of cellars, viz.,  about
53° of Fahrenheit.   So far as cases have come to his  know-
ledge,  liquids  of this  temperature most  certainly  induce a
fatal termination, and not those cooled down to zero or
below it.
  If this be  correct, we are not warranted in ascribing these
fatal results to a purely  physical cause.   The heat of the
body,  even  when highly  excited by a warm  temperature,
violent exercise, and even disease, is at its greatest possible
maximum at 107° (42° centigrade) and a glass of water at
53°, drunk under these circumstances, causes death.  But on
the other hand, if  the body be not  heated, we can drink
water  cooled  down to 32° in winter and  even  spring, with
impunity, although the animal heat be 98°.  A difference in
the former case  of only 54°, whilst in the latter, it  is 66.
  This diversity is, according to our author, to be explained
by  the fact, that in the  former case, the temperature  has
been excited beyond its natural limit, and a corresponding
result  has thus  been induced in the vital properties,  and
more particularly, in the  sensibility.
  Among the  remarkable  cases, mentioned by  M.  Guerard,
explanatory of the  second cause, is that  of a bookbinder in
Edinburgh.   This  person, enjoying excellent  health, arose
at  six in the  morning, to light his fire, and then drank a
large tumbler  of cold water from a pitcher.  He returned to
bed, and was  immediately seized with a  violent pain at the
pit of his stomach.  To this, after intense sufferings,  suc-
ceeded vomiting, which could not be checked.   Death took 
74
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
place in eleven  hours, and  on dissection, no appreciable
lesion could be discovered.
  Here are conditions analogous to those noticed under the
first head.   The body was warm from the heat of the bed ;
the stomach empty.  The water cooled down to the temper-
ature of the room,  and  probably  near zero, and  drank
suddenly.
  In other instances, the result has been gangrene or dropsy.
A Marechal de Logis, carrying a despatch in great haste on a
very warm day, took a single draught from a bottle of beer
that stood in ice.   He died in consequence in five days, and
the stomach  was found inflamed and gangrenous.   It is
remarkable, that liquids less cold cause death instantaneous-
ly.   M.  Guerard endeavors  to  explain this  variance,  by
their different effects on the nervous extremities distributed
over the mucous coat.  In the first case, the ice cold liquids
paralyze as it were the nervous filaments, and the impression
received by them is not communicated to the cerebro-spinal
centre.  In the last, the  constriction is less  considerable,
and the  impression on the nervous organization is transmit-
ted to the whole system.  Thus, the disorder,  which, in the
former case was  confined to the stomach, is  now  by the
action induced, a general one.
  As to the third division, viz. the effects on the circulating
system,  M. Guerard adduces several instances  of haemopty-
sis,  caused  by drinking  cold water, when the  body was
heated, and in a state of profuse perspiration.  The follow-
ing also illustrates the medical jurisprudence of former days.
The dauphin,  son  of Francis the First, whilst heated and
perspiring from playing tennis, drank a glass of cold water.
He died, in consequence, of pleurisy, which  supervened.
Soon the cry of poisoning was  heard throughout France.
The count  Montecuculi, cup-bearer  to the prince, was put
to the torture, and in his agonies  confessed  that he had
added arsenic to the water.  He was drawn asunder by four
horses.
  Pneumonia is  a frequent consequence of imprudence in
the use  of cold water. 
                   PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.                 'O

  In  conclusion,  the author  recapitulates  the  conditions
which induce these grave accidents ; the previous heating of
the body; an  empty condition of the stomach; the great
quantity of drink  swallowed  at a  draught'; and  lastly, and
of less importance than any of the former, the temperature
of the fluid.   In addition to the facts already  mentioned, he
urges the circumstance that ice  never causes  such  fatal
terminations.
  The emptiness of  the stomach must accelerate the result,
since the  liquid  comes in direct  contact with the mucous
coat.  So  also, if a  large quantity be swallowed, it reaches
a large  portion of the surface.   Ice, on the  contrary, as it
melts slowly, can only produce a limited effect.*
  The rapidity with which the bodies of  persons thus dying,
pass into putrefaction, and the season of the  year, have pre-
vented us from deriving any information by means of dis-
 sections.  The publicity and alarm that is  excited, is gene-
 rally sufficient to exclude the idea of violence, t

           B.  Of persons found dead from hunger.

   The crime of permitting or causing individuals to die from
 hunger, is  no doubt rare in civilised countries.  Instances
 have, however,  happened;  and  an account  of  the  appear-
 ances observed after death is therefore proper.
   The  body  is much emaciated, and a foetid, acrid odour
 exhales from it, although death may have been very recent.
 The eyes  are red and open.  This appearance is uncommon
 from other causes of death.   The tongue and throat are dry,
  * Bulletin de l'Academie Royale de  Medecine.  (Paris, Jan'y. 25, 1842.
 vol.  7, p. 304.)
  f  The following are the principal American authorities on this subject: ^
  Rush on the disease occasioned by drinking cold water in warm weather, in
 Medical Inquiries and Observations, vol, 1, p. 181, 2d edition.
  Dr. Higginson, in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 3, p. 289.
  Dr. Watts, in New York Medical and Surgical Register, p. 81.
  Prof. Dickson, in American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 3, p. 262.
  Prof. T. D. Mitchell, in North American Medical and Surg. Journal, vol.
 10, p. 379.
  Dr. Brewster, in Chapman's Journal, N. S. vol. 2, p. 98.
  Dr. Bartlett, in Boston Medical Magazine, vol. 3, p. 86, 174.
  Most of these writers concur in considering the phenomena as altogether
 those of apoplexy. New  York, Philadelphia, Boston and Albany, seem to be
 the places in which most  of these sudden deaths occur. 
76
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
even to aridity, and the stomach and intestines, are contract-
ed and empty: this last mark has been repeatedly noticed.
Haller dissected the body of a person  who destroyed him-
self by hunger,  and found  the organs in question entirely
empty ; not the least vestige of fseces was to be seen in the
intestines.    The  gall-bladder  is  puffed   with  bile,  and
this  fluid  is  found  scattered over  the  stomach  and  in-
testines, so as to tinge them very extensively.   The  lungs
are  withered, but all the  other  organs are  generally in a
healthy state.  The blood-vessels are usually  empty.*
  Prof. Horner, in consequence of some observations made
by  him, is of opinion that the substance of the brain in these
cases becomes many shades lighter than natural,  showing
the  destitution of  red blood.  This  is  confirmed by a case
below.f
  There is, however, some distinction to be taken between
the effects  of death from fasting,  or from hunger.   The for-
mer is slower in its progress, and consequently may occa-
sionally present appearances different  on  dissection.   An
Italian  writer has recently endeavored  to  designate  these,
  * Fodere, vol.  2, p. 276; vol.3, p.  231, who quotes the observations of
Morgagni, Redi, Valsalva and Haller.
  London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 15, p. 510.  Case of death from
spontaneous abstinence,  by Dr. Desgenettes of Paris.  Here the lungs were
sound, but the gall-bladder and stomach were in the state described above.
  American Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, art. Abstinence, by Dr. Hays.
He quotes the case of a  prisoner, who, in two months, starved himself to
death at Toulouse.  The brain was paler than usual; the lungs nearly natu-
ral;  oesophagus contracted, but not the stomach, which contained a little
fluid; the lower portion of the small intestines red, softened, and highly in-
jected ; large intestines natural, and containing faecal matter; the gall-blad-
der much distended with black, thick bile; the muscles much attenuated.
  In  Kelsey's case, (related by Dr. McNaughton, in the Transactions of the
Albany Institute, vol. 1, p. 113,) who lived for fifty-three days on water
alone, the stomach was loose and flabby, and the mesentery, stomach and in-
testines  extremely thin and transparent; the  gall-bladder as in all the pre-
ceding cases.
  Case by Dr. Sloan.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 17, p. 264, 389.  An in-
dividual Lwas confined for twenty-three days  in the Kilgramie Coal Works
Ayrshire.  He survived three days after being discovered and extricated'
His bowels acted only once when  in the pit, but he made water freely  He
had  no  stools during the last three days, except from  injections  which
brought away very black and foetid matter.  His intellect was perfect until
his death.   On dissection, the brain and its membranes were found healthy
but there were fewer marks of blood-vessels than usual.   The omentum had
almost disappeared.  The stomach and  intestines were healthy, and the gall-
bladder was distended with bile.                          '       s
  t  Horner's Pathological Anatomy, p. 360. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
77
and mentions  as among  the  peculiar results of death from
huno-er, inflammation of the stomach and intestines, and a
rapid tendency to putrefaction.*   Of the two, however, the
last is more frequently mentioned than the first.
  Collard de  Martigny's experiments on animals  tend to
elucidate  this subject.   He starved dogs and rabbits, and
the effects were excessive emaciation, and a  diminished size
and  colorless state  of the muscles.   The heart and  large
vessels contained but little blood, and the lungs were empty ;
the viscera generally  pale, but the gall-bladder large and
distended with limpid, greenish-yellow  bile ; the  stomach
contracted, as were  also the intestines, which last  were
tinged with bile.   In three cases only, out of eighteen, did
he  find any marks of inflammation  in the digestive  canal.
The quantity  of fibrin in the blood was sensibly diminished.
He does not seem to have examined the brain.f
   Still later, the experiments of Chossat have added to our
 knowledge of this subject.   They obtained for him the gold
 medal for Experimental Physiology in 1841, from the Royal
 Academy of Sciences in Paris.   His memoirs were publish-
 ed in 1843, and I will only  quote  from them such observa-
 tions as  immediately concern the subject  of  Legal Medi-
 cine.
   M. Chossat's experiments were  made on pigeons, turtle-
 doves,  common fowls, guinea pigs, rabbits, and several of
 the cold-blooded animals, as frogs, tortoises, serpents, &c.
   Forty-eight warm-blooded animals of  all the species were
 totally deprived of  food and drink, and the first important
 point  ascertained was the constant but gradual diminution
 of weight.  If the  loss of the first day be abstracted, the
 loss of weight till  towards the close of life was nearly the
 same each day.  The first day always  exhibited a greater
 amount of loss, in consequence of the bowels evacuating
 the remains of the last food.   All this being otherwise equal
 and taking a period equally distant from the hour at which

   * American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 1,  p. 472.
   t North American Medical and Surgical Journal,  vol.  7, pp. 196, 221, (from
 Magendie's Journal.) 
78
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
 inanition began, the loss was great in proportion to the bulk
 of the body.   Towards the end of life, an increased amount
 of diurnal loss in weight was observed—a circumstance at-
 tributable to the increased amount of alvine evacuations, or
 even smart diarrhoea, which often then occurred.
  One of the most interesting points ascertainedbyM. Chossat
 was the absolute average amount of weight lost before death
 took  place.  The average  result  of all his experiments,
 whether with fat or lean  animals, showed that before death
 ensued the weight of the body was  reduced  four-tenths of
 what  it had been when  they were shut up to be starved.
 And when this occurs death ensues.  But it may be modifi-
 ed by circumstances.   Thus, if the animal be loaded with
 fat, it sometimes  lives till it has lost five-tenths or one-half
 of its weight.   Age, also, exerts a powerful  modifying in-
 fluence.  Very young  animals  often die after losing  only
 two-tenths of their weight, and the loss in them never ex-
 ceeds four-tenths.
  The time which an  animal, deprived of all sustenance,
will live, varies much.  In birds and mammalia, the average
 duration of life under starvation was nine days.  The maxi-
mum,  however, was twenty days and a  half,  and the mini-
mum was  a little  more than two  days.  Here,  again, age
 exerted a powerful modifying  influence.   In very  young
animals death occurred by the end of the second day, while,
in adult animals,  the average duration  of life  was from
fifteen to eighteen days.   It is, however, a remarkable  cir-
 cumstance that the longer life was prolonged, or to be  pro-
longed,  the less  was the amount  of daily loss, and  the
sooner death occurred, the more rapid was the diurnal loss
 of weight.
  The next series of experiments, undertaken by M. Chos-
sat, was  conducted on the principle of allowing a very
insufficient quantity of food.  For some animals there was
 given a very limited  supply of both food and  drink; to
 others, insufficient solid food alone; and to a third water
 only. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
79
  In the first series  it was singular  to remark, that, when
they died, their  loss of weight was found to be very nearly
the same as if they had been totally deprived of food.  The
duration of life was, however, nearly double.
  A supply of water seemed to prolong life in reptiles, and
somewhat lengthened it in quadrupeds, but had no influence
on that of birds.   The water, however, must be voluntarily
taken, since if forced to swallow a quantity equal to  their
daily loss of weight, their lives were shortened.
   As animals killed by starvation thus lose four-tenths of
their weight, it became a matter of importance to ascertain
what organs of the body had been chiefly attacked to supply
this loss.  The fat of course first disappears, but this is not
an essential organ.  It is  the  muscular  system, and the
heart  in  particular, which  bears almost  the whole  loss.
Hence, a softened state of the muscular system.   The ner-
 vous system appeared to have lost none of its original volume
 or weight, though  every  other organ  of the  body  was
 reduced both in volume or weight.
   The animal heat falls rapidly in animals that are starved,
 and death occurs in warm-blooded animals when the tem-
 perature falls  as  low as 76° T%\ Fahrenheit.   This is  the
 temperature  at which  animals  die  which are plunged  in
 refrigerant mixtures, and we may, therefore, infer that death
 ensues in consequence of the cooling of the body below
 what is sufficient for the purpose of life.
   Symptoms of starvation.—The animal remains calm from
 the beginning of the experiment till the half of the period
which  they live,  or  nearly the  whole  period is expired.
 After this they become more or less  agitated; and this state
 continues as  long as the animal heat keeps tolerably high.
 On the  last  day, they fall  into a state of stupor, attended
 with a rapidly increasing weakness.  The animal shakes
 when it  stands,  and seems giddy;  the  feet are cold and
 livid, and contracted like a  ball.   The respiration becomes
 more  and more feble and slow; and  sensibly diminishes;
 the pupil of the eye dilates, and the  animal dies, sometimes 
80
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 tranquilly,  sometimes  after a  few  spasms, or  convulsive
 movements of the wings, or opisthotonos of the body.
   The feculent discharges  were, as already  stated, copious
 on the  first day, being  the remains of the food  previously
 taken, but were small in quantity afterwards.   During the
 last three days of life, however, they augmented in quantity,
 and presented the appearance of colliquative diarrhoea.  The
 weight of these feculent discharges, was intimately connect-
 ed with the diurnal loss of weight, and with the  exception
 of the age,  nothing appeared to  possess a greater influence
 on the probable duration of life than the nature and quantity
 of  this  discharge;  the  duration of life  and the quantity
 evacuated were always in the inverse ratio of one another.
   The cerebral functions seem to remain entire till towards
 the end of life.
   As M. Chossat's experiments led  him  to conclude that
 death eventually occurs  from the cooling of the body below
 what is  necessary  for life, he was also induced  to inquire
 whether an animal, just expiring, could be brought back to
 life  and  strength, if it were plunged  into an elevated tem-
 perature.  The  result was  a favorable one.  When placed
in a heated stove, the animals gradually, but slowly revived.
 The appetite returned, but digestion did nol; take place unless
the temperature was kept up at its  elevated point.  This
 last, however, gradually regained its  power, and thus  the
 natural  animal heat was restored.   There were, however,
 exceptions  to this, the  animal dying, notwithstanding his
 partial recovery, after successive attacks of convulsions.*
  Dr. Duncan, whose authority on  all subjects  connected
with the science is of great value, remarked, in  a clinical
lecture delivered not long  before his  lamented death, that
" it was a matter of notoriety, when persons  in health were
deprived of their usual food, or when animals were starved
  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 30, p. 457, and Edinburgh  M. and S. Journal,
 vol. 61, p. 156.  Casper  reports a case of attempted starvation in a convict
 who persisted eleven days in refusing food.  His  mind was not affected, and
 although the urine was nearly suppressed, and the fetal discharge altogether
 so, yet the chemical qualities of the  latter were not altered   He  finally
 &«ch*i845?  ^Sl17 t0°k f°°d-   (EnCycl°P- Des- Science* Medicales 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
81
for experiment, that the intestines were found inflamed and
ulcerated; this circumstance has also been remarked in some
recent cases of criminal  trials for wilful murder  by starva-
tion."*
   As several of the signs enumerated are characteristic and
peculiar, they  will  serve  to exclude the other causes  of
violent death.
   But there will  be more difficulty in discriminating it from
death through natural causes.   The duty  of the  medical
jurist in these cases, according to Mr. Taylor,  consists
1. In  determining that there has been  no  other probable
cause of death.   2. In stating  how far the  pathological
condition of the body coincides with the general evidence
in favor of death from starvation, and 3. In not giving an
opinion merely from the appearances of the body, if the general
evidence should not support the presumption of death  from
starvation.^
   In 1768, the daughter of a notary at  Nevers, in  France,
aged  fifteen, died of an unknown disease.  She had been
already buried, when it was rumored abroad that her father
had  caused her  death  by hunger.  The information laid
before the judge  was of  such a nature, that  he  directed the
arrest of the parent, and the disinterment of the body.  This
was twenty-four  hours after the  burial.   The report of the
medical examiners was as follows :
   The  whole body  is extremely emaciated.   The  skin  is
very thin, and its color livid; an unpleasant odor is exhaled;
the eyes  are open and  red; contusions and  excoriations
appear on various  parts of the body; and the anus and va-
gina are covered with small white worms in great quantity,
and these parts, and particularly the first, are much excoria-
ted and  dilated.  On opening  the body, the stomach was
seen in a healthy state, containing a wine glass full of serous,
greenish bile ;  the pylorus was contracted ;  the duodenum,
together with the  right side of the ileum and jejunum, was

  * Lancet, N. S. vol. 6, p. ,449.         rf Med. Jurisprudence, p. 244.
  VOL. II.                   6 
82                PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

inflamed; the gall-bladder was swelled with bile, and the in-
testines were entirely empty.   The  remainder of the visce-
ra, together with those of the thorax and head, were in a
healthy state, except that the right lung was a little withered.
The report concluded by giving an opinion, that the girl had
died in a state of extreme weakness  and languor,  but it as-
signed no cause.
   Public opinion continued  to implicate  the  parents, and
they sought  a defender in the celebrated Petit, from whom
an answer  to the following questions  was  requested:  1.
Whether the facts stated above were sufficient to prove that
the child died  from hunger 1  2. Whether there was any
circumstance  to indicate that a length of time had elapsed
between the death and burial 1  To both these, he  answered
in the negative,  and for the following reasons: Extreme
emaciation is rather a proof of long illness, than of starva-
tion ; because it is very common for persons of a tolerable
degree of fatness, when they refuse food, to die before they
lose much flesh.  The emptiness of the intestines was more
indicative  of colliquative diarrhoea from long disease, than
of any other  cause.  The  state of the gall-bladder proved,
(in Petit's opinion) nothing  on one side  or the other, nor
did the excoriations, while the natural state of the stomach
was an argument against death by famine, since in such cases,
that organ is  observed to be much contracted.  Finally, the
worms might have been present in the parts for some time
before death, nor was the  smell of the body by any means
so offensive as to indicate putridity of long standing.  On
these grounds, though unwilling to assign a cause of death,
he was decidedly of opinion that famine had not induced the
fatal termination.*

.  'J* forme£ editions, I used or rather adopted the remark of Fodere\ that
m this case, Petit appears rather as the advocate of the accused than  the
impartial investigator of truth.  On further reflection, and principally in
consequence of the animadversions of Mr. Taylor, I am disposed to cancel
much of this censure.   Still the case comes very nearly under the rules of
Mr. Taylor as already quoted.               '     7 Unaer the rules 0I
   Petit would have been justified in stating that the morbid annearances  did
not prove the fact of death by starvation, but I can hardly! ?E theGene-
ral and medical  testimony together, agree to the positive wsSi thSfa
mine had not caused the fatal termination.     P«»"^e assertion that la- 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.                  83
  On the trial, it was conclusively proved, that the parents
had been guilty of  mal-treatment, and though  after  the
opinion of Petit, their lives could not  be affected, yet the
father was sentenced to the galleys for life, and the mother
to perpetual banishment.*
  " Starvation is rare as an act of homicide, but it must not
be supposed that  the law implies by this, the absolute pri-
vation  of food; for if that which  is furnished to a person
be insufficient in quantity, or of improper quality, and death
be  a consequence,  malice  being at the same time proved,
then the offender  equally  subjects himself to a charge of
murder.f
         C.  Of persons found dead from lightning.


  As to death by lightning, it may be remarked,  that it  is

usually distinguished by a variety  of appearances.   Some-

times the viscera are destroyed, without any external mark

being present; while in others, there is nothing but a small

hole.   Again there will  be great external injury  observed;

but the most common  accompaniments are discolorations of

the  skin, generally in  the form of streaks.   These are of a

red color ; and  it has been remarked, that they are  peculiarly

to be traced in the direction of the  spine.   Others again

receive wounds, or the integuments are extensively  burnt,

and blisters  form.|

  * Fodere, vol. 3, p. 223.  In addition  to the references on this subject, I
may quote, Cyclopedia of Practical  Medicine, art. Abstinence, by Dr. Mar-
shall Hall.  Copland's Dictionary, art. Abstinence.   A case by Mr. Griffith,
London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 43, p. 99.  Percival's  Essays,
vol. 2, p. 260.  Lancet,  N. S. vol. 2, p. 158;  vol. 3, p. 486.  Dr.  Ogston's
Case of Melanosis of the Stomach, Edin. Med. and Surg. Jour. v. 38, p. 259.
A case by Mr. Tompkins, in which the morbid appearances strikingly cor-
respond with those given in the text.  Lancet, N. S. vol. 21, p. 904.
  t Taylor's Med. Jurisprudence, p. 247.
  X In illustration of this, I may refer to the following:  the case of Mr.
Boddington and his lady, both struck by lightning in England.   The injuries
received by her_were actual wounds, while his were only  burns.  (London
and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 1, p. 191.)  Very extensive
burns, with a raising of the  epidermis.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 41, p. 493.)  The epidermis nearly destroyed, and the hair
burnt, a French case.  (Lancet, N. S. vol. 6, p. 910.)  Two German cases,
one with livid streaks, and the other, extensive burns.  (Lancet, vol. 7, pp.
255, 445.)  Extensive blistering of the skin.  (New York Medical and Sur-
gical Register,  p. 55,) case by professor  Stevens.  Extensive and numerous
burns and all the clothes in rags, while the boots were torn in pieces. Lan- 
 84                 PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.

   The bodies of those killed in this manner, are generally,
 but not always flaccid, and the blood is, on the authority of
 John Hunter, said to be  fluid.   We have, however, too few
 dissections to warrant a positive statement.
   Professor Sharpey not  long  since,  made the  following
 observations:
   " Some attribute great influence to the nervous system in
 coagulation, and have said that in destruction of the nervous
 centres,  lightning,  poisoning by  narcotics,  prussic  acid,
 death from mental emotion, &c, the blood  does not  coagu-
 late.  The  blood  perhaps remains  longer fluid  in these
states, but it does coagulate.   Previous  results are either in
 error or may be explained away."*
   As to the cause  of death by lightning, two theories  have
been maintained.   John Hunter supposed that there was an
instantaneous and total destruction of the vital  principle in
every part of the body, and consequently that the muscles
are  relaxed and  incapable  of  contraction.  Hence their
flaccidity, the fluidity of the blood, and a rapid  tendency to
putrefaction.  Mr.  Brodie,  on the other  hand, concludes
from his experiments that this does not take place; but  that
in a majority of cases,  the effects of lightning are expended
chiefly  in  disturbing  or destroying the  functions  of the
brain.  He  found the heart acting  in an animal apparently
dead from an electric shock.   In this way also,  he explains

cet, N. S. vol. 24, p. 681.  In an instance of five persons struck, and  three
instantly killed, no  mark of external injury was found on two of  these,
and on the third, only a burnt spot, of a size of a dollar, under the right ax-
illa  In the fourth, who recovered, there was an abrasion of the skin on the
right shoulder, her clothes were rent  into shreds and the right side of the
body was blistered and marked by discolored streaks.  Le Conte in Forry's
New York Jour, of Medicine, vol. 3, p. 296.
  " It is  the opinion of medical jurists, that the electric fluid does  not pro-
duce burns on the body unless some parts of the clothes be ignited, and then
of course, the burning is an indirect result.   In cases that have been care-
fully observed, where the dress of the individual has escaped combustion, the
wound produced which had penetrated beyond the surface presented merely
the characters of lacerated punctures, exactly resembling stabs with a blunt
dagger '   (Review of Nicolai, in British and Foreign Medical Review, vol.
lb, p. <4.
  * Quoted in Lancet. N. S., vol. p. 31, p. 864
■  f1*' J°h?M u7 ^eseaf£nes Physiological'and Anatomical) mentions an
instance at Malta, where the  blood was fluid and the fingers contracted and
rigid. He is disposed to ascribe the usual condition of SoXto the rapid
progress of putrefaction.                                '       *" 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
85
the many symptoms imitating apoplexy or affections  of the

head, which arise from injury of this nature.*

   In making up an  opinion in a doubtful case, much depends

on the  place and situation where the body is  found.   If a

person  be  dead in an  open  place, or under  a tree, shortly

after  a  thunder storm, with the  ordinary  appearances  now

enumerated, we may attribute his death to  lightning;  and

particularly so, if  any metallic  substances  about him are

found melted, and his clothes torn or burnt, while dissection

exhibits nothing adverse to the idea.f


  * Thus Dr.  Macauley, (Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol.
1, p. 360,) found apoplexy to succeed, with all its external appearances, and
in two other cases, epilepsy.   Mr. Godfrey, Surgeon of the Cambrian,  (Lon-
don Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 47, p. 369,) relates of a sailor struck
dumb and blind. Deafness is not at all an uncommon result;  so  also paraly-
sis.   Dr. Young (American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 13, p. 54,) and
Dr. Stevens, both observed dilated pupils.
  f Many cases of death or  injury  by lightning, together with the appear-
ances observed are to be found in the Philosophical Transactions. See vol. 1, p.
222, 247 ;  vol. 5, p. 2084; vol. 19, p. 311;  vol. 20, p. 5 ; vol. 21, p.  51; vol.
22, p. 577 ; vol. 26, p. 137 ; vol. 33, p. 366; vol. 34, p. 118 ;  vol. 36, p. 444;
vol. 48, p. 86; vol. 51,  p. 38 , vol. 52,  p. 515; vol. 62,  p. 131; vol. 63, pp.
177, 231; vol. 66,_p. 493 ; vol. 71, p. 42 ;  vol. 77, pp. 61, 130 : vol. 80, p. 293.
There is also  an  interesting account of the celebrated death of Richman, at
St. Petersburgh, vol. 49, p.  61.  Another of Lomonossoff, will be found in
Dr. Granville's Travels to St. Petersburgh, v. 2, p. 112.  There was only a
red spot on his forehead, the legs were blue, and one shoe was torn, but not
burnt.
  I find the following in the works quoted below:
  On Death from Lightning.—By Professor Caressi.  Read at the Scien-
tific Congress, held at Turin in September, 1840.
  Professor Puccinotti, in his Treatise on Legal Medicine, announces a sign
of death from lightning, which is not imitable by human malice, and may
therefore be considered as pathognomonic.
  The eyes of those who  are killed by lightning, are found brilliant and pro-
truding, so that the eyelids cannot be closed  over them.   It is exactly in the
two lateral segments of the albuginea thus left open, that the sign in question
is observed, and which may be considered as a sanguineous capillary  infil-
tration, or an electrical  burning.  It consists in dark bloody spots, of a coni-
cal form, and  much resembling an  inverted pterigium. They occupy the
Bide of each  eye, with their  basis towards the iris  and their acute angles
corresponding to the internal and external angles of each eye.
  This mark of death from lightning, is usually accompanied with an injury
of the epidermis resembling a burn.  Small portions of it are found separated,
and rolled up  and crisp,  and sometimes wounds of an oval shape are noticed,
passing from right to left in an oblique direction, and extending into the sub-
cutaneous cellular tissue.
 _ Professor Puccinotti is disposed to  attach equal importance to both of these
signs as characteristic of this kind of violent death.   Not so, however, with
Professor Carresi.   In three cases, seen by him at different times, the dark
bloody spots in the eyes were invariably present, but the injuries to the epi-
dermis of the wounds were wanting.  In one case only, there was on the
back of the right arm, an apparent hardness and scorching of the skin, sur-
rounded by an areola.  Its size was about an inch, and its shape quadrangu-
lar.  (Archives de la Medecine Beige, vol. 4, p. 217.) 
86
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
            D. Of persons found burnt to death.
  The same circumstances to which we  have directed the
attention of the examiner in previous sections, are to be
noticed in cases of this nature.  Dissection, if it be practi-
cable, must not be omitted.
  There is an instance related by Fodere, which presents a
most instructive lesson.   In 1809, a wretch murdered several
individuals with an axe, and then set fire to the house.   The
medical officer did not deem it worth while to examine the
bodies, and certified that their death was owing to the  fire.
Meanwhile an individual was discovered murdered about
one hundred  paces  from the house,  and  suspicion being
excited, the bodies were disinterred.   It was found that the
flames had only burnt the flesh  superficially, and that the
marks of the axe were still distinctly visible.*
  So  also  in  the  State  of Maryland, a  few years since, a
ruffian murdered a  whole family, and  then  fired the log
house in  which  they lived.   On  the body of the father,
however, a fracture of the skull  was found;  and in conse-
quence of a bed from the upper room falling on  the mother,
her body  was so far uninjured as  to  exhibit three incised
wounds, one  of them penetrating the  stomach.   The mur-
derer was detected, by finding  on him articles  of dress
belonging to the family.
  Apart from the possibility of such cases, it not unfrequent-
ly becomes necessary to ascertain whether the burning has
happened during life.  A person  may  have been strangled,
and the clothes subsequently fired, to present the appearance
of accidental death.
  A case bearing on this point, occurred, some years since,
to the late Dr. Duncan in Scotland.  A  husband  and  wife,
living on bad terms, were heard to struggle;  and after a
short time, the neighbors were alarmed by  a strong smell of

  * Fodere, vol. 3, p. 18.  Dr. Dunlop (MS. Lectures) mentions a similar
case occurring at Glasgow, in  1809.  A man murdered his wife, and then
set fire to her clothes.  There were, however, marks  of external violence
sufficient to convict him. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                87
fire.  All attempts  to enter were for some time fruitless,
owing either to the real  or pretended  deep  sleep  of the
husband.  At last, on obtaining admission, the body of the
female was  seen burning  on the  hearth.  On examination
before the coroner, the  abdomen was found reduced to a
cinder, but on the face and extremities there were marks of
reaction; some spots were  red and inflamed—others scorched
to a hard and transparent crust, but surrounded with distinct
redness; and " a great many blisters filled  with  lymph,
perfectly  different from those  produced  on the dead body,
which are not filled with a fluid, but with air or vapor.  In
short, we found (says  Dr. Duncan)  appearances exactly
similar to those of fire on a living body; and  therefore  we
reported, as our unanimous opinion, that the deceased was
burnt to death."
   As there was  no proof that the prisoner had been the
cause, he was  not  found  guilty ; and it is  indeed  possible
(although there were some suspicious circumstances against
him,) that this  may have been a case of preternatural com-
bustibility, as I shall hereafter describe  it.   Such indeed is
Prof. Christison's opinion—a part of the clothes were un-
burnt; the chair from which she had fallen was entire, and
yet the abdomen was nearly destroyed.
   However this may have been, the present case appears to
have  led Prof. Christison to perform an interesting series of
experiments, in order to ascertain the criterions by which a
burn  inflicted during life, may be  distinguished from one
produced after death.
  From his observations,  it follows, that " the only  effects
of burns which appear  immediately after the injury, and
remain in the dead body, are, first, a narrow line of redness
near  the burn,  not removable by pressure; and secondly,
blisters filled with  serum: that the former is an invariable
effect, but that the latter is not always observable when
death follows the burn in a few minutes."
  In order to meet the inquiry  which readily suggests itself,
"whether these appearances  can be produced or  imitated
immediately after death, while vitality still lingers  in the 
88
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 body, or to  use  Bichat's  phrase,  while organic vitality
 survives the extinction  of  animal life V  Prof.  Christison
 performed several experiments.
   In a stout young man who poisoned himself with lauda-
 num, a very hot poker and  a stream of boiling water  were
 applied to the skin of  the chest, and inside of the arm, one
 hour after death.   On the next day, no blisters or redness
 were visible on or near the burns.   At the parts burnt with
 scalding water, the cuticle appeared as if ruffled, and could
 be  very easily rubbed off,  but there was not a trace of
 moisture on the true skin beneath.  At the parts burnt with
 the poker, the whole  thickness of the  skin  was dried up,
 brownish and translucent, but entirely free of redness or
 blistering on or around them.
  In  another  case of poisoning  where  the patient was
 comatose, heat had been applied four hours before death,
 and again was applied half an hour after it.   The body was
 examined in thirty-eight hours.  Some of the spots burned
 during life presented  a  uniform blister filled with serum;
 and  even where the cuticle was gone, and the  true  skin
 dried, there  were drops of serum, and also particles of the
 same fluid dried by evaporation: around all of them, also,
 there was more or less scarlet redness, and this redness was
 not diminished by pressure.  Some  of the spots burned
 after death were charred on the surface, and not  elevated:
 two presented vesications, but the  blisters were filled with
 air;  the  cuticle  over them  was dry and  cracked, and  the
 surface  of the true skin beneath was also quite  dry.   On
the white parts of the  skin,  there was no adjacent redness,
 and  the  lividity which occurs in dead bodies was immedi-
 ately removed by moderate pressure.
  These  and  other experiments with similar results,  led
 Prof. Christison  to the conclusion, that the application of
 heat to  the  body,  even  a few minutes only after  death
cannot produce any of the signs of vital reaction mentioned
 above; and  he concludes his observations  by remarking,
"that, as far as the preceding experiments  go,  a line  of
 redness near the  burn,  not removable by pressure  and like- 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
89
wise the formation of blisters filled with serum, are certain
signs of a burn inflicted during life."*
  As the medico-legal cases on this branch of my  subject
are far  from numerous, I will  here add the  details of one
which recently occupied some attention in France :
  On the 10th of July, 1834, at 4 A. M., Ursula Lambert
Berenger, was found dead in  her room.   The  body  com-
pletely  naked, lay in the fire-place.  The head reclining on
the left temporal region, was in the centre of the hearth;
the rest of the body was without the fire-place.   The  head
and neck were burnt almost to a cinder.  The left arm was
little injured, but  the  right was  so  disorganized  by the
action of the fire, that the phalanges of the fingers  were
nearly  detached.  The abdomen was  much  distended, the
epidermis detached in several places, and phlyctsense full of
a red serum, occurred here and there.   The rest of the body
presented nothing particular, except the effects of a  passing
burning substance.   The blisters were also noticed on the
left  knee.  No scratching or wounding was observable on
the knees, insteps or any other part.
   The  husband had been on bad  terms with his wife; he
cohabited with another female, and it appeared that recently
he had  endeavored  to  strangle  her.   Suspicion  of  murder
was  therefore, natural.
  From the testimony of Dr. Seguy, the medical  examiner,
the following facts are obtained :
  The fire appears  to have been  small, the remains  of it
(two stumps) were still to be seen.   Near it was an earthen
ware  coffee-pot, turned over.  No other marks of struggle
or disorder was manifest about the  room.
  After removing the body to a more  convenient position,
fragments of the chemise, in  which  alone  she  had  been
dressed, were found under all the parts of the body imme-
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 35, p. 320.  The appear-
ances  found in persons who die from burns and scalds are enumerated by Mr.
Samuel Cooper in a Clinical Lecture, published in the London Med. Gazette,
vol. 23, p. 837.  There is  a paper in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,
vol. 25, showing the tendency to acute ulcerations of the duodenum,  in
cases of extensive burns; and the inquirer can also consult Erichsen on the
Pathology of Burns, in London Medical Gazette, vol. 31, pp. 544, 558. 
90
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
diately in contact with the floor, such as the elbow, hip, and
left knee.  The remaining articles  of clothing were on a
chair near the bed.
  The left arm was found bent, and the hand on the precor-
dial region.  The right, also, was bent,  and in front of the
chest, so that the right hand touched the  left clavicle.  The
legs were half bent.  The face was completely carbonized;
the ears horny; the skin black and  dry, except at the left
temporal region, where there was  a quantity  of hair en-
veloped in an enormous mass of coagulated and sodden blood.
This led to an examination  of the ashes, and they  were
found moist at the  place  where the head  had lain.   The
tongue was shortened and shrivelled.  The integuments on
the neck and arms  were  hard, cracked, and  of a  black
color.   So, also, those of  the breast, back, and shoulders,
but of a less black color.  The other parts were not marked
with a red circle, nor were any blisters  to be  seen, except
those already noticed.
  On examining the brain, no indications of external  injury
were perceived.  Strong adhesions of the membranes were
present,  and the sinus  of the dura mater  was filled with
black blood.  The convolutions of the left lobe of the brain
were covered with sodden blood, and the portion of it at the
temporal region and the base of the brain was reduced to a
bouilli, while the correspondent part only exhibited  a full
injection of the vessels.   The left lobe internally was hard,
brownish, and covered  with  a number of deep red  spots.
The  right  was natural,  but its internal  substance was ex-
tremely red.  The ventricles contained a bloody serum.
  The  lungs were hepatized, gorged with blood, and the
bronchiae contained  a reddish mucus.  The stomach  and
intestines, though much distended with gas, were natural.
  In testifying on the facts of this case, Dr. Seguy advanced
the opinion, that Mrs. Lambert had sunk under apoplexy.
The manner in which this was caused was more difficult to
be solved.  He does not  suppose  that  it happened from
compression of the vessels of the neck, (strangulation.)  But
if not  thus, was she seized with syncope, while  preparing 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
91
tea for herself, and did she then fall into the fire, or did she
cease to live before she was placed on the fire 1
  By applying Dr.  Christison's  proof of burns  inflicted
during life, it will be seen, that  there was no redness or
blisters around the neck or chest, while the latter occurred
on other parts.  Again, admitting that syncope or even
apoplexy supervened at the moment when she fell into the
fire,  some vital action or exertion must still have been made,
which would have produced some disorder around the fire-
place, or at least some excoriations on the knees and feet.
These were, however, wanting.
   In favor of death  before the burning—are the  possibility
of a rupture of blood-vessels in the head, causing compres-
sion—the engorgement of the lungs and their hepatization—
the  want of vital action around the burns, and the certainty
that there  had been no  vital  resistance, and that the  head
had not been displaced from its original position.
   On the  other  hand,  are the possibility of sanguineous
 effusion from the action of fire—the  presence of blisters—
 and the possibility  that these and other vital phoenomena
 could not  be developed in the other parts of the body in
 consequence of the prolonged action of the fire.
   Dr. Seguy inclined to the  idea  of murder  (that she had
 been the victim of two crimes)—that  the apoplexy was not
 a natural one—that haemorrhage  succeeded it, and finally,
when pressed for a direct and  positive answer, he gave it as
his  opinion, that the individual was dead before  her body
was submitted to the action of fire.
   Dr. Accarie, another medical witness, denied  that stran-
gulation could produce apoplexy, but that it caused asphyx-
ia, owing to the want of vital air. He  deemed it possible
that the deceased had died instantly from apoplexy while in
 the  supposed position, and cited analogous cases.   In such,
 apoplexy  is  frequently  unaccompanied with convulsions,
 and consequently no effort will be made.   It is evident that
 the  chemise was burnt  while she had  it on, and  Dr.  A.
 supposed the  fire to have commenced at its bottom, thus
 explaining the blisters and redness on the abdomen and left 
92
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
knee.   This,  he presumes, caused  violent agitation,  and
apoplexy  was the result.  Hence  the  absence  of those
marks  on the upper parts,  since life was extinct.   As to
the rigidity of the limbs, he remarks " La rigidite cadave-
rique le manifeste d'autant plus tard que la mort a ete plus
rapide : c'est le cas de l'apoplexie."
  The  blood soiling the hair of the left temporal  region,
and  the quantity found, prove that it had issued out before
the burning commenced, since the ears did not escape its
destructive action, and in cases of apoplexy, it is well known
that  the blood often issues  from the ears, nose,  mouth, and
eyes.
  The  absence of all  excoriation on the knees, proves  that
there has been neither contest nor resistance.
  The  inflation of the abdomen is, doubtless, owing to the
action of the fire, and to commencing putrefaction.
  The  adhesion of the  membranes of the  brain, their san-
guineous injection, the fulness of the  sinus of  the dura
mater,  the presence  of  blood in the convolutions of the
brain, resembling a clot, the bloody serum in the ventricles,
the interior hardness of the  left lobe, and  the many red
spots in the medullary substance, all these being the result
of chronic or acute inflammation of the brain and  consequent
congestion, may  be  attributed to foudroyante apoplexy,
rather  than to the action of fife alone, or to  strangulation
first  and then fire.  Indeed, the violent action of caloric
produces different effects.   Bichat in his experiments with
boiling water, to which he submitted a human head, found
such a contraction of the  dura mater, that the brain, which
did not harden, burst it.
   Esquirol  says, that in strangulation, the head sometimes
exhibits no marks of  strangulation, and the lungs  and heart
are empty  of blood.
   Dr. A. accordingly arrived at the  following conclusions :
1. That death did not result  from  strangulation.   2. That
the internal appearances in the brain are owing to apoplexy,
and  that the  combustion caused a roasting (coction) of the 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
93
effused blood.  3. That it is highly  probable that Berenger
died of apoplexy.
  A third physician, Dr.  Girodet, was called to explain the
discrepancies between the  two  witnesses.   He  asserted
that strangulation sometimes produced rupture of the blood-
vessels of the brain, and also said, that a blow, for example,
the traces of which might have been destroyed  by fire, could
have caused the apoplexy.
  Dr. Seguy relied much on Dr. Christison's proofs of burn-
ing during life.  Dr. Accarie on the  other hand, undervalued
them,  remarking that the  red circle must be effaced  after
death, as happens in erysipelatous  patients, where the red-
ness disappears when the individuals die.
  The jury found the husband,  Berenger,  guilty, but with
extenuating circumstances, and he  was condemned to ten
years' imprisonment at hard labor.
   Dr. Leuret, the reporter of this case, in his comments, ob-
 serves that several modes of death are nearly equally ad-
 missible.
    1. Natural Death.   It is possible that apoplexy may have
 seized her when near the fire, and that she fell  on it, and that
 the combustion supposing it continued after her death, may
 have destroyed  the parts  which contained the red circles
 produced during life.  The presence of blisters on the parts
touched  by the burning chemise,  show the action of caloric
 on the living  skin.  The experiments  of  Christison,  how-
ever, are not invariable.   Dr. Leuret has seen large blisters
filled with a reddish serum, to form in large numbers on a
body twenty-four hours  after  death.  He applied a chafing-
 dish of charcoal to the legs of an infiltrated (dropsical) body.
 The epidermis hardened a little, became elevated, and below
 it was an abundant collection  of reddish serum.   On apply-
 ing the chafing-dish to other parts, the same result occurred.
 He repeated the experiment  on bodies not infiltrated, and
 no  blisters arose.  But as Dr. Seguy does not say that this
 body was infiltrated, and as indeed he remarks, that on the
 evening of her death, this female  was in good health, Dr. 
94
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
L. allows that the blisters on the abdomen  were the  result

of burning  during life.
  2.  Death by Strangulation.  We cannot affirm or deny it.

The heart and blood-vessels were not examined.  It is pos-

sible, but it is not proved.

  3.  Death by  Blows on the Head.   Under this supposition,

the body must  have been  thrown into  the fire, before the

complete extinction of life, and the assassin desirous of ob-

literating all marks  of wounds,  would place the stricken

side on the fire.

  4.  Death by Cerebral Congestion or Syncope.   If we  admit

this kind of death, we must ascribe the sanguineous effusion

to the action  of fire on a body still warm.   Bichat's experi-

ments is not applicable.   He used boiling water, while this

was the direct action of fire.  Dr. Leuret, in his experiments,

was not able  to produce any thing analogous to the present

case, on the supposition now under consideration.   In con-

clusion, he  observes, that  the absence  of all external marks

of violence, are presumptive evidence in favor of its having

been a natural  death.*

  There is another question that  may arise in  cases where

persons are found burnt to death, which is alike interesting

and curious ;  and that is, Can there be such a thing as perter-

NATURAL COMBUSTIBILITY  OF THE HUMAN  BODY  ?f  Several

cases are recorded of  this nature.


  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 14, p. 370.
  " Murder by burning is very rare.  A case, however, occurred at Truro,
some years ago, where it was suspected.  A dissolute woman  had locked up
her child in her room alone, where it was found, burned to death, some hours
after.  On accurate examination by Dr.  Barham,  in conjunction  with
Messrt. Bulmore and Spry, some portions  of the tinder were discovered in
the lower part of  the windpipe.   These must have been drawn in with the
breath during the  last moments of the child, whose mouth and face had evi-
dently been enveloped in the burning clothes.  Dr. Barham adds, this was
the principal circumstance which prevented the committal of the mother
for murder."  It is well asked by the Editor, whether a murderer might not
have wrapped the child's face in its clothes.  (London Med. Gazette, vol. 33,
p. 316.)
  f In a former edition, I used the term spontaneous combustion, to express
this phenomenon; but as that takes for granted what is denied by  many, I
have preferred  the present appellation, the correctness of which, I believe,
will not be denied by any who have examined the accumulated testimony on
 the subject. 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
95
  It is stated in the Transactions of the Copenhagen Socie-
ty, that in 1692, a woman of the lower class, who for three
years had used spirituous liquors to such excess that she
took no other nourishment, having sat down one evening on
a straw chair  to  sleep, was  consumed in the night time, so
that next morning no part of her was found but  the skull,
and  the extreme joints of the  fingers; all the rest of her
body was reduced to ashes.*
  The Countess Cornelia Bandi, of Cesena in Italy, aged 62,
and in good health, was accustomed to bathe  all her body
in camphorated spirits of wine.   One evening having expe-
rienced a sort of drowsiness,  she retired  to bed,  and her
maid remained with her till she fell asleep.   Next morning,
when the girl entered to wake her mistress, she found noth-
ing but the remains of  her body in the most horrible condi-
tion.   At the distance of four feet from the bed, was a heap
of  ashes, in which the legs and arms were alone untouched;
between  the  legs  lay  the head.   The brain, together with
half the posterior part of the  cranium, and the whole chin,
 had been consumed; three  fingers were found in the state
 of a coal, and the  body was reduced to ashes, which, when
touched, left on the fingers  a  fat, foetid moisture.  A small
lamp which stood on the floor,  was covered with  ashes, and
contained no oil; the tallow of two candles were melted on
a table, but  the  wicks still remained, and the  feet of the
candlesticks were covered with moisture.   The bed was not
deranged; the bedclothes and coverlid were raised up and
thrown on  one side, as is the case when a person gets up.
 The furniture and tapestry were  covered with a  moist kind
 of soot of the color of ashes, which had penetrated into the
 drawers and dirtied the linen.
   This case is related by Bianchini,  and confirmed by other
  writers.f

 •n«££e«  Emporium of Arts and  Sciences, vol 1, p. 161, from an article
 entitled  On the combustion of the human body, produced by the Ions and
 immoderate use of spirituous liquors," by Pierre Aime Lair.  This essav
 was originally published in the Journal de Physique.  In my subseqS
 quotations from it, I shall for brevity use the word Lair only  7 SUDSequent
i«.« T^'i ft   ' ^° quotes the Annual Register for 1763.  See also Phi-
losophical Transactions, vol.  43, p. 447. 
96               PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.

  Grace Pett, the wife of a  fishmonger of the parish of St.
Clement, Ipswich, aged about sixty, had contracted a habit,
which she continued for several years, of coming down from
her bedroom every night, half dressed to smoke a pipe. On
the 9th of April,  1744, she got up from bed as usual. Her
daughter, who slept with her, did not perceive that she was
absent till next morning,  when she awoke.   Soon after this
she  put  on her  clothes, and going down into the kitchen,
found her mother stretched  on her right side, with her head
near the  grate.   The body was extended on the hearth, with
the legs on the deal floor, and it had the appearance of a log
of wood consumed by a  fire, without  apparent flame.  On
beholding the spectacle, the girl  ran  in  great  haste  and
poured over her mother's body some water, to extinguish
the fire.   The foetid odor and smoke which exhaled from the
body,  almost  suffocated  some  of the neighbors who had
hastened to the  girl's assistance.  The trunk was in some
measure incinerated, and resembled  a heap of coals cov-
ered with white ashes.   The head, the arms, the legs and
the thighs, had also participated in the burning.  This wo-
man, it  is said,  had drank a  large quantity of spirituous
liquor, in consequence of being overjoyed to hear that one
of her daughters had returned from Gibraltar.   There was
no fire in the grate, and the candle had burnt entirely out in
the socket of the candle-stick, which was close  to  her.
There was also found near the consumed body, the clothes
of  atchild, and a paper screen,  which had  sustained no inju-
ry from  the fire.  Her dress consisted  of a cotton gown.*
   Le Cat relates the following  case, which was communica-
ted to him by M. Boinneau, cure of Plurguer near Dol.  It
 occurred in 1749.  Madame De Boiseon, eighty years  of
 age, who had drank nothing but spirits  for several years,
 was sitting in  her  elbow-chair before the fire, while  her
 waiting-maid went out of the room for a few moments.  On
 her return, seeing her mistress on fire,  she immediately gave
 the alarm, and some persons having come to her assistance,
* Philosophical Transactions, vol 43, p. 463. 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                97

 one of them  endeavored  to extinguish the flames with his
 hand, but they  adhered  to it,  as if it had been  dipped  in
 brandy, or oil on fire.   Water was brought and  thrown on
 her, yet the fire  appeared more violent, and was  not extin-
 guished till the  whole flesh had been consumed.  Her skele-
 ton,  exceedingly black, remained entire in the chair, which
 was only a little scorched;  one leg only, and the two hands,
 detached themselves from  the rest of the bones.   It is not
 known whether  her clothes had caught  fire by approaching
 the grate, but she was in  the same place in which she sat
 every day;  there was no  extraordinary fire, and she  had
 not fallen.*
   By a letter from Gen. William Shepherd, it appears, that
 on the 16th of March, 1802, in one of the towns of the state
 of Massachusetts, the body of an elderly woman disappear-
 ed in the space of about one hour and a half.  Part of the
 family had retired to bed, and the rest were gone abroad.
 The  old woman remained awake  to  take care of  the house.
 Soon after one of  the grand-children came  home and discov-
 ered  the floor near the hearth to be  on  fire.  An alarm was
 given—a light brought, and  means taken  to extinguish it.
 While these things were doing, some singular appearances
 were observed on the  hearth and contiguous floor.  There
 was a sort of greasy soot and ashes, with  the remains of a
 human body, and  an unusual  smell in the room.   All  the
 clothes were consumed.   The fire had been small.f

  * Lair, p. 168.
  t Coxe's Emporium of Arts, vol. 1, p. 326, who quotes from Tilloch, vol.
14, p. 96. The same case is also mentioned by Fodere, vol. 3, p. 208.  I
have cited the cases in the text, not so much with reference to their peculiar
features, as their geographical position.  There is a case respectively from
Denmark, Italy, England, France, and  America.  Several other instances
are on record, to which I refer the reader for further details. They are,
  1. Mary Clues, aged  fifty,  at Coventry, (Eng.)  Wilmer, Philosophical
Transactions, vol. 64, p. 340.
  2. An anonymous case by Vicq-d'Azyr, of a woman aged fifty years.
  3. A case by Henry Bohanser, of a female at Paris.
  4. The wife of Sieur Millet, at Rheims, in 1725, related by Le Cat.
  5. Mary Jauffret, at Aix in Provence, related by Muraire, a surgeon, in
the Journal de Medecine.
  6. Mademoiselle Thuars, at Caen, in 1782, related by Merille, a surgeon,
in the Journal de Medecine.
  7. Two anonymous  cases of females at Caen.
  All these are mentioned by Lair.
  VOL. II.                     7 
98
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   Some deductions are drawn from these cases, by Drs. Lair

and Marc, which it is  proper to mention.   1. The  subjects


  8. An anonymous case of a female at Paris in 1779.  Fodere, vol. 3, p. 207.
  9. The Priest Bertholi, in 1776, in Italy.  This is a very remarkable case,
and some particulars mentioned by Battaglia, the surgeon who attended him,
may with propriety be added  in this place.  Bertholi was travelling about
the country, and at evening arrived at the house of his brother-in-law.  He
immediately desired to be shown to his apartment, and when  brought to it,
requested that a handkerchief should be placed between his shirt and should-
ers. This was done, and he was left to his devotions.  A few minutes  had
scarcely elapsed, before a noise was heard in his  room, and the cries of the
priest were particularly distinguished.   On entering the room, he was found
extended on the floor, and surrounded by a light flame, which receded as they
approached, and finally vanished.  On  the  next morning, M. Battaglia  was
called and examined the patient.  He found the integuments of the right arm
almost entirely detached from the flesh, and between the shoulders and thighs
the integuments were injured.   There was a mortification of the right hand,
and this, in spite of scarification, rapidly extended itself.  The patient com-
plained of  burning thirst, and was horribly convulsed; he passed by stool
putrid bilious matter, and was exhausted with continual vomiting, accom-
panied with fever and delirium.  On the fourth day, after two hours of comatose
insensibility, he expired, and a short time previous to his death, M. Battaglia
observed with astonishment, that the body exhaled a most insufferable odour
—worms crawled from it on the bed, and the nails had become detached from
the left hand.
  The account of  the patient was, that he felt a stroke like the blow of a
cudgel on the right hand, and at the same time, saw a bluish flame attack his
shirt, which was immediately reduced to ashes, the wristbands in the mean-
while remaining totally untouched. The handkerchief between the shoulders
and shirt was entire, and free from any trace of burning.  His breeches were
also unininjured, but though not a hair of his head was burnt, yet his cap
was entirely consumed.  There had been no fire in the room, except that the
lamp, which had been full of oil, was now dry,  and its wick reduced  to a
cinder. Fodere, vol. 3, p. 210.  London Medical  Repository, vol. 1, p. 332.
  10. A female at Paris, in 1804, aged sixty-eight, related by Dr. Vigne.
Fodere, vol. 3, p. 216.
   11.  A female in France, aged 28, communicated by Dr. Prouteau, in Le-
roux's Journal de Medecine.   New England Journal, vol. 4, p. 194.
   12.  Mrs. Laire,  at Saulieu,  in 1808, aged 60 years.   Ballard, p. 414.
   13.  Ignatius Meyer, aged 48,  in the village of Waertelfeld, bailiwick  of
Schwalenbergh in Germany.   This occurred on the 17th of January, 1811.
Meyer was a very intemperate man.   The parts  of the body under the  bed-
clothes were not affected.  This case is related  by  Dr. Scherf of Detmold.
London Medical Repository, vol.  3 p. 239.   New York Medical Repository,
vol. 18, p.  87.                                                 r
   14.  Mrs. P----, aged 90, and her servant aged 60, at Nevers  in France,
on the 16th of January, 1820.  Case by Dr. Charpentier, London Medical
and Physical Journal, vol. 45, p. 347.
   15.  M. Vatin, at Beauvais, (France,) aged upwards of 60.   This happened
in  January, 1822.  He was corpulent and intemperate.  Related by  Drs.
 Colson and Lelarge in Journal Compliment.   Edinburgh Medical and Surgi-
 cal Journal, vol. 19, p. 653 ;  vol. 22, p. 233.  American Medical Recorder,
 vol. 6, p. 764.
   16.  Margaret Heins, at Hamburgh, January, 1825.   This case somewhat
 resembles  Bertholi s.  From Hecker's Annalen.   Edinburgh Med and Surg.
 Jour, vol 26, p. 215.                                  °              °
 , .17,AMrrl S°r^.age^5;?in December, 1825; occurred at Rouen, and re-
 lated by Dr. Hellis.  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol 9 p 544
   18.  A case of combustion of both hands, from attempting to extinguish the
 clothes of  a brother, which were on fire.  A blue flame continued for several 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
99
were nearly all females; and they were far advanced in life.
The  Countess  of Cesena,  was  62, Mary  Clues  52,  Grace
hours over the parts, and it required constant immersion in water to extin-
guish it.  Dr. De Brus, in Archives Generales for March, 1829.   Edinburgh
Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 32, p. 227.
  19. A female at Lexington, Kentucky, November 15,1829.  Case by Prof.
Short, Transylvania Journal, vol. 3, p. 143.
  20. Four cases in Ireland within the present century ; two in Dublin, one
at Limerick, and the other at Coote Hill, county of Cavan.  All were females
and intemperate.  Related by Dr. Apjohn.  Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine,
art. Combustion,  spontaneous.
  21. The case of Jane Lappiter, an aged woman, very temperate, occurring
at Cheltenham, (England,)  a few years  since, is related by Dr. Newell, in
Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 1, p. 248.   A portion of the
bones and the whole of the viscera were reduced to ashes.   The fire extended
to within about three inches of the ancle joint, and yet neither the shoe, the
stocking or the skin and flesh below were injured.
  22. For the following American case, we are indebted to the researches of
Wm. Dunlap, Esq. of New York.  Finding a brief reference to it in his inter-
esting  History of New York, I wrote to him for the particulars, as well as
the authority on which he stated it.   In his reply he furnished me with the
following from Holt's New  York Journal of Jan. 3, 1771,  and  Gaines' Mer-
cury of Jan. 7, two newspapers at that  time published in the city of New
York.
  Hannah Bradshaw, aged about 30 years, had lived about a dozen years in
the city. She was a healthy, hearty-looking woman, remarkably industri-
ous, and neat in her person and manner of living, but bore a bad  character
with respect to chastity and sobriety.  On account of her robust appearance
and bold behavior, she had obtained the name of Man  of  War Nance.  She
 resided  in an upper room, which had no connexion with the rooms below,
 occupied by a family.
   On  the evening of the 31st of December, she desired a young woman  who
 worked for her, and was going home, to come again early  the next morning,
 and about seven o'clock the same evening, another acquaintance parted from
her, at which time she seemed to have drank  a little too freely.   She was
neither heard nor seen of again until the next morning, when the  young
woman returned to her work, after knocking and calling, and having waited
until past eleven o'clock, this person by the aid of a man who lived below, got
in through a back window, and opened the door.   On looking within a screen,
which went quite across the room and was fitted to reach the ceiling, she dis-
covered  the mutilated remains of Hannah.  The body, or rather the  bones,
were lying near the middle of the floor, wherein a hole of about four feet in
diameter was burnt quite away, and the bones were on its bottom, about a
foot beneath that part  of  the floor.   The flesh was entirely  burnt off the
bones of the whole body, except a small part on the skull, a little on one of
the shoulders, the lower part of the right leg and foot, which was burnt off at
the small almost as even as if cut off and left lying on the floor.  The stock-
ing was burnt off as far as  the leg and no farther.  The bones, some of which
were black, and others white, were so thoroughly burnt as  to crumble to  dust
between the fingers.  The bowels remained unconsumed.  One of the sleepers
which lay under the shoulders was burnt almost through; part of the head
 lay on the planks at the edge of the hole, and near it was a candlestick, with
part of a candle in it, thrown down, but it did not appear to have touched
any part of the body or to have set any thing on fire.  The tallow was melted
 off the wick,  which remained unscorched  by the fire, as also the screen,
which almost touched the hole.   The leg of a rush-bottomed chair, and about
half the bottom were burnt so far as they were within the compass  of the
hole in the floor and no further.  The ceiling of  the room, which was white-
washed plaster, was as black as if covered with lampblack, as also part of the
walls and windows ; and the heat had been so great as to extract the turpen- 
100
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
 Pett 60, Madame de  Boiseon 80, and  M. Thuars more than

 60.  2.  Most of the individuals had for a long time made an


 tine from the boards and the wainscot.  After all these operations, the  fire
 went entirely out, so that when the body was found, not a spark remained.
  23. A female  aged 74, at Aunay, in the Department of Avalon, (France.)
Medico-Chirurg. Review, vol. 29, p. 577.
  24. Bernard,  aged 73, and his wife aged 65.  They had both indulged to
 excess, for a long time, in spirit drinking.  They were found dead, and par-
 tially consumed, as in all the former cases. British and Foreign Med. Review,
 vol. 3, p. 507, from the  Journal des Connoissances Medico-Chirurgicales for
 Sept. 1836.   Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 30, p. 500.
  25. Maria Bally, in Paris, aged 51.   The case occurred in December, 1829,
 and was examined and is reported by Devergie, vol. 2, p. 278.
  26. Theresa Lemaitre, in  Paris, on the  15th  of  Dec.  1836.  She was 60
 years old, and very  intemperate.   Related by  Dr. Patrix, in Lancette Frair-
 §aise (British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 4, p. 222.)
  27. The case of a  Moor at Algiers  reported  by Dr. Lievin, in the Journal
 des Connoissances Medicales.   (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 38, p. 235.)
  28. A case from  the  Gazette Medicate, 1847, which I shall presently no-
 tice.
  The case of Professor H. of the University of Nashville, as related by  Dr.
 Overton, has been referred  to  this  head, but the  facts  stated will hardly
 warrant it.  He was walking on a cold day, when he felt pain in his left  leg,
 and  on applying  his hand, it grew worse.   On looking at the spot, he saw a
light flame as large  as a ten cent piece.  By  pressure,  this was extinguished,
but a superficial injury of  the skin was found, resembling an  abrasion from
violence.   His drawers, composed of  silk and wool, were burnt through,  ex-
actly over the abraded skin, but the pantaloons were not affected. The wound
healed slowly.
  An explanation of this is given, by stating that Prof. H. wore a pair of new
drawers, on the material of which, some paint had been dropped.  (Western
Journal of Med. and Phys.  Sciences, vol. 9, p. 78.  Transylvania Journal,
vol. 8, p. 595.)
  Dr. Dunlop was disposed, in the following notice, to throw ridicule on the
matter:
  " The following is the latest, and consequently best authenticated, case on
record.
  " After this, it is to be hoped that we shall hear nothing more of the excess
of incredulity on this subject, which M. Fodere  asserts is the great bar to
philosophical discovery in the present age.
  " Another case, which occurred in the neighborhood of Bordeaux, in  Sep-
tember, 1822, has been related in the last volume of the Nouveau Journal de
Medecine; but though the particulars were sworn to before a magistrate, our
readers will not be at a loss to discover good reasons for doubting its authen-
ticity. A sober, healthy blacksmith was returning home in company with a
girl one very hot afternoon, when he suddenly felt an acute pain in  the right
index, and was astonished to  behold it burning and smoking.   He rubbed it
against his thumb to  extinguish the flame, but the  flame caught  both the
thumb and middle finger.  He then rubbed them on his trowsers, but burnt
two holes in them ; next, he thrust his hand into his pocket, and set it on fire
too; and  finally, he happened to touch the fore and middle finger of the left
hand when these caught fire also.   In vain did  he plunge them into a bucket
of water ; they continued to burn.  In vain did he stick them in the mud ;
the virtue of the mud was not more potent.  At last, a devout female remind-
ed him that faith saves us;  he dipped them in holy water, and the flames
were speedily extinguished.  Since the well known story of the priest Ber-
tholi, (see Fodere's Med. Leg. vol. 3, p. 210,) this is the only instance of al- 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
101
 immoderate use of spirituous liquors, and they were either
 very fat or very lean.  3. The combustion occurred acci-
 dentally, and  often from a slight cause, such as a candle, a
 coal, or even a spark.   4.  The combustion proceeded with
 great rapidity, usually consuming the entire  trunk, while
 the  extremities,  as the feet and  hands, were occasionally
 left  uninjured.   5.  Water,  instead of extinguishing  the
 flames, which  proceeded from  the parts on  fire, sometimes
 gave them more activity.  6.  The fire did very little damage,
 and  often did not affect the combustible objects which were
 in contact with the human body at the moment when it was
 burning.  7. The combustion of these bodies left as a resi-
 duum, fat foetid ashes, with an unctuous, stinking and very
 penetrating soot.  8. The combustions have occurred at all
 seasons, (but most frequently in winter) and in northern as
 well as southern countries.*
   As to the cause of this remarkable  phenomenon, various
 opinions have been promulgated, which I shall very briefly
 state.  Lair and others suppose that there is an alcoholic
 impregnation  of  the body, and that the "actual contact of fire
 is necessary to produce it.   To this, it is replied, that there
 is no proof of such a saturation of the  organs, and if it were
 so, it would not, judging from comparative  experiments,
 render the body combustible.   Julia  Fontenelle immersed
 pieces of meat for a length of time, in alcohol, but on firing
it, their external  surface alone was scorched.
  Another  theory, supported by Meffei, Le Cat, Kopp, and
others, refers  the combustion to the ageney of the  electric
fluid.  Marc, however, appreciating the weakness  of such
an opinion, has  endeavored to fortify it by  supposing that
 inflammable gases may accumulate in the cellular tissue, and
thus render the body predisposed to this state,  and in a sys-
 tem charged with ideo-electricity, the  slightest inflammable
substance may commence  the  combustion.    The  gas  he

jeged spontaneous combustion, where the sufferer has been seen during  life.
The most amusing of the whole story is, that the relator doubts none of the
circumstances, except the efficacy imparted to the water by its sanctification."
  * Lair, p. 171.  Fodere, vol. 3, p. 217. 
102
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
deems to be hydrogen and its compounds, and thus explains
why water often fails to extinguish it, and  why, also, con-
tiguous  substances are so seldom injured, the heat required
for its inflammation being low.   It is  difficult, however, on
this hypothesis  to* explain the  rapidity of  the combustion,
and the  complete reduction of the body or its parts to ashes.
Julia Fontenelle, after expressing his disbelief in either of
the  above,  refers it  to  an internal decomposition, and the
formation of  new products, which are highly inflammable.
If to this, we add the opinion favored  by Professor Apjohn,
that phosphuretted hydrogen maybe generated in the system,
an  explanation  is presented,  which  will almost justify the
term in  common use,  of spontaneous combustion.*
  I must, however, refer the curious reader to the references
below, and proceed to point out how these cases differ from
the effects of  ordinary combustion.f
  * Dr. Willis, in his work on Urinary Diseases, indeed, suggests, " that the
phosphorus which is commonly eliminated in such quantity by the kidney, in
combination with oxygen as phosphoric acid, is not duly discharged" by
habitual drunkards, and that the body  thus becomes, as it were, a sponge,
filled with an oily solution of phosphorus, ready to ignite  and consume by
slow combustion.
  t See the elaborate article  of Marc on  Spontaneous Combustion, in  the
Dictionnaire des  Sciences Medicales, vol. 6, translated by Dr. Drake in his
Western Journal, vol. 1, p. 130; Julia Fontenelle's memoir, in Jameson's
New Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 5, p. 164; Cyclopaedia of Practi-
cal Medicine, Art.  Combustion, spontaneous, by Dr.  Apjohn; Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 39, p. 416.  American Medical Recorder,
vol. 5, p. 489, where  the Alcoholic theory is  defended by Dr. Thomas D.
Mitchell; and Transylvania Journal, vol. 7, p. 128, where it  is opposed by
Dr. Caldwell.
  A dissection by Dr.  Bally is deemed corroborative of the opinion advanced
by Marc.  He attended a case of typhus, accompanied with general emphyse-
ma ; and after death, gas was found in large quantities in the cavity of  the
peritoneum, and even the vessels of the pia mater contained air.  This gas,
from whatever part it was extricated by puncture, took  fire on bringing a
candle to it, and burnt with a blue flame.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 36, p.  221.)                        s               8
 ^ Devergie, however, denies the  applicability of this phenomenon.  He in-
sists that it  is altogether a post mortem appearance, and may be witnessed
daily on the bodies  of persons drowned  during the summer, which have be-
come emphysematous ; vol. 2, p. 295.
  The existence of oil in the serum of the blood, first noticed, I believe, by
Professor Traill, and nearly altogether in persons intemperate,' has also been
supposed to illustrate  the combustibility of the system.  (See Traill in the
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol.  13, p. 375; Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol  24, p. 421; also  Dr. Adam, in Transactions of the
Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. 1, p. 74.)   Dr. B G Babing-
ton (Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 16,) appears, however j  to have
detected an oil as constantly existing in healthy blood. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
103
  We are  authorised in asserting, both from the history of
ancient nations who employed this mode of sepulture, and
the narratives of the martyrs and others burnt to death, that
large  quantities of fuel are needed to convert the body to
ashes.  It  is necessarily slow in its progress, and the heat
required  being high, would  extend  itself to  surrounding
substances.  The combustion also, in  ordinary cases, would
often be incomplete, and particularly so as to  the  bones.
Again, if the body be not wholly unconsumed, there will be
blisters, scars, &c. on various parts.
  How strikingly this differs from the phenomena mentioned
above, I need scarcely urge.  The empyreumatic odour, and
the moist and sooty matter resting on  the furniture and
walls,  are  wanting;  and  if Fontenelle  be correct, a still
more remarkable distinction occurs.   In  these cases of pre-
ternatural  combustibility,  the hair,  the   most  combustible
part  in  the human frame, is never  burnt, while the liver
and spleen are always so.
   The application of these distinctions in medico-legal cases,
is manifest; and there are two instances on record, which
justify the notice that I have taken of the subject.
   The first is  related by Le  Cat, and is  that of the wife of
the Sieur Millet, at Rheims.  She got intoxicated every day,
and the domestic  economy of the house was managed by a
handsome young female.  This woman was found consumed
on the 20th of February, 1725, at the distance of a foot and
a half from the hearth in  her kitchen.  A part of the head
only, with a portion of the lower extremities  and a few of
the vertebrae,  had escaped combustion.    A foot and  a half
of the flooring under the  body  had  been consumed ;  but a
kneading trough and  a  tub, which were  very near the body
sustained no injury.  M.  Chretien, a surgeon examined the
remains of the body  with  every juridical formality.  Jean
Millet, the husband,  being interrogated by the judges, de-

  The communication of Sir Henry March on the evolution of light from the
living human body, deserves to be read in connexion with this subject. (Med.
Examiner, vol. 1, New Series, p. 517.) And also the case of Luminous  Breath,
by Dr. G. C. Watson.  (Lancet, Jan'y 2d, 1845, page 11.) 
104
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
clared, that about eight in the evening of the  19th of Feb-
ruary, he had retired to rest with his wife, who, not being
able to sleep, had gone into  the  kitchen,  where he thought
she was warming herself; that having fallen asleep, he was
awakened  about two o'clock by an  infectious odour; and
that having run to the kitchen, he found the remains of his
wife, in the state described in the report of the physicians
and surgeons.   The  judges  formed  an opinion that he had
conspired with  his .servant  to destroy the wife, and he was
condemned to  death.   On  appeal,   however,  to a higher
court, this  decree was  reversed, and it was pronounced a
case of  human combustion;  but his health and fortune were
irreparably destroyed, and he died in a hospital.*
  The Gazette  Medicate  relates the following  facts in a re-
cent  number:   On  the  6th  of January last,  the body of a
man was found  lying in bed,  and in a state of combustion,
by some persons who entered his bed-room in the morning.
The chamber was filled with a dense smoke, and one of the
witnesses asserted, that he saw  playing around the body of
the deceased, a  small whitish flame, which receded from him
as he approached.   The  clothes of  the  deceased, and the
coverings of the bed were almost entirely consumed, but the
wood was only partially burnt.   There were no ashes, and
only  a  small quantity  of vegetable  charooal;  there was,
however, a kind of mixed residue, altered by fire, and some
pieces of animal charcoal, which had  evidently been derived
from  the  articulations.   The deceased was in the habit of
carrying lucifer matches in his waistcoat pocket, and accor-
ding to his  usual  practice, he had had a hot brick placed at
his feet when he went to bed the preceding evening. Two
hours after, his son and daughter-in-law passed by the door

  *  Lair, p. 167.  Dupuytren would seem to have been a sturdy disbeliever
He asserts, that frequently, when dissecting, he put the debris of the human
body in the fire at evening, aud they were all consumed in the morning  As
to the cases,  he imagines, that being all  fat, and in a state of insensibility
from drunkenness, their clothes take fire, and  the carbonic acid thus pro-
duced increases the asphyxia; while the skin being burnt, the fat melts and
runs out, and thus the process of destruction goes on.  Without  derogating
from his acknowledged talents, I will only add,  that Dupuytren was a better
surgeon and anatomist than chemist.   His remarks are contained in  the
North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 10, p. 181 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
105
of his room, but there was nothing which attracted their at-
tention.  It was only the following morning early, that his
grandson found his body in the state described.  The de-
ceased was seventy-one years of age.  He was not fat, nor
was he addicted to  drunkenness.   The temperature  of the
air was  low,  and there were no indications  of electricity.
The son and  his wife were  suspected of having  murdered
the deceased, and burnt his body in order to conceal the tra-
ces of the crime; and a Dr. Masson was commissioned to
investigate the  case.  The body which had been buried, was
exhumed and examined.  The  cravat,  partially burnt, was
still around the neck, and part of a sleeve of a night shirt
was found.  The hands, completely burnt, were only attach-
ed to the forearms by some carbonized tendons, which gave
way on  the slightest touch.  The thighs  were completely
detached, so as to resemble a wilful mutilation,  but for the
discovery of  animal charcoal about them.  From the facts,
Dr. Masson (considering it impossible to ascribe these chang-
es to the effects of  accidental burning, and that, under com-
mon circumstances, they could only be produced by a violent
combustion continuing  for some  time,) drew the inference
that the burning must have resulted from some inherent cause
in  the individual, probably roused into  activity by the hot
brick placed at the feet of the deceased.   The burning once
commenced would be  easily supported by the state  of the
tissues.   Hence, the case was, in his opinion, to be referred
to the  class  of spontaneous combustion.  It is  said that
Orfila  coincided with Masson in this opinion, and that the
accused was acquitted.*

         E. Of persons found dead from wounds.

  The observations  already made in the section on medico-
legal dissection, and the necessity of considering the subject
of wounds  on the living body  in  a  distinct  chapter, will
necessarily contract  the remarks that I have to make under
this head.

           * Atlas, (London Newspaper)  Sept. 25,1847. 
106
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  I must again urge the importance of a medical examina-
tion in all these cases.   An instance mentioned by Fodere,
will show how culpable any neglect on this point may be-
come.   A dead body was found in the fields, in the arron-
dissement of Trevoux, during the  month  of  May,  1811.
The surgeon, deterred  by the  putrefactive  smell, reported
generally that he had  discovered  no  marks  of violence.
Meanwhile some ditchers, on interring the body, remarked
that on the fall of  a handkerchief which covered  the head, the
bones of the cranium detached themselves, and the brain
issued out.  The  imperial attorney ordered a special exami-
nation of the head, and it  was found that  the deceased had
received three blows with a cutting instrument, which sepa-
rated the parietal  bones from the skull.  The assassin, after
committing the crime, had replaced these, and secured them
with a handkerchief bound very tight; they were afterwards
discovered and punished.*
  It is important  to understand that in  legal medicine, the
term wound is  used in a  much more comprehensive  sense
than in surgery.   In the latter it  means, strictly, only a
solution of continuity ; in the former, injuries of every des-
cription  that affect either the  hard or the  soft parts; and
accordingly under it are comprehended bruises, contusions,
fractures, luxations, &c.  In this  sense, then,  the  term
wound is to be understood in this  work.
  The  important  question to be  decided in every case of
persons found dead  from wounds,  is,  whether the wounds
are the result of suicide,  accident, or homicide.
  Besides noticing the surface of the body, and ascertaining
whether ecchymosis or suggillation be  present, we should
pay great attention  to  the following circumstances :  The
situation in which the wounded body is  found, the position
of its members and the  state of its dress,  the expression of
countenance, the  marks of violence, if any be present on the
body, the redness or suffusion of  the face.   The last is im-
portant as it may indicate violence, in  order to stop the
* Fodere, vol. 3, p. 72. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
107
cries of  the individual.   The  quantity of  blood  on  the

ground or on the clothes  should be noticed, and in particu-

lar the probable weapon  used, the nature of  the wound and

its depth and  direction.   In a case of supposed suicide, by

means of a knife or pistol, the  course of the wound should

be examined, whether it be upwards or downwards, and the

length of the arm should  be compared with the direction of

the injury.  Ascertain whether the right or left arm has been

used; and as the  former  is  most commonly  employed,  the

direction  should correspond with it, and be from right to

left.*
   When a wound is  alleged to  have been committed by ac-

cident, we may inquire  into the  probability of this, compa-

ring the stature of the body with the person who caused the

accident, and thus ascertain whether the wound could  have

been received in its existing direction.!   The place where

the accident has happened,  and a  comparison of the instru-

ment with the injury inflicted, may also give useful light.


   * " By observing this law of nature, murder by another person, instead of
felo de se, has been detected, as by the discovery of the impression of a bloody
left hand upon the left arm of the deceased.  So the murderer Patch, was con-
victed, partly by the proof that the loaded pistol must have been discharged
by a left-handed person, and that Patch was left-handed." (Chitty's Medical
Jurisprudence, p. 37.)
   " In Patch's case the evidence went to show that the murder was committed
by means of a pistol shot by a left-handed man.  Sergeant Best in a confer-
ence with the prisoner  before the trial, pressed him to say whether he was
left-handed, but he protested that he was not: yet, on the trial, being called
to plead and to hold up his hand, he answered not guilty,  and held up his left
hand."  (Dr. A. T. Thompson, London Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 6,
p. 451.)
  Again, as to the direction of the wound.  A few years  since, in  England,
the body of a farmer was found  lying on the high road, with the throat cut.
The pockets had been rifled.  The surgeon  who examined the wound found
that the knife had been passed in deeply under, and below the ear, had been
brought out  by a semi-circular sweep in front; all the great vessels of the
neck, with the oesophagus and  trachea, having been divided from behind
forwards.  The nature of the wound rendered it improbable that it  could
have been self-inflicted, and further served to detect the murderer, who was
soon after discovered, He proved to be a butcher, and was tried and executed.
The cut here had been made as in slaughtering sheep, from behind forwards.
(Taylor's Med. Jurisprudence, p. 345.)
   t Two men of different height fought a duel some years since at Marseilles,
with swords on a public walk.  The weapon of each reached the heart of the
other at the same moment, and they fell dead together.  On examining their
bodies, the wound given by the small man was found to be directed from be-
low upwards, and that by the larger from above downwards.  (Fodere, vol.
8, p. 196.) 
108              PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  It must not, however, be concealed, that occasionally ca-
ses occur, in which, either from the want of exact testimony
or from  the nature of the injury, the medical witness  will
be much  perplexed in forming  a decided opinion.  I allude
now particularly to those instances, in which the effects of
a fall, or other accidental injury may be supposed to be the
results of violence and vice versa,  as in the  following  in-
stance :
  Two persons, one, Jacques Charles, the head of a family,
and the other, a youth  scarcely twenty years  old, beardless
and of an inoffensive character, were drinking with others
at an inn in France, when the discussion turned on their re-
spective  strength.   They were merry but not intoxicated.
Jacques  repeatedly dared  the young man  to  a  contest.
When  he had done this for the third  time  they went out
alone and both  returned in a  few minutes.   Jacques had a
severe contusion over  the  left eye, and there was  consid-
erable  swelling.  He remarked to one  of his companions,
"I have received quite a thump."  No questions were asked
as to the manner  in which it had happened.   The party
separated soon after.  Jacques returned home, went to bed
without  making any complaint, but  the next morning told
his  wife  that  he had received his death blow.   She asked
him how, and he replied, "in falling."
  Dr. Melet was sent for that morning.  Jacques was deliri-
ous and could not speak.  Leeches were applied to the in-
jured part, but he  grew worse and died on the 22d.  The
injury was received on the evening of the 18th.   Dr. Melet,
when called, observed no lesion except the swelling on the
lower part of the frontal  bone.  The epidermis was not in-
jured.  The wound did not  appear to have been made by a
smooth or a rough stone.  In either case he supposed there
would have been a solution of  continuity of the skin.  Nor
could it be from a fall, since then the top or the base of the
head  would first be struck, and thus the lower part of the
frontal bone would have been protected from injury.  Dr.
Melet,  however, considered  it equally  improbable  that
so severe an injury  could be caused by a blow of the fist. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
109
  On dissection, the left eyelid and a  part of the front  of
 the left cheek were observed to be much swollen and of a
 black color.  A fracture was traced from the left eyebrow
 across the left eye.   The inflammation  here  induced had
 extended to the brain, and thus caused death.   The examiner
 (Dr. Tueffert) found  no other  mark of  contusion.  When
 asked whether a blow with the  fist could have caused this
 fracture he replied that it  must have been a very powerful
 one.  It was  possible, that it might have occurred from the
 deceased falling with great force with his head foremost.
  The characters of both the individuals  concerned were
 proved  to  be good  and not quarrelsome.  The prisoner,
 when arrested, stated that the accident happened  in this
 wise.  Jacques on leaving the door, jumped at him from be-
 hind.  He knelt down to avoid him, and Jacques fell head
 first on a  stone and  the  prisoner fell at the same time on
 him.
  After hearing counsel and the charge of the judge, the
 jury brought in a verdict of acquittal.*
  At the  Perth Circuit Court,  (Scotland,)  in  April,  1836,
 Mary Finlay was charged with murdering her  husband, by
 striking him with a  poker on the legs, dashing the house
 door violently against his  person, and beating  him  to the
 ground, whereby his legs  were broken, and he died in con-
 sequence, about a fortnight afterwards.
  It appears that the deceased was intemperate.  He was
 struck, while lying  on the floor, twice  across the shin with
 a heavy poker.  A witness after this assisted him in undress-
 ing, and saw  blood on his leg.   But he  refused to go to bed,
 and  limped towards  the door, when she  heard him cry out
that his  legs were caught between the leaves of it.  He was
 shortly after  dragged  in by the  witness  and the prisoner,
 and she now observed  the bone to protrude.
  A surgeon proved  that he died of the injury and subse-
 quent delirium tremens.   There was but  a  slight swelling
about the wound, and no ecchymosis  on any part of the
* Gazette des Tribunaux, August 5,1845. 
110
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
 limb.   On disinterment, both bones of the legs were  found
 broken.
   Professor Syme, on examination, stated his opinion  to be,
 that a fall  could not have  caused this  fracture, but that a
 blow might.  It was possible that there had  been a fracture
 first, without displacement, and the crush at  the door might
 have caused the remaining injury.
   Prof. Lizars  on the other  hand,  considered the injury  to
 be the consequence of a fall.   If from a blow, he should
 have expected  bruises  or ecchymosis to be present.  He
 also thought that the  fibula might have been  broken after
 disinterment, and considered it impossible that  the deceased
 could  have  walked fifteen feet with a broken tibia.
   Amidst this discordant medical testimony, the jury judi-
 ciously grounded their verdict on the conceded blows with
 the poker, and being found guilty of this only,  the  prisoner
 was sentenced  to twelve months' imprisonment.
   Professor Syme in his comments on the above testimony,
 objects to the  opinion, that the fibula was subsequently
 fractured.   If so we must believe, that the  broken end  of
 the tibia could project three or four inches  through the
 wound, while the fibula remained sound.  He also quotes a
 case, where  the wheel of a carriage passed  over a female's
 leg and  produced a compound  fracture  of the tibia.  Yet
 there was no  ecchymosis in the neighborhood of the wound,
immediately after the  injury, or at any time  subsequent.
 But the skin over the knee and lower part of the thigh was
 discolored, and  in the course of a few  days sloughed.*
  In another  case, the  occipital  and temporal  bones were
found  broken;  the lambdoidal suture separated  to  such  a
distance, as to allow  the handle  of the scalpel to be  passed

  * London Medical Gazette, vol. 18  pp.  180, 187.  Edinburgh Medical and
 Surgical Journal, vol. 46, p 254  As to the objection, that  persons with a
 fractured tibia could not walk a few steps, Professor Syme asserts, that in
 several subsequent cases of compound fracture, the patient actually did walk,
 and this power even remained in an instance of fracture of the thigh bone.
  Dr. Norns, of Philadelphia, also adduces several instances  from Sabatier,
Desault, Boyer, and others, and some from  his own observation, in all  of
which, patients were able to walk with the aid of a  stick, after a fracture of
theo£e?k 0f *  e  '  S  bone'   (Amencan Journal  Med. Sciences, vol. 25,
p. ZoZ.) 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
Ill
into the opening, and  the petrous portion of the temporal-
bone shattered, and splinters of it driven into the substance
of the brain.   The question, in the absence of positive tes-
timony was,  whether  the subject, a female, had received
these fatal wounds from a fall backwards down a flight  of
stairs on a stone pavement, or whether they were produced
by a blow of a hammer or some similar instrument, used by
the husband in his occupations'?  The possibility of either
seems to have been allowed.*
   It has at various times been a subject of anxious  discus-
sion, whether there are  any proofs to be drawn from the
nature of the wound, discriminative of the injured individual
falling on the weapon, or of it having been thrust into him.
 This  question was put to the medical faculty of Giessen
 under  the following  circumstances:   On the  29th of No-
 vember, 1685, at night, J. Scheffer of Arheilgen, was found
 dead in the city of Giessen.  The examiners discovered a
 wound in the right side, two fingers' breath below the nipple
 and between the  second  and third ribs.  It  penetrated
 through the muscles, the superior lobe of the right side  of
 the lungs, the pericardium and  the  vena  cava, to  the left
 side of the lungs.
    The accused said  that the deceased had rushed on  his
 sword.  The companions of the latter were throwing stones,
 and with  his drawn sword  he ran forward to the  prisoner,
 who falling,  met his fatal wound.   The fiscal  onthe  other
 hand denied the possibility of this.   The deceased was  not
 thrust through the body, but the wound was inflicted  on  the

    * British  Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 185. There is another curious
 case related in the London Med.  Gazette, (vol. 23, p. 517) by Mr. Hullam.
 Two boys had been playing and romping, when one fell with his knees on the
 other.  The deceased, 14 years of age, did not complain of being hurt, attend-
 ed to his usual work in the factory, until four days after—when he expe-
  rienced great pain in the hip and lower part of the abdomen, and it was found
  necessary to carry him home.  He was  carefully treated, but died in five
  days thereafter. On dissection, the left os innominatum was ascertained
  to be extensively fractured, and large quantities of purulent matter were
  present.  The cartilages of the joint were diseased, but the ligaments were
  entire.
    Mr. Hullam and Mr. Arth gave it as their opinion, that the boy could not
  have gone on with his employment, which was not sedentary, for the four first
  days, with the above injury existing.  There was, however, no evidence that
  it could have occurred in any other way, or at  a later period. 
112
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
» right side, a position in which he could not have been placed
 unless he had run side-ways.
    The  medical faculty of Giessen on  being consulted, an-
 swered, in favor of the prisoner for the following reasons:
 The deceased was drunk and in a great rage, and the motion
 which  the  French call the passade, might have inflicted
 the  wound while  he was rushing with great fury  on his
 antagonist.*
    Fodere quotes another case from Kopp illustrative of this
 question:   "A miller was assassinated at his own door by
 a butcher, who pretended that he had no intention of killing
 him, but  had only threatened him with his  knife, in  conse-
 quence of some maltreatment which he had received:  that
 the  miller renewed the attack, and in attempting to pursue
 him, made a false  step and had fallen on the  weapon.  A
 single external wound which led downward to  two wounds
 of the left ventricle of the heart, separated from each other
 by an  interval of two lines, showed that the accused  had
 employed the same method to destroy his  victim as  that
 used by the butchers in Germany to kill cattle; that is after
 having  driven the knife into the heart, they  withdraw it
 some distance and  replunge  it, so as  to  make  a second
 internal wound.  Thus the direction of the wound compared
 with the  respective statures  of the two adversaries,  (the
 butcher being  much smaller than the  miller,)  proved  that
 the blow had been inflicted obliquely from above downwards,
 viz : While the miller was sitting at his door,  and not  by a
 fall  after getting on his feet, in which case the  wound must
 have taken an opposite direction."!

   * Valentini's Pandects, vol. 1, p. 240.  In the London  Medical and Physi-
 cal Journal, vol. 31, p. 467, an anonymous correspondent remarks that in the
 account of the late trial of Major Gordon for the murder  of a  private soldier,
 by holding in his hand a sword, on which the deceased fell,  it is stated that
 Messrs. Snowden and Blake gave medical evidence, and they deposed  that
 from the appearance of the wound, they would take it upon themselves to de-
 clare, that it must have been inflicted by the body falling upon the sword,
 and not occasioned by a thrust of the weapon.  The writer solicits informa-
 tion as to the mode of discriminating between these.
   t FoderS,  vol. 3, p 196.  I am indebted to Dr. Beatty for  this reference,
 which escaped me in the previous edition. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
113
   Stephen Videto  was, in July, 1825, tried at the court of
oyer and terminer for Franklin county, (New York) for the
murder of Mrs. Fanny Mosely.
   It appeared that  Mrs. Mosely  had been  married to a
worthless individual in Canada.  Shortly after  her  union,
he brought her from her parents, under pretence  of visiting
his, to a  tavern at the town of French Mills,  and  there
deserted her,  taking with him, all her property.  In this
destitute situation, she  applied herself with assiduity to the
tailoring business, and finally  accumulated some hundred
dollars, with which she purchased a small farm.
   In March, 1824, she went to reside at the house of  the
prisoner's father.  The family then consisted of his  father
and  mother, a brother  and  sister, the prisoner  and  the
deceased.  The  house  consisted of two ground rooms,  one
called  the kitchen  in  which the old people slept, and  the
bed-room at the west side of the house.  In this last  there
was one window at the west  side, and another at the  north
end, a little east of the centre.   At the north-east corner of
the room stood the bed of the prisoner, with  whom  the
brother slept, and at  the  north-west corner, that of  the
deceased  with whom  the sister was a bed-fellow.    The
heads of both beds were to the north, and there was a space
of about  one yard  between  them, in which a screen or
curtain was usually hung. It was also shown, that the bed
of the deceased was more than one foot  lower than  the
bottom of the window.
   In January, 1825, the prisoner asserted that he had seen
armed  Indians about the house in the night time, and he
supposed  that they harbored hostile designs against him.
Under  this pretence, (for no other persons had seen them,)
he borrowed a pistol and two  guns and provided himself
with amunition.
   On the 1st of February, the brother and sister were both
absent from home, and of course the prisoner and  deceased
were left alone.   The prisoner asserted that he was watch-
ing during the night, from the  apprehension of an attack,
and sat up in bed, with  his gun lying across his lap.  While
   VOL. II.                   3 
114
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
thus employed, a gun was suddenly thrust through the north
window  and discharged at Mrs.  Mosely, who was  then
asleep.   He immediately  fired  his  gun out  of  the same
window, but saw no one.
  Such  was his account.  It was  found on  examination,
that the  ball entered the back  of the  deceased near the
spine, a  little above the left  hip, and passed  out near the
left breast, nearer to the head than it entered.   She died of
the wound in two hours.  The window, consisting of fifteen
lights, had six  broken in the lower sash.   The broken sash
and almost all the fragments of glass were on the outside of the
house.  The ball was found in the covering over the deceased.
Mrs. Mosely mentioned before her death, that she lay in
bed with her head to the north, her face  to the west, and
her body bent forward considerably.
  On dissection, the  lowest rib was found cut  square off, at
an inch or an inch and a half, from the  spine.   There was,
therefore, no glancing.  The  lower lobe of the left lung and
the heart were perforated with a ball and shot.
  The examining physicians placed the body in the position
above described, on  the bed, and  then placed persons on
the outside of the house, to ascertain whether  a ball from a
gun would  reach her as  stated by  the prisoner.  It was
found that she must have lain in a most unnatural posture,
in order to  be reached, namely, that of a person  vomiting.
Her account was very different.
  It also appeared on the trial, that the prisoner had pur-
chased arsenic, and probably given it to the deceased, whose
health had for some time previous been in a declining state.
  Videto was found guilty and executed, asserting, however,
his innocence to the last.
  The  solution of this case remains to be given.   It is the
usual sequence of seduction and murder.  On the dissection
of the body, the  murdered female was found to be pregnant.
This fact was known to  the district attorney, but from  a
regard to the feelings of the  relatives of the murdered per-
son, it was not brought in  testimony.  Videto confessed
that he  was the seducer, to  Judge (now Chancellor) Wal- 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
115
worth, before  whom he  was tried,  a few  days after  his
conviction.*
  Not only the course of the  wound' is thus to be noticed,
but some attention should be paid to the known comparative
strength of the  parties.  In  a  recent case in England,  a
feeble old man aged upwards of seventy years, was accused
on  the  testimony of a very suspicious witness,  of  having
killed an individual aged twenty-four, by two or three blows
on the head with a common stick.   On dissection, the skull
was found broken into thirty-five pieces.  I do not know the
result of the accusation ; but several experiments were per-
formed  on the dead body, distinctly proving that, even with
a loaded stick, such extensive injury could not be affected
 after nine or ten blows.f
   We must also recollect,  that cases like the following may
 occur : In 1808, during a  quarrel among some drovers at an
 inn in  France,  one was wounded with a  knife on the face,
 hand, and upper part of the thorax near the right clavicle.
 When the riot ended, the injuries were examined, and found
 to be  superficial and  slight.   They were washed, and  an
 hour afterwards, the  wounded individual departed for his
 home.   He was, however, found dead the next morning,
 bathed in blood.  Dissection was made, and the left lung
 and  pulmonary artery were found cut.   The surgeons de-
 posed that this  was the  cause of death, and that it must have
 been inflicted after the superficial  wound  on the  thorax,
 which  was not bloody,  but  surrounded  by  ecchymosis.
 Such proved to be the fact;  on his  way home,  he had been
 robbed and murdered.J
   Again, an intoxicated individual was severely beaten, but
 was able to walk a mile and a  half,  to call on his physician,
 Dr. Davat.  He did not speak, but continued in one position;
 allowed his comrades to tell the circumstances ; and when
 they left, followed them,  without  staggering or receiving

   * For a perusal of this trial and  the additional facts mentioned, I am in-
 debted to the kindness of Chancellor Walworth.
   t Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter,  vol. 2, p. 358.
   t Chaussier, Recueil, p. 139. 
116               PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

any assistance.  This was at six in the evening; after which
he continued with them until nine, when he fell, and became
comatose, and continued  so in spite of medical assistance,
until one o'clock, P. M., the time of his death.
  The body was examined in forty-eight hours after. There
was no ecchymosis, scratch, or  contusion on the surface of
the body.  Although, however, the scalp appeared perfectly
natural, yet on cutting into it, the  cellular tissue was seen
infiltrated with black blood, and two large  fractures of the
parietal bone were discovered ; blood was also collected be-
tween it and the dura mater.  The viscera  were healthy, but
there was a longitudinal  laceration of the diaphragm, two
inches and a half in extent; and the herniated portion of the
stomach was also ruptured, and had discharged its contents
into  the thorax.  Small  clots  of blood  accompanied the
effused aliments.
  The question immediately arose, whether the deceased had
sustained these  lesions when he was seen by Dr. Davat in
the evening, one hour after the injury. As to the fractures
of the skull, there could be no doubt but that they were the
consequence of  blows;  but  could the diaphragm be thus
ruptured, and  the patient survive nineteen hours'?   Was it
not rather owing to a fall without violence ; or, as Dr. Davat
supposes,  occurring  either immediately previous to death,
or possibly directly after if?   At all  events, so far as expe-
rience extends,  we  may doubt whether such rupture of the
diaphragm  and  stomach  are  compatible with life beyond a
brief period.
  On the trial, the accused had the benefit of these doubts;
and  although found guilty was only sentenced to seven
years' imprisonment.*
  When a  person is found dead at the foot of a precipice,
or appears to  have fallen from any height, we should natu-
rally expect, that fractures, irregular wounds and contusions,
would be  present.  But along with  these, we may happen
to find incised wounds, regular in their form and bearing the
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 43, p. 499, from the Ar-
chives Girales. Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 26. p. 529. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
117
marks of being inflicted with a cutting instrument.   If not

made  after death (and we  have already explained the ap-

pearances by which this may be ascertained,) they are either

the work of the  individual  himself previous to his fall,  or

he has been attacked by assassins.*

   In 1819, at Castellane, in France, a laborer conducting  an

ass loaded with wheat, was found dead at the foot of a high

precipice aside the main road.   The ass also had fallen, but

was  still living.  The wheat  was scattered along the face

of the rocks.  The  body exhibited a  number of irregular

wounds  and contusions; the  under jaw'and clavicle were

fractured and one of the subclavian arteries was wounded.

   The prevailing opinion now was, that the ass had stumbled

 over the rocks, and the  conductor in  attempting to recover

 it, had fallen and thus lost his life.  But presently, a bonnet

 not belonging to  the deceased  was discovered and it was

 then recollected, that a neighbor of furious temper had been

 on bad terms with  him.  This led to  a more minute exami-

 nation.   On the back and side of the head, three or four in-

 cised wounds were observed, perfectly regular in their shape,

 without any marks  of contusion between them,  or any jag-

 ging  of their edges.  Other  wounds of this description

 were found on the  chest,  but the  arms  and  hands  were

 uninjured — there being  only  a slight excoriation  on  one

 finger.


   * Although I shall advert more at  large to the subject in  the chapter of
 " Wounds on the  Living body," I cannot too early, suggest the hazard to
 their reputation, that medical witnesses assume in positively stating the de-
 scription of weapon that has been employed to cause injury or death.  The
 nature of wounds, their form and condition, are scarcely yet sufficiently set-
 tled, to warrant us in asserting that  this is caused by a blunt  instrument,
 and that by a sharp-pointed one.   Take the following example:
   In the case of Thorn, convicted of murder, in 1843, in the State of Maine,
 there were two wounds on the head of the deceased, one lacerating the ear;
 the other under and a little forward of the ear and accompanied with a frac-
 ture of the skull; the temporal artery was ruptured, and  the scalp, with a
 part of the temporal artery and  the fractured  bone, was driven upon  the
 brain.  The surgeon who made the examination of the body, found the  bow
  of a large pair of wrought iron tongs belonging to the house, corresponded to
 the form and size of the wound, and was of opinion that the wound was in-
 flicted by that or some such instrument, while two other surgeons agreed that
 it was caused by some blunt instrument, a brickbat or something similar.
   The criminal, after conviction, confessed that the blow was inflicted with
 an axe.  (Law Reporter, vol. 6, pp. 52, 94.) 
118               PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

  The inference was irresistible that the deceased had been
murdered previous to falling down the rocks.   These could
hardly have caused several wounds so regular in their shape,
and so  closely resembling each other.  And again, a man
struggling for life would certainly, in this situation have
contused and wounded his arms and hands.  The murderer,
for so he proved, was condemned and executed.*
  Madmen and suicides, it must be remembered,  often in-
flict the most painful and  extraordinary wounds  on them-
selves.  In suspected cases, we should ascertain the previ-
ous history of the deceased, his state of mind, and worldly
situation.   The countenance should  also  be noticed.  In
suicides, it is usually haggard, the eyes are sunk, and this
physiognomy continues while a spark  of vitality remains in
the body.   Those, on the  contrary, who are the victims of
assassination, have a degree of paleness and fear imprinted
on their visage.f
  These directions,  though they may appear minute, are
notwithstanding important, in consequence of the difficulty
of the subject,  and the fact that there  is scarcely any des-
cription of wound which may not be inflicted by an indivi-
dual on himself. Some, however, may be  excepted, as when
a person has been wounded by a small  and  sharp-pointed
instrument in the spinal marrow,  and  generally indeed all
wounds from behind.
  Fire-arms are frequently used as  an instrument of death,
and here some inference may be drawn from the  nature of
the wound.  If the ball  has passed through the body, it is
probable that the murderer was near,  or that the individual
inflicted it on himself.  We cannot, however, rest much on
this  fact,  since a  great deal will depend on the strength of
the charge and the  resistance  offered by the parts of the
body.   The direction is of more importance.  " It may be
taken for granted," says Dr. Smith, "that if the weapon has
been introduced in the deceased's mouth and there discharg-
* Poilroux, Med. Legale Criminelle, p. 97.
t Fodere, vol. 3, pp. 181 to 188. 
                   PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.                119

ed, it has  not been done  by another."*   Conceding the
great probability of this, it must also be recollected,  that a
suicide may inflict a wound  on himself from  behind.  A
man at Paris, after  some  years of  insanity, shut himself in
his chamber, from which was shortly heard the discharge of
a pistol.  On entering the room, he was found barely alive,
with  a wound behind the right mastoid apophysis,  and the
occipital bone fractured and broken. He survived two hours,
and on dissection, the ball was found lodged in the cerebel-
lum.  It was evident that the pistol had been fired with the
right hand  placed  behind the head, and probably the head
was inclined to the left.f
  An  examination  of the  entrance  and exit wound is also
important, in enabling us to determine the direction.   " That
made on entering is smaller, and has its edges inverted and
depressed,  while  the latter is much larger with ragged,
everted and uneven edges—a circumstance depending upon
the direction in which  the force  is applied to the skin, as
well as upon the  diminished velocity of the ball.J   When
flat bones are perforated by balls, the same difference in the
size and appearance of the  two openings is to be observed.
A trial, in which the  defence rested upon the difference be-
tween the wounds, took place a few years ago in Kent, and
is recorded by Dr. Gordon Smith.   An officer in the prevent-
ive service  was indicted for the murder of a man who was
shot in the  night, under circumstances of a suspicious nature
as to his pursuit at the time.   There was no doubt that he
was in company with a party of smugglers, and came by his

  *  A case of this nature is related by Devergie, which also deserves notice
for its attendant circumstances.  The pistol was introduced into the mouth
and discharged.  The ball lodged in the brain, and no mark of external in-
jury could be discovered on the dead body. The hands were perfectly clean,
the lips untouched by the powder, and the countenance calm, nor was it until
the  jaws were  forced open, that the extensive destruction of parts was dis-
covered.  Devergie, vol. 1, p. 306.
  t  Case by Dr. Dance.   Orfila's Lemons, 2d edition, vol. 2, p. 543.
  X  Dupuytren fired through several boards placed at the distance of two or
three  inches from each other.  The exit hole in the first board was much
larger than the entrance one; the entrance hole in the second board, larger
than the corresponding one in the first, and so in an increasing ratio.  Hence,
it two men are wounded  by the same ball, unless its velocity be greatly di-
minished.the wounds of the one last struck, will be the largest.  (Devergie, 
120               PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

death accidentally.  He was retreating before the prisoner,
who tripped, and in the fall his gun went off.  It seems that,
on the other hand, several shots were fired by the smugglers
on their retreat, and that the deceased was killed by one of
them.   This appeared from the testimony of a navy surgeon,
who examined the body.   He found  the wound in the upper
part of the groin much smaller than  that in the  lower part
of the buttock, which was twice or three times  the size of
the former, and was ragged and uneven.   Fragments of  the
bone were likewise felt  at the hinder opening, but none in
the cavity of the  pelvis.   From these appearances, he gave
his opinion that the ball had entered in front, and had come
from his own party."*
  In a French medical journal, there is stated the following
case, as occurring a few years since  :
  An  old man was  fired at from a deep  ditch  on the road
side, during a thick  fog, and  killed on the spot.  A near
relative,  who was successor  to  his property,  and  whose
menaces  and conduct for some  time  previous were of an
alarming nature,  was suspected of the murder and arrested.
It was proved  that a few minutes  before  the  murder  was
committed,  he  was  seen  very near the  fatal  spot  with a
fowlingpiece in his  hand.  On inspection by the surgeons,
it was  found that death had been occasioned by two balls,
one of which cut the aorta  across  and the  other passed
through the ileum.   The  hole in the ileum was perfectly
circular,  and when accurately measured, was  found to be
eight lines in diameter.   The calibre of the prisoner's fowl-

  *  Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. Persons dead from wounds, by
Dr. Beatty, vol. 4, p.  561.
  Another  instance is given in the English state trials.  Richard Annesley
was tried for the murder of Thomas Eglestone,  a poacher.  The prisoner was
in company with the game-keeper, and he asserted that his gun had gone off
accidentally, in attempting to secure  the deceased.  It appeared from the
evidence of the surgeon, that the direction of  the wound was  upwards, and
consequently the fowlingpiece had not been levelled from the shoulder. ' The
jury brought in a verdict of chance medley. (Paris, vol. 2, p 126 )
  In a duel fought at Paris in 1827, with pistols, the person killed was much
taller than his antagonist, yet the mortal wound was obliquely downwards.
Suspicion was excited, and an investigation made by Breschet, Denis and
Precsat. The ball was found to have struck the clavicle obliquely, and in
consequence of its resistance, to have thus deviated.  They added in their re-
port, that they had witnessed many analogous  cases. (Briand, 2d ed., p 298.) 
                   PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.                121

ingpiece, (the only arms in his possession,) was found to be
only six and a half lines in diameter.   This circumstance at
once set the prisoner at liberty.
   Some  time after this, however, an  old officer committed
suicide by means of a cavalry pistol.   The ball perforated
the parietal bone, traversed the brain, &c.   The hole where
it entered  was  perfectly circular,  and  when accurately
measured, was found not only greatly to exceed the calibre
of the pistol, but in  fact to  admit, without much force, the
barrel of the pistol itself.*
   We  have  recently been  favored with  some remarks by
Baron Dupuytren on this subject.  He observes, that when
the gun has been discharged close to the wounded part, the
opening by  which the ball enters is smaller  than that by
which it makes its exit, but if at  a distance, so that the ball
is nearly spent,  then the reverse will be observed.  The
canal  made  in the former case will be conical.  The  hole
made by a ball in clothes is always smaller than that in the
 skin.f  It is hardly necessary to remind the young surgeon
 that balls frequently take remarkably circuitous routes.J
   In a  still later memoir, Ollivier  throws some  doubt  on
 the  universality of  the  rule, as   to the comparative size of
the  entrance and exit wounds.   He asserts that in many
instances, he has seen the former the  largest and  mentions
one, of a person shot in the  groin, at thirty paces.  This
wound was larger, than the exit one in the buttock.   Whe-
ther the resistance in  passing through the pelvis might not
place  this  case  under  the rule  of  Dupuytren, and thus

  * Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 5, p. 504, from the Gazette de Sante of
January,1824.
  t London Medical  Quarterly Review, vol. 3, p. 133.  Medico-Chirurgical
Review, vol. 25, p. 291.                                      &
  When the fire-arm has been discharged very near to the person injured,
the wound often resembles a burn in many respects.  It has a red or  dark
appearance, coagulated blood mixed with powder or powder-dust, is observed
on the edges, and the skin around it is filled with particles of unexploded
powder.  (Devergie, vol. 2, pp 88, 93.)
  X The most singular instance is that mentioned by Dr. Hennen ; the ball
struck the breast and lodged in the scrotum, the man standing erect in the
ranks.   Sometimes the tortuous course of the ball may be traced by  a dusky
line, but even this is not always present.  The  inference is obvious, in cases
of wounds, not to pronounce  an injury fatal until we are sure that  the ball
has penetrated.  (Dr. A. T. Thomson, Lon.  Med. and Sur. Jour. v. 7, p.  325.) 
122
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
assimilate the  projectile to a spent ball, I will not pretend
to decide.   But however this may be, the earnest  advice of
our author, to examine the injuries to the dress and clothing,
cannot be too much insisted upon.   Frequently this alone
may serve to settle a disputed case. And we should  recollect,
that there is always more or less, a loss  of a  portion of  the
clothing,  at the part corresponding to the entrance wound.*
  The following observations of the late Professor Staughton
will also  throw considerable  light on this  subject.  After
stating  that Dr. Hennen is the first  who noticed  that balls
will course along concave as well as  convex surfaces, as, for
instance,  between the  pleura  costalis  and  the  lungs,  he
proceeds  to point out the striking difference  between  the
effects of  a musket and a rifle ball.  " The motion of a mus-
ket  ball, independently of its  projectile course on its own
axis, is at right angles with its direction.   Hence when a
musket ball strikes  the flesh,  the hole  made is smaller, to
all  appearance, than the  ball itself.   The  barrel  of  the
American rifle,  on the  other hand, is grooved,  not in a
longitudinal direction, as the French and German  rifles,  but
in a spiral manner.   The ball is forced down so tightly that
as it passes out, it is  under the necessity of following  the
course of the spiral groove.  This imparts to it a motion on
its own axis, corresponding with the  direction of its course.
Besides, the whole ball follows a spiral direction, forming
in its progress a hollow cylinder, if I may be permitted  the
expression.   Hence the  ragged  hole, which  our hunters
know so well, is always much  larger than the ball.   Hence
the  rifle ball, at full momentum,  does not, like the  musket
ball, remove a cylinder of muscle and bone, but by its rotary
motion, tears the flesh and  shatters the  bone.  Hence, too,
unless the ball is nearly spent, it never glances."f

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 22, p. 319.  Malle, Professor  at the Military
Hospital of Strasburg, coincides in opinion with Ollivier, both  from his ob-
servations on the living, and his experiments on dead bodies.  In all, and
each, the entrance hole was larger than the exit one.  The latter was only
less regular than  the former, and its edges were prominent, and  thus dis-
tinguished from the rounded and depressed appearance of the former  (Ibid.
vol. 23, p. 458.)
  t Western Journal of Medical and Physical Science, vol. 4, p  380 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
123
  Collateral circumstances will  also throw some  light  on

cases of this nature.  Two have  lately  happened, the one

in England, and  the other in  France, where the  wadding

was examined, and discovered to have been torn from paper

found in  the possession of the murderer.*   Again, a man

was found shot, and his  own pistol lay near him, from which

circumstance,  (and no person  having been seen to enter or

leave  the house of the deceased,) it was concluded that  he

had destroyed himself; but on  examining the ball by which

he  had been  killed, it  was  found too large ever to have

entered  that  pistol:  in consequence  of which discovery,

suspicion fell  upon  the  real murderers.   Authors have also

mentioned the discoloration of the fingers from the combus-

tion of the  powder in the pan, as a mark of suicide, but  a

crafty assassin might also have recourse to it.f

   Again,  it  is  a  common remark, says  Orfila,  that  the

presence of two or more mortal wounds in various parts of

the body, is a decisive  proof  of homicide, on the  presump-

tion that  an individual  having  already inflicted  one  on

 himself,  has not the  strength  to produce the  second.   Al-

 though correct  as  a general  rule, it must  be  taken with

 exceptions, and  particularly so if the first wound  be not of

 a nature  to  produce instant  death.  A  determined suicide


 . * Gordon Smith, p. 281.  Probably the following is the English case:
  Lord Eldon, late in life, told this striking story of an assize scene to one of
his daughters :  " I  have heard some very extraordinary  cases of murder
tried ; I remember, in one where I was counsel, for a long time the evidence
did not appear to touch the prisoner at all, and he looked about him with the
most perfect unconcern, seeming to think himself quite safe.  At last, the
surgeon was called, who stated that the deceased had been  killed by a shot,
a gun-shot, in the head, and he produced the matted hair and stuff cut from
and taken  out of the wound. It was all hardened with blood.   A basin  of
warm water was brought into  court, and, as the blood was gradually soften-
ed, a piece of  printed  paper appeared—the wadding of  the gun—which
proved to be half of  a ballad. The other half had been found in the man's
pocket when he was taken. He was hanged."  Twiss' Life of Lord Eldon.
  t Such of my chemical readers as are curious on the subject, I will refer
to the Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 11, p. 458, where an account is given of Mr.
Boutigny's experiments to determine the period which may have elapsed after
the discharge of a piece of fire-arms.   There is a translation of the same, by
Mr. Fisher, from the Journal  de Chimie Medicale, in the Philadelphia Jour-
nal of Pharmacy, vol. 6, p. 207.  See  also Baltimore Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 1, p. 501.
  Subsequently M. Boutigny has pursued the subject by an inquiry into the
proofs of the fire-arm having been cleansed or washed, after being discharged.
(Annales, vol. 21, p.  197 ; vol. 22, p. 367.) 
124
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
may, in the few moments of existence, repeat the blows on
himself.   The following instance is given by our author, on
the authority of Dr. Vingtrinier of Rouen:   Mr.  G. was
found dead in his chamber, with two  pistols, one near his
body, and the other on the bed, at the distance of six paces.
An inquest proved that  the first pistol was fired when  he
was on the bed;  that it had broken two ribs  and wounded
the lung.  In spite of this severe injury, Mr. G. had gone
into a neighboring room,  obtained the  other  pistol, and
discharged  it through his  head.  This produced instant
death.*
  In  connexion with the subject of fire-arms, we must also
recollect that death may result from their discharge  when
loaded with shot, and it would  seem that the appearances
presented  are  in  some  respects different  from fire-arms
loaded with ball.   A  recent communication by Professor
Lachese, of Ager, has materially added to our knowledge on
this point.
  In  one case where an individual was instantly killed  at
the distance of six inches by a gun which was supposed not
to be loaded, there was found an oval wound ten lines by
thirteen  in  the right side of  the neck, but on examining it
internally, it was  ascertained to  be much larger, and filled
with splinters of bone  and fragments of the tissues.   There
was another small  wound just below the scapula.   On dis-
section,  the subclavian artery and  vein, the carotid and
internal jugular, the lower part of the  larynx and the upper
part of the trachea with portions of some of the vertebra,
and the ribs were all seen to be injured, and some grains of
shot had traversed the upper portion of the lung.  The shot
and wadding were found  in the back  part  of the neck,
within a space of about five inches in diameter.

  *  Orfila's Lecons, 1st edition, vol. 1. p. 717.
  Our author quotes a still more striking case in his 3d edition, vol. 2, p. 665,
on the authority of OllivierD'Angers : A young man discharged a pistol into
his mouth.  It fractured the roof, tore the tongue and velum and dropped
from the «sophagus into the stomach.  He then endeavored to fracture his
skull with the butt end of the pistol and inflicted no less than thirty wounds
on the front part of his head, most of which penetrated to the bone. Finally,
he hung himself on a neighboring tree. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
125
  The extensive  injury produced in this,  and a similar
judicial case, induced Prof. Lachese to perform a number of
experiments with guns thus loaded, and also with powder
only on the dead body.  I will not go into a detail of these,
but content myself with a statement of the results deduced
by him.
  Notwithstanding (he observes,) the difference that must
exist between the physical properties of the living and the
dead  tissues, and the  variations that might have been in-
duced  in these experiments  by the quality of the fire-arms
employed, and  the quantity and quality of the powder and
of the projectiles, yet as  he employed only the fire-arms
that are  in  common use, as well as the different kinds of
shot, powder and wadding, he thinks he is justified in draw-
ing the following conclusions :
   1. Whatever some authors may have assumed to the con-
trary, a discharge from a gun loaded with shot, so near as to
 make but  one hole, does not  produce injury  of the same
 kind, as that which results  from a ball properly so  called,
 but it causes infinitely more serious and extensive wounds.
   2. In order  that a  discharge of powder  shall  penetrate
 into the cavities, and make an external wound like that pro-
 duced by shot making but one hole, the  gun must be of
 great  calibre, be heavily  charged, and there must be less
than six inches distance between its muzzle and the body
 wounded.
   3.  To produce with a gun loaded with shot, a single round
aperture, the gun must be fired at ten or twelve inches dis-
tance at the most.  At from one foot to eighteen inches, the
aperture will have its edges torn by a greater or less num-
ber of shot, and some of them will pass inwardly—while at
 three feet, there will be no central wound, and from that to
 still greater distances, the  shot will scatter over a larger
 space, in proportion to the distance, the  goodness  of the
 fire-arm, and the smallness of the charge.
   4. If, instead of being discharged on the naked body, as
 until now, we  have supposed, the firing  takes place on  a
 body covered with clothing, the same effects may take place, 
126
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
but not at the same distances.   In  proportion to the thick-
ness  and consistency of the dress,  the distance  must  be
diminished.*
   The narrative of a few cases will form a proper commen-
tary on the above remarks.   I commence with one  that was

undoubtedly accidental:
   On  the 8th of February,  1792,  S. D. aged about thirty
years, and of a robust constitution, became intoxicated at
an  inn near Morges  in  Switzerland, and in a room heated
very warm by a German stove.   At eleven o'clock  at night,
he left this place quite drunk, in order to return home, which
was at the  distance  of half a league.  The  weather was
cold, and the  ground  covered with snow.   The  next morn-
ing this man was found dead at the side of a ditch, within a
small distance from his dwelling.   A report soon circulated
that he had been assassinated, and a medical man, who saw
the body, asserted the certainty of it.   The supposed mur-
derer was already pointed out, when Dr. Desgranges, who
then resided  at  Morges, was  ordered  to inspect the body.
   No  traces of injury were  found, nor  indeed any contu-
sions, until in  turning  the  head  from the left  to the right
  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 15, p. 389.  Dunglison's American Med. Intelli-
gencer, vol. 1, p. 111.  In the chapter on  Wounds on the living body, some
additional remarks on injuries by fire-arms will be found.  I will here only
add a case related by Dr. Graff, of a young man aged fifteen, who received a
discharge of small shot in the thorax and abdomen, at the distance of about
forty-eight paces.  He fell, but soon afterwards got up and ran for about six
hundred paces, when he again fell, exhausted.   Several wounds were discov-
ered, from one of which, between the first and second ribs, florid blood issued.
He died in thirty-eight hours.  On dissection, the sixth intercostal artery
was found torn through, a large quantity of  extravasated blood was seen
and an opening was traced from the external wound into the substance of the
right lung, but no foreign body could be discovered, nor was there any com-
munication by which it could have passed out.  I forbear to state the differ-
ences of opinion that arose among the medical inspectors, as the case was re-
ferred to the Medical College of the Grand Duchy of Hesse—who showed con-
clusively, from the  previous good health of the deceased, and the absence of
all morbid changes,  that there could have been no aneurismal enlargement
or abscess of the intercostal artery—that the  shot had passed from above
downwards, and its  absence was no proof that it had not inflicted the wound,
as the deflection of projectiles is well understood.  Each of these objections
had been urged. The points in this <Jase particularly deserving of notice  are
the smallness of the external wound—the difficulty of connecting it in conse-
quence of the collapse of parts,  with the deep-seated injury—the absence of
the missile—lastly, the fact that a wound of the intercostal artery near  the
aorta may prove fatal.  (British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 3. d 536,—
from Henke's Zeitschrift.)                                 'p-    ' 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
127
side, an  oblique wound, about three-quarters  of an inch
externally, was discovered,  situated below the under jaw,
and nearly at the  top  of the  larynx.   On introducing the
little finger into this aperture, its size internally was found
greater than  its external appearance indicated.   Its depth
was about one inch, and extended to the oesophagus and top
of the  trachea.  The clothes of the deceased were  stained
with blood, as was also the snow on which he lay.
  As the  wound which presented  itself did not resemble
any inflicted by ordinary instruments,  Dr. Desgranges was
led to the opinion, that the  injury was caused by a kind of
auger, which the  deceased had taken with him from the
tavern, and which he had held under his arm, with the han-
dle backwards.  This  was found  lying at the  side of the
man,  covered with clotted  blood.   The truth of the con-
jecture was  confirmed  by opening  the wound, and  putting
the auger into it, when it was found  to apply completely.
On further dissection, it was ascertained that the  left carotid
had been wounded, and that hence the immediate cause of
death had been the haemorrhage from it.  These facts seemed
to decide the question as to  its being an accident, and it was
also supposed, that in endeavoring to remove the auger  on
which he had fallen, he had  moved  it round, and thus made
the internal  wound  larger than the external.*
   In 1813, some excitement was caused in England on ac-
count of the  sudden death of Sellis, a servant of the  Duke
of Cumberland, and the simultaneous injury received by his
Royal  Highness.   Sir  Everard Home  published a declara-
tion  on  this subject,  which seems to indicate  that Sellis
committed suicide,  after attempting the life of the Duke.
" I visited the Duke," says Sir Everard, " upon his being
wounded, and found my way from the great hall to his apart-
ment, by the traces of blood  which were left on the passages
and staircase.  I found him  on the bed still  bleeding—his
shirt deluged with blood, and the colored drapery above the

   Fodere\ vol. 3, p. 190. The case was communicated by Dr. Desgranges.
Renard (p. 109,) remarks that the lungs of those who die from wounds, are
seldom found gorged. 
128
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
 pillows sprinkled with blood from a wounded artery, which
 puts on an appearance that cannot be mistaken by those who
 have seen it.   This could  not have happened, had  not the
 head been  laying on the pillow when it was wounded.   The
 night ribbon, which was wadded, the  cap, scalp and skull,
 were obliquely divided, so  that the pulsations of the arteries
 of the brain could be distinguished.  While dressing these
 wounds, a  report came that  Sellis was dead.   I went to his
 apartment—found  the  body  laying on its side on the bed,
 without his coat and neckcloth—the throat cut so effectually,
 that  he could not  have survived a  minute  or two.   The
 length and direction of the wound was such as left no doubt
 of its being given by his own hand ;  any struggle would have
 made it irregular.  He had not even changed his position—
 his hands  lay as they do in a person who has fainted—they
 had no marks of violence upon them—his coat hung  upon
 a  chair, out of the reach of blood from the bed—the sleeve,
 from the wrist to the shoulder, was spinkled with blood quite
 dry, evidently from a  wounded artery and from  such kind of
 sprinkling, the arm of the assassin of the Duke of Cumber-
 land could not escape."*
   Arthur,  Earl of  Essex,  was committed  to  the Tower on
 the  10th of July,   1683.  This  was  during the  reign  of

  * Edinburgh Annual Register, vol. 6, part 2d,  p. 19.  Smith, p. 284.
 Paris, vol. 3, p. 33.  London Atlas Newspaper of June 24, 1832.
  Taylor's Med. Jurisprudence, p. 352.  It may be proper to add that medi-
 cal jurists are very far from admitting the correctness of Sir Everard Home's
 deduction.
  I find the following quoted from the Gazette MSdicale de Paris, but from
 the name of the reporter, suppose it may be an English case :
  Mr. Jameson was called  to a female, fifty years old, who had cut her
 throat with a  razor.  While attempts were made to  staunch the wound, she
 drew something from her pocket, to which she endeavored to attract their
 attention by signs, being unable to speak.  Mr. Jameson took it out of her
 hands, and found it to be a considerable portion of the walls of the respira-
 tory tube  It consisted of the cricoid cartilage entire, of the left wing of the
 thyroid, of the right arytenoid, of a part of the upper rings of the trachea
 and some fi^es of the muscles of the larynx. The unfortunate female stated
 by signs, that  the mutilation was committed by  herself and that she  had
 made five several attempts before she completed it.  She survived thirty-four
 hours.                                                   J
  It is observed that if this female had died without any one beinfr present
 to  note the circumstances, they would unavoidably have induced a strong
 SUSpl1C1?I1l. °f h°micide: . How many would  have credited  the assertion, that
 she had herself completed the horrid dissection and then removed the parts
to her pocket.   (Encyclop. Des Sciences Med. Jan'y, 1845, p. 241.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
129
Charles 2d, and at  the time when his brother James, Duke
of York, was supposed to have great influence in the govern-
ment.  On the 13th, (the same day that Lord William Russel
was  tried and capitally condemned,) the  Earl was found
dead in his  chamber, with his throat cut.   A coroner's jury
was summoned, but before they were empanelled, the Earl's
body was taken out of the closet where it lay, and  stript of
its clothes.   These were carried away and the closet washed.
And when one of the jury insisted upon seeing his clothes,
the coroner was sent  for into  another room,  and upon his
return, told the jury it was my lord's body, and not his clothes,
they were to sit upon.  Before the jury, two surgeons, Sher-
wood and Andrews, deposed as to the wound.  Sherwood
stated, that  the  aspera  arteria (the trachea) and the gullet,
with the jugular arteries, were all  divided.  Andrews said,
that the throat was cut from one jugular to  the other, and
through the windpipe  and gullet  into the vertebrae of the
neck, both jugular veins being divided.   The verdict of the
 coroner's jury was in the following words :—That with  a
 razor, " the Earl of Essex gave himself one mortal wound,
cut from one jugular to the other, and by the aspera arteria
and  the windpipe  to the vertebres of the neck,  both the
jugulars being thoroughly divided: and of this he died."
   One Laurence Braddon shortly  after, formed the opinion
that the Earl of Essex had been murdered, and (as he after-
wards  stated,) conceived it  to have been  accomplished  by
individuals who were allowed to pass by the Earl's keepers.
These murderers, he supposed were set on by the Duke of
York, afterward James  the II.  He was  tried for  a misde-
meanor in suborning witnesses to prove this, and was found
guilty and fined £2,000.  After the revolution, in 1690,  he
 published a pamphlet  entitled " The Earl of Essex's inno-
cency and honor vindicated," which contains some additional
 particulars.
   The  closet  was  about three feet two inches wide, and
there was no blood higher than the floor.   The instrument
itself was  a French razor four and a quarter inches in  its
   VOL. n.                  9 
130
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
blade, and no  spill  or  tongue at  the  end.   Hence it  must
have been held by the blade, and it would seem difficult to
inflict  so large a wound with it.  A surgeon is stated to
have suggested to the  coroner's jury, that the notchesin the
razor were  made by my  lord against  his neck bone.   Lord
Essex was  right-handed, and the  razor lay on the left side.
Two witnesses swore that the neck of his cravat was cut in
three pieces, and there were five cuts on his  right hand.
  Bishop Burnet  is of opinion,  that the earl  committed
suicide.  He observes, that " when the  body was brought
home to his own  house,  and  the wound  was examined by
his own surgeon, he said to me, it was  impossible that the
wound could be as it was, if given by  any hand but his own.
For except  he had cast his head  back and stretched up his
neck all he  could, the aspera arteria  must have been  cut."
Both the jugulars and  gullet, he adds, were  cut  just above
the aspera arteria.
  The  reader will notice  the discrepancy between this
account and the statement given under oath by the surgeons
before  the coroner's jury.
  This subject was also agitated for some time before a
committee of the  House of Lords, and several  physicians
and surgeons  who were examined by  them, declared " that
they would not positively say that it was impossible for my
lord to cut his throat through each jugular vein, the aspera
arteria and gullet, to the very neck bone, and even behind
each jugular vein on each  side of the neck,  (as  some  judi-
cious surgeons who had viewed the throat had reported it to
be cut,) but this they  would be very  positive in, that they
never saw any man's throat so cut which was cut  by himself.
And they did then  further declare, that they did believe,
that when any man had cut through one of his  jugular veins
and the gullet and  windpipe, and to the very neck  bone,
nature would  thereby  be so much weakened  by the  great
effusion of blood and animal spirit, that the felo de se would
not have strength sufficient to cut  through  and behind the
other jugular, as my lord's throat, by surgeons who saw it,
was said to be cut." 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
131
  No report was, however, made by this committee.  Lord
Delamere resolved  to draw it up himself, but before he had
completed it, parliament was prorogued, and afterwards dis-
solved,  and  consequently all  further proceedings were
stopped.
  Modern historians have generally concurred with Bishop
Burnet, in deeming  this a case of suicide.  They  dwell
much on the Earl being subject  to fits of deep melancholy,
and being accustomed to maintain the lawfulness of suicide.
Such is Mr. Hume's opinion, while Mr. Hallam, (in his Con-
stitutional History,) founds his belief on his unwillingness
to think  that  Charles and James  would have  caused so
detestable a murder to be committed  on one towards whom
they had never shown any hostility, and in whose death they
could have no  interest.   And yet in subsequent pages of his
work he  informs us, that James  (for  Charles  was never
accused of any agency, direct or indirect, in the transaction,)
approved of Jeffries' cruelties,  and that he assisted at the
tortures in Scotland.*
   No one at  all acquainted with this subject, will deny its
intricacy. Chaussier, in commenting on the question whether
the wounds are caused by suicide or homicide, quotes two
cases from Ambrose Pare.  One was of an Englishman, who
was robbed and wounded with a dagger, and left for dead at
Vincennes.  He was found in his shirt, with the trachea and
oesophagus completely divided.   Pare  brought the  trachea
together, and  dressed  the  parts so that the patient could

  * The authorities from which I have drawn the above narrative, are,
  The Trial of L. Braddon, in Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 3, p. 855.
•vl   f aor/ °f J?ssex's  innocency and honour vindicated, by L. Braddon,
ibid. vol. 3, pp. 899 to 934.                           *     """"">
  The Republic of Letters for August, 1735.
u^„S^epassaSes stnt by a person of honour to the author of the Repub-
  Burnet, vol. 2, pp. 212 and 234; and Smith, pp. 282 and 283.
in Rnwoiv  «♦ T°^\ PamPklet bv Braddon, (published in 1725.) reprinted
in Howell s State Trials, vol. 9, p.  1229.
61 "^vor'S,00" M*^1"11 HiSt°ry °f ^ngland' Am<*ican edition, vol. 2, p.
mfhw!011 in hV lanSt PamPhlet sa7s : " Queen Anne, upon her first coming
Iai.IT hXt'    t mA-Ul  °f the civil list' because> as her  majesty then
aid, I had thrown blood in her father's face."  But if innocent, why was not
the parliamentary investigation completed 
132
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
articulate.   He named his  murderers, who were taken and

executed, and died some three days after.

  In another case, a  maniac inflicted  a precisely similar

wound on  himself in the night, besides stabbing himself in

various places.   He was found thus in the morning, and his

servant was arrested  on  suspicion.   He also  was so far

recovered as to be able to confess  that he  had done it himself.

  Now here were  two cases of wounds precisely alike ;  yet

one was suicidal,  and  the other not.   The collateral circum-

stances hence  became very important; the one in  a public,

exposed  place ; the other in his bed, with his night clothes

uninjured,  and in a disturbed  state  of mind.*

  On  the 30th of March, 1826, between 6  and 7, P. M., a

female was found  dead  in  her cellar, with  the throat  cut.

This must  have  occurred very  recently, as she had  been

seen at 5  o'clock  in the kitchen  with  her  husband.   The

cellar was  dark, deep  and difficult  of access, and it commu-

nicated with a small interior one.

  The body was  found  lying on its back, the  head  resting

on  the wall,  and the  feet  directly  at the entrance of the

  *  Chaussier, p. 473.   Two cases  of suicide from cutting the throat with a
razor, are given in the Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 4, pp. 408, 414. In the first,
related by Marc, the individual passed from his bed-room to the window of
another adjoining, and there committed the act. There was  no  suspicious
circumstance present;  the wound was from left to right;  but an aged physi-
cian, called in immediately  after, had, in  his agitation, stepped into the
blood, and thus made footsteps to and from  the bed of the deceased.   This,
with those who afterwards came, and were ignorant of the cause, produced
suspicion.
  In the other instance, by Devergie, the individual inflicted no less than
three wounds before he could destroy himself, and  they  were  two inches in
depth, three inches and three lines in breadth, and  exactly one foot in cir-
cumference. The narrative is accompanied with a plate, and our author justly
observes, that were not the circumstances known,  its infliction  might with
with great probability have been ascribed to  violence.
  The following case also, which has been communicated to me by my nephew,
Dr.  Charles Sewell of Montreal, as occurring not long^ince in Lower Canada,
might well lead us to doubt, had not the general testimony been perfectly
satisfactory as to its being one of suicide :  A gentleman  aged 67, not sus-
pected of insanity,  in a lucrative employment, but suffering under domestic
trouble, dismissed  his carriage and  servant at  a  short distance from his
country residence.  He put off  his coat and vest, laid them on the turf, and
on them, his hat containing  his neckcloth  and gloves.  He made six slight
gashes on the left side of his throat,  and  then appears to ha»ve gone on his
knees, and bound the razor firmly to his hand with  a handkerchief. There
were two large gashes  on each side of his throat.  He must probably have
died instantly.  The trunk had fallen forwards, as the head was in the mud,
but he was on his knees, when found, and both hands were applied to the
throat, one of them cut by the razor, which was still lashed. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
133
smallest cellar.  The left hand was bloody up to the wrist.
It lay on the left breast and near the hand apparently as  if
just  slid from it was a razor, bloody and  open at  right
angles.  The right hand lay on the ground, and near it was
another razor also open and bloody, but the hand itself was
only spotted with blood.
   The clothes in front from the neck  downwards were very
bloody.  The  soles of the  shoes  were also stained with
blood, but the  upper parts had few or no stains of it.
   In the smaller cellar, in front of the feet of the deceased,
and  about  four feet from  her, were  her neck  and pocket
handkerchiefs, both bloody, and near them the ground was
soaked with blood to the  extent of about two square feet.
In quantity it was estimated at about a pound.  In the small
cellar, on the left side of the wall, at the height of three
feet four inches, were  many spots of blood apparently the
 sprinkling from a wounded artery.   Spots  of  blood were
 also  seen on the wall, near  the opening of the small cellar,
 at the height  of two and a half feet.
   No part of the dress was disordered, nor  were there any
 marks of violence  on  the body, beyond the wounds of the
 neck.  On removing the corpse for further examination, but
 little blood was found  under the neck.
   There were two wounds of the throat, one in front, below
 the lower part of the larynx and in extent four inches.  The
 thyroid gland was  completely divided, and  there were
 several cuts into it.   The  cricoid cartilage was  cut, and
 there were marks of several gashes into the  trachea; one at
 its upper part an inch long, and  another transversely just
 below, which completely divided  the trachea  and opened
 the right carotid at its  internal side.   The lower part of the
 trachea was retracted  about an inch.  The  second wound
 was  only through the skin, a little  to the  left, and below
 the  first.
   On  further  dissection, the  lungs  were seen  filled  with
 black blood, and the trachea and bronchise obstructed  by
 blood partly  coagulated.   The left  side  of the heart was
 completely empty. 
134
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   Dr.  Reme, the  examiner in the first instance, inclined
 to the  opinion of suicide, and supposed that she had inflicted
 the mortal wounds while on her knees or sitting, and that
 afterwards raising  herself  and taking a  step or two,  the
 blood  from the artery had sprinkled the wall, while a por-
 tion of it, at the same time, passing into the trachea produced
 suffocation, and  she fell back dead in the situation where
 she  was found.  Such was also the opinion of two  medical
 men, who  were  required to examine the disinterred body
 eight days afterwards.  They  supposed that different razors
 had  been used for inflicting the  two wounds, and that  the
 repeated  cuts in the trachea were the  result of a  want of
 resolution.
   Notwithstanding these opinions, there were still  circum-
 stances sufficient to warrant a suspicion against the husband,
 and  the Court of Assizes at Rheims required a report on the
 above  facts  from  Messrs. Boyer, Antoine, Dubois, and
 Adelon of Paris.
   Agreeing with the previous  examiners as to the cause  and
 mode  (asphyxia and haemorrhage) of  death, they differ  de-
 cidedly from them as to the person inflicting the injury,  and
 declare that in  their  opinion, it is most  probable that the
 wounds were the effects of homicide.   The grounds of this
 opinion  are  deduced from  the  position  of  the body,  the
position of the razors, the number of the wounds of the neck
and their direction, depth and situation.
   The mortal wound, they assert, was given  in the  interior
 cellar.  There was the great mass of blood,  and there the
blood from the artery sprinkled the wall.  Now this wound
was  of such a nature,  that  syncope must follow, where it
was  inflicted, and  instead of falling backwards, if on  her
knees or sitting, she would fall forwards.  Yet the  body is
found out of the small  cellar, six feet from the pool of blood
and lying on its back.  But it is urged that she must have
walked some steps, because blood is found on the soles of
her  shoes.   No  marks,  however, of  these steps  were
observed. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
135
  Again, on the supposition of syncope  following suicide,
and then falling backwards, certainly some marks of contu-
sion of the head should have been present, but  these were
wanting, while  the  outstretched  position  is very different
from the demi-flexed state  usually observed in those  dead
from  syncope.
  Situation of the  razors.  For similar reasons, the razors
should have been found near the pool of blood.  They fall
immediately from the hands  of a  person inflicting a mortal
wound on himself.   That Dame C. should retain both these
razors in her hands, and not drop at least one near the mass
of blood, seems almost an impossibility.  Suicides also, and
in particular, female ones, would hardly employ these  in-
struments with the blade at right angles, but rather throw it
out to its full extent.   As to  the plurality of wounds, they
remark, that generally, although not invariably,  a  single
wound only is  inflicted in cases of suicide, while here were
repeated  cuts  into  the cricoid cartilage and thyroid  gland,
and hackings of the trachea.  It seems improbable that this
female could have inflicted all these on herself.*
   The situation of  the wounds, also contradicts  the proba-
bility of suicide.  Self-murderers usually make the incision
immediately under  the  chin,  but in this case, it was at the
lower part of the larynx.  Even if we attach no importance
to this, the  direction  at least is  extraordinary.   It  is not
transverse, nor a little oblique, each of which are common,
but it is so obliquely perpendicular, that the eight first rings
of the trachea are not only divided, but their anterior por-
tion is separated from the posterior.  Now the  eighth ring
of the trachea  is  concealed behind  the  sternum, and it is
difficult to conceive  how a  suicide could cause the razor to
penetrate thus  deep, and particularly as Mrs. C. is supposed
to have made this  with her  right hand.  On moving it, the
right clavicle would  of course be raised and render approach

  * Leuret in a note observes that suicides frequently inflict repeated wounds
on themselves,  In one instance,  he knew seven wounds to be given with a
knife, and m another, several deep gashes  were made in order to open the
jugular, yet after  all these, the individual walked rapidly to his chamber,
and there completed the self-destruction 
136
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
still more  difficult.  Many  of  the divided parts are also
hard or cartilaginous and need  considerable force to divide
them.  Lastly it is remarkable that the right hand, used in
inflicting; the mortal wound  should have received so little
blood in comparison with the left.
  Such was the argument on which the reporters grounded
their opinion of the probability of murder rather than suicide
being the cause of Mrs. C.'s  death.  The result of the case
is not given.
  Adelon,  in a  subsequent  review of the facts, and which
accompanies the narrative, inclines still to his  original opin-
ion, although with a diffidence becoming its uncertainty, and
he  candidly  remarks, that a satisfactory solution is among
the most  difficult problems  in medical jurisprudence.  He
concedes  that a  satisfactory answer has been given to one
objection.   The  carotid  artery was opened  inwardly, and
necessarily the jet of blood from it would  cover the left hand
much more than the right.
  I have been thus particular in presenting the details of
this interesting case,  as it furnishes a model for similar in-
vestigations, and  indicates  many points  of inquiry which
might otherwise escape  the attention of the medical wit-
ness.*
  I proceed  now to give some  cases of undoubted homicide,
and the first  that I  shall relate,  is taken from the notes of
Sir John Maynard, an eminent English lawyer, and is stated
by him to have  occurred in the  fourth  year of Charles I.
It happened in Hertfordshire.
   Jane Norkott was found dead in her bed—her throat cut,
and the knife sticking in the floor.   Two  females and a man
 slept in the adjoining room, and they deposed, that the night
before, she  went to bed with  her child,  her husband being
absent, and  that no  person after that came into the house.
The coroner's jury gave a verdict of felo de se.  But a sus-
 picion being excited against these individuals,  the  jury
 whose verdict was not  yet  drawn up in form, desired that
* Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 15, pp. 394 to 435. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
137
she might be taken up ; and  accordingly, thirty days after
her death, she was taken up, and the jury charged them
with the  murder.   They were tried at the Hertford assizes,
and acquitted, but so much against evidence,  that  Judge
Harvey let fall his opinion, that it  were better  an appeal
were brought,  than  so foul  a  murder should  escape  un-
punished ; and  accordingly, an  appeal was brought by the
child against his father, grandmother, aunt, and her husband
Okeman.
  The evidence adduced was, " that she lay in a composed
manner in her bed; the bed-clothes not at all disturbed, and
her child  by her in bed.  Her throat was cut from ear to  ear,
and her neck  broken.  There was no blood in the bed, sa-
ving a tincture of blood  on the bolster  whereon her head
lay, but no substance of blood at all.  From the bed's head,
there was a stream of blood on the floor, which ran along
until it ponded in  the bendings of the floor.  It was a very
great quantity, and there was also another stream of blood
on the floor  at the  bed's foot, which ponded also on the
floor to a very great  quantity, but no continuance or com-
munication of blood  of either of these two  places from one
to the other,  neither  upon the bed—so that she  bled in two
several places; and  it was deposed that on turning up the
mat of the bed, there were clots of  congealed blood in the
straw of  the mat underneath.   The bloody knife was found
in the morning sticking in the  floor, a good distance from
the bed;  but the point of the knife, as it stuck, was towards
the bed, and the haft from the  bed.   Lastly, there was the
print of a thumb and  four fingers of a left hand.
   "Sir Nicholas Hyde, chief justice.  How can  you know
the print of a right  hand  from that of the left, in such a
case?  Witness.  My lord, it is hard to describe; but if  it
please the  honorable judge to put his left  hand upon your
left hand, you cannot possibly  place your right hand in the
same posture; which being done, and  appearing so,  the
defendents had time to make their  defence, but  gave no
evidence to any purpose." 
138
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
   The  jury  brought in all guilty except Okeman, and  they
were  executed, but made no confession.
  * Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 10, appendix No. 2. p. 29.  The above, how-
ever, are not the only remarkable circumstances in this case.   " Because the
evidence," says Sir John Maynard, " was so strange, I  took exact and par-
ticular notice, and it was as follows:  An ancient and grave person, minister
to the parish where the fact was committed, being sworn to give evidence, ac-
cording to custom, deposed, ' That the body being taken up out of the grave,
thirty days after the party's death, and lying on the grass ; and the four de-
fendants being present,  were required  each of them to touch the dead body.
Okeman's wife fell upon her knees, and prayed God to show tokens of her in-
nocency.  The appellant did  touch  the  body, whereupon the brow of the
dead, which before was of a livid and carrion color (in terminis, the verbal
expression of the witness,) began to have a dew or gentle sweat arise on it,
which increased by degrees, till the sweat ran down in drops on the face; the
brow turned to a lively and fresh color;  and the deceased opened one of her
eyes, and shut it again, and  this opening the eye was done three several
times.   She likewise thrust out the ring or marriage finger three times, and
pulled it in again, and the finger dropped blood from it  on the grass.'  Sir
Nicholas Hyde,  chief justice,  seeming to doubt the evidence,  asked the wit-
ness, Who saw this besides you ?   Witness. I cannot swear what others saw;
but, my lord, (said he,) I do believe the whole company saw it, and if it had
been thought a  doubt, proof would  have been made of it, and many would
have attested with me.   Then  the  witness observing some admiration in the
auditors, spoke further, ' My lord, I am minister of the parish, and have long
known all the parties, but never had occasion of displeasure against any
of them, nor had to do with them, or they with me; but as I was minister,
the thing was wonderful to me : but I have no interest in the matter, but as
called upon to testify to the truth, and this I have done.'  [This witness was
a very reverend person, as I guessed  of about seventy years of age.  His
testimony was delivered gravely and temperately, to the great admiration of
the auditory.]  Whereupon, applying himself to the chief justice, he said,
' My lord, my brother here present,  is  minister of the next parish  adjacent,
and I am sure saw all done that I have affirmed.'  Therefore that person was
also sworn to give evidence, and did depose in every point—' the sweating of
the brow—the change of the color—thrice opening the eye—the thrice mo-
tion of the finger, and drawing it in again.'   Only the first witness added,
that he himself dipped his finger in the blood which came from the dead body
to examine it, and he swore he believed it was blood.  I conferred afterwards
with Sir Edward Powell, barrister at law, and others, who all concurred in
the observation; and for myself, if I were upon oath, can depose that these
depositions (especially the first witness)  are truly reported in substance."
(Ibid. p.  29.)
  In the trial of Standsfield for the murder of his father, a similar charge was
brought.   It is stated that when the  son was assisting in lifting the body  of
his  father into the coffin, it bled afresh, and  defiled all his hand.   The oppo-
site lawyers  observe, that " this is but a superstitious observation, without
any ground either in law or reason. Carpzovius says  he has seen a body
bleed in the presence of one  not guilty,  and not bleed when the guilty were
present."  They assign, as a cause of the bleeding, that the  surgeons had
made an  incision about the neck, and the motion of the body in removing it,
caused a  fresh haemorrhage from that part.  (Hargrave, vol. 4, p. 283.)
  The bleeding of a dead body was noticed, even by the New England pilgrims.
Thatcher's Indian Biography, vol. 1. p. 158.
  On this subject, see Metzger, p. 328, and Valentini Novelise.  Appendix 3.
De stillicidio sanguinis in hominis violenter occisi, cadavere  conspicui, an
sit sufficiens prcesentis homicida indicium.  Within a few years, however, a
great mass of learned and curious information,  has been collected by Mr.
Pitcairn, in his " Criminal Trials in Scotland, from 1488 to 1624 "   The trial
which led him to this investigation, was the remarkable one of the Mures of 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
139
  Whether  these  were the guilty  persons or not, it is  cer-
tainly   proved  most  incontestably that  the  female  was
murdered.
  In several cases of late years, medical witnesses  have
been successful in detecting, not only murder, but  also its
manner, by  an examination of the  dead body, even when in
a state of putrefaction or decay.   I have already noticed
some of these in a previous section, and will now refer to a
few others.
  A man named Beaugouin was murdered, cut in two, and
his remains  thrown into the  Loire.  The  upper part  was
found  at some distance and interred.   On being taken up,
fifteen  days after,  Dr.  Ouvrad found   that the cartilages
between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrse had been cut.
The lower  portion exhibited several wounds of the abdo-
men.  Dr.  Ouvrad came to  the conclusion, that either an
anatomist, or a person conversant in such disarticulations,
had committed the act.   There was, however, no doubt of
this being murder, and he therefore supposed that a butcher
was the criminal.  Such  proved  to be the fact.  Within a
short time,  the murderer was taken and executed.*
   In 1814,  an individual named Augustus Dautun was mur-
dered  in  Paris.   His body, cut into four or five  parts, was
found at various places in the Seine, the head had contusions
on  it,  and there were wounds in the  chest.   The various
portions were carried  to the Morgue, and a model in plaster
was taken of the bust.  Through these  means the body was
finally recognized.  Dupuytren was the principal examiner,
and his reports are well  characterized  by Marc as models.
The most striking circumstances  by which the identity of

Auchindrayn in 1611 for murder, in which occurred " the ancient and almost
universal superstition,  that the body of a murdered person bleeds at the ap-
proach,  or at hast at the touch of the murderer."  Mr. Pitcairn, (vol.  3, p.
1-4) in Ins notes, gives many interesting illlustrations of the origin of this
mode of ordeal, as well as cases in which it is stated to have been employed.
  In the Fair  Maid of Perth, by Sir Walter Scott, the reader will also find
a description of the ceremonial that accompanied the touching, and which
was admirably calculated to excite the fears of  the criminal, if actually
present.
  •  Orfila's Exhumations, vol. 2, p. 336. Several additional cases are related,
where fractures were found on the dead body. 
140
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
the body  was ascertained, were the existence of a wart on
the upper lip, and an examination of the bones of the thigh,
by  which he proved that the individual had been lame.
" He  must in his infancy have had  disease of the two arti-
culations of the thigh with the pelvis.  This disease, though
of old standing and  cured,  must have  left a remarkable
deformity about the lower part of the trunk, and the indi-
vidual in walking,  must  have  probably been  lame—or
certainly  there was an unpleasant balancing  of the body on
the lower limbs."   All these circumstances had actually
been  present.*
  The wound in the chest was found to have penetrated to
the heart; it was  larger  within than at the  surface, and
indeed  a  second wound was discovered  in  the  aorta, two
inches higher than the other.   From these  circumstances,
they supposed that a second  blow had been  given with the
dagger  before withdrawing it, and  merely  by altering its
direction.
  A brother, Charles  Dauton, was  ascertained  to be the
murderer.  He implicated Girouard, a  companion  in de-
bauchery, as an accomplice,  but  this  was  denied, and
Girouard  escaped  apparently  from  the  want  of decisive
testimony.  Dauton was found guilty and executed.
   On the trial, Dupuytren was asked if  any marks on the
dead  body could indicate whether the murdered person had
been  attacked  by  one or more persons.   He replied by
begging the court not to give to his conjectures more weight
than  they deserved.   All he could  say was merely  proba-
bilities, but it  appeared to him, that a plurality  of persons
had  been engaged in the murder,  and  for  the  following
reasons :  When a man is struck, his first act is  to present
his hands as a defence against  the blow.   Now in this case
there was not  the  slightest mark of injury on them.  The
same person that inflicted all these wounds could not at the
same time have held them.   Again, the wounds on the head

  * He further completed the proof of lameness by examining the palm of the
hand.  This was found  hardened, as if from the constant use of a crutch.
 (Devergie, vol. 2, p. 930.) 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               141

must have preceded those on the chest.   These were mortal,
the thorax containing four pounds  of blood.  While  the
hands were held, might not the head have been interposed
to prevent the wounds in the chest *?*
   In  a case of homicide by  cutting  the throat,  the facts
adduced to prove it  were, the inability to find  a cutting
instrument near the body, the number of cuts on and  about
the neck,  some  very  deep, and some along the  chin.   The
posterior part of the head was also  wounded.   And even
admitting  that the deceased himself could inflict all these
wounds, it involved the absurdity of his being  obliged to
shift  hands—some could alone be made by the right and the
others  by the left hand.  From the presence of wounds of
the hand,  it is probable that there was some struggle, f
   The remains of an individual named Ramus were, in 1832,
 found either in the Seine or in drains.  They were collected
 as usual at the  Morgue, and examined.  It was ascertained
 that the body had  been  cut  into four parts.  Beyond this,
 however, it did not bear any marks of severe injury.  A few
 superficial wounds  only appeared on  the  face and eyelid.
 The  skin and  muscles were  much retracted at the various
 sections,  and  particularly at the top of  the thigh; the blood-
 vessels were completely  empty;  the heart was collapsed,
 and  so light  in color that it  seemed to have been washed.
 The lungs were empty, except of a little serosity and air.
   Now, from the absence of  wounds, it was  evident that
 Ramus had not been in a condition to offer much resistance ;
 and  accordingly, on  proceeding  to  analyze  the contents  of

   * Causes  Celebres du XIX. Siecle, vol. l,p, 400. Annales D'Hygiene, vol.
 1, p. 464.  London  Med. Gazette, vol. 19, p. 213.  Zerah Colburn, in the
 memoirs of his life, states that he was in Paris, and saw Dautun led to execu-
 tion.   He mentions the mode of his detection, which I do not find in either of
 the above reports :  "In the teeth of the dead body, tightly compressed, was
 a piece of human flesh, apparently torn out in the dying struggle.  After
 some time, Dautun was gambling at the Palais  Royal, and becoming angry,
 threw a glass at  the waiter. It was shivered into pieces, and a fragment
 was carried into Dautun's wrist, under the cuff of his coat.  The spectators
 wished to examine the injury, but he obstinately refused. At last suspect-
 ing something mysterious, they pushed up the sleeve by force, and there be-
 held a scar recently healed, as if made by the tearing out of flesh. The land-
 lord had been at the Morgue and seen the plaster model.  He therefore de-
 livered him to the legal authorities as probably the murderer.
   t Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 8, p. 371. 
142              PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.

the stomach, the presence of prussic acid was unequivocally
established.  I shall hereafter detail the  experiments.   It
was, therefore, a probable supposition, that while laboring
under its effects, the head had been cut off.   That this was
done during life, seemed evident from the bloodless state of
the vessels.   The  division  of  the  other  parts  must have
been made at the same time, or immediately after death.*
  The particulars of what is commonly styled in England,
the Edgeware  Road  murder, also  deserves  a  place  here.
Early in January, 1837, the headless and legless trunk of a
female  was found  in the Edgeware Road, London.  The
head had been severed above the sternum, and the fifth cer-
vical  vertebra  was sawn through, leaving only  about the
tenth of an inch of that bone.   The legs were cut off imme-
diately  under  the  hip  joint.  There  were  no  marks  of
violence on the body, except a superficial  cut on the right
side of  the abdomen, two inches above the groin, and about
an inch and a half in length.  There were  no marks present
of medical treatment—she  had not been  bled  or blistered
recently.
  On opening the body, the viscera were found completely
emptied of their blood,  there  was  no congestion in the
lungs—no coagula in the heart—no  blood  flowed, nor were
there  any  bleeding  spots in the liver or  spleen when cut
into.  All  these organs  were healthy.  The stomach was
about a third part filled with fluid and half digested matter.
Chyme was observed  in the lower bowels, and the lacteals
were filled with chyle.  Dr. Hunter Lane examined the con-
tents of the stomach and intestines, but could find nothing
deleterious in them.
  From the above circumstances, Mr. Girdwood, the medical
examiner, inferred that the age of this person was between
thirty and forty, and her height, (judging from the measure-
ment of the spine,)  probably five feet eight inches.  From

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 9, p. 338.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 12, p 243.
  Subsequently, M. Lelut has noticed the same retraction of the skin, mus-
cles, arteries, and nerves in persons beheaded by the guillotine   (Devergie,
vol. 2, p. 184.) 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.              143
the bloodless state of the body, he supposed that mutilation
must have taken place shortly after death, and further, that
her death must have been sudden, and in all probability not
preceded by disease.  Even if it had been apoplexy, still
the throat must  have been cut very soon after death, in order
to account for the bloodless state of the viscera.
   Shortly after  this  the  head was found in the canal, near
Mile End, seven  miles from  the former place.  It corres-
ponded with the  body.   The face was very much bruised
and wounded.  The left  under jaw was fractured, and the
right coronoid process was also broken.   Around  the right
eye was a broad ecchymosis, extending downward as far as
the end of the nose.  The cheek under the eye was puffy,
and the eye itself was wounded and ruptured, and all the
humours had escaped.
   There were several wounds on  the cheeks, mouth, right
eye and scalp, which had no ecchymosis around them.   The
brain was healthy, but empty of  blood.
   Lastly, after an interval of some  weeks, the legs were
found  in a  parcel at Camberwell,  also seven miles distant
from each of the  above  places, (so that the murderer must
have  traversed  twenty-one  miles.)  They  were readily
identified as belonging  to the same person, and presented
only  slight  indications  of  commencing  decomposition.
There  was scarcely any discoloration, but there was a gash
under the right  knee, not ecchymosed.
   These repeated examinations  and  the publicity given to
them finally led to the discovery of the murderer, and  the
name of his  victim.   She proved to be a Mrs. Brown, who
was shortly to have been married to her destroyer, Greenacre.
What had been asserted from a review of all  the facts no-
ticed, proved to be correct by his confession.   She came to
see him, and they quarrelled, he struck her with a rolling-
pin and she fell down either dead or insensible; in about an
hour afterwards, he dismembered the body and removed  its
parts to the different places where they were found.
  The  medical  testimony of Mr. Girdwood and Mr.  Bart-
whistle in this  case  is highly creditable  to them, and  the 
144
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
opinions  they advanced, particularly  as  to  the  wounds
inflicted during life and after death, evince accurate discrimi-
nation.   It is almost needless to add that the murderer met
his deserved doom.*
  I will only add a case of murder by fire-arms :
  C.  D. residing in  the  same house with  his sister-in-law,
suddenly disappeared.  After a course of judicial researches,
his body  was  found buried  in a cemetery, wrapped in ten
folds  of linen, and with his clothes on, covered with blood.
In  his  left  side  were  two round holes, distant  about five
inches  from each other.   The medical  examiners reported
that one of  these penetrated from  side to side, so  as to take
off a  part of the  right breast, and on pursuing the dissection,
the ball was found to have entered at the last true rib of the
left side, to have passed  the stomach, of which it wounded
the upper part, and  to  have  pierced  the duodenum with a
wound  five inches long, and finally to  have passed out at the
first false rib of the left  side.  Corresponding holes were
found in the clothes and  shirt, and they therefore  gave it as
their  opinion, that these  wounds had  been inflicted by fire-
arms, and were the  cause of death.   On  this, the sister-in-
law of  the deceased was  arrested, as the clandestine burial,
together with  the wrapping  up of the  body, led  to doubts,
concerning her innocence.
  Mr. Pelletan,  and another  surgeon,  whose  name is not
mentioned,  were consulted on the  case.  They agreed, that
no  doubt could exist as to the cause  of the death  being a
wound  from a fusee ; but they at the  same time affirmed,
that the deceased might  have inflicted it, either voluntarily
or involuntarily on himself, and  that  another person could
not have  done it without  being  in an ambuscade, with his
knee  on the ground, and the deceased walking.  From these

  * London Med. Gazette, vol, 19, p.  551, 584, 587, 748 ;  vol. 20, p  128,137.
London Atlas,  newspaper, of April  16, 1837.  It is also worthy of mention
that in this murdered female,  the external organs of generation were not
larger  than those of a child nine or ten years old, there was no hair on the
pubis,  the labia were preternaturally small, the  vagina was not more than
two inches long, while the uterus was wanting, and in its place, was found a
Bmall,  triangular, cartilaginous membrane, without any cavity 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
145
circumstances, they were  of opinion that the  sister-in-law

was not the murderer, if murder had been committed.

   On this decision, we may remark with Fodere, that it seems

difficult that a wound inflicted in this manner, and nearly in

a horizontal line, could have been caused by suicide; while

again,  the  sister-in-law,  though not the actual murderer,

might, notwithstanding, have been an accessary.   She was,

however, acquitted.*

   In  connexion  with this  subject of this section, it is

sometimes of great importance to ascertain whether spots

found on offensive weapons, clothing, or articles of furni-

ture, are those of blood.  Modern chemistry has attempted

to solve the problem.

   The  earliest experimenter was, I believe,  Lassaigne.   He

observed that ordinary rust  could be distinguished from that

produced by blood on iron or steel instruments, by dissolving

the latter in distilled water.   The salts and  a, portion of the

coloring matter are taken up, while  the  rust is precipitated.

 Heat or the acids coagulates the solution, and by evaporating

 and  calcining in a  platina  spoon, chloride  of sodium, sub-

 carbonate  of soda, and phosphate of lime are obtained.!


   * Pelletan, vol. 1, p. 306.  Fodere, vol.  3, p. 199.
  The following incidents occurred at Bordeaux in July, 1835:  An individu-
al aged more than sixty, of good  property, cheerful temperament, and with
scarcely any causes of chagrin, dined with his only son, and with whom he
was on excellent terms.  They were both free drinkers of wine, and after
dinner the son threw himself on his  bed, which was  adjoining that of his
father, and slept.  He was awaked by the discharge of a pistol.
  The father was found to have blown away his face, and part of his skull.
He was sitting in an  arm-chair, the left elbow on it, and in the right hand
was held a discharged pistol, which rested on the inside of the right thigh, in
such a manner that the slightest motion would cause it to fall to the ground.
There was a large quantity of blood in the arm chair and on the floor.
  A suspicion of parricide was soon engendered. The son might be desirous
of enjoying his father's property, but in particular, the position of the pistol
was deemed ambiguous.  Ought it  not by its  own specific gravity alone, to
have fallen to the ground, after the infliction of the  death wound, and was it
not possible,  that if murder had been committed, it had been  placed in its
present place ?
  The medical examiners rebutted this idea  by stating that contraction of
the fingers  often  remained for a  time after death, particularly, when, as in
this instance, the weapon must have  been firmly held.  Having thus disposed
of the most important circumstance, they concluded from the absence of any
marks of violence, the relative condition of the parties,  and the temporary
insanity often induced by intoxication, particularly in summer, that this was
a  case of suicide.  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 15, p. 467.
  t Anderson's Journal, vol, 2, p. 466, from Revue Medicate.
VOL. II,
10 
146
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
  Chevallier recommended the use of muriatic and sulphuric
acids,  and  potash,  as  re-agents.   By the two former, iron
rust is altogether dissolved ;  but they only partially dissolve
the  other.  The insoluble parts give  all  the products  of
animal substances.  Potash dissolves both, but the liquid of
the iron rust is colorless, while the other is brown.*
  Orfila, with his characteristic industry, also examined the
subject.   Among the tests proposed by him, is exposure  to
a heat of from 77° to 86° Fahr.  If the spot on arms be  of
blood, it will come  off in scales, but there will be no alter-
ation if it be rust.   Water dissolves the  blood, but not the
rust.  The  coloring matter may also be treated by heat and
the acids, as above directed; and he adds that it is different
from all  other  known  coloring  matters, since  it is not
changed by ammonia; chlorine also turns  it green, and a
large  quantity  decolorizes  it altogether;  but on adding
infusion of galls, there is a  dark  red  precipitate.  Strong
nitric  acid  also  destroys the color of the  stain caused by
blood.
  When the  stain is on  clothing, this should be dipped  in
distilled water until the fluid is charged with it.   The same
experiments are then applicable.!
  These  experiments, however  desirable  in their results,
did not receive universal consent.  Raspail, another French
chemist, announced that  all the indications thus obtained
from true blood, might be procured from a mixture of whites
of eggs and infusion of madder.J
  Barruel, in his experiment on the coloring matter of the
blood, found that on treating it with strong sulphuric acid,
an odor peculiar to  the animal  from which it was  obtained,
was distinctly perceivable.  It is  only necessary, he says,

  *  Journal de Chimie Medicale.
  t  North American Medical and Surgical  Journal, vol. 5, p.  458.  Edin.
burgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 216.  Orfila Lecons, 2d edi-
tion, vol. 2, p. 564.                                 '  y
  X  Brande's Journal, N. S. vol. 3, p. 497.
  Lfind also the following remark in the British and Foreign Med. Review,
(vol. 5, p. 175):  " Alizarine, the red coloring principle of madder, one of
the most common red dyes, is not, according to our observation, changed by
ammonia." 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
147
 to put a few drops of blood into a cup, and add  the acid to

 the  amount of  one-third  or one-half of the other, and the

 odor will be evolved.   This he styles the aromatic principle

 of the blood.   In the male  it has  the odor  of perspiration^

 in the female, the same, but  much weaker.   In the  horse,

 the  odor of its perspiration  or of horse-dung.   So also  with

 the  ox,  sheep,  dog, and  even birds.  This test,  then,  he

 deemed conclusive, and applicable to all doubtful cases.*

   Other chemists, however, do not appear to have the same

 acuteness of smell as Barruel, and we may well doubt with

 Wedekind, whether it would be safe to ground grave charges

 on a sense so  variable, and where the  certain detection of

 it is on many accounts very difficult.   The investigations of

 Taddei de Gravina as  given below,  go  to  confirm the re-

 searches of Barruel.f


   *  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1, p. 267.  In two cases referred  to him by the
 magistrate, he successfully pursued this examination and pronounced one to
 be the blood of a sheep.  See Annales, vol. 1, p. 548; vol. 10, p. 160.
   t Numerous papers on this subject  are contained in the Annales D'Hy-
 giene.  Vol. 2, p. 217, the objections of Raspail, with a reply by Leuret; vol.
 2, p. 221, Morin's experiments on the blood of Fish; ibid. p. 479, Courbe, he
 confirms the experiments of Barruel, but objects to their application in legal
 medicine; vol. 11, p. 205, Baron De Wedekind, (from Henke's Annals,) he
 repeated the experiments with similar results, but remarks as  stated in the
 text; vol. 1, p. 443, Chevallier; vol. 5, p. 467, Denis; vol. 9, p. 226, Lecann,
 he found a great uniformity of results in experimenting on the blood of man
 and of fish.  An extract from Raspail, pointing out  his objections, may also
 be found in the Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 25, p. 371. See also Bulletin
 des Sciences Medicales, vol. 13, p. 126; vol.  14,  p. 106.  A Medico-legal ex-
 amination, by Orfila, Barruel and Chevallier, Annales D'Hygiene,  vol 14.
 p. 349.                                               &
   See also Raspail's Chemistry, p. 416.  Taddei  de Gravina on the  specific
 Odour of the Blood, British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 11, p. 226.
   These researches include examinations of the blood of the ox, cow, and very
 young calf, an old and a very young hare, the  goat, sheep, hog, horse and
 mare, dog, man and woman, and numerous species of birds.  ' The blood of
 each was subjected to the action of pure sulphuric acid, and  in the exhala-
 tions that were then given off, the peculiar odour was in every case perceived.
 The only case in which the odour of one kind of blood could be confounded
 with that of another were those of the ox, cow, and sucking calf, and those of
 the hare and leveret; but in each of these cases the aromatic principle of the
 blood  of the adult animal, though similar to, appeared  stronger and more
 fragrant than that of the young, although the respective quantities of each,
 and of the sulphuric acid with which they were treated, were the same.  Nor
 were the  odours of the blood of a man and of a woman unlike each other, nor
 those of  the horse's and mare's blood.  The odour of the blood  in each case
 was not different from that of the cutaneous exhalation of the  several  ani-
mals, ;iiid, in like manner, the blood of several cocks and hens, and of not a
few pigeons subjected to the action of sulphuric  acid, or left  to putrefy, al-
ways exhaled a peculiar odour; in the former case  reminding one of  that
perceived on entering a poultry-house, and in the latter of that of a dove-
cote ; odours which are also exhaled from the skin of the chest and under the 
148
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
   Dr. Ollivier suggests  that in doubtful cases, it would be
well  to  examine  any portion of hair  that  may  be  seen
attached to weapons.  On viewing  human hair through a
microscope of the power of 150 and upwards, he found that
each  filament had  the  same  thickness  through its whole
length, and he distinguished in each a central canal, marked
by a  lighter  line.  They were all also  somewhat  transpa-
rent and this, independent of their various shades  of color.
On applying  this  knowledge to  the  examination of a  few
filaments attached to an axe, which was  supposed to have
been  used  in committing a triple murder, he  found all  the
above characters  wanting.   Indeed it was ascertained that
one of the criminals  was a butcher,  and thus the hair was
doubtless that of an animal.   The  murderers were  con-
demned and executed on other and decisive  testimony, but
it is  evident that the inquiry  may in  certain instances, be
very  necessary.*
   Foot Prints.  I  introduce  this  here, for want of a better
place; none will  deny but that it is worthy of the attention
of the medical jurist.
   M. Mascart in 1843, presented  a paper on  the subject to
the Royal  Academy of Belgium and he  is the  only writer
that I am aware has noticed it.
wings of those birds.  An odour analogous to that of these parts of the skin,
was given out under similar circumstances from the blood of thrushes, spar-
rows, linnets, goldfinches, woodcocks, and turkeys ; and none of these had in
its odour anything in common with that of the above-mentioned mammalia or of
man, or of any of the species of birds. It follows, therefore, 1st. That it is true
that the blood of every vertebrate animal has in it an odoriferous  principle,
identical in all the individuals of the same species, and similar to  the odour
of the cutaneous transpirations, or, more properly speaking, of that part of
it which gives to each animal its characteristic smell. 2d. That the notion
of those who pretend to  recognise to which, among a number of individuals
of the same species, a given portion of blood belongs, is false.
  After obtaining these results, the author proceeded to a similar investiga-
tion of the blood of persons labouring under different diseases and under  va-
rious other peculiar circumstances ; but in none of these cases could he  de-
tect any corresponding differences in its odorous exhalation.  From all these,
therefore, his conclusion is, that neither the differences of age, of constitu-
tion, of temperament, of sex, of habit and customs, or of modes of living, nor
diseases, medicines, or pregnancy, induce any change in the specific aroma
of the human blood, but that it always preserves the same general odour;
being only sometimes more fragrant and acid, and  more garlicky and nau-
seous in some than in other persons.
  *  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 21, p. 219.  Medico-Chirurg. Review, vol. 35,
p. 204. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
149
   After some remarks on  the conformation of the  plantar
 surface, covered  either with  a  shoe or boot,  and  on the
 mechanism of walking in  man, and the  application of the
 foot to the ground, M. Mascart asserts that, owing to various
 causes, the  foot-print on the ground is generally smaller
 than the foot which has made it.   If this be so, many serious
 errors must have been made formerly, since the prevailing
 opinion is, that they should exactly correspond.
   The author ascribes this  shortening principally to  one of
 three causes : the  consistence of the soil to which the foot is
 applied, the shape of the foot, or of the boot or shoe cover-
 ing it, or lastly, the manner in which the foot was placed in
 walking.  He enters into details, satisfactorily illustrating
 all of these.
   He allows, however, that this result is not invariable, and
 this may occur from the peculiar shape of the shoe, boot, or
 slipper, or from the depth to which the foot has gone.  The
 reporter  suggests  that there may be instances in which the
 foot-print will be even larger than the foot itself.  Thus,
 when walking on a light soil, the point of the foot in  its
 forward motion may throw before it so much of the ground
 as to enlarge the front of the point.   The foot, in walking,
 is not applied perpendicularly, but from behind, forwards or
 downwards.  Hence, a  certain  quantity of the ground is
 carried along with it, and,  on measuring the mark, it  has,
under such  circumstances, been  ascertained,  to be  some
lines longer than the sole of the boot. *
* Bulletin, &c, November 1843. 
 
CHAPTER XIV.
                          PART II.


             persons  found dead.—(Concluded.)

F. Of persons dead from noxious inhalations.  1. Carbonic acid gas—
  modes in which it may be generated—symptoms and effects—appearances
  on dissection. 2. Sulphuretted hydrogen—effects—appearances on dissec-
  tion. G. Of persons found hung.  Modes in which death occurs.  Signs
  of strangulation by hanging—notice of the value of each—appearances on
  dissection.  Whether the person found hung, has been suspended before or
  after death—cases.  Whether the hanging is the result of suicide, accident
  or homicide—cases. H.  Of persons found  strangled.  AVhether this
  has been actually the cause of death—cases—appearances  on dissection.
  Of manual strangulation.  Whether the  strangulation is the effect of sui-
  cide, accident or homicide—cases.  Strangulation detected long after death.
  J. Of persons found smothered, or suffocated.  Infants, by accident—
  adults by accident, homicide or suicide—cases. Death from pressure in a
  crowd.   K. Of persons  found drowned.  Modes in which death is pro-
  duced.  Signs that distinguish death previous to submersion, from death
  after it—examination of  the relative importance of each sign.  Effects of
  immersion on the dead body, and the changes produced by it—floating of
  the body—formation of adipocire—progress of putrefaction at various
  periods—cases.  Whether the drowning was the effect of suicide, accident
  or homicide—cases.


     F.  Of persons found dead from noxious inhalations.

  A vast proportion of the  gases, discovered by modern

chemists, are  irrespirable.   Few  of them,  however,  are

spontaneously  generated, and  their noxious  power must of

necessity be  extremely circumscribed.   We  shall  notice

such as  have proved destructive  to life, under the head of

poisons.   But there are some which may be produced under

ordinary  circumstances, or are occasionally the  results and

accompaniments of peculiar situations and occupations, and

of these, the most remarkable, are   carbonic acid gas and

sulphuretted hydrogen gas.   It must, however, be  under-

stood, that in many instances where they prove deleterious,

other  poisonous substances  may  co-operate in causing the

result.  This fact, in  conjunction with the comparative fre-

quency of injury  from  them,  fully justifies a notice in this

place. 
 152               PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

   I.  Carbonic acid gas may be generated in various ways :
 1. When a number of persons have remained  during a long
 time  in an  apartment, or any other  place where the air is
 not renewed.   They mutually  vitiate the air, and produce,
 by the  process of respiration, the poison in question.   The
 most striking and melancholy instance  of this occurred at
 Calcutta, in 1756.  When that  place surrendered to Shujah
 Dowla, he thrust one hundred and forty-six Englishmen into
 the black  hole, at Fort William, a place only eighteen feet
 by fourteen, and  having  only two apertures  through which
 air could be admitted.   They remained here from eight in
 the evening, until the next morning, when only twenty were
 alive.  A somewhat  similar  instance happened in London,
 in 1742.   Twenty persons were forced into  a part of St.
 Martin's  round-house, called the hole, during the night, and
 in consequence,  several died.*  Individuals, in a state of
 suffocation from this cause, are seized with an unsupportable
 thirst.  A copious perspiration is present, and great pain in
 the  chest, difficult  respiration, and intense  fever  follow.
 They lose  their strength, and  fall  into a deep lethargy, to
 which death soon succeeds, if aid be  not speedily given.f
   2.  The fumes of burning charcoal, consist in part of this
 substance.   According to Orfila, the  air when charcoal be-
 gins to burn, contains in the 100 parts, 14 of carbonic acid
 gas, 20 of atmospheric air, 52 of azote and 14 of carburetted
hydrogen.  But when the charcoal is in  a state of  perfect
ignition, the air evolved  in the 100  parts, consists of 42
azote, 46 common air and  12 carbonic acid.  The correct-
ness of this analysis  is doubted by Devergie—first, because
it shows less of carbonic acid when the  charcoal is in full
  * Smith, p. 206.  " A parcel of drunken constables took it into their heads
to put the laws in execution against disorderly persons, and so took up every
woman they met, till they had collected  five or six-and-twenty, all of whom
they thrust into St. Martin's round-house, where they kept them all  night
with doors and windows  closed. The poor creatures who could not stir or
breathe, screamed as long  as they had any breath left, begging at least for
water: one poor wretch said she was worth eighteen pence, and would gladly
give it for a draught of water, but in vain ! So well did they keep them there,
that in the morning four were found stifled to death, two died soon after, and
a dozen more are in a shocking way."  (Horace Walpole's Letters to Sir Hor-
ace Mann, vol. 1, p. 169.)  The keeper of the round-house was tried, but ac-
quitted of wilful murder.       f Orfila's Directions, p. 170. 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                153

combustion,  than when  merely igniting,  and  secondly,
because the presence of carbonic oxide is wanting—a pro-
duct which, from the  nature of the  substances  acted upon,
we should at least imagine to be present in some proportion.
However the actual  proportions may be, these  experiments
at least prove, that a small quantity of carbonic acid diffused
through a close  room, may prove deleterious.   It is difficult
to  say how  little will cause  death.  Dr. Thomson in his
lectures remarks, that thirty  per  cent in  the air  proves
instantly fatal;  Ollivier of Angers, asserts that twenty per
cent  destroys animals in three minutes, while Dr. Golding
Bird  at a  meeting  of  the Westminster Medical Society,
stated  that " all physiologists had  agreed that a quantity
varying from eight to ten per cent in the atmosphere, would,
if continued long, lead to a fatal result.   If the quantity did
not exceed ten per cent, coma was first produced, the glottis
shortly after  closed, and the  person  died of asphyxia. If the
quantity exceeded  this, then  asphyxia was  at  once  pro-
duced."   Lastly, I will add the statement of Ollivier, that
any proportion exceeding  two or three  per cent, will prove
hurtful.*
   I need hardly state  how frequently this proves to be a
cause of death.   Persons on going  to bed, leave pans of it
burning in their apartments, and in the morning are found
lifeless.f
   3.  Carbonic acid gas  is contained in the exhalations from
lime kilns,! and cellars, or places where wine, beer, or other

  * Orfila's Toxicologic, 3d edition, vol. 2, p. 474.  Christison, 3d edit. p.
748.  Devergie, vol, 2, p. 504. Dr. A. T. Thomson's Lectures, in Lancet,
N. S. vol. 20, p. 921.  Bird in Lancet, N. S. vol. 23, p. 383.  London Med.
Gazette, vol. 23, pp. 381,  426.  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 20, p. 134.  Dr.
Bird's Experiments in Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 4, p. 81.
  All stoves in which there is not sufficient vent given to the gases generated,
to pass out of the apartment, must be considered hazardous to life.  Of this
description is, it would seem, that invented by Joyce in England.  (See Lon-
don Med. Gazette, vol. 23, pp. 343, 427.  Lancet, N. S. vol. 23, p. 824.)
  The doctrine of the Diffusion of Gases, must not be forgotten in consider-
ing cases.
  f A large number of cases of this  description is quoted by Dr. Dobson, in
an essay contained in Percival, vol. 1, p. 328.  See also Philosophical Trans-
actions, vol. 52, p. 4">4.
  X " June 19, 1813.  This morning two lads were found senseless on a brick
kiln in St. George's Fields.  The eldest was recovered by medical assistance,
^"t. the other  was lifeless.  It is supposed that they had  resorted to the kiln 
154
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
liquors are in a state of fermentation.  Hence the danger of
sleeping near the  former, and  the necessity of ventilating
the  latter.   4.  This gas  is  frequently  produced in  wells,
marshes and mines.  In the  latter, however, a different sub-
stance is also generated, called the fire-damp, or carburetted
hydrogen gas, which is no less deadly.   But the frequency
of fatal  accidents  to  persons  descending wells,  is  to  he
ascribed  to carbonic acid.   5. In  some  rare instances, the
effluvia of plants, which evolve carbonic acid  and  nitrogen
during the  night, have proved  fatal.   Dr. Paris refers to a
case of this  kind, where  a gardener watching for the safety
of a pinery, was found  dead in the morning in the  green-
house.*   6. Lastly, I  may mention, if not already enumera-
ted, that the smoke from burning wood or anthracite coal or
coke,  may  prove  deleterious,  in  a  great  degree  from the
same  cause.f
for the sake of warmth, and having fallen  asleep, were suffocated by its
fumes."   (Edinburgh Annual Register, vol. 6, part 2, p. 64.)  A fatal case,
with the dissection, is published by Dr. Bird, in  Guy's Hospital Reports,
vol. 4, p. 90.
   * Paris and Fonblanque, vol. 2, p. 49.
  f Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  32, p. 345.  Case by Mr.
Watson, of the workmen at the Wanlockhead mines, from the wood of a flue
taking fire.  Some of the symptoms are referable to the effects of sulphurous
acid gas, which see under Poisons.  (Lancet, N. S.. vol.  5, p. 154.)  Case by
Dr. Schenck, of two persons dead from the smoke  of a forge.  (Edinburgh
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 3, p. 543.) Dr. John Gairdner on the
deleterious effects of the  smoke of coal, as illustrated in the cases of six indi-
viduals subjected to its influence.  A coal fire had been kept up during the
night, and the smoke produced by it had passed down another chimney into
the bed-room, the door of which was, however, open.  They awoke with diz-
ziness—a reluctance to rise—stupefaction of mind and a desire to return to
sleep. When thoroughly roused, headache succeeded, with vomiting or sick-
ness at the stomach.  They gradually recovered  by the next day.   (Christi-
son, p. 692.  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 13, p. 442.) A recent case by Devergie
of one individual dead and several dangerously ill from the gas issuing from
a smouldering beam that was heated by the flues of a kitchen chimney.  The
individuals attacked were in an  upper room; on removing the boards and
giving access to the air, the beam took fire.
  The common council of New-York,  not long since, were seriously affected
by the gas proceeding from burning anthracite.
  I will add to these the  following curious case :  On the 12th of May, 1650,
some forgemen at Leipsic were drinking in a chamber, where a child, twelve
years old, was asleep.  They amused themselves with passing  a half extin-
guished candle  under its nose.   The child awoke, but again fell asleep, and
they continued this course for half an hour.   It was shortly after seized with
convulsions, or epileptic fits, and died in three days. The parents complained
of this to the magistrates, who consulted the Faculty  of Medicine.  They
answered that the fumes of a candle were  identical with the vapours from
charcoal and lime, and would produce the same  deleterious effects.  (Valen-
tini's Pandects, vol. l,p. 195.) 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               155

   It seems to be now generally acknowledged, that the ac-
 tion of carbonic acid gas  is narcotic.  The experiments of
 Collard de Martigny are very interesting on this point. Ani-
 mals are rapidly killed in an atmosphere of it, and even when
 diluted with common air, they  died in two or three minutes.
 Yet when a lighted candle was afterwards introduced under
 the bell glass used for the experiments, it burnt lively. This
 circumstance will explain why accidents  have sometimes
 happened to persons descending into wells, after ascertain-
 ing that combustion could be supported.
   In an experiment on  himself, the body was enclosed in an
 atmosphere of  this gas, with  due precautions for the main-
 tenance of breathing the  external  air, yet the  symptoms
 were those usually  observed  from breathing  it.   Animals
 treated in this way died after  some time.*
   Sir  Humphrey Davy attempted to breathe  the pure  gas,
 but found it impossible ; the glottis was closed from the irri-
 tation produced.  D'Arcet, visiting the place at Montpen-
 sier, in France, where  carbonic  acid gas  issues  from the
 ground, as at  the  Grotto del Cano in  Italy,  attempted  to
 ascertain  its effects, but  they were so sudden, that having
 moved towards it  on  his hands, he  instantly fell  flat and
 would  have expired, had he  not been  drawn back  by his
 guide.f
   The  earlier symptoms,  so far as they can be ascertained,
 are a sense of weight, uneasiness or pain,  often violent,  in
 the head;  ringing in the ears; gidiness, sometimes vomiting;
 a great disposition  to sleep ; a rapid loss of strength, so as
 to be unable to continue upright; great difficulty of breath-
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 214.  His experi-
 ments are also given in full in American Medical Recorder, vol. 13, p. 296.
 See also Mr. Snow's experiments  in Lancet, N. S., vol. 24, p. 93, and Dr.
 Golding Bird, in London Med. Gazette, vol. 23, p. 924. " Carbonic acid di-
 luted (as in charcoal vapour)  may produce death, although a proportion of
 oxygen  sufficient per se, to support life, may  be present in the air of the
 apartment."
  t Journal  Royal Institution, vol. 2,  p. 201.  There is an interesting ac-
 count of a visit to the Grotto Del Cano, by Dr. C. James, contained in the
 Encyclograp. Des Sciences Medicales, for September, 1843 ;  a number of ex-
periments were made on animals, with results similar to those stated in the
text, the dissections showed great fluidity of the blood; but it must be remem-
bered that this was caused by pure carbonic acid, whereas in medico-legal
cases, it is of course, diffused through atmospheric air. 
156               PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
 ing.   The  senses  no longer exercise their  functions, and
 there is a partial or total loss of sensibility.
   In advanced stages, the breathing is occasionally sterto-
 rous, and froth issues from the mouth.  Coma is perfectly
 established, interrupted briefly, in some instances, by deliri-
 um, and in others by slight convulsions.  But the last are
 generally wanting.
   If they are discovered after the gas has had its full ope-
 ration, the  following are considered as the  most common
 appearances:  The  head, face  and neck  are swollen; the
 eyes are propelled from their  sockets,  but  preserve their
 brilliancy often for two or three hours after death, the tongue
 is protruded, swollen, and inclined to one side of the mouth;
 the jaws are firmly closed ;  the face is livid,  the lips are of
 a  dark blue color, the abdomen is inflated, and  sometimes
 violet-colored  discolorations are  seen even on the anterior
 parts; the  body preserves its warmth for a  length of time
 and sometimes indeed is warmer  than natural,  while the
 limbs remain flexible for some hours.  These phenomena
 particularly the latter, succeed each other more rapidly in
 summer than in winter.
   Let it however be distinctly understood, that these appear-
 ances are far from being invariable.   The  countenance is
 often pale,  probably in  a majority of  cases,  and  generally
 bears few marks of suffering.   From an analysis of a large
 number of narratives, Dr. Bird infers  as an extremely con-
 stant occurrence, the intensely calm and sleep-like aspect of
 the corpse,  whether pale or bloated.   Dr. Ollivier suggests,
 that the  variety noticed  by  observers  as to the appearance
 of the countenance may depend on the period after  death,
 when the examination is made.   If  early, paleness will be
 most common, but after a few hours,  the violet tint  will
frequently  be seen.   Again, frothing  from the mouth and
 nostrils is sometimes absent,  the limbs are sometimes rigid,
 the eyes natural, and the tongue, if vomiting preceded  death,
is  behind the teeth.*
  * Struve, p.  52. Belloc, p. 184.
  The discolorations noticed above are not confined to the mucous tissue of
 the skin, but prevade its whole thickness. On cutting into it, Devergie found 
                    PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.                 157

   So, also, with the appearances found on dissection.  The
blood vessels, and particularly those of the head and lungs,
are found filled with  blood, and it is principally accumula-
ted in the right side of the heart and the veins leading to it.
Effusions of  serum,  sometimes tinged  with blood, are fre-
quently seen, particularly  in the ventricles of the brain and
in  the bronchise.   It is commonly stated that the blood is
black and  so  fluid, that it is  discharged readily from  the
smallest incision.   This, however, is not now deemed as a
constant occurrence.  Out  of a number  of cases examined by
Ollivier, in  1837,  he  found  the  blood  red in five.  Dr.
Marye  confirms this,  and the  last also found  the  blood
drawn from a vein during life, in a person asphyxiated with
charcoal, to be red.   Each of  these observers have also no-
ticed it  to coagulate promptly, and Dr. Bird states that this
is mentioned in six cases out of ten analysed by him.  Still
in a majority of instances, the contrary probably occurs, and
the only proper inference  is, that  we  cannot depend as for-
merly, on the above appearances, as diagnostic marks.
   Dr. Ollivier throws out  the idea, that the red color of the  '
blood occurs only in those who are speedily poisoned,  but
without giving a satisfactory solution.
a number of small red points, produced by the blood settling there; vol. 1,
p. kf>.
  Dr.  King in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7 p. ISO.  His-
tory of three cases.  Here the fingers and toes were curved, and the nostrils
dilated.
  Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. asphyxia, by Dr.  Roget,
  London Medical Repository, vol. 27, p. 468.
  London Medical  Gazette, vol.  15, p. 601. This is a remarkable case of
suicide in Paris.  The external  appearances correspond  exactly with those
given  above as most common; but it is probable, from the  signs of sickness of
the stomach, and the presence of urinary and faecal discharges, that there
must have been  some suffering.
  Ibid., vol. 23,  p. 1)22, Dr. Bird on the phenomena of death by carbonic acid
gas.
  Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 4, p. 75, Dr.  Bird's cases of poisoning by  the
vapors of burning charcoal and coals.
  Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, p. 325, two cases of imminent
symptoms, but the patients recovered.  Related by Dr. Plymptor.
  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2o, p. 114, Ollivier (D'Angers) on Asphyxia by
carbonic  acid.
  London Med. Gazette, vol. 27, p. 6'/>3. Case by Mr.  Collambell. Death
occurred  in two hours, from burning charcoal.  The countenance was pale
and frothy mucus escaped from  the mouth.  The appearances on dissection
corresponded to the general description. Dark fluid blood in the head  and
lungs, but the heart empty. Effusion of serum was also present in the same
organs and in the bronchia'. 
158
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   As  occasional  occurrences, may be  named,  a softness of
the muscles, so as to be torn by the slightest exertion;  the
epiglottis is said  to be raised, and in some instances, sooty
matter has been found in the nostrils and trachea.*
   The larynx and trachea are usually injected  with blood
and of a rose color.f
   As a variation  from the  ordinary appearances, it may be
mentioned, that Renard, in three cases, found the right side
of the  heart empty.
   Although  the causes which produce death in these cases
are often evident, yet dissection should never be omitted in
any suspected  case.   It may aid us materially.   We should
notice  whether any marks  of injuries  are present,  which
may  excite  doubt.   The place, the  circumstances  under
which the body is found, the noxious material that has been
inhaled,  all deserve investigation, and may  lead to  the
truth.J
   Four days after death, the body of  the wife of Amoroux
was discovered in her chamber.  There was a sanious fluid
flowing from the mouth, and  although  this was in February,
1836, yet decomposition was much advanced.   The epider-
mis separated readily on the  slightest  effort.   The face was
enormously distended and of a blackish green color, as were
  * Portal, in Medical Commentaries, vol. 3, p. 254.  Belloc, p. 184.  Dr.
Babington's case of exposure to the vapor of burning charcoals, in Medico-
Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1, p. 93.   Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 347.
Larrey, vol. 2, p. 128.
  Dr. Bright's Dissections in Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 20, p. 4, of
two sailors suffocated on board  of a vessel.  I presume these  are the same
mentioned in the Lancet, N. S. vol. 1, p. 553, as occurring at Guy's Hospital.
The vessels of the dura mater were filled with blood, and the sinuses gorged
with it in a fluid state.  The heart and its vessels were in a similar state, and
the mucous lining  of the bronchiae beautitully injected.—Christison, p. 712.
He refers to a case by Mertzdorff, where in addition to the usual appearance,
there was a general diffusion of blood between the arachnoid and pia mater.
Alfred S. Taylor, Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence, London, on the phe-
nomena of suffocation from carbonic acid, copied in the American Journal of
Medical Sciences, vol. 1, p. 219.
  t  Briand (3rd edit. p. 520) in noticing the high colored state of the mucous
membrane of the larynx, trachea and bronchiae in these cases, observes  that
the  redness is most manifest in the trachea, owing to the white color of its
cartilaginous rings.  He adds that there is often a capillary injection at the
root of the tongue, and the papillae there are much developed.
  X  Orfila remarks, that if the body of a person suffocated by a non-respirable
gas, or by strangulation, be cold or stiff, we may be certain that more than
twelve hours have elapsed since death. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
159
also the arms and hands.  The body was of a livid green.
No marks of external injury could be found on it.
  On dissection the lungs were seen gorged and their tissue
softened by  putrefaction.   So also with the  liver.  The
stomach was healthy,  and no deleterious substance could
be  detected.  The  conclusion  of the examiners  therefore,
was that she had died from asphyxia caused  by the burning
of charcoal.
  It appeared by the  statement of her husband, that  they
had mutually  agreed  to destroy themselves through the
above means—that  their apartment was well calculated for
the purpose, being close and admitting no currents  of air—
that after lighting the charcoal, he placed it between himself
and his  wife both  lying on the floor—that  his wife  soon
became  affected and died in three hours—but  it produced
no injurious result on himself.  Shortly  after her death, he
drank copiously of  water, but renewed the charcoal fire and
persisted in his attempts for several days in order to destroy
himself in this manner.  The rapidity of putrefaction in the
body of the female  was doubtless owing to the high temper-
ature thus kept up without intermission.
  Such  was his defence and it was asked whether, supposing
the  above  statement to be correct, it was possible for the
husband to escape the injurious effects  of the carbonic  acid.
To this  the medical examiners replied in the negative.
  All the reports were  finally committed to the inspection
of Devergie, and the judge required of him answers to the
following questions :
  Does  the  complete state of putrefaction in which this  body
was found four and a half days after death, support or negative
the idea of its being caused by asyhyxia ? In reply, he remarks,
that as stiffening of the limbs always precedes putrefaction,
this last would probably occur later in death from inhaling car-
bonic acid, than from other causes—as Nysten had observed,
that the stiffening  of the limbs, which,  in ordinary cases,
lasts only twenty-four to thirty hours after death,  continued
in one, thus asphyxiated as long  as seven days.   He was
also enabled to make  observations on two cases at the 
160
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
Morgue.  The body of a male destroyed by asphyxia from
charcoal, did not exhibit the commencing marks of putrefac-
tion, until  the eighth day—nor was it until  the thirty-fifth,
that a green color was observed on the inferior extremities.
The trunk itself seemed to dry rather than to soften, and no
gas  was developed  under the skin.    Shortly  after, the
bodies of a male and female both destroyed  in the  same
manner,  a  month previous, were  brought to the Morgue.
Each exhibited the same tendency to desiccation, particularly
about the face, arms and hands, but there was no emphysema
of the cellular tissue, nor any softening.  The skin was
yellowish,  and in a few points green.
  From these facts, and also from the  antiseptic effects of
carbonic acid gas  on meat confined  in it, as  shown by
Hildebrand,  Devergie is of opinion,  that  in  this kind of
death,  putrefaction  is  retarded   rather  than  promoted.
Another question  was,  Whether the livid appearance of the
skin so common in  the asphyxiated, ought not to have been
present in  this case, although putrefaction was so much ad-
vanced ?   Here  the answer is in the  affirmative, and Dr.
Devergie remarks, that for the space of eight years  during
which he has observed bodies at the Morgue, he has  always
seen this present.  How long it  may  continue before the
change  into green occurs, is not determined, but the  period
must be more extended in winter than in summer.
  It was also inquired  whether females or  males  would
resist the influence of carbonic acid the longest.  The sta-
tistical facts on this point are few and unsatisfactory.  It
appears, however, that in Paris, more  females than males
have been recovered from its effects.
  Would a person  lying on the floor be  more readily  affected
than in a more elevated situation ?  No experiments  have
been made on this  point, but the  following circumstances
deserve consideration.   Although the specific gravity  of
carbonic acid gas is much greater  than  that of atmospheric
air, and therefore descends ; yet Mr. Dalton has shown, that
a lighter gas cannot be in contact with a heavier one, with-
out mixing with it.   Again, the levity  of carbonic  acid is 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
161
increased in this case by the elevated temperature that was

kept up.  The result must have been, that the chamber was

filled with ascending currents of pure heated carbonic acid,

and descending  ones of the same more and more vitiated,

but colder.   As Amouroux and his wife were  both  on the

floor, it follows  that they were  not in the most favorable

position for the rapid extinction of life.

   The crime with which Amouroux  was charged, is not

expressly stated, but I presume, it was murder.   Whatever

it may have been,  he was found  guilty and  condemned  to

hard labor for life.   It is possible, from a consideration of

all the circumstances, " that his intention was to  destroy his

wife and to save himself."  There can scarcely be a doubt

but that  carbonic acid gas alone was the cause of her death,

and whatever seems  inconsistent with  this in  the external

appearance,  is readily  explained by  the  advanced state of

putrefaction, and  that  again  by the  long continued  heat of

 the room.*

   2. Sulphuretted  Hydrogen  Gas.   This is  the principal

 noxious substance exhaled from privies and common sewers,

 and it has proved destructive to many.


   *  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 17, p.  201.  London Med. Gazette, vol. 20, p.
 238. British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 6, p. 244.  The following remark
 by Dr. Christison, (3d edit. p. 749,) deserves to be added in this place:
   " An observation worthy of note, as at times supplying the only rational
 explanation of the discrepant effects of the poison on several individuals sim-
ultaneously and to appearance alike exposed to it, is that in a close apartment
the gas abounds most in the  lowest part by reason of its high density, but
that where a current from without is directed through the room, as for exam-
ple, from below a door towards afire or stove, the situation where least effect
is produced maybe exactly  that which in other circumstances is the most
dangerous, namely, on the floor."
   And again, the following by Dr. Golding Bird, (Guy's Hospital Reports,
vol. 4, p. 87.):  " I feel inclined to believe that the reason why the fumes of
 vividly burning charcoal are found to be less injurious  than those evolved by
 that fuel when in a state of  slow combustion, may be  traced less to the pre-
sence of a new or peculiar specific poison in the latter, than to the greater
 evolution of heat, accompanying the former, causing  a rapid circulation of
 air throughout the apartment, and the consequent dilution of the carbonic
 acid gas produced, by causing it to mix rapidly with the atmosphere."
   In a more recent memoir, (Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  23, p. 190,)  Devergie
 states his conviction,  both from experiment and reasoning, that however
 much the carbonic acid may be  diffused through an apartment, while the
 charcoal is burning and the air is heated, yet when cooling takes place, the
 carbonic acid will not remain mingled, but will sink from its specific gravity
 and form the lower stratum of air.
VOL. II.
11 
162
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
  Chaussier appears to have been among the first to notice
its rapidly fatal effects, whether inhaled or injected into the
cellular tissue or rectum.   According to the experiments of
Thenard and Dupuytren, the gas, even when  mixed  with a
large quantity of atmospheric air, is a very powerful poison.
A proportion of l-300th was sufficient to  kill a bird in very
little time.  l-800th  produced  death in a dog, and a horse
was killed in an atmosphere containing  l-250th part of it.
Nysten and Broughton have verified these results, either by
a repetition of the experiments, or by injecting  it into the
veins.*
  " When the  exposure  has lasted but  a short time, the
sufferer experiences a general uneasiness, accompanied with
nausea and sickness; his respiration becomes irregular, but
not difficult, and his  pulse much agitated; the skin is cold,
general  convulsions, almost tetanic,  take place, and  the
muscles of the chest and face  are particularly affected."
The  abdomen  is often tumid, and  recovery is preceded by
vomiting up a bloody froth.   Severe colic  pains  also are
common.
  " In cases where an  individual has been long exposed to
the action of this gas, all power of motion and sensation is
lost;  a frothy saliva, tinged  with blood, flows from the
mouth;  the lips and face are  livid, the eyes are shut, and
void  of  all brilliancy; the  pupil  fixed and dilated; the
pulse is small and frequent, and the respiration  short and
difficult, and apparently convulsive ; the action of the heart
becomes  disordered and violent, and the extremities are in
a state of relaxation.   To this  succeeds an agitation more
or  less  excessive, the  muscles  are attacked by  alternate

  *  Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 3. app. p. 29, Exp's of Dupuytren. Chris-
tison, pp. 693, 698.  Brande's Journal, N. S., vol. 7, p. 16.
  Sulphuretted hydrogen does not appear to be deleterious to man in an equal
ratio.  It has been found by accurate observation, that the workmen employed
in the common sewers of Paris work without inconvenience in an atmosphere
containing one part of sulphuretted hydrogen in 100 of atmospheric air, and
that they constantly breathed from 25 to 90 thousandths of this gas. Air
found on analysis to contain 3 per cent of sulphuretted hydrogen, had been
breathed for several minutes  by the person collecting it.  (Annales D'Hy-
giene, vol. 2, p. 144.) 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
163
spasms and convulsions, and the body is curved backwards,
while the individual appears to suffer from acute pain."*
  Delirium occasionally  occurs,  and in one instance men-
tioned by Dupuytren, the eyes were  open and red.   This,
however, has been ascribed to the presence of hydrosulphu-
ret of ammonia, which is frequently found with sulphuretted
hydrogen in sewers.f
  In one case where death followed, and dissection was per-
formed forty  hours  after death, the  head and trunk were
already putrid, the skin bluish, and elevated by gas.  The
blood contained in the various cavities was black and fluid.
The brain was greenish and tender.   The bronchiae were of
a red  color, and the  posterior parts of the lungs were gorged
with black blood, but that organ was generally crepitous.
The  stomach presented  traces of recent irritation, and the
intestinal canal was  greenish.  The liver, of a  greenish
black  color, was in a state of congestion.   All the  viscera
exhaled the smell of putrid fish, and  several of the persons
present at  the dissection, were subsequently  affected with
lassitude and stupor, sleeplessness and violent colic.J  Ex-
periments on animals have presented similar results.§
  Chlorine,  or what  is  still better,  the  chloruret of soda
(liquid) has been found by Dupuytren  and Labarraque effect-
ual in  recovering some  sufferers. A cloth dipped  in  it,
should be frequently held to the nose.||  Cold affusion, re-
moval  to  pure air, and  the use of stimulants are  indis-
pensable.

                G.  Of persons found hung.

  I need hardly apprize the medical reader,  that there is an
intimate resemblance  between  the principal physiological
  * These quotations are from Orfila's Directions, p. 167. They are derived
from Halle's Recherches, Paris,  1785.  See  also a case by Dr. Howard. Bos-
ton Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 2, p. 401.
  t In the Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, vol. 43, p. 305, art. Plomb
des Fosses, the occurrence of opthalmia and coryza is expressly ascribed  to
the hydrosulphuret.
  X New England Journal, vol.  8, p. 279.   Account of'three cases extracted
from the Nouveau Journal de Medicine, for April, 1818.
  § Oriila's Toxicology, vol 2, p. 374.
  || Devergie, vol. 2, p. 518. 
164
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
phenomena, observed in persons hung, strangled and smoth-
ered.   I shall, therefore, in this section, consider these in
detail, and  hereafter confine myself  to what may be deemed
peculiar to  the other kinds of death.
  We understand by the term hanging,  the suspension of a
person by a  cord or  some other ligature around the neck.
The rapidity of death from  it, evidently  depends  much  on
the manner in which the cord is adjusted, the texture and
strength of the intervertebral ligaments,  the fulness of  the
blood-vessels, and the  strength of their  coats.   All these
circumstances, with that of  the weight of the body, and  the
height and  suddenness  of the fall,  will render a shorter or
longer space of time necessary to destroy life.*
  The manner in which death  occurs in these cases, is far
from  being  perfectly understood.   Sufficient, however, is
known to authorize us in  asserting, that  there is  consider-
able variety.
  The first to be mentioned is  apoplexy (not necessarily
accompanied with rupture  or extravasation)  produced  by
pressure  on the  large  blood-vessels that go to the head.
Though this  has been  occasionally doubted, yet we  have
proof sufficient, both in the  external appearances, and on
dissection,  to warrant us in saying, that  this does happen.
The  compression prevents the return  of the blood by  the
veins, and  although it cannot  obstruct the circulation by  the
intervertebrals, yet its effect naturally is, to cause an extreme
congestion  of the vascular  system  of the head, and of  the
  * Dr. Plott in his history of Staffordshire, quotes a patent roll of the 48th
year of Henry the 3d, in yvhich it is stated that Inetta Balsham having been
convicted of harboring thieves, was sentenced to be  hung, and  accordingly
was hung, but remained alive from nine until  the next morning.  A free
pardon was therefore granted her.  Dr. Plott suggests, that her life was
 Erobably preserved, on account of the larynx being  turned to  bone, " as it
 appened in the case of a Swiss, as I am told by the  Rev. Obadiah Walker,
master of University College, who was attempted to be hanged no less than
thirteen times, yet lived notwithstanding, by the benefit of his wind-pipe,
that after his death was found to have turned to a bone." (Professional Anec-
dotes, London, 1825, vol. 3, p. 180.)
  "Governor Wall was long in dying,  in consequence of which, a particular
examination of his throat took place, and it was found to have been owing to
an ossified portion of the trachea, resisting a portion  of the rope."  (Dr. A.
T. Thompson's Lectures,  London Medical  and  Surgical Journal, vol. 7,
p. 418.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
165
brain particularly.  It would not seem, however, in cases of
recovery, to be attended with an ordinary consequence, viz.
paralysis.  Fodere has  collected  some  curious  cases  in
illustration of this.  Thus,  Wepfer saw both  a  man and
woman who survived hanging.  The latter recollected noth-
ing,  and the former stated, that on the application of the
cord, he felt no pain,  but sunk,  as it were,  into a profound
sleep.  Morgagni, also, mentions that an individual who had
recovered under  similar circumstances,  informed  him, that
the first sensation was flashes of light before his eyes, and
that  he  then sunk into the same  sleep.  Our author also
quotes a case on the authority of  Lord Chancellor Bacon.
A gentleman took a fancy to ascertain whether those who
were  hung, experienced any pain,  and actually performed
the experiment on himself. He immediately lost all con-
sciousness, and the event would have been tragic,  had not a
friend entered in time to cut him down.*
  In many fatal cases, as we shall  presently show, but not
invariably, the brain exhibits  the  ordinary appearances of
apoplexy.
  Another immediate cause of death, and about which, there
is hardly any dispute, is suffocation, or exclusion of air from
the lungs.   The following experiment by Dr. Munro, senr.
of Edinburgh,  strikingly illustrates the correctness of this
opinion :  " A dog was suspended by the neck with a cord,
an opening having been previously made in the trachea below
the place where the cord was applied, so that air could pass
into  the lungs as freely as in  ordinary respiration.   After
hanging  in this state for three quarters of an hour, during
which time the circulation and breathing went on as usual,
he was  taken down and  appeared  not to have suffered ma-
terially  from the  operation.  The  cord  was  then shifted
from above to below the opening made into the trachea, so
as totally to  prevent  the ingress of air  into the lungs, and

  * Foder6, vol. 3, p. 134.  He however, mentions that there  were indivi-
duals living at Marseilles, who, during the French Revolution, were hung and
their lives saved in the night time, and who for a long time were affected
with a ringing of the ears and deafness. 
166
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
the animal being  again suspended, was in a few minutes
completely dead."*
  In  connection with  this,  or possibly  with  both  these
causes of death, the injury produced by compression of the
nerves of the neck, must  not be overlooked.   That it aids
in producing the fatal termination can  hardly be doubted,
after  recurring  to  the experiment  of  Mr.  Brodie.   He
"passed a  ligature under the trachea of a guinea-pig, and
tied it tight on  the back of the neck with a knot; the ani-
mal was uneasy, but nevertheless breathed and moved about.
At  the end of fifteen minutes, the ligature was removed; on
the following morning, however, it was  found  dead."f
  After considering apoplexy and suffocation as two of the
immediate causes of death, it is the  opinion of  some of the
latest writers on the subject,  that in many instances,  they
unite in producing the fatal termination.!
  To these a third is to be added, consisting, in addition to
the compression, in a laceration of the trachea or larynx, or
a  luxation  or  fracture of the cervical vertebrae,  from a
rupture of the ligaments of the neck.  The celebrated Louis,
inquired of several executioners, how  they saved the lives
of some criminals, while  others  were  irrecoverably dead?
It was answered, that  in the latter case, they  caused a lace-
ration of the trachea  and a luxation  of the first cervical
vertebra from the second, by placing the knot of the cord
under the neck, and then giving a rotary motion to the body
at the moment  when the ladder was taken from under its
feet.§  This luxation  chiefly  occurs in heavy persons or
where they may have fallen from a height upon the  end of
the rope, or where attempts have been made to hasten death

  *  From Curry, quoted by Dr. Roget. art. Asphyxia in Cyclopedia of Prac-
tical Medicine.              f Paris, vol. 2, p. 44.
  X  I refer particularly to two very valuable dissertations in the Annales
D'Hygiene, and both translated from Henke's Zeitschrift.  One by Prof.
Remer of Breslau, entitled materials for a medico-legal examination of death
by strangulation, vol, 4, p. 166, and the other by Dr. Fleichmann of Erlan-
gen, on the various  kinds of death in strangulation, vol. 8. p. 412.  I shall
have frequent occasion  to refer to these,  and I may here also apprise the
reader of an analysis of a most valuable essay by  Casper,  at the conclusion
of the present section.
  §  FoderS, vol. 3, p. 141.  Dorsey's Surgery, vol.  1, p.  207. 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               167

by increasing the weight of the body.   And the rapidity of
the result is well illustrated by accidents where the verte-
brae are injured.
  The above statement evidently explains the great diversi-
ty in the phenomena, observed of late years, on the bodies
of these who die from hanging.  This subject, indeed, has
attracted peculiar attention, and all variations from received
accounts have been carefully noticed.
  I will commence  by mentioning such as  have been most
generally deemed signs of strangulation.  The mark of the
cord is evident around the neck, forming a livid,  depressed
circle; the face, chest, shoulders, and occasionally the arms
and hands,  are swollen and livid; the  countenance is dis-
torted ; the eyes open, red, or  protruded; the  tongue  is
sometimes wounded by the  convulsive motions of the  jaws,
and thrust out of the mouth; the fingers are bent, and the
hands nearly closed.  De Haen, from his observations, added,
that a bloody mucus  often issues from the mouth and nose.*
In  some instances, an ecchymosis is distinctly seen on the
shoulders, and extending upon the breast.
  Of late years, there have been added to the external signs,
the semi-erect  condition of the penis,  and  the emission  of
semen.  The faeces and urine are also sometimes expelled at
the moment of death.  It is further stated,  that in females
executed, a bloody discharge  from  the  uterine organs has
been noticed.
  How variable all or most of these are, remains to be sta-
ted ; and unless we can explain this diversity in  connexion
with the various causes of death, the subject  must remain
extremely intricate.
  * De Haen, vol. 4, p. 338. On the contrary, in the case of Scott, the Ame-
rican Diver, who hung himself accidentally in London, in consequence of
using a slip knot to suspend himself, instead of a bowling one, the body was
examined twenty-four hours after  death.  There was a mark  on the skin
around the neck, but it was quite superficial, and did not extend to the cellu-
lar membrane.  There was scarcely any mark over the larynx; it passed up
anterior to the ears.  The brain presented nothing unusual, except that it
was somewhat congested at its posterior part; the spine was healthy and
sound; the lungs were very much congested, and the heart and large vessels
were full of fluid blood; the lining membrane of the air passages was particu-
larly congested.  (Lancet, No.  909.)  Here the body was probably immedi-
ately taken down. 
168
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   The mark of the cord around the neck, has generally been
 deemed a common occurrence in death by strangulation, and
 hence its presence was greatly relied upon.  It was known
 indeed,  and is  so  stated by  De Haen and Fodere, to have
 been sometimes wanting.  This,  however, was  thought to
 be a very rare  occurrence ; was not much discussed; and
 was explained when noticed, from the suddenness  of death
 in these  instances.  The following case that occurred to
 Esquirol,  succeeded in attracting marked attention to  its
 presence or absence.   An insane female at the  Salpetriere,
 was seen to hang  herself on a  tree in the garden.  An at-
 tendant immediately  hastened to her, and cut  down the
 body;  but all  attempts to  restore  life proved fruitless.
 The features were  composed  and natural; the skin not dis-
 colored or  ecchymosed.  There was a double  mark on the
 neck, as the rope had been twisted  twice around it; but
 there was only a simple depression, without any change of
 color.  In three hours after, there was no change;  in seven
 hours,  the  mark of the rope had  a  light brown tinge, but
 without any  ecchymosis.  None indeed occurred; and  on
 dissection,  the  cellular tissue beneath was found  dry and
 compressed, so  as to form a brilliant white band, a line and a
 half in breadth*
   Since  the publication of this case, the absence of ecchy-
 mosis has been noticed by other observers.  Dr.  Klein, a
 German, in fifteen cases of suicide by  hanging, could find
 none  on the neck.f
   Dr. Remer, however, was enabled to  examine no less than
 102  medico-legal reports of  persons dead by hanging, and
 all occurring in  Silesia.  Of these, 89  presented a distinct
 and well  marked ecchymosis; in one, the skin was shrunk,
 and  resembled  parchment;   in  two others,  the skin was
 excoriated; in one, putrefaction  had advanced too far  to

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, p. 487
  t Annales ^'Hygiene, vol. 4, p. 168. Orfila, Lecons,' 2d edition, vol. 2, p.
 363, &c. mentions many other cases.  See also a very recent case  of suicide
communicated by Dr. Albin Grass.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 13, p. 208.)  In
twelve cases examined by Esquirol and twenty-five by Devergie', ecchymosia
was also wanting. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
169
permit an  examination;  and in nine, it is expressly stated
that the bruised condition was wanting.   He also adds, that
the  ecchymosis was not confined to  those who were  sus-
pended from  some  height, but equally occurred  in such
whose knees or feet were in contact with the ground.
  After recognizing these facts, he next inquires whether a
satisfactory explanation can  be given, why  this  mark is
present on the neck in  some cases and not in others %  It
has  been suggested that its  absence may be owing to the
comparative  softness of the  article used for hanging.  But
even a handkerchief and  a  cravat cannot  in the ordinary
sense be deemed such, since they are twisted and folded, so
as to become hard, or at least  take that character, by the
pressure of the body.   In four cases where handkerchiefs
were used, there was ecchymosis;  in  two others there was
none.
  We come then with a greater probability of a solution, to
the  respective  causes of death.  Persons  may die  so  soon
from apoplexy that no time is left for the cord to act on the
living neck,  for it must be kept  in  mind, that ecchymosis
only happens when a sufficient interval has elapsed previous to
death for the cord to produce its effect*  In  connexion  with
the  consideration of this mode of death, and to explain more
fully its  occasional  extreme  suddenness, Dr. Remer conjec-
tures that the pressure on the  nerves, in conjunction with
the congestion, may produce a state identical with  a palsy
of the brain.   Out of thirteen cases, in which the absence of
ecchymosis is particularly noticed,  Dr. Remer found that in
one  the examination was so imperfect as not to permit any
deduction ; one exhibited,  on dissection, the marks of death

  * It is due to the editors of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, to
state that they indicated some years since, the important distinction now de-
veloped by the investigations of Remer.  In proof of this, I offer the following
extract. After stating that the period during which the rope has been left
around the neck, is insufficient of itself to explain the presence or absence of
ecchymosis, they remark: " We believe the  true cause may be shown to be
rather the more or less  complete exclusion of air.  When the exclusion is
complete and sudden, the body will present no unusual appearances, but
when it is incomplete and gradual, so that the person lives for some time in a
state  of agony, the signs of venous turgescence are every where remarkable."
(Vol in, p. 621.) 
170
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
by suffocation, and the remaining eleven, those of apoplexy,
either simple  or complicated, with suffocation.*
  The deductions drawn by him from this investigation, are
the following:  1. The presence of ecchymosis on the neck
is to be deemed  a proof of death by hanging.   2.  As it
occasionally is wanting, its absence cannot be considered a
positive proof of  the contrary supposition: but 3. When it
is thus wanting, death has probably been suddenly caused
by apoplexy.
  But in connexion with this we must also observe, that the
ecchymosed part,  or  in other words, the position of the
cord, is not uniformly the same in every individual.  Out of
47, in whom  the diversity  was reported,  it was found in 37
between the larynx and the chin; in 7 on the larynx, (one
of these indeed had this  organ torn,) and in 2, below it.f
Dr. Fleichmann, apparently without  being acquainted with
the investigations of Dr. Remer, notices a similar diversity,
and he endeavors  to  explain the various kinds of death in
connexion  with  it.  When  the cord, he  observes,  is  so
placed  around the  neck, as  to  compress, in  preference, its
large vessels, and particularly the venous ones, and at the
same time prevent  the passage  of the blood below the con-
striction, apoplexy will follow, and  in such instances, the
face, neck and brain will be the seat of ecchymosis or sanguineous
congestion.   When on  the  contrary,  the cord  is placed
between the larynx and os hyoides, pressure operates pow-
erfully  on the respiratory passages, without so  strikingly
affecting  the  blood-vessels.  Here death ensues from suffo-
cation.   The  mixed state, or death  from a combination of
suffocation and apoplexy, probably  ensues when the  cord
is placed below the larynx.  Its direction must necessarily
then be horizontal, and it will interrupt the passage of the
air as well as compress  the blood-vessels.J

  *  Dr. Fleichmann is altogether opposed to the idea of a cerebral palsy, and
prefers ascribing  death in part to compression on the lar°-e nerves, which
induces paralysis  of the lungs and heart.               °+ Remer.'
  X Deslandes has suggested the possible case of the cord slipping upwards at
the moment of suspension, till it is stopped by the upper jaw, and thus clos-
ing completely the orifice of the larynx.  Here life would be instantaneously
extinct, and almost without a struggle.  (Orfila, Le§ons, 2d ed. v. 2, p. 359.") 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                171

  I am far from  presenting these views of Drs. Remer and
Fleichmann as perfectly sound or well established.  They
require confirmation, but they  also deserve every attention,
as being among the most valuable approaches to a clear un-
derstanding of the subject.*
  In some instances, according to Devergie,  when the body
is immediately cut down, the  skin of the furrow made by
the cord is  perfectly  natural, but its lips  both above and
below, from one to  two  lines  in breadth, are injected of a
violet color.   This is most distinct,  where the  furrow is
deep  on the front part of the neck.
  Occasionally there  are slight  excoriations of the skin in
the furrow.  If these have been inflicted on the living sub-
ject, they will  be injected and  bloody, and even if the exco-
riation has dried up, a portion of the skin placed before the
light will exhibit its vascularity.
   In  every case, whether  ecchymosis  be present or absent,
there should be a dissection of the neck.  The subcutaneous
 cellular tissue should be particularly examined.  It exhibits
 itself under two  aspects;  shining and  silvery, or white,
 dry and destitute  of brilliancy.  The former is probably
 owing to a quantity of fluid still remaining  in the part, and
 of which the latter is destitute.!
   Supposing ecchymosis to be  found, let it not be confounded
with  the lividity observed  on  the  dead.  By noticing the
extent and the place of the extravasation, (in front as well
as on the declining part,) all mistake may be avoided.
   The  next most important external sign is  the condition of
the genital organs.  That the urine,  faeces, and occasionally
the semen,  are  expelled  at the moment of strangulation,
  * Out of six cases related by Dr. Fleichmann, ecchymosis around the neck
was present in two.   In the remaining four it was absent; but the mark of
the cord was  of a yellow  color, hard and rough, resembling, I  presume,
parchment, as in the instances already cited.  In one instance, noticed by
Amusat, there was a circular depression, three lines in  breadth, indicating
 the pressure of the cord, and the skin of this was dried, thin, and as if burned.
  f Devergie, vol. 2, pp. 393, 395. Mr. Watson corroborates the observations
 of Devergie in one of the above  points.  "It is very remarkable, (sayshe,)
that a considerable degree of redness occurs both above and below the line of
the rope-mark. These red lines are probably caused by a reaction, in conse-
 quence of organic  life continuing some  time longer than animal life."  (Wat-
son on Homicide,  p.  139.) 
172
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
appears to have been known for some time.  It is mentioned
by  Drs.  Gordon  Smith and Male.   Other  observers have
subsequently noticed it.  M. Guyon, surgeon-major at Mar-
tinique, was present  at  the execution of several negroes.
Being habited in white  dresses, any circumstance  of this
description could more readily be  seen,  and he observed
erection of the penis in several at the moment of strangula-
tion,  and immediately thereafter, several  urinated freely.
One hour after the execution, he found the  penis in a state
of semi-erection,  and  its canal filled with semen.*  Of Dr.
Remer's  cases, twenty-two were females, and eighty males.
Of  the latter,  forty-five  were  not  examined.   In twenty,
nothing was found,  and in fifteen there was  either an ejacu-
lation of semen or a sanguineous congestion of the genitals.
Other cases will be  quoted below.f
  On the  other hand, Dr. Klein did not  observe it in his
fifteen cases.  It is  therefore evident, that although its pre-
sence is a presumptive proof that death has been caused by
strangulation, yet its  absence must not infer the contrary;
besides, it has occurred from other  modes of violent death.
Although Dr. Klein  did not observe  it in any of  his cases of
death by hanging, yet in a suicide who mortally wounded
himself by blowing out his brains,  after surviving twenty-
four hours, the penis  was found in a state of erection.   In
another  case,  at  Breslaw,  where a fire-arm had torn  the
descending aorta and  its accompaning vessels,  there were
decisive  proofs of the emission  of semen.J
  Nor does this phenomenon seem to be confined to the male
sex.  In  a female who suspended  herself with a handker-

  *  Anderson's Journal,  vol. 1, p. 151.
  t  Emission of semen and erection were found in Amusat's  case; vesiculse
seminales empty.  (North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p.
205.)  By  Orfila, in a suicide aged 62 years.  (Lemons, 2d edition, vol. 2, p.
376.)  In one case of Fleichmann, (Annales, vol. 8, p. 420.)  In Irons, exe-
cuted at London in 1828.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 2, p. 124.)
  On the other hand, in Moselmann, executed at Lancaster (Penn.) in 1839,
there was an ejection of mucu3 from the urethra, but it contained no sperma-
tic  animalculae, neither was there  any  priapism.  (Amer. Journal Medical
Science, vol. 26, pp. 17, 26.)
  This sign is again noticed when the proofs of suspension  during life are
considered.
  J  Remer, Annales, vol. 4, p. 176. 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
173
chief, besides a marked ecchymosis of the neck, the genital
organs were seen red, the labia swollen,  and the mouth of
the uterus a little open.*  Dr. Otto  seems also to have no-
ticed some bloody discharges, but the particulars  of  this
case I have not  been  able to obtain.f  Mr. Charles Cook
mentions two  cases  of executed females,  in whom  he  was
informed there were  present bloody discharges; and he him-
self noticed them in  three insane women, who hung them-
selves.  In one of these, urine and fseces were also evacu-
ated ; and it is an interesting circumstance, that two of them
had passed the usual period of child-bearing4
  As to  the remaining external signs, I must content myself
with a brief commentary.
  The condition of  the  tongue, its protrusion, its swollen
state and its  wounding  by the  teeth, must evidently vary
with the  position of  the cord.    It is therefore  not to  be
always found.   Dr.  Gordon  Smith indeed, remarks, and he
has been followed by  other authors, that it is only produced
 when the  rope presses upon the  cricoid cartilage.  Should
 it press above the thyroid gland, the tongue will be pushed
 back, owing to the compression of the os hyoides.§  Dever-
 gie,  however,  from a comparison of cases, questions the
 general  correctness  of this statement, and is disposed to  at-
 tribute the protrusion to nervous agency, without, however,
 denying that the position of the cord may have some influ-
 ence. ||   We are thus evidently warranted in ascribing some-
  * Remer, Annales, vol. 4, p. 177.
  t Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 25, p. 213.
  X Lancet, N. S. vol. 8, p. 751. See also, on this subject, ibid. vol. 8, p.
808; vol. 9, pp. 49, 98, 161,661.
  In the case of a person beheaded, Valentin (Reporter fur Anatomie, &c.,)
found " semen containing  very lively animalcules  in great numbers, at the
orifice of the  urethra, a phenomenon, which Vogt, who was. present at the
examination, had observed in five other persons who were beheaded, and
which he does not doubt arises from the sudden violent con traction of all the
muscles, with those of the seminal vesicles, at the instant of the division of
the cord,"  (London Med. Gazette, vol. 20, p. 528.)
  The same was  observed by Professor Bischoff,  in  a person beheaded in
1838.  (Amer. Journal Med. Sciences, vol. 25, p. 427.)
  §  Smith, p. 217. Belloc, p. 170.  Annales D'Hygiene, v. 20, p. 471.
  ||  1. " I have found (says he) the tongue projected in a body which bore
unequivocal signs of death by drowning,  and upon which there was no im-
pression of a cord.  2. I have met with two cases in which the tongue was
projected, notwithstanding the cord was applied above the os hyoides.  3. I 
174              PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

thing to the manner of death,  whether easy or  convulsed.
In the latter, its unnatural position is most common.*
  It is evident that the extent of the ecchymosis on the
parts adjacent to the neck, must  depend somewhat on the
height from which the  body is projected;  and accordingly
we more commonly find these  extensive on such as  have
been executed.  Dr. Houston  of  Dublin,  in four cases of
this description, found  "the  cervical vertebrae uninjured,
and also the  spinal marrow and the brain ;  yet in both, the
sterno-mastoid muscle on the right side (the opposite to that
on which the knot of the rope was applied) was ecchymosed,
contused and broken;  that of the left was only slightly
bruised.  The os hyoides  and  thyroid cartilage were com-
pletely severed from each other.   The other hyoid muscles
were so bruised and lacerated,  that  only  some stretched
shreds of them  remained  to hold the parts together.   The
thyro-hyoid membrane was also torn  across;  and the epi-
glottis, pulled from its  root at  the back of  the thyroid car-
tilage, had passed up with the os  hyoides  and tongue into
the back of the mouth.  The skin alone remained unbroken,
and interposed between the rope and  the cavity of the
pharynx.  This was  the only region of the neck which gave
evidence  of  much injury; the great vessels and nerves all
escaped unhurt."f
  The variety in the  color of the countenance  must have some
connexion with the immediate mode of death.  Whenever
there is an imperfect interruption of respiration, so that the
struggle is  prolonged,  we find the cheeks, lips and eyes
particularly swollen.  The admission of even  a small por-
tion of air into  the  lungs  permits the heart to continue its
gradually impeded  circulation,  while at the same time the

have produced the same effect in the dead body by fixing the cord in this
situation."  According to the table prepared by him, of thirteen cases where
the cord pressed between the os hyoides and the thyroid cartilage, in six, the
tongue was pushed against the teeth, in four, it was natural, and in three
only it was locked between the teeth.   In three cases out of four, where the
cord pressed on the larynx, the tongue was protruded, and in the remaining
one, it was natural.  (Vol. 2, p. 384, 5.)
  *  In one instance, Devergie found the tongue bent back on itself.
  t  Quoted by Dr. Beatty. There is a similar case in Lancet, N. S. vol. 2,
p. 124. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                 175
 pressure of the rope obstructs the return of blood and accu-

 mulates  it in  the  face.*   Hence  in those who have been

 executed, we most frequently meet with the red and tumefi-

 ed  countenance,  though  there   are  exceptions  even in

'these.

   This  course  of reasoning may  explain the  fact noticed

 both by Fleichmann and Esquirol, viz., that if the body be

 cut down  immediately  after  death,  the  face  will appear

 natural, but  if this be delayed  for some hours, the internal

 congestion produces lividity and tumefaction in the face  and

 the parts above the cord.f

   The paleness of the  face is, hence  no  proof  that death

 has not occurred from hanging.  We find also  in many cases

 of apoplexy, an absence of similar congestion.^

   The presence of  bloody  mucus, or froth issuing from the

 mouth or nose, is  not  by  any means constant.  In  some

 instances, as in that  of the  Duke of Bourbon, it is  seen,

 while in many executed it is wanting.^



   * Roget, art. Asphyxia, in Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine. Dr. Fleich-
 mann supposes that the livid  color of the  face only occurs when apoplexy
 operates slowly. Sometimes one side is more livid than the other, and Dr
 Kelly ascribes this to the position of the cord.  The executioner generally
 adjusts it on one side of the neck, and  by  the weight of the  body, it  slips
 upwards on that side towards the mastoid process behind the ear, and there
 is consequently  a space corresponding to the rising of the noose, which is not
 embraced by the cord, and where the veins are subjected to little pressure.
 Here of course,  there will be less lividity.
  t Devergie, vol. 2 p. 383.  This author cautions  us against taking too
 much as our standard, the appearances observed on the executed.  In many
 instances, the struggle, the mental sufferings, and the fall closely assimilate
 their condition to that of the person  who has been murdered by hanging.
 There evidently must be, in most cases,  some difference between these/and
 such as have committed suicide.
 1 J™?!*1 +eaih tak^ pl-a?e from asPhyxia caused  by compression of the
 S, +1°     + ea' and W1"10ut comPressing the great blood-vessels of the
 neck, the countenance remains  pale and the head exhibits few of the signs of
 cerebral congestion."  (Watson on Homicide, p. 135 )               g

 cuted crSrlVrrSinia' .  ^ating ?°me  Salvanic experiments on an  exe-
 secondveHohl; w IOnS *ha  ?e nick Was found located,  the first and
 of So Uttle fin,..  gTfPa/atei S° far fr0m each other as t0 admit tfae end
 aLXJgSjXnal^ottp^"  ™ *M'  ^^^ Medioal
 authenSv110 $f?™n& fr°m * newspaper, and cannot therefore vouch for its
 Sistern 5 S;, in.  WeTw ^\CheS a USeful  lesS0n :   A man in one of the
Siln deriost, 7wC°nT1,C,ted °t murderinS tts wife by strangulation; a phy-
foaSniSthi S  £     Th Cases ^ tongue protruded*; and there was
mS™ien?at™V°nthl!.a  resPite was P^n, until another medical
l^isfSXttS^^1^testified that *either of these had occ- 
176               PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.

  The fingers  are  frequently found flexed, and sometimes
the convulsive  contraction has been so great, that the nails
have sunk into the flesh of the palm of the hand.
  As to the appearances on dissection, they must of course
vary with the cause  of  death, and they will be  more or less
distinct according as it is least complicated.
  In those  dead from apoplexy,  the brain  will be gorged
with blood, its vessels distended, and sometimes there will
be extravasation, while the right as well as left ventricle of
the heart will contain blood.
  When an individual expires  from suffocation,  cerebral
congestion will be wanting, but the lungs will  be engorged,
and filled with air.*   The  left side of the heart will be
empty, while the right and its vessels contain  more or less
of fluid blood.
   Of the cases examined by Remer, nine appeared to have
died from apoplexy, six from suffocation, nineteen were too
imperfectly  dissected  to permit  a classification,  and the
remaining sixty-eight appeared to have sunk from the mixed
effects of both, as already explained.  In some, the marks
of both are completely developed,  while in others, one
seems to predominate.  Thus we find the blood accumulated
in the brain, and occasionally even  extravasated, while the
lungs  also are  gorged, and the right ventricle  filled and the
left empty.  Here impeded respiration  has  interrupted the
return of blood to the heart, and its congestion on the brain
continues until the last pulsation, and  it is  this last pulsa-
tion which empties  the left side of the heart.
   Again, there may be an incomplete apoplexy, or in other
words, only a  certain  degree of congestion, with  complete
suffocation. Dr. Remer,  however,  noticed  but one of this
description.   Of the  next  variety he  mentions thirteen
cases, and this is complete apoplexy with incomplete suffo-
 cation.   The lungs contain air and blood, but  the head dies

   * Mr. Taylor states that the distention of the lungs with air is  far from
 being universally seen in death from hanging. In animals hung, he has
 frequently met with these organs in a collapsed state.  " I have also," he
 adds, " observed this in an executed criminal, and in a case of suicidal hang-
 ing."   (Med. Jurisprudence, p. 167.) 
                    PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.                 177


first, and  its effects  extend downwards.   Here the death is

so rapid that the blood continues fluid.*

   Besides the appearances described in the preceding pages,

there are  some others occasionally observed, which deserve

a brief notice.

   In the case of Dr. Amusat, already  referred to, and which

was  suicide by  suspension, at  the point corresponding  to

the stricture around the neck, the middle and internal coats

of the carotid  were found  ruptured, precisely as when  a

ligature  has been applied  to it.   Devergie  supposing, and

correctly, that this, if constant, would  be a valuable proof

of suspension during life,  made several dissections to  as-

certain whether it was always  present;  but out of thirteen

he only noticed  it in one. It was accompanied wit|i a  bloody

infiltration  into the cellular coat of the artery, but  without

ecchymosis in any of the adjacent parts.   The cord consisted

of two packthreads  knotted together,  and  the  neck  was

 compressed circularly.


   * As the appearances  noticed in the text may appear somewhat arbitrary
 in their division and their peculiarities,  I have subjoined such cases  as I have
 been  enabled to collect, for the purpose of comparison. In Guyon's, (already
 referred to,)  the blood vessels of the  head contained but little more than
 usual; those of the lungs were gorged, the right auricle also empty; the cer-
vical  vertebrae uninjured.  In  Mary Caen,  executed at London in  1826, the
rope had caught between the  thyroid and cricoid cartilages  and separated
them; death occurred instantly; appearances natural; no congestion in the
external veins of the head, and those of the dura mater but slightly distended;
some  effusion in the ventricles, and the blood altogether fluid.   (Lancet, vol.
9, p. 688.)  In Amusat's case, suicide by suspension, and where  the most
remarkable circumstance noticed, was that the epiglottis was thrown back,
and as it were turned on itself, congestion  is not  mentioned, but  a serous
effusion; the bronchiae were gorged;  the lungs also and the right auricle
contained only a small quantity of fluid  blood mixed with air.  (North Ame-
rican Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  7, p. 205 )  In Esther  Hubner,
executed at London in 1829, there was congestion of the vessels of the dura
mater, and  bloody serum oozing from some of the torn vessels of the bone
itself; the longitudinal sinus was  almost empty, but the other sinuses were
full, the veins of the plexus choroides were full, but the arteries empty; the
substance of the brain exhibited numerous bloody spots; considerable effu-
sion between the arachnoid and pia mater, and in the ventricles.  (Dr. Bright,
Medico-Chirurgical  Review, vol. 20, p. 3.)  A case of suicidal suspension at
the Salpetriere, in December, 1834: the individual, a female, hung an hour
and a half; the face pale; the furrow which was in front of the os hyoides,
was yellowish like parchment; the skin strongly adhering to  the  subcuta-
neous tissue, but no ecchymosis; the substance of the cerebrum injected, and
the brain firm; very little blood in the lungs, and more of it in the  left cavi-
ties of the heart than in the right.  (By  Dr. Gras, Boston Medical Magazine,
vol. 3, p. 017, from London Medical Gazette.)
VOL. II.
12 
178
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  Dr. Devergie requested Dr. Lenoir of the Salpetriere, to
suspend dead bodies with the finest  possible materials, and
he  accordingly did so in  twelve cases,—but although they
were in several cases hung, as soon as possible after death
and the legs pulled with some force, no lesion of the arteries
could be discovered.*
  In a  case of suicidal suspension, along with  the usual
cerebral congestions, Dr. Prus found the upper and  middle
lobes of the right  lung affected with vesicular emphysema;
and at  one part, the air  had  escaped  from some  ruptured
cells under the pulmonary tissue, and formed three bladders
of air, each nearly an inch across.f
  Flaccidity of these  organs has, on  the  other hand, also
been observed.  In two cases of Dr. Fleichmann, this was
seen very strikingly; and I observe it also noticed  by Dr.
Rhinelander, in  his account of the dissection of Le Blanc,
executed in New Jersey,  in 1833.   The  face was  livid; the
mark of  the rope  was  below the  cartilages of the larynx,
and very deep; the superficial veins were greatly distended
with dark fluid blood, while the carotids and internal jugu-
lars were empty; the lungs were in a state of  collapse, and
the right auricle and ventricle were empty.
  Dr.  Fleichmann explains  this occasional  collapse by
supposing  that death occurs at the moment  of  making  a
powerful expiration.J
  The same variety  that  occurred between the condition of
the internal and external vessels of  the  head  in Dr. Rhine-
lander's case was much insisted upon by the late Dr. Kellie,
of  Leith.   In his elaborate  paper  on  congestions  of the
brain,§ he even doubts whether the apoplectic state occurs

  *  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2, p. 196.
  j  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 22, p. 516.  In all  cases of persons
hung, it is important to remember that the engorgement, if present, will be
greatest at the depending part, at their base and diaphragmatic face, according
to Renard.  This, however, should be noticed very  early, since, if" the blood
continue fluid, a very short continuance of the body  in the horizontal posture,
will induce the usual appearance.
  X Dr. John Davy states, that in his experiments on animals, strangled by a
ligature on the trachea, but  a very small quantity of air  was found in the
lungs. (Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 3, p. 444.)
  § Ibid., vol. 1, p. 131. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
179
in these cases, and  mentions three examinations of persons
executed,  where  the veins  external  to the cranium  were
fully distended, while but little change was seen internally.,
He mentions also, that  Dr. Monro had repeatedly observed
a peculiar softness in the brain of persons executed.
   Dr. Watson  in his lectures, on the Practice of Physic,
observes: I can  corroborate the accuracy  of  Dr.  Kellie's
observations in these last instances, by what I have noticed
myself.   I paid particular attention to the condition of  the
head, when the body of Bishop, who murdered  the Italian
boy,  was examined.  When he was brought here after  the
execution, the  eyes  were blood-shotten and  the lips and
countenance turgid and livid.   The inner surface of  the
scalp, when it was turned back, and the exposed surface of
the  skull, were very red and bloody, and in one part, on
the right side of the head, there was some blood extravasated;
but  when the bone  had been sawn through, and  the  skull
cap removed, the large  veins of the brain did not appear
unnaturally full.
   In the  year 1826, I was present at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, at the  opening of the  head of a woman who  had
been hanged, the day before, for murder.  I find the follow-
ing  statement in a note which I made at the  time:  " The
scalp was bloody, but  the brain  was  of a  very  natural
texture  and appearance, and not more  than usually full of
blood."*

  * London Medical Gazette, vol. 27, p. 742.  Dr. Burrows (Lumleian Lec-
tures, No. 1) has, however, brought together a variety of cases, illustrative of
the diversity of appearances  in the blood-vessels of the head.  In several,
there was only congestion in the external vessels—in others, the internal ones
were gorged. (Ibid.,  vol. 32, p. 150.)
  The same  author, in his work on  "Disorders of the Cerebral Circulation,"
points out various circumstances influencing these phenomena:
  " When criminals are hung by the executioner, the knot of the rope is
usually adjusted on one side of the neck; and it is found, after death, beneath
the ear, resting on the mastoid process.  It has been often  observed, in the
dissection of such criminals,  that the cheek  and integuments on this same
side of the head are not near so livid and congested as on the other side.  The
pressure of the rope has not completely obstructed the return of blood through
the external  jugular vein on the one side, although it has effectually stopped
the current on the other.  In  such cases, it is probable that the deep-seated
internal jugular vein on the one side has only been partially compressed, and
has permitted, to a certain extent, the return of blood from the internal parts
of the cranium. 
180
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
   The base of the tongue is usually  of a high red color and

this  frequently extends to  the mucous membrane  of the

larynx  and  trachea,  and  sometimes  even  to that  of the

bronchise.   Froth in the trachea is a very rare occurrence.*

   In  every  suspected  case,  two  questions  may  present

themselves for solution by the medical witness.


  "But there is another still more efficient cause of this occasional absence
of congestion of the cerebral vessels,  after death by hanging:  it is the sub-
sidence of the fluid blood after death, while the body is yet suspended, through
the cervical vessels, which are not completely obliterated by the pressure of
the cord.   And it should be recollected that there are some channels which
are scarcely, if at all, affected by the compression of the rope.   These other
channels are the vertebral sinuses and spinal plexus of veins, so ably deline-
ated by M. Breschet."
  The sinuses of  the cranium may also be drained otherwise than through the
vertebral sinuses.   In examining the bodies of those who have died by stran-
gulation,  the great vessels of the  neck are usually cut across, to get at the
thoracic viscera,  and then when the head is elevated, to open the skull, the
blood gravitates and flows from the cut ends, and the blood-vessels, previously
congested, are rendered comparatively empty.  (British and Foreign Medical
Review, vol. 22,  p. 412.)
  § Devergie,  vol. 2, p. 404.  I insert at this place, the interesting observa-
tions of Dr. Flint, of Boston, made on five persons (pirates) hung at the same
time (in 1835), in that city.   The cord used was nearly three-fourths of an
inch in diameter, and they fell four feet and a half.
  In Nos. 1, 2 and 3, the knot was placed just below the occiput. In 4 and 5,
it was drawn, as usual, to the mastoid process.  Nos. 1 and 2, died almost in-
stantly, with a slight shudder.  No. 3, with rather more marked convulsive
motions.  Urine was passed about four minutes after the fall of each of these,
and in one of them, the faeces.  In No. 5, the struggles were severe and con-
tinued for five minutes.
  The bodies were examined four hours afterwards.  The limbs were some-
what rigid, and the fingers flexed and bluish.  The cord in every instance was
found above the thyroid cartilage, where it was imbedded in the integuments,
but in none was there any ecchymosis.  The face was  neither swollen nor
distorted, except in No. 5.  The mouth and eyes were closed—there was no
protrusion of the  tongue, nor frothing at the mouth.  The cornese were clear,
and the pupils somewhat dilated, except in No. 5.  Here they were some-
what contracted, and the conjunctiva suffused.
 • No. 4, had attempted to kill himself just before the time of execution, and
besides dividing the external jugular, a branch of the superior thyroid artery
and most of the fibres of the mastoid muscles,  he had opened the trachea in
two places.  The wound was dressed, and the marshal was advised to place
the noose on the bandage, so as to compress the tube at its division.  He was
in a state of syncope when the drop fell, and died speedily.  In the convul-
sive efforts at respiration after the fall, the air was heard at the distance of
several feet, rushing through the wound in the trachea.
  Dissection was only permitted in this case.   The lungs were  perfectly
healthly, except  being distended with slight interlobular emphysema.  The
heart was rather empty—there was a little  fluid blood in the right ventricle,
and a small coagulum in the  left.  There was no congestion or  extravasation
in the brain.  The cervical vertebrae were not dislocated, nor their ligaments
ruptured.
  Dr. Flint considers Nos. 1, 2 and 3, to have been genuine cases of death by
asphyxia, while No. 5 died  apoplectic.  He also remarks, that besides the
above cases, he has observed in several others,  some of whom were suicides,
that the countenance was composed,  and exhibited no  marks of distortion.
(Boston Medical Magazine, vol. 3, p. 738.) 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                181

  1.  Was the individual suspended before or after death, or in
other words, has  he been  previously killed in some other
way, and then placed in this situation to avoid suspicion?
  The  materials  for a proper  answer to this, are to  be
drawn from a careful examination of the facts stated in this
section.  It  is useless  to  conceal  that  the  marks are far
from uniform,  that  great  diversity  exists  between them,
originating unquestionably from (which has  been too much
overlooked,) the various ways in which death may be caused.
We find however, that in  a majority of cases  certain signs
are quite constant, and if one or more of these be absent, we
should  ascertain,  if possible, whether this is not owing to
some peculiarity as already laid down.
  An ecchymosis along the mark  of the  cord is allowed,
even by those  who question  its frequency, to be  a very
decided proof of  suspension during life; but if it be absent,
unless  collateral  circumstances aid us in our investigation,
the  difficulty of  solution  will be increased.  I make  this
remark, because  Orfila unequivocally states, that in  twelve
experiments on  the dead body,  some immediately after
death, others after six, eight or eighteen hours, the depres-
sion made by the cord, and the skin under it as well as the
subcutaneous cellular  tissue, presented  precisely the same
appearances as they do from suspension before death.*
  Devergie also produced the parchment-like appearance of
the skin and subcutaneous  cellular tissue on  the dead body.
He  considers it  as purely a  physical  process of desica-
tion; the fluids  being driven out by pressure, the laminae of
the  dermis  being  brought closer  together,  and a  rapid
evaporation  of  the  remaining moisture being favored by
  *  Lemons, 2d edit,  vol. 2, p. 381.  Marc, however, doubts whether this
state can be exactly produced on the dead body.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol.
5, p. 178.)
  Orfila is so positive, that he considers the presence of ecchymosis as very
uncommon, and imagines that the brown colour of the furrow has been mis-
taken for it.  Devergie agrees with this, and altogether  distrusts the state-
ment of Remer, that so many cases (S9) exhibited a well marked ecchymosis.
These cases, he remarks, were only reported to Dr. Remer, and the  term
ecchymosis is well known to be used in a loose manner by many observers.
  It eannot (says Orfila) be true ecchymosis, as we scarcely ever find a single
drop of blood extravasated in the sub-cutaneous cellular tissue corresponding
to the cord.  (Lejons, 3d edit., vol. 2, p. 440.) 
182                PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.

exposure to the air.  In this process, the violet color of the
lips of the furrow already noticed,  and caused by the blood
being  driven into them from the part under  pressure, may
also be produced on the dead body soon after death.   On
the  living  one, however, owing to the usual cerebral con-
gestion, the upper lip  will  be deeper colored, and broader
than the lower.*
  We cannot, however, do wrong in particularly examining
the  form and situation of the  mark around  the neck, and
pursue its dissection carefully.   If  it is at the bottom of the
neck, unless the position of the body favor this, there is a
probability of strangulation, since, if suspended,  the cord
would  slip to the upper  part of the neck.   It may happen
that a  person has  been strangled  and then suspended.   In
this case, we should  expect to find  two distinct circles  on
the neck, each characterized by its peculiarities.!
  The  congestion of the venous system, the excited state of
the seminal organs, and the lived  condition of the counte-
nance,  &c, all  are favorable to the  idea of  the presence of
life, but we must  not  forget  that  other modes of  violent
death may produce them.  Let the probability of these last
be satisfactorily disproved, and the proof gains weight.J
  The  presence or absence of luxation, or  fracture  of  the
vertebrse, is not to be  greatly  relied upon,  as it may have
been produced  by force subsequently applied, such  as  pul-
ling at the feet.   The inference,  if any, is, however, in
favor of its being  caused during life, if accompanied with
the usual marks of lesion.§
  *  Devergie. vol. 2, p.  394.  It is doubted whether exposure to the air is
absolutely necessary to produce the desiccation in question. " We have found
the skin in a semicorneous state, even an hour after death, and when the cord
had not been removed."  (British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 2, p. 420.)
  f  The existence of two impressions on the neck is, however, only strongly
presumptive  not positive proof of murder.  Esquirol reports the case of a
female lunatic, who hung herself, and on whose neck two distinct impressions
were seen, one circular and  the other oblique.  The cord had been  twice
passed around the neck, while the body was  at the same time partially sup-
ported.   (Taylor's Med. Jurisp. p. 177.)
  X An opportunity is also offered in cases that may hereafter occur, of verify-
ing the opinions of the German writers that I have quoted. If the signs,  both
external and internal, correspond with the apparent cause of death, and the po-
sition of the cord, the inference must be strong in favor of the presence of life.
  §  Orfila Lecons,  2d edit. vol. 2, p. 388.  It is proper to state that this
author doubts whether, in the present state of our knowledge, we can go 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               lOO

  Devergie, after reviewing the signs which we have enume-
rated,  is  disposed to  place  the  greatest reliance on  the
following circumstances,  as  proof  that the  suspension  or
strangulation has occurred during life :   The  violet color of
the  lips of the  furrow—and particularly the  lower  one.
This is of some value, as he could only produce  it on the
dead body within a very few hours after death.   Bloody ex-
coriations  of the skin, and  ecchymosis  in the  subcutaneous
cellular tissue and muscles.   These carry with them the idea
of life, and cannot be caused on  the dead body—section of
the carotid artery—the presence  of  semen—and  fracture of
the os  hyoides,  or rupture of the larynx or vertebrae.  Un-
fortunately some of these are quite uncommon, and again
several have occurred from other modes of violent death.
  In a still  more recent memoir, Devergie  recommends  a
careful examination  of the fluid  contained in the urethral
canal,  with the  microscope.   He prefers that it  be pressed
out, but if this will  not answer, let the canal be divided
longitudinally.   The fluid, collected in either way, must be
placed between two pieces of glass and carefully inspected.
In several instances, he ascertained the presence of sperma-
tic animalcules and he relies much on this, as a proof that the
hanging occurred during life,  particularly if it  be accompa-
nied with a congestion of the  genital organs,  not merely the
penis alone,  but also the corpora cavernosa, testicles and
vesiculee seminales.  In some instances indeed, as in persons
advanced in years, the  latter may be  present,' when the
former will be wanting.*
  Orfila however,  decidedly denies the value of this  as a
sign of suspension during life, as he had found the animalcu-
les in  the  urethra of several persons  dead  from  ordinary

beyond probability in answering this question of suspension before or after
death.  If so, moral circumstances deserve a more careful investigation than
ever.
  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 21, p. 168.  The corpora cavernosa in one in-
stance, were greatly congested, and contained extravasated blood in their cells.
  I may add that in some instances, Devergie noticed, instead of the sper-
matic animalcules, a quantity of small ovoid bodies resembling them, but des-
titute of the tail, and as similar ones were observed in  the vesiculse semi-
nales and also in two individuals who had never had any children, he is
induced to suspect that they may be the cause of the unfruitfulness. 
184
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
diseases, who remained lying on their backs, and again, the
congestion to a considerable extent (erection in one instance)
occurred in bodies  suspended after death.*  Dr. John Davy
confirms this.
   Particular  attention  must  be paid  to dissection of  the
neck,  and  I therefore subjoin the directions of Devergie.
Make  two incisions, an inch above  and an inch below the
furrow, carry these  sufficiently back, then unite them by per-
pendicular cuts, and  dissect  the skin carefully from behind
forwards :  then detach the cellular tissue separately, so as
to ascertain its peculiar appearance.  Watch closely wheth-
er any  ecchymosis be  present  in either.  Then  remove
each muscle in  order, and mark its condition.  Lastly, re-
move the carotid artery, and  open it throughout its extent.
The condition of  the  vertebrae,  larynx and the  internal
organs of the chest must also be ascertained, as in all other
medico-legal dissections.f
   Wounds, effused  blood, and marks  of violence,  are to be
judged of according to the rules already laid down.
   One or two cases will serve to illustrate the present ques-
tion :
   A female aged 50, at Mantes, (in 1683) was found suspend-
ed from  a beam in a barn.  The face was not discolored, no
froth issued from the  mouth or nose,  the tongue was  natu-
ral, fhere was no  change of color around the  shoulders,  nor
was the  neck marked by the  cord.  It  was  determined to
examine the body minutely, and a short investigation dis-
covered  a  small  wound, directly  under the right breast,
which, on being pursued,  was found  to have penetrated

  * Orfila further asserts, that semen remains in the urethra of those who
have had an emission, until they pass urine, and consequently that it may be
found there eight or ten  hours  after.  Hence, in a case of natural death, or
of death by poison, where the emission of urine had not yet taken place, this
sign might be present. The controversy on this subject between the respec-
tive authors will be found in Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 21, pp. 466, 473 ; vol.
22, p. 395.  To the above objection Desportes replies, that Devergie seemed
to have in some measuie guarded against this objection, by requiring  that
congestion of the corpora cavernosa, and particularly of the glans, must ac-
company the presence of the zoosperma. Let both be absent, and the  pre-
sumption is in favor of suspension after death.  (Bulletin de L'Acad. Roy
de Medecine, vol. 3, p. 266.)
  t Devergie, vol. 1, p. 278; vol. 2, p. 402. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
185
through the heart, and produced an effusion of blood in the
thorax.   It was evident  that she had been thus murdered.*
  In 1811, a female in France aged sixty, large and fat, was
found suspended by a handkerchief from a tree in the garden.
The height of the branch from which she hung  was eight
feet seven inches, and its distance from the trunk three feet
six inches.   The tree did not give off branches until at six
feet from the ground.
  Near the tree was a common ladder seven feet long, and
on  applying it for the  purpose of mounting,  it was found
impracticable to reach the point of suspension.  The bark
was slightly rubbed above, but below was untouched and
covered  with moss.   The heels of the body were two feet
six inches from the ground.
  The head bent a little forward and the hands were half
closed.  The face was pale, and not tumefied.   The eyelids
natural and partly open, the eyes sunken and dull, the lips
dry and not swollen, the jaws closed and the tongue  ap-
proaching them.   There  was no froth in the  mouth  or
nose.
  On the neck where the handkerchief had been, there was a
semicircular depression  of a little  more  than an inch in
breadth, extending upwards.  The color of this was a light
violet.  On the lower part of the neck near the left clavi-
cle, was a slight excoriation.  The  other external parts
were natural.
  On dissection a tumour was found in the occipital region,
and when this  was cut into, a fracture of the bone was seen,
two inches  long, accompanied with extravasation of blood.
The lungs were soft, slightly engorged  on their  posterior
part, and the right cavities of the heart were filled with fluid
black blood.
  The neck presented no ecchymosis or engorgement in the
tissue under the parts where  the handkerchief  had been
placed.   The  tissue under the excoriation just below, was
however ecchymosed.
* Deveaux, quoted by Fodere, vol. 3, p. 153. 
186                PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

  The medical testimony in  this  case was,  that  death had
not resulted from suicide, nor indeed from hanging ;  but that
the injuries stated preceded the suspension.*
  2. The second question  is, whether the individual has hung
himself, or has been hung by others ?
  The presumption in all  cases of  suspension, is favorable
to the idea of suicide, since hanging is a difficult  mode of
perpetrating  murder, unless the strength of the  parties be
greatly disproportionate, or the assailants be numerous and
powerful.   And accordingly we find that in a vast majority
of cases, it is an act of suicide.  It must however be under-
stood, that there are  instances  in which  a  decision is very
difficult, as  the  marks left  either from homicide or suicide
may be precisely similar.
  We should first ascertain whether suspension took place
before  or  after  death;  and next, the  immediate cause of
death  as before stated.   The  instrument of death, that is,
the cord, should  be  compared with the furrow that it has
made, so as to ascertain whether the diameter of the  neck
be  much diminished by it.  All  the  circumstances which
indicate strangulation, are so far against the idea of suicide.f
  From an examination of fifty-two cases of suicide by sus-
pension or strangulation,  Devergie found  that ecchymosis
was noticed in three only, and  in a fourth,  there were  some
small  erosions  and  blisters in the  furrow.  He therefore
supposes,  that in suicidal hanging, ecchymosis is very rare.
Whether its presence is presumptive proof in favor of vio-
lence may however still admit of a doubt.
  The  presence of luxation or fracture of  the vertebrae is
an  indication of homicide, and for the reason that we most

  *  Chaussier, Recueil, p. 376.
  f  Fodere observes, that in suicide, that portion of the cord which surrounds
the neck, is  relatively longer than in homicide, where the constriction will
be more violent. The skin will also in this  case be more drawn up towards
the chin. (Vol. 3, p. 159.)  Mahon remarks, that in assassination, the neck is
sometimes so compressed,  that the diameter of the  circle described by the
cord is not more than two or two and a half inches.  He saw a female who
had been hung, in whom the integuments alone resisted the cord ; the verte-
brae,  muscles and larynx were separated, and the diameter of the circle was
about two inches. (Vol. 3, p. 49.)  It is, however, doubted, and I think justly,
by Male, (p. 235,) whether this should be considered a conclusive proof of
homicide, Much of the tightness of the noose must depend on its situation. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
187
frequently meet with them in persons executed, and then, as
I have  already stated, often in  consequence of some addi-
tional force applied by  the hangman.*  But  it may  also
happen as suggested by Belloc, when a suicide precipitates
himself from some  height, or even when  the body is heavy
and has descended with some force against the cord.   These
are, however, exceptions, and their existence may be ascer-
tained by proper examination.   A case of  this description
occurred to Dr. Ansiaux of Leige, in the person of a female
who hung herself from a beam in the barn.  She had mounted
by a chair.  On dissecting  the intervertebral ligaments be-
tween the first and second vertebrae were  found ruptured.f
  A case related by Mr. Campbell De Morgan is worthy of
notice in this connexion.   A female, extremely weak, and
laboring under an agonizing cancerous affection of the uterus,
desired those about her to go into another room, as she felt
disposed to  sleep.  She was seen shortly after, in the same
situation, but in about half a hour thereafter,  was found
hanging from  the  bed rail, about three inches from  the
ground.  An old handkerchief had served as a cord ;  the
front of the body was turned towards the bed, and the head
thrown forcibly back ; the knot being placed on the middle
of the under side of the chin.
  The face was found pale, the eyes natural, the cord mark
well defined and like  parchment, and  at the upper  end of
the groove on the right side, was a thin line of congestion.
The direction of the cord mark was, however, remarkable.
It was very deep at  the posterior  part of the neck, just over
the atlas, and extended in a direction from above downwards
and forwards on each side, to  the posterior edges  of the
sterno-mastoid muscles, a little below the  angle of the jaw;
anterior to this, there was no mark whatever, excepting one
broad, hard  patch, just under the chin,  where the knot had
made its impression.
  * Also by leaping on the shoulders, as is practised at the Cape  of Good
Hope,  or pulling the legs.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.
OJf D. OJ I, )
  t Belloc, p. 173.  Orfila, Lecons, 2d edit., vol. 2, p. 3S1. Remer is strongly
in favor of luxation being considered a  proof of murder.  Ofila is at best
doubtful, and rather disinclined to rely much on it. 
188
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
   There were thus no proofs that dyspnoea or cerebral con-
 gestion had been the cause of death.   But it seemed proba-
 ble that the spinal marrow was injured, and such was found
 to be the fact.  Ecchymosis about the deep  muscles, over
 the second and third cervical vertebrae, and on removing the
 first five vertebrae and opening the canal, ecchymosis was
 found in the sheath of the spinal marrow, at a part corres-
 ponding to the external  injuries.  At  the  left  side and
 exterior to the sheath, was an extensive effusion of blood,
 firmly coagulated.  The odontoid process was firmly retained
 in its place, none of its  ligaments having given way, nor
 were there  any marks of fracture of  the  vertebrae,  nor  of
 laceration  of their  ligaments, but there  was  an unusual
 degree of mobility between  the third  and fourth vertebrae,
 as though the ligaments had been stretched.
   Here  then was an instance, of a very feeble female, and
 in whom the fall must have been trifling.   But the peculiar
 position  and direction of the cord were such, that the force
 must have operated in bending the head and the two upper
 vertebrae abruptly backwards.  And still there was no rup-
 ture of the ligaments and processes, but an effusion of blood
 on the spinal marrow, causing fatal compression.*
   Wounds and marks of violence on the body, are generally
 to be deemed proofs of homicide.  But  there may be sui-
 cides who  injure themselves previous to  suspension.  De
 Haen  records  a  case,  of a  person,  who,  while hanging,
 inflicted several wounds on his face.   These, however, we
 should  not consider as the cause of death.  A still  more
 remarkable case is mentioned by Ballard, of a young eccle-
 siastic,  who cut his throat partially, and then  hung himself
 in the vestments of  his office, which he had arranged for this

  * Lancet, August 10, 1844. The only instance, according to M. De Morgan,
where death was supposed to have been caused by the forcible bending of the
 head backwards, is  mentioned by Devergie, (vol. 2, p. 477, 2d edition.)  In
 this, however, the body was not opened, and both Esquirol and Devergie doubt
 the truth of the explanation offered of the cause of  the absence of all external
signs of death by dyspnoea, viz: the luxation of the cervical vertebra.  The
present case, however, renders that explanation more probable. An additional
weight of the body and a more considerable fall might have induced it.  Still
the injury may have been as in the present instance. 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                189

purpose.*  Dr. Male  has also suggested that wounds may
possibly be accidental, as when a  person by swinging him-
self with violence, breaks the rope and wounds himself by
falling upon some  article of furniture.  The following case
occurred to him :   " An apprentice boy in my neighborhood,
working alone in  an  attic, tied one end  of a rope loosely
round his neck, whilst his master  was from home, probably
without any intention  of  destroying himself, and twisted the
other round the projecting part of the top of the door, the
planks of  which were irregular and  somewhat divided ;  a
smali stool, on which he stood, slipped from under him, when
he fell forwards, striking his  temple against the corner of  a
box, which cut him to the bone.   He  lay  along the floor,
his head and shoulders only elevated a few inches  above it.
The cord not being  tied had  nearly run its whole length,
and then  caught within the planks of the door, in which
state he died.   The wound was magnified by popular rumor
into many, and vengeance was denounced against the inno-
cent master, who was  accused of having  first  killed, and
then suspended  the boy.  On examination, the mark of the
cord was found to extend from ear to ear, the vessels of the
brain were  turgid, the thyroid cartilage  broken, the nails
blue, and the hands  firmly  closed.  From this and other
important circumstantial evidence, the coroner's jury were
convinced that the charge was unfounded."!
  The situation of surrounding  objects, the  state of the
dress, the  place and posture of the body,  the appearances of
the hands  and  nails, whether they bear any mark of resist-
ance, all deserve attention.
  George Hebner, a tailor, was found hanging to the top of
a bedstead, in  the garret of  a house  of  ill-fame, in  Dean
Street, London, kept by a widow  Hughes.  His hands were

  *  Ballard, p. 409.
  t  Male, p. 182.  A prisoner was found dead, hanging in his cell, with his
feet touching the floor. There were two slight wounds in the middle of the
left parietal  bones and  others of a similar character on the right side.  His
handkerchiel was stuffed into his mouth. There were no marks of resistance
and violence, and the whole moral testimony was in  favor of its being a case
of suicide. By Dr. Heyfelder (from Henke). (British and Foreign Medical
Review, vol. 9, p. 264.) 
 190              PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

 tied behind his back, and his handkerchief drawn over his
 face.   The rope around his neck was fastened by  what is
 termed a  sailor's  knot.   These circumstances indicated
 homicide, and they led to the detection of a sailor, Ludman,
 who with Mrs. Hughes, was found guilty and executed.*
  The state of mind of the deceased, his  previous history
 and situation in life, all may  aid us in forming an opinion,
 and particularly so,  if a predisposition to insanity is found
 to exist.  We should  not rely much  on the cast of counte-
 nance.  Although every thing  on it, indicative of fright or
 horror, is so far in favor of violence, yet we must remember
 that the suicide at the moment  of the mortal pang, may ex-
 perience similar feelings.
  A curious case of an attempt at homicide by hanging,
 occurred in 1827, in the Scottish Courts :  Marion Brown, a
 woman aged 69, twisted a small rope  three times round the
 neck of her husband, older than herself, while he was asleep,
 and fastened it to a beam in the room  in such a manner, that
 when the neighbors entered, he was found lying on the floor
 with the head raised about a foot from it.   He was quite in-
 sensible, his face livid, and it  was some minutes before he
 could be roused.   He deposed  that he was not aware of any
 thing that passed during the attempt to hang him.  The pri-
 soner was  proved to have been intoxicated, and was only
 sentenced to imprisonment.f
  " If the person be not elevated  from the  ground or floor
 at all,  while the cord is not so tight  about the neck  as to
 strangle in this posture, and no other cause of death can be
 discovered, there can hardly be a possibility of doubt  as to
 self-murder.  A few years  ago, a  man aged 75, destroyed
 himself at Castle Cary, by fixing a  cord round his  neck
 while sitting on the bed-side—leaning forward till his pur-
 pose was accomplished.  His wife, who had for years been
bed-ridden, and therefore not likely to have been fast asleep,
 was in the room during the transaction, and knew  nothing
 of what was going on.|

  * Paris, vol. 3, p. 44. t Syme's Justiciary Reports, p. 152. X Smith, p. 278. 
                 PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               191

  Among the multiplicity of cases that have  come before
.egal tribunals, I will only select five for consideration.
  A young man, eighteen years of age, and named Bartho-
lomew Pourpre, was  found dead  and hanging to a tree,  at
seven o'clock in the evening of the 12th of August, 1736.
A surgeon, who  examined the body, certified  that he had
been strangled.   His father had married a second wife who
was on very ill  terms with  the  young man, and  had pro-
duced  frequent  quarrels and  threats  of murder between
them.  Suspicion was therefore excited, but its probability
was destroyed by the idea, that a father would not murder
his  son, and also, from the circumstance  that  he was fifty-
two years old, and his son eighteen, and in full health and
vigour.   On this reasoning, the  father was acquitted, and
the son was deemed to have hung himself.
  An order having, however, been made to prepare a state-
ment  of the suicide, and the case being carried  up to  the
parliament  at  Aix, the attorney-general discovered such
facts in the statement of the surgeon, as  led him to believe
that Pourpre had not destroyed himself.  It was mentioned
not only  by him, but by other  witnesses, that the mark of
the cord, instead of being at the upper part of the  neck, was
at  its lower part just above  the shoulders; and  secondly,
that the teeth were  knocked in and  bloody.  On dissecting
the integuments, no alteration or ecchymosis was found  on
the upper  part of the neck, but  under the  skin just above
the clavicles, there was a circular and deep seated ecchy-
mosis, the muscles were livid, and the trachea was red, with
some  rupture of its fibrous fascia.   The parliament, from
these facts, decided that the father  had strangled him, and
had put his foot on the mouth of  his son, either to prevent
his cries, or to hurry on the strangulation.   The suspension,
they declared, was  subsequent to his death.   Whether the
father was guilty or not, we must at least say with Fodere,
that two facts  are  well established in this case: 1. That
the son had been strangled before being hung; and 2. That
the  strangling had been done, not by  himself, but by others.*
     * Foder6, vol. 3, p. 152, cited from Louis.  Chaussier, p. 439. 
192
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  Marc Antoine Colas, was the son  of John Calas, a  mer-
chant of Toulouse, aged seventy years, of great probity, and
a Protestant.  This son was twenty-eight years of age, of a
robust habit, but  melancholy  turn  of  mind.   He  was  a
student of law, and becoming irritated at the difficulties he
experienced, (in consequence of not being a catholic,) con-
cerning his license, he resolved to hang himself.   This he
executed by fastening the cord to  a billet of wood placed on
the folding doors  which led from his father's shop to his
store-room.  Two hours after,  he was found lifeless.  The
parents unfortunately removed  the cord  from the body, and
never  exhibited it to show  in  what manner his death was
accomplished.  No examination  was made.  The people,
stimulated by religious prejudice, carried  the  body to the
town-house, where it was the  next  day examined by two
medical men, who, without  viewing the cord, or the place
where death had been consummated, declared that he had
been strangled.  On  the  strength of this, the father was
condemned by the parliament  of Toulouse, in 1761, to be
broken on the wheel.   He expired with protestations to
heaven of his innocence.
  Reflection, however, returned  when it was  too late.  It
was recollected that the son had  been of a melancholy turn
of mind—that no noise had  been heard  in the house while
the deed was doing—that his clothes were not in the least
ruffled—that a single  mark  only  was found from the  cord,
and which indicated suspension by suicide—and in addition
to these, that the dress proper for the dead, was found  lying
on the counter.  Voltaire espoused the cause of the injured
family, and attracted the eyes of  all  Europe to this judicial
murder.  The cause was carried  up  to the council of state,
who on the 19th of May, 1765, reversed the decree of par-
liament, and vindicated the  memory  of John Calas.*
   The Duke of Bourbon, (otherwise called the Prince  of
Conde,) the father of the unfortunate Duke D'Enghien, was
residing at the  Chateau de St. Leu, in the seventy-fifth year

  * Fodere\ vol, 3, p. 167,from the Causes Celebres. See also Grimm's His-
torical and Literary Memoirs, (from 1753 to 1769,) v. 2, pp. 41, 117 and 166. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
193
of his age.  On the evening of the 26th of August, 1830,
althouch much depressed with the result of the " Events of
the Three Days," he entertained a party and went to bed at
midnight, leaving directions that he  should be called at 8
A. M.  The key of the door of his apartment was, accord-
ing to custom, in the hands  of Sieur Le Comte, who locked
it, but the Duke himself closed the inner bolts.  At the
appointed time, the signal was made, but  no answer being
returned, it led to alarm, and finally to breaking open the
door.  On entering the room and opening the shutters, the
Duke was found dead, hanging from a curtain-rod attached
to the top of the window.   A chair was displaced on  open-
ing the shutters.   The height of  the rod from the floor was
six and a half feet, and attached to it were two white linen
pocket hankerchiefs tied together.   The  noose formed by
them, suspended him.  The tongue projected out of the
mouth; the visage was pale; froth issued from the mouth
and  nose; the arms hung  by his  side, and were stiff; the
fingers  closed; the toes of his feet  touched the floor, the
left heel being elevated  three inches, and the right, one and
a half;  the knees were half bent.  His night dress appeared
natural and undisturbed, and the bed was as if a person had
lain in it.
  On further examination,  no ecchymosis was  seen around
the neck, but a distinct depression, most marked on the left
side, where the knot of the  handkerchief had been situated;
blood also flowed from the urethra.
  These were the facts elicited in the inquests made by the
physicians first summoned,  and all within a few hours after
death.
  The circumstances, however, of this  case, and the high
rank of the individual, rendered a more extensive  inquiry
necessary; and  accordingly a commission, consisting of
Drs.  Marc, Marjolin and Pasquier, was appointed, and they
acted on the 28th.  The additional facts reported by them,
I will now state :
  The face continued pale, and the back and the depending
parts  of the body were livid, as is  usual in corpses;  the
  vol. n.                   13 
194               PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
depression made by the handkerchief  is between the  os
hyoides and the upper third of the thyroid cartilage, passing
upwards and backwards, and terminating at the mastoid
process.   The skin under  it is  dry, hard  like parchment,
and of a yellow color.  There was a very slight excoriation,
three lines in diameter, just below the furrow ; also a  slight
ecchymosis about an inch below the posterior part of the
elbow, and one or two excoriations on the front of the legs.
All these last  are  ascribed to contact with  the chair and
wainscoting, while in the act of  stepping off.
  On dissection, no ecchymosis was found in the parts under
the furrow, but they were hardened and  thickened;  the
external jugulars contained but little blood, the internal
ones very full of fluid black blood;  the carotid had a little
serous blood; there was  no contusion or lesion on the  exter-
nal integuments of the head; the dura  mater adhered and
its  vessels were engorged; there was some serum  in the
ventricles, and the substance of  the brain was soft.  All the
other parts of the head were  healthy.  The cartilages of
the larynx were sound;  the tongue  swollen and  livid; the
mucous membrane of the bronchiae  injected and red, and a
bloody froth in all their divisions ; the lungs crepitant, dark-
colored and filled with blood, while both sides of the heart
were equally empty;  semi-erection  and an emission of
semen.
   Dr. Marc, from whose account I have taken  the  above
facts, proceeds to consider the case under the  two questions
which I have previously noticed.
   That the hanging occurred during life, is in his opinion,
established by  the  absence of any other lesion that will ac-
count for death; by the condition  of  the tongue—of the
 genital organs—of the blood-vessels; by the  fluidity  of the
blood—the state of the  bronchiae, and the lungs and heart.
 Even the appearance of the  furrow is no evidence against
it, since that is known to be present in  many instances.
   But secondly, was this a case of suicide or homicide?  From
 the- state of parties, this became a  debated  question; and
 indeed some physicians, as Dubois  and Gendrin, gave it as 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.              195
their opinion,  that the duke might have been murdered.
The position of the body touching the floor with its toes ;
the ecchymosis just below the mark of the cord; the asser-
tion, that from a previous injury to his right hand, his fingers
were injured, while from a fracture of the collar bone, the
left arm  was so weakened that he could not raise it above
his head ; the state of his mind on the  evening of his death;
all were urged  in favor of the probability of violence.   The
excoriations on the arms and  legs might be equally the
act of  the  murderer dragging  the  body to  the  place of
suspension.
  To these  presumptions Marc replies, that if murdered,
the mark of the noose would have been more parallel with
the lower jaw.  It is hardly possible that assassins would
have given  it that direction on which they could apply least
force.  They would also select a cord or a rope in preference
to a cravat or handkerchief,  as producing the desired object
much sooner.  Besides, the mark did not extend around the
whole neck.  All these are difficulties, even supposing  the
prince was asleep, when strangled ; but if awake, there must
have been more  striking marks of resistance.   That on the
neck was evidently caused  by the  cord, and  on the other
parts, by striking against the chair or  window.  They were
oblong in form, and in each case on the front side.  As to
the state of the shoulder from  fracture of the collar bone,
Dr. Marc remarks, that  nothing was discovered to warrant
this assertion.   On the contrary, it was  notorious the duke
was an accomplished sportsman.
  That the position of the body is not inconsistent with the
idea of voluntary suspension,  is incontestably proved  by
several cases,  either seen  by himself  or derived from other
observers.   In one, a man was found suspended to a cross
rope going  between two beams, by means of a cotton hand-
kerchief.  This was in a barn ; the feet were supported in a
heap of grain, and the knees bent forward so much that they
were but a  few inches from the grain.  In another, a prison-
er was  found hanging to the bar of a window, so  low that
he was nearly  sitting on the  ground, and he  had previously 
196               PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.

tied his hands together.   In a  third  case, a prisoner  hung
himself in  his  cell,  which was arched,  and so low,  that in
the highest part a man could  not stand erect: yet he  hung
himself from the grating of the roof, and  was found almost
sitting  down, with  his  legs stretched  out before, and his
hips within a foot and a half of the ground : in the fourth, a
girl of the  town suspended herself from the  supporter of
the  little shelf  in the cell.  It was so  low, that she was
obliged to stretch her legs and rest, with one on her  heel,
and the other on her toes, in order to accomplish her purpose.
Again,  a female was found stretched at the foot of her bed,
the  body laying on  the  floor, and the head and shoulders
supported by the  cord attached to one of the posts of the
bedstead.*
   In these cases, the probability  is  that pressure  on the
blood-vessels produces  very early a loss of  sensation and
nervous power, and  the individual is deprived of  ability to
prevent even, if he were then desirous, the fatal catastrophe.
   As to  the moral  circumstances attending  this  case, Dr.
Marc dwells much on the apprehension excited in the  duke
by some remarks made at the  evening party, concerning the
state  of feeling in  Paris against  the  exiled family.   The
fragments  of a written paper were also  collected  on  the
hearth, in which he  spoke of suicide.  There is, however, a
great contrariety of statement as to  the deportment and state
of mind of the deceased.
   A third opinion suggested is, that the death by suspension
was owing to accident.   The Duke was a veteran libertine;

   • Besides these, which  are only a portion of Marc's cases, others may be
found in Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 11, p. 472.  A boy in Connecticut, some
years since, by way of curiosity, hung himself in a similar way.  There is
also an additional instance quoted by Dr. Bell in his Eclectic Library, from
the Archives Generates.  A boy, on being reprimanded by his  father, and
ordered to his room, hung himself by a nail in the wall five feet two inches
above the floor.  The feet were four inches from the floor, resting on  a piece
of plank, and the knees only four inches above this plank.  The face was
pale, the lips livid, tongue swollen and protruded from the mouth. The mark
of the band used (a cravat,)  was unaccompanied by any subcutaneous or
inter-muscular ecchymosis, but the skin was red in front, and on the right
side, there was abrasion of the epidermis.  The brain was injected through-
out. The cervical vertebrae were uninjured.  (Eclectic Library, p. 33.)
   It is evident, that in many of these cases in consequence of their position,
the mark oj the cord must be horizontal. 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                197

even at his advanced age, he had his mistress (the Baroness
de Feucher) living in the palace with  him.  It is a known
practice with persons of this description, to cause themselves
to be half hanged in order to arouse their dormant genera-
tive powers, and  several have lost their lives from not being
taken  down  in  time.*  Is  it  not possible that  this might
have been the cause of death 1\
  Sarah M. Cornell, an operative (as the term now is) in one
of the cotton mills at Fall  River,  Rhode Island,  left her
home  on  the  evening  of the  20th of December, 1832, in
good health and spirits ; and on the morning of the 21st, was
found dead, suspended to a stake.  Her cloak was hooked
together nearly its whole length, only one hook being loos-
ened about the centre of the chest.  Her calash was on her
head,  and her hands  gloved.   Her shoes not on  her feet,
but stood about  eighteen inches from  the body, and  there
was a little mud on one of them.  Her toes  touched the
ground,  the heels being  nearly perpendicular.   The knees
approached  nearly to the ground, and the  clothes were
smoothed back as far as they would reach under her legs.
The cord, which consisted of hemp, small in size, and  taken
twice  round the  neck,  was  attached to the  stake about six
inches from its top.  Its length,  from  its fastening on the
stake, to the neck of the deceased, was short of  six inches.
Her calash was so far back on the right cheek, that the face
rested against the stake, and in consequence was distinctly
marked by the pressure.

  * Fatal cases are mentioned in the London Medical Gazette, vol. 9, p. 609;
and Lancet, N. S. vol. 9, p. 49.
  t The authorities consulted in this case, are:  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 5,
p. 156.  Medico-Legal examination of the cause of the death of the Prince
of Conde by Marc.  London Med. Gazette, vol. 9. pp. 485, 608.  Albion news-
paper of February 11, 1832.  I have followed the narrative of Marc in this
case, principally because it is the only one that I have been enabled to exa-
mine.   (See also Foreign Quarterly Review,  No. 54, art. 8, and No.  63, art.
3, and Blanc's History of Ten Years,  1830-1840, vol. 1, p. 277.)  This last
author evidently favors the  idea of murder, although the prevailing opinion
is, I apprehend, in favor of suicide. 
198
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  The cord was described by a witness who had followed
the seas, as a clove hitch; two loops, one passing under, and
the other over;
And he also added, that it must be drawn at both ends hori-
zontally in order to tighten it.  The  knot was at the right
side.
  The countenance was pale ; and  on dividing the cord,
the strings of the calash were found under it.   A deep hori-
zontal indentation was found to extend  exactly around the
neck; and this was  so  marked^ that the neck below it
measured  eleven  and  a half inches, while at the mark, its
circumference was only ten and a half.   It passed round the
neck above the thyroid cartilage, an  inch and a quarter be-
low the tip of  the ears on both sides.  When the head was
erect, the  mark was higher  at the back of the neck than it
was in  front.   The  tongue protruded slightly.  Several
females, who prepared the body on the same day that it was
found, for burial, deposed  that there wTere marks as of the
print of fingers passing upwards on the abdomen; that there
were bruises on the legs, but the worst one was on the back
of the hip.  There were scratches on the knees,  with some
dirt.  One knee had the appearance of being stained with
grass, and one witness (a female) indeed swears that she
picked grass from it.   The vagina was  bloody, so that her
linen was  stained ; the faeces evacuated and flattened.  The
right arm  was raised upwards, quite stiff, under the cloak.
  A coroner's jury was summoned.  A physician who ap-
peared before them, inclined to the idea of suicide, particu- 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
199
larly as he was aware of her pregnancy from previous con-
sultation with  him, and also by noticing the fulness of the
abdomen. A verdict of suicide was accordingly brought in,
and she was interred on the 22d, the same day on which her
body had been found.
  Suspicions,  however, arising, the body  was taken up
again on the  24th,  and a further examination made by
medical men.  The indentation on the neck  looked  like
parchment; the  stomach was healthy; the lungs gorged
with black blood; the abdomen was livid and discolored,
but they do  not  speak of the  marks of fingers.  They ob-
served,  however, the scratches  and bruises on the knees
and legs, and the discoloration of the former as if by grass;
the contusion above the hip was also noticed.  At the same
time the uterus  was examined, and a foetus found;  the  os
tincae was open and dark, but the rest of  the uterus was
healthy; the membranes were  not ruptured.*
   A subsequent  examination of the body  was  made on the
26th  of January, but  the facts elicited were of but little
importance, as it is  impossible, from the evidence, to dis-
criminate between those which may be deemed the result of
advancing putrefaction, or of injury during life.
   Such are, I believe, all the  important circumstances that
make up the medical  testimony in this case.  It remains to
consider it in  reference to the  questions already proposed.
   Was the female suspended while living ?  In answer to this,
I would premise the remark that death was evidently caused
by strangulation, using that word now in its most extensive
sense.  The absence of any other injury sufficient to account
for it, the mark of the cord, the condition of the lungs, the
faecal discharges, and  the  condition  of the vagina, if we
determine to explain that without the idea of an attempt at
abortion, all  unite to render  this opinion probable, and
indeed  certain.   But  in agreeing to  this,  we have  only
approached to the difficult part of the subject.  The  hori-
zontal  mark  extending all   around the neck—the  deep
  * The facts relative to the foetus and its probable age, I have noticed in a
previous chapter. (See vol. 1, 330.) 
200
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 indentation it had made, combined with the position of the
 body, and the peculiar character of the cord, all render it
 doubtful  whether hanging was the immediate agent.   Add
 to this, the marks of injury on various parts of the  body,
 which, at all  events, are not incompatible with  the idea of
 previous  violence.   Professor Channing, whose able replies,
 during an examination of at least three hours, cannot be too
 much commended, in answer to the question, replied that
 he thought the mark might be horizontal, " if the body were
 nearly on the ground, and suspended  from above.   In such
 a case, the body falling forward, the  mark of the  cord on
 the  back of the neck, or the side  nearest  the  place from
 which the cord was suspended, would not  be apparent at
 all.   I knew (says he,) an instance of suicide of this  kind;
 there was very little oblique pressure in that case ; the mark
 was directly across  the windpipe, and but little appearance
 elsewhere."
  In further support of the idea of hanging  during life, the
 absence of two marks around  the neck, the calmness of the
 countenance,  the  inability  to  discover any  indications of
 struggling in the stack-yard, and the impossibility to  stran-
 gle a person with a  cord so near the ear, were urged.*
  On the  other hand, the state of the clothes, the shortness
 of the cord,  just long  enough to go  round  the neck, and
fasten to  the stake,  the probability that the  pressure of the
body on it would have altered the mark from its  horizontal
position,  to  one tending  upwards,  were  dwelt upon to
establish the idea of murder.  And in connexion with this,
the idea has been advanced, that the marks of violence, and
particularly those on the'female organs, being indicative of
a struggle, she  may have been  in a fainting fit,  when
strangled  and suspended.
  The character  of this  female was decidedly bad.  She had
indulged  in habits of incontinence for years, and was now
pregnant.   So far her helpless and (if her charge as to  the

  • On this trial, Dr. Channing testified that he had seen some fourteen cases
of people hung, and m most of these, the countenance was pale. Dr. Dunn,
of Newport, confirmed this from the observation of four cases. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               201
paternity was false,) desperate condition, is favorable to the
idea of suicide.  Seduction, however, and murder too often
follow each other.*
  I  commenced the examination of this trial with strong
prejudices against  the accused—prejudices, however, found-
ed on a perusal of the testimony as published in our news-
papers.   After a  careful and deliberate review of all the
facts, with reference to the present work, I will only say,
in the language of Professor Walter Channing, (in a commu-
nication with which he was kind enough to favor me,) that
" every point is surrounded with difficulty."
  It is not by any means certain, from the medical testimony,
and  that alone I desire to consider, that Miss Cornell was
murdered.
  Lastly, a man  was  found hanging to a cord which had
been fastened to a nail in the ceiling of a room.  There was
in the anterior and upper  part of  the neck, a deep wound,
and  through this  wound,  the  cord passed.  A  ladder was
placed against  the wall, near the body.  Coagulated  blood
was observed on the cushion of the toilet table, the drawer
of which had been left open.   Bloody linen was also seen.
In a room  below stairs, the marks of a bloody  hand  were
visible on the  drawer of another table, which contained
several bundles of small ropes.  No blood could, however,
be found  on the stair-case between  the two  rooms.  The
door of the apartment  in  which the body was  found, was
locked in the inside, and the window closed.
  Drs. Degranges and  Gergeres were required by the pro-
cureur du Roi, (King's  attorney,) to examine  whether this
was  a case of murder or suicide.
  The lock  had been broken, in order to effect an entrance
into  the  room.  On entering it, blood was  seen  in  many
places, on various  parts of the  door, on a cushion, napkin,
  * I have examined the following pamphlets in stating this case:  Report of
the trial of E. K. Avery, for the murder of S. M. C, by Benjamin F. Hallet,
Boston, 1833. A Report of the same, published by Marshall & Brown, Pro-
vidence. Strictures on the case of E. K. Avery, by Aristides.  Vindication
of the result of the trial of E. K. Avery. A manuscript communication from
Dr. G raves of Baltimore, has aided me, and also an Analysis  of the case in
Boston Med. and Surg.  Journal, vol. 8, p. 334. 
202
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
and handkerchief.  There was not the slightest indication
of a struggle.  The  body was clothed in its  usual dress,
although this was  spotted  with  blood.   Before the  toilet
table was a clot, weighing, as was supposed, about a pound.
  On undressing the body, no mark of external injury could
be discovered.  The fingers were  contracted, and the nails
blue.   The depending  parts were livid, as the  loins,  hams,
and behind the neck.  Faeces had been passed, and a fur-
row of blood, proceeding from the wound, passed down the
breast  and abdomen.
  The  countenance was slightly red, the eyelids closed, the
tongue brownish and hard, projected  about an inch out of
the mouth.
  The wound in the neck was found to extend from  one
angle of the jaw to the other.  It seemed to have been made
by several  attempts, indicated by different angular shreds,
which  hung from the lips of the main wounds, and by seve-
ral linear wounds which only divided the skin.  The main
incision passed through the muscular mass under  the jaw,
and penetrated  the  pharynx.  The rope, on  the right side
had torn open  the end of the wound about an  inch.  This
was manifest from its ragged state, compared with the clean
cut of the other part.   Beyond  the wound, were two  fur-
rows, in which the skin was brownish, hardened, and as if
burnt,  and  below them, was a slight extravasation of blood
into the cellular tissue.  The two furrows extended  circu-
larly, from below upwards  to the  mastoid apophysis, and
arriving at the posterior part of the  head, united into  one at
the occipital bump.  Throughout  their  extent, they were
surrounded Hoy the soft parts in a swollen  and engorged
state.
   On dissection, the sinuses of the dura mater, and the  ves-
sels of the brain were  found engorged,  but  there was no
luxation of the cervical vertebrae. The stomach was healthy,
as was every other  part.  The  only artery wounded, was
the right superior thyroid, with some small branches.
   The opinion of the physicians was in favor of suicide. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
203
  The circumstances, however,  to  a person unacquainted
with medico-legal facts were very suspicious.   To be able,
after such a wound,  to fix a ladder, to mount it, to attach a
cord to the ceiling, &c, certainly appeared improbable, and
hence the idea of murder readily arose.   But the individual
had been dejected for some time, there had  no noise been
heard,  the room was locked on the inside,  the window
closed  in the same manner, the room, as well as his clothes
were in  perfect order, and no  marks of violence appeared
on the body.   It was further  manifest, that death had  not
been caused by the haemorrhage.  It had, however, modified
the signs of death by strangulation.
  The  ecchymosis under the furrow is ascribed to the length
of time during which the body had been suspended, probably
seven or eight hours.   The cord must have been passed be-
low the  thyroid cartilage, as the wound  was  directly over
it, and this explains why the tongue protruded so little.   It
is further suggested, that the  suicide  probably  placed the
handkerchief found at the foot of the ladder, on the wound,
to staunch the blood, at the moment of his ascending.*
  The following analysis of the Experiments and Observa-
tions of Dr. Casper  on Hanging, is retained together, as a
commentary on the foregoing section:
  The principal object of these experiments was, to determine whether any
evidence of hanging during life could be obtained from the impression of the
cord on the neck.  The result was in accordance with that obtained by Orfila,
viz: That ecchymosis is far from being a common occurrence; and of course,
as a consequence, its non-production is not to be deemed as a proof of hang-
ing, after death. The following case was communicated to the author, by Dr.
Hinze, of Waldenburg, in 1826 :  A young man, in a fit of drunkenness, hung
himself with a stout cord.  He was cut down in half an hour, and efforts were
made to revive him. The cord had merely produced a  superficial mark on the
neck, without any appearance of ecchymosis. Signs  of returning animation
having manifested themselves, the medical attendants continued their efforts
for several hours, but without success.  At this period, however, when life

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  14, p. 410, from the Bordeaux Medical Journal. 
204
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
was about to become again extinct, the mark on the  neck became deeply
ecchymosed, and  this condition was verified the next day, on  dissection.
Death was owing to sanguineous apoplexy.
  Dr. Casper performed eight experiments on the dead human subject.  In
the first, a man, an hour after death from typhus, was suspended by a double
cord passed above the larynx.  In about twenty-four hours, the body was cut
down and examined.  Around the neck, between the larynx and os hyoides,
was a double parallel mark about three lines deep, of a brown color, with a
slight tinge of blue.  There were traces of cadaverous ecchymosis about the
body.  The whole appearance was such,  that any individual not acquainted
with the circumstances, would have  supposed that the deceased had been
hanged while living.  Some spots on the right side of the neck were strongly
colored. The skin of this part was hard like leather, and in patches slightly
excoriated.  There was no extravasation of blood in the cellular texture, but
the muscles of the neck beneath were of a deep violet color.  The large ves-
sels of the neck  were not congested.  In the two next cases—a young man
aged twenty-three, suspended an hour after death from phthisis—and a man
aged seventy,  two hours after death from dropsy, each by a double cord,  and
the bodies examined on the following day, the appearances  were similar.
There was a double depression around the  neck, and of a yellowish brown
color, without ecchymosis.  The cutis was as if burnt, and like  parchment,
both  when felt and cut.  There was no blood  extravasated in  the cellular
tissue beneath.  Again, thirteen hours after death, a cord was  drawn  very
tightly around the neck and above the larynx of a man dead from apoplexy.
 Six hours afterwards, a soft impression, easily removed by pressure, was per-
 ceptible on the constricted part.  There was no color, nor was there  any
 change whatever in the skin.  Scarcely any impression was made on the neck
 of a female, with a double cord applied six hours after death, and examined
 the next morning.   In two succeeding experiments, the double cord, applied
 as before,  twenty-four hours after death,  left a slight double depression; but
 there was no  alteration of color, nor  any change in the skin, either on the
 surface or beneath.  Lastly, a small cord was tightly drawn and secured around
 the neck of a child, a year and a half old,  the day after death.  Twenty-four
 hours afterwards, it was found that a small bluish-colored mark had been pro-
 duced by the  constriction.  This mark,  although very superficial, was still
 visible enough to strike the eye.   There  was no trace of extravasated blood,
 on cutting into it.
   It thus appears that when suspension is made within two hours after death,
 the appearance of the skin will be similar to what occurs  when persons are
 hung alive, but not at the end of six hours.  The result in the  intermediate
 period has not yet been determined.
   Dr. Casper has collected, principally from various  medico-legal reports, a
 statistical account of 106 cases of hanging, 77 males and 29 females.  The
 means of suspension were, a cord in 51  cases; handkerchiefs, bandages,
 stockings, in 25;  unknown, 30.   In sixteen cases out of nineteen, it was found
 that the use of a hankerchief did not prevent the formation of a visible mark
  around the neck; and on the whole, the author thinks that the article used 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
205
 for suspension has but little influence on the local changes produced.  This
 however, is doubted by his English commentator, who  suggests that a hard
 ligature like a cord, is  more likely to produce ecchymosis and excoriation, as
 well as to leave a more visible depression on the neck, than a soft material
 like a cravat or handkerchief.
   The exact site of the ligature is also deemed of little consequence, either
 in respect to the  formation of a mark by the cord, or to the manner in which
 death takes place, that is, whether by apoplexy or by asphyxia.   In regard to
 the position of the ligature, it was found to be between the os hyoides and
 larynx, in 59.  On the larynx or thyroid cartilage, in 9.   Position undeter-
 mined, in 38.  The local changes in the mark itself, were as follows: Accom-
 panied by ecchymosis and subcutaneous  extravasation, 21.  Of a  yellow
 color, without ecchymosis or extravasation, 50.  Unknown, 35.
   Thus, out of  71 cases of hanging during life,  only 21 were accompanied
 with true ecchymosis in  the depression produced by the cord, or in the ratio
 of two to seven.   The white or colorless depressions were mostly  met with in
 fat subjects.  The time during which the ligature remained around the neck
 of the individual hung, was observed to make no difference as to the produc-
 tion or non-production of ecchymosis by it.  Whether it was removed sooner
 or later after death, ecchymosis was sometimes found, and at other times not.
   In the 106 cases, death took place,  from apoplexy, in 9; suffocation, 14;
 both conditions, 62;  neither, 5; unknown or unexamined, 16.
   The mark was not ecchymosed, as well when the vessels of the brain were
 empty, as when  they were congested.  And in no instance of the apoplectic
 cases, was blood effused on the brain: there was merely more or less conges-
 tion in the sinuses and vessels.  This then should be understood as the mean-
 ing of the term apoplexy, in these cases.  It  is caused by an obstruction  to
 the circulation in the brain, and on this  depends the lividity of  the counte-
 nance; for when the circulation of blood is impeded in the  chest, before the
 cerebral obstruction takes place, the face of the hanged person will not be
 livid.  In some instances, Casper found it extremely pale.
   Out of 77 cases, the emission of semen, or rather of the liquor prostaticus,
 occurred in nineteen.  Evacuation of  the  faeces, in  four  cases  out  of 106.
 Casper found a vascular  and congested state of the female organs of genera-
 tion, but once in twenty-nine cases.  Erection of the penis  probably occurs
 frequently, but the examination should be made  soon.   In nine cases men-
 tioned by Guyon,  traces of this erectile state were perceived an hour after
 death.
   The inferences drawn from the above facts and experiments, need hardly to
 be recapitulated.  The  most important is, that the mark produced by the liga-
 ture is not to be  depended on as an evidence of hanging during life.   It may
 be produced a short time after death.  Dr. Casper applied this to the case of a
 female accused of infanticide.  The child had evidently respired; and the
 medical examiners ascribed its death to strangulation, by the band of straw
 found around its  neck.  The depressions caused by each straw were  whiter
 than the rest of the surrounding skin, and the little folds or elevations of skin
between the straws were red.   On cutting into these red spots, it was found 
206
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
that in some of them the discoloration was owing to true ecchymosis in the
cutis.  The female was found guilty, and sentenced to be whipped and con-
fined for life.   Dr. Casper, however, whose opinion was called for, on  an
appeal from the sentence, declared that it could not be positively assumed,
that the child was living when the ligature was placed around the neck.  This
might have been done within the hour after death. In consequence of this
declaration, a mitigation of punishment followed.  I agree, however, with
the gentleman  commenting on this case, that this is wresting the case alto-
gether from the jury.  It is, at best, stretching the  result of our author's ex-
periments to, if not beyond their legitimate limits, since, in  the subjects hung
within an hour after death, there was no semblance  of ecchymosis.
  Two cases are mentioned as occurring to Dr. Casper, where hanging was
resorted to by  a murderer, in order to  conceal his  crime.   One was of a boy
found hanging.  A  round ecchymosed mark, of the size of a shilling, was
seen on the larynx, with several impressions on the  surrounding skin.  There
was neither depression nor ecchymosis in the course of the cord around the
neck.  The boy had been first strangled, and afterwards hung.
  In the second case, a man aged sixty, was found suspended to a hook in the
door, so that the nates were only nine inches from the floor, and his legs were
stretched out at full length,   The cord by which  he was suspended, was from
two to three feet long, and was loosely passed around his neck.  The furniture
of the room was in great disorder.   Some marks  of dried blood were seen on
one part of the floor.  The right side of the  head  and face of the deceased
was,  in several parts, ecchymosed and excoriated.   A circular impression had
been produced in the neck by the cord, but there was no extravasation be-
neath.  A little above this, was a strongly ecchymosed mark, extending round
about one half of the neck to the occiput.  In the  skin beneath this, blood
was found extravasated.  The medical opinion given, was,  that the deceased
had been murdered  previous  to suspension;  and  evidence  subsequently pro-
duced, confirmed this.  (British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 5, p. 615.)


                H.  Of persons found  strangled.

   I  have already, in   the  previous section,  indicated the
difference between this species of murder and hanging, and
indeed were it not for the sake of regularity, they might be
considered  together.
   The following distinctions are, however, to  be noticed:
   In strangulation, strictly considered,  the distinction con-
sists in the murdered  not being suspended.   It is a more
common, and probably a more  violent mode of murder than
hanging, and we should  therefore  expect  that the mark of
the  cord, ligature, or whatever may be used, would be more
distinct. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               207
  The diversity that occurs in the external appearance is to
be explained in a  similar manner as those seen from hang-
ing.  The instrument of murder varies considerably, from a
cord to the application of the hands.   The simplest form is
probably the bow-string, as practised by the Turks.   Here
the ligature is applied round the neck and drawn so tight
as to interrupt at once the alternate entrance and exit of air
by the wind-pipe.*  But in ordinary cases, death is not so
rapidly produced.  There is more or less of struggling; and
I apprehend that in by far the greater  number of cases, suf-
fusion and distortion  of the face will  be  seen—depending,
however, on the length of the conflict.
  It -may also be, if the cord is removed some time previous
to the inspection of the body, that the lividity of the face
and other  signs of turgescence about the head  may have
gone off from the fluidity of the blood, and the position of
the head.
   The mark of the ligature will generally form a horizontal
discolored circle round the neck and towards the lower part.
 The  dislocation  of  the  vertebrae is  not to be expected,
 though there may be fractures of  their processes, and in all
 probability, injury to the cartilages  of the larynx.f
   The appearances  on  dissection will not vary  materially
 from those stated in the previous  section, except that in
 cases of manual strangulation, they will not be so distinct,
 since the  imperfect  closure of the wind-pipe  has allowed
 respiration and circulation to go on for a longer time.J
   The same  questions are to  be considered here as in the
 former section.   Was the deceased actually strangled, or was
 the rope fastened around his neck after he  was dead ?   There
 are instances on record, where injuries have been inflicted
 on bodies  strangled, to avert  suspicion of the  true manner
 in which they were killed.
    I  commence  with one, which,  even at the distance of a
 century and a  half  is still  a vexed  case.  It acquired an
 importance from  its connexion with the distracted state  of

   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 39, p. 396.
   t Smith, p. 224.                       j Beatty ut antea, p. 333. 
208
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
England on religious subjects, in the reign of Charles II.,
and the supposed murder was  attributed  to the agency of
the Catholics.  I discard this idea altogether.  The Popish
Plot was  engendered in fraud, and  no  credence can with
justice be given  to any of its  perjured inventors.  I  will
state  the  case  simply as it  comes  down  to us, from the
narrative of eye-witnesses of the testimony and responsible
observers :
  Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, an eminent magistrate in Lon-
don, was, on the  12th  of  October,  1677, found dead in a
ditch, nearly a mile  out of town.   His sword  was thrust
through him, but there was no blood  on his clothes or about
him.  His shoes were  clean.  His  money in  his  pocket.
His neck, which  was open, without any thing on it, had a
mark all  round,  an  inch broad.   It was  also  dislocated.
The breast was marked  with bruises.
  This is the statement of  Bishop  Burnet, who went to see
the body.
  Subsequently, several individuals  were tried  in the court
of King's Bench, for  publishing letters importing that Sir
E.  Godfrey had murdered himself.   Though a case of libel,
they endeavored to defend  themselves by calling witnesses
to prove  the truth of the fact, and this  the  chief justice
(Pemberton) allowed  to the  fullest  extent.  The medical
testimony is as follows :
  Two wounds were found on the body, within an inch and
a half of one another.  One went no farther than the bone,
having struck  on a  rib, and the other through his back.
When  the sword  was drawn out,  blood followed.  The
neck was very flexible.  The face was bloated, and the eyes
bloodshot.   The  upper part  of the  breast  was much  dis-
colored.   And  Mr. Lazinby, a surgeon,  deposed to the
marks on the neck as being very distinct, with  a swelling
above and below them.
  It is urged in opposition to these  striking facts, that Sir
E. Godfrey was of a melancholy temperament, and  labored
under a great depression of  spirits; that he probably de-
stroyed  himself under the operation of this  feeling, and 
                  PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                209

that the  mark  around  the neck might  be  owing  to the
tightness of the collar.*
  Philip Standsfield was tried and found  guilty, in 1688, of
the murder of his father, Sir James Standsfield, of New
Milns, in  Scotland.   This atrocious  parricide  appears  to
have been a man of vicious  and debauched  habits,  and  on
extremely ill terms with  his  parent.  He  cursed him, and
repeatedly swore that he would take his life.  The father
was murdered by strangulation  in his bed-chamber, at the
dead  of  night,  and the body was afterwards  taken, and
carried  to some water  hard  by.  In the  morning  it was
discovered lying on the top  of the water,  which  was only
five  feet  deep,  and  not  a running  stream, and although
Philip was desired to delay the funeral, yet  he  caused it to
be  immediately  interred.  Suspicions were, however,  ex-
cited, concerning the cause of death, and  two surgeons were
sent for from Edinburgh, by order of Sir  John Dalrymple,
the King's advocate, to examine the body.  They (James
Murehead and  James  Craufurd,) had it  dug  up,  and  on
inspection, found the following appearances, which I shall
give in their own words :   " Having, with all possible exact-
ness, viewed  the corpse, we  observed the face  a little
swelled, and inclining to a dark reddish color, some  fullness
of some capillarie veins in the pallat  of the mouth towards
the uvula, as  also  a  large and conspicuous swelling, about
three inches broad, of  a dark red or blue color, from one
side of the larynx round backwards to the other side thereof;
we observed the jugular veins on both sides the neck very
large and distended, and  full of blood;  there was  a large
                                         i
  * Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 2,  pp. 759 to  791; vol. 3, pp. 505 to 518.
Burnet, vol. 2, p. 42.  Smith, p. 225.  Hallam's Constitutional History of
England, American edition, vol. 2,  p. 574. Edinburgh Review, vol. 53, p.
39.  Compare with these Lingard's History of England.  The Reviewer in
the Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 191, observes that
the proof of strangling in this case is quite inconclusive, and animadverts
with perfect justice on my introduction of the testimony of Oates' gang.   In
the present narrative, I have omitted this altogether, but I am still inclined
to consider the case as one of strangling.  See Baltimore Medical and Surgi-
cal Journal, vol. 1, p. 34.
  " Indeed, we must say that after having read and weighed all the evidence
now extant on that mysterious subject, we incline to the opinion  that he
(Godfrey,) was assassinated." (Edinburgh Review,  vol. 61, p. 159, Am. ed.)
   VOL. II.                    14 
210
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 swelling under and betwixt the chin and  cartilago scutifor-
 mis ; there was also a little scratch below the left mandibula,
 which  had  rankled  the cuticula,  and  made some little
 impression  on the cutis.  Having made incisions from the
 chin down about the larynx, and cross upon the' swelling of
 the neck, we found a greater laxness and  distance, (as we
 think) than ordinary, betwixt the cartilago scutiformis and
 os hyoides; we  found the tumour on the neck  containing
 bruises,  like dark or blackish blood; the jugular, when cut,
 bled considerably, especially that on the left side.
   " Having opened his breast, we found the lungs distended
 to the filling up of their capacities, but free of water; his
 stomach, liver, &c, were all in good condition; we  found
 no water within the corpse; the corpse had no smell at all;
 the breast, belly, privy parts, &c,  were  all well colored;
 there was  no swelling in his belly, nor any thing but ordi-
 nary to be seen on his head."
   This report was submitted to the deaconry of surgeons at
 Edinburgh, and  they state, " that though it is not usual to
 declare more than matter of fact," yet they, in obedience  to
 his lordship's commands and inquiry, whether these symp-
 toms  import drowning  or strangling,  reply,  that  they
 indicate  external violence, and such as could not be  caused
 by drowning simply.   On that part of the report, which
 details the  appearances found  on opening the breast and
 stomach, they observe that a body, when drowned is generally
found to have much water in it.   As  this was not  present in
 the deceased, as  the  lungs were  distended, but free from
 water, and  as the  other circumstances  mentioned  in the
 report, indicated violence, they decided that there were just
 grounds  to think that he was not drowned.
   The college of physicians were also consulted, and answer-
 ed that there was sufficient reason to believe that Sir James
 had been strangled, and not drowned.
   Spurway, a person present at the dissection, proved that
 when surgeon Murehead was moving the cap from the head,
 the eyes  opened, and  the eyelids were much  swollen and
 very red. 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.                211

   The defence set up was, that Sir James had drowned him-
self, and in reply to the argument that no water was  found
in the body, it was urged, that when a man commits suicide
in this way, he will keep his breath, and thus prevent the
ingress of the water. Various conjectures were also advanced
in the pleadings to account for the swelling of the neck, but
did not prove satisfactory, and the parricide was with great
justice  condemned and executed.*
   I  shall adduce  another case,  to  show the  facility with
which  a person  may be  murdered  in this manner :  Dr.
Clench,  a physician in  London, was called out of bed by
two persons,  on the night of the 4th of January, 1692, who
desired him to visit a friend who  was not well.   He entered
a hackney coach with them, and drove about several streets
in the city for an hour and a quarter.   The two individuals
then left the coach, and sent the driver on an  errand.  When
the coachman returned, he found Dr. Clench sitting on the
bottom of the coach, against the front  seat,  with  his  head
against the cushion.  Thinking him in liquor, he shook him,
but obtained no answer.   He then called the watch, and they
found him strangled by a handkerchief in which a coal had
been  placed, and  then the coal  applied directly  over the
windpipe.f  The coachman had heard no noise while driving
the carriage.J
  It must,  however, not be forgotten that  stangulation is
sometimes effected  by other means,  than a cord, ligature or
  * Hargrave's State Trials.'vol. 4, p. 283.
  In Mr. Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, (vol. 1, p. 151, Amer. edition,)
I find a remark of Sir Walter on this case : " It was believed at the time (he
says) that Lady Standsfield had a hand in the assassination, or was at least
privy to her son's plans, but I see nothing inconsistent with the old gentle-
F"VX'S, having  committed  suicide.  The conviction appears  very doubtful
indeed."  I bow with due reverence to such an authority, but I cannot avoid
adding that the marks of violence were somewhat unequivocal.
  t " There are a caste of robbers in Upper India, who strangle their victims
by means of a cummerband, (a long piece of cloth worn round the waist,) in
which a knot is cast, and thus, from the softness of the cloth, leaves little or
no mark; they generally throw the body into a tank or well, and putridity
in that country advances so rapidly, that  in 24, or at most 48 hours after
death, nothing can be found by which the  cause of death could be traced."
(Dunloi>.)
  Dr. Dunlop probably refers  to the Thugs, a fraternity of murderers by
Drofession.  An account of them is given in the 64th vol. of the  Edinburgh
  X Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 4. d. 495. 
212
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
handkerchief.  It may be performed by the hand, and in this
instance, instead of a circle around the neck, the discolora-
tion will be partial, the bruises will be of an indistinct form,
or the positive marks of fingers may be traced.*
  In 1763,  a man  named  Beddingfield, was murdered in
England,  and the charge was laid against his wife and  man
servant.   The medical testimony was  very  unsatisfactory,
as no  dissection had  taken place, but it was proved,  that
there were marks about the neck resembling those of fingers.
A contradictory account was, however, given of  the number;
one surgeon said a thumb and three fingers, the other, a
thumb  and four fingers, while another evidence,  who  also
saw the  marks at  the  inquest, spoke of two only, " which
looked as if the blood was set in the skin."
  The defence was, that the deceased had fallen out of bed,
in a fit of apoplexy, and was found lying on the floor on his
face, with one hand round  his neck.
  I am far from thinking that this could have been mistaken,
if a proper  examination had been made.  The discrepancies
in the testimony,  and the omission  of dissection,  might,
however, have led  to subsequent doubts, had not one of the
condemned  persons confessed that he had  strangled Bed-
dingfield, by seizing his throat with his left  hand, while
asleep, and that though  the deceased struggled violently
and made some noise, yet he  soon accomplished his pur-
pose.!
   Sir John Dinely Goodere, in 1741, was forced by violence
on board the Ruby ship of war, commanded by his brother,
Capt.  Goodere, and lying in the port  of Bristol.   In the
night he was strangled by two assassins  in  the employ of
his brother.   One of them confessed, that the  other fell on
Sir John, as he lay in  bed, took hold of his throat with his
hand,  (his  stock being on,) and  so strangled  him with his
stock.  They then put a rope with a noose in  it, round his

  * These marks are occasionally very slight. A young oflicer was strangled
in his bed by a soldier.  The surgeon of the regiment could only find one
small spot, which the murderer afterwards confessed he had produced by vio-
lent pressure with his thumb. (Metzger, p. 379.)
  t Smith on Medical Evidence, p. 290.  Paris, vol. 3, p. 30. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               213
neck and drew it tight,  to ensure the certainty of the mur-
der.  In accordance with this, Mr.  Dudgeon, the surgeon's
mate, of the Ruby, swore, that  there were some  marks on
his  neck, which looked like the scratching of nails, while
blood came  out of his nose and mouth.*
   " On  opening the bodies of those who are murdered by
manual  strangulation, the usual appearances  of this kind of
death may not seem so conclusive as in other cases,  from
the person making continued  resistance, and the functions
of respiration  and circulation going on in some measure for
a longer period than when they  are interrupted at once, as
in the instance of drowning or the effectual application of a
cord."f
  In the case  of  a  woman  who had been strangled per
manum  by two men, Littre found the tympanum of the left
ear lacerated,  and from  it flowed about an ounce of blood;
the vessels of the brain were unusually turgid; red blood was
extravasated in the  ventricles,  and also on the base of the
cranium;  the lungs were greatly distended, and their mem-
brane very  vascular.  Not more than  an ounce  of blood,
however, was  contained in the right ventricle of the heart,
and it was fluid and frothy, like  that of the lungs.J
  In a  case of murder  by manual strangulation, detected
with great skill by Dr. Paris, patches of extravasated blood
were seen on the throat, with abrasions, corresponding to
the nails.  On the chest,  also,  bruises were noticed.  On
dissection, the brain was found excessively  turgid  with
blood, but all the other organs were healthy.  The murderer,
previous to execution, confessed that he had strangled his
victim with  a  pocket handkerchief, but from the  difficulty
of completing  it, he was compelled  to press his knees upon
the chest.§
  John  Nuttal was convicted of the murder of his pregnant
mistress at Lancaster, (England,) in 1817.  She was found
dead in  a well; there were bruises on  the forehead,  chin,

  *  Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 6, pp. 816, 831. It is insinuated that Capt.
Goodere was insane. See Croker's Boswell, vol. 1, p. 332.  t  Smith, p. 229.
  X Fodere, vol. 3, p. 139.                § Paris, vol. 3, p. 29. 
214
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
knees and arms.  On the neck there were  marks of four
nails, one under the  right  ear, and another under the  left
jaw, and they had penetrated very deep, and were very dis-
tinct ; connected with the nail marks, were those of fingers.
The  brain exhibited an effusion of blood ; the dura mater
was turgid; the vessels of the pia mater were, in many
places, ruptured.  The lungs were shrunk or collapsed, and
there was  no water in  them or the stomach.   There was a
great accumulation of blood in the heart.*
   Mrs. Getter was strangled,  near Easton, (Pennsylvania,)
on the night of the 27th of February, 1833, by her husband.
She was strong and robust, with a  short thick neck, and a
broad expanded  chest.   The next day an examination was
made.  The countenance was  full and bloated :  the lips tu-
mid, and of a dark bluish tint; the tongue slightly livid,
but did not project beyond the teeth ; the mouth was filled
with  froth, and  the vessels of its  lining membrane greatly
distended ; the jaws nearly closed ; the eyes prominent and
half open,  and turgid; the  ears and temples of a dark color,
owing to engorgement of the veins. On the right side of the
throat was an indentation, as  if made  by a thumb or finger
nail;  it extended into the true  skin, and was about half an
inch long, and the twelfth of an inch in width.   There  was
also an abrasion of the upper part of the larynx.
   On dissection, the veins of the neck  bled very profusely;
both carotids were empty.  Beneath the muscles on the left
side of the neck, towards the upper part of the larynx,  was
a slight extravasation of blood, corresponding to the exter-
nal mark.  The windpipe was  filled with frothy matter, and
its lining membrane  thoroughly  injected; the diaphragm
was arched ;  the lungs of a deep black  color, and filled with
dark venous blood mixed with froth ; the auricles and ven-
tricles of both sides  were  filled with  black blood, and the
coronary vessels were  much   injected;  the bladder  was
empty and contracted.   All the other parts were healthy.
  The brain was not examined.  Regretting this omission,
Dr. Gross was induced  to perform some experiments  on
              * Remarkable Trials, vol. 6, p. 241. 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
215
animals, for the purpose of ascertaining its state.  Dogs and
rabbits were the  subjects, and they were strangled by the
hand.   In the former,  the urine and faeces were discharged
almost immediately after pressure was made.   The external
appearances corresponded to those observed in  the  human
subject.   The blood-vessels  were in a similar state, but the
lining membrane of the air-passages was white in two cases
out of three.   The lungs were not in every instance  con-
gested, but the heart was distended in  each case.  In the
brain,  the vessels of the  dura or pia mater  were injected ;
the cerebral substance was  darker than  usual;  and in one
instance,  there was a  slight extravasation of blood at the
base of the brain, and  an injected state  of the membranes of
the spinal column.   In no case was there any blood in the
ventricles of the brain,  or any extraordinary congestion of
its vessels.*
  Mr. Watson gives  us a case of a wife, murdered  by her
husband.    There was discoloration and swelling of the front
part of the throat, and  on  examination, it was  found  to
contain  extravasated  blood.   This  ecchymosis extended
from the  lower jaw about three inches downwards, on each
side of the trachea, and it also existed in the substance  of
the left side of the thyroid gland.   The membrane lining the
trachea was redder on one side than on  the other for  more
than three inches.   The  lungs were dark-colored and much
congested.  The  heart was  empty.  All the  other viscera
were healthy.f

  * Dr.  Gross, in Western Journal  Medical  and Physical Sciences, vol 9,
p. 25.
  Dr. Gross very properly cautions the medical  examiner not to mistake
the effects of apoplexy, hysteria, epilepsy, or intoxication, for those of manual
strangulation.  In each of the above diseases, persons suddenly seized with
fatal symptoms, may, in their agony,  apply their hands to the throat, and thus
produce marks on it.  The nature of the case, however, will generally ex-
plain these,  if a cautious inspection be made.
  t Watson on Homicide, p. 129.  The following case was sent me, several
years since,  by Dr. Raymond of Buffalo; but I am not aware as to the result
of the trial:
  Larckom  a farmer, aged twenty, was a passenger on board of a canal boat,
ot which Hint was captain.  After  a few angry words had passed between
them, Hint seized Larckom by the collar of his coat, then kicked at his geni-
tals, and afterwards threw him on the deck.  Larckom called for help, which
was immediately rendered. When the prisoner was taken off, he was observed 
216
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
   I will only add the following from Devergie :  On the 25th

of January, 1831, Mrs. Duval was found dead in her cham-

ber.  There was an enormous wound of the throat in front,

dividing all the parts down to the vertebrae, but the carotids

and  jugulars were uninjured.  The superior thyroid  artery

had, however, been divided,  and it was evident during life,

since  coagulated blood,  in the  form  of jets  was  largely

deposited on the  adjacent  parts.   On  further  examination,

the following additional lesions were discovered : a fracture

of the left lateral bone of  the  os hyoides—a  transverse

section of the thyroid cartilage with a vertical  fracture of its

left portion, and a double fracture of the anterior part of the

cricoid cartilage.  There were  some  slight contusions on

the body.

   The internal organs were healthy, the right  side  of the

heart was empty, and the left gorged with blood.

   Now here was a case, which at  first might  appear to be

suicidal,  yet it was impossible but that the injuries in ques-

tion, must  have  beeen  inflicted  previous  to cutting  the

throat, and  the medical  examiners accordingly  gave it as

their  opinion,  that manual strangulation  had  been  first

attempted, and  then the  murder  was completed with a cut-

ting instrument.*


to remove his hand from the throat of Larckom, who was dead. The whole
affray did not continue more than five minutes.  The deceased wore a bomba-
zine stock.
  The body was examined five hours after death, by Dr. Raymond and  other
physicians.  The head, neck and face were of a mahogany color; the ears
deep purple.  There was a blue spot'as large as the hand, just over the breast
bone, where the cutaneous glans appeared as if dotted  with ink. No marks
of fingers  or nails could be detected on the neck. The veins were turgid;
the eyes and mouth closed, and  lower jaw fixed.  The thorax and abdomen
presented no marks of violence.  The penis was  semi-erect,  and semen had
been emitted.  The scrotum was not discolored.   On the left knee there was
a slight scratch.  The muscles were rigid.
  An incision was made from the chin to the pelvis.  The upper surface  of
the tongue was of a dark blue.  On dividing the skin of the neck, black blood
flowed from the vessels, but no extravasation was found under it.  The deep
seated veins were distended with blood, and the arteries empty.  The lungs
of a leaden hue, and the heart,  at both sides, filled with fluid blood.  The
viscera generally were healthy.
   One or two drops of blood were effused into the cellular tissue of the scro-
tum, but no marks of injury could be detected in the testicles.
   On dividing the scalp, more blood than usual escaped from the vessels, and
the same was observed in elevating the skull-cap.
   * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 169. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
217
  As to the question, Whether the strangulation is the effect

of suicide, homicide or accident ?* it may be observed, that it

would  appear extremely  difficult  for  a person to  destroy

himself in this way, since  the hands  lose their strength the

moment compression begins.  Cases, however, are so nume-

rous, where the object  has been completed, and  where no

reasonable  doubt can exist as to the cause, that we  cannot

deny its possibility.  All  marks of violence  are,  however,

of course, proofs of homicide;  and  the circular mark itself

is prima facie evidence, unless contradicted by sufficient tes-

timony.

  As illustrations of the remark just made, I  may mention

several well authenticated cases.  The following were  com-

municated by Dr. Desgranges of Lyons, to Fodere, in 1811:

A man was found in a hay-loft, strangled by a handkerchief,

which had been tightened with a stick.  The judicial tribu-

nal consulted  the Society of Medicine, whether this was  a

case  of possible suicide.  The Society replied, that it was

possible ; and Dr. Desgranges observes, that in a person who

is firmly determined to destroy himself, it  might be accom-

plished by producing several rapid revolutions of the stick,

and  in this way tightening the handkerchief effectually.

  In another case,  an old man in the hospital used the han-

dle of a pot, as the instrument  for tightening the  ligature.

He  was found  lying on  the  bed, with his face turned to



  * I quote an accidental case, as an illustration,  out of many that have hap-
pened : On Monday, (Jan. 16, 1845,) Mr. Baker held an inquest on the body
of William Laurence, aged eighteen, employed by Mr. Martin, paper  glazer
and embosser.  On the previous Friday evening, deceased was about to glaze
some paper at a one-horse power  steam engine, and was passing a proof-sheet
between its rollers,  one of which is of hollowed brass, heated by a red-hot
round bar of iron, in the manner  of a tea-urn.  He wore at the time, a neck-
erchief, tied sailor-like, with the ends depending loosely and long.   The sheet
of paper he was trying, missing its bite, slipped; and as he stooped to catch
it, the ends of his neckcloth got beneath the brass roller, and he was  drawn
in, with his neck and side face tightly fixed against it.   He cried out, " Stop
the engine;" and two fellow workmen, hearing the  appeal he made, hurried
to his assistance, and did so. They then unscrewed the rollers, and  extricated
deceased. He sighed heavily, once or twice, and expired.  Mr. Matcher, a
neighboring surgeon, pronounced the cause of death to be strangulation, and
accounted for its suddenness, through  the close contact of the deceased's
visage with the heated roller.  Had it been cool, since he was so expeditiously
extricated, he might not have been strangled.  Verdict,  " Accidental death."
tLondon  Illustrated News.) 
218
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
the mattress;  the chin was cut  by the pieces of the pot;
the head was dark-colored, the face swelled, the lips thick-
ened, and a sanguineous saliva issued from the mouth.*
  In 1834, an insane female  strangled herself at the Hotel
Dieu, by tying a handkercheif round her  neck from behind
forwards, and taking a knot,  and then returning it and mak-
ing a second one.  She was  seen alive in her ward  an hour
previous, and was found inanimate, with her head hanging out
of the bed.  The eyes were much injected ; the mark of the
ligature  was  deep, ecchymosed, and  partially excoriated.
What adds to the interest of this  case, is the fact that  the
right hand wanted four of its fingers. It is well asked, whether
the presumption would not have been almost irresistible of
murder, if this female had been thus found in a solitary place,
instead  of the open, frequented ward of an hospital 1  Du-
puytren, in remarking on it, observes, that in these cases,
strong proofs are often derived from the posture and  features
of the deceased.!
  All  who are acquainted with the eventful history of Bona-
parte, and  who  is not ? must recollect the sudden death of
General Pichegru.   This  distinguished  soldier was con-
fined as a state prisoner in the Temple. On the 5th of April,
1804^  he was  as well as usual,  and at  ten  o'clock in  the
evening the keeper locked the doors of his prison and took
  * Fodere, vol. 3, p. 173.
  " A navy surgeon, a friend of mine, related to me the case of a Malay, who,
on board of a man-of-war in the East Indies, had made repeated attempts to
commit suicide; and at last succeeded by the means alluded to in the text.
He tied a handkerchief round his neck, and with a small stick, twisted it
several times, and then  secured it behind his ear, to prevent its untwisting.
Jealousy was the caused assigned for the act."  Dxjnlop.
  t Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 10, p. 152.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 12,
p. 126.  Similar cases are related in Annales, vol. 8, p. 429; London Medical
Repository, vol. 28, p. 347 ;  British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 7, p. 261.
  The following is extracted from the London Atlas newspaper of November
24, 1838: " Late on  Tuesday evening last, an inquest was held at the Blue
Anchor, St. Mary-at-Hill, on the body of Robert Watson, aged 88, who put
a period to his existence in the following determined manner: On Sunday
evening he retired to his bed room at about half past eleven, and told witness
to call him by ten next morning.  At the hour appointed witness found him
with his night cap drawn over  his face and neck, and fastened round the lat-
ter by a silk handkerchief. Through a loop-knot in the handkerchief, deceased
had inserted the poker,  which he had  twisted tightly round,  and which he
still held firmly clenched in both hands.  He had made use of the poker in
the way a smith does the handle of a vice." 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
219
 the key. The General was heard to cough during the night,
 but  at  seven  o'clock, when they came to light the fire, he
 was found dead  on his bed.  A commission was appointed
 to examine the body, among whom were several  medical
 men.   They  found, twelve hours after death,  a  circular
 mark around his neck about two fingers wide, produced by
 a black silk  cravat strongly knotted, and through which a
 small stick had been passed.  The stick was used as a tour-
 niquet to produce the strangulation.   They also remarked
 that one end of the stick lay under the left cheek, where,
 by an irregular motion of the body it  had caused  a slight
 scratch.  The face was ecchymosed, the jaws fixed, and the
 tongue held between the teeth.  The body was swollen, the
 extremities cold, and the  muscles  of the  hands and feet
 strongly contracted,
  From these  observations, and taking into view the  posi-
 tion of the body, they were of opinion that   General Piche-
 gru had strangled himself.
  The next day a medical dissection  was ordered.   The
 dura mater was injected and slightly adherent.  The blood-
 vessels of the brain  filled with blood.   The other  por-
 tions were healthy.  So also were the viscera, except that
 the lungs were gorged and the stomach reddish.  The oeso-
 phagus was healthy except at the mark of the handkerchief.
 The examiners repeated their opinion  of its being a case of
 suicide.
  Chaussier very justly condemns the palpable deficiencies
 in these reports.  The appearance of the eyes is not  noticed,
 nor the position and attitude of the body.   We are not in-
 formed at what part of the neck the mark was, whether the
 inferior or the  superior, or how deep, or of what color.
  As to the dissection, it is  superficial, notices points which
 are  of no importance, and slurs  over  the most  important
 subject of inquiry, viz.: the state of the neck.
  I apprehend that  no one  can read this statement, and it
 contains all the medical facts we have on  this  historical
 case, without  inclining to  agree with  Chaussier,  that al-
though the medical witnesses might be justified in declaring 
220
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
it a case of strangulation, they had no grounds for pronoun-

cing it suicide.   Still this is within the range of possibility,

if we credit the narratives already given.*

   There is another class of cases that may be mistaken for

either suicidal  or  homicidal strangulation, and  these lead

to grievous mistakes.  I refer to instances  of apoplexy, oc-

curring in unusual positions of the body, where a strong

pressure is necessarily exerted on the neck, and phenomena

of  strangling indeed, both external and internal, are more

or less developed.   Several well  ascertained cases of this

description, where no doubt could exist  as  to the cause, are

mentioned  in the journals;!  others again have  been made

the  subject of legal investigation.

   In a recent instance in  France, two individuals were sent

to the galleys  for  the supposed murder of an  intoxicated

person by strangling;  nor was it until after a long revision

of the case, and the production of the  positive  opinion of

Fodere, Marc and others, that the case presented not a single

feature beyond that of ordinary apoplexy, that the sentence

was reversed.    The physicians who examined the body, and

who deposed on the trial, gave  a similar  opinion ; yet popu-

  * Chaussier, p. 279. I subjoin the statement given by one, who, if Piche-
gru was murdered, might probably have directed the commission of the crime:
"He was lying, (says Savary, Duke of Rovigo, in his memoirs,) on his right
side; he had put round his neck his own black silk cravat, which he had pre-
viously twisted like a small rope; this must have occupied him so long as to
afford time for reflection, had he not been resolutely bent on self-destruction.
He appeared to have tied the cravat, thus twisted, about his neck, and to
have at first drawn it as tight as he could bear it; then to have taken a piece
of wood of the length of a finger, which he had broken from a branch which
yet lay in the room, (part of a faggot, the relics of which were still in his fire-
place;) this he must have  slipped between his neck and his cravat, on the
right side, and turned round till the moment that reason forsook him.  His
head had fallen back on the pillow, and compressed the little bit of stick
which had prevented the cravat from untwisting.  In this situation apoplexy
could not fail to supervene. His hand was still under  his head, and almost
touched this little tourniquet."
  " No human eye  (says Sir Walter Scott,) could see into the dark recesses
of a state prison; but there were not wanting many who entertained a total
disbelief of Pichegru's suicide."
  The defective state of the reports, and the  evident reluctance of the medi-
cal men to pursue the investigation, appear  to me most mysterious, if this
was a case of suicide. Under other circumstances, French medico-legal exa-
miners rather err in the opposite extreme—in being too diffuse and minute.
Bonaparte, however, when  at St. Helena, steadily denied that  Pichegru had
been murdered. " The very uncommon mode of his death (he said)  proved
the contrary."
  f Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2, pp. 440, 447. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
221
lar prejudice was sufficient to condemn the accused.*  A
somewhat similar case  happened  some  years since in New
York.
   Frederick L. Teige, a man advanced in years, and who, a
few weeks previous, had arrived in this country from Switz-
erland, was  found dead in New York,  on the morning of
Saturday the 28th May, 1825.   He  lay in a gutter on his
face,  and underneath his face, which  did  not touch the earth,
in consequence of the narrowness  of the gutter, was a pud-
dle of congealed blood,  extending from  ten to  fourteen
inches.  On raising  the body, fresh blood was observed on
the nose and  face, and  indeed some dropped from  the face,
while  in the act of lifting him.   The right hand lay upon
his back, and the right foot was drawn up.  The body lay
at the foot of a declivity of about twelve feet, and  the bank
was composed of very loose sand.   No marks of struggling,
such as breaking away the sand were noticed, and there was
no sand on  his back.   His hat lay somewhat on the hillock,
and there were  marks of five  or six steps on the bank, of
one person.
   The coroner stated that around  the neck of the deceased,
and between his vest and shirt, there was a loose green cord.
The neck cloth was very tight, as also  the shirt-collar—so
tight  indeed that the witness  could scarcely introduce his
finger between the neck and collar, and after unbuttoning it,
he could not have buttoned it  again.   None of the clothes

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 7, pp. 568, 615.
  The deceased individual whe.i last seen was extremely intoxicated.  His
body was found stiffened, but still so warm, that many disbelieved that life
was extinct. The face was downwards, reclining on the breast, and the trunk
and inferior extremities rested on the end of the toes and the right knee. It
appeared, indeed, says one of the medical counsel, as if the deceased, finding
his inability to return to  the erect posture, had forced himself  backwards
and upwards on all fours, and in this  position was struck with apoplexy.
The absence of all marks of violence, the very early  period at which the body
was discovered, and the presence of spasmodic rigidity, (see page 42 of this
volume,) all render it probable the cause of death was accidental. Another
case, in which the presence of spasmodic rigidity was insisted on,  in order to
relieve the prisoner from the  charge of murder, is that of Robert Reid, of
Edinburgh. The medico-legal examination was evidently very imperfect, and
this of course  led to great diversity of opinion.  The details  are given in
Watson on Homicide, pages  70, 266.   And  the  remarks of the late Dr.
Fletcher on the trial  are published in Ryan's  London Medical  and Surgical
Journal, vol. 8, p. 65. 
222
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
were torn, nor  was the cravat out of place.   On the neck,
the marks of a thumb and three fingers were visible, but he
could not say whether they were of the right hand or the
left hand.
  Dr. Graves, who examined the body in the first instance,
stated that there was a slight wound on the left temple, and
an abrasion of the skin on the  top of the nose, while on the
right side of the head, the skin was rubbed off to the extent
of a dollar.   The skin was also rubbed on the right and left-
side of the  throat.  On removing  the  skullcap,  a  large
quantity of serum was discovered.
  Drs. Francis and Anderson, who subsequently made an
examination, found the countenance very turgid, the eyes
protruded, the tongue pressed  firmly against the teeth, and
on the neck a strong mark, distinctly visible, and nearly as
low down as  the collar of the shirt.  The  jugulars were
distended and the  neck swollen.  The right  side of the
heart was engorged, and also the  lungs.  The larynx, in its
internal  surface,  was discolored, owing to  the effusion of
blood.  No marks of injury appeared on the body.
  It was proved on the trial, that the deceased was  a stout,
athletic man, of a large neck  and full frame; that, he had
been for years in habits of gross intoxication; that  he had
been drunk every day of the  week  of his death, and ex-
tremely so, on  the Friday evening at 10 o'clock, preceding
the Saturday morning when  he was found dead.
  Two of his  countrymen who had  come over with him in
the same vessel, were charged with his murder, but  the evi-
dence against them was so slight, that the  jury acquitted
them without leaving their seats.*
  The grand medico-legal question in this case evidently is,
Whether death was caused by accident or design ?   I incline to
the former opinion: from the  habits  and make of  the de-
ceased,  from the external appearance and position of the
body; from  the extreme tightness of the shirt-collar acting
on this state and position of  the body ; and from the  absence

      * New-York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 5, p. 432. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
223
of otheY marks of injury.   Among the doubtful circumstan-
ces, however, are the mark of fingers on the neck; but it is
possible that these may have been made by the deceased
himself, in an effort to  unbutton  his collar.   The appear-
ances,  on  dissection, will of course apply to either  sup-
position, while the blood was evidently discharged from the
nose.
  The following case is reported in the French journals :  A
female, aged eighty  years, was on the  11th of June, 1845,
found dead, hanging from a beam in the house where she
resided.  This house belonged to B. Buscatel.   It consisted
of two rooms  on the ground floor, and a loft above which
was not planked throughout, except with a few loose boards
directly over  the  place where  the bed of the female was
placed.  She hired one of the  above rooms,  and Buscatel
and his family occupied the other.  The  body was found
hanging from one of the  beams in the middle of the room,
by a cord, which formed a running double knot round the
neck.  One end was thrown six times  round the beam, and
the other, which was loose, was thrown over a pile of vine
faggots.
  The ends of the toes were about three'inches from the
floor,  and  at about four inches  from them, in front of the
body, was  a chair turned over on its back.   Behind the
body, was a ladder  resting on the beam,  to which the end
of the rope had been attached.   The head of the female was
uncovered : her cap was at her feet, a little to the left.   The
countenance was  stained  with  blood, proceeding from the
nose and eSrs. On that part of the cap, which correspond-
ed to the left ear,  there was a bloody spot.  So also on the
neckhandkerchief, in  the same  place.   The blood  was
coagulated and still humid.  There were no marks of blood
on the floor.
  The rope also was spotted with blood.   One was  on a
part beyond  the  reach of the hands, and  the other on the
loose  end, and it was observed, that' to the very extremity
of this, a  gray hair adhered.  Indeed, several  gray  hairs
were seen sticking at different parts of the cord. 
224
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  The body was completely clothed.   On the left sleeve, on
the back  of the  left  hand, and in front of the petticoat,
there were stains of dust, still  moist; so  much so, that to
the latter, there were grains of oats  and pieces of straw
adhering.   And it was observed,  that at a short distance
behind, where the body hung, there was a crack in the floor,
and in this were seen oats and straw  corresponding in ap-
pearance to those attached to the petticoat.   This spot was
also  moist.
  The right knee of the  deceased  was covered with a spot
of dried dust, but beyond this, there were no external marks
of wounds or contusions.
  Many of these circumstances contradicted the idea of su-
icide.  The female was very aged and of short stature:  the
knot was of a kind but little known to females ; there were
no marks of blood on the hands ; the blody spots observed
could not have  been made  by her,  as they were beyond the
reach of her  arms; while  the marks of blood  and  dust on
the dress and on the left side of the face indicated violence,
previous to suspension.
  On dissection, Dr. Paris  found that the root of the tongue
was swollen and ecchymosed, and this ecchymosis extended
to the palate.   The mucous membrane of the pharynx and
the cellular tissue between the  os hyoides  and the larynx
were injected with blood, while  the epiglottis at its base
was  also ecchymosed.  Now the cord could scarcely have
produced these effects, as it passed below the os hyoides,
and not having  broken that bone, could not affect the deeper
seated parts.                          ,
  There were also found, on  dissection, in front of the cla-
vicle, two ecchymoses, with blood infiltrated into the cellular
tissue.  No external  appearance indicated this, and it was
therefore evident that the force  producing it must have been
of a soft, yielding nature, like the  fingers  of the two hands
resting on the clavicles.
  Dr. Paris, from all these  facts, gave it as his opinion, that
death had  been caused  by manual strangulation, and that
the suspension was subsequently made. 
                   PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               **D

  There was  considerable testimony involving Buscatel as
the murderer, and  he was found guilty, and  sentenced to
imprisonment at hard labor for twenty years.*
  It is an interesting  inquiry, whether proofs of strangula-
tion can be found on the dead body some time after decease
or interment.   In the instance of a child of eighteen months,
first strangled  and afterwards thrown  into  the water, the
body, examined ten days after death, was found far gone in
putrefaction; but  on the fore part  of the neck,  over the
windpipe,  was a softish furrow, with a hardened ridge both
above and  below.f
  But the  most remarkable instance, is one that occurred in
France.   I copy the leading details from a London journal;
but the whole case is given in the Annales D'Hygiene :
  " In the year 1821, a widow lady of the name of Houet,
residing in the city of Paris, disappeared ; and certain per-
sons, Bastien, Robert, and Robert's wife, who had  taken the
house, No. 81, Rue de Vaugirard, were suspected of having
made away with her. A  judicial inquiry was pending ever
since, in the  Court of Assize; but the accused, for want of
evidence,  had been set at liberty.   Not long ago, however,
some information was obtained touching a body said to have
been buried  for  about eleven years in a particular garden.
An  investigation  was accordingly set on foot; and by dint
of patient and ably directed research,  such satisfactory evi-
dence was procured  of the  identity of the remains,  and of
the  manner of the death, that the prisoners were convicted,
and condemned to the galleys for life.
  * Gazette  des Tribunaux, October 4, 1845.
  t Syme's Justiciary Reports, p. 266.
  I add the following in this place, merely as a historical curiosity: " March
16,1814.  On opening a vault at St. Maryport church, Bristol, the workmen
discovered, very deeply concealed, a coffin of great antiquity. It is generally
supposed that the corpse it contained was the body of----Yeoman, sheriff
of Bristol, in 1643, when the city was surrendered  to the parliamentary
army by Prince Rupert.   Mr. Yeoman was hanged in Wine-street, opposite
his own house, by order of Fairfax,  for his attachment to  the royal cause.
The body was in  the highest state of preservation, handsomely accoutred in
the costume  of the day, with gloves similar to those which the sheriffs at pre-
sent wear.  And there were considerable tumors visible in the neck, which
inclined several medical gentlemen, who inspected the body, to be of opinion
 that they were occasioned by strangulation."   (Edinburgh Annual Register,
vol. 7 ; Chronicle, p. 30.)
   VOL. II.                    15 
226              PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  " The first part of the inquiry—the juridical examination—
was  conducted by M. Boys  de  Loury.  After excavating
different parts of the garden for about five hours, one of the
workmen  hit upon a  hollow spot, in which  there  were
bones.  The greatest care was taken to uncover them with
the least possible disturbance; they were evidently those of
a human body,  reduced  almost  to a perfect skeleton.  A
drawing was made of  the parts in situ.   The figure reposed
on the left side; the head was bent forward on the neck;
the vertebral column  was curved; the right fore-arm was
raised, so that the bones  of the hand nearly touched that of
the face.  The pelvis was turned obliquely  upwards, resting
on the left haunch.  The  thigh bones were raised considera-
bly, and the legs were crossed beneath them.  The color
of the remains generally,  was between an ochre and a brown;
and when the earthy matter was removed from some of the
long bones, the uncovered parts were found to be of a deep
red color.
  " The grave was four feet deep, funnel-shaped, measuring
five feet and a  half in length at its upper part, but  at the
bottom, only two and  a half;  its greatest breadth was about
two feet.   Some limestone had been placed over the body,
so as  to form a sort of vault.  Having  made  these general
observations, the parts were  next examined.  The skull
was small and lengthy in its shape;  it  seemed, by the way,
from the position of the head, that the body had been thrown
into  the grave head  foremost.  The  parietal  bones were
very  yielding;  the  sutures  were well  knit; the teeth
white, and  had  been  used with care;   three  molars want-
ing, and one of the incisors carious.   A small quantity of
light-colored or ruddy hair was found, having some gray
mixed with it.
  "The state of the  neck was particularly striking: the
third, fourth, fifth and sixth  cervical  vertebrae, as well as
the right clavicle, were held together by a blackish mass, in
the composition  of which there could not be recognized any
tissue.  This mass was  surrounded at its lower part by
several twists of a cord, two lines in diameter; the cord was 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
227
in a very decayed condition, and no knot  could be  found
upon it; its direction was exactly horizontal.
  " Among the bones of the left hand was found a gold
ring, of small diameter, carved in facettes ; and several  small,
well formed finger nails were also discovered.  The pelvis,
from its  shape and proportions, could only be that of a
woman.  Some portions of cloth, probably part of a  stock-
ing, was found near the legs; but upon exposure to the air,
it rapidly crumbled to dust.
  " Other reporters, MM. Orfila,  Marc, Barruel and Cheval-
lier, were afterwards added to M. Boys de Loury; and three
or four elaborate documents were  drawn up, of the  first of
which  we give the result:
  " From the  preceding facts, we feel ourselves  justified
in concluding:  1.  That these bones are those of a  human
skeleton.  2. That the skeleton is that of a female.  3. That
this female had attained the age of from 60 to 70.  4. That
her stature was about  4 feet 8 or 9  inches (nearly 5 feet
English).  5.  That the hair of the female, which was of a
bright blond color in youth, was  mixed with gray  at  the
time of her death.   6. That the hands were small.  7. That
during life,  the bones had  never  suffered  any   injury.
8. That  this woman died of strangulation, and that the  act
was, to all  appearance,  homicidal.   9. That the body must
have lain for several years  in the earth.
  " The  prisoners,  who had been  long suspected, were at
length brought to trial (nearly twelve years after the mur-
der,) and have been condemned  for the remainder of their
lives to forced labor.   They had  a narrow escape  of  the
guillotine;  only for some  mitigatory circumstances  which
induced the jury to recommend  them to mercy, they  would
have been  executed."*
  I close this section  with a  case,  in which there can
scarcely  be a doubt that burning was attempted to conceal
the strangulation.   It is an additional one, to those cited at
page 86 :
* Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 11, p. 117.  London Medical Gazette. 
228
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   At the Yorkshire Assizes, in England, in March,  1842,
Jonathan Taylor was tried for the murder of his wife.  He
had  lived on a farm of Lord Wenlock ;  but four years pre-
vious, he formed an illicit connection, and left his wife, and
the farm was made over by his  landlord to his family.  He
ultimately returned  at times, and was, on such occasions,
employed in day  labor on the farm.   On Tuesday, October
26th, all the family left home at nine o'clock to go to work,
but the wife.  Early on that morning, the husband had also
left, saying that he was going to Selby.   At twelve o'clock,
two  of the daughters returned home, and  then found the
wife quite dead, lying upon the hearth near the  fire, upon
her face, and apparently in a burning  state,  her clothes
being on fire, and the lower part of her person very consider-
ably burnt.  A bunch of keys  was found lying under her.
The deceased had been seen  to go to  a  drawer at  eight
o'clock that morning, to  look  at some  silver  (about £3),
which she had kept there.  She was seen to lock it, and the
drawer was found locked ; but  the money was gone.   Lord
Wenlock's agreement with the  family, and a  policy of
insurance on  the stock  were  also missing.  The  keys,
therefore, which were found lying under her, must  have
been used to  procure the money at least;  and it was re-
marked, that notwithstanding the fire, they were perfectly
bright.   The husband had also  been accidentally spoken to
by a miller in the house, at half-past nine that morning.  It
was proved that he reached Selby at half-past eleven.
  Mr.  Anderson found  the following appearances,  about
twenty-nine hours after  death :  The whole of the head and
face, extending down below the thyroid  cartilage of the
neck, was much swollen, and of a purple hue, including the
ears; the eyes full,  prominent and bloodshot; the mouth
closed.   Immediately below the swollen part of the neck,
there were two dark brown, crackly and  hard marks across
the front part of the neck, and extending from these (to the
left side especially, and more indistinctly to the right), were
slight indentations formed by pressure.  The integuments of 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
229
the head, particularly of the occiput, were swollen and
distended.
  The burns  extended from the region of the liver on the
right side, obliquely downward across the abdomen, to the
left side, which was  less injured.  They extended some
way down the  left  thigh, and down the right leg to the
knee.  Both  hands  were partially closed; the right hand
was severely  burnt; and the ends of the fingers with loss of
substance and black.  There were no material burns below
the knee.  There were some very slight burns on the back
part of the right shoulder:  there were no vesications con-
taining liquid at or near any of the burns, and no swelling
or inflammation on the edges of the burns.
  On  cutting into the scalp, which was divided from ear to
ear, a  large   quantity of dark, fluid, and very thin blood
flowed copiously away, and the scalp was much darker and
more  injected than  natural.   The portion corresponding to
the external swelling was much thickened and injected, with
small coagula in  its  substance, and  there was some fluid
blood between  the scalp and the skull. On sawing through
the skull, the blood flowed still more copiously.  When the
dura  mater Was separated from the skull, numerous points
of  blood issued from each.  The brain also  was highly
injected.
   The thickened, injected, and swollen part of the scalp on
the back of the head, and its separation from the skull, indi-
cated violence during life. This might probably have caused
insensibility, but not death.   The horizontal  marks on the
neck,  with the external appearances, and those found on
dissection,  denote strangulation.  It was found on cutting
into the dark, brown, and crackly and hard  marks on the
neck, that several small  blood-vessels were  inflammatorily
injected, and it is suggested that a hot substance may have
been passed over  these horizontal marks after death,  in
order to conceal them, and that thus their peculiar condition
might be accounted for.
   The nature of  the burns, and all their attendant circum-
stances, seem to prove that the body had not moved during 
230
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
the process, and consequently that death  must  have pre-
ceded it.
   The jury, without leaving their seats, found the prisoner
guilty.*

        J.  Of persons found suffocated or smothered.

   Smothering  is the covering of the mouth and  nostrils in
any way,  so as to prevent the free ingress and egress of air.
It happens most frequently with children, either as an acci-
dent or a  crime ; and in the  former case,  from  overlaying
them, as it is called.  This occurs from a pillow, bolster or
bed-clothes coming in contact with their  face in such a
manner that their struggles cannot remove it.
   In a case of a child six months old, which died from being
wrapped  up too closely by the parents, who  were taking it
into the country to nurse,  the  integuments  of  the chest,
arms  and  head, were of a dark hue.  The mouth was open,
and fingers bent; the veins of the heart gorged with blood;
the left lung natural,  but the right one bright  red; the
trachea and bronchise filled  with  a reddish  froth ; the brain
turgid, and  its vessels  in every part, even  in the substance
of the brain, filled, while three drachms of serum were found
between the tentorium and cerebellum.f
   Adults, ina state of intoxication or debility, may also be
destroyed by  getting into  a posture  which prevents the
transit of air to the lungs, and then being  unable to extri-
cate themselves.  Thus Dr. Roget speaks of persons being
buried completely under a mass of earth that has fallen upon
them, and he mentions the following remarkable instance
in which life was nearly lost from inattention to the requi-
sites  for  respiration:   " An  athletic  black, of  pugilistic
celebrity, had been selected, from the fine form of his chest,

  * Lancet, April 25, 1842. A case, probably of a similar description was
tried some years since in New-York. It is known as  the Leitga case, and
will be found reported in Dr. Lee's edition of Guy.
  t London  Medical and Physical Journal, December, 1827.  A case of
inflammation of the lungs in a young infant mistaken for criminal suffocation,
is given in Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 7, p. 621. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
231
and well marked expression of his muscles, as an academic
model.  It was wished to obtain a cast of his body, but this
being attempted at one operation, and in  one entire piece, as
soon as the plaster began to set, he felt on a sudden deprived
of the  power  of respiration, and  to add to his misfortune,
was cut off from the means  of expressing his distress.   His
situation, however, was  fortunately perceived  just in time
to save his life, by breaking his bonds  and releasing  him
from the extreme peril in which they  had placed him."*
  In the previous edition,  I made the  following remark :
" Smothering will seldom be used as an instrument of homi-
cide, since a moderate  degree of resistance can generally
prevent its effectual application."   I am sorry to add that it
has, notwithstanding, of  late years, and with the use of  aids
to prevent all resistance, been made the means of murder.
I refer to the case of the notorious Burke and Hare, who, in
1828, thus killed several persons  at Edinburgh.   From the
testimony of accomplices, it appears that the deceased (Mar-
gery Campbell), while in a  state of intoxication, was struck
down  to  a  sitting  posture on the floor; that Burke threw
himself on her, kept  her down by the weight of his body,
and covering her mouth and nose with  one hand, while he
applied the  other under her chin, held  her  thus for ten or
twelve minutes, till  she was  dead.   The body, examined
two days after death, presented the following appearances:
The  joints flaccid; features composed, red, and rather more
turgid  than  natural; lips dark; conjunctivas of the eyes,
even in the  horizontal position of the body, much injected
with blood;  a little fluid  blood  on the left cheek, apparently
from the  nostrils;  tongue  not protruded; the  scarf-skin
under the  chin much ruffled, and the surface of the  true skin
dry and brown when denuded, but without blood or  sur-
rounding  ecchymosis; the  integuments every  where  free
from  lividity,  except on the  face;  no  injury or effusion
about  the windpipe  or  cartilages, but the  os  hyoides  and
thyroid cartilages farther apart than usual, in  consequence
t Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, vol. 1, p. 177. 
232
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
of stretching their interposed ligament; the internal organs
very healthy, and particularly the lungs;  the right side of
the heart and  its veins filled with  very fluid and black
blood.
  There were  other  injuries  present, particularly in the
spinal canal; but these had been inflicted after death, in con-
sequence of forcibly doubling up the body to enclose it in
a box.  I have noticed them in a former page.
  On the trial,  Professor Christison testified, that  from the
unequivocal marks of violence in the  contusions ;  from the
absence of any appearances of natural  death; from her be-
ing seen  alive and in good health a few hours before, and
from the blood on the  floor where the body lay,  the proba-
bility of death from violence was strong ;  but he declined a
more positive  opinion.  In his subsequent  remarks on the
case, he has well  remarked, that there is a mistaken idea
prevalent, that the signs of suffocation are very obvious and
characteristic.   " It ought  to be  distinctly  understood by
every medical man, that such appearances are very far from
being always present."   And  the  reason is manifest, since
the mode of procuring death is such as to leave few or any
indications, particularly if the  murdered person has been
previously  rendered  insensible by opium or alcohol; and
in proportion to  the rapidity with  which death is  induced,
will be  the absence of all external or internal signs.  There
is no  opportunity, says Dr. Roget, for the accumulation of
blood in  the venous  system.   The  body accordingly will
present no discoloration of the skin, no turgescence of the
veins, no  engorgement of the  pulmonary  vessels.*
  In  death  by  smothering, then,  circumstantial  evidence
must be the principal, if not the only, means of ascertain-
ing whether  the  event has been produced  by crime or by
accident.
  Death from pressure in a crowd belongs  to this division
of our subject;  but we have not had, until lately, any minute
examination of the phenomena occurring.  At the Champ

  * Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 31, p.  236. Syme's Justiciary
Reports, p. 371. 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
233
de Mars in Paris,  no less than twenty-three persons lost
their  lives on  the  14th  of June,  1837,  from this cause.
Among these were 11 men and 12  women, and the ages of
the sufferers varied from 8 to 75.  All of them, men and
women, died  standing,  so that more  than one corpse was
borne along in this attitude by the crowd.
  Dr. Ollivier of Angers, who examined the bodies, states
that in all without exception,  the skin of the face and neck
was of a uniform violet tint, spotted with blackish ecchy-
moses.   In nine, there was infiltration  of blood  under the
conjunctiva of the eye.  In four, there was sero-sanguineous
froth  running from the mouth and nose ; in four, blood flow-
ing from the nostrils ; in three, blood flowing from the ears;
in seven, fractures of the ribs.   In  two females, the sternum
was fractured.   There was no mark  either of stangulation
or wounds, although several  bodies  bore marks of being
trodden under feet after death.
   The cause was evidently asphyxia, produced by violent
and continued pressure on the chest; and the violence of this
may be estimated by the fact, that in one-third of the cases,
the ribs were fractured.
   Sixteen bodies were opened.  In all, the blood was black,
diffluent, and filling all the large veins which enter the heart.
The pulmonary tissue was mostly of a reddish brown; and
in three quarters of each  lung, posteriorly, there was a con-
siderable accumulation  of  black  and liquid blood, but there
was no ecchymosis either on the surface or in the substance
of the lungs, except in  one  case.  In all the cases where
the conjunctiva was raised by infiltrated blood, and in  those
where blood had flowed from  the ears, the vessels of the pia
mater  and of the substance of the brain were  gorged with
blood.*

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 18, p. 485. London Med. Gazette, vol. 26, p. 569.
British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p.  18.
  " The smothering which is probably most directly fatal, is that which takes
place when, in great crowds, children and delicate persons are so crushed by
multitudes of human beings, as in theatres, or in cases of alarms of fire, that
no time is left to allow the chest to expand in those individuals who are trod-
den under foot." (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 39, p. 398.) 
234
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  We must also remember that suffocation may occur without
the above extreme circumstances, as in the followinginstance:
  At the March Assizes at Lincoln, Thomas Johnson, alias
Henry Hensey, was indicted for the wilful murder, at Croft,
on the 12th of February, of Elizabeth Evison.  From the
evidence it appeared that the deceased was an aged person,
about seventy, living, at the time of the occurrence, with her
sister, who was nearly of the same age, in a lonely cottage,
a short distance from the village of Croft.   On Sunday, the
12th,  they were both  well  and  walking  about  as  usual.
They slept in the same room up stairs, in separate beds, and
retired to rest about eight  o'clock.   They were  disturbed
not very long  afterwards,  by a man breaking in at the win-
dows  of their chamber.  He proceeded to obtain  a light by
means of a lucifer  match, and then, with some muslin, to tie
together their hands and feet very tightly, and to fasten their
arms  under their  shoulders  equally tight to  the bedsteads,
so that they could not move  hand  or foot, or at all help
themselves.  He then  tucked  the clothes closely  over their
heads, and proceeded  to rob  them of some  money, silver
spoons, &c; and then decamped by the street door, leaving
it open and the women in the state  just described.  This
was  on  Sunday  night.  They remained in  this  condi-
tion,  both being  almost suffocated,  until the forenoon of
Monday ; when the deceased, who had been moaning during
all this time,  and frequently said she  must be  suffocated,
expired.  The sister could  undertake to  mark the time of
the death by the cessation of the moaning and the breathing,
as being  in the course of the forenoon  of Monday.  She
herself remained in this horrible  state, almost momentarily
expecting the same fate, until  Tuesday morning,  when she
heard  some one near, and cried  out for help.  This was a
poor boy, begging, who gave the alarm to other persons, and
the one sister  was found cold and stiff, while the  other was
extremely exhausted.
   The evidence produced left no doubt of the guilt of  the
prisoner.   He was convicted and  sentenced to death.*
                *  London Atlas, March 11,1843. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
235
  Dr. Gordon Smith adverts to a mode of suicide said to be
practised by negroes, which is that of doubling the tongue,
and swallowing it down into the fauces so low as complete-
ly to choke the individual.*   Dr. Horner of Philadelphia,
however, beside questioning the possibility of doing this,
denies ever having heard of it, although he has passed many
years of his life among a negro population.!
  I find the following in  the Rev. Dr. Walsh's  notices  of
Brazil, confirmatory of the common opinion: " The wretched
slave in Brazil often anticipates the result of chastisement,
by inflicting death upon himself in an extraordinary manner.
They have a method  of burying their tongue in their throat,
in such a way as to produce suffocation.  A friend of mine
was passing through  the carioca, when a slave was tied up
and flogged.  After a  few lashes he hung his head  apparently
lifeless, and  when  taken  down  he was  actually dead, and
his tongue found wedged in the oesophagus, so as completely
to close the trachea."
   While on this point I must not omit noticing a remarkable
case mentioned  by Dr. Wagner, as occurring in  Austria in
 1833:
   " A criminal who  had been shut up alone  in a dark dun-
geon, when visited by his keeper not long after, was found
lying dead on the floor.   It was thought that he had a fit of
apoplexy, and  a vein was opened, but  to  no  purpose.  It
was for the first time noticed that he had a foreign  body in
his mouth, and it proved to be a piece  of woollen cloth two

  * Smith, p. 231.
  t American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 2, p. 182.  The following
remarks are from Mr. Crosse's retrospective address, (Transactions Provin-
cial Med. Association, vol. 5,): " Many authors have mentioned this swallow-
ing of the tongue; I knew one instance where it could be done at will with-
out any serious inconvenience.  This occurred  in a  lad, who, in the playful
  Eeriod of his recovery from fever, was asked to show his tongue, and presented
  is open mouth, with no tongue visible.  As soon as his mouth was shut, he
 asserted that his tongue was in its right place,  and proved it to be so ; there
 was such facility in retroverting  the tongue into the pharynx, that he fre-
 quently repeated the trick afterwards. The only other recent instance I have
 found related, is somewhere recorded on the authority of Magendie.  Yet M.
 Blandin (Art. Langue in Diet, de Med. et Chirurg. Pratiques) follows Boyer
 in denying that such a displacement can be thus produced, and places the
 accounts  of slaves suffocating themselves by tongue-swallowing, among the
romances of our science."  (London Med. Gazette, vol. 19. p. 912.) 
236
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
ells long  and a quarter broad; a shawl  in  fact, which the
wretched man had thrust into his throat."*
  It is thus that in some  suspicious cases, tumours pressing
on the organs of respiration, or foreign bodies found in the
trachea or oesophagus, have explained the accidental or the
suicidal cause of death; as for example, the  instance related
by Mr.Shae, of a person supposed to have died from intoxica-
tion, who was, on dissection, found to have been choked by a
piece of meat in the trachea, f  The case of Dr. Handyside,
where the coroner's verdict was apoplexy, and the  body
was received for dissection :  Twenty-six days thereafter, a
firm plug, made of portions of soft cotton, was found firmly
impacted in the fauces ;J and the still more remarkable one of
Dr. Jackson, where death ensued in 58 days after treatment
for a  supposed disease of the larnyx or trachea, and after
death a large iron key was found impacted in the cesophagus.§

               K. Of persons found drowned.

   The observations that have been already made on the
nature of asphyxia, will obviate the necessity of again en-
tering on it, except so far as the phenomena have strict re-
ference to the present cause of death.
   It is evident that the subject is an intricate one, and it is
equally  so that too little attention has been paid to the va-
rious modes in which death is produced.   This will explain
why, although a favorite inquiry with physiologists, its facts
have been disputed and its characteristics doubted.
   Dr. Desgranges of Lyons, was, I believe, the person who
first  (in 1790) suggested that there were distinct modes of
death operating  in the drowned, and  his  division has re-
 ceived the sanction of Fodere and Marc.||  He was induced
  * Dr. Cummin, in London Medical Gazette, vol. 13, p.  973.
  t Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 54, p. 147.
  X Ibid. vol. 57, p. 391.
  § Ibid. vol. 60, p. 195. Dr. Jackson has another case in vol. 61, p. 390,
where a piece of potato skin was  found to have acted as a valve, and thus
caused suffocation.  Dr. G. N. Burwell (Buffalo Medical Journal, vol. 1, p.
36) relates of a lunatic in the Philadelphia Hospital, who nearly succeeded
in destroying himself, by pushing three or four dry crackers down his throat.
   || Marc, p. 165.  Fodere, vol. 2, p. 296.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 19, p. 620. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
237
to make it from observing turgesence of the countenance in
some cases, and its paleness in others.
   One of the modes he denominates asphyxia  by  suffocation.
This is probably the most common, and  occurs when a per-
son, in full possession of his faculties, is immersed.   After
ineffectual struggles, some  water  enters  the trachea and
bronchise, mixes with the air contained in them, and  forms
the frothy mucus so commonly  perceived.  It is probable,
also, that  from the convulsive action of the glottis and mus-
cles of the throat, some  water is taken into the stomach.
The contest cannot, however, continue long; the blood is de-
termined to the head, and as it is not decarbonized, its venous
qualities operate on the  brain;  the lungs are unable to per-
form  their functions, and the body falls insensible to the
bottom of the water.  It  is in these cases that he  should ex-
pect  to see a  lividness  of  the  countenance,  although this,
as we shall see, is not invariable.*
   Another mode of death is  termed nervous  or syncopal as-
phyxia, and it is well illustrated in a case related by Plater:
A female convicted  of  infanticide, was condemned  to be
drowned.   She fainted  on being immersed into the water,
and remained there a quarter of an hour.   On being drawn
out, she recovered her  senses.f  Thus fear, or  coldness
of the water, or a blow on the head in  falling, or  absolute
intoxication, may suspend as it were  the vital functions,
and  throw the  nervous  system into  a state of inaction.
Here, of course, there will be no struggle, and we  can only
expect  to find the marks of simple asphyxia, such as  pale-
ness of the face and body, owing to a spasm of  the cutaneous
vessels; the  presence of a little water, but no froth in the
trachea, and  the internal organs but little differing from
their natural state.
  Dr. Marc has added a third  to these,  which he  styles
asphyxia from cerebral congestion, and refers to it  such cases

  * Roget ut antea, p. 173.
  t Marc, p. 165.  This punishment was in compliance with the ancient pro-
visions of the Caroline code. The criminal was put into a sack, and sunk into
the water. 
238
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
as are marked by an apoplectic habit, or where persons fall
into the  water, when  in  a state of intoxication, or with  a
full stomach.*
   In many  instances,  the first and last are, in his  opinion,
united ; and  suffocation  and  apoplexy,  according to cir-
cumstances,  act,  reciprocally,  either  as  the essential or
aggravating cause of death.f
   After this outline of the probable modes of death, I need
hardly  state, that in legal medicine, the leading question, in
every case is, Whether there are any marks that distinguish
death by submersion, from  death previous to submersion ? Or in
other words,  Whether a  person was thrown when  alive, or
after death, into the water 1
   I shall arrange my remarks on this in the following order:
First, state the ancient  doctrines ; secondly,  those  most
commonly received  at the present day.   It will  then be
necessary to  comment on the different  marks, and  to show
how  far  their value is disputed, and to endeavor  to fix a
proper estimate on them.  In  connexion with this, I shall
afterwards consider  the  effects of continued  immersion on
the  dead body, and  the changes produced  by  it.  Some
medico-legal cases will form a  proper conclusion.
   I. Ambrose Pare has stated in a  few words, the ancient
opinion on  the subject.   He observes, that a surgeon  will
find the following appearances  on the body of a person who

  * We may also  add to this, drowning in marshes, or stagnant canals or
streams, where deleterious gases are disengaged.
  The following is a very apt illustration of this division:
  A female, in full health, was observed to be intoxicated, when on the banks
of the Schuylkill, and about one hour before the body was  discovered in very
shallow water.
  The face was swollen and of a  mottled purple. A small quantity of whitish
froth issued from  the mouth. On opening the chest and compressing the
lungs, an additional discharge of froth followed.   The whole pulmonic tissue
was engorged and of a dark red.   The trachea and bronchial tubes also con-
tained the frothy mucus.  The right cavities of the heart and the coronary
veins were filled with dark fluid  blood.  The left cavities were empty.  (Dr.
Dunglison in Medical Examiner,  vol. 8, p. 169.)
  t Devergie arranges the modes of death as follows : 1. From asphyxia; 2.
Syncope; 3.  Cerebral concussion, as when a person falling headlong into the
water, strikes on a stone or other body, and immediately dies; 4.  Apoplexy;
5. A mixed state  in which the functions of the brain, heart and  lungs, are
suspended nearly  at the same time.  He allows, however, that the third and
fourth are extremely rare, having seen only one  case, and even that bore
merely presumptive appearances (vol. 2, p. 320). 
                 PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               239

has been thrown into the water, while living: The stomach
and intestinal canal are  filled with water; a glairy  mucus
issues  from  the  nose, and sometimes there is a bleeding
from it; there is a frothy appearance about the mouth, and
the extremities of the fingers  will be found excoriated, as
if, in dying,  they had grasped the sand, or some other hard
substance.   On the contrary, those who have been thrown,
when dead,  into the  water, will have  no tumour in the
stomach or abdomen,  since all the  passages to them were
closed  by the  absence of inspiration; the nose and  mouth
will  present none of the appearances mentioned above, nor
will there be any excoriation of the fingers.*
  These  rules were  considered orthodox until  the  com-
mencement of the eighteenth century, and Deveaux reports
several cases which were decided according to them.
  II. I believe I shall be correct in stating that the follow-
ing marks, mostly laid down by Dr. Marc, are recognised by
the great body of modern  physiologists as deserving  of
peculiar  attention.   The value attached to each is  to be
presently mentioned :

     Signs that a person has been drowned while living.
  As to the  external  appearance of the body,
  1. The  eyes are half open;  the pupils  much dilated; the
skin is remarkable for its paleness, originating in a spasm
of the  cutaneous vessels; the tongue approaches to the
under edges  of the lips;  and these, as well as the nostrils,
are covered  with a frothy mucus.  Occasionally  when the
paleness is wanting, the head will be  bloated, the face red,
and all  the symptoms which denote a determination of blood
to the brain  will be present.
  2. There is excoriation at  the end of the fingers, and dirt
or sand found under the nails.
  As to the appearances on dissection,
  3. A greater or less fullness of the blood-vessels of the
brain, according to the violence and length of the struggle.
* Quoted by Fodere\ vol. 3, p. 80. 
240
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  4. The right side of the heart, and its vessels, filled with
blood; the left either empty, or not  containing more than
half that in the other side.
  5. The epiglottis, according to some, is found elevated.
  6. The diaphragm depressed into the abdomen.
  7. The blood in a permanently liquid state, and oozing
from the body on the least touch of the scalpel.
  8. A watery froth, which is bloody, found in the trachea
and bronchise ; to which is added, by late experimenters, the
presence of a small quantity of  water in the lungs.
  9. Water is occasionally found in the stomach.
  10.  The fullness of the bladder, and the reddened state of
the viscera.
  On the other hand, the signs that denote death previous to
submersion, are,
  1.  The presence of lesions which  could  not  be inflicted
under water, such as the marks  of ecchymosis, or of  a cord
around the neck;  wounds  from fire-arms,  or  the traces of
poisons.
  2. The absence of the external characters mentioned above.
  3.  The absence of'water or foreign substances in the tra-
chea  and stomach.
  4.  The lungs being in a state of  collapse, and not gorged
with blood;  the  abdomen flat, and the diaphragm in a state
of  natural tension.
  5.  The blood in a coagulable state.*
  It is indispensable, if we wish to arrive at satisfactory con-
clusions, to ascertain how long the body has remained in the
water ;  how long since it has been drawn from the water;
whether it has been  placed with the  face downwards or in
the usual position, and  particularly whether much friction
has been used.  This last will sometimes produce a state of
the skin resembling burns.   According to Devergie, if the
friction has been carried so far as to excoriate, and the body
be  left exposed to the air for twenty-four hours, the skin of
the parts thus operated on, will  take the appearance of
parchment.
          * Marc,  pp. 172 to 182.  Orfila, as hereafter quoted. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
241
  It is doubtless, from inattention to these points, that there
is  still so much uncertainty about this  important subject.
The numerical method, however, as we shall  hereafter see,
is  doing much, and doubtless will  do  more, to resolve all
the doubtful points.
  III. In proceeding to review the  marks of death by sub-
mersion, I regret to state, that many of them singly have
been shown to be of  little value.  It  is their union which
must guide us  in forming an opinion.
   I  have  already  explained  the supposed  causes of  the
variety in  the  external appearance,  and mentioned in what
instances paleness is  most  frequently seen, and when full-
ness and discoloration.
   Possibly, in a majority of instances, if the body be very
soon removed from the water, the face  and skin generally
will be pale.  This at least is the result of the observations
of Dr. Ogston, whose labors on this  subject cannot be too
much commended.*   In the first six cases, examined by him

  * Dr. Ogston has applied the numerical method to the cases seen by him,
 (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 47, pp. 54, 428,) and I cannot
 do justice to his researches, without presenting a brief tabular view of their
 leading circumstances.  I will confine  myself here  to the following points:
 the period of the  year at which the drowning occurred; the  length of time
 that the body remained in the  water; and the length of time of its subsequent
 exposure to the air, before it was examined by him.  I shall then, in the text,
 refer to each case, by its number, for its peculiar appearances.  Some of them
 will also be considered, when noticing the changes  characteristic of various
 periods of continuance in water.
Season.	Time in the Water.	Time in the Air.
1. Summer.	2 or 3 minutes.	20 minutes.
2. Spring.	5 do.	20 minutes.
3. Winter.	3 do.	Half an hour.
4. Summer.	1 hour.	20 minutes.
5. Autumn.	4h do.	Half an hour.
6. Winter.	6 do.	Half an hour.
7. Summer.	6 do.	One hour.
8. Winter.	7 do.	2\ hours.
9. Summer.	8i do.	Half an hour.
10. Autumn.	10 do.	45 minutes.
11. Summer.	7 do.	8 hours.
12. Spring.	11 do.	7 hours.
13.. Autumn.	19 do.	Half an hour.
14. Autumn.	6 do.	39 hours.
15. Summer.	2 do.	3 days and 2 hours.
16. Autumn.	80 do.	Half an hour.
17. Summer.	7 days.	Two hours.
18. Winter.	27 do.	One hour.
In cases 5, 9, 10,	12, 14, 16, 17 and 18, dissections	were made.
VOL. II.
16 
242
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
within  six  and a  half hours  after death, and after short
periods of immersion, the surface  was pale.   So also  Mr.
Watson, in three cases seen by him, where the bodies were
removed after a very few minutes from the water, observed
the face to be pale and collapsed. Two of these were suicidal
and the third accidental.*   He however  states  explicitly,
that in such as die gradually, or  after a  struggle, the face
will be livid.   In all the  remaining cases of Dr. Ogston,
there wras more  or less of swelling and discoloration.  It is
however to be  recollected,  that after a body has remained
for some days in the water,  it takes on very rapid changes,
after exposure  to  the air,  particularly if the weather be
warm.  The features  soon become livid and bloated, if not
so  already, and this  alteration extends  to all the exposed
parts.   For this  reason it is not commonly observed on the
back.
  Orfila is disposed to ascribe the  paleness of  the  skin, to
prolonged immersion rather  than to the kind of death.  He
states that in those who have lain long in  the water, the in-
teguments of the legs will become indigo-colored and then
brownish, on exposure to the air, while the rest of the body
is very white; but the moment it also reaches the air, it is
successively changed to brown or green, beginning at the
chest.   Of course, a still longer continuance in the water,
will, with advancing  putrefaction, cause  abrasions of  the
skin, which must not be mistaken for the result of injuries.!
  But even if the countenance be bloated and livid, we must
remember that this is  not  uncommon from other causes of
death.  Fothergill suggested as a  characteristic in these in-
stances (when from drowning) that the  eyes are  found half
open, and the pupil much  dilated ; but this last may have
been owing to the use of narcotics,  and thus death may have
preceded drowning.  The  same remark applies to the other
external signs that I have mentioned, as froth at the mouth,

  *. Watson on Homicide, p. 151.
  t In quoting Orfila, I refer to his  Legons,  2d edition, vol. 2, p. 334.  His
essay on this subject appeared originally in the Archives  Generales, and
there is a good abstract of it in the London Medical  Repository, vol. 28, p.
541. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
243
 protrusion of the tongue, &c. &c.   They accompany spas-
 modic diseases, or they result from other means of violence.
 If, however, we are satisfied that either of these causes can-
 not have operated,  the value of the sign is increased.
   There was a marked degree of placidity and calmness of
 the features, in every instance  witnessed by  Dr.  Ogston,
 except where the occurrence of  swelling had obliterated all
 traces of their original  expression.  In  one case, indeed,
 there was  apparently an exception;  but on  inquiry, the
 person was found to have been very  near-sighted during life.
   In  thirteen cases of Dr. Ogston, the  pupils were dilated,
 and in one natural.   " The jaws were firmly fixed,  in every
 instance except one (where the mouth was open), and this,
 both  before the  commencement of rigidity in the joints  of
 the extremities,  and after these had become  relaxed.   In
 nearly every instance,  the fingers  and thumbs  were semi-
 bent, indicating that the hands had been convulsively closed
 during the last struggle, and that the flexor muscles had but
 partially relaxed after death.
   I have mentioned that the tongue approaches to the under
 edge  of the lips.   This is  also  confirmed  by Dr.  Ogston.
   Its tip, he observes, is usually met with in accurate con-
 tact with the incisor teeth, and  in  only two  cases was  it
 found included between the closed jaws; and in boih instan-
 ces,  though firmly  compressed,  it  had escaped injury from
 that cause.  Devergie, however, states that he has seen it
 wounded by the teeth in several  cases.
   Froth about the  lips and nostrils.  Dr. Ogston found this in
 seven cases out of sixteen (cases 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 11 ;) of
 these, it was only remarked once (No. 11) so late as fifteen
 hours, and, in No. 5, probably thirty-two hours  after death;
 while in No. 6 it was not present six hours  and a half, and
 in No. 8 nine hours  and a half, after death.
  As to the presence of a frothy mucus or lather in the mouth,
Devergie asserts  that this is very common in summer, but
rare in  winter.*  It probably existed in the  majority of
cases seen by Dr.  Ogston.
                  * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 328. 
244
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  In four instances, and one of these was drowned in sum-
mer, cutis anserina or goose-skin was observed on parts of
the surface.
  The excoriations at the ends of the fingers, and the presence
of dirt or sand under the nails, were formerly much depended
upon; and  Ambrose Pare and Bohn  in  particular relied
greatly upon it, since  it indicates, according to them, the
last efforts  of the  living individual  to save himself from
death.  It is, however, at best extremely uncertain as a
sign.   A man may fall  during a  state of intoxication into
the water, and never make  an effort  to save himself,  or he
may  be  in a state of syncope when drowned.  In  such  in-
stances no mark of exertion will be  found ;*  while on the
other hand,  a dead body  may, from being thrown from a
high place, contract this appearance  in rolling over.  Ac-
cording to Devergie, sand  or dirt is found  beneath  the nails
of all  that  have been  for  some time  in  the  water.   Dr.
Ogston did not meet with  these appearances in any of the
cases examined by him.
  Slight superficial injuries, as abrasions of the skin, ecchy-
moses, &c. were met with by the  last  gentleman  in seven
cases.   In another instance, the injuries were more severe,
but evidently caused after death.
  We come  next to the internal appearances.
  A greater or less fulness of the bloodvessels of the  head, to-
gether with  tltz fulness of the right side of the  heart and its
vessels, has been much relied upon as a sign by several anato-
mists.  Hopffenstock, a physician of Prague, in his dissec-
tions of the  drowned, observed constantly a great accumula-
tion of-blood in the cerebral vessels,  the jugular veins, the
right auricle and ventricle, and pulmonary  artery, while, on
the contrary, the  left  side of the heart was completely
empty.f  Mahon, Kite, and Walter, have confirmed this by
their investigations.  Goodwyn, however, in his experiments,
found the external surface of the brain darker than usual,
but its  vessels were not turgid.  The  right ventricle was
filled with black blood; but the left, instead of being empty,
  " Mahon, vol. 3, p. 3.                     f Fodere, vol. 3, p. 90. 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.               245
was noticed by him as being about half filled with blood of
the same color.*  Orfila concurs with  this last.  Devergie
says that the right side is but  rarely distended with much
blood, although he concedes that generally, but not always,
there is more in the right than in the left side.f  Orfila also
adds, that the right ventricle is of a blackish brown,  while
the left is a clear rose color, and the  right  cavities retain
contractility longer than those of the left.
   As to the  brain, it is  not always  gorged  with blood.
Certainly, in those who die from syncopal asphyxia, this mark
will be far from being a striking one, while, on the contrary,
should  apoplexy have occurred  previous  to drowning, we
might expect its presence.
   The result of Dr. Ogston's observations may, I'think, be
summed up as follows:  In nearly all the cases inspected
by him, there was considerable congestion of the vessels of
the head, but it was far from being striking or uncommon in
the heart and lungs.
   According to Detharding, the epiglottis is pushed  down in
the drowned so as to close the  larynx.  The correctness of
this is totally denied by Orfila and Devergie.
   The depression of the diaphragm into the abdomen, with the
elevation of the chest, is considered by Hebenstreit, as an
essential character.   It is wanting, according to  him, in
those who  are drowned after death;  and its  occurence is
attempted to  be explained on the idea, that the  last act of
breathing is inspiration.   But  unfortunately for the  value
of this sign, Orfila  informs us, that the  result of more than
fifty dissections  of persons drowned, has been the opposite,
and consequently proved that the last act is not inspiration.
At all events, I apprehend that there is little or no variation
in the situation of the diaphragm, whatever  be the cause of
violent death.|

  * Enquiry, pp. 4 and 5.
  t Devergie remarks the very striking difference between the two sides of
the heart in persons suffocated by carbonic acid gas.  There is nothing like
this, he adds, in the drowned.
  X Dr. Ogston met with depression of the diaphragm in only one instance,
and even here it probably was produced by an accidental cause. 
246
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
   The fluidity of the blood was formerly greatly insisted on
 as an important proof of  death by drowning, and  it was
 asserted  to  have been so  seen, even in the vessels which
 enter the bones.*  The value of this test, as a mark of the
 violent termination of life, has been already noticed.  It
 occurs in many other kinds of violent death,  and in some
 instances of natural disease.   While, therefore, its diagnos-
 tic character is destroyed, we must allow that  it is most
 commonly found fluid in the drowned ;  yet even  this is  not
 invariable.  Lafosse  long  since, and Avisard,  Orfila, and
 Devergie recently, have in a few instances found  coagulated
 blood in the auricles or ventricles of those drowned while
 living.  In five cases of Dr. Ogston, coagulated  blood was
 found in the heart,  though the great mass of it  was fluid.
   It  is stated  as a remarkable fact, that  in  dogs drowned,
 the blood is always coagulated.!
   The next mark is, the presence of a small quantity of water,
 very frothy, and sometimes colored with  blood, in  the trachea
 and bronchiae.   This has been a subject  of much speculation
 among physiologists, and  formerly the  water thus found in
 the  lungs and stomach was  supposed  to be  the cause of
 death.   Becker, a German  physician, was the  first to con-
 trovert this opinion.   He  published a work  at the com-
 mencement  of the  eighteenth century, in which  he denied
 that water was always present in these  organs, and illustra-
 ted his position by several dissections  of the human body,
 as well as by experiments on animals.J  Some distinguished
 men,  as Littre, Senac and Petit, embraced his views, although
 towards the  end of  the last century, many physiologists, as
 Haller, De Haen, and  Louis, inclined again  to the ancient
 idea.§

  * Marc, p. 179.  Thus  (says he) if the pericranium be separated, and the
blood taken up with a sponge, it will immediately re-appear along the surface
 of the bone.                                    \  Orfila.
  X This work is published in the Novell^ of Valentini.  " J. C. Beckeri
Paradoxum-Medico-Legale, de submersorum morte sine pota aqua, 1704,"p.
299. See also a notice of this work in the Philosophical Transactions, vol.
24, p. 2512.  Bohn of Leipsic published an essay in  1711, in which he advan-
ced the same opinion.  See Memoirs of Literature, vol. 4, p.  165.
  § De Haen's Ratio Medendi Continuata, p. 130, &c. Louis' Memoiresur Les
Noyes. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
247
   I  have  already sufficiently explained  the  commonly
 received cause of its formation, and must now endeavor to
 present the results obtained by a host of  experimenters.
   Wepfer and  Waldsmidt did not observe it in animals,
 which they drowned.  Morgagni could not find it in guinea-
 pigs drowned by him.   Portal did not observe it.  Evers
 made a number  of experiments at Gottingen in  1753, on
 cats, and always found it, but could discover none in the
 bodies of two persons who were drowned when intoxicated.*
 Belloc remarks, that he has not found it in cases where per-
 sons were undoubtedly  drowned  while  living.f   And he
 explains this variety, by suggesting that the last act of the
 drowning person may be either exspiration or inspiration.  If
 the latter, a small  quantity of water  may reach the lungs,
 and mixing with the air there, form the froth, but probably
 not in the latter  case.  We shall presently see that this was
 an approach to what is probably the actual reason.
   On the other  hand, Louis drowned animals in  colored
 fluids, and found froth similarly colored in the trachea and
 bronchise.J  Roesler, in  forty-five experiments,  found  in
 every case a small quantity of frothy mucus at the bifurca-
 tion of the  trachea.  Marc, Mayer of Bonn, Dr. Williams
 of Liverpool, Devergie, and many others, have observed it
 almost universally.
  In order to reconcile  this discrepancy (and  noticing the
 observation of Piorry, that froth would not occur in an ani-
mal, who, while drowning, was kept permanently below the
 surface of the water), Orfila was induced to perform experi-
ments on animals, and found that  in every case where the
animal came to the surface to breathe, the watery froth was
seen in the trachea and bronchise.  Mr. Taylor's experiments
also correspond  with  the  above results.  When  then the
animal was  maintained altogether  under water, or when  it
was sunk to a great depth  in the river, this appearance was
not met with—the trachea was perfectly smooth.§  Orfila

 * Fodere, vol. 3, pp. 93,94.    t Belloc, p. 178.      X Kay, p. 242.
 § Taylor's Med. J urisprudence, p. 125. 
248
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
further ascertained, that if these animals were left for some
days in the fluid in which they perished, and then  exposed
to the air some two or three days before dissection, no trace
of froth could be seen.   So also with persons found drowned.
If the bodies had been in water for a few hours  only, it was
present;  but not so if they had  lain twelve or fifteen days,
or beyond that period.*
   The  remarks  of Devergie  on this sign are so important
and interesting,  that a full abstract of them is proper.
   He  is  of opinion  that  observers  have  not   sufficiently
insisted on its peculiar physical properties.  It  cannot form
without motion, and is the product of an impulse communi-
cated to the fluid and a gas in mutual contact.
   The froth of the drowned  is commonly of a  white  color,
and consists of numerous very small bubbles, constituting a
lather rather  than a froth,  properly  so called.  It  never
adheres to the trachea by mucus, but is in immediate contact
with  that  tube.   All  the  bubbles  that  form  it,  have a
watery envelope, easily broken; and often, in  opening the
trachea, the greater part disappears like soap-bubbles.
   Its production is thus evidently the result of  vitality, for
it cannot be  formed without  this.   It is also distinguished
from similar  appearances in  the trachea and bronchise.   In
pneumonia, for example, the mucus secreted under the influ-
ence  of bronchial  irritation, is mixed up with the air in the
efforts of coughing.
  In both cases, whether from disease or drowning, the frothy
matter will be  formed  more easily  in  the last bronchial
ramifications, than  in the trachea, since the dimensions of
the former being much smaller, are sooner obstructed.  And,
accordingly, Devergie observes, that  the existence of froth

  * Orfila.  He objects to the distinction formerly proposed by Fodere, viz .
that the froth in question will not appear in syncopal asphyxia, or asphyxia
from cerebral congestion, but only in asphyxia from suffocation,  on the
ground, that in many instances of the former, although death is sudden, yet
some water must enter and thus produce it.  Lemons, vol. 2, p. 344.
  He also suggests as a probable reason of its absence in some cases, that the
body is drawn by the feet from the water, and left with the head depending,
for some time before examination. The froth that has been formed, may thus
flow out with the water contained in these organs, and consequently cannot
be found. 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
249
 in the superior  part of the trachea is a more certain sign of

 the life of the individual at the moment of submersion, than

 when it is met in the extreme branches ; but the part where

 it is preserved for the  longest period, is at the bifurcation of

 the trachea.   From his experience, it  seems that  in winter

 it can be discovered in most  cases during eight or ten days,

 but after that it completely disappears.

   Having thus endeavored to establish its character, and to

 explain its  absence in some cases, it is  necessary to add,

 that  its presence is not by any means an essential cause of

 death.*  It is also  said  to accompany  other diseases  and

 causes  of death.  Thus, De  Haen mentions having  seen it

 in the body of a person who was hung, and Marc confirms

 this by a case which  he  himself examined.   In apoplexy,

 and particularly those cases which arise from  an overloaded

 stomach, it is, according to Chaussier, quite common.f   It

 is probable, however, that the application of the distinctions,

 indicated by Devergie, may aid in establishing the  nature of

 the case.

   Intimately connected  with  this,  but which  I  prefer to

 consider separately, is the disputed  point, whether water is

found in the lungs of the drowned; and if so, whether it may


  * This is well established by the experiments of Dr. Goodwyn.   He made
 an opening into the trachea of a cat,  and through this introduced two ounces
 of water into the lungs.  The animal had immediately a difficulty of breath-
 ing, and, a feeble pulse.   But these symptoms soon abated, and it lived several
 hours afterwards, without  much apparent inconvenience. After  this, he
 strangled it, and found two ounces and a half of water in the lungs (Enquiry,
 p. 17). Prof. Mayer confirmed this opinion by numerous experiments.  Among
 other results, he mentions, that " animals  support a considerable quantity of
 liquid injected into the lungs, without experiencing mortal symptoms  from
 them. Rabbits can support a dose of four ounces and a half in twenty-four
 hours.  But these injections should  be performed by an opening made  into
 the trachea; for if we inject these fluids by the larynx, they excite the most
 severe symptoms of suffocation, and the  animal soon sinks under it.   The
 suspension of respiration, during this irritation of the muscles of the larynx
 by the injection, is the only cause of death."   Again: " The symptoms of
 suffocation, which arise from injections, are not serious  when we inject pure
 water, but they become so when we take thick fluids; for example, all which
 obstruct  the aerial passages, or some chemical solutions which  destroy the
 parenchyma of the lungs, prevent the oxidation of the blood, and produce
 extravasations  of blood,  and inflammation in the lobes of the lungs.   The
 fluids and solutions injected into the lungs, are absorbed more or less quickly,
 according to their nature and degree of concentration.   The absorption is in
 general very great, but less in young and newly born animals than in adults."
 (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  17, p. 469.)
  t. Chaussier, p. 45. 
250
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
not have  entered  after death, thus  destroying its value in
any disputed case.
  Roesler, in his  experiments, found  froth,  but no water.
Dr. Mayer of Bonn,  on the contrary, in his experiments,
performed under all possible circumstances, uniformly found
it.  " He  arrived  at  the conclusion, that in  every  instance
of death by drowning, provided death really  arises from the
mere  obstruction of breathing by the water, and not from
apoplexy, or some  other affection, occurring  at the moment
of immersion, water  will be found in the lungs.  He has
made the  trial with pure water;  with water  colored by red
lead or cinnabar, and  with a solution of prussiate of potash,
which was sought for in the lungs, by the test of the muri-
ate of iron; and in every instance,  whether the animal was
allowed to rise to the  surface or not, whether it was drowned
in cold or in warm water, and whatever was the species of
animal, he found water, not only in  the windpipe and its
great ramifications, but likewise in  the minute bronchial
tubes.  Sometimes it was  found  in  substance, but more
commonly in the form of froth;  and he  attributes the non-
discovery of  water, by some experimenters, to their always
having expected to find it in substance."*
  Piolett, a French military surgeon, drowned dogs, cats
and rabbits in oil, and always found from two to four ounces
of that fluid in the  air-passages.  And he  explains  the
removal of fluid from  the lungs in those who recover, on the
principle  of absorption.!
  Dr. Edward Jenner Coxe, of Philadelphia,  from a number
of well conducted  experiments, makes the following deduc-
tions :   1. When an  animal is immersed in  any fluid, and
taken out  previous  to  the last efforts of respiration, none of
the fluid will  have  entered the lungs, while in the stomach
will be found one or two ounces.  2. When  water is found
in the lungs of an animal, it is  absolutely necessary that the


  * Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p. 216.
  f London Medical Repository, vol. 25, p. 375. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
251
animal  be  under water, when  making  its  last  efforts to

breathe.*
   Dr. Ogston  observes as follows:  "In  case 5, nearly an

ounce, and  in  case  10, six drachms  of water were found in

the lower part of the trachea,  on the surface of which were

two or  three  large air-bubbles.  These  facts lead  us to

suspect that writers on asphyxia have underrated the quan-

tities of  water  which enters the windpipe,  in  death  by

drowning."!

   Orfila  and Devergie  each state, that in many  instances,

they have seen more or less of water in the lungs.$

   Considering this then established, by the concurrent testi-

mony of competent  experimenters,  it remains to ascertain

whether fluid will not enter the  lungs after death.   This is

unequivocally  asserted by Orfila and  Piorry.  Dogs  killed

by strangulation, were immersed, and, after a short  time,

water was  found in their lungs,  the quantity depending on

the position of the body.  If this was vertical, the fluid was

seen  even in the extreme bronchial  ramifications.  And this

was  distinctly  proved  with  colored  fluids,  such as  ink,

prussian  blue, &c.   The  experiments  of Mr. Johnson,  of

Torrington, also justify such an opinion.§   Orfila subse-

quently repeated the experiment on the human dead body,

with  similar results.

   From these facts,  he is of course  not disposed to attach

much value to  it  as  a distinctive mark.   The only circum-


  * North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 2, p. 2S6.
  Dr. Berger, of Geneva,  found that the air remaining in the lungs of drowned
persons had lost nearly all its oxygen.  (Copland's Dictionary, p. 132.)
  t In cases I  and 2, it was attempted to restore life by artificial respiration ;
and in each, a quantity of water escaped in jets from the tube in the trachea.
  X In a remarkable  case related by Devergie, the trachea was filled with
water,  as also the bronchiae, to their third division; but beyond this, there
was no fluid-  There was no froth. The subject was an infirm female, nearly
paralytic in her lower extremities.  She had been drowned in a bathing-tub ;
and from her position, it is probable that she  swallowed large quantities of
water.  Most of the common sisms of death by drowning were wanting. (Vol.
2, p. 3-25.)
  § Dr. Carson, in commenting on these last, advances the opinion, that the
water occasionally enters the lungs by imbibition.  While under water, the
body sustains the weight of a column of fluid ;  but when removed, the abdo-
men and chest, being elastic parts, will gradually expand, and the lungs may
thus imbibe the fluid that  has filled the windpipe and its ramifications.
(Lancet, vol. 12, p. 139.) 
252
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
 stances that, according to him, render its  presence a proba-

 ble proof of submersion during life, are,  1.  That the liquid

 found shall be  identical with that  in which the person has

 been  drowned.   Hence   the  presence  of   any  foreign

 substances, as mud, weeds, gravel, &c. exactly resembling

 those in the water, is a strong corroborating fact.*  2. That

 the water has not been injected after death.   And 3.  That

 the  body has  not remained so long in  the water  in  a

 perpendicular  position,  that, by  its  weight,  it  may  have

 penetrated into the bronchise.

   As to the presence of water in the stomach, we may remark,

 that  it  is  an   accidental  circumstance,  and  in no way

 connected,  as was once supposed,  with the cause of death.

 Goodwyn, Kite,   Orfila and  others,  have  proved by  their

 experiments,  that a  quantity may  be  swallowed during the

 struggles of a drowning person; but there are  also cases on

 record,  where none was found.

   Senac illustrated this subject nearly a hundred years ago,

 by detailing the  method  then  used in  Paris  for torturing

 criminals,  and  under which  the subject occasionally died.

 The mouth being  forcibly kept  open with a wedge, and the

 nostrils closed, a  great quantity of water was poured into

 the person's throat.  Respiration was  thus prevented, while


  * " Unfortunately,"  says our author, " it  is very difficult to verify this.
 The presence of sand or gravel is very uncommon ; so much so, that in fifty
 dissections, I have observed it but once."  (Orfila's Legons, 2d edition, vol.
 2, p. 347.)
  The London Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 446, mentions a recent
 German case, reported by Dr. Blumhart: "An individual, subject to epileptic
 fits, was found dead in a rivulet, with his  face downwards,  and the head
covered with water, which was not more than a foot deep, and which there-
fore did not cover more than half his body. On examination, sand and gravel,
the largest of which last weighed a drachm, was found in the trachea, below
its bifurcation into the bronchiae.  Some of the sand, indeed, had entered the pul-
monary vesicles.  The whole quantity found weighed between three and four
drachms.  The size of  one of the stones, which exceeded the capacity of the
glottis, proves that it could not have entered the trachea by a mere mechanical
descent after death, but renders it probable that it was swallowed in the last
 moments of agony."
  A similar case, except that mud wa3 found instead of gravel, occurred to
 Devergie.  The individual had been drowned  in a ditch.  (Vol. 2, p. 333.)
  In one instance, our author found a portion  of the contents of the stomach
 in the  trachea.  The individual had been  drawn living from the water, but
 expired shortly after.  Devergie supposes  that vomiting may occur occasion-
 ally in the drowning, and in this particular case, an effort at inspiration carried
 the food into the respiratory passage.   (Page 337.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
253
the irritation of the trachea, in resisting the access of fluid,

caused faintings, convulsions, violent agitation of the respi-

ratory organs, rupture of the pulmonary vessels, spitting of

blood and death ;  but very  little water  entered either into the

lungs or the stomach of these unfortunate persons.   On dis-

section, however, the usual lesions observed in death from

submersion, were apparent.*

  " Water was observed," says Ogston, " in the stomach in

5 cases out of 7.   In case  16, its presence  was hardly to be

expected.   In cases  9, 10, and 14, its presence was also de-

tected in the oesophagus, while in several cases which were

not examined, its escape  from  the mouth  on turning the

bodies, or on pressing the  abdomen, proved its existence in

the stomach or oesophagus."

  While then it is possible that  water may be found in the

stomachs of those who have been drowned,  it becomes  a

question of some interest  whether  it  can enter after  death.

Experiments, so far as they have yet proceeded, are deci-

dedly opposed to this.  Goodwyn and Kite never found any

in  the  intestines of animals; and Dr.  Fine of Geneva, has

ascertained that it cannot be introduced into the stomachs of

the dead, except by passing an elastic sound into the oeso-

phagus.  The  sides of that canal, when  in a state of in-

action,  appear to be in close  contact.f  These results are

confirmed by Orfila and Marc.  Dr. Edward Coxe also  found,

that when an animal is killed, and then immersed for twelve

or fourteen hours,  the stomach will not contain any  of the



  * Smith, p. 210.  It was formerly thought,  that if no water was found in
the stomach or bronchise, death could not have been occasioned by drowning.
(See the subsequent notice of the trial of Spencer Cowper.)
  " The common people, who in all countries inherit the cast-off prejudices
and opinions of their betters, are still of the same opinion; and deeming water
in the stomach and lungs the symptom most to be dreaded in cases of drown-
ing, the first indication of cure, therefore, when such an accident occurs,
must be to remove it as speedily as possible.  Accordingly, when a man  is
found drowned, the first process adopted is to roll him  about on a barrel, to
dislodge the fluid, which they look upon as the origo mali, from all its creeks
and corners; and then to hang him up by the heels, to empty it out, as if the
human frame were as simple in its construction as a bucket. The Humane
Society, some years ago, did a good deal of mischief by giving their sanction,
in a pamphlet on the means of restoring suspended animation, to the anti-
quated process of throwing tobacco smoke up the  rectum, &c."  Dumlop.
  t Marc, p. 160. 
254
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
 fluid.*   Devergie remarks that  the quantity found is gene-
 rally various, but he has noticed it from a pint to a quart;
 and he adds that it is a phenomenon indicating the presence
 of  life when it occurred, since deglutition is  necessary to
 produce it.
  The experiments of  Mr. Taylor also lead  to a  similar
 conclusion.  He found  that when  an  animal  was stunned
 prior to submersion, water did not pass down the oesophagus.
 But he also, in repeated dissections of drowned cats, disco-
 vered no water in the stomach.   " They had been invariably
 kept under water from the first moment  of their submersion,
 and thus in a condition but little favorable to the  exercise
 of  deglutition."   It is hence probable that  the  quantity
 found in the  stomach will be greater,  if the subject comes
 frequently to the surface and respires.f
  The presence of water in the stomach is deemed by Orfila
 to  be the  most  satisfactory  proof  we  have  of drowning
 during life, provided the water is identified with that out of
 which the  corpse has been taken, and if it be proved that it
 has not been  swallowed during  life or  injected after death.
 If,  however, putrefaction has advanced  to any extent, water
 may enter  ; and Mr. Taylor has shown that if a body be sunk
 to a very great  depth in water, this fluid will  find its way
 into  the stomach and  alimentary  canal, by  virtue  of its
 columnar pressure.   Three cats were taken,  one of whom
 was rapidly lowered to the depth  of fifty feet in the Thames,
 the second to  the depth of two feet and forcibly maintained
 in that position, while the third was   allowed to sink and
 rise to respire frequently  before death.   All were removed
 from the water after a quarter of an hour.  The stomach of
 the  first was  completely  distended with water; in that of
 the second, there was little or none, while the stomach of
the  third was filled, but  not to so great  an extent as that of
 the first.

  *  Dr. Darwall, in a note, after quoting Dr. Coxe's experiments, showing
 that ink was found in the lungs of a cat immersed after death, but not in the
 Btomach, observes, that " it is clear that the principal dependence ought to be
 placed upon the presence of 41uid in the stomach, and not in the lungs."
  t  Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence, p. 120. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
255
  From these experiments, Mr. Taylor  although attaching
great importance  to this sign, thinks it should be first con-
sidered, whether in the case of the submersion of a dead
body, the water may not have entered the stomach, from the
effects of putrefaction—from the body having been sunk to
a great depth,  or from the  water having been  artificially
injected.  And  again, whether in the submersion either of a
living or dead body, the water has not been  drunk by the
deceased before death.   If he can satisfy himself that none
of these circumstances have operated, the medical jurist is
justified in attaching much  importance  to this as a sign  of
drowning during life.
  But  it will be  asked, is its absence a proof to  the con-
trary ]  Apart from the fact that it has not  been found  in
many undoubted cases  of drowning, it   must  be recollected
that syncope in numerous cases may have occurred at the
moment, and thus the  power of deglutition has been lost.
There is no doubt also that the common  practice of carrying
the bodies of persons drowned, with the head downwards,
will cause the water  to  drain away ; and lastly  in  these
instances, where the body has been exposed, and putrefaction
is advancing,  the fluid may have  transuded through the
parietes of the  stomach, and become gradually lost by eva-
poration.*
  Among the occasional appearances to which some obser-
vers have been disposed to attach value,  may be  named that
of the  bladder.  Piorry  remarks, that in  all sudden deaths,
this viscus is empty, while he found  it full in dogs which he
drowned.f  He  adds, however, that this fullness disappeared
as the  body became rigid.   Devergie found  it to occur in
some instances  in the human body, and  in others not.  He
has more frequently observed the urine  tinged with blood.
In some instances  it was of a rose color,  and in others quite
red.J   In four of the  eight cases of Dr. Ogston, the bladder
was empty and contracted ; in one, it was half full; in No.

  * Taylor's Med. Jurisprudence, pp. 121-124.
  t London Med. Repository, vol. 28, p. 542.   X Devergie, vol. 2, p. 339. 
256
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
18, it contained  two ounces of a milky  fluid, and in the
remainder its condition is not mentioned.
   The viscera and the intestinal  canal  are frequently seen
high-colored  in the drowned.  Dr. Carson indeed remarks,
that the lungs particularly will sometimes bear almost the
appearance of inflammation; and Orfila remarked that when
drowning  took place  while the  process  of  digestion was
going on, the mucous membrane of the stomach had a red or
violet tinge.   It is  important  to remember  this in cases
where suspicion of poisoning exists.
   From this  tedious but necessary review, it will be  seen
that hardly  any single proof taken separately is perfectly
satisfactory, and that  several must be united in order to
arrive at a just conclusion.  It is evident  that the presence
of froth in the ramifications of the bronchise, and of water in
the stomach, are the two most  diagnostic ones.*  In the
absence of any marks of violence, several  others that I  have
mentioned, may be  considered as important supplementary
proofs  of  drowning  during  life.  Some of the conditions
imposed by Orfila can  hardly be attained  on a medico-legal
inquest, and Devergie  indeed accuses him of  having given
opinions in contravention, or rather in .neglect of his  own
rules.  It  is the  union of most of the  signs on  which we
have  commented, that must be relied on.
   Within what period do the signs of death by drowning disap-
pear ?  This  question  is  thus answered by Devergie:  In
winter they are manifest, although the  body  has lain from
15 to even 18 days in the water; in summer, from the third
to, possibly, the sixth or eighth day of  immersion.  Expo-
sure to the air, after the body is taken from the water, quickly
dissipates  them, particularly in  summer.  The progress of
putrefaction  is then  so  rapid, that a very few  hours  are

  * In a late dissection of a person drowned in a pond in London, where the
body remained immersed during half an hour, and the examination was made
the next day, the lungs were of a deep and livid hue, and crepitated very
indistinctly.  They were filled  with a frothy, sanguineous fluid, and the
bronchial tubes and air cells contained a quantity of mucus and water.   The
face, neck and chest were of a dark livid hue.  Several of the internal parts
were in a state of vascular engorgement.  (London Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 6, p. 798.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
257
sufficient to effect this.   The reason will  be manifest, when
we recollect, that with the exception of dirt under the nails,
hardly any  other is  permanent.  The color of the face
changes, the  redness of the larynx and trachea may be
mistaken for  a pseudo-morbid appearance—gas forming  in
the  lungs may drive off the tracheal froth, and the water in
the lungs and stomach will be dissipated by the changes in
those organs.*
  The immediate cause of death in drowning has long been
the  subject of  discussion,  but the  received doctrine  at
present is that the extinction of life is caused by the stop-
page  of  respiration and the exclusion of  atmospheric air
from the lungs.   Dr. Cullen seems to have been among the
first  who promulgated this, and it has been fully sanctioned
by subsequent experiments.!  Of these, I will only mention
a striking one by Gauteron.  He immersed a dog more than
a quarter of  an hour, without  inflicting  any injury, having
previously inserted  a long tube in the trachea, which was
kept elevated during  the experiment above  the surface of
the water.£
  As  to the marks of violence which may  be found on the
bodies of the drowned, they are with great propriety divided
by Fodere into three classes.
  1.  Those which are totally independent of any connexion
with  the circumstances of drowning.   Of this nature, are
the usual signs of poisoning—a regularly formed ecchymosis
around the neck, indicative of strangling, or wounds inflicted
by  fire-arms,  or cutting  instruments.   All  these  lesions
have  an essentially distinct  character.   And hence the
evident importance of examining all bodies drawn from the
water.  It  was  by pursuing  such  an  investigation, that
Deveaux discovered, under the breast of a woman, a wound
which had penetrated to her heart.
  In  a small  village in Warwickshire, a young gentleman
suddenly  disappeared on  the evening previous  to  his in-

  * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 348.
  X See letter to Lord Cathcart, by Wm. Cullen, M. D., Edinburgh, 1784, p. 6.
  X Tans, vol. 3, p. 29.                                   r
  VOL. II.                   17 
258
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
tended  marriage.  Seven days after, his body was  found
floating in a neighboring mill stream.  The idea prevailed
that this was a case of suicide, although no cause for it could
be  assigned.  A surgeon, however, found  some suspicious
marks upon the throat, and finally gave it  as  his opinion,
that the deceased had died  from strangulation.  Suspicion
now fell on a man of bad character, who had been seen on
the evening in  question, running  in great haste  from the
direction  of the spot in which the  body was  subsequently
found.  He was apprehended, but as no satisfactory proof of
guilt  could be  elicited,  he was  discharged.  Ten  years
afterwards, he was convicted of sheep-stealing and sentenced
to be  transported.  While on board of the hulks, he made a
voluntary confession of having destroyed the deceased, and
was subsequently tried entirely on  his own evidence.
  He  had  been engaged  in  stealing potatoes from the
garden  of the deceased, was detected by him,  and failed in
escaping.  The  prisoner attempted to leap the mill stream,
but the bank on the other side giving way he fell into the
water.  The deceased plunged after him and a  struggle en-
sued.    After being nearly  overpowered, the  prisoner suc-
ceeded in overturning his antagonist and seizing him by the
throat,  held him fast in  this manner under water, until he
seemed to  have no  more power.   The  escape was  then
effected in the manner already described.
   The  judge gave it as his opinion, that the case amounted
only  to excusable homicide, and accordingly the  man was
acquitted.*
   Again  the  following  case is  related by Mr.  Watson:
" Archibald McLennan was tried at  Inverness, September,
1830, for  the murder of his wife, by having bruised and
strangled her and afterwards thrown her body into the sea.
When the body  was inspected, several wounds and contu-
sions were found on different parts of the head.  At one of
these, which had been inflicted by a blunt instrument on the
crown of the head, there was a considerable effusion of dark

           * Smith's Forensic Medicine, 2d edition, p. 242. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
259
colored blood between the scalp and the skull.   There were
several livid  spots  on each  side of the throat,  giving it the
appearance of having been forcibly grasped  by the  fingers
of another person.  Abrasions  of  the cuticle under the chin,
at the angle of the jaw and on each side of the neck, were
also present.  There were also marks of contusions  on the
right side of  the abdomen and  on several parts of the arms
and legs.   No examination seems to have been made of the
internal parts."   The guilt of  the prisoner was considered
by the judge to be clearly established, by circumstantial evi-
dence confirming the medical  opinion given  upon the case.
But the jury considered the case not proven.*
   2. There are marks of violence which may have resulted
either  from  accidents  attending  submersion,  or  from  pre-
vious homicide, and these are unequal, irregular wounds,
which do not penetrate  far into  the body—contusions, frac-
tures and luxations.!   In all such instances, ascertain,  if
possible, the height from which the person has fallen, and the
resistance he may have  encountered.!   The  rapidity of the
current and the sharpness of the banks, may also have caused
  * Watson on Homicide, p. 129.
  t A case probably belonging to this division is given by Ollivier of Angers
(Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 22, p. 195,)  The body of a female was taken from
the water,  eight  days after her absence from  home.  There was a slight
wound on the top of the  head, and some contusions near it.  The body was,
in the opinion of the first examiners, ecchymosed in various places, but our
author shows that this was rather the result of immersion, and subsequent
exposure to the air.  On the whole, there were not facts sufficient to inculpate
the suspected person.  Dr.  Ollivier mentions the following, which is worthy
of remembrance: The prolonged immersion in alcohol of ecchymosed tissues
does not remove the blood which has penetrated through them during life,
but the color remains permanent.  On the other hand,  a sanguineous infil-
tration, resulting from post mortem imbibition is  speedily dissipated, and
leaves the tissue of its original color.
  X " A few years ago, a man who had leaped from each of the then three
bridges of the Thames with impunity, undertook to repeat the exploit for a
wager.  Having jumped from London bridge, he sunk, and was drowned.
When the body was  found, it appeared that he had gone down with the arm,
in the horizontal, instead of the perpendicular  posture, in consequence of
which, both of them were dislocated by the fall upon the water."  (Smith, p.
214.)
  In another case, a soldier, an excellent swimmer, plunged headlong into the
Sainbre. _ He was seen to struggle, but it was supposed to be in jest: but per-
ceiving him to become motionless, he was dragged  out.  On recovering his
senses, he  was found to be perfectly paralyzed from the neck downwards.
Death followed in a few hours, and on dissection, the body of the fifth cervi-
cal vertebra was found fractured transversely.   Case by Dr. Reveillon.  Ar-
chives Generales.  fMedico-Obirurarical Review, vol. 11, v. 240.) 
260
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
wounds.  The obstacles which might have been encounter-
ed should also be noticed.  Dr. Fine remarks, that the ra-
pidity of the Rhone, and the numerous mills erected on its
banks, often produce most shocking wounds on the bodies of
those who are driven against the stakes in the stream,  or are
drawn into the machinery.*
  3. Lastly, there  may be  lesions  received after death.
These are to be determined by the rules laid down in  the
section  on medico-legal dissection.  The progress of  putre-
faction deserves particular attention in this case.
  Even after every attention  to these directions and after
the most laborious research, the medical witness will occa-
sionally be extremely perplexed in deciding on the nature
of injuries.   A case  of this description is mentioned by a
late writer.  The body was  found after  it had remained
nineteen days in the water.  On the temple there was a red
patch,  from which several lines  radiated as if a blow had
been inflicted  on the part with a  blunt instrument.   There
was a  red line extending about  three-fourths  around  the
neck, of a finger's breadth behind, but connected with a
patch of redness nearly three inches wide in the forepart.
The medical witness supposed that  these might have been
caused  by pressure during life.  Between the pericranium
and the bone, there was a patch  of extravasated blood of
the size of a shilling, and the brain was gorged with blood.
No  water was discovered either  in the trachea, lungs or
stomach.
  On cross-examination,  the witness allowed that some of
the marks might have been caused by decomposition, but he
inclined to the idea that violence  had been inflicted during
life, although he considered it improbable that the wound on
the forehead should have  produced death.
  Another surgeon stated, that with the exception  of the
mark on the head, he had seen all the appearances met with
on the deceased, in a man who had certainly been drowned.
If the   deceased had fallen accidentally into the river, and
* Marc, p. 183. 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
261
 had struck himself in the descent, all these appearances
 might have been produced.  It was further shown, that the
 individual when last  seen, was intoxicated—and that the
 bank of the river was such, that he might readily have slip-
 ped off.
  Amidst this conflict of opinion  and particularly the ad-
 mission, by the witness  for the crown as to the wound  on
 the forehead, the prisoners might have  escaped, had not
 strong  circumstantial evidence,  and  the confession  of a
 female, who was in the house at the time of the  murder, led
 to their conviction and execution.*
  The following are still more striking cases :  A prisoner
 while escorted by a party of soldiers along the banks of the
 Po, took an opportunity of throwing himself  into the river,
 for the purpose of escaping.  His arms  were  at  the time
 bound together.   Thirty-three days after, the body was dis-
 covered.   Besides the ordinary signs of  drowning  in the
 respiratory organs, there was  a livid circle extending com-
 pletely around  the neck, about a  line and a  half wide, and
 immediately below it, another mark, lighter in color.  The
 skin over the trachea was ecchymosed.   Blood was extra-
 vasated in the brain and between its membranes.  The pre-
 sence of the marks  which  some  supposed  to  have  origi-
 nated from strangulation, was  explained  by the fact that
 the deceased had worn a thick coarse shirt, tightly buttoned
 around  the neck.  The  water,  by the  imbibition, caused
 a retraction of the stuff, and  thus made the shirt collar act
as a  tight ligature.  Barzellotti and Orfila gave it as their
 opinion that  this was a  case  of drowning, and  the persons
accused of strangling were set at liberty.
  Again,  a female was  accidentally drowned in  England.
The body was not more than ten minutes in the water, and

  *  Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence, p. 134.  Case of Pugh,  Williams, and
 Matthews, for the murder of Walter Carwardine.  Poilroux (p. 134) relates
 an equally interesting case, in which  the medical witnesses  were  much in
doubt whether the injuries noticed (wounds and fractures), might not have
been produced by the large and sharp stones which constituted the bed of the
torrent. In process  of time, however, it was ascertained that the murdered
man had been robbed, and the double felon, after being arrested and commit-
ted to prison, destroyed himself. 
262
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
a deep livid mark was immediately seen around  the neck.
This was found, by careful examination, to have  been pro-
duced  by the string of a cloak which the deceased wore at
the time of the accident.   It arose probably from  her strug-
gling in one direction, while the  tide was drifting the cloak
in another.*
   IV.  The  next point proposed for consideration was, the
effects of immersion on the dead  body and the changes pro-
duced  by it.
   There is but little difference between the specific gravity
of the human body, and that  of water, though the former is
somewhat the  greater.   Hence,  a  person whether  dead or
alive, when thrown into the water, will sink, unless buoyed
up by external aid; but after the  process of putrefaction has
occasioned  the evolution of gaseous matter, the body be-
comes specifically lighter than the  water, and it rises to the
surface.  It is for this reason that  bodies committed to the
deep have generally weights affixed to them.!
   It is, however, possible that a body may float at  first, when
its cavities have been  previously filled with air.   Thus Dr.
Male  supposes, that  in  the case of a person strangled  and
thrown into the water with  the  cord attached around the
neck, the body might float  at once, from the included  air.
It is also the opinion, that dead  bodies will  float sooner in
deep than in shallow, and in fresh than in salt water.^ In the
disastrous accident of the Royal George, the bodies were
observed to rise to the surface on or about the fifth day.§
   It often becomes a subject of much importance to ascer-
tain how long the body has lain in the water.  Until recently,
we. have  had but few facts to guide the medico-legal ex-
aminer, and his inferences  could only  be drawn from the

  * British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 9, p. 49.
  f Capt. Maryatt mentions, in his Diary, that the noted land pirate and mur-
derer, Murell, when he concealed the bodies  of his victims in the water, first
took out the intestines.  The object of this  was, to prevent them floating,
through the evolution of gas.
  X Male, 2d edition, p. 115. The body of Prince Carraccioli, who was hung
by order of Lord Nelson, was sunk into  the sea,  with double-headed shot
weighing 250 pounds tied to the legs.  It floated on the surface in thirteen
days.
  § Paris, vol. 2, p. 41. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
263
general results of putrefaction.  It was, however, under-
stood that the body, after lying for some time under water,
became partly  converted into a  fatty substance, termed
adipocire, and which, in appearance, resembles spermaceti.*
Water, in any situation, will produce this, although running
water has been found to do it more rapidly.   The question,
how long a  time  is necessary to cause this change to take
place, has been made the subject of a very interesting legal
inquiry.
  " At the Lent Assizes held at Warwick in the year  1805,
the following cause came before  the court:  A gentleman
named Meecham, who was insolvent, left  his  own  house
with the intention (as was presumed from his recent conduct
and conversation) of destroying himself.   Five weeks and
four days after that period, his body was found floating down
a river three miles from Birmingham, the  place where he
resided.  The face was disfigured by putrefaction, and the
hair separated from the scalp by the slightest pull; but the
other parts of the  body were firm and white, without  any
putrefactive  appearance.  The clothes were unaltered, but
the linen was exceedingly rotten.   On examining the body,
it was found that the lower part of the  abdomen and the
glutei muscles were converted into adipocire.
  " A  commission  of  bankruptcy having been taken out
against the deceased a few days after he left home, it became
an important question to  the interest of his  family, to ascer-
tain whether or not he was living at that period.   From the
changes  which the body had  sustained,  it was presumed
that he had drowned himself on the day he left  home,  and
to corroborate this presumption, the evidence of Dr. Gibbes
of Bath was  requested, who, from his experiments on  this
subject, was better acquainted with it than  any other person.
He slated on the trial, that he had procured a small quantity
of this fatty substance, by immersing the  muscular parts of

  * See Dr. Gibbes' papers on Adipocire, in Philosophical Transactions, vol.
M, p. 169; vol. S5, p. 239. "This  appearance is often to be found in the
macerating tub of a dissecting room, where there is but little water, and that
both stagnant and seldom changed; but the process of its formation requires
a much longer time to effect than elsewhere." Darwall. 
264               PERSONS FOUND DEAD.

animals in water for a month, and that it requires five or six
weeks to make it in any large quantity.  Upon this evidence,
the jury were of  opinion that the deceased was not alive at
the time the commission was  taken out, and the bankruptcy
was accordingly superseded.*  We shall presently see that
later observers have fixed a longer  period for the production
of  this change.
  I have alluded to recent observations and discoveries in
this division  of our subject.  These are principally derived
from the writings of Devergie, published first in the Annales
D'Hygiene, and subsequently in his treatise on Legal Medi-
cine.  His opportunities have been  most favorable.   " He
was authorized to carry on his investigations at the establish-
ment called ' La  Morgue,' in Paris, a building on the banks
of  the Seine, to which are transported all bodies found dead
in  the city and  its  environs, and where  they are exposed
during three days for  the purpose of recognition  by their
friends.  The number thus exhibited exceeds three hundred
annually, and  includes  all manner  of violent  deaths.  In
case of  the sudden  disappearance  of an individual, his
friends  repair  to the Morgue, and  leave with the porter an
accurate description of his person, his clothes, and the period
at  which he  was last seen; and when a body is brought in,
it is carefully examined, and if it  corresponds with  any of
the descriptions  that have been left, notice to that effect is
sent to the persons interested, who come and claim it.  The
number of persons  recognized is very considerable; in the
first six months of the year 1829,  out of  148 bodies, 116
were claimed;  of this number, 62 were drowned, of whom
45 were recognized.   Being thus  furnished  with positive

  * Male, 2d edition, p. 192.   Professor Amos' Lecture, in London Medical
Gazette, vol. 8, p. 193.  Dr.  Harlan of Philadelphia, placed a cranium  for
maceration in a barrel half filled with water and closely covered over.  On
examination at six weeks after, he found it floating  on the surfaoe of the
water, with one side above the surface, and on cutting into it, the whole sub-
stance down to the bone was converted into adipocire.  On the contrary, that
portion of the head and face which was immersed, was found putrid and ma-
 cerated.  (North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 471.) I
 neglected to mention in a previous page, that Dr. Bostock considers adipocire
 as the immediate production of the- muscular  fibre, and not  as some have
 thought,  a mere residue of the fat after the destruction of the muscles.
 (Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 15, p. 159.) 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
265
information as to the time of immersion, and that of finding
the body, Devergie was enabled to prosecute his inquiries
with great accuracy."*
  I shall bring together in this place, the principal observa-
tions of our author on the changes  induced  by the immersion
of a body in water, and the progress  of putrefaction in it, pre-
mising however  that the correctness of some of his state-
ments have been already questioned, and particularly by Dr.
Ogston.   The variations noticed by this gentleman will be
subsequently mentioned.
  Putrefaction is always slower in  coming on in water, than
in the air. It advances most rapidly when the water  has a
temperature  of  from 18° to 25° of Reaumur, (72° to 88° of
Fahrenheit.)   It is difficult  to say whether it occurs  earliest
in  running or stagnant water.  The experiments of  Orfila
seem to  show,  that saponification, (which includes  the
formation of adipocire,) happens earliest in the former, but
Devergie, while he concedes  this, inclines to believe, that
decomposition,  (the  development  of gas  and reducing to
putrilage,) occurs more rapidly in the latter.   In the  water
of sewers, putrefaction is still longer delayed than in  either
of the above, but saponification is an early result.
   Devergie  arranges  the  phenomena  of the putrefactive
process  in water, under nine distinct heads.  They do not,
however, always occur in  succession, as frequently two or
more are  seen  on the  same body.  1. Green putrefaction.
This commences in  the skin  of  the sternum, and  extends
regularly  to that of the face,  neck,  abdomen, shoulders,
groins, arms, and legs.  In atmospheric putrefaction, .the
order is  different.  Here the abdomen is first attacked, then
in  succession, the groins, the  inferior  regions of the  chest,
thighs,  anterior part of the chest, legs,  neck, arms,  and
face.f   The  green color  is  at first  light, but gradually
  * Dr. Beatty, in Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. Persons found dead.
  _ t This is true very generally, but Dr.  Chowne mentions a striking excep-
tion, in the case of a man who died in the street and was brought to the
Charing Cross Hospital, London.  At the end of eight days, the green putre-
faction had extended to the shoulders, neck, face and limbs, but the umbilicus
and anterior surface of the abdomen were still of a natural color.  (Lancetj
 N. S., vol. 24, p. 823.) 
266
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
becomes darker.  It sometimes extends from the skin to the
superficial  muscles, but rarely, unless in summer, to the
deeper  seated.  It  is either  uniform or traversed  by dark
blue or black lines, caused by the decomposition of blood
in the vessels.  This change occurs  about the third day in
summer, and  from  the  twelfth to the fifteenth  in winter.
2. Evolution  of gas.  The seats  of  this  are  the stomach,
intestines, lungs, and cavities of the heart.  In winter, it is
far from being as marked as in  summer.   The heart, indeed,
in the former season, is  generally empty.  But when the gas
is extensively evolved,  it frequently drives the blood from
the larger vessels, into the superficial veins and the capilla-
ries, so as  to give  a red appearance to the cellular tissue,
and the mucous membrane of the abdominal organs and tra-
chea.  This  color  is most  marked  in  the cavities of the
heart, when considerable blood has remained  in the ventri-
cles at the moment of death,  and  accordingly, from its
intensity, we  may  form some  opinion as to the cause pro-
ducing  death, whether asphyxial, syncopal or apoplectic.
It is these  appearances which have been mistaken in the
intestines of the  drowned, for. gastro-enteritis.  When de-
veloped in the  lungs,  this  gas expels the froth  from the
trachea.  It is disengaged in summer from the fourth  to the
sixth day, and  in  winter from six to eight weeks.   In the
former cases it is produced very rapidly, occupies  the sub-
cutaneous  cellular  tissue, and greatly enlarges the size of
the body.  Hence bodies come  to the surface and float much
earlier in warm than in  cold weather.
  3, Brown putrefaction.  Commences in  the same  parts as
the green,  but does not spread so extensively, being often
overtaken by saponification.  It  seems to be  limited  to the
skin.   Occasionally, there is a variety of colors on the same
body, green, yellow, or  violet.   The brown color is accom-
panied  with softening of the tissues.  It  occurs, at the end
of the month in winter,  and from  ten to twelve  days in
summer.
   4. Putrilage.  The parts attacked by the green and  brown
putrefaction, are reduced to a putrid matter which dissolves 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
267
in water.   It commences  on the skin of the forehead, and
extends in succession to  that of the eyelids, nose, lips,
clavicles, sternum, cartilages of the ribs, the abdomen and
groins.  The destruction  of the  skin  allows the gas  to
escape, although this has many natural outlets.  The period
of this change is variable, but generally from the second  to
the third month.
  5. Saponification.  Such parts of the skin as have not been
destroyed become opaline, dense, and unctuous.  The pro-
gress of liquefaction  is arrested, and the parts affected by
it, take  on hard and  dry edges.  The muscles shrink and
assume a rosy color.  The bones, if exposed, are of a bright
red.  All  the internal organs diminish in  bulk.   The sto-
mach, intestines, and bladder  are of a  white color.  This
change  occurs  earliest in  fat females, but usually it is
present from the  third to the fourth  month.  Frequently
along with this, the skin of the legs becomes dense and of
a yellow color, resembling parchment.
   6. Drying.  All the fluids  seem to be removed, and the
hard parts acquire such solididy, as to retain within  their
coverings  the  putrid matter  into which  they have  been
converted.  Saponification goes on during  this change, and
has penetrated into the intermuscular cellular tissue.  The
muscles alone escape drying; they are red, moist, glistening,
and yet not easily torn.  Begins about the  fourth month.
   7. Corrosions.   The cellular tissue appears as if corroded,
and these corrosions present a granular surface.  They are
always a result of saponification,  and if developed on a part
which  has  only undergone this, they are  round, and of
small size, but if they occur on places  previously attacked
with the various kinds of putrefaction, they are irregular
and large.   This change occurs at four and a half months.
   8. Incrustations.   These  consist  of  a calcareous soap,
produced  by a double decomposition of the sulphate  and
carbonate of lime in the water, and the margarate  and oleate
of ammonia, in the adipocire. The skin is thickened, so that
it is sonorous when struck.   The  bulbs  of the  hair also
enlarge.  These  phenomena only  occur on the parts not 
268
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
resting on the bottom of the water.  About this period also,
the muscles  become  saponified ; the  brain, also, and the
bones are extremely friable.  The cartilages of the trachea
are separated, and  the  stomach and  intestines are  nearly
destroyed.   Period  from four to four and a half months.
  9. Destructon of the soft parts-  The saponaceous  matter
separates from the bones and disappears.  It commences on
the head, and  afterwards  upon the  chest,  abdomen, and
extremities.
  Dr. Devergie  next adverts to the circumstances which
modify the putrefactive process in water.  Among these are
1. The extent of dress on the body.  Any part that is thus
protected from the contact of the water will  be the slowest
in putrefying.  Hence  boots  in men, and corsets in females
are a great  protection.   Thus in the body of a female, which
had been five and  a half  months in the water, the skin of
the trunk was in a natural state, while that of the head was
saponified, and upon the  thighs and legs,  it was covered
with calcareous incrustations.   2.  Stagnant water accele-
rates  those stages  of putrefaction  which he styles  green,
brown, and liquid.   3.  The changes above detailed do not
necessarily observe a certain order of sequence;  they may,
however, be grouped, into two classes, mutually indepen-
dent; the  one comprehending  green,  brown, liquid, and
gaseous putrefaction, and the other, saponification, corrosion,
drying,  and  incrustations.  The former always  affect the
same  parts, but may be wanting in some instances, when
saponification supplies  their  place.  Our author, however,
has never  seen a case of entire saponification, without any
liquid putrefaction.  4. The  developement of the various
kinds of putrefaction,  renders  the body more  disposed to
float.   In summer,  bodies do not remain in the water more
than from  two to three weeks.  5. It is  doubtful whether
the developement  of  gas  is a  constant phenomenon.  In
winter,  it is possible that there is scarcely any.  Certainly
it is produced much more slowly.  6. There is at  least a
month's difference  between the progress of putrefaction in
summer  and in winter.  7. It is very rare that saponification 
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
269
occurs in rivers during summer.   This change is  prevented
by  the  rapid  induction of putrefaction  which causes  the
body to float.  If this last does not happen at the ordinary
time stated above, we have reason to believe that the body
is retained in the water by some substance keeping it down.
Under such  circumstances, a saponification may occur.   8.
Saponification is  prevented  when a portion of the body is
deprived of  its skin.  9. Saponification,  drying, &c, occur
more readily in young persons and those  who are  fat.
  In explanation of the fact already  stated, that in the wa-
ter  of privies, putrefaction is less rapid than in running
water, while saponification occurs earlier, M. Devergie sug-
gests that the  presence of a large quantity of ammonia may
delay the one, but accelerate  the other.
  The changes produced in  the various organs and tissues,
have been sufficiently stated in the above  detail.   I find only
one or two circumstances that require mention.   The brain
is sometimes converted into  a pultaceous mass, which finds
 its way into the veins  even to the vena cava—and this soft
matter so much resembles pus, that at first  our author sup-
poses that phlebitis had existed  in the living subject.  The
serous membranes instead of putrefying,  seem to become
more dense, and retain as in the liver and spleen, the liquid
putrefaction of their substance.
  We come next to mention  the  alterations characteristic of
various periods of continuance in the water during the Winter.
M.  Devergie  found  that  in  general no change takes place
until the fourth or fifth day, and the cadaverous rigidity fre-
quently continues, two, three  or even four days after immer-
sion.  This is probably owing to the coldness of the medium
in which the body is placed.
  From three to four days.   Loss of animal heat, rigidity,
no contractility under the electric current, epidermis of the
palms of the hands beginning to whiten.  This last is, ac-
cording to our author,  a most important  sign,  particularly
when a body  after being drawn from the water, has been
exposed for  some days  to the air.  Putrefaction of the head
and chest   may be  present, yet the appearance of  the 
270
PERSONS found dead.
hands must be the guides as to the time of immersion in the
water.
  From four to  eight days.   General  flexibility,  color of
the skin natural,  epidermis of  the palms of the hands very
white.
  From eight to twelve days.   Flaccidity, epidermis on the
back of the hands begins to whiten.  The  face softened and
of a dull white color, and in this respect differing from the
rest of the skin.
  About fifteen days.   Face slightly swollen and red.  A
greenish tint upon the  middle of the sternum;  the  epi-
dermis of the hands and feet entirely white, and begining to
wrinkle.
  About a  month.  Face brownish  red,  eyelids  and  lips
green, a brown red patch surrounded by green on the ante-
rior part of the chest;  the epidermis of the hands and feet
white, swollen and wrinkled, as if by poultices.   The scro-
tum and  penis are greatly distended by gas, and the  hair
and nails are still very adherent.
   About two months.   Face brownish  and tumefied, hairs
loose, epidermis of the  hands and  feet nearly detached;
nails  still adhering.
   Two months and a half.  Epidermis and nails of the hands
detached, also the epidermis of the feet,  but not the nails.
In  females,  redness of the  subcutaneous  cellular tissue of
the neck; partial  saponification  of the cheeks and chin;
superficial on the breasts, groins and anterior surface of the
thighs.
   Three months and a half.  Destruction of part of the scalp,
eyelids and  nose.   Partial saponification  of  the face, neck
and groins.  Corrosions.  Epidermis of the hands and feet
entirely removed, and the nails separated.
   Four months and a  half   Saponification  of nearly the
whole of the face,  neck, groins and anterior parts of the
thighs ; commencement of incrustations on the thighs, and
of saponification of the  anterior  lobes of the brain.  The
skin  is of  an opaline  color.  Detachment  of  nearly the
whole scalp.   The skull beginning to be friable. 
                 PERSONS FOUND DEAD.               271

  Beyond this period, our author, from the uncertainty in
the history of the cases  examined by him, is  unwilling to
present any general characters.
  As to the changes, which  take place in Summer, the fol-
lowing  observations are  made :   Ten or twelve days in the
water during this season, advance putrefaction as rapidly as
six weeks in winter.  The face is swollen and of a brownish
color, the eyelids distended with gas, and the lips voluminous.
The body also  is more  or less swollen;  the  skin  has an
opaline tint,  a  green  spot is seen on the sternum, and the
epidermis of the hands is wrinkled.  There is thus a differ-
ence of at  least twenty-two days in the time requisite for
producing these appearances.  The remaining observations
may be put in a tabular form :

        In Summer.                      In  Winter.
       5 to 8 hours,..............   3  to  5 days.
           24 hours,..............   4 to  8 days.
           48 hours,..............   8 to  12 days.
             4 days,...............        15 days.

   During the Spring, the changes are somewhat intermedi-
ate, but they are considerably affected by  the previous sea-
son.  " If the winter has been very severe,  the progress of
putrefaction  will be slower in the following spring.   It is
not, however,  equally  true, that a  hot  summer  renders
putrefaction more rapid  in the ensuing autumn, a fact which
is accounted for by the well known law, that water is more
easily cooled  than heated  by  an  agent  applied  to its
surface."
   Finally, in calculating the period of submersion, we must
always take  into  account the length of time during which
the body has been exposed to the atmosphere, after its re-
moval from the water.   Five hours, particularly in summer,
are sufficient to produce the most rapid changes during the
earlier stages of putrefaction.  From these  it passes to the
more advanced with extreme quickness.  Not  so, however,
when saponification is present,  since this for obvious rea- 
272
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
sons is little affected by contact with the air.  In winter, the
changes occur much more slowly.
  It thus appears,  that  the most  remarkable alterations
happen in bodies removed from the water in summer—not if
they have been recently—or a long time immersed, but for
an  intermediate  period—from eight days to four or six
weeks.*
  I have already mentioned, that the value of the deductions
have been strongly questioned.   Orfila is  one who denies
that the time which has elapsed since immersion can thus be
positively  decided.!  Devergie,  however,  asserts that  in
several very recent instances, examined  by  himself and
others, the period of  immersion  stated by him on merely
viewing the bodies, proved to be  accurate.
  The experience of Dr. Ogston likewise is not confirmato-
ry of Devergie,  In case 6,  occurring in January,  the  head
and neck were swollen, although the body had  only been
immersed six hours.  In case  16, immersed  80 hours, and
seen  in October, the  face was  swollen, and  of a dull red
color,  yet  Devergie prescribes fifteen days as the term of
this appearance in winter.  In case  18, examined in Decem-
ber, after twenty days immersion, the face was enormously
swollen, and of a deep  red color-^-the hair was detaching
from the scalp, and coming away by a moderate effort.  The
cuticle was beginning to separate from the lower half of the
legs.   Saponification had gone on to a considerable extent.
  We are,  however, not  to undervalue the observations of
Devergie.   They were made on  a limited number of cases,
and it is only by increasing these, that we can  expect to ar-
rive at deductions which shall be generally correct, although
doubtless variations will always  more  or less  occur.  It is
something to ascertain  with some  degree of accuracy, the
changes correspondent to distant intervals  of immersion.
  *  Devergie, vol. 1, pp. 94, 164 to 234.  British and Foreign Med. Review,
vol. 2, pp. 397 to 402.
  f  Orfila has attacked Devergie very severely, in his Exhumations Juridi-
ques, vol. 2, pp. 1 to 120. The main charge however is plagiarism, and a
denial in some cases of the uniform occurrence of the changes indicated. The
controversy has been continued in  the Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 5, p. 429;
vol. 6, p. 209. 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
273
Had these been generally understood, they might  have
proved useful in the excitement which,  several years since,
agitated our state.  The body of William Morgan, drowned
some  fifteen months previous (in summer) in the Niagara
river, was supposed to have been found.  The hair dropped
out from the slightest touch; the  nails of the fingers and
toes were loose ; the body was swollen, and the arms of a
chocolate color.    My  former pupil and  friend, Dr.  John
Cotes, of Batavia,  examined the body.  The parts under
the skin had not  undergone decomposition ; the stomach
was in  a perfect  state, and there was nothing manifest,
except the early indications of putrefaction.  He deposed,
before the coroner's jury,  that this body has probably not
lain in  the  water  more than six or eight weeks.  It was
subsequently ascertained to be the body of another individu-
al.  Yet it is to  be added, that  there  were some  striking
coincidences in physical marks between the murdered indi-
vidual and the one now under examination.
   V. Spencer Cowper, Esq., a member of the English bar,
 and three other  individuals, were tried  at the Hertford
Assizes, in 1699, for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Stout.   Mr.
 Cowper came to Hertford on Monday, the 13th of March,
and shortly  after  visited  Mrs. Stout,  who lived with her
mother,  of the  same name.  He dined  with them, and staid
till four  in the afternoon.   When he went away, he promised
 to return and lodge there  that night.  Accordingly, at nine
 o'clock, he arrived, ate some supper, and  then  engaged in
 conversation with  Mrs. Stout,  the daughter.   They were
 alone in the room, when  she called a  servant, and desired
 her to make a fire in his  chamber, and to warm his bed.
 The direction was  attended to, and in about a quarter of an
 hour, the servant  heard the door shut, as if some  one was
 going out.  She remained  above about  a quarter  of an hour
 longer, and then came down into  the  room.  Mr. Cowper
 and Mrs. Stout  were both gone, and the next morning she
 was found dead, and floating on the water.  Its depth was
 about five feet,  and her body was about five or six inches
   VOL. ii.                   18 
274
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
under it, although some of her clothes was on  its surface.
Her eyes were open, and some little froth  issued from her
mouth and nostrils.  The body was not tumefied, nor were
any bruises observed.  This was the testimony  of the indi-
viduals who took the body out of the water.
  Mr. Dimsdale, a surgeon, was  sent for by the mother, to
view the body.   He found both  sides of the  neck swelled
and black, and the skin between her breasts up towards the
collar-bone,  was  also dark-colored.   The left  wrist was
slightly bruised.   There was, however, no circular mark
around the neck.  It is to be regretted that this investigation
proceeded no further.
  On the 28th of April, six weeks after the death of Mrs.
Stout, her body was disinterred  for the purpose of inspec-
tion.  The medical witnesses stated, that they found the
head and neck so much  putrefied, that  no opinion could be
formed  respecting  their appearance.   The  stomach and
intestines were, however, in a sound state, as were also the
lungs.   Neither of them was putrefied, and on making inci-
sions into them, no water could be discovered.
  Drs. Coatsworth, Nailor,  Burnet,  and Woodhouse, with
Mr. Babington, a surgeon, deposed, that when a person is
drowned, wTater will be taken into the  stomach and lungs,
and as none  was found  in this  case, they  were of opinion
that she came to her death by some other means.
  The above  is an abstract of the testimony on the part of
the crown.   On  the part of Mr. Cowper, it was first at-
temped to be shown, that the peculiar position of the body
was owing to its lying sideways  against some stakes in the
river. These  prevented its complete immersion under water;
and a witness also mentioned, that in drawing the body out
of the water,  one of the arms rubbed against the stakes, and
thus probably produced the injury observed on it.
  Drs. Sloane, Garth, Morley, Wollaston and Crell, together
with William Cowper, the celebrated anatomist, appeared as
witnesses for the prisoner. They were all asked concerning
the circumstance of no water being found in the body, and
whether this  disproved  the  probability of  drowning.   Dr. 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
275
 Sloane considered it altogether an accidental appearance in
 the stomach, and not necessarily present in such cases.   The
 others  advanced similar opinions.  As to the fluid  in the
 lungs, the answers were not very definite ;  but it was insinu-
 ated by some, that the six weeks' burial might have dissi-
 pated whatever was taken in.*
   During the trial, it was a subject of keen inquiry, whether
 dead bodies float or sink when thrown into the water.  Sea-
 men were summoned to  depose  on this  point,   and they
 testified that weights were fastened in order to produce their
 descent.  The explanation of Dr.  Garth is, however,  per-
 fectly  satisfactory on this  point.   It is the same which is
 mentioned in a former page.   Weights are added to prevent
 the buoyancy when putrefaction commences.   In answer  to
 a  question from the judge, (Baron Hatsell,) Dr.  Garth
 remarked, that the body of a strangled person might possibly
 float, on account of the included air.  In this instance, how-
 ever, there was no proof of such a cause of death.
   Dr.  Crell  insisted much on  the  presence of the frothy
 mucus  about the mouth and nostrils, as a proof that Mrs.
 Stout had been drowned.
   The coroner's  jury had returned  a verdict of non compos
 mentis, and Mr. Cowper, on the trial, attempted to prove a
 previous melancholy state of mind.   This,  of  course,  was
 for the  purpose  of rendering it probable  that  suicide  had
 been committed.
  These were the leading medico-legal facts and  opinions
 elicited on the trial; and the jury,  after remaining out about
 half an hour,  brought in a verdict of not guilty.!


mi^?rhvl°rle7 Bug8M*ed» *»* * *** female intended to destroy  herself, she
aught by keeping her breath, only take in a very small quantity of water
  t Hargrave's State Trials, v. 5, pp. 193 to 231. This case gave rise toseveral
 \tX^f^'*? Which the Whc*e course of testimony^ revieweXand
 S  e vol  8 ^n I??'.?,?}' T,d Mr" C°WPer Were treated ™th littllmercy
 2£2i,i PPV   a \ 512'}  J^e °PP°nent of Mr. Cowper accuses him or his
 Ind Zn If b.r.oad term?> <>{>vfng felled her with a blow under the ear,
 tenaSr  W,her Tn ^^  Such an °Pinion ™> however, hardly
 whtwn   Dimsdal*  and paml111 ?°th stated, that the stagnation of blooti
 Si the Town a*   '       Penally differ from what is usually observed 
276
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
  In analysing the above case, now a number of years ago,
I had nothing before me, except the work of Hargrave,  and
I confess that that result was unsatisfactory (in consequence
of the  apparent mystery, and numerous circumstances  un-
explained)  as to the  reputation of Mr.  Cowper.   At  the
same time I could find no satisfactory proof negativing the
idea of suicide.  Under these circumstances, I read with
great pleasure, a history of the case, by Lord Campbell, in
his  lives of the  Lord  Chancellors of England (vol. 4, p.
275), and of which the following is an abstract:
  William Cowper (afterwards Lord Chancellor of England)
and Spencer Cowper were the sons of  Sir William Cowper,
and natives of Hertford.   At the time in question, William
was already King's counsel, and he and his brother went
the usual circuits, and of course, their native place was  one
of the  county towns visited by them.   Sir William and his
eldest  son were also both members of parliament for Hert-
ford, and Spencer was thus under  the necessity, says Lord
Campbell, of showing, for the sake of the family interest in
that borough,  very  marked attention to the electors,  and
their wives and daughters.
  " Mr. Stout, the Quaker, had died since the last election,
leaving his widow and an only child, an unmarried daughter,
named Sarah, in affluent circumstances.  The Cowpers still
kindly took great notice  of them, visited them at Hertford,
and invited them to the house of Sir  William, in  Hatton
Garden.  Spencer Cowper had been particularly serviceable
to Mrs. Sarah (as she was called), in managing her pecuniary
affairs,  and although  she  was  a  very  handsome  young
Quakeress and rather of a romantic turn, it seems now quite
certain that  he never  made her any improper overtures, or
at all encouraged a fatal passion which  she cherished for
him."
  After mentioning the finding of her body next morning in
the river that flows  through the town, and the fact that
Spencer Cowper was  the last person seen in her company
the night before, our author adds,  that suspicion fell upon
him, but he appeared as a witness before the coroner's jury, 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
277
and  so far cleared himself, that they brought in  a  verdict
that " she had drowned herself, being non compos mentis."
  Two parties, however, were at  work, from very opposite
motives,  planning measures which nearly brought  him to
the gibbet.  An unfounded rumor was spread that she was
pregnant, and that she had made away with herself to con-
ceal her  shame.  The Quakers, with Mead  at  their head,
thought that such an imputation brought disgrace  upon the
whole of their society, and the body Was disinterred several
weeks after it had been in the grave.   It was proved that
she  had  died a virgin.  The transition from  this  to  the
charge of murder against Spencer  Cowper was a ready one,
and  the  political opponents  of the family eagerly seized
upon it as a means of destroying  the whig influence in the
borough.
  Cowper was accordingly committed to prison, and after-
wards tried for his life.  Not being allowed any counsel, he
made his own defence.  He proved from the testimony of
his brother  William and his  wife, and  other witnesses of
undoubted credit, that Miss Stout, although he was  a married
man, had conceived an uncontrollable passion for him, which
he in vain had attempted to repress;  that when in London,
she  wrote to him she was coming to visit him at his cham-
bers in the Temple; that he communicated this in confidence
to his brother, and they agreed that as she was  to  dine that
day with their father in Hatton Garden, William should say
that Spencer had gone into the country on business; that
she had solicited him to lodge at her mother's house during
the assizes, which he had declined  ; that on the 9th of March
(five days before her death) she wrote him a letter, in which
she  plainly proposed that they should live together, adding
this  expression,  "for come  life, come death,  I am  resolved
never to desert you;  therefore, according to  your appoint-
ment, I shall expect you."   (Mr. and Mrs. William Cowper
mentioned, on their examination, her  frequent  fits of des-
pondency, her repeated expression of her wish to  be rid of
life,  and  of prognostications  she had  uttered  of her  ap-
proaching death.) 
278              PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   That on the day and evening in question, after engaging
 lodgings, he had visited her, and heard her give the maid
 orders to prepare a bed for him; but as soon as she left the
 room, he positively refused to sleep there, and immediately
 left the house.   Mr. Cowper proved also  in the clearest
 manner, that before the clock struck eleven, he had returned
 to his lodgings, and that he never went out again until next
 morning, after the news of the catastrophe that had happened
 had been spread over the town.
   An attempt  was  afterwards  made to bring him again to
 trial, by the process called " an appeal of murder," sued out
 in the name  of the  heir  at  law of Sarah  Stout.  " There
 were various hearings on  the subject, before Lord Keeper
__ Wright,  who  called to his  astistance the  Master of the
 Rolls, Lord Chief Justice  Treby, Lord Chief Baron Ward,
 and  Mr.  Justice Powell.   William Cowper attended  as
 counsel for his brother,  and argued the case for him with
 great talent,  his  energy being stimulated, not subdued by
 the anxiety which he felt.  No  misgiving was  ever felt by
 him, for a  moment, respecting Spencers innocence; but con-
 sidering the perverted and  infuriated  state of the public
 mind, it was  of the  highest  importance  that the risk of a
 mistaken verdict should not be  again run.   Upon a capital
 conviction in this form of proceeding,  the  crown  has no
 power to pardon.  On account of an informality,  the first
 appeal was quashed,  and  the lord-keeper, with the unani-
 mous concurrence of  his assessors, refused  to issue a writ
 for another."
   The strongest proof in favor of the general impression of
 his  innocence  is  that some  years afterwards, Mr. Spencer
 Cowper was made a judge  of  the court of common pleas.
   A case exciting almost equal interest with the  above, hap-
 pened in this state :
   Levi Weeks was, on the  31st of March, 1800, put upon his
 trial, before the court of oyer and terminer at New York,
 for the  murder  of Gulielma Sands.  The  principal circum-
 stances were as follows :  The  deceased  and the prisoner
lodged in the house of Mrs. Ring,  who was a distant rela- 
PERSONS FOUND  DEAD.
279
tive of the former.  She received attention from the prisoner,
and told  Mrs.  Ring that  she was to be married to him on
Sunday,  the 22d of December, 1799.  When the evening
arrived, she dressed herself, and  came down into the lower
room, where the prisoner was.  Shortly after, she again
went up stairs, whither Mrs. Ring followed her, saw her put
on her hat and shawl, and take her muff in her hand. While
in this state of preparation,  Mrs. Ring came  down stairs
into the  room, and found her husband and Levi sitting to-
gether.   The latter instantly took his hat and went out into
the entry, and the moment  the  door opened, Mrs.  Ring
heard a walking on the stairs, and directly a whispering at
the door. She soon heard them walking  along, and  pre-
sently the front door  opened, and the latch fell.  The  time
she accurately fixed at about ten minutes after eight. Weeks
returned  to his lodgings at Ring's at ten o'clock. Gulielma's
body  was found in the Manhattan well, on the 2d of Janu-
ary, 1800.
   As to  the  circumstantial evidence, I will only add the
following:  It  was proved by a  witness, that  Weeks had
spent the evening with him from half past eight until ten;
and again it was testified, that  it took fifteen  minutes to
walk  from Ring's to the well.
  The medico-legal testimony was of the following import:
The body was  carefully drawn up, so as not to touch either
side of the well.   Her hat, handkerchief  and  shoes  were
gone, and her clothes torn.  On  the  right hand  there was
something like a bruise, and there  were scratches of sand
upon her skin, some of which was knocked off, and seemed
to have been driven forward.   The right foot was bare, and
somewhat scratched  on its upper part, as if she had been
dragged on the ground.  Her countenance was flushed, and
her arms  and  neck  very limber.  Drs. Prince and Mackin-
tosh examined the body before the coroner's jury, on the 3d
January.  It was ascertained that  she was not  pregnant.
The scarf-skin of the face was scratched, as if with gravel,
and there was a bruise on the knee.  There was a livid spot
on the breast, but none on the neck.   In the body, a small 
280
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
quantity of water was discovered.  Both these gentlemen
deposed,  that in  their opinion,  all the  appearances could
be accounted for  on the supposition  of her having been
drowned.
  Dr. Hosack saw the body on the day it was interred.  He
was struck with the unusual redness of the countenance, and
upon  looking at  the  neck,  observed  three  or four dark-
colored spots, of an irregular shape, but not in an exact line.
The largest were about an inch and a half,  and the smallest
about three quarters of an inch.   He  wTas  decidedly of an
opinion that these were marks of violence done to the neck,
and did not conceive it  possible that  they could have been
committed on one's own person.   Other  witnesses had also
observed these spots on the neck.
  Towards the  conclusion of the trial,  Dr. Hosack was
again called, and asked whether there was any explanation
by which the medical testimony, apparently so discordant,
could be reconciled.   He replied,  that it might, in either of
two  ways.  First, the spots were probably not so visible,
when the body was first taken out of  the water, as after it
had been exposed to the air for some days.   The gradual
progress of putrefaction might have developed this appear-
ance in the injured  part.   Secondly, when she was first
taken out of the well, it was generally  supposed that the
neck and collar  bone were broken. As  Dr.  H. did not see
her until the day of interment, it is possible that the fre-
quent  turning and bending of the head, and the repeated
examinations of the neck, to ascertain the injury done  to
the collar bone,  might have produced  the spots in question,
and as the body  had been dead for  several days, a little vio-
lence might have produced  a rupture  of the  cutaneous
vessels, and a consequent effusion under the skin.
  The prisoner was  acquitted.*

  * Report of the trial of Levi Weeks, &c, taken in short-hand by the clerk
of the court (Wm, Coleman, Esq.), 8vo. New-York, 1800. Not long since it
was asserted in some of our newspapers, but I know  not on what authority,
that the actual murderer of Miss Sands had suffered death for a similar crime
in another country. 
PERSONS  FOUND  DEAD.
281
  I  cannot  avoid venturing a single remark on this  case.

The  prisoner was doubtless  innocent, but there are strong

proofs to my mind that the deceased suffered violence  pre-

vious to falling or being thrown into the well.  The weather

was undoubtedly cold, (it was during the holidays,) and the

progress of  putrefaction during  immersion must  unques-

tionably have been very  slow.

  The  coroner's  jury viewed the body on the  day after it

was drawn up ;  Dr. Hosack, and other witnesses, some time

thereafter.  Is  it not probable  that exposure  to  the air

developed  these  marks  of  injury, and do  not these marks

indicate manual strangulation previous to immersion 1*

  There is a second question belonging to this subject, which

is no less  intricate  than the  first.   Was the drowning the

effect of suicide, accident, or  homicide  ?   I can offer but few

observations on it.


  * In the Causes Celebres, par Mejan, vol. 5, p. 127, a  case is related of an
individual taken from the water, around whose body a bag containing several
large stones was suspended.  Distinct marks of compression were observed
on the neck, and on dissecting through the skin, blood was found effused in
situations corresponding to the external  ecchymosis.  One  of the cervical
vertebra! was luxated.  The accusation was, that he had been strangled pre-
vious to the immersion; while  the  defence set  up, rested on various proofs of
previous insanity, and it was insinuated that  the luxation might have origi-
nated from the fall into the well.  The jury (November  19,1808,) acquitted
the persons accused.  A similar case, where an extensive and severe fracture
of the cranium was found on  the head of a female drawn from a well in a
cellar, containing five feet of water, and being about the  same to the surface,
will be found in Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  9, p.  192.   The  sides  of the well
were smooth, and its aperture small.
  I add the following curious extract from Hamilton's History of Medicine,
as given in a review of that work, in the Lancet, N. S. vol. 8, p. 486 :
  " Among other instances of superior sagacity to which the Chinese pretend,
one of the most singular, perhaps, is the method by which they affect to dis-
cover, whether a man found dead by strangulation has been his own  execu-
tioner, or has  been strangled  by others; whether, in case of a body being
found in the water, death preceded or followed its  immersion ; and whether,
in other cases, death has been the  result of natural causes or of felonious
violence.  The body being taken up in all suspicious cases, is carefully washed
with vinegar;  a large fire is next kindled in a pit dug expressly for the pur-
pose, and measuring six feet in length, three in width, and as much in depth;
the fire in this pit is progressively augmented, till the surrounding earth
becomes intensely heated, when the fire is removed,  a  large quantity of a
vinous liquor, fermented from rice and honey, is poured in, and the mouth of
the pit covered with an osier hurdle, upon which the body is stretched out at
full length.  A cloth, supported in the lorm of an arch,  is then thrown over
both, in order to confine the vapor arising from the vinous liquor thrown into
the heated pit, and direct its action to every part  of the body.  At the end
of two hours, the cloth is removed, and the body minutely inspected, when,
if any blows have been inflicted, their marks will appear distinctly upon the
hody." 
282
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
   We should inquire particularly as to the situation in which
 the body is found—notice whether the stream is rapid or still
 water, and  whether  its banks  are  precipitous  or  sliding.
 Ascertain whether the individual has  labored under near-
 sightedness, vertigo, or symptoms  of  insanity.  The bruises
 on the body should be examined, and a minute dissection be
 made.  We should, however, recollect, that the person may
 have precipitated himself into the water, and struck against
 a stone or other hard substance, and  the body may have thus
 been wounded.*   In  other  cases,  accidental  circumstances
 may clear up the subject, as the marks of footsteps on the
 margin of the water, and substances found  grasped in the
 hands of the deceased,  that have  evidently been seized
 while making resistance.!
   It is an opinion with some writers, that less water is found
 in the lungs of suicides than in those who are drowned by
 accident,  or  wilfully ; but this is evidently  uncertain and
 unfounded.
   In March, 1806,  a young woman at Little Sheffield, in
 Yorkshire, made way with herself, by breaking a hole in the
 ice upon  a pond, and thrusting her head in, while the rest of
 the  body remained  out.   This  situation repelled the idea
 either of  force or of accident.!
   In 1776,  a young  man  named Paulet, of a violent and
 gloomy temper, was  found dead  at the bottom of a well.
 Strong suspicions attached to two individuals.  The  medical
 reporters stated that they found sand under the nails of his
 hands; a circular  mark on  his ankle bones, external contu-
 sions on the head, and particularly above the left superciliary
 ridge, and some cuts  on the top of the scalp.  On opening

  * Male, p. 236.
  t See the case of Mr. Taylor, already noticed  in the  beginning of this
 chapter.
  X Smith, p. 275.  The criticism of Mr. Taylor on this case is however cor-
rect :   " Since it was known that the young woman had committed suicide,
there could have been no difficulty in determining the point; but it is impos-
sible to admit, with the reporter of  the case, in the absence of all  other evi-
dence, that the situation in which the body was found repelled the idea of
force; for there is no greater difficulty in conceiving that her head had been
forcibly put under water, than that she  should have committed the act her-
self."  (Medical Jurisprudence, p. 145.) 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
283
 the  thorax, the whole extent of the  trachea down to the
 lungs was found filled with frothy mucus, and the stomach
 was half full of a whitish water.  They considered these
 as marks of death by drowning.   It  was proved  that the
 well was so surrounded by houses, that the slightest noise
 at it would have been immediately heard, and it was also
 constructed with  sharp and heavy stones.  The marks on
 the  ankle bones were alone  of a doubtful nature; but as
 Paulet had  been melancholy, and refused sustenance for
 several days, and every other circumstance could be satis-
 factorily explained, the parliament of Toulouse  liberated
 the accused, and agreed that  suicide had been committed.*
  One  would imagine, says Dr. Smith, that if a person be
 taken out of the water tied hand and foot, there need be no
 hesitation about inferring that he had been forced into that
 situation; yet we have several cases  of precisely  that de-
 scription, in which the presumption was clearly in favor of
 suicide.
  In June,  1816, the  body of a guaging instrument-maker
 who had been missing for some  days from his home, was
 discovered floating down the Thames.   On being taken out,
 his  wrists were found tied together  and made fast to his
 knees, which were  in like manner secured to each other.
 He had been in a state  of mental derangement for two years.
 The  cord with which he had tied himself, was recognized as
 one  that had hung  from the  ceiling  over  his bed, and by
 which  he used to raise himself up, as  he had been confined
 to bed  for some weeks.  He  was a good swimmer, and it
 was presumed  he had  taken the precaution to prevent him-
 self from employing that power.   The verdict in this case
was, "found drowned."!
  In another instance,  a man aged twenty-eight, with a wife
and children, was reduced to  great distress.  On a certain
day, he took an  affectionate leave of  his family, declaring
that he would not return until he had obtained some employ-

  • Foder«, vol. 3, p. 127, from the Causes Cilebres.
  t Smith, p. 276. 
284
PERSONS  FOUND DEAD.
 ment, by which he should be able to procure them bread.
 The  following day, his body was taken out of the  New
 River, with his hands and legs tied.  A card with his address
 was  found in his  pocket, and  also three pence; when he
 left home, he had five pence, and it was  supposed  that he
 had purchased the cord with the deficient sum.  The verdict
 in this case was, "insanity."*
   In 1817, says Fodere, I was called to see  the body of a
 workman, large, strong, and  in the  flower of his age, who
 had been taken out of the Yll.  His hands and fingers were
 tied  together with a silk riband,  in numerous folds.   The
 hands evidently could  have been very easily disengaged.
 There were  no marks of external injury, and no swelling
 around the ligatures.   His dress was uninjured, and  nothing
 was taken from him.   On examination, there were no marks
 except those common to drowning.  Our author gave it as
 his opinion that this was a case of suicide, and that he had
 probably tied the riband with his  teeth.!
   The above are  examples where there may be doubt as to
 suicide or homicide.  I will  conclude with one, where the
 question was suicide or accident.   It arose in the English
 court of Exchequer in 1826:
   An individual  named  Rainer,  had insured his  life for
 £3000 in the Rock Life  Insurance.  Now it is  one of the
 provisions in a policy, that if the insured meets his death by
 suicide or duelling, the insurance shall be void.  Mr.  Rainer,
 the person insured, had been insane for  some time.   He
resided at Highbury, and  on the  15th of March, between
five  and six  o'clock, left his  home without the  knowledge
of his family, and called at several places, exhibiting strong

  * Paris, vol. 3, p. 42.
  X Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, vol. 24, art. Indices. A similar case
is related in the Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 9, p. 207.  The body of the Sieur
X. was taken from the Seine at Paris,  having the feet,  wrists  and neck tied.
None of the knots,  however, were tight, and they left but a very slight im-
pression on the skin. On dissection, the liver and heart were  found to bear
the marks of long continued disease.  The  medical examiners, (Marc, Gui-
chard, &c.,) from these circumstances, and the total absence of injury, gave
the opinion that this was a case of suicide.  They add, that in each  case they
were slip-knots, and apparently made by the individual, to put it out of his
power to help himself in the water. 
PERSONS FOUND DEAD.
285
symptoms of agitation and excitement.  He then took the
road to Finchley, and on reaching a pond on the premises
of a farmer, was drowned.  It is probable, from the state in
which  his shoes and stockings were  found, that he  had
walked into the pond with his clothes on; that he had then
returned, undressed himself, laid his clothes in a  convenient
place, and in such a manner as to indicate that he intended
to dress himself after leaving  the water.
  It was urged, that if this was a case of suicide, he would
have thrown himself into the water with his clothes on ; and
some medical witnesses were of opinion that he  died  from
apoplexy, occasioned by  immersion in cold water  while
under a high fever.  The Chief Baron remarked to the jury,
that this was a  case in which there was a  great want of
facts,  and that they  could only  decide  on  probabilities.
The verdict was in favor of the executors.*

  It  is not necessary to state the laws of various countries
against the  crime  of murder.  Whatever may be the mode
adopted to destroy life, it is universally visited with the
highest punishment.  In a recent English law called Lord
Lansdowne's act,  (9  Geo. IV.  chap. 31,)  the  attempt to
drown,  suffocate, or strangle a person, is declared a felony,
and made punishable with death.

  * Garret and others, executors of Rainer, v. the Rock Insurance Company.
I copy this case from a newspaper. 
 
CHAPTER  XV.
WOUNDS ON THE LIVING  BODY.
1 Of wounds in general—division of them into slight, dangerous and mortal
 —enumeration of each.  Circumstances which may aggravate  the danger
 of wounds.  A.  The age and constitution of the patient, and his maladies,
 either hereditary or  accidental.  Habits of intemperance.  Supervention
 of diseases, and how they are  to be estimated—erysipelas—tetanus.  B.
 The passions of the patient—negligence or delay.  C. Insalubrity of the
 atmosphere.  D. Ignorance or  negligence of the surgeon.  2. Nature and
 prognostics of wounds of particular parts. Wounds of the head—of the face
 —of the neck—of the thorax—of the abdomen—of the extremities. Wounds
 from fire-arms.  Laws as to the  time within which death from wounds is
 deemed murder.  3. Of mutilation.  French  laws against it—English-
 Coventry Act—Cases.  American laws.
   It has  been already stated, but it is proper to  repeat  in

this place, that the term wound, in  legal medicine, com-

prehends all lesions of the body, and in this it differs from

the  meaning of the word when used  in surgery*   The

latter  only refers to  a solution of continuity; while the

former comprises not only  these, but also every other kind

of accidents, such as bruises, contusions, fractures, disloca-

tions,  burns, &c. &c.   In this  sense  then the  term is to be

understood  in our future remarks.   The legal  definition,  as

in force in England and in this country, will be  seen below.!


  * Ballard  and Marc, however,  object to this, and recommend the word
Lesion, for the general term.  Lesion from some external cause.  (Diction-
naire des Sciences Medicales, art. Blessures.)
 • t In Moriarty v. Brooks, Lord Lyndhurst, Chief Baron, said : "The defini-
tion of a wound, in criminal cases, is an injury to the person, by which the
skin is broken.  If the skin is broken,  and there was a bleeding, that is a
wound."  (6 Carrington  and  Payne's Reports, p. 684.)  So also in  Rex  v.
Beckett, (1 Moody and Robinson, 527,) it was decided, that,  "to  constitute a
wound, the external surface of the body must be divided."  (American Jurist,
18, 424.)  And again : " To constitute a wound,  there must be a separation of
the whole skin; a separation of the cuticle is not sufficient." The  Queen v.
McLaughlin.  (8 Carrington and Payne, 635.)  The wound may, however,  be
internal,• as in Rex v. Smith.  (8 Carrington and Payne, 173.)  There was a
blow  with an iron hammer on the face, by which the left jaw was  fractured
in two places, and the skin inside of the mouth was broken, but  not at  all
externally.  Judge Park observed: " There must be a wounding; but if there 
288                      wounds.

The term is thus employed in a restricted sense, and injuries
of a most serious  nature must  be included under general
enactments,  scarcely reaching the  occasional enormity of
the  offence.  Thus, a ruffian  fractures  a collar  bone  with
the  blow  of  a hammer,  and  yet the skin  is  not abraded.
How,  under  existing  definitions, can  he be  adequately
punished'?
  The  questions which  arise in  all cases of wounds that
come under judicial investigation, are the following: How
far  has  the  person who caused the injury, contributed to
the  death of  the deceased, or to the lesion of one or other
of the functions of the body %  And again, to what class is
a certain  wound to  be  referred'?   These  are inquiries of
great  magnitude;  and  correct views,  as well  as stable
principles, are  needed, in order to answer them properly.
Medical  and  surgical  works are  filled with instances of
remarkable recoveries from the most dreadful wounds,  and
also with cases of death  from apparently the slightest ones.
If we take these as our guide, the consequence will be, that
nothing of a determinate nature can be agreed upon; and
every physician, whenever he enters a court of justice, may,
by  the aid of a corresponding  example, prove that a danger-
ous wound is not so, and that its fatality has been owing to
ignorance or  neglect.   Such power is too extensive and too
important to  be granted to  every  medical  witness; and
whatever we take from  his  hands, and refer to sound prin-
ciples and general rules, is  a solid gain  to  the cause of
truth and justice.
  In further proceeding with my observations, I shall, in the
first place, notice the  subject of wounds in general, and

be a wound, (that is, if the skin be broken,  whether there be  an effusion of
blood or not,) it is within the statute whether the wound is external or inter-
nal." In France, the legal and medical definitions accord.  " By wounds,
{blessures,) we understand, in legal medicine, every local effect on the body,
produced by an act of violence,  or by the application of any caustic or corro-
sive agent.  Hence, under  this head,  are to be included bruises and contu-
sions, fractures and dislocations, sprains and burns, comprehending scalds and
sores."  The explanation of this is, that  the word blessures is not defined by
the law, and the medical construction is consequently followed.  (Brierre de
Boismont and Devergie, quoted by Taylor, p. 489, and Poilroux, p. 335.)  The
last  author remarks, that the term blessures is generic, while plaie (a wound
with solution of continuity), is a species included under it. 
WOUNDS.
289
afterwards examine the nature and  prognostics of wounds
of particular parts.   The subject of mutilation, from  its
entering so much into our  statute  law, will  form a third
section.

                 1.  Of wounds in general.

  Wounds, from their nature, may be either slight, danger-
ous or mortal.   By a slight  wound,  is meant one in which
there are no parts injured that are important to carrying on
life, or any of its functions, and whose uniform course is to
heal quickly,  and to leave  no  lesion  or  deformity.  A
dangerous one, implies a wound which, without being mortal,
is still not  exempt from  danger, and presents  more or less
difficulty in  its cure.  Lastly, mortal wounds comprehend
those whose consequence and effect is death.  In this sense
only is a wound  in legal medicine termed mortal.  More
minute divisions than these which I have named, may, how-
ever, be made, and indeed are indispensable.  Thus, a wound
may be in itself mortal,  or  it may be mortal  by accident.
It may be  in  itself dangerous,  oiy it may become so from
some complication, or from not having been properly treated.*
Even  slight wounds may become dangerous from neglect,
from a debilitated or  diseased state  of the  system, or from
mal-treatment, such as endeavoring to excite  suppuration,
when the aim ought to be to promote adhesion.   In  such
cases,  the blame  should be laid  where it properly belongs.
  Circumstances as well as  accident have  a  considerable
effect on wounds.   Bohn  suggests several instances of this
nature, in  which their mortality is prevented by particular
phenomena.    Thus, a small portion of the omentum,  or
the  fat of  the intestine,  may so  place itself in the mouth
of a wounded blood-vessel  in  the  abdomen,  as to  pre-
vent  a haemorrhage,  while, if not  thus obstructed, it

  * Marc divides wounds into mortal and not mortal.  The first is subdivided
into  wounds  of necessity mortal, and wounds mortal by  accident.  The
Becond into wounds completely and incompletely curable. Dr. Biessy class-
ifies them, into slight and severe wounds, and  divides the latter into those
which may be perfectly cured, those which may be cured,  but leave some
deformity or weakness, and those which may prove fatal.
   VOL. II.                    19 
290
WOUNDS.
would be mortal.*   Again, it has been repeatedly observed
by surgeons, that there may be  such an  adhesion of the
pleura to the lungs, as that the blood or pus from the latter,
will flow outwardly, when they  have been injured by a
penetrating wound.   The  same author remarks, that it has
never been demonstrated, and indeed in the nature of things
it never can be proved, that a wound from which there is a
recovery, is precisely similar to one which has proved fatal,
although  externally they may be  similar in every  respect.
In the  one case, there  can be no dissection to prove its
nature, and in the other there may have been many peculiar
circumstances not attendant on the former.!  This observa-
tion is in itself a sufficient answer to the argument already
referred to, of  proving  the  possibility  of recovery from
dangerous wounds, by a reference to similar instances.
  The subject may  be farther illustrated by examples : A
man, says Bohn, receives a  wound in the bottom of his
stomach; a severe hiccup, faintings and retchings come on,
while  the half  digested  food  that he has taken, passes out
through the aperture.   This individual is, however, cured in
a month's time, whilst another, whose wound is accompanied
with similar symptoms, except that he does not hiccup, and
which in itself is a favorable symptom, dies in three days.
Shall we say that the latter  was  not mortally  wounded,
because the former escaped 1   Dissection will teach us the
incorrectness of this deduction, and that in the instance of
mortality, the wound has been rather lateral than deep, and
has touched the left  gastric artery, in consequence of which,
there has been a profuse  haemorrhage into the abdominal
cavity.   Again, an individual receives a violent blow on the
head, which causes  a  depression of the  cranium and is
accompanied with a considerable haemorrhage from the head
and  ear, and  a loss of sense and motion.  After a day or
two, the depressed piece of bone  is raised, he  recovers his

  * Bohn, p. 31.  He mentions a dissection, in which the right iliac artery
was found wounded, and life had been prolonged for thirteen days, evidently
from this cause.
  f Bohn, p. 27.  " Dubium an vulnus sanatum exacte idem cum non sanato
fuerit." 
WOUNDS.
291
senses, the haemorrhage ceases, and  at  the  end of some
weeks, the patient recovers.   Another is injured in precisely
the same manner, is treated similarly, and notwithstanding,
dies at the end of seven days, without ever recovering from
the state of coma,  and on dissection, extravasated blood is
found in the ventricles of the brain.*
  These instances are sufficient to prove how little depend-
ence is to be placed on analogy, and they also  illustrate the
importance of  fixed  rules concerning  the  mortality  of
wounds, founded exclusively on anatomical and physiologi-
cal data.
  A strict definition of life is not necessary at this time, and
it  is sufficient to state, that it depends  on the union and
reciprocal influence of the functions which compose it, and
particularly of  the  circulating,  nervous  and  respiratory
systems.  Lesions of the chylopoetic  system come next in
order, as the body cannot survive without nourishment, and
the danger to  life will of course be in  proportion  to  the
extent of the  injury, and  the immediate necessity of the
organ.  Wounds which rupture ^the large blood-vessels in
one or other of the  large'cavities,  such as the  head,  the
thorax, or the abdomen; those which penetrate the auricles
or ventricles of the heart,  the trunk of the aorta,  or vena
cava,  are  mortal.  There are, however,  so many cases on
record, in which individuals are stated to have survived for
some time, with large abscesses in the brain, or even a ball
in that part, that we  are justified in viewing wounds of the
heart as more fatal than those of the head.  Next to these
are wounds, which,  from their depth, penetrate into, the
spinal marrow—wounds of the head, complicated with such
severe injury, that venesection and the  trephine do not
alleviate them—a division or twisting of the spinal marrow
in the cervical vertebrae—a division of the eighth pair of
nerves—and a general affection of the nervous system from
blows  or  injuries  on  parts, which  are  the  centre  of its
various  departments, such as the pit of  the  stomach.  In

                     * Bohn, pp.  28, 29. 
292                     wounds.

the next place, may be mentioned as mortal  wounds,  such
as prevent the function of respiration—a total division, or a
large wound of the trachea; and particularly, if in the latter
case, the under lip of  the wound  is  retracted inwards-
wounds penetrating through the bronchiae, and wounds of
the diaphragm, particularly of its tendinous  portion.  To
this  class belong  also  extensive wounds of the pharynx,
oesophagus, and stomach—of the duodenum,  thoracic duct,
and  mesentery, and particularly, if a large  number of the
lacteals be divided, together with  severe wounds  of the
liver, spleen, pancreas, gall-bladder, and the ductus cysticus,
and choledicus.  Wounds of the urinary passages, kidneys,
ureters, bladder, impregnated uterus, and amputation of the
male genital organs, are all ordinarily mortal, unless imme-
diate aid be afforded, as are also extensive and penetrating
ones from fire-arms accompanied with fracture of bones.
   All these  accidents, from the importance  of the  organs
that  are  injured—the  extravasations  that  occur,  or  the
haemorrhage which accompanies them, and which it is often
impossible to  check, are usually mortal.  Such, however,
are the powers of nature, and so extensive are its resources,
that  hope should seldom be abandoned.  If  called upon to
make an immediate report, it is  proper to form a prognostic
on these principles, and to mention the danger that is present.
On the trial,  however, the conviction must be  decidedly
stated, that the wound was a mortal one, and that no surgical
aid could have saved the patient, or when applied, had no
beneficial effect.
   Among dangerous wounds, or  those concerning which we
cannot give a decided prognostic, must be ranked such as
are inflicted on organs essential  to the exercise of the vital,
natural, or animal functions; and as to their  consequences,
they may be divided into those which may become mortal,
and those which may interrupt the exercise of any function.
To the first  class  belong all  penetrating wounds, though
unaccompanied with symptoms that   indicate immediate
danger—all contused wounds, whether on the head,  thorax
or abdomen—all wounds of the extremities, and particularly 
WOUNDS.                      *vo
where surgical aid cannot be procured in  time to suppress
haemorrhage,  and all  compound  fractures and  luxations,
particularly if the part  be much surrounded by nerves and
muscles, and if it be near a joint.  Even simple contusions
or blows may become dangerous, from a rapid disorganization
of parts, and a consequent mortification; and  especially, if,
on  tendinous  or ligamentous   parts,  the  supervention of
tetanic affections are to be dreaded.
  In the second class are included all wounds made in any
of the secretory organs  and their ducts—in the organs of
sense, as the  eye, ear,  nose, and mouth-in the generative
organs, as the testicles, penis, and unimpregnated uterus.
Also, fractures of the clavicle  or sternum,  and depression of
the xiphoid or ensiform cartilage—transverse wounds of the
great pectoral or dorsal  muscles—and wounds of the mus-
cles of the abdomen, particularly near the linea alba, and
pubis—wounds  of the  perineum combined with injury to the
 canal  of the urethra,  pricking of the  tendons of muscles,
 together with wounds of important branches of nerves.
   Slight wounds comprehend those  injuries  in which the
 skin and the muscles are divided, the latter in the direction
 of their fibres,  and where no tendon, aponeurosis, large
 nerves, or blood-vessels are touched, and the system has not
 received a severe shock.   To  this class, also belong simple
 luxations and fractures.
   But as we have already observed, there are circumstances
 which render this division an arbitrary one, and which cause
 a mortal wound of the lowest  class to be inevitably mortal—
 a dangerous  one to become mortal—and a slight one, danger-
 ous.  These circumstances may be reduced into four classes,
 each of which deserves particular notice.
    1. The constitution and age of the patient, and his  ante-
  cedent or   co-existent  maladies may exercise  a baleful
  influence  on the injury  received.  Thus, for example, he
  may  be advanced in  years—and the wounds inflicted will
  then be less likely to  heal.   Or there may be a complete
  transposition of parts—the heart is sometimes found on  the
  right side of the thorax—the spleen  has been discovered to 
294
WOUNDS.
occupy the place of the  liver—the stomach has descended
as low or even lower  than  the umbilical region, while the
bladder has risen into the abdomen.  It would certainly be
unjust, except in cases of premeditated murder, to consider
the criminal as responsible for the fatality of wounds  given
under  such  circumstances.    Again, an individual may  be
suffering  under hernia, and  in that situation, may receive a
mortal wound from a cutting  instrument, or may die from a
contusion  or blow on the  part, which  under other, circum-
stances would not prove dangerous.*   The  condition of the
wounded  person  may also be rendered hazardous  from a
variation in the ordinary distribution of  blood-vessels—from
the presence of aneurism!—from an extreme thinness of the
  * Bohn, pp. 70, 71.
  t Two men, long at enmity, met in a public and much frequented place.
The one alighting from his horse, passed to the place where his adversary
stood, addressed some contemptuous words to him, and gave him a blow on
the shoulder with a riding whip that he held in his hand.  The other furiously
ran after him, but before he had gone a dozen paces, he fell down dead.
There were  no external marks of injury, but on dissection, an aneurism, for    4
which he had frequently consulted the physician, was found to have burst.
(Chaussier,  p. 11.)
  A respectable individual put an end  to his existence by hanging himself.
Dr. Wesener was directed  by the proper  officers to examine the body.  The
examination of the thorax  and abdomen presented nothing beyond what is
usually observed in such cases, but on opening the head, he found the follow-
ing deviation from nature:  About the middle of the sagittal suture, the
bones of the cranium were, for the space of a sixpence, as thin as the moat
delicate lamella of bone, and in this spot were two openings, each about the
size of a pin's head, through which two vessels ran, which arose from the
superficial veins of the dura mater, and anastomosed with the  veins of the
scalp.  On  cutting into the scalp, though with  great care, the blood flowed
over the galea aponeurotica in such quantities  as quite to redden it, and it
appeared on examination, that the emissaria santorini were cut through.  It
is evident from this  statement, that a  blow on the spot  in question would
probably have caused death,  either  by direct  depresssion, or by causing
internal haemorrhage. (Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery,
vol. 2, p. 105, from Hufeland's Journal.)
  Another case equally  striking, is quoted from Frank,  of a man wounded
with a sabre on the frontal bone,  an inch and a half from the sagittal suture,
where it is obliterated in the adult.  A portion  of the external table of the
skull was removed, and after being neglected for some  days, the patient
applied to Frank.  He saw symptoms that induced him to apply the trephine
in the  neighborhood  of the wound.  As  soon as he reached the diploe, a
torrent of blood issued  forth, and the patient died the same day of the
haemorrhage.  On dissection,  seven vascular communications  were found
between the dura mater and diploe, through so many foramina in the inter-
nal table  of the skull in this place.  (Notice of Robert  on the influence of
anatomical Varieties on Surgical  Operations, in Medico-Chirurgical Review,
vol. 13, p. 299.
  The late Mr. Ashmun in his  lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, mentions
the following as occurring in the state of Massachusetts, in 1818 :  A small
stone thrown so as to strike the side of the head, caused death in ten minute*. 
WOUNDS.
295
bones of the cranium, or a venereal caries of the same part—

from having  large umbilical  vessels, or finally, from being

afflicted  with  some  chronic  disease,  or  suffering  under

debility.*   Slight wounds may also be  rendered dangerous,

and even mortal, from an extreme irritability of the nervous

system, from  previous  habits  of  drunkenness,  or  from a

scorbutic,  cancerous,  cachectic  or  venereal  habit.    And

above  all,  is there  serious apprehension, when these  are

inflicted  on persons  of haemorrhagic disposition.   Cases of

this description are by no means uncommon, and the slightest

abrasion in  them  will  often  cause  alarming discharges.!


There was no external bruise, and no fracture.  The cranium was found to
be extremely thin.  The  ventricles were filled with coagulated blood, and
the pia mater, and vessels of the brain were gorged with blood.  The dura
mater was healthy.  The verdict was manslaughter, but  Mr. Ashmun sug-
gests that  it ought to have been  excusable homicide.  (American Jurist,
vol. 15, p. 108.)
  • As for example, a case of this description :  A man had for some years,
been laboring under a discharge  from the left ear, which left him deaf.
Being in ordinary health, he received a blow, in a quarrel, on the chest, and
in attempting to retaliate struck his  head against the edge of an open door.
The blow caused a small  wound on the right side of the forehead with much
the seat of though with very little external haemorrhage.  Intense pain at
ecchymosis,  the blow followed, which soon  became general over the whole
forehead.  Delirium ensued, and the discharge from the ear ceased.  He was
admitted into St. George's Hospital, but remedies produced no good effect
and he died somewhat comatose, within four weeks after the injury.
  On dissection, no injury of the bone or its covering, nor any extravasation
of blood at the seat of the wound were discovered.  The  left hemisphere of
the cerebellum was soft and discolored, and in the interior of the middle and
anterior lobes was a large abscess, containing three ounces of fluid pus, and
its parietes soft and green.  At the bottom of the abscess, the brain adhered
to the dura mater, covering the thin roof of the tympanum, in the centre of
which, a small opening  in the dura mater allowed a probe to strike on dead
bone, about the size of a sixpence. The membrane of the tympanum was also
partially destroyed.
  It was thus evident, that there had been  a  disease of  the brain of long
standing, and all that the blow could have done, was to hasten death by ex-
citing the abscess already  existing.  Even this was in a measure doubtful, as
the only blow given, was on the chest. (London Med. Gazette, vol. 17, p. 157.)
See also a paper by Caesar Hawkins on discharges of pus from the ear, after
injuries of the head.  (Ibid. vol. 17, p. 261.)
  t Metzger (p. 327) mentions a case of death produced in this way by a
scratch  of the thumb nail.   Several relatives had  previously died in a
similar manner.
  The following are references to American cases of this description :
New \ork Medical Repository, vol.  6, p. 1.  An account of this haemor-
  rhagic disposition occurring in several families, by Dr. John C. Otto, of
  1 niladelplna.  The males alone were  subject to it, though  females were
  capable of transmitting it  to their  male children.  These families resided
  in -New-Hampshire, and Dr. Otto adds, that Dr.  Rush  informed him that
  he hart, during the course of his practice, been twice consulted  in similar
  cases, in the sta e of Pennsylvania.  Another instance had been commu-
  nicated  to Dr. R. by Mr. Boardley, of a family in Maryland, where also 
296                         wounds.
All  the  possible  circumstances now enumerated should be
kept  in view, and  particularly when  wounds  have  been
  the males alone suffered;  and additional  particulars concerning this, are
  given in Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 1, p. 2S0.
Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 1, p. 284.  Case by Dr. E. H. Smith, in  a boy,
  fatal at four years of age.
New-England Journal of Medicine and Surgery, vol. 2, p. 221.  Cases by Dr.
  Hay, of  Reading, (Massachusetts.)  The  hoemorrhagic disposition appears
  to have been in this family for upwards of an hundred years.  The males
  alone were  subject to it,  but in some cases, the  sons escaped,  while the
  grandsons suffered severely, and some died prematurely.
American  Medical Review, vol. 1,'p. 278.  Case by Dr. Gideon Humphrey,
  of a family in Pennsylvania.
Transactions  of the Physico-Medical  Society of New York, vol. 1, p. 305.
  Case by  Drs. AVilliam and Samuel Buel.   All  the sons of a family were
  affected; the sons of one daughter, and her male  grandchildren—but not
  the female.
North American  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  6, p. 37.  Case by Dr.
  Reynell Coates, of a young gentleman in Pennsylvania, of the family men-
  tioned by Dr. Humphrey.   Dr. Coates  notices several of the American
  cases in this paper.
Maryland Medical Recorder, vol. 2, p. 263.  Case by Dr.  Jameson.
Transylvania Journal, vol. 4, p. 518, and vol. 5,  p.  133.  Two cases by Dr.
  Hughes  of Kentucky.
Boston Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 8, p. 219, by Dr. Woodward, of
  Quincy.
  I have also a manuscript case communicated to me by Dr. Curtis, a gradu-
ate of the Western Medical College, and which formed the subject of his inau-
gural dissertation.  It occurred  in the practice  of Dr. Sprague, of Ostego
county (New  York).   Several sons and a grandson were successively affected
with copious haemorrhages from the slightest injuries.  Shortly after birth,
in each of them, purple spots appeared  on various parts of the body.  The
discharge  in  several  instances yielded readily  to  the  operation of saline
cathartics.
  Of recent foreign cases, I have  noted the following:
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 3, p. 224, by Mr. Blagden.
Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 25, p. 291, by Mr. Davis, Sur-
  geon, near Bristol.  A family in which none of the males reached manhood
  —the females escaped.
Ibid, vol. 25, p. 454 (from Hufeland's Journal).  Cases by Dr. Elsaesser, near
  Stuttgard,  and Dr. Krimer, of a similar character.
Ibid. vol. 26, p. 33, by Mr. Murray, of Alford.
Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 32, p. 439, (from Rust's Maga-
  zine,) by Dr. Steinmetz ;  the males of three generations.
Ibid. vol. 36, p.  217,  by Dr. Riecken, of a family at Birkinfield in Olden-
  burgh.
Lancet, N. S. vol. 13, p. 132. Cases quoted  by Mr. Wardrop, vol. 24, p. 137;
  by Mr. Liston, vol. 27, p. 185, 404,649, by Mr. Lane, Dr. Burnes, and Mr.
  Smethurst.  In this last,  the subjects were females.
London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal Medical Science, vol. 2, p. 391.
  Case of a female, by  Prof. Quadrat, of  Prague,  from  Gazette Medicate.
  See also Dr. Hay's paper, ibid. p. 2G4; Dr. Allan's, p. 501;  Mr. Miller's,
  p. 567 ;  Dr. Todd's p. 926.
Provincial Med. Journal, May 1842.   Case by Mr. Hunt.
American  Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 3,  p.  196,  and vol. 5, p. 202,
  (from a German Journal,) by Dr. Schreyer, of Vogtsberg.  The male chil-
  dren alone  affected: and of these,  three only out of five.   The residue
  remaining perfectly healthy.
North-American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  9, p. 123, (from the Pro*
  ceedings of the Medical Society of Copenhagen.)  A case by Dr. Thai. 
WOUNDS.
297
involuntary,  or belong  to  what is termed  in law, man-
slaughter.
  But it  may happen,  that while the  patient is  suffering
under a wound, he is attacked with disease  and  dies,  and
the question  then arises,  Avhether this fatality is owing to
the wound, or the disease.   In some instances, the solution
is easy, but in others, it is attended with considered difficulty.
Thus, for example, a fever attended with comatose symptoms
may supervene on a wound of the head, and pleurisy may
follow a wound of the thorax.   The  probability evidently
in  such instances, is, that  the injury has produced the dis-
ease ; hut there is  notwithstanding, sufficient latitude  left
for  doubt, and circumstances may arise, which will prevent
us from assigning the wound as the cause of death.   On the
other hand, should gangrene, buboes, petechias, or the other
symptoms of  malignant fevers appear on a wounded person,
in  a  hospital, or during the  warm season of the  year, or
during the prevalence of  such  an epidemic,  it  would cer-
tainly seem  that the  cause  of death  is distinct  from  the
danger  of the  wound.   A similar observation will apply
when an inflammatory or typhus fever supervenes on slight
wounds, and  renders  them fatal.*

Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 25, p. 232; and vol.  31, p. 540.  Cases by
  Prof. Kuhl of Leipsic.
London Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 8, p. 276.  Case of Laroche in the Hos -
  pital de la Pitie.  He was 41 years old.  Several of his brothers and sisters
  had suffered from haemorrhage.  The parents were healthy, but a maternal
  uncle had died  from this cause.
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 33, p. 226, several cases quoted  from the
  Archives Generales, vol. 39, p. 270.   Case by Dr. Wilmot, from the Dub-
  lin Journal.
British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 9, p. 247.   Case in a family, by Dr.
  Dubois of Switzerland.                                   J  J
JouS, vol1 50,a Tor' lfSt °f references in Edin*™rgh Med. and Surg.
  *  Bohn, p. 83.  This author divides the symptoms into three classes.
aliam  ovfrVv ?ere lpS°' Ut tali' hanc a Parte lassa ™™diate emergant; alia
mod? \ vu WI* v Tm iagn°SCant; alia indiffe™nter se habeaft, id  est,
Jin  iS Jn So S alTd?-eVemant; P^be omnes ac singulis ponderand*
SMint il51SI  .cu™tant,te, et ex harum demum collatione, cujus gene-
risisint ilia mdividui presents, prudenter inferendum."
Di?rictCPenXwrillth i" 1°^ (Ashmea<^  Sports in First  Judicial
KnSS  /   }\ P' ■89)) the doctrine is ^tinctly  laid down,
nSec  turnl in??„,  '"    *, ltSdf' fr0m want of ProPer applications, or
R is to be doo J  ^H^ °/ feVe,r' and the Patient dies, the person inflict-
Xall i irrant it     S  7 of murder> if the testimony required in addition 
298
WOUNDS.
  The following instance, in which Zacchias was consulted,
will illustrate the difficulty that may occur.  During a period
when the plague raged at Rome, one Ansovini received, in a
quarrel, a wound on the head, which denuded the bone, but
left no  fracture.   He  withdrew  by the assistance of two
friends, one of whom  continued to visit him, but died  in
four days  thereafter of the plague.  The wound  appeared
favorable for the first  three days, but  at the termination of
that period, a fever came on, accompanied  with headache,
bilious vomiting, and violent  inflammation of the  wounded
part.  On  the fourth, the  wound  was  gangrenous, and
petechiae and buboes occurred; and on the sixth day, death
followed.    The  person  who inflicted  the wound, was
arrested by the minister of justice, on the ground that it was
the cause  of death, or  at  least it predisposed the individual
to the attack of the plague.  Zacchias was consulted by the
friends  of the accused, and he decided that the wound had
not been  the cause of death, because  there  were no symp-
toms  immediately after its infliction, that indicated a mortal
injury to the head—that  the appearances which supervened,
were  too rapid in their progress  to appertain to it, and evi-
dently belonged to the plague, and it was also manifest, he
had taken this  disease  from the friend  who  visited him.
Finally, two diseases  were present in the  individual, and
the ordinary course of one is fatal, while that of the other
is to  proceed  to  a favorable termination.   It is  certainly
proper to assign the former as the cause of death.*
  Mr. Taylor also states some important cases:  An indi-
vidual in an attempt at  suicide, while laboring under delirium
from  scarlet  fever, nearly severed the windpipe.  Death
ensued  the next morning, but it was found that little blood
had been lost, and that none  of the important vessels of the
neck were injured.  The jury were informed by the surgeon,
that death in this case  was owing, not  to the wound, but to
the disease, and that it  would  in all probability have occurred
at the same time, and  under  the  same circumstances, if no
attempt on life had been made.
                * Zacchias' Consilium, No. 74. 
WOUNDS.
299
  In another instance, a wound was made in the neck with
a penknife, and some  of the branches  of  the subclavian
artery were divided.   The  wound went on favorably, but
secondary haemorrhage occurred twice, in consequence of
the patient having violently torn away the dressings.  After
lying for about three weeks with a fair  prospect of recovery,
he died suddenly.  On dissection, a large abscess was found,
occupying one  of  the  hemispheres of the brain, with  an
effusion of water between the membranes.  These circum-
stances, combined with  the fact  that  he had  previously
complained much of his  head, induced the medical witness
to depose,  that death was occasioned by the abscess, and
that this had no connexion whatever in its origin with the
wound. Indeed the  hcemorrhage would, in their opinion,
have tended to stay the activity of the  disease, and probably
to prolong life.*
  In cases brought before courts of justice, it is however to
be recollected, that they  are far from being as easy of solu-
tion as those just quoted.  They are generally of intemperate
persons who have  engaged  in brawls, receive injuries, and
after  an uncertain period,  die;  and the question arises,
whether the habits of  drunkenness or the blow has caused
the loss of life.  As a general rule,  I would always  lean
towards the accused, unless the proof of malice is conclu-
sive.   The habitual use  6f  spirituous liquors is  so apt to
produce a diseased state of the system generally, that with
the  above exception,  we shall best  promote the  ends of
justice by considering the offence as a secondary one.
  Discussions on this subject, however, are so frequent, that
it can hardly be' dismissed with these  remarks ;  and I will
therefore, in addition to  what has  been  said in a previous
chapter, detail  some cases, as illustrative of the testimony
and inferences proper on such occasions :
  An  intemperate individual in Philadelphia,  died thirty-
eight hours  after an affray.   He walked  and  spoke after it,
and even drank part of a pint of spirits, but was  shortly
* Taylor's Med. Jurisprudence, p. 308. 
300
WOUNDS.
after  seized  with insensibility, dilated  pupils,  oppressed
breathing, and died without any return of sense.   The bone
and the brain beneath the injured part were examined and
found  natural.  The mucous membrane of the cardia and
the upper  part of the stomach was  greatly inflamed; the
other parts were not diseased.   Before the court, Drs. Harts-
horne and Klapp, gave it as their opinion, that the injury to
the head had not been  the  cause of death, and  that  there
was no appearance of a blow on  or  near the region of the
stomach.   The accused  was accordingly acquitted.*
  Mr.  Shaw  mentions the following instructive case in his
Manual of  Anatomy:
  An industrious man returning home from his work, found
his house empty of every thing, his bed  and the tools of his
trade  sold for gin by his wife,  whom he found in the gin
shop, drinking and (lancing.  He brought her home, and in
the passage of his house struck her  and  ordered her  to go
up stairs.  She refused ; he carried  her upon his shoulders,
and the contention continuing up stairs, he struck her again.
There  having been no one  present,  we  have  only the
husband's  account of her death.  He said, that while sitting
on her chair she fell down, upon which he threw her on the
bed, conceiving  she was in a fit, such as he had seen her
in formerly.   Some of her  neighbors coming in, found her
dead.
  Sir Charles Bell examined the body, and on the trial, gave
the following deposition:
   There was nothing remarkable in the abdomen and thorax,
farther than that  the stomach  contained a quantity of gin,
and that there was a  blush of  redness  on the lower orifice
of the stomach and duodenum.  On  the head, there  were
several bruises, but  the bone  was  not  at all  hurt, and no
extravasation appeared under  it.  The  vessels of the pia

  * This case is given by Dr. Klapp, in ximerican Medical Recorder, vol. 1,
p. 156.  A similar state of the stomach is found in cases of apoplexy, as shown
by Professor Warren in his dissections.  New England Journal, vol. 1, p-
34.  And it is possible that it may also follow from blows on the head; but
in the present instance, after the dissection, there can be hardly a doubt that
it should be ascribed to the first, rather than to the  last. 
WOUNDS.
301
mater were empty of  blood, as if from  pressure.  There
was a serous effusion under the arachnoid, and in the cavity
of the brain, similar  to what has been found in those who
died of intoxication.   On the surface of the brain, there was
what appeared to be  spots of extravasated blood, but upon
tracing them towards the base, they appearod to be streams
of blood which had  flowed  from a vessel ruptured in the
base of  the brain, and the base was covered with coagulated
blood, in which also all the roots of the nerves were involved.
The blood had penetrated into the ventricles, by perforating
its  floor.  And  on  removing the  brain  and tracing  the
vessels, the anterior artery of the cerebrum,  going off from
the internal  carotid  of the  left  side, was found half torn
across, and from this the extravasated blood  had come.
  Now  this rupture  had been the cause of death, and as to
the cause of  the rupture, " Mr. Bell's opinion coincided with
the best authorities in pathology, that there is a state of the
vessels, in which an external injury or shock is more apt to
produce rupture ; and drunkenness may be  supposed to be
the artificial state of excitement which most resembles this
state of the  vessels.   Being asked  whether the blows were
the cause  of the rupture, he  said, he conceived it very likely
that a shock would rupture the vessel; and being then asked,
whether he  conceived that  this woman was more likely to
have a vessel ruptured, from having been intoxicated 1 he
was of  opinion, that  intoxication  and the  struggle were
likely to produce such a degree of activity  of the circula-
tion in  the head, that  a  less violent blow might produce
rupture, than  what,  in  other circumstances, might have
proved fatal."  The  man was acquitted.*

  *  Manual of Anatomy, vol. 1, p. 46.  Mr. Shaw adds, that a case similar
in many respects, occurred some time previous, but the man was condemned
upon clear evidence of his intention  to commit murder.  A parallel case to
the one in the text is given in the Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 4, p. 969,
from a French Journal. The drunken quarreller fell dead without a blow,
and on dissection, enormous extravasation was found in the brain.  See also
Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, art. Ivresse.
  It may, however, be urged, that the tendency of the remarks in the text is
to exonerate all  and every one from the consequences of injuries inflicted on
the intemperate.  Not so, if these injuries are recent, and if they cannot be
confounded with the effects of natural disease, they are to be estimated like
all other wounds.  Severe blows, followed  rapidly by convulsions, coma and 
302                      WOUNDS.

  There are some instructive  German cases, which may he
briefly analysed :   A man was struck for misconduct, by a
magistrate, twice on the face with the flat of his hand—once
slightly, but the others pretty severely.   No  ecchymosis or
swelling  followed.   On the next day, he went to his usual
work, but  complained of his head.  It was not until the
thirteenth day,  that  he sought for  medical advice ; he then
complained much  of his head, and attributed the pain to the
blows received.  Medicines were given,  but the next day,
he  had occasional fits  of excruciating pain—and  on the
fourteenth day from  the  time on which  he was struck, he
died  somewhat suddenly.   On dissection,  no traces  of
fracture or extravasation of blood  could be discovered, but
connected with the dura mater,  on the posterior surface of
the petrous portion of the right  temporal bone, there was a
round tumour,  about  the  size of a hazel nut, and which was
found to contain a few drops of yellow colored pus.  The
tumour was attached by a  small peduncle to the bone, but
the bone was not diseased, nor was there any sign of redness
or  inflammation in  the  parts  around.   The  thorax and
abdomen were  healthy.  The medical inspectors gave it as
their opinion,  that this fungus  could not have arisen from
the violence used, fourteen days before  death, but on the
contrary, that it must have been of several months' growth.
In the absence  of  all symptoms of concussion or inflamma-
tion,  and with  the ascertained facts,  that the deceased had
complained of  pain in the head for more than a year,—that
death, and exhibiting, on dissection, effusion of blood upon  the brain, without
any other disease of that part, present a very conclusive case of the effects of
violence.   Such an instance is related by Mr. Watson,  in the Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 37, p. 97.
  This subject in all its bearings has been well considered by Mr. Taylor,
(Medical  Jurisprudence, pp. 401 to 420.)  There can be  no  doubt that in
too many instances, counsel, taking advantage of the admissions of medical
witnesses, lay undue stress on the effect of mental excitement in producing
rupture of vessels.   And it is erring against the first rules of reasoning, to
Buppose a minor cause to  be the means of this, when a more powerful one
(the blow) is known to  have been applied.  The point to be  distinctly brought
before the court and jury cannot be better  stated than in the words of Mr.
Taylor.  Was not  the  violence inflicted sufficient to cause death under the
same symptoms and post mortem appearances, within the same period of
time, in an individual perfectly sober and unexcited ? If this be answered in
the affirmative, there would still be room left for the ingenuity of counsel to
urge mitigating circumstances in each particular case. 
WOUNDS.
303
he  had been of  irregular  habits  and  engaged  in  many
quarrels,  they  totally acquitted  the   magistrate  of  all
responsibility.
  In another instance, an individual was  severely beaten on
the head  and chest, and a  slight haemorrhage followed from
these injuries.  This  was on the  sixth  of January,  1835.
He seems to have  been  ill for  some  days after this, but
nothing was known of his condition until the eighth  of
April, when he was evidently laboring under diseased lungs.
He lingered until  the  seventh  November,—when he  died,
ten months after the receipt of the injuries  which it was
alleged, had caused his  death.  On dissection, the  right
lung was seen  filled  with  tubercles, in various  states  of
softening  and suppuration.  The left lung presented traces
of inflammation and strong  adhesions and in its upper lobe
was an  abscess,  containing much matter.   It was thus
evident that he had died of phthisis.  It also appeared that
he had been in good health  up  to the period of the maltreat-
ment.   The question thus  arose,  how  far the fatal disease
might have  originated from the injury 1  It was urged that
no mechanical injury  had  been done to the chest, sufficient
to  account for the production of  phthisis,  and that  the
inflammation in the left  lung  might have been the simple
accompaniment of tubercular disease.   The morbid appear-
ances indicated phthisis of long standing.  In  conclusion,
death was ascribed to phthisis proceeding from constitutional
causes, the fatal effects of which had probably been accele-
rated by the ill treatment, as well as by the want of proper
medical assistance for a long period afterwards.*
   Again,  there are certain diseases which frequently accom-
pany wounds,  yet also arise independently, and which may

  • British and Foreign Med. Review, vol.  6, p. 540, from Henke's Zeits-
chrift, 1837. The editors in commenting on this case, seem to hold a somewhat
different opinion:  "There is no doubt (they say) that in this case, death
was due to  phthisis and not to the violence used; the same amount of violence
applied to a non-phthisical subject, would probably have been attended with
no  serious  effects.  We cannot look upon phthisis as even likely  to be a
secondary consequence of mechanical injury to the chest, unless there existed
a strong tendency to  the disease.  The appearance of phthisis under these
circumstances ought to be regarded more as a coincidence than as an effect." 
304
WOUNDS.
thus cause matter of doubt.  Of these, I will  only specify
erysipelas and tetanus.
  " Erysipelas (says Sir Astley Cooper) often  succeeds the
most trifling injury of  the scalp, and like carbuncle, when it
occurs in this situation,  generally  destroys life.   Whatever
renders the body irritable,  predisposes  to  it.  The  slightest
causes produce it after operations at certain seasons and in
particular  states of the  constitution,  for it has often hap-
pened, that the stimulating effects of adhesive plaster have
produced this disease,  and have  led to the  death  of the
patient."*
  Taking  these as undisputed facts,  what should  be the
testimony of the physician in cases where it supervenes on
blows or wounds 1
  In 1823, a prostitute at Edinburgh entered the house of a
female brothel-keeper in a  state of drunkenness,  and after
various irregularities,  inflicted on her, with a heavy smooth-
ing iron, a denuding wound of the scalp, an inch and a half
long.  The woman was slightly stunned, and  the  wound
bled profusely.  Very little evidence was obtained concern-
ing her state for thirty days afterwards, but at that time the
wound was an open sore, and  she constantly complained of
headache.  She had not, however, omitted the habit of fre-
quent intoxication, and was at a ball about a fortnight before
her  death,  where  she danced and became drunk.  Eight
weeks after receiving the  wound, she  was  attacked with
erysipelas of  the head and scalp, and died of it in ten days.
There was no proof to show where the erysipelas began, as
the  practitioner who attended had gone to sea.  On  dissec-
tion, the  ordinary  appearances, produced by  that disease,
were found in the scalp and within the cranium; the wound
had  passed into the state of a round,  indolent ulcer, and a
small hole, produced  apparently  by ulcerative  absorption,
penetrated the skull opposite the middle of the ulcer in the
integuments.   The hole was widest at its inner end. The
dura mater corresponding with it was not diseased,  and no
* Lectures, vol. 1, p. 112. 
WOUNDS.
305
purulent matter was deposited between that membrane and
the bone.
  On these facts, referring to  the  irregular habits of the
female,  the probable neglect of the wound, and above all,
the presence of an epidemic erysipelas at the time in Edin-
burgh, the medical witnesses declared that the death of the
deceased could not, with any certainty, be ascribed  to the
wound inflicted by the prisoner.   The charge of murder was
consequently abandoned, and the  accused was  found guilty
of the assault.
  It is remarked by the reporter of this case, that an impor-
tant link of the  testimony was lost, in not knowing where
the erysipelas  commenced.   " The  diagnosis between idio^
pathic  erysipelas  and  that symptomatic variety  which
supervenes upon injuries of the head, is  sufficiently simple.
The former never begins,  so far as we know, on the head,
but always on the cheek or tip of the nose ; the latter, never
but  about  the  bruise, incision or sore  produced  by the
injury."*
  Respecting  tetanus, there can be comparatively but little
diversity of opinion.   It is a disease  known to follow inju-
ries  of  every description,  and  if it supervenes after such
infliction, is, without some manifest  and potent reason, to be
deemed its consequence.  Mal-treatment is more likely to-
be urged in such cases,  and the  attending surgeon's skill
may thus be questioned.
  Not long since, Captain Moir, in England, wounded a man
by firing at him with a gun.  The ball penetrated the inner
side of the right  arm, a little below the elbow, and passed
out on th,e outside, a little above the olecranon.  A profuse
haemorrhage followed, but soon ceased.   No bone was frac-
tured.  The surgeon called, administered  some  brandy, as
he was faint.   In a short time  excitement took place, for
which he was bled, but locked jaw followed, and he died

u * T^r1 .i°f Christian Paterson for the murder of Margaret Baird.  Edin-
burgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 21, p. 488.  MS. communication of
Dr. Dunlop containing the medico-legal examination.
  vol. ii.                   20 
306                          WOUNDS.
on the eighth  day.   On the trial, Capt. Moir was found
guilty, and probably with great justice.*
   It  was urged by Dr. Venables in a communication on this
case, that the  administration of the brandy was improper,
and might have caused  the tetanus, equally with or instead
of the wound.   Such an opinion, however, is hardly tenable.f
There was no dissection.|
  * If, however, Capt. Moir was probably insane, as is suggested in the
Edinburgh Med. and Surgical  Journal (vol. 50, p. 513), the nature of the
case is materially altered.
  t London  Medical  Gazette, vol. 6, pp. 750, 791.  Medico-Chirurgical Re-
view, vol. 18, p. 151.  Dr. Venables criticised the treatment in other respects.
  X There can be no doubt that diseases of internal organs sometimes suc-
ceed injuries of various parts of the body, and also operations.  In illustra-
tion, I refer  to Mr. Rose's paper on depositions of pus and lymph, occurring
in the lungs and other viscera, after injuries,  in the  Medico-Chirurgical
Transactions, vol. 14, p. 251.  He quotes Morgagni and others, and there is
a case by Deveaux in 1685, noticed by Chaussier, p. 208, where the surgeons
directly ascribed an abscess in the liver to a previous blow on the head.  Dr.
Darwall's remarks subjoined below, are well worthy of consideration.
  " The circumstance of  depositions of pus occurring in the viscera from
injuries of distant  parts, has lately been attracting considerable  attention.
It is,  however, scarcely alluded to in the text; nor, with a few exceptions,
have  surgeons usually regarded such  depositions as  connected with  or
induced by the injury. In the present note, I purpose to show the various
circumstances under which this has happened, but without offering any ex-
planation.  The cases have, however, been too uniform to admit of a doubt
of the visceral disease being the consequence of the distant injury.
  " Morgagni relates some cases in which the lungs were found in a state of
suppuration after injury of the head.
  " A boy, thirteen years of age, was struck on the right temple with a stone.
He was carried to an hospital, and went on  well till the  fourteenth day,
when  fever ensued.   The  wound assumed an unhealthy appearance, he be-
came  delirious, and died on the  twenty-fifth day from receiving the injury.
  " On examination, besides the injury of the head, the lungs were very red,
and small abscesses filled  with pus were observable.    (Morgagni Epistol,
li. 18.)
  " A second case is related,  in which,  after a similar injury, the lungs
exhibited  many small  abscesses, and  some tubercles in their progress to
suppuration.
  "The following  case will show how these cases will bear  upon medical
jurisprudence.   It is taken from the evidence at an inquest which was held
at Birmingham last year :
  " A father and son were working together at an anvil, when the son, a boy
of fourteen years of age, missed his aim in attempting to lay hold of a piece
which the father had forged and cut off from an iron rod; while the boy was
stooping to pick the piece up, the father knocked him down by  a blow on the
head  with the remaining part of the iron rod.  He fell down, and his head
bled much; he was, however, able to walk to the hospital, where  the wound
was dressed, and back again home.  This occurred on the 23d of July : on
the 10th of August a surgeon visited him for the  first time, and  found him
apparently in the last stage of typhus fever. He  died on the 12th.
  " On dissection, there was considerable injury about the scalp, and matter
had formed under it.  There was no fracture, but matter had also formed
under the dura mater, and the left  hemisphere exhibited appearances of
inflammation. 
WOUNDS.
307
   In 1827, a man at Edinburgh  robbed  another, and in the

 scuffle that ensued,  kicked  him  several  times, cut his  nose


   " In the chest 'the lungs were very much condensed, and like liver in
 consistency :  they  were inflamed, and there were three or four abscesses of
 recent formation.  The pleura was covered with lymph; the left cavity of'
 the chest contained a quart or more of fluid, and the right nearly as much.'
   " The medical witnesses did not  decide which was the proximate cause of
 death, nor whether the state of the lungs had any connexion with the injury
 of the head, and the verdict was,
   " ' That  the deceased died after a blow from his father; but whether from
 the effects of the blow or from disease, there is no evidence.'
   " Injuries of the head also frequently give rise to abscesses in the liver.
   " Bertrandi, in the ' Memoires de l'Academie Royale de Chirurgie,' relates
 several instances  of this  kind, and states that he had frequently observed
 suppuration of the liver when it was  least expected.  In some cases there is
 evidence of affections of the liver before death, and jaundice occurs, but this
 is not always observable.
   " ' A peasant forty years of age was admitted into the hospital at Turin for
 a wound in the head, which penetrated to the dura mater, and remained two
 months.  He left the hospital in June, and returned to his usual agricultural
 employment.  Towards the  end of July he was re-admitted: his face, neck,
 and the upper part of  the trunk, were enormously emphysematous ; his face
 was marked with erysipelatous patches;  his respiration was difficult and he
 died in a few hours.  There was nothing particular found about the  head,
 but there was an immense abscess pointing on the convex surface of the liver.
 He was reported to have been jaundice some days before, and to have alter-
 nated between  a state of stupor and delirium.  He had  complained of a
 feeling of weight in the side, but never of pain.'
   '■ The liver and lungs frequently suffer from injuries of other parts.
   " An athletic man was admitted into the hospitai on the 23d of June, under
 the care of Mr. Keate, with compound fracture of both bones of the right leg,
 a little  below their  centre.   He went on well  till the 26th, when he became
 feverish; a distinct rigour appeared on the 30th, and in a few days tenderness
 in the epigastrium and right hypochondrium occurred.  The remedies em-
 ployed failed to relieve him: he gradually became  worse, and died on the
 17th of July.
  " Sectio cadaveris.—There was a little opacity in the tunica arachnoides,
 with some deposition of lymph.  The  plexus choroides was  converted into a
 tubercular  mass of a gland-like appearance.
  " The chest and abdomen  presented the principal marks  of disease;   The
 pleura on the  right side  was intensely inflamed, and serum and  pus were
 collected in its cavity.   On  the left side, the membrane was also inflamed,
and serum and lymph,  but no pus, were discovered.  In the substance of the
lungs, more especially the left, were tubercular masses of mixed lymph and
 us, numerous and varying in size.  In the liver was the same sort of tu-
 ercles,  exceedingly numerous, and seated for-the most part immediately
beneath  the peritoneum  investing the viscus.  (Medical  Gazette, vol. 2,
 p.  510.)
  " In another case of simple fracture, which terminated fatally almost a
month after the accident; '  innumerable depositions of lymph and pus had
been formed in the liver and the lungs.'
  " The following case, quoted from the same periodical, exhibits a deposition
in the liver and  right knee-joint after an  operation for urinary fistula.  It
is extracted from the Ephemerides de Montpelier for March, 1828 :   ' A sol-
dier aged 22, was affected with yellowness of the skin and with tension of the
right  hypochondrium,  after an  operation for urinary fistula, which had
given  him great pain.  The symptoms disappeared when the sound was re-
moved from the  bladder, but returned on its being again introduced into the
 urethra.  He was seized with nauseau. and bilious  vomiting, yellowness of
 the skin, excessive tenderness of the right hypochondriac region, irregular 
308
WOUNDS.
with a blow and turned him out of the  house.   The  injured
person went home, told  his friends that he had been " robbed
and murdered," and was confined for several days to his bed.
He was  not, however,  considered in danger.   On the third
day, he  complained of  stiffness of the  jaws,  contraction of
the  mouth, and  great  difficulty  of  swallowing.   He went
rigours, and violent pain of the right knee.  He died.   The liver was found
studded with purulent  deposits, and generally softened: a collection of pus
was found in the right knee-joint.'  (Medical Gazette, vol. 2, p. 668.)
  " A case of purulent  deposition in the lungs after amputation is given  in
the same journal.   The limb was amputated in consequence of a severe  com-
pound fracture.  The man was in perfect health at the time of the accident.
  " Depositions of pus in the lungs have been found likewise after inflamma-
tion of the veins,  some cases  of which have been lately reported by Mr.
Arnott.
  " The spleen occasionally suffers in  the same manner.
  " The following description of the appearances observable in such cases, ia
given by  Mr. Rose, in the  fourteenth volume of the Medico-Chirurgical
Transactions.   The paper in which it is contained deserves a very attentive
perusal:
  "' The disease consists apparently of depositions in the cellular texture  of
the affected organs, partly of  a white or yellowish-colored lymph, and partly
of pus.  These depositions vary in size, from beyond the bulk of the largest
walnut to something less  than a  common pea.  Where the lymph is  most
abundant, they  may be  described as a soft, white tubercle, of irregular shape,
not contained in a cyst, but imbedded in  the cellular substance of the part,
and gradually blending  with its natural structure.   When pressed, some pus
exudes from them.  Where the pus collects in greater  quantity, it is lodged
in an irregular cavity,  probably in the middle of some of the tubercles, and
the walls of the abscess are formed of flakes of lymph.   The number of these
tubercles and abscesses  vary in different instances, there  being sometimes only
one or two, and sometimes the whole  viscera being filled with  them.  In the
lungs they are chiefly formed in the parts adjacent to the pleura pulmonalis;
and there is often at the same time an  effusion into the cavity of that mem-
brane of a sero-purulent fluid, mixed with lymph. In  the liver and spleen
they are dispersed throughout the substance, sometimes showing themselves
in one or more  yellow patches, not elevated, on  the convex  surface of the
great lobe of the former viscus, and at other times lodged in its substance.
The parts adjacent to them show evident marks of increased vascularity.'
  "Several other cases  have been noticed in Birmingham, within the lastfew
months, of a similar kind.  They have chiefly been discovered in the bodies
of persons who had been  killed, and upon whom inquests were held.  In
one instance of this kind, where  death  occurred within  forty-eight hours,
from receiving an injury of the head in fighting, the lungs were gorged  with
blood,  and the  pleura exhibited extensive marks  of very recent inflamma-
tion."  Darwall.
  Mr. Travers entertains a similar  opinion with Mr. Rose, and other writers
on this subject; but it is suggested whether, in some cases, internal injury
might not have been the cause of the internal disease—this  occurring at the
same time as the fracture or wound.   (British and  Foreign Medical Review,
vol. 2, p. 10.  See also, Nasse on Secondary Abscess, ibid., vol. 3, p. 502.)
  This subject has been carefully investigated in *' Historical  notices on the
occurrence of inflammatory affections  of the internal organs,  after external
injuries and surgical operations, by Wm. Thomson, M. D."  (Edinburgh Med.
and Surg. Journal, vol. 52, p. 392.)  The  author has brought together a  large
collection of facts.   See also, Erichson on Pneumonia,  as a consequence of
surgical operations or injuries.  (London Medical Gazette, vol.  27, p. 794.) 
WOUNDS.
309
out,  however, to work two days after, but in forty-eight
hours became  so unwell  as to return home.  He was so ill
with the stiffness that he could hardly swallow a little spoon
meat.  The disease increased, and he died on the eleventh
day after the injury.
  On dissection there  was found a small lacerated wound
upon the nose, at the lower extremity of the suture, which
unites the nasal bones.  The internal parts were generally
natural, except that the posterior part of the fauces  was of
a dark red color from congestion of the vessels of the lining
membrane,  and a similar  appearance was  observed in the
membrane lining the air-passages.
  The  medical  witnesses (Messrs.  Newbigging, Liston,
Watson,  &c.)  gave it  as their  opinion, that the deceased
died of  tetanus,  occasioned  by the wound.   On being
questioned whether the going out of the patient might not
have been the  cause, they replied, that the symptoms on the
third day were proof of the disease  being already present.
Lockjaw from cold was very uncommon in Scotland, and
he had not left the house until the fifth day.
  The charge of murder was  abandoned by the public
prosecutor,  because the  injuries received were not of a
mortal nature ; nor had they been inflicted with a design to
commit  murder.  And  the  prisoner was  found  guilty of
culpable  homicide, and sentenced to fourteen years' trans-
portation.*
  Another question bearing on this division of our subject
has been distinctly propounded  by Mr. Taylor.   Whether,
when death takes place from an operation indispensably necessary
and skillfully performed, after a wound, the prisoner is  to be
held  responsible?   A direct decision  would  appear to  have
been evaded in several criminal  cases.  I shall, however,
hereafter quote an instance under the head of poisoning by
sulphuric acid, in which phlebitis ensued from venesection,
and  the  patient  died in consequence,  and yet the prisoner

  * Edinburgh Mel. and Surg. Journal,  vol.37, p. 95. Syme's Justiciary
Reports, p. 158.                  >      > r     J           J 
310
WOUNDS.
was convicted  on the main charge.  Here the opening of
the vein was in the opinion of several physicians necessary
to remove, if possible, the effects of the poison.
  I cannot doubt, but that with the restrictions above named,
the prisoner should be held responsible.
  2. The passions of the patient  and his negligence  or
delay, or that of his attendants, may render slight wounds
dangerous, or dangerous ones  mortal.   This may  happen,
1. By his obstinate refusal to undergo the proper treatment,
either from fear or  some other cause.   2.  From errors  in
regimen, such as intemperance, from exposure in a very cold
or a very warm place, or from giving himself up to the free
indulgence of his passions.  3.  By disobeying the directions
of his  physician, as  for example, if a  man who has been
wounded in the throat, should  laugh, talk or sing.  4. By
yielding to anger or fear, so far as to tear off the bandages
and dressings of the wound.   All these circumstances will
aggravate an injury, and  render  it  dangerous or mortal.*
There are others which may be deemed accidental causes,
such as a want of proper aid, of whatever kind it  may be,
and from whatever  source it  may arise.   Both of these,  of
course, increase the guilt of the criminal, if it can be proved
that he inflicted the wound with a knowledge of them.  To
this class  also  belongs  every obstacle  opposed to the
surgeon's performance of his  duty, and all  attempts  to
disturb the  patient, such as  the  prevention of sleep, and
producing agitation of mind.
  A curious case occurred at  Montpelier in 1833,  which I
prefer noticing under this head, although it might probably
be equally well considered under the former:
  On the 12th of  May, Charles Cres received a slight blow
on  the head; he became indisposed on the  14th, and a
serious illness finally developed itself, of which he died  on
the 20th.  The physicians in  attendance certified that there
had been a slight contused wound on the right parietal bone,
and they were  of opinion that this was the cause of the
* Mahon, vol. 2, p. 28. 
WOUNDS.
311
headache  and other severe symptoms that followed.  They
had no doubt that inflammation of the brain was present,
and that this had given rise  to the gastro-intestinal inflam-
mation which succeeded it.
  On dissection, however, no mark of disease could be found
in the brain—its vessels, or its  membranes, or its bony covering.
The contused wound was superficial, not extending even
through the integuments.  The ventricles contained but a
small  quantity  of serum.   The lungs  were,  however,
extensively  diseased;  crepitus   was  wanting in  several
portions, and  on  cutting into  them, a  large  quantity of
dark blood was discharged.   The  other parts were generally
healthy.
  These counter reports were submitted to the Professors
at Montpelier, for their opinion.  They agreed that death
was not attributable either to concussion or compression of
the brain, nor  to inflammation of its substance or envelopes.
None of the  symptoms of  the two first was  at any  time
present.   Indeed Cres, immediately after receiving the blow,
was so little affected, as in his rage, to collect stones for the
purpose of hurling them at his antagonists.  No  indication
of compression  could be shown, nor was a single mark of
inflammation  present.   But  could  not this  last   have
disappeared after death?  They answer, no ; death does not
dissipate the marks of recent inflammations.
  What  then was the  cause of death'?  Undoubtedly an
inflammation of the lungs.   He  had  been  subject to this
previously, and it is probable, that anger, fatigue, and proba-
bly intemperance, all united in predisposing to the attack.
  The Professors, therefore, decided  that the  injury could
not  be deemed  the direct  cause  of death—although  they
conceded that, under the circumstances, it might be deemed
what physicians call an occasional  one—resembling in this
the  fatality that  sometimes  follows from slight  or  minute
injuries.  It is  almost  needless to  add,  that the charge of
murder was abandoned.*
* Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 11, p. 474. 
312                     WOUNDS.
   3.  Insalubrity of the atmosphere, whether it be of a local
 nature, or the general constitution, may render slight wounds
 dangerous, and dangerous ones mortal.  This circumstance
 has been noticed some centuries since, and the experience
 of every military campaign confirms its correctness.  Thus,
 according to Bohn, Sebezius states that wounds of the head
 were  more  readily cured in  Italy and  Spain,  than in
 Germany, and Fodere mentions his having observed the same
 on the  coast of the  Mediterranean,  when compared with
 Paris.   Ambrose Pare,  a great name in surgery,  observes,
 that  at  the siege of Rouen,  many of the besiegers died of
 small and simple wounds, in consequence  of the unhealthy
 atmosphere,  but  which  was  attributed by  the  army to
 poisoned weapons—an idea,  which similar effects induced
 the inhabitants of that city also to harbor.*
   Severe cold, excessive heat, storms of rain, snow or hail,
 have all been observed  to increase the  danger of wounds,
 and for  proofs  of  this,  I need only  to  refer to works on
 military surgery.
   The air of large hospitals  has  also been found injurious,
 and it is constantly observed, that a larger proportion die
 of wounds in the Hotel Dieu at Paris, than in the Hospital
 de la  Charite.f  The very name  of hospital gangrene, is
 sufficient to apprise us of  the  extent of the fatality that is
 sometimes experienced.   In  such cases, it is the duty of
 the medical  examiner to apply the maxim of Hippocrates,
 that  every thing which  happens to the  injured  person,
 contrary to  correct  probability,  does not belong to  the
 essence of the disease.  Thus,  if  there is a general or local
 morbid state of  the  air, and the most cautious  examination
proves that the wound has not affected any essential organ,
it is his duty to  state these facts, and to mention that  death
 has originated from  several causes, of which the wound is
the slightest, although it may have excited the developement
 of the others.

  * Bohn, p. 78.  Fodere, vol. 3,  p. 276.
  t Mahon, vol. 2, p. 23.  " Dans certain hospitaux,  et notamment a l'Hotel
 Dieu de Paris, le trepan est piesque toujours mortel."  Metz;er, p. 376. 
WOUNDS.
313
  4.  The  ignorance or  negligence  of  the  surgeon may
aggravate or endanger the condition of a wounded patient.*
This happens when futile or injurious medicines or applica-
tions  have been used—when the instruments  employed are
in bad order—when the surgeon is either ignorant or rash—
or when seeing the danger, he does not obtain the aid of
skilful persons.  In general, when  a dissection proves that
no wound mortal in  its nature  has been received, and when
none  of the circumstances already enumerated can be urged
as causing its  fatality, the death of the patient  should be
attributed to the surgical  attendant, rather than to the author
of the wound, provided it be proved that he  neglected the
sick person, or maltreated him, by leaving foreign bodies in
the wound, which might have been taken away—by not
suppressing haemorrhage—by  not evacuating collections of
pus when  necessary—by employing  tents  improperly—by
neglecting or hurrying operations—or by  not  causing the
proper regimen to be observed.!
  Notwithstanding  the  distinctions  that  have now been
made, there are some doubtful and complicated cases, con-
cerning which great difference  of  opinion  may arise,  and
the skill of the surgeon often forms the disputed point.  To
this class most commonly belong wounds  of the head, such
as those, for example, in which there are  no symptoms
indicating the  necessity  of  trepanning, and yet extravasa-
tion is found after death.   The diversity of  advice given by
eminent  surgeons on this point during the last twenty or
thirty years, may also lead to unpleasant  discussions.  But
it  is the duty of the surgeon  to  acquaint himself with the
most approved modes of modern practice—to apply them to

  See also  Dr. Chevers on the Causes of Death, after Injuries and  Surgical
Operations,  in London Hospitals.  (Guy's Hospital  Reports,  vol. 1,  new
Beries, p. 7S.)
  * Bohn. pp. 93, 96.
  t  The laws at a very early period attended to this circumstance.   In the
Roman Code, the Lex Aquilia declared, " Si verberatus  fuerit servus non
mortifere, negligentia autem perierit, de vulnerato actio  erit, non de occiso."
So also in the ancient French jurisprudence. If negligence or bad treatment
was proved, it freed the  individual, unless premeditated  design was estab-
lished. (Fodere, vol. 3, pp. 290, 291.)  The same principle practically exists
in our own judicial determinations. 
314
WOUNDS.
the symptoms presented to his view, and then, if on exami-
nation the injury is found  to be such that  no efforts of art
could have prevented its fatality, the death of the patient is
to be attributed to  the nature of his wound.*

  2.  Of the nature  and prognostics of wounds of particular
                           parts.

   I shall endeavor to make this section as concise as possi-
ble, as  it  is  only  intended  to  be  a  general guide to the
medical  examiner.    The opinions deducible from it, are
subject to  many qualifications, which the peculiarities of
every case alone indicate, and  they are evidently not  to be
quoted as universally applicable.
   We shall notice  wounds of the head in the first place ; and
here  a preliminary remark  cannot too  soon be made, or
enforced, viz.: that in no other part is the prognostic  more
uncertain, nor is there one in which the physician has  more
occasion for  suspending his  judgment.  The general prog-
nostic of wounds of the  head depends on the nature of the
injured parts—the  age  and  condition of  the patient—the
nature of  the instrument with which the  wound has  been
inflicted—the force or violence  used—the manner in which
it was applied, and the effects that followed.
   A wound of the  integuments of  the cranium, if inflicted
with a cutting instrument, such  as  a knife or razor, may be
deemed  a  simple wound, which will  heal  within the  space
of a few days.f   But  if the  instrument, although a cutting
  * The principal authority used in this section, is Bohn—De Renunc. Vul-
ner. in genere.  Fodere (vol. 2, pp. 351 to 394,) and Mahon's (vol. 2, pp. 1
to 62,) observations, are generally derived from this source.
  f Wounds of the integuments of the skull are extremely capricious in their
results:  the slightest,  especially punctured wounds, often communicating
inflammation to the bone and membranes of the brain, while wounds much
more extensive, heal readily.  Of the latter, a  striking example came under
my own immediate observation : A soldier got drunk on the line of march,
and was put into a baggage wagon, out of  which he fell, his head coming
right in the track of the wheel, which passed obliquely over it, stripping the
whole of the integuments off one side of it, and leaving the bone completely
bare. The integuments were replaced and  secured by stitches, and the whole
kept in situ by means of bandages.  He travelled for "four days on the wagon,
when he was put into the hospital, and in less than a fortnight was enabled to
resume his duty.  Dunlop. 
WOUNDS.
315
one, is of great weight, and  has been projected by a strong
arm, we should reserve our  prognostic, on account of the
subsequent  affection  of  the  brain,  which may justly be
dreaded.   If a sharp-pointed instrument has been used, and
it has penetrated as far  as the bone, the inflammation and
pain that follow, are more severe than  from incised wounds.
When a contused wound has been inflicted, as by a stick  or
stone, the prognostic will depend much  on the immediate
symptoms, and it will  be dangerous  in  proportion to the
dizziness, nausea, insensibility, &c,  that  are  experienced
for a short time thereafter.*  A superficial contusion, accom-
  * I have found in the collection of pamphlets made by the late  Sir James
Mackintosh, and which (amounting to upwards of one hundred volumes) 13
now in the  Library of the Albany Institute, one with the following title:
"An Appeal to the Public, touching the death of Mr. George  Clarke, who
received a blow at Brentford, on the 8th of December, of which he languished
and died on the 14th.  By John Foot, Surgeon.  London, 1769."
  Mr. Clarke received a blow on the  head with a bludgeon, during the elec-
tion riots, from Edward M'Quirk.  The wound bled profusely.  On his way
home, he felt faint, and took some brandy. He went to bed, and his symp-
toms gradually became aggravated. He was bled on the 10th, but without any
improvement.  On the 12th, an apothecary was called in, who found him in a
violent fever, with delirium.  He applied remedies, and on  the next day Mr.
Bromfield, the surgeon, was sent for,  but does not appear to have prescribed.
He died in the night.
  Mr. Foot was called on to examine the body before the coroner's jury.  He
desired the aid of Mr. Bromfield, who refused to  come, " because he appre-
hended it might be an  Old Baily business."  There was a contused wound on
the head, by the side of the sagittal suture, upon the right parietal bone; the
scalp was elevated for a considerable space round the wound, and the pericra-
nium was much inflamed and  separated from the skull.   On removing the
upper part of the skull, the dura mater directly under  the part where the
injury was inflicted, was found  greatly inflamed and detached from the bone.
Between it and  the pia mater was a quantity of coagulated blood.  The pia
mater was inflamed, and some of its vessels ruptured. There was no fracture.
  From these appearances and the history of the case, Mr. Foot gave it as his
opinion, that the blow  had been the cause  of death, and he  repeated this on
the trial, where it also appeared that Clarke was a healthy young  man, and of
temperate habits.  M'Quirk was found guilty.
  Shortly after his conviction, the above testimony was referred  to the Court
of Examiners  of the Surgeons' Company, on the ground that  neither Mr.
Bromfield nor the apothecary had been examined on the trial, and that Mr.
Foot had never seen  the deceased  until after his death.  The Court gave it
as their opinion, but without assigning reasons, that Clarke did not die in con-
sequence of the blow;  and M'Quirk received a full pardon.
  Of the Court of Examiners above mentioned, Percival Pott was a member ;
and Mr. Foot, with perfect fairness, points out his inconsistency,  by referring
to his Memoir on the nature and consequences of those injuries  to which  the
head is liable from external violence.  The  only  possible ground for the
opinion of the Court of Surgeons, was, that the injury had been neglected.
It is evidently a case greatly influenced by strong party considerations.
  (It is this case which is noticed with so much severity by Junius, in Letter
8, addressed to the Duke of Grafton.) 
316
WOUNDS.
panied with  laceration, and none of  the above symptoms,
may generally be deemed a slight wound.* But a contusion,
however slight,  on the region of the temporal  muscles is
scarcely ever exempt from danger, on account of the  inti-
mate connexion of this part of  the brain, by means of its
nerves,  blood-vessels and membranes.
   Wounds of the pericranium in good  constitutions and well
treated, are not dangerous; but  in bad ones, they are often
serious, and are succeeded by  an erysipelatous inflamma-
tion, which is readily extended  to the brain.  A complete
division of the pericranium is  much less  to be dreaded, than
a  wound  from  a  sharp  pointed instrument.  In venereal
patients, caries  of the bone  is  a frequent  consequence of
such injuries.!
   Fracture  of the  bones of the cranium may  take place
without any correspondent injury of the integuments, and
the  symptoms in such cases are extremely  equivocal and
deceitful.   As the  form of the head  is  an arch,  we should
recollect that a  blow does not necessarily fracture the part
on which  it falls,  but often extends to other parts.J   Our
deductions must, however, be drawn from the circumstances
that immediately followed the  infliction of the wound; from
those  that afterwards supervene, and from  a consideration
  * " We may by the contusion being superficial or deep-seated, infer, to
a certain extent, how the injury has been inflicted.  Superficial contusions,
we may infer, have been inflicted by the smart stroke, of a comparatively light
body, while the more deep-seated contusions must  have been occasioned by
some more ponderous weapon."  (Watson on Homicide, p. 254.)  Under this
last, heavy blows with the fist are to be included.
  t Was there ever a case known, in which the bones of a venereal patient
run into caries, where no mercury had been exhibited ? (DutfLOP.) Proba-
bly not, but my object was to indicate the increased irritability and consequent
danger, in persons so situated being wounded.   Sir. A. Cooper  states fatal
results from operations  on persons who had just gone through a mercurial
course.  (Lectures, vol. 1, p. 30.)
  J On a trial, before the Court of Justiciary, in Scotland, in 1812, it was
proved that the murder was committed by repeated  blows on the top of the
head, yet on dissection, it appeared that death followed from extravasation of
blood from four fractures, all of which were at the base of the skull.  (Dun-
lop's MS. Lectures.)
  This indeed frequently occurs.  A fracture of the  skull, and particularly
of the base, may not be situated at the part where the violence has been
inflicted.
  Mr. Watson quotes the assertion of Orfila, that the danger is greater when
the violence has been applied from above downwards, than either when from
before, backward, or from one side to the other. (Watson on Homicide, p. 86.) 
WOUNDS.
317
of the causes producing them.  Among the first are vertigo,
loss of  sense and  motion, vomiting,  and  bleeding from the
nose  and  ears.   Among  the  latter,  may  be  inflammation,
coma, convulsions and paralysis.*   Fracture may, however,
occur without any of these being present; and again, they
may all  be  present, without  any fracture,  and  result  from
concussions of the brain.f  It  should be  remembered, that
fracture accompanied with depression of the bone, is usually
more  dangerous than when none is present.
   Concussion of the brain is  always dangerous, as  are also
all wounds of the brain and its membranes.$   On  these it is
  * " Upon the authority of Sir A. Cooper and others, it may be asserted that
inflammation of the  brain after injuries does not, in general, supervene for
about a week after the accident, nor is the patient to be considered safe, or
out of danger, till two or three weeks afterwards."  (Watson on Homicide,
p. 62.)
  The following is said to be an aphorism of Dupuytren: " Haemorrhage from
the ear, accompanied with coma, almost invariably indicates a fracture of the
base of the skull."  (Medico-Chirurg. Review, vol. 38, p. 515.)
   | In the London  Medical Repository, vol. 23, p. 346, is a case of a man
wounded with a pickaxe in the left  hemisphere of the brain, with laceration
of the  left ventricle, who walked a mile and a half to the hospital.  He  died,
however, in two days.
   Mr.  Wallace  of Dublin, also relates a case of most severe  injury to the
skull, brain, and spinous processes of the vertebral column, owing to  a fall
from a scaffold.  Yet the patient, soon after the accident, walked up the  stairs
of the hospital.  Death ensued in three days.  (Lancet, N. S.,vol. 18, p.  162.)
Similar cases are recorded in British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p. 93.  Edin-
burgh Monthly Journal Medical Science, vol. 1, p. 230.
  X " It seldom happens that concussion destroys, but when it does, nothing
is found upon the examination which will account for the symptoms.  It ia
therefore an alteration of function, but not a disorganization.  But where the
concussion is very violent, it  is attended with lesion of the brain."  (Sir A.
Cooper's Lectures, vol. 1, p. 119.)
  " In a medico-legal point of view, it is very important to observe that con-
cussion of the brain may prove fatal, without either fracture  of the skull,
effusion of blood within the cranium, or any other change being observed on
dissection."  (Watson on  Homicide, p. 35.)
  A fact stated in these quotations,  cannot be too distinctly impressed on the
mind of the medical examiner.  Indeed, it may be asserted, that " violence
may prove fatal to life, without leaving any traces of its effects on the organ
primarily  affected (the brain,) and without being indicated by  any conside-
rable external marks." The following case clearly illustrates this : On the
the 20th of December, 1833, three men,  after a  drunken quarrel at an inn,
attacked a person who had interfered, and who was on the way home with
them.  They beat him with sticks on the head, body and legs, and subse-
quently dragged him along the ground, and then  flogged him with switches.
He ran away from them after having been  thus maltreated for at least half an
hour.  Shortly after, he was seen walking along the high road,  his dress and
person covered with blood, and with  a tottering and feeble gait. He related
his story, and assistance being afforded, he was carried in a cart to the village
whence he had come.   Medical aid was called in, but he was then insensible,
and in  a very short time he expired.  On examination, contusions were found
on every part of his body, but the viscera of the chest and abdomen were per- 
318
WOUNDS.
not  necessary  to  enlarge  at  this time.   It is  however,
proper  to  remark,  that the prognostic  of wounds of  the
head, is  for  the  most part,  that  they are dangerous, and
require the  strictest  attention.   Thus,  effusion of blood
within the  cranium, may occur very slowly or very  rapidly.
In  the former case, its symptoms  will of  course be late in
their  developements.   In  numerous  instances indeed, inju-
rious and even fatal consequences have been  produced long
after  the infliction  of the injury,  and that too, where the
immediate  symptoms have given little or no reason  for such
a termination.*
 fectly healthy.  The skin in the region of the occiput was much ecchymosed
 and swollen, and beneath was  found a considerable extravasation of blood.
 On the vertex, there was an oblique wound, about an inch  and a half long,
 which penetrated to the  bone.  But on removing the scalp, the bones of the
 cranium were found uninjured.   The vessels of the dura and pia mater were
 much congested, but the brain itself presented no unhealthy appearance.
   Now here was no manifest cause  of death, although the  contusions had
 evidently been severe.  The symptoms of concussion, in its ordinary surgical
 sense had not been present;  neither those of compression.  The examiners
 attributed death to apoplexy, indicated by the congested state of the vessels,
 and brought on, in their opinion, partly by external violence, and partly by
 the pain, state of excitement and  fear, under which the deceased had been
 laboring.   In the absence of its  ordinary  symptoms and its pathological
 proofs, it would certainly seem  correct to assign as a cause of  death " the
 shock produced on the system through the brain and nerves, by the continued
 and repeated violence."  For this case and the comments on it, which I have
 adopted, I am indebted to the British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 3, p.
 248, who quote its incidents from Henke's Zeitschrift. It is judiciously added,
 that in this instance, the common inquiry at coroner's inquests, and on trials
 for death caused by violence, could not have been affirmatively answered.
 Was there a, particular wound that was the cause of death ?  " The truth is,
 a multiplicity of injuries, long continued, although productive of only slight
 marks externally and internally, are as capable of destroying  life, as if an
 individual were at once wounded in a vital organ."
  This subject is well considered in an  Essay by Dr. Bayard. De L'appre-
 ciation Medico-legale des effects  de la commotion cirebrale."  (Annales
 D'Hygiene, vol. 26, p. 197.)
  * The succeeding case will illustrate the difficulties that sometimes envelope
 the cause of death : " A woman received a blow on the head from a laundress'
 iron, but no fracture or  injury of  the cranium was discoverable, though it
 was thereby laid bare.  She was (by the advice of the celebrated  Cheselden,)
trepanned, and still no mark of injury about the cranium was discovered.
 She went abroad, and followed her ordinary business for a fortnight after-
wards ; but at the end of twenty days from  receiving the injury, died.  On
opening the head, they found  a  very large impostume in the middle of the
brain.  This occasioned some perplexity about the real cause of death. The
 surgeon who had managed the case, was rather inclined to attribute the death
to the blow, but would by no means deny that it might have proceeded from
some inward cause.   The deceased had been subject  to frequent and severe
headaches, before the accident occurred.  Mr. Cheselden being examined on
the trial, declared that he could  not conceive how a blow should be.the cause
of death, where there was no extravasation, and  the person could go about
for a fortnight afterwards.  His allowing, however, that similar appearances 
WOUNDS.
319
  The opinion of the medical  examiner, must therefore be
founded not only on general principles, but on the symptoms
that are present, and when called into a court of justice, he
should  explain  how  uncertain the  recovery  from  such
injuries always is, and on the other hand, that persons have
survived  the  most terrible accidents.   The presence or
absence of fever, or delirium,  or  coma,  and the  healthy or
livid appearance of the wound, all aid in determining on
the  danger.  The  following   aphorisms of the  illustrious
Vicq-d'Azyr, are quoted by French surgeons  as  comprising
the  experience  of the art on  these points,  andv they  are
evidently deserving  of remembrance: 1.  That  the  largest
wounds  of the head are not  always the  most dangerous.
2. That it is  possible to  lose a considerable quantity of the
brain, without death ensuing.    3.  That the slightest injuries
are  often  succeeded by fatal  consequences, and that hence
they should  in  no case be neglected.   4.  That a contusion
 of the bone alone may gradually extend itself, so as to affect
 the brain.*
were sometimes found in the brain  of persons subject to headaches, was of
more importance to the prisoner."  (Smith, p. 246.)  The following is one
among a thousand instances where death has been induced at distant periods
from the infliction of violence on the head :   The patient died several weeks
after receiving the injury, and on dissection, Mr. Charles Bell discovered a
fracture at the base of the  skull; and  the foramen magnum having  been
thereby roughened, a sudden turn of the head had forced  a speculum of bone
into the spinal marrow.  (Smith, p. 252.)  The principal and important in-
ference to be drawn from such cases is, " the impropriety of maintaining the
general proposition, that the death of persons recovering from the immediate
symptoms of violence, should never be ascribed to that violence."  Mr. How-
ship relates a  case, where a slight blow  on the head, at  the  age of fifteen,
produced death forty years afterwards.  Pain was frequently present during
life, and latterly somnolency and impaired vision.   On dissection, the  bone
at the  place injured was seen transparent, and almost wholly absorbed,
and the portion  of brain under it was indurated and  schirrous.    (New
England Journal, vol. 9, p. 403.)  On the other hand, in the Medico-Chirur-
gical Review, vol. 5, p. 273, a case is quoted  from Lallemand on the Brain,
of a boy, who had received  blows on the head : symptoms of low fever fol-
lowed, anil he died on the twentieth day.  On dissection, purulent effusion was
found, and marks of inflammation and adhesion in the arachnoid opposite the
right petrous portion of the temporal bone. The parents on being questioned,
confessed that he had long complained of pain in the head and the right ear.
The mastoid bone was now  examined, and its cells  found full of pus.  The
physicians consequently testified, that disease had existed anterior, and that
the blows could only have accelerated the fatal termination.
   * Fodere\ vol. 3, p. 312.  I must be permitted in this place, to caution the
young surgeon, not to use the trepan, without a due regard to the rules laid
down in surgical works.  He may otherwise be injured in his reputation be-
fore a court of justice, and his practice may be condemned by those who are 
320
WOUNDS.
   It must be understood, that many cases have occurred, in
which  a blow on  the  head, by the fist  alone,  has proved
fatal, and particularly so, if the person be struck behind the
ear.  Concussion is the consequence, followed frequently with
laceration of the blood-vessels.   And  a question sometimes
arises, whether death has originated from the blow,  or  a
consequent fall.  In legal construction, the culpability is, I
believe, considered the same, whether it originate from either.
But still there  may be instances  in which it is important to
discriminate.   The circumstances, according to Mr. Watson,
which  render it probable that the blow,  and  not the fall is
the  cause,  are—that such effects are  very  rarely, if ever,
observed from similar falls, without a violent blow at the
same  time—that  in  many instances,  the fall has been on
soft ground, and  lastly, that the internal effusion of blood
has  generally been found either at the place corresponding
to the external mark of the blow, or on the side opposite to
the  external  mark — a  circumstance  which  connects  the
effusion with the blow.*
   " Wounds of the  dura  mater  alone are  more injurious,
than when  both dura and pia mater are  wounded.  In this
last, the brain immediately projects and fills up  the wound.
Inflammation of the dura mater  spreads over  the cavity
down the spine,  (by continuity  of  surface).  I have  seen
many instances of recovery when both were wounded; few,
where the dura mater alone has been wounded."!
better informed.  " There can be only one genuine reason for trepanning,
viz.:  to remove such pressure from the surface of the brain as gives rise to
existing bad symptoms."  (Samuel Cooper.)
  A case where this was  neglected, and thus all chance of recovery taken
away, is related in the British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 7, p. 259, from
Henke's Journal.
  * Watson on Homicide, p. 43.
  f Sir A. Cooper's Lectures, vol. 1, p. 155.  " If effusion of blood be found
between the dura mater and the skull, and if a bruise on the scalp correspond
to the part, we may conclude that it has been caused by the blow; but if blood
is found between the dura mater and the brain, though we should discover the
marks of blows, or even  fracture of the skull, still the  question may be:
might not the patient have been attacked with apoplexy during the struggle?"
(Shaw's Manual of Anatomy.)
  A man in Paris, quarrelling with another, struck him on the forehead with
an iron punch, so violently that he fell backwards on the ground. The wound
was irregular and long, from the glancing of the weapon, extending towards
the left temple. Lisfranc attended the injured person at the Hospital d» la 
WOUNDS.
321
  Mr. Brodie,  in his remarks on injuries of  the  brain,
observes, that he has not been able to discover, among all
the works which he has consulted, an instance of recovery
from a wound of the posterior lobes of the cerebrum, of the
cerebellum, or of the medulla oblongata.*
  I conclude  this division of my subject,  with calling the
attention of the reader to the following remark : " In crimi-
nal trials for the infliction  of injuries  upon the head,  in
which the injured individual is able to be a witness, it is
obvious,  from  the  disordered  state  of  the intellectual
faculties, and particularly   of  the memory, arising from
concussions,  that  his  evidence  should  be  taken with
extreme  caution,  in regard to  circumstances which hap-
pen at the  time of the injury,  and indeed it should  only
be received in  so far as it is corroborated by other testi-
mony."!
   Wounds of the face  are more or less dangerous, according
to  the  part injured,  but  in considering  these,  it is also
necessary to take into account the deformity and irregular
cicatrices that follow  them.  The latter circumstances have
been  noticed  in the jurisprudence of England and our own
country, as we shall state in the succeeding section.
   Superficial wounds of the face are easily healed, but when
deep, and attended with much loss of substance or denuding
of  the  bones,  they  are tedious,  and leave  considerable
deformity.  Wounds of the forehead, in which  the  frontal
muscles  are divided transversely, or of  the eyebrows, cause
the upper eyelid to fall down, and  may produce a lasting
debility  of the parts.   Wounds  of the  eyes,  when of
considerable extent, must   always be  deemed dangerous,
from  the nature  of  that  organ,   and from the intimate
connexion between it and the brain.  A wound with a sharp

Pitie, to which he had been taken.   On his trial, the accused maintained that
the injury was owing to the fall. There was, however, direct testimony that
the wounded person had fallen on his back, and  Lisfranc denied that it could
have thus happened, since all indications of contusion were wanting
  * Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 14, p. 421
  f Watson, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical'Journal, vol. 52, p. 109.
   VOL. II.                   21 
322
WOUNDS.
pointed instrument,  has been known  to pass  through  the
orbit, and prove fatal.*   Wounds of the transparent cornea
  * "A man has been working in a hay-field, he has slipped and fallen, the
prong of a fork has entered his eye ; he has got up, drawn it out, thrown it
from him, and instantly fallen dead, apparently without any cause.  A speck
of blood has been observed on the eye, it has been wiped away ; an aperture
has been observed,  and upon  examining the part, the fork has been found
to have penetrated into the  brain."   (Abernethy's Lectures, Lancet, vol.
12, p. 3.)
  Macklin the comedian, was tried for murdering another actor, by plunging
at his eye with a piece  of a pine stick,  which entered the brain through the
orbit.  He was acquitted, as no malus animus could be proved.
  In the Edinburgh Observer of the 27th of January, 1833,1 find the follow-
ing paragraph : " Ten days  ago, James Bradshaw, hatter, in Greenock, having
been  engaged in a scuffle,  received a wound on the head.  He remained,
slightly complaining, until  the 21st.   On dissection, he was found to have
been killed by an injury on the eye, which had forced in the bone immediately
behind the eye, (the superior orbital plate, I presume,) on the brain."
  Baron Hume, in his work on Criminal Law, p. 256, mentions the case of a
man of the name of Richard Carse, who was tried for murder, which he per-
petrated by beating another man about the  head with a quaigh or wooden
dish, a  splinter of which detached itself, and entered the brain through the
eye, when it  snapped off short, and caused his death in a few days.  The
splinter was taken out of the eye after death.
  These are  cases where injury of the eye has  caused death.  In opposition
to them, I shall relate some  where the  eye has received  injuries as severe as
those, to all external appearance, but which the patient has survived.
  A case is  related by  Gooch, where  a man had his eye blown out by the
bursting of a gun.   The surgeon  dressed it,  but on the  second dressing, he
perceived something hard among the injured substance of the eye; on exam-
ining it, he found it was metallic,  and getting hold of it with his forceps, he
pulled it out,  when, to his  surprise, he found that it was the breech of the
gun, which had been forced backwards by the recoil, and been jammed into
the orbit.  Notwithstanding this extensive injury, which totally annihilated
the eye, the man made  a perfect recovery.
  Mr. Liston of Edinburgh, related to me the case of a man, who, while blast-
ing the roots of trees, had a splinter  driven into the eye,  which,  from its
length, must have passed through the  foramen opticum,  and penetrated into
the brain.  Mr. L. removed it long after, and the man recovered.
  Another more extraordinary case, which also involves not only injury of the
eye, but of the brain, was  related to  me by a gentleman who attended the
patient.  In a duel in the West Indies,  one gentleman hit another in the eye,
the ball of which was completely obliterated, and  the leaden bullet passing
in through the orbit, came out in front of the external ear.   Notwithstanding
which,  the officer recovered with the  same  facility as if he had only under-
gone the infliction of a flesh wound.
  Sometimes balls  find their way into  the lower part of the orbit, or some-
where behind the ball of the eye,  and deprive it of sight altogether.  I saw
an instance of this in Canada.  Lieut. Gray, my brother officer, received a shot
in the left cheek, the ball lodged behind the right  eye,  and totally deprived
him of the use of it.  What renders this case the more extraordinary is, that
though the shot, which was a small one of that kind known by the name of
"buck-shot," and which the Americans introduced in  warfare, must have
either penetrated through the nose, or through the brain, no bleeding at the
nose followed the wound, and 'the only appearance by which it could exter-
nally be known that the ball had injured the eye, was,  that it was very much
inflamed and blood-shot for some days.  When these appearances went off, he
was completely deprived of sight in the right eye, and something like a squint
or at least a want of power, in moving  that eye in concert with the other, re-
mained ever after.   Dttnlop. 
WOUNDS.
323
always  leave  a scar, and intercept vision.*   Wounds  of
the iris cause a loss of sight, and if the instrument penetrates
to the vitreous humour, the eye is left empty, thus combining
blindness with deformity.  Wounds  of the nose, from  a
cutting  instrument, leave great deformity, and particularly
if the cartilaginous part be injured—if inflicted with a round
instrument,  or by a  blow,  it may not only be crushed, but
the sense of smell may be  destroyed.   The ethmoid bone
has  been driven  in this way  upon  the brain.f   Lastly,  a
sharp pointed  instrument has sometimes penetrated the nose,
touched the brain, and hence proved fatal.J   Wounds of the
external  ear  are  unaccompanied  with   danger,  but  the
deformity is a  serious one.   Wounds of the internal ear may
either destroy hearing,  or from  their vicinity to  the brain,
prove in  themselves  dangerous.§  Wounds of the lips,  if
there be a great loss of substance, not  only deform, but are
injurious  to  the speech, and are  sometimes accompanied with
  The reader will derive much useful information on this point, by consulting
" Cases and observations illustrative of the fatal effects of punctured wounds
and injuries of the orbit," by Dr. John Scott, in Edinburgh Medical and Sur-
gical journal, vol. 42, p. 359.
  * Dr. Monteath mentions a case of a person attempting to separate two per-
sons who were fighting, and who  received a blow on  one of his eyes.  The
eyeball was  burst, and vision entirely destroyed.  (Medico-Chirurgical Re-
view, vol.2, p. 640.)
  A blow on one eye, accompanied with ecchymosis, will, according to De-
vergie, affect the other, after a day or two, in a similar manner.  He relates
two cases of  this description, in which the eye, which had not been touched,
became black, and bore all the marks of violent injury.  (Vol. 2, p. 125.)
  f " A man was killed by a blow on the nose; the  consequence of which,
in the  interim, was, that the lower jaw could not be opened, and, in the opin-
ion of the surgeon, he died from inanition, sixteen days after  the accident.
He was also unable to perform the usual natural evacuations.   There was no
fracture about the head, and the external wound had nearly healed  up."
(Smith, p. 251.)
  X Blows on the nose, which have the effect of fracturing the bone, produce
frequently, not  only personal deformity, but ultimately loss of the power of
smelling, and sometimes an insufferable stench, proceeding from the diseased
state of the bone inside of the nose, called by the French  surgeons, punais,
which has the effect of rendering its unfortunate victim quite  unbearable in
society.  I had a case of this kind under my charge, while in the army.  The
patient was a lad of the name of Tobin, who, though I tried every mode of
recovering him, was ultimately obliged to be discharged from  the regiment,
because the stench he created was so intolerable, that  it was found impossible
for any one to sleep in the same barrack-room with him.  He had received an
injury which had beat in the bones of his nose, previous to entering the regi-
ment ; but so far as I am aware, the disease broke out afterwards.  DuNLor.
  § A fatal case, caused by the insertion of a knitting-needle into the internal
ear, is mentioned in Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 33, p. 246. 
324
WOUNDS.
a  constant  flow  of  saliva,  particularly  when  any  of the
glands have been  opened.   Wounds of  the ranular artery
sometimes occur in children, from dividing the frcenum, and
where  the  haemorrhage cannot  be  suppressed,  they  have
been known to prove fatal.*  Wounds of the parotid gland
are always  tedious in curing,  and they  sometimes  become
fistulous.
   In all  cases of wounds of the  face, the  physican  should
state in  his report, the  degree of deformity that has  been
produced.
   Wounds of the neck also vary  greatly  as to their  danger.
Wounds of the integuments and muscles of the neck, may
be considered  simple  wounds,  but  it. must be  added, that
they generally heal with difficulty, in consequence of the
mobility and looseness of the parts.f  Transverse cuts may
indeed prove dangerous, and effect the motions of the head,
or of the pharynx  or larynx, and thus prove an impediment
to the due exercise either of speech or deglutition. Wounds
of the  carotids and  internal jugulars, are generally fatal,!
  * Wounds of the arteries of the cheek, internally, sometimes prove dan-
gerous, from the bystanders not having skill or presence of mind enough to
stop the bleeding by the very simple means of placing the finger inside of the
mouth, and compressing the artery against the thumb externally.  And in-
stead of this, they generally resort to the application of styptics and charpie.
A young lady in the west of Scotland, nearly lost her life from this mode of
treatment.  Wounds of the artery, sometimes cut in dividing the frcenum of
the tongue, are easily commanded by squeezing the divided end in a cleft twig
covered with lint.  Ditnlop.
  t There is a remarkable case of sudden death, from the division of the ex-
ternal jugular vein alone, related in the Boston Medical Magazine, vol. 3, p.
117.  The individual was in prison,  waiting his trial for piracy.  He awoke
in a state of delirium, attempted to strangle himself, but failing in this, went
to the window and broke out a piece of glass, and wounded himself with it,
just under the angle of the lower jaw.  Then, by a rapid succession of cuts,
he extended it from side to  side, but fell immediately into the arms of  his
companion, and, after gasping two or three times, was dead.  He had not lost
more than a pint of blood.
  On dissection, neither the trachea nor any of the arteries or nerves were
found  injured; and nothing but a divided vein was seen, and which was pro-
bably the principal external jugular.  The reporter, (Dr. Flint, I presume,)
suggests whether this sudden death may not have arisen from the admission
of air into the vein.
  Mi-. Watson (p. 93) relates several cases of death from haemorrhage in the
neck, without the larger arteries or veins being divided.  In one instance, the
superior thyroid arteries alone had been divided.
  X There is one instance, and only one, of a divided carotid not proving fatal.
In this instance, Mr. Carpue of London, being called at the moment, secured
the vessel.  (Dunxop.) The case of Gen. Arrighi, (Duke of Padua,) may be
added.  He was wounded by a musket-ball, at the siege of Acre, by which  the 
WOUNDS.
325
since  it is often impossible to  procure the necessary assis-

tance in time to check the mortal haemorrhage, and for this

reason, lacerated  wounds of  these  are not so soon  fatal  as

clean cuts.*  Wounds of the pharynx  and oesophagus  are

peculiarly dangerous, as other important parts are generally

divided  along with them, but even if injured alone, as from

stabs or  gun-shot wounds, they are  much to  be  dreaded,

since the nourishment  of the  system must be carried on

through them, and the  action of deglutition is  directly  op-

posed to a speedy adhesion  of parts.f   Even wounds of a

portion of the fibres surrounding the oesophagus, are danger-

external carotid was cut across, near the place where it is given off by the
internal, and as it enters the parotid.  The gush of blood from both apertures
attracted the attention of the artillerymen, and one of them instantly pushed
a finger into each opening, and thus arrested the flow of blood. Baron Larrey
was immediately called, and by maintaining pressure, saved the life of the
patient.  (Larrey's  Memoirs,  vol. 1, p. 176.)  Some other cases are given by
him in his  later editions. There is also an instance of recovery, probably
from a wounded carotid, given by Delpech.  (Medico-Chirurgical Review,
vol. 7, p. 244.) Another by Mr. Garret,  in the Midland Medical and Surgical
 Reporter, vol. 2, p. 235; and a fifth, by Dr. A. T. Thomson, related in his
 lectures in the Lancet, N. S., vol. 20, p.  148.
   * But even  the latter may be compatible with a very short continuance of
 life, and even  some powers of locomotion.  At least, this would seem proba-
 ble, from the following case, mentioned by professor Amos in his Lectures on
 Medical Jurisprudence at the London University :
   At the Warwick assizes, (1832)  John Danks was tried for the  murder of
 Mary Green.   After conviction, he confessed that he had cut her throat with
 a knife in a hovel, and the surgeon found a wound seven inches long and three
 in depth, dividing the trunk of the carotid, and all the principal branches of
 the external carotid and jugulars, yet, in this state it would appear that she
 ran twenty-three yards, b«sides crossing a bar gate, three feet ten inches high.
 At this distance, at least, the body was found,  and the criminal persisted to
 the last in denying that he had touched her, except  in the hovel, where he
 left her for dead.  A  gentleman went over the ground after the trial and it
 took him about thirty seconds.  Scarcely any blood was observed in the inter-
 mediate space, and this is explained by supposing that she closed the wound
 with her cap,  and also by holding down her head.  Much blood had however
 flowed down her breasts and  lodged about the pubes.  In the  hovel also a
 large quantity was  observed.  (London Medical Gazette, vol. 10, p. 183.)
   A case in which  the internal jugular was partially divided with a razor, and
 yet the patient saved, is given by Dr- Morgan of Geneva, in American Journal
 Medical Sciences, vol. 18, p.  330.   He refers to two other successful cases,
 by  Dr. Stevens of New-York, and  Dr.  Gibson of Philadelphia.  The last
 however occured during an operation.
   t Larrey relates of a grenadier, wounded in Egypt by a bayonet, the broken
  point of which remained for six weeks  deep in the left side of the pharynx,
  behind the arch of the palate. On  its extraction, which was effected with
 great difficulty, the voice, which had been entirely lost, was instantly restored.
  (Medico-Chirurgical  Review, vol. 18, p. 474.)
   A remarkable case is related by Dr. Porter, of New-London, in which  the
  pharynx was  completely divided, above the larynx.  It was an attempt to
 commit suicide.  The patient recovered, with the loss of the os hyoides and
 a portion of the epiglottis cartilage by sloughing.  (Amer. Journal  Medical
  Sciences, vol. 21, p.  303.) 
326
WOUNDS.
ous, inasmuch as they produce a weakness of the action of
deglutition,  and  also by the inflammation  that sometimes
supervenes,  tend to  induce  compression on  the  trachea.
Wounds of the larynx are  serious injuries, as they  derange
or  weaken the voice.*   A wound  of the recurrent nerve
alone on one side, seriously affects this  organ, but  if both
be  divided, a complete  muteness  will follow.   Injuries  of
this description, however, if not  of a complicated  nature,
cannot be considered mortal.  Penetrating wounds of the
trachea are always dangerous, since from its never being in
a perfectly quiet state, it  is  difficult to  produce a  speedy
reunion.f  Numerous cases, however, prove that a  partial
transverse division is not  mortal, but it  is  allowed that a
complete division is generally so ;| more, however, from the
vessels that  must be divided to accomplish this, than  from
the injury itself. §  Wrounds of the par vagum, either on one
  * A Prussian Major was wounded in the larynx by a musket-ball.  The
 wound healed but the voice was lost.  He recovered it, however, gradually,
 in the course of a year.   Case by Dr. Francke.  (Quart. Jour, of For. Med.
 and Surg. vol. 1, p. 338.)
  f A fatal case of rupture of the trachea by a kick, is mentioned in the
 Edinburgh Medical and Surgicial Journal, vol. 18, p. 412.
  X A case occurred in the neighborhood of Glasgow, where the trachea was
 totally divided by violence.  A boy driving the gin of a coal pit, placed him-
 self on the end of the lever.  On stretching out his head to look at something,
 his throat came in contact with a post; such was the force with which he was
 going round, that the trachea was ruptured across.  He survived for several
 days, but in great agony.  Ditnlop.
  § There are, however, cases mentioned by surgical writers, in which the
 trachea was completely  cut asunder, and even the oesophagus opened, without
 any wound of the carotid artery.  (Dorsey's Surgery, vol. 1, p. 69.) The fol-
 lowing are references to cases in which both the trachea and oesophagus were
 divided :
  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 16, p. 353. The case did not
 terminate fatally, although the parts did not unite.
  Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 4, p. 24. By Dr. Van Cleve of Princeton.
A blacksmith thrust his  red hot nail  rod at a man,  and perforated both the
trachea and oesophagus.  Died in a few hours in attempting to swallow.
  Lancet, N. S. vol. 5, p. 309, and Maryland Medical Recorder, vol. 2, p. 241.
Case by Professor Luders of Kiel; attempt to commit suicide with a curved
knife; no large blood-vessels or nerves wounded;  the parts gradually united.
Ibid. vol. 22, p. 735, by Mr. Toogood.   The carotids untouched.  The patient
survived.
  Hennen's Military Surgery,  p. 291.   Case by Dr.  James Johnson, seen at
Prince of Wales' Island in the East Indies. A Malay cut his comrade's throat
while asleep; the larynx divided, and also half of the oesophagus;  supported
by enemas, and gradually recovered.
  Case of wounded trachea and  oesophagus, with a razor, by Dr. Neumann,
where the patient survived fourteen  days.  (London Medical Quarterly Re-
view, vol. 3, p. 209, from Graefe and Walther's Journal.) 
WOUNDS.
327
or both sides, are  absolutely fatal.   Fractures of the cervi-
cal vertebra, are highly dangerous, and  if the  spinal marrow
be  injured, they are fatal.*   Luxation of  the neck is  gene-
rally  fatal,  from  pressure  on  the  same  part.f  Wounds
piercing the vertebra, or passing between them, are suddenly
mortal.   Injuries  of the neck from  contusion,  are  always
dangerous, and should  they  end  in  death, must be  judged
of  by the appearances that are found on dissection,  as
extravasated blood, laceration, &c.J
  " The following case was communicated to me by my friend, Mr. Marshall,
author of a work on the Medical Topography of Ceylon, under whose charge
the patient was:  When the Indian army was sent to Ceylon, during the mu-
tiny in that country in 181S and 1819, a native cooly or laborer, who followed
the camp, was shot through the throat, the ball dividing the windpipe and
oesophagus both together.   He lived for some days after in a state of the most
dreadful and excruciating suffering; the contents of the stomach, or the food
he attempted to swallow, choking up the windpipe, and producing violent fits
of coughing, which threatened him with instant death from suffocation.  His
breathing was so loud that it could be heard outside of the tent where he lay."
Dunlop.
  * A remarkable case was stated by  Soemmering in 1793, of a patient  in
whom there was  a  fracture  and luxation of the vertebral column.  He suf-
fered extreme pain, and his extremities gradually became gangrenous—but he
survived jive months.  (Metzger, p.  320.)  See  an analysis of  Casper  on
Wounds  of the  Spinal Marrow, by Dr. Geddings, in American Journal of
Medical Sciences, vol. 6, p. 192.
  Mr. Phillips (in Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 20, art. 5,) gives a
case of fracture and displacement of the atlas, from a fall, in which the patient
survived 47 weeks.   Motion and sensation  were unimpaired  to the last—and
the only difficulty was, that he was unable  to rotate his head.   He died of
effusion in the thorax.  See also Sir Benj.  Brodie's observations  on injuries
of the spinal cord,  in Ibid.  art. 9. He particularly notices the  dangerous
effects of concussion, and the softening  process  to which it gives rise.
  Also a case, where the patient survived a year, (from Froriep's Notizen) in
Amer. Journal Med. Sciences, vol. 23, p. 236.
  Recovery is sometimes had in cases of fracture of the spine below the mid-
dle dorsal vertebra.  See Amer.  Journal  Med. Sciences, vol. 16, p.  381.
Transactions Provincial Med. Association, vol. 5, p. 78.
  t Dr. Spencer, of Ticonderoga, relates a case  of this kind in a man who fell
backwards in attempting to scale a fence.   The dentatus  was luxated ante-
riorly on  the third cervical vertebra.   He lost all sensation below the head,
but preserved his speech and mind  to the last.   He died in forty-eight hours.
(Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 10, p. 173.)
  There is a case related, of cure of dislocation of the  cervical vertebrae, by
Dr. Schuk of Vienna, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, v. 55, p. 554.
  A remarkable instance of division of the lower dorsal vertebrae, by falling
on a chwcl, and which entered  five inches, is given in the New-York Journal
of Medicine, vol. 5, p. 165.  Paralysis ensued,  with other symptoms ; but of
these the patient gradually recovered, and, although probably somewhat of a
cripple for life, he has since married and has one child.
  X An instance of a very severe wound of the  neck, occurred in the case of
Gen. Ripley, wounded in the sortie from Lake Erie, in 1814.  An account of
it, with the narrative of his recovery, by Dr. E. L. Allen, will be found in the
Transactions of the Physico-Medical Society of New-York, vol. 1, p. 85. 
328
WOUNDS.
   In  connexion  with injuries of the vertebrae, it  must be
 recollected, that  caries of the  atlas and dentatus may have
 been going on for some time, and death finally and suddenly
 ensues from spontaneous dislocation of the ligaments.  Dis-
 section will of course explain any difficulty, but during life,
 " the  extreme emaciation and weakness, the peculiar expres-
 sion of  the countenance and fixture of the head;  either quite
 erect or quite horizontal, and never moved without  the sup-
 port of both hands," serve to indicate the nature of the
 complaint.*
   Wounds of the  thorax  are divided into  external wounds—
 into penetrating wounds, unaccompanied with injury to any
 of the organs in that cavity, and  into penetrating  wounds,
 with lesions of those organs.
   External wounds from a cutting instrument belong to the
 class of simple wounds, but from  contusions or falls, may
 become dangerous, either through the extension of inflam-
 mation  to the  internal  parts, or from the rupture  of some
 blood-vessels.  Fracture of the  ribs, if not complicated
 with their sharp points pricking inwardly, is  not absolutely
 dangerous, although there is even then some  impediment to
 inspiration, and  some apprehensions of inflammation.  But
 should the rib  be much  splintered, and  the  points not be
 reducible, it may  end  fatally.   Penetrating wounds  are not
 in general dangerous, unless combined with fracture of the
 ribs,  or the  rupture  of some  blood-vessels.   Internal
 haemorrhage or emphysema  is often a dangerous, and even
 fatal symptom.   Wounds of  the  lungs are dangerous, and
 the prognostic is always  doubtful when the injury has been
 inflicted at the upper  part of the thorax,  or at the posterior
 side near the junction of the ribs with the vertebra.   The
 symptoms here  require  the  strictest  attention, as no case
 should be despaired of.f  These organs  are also, subject to

  * A case of this description is related by Prof. Syme, in Edinburgh Medical
 and Surgical Journal, vol. 45, p. 8.
  t A very extraordinary case of this kind came under my care some years
ago.  Sergeant Verney, of the 89th regiment, at the battle of the Falls of
Niagara, received a shot on the breast, about an inch and a half on the right
side of the sternum, which came out behind about the same distance from the 
WOUNDS.
329
concussion, which  is  termed wind concussion, and is usually
fatal.   Fractures, luxations, and contusions of the vertebral
column, are  all  highly dangerous, and may sooner or later

prove fatal.
   It is difficult to conceive of the pericardium being wounded
without a correspondent injury of the heart.   But, if sepa-
rate,  it  is  to   be  deemed a highly  dangerous  wound.*
Wounds of  the heart,  of  its  ventricles  and auricles,  are
mortal,  but  it  is  remarkable  that numerous  cases are  on
record, while life has  been  prolonged for a considerable time
after the infliction of  the injury.    Bohn quotes several cases
of the kind,f and an instance  occurred in the  British Army
in Spain  some  years since, where a soldier  survived  for
thirteen days with a musket-ball in his heart.f   The reason
spine; the lungs were completely penetrated, and the air passed through both
apertures.  On his being brought to me, I thought the wound must necessa-
rily prove mortal;  and having a great many wounded to attend to,  I merely
dressed it with lint, but secured by straps.  Next day, instead of finding him
dead, as I expected, I found that he was easier, and that fever had commenced.
I bled him freely, and paid particular  attention to him;  and in the course of a
fortnight he was so well as to be fit to be  removed to the general hospital at
York.  He afterwards recovered completely.
  Mr. Maiden's case  of the man who  was  transfixed  through the thorax by a
gig shaft, must be fresh in the memory of every medical man.  Dunlop.
  A very similar case of a gun-shot wound, where the charge passed from the
navel to the back, and the patient recovered, is related in the provincial Med.
and Surgical Journal.  (New-York Journal of Medicine, vol. 4, p. 112.)
  Dr. Tait mentions  a case of rupture of the  lung, from external violence,
(being run over by a  parcel van,)  in a child three years old.  She died in
thirty-five hours.   There were no external marks of injury on the chest, but
the symptoms were severe.  (Quoted from the Northern Journal of Medicine,
in the Lancet, July 20, 1844, p. 531.)
  *  Larrey mentions  several cases which he deemed wounds of the pericar-
dium, and that were cured. Sir A. Cooper relates one where the wound was
inflicted with a reaping-hook, and the patient survived two or three weeks.
(Lectures, vol. 3, p. 169.)
  t  Pages 26, 221,222.
  j  Instances of people living for any period, longer  or shorter, after  the
heart has received a severe injury, are to be found in every work on forensic
medicine, and these are not to be looked upon merelv as physiological curi-
osities; they sometimes involve questions of life and "death.
  A case was tried in  Glasgow, in 1819, of which the following is an outline :
The keeper of  a house of bad fame in Greenock, was indicted for the murder
of a sailor, by shooting him through the chest.  It appeared from the evidence
of the medical witnesses, that the auricles and part of the aorta next the heart,
were shattered to  atoms by the slugs and brass nails  with  which the piece
was charged; and in their opinion, he must have dropped down dead the mo-
ment he  received the  shot.  Therefore, as  the body was found in the street,
and the door of the house was eighteen feet up an entry, it followed that the
prisoner must have run into the street, and there shot him.   For the prisoner
it was urged and  proved, that he had  shot him through the door of his own
house, which he was attempting to enter by force.  And besides, direct testi- 
330
WOUNDS.
in some of these cases is, that the instrument which causes the
wound, prevents, by its  closing the aperture, the fatal haemor-
rhage which otherwise  would  soon  follow.   In  other  cases
it may be the  clot.   Formidable, however, and  imminently
dangerous as these wounds  are,  it  is not to  be  denied, that
probably some have survived an injury of the heart.  " There
is reason  to believe," says  Dr. Dorsey, " that the heart has
often been  slightly wounded without fatal consequences."*
mony from those within the house, and from a lad who was along with the
deceased at  the  time, it came out in evidence  that there was  a stream of
blood from the door of the house to the spot where the body was found, which
could not have run from the body towards the house, as the threshold of the
door was on a higher level than the pavement of the street.  On this evidence
the prisoner got an unanimous verdict of acquittal.  Dunlop.
  I subjoin Mr. Taylor's comments on this narrative: "If, by the heart being
' shattered to  atoms,' we understand that its  cavities were entirely laid open,
and its substance destroyed, we have a description of wound which most pro-
fessional men would not hesitate to pronounce instantaneously mortal. The
existence of an individual after such an injury,  for a period sufficiently long
to enable him to run eighteen feet, must be regarded as almost  miraculous."
(Medical Jurisprudence, p. 452.)
  * On this interesting subject of wounds of the heart, I have collected some
references which may be of use to the medical witness.  The case in the text
of the soldier in Spain, is  in the Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal,
vol. 14, p. 129 :
Triller in Schlegel, 5, p. 242: a wound fatal after 14 days.
Pelletan's Surgery :  The aorta wounded with a small sword, yet the patient
  survived two months.
Medical Records and Researches, p. 59.   Case by Dr. Babington : The right
  ventricle and  both lobes of the lungs penetrated by a bayonet; survived
  nine hours.
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 2.  Case by Mr. Featherston: ventri-
  cle wounded by a bayonet, but the  patient walked about the ward  on the
  second day.  He died in forty-nine hours.
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 14, p. 463.  Case by Boyer, at La Charite:
  Wound of the left veniricle with a knife; died in nine days.
American Journal  of Med. Sciences, vol. 15, p. 532.   Case by  Dr. Fris, at
  Naples; survived a wound of the ventricle with a knife, ten days.
New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 5, p. 314.  Case  by Professor
  Stevens :  Wound from  a needle : the pericardium was punctured  in ten
  or twelve places, and the right ventricle lacerated.   No doubt the beating
  of the heart against the head of the  needle  caused these punctures.  Death
  ensued in a few hours.
Medico-Chirurgical  Review, vol. 10, p. 245.  Case by M. Ferrus : A maniac
  wounded himself with an iron stilet; survived twenty days ;  and on dis-
  section, the instrument was found strongly fixed  in  the  substance of
  the left ventricle.  The case is also given  in detail by Orfila, Le§ons, 2d
  edition, vol. 2, p. 480.
Ibid. vol. 22, p. 453.  Case' at Hotel Dieu; Right ventricle wounded with a
  kitchen knife ;  survived a month.
Ibid. vol. 23, p. 84, Dupuytren's cases.
  Transactions Provincial Med.  and Surg. Association, vol. 2, p. 357 ; a boy,
ten years old, in discharging a wooden gun, was wounded in the thorax, by a
plug of wood, about  three  inches long, which he had used to form the breech
of this apparatus.  It could not be found. He walked about for a fortnight, 
WOUNDS.
331
Wounds  of the  base of the  heart  are,  however,  almost


and said he was well, but finally wasted away, and died in five weeks and two
^vs after the acddent.  On dissection the stick was found in the right ven-
tricle, forcing itself between the column* carneae and the internal surface of
the heart, and encrusted with  a thick coagulum.  No wound could be dis-
 overed n  the heart or pericardium.  It is hence doubtful whether this was
actually a wound of the heart, and it is  supposed  by  Mr. Davis, who relates
the case, that the stick at  first entered  the lung, and passed into the vena
cava, and  thence  was carried by the  stream of  blood,  first into the right
auricle, and then into the right ventricle
  Western Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences, vol. 9, p. 68Z.   An in-
vidual was shot with a pistol-ball of the  size of 74 to the  pound.  He pursued
his antagonist some rods, but became faint and fell.  He survived 97 hours.
On dissection, the ball was found to have entered  the right ventricle, passed
to the right auricle, through the tricuspid valves, and then  descended into
the  vena cava ascendens, in the right  iliac  portion of which, about half  an
inch from its bifurcation, it was found lodged.  Case by  Dr. Simmons.
  Lancet, N. S. vol. 20, pp. 208, 235.  Two cases  by  Mr. Lees (from Dublin
Journal.)   One was of an officer, wounded in the right auricle, with a sword,
in a duel.   It was fought on shore, and the individual returned on board ship,
without expressing any material uneasiness.  The surgeon supposed that the
broken point of the  sword had been lost in the grass.  Death ensued on the
next day.
  In the other, a brewer's  man in  Dublin  fell under his dray, which passed
over his chest.  He recovered so as to drive his horse for an hour, when being
near Stevens' Hospital, he thought he might as well be examined.  He walked
in and lay on a bed, but in turning on his side, he suddenly expired.   On dis-
section, the fifth rib was found fractured, and a portion  of it had penetrated
the pericardium and right auricle.  It filled up the  perforation of  the peri-
oardium, but had freed itself from the heart, and this last probably occurred
immediately before death.
  The  same author (Mr.  Lees,) states, that out of 54 cases collected by M.
Ollivier, the right ventricle was the seat of the wound in 29, the left ventri-
cle  in 12, both ventricles in 9, the right auricle in 3, and the left in 1. Out
of 29 cases of  penetrating wounds of the cavities of  the heart,  only two
proved fatal within  48 hours;  in the others, from 4 to 28 days.
  Sedillot,  (p. 243,) relates of a young student of medicine,  who, desirous of
destroying  himself, inflicted a wound with a double bladed knife in the cardiac
region, and afterwards divided the crural vein.   On dissection, the left ven-
tricle was found to be penetrated, but the haemorrhage was so slight as clearly
to indicate the other wound as the cause of death.
  Lancet, N. S. vol. 24, p. 605, (from the Calcutta Quarterly Journal.)  A sui-
cide survived four days, after having wounded the heart through and through,
with a paper scraper of ebony, which  was found in it.
  British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 8, p. 255 (from Casper).  An indi-
vidual stabbed in the right auricle, lived seven days.
  Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 53, p. 528, (from Archives Gen-
erates.) Three cases  of penetrating  wounds, related by M. Jobert, where
the persons lived from twelve hours to ten days.
  Lancet,  N. S., vol. 26, p. 421.  Mr. Alcock mentions  an instance where a
musket ball penetrated the heart, and the man lived 48 hours ; and Mr King,
one of  a robber stabbed with a bayonet which transfixed  both ventricles, and
yet the man was able, with a musket in his hand, to jump over two high fen-
ces.  He then fell down suddenly  and  died.   Some  blood was  found in the
pericardium.                                   *
  Let it not, however, be supposed from  these examples, that wounds of the
heart are not suddenly mortal.  Individuals often die either instantly after a
wound, or life is only protracted for a few minutes
  In the case of Mrs. Hamilton, murdered by Cloughin 1833, at Bordentown,
(.New Jersey,) by repeated stabs with a dirk,  seven wounds penetrated the
leu lung,  and three entered the left ventricle.   She walked some distance 
332
WOUNDS.
invariably  mortal.*   Wounds of the  aorta and  vena  cava
are  fatal.f    It is  hardly  possible  that  the  thoracic  duct
down stairs after this, and held some conversation, but soon fell and died in
fifteen minutes.
  Robert Cully, the policeman, stabbed through the heart in London, May 14,
1833, ran thirty yards, and then exclaiming,  " I am very ill,"  fell down and
expired.
  Mr. Wallace of Dublin, in a clinical lecture on Diseases of the Heart, men-
tions three cases of a similar kind.   In the first, the pulmonic artery and the
aorta within the pericardium were wounded by a spear pointed, double edged
instrument.  The person fell, and expired after uttering a few words.  In the
second, the right ventricle was perforated by a knife.   Instant death. In the
last, where the  left ventricle was pierced, death ensued in  fifteen minutes.
Although thus sudden, the bodies soon became stiff.
  Mr. Wallace agrees with the medical witnesses in  the Glasgow case,  and
does not believe that the wounded person, if the injury detailed be  correctly
reported, could have walked the distance stated.  He  thinks it more probable
that the blood was deposited for the purpose of deception.  Still he allows
that in certain injuries of the heart, life may be somewhat prolonged.  (Lancet,
N. S., vol.  14, p. 140.)
  Instances of the heart being  found cicatrized are given in Lancet, vol. 7, p.
22, Bougon's case.   Western Journal of Medical and  Physical Seiences,  vol.
1, p. 329.  Case by Dr. Randall of Tennessee, of a negro boy, shot in the breast
with a fowling-piece.  He  survived sixty-seven days, and at  one  time  was
able to walk about.   On dissection,  the spots where  the shot entered were
found cicatrized, and three shot were found in the right ventricle, and two in
the right auricle.  Dr. Drake, in his observations on this case, refers to other
instances.  (See his Journal, vol. 2, p.  329, and vol. 3, p. 297.)
  A case of recovery from a punctured wound of the heart,  by a darning-
needle, is related by Dr. O'Connor, in London Medical Gazette, vol. 17, p. 82.
  A probable case of recovery from wounds  of  the heart by a knife, by Mr.
Henri, in France, is quoted in  London, Edinburgh and Dublin Monthly Jour-
nal of Medical  Science, vol. 2, p. 188.
  *  Rupture of the heart, from external injuries, is rather an uncommon oc-
currence.   There are, however, several cases.  One is of a smuggler, who
fell down a cliff, about 100 feet.  No other injury was found, than a rupture of
the right auricle.  (Mr. Jeffery, in London Medical Gazette, vol. 26, p. 464.)
Professor  Geoghegan mentions another in the Dublin Medical Press, of a
female, struck by the wheel of a jaunting car.  She was instantly killed.  On
examination, not the slightest  mark of violence  could be discovered, but the
heart was ruptured almost throughout its  entire length.  He refers to ad-
ditional instances related by Dr. Gairdner, in Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical
Transactions, vol. 1, p. 662, and by Dr. Christison in his lectures.  Dr. John
Davy in  his  Anatomical and Physiological Researches, gives the  case  of a
person who fell  down a precipice of some 50 or 60 feet, and  he also refers to
a case noticed by Portal, where death was caused by the passage of a wheel
over the body.  In each there was no other injury than of the heart or aorta.
Case No. 1, is also noticed as containing the ruptured parts in the Catalogue
of the  Museum of the Medical department of the army, Fort Pitt, Chatham,
p. 51.
  t  See Hays' American Cyclopedia of Medicine and  Surg. vol. 2, p. 185, art.
Wounds of the aorta, by Dr. Geddings.   Wound of the Thoracic aorta, by an
iron nail rod—fatal  in three and a half minutes,  related by Mr. Smith in the
Dublin Med. Journal.   (Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical Jour. vol.  51, p.
510.)  Dr.  Dunlop  in his MS. Lectures, mentions that it was formerly the
custom  in  the  Portuguese  army, to punish delinquents by striking  them on
the back with the flat of a heavy sword, of which the consequences sometimes
was, rupture of the  blood-vessels of the chest and even of the aorta.
  As an instance of a very rare exception to  the above general rule, may be
mentioned  the case of a Bavarian soldier, who was stabbed with a  knife, in 
WOUNDS.
333
can be wounded without affecting other vital parts, but if it

should occur, we must deem it fatal, as the chyle, instead of

passing in its ordinary course, is diffused  into the cavity of

the  thorax.*  For  similar reasons,  the lower part of the

oesophagus is scarcely, if ever, wounded separately ; but if

so, it is certainly mortal, as it prevents  the proper passage

of  the food, and totally impedes the function of nutrition.

Wounds of the vena azygos are mortal, as they are attended

with  a haemorrhage which  it  is impossible  to  suppress.

Wounds of the  diaphragm, if made  with  a sharp pointed

instrument, such as a sword, are dangerous, if only the mus-

cular  parts be  injured; but if the  tendinous ones  are  also

injured, they are considered fatal.f


the ascending arch of the aorta, in 1812.  He  died in 1813, of Pneumonia,
and on dissection, the cicatrix was found in the aorta, perfectly closed.  The
knife had penetrated through all the coats of the artery.  (Lancet, vol. 22, p.
383, from Archives Generales.)
  Rupture of the vena cava, from the wheels of a gun carriage passing over
the driver.  Death ensued  in twelve minutes.  (Lancet,  October 26, 1844,
p. 127.)
  * Blumenbach refers to a case in Lentin where life continued, though in a
weak state, for many months after a rupture of the thoracic duct. (Elliotson's
Blumenbach, p. 362.)
  t I have taken this distinction from the systematic  writers, although I am
perfectly convinced of the correctness of a remark of Dr. Marc, that it is use-
less to distinguish between wounds of its tendinous and muscular portions.
(Godman's West. Reporter, vol. 1, p. 44.) A very curious case of wounded
diaphragm, which from its consequences, proved fatal at the end of eleven
months, is mentioned in the  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 8,
p. 42.
  Cases of recovery from a punctured wound are given in London Medical
Repository, June, 1824,  by Mr. Wood; in Lancet,  N.  S. vol. 4, p. 421, from
a stab in the muscular part, by Prof. Bernt. Percy (Dictionnaire des Sciences
Medicales, vol. 9, art. Diaphragm, rupture of,) says that when not immedi-
ately fatal, patients suffer greatly from it, and on dissection, the edges of the
rupture are found callous and rounded.
  A case of extensive laceration of the diaphragm, from a fall of forty feet,
and which proved fatal in five and a half days is related by Mr. Curling in
British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p.  551.
  A medico-legal case, in which rupture both of the diaphragm and stomach
was present, is mentioned at page 116 of this volume.  The  circumstances
attending it were such,  that I  can readily agree with  the opinion, that this
injury happened at some period subsequent to the infliction of the fracture.
But in allowing this, it is not neccessary to concede, which some have done,
^rTUp nu-  *e diaPh.raSm is in all cases immediately fatal.  Dr. Johnson
(Medico-Chirurgical Review, v. 26, p. 432,) quotes the following from a French
H«r ' Atu   I a°? vltgrorous man'in attempting to mount a coach, pulled
it over and fell under it.  He was taken to  the Hotel Dieu,  on the  third  dav
Irminl   nl> /*, "ght thiSh bone was found to be fractured, but no
SS»      b0nal symPtoms were present.  The pulse was natural, the
respira ion not oppressed, and the  only annoyance was  a teasing cough, with
UonThihit?/  °rat10?-  H? \Unk «nexpectedly on the sixth day, and dissec-
tion exhibited a separation of the diaphragm from the sternum and ribs for a 
334
WOUNDS.
  As  a general deduction from these  remarks, it  may be

observed, that the prognostic in wounds of  the thorax is, in

most cases, an unfavorable one, although they are not often

mortal, unless some primary organs be injured.   John Bell,

indeed, directs  his pupils never to call any wound mortal,

unless it be plainly a wound of the heart.   This advice may

be proper in surgery,  but it  can have  no bearing in legal

medicine, since  it practically excludes all prognostics what-

ever.   I  have therefore given the best founded opinions that

I could obtain, and will  only add,  that  the prognostic in

wounds of the  lungs should  in  general be delayed, as  the

cases  of  recovery from desperate ones are so numerous, that

we can never be justified in peremptorily declaring any par-

ticular instance a  mortal wound.   Wounds from fire-arms

are, however, always more hazardous than those from cutting

or sharp-pointed instruments.*

   Wounds of the abdomen, like those of  the  thorax, are divi-

sible  into  external and penetrating wounds.   The  former

are to be deemed simple, unless they have been accompanied

with a violent  shock of  the system, or  are  of  large extent,

or are accompanied with wounds of the  epigastric artery.

In  this  last case,  the  haemorrhage  has sometimes proved

fatal.   Penetrating wounds are to be  dreaded, either from

considerable extent, and through this the bowels protruded.  There was also
a smaller rupture of the diaphragm in another part.
  The case referred to has given rise to much interesting discussion. Besides
the references already given, it is also noticed  by Taylor, p. 457, and Dever-
gie, vol. 2, p. 187.
  Mr. Taylor also gives us a case occurring in Guy's Hospital, where the acci-
dent causing the rupture must have happened nine months before death.  The
patient was admitted for a diseased ankle caused by the fail; otherwise his
health was good.  After lingering three months in the hospital,  death fol-
lowed, and on dissection, an aperture two and a half inches in extent was dis-
covered in  the muscular part of the diaphragm. The margin of this aperture,
to which the omentum was in one or two places strongly adherent, was opaque,
yellowish and even.  A large portion  of the stomach was found in the cavity
of the chest.  (Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 3, p. 366.)  See also Dr. John
Reid on Diaphragmatic  Hernia, in Edinburgh Med.  and Surg. Journal, vol.
53, p. 104.
  Lancet, N. S. vol. 32, p. 702.  Rupture of the Diaphragm, from a fall from
the rigging on board ship.  Death in five days.
  * Dr. Pliny Earle relates two most astonishing cases of recovery  from
severe injuries : one in which the pivot of the trysail mast  of a vessel pene-
trated through and through the thorax, and the other, in which the shaft of
a gig performed the  same operation.   The latter is the  well known Maiden
case, but Dr.  Earle  gives us the appearances of dissection eleven years after
the accident.  (American Journal Med. Sciences, N. S. vol. 2, p. 117. 
                        WOUNDS.                      ^^

touching the peritoneum, and thereby causing inflammation,
or from producing ventral hernia, and in the latter case, the
apprehension will be graduated on the nature of the viscus
that has passed out, and the inflammation and strangulation
that accompany it.*
   Penetrating wounds may  also strike one or more of the
viscera contained in the abdomen,  and in that  case, the
accidents that  occur, and  the  medico-legal questions that
arise, are among the most perplexing of  this branch of our
subject.   Wounds of the stomach are to be deemed  highly
dangerous, although there has been great diversity of opinion
concerning  their  mortality.  Bohn  and  Teichmeyer  pro-
nounce all mortal, and the instances of escape, as almost
miraculous, while Alberti, Boerhaave and Valentini, consider
those only mortal which have injured the lower part and the
two orifices.  A wound  of the stomach  was  declared acci-
dentally mortal, by the medical  faculty  of Giessen, and
absolutely  mortal by  the  medical college at Frankfort;
while in another case, a wound was considered mortal  by
the faculty at Leipsic, and not so by those  of Helmstadt and
Wirtemberg.f
   This contrariety of opinion has arisen from a considera-
tion of the following circumstances : wounds of the stomach
have sometimes been cured without any  bad consequences;
various substances, such as knives, forks, pins, &c. have
been swallowed without immediate injury; and the opera-
tion of gastronomy has  been  occasionally performed  with
safety.^   All these facts tend  to show, that wounds of the
stomach are  not absolutely mortal, but they do not permit
us  to  deny their  danger.§  Certainly,  if  inflicted  with  a

fi.*.?!16 nfe"ssitv °f returning it as early as possible, is very manifest, and if
this be not done, the criminal may escape punishment, at the expense of the
surgeon s reputation.  See a case of this kind in Smith, p 263
  t Mahon, vol. 2, p. 122.  Valentini's Pandects, vol. 2, pp. 413 to 432  All
s m^e d'lLTrSr^01116 afv.ee'that a wound kfliotffon a full stomach
beTsuh^f t  •  I™ °? thv °rgan when emP*y- Jt should therefore
  t Ci rw nf rry' h*°W l0-ng \efore the inJury a ^1 has teen taken.
10$   L   Pr  1S ?.atlJrJ? m the Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 1, p.
103.  Also in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 19, p. 178               P
life clnVeTettl^^ °f ^ Beaumo^>» * itself sufficient to show that
Hie can be preserved after a severe and extensive wound of the stomach.   I 
336
WOUNDS.
sharp-pointed instrument, and penetrating, they are  to be
deemed hazardous, and the chance  of death is increased
when the  blood-vessels or  nerves of the  part have been
injured.*   But a  rupture  or  division  of the  coats  of the
stomach may  also be effected by  a severe contusion, or a
blow  on the  part, without  any external wound, surgically
speaking, being present.  Fabricius mentions the case of a
man  who  was  so  dreadfully  trodden  under  foot,  that  not
only  the stomach was burst, but there was a rupture of the
diaphragm, and the  food passed  into the  cavity of  the
thorax, and notwithstanding this, except some slight eleva-
tions of the epidermis in the form of vesicles, the integuments
and abdominal muscles did not appear in the least injured.!
It will  not appear surprising that sudden death should be
the consequence of a blow on the epigastric region, when it
is recollected that it is the  seat  of the solar plexus, and of
the  semi-lunar ganglion,!  parts especially  subservient  to
have met with an analogous case, which appears to have escaped notice, in
the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.  Dr. George Burrows men-
tions of a man wounded in the stomach, with a blunt-pointed wooden instru-
ment.  He survived the effects 27 years, but had always an opening, which he
kept closed with a plug.  On dissection, this  opening was found.  (Medical
Facts and Observations, vol. 5, p. 185.)  Other cases of recovery from wounds
have been related by Mr. Travers, in North American Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 2, p. 199; by Mr. Breton, in Transactions of the Medical and
Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. 1, p. 59 ; by Mr. Scott, in Medical Commu-
nications, referred  to by Sir A. Cooper; Lectures, vol.  3, p. 155;  by Dr.
Beatty, Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, art. Death from Wounds, vol. 4,
p. 556; by Dr. New of Mississippi, Western Journal Med. and Phys. Scien-
ces, vol. 11, p. 551.  An individual was  stabbed and a protruding substance
was removed, which proved to be a portion of the stomach.  The parts were
secured by a ligature, and the patient recovered in sixteen days.
  Dr.  John Watson has collected a number of cases of recovery, in American
Journal Med. Sciences, N. S. vol. 8, p. 327.
  * Dr. Andrew Duncan, jun., in a clinical lecture  at Edinburgh, (1830)
mentioned the following case, which may serve as a check to hasty opinions:
A man died, in the Infirmary, of rupture of the ascending  aorta.  Death was
not, however, immediate, as  he survived several hours in consequence of a
clot acting as a partial valve.  On dissection, the stomach was found distend-
ed with blood, and the bystanders were already engaged in conjectures as to
the cause, when the removal of the  fluid showed the perfect state of that
organ,  and it became  evident that  the blood must have been swallowed,
according as it was discharged from  the aneurism.   (Lancet, N. S., vol. 6,
p. 169.)
  t  Mahon, vol. 2, p. 126.  Rupture  of  the stomach from  falls is rare.  De-
vergie, however, relates a case, in which  the liver and aorta were torn; with
no less than from fifteen to twenty rents of the peritoneal coat of the sto-
mach.   The man had fallen from a second story window. (Vol. 2, p. 46.)
  X  The effects of severe blows on the stomach, though well known to the
vulgar, are  hardly accounted  for satisfactorily by the learned.  A severe 
WOUNDS.
337
life, and  also, that on  dissection, no  inflammation  of  the

stomach and the other  organs,  should in  such  a case be

found.*   Wounds of the intestines are less to  be dreaded


blow on the head, the seat of nervous contraction, often does not produce so
violent an effect as a very slight blow over the semi-lunar ganglion   A  case
occurred in London, some years ago, where a man killed his comrade by giv-
ing him a pat on the pit of his stomach with his open hand.   By the practice
of the Scotch courts, if one man kills another by a blow on the stomach, the
fact of his  having done so is construed into malice, or what amounts to the
same thing, recklessness, as it is termed.—Dunlop.
  In a paper read before the British Association in  1837, Dr.  Holland com-
batted the idea that death in these cases was referable  to an  injury or im-
pression  made on the nervous system, and attributed the fatal result to the
sudden propulsion of  arterial blood by means of the blow into the left ventri-
cle; this retrograde movement would so overpower  the action of the parts,
as to cause sudden death.  Several physicians, however, dissented from this
opinion, and in particular Dr. Copland, who thought the cause of  death a
more general one, affecting many functions.  It is to be regretted  that we
have so few dissections of persons thus suddenly killed.  (London Athenaeum,
1837, p. 685.   Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 31, p. 576.  London  Medical
Gazette, vol. 21, p. 61.)
  *  " Inspectio et sectio aliquando nihil declarant," says Bohn, p. 114.  So
also sometimes with blows on the head; and a case of the latter description
is cited by Smith, (p. 250) from the History of the Royal Academy of Scien-
ces of Paris:  "A stout young criminal, condemned  to be broken on the
wheel, ran head foremost against the wall of his dungeon, with his hands
behind him, and instantly fell  dead.   On opening the head, not the slightest
appearance of injury was discoverable, either in the skull, brain, cerebellum,
or spinal marrow, except a very minute separation  in the squamous suture,
which could not account for so sudden a death.   The substance of the brain
was unusually firm."
  This point is so important, that I must be permitted  to enlarge somewhat
on it.  " Slight injury to the stomach, (says Sir Astley Cooper,) although it
does not  occasion any sensible  organic  change,  will sometimes destroy life.
A man recovering from fever, and walking in Fleet street, quarrelled with a
woman; another female  came  up and gave  him a blow in the region of the
stomach, which caused almost instantaneous death.  Upon dissection, to dis-
cover the cause of his expiring so suddenly, no morbid change was percepti-
ble.  Again, a healthy laborer  at the India House was attempting  to lift a
heavy weight, when another laborer came up and said, ' Stand on one side
and let an abler man try;' at the same time, he gave  the former a slight blow
on the region of the  stomach,  when the poor fellow immediately dropped
down and expired.  On examination, there was not any mark of violence dis-
covered "  (Lectures, vol. 1, p. 11.)  Dr. Paris remarks that inflammation is
out  of the question in  these cases, and therefore the slight redness of the  sto-
mach that is occasionally observed can alone be accounted for, by regarding:
it as the effect  of the sudden cessation of the action of the heart (which has
been found empty) producing an accumulation of blood in the extreme arte-
rial branches.  (Paris' Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2, pp 121,174 )
  Mr. Lambert, a respectable individual in New York, received a blow on the
stomach from some rioters, immediately after coming from  a supper party
He  died almost immediately.   On  dissection, no mtrk of iniury could be
discovered, except some small red spots on the internal surface of t£
stomach, and there was no mark  of external contusion.  The brain  was
healthy.  Dr. Post and the other witnesses concurred in believing that The
blow was  the  cause of death,  and not sudden fright  Th^3ners were
Km  .v  n^ T I have Siven the stalls of this caseTn the New
York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 5, p. 427.

  VOL.  II.                       22 
338
WOUNDS.
than  those of the  stomach, and  the  instances  of recovery

are infinitely  more numerous.    But  although  all  surgical

works abound with these, we  must not  deem them destitute

of danger, and if death  follows after  proper treatment, it is

to be attributed  to  the injury.*

  If we deem the above case of any weight, we can hardly justify the follow-
ing decision, mentioned by Dr. Yeats : " Some years ago, I was subpoenaed to
give my opinion concerning the cause of death of  a young woman, who  had
been severely kicked in the region of the stomach  by a man.  She was never
well from that time to the day of her  death, which happened several months
after, and she frequently vomited blood.  On opening the body after death,
the internal coat of the stomach was found inflamed.  During my examination,
I was asked by the court, whether the appearances would not appear without
the ill treatment  she had received; upon my affirmative  answer, that such
appearances sometimes occurred from constitutional causes, the judge directed
the jury to acquit the prisoner, who was on his trial for murder."  (Brande's
Journal, N. S., vol. 3, p. 166.)
   I subjoin to these, the remarks of a popular  writer on physiology: That
many of the organic functions are directly influenced by the nervous system,
is a matter which does  not admit  of  dispute.   It is most remarkably mani-
fested in the result of severe injury of the nervous centres, such as concus-
sion of the brain, or of the solar plexus ;* for this does not produce merely a
suspension of the respiratory and  other movements which minister to the
organic functions, and  thence a  gradual  stagnation of the latter, but a
sudden and complete cessation of the whole  train of action, which cannot be
attributed to any other cause than a positive  depressing influence of some
kind propagated through the nervous  system.
   * Several  cases of rupture of the  intestines from violence are related.
Dublin Hospital Reports, vol. 4, p.  349, by Mr. Speer, of the caecum, from a
fall in wrestling.   Western Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 1, p. 550, by
Dr.  Drake,  of the jejunum,  from  a kick of a horse.  Medico-Chirurgical
Review, vol. 24, p. 142, two cases of rupture of the jejunum, one from a kick,
and the other from a cart passing  over the abdomen, quoted from Bransby
Cooper.  Lancet,  N. S., vol.  17, p.  18, two cases by Mr. Ellis of Dublin;
rupture of the  caecum  and rupture of the duodenum :  in each from drays
passing over the abdomen.  Amer. ^Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 21, p. 530,
case by Dr. Annan, of laceration  of the  ileum from the kick of a horse.
Watson on Homicide, pp. 78, 187, several  cases.  Sir David Dickson, at  the
British Association in 1839; rupture of the duodenum.  The patient had been
wrestling, and  was thrown with violence on the breech of a gun.  London
Med. Gazette, vol. 25,  p. 40, case of rupture of the ileum, from a kick, by
Professor  Samuel Cooper.   Lancet vol. 25, p. 327, and by Dr. Williamson
in London Med. Gazette, vol. 26, p. 349.   Rupture of jejunum, Lancet, N. S.
vol. 31, p.  486.   Rupture of duodenum, from a fall upon the bulwarks of
a vessel, death in 24 hours.   He ate a hearty dinner shortly after the accident,
but was immediately thereafter taken violently  ill.  Lancet, March 23,1844
(page 23).
  Lydia Alder was tried in 1744, for the murder of her  husband, whom she
kicked in the groin, in consequence of which, having at the time an inguinal
rupture, mortification came on, and he died.  Verdict, manslaughter.  (Paris
and Fonblanque, vol. 2, p. 122.)
  The  following is a curious  case, as well for its antiquity as the medical
testimony presented.  I  apprehend,  also, that at the present day, a conviction
under the circumstances elicited, could hardly take place:

  * The author has no doubt that the occasional occurrence of death from blows on the epi-
gastrium is to be attributed to this  cause; in all the instances on record, the stomach has
contained food at the time, and the effect of the blow would,  therefore, have been propagated
to the rest of the viscera and  to  the nerves distributed upon them. (Carpenter's Human
Physiology, 2d. edit. p. 358.) 
WOUNDS.
339
   Wounds  of the  smaller intestines are  more  dangerous
than those  of the  larger, not only  because they  perform
more important functions, but are supplied  with a greater
number of nerves.*   Wounds of the mesentery  cannot  be
deemed mortal,  unless  some  of  the  large blood-vessels of
the  organ, or its principal glands, be injured, and in these
cases, the danger arises from not being able to suppress the
haemorrhage,  or  to  supply the  loss  of the chyle.   Wounds
of the omentum  are to be estimated  like those of the mesen-
tery ;  but  it  deserves remark, that  a contusion  is  apt  to
induce inflammation and gangrene.f  Wounds of the  pan-
creas  seldom  occur, unless  some other viscus be injured at
the  same  time.   If  they  should  happen  separately, the
  In 1678, in a drinking bout, Philip, Earl of Pembroke, struck Mr. Cony
on the head, and afterwards kicked him.  The  next day he was seized with
severe pains in the shoulders, and afterwards jn the bowels, which continued
until his death.  Fainting fits occurred, but it was proved that he had been
Bubject to them.   There was no discoloration or bruises on the abdomen. He
died on the sixth day, and after death, a large black bruise was found on the
breast; the body was swollen and discolored in various places, and a large
quantity of extravasated blood was, on dissection, seen in the lower part of
the abdomen.
  Dr. Conquest deposed that Cony was very intemperate, and had drunk large
quantities of beer during his illness.   To these, he attributed the gripes and
vomiting, and the extravasation, although he states expressly that the bowels
were not  ruptured or bruised.   The patient never complained of kicks or
bruises.  Dr. Lower, who saw  him in consultation the day before he died,
found no marks of fever, either in his tongue, pulse or water.  The caul was
withered and consumed, and Mr. Raven (I presume, a surgeon) deposed that
" it was well known to all physicians, that in all natural deaths, there must be
extravasated blood in the lower belly."
  Lord Pembroke was tried by his peers at  Westminster Hall, and 18 votes
declared him not guilty, while 40 pronounced him guilty of manslaughter.
(Hargrave's  State Trials, vol. 2, p. 461.)
  *  It would appear that the small  intestines possess some of the irritable
sympathy so conspicuous in the stomach—death being brought on by some
unaccountable cause when  they are only slightly injured.   Fodere mentions
a case where instant death was caused by a small prick in the small intestines,
inflicted by the point of a butcher's knife, though there was neither a sufficient
effusion of blood to account for such  a result  by its effects on the vascular
system, nor a sufficient length of time for inflammation and its  consequences
to arise.—Dunlop.
  t  If the omentum is protruded, and not speedily returned, it will, in com-
mon with all the other viscera of  the  abdomen, inflame and  bring on
gangrene; but the omentum is  less  obnoxious to inflammation than  any
other viscus.  A strong illustration of this fact was related to me by a medi-
cal friend :  A peon or messenger was brought to him in India, who  had
received a stab in the side, three weeks before,  through the wound of which
the  omentum had  all this time  protruded.  On examination, he found that
the viscus was adhering to the wound all round, and that inflammation had
commenced without and been communicated to the interior of the cavity.
Gangrene supervened, of which he died in a few days after.—Dukxop. 
340
WOUNDS.
cause must  have been an instrument entering  at the  back,
and its wound cannot be  considered as mortal, unless some
arterial or venous  vessels have been  injured.   Wounds of
the  liver are  generally mortal, and  their fatality originates
in some  blood-vessel being injured, or in the  consequences
that  ensue.    Superficial  injuries are,  however,  frequently
healed.*   Wounds of the gall-bladder are deemed absolutely
mortal, as  its fluid  is  stimulating  to  a  high  degree, and
occasions inflammation and most violent pain.f   Wounds of
the  various  ducts are mortal.   Those  of the spleen are to
be estimated like wrounds  of the liver; if deep and penetra-
ting,  death  will  follow   from  hemorrhage.   There  are,
however^ many cases of recovery from injury to this organ.J
   * A case of recovery from a stab into the liver with a table knife, is given
 by Dr. N. R. Smith, in North American Archives, vol. 1, p. 385.
   Prof.  Dunglison quotes another from the Journal of Dieffenbach, &c, in
 which a boy fell  on a  knife, and a portion of the liver protruded.  Without
 being  aware of its nature, the surgeon in attendance cut it off with his
 scissors.   No bad effects followed.  American  Medical Intelligencer, vol.
 1, p.  191.
   A remarkable case of recovery from a dreadful wound of the liver, inflicted
 with a knife is noticed in Bulletin De L'Academie Royale de Medecine, vol. 10,
 p. 812.  The case occurred to Dr. Roux at St. Petersburgh.
   There is a remarkable  case by Dr. Kelgour, (Edinburgh Med. and Surg.
 Journal, vol. 55, p. 352) in which the gall-bladder was found separated from
 the liver.  The injury had been caused by a jumping  on  the belly. Death
 ensued in about thirty-six hours.
   t  There are but very few cases on record of wounds of the gall-bladder
 distinct from other injury.  I have collected the following :  Philosophical
 Transactions, vol. 36, p. 341;  an officer in whom the fundus was penetrated:
 he lived a  week.   Sir Astley Cooper's Lectures, vol. 3, p. 164; case by Mr.
 Edlin; wound with a  bayonet. Death ensued in 13 hours. Sabatier men-
 tions another case, fatal on the third day.
   Watson, in Journal De Midecine Militaire, relates a case of puncture with
 a bayonet. Death occurred in 36 hours. (Dr. Wm. Thomson on Diseases of the
 Liver.)
  Dr. Reynell Coates, in the  article, Wounds of  the  Abdomen in Hays'
 Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine and Surgery, however, refers to two cases
 of recovery, one by Paroisse, and the other by Fryer.  (Medico-Chirurgical
 Transactions vol. 4, p. 330.)  The first is the only  authentic one.  "I have
never known a patient (says Hennen)  recover after a wound of the gall-
bladder, except a previous adhesion had taken place to the parietes," and then
quotes  Paroisse's  case.   A case,  he adds, I  believe  unique, is reported
by Dr. Thomson, where nature had provided against the extravasation of bile
from the substance of the liver into the cavity of the abdomen, by the means
of newly formed adhesions of considerable extent. (Military Surgery, p. 344.)
  Professor Samuel Cooper, in some clinical remarks at the North London
Hospital (November, 1835,) observed  that he knew of no case on record, in
which recovery had taken place after a wound of the gall-bladder.  (London
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 8, p. 509.)
  X A case is related by Mr. Ferguson, where  a  part of the spleen was re-
moved with safety.  (Philosophical Transactions, vol. 40, p. 425.)  Two oth-
ers are mentioned by Dr. Blundell, in his Physiological Researches; one on 
WOUNDS.
341
It is a common  circumstance in  cases of sudden death from

accidents,  falls, &c.  to find  the  spleen  or liver lacerated;

and this is therefore to be deemed a fatal injury.*  Wounds


the authority of Mr. Cline, and  the other, on that of Dr. O'Brien.  (Medico-
Chirurgical Review, vol. 6, p. 404.)  In 1801, Dr. Glover of South  Carolina,
also removed a portion of the spleen in a person stabbed, and the patient reco-
vered.   (American Journal  Med. Sciences, New Series, vol. 1, p. 422.)  M.
Berthet, a similar case in Forry's New York Journal of Medicine,  vol.  3, p.
404, quoted from the London Times.
  Dr. Dunglison (Physiology, vol. 2, p. 249,) refers to cases of recovery from
wounds, related by Adelon and Sir C. Bell; and there is a similar instance of
cure by Dr. Powell, in American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol.  1, p. 481.
  In the India Journal of Medicine,  it is stated that a native was gored by a
buffalo, and through the wound there protruded a portion of the spleen.   Six
days after, Dr. Macdonald removed this with the knife, and the patient reco-
vered.   (London Med. Gazette, vol. 20, p. 285.)
  Fatal cases are related by Dr. Abercrombie; by Dr. Ingalls, Boston Medi-
cal and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 296; by Dr. Tuthill, London Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 6, p. 304; by Dr. Bright, Guy's Hospital Reports, vol.
3, p. 446;  by Dr. West, Philadelphia Medical Examiner, vol. 3, p. 154.  Four
cases by Dr. Sotis in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 54, p. 513; by
Dr. Kelgour, Ibid, vol. 55, p. 355; by Dr. Welch, Amer. Journal  Med.  Sci-
ences,  New Series, vol. 5, p. 503.  And in American Journal  Med.  Sciences,
vol. 7, p. 549, from Rust's Magazine.
  All these, except  the last, occurred from falls or severe blows;  in that, a
woman long afflicted with intermittent fever,  was, in a quarrel with her hus-
band, struck by him with a long elastic switch, and died in two hours.  There
was no mark of violence  externally, though the blow was given over the
region of  the spleen, and on dissection, that organ was seen ruptured.  It,
however, and the liver were so  soft, that a slight pressure was sufficient to
tear them. The man was consequently acquitted.
  There are also several fatal cases related by Mr. Heddle in the Transactions
of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay, vol. 1. p. 304.  The violence
used was very slight, but all had been or were suffering under fever, and it is
of course probable that the diseased state of  the spleen may have rendered it
more delicate.  In most, there was no external mark of injury.
  Cases of spontaneous rupture of the spleen, preceded in all cases by disease :
  By Dr. Naechel, Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 43, p.  522.   By
Dr. Alle, London, Edinbugh and Dublin Monthly Journal of Med.  Sciences,
vol. 3, p. 214.
  There is a monograph of cases of spontaneous rupture of the spleen by Dr.
Vigila, in Archives Genirales de Medecine, December 1843, and January 1844.
  He enumerates eight cases, all as a sequence of intermittent fever.  Death
occurred in from a few hours to  six days.
  A case of rupture of the splenic  vein, after a violent effort to do certain
work in a given time on a wager, and which proved fatal in about 24 hours,
is quoted from Dr. Milling in London Med. Gazette, vol 35, p. 207.
  * On the morning of the 1st of January of  the present year, (1824,) three
soldiers attempted to get out of Edinburgh Castle, to join the riot with which
the new year is uniformly ushered in by the people of Scotland, but mistook
their way in the dark, and precipitated themselves over  the  perpendicular
side of the rock.   They were found dead the next morning, and the livers of
the whole of them were found, on dissection, to be lacerated.—Dunlop.
  A rupture of both the liver and pancreas, originating from a blow on the
ribs by the  wheels of a stage-coach, is  mentioned in  the Lancet, vol. 12, p.
3S4.  A fatal case of  rupture of the liver, from a fall from a wagon, and
where death followed in fourteen hours, is given by Dr. J. Green, of Lowell,
American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 6, p. o39.  Another fatal case in
52 h..urs, from a wheel passing over the abdomen, is related in Midland Medi -
cal and Surgical Reporter, vol. 2, p. 76. 
342                         wounds.

of the kidneys have often been successfully treated; they
are, however, dangerous, according to  their depth, and the
effusion of urine  (if any) into the abdomen.*   So also with
wounds of the ureters.
   Wounds of the  bladder would not seem to  be even very
dangerous, if we look at the success which ordinarily attends
the  operation of lithotomy.    They  may,  however,  prove
hazardous from the effusion of its  contents, or the injury of
a blood-vessel.f   Wounds  of  the   neck and  sphincters  of
   Mr. Watson also mentions several cases in which the liver was lacerated
 by violence.  Death ensued almost immediately.  Watson on Homicide, p. 102.
 Devergie (vol. 2, p. 45,) remarks, that  in rupture of the liver, the blood is
 partly fluid and partly coagulated.
   I have met with two cases  of spontaneous rupture  of the liver, both of
 which proved suddenly fatal during the  process  of labor;  by Dr. King in
 Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, vol. 4,  p. 356, and Dr. Chandler in
 Boston Med. and  Surg. Journal, vol. 33, p. 398.  In the former case, it is
 supposed that there might have been a blow on the part some months previous;
 but in the latter, there had only been a chronic inflammation of the organ for
 a year or more.
   * A successful case of treating a severe wound of the  kidney, was related
 to me by my friend Dr. Knox, of Edinburgh :  A  boy, at  the Cape of Good
 Hope, received a deep wound in the left kidney from a butcher's knife, which
 was thrown  at him.  He was brought  to Dr. Knox, who caused him to be
 placed and retained in such a position, that the wound should be the most
 depending part of the body.  In a short time he made a complete recovery.
 There are instances of death arising from  slight blows on  the kidney, where
 it contains a calculus.  A gentleman in India was tried for the murder of his
 servant, whom he killed by a blow on the loins ; on its being proved that the
 kidney contained a calculus, the ragged points of which had punctured the
 blood-vessels, he was acquitted.—Dunxop.
   A case, which the narrator supposes  to have been a wound of the kidney,
 and which was cured, is given by Dr. Borthwick.   (Annals of Medicine, vol.
 4, p. 466.)  Hennen also relates of an officer who was wounded by a musket-
 ball in that region, and who suffered long, but finally passed with his urine,
 a  piece of cloth.   (Military surgery, p.  330.)  He adds, however, that the
 cases on  record of recoveries after wounds of the kidney are not numerous.
  Fatal cases of rupture of the kidney  from blows, are mentioned by Mr.
 Laidlaw, in London Medical and Physical Journal; American Journal of
 Medical Sciences, vol. 11, p. 199, and by Bransby Cooper, Medico-Chirurgical
 Review, vol. 24, p.  144; by Dr. Kirkbride,  of Philadelphia, American Jour.
 of Med.  Sciences, vol. 15, p. 359.  Lancet, N. S., vol.  24, p. 935.  A case
 that occurred to Mr. Vincent in St. Bartholomew's Hospital.  London Med.
 Gazette, vol. 33, p. 253.
  f Fatal cases of rupture of the bladder  from external violence, are given
by Cloquet, North  American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 231;
by Dewar, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 31, p. 86.  (In his
remarks on this case, Dr. Craigie refers to all the instances then on record;)
by Dupuytren, American  Journal Med. Sciences,  vol. 12,  p. 535.  This oc-
curred at the Hotel Dieu, and  although pronounced by Dupuytren to be a
ruptured bladder, was doing well, when from some imprudence in eating, peri-
tonitis came on, and the patient died on the seventeenth day.  On dissection,
marks of  adhesion were seen between the intestines and bladder. Additional
cases of fatality are related by Mr. Ellis—one from a blow from a watchman's 
WOUNDS.
343
the  bladder, are  apt  to  leave  incontinence  of urine;  and

when this  does occur,  it should  be  stated in  the  report.*

Wounds  of the uterus  are dangerous  in proportion  to the

haemorrhage that follows, and the symptoms that supervene.

If that  organ  be  impregnated,  the   danger  is   of  course

increased.f


pole, and another from a horse rearing and falling on its rider, Lancet, N. S.
vol. 17, p. 20.   By Professor Syme, of a female falling forward on the edge
of a tub.   Inability to pass  her urine and peritonitis ensued, and death fol-
lowed in a week.  On dissection, a small rupture was found at the fundus of
the bladder; Edinburgh Med.  and Surg.  Journal, vol. 46, p. 269 ; at the Mid-
dlesex Hospital, London, July, 1837.  (British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p.
80.)   By Mr. Coulson, in his Essay on Diseases of the Bladder, re-prmted in
Dunglison's American Library;  by Mr.  Laurence,London Med.  Gazette,vol.
23, p. 661; by Mr. Hiley, in which the patient survived four days, and during
most of that time had the power of voiding his urine, Lancet, May 14, 1842,
p. 223 ; by Prof. Lyme, London, Edinburgh and Dublin Monthly Med. Jour-
nal, vol. 3, p. 498.  Cases by Messrs. R. W. Oldfield and R. W. Smith in Lan-
cet, April 6 and 13,1844.   A  case at the London Hospital, where the patient
survived three days and seventeen hours.  (Lancet, June 15,1844, p. 387.)
   " Wounds of the bladder within  the peritoneal sac, or even behind the
reflection of the pelvic fascia,  are almost inevitably mortal."—Liston.
   " When the bladder is penetrated  in any part of  its parietes,  covered with
peritoneum, it is usually mortal."—Larrey.
   * Since 1835,1 have met with no  less than three cases,  in which the ques-
tion before the legal tribunal, was whether rupture had been caused by blows
on the region of the bladder.  I will briefly state them  :  Professor Syme
mentions, that at a convivial  party blows and wrestling passed between two
persons.  One of them  walked  home more  than a mile, and in crossing his
threshold, fell forward on his abdomen. When  lifted up, he felt great pain
and was unable to help himself. He died in two days, and rupture of the
bladder was found.  Professor Syme was consulted, and he gave  it as his
opinion that the injury resulted from the fall, and that the individual could
not have walked home if the rupture had happened from the blow.  (Edin-
burgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 46, p. 269.)  Another case occurred in
France.  Two persons were fighting, and one kicked the other  in the hypo-
gastric  region.  The injured  man died  in seven days.  On dissection, every
part was healthy except the abdomen.  There was a laceration of the blad-
der,  and its mucous membrane was highly inflamed.  Adhesion and false
membranes also occured among the intestines, with extravasated fluid.  The
examiners, Drs. Guersent and Dennis testified that death was owing to the
rupture caused by the kick.  (Annales D'Hygiene,  vol. 15, p. 206.)   A very
similar case was tried before  Lord Denman at  Lancaster, in March, 1836.
Here death occurred on the fifth day, and the main defence set  up was that
the rupture might  have been occasioned  by distention.  Lord Denman re-
marked that if  so, it was very extraordinary it  should  happen  immediately
after a violent kick on the part.  The prisoner was found guilty.  (London
Medical Gazette, vol. 18, p.  61.)
  t " A medical friend  of mine related to me the following case: When in
Ceylon, he was called  to see the wife of a sergeant, who had received a stab
in the side with a knife, wounding the uterus, she being then in the eighth
month of her pregnancy; and on asking her how she got hurt she said, that in
carrying out some knives which  she had been cleaning, her foot slipped, and
she let them fill and fell on the  top of them, when  one of them entered her
side and produced the wound, of which  she soon afterwards died.  She had,
however, told some  of her companions,  the women of the regiment, that it
was her husband who had inflicted the wound; and as it was known that they 
344
WOUNDS.
   Several cases  have been  recently published, of  sudden
and fatal  haemorrhage into the cavity of the  abdomen from
the rupture  of extra-uterine conceptions.*
   In  all  these instances of wounds  of the  abdomen,  the
danger is aggravated from extravasation; and this again is
increased according to the nature of the fluid, which  may be
either blood, chyle, bile, faecal  matter,  or urine.   An  ex-
travasation  of blood  is  often  within  the   power  of  the
surgeon, but its consequences  are, however, always to be
dreaded.    The  other  evacuations  can  scarcely, if  ever,
did not live on the happiest terms, this excited suspicion, and the husband
was ordered for trial.  On dissection  it  appeared, that the knife had  en-
tered from above and gone downwards, which could not well have happened
had she been wounded in  the manner she described to  the surgeon.   From
circumstantial proof it was like to have gone hard with the  prisoner, but he
was let off on the evidence of one of the surgeons, who, when interrogated on
the subject, said that the wound was not necessarily mortal.  I have since
learned the private history of the jury in this case ; it is as follows: The Cey-
lon jury consists of thirteen ; of these, one declined voting, six were of opinion
that it was manslaughter, and six wished to bring it in murder.  In this state
they sat for some hours, till at last, one of those that was for the severe sen-
tence relented, and a verdict of manslaughter was given."—Dunlop.
   The following case is highly interesting, and its doubtful  points deserve a
more minute investigation :  At a meeting of the London Medical Society, in
February, 1836, Dr. Blicke mentioned that a female was taken in  labour at 7
A. M. From 11 A. M. to half past 2, the pains were very severe, but after
that they ceased.  Dr. Blicke was called in the next day, and suspected rup-
ture of the uterus.  The case was left to nature, and the "female sunk and died
the next morning at 2 o'clock.   In fifteen hours after, the body was examined.
A bruise was distinctly traced through the parietes of the abdomen, and there
was a slight opacity in the corresponding portion of the peritoneum, like the
effect  of previous  inflammation.   The uterus was very healthy, and most
firmly contracted.  It was ruptured from the cervix to the fundus.
   At the first visit of Dr. Blicke. she told him that she was sure he could not
save her, as she had been some time previous violently beaten by her husband,
who had knelt on her abdomen, and she had never been well since.   On the
trial, Dr.  Blicke gave it  as his  opinion that the injury  had produced some
partial lesion of the uterus; and  that when that organ came to be in action
during labour, it was unable to overcome  the  resistance of  its contents, and
was ruptured.  A distinguished accoucheur was  sent for, who gave it as his
opinion that an injury inflicted on a pregnant  woman, if it  did not produce
labour at the time, would not, six weeks  afterwards, have any thing to do
with producing rupture of the uterus.
   Mr. Kingdon remarked  that he had no doubt, that an undue attachment of
the placenta, the result of inflammation in consequence of  a blow, did take
place, and destroyed the  woman by heemorrhage at the time of labour.  He
related a case  in point, in which the injury had  been some time before re-
ceived. (London Med.  and Surg. Journal, vol. 9, p. 122.)
   A case in which the patient survived the forcible removal  of the uterus and
its appendages, after delivery, by the midwife, is related by Drs. Drane  and
Ballard, in Western Journal of Medicine and Surgery, vol. 1, p. 478, and vol.
2, p. 157.  There is another case of recovery in Medico-Chirurgical Review,
vol. 2S, p. -1S2.
   * Mr. Watson refers to several in his Treatise on Homicide, p. 103. 
WOUNDS.
345
except  in the  case of  the urine, be remedied  by means  of
operations, and are hence very generally mortal.*
   Wounds of  the  testicles  are  dangerous,  particularly  if
they have  been  contused  or injured  by  a  sharp-pointed
instrument.   Their division, indeed, by a cutting  instrument
may be mortal, unless the subsequent haemorrhage be speed-
ily prevented.f   The same  remark applies  to  wounds  of
the  penis; but in other respects, injuries of this organ are
not to  be deemed dangerous.   Wounds of the female organs
are  often  highly  dangerous,  from the  profuse  haemorrhage
that ensues.J
   *  " The complete effusion of bile, urine, and faeculent matter, prove uni-
 formally fatal, by their quality inducing a destructive inflammation."  (Tra-
 vers on Injuries of the Intestines, London edit. p. 72.)   It has been proposed
 to avert the  evils  arising from  these fluids remaining in the  cavities,  by
 removing them by puncturing, as is practised in dropsical cases: and this I
 could suppose may be practicable  in some cases, as  where any very fluid
 liquid  is to be got out; water, for instance, or  serum, may  be drawn off by
 puncturing at the lower part of a cavity where it may be lodged; but in other
 instances, there would be little to hope for from the operation.  Bile, urine,
 fances, and chyle, are highly irritating in their nature ;  and though, which is
 very doubtful, we  are enabled to remove  them from  the  cavity, we should
 find it impossible to command the wounded gall bladder, biliary duct,  kidney,
 ureter or intestine, from which they proceed; so that the operation would only
 be inflicting  pain without any rational hope of  success, as they would be re-
 newed  as fast as they were removed; and  as for blood, unless the puncture
 was made instantly, it would most likely coagulate, and in that form it would
 be impossible to get it through a small punctured hole; making  a large in-
 cision is of course, quite out of the question; and blood, if likely to find  its
 way out at all, will do so through the hole through which the  wound was
 inflicted.—Dunlop.
   t  Death from violence to the testicles.—It appears that among a certain class
 of people of Germany, in resorting to blows, it is  customary to endeavor to
 grasp and squeeze these organs, and prize-fighters are acccordingly accustomed
 to cover and protect these organs.  A few years  ago, at or near Peitz, a young
 man  who had interposed between two combatants, was  observed to fall to the
 ground, uttering a loud cry, and after having been seized with violent con-
 vulsions, in a few minutes, died.  Every attempt to restore animation failed,
 and the cause of death remained  in  obscurity, until the next day, when on
 dissection, the scrotum and penis were seen strongly injected  and  much
 swollen, and on opening the abdomen, about four ounces of blood  were found
 behind  the  peritoneum, upon the psoas muscle of either side, at the place
 where the spermatic cord  passes through  the  abdominal ring,  and the vas
 deferens leaves the spermatic vessels.  At this point, the spermatic artery and
 vein  were, if not torn, at least so distended and attenuated, that their coats
 appeared quite porous and cribriform, and had evidently given egress to the
 blood, which was discovered extravasated.   (Lancet, March 11, 1843.)
  X Two interesting cases are related by Mr. Watson, of Edinburgh.   (Edin-
burgh Medical and Surgical Journal,  vol. 36, p. 85.) In  both  there had been
an incision into the labia  pudendi, evidently with a cutting instrument, and
either a razor  or a knife.  Death followed in each after a few hours.  The
murderer was convicted in one case,  and in the other, only escaped because
the medical witness  stated that it was  possible but  very improbable, that the
wound might have been occasioned by falling on glass, or a sharp body.  The 
346                     wounds.

  The  extent and variety of injuries that the abdomen and
the viscera contained in it may receive, call for all the skill
of the  surgeon, and his judgment will be frequently exer-
cised in deciding on the fatality or danger of wounds of this
part of the system.
   Wounds of the extremities are to be decided upon according
to their nature ; but the majority of them are not dangerous.
Of simple wounds,  I have already spoken, and  it is  suffi-
cient to add, that  when  the  integuments  and first layer of
muscular fibres only are wounded, they will heal without
difficulty.   The presence of syphilis and scrofula may, how-
ever, cause their degenerating  into ulcers : and it must also
be  noticed,  that wounds of the extremities, in  which the
muscular fibres are  transversely  divided, will take a long
time to heal.  Contusion also may increase the inflamma-
tion,  or   induce   suppuration.  Wounds  of tendons  are
generally tedious,  and when cured, are often followed by a
loss of substance, and  a want of mobility in  the parts.
Compound fractures are sometimes hazardous; as also frac-
tures near articulations,  or of parts  surrounded by large
masses of muscles.   Comminuted fractures  are  extremely
tedious in their cure.  Finally, fractures in young persons,
and in those who are in good health, are more readily healed,
than in old  persons, valetudinarians and pregnant women.
Wounds  complicated with dislocations,  sometimes induce
alarming  symptoms, as also those  in  which an important
nerve  is  divided.   The  prognosis, however, is  favorable,
unless  serious symptoms  supervene  on the disease,  and
which are referable to it.   Wounds of the arteries and veins
are not at the present day considered dangerous by modern
surgeons, if  timely aid be afforded ; but under other circum-
wound was not lacerated, nor penetrating, but a clean  incision; and it is evi-
dent in order to inflict it as supposed  in the defence, that "the female must
have sat down upon a piece of glass standing erect, and her clothes must have
been out of the way, as they were not cut."  All this, too, must have hap-
pened on a pair of stairs.
  It is remarkable, that in both cases, the murderers were the first to call
medical aid, probably supposing that the haemorrhage would be attributed to
flooding.
  In this work, Mr. Watson adds two additional (fatal) cases.  In both, the
murderers were convicted and executed. 
WOUNDS.
347
 stances, a  wound of a large artery may prove  fatal.   The

system may be  injured, or  so much blood  may  have been

lost, as to render assistance of little  value.*   Mr. Watson

states  that  the loss of from five to eight pounds of blood is

required  to prove fatal in cases of adults.   This, however,

is not  invariable, as some individuals cannot bear the loss of

blood  so well as others.   It  is extremely rare that wounds

of the  veins prove dangerous, except the brachial or femoral

ones be wounded near the trunk.   Wounds of the articula-

tions are generally to be dreaded, and  the apprehension is

increased when  they are complicated, as for example, with

contusion,  haemorrhage or  fracture.f


  * The following case may also occur: " J. Denton was indicted in Septem-
ber, 1S13, at the Old Bailey, for the murder of C. Denton.  He had struck her
with a knife,  and  she  lived a month thereafter.  The medical testimony
stated, that the wound nearly divided the arteries of the arm—it mortified, and
she died in consequence.  He  was condemned  and executed.  (Edinburgh
Annual  Register, vol. 6, part 2, p. 121.)
  t " There was a very  interesting case came on before the Justiciary Court,
during the autumn circuit, at Glasgow, in the year 1822.  A man of the name
 of Pace, gamekeeper to Lord Blantyre, was  tiied for the murder of a poacher,
 whom  he shot so severely in the left arm, that it was found necessary to
amputate it above the elbow.  The man died of erysipelas phlegmonoides in
 the right leg;  and the question on  the trial was, whether the erysipelas was
 brousrnt on by the wound or not.  Upon this question the medical men differed
 totally.   Mr.  John  Burns, the most eminent surgeon in Glasgow, gave it as
 his opinion, that the debility caused by the wound brought on the disease
of which he died.  Dr. John Thomson, of Edinburgh, was of opinion that
 it was brought on long before he received the wound.  It appeared in evidence,
 that the poacher had been out in the exercise of his vocation for two nights,
and had slept without shelter; that  during that time he had eat but little;
and, above all, that he had a foul ulcer on his leg, the absorption from which
undoubtedly laid the foundation of the disease before the injury was received.
Under all these circumstances, what could  have been the best mode of treat-
ment in  such a case, supposing  he had received no wound at all ? Undoubt-
edly, the very  treatment he did receive in consequence of it—copious bleed-
ing, light diet,  being kept quiet  and  still; and the counter irritation  of
the amputation, so far from increasing the inflammation which was going on
in the groin, must have acted like a blister, or a seton,  in repressing and
counteracting it.  This appears to me to be  the rational view of the case, and
in this view the jury saw it, for the prisoner was acquitted.
  " There are some wounds more  apt to produce  serious effects in different
parts of  the body, than others.  Thus, a cut in the adductor-muscle of the
thumb,  (that muscle which lies in the  palm of the  hand,) more frequently
brings on lock-jaw than an injury of equal extent any where else.  While on
the subject of lock-jaw, which must be looked upon as a spasmodic action of
muscular system generally, rather  than a mere contraction of the temporal
muscle only, which is merely a symptom of the disease, I may remark that a
predisposition  to this is brought on  by particular climates, especially within
the  tropics, which  could not,  a priori,  have been expected.  When the
expedition sailed from  England to  Buenos Ayres, in 1807, in the hospitals of
most of the regiments  employed there, lock-jaw was a  very  frequent effect
of a wound in  any part of the body.  The  same  troops  went to the Cape of
Good Hope, where no such effects ever appeared at all.  The 89th regiment 
348
WOUNDS.
   Finally,  the prognostic from wounds from fire-arms is, in
all cases,  more  serious  than  that of  wounds from cutting
instruments.*
went from that to Ceylon, where no lock-jaw ever followed  a wound; and
thence to Java, where it was the cause of death in two-thirds of the wounds.
Here we have four  hot climates, two  of them notoriously  unfavorable to
Europeans, and two of  them the healthiest that we know of,  and yet the
tetanus took  place in South America and  Java, and was not to be found in
Ceylon or the  Cape; the former quite as  unhealthy generally as Java can
possibly be.
  " A fall from a height, or a sudden blow, may produce laceration of a joint;
and whenever this takes place, and terminates fatally, such an event must be
attributed to bad habit of the body, or  the pre-existence of some irritating
disease;  in which case, should it be made the subject  of judicial inquiry, it
is the duty of both the lawyer and surgeon to make minute investigation into
the patient's previous health and habits.   It is seldom, however, that it comes
under the investigation of a criminal court, at least in so  far as its causing
death ; but in civil cases it is often tried, as in the upsetting of coaches, &c.
There was a case of this kind recorded sometime ago in  the newspapers,
where the plaintiff, a gentleman who  had been upset in a coach,  recovered
£800 damages against the defendant, a surgeon, for unskilful treatment of a
dislocation of the shoulder joint, by which the patient was partially deprived
of the use of his right  arm.  In all similar cases, almost  a  similar verdict
would be  just, for though there may be exceptions, yet, generally speaking,
permanent lameness after a luxation (unless from disease of the bone, anchy-
losis have taken place after it is put in its proper position,) may be fairly at-
tributed to mismanagement on the part of the surgeon."—Dunlop.
  * It must not be forgotten that fire-arms,  loaded with powder only, may
inflict dangerous, and even  mortal,  wounds.  In answer to the question pro-
posed to him in writing, what are the effects produced by a fire-lock charged
with powder only ?   Dupuytren replied, that he knew a case in which a man
in a quarrel was shot with such  a  weapon, the muzzle being close to his
abdomen.  His  clothes  and the parietes of the abdomen were lacerated, the
wound  penetrated the  interior, and the man fell dead. He  was examined,
and Dupuytren was called in to decide what the piece had been charged with;
whether shot, ball, or powder only.   There was nothing found but the wad-
ding.  It often happens, he observes,  that persons determined to  commit
suicide, forget, in their bewildered state, to put the ball into the pistol; and
frequently wretches,  who wish to  shock their  friends with  their calamity,
discharge into their mouths, pistols  charged only with powder, but the effects
are dreadful.   The wadding traverses the palatine vault,  and the sudden
expansion of air from the explosion la*erates the velum,  and the lips and
cheeks are torn in a radiated manner, in consequence of the  excessive disten-
tion.   Sometimes the lower  jaw is fractured.  (London Medical Gazette,
vol. 7, p. 7.)
  It is probable that the case of Dr. Elliot, tried at the Old Bailey in 1787, for
shooting at Miss Boydell, was of this description.   He fired  a pistol  when
very near her, as she was walking.  Parts of her clothes were burnt, and a
surgeon swore that she had two contusions  below the shoulder blade, which
corresponded with the  mark  on  the gown.  The jury found him guilty of
shooting, but they did not find that there was ball.  On this he was ac-
quitted.
  There is another point connected with this subject, which deserves further
inquiry.  It is  the  nature of burns  caused  by the  explosion  of gunpowder.
Mr. Lonsdale has suggested  that the presence of particles of the powder in
an exploded state under the skin (as is often seen)  is owing to the discharge
from some fire-arm.  He has repeatedly noticed severe  injuries from the ex-
plosion of gunpowder lying  free,  but in no  one instance of this,  were any
particles left  in the skin.  May not  the resistance  offered to its expansion in
the other case be the cause ?   (London Medical Gazette, vol. 11, p. 696.) 
WOUNDS.
349
  Such are, in as  short a space as  possible, the  various
prognostics  of the  numerous  wounds (in  a medico-legal
sense) to  which  the  body is  liable.*  But I must again
remark in this place, that these or similar rules are not to
be taken as infallible guides.   It is only to aid the examiner
in pronouncing an opinion, that they deserve any attention,
and he should  rely principally on the circumstances of the
case that is  immediately before  him.   " It has indeed been
argued, that it is  not enough to  say, that the person died of
the wound, but  that  the  wound must be characterised as
mortal, thus taking advantage of the systematic arrange-
ment in books on surgery, and deducing the conclusion, that
when a man dies of a wound that is  not  there arranged as
mortal;  it  must have originated  from  bad treatment, or
misconduct,  or  irregularity  on  the  part of the  patient.f
But  the  insufficiency of these  divisions  has  been  often
proved.  Thus " in a case of one John Shaw, at the Scotch
bar,  three  physicians and two surgeons swore, that by the
 rules of  their  prognostics, the  wounds  received by James
 Houston were mortal; whereas Houston was alive, and the
 plaintiff in the very  cause in  which  these gentlemen  gave
 this  testimony."!
   When a  surgeon  is called on to examine a wound, the
 effects  of which may  become  the  subject of a  criminal

   * The authorities on which this section is founded, are Bohn, Fodere, and
Mahon.  The two last are in many respects a copy of the former.  I have also
consulted Samuel Cooper's Surgical Works, Dorsey's Surgery, Charles Bell's
Operative Surgery, Sir Astley Cooper's Lectures,  Larrey's Memoirs, and Hen-
nen's  Military Surgery, together with Metzger  and Belloc, and the disserta-
tions in Schlegel.
  f Lawyers are very apt to push the question as to the mortality of wounds
to a considerable length, and by this means often embarrass the medical wit-
ness.  I recommend the answer of the surgeon, who deposed, on the trial of
Count Koningsmark for the murder of Mr. Thynne, to the notice of the latter.
Mr. Thynne was shot with a blunderbuss, and Mr. Hobbs, the surgeon, swore
that he had examined the body after death—that four bullets had entered it—
" that they tore his  guts, and wounded his liver, stomach and  his gall—
wounded his great guts and his small guts, broke one of his ribs, and wounded
the great bone below."
   Sir Francis Withens.  Did he die of those wounds ?
  Mr. Hobbs.  Yes, he did die of those wounds.
  Mr. Williams.   Did you apprehend them all mortal, or any, or which of
them ?
  Air. Hobbs.   I believe there never was a wound, but it might prove mortal.
(Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 3, p. 473.)
  X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 339. 
350
WOUNDS.
trial,* he should ascertain, 1st, whether it has been already
 dressed, or if some surgeon has not been attending to it; and,
 2d, whether the situation of the wounded person allows of an
 examination.  Both of these  are important, as much may
 depend on the skill and care with which  the  first  dressing
 has been made ;  and again, should an examination take place
 while the patient is in a feeble state, and death follow during
it, popular opinion will certainly attach great blame to the
 surgeon.   The juridical  examination of  a wounded person
 must also  be deferred in some  cases, where  the point or
 part of  an instrument remains  in the wound.   Here a con-
 sultation is frequently required to determine  on  the pro-
 priety  of its  removal, and the  question  has often arisen,
 whether the death of the  patient will  not be hastened by
 immediately withdrawing it.
   Let us, however, suppose the wounded person  to be in a fit
 situation for the surgical and judicial examination.  It is then
 necessary, before proceeding to it, to ascertain the nature
 and shape of the instrument by which the injury was inflicted.
   In  general, there is but little difficulty on this  point.  But
it has  been observed by  Dupuytren and confirmed by the
 experiments  of Filhos, that a weapon  perfectly cylindrical
 and  pointed will produce  wounds  with  distinct  angles.f
  * I mention the following case, as it may be important for the surgeon to
be aware of the doctrine contained in it.  In the case of the King v. Salis-
bury, the prisoner was committed  to Newgate for stabbing a gentleman with
a knife, so that his life was despaired of.  She moved that a physician and
Burgeon of her own nominating, might be permitted to be present at the dress-
ing of his wound, so as to be able to satisfy the court that he was out of dan-
ger, in order that they might bail  her.   Sed per curiam.  There never was
a motion of this  nature, especially so early as this.  The course is, for the
friends of the party injured, to lay his condition before the court, when they
oppose the bailing; if they do not do it, we may order such an attendance for
our own satisfaction, but at present the defendant has no right to demand it.
(1st Strange's Reports, p. 547.)
  In the Commonwealth v. Trask, the court said, " If a person be imprisoned
for dangerously wounding another, who happens to be in a languishing con-
dition, the court will order that the offender be kept in prison until it shall
appear the wound be mortal."  (Massachusetts Reports, vol. 15, p. 277.)
  On the other hand, I may be permitted to advise magistrates not to grant
warrants for committing a man to  jail on the mere oath of the injured per-
son.  The attending surgeon should certify to the  imminence of the danger.
Mr. Dease (p.  105) mentions some deplorable cases from inattention to this.
  t Devergie, vol. 2, pp. 15, 182. It appears, however, from the more recent
experiments of Jaumes and Delmas, that the shape of the wound will be
round, in parts having much fat. 
WOUNDS.
351
Wounds also from perforating instruments, unless examined
immediately, are smaller than the arm used.  By the vio-
lence inflicted, the muscular fibres have been pushed  aside,
and they gradually return  to their natural state, as soon as
the weapon is removed.  Cutting instruments on  the other
hand, produce a larger wound than the arm used, accompa-
nied with effusion of  blood and separation  of the  edges.
There will, however, be a variety also in  this, depending
on  the  position of a limb at the time and the  direction of
the wound, whether  parallel  or transverse to the muscular
fibres.
  Sanson  has given a case in which several wounds were
inflicted with a blunt foil (that is, with four angles), yet three
out of four of them were triangular.   In another instance,
he  was called to state whether he thought that the end of a
sharp foil could have produced seven oval wounds found on
the body of a young woman who had been assassinated.  In
the presence of the judges, and on the corpse of the murdered
 female, he  made wounds with  the identical  instrument,
 precisely similar to those inflicted during life.*
   Another remarkable example is given by Ollivier (D'An-
 gers):  A robber was  shot, at the moment of  his scaling  a
 wall, by a person about fifteen paces distant.  He fell dead,
 without uttering a word.  Two  of the  shot were found  to
have traversed the  aorta  at its base, and  the  wounds thus
 made had exactly the  form of linear  incisions with acute
angles, precisely resembling those which might be produced
by a sharp cutting instrument.    The  instantaneous death
 was  found to be owing to the  pouring of  the blood  into
 the pericardium.!
   Inquiry  should also be made as to the relative situation
 of the parties, at the moment of the wound—their respective

  * American Journal Med. Sciences, vol. 23, p. 246, from Continental and
 British Med.  Review.
  t Annales  D'Hygiene, vol.  22, p. 319.  Dr. Gilman (New York Medical
 Gazette, vol. 1, p. 33,) gives a case of a female stabbed with a sword cane.
 The ascending aorta was found punctured.  Death ensued in fifteen minutes.
 The external wound was small and nearly circular, but that in the aorta was
 triangular or V-shaped, answering exactly to the shape of the weapon. 
352
WOUNDS.
 stature and position.   The examiner cannot be too minute,
 and he should be cautious in not making any  observations
 on the nature of the wound, before he has fully satisfied his
 own mind lest they may hereafter  be used to the disadvan-
 tage of his evidence.   The form, length, breadth, depth, and
 direction of the injury, together with all the other circum-
 stances already mentioned, should be noticed, and a detailed
 summary of the  whole should then be drawn up in the form
 of  a  report.   I must, however,  caution  concerning the
 impropriety, and indeed inutility of declaring any wound,
 concerning which there can  be the least doubt, absolutely
 mortal.   All  that can be required by  judicial officers, is a
 declaration, that in the opinion of the  examiner, the life of
 the wounded  person  is in danger from the injury he has
 received; and on this, they are sufficiently enabled to take
 all  the precautionary steps that may  be necessary.   Dur-
 ing the  illness,  it will be  proper to keep a  journal, and if
 the event prove  fatal, we have a safe  guide to resort to in
 dissection.  The wounded parts must be minutely examined,
 and from them a just conclusion can be drawn whether the
 injury  was the cause  of death.*
   One  circumstance, which I have delayed  mentioning until
 the present, must not be  forgotten by the  examiner,  viz.,
 that mortal injuries are not unfrequently  inflicted without leav-
 ing any external  marks.  Chaussier mentions an instance of
 a  person, crushed by a carriage, on whom no swelling or
 bruise  could be  discovered.   Dr. Wagner,  in his Annual

  * Fodere, vol. 3, pp. 402 to 432.  I must briefly advert to one possible case,
which may also occur, viz: that of a man wounded while laboring under a
fatal disease.  A trial involving this point, was held at the Hereford assizes,
(England,) in 1830.  A consumptive and intemperate person was struck se-
verely on the head, and  robbed.  There were four contused wounds found.
He recovered, however, from these, but ever after complained of pain in the
head, more or less, until his death, which took place in four months, with the
ordinary symptoms of consumption.
  The question was, whether death had been hastened by the injuries.   The
surgeons differed in their  testimony.  Some state the brain to have been per-
fectly healthy; others, that it was soft, moist and discolored; and through this
difference, the prisoner escaped from the charge of murder.  The lungs were
greatly diseased.  (Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 2, p. 228.)
  On a recent indictment for murder in England, where the death was alleged
to have been caused by a wound, it was ruled as not necessary to describe its
length, breadth ordepth. (Rex v. Tomlinson, 6 Carrington andPayne's Reports,
 p. 370.) 
WOUNDS.
353
Report for 1833 of the School of State Medicine in Prussia,

relates the case of a child run over and killed, and in whom

the  spleen and kidney  were  crushed,  while  no external

injury, except a very slight excoriation was observable on

the body.*   In  the  case of a  soldier struck with a cannon

ball obliquely   on the left flank, and which  produced no

external wound, but an early  death, Dupuytren  discovered

dreadful  injury  to  the  kidney, the  lumbar vertebrae  and

nerves, the lower ribs and tlfe internal parietes of the abdo-

men.!  Lastly, Dr. Meyer relates the following:  Two men

were in the  act of lowering  a heavy log  of wood  to the

ground, when it slipped  from their shoulders and fell  on  a

little girl, two and  a half years old, who was  walking be-

hind them unperceived.   The child died in a few minutes,

without uttering a cry; and on examining the body, not the

slightest trace of violence could be found externally; but on dis-

section, the  fifth and sixth  cervical vertebrae  were  found

separated, the  connecting ligaments being stretched without

being lacerated.   The spinal  cord was not torn, but it had

been  evidently stretched, and on it, at this part, was found

a coagulation  of blood.   The anterior wall of the stomach

was ruptured,  and the liver lacerated.|



   * London Med. Gazette, vol. 13, p. 974.
   f Medico-Chirurg. Review, vol. 25, p. 298.
   X British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 6, p. 543.  For additional cases
see Devergie, vol.  1, p. 306; Poilroux, p. 53; London Med. Gazette, vol. 15,
pp. 088, 727, 729; vol. 26, p. 349.  In these  last, either the liver, spleen,
lungs or intestines, were ruptured, yet the surface of the body  presented little
if any marks of injury.  Lancet, N. S. vol. 26, p. 102.  Dr. Gairdner in Edin-
burg Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1, p. 662.  Dr. Geoghegan  in
Dublin Medical Press.  Mr. Kingdon  in Lancet, March, 22, 1845.   The
wheel of a coal waggon went over the body of a boy. He survived five hours ;
and on dissection, the liver was found ruptured transversely, and the vertebrae
fractured, yet there was not the least mark of external injury.
   The explanation of this circumstance is doubtless to be found in the yield-
ing nature of the  walls of the abdomen. And although these cases have
generally been the result of accident, yet it is possible that similar ones may
be matters of legal investigation.  " Trials for causing death  by a rupture of
the bladder have taken  place, in which the witness denied that a blow was
struck, simply because there was no ecchymosis externally, but no inference
could be more erroneous."  (British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 6, p. 574.)
   Dr. John Reid also mentions several instances in  which  a considerable
quantity of blood was found effused into the cellular tissue (generally into the
 sheath of the recti muscles), and yet the external parts were  of their natural
color.  In all these, however, there had been no injury inflicted. (Edinburgh
Monthly Journal of Medical Science, vol. 1, p.  17.)

   vol. n.                      23 
354
WOUNDS.
  It is not necessary in this place to state the distinctions
that exist in our  law, and that  of England, respecting the
crime of killing; since they  relate to the intent, and can
have but a  slight bearing on  the nature of wounds.  There
is one English statute, however, which deserves mention:
It was passed in the reign of James I., and declares " that
the  thrusting or stabbing another, who  has  not a weapon
drawn, or who hath not then first stricken the party stabbing,
so that he die thereof within six  months after," shall be ad-
judged murder, though  done upon sudden provocation.* In
the state of New York, the same statute was enacted, and it
contained the same provision as to time,  {six months.)  It is
to be deemed murder, " although it cannot be  proved that
the same was done of malice  aforethought."!
  This is, however, omitted in the Revised Statutes, enacted
in 1828, and therefore is no longer in force.  The revisers,
in recommending this alteration, and, indeed, in  having no
restriction as to  time, remark,  that  the presumption on
which it was founded  is unsound, viz.: "that if the person
wounded does not  die within the given time, it must  have
arisen from some other cause.   Common  experience teaches
the contrary."
  In Scotland also, according  to  Mr. Watson, there is no
limitation as to the time.
  A provision as to a specific period, during which death must
follow in order to  constitute the crime of murder, appears,
however, to have entered into the laws of various countries.
Thus, among the Lombards, the criminal was  held guilty,
if the individual  injured died within a  year.J   In  Prussia,
on the contrary, the practice  is, that the death  must take
place within nine days,  although the penal  code of that
country  contains no directions respecting this subject.§ In
France it is fixed at forty days ;||  while in England, the in-
dividual  was held amenable for the consequences during a

  * Blackstone, vol. 4, p. 193.  Mr. Taylor states that this law is repealed by
the 9th George IV. chap. 31.
  X Revised Laws, vol. 1, p. 67.
  X Bohn,  p. 101.       § Metzger, p. 325.        || Ballard, p. 325. 
WOUNDS.
355
year and a day.*   All these restrictions are evidently im-
proper, since death may follow at a longer or shorter period
of time, and be strictly and indisputably traced to the wound
in question.  It is a much safer mode to look at the intent,
and proportion the punishment accordingly.
   There are some adjudications  on record which it may be
well  to  mention, from  their connexion with  the subjects
canvassed in the present and preceding sections :
   It is stated  by Starkie, that it is sufficient to  constitute
murder, that the party  dies of the wound given by the pri-
soner, although  the wound was not originally  mortal, but
became so in consequence of neglect or unskilful treatment;
but it is otherwise where death arises not  from the wound,
but from unskilful applications or operations  used for the
purpose of curing  it.f
   On a  recent trial, where  an  individual was  indicted for
manslaughter, by  a  blow of a hammer, Judge J. Parke ob-
served, " It is said that the deceased was in a bad state of
health ;  but that is  perfectly immaterial, as, if the prisoner
was  so unfortunate  as  to accelerate her  death, he  must an-
swer for it." |
   The rule in Scotland  does not appear  to  be so  strict,
although the  general principle is maintained.  Thus, it is
  * Blackstone, vol. 4,  p. 197.  This would also seem to be the present law
in North Carolina, as in the State v. Orrel, the court said," When the death
does not ensue within a year and a day after a wound is inflicted, the law pre-
sumes that it proceeded from some other cause; hence an indictment upon
which it does not appear that the death happened within that time, is fatally
defective."  (1 Devereux's North Carolina Reports, p. 139, quoted in the
American Jurist, vol. 7, p. 366.)
  t Starkie on Evidence, vol. 2,  p. 946.  " If the death be truly owing to the
wound, it signifies not, that under more favorable circumstances and with
more skilful treatment,  the fatal result might have been averted  The true
distinction, in all such cases is, that if the death was evidently occasioned by
grossly erroneous medical treatment, the original author will not be answera-
ble ; but if it was occasioned from want merely of the higher skill which can
only be commanded in  large towns, he will, because he has wilfully exposed
the deceased to a risk from which practically he had no means of escaping."
(Roscoe s Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases, p. 576 )
  X Rex v. Martin, 5 Carrington and Payne, p. 128.  The Criminal Law Com-
missioners of the State of Massachusetts, in their proposed revision, decidedly
Stmi  ?0mv?r8S °Vhis- In their ^position*of what is to be under-
« WHp£  hV?"^ ,llm£' *}%menti0n amo°S other things, the following :
deS altSnii!1! °nVS °f * ^W™8 character, and tht efficient cause of
death  although there be a predisposing habit or condition of body without
such\«J« Jh 0t haVe *C0? fata1' h is n^erthel«» a killing b/means of
such hurt.   The same  principle, they add, is contained in several of the Re-
vised Codes on the Continent of Europe.  (American. Jurist, vol. 21, p. 332 ) 
356
WOUNDS.
not a good plea, if a  person receives a gun-shot wound at
some remote place in the country, where no surgeon skilled
in such wounds resides, and  of which wound the person dies,
although the practitioner there had exercised his best know-
ledge.  (Case of Edgar, 1747.)  And again, although  the
patient languishes, and death does not ensue even for weeks
or months, yet if the wound be in itself severe, and goes on
from worse to worse, so that the patient is plainly consumed
by it as a disease, it is the same as if he died on the spot.*
But  in the  case of Angus Cameron, in 1811, the deceased
was  an infirm and deformed lad, who died in consequence
of a  kick from the prisoner  in the groin, where he had a
rupture.  The prisoner was  ignorant of this, and he was
sentenced to  only six months' imprisonment.  So also in
another case, a blow on the shoulder dislocated  the  joint,
and death ensued; but it was shown that the deceased was
scrofulous and unhealthy, and  the injury unskilfully treated.
The verdict was culpable homicide only.!

                    3. Of Mutilation.

   It will readily occur to the reader that there may be many
wounds, which, though not mortal in their nature, are still
incurable; and these may either leave permanent deformity,
or incapacitate or weaken one or more of the  functions of
the body. Laws directed to the  punishment of such injuries
have accordingly been enacted in various countries; and as
some are in  force in this State, the  propriety of a brief  no-
tice is evident.
  I will commence by mentioning those in force in France,
as there is a uniformity between the English  law and  our
own :
  The code of 1791  established a scale, founded on  the
proportionate  magnitude of the injury.   Whenever an in-
dividual was so wounded as to  be unable to apply himself
to any manual labor for the space of forty days, the criminal

  * Baron Hume's Commentaries, vol. 1, pp. 269, 271.
  t Alison's Principles of Criminal Law of Scotland, pp. 98, 100. 
WOUNDS.
357
was directed to  suffer  two years' imprisonment.   Three

years  were  appointed  in case the arm,  leg or  thigh  was

broken;  and four years, when there was an absolute loss of

sight in one  eye, a complete loss  of the use of a member, or

a mutilation of  some part  of  the head  or body.   It  was

extended to  six years, provided there was an absolute blind-

ness, or a total inability to use either both arms or both legs.*

   The code now in force does not contain those distinctions,

but leaves  to the judges the  power of varying the period of

imprisonment.  It is, however, in one  respect, more severe

 than  the former,  as it prescribes imprisonment  generally

 against tlie individual who shall, either by wounds or blows,

 injure a person so that he is ill,  or unable to labor, for the

 space of twenty days thereafter; and  this imprisonment  is

 to  be not less than five, nor  more  than ten years.f  One

 species of mutilation is, however, particularly  noticed^ viz :

 castration.  It subjects the criminal to hard labor  for  life ;

 and if it should prove fatal within forty days, he is to suffer

 death.   Outrages against decency are alone to excuse  from

 this punishment.^

    * FoderS, vol. 3, p. 427.
    f Ibid. p. 42S; Penal Code, art.  309. Huard, in his valuable dissertation on
 wounds, objects to the  above enactment.  He considers it too severe, since
 there are some lesions that cannot be cured  in twenty days, as fractures, vio-
 lent contusions, and  even sprains ; and yet the  violence may not have been
 more, or even as  much, than that which  caused a wound which healed in
 twenty days.  He urges a strong objection to these specifications of time, that
 there may be many circumstances apart from the violence itself, which may
 delay the cure, and mentions several of those which we have enumerated in
 the first section of this chapter.  The law in this country, he adds, is defect-
 ive in not referring to the intent.  Orfila and other French authors agree in
 this opinion.  There has been an alteration of the law, (passed in 1824,) so
 far as relates to the degree of punishment.  The  court may reduce it if they
 think proper.  The obnoxious specification of the crime, however, remains.
 (Orfila's Lemons, 2d ed., vol. 2, p. 422.)
    By  the 231st article  of the Penal  Code, if any violence be offered to a
 magistrate in the exercise of his duty, so as to cause effusion of blood, wounds
 or sickness, the punishment is imprisonment; and if death follows within
 forty days, it is declared  a capital offence.
    It is under this description of trials, that the reader of  French law cases
 will frequently observe a verdict brought  in, of guilty with " circumstances
 attenuanles,"  and he should understand that these words have not their ordi-
 nary English  acceptation.  It is not a recommendation to mercy, but a judg-
 ment of the jury binding on the court, and deprives it of the power to inflict
 as high a penalty, as they could have  given, had a general verdict of guilty
 been returned. Law Review, vol. 12, p. 6.
    X Fodere, vol. 3, p.  244.  Castration, according to the laws of France, is
  tlie removal of any organ necessary to generation.  The amputation of the
  penis will therefore constitute one form of the crime. 
358
WOUNDS.
  In the English law, the term mayhem  is  applied to the
cases now under notice.   This is  defined by Blackstone to
be  " the violently depriving another of the use of such of
his  members  as may render  him  the less able, in fighting,
either  to defend himself, or annoy his  adversary.   And
therefore the cutting off, or disabling, or weakening a man's
hand or finger,  or  striking  out his eye  or fore tooth, or
depriving him of those parts, the loss of which in animals
abates  their courage, are held to  be mayhems.  But the
cutting  off  his ear,  or nose, or the  like, are not held to be
mayhems at common  law, because they do not weaken, but
only disfigure him."
   " By the  common law, also, mayhem has  for a long time
been only punishable with a fine  and imprisonment, unless
perhaps the offence of mayhem by castration, which all our
old writers held to be felony; and this, although the  may-
hem was committed upon the highest provocation."*
   Subsequent  statutes have, however, more  clearly defined
the crime and its punishment.   By a statute passed in the
5th year of Henry  IV.  it  was enacted, that the beating,
wounding or robbing a man, and then cutting out his tongue,
or putting out his eyes, shall  be considered^ felony.   Next
was the statute 37  Henry the VIII., which directs that if a
man shall maliciously and unlawfully cut off the ear of any
of  his  majesty's subjects,  he  shall  not only  forfeit  treble
  * The ancient Anglo-Saxon laws contained a regular scale of fines for
personal injuries of this description.  The loss of a leg or eye subjected the
offender to a fine  of fifty shillings; a wound that caused lameness, thirty
shillings ;  one that caused deafness, twenty-five shillings; piercing the nose
was punished with a fine of nine shillings ; a front tooth was compensated for
by six  shillings, and  an  eye tooth by four  shillings.  Money, -it must be
remembered, was in those days one hundred times more valuable than at pre-
sent.  (Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, vol. 2, p. 94, American ed.)
  For these in detail, as well as the laws of the ancient Lombards, the Angles,
and the Salic law on the punishments for mutilation, see Dunham's History of
Europe during the middle ages, (Lardner's Cyclopedia,) vol. 1, p. 14; vol. 2,
p. 134 ; vol. 3, pp. 65, 72, 130.)
  In China " a  Jimit is allowed to the period of responsibility, in all cases
where the homicide  was evidently not preconcerted.  When a person is
wounded with only the hands or a stick, twenty days constitute the term of
responsibility, after which the death of the sufferer does not make the offence
capital.  With a sharp instrument, fire, or scalding water, the term is extend-
ed to thirty days. In case of gun-shot wounds, to forty days; of broken bones,
or very violent wounds, fifty days."  (The  Chinese, by J. F. Davis, vol. 1,
p. 232.) 
WOUNDS.
359
damages in a civil suit, but ten pounds by way of fine to the
king, which was his criminal  amercement.  After this was
passed the Coventry act, in the reign of Charles II., and so
called from its being occasioned by an assault on Sir  John
Coventry in the street, and slitting his nose, in revenge (as
was supposed)  for some obnoxious words uttered by him in
parliament.  This ordains, that if any shall, of malice afore-
thought, and by lying in wait, unlawfully cut out or disable
the tongue, put out an eye, slit the nose, cut off a nose or lip,
or cut off or disable any limb or member of any other person,
with an intent to maim or to disfigure him, he shall be deemed
a felon without benefit of clergy.*
  A more  recent act was  passed in the  43d of George III.
All wilful  and  malicious maiming, stabbing or cutting, with
intent to murder, rob, maim, disfigure  or  disable, or  to  do
some grievous bodily harm, is declared felony.
  All these (except the statute of Henry VIII.) were repealed
by a law passed in the 9th of George  IV. chapter 31.   Here
it'is enacted that if any person shall maliciously shoot at
another, or cut, stab  or  wound, with  intent to  maim, dis-
figure or disable, or to do some other grievous bodily harm,
it shall be deemed  felony in all cases, where, if death had
ensued, it would have amounted to murder.!   Some inter-
esting decisions have been  made in  England under these
respective  laws; and as they are, in a degree, applicable to
our own statute, I will mention a few :
  In  1721, Mr. Coke,  a gentleman of- the bar,  and one
Woodburne, were indicted, the one for hiring and abetting,
the other for actually slitting  the  nose  of Mr.  Crispe, the
brother-in-law  of  Coke.   On  the trial,  Mr. Sturgeon, the
  * Blackstone, vol. 4, pp. 205, 206, 207.
  t It  is stated in the London Law Magazine, (vol. l,pp. 130,132,) that Lord
STn™  h*' a8^iS  laSt,(9 George IV-> is callePd%riginated fn an at-
Bo°i °™  HT0™rd t0 murder with a blunt weapon.  Lord Ellenborough's
S?«i3    -g? I,IL) Was restncted f°r  shooting, stabbing or cutting. It is
sEd El 1' PresentKla.?'that * " too extensive; that it ma/be con-
made a ft Z,»J~n.bf01> *** an ordinary assault and battery may be
made a lelony and be punished with death
harm"  hf^T'3 LaV° occurred> ^ere persons committing « grievous bodily
tcflnSP f.1A00tmg'.,°i;rittmgwith a knife> have totally JcaVed punishment,
Tuglter^ (Taylor! fit? ^ ^ ^ hwe a*°UUted °nly t0 menl 
360
WOUNDS.
surgeon, swore that there were several wounds on the face;

one wound divided the  right side of the  nostril, and  made

an  oblique cross over the wound, and ended near the right

under jaw.  The nose was cut from without into  the nostril,

the edge of the nose was not cut  through, but there was a

cut or slit in it, that  went through.   Mr. Coke, with  great

effrontery, said that his  aim  was to murder, and not to maim

or  disfigure.   When  the verdict of guilty  came in, he asked

whether the nose could  be said to be slit, within the mean-

ing of the statute, when the  edge of it was not cut through.

To this, the lord chief justice (Sir Peter King) replied : " It

is true, the edge of the   nose was not slit, but  the  cut was

athwart the nose, which cut  separated the flesh of the nose,

and cut it quite through the  nostril.  This, I take, he added,

to  be  a slitting of the nose,  and  the surgeon swore  the nose

was slit."   Both Coke and Woodburne were executed.*

  * Hargrave's State Trials,  vol. 6, p. 211.  Lord Campbell, in his Lives of
the Lord Chancellors, (vol. 4,  p. 601) notices this case, and makes some state-
ments, which are highly worthy of consideration.  " Although (he says) sub-
stantial justice was done, and  the decision has since been recognized, I must
confess that it seems to me that the  law was rather strained."
  The prisoners being called  upon  for their defence, Coke boldly contended
that this case did not come within the Coventry Act.  " This act, as was well
known from its history and as was apparent from its terms, was meant to ap-
ply to the outrage of maiming or disfiguring a man when there was no inten-
tion of depriving of life, but who was afterwards, to gratify the malice of an
enemy by carrying about with him, and  exhibiting  in society, the mark of
disgrace set upon his person.   The  attempt to put a fellow creature to death
might morally be a higher crime, but not being the crime described in the
statute, it remained as at common law, only an aggravated misdemeanor, to
be  punished by fine and imprisonment.  The legislature might hereafter be
called upon to make such an attempt a capital offence, but a court of justice
could not properly extend it to a statute passed entirely alio intuitu.  Now
here there clearly was no intent that Mr. Crispe should live ridiculous with
a mutilated visage; the intention was not to disfigure, but to murder him for
his estate ; the wound which  merely cut  the nose was intended, like others
inflicted on  different parts of his body, to be mortal, and both the accused
persons, when they left him in the churchyard, believed that their real object
had been fully accomplished."
  Lord Chief Justice King, however, ruled that if the prisoners maliciously
inflicted a wound which amounted to a slitting of the nose, and which disfi-
gured the prosecutor, the case was  within the act, although  the real object
was to murder, not to disfigure; saying among other things, " There are cases
in which an unlawful or felonious intent to do one act may be carried over to
another act done in prosecution thereof, and such other act will be felony,
because  done in prosecution of an  unlawful or felonious intent.  Here, al-
though the ultimate intention  was to murder, there might be an intermediate
intention to disfigure, and one  might take effect, while the others did not.  An
intention to kill does not exclude an intention to disfigure.  The instrument
made use of in this attempt, was a bill or hedging hook, which in its own na-
ture is proper for cutting, maiming  or disfiguring.   The means made use of 
WOUNDS.
361
  In the case of one Carrol, at the  Old  Bailey sessions, in
July, 1765, it  appeared that he had  struck the prosecutor,
(Mr  Kirby) with a razor-bladed  knife  across the nose and
eyes ; and upon examination, it appeared that the two great
blood-vessels in the forehead were divided ;  that there was
a large transverse wound across the nose, so wide open
that the bone  was visible. It began from the right, and
went across the eyelids and across the nose.   The muscles
of the nose were cut  through, and it proceeded to the left
eyelid, and terminated at the temple. A nerve was also cut.
It was stated in evidence, that in many old writers on sur-
gery, such wounds were called slits, but that slit is not  the
word made use of now.  The word slit  is understood as
synonymous to the word cut,  but the idea which  was for-
merly conveyed by the word slit is now expressed in speak-
ing  technically, by the  word divided.  The  jury found the
prisoner guilty, but it was questioned whether a transverse
 cut was a slitting, within the  meaning  of the act, the wound
 not having perforated the nostril. It was accordingly referred
 to  the judges,  who held that  the offence was  properly
 proved, and the prisoner was  accordingly  executed.*
   Lastly, one Tickner was tried  in  1778, at the Old Bailey,
 under the same act, for injury done to William Jacob.  There
 were several wounds on various  parts of the body, but  the
 cut on the nose had  divided  the integuments in an oblique
 direction.  It went down to the  bone, but  not through  the
 bones of the nostrils, nor did it penetrate  to  the  nostrils,
 and was rather a scratch than  a slit.  It was,  however,
 sufficient  to  leave  a  mark  visible for  some time.  The
 prisoner  was  convicted, but  sergeant  Glynn  ordered  the

 to effect the murder must be considered, and the jury will say whether every
 blow and cut, and the consequences thereof, were not intended, as well as the
 end for which it is alleged these blows and cuts were given."
   The prisoners were convicted and executed; but the case (saysLord Camp-
 bell) may be regarded as a pendant to that before Lord Chief Justice Sir
 James Mansfield, where a man who gave a horse a draught for the purpose oi
 fraudulently winning a wager on a race, was hanged for killing a horse, " out
 of malice to the owner," whose name he did not know.
   * East's Treatise, p. 339.  Lawyer's Magazine, vol. 1, p. 202. 
362
WOUNDS.
execution to be  respited, until the  opinion of the twelve
judges could be procured, whether this conviction was pro-
per within the meaning of the Coventry act.  They were of
opinion that the conviction was right.*
  Under the act  of the  43d of George the  Third, for mali-
cious shooting or cutting, there  have been the following
adjudications:
  A striking on the face with a sharp claw  of a hammer, by
which the  face  was cut, was held to be  within  the act.
Atkinson's Case,  York Assizes, 1806.
  So also cutting part  of the skull with an instrument
adapted to the purpose of prying doors open; a piece of the
skull, according  to the  evidence, having  been taken out as
if sawed out;  not broken out, but  cut out.   Rex v. Hayward
or Harwood, 1805.  The jury found  that the intent was not
to cut, but  to  break or lacerate the head.   The judges held
that this  conviction was right, and the prisoner  was ex-
ecuted.
  In Adams'' case, Old Bailey Sessions, 1808, and afterwards
before the  judges, it was held,  that the  striking with a
square iron bar was not within the  statute; because  there
the  wound  was  not an incised one,  but contused  and
lacerated.!
  In a case where the prisoner assaulted a female child, ten
years old, and, with a  knife, made  a slight laceration, ex-
tending from between the labia and  below about an inch in
length, but  without penetrating the hymen, the  judge told
the jury that they were  to  consider whether this was  not a
grievous bodily  harm, within the  meaning  of the act  As
to the intent, though it probably was  the prisoner's intention
to have committed a rape, (he was disturbed while inflicting
the wounds, and  ran away,)  yet if to  effect a rape, he did
that which  the law made a distinct  crime, he was not the

  * Lawyer's Magazine, vol. 1, p. 203. William Lee was tried at the Old
Bailey, in 1763, for  attempting to cut his wife's throat with a razor while
asleep.  The  wound  was three inches in length, and quite across, but
did not prove  mortal.  This  was held not to  be  an offence within the
Coventry act.
  t Starkie on evidence, vol. 2, p. 924. 
WOUNDS.
363
less guilty of that crime.   The  jury found him guilty, and
the judges held the conviction right.*
  Under the 9th of George IV. as quoted,  I find the follow-
ing decisions:
  A  man  was struck with a hammer, his  collar bone was
broken, and his back and loins bruised.  It was urged that
was not a wounding, as the skin was not broken.   The judge
left the case to the jury, but reserved the point; and  the
judges  agreed  that this was not  a wounding  under  the
act.f
   Again, a wound caused by throwing a sledge hammer, is
a wound within the statute, although the hammer was blunt,
and not an instrument calculated to inflict a wound.J  And
even if the skin be broken with a bludgeon, and blood be
drawn, this is a wounding.^   If a person wound by kicking
the  skin  off one he intends to  rob, he is  punishable under
 this act, if  the  jury find that his act is either to disable, or
 to do grievous bodily harm.||
   The technical  difficulties attendant on these decisions,
  appear to be obviated by a law recently passed, (1 Victoria,
  chap. 85).  This statute repeals, after a certain period, the
  provisions of the act last noticed, and substitutes the follow-
  ing which  I quote  in full, to prevent the  necessity of repe-
  tition in other places:
   1. The punishment for administering poisons,  or doing
 other bodily injury with intent to commit murder, shall be
 felony and  death.
   2. The punishment for offences with  intent to  commit
  murder, though no bodily injury be effected, shall be felony
  and transportation for life, or for not less  than fifteen years,
  or imprisonment for not exceeding three.
   3.  The punishment for cutting and  maiming, with intent
  to disfigure or to do some  grievous bodily harm, or with
  intent to  resist  or  prevent the  lawful  apprehension  or

   *  Rex v. Cox. Russel and Rvan's Crown Cases Reserved, p. 362.
   t  1 Carrington and Payne, p. 381.   Rex v. Wood.
   | Ibid. p. 446.   Rex v. Withers.
   6 4 Carrington and Payne, p. 558.  Rex v. Payne.
   II  5 Ibid. p. 504.  Rex «. Shadbolt. 
364
WOUNDS.
detainer of any person, shall be felony and transportation for
life, or  for not less than fifteen years, or for imprisonment
not exceeding three years.*
  In the state of New York, the law at present is as fol-
lows :
  Every person who, from premeditated design,  evinced by
lying in wait for the purpose, or in any other manner; or
with intention to kill or commit any felony; shall cut out or
disable  the tongue; or put out an eye ; or slit the lip, or slit
or destroy the nose; or cut off or disable any limb or mem-
ber of  another, shall, on conviction,  be imprisoned in a
state prison for a term not less than seven years.f
  With respect to the other  states, the following classifica-
tion of offences may probably be most satisfactory :
  Cutting out or disabling the tongue, is  specified  in the laws
of Connecticut, Massachusetts,  Rhode Island,  Delaware,
Vermont, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee,
Missouri, Georgia  and Michigan.  Disabling the tongue is
only mentioned in the laws of Indiana.
  Putting out an eye, is made a  crime in the laws of Con-
necticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,  Delaware, Vermont,
Ohio,  Illinois, New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey, Missouri,
Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts and Michigan.  Putting
out the  eye  or eyes of another, so that the person is thereby
made blind, is particularly specified  as a higher offence in
Connecticut, and the punishment is imprisonment for life in
the state prison.  Pulling out or putting out an eye while
fighting, is mentioned in the laws of Pennsylvania,  Rhode
Island and Georgia.
  Slitting the nose, ear or  lip, is mentioned  in the laws of
Connecticut, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, Michigan, Dela-
ware, Indiana,  Tennessee,   Ohio,  New  Hampshire  and
Massachusetts.
  Slitting the nose, or lip, in  Missouri.
  Slitting the nose, in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

  * Companion to the British Almanac, 183S, p. 159. British and Foreign
Medical Review vol. 5, p. 173.
  f Revised Statutes, 1828, vol. 2, p. 664. 
WOUNDS.
365
  Cutting of the nose, or ear, or lip, in Pennsylvania, Rhode

Island,  Delaware,  Indiana, Tennessee,  Ohio, New Hamp-

shire, Michigan, New Jersey, Missouri and  Massachusetts.

  Biting  off the  nose,  ear or  lip, in Delaware,  Indiana,

Tennessee and Ohio.

  Cutting off, biting or slitting the tongue, in Ohio.

  Cutting off all or any of the genitals, in Connecticut, Penn-

sylvania, Vermont, Tennessee, Delaware and North Carolina.

In the two last states, this crime is punished with death.

  Cutting or biting off, or disabling any limb or member, with

an intention to maim or disfigure, is enumerated in the laws

of Connecticut,  New  Hampshire, Michigan,  New Jersey,

Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia and Massachusetts.

  Culling off or disabling any limb, in Rhode  Island, Penn-

sylvania and Ohio.

  Maiming any person, in  Delaware.  Disabling any limb

or member, in Illinois.

   Branding any person, with intent to murder or kill, disfigure

or maim, in New Jersey  and Michigan.

   Shooting or stabbing with any weapon, with  intent to  kill

or maim, in Tennessee and Missouri.*


  * Laws of Connecticut, 1830, p. 254.  Laws of Massachusetts, 1807, vol. 3,
p. 283.  With reference to this state, see also the case of the Commonwealth
v. Newell and others.  (Massachusetts Reports, vol. 7, p. 245.)  Laws of
Rhode Island, 1798, p. 589.  Laws of Vermont, 1825, p. 254.   Revised Laws
of Illinois, 1833, p. 178. Laws of New Hampshire, 1830, p. 137.  Laws of
New Jersey, 1*33, p. 237.  Statute Laws of Tennessee,  1831, vol. 1, p. 251.
Laws of Missouri, 1825, vol. l,p. 283.  Digest of the Laws of Georgia, 1822,
p. 319.  Laws of Michigan, p. 207.  Revised Laws of Indiana, 1831, p. 183.
Revised Laws of Delaware, 1*29, p. 128.  Laws of Delaware, 1833, p. 282.
Laws of Pennsylvania, 1803, vol. 5. p. 3. For the Laws of Ohio, see American
Quarterly Review, vol. 10, p. 41. In North Carolina, (session of 1831-32,)
castration with intent to murder or maim, was made a capital crime. (Ameri-
can Jurist, vol. 8, p. 197.) 
 
CHAPTER XVI.
                           POISONS.


Definition of a poison.  Resistance to poisons sometimes observed in man and
  animals.  Modes in  which poisons may be introduced into the system—
  variety as to the rapidity of their effects—laws  founded on this  circum-
  stance.  Division of poisons into irritant—narcotic—narcotico-acrid.  1.
  Signs of poison in the living body.  Symptoms of the irritant poisons—
  the narcotic—the narcotico-acrid.  Causes that may modify or vary the pro-
  gress of symptoms.  Preliminary directions for  the analysis of suspected
  substances—administration of the supposed poison to animals—mode—value
  of the evidence thus obtained.  Of poisoning during illness—value of moral
  evidence.   Of the poisons of the ancients, and what have been called slow
  poisons.  Of poisons administered to  several persons at the same time—
  variety of effects.  Of poisoning as the result of suicide or homicide—pre-
  tended poisoning.  Diseases and symptoms that may be mistaken for the
  effects of  irritant poisons—idiosyncrasy—distention or rupture of the sto-
  mach,  intestines, and other abdominal  organs—cholera—inflammation—
   Jierforations—hsematemesis—colic.  Of  narcotic poisons—apoplexy—epi-
   epsy.  2. Signs of poison on the dead body.  Danger of neglecting a
  medico-legal dissection—cases.   Preservation of the contents of the stomach
  and intestines.  Appearances on dissection from the irritant poisons—nar-
  cotic—narcotico-acrid—variety  in these.   Introduction  of poison  after
  death—appearances indicative of this.  Appearances and diseases that may
  be mistaken for the effects of poisons.  Vascularity of the stomach after
  death—how discriminated from the effects of inflammation.   Ulcers or per-
  foration of the  stomach  and intestines, through the action of the gastric
  juice, or as a consequence of disease—how these are to be distinguished from
  perforations induced by irritant poisons.   Chemical examination—the poi-
  son cannot always be detected—being removed by vomiting—absorption—
  decomposition—should then be sought for in the solids.  How far putrefac-
  tion renders their detection impossible—general outline of treatment—an-
  tidotes—removal of  the poison by vomiting—the stomach-pump—cupping
  glasses.  Statistics of poisoning in France.


  " The means of ascertaining the traces of poisons, either

on  the living or the dead body, is  one of the most important

subjects in legal medicine, and its importance is only  equal-

led by its difficulty."

  I propose to consider  the  subject under  three general
divisions:

   1.  The  signs of poison  on the living body.

  2.  The signs of poison on the dead body.

  3.  The various kinds of substances that may  produce,  or

have produced these dangerous and  fatal effects. 
368
POISONS.
   Previous to an  examination of these, a  few preliminary
 observations will be proper :
   What is a poison 1   The ancients considered every thing
 as  poisonous, that  produced  malignant  symptoms,  and
 attacked directly what we style the vital principle.  Thus,
 miasma was with them a poison;  and  their remedies, or
 antidotes, were  accordingly  directed  to the support  and
 cherishing of the vital heat, and to increase action throughout
 the body.  Hence also the name of alexipharmics, and  the
 belief of driving out poison by transpiration.   The common
 idea of poison by the moderns, on the other hand, is that it
 is a substance, which,  on being applied in one or other way
 to the human body, is capable of destroying the action of
 the vital functions^ or of placing  the solids and fluids  in a
 situation that prevents the continuance of life.  Dr. Mead's
 definition includes  every substance, which, in small doses,
 can  produce great changes  on the  living body.  This is
 evidently too extensive, since it embraces many articles that
 are not regarded as poisons, and excludes others  that  are
 really so.  Thus,  a small quantity of bread or water  has
 produced great changes, whilst opium or corrosive sublimate
 has been taken in large quantities without  injurious effects.
 The definition given by Fodere, although liable to criticism,
 is probably  as  unexceptionable as  any  that has yet been
 offered.   He considers poisons to be those substances which
 are known by physicians as capable  of altering or destroy-
 ing, in a majority  of  cases,  some or all  of the functions
 necessary to life.*   The  great and leading object in medico-
 legal  cases, necessary to complete the idea of a poison, is
 the intent with which the substance is given.
  Another interesting question, is  the  manner in  which
 poisons act.  This has been a subject of  fruitful  discussion
 among modern physiologists, and our own country has  not
been wanting in ardent examiners respecting it.!
  * Fodere\ vol. 3, p. 449.
  f See Ducachet's Inaugural Dissertation on the action of poisons.  Somer-
ville's Inaugural Dissertation on the organs of absorption.  (Chapman's Jour-
nal, vol. 2, p. 408.)  Reports  of the academy of medicine, on the means by
which absorption is effected.   (Ibid. vol. 3, p. 282.)  Dr. Milner's experiments. 
POISONS.
369
  It is not compatible with the limits of this work, to enter

into a full consideration of this subject, and a brief account

would only provoke criticism.  The varied results obtained

by  different experimentalists have  inclined  them respec-

tively in favor of the blood-vessels, the nerves, or the lym-

phatics,  as  the  medium by  which  poisons produce their

effects.*
  A concise notice of the consequences observed from each

individual  poison  will  be more appropriate to the object of

the work, and  this will accordingly find its proper  place in

the third division of the subject.

  The remarkable resistance that is sometimes observed to

the action  of poisons, also, deserves an early allusion.   In-

stances  of this nature are so  numerous, that a  selection of

the more striking will  be sufficient  to illustrate  the posi-

tion.

   Among  the Hungarians, the seeds of the Palma  Christi

are often taken  to the  amount of thirty-six grains, without

 any inconvenience, and some of the French peasantry use a

 decoction of colocynth as a common purgative.  The common

 dose  of the extract of  the aconitum napellus is one or  two



 (Ibid. vol. 4, p. 10.)  Dr. Hubbard's Experiments.  (Ibid. vol. 4, p. 242.) Dr.
 Lawrence and Coates' Experiments.  (Ibid. vol. 5, p. 327.)  Also Dr. Hale's
 Boylston Prize Dissertation.
  * Among European  writers on this subject, I may venture to  mention
Christison, chap.  1; Addison and Morgan  on the operation of poisonous
agents, London, 1829;  the experiments of Segalas, in Brande's Journal, vol.
 21, p. 401; Dr. W. C. Henry, Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 10, p.
293; Cyclopedia of  Practical Medicine,  art. Toxicology,  by Dr.  Apjohn;
 Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 32, p. 129; Magendie's Lec-
 tures on absorption, in Lancet, N. S. vol. 15;  Tiedemann's experiments on
 the pulmonary exhalations, in British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 1,
 p. 241.  Blake on the action of various saline substances, when introduced
 o"™   ™ vascular  system.  Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol.  54, p.
 339.  Blake on the action of physiological agents introduced into the circula-
 Uon, and  the same author on the mode in  which various poisonous agents act
 on the animal body.  Ibid, vol, 51, p. 330, vol. 53, p. 35.  In the last paper,
 Mr. Blake advances  his belief, deduced from a series of experiments, that
 poisons act by absorption, having established that the interval between the
 absorption of the capillaries and their general diffusion through the body may
 not exceed nine seconds.                                      J
   In addition to the  above, Mr. Blake has written on the  action of certain
 inorganic compounds,  when introduced directly into  the blood.  Ibid. vol.
 Gazette? yol° 2s! p!^ °f P°is0ns-  Il>i<l. vol. 57, p. 412.  London Medical

   vol.  n.                     24 
370                      poisons.

grains, and it is deemed dangerous to use it in larger quan-
tities ; but Fodere  was  consulted concerning the  case of
Charles IV. of Spain, who, while residing at Marseilles, was
attacked with a rheumatic  gout, and he recommended  the
medicine in question.  M.  Soria, the king's  physician, re-
plied, that at a former period it had  been  administered for
a length of time, and to  such  an extent  that the  patient
took a drachm daily, without any good or evil effects. This
monarch was now sixty-two years of age,  athletic, and had
an excellent appetite.*   The fumes of mercury, of lead, and
of copper, are well known to be injurious  to those who in-
hale  them, yet no  fact  is  better  established than  that of
workmen  resisting their effects for many years.  " In the
mines of Peru," says  Humboldt, " from five to six thousand
persons  are  employed in the amalgamation of the minerals,
or the preparatory labor.  A great number of these indivi-
duals pass their lives  in walking barefooted  over heaps of
brayed metal, moistened  and mixed with  muriate of soda,
sulphate  of iron, and oxide of  mercury, by the  contact of
the atmosphere and the solar rays.   It  is  a remarkable phe-
nomenon," he adds, " to see  these men enjoy the most perfect
health."^  Again, in all the Savoyard and  Swiss  Alps, milk
is collected and kept in small copper vessels ; and in Ger-
many, preserved fruits are put into vessels of this metal, in
order to give them a green  color, and all without inducing
any injury.J  The most  astonishing of cases, however, on
record, is that of the  old man  at  Constantinople, who had
been in the habit for  thirty years of swallowing enormous
quantities  of corrosive sublimate, until his dose came at last
to be a drachm daily.   He was living in 1800.§
  * Fodere, vol. 3, p. 468. f Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain.
  1 Fodere, vol. 3, p. 449.
 § This case was first mentioned by Dr. Pouqueville.   Mr. Thornton doubted
the story, and criticised the name given him. Lord Byron, in the notes to his
Childe Harold, attacked Mr. Thornton in his turn. And thus "this man (says
Mr. Hobhouse), though nearly one hundred years old, was, like Patridge the
almanac maker, almost reasoned out of existence by a verbal criticism, which
has turned out to be incorrect." (Hobhouse's Albania, vol. 2, p. 945. Lond. ed.)
  Dr. Strohmayer relates of a peasant,  who resided near a convent in the
Tyrol, and took  for a long time ten grains of arsenic daily with his food.
The monks fully testify to  the truth of this statement!!  (Boston Med. and
Surg. Journal, vol. 12, p. 211.) 
POISONS.
371
  These exceptions to general  rules are best explained  on
the principle of idiosyncrasy, or of habit rendering the sys-
tem  innoxious to their  effects.*   And such extraordinary
instances should, above all, never influence us  in legal
medicine, nor lead us to the idea,  that because one  person
has taken a particular substance without any ill effects, it is
therefore not a poison.   The academy of Berlin was  con-
sulted in 1752, whether copper was a poison.  They replied,
that they did not consider it decidedly so, since several had
taken it with impunity, either separately or mixed  with
food.  Now, if this decision receives  a general application,
we may  undoubtedly adduce examples of wonderful escapes
from the effects of almost all noxious substances, and thus
destroy the idea of poison altogether.
  There is another curious fact connected with this subject,
which it is proper to mention.   It is, the different effects
which some substances produce on man and other animals—
being noxious to the one,  and  innoxious to the other, and
vice versa.   Thus,  sweet  almonds are  said  to  kill dogs,
foxes and  fowls; aloes is destructive to dogs and foxes;
pepper to hogs, and parsley to the parrot.  On the contrary,
hogs feed on henbane  (hyoscyamus); pheasants  on  stra-
monium, and goats on  water-hemlock (cicuta virosa), with
impunity.!   Many, however, of the principal  poisons pro-
duce similar results on man and other animals, and in none
probably is the resemblance greater than with  the dog.
  Poisons  may be introduced  into the  system in  various
ways : through the nose, in  the  form of odours ; through the
lungs, by inspiration ; by the mouth and oesophagus, in the
form of food;  by the rectum, in the  form of injection, and

  *  The quantity of opinm taken daily by the Turks, is also a striking proof
of this.                                              ° r
  t Fodere, vol 4, p. 203. Mahon, vol.  2, p. 302. Dr. Christison is disposed
to doubt many of these statements.
  The elephant exhibited at Geneva (Switzerland) in 1820, took three ounces
of prussic acid mixed with ten  ounces of brandy, without any effect.  Three
boluses of an ounce of arsenic each, mixed with honey and sugar, were then
°IeVZ u\-n(. iie took *hem all» but without any result.   (Anglada, p. 40, from
the Bibliotheque Universelle.)
 unit9 StatCd 5y PaUaS'that thC hedSeh°S wiu eat th* Spanish fly with im- 
372
POISONS.
 through the skin, in some instances (although this is denied
 by several physiologists), by absorption.*
   The rapidity of the action of poisons varies considerably.
 Concentrated hydrocyanic acid destroys an adult man, as we
 shall  see, almost in an instant; while others take away life
 within an  hour—a  few hours—a  day, or a longer period.
 Some, indeed, when the sufferer escapes the immediate con-
 sequences, prove fatal after months  or a year;  but with a
 sufficiently  marked  train  of  symptoms to indicate  with
 certainty  the original cause.  It  is on this account that  a
 particular period has been  introduced in the  laws of some
 countries;  and if the poisoned person  dies within  it, the
 criminal is to suffer punishment.
   In England, it is deemed murder if the  party poisoned
 die  within the year; while in Scotland, according  to the
 opinion of Baron Hume, it would  seem, that a person might
 be punished, although death took place at a period  indefi-
 nitely remote; provided the operation of the poison can be
 distinctly traced  as causing  it.!  In the state of New York,
 the law formerly was  similar to the English.   If the  indivi-
 dual poisoned died wTithin a year and a day, it was murder;
if beyond that,  the punishment was  imprisonment  in the
 state prison for a term not exceeding fourteen years.|  This
enactment is, however, omitted in the Revised Statutes; and
it is now provided, that " if any person shall be convicted
  * There are many curious accounts on record, of the mode in which poi-
soning was formerly supposed to be perpetrated.   Thus Zacchias says, that
Pope Clement VII. was poisoned by the smoke of a candle;  and it was also
thought that dresses and jewels might be impregnated with venomous matters.
Queen Elizabeth was to have been poisoned, by spreading some  on the pom-
mel of the saddle.  "The queen, in mounting, would transfer the ointment
to her hand; with  her hand, she was likely to touch her mouth "or nostrils,
and such was the virulence of the poison, that certain death must follow."
(Aikin's Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth, American edition, vol.  2, p.  306.)
There is a minute of council extant, in the handwriting of  Cecil, which con-
tains among other things, the following caution : " That no manner of perfume,
either in apparel or sleeves, gloves, or such like, or otherwise that shall be
appointed for  your  majesty's savour, be presented by any stranger, or other
person, but that the same be corrected by some other fume." (Ibid. vol. 1,
p.  299.)
 Of all or most of these, we may remark, that they are altogether fabulous—
the suggestions of ignorance or malice.
 t Christison, p. 39.
 X Revised Laws, vol. 1, p.  409. 
POISONS.
373
of having administered, or of having caused and procured to

be administered, any poison to  any other human being, with

intent to kill such human being, and which shall  have been

actually taken by  such being, whereof death shall  not ensue,

he shall be punished by imprisonment in a state  prison, for

a term not less than ten years."*

   In all  the States, wilful  but unsuccessful  attempts to

destroy life by poison, are ranked among the higher crimes ;

but  I cannot  find any limitation as to time.!   In England,

the  administration of any poison or other destructive thing,

or causing it to be taken, is, by a recent act, declared felony.$

In France, every  attempt to destroy life by giving a poison,

is punishable with death (Code Penal, Art. 301); but under

this, a curious question has arisen in that country.  An indi-

vidual, intending  to poison his  wife with sulphuric acid, gave

it to her  mixed with wine.  It  proved harmless.   After  a

trial, and several reviews  of  it  by superior courts, he was

acquitted.   It thus appears, that  if the criminal, through


   *  Revised Statutes,  vol. 2, p. 665. The following are also made offences:
 "Mingling poison with any food, drink or medicine, with intent to kill or in-
jure any human being; wilfully poisoning any spring,  well or  reservoir of
 water;  and administering or  exposing any poisonous substance, so that  it
should be taken by any horse, cattle or sheep." (Ibid. pp. 666, 689.) " If any
 physician, while  in a state of intoxication, shall, without a design to effect
death, administer any  poison, drug or medicine, or do any other act to another
person, which  shall produce  the death of such other, he shall be deemed
guilty of manslaughter."  (Ibid. p. 662.)  If  under the same circumstances,
a  physician or any other person, prescribes  either of the above, and life is
endangered, it is declared a misdemeanor.  (Ibid. p. 694.)
   t The following cases show that the laws follow such as use poison, even
when the individual whom they intend to destroy does not take them, but some
third person who had  taken them accidentally. A. intended to kill his wife;
gave her a poisoned apple ; and she, being ignorant of it, gives it to a child,
against whom A. never meant any harm.  The child died. A.  was convicted
on this for murder. (Saunders' Case, Plowden's Reports, p. 473.)  Again, if
A. sends poison, intending it for B. and with intent to kill him, and it comes
into  the  possession of C. who takes  it,  but does not die; A.  may be in-
dicted for a capital offence,  under the 9 George IV. chap. 31, sect. 11.  Rex
o. Lewis, 6 Carrington and Payne's Reports, p. 161.
   X  9 George IV. chap. 31, sect.  11. Under  this  act,  Justice  Park decided,
that  putting arsenic into coffee, was administering poison, or causing it to be
taken.   Rex v. Harley, 4 Carrington and Payne's Reports, p. 369.   I observe,
however, that it  is doubted  whether this is  law under the new  criminal
statute of 1 Victoria (see p. 274).  At all events, if so, it is included in the
general description of  "causing any poison or other destructive thing to be
taken."   (London Law Magazine, vol. 19, p. 58.)  In a recent case, a person
who put cantharides into coffee, in order that another might take it, and it was
taken, was found guilty of an assault on the person who took it.  (8 Carring-
ton and Payne, 660. Regina v. Button.) 
374
POISONS.
ignorance, renders  the poison  innoxious, he is not to suffer
for his malicious intent.*
   In  the  former edition, when noticing the action of indi-
vidual poisons,  I  pursued the  arrangement adopted  by
Fodere and  Orfila.   This was to consider them  under six
divisions, viz. Corrosive, astringent, acrid, narcotic, narcotico-
acrid,  and septic.   Subsequent  examination has  convinced
me that this is too minute,  that  it unnecessarily separates
some, and that  a class is introduced (the septic) which  can
have  no  existence.  I have therefore readily adopted the
division  used by Professor Christison, and shall consider
poisons under the three grand classes of
       Irritants, Narcotics, and Narcotico-acrids.

           1. Signs of poisons on the living body.
   A person is supposed  to be poisoned, if, being in perfect
health, he is  attacked, after having taken some food or drink,
with violent pain,  cramp  in the stomach, nausea, vomiting,
convulsive action,  and  a sense of suffocation; or if he be
seized, under the same circumstances, with vertigo, giddi-
ness, delirium, or unusual drowsiness.!
   All these symptoms may, however, be the effect of sudden
illness, and the examiner should therefore recollect whether
an epidemic or  sporadic disease,  resembling that of  the
patient, does not exist.   He  should also inquire into  his
strength,  mode  of  life, and  habit of body, and  ascertain
whether  he had  previously complained of ill health.   The
time  at which the noxious  substance was taken, and  the
vehicle in which it was given, the taste or odor that was
perceived on its  administration, and  the food or drink that
has been lately swallowed, are all subjects that require par-
ticular notice.

  * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 426.
  f These are the most striking preliminary symptoms.   Mahon has collect-
ed a long list from the older writers, which, however, includes most of the
appearances observed during the whole progress of the action of poisons.
It is  evidently too general to be of much practical value.  (See Mahon.
vol. 2, p. 263.) 
POISONS.
375
  Poisons, also, are generally characterized by the rapidity
with which the symptoms  follow each  other, and by their
steady march to a fatal termination.   For this, however, as
with the early affections, there may be other causes assigned,
independent of the  action of noxious substances.  Nor are
these effects  invariable,  although  common.  Some  of  the
most  fatal, as arsenic, are occasionally accompanied with
remission; others, as nux vomica and its alkaloid, attack in
paroxysms.  There is also no doubt, but that, as suggested
by Dr. Christison, the occurrence of sleep, immediately after
taking some  of the irritant poisons, may retard the deve-
lopment of symptoms.
  Having formed an opinion, from  a review of the above
circumstances, that a poisonous  substance has  been taken,
the next question that arises is, to what class it belongs.
Although (as I have already remarked,) the symptoms of
poisons are somewhat equivocal and unsettled, yet there are
certain leading and characteristic appearances, which,  in a
majority of cases, serve to distinguish the two great divi-
sions from each other.   And these two,  are the  irritant
(corrosive or acrid) and the narcotic.
   " The  class of irritant poisons  comprehend both those
which have  a purely local, irritating action, and likewise
many which  also act remotely, but  whose most prominent
feature of action still is the inflammation they excite wher-
ever  they are applied."*
   We may suppose that  one of this  class is the cause of
present disease, if the patient has observed that the food or
drink which  was its vehicle,  had not its ordinary taste; if
he  has felt  a  heat, an  irritation, or an  extraordinary and
sudden dryness at the root of the  mouth and oesophagus,
with a constriction or sense of strangling in  those parts; if
this  be  succeeded by  an  obstinate  anxiety to vomit,  and
sharp pains in the stomach and intestines ; if there be great
thirst, copious discharges by vomiting and by stool, accom-
panied with  tenesmus  and followed  by  hiccup, by a sense of
* Christison, p. 96. 
376
POISONS.
 constriction across the diaphragm, a difficulty of breathing ;
 if there be great pain in the region of the kidneys, followed
 by strangury;  if convulsions, cramps of the  hands, trem-
 bling of the lips, extinction of the voice, repeated faintings,
 cold  sweats, and a small, chorded and  irregular  pulse  be
 present;  and if,  in  addition to all these,  the intellectual
 faculties  remain perfect, until the  disease  arrives near  its
 fatal  termination.*
   A narcotic poison, on the other hand, produces the follow-
 ing effects :  Stupor, numbness, a great inclination to sleep,
 coldness  and stiffness of the extremities, a cold sweat of a
 foetid or greasy nature, swelling of the neck and face, pro-
 trusion of the  eye,  with  a  haggard  cast of countenance;
 thickening of the tongue,  frequent vertigo, weakened eye-
 sight, or objects presented to it in a fantastic manner ; coma,
 delirium, general debility, palpitation of the heart, the pulse
 at first  full and  strong, but afterwards unequal and intermit-
 tent ;  paralysis of the lower  extremities, retraction  of the
 lips,  general swelling  of  the body, and dilatation  of the
 veins.  At the conclusion of the disease, slight convulsions
 and pain are sometimes present.!
   If we pursue the arrangement proposed  above, we shall
 find that the narcotico-acrid  poisons are  distinguished by a
 combination of  several of  the above symptoms.  They are,
 agitation, pain, acute cries, sometimes stupor and convulsive
 motions of the  muscles of the face, jaws and extremities;
 vertigo, and  occasionally extreme stiffness of the limbs, and
 contraction of the muscles of the thorax; the eyes red and
 starting from their sockets,  the pupils frequently dilated;
insensibility to  external impressions; mouth full of foam;
tongue  and gums  livid ; nausea, vomiting, frequent stools :
 often these symptoms attack  in paroxysms, and the patient
 is left comparatively easy for a few moments.!
  * FoderS, vol. 4, p. 190.  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 15; vol. 2, pp. 98,
 514. " In general," says the last author, " the patient preserves the use of his
 intellectual faculties during the first periods; but a short time before death,  he
falls into a state of great insensibility and immobility, and is agitated by con-
vulsive movements." He also mentions purple spots over  the body, and a
 miliary eruption, as occasional symptoms of this class.
  f Fodere, vol. 4, p. 190.  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 170, 515.
  X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 367, 516. 
poisons.                     377
   It may appear easy, after this enumeration, to distinguish
 the nature of the poison that has been taken; but in ordinary
 practice it  is, notwithstanding, very difficult.  There  are
 substances, very distinct in their characters, which produce
 similar effects, as, for example, cantharides, acrid vegetable
 substances, and caustic minerals.  All these belong to  the
 class of irritants, and  generally  exhibit similar symptoms.
 The difficulty is increased, when it is recollected that ordi-
 nary and  innoxious  substances, so far as concerns their
 poisonous nature, sometimes cause the most alarming symp-
 toms.  Fodere observes, that he has seen a roasted chestnut
 produce all  the symptoms of poison, until a dose of tartar
 emetic dispelled its influence.*
   On the other hand, a variety is frequently observed in  the
 symptoms excited by the same poison, on different individu-
 als.   Many causes may conduce to this, such as the mode in
 which it is  exhibited : poison  given  in the  liquid form, is
 generally more rapid and marked in its effects than when it
 is exhibited in the solid state; and the substances previously
 or subsequently taken, may also modify the symptoms.
 Instances of this variety are to be found in all authors on
 toxicology.  Marc produced salivation in a dog, by giving
 him a large dose  of opium;  while sleep, the common conse-
 quence,  was  wanting.!  So  also  Morgagni relates  of a
female, aged sixty, who had eaten a paste compound of milk
and arsenic, which had been prepared for rats.  She died in
twelve hours after, but without having suffered any severe
pains or convulsions.   On dissection, however, the stomach
was found eroded.J
   I apprehend that the circumstance of the patient's vomit-
ing or not vomiting, has the greatest influence on the course
and variety of the symptoms.  This is a subject to which I
shall have frequent occasion hereafter to refer, but it may be
remarked at present, that there are many persons who vomit
very  readily, whilst in others the act is very difficult, and

  * I shall notice  this point more  particularly at the conclusion of  the
•ectior..    .                  t Fodere, vol. 4, p. 195.
  X Morgagni, vol. 2, epist. 59, p. 366. 
   378                       poisons.

   almost causes convulsions.  In  the former case, the poison
   may be  rejected before  it has time  to  produce  injurious
   effects ; while in the latter, death will be the inevitable con-
   sequence.   And again, the poison, from the quantity taken,
   or for some other reason, may itself produce  vomiting, and
   thus prevent the fatal  termination.  Dr.  Petit  of Lyons,
   relates of a person who survived after taking half  an ounce
   of arsenic, and he attributes this to the violent vomiting that
   ensued.  Deschamps  gives an  account of  a female  who
   recovered after taking two drachms of tartar  emetic, which
   was  followed by vomiting ; whilst another, wTho by buying
   small quantities from different apothecaries, had  obtained
   eleven grains of the  same salt, died from using it.*   It is
   probable  that  large  doses produce their effects early and
v   violently, and the stomach endeavors to reject them as  soon
   as perceived; while small ones  seem to have time to act not
   only on  the system  generally, but also on the structure of
   parts.
     A minute and accurate notice  of symptoms  is hence
   worthy of every attention, but it only forms the commence-
   ment of  the inquiry in cases of supposed  poisoning.
     It is the  further duty of the physician, to examine every
   article of a suspicious  nature, such  as phials, boxes  or
   papers containing powders.   These should be carefully put
   aside without  remark.   If the  patient  preserve  his senses,
   we  may obtain much necessary information from  him, and
   possibly may  also procure the remainder of the  drink or
   substance  that he has  not completely taken.   If this  be
   impracticable, the matter vomited  should be preserved, as
   also the  linen or sponges used to collect the fluid which may
     * A still more striking case was mentioned in a Boston paper of the  month
   of February, 1817.  A man named George  Beals, aged 21, and residing at
   Springfield, Mass., with an intent to destroy himself, swallowed at  one draught
   one ounce and a half of arsenic, immediately after having eat a hearty supper
   of beefsteaks.  He was seized instantly with a violent vomiting, and was
   subsequently affected with spasms, but was restored to  his usual health in
   three or four days.  In about a month after, he destroyed himself by hanging.
     Dr. Shipman (American Journal Med.  Sciences, N.  S. vol. 6, p. 520), gives
   a similar instance of an insane person taking a teaspoonful on  a hearty meal.
   Vomiting followed, and this was succeeded by diarrhoea.  After about a week,
   he was seized with  severe pain of the legs and arms, and partial paralysis of
   them.  The insanity was cured, and the paralysis was gradually relieved. 
                         poisons.                      379'

have been deposited on the floor of the chamber, and a suffi-
cient  quantity  should be sealed  up, and reserved  for the
inspection of a competent chemist.
  For a proper analysis of the matter vomited, of the matter
found in suspected repositories, or the matter found in the
stomach or intestines, or both, after death, the following
preliminary directions require attention :  Never make any
experiments on the  suspected substance, without repeating
them  on ingredients that are  deemed analogous,  and  in
which the quantity of poisonous matter is ascertained.  For
this purpose, several solutions should be made of substances
which it is  supposed  may  probably resemble the  poison
given, and, from the  result, a comparison can be instituted.
Again, the analysis should  never be commenced until the
tests are all  prepared, and their accuracy determined.  The
order of proceeding  should  be previously laid down in the
mind of the operator  ; and when ready, he should perform the
experiments at one time.  The  risk of losing a part of the
suspected  substance, from employing inconclusive  experi-
ments, is thus avoided.  Thirdly, if the  quantity of matter
received be sufficient, it should be divided  into small por-
tions, so that the  various tests can be  applied to each; but
if there be only a  very small quantity, the symptoms should
be  carefully considered, together with the  indications they
present, and an opinion should be  formed as to the  poison
which most probably has caused  the present disease.  The
tests  applicable to it, should then be employed.   In pur-
suing this examination, it is  of little importance, compara-
tively speaking, whether a decisive opinion can be  formed
as to the quantity administered : it is sufficient to prove the
nature and quality  of  the substance.*
  Chemistry can  thus lend its aid  in  detecting  mineral
substances, but it often fails  in ascertaining the nature of a

  *  I have omitted a very important direction, and am reminded of its neces-
sity  by a case that lately occurred in  this vicinity, as well as by the remarks
of Mr. Taylor:  (Med. Jurisprudence, p. 13.)  Never leave the vessel con-
taining the suspected fluid in an exposed situation.  Keep it under lock and
key ; and if interrupted  in the course  of your experiments, restore it to such a
place, that you can positively affirm that no one could have meddled with it. 
380                     poisons.
 vegetable poison.  Of late  years, however, great advances
 have been made even in this department, as  will be  seen
 more particularly when noticing opium, hydrocyanic acid,
 &c.  But even in cases where the .powers of analysis are at
 fault, some approach to the actual truth may  be made  by a
 careful examination of the contents of the alimentary canal.
 Grains  or berries, or the  ligneous part of plants have  thus
 been detected.
   The  kitchen utensils  should always  be noticed, since it
 may happen that a copper  vessel badly tinned is the  sole
 cause of these violent effects ; and we should also remember,
 that the green color which is frequently observed  in  the
 matter vomited, may  be owing to vitiated bile, as well as to
 a mineral or vegetable poison.
   It is an ancient direction, that part of the suspected  sub-
 stance should be given to  some animal, in order to test its
 injurious nature.   But the uncertainty of this proof has been
 shown in a former page, where it was mentioned, that some
 articles  poisonous to man,  are innoxious to animals; and it
 is therefore a point of considerable interest to ascertain on
 which of them it is  most likely to produce similar effects.
 Physiologists generally  recommend  a dog as the subject,
 and Orfila says  it,should  be a small robust one, that is
 fasting.  The suspected  substance should not be put in his
 food, as is the ordinary practice, nor indeed  should he be
 allowed to swallow it.   This  would  produce the hazard of
 losing the  whole by vomiting; and he  hence advises that
 the oesophagus should be detached, and perforated with a
 small hole; into this a glass funnel is to be introduced, and
 the liquid poured through it  into the stomach; the oesophagus
 is  then tied below the opening.  If the  substance be solid,
it should be put into a small paper cone, in order that  it may
be  pushed  down into the  stomach  through  the opening.
This, he adds, is the only method by which vomiting  can be
 prevented, and the suspected  substance  exhibit  its true
character.*  The testimony to be derived from this proof of
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 532.  It has been objected to this mode of
experimenting, that the operation on the oesophagus will destroy life, or pro- 
POISONS.
381
 poisoning is, however, barely presumptive.   The poisonous
 substance may be decomposed in the stomach of the patient
 by food or antidotes;  it may have been rejected  by vomit-
 ing, or it  may have been absorbed, so  as  to  leave only  a
 minute quantity in the  intestinal canal; and  in all these
 cases, the animal will  probably escape uninjured.  "Ex-
 periments of this kind,  separately  considered, possess no
 value, only as they  present a positive result, that is to say,
 death; but we repeat again, they ought  not to be regarded,
 even when well made, except as a secondary means, proper
 for  corroborating the  conclusions   drawn  from chemical
 analysis,  symptoms, and lesions of texture."*
   While, therefore, such investigations are not to be totally
 discouraged, it is proper to suggest that in many, indeed in
 most instances, the suspected matter found is  not sufficient
 to  warrant the medical examiner in employing  it for this
 purpose.   He will generally have the alternative presented,
 of  omitting all  other experiments if he makes these.   Be-
 sides,  as has been  conclusively remarked by   Professor
 Christison,  " if  the quantity of  poison in the  suspected
 substance is great  enough to affect one of the perfect ani-
 mals, it may be recognized to a certainty by its physical  or
 chemical properties."!
   It must also be recollected, in connexion with the circum-
 stance under notice, that the  human fluids, and particularly
 the bile, may, from disease, acquire  such an acrimony  as to
 be fatal to animals.  Morgagni relates a remarkable instance
 of this kind.  A child died of tertian  fever,  after having
 suffered violent  convulsion.   On dissection,  the stomach
 was found to contain green bile, which tinged the scalpel of
 a violet color.  Having dipped the point of his instrument
in the bile, he wounded  two  pigeons, who  expired almost

duce alterations of texture; but our author shows by numerous examples, that
the ligature  on this part in dogs, constantly produces, during the two first
days, nothing more than a slight fever, and a little dejection, which is incapa-
ble of destroying them in  so short a time; and  also, that if animals be killed
when in this state, no lesions will be discovered on dissection. If poisons, on
the contrary,  be introduced through the opening, their effects will be earlv
manifested.  (Vol. 2, p. 482.)
  • Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 535.          f Christison, p. 62. 
382
POISONS.
instantly in violent convulsions ; and some of it, mixed with
bread, was given to a cock, who also expired in a  short
time.*
  Until now,  I  have considered the subject of poisoning
persons in a state of health.  I may add, that  this is  often
attempted on individuals  who  are ill, and the difficulty of
distinguishing the symptoms of disease from those of poison
is proportionably increased.  It may be said, that the dis-
ease has taken a sudden turn ; that the medicines used have
been  prejudicial, and that present appearances are a con-
vulsive or final effort of the system.  In such cases, attention
to the following circumstances is required:
  1. The sudden occurrence  of  symptoms  which do not
usually accompany the  disease under which the patient
labours.  Thus, we should feel suspicious, if, in an ordinary
case:, nausea, vomiting, hiccup, fainting, cold  sweats, with
bloody stools, should suddenly and  rapidly  follow  each
other;  or  again, if stertor, delirium, or insanity should
supervene  on a case of common disease.
  2. Moral evidence.  This is to be attended to in all cases,
but more particularly under the circumstances now indicated.
The physician should never  allow  these to  prejudice his
mind, but he should never neglect noticing them; and I take
this early occasion to say, that the physician is, of all per-
sons, the best judge concerning them.  Let him ascertain
whether an enmity does not exist between the sick person
and  some  one  who  attends or visits him:  if so, inquire
whether any poisonous substances  have lately been  pur-
chased ; whether these are still in the house;  whether the
alarming symptoms  came on  immediately  after  taking  a
drink, or any  other substance  of an  innocent  nature; and
particularly, ascertain  whether any thing has been  given
without the orders of the physician, or by a person ignorant
of medicaments.
  Inquire,  also, as to  any suspicious conduct after the
patient's death, such as  hastening the funeral, preventing
* Morgagni, vol. 2, epist. 59, p. 396. 
POISONS.
383
the inspection of the body, and giving a false account of the
previous illness.  In many cases, unfortunately, the crime
of seduction  is followed by attempts to destroy life;  and
hence, if a female has  been poisoned, the  investigation
should extend to the decision of that fact.*
  In illustration of these remarks,  I will  only quote, at
present,  two  cases;  one comparatively  ancient, and  the
other of late occurrence.   When noticing individual poisons,
numerous others must necessarily be mentioned, in which
the moral evidence has thrown great light on their respect-
ive intricacies :
  An individual aged fifty-six years, and subject to flatu-
lence, took a bowl of chocolate and milk previous to starting
on a journey.   It was prepared by his daughter.  He  had
advanced a very short  distance, when he was seized with
nausea, vomiting, and other severe symptoms, which obliged
him. to  return  home, and his death followed  in nine hours
after taking the chocolate.  His body was not inflated ; his
visage was natural, but  the nails were blue;  and  on his
shoulders and breast  were spots of the same color.  This
disease was considered  cholera morbus; but Hoffman, from
whom the  narrative is taken, believed it to be the effect of
arsenic rather than cholera, and for the following reasons :
The symptoms which followed the use of the drink, such as
copious  vomiting,  accompanied with a cadaverous paleness
of the face, coldness of the extremities, great prostration of
strength, poignant lancinating pain in the intestines,  and
the cessation  of arterial  action, and convulsions, all suc-
ceeded each other with greater rapidity than is observed in
ordinary cholera morbus.  Again,  the  daughter  was at
enmity  with the father, who had punished  her for living
with her valet; and it was also known that  she had pre-
viously purchased arsenic.f
   " William Muir was tried  and condemned at Glasgow, in
1812, for poisoning his  wife.  In the course of  the day on
which she was taken ill, she was visited by a farmer of  the
  * Christison, p. 71.
  \ F. Hoffman's Opera Omnia, vol. 3, sect. 2, chap. 8, p. 170. 
384
POISONS.
neighborhood, who had studied  physic a little in his youth.
He learned from her that she had breakfasted on porridge a
short time before she felt herself ill, and that she suspected
the porridge to have been poisoned.   He immediately  pro-
cured the  wooden bowl in which the cottagers of Scotland
keep the  portion of meal used each time  for  making the
porridge, and finding in it some  meal, with shining particles
interspersed, he wrapped a sample in paper, and took the
proper   measures  for  preserving  its  identity.   He   then
secured  also a sample from the family store in a barrel.   The
two parcels  were  produced by him on the trial, and from
experiments  made in court, the late  Dr. Cleghorn was  ena-
bled to  declare  that  the  meal from the  bowl contained
arsenic, and that the meal from the barrel did not.  These
facts, besides proving that the woman had next to a certainty
taken arsenic in  the porridge, likewise in conjunction  with
other slight moral circumstances, established that the poison
had been mixed  with the  meal in  the house, and on the
morning when the  deceased took ill, before  any  stranger
entered the house."*
   The   subject  of what  have  been called  slow  poisons,
deserves a passing notice, although it must be confessed that
this is  so closely connected with popular superstition, that
it is almost impossible to separate truth from falsehood. In
Italy, for  example, it was  formerly said, that  poisons were
invented  to  destroy life at any stated period, from a few
hours to a year.!  This, however, is a mere fiction, and it is

   * Christison, p. 72.   The case was communicated by Professor Alison.
   f We  are indebted to Professor Beckmann for a very elaborate article on
 this subject, in which he has concentrated nearly all that is known concerning
secret poisoning. Of this, I shall present an abstract, aided with some facts
from other sources.  He considers  it unquestionable, that the ancients were
acquainted with such a kind of  poison, and thinks it may be proved from the
testimony of Plutarch, Quintilian, and other respectable authors. The former
states that a slow poison, which occasioned heat, a cough, spitting of blood, a
consumption, and a weakness  of intellect, was administered to Aratus of
 Sicyon.  Theophrastus  speaks  of  a poison prepared from aconite,  which
 could be moderated in such a manner as to have effect in two or three months,
 or at the end of a year, or two years; and he also relates, that Thrasyas had
 discovered a method of preparing from other plants a poison, which, given in
 small doses, occasioned an  easy but certain death,  without any pain, and
 which could be kept back for a long time without causing weakness or cor-
 ruption.  This last poison was  much used at Rome, about two hundred years 
POISONS.
385
now well understood that we  know of no substances which

will produce death  at a  determinate epoch.   But  I shall

before the Christian sera.  At a later period, a female named Locusta was the
a'ent in preparing these poisons, and she destroyed in this way, at the insti-
gation of Nero. Britannicus, the son of Agnppina.
8 The Carthaginians seem also to have been acquainted with the art of poi-
soning;  and they are said, on the authority of Aulus Gellius, to have admin-
istered some to Regulus, the Roman general.  Cotemporary writers, however,
it must be added, do not mention this.                              „i„„t0
  The principal poisons known to the ancients, were prepared from plants,
and particularly aconite, hemlock and poppy; or from animal substances  and
among the latter, none is more  remarkable than that obtained from the sea-
hare {Lepusmarinus, or Aplysia depilans of the  Systema Naturae).  With
this, Titus is said to have been despatched by Domitian.  They do  not seem
to have  been acquainted with the common mineral poisons
  In the year 1659, during the pontificate of Alexander VII., it was observed
at Rome, that many young married  women became widows, and that many
husbands died when they became disagreeable to their wives.   The govern-
ment used great vigilance to detect the poisoners,  and suspicion at length fell
upon a society of young wives, whose president appeared to be an old woman,
who pretended to  foretell  future events, and who had often predicted very
exactly  the death of many persons.  By means of a crafty female, their prac-
tices were detected, the whole society was arrested and put to the torture, and
the old  woman, whose name was Spara, and four others, were publicly hanged.
This Spara was a Sicilian,  and  is said to have acquired her knowledge from
 Tofania at Palermo.
   Tophania, or Tofania, was an infamous woman, who resided first at Palermo,
 and afterwards at Naples.  She sold the poison, which from her acquired the
 name of Aqua delta Toffana,  (it was  also called Acquetta  di Napoh, or
 Acquetta alone;)  but she distributed her preparations by way of chantyjo
 such wives  as  wished to have other  husbands.  From  four to six drops were
 sufficient to destroy a man, and it was asserted that the dose could be so pro-
 portioned as to operate in a certain time.  Labat says, that Tofania distributed
 her poison in small glass phials, with this inscription, Manna of St. Nicholas
 of Bari, and ornamented with the image of the saint.  She lived to a great
 age, but was  at last  dragged  from  a monastery,  in which she had taken
 refuge,  and  put to  the torture,  when  she confessed her crimes, and  was
 strangled.
   In no country,  however, has the art of poisoning excited  more attention
 than it  did in France, about the year 1670*  Margaret d'Aubray, wife of the
 Marquis De Brinvillier, was the principal agent in this horrible business.  A
 needy adventurer, named Godin De Sainte Croix, had formed an acquaintance
 with the Marquis during their  campaigns in  the  Netherlands,  and became
 at Paris a constant visiter at his house, where  in a short time he found means
 to insinuate himself into the good graces of the Marchioness.  It was not  long
 before the Marquis died, not,  however, until  their joint fortune was nearly
 dissipated.  Her conduct,  in openly carrying on this  amour, induced her
 father to have Sainte Croix arrested  and sent  to the  Bastile.   Here he got
 acquainted with an Italian,  of the name of Exili, from whom he learnt the
 art  of  preparing poisons.  After  a year's imprisonment, Sainte  Croix  was
 released, when he  flew to the Marchioness, and instructed her in the art,  in
 order that she might employ it in bettering the circumstances of both.  She
 assumed the appearance of a nun, distributed food to the poor, nursed the
 sick in the Hotel Dieu, and tried the strength of her poisons  undetected on
 these hapless wretches.  She bribed one Chaussee, Sainte Croix's servant, to
 poison  her own father, after introducing him into his service, and also her bro-
 ther, and endeavored to poison her sister. A suspicion arose that they had been
 poisoned, and the bodies were opened, but no detection followed at this time.
 Their villanous practices were brought to  light in the following manner:.

    VOL. II.                       25 
386
POISONS.
have  occasion in the next section, when stating the  case of

the  late Prince  Charles, of Augustenberg, to  show that the


Sainte Croix, when preparing poison, was accustomed to wear a glass mask;
but as this happened once to drop off by accident, he was suffocated and found
dead in his laboratory.  Government caused the effects of this man, who had
no family, to be examined, and a list of them made out.   On searching them,
there was found a small box, to  which  Sainte Croix had affixed  a written
request, that after his death it might be delivered to the  Marchioness De
Brinvillier, or in case she should not be living, that it might be burnt.  It was
found to contain a great abundance of poisons of every kind, with labels, on
which their effects, proved by experiment  on  animals, were marked.  The
principal poison, however, was corrosive sublimate.   When the Marchioness
heard of the death of her lover and instructor,  she was desirous to have the
casket, and endeavored to get possession of it by bribing the officers of justice;
but as she failed in this, she quitted the kingdom.   La Chaussee, however,
continued at Paris, laid claim to the property of Sainte Croix, was seized and
imprisoned, confessed more acts of villany than was  suspected, and was, in
consequence, broken alive on the wheel, in 1673.
  The  Marchioness fled  to  England,  and from thence to Leige, where she
took refuge in a convent.  Desgrais, an officer of justice,  was despatched in
pursuit of her, and having assumed the dress of an abbe, contrived  to entice
her from this privileged place.  Among her effects at the convent, there was
found a confession, and a complete catalogue of all her crimes,  in  her own
handwriting.  She was taken to Paris, convicted, and, on  the 16th of July,
1676, publicly beheaded, and afterwards burnt.
   The practice of poisoning was not, however, suppressed by this execution,
and it was asserted that confessions of a suspicious  nature were constantly
made to the priests.  A court for watchins, searching after, and  punishing
prisoners, was at length established in 1679, under  the title of Chainbre de
poison, or  Chambre ardente.  This was shortly used as a state engine against
those who were obnoxious to the court, and the names of individuals of the first
rank, both male and  female, were prejudiced.  Two females, La Vigoreux
and La Voisin, were burnt alive by order of this court,  in February, 1680.
But it was abolished in the same year.
  Professor Beckmann relates the following, as communicated to  him by
Linnaeus:  " Charles the XL, king of Sweden,  having ruined several noble
families by seizing on their property, and having after that made a journey
to Torneo, he fell into a consumptive disorder, which no medicine could cure.
One day he asked his physician in a very earnest manner, what was the
cause of his illness. The physician replied, ' your majesty has been loaded with
too many maledictions.'  ' Yes,' returned the  king,  ' I wish to God that the
reduction of the nobility's estates had not taken place, and that I had never
undertaken a journey to Torneo.'  After his death, his intestines were found
to be full of small ulcers."
  There has been great diversity of opinion as to the nature of these poisons.
That prepared  by Tofania, appears to have been a clear insipid water; and
the sale of aquafortis was for a long time forbidden in Rome, because it was
considered the principal ingredient.   This, however, is not probable. In
Paris, the famous poudre de succession  (also a secret poison) was at one
time supposed to consist of diamond dust, pounded exceedingly fine;  and at
another, to contain  sugar of lead, as the chief ingredient.  Haller was of
this last opinion.   In the casket of Sante  Croix, were  found sublimate, opium,
regulus of antimony, vitriol, and a large quantity of poison ready prepared,
the principal ingredients of which, the physicians were not able to distinguish.
Garelli, physician to Charles VI,  king of the two Sicilies,  at the time when
Tofania  was arrested,  wrote to the  celebrated Hoffman, that  the Aqua
 Tofania was nothing else than crystallized arsenic dissolved in a large quanti-
ty of water by decoction, with the addition (but for what purpose, he knew
not) of the herb cymbalaria, (probably the Antirrhinum cymbalaria.)  And
this information, he observes, was communicated  to him  by his imperial 
POISONS.
387
idea of slow poison is still prevalent, even among the physi-

cians of  continental Europe.

   The only case  in which we can admit the action of poi-

sons  as  in any manner  approaching  that ascribed  to  the

deleterious agents  used  in  former times,  is when minute

portions  of the irritant poisons have been administered from

time to time;  or when individuals,  through  their  occupa-

tions and employments, are daily exposed to an atmosphere

containing small quantities of them.  In this way the effects of

disease may be mistaken for poisoning, and vice versa.  Their

course often is, gradually to cause irreparable injury to the

digestive and  lymphatic  systems, and finally to destroy life.

majesty himself, to whom the judicial procedure, confirmed by the confession
of the criminal, was transmitted.  But it  was objected to this opinion, that
it differed from the ordinary effects of  arsenic, in never betraying itself by
any particular action on the human body.
  The  Abbe Gagliani, on  the  other hand, asserts that it was a mixture of
opium  and cantharides, and that the liquor obtained from its composition
was as limpidas rock water,and without taste.  Its effects are slow, and almost'
imperceptible.  Beckmann appears to favor this idea, and suggests that  a
similar poison is used in the east under the name of powst, being water which
had stood  a night over the juice of poppies.  It is given to princes whom it is
wished to  dispatch privately, and produces loss of strength and understanding,
 so that they die in the end, torpid and insensible.
   Dr. Duncan, jun., however, objects  to the opinion of Gagliani, as perfectly
 inconsistent with the  appearance and effects of the poison.  The prevailing
 idea is that of Garelli.
   Cellini,  who lived during the 16th century, tells us in his  Autobiography,
 that poisoning was attempted on him with the diamond, (not because they
deemed it  noxious, but from the particles irritating the stomach,) and with
corrosive  sublimate.  (Beckmann,  vol. 1, p. 54.  Smith,  p. 195.   London
Monthly Magazine, vol. 14, p.  515. Metzger, pp. 386, 402.   Supplement to
Encyclopedia Britannica, art. Aqua Tofania, Dr. Duncan, jun.)
   " It is not because we  know less," says Dr. Duncan,  " but because we know
a great deal more than our forefathers, that the art of secret poisoning seems
to be lost."  In Turkey, it would appear from Dr. Oppenheim's narrative,
that corrosive sublimate is often employed.   (Medico-Chirurgical Review,
vol. 23, p.  438.)  Mr.  Madden, (Travels, American Edition, vol. 1, pp. 33, 82)
however, says, that the poison used is  tasteless, and on that account imagines
it to be arsenic.   He saw eight cases,  while residing in Turkey, and in most
of them, death ensued within  twelve, and in all,  within forty-eight hours
"The terrible science of poisons, (says Sismondi,) is the first branch of che-
mistry which is  successfully cultivated by barbarous nations."  (Fall of the
 Roman Empire, vol. 1, p. 256.)
   Secret poisoning has  even penetrated into the forests of our own country
 "The celebrated chief, Black Bird, of the Omawhaws, gained great reputa-
tion as a medicine man ; his adversaries fell rapidly before his potent spells.
 His medicine was arsenic, furnished him for this purpose by the villany of

   226)               GS' aCC°Unt  °f Maj°r  L°ng'S ExPedition>  vo1- !•
   Those who are curious on the poisons of the ancients, I will refer to Adams
 on the ancient principles of toxicology, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
 Journal, vol. 33, p. 315 ; and Sir Henry Halford's Essay on deaths of some
 illustrious persons of antiquity. 
388
POISONS.
In such instances, great caution in the examination of symp-
toms is necessary, and an extended  inquiry should be made
as to the agents that possibly may induce them.
  Poisons  may also be administered to several persons at
once, as at an entertainment, and the symptoms that follow
be so  various as to render the cause doubtful, were it not
understood that such consequences are of frequent occur-
rence.  I shall endeavor to illustrate  this point by some
cases :
  In the  month of May, 1711, four individuals, viz. a priest,
two females (one of whom was his sister-in-law), and another
person, all in good health and on a journey, stopped at an
inn to  dine.  They proceeded  on their journey after taking
this  meal; but in  a short time the priest was seized with
such violent  pain,  as to oblige him to dismount from his
horse.  Copious evacuations by vomiting and stool succeed-
ed, and  his  illness  increased so rapidly that it was found
necessary to take him back to Cesenne, the place where they
had dined.  A physician was called in, who, conceiving the
complaint to be only an ordinary colic, treated it with fomen-
tations, glysters, purgatives and anodynes.  During this
time, one of the females was  seized with  severe pain and
weakness,  accompanied with  copious evacuations.   The
fourth person of the party also complained  of  pain and
weight at the stomach ; but notwithstanding this, the physi-
cian  had no suspicion of poison, since the other female was
in perfect health, and the landlord protested that there could
have been nothing noxious in  his dishes.  On the next day
they were  all somewhat better, and were enabled to arrive
at a  place near where  Morgagni resided, for whom they
immediately sent.  This great physician, having  learnt the
circumstances, immediately inquired whether there was not
some dish on the table, of which the female in good health
had not eaten.  He  was answered in the affirmative, and it
was  ascertained to  have been a large dish of rice, served
up at  first.   He settled in his own mind, that there were
poisonous materials in this dish ; but the difficulty was, why
the priest, who had eaten the least, should have suffered the 
POISONS.
389
most, whilst the female who had eaten a larger quantity was
not so ill; and finally, that the fourth person, who had eaten
more than all  the  rest, had only some pain in his stomach.
Was there not, said Morgagni, some cheese grated over this
rice 1  They answered in the affirmative, and the priest, who
had little or no appetite, ate scarcely any thing'but the
cheese ;  the female ate both cheese and rice, while the other
person ate the rice with scarcely any cheese.  Then, said
Morgagni. the state of the case is, that the cheese was pre-
pared with arsenic to  kill rats, and not  having been  laid
away with sufficient care, it was  served  up for your rice,
while you were hurrying the landlord for your dinner.  This
opinion was  verified by the confession of the landlord him-
self, who, learning that  the  patients were  out of  danger,
avowed that such was the cause of the accident.
  At a banquets numerously attended, a dish was brought in
during the dessert, in which arsenic had  been used  instead
of meal.  Those of the guests who had eaten or drunk but
little, died in a few hours; whilst those who had eaten con-
siderably, were saved by copious vomiting.   Some lived for
several years, and  when examined after death, the cicatrices
of large ulcers were found in their stomachs.
  In another instance, a boy  two years old, and two adult
females, partook of some soup in which arsenic was mixed.
The boy took only two spoonfuls, but  it  was on an empty
stomach; whilst the females, who had already eaten, took
the remainder of it.  They vomited copiously, and survived ;
whilst the other did not vomit, and died, and on dissection,
his  stomach was found ulcerated.*
  From these, and  several other cases  related by Morgagni
and Hoffman, Fodere draws the following conclusions :  1.
In such  instances,  the physician should enter into the most
minute details concerning every thing that has passed at the
meal.  Inquire whether every one ate from all the  dishes,
and in what  quantity; what kind of meats were  sat down,
cases are quoted from Morgagni—
9. 
390
POISONS.
and what wines drunk.  2. That very different effects ensue
from taking poison on an empty or on a full stomach; and
hence Baccius, he says, recommends to those who fear being
poisoned  at a  banquet, first to  eat  and drink a considerable
quantity.  This precaution was doubtless not an idle one in
some of the capital  cities  of continental Europe,  and one
effect of it certainly is, that it protects  the  stomach to a
certain degree from the activity  of  the poison,  and also
facilitates vomiting.  The practice of mountebanks, who
pretend to sell antidotes to arsenic, is  said to be  in con-
formity with this direction.   They first fill the stomach with
milk or oily fluids, and then swallow  the arsenic in public.
In secret,  however, they shortly  throw it  up again,  and
sometimes it  proves fatal when retained too long.  3. It
may sometimes be  necessary  to inquire of  what kind of
dainties  the  poisoned persons were most fond, since mur-
derers have sometimes taken advantage of a known partiali-
ty.  4. It is  evidently no  reason  that  a certain article of
food or  drink is not poisonous, because some individuals
have  taken  it without inconvenience.  We have  already
seen the difference between vomiting  and not vomiting.
The greater the quantity of poison taken, the more is there
a hope of escaping ; whilst those who feel no immediate ill
effects, are often the earliest victims.  Both descriptions of
persons should be examined, and the matter vomited should
be analyzed, in order to detect  the nature of  the poison.*
  It is  a very difficult question to determine whether poi-
soning is the result of suicide or homicide.  We can only
form an  opinion from moral consideration, and a notice of
the following is recommended  by Fodere:   The previous
state  of the  mind  of the deceased—whether  he  has been
subject to delirium ;  also if he has not met with losses—has
been disappointed  in  his hopes, or is suffering under dis-
grace.   Also, whether any of the persons with whom he
lived or associated, had any interest in his death.  The sea-
son of the  year also deserves consideration.  He observes,

    * Fodere, vol. 4, pp. 240 to 248.  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 548 
POISONS.
391
that suicides are most frequent during the  period of  the
solstices and  the equinoxes.  We  should  also  ascertain
whether the patient, instead of  complaining, remains quiet,
seeks solitude, and refuses the aid of medical  men and of
medicines.  Any kind of writing  left by the individual, to
express  his last wishes, as it is the most common, so it is
also the  most certain, proof of self-destruction.  But finding
a part of the poison  in the room  or in his pockets, is evi-
dently a very  equivocal proof,  since it may quite as easily
be put there by others as by himself.*
  It  may  sometimes  happen  that  a. false  accusation  of
poisoning  is brought, and that great illness is pretended.
In such  instances, the complainer  should be tested by the
rules already laid down, and a long examination will scarcely
ever be necessary in  order to develope  the deceit.  I will
state a single case in  elucidation:
  " Samuel Whalley  was indicted at the York Spring  As-
sizes  (England),  in   1821, for maliciously  administering
arsenic to Martha King, who was pregnant by him.   The
female swore that the prisoner, after twice trying, but in
vain, to prevail on  her to take drugs  for  the purpose of
procuring abortion, sent her a present  of tarts, of which she
ate one and a half; that in half an  hour she was seized with
symptoms  of poisoning from  some irritant poison, and that
she  continued ill for  some  time after.  Mr. Thackrah, of
Leeds, found  arsenic in the  tarts that remained untouched,
and  likewise  in some matter that was vomited in his  pre-
sence, after the administration  of  an emetic, as well as in
other vomited matters  which were preserved for him between
his first and second visits.   Her appearance, however, did
not  correspond  with  the complaint that she made of  her
sufferings;  her  pulse  and tongue were natural, and, on
careful  investigation,  the  following inconsistencies  were
  •  Fodere, vol. 4, p. 248.  Smith,  p. 274.   Metzger  observes,  « La seule
preemption physique, (of suicide,) est  la quantite considerable du poison
e,n,glouttl'^?nt]le.g?ut/Iiauseabond eut  certainement excite le vomissement,
sil eut ete administre par une main  etrangere.  Les poisons vegetaux
entrainent presque toujours l'idee d'imprudence, et excluent consequemment,
dans le plus grand nombredes cas.celle de suicide; l'opiumseul est communS-
ment mis avec connoissance de cause en usage," (p 148 ) 
392
POISONS.
detected :   1.  She said she felt a coppery taste in the act of
eating the tarts; a taste which arsenic  certainly does not
possess.  2. From the quantity of arsenic in the tarts which
remained, she  could not have taken above ten grains; while
even  after repeated attacks of vomiting, the alleged matter
subsequently  preserved,  contained  nearly fifteen grains.
3. The matter first  vomited,  contained  only  one  grain,
while the  matter alleged to have been vomited subsequently,
contained fifteen grains.   4. The time at which these fifteen
grains were alleged  to have been vomited,  was not until
between two or three hours after the symptoms began, in
which case, the symptoms would, before  that  time, have
been, in all probability, violent.  The prisoner was acquit-
ted, and the prosecutor and another woman who corroborated
her deposition, afterwards  admitted  that they had entered
into a  conspiracy to impute the  crime  to  him, because he
had deserted her, on finding that she was too intimate with
other persons."*
   I will  conclude  this section with a brief notice of such
diseases and their symptoms, as are most apt to be mistaken
for the effects of poison.   And first, of  those that resemble
the  consequences  of irritant  poisons.   Among  them Dr.
Christison enumerates  the following: Distention and rup-
ture of the stomach;  rupture of the duodenum, biliary ducts,
uterus, or other organs in the abdomen;  the effects of drink-
ing cold water; bilious vomiting and cholera; inflammation
of the stomach; inflammation of the intestines ; inflammation
of the peritoneum, spontaneous perforation of the stomach;
melsena and haematemesis ; colic, iliac passion and obstructed
intestines.
   Independent of all these, idiosyncrasy alone will produce
alarming  effects, which  may  be mistaken for  the  conse-
quences of deleterious agents.   Some individuals have  an
antipathy to a particular article of diet,  and in some instan-
ces the bare  seeing  of it, and in others the eating of it,
   * Christison, p. 92.  Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 29, p. 19.
The credit of detecting the conspiracy in this case, is  due to Mr. Thackrah
and Mr. Walker. 
POISONS.
393
produces the most  alarming  consequences.   Cheese, and
various other articles have produced such effects.  But the
most striking cases  of resemblance to the effects of poison
probably occur in those who, after being  long accustomed
to a particular species of food, for the first time use another
kind.  The town of Martigues in France, is almost altogether
inhabited by fishermen, who have lived on fish since their
infancy.  Fodere, during  the first  year of his residence
there, often  prescribed  meat soups to his sick, but in every
instance their administration was followed by violent nausea
and vomiting.  They confessed that it was the first  time
they had used any aliment prepared from meat.
  Distention of the  stomach from excessive gluttony  may
cause sudden death; and although it is  immediately owing
in many instances  to  congestive  apoplexy,  without any
rupture of vessels, yet in some it would appear to be  alto-
gether independent of this.   Thus  Wildberg mentions of a
corpulent  gentleman who died  suddenly fifteen minutes
after dinner, and as he had lived on bad terms with his wife,
a suspicion arose that he had been poisoned.  He fell asleep
immediately after dinner, but  in a  few seconds awoke in
great anguish, declared he was dying, and actually  expired
before the  physician arrived.  The  stomach, on dissection,
was found  enormously distended with various articles of
food, while  the diaphragm was pushed  high into the chest,
from  the great accumulation of contents.  There  was  no
particular congestion of the brain.* In these instances, as
in many of the  succeeding, though  the symptoms  be sus-
picious, the appearances on dissection  will distinguish the
cause.
  Rupture of the stomach generally arises from over  disten-
tion with efforts to vomit; or there may  be  some  chronic
disease which, when a  particular exciting cause operates,
induces this dreadful termination.  In a case at Paris related
by Lallemand, the coats of the body of the stomach were
healthy, but the pylorus was  indurated.  Rupture of the
* Christison, p. 100. 
394
POISONS.
duodenum is referred to at page 55 of this volume.*   Death
followed in a few  hours  after violent  pain, vomiting, cold
extremities and failing  pulse.  On dissection, the  mucous
coat of the  duodenum was found much inflamed, and four
inches  and  a half from the pylorus  was a lacerated hole.
Rupture of the biliary ducts, uterus, fyc. from the violence and
rapidity of their effects, may  equally imitate  the results of
irritant poisons.  A female in Scotland was supposed to be
poisoned,  in consequence of being  suddenly seized  at 2
P. M. with pain in the abdomen, vomiting and purging and
general sinking, and dying at 10.  On  inquiry, however, it
was proved that she had taken nothing since breakfast, at 8
A. M.; and also that the pain commenced at the  lower part
of the  abdomen.   A fallopian  conception   was  seen on
examination, and  from  the rupture of  this, death was pro-
duced.   Sudden death from  drinking  cold water has been
already noticed  in a previous part  of this volume.  It is
highly probable, that in  some cases where life is prolonged,
acute gastritis occurs ; and accordingly after death, marks of
inflammation will be  discovered; but  the appearances on
dissection, as well  as the phenomena  in the more common
instances,  are sufficient to set us  right as to the cause.
   Of bilious vomiting and cholera, it  must be  allowed that
many of the symptoms are identical with those of. irritant
poisons;  such  as the burning  pain  in  the  stomach and
bowels, incessant vomiting and purging, and  the irritation

   * The symptoms following ruptured bowel are  deathlike from the moment
of the injury.  They are quite unlike those of inflammation and of gangrene,
and are indeed suigeneris. The mind is clear but depressed,  as if overwhelmed
by the irreparable nature of the injury.  The countenance is pale, and the fea-
tures liny and drawn.   The pulse is not imediately affected, but soon becomes
quick, feeble and irregular in its measure, intermitting, thready, and then
no longer to be felt.  The surface chills, but remains dry;  there is a painful
sense of dryness of the mouth and  fauces, and frequent efforts to vomit.
Pain, which  commences at variable  periods, but is never long delayed, is
acute, unremitting, extending over the  whole abdominal region, which be-
comes tense,  and will not bear the slightest pressure.  This produces great
anxiety and restlessness, and frequent appeals  for relief, and next for death.
The peritoneal surface is reddened, but there is seldom any effusion of mem-
branous or massive lymph agglutinating parts ;  only small deposits in tags
 and shreds roughening the surface, although the period of survival varies from
twelve to six-and-thirty hours; the  state of the  canal perhaps determines
this variation.   (Benjamin Travers, in  Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,
 vol. 23.) 
POISONS.
395
about the throat and rectum, cramps, extinction of the voice,
smallness of the pulse, coldness of the extremities, &c.  It
is natural that this should be so, since the disease is mainly
the same in both instances.  Yet  there are  some  circum-
stances which may aid in discriminating.  In cholera, the
sense of acridity in the throat and oesophagus  does not pre-
cede the vomiting; in poisoning, it frequently does.   The
patient, also, in the latter case, often dwells on it, as the
chief source of his sufferings, while this is seldom witnessed
in  cases of cholera.  In  cholera, the  vomiting  is  never
bloody, according to Christison; at  least  it  is rare ;  while
in poisoning,  from several of the active and  more  common
agents, it  is not  unfrequent.*   As  to the rapidity  of the
effects of  each,  though  generally  speaking, the  common
cholera morbus is  far from  being as soon fatal  as  poisons,
yet there  have been cases  in this country where death has
 succeeded in  a  few hours.  The malignant cholera often
  exceeds irritant agents  in the  celerity of its fatal results ;
  but  I submit, whether its characters are  not sufficiently
  marked to distinguish it from a case of poisoning.  The appear-
  ance of the evacuations, the color and the expression of the
  countenance, and  the appearance of the body are  quite pe-
  culiar, while the secondary symptoms, being either  simple
  coma, or  typhoid fever, differ materially  from those  of irri-
  tant poisons.
    The season of the year, and the prevailing epidemics, are
  also worthy of consideration.   In some cases of poisoning,
  where the symptoms greatly resembled cholera, and where
  this was urged in explanation, it appeared  that death had
  happened during midwinter, a season when, at least with us,
  common cholera is unknown.
    Acute inflammation of the stomach is comparatively a very
  rare disease ; and although inflammations of the intestines and
  of the  peritoneum are  more common,  yet  their course is
  * Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, vol. 1, p. 381, art. Cholera, by Dr.
Brown.  See also a case of epidemic cholera mistaken for poisoning, but in
which the analysis by Orfila was decisive, in showing the absence of any
poisonous substance.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 9, p. 405.) 
396
POISONS.
usually more protracted, and their discriminating symptoms
equally marked with  those  for which they might  be mis-
taken.  So  also with other affections of the bowels  that I
have mentioned.  Melcena and hcematemesis are characterised
by the purging and vomiting of pure  or altered blood, but
beyond this, they have hardly  a  symptom in  common with
irritant poisoning.*
  Spontaneous perforation of the stomach I shall consider in
the next section.   The obscurity of its symptoms, and the
consequent  necessity of  establishing the nature of  the case
by dissection, will authorize a notice of it in that place.
  On a review of the above  diseases, it will be seen that
although some of the leading symptoms in most are similar
to those produced by poisoning, yet a careful observer may
in a short  time discover some  points of difference.  The
accumulation of these constitutes the  history of the particu-
lar disease,  and it is evidently incomplete without a proper
examination after death.
  The principal disease,  whose symptoms maybe confounded
with those of  narcotic poisoning, is apoplexy.   Among such
as are common to each, are the more or less complete  aboli-
tion of sense  and motion, and the supervention of convul-
sions.   Apoplexy has, however, some  distinctive characters,
which  are thus enumerated by Dr. Christison :   It usually
has several  premonitory  symptoms ; it attacks the old prin-
cipally, although not exclusively; its  subjects are generally
corpulent and  of full habit;  it  attacks  very soon after  a
meal, and its symptoms  begin  abruptly.  I need hardly say
how inapplicable  several of these distinctions are in cases
of poisoning.  Patients, also, cannot be roused from the
profound  sleep of  apoplexy; they may, however,  when
shaken or  loudly  called, in  instances of narcotism  from
opium, the most common of these poisons, until towards the
fatal termination.
  * In the above remarks on diseases, I have followed Christison, pp. 100 to
116. For a case of peritonitis resembling poisoning, see Medico-Chirurgical
Review, vol. 4, p. 970.  Cholera-morbus from the too free use of ices.  Seve-
ral cases of this occurred in 1826, in Paris, Lyons and Rouen, and poisoning
was suspected.  (Bulletin Des Sciences Medicales, vol. 9, p. 250.) 
POISONS.
397
   Epilepsy has also some characters in common  with the
 effects of narcotics, but  the  history of the case, its chronic
 nature, the  peculiarity of its paroxysms,  and their length,
 all serve to distinguish it.*

           2. Signs of poisons on the dead body.

   In many instances, the  medical examiner is not called until
 the stage now about to be considered.  The illness may have
 been sudden and rapid; it may have been difficult to procure
 medical aid, and thus the opportunity has been lost of  com-
 paring the symptoms  with the appearances found on dissec-
 tion.   If such be the case, he should be guided solely by the
 phenomena that present themselves during  the inspection.
   I cannot  better  introduce  my remarks  on this branch of
 the subject, than by quoting  two  cases from Dr. Christison's
 Treatise on Toxicology. None better illustrate the neces-
 sity of medico-legal examination, in its most extended sense.
 The first is one that recently occurred  to Dr. Wildberg, of
 Rostock:   He was desired  to examine the body of  a girl
 who died while her father was in the act of chastising her
 for stealing, and who was believed by  all the by-standers,
 and by the father himself, to  have died of the beating.   Ac-
 cordingly he found the marks of many stripes on the  arms,
 shoulders and back; and under  some of  the  marks,  blood
 was extravasated in considerable quantity.   But these inju-
 ries, though  severe,  did not appear to him adequate to
 account for death.  He  therefore proceeded  to examine the
 cavities; and on opening the  stomach, he found it very much
 inflamed, and lined with  a white powder, which proved on
 analysis to be arsenic.  It turned  out, that on the theft being
 detected, the girl  had  taken arsenic  for fear of her father's
 anger; that she vomited during  the  flogging, and died in
 slight convulsions.

  * Christison, pp. 578 to 589
cJe7rf d^thlf n*0,?^?111  the "I"*6 °f the kidneys>in a11 medico-legal
ChStLonand^-lL  -,G °f COmav   Fr0m the "searches of Drs. Bright,
S^^la?Sn1Ste?!S? *SJ Simple ap°plexy is often connected &*
me granular disintegration of the kidneys.   (Christison, 3d ed. p. 615.) 
398
POISONS.
  Pyl  is the  reporter of the  second case.  A woman was
found with a wound in the  left side of the breast, but the
hsemorrhage, which never had been  great, was  soon sup-
pressed.  Notwithstanding, she  died  in a few hours.  On
dissection, it was found that the wound had  penetrated the
pericardium, but did not reach the heart; and although the
fifth intercostal artery had  been divided, hardly any blood
was effused into the cavity of  the chest.   Coupling this fact
with the trifling hsemorrhage during life, and the presence of
vomiting and  convulsions  immediately before  death,  Pyl
became satisfied that  she had not died of the wound;  and
accordingly, the marks of corrosion in the mouth and throat,
and of irritation in the stomach, with the  subsequent disco-
very of the remains of some  nitric acid in a glass in her
room, proved that she had died of poison.*
  In addition to the rules already laid down in a previous
chapter, it  is  proper to observe, that  the  whole  of the
alimentary  canal, from the mouth downward, must be par-
ticularly examined; and  after opening  the  abdomen, the
liver should be raised, so as to view its concave surface, the
gall-bladder, and a  portion of the stomach.  The spleen,
pancreas, and .mesentery, should also be noticed.  Ligatures
are then to be applied to the different portions of the  ali-
mentary tube, in the manner  directed at  page 10 of this
volume, and the parts included within them removed from
the body.    This precaution is absolutely necessary to pre-
vent the loss of any fluids contained in the alimentary canal.
  After being thus removed, it should be opened throughout
its  whole extent, and  the fluids and solids contained in it
should be collected in  proper  vessels.  The whole internal
surface  must then be  washed with distilled water, which
must likewise be preserved.  The lesions  observed should
be  noted,  and all  the  inflamed  or  gangrenous  portions
detached with a scalpel.  If there be any  perforations, the
parts round the holes should be  taken out, and the solid
portions preserved in alcohol.  And it is highly important,
* Christison, pp. 53, 54. 
POISONS.
399
in this case, previously to absorb with a sponge all the fluid
contained in the abdomen, and afterwards to deposite it in
proper receptacles for future analysis.*
  This  examination  should  be  made  in the presence of a
magistrate, and every fact should be recorded by a secretary
in the order of its notice.
  The next subject of inquiry is, the class of poisons which
the appearances on dissection seem to indicate.  The irri-
tant poisons generally  produce inflammation  of the first
passages, and occasionally  constrictions  of the intestinal
canal, perforations or preternatural softness of the interior
coats.   Gangrene  and  sphacelus  are also  enumerated as
consequences, but they are certainly rare.
  The inflammation   varies  as  to extent  and  intensity.
Sometimes it  affects the mouth, oesophagus, and  more par-
ticularly the stomach, and extends to the duodenum, while
in others it reaches through  the whole space of the digestive
tube.  Again, the membranes are sometimes of a clear red
color, without any trace of ulceration; sometimes of a cherry
red, with longitudinal  or transverse  patches of a blackish
color, formed by extravasated blood  between  the  coats.
Ulcerations are observed  in various  parts, but particularly
near the pylorus.
  The effects  of narcotic poisons are far from being marked,
or even peculiar.  It is a common, but mistaken, idea, that
they induce a rapid tendency to putrefaction; that the coun-
tenance is  red, swollen or  livid; that  the extremities are
flexible; that  the  blood is  in a fluid state, and  effused in
various parts, and that the stomach and intestines are touched
with  sphacelus without any inflammation.  Some of these
may, and do, occasionally occur, but they are far from being
invariable in their appearance.  Orfila  denies  the  correct-
ness of several from his  own experiments.  He has  fre-
quently observed that putrefaction was  not advanced more
than  usual  at twenty-four,  or  even thirty-six hours  after
death; that the limbs were as stiff as in those who had been
• Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 72 ; vol. 2, p. 519. 
400
POISONS.
 poisoned by substances of another class, and that the blood
 was coagulated a short time after death.   On dissection, no
 traces of inflammation were found by him in the digestive
 canal of animals killed by narcotics, and he attributes such
 appearances to the subsequent administration of substances
 capable of producing inflammation.   The  lungs,  however,
 present almost constantly  livid and even black spots, and
 their texture is more dense and less crepitating.   The brain
 also often exhibits distention of its veins.*
   Dr. Christison observes, that the morbid appearances left
 by them  on  the dead body, are commonly  insignificant.
 Sometimes, however, the veins of the brain are much gorged
 with blood, and the ventricles  and  membranes  contain
 serosity.   The blood appears to be sometimes altered in its
 nature, but these changes are by no means invariable, and
 are sometimes not remarked at all."f
   As to the narcotico-acrid, it may be remarked, that there
 are some which are capable of exciting severe inflammation,
 accompanied  occasionally with ulceration, while  others do
 not  inflame.  The  lungs, blood, brain  and other  organs,
 present, in general, the same alterations as are induced by
 the narcotics.
   The reader must not, however, suppose that the lesions
 now  described  are the invariable results of the  respective
 kinds of poison; on the contrary, a great variety in this
 respect has been noticed.  Thus, Marc, in a case of poison-
 ing by arsenic, found the membranes of the stomach thickened,
 instead of eroded.%  And what is still more extraordinary,
there have been cases where the  exhibition of acrid and
 corrosive  poisons has left  no marks of disease in  the  sto-
mach or intestinal canal.  Morgagni, Wepfer and Brunner,
mention instances of this  nature;  and  Sauvages  speaks
of a  person who died suddenly  after  a violent  epileptic fit,
from swallowing fifteen berries  of the sumach.   Ten were
ejected by vomiting, and the  remaining  five were found in
the stomach after death. Notwithstanding this, the  stomach
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 171, 522,     f Christison, p. 578.
  X Marc, p. 66. 
POISONS.
401
exhibited no marks of lesion, nor was any other part of the
body diseased.  Etmuller mentions the following remarkable
occurrence :   A young girl  having taken arsenic, vomited
considerably during the night, and on the morning was found
dead.   The skin was of a livid blue  color, but no  appear-
ances  of disease could be found on dissection.  'There was
no inflammation or gangrene present, yet in the stomach a
white powder was observed, which, on being thrown on the
coals, gave  out a thick  smoke with an arsenical  odour.
Powders containing a similar substance  were found in the
house, part of which was given to a dog, with fatal effects,
and  on dissection the stomach was found  extensively in-
flamed.  It  is conjectured by the reporter, that the  poison
having been  taken on a full stomach, may have prevented
its usual chemical action.*
   It has been supposed, in explanation of these anomalies,
that such poisons as .are given in the form of powder, will
more readily cause destructive effects on the stomach, than
those which  are soluble.   We are, however, not in posses-
sion  of  sufficient facts to explain satisfactorily  the great
variety that  is occasionally observed; and experiments, so
far as they have proceeded,  do  not  permit us to assign that
as the general cause.f
   I will  here suggest as a possible, much more than a pro-
bable  occurrence, that  the  use of an innocent substance
during life, may cause appearances of a suspicious  nature
on dissection.  The following case  from Fodere, will tend
to illustrate  this remark:  A person at Chalons sur Marne,
was  just recovering from a  severe sickness, and during his
convalescence, took a gentle laxative, after the operation of
which he suddenly died.   He  was supposed to have been
poisoned through the  negligence of the apothecary, and  to
ascertain this, the  body was  opened.  The stomach and
oesophagus were found red,  and in some places livid, and
resembling gangrene.   Here the investigation stopped, and
• FoderS, vol. 4, pp. 272, 273.     t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 521.
 vol. n.                   26 
402
POISONSv
 the  patient was looked  upon  as  evidently poisoned.  M.
 Varnier, a physician at Chalons, knowing the exactness and
 prudence of the apothecary, felt,  however,  strong doubts
 concerning the cause of death, and  on reflection, determined
 that the convalescence  had been only an insidious respite.
 But it was necessary to assign a reason for the color of the
 oesophagus and stomach, and having learnt that the deceased
 had  been in the habitual use of a strong infusion of red
 poppies  {coquelicots,)  for  some  time, the  idea struck him
 that this might be the cause.  To ascertain the fact, he gave
 a  similar infusion  to  a dog, and on dissection, found that
 the organs  above  mentioned were precisely  of  the  same
 color as on the body of the person supposed to be poisoned.
 So deep indeed was it, that it resisted  repeated ablutions.*
   The inference from this  example  is  manifest—not to
 depend too much on  a single  phenomenon, in considering
 the question of poisoning, while at the same time it  illus-
 trates  the necessity of inquiring into the person's food and
 medicaments.
   In the general remarks  on poisons, it was  mentioned that
 they might be introduced  into the system by means of injec-
 tion, and  I  repeat  it  at this time, for the purpose of enfor-
 cing the direction of  examining the whole intestinal  canal
from the mouth to the rectum.  If  the noxious substance be
thrown up in this manner, it will of course be in vain to look
 always for  its indications in the stomach or smaller intes-
 tines.
   The wife of a receiver-general of taxes in the department
 of Arreige, was attacked  some years  since (in 1807) with  a
slignt illness, which rapidly terminated in a severe and fatal
one.  On dissection, the intestines were found in a state of
high inflammation.   A servant girl was arrested on suspi-
cion, and it  appeared that she had mixed twenty-four grains
of tartar emetic in the tisan or drink of her mistress, and
 afterwards had boiled  an ounce of arsenic with the liquid
prepared for an injection.  Previous to her execution, she
* Fodere, vol. 4, p. 282. 
POISONS.
403
confessed, that  not finding  the tartar emetic sufficiently
active, she administered the arsenic*
  But there  is a more difficult case,  somewhat connected
with this  point, which deserves the most deliberate investi-
gation.  It is the atrocious villany of introducing a poison-
ous  substance after  death,  with  a view of accusing  an
innocent  person of the crime.   Such an act is said to have
been  committed in Sweden, and it will readily occur, that if
a corrosive substance be injected, it may produce a change
sufficiently marked to lead the uninformed observer  to the
supposition that murder has been perpetrated.
  So  important a subject  has  not escaped the investigation
of Orfila.  He instituted experiments with  corrosive sub-
stances on the dead bodies of  men and dogs, and the result
has   established  certain  definite  and fixed  characters.!
Several  dogs were hung, and a short time after death a
quantity  of corrosive sublimate, in the form of powder, and
in  small fragments, was introduced  into the  rectum.   On
 examination, the mucous coat of the intestine near the anus,
 exhibited several  folds of a clear  rose color, but immedi-
 ately above them, the rectum was of its natural  color, so
 that  there was  a line of  demarcation perfectly  established
 between the parts to which the sublimate had been applied, and
those which had not been in contact with it.  The same experi-
ment performed on a living dog, presented on dissection, an
intense  redness,  which  extended  eight inches,  gradually
diminishing in intensity, and left no distinct line of demarca-
tion.  Similar effects were produced  with arsenic.   Verdi-
gris, however, left no trace of demarcation or ulceration on
the  rectum of the dead dog,  while it  corroded  the living
parts.  The sulphuric and nitric acids produced no other
effect than their chemical one, and the lesions  that indicate
reaction  in the system, such as inflammation and  redness,
were  absent.  Dr. Tartra found that he could produce on

  • Foler6, vol. 4, p. 266.
  t He did not deem  it  necessary to experiment with the narcotics or
narcotico-acrid, as the former do not  produce any local lesion after death,
and the latter only cause a slight degree of it. 
404                     poisons.
 the dead, as well as on the  living, that yellow or orange
 color, which  is the  characteristic of nitric acid.  The  sto-
 mach was rendered  rotten  by it, but in all his experiments
 on the dead, the striking distinction was wanting, viz: the
 presence of more or less inflammation.   It could only com-
 mence on the living body.  Lastly, Orfila ascertained, that
 when these  poisons were  introduced  into the alimentary
 canal, twenty-four hours after death, they no longer excited
 redness  or inflammation, because life is entirely destroyed
 in the capillary vessels.  It is only when they are applied
 an hour or two  after death, that the inflammatory phenome-
 na, accompanied with the line of demarcation, are capable of
 occurring.*
   As to  slow poisons, in the sense already applied to that
 name, we may remark, that their  peculiarities  are  very
 difficult to be distinguished.  Fodere enumerates a long list
 of  appearances, such  as  obstruction  of  the  lymphatics,
 emptiness of the blood-vessels, a contraction and shrivelling
 of  the viscera and  marasmus,!  but later and more minute
 observers contradict these.|
  Prince Charles of Augustenburg, Crown Prince of Sweden,
 and the predecessor of Bernadotte in that station,  fell dead
 from  his horse  on the  22d of May, 1810, while reviewing
 troops in Scania.  His  death during that stormy  period of
 public affairs, excited great attention, and an opinion soon
 spread abroad that he had been poisoned.  The king ordered
 a judicial investigation, and it appeared that Dr. Rossi, the
 physician of the late  prince, had, without  any directions,
proceeded to inspect the body twenty-four hours after death;
that he had performed this  operation with great negligence,
omitting many things which the law prescribed, which the
assisting physicians  proposed, and which were essential to
render it satisfactory;  and finally,  that the  coats of  the
stomach, instead of being preserved and submitted to che-
mical analysis, were, according to his  own  acknowledg-
ment, thrown away.   The royal tribunal adjudged him to
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 535 to 547. Fodere, vol. 4, p.  285.
  t Fodere, vol. 4, p. 268.          X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p.  477. 
POISONS.
405
 be deprived of his appointment, and to be banished from the
 kingdom.  This decision would not, of course, diminish the
 suspicion already excited ; and among other physicians who
 were consulted on the case, M. Lodin, professor of medicine
 at Lynkoping, presented two memoirs, in which  he  stated
 it as his opinion that a slow poison  of a vegetable nature,
 and  probably analogous to the aqua  tofana,  had been  ad-
 ministered to  the prince,  and  that  this  had  caused  the
 apoplectic fit.   His  reasons were, 1.  That the prince had
 always enjoyed good health previous to his arrival in Swe-
 den, and indeed had not been ill, until  after eating a cold
 pie at an inn in Illaby.   He was shortly after seized with
 violent vomiting, while the rest of the company experienced
 no ill effects.   2.  The prince was naturally very temperate.
 3. Ever since his arrival in Sweden, he  had  experienced a
 loss  of appetite, with colic and diarrhoea; and 4.  That on
 dissection, the spleen was found of a black color, and in a
 state of decomposition, and the  liver indurated and  dark-
 colored, whilst' during life he had experienced no symptoms
 corresponding to these appearances.   Dr.  Lodin confessed,
 however, that he was unacquainted  with the  effects that
 indicate the administration of such slow poison, but thought
 that the previous symptoms were such as might be expected
 from it.
   For the credit of the profession, this conjectural opinion
 met with decided  reprobation from other medical men.  It
 appeared that  the prince  had, for several days  previous,
 been subject to giddiness and  pain in the head, and that all
 the symptoms were  readily referrable to  a simple case of
 apoplexy;  that on the day  of his death, he had not taken
 anything after he breakfasted; and an interval of nearly four
 hours  elapsed  after that, till he fell from his  horse.   The
 appearances on dissection also showed marks  of long ante-
 cedent disease.*
   In the conclusion of the last section, several diseases were
 mentioned  that might be mistaken for the effects of poison.

  * Koderc'', vol. 3,  p. 20; vol. 4, p. 236.  Christison, p. 46.  Edinburgh
Annual Register, vol. 3, p. 345. 
406                      poisons.
I shall now indicate certain circumstances  which, if not
properly  understood, may  lead  to  error, in examining the
dead body :
  1. The  vascularity or redness of the human stomach  after
death, from natural causes, should  not be confounded with
the effects of poisoning.  We are  indebted to  Dr. Yelloly
for  first calling the attention of physicians to this appear-
ance, and  also to the difficulty of discriminating it from the
effects of  irritation.   This distinguished physician examined
the stomachs  of twenty individuals, among which number
were five  criminals who were hanged, and in whom there-
fore the appearances of health were likely to be found. Not
one of the whole number had any affection of the stomach
while living.   In all he observed a highly vascular state of
the villous coat of the stomach in particular parts  (as about
the pylorus and cardia), with but two exceptions ;  in one of
these, no  vascularity was observed, and  in the other it was
obscure.   In the five executed criminals, the vascularity
amounted to a  red or crimson hue.  These appearances were
distinct for a short time only after death, being most marked
on the first day, and soon after, but at irregular periods, be-
coming more  obscure.  Dr. Yelloly infers, from these dis-
sections,  " that in  the villous coat  of the stomach, appear-
ances of  vascular fullness,  whether florid or dark-colored,
in distinct vessels or in  extravasations of different sizes, are
not to be  regarded  as  unequivocal marks of disease:  they
occur  in  every  variety  of  degree and  character,  under
every circumstance of previous  indisposition, and  in situa-
tions where the most healthy aspect of an organ might be
fairly inferred; they are found in every part of the  stomach,
but principally in the posterior part of the great end, and in
the lesser curvature ; and they cover spaces of various  ex-
tent,  but  are  generally  well defined, and terminate  ab-
ruptly."*

  *  See Dr. Yelloly's paper " On  the vascular appearance in the human
stomach, which is frequently mistaken for inflammation of that organ," in
the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 4, p. 371; also, Edinburgh Med.
and Surg. Journal, vol. 10, p. 236. Dr. Yelloly deems the vascularity in
question entirely venous, though its color is sometimes florid, and sometimes 
FOISONS.                       407
   MM. Rigot and Trousseau, and M. Billard, have pursued
 the investigation of this subject to a greater extent.  The
 former have proved by experiment, that various  kinds of
 pseudo-morbid  redness  may be  formed,  which cannot  be
 distinguished from the parallel varieties  caused by inflam-
 mation ; that these appearances are produced after  death,
 and not until three, five, or eight hours after it; that  they
 are to be found chiefly in the most depending  parts  of the
 stomach, and turns of  the  intestines ;  and  that after  they
 have  been  formed, they may be made to  shift their  place,
 and appear where the membrane was previously healthy,  by
 simply altering the position of the gut.  M.  Billard has de-
 scribed this redness through all its varied forms, and  cor-
 roborates the fact of the extreme difficulty of distinguishing
 between the morbid and pseudo-morbid redness of the inner
 coat of the alimentary canal.*
   " That there may be no  deception (says Professor Cars-
 well)  with regard to the degree of the red color, and vascu-
 larity of parts after death, it is also of great importance that
 they be examined [immediately after they are  exposed  to
 view, as under the influence  of the air,  those which  are
 almost  pale, become reddened, or if slightly red, become
 much  redder in the course of a very few hours.  From this
 cause, membranes in which  few or no  blood-vessels  are  at
 first observed by the naked eye,  become vascular,  and ve-
 nous,  and  mechanical  congestion  assumes the  appearance
 of inflammation."!
 of a dark red, and that it depends on a power capable of being exercised on
 the artery itself at the close of life, which carries on the blood to the veins,
 after the further supply of fresh blood from the heart is stopped.  The stella-
 ted form of vessels,  under which the vascularity  usually appears,  may be
 imitated by injection of the veins, or by forcing back with the finger the
 blood from the larger branches of veins into the smaller. In a communication
 to the same society (Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 20, p.  1), Dr.
 Yelloly  reaffirms his opinions, and extends them to the  appearances observed
 in the spinal marrow.  He asserts that many of these changes are owing to
 the loss of vitality, and that  the vascularity in question is entirely venous.
 To prove inflammation, there must have been symptoms of it during life.
  *  Christison, p. 119.  See also the references at p. 17, of this volume; also
a copious analysis of Billard on the healthy state of the alimentary mucous
membrane, in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 28, p. 164. Dr. Hodg-
kin on the effects of acrid poisons, in Report of the fifth meeting of the British
Association, p. 211.
  t Fasciculus, 12.  Inflammation.  Professor Carswell also remarks that
the redness by imbibition  or transudation is a mere dye, almost scarlet red, 
408
POISONS.
   In connexion with this, it is proper to caution the exami-

ner not to mistake the discoloration that is produced on the

the coats of the  stomach and intestines, after  some time,

from the proximity of the liver or spleen.  This may be of a

reddish,  brownish, yellowish or greenish tint.   Let the case

also be remembered, which  I have just  quoted, of colored

fluids actually dying these parts.

   Dr. Christison  is  disposed to  consider  an  appearance

mentioned under the head of irritant  poisons, as  always the

result of irritation, if not the  irritation from  poison only.

" It is the effusion  under the villous coat  of the stomach,

and incorporation with its  substance of dark  brownish, or

as ft were, charred blood ; which  is  thus altered either by

the  chemical action of the  poison, or by  a  vital  process."

Great care should  hence be used in  searching for  this, and

it should not be confounded with the phenomena of redness

now explained.  So also we should particularly notice whe-

ther any effusion of  coagulable lymph be present.  This is

also a sign of inflammation. *



and generally limited to the lining membrane, without any perceptible change
of the coats of the vessels.  It can be removed by ablution or pressure.  The
redness from inflammation on the other hand,  is of a dull,  rather pink tint,
extending more or less to the other coats, accompanied with a  fine capillary
injection of the subjacent cellular tissue, and a disorder of the other subjacent
parts.
  * In connexion with the notice of the above phenomenon, the following re-
marks on the healthy appearance of the internal surface of the stomach may
be found of use:  " Very various ate the accounts given by different authors
who have written upon this subject, of the natural and healthy color of the
mucous membrane. It has been  described as being white, grayish white,
grayish, reddish, grayish approaching to yellow and red, straw colored, &c.
Billard, in whose opinion, Dr. Hodgkin is inclined to place most confidence,
states it to be a dead milky white.  According to Buisson and Bichat, the
color is of a  deep red, and Sabatier and Habicot describe it as of a reddish
purple and deep purple.  Gavard, Boyer, Soemmering, Chaussier, and Ade-
lon make it of variable shades between red and gray. Rousseau, who derived
his opinion from the  examination of the bodies  of criminals dying by the
hands of the executioner,  (by the guillotine,  we presume,) states that the
color of the gastro-intestinal canal is white, or  white faintly tinged with red.
Dr. Yelloly states, that in  various opportunities which he had of examining
the human stomach soon  after  death, in such parts of  it  as were free from
vascularity,  it had usually a light straw colored tinge, but gives it as his
opinion, that from the analogy of the mucous covering of the mouth and fau-
ces, and of the urethra, it is probable that when  circulation is going on in
the stomach, its inner surface is of a pale red hue, arising from vessels so mi-
nute as to give an uniform  color, without any  appearance  of distinct vascu-
larity. We are ourselves rather disposed to agree with M. Hippolyte Cloquet,
who describes the usual appearance of the membrane as being of a reddish 
POISONS.
409
  2.  Ulcers or  perforations of the  stomach  and  intestines,
occurring after death, or as the result of disease, have been
mistaken for  the effects of irritant  poisons.  In the  com-
mencement of our knowledge respecting them, that pheno-
menon,  which  is now  styled, a  gelatinizing  of the coats,
particularly attracted  attention.    It  has been  otherwise
called digestion  of the stomach after death.   Its nature was
first developed  by the illustrious  John Hunter.   He  found
repeatedly on dissection, that the great end  of the stomach
was digested, and holes made in it.  "To  be sensible of
this effect," says he,  " nothing  more is necessary, than to
compare the  inner surface of the great end of the stomach
with any other part of the inner surface—what is sound* will
appear  soft,  spongy  and granulated,  and without  distinct
blood-vessels, opaque and thick; while the other will appear
thin, smooth, and more transparent, and the  vessels will be
seen ramifying  in its  substance, and upon squeezing the
blood which  they contain, from the larger branches into the
smaller, it will be found to pass out at the digested ends of
the vessels, and appear like drops on the  inner surface."
Again, he  observes, " that when  the stomach is  actually
perforated, the  edges of this opening appear to be half dis-
solved, very  much  like to that  kind  of dissolution  which
fleshy parts undergo when half dissolved in a living stomach,
or  when dissolved  by  a  caustic  alkali, viz. pulpy, tender,
and ragged."  Lastly, he  remarks, that he  found  these
appearances more frequent in those  who had died a violent
death.  He relates  two cases of this  kind, in  which the
persons had died shortly after having their skulls fractured,
and a third one where a man had been hung.

white and mottled, (comme marbree,) but we must observe that this diversi-
ty of opinion as to a fact so evident to the senses, could only have arisen from
the varying appearances of the membrane presented to the several observers
under different circumstances of disease, or from the effects of certain physi-
cal  agents acting during the last moments of life.  The manner of death
would .appear to exert considerable influence; the presence of aliment recently
taken into the stomach causes  a decided red tinge throughout the membrane ;
extremes of cold  and heat, according to Beaupre, are also productive of a
like effect in the  mucous membranes generally, and the stomach has been
observed to take a decided tinge from various medicines administered shortly
before death." (British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 11, p. 412.) 
410
POISONS.
   The cause of this appearance of the stomach, is supposed
by Mr. Hunter to be the action of the gastric juice on the
coats of the stomach.  And the reason why this effect is not
produced  during life,  is, according to  him, the constant
resistance of  the  vital principle  to its  action.  He also
observes, that  the power of the gastric juice is not confined
to the stomach alone, since he  has often noticed, that after
it has dissolved the stomach in its usual place, the contents
of the stomach would come in  contact with the spleen and
diaphragm, and  partly  dissolve the adjacent side  of the
spleen and diaphragm, so  that the contents of the stomach
were found in the cavity of the thorax, and had even affected
the lungs in a small degree.*
   Dr. Baillie's description of this phenomenon, is as follows:
" In looking upon the coats of the stomach at its great end,
a small portion of them frequently  appears  to be thinner,
more transparent, and feels somewhat -more  pulpy than is
usual;  but these  appearances are  seldom very  strongly
marked.  They  arise from the action of the gastric juice
resting on that part of the stomach in greater quantity than
any where else, and dissolving a small portion of its coats.
This is, therefore, not to be considered as a consequence  of
a disease, but as a natural effect arising from the action of
the gastric juice,  and the  state of the stomach after death.
When the gastric juice  has been in  considerable quantity,
and of an active nature, the  stomach has been dissolved
quite through its substance at the great end, and its contents
have been effused into  the  general  cavity of the abdomen.
In  such cases, the neighboring viscera are also partially
dissolved.  The instances, however, of so powerful a solu-
tion are rare, and have almost only occurred in  persons who,
while in good health,  had died  suddenly from accident."!
  We shall, however, be mistaken, if we suppose that this
occurrence is  confined to such  as expire suddenly, and in
apparent health.   Cases in great number have accumulated,

  * Hunter, in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 62.
  f Baillie's Morbid Anatomy, American edition, p. 75. 
POISONS.
411
of its being found in persons dying from diseases ; and many
French pathologists, indeed, are of opinion, that it is always
a morbid process, constituting a peculiar complaint.   It has,
however,  been  found present  in persons dead  from very
opposite ones, and in which there did  not exist during life,
a single sign of disorder in the  stomach.
   Perforations of the stomach, intestines, and sometimes the
gullet,* have also frequently been noticed as the result of
ulceration or schirrus.   In some melancholy instances, rup-
ture takes place, and the sufferings of the patient previous to
death, are of the most severe nature.!
   The application of this subject in legal medicine, is  the
distinction between the perforation induced  by corrosive
poisons  and  those which, as we have stated, are  the result
of other agents.   The following are the views of Chaussier:
   " The causes  which produce  erosions  and perforations of
the stomach, are of  two  kinds ;  first, the destruction of a
schirrous tumour, the progress of a cancerous ulcer ;  second,
a  morbid  action  of erosion, of ulceration which has com-
menced spontaneously at  some point of the mucous lining
of the stomach.  The  perforations of the first kind are  not
rare, but cannot easily be confounded with those which are
the result of a  caustic  poison.   Those of the second kind
may be divided  into acute and chronic;  the  first sometimes
occurring in a very short space of time.   The following are
the  characters given  by  M. Chaussier:   ' The ulcerations

  *  Mr. T. W. King  relates several cases of digestive solution of the oesopha-
gus, owing, in his opinion, to the agency of the gastric juice, which may have
been regurgicated about the period of the cessation of life. In some of these,
the stomach was not digested.  (Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 7, p. 139 ; ibid.
N. S.,vol. l,p. 113.
  In the latter communication, Mr. King remarks " that considering the ex-
treme activity of the gastric juice, as manifested in its actions on the stomach
and oesophagus, and also on adjacent viscera in the abdomen and chest, and
then remembering that the like peculiar effects are never found in  the right
half of the stomach, we have almost indisputable evidence that the solvent
is not produced but by the left end of the organ."
  t  Rupture of the  stomach may however occur, independent of ulceration,
or any very marked  disease. M. Lefevre mentions several instances  in which
aliments of any indigestible nature, seem to have been the occasional causes
of the symptoms that precede the rupture. It is scarcely possible to conceive
of more acute anguish than is experienced by those who die from this cause.
(British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 6, p. 221.) 
412                     poisons.
vary in size, shape and place ;  they occur particularly at
the basis of the stomach, and the parts corresponding to the
spleen and diaphragm.  The contents of the organ are then
sometimes effused into the  abdomen  or the  thorax if the
diaphragm be perforated, but most commonly there is  no
effusion, from  the adhesion of the parts  to  those  in the
vicinity.  If the  adhesions  be broken, a viscous, unctuous
liquor, not foetid, flows out; it  has sometimes  the odor of
musk, is always brownish, and mixed with blackish flocculi,
as though fine charcoal was added to a mucous serum.  The
edges are soft, fringed sometimes with a blackish line, more
or less marked.   Elsewhere the  stomach retains its ordinary
shape and consistence ;  it presents no appearance of  thick-
ening or inflammation;  the  capillaries of its mucous mem-
brane appear, however, more developed, particularly in the
vicinity of the  perforation; this last sometimes forms in a
few hours in people  in health; most frequently after some
days illness, and when no cause  of external violence or poi-
son can be suspected.'   When the perforation is the result
of a caustic, irritating poispn,  its  edges  are of the same
thickness as the  organ; sometimes they  are hard and cal-
lous ; in the spontaneous perforation the edges are thin, and
formed  only by  the  peritoneal membrane, the  two other
coats of the stomach being more extensively destroyed than
the serous one.   In this case, too,  the opening is not  so
irregular as in that which results from the  action of a  corro-
sive substance.  The circumference of perforations caused
by nitric acid  is  yellow, from  the chemical  action of this
substance.  In  the case of strong sulphuric acid, it is black.
Almost always when the perforation is the effect of poison, the
parts not perforated are more or less inflamed, while traces of
the same affection are found in the mouth,  the pharynx, and
the intestinal canal; on the other hand, for the most part in
the case of spontaneous perforation, the unperforated parts pre-
sent no appearance of  inflammation.  This  last character is
not, however, constant; for,  as on the one hand, perfora-
tions from poison are  sometimes, though rarely,  unattended
by inflammation of the  unperforated parts of  the intestinal 
POISONS.
413
canal,  so on  the  other, spontaneous perforations may be
observed  in which there is inflammation of the stomach and
intestines."*
  Dr. Christison makes the following observations:   " Pass-
ing now to the differences between these gelatinized perfo-
rations, and the perforations caused by the corrosive poisons,
it may in the first instance, be observed, that the margin of
a corroded aperture is commonly of a peculiar color; for
example, yellow with nitric acid, brown with sulphuric acid
and  the alkalies,  orange with iodine.  But a much better,
probably an infallible criterion, and one of universal appli-
cation, is the following :  Either the person dies very soon
after the poison is introduced, in which case vital action may
not be excited in  the stomach, or he lives  long enough for
the ordinary consequences of violent irritation to ensue.   In
the former case, as a  large quantity of poison  must have
been taken, and much vomiting cannot have occurred, part
of the  poison will be  found  in the stomach; in the latter
case, the poison may have been all  ejected, but in conse-
quence of the  longer  duration of life, deep vascularity or
black  extravasation must be  produced round the hole, and
sometimes too in other parts of the stomach, and these will
at once distinguish the appearance from a spontaneous aper-
ture.  There is no doubt that the stomach may be perforated
by the  strong corrosives, and yet hardly any of the poison
be found in  the stomach  after death.  Thus, in a case by
Mertzdorff, of poisoning by  sulphuric acid, where life was
prolonged  for  twelve  hours,  he  could detect  by minute
analysis only 4-| grains of the acid in the contents and tissue
of the stomach.  But then the  hole was surrounded by signs
of vital reaction,  and so was the spleen upon which the
aperture opened.  Judging from what I have often seen in
animals killed with oxalic acid, which is the  most rapidly
fatal of all the corrosives, so that little time is allowed for

  • Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 3, p. 258.
The opinion of Christison, (2d ed.) that perforation may be caused by worms,
is doubted by the Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Science, vol. 1,
page 64. 
414                     poisons.
vital action, I should think that no poison  can dissolve the
stomach  without unequivocal signs of violent irritation of
the undissolved parts of the villous coat, which must secure
an attentive observer from the mistake of confounding with
such appearances the effects of spontaneous erosion.  Spon-
taneous erosion is very generally united with unusual white-
ness of the stomach, and there is never any material vascu-
larity."*
  Mr.  Alfred S. Taylor has  subsequently reviewed this
subject in an elaborate essay " on perforations of the sto-
mach, from poisoning and disease."  I subjoin a brief outline
of his  remarks, recommending at the same time, a perusal
of his  observations and cases :
   There  are  four  cases in legal medicine, he  remarks,
wherein a  knowledge  of  this subject may be required.
1. A person may have died  from perforations of the stomach
through disease, and not from poison.  2.  A person labour-
ing under the disease  may  be the subject  of poison.  3. A
person labouring under the  disease may have received blows
or injuries on the abdomen, and then it will be necessary to
state whether the  perforation did or did not result from the
violence  used.  4. Perforations  of the stomach from post
mortem  changes  may  be  mistaken  for  perforation from
poison.
   Perforation from poison  may originate  from corrosion or
by leading to ulceration.   Of the  corrosive poisons, such as
the mineral acids,  alkalies, corrosive sublimate, &c, their
action is chemical and takes place immediately  on contact.
Their  effects are well  marked,  particularly those of the
acids,  as we shall hereafter show.  Corrosive sublimate has
very rarely induced perforation, but should it, great vascu-
larity  of the stomach  and oesophagus would undoubtedly
accompany it.   As to the perforation from  ulceration pro-
duced by irritant poisons, as arsenic for example, this also
is a very rare  occurrence, and  if it  does  happen, would
undoubtedly also affect the fauces and oesophagus.  When
* Christison, p. 128. 
POISONS.
415
it is recollected  that  in  most  cases, we can also have the
aid of the history of previous  symptoms  and  the results of
chemical analysis, Mr. Taylor asserts that perforation from
poisoning is not likely to  be mistaken for  the effect of
disease.
  Perforation of the stomach from simple or schirrous ulcera-
tion  is  often  a  most  insiduous  disease.    Without  any
remarkable previous symptoms, individuals will be suddenly
seized with most excruciating  pain and die, in a majority of
cases, within twenty four hours ; vomiting is  then a common
attendant, but diarrhoea,  so universal  a symptom in poison-
ing, is wanting.   Indeed the bowels are usually obstinately
costive.   On dissection  the appearances are well  marked.
An oval or rounded aperture, with smooth,  soft and fleshy-
looking  edges is seen, and this he observes is almost  con-
stantly situated in or  near the  lesser curvature, between the
cardia and pylorus.   Peritonitis is  found  to be the  sole
cause of death, whereas in arsenical poisoning, the appear-
ances extend  to the  intestines, in correspondence with the
symptoms.  It  is  even  questionable whether  perforation
from the  effects of  arsenic could be induced within  the
usual limit of these fatal cases.
  On perforation by  solution (or digestion  of the  coats of
the  stomach after death)  it is not necessary  to  repeat his
remarks, farther than to  mention that he considers it a  very
rare occurrence, and that he conceives the fluid in question
not to be the healthy  gastric juice, but some altered state of
that liquid.*

  * Guy's  Hospital Reports, vol. 4, pp. 8-62.
  The medical literature of this subject is so extensive, that I must content
myself with a selection from the numerous authorities.  Amongst others,
the following are worthy of careful study:
  Laisne.  Considerations Medico-legales sur les Erosions et Perforations
Bpontane'es de l'Estomac.
  Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1, p. 311; vol. 2, p. 331.
Dr. Gairdner on Erosions of the Alimentary Canal.
  Allan Burns on, Digestion of the stomach after Death.  (Edinburgh Med.
and Surg.  Journal, vol. 6, p. 132.)
  Cyclopaedia of Practical  Medicine, articles Perforation of Viscera and
Softening of Organs, by Dr. Carswell; also the fifth fasciculus of the same
author's Illustrations of the Elementary forms of Disease, London, 1834;
and  his papers in  volume 34, of the Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical
Journal. 
416
POISONS.
   Although  the intestines and gullet  have been found  per-
forated from natural causes, it is not  probable that this can
happen from  corrosive  poisons.   Indeed  Dr. Christison
states,  that he has not met with a single  case  of either, in
  Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, art. Organic Diseases of the Stomach,
by Dr. Houghton.
  Cruveilhier's  Anatomie  Pathologique,  Nos.  4 and 10, Ramollissement
gilatiniforme and his remarks on simple ulcer of the stomach, in British and
Foreign Med. Review, vol. 7, p. 241.
  Langston Parker on the Stomach in its morbid states. (Reprinted in Dung-
lison's American Med. Library.)
  Orfila's Exhumations Juridiques, vol. 2, p. 216.
  Dr. Abercrombie on Ulceration of the Stomach, in Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 21; and in his work on diseases of the Stomach.
  Analysis of Andral's Clinique Medicale, in  Edinburgh Med.  and Surg.
Journal, vol. 23, p. 161; and also his Pathological Anatomy.
  Copland's Dictionary, art. Lesions of the Digestive Canal.
  Dictionnaire des  Sciences  Medicales,  art  Perforation,  by  Percy  and
Laurent.
  Cooke's  Morgagni, vol. 2, p. 26.
  Imlach on Softening, Erosion and  Perforation of the Stomach. (Edin. Med.
and Surg. Journal, vol. 47, p. 391.)
  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 6, p. 173, Louis on Softening.  Ibid. vol.
31, p. 213  ; vol. 33, p. 641, Parker on Ulceration of the Stomach.  Vol. 38, p.
217, Winter on Gastromalacia.   Ibid. p. 235, Rotikanski of Vienna.   British
and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 2, p. 551, Droste on Softening.  Vol. 13, p. 516,
Dahlerup's Dissertation. New Orleans Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 2, p. 154,
Carpenter on Perforation of  the Stomach.  Archives Generales, August and
September, 1842, Dr. Lefevre's Memoir.
  Dr. Ebermayer, on Perforation.  (American Journal of Medical Sciences,
vol. 3, p. 452; vol. 4, p. 215.)
  Broussais' Physiology.
  Of cases, I will only refer to the following:
  Dr. Haviland.  Annals  of Physiology, N. S. vol. 4, p. 292.   Mr. Want.
Eclectic Repertory, vol. 5, p.  495.  Dr. Pascalis.  New York Medical Re-
pository, vol. 18, p. 287.  Dr. Cheeseman.  American Medical Recorder, vol.
4, p. 151.  Dr. Segalas. Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery,
vol. 2, p.  328.  Dr. Peter.  Ibid. vol. 5, p. 297.  Dr.  J. B. Beck, New York
Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 2, p. 455.  Dr.  A.  L. Pierson. New Eng-
land Journal, vol.  15, p. 134.  Dr. Rawson, in American Journal of  Medical
Sciences, vol. 6, p. 391. See also Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 19,
pp. 483, 652; vol. 26. pp. 290, 451; vol. 36, p. 445; vol. 44, p. 257.   Medico-
Chirurgical  Review,  vol. 8,  p. 516; vol. 10, pp. 240, 494; vol.  13,  p. 464;
vol. 14, p. 334; vol. 15, p. 530; vol. 23, p. 333.   American Journal  of Med.
Sciences, vol. 7, p. 522.  Dr. Me'Cormac, in Lancet, N. S. vol. 9, p. 475.  Dr.
Elliotson,  London Medical Gazette, vol. 9, p. 379; vol. 12, p. 513.   Dr. Drake,
in Western Journal of Medical  and Physical Sciences, vol. 7, p. 508.   Mr.
Crisp in Lancet, N. S. vol. 32, p. 639.   The author  gives an analysis of the
symptoms in some fifty recorded cases.
  One of  the earliest cases  related of sudden  death  from ulceration of the
stomach, is given by Dr. James Carmichael Smyth in Medical Communica-
tions, vol. 2, p. 467.
  Of rupture of  the stomach consequent on ulceration, &c, cases are given
by Dr. Crampton and Mr. Travers, Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 8,
p. 228;  by Dr. Elliotson, Ibid. vol. 13, p. 26;  by Mr. Weeks, vol.  14, p. 447  ;
by Dr. Crampton, Transactions of the King's and Queen's College of Physi-
cians in Ireland, vol. 1, p. 1.   Dr. Steinbeck, British and Foreign  Medical
Review, vol.  9, p. 268.   Mr. Travers, Medico-Chirurg.  Transactions,  vol.
23, p. 8. 
POISONS.
417
the course of his reading.  As it respects the intestines, the

poison will be either expelled in sufficient quantity from the

stomach by vomiting, to prevent it, or the pylorus contracts

and prevents the passage of every poison that is sufficiently

concentrated to corrode.   In the  gullet  the  poison  cannot

remain a sufficient time to complete this alteration.   It must

either pass to the stomach  or be rejected.*

   I shall  conclude this chapter with a few general remarks

on the chemical examination, and the mode of treatment,  in

cases of poisoning.

   Chemical examination.  I have already given directions  as

to the preservation of the stomach and intestines, and their

contents,  and the  mode of  pursuing experiments, for the

purpose of detecting noxious  substances.   Under each in-

dividual poison, the most certain tests, so far as  they are

known, will be mentioned.  And I will add, that it is  in

these directions that modern medical jurisprudence so much

exceeds ancient forms.  Nothing  can be   stronger  proof,

nothing will convict  the criminal  in  a more  satisfactory

manner, than the  discovery  of  the poison in the body of the


   * I find the following recent notice of  the present subject by  an able
anatomist:
   "It is affirmed that one and an essential object of the vital principle, so
called, is to give to the animal body a certain resistance against the operation
of destructive chemical action.  But much of this does not appear to be well
founded.  In the case of the stomach, for example, it is known that during
life, it resists the solvent powers of the gastric juice; but, as we learned first
from Hunter, after death, if it happens that the organ contains food, the left
end is frequently found dissolved.  The most obvious explanation of this phe-
nomenon  would be, that some vital power defends the stomach during life,
against the chemical solvent.   But when carefully investigated, it  is found
that the solution takes place so rapidly as  to affect the stomach, whilst it is
still so far alive, that its muscular coat would, respond to the galvanic stimu-
lus ; and, moreover, that even living animals, earthworms, and leeches, in-
troduced  into the stomach, enclosed within perforated spheres,  so that they
were guarded from muscular compression, are dissolved by the gastric juice.
These considerations point, then, to another explanation, and in  place of
elucidating that one among the many marvels of animal existence, the defence
of an organised tissue against an agent expressly provided in the economy to
act upon such substances, by any particular vital property, we should rather
seek for the reason in chemical action resisting chemical action ; or in other
words, it may be assumed that whatever degree of protection is required, is
furnished by the defensive mucus of the organ.  This  protection  is only
necessary where there is food in the stomach, for at other times, the elements
of the gastrice juice are enclosed within the different orders of epithelium
cells." (Mr. Grainger's Ilunterian Oration, London Medical Gazette, June
30, 1848.)
vol. ii.                      27 
418
POISONS.
deceased, and the subsequent detection of it by chemical
tests.
  In a number of cases the search may be unsuccessful, but
we  must not, therefore, conclude that poison has not been
the  cause of death.   It may have been all  discharged by
vomiting and purging.  Murder is frequently attempted by
administering large doses of poison, and in some individuals,
these produce  copious  vomitings, which indeed is often
assisted by  the  deceased drinking copiously.   Hence  the
chance of finding the poison is diminished, as it  may have
been rejected.  Again, it may have all been absorbed.  This
has repeatedly occurred in cases where opium or laudanum
has been known with certainty to  have been  taken, and yet
no  traces of it  could be found.   Some  poisons also  are
decomposed.  We shall  see this is the case with  corrosive
sublimate, lunar caustic, &c.
  In all these cases, however, there is an additional investi-
gation  to  be  pursued,  which may  prove satisfactory.
Although the poison is not present in a fluid or solid state
in the contents of the stomach, yet it may exist in the tis-
sues themselves, and hence, in  repeated  instances of late
years, it has been detected by boiling down the stomach and
intestines and experimenting on the fluids thus obtained.
  How far putrefaction or decay of  the body, renders  the
detection of poison impossible,  has been satisfactorily
answered by the experiments of Orfila and Lesueur. They
placed the  following poisons,  sulphuric and nitric acids,
arsenic,  corrosive sublimate,  tartar emetic,  sugar of lead,
protomuriate of tin, blue vitriol, verdigris,  lunar caustic,
muriate of gold, acetate of morphia, muriate  of brucia, ace-
tate of strychnia^ hydrocyanic acid, opium and cantharides,
in the dead body, and allowed them to remain for some time.
  They found  that  the  acids became  neutralized by  the
ammonia  disengaged during the decay of animal matter;
that by the action of the animal matter, the salts of mercury,
antimony, copper, tin, gold, silver, and likewise the salts of
the vegetable alkaloids, undergo chemical  decomposition, in
consequence of which  the bases become less  soluble in 
POISONS.
419
 water, or altogether  insoluble ; that acids may be detected
 after several years' interment, not always however in the
 free state; that the  bases of the decomposed  metallic salts
 may also be found  after interment for several years;  that
 arsenic, opium  and  cantharides, undergo little change after
 a long interval of time, and  are  scarcely more  difficult to
 discover  in  decayed than in  recent animal mixtures; but
 that hydrocyanic acid disappears very soon, so as to be
 undistinguishable in the course of a few days.*
   General outline of treatment in cases of poisoning.   On this
 subject, I must necessarily be  brief;  yet  a few directions
 for the recovery  of persons laboring under  this grievous
 infliction, can scarcely be here misplaced.
   The great object, in all cases where it is practicable, is to
 administer antidotes ; and  of these,  the chemical  are  the
 most striking and satisfactory in their operation.   We are
 altogether indebted  to  modern  observers,  and to Orfila in
 particular, for most of these.  Thus the virtues of albumen
 as an  antidote for corrosive sublimate  and  verdigris—of
 bark for tartar emetic—of the alkaline sulphates for sugar
 of lead—of  the alkaline and earthy chlorides for  liver of
 sulphur—have been pointed out.  All of these either decom-
 pose the poison, or change it to  a less dangerous substance.
   For some of the divisions of poisons, however, such anti-
 dotes  are  not to be  found; and  the  grand indication,  as
 indeed  in all cases, is to remove the poison as soon as pos-
 sible, by exciting the action of the stomach  to discharge
 them, or by the application of mechanical means.  For the
 former, emetics  are the most efficient;  and among the latter
 may be named,  the  stomach-pump.  In other  places I will
 speak  of its  history, and mention instances  in  which it has
 been found useful.   At present I will only  add, that unfor-
 tunately it is not always applicable.  The poison sometimes
 acts too rapidly, and on other occasions, is too destructive
 to parts, to permit its use.  Still it is often valuable ; but it
  * Christison, p. 58.  Orfila's Exhumations Juridiques, vol. 2, p. 265.  A
detailed account of these experiments is given in the Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 31, p. 224, and American Journal of Medical Sciences,
vol. 3, p. 226. 
420
POISONS.
requires caution and experience, so that additional injury be
not inflicted through its employment.
  Dr. Watson in a clinical  lecture on the use and  abuse of
the stomach-pump, advises  it, if the patient be insensible or
refuse to swallow—while he discourages  its application, if
the individual  can swallow or is able to vomit.   There is
sometimes danger from the  delay, during its  use,  of the
exhibition of antidotes.   Nor must we conceal  that serious
injury has sometimes  been inflicted by  its employment in
the hands of the unskilful.  Chalk  and mustard have been
found in the lungs of persons operated on, and  Dr. Roupell
shows in one of his plates, extensive  injury to the mucous
membrane of the stomach through  its use.*
  In cases  of external poisoning, Sir David  Barry has of
late years revived the application of cupping glasses to the
part where the  poison has been introduced, and in several
cases it has proved useful.   It prevents  the absorption of
the poison,  and may, by abstracting blood from the wound,
also withdraw the poison.!
   Another mode, proposed for the  same object, is the  appli-
cation of a ligature between the injured part and the trunk,
so  as to check the circulation.  Bouillaud has shown the
efficacy of this  in  several experiments, while Verniere has
combined venesection with  it.   The veins  between the
wound  and ligature are opened, and the  blood which has
passed through or near the poisoned part, is thus discharged.!
  * Dr. Watson in London Med. Gazette, vol. 17, p. 412.  Ibid. p. 463.  Lon-
don Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 10, p. 736.
  t On this subject, and Sir David  Barry's Experiments in particular, see
London Medical Repository, vol. 25,  p. 176.  Edinburgh Med. and  Surg.
Jour., vol. 25, p. 462 ; vol. 27, p. 200.
  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 9, p. 313.
  Dr. Pennock's Experiments on the modus operandi of cupping glasses, in
arresting and preventing the effects of poisoned wounds, in  American  Jour.
of Med. Sciences, vol. 2, p. 9.   Dr. Pennock inclines in favor of increased
pressure as the cause of their efficacy.
  Dr.  Rodrigues' Experiments  on ditto., Amer. Jour, of Med. Sciences vol.
2, page 307.
  { Bouillaud, Edinburgh Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 28, p. 227.
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 10, p.  232.  Bulletin des Sciences Medicales,
vol. 11, p. 118.  Verniere, Journal des Progres, vol. 3, p. 121.  Edinburgh
Med. and  Surg. Journal, vol. 29, p. 450. Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol.
14, p. 248. 
POISONS.
421
                               NOTE.

  A curious paper, on the Statistics of Poisoning in France, has been published
in the Journal de  Chimie Medicate, by Chevallier and  Boys de  Loury.
The following is a brief abstract of it:
  In seven years, (from 1824 to 1832,)  273 individuals have been accused ol
poisoning; of these, 171 were acquitted, and 102 condemned.  The substances
employed, were, in 93 cases, as follows :
      54 cases, arsenic,                   1 case tartar emetic,
       7   "   verdigris,                  1  "  opium,
       5   "   cantharides,                1  "  acetate  of lead,
       5   "   corrosive sublimate,         1  "  white lead,
       4   "   nux vomica,                1  "  sulphuric acid,
       3   "   fly-powder,                1  "  sulphate of  zinc,
       2   "   nitric acid,                 1  "  mercurial ointment,
       1   "   sulphuret of arsenic,        5  "  unknown.
  Of 81 cases, the poison was given in 34 instances in soup ; 8  in milk; 7 in
flour; 7 in wine; 8 in bread; 5 in pastry ; 4 in chocolate; 4 in medicine; 2
in coffee;  2 in an unmixed state.   (London Med. Gaz., vol.  16, p. 114.  Lan-
cet, N. S., vol. 16, p. 33.)
  According  to the return of the*coroners of England and Wales, of all in-
quisitions held by them, during 1837 and 1838, in which death, by verdict of
jury, was found to have been caused by poison, there were  of
  Arsenic,................... 184    Prussic acid,..............   27
  Opium and its preparations,. 186     Corrosive sublimate,........   12
  Oxalic acid,................   19     All others,.................   80
  Nux vomica,...............    3                                 —
  Sulphuric acid,.............   32        Total,................   543
             —Of this number, there were females,.....  261
                                         males,......  282

                                                       543
                                 (London Med. Gazette,  vol.  25, p. 284.)
   My brother, Dr. John B. Beck, has given in the Transactions of the New
 York State Medical Society, vol. 6, p.  66, the fatal cases from poisoning, that
 occurred  in  the city of New York, during 1841-42-43, taken from the
 records of the coroner :
  There were 46 males and 37 females—total, 83 ;  suicides, 50 ; by mistake
or through ignorance, 28 ; unknown, 5.
        Poisoned by arsenic,............................... 13
                    opium and its various preparations,......  51
                    corrosive sublimate,....................    3
             "       tartar emetic,.........................   1
                    sulphuric acid,........................    2
                    tincture of sanguinaria,................    4
                    ardent spirits, or gin,..................    2
                    alcohol and laudanum,..................    2
                    strychnine,............................    1
                    prussic acid,...........................    1
                    phosphorus,...........................    1
                    carbonate of potash,....................    1
                    colchicum,.............................    1
See also Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 24, p. 282.
83 
4 
CHAPTER XVII.
                       IRRITANT  POISONS.


 Division  of irritant poisons into six orders.  1. The acids, and their bases.
   Sulphuric acid—its effects on man—appearances  on dissection—chemical
   proofs—whether the last should be deemed indispensable for conviction—
   medico-legal cases—treatment. Nitric acid—effects—Tartra's arrangement
   of them—appearances  on dissection—tests—antidotes.   Muriatic acid—
   cases of poisoning.  Acetic acid—cases of poisoning with it.  Oxalic acid—
   symptoms — appearances on dissection—tests—antidotes—binoxalate  of
   potash—rhubarb plant.  Phosphorus—effects—appearances on dissection
   —phosphorous acid—Lucifer matches.  Iodine—effects—tests—treatment;
   hydriodate of potash—effects—tests.  Bromine—hydrobromate of potash
   —tests. 2.  The  alkalies, and their salts. Potash; subcarbonate of
   potash—effects—appearances on dissection—antidote; nitrate of potash—
   effects—treatment; supertartrate of potash;  sulphate  of potash ?  Soda.
   Ammonia, liquid  and gaseous—hydrochlorate  of ammonia.  Quicklime—
   oxymuriateof lime.  Chlorides of soda and potash.  Hydrogenated sulphu-
   ret of  potash (liver of sulphur)—poisonous effects—antidote.  Sulphuret
   of soda.


   Irritant  poisons  are divided  by Dr. Christison into five

 orders or groups, as  follows :  The acids, and their bases ;

 the alkalies, and  their salts; the metallic compounds; the

 vegetable and  animal irritants ;  and the mechanical irritants.

 To these I will add  the acrid gases.

   In pursuing this  arrangement, we shall consider, under

 the first order, the following substances :

   Sulphuric acid, nitric acid, muriatic acid, acetic acid, oxalic

 acid, binoxalate  of potash,  phosphorus, iodine,  hydriodate

 of potash, bromine, hydrobromate of potash.

   And under the second order, *

   Potash, subcarbonate of  potash,  nitrate of  potash,  soda,

 ammonia, muriate of ammonia, quicklime, oxymuriate  of

 lime, chloride  of soda, liver of sulphur, sulphuret of soda.


                         I. The Acids.

   Sulphuric acid,  (oil  of  vitriol.)  That  this substance

should sometimes be the cause of death, may readily be con- 
424
irritant poisons.
jectured;  but  it requires  some acquaintance  with human

folly and wickedness, to believe that it could be thought of

as the instrument of suicide, and even of murder.   Such is,

however, too certainly the fact.*

   The following are some  cases illustrative of its effects:

   Joseph  Parangue, a  soldier,  about  the  end of January,

1798, between  seven and  eight in the  morning, swallowed


  * In 1808, a female was tried and convicted at Edinburgh, for the murder
of her natural child, aged eighteen months, by pouring sulphuric acid down
its throat.  (Edinburgh Annual Register, vol. 1, part 2, p. 4.)
  In 1819, another at Exeter, (England) also for poisoning her child. (Gor-<
don Smith on Medical Evidence, p. 218.)
  In 1817, a female was tried in this  State, for poisoning an illegitimate
child.
  In 1824, Richard  Overfield was condemned and executed at Shrewsbury,
(England) for the murder of his infant child three months old.  (Edinburgh
Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 22, p.  122.)
  In 1828, a man was convicted at Strasburg, for attempting  to poison his
wife.  (Ibid. vol. 34, p. 213.)
  In 1830, a Mrs. Humphrey, at  Aberdeen, was convicted and executed, for
murdering her husband.  A full account of the  trial is given by Dr. Christi-
son, in ibid. vol. 35, p. 298.
  In  1831, a stepfather at Manchester, for the murder of his child.   Case
related by Dr. Sinclair, ibid. vol. 36, p.  99.
  Its fatal wilful administration is thus  not only a capital offence by the laws
of all civilized countries, but its external application, so as to do some serious
injury, is, by a special statute in Scotland, made punishable by death.   This
enactment originated in  the quarrels between master  and workmen in Glas-
gow, regarding the rate of wages ; and  the crime became so frequent, as to
render  a law necessary.  The clause is as follows;  " If any person shall
wilfully, maliciously, and unlawfully, throw at, or otherwise apply to any of
his majesty's subjects, any sulphuric acid or other corrosive substance, cal-
culated by external application to burn  or injure the human frame, with in-
tent in so doing, or by means  thereof, to murder,  maim, or disfigure or
disable such subject, or with intent to do some other grievous bodily harm,"
and if such intent is accomplished,  the person  convicted shall suffer death.
Of course, throwing the acid so as to  injure  or destroy the dress merely,
would not be capital.  Under this act, a female (Macmillan) was convicted in
1828.  I shall notice this case hereafter.
  In England also, by a recent enactment (July 17, 1837) " sending explosive
substances, or throwing destructive matter, with intent to burn, maim, dis-
figure or disable any person, or to do some other grievous injury, and where-
by in any of the cases aforesaid, any person shall be burnt, maimed, disfigur-
ed or disabled, or  receive some  other  grievous bodily harm," is declared
felony.  The deficiency in the former law is thus supplied.  In  1835, a female
through malice, threw in her master's face, a quantity of strong sulphuric
acid, which produced serious disfigurement.  She was tried  on the capital
charge for attempting to maim, disfigure, &c, but as  the  Statute (9 George
4, chap. 31)  already quoted, restricted this disfiguring to stabbing, maiming
or wounding, it became a  question, whether sulphuric acid was capable of
producing a wound, within the meaning  of the Statute. The Judges decided
in the negative.  She was therefore acquitted of the felony and only punish-
ed for a misdemeanor.  (British and Foreign Med. Rev. vol. 3, p. 535.  Rex
v. Morrow,  Moody's Crown Cases Reserved, vol. 1, p.  456.)
  In France, as I have already stated,(vol. 2, p. 214) the throwing of a corro-
sive substance, so  as to maim or disfigure, without affecting life, would be
deemed a wound, and punished accordingly. 
IRRITANT poisons.
425
by  mistake, a glass  of sulphuric acid, imagining  it to be
brandy.  He drank it off at once, with his head back, and
poured  it from a distance into his mouth.  By this  means
he did not discover  his mistake until  he drew his breath.
He was instantly conveyed  to the  hospital,  and Dr. Des-
granges being at hand, immediately saw  him.  Excessive
vomiting, convulsive agitation of the  muscles of the face,
violent cramp in the  stomach, and an acrid burning heat in
the throat and (Esophagus were present.   The body was icy
cold ; the pulse was  small,  concentrated and irregular, and
the  breathing difficult.  The carbonate of magnesia  sus-
pended in water, was administered with considerable relief;
and although vomiting returned once, yet by the continuance
of this remedy, the anxiety and  pain diminished, the pulse
rose, and  a genial heat was diffused over the body.  The
antiphlogistic regimen and diluents were subsequently re-
quired to remove the consequences of this potation.  The
whole of the mouth and throat was found, on the subsequent
day, excoriated and covered with eschars ;  the epiglottis
swelled ;  and on the fourth day, a slough from the uvula
almost threatened suffocation.  This gradually came away,
and he finally  recovered, but a painful sensibility  of the
throat and stomach remained for a length of time, especially
when he ate hastily,  or used food that was indigestible.*
  A female swallowed some for the purpose of destroying
herself,  and in four hours  thereafter was brought  to the
Hotel Dieu.  Pain, coldness of the skin, constipation -and
inquietude  were present, with copious and repeated vomit-
ings of a deep blue-colored and glairy fluid.   Proper reme-
dies were given, but the symptoms increased in severity.
On the second day, the face appeared greatly deranged, the
cold on the surface  increased, the  pulse became insensible
in the wrists and carotids ;  the breath was extremely foetid ;
a few drops of very high-colored urine escaped from time to
time, and the disquietude and agitation were extreme.  She
could not  bear any kind of covering, and the region of the
* Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 315.  Fodere, vol. 4, p. 96. 
426
irritant poisons.
stomach was  exquisitely  sensible  to the slightest touch.
On the fourth  day, she was incapable of resting a single in-
stant  in the same position, and  rose up,  for the  purpose of
going to  a cold  place.   Death finally relieved her on the
fifth day,  and  she preserved her reason to the last.*
   In one  instance quoted  from Tulpius, a miliary eruption
appeared  over the whole  body, in addition  to  the ordinary
symptoms.
   Its  effects on an infant are illustrated by an instance that
occured to Dr. Bateman :f   A mother, by mistake, adminis-
tered about a  teaspoonful to her child, aged  two and a half
years.  This was at half-past four P.M.   She immediately
excited vomiting by putting her finger in  the child's throat,
and  the  matter  brought  up resembled coffee-grounds.  It
seemed to suffer little pain,  except when vomiting, which
occasioned  crying,  and it  died easily,  and almost unper-
ceived, at nine the same evening.!
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1. p. 322, quoted from Tartra.
  t It is very important to remember, that if the poison be given with a
spoon, or be swallowed from a phial, the mouth may escape the action of the
acid.—Taylor.
  } Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 10, p. 257.  In addition to
the above, I will refer to such cases as I have noted.
  London Medical Repository, vol.  14,  p. 160.  Two cases, from a German
Journal, one of suicide, and the other accidental. The former died in a few
hours ;  the latter survived two months.
  Chapman's Journal, vol. 8, p. 21S.   A chronic case, which ended in a stric-
ture of the oesophagus.   After two years' suffering, the patient died of hunger.
This is quoted from the Bulletin de la Societi Medicate DEmulation.
  London Medical Repository, vol. 27, p. 550.   Death in fifteen days.   Case
by Dr. Lebidois.   Archives Generales.
  Littel's Journal of Foreign Medicine, vol. 1, p. 313, by Dr. Robert.   Death
in sixty-eight days.  This is also a French case.
  London Medical Gazette, vol. 11, p. 813, by Dupuytren. Died in seven hours.
  Ibid. vol. 14, p. 30, by Louis, at Hospital de la Pitie—survived two months.
  Ibid. vol. 17, p. 339, fatal in 17 days  from inflammation of the gullet and
stomach ; case by Dr. Clendenning.   Ibid, vol, 22, p. 76 ;. by Dr. John Wil-
son.  The patient survived forty-five weeks, having at the end of six months,
thrown up with violent  coughing, a cylindrical tube, eight or nine inches in
length.  On dissection, the upper third of the oesophagus shone like an old
cicatrix ; the lower two-thirds were thickened, narrowed and very vascular,
There was a perforation of the stomach with softened edges. Vol. 29, p. 147;
by J. B. Thomson.  Edinburgh Med. and Surg.  Journal, vol. 36, p. 99, cases
by Dr. Sinclair, one fatal in 55 hours, and the other, a child nearly five years
old in four and a half hours.  Ibid. vol. 53, p. 401, by Mr. Watson.  Ibid. vol.
53, p. 406, by Dr. Craigie. The patient, an adult, died in less than four hours.
Dr. Craigie  enumerates a large number of cases  recorded in various periodi-
cals, &c.
  Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 1, p.  340, by Mr. Hebb—died
in a few hours. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
427
  These cases (particularly the first and second,) give a full
view of the symptoms  ordinarly observed, and  it is there-
fore  not necessary  to  repeat them.    One   remarkable
characteristic, according  to  Mr. Pereira, is that the mental
faculties are  unaffected, even up  to a  few minutes before

death.*
  An extraordinary case of voluntary injection of sulphuric
acid into the vagina, for the purpose of inducing abortion, is
said  to have  lately happened  in  France.   The result  was
extensive inflammation and  a  complete obliteration of the
vagina.  When delivery came on,  the  csesarean  operation
was required, but both  mother and child perished.!
  Appearances on dissection.   In the case of a female, related
by  Tartra, the abdominal viscera  were for  the most  part
cedematous, and the coats of the duodenum in several points
nearly  dissolved.  The  stomach  externally  showed great
distention, was of  a dark color, and exhibited several spots
  Dr. Roupell, Illustration 5—death in 12 hours.
  British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 3, p. 539.  Case by Dr. Braun (from
Henke's Zeitschrift.) Death in twelve weeks.
  British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 714.  Case at the  London Hospital,
by Mr. Bovrenson.
  Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 4, p. 297.  Case by Alfred S. Taylor.  Death
in 25 hours.  London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal Med. Science.  Case
by Mr. Thomson.  Death ensued nine hours after taking a quantity accident-
ally.  (Vol. 2, p. 879.)
  London Medical Gazette, vol.  30, p. 352.  Case of Dr.  Scoffern.   Along
with the usual morbid appearances, the kidneys were much inflamed, and in-
dications of sulphuric acid was found in the urine.
  Cases of recovery.  Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical  Journal, vol. 26, p.
221, (from Horn's Journal.)  A female aged 19—a tetanic affection continued
for some days, and the lining  membrane of the mouth was separated and dis-
charged.  Ibid. vol. 46, p. 262, Mr. Syme mentions an instance where stric-
ture of the oesophagus was induced, after the early symptoms were removed.
The patient lived chiefly on boiled milk and the watery part of broth.  The
stricture was gradually removed by the use of bougies.
  New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 7, p. 563, by Dr. Stewart.
  London Medical Gazette, vol. 3,  p. 253, by Mr. Orr.
  Ibid. vol. 3, p. 687. Vol. 25, p. 944.   By Mr. Blyth.
  London Medical Quarterly Review, vol  4, p. 119, quoted from Dr. Rust.
  London Med. and  Surg. Journal, vol. 8, p. 284.  An adult male, who had
swallowed  four ounces.
  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 32, p. 284.  A child five weeks old, reco-
vered by the stomach pump, magnesia, soap and water; case by Dr. O'Brien.
Ibid. p. 399; case by Mr. Porter.
  Lancet, vol.  22, p. 782, by Mr. Gardner.  London and Edinburgh Monthly
Journal Med. Sciences, vol. 2, pp. 880, 951.  Case by Mr. Thomson.
  * London Medical Gazette, vol.  17, p. 817.
  t Lancet, N. S. vol. 8, p. 38. 
428
IRRITANT POISONS.
indicative of deep disorganization.  The mucous membrane
of the oesophagus was burnt, blackish and partly detached.
The stomach contained a dark and very fcetid fluid, similar
to what she had vomited, and it was much thickened in some
points,  and corroded in others.  The  internal coat was
entirely dissolved, and reduced to a state of mucus through-
out the greatest part of its  extent.  The pylorus presented
the most decided marks  of disorganization;  its coats were
black and  puffed up, and almost closed the orifice.  The
duodenum  and jejunum  were partly  destroyed  and  burnt,
and attacked with sphacelus, and the whole of the intestinal
canal partook  more  or less of the injury.
  In Dr. Bateman's case, the omentum was seen converted
into  a  black  pulpy mass, but  still  possessing sufficient
tenacity to retain the food  which had  escaped from  the
stomach.   There was also in the omentum a small  quantity
of dark-colored fluid, similar to what had been vomited.   In
the stomach there  was an erosion or  aperture about .three
inches in diameter, bordered by thickened edges of a dark
brown cinder-like appearance.   The oesophagus with the
exception of a slight purple blush, showed no marks  of dis-
ease.   There  was an appearance of  inflammation towards
the cardia, but none towards the pylorus.   The intestines
were free from inflammation, although they  were  strongly
marked with transverse corrugated rings.
  In the other cases referred to, the appearances varied with
the length  of time that the patient survived after taking the
poison.   When some months had elapsed, the stomach was
sometimes  seen extremely contracted, and its membranes
thickened.   Indeed, all the results of severe and long con-
tinued inflammation, have occurred, not  only in this part,
but in the oesophagus, throat, &c.
  I must add, however,  that corrosion of the stomach  and
solution and perforation  of its tissues does not occur very
frequently.  This has been distinctly  shown by Dr. Craigie
in his analysis of cases on record.  The  injury inflicted is,
however, always more or less serious. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
429
  Any further peculiarities that have sometimes been noticed,
will be mentioned  under the  head  of nitric acid, as  the
effects of both are in many respects similar.*
  Professor Carus relates the following remarkable circum-
stance:   A woman  at  the completion of the  full time of
utero-gestation,  poisoned herself  with concentrated  sul-
phuric acid.   She concealed the deed till the  instant of her
death, when the last efforts of nature were employed in the
expulsion  of the child.  On dissection, the acid was found
in  the  cavity of the pleura of the  fetus, in  that of the
peritoneum, in the heart,  the bladder, and even in the water
of the amnios.!
  Effects on animals.  It  would certainly seem unnecessary
to ascertain the effects of the injection of sulphuric  acid into
the veins,  since, so  far  as I can ascertain, no practical pur-
pose is to be gained by it.J  Orfila has, however, instituted
some experiments in this way.  It caused  instant death, by
 coagulating the blood.    When introduced  into  the  stomach,
 it  killed  by the inflammation and  disorganization of  that
 organ, and  when applied to  the skin, by  the burn that
 it produced, or the suppuration of  which it was  the con-
 sequence.
   The other acids (nitric, muriatic, phosphoric, fluoric3 &c.)
 acted in a similar manner.  It will therefore not be necessary
  * Dr. James Johnson at a meeting of the Westminster Medical Society, in
October, 1836, referred to a curious case in the Transactions of the London
Medical Society :  Two ounces of strong sulphuric acid had been swallowed.
After some severe symptoms the patient rallied and apparently recovered, but
a few days afterwards, during a severe fit of coughing, he brought up a quan-
tity of the acid in its pure state, which produced a fatal inflammation of the
trachea, the acid having been a fortnight in the stomach.  After death, it was
ascertained, that this acid had been surrounded by a cyst formed by secretions
from the stomach, and which burst during coughing.
  Mr. Ure said that some experiments which he had  lately made, seemed to
corroborate this case.  Sulphuric, nitric and other acids being dropped into
albumen, a cyst formed around the globules of acid and kept them pure for a
long time.  (Lancet, N. S. vol. 19, p.  196.)
  t  Bulletin Des  Sciences Medicales, vol. 13, p. 72.
  Additional cases illustrating the appearances found  on dissection, are given
in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 56, p. 536, from Dr. Houston's Ca-
talogue of preparations in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of
Ireland.
  X  And particularly as  Fracassiti performed the same experiments, with
similar results, one hundred and fifty years ago.  (See Philosophical Trans-
actions, vol. 2, p. 490.) 
430
IRRITANT POISONS.
 to notice this head again, unless there is" something peculiar
 to be mentioned.
   Chemical proofs.   If there are any instances of poisoning,
 in which  the appearances found on dissection, are to be
 deemed of greater weight that the chemical proofs, it is the
 case of poisoning by the mineral  acids.   Their effects are
 so striking  and so  little liable to  be mistaken for natural
 appearances, that a doubt can  hardly arise.*  The necessity
 of relying on these is increased by  the difficulty of satisfac-
 torily detecting the presence of the acid in all cases.  I shall
 mention the tests recommended by  Professor Christison and
 others, and  then state  some  medico-legal cases that have
 occurred in  England and France.
   When concentrated, its  peculiar appearance, its  corrosive
 power, its action on litmus, the heat induced by the addition
 of water and above all, the production of fumes of sulphurous
 acid by boiling it with  wood,  copper-filings  or  mercury,
 serve to distinguish it.
   When diluted, add pure nitric acid  and  subsequently  a
 solution of the  nitrate of barytes.   A heavy white insoluble
 precipitate,  consisting of sulphate of barytes,  falls down.
 This may be collected, filtered and dried, and then mixed
 with a  little charcoal  powder and exposed  to heat in  a
 platinum spoon.   Sulphuret of barium  is thus  formed.  If
 we add  water to this, and afterwards a  little muriatic acid,
 and  then  present over the mixture a bit  of  white paper,
 moistened with acetate or nitrate of lead, the sulphuretted
 hydrogen from  the  decomposed.sulphuret, will blacken the
 paper.
  When mixed  with animal or vegetable matter.  If it be
required to  analyze the  stains on  clothes,  we  should first
ascertain whether  any sourness be  present.  This is found

  * "Thus," says Dr. Christison, " what fallacy can intervene to render the
following opinion doubtful?  There were vesicles and brown  streaks on the
lips,  neck and shoulders, similar to the effects of burning, almost total sepa-
ration of the lining  membrane of the mouth, throat, epiglottis, and gullet;
perforation of the stomach, with a margin half an inch wide, which was ex-
tensively charred and surrounded  by a  red  areola.   From these appearances
alone, Mertzdorff declared that the child must have been poisoned by sul-
phuric acid."  (Christison, p. 164.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
431
to continue for a length of time after the acid has been ap-

plied.   Then cut out the stained spots, boil them in distilled

water, test the acidity of the fluid by litmus, and afterwards

apply nitric acid and  nitrate of barytes as above  directed.

If there are indications of sulphuric acid, the next question

is, whether this is free or combined  with a base in the form

of a neutral salt.

   In  analyzing the  contents of the stomach, many sources of

fallacy arise from the  combination of the acid with its con-

tents, or  with portions of the  animal membrane.   It is

known that free acids, as the  muriatic  and acetic, exist in

the  stomach, and the difficulty  of discrimination is  thus

greatly  increased.   Instead, therefore, of quoting in detail

the process of Dr. Christison,  for ascertaining  whether the

acid is combined with a base,  or  in other words, whether a

sulphate has been the  cause,  I  will content  myself  with

referring to  his work, and will only recommend, that if the

appearances on dissection, in  combination  with the tests of

the presence of sulphuric acid, in  some one or other form,

in the  stomach, do  not  suffice to indicate  poisoning by it,

 not to  rely on additional  experiments.   I am justified in

this advice, I  apprehend, from the  observations  of  Christi-

son, Devergie and Orfila.*


   * Christison, p.  143.  Devergie in  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2. p. 213.
Orfila in ibid. vol. 10, p. 126.  Lancet, N.  S. vol. 7, p. 132.
  A practical illustration of the difficulties thus occurring, is given by Dr.
R. D. Thomson (Report of the  British Association, 1840; appendix, p. 84).
The case occurred before the Central Criminal Court in London :
  A woman in a fit of rage, threw a quantity of oil of vitriol at the face of a
cab master, and before he could wash off the acid,  two minutes had expired;
the consequence was loss of vision in the  eye.  But  besides having the eye
injured, his hat was also discolored. This was sent to Dr.  Thomson, to de-
termine the nature of the agent used.  The result was, that this hat, as well
as an uninjured one, contained sulphuric acid, as tested by nitrate of barytes
and a solution of the soluble matter of both  states of this article of dress,
afforded an acid reaction.   It was therefore necessary to adopt some method
which would  afford a discriminatory test between the free and combined acid;
the usual mode, viz.: by  boiling with  carbonate of lead, and concluding if
any insoluble sulphate of lead was formed, that the acid existed in a free state,
was found to  be totally fallacious, because corbonate of lead, contrary to the
opinion stated in works  of medical jurisprudence, decomposes sulphate of
soda. _  Besides, it was shown that many  of the so called neutral sulphates
exhibit, in reality, an acid reaction upon test paper, as in the instances gene-
rally of sulphates of potash, iron, soda, barytes, and also in the cases of
alum, &c, and hence the  excess of acid attached to these salts, would be apt
to act as free  acfd upon the barytes test.  The author, therefore, concludes, 
432
IRRITANT POISONS.
  What testimony  has been considered sufficient  for  con-
viction, will be seen by a review of some trials :   In Over-
field's case, the child, three  months old, was in perfect
health at 8, A. M.; between 11 and 12 o'clock, the mother
was heard to scream, and a witness  on entering the house,
found the infant in great agony.  It was immediately taken
to the surgeon.  The lips were white and shrivelled, and
had  small blisters  on them.  The child's  clothes, made  of
dyed cotton, had some red spots on  them, and  the surgeon
on applying his lips to these, found an extremely acid taste.
It died at 3,  P. M.   The  inside of the mouth and gullet
were blistered and their inner lining corroded.  So also the
great curvature of the stomach, which resembled wet brown
paper.  A pint of bloody fluid was obtained, and which was
found to contain sulphuric acid.  Overfield was a workman
in a carpet manufactory, and had access to the factory stores
of sulphuric acid.   He was convicted and executed.*
  Mrs. Macmillan, at Edinburgh, threw some  sulphuric acid
over Archibald Campbell on  the  17th of October, 1827.
The skin on the left side of the face was partially removed.
The left eyeball was injured, and both eyelids inflamed and
swollen.  The  skin of the inside of the lips was white and
swollen, as  was also the  back of the  left hand. Campbell
was brought  to the  infirmary in great pain, which was re-
lieved by proper applications.   Soon, however, the pain in
the eye extended  to the head ;  venesection, &c, proved of
little avail,  and the cornea burst.  To this followed inflam-
mation of the vein in which he had  been bled, severe fever
and  symptoms of pulmonary inflammation.  He died on the
30th.
  On dissection, there were found marks of inflammation in
the veins, lungs and pleura, with serous effusion.

that the only demonstrative proof which chemistry affords, is a quantitative
analysis.  Thus he found the entire hat  to contain .356 per cent, of sulphuric
acid, probably in the state of alum and  copperas, and the injured hat 1.379
per cent.; or in other words, the hat had received from the injury 1.023 per
cent,  of free sulphuric  acid.  Here then was  afforded clear  evidence of the
nature of the agent employed, and which could not have been conclusive, if
the matter examined had only amounted to a drop or stain.
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 322. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
433
   Mrs. Macmillan was indicted under the  recent Scotch
Statute.   A hat, stock and sleeve of a coat injured by the
acid, were examined by Drs. Christison and Turner.   Por-
tions of each, after being divided into small fragments, were
boiled with distilled water.   The filtered  fluid had an acid
taste, reddened litmus, and yielded, with acetate of barytes,
a  copious  brownish precipitate, which was rendered white
by nitric  acid.   This precipitate, when dried, was mixed
with a little charcoal and heated.   On adding muriatic acid,
sulphuretted hydrogen was emitted, which blackened a paper
dipped in acetate of lead.
   Mrs. Macmillan was convicted; but as this was the first
case under the  new  act, she was only condemned to  per-
petual banishment.*
   Mrs.  Humphrey,  a butcher's wife at  Aberdeen,  was
tried there for  murdering her husband,  by  pouring sul-
phuric acid  down his throat while  asleep.  The circum-
stantial  evidence  was very strong, that she  alone  could
have given it  to  him.  He  was in  a state of intoxication
on going to  bed; and after some  hours, the servant who
had gone  to see  him, at  the request of her mistress, found
him complaining of burning in his throat, and he said that
he awoke suddenly with  these  symptoms.   Frothing, and
difficulty  in  swallowing and speaking, followed.  On at-
tempting  to  take  some milk, it  returned curdled. When
seen by a surgeon, all the marks of the action of a corrosive
substance were present.   He continued to labor under its
effects, gradually sinking, and finally died in 47 hours from
the commencement of his illness.  On dissection, two brown-
ish marks were seen at the  corners of his mouth, and the
gums and part of the inside  of the lips were  of an almost
milky whiteness.  The back part of the tongue had lost its
investing membrane, and was of a red color, while its  fore
part was covered with a whitish brown crust.  The pharynx
had a  similar  appearance.   The membrane covering the
epiglottis was  ash-colored,  much thickened, and  in  some

 * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 31, p. 229. Syme's Justi-
ciary Reports, p. 289.                              J
  vol. ii.                   28 
434
IRRITANT  POISONS.
places detached.  The stomach  was  overspread with nu-
merous erosions and ulcerations.  It contained about  three
ounces of a thick, reddish  liquid;  but  no sulphuric acid
could  be detected in it, nor in that obtained from the intes-
tines.   But pieces of a blanket, a bed-cover, a sheet and a
shirt,  used or worn by the deceased  on the night of his ill-
ness, all  presented various stains, and corroded spots, and,
on the application of tests, exhibited marks of the presence
of sulphuric acid.   Other portions were sent to Dr. Christi-
son, who examined them  seven weeks after the man's illness
commenced, and corroborated the opinion of the  physicians
of Aberdeen.  The female was convicted, and, before execu-
tion, confessed her guilt.*
  In a French  case of an infant poisoned by oil of vitriol,
parts  of the clothes and other articles on which the acid had
fallen, were treated with water, and then  tested with hy-
drochlorate (muriate) of barytes, and they gave abundant
precipitates.   A portion  of the skin of the lower lip and of
the tongue, when washed in water, made it distinctly acid.
So  also  the  matters vomited, when treated  with distilled
water and filtered, gave a precipitate with muriate of barytes;
but neither the liquid contained in the stomach, nor portions
 of the stomach  itself, gave  any marked indications.  The
examiners (Guersent, Chevallier, Barruel and  Denis), not-
 withstanding  gave it as their  opinion that the child had
 been  poisoned by sulphuric acid.f
   In a recent  examination of the stomach of a suicide, with
 its  contents, by Devergie and Taufflieb, they experienced
 the difficulties already indicated, of establishing the presence
 of free  sulphuric acid by processes now in use; and as a

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 35, pp. 298 to 316.
  t  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 4. p. 205.  A case in which a large quantity of
 sulphuric acid was added to coffee, for the purpose of poisoning a man and
 his wife, is stated  by Barruel, in ibid. vol. 9, p. 392. He applied the test
 already recommended.
  In the case related by Mr. Taylor, the contents of the stomach,  with the
 organ itself, were digested in water, and after filtration, the liquor  obtained
 was tested, but  there was not the slightest indication of  sulphuric acid,
 either free or combined. " The poison had, therefore," says Mr. Taylor," been
 effectually removed by vomiting and purging; aided, perhaps, by the action
 of the magnesia, which had been freely exhibited." 
IRRITANT POISONS.
435
substitute, employed the iodic acid, in the following manner :
The stomach having been boiled in distilled water, was now
heated to redness  in a glass  vessel, in  order to  produce
decomposition; and to the neck of this vessel was attached
a receiver, containing a solution of ammonia.  In  order to
ascertain whether this fluid held any sulphite of ammonia, a
few drops of a solution of iodic acid,  to  which starch  had
already  been  added (and  a  drop  of  hydrochloric  acid to
neutralize the ammonia), were poured into it.   The  mixture
turned immediately of a blue color. This result  proved to
us, says the reporters, that a certain  portion of sulphuric
acid was present in the receiver, and  that the experiment
had changed the sulphite into the sulphate of  ammonia,  the
oxygen  of the iodic acid being  given off to  it,  while  the
iodine, thus  rendered free, gives its characteristic effect on
starch.  On pursuing the experiment  with various  portions
of the suspected fluid, the  compound  procured was treated
with barytes, and gave its white precipitate.   The iodate of
barytes  was decomposed by heat;  while the residue, after
 the usual manipulations,  was found to be sulphate of  ba-
 rium.*
   Treatment.  Water containing calcined magnesia in sus-
pension, must be instantly administered; or if this cannot
be  procured,  chalk and water,  or soap  and water.  The
caustic must thus be neutralized, or the patient is lost.   In
an  emergency, Dr. Christison advises, that the lime from a
white-washed  apartment be  taken, and  beat  down into a
thin paste  with water, and  thus  given.   Milk or mild
diluents, are  also proper at this  time.  Dr.  Craigie indeed
advises that milk instead of water, should  be the menstruum
for administering the magnesia, or  the alkaline carbonates.
The action of the acids  may thus be more rapidly diverted
from the stomach.

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  13,  p. 427.  If the observation  of Vogel be
confirmed that arsenic (in the form of arsenious acid)  is present in concen-
trated sulphuric acid, it may be well to test a portion in doubtful cases, with
sulphuretted hydrogen.   The precipitate, in such a case,  would be sulphur
and orpiment.  Concentrated S. A. it is added, can dissolve one-third of its
weight of arsenious acid, of which, however, the greater  part  separates on
cooling.  (.London and Edin. Phil. Magazine, vol  7, p 235 ) 
436
IRRITANT POISONS.
   The subsequent  treatment  must depend on the degree of
 inflammation present.*
   The substance commonly called indigo blue, and now much
 in use, is  usually prepared  by  adding sulphuric  acid  to
 indigo, and a portion of the acid is probably more or less  in
 a free state.  At  one of  the manufactories  in France, a
 workman, accused of a robbery, swallowed from 700 to 800
 grammes (a gramme being twenty grains) of the above liquid.
 Repeated  vomitings  ensued,  and  the  matter  thrown  up
 produced a  marked effervescence.   His mouth and clothes
 were  stained of a blue color.  On removal to the hospital,
 magnesia diffused  in milk  was copiously given, and  after a
 few days the patient was discharged, cured.!
   Nitric  acid.   We are indebted to  Dr.  Tartra of Paris,
 for an able and  comprehensive essay on this substance as a
 poison; and from  the extracts given by Orfila, and  a most
 instructive analysis contained in the Edinburgh Medical and
 Surgical Journal, I have taken the following particulars :J
   Dr. Tartra arranges the cases of poisoning by nitric acid,
 into four classes.   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  various distances  of time, from  fifteen  days to
  * M. Bouchardat of Geneva, (Annales  D'Hygiene, vol. 17, p. 362,) is of
 opinion that death may occur from taking sulphuric acid, through its direct
 action or by absorption. In the former, there will be high inflammation and
 severe suffering;  but  in the latter, these will  be wanting to a very great
 extent, the pains will not be severe, and we have  reason to augur a favorable
 termination; when a feeble pulse, cold extremities,  and  cramps suddenly
 supervene and  destroy the patient. In two instances,  he found the blood
 coagulated in the femoral artery, so as to obliterate its canal.  The heart and
 aorta in one of these were also filled with coagula.  If this theory be admit-
 ted, he suggests that instead of magnesia, we should administer the bicarbo-
 nates of soda or potash, which pass rapidly into the blood, and may check
 the formation of coagula.
  Dr. Christison, however, after referring to some instances, in which the
 blood was thus found coagulated, remarks,  that "this state of the blood is
 not the effect of the poison, but its healthy state, and a striking appearance
 in contradiction to what is observed after death from most other poisons."
  t  Encyclographie Des S. Med., vol. 6, p. 12.
  X  Orfila's Toxicology, vol.  1, pp. 329 to  360;  vol. 2, p. 560.  Edinburgh
 Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 9, p. 369.  Review of " Traiti de I'empoi-
sonnement par Pacide nitrique, par A.  E.  Tartra, medecin.  Paris, 1802."
I have subsequently obtained the work itself, but  find nothing to add. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
437
 some years.   3. When death does not take  place, but the
 recovery is imperfect.   4. When a perfect cure is sooner or
 later obtained.
   1. The following  example will give a tolerable  idea of
 the  progress  of the symptoms in the first  case :   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.  In-
 stantly he was seized with the most excruciating pains and
 agitations, 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.
 He got a  solution of soap and oil.  In  two hours  he was
 brought to the hospital; and upon the road, he frequently
 vomited and  stopped  to  drink.  On  his arrival,  he  got
 emollient  drinks,  especially linseed  tea, in great  abun-
 dance.  He was in continual agitation, and his countenance
 very much altered; he vomited every  instant  a  blackish
 glairy matter; he opened hi's mouth easily, and his tongue
 was white with a tinge of yellow; he had acute pains  in his
 mouth, along the oesophagus, and in his stomach; his  belly,
 slightly tense, could not bear  the slightest  pressure, it so
 excessively augmented  his pains.  The surface of his body
 was cold; his  pulse small, concentrated  and frequent;  he
 had hiccup, and his respiration was  laborious.  His symp-
 toms  increased;  he uttered sighs and  lamentations; his
 limbs became  icy; a cold  sweat covered his whole body;
 his pulse  was almost imperceptible, and the pain was con-
 stant.   Still he could rise, and  make continual and useless
 efforts to quench his thirst, and  satisfy his urgent desire to
 make water and go  to  stool.  He continued-^ -t,~""creaT)
 during the night.   TJie_»-**—^"^^ made a  few dr0Ps of
 and ^c  -.ire'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 swal-
lowing the  acid. 
438
IRRITANT POISONS.
  The  burning heat and  pains which are commonly the
immediate  effects  of nitric acid when swallowed, present
striking contrasts.  In general, they are not in proportion
to the quantity or strength of the acid swallowed.  Often,
persons who  have taken only a small dose, are seized with
the most excruciating and dreadful  pains; while 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 pain.  On opening the body, the highest
degree  of  disorganization  appeared :  perforation  of the
stomach, and great effusion of its contents into the abdomen.
  A woman said  she had  taken nitric acid, but she seemed
so little effected by it, that many thought  she was imposing
on them.   There was no agitation, no pain or vomiting; but
the  smallness  of the  pulse,  lassitude and  prostration of
strength, rather indicated a typhus fever.  Next day  she
died; and  on examining  the body, there was found to be
the greatest degree of disorganization that nitric acid is
capable of  producing; perforation of the stomach, gangren-
ous spots,  effusion into the abdomen, marked corrosion of
all the viscera, and general yellow color.
  But  when  the  acid, from deficient  quantity or strength,
only acts on the mucous membranes, then it does not always
prove fatal; but the pains are excessive, the colic dreadful.
In the one  case, the sensibility seems to be annihilated; in
the other, excited in the highest degree.   Here, as on many
other occasions, the pain is to a certain degree proportionate
to the severity of the affection; but after a certain point, it
   Out 01 mi,. _ t                  ..
           j    ~ in an inverse ratio.
place in nineteen.                 „ „ ^^ effectg took
   2. The second variety of the progress and terminanun v,.
poisoning  by nitric acid, exhibits at first the same pheno-
mena as the preceding;  but less alarming symptoms sue- 
'   IRRITANT POISONS.
439
 ceed by degrees, anxiety,  irregular fever, dryness  of the
 skin, spasmodic  constriction  of the extremities, wandering
 vague pains, deep and difficult inspirations, dryness  of the
 tongue and throat, excessive thirst, deep pain in the  region
 of the stomach, habitual tension of the abdomen, obstinate
 costiveness, vomiting  less  frequent,  a  kind  of copious
 salivation, uneasiness in the  throat from the  imperfect de-
 tachment of the flakes of the membrane lining  it, portions
 of it  still  partially  adhering, frequently  floating  in the
 pharynx, and disturbing both respiration and deglutition.
   The pulse is often miserable, and the slow fever has no
 remission;  the cold continues over the  surface of  the body,
 and there are irregular fits of shivering occasionally.   Every
 kind of food, solid or liquid, is vomited.  Milk alone  seems
 to  agree with  the stomach.  After some time,  the  inner
 membrane of the alimentary canal detaches itself in portions,
 which are discharged by vomiting, with floods of frothy and
 intolerably fcetid saliva.  Membranous flakes, swelled, rot-
 ten, and often of a very great size, are frequently pulled out
 of the mouth.  This state lasts, in some cases, only about a
 fortnight,  generally several months, and occasionally for
 years.   But these persons  uniformly  fall into  complete
 marasmus, as the digestive organs are totally deranged, and
 before death, they are often reduced to  a skeleton.
   This  variety occurred in seven of the  twenty-nine  cases
 now first described by Dr. Tartra; and he accounts plausibly
 enough for its having been seldom observed before, by sup-
 posing, that when  persons who had swallowed  nitric acid,
 had got the better of the primary symptoms, they were lost
 sight of, and the subsequent affection was not imputed  to the
 proper cause.
  Such in general is the progress, when patients die of the
 secondary symptoms;.but in the case  of a female it was
 considerably different, as well as the appearance on dissec-
 tion.  The constipation was not very great; the  expectora-
 tion did  not last long, and  the vomiting was rare;  but a
 fixed pain at the bottom of the thorax, accompanied by diffi-
culty of breathing, and  spitting of blood, deceived the 
440
IRRITANT POISONS.
medical attendants who were  not acquainted with  the fact
of her having drunk nitric acid.  She was treated  as if for
pectoral complaints, and died  in about sixty days after hav-
ing swallowed the poison.
  In this case alone, the body was not remarkably emaciated.
The stomach was only a little  contracted, and adhered in
several places,  especially to  the liver and spleen.   It con-
tained a mass of solid blood, of  a dark red color, the size of
a fist, moulded to the shape  of the stomach, and covered by
a very fine membrane, which seemed to be either the mucous
membrane detached from the  stomach, in several places, or
perhaps  a membrane  of new  formation.  The intestinal
canal, in this case, was of the usual size.  Death seemed to
have taken place before the gradual consumption had wasted
the body.
  3. The third variety of termination is in imperfect reco-
very.  This  is also very frequent, and is characterized by
the same  train  of symptoms  with what we have  now
described, but very inferior in degree.  The exfoliation of
the oesophagus and stomach either takes place but  once, or
only  a few times.   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 the epigastric region; habitual constipation, occasional
vomiting, and increased sensibility of  the stomach, so that
that organ 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  occupa-
tions, and long  survive  their poisoning.  Dr. Tartra has
met with eight examples of this  termination of the  disease,
in fifty-six cases.
  4. The  to'tal disappearance of  the symptoms produced by
swallowing nitric acid, or complete and absolute recovery
without leaving any consequences, is the last variety of ter-
mination.   Of fifty-six cases,  the recovery seemed to be
complete in twenty-one. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
441
  One or two circumstances additional may be added, on
the authority of Dr. Christison :  The  marks  on the  lips,
skin, &c, where the acid has touched, are at first white, but
shortly become, if from nitric  acid, yellowish, and if  from
sulphuric, brownish.  Again there are  undoubtedly  some
cases of poisoning, and particularly if by mistake, where the
injury is confined to the gullet and neighboring parts.  Dys-
phagia has thus happened for a time, and inflammation and
spasm of the glottis and larynx may occur, and cause a fatal
result, without any affection  of  the stomach.   Instances are
quoted where the  morbid appearances were confined to the
above parts, and the stomach was healthy, and yet no doubt
existed of the poisoning.*
  One case, from its singularity, may be briefly stated in this
place:  Nitric acid was poured  into  the  ear of a  female,
when intoxicated, by her husband.  Severe pain ensued for
two or three days; but this diminished gradually, and on the
sixth day, a stringy, membranous slough came off from the
ear,  followed by  copious  hsemorrhage.  On the  next day
 she lost the use of her right arm, and was extremely weak,
 but there was no stupor or vertigo.  Every means was used
 to relieve the local disease, but the haemorrhage continued
daily for almost a  month, the right side became gradually
paralytic, and she finally sunk, after great debility, in about
three months  after  the injury.   On dissection, the brain was
healthy, except one dark spot on the dura mater, opposite the
foramen  auditorium internum.   There  was  no effusion of
serum, pus  or lymph,  but a clot of blood of the size of a
pea lying in the entrance of the meatus internus.  The right
petrous bone was, however, completely carious.!
  Appearances on dissection.  When the  patients die of the
primary  effects of nitric acid,  the  external  appearance of
  * Christison, pp. 154,  157.  Review of Ryland  on diseases and injuries of
the larynx, &c.; in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 49," p. 583.  Dr.
A. T. Thomson mentions a case, that came under his own observation", of a
child, which by mistake swallowed some strong sulphuric acid.   It died
almost immediately of  suffocation; and on dissection, the stomach and
intestines were found healthy.  None of the acid had reached them. Lancet,
N. S. vol. 20, p. 385. The same or a similar case by Mr. Quain, in ibid. vol.
19, p. 195.
  \ London Med. Gazette, vol. 17, p. 897, from the Dublin Medical Journal. 
442
IRRITANT  POISONS.
the body presents no  alteration; every part is sound  and
natural, and exhibits in  a  certain degree the firmness  and
freshness of life.   The epidermis of the margin of the  lips
has commonly an  orange color, more or less deep.  It seems
burnt, and separates very easily.  Sometimes yellow spots
are discovered  on the  hands  and other parts of the body,
caused  by the  contact of nitric 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, but more commonly a yellow color.  It is separated
in some places, and adheres in others.  The teeth are often
loose, and have a very marked yellow color at their crown.
The  mucous  membrane of  the pharynx exhibits the same
change, or is in a state of inflammation of a dirty red color.
The whole extent of the  oesophagus is lined with a dense
mass of a fine yellow color, 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  oesophagus, solidified by the nitric
acid.*  This lining adheres in a very few points, and is
easily detached from the other membranes of the oesophagus,
which are brown  and bloodshot.
  " Occasionally the gullet  is not affected  at all, though both
the mouth and stomach are severely injured; and an instance
has even been published where the acid (in this instance the

  * Dr. Arnott, from  a dissection made  by him at the Middlesex Hospital,
supposes that the yellow membrane found in the oesophagus is not the product
of inflammation, but its cuticular covering changed by the direct action of the
acid.   In this case, the larynx had a thin, delicate layer of lymph, the result
of inflammation. The patient survived 36 hours.  (London Medical Gazette,
vol. 12, p. 219.)  Dr. Rupell gives a drawing of this case.
  " The effects of corrosive liquids on the oesophagus," says Mr. Mayo in his
Outlines of Physiology, " is to produce, in the lowest degree, separation of
the cuticle ; in a higher degree, effusion of lymph ; in the highest, sloughing
of the lining membrane to a greater or less extent, which, being thrown off,
leaves a granulating surface, that, cicatrizing, contracts and narrows the canal,
establishing permanent and fatal constriction."  Quoted by Dr. Wm. Thom-
son in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 46, p. 128. 
IRRITANT POISONS.                 443
nitric) left no trace of its passage downwards, till near the
pylorus."*
   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 color is faded, livid,
of a  yellowish  green, with large  gangrenous  spots.  It
adheres every where  to  the  neighboring  parts, the dia-
phragm, liver, spleen and transverse arch of the colon, by
means of concrete  lymphatic  exudation.  Its sides, which
are thin and yellow in some places, and  thick and black in
others, exhibit networks 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 par-
ticular smell, resembling that of bitter almonds.   Most com-
monly, it also contains a great quantity of yellow matter,
having the consistence of pap, in which there are flocculi,
or small masses resembling tallow,  which, however, may be
the cheesy part of the milk drunk by the  patient, decom-
posed in  the stomach.  Its sides are coated internally with
a thick grained paste, of a yellowish green color, composed,
according to all  appearance, of the  internal  membrane, dis-
organized  and  dissolved,  and  of coagulated  albumen.
Almost always the substance of the stomach is  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 rugse
of the stomach are very brown, and are reduced to mucilage.
They are  easily  removed  by the finger  from the nervous
coat, which, by reason of  its whiteness, often appears  in a
great measure sound.   The small end is affected with many
deep spots of gangrene, and the pylorus is much contracted.
  The duodenum internally, especially at its two curvatures,
presents the same kind of change as the stomach.   Its sides,
as well as those of the jejunum, are marked -with yellow,
       .  > p. 410, as oCOh'iiH^bi case is mentioned in Chapman's Journal, 
444                 IRRITANT POISONS.
slightly greenish.   They are also lined with a very thick
orange  crust, and  the  villous membrane is  dissolved  and
destroyed.  These phenomena  have less intensity in pro-
portion as the part is more distant from the stomach.
  The surface of all the abdominal viscera is commonly very
much inflamed.  The peritoneum is thickened, hard, of a
dirty red, covered with albuminous layers, which  unite, by
numerous adhesions, all the viscera, and especially the folds
of the intestines, as it were into a single mass.
  The thoracic surface  of the diaphragm, and of the inferior
lobes of the lungs, is  covered  with a  very  solid layer of
albumen, of a whitish color.
  A bloody liquid is  effused into  the abdomen; and there is
also a small  quantity in the chest.*
  The  urinary  bladder  contains, no  urine,  although  the
patients have not discharged any.  The large intestines are'
usually filled with very hard faeces.
  In most cases where the  stomach is  peforated, its  bulk is
very small;  in other respects  it is the same.  The holes
commonly occur in the large and  small extremities: their
form is circular, and  their edges thin  as if dissolved.   We
then find in  the  abdomen an enormous effusion of  a thick
yellow liquid, containing many white  flocculi, and  resem-
bling the fluid with which the  stomach is filled, when it is
not perforated.  The greatest distention always accompanies
this state of  the belly.   The alteration and disorganization
are  carried  to  the  highest  degree.  The  surface  of the
abdominal viscera seems to have suffered the direct action
of very dilute nitric acid.   It is greasy and  unctuous to the
touch, and almost every where spotted with yellow.
  The appearances upon dissection of those who die of the
secondary effects, are entirely  different from those now
described.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  an example of
greater emaciation, more advanced consumption, or disgust-

  *  Dr. Hertwig is said to have performed numerous experiments with the
mineral acids, and also the  carbonic, acetic and tartaric, on animals and h;*--1--
aud the effect of all except the nitric, is to give ^ d*^auai Sciences, vol.
within the arteries and veins.  (Amer^-
11, p. 501.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
445
ing form.   Nothing is equal to  the  degree of  withering,
drying  up and decrepitude  of the whole organs.   Their
color is faded; the internal cavities do not contain the usual
serum ;  the cellular and muscular systems are almost annihi-
lated; the bones become dry, as in persons of advanced age,
and break with wonderful 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, so that they could  be  contained in the hollow of the
hand.*   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 contain-
ing only a little mucosity.  In general, all the parts touched
by the  poison are contracted,  and as if obliterated.  The
stomach, which often resembles a portion of a small intes-
tine,  appears  sound externally,  and  only  presents some
adhesion to the diaphragm, liver and spleen; internally, the
most remarkable change is the contraction  of  the pylorus,
the  passage through  which is  not  larger than a lentil, or
even scarcely admits a probe; and the membranes of the
stomach itself are so thickened and compacted  around  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
has been destroyed by the action of the acid.  These cica-
trices are especially large and numerous in the  great end of
the stomach, and around  the circumference  of  the pylorus.
There are also commonly some  at the cardia, as well as in
the lower half, and even in the whole of the oesophagus and
pharynx.  The  adhesions of the  stomach with the  neigh-
boring parts are sometimes simple, but most commonly they

  * In a case at La Charite, where the patient survived an intense gastritis,
but lingered on with pain and frequent vomitings, after taking food, together
with symptoms of dropsy, until three months after taking the poison, the
pylorus was found so contracted that its diameter did not exceed a line or
two There were  also several  cicatrices of ulcers.  (Medico-Chirurgical
Review, vol. 32, p. 552.) 
446
IRRITANT POISONS.
are very remarkable.   Viewed from the  inside of the sto-
mach, they form irregular, circular  depressions where the
whole thickness of the coat is evidently wanting; so that in
attempting to destroy these adhesions, we find that there
are in  fact so many holes through the  substance  of the
stomach, which  are plugged up by  the adhesion  of the
neighboring viscera.
   Chemical proofs.   When concentrated, its odor is peculiar.
It acts also on copper, lead, or tin, disengaging nitric oxide
gas, which is  converted into nitrous  acid  gas, on  coming in
contact with  the atmosphere.   Other tests  have  been sug-
gested and claimed as peculiar, but they have scarcely stood
the test of investigation.  Thus morphine was said  to be
changed, in a few seconds, to an orange red color, and soon
after  to form a bright red color.*  But Dr. R. D. Thomson
stated to the British Association, in September, 1840, that
pure  morphine had  no action on nitric acid, and that it is
alone the  resin which generally accompanies that alkaloid
which produces  the  characteristic  yellow  color.   Again,
Berthemot advised a mixture of free sulphuric acid, with a
few drops of  the liquor supposed to contain the nitric acid,
and to  this the addition of  brucine.   If nitric acid was
present, there would be, first  a red color, and presently a
yellow  color.!  But very soon Mr. Nevins, although grant-
ing the delicacy  of this test, ascertained that iodic acid,
and even  chloric acid, if treated in the  same way, would
produce similar  results.J   About one  process,  however,
with  which all chemical  experimenters are familiar, there
can be no  mistake, whether the liquid be concentrated  or
diluted ; and that is, to add a few drops of a diluted solution
of caustic potash.  Nitrate of potash is immediately formed.
The solution may  be evaporated to  dryness, and then de-

  * Dr. O'Shaughnessy, Lancet, N. S. vol. 6, p. 330.
  Dr. Liebig's test of the sulphate of indigo has been shown by Dr. O'Shaugh-
nessy to be altogether fallacious. Several other acids, besides four or five
salts, equally possess the power of decolorizing it.  (Ibid. pp. 330, 452; and
also vol. 10, p. 302.)
  t  Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 2, p. 600.
  X  Ibid. vol. 4, p. 414. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
447
flagrated ;  or some bibulous paper may be dipped in it, and
tested in the same way.
  Process for stains.   Boil the substance stained, in distilled
water several times in succession; ascertain its acidity, and
then render it feebly alkaline, by adding a  few drops of a
diluted  solution of caustic potash.   Evaporate this to dry-
ness, or test with paper as above.
  Process for compound mixtures, as  in the  contents of the
stomach.  Neutralize them with potash, and then filter  and
evaporate.   Crystals of nitrate of potash will  be  formed,
which may be decomposed by sulphuric acid.  But often the
quantity of  acid present is not  sufficient to produce  this
result.   In this instance, Dr. O'Shaughnessy recommends a
slow process of filtration through a loosely  twisted cord of
filtering paper, about  eight inches  long.  The drops  that
pass out should be received in a proper vessel,  and the
whole covered with a bell-glass to prevent evaporation.  In
a day or two they will  probably be so pure as to yield, by
evaporation, crystals of nitre ; which when decomposed by
sulphuric  acid,  will allow  the morphine  to  produce its
effect.   If this process be not effectual to remove all organic
matters, Dr. Christison  directs that acetate  of silver be
added to  the product  of evaporation.   This throws down
hydrochloric acid, and with it several organic principles.
The residue may be  filtered and evaporated, and treated as
above.*
   Devergie  advises  that these  compound  mixtures, after
being properly boiled, be treated with gaseous  chlorine, so
as to separate as great  a portion as possible of the  animal
matter.  After the nitrate of potash is formed as above, by
the addition of bicarbonate of potash, decompose with  sul-
phuric acid, and  then test with the protosulphate of iron.
The nitrous acid turns  this black.f

  * Christison, pp. 144 to 150.  Lancet, N. S. vol. 6, p. 840; vol. 7, p. 610.
  t Devergie, vol 2, pp. 590, 596.  I find the following  delicate process
recommended by De Richemont, and which is certainly deserving of trial:
  lo detect the presence of nitric acid, add to a small quantity of sulphuric
acid, the solution to be examined, in such a proportion that the quantity added
Bhall  equal three-fourths of the bulk of the acid.  When the mixture has 
448
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  In order to discriminate between the nature of the yellow
spots that are observed in the intestinal tube, and which are
equally the  result of nitric acid, iodine and the bile, Barruel
directs that a weak solution of caustic potash be applied to
them.  If  owing to  bile,  there  will be  no  change ;  if to
iodine, the  spot immediately  disappears, and  the tissue
returns to its natural  color ;  but if to nitric acid, the color
will become stronger,  and of an  orange yellow.*
  Antidotes.  The same substances that were recommended
in noticing sulphuric acid, are proper in this case.  Chalk,
magnesia, or soap and water, should  be immediately  used.
If, however, any  form of lime has been given as the imme-
diate antidote, it may  be well to remember that the nitrate
of lime is hardly  in itself innocuous ;  and it is hence neces-
sary to  follow  its  use  with draughts of broth or  milk,
containing the phosphate of soda in  solution.   An insoluble
phosphate of lime is thus produced.
  The alkaline  carbonates are  not to be used, being them-
selves possessed of  corrosive properties.!
  Muriatic  {hydrochloric) acid.   I have met with the narra-
tives of six cases, in which this was taken: death followed
in five of them.
become cool, drop in a concentrated solution of protosulphate of iron, which,
if any nitric acid is present, decomposes it causing the evolution of nitric oxide,
which produces a rose red or purple tint.  This mode of operating will allow
us to detect one part of nitric acid in 24,000 of water."  (London and Edin,
Phil. Mag. vol. 13, g. 393.)
  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol  1, p. 278.  A French case of supposed poisoning
by nitric acid, is given in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 34,
p. 212.
  I subjoin a notice of another test: the hydrargyro-cyanide of iodide of
potassium, for the reason stated below.  It  is formed by mixing cyanuret of
mercury and  iodide of potassium together  in  their equivalent proportions,
and dissolving the salt in small  quantities of warm water, from which, on
cooling, it is deposited in beautiful plates.
  If one of its scaly crystals  be put  into most of the acids, as the sulphuric,
muriatic, hydrofluoric, chromic, phosphoric, and the common vegetable acids,
it immediately becomes of a  beautiful red, being changed into biniodide of
mercury ; but in concentrated nitric acid,  of the specific gravity 1.4 to 1.5,
the scale almost instantly becomes black from the liberation of iodine.  This
effect is visible upon a very small proportion of the salt.  (Edinburgh Monthly
Journal of Med. Science, vol. 1, p. 601.)  If there be any value in this test,
the credit of it is due to  Professor Bailey  of West Point.  (See Silliman's
Journal, 1839.)
  f Christison, p. 165.  Lancet N. S. vol. 7, p. 836. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
449
   A man aged 37, swallowed an  ounce and  a half by mis-
 take.  It  was  succeeded by extreme restlessness, violent
 pain in the  stomach, a burning  skin, small, hard pulse, a
 fiery red tongue, blackish lips, hiccup, and an effort to vomit.
 Antidotes were given, and in the night he vomited yellow
 matter.   In the morning, however, the  skin  was  cold  and
 clammy, delirium was constantly present, the pulse extreme-
 ly quick, the pain very violent, and he died  at three in the
 afternoon.*
   In another case, two ounces had been taken, which was
 followed by  vomiting.  Carbonate of soda and magnesia,
 with leeches to the throat were prescribed with some relief;
 but on the fourth day the vomiting  returned, the throat con-
 tinued sore, the  tongue was  swollen,  and with these symp-
 toms he sunk eight days after taking the poison.!
   Dr. Toothaker relates  a case of recovery.  An ounce of
 the officinal muriatic acid had been swallowed by mistake.
 It was  succeeded by  violent burning  of  the mouth and
 fauces—a sense of suffocation and spasms.   Olive oil was
 given, followed  by milk and  water, thickened with calcined
 magnesia.  Copious  vomiting ensued.  An emetic was next
 administered, and  this again followed by magnesia.  The
 strength was greatly reduced, and the  extremities so cold as
 to require  the  application  of sinapisms.  The  next day
 there was pain and costiveness, but these were relieved by
 a dose of castor  oil.   After this, the patient gradually reco-
 vered, although not without reminiscences of the corrosive
 substance which  he had taken.|
   Appearances on dissection.   In the French case, the lips
were black,  the tongue brown, thick, hard  and dry; the

  • Orfila's Toxicologic 3d ed., vol. 1, p. 133.   Case by Dr. Serres.
  1 London Med. Gazette, vol. 19, p. 349. The remaining fatal cases are to
be found in the Lancet N. S. vol. 25, p. 899; London Med  Gazette, vol. 25,
p. 28o, case by Mr. Quekett.  Death occurred in fifteen hours, and there was
blackening and extensive erosion.  Howship, in his work on Affections of the
btomach, relates a case fatal in three days, and the stomach was  thickened
and pulpy with high inflammation.
  X Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., vol.  15, p. 270.  •
  vol. n.                   29 
450
IRRITANT POISONS.
pharynx and oesophagus of a purple red, and excoriated in
several places ; the  stomach was thickened  and inflamed
externally, and its mucous membrane could be detached in
strips  with the slighest touch,  and was covered with gan-
grenous patches ; the duodenum was also slightly thickened.
  In the  second case, the larynx, bronchise and  left lung
were inflamed, and its mucous coat had sloughed in some
places, and in  others was  thickened.  The  coats of the
stomach were inflamed, and in several places had  sloughed,
the shreds hanging loose.  The duodenum was  inflamed,
but not gangrenous.
  The tests are thus given by Dr.  Christison : In its con-
centrated state, it is known by its  yellow fumes, and its
peculiar odor.   Bring a rod dipped in ammonia, near another
dipped in the acid, and a white vapor  will arise.  When
diluted, add nitrate of silver, and a dense white precipitate,
the chloride of silver, is produced.  This  latter salt is dis-
tinguished from all other white salts of silver, by drying
and  heating  it  in a tube.  It fuses, but, unlike the others,
remains  undecomposed  at  a red heat.   Again, the other
white  insoluble  salts of  silver, which  are  dissolved by
ammonia, are soluble in an excess  of nitric acid; but  the
chloride,  if treated in the same  way, is not redissolved by
an excess of nitric acid.*
  There  is an  inherent difficulty, however, in proving poi-
soning with this acid by chemical  tests,  since it has been
found  as  a natural or diseased  product in the stomach, by
several very accurate  chemists.!
  Acetic acid.  This substance, in its concentrated form,
has been  found to be a poison.  An ounce  of  pyroligneous
vinegar or acid, when given to a dog, whose oesophagus was
tied, caused death in  five, seven or  nine hours, preceded by
efforts to  vomit, great suffering  and weakness.  An  ounce
of the concentrated acid occasioned death in an hour and a

  * Christison, p. 151.  Lancet, N. S. vol. 7, p. 193.  Hydrocyanic acid will
also give a  white precipitate  with nitrate of silver, but this is soluble in
nitric acid at the boiling temperature, without changing its color. (Devergie,
vol. 2, p. 611.)
  t Bulletin de L'Acad. R. de Medecine, vol. 3, pp. 252, 265, 579. 
irritant poisons.
451
quarter.  On dissection, in all these cases, the stomach con-
tained brownish black blood ;  the villous coat was blackish,
and the subjacent tissue injected.  Erosions and even per-
forations were  not uncommon  when  the  strong acid was
used.*
  Even common vinegar, in large quantities, was found
destructive to dogs, when vomiting was  prevented.
  A medico-legal case is related by Orfila:  A female aged
19, died in one of the streets  of Paris.   All the information
that could be obtained concerning her, was, that she appeared
as one drunk ; moaned incessantly, but passed on, after ask-
ing her way.  Shortly after, she was found lying in agony,
and, after  strong  convulsions, died.    On dissection,  the
mucous membrane of the tongue  and oesophagus was seen
of a leathery consistence, wrinkled and brown.   The sto-
mach  contained eight ounces of a fluid which  effervesced.
Its mucous  membrane was no where destroyed, but some red
or dark spots were seen near to the  pylorus, and  many of
its small glands  were hardened.  Coagulated blood was
found in the submucous cellular tissue.
   The fluid found in the stomach was  filtered, and a small
quantity of carbonate of lime added  to it; but no efferves-
cence followed, although a test paper was slightly reddened.
Nitrate of silver, and muriate of barytes, each demonstrated
the  presence of the  muriatic and sulphuric  acids, or their
salts.
   The fluid was now put  in a  retort, with a receiver attached,
and the retort immersed in a concentrated solution of muriate
of lime.  This last was  heated to boiling, and the fluid in
the retort was by this means  evaporated to dryness, without
any charring of the organic matter.  The fluid distilled into
the  receiver, was now tested for sulphuric and  muriatic
acids ; and  they  being  absent, carbonate of  potash was
added to neutralization.  This was then evaporated to dry-
ness ; sulphuric  acid was added,  and by redistilling,  a
• Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 6, p. 159, 
452
IRRITANT poisons.
notable quantity of strong and  pure acetic  acid was pro-
cured.*
   In its pure state, acetic acid is known by its odor, and its
forming with potash a deliquescent salt.
   The antidote, according to Orfila, is magnesia.
   Oxalic acid.  Numerous deaths have occurred in England
within a few  years, from  the administration of  this  sub-
stance.   It was generally  taken  in an  accidental manner,
having been mistaken  for the  sulphate of magnesia, a salt
which  it resembles in external character.  The facility of
the  occurrence  of these accidents  is increased  from  the
circumstance,  that it is  frequently applied to  several  do-
mestic purposes, such as the  cleaning  of leather, and  the
removal  of iron-mould   and  ink-spots.    There  are  not,
however,  wanting instances in  which  this substance has
been wilfully taken to  destroy life.
   The cases substantiating  the deleterious effects  of oxalic
acid, are contained in the leading  periodical publications of
the  day;  and  from a comparison  of these, I am enabled to
present the following account of its effects :f
  * Annales D'Hygiene.  Dr. David relates a case in the British American
Journal of Med. Science, of Sept. 1847, of a female who in despair swallowed
nearly a quart bowl full of common vinegar.  She had many of the ordinary
symptoms of poisoning, but recovered.
  f The most elaborate and  valuable article on this subject, is a paper on
poisoning by oxalic acid, published by Professor Christison and Dr. Coindet,
in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, p. 163.  Its effects
on animals, and the tests for its detection, are fully considered. Besides this,
the following cases have been published:
  1. Case by Mr. Royston, London Medical Repository, vol. 1, p. 382.  This
was the first, and it occurred in 1814.  2. By Mr. Roberts, ibid. vol. 3, p.
380.  3. By Mr. George Johnson, ibid. vol. 6, p. 474.  4. By Mr. Williams,
ibid. vol. 11, p. 20.  5. By Dr. Smith, ibid. vol. 12, p.  18.  6, 7. Two cases,
in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 13, p. 249.  8. By Mr.
Fraser, ibid. vol. 14, p. 607.  9.  Case of Michael Dillon, in- Cooper's Tracts,
p. 449, from a London paper.  10. Case by Mr. Hebb, London Medical Re-
pository, vol.  22, p. 475.  11. By Mr. Mollan, Dublin Hospital Reports, vol.
2, p. 329.  12. A case at St. George's Hospital, Lancet, N. S. vol. 1, p. 447.
13. A  case communicated to Dr. Christison, by Dr. Arrowsmith of Coventry.
14. By Dr. Dancy.  Partial recovery in a female, but her health gradually
sunk after a few months from extreme irritability of the stomach, so that
the blandest liquids caused violent spasms and convulsions.  Transylvania
Journal of Medicine, vol. 8. p. 594.   15. By Mr. Taylor, Guy's Hospital Re-
ports,  vol. 3, p. 353.  16. By Mr. Howship, fatal on the 5th day ; quoted in
Medical Times, Oct. 9,1841.  17. By Dr. Chas. T. Jackson, Boston Med. and
Surg.  Journal, vol. 30, p. 17.  18. By Dr. Hazeltine, ibid. vol. 31, p. 39.
  Dr.  Christison also refers to Dr. Percy's Inaugural Dissertation,  for addi-
tional  cases. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
453
   When the solution is strong, (and this is usually the case,
 from its  being mistaken  for  epsom salts,) its  corrosive
 nature is  such as to excoriate the mouth in a violent manner.
 A young man purchased some for the purpose of committing
 suicide, but its extreme pungency  made him hesitate  in
 swallowing it while it was yet in his  mouth; his life was
 thus  preserved, but a  most dreadful excoriation  of the
 tongue, mouth  and gums, was  the consequence.*  So  also
 in Mr. Fraser's case, the tongue was  greatly swollen, and
 had  the appearance of being scalded.   I do not, however,
 find any notice  of this in the other  cases, probably because
 the solution was diluted, or (which is more likely) taken
 down at a single swallow.
   Death ensued with great rapidity, in forty minutes in one
 case, in twenty minutes in  Mr.  Taylor's, and in ten minutes
 in two others.  A few hours (prolonged in Mr. Hebb's and
 Dr. Arrowsmith's  to thirteen)  is generally the term.   The
 patient under the care  of Mr. Fraser,  however, survived
 several days, and  finally died of the secondary effects.   As
 this case is somewhat peculiar, I shall notice it particularly
 hereafter.
   The earliest symptom, in the  absence of the one mentioned
 above, is burning pain in the stomach; and this occurs early,
 if the  dose be  large; but  if it be  small,  some hours may
 elapse.  Excessive vomiting of a dark-colored or sanguino-
 lent fluid  soon follows, and commonly continues until near
death.   There  are,  however,  exceptions  to  this.   Some
have not  vomited  at all, and Dr. Christison observes that
this is most apt to happen when the poison has been taken
much diluted.
   When life is prolonged for a few hours, pain in the  bowels
 and purging follow, and the faeces  are mixed  with blood.
 In Mr. Hebb's case,  there was an involuntary discharge.
   Along with these  there is a sunken countenance, and the
pulse is almost imperceptible  at the wrist,  indicating the
nearness of death.
  Nearly all of these (with, I believe,  only two exceptions) proved fatal.
There are several cases of recovery, which I shall presently mention.
  * London Medical Repository, vol. 7, p. 526. 
454                IRRITANT POISONS.
  In Dr. Arrowsmith's case two peculiar symptoms occurred.
One was a deep  red  mottled  appearance of the skin in cir-
cular  patches; and the other, the poisoning and  death  of
leeches applied to the stomach.   This was six hours  after
the poison  had been  taken; and although healthy, and
fastening immediately, " yet  they did not seem to fill; and
on touching one, it felt hard,  and  immediately fell off,
motionless and  dead.   The  others  were  all in  the same
state; they had all bitten, and the marks were conspicuous,
but they had drawn scarcely any blood."*
  In  Dr. Chas.  T. Jackson's case,  a man aged  30 years,
took by mistake nearly an ounce  of crystallized oxalic acid
(477 grains) dissolved in warm water. He survived nine days,
vomiting was present for several days, and the  urine was
suppressed at first, and afterwards passed in small quantity.
At last there was an  inability to pass it, and it was necessary
to use the catheter.   Dr. Jackson also states that the skin
of the face, head,  and  nates  were covered with red spots  or
petechiae, appearing as if bespattered with blood.  He sunk
gradually, and died  without a struggle.
   On dissection, the stomach was found to be remarkably
corrugated, and  its mucous membrane very bright red,
thickened and  soft, with numerous  small ulcers in  it;  so
also the duodenum. Jejunum  and ileum conjested with blood.
The  mucous membrane of the large intestines was healthy.
Heart nearly empty of blood; lungs  contained an unusual
filtration of serum, but otherwise healthy.
   In the case related by Mr. Fraser, an individual took half
an ounce of oxalic  acid in  solution, instead of salts.  He
instantly became conscious of the mistake, from perceiving
the  acid taste.   Pain and vomiting ensued, and although
they were mitigated in some degree by alkaline remedies,
yet they recurred with violence.   Spasms, impeded respira-
tion, and general  numbness  were complained of;  the pulse
was  scarcely perceptible at the wrists  or temples; the
 extremities were cold, and the matter  vomited  became
* Christison, p. 198. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
455
tinged with blood:  after  a short  time,  he brought  up  a
large quantity of blood.  Diluents were freely administered,
together with anodynes, and his situation gradually became
more tolerable.  Numbness, however, occasionally occurred,
and was relieved by warm applications and a drink of sago
and wine.  On the second day, vomiting, retching, spasms,
and  singultus supervened; the  pulse was  nearly 100 and
feeble, and numbness and chillness of the feet were present.
A repetition of previous remedies gradually moderated these,
but  the  hiccup  continued  for  several days.  On the  sixth
day,  he felt himself so  well as, contrary  to directions,  to
ride out in a gig.   After t)iis, debility came on gradually ;
an eruption appeared over the whole body, and hiccup was
occasionally present.  He retained  his senses until the day
before his death, and  complained often on swallowing any
article which was not perfectly bland.  He expired fourteen
days after taking the poison, in a state of perfect exhaustion.
   Some cases of recovery are referred to in the note below.*
 In all these, great irritation and  pain in  the stomach, and
 sometimes also in the throat, were constant and early symp-
 toms ; spontaneous  vomiting is only mentioned  in a few
  * Dr.  Scott, of Cupar-Fife.   Dose, a wine-glass of the solution, con-
taining a drachm of the acid. (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 24, p. 67.)
  Prof. Syme.  Two drachms in solution.  (Ibid. vol. 44, p. 27.)
  A case at Guy's Hospital.  Half an ounce—suicide.  Vomiting occurred
soon, but the stomach-pump was immediately used, and magnesia exhibited.
(London Medical Gazette, vol. 5, p. 704.)
  A case at the Worcester Infirmary (England).  Half an ounce by mistake;
cured by chalk, castor oil, &c.  (Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter,
vol. 3, p. 152.)
  Case by Dr. Tolefree, of New York. A quarter of an ounce, by mistake.
Emetics.   (Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 12, p. 158.)
  Case by Mr. Boyrenson, at the London Hospital.  British Annals of Medi-
cine, vol. 1, p. 716, cured by carbonate of lime, leeches, &c.
  Case by Mr. Babington. Two scruples, in combination with carbonate of
soda.  The patient recovered, but suffered much from weakness and other
symptoms indicative of great depression of the nervous and circulating sys-
tems. (London Med. Gazette, vol. 27, p. 870.)
  Case by R. H. Semple.  A female took a quarter of an ounce.  Relieved by
lime water and carbonate of magnesia. (Lancet, N. S., vol. 28, p. 187.)
  By Dr. Todd. Two cases relieved by free use of chalk mixture, and an
emetic subsequently.   (Lancet, N. S., vol. 29, p. 697 ; vol. 30, p. 145.)
  By Mr. Howship.  Relieved by lime water, venesection, &c.  (Quoted in
Medical Times, Oct. 9, 1841.)
  By Mr. Tapson.  Relieved by large draughts of chalk and water, and sub-
sequently the remedies for gastritis.  (London Med. Gazette, vol. 31, p. 491.) 
456
IRRITANT POISONS.
instances ; but in several, more or less of gastric irritation
remained, which required  laxatives to remove it.
  Appearances on dissection.   These indicate the presence of
a powerful acid.   In Mr. Royston's case, where the subject
was a female, who died  in forty minutes, the villous coat of
the  stomach was injected with blood,  and florid over its
whole surface: patches  of an extraordinary  intensity were
also noticed.  In other cases this coat was entirely corroded,
and indeed the stomach  perforated, so that its contents had
escaped  into  the  cavity of the abdomen.  The oesophagus
of one individual was  so injured, that its cuticular coat
peeled off with the slightest effort.*
  The intestines sometimes partook in the inflammation and
contraction, and at  other times not; but the viscera  of the
thorax, and the  brain, do not appear to  have been diseased
in those  cases where their examination is noticed.!
  In "Mr. Hebb's case, the mucous membrane  of the throat
and  gullet appeared as if it had been scalded, and could be
easily  separated.  The  stomach  contained a pint of thick,
dark-colored  fluid, owing to the  blood in it: its inner coat
was pulpy, in many points  black, and  in others highly  in-
flamed.   The same was  seen in the intestines.  The lining
membrane of the trachea and lungs was also very  red.
  In Mr. Taylor's case, the  mucous membrane of the  sto-
mach appeared pale and softened, and entirely  free from
rugse ; while  in some parts of that organ, and especially
towards  the lesser  curvature,  the vessels  of the mucous
membrane were  seen ramifying, and filled with dark colored
blood which appeared solidified  within them.  The whole
had  thus an  arborescent  appearance.   The mucous mem-
brane of the oesophagus  was pale, as if boiled in water, and
here and there  abraded, while  the  blood-vessels  exhibited
similar appearances  as in the stomach.   The duodenum and
  * " A quantity of dark-colored fluid, resembling  coffee-grounds, and pro-
bably consisting of extravasated  blood altered by the poison, was generally
found in the stomach." (Christison and Coindet.)
  f In the case of a dog, which died in  a quarter of an hour after a drachm
of the acid  in solution had been injected into the stomach, Dr. Hodgkin found
the whole extent of the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal apparently
thickened,  owing to a thick opaque white secretion deposited on it. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
457
jejunum were slightly inflamed.   The blood throughout the
cavities  was  universally  liquid  and  dark-colored.   The
lungs were engorged, and  the  right cavities of the  heart
collapsed and empty.
  In the instance reported by Mr. Fraser, on dissection, the
stomach and a small portion of  the intestines  presented the
marks of inflammation;  the villous coat was  completely
destroyed, and this abrasion extended upwards throughout
the whole of  the  oesophagus, exposing the muscular coat.
In some parts the  villous coat seemed entire, but on exami-
nation, it was found to be  soft, and easily  rubbed off with
the finger  or  sponge.  The muscular  coat  of the stomach
and oesophagus was much thickened, highly injected, and
exhibited  a dark gangrenous appearance.  No perforation
of  the  stomach was observable.  The small  intestines ex-
hibited  similar appearances, but partially,  and in a  lighter
degree.  The other viscera were healthy.
   It is worthy of remark, that there is one fatal case of a
 girl  dying in thirty minutes after swallowing an ounce, in
 which there were no morbid appearances whatever to be
 seen in any part  of the alimentary canal.  Orfila, however,
 states expressly, that if the stomach be examined soon after
 death, it will be  found but little  corroded,  in comparison to
 what it will be, if not opened until a day or two  afterwards.*
    Effects on  animals.   On this point, we have the experi-
 ments of Dr. A.  T.  Thomson, and those of Drs.  Christison
 and  Coindet.  The former gentleman produced death in a
 very few minutes, by introducing from ten grains to half a
 drachm into the stomachs of rabbits and dogs.  Convulsive
 movements generally preceded the fatal  termination, and on
 dissection, the stomach was found very rotten, diaphanous

   * Lemons, 3d edit. vol. 3, p. 55.
   In Mr. Howship's case the upper and lower parts of the oesophagus were
 most affected by inflammation, and were covered with fibrine. The stomach,
 though inflamed, exhibited no erosion.
   In a case by Dr. Letheby, the female, aged 22, had poisoned herself, and
 was  found dead. The tissue of  the stomach was so softened that  it could
 scarcely be handled without tearing, and at the cardiac end it was soft and
 pulpy, with numerous perforations. Dr. Christison mentions but one case of
 corrosion and perforation, and Mr. Taylor does not deem it common. (Lan-
 cet, Oct. 19, 1844.) 
458
IRRITANT POISONS.
and pulpy to the touch, and its blood-vessels enlarged and
very black :  the mucus  contained  in it  was  coagulated.
The  lungs were inflamed, and the blood found in the lungs,
heart, abdomen, and the frothy fluid found in the  bronchial
cells, showed traces of an acid.   The  oesophagus and pha-
rynx were healthy.*
  In the  experiments of  Christison and  Coindet, the oeso-
phagus was tied  in every instance, and the violence of the
efforts to vomit was directly in proportion to the quantity of
the poison.  Death, however, always succeeded after a short
interval.  On dissection, the stomach was found filled with
the dark-colored fluid already noticed, when speaking of the
examinations of the human subject, and which is evidently
extravasated blood acted on by the acid.  The internal
membrane of the stomach was always of a deep cherry-red
color, and generally streaked with lines of black, granular
extravasation.   The degree of corrosion induced appears to
depend on the strength of the acid.
  When portions of a  dead stomach were submitted to the
action of  a saturated solution, the mucous epidermis sepa-
rated, and appeared thickened  and  brittle.   After  some
hours, the villous coat was also acted upon, and in two days
it was brittle and  easily scraped off, and the other tunics
were softened,  swollen, and translucent.   It thus evidently
exerts a powerful chemical action on the organs concerned.
  These  observers  also  noticed, that a small quantity of
acid, when  diluted, destroys an animal much sooner than
when concentrated ; and on dissection, no unnatural  appear-
ance whatever could be detected in the stomach, excepting
a slight cineritious  tint  of the mucous epidermis.
  The result  drawn from their  numerous  experiments is,
that oxalic  acid, in most circumstances, acts through the
medium of absorption.  They could not, however, detect its
presence in any of  the fluids.!

  * Lemons, 3d ed.  vol, 3, p. 383.  The  tetanic convulsions, witnessed in
quadrupeds, do not seem to occur in the human species.  Lancet,  N. S. vol.
20, p. 390.
  f Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, pp. 163 to 186. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
459
  Dr. Roupell, in  his experiments  on dogs with this acid,
has confirmed the above results.*   The stomach, on dissec-
tion, had the hour-glass contraction.
  Tests.   Oxalic acid might be mistaken for two other vege-
table acids, the tartaric and citric acids ; but Drs. Christison
and Coindet have shown that these can be given to animals
in large quantities without any inconvenient result.!  From
a similarity in the external appearance, it has most commonly
been confounded  with  sulphate of  magnesia,  and hence
many fatal mistakes have happened.
  (a.) Taste the suspected  substance; if it be oxalic acid,
it is very  sour ; if epsom salts, very bitter and saline.
  {b.) Pour some water over the suspected crystals ; if it be
oxalic acid, its particles explode  with a sharp,  crackling
sound, and disperse in every direction.
  (c.) A  little  writing  ink dropped on the  crystal  will
become reddish brown, forming oxalate of iron.  Epsom
salts  are  not changed.J
   {d.)  Litmus  and blue sugar loaf paper are reddened by
 the acid.
   (e.)  Ammonia, if the  solution of the  acid be  sufficiently
 concentrated, will produce  a radiated crystallization, as the
 oxalate of ammonia formed is much more soluble than the
acid itself.   Dr.  O'Shaughnessy states  that  this property
distinguishes it from every  other acid.§
   The following  tests  we  owe  to the suggestions of  Drs.
Christison and Coindet, and they  may be used  on all  sus-
pected fluids found in the stomach, or vomited :
  (/.)  Decolorize  the fluid, if  necessary,  with chlorine.
The hydrochlorate of lime, if  the  solution contains oxalic
acid or oxalate of lime, will  throw down an insoluble oxalate
of  lime;  but  it also precipitates with the carbonates, sul-
phates, phosphates, &c.   This then  is to be  distinguished
by the following   experiments:   The nitric acid will not

  * Illustrations of the effects of poisons, with drawings.
  t Kdinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, pp. 185, 337.
  X Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 5, p. 152.
  § Dr. O'Shaughnessy, Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 196. 
460
IRRITANT POISONS.
take up the sulphate of lime, but a few drops of it dissolve
the oxalate.  The hydrochloric (muriatic) acid will not dis-
solve the oxalate, unless in very large quantity ; while two
or three drops  will  take  up the carbonate, phosphate, tar-
trate, or citrate.
  (g.) Decolorize as before, and add sulphate of copper.   It
precipitates oxalic acid,  bluish-white ; and  the oxalates,
pale-blue.   The only objection to this is, that it precipitates
the  carbonates,  and  throws  down  the phosphoric  acid,
whether free or combined.  The muriatic acid  must be here
again used as above.
  (A.) Nitrate of silver gives a heavy white precipitate with
oxalic acid, and still better with the oxalates ; and this pre-
cipitate, when dried  and  heated  over a candle,  becomes
brown on the edge, then of a sudden fulminates faintly, and
is all dispersed in white fumes.  This is deemed a very deli-
cate test, as from a quarter of a grain dissolved in  4,000
parts of water, the experiments procured enough of the
powder to show its fulmination twice.
   These tests  are very little  influenced by the presence  of
such animal matter as  may exist in the  suspected fluid, after
boiling and filtration.  The chief animal principle then pre-
sent is gelatine,  and neither the  hydrochlorate of lime,
sulphate of copper, or  nitrate of silver, precipitate it alone.
They therefore,  and especially the  two first, will not be
affected by its presence ;  but when it occurs in a very large
proportion, it suspends the action of nitrate of silver.
  As, however, magnesia  and chalk are the proper antidotes
for oxalic acid, it  is possible their  oxalates may be formed,
and the proofs of the  poison must  be sought for,  either  in
the solid  contents  of the stomach,  or the  solid matter
vomited.  In  such cases the following are the directions
given by Dr. Christison :
  If they have been given, let the  mixture remain at rest
for some time.  Then pour off the supernatant fluid, which,
if acid,  may be tested as  above.   Dissolve the mass that
remains in  pure  water, to  a sufficiently thin  consistence;
add to  this one-twentieth  of  its weight  of   carbonate  of 
                     IRRITANT POISONS.                 461

potash, and boil it gently for two hours.   The result of this
will be an oxalate of potash in solution.  Filter, then ren-
der it faintly acidulous with nitric acid, then filter again, and •
render  it faintly alkaline with carbonate of potash.   Filter
a third  time.   The object in these repeated operations is to
throw down the animal matter.
   A solution of acetate of lead must now be added as long
as any precipitate is formed, and this should be washed and
dried.  Then rub it carefully with a little water, in a mortar,
and transmit through it a current of sulphuretted hydrogen
for four hours.*  Filter and boil the sulphuret of lead, that
has been produced.  The oxalic acid will be set free, and is
found in the solution tolerably pure.
   Dr. Christison was enabled by this process to detect one
grain of oxalic acid, mixed with a decoction of an ounce of
beef  and six ounces of water.
   Oxalate of lime has been found by M. Henry, of Paris, in
 the  root  of  rhubarb.   If therefore that  salt  should  be
 detected, it may be necessary to inquire whether rhubarb
 has been recently administered.!
    Antidotes.  Death is generally so sudden in these cases,
 that but  little can be done.  Emetics,  however, should  be
 immediately given, but not to be aided in the usual way with
 warm  diluents, since dilution accelerates  the  operation of
 the poison.
    We owe to Dr. Thomson the recommendation of the  use
 of a  mixture of chalk and  water, to be  given as soon as pos-
 sible.  Oxalate of lime will thus be formed in the stomach.|
 Magnesia is advisable, and the solution of the bicarbonate,
 invented  by  Dr. Murray of Belfast,  is particularly com-
 mended, as  it precipitates  the acid  itself, and all its soluble
  * Mr. Taylor prefers treating the oxalate of lead obtained as above, by
boiling it with sulphuric acid, instead of using sulphuretted hydrogen.  The
sulphate of lead is deposited; the acid liquor is cautiously neutralized with
ammonia, and to  a portion of it, a solution of sulphate of lime is added.  A
fine white precipitate slowly subsides, and this is easily dissolved by a few
drops of nitric acid. The existence of oxalate of lime is thus proved.
  t Christison, p. 188, &c.  Lancet, N. S. vol. 7, pp. 196, 197.
  X London Medical Repository, vol. 3, p. 388.  A case where it proved use-
ful is given in ibid. vol. 12, p. 18. 
462
IRRITANT POISONS.
combinations.*  Both of these substances, (chalk and mag-
nesia,) have been given with striking advantage.
  The alkalies should not be given, as Christison and Coin-
det found death to follow in animals from the exhibition of
the  oxalates  of potash and ammonia  in  a few minutes.
" They do not corrode ; they hardly irritate, but they pro-
duce tetanus and coma, like the diluted acid."!
  Should the patient be so fortunate as to recover from the
immediate effects,  the  proper means for removing gastric
irritation are needed.   Stimulants  may subsequently be
necessary.
  Binoxalate of potash.  I notice this and another article,
in this place, because each owes its poisonous properties to
the presence  of oxalic acid.  The present substance has
several common names, as the  salt of sorrel, essential salt
of lemons ; and it forms  a constituent in some  of the
lozenges  that  are  sold under the name of parliament, or
lemon drops.
  There have  been several cases of poisoning with it, and
some fatal.   The  symptoms and mode of treatment are
similar  to those above stated.  The tests are also much the
same, because the acid is in excess.  The presence of potash
can also be ascertained.!
  Rhubarb or pie plant.  {Rheum rhaponticum.)  Of late
years, this species  of rhubarb  has been  much cultivated in
our gardens, and, from its pleasant acid taste, employed as
greens, or for making pies.  Occasionally we  have notices
of its proving hurtful.   Thus in the Buffalo  Medical Journal
(vol. 1, p. 19) it is  mentioned that a family of four persons
in that city, after eating very freely of the leaves, boiled and
served  as greens, were all  of  them, shortly  after, seized
with severe vomiting.   In one, this was followed by gastri-
tis, but  the  remainder escaped without any subsequent bad
symptoms.  The Northern Lancet, published at Plattsburgh

  * Lancet, N. S. vol. 10, p. 836.
  t Christison, p. 200.
  X For cases, see London Med. Gazette, vol. 27, p. 480.  Annales D'Hygiene,
vol. 27, p. 422. Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 58, p. 506. 
irritant poisons.
463
in this State, relates (May, 1850,) of a family poisoned from
exactly the same cause.  They were all  extremely ill, and
the maid died the next day.
  It is  probable that the stalk is not so deleterious as the
leaves.   But the injury would seem  to result from the
presence of an oxalate.  The root of the medicinal rhubarb
does not seem, according to Dr. Christison, to contain any
free oxalic acid, but oxalate of lime, varying according to
the different localities producing it, from 11 to 35 or 40 per
cent.  Lieut. Long, of the U.  S. army, M.  D. by previous
education, made an analysis  subsequent to the accident at
Buffalo, and ascertained that  the small  bundles in market
weighing about one pound, contain 24 grains of oxalic acid.
Although it was in combination with lime, yet certainly the
total is a dangerous compound.*  We  much need a careful
examination of the  matter,  since the ordinary use of the
plant in pies has not proved so hurtful as to excite general
attention.
   Tartaric and citric acids.  Orfila and Devergie arrange
 these  among the  poisonous  acids, but without stating any
cases.   Christison and Coindet  gave  each to cats  in  doses
of a drachm dissolved in twelve parts of water, without any
 effect.!  We have, however, now a case in  which tartaric
 acid was sold by a druggist in London, for epsom  salts.
 The purchaser, a cab'driver, took an ounce  dissolved in half
a pint of warm water.  He instantly felt a dreadful burning
sensation in  his throat and stomach.  Preparations of soda
 and magnesia  were soon given, with  diluent drinks.  But
 vomiting commenced and continued during life, which was
 prolonged nine days.  On  dissection, inflammation through
 nearly the whole extent of the alimentary canal was found.J
   Phosphorus, when dissolved in oil  and injected into the
 jugular vein,  instantly produced  copious exhalations  of
 phosphorous acid.   The respiration was difficult and pant-
 ing, a considerable quantity of a bloody serosity was thrown

   * Buffalo Med. Journal, vol. 1, p. 37.
   t Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 19, p. 185.
   X Lancet, Jan'y 2,1845.  Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 4, p. 372. 
464
IRRITANT poisons.
 up, and death followed in twenty minutes after the injection.
 The lungs, on dissection, exhibited several  livid and dense
 portions; the stomach was natural, and the left ventricle of
 the heart  contained blood as black, and fluid, as that which
 filled the right.
   When phosphorus  is introduced  in  small lumps into the
 stomach, it does not  at first induoe any remarkable effect,
 but the animal falls gradually into a state of depression and
 dies.   The stomach is much  inflamed, and contains a  thick
 greenish fluid.  In an experiment where our author adminis-
 tered one  hundred and forty grains in small lumps to a dog,
 one hundred and twenty-seven only were found after death,
 in various parts of the intestines.   The action of this sub-
 stance  is infinitely more violent, when  it is introduced into
 the  stomach in a state of solution with  oil.   Fumes of
 phosphorous acid were  exhaled from  the  lungs,  and the
 subject seemed  to suffer  exquisite torture.  It then lay
 immovable, but about six minutes before he expired, general
 and violent convulsions occurred.   The stomach was cor-
 roded in three places, and the mucous  membrane, where it
 had not been perforated,  was reduced to a stringy kind of
 pulp.   The  lungs were red, distended with blood, and did
 not crepitate.*
   Cases of its fatal  effects on  man are also not wanting.
 The following is related by Dr. Worbe :
   On the  24th of April,  1824, a young man took half a
 grain, mixed with hot water.   Finding no bad effects, he
 took a grain and a half in the same vehicle at a single dose.
 He breakfasted almost immediately, and experienced no bad
 symptom, until about  five o'clock, when he had  no sooner
 swallowed some food  than he complained of violent pains
 in the stomach and abdomen.   Incessant vomiting followed
 with diarrhoea.  Remedies were resorted to with little effect.
 An extreme  tenderness of the  abdomen remained,  and he
 gradually sunk until the twelfth day, when he died.f
  * Orfila, Toxicology, vol.  1, p. 405.  Similar results were obtained by
Harlan.  See  his Researches, p. 445.  Dr. T.  Thomson states that if phos-
phorus be allowed to stand in water for some  time, it will render that fluid
poisonous  to animals who drink it.  (Annals of Philosophy, vol. 16, p. 232.)
  f Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,  vol. 28, p. 228. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
465
  M. Dieffenbach,  chemist, at Biel, took first one grain of
phosphorus, and finally increased  it to three grains.  The
result of this  last  experiment was violent pain, which in a
few days was  followed by vomiting a greenish  matter of a
garlic-like smell.   The irritation of the  stomach could  not
be allayed.  Convulsions  and a paralysis of the left arm
succeeded, and he died on the twelfth day.*
  The appearances  on dissection, in M. Worbe's case, were a
yellow skin with occasional livid  spots, the  lungs  gorged
with blood, the muscular coat of the stomach  inflamed,  but
the internal ones not, except at the two orifices, where there
were slate-colored  patches.  All the intestines were tympa-
nitic.  In another case, by Dr. Flachsland, the external coat
of the stomach was red, and the villous one presented marks
of inflammation.   So also did the same coat  of  the duode-
num, and the kidneys and  spleen were inflamed.!
   Treatment.   As inflammation is evidently the consequence
of the  exhibition  of phosphorus, we should of  course  use
the appropriate remedies  for removing it.  An emetic must
be premised to remove, if possible, the poisonous ingredient;
and water  containing  magnesia in a state of suspension, is
also advised, as  tending to fill  the  stomach with fluid,  and
at the same time neutralizing the acid that is forming.
   Phosphorous acid, according to Dr, Hunefeld, produced, in
the dose of a drachm, difficult breathing, bloody vomiting,
convulsions and death in twelve  hours, in a rabbit.  The
villous coat of  the stomach was brownish-red near the cardia
alone.   There was no smell of phosphorus, but the urine

  * Lancet, N. S.  vol. 4, p. 357.   Other fatal cases are given by Lobstein in
his work on Phosphorus, New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 4, p.
413, and by Weickhard,  quoted in Hooper's Medical Dictionary. I am aware
that the  experiments of Chabert have induced some to suppose that phos-
phorus is innocuous. I doubt, however, whether they would  be willing to
swallow and retain the quantities he took.
  «I once administered," says Mr. Pereira, "sixteen grains of phosphorus
to Chabert without any hurtful effect. He washed them down with a tumbler
full of water.  He offered to take this dose daily.  How he counteracted the
effects, I know not; but I suspect he excited vomiting, for within ten minutes
after swallowing the phosphorus, he left the room for about a quarter of an
hour." (London Med. Gazette, vol. 17, p. 886 )
  t Christison, p.  169.
VOL. II.
30 
466                 IRRITANT POISONS.
contained phosphoric acid.   It would, indeed, seem from the
experiments of Weigel  and Krug, that phosphorous is far
more poisonous than phosphoric acid.*
  The effects  of phosphorus have  of late years attracted
increased attention., from the fact of its extensive employ-
ment in the manufacture of lucifer  matches, or what we in
this  country frequently style loco-foco matches.  The better
article consists of a combination of phosphorus  and chlo-
rate  of potash ; while others consist possibly of less of the
latter, with an  addition  of  sulphur.  Phosphorus is,  how-
ever, the leading ingredient.
  The following  points have been made  the  subject of
inquiry :  The diseases, if any, to which workmen employed
in the manufacture are  liable.   It was  at one time con-
sidered scarcely possible that the vapor could be inhaled
without permanent injury, but the researches of Dupasquier
at various  factories throw a doubt on  this.!  Again, from
the testimony of a number of  observers, whether the cause
was  the vapor or something else, it would certainly appear
that caries  of the teeth, and even of the jaws, with irrita-
tion of the bronchiae, was  far too common with the work-
men to  prevent  a suspicion that  the cause was in the
employment.   I have collected in another place the obser-
vations on this subject, and mentioned there the alternative
opinion  that  the  affections may be owing to  vapors of
arsenic, which last has, in some process of manufacture,
become united with the phosphorus used.|
  There can, however, be no doubt of the poisonous effects
of lucifer   matches  themselves, when  taken internally.
Cases are multiplying in the medical journals and in news-
papers, of  children  destroyed by them.  They sometimes
suck the  ends  before they  are observed, and the result is

  * Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 36, p. 461.  Encyclographie des
Sciences Medicales, February, 1845.
  Dr. Glover gave 50 grains of glacial phosphoric acid dissolved in 2 drachms
of water, to a rabbit, without any effect.  (Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Jour.
vol. 58, p. 121.)
  X Comptes Rendus, August 31 and Sept. 28,  1846.
  X American Journal of Med. Sciences, N. S. vol. 12, p. 525. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
467
very frequently fatal, being preceded by vomiting and con-
vulsions.   On dissection, the inflammation of the alimentary
canal is very marked  and extensive, accompanied with
ulceration and even bloody effusions.*
  Iodine.  Orfila was the first who performed  any experi-
ments with this substance.  He found that  dogs,  if they
vomited freely, survived, although they had taken a drachm
and upwards  of it;  but  when this did not  occur, or if  the
oesophagus was tied, it invariably proved fatal, after exciting
violent  efforts to vomit, hiccup, thirst, quick pulse and great
depression.  The  mucous  membrane  of  the stomach was
always  found corroded and ulcerated, but the lungs  and
other organs were natural.
  Our author was able in some cases to detect the iodine in
the matter vomited  and passed by stool.   On drying  and
exposing it to heat,  the violet-colored vapor appeared.
  A drachm and twelve grains  were sprinkled on a wound
 on  the back of a dog.  The skin immediately grew yellow,
 and in three days an eschar formed, leaving the subjacent
 parts highly inflamed.   The animal, however, recovered.
   Our  author next  ascertained the effect of iodine on the
 human  subject.  He himself took two grains  fasting;  but
 they only  excited an abominable taste,  and nausea.   The
 next morning he took  four grains.  He was  immediately
 sensible of constriction  and heat  in the  throat, which con-
 tinued  a quarter of an hour, and he  soon vomited  yellow
 liquid matter, in which iodine was readily discovered.  Two
 days after he took six grains, which instantly excited heat
 and constriction of the throat,  nausea, irritation, salivation,
 and pain of the  stomach, and, in ten minutes, copious bilious
 vomitings  and  slight colic pains,  which  yielded  to  two
 emollient  enemata,  after having continued  an hour.  The
 pulse rose from 70 to 90, and was fuller.   The next day he
 felt only a slight fatigue.!
  • I may cite cases in the London and Edinburgh Monthly Med. Journal,
 vol. 8, p. 362; Lancet, Dec. 30,1843.
  f  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 490.  There  is  probably a mistake in the
statement that has been made of Magendie taking a scruple of iodine in the
form of tincture, without inconvenience. According to the 8th ed. of his 
468                 IRRITANT POISONS.

  Shortly after, or about this time, iodine came extensively
into use for the treatment of bronchocele.   It was undoubt-
edly given in too large doses;  and the effects, as stated  by
Coindet, were rapid emaciation, severe pain in the orbits and
eyes, with great defect of vision ; neuralgic pains in various
parts of the body, palpitation  of the  heart, and not unfre-
quently inflammation of some of the organs.   In females, a
rapid diminution of the size of the breasts, (and this con-
tinuing permanent,) was early noticed.*
  Fatal cases are not wanting.   In these, severe vomiting
and purging were  a common occurrence.  Dr. Zink, a Swiss
physician, relates two instances of  death from its incautious
use.  In one there was diarrhoea,  priapism, tremors of the
whole  body, and  palpitation.  The body was not opened.
In  the  other,  it  was, and a  violent inflammation of the
stomach and intestines was found.!
  In an instance  where two drachms and  a half of iodine
were taken for the purpose of suicide, a  sense of burning
from the  throat to  the stomach was  soon perceived, and
nausea and acute pain followed.   In an hour, vomiting of a
yellowish fluid, having the taste of iodine, ensued.  This
was promoted  by the use of warm water, while the attend-
ant symptoms were counteracted by enemata and gum-water.
Through these  means, the patient recovered.!
  As to the  tincture of iodine, there exists some diversity of
result.   According to Magendie, the injection  of it into the
veins of a dog  produced no  dangerous effects,  while Dr.
Formulary, the quantity cannot have been more than six grains.  (London
Med. Gazette, vol. 22, p. 505.  Devergie thinks that from 18 to 30 grains will
prove fatal to man; vol. 2, p. 531.
  *  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 4, p. 757.  Review of Brera and Coindet
on Iodine.  See also the Review of Gairdner's Work in ibid. vol. 5, p. 104.
  t  Anderson's Jour., vol. 2, p. 148.  Edinburgh Med. and Surgical Journal,
vol.  23, p. 225.
  X  Case by Dessaigne, Littel's Journal of Foreign Medicine, vol. 1, p. 569,
from Journal de Chimie MSdicale.  I must not leave the notice of the effects
of iodine, without mentioning that Dr. Rivers of Tennessee, has stated two
cases in which it appears to have produced barrenness.  A lady who mar-
ried at seventeen, suffered under goitre, but for the three first years had a
child annually. _ Iodine was  now exhibited for the disease, which it partially
diminished, and it also affected the breasts. Eight years have elapsed, and
she  has not been pregnant again.  Other similar cases are said to have occur-
red. (American Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 8, p. 646.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
469
Cogswell found that two drachms  speedily destroyed life.
Fontanelle mentions the case of an individual in France who
swallowed  by mistake four  ounces  of tincture of iodine
(equal to 147 Troy grains) without any effects, except slight
heat at the  stomach.*   Dr. Buchanan  has given large doses
of the iodide of starch and hydriodic acid without any inju-
rious consequences.!
   Tests.  When in a solid state,  iodine  may be detected by
its peculiar odor;  the violet  fumes it forms when  heated,
and the fine blue color it produces with a solution of starch.
   When dissolved in water or solutions of neutral salts, it
communicates  a yellowish or reddish-brown  color to the
fluid.   This is destroyed by  sulphuretted hydrogen.   " In
the colorless fluid thus formed, if treated with a drop or two
of sulphuric acid, or in the original brown fluid without sul-
phuric acid, a cold  solution of starch produces  a fine blue
color  and  precipitate, which, if the solution be sufficiently
 diluted, disappear on boiling, reappear on sudden  cooling,
 and  are removed  permanently by  a  stream of sulphuretted
 hydrogen."!   This,  says Dr. Christison, is a very delicate
 and characteristic system of tests.
   If mixed with organic substances, the  difficulty of detection
 is increased, from the fact that it often  undergoes important
 changes in the alimentary canal.  It is converted, in some
 instances,  into hydriodic acid;  and in  others, the mixture
 may be so dark as to prevent the characteristic action of
  * Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 47, p. 521; British Annals of
Medicine, vol. l,p. 222.
  t London Med. Gazette, vol. 18, p. 515. The application of tincture of iodine
to an excoriated  surface, has caused some of the severest symptoms of poi-
soning.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 31, p. 791.)
  X Christison, p. 170.  Stromeyer advises  that nitric acid be added to the
suspected liquid. I may also mention the process of Baup.  Having added
nitric acid to the liquid,  he suspends above its surface a moistened paper
sprinkled with starch. The vessel containing these is then closed, and allowed
to stand at rest for some hours.  If iodine be present, the starch will become
blue.  This is said to be a very minute test, and Berzelius recommends  it,
inasmuch as the matters precipitated in the  solution by the acid,  cannot act
on the starch, or produce a color that might be mistaken for it.  (Berzelius'
Chimie, vol. 1, p. 305.)
  Chloride of palladium is named by Baumann as a  minute test of iodine,
depositing black flakes.  (London and Edinburgh Medical Jour.,  vol.  3,
page  364.) 
470
IRRITANT POISONS.
     the starch.*   Dr. Christison  recommends  the  following
     process for such  a mixture :   Add water, if necessary, and
     filter.   If it be but little or not at all colored, test it  with
     the cold solution  of starch.  If the blue color appears, and
     this disappears on boiling,  and returns  again  on cooling,
     there  is no doubt  of the  existence of iodine.   But if the
     filtered mixture is too deep-colored to permit the action  of
     the starch, then agitate both solid and  fluid parts with a
    .third of their volume of ether, and after the ethereal solution
     has risen  to the surface,  remove it, and test it with the
     solution of starch.!
       Iodine has been  detected  by Cantu in the sweat, urine,
     saliva, and milk  of persons  who have taken it; and Ben-
     nerscheidt,  a  German  chemist, has found it in the blood
     drawn from the veins.  He detected it in the  crassamentum,
     but not in the serum.|
       Dr.  O'Shaughnessy detected  it in  the urine  of a  dog
     poisoned, in forty minutes,  and occasionally after that as
     late as the fifth  day, when  the animal  died.  He found  it
     also in the saliva.  In these experiments, it  was always in
     the form of hydriodic acid, having  been changed to this in
     the alimentary canal.§
       Treatment.   If this substance  has been  taken in large
     quantities, the first indication, of course, is to obviate its
*    consequences, by means of  emetics or the  stomach-pump.
     Dr. Thomson also advises that cold mucilage of starch, or
     boiled flour and  water, be drank freely.  The subsequent
     effects, which are  commonly those of inflammation, must he
     combated by the appropriate means.  In smaller doses, but
     where unfortunately this substance  appears to accumulate
     in  the system, before it manifests its  powerful results,  a
     long and patient course of antiphlogistic  and  soothing treat-
     ment is often necessary.||

      * Dr.  O'Shaughnessy, in Lancet, N. S., vol. 6, p. 633.  Another difficulty
     mentioned by him, is the ready formation in the alimentary canal of a com-
     pound, consisting of iodine and albumen, totally insoluble in alcohol, and
     nearly so in water.
      f Christison, p. 171    X  North Amer. Med. and Surg. Jour., v. 7, p. 432.
      § Lancet, N. S.  vol. 7, p. 613.
      || A free use of carbonate of soda is also advised by Mr. Taylor. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
471
  Hydriodate of potash. {Iodide of potassium.)  This sub-
stance,  in  large  doses,  according  to  the  experiments  of
Devergie, acts as  an irritant on animals. Two drachms in an
ounce  of water,  killed a dog  in three  days with  violent
vomiting, and  black extravasated  spots and  ulcers were
found in the stomach.   Injected into the  jugular vein  in
the dose of four grains, it produced tetanus and death in a
minute and  a half.  Dr. Cogswell obtained  similar results.
He destroyed animals by introducing it under the skin.
  On man, this substance, in large  doses, acts like iodine.
It affects the  nervous system  powerfully, and has  caused
ptyalism and diuresis.  Of poisoning in  the human subject,
several cases are related.  A drachm and a half of the solu-
tion of hydriodate of potash were taken for the purpose of
committing  suicide.   The symptoms  were immediate  dis-
tress, nausea and burning, and acute  pain at the stomach.
In  an hour vomiting  ensued, with  great suffering  and
vertigo.  By the  use of warm water, however, enemata and
mucilages, the  patient recovered.*
  Dr.  Lawrie, of Glasgow,  mentions several  instances  in
which the  daily exhibition  of one or  two grains of the
hydriodate soon produced a dryness and irritation of throat,
followed by all the symptoms of severe croup; and in  two
cases, although  the  patients  were laboring either under
cancerous or syphilitic affections, he is of opinion that the
use  of the remedy (in  one for six  days, and in  the other,
sixteen days)  was the  immediate  cause of sudden  death,
which was  produced alike by  inflammation and oedema of
the  larynx.!
  Tests.  The importance of  understanding these is greatly
increased from  the fact already mentioned, of the probability
of the conversion of iodine into hydriodic acid in the  sto-
mach.  A little of the fluid, therefore, after filtration, should
be mixed with the solution of starch as above directed, and

-.QooMedical Recorder> vo1- 14> P- 371, from Achives Generales for February,
1828.
  t  London Med.  Gazette, Oct. 26, p. 588.  See  also ibid. vol. 28, p. 911.
Lancet, Oct. 16, 1841, p. 96.  Dr. Coates in  Med. Examiner,  N. S., vol. 1,
page 65. 
472
IRRITANT POISONS.
a few drops of sulphuric acid be then added.   The blue tint
will appear, if there be an appreciable quantity of hydriodic
acid present.  Acetate  of lead throws down a fine  yellow
precipitate, the  iodide of lead; muriate  of  platina  a  dark
brown one, the  iodide of platina; and corrosive sublimate a
fine carmine red, the periodide of mercury.*
  But in  compound  mixtures,  hardly  any  of these  will
answer; and particularly not, if, as is so common at present,
the hydriodate be adulterated.  The  only one among them
that Dr. O'Shaughnessy deems  deserving of confidence, is
the muriate of platina;  and he therefore  recommends in all
cases, along with it, the use of the starch test.  The process
which he advises is as  follows: Make first  a trial experi-
ment to ascertain whether any free iodine be present.  If no
blue color is produced, boil the mixture and filter.  Neutral-
ize, if necessary, with caustic potash, and reacidulate  with
acetic acid.   A few drops of muriate  of platina may now be
added; and if hydriodic acid be present, there will be either
a dark red precipitate, or the  fluid will be changed of a port-
wine color.   Agitate it now with an  ounce of ether, which
dissolves the iodide  of platina, and  separates it from the
other fluids swimming on their  surface.  Remove this by a
suction tube, evaporate to dryness, heat the iodide of pla-
tina by a spirit lamp  in a small glass tube, and the iodine
will exhibit its  characteristic violet vapors.!
  Dr. Christison has, however, found difficulty in producing
the characteristic  action of the muriate of  platina.  The
process advised by  him is this :  If the starch test will not
act, transmit through the whole of the contents, sulphuretted
hydrogen, to  convert any free iodine into hydriodic  acid.
" Drive off the excess of gas, supersaturate with a consider-
able excess of potash, filter and evaporate to dryness.  Char
the residue at a low red heat in a covered crucible, pulver-

  *  Christison, p. 176. Mr. Kemp says that the proto-nitrate of mercury in
solution is a most minute test of the hydriodate. A  yellow precipitate falls
down, the protoioduret of mercury.  He  thus detected iodine in the  urine.
(London Med- Gazette, vol. 18, p. 450.)
  t  Lancet, N. S., vol. 6, p. 637 ; vol. 7, p. 612. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
473
ize the charcoaly mass,  and exhaust with water."  This
solution will  probably act with starch and  sulphuric acid ;
but if it does not, evaporate to dryness, and dissolve the
residuum in alcohol.  This solution contains hydriodate of
potash; and on  being evaporated to dryness, a residuum is
left, on which,  when dissolved in  water, the  starch and
sulphuric acid will act.*
  I find a  test  recommended on  the authority  of Balard3
which may probably render these processes unnecessary.  It
is to mix the suspected fluid with starch, sulphuric acid and
fluid chlorine.  If necessary, agitate  this compound.  In a
short time, if left at rest, the  starch acquires  a distinct
violet color.   One part  of hydriodate of potash was dis-
solved  in two of distilled water; this was largely diluted,
and the other  substances then  added in very small quanti-
ties.  In  fourteen hours the starch became slightly colored,
and in 24 hours it had a marked violet hue-!   Dr. Anthony
T. Thomson has  recently advised  the use of chlorine gas
instead of fluid chlorine, and without any sulphuric acid.
 His method  is  to mix a small quantity of the  solution of
 starch  with the fluid to be tested, and then pour on the sur-
 face of the liquid some  chlorine gas.   A blue film at once
 appears and gradually pervades the whole, if any hydriodate
be present.   This also proves a very minute test.|
   A curious  fact is  mentioned by Orfila, which deserves a
place here :  Some time since, a quantity of salt containing
ioduret of potassium, was seized by order of the authorities
of Paris.   It readily gave the  blue  color with  starch, sul-
phuric acid and  chlorine  ; but was insensible to the opera-
tion of the salts of platina and mercury.  What was, how-
  * Christison, p. 177.  It must not be forgotten, that in suspected cases, we
are to look for iodine or its salts in the urine, blood or saliva, as well as in
the contents of the stomach.
  t Brande's Journal, N. S., vol. 7. p. 200. Reid's Chemistry, 2d ed., p. 205.
Dr. Reid says  that this is the best method of detecting minute portions of
iodine in solution.
  X London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine,  vol. 4, p. 468. Dr.
Thomson subsequently recommended nitrous acid gas as equally efficient with
 faseous chlorine. It is to be used in the same manner.  London Med. and
 urg. Jour., vol. 9, p. 446.  I find, however, that at a subsequent period he
remarked that gaseous chlorine is the best, since it  detects the salt in every
proportion.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 20, p. 708. 
474
IRRITANT POISONS.
ever, astonishing, was, if a drop of the ioduret was added to
a solution of pure chloride of sodium, the salts caused their
characteristic effects.  It  is difficult, says Orfila, to explain
this diversity, unless we admit,  that in the case of the salt
when crystallized, the  ioduret is  combined  with the chlo-
ride of sodium; while in the other, the two salts are simply
mixed.*
  Bromine.  This substance, according to the experiments
of Barthez, Butske  and Dieffenbach, is an  active poison.
When ten or twelve grains were dissolved in water, and in-
jected into the jugular vein of a dog, they caused immediate
death, preceded by a single tetanic convulsion ; and on dis-
section, the heart was seen gorged with clotted blood. In
small doses,  it produced restlessness, difficult  breathing,
dilated  pupil and sneezing.   When introduced into the
stomach to  the amount of from 40 to 60 drops, the  symp-
toms were  similar to the last, accompanied  with violent
vomiting.   After some hours  this would abate; and then,
without  any striking symptoms except  languor, death en-
sued in four or five days.   The villous coat of the stomach
was found ulcerated.   Dr. Butske, in his experiments, found
it to act  more rapidly, and death was induced in a day.
  The hydrobromate of potash, in doses of half a drachm, did
not appear to act as a poison ; but two drachms, retained in
the stomach by tying the gullet, occasioned death in three
days, with symptoms of irritant poisoning.
  From  the observations of Barthez, it appears probable
that bromine is converted very shortly  into  hydrobromic
acid in the stomach: resembling iodine in this respect.
  At a later period, Dr. Glover carefully examined the effects
of bromine.   They were first announced to the British Asso-
ciation in 1840; and in 1842,  formed the  subject  of the
Harveian Prize Essay at  Edinburgh.  This is published in
full in the 58th volume of the Edinburgh Medical and Sur-
gical Journal.
  When  bromine was introduced into  the stomachs of ani-
mals, the appearances found were those of the most violent
               * Orfila's Lecons, 3d ed., vol. 3, p. 27. 
                                                   475
                   IRRITANT POISONS.                * ' J

irritation, and even  corrosion, and  this  not only in the
digestive organs, but it  extended to the air passages and
the lungs.   The volatilized bromine probably induces the
latter.   Dr. Glover remarks, that bromine is more irritant
when diluted than when pure.   It is an irritant independent
of its corrosive action; and he found this substance, in some
instances, in the urine of animals poisoned by it, and in the
blood in others.
  Hydrobromic acid was found to be less powerfully corro-
sive and irritant than bromine : still its effects in large doses
were well marked.
  He found the bromides generally to have but little corro-
sive action.   Bromide of potassium is, however, poisonous;
while bromide  of sodium  resembles common salt in  its
physiological properties, and  is not more energetic.  Bro-
mide of barium and of magnesium, in  considerable doses,
also  caused death,  with reddening  and corrosion of  the
 mucous membrane of the stomach.  Bromide of zinc is pro-
 bably more active than either of the two last.
   I am not aware of a single case on record, of poisoning of
 the human subject by bromine, except the one just published
 (Sept. 1850) in Dr. Purple's New York Journal of Medicine,
 by Dr. Snell of Long Island :
    A male took nearly an ounce of bromine  with a suicidal
 intent.  In half an hour, when  first seen, the lips, tongue,
 mouth, &c, were highly inflamed; there was burning pain,
 and tremors of the hands and arms.   In a few hours, marks
 of increased suffering  and prostration  ensued; the  saliva
 flowed very freely, the mucous rattle increased, and deglu-
 tition was impracticable, but there was no retching or
 vomiting.   Death  followed, with the  usual  symptoms of
 suffering, at the end of seven and a half hours.  The stomach
 was found covered on its internal surface with a thick black
 layer,  resembling tanned  leather,  and peeling  off very
 readily ; the mucous membrane softened  and injected, and
 the lower  part of the  stomach hard and tanned.   Similar
 appearances were seen in  the duodenum.  The peritoneum 
476
IRRITANT POISONS.
and omentum were  deeply tinged with bromine, and much
injected.
  The tests of bromine, when pure, are its color, its orange
fumes, and  its suffocating vapor.   When  mixed, Barthez
advises that it be subjected to the action of chlorine, which
will produce a fine orange color; or if this does not answer,
treat  the  solid matter with  caustic potash, filter, and add
what  passes through to the  former  fluid, evaporate to dry-
ness  and  char, and  then act on the  residue  with distilled
water.  The solution contains hydrobromate of potash, and
is therefore turned orange red by chlorine.*  Hydrochlorate
of platina gives,  with hydrobromate of potash, a  canary
yellow precipitate.!   Chlorine of gold is recommended by
Dr. Glover: its solution gives a red tinge.
  Antidotes.   Although Dr.  Glover  recommends a solution
of starch, or the whites of eggs, yet  there can  be but little
doubt that the latter  is far preferable.  From statements
made by  Mr. Smee,J and also by Dr. Snell, it  is quite cer-
tain that ammonia acts very favorably.   Its vapor is said to
be  constantly  employed  by  persons  engaged in  taking
daguerreotypes, to ward off the injurious effects of occasional
inhalation.
  Barthez proposed  magnesia, but the bromide of magnesium
is far from being inert.
  We have reason to fear, from its extensive employment in
the arts,  that  many  succeeding  cases of poisoning may
occur.

        II.   The Alkalies, Alkaline Salts, and  Lime.
  Pure potash, when  externally applied, is well known to
act  as a powerful caustic.   On injecting a solution of it into
the jugular, it produces  sudden death; and on dissection,
the blood is found  coagulated.   When  swallowed by an
animal, it corrodes  the stomach, and inflames its mucous
membrane.

 * Christison, p. 180. North American Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 8, p. 432
 t Devergie, vol. 2, p. 539.
 X London  Medical Gazette, vol. 32, p. 61. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
477
   Dr. Massart relates of a man who swallowed some liquor
potassae  by mistake.  Severe pain followed, with  nausea
and  a general coldness.  Tartaric  acid  in solution was
given at intervals with great relief, and this, with sinapisms
and enemas, appears to have saved the patient's life.   Two
days after, a very tough and thick membrane was thrown
off from the tongue and back part of the mouth.   He, how-
ever, gradually recovered.*
   Dr. Bretonneau has  stated the following  curious results
obtained by him on dogs :  Aware of the  caustic operation
of potash on the mouth and oesophagus, he introduced, by
means of a tube, from 40  to 60 grains of the pure alkali into
the  stomach.  Bloody or  mucous  vomitings ensued, and
sometimes indeed pure blood was thrown up.  But after two
days, during which the animals  displayed no appetite,, they
gradually returned  to their accustomed habits, as if no dis-
ease existed.  Several were killed weeks afterwards, who
had been remarked for their voracity and high spirits; and
yet on dissection of all  of these, the mucous membrane of
the  stomach was found nearly altogether  destroyed.  In
some instances the muscular and peritoneal coats were con-
solidated, showing  thick and rough cicatrices even  on the
external coat of the stomach.!
   The subcarbonate of potash (salt of tartar) is also a poison
of considerable activity.  A dog to whom two drachms were
administered, died in fifteen minutes; and Plenk mentions a
case, where a patient in good health took an ounce, which
produced violent vomiting and gastritis. Life was, however,
preserved.!  There are, however, fatal instances on record.
  A  small  boy took by  mistake about three ounces of a
strong solution.  When Mr. Dewar saw him, an hour after-
wards, the  tongue, gums  and fauces appeared as if seared
with a hot iron, while the inside of the cheeks was highly
inflamed.  Vomiting occurred incessantly, and remedies had

de*ParisiSh "* Vw&B1 ^ Eeview' vo1- 4> P- 239> f™» Gazette M^dicale
 t Orfila's Lemons, 3d ed., vol. 3, p. 66
 X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 380. 
478
IRRITANT POISONS.
no effect.  He died  in  twelve hours.  On dissection, the
mucous membrane of the pharynx and oesophagus was seen
totally disorganized, and blood was universally extravasated
between the  muscular and pulpy  mucous  coats.  The sto-
mach was generally inflamed, and its mucous coat destroyed
in two places.   Clotted  blood covered these injured parts.*
  The  following cases  will illustrate its  more  chronic
effects :
  Two females, of the age of sixteen and twelve, each took
by mistake half an ounce of  subcarbonate  of  potash.  Vio-
lent  sickness immediately ensued, but the error was not
discovered  until  two hours  and  a  half afterwards.  The
vomiting and sickness scarcely ever ceased entirely with the
elder, and she also  experienced  pain in the epigastric re-
gion.  Leeches were applied, and various curative  means,
but with little  success.   The vomiting, though occasionally
checked, yet returned with violence, and  she died in about
two  months after taking it.   The  other suffered under sick-
ness for three days, and  it then  ceased.   She appeared to
grow better; but in a few weeks the sickness returned, and
she  was confined to  her bed.  Death ensued  about three
weeks after that of her sister.
  The appearances of disease were similar in both, although
most striking in the eldest.  The stomach was much thick-
ened, and the  villous coat was almost wholly destroyed;
what remained, was in a state of high inflammation.  The
pylorus in one was  much ulcerated, and in the other, con-
tracted and  gangrenous.  The  intestines were gangrenous,
and adhered together by thin threads of coagulable lymph.
The omentum in the youngest was almost totally destroyed,
and the glands of the mesentery for the most part absorbed.
The liver in  both was of a dark green hue, in consequence
of the transfusion of bile; and the gall-bladder was distended
  * Dewar in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 30, p. 309.  Dr. Cox
mentions another instance in a child three years old, which swallowed some
deliquescent potash.  It apparently  suffered no pain, nor was there any
retching or vomiting except from the use of medicines. Death ensued in 24
hours. Marks of inflammation and erosion were found as in the above case,
and the rima glottidis was narrowed by vascular extravasation into the sub-
cutaneous cellular tissue.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 16, p. 660.) 
                     IRRITANT POISONS.                  479

with it,  probably from  the circumstance that  the biliary
ducts were found almost obliterated.
  Both  these  females  had  previously been  in delicate
health.*
  The peculiar styptic and urinous taste, a severe heat in
the  throat,  retchings,  vomitings  of  an  alkaline  matter
which  commonly effervesces with acids,  copious  alvine
evacuations  and pain, are among the leading symptoms pro-
duced by this substance.
   Orfila suggests that this alkali, of all  the corrosive poi-
 sons, is that which most frequently perforates the stomach.
 It  also  causes inflammation  of the different coats  of  this
 viscus, and  of the intestines.
   Antidote.   Vinegar and lemon-juice are the most valuable
 remedies for this purpose, and their use  should be aided by
 mucilaginous drinks.
    Dr. Chereau has published  two  cases of  poisoning with
 carbonate of potash, in which large quantities of sweet oil
 proved signally useful.   It excited vomiting, and he imagines
 that  it  unites chemically with the potash  in  the stomach.
  Several pounds are, however, required.!
    Nitrate of potash.  (Nitre, salt-petre.)  This salt, in large
  doses, acts  as a corrosive poison, and  cases illustrative of
 this effect are mentioned by various writers.  An individual
 laboring under a fever, took by mistake  an ounce and a half
 of nitrate of potash.  In a short time, severe anguish, with
 a  sense of  internal cold, supervened, and fainting and syn-
  cope followed.  He died in  less than ten hours.!
    A female took an ounce and a half by mistake.   It excited
  vomiting  and purging,  with violent pain  in  the  bowels.
    * London Med. Repository, vol. 7, p. 118.  Mr. Dewar mentions a case
  where the immediate effects were  counteracted; but in four or  five days,
  sloughs began to separate from the lining membrane of the mouth, throat and
  gullet.  This ended in stricture, and after many alternations of apparent re-
  covery and illness, caused death from starvation in four months. (Edinburgh
  Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 30, p. 310.)  Dr.  Christison quotes a
  parallel case from Sir Charles Bell, where the swallowing of soap-lees was
  the cause. An instance of severe symptoms, but of final recovery, from taking
  an ounce of  salt of tartar in solution, is related by Dr. Liegard. It was
  cured by vinegar.  Bulletin de l'Acad. Royale de Medecine, vol. 1, p. 151.
    t London Med. Repository, vol. 20, p. 440.
    X Quoted from Comparetti.  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 87. 
480                 IRRITANT POISONS.

The extremities we're cold, while a burning sensation was
experienced in the stomach; the  pulse was almost imper-
ceptible, and she died in sixty hours  after taking the salt.
On dissection, the  stomach  was  found red, and  chequered
over with blackish spots, and in the centre of one of these
was a small hole which perforated it.  The intestinal canal
was reddish.*
  In a third case, related by M. Laflize, an ounce produced
similar effects, and death in three hours.  The stomach was
very highly inflamed, and its mucous coat detached in several
places; the  external coat was  of a deep red,  and some
brown spots were observed on it.!
  There are, however, some instances where patients have
recovered, after taking large doses.  A pregnant female, by
mistake took two ounces, which immediately excited vomit-
ing, first of the contents of the stomach, and then of blood.
As soon as the alarm was taken, warm water and mucilagi-
nous drinks, (gum arabic, linseed tea, &c.,) were  exhibited.
Burning pains  at the stomach, however, supervened; the
pulse  sunk,  and a  cold clammy sweat broke  out.  The
vomiting recurred frequently with violence.   From this she
was gradually relieved, but  the pains in the abdomen con-
tinued for  a  longer time; and when convalescent,  and ten
days after the taking of the salt, she was seized with a ner-
vous  affection, greatly  resembling chorea.   Twitching of
the muscles, and involuntary motions, were present  to an
alarming degree, and they continued for two months.  They
gradually left her, and she was  at last happily delivered. J

  *  Case by Souville.  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 87.
  t  See Fodere, vol. 4, p. 82.  Metzger,  p. 385, and Belloc, p. 141, refer to
several cases where nitre has proved poisonous. Another fatal instance occur-
red in the vicinity of this city, in the person of a gentleman aged 75. He
mistook it for Glauber's salts. Death followed in half an hour.
  A fatal case, in a person aged sixty years, at Manchester, who must have
taken about ten drachms in solution, and which caused death in a few hours,
after diarrhoea, and where there was found inflammation of the stomach and
bowels, is  quoted from the Dublin Journal in Medical Examiner, vol. 8,
page 67.
  X  Case by Mr. Butter, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14,
p. 34.  This gentleman observes, that he is not aware of any case on record
where a patient was  taken and recovered from so large a dose of nitre
There is, however, another in the Memoirs of the Medical Society of London, 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
481
  Effect on animals.  Five  drachms and  a half given to a
dog caused vomiting, but on  the day following  he ate well
and experienced no remarkable symptoms.  But when the
oesophagus was tied, and the salt introduced  into the sto-
mach, it excited vertigo,  pain,  slight convulsions, insensi-
bility, weakness and death.  The mucous membrane of the
stomach was inflamed, and scattered over  with black spots.
The lungs were natural.
  When  nitre in powder was  applied to a wound on the
back of a dog, it produced no effect.  But an application of
it to an incision near the femoro-tibial articulation, produced
gangrene, after some days, and the animal died.
  For its chemical  detection the same process  must be fol-
lowed as was recommended for nitric acid, omitting,however,
the neutralization with potash.
  The most proper treatment may be inferred from the nar-
ratives  given  above.  Vomiting should be induced, and the
stomach-pump has been successfully used  in some instances,
doubtless as well from its  dilution of the nitre, as its dis-
 charge.  The consequent effects often call for the antiphlo-
 gistic treatment.
   Supertartrate of potash (cream of tartar) would also seem
 to be poisonous in  large doses, at least if we are to depend
on a single case.   A man aged 37, is supposed to have taken
a quarter of a pound  at one  time.  Pains, vomiting and
purging ensued, and he  sunk  in spite of remedies  in two
days.   He was, however, an intemperate  person.  On dis-
section, marks of  high inflammation were  found in  the
stomach and intestines.*

related by Dr. Falconer, vol. 3, p. 527.  The individual, (a blacksmith,) took
two ounces, and his symptoms were similar to those already detailed, except
that he vomited blood to the amount of a quart.  He was ill for many months
afterwards, and was not dismissed cured from the hospital until nearly a year
after the accident.  Other cases of recovery  are cited by Orfila.  See also
Gordon Smith, 2d ed. p. 151.  London Medical Repository, vol. 22, p. 213.
  Dr. Henry Bennet (Lancet, Feb. 10, 1844) asserts that large doses of the
nitrate, in solution, have been taken with impunity.  Such, also, is the
tendency  of the experiments of Mojon and Rognetta reported to the Academy
of Sciences in 1843.  Is  it not probable that the occasional escape of indi-
viduals may be owing to the presence of disease, and  that the saltpetre has
some such effect as tartar emetic in pneumonia ?
  * London Medical Gazette, vol. 21, p. 177.
  VOL. II.                    31 
482
IRRITANT  POISONS.
   Sulphate of potash (vitriolated tartar).  Is this a poison'?
 It certainly was not so considered, until a few years since,
 when the occurrence of two cases, one in England and the
 other in France, raised the question.   In the latter instance,
 a female, seven days after a very favorable puerperal period,
 took on the prescription of a physician ten drachms, divided
 into six doses, and one every quarter of an hour.   It caused
 burning heat  of the mouth and stomach, nausea, cramps,
 vomiting and purging, and death followed in two and a half
 hours after taking the first prescription.  There were no
 very striking marks of inflammation found on dissection, and
 a chemical examination could detect nothing but  the  sul-
 phate of potash.*
  In 1843 a husband gave his wife, as he confessed in order
 to make her miscarry, two  ounces mixed with water, and it
 appeared that  for  a fortnight previous he had repeatedly
 administered large doses.   It induced violent vomiting, and
 death followed in a few hours.  Inflammation of the stomach
 was observed, with marks of sanguineous apoplexy.!
  These facts certainly show that in large doses, the salt in
 question  is far from being innocuous.  In some way,  it is
 popular in  France  as an abortive.  It  is possible that the
 difficult solubility of the salt  when taken as above may aid
 in causing the severe effects.  But the largeness of the dose
 is after all, the most probable solution.!
  The action of soda is precisely similar to  that of potash,
 as is also the mode of treatment necessary to counteract its
effects.
  Ammonia, both in its liquid and gaseous state is extremely
caustic and pungent.  When injected  into the veins, it  pro-

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 29, p. 158.
  f London Medical Gazette, October, 1843; Am. Journal Medical Sciences,
 N. S.,vol. 7, p. 88.
  X Whether Alum, (supersulphate of alumine and potash,) in large doses,
is a poison, has been elaborately investigated by Orfila in Annales D'Hygiene,
vol. 1, p. 235 ; vol. 3, p. 181.  He is decidedly of the opinion that it is not.
Devergie, however, (seeking every occasion to differ from Orfila, as the  other
does with him) deduces from his experiments, that calcined alum in solution
will destroy dogs, whose oesophagus is tied, if given to  the extent  of six
drachms and upwards.  He hence supposes that the same dose will act with
greater energy on man, as his stomach is more sensitive.  (Vol. 2, p. 658.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
483
duces a stiffness, resembling tetanus, and violent convulsions.
These were soon followed by death.   When introduced into
the stomach, fatal effects also ensued, and its mucous mem-
brane was found of a red color throughout a part of its
extent, but no ulceration or perforation was present.
  The following illustration of its severe  effects is worthy
of notice :
  On the 10th of June, 1840,  at  about three quarters past
eleven o'clock in the evening, Dr. Souchard, of Batignolles,
was suddenly summoned  to visit  M. A. Pietri, the pupil of
a druggist in that place.  This young man, whom many had
seen a few hours previous, in perfect health, was now in the
most imminent danger.   One  of those enormous  stone
bottles, known in commerce by the name of bonbonnes,  and
which contains about fifty pounds of the volatile alkali, had
been delivered late  in the  evening at the shop.  The drug-
gist was doing duty as one  of the national guard, and it  was
too late to procure other assistance in order to carry it  into
 the cellar.  The  heat of the  room probably caused  the
 ammonia to expand, and  thus the bottle broke.  Pietri slept
 in a small apartment opening  into  the shop, but he  had
 scarcely been  in bed before he  experienced a violent con-
 striction  of the  throat,  and great difficulty  of breathing.
 Unable to account for this, he arose for the purpose of pro-
 curing a  drink of water,  but as he entered the shop, the
 sense of suffocation  increased, and he would probably have
 expired, had not a female servant been aroused by his plain-
 tive  cries.  She  succeeded, though  not without  risk to
 herself, in dragging him from the tainted air.   It is supposed
 that  he  had  been exposed to it  about three-quarters of an
 hour.
   Dr. Souchard directed his  immediate removal  into  the
 open air.  His countenance was  covered with red spots; a
 large quantity of bloody froth issued from the mouth  and
 nose; and the  tongue was  of a vivid red  and appeared de-
 prived of its epithelium, but in some places it was covered
 with a white mucus, resembling portions of a false  mem-
brane, and the cavity of the mouth had a similar appearance. 
484
IRRITANT POISONS.
The patient, who could  articulate  only with extreme diffi-
culty, complained  of a  cutting pain in  the  throat,  which
soon extended to the chest; the respiration was very feeble
and suffocation  seemed impending.   He  experienced great
thirst, but it was almost impossible to swallow anything, as
the attempt caused  violent coughing, and  a mucous expec-
toration.  The pulse was feeble, irregular  and frequent, the
eyes red, and  the face  burning to the touch.  He was bled
largely, with very great relief,  and being removed to a  bed,
vinegar diluted  with  water,  was  regularly administered.
Although  he swallowed at  first with difficulty, yet its good
effects  were soon  manifest in  a diminution  of the mucous
rattle.   Leeches were applied to the  throat with success,
and subsequently frictions, astringent gargles, enemas  and
warm baths completed  the cure.  In forty-eight hours M.
Pietri was out of danger, but for several days thereafter he
labored under all the symptoms of acute bronchitis, and he
had complete aphonia  for  nearly a week;  of all this, how-
ever, he perfectly recovered.*
   Cases are mentioned where fluid ammonia caused death
in the  human subject within  the space  of a few minutes.!
Orfila  adds a  caution against  its too free use, with persons
who have fainted.   If inspired too long, the vapor inflames
the throat and  lungs,  and  destroys the  individual.!  The
  *  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 25, p. 204.  This is not by any means the only
case in which dangerous and even fatal effects have followed from exposure
to this  violent irritant.  M. Chevallier, in his comments, refers to no less
than ten instances, and he has not included the whole that are on record.
  In the vicinity of the Grotto del Cano, there is a cave where ammonia, in
vapor, is exhaled.  See Dr.  James in Encyclographie, D. S. M., Dec, 1843.
  t  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 387.
  X  Orfila's Directions, p. 44.  Nysten has related such an instance.  A case
confirming this statement is mentioned in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 14, p. 642 :  "A patient was recovering from a severe attack of
fever; during convalescence he was without  any evident cause, seized with
convulsions apparently of the epileptic kind, which became more and more
frequent, and ultimately were so severe as to cause great apprehension of a
fatal result.  In order to rouse him  from the stupor succeeding one of these
fits, an  attendant most imprudently held aqua ammonite to his nose, with
such unwearied but destructive benevolence, that suffocation had almost re-
sulted.  As it  was, dyspnoea with  severe pain in  the throat, immediately
succeeded, and death took place forty eight-hours  afterwards.  In the actual
condition of the patient, there was little else than death to be expected, yet
there is equally little room  to doubt  that the fatal event was hastened by this
unhappy ministration " 
IRRITANT POISONS.
485
phial containing it should only be passed from time to time
under the nose.
  Vinegar is here also the proper antidote; although from
the rapid action of the alkali, means are generally  required
in addition  to this,  to  counteract  the  inflammation  that
frequently occurs.
  Hydrochlorate of ammonia, (muriate of ammonia, sal ammo-
niac,) is poisonous when taken into the stomach, or applied
in large quantities to  wounds.  It causes  vomiting, convul-
sions, pain in the bowels and  death.  Dr. Smith applied it
to the cellular texture of the thigh of dogs—vomiting ensued,
with  great  weakness, which increased  until  death.   The
mucous membrane of the stomach  presented several  gan-
grenous ulcerations, and was generally inflamed; the whole
digestive canal contained a blackish  fluid, and the rectum
was inflamed.   In another  instance, the  mucous membrane
was  found in a state of  putridity.*  Dr.  Arnold, in his
 experiments  with it, found  convulsions, deep respiration
 and  contracted  pupils,  with tetanic spasms, to precede
 death.!
   " No  chemical antidote is known against this substance.
 In the event of poisoning with it, warm  water and mucila-
 ginous and demulcent liquids should be given to promote
 vomiting," and the usual means for counteracting inflamma-
 tion.  (Pereira.)
   Quicklime was introduced into  the stomach of a small
 dog, to the extent of a drachm and  a half in powder.   It
 caused vomiting, and the  discharge  of  much saliva, with
 some pain: he, however, recovered on the next day.  Three
 days thereafter, three drachms were administered. Vomit-
 ing and dejection ensued, and he died  in three days, without
 having experienced  either vertigo, convulsive  motions or
 paralysis.  The mouth, fauces and oesophagus were slightly

   Baron Percy mentions the death of the son of an apothecary, from the
 breaking of a bottle of ammonia, notwithstanding the immediate application
 of remedies.  (Quoted by Dr. Wood in  American  Cyclopedia  of Practical
 Medicine, vol. 1, p. 363.)
   * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 469.
   f Bulletin des Sciences Medicales, vol. 9, p. 182. 
486
IRRITANT POISONS.
inflamed,  and the mucous  membrane of the  stomach was
inflamed throughout its whole  extent;  the intestines and
lungs were natural.
  Quicklime is thus evidently not a very powerful poison,
but it may notwithstanding prove  destructive to life when
swallowed.   A child fell with her face  on a quantity of
slaked lime3 and a particle of it got into the windpipe.  The
result  was  inflammation of  the lungs, sloughing  of  the
trachea, and death.*
  A case of poisoning by the  oxymuriate of lime, (bleaching
liquor,) in an infant, is related.   A small quantity only was
given.!
  Treatment. Vomiting should be excited by warm water or
irritating the throat, and the nervous or  inflammatory symp-
toms are then to be counteracted by the means already noticed.
  Dr. Christison thinks that the chlorides of soda, potash and
lime, are all active poisons.   The first, however, is the only
one yet examined.    Segales infers from his  experiments,
that it is an irritant, with some  symptoms of an affection of
the  nervous system.  Three  ounces of  Labarraque's liquid
caused  death,  when  injected into the  veins  of a dog by
coagulating the blood in the heart.  Smaller doses intro-
duced into the stomach  did  not prove  fatal,  but when the
animal  was killed in twenty-four  hours, the  stomach was
seen inflamed.!  The antidotes in these cases are albumen,
flour and  water, and mucilaginous drinks.   Vomiting should,
if possible, be excited.
  Hydrogenated sulphuret of potash, (liver of sulphur).  This
substance, which formerly was deemed an antidote of arsenic
and corrosive sublimate,  has  been ascertained to be one of
the  most  powerful  of the corrosive poisons.  A French
countess  swallowed  by mistake some  of  it which was in-
tended for the  preparation of a bath, and  she expired in a
few minutes.§

  *  London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 46, p. 512. Dr. Christison
refers to another fatal case. See also  London Medical Gazette, vol. 35, p. 64.
  t  Ibid. vol. 46, p. 517.                 J Christison, 3d ed., p. 221.
  §  Orfila's Directions, p. 68. Probably this is the same case which is quoted
from Dr. Montgarny's Essai de  Toxicologic, in the London Medical Repoai- 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
487
  In a case related by Dr. Chantourelle, where four drachms
were taken, so rapid and abundant was the disengagement
of sulphuretted hydrogen, that the  patient died from as-
phyxia.*
  In those where  life was saved with  difficulty, the  symp-
toms were, burning pain  in  the throat and stomach; fre-
quent  vomiting,  at  first  sulphureous, and then  bloody;
purging;  inflammation of the  stomach.  The dose, in one
fatal case, was three drachms.!
  When  introduced  into the  stomach of animals,  whose
oesophagus had been tied, it produced violent  attempts to
vomit, hurried respiration, panting, tetanic convulsions and
death.  The stomach was found much inflamed, and covered
over with yellowish-white spots; the duodenum and jejunum
were inflamed; the  lungs were partially gorged, and the
left ventricle contained black blood.  Vomiting was excited
when the oesophagus  was not tied.
   When  injected in  solution  into the jugular, it  produced
 immediate tetanus, from which in one instance, the animal
 quickly recovered, and in another  he perished.  The blood
 in the heart was fluid, and in the left ventricle, of a deep red.
   The deduction drawn by Orfila from his experiments with
 this substance, is, that the corrosion excited by it is slighter
 in proportion  as the  dose  is stronger, and  .the nervous
 phenomena will then be much more severe.
   Liver of sulphur is decomposed by the acids, and sulphu-
 retted hydrogen is given out.   Corrosive sublimate, acetate
 of lead, nitrate of bismuth, and the salts  of copper, all  yield
 a black precipitate on  the  addition of a few drops  of this

 tory, vol. 10, p, 511.  " A lady suffering from pyrosis, died in a few minutes
 after having swallowed a few mouthfuls of an aqueous solution of the sulphu-
 ret of potash.  The fatal event was preceded by faintness, convulsions,  and
 the issue of a yellowish froth from the mouth.  On dissection,  the stomach
 was found very much  contracted ; its internal membrane lined with sulphur,
 and of a brightish red color; and its capillary system, in some points, minutely
 injected.  The duodenum  was red  and inflamed, particularly  towards its
 duodenal extremity.  The superior portion of the small intestines, in about
 a fourth of its extent, presented the same appearances.  The membrane of
 the mouth, pharynx and bronchiae was whitish and colored, but displayed
 no change of structure. The lungs were soft, not crepitous, and gorged with
 black, livid and very fluid blood."
  * Alcock on the Chlorurets, p. 115.         t Christison, p. 222. 
488
IRRITANT POISONS.
substance; tartar emetic, an orange  yellow  one ; and  ar-
senious acid, applied to a small quantity, a white precipitate ;
to a large quantity,  a yellow one.*
  Antidote.  Vinegar was formerly recommended, but Dr.
Chantourelle has found most benefit from the administration
of chloride of sodium (common salt) in frequent doses.  This
decomposes the sulphuretted  hydrogen, " whose rapid dis-
engagement  would  seem to be the cause of  death in the
quickly fatal cases."
  Sulphuret of soda, in the dose of half an ounce, produced
gastritis,  which was successfully combatted  by the usual
means.  In larger quantities, it would probably prove fatal.

  * Devergie recommends the hydrochlorate of platina as a test.  It gives a
canary yellow precipitate. (Vol. 2, p. 644.) 
CHAPTER XVIII.
                 irritant poisons,  {continued.)


3. Metallic compounds.  Arsenic.   White  oxide of arsenic.  Modes in
  which it may prove poisonous. Internally, (a.) Its exhibition by the mouth
  —symptoms—classification of these; when the patient dies between twenty-
  four hours and two or three days ; when he dies in a few hours; when life
  is prolonged some days, or he survives.   How small a quantity will induce
  death.  (6.) By injection into the vagina or rectum.   Externally,   (a.)
  Applied to a wound or ulcer, or to the skin.  (&.) By inhaling its vapors.
  Appearances on dissection—in the second variety of symptoms—in the first
  variety.  The oxide of arsenic found partially converted into the sulphu-
  ret.  Whether poisoning by arsenic delays or accelerates  the progress of
  putrefaction ?  Cases.   Effects on animals.  Introduction of arsenic  after
  death.  Chemical  proofs — specific gravity — solubility—taste — effects of
  heat.   Tests of arsenic, in the solid state ; in solution; when mixed with
  organic fluids and solids, and with the contents and tissues  of the stomach.
  Medico-legal cases.  Discovery of arsenic  many years after death.  How
  far the symptoms only are a proof of the administration of arsenic.  Anti-
  dotes and mode of treatment.  Medical police.   Black oxide of arsenic, or
  fly powder—poisonous  effects.  Arsenites.   Arsenic acid.   Arseniates.
   Sulphurets of arsenic—effects—medico-legal cases—tests.  Arseniuretted
  hydrogen.  Iodide of arsenic.  Mercury.   Corrosive sublimate.  Effects.
  Internally, (a.) by the mouth—symptoms; (b.) by injection.  Externally.
  Applied to a wound or ulcer, or to the skin.* Appearances on  dissection.
  ■Effect on animals.  Tests, in the solid state—fluid state—organic mixtures ;
  the  changes  that it undergoes in the stomach.   Medico-legal cases.
  Whether ptyalism is capable of a complete  remission.  Antidotes.  Red
  precipitate and red  oxide  of mercury.  Nitrate—eases.   Cyanuret of
  mercury.  Mercurial vapors and mercury in a state of minute decision-
  cases.  Antimony.   Tartar emetic.   Symptoms—appearances  on dissec-
  tion—effect on animals—tests—antidotes.  Oxide.  Muriate.  Antimonial
  wine.  Copper. Metallic copper—its ready oxidation.  Oxide and carbo-
  nate.   Verdigris.   Sulphate.  Symptoms—appearances  on  dissection-
  effect  on animals — tests — antidotes.   Zinc.   Sulphate.   Symptoms —
  appearances on dissection—tests.   Chloride.  Whether metallic zinc is a
  proper article for domestic  utensils—for roofs.  Tin.   Hydro chlorate—
  effects — test — antidotes. Silver.  Nitrate — effects — tests — antidotes.
  lultiunatmg silver.  Gold.  Nitro-muriate—tests.   Fulminating gold.
  Ilatina. Aitro-muriate.  Bismuth.  Aerate—effects—tests—antidotes.
  Iron.  Sulphate. Muriate. Lead. Acetate—symptoms—effects on animals
  —doubts  as  to its poisonous  qualities.   Carbonate—symptoms—cases.
  Litharage and red Zead-effects.  Muriate.   Action of air and water on
  lead; articles of food or drink contaminated with  lead; earthen vessels
  glazed  with lead; action of vinegar, apples, milk on  them.  Adulteration
  of  wines  cider  rum cheese, sugar.  Saturnine emanations—symptoms.
  rlZ^l P™    °fx the. Presence of ^ad.  Antidotes.   Iodide of lead.
  LffrW-,   °hromate °/^«^-symptoms-appearances on  dissection-
  antidote.  Moi.vbdenum. Tungsten. Tellurium.  Titanium. Osmium.
  p*b '   '  a vH0DIUM-   Palladium.   Nickel.   Cobalt.  Uranium.

  ^t^-antidorer^""-  °ADMIUM-  BARYTES' and its ^Its-effects- 
490
irritant poisons.
  In revising the contents of the present chapter, and espe-
cially  those relating  to  Arsenic,  I have endeavored to
bring them within as small a compass, as is compatible with
a proper understanding of the subject.   There is reason to
fear that the numerous publications that have appeared of
late years on it, (sometimes  crude,  frequently discordant,)
have thrown shades of doubt  on several  points, which for
the due administration of Criminal Justice, should have been
considered as established.  At all events, the  result both in
England and in this country, has been, that convictions for
poisoning by arsenic have become  more  and more unfre-
quent, although the commission of the crime  is  proved to
the satisfaction of the medical jurist.
  The  reader will, I trust, find a full exhibition of what is
necessary to be done, in order to detect the poisoner.  Co-
pious references are also  given to enable him to prosecute
more minute inquiries, and I have substituted them in the
place of details, with the more freedom, since  I can refer to
independent treatise on Poisons,  as those of Orfila, Christi-
son and Taylor, which must  be studied, in order to become
perfectly conversant with the whole  science of the  subject.
  White oxide  or arsenic.  This substance, commonly
known under the name of arsenic, is, according to chemical
nomenclature, arsenious acid, or the  white oxide of arsenic;
and it  has  received these apparently  incompatible  names,
from the fact that though more analagous to the oxides, yet
it possesses some of the properties of an acid.   It is usually
obtained by roasting cobalt ores, which contain a notable
proportion of arsenic.  The vapors arising during the pro-
cess of making zaffre,  are condensed  in a large chamber,
and potash is added to them; the mixture is then sublimed,
and the white  oxide is obtained, leaving  potash with sul-
phur.   This employment is a dangerous, and in a short time,
fatal  one;  and accordingly,  convicts  whose punishment
would otherwise be  death, are condemned to it.*

  *  Gordon's Inaugural Dissertation, p. 4.  See a notice of this production
in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 11, p. 134.  The dan-
gerous nature of the vapors arising from the roasting of cobalt ores, appeara 
                     IRRITANT  POISONS.                 491

  The principal chemical  characters of this  substance will
be noticed under the head of chemical proofs.
  Arsenic may be  poisonous, whether internally or exter-
nally exhibited.   1. Internally, by the mouth passing into
the stomach, or by being injected into  the vagina or rectum.
2. Externally, by being applied to a wound  or ulcer, or by
inhaling its vapors.
  Internally, (a.) Its exhibition by the mouth. ^
  In the previous edition, I adopted a classification of the
effects  of this poison, as proposed  by Hahnemann.  He
divides  them  into three degrees:   When death follows the
exhibition of the poison within twenty-four hours, it consti-
tutes the first degree ;  and  when  later than  twenty-four
hours, the second ; and when the case, though attended with
dangerous symptoms, does not terminate fatally, it belongs
to the third class.*
   This arrangement, though  very useful  in increasing our
 knowledge of the complicated symptoms arising from the
 taking  of arsenic, must, at the present period, give place to
 one more consonant with the advancing state of information.
  I  shall accordingly follow that which was proposed in the
  Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal some years since,
 and which is used by the author  in his subsequent work.f
 The cases are divided into three classes : 1.  When the per-
 son dies between twenty-four hours and two or three days;
 2.  When he expires  in five, six, or ten hours, or at farthest
 within  the  first day; 3.  Where life is prolonged six, eight,
 or ten days, or is saved altogether, but after some illness.|

 to have been early known.  They were considered so hurtful to the miners,
 that a prayer was formerly offered up in the German church, that God would
 preserve miners from cobalt and spirits. (Beckmann, vol. 2, p. 263.)
   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 86.
   f Edinburgh Medical and Surgical  Journal, vol. 21, p. 424.  Christison,
 page 270.
   X Dr. Christison has arranged the numerous cases on record, according to
 this division, and selected their symptoms as given in the text.  I will only
 add brief notices of American and recent European cases, for the purposes
 of confirmation or exception. My main aim (I repeat) in preparing the pre-
 sent article on arsenic, is to simplify the subject.  The discussions on it
 have been so voluminous, that there is not only danger of confusing it to the
 learner,  but from the discrepancies of opinion, the lawyer may urge, as I
 have known to be done, that there is nothing settled  on it.  We shall how-
 ever, find that this, in all the leading and important points, is not the case. 
492
IRRITANT poisons.
   1. The first case, or where death ensues betwixt twenty-four
hours and two or three days, is the most common of all.   The
earliest symptom is sickness or faintness,  and this  often
occurs  within a few minutes  after the poison is swallowed.
But in a majority  of instances, it does not happen for half
an hour.*   Pain in the region of the stomach succeeds, and
this, most commonly, is of a burning kind, and much aggra-
vated  by pressure.   Violent  fits of vomiting and retching
come on, with  a dryness, heat, and tightness in the  throat,
creating an incessant desire for drink.f  Hoarseness and
difficulty of speech are  commonly  combined  with  these.
The matter vomited is greenish or yellowish, but sometimes
it  is streaked or  mixed with blood, particularly if the case
be protracted beyond a day.
   It must,  however, be understood, that the  affection of the
throat, as above described, is not always present, while again,
it is sometimes so  severe as  to be  attended  with fits  of
suffocation and convulsive vomiting at the sight of fluids.
   Diarrhoea  generally,  but  not always,  follows, or  in its
place are ineffectual attempts, and  the abdomen is tense and
tender, and sometimes also  swollen.   When  the diarrhoea is
severe, the rectum is  commonly excoriated.J  Burning heat
is felt at the part, and the pain will extend along the whole
course of the alimentary canal.  Even the mouth and lips
  *  Several cases are quoted by Dr. Christison, in which the intervention of
sleep appears to have delayed the appearance of this symptom for two, three,
or even five hours.
  f  Mr. Taylor informs us that Professor Martini looks upon extreme thirst,
when conjoined with dryness and constriction of the fauces, as affording the
most certain evidence of irritant poisoning. It was present in four cases seen
by Mr.  Taylor, but in a fifth, it was absent.  (Guy's Hospital Reports, vol.
2, p. 72.)
  X  Occasionally, bloody purging is also observed.  Dr. Merewether, of
Kentucky, gives an instance, where a female, aged 64, took about forty-five
grains of arsenic in biscuit.  The early symptoms do not differ from those
described in the  text. There was,  however, obstinate constipation with
bloody discharges of acrid mucus from the mouth and nose,  probably from
the violence of the vomiting.  (Edema, with purple blotches on various parts
of the body, succeeded, and the patient labored under intense suffering until
the  ninth day, when immense discharges of blood  from the intestines and
delirium preceded the fatal termination.  The son of this female partook of
the meal, and probably took double the quantity of poison.   He was seized
with vomiting and purging and the usual symptoms, and gradually recovered.
In both instances, soreness and swelling of the eyelids were present.  (Tran-
sylvania Journal, vol. 2, p. 233.) 
IRRITANT poisons.
493
are inflamed, and  present  dark specks or blisters.   The
lungs are also affected in these instances.  Shortness of
breath, tightness across the chest, and in a few cases, actual
inflammation, have been the result.
  There is  frequently a painful and  difficult micturition.
Some experimenters indeed assert that the urinary secretion
is suppressed—it is probably diminished.   The genital or-
gans in both  sexes are occasionally  painful and swollen.
 3 When the symptoms of irritation in the  alimentary canal
 have subsided for some  hours,  convulsive motions often
 occur;  such as  tremors  and twitches of the trunk, or the
 whole body; cramps of the legs and arms are also common.
 The pulse is feeble and rapid ; the skin cold ; clammy sweats
 break out, and the feet and  hands are livid.  The counte-
 nance betrays great anxiety ; the eyes are red and sparkling;
 the tongue  and  mouth parched, and  sometimes little white
 ulcers break  out on the velum and palate.
    Delirium sometimes accompanies the advanced stage, and
  stupor also is  not unfrequent.   Death, in general, comes
  on calmly, but is sometimes  preceded by a paroxysm of
  convulsions.
    In most cases, the  above  symptoms are  more or  less
  uniformly  observed, but  there are  some peculiarities and
  varieties, which must also be stated.
    Eruptions, either petechial or miliary, are not unfrequent
  in those who survive several days, but they are more gene-
  rally seen in chronic cases.*   Swelling of the  body, but
  particularly around the  eyes, has  also been noticed.  Pain
  and vomiting are  sometimes wanting, and even on pressure,
  the former has  not been recognized.   Again, the pulse has
  occasionally been found very slow, not more than forty  beats
  in  a minute.
    If death be somewhat retarded, there is not unfrequently
  a remission of all the distressing symptoms, and the patient
  is then in a dozing stupor.  This usually happens  about the

    * Dr. G. Bird mentions having seen two instances of the occurrence of erup-
  tions (pale papular) on the skin. They appeared on the second and third days
  after taking the arsenic. (Lancet, N. S. vol. 33, p. 99; Lancet, Oct. 21,1843.) 
494
irritant  poisons.
second day, but it is merely temporary, and the  symptoms
return speedily with equal or increased violence.
   It  must  be remembered  that many cases are on record,
where this  train of symptoms is followed by death in a few
hours, from three to six, and yet the indications of irritation
of the  alimentary canal have been perfectly well  marked
during life, and verified by dissection after death.
   2.  The second variety of poisoning includes those cases
in which death ensues in five or six hours, or a little more, at a
period  too  early for  inflammation  to be  always properly
developed,  and accordingly the symptoms are by no means
so striking  as in the first variety.  On  animals, the effects
were almost narcotic, as we  shall see  when noticing  the
experiments of Mr. Brodie, but in man, they are far from
being so distinctly marked.
   In some  instances  of  this kind,  vomiting  occurs  at  the
usual period after taking the poison, but it seldom continues.
The  most uniform effect is extreme  fainting, amounting at
times to deliquium.   Occasionally there  is some  stupor, or
rather oppression, and often  slight convulsions.  The pain
at the pit of the stomach is slight, and seldom accompanied
with the other signs of internal inflammation.
   This variety of poisoning  has been only observed under
the three following circumstances :   When the dose of  the
poison was  large ; when it was in little masses ; or when it
was in a state of solution.
   Dr. Christison quotes nine cases of this variety, and they
sufficiently prove that arsenic does not always, in fatal cases,
produce violent and well marked symptoms.*
  * I subjoin, for comparison, a number of cases collected by Christison and
myself:
  1. Dr. Smith, New York  Medical and Philosophical Journal, vol. 3, p. 6.
Eighteen hours.  Dr. Christison says eight, but  on referring to the original,
the other will be found to be correct.
  2. Metzger.  Christison, p. 287.   A few hours.
  3. Dr. Christison, Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1-
p. 298. Five hours.
  4. London Medical and Physical Journal, vol.  34.  Five hours.
  6. Dr. Gerard, Revue Medicale.   Five hours and upwards.
  6. Orfila, Archives Generales. Nine hours.
  7. Mr. Holland, London Medical Gazette, vol.  15.  Eight hours.
  8. Chaussier, Orfila's Toxicology. A few hours.
  9. Mr. Macaulay, Christison, p. 289.   Two hours. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
495
   3. The  third variety is  when life is prolonged six, eight or
 ten days, or even is saved, after some illness.   Here  the early
 symptoms are the same as those of the first or inflammatory
 variety, but the  subsequent  ones are referable to  nervous
 irritation.  They generally come on  when the former begin
 to recede, yet they sometimes make their appearance while
 the  symptoms of inflammation are still violent.   They vary
 in different individuals from  coma, to an imperfect palsy of
 the arms and legs, and between these extremes, are observed,
 epileptic  fits  or  tetanus.  Thus in Dr. Roget's  case, after
 recovering from  the ordinary effects,  the patient was seized
 with epileptic fits on the sixth day, and they returned occa-
 sionally until  the nineteenth.*   In Mr.  Turner's family,
 supposed  to be poisoned by Eliza Fenning, twitches, numb-
 ness,  and epileptic  fits occurred in different individuals.
 Pyl mentions a case, where tetanus was present, and partial
 palsy of the extremities has  been noticed by De  Haen, Mr.
 Murray of Alford, Professor Bernt, Dr. Falconer, and others.!
   Among the occasional results when life is saved,  are irri-
 tability of the stomach, attended with constant vomiting of
 food—loss of the hair and desquamation of the cuticle.
   Mr. Furley of London  mentions  several  cases in which
 ptyalism appears to  have been produced  by arsenic, when
 taken in  the  form of Fowler's  solution.  Soreness of  the
 gums, swelling of the tongue,  &c, were present.   This effect
 appears to have been produced, in one case on the fifth day,

  10. Mr. Wright, Lancet, vol. 16. Four hours.
  11. Morgagni.   Twelve hours.
  12. Laborde, Journal de Medecine.   Nine hours.
  13. Dr. Gould, Boston Medical Magazine.  Seventeen hours.
  14. Mr. Coates, London Medical Gazette, vol. 20.   Four hours.
  16. Mr. Joseph Thompson, Lancet, No. 792.  Six hours.
  16. Mr. Pettigrew.  See his life in the Medical Portrait Gallery.  Seven
  In Mr. Wright's case, an ounce of arsenic was taken, in Mr. Coates' two
ounces, and in Mr. Macaulay's Dr. Christison says, "the individual died with
narcotic symptoms only, within two hours, after taking nearly a quaater of
a pound of arsenic."                                J   H
  * Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,  vol. 2 p 134
thAM^W- f ^t1 ^ Surgical  Journa1' 7o1' 18> P- 167-   Memoirs of
the Medical Society of London, vol. 2,  p. 224.  Bedingfield's Compendium, p.
 ,rl,.2 »   ,nCl,nSW Aork Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 9, p. 114.
Lachese, Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 17, p. 337. 
496
IRRITANT POISONS.
 and in  others, later.*   " Even if  continued in very small

 doses,"  says Dr. Elliotson, " it will produce  occasionally

 the first stage of gastritis.   The disorder of the  stomach is

 of very long continuance.  I knew a lady who took arsenic

 ten years ago, and she  has never recovered from its effects

 on the stomach."!

   Soreness  and  inflammation of the  eyes  are  frequently

 mentioned as occurring.!

   How  small a quantity of arsenic will  cause death ?  In the

 previous edition, I mentioned that  two grains  were deemed

 sufficient.   This was stated on the authority of Hahnemann.

 Dr. Christison remarks, that the smallest actually fatal dose

 that he has found recorded, is 4| grains.  The subject was

 a child  four years  old,  and death occurred in  six hours.

 Renault, however, destroyed a  large dog by a single grain

 in solution, in four hours, while the  same quantity, dissolved

 in wine, produced severe effects in several persons, although

 it  was   taken  after dinner.§   These  circumstances are  a

 sufficient warrant for allowing  the above statement to re-

 main.

   {b.) By injection into the vagina  or rectum.   This is fatal

 in the same  way as already  described, but the inflammation

 affects the intestines more than the stomach.

  * London Med. Gazette, vol.  16. p. 790. Mr. Pereira (ibidtvol. 18, p. 167)
 observes  that Marcus in the  Ephemerides  for 1809, has  also noticed this
 effect.  See also a case by Mr. Jones in ibid.  vol. 26, p. 266.
  f London Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 9, p. 725.  Dr. Burne relates a
 case in which  one-fifth of a grain of arsenic, taken in divided doses during
 three days, induced gastritis.   (London Med. Gazette, vol. 25, p. 414.)
  X Dr. Ramsay of South Carolina saw twelve cases in one family, who were
 all poisoned from putting arsenic into soup.  They were seized immediately
 after eating it.  Vomiting occurred in all.  The bowels were affected in some,
 while in others they were torpid. In  one person, a female  aged fifty,
painful micturition, black and offensive stools,  and pain about the rectum
 were present, and during the night, there was a  free menstrual discharge,
 although that evacuation had ceased five years previous.  None  of them died.
 Swelling  of the face, eyelids,  and joints of the fingers,  were secondary
symptoms in several of the children. (American Journal of Medical Sciences,
vol. 15, p. 259.)  See also Dr. Elliotson's Lectures, London Medical Gazette,
vol. 10, p. 6.
  § Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 67.
  Professor Lachese of Angers, from a comparison of the effects produced
in several cases  that came under his observation, draws the following conclu-
sions : That arsenic taken to the amount of one-eighth of a grain by a healthy
and adult man may prove injurious—that in  the dose from a quarter to half
a grain,  it may induce symptoms of poisoning, and that from  one to two
grains may cause death.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 17, p. 350.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
497
  A  female  in  1799, in the  Department de  l'Ourthe,  in
France, aged forty, died after a short illness, which was
accompanied by a considerable tumefaction of  the genitals,
by uterine haemorrhages, vomiting, and abundant purgation.
This  woman  confided to  two  of  her neighbors, that her
illness was  occasioned  by  powdered arsenic, which her
husband, in concubito, had himself insinuated into the parts.
The body was  examined by  the  proper  officers.   They
declared that they found the vulva and vagina in a state of
gangrene—the abdomen much distended with air, and  the
intestines inflamed and  gangrenous.   The  culprit was ar-
rested, convicted and executed.*
   Another case happened in Finland in 1786, and is related
by Dr. Mangor of Copenhagan.   Here  arsenic was mixed
with flour, and  introduced up  the vagina.   Three wives in
succession were poisoned in this  manner.   With the third,
the crime was perpetrated at  7 A. M., and  at 3  P. M. she
was seized with shivering and coldness of the body, and at
the same time a burning heat of the vagina.  Her sufferings
 were intense; she became delirous at 11 P. M., and died at
 midnight.   The  only means  used for  recovery was the
 repeated injection of milk.   On dissection, the labia were
 found tumid and red, the vagina gaping  and flaccid,  and
 although this part had been repeatedly washed by  the  in-
jections, yet grains  of  arsenic were found  adhering to it.
The os  uteri was gangrenous, the duodenum  inflamed, the
stomach natural and the lungs quite livid.   The other parts
were  all healthy.  The  blood was fluid   throughout the
body.!

   * London Medical Repository, vol. 9, p. 246.
   t Gordon's  Dissertation. Davis' Obstetric Medicine,  p. 132.  Christison,
page 292.
   It is also mentioned, that the Copenhagen College of Medicine,  when this
case was referred to them, and when some doubted the possibility of this
mode of poisoning,  made some experiments  by introducing  arsenic into the
vagina of  mares. It produced inflammation, tumefaction, and death.  On
dissection, the genital parts were found gangrenous, and there was an effu-
sion of bloody serum in the abdomen, with traces of inflammation in the
stomach, intestines, lungs, aorta, thoracic duct, &c. (London Medical Re-
pository, vol. 9, p. 246, from the Journal de Midecine.)
   VOL. II.                     32 
498
IRRITANT POISONS.
   As to the effect of injecting arsenic into the rectum, a case
 is cited at page 402 of this volume.
   In one experiment on a dog, forty-eight grains of arsenious
 acid, in the form of powder and fragments, were introduced
 into the rectum.   He shortly after passed the whole of it by
 stool.   Two days after, the same quantity, but pulverized,
 was introduced.   This produced loss of appetite and dejec-
 tion, and he died  in eight days.  The parts round the anus
 were excoriated, and the integuments detached, so that there
 was an ulcer of some extent.   The mucous membrane of the
 intestines  near the anus, was  of  a greenish gray, and above
 it of a bright red, for the space of six or seven inches; but
 in ascending upwards, it gradually diminished in intensity.*

 Externally,  (a) Applied to a wound or ulcer, or even to
                         the skin.
   Of this, there are some instructive cases on record.  Dr.
 Desgranges relates the following:   A chambermaid  had
 been so imprudent as to rub her head with an ointment con-
 taining a portion of arsenic, for  the  purpose of destroying
 vermin.   Her  head was perfectly sound, without the least
 scratch.   But in six or seven days after, it began to swell;
 the ears, which were twice their natural size, became covered
 with scabs, as were also several parts of the head; all the
 glands of  the jaw and neck rapidly enlarged;  the face was
 tumefied, and almost erysipelatous.   Her  pulse was hard,
 tense and febrile; the tongue parched and the skin dry. To
 these were added excruciating pain and a sensation of great
 heat.  Vertigo, fainting, cardialgia, occasional vomiting,
 thirst,  ardor urinae, constipation, trembling of the limbs,
 and  delirium were also present. .  Dr. Desgranges treated
the complaint as an inflammatory disease, and  in a day or
two after, the body, and especially the hands and feet, were
 covered with a considerable eruption of small pimples, with
white heads, like millet.  This eruption in time  dried up
and desquamated, and  she finally recovered, but during her
convalescence the hair fell off.!
  * Orfila's Toxicolosry, vol. 2, p. 541.         t Fodere, vol. 4, p. 123. 
                                                          499
                     IRRITANT POISONS.                   ***


   Belloc has recorded a similar instance :  A female, aged

fifty-six, in good  health, but of a  delicate constitution, had

the imprudence to wash her body  with a solution of arsenic

in water, to cure the itch.   Her body swelled prodigiously,

and she was covered with an erysipelatous eruption.  She

dragged  out a painful existence for two  years, but during

life, was always afflicted with a trembling of the limbs.*

   Roux amputated the schirrous breast of a girl of eighteen.

The wound did well,  but  while  rapidly closing, an  ulcera-

tion, accompanied with slight darting  pains, made  its ap-

pearance in the centre.  He  applied the  arsenical paste,  as

it is called in France, and of which arsenious  acid -is the

basis.  The day after she was seized with violent colic, and

experienced some vomiting. Two days afterwards she died

in violent convulsions.   The body, which was covered with

large ecchymoses, quickly putrefied, and, on opening it, the

internal surface of the stomach, and a  great  part of the in-

testinal  canal, were found in a state  of inflammation, and

sprinkled over with black spots.!

   Dr. Hosack also relates  an  instance, in which a  palsy of

the muscles of the neck  and  right arm was occasioned  by

its application to an encysted tumour.J

   There can be no doubt, that the various quack prepara-

tions  used  both in England, France and this country,  for


  * Belloc, p. 121.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 124.  A case by Dr. Kuchler, where death
followed in 96 hours  after the application of arsenical paste to a fungous
tumour on the temple, is quoted in the American Journal of Pharmacy, vol.
9, p. 7"), from the Archives Generales.  There are, however, exceptions to
these injurious and fatal effects.  In  some instances, no bad consequences
arc produced, and the result of the application  of arsenic is merely the
formation of an eschar.  For this difference two causes have been assigned.
One is the relative quantity employed,  a small portion being most readily
absorbed, and producing constitutional disease, while a large quantity quickly
destroys the organization of parts,  and prevents absorption.  Another hag
been pointed out by Harles.  He observes that arsenic " may be applied with
safety to the abraded skin, to common ulcers, to  wounded surfaces, and to
malignant glandular ulcers, even when highly irritable, provided the part be
not recently wounded so as to pour out blood." Here  the poison is applied
to an open-mouthed vessel, and the effect, as we shall see when stating the
result of experiments  on animals, is rapid and destructive.  (Christison,
page 1290.)
  X  American Medical and Philosophical Register, vol. 3, p. 389.   Another
fatal case from its application to a tumour, at the angle of the  jaw, is given
by Dr. Hoit.  (New-York Medical and Physical Journal, vol 3, p. 375.) 
500                  IRRITANT  POISONS.
the cure of cancer, and which have arsenic for their base,
have in many cases proved destructive to the patients.  Cer-
tainly governments ought to interdict their application, ex-
cept in the hands of regular practitioners.*
   During the period  of the plague of London, amulets of
arsenic were worn suspended over the region  of  the heart,
as a preservative against infection.   Even this proved dan-
gerous, and Dr. Mead severely reprehends it.
   (6.)  By inhaling its vapors.
   I  have already adverted to the  effects produced on the
miners in Germany, and will  now mention those  caused in
the copper smelting works of Cornwall and Wales, in conse-
quence of that  metal in its crude  state being mixed  with
arsenic.  Dr. Paris states that in their vicinity, " horses and
cows commonly lose their hoofs, and the latter are  often
seen in the neighboring pastures crawling on their knees,
and not  unfrequently suffering from a cancerous affection in
their  rumps, whilst the  milch  cows, in  addition to these
miseries, are  soon  deprived  of  their  milk.   The men em-
ployed in  these works are more healthy than we  could d
priori  have supposed  possible; but the antidote  on which
they rely with confidence, whenever  they are infected with
more than an  ordinary portion  of  arsenical vapor, is  sweet
oil, and  an annual  sum is allowed by the proprietors, in
 order that it may be constantly supplied."
   It deserves  notice, he adds, that the smelters are  occa-
 sionally affected with  a cancerous disease in the scrotum,
 similar to that which infests chimney-sweepers.!

   * In France, the pate arsenicale is used.  It consists of cinnabar 70 parts,
 sanguis draconis 22, and arsenious acid  8, made into paste at the  time of
 applying it.  In England, Plunketfs ointment, made  of arsenious acid,
 sulphur, and the  powdered leaves of the ranunculus flammula and cotula
 foetida; and  Davidson's remedy for cancer—arsenious acid and powdered
 hemlock.  (Paris'  Pharmacologia, p.  209.)  In the United States, Davidson's
 cancer plaster—some preparation of arsenic.  As far back as the  time of
 Haller, cases are related of death ensuing from the  external application of
 arsenic to cancers and ill-conditioned ulcers.  (Edinburgh Medical and Sur-
 gical Journal, vol. 14. p. 643.)  A fatal case is mentioned in Annales D'Hy-
 giene, vol. 11, p. 459, and another in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal,
 vol. 63, p. 241.  Here the chemical examiner found arsenic in the breast and
 minute portions in the tissues of the  liver, stomach and spleen.
   t Paris' Pharmacologia, p. 209. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                  501

  The effects of the vapors of arsenic in the laboratory are
no 'less marked.   "Whilst Tachenius  (says Van  Swieten)
endeavored to fix  the arsenic  by repeated sublimations, the
vessels being open, he  inspired a very sweet air, but  in a
half hour felt the consequence  of his imprudence.   He not
only breathed with difficulty, but suffered convulsions in all
the members of  his body, and passed bloody  urine  with
great  pain."*  Dr.  Gordon  mentions  the  following  as
occurring to himself:  Whilst subliming arsenic, the vessel
broke from the heat, and  on removing it hastily from the
fire,  he inhaled a small quantity.   A sense  of pain  and
tightness  about the  praecordia  was immediately felt, with a
difficulty of breathing and violent cough.  The pulse was
not changed, but  weaker and quicker than natural.  On the
next day,  all the symptoms were gone  except the cough,
 nausea and anorexy.  These were removed by a cathartic!
   Appearances on dissection.   These are generally found to,
 vary with the length of time that the patient survives.  If
 death ensues within a few hours, no opportunity is allowed
 for  the  developement of local inflammation, and its marks
 are accordingly  absent.
    In this then,  the second variety, described under the  head
 of symptoms,  the most marked  character is the absence of
 diseased  appearances.   In the cases there  quoted, hardly
 any thing beyond a slight local  redness of the villous coat
 of the stomach was noticed.   In Dr. Smith's case, there was
 merely redness at the pyloric end.   In Dr. Gould's nothing
 was seen, but two  or three red  patches near  the cardiac

   * Gordon, p. 15.
   t Ibid. p. 16.  I subjoin the following : " Whilst a gang of stevedores were
 engaged in hoisting  some casks of powdered arsenic from the hold  of the
 packet ship Quebec at New-York, several of them slipped from the slings and
 broke.  The arsenic being scattered over the hold of the vessel, these men
 were employed to sweep it up.  At about the same instant, several of them
 were seized with vertigo and fell senseless.  Soon afterwards all were attacked
 with violent vomiting, which was speedily succeeded by the  more  severe
 symptoms of poisoning by the metal.   Two or three of the cases (in all nine)
 proved fatal in the course of a few days.  Several of them returned to work
 at the expiration of  a week."  (Dr. Vandervoort in New York  Journal of
 Medicine and Surgery, vol. 2, p. 483.)
   Dr. G.  Bird relates the case of  an enameller, exposed to the fumes of
 arsenic, in whom  bloody vomiting and purging occurred, with gastroenteritis
 and pneumonia.  (Lancet, Oct. 21,1843.) 
502
IRRITANT POISONS.
 extremity.   Particles  of  arsenic were,  notwithstanding,
 picked from the mucous coat.
   It must, however, be distinctly understood, that although
 this absence of morbid appearance is most common in those
 who die within a few hours, yet there are many instances of
 that description in which the  marks  of  inflammation  are
 distinctly developed, and this will generally be indicated by
 the  violence of the symptoms during life.
   In a case related by Mr. Hebb, where death ensued in four
 hours, the internal coat of the stomach was much attenuated.
 and exceedingly vascular, while underneath it was a number
 of specks of extravasated blood.  The peritoneal  coat also
 was inflamed.*
   The appearances observed in the first  variety,  or where
 life  is prolonged till the second day or later, are as follows:
   Redness of the  throat and oesophagus.  This has been
 found in  animals, and  in a few cases  in man.   In one
 instance, the tongue was inflamed  and thickened.!
   The inner coat of the stomach is very commonly inflamed,
 its peritoneal one but seldom.   Corrugation of the stomach
 is a common  appearance.   In several instances, the villous
 coat has been  found black from  effusion of altered blood
 into its  texture.   " When  the  color  is brownish  black or
 grayish black, and not merely reddish black, when the inner
 membrane is elevated into firm knots or ridges,  by the effu-
 sion, and the black spots are surrounded  by vascularity or
 other signs of reaction, these appearances  strongly indicate
 violent irritation."!  They are probably not imitated by any
 pseudo-morbid phenomenon.  The villous coat is also often
 unusually soft, brittle, and easily separable by the nail; but
 this is not by any means constant.  It has been  seen thick-

  * Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 1,  p. 334.   So in Mr.
Thomson's case, already referred to, the  mucous membrane of the stomach
was highly injected with some dark spots  of extravasation.  The lungs were
extremely gorged, and the pia mater greatly congested, while the sinuses of
the brain were full of black blood.  See also Mr. Watson's case, where deatb
occurred in nine hours.   (Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 53, p. 400.)
  f The lining membrane of the larynx and trachea was highly injected, and
the oesophagus inflamed, in a case that occurred to Mr. Taylor.
  \ Christison, p. 302. 
                     lA*lTANT POISONS.                 oW

ened, raised, and corrugated, owing in several instances to
the effusion of blood under it.
   Erosion, or perforation of the coats of the stomach, is only
an occasional  occurrence.  It is  hardly to be  looked for,
according  to  Dr.  Christison, unless  the patient  survives
nearly two days.*  The change that is designated by these
terms,  is, strictly speaking, either an ulceration,  in which
the little cavities have an irregular shape, and are surrounded
by a red  areola  and a  margin of firm tissue, or  an actual
gelatinizing or softening.
3  It is highly probable, that observers must have  been mis-
taken  in  supposing  that sloughing or  gangrene  of  the
coats of the stomach  is ever a  consequence of  this poison.
The black extravasated patches on the villous coat resemble
it in every thing but the fetor.  According to Mr. Brodie,
a  preparation in  John Hunter's museum, designed to show
a  slough of the villous coat caused by arsenic, proves to be
nothing else than an adhering clot.f
   The mucous secretion  of the  stomach  is almost always
'greatly increased in quantity.  It is either thin and glairy,
 or solid, as if coagulated, and in the latter case it presents
 itself under the varieties of an uniform attached pedicle, or
 of loose shreds  floating  among the contents.   Sometimes
 the matter effused is  true coagulable lymph.  Blood, or a
bloody fluid, is not an uncommon appearance.
   In many instances, solid arsenic has been found adhering
to the coats  of the stomach,  either  in  loose particles,  or
enveloped in coagulated  mucus, or in little clots of blood,
or wrapped up in the more solid  parts of  the contents, and
this too, in spite  of long continued and violent vomiting.J
   • In a case, however, that occurred to Mr. Taylor, and where death ensued
in seventeen hours after taking the poison, there was extensive ulceration of
the mucous membrane of the stomach.
   f Christison, p. 305.
   X The following remarkable case is cited by Dr. Horner, (Pathological Ana-
 tomy, p. 297,) from Laennec:
   " A girl, in a moment of violent grief, swallowed an ounce of arsenic, but
escaped very unexpectedly from its effects.  The following year, being in a
similar state of mind, she took it again and died.  On dissection, the effects
of the recent dose on the stomach were very obvious, and besides these, a
cyst was found, which seemed just detached from the vicinity of the pylorus,
where the traces of its adhesion were still perceptible. This cyst contained 
504
IRRITANT  POISONS.
In no less than six cases, four of which came under his own
notice, and one under that of his colleague, Professor Traill,
Dr.  Christison found the  oxide  of  arsenic  to  be  partially
converted into the sulphuret, and thus both may be present
at the same time.   For our  knowledge of this  curious fact,
we are altogether indebted to Dr. Christison.  The presence
of sulphuretted hydrogen in the stomach is doubtless the
cause of this conversion.*
  In the intestines, redness of their coats is not uncommon,
but  ulceration is  only  a rare  occurrence.   The duodenum
has  sometimes been found  affected  in a  similar manner to
the  stomach, with its inner  coat dark red, pulpy and thick-
ened, and portions  of it wanting.    Beyond  the duodenum,
there are  seldom any distinct marks of inflammation observed
until  we  reach the  rectum.!   Drs. Baillie  and Male  have
each seen it inflamed, excoriated and ulcerated.
an ounce of arenic, crystallized, and had the consistence of a false membrane.
It was supposed to have been formed around the arsenic by the sudden in-
flammation which followed the first dose, and that the patient owed her pre-
servation to its enveloping the poison."
  It is possible that other appearances in the stomach may be mistaken for
solid arsenic, and I therefore add the following from Mr. Pereira's Lectures:
(London Med. Gazette, vol. 18, p.  194.)
  Orfila in the 2d ed. of the Dictionnaire De Medecine, art. Arsenic, observes,
" Under certain circumstances,  the  mucous membrane of the stomach  and
intestines is lined with a multitude of brilliant points, composed of fat and
albumen.  These grains when placed on burning coals decrepitate on drying
and produce a noise which has been improperly denominated detonation; they
inflame as a fatty body when they contain a notable quantity of fat, and ex-
hale an odor of burned animal matters.   These fatty and albuminous globules
may be met with in the bodies of individuals who have not been poisoned, and
require attentive examination in order to distinguish them from arsenious acid.
The best method of avoiding this  error is to digest the granular parts with
water, and  to  apply the tests  proper  for demonstrating the existence of
arsenious acid."
  *  Christison, 3d. ed., p. 316.  Another case corresponding in every respect
to the above, is given by M.  Boissenot  in Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 23,
p. 614.
  See also Devergie, vol. 2, p. 732.  Hedley's Case in Lancet, Sept.  2  and
9,1843.  Mrs. Smith's case, given  hereafter, who was poisoned by red arsenic
(sealgar), and it was found in the state of orpument.  Again, Mr. Herepath
of Bristol,  found in the case of Scaley,  poisoned nine  months  previous by
arsenious acid, and then disinterred, the whole of it converted into orpiment;
and in another instance, after eleven weeks, partially so.  From experiments
on animals, he has ascertained that it produces a combination of the orpiment
with animal matter.   (Chemist 5,  230.)  See also, Gazette Des  Tribunaux,
April 24, 1845.
  f  Erosion or perforation of the intestines was noticed in Mr. Sandell's case,
where the person died in a week, and the body was disinterred one hundred
and forty-one days after death.  This is  probably an unique case.  (Lancet,
Sept. 2 and 9,1843.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
505
  Redness of the pleura, and even inflammation of the lungs,
are not uncommon consequences of the taking  of arsenic.
Intances are  given by  Pyl and Henke, in which the  lungs
were in the highest state  of congestion and inflammation, so
that when  cut into, nothing but clotted  blood could be seen
in their cellular  structure.
  In a case examined by Orfila  at  Paris, and where  death
ensued in  48 hours from  eating poisoned sausages, the  left
cavities of the heart were of a mottled  red  hue, and  in the
ventricle,  especially on  its  columnar, were many  small
crimson specks  which  penetrated into the  muscular part.
The right cavities had a deep reddish black tint, and the
ventricle of that  side  contained  specks  like those  in the
other, but  more  faint.  Orfila adds, that he  had previously
noticed the same appearances in animals.*
   The external  organs of generation,  in both sexes, have
been found distended and black; and in one case, occurring
to Bachmann, those  parts in a female  were surrounded by
 gangrene.!
   The blood, according to Mr. Brodie, is commonly fluid in
 animals killed  by arsenic,  and  this is confirmed  by other
 observers.  Harles,  on the  authority of Wepfer,  Sproegel
 and Jaeger, says it is black, semi-gelatinous, and sometimes
pultaceous.   It  has,  however, been found coagulated in ani-
  The colon has been found remarkably contracted in several instances.  See
Houlston, London Med. Gazette, vol. 14, p. 712.  Dr. Booth, ibid. p. 62.
  * London Med. Repository, vol. 20, p.  349.  Mr. Cooke observed an appear-
ance of deep redness, almost as if extravasation had taken place, beneath the
internal lining of the right ventricle, in an individual who survived five hours
after taking arsenic, and who, during that time, suffered from much pain and
vomiting.  The inner surface of the aorta,  for about an inch from its com-
mencement, was not only of a deep red color, but spots of lymph adhered to
it.  (Cook's Morgagni, vol. 2, p. 587.)
  Mr. Page in the case of a boy, three and a half years, who had apparently
recovered from the immediate effects, but who  was seized on the fourth day
with slight difficulty of breathing, quick pulse, anxiety of countenance, un-
accompanied with pain, sickness or  purging, and thus gradually sunk until
his death on the sixth, found coagulable lymph in the ventricles and in the
venaa cavae near the auricle.  The walls of the heart were  pale, flabby and
soft.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 20, p. 626.)
  t " In a case related in Pyl's collection, the  inside of the uterus, and even
the fallopian tubes were found inflamed." (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol.
33, p. 373.)
  The kidneys are sometimes highly vascular and the bladder contracted and
empty. 
506
IRRITANT POISONS.
mals dead from this poison, by Dr.  Campbell  and others.
On the human subject, the observations are very few and very
discordant.  Thus, of three cases where it was noticed, in
one  it was black and coagulated ; in another, black and fluid;
and in the third, florid and fluid.
   The  exterior appearance  of the body varies with the
length of the illness;  if protracted, we may expect earlier
and  more extensive lividity; and there are also some cases
where oedema is distinctly manifested.  It is a curious prob-
lem, whether arsenic delays or accelerates the progress of putre-
faction,  in bodies  poisoned with it.   Formerly it was the
universal opinion  that the process proceeded more rapidly
in consequence of this.  At the present day, however, its
known  antiseptic  qualities  when applied to animal sub-
stances, and the investigation  of some remarkable medico-
legal cases, have induced a different belief.  Dr. Christison
has  made the English public acquainted with these.  They
occurred in  Germany, and were previously only published
in the language of that  country.
   The first occasion on which this property of arsenic was
brought into public notice, was about the  beginning of the
present  century, in the course of the trial of the  Widow
Ursinus. Previous to this, Dr. Welper then medical inspec-
tor  at Berlin,  having remarked that  the body of a person
poisoned with arsenic remained quite fresh for a whole week
in summer, attended carefully to this subject at every oppor-
tunity, and invariably, he says, found the body resisted pu-
trefaction.  In 1803,  he was  engaged in  investigating the
case of the female above named.  Having been discovered
in an attempt to poison her servant, suspicions  arose con-
cerning the previous sudden death of three persons in her
family, her husband, a young  officer her paramour,  and an
aunt from whom she derived an  inheritance.  They had all
died in  mysterious circumstances, and  this lady had been
their nurse.  Dr. Welper disinterred the bodies of the hus-
band and aunt, which had been buried, the former two years
and a half before at Berlin, the latter six months afterwards 
                                                    *SG7
                   IRRITANT POISONS.                JVJ

at Charlottenberg, and he found them not  putrid, but dried
up   No arsenic could be detected.
  At the request of Dr. Welper,  similar experiments were
made on animals by Dr.  Klanck, and with  results strikingly
conformable.  Dogs poisoned with arsenic were buried in a
damp cellar, and their bodies sometimes exposed to its air;
yet at the end of three years, they continued dry and unde-
caying.
  Another trial arose in Bavaria, from the  following circum-
stances : A lady near Bayreuth died after  five days' illness,
under symptoms of violent general irritation of the alimen-
tary canal.  In a short  time suspicions were excited,  and
the supposed criminal was implicated so  far as to be also
suspected of  having poisoned two other  persons.  The
bodies of the three individuals were accordingly disinterred;
one of them five months, another six months, and the third
fourteen months  after  death.   In all of them, the external
 parts were not putrid, but hard, cheesy, or adipocirous; in
 the two last, the stomach and intestines were so entire as to
 allow of their being tied,  taken out, cut up, and handled;
 and in one, a sloughy spot was found in  the region of the
 pylorus.  Arsenic  was detected in  two  of the bodies, by
 Rose's process of analysis.*
   The following recent case was communicated to Dr. Chris-
 tison, by Dr. Traill:  " The master of a foreign vessel died
 in about twenty-four hours, apparently of malignant cholera,
 at a small port in the neighborhood of Edinburgh,  and the
body was forthwith buried.  A suspicion having however
 arisen in his native country, that he had  been poisoned by
 his  mate, an inquiry was  instituted at'the  request  of the
 foreign  government,  and  the  body was  disinterred,  five
 months after death. The face and neck were swollen, black
 and decayed, but the rest of the body was quite free of the
 usual signs  of putrefaction.  The skin was  white and firm,
 the  muscles fresh, the lungs crepitating, the liver and spleen
  * This case (which is quoted from Bachmann) and the preceding, are taken
from Christison, p. 312, etc. 
508                 IRRITANT POISONS.

were shrivelled;  the stomach and intestines entire through
their whole  tissues, and capable  of being  handled  freely
without injury.   On the mucous  coat of the stomach, seve-
ral dark patches of extravasation were found, likewise seve-
ral spots and large  patches, presenting on their surface, a
firmly adhering bright yellow crust, and the contents  of the
stomach  consisted  of a considerable  quantity of yellow
sandy matter of the  consistence of paste."   On analyzing
these contents and crusts, they were found to consist chiefly
of oxide  of arsenic partially converted into sulphuret, in the
manner already noticed when considering the  appearances
observed on dissection.*
   I shall have occasion to revert to this subject when speak-
ing of the detection of the  poison  by chemical  tests, in
bodies interred for a length of time.
   But  this  preservation  of the animal textures  does not
 occur in all cases of poisoning with arsenic; and it therefore
becomes a question, why bodies sometimes run rapidly into
putrefaction, while at other times its progress is thus either
delayed  or prevented.   The diversity is supposed by Dr.
 Christison to be owing, in the former instance, to  the dis-
charge of most  or all of the arsenic  by vomiting; and he
 suggests  that  this  circumstance, in  consequence of the
unnatural supply of moisture, and the  incipient disorganiza-
tion, may even induce an earlier decay of the stomach than
of other parts.   It is also probable that the  place of  burial,
 the nature of the soil,  and the condition of the air, exercise
a material influence.
   Effects on animals.   This subject  deserves consideration,
from the aid  it may  afford in determining on the nature of
  * Christison, 3d edit., p. 326.
  It is supposed by some, that the substance used by Ruysch, in his anato-
mical preparations, (the secret of which died with him,) was arsenic. "Mr.
William Pettigrew has been in the habit, in the course of his dissections, of
injecting into different parts of the human body, a weak solution of arsenic,
the effect of which is, to resist putrefaction, and render haste unnecessary in
the pursuit of anatomical inquiry.  He has found a limb, at the expiration of
 two months, as well fitted for the purposes of dissection, as at the time usually
 selected after  decease."  (Pettigrew's  Medical Portrait Gallery:  Life of
 Ruysch.)  See also some striking instances of the preservation of bodies, by
 injecting arsenical solution into the blood-vessels, in Dunglison's Medical In-
 telligencer, vol. 2, p. 337, from the Calcutta Quarterly Journal. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                  JU3

the symptoms and morbid appearances in the human system
Several  able observers and experimentalists have directed
their attention to it.
   Dr  Jaeger, of  Stuttgard, examined  the effects  of this
substance on all classes of organized bodies, vegetable and
animal; and  most of  his  experiments were made  with  a
solution of the white  oxide in  water, in the proportion of
one to sixteen.  He found it a general and quick poison for
plants at every period of their life, with  the exception per-
haps of a few of the simplest forms of vegetable existence.
Their various parts died in succession, as the particles of
the poison reached them.   In animals, death was preceded
in every instance, from the infusory animalculse  up to man,
by inordinate  motions;  and the  secretion  of lymph  was
 increased most remarkably  from the mucous membranes.
 Frequent fluid stools took place in all classes of animals ; in
 those in which mucus is  secreted on  the  surface, it was
 remarkably increased, and crabs ejected  a great deal of froth
 from the  bronchial  openings.  The power  of voluntary
 motion, and susceptibility for  external stimuli, decreased;
 the  respiration of  those animals  which  breathe by  lungs
 became difficult and  laborious, and warm-blooded  animals
 experienced extraordinary  thirst.   In birds and mammalia,
 frequent and  violent vomiting took place, and commonly
 was the commencement of  the scene  to which convulsions
 put an end.   Rabbits, however, which ruminate,  did not
 vomit.
    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

    * There can be no doubt of the truth  of this statement.  Dr. Gordon quotes
  the following experiments, given to him by his friend Dr.  Campbell, which
   Erove how small a quantity, externally applied, is sufficient to destroy life :
   'ive drops of a saturated solution of the white oxide of arsenic were placed
  in a wound in the neck of a young cat.  The animal was seized with vomit-
  ing and died in four days.  The  stomach internally was much inflamed near
  the pylorus, and the small intestines were also greatly inflamed, both inter-
  nally and externally. In another instance, two drops of  arsenic acid (the
  effects of which only differ in being more powerful and rapid) were put on the
  head of a cat, and she was dead in twenty-four hours. Vomiting took place,
  and the  stomach and oesophagus were  inflamed.  (Gordon, p. 19.)  It is also
  confirmed by Mr. Brodie's experiments. 
510
IRRITANT POISONS.
when it was  injected into the large intestines, which have
fewer absorbing vessels.  Applied to the sound skin, and to
a wounded muscle, if dry, it  seldom produced  any effect;
and animals covered with scales or shells, did not suffer at
all  from  the external application of  arsenic.  Applied
directly to the nerves, it was inert. Lastly, he  found that
animals were never  killed more certainly  or  quickly by
arsenic, than when it  was injected into the abdomen; but
upon this  he lays no stress, as the same effect was produced
by  most infusions.
  In whatever  way the arsenic was  applied,  Dr.  Jaeger
observed after death no change upon the skin.   The gullet,
and in  birds the crops also, exhibited generally a slight
redness; and further down, purple-red stripes, more  numer-
ous in  the vicinity of the cardia, which as well  as  the
stomach itself, in animals having a soft villous coat to their
stomachs,  was sometimes  of an uniform purple-red color,
and sometimes spotted with it.  The  muscular  stomach of
graminivorous  birds,  however, showed no  appearance of
redness; and in the aponeurotic portion of the stomach of a
horse poisoned  by arsenic, there were no traces of  inflam-
mation, which was  otherwise general.  The villous  coat of
the stomach is almost always softened, and as if  macerated,
and also somewhat swollen; and in general, it can be easily
torn, or rubbed off in pieces  with the finger, from the coat
beneath it.   The inflammatory redness is not seated in the
villous  coat, which remains  perfectly white, but  in  the
nervous coat, which is remarkably  red, and  exhibits every
where purple-red warts or eminences.   The author, how-
ever, often saw this separation of the villous from the ner-
vous coat, without any inflammatory redness of the latter.
These changes  continue, though  in  a less degree, through
the  small, to the vicinity of the large intestines, which are
in general free  from  them, and only contain an  increased
quantity of effused mucus : but the rectum again is inflamed,
and its inner coat swollen and softened.   These appearances
are  not constant, and are very various in degree. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
511
  The other mucous membranes were less generally affected,
but he sometimes found the trachea red and inflamed, and in
one  instance the urethra of a dog.  In  no instance,  real
inflammation of the peritoneum, but its vessels were always
turgid with stagnating blood.  The voluntary muscles were
constantly and universally rigid ; the limbs sometimes bent,
but generally extended;  the heart, urinary  bladder,  gall
bladder and intestines, were rarely contracted, but frequently
distended by their  contents.  The veins, especially of the
abdomen, were constantly turgid with much black fluid blood,
and a similar stagnation was observed in the cavities of the
heart, especially of the right side.  The lungs in general
were natural, as was also the brain.
  Putrefaction seemed neither  to be hastened  nor  retarded by
their being poisoned with arsenic, whether they  were buried or
not.
  He however remarked, that the immediate  contact of the
arsenical  solution,  seemed in some degree  to retard  the
putrefaction of the part to which it was applied in sufficient
quantity.
   As to the local effects of arsenic, he observed that when
applied to the sound skin, it seldom injured it.   If  applied
to a wound, it never, after death,  was observed to  be gan-
grenous  or  inflamed; was rarely swollen,  but  generally
pale ; and for a considerable extent, the subcutaneous cellu-
lar membrane was  filled with much  stagnant, gelatinous
fluid.  The  oesophagus, stomach and intestines, were com-
monly,  though  not  always  inflamed  when arsenic  was
administered by the mouth.  He never noticed real erosions,
ulcerations and  gangrene  of  the  viscera.   In  the  horse
already  mentioned, and into whose jugular vein  two ounces
of arsenical solution  were injected, and  which was put to
death twenty-nine hours afterwards, there were only some
discolored spots in the left ventricle.*

  * Review of Jaeger's Inaug. Dissertation, De Effectibus Arsenici in Varios
Organismos, 8cc, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  7, pp. 80
to 84. 
512
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  Sir Benj. Brodie performed numerous experiments on ani-
mals with  arsenic,  and in doing  so, either  applied it to a
wound, or  injected  it into the stomach.  ' The results were
similar in all essential circumstances.   The symptoms were,
1. Paralysis of the hind  legs, and  afterwards of the other
parts of the body;  convulsions,  dilatation of the  pupils of
the eyes, and  insensibility.  2. A feeble, slow, and inter-
mitting  pulse.  3.  Pain  in  the  region  of  the  abdomen;
preternatural secretion of mucus from the alimentary canal,
and sickness and vomiting in those  animals which are capa-
ble  of  vomiting.    These   three  classes  of  symptoms
respectively  indicate disorder of the heart, brain  and ali-
mentary canal.  Mr. Brodie  also  found that the  symptoms
occurred sooner when the arsenic was applied to a wound,
than when it is given internally.
  In whatever way the poison is administered, the inflamma-
tion is  confined  to the stomach  and  intestines.   He never
observed any appearances of it  in  the pharynx or oesopha-
gus.!   This  inflammation took place  more  readily indeed
from  the external  application of the poison, than  from its
administration internally, and it preceded any appearance of
inflammation  of the  wound.   The  degree of  inflammation
varied  considerably.  In some it was very  slight, in others
considerable, and it appears to be greater or less according
to the  time  which  elapses  before  the animal dies.  The
mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines assumes a
florid red  color, becomes soft and  pulpy, and is  separable
without much difficulty from the cellular coat, which has its
natural  appearance.   In some instances  there  are small
spots of extravasated  blood  on  the  inner surface of the
mucous membrane, or between it and the cellular coat, and
this occurs independently of vomiting.  Mr. Brodie never
found ulceration or sloughing of  the  stomach or intestines,
but he suggests, that if the animal  survives for a length of

  t  Dr. Campbell, however,  in several experiments with the white oxide,
externally applied, found the oesophagus greatly inflamed.  This appearance
was witnessed by Dr. Gordon.  (Gordon, p. 20.)  Orfila mentions it as a com-
mon circumstance in persons  dead from poison; and he also quotes a case in
which it was distinctly observed. (Orfila's  Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 140.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
513
time after the inflammation has begun, it is reasonable to
conclude  that it may terminate in  one or  other of these
ways;  and it is  important not to  mistake  the layers of
coagulated blood for sloughs.*
  I may also mention the result of a number of experiments
made by  Dr. Duncan, Jr.,  and Dr. Campbell.   They are
summed up  by the former as follows:  " 1. Arsenic does
not act chemically on animal matter, living or dead.  2. Its
chief effects are to produce a disease somewhat analogous to
cholera morbus, whether it be taken  directly into the sto-
mach  itself,  or  inserted  into  the subcutaneous  cellular
membrane of a  remote part, or applied to a delicate mem-
brane.  In some few cases,  where the action of the poison
is most intense, death occurs from the sickness or fainting,
without vomiting or purging.  3.  Frequently a considerable
interval intervenes, between its being received,  even in solu-
tion, into the stomach, and its action.   4.  Neither paralysis
of the voluntary muscles, nor convulsions, nor  delirium, nor
coma, nor disordered  respiration or circulation, are  ordinary
 symptoms of the disease  produced  by arsenic.   5.  After
 death, we were frequently  unable to  discover  any organic
 lesion, and  we generally found that  the  inflammation was
 less, in proportion as  the  arsenic was more speedily fatal."!
   Dr.  Roupell in two  instances  injected arsenic  into the
veins of dogs.  With the first, death followed in  an hour.
The mucous  membrane of the small  intestines was highly
inflamed, and the stomach exhibited the hour-glass contrac-
tion and contained about an ounce of tough mucus.   In the
other, where death ensued in  three hours, the stomach and
intestines  to  the extremity  of  the  rectum  were highly

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 8,  p. 459, from Philoso-
phical Transactions.  From his experiments, Mr. Brodie draws the conclusion
that arsenic does not produce its deleterious effects, until it has passed into the
circulation.
  t Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical  Journal, vol. 11, p. 127.  In a recent
examination  at Paris, of seven horses poisoned by the arseniate of potash,
inflammation of the stomach, intestines and bladder was seen either separately
or conjointly, and in all of them there were numerous ecchymoses at the base
of the left ventricle of the heart.  Every other part of that organ was healthy.
(Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 12, p. 404.)
VOL. II.
33 
514
IRRITANT POISONS.
inflamed, but in neither was there any appearance of inflam-
mation in the lining membrane of the heart, arteries or veins.*
  When arsenic was introduced after death into the rectum of
animals, and allowed to remain there for twenty-four hours,
the mucous membrane in contact with it became of a lively
red color, with darker interspersed patches as if from extra-
vasation.  The other  coats  were  natural,  and  even  the
mucous was so, unless the poison actually touched it.   The
margin  of the coloration  was  abrupt, and well defined.
When the  arsenic was not  introduced until twenty-four
hours after  death, the part to which it was applied presented
dark patches, while the rest of the  membrane was healthy.
The result of the application of arsenic during life, was, on
the contrary,  a  redness which extended to some distance
from the points with which the poison had  been in contact,
and then passed gradually  into the  healthy color of the sur-
rounding membrane.!
   Chemical proofs.  The tests of arsenic  have been the sub-
ject of extensive and animated discussion.  I should occupy
a large portion of this volume, were I to enter into a critical
examination of them;  and the result, after all, might be to
perplex the learner.   I prefer, therefore, to point out  and
dwell on the  more important, designate others of inferior
value, and make full references to authorities for the student.
   Arsenious acid is met with in two forms ;  as a snow-white
powder, and in  solid masses, generally opaque, and some-
times  translucent.   When newly  sublimed, it  is almost
transparent^ and has a vitreous lustre.  The change to opa-
city occurs from keeping it, and this hence is possibly owing
to the action of the atmosphere.J   Guibourt  has  found the
opaque  variety  most  soluble in  water.  The  powder is
obtained by grinding down the massy arsenic.§

  * Report of  the  Fifth Meeting of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, p. 236.
  f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 540.
  X Kruger imagines that a hydrate is formed.  (Brande's Journal, N. S., vol.
4, p. 214.)  This is, however, doubted by Berzelius,  as no appreciable differ-
ence in weight can be discovered.
  § Bussy, on the other hand, declares that the vitreous is more soluble than
the opaque.  He grants, however,  that there is frequently a mixture of both 
IRRITANT POISONS.
515
  Specific gravity.  Authors do  not exactly agree on this.
Dr. Ure says it is 3.729.   Transparent varieties, according
to  Guibourt,  have a  specific gravity of 3.7385;  and the
opaque,  3.695.   Dr. John K. Mitchell and  Mr. Durand, of
Philadelphia, found that specimens of the transparent vary
from  3.208 to 3.338, while  the  opaque was 3,656.*  Mr.
Alford S.  Taylor,  found that a mass kept four years and
perfectly opaque had a specific gravity of 3.529, while that
of  a recently prepared  specimen perfectly transparent was
3.798.!
   Solubility.  On this there is still greater diversity of state-
ment. According to Bergman,  80  parts  of water  at 60°
Fahr. dissolve  one part of arsenic, while the same  is dis-
solved by 15 parts of boiling water.  Navier asserts that 80
parts of  boiling  water  are  requisite to  dissolve  one part.
Klaproth, from a series of experiments, found that 400 parts
of  cold  water at 60° dissolve one part, while 13 parts of
boiling water were sufficient for the same purpose.  He also
examined  how much of the oxide  would be retained by the
boiling  water after it  was cold, and  found that  100 parts
 retained three of the oxide, and the remainder separated in
 the form of tetrahedral crystals.J    Guibourt has found that
 1000 parts of temperate water dissolve, in thirty-six hours,
 9.6 of the transparent, and 12.5 of the opaque variety;  and
the same quantity of boiling water  dissolves,  of the trans-
parent  97 parts,  retaining  18 when cooled; but  of the
opaque,  takes up 115, and  retains on cooling 29.§   Hahne-
mann remarked,  that at the temperature  of the blood, 1000
parts dissolve ten parts, with the aid of  ten minutes' agita-
tion. ||  On comparing the  results  given  by various experi-
mentalists, Mr. Taylor  found them to differ in the following

in various  parcels, and that the one may be converted into the other, by the
action of water at different temperatures. (Comptes Rendus, May and August.
 1S47.)                                                 5
  * Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 4, p. 108.
  f Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 2, p. 91.
  f Annals of Philosophy, vol. 1, p. 132.
  § Guibourt, Edinburgh New Philosophical  Journal, vol.  1, p. 318, from
Journal de Chimie Medicale.
  || Christison, p. 228. 
516
IRRITANT POISONS.
manner:  1000 parts  of temperate  water dissolve of their
weight of arsenious acid, according to Despretz, one-twen-
tieth,  and  according  to   Fischer,  one-twelve-hundredth.
These  are the  extremes.   Again, 1000 parts  of boiling
water dissolve one-eighth of their weight according to Gui-
bourt, and 2^otn> according.to Nasse.   These also are the
extremes, but the majority of  the  experimenters do not go
higher than aV^h-   A series of experiments were  instituted
by Mr. Taylor, and  from them he arrives at the following
conclusions :   1. That hot  water, allowed to cool from 212°
on  this  poison  dissolves less  than  4^oth °f its  weight or
about  1|  grains to each ounce of water.   2.  That water
boiled for an hour on this substance, dissolves ^-th of its
weight, or rather  more  than  20 grains to each ounce,  and
this water on perfect cooling,  does not retain more than
about  ^th of its weight or 12 grains to the ounce.  3. That
water boiled  on arsenious  acid to the most  perfect state of
saturation, after having stood six months holds dissolved
about 3Vth of its weight or 13 grains to the ounce.  4. That
water at  ordinary temperatures will dissolve  from about
ToVoth to s^oth of its weight, or from \ grain to  1 grain to
each ounce of solvent, according to circumstances.
  The  solubility of arsenic  is much impaired by the presence
of organic principles, as milk  or mucus in the water.  Hot
tea and cold  porter will not, according to Mr. Taylor,* take
up  more than about half a grain  to the ounce, while  hot
coffee and cold  brandy do  not dissolve  more than a grain.
These results readily explain the fact why the  poison is so
often found in the solid state in the stomach.

  *  Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 2, p. 102.  I have omitted one of Mr. Tay-
lor's conclusions, viz: that there is no observable difference in the solubility
of the transparent and opaque varieties of arsenious acid, because it does not
seem to be confirmed by his experiments, although the difference is certainly
less than in Guibourt's.  In a medico-legal point of view, however, the ques-
tion, as Mr. Taylor remarks, is not  of much importance, since  the transparent
variety is rarely sold by the druggists.
  Boutigny and Baudry suspended  in river water, a piece of opaque arsenic,
weighing 0.728 grammes.  On the  fourth day,  and not before, sulphuretted
hydrogen indicated the presence of arsenic in the water.  On the tenth day,
the  arsenic was  removed, carefully dried and weighed.  It had lost 0.016
grammes.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 17, p. 354.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
517
  The deduction from the above statement  is an important
one to the medical jurist.  It shows the necessity of dilu-
ting the suspected substance considerably  with water, and
also, of boiling the fluid for at least two or three hours.
  Taste.  The common statement in most systematic works,
is that it is  acrid.  Dr. Christison, from experiment, is  of
opinion that it  has scarcely any taste at all, but probably,
if any, is rather sweetish.  Certainly it has been swallowed,
with many articles of food, without the individual being
aware  of any acridity.  The mistake on this  point may have
arisen from  confounding the  inflammation  subsequently
induced in the  throat, with the impression  in the act of
swallowing.*
  Effect of heat.   The oxide of arsenic is sublimed at 380°
F. and condenses in the  form of a crystalline powder.!  If
the operation be performed slowly, and on small quantities,
the crystals  are octahedral.   When mixed with charcoal,
and heated,  it is reduced, and the metal sublimed.   Berze-
lius says  that  it begins  to sublime at nascent red heat.J
Dr. Mitchell,  on the other hand,  found  the  temperature
required was a red heat visible in the dark.§

         Tests of the oxide of arsenic in the solid state.
  [a.)  The process of reduction  is here  to  be employed.
The only instrument  necessary is a glass tube;  and the best
form of it, when the quantity of arsenic is small and probably
impure, is that recommended by  Berzelius, and  now in
common use.
  Its length  should be about three inches ; and its diameter,
according to Berzelius, should not be more than from ^th to
 ,Vth  of an  inch.  The  matter employed, should not  fill
above three-fourths of an inch.

  • Christison,  p. 227.  Dr. Gordon, in his Inaugural Dissertation, p. 9, says
that it is sweet. Hahnemann is of the same opinion, according to Dr. Chris-
tison.  For authorities and  facts in confirmation of Dr. Christison's opinion, see
his communication  in the  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 28,
p. 90; vol. 33, p. 70.  Turner's Chemistry, p. 562, 5tfc edition.
  t Christison.  Thomson says 383°; Bergman, 388°.
  X Chimie, vol. 2, p. 129.
  § American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 10, p. 122.             % 
518             #    IRRITANT POISONS.

  The  arsenic should be mixed with about three times  its
weight of freshly ignited  charcoal.  This is decidedly pre-
ferable to the black flux, which was formerly  employed.*
If the suspected substance be large in  quantity, it  may  be
mixed  with the charcoal before it is  introduced into the
tube; but if small, it may be better to drop it into the tube,
and then cover it over with charcoal.   For the purpose of
introduction, a small glass funnel is the best; and to it may
be previously fitted a brass or silver wire, for  pushing down
the matter that  adheres.   It is of importance that the ma-
terials to be tested should all be collected together, and this
object is best effected by the use of the funnel.  In order to
prevent the consequences of expansion, they should not be
too closely rammed together.
   Heat is best applied with the  spirit-lamp.!   The upper
part  of the material- or the charcoal should be  first heated
with a small flame.  Then apply the heat to  the  bottom of
the  tube with an  enlarged flame, and  any water that may
form on its sides, should  be removed with a roll of filtering
paper.   By continuing the tube in the  flame, the metallic
crust characteristic of arsenic, will soon be formed.  " The
surface next the tube is almost exactly like polished steel,
being a  little  darker in color, but equal in brilliancy and
polish, and the inner surface is either  brilliantly crystalline
to the naked eye, like the fracture of cast iron, or  has a dull
grayish-white color, but appears crystalline before a common
magnifying lens of four or five powers."J
  * " The black flux may be said to consist of charcoal in a state of extremely
minute division,  and the subcarbonate  of potash.  It is prepared by defla-
grating in a crucible, two parts of supertartarate of potash, with one part of
nitrate of potash."  (R. Phillips, Annals, N. S., vol. 7, p. 35.)
  f Mr. Phillips and Mr. Brande appear each to have recommended this;  but
the first more particularly called the attention of chemists to it.  (Annals, N.
S., vol. 7, p. 36; vol. 10, p. 300.)
  The oxalate of soda has been recommended by Mr. McGregor as preferable
to the  black flux,  in reducing arsenious  acid or the sulphuret.  One part of
arsenic is to be added to three parts of oxalate.  (London Med.  Gazette, vol.
22, p.  614.) While Gobel has found the allied salt of formate  of soda equally
efficacious in the reduction.  The substance to be examined,  whether oxide
or sulphuret, is mixed with the formate, and heated in the usual manner, in a
small glass tube, over the flame of a lamp.  The arsenic sublimes.   (London
and Edinburgh Phil. Magazine, vol. 13, p. 394.)
  $ Christison, p. 225.  For Berzelius' directions, see his Chemistry, or An-
nals, N. S., vol. 11, p. 232. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                   519


  These properties are  manifest even in the  most minute

quantities.   Berzelius says, that  190th  of a  grain  of the

oxide is more than sufficient to form a good crust.*

  It has been  objected  to this test, that other substances,

when  treated  in the  same  manner,  may put  on a similar

appearance.  Dr.  Paris  states,  that  a film of very  finely

divided charcoal, has thus been  mistaken  for arsenic!

Antimony,  when reduced is  also said to resemble the crust.

This, however, is totally  denied by  Dr. Christison.   And

recently Dr. Mitchell of Philadelphia, has observed that

cinnabar mixed with carbon and heated, exactly counterfeits

metallic arsenic in its  appearance.|

  If the glass tube contains lead,  it may assume an appear-

ance  on the outside,  resembling  that of  reduced arsenic.

This is mentioned by Mr. Donovan, and I have repeatedly

witnessed it when the heat  was driven high.§

  It is from circumstances like these, although I was aware

 of but  a portion of them, and particularly from an unwilling-

 ness  to recommend any  particular test to the exclusion of all

 others, that I  was induced to make the  remarks   in  the

 previous edition  on  the  reduction  test.   The dispute,  if

 there be any, is after all, I  apprehend, more in words,  than

 in fact.  No one conversant with the subject will deny, that

 reduction is the confirmatory, the  decisive proof; but I also

 presume, that  no  medical  jurist with  the reduced metal

before  him, would be willing  to stop with  that experiment,

 and go into court and  testify to the  existence of arsenic.

  * Rose detected one-eighth of a grain, although it was mixed with animal
 matter.  (Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 85.)   The late
 Professor Gorham,  of Harvard University, also produced a distinct  metallic
 film from the same quantity.  (New England Journal, vol. 6, p. 228.)  Dr.
 Traill, one-tenth of a grain. (Annals,  N. S., vol. 7, p.  131.)  Dr. Christison,
 one-sixteenth, one-hundredth  part of a grain, and  even less. (Edinburgh
 Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 82; vol. 33, p.  68.  Edinburgh
 Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol.  2, p. 93.)
  f Pharmacologia, p. 217.
  t American Journel of Medical Sciences, vol. 10, p. 126.
  § Not long since, it was  hinted that if arsenic had been used in the manu-
 facture of glass, that metal might be reduced by a high heat, and thus impair
 the correctness of any medico-legal experiment. This, however,  has been
 shown to be a perfectly futile objection, by Chevallier.  (Annales D'Hygiene,
 vol. 11, p. 221; Baltimore Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 513 ;  and
 by Ozanam, Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 48, p. 440.)   See also
 Orfila, Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 23, p.  430. 
520
IRRITANT POISONS.
Certainly he would omit  some  of the means  of  rendering
assurance doubly sure*
  {b.)  Oxidation of the metallic arsenic by heat.   Apply heat
to the ball which now contains the flux deprived of arsenic,
and attach a bit of glass  tube to its end, so  that it can be
drawn off and leave the crust, free of any danger  of contact
with it.   Then apply heat to the crust with the spirit-lamp,
till it is all  converted into a white powder.   This (the arse-
nious acid,) will then crystallize in the form of octahedrons,
which can be readily seen with a proper  lens.
  A necessary caution in performing this experiment, is not
to heat the  tube too  suddenly or too highly, as  the  oxide
may otherwise unite with the glass and form a white opaque
enamel.  It is better to pass the  tube  repeatedly through
the flame, till the object is effected.
  (c.)  A portion  of the tube containing the oxide may now
be filed off.   Boil this in a drachm or two of distilled water,
acidulate the solution in the manner hereafter  directed, and
apply the liquid tests to be presently described.!
  {d.) Dr. Christison recommends as an additional  test for
the oxide in  its solid state, to keep it for a few  hours in a
solution of the ammonia cal sulphate of copper.|  It will be
gradually converted into  an  apple green powder, forming
thearsenite of copper, while the blue solution of the cupreous
salt, becomes colorless.   " No other substance in nature,"
he adds,  " exhibits the same phenomenon with this agent."§
  The remaining tests are mentioned, from having found a
place  in  every work on  medical  jurisprudence.  They are
equivocal^ besides requiring such a portion of arsenic as can
hardly be spared  in most cases.
  * See, on this point, a note by Devergie, Medecine Legale, vol. 2, p. 437.
  f Christison, p. 236.  Clark  in Brande's Journal, N. S., vol.  6, p. 357.
Orfila has shown that metallic arsenic, when boiled with distilled water for
two hours, is so far converted into arsenious acid, as to permit the liquid tests
to operate.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2, p. 484.)
  X This appears to have been suggested by Orfila.  (Edinburgh  Med. and
Surg. Jour., vol. 22, p. 81.)
  § Mr. Smithson also proposed to ascertain the presence of solid arsenic by
fusing it with nitrate of potash.   Arseniate of potash is the product, which
gives a brick-red precipitate with nitrate of silver.  (Annales of Philosophy,
N. S., vol. 4, p. 127.)  A mode of applying  this to a solution of arsenic, ia
given by Mr. R. Phillips, in ibid. vol. 7, p. 35. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
521
   (e.) The garlic smell. If a portion of arsenic be thrown on
 red hot iron or burning charcoal, it will  evaporate with a
 white smoke and a peculiar smell like garlic.  Phosphorus,
 however, and zinc, under the same circumstances, burn with
 a  similar  odor.*  Animal matter,  and even paper will also
 sometimes imitate it.f
   On the  other hand, if arsenic be mixed with either a vege-
 table or animal substance, the smoke and smell arising from
 these bodies when heated, will altogether prevent us from
 detecting the peculiar properties of the arsenic. Dr. Bostock
 mixed equal parts of arsenic and flour, and placed them on
 iron at a low red heat, but the suffocating smoke arising from
 the flour could alone be perceived.J
   It is also  ascertained that the  garlic odor is  evolved by
 the  sublimation  of metallic  arsenic only, and  not by the
 oxide, unless it be  at the same time reduced.§   Thus, Dr.
 Paris found that when the oxide  was projected  on red-hot
 copper or iron, the garlic smell was produced, but when it
 was placed on a plate of copper, iron,  or platina, and heat
 was applied by the spirit-lamp or  the  blow-pipe,  no odor
 was perceptible.  No reduction took place in this case, and
 the arsenious acid was dissipated before  the copper could
 acquire a  degree of temperature sufficient  to deoxidize it.
   (/.)  The  tombac or silvery alloy.  This is produced by mix-
 ing the oxide with charcoal or the black flux, and placing it
 between two copper  plates, which  are  bound together  by
 iron wire, and then subjecting it to heat for a few minutes.
 On rubbing  the plates, a silvery white  stain will  be left on
 the surface  of the  copper, which is an  alloy of the two
 metals. This, also, is an uncertain test.  Dr. Bostock placed
 charcoal alone, moistened with oil, between copper plates,
 and after applying heat in the  manner  just directed, found


 Chemis^S S,1^^.^ *"*"*  J°Urna1' ^  7' P" 85'  Mn™?'S
  t Christison, p. 237.
  X Kdinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  7, p 173
  ? 9  r,s' on„Bra"d£s Journal, vol. 6, p. 342.  R. Phillips, in.Annals, N. S.,
rrAA ?'oa""a    i o Cl?1.ms the ^sc^ery of these facts for Berzeliua,
(Lemons, 3d ed., vol. 3, p. 144.) 
522
IRRITANT  POISONS.
an appearance somewhat similar to the alloy.*  Dr.  McNe-

vin ascertained that oxide of tin  had nearly the same effect

on copper as oxide of  arsenic has.   If the quantity used be

sufficient,  it  is probable that no mistake could be made in

confounding  the  respective states of the  copper; but, as  I

have  already remarked,  we  can seldom  spare enough for

this purpose, and the use of this test  must therefore be dis-

couraged.!

               Tests of oxide of arsenic in solution.

  {a.) Sulphuretted hydrogen.   If the  fluid to  be  tested is

alkaline, this gas  will  not act, because the  precipitate  it

would otherwise form is soluble in the alkalies.   If, on the

other hand, a mineral  acid be present in  excess, an  excess

of sulphur is thrown down.   This will  defeat any subse-

quent attempts at reduction.   Hence, if the suspected fluid

reddens litmus, it must be neutralized with potash;  if it be

alkaline,  it must be acidulated with acetic acid.   This last,

indeed, is now recommended to be used in all cases, as sul-

phuretted hydrogen has no action on acetic acid.J

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol 5, p. 172.   On this test,
see Orfila (American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 5, p. 233);  Brugna-
telli (Philosopical Magazine, vol. 43, p. 445).
  t Besides the modes of reduction mentioned in the text, I may state two
others.  One is recommended by Dr. A. T. Thomson.  It is, to boil the sus-
pected fluid with animal charcoal. The arsenic  will be absorbed by it, and
after removing the fluid, it may be reduced and sublimed by drying and heating
the charcoal.  This process, however, will not answer when the quantity of
oxide is small.   The  other is the application of galvanism. This was first
suggested by Jaeger, and several German chemists have used it with various
modifications of apparatus;  but it also, from their own confessions, is not
delicate.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 85; Orfila's
Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 108; Christison, p. 249.)
  Dr.  Clendenning has recommended the following method, founded on the re-
searches of Mr.  E. Davy : " A portion of the arsenical substance is mixed in
a platina crucible, with a little muriatic acid.  A piece of zinc foil or wire is
then dipped into the mixture and stirred about gently on the bottom for one
or two minutes,  when the platina will be found more or less covered with a
crust of metallic arsenic.   On throwing away the acid fluid, and applying
heat to the platina, the arsenic rose in alliaceous vapors; it also  gave the
arsenites of silver and copper with the tests. In this manner Dr. Clendenning
successfully operated  on arsenic mixed with milk, soup, coffee, tea, &c.   (Lon-
don Medical Gazette,  vol. 12, p. 440.)  For Mr. Davy's paper, see Philosophi-
cal Magazine and Annals, vol. 9, p. 38.
  X " When sulphuretted hydrogen alone is applied to a solution of arsenious
acid, a reddish-yellow color is produced, without any precipitate, but if a
few drops of hydrochloric acid be added to the mixture, a yellow precipitate
instantly falls down." Boutigny has ascertained that several other acids pro-
duce the same effect, and he is disposed to ascribe the above action to electrical
influence.  (Devergie, vol. 2, p. 716.) 
IRRITANT  POISONS.                  523
  With this previous preparation of the fluid, it is to be sub-
jected to a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas for ten or
fifteen minutes.*  The first portions of the  gas  turn the
arsenical solution to  a  bright  lemon yellow color, and the
subsequent portions throw down a  flocculent  precipitate of
a sulphur yellow tint, which is the sulphuret of arsenic.  If
the proportion of oxide in solution be small,  there will  be
only a  yellowness, owing to the sulphuret being soluble in
an excess of sulphuretted hydrogen.  This  excess  may be
expelled by boiling, after which a distinct precipitate  is ob-
tained.
   The following are  the only substances that  can be con-
founded with the sulphuret of arsenic:  The salts of cad-
mium yield nearly the same color, but they are very  rare.!
The precipitated sulphuret of cadmium, also is  not soluble
in ammonia.J  The salts  of selenium also give a yellow pre-
 cipitate, but these are also very rare.  The persalts  of tin
 give a dirty grayish  yellow precipitate, but ammonia turns
 it brown.  The salts of antimony form an  orange red pre-
 cipitate, with sulphuretted hydrogen.
   This is  a very  minute test.  Children  found  a decided
 yellow color, in an  ounce of distilled water, to which  one
 drop  of arsenious acid  had  been  added.   Jaeger detected
 arsenic thus in  a solution which bore the proportion to the
 water of one to 50,000, and Christison says that  it acts on
 the oxide in a hundred thousand parts of water.§
   Sulphuretted hydrogen gas should  in all  cases be used
 in preference to its solution, or to the hydro-sulphate of
  * Mr. Griffin, author of " Chemical Recreations," advises the following, as
an easy method of applying sulphuretted hydrogen : " Take a test tube an
inch wide and six inches long;  put iato it half a grain of sulphuret of anti-
mony or iron, and two or three drops of muriatic acid; insert into the mouth
of the tube, a slip of white paper three inches  long and half an inch wide,
wetted with the solution under examination, previously acidified; allow a
portion of the paper to project beyond; apply heat with a spirit lamp, &c
(London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag., vol. 13, p. 204.)
  t It was,  in fact, this very property of yielding  a yellow precipitate, with
sulphuretted hydrogen, that led to the discovery of cadmium by Stromeyer.
(Thomson's  History of Chemistry, vol. 2, p. 220.)
  X Bischoff, Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 2, p. 231.
  § Annals, N. S., vol. 1, p. 143;  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 7, p. 65; Christison p. 242. 
524
IRRITANT POISONS.
ammonia.  The ammonia of the latter may keep the arseni-
cal sulphuret in solution.*
  (6.) Ammoniacal nitrate of silver.   Dissolve lunar caustic
in ten parts of water; add ammonia, which will precipitate
the oxide of silver, and then redissolve the precipitate nearly,
but not entirely, by adding gradually an excess of ammonia.
In this state  the ammoniacal nitrate of silver will cause,
even in a weak solution of oxide of arsenic, a lively lemon
yellow  precipitate, the arsenite of silver, which passes to a
dark brown under exposure to light.
  There are,   however, many impediments to  the  perfect
action  of this test.   Several of  the  acids,  as well as  an
excess  of  ammonia, prevent its  due operation.  Common
salt, if  present, wTill give a pale yellowish white  color to
the arsenical precipitate.  Dr. Forbes of Aberdeen, proposes
to remove  this difficulty by using the nitrate of silver alone,
as long as any white  precipitate falls down, then add a
slight excess  of it, and  after subsidence to drop in ammonia.
The chloride  of sodium is  thus  removed, and the yellow
arsenite of silver is formed in the last part of the process.!
   The  following method proposed and used  by Professor
Traill,  is probably the best  yet suggested, for showing the
minuteness of this test:  He places a drop of the suspected
liquid on a plate of clear  glass, and  near it, another of the
ammoniaco-nitrate.  Then join them by means of a glass
rod, without completely mingling.  With one thousandth of
a grain dissolved in water by boiling, the test gave a rich,
yellow flaky precipitate, which on subsidence left the liquid
clear.  With  T J0 oth of  a grain the character of the precipi-
tate  was still distinctly seen  by the  naked  eye, and  even
with Ta^oirth °f a grain, a lens of moderate power enabled
Dr. Traill to observe the yellow flakes in a clear liquid.  In
all these experiments, he adds, it aids the eye much to place

  * The uncertainty attending this last may be seen in Dr. Bostock's paper,
(Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 167 ; Orfila's Toxicology,
vol 1, p. 104.)  The smallest addition of ammonia, when sulphuretted hydro-
gen alone has been used, and the  fluid is yellow, will instantly render it
colorless.  (Ibid. Le§ons, 3d ed., vol. 3, p. 148.)
  f Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 32, p. 335. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
525
the  plate  on  some  dark  ground,  such  as the  sleeve  of a

coat.*
   But this test cannot be depended  upon for exhibiting its
characteristic appearance, if vegetable or animal  matter is
present.   It is useful, however, even there, as its precipitate
is copious, and which may be employed  in  any additional

experiments.!
   (c.) The ammoniacal sulphate of copper  is  prepared by the
same process as the last test;  sulphate of copper being sub-
stituted for nitrate of  silver.  It causes in solutions of oxide
of arsenic, an apple green, or grass green precipitate.   Ar-
senite of copper is formed.
   This is also a delicate test; but its operation is prevented
by the presence of ammonia and  several of  the acids.   So
also vegetable infusions and animal fluids prevent its charac-
teristic color;  and again a  green  color is produced  by its
 action on different substances when arsenic  is not present.J
    {d.)  Reduction of sulphuret of  arsenic,  as obtained by process
 {a.)  After the precipitate  has been allowed to  subside, and
 the supernatant fluid has  been  removed  by the pipette, the
 remainder is poured  on a filter.   Allow a sufficient time for
  * Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Jour., vol, 50, p. 171.  Dr. Traill states that
the precipitate cannot be confounded with the phosphate of silver " for none
of the phosphoric salts afford precipitates  with the ammoniaco-nitrate of
silver, though they do with the nitrate."
  t This test was originally proposed  by Mr. Joseph Hume, modified by Dr.
Marcet, and finally presented in its  present form by the original proposer.
Its history, and discussions concerning its value, may be found in Philosophi-
cal Magazine, vol. 33,  p. 401; vol. 40, pp.  105, 179, 296, 333, 431; vol. 51,
page 149.
  Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 2,  p. 157; vol. 3, p. 342; vol. 6, p.
663, papers of Drs. Marcet and Roget.
  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 64.
  Annals of Philosophy, vol. 8, p. 152.  Ibid. N. S., vol. 1, p. 142; vol. 7, p.
33 ; Mr. Richard Phillips.  Ibid. N. S., vol. 10, p. 60; Dr. Paris.
  London Med. Repository, vol. 8, p. 178; Dr. Thomson.
  X On this test, see Dr. Bostock, Edinburgh Med. and  Surg. Jour., vol. 5,
p. 169; Paris' Pharmacologia and Med. Jurisprudence.
  Edinburgh Med. and Surgical Jour., vol. 13, p. 519; vol. 21, p. 427.
  Annals of Philosophy, N. S., vol. 7, p. 33.
  Braconnot ont he Schweinfurt green, Edinburgh Journal of Science, vol. 10,
p. 358.
  On the liquid test generally, see  Dr. Murray, Edinburgh Med. and Surg.
Jour., vol. 41, p. 365.   He proposes to apply them for  testing solid arsenic;
and in ibid. vol. 42, p. 86, to its detection in mixed fluids.
  Dr.  Brown on the tests of arsenious acid;  United States Medical and Surg.
Jour., vol. 1, p. 11. 
526
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  draining off the fluid and the filter is then gently compressed
  between folds of bibulous paper, and the sulphuret removed
  with the point of a knife before it dries.   The drying may
  be done on a watch glass in a vapor bath, or in a tube.  The
  object in either case, is  not only this, but also to drive off
  any excess of sulphuretted  hydrogen that may be present.
  If a tube has been employed, the bottom of it which con-
  tains the precipitate, may be cut off with a file.
    It is now to be covered with a flux consisting of an alka-
  line  carbonate  and  charcoal,  either  the black  flux,  or a
  mixture of two parts of ignited carbonate of soda and one
  of charcoal.  Mr. Taylor advises as the best  proportions,
  four parts by weight of the  black  flux to one of the sulphu-
  ret.  Heat must first be applied  to the part containing the
  flux, and the continuance of its application (which requires
  longer time than with arsenious acid) reduced the metal.*
    {e.) Arseniuretted hydrogen test.   We are indebted for this
  minute test to  Mr. Marsh of Woolwich.  In return for his
  communication  of  it to the  Society  of  Arts  in London, he
  received their large gold medal.   The principal of it is to
  generate hydrogen slowly in the midst of a liquid containing
  arsenious or arsenic acid, or any of their soluble salts.  For
  this purpose  Mr. Marsh devised  the  following apparatus:
  A glass tube open  at both ends, and about three-quarters of
  an inch in its internal  diameter,  is  bent in the form of a
  syphon,  the shorter leg being about  five inches  and the
  longer about eight inches in length.   A stop-cock furnished
, with a jet of fine bore, is  fitted to the shorter leg, and the
  whole apparatus is secured in an upright position, by attach-
  ing it to a wooden  block  and pillar  with  slips of India
  rubber.   The  suspected liquid  after being freed from bulky
  organic matters in the manner  to be  hereafter described, is
  mixed with a portion of diluted sulphuric acid (from a drachm

   * Berzelius  has also recommended the following: After a portion of the
  sulphuret has been  introduced into the tube, insert a piece of steel piano
  forte wire an inch long, so as to reach the  surface of the sulphuret.  Heat
  the wire with a spirit-lamp, and continue it until the sulphuret, in a state of
  vapor, passes along the heated iron.   In this way sulphuret of iron and me-
  tallic arsenic  are obtained.  The operation should be conducted slowly.
  (Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 2, p. 338.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
527
and a half to three drachms is recommended by Mr. Marsh,)
and  then  introduced into the longer leg of the tube.   A
piece of metallic  zinc is now dropped  into the shorter  leg
and the stop-cock is properly adjusted.  Hydrogen will of
course be evolved if the liquid  be pure, but if  it contains
arsenic, the  product will  be arseniuretted hydrogen.   After
allowing the first portions to escape, a lighted taper is to be
applied, when, if it be the  poison, it will burn with a dull
white flame.  If a plate of  clean glass  be brought over  the
flame, a circular stain of metallic arsenic is formed upon it,
whilst the combustion of the hydrogen, at  the same  time,
produces a ring of aqueous  vapor around the metallic  stain.
If a glass tube be  held at an angle of forty-five degrees over
the jet of flame, it will become lined with metallic arsenic
at the part  nearest where the  flame  impinges, and with
white arsenic or arsenious acid  at a short distance from  it.
  The testimony in  favor of  the test is of the  highest
character.   Mr.  Marsh  himself obtained distinct metallic
crusts when operating on only one drop of Fowler's solution,
which contains the one hundred  and twentieth part of a
grain.  Mr. Pereira detected the poison in  a liquid which
gave no indication with the silver and copper tests, although
it did with  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  Mr.  Herepath pro-
nounces this test the  most elegant that can be conceived,
and at the same time the most sensitive.  He recommends,
however, that instead of a plate of glass, one of mica should
be used with three drops of water  in separate places  on its
surface.  If the flame be allowed to play under one of these,.
the evaporation of the water kept the place cool and  in-
creased the  thickness  of the crust, while  the  danger of
fracture was avoided.   On inverting  the plate and holding
the drops some little height above the flame, they become
solutions of  arsenious acid, and can be  tested accordingly.
Mr.  Taylor  has  found this test effectual in  cases where
sulphuretted hydrogen gave no  indication, and he obtained
sublimates from  the hundredth  part of a grain  diffused in
45.000 of water.   M. Liebig and Mohr confirm these results
in their fullest extent.  Indeed the former remarks that  the 
528
IRRITANT POISONS.
sensibility of Mr. Marsh's method almost  surpasses imagi-
nation.  Mr. Mohr advises the use of porcelain, in place of
glass or mica when we wish to detect very delicate shades.*
  Berzelius, while he highly commends the method of Mr.
Marsh, observes that the inventor has neglected a property
of this gas, which may be applied most satisfactorily in such
investigations, viz., that of  depositing the  arsenic by  heat.
It is only necessary to  pass the gas through a tube heated
to redness in one part;  the  arseniuretted hydrogen is then
decomposed into arsenic, which is deposited  further on in a
cool part of the tube and into hydrogen, which is disengaged
in a pure state.  The only  apparatus needed for this pur-
pose, he adds, is  a  flask for the disengagement of the gas,
and a pipe to conduct it, as  soon  as disengaged, through a
glass tube heated to redness in one part by the flame of a
spirit lamp.   " If we wish, for  greater certainty, to place in
the red part of the tube, a small quantity of a known weight
of copper reduced by hydrogen, a wThite arseniuret of copper
will be obtained  and we may  thence ascertain with great
exactness the weight of the arsenic which  accompanies the
hydrogen."  Berzelius detected by this process, the presence
of  a milligramme of arsenic,  which had  been previously
dissolved in sulphuric  acid, and  then operated  on in the
manner proposed by himself and Mr. Marsh.!
  Several objections have been made against this test.  One
was anticipated by the inventor, viz.,  that the  zinc  used
may contain arsenic, and so also may  the sulphuric  acid.
But the difficulty in either  case is  obviated by first trying
the purity of the materials.  Perform the experiment  with
zinc and diluted sulphuric  acid  alone,  and if arsenic be
present in them, its characteristic stain will  be exhibited.!
Another has been stated by Mr. Lewis Thompson.  It is

  *  London Med. Gazette, vol. 18,  p. 650, containing Mr. Marsh's paper.
  Pereira, London Med. Gazette, vol. 18, p. 164.  Herepath, Proceedings of
British Association for 1836, Appendix, p. 69. Taylor, Guy's Hospital Reports,
vol.  2, p. 76.  Mohr and Liebig, in Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 23, p. 562,
translated in American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 10, p. 58.
  f  Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 24, p. 179.
  X  Pure hydrogen leaves no stain on the porcelain. See 0. Henry in Journal
de Pharmacie, vol. 25. p. 249. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                  529

that an alloy  of antimony and zinc when acted on by sul-
phuric acid, will produce an inflammable gas (called by Mr.
Thompson, antimoniuretted  hydrogen) which burns with a
pale bluish-green flame resembling that of arseniuretted
hydrogen, and when a piece of cold glass or china is held in
the  flame, a metallic crust  is deposited, while with a glass
tube, there is a metallic film in the part  nearest the flame,
and a white oxide beyond it.  Again, if sulphuretted hydro-
gen be passed over the oxides of these metals, particularly
if their quantity be minute, the color of the product may not
be strikingly different.   To obviate these difficulties, and to
distinguish between  the two metals, the  crust should be
treated with a drop of  nitric acid, which  immediately dis-
solves both.  Pass a current of sulphuretted hydrogen over
a  portion  of  this, and  if it be  arsenic,  orpiment will be
produced soluble in liquid ammonia.  Another portion may
be evaporated to dryness.  The white powder thus produced
is now to be tested with a dilute solution of nitrate of silver,
and the whole exposed  to the fumes of a stopper moistened
with ammonia.  If it be antimony a dense white precipitate
will be deposited, while arsenic will exhibit canary-yellow
flocculi.*
   Mr. Marsh himself states that in repeated experiments,
he found  Hume's test  (the ammoniaco-nitrate of  silver)
extremely useful as a discriminative test for arsenic or  anti-
mony.  After the matter to be  tested has been  acted upon
by his  apparatus, a piece of common window glass, (which
he prefers,) porcelain or mica, is to have one of its surfaces
moistened  with Hume's  test; it is then to be held horizon-
tally, with its moistened side downwards, directly over the
ignited jet of gas, about half an inch from  the tip of the
flame.  If  arsenic be present, the well known characteristic,
  • Thompson, London and Edinburgh  Philosophical Magazine, vol. 10, p.
  A  fe? a]so Voge1' Journal <*e  Pharmacie, vol. 24, p.  125 • Fresenius'
method, in Journal of the Franklin Institute, 3d series, vol. 5, p. 420?Beh-
lSil^\re Pharmacie> ™*> 1843; Dr. Brett, London and Edinburgh
alvsU  P«ml  • gaZme' V01- t20' p- I03 ;  Parnell's Element* ^ Chemical An-
aZILv  ? t m, Ameri™n Journal °f Pharmacy, vol. 10, p. 217; also, the
Appendix to Taylor on poisons, p. 828.                *
  vol. ii.                    34 
530
IRRITANT  POISONS.
lemon yellow color, is instantly produced; if antimony be
in the mixture, a curdy white precipitate is obtained ; if, on
the contrary, neither arsenic  nor antimony is  in the matter
under examination, the hydrogen instantly  reduces the silver
of the test liquor to the metallic state.*
  {a.) Reinsch's Process.   This  method  consists in acidula-
ting the arsenical fluids with  muriatic acid, and boiling them
with  metallic  copper, which then becomes covered with a steel-
grey crust of metallic arsenic.  I subjoin some  of the details
of his early experiments :
  A slip of copper  immersed in hydrochloric acid, specific
gravity, 1.172, containing arsenic, was not acted upon in a
closed vessel, after remaining  twelve hours at the ordinary
temperature.  But when the acid was diluted  with an equal
quantity of water, action took place after a few hours, the
arsenic being precipitated upon the copper.  If the solution
was  exposed to  the  air, the  action took place in a still
shorter time, but if heated, it occurred nearly immediately,
whether the acid was concentrated or diluted.  The copper
was covered at first with a grayish brilliant metallic coating,
which, upon increase of temperature, and according to the
quantity of arsenic present in the solution, turned black and
finally separated in black scales.
  In  order to  ascertain the delicacy of this reaction, a solu-
tion of one part  of arsenious acid was made in 1000 parts of
pure  hydrochloric acid diluted with  water.   A portion of
this  solution  (to which one-third of  pure  hydrochloric acid
was added) containing l-100,000th part of  arsenic, was acted
upon as  soon as it was heated ;  at first, the precipitate had
the appearance   of iron,  but after  long boiling, it became
black with a metallic lustre.   With a solution containing
l-200,000th part, the  copper  was  distinctly  covered with
arsenic,  after a  quarter  of  an  hour's  boiling.  The limit
appears to be between 1,250,000th and l-300,000th parts,
and is, therefore, considered  greater than  that of any other

  * London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 15, p. 282. This
method appears to have been successfully employed  in a criminal case in
France. (Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 24, p. 500.) 
IRRITANT  POISONS.                 531
reagents, and is not likely  to be mistaken  for other sub-
stances.
   Copper does not precipitate antimony with the same iron-
like appearance.   The precipitate has  a less metallic lustre
and is of a decided violet color.  With a solution contain-
ing l-200,000th  part of  antimony,  the precipitation is so
thin, that the copper shines  through, but has still a violet
hue.  Antimony gives no precipitate without the addition of
hydrochloric  acid.  The difference  between the antimonial
and arsenical precipitates is very manifest when they are
compared together.
   The  solution  of bismuth is immediately precipitated in a
crystalline  state, while  silver and mercury are  precipitated
with a silver lustre, and the  reaction does  not exceed a
l-20,000th  part in solution.*
   The simplicity of  this test and its ready execution have
made it universally popular.   Still it will be very necessary
to repeat one or more of the tests already mentioned, on the
crust of arsenic that  is obtained, and thus prove the nature
of the  metal.
   I will very briefly mention  some  other tests  that have
been proposed,
   1. Lime-water gives a fine white precipitate with arsenious
acid in solution—the arsenite  of lime.  This  is a favorite
with the German chemists.!  But it acts on numerous other
substances in a similar manner, and  again  it does not act if
the solution contains free nitric, muriatic and  acetic acids.
   2. Chromate of potash  has been proposed by Dr. Cooper.
It causes when added to a solution of arsenious acid, a grass
green  precipitate in about half an hour.   This is the pro-
toxide of chrome.|
  • London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, December, 1841
Journal^ol^^r,0^!- ^T ^t-  (Edinburgh M^. and Surgical
journal  vol. 7,  p. 84.)  Lime-water also enters into the nrocesses recom-
mended by Rose and Fischer. (Orfila's Toxicology, vol. l7pP135 )
  1 Si iman s Journal, vol. 4, p. 159. See also ibid. vol. 3, p 354 Dr Silli-
Ss^thtnfpSslS  ffl T*5' "thisaPP— totePoneVtne'best
if n «nwM PfT- t    f'  x?ld' however, mentions (Chemistry, p 346,) that
n• 1quia will assumed^f P°taSh ^^ t0 a solution of^tar emeSc
ed out bv M  J IT  the same green color as with arsenic. This was point- 
532
IRRITANT POISONS.
  3. Iodide of potassium has been recommended by Professor
Emmet of the University of Virginia.   It gives a white pre-
cipitate, which on  the  addition of nitric acid, changes to a
dark brown, purple or black, according to the quantity.  If
starch be added at  the same time, the deep blue tint, indica-
tive of iodine is present.  Muriatic acid turns it to a bright
yellow.*
  In applying reagents to suspected solutions, it has been
customary to advise the employment of glass tubes.  These,
however, are now generally superseded by watch-glasses—
a plain piece of glass, or what  is probably still  better—a
porcelain  tablet.   Mr.  Herepath thus  found the green  of
Scheele to become more  evident, by the contrast of color
with the white plate.   The ammoniacal nitrate of  silver can
be  used in the same way.   The quantity required of the
suspected fluid needs thus to be quite  small,—a considera-
tion frequently of no  small importance  in  medico-legal
cases.  We may even, as also suggested by Mr. Herepath,
employ a piece  of white blotting  paper, placed on a flat
chalk  stone, and guide the reagents by means  of a glass rod
to  portions of the suspected fluid.   These when  dried,
retain their characteristic appearances and may  be intro-
duced into sealed  tubes, for the purpose of  exhibition on
the trial.!

Tests of oxide of arsenic when mixed  with  organic fluids and
    solids, and with the contents and tissues of the stomach.

  It is safest  in medico-legal cases, to  take the stomach
itself,  cut it into small shreds, and boil it  in distilled water,
along  with any fluids that may be found in it.  This should
be continued for half an hour.   The coarser solid particles
are then separated by a gauze filter, and the fluid  is filtered
through paper.  This filtration occupies at least thirty-six
hours.  Preserve the solid residuum remaining on the filter,
for future examination, if necessary.

  *  Silliman's Journal,  vol. 18, p. 58.
  X  Proceedings of British Association, 1836, Appendix, p. 68. 
IRRITANT POISONS.                533
   In order to free the fluid from animal  matter, acetic acid
 should be added.  And before applying sulphuretted hydro-
 gen, it may be  advisable to  use the  nitrate of silver as a
 trial test in  the  manner already recommended.   For this
 purpose, neutralize  the fluid with ammonia or potash, and
 test  a  few drops with ammoniacal nitrate  of  silver.  If it
 gives its characteristic  precipitate, the process may be pro-
 ceeded with; if not, evaporate the solution with a moderate
 heat to dryness, form a new solution by  boiling successive
 portions of distilled water on the residue, and when cool,
 filter this solution.
   The remaining steps are similar to those already described,
 acidulation with acetic acid, precipitation  by sulphuretted
 hydrogen, reduction of the sulphuret and oxidation of the
 metal.  If the sulphuret after boiling does not subside easily,
 add a little muriate of ammonia to the fluid, and if the fluid
 still  continues muddy, and the deposition is not complete,
 allow it to remain at rest for forty-eight hours, or more.*
   March and Reinsch's process must, of course, be employ-
 ed whenever they are applicable.
   Besides this process, others have been recommended  by
 various writers: Orfila3 at one period, proposed to decolor-
 ize by chlorine, and supposed that the liquid  tests would
 then  act.  Mr.  Phillips advised to agitate the fluid with
 animal charcoal.  Rose  recommended  the  German process
 of forming arsenite of lime, and reducing  it with charcoal
 and  boracic acid.  Rapp's process consisted in deflagrating
 the organic matter, and  peroxidating  the  oxide of arsenic,
 by means of fused nitrate of potash.   Dr. Paris has advised
 that the whole  arsenic  be thrown down with ammoniated
 nitrate of silver, and the precipitate reduced in a tube. Ber-
 zelius boils the suspected substance in potash, neutralizes
 the solution with muriatic  acid, adds  sulphurretted  hydro-
gen, and then boils and evaporates till the precipitate sub-
sides.   The precipitate is then collected, dried, mixed with
nitre in a large proportion, and deflagrated in a tube.  The
* Christison, p. 252. 
534
IRRITANT POISONS.
product is dissolved in  an excess  of lime-water, and  the
arseniate of  lime so formed is  collected and reduced with
charcoal.*
  The problem of the detection of arsenic in the organs and
tissues of the human body has been a subject of great atten-
tion, of late  years.  I have in another place given in detail
the researches  of Orfila and Devergie,! and will only state
here, as  briefly as  possible, the processes  that have been
recommended :
  Orfila (after  rejecting the use of  nitre, as  formerly pro-
posed by him)  advises  that the  organs,  the liver,  spleen,
lungs, or any other, or  a certain quantity of the blood sup-
posed to be  poisoned, be dried thoroughly  and then boiled
with pure concentrated nitric acid, until carbonization occurs.
The charcoal produced is powdered, boiled  in water, and
may be examined with the tests for arsenic acid.
  Dauger  and  Flandin, carbonize  the  animal matter  by
boiling it with strong sulphuric acid, and then digesting the
residuum with nitro-muriatic acid.  Here also arsenic acid
is produced.
  Lastly, Reinsch recommends the boiling of animal matter
with diluted  muriatic acid, and then pressing out and filter-
ing  the fluid produced.  To this  his peculiar tests  may be
applied.   These are merely the outlines of the  various pro-
  * The following authorities may be consulted :  On the detection of minute
portions of arsenic in mixed fluids, by Prof. Christison.  (Edinburgh Medical
and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 60.)  An account of several cases of poison-
ing with arsenic, in illustration of the delicacy of the chemical evidence, &c,
by Prof. Christison. (Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 2, p.
273.)  Paris and Fonblanque, vol. 2, p. 252.  Thomson's London Dispensa-
tory, p. 177.  Berzelius' Chimie, vol. 2, p. 447.   Berzelius, Edinburgh Jour-
nal of Science, vol. 4, p. 131.  Giseke's account of Rose and Berzelius' process.
(Brande's Journal, vol. 20, p. 398.) R. Phillips, Annals of Philosophy, N. S.,
vol. 7, p. 31; vol.  10,  p. 300.  Dr. Christison,  ibid., vol. 12, p. 25. Dr.
O'Shaughnessy, Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 546.  Dr. Venables, London Medical
Gazette, vol. 6, p. 615; vol. 10, p. 115; and American Journal Med. Sciences,
vol. 9, p. 524.  Taufflieb's method of treating mixed fluids with a solution of
oxide of zinc in potash.  (Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 20, p. 392; translated
in Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 7,  p. 71.)  Reid's Chemistry, p.
347.  Hays' American Cyclopedia of Medicine and Surgery, vol. 2, art. Arse-
nic, by Dr. John K. Mitchell.  Transactions of the Maryland Academy of
Science and Literature, vol. 1, art. 7, on the detection of arsenic in medico-
legal investigations, by William R. Fisher.
  t American Journal of Medical Sciences, N. S., vol. 2, p. 403. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
535
cesses that have been suggested, and I  refer the reader to

the authorities quoted below for further information.*

   A brief notice of a few cases may be added in  this place:

   The case of Miss Blandy.   This is interesting,  as it gives

us the  mode pursued  to  detect arsenic nearly  a  century

since.
   Mary Blandy was  tried in February, 1752, at Oxford, for

poisoning her father  with  arsenic.   It appears  that she fell

in love  with a Capt. Cranstoun,  and that  her father  was

averse to  her marriage with him.   The wretch  then seems

to have formed the plan of destroying him, in order to obtain

possession both of his daughter and property;  and for  this

  * Orfila and Devergie's Memoirs,  in Annales D'Hygiene, vols. 21, 22 and
23. The question whether arsenic exists in the  healthy human body, and in
graveyards, are here also  discussed.  The first may be  discredited;  the last
can only come into discussion, when  the body has  been  interred for many
years.  (Dr. Smith, in Silliman's Journal, vol. 40. British and Foreign Med.
Review, No. 21.  London  and  Edinburgh Philos. Magazine, vol. 16, p. 341.
See also, Taylor on Poisons, p.  560.)
   To these I will add other references, more or less bearing on the matters
noticed above:  Bongean, on  the  elimination of arsenic from the  system.
(Monthly Journal Med. Science, Dec, 1845.)  Audouard on the detection in
the fcetus, of poison administered to the mother. (Comptes Rendus.)   Here-
path on the detection of arsenic in the liver.  (Lancet, May 27, 1843.  This
chemist detected arsenic in the bones,  after eight years interment.  I subjoin
a portion of his  testimony, on  the trial for poisoning :  " I have never found
arsenic in a body which was  in a natural state ; and I mention this, to correct
the ridiculous notions which have gone abroad, owing to some sayings which
have been attributed to the French chemists.  Raspail, for instance, is reported
to have said that he could produce arsenic from the legs of chairs ; and Orfila,
that he could do so from the common soil.  I have made experiments on hun-
dreds of bodies of human beings and brutes, but have never discovered arsenic,
unless  it had been administered medicinally, or for a  criminal purpose.   I
have also made  many experiments  on  soils,  and I believe the statement of
Orfila is a mistaken one." (London Med. Gazette, vol. 44, p. 168.)  As to the
detection of arsenic in the blood, see Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 9, p. 304.
   In the case of  Sophia Edney, convicted at Taunton, in England, of poison-
ing her husband, the contents  of the  stomach had, through mistake, been
thrown away.  An eighth  of a  grain of arsenic was, however, found in the
duodenum. The only other  matters brought for examination, were a few
grains  of hog's fat, scraped from the edges of a frying-pan, and some  pota-
toes ; as the dying man had stated that his wife had fried potatoes for him in
this pan, and he had not been well  since.  No arsenic could be detected in
the fat; and the potatoe, "being an amylaceous substance, it was in vain to
try the usual reagents, or to make a filtered solution.  It was therefore pro-
jected  into  melted nitre;  when it was deflagrated, diluted acetic acid was
added, to rather more than neutralize the carbonate of potash, resulting from
the deflagration of the charcoal of the animal and vegetable substances."  A
stream of sulphuretted hydrogen was then passed through it, which turned it
yellow; and upon deposition and subsequent reduction, with the other  expe-
riments already indicated,  enough was  obtained to take before a jury, of the
reduced metal, arsenious acid,  Scheele's green, arsenite of silver and orpi-
ment,  although the reduced arsenic was  not more than one-hundredth of a
grain.  (Herepath, Proceedings of the British Association,  1836, app., p. 69.) 
536
IRRITANT POISONS.
purpose forwarded arsenic to Miss  Blandy, which she was
nduced from time to time to mix in his food and drink.  It
produced prickings and heat in his  tongue and throat, and
burning pain in his stomach and bowels, which went off
with vomitings and  purgings.  His  health sunk under this
dreadful regimen, and in particular he observed  that his
teeth decayed very rapidly.  Several females who had acci-
dentally taken of the tea in which the poison was mixed,
were also seized with vomitings and purgings, and suffered
greatly.  At last, on the 6th of August, she appears to have
added a larger quantity than usual to his water gruel.  He
was attacked with all his former symptoms, but with double
violence; the abdomen  swelled, and there was excessive
pain and prickings over every  part of his body.  On the
10th,  Dr. Anthony Addington  visited him, and found his
tongue swelled, his throat slightly  inflamed and excoriated,
his eyes inflamed, his pulse low, trembling and intermitting,
and his respiration  difficult; there was  also an inability to
swallow even the smallest quantity.  The patient  stated
that he had  had several bloody stools.  During the next
two days, he appeared somewhat relieved, except that the
rectum was ulcerated and painful; but on Tuesday (13th,)
a  slight delirium, with  a  short cough, and  ulcerous dis-
charges from the rectum supervened, and  death ensued on
Wednesday.
   On Thursday, the body was examined.  " The back, and
hinder part of his arms, thighs and legs, were  livid.  The
heart was variegated with purple spots. The lungs resembled
bladders half filled with air, and blotted in some places with
pale, but in  most with black ink.   The  liver  and spleen
were much discolored ; the former looked  as if it had been
boiled, but that part of it which covered  the stomach was
particularly dark.  The  kidneys were  stained  with livid
spots.  The stomach and bowels were inflated, and appeared,
before  any  incision was made into them, as if they had been
pinched, and  extravasated  blood  had  stagnated between
their  membranes;  they  contained  nothing but a  slimy,
bloody froth; their coats  were remarkably smooth, thin and 
                   IRRITANT POISONS.                 537

flabby.  The wrinkles  of the stomach  were totally oblite-
rated.   The internal coat of the stomach  and duodenum,
especially about the orifice of the former, was  prodigiously
inflamed and excoriated.  There was  no schirrus in any
gland of the abdomen, no adhesion of the lungs, nor indeed
the least trace of a natural decay in any part whatever."
  A portion of the powder found at the bottom of the  gruel
administered to Mr. Blandy, was handed to Dr. Addington.
He gave a portion of this to Mr. King, a chemist in Reading,
who examined it, and declared  it to be white  arsenic.  On
the  remainder  he experimented himself, and came  to a
similar result.  The question was  asked him:  Why do you
believe  it to be white arsenic 1 He replied, " For the follow-
ing reasons : 1.  This powder has a milky whiteness ; so has
white arsenic.  2. This is gritty, and  almost insipid; so is
white arsenic.   3.  Part of it swims  on the surface of cold
water, like  a pale sulphureous film, but the  greatest part
 sinks to  the bottom and remains there  undissolved; the
 same is true of white arsenic.   4. This thrown  on red-hot
 iron, does not flame, but rises entirely  in thick white fumes,
 which have the stench of garlic, and  cover cold iron, held
 just over them, with white flowers; white arsenic does the
 same.  5. I boiled ten grains of this powder in four ounces
 of  clear water, and then  passing the  decoction  through a
 filter, divided it into five  equal parts, which  were put into
as many glasses.  Into  one  glass, I  poured a few drops of
spirits of  sal ammoniac; into another,  some of the lixivium
of tartar; into  the third, some strong spirit  of vitriol; into
 the fourth, some spirit of salt; and into the last, some syrup
 of violets.  The spirit  of  sal ammoniac threw down a few
 particles  of pale sediment; the lixivium of tartar gave  a
 white cloud, which hung  a  little  above  the middle of the
 glass;  the spirits of vitriol and salt made a considerable
 precipitation of a lightish-colored substance,  which,  in the
 former, hardened into glittering crystals,  sticking  to the
 sides and bottom of the glass; syrup of  violets produced a
beautiful  green tincture.   Having washed the  saucepan,
funnel,  and  glasses used in the  foregoing experiments, very 
538
IRRITANT POISONS.
clean,  and provided a fresh filter, I  boiled  ten  grains of
white arsenic, bought of Mr. Wilcock, druggist in Reading,
in four ounces of clean water, and filtering and dividing it
into five equal parts, proceeded with them just as I had done
with the former decoction.  There was an exact similitude
between  the experiments made on  the two decoctions.
They corresponded so nicely on each trial,  that I declare
I never saw any two  things in nature  more alike, than
the decoction made with the powder found in Mr.  Blandy's
gruel,  and that made with  white  arsenic.   From these
experiments, and others which  I am ready  to produce if
desired, I believe  that  powder  to be white arsenic."
  Miss Blandy was condemned and executed, denying to the
last any knowledge of a noxious quality in the powder she
gave to her father.*
  Case of Donnal.   Mr. Donnal, a surgeon, at Falmouth, in
England, was tried in 1817, for poisoning  his mother-in-law,
Mrs. Downing.   It appeared in evidence that she had break-
fasted  and dined at the prisoner's house  in October, and
returned  home very ill, retching and vomiting, with a very
violent cramp, and  she  continued  so for three or four days
after.  On Sunday, the  2d of November, she  was prevailed
upon to drink tea with him again.  She was then in perfect
health, and had just come out of  church.  Cocoa was provi-
ded for her,  and while drinking  part of the second cup she
was  taken very sick.  Dr. Edwards was  called in  between
4 and  5 A. M. of  the 3d, and found  her very drowsy, and
her pulse fluttering.  According to  the  prisoner, she had
been laboring under an  attack of cholera morbus. Death
followed in fourteen hours after taking the cocoa.
  On dissection, the stomach was found  partially inflamed,
being stellated in  several  places.  Its  villous coat was
softened, and in some parts nearly destroyed.  The large
intestines were also inflamed in different places.  The lungs
and liver were sound.
* Hargrave's State Trials, vol. 10, p. 1. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
539
  Dr. Edwards applied the liquid tests of sulphate of copper
and ammoniaco-nitrate of  silver,  to the  contents of  the
stomach, and they each gave the characteristic appearances
of arsenic.
  On the part of the prisoner, it was urged that the disease
was cholera morbus, and  that in persons dead from  it, the
stomach would present a similar appearance.   Dr.  Neale
also deposed that he had tried the silver test on a decoction
of onions, (the deceased had eaten onions on the day before
she died,) and that  a yellowish cloud was produced.   He
then varied the experiment by adding phosphate of soda,
(the  acid  of  which  is  present  in the  human fluids,) and a
yellow precipitate fell  down.   The copper test used on the
onions gave a green  precipitate.  He considered the reduc-
tion of the metal as the only decisive test.  It is greatly to
be regretted that  this was  omitted.  The  prisoner  was
acquitted.*
   Mary Smith, a farmer's wife, near  Dundee, was tried at
Edinburgh, in February,  1827,  for  administering poison to
her servant, Margaret Warden.  The deceased was pregnant
by the prisoner's son.  It appears that the supposed poison
had  been twice given to her.   From the first, which was
taken  at  night, no  decided effects  seem to have occurred.
She, however, complained of pain, and was  said to have
vomited.  The second dose produced thirst, vomiting and
purging, and violent pain  in the bowels,  and  these  were
followed by prostration, stupor, cold extremities and a feeble
pulse.   Death ensued in about 36 hours.
  The body  was disinterred  twenty-two days  after,  and
although  there were  marks  of considerable putrefaction
externally, yet the  stomach and bowels were in a state of
" wonderful preservation."  The inner coat of the stomach
was raised and separated  in many places from the adjoining
ones, and in other parts was corrugated or abraded.  Blood
was extravasated  under it.  The intestines also bore marks
of vascular excitement.
  * The evidence on this trial is given in Paris' Medical Jurisprudence, vol.
3, Appendix, p. 277; and Gordon Smith on Medical Evidence, p. 212. 
540
IRRITANT POISONS.
  The fluid found in the stomach amounted to ten or twelve
ounces, and yellow particles floated in it.   Similar particles
also adhered to the villous coat, or were imbedded in its
substance.  The physicians of Dundee  examined a portion
of the contents  by the liquid tests, and then reduced  some
with the black flux.   With each, indications of arsenic were
given.  Dr.  Christison made  a similar investigation,  and
also obtained the metal.
  For the defence, the only points suggested were the possi-
bility of cholera causing these fatal effects, and the uncer-
tainty of post mortem appearances after so long a period.
The prisoner was acquitted.   She may have been innocent;
but the only satisfactory alternative is, that it was a case of
suicide.*
  Case of Wishart.  The prisoner was accused of poisoning
her pregnant sister.   The porridge in which the arsenic was
placed  was eaten on Tuesday evening, and as far as testi-
mony could be procured, the usual symptoms occurred.   On
Friday, the deceased was delivered of a living child, and on
Saturday she died.   The  body was disinterred  eight days
after.   There was a small perforation in the stomach, and its
villous coat was very vascular, and in some places abraded.
The intestines were also very red.
  The contents  of the  stomach and portions of that viscus
were submitted to the  action of tests, but in none of these
did the silver and copper tests give any indications of arse-
nic.   Sulphuretted hydrogen, however,  after the liquor had
been acidulated with acetic acid, yielded a yellow precipi-
tate, which was reduced by the black flux.   Dr. Christison
afterwards converted the crust, by repeated sublimation, into
little octaedral  crystals of oxide  of arsenic,  which he esti-
mated to  amount to  about the fortieth part of  a grain.  In
the stomach, there were appearances of  the sulphuret.   The
prisoner was convicted and executed.!
  * Syme's  Justiciary Reports, p. 93; Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical
Journal, vol. 27, p. 141; vol. 28, pp.  84, 94.  Mr. Alison (Practice of the
Criminal Law of Scotland, p. 89,) says that the court considered this case as
proved.                                            ^
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 18 ; Syme's Justi-
ciary Reports, Appendix, p. 1. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
541
  The following is a French case :
  In August, 1832, a couple named Terrier, and their mother,
then in good health, experienced severe colic and nausea,
followed by violent vomiting, after  having eaten of cabbage
soup.  Several other persons who had partaken of it,  were
similarly affected.  The husband died in forty-eight hours,
and  his mother seventy-two days thereafter;  while the
widow,  although her  life was saved, continued  incurably
infirm.  The disease present was pronounced to be gastro-
enteritis.
  One Urbain X. succeeded  to their property; and it was
shortly ascertained that he was in possession of a large  quan-
tity of arsenic.   On the 24th of July, 1832, he had called
to dine with a brother and sister-in-law, and chatting  about
the  quality of their new corn, expressed a wish  to see it.
The wife, who was about to bake,  had recently put flour in
the chest.  She showed this flour to Urbain, who took up a
handful of it, and in a few  seconds threw it back  again into
the chest, saying it was better than his.  On the 26th, she
made her bread.  Her husband and son, herself and ten
other persons ate of it, and all were attacked with violent
 colic and frequent vomiting. If they resumed the use of the
bread,  the sickness recurred;  when its use  was abstained
from, it ceased.   Bread was then made with other flour, pro-
ceeding from the same corn, and  ground  at the same time,
and this produced no ill effect.  Had the female and her son
died, Urbain would also have inherited their fortune.
  These facts  led to a chemical examination of  the bread.
Two chemists were commissioned, but could  find  no delete-
rious substance.  It was then committed to Orfila.  He cut
the bread  into small pieces, treated it with distilled water,
filtered  the liquid, and tested it by concentrated liquid sul-
phuretted hydrogen.   The fluid became instantly yellow, but
was not  sensibly troubled.   A few  drops of muriatic acid
were now added, to precipitate any sulphuret of arsenic that
might form.  It was not until several days had elapsed,  that a
yellow  precipitate, consisting of sulphuret of arsenic and
organic matter, was deposited. 
542
IRRITANT POISONS.
  This  precipitate was repeatedly washed  with distilled
water, then placed on a little filter,  and washed with very
weak ammonia.  Thus the sulphuret was dissolved, and the
organic matters left.   The ammoniacal  solution was now
evaporated to dryness, and the residuum mixed with a little
charcoal and carbonate of potash.   Gentle heat was again
applied, to drive off any further organic matter that might
be present.   And finally the watch-glass and  its contents
were pulverized in a mortar, and the powder introduced into
a tube,  the upper end of which was drawn out in the spirit
lamp.   As soon as it became of a red heat, metallic  arsenic
quickly appeared.
  This  evidence caused the conviction of Urbain.*
  Case  of Mina  and Mrs.  Chapman.  This  is a wretched
story of adultery and murder, which occurred in Pennsylva-
nia in 1831.  The  prisoner became a lodger in the house of
Chapman, the deceased, and  either seduced  his wife, or
what is more  probable, was seduced by her.   It would seem
that there was an unsuccessful attempt to poison Mr. Chap-
man  on the  17th  of June, but  of this he recovered.  On
Monday 3 the 20th,  the arsenic was  given to him in soup. He
soon complained of burning heat in the stomach, and vomit-
ing and purging appear  to have followed; but no physician
was called in, and  no one saw him until the 21st, when Dr.
Knight  found him  complaining of  the above  symptoms and
thirst.  He was deaf, his extremities were cold, and he was
delirious  at times, although no fever was present, and the
pulse was very feeble.   Dr. Phillips saw him  on the after-
noon of the 22d.   He was now evidently moribund, the skin
was shrunken, the  hearing almost gone, and a bloody sanies
or serum was passed by stool.  He was calm and rather
comatose  for an hour or two before death, which happened
at 5 A.  M. of the 23d.
  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 9, p. 410.  Lancet, N.  S., vol. 12, p.  298.  In
another case, where a poisoned bouilli had been eaten, and several experi-
mentalists declared that they could find no poisonous ingredient in it, Orfila
found it equally refractory with tests, until it  had been boiled for a quarter
of an hour, to remove the animal matter.  The albumen  present was thus
coagulated, and after filtration, the liquor gave an abundant yellow precipi-
tate, with sulphuretted hydrogen.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 8, p. 318.) 
                    IRRITANT  POISONS.                °™

  It should be understood that the above physicians rather
visited as friends than in their medical  capacity, until the
last day. Having heard of his illness, they called to inquire
how he was.
  On the 5th of July, Mrs. Chapman was married to Mina.
When this became known, the death of Chapman, which had
previously been ascribed to cholera morbus,  excited suspi-
cion and inquiry.  His body was disinterred on the 21st of
September.   The face was livid  and putrid, but the odor of
the corpse was not offensive.  The abdomen was of a pale
white color, and Dr. Hopkinsori, on cutting into it, was
struck with  its firmness and resistance.  When the stomach
was opened, a very peculiar smell arose, which he compares
to pickled herring.  This is  confirmed by several other medi-
cal witnesses.*   Externally,  the  stomach was  of  a dark
color; internally, its whole  surface was covered with a dark
brownish-colored  mucus, and when this was  removed, it
presented appearances of general inflammation in every part.
The intestines were totally empty, of a pale color, and appa-
 rently rather disposed to dry  than to putrefy.   The rectum
 was not examined: the oesophagus at its lower part  was
 highly inflamed.
   The stomach and its contents were  taken to Dr.  J. K.
 Mitchell of Philadelphia for  examination.   No gritty par-
ticles could be discovered  adhering to its coats.  The pro-
cess decided upon was to remove the viscid  mucus, with
which the walls of the stomach were lined, and subject that
to one mode of analysis, and then  the  solid stomach and
intestines to another.
   Distilled  water  was added to the mucus,  and the whole
boiled in a  Florence flask,  for a  considerable  time.  The
fluid was then thrown on a filter.  The matter left on it, (a
dark brown substance,) with the filter itself, was thrown into
nitric acid,  in which the stomach and duodenum were under-
going solution.  The filtered liquor  was transparent and of
  * Dr. Mitchell subsequently obtained a stomach and put it into a small
quantity of Fowler's  solution, (arsenite of potash.) It remained in his
laboratory some two or three months, and then had, as he thinks, precisely the
same smell. 
544
IRRITANT POISONS.
a faint amber yellow color.  Portions of it were subjected
to the liquid tests.  The copper one gave an undecided grass
green—nitrate of silver, a brownish yellow flocculent pre-
cipitate, which grew darker and soon lost its yellowness—
sulphuretted hydrogen  gas deepened  the yellow tint of the
solution just perceptibly.  The whole  of the liquid was
then subjected to the last test; thrown into a capsule, heated
until it became distinctly yellow and its transparency was
gone.  The whole was  then left on a filter for several hours.
When again examined, a transparent liquid was seen below
the filter, and on it  a yellow substance which  could not be
separated from it, being in too small a quantity and the paper
not being smooth.  From the quantity being so minute, no
hope  was entertained of obtaining any marked result, and
the whole (filter and all) was thrown into the vessel in which
the stomach was dissolved.  This solution was evaporated
to dryness, heated  again  with nitric  acid, and evaporated,
until  it was supposed that the animal  matter was destroyed.
Water was added to the  residue and heat to  boiling again
applied.   To the product obtained by filtration and evapo-
ration, lime-water was added, and this again evaporated.
A portion of this was mixed with charcoal, placed in a glass
tube and subjected to  the heat of a spirit-lamp.  The tube
became covered at some distance from the material with a
black and glistening substance, but at this instant the tube
cracked from the action of the heat.   Mr. Clemson, a highly
educated  chemist,  instantly detected the odor of  arsenic.
The other portions were  treated in a similar  manner, but
nothing beyond the black matter just  described could be
obtained.  " There  was no evidence  to  the eye," says Dr.
Mitchell, "that there was any arsenic there."
  For the defence, the  insufficiency of the testimony, as to
symptoms, morbid  appearances and  chemical  proofs, was
greatly dwelt upon.   The medical witnesses  mention the
sources of fallacy in each.   One of them stated, that  from
the best of his impressions, " from the symptoms, post mor-
tem examination, and chemical tests,  William  Chapman did
not die of arsenic." 
IRRITANT POISONS.
545
  Mina was convicted, and Mrs. Chapman found not guilty.*

  Discovery of arsenic several years after death.   The follow-

ing cases are highly  interesting as  proving the  possibility



  *  Trials of Lucretia Chapman and Lino A. E. Y. Mina for the murder of
William Chapman; prepared for publication by William E. Du Bois, student
at Law.  8vo. Philadelphia, 1832.
  I may also refer to the following cases, which my limits do not permit me
to analyze:
  Case of Nairn and Ogilvie, for poisoning the husband of one, and the brother
of the other—tried at Edinburgh in 1765.  The symptoms resembled those
from taking arsenic, but the body was not examined, in consequence of the
advanced state  of putrefaction.  The accused were convicted.  (Hargrave's
State Trials, vol. 10, p. 479.)
  Case of Miss Burns.  I have noticed this in the previous volume, (p. 306,)
as to the proofs of pregnancy.  Mr.  Angus was  also indicted  for poisoning
her.  The symptoms were equivocal, but suspicious;  and on dissection, a per-
foration of the  coats of the stomaeh was found.  Around this opening, the
parts were extremely soft, pulpy and tender; but there were no traces of
inflammation.-  No poison could be detected in the fluids. With our increased
knowledge on the subject of diseases of the stomach, it becomes at least pos-
sible that the morbid appearance in question may have been the result of ordi-
nary illness.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 220. Rut-
ter's Vindication.)
  Trial of John Lovie, for poisoning a female.  (Edinburgh Medical and Sur-
gical Journal, vol. 29, p. 415.  Syme's Justiciary Reports, Appendix, p. 24.)
  Case of Eliza Fenning.  This is remarkable for the evidence derived from
 symptoms—a whole  family having been taken ill, shortly after eating the
 poisoned dumplings; for the imperfect chemical examination and testimony;
 and for the conviction of, as I suppose, an innocent person. (See Dr. Watkins'
 pamphlet on this case, London, 1815;  Marshall's Remarks on Arsenic, Lon-
 don, 1817; Gordon  Smith on Medical Evidence, p. 207; and Hints on the
 Examination of Medical Witnesses, p. 136.)
  Trial of Mary Higgins and Edward Clarke, for the murder of the uncle of
the former—related by Prof. Amos.  (London Medical Gazette, vol. 9,p  896 )
  Trial of the  Widow Boursier and Nicholas Kostolo, for poisoning Boursier
Notwithstanding the positive  discovery of  arsenic in  the  stomach of the
deceased a month after burial, the female was acquitted.  (Causes Celebres
  i  o, '   ooh vo1, 3' p>  m-  Edinbui>gh  Medical and Surgical Journal
vol. 21, p. 2jS.)                                         °           '
  Case of the Widow Laurent, accused of poisoning her husband.   (Ander-
son s Journal  vol 2. p. 306.  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 7, p. 289 )
  A case by Ristelhueber, p. 161.                             ' p     '
vofTn  VtTVl  r6 ^^ J™™al of Foreign Medicine and Surgery,
vol. 2, p.  103 from  Rust's  Magazine.  Here the chemical examiners  being
dissatisfied with the equivocal  results obtained from testing the fluid contento
of the stomach, took that viscus and boiled it down. The liquid procured
alter removing organic mixtures, yielded metallic arsenic    q    Procured,
  In this country—
  Case of Kesler, tried in this State in 1817, for the murder of his wife   I


proportionate a space.  As to the deSZ ?h» °bcS-w,iu d °ccuPy to° dls"
least have been sufficiently arraigned         ^ medlCal testimony> **7 «

m Veiu^lvan^Sh:^^ fet,  M ^  "^ ^^^ 183°'
sented by him to be  inaSa   Th?ri  huZ  ^^v* Whlte P0wder> repre-
bloody vomitin- weW nreSnr  <fh'  ^ °f the stomach, sickness and
burial   The i fnacoat onh. «f   T dlsinterred twenty-four hours after
            mnei coat of the stomach  was extensively inflamed, and white
   vol.  n.                       35 
546
IRRITANT  POISONS.
of  the  discovery of arsenic  many  years after death.   An

individual who  died in  1822  was  disinterred in  1829, at


particles were found adhering to it, particularly at that part where the inflam-
mation was greatest.  The contents of the stomach were tested with the sil-
ver and copper tests, but neither of them presented the appearances indica-
tive of arsenic.  The remaining contents were then evaporated, covered with
nitric acid, and again evaporated.  The residuum was mingled with charcoal,
placed in a glass tube, and sublimed: metallic arsenic was  readily obtained.
The prisoner was convicted. The case is communicated by Dr.  Worthington.
(North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 11, p. 229.)
  Case of B. Becker, for murdering his wife,  in Montgomery county,  New-
York, in 1814.   Here arsenic was found in the coats of the  stomach, and its
presence proved by the liquid tests, the copper plates,  and the garlic smell.
Before execution, he confessed his guilt.
  Case of A. Hitchcock, for poisoning his wife.  He was  tried in Madison
county, in this State, in 1807.  The mucous coat of the stomach was denuded
in several places.  Here also particles were obtained from the stomach, and
the usual tests  applied.  " Some of the  powder was  put on a copper  plate,
suspended over a lamp,  and above this  another  copper plate was  held.   In a
short time the white fumes ascended, and hung on the upper plate, in the form
of white arsenic."   One of the medical witnesses for the prisoner urged  in his
favor, that no sphacelation was discovered.   We now  know that this is very
uncommon.   The prisoner was also convicted, and confessed his guilt.
  Case of Medad McKay, tried twice in Allegany county, New-York, 1820
and 1821, for poisoning his wife.  The prisoner escaped, through the imper-
fection of the chemical  examination.  This trial has been reported and pub-
lished by Mr. Gould, Albany, 1821.
  Case of Sager, tried in the State of Maine, October, 1834, for poisoning his
wife.  Here, extreme distress was immediately experienced after taking the
poison.  It was added to wine, in which an egg had been stirred.  Nausea,
retching and vomiting succeeded,  with violent spasms, great distress  at the
stomach, feeble pulse and cold sweats.  The vomiting was stained with blood,
towards the last.   She preserved her reason until near her death,  which hap-
pened in a few hours. On dissection, livid patches were found in the stomach,
as if  blood was  collected  between  the  coats; the remainder of that viscus,
and the intestines,  were of a high florid color.  In some tea and milk which
had been prepared for breakfast, arsenic in large quantities was discovered by
the three liquid tests, and by reduction.  The silver and  copper  tests would
not act on the contents of the stomach,  or the matter vomited;  but Professor
Cleaveland, who was the  principal chemical  witness, found sulphuretted
hyrogen to produce its usual result on them.  The counsel for  the prisoner,
in his able defence, urged that there was  no swelling of the body, no  para-
lysis, no drowsiness, no trembling of  the limbs,  and no loss of reason present
in this case.  If the distinctions under the heads of symptoms, be  adverted to,
a ready explanation may be given for their absence.  The prisoner was con-
victed.
  Trial of John Earls, for the murder of  his wife, held in Lycoming county,
Pennsylvania, February, 1836.  I am indebted for this pamphlet to the Hon.
Ellis  Lewis,  the judge who tried the prisoner.  I know of no case, to which
I would sooner refer than this,  as  a  proof of the advanced  state of medical
jurisprudence in this country.   The murdered female was confined on  Wed-
nesday, and was so well  as to sit up on Thursday, to have her bed  made. She
was seized with violent vomiting in the evening, after partaking of some cho-
colate.  Some mint tea, also drugged with arsenic, (as the husband confessed,
after conviction,) was now administered.  The vomiting continued, with vio-
lent pain, particularly in the stomach, intense thirst, until  she finally sunk,
and died at three o'clock the next morning. On dissection, the  coats of the
stomach  were found highly inflamed,  and easily separable ;  the intestines
were  also inflamed; the  brain turgid, and the  right and left auricles and ven-
tricles of the heart  each filled with blood.  A  portion of the  fluid found in the 
                                                                547
                       IRRITANT  POISONS.                     "*'

Bourg, in France.   The  body  was entire;  the  head, trunk
and shoulders had preserved  their form  and position, but
the internal organs of the chest and abdomen were destroyed,
and there  only  remained  a mass  of  soft  brownish matter,
which was deposited along the sides of the spine.   Messrs.
Ozanam and Idt were under these circumstances appointed

to examine the case.
stomach was examined with the usual tests and gave complete indications of
arsenic.  The process of reduction was  also performed.  The chemical ex-
amination confers great credit on Drs. Dougal, Kittoe and Ludw.g.  To make
assurance doubly sure, a part of the  suspected fluid was transmitted to Dr.
John K. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, who confirmed the previous results.  I he
prisoner confessed the crime, previous tojiis  execution.
  The following may be added, as worthy of  a careful perusal:
  Analysis oj soup containing arsenic,  from which a female died at Balti-
more, by Dr. Rogers, and Messrs. Andrews  and Fisher.  After being filtered
and evaporated to dryness, it was sublimed with black flux, and gave metallic
arsenic.  The round  of liquid tests was then applied, with corresponding
results.  It was also reduced with boracic acid and charcoal,  as advised by
Rose, and a ring of specular  metallic  crystals was produced.  A galvanic
circle, as proposed by Fischer, was tried, and the copper rod was found coated
with  a silvery white deposite.  No indications of arsenic could, however,
be obtained from boiling the coats of the stomach.  (Philadelphia Journal of
 Pharmacy, vol. 6, p. 94.)
   Analysis oj' bread in which arsenic had been placed hy mistake, and which
 caused the  death of two persons in Maryland, by Messrs. Tyson and Fisher.
 It was treated with nitric acid in excess, and a few drops of muriatic acid,
 and evaporated, in order to drive off organic matters.  The  residuum was
 treated with boiling water, and filtered. It gave indications of arsenic, with
 lime-water, the copper test,  and sulphuretted hydrogen.   The sulphuret was
 then reduced in glass tubes.  (Ibid. vol. 7, p. 107.)
  I observe that M. Paton advises as the best method for detecting arsenic in
bread that it be crumbled down,  digested in hot water for half an hour and
filtered.  An infusion of galls made in the cold is then to be added, and after
filtering  the  solution, the clear  liquor may be  tested for  arsenious acid.
(British Annals of  Medicine, vol. 1, p. 241.) The infusion of galls is intended
to precipitate the animal matters, and he has therefore recommended it in all
cases where arsenic is supposed to  be mixed with organic solids or fluids.
Berzelius, however, observes that it is not by any means certain that this
method is preferable to Tauflieb's, viz.: precipitating the animal matters by a
 solution of  oxide of zinc in caustic potash.   (Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 24,
 page 179.)
   In a case of poisoning with  beans, the question was put to Barruel and
 Chevallier, whether the beans had been  impregnated by arsenic  during  the
 process of boiling, and they  replied in the affirmative on finding  the poison,
 both in the epidermis and in the beans when deprived of their epidermis. To
 ascertain the presence of arsenic, they placed six in a vessel, added distilled
 water and applied heat.  A  part of the  decoction was next filtered, which, on
 the application of sulphuretted hydrogen, gave the peculiar yellow of sul-
 phuret of arsenic.  This operation was repeated  several  times on the same
 beans, with similar results, although of course the process became more tedi-
 ous and the quantity indicated less.  The sulphuret was  subsequently evapo-
 rated to  dryness and then reduced.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  15, p. 387.)
   The cases of Mercier and Madam Laffarge,  which I have noticed in-
 American Journal of Med. Sciences, October, 1841. 
548                 IRRITANT POISONS.
   A part of this matter was boiled in  repeated portions of
distilled water, till the water ceased to carry away with it
any impregnation.  The solutions  thus obtained were sub-
jected to two series of tests.  1.  One portion was evaporated
to dryness and the extract redissolved.  This  solution was
repeatedly  evaporated,  and  then  deflagrated with nitre.
The saline residue being dissolved, filtered, and boiled with
nitric acid, and saturated with pure potash, was now opera-
ted on with the tests of arsenic.   Hydrosulphate of ammonia
and the silver test gave  their precipitates, and a portion of
this last was sublimed by heat in a  tube.  On passing a
stream  of oxygen over these  crystals, and  dissolving them
in  distilled water, the usual tests of white  arsenic were
found to apply.  2. Another  portion was treated with sul-
phuretted  hydrogen  and  a little  muriatic acid, and the
precipitate was reduced in a tube with charcoal and potash.
A brilliant encrustation was procured, which, when treated
as  in the former  instance, became a solution  of oxide of
arsenic*
   In another instance, the body of a female was disinterred
at St. Martin, in France, in 1836, after having  been buried
three years.  Suspicions of poisoning had previously existed,
but they gradually died away, until a felonious attempt on
one of the neighbors revived their currency.  The body was
perfectly identified; it was in a state of remarkable preser-
vation,  and  was conveyed  to  Paris  for  examination by
Barruel, Henry and Ollivier  D'Angers.   The  parietes of
the abdomen were untouched, without  any  crevice or open-
ing, and sunk in upon the vertebral column.   On  raising
these, the viscera of the thorax and abdomen could  not be
distinguished, all being converted  into a mass of membra-
nous flakes, and between  them a quantity of a granulated,
pulverulent  brownish  substance was observed.   Each of
these was carefully removed and  examined.   No noxious
matters  could be detected in the  latter.  The flakes were

  * Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 453.  Orfila's
Exhumations Juridiques, vol. 2, p. 330. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
549
then  tested  for lead, antimony,  copper  and arsenic.   In
pursuing the inquiry, a strong presumption arose in favor of
the presence of the last, and the following course  of inves-
tigation was thereupon pursued :
   A portion of the flakes cut into small pieces was macerated
for twelve hours  in  distilled water, acidulated with pure
muriatic acid.  xYfter this the liquor  was boiled for  several
hours.   On cooling and filtering a clear brownish  fluid was
obtained, covered  with  a thick  scum which was  readily
separated.   The fluid, which was strongly acid was  partly
neutralized by  pure ammonia, and a current of sulphuretted
hydrogen was  then passed  through it.   This produced a
brownish precipitate  which  in the  course  of  forty-eight
hours was completely deposited.  The  clear  liquid now
remaining was found  on analysis to contain nothing more
than a small portion of salts of no importance.
   The precipitate on being washed,  redissolved in ammonia
and gradually evaporated, left  a residue of a dark brown
friable  substance.   One part of it was added to  alcoholized
 potash, and carefully dried until it  became pulverulent.
 Mixed  with the black flux in  a glass tube and  heated, a
shining metallic ring of a steel  gray  color was produced,
being metallic arsenic.  The  other portion was mixed with
pure  nitrate  of potash and calcined.  A  saline  white mass
was  thus obtained, perfectly soluble in  distilled  water.
After being thus dissolved and exactly neutralized by nitric
acid, nitrate of silver was added, and it caused an  abundant
brick red precipitate, being the arseniate of silver.  Finally,
to leave no doubt  on the subject, the metallic arsenic first
obtained was oxidated by the application of heat and  its
solution tested with nitrate of silver-ammoniacal  sulphate
of copper, and sulphuretted hydrogen—all of which gave
their  characteristic appearances.
   The  criminal (a  female) was condemned to imprisonment
for life.*

386 AWhalnDniTI-VS-'ne'  V°!\18' ?• 466-  Journ*l de Pharmacie, vol. 23, p
SiarItf pu Stion^  *$* ^^.^ «"»« time in dead bodies  pa?*-
usuiany u puticfaction has advanced, it becomes  converted into arsenite of 
550
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  There is one question that remains for consideration, and
I have delayed its notice until now, that the reader may con-
sider it  in  connexion with the cases that have been given.
It is, whether we are authorised in declaring a person to be poi-
soned with arsenic from the symptoms merely ?  In the  first
edition, I considered this at some length, and inclined to the
affirmative,  and I am happy to say that  so distinguished a
medical  jurist as Dr. Christison has advanced similar senti-
ments.
  There is in most of the  cases of poisoning by arsenic, if
they  be at  all  protracted, so remarkable a union of symp-
toms,  that  they  can hardly be  confounded with natural
disease.  The marks of irritation extending from the throat
to the rectum, the difficulty  in swallowing, the  pain of the
bladder  in  passing water,  the affection of the genitals, the
vomiting and bloody diarrhoea, the extreme weakness—all
these combined, as they often are, with nervous symptoms,
present  a combination that is certainly extremely unusual in
ordinary practice.   In connexion with this, the fact that a
person is attacked soon  after eating a meal or taking some
drink, and  particularly  so,  if a number  of individuals be
simultaneously affected, offers additional weight to the  sus-
picion.
   A family residing in the parish of Keig, in Scotland, and
consisting of two brothers and two sisters, were taken ill on
the morning of the 19th of August, 1821, shortly after eat-
ing  breakfast.   They were  all previously  in good health,
and the dish of which they  ate was porridge, consisting of
milk, salt and meal.   William Mitchell, one of the brothers,
partook largely, but James, who perceived a sickening taste,
took less than common, while the sisters  had their usual
quantity.  They were all seized with vomiting, burning heat

ammonia,  and should be sought  for in that state.  It is much more soluble
than the acid.   (Devergie, vol. 2, pp. 719, 732.)
  The following are additional cases: London  Medical Gazette, vol. 35, p.
655, by Professor Wolher, in which arsenic was discovered in a body buried
seven years ; ibid. vol. 43, p. 894, Professor John W. Webster, in a body in-
terred fourteen years; ibid. vol. 44, p. 168, Mr. Herepath, in one buried
eight years. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
551
 in the stomach, weakness and fainting, which continued for
 a considerable length of time, and William finally sunk after
 seven days.  The  others  gradually  recovered,  but great
 debility  remained for some months.  On dissection, the sto-
 mach and intestines presented unequivocal marks of inflam-
 mation.*
   No part of the salt and milk used that morning was to be
 found, but the remainder of the meal, and also the contents
 of William  Mitchell's stomach and duodenum, were exam-
 ined  by  several physicians and surgeons.  No  poisonous
 ingredient, however, could be detected.
   In  this instance,  a family in good health was simultane-
 ously attacked  with symptoms that  indicated  a common
 cause, and  there was  no  epidemic prevalent that would
 account for them.   So violent, too, did the cause in question
 prove, that the individual who had partaken most  largely
 sunk under  its  effects.  Under  these circumstances, the
 brother-in-law of the deceased was tried, and the medical
 witnesses did  not  hesitate to give it as  their opinion, that
 poison had  been administered to  his relatives.  He after-
 wards confessed his guilt, and stated that he had perpetrated
 the crime by means of arsenic put among  the salt, on the
 morning when the Mitchells were taken ill.
   It  is not probable that  this  question  will  arise so  fre-
 quently as it has formerly.   The improved modes of detec-
 tion,  and searching for the  poison  in the tissues of the
 stomach, will undoubtedly diminish the number of cases in
 which, notwithstanding the positive nature of other testi-
 mony, no poison could be detected  by the best chemists.  If
 a medical witness ever finds it necessary to give' such an
 opinion, it should be founded  on a strong  combination of
 circumstances,  a  marked  peculiarity of symptoms, and a
 striking disorganization of parts.f


 Journal?v0ofl.^t°pnil57byMr- *""*•  EdinburSh Medical and Surgical
tions?^^^
*ost medicaids dS^^I. V«^^ JST * "" *" 
552
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Treatment.  It will not  comport  with the object of this
work to enlarge much on the present topic, but it is notwith-
standing,  proper briefly to notice the most approved mode
of obviating the effects of the poison.
  As to antidotes, the  sulphuret of potash once had a high
reputation, but we have already shown that this is itself a
poison.  Renault tested its efficacy on animals, and  found
that they died even sooner when  this pretended antidote
was administered,  than when  they had taken the arsenious
acid solely.*   Sulphuretted hydrogen was rather more suc-
cessful, but only when the poison was  taken in a fluid, and
not in a solid form.   Sulphur has  been suggested,  on  the
principle  of its uniting with the arsenic, but even this has
little  effect.  Charcoal  has been  recommended,  in conse-
quence of the experiments of Bertrand, and it would seem
to have attained a partial  celebrity.  The  results obtained
by Orfila  are, however, destructive to its character, and I
should consider it very hazardous  to depend  on  this sub-
stance, f   Dr. Garrod has presented it  as an antidote in the t
form of animal charcoal, but I doubt whether the  profession
generally concur in his opinions.
   There  was a period some years since  when the hydrated
 sesquioxide of iron accumulated much testimony in its favor
 as an antidote.  This substance is prepared by taking a pure
 solution of the subsulphate of iron, increasing its dose of
 oxygen by heating it with nitric  acid, and then pouring into
 the solution an excess of caustic ammonia.   The hydro-
 oxide is now obtained by decantation.
   The dry, hydrated oxide is inert, but the substance when
 prepared, may be kept for any length of time  under water.
   " The dose for a grown person is a table spoonful, and for
 children  a dessert spoonful,  to  be given every five  or  ten
 minutes until relief is obtained."

   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 90.  Orfila's Toxi-
 cology, vol. 1, p. 141.
   f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 500; vol.  2, p. 470. Dr. Chisholm says that
 the juice of the sugar-cane is an antidote, and states that it has been tried
 on animals in the West Indies  with complete success. (Brande's Journal,
 vol. 10, p. 193; Edinburgh Med. and  Surg. Journal, vol. 4, p. 416.) 
                     IRRITANT POISONS.                  553

  Arsenious acid will unite with oxide of iron and form an
insoluble salt, the arsenite  of iron, which was at one time
supposed to be, and probably is when given  as arsenite of
iron, but  slightly poisonous.   But the requisitions  for an
antidote are not met in the present case.  "Every supposed
chemical  antidote, (says  Christison,)  will  prove useless,
which does not render the arsenic  insoluble, not  only in
water, but likewise in the contents  and  secretions  of the
stomach."  We are never sure  that sufficient of the hydrated
oxide has been given to produce even the  doubtful arsenite,
which according to Orfila, is itself poisonous.  Still this sub-
stance should be  freely given,  to  aid the  other remedies to
be recommended.  We have many cases recorded, in which
it relieved unfavorable symptoms,  and  indeed appears to
have saved life.*
  It should be understood that other  preparations of iron
have been recommended as antidotes.  The  subcarbonate of
iron, largely suspended in water, (four  ounces in twenty-
 four,) was found efficacious in experiments  on  dogs, by  a
 committee of the Royal Academy of Medicine of  Paris, and
 we   have  some  cases of recovery  with  it  in the  human
 subject.f
   Duflos, after stating that the hydrated peroxide, although
 of  admitted  efficacy in cases  where  uncombined  arsenious
or arsenic  acid has been taken, is wholly ineffectual when
these acids are combined with bases, as in  arsenite of potash,
(Fowler's solution,) or arseniate of potash, advises the free
  * See Bunson and Berthold's Experiments, Lancet, N. S., vol. 15, p. 126;
London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag., vol.  6, p. 237; Orfila's  Toxicologie;
Bouley in Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 14, p.  134; Van Specz, in British and
Foreign Med. Review, vol. 4, p. 237; Miguel and Soubeirau of Paris, and
Borelh and Demaria of Turin, ibid. vol. 1, pp. 594, 595.
 ^ Cases of recovery are given by  Dr. Leger, in American Journal of Medical
hoienccs, vol. 16, p. 239;  Mr. Robson  in London Med. Gazette, vol. 19, p.
1/7   See also ibid vol. 16, p. 832; Dr.  Mac Donald in New York Journal of
  or'A n  'aPA°:>; D/" Gerhard> in Philadelphia Med. Examiner, vol. 3,
p. 250; Drs. Sm.ley and Wallace, in ibid. vol. 3, p, 680, out of eight persons
pmsoned, six were greatly relieved by the antidote, and recovered.  In two,
h„™i9 mJ i    }l vomiting. and they sunk.  Dr. Douglas Maclagan in Edin-
burgl Med. and burg, Journal, vol. 54, p. 106;  Dr. Puchett, in  ibid. p. 262;
Dr. Chilton, in United States Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 3, p. 54.  These
arc only a selection of favorable cases                    V
KcA^voi.^^T ^^ R™™' V°L 8) P-574 ;  Medico-Chirurgical 
554
IRRITANT POISONS.
use, in these  last, as  a substitute, the peracetate of iron,
prepared by adding diluted  acetic acid to the hydrated per-
oxide, prepared in the usual way.  It should be given largely,
diluted with water.*
  The indications in a case of poisoning, are : 1. To remove
the poison; and, 2. To prevent its injurious consequences
on the stomach and system generally.
  The first is attempted by means of an emetic, as the sul-
phate of zinc ;  but if vomiting be present, we may aid it by
diluents in small quantities.!   Tartrite of antimony should
never be given.   But  when  vomiting does not  take place
immediately,  from the means just directed, the urgency of
the case warrants us in using more direct remedies.  Renault
recommends that the  stomach be washed and emptied me-
chanically, by means  of  a large tube of elastic gum, and a
syringe.   In this way, a certain quantity of  liquid may be
thrown in, to dilute or suspend the poison, and by the action
of the syringe, the whole may be again withdrawn.!  The
stomach-pump has in this way proved  a useful assistant in
some cases ;  but it is probably most valuable in instances of
poisoning  with opium.§
  * London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, vol. 25, p. 486.
  t In a case related by Mr. Kerr, (Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol.
36, p. 94,) where a large quantity of solid arsenic had been taken, and vomit-
ing did not occur for an hour  afterwards, he continued the exhibition of
sulphate of zinc  and ipecacuanha, to the amount  of 175 grains of the one,
and 230 of the other, all in the space of three hours.  Copius vomiting ensued
and the patient recovered.  Mr.  Kerr particularly cautions against the too
free use of diluents.  Strong and complete contractions (he observes,) of the
stomach are required to throw of the poison, and these cannot take place, if
that viscus be distended with liquids.
  X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 91.
  § Renault and even  Boerhaave, have proposed its use, so that the contest
of late years about the priority of its  invention, is  evidently futile.  Dr.
Physick of Philadelphia,  published a paper in  1812, in which he  mentions
that he successfully applied the  syringe to a child poisoned with laudanum,
and Dr. Dorsey afterwards cured two individuals by the same treatment.
This distinguished surgeon, however, subsequently states that Dr. Alexander
Munro, jun., first suggested theinvention in 1797, although he (Dr. Physick,)
was ignorant of  this fact when  he applied it  practically.  I  conceive Dr.
Physick is entitled to the honor of having been  the first who saved life by its
means. See Eclectic Repertory, vol. 3, pp. Ill and 381; and American Med.
Recorder, vol. 6, p. 294.                          t
  A case in which a drachm of arsenic mixed in ale was taken and removed so
effectually by the stomach-pump, that no inflammatory symptoms followed,
is mentioned in British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p. 80.  Venesection and
purges were, however, employed. 
                     IRRITANT  POISONS.                   55&


  2. In several instances, the free use of magnesia has proved

of service.  Mr. Joseph Hume was, I believe, the first who

administered this  article.   Copious vomitings had already

occurred,  and  retchings and  pain continued.   Under these

circumstances, he gave carbonate of  magnesia  very freely,

with tincture of opium, suspended  in water.   In five days

the patient was well.*
   Inflammation of the stomach is not an uncommon secon-

dary consequence in  those who  survive ;  and Dr. Yelloly

first suggested that it should be treated accordingly.   In Dr.

Roget's case,  it succeeded perfectly ; and several instances

have since  occurred, in which  venesection,  blisters, &c,

were used with the happiest results.!   Opium, after free de-

pletion, is also useful.

   Medical police.  It is certainly a duty  that legislators owe

to their constituents,  and  sovereigns to their subjects, to

restrain the sale  of  this  dangerous article; and I am  happy

to add, that in several countries, proper regulations  exist.

 In France and Prussia, the sale of arsenic is strictly guarded.!

 In the State of New-York, the  following is  now in  force:

 All apothecaries, druggists, or other persons selling arsenic,

 corrosive sublimate,  prussic  acid, or any other substance or

 liquid  usually denominated poisonous,  shall  have a printed


   * London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 46, p. 466.  Mr.  Edwards
in ibid. vol. 49, p. 117, and Mr. Buchanan in London Medical Repository,
vol. 19,  p. 288, have  published similar cases.  In both, however, copious
vomitings had already occurred, and  in the former, venesection was required
to complete the cure.  I may here subjoin a notice of  some cases cured ap-
parently by means not included in  the above directions.   Dr.  Heron of
Orange county (New York) injected  milk in which the whites of eggs were
beaten up, with the stomach-pump, in the case of a man who had swallowed
 nearly an ounce  of arsenic.  A free discharge was procured, followed by
 vomiting, and  the arsenic was found enveloped in the coagulum that wag
 thrown up.  The patient after this experienced no bad effects from the poison.
 (United States Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 2, p. 468.)  The Rev.
 Ralph Emerson relates two cases in  which arsenic had been swallowed, and
 where  tobacco-juice  was  given to  induce vomiting,  but without effect.
 Neither was there any cathartic operation.  The pain, however, gradually
 subsided, and the patients recovered,  in one case, after taking an emetic,  and
 in the  other  without using any medicine.  (Silliman's  Journal, vol. 31,
 page 188.)
 _  t McLcod in Edinburgh  Med. and  Surg. Journal, vol. 15. p. 553.  Daviea
 in London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 28.
   Skillman in  American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 18, p. 531.
   I Ldinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 9, p. 351; vol. 13, p. 143. 
556
IRRITANT POISONS.
or written label, with the word " Poison," on the phial, box,
or parcel, containing the same ; and in case they sell tartar
emetic, its name shall be attached in the same manner.  The
breach of this is declared a misdemeanor, and punishable by
a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.*  But although
the danger of accidental poisoning is thus diminished, there
is not a sufficient check upon its criminal employment.  Why
should all and every one be allowed to purchase  this viru-
lent substance'?
  The black oxide of arsenic  deserves attention, since it is
the basis of the fly-powder, which is much used  in France
and Germany to destroy animals, and hence may often be
the cause of accidental poisoning.   It is  commonly deemed
to be a mixture of metallic arsenic and the  white oxide.
Renault, in  his experiments on dogs, found  it quickly mor-
tal ; and when it  had acted sufficiently,  it produced in the
stomach an  exudation of blood, and infiltration of the same
between  the coats of that viscus, without any trace of ero-
sion, f  Jaeger witnessed the death of a  girl, aged sixteen,
who was  poisoned  by drinking water that had stood on it.
She made no complaint of pain, and retained  her senses to
the  last,  asking  for every thing  she wanted.  Nine hours
after death, the  skin exhibited no change, except its pale-
ness and  a few blue spots on it.  On  dissection, a slight
spotted redness was found  about the cardia ; the bottom of
the stomach was discolored, and  there was  a  small  brown
spot  where the  villous coat  seemed as if superficially
burnt.!   In several cases  quoted  by Orfila, the stomach
was inflamed, and  red spots with  extravasated blood were
present.§
  In a case that occurred to  Dr. Wagner, a child drank some
from a cup, and death ensued in twelve hours ; yet the most
careful analysis of the intestinal canal and its contents, did

  * Revised  Statutes, vol. 2, p. 694.
  \ Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 90.
  X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 80.
  §  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. l,p. 160. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
557
not detect any vestige of it.   This is ascribed to the previ-
ous vomiting, and the small quantity taken.*
  From the nature of this substance, it  is evident that it
may be detected by the  application of heat.   This  will
sublime the  white  oxide  and  form  the  bright   metallic
crust.   By solution  in  water  also, and the  application  of
tests, the  characteristic proofs of the  oxide will  be exhi-
bited.
  Arsenilcs.  Two of these are in use and  may become the
cause of poisoning ;  the arsenite of copper, (Scheele's green,
mineral green ;)  and  the arsenite of potash, (Fowler's solu-
tion.)   The  former  is  used  as  a  paint, and is  sold  in
cakes.f  The latter is  employed as a  medicine, and some-
times  called the tasteless ague drop.|  Both of them may
be  detected by the addition of acetic acid, and then heating
the mixture.  Sulphuretted  hydrogen is  then transmitted
 through it, and  in  the  one case the sulphuret  of  copper is
 separated from  the  sulphuret of arsenic by the addition of
 ammonia.  The reduction of the  sulphuret  is then to  be
 effected as already directed.
    A boy, three  years  old, the  son of a  painter, poisoned
 himself by licking a shell  covered with Scheele's green.   In
 half an hour,  he became  pale  and ill.   Vomiting ensued,
witli diarrhoea,  pain in the   abdomen and burning  thirst.
The peroxide of iron was given in divided doses, and  in
  * London Medical Quarterly Review, vol. 2, p. 488.
  I place also under this head, the case of poisoning from cobalt by Dr. Hurd.
(Boston Med. and Surg.  Journal, vol. 31, p. 316):  A child, two years old,
swallowed some cobalt prepared to kill flies.  Vomiting soon ensued which
left comparative ease, but he soon grew worse with the usual symptoms of
sinking, small pulse,  cold extremities, much writhing, &c, and died seven
and a half hours after taking the poison. (The cobalt is arsenic.)
  t The mineral green commonly sold in shops, is not an arsenite according
to Dr. Christison.  By  analysis, he ascertained it to  be a mixture of the
hydrate of copper and carbonate of lime; p. 258.
  1 When given in  too large doses as a remedy, disastrous consequences may
follow.  Dr. Astbury  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 15, p.
415,)  relates a case of this description.  Vomiting is an early symptom.
  There is also a case given in the Encyclographie des Sciences Medicales for
February, 1844, of death occurring in a person laboring under ague, who took
a quack solution, containing, as near I  can make out the figures, about five
grains of the arsenite of potash.  This dose was taken at 6 A.  M., and he
died at night, after great suffering and the usual symptoms. 
558                 IRRITANT POISONS.
half an hour, these symptoms had  ceased, and the patient
was well the next day.*
  Another case is given of a child, a year old, who unob-
served  ate  a portion of a cake of green ink, which  was
subsequently ascertained  to  consist of arsenite of copper.
It produced constant vomiting, which was aided with ipecac,
and subsequently whites  of  eggs  and milk  were  adminis-
tered.   Diarrhoea with symptoms of great debility succeeded,
but the infant survived.f
  Dr. Basedow asserts that if Scheele's green be employed
in painting apartments, it  may give rise to a dangerous evo-
lution  of arseniuretted hydrogen gas, under the influence of
moisture.!
  Arsenic acid is to be considered as  a more violent and
rapid poison than even arsenious acid.  This was abundantly
proved by the experiments of Brodie, Jaeger and Campbell.
Its  action is, however, similar.
  There are two  cases on record, according to Dr. Christi-
son, of poisoning with  arseniate of potash.  This substance
is very soluble in water, and  is reduced to the metallic state
with charcoal in a tube, on  the application,  however,  of a
higher heat  than  is  required for arsenious acid.   When in
solution,  nitrate  of  silver throws down a brick-red precipi-
tate, sulphate of copper, a  pale  bluish white one, while
sulphuretted hydrogen, preceded by acidulation with muri-
atic acid, and transmitted for some time, gives the yellow
sulphuret.   It will at first, according to Orfila, produce only
a whitish and slightly yellow precipitate.
  Sulphurets of arsenic.   The native sulphurets (orpiment
and realgar,) were administered by Hoffman and Renault, to
dogs and other animals, without occasioning the  slightest
derangement.  Smith and Orfila have, however, found them
poisonous.   The  latter  applied these substances to the cel-
lular tissue of dogs, and also introduced  them  into the

  *  American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 26, p. 497. This case occur-
red  in Germany, and is related by Dr. Spaeth of Esslingen. See also a simi-
lar case by Dr. Fiedler. (London Med. Gazete, vol. 31, p.  270.)
  t  Dr.  Lewinstein, from a German journal, quoted in Chemist, vol. 4, p. 41.
  %  London Med. Gazette, vol. 44, p. 374. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                 559

stomach; and in  each case,  when  doses from  50 to 120
grains were used, the  animals died  in between 40 and  60
hours.  On dissection, marks of inflammation and ulceration
were seen on the mucous membrane  of the stomach, and the
interior of the ventricles of the heart presented  several red
 spots.*
  Artificial orpiment is, however, more  actively poisonous,
 and for the reason that it is a mixture of sulphuret of arse-
 nic and  arsenious acid.f  The paint called king's yellow is
 also decidedly noxious.   This is an impure  sulphuret, con-
 sisting, according to  an  analysis of Dr. Christison, of the
 sulphuret, caustic lime and free sulphur.!
   Although the native sulphurets are evidently less poison-
 ous than the artificial, yet  Decourdemanche  has  indicated
 another cause  why the former are  also more active under
 certain circumstances.  When boiled with water, it decom-
 poses them, sulphuretted hydrogen  is evolved and the white
 oxide of arsenic remains in solution.  This change will even
 take place in the cold, though more slowly;  and it is much
 accelerated by the presence of animal or vegetable  principles
 in the water.§
    There are some interesting cases of poisoning with the
 sulphuret, which may be here stated :             *» .-
    A lady aged sixty, and named Mrs.  Smith, the owner of
 some property, went  to lodge with  Mrs. Burdock  in Bristol,
 (England).  She  shortly became unwell, from a cold, and
 some gruel was given to her by her landlady.   In half an
 hour she was  taken  very ill, violent pain  ensued, and she
 spat thick blood in  the pot.  No  medical assistance  was
 summoned, and she died in about an hour, and was privately
 interred.
    Her relations who  had not been  apprised of her decease,
 presently became aware of it.  Suspicions were excited, and

   • Lancet, vol 10, p. 276, from Journal de Chimie, 1826.
   f (iuibourt,  Edinburgh New Philosophical  Journal, vol. 1, p. 319.
   X Christison, p. 262.
   § Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 28, p. 228.
   Hence Orfila is of opinion that in the case of a person poisoned with the
 sulphuret, oxide of arsenic  may be discovered in the intestinal canal.  (Lemons,
 8d ed., vol. 3. p. 179.) 
560
IRRITANT POISONS.
at the end of fourteen months after her burial, in December,
1834, a warrant was issued for the disinterment and exami-
nation of the body.  There was some water in the  coffin,
but the dress  was tolerably  firm.  The face of  the corpse
was  shrunken, and  of a dingy  yellow  color; the  nose
depressed and the orbits sunk.  The abdomen was consider-
ably flattened, but the thorax maintained its usual convexity.
The integuments of these were  converted  into adipocire.
On opening the abdomen, the alimentary canal was found in
a remarkable  state of preservation.   The  intestines con-
tained neither fluid nor gas; and some of their convolutions
were matted together.  The diaphragm was firm; the lungs
and  heart  shrunk in size, of a dark blue  color; and the
latter  contained some dark-colored fluid, which was evi-
dently decomposed blood.
   On separating the  duodenum from the small intestines, its
mucous membrane was observed to be covered with a large
quantity of a  viscid yellow substance.  This was carefully
removed.  The mucous membrane of the mouth and gullet
was  decomposed;  the stomach  and  intestines, however,
were firm, and appeared  as little  affected  as " if the person
had' been dead only a few days in cold  weather."  Their
odor>wgp, according  to Dr. Symonds, altogether peculiar,
removed equally from their smell when examined in the
fresh body, and from that of putrefaction.  It was almost
persistent, so that he and others had great trouble in free-
ing their hands and clothes from it.  The lining membrane of
these  viscera was smeared  with a  large  quantity  of an
unctuous  yellow substance, which was readily  scraped off,
and it was seen to be more  firm in the parts where the
yellow matter was in contact.  The large intestines bore
the marks of inflammation, being more or less red in various
points.  The soft parts of the brain were decomposed.
   Mr. Herepath, lecturer on chemistry at the Bristol medi-
cal school, took a portion of the matter found in the stomach,
applied heat to drive off moisture, and then mixed it with a
little carbonate  of soda  and charcoal,  and introduced the 
IRRITANT POISONS.
561
whole into a glass tube.  On applying heat, metallic arsenic
was condensed.   The part of the  tube  that contained the
metallic crust was then cut off, heat was freely applied, and
it being now in contact with the atmosphere, arsenious acid
was produced.  A portion of this  was now dissolved in a
small quantity of water, and the solution divided into three
parts.   To  these, the  ammoniated  nitrate of silver, the
ammoniated sulphate of copper and sulphuretted hydrogen,
were respectively added, and they each gave their charac-
teristic results.
  Subsequently,  he  treated  some  yellow-tinged  matter
washed from the stomach as follows :  Thirteen grains were
boiled in nitro-muriatic acid, which decomposed the animal
matter, dissolved  the phosphates and the  arsenic, and con-
verted the sulphur  into  sulphuric acid.  Ammonia being
added in  sufficient quantity to supersaturate this acid, the
mixture was then acidulated with acetic  acid and  filtered.
A stream of sulphuretted hydrogen passed over it, precipi-
tated four grains  of sulphuret of arsenic.
  It is probable that  nearly a drachm of the  sulphuret was
present in the alimentary canal of the deceased.  When we
recollect  that some was  evacuated  by vomiting, and also
that the accused  had given some to  Mrs.  Smith on the day
previous  to her  death,  certainly  a  sufficient quantity to
produce the result was accounted for.
  This anatomical and chemical examination, (and which
cannot be too  highly commended,  and confers the  highest
credit on  Mr.  Herepath, Mr.  Kelson, and Drs.  Riley and
Symonds,) led  to the  apprehension, trial, conviction and
execution of Mrs. Burdock. It appears that she endeavored
to purchase arsenic  of a druggist, but he not having any on
hand, she obtained the  sulphuret from him.  Dr. Symonds
subsequently obtained a quantity of the same sulphuret (and
which evidently  contained some arsenious  acid) from the
druggist in question, and made experiments with it on ani-
mals.  Fifteen grains  injected into the stomach of a rabbit
did not  kill it, but two  scruples  employed in the  same
  vol. n.                  36 
562
IRRITANT POISONS.
way did.   Thirty-five grains killed  a small dog in  nine
hours.*
   On the 30th of June, 1829, Dr. Lepelletier was directed to
disinter and examine the bodies of  M.  Fortier and  his
daughter,  the former nine and the  latter three  months after
interment, from a  suspicion that they had been  poisoned.
The body of the daughter aged  forty  years, was in a state
of complete  putrefaction, except that the abdominal viscera
were scarcely affected by it.  The peritoneum  was sound,
and the mucous membrane of the  digestive  canal from the
oesophagus to the rectum, was untouched  by decay ; but it
was covered  with  bright red spots, and in these  a yellow
matter  was  found.  The oesophagus  contained about two
spoonsful  of  a  dark fluid, similar to  venous blood, and also
some of the  same  yellow substance,  while in the stomach
was a yellow liquid.  In several  places,  false membranes
were found and readily detached from  the lining coat.
   In the body of the father, although putrefaction was still
farther advanced, yet the abdominal viscera were also sound,
and the same marks of inflammation  were seen, while seve-
ral ounces of a thick yellowish fluid  were found.
  #In both  these instances, a few experiments served to show
that the yellow substance was sulphuret of arsenic.f
   The usual  mode  of reduction,  with  sulphuret of arsenic,
is with the dry soda flux, as  already mentioned.  The sub-
stances  are placed  in  a small tube and the heat of a spirit-
lamp is  applied.   Berzelius recommends a light  charcoal,
  * Transactions Provincial Med. and Surg.  Association, vol.  3, p. 432.
London Medical Gazette, vol. 15, p. 516 ; vol. 16, pp. 87,121, 231.  Medico-
Chirurgical Review, vol. 26, p. 463.  London  Medical Quarterly Review,
vol. 4, p. 390.
  In a communication made to the British Association,  (Report of the sixth
meeting, appendix, p. 67,) Mr.  Herepath states that he has satisfactorily
ascertained that realgar (the proto-sulphuret) was administered to Mrs.
Smith, although it was undoubtedly found as orpiment  (sesquisulphuret) in
the dead body.  He supposes, therefore, that this change took place during
putrefaction, as two agents then developed, ammonia, and sulphuretted hy-
drogen, will convert realgar into orpiment.  But to place the matter beyond
all doubt, a direct experiment was made by poisoning an animal with realgar,
which after putrefaction became changed, as in the case  of Mrs. Smith.
  X  Orfila, Exhumations Juridiques, vol. 2, p. 317.  Suspected cases of poison-
ing  by sulphuret of arsenic, but in which none could be found,  are given in
Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2, p. 405; vol. 3, p. 381. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
563
impregnated with a solution of carbonate of soda, by immer-
sion in that liquid.  It is afterwards dried, and gently heated
to redness in a covered platina  crucible.  The reduction is
performed by placing the sulphuret in a glass tube  of very
small diameter, closed at one end;  on this,  some pieces of
prepared charcoal about half an inch long are placed.   The
tube above the charcoal is now drawn to a fine point.  Heat
is applied, first to the charcoal and  then  to the sulphuret,
and soon after their union, the carbon forms at  the expense
of the other sulphuret of sodium and arsenic is sublimed  in
the drawn out part of the tube.*
  Dr. Christison advises,  that when sulphuret of arsenic is
contained  in  organic  mixtures,  it  be removed by  adding
caustic ammonia.  This dissolves it,  and the solution on
being acidulated with muriatic acid, will deposit the sulphu-
ret sufficiently pure for undergoing the process of reduction.
  Arseniuretted hydrogen  gas.   This substance has  proved
fatal to a distinguished  chemist, the late  Mr.  Gehlen,  of
Munich.  He was distilling a mixture of arsenic in  powder
and caustic potash,  in order to observe  the action of the
latter  on the  former.   Finding  that  the  combination  was
taking  place very slowly, he  applied his nostrils  several
times to the flask which  contained the mixture, in order  to
ascertain by the  odor the state of the mixture.  About an
hour afterwards, he was seized with uninterrupted vomiting,
rigor,  and excessive  prostration  of strength; these symp-
toms continued for nine days, when he died, although every
effort was made for his relief.f
  Mr. Bullocke,  a  lecturer on chemistry, was also destroyed
by  it in December, 1836.  " The gas jar not having as much
water in  it as he  supposed,  and the  atmospheric air above
the water diluting the gas,  he inconsiderately  applied his
  *  Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 24, p. 181.  Runge advises for the reduction
of the sulphuret, pieces of charcoal, boiled in a solution of acetate  of silver
and subsequently dried and heated to  redness.  (Ibid. vol. 24,  p. 143.)
Taufliieb reduces  it by introducing a small filament of silver leaf on a twig,
into the tube holding the sulphuret. By the application of heat, the sulphur
leaves the arsenic and attaches itself to the silver, and metallic arsenic is
condensed in the form of a brilliant, black ring, at some distance from th«
heated part.  (Ibid. vol. 20, p. 393.)
  t  Male, p. 176. 
564
IRRITANT POISONS.
mouth to draw up  the atmospheric air, while the process o
generation was going on, and thus inhaled some of the gas."
It affected the whole nervous system and ultimately  the
lungs.  He died in ten days.*
  A third case has excited still greater attention :  Mr. Brit-
tan, a druggist and chemist of some  eminence in Dublin
while engaged in preparing a work  on chemical manipula-
tion, inhaled, by way of experiment, a quantity of hydrogen
gas.  The quantity taken in,  at two different periods, was
about 150 cubic inches.  Immediately after inhaling the last
portion, he was seized with giddiness and faintness, followed
by shivering,  a discharge from the bowels,  and about two
ounces of blood without pain from the urethra. Pain in the
extremities, followed by numbness, succeeded, and these
again by constant vomiting for several hours.  Medical  aid
was now called, and as he complained of pain at the epigas-
trum when pressed, leeches were applied  and other appro-
priate remedies used. The next day vomiting recurred ; the
bowels had been moved, but  no urine was passed.  Hiccup
also came on.   The symptoms on the  day succeeding were
mitigated, but no  urine, nor was there any secretion of it,
except a little depositing blood, during the remainder of his
life.  Somnolency ensued, and he finally died in 148 hours
after inhaling the  supposed  hydrogen gas.   The stomach
was empty, with two reddish  spots in the great curvature,
and its mucous membrane equally detached.  The  kidneys
were of a deep indigo color, the left very large, resembling
the spleen; the right firm and natural.  The bladder was
empty and natural.
  Dr. O'Rielly, who had  been in attendance, was led to
inquire whether the ingredients employed in making  the
hydrogen were pure, and therefore took some of the sulphu-
ric  acid and zinc  used by Mr. Brittan, and having added
them, caused the evolution of the gas.  He obtained a large
quantity of arsenious acid, and metallic stains.  Fluid tests
also indicated  arsenic, and lastly, that metal was obtained by
reduction.
             * London Medical Gazette, vol. 19, p. 591. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
565
  It should also be stated, that a portion of reddish brown
fluid effused within the pleura gave proof that it held arsenic
in solution.
  The next point to be settled  was whether the zinc or the
sulphuric  acid contained the poison.  After  obtaining not
less than six specimens of sulphuric acid from different drug-
gists in Dublin, he found all to contain more or less arsenic,
and by using iron filings in the  place  of zinc, he found that
arsenic was still formed.   This sulphuric  acid  appears all
to have been made from iron pyrites.
  From experiments and calculation, Dr. O'Rielly concludes
that the amount of arsenious acid inhaled by Mr.  Brittan
was about twelve grains.*
  There is no doubt but that the arsenical  candles, about
which so much has been said in England, may prove inju-
rious by the production of  this gas.
  It has been suggested  that this gas, on being inspired, is
decomposed in the lungs, the hydrogen uniting with the car-
bonic acid, while the arsenic is deposited in the bronchiae.f
  Iodide of arsenic is  a preparation somewhat in use, and
may hence become the cause  of poisoning.   According  to
Dr. A. T. Thomson, it is a most virulent poison in  large
doses.  When  given to dogs, in whom the oesophagus was
tied, it inflamed the tissues to which it was  applied, and
softened and gelatinized the mucous membrane of the sto-
mach. It sometimes, also, caused ulceration.  When applied
to mucous or serous  surfaces,  or an  ulcer or wound, it  is
absorbed, and exerts a deleterious influence on the nervous
centres and  the heart.
  The presence of iodine can,  in these cases, be generally
detected in the urine, bile, saliva, and blood.  In testing
the two former, Dr. Thomson  mixed with the fluid  some
cold  mucilage  of  starch in a  cylindrical vessel, and then
poured  over the mixture, gaseous chlorine.   Sulphuretted

  •  Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 57, p. 521. From Dublin Jour-
nal  of Medical Science.
  f  London Medical Repository, vol. 4, p. 331.  Brande's Journal,  vol. 3,
page 208. 
566                  IRRITANT  POISONS.
 hydrogen will throw down the  arsenic, and whenever the

 iodide  of arsenic is present — either solid or in  solution,

 the  sulphuretted hydrogen  and chlorine should both be
 used.*

   Arsenic, in  its  metallic state, oxidizes  so readily, that it

 would  be extremely hazardous to pronounce it  innoxious.

 Renault  has,  however, given  two drachms of mispickel (an

 alloy of arsenic and iron,) to animals, without any  injurious

 effects.   This fact  gives us the assurance that the arsenic

 which is sometimes contained in tin, needs not to be feared,

 as it is  in the  metallic state.f


                           Mercury.

   The most important compound of this metal, in its  rela-

 tion to  legal medicine, is

   Corrosive  sublimate.   Like  arsenic,  this  substance is

 poisonous, whether internally or externally applied, but a

 larger quantity is required to produce deleterious effects.

   Internally, {a.) Its exhibition by the  mouth. If corrosive sub-

 limate be exhibited in considerable doses, and especially if

 its use  is too  long continued, it  causes  colic and vomiting.

 These are succeeded by affections of the salivary glands,

 ptyalism, swelling of the tongue and gums, destruction of

  * Lancet, N. S., vol. 23,  p.  176. Dr. Thomson's paper,  read before the
 British Association in 1838.
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 90.  There are two
 eurious cases, which it  may be somewhat difficult to arrange, but which I may
 mention in a note: One occurred in France, and its history was communicated
 to the Academy of Medicine.  A manufacturer of the  blue pigment used in
 painting china, was engaged with his  servant in  boiling a mixture of nitric
 acid, cobalt and arsenic.  On a sudden, the matrass  burst, and the room was
 filled with the fumes.  The servant escaped, but the master was knocked
 down, and lay insensible for some  time.   He  died after eight days' intense
suffering,  his body having become enormously swollen.  The servant was
attacked with similar swelling of the abdomen, but was relieved by purga-
tives and the warm bath. (Medico-Chirurgical  Review, vol. 23, p. 504.)  The
other is mentioned by Dr. Elliotson:  A whole  family were seized with nausea
and vomiting, and  all had  watery eyes.  Their pulses were rapid, and indeed
there was a general inflammatory state of the system in all.  As none of the
 neighbors were similarly affected, he suspected from the symptoms that arsenic
 might be the cause; and on inquiry, found that the persons  who had previ-
ously occupied the premises, were mixers of colors, and had deposited, before
leaving, in the kitchen and garden, large quantities  of arsenite of copper.
 The situation of the house was damp ; and it was the opinion of the chemist,
 that the contact of water decomposed the arsenite, and produced arseniuretted
 hydrogen.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 10, p. 133.) 
IRRITANT poisons.
567
the teeth, and swelling of the face and  head.   Cardialgia,
diarrhoea,  dysentery,  phthisis  pulmonalis,  tremors of the
limbs, paralysis, or even death, have been the consequence
of persisting in such  a  course for  an  improper space of
time.*
  Dreadful as this catalogue of ills may appear, it is usually
aggravated when we are called to view  a patient  poisoned
by this  mineral.   The dose is then  larger, and the effects
are more immediate.  We may state  the  ordinary symptoms
in such  cases to be the following :  " An acrid, astringent,
metallic taste in the mouth; a  sensation of stricture and
burning heat in the throat; anxiety, and rending pains in
the stomach, and in the whole of the intestinal canal; nau-
sea ;  frequent  vomiting of  a  fluid, which is sometimes
bloody, and accompanied  with  violent  efforts; diarrhoea,
sometimes  dysentery;  pulse  small, tight  and frequent;
faintness,  general debility,  difficulty  of breathing,  cold
sweats, cramps in all the limbs, general insensibility, con-
vulsions and death."f
  As discriminative of the effects of this  substance  from
those of arsenic, Dr. Christison observes, that its symptoms
begin much sooner ; the irritation in  the  throat and  stomach
sometimes,  indeed,  commencing  during the very act of
swallowing, or the first five minutes ; that its taste is  more
unequivocal and strong;  that the sense of acridity along the
throat and in the stomach is much more severe, and that the
countenance is  usually flushed and swollen.
  In addition to these, it has been noticed  by some observers,
that there is a great diminution in the secretion of urine.
Dr. Henry, of Manchester, in a  case where death followed
in four days, remarked that no urine was voided after the
third day, and on introducing the catheter, the bladder was
found  empty.t   In the cases related by Mr.  Valentine,
where a mother  poisoned  herself and four children,  the
same observation was made.    One  child died in twelve
hours after taking the poison, and during this  period, no
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. -17.    t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 60.
  X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p.'ISl. 
 568                  IRRITANT POISONS.

 urine was  secreted;  another in  twenty-four hours,  and
 voided a very small quantity.   The third died in thirty-two
 hours, and  secreted none, while the  mother,  who lived
 seventy hours, only passed a very little.*
   It  must also be remarked, that  the pain and stricture in
 the pharynx and  oesophagus, are sometimes so severe as to
 cause the greatest distress in  swallowing even the mildest
 fluids, and in  one instance, they were so  excessive as for
 some hours to destroy the power of speech.f  Bloody vomit-
 ing is not uncommon, and coagulable lymph has been found
 in the matter purged, mixed with clots of blood.|   In fatal
 cases, the pain  at the scrobiculus cordis continues  without
 intermission, and in those who recover, it is among  the last
 symptoms that  disappear.  In  Dr.  Henry's patient, a com-
 plete paralysis  of the upper and lower extremities occurred
 a few hours  before death.
   According to Dr. Christison, the  ordinary duration of fatal
 cases is from twenty-four to thirty-six hours.   There are but
 a few, where life has been prolonged  beyond this.  The
 most  protracted,  with the ordinary symptoms  of  irritation,
 is that related by  Dr. Venables.  A female took this poison
 to  procure  abortion.   She was seized  with vomiting and
 purging,  tenesmus, a muco-sanguineous  discharge from the
 bowels, and total suppression  of  urine,  while blood  was
 contained in the matter vomited.  Still  there was no fetor
 or salivation.  She died  on the eighth day.§
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14, p. 468.  The only one
 (a child) that recovered, in consequence of having taken a small quantity,
voided no urine in three days.  Dr. Christison (p. 359) adduces several paral-
lel instances.
  See  also Mr. Reid's  case, in  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 36, p. 615.
The patient survived five days, yet voided no urine during that time. Alfred
S. Taylor's case, in Guy's Hospital Reports, 2d series,  vol. 2, p. 24, no urine
during four days.
  f  Case by Mr. Anderson, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14,
p. 474.  On the contrary, a case is related by Mr. Saunders, where the patient
lived nine days,  and during that period experienced little pain, and only felt
some soreness after  the sixth day.  Hiccup was present during part of his
illness. (London Medical Repository, vol. 2, p.  458.)
  X  Valentine ut antea. In two of these cases,  coma and insensibility of the
 pupils were present  for some time before death.
  § London Medical Gazette, vol. 8, p. 616.  I have  noticed the  following
cases, in addition to those already quoted:
  Houlston  on Poisons, p. 81.  An adult took six drachms  in solution; re-
 covered. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
569
  The shortest cases on record  are one of  Mr. Valentine's,
(twelve  hours) with that of Mr. Illingworth, where the indi-
vidual, an adult, was last  seen  alive at  11|  p. m., and was
found dead in his bed at 1\ a. m., with  his face and extremi-
ties  cold.*   Mr.  Taylor, (on  Poisons,  p.  404)  however,
mentions  a  case communicated to  him  by Mr. Welch, in
which the patient (a man intemperate and a suicide) died in
in half  an hour.
   To this variety of poisoning Dr. Christison adds a second,
which begins like the former, with  irritation  of the alimen-
tary  canal,   but  the   symptoms   of  mercurial  erythysm
(inflammation  of the  salivary  glands  and  parts adjoining)
supervene.   These usually occur on the second day, and the
fatal termination  is generally  delayed beyond  the  period
mentioned above.f
  Coxe's Medical Museum, vol 2, p. 180.  Case by Dr. Budd. A female took
an ounce ; she had the usual severe symptoms, but recovered.
  American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 6, p. 540.  Case  by Dr. Hort.
Recovered.
  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 15, p. 510.  Case by Mr.
Thomas.  Recovered.
  Ibid.  Case by Mr. Blacklock.  A man aged fifty, took a drachm, dissolved
in three gills of water, through mistake.  His symptoms were not peculiar.
There were  present, bloody vomiting and purging, succeeded by  billious
vomiting and purging: and during the whole of his illness, he suffered under
violent and incessant hiccup.   The urine was suppressed, and there  was a
numbness of the arms and legs. He died on the seventh day.  (Vol. 36, p. 92.)
  Ibid., vol.  43, p.  253.  Case by  Ollivier and Barruel,  of three children,
poisoned through carelessness, at Paris.  The oldest, aged seven, took eighteen
grains, and died in three hours; the youngest, about two years old, took six
grains, and died in eleven hours.  The mistake was discovered in two hours,
and antidotes were given; but the youngest would not take them.  The second,
aged three and a half years, took twelve grains. It apparently recovered from
the immediate effects; but in a few days  diarrhoea and other symptoms of
gastro-enteritis came on, and death followed on the twenty-third day.
  The same cases are given in the Medico-Chirurgical  Review,  vol.  26,
p. 515.
  Guy's Hospital Reports, 2d series, vol. 2, p. 24.  Case by Alfred S.  Taylor.
A man aged thirty-eight,  took two drachms; he died in four days, although
the usual antidotes were  given.
  Transactions New-York State Medical Society,  1850.  Case  by Dr. Mc-
Cready.
  M;iny other instances, under the different varieties, are cited by Christison
and Orfila.
  * London Medical Gazette, vol. 31, p. 556.
  t Dr. Christison doubts whether salivation has ever occurred sooner than
the second day. There is a probable case of poisoning by corrosive sublimate,
related by Mr. Wood, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 51, p.
111, where the salivation commenced after seven hours.  The early history is
however obscure, and the patient had been laboring under the venereal.   See
however, ibid., vol. 53, p. 404. 
570                 IRRITANT POISONS.
  Mr.  Murray relates of a Hindoo, who by accident swal-
lowed  about six or eight grains of  corrosive sublimate in
solution.  Vomiting followed almost immediately, and in
two days thereafter diarrhoea.  Shortly after, ptyalism super-
vened, which lasted three or four days, and it was about the
expiration of this period, that he came under medical treat-
ment.   He  complained of  debility,  but the diarrhoea had
ceased  and  the  ptyalism was nearly gone.  To these suc-
ceeded  repeated  attacks of  bleeding   from  the  nose—a
tendency to dozing  and frequent tremors, but no abdominal
tenderness or vomiting.  He died on the twelfth day.  The
mucous membrane of the stomach and duodenum was found
to be  much  thickened, of an  intensely  red  punctiform
appearance, and be smeared with a viscid adherent mucus.
The kidneys and  bladder were healthy ; the latter contain-
ing a good deal  of urine.   The  heart was soft, flaccid and
atrophied.*
   Even besides these, there  are many other  instances in
which the patient escapes the immediate danger, but is still
liable to the chronic effects of the metal, such as salivation
and its accompanying consequences.   The constitution often
breaks  down after a time, under their severity.
   {b.) By injection into the anus.   We have reason to believe,
from the  result of experiments on animals, that the effects
of the poison administered  in this way would  be similar to
the  former.  The only case on  record, that I have noticed,
is a complex one, from the  extraordinary combination of
poisons given to destroy life.  As, however, the corrosive
sublimate appears  to have been the immediate  agent of
death, I shall  mention it in this  place:
   Sir Thomas Overbury was  poisoned in the year 1613, in
the  Tower  of London, at  the instigation of the  Earl and
Countess  of Somerset.  The  agents were punished, but the
principals escaped.  From  the  confession of Franklin, the
apothecary, it appears that the  Countess wished to procure
the strongest possible  poisons for Sir Thomas.  He accord-

  • Transactions Medical and Physical Society of Bombay, vol. 1, p. 322. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
571
ingly bought  seven—aqua fortis,  white arsenic, mercury,
powder of diamonds, lapis costitus, great spiders, cantharides.
All these were given at different times.   Sir Thomas never
eat white salt, but there was arsenic  put into it; and Mrs.
Turner,  when two partridges were sent to him, and water
and  onions  were the sauce, put in cantharides instead of
pepper.   Indeed, said Franklin, he  seldom ate  any thing in
which there was not poison.  Richard Weston, while acting
as keeper to Overbury, procured a poison  of  a green  and
yellow  color (rosalgar,) and mixed it with his broth.   He
procured white arsenic and mixed it  with the food ;  and in
addition,  mingled  some  corrosive  sublimate in tarts  and
jellies.   The sublimate was also dissolved in a  clyster,  and
administered to the prisoner.   This  produced, according to
the confession of Weston, sixty stools, together with vomit-
ing.   Sir Thomas died the  next day.*
  Externally.   Applied to a wound or ulcer, or to the skin.
Orfila quotes several  cases, illustrating  the dangerous, and
indeed  fatal effects of  this mode  of application.  I shall
only cite one, from Pibrac : " A strong robust woman, aged
forty-nine years, of a good temperament, having an ulcera-
ted cancer  of the breast,  was  entrusted to the care of an
empiric, who employed upon her his white powder exter-
nally applied;  it was  corrosive sublimate.   The  patient
was  in  great  pain after the application; the  pains of the
cancer greatly increased, and in the space of a few hours
became  intolerable.   A crowd of accidents  occurred  at
once; oppression,  nausea,  vomitings, which extended even
to blood, and convulsive motions the most violent.   In fine,
she  suffered in every part of her body a dreadful torture,
from which  she was not delivered till the next morning by
a horrible death."f
  A solution  of corrosive  sublimate  in alcohol, applied to
the skin, has produced, within a few hours, violent pains of
the  stomach,  accompanied with sickness,  vomiting  and
diarrhoea.   The  debility that follows is of the most alarming
  * Hargrave's  State Trials, vol. 1, pp. 323, 345.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 59. 
572
IRRITANT POISONS.
kind.   In one instance, the stools consisted  of blood and
mucus; and  it is evident that if the use of this noxious
substance had been continued, fatal consequences  would
have ensued.   Salivation seems to be a constant effect from
this mode of application.*
   Appearances on  dissection.  In  the case of  Dr.  Henry,
already quoted, the external appearance of the stomach and
intestines was perfectly natural.   About two ounces of a
thick yellowish ropy fluid were found in the stomach, which
was but moderately distended with air.   On its inner sur-
face, numerous dark red spots, indicating inflammation  of
the villous coat, were  observable; they extended through
the whole length of the  smaller curvature, and occupied the
greater part of the  fundus,  but did not appear in the  lower
portion of the large curvature.  No  abrasion  of the villous
coat was perceptible.   The inner  coat of the  duodenum, as
far as the middle of its length, presented the  same  appear-
ance of inflammation.   The lower part of the  oesophagus,
for about three  inches  above  the cardia,  was  slightly  in-
flamed ; but higher  up, it was of a natural color.   The  heart,
lungs, liver and  spleen were sound.   The gall-bladder was
emptier than usual.  The left kidney was of a  looser texture
than natural, and a  small abscess was discovered in it, filled
with pus.  The bladder  was  empty,  and exceedingly contracted.
   In each of the four cases of Mr. Valentine, he found the
stomach greatly diseased.   Black circular patches,  about
  * Cases of this nature are  related by Dr. Anderson (Edinburgh Medical
and Surgical Journal, vol. 7,  p. 437,) and Mr.  Robertson  (ditto, vol. 8, p.
195;) and by Dr. Cloquet of himself, communicated to Orfila,  (vol. 2, p. 462).
In this latter, vomiting, gripings and tenesmus were induced, barely from
plunging his hands several times in a concentrated solution,  for the purpose
of taking out some anatomical preparations, and  neglecting afterwards to
wash^them.
  Two dreadful cases of suffering and death, by Mr. Ward (London  Medical
Gazette, vol. 3, p. 666,) in brothers, who each rubbed in an ounce of corro-
sive sublimate mixed with hog's lard, on  the lower part of the abdomen.
Sensations of roasting alive followed in each, and one went and laid himself
in a stream of water for relief.  Nausea, pain,  constriction about the fauces,
suppression of urine, discharges of blood from the stomach, and ptyalism
followed.  Both died; and in the  one  who survived  longest, mortification
occurred previous to death.
  Other  fatal cases are mentioned by Dr. Kimball, in Western Journal of
Medical and Physical Science, vol.  4, p. 483 ; by Dr. Senter,  in Transactions
of College of Physicians of Philadelphia, vol. I, p. 247; and in The Chemist,
vol. 5, p. 87, from the Gazette Des Hospitaux. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
573
three inches in diameter, were observed, and from them  an
extensive inflammation  of  the  inner  coat diverged in all
directions.  " In the child which died  first, the texture was
totally destroyed through all the coats, as far as the circular
patch extended; and on washing off the destroyed parts,
only the  peritoneal covering of that part of the  organ was
left.  It cannot be better compared," he observes, " than to
a piece of leather burnt with a red hot coal."  The intestines
were highly inflamed.   The gall-bladder, in every  case,
was greatly distended with  bile ; the  peritoneum generally
inflamed, as were also the mesentery and omentum.  In one
instance,  the  kidneys were inflamed.  In all,  the urinary
bladder was much  contracted ; in  the mother, it was of the size
of a walnut, and in  one of the children,  no larger than  a
marble.
  The mouth, throat and gullet are also frequently inflamed.*
A singular appearance sometimes observed in the former, is
shrivelling of the  tongue,  with great enlargement of  the
papillae at its root.f
  The destruction of the coats of the stomach and intestines,
and  more particularly  the  colon and rectum, which is  so
commonly seen in fatal cases, originates, according to Dr.
Christison, from two causes, corrosion and ulceration.   The
former is described in  Mr. Valentine's cases,  and also  in
Dr. Venables'.   In this last there was a patch on the under
surface of the stomach, as large as two crown pieces, and
of a very dark olive color, besides general erosion of the
villous coat.   If  life is  prolonged, the disorganized matter
sloughs off, leaving an ulcerated  cavity. Ulceration is either
a consequence of inflammation, which of course is an almost
constant morbid  appearance,  or it results from corrosion.
Often large, black,  gangrenous ulcers  are  seen, both in the
stomach and the lower intestines; the  small ones, I believe,
generally escape.  Inflammation  of  the  peritoneum and
kidneys frequently occurs.  Orfila has found that the inter-

  * In one of Ollivier's cases, (the oldest,) the mucous membrane of the oeso-
phagus was easily detached in curling shreds.
  t Christison, p. 387. 
574
IRRITANT POISONS.
nal  membrane  of  the heart is sometimes inflamed,  and
chequered with black spots.  In both of Ollivier's cases,
the  same was seen.   There were ecchymosed patches on
the internal  surface of the left ventricle, beneath its inner
membrane, and  which was pale and whitish.
   Orfila remarks that, in several instances, where the quan-
tity taken has been considerable, he has seen the tissues to
which it has been applied of a slate-gray color;  an appear-
ance which he has  not noticed from any other poison.*
   Of course there are cases, in which  inflammation alone is
observed.
   I  have already, in a previous chapter, noticed the effects
of the  introduction of corrosive  sublimate into the dead
body.   On the rectum, its chemical effects  alone were visi-
ble, and no marks of vital reaction appeared.
   Effect on animals.  Mr. Brodie injected into the stomach
of a rabbit, by means of an elastic gum tube, six grains of
corrosive sublimate,  dissolved in six  drachms  of distilled
water.   No  immediate symptoms followed the injection;
the animal made no expression of pain, but in three minutes
he became insensible, was convulsed, and  in four minutes
and  a  half from the time of the  injection  being made, he
died.  On opening  the thorax, the heart was found to have
entirely ceased  acting, and the blood  in the cavities of the
left  side  was of a  scarlet color.  The stomach  was much
distended; the pyloric and cardiac portions were separated
from each other by a strong muscular  contraction, which
appeared to  have prevented the passage of the  fluid from
the  upper to the  lower  part,  since  the contents of  the
pyloric  portion  were firm and solid,  and in every respect
resembled the usual contents of the stomach, while those of
the cardiac portion consisted of the food of the animal much
diluted with fluid.   In the pyloric  portion, also, the mucous
membrane had its natural appearance ; but in the cardiac
portion, it was of a dark gray color, readily torn and peeled
off, and in some  parts  its texture was completely destroyed,
• Lemons, 3d ed., vol. 3, p. 121 
IRRITANT POISONS.
575
so that  it appeared  like a  pulp,  on removing which, the
muscular and peritoneal parts were exposed.
  A similar experiment, with a scruple of corrosive subli-
mate, on a cat, produced death in twenty-five minutes; and
on dissection, the  texture of the stomach was  found  des-
troyed as in the preceding case ; the mucous coat  tore and
separated from the muscular with great facility, and the
upper part of the duodenum  was similarly altered,  although
not in so marked a manner.
  The same experiments were now performed  on a dead
rabbit and cat, and precisely the same appearances  were found
on  dissection, except that as the  middle contraction  was
wanting, the disorganization was not confined to  the cardiac
portion.
  The conclusion  drawn by Mr. Brodie is  the  following:
" Corrosive sublimate, when taken internally in large quan-
tities, occasions death by acting chemically on the mucous
membrane of the stomach, so as to destroy its texture; the
organs more immediately necessary to life being affected in
consequence  of their sympathy with the stomach."*   He
also denies the idea of the absorption of the poison in these
cases.   This, however,  is believed by many physiologists,
and at all events is far from  being  a settled question.!
  Corrosive sublimate has been considered as nearly  innox-
ious to  horses, and has been given in  doses  of several
drachms  without  producing  any  apparent  effects.   An
instance  is,  however, related by  Dr.  Reeve, where  two
ounces produced death in eight hours; and previous to  this,
there was a copious discharge of urine and faeces.  On dis-
section, no inflammation was observed in the coats  of the
stomach; the intestines, however, were flabby and tender,
and  putridity  had far advanced in them.   The liver  and
kidneys were in a putrid state.J
  In several experiments made by Dr. Bostock  and  others
on dogs, with small doses  of  this mineral, vomiting  and

  • Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p 462.
  t See Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 11, p. 126.
  X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 254. 
576
IRRITANT  POISONS.
purging, with symptoms of violent  pain, ensued ; and after
some hours, they terminated in death.  In one case, on dis-
section,  the peritoneal coat  of the  stomach  was found
inflamed, and the vessels of its internal surface were injected
so  as to present  a  general redness; but there was a very
slight corrugation of the coats, and no erosion.   But  in
another instance, where the dose had been larger, the villous
coat was much corrugated  and inflamed;  and on that part of
it which lines  the small curvature, there was much black-
ness,  which had  the  appearance  of blood extravasated
between  the coats.   On cutting, however, through the vil-
lous coat, there  was  no extravasation.*
  Campbell, Smith, Gaspard and Orfila, have severally ascer-
tained the effects of  corrosive sublimate when applied to the
cellular tissue, or injected at once into a vein.  In the former
case, and even when in a solid state, it causes death in three
or four days.  The symptoms are those of dysentery; and
on  dissection, inflammation,  and sometimes  ulceration  of
the stomach and rectum, are observed.   Some of the expe-
rimenters also found  the lungs and  heart inflamed, and this
was particularly noticed by Gaspard, who injected the poi-
son at once into  the blood.   The mucous membrane of the
intestines was  red, and the lungs, according to the length of
time  that  the  animal survived, showed  black ecchymosed
spots, some inflamed, and  others  either suppurated or gan-
grenous.!
  Tests.  There  is some difference  among chemists, as to
the precise  solubility of corrosive   sublimate.  According
to Thenard,  it is soluble in twenty parts of temperate water,
while  Orfila says  eleven.   It dissolves in thrice its  weight
of boiling water.   These proportions should be remembered,

  * Rutter's Vindication, p. 28.
  f Christison, p. 350.  Dr. Roupell (Illustrations, part 2,) introduced into
the stomach of a dog, a drachm of corrosive sublimate, and tied the oesopha-
gus.   The animal died  in four or five hours, with little outward marks of
pain. On dissection the stomach was highly vascular, and its mucous membrane
of a leaden hue. The duodenum had a mixed appearance, partly red, and
partly of a lead color, and its mucous membrane was thickened.  All the
small intestines were  inflamed, and a thick white mucus thrown upon their
internal coat. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
577
as an unnecessary addition of fluid  may thus be avoided.*
Corrosive sublimate is soluble in alcohol and ether.!
   We  shall  consider its tests in three states—in a  solid
form; in a state of solution;  and when mixed with animal
and vegetable fluids and'solids.

                      In the solid state.
   (a.) Expose a  small quantity of the powder without any
 admixture to heat, in  a coated tube, corrosive sublimate will
 be ascertained by its rising to the top of the tube, lining the
 inner surface in the form of a shining white crust, and from
 its peculiar crystalline form.  This last, if necessary, should
 be examined with the microscope.
   {b.) Add a  solution of  caustic  potash to it, and it will
 become yellow, the peroxide being disengaged.  This yel-
low  color  distinguishes it from calomel,  which is  also
decomposed  by  the  solution of potash, but yields a  black
 protoxide.
   (c.) Caustic ammonia produces a permanent white precipi-
 tate, while it blackens calomel.
   {d.) If corrosive sublimate  be let fall in minute fragments
into a tube  of glass,  the bottom of which contains a little
 pure caustic potash melted by heat, one portion  of the salt
rises in the  form of smoke,  to condense  itself on the sides
 of the  tube ; while another portion sinks down and takes a
 red color.   If the heat be continued for five or six  minutes,
 metallic  mercury in  the form  of globules  is  obtained, ad-
 hering to the sides of the tube, and mixed with the corrosive
 sublimate that is not  decomposed.  If the quantity  be small
 and difficult of detection, dissolve the  remainder of the salt,
 and the globules will be precipitated.
   *_ Dr. John Davy, in a paper read before the Royal Society, June 6, 1832,
 entitled " Some observations on Corrosive Sublimate," states that he found it
 soluble in water at 57 of Fahr. in the proportion of 5.4 per cent.  Alcohol
 at 60°  dissolved half its weight, and ether about one-third its  weight.
 (Philosophical Transactions. Abstract of the papers read from 1808 to 1830,
 vol. 2, p. 173.)                        * *
   t Devergie states,  that if corrosive sublimate, in the form of fine powder,
 be thrown into water, a large portion will float on the surface, and it requires
 considerable agitation of the vessel to induce a  complete precipitation; vol
 2, p. 666.
VOL. II.
37 
  0/8                 IRRITANT POISONS.

    (e.) When corrosive  sublimate is left for some time in a
  solution  of protochloride (muriate) of tin, it becomes gray-
  ish black j  and in no  long time, its place  is  supplied  by
  globules of mercury, the chlorine being entirely abstracted
  by the protochloride, which consequently passes to the state
  of a bichloride.  Calomel is similarly affected.

                       In the fluid state.
    {a.) Reduction. Add to the solution a little  of the proto-
  chloride of tin.  If mercury be present,  a bluish gray or
  grayish black precipitate falls down.  After boiling, allow
  this precipitate  to fall down in a  proper glass tube,  (see
  page  517) and decant off the  superincumbent fluid as far as
  possible.   Afterwards draw off the remaining fluid by the
  pipette, (page 525) pour water over it, and withdraw again,
  after the precipitate has once more  subsided.   The bottom
  of the tube is then cut off with a file, and the moisture which
 remains is  driven off with a  gentle heat.   The powder,
 which is  nothing else than metallic mercury, may often be
 now seen in running globules.   If not sufficiently coalesced
 to determine their nature, they may be scraped together with
 the point of a penknife, or by applying heat to  the tube, a
 ring of minute globules will be formed.   Of the liquid tests,
 Dr. Christison deems the four following as the most satis-
 factory :
   {b.)  Sulphuretted hydrogen, when transmitted in a stream
 through a solution of  corrosive  sublimate,  causes  a dark
 brownish  black  precipitate, the bisulphuret  of mercury.
 Before the blackening  commences, the gas forms a whitish
 or yellowish precipitate.*  The   hydrosulphate (sulphuret)
 of ammonia  may be alternately used, instead  of the sulphu-
 retted  hydrogen.

  * Professor Pfaff, of Kiel, is said to have discovered the presence of corro-
sive sublimate by means of this test, though it was diluted with forty thou-
sand times its bulk of water.  (Annales of Philosophy, vol.5, p. 22)  See
also M.  Rose on the  action of sulphuretted hydrogen gas  on solutions of
mercury, in Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 5, p. 310.  He observes,
that unless sufficient gas be added, the precipitate will be a combination of
sulphuret and undecomposed protochloride of mercury. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
579
  (c.)  Hydriodate of potash causes a beautiful pale scarlet
precipitate,  which rapidly  deepens in  tint.  This is  the
biniodide of mercury.   Care is however necessary in using
this test.   If  applied  in too  large  a quantity, the  pre-
cipitate will dissolve in the excess of the  hydriodate;  if
too little, it will dissolve in the excess of the corrosive sub-
limate.
   {d.)  Protochloride of tin gives a white precipitate which,
when  more of the test is added, gives place  to  a  grayish
black  one.  The reason of this has been already explained.
Metallic mercury  is finally formed.  This is an  extremely
minute test.  Dr. Bostock says,  that  two drops  of the
muriate, added to  a solution which contained 3 oio otn °f its
weight of the sublimate,  caused  an obvious precipitate.
When diluted, so that  the fluid  held only 3«o£o0ofh of its
weight of the salt, two drops  produced an  immediate gray
cloud, but no  precipitate was thrown down.*
   (e.)  Nitrate of  silver causes a heavy  white precipitate,
the chloride  of silver,  which  darkens  on exposure  to
light.
   Other tests have been enumerated by various writers.
   (/.) Lime-water in small quantity precipitates the solution
of an orange yellow color, but if increased, the precipitate
becomes red.   In still  greater quantity, " the precipitate is
transformed into an  oxide at  maximum  of a beautiful
yellow."
   [g.) A solution of saturated carbonate of potash, (salt of
 tartar) produces a deep brick-colored precipitate.  Carbonate
 of soda has the same effect.
   {h.) The caustic  alcoholised  potash, poured  in small
 quantity  on a saturated solution, forms a yellowish red pre-
 cipitate, but  if, on  the contrary, the potash  in  excess be
 poured on it, the precipitate will be  a  beautiful yellow.
 The precipitate, both in this experiment and in experiment
 g, on being dried and exposed to heat in a glass tube, will
 give out  metallic mercury.
* Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 14. 
580                 IRRITANT POISONS.

   If, however, the  solution of corrosive sublimate is very
much diluted, the caustic potash will throw down  a  white
precipitate.*
   {i.) A  solution of  pure ammonia produces  a permanent
white precipitate.  On the  application  of heat it becomes
yellow.   Although this  is  a delicate test, yet it is  not  a
certain one, as ammonia throws down a  white precipitate in
other metallic solutions.
   {k.) The triple prussiate  (ferrocyanate) of potash gives a
white precipitate, which in  a short time becomes  yellow,
and afterwards passes into a clear Prussian blue.  All these
changes  of color are generally produced within  thirty-six
hours.
   {I.) If a perfectly clean plate of copper be plunged  into a
solution of  corrosive  sublimate, and  left  there for  an hour
or two, it will become tarnished, but on rubbing it with a
piece of  paper,  it assumes a  white,  shining  and silvery
appearance, owing to a coating of metallic mercury.!  The
same effect will  be produced if the corrosive  sublimate be
dropped   on it, or if any  of  the  precipitates  obtained  in
experiments f, g, h, i and k, be rubbed over it.   This effect
is now explained as a galvanic action,  and a piece of gold
clasped by a zinc wire and immersed in the sublimate solu.
tion,  was obviously  whitened  in an  hour,  although the
solution in  question  only contained 2^Vofh °f ^s weight of
the salt.
  * The distinct effects produced by lime-water and pure potash, on calomel
and corrosive sublimate, are well shown in an analysis performed by  Messrs.
Tyson and Fisher, at  Baltimore, in May, 1835.  A valuable horse was sup-
posed to be  poisoned, but a grain only of the supposed matter was sent to
them.   They proved first, by sulphuretted hydrogen, by hydriodate of potash,
and by the galvanic circle,  that the substance was mercury.  In order to as-
certain its exact  nature, they placed a portion of the powder in a tube, and
applied heat. The whole was sublimed in a beautiful white powder.  Liquid
potash added to this, gave a black precipitate, and lime-water also a brownish
black one—in both, the black oxide of mercury; and thus proving that the
suspected powder was calomel.  (Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 7,
p.  105.)
  X Vogel, in noticing this  test, observes, that a plate of copper immersed as
above, takes a grayish black color,  and after some time a white powder is de-
posited, consisting of calomel, mixed with some globules of mercury. Still,
on rubbing the copper plate, the shining, silvery appearance will be produced.
But when a plate of copper is plunged in a solution either of proto or deuto-
nitrate of mercury, the mercury is  reduced in a metallic state.  (Journal de
Pharmacie, vol. 22, p.  548.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
581
  (m.) The following  elegant test was  proposed  by  Mr.
Sylvester, and improved by Dr. Paris.   It is an application
of galvanic electricity.   Drop a  small  quantity  of  the sus-
pected solution on a polished plate of gold, and then touch
the gold,  through the  solution,  with the point  of  a small
iron wire or a key.  As soon as the galvanic circuit is com-
pleted, if corrosive  sublimate  be  present,  the  gold  will
become silvery white in consequence of the formation of the
amalgam.*  Instead  of a ring or plate of gold, Dr.  Traill
employs a common card, covered  with copal varnish and on
which, when still wet, a  sheet  of gold  leaf is  laid.   In a
short time the leaf adheres so firmly, that it is not removable
by  moisture, and the  card  thus  prepared will  answer for
numerous experiments.!
  (n.)  Professor Traill of Edinburgh, wraps a gold leaf round
a slip of  zinc,  and immerses it  into the suspected liquid,
slightly acidulated.   The mercury is precipitated,  and scrap-
ing off the gold and the tarnished surface of zinc, he intro-
duces  them into a small tube.  The heat of a spirit-lamp  is
sufficient to produce a ring of brilliant metallic globules.J
  (o.)  A  solution of albumen causes  a white precipitate.
which is  soluble in a  considerable  excess  of the  reagent.
" The precipitate is a  compound of calomel and albumen—
a chloride of albumen and mercury."§

  *  Nicholson's  Journal, No. 154; Paris'  Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2,  p.
269.  In the case of Mary Bateman, in 1809, Mr. Chorley, a surgeon, immersed
a penknife in the solution, and by rubbing it, numerous  globules of mercury
were produced,  and the knife at the same time was blackened.  Here (says
Dr. Paris) the steel knife decomposed the corrosive sublimate, formed chloride
of iron, and the mercury, unable to amalgamate, appeared in globules. (Ibid.,
vol. 2, p. 270.)
  A gold ring, armed with tin-foil, immersed in the suspected solution,  and to
which a drop of muriatic acid is added, has been recommended by Smithson,
and followed by Nicole, to reduce the sublimate.  (North American Medical
and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 468.)  But Orfila has shown the fallacy of this,
in proving that the gold will be whitened by the action of the muriatic acid
on, £ tlJ?   ,ne' wlthout requiring the addition of mercury. (Brande's Jour-
nal, N. S., vol. G, p. 1S3; Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1, p.  559 )
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 50, p. 172.
  X Outlines of Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, p. 47
  4 Th>s is the opinion of Orfila, as will be noticed hereafter, in cases cited
from him.   Chantourelle, however, considers it as'a compound of albumen
and corrosive sublimate;  and the recent experiments of Lassaigne are to the
sameeflect.  This las considers the compound to  consist of two atoms  of
albumen  and one of the b.chloride-the  albumen being in the state which
Chevreulhas called soluble, to distinguish it from coagulated albumen, which 
582
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  The minuteness of the  above tests is  thus illustrated by
Devergie:
Ferrocyanate of potash will detect corrosive sublimate dis-
  solved in 1,500 times its weight of water.
  Lime-water,.........................   4,000 times.
  Potash,.............................  7,000   "
  Subcarbonate of potash,..............  7,000   "
  Hydriodate of potash,................  8,000   "
  Ammonia,...........................  36,000   "
  Hydrosulphate of ammonia,..........*  60,000   "
  Sulphuretted hydrogen,...............60,000   "
  Protochloride of tin,..................  80,000   "
  The pile of Smithson,................  80,000   "*

  The next point of importance  is,  whether any substances
which by possibility may be present in the stomach, or  any
of the human fluids, will change  the nature of the poison,
or will  alter the operation  of the above tests'?  Orfila has
made this the subject of notice.
   Corrosive  sublimate, according to him,  is  decomposed
sooner or later, and converted into the submuriate, by most
vegetable substances, distilled waters, extracts, oils, syrups,
honey and gums.f   Muriatic acid gas is set at liberty,  and
calomel will be precipitated, with a  portion  of the vegetable
matter,  which has undergone some change.   A decoction of
tea throws down  instantly  a yellowish  gray precipitate in
flakes, which becomes pulverulent, and  of a violet color, by
desiccation, while at the same time,  if the water  be much
loaded with sugar, no alteration takes place until after seve-
ral days;  and alcohol produces  no  effect for the  space of
three or four months.

is insoluble in water.  The compound is  soluble in common salt; and the
practical inference hence is, if whites of eggs have been  employed, to give an
emetic very soon thereafter, lest the salt, which is always more or less intro-
duced with food, promote the solution of the compound.   (London and Edin-
burgh Philosophical Magazine, vol.  10, p. 420.  London Medical Gazette, vol.
20, p. 672.)
  * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 670.
  X According to Fabian, the mucilage of quince seed and that of salop, de-
compose corrosive sublimate instantaneously.   (British  and Foreign Medical
Review, vol. 8, p. 361.) 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                  5°3

  The action of albumen  on a solution of corrosive subli-
mate, deserves particular notice.  If a considerable quantity
of the latter is poured on the former, a white flaky precipi-
tate  is  formed,  which, on  being  dried,  is  brittle, semi-
transparent, of a yellowish  color,  and insoluble in water.
On being submitted to heat in a glass tube, the products are
principally charcoal, metallic mercury volatilized  and ad-
hering to the  sides of  the tube, and  muriatic  acid.   Small
quantities of corrosive  sublimate produce milkiness,  and the
 slow deposition of  a precipitate.   Gelatine causes  similar
 change and decomposition as albumen.   Osmazome gives a
 reddish yellow precipitate, and bile a yellow one, inclining
 to red.  A concentrated solution of  corrosive sublimate
 brought in contact with a large quantity of milk, produced
 no visible change ;  but when seven parts of the solution and
 one of milk were united, a white coagulum instantly formed,
 which collected  together,  and over it floated a liquor ex-
 tremely clear.   Ordinary soap mixed with it, in the propor-
 tion of one to six, produced a white precipitate.  Fibrin or
 flesh, on being immersed in  a solution of corrosive sublimate,
 loses its solidity and becomes friable.*
   The experiments of Professor Taddei of Florence,  have
 also shown that gluten possesses the power in a high degree,
 of decomposing corrosive sublimate.   If the salt in  solution
 be mixed with the  gluten of wheat, in the proportion of four
 times  its weight,  the  water will be found no longer to con-
 tain any mercury, while the gluten becomes whitish, brittle,
 hard, and not prone to putrefaction.   The protochloride of
 mercury and gluten is  formed.!
   There is strong reason  to doubt, from the examination of
 subsequent experimenters,  whether the  result of decompo-
 sition is calomel.  Orfila himself, in his third edition, (vol. 3,

   * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, pp.  37 to 46.
   t .In confirmation of this, it may be added, that on the trial  of Michael
 Whiting, for administering corrosive sublimate to his brother-in-law, in dump-
 lings, the housekeeper deposed that she could scarcely make the flour into
 dumplings with milk ;  they  broke  and crumbled into little pieces. And an-
 other witness said that the unboiled dumplings were more like glazier's putty
 than paste, though not greasy.  Dr. Paris confirmed these results by his own
 experiments.  (Paris' Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 265.) 
584
IRRITANT POISONS.
p. 301,) allows as much.  The new substance formed is pro-
bably an oxide of mercury.*

  "In all these compounds thus formed, the powder maybe
boiled in a solution of caustic potash.  The organized matter

is dissolved: a heavy, grayish black powder is formed, which

is the protoxide  of  mercury;"  and this, on the  application

of heat, will form running quicksilver.   " As the potash thus

separates the  mercury in the form of protoxide, it follows that

it existed in the compound in the form of protochloride."]
                     In organic mixtures.

   1.  Dr. Christison's process.  Divide all the soft solids into

small fragments, and boil the mass in distilled water.  Filter

a small portion, and  to this add the protochloride of tin.|

If it causes a pretty deep ash gray or grayish black color, take

the whole of  the remaining  fluid unfiltered,  and  agitate it

for a few minutes with about a fourth part of its volume of

sulphuric ether.   This abstracts the salt from its aqueous

solution.   After being left at rest for a  few  minutes,  the

etherial  solution  rises  to  the  surface,  and  may then be

removed by suction with the pipette.  (See page 525.)§  It

is next to be filtered, if necessary,  evaporated to dryness,

and the residue treated with boiling water.   The fluid thus

obtained, must  be  tested as directed in the examination of

corrosive sublimate, in  the fluid state:  But if the shade

from the protochloride of tin is not deep, omit the above  and

  * Lassaigne asserts,  that albumen unites directly, and forms compounds
which are insoluble in water, unless the albumen be in excess.  He calls these
compounds Albuminates.  (American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 12, p.  170.)
  t Christison, p. 337.
  X Dr.  Bostock  in his " Experiments  to ascertain how far the presence of
albumen and muriatic acid interferes with the action of bichloride of mercury
and protomuriate of tin upon each other," (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 23, p. 65,) has shown that the presence of albumen may dimin-
ish, but not very seriously, the minute powers of the tin; that when coagu-
lated albumen is  combined with the mercury, the addition of tin will still
detect the poison; but not  when the compound has been  dissolved in hot
water.  The protomuriate of tin was added to this fluid, without any effect.
Muriatic acid presented no obstacle, but rather aided the action of the test,
by promoting the coagulation of the albumen.
  § Devergie,  in a recent memoir on the detection of corrosive sublimate,
objects that ether does not take up all the mercury. He tested the remaining
liquid with the  plate of gold and tin, and found marked traces.  (Annales
D'Hygiene, vol. 11, p. 414.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
585
continue treating the mixture with  that  salt as long as any
precipitate or coagulum is formed.  Even if but  a  small
quantity of mercury be  present, it will have a  slate-gray
tint.  Collect this, and wash and drain it on a filter, " from
which it is then to be removed without being dried, and care
should be  taken not to tear away with it  any fibres of the
paper, as these would obstruct the  succeeding operation."
Next boil  the precipitate in a  solution of caustic potash,
until all  the  lumps disappear.  If  the solution be  now left
at rest,  a  heavy grayish black powder will begin to fall
down in a few seconds.  This  is chiefly metallic mercury,
which maybe distinguished by the naked eye or a magnifier.
After a proper time, remove the supernatant fluid, and trans-
fer the powder into a small glass tube, and wash it repeat-
edly, till the washings  do not taste  alkaline. The black
powder  should be allowed to subside for several hours.  It
may then be heated and sublimed as already directed.
   Dr. Christison states, that by  this last process, he  has
 detected a quarter of a grain of corrosive sublimate, mixed
 with two ounces of beef, or with five ounces of new  milk,
 or porter, or tea, made  with  a liberal allowance  of cream
 and  sugar.  He found  the tenth  part  of a  grain in four
 ounces  of the  last mixture, i. e. in  19.200 times its weight.*
   2. Orfila and Lesueur's process.   In the last edition of his
 Lemons, Orfila  abandoning the one  previously advised by
 him, strongly recommends the following:
   Add to the suspected substance when in a state of minute
 division, as much distilled water as will cover it.   Into this
 pass a current of liquid chlorine to excess.  Filter and eva-
 porate,  and  into the liquors  thus concentrated, introduce a
 small pile of gold  and tin.  If the most  minute portion of
 corrosive  sublimate be present, the gold will be whitened.
 He insists much on this, since the  animal or vegetable sub-
 stances present when  saturated  with  chlorine,  will  not
 decompose  the corrosive sublimate-!  If any uncertainty
 exists,  as to the cause of the whiteness, {for the tin may be

   • Christison, p. 339.             t Lemons, 3d ed., vol. 3,  p. 114. 
586                  IRRITANT POISONS.

deposited) enclose the pile in a small glass  tube, and apply
heat, which will volatilize the mercury and make it  appear
on  the surface of the glass.
  3.  Devergie's process.  Treat the suspected mixture with
diluted muriatic  acid till all  the solid  matter is dissolved.
Evaporate  so as to expel most of the acid employed.  Add
water to the rest, and transmit  chlorine to coagulate and
remove the animal matter.   Filter,  boil  and  concentrate.
Then immerse for ten minutes a small plate of pure tin.  If
mercury be present, the  tin will  be  immediately whitened.
Continne  this with successive plates  until the whitening
ceases.  Dry the plates,  scrape  off the tarnished surface,
put the  scrapings  in  a proper tube and heat them  over a
spirit-lamp.  The mercury will be driven off from the amal-
gam and condense  in a ring of globules.*
  4.  Professor Buchner's process.  Evaporate the suspected
mixture to dryness and boil the residue in nitro-muriatic acid
till the decomposition of the organic matter is at an end,
which is  indicated  by  the cessation of the  discharge  of
orange fumes.   Then treat the  solution with sulphuretted
hydrogen gas, which occasions first a white and then a black
precipitate.  This  precipitate is  then  to be collected and
heated in a tube with a little carbonate  of  soda, previously
deprived of its water of crystallization;  upon which globu-
les of metallic mercury are  sublimed.
  There are several other processes that have been  recom-
mended,  to which I refer below, and  will only add that
advised  by Dr. Traill.!  He has found, that by  means  of
the galvanic process, he could obtain not only the amalgam

  *  The above is from Dr. Christison, p. 342, &c. Devergie has subsequently
recommended  a modification of this process.  " A thin plate  of gold and
another of tin, a few lines broad and two or three inches long, being closely
applied to each other by silk threads at the ends, and then twisted  spirally,
this galvanic pile is left for 24 or 36 hours in the solution previously acidula-
ted with muriatic acid ; upon which the gold is found whitened and  mercury
may be obtained in globules by heating the gold in a tube."  This will give
indications of  mercury when the corrosive sublimate forms but an  80.000th
of the water.  (Annales D'Hygiene,  vol.  11, p. 432.   Christison, 3d ed.,
page 347.)
  t  Dr. O'Shaugnessy, Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 120; Dr. Venables, London
Medical Gazette, vol. 23, p. 471; Dr. Traill, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 50, p. 172. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
587
stain, but also metallic globules of mercury, without the
trouble of previously separating  the  animal and vegetable
matter:  " All that is necessary, is, to  slightly acidulate
the suspected liquid, or pulp, with muriatic acid, and this
prepares it for the test.  I use a slip of thin sheet zinc, a
quarter of an inch wide and two  or three inches long; one
end of this is coated with gold leaf, by wetting it between
the lips,  and wrapping it  in the leaf, so as to cover  about
half an inch of its end.  Insert this in the liquid and let it
remain from half an hour to three hours, when  the gold will
be stained with amalgam, if any mercury  were dissolved  in
the liquid.   The  zinc is  to be withdrawn from the liquid,
gently rinsed in distilled water,  and dried on a glass  plate.
The remains of the gold and  the tarnished portion of the
zinc, are to be scraped  off, and introduced into  a  small
tube, in  the usual way ;  the heat of a spirit lamp is then to
be applied, and metallic  globules  of mercury will be sub-
limed. "When there is much mercury present, the zinc, near
 the gold, often becomes brittle, and yields mercury by heat.
 On this  account, I generally break the zinc so charged into
 small pieces, and introduce it into the tube  with the gold
 leaf, and sublime as before."
   The changes to which I have  referred, as induced by the
 action of various  animal and vegetable substances on  corro-
 sive sublimate, should  induce the  analyst to be extremely
 careful in  ascertaining exactly the nature  of  the new com-
pounds,  if any, that are present.  Mialhe, some years since,
 asserted that calomel could be converted into corrosive sub-
 limate, by exhibiting some of the latter with one or other of
 the alkaline  chlorides.   This, again,  has been denied  by
 Lepage  and D'Ollegrio, and at all events is still very doubt-
 ful.*  But, in his last edition, Orfila mentions the following:
 To an individual laboring under gastro-eucephalitis, calo-
 mel in powder was given, to the amount of eight or ten  grains
 daily.   He passed by stool, a notable quantity of  the black

   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 54,  p.  250; London,
 Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, November, 1842. 
588
IRRITANT POISONS.
sulphuret of mercury, produced, doubtless,  by the  disen-
gagement of sulphuretted hydrogen.   He  infers that under
similar  circumstances,  corrosive  sublimate  and the other
salts of mercury would be  even more readily decomposed
than calomel.*
  The rapid progress of medico-legal  analysis is strikingly
seen in the history of the tests of this  salt.   Being soluble
and very liable to be discharged by vomiting, and above all,
being readily decomposed  by many substances,  it  is not
surprising that chemists could not discover it, even under
the most favorable circumstances, in the fluid  contents of the
stomach.  In the  experiments of Dr. Bostock on dogs, the
very tests which proved the presence of corrosive sublimate
in the most  minute quantity, were  unable  to show its pres-
ence in the fluids of the animals which he had previously
poisoned with this very  substance, and they only indicated
the existence of muriatic  acid.f  Drs. Henry and  Roget
examined the fluid  vomited by a female who had poisoned
herself, with all the  tests mentioned in the  chemical work
of the former, but neither in this liquid, nor in that found in
the stomach after death,  were  any traces  of the poison
discoverable.!   " In vain, (says Orfila,) should we seek, in
the general way, for corrosive sublimate  in  the liquids
vomited;  neither are the contents of the stomach more cal-
culated to discover its presence.  The decomposition which
it has  undergone by its union  with other substances, has
rendered it  insoluble.   It is in the solids, in the tissue itself
of our organs, that it must be sought for."  In confirmation
of the latter remark, he mentions a case, in  which he took
a portion  of the  intestines of a cock, and put  it in a solution
of corrosive sublimate for three days.   It was then boiled,
dried in a capsule  of porcelain, and  finally calcined in a
retort.  Globules of mercury were soon seen condensed in
its neck.   The  stomach  of a dead  rabbit,  into  which  a
solution of corrosive sublimate  had  been   injected,  was

  * Le§ons, 3d ed., vol. 3, p. 137.
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 5, p. 16.
  J Ibid. vol. 7, p. 150. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
treated in the same way, with a similar result.  Again, it is
stated by Taddei, that in cases  of corrosion, if the slough be
      ined before it is thrown off, it  will yield mercury by
examn
chemical analysis.*
  It is evident from  these facts, that the solid parts should
be examined in all criminal cases.
  I  will conclude this part of my subject with a brief nar-
rative of a few of these.  And the first that may be noticed
is interesting,  from  involving the  decision of  a curious
question connected  with the action of  mercurial medicines,
viz. whether ptyalism is capable of a complete intermission ? ^
  Jane  Butterfield  was  tried at Croydon, (England)  in
August, 1775, for the murder of Mr.  Scawen.  It appears
that  she had resided  with  him  for  many  years  as  his
mistress.
   Mr.  Scawen had  been salivated with a  quack medicine
from the beginning  till the middle  of April.   After that it
ceased, and his health was decidedly improved.  But in the
 middle of June he  was again attacked with severe saliva-
 tion and  its consequences; sloughs  formed,  and he  died
 some weeks thereafter.
    Against the prisoner it was urged, that the  last sickness
 must have originated from the  administration of corrosive
 sublimate in small  doses,  and that the  previous medicine
 could  not have induced  these  fatal consequences.  Mr.
 Young  and  Dr. Sanders,  witnesses  for the  prosecution,
 deposed that  they had never known  a  salivation to  recur
 after such an interval.
   For  the  prisoner, on  the  other hand,  Mr.  Bromfield,
 surgeon  of St. George's  Hospital, testified that he had

   * Christison, p. 389.  In the case of Mr. Alfred S. Taylor, already refer-
 red to,  no trace of the mercury could be detected in the contents of the
 stomach, nor in the coats of that organ. The  blood, the spleen, the liquor
 pericardii and the serous fluid of the peritoneum  showed no trace of it.  It is,
 however, not stated whether the kidneys or the urine  in  the bladder was
 examined.  Mr. Taylor used the gold and zinc apparatus.
   Professor Kramer, of Milan, asserts that he has detected the salts of
 mercury in the urine.  (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 45, p. 465.)  Dr.
 Glover, that he has found traces of mercury in the blood of a dog poisoned
 by corrosive sublimate.  (Lancet, October 12,1844.) Audouard, in the urine
 and saliva. (Encyclographie des Sciences Medicales, March, 1843.) 
590
IRRITANT POISONS.
repeatedly seen cases in which the salivation had returned,
after every effort had been made to evacuate the mercury
from the system; that in one instance, the interval had been
three months; and  that one  of his patients  was attacked
periodically at intervals  of six months  or a month, for a
whole year.  Mr. Howard, another London hospital surgeon,
confirmed Mr. Bromfield's evidence, by  declaring that he
had frequently experienced the same, and that mercury was
of so subtle a nature that it was not possible for any man to
say for what length of time it might lie dormant before it
reappeared.   He had known fifty instances of persons dis-
charged from the Lock Hospital, perfectly free of salivation,
and upon some sudden change in the constitution, from a
cold or some  other cause, they were as bad again as while
they were under  a  course of mercury.   The prisoner was
acquitted.*
   Dr.  Gordon Smith, in  commenting on this case,  cites
similar ones from  Drs. Mead and Male, and adds the follow-
ing, on  his own  authority:  " Dr.  Hamilton,  professor of
midwifery in the University of Edinburgh, related a case in
his lectures, of a married lady, who  had been under the
necessity of going through a  course  of  mercury,  in conse-
quence of her husband's  imprudence, under the care of the
late Mr. Bennet.   This gentleman, from motives of delicacy,
did  not  inquire  very minutely  into  the particulars, but
according to the  rule of the  day, gave  his patient a sore
mouth.   Four months  afterwards, she miscarried, and sali-
vation again came on.  It was removed  for a week, at the
end of which  it returned, and harrassed her for about a
twelvemonth."!
  These narratives  are not, however, universally  credited.
" Granting the ptyalism to be in every instance really mer-
curial, it would  require  much better evidence than any

  * Gordon Smith on Medical Evidence, p.  234; Dodsley's Annual Register,
1775.                                     J
  X  Forensic Medicine, p. 114. See also his  third edition, appendix, p. 16.
Dr. Graves of Dublin, relates of a lady who had been subject for a length
of time to occasional returns of salivation. (Lancet, N. S., vol. 10, p. 176,
from the Dublin Journal.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
591
practitioner could procure, to determine the fact that mercury
had  not  been given again during the supposed interval."
Doubtless  also, in some  cases, the  salivation has  been
independent of mercury.*
  Michael  Whiting was tried  and  convicted at  Ely  in
England, in 1812, for  administering poison to  his  two
brothers-in-law, minors, and in the event of whose  death he
expected some property.   The corrosive  sublimate  was
added to flour,  from which it  was intended to make dump-
lings ; and it was in preparing these, that the mutual action
of the gluten and salt was  witnessed, which I have  already
quoted.  The  boys found  the  food so disagreeable,  that
they could  not proceed in eating their  dinner, and they
were each taken ill.  On analysis, corrosive sublimate was
detected both  in  the  boiled  and unboiled dumplings, by
chemists at  Cambridge.   The  prisoner,  before  execution,
confessed his guilt.f
   Mr.  Hodgson, a surgeon in  Sunderland, was indicted in
August, 1824,  for administering poison to his wife, with an
intent to murder her.  Dr. Brown had been  attending her
for rheumatism, and had prescribed calomel  and  opium  in
repeated doses, with some  relief to her complaints.  On the
6th  of June she was attacked, immediately after taking the
same medicine, with violent burning in the throat, gullet and
stomach.  She supposed some mistake had been made, but
was  urged  to take  the other dose; and after  doing so, was
still  more  violently affected.   Severe vomiting, with  cold
skin and feeble pulse, ensued;  the pain  also was extreme
down to  the pit of the stomach.   Dr. Brown, on being  sent
for, prescribed an anodyne  draught;  but was astonished, on
tasting the medicine which had been prepared by the pri-
soner, to find  it acrid, like corrosive sublimate.  Becoming
now suspicious, he prescribed  whites of eggs, with immedi-
ate relief.   The  next day  she  had diarrhoea; and on the
  • Christison, p. 372.  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 5. p. 324.
  A number of cases of spontaneous salivation (apparently idiopathic) are
referred to by Dr. Watson in his Lectures on the Practice of Physic.  (Lon-
don Medical Gazette, vol. 28, p. 739.)
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 8, p. 849. 
592
IRRITANT  POISONS.
third, ptyalism ;  but she gradually recovered.   The draught
which Dr. Brown received from the prisoner, was preserved
and analyzed.   Carbonate of potash  produced in it a pale
brick-red precipitate ; ammonia, a brownish white one ; lime-
water,  a yellowish brown one; and  when  acted  on by
galvanism, it amalgamated gold.   On the part of  the priso-
ner, the principal plea was that he had made a mistake, in
taking the wrong substance—having prepared a solution of
corrosive sublimate for a patient.   He was acquitted.*
  It is of this  trial  that  Dr. Christison remarks,  that a
medical witness  would be justified  in giving an opinion,
from  the  symptoms  alone, that poison  had been taken.
" No natural disease could produce a sense of burning from
the  throat to  the epigastrium, so very sudden and so very
acute."
  Antidotes.   Alkaline  salts  and earths were formerly in
high repute  as  antidotes against corrosive sublimate,  and
cases are to be found in medical journals where they would
seem  to have cured the sufferers.!   They  have also failed,
and  the same remark will apply to the  sulphurets, the infu-
sion of Peruvian bark, and sugar.
  Our earliest aim  must be the removal of as much as pos-
sible,  of the poison, by means of emetics.  Subsequent to
this, and indeed coincident with it, the use of albumen is
highly important,  and  we  owe  its  introduction to Orfila.
Whether the resulting compound be, as I have already inti-
mated, only  a partial conversion of the corrosive  sublimate,
still we have sufficient testimony in  favor of  its  immediate
exhibition.  Our author proved its efficacy in several experi-
ments on animals.  " It has the advantage of being always
at hand, and there is no danger of giving it to excess.  The
practical rule, therefore, is,  that as soon as we are called to

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 438.  I have also
the London Courier of August 21, 1824, in which, the report of the  trial
originally appeared.
  t See a case  in the Edinburgh Medical Essays, vol. 6, p. 432, from the
Commerc. Norimb., 1735, where the Oleum tartar per deliquium, and mild
drinks, appear to have been the principal agents in effecting a cure.  The
salt of tartar and salt of wormwood have each been recommended.   (Medical
Commentaries, vol. 6, pp. 324, 415.) 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
593
 a person suspected of having taken corrosive sublimate, we
 should make him swallow  as  many whites  of eggs, well
 mixed  with water, as  the  stomach can contain.  It will
 immediately decompose the  metallic  salt remaining in the
 stomach; and if it  excite  fresh  vomiting,  so much  the
 better.  Along with this, blood-letting may be had recourse
 to, in order to overcome the inflammation already excited."*
 Mucilaginous drinks are also very useful as accessary reme-
 dies.!
    Several instances of recovery through  its means are on
 record, and  in addition to those cited below, I will only
 mention that of Thenard, the chemist.  While lecturing at
 the Polytechnic School in February, 1825, he  swallowed by
 mistake a glass  of the  concentrated  solution of corrosive
 sublimate.  In five minutes, whites of eggs were  obtained
 and  taken.  He  vomited  repeatedly, (more than twenty
 times,) but never had any pain or other ill consequence,^
    Dr. Taddei, of  Italy, has lately recommended wheat  flour,
 or gluten, as an  antidote.  He was  led to this,  from ascer-
 taining that it reduced  corrosive sublimate  to the state of
 calomel,  and that considerable  quantities of a mixture  of
 flour  or gluten with corrosive sublimate might be taken by
 animals without  any injurious effects.   In this way, fourteen
 grains  of  corrosive  sublimate  were given,  in less  than
 twelve hours,  to  rabbits  and  poultry, without  injury;
 whereas a single  grain would have been fatal if taken alone.
 Twenty-five  grains of fresh, or thirteen of dry  gluten, or
 from five to  six hundred grains of wheaten flour, are neces-

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 11, p. 132.  Dr. Peschier,
 of Geneva, has ascertained that  it  requires an ounce of whites of eggs, to
 neutralize four grains of corrosive  sublimate,  taken as a poison.  (London
 Med. Repository, vol. 6, p. 167.)
  t A case in which the whites of eggs were given with perfect success, is
 related  by Dr. Lendrick, in the Transactions of the College of Physicians
 of Dublin.  (London Medical Repository, vol. 15, p. 495.)  See  also other
 cases in ibid. vol. 13, p. 480; Dr. Johnson, in New York Journal of Medicine
 and Surgery, vol. 2, p. 210; Mr. Vautier, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
 Journal, vol. 50, p. 205.  It has, however, failed in several instances, to
Bave life.
  X  London Medical Repository, vol. 23, p. 435.
  vol. ii.                    38 
594
IRRITANT POISONS.
sary to render a grain of corrosive sublimate innocent; and
Dr. Taddei recommends that  dried  gluten be kept for the
purpose in question in apothecaries' shops.   When adminis-
tered, it is only necessary to mix it with a little water.*
  Dr. Duncan objects to the preparation of gluten as recom-
mended by Dr. Taddei, as troublesome and tedious ; and ob-
serves, that giving wheat flour, diffused through water, will
prove equally efficacious.!
  When neither albumen nor flour is at hand, milk is a con-
venient antidote of the same kind.
  In  experiments on animals, Mylne Edwards and Dumas
found that iron filings would decompose corrosive sublimate.J
Meconic acid  also will decompose it; but this is hardly to
be recommended for the human subject.§
  In  addition to the above, I may mention several other sub-
stances that  have been proposed as  antidotes ;  but I doubt
whether they have met with general  acceptance.
  Dr. Buckler, of Baltimore, has recommended the adminis-
tration of gold dust or leaf and iron filings, in a very divided
state, with a little gum, as a galvanic antidote.   The result
on some animals was favorable.||  Mialhe has proposed the
hydrated protosulphuret of iron, and Orfila  has certified to
its chemical value; but  the danger is  in delay.  White of
eggs are always at  hand.II  Lastly, Poumet proposes the
protochloride of tin as an  antidote, from its power to reduce
a solution of corrosive sublimate in water, almost instantly,
to a metallic state, whilst itself passes to a deutochloride.
In several experiments on dogs, the result was successful.**
  * Taddei, Recherches.  Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 3, p. 406.
  f  Duncan's Supplement, p. 140.
  X Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 9, p. 612.
  § Cannot physicians unite  in abandoning  the terms protochloride and
deutochloride of mercury, protomuriate  and deutomuriate of mercury, and
return to the old-fashioned and  distinctive ones of corrosive sublimate and
calomel ? How  many lives have been lost by mistake in this way! Three
children were thus poisoned at Paris in 1834.   (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 13,
p. 225.)
  ||  American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 11, p. 331.  See, however, Lancet,
 N. S., vol. 29, pp. 418, 644, and Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 1, p. 305.
  IF Encyclographie  Des  Sciences Medicales, July,  1843.   Bulletin  de
 L'Academie Royal De Medecine, October 15, 1842.  See Bouchardat, in
American Journal of Medical Sciences, N. S., vol. 6, p. 501.
  **  Comptes Rendus, vol. 20, p. 623. 
IRRITANT POISONS.                 595
   The red precipitate and the red oxide of mercury.  These
 substances,  in  considerable quantities, are violent poisons.
 Ploucquet mentions a case of an individual who, by accident,
 swallowed some  red precipitate.  He immediately  expe-
 rienced violent  colics, copious vomitings, a trembling in all
 his limbs, and cold sweats.
   There is a case recorded, of poisoning by red precipitate.
 It occurred at Guy's Hospital, in 1833.  The symptoms were
 cold surface,  stupor,  small and feeble pulse, eructation and
 frothy discharge from the mouth, with occasional vomiting
 of a red powder.   There was no pain or  pressure.
   The stomach-pump was freely used,  and afterwards flour
 and water and  the whites of eggs  were  given.   By these
 remedies, the patient recovered ; but salivation ensued, and
 there was some pain in urinating.  The vomited matter was
 treated with dilute muriatic acid, and yielded  metallic mer-
 cury.*
   The red precipitate is readily ascertained by the applica-
 tion of heat to  a little in a glass tube.  Metallic globules are
 sublimed, and oxygen gas is  disengaged.
   Nitrate of mercury.  There is  also one fatal case of  poi-
 soning by this,  given by Dr. Bigsley:  An escharotic liquid
 used for the cure of " foot-halt"  in  sheep, is  made by  dis-
 solving  seven parts of mercury in eight of nitric acid.  Of
 this, a lad aged sixteen, at Newark upon Trent, took  a  tea-
 spoonful, for the purpose of committing suicide.  Vomiting
 and great pain  soon followed.  The throat and mouth were
 very sore, and  he retched violently,  and the pulse laboring
 and indistinct.  Diarrhoea  succeeded.
   The stomach-pump was used,  and chalk given; but the
 pain continued from the  mouth downward, and vomiting and
 purging recurred at intervals until his death, in three hours

  * Mr. Brett, in London Medical Gazette, vol. 13, p. 117.   In another in-
 stance related by Mr. Alison, the female swallowed about thirty-five grains.
 An emetic of sulphate of zinc and ipecac, was immediately given,  which
 caused instant vomiting.  The stomach-pump was then employed.  There
 remained for some time, a burning pain, which was relieved by bleeding, and
she gradually recovered.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 19, p. 401 
596                 IRRITANT POISONS.

after taking the poison.   His mind was unimpaired to the
last.
  On  dissection,  marks of inflammation were  seen in the
mouth, pharynx and stomach.  The mucous coat of each was
of  a deep rose red,  with some eschars ; but no perforation.
The duodenum and  colon were less strongly inflamed.*
   Cinnabar, or vermilion, (sulphuret of  mercury,) would ap-
pear, from the experiments of Orfila on animals, to be innox-
ious, when well washed.!
   According to the  experiments of Barthez, the deutobromide
 of mercury is  an active irritant poison.  It produces high
inflammation of the intestinal canal,  and in  some  instances
 ulcers.   When the experiment permitted, most of it was
 rejected by vomiting.J
    Cyanuret of mercury.   Kapeler mentions  a case  where
 twenty-three  grains produced all the symptoms of poisoning
 with  corrosive sublimate, and  death ensued in nine days.
 Among the most  striking effects,  were  continued vomiting,
 salivation, with ulceration of the  mouth, frequent diarrhoea,
 complete  suppression  of  urine, demi-erection of the penis,
 and ecchymosis of  it and the scrotum.   Convulsive motions
 were present  before  the fatal termination.   On dissection,
 the mucous  membrane of the  stomach and  intestines was
 found highly inflamed,  and the kidneys were swollen.
    In the experiments made by Ollivier  D'Angers, with this
 substance, the symptoms and the  appearances on dissection
 were similar to those described  above.   Violent vomitings

    * London Medical Gazette, vol. 7, p. 329. In  a case where a saturated
 solution of nitrate of mercury was by mistake rubbed into the hip and tiugn,
 suppression of urine for five days followed.  Profuse ptyalism came on the
 third day, and the parts sloughed superficially.  The patient, however, re-
 covered   It is remarkable that no comatose symptoms ensued from the long-
 continued suppression.  (Case by Professor Syme, Edinburgh  Medical and
 Surgical Journal, vol. 44, p. 26.)                            ir,AnPIA
    The external application of acid nitrate in  several cases of itch, inaucea
 Bymptoms  of poisoning with salivation.  (Ollivier D'Angers in  Annales
 D'f «SA patient,  in *the surgical ward of the  Louisville Hospital,  laboring
 under a venereal ulcer of the palate, was directed to use mercurial fumiga-
 tions  which he did in the manner and to the degree usually practised in the
 ward  but it proved fatal to him in less than half an hour."  (Western Jour-
 nal of Medicine and Surgery, No. 1, July, 1840, p. 84.)
    X North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. zvd. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
597
occurred,  accompanied with convulsions.  It always acted
more promptly when injected into the cellular tissue, than
when it was swallowed.  Tiedemann  and Gmelin detected
its presence in the  blood of  the splenic and mesariac veins
of dogs and horses killed by  it.
   The nature of this poison may be ascertained, if in a solid
state, by its  quadrangular obliquely  terminal crystals, its
styptic taste and its  decomposition  by  heat,  giving out
cyanogen which may be burned at the end of a  small tube.
If it  be fluid, add distilled water, and test with nitrate of
silver,  which  will  give  a white precipitate (cyanuret of
silver) insoluble  in  water and nitric  acid, and  soluble in
ammonia, and  with sulphuretted  hydrogen gas, which  will
produce a black sulphuret of mercury.*
   The iodides of mercury  are considered poisonous, but we
have no instances of their effects.
   Turpeth Mineral.  (Subsulphate of the pexoxide of mer-
cury.)   A  boy aged sixteen, swallowed a drachm  of  this
and it  soon caused a  burning sensation in the  mouth and
 throat, vomiting, which was frequently repeated, a general
 sinking, cramps and violent vomiting and purging.  These
 were followed  with great irritability of the stomach, saliva-
 tion, ulceration of the gums and extreme debility, and death
ensued at the end of a week, without convulsions, nor had
his brain ever been affected.  The oesophagus  was much
inflamed, the stomach covered in various places with petechial
spots and the intestines were of a red color, contracted and
empty.!
   It  is  not necessary  to notice  the other preparations of
mercury in detail,  since  their effects, in large quantities,
and their modes  of detection, are similar  to  those already
mentioned.!  And I will only allude to the numerous cases
  * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 707.  There is another fatal case of poisoning by the
cyanuret given by Thibert in his Anatomie Pathologique.  The person took
ten grains at once in the form of pills. The tongue and cheeks swelled  to an
enormous size; he could not speak or swallow, but there was no salivation;
the urine was suppressed and there was constant and not to be suppressed
vomiting.  He died in  seven days.
  t London Medical Gazette, vol. 39, p. 374.
  X Only let it be remembered that all and each one of the preparations of
mercury may prove poisonous.  At a late coroner's inquest in London, an 
 598                 IRRITANT POISONS.

 which of late years have been described under the names of
 hydrargyria, mercurial erithrismus, &c, as proving that the
 mildest preparations of mercury may, under certain  circum-
 stances, and in peculiar conditions, prove  highly dangerous,
 and even fatal.
   Mercurial vapors, and mercury in a state of extreme division.
 Mercurial vapors are  undoubtedly to be deemed poisonous.
 Many cases are  on  record, which  proves  that workmen
 employed in mercurial  mines, gilders, silverers of looking-
 glasses, &c.  are subject to serious accidents from their
 callings.  This,  however, is a point  which I shall notice at
 length  in another place, when treating of the diseases inci-
 dent to particular trades  and professions.
   The usual consequences of a long  exposure to them, are,
 "trembling  and paralysis  of  the limbs,  vertigo, loss of
 memory and of the other intellectual faculties, salivation and
 ulceration of the  mouth; colic, asthma, hsemoptisis, atrophy,
 apoplexy and death."
   The following is a remarkable  illustration of the effects
 of mercury, in a volatalized  state, on the  human  system.
 A  large quantity  of quicksilver (about  thirty tons) was
 saved from the wreck of a Spanish ship about Cadizs by the
 Triumph man-of-war and the Phipps schooner, both English
 vessels.  It was  placed  in their spirit-rooms.  An alarming
 illness soon broke out among the  crews, all of whom were
 more  or less  salivated.   The surgeons, pursers and three
 petty  officers who  were nearest  the place  where  it was
 stowed, felt its effects the most,  as their heads and tongues
 were  swelled to the  most  alarming degree.   Every rat,
mouse and cockroach on board the Phipps were destroyed.
And it was noticed, that  those who slept close to where the
individual aged forty years, was ascertained to have taken on the 9th of
August, six grains of blue pill  and three of calomel, which produced a mer-
curial fever, under which he sank and died on the 26th of September.
  That so small a dose should produce so violent an effect, though extraordi-
nary, is not unparalleled.  Christison says,  " Fifteen grains of blue pill, ta-
ken in three doses, one every night, have excited fatal salivation. Nay, two
grains of calomel have caused ptyalism, extensive ulceration, exfoliation of
the lower jaw, and death." (London  Medical Gazette, vol. 33, p. 25.)' I have
no doubt that much of the calomel in common use, contains a notable propor-
tion of corrosive sublimate. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                  599

quicksilver had flowed in consequence of escaping from the
bags, suffered slightly in comparison  to  those who  slept
over the bags.  Every thing metallic was whitened.
  The explanation of this distressing event is not difficult.
The quicksilver had  lain for some time in salt-water, and
when on board, the leather bags containing it rotted.  Add
to these, the effects of gases generated on board ships, and
we have sufficient agents at hand  to cause the rise, suspen-
sion and  oxidation  of the metal.   Dr.  George  Pearson
suggested  that sulphuretted hydrogen was  probably the
principal cause.*
  When the  effect of heat is added, the results are of the
most marked  kind.  A conflagration broke out in the quick-
silver mines of Idria in 1803, which resisted every effort for
five weeks.   As a last resource,  the mine was laid under
water.   This succeeded, but it required  two years to pre-
pare an apparatus  to pump out the water.  " Even when
the galleries had been cleared of the water, it was impossible
to  work in them, partly from  the heat they  still retained,
but still more from the fumes of sublimated mercury, which
produced  in  the miners,  a violent  salivation accompanied
with convulsions and trembling of the limbs.  To produce
an almost  inhuman zeal, high wages were offered to such as
would venture into places  reckoned the most dangerous, to
explore  the consequences  of the  disaster, and  collect the
quicksilver which had been deposited in large quantities in
the galleries.  Many purchased  this additional  pittance
with  their lives;  and  altogether the  atmosphere  which
continued  for months to infest the  mine, was so baneful that
it was  difficult to muster a sufficient number  of healthy
men for ordinary occupations."!
  * Philosophical Transactions for 1823. Dr. Burnett, who gives this account
ascribes it to  the mercurial vapors.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Jour-
nal, vol. 6, p. 513.) A correspondent of the Philadelphia National Gazette,
newspaper, of March 25, 1821, says that he  was a witness of this occurrence,
and that the sailors, imagining it  to be silver, concealed it in their pocket
handkerchiefs and every where around their persons.  The ship was so con-
taminated with it, that she was finally condemned as unfit  for service.
  t  Edinburgh Journal of Science, vol. 6, p.  212,  from Russel's Tour in
Germany.  Dr. Bright  relates the fatal effects of extracting mercury by
pressure, out of the bags in which it is imported.  (Medico-Chirurgical Re-
view, vol. 20,  p. 53.) 
600
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Whether metallic mercury should be deemed a poison, is
another question concerning which  there is much diversity
of opinion.  We know that it has often  been exhibited in
large doses with salutary effects, and  indeed in the days of
Dr.  Dover, two  or three  drachms  of it  were  a common
morning draught, as a preservative against gout and gravel.
I apprehend that the proper distinction to be taken respect-
ing it is, that wThen it can be so acted  on, as to be oxidated,
even in the smallest degree, (as for example, mixed with fat
or oil, or even by friction alone,) it  may prove deleterious.
Mr.  Faraday has also contributed a valuable fact in illustra-
tion of this subject.   He put  some  mercury in a clean dry
bottle of about six ounces, which formed  a stratum  at the
bottom, not one-eighth of an inch  in thickness.  A small
piece of leaf-gold was  fastened  on the  under part of the
stopper to the bottle, so that when the stopper was put into
its place,  the leaf-gold was inclosed  in the bottle.  It was
then set aside in a safe place, and  after some time, the leaf-
gold was  found, on examination,  whitened  by the mercury.
He  repeated   this  experiment several  times  with similar
results, and he deduces from it the conclusion, that at com-
mon temperatures, mercury is surrounded by an atmosphere of
the same substance*
  * Brande's Journal, vol. 10, p. 354.  This deduction will probably explain
the following remarks of Dr.  Falconer, of Bath : " Instances (he observes,)
of all  the ill effects even of  the external application of mercury, are some-
times found in the use of what are called quicksilver girdles, which are often
worn for the itch, especially by females of the lower rank as being cleanlier
and more free from foetor than  a sulphureous application.  Many of these
cases have been admitted into the Bath Hospital.  The general symptoms
were a degree of general weakness  approaching to palsy; great  pain and
tremor in the limbs, and often violent headache."  (Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 8, p. 214,  quoted from the Transactions of the Medi-
cal Society of London.)
  Dr. John Davy has given the following parallel to the narrative of Fara-
day :  In a press, from which  light was excluded, and within which there was
very little circulation of air, a pneumatic mercurial trough was kept, holding
about thirty pounds of quicksilver,  and also a bottle of iodine, closed, but
not carefully, with a glass stopper.   The trough  stood on an under shelf, the
bottle on an  upper one, one  over the other, about  two feet apart.  After
about two months  that they had remained undisturbed, at a temperature
ranging between 50° and 55°, having occasion to use the iodine, my attention
was arrested by an efflorescence, as it were, of a brilliant red color, consist-
ing of minute crystals deposited on the upper rim of the  neck of the bottle,
not on its under, and on the stopple  above,  most abundant on the rim close
to the stopper, gradually diminishing towards its top. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
601
                       Antimony.

  A great prejudice formerly existed against the use of me-
tallic preparations, with the exception of iron, and this was
carried to such a height as to the compounds of antimony,
that the faculty of Paris (among whom Guy Patin was the
most conspicuous,) obtained an edict of the parliament of
Paris, prohibiting their use as a medicine.   Nor was it until
one of their sovereigns had been cured  by the use of anti-
mony, that they (in 1666,)  demanded a sentence permitting
its use.*  It is to be feared, however, that the various pre-
parations are often rashly and  improperly employed  at the
present day.
  Tartar emetic.  This  substance  in  large  doses must
undoubtedly be deemed a  poison.  It is, however, far from
being  as certainly  destructive as arsenic or corrosive subli-
mate.
  The  narrative of a few cases will  properly precede the
list of general symptoms.
  A  Jew, by  mistake, took about twenty grains of tartar
emetic in the morning,  fasting.  In  a  few moments after
swallowing it, he experienced pain in the region of the sto-
mach, which increased, and even brought on syncope.  After
this,  excessive vomitings  of bilious  matter came  on with
alarming rapidity ; aqueous stools occurred incessantly ;  the
pulse was small and concentrated;  the face pale ; there was
great prostration of strength,  and  the patient  complained
greatly of extremely painful cramps  in  the legs.  By the
use of proper remedies, the symptoms subsided after an ill-
ness of about  six hours, and debility and  painful digestion
alone remained.!
  The red crystalline matter examined, was found to be biniodide of mercury,
and as such, it is, of course, a proof that the metal is capable of passing into
a state of vapor at a comparatively low temperature.  I did not attempt to
determine the quantity  of the iodide formed;  from its appearance, it may be
conjectured to have been at  least one-tenth  of a grain. (Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal, July, 1845.)
  * Philosophical Transactions, vol. 2, p. 710.  See also Note to Abridgement,
vol. 1, p. 5'llj.
  t Case by Dr. Barbier of Amiens, from Magendie.  Orfila's Toxicology,
vol. 1, p. 174. 
602
IRRITANT POISONS.
  A man, aged about fifty years, determined to poison him-
self, and for this  purpose took about forty grains of tartar
emetic on  a Sunday morning.  Vomiting, frequent  stools,
and convulsions soon succeeded.  He was received into the
Hotel Dieu on Sunday evening.  On Monday morning he
complained of violent pains in the epigastrium, which was
distended.  He could  with difficulty move his tongue;  he
was, in fact, in such a state that  he might be taken for a
drunken man—he just  spoke, and his pulse was impercepti-
ble.   During  the day, his  abdomen became  inflated, the
epigastrium was considerably  tumefied, and became more
painful; in the afternoon delirium came on.  On Thursday,
all the symptoms increased ; in the evening there was furi-
ous delirium; convulsions supervened, and he died at night.*
  The following is a remarkable case :   An individual had
collected about twenty-five grains  of tartar emetic for the
purpose  of poisoning himself.   He went  into a coffee-house
and asked for a glass of sugared water, and having dissolved
the mineral in this, he drank  it down.  After leaving the
coffee-house, which he did  instantly, he had  scarcely pro-
ceeded twenty steps, before he felt  a  burning pain  in the
epigastric region, accompanied by convulsive movements and
a loss of his senses.  He  was carried in this situation to the
Hotel  Dieu, ten minutes  after the accident.   On coming a
little to himself, he confessed his crime,  and a decoction of
bark  wras  immediately administered in  large  quantities.
The skin was cold  and  clammy, the breathing a little short,
the pulse  small  and concentrated, the epigastric  region a
little tumefied  and very painful, hiccup tolerably frequent,
but no vomiting.   The symptoms  gradually diminished in
violence after taking the bark, and  in two hours copious
stools  occurred and continued for several hours.  On the
next day he vomited several times,  and  gastric symptoms
were  present for a week, but were removed  by the usual
remedies.!
  * Case by Dr. Recamier, from Magendie. Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 177.
  t Case by Dr. Serres, from  Magendie. Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 175.
Additional cases will be found in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Jour-
nal, vol. 19, p. 394. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
603
  From  these and  other instances, the following list of

symptoms may be deduced:  a rough metallic taste, nausea,

copious vomitings, frequent hiccup,  cardialgia, burning heat

in  the epigastric  region, pains  of the  stomach, abdominal

colic, inflation, copious stools, syncope, small, concentrated

and accelerated pulse, cold  skin,  but  sometimes intense

heat, difficult-breathing, vertigo, loss of sense,  convulsive

motions, very painful cramps in the  legs,  prostration  of

strength, and death.    Sometimes  to  these   symptoms, is

joined a  great difficulty of swallowing, and deglutition may

be  suspended for some time.*   The vomitings and alvine

excretions do not  always take  place, and the consequence

of  this is  an increase  in the violence  of the other symp-

toms.!

   There can be  no doubt, from  the marked local  effects of

the tartar emetic ointment, that  its external application in

large quantities must produce injurious consequences.!

  By Dr. Duffin ; his own case from taking 20 grains through mistake.
  Edinburgh Medical Essays, vol. 4, p. 35.  By Mr. Stedman.
  New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol.  8, p. 302.  By Dr. Charles
 Lee.  A child a few weeks old swallowed fifteen grains in solution; vomiting
 and purging ensued, followed by convulsions and death.
   Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 3, p. 592.  By Dr. Usher Parsons.
 Three of the ward-room servants, on board the U. S. squadron on Lake Erie,
 in  1813, in meddling with the medicine  chest, took by mistake for  cremor
 tartar, upwards of 40 grains of tartar emetic in solution.  They were seized
 with vomiting and purging, weak, contracted pulse, and cold clammy sweats.
 All, however, recovered after a few days by the use of proper remedies.
  * Fodere quotes a case by Dr. Carron, where there was a suspension of
 deglutition for two days, vol. 4, p. 156.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 178. Male mentions the case of a child who
had taken a large dose, and in whom no vomiting occurred. He lay in a state
of insensibility, the extremities were cold, the pulse languid and almost im-
perceptible, but  by taking some strong brandy and water, these effects were
removed and violent vomitings succeeded, and the patient recovered, p. 166.
See also Journal of Foreign Medical Science, vol. 1, p. 640.
  X The immunity experienced from large doses of tartar emetic, when given
for inflammation of the lungs, and which  practice had its  origin in Italy, is
now explained on the idea of a peculiar condition of the system that accom-
  Eanies the disease. Twenty grains have thus been given every four or five
  ours, to  the amount of five scruples, without causing either vomiting or
diarrhoea.  With the return of health,  however, the exemption from the
ordinary effects ceases.
  In the autumnal fevers of our own country, and particularly those of the
 western States, I have no  doubt that a large majority of fatal cases have
been owing to the too free use of tartar emetic. Such is the testimony of Dr.
Drake and other physicians  in that section of  the Union.  Cramp in the
stomach is almost the earliest result,  and if this be recovered from, inflam-
mation (actual gastritis,) often  supervenes.  Certainly the use of ipecacu-
anha is far preferable in these cases.  (Western Medical and Physical Jour-
nal, vol. l,p. 2'Jl.)                                      J 
604
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Appearances on dissection.  The mucous membrane of the
stomach  is usually red, inflamed and covered with mucus.
The duodenum is in a similar state, and occasionally the
other small  intestines.  The lungs are often found  more or
less inflamed, and in some instances the brain is so also, and
contains  serous fluid.  In a general way we may state, that
the lungs, and the mucous membrane of the digestive canal,
are the organs principally affected by this poison.*
  In  Dr. Lee's case, the mucous coat of  the stomach was
red and  softened, and the duodenum of a deep red color.
The brain and  the right side of the heart were distended
with blood.
  Effect on animals.  Magendie  and Brodie  have each in-
vestigated the effects of this salt on animals.
  The former ascertained that whenever the oesophagus was
tied up in dogs, so as  to  prevent  vomiting, four,  six, or
eight grains produced death at the end of two or  three
hours ; while those who were able to get rid of it by vomit-
ing, often took a drachm, without experiencing any material
bad effect.   Large doses, (as half an ounce) however, gene-
rally caused death in a few hours, or a few days, although
instances did happen, where no accident followed from their
exhibition.
  When  a solution of tartar emetic of six or eight grains to
three ounces of water, was injected into the  veins of  a full
grown dog, vomiting  and  purging  ensued,  the breathing
became difficult, the pulse frequent and  intermitting, and
great disquietude and trembling of the limbs preceded death.
On dissection,  "the lungs were  observed of an  orange or
violet color, and distended with blood, while  the  mucous
membrane of the intestinal  canal, from the cardia to the
rectum was red and inflamed.  A large quantity, injected in
a similar manner, produced an earlier death, and the inflam-
mation was confined to the lungs; but a weaker  solution
took a longer  period to develope itself, and  the lungs and
intestines were equally affected.!
  '  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 177.
  f  Magendie, pp. 24, 36, 37. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
605
   It thus appears, that as a general rule, its first effect is
 almost always vomiting, in those animals who are capable
 of this function, and the poison is thus thrown off in many
 cases before it  has had  time  to produce fatal  conse-
 quences.
   The results obtained by Mr. Brodie were similar in many
 respects.  When applied to a wound  in animals capable of
 vomiting, it  usually, but  not constantly, operated as an
 emetic.   Paralysis, drowsiness, and at last complete insen-
 sibility, were among the  symptoms that preceded  death.
 The stomach sometimes bore the marks of inflammation, but
 he never saw any appearance of it in the intestines.   These
 experiments  were  performed on rabbits,  and the same
 symptoms were  present,  whether the tartar emetic was
 injected  into the stomach or applied to a wound.  The
 deduction drawn by  Mr. Brodie  from these  results is, that
 this mineral does not produce its  deleterious effects until it
 has passed into the circulation.*
   Tests.   For these  I shall follow Professor Turner, who
 has very carefully and  ably examined them.!  I will, how-
 ever, premise by observing  that  there is considerable dis-
 crepancy among chemists as to  the  solubility  of tartar
 emetic.  Dr. Duncan, junior, is said to have selected very
 pure specimens for this examination, and he  states that one
 part is soluble in three times its weight of water at 212°,
 and in fifteen at 60°.   Probably it may be proper, in ordinary
 cases, to add rather more than these proportions, and par-
 ticularly as much of the salt in use is far from being pure.
  (a.)  Caustic potash precipitates it white, if the solution
 be strong. The first portions of the test have no effect, as
 the tartrate contains an excess of  acid,  which must be neu-
 tralized.  The precipitate thrown down, which is the  oxide
 of antimony, is re-dissolved by an excess of potash.
  {b.) Lime-water gives a white precipitate, but not if the
 solution contains  only half a grain to an ounce.

  t On^-fr,1 ?dlC-al an,d Fhysical Journal> ™l. 28, p. 126.
8-^ *^.^. %£^ * Miied FMds ****** Medical and 
606
IRRITANT POISONS.
  (c.) Subcarbonate of  potash is  more  delicate,  and also
gives a white precipitate.
  {d.) Muriatic and sulphuric acids throw down a white pre-
cipitate, and take it up when added in excess.
  (e.) Infusion of gallnuts gives a dirty yellowish white pre-
cipitate, but is not a minute test.
  (_/*.)  The most minute test, howev.er, is sulphuretted hydro-
gen.  In a solution containing only an eighth of a grain per
ounce, it strikes an orange red color, which, when the excess
of gas is expelled by heat,  becomes an orange red precipi-
tate ; and if the proportion  of salt is greater, the precipitate
is thrown down at once.
  {g.) Hydrosulphuret of ammonia, applied to the solution,
causes a similar precipitate.
  The following  table, showing the power of tests in detect-
ing this metal, is given by Devergie :
                                            Times its weight
  Hydrochloric acid, (no precipitate,)..........    2,500
  Sulpuric acid,            "        ...........    1,000
  Tincture  of nutgalls,     "..........    1,000
  Lime-water,..............................    1,200
  Potash and soda, each,....................    2,000
  Hydro-sulphuret of ammonia,..............4  100,000
  Sulphuretted hydrogen,....................  f00,000*

  The juices of  plants,  the extractive  decoctions of roots
and barks, precipitate the solution of tartar emetic, and pro-
duce a reddish yellow deposit, consisting of oxide of  anti-
mony and a portion of vegetable matter.   According to Dr.
Paris, one ounce  of the decoction of yellow bark is capable
of decomposing  one  scruple of this  salt, and  rendering it
completely inert.
  Tartar emetic poured on  milk, produces no coagulation,
and the mixture gives a clear red precipitate, with the hydro-
sulphuret of ammonia.   Broth and bile  diluted with water,
do not alter the action of agents on the tartar emetic!
* Devergie, vol. 2, p. 770.        t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 166. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
607
  In all cases of  mixed fluids, Dr. Turner advises that the
suspected fluid be acidulated with a little muriatic and tar-
taric acids.   The former will coagulate various animal prin-
ciples  which may be present; and the  latter possesses the
property  of  readily dissolving  all precipitates whatever,
formed by reagents  with tartar emetic,  except that  caused
by sulphuretted  hydrogen.  The fluid so prepared is to be
filtered,  and a sulphuret formed and collected in the usual
way.  This may be placed in a  horizontal tube,  and a con-
tinued stream of hydrogen gas passed through it.*
   When all the  oxygen of the atmosphere is expelled from
the apparatus, heat  maybe applied with a spirit-lamp to the
 sulphuret.  The result is, that sulphuretted hydrogen  is
 evolved, and  metallic antimony is left, if the current  of
 hydrogen is gentle, or it is sublimed if the current is rapid.
 This mode of proceeding  was  sufficient to detect the metal
 from only a tenth part of a grain of the sulphuret.   If any
 doubt remain,  dissolve the  contents  of the tube in nitric
 acid, and throw down again the orange sulphuret with sul-
 phuretted hydrogen.!
    Antidotes.  Vomiting,  if not already present, should be
  excited by  tickling the  throat  and the administration of
  warm water  in large quantities, and  even if  it has  taken
  place, warm water  is advisable to relieve the symptoms.   If,
 notwithstanding the employment of these means, vomiting
 cannot  be induced, we should exhibit the decoction or tinc-
 ture of bark.   This was  proposed  by Berthollet,  and  its
 value is great,  from the  fact of its decomposing the salt.
  Strong tea, the  decoction of nutgalls, or of astringent roots
  and barks generally, will  answer as substitutes, when  the
  bark cannot be  obtained.
  * This process was adopted from the know fact that hydrogen will separate
Bulphur from antimony at an elevated temperature.   In performing the
experiment, one end of the tube should be connected by means of a cork with
a vessel from which the hydrogen is evolved, and to its other end a bent tube
must be adjusted to open under water, so as to carry away the hydrogen and
at the same time exclude atmospheric air.
  t The tests of Vogel and others, of antimoniuretted hydrogen, may also be
applied, particularly when the antimony is in very small quantity. 
608
IRRITANT POISONS.
   Opium may be employed  in excessive vomitings, and the
 antiphlogistic treatment is  generally necessary  to remove
 the secondary symptoms.
   The oxide and glass  of antimony.   These substances
 are also poisonous, even in small doses.  Hoffman mentions
 fatal cases, produced by the latter, where  the  symptoms
 were similar to those caused by  tartar emetic, and Morgagni
 quotes instances, where men and animals died from its exhi-
 bition.  Inflammation of the stomach was observed on dis-
 section.*
   Both the oxide and the glass being mixed with charcoal
 and  heated in an earthen crucible, furnish metallic antimony.
   The muriate {butter of antimony)  and  submuriate of
 antimony.  These, like the former, are deleterious  substan-
 ces.   Orfila quotes a case  from Borrichius, where  a few
 strong doses of the submuriate  caused violent purging and
 vomiting, a copious  salivation and extreme  debility. For
 some time previous to death, the patient was  cold as ice, his
 pulse was scarcely perceptible, and he breathed with diffi-
 culty. He nevertheless enjoyed all his intellectual faculties.!
   Antimonial wine.  The composition and strength of this
 preparation vary according to the purity of the solvent, and
 as this is liable to alteration, a degree of  insecurity attaches
 to its exhibition.  And  I  have no doubt that children have
 often  been injured by  its  administration without proper
 advice.  I will  only advert to  the cases quoted  by  Orfila
 from  Mangetus  and Fabricius Hildanus,  as  proofs of the
 dangerous and even fatal effects of this substance.  Certainly
 the solution of tartar emetic in water is a far preferable pre-
 scription.
  For each of the above compounds of antimony, the tests
 already advised may be-used.
  Antimonial vapors.  Fourcroy (says Orfila) relates that
 he has seen fifty  persons  who  were  seized with a  great

  * Morgagni, vol. 3, p. 370.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. l,p. 190.  Several other cases are mentioned by
Mr. Taylor, one of which, communicated by Mr. Mann, proved fatal in ten
and a half hours (on Poisons,  p. 494).   See also a case by Mr. Houghton.
(Lancet, Dec. 4,1841.) 
irritant poisons.
609
difficulty  of breathing, tightness of the chest, and  a dry
cough,  gripings  and purging,  ten  or twelve hours  after
having respired the vapors of sulphuret of antimony, which
had been detonated with nitre.  The prolonged  action  of
these might undoubtedly lead to serious evils.
   The injurious effects of the vapors of antimony to work-
men engaged in the manufacture of its various salts, are
detailed by Dr. Lohmeier.*
   Kermes mineral and the  other sulphurets  are doubtless
also poisonous.  M. Bonjean has however  shown by ana-
lysis, in the case of an animal  destroyed  by it, that  it was
not absorbed, nor could it be detected in any of the viscera.
The contents of  the stomach and intestines were  however
found  to  indicate its presence.  He supposes that all the
insoluble  compounds  of  antimony will  act  in  a similar
manner.!

                         Copper.
   The preparations of this metal  are  seldom  used as the
 instruments  of  crime, but they are frequently  poisonous
 through accident; and this is owing  to the circumstance of
 copper being extensively  employed for  domestic utensils.
    I shall notice  first, the nature of metallic  copper, and then
 the action of its  various compounds.
   Metallic copper.  The  weight of testimony is decidedly
 in favor of this not being  poisonous, when perfectly pure.
 Orfila cites several cases from authors, where masses were
 swallowed,  and after some time  voided  by  the natural
 passages, without producing any injury.  Dr. Paris mentions
 an instance where six copper penny pieces were taken with
 a view  of self-destruction,  and no inconvenience was ex-
 perienced, except the effects  of  mechanical  obstruction.
 They were voided after a lapse of five years.J
   • Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 55, p. 265.  The reader will
 find some curious results noticed as to their effects on the sexual organs
   t Lncyclographio  des Sciences Medicales, February, 1844
 in thf-I'h »,P!f rmacol°Sia> P-™-  D/- A- T. Thomson mentions two instances
 \hl >thi  m,f-Pencf? we« swallowed, and remained,  the one six months  and
 hP,Irn ini ,r^   n  'h  nG they WC1'e evacuated-  ^ neither case was the
 health injured.  (London Dispensatory, p. 273.)  Dr. Corbett gives another,
   vol. ii.                   39 
610
IRRITANT POISONS.
   It is not so certain that this substance in a state of minute
division,  as  filings  for  example,  is  equally   innocuous.
Portal relates a case, where they were  given to  an indivi-
dual laboring under  ascites, and while  the disease seemed
to  yield,  colic,  tenesmus and  vomitings  suddenly super-
vened.*   Experiments  on  animals,  however,  with  large
doses of  copper  filings, mixed with grease  or oil,  have
produced  no injury, and on dissection, their metallic bril-
liancy was found untarnished.
   But we  have  always  reason  to dread the effects of this
metal on the human system, from the facility with  which it
oxidates.   Copper exposed  to a moist atmosphere becomes
tarnished,  and  passes into  a state  of  oxide,  which  soon
after unites with the carbonic acid  of the atmosphere, and
forms a greenish carbonate.!  It dissolves in the principal
mineral  acids,  with  the  aid  of  heat.   Milk, however,
although  boiled  for two hours in  a clean kettle, did  not
contain any  trace  of copper,  and the  same  result  was
obtained with tea, coffee, beer,  and  rain-water.  But if the
where a half-penny was retained  three months.  (Lancet,  N.  S., vol. 9,
p. 294.)
  On the other hand, the following  seem to contradict the usual results; but
it is probable that these peculiarities were owing to some previous oxidation
of the metal: " A child aged three years, swallowed two copper farthings by
accident, at an interval of half a year after each other.  After swallowing the
first he eat nothing for ten days, complained of great pain at his stomach, and
drivelled as if he had been salivated.  After the second, he began by degrees
to lose his flesh, and had the appearance of  consumption.  He was, however,
perfectly cured by the  Bath waters."  (Communication by Dr. Edward Bay-
nard, Philosophical Transactions, vol.  20, p. 124.)
  A case is also mentioned by Dr. Jackson  of Boston, where the swallowing
of a half cent produced nausea and  vomiting, with several other symptoms
characteristic of the poison.  (New England Journal, vol.  8, p. 156.)
  In a boy who swallowed a cent, severe vomiting followed, and in two days
profuse salivation, which continued for some time.  He discharged it at the
end of five weeks, perfectly bright, but the soreness of the mouth remained
until that time.  (Case by Dr. Budd, Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 2, p. 178.)
  Dr.  Gloninger relates a similar case, also accompanied with  salivation.
(American Medical Recorder, vol. 6, p.  583;) and also Dr Percival, in his
Essays, vol. 2, p. 221.
  *  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 201.
  X  Some years since,  it was asserted that the  water supplied to the India
ships, touching at St. Helena, contracted  poisonous qualities by being kept for
a long time in tanks of copper.  Although no  trace of the metal could be
found on analyses, still  it is quite possible that the water may become noxious.
The joint influence of air and moisture, we are sure, will  corrode the metal.
By agitation,  this crust will be detached,  and  maybe diffused through the
water; and successive  corrosions may increase  the quantity, particularly on
board of ships. 
IRRITANT poisons.
611
water  contained  muriate  of soda,  it dissolved a  notable
portion  of copper.  These  results  were  obtained  by  Mr.
Eller, a  chemist at Berlin, and he noticed  a remarkable
circumstance in connexion with the  last one.   If, instead of
a simple  solution of muriate of soda, (common salt,) it was
previously mixed with beef, bacon or fish, the fluid resulting
did not contain a trace of copper.*   Fat bodies, assisted by
the  oxidizing principle  of the  atmosphere, also act  with
celerity on copper.
   We must remark, however, that vegetable acids generally
dissolve the metal with difficulty, even although assisted by
heat.  And hence the boiling of sugar or syrups in vessels
of this metal does not  itself produce any noxious compound,
unless it be  left to cool  in them.   In the latter  case, the
boiled substance acquires a bad taste and a green color, and
the copper forms an oxide on its surface.  •
   These facts are sufficient to prove the  necessity  in all
cases, of tinning vessels intended  for the preparation of
 articles of food.   Numberless  causes (says Proust,) unite to
 accelerate the dissolution of the copper, since the juices of
 all viands are fat,  acid and  naturally saline.   It is therefore
 evident, that tinning is  indispensable for kitchen utensils.!
 And  this author has also shown another advantage arising
 from  this precaution.   The usual  alloy applied in tinning
 vessels, consists of equal parts of tin and lead, and the tin
being more oxidizable than the lead, is exclusively dissolved
by any vegetable acid that may be contained  in the viands,

  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 202.  Sir Humphrey Davy, in his investi-
 gations on the preservation of the copper sheathing of ships, makes the fol-
 lowing remark: " Weak solutions of salt act strongly on copper, strong ones,
 as brine, do not effect it; and the reason seems to be, that they contain little
 or no  atmospheric air, the oxygen of which seems necessary to give  the
 electro-positive power to menstrua of that class.  (Annals of Philoshphy, N
 S.,vol. '.», p. 299.)
  t Cleanliness may, however,  ward off any formidable  injury.  "In the
 Orphan House at Halle, from 600 to 900 persons daily eat food dressed in large
 copper kettles; and yet I never  heard  there  of any bad effects from  them.
 Here, however, I must  observe,  that the cleanliness was  quite exemplary ;
 that in the afternoon, we observed with pleasure and admiration, the kitchen
 perfectly clean, and the copper vessels bright."  (Michaelis' Commentaries,
 vol. 3,  p. 338.) 
612
IRRITANT  POISONS.
and thus  prevents the latter  from being attacked.  These
compounds of tin are known to be harmless.*
  Copper and bell-metal mortars are evidently hazardous,
for  similar reasons, in the office of the apothecary.  Not
only will moisture affect them, but also many articles of the
materia   medica, and thus  a dangerous  compound  may
result.!
  Oxide and carbonate of copper.   The carbonate (natural
verdigris) forms spontaneously on the  surface of copper or
brass vessels, pieces of coin, &c, when treated with  ammo-
nia or water, and is of a green  color.   The oxide  is of a
blackish brown color.   Both of them are highly poisonous,
and colic and vomiting are their usual symptoms.
  From the remarks made in the previous section, it will be
readily understood why copper utensils, when not  properly
cleaned, contaminate acid substances boiled in them.   Vine-
gar dissolves the oxide with ease, as  does  also  ammonia.
Eller has proved that wine dissolves copper, doubtless in
consequence of the acetic acid contained in  it, and the oxi-
dation of the metal by the  air ;$ and we can explain in the
same way, the production of the acetate in the cocks of the
vessels from which wine, beer or cider is drawn.  " Drou-
ard was  affected for three days with colic and diarrhcea, in
consequence  of eating a ragout wThich  had been  seasoned
with wine drawn out of a cask, the cock of which contained
acetate of copper, which this liquor  had in part dissolved."
Fat bodies, such as  fixed and essential oils, &c, dissolve the
oxide and carbonate of copper with readiness; and hence

  * Mr. Proust's papers on Tinning, which appeared originally in the An-
nales de Chimie  and Journal de Physique, I have consulted in the Repertory
of Arts, second series, vols. 6 and 9.
  t There is a useful paper on this subject in the Medical Commentaries, vol.
7, p. 311.  The author first shows that bell-metal mortars are liable to abra-
eion, that  thus the particles may be united with medicines ; and next, that
some substances will act chemically on them.
  X Moseley relates, that in 1592, at a meeting of the great senate of Berne,
the wine was put into copper vessels,  and suspended in a well in order to
cool it.  In a few days, the legates and others  who had  drank, were seized
with  violent pain in the abdomen, fever and dysentery, and many died,
(Moseley on Tropical Diseases, p. 331.) 
IRRITANT poisons.
613
  Proust very justly condemns the use of copper measures
  for oil.*
     The tests of these compounds are similar to those of ver-
  digris, which we shall now notice.
     Verdigris.   The compound  substance known under this
  name, is  the  preparation of copper which  most  frequently
  produces deleterious effects.  Orfila has collected numerous
  cases illustrating its action, and I conceive it will be useful
  to state the mode in which the respective individuals were
  poisoned.   In  one instance, a family consisting of nine per-
  sons were affected;  the first of these by a cake made with
  melted butter,  and  skimmed with an instrument of copper,
  upon which the fat body  had been  allowed to cool; five
  from some broth and meat coming out  of a  saucepan,
  skimmed  by the same skimmer;  and the remainder by a
  fricassee of pigeons, prepared in the same pan.   The Jaco-
  bin friars  in  Paris, to the  number of twenty-one,  were
  poisoned in 1781, by eating some ray which had been cooked
  in a copper vessel.  The  cook, after taking out a part of
  the water, had poured vinegar  on the fish to render  them
  more firm, and in this  state they had stood for some time
  away from the  fire.  Some veal placed in an earthen pot, to
  which there was a copper lid, and which laid directly on the
  meat, affected two individuals.  So also eggs prepared with
 sorrel and butter in a copper vessel, which  was  covered
 with verdigris.   Dupuytren mentions a case where a whole
 family was  poisoned from  eating lobsters, which had been
 cooked, and afterwards placed in a copper kettle, with vine-
 gar poured over them.   Even  peas which  remained  for a
 day ,n a copper vessel, have produced all the characteris-
 tic effects of poisoning from copper.f

 ^tSlX^A^S-^^  *n SGVeral -«es in Europe,
 they are tinned.  (Ehm^^^^                           -lis
 vessels have been plated bvthp pWtwS       ' P", U_)  0f late> copper
 that vessels of thifkXd ^Im^V^T' -^ WarrinSton ^serfs
 vinegar, if allowed to remain them for &7? ??'  *S iemon  Juice or
 gical Review, vol. 43, p. 553 )      °r but a short time- (Medico-Chirur-
  t  Medico-Chirurgical Review vol U ko  „  x JP
journal.  For similar cases seT Mcdir i'i^I ' q?ted f™? a French medical
p. 146.  Case by Mr  RmwJ     i°bsfTatl0Ils and Inquiries, vol. 2,
       ase ny 3ir. Ramsay, of a number of men on board the Vestal frigate 
614
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  Verdigris  itself is also sometimes used as the instrument
of suicide.   A lace-worker at Paris put eight sous pieces in a
glass of  strong vinegar, and left them there for seven days.
At 2 P. M.,  having made a good dinner, he drank first one-
half, and in fifteen minutes after, the remainder of the potion.
Not content with  this, he washed the coins in more vinegar,
brandy  and  anise-seed  water, all of which he  swallowed.
Three  hours  afterwards, he  was  found  insensible.   The
muscles   were  violently  convulsed;  the  teeth  set;  the
breathing interrupted;  the pulse small, hard, and very slow;
the pit of the stomach  tender on pressure.  He recovered
his senses in half an hour, and  then told what he had swal-
lowed.   Whites of eggs were   immediately  given in large
quantities.   The  convulsions now ceased  rapidly, but the
hiccup continued  for many hours.  Next day, the abdomen
in 1757, taken suddenly ill, with convulsions and delirium, pain and suffused
eyes.  Also a boy, violently attacked from eating peas that had remained a
day in a copper vessel.
  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 8,  p. 438.   An enumeration of various cases of
food thus becoming poisonous.
  Percival's Essays, vol. 2, p.  221.  A female ate three or four ounces of
pickled samphire.  A rash appeared in the evening, which disappeared on
the next day.   To this succeeded pain, thirst, costiveness, vomiting, hiccup.
The discharges were extremely offensive, and the abdomen  tender to the
touch ;  the hiccup became almost  incessant.  Various remedies were given
without benefit, and she died on the tenth day.  Dr. Percival states that he
has seen similar severe sufferings, but which did not prove fatal, in a young
man, a brass-founder, who drank water out of an old tea-kettle, the inside of
which was covered with verdigris.
  Annals of Medicine, vol. 7, p. 401.  Case by Dr. Yeats, of poisoning from
eating pickled salmon seasoned with vinegar. The eyes were much affected
in these individuals, and dimness of sight was followed by dilated pupils.
  London  Medical Quarterly Review,  vol. 2, p. 93.   Case quoted from  Mr.
Swan, of illness from eating hashed hare, tnat had stood in a brass pan.
  Boston  Medical and Surgical Journal,  vol. 2, p. 305.  Case by Dr. Hig-
ginson : A large'family poisoned with milk. In two hours after taking it, they
were all seized with nausea and vomiting ;  proper remedies, however, soon
relieved them.  Dr. Charles T. Jackson analyzed the milk, and found subace-
tate of copper in it.
  Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 1, p. 61..  Case by Mr Davidson, of a
mother and four children suffering under an  extensive cutaneous  eruption,
probably from dining on peas  soup which was distributed with a ladle that
had been long out of use, and was quite green.
  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 10,  p. 84.
  Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 24, p. 420.  The sorrel plant, cooled in copper
vessels, has proved injurious.  It would seem, however, from some observa-
tions of Planche, (ibid.  p. 418) that this  substance, although containing so
much acid, sometimes dissolves but an extremely small portion of copper—
certainly not sufficient  to prove poisonous.  He  therefore advises that in
criminal cases, the  quantity of copper, as well as its  actual presence, be
determined. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
615
was  very  painful; pulse  full,  slow and intermitting; the
convulsions partial and transient.  Leeches were used, and
the whites of eggs continued.   In the evening, he had colic,
hiccup and a contracted pulse, but gradually recovered from
this, and went on improving until the fourteenth day, when
he was dismissed cured.*
  It is not necessary further to copy the detail of any par-
ticular case, since the leading symptoms in all  are generally
very similar.   They are thus stated by Orfila: " An  acrid,
styptic, coppery taste in the mouth, parched and dry tongue;
a sense of strangulation in the throat, coppery eructations,
continual spitting, nausea, copious vomitings, or vain efforts
to vomit, shooting pains  in  the stomach, which are  often
very severe;  horrible gripes, very frequent alvine evacua-
tions,  sometimes bloody and  blackish, with tenesmus and
debility; the abdomen inflated and painful; the pulse small,
irregular, tight and frequent; syncope, heat of skin,  ardent
thirst, difficulty of breathing, anxiety about the  prsecordia,
 cold sweats, scanty urine, violent headache,  vertigo, faint-
 ness, weakness in the limbs, cramps of the legs, and convul-
 sions."   All these, however, do not  generally occur in the
 same individual, but vomiting and colic are  very constant.
   " Another symptom (says Christison) which occasionally
 occurs in this kind of poisoning, and  never as  far as I know,
 in poisoning with arsenic or corrosive  sublimate, is jaun-
 dice."   Dr.  Thomson  corroborates  this remark, and adds
as a further  diagnostic symptom—a  singular  tinge of blue
around the eyes.f
   Gangrene sometimes takes  place  in  the intestines, and
this disease is then accompanied with its usual premonitory
 appearances.

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 220, from Revue
 M cdicale.  Another case is quoted by Metzger from Pyl, p. 396. The verdi-
 gris was found in the pylorus, and it had tinged the fecal matter.  Serious
 cases, accompanied with the usual symptoms,  are mentioned by Mr. Arm-
 strong, arising from eating ornamental sugar, such as is placed on table at
 the dessert, and which on analysis was found to contain a considerable quan-
 tity of acetate of copper.   (Medical Times, vol. 10, p 495 )
  t <• hnstison, 3d ed., p. 435.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 20, p. 567.  The skin was
 yellow in several cases related by Pyl and Wildberg 
616
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Sulphate of copper.  (Blue  vitriol.)  " The  most dreadful
case of convulsions I  ever saw (says Dr. Percival) was pro-
duced  by blue vitriol, on a  young  woman who swallowed
about two drachms of it in a fit of desperation.   By evacu-
ants, demulcents, and  such absorbents as have the power of
decomposing the metallic salts3 she happily recovered.  In
the interval of her fits,  she was perfectly rational.1'*
  Fatal cases are also recorded.  An  individual aged forty,
took voluntarily an ounce of the sulphate  in the morning.
He was soon seized with violent colic  and frequent vomiting
of a bluish matter.   But little  assistance could be afforded
to him, as he refused to mention the  nature of the poison,
and he died in the evening.  The oesophagus was  found of
a livid red color—the stomach of a  bluish hue, which could
be washed off;  and under this, the mucous membrane  was of
a deed red.  The intestinal tube throughout the whole ex-
tent, was highly inflamed.!
   Appearances on dissection.  If death takes place very rapidly
it is probable that few,  if any, diseased appearances will be
observed.  Such at least was the case with animals.
   In protracted cases the alimentary canal is  the organ prin-
cipally diseased.  The mucous lining of  the stomach and
intestines is found to  be inflamed and  gangrenous, and this
extends even to the rectum.  In one instance, that intestine
was found pierced at  two points.   Sometimes the inflamma-
tion extends to all the coats, and sloughs are formed, which
leave  openings through which their contents pass out, and
are effused  into the  cavity of the  abdomen.J  Metzger re-
marks, that the green color of  the  salt tinges all the fluids
contained in the primse  viae.§  Inflammation of the brain has
occasionally been noticed.||
  * Percival's Essays, vol.  2,  p. 221. The sulphuret of copper would seem,
according to the experiments of Orfila, to be innocuous.
  t British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p. 311. Some of the salt was through
ignorance,  given to a child,  sixteen months old. It died in four hours,
having  vomited a bluish-green liquid and becoming insensible for some time
before death.  It was not,  however, convulsed.   (^London Med. Gazette, voL
18, p. 742.)
  X Orfila's Toxicology, v. 1, p. 224.  Christison, p. 224.  § Metzger, p. 131.
   || Male, p. 147.  Mitscherlich  found in rabbits poisoned by sulphate of
copper, the blood coagulated in the heart and its large vessels. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
617
  Effects on animals.- The experiments of Drouard on dogs,
led him to the conclusion, that verdigris acts immediately on
the alimentary canal, in which it excites inflammation, with-
out being taken  up into the  circulation by the  lymphatic
vessels.   To a young dog twelve grains were given,  which
produced death in twenty-two hours.  The  stomach  was
found inflamed,  and exhibited a black spot,  which  might
have been taken for an erosion. The small intestines showed
no marks of inflammation, but the  rectum  contained  small
ecchymoses, similar to those in the stomach.  In another in-
stance,  the  stomach and duodenum were inflamed, and the
rectum natural.
  When a small  quantity in solution was  injected into the
jugular vein, death ensued in half an hour.  The trachea and
bronchise were filled with frothy mucosities, and the great
vessels were distended with black and fluid blood.  But in
a dog who  survived to the fourth day after this operation,
nothing peculiar was observed either in the digestive  organs
or the vessels.   Large doses  indeed seem to produce sudden
death, preceded by vomiting,  convulsive motions,  great in-
sensibility and paralysis,  and present at the same time but
slight alterations on dissection.  Orfila considers these  facts
as invalidating the doctrine of Drouard, and conclusive in
favor of the absorption of the poison, and its action  on the
nervous system.
   Tests.   The tests of copper in solution, are  :
  (a.) Ammonia gives  a blue precipitate,  but if added  in
excess,  the precipitate  redissolves, and the  liquor is of a
beautiful blue color.
  (6.) Sulphuretted hydrogen  gas causes a brownish black
precipitate, the sulphuret of copper.
  (c.) Ferrocyanate of potash gives a fine hair-brown  preci-
pitate, the ferrocyanate of copper.*

  • Boutigny states that the ferrocyanate will not produce its effect when
iron is in solution with the copper, in the proportion of one, or more, to two.
«,«   iC"le' he.alvlses> ^er solution in nitric acid, to add ammonia in
thZ  «* *h,ch£rfclP>*ates ^e ^on and the earthy salts.  Muriatic acid is
 v  n„r SU^cl,ent *? render fhe solution slightly acid,  when the ferro-
D^Iyglne vol S ?}a?)*™ ^ characteristic appearance. (Annales 
618                  IRRITANT  POISONS.
  {d.) A clean plate of iron held in a solution of sulphate of

copper, becomes covered in a few hours with a red, powdery

crust, which is the  copper in a metallic  state.   The blue

color of the solution grows first green and then red.  A sul-

phate of iron has been formed in it.

  (e.) Caustic potash precipitates it of a sky-blue color, the

hydrated peroxide of  copper.

  {f) Oxide of arsenic, with  the previous addition of a few

drops of ammonia, gives a fine apple-green precipitate, the

arsenite of copper, or Scheele's green.*

  According to Devergie,  the minuteness of the tests takes

the following order:

                                                   Parts of water.
  A plate of iron (aided by acetic acid) will detect

     one part, dissolved in.....................   5,000

  Arsenite of potash,.........................  10,000

  Carbonate of ammonia,.....................  14,000

  Potash,...................................  14,500

  Hydro-sulphuret of ammonia,..«.............  60,000

  Sulphuretted hydrogen,.....................60,000

  Ferrocyanate of potash,....................80,000!

     According to  Harting:

  Prussiate of potash,......................~ •  78,000

  Ammonia,.................................   9,400

  Polished iron, (if the solution be acidulated with

     a drop of nitric  acid,).....................125,000|

  Levol (Journal de Pharmacie, March, 1843,) makes a somewhat similar
objection to ferrocyanate as a test, viz., that when added to liquids with an
acid reaction, it decomposes rapidly, and forms a precipitate of prussian blue,
and this it does even when not  a trace of iron is present.  To obviate this
difficulty, he proposes to add one volume of ordinary caustic ammonia to three
volumes of an aqueous solution of ferrocyanuret of potassium, half saturated
without heat,  (11  parts of ammonia t» 100 of the salt).  He found it an
extremely minute test,  and the precipitate was readily cognizable of a crim-
son-brown color.  (Chemist, vol. 4, p. 259.  Encyclographie des Sciences
Medicales, July, 1843, p.  10.)
  *  Orfila's Toxicology, vol 1, p. 206.  Christison, p. 402. A writer in the
Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 6, p. 188, says that ferrocyanate of
potash strikes a red color with copper.  Turner says it is a reddish-brown.
(This discrepancy is thus reconciled by Orfila: It strikes, he says, a red color,
which in a short time settles down into a reddish-brown precipitate.)
  f Devergie, vol. 2, p. 754.
  X London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, vol. 18, p. 607.
  A very delicate process for the detection of  copper has been announced by
M. Boutigny.  It consists in suspending, by means of a hair, the half of a 
                                                        619
                    IRRITANT  POISONS.

  The following  are  mentioned  by Orfila as  the effect  of

animal and vegetable  substances  on it.  The infusion of tea

decomposes the solution of the  acetate  of copper,  and  a

flaky precipitate of a reddish yellow color  is produced   It
one  part of a concentrated solution of verdigris be added to

ten parts of red wine, the liquor  preserves its transparency,

and  the hydrosulphurets give  a black precipitate ; the prus-

siate of potash, a brown ;  and ammonia a very dark brown.

Seven parts  of the solution  of  verdigris and  ten of wine,

furnish a fluid, with which the above agents produce similar

results, except that the precipitate from the ammonia is of a

black color.  It readily follows from these, that this alkali

is of no use in detecting verdigris if it has been mixed with
wine
  If albumen be poured upon the acetate of copper, a bluish

colored precipitate will be obtained.  Gelatine produces no

effect, whatever may be the temperature of the mixture, and

the tests act exactly as if  the acetate of copper were alone.

Broth furnishes no precipitate, but  milk is coagulated  by a

large quantity of the solution of verdigris, and the coagulum

when properly washed, is of a deep green color.   Sugar by

trituration with verdigris,  renders it nearly insoluble in cold

water.

   Mitscherlich has  investigated  the action of sulphate of

copper on various animal and vegetable substances.   With

albumen, an excess of this salt forms a bluish-green precipi-

tate.   So also, if it be  added to caseine.   In  each of these

cases, new compounds are produced, which do not indicate

the presence of copper by the usual reagents, and  it is neces-


fine needle in the midst of the suspected liquid, previously acidulated with
sulphuric acid. The  apparatus thus disposed, is placed under a bell-glass,
and allowed to stand for several days.  Air bubbles are found to form on the
needle, which gradually burst, and in a few days the copper, if any be pre-
sent, is precipitated on the steel. The oxide of iron is dissolved in the sulphu-
ric acid, and forms sulphate of iron, which remains in solution.   (Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 40, p.  488.   Annales D'Hygiene, vol.
9, p. 228 )
  Verguin proposes the following : Place a drop of the suspected liquor on a
plate of platina, apply a polished plate of iron, so that it shall touch both the
liquids and the platina.  In a few seconds, the platina will exhibit an adhe-
rent covering of copper  throughout every part touched  by the  liquid.
(American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 13, p. 343.) 
620
IRRITANT POISONS.
sary in these, as well as in other combinations, which he
mentions, to drive off the organic matters, and for this he
prefers the process of Christison, to be presently mentioned.
It would also seem,  that generally a  soluble and an insolu-
ble compound are produced by the mutual action of these
substances.*
  In cases where  copper  is mixed with animal and vegeta-
ble substances,  Dr.  Christison advises  that the suspected
matter be first boiled in acetic acid, and then filtered.  What
remains  on the  filter is to  be washed and dried.   Test the
fluid portion with sulphuretted hydrogen, and boil it to expel
the  excess of gas.   If copper  be present,  the  brownish
black precipitate will be thrown down.  This on being dried
and burnt, may be converted into the sulphate by the action
of a few drops of nitric acid, aided by heat.  Test this with
ammonia.   The insoluble portion should be heated to red-
ness in a crucible till it is completely charred.   The copper
is reduced to a metallic state, and may be treated with nitric
acid, and the liquid  tests then applied.
   In certain cases, however, no vestige of the poison can he
detected, from its having been vomited up during life. Orfila
recommends that we should then scrape off the  mucous
membrane of the  stomach and intestines, dry  it and submit
it to the action of strong heat in a crucible.   He has twice,
he  observes, obtained metallic copper by calcining in this
manner a portion of the membranes  of  two dogs,  poisoned
by verdigris;  and this effect particularly takes place when
the mucous membrane is of a bluish color, hard and strongly
adhering to the substance of the  stomach.!
   In Dr. Higginson's case, a lancet blade dipped  in a solu-
tion of the poisoned milk, and to which a drop of nitric acid
had been  added  to separate the curd and  albumen,  was
immediately covered with a coating of metallic copper.
   Dr. Jackson next  evaporated  a portion of the milk to a
spongy mass, and then  burnt it in a platina crucible.   The

  * British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, pp. 751, 817 ; vol. 2, p. 51.
  t Vol. 1, p. 231. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                 621

ashes were treated with nitric acid.   On adding ammonia, a
fine  blue color without precipitate appeared.   In another
portion of the same, a rod of polished iron was left over
night, and the next morning half a grain of metallic copper
was scraped from it.
  In  consequence  of some  excitement  in  Flanders  and
France, relative to the use of sulphate of copper  by bakers
in making bread, various analyses have  been  instituted of
different vegetable and animal substances, and it is remarka-
ble  that  several chemists  have  detected the  presence of
copper in many of these.   Meissner showed that  this metal
exists in  small quantity in many  kinds of grain,  and hence
that its detection in them  is not certainly, or at least always,
a proof of adulteration.
  Sarzean asserts that he has found traces of it in two hun-
dred species of vegetables, and that it exists in gelatine and
in butcher's meat in the proportion of one grain to every
fifteen pounds.  The quantity in  all of these is, however, so
minute as scarcely to be considered a serious objection to
the conclusiveness of an  ordinary medico-legal analysis.*
   Besides the adulteration of bread, sugar plums and other
articles of confectionary  {bonbons) have been largely colored
with the  salts of copper, and in consequence, serious dis-
ease,  and even  death have followed  from  eating them.
Arsenite  of copper,  (Scheele's green)  sulphate  of copper
and chromate of lead, have each been detected by chemists.!
  Lastly  I  may mention, that the following question  has
been put to medical jurists :  A  quantity of food has been
found to contain a salt of copper.  Was  the  poison mixed
with it while cooking, or was  it  added after the food had

  *  British Association, 2d report, p. 482:  Christison, p. 415.   Boutigny is
of opinion, that in the cases of vegetables, copper will be found in them only
h,An   / c°nta\ned ]? the soil in »Kch they grow.  Hence, its presence may
be considered not as the result of the act of vegetation, but only of absorption
(Ldinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol 40 p  489 )      *Ub^P™n-
  t  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1,  p. 420; vol. 9, p.' 396; vol. 10, p. 183.  A
pnoon, made of German silver, and allowed to stand in a dish of eels cooked
r«n 2 J th r Vmegair' reCtnt!y Produced ^  ^ance all the effects of poi-
Xn T ^1PP  ' an-d °D rb™ttlQgthe stance on it to a chemical exami-
ned"uwesr^xXT^0'thepresence of thatmetal-(London 
 622                 IRRITANT POISONS.

 been removed from the pot 1  It is replied that in the former
 case, the copper will be found precipitated on the iron.   So
 perfectly did this occur in one case, that no copper could be
 detected in the  food, but in its place was sulphate  of iron.
 Devergie, however, suggests that  much must depend on the
 length of time that the poisonous  material has been present,
 and  also on the nature  of the  food.   Vegetables, or the
 presence of an  acid, as vinegar, will retard  the  decomposi-
 tion.*
   Treatment and antidotes.   Although vomiting is a common
 symptom, still  it should be freely promoted  by the exhibi-
 tion of warm water, milk or mucilaginous drinks.
   The investigation of M. Marcelin Duval, and the earlier
 experiments of Orfila, seemed to  prove that sugar was the
 antidote for verdigris.  It allayed the pain and other alarm-
 ing symptoms, and produced a great number of liquid stools.
 Subsequent researches have, however, diminished the value
 of this  substance.   It  is useful  in calming the irritation,
 when the  poison has  been  expelled by vomiting, but it
 exerts no chemical action on it,  and animals in whom the
 oesophagus was tied, died,  notwithstanding large doses of
 syrup were  administered.   When albumen was given under
 similar  circumstances,  the  animal  survived several  days,
 experienced no remarkable change, and after death no lesion
 was found.!  Hence  it would seem preferable, while sugar
 (in large quantities) and milk may be used to aid its opera-
 tion.
   Drs. Mylne  Edwards and  Dumas, have  also found,  in
 their experiments  on animals, that  metallic iron is a good
 antidote.   When fifteen,  twenty, and  even fifty grains  of
 sulphate of copper,  acetate  of copper,  or verdigris, were
given to animals, and an ounce of iron filings administered,

  * Devergie, vol. 2, p. 763.
  X Orfila, vol. 1, p. 466.  Postal has made some  comparative experiments
 with sugar and albumen,  and found that the  chances of recovery were as
 three to two in favor of sugar.  He therefore deems it an antidote, and con-
 siders it capable of decomposing acetate of  copper at the ordinary tempera-
 ture of the atmosphere—more rapidly, however, at the boiling temperature.
 (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 10, p. 207; Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 22, p.
 528.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
623
either immediately before or immediately afterwards,  the
gullet being tied to prevent the discharge of the poison, death
did not ensue for five, six, or even eight  days, and  conse-
quently proceeded from the operation on the  gullet;  and in
one experiment,  on  the  ligature being removed from  the
gullet, the opening healed up, and complete  recovery took
place.*
  The ferrocyanate of potash is also  recommended by  Dr.
O'Shaughnessy as an antidote, from its powers of decompo-
sition.!
  The use of vinegar should, in cases  of  poisoning, be
strictly interdicted, since it must  prove injurious  from its
solvent power over the salts of copper.
  Should any inflammatory symptoms remain after the pre-
sumed evacuation of the poison, they should  be treated
like gastritis, and opium and antispasmodics may be indica-
ted for the spasmodic affections that are apt to remain.

                          Zinc.

   The  sulphate of zinc, from'its frequent use in medicine,
 may, by accident, be taken in improper doses.   Its property,
 however, of readily exciting vomiting, will prevent in most
 cases, any very serious consequences.  In the experiments
 of Orfila, he found that when given to dogs in large doses,
it caused frequent vomitings, but they recovered in a short
time.   When, however, a solution of it was injected  into
the jugular vein, violent and often ineffectual  attempts were
made to vomit, and death followed in a few minutes.   So
also when  the oesophagus was tied.   The animal died on
the third day, and on dissection the mucous  membrane of
the stomach was found of a deep red color throughout its
whole extent, and black spots were occasionally seen upon
the muscular coat from  extravasated blood.  The lungs
were less crepitating than usual, and their color  was rather
dark.

  * Christison, p. 424; Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 9, p. 611.
  t Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 838. 
624
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Cases are also recorded of its effects on the human system.
In a female, who by accident drank down a solution of two
ounces, it produced  an excessively astringent  taste, a con-
traction about the throat, burning heat at the stomach, cold
extremities, pale countenance, and convulsive pulse.  Vomit-
ing, however,  soon intervened, and by the aid of proper
remedies, the  consequent  irritation of the  nervous  system
was subdued.   In another case, violent pain in the  epigas-
tric  region  came on, and was succeeded by vomitings and
continual  stools.   These  gradually  diminished,  and  he
recovered.*
  From these  cases we may consider  the following as the
chain of symptoms which will result from taking the salt in
large doses: " an astringent taste, sense  of strangulation,
nausea,  copious vomitings,  frequent  stools,  pain  in the
epigastric region, extending afterwards over the whole of
the abdomen, difficulty of breathing, frequency of pulse,  pale-
ness of the countenance, and coldness  of the extremities."
  Appearances on  dissection.  In  an unequivocal  case of
poisoning by it, Mertzdorff found the stomach and intestines,
but  particularly the latter, contracted, the inner membrane
of the stomach grayish  green, with several spots of effused
blood, and greenish fluid contents, and the  inner membrane
of the  small  intestines similarly  spotted;  the rest of the
body quite natural.  He detected the poison  by chemical
tests, not only in the contents,  but likewise in the coats of
the stomach and intestines.!
  Chemical proofs.  Sulphate of zinc is very soluble.  As
usually sold in the shops, it is often  very far from pure,
having an admixture of  the sulphate of iron.   This  greatly
modifies the action of the tests, and  it will  therefore be
necessary to mention their effects, both on the pure and the
impure  substance.

  • Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 270.  " A female partook accidentally and
very moderately of a cake impregnated with white vitriol,  which had been
prepared  for the destruction of an old  man.  He was seized with violent
vomiting, but the woman died." (Metzger, p. 396.)
  t Christison, p. 452. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
625
  {a.) The caustic  alkalies,  when added to the pure salt,
throw down a white precipitate, (oxide) which is soluble in
an excess of ammonia; when added to the impure, a green-
ish white precipitate.  Carbonate of ammonia also precipi-
tates the pure salt white, the impure, grayish white.
  (6.) The prussiate of potash causes a white precipitate in
the pure, and in the impure a deep blue one.
  (c.) Sulphuretted hydrogen, a white precipitate in the pure
and impure.
   Tincture of  galls may be used as  a preliminary test, to
ascertain the presence of iron;  it merely renders the pure
salt hazy,  but gives a  deep violet coagulum in the other.
   When the sulphate is mixed with animal and vegetable
substances, Dr. Christison advises that it be acidulated with
acetic acid and filtered.   The  fluid  is  then evaporated and
treated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas.  Expel the excess
of gas by  boiling, and wash and collect the precipitate.   It
is then to  be dried and heated to redness in a tube.   When
cool, add  nitric acid to it, which acts on the zinc and  leaves
 the sulphur.   The nitrous solution must now be diluted and
 neutralized  with carbonate of ammonia,  after which  the
 liquid tests will act on it.*
   Treatment. We should endeavor  to  promote vomiting by
administering warm water and emollient drinks.   Milk is
particularly proper, from its power of decomposing the sul-
phate.   We must guard against the approach of inflamma-
tion, and allay irritation by anodynes.
   Chloride of zinc is said by Mr. Pereira, to act in large
doses as an irritant or caustic  poison and to effect the ner-
vous system.   It produces nausea and vomiting, a burning
sensation in the stomach, cold sweats and convulsions, when
taken in large doses.f
   Oxide of zinc. This can hardly be considered a very dele-
terious substance.  In  large  doses, it produced vomiting in
  * Christison, p. 447. Orfila, in his last edition, recognizes the variety of
effects produced by tests on the pure and impure  salt.  He only stated the
latter (whieh I copied) in the first.
  t London Medical Gazette, vol. 18, p. 280.
  vol.  n.                  40 
626
IRRITANT POISONS.
animals,  and probably would have  the same effect on  the
human system.*
  It is a problem of considerable  interest, whether metallic
zinc is a safe substance  for domestic utensils.   It has been
repeatedly recommended for this purpose, by individuals on
the continent  of Europe, but  the  examinations  made by
chemists are decidedly unfavorable  to  it.   Proust suggests
several objections  with  reference to  its manufacture, such
as the effect of heat  on  it and the difficulty of soldering;
but the  most  important is  its  facility of oxidation.  The
atmosphere  alone produces this effect, while  vinegar dis-
solves it and forms an acetate.!  Several commissions have
been appointed in France to  examine  into the propriety of
employing this metal.  Vauquelin and Deyeux, reported to
the medical  faculty of Paris, that water,  when suffered to
remain in vessels  of  zinc, decomposed it, and produced a
white oxide.  Vinegar caused an acetate,  which was ascer-
tained by  reagents.   Citron juice  and sorrel, each produced
on  boiling,  their respective compounds  with  the metal.
Muriate of soda in solution furnished  a liquor which gave a
precipitate  of oxide  of zinc.   Lastly, butter  heated in a
sauce-pan of zinc,  destroyed the  polish of the vessel, and
there was even formed by the heat  a  small hole in the bot-
tom of it.  It  is therefore impossible, (they remark,) to em-'
ploy  it for kitchen  utensils, without incurring the hazard of
its being  united,  either in the state of oxide or salt, with
domestic viands.J
  The French Institute also appointed a  committee, at  the
request  of the ministers of the  interior  and  of  war, to

  * Dr. M. Wendell relates a case where a female took by mistake for magne-
sia thirty grains, two or three times  a day, for a fortnight, without any
effect, except a slight constriction of the fauces immediately after swallowing
the dose.  (Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 4, p.  247.)  On the other hand, Dr.
Busse of Berlin, mentions  of an individual, who, without medical advice,
took 20 grains daily, until he had consumed 3,246 grains.  He was  wasted,
and almost idiotical—the abdomen tumid and the skin  like parchment; the
pulse sixty and thready.  By proper means, he gradually recovered. (British
and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 6, p. 221.)
  Reil's experiments on animals with the oxide, are mentioned in the Annals
of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 171.
  f  See Proust's paper, already quoted.
  %  Repertory of Arts, second series, vol. 23, p. 178. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                  627

inquire into the propriety of its  use for the fabrication of
measures for liquids, and for vessels and utensils for the use
of military hospitals.   It  consisted  of Portal,  Berthollet,
Deyeux,  Vauquelin and Guyton Morveau.   They repeated
several  of the previous  experiments with similar results.
Even distilled water, heated in a  sand bath, dissolved part
of the zinc, and formed a hydrate, which possessed a distinct
metallic taste.
   The  commission remark,  that  although  the  oxide  itself
may not be dangerous, yet if zinc vessels be  used, for domes-
tic purposes, we shall have a variety of salts produced from
the numerous ingredients that are employed for food.   And
it is impossible that these can be healthy;  nor indeed can it
be otherwise but that some will prove noxious.  They there-
fore advise against the adoption of this metal.*
   With  this information on the subject, it is  somewhat
astonishing that the proposition  should be  entertained,  of
using vessels made of zinc, in dairies.  Yet an  individual
 proposed to the London Society of Arts, to employ them for
 obtaining cream  from milk.  He allows from his own expe-
 riments, that milk subjected to this process, is more or less
 impregnated with the soluble salts of zinc.   When asked by
 the committee of the  society,  what he had  done  with the
 milk, after the separation of the cream, he replied, that he
employed it wholly in feeding pigs, and that they thrived
under it.f
   In this country, great efforts have also been made of late
years to  introduce zinc pans into our dairies. I do not, how-

  * Repertory of Arts, second series, vol. 25, pp.  247,  313.   A third report
was made some time previous by Chaussier, Gay-Lussac and Thenard, on the
question whether canteens of plated zinc were advisable for the  French
armies.  They state among other results, that common wine, vinegar, and
even mixtures of vinegar and water, dissolve the metal and give out hydro-
gen.  The plating of zinc vessels internally with tin has been attempted, but
it was abandoned, from the acrid and disagreeable flavor given to the meat,
and they add, that tin does not appear capable of coating zinc in such a man-
ner as to guard it against the action of acids.   Lastly, plates of zinc, when
soldered together, have too little solidity, and are apt to give way.  They,
therefore, gave a decided opinion against the introduction of either plated
zinc or tinned zinc, for the above purposes.  (New York Medical Repository,
vol. 17, p. 88.)
  t Method of obtaining cream from milk, by George Carter, Esq. (Repertory
of Patent Inventions, vol. 15, p. 233.) 
628                 IRRITANT POISONS.
ever, hear of pigs; and it is very probable that the impure
milk is distributed  for human use.   If we cannot call it poi-
sonous, it is at least unhealthy, and should be forbidden.*

                            Tin.

   In its metallic state, this substance is not poisonous; but
a preparation much used  in the arts, is highly deleterious,
viz:
   The  hyrochlorate  of tin.!  Three-quarters of a  grain
dissolved in  two drachms of water, and injected  into the
jugular vein of a small dog, produced a species of catalepsy,
which gradually passed into complete paralysis and insensi-
bility, and death followed in twelve hours after the applica-
tion.  Two grains  injected in a similar way, destroyed the
animal in fifteen minutes : tetanic convulsions preceded the
termination.   Lastly, six  grains caused vertigo and death in
one minute after the injection.  On dissection, the lungs
were found more or less shrivelled, and partially gorged with
blood ; the blood itself was  dark colored, and there was a
slight redness of the mucous membrane of the stomach and
duodenum.   When muriate of tin was introduced  into the
stomach, it excited violent vomiting and death, without con-
vulsions  or paralysis.  The  mucous membrane  of the sto-
mach, on examination, appeared of a dark red color,  was
hardened, horny, and as it were, tanned.  It was also  ulce-
rated in various parts, and the intestinal canal contained
much black, thick,  ropy bile.   The  lungs were sound.

  • In consequence of the application of zinc plates for covering roofs, the
question is beginning to be agitated, whether water passing over them is pota-
ble, or, in  other words, healthy. Professor Caswell, of Brown University,
states that he could find no traces of the metal in water thus coming from zinc
roofs, and that at all events, a very superficial, insoluble oxide will be formed.
(Silliman's Journal, vol. 31, p. 248.)
  The experiments of Boutigny,  Chevallier, and Arthaud, would lead us,
however, to a different  conclusion.  They will be  found in the Annales
D'Hygiene, vol. 17. p. 281; vol. 18, p. 352.
  It is stated in the Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 3, p. 537, on the authority
of Dr. Elanes, of Berlin, that a solution of sugar, which had stood only a few
hours, in the  summer, in a zinc vessel, contained a considerable  amount of
zinc salts.
  f There aie two hydrochlorates (muriates) of tin, the protomuriate, and the
permuriate. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
629
   There are no cases on record, I believe,  of death  being
 produced on the human subject, by the use of this substance;
 but from a narrative given by Orfila, as to the effect of a small
 quantity taken by accident in food, it is evident that it may
 prove highly deleterious.  Colic was produced in all the in-
 dividuals, and diarrhoea accompanied this in two of them.
   Dr. Hazeltine mentions an instance, in which a draught of
 bichloride of tin, prepared for dyeing, was swallowed by a lad.
 Vomiting ensued, with extreme corrugation of the mouth and
 fauces.  An emetic was given, but the symptoms of reaction
 became so violent in a  few hours, as to render bleeding ne-
 cessary, and this was repeated.  Milk and water were con-
 stantly administered.   He recovered, after an illness of a
 fortnight.*
   Among its tests, are the following:
   (a.) The addition of corrosive sublimate in solution, pro-
 duces a white precipitate.
   (6.) The muriate of gold, a purple precipitate.
   (c.) Sulpuretted hydrogen, or the hydro-sulphurets, yield a
 blackish  (chocolate brown,  Ure),  precipitate, with the pro-
 toxide of tin—forming the protosulphuret of tin; while, with
 the peroxide of tin, they give a  yellow precipitate — the
 bisulphuret.
   {d.) The prussiate of potash causes a white precipitate,
 which soon becomes blue, on exposure to the air.
   The action of the muriate  of tin on animal and vegetable
 fluids, is very distinct and powerful.
   A strong infusion of  tea,  and the  infusion of gallnuts in
 alcohol, give an abundant precipitate of a clear yellow color.
 A small quantity of the muriate dropped into Burgundy wine,
 produces a violet-colored sediment.   Albumen precipitates
 it of a white color.  Gelatine decomposes it, and produces
 a white, flaky precipitate.  Milk is converted by a few drops
 into thick curds,  which, on being dried,  are of a yellow
 color, and friable.   Human bile added to  it, produces flaky
c urds.
*  Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 31, p. 33. 
630                IRRITANT POISONS.

  Simple syrup (water saturated with sugar) seems to be the
only  substance that  does not occasion  any change in the
solution.
  These results invalidate the importance of tests, and it is
therefore proper in all cases, according to Orfila, to dry the
precipitates, and  calcine them in a  crucible with caustic
potash.  Metallic  tin will be produced.*
  Antidote. It  is evident from the experiments of Orfila, that
milk  acts as an antidote to this poison.   It is  completely
coagulated, and the  coagulum  contains muriatic acid and
oxide of tin,  and is not deleterious.  The antiphlogistic
treatment  may be  subsequently  necessary, if symptoms of
inflammation supervene.!
  The oxide of tin has also proved destructive  to  animals
who have been made to swallow it.

                         Silver.

  Nitrate of  silver. {Lunar caustic.) A small  quantity of
this salt in  solution, injected  into  the jugular, produced
difficult respiration, the appearance of suffocation, efforts to
vomit, pain, convulsions  and  death.  On dissection, the
lungs were seen  of a rose color,  the heart  was distended
with  blood, and in one instance, the  mucous membrane of
the duodenum  was of a bright cherry-red.  When the oeso-
phagus was tied to prevent vomiting, and twelve grains in
the solid form were introduced into the stomach,  death
followed  in six  days,  without any previous  symptoms,
except debility, intense thirst, and frequency of pulse.   The
mucous membrane was perforated in a  number of places,
with  small  scars,  of  the  size of a pin's head.   The lungs
were,  however, sound.   Again,  twenty grains  in solution
were  administered to a dog, and produced only uneasiness
and  dejection.  On  the  third  day  thereafter,  thirty-two

  * Most of the tin of commerce, according to Wohler, contains arsenic.
The only exceptions found by Sturenburg, were the tin of Banca, and the real
English grain tin.  The presence of arsenic is detected by March's apparatus.
(Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 25, p. 299.)
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, pp. 247 to 261. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
631
grains  more were given, which caused  vomiting of a pulpy
matter.  Of this he again recovered.  On the fifth day, the
oesophagus was  tied and thirty-six grains introduced.   It
was  followed by excruciating  pain, and he died on  the
night of the succeeding day.  The examination after death
presented the mucous membrane of the stomach dissolved
into a  pulp, and eschars of a grayish white color were seen
near the pylorus.  The muscular coat was inflamed, but the
lungs were healthy.
  There are  but few instances on record of injury done by
the nitrate of silver to the  human  subject.  Orfila relates
from Boerhaave, that a student of pharmacy swallowed some
lunar caustic, and excruciating pains, gangrene and sphace-
lus were the consequences;  and Metzger alludes to a case,
where  the most  imminent danger followed, from a surgeon
letting a piece drop into the throat of a  patient, whose ulcers
he was touching with it. Its effects on the skin, are an illus-
tration of its probable operation on the  throat, stomach, &c*
   At the Hospital, St. Louis, in 1839, a patient was brought
who stated,  after his  recovery, that he had swallowed an
ounce of the nitrate in solution.   The quantity  certainly
 must have been large, as  the matters  vomited for 12 or 18
hours, blackened the sheets and curtains of the bed, wherever
it touched them.  When brought he was insensible, the face
and upper limbs were convulsed, the jaws closed, the eyes
rolled  up and the pupils dilated and insensible to  light.  A
solution of salt and water was freely given for several hours,
when  the above symptoms gradually  diminished, violent
pain in  the  epigastrium  succeeded, for which  emollient
drinks were substituted.   It was not however, until eleven
hours  after his  admission, that the general  sensibility re-
turned and the patient was able to speak.  Profound  coma,
with insensibility returned at intervals for  some  days, but
he gradually recovered and was discharged cured  on the
sixth day.f

  • Metzger, p. 397.
  f American Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 26, p. 239, from Bulletin Gini-
ral.  It  is a habit with the apothecaries of France to keep the fused nitrate 
632
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Tests,  {a.) When thrown on burning charcoal it is decom-
posed.   Vapors of nitrous gas are given out, and the metallic
silver remains upon the charcoal.
  (6.) The solution stains the skin black.
  (c.) Muriatic acid and the soluble muriates precipitate the
corneous muriate of silver, which is white and curdled.
  {d.) Potash, soda  and lime-water  produce  a deep brown
precipitate.
  {e.) Ammonia when added to a  solution  of nitrate of
silver, forms ammoniuret  of silver,  and in consequence of
the solubility of this  new product, the  solution is not  dis-
turbed ; but if the solution of oxide of arsenic be now thrown
in,  a lively  yellow precipitate  is produced, which on  ex-
posure to the air becomes brown.
  (/.) The hydrosulphates give a black sediment.
  {g.) Phosphate of soda produces a yellow precipitate.
  {h.)  Prussiate of potash, a white precipitate.
  Of these, c and e are the best tests.
  As to  the  effects of nitrate of silver on animal or vegeta-
ble substances, the following may be noticed :
  The alcholic solution of gallnuts produces no change.
  If ten parts of Burgundy wine be  added to one of a solu-
tion of nitrate of silver,  the fluids  become slightly  turbid
and acquire  a violet color.  The muriatic acid produces a
white precipitate of  this  mixture,  the hydrosulphurets a
greenish brown, and the phosphate of soda violet blue.*
  When fifteen parts of an infusion  of  tea are added to two
parts of a solution of  nitrate of silver, a flaky precipitate
occurs of  a deep purple-red, bordering a little  on  black.
When one part of nitrate of silver was  employed,'the mix-
ture was of a yellow color, but passed first to  a red and then
to a black color without affecting its transparency.  In this
state, muriatic acid gave a yellow sediment.

of silver in linseed.  Dulong has shown that they act on each c-ther, and
Deyeux saw a case in which death was produced by the internal use of linseed
in which the nitrate had been kept.  (North American Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 6, p. 200.)
  *  Chlorine will not answer here as a decolorizing application, since it de-
composes the nitrate.  (Orfila, London Medical Repository, vol. 14, p. 509.) 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                 633

  Albumen  gives  a copious white precipitate, broth a yel-
lowish-white one,  and bile an orange-yellow one.   Gelatine
causes no change.   Milk is  coagulated;  a formation takes
place of small white curds, and  the  fluid becomes trans-
parent.*
  Antidote.   Muriate of soda appears  from the experiments
of Orfila to counteract the  effects of  nitrate of silver.  It
produces an insoluble chloride, which has no power on the
system.  Hence salt water, aided  by emollient and mucila-
ginous drinks  is advisable-!
  Fulminating silver, according  to the experiments of M.
Pagot Laforet, also acts as a violent  poison on animals in
small  doses.  But if charcoal,  mixed  with water, was
administered in quantity immediately after the exhibition of
the poison, the symptoms ceased  and no further injury was
 sustained.!
                           Gold.
   Nitro-muriate (hydrochlorate, now called chloride) of
 gold, injected into the jugular of animals,  produced death
 apparently by causing suffocation.   The succession of symp-
 toms was  vertigo, deep  respiration, plaintive cries, and
 occasionally vomiting.  They expired in a few minutes after
 the operation.  On dissection, the  lungs were seen gorged
 with blood;  the  heart was full of  black blood, but the
 mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines was sound.
   Death also followed from taking this substance into the
 Stomach; and the mucous  membrane was,  on dissection,
 found abraded in several places.
   Although Orfila ranks it among the irritant poisons, and
 Devergie mentions that Cullerier and  Magendie saw a dose
 of from one-tenth to one-twentieth of a grain produce gas-

  • Dr. R. D. Thomson has made some interesting experiments on the de-
 composition of the nitrate, by the addition of albumen, or of the mucus
secretions of the  stomach.  Two compounds appear to be formed, one solu-
ble and the other insoluble in water. (Eighth Report of the British Associa-
 tion, appendix, p. 132.)
  t Orfila.  Christison.
  X  London Medical and Physical Journal, vol.  25, p. 457, quoted from the
 Journal Gc/itral. 
634                 IRRITANT  POISONS.
tro-intestinal inflammation, yet it is-now stated that Baude-
locque has given the hydrochlorate and stannate of gold in
doses  of from ten  to  twelve  grains  to children without
injury, while Velpeau at  La Charite has given 15 and even
20 grains during the day.*
  Tests,  {a.)  When thrown on burning charcoal, it is decom-
posed  and converted into metallic gold, and the  chlorine is
given off.
  {b.) It stains the skin of a purple color.
  (c.) Sulphate of iron  produces  a brown precipitate, and
pellicles of gold are seen floating on the surface of the fluid.
  {d.) Muriate of  tin produces a purple precipitate.
  (e.) The hydrosulphurets  cause a deep chocolate-colored
precipitate.
  (/.) The prussiate of potash produces no effect.
  Effects of  animal and vegetable fluids.   Muriate of gold is
not  affected by syrup;  is  precipitated  reddish-yellow by
tea; red, chocolate-colored, and afterwards  metallic, by
tincture  of galls;  deep  purple  and metallic by Burgundy
wine ;  yellow by albumen and gelatine ; and green, passing
into purple  and violet, by bile.   It also instantly curdles
milk.!   Chlorine  decolorizes  the mixture with wine, and
leaves the tests to  operate in their usual manner.
  Antidotes.   Dr.  Thomson recommends  the sulphate of
iron for this  purpose, from its property  of  decomposing the
salt, and throwing down the gold  in  its metallic state.J
Orfila recommends the antiphlogistic treatment generally,
and  in  particular  the  use  of emollient and mucilaginous*
drinks.
  Fulminating gold appears to have proved highly delete-
rious in  several cases  quoted by Orfila from Plenck and
Hoffman.  Vomiting, spasm, diarrhoea, faintings  and death,
were the consequences of the administration of a few grains,
(three to six.)  Rivinus mentions having found -holes in the
intestines of a child poisoned with it.§

  • Devergie, vol. 2, p. 786.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 24, p. 31.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, pp. 288 to 296.
  t Annals of Philosophy, v.  5,  p. 385.    § Orfila's Toxicology, v. 1, p. 297. 
irritant poisons.
635
                         Platina.

  Twelve grains of the hydrochlorate, when administered
to a dog, destroyed it, and violent inflammation of the sto-
mach and intestines was produced;  but when  applied to a
wound  in the neck, no effect was produced on the general

system, or on remote organs.*
  The following  may  be a case of idiosyncrasy, but it is at
all events curious :  " A person has been uniformly affected
with erythema of the face, during the last six or  seven
years, every time he  opens a bottle containing  the  liquid
nitro-muriate (chloride) of platina, within two or three feet
distance, and without touching the face.  The same effect is
produced by opening a bottle containing dry ammonia-oxide
of platina.  If the smallest particle of these substances be
brought into contact with the face—even the fingers, though
they be  carefully wiped after touching these  preparations, if
they come in contact with the face,  the erythema is excited.
It  spreads rapidly over  the skin of the face, feeling very
hot, itching extremely, and causing  a pale rose-red color.
 In two, three, or at most four hours, this slight disease dis-
 appears."!


                         Bismuth.

   Nitrate of bismuth,  in its crystallized state, was boiled in
distilled water, and the fluid afterwards filtered.  When this
was injected  into the jugular vein, it produced retching,
  • Gmelin, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p. 135.
  According to Dr. Hoeffer, the preparations of platina (chlorides) are poi-
sons; the perchlorides in the dose of a scruple;  the double  chloride of
platina and sodium in the dose of two scruples.  They are, however, less
dangerous than the salts of gold and corrosive sublimate.  The perchloride
of platina in concentrated solution, produces acute itchings on the skin, fol-
lowed by  a cutaneous eruption in the situation where the solution has been
applied.  Taken internally, it at first irritates the mucous membrane of the
Btomach,  accasions cephalalgia, reacts on the nervous centres, and that exer-
cises a peculiar alterative action on the fluids of the economy.  The double
chloride does not produce local irritation on the skin. (British and Foreign
Medical Review, vol. 11, p. 523.)
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 8, p. 524. 
636                 irritant poisons.
plaintive cries, convulsions of the limbs,  palpitation, diffi-
culty of breathing, and general depression and death.   The
lungs were dark-colored, but tinged only in particular parts,
or wrinkled.  The left ventricle and arteries  contained only
a little black blood.
   The subnitrate  of bismuth, on being introduced into the
stomach, produced a vomiting of white ropy matter, deep
and difficult respiration,  trembling of the  limbs, and death.
The mucous membrane  of the  stomach was either highly
inflamed or extensively ulcerated,  so that the slightest fric-
tion separated it  in the form of pultaceous scraps.  Portions
of the lungs were gorged with blood.
   When the subnitrate (improperly called white oxide*) of
bismuth has not been  prepared with  sufficient care, it often
happens that violent vomiting, diarrhoea, and other unplea-
sant symptoms will  ensue from its administration.  In one
case where the precipitate produced  by adding water to the
nitrate, did not  undergo the repeated washings which are
necessary, I have known it to  cause the  most  alarming
vomiting.
   One fatal case is on record of poisoning by this substance:
A man took two  drachms by mistake.  He was immediately
attacked with burning in the throat, vomiting and purging,
cramps and intermitting  pulse; then with inflammation of
the throat,  and  on  the  third day with  hiccup, laborious
breathing, and swelling of the hands  and feet. Suppression
of urine had existed from the first, and continued until near
his death.  This  occurred on the ninth  day, having been
preceded  by salivation,  delirium,  swelling  of the tongue,
and great enlargement of the abdomen.  On dissection, every
portion of the alimentary canal, from the throat to the rec-
tum, bore marks  of inflammation.  The tonsils,  uvula, epi-
glottis,  &c. were  gangrenous; the gullet livid; the stomach
very red, with numerous purple pimples; the whole intes-
tinal canal red and here and there  gangrenous.  The  inner

  * " There is no such thing as  white oxide  of bismuth. However much
washed, the precipitate obtained by water from the nitrate of bismuth, ifl
a sub-salt."—Turner.. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
637
surface of the heart was red.  The kidneys  and brain were
healthy.*
   Tests, (a.) Sulphuretted hydrogen causes a black precipi-
tate.
   {b.)  The prussiate of potash, a pale yellow.
   (c.)  Ammonia causes a white precipitate.
   {d.)  The chromate of potash, a beautiful orange yellow.f
   (e.)  The tincture of galls, a flaky pale yellow.
   (/.) On the addition of water, the fluid becomes milky,
and a  white  precipitate gradually subsides.
   {g.) The precipitates, on being calcined with charcoal in a
crucible, give out the  metal.
   Nitrate  of bismuth is  precipitated  pale yellow by tea,
yellow by bile, and white by albumen and milk ; the last is
curdled by it.  Gelatine is  not affected.   Burgundy wine
gives  a rose-colored precipitate, inclining  to violet.  The
supernatant fluid  preserves  the red color of the wine;  but
the hydrosulphurets, on being poured into it, produce a black
 precipitate.^  Ammonia deprives  it  of its  color, without
 occasioning any sensible white precipitate.
   Antidotes. Milk, and mucilaginous  drinks; and if symp-
 toms of inflammation  supervene, the antiphlogistic regimen.§

                           Iron.
   The compounds of this substance are to be deemed among
the least poisonous of the metallic salts.  There is a diver-
sity of result as to the
   Sulphate  of iron, (green  vitriol.)  In the hands of  Dr.
Smith, it proved  an active  poison.  When  applied in the
dose of two drachms, to the cellular  texture of the inside
of the  thigh of two  dogs, it killed them in  the  course of
twelve or fifteen hours.   On dissection,  the  internal surface

  * Christison, p. 444. Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 34, p.
216.  The case occurred in Germany.
  t So also, says  Dr. Cooper, does corrosive sublimate with chromate of
potash.
  X On  the addition of chlorine, the mixture is rendered colorless, and the
tests produce their ordinary effects.  (Orfila, London Medical Repository, vol.
14, p. 409.)                                       *
  § Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, pp. 298 to 307. 
638
IRRITANT POISONS.
Of the stomach  of one of them was found covered with a
multiplicity of petechial spots; the wrinkles of the rectum
were numerous and black; the liver whitish, with livid spots
on its convex surface; while the heart contained black gru-
mous blood, and its ventricles had some slight livid blotches.
  When introduced  into the  stomach in  the  dose of two
drachms, it  did  not destroy life in less than twenty-six
hours, and without any other apparent symptom than a gen-
eral  insensibility.  The  interior of the  stomach exhibited
red  spots;  the  small  intestines presented  blackish puffy
swellings, and the  upper part of the rectum  showed red
folds.*
  Gmelin, on the other hand, gave it in doses of two drachms
to dogs, and it caused nothing but  vomiting.   Forty grains
had  no effect on rabbits, and its injection into the veins was
not deleterious.!
  Muriate of iron.  This is more active, owing to the  ex-
cess of acid in it.  Dr. Christison gives the following case,
as communicated to him by Dr. Combe of Leith: A gardener
took an  ounce and a half of the tincture of  the muriate of
iron by  mistake for whiskey. Pain  and tension in the throat
and  stomach succeeded, with coldness ;  then a vomiting of
an inky fluid, followed  by  profuse vomiting of mucus and
blood, and bloody stools.   He rallied under the use of re-
medies, and in three weeks  returned to his occupation; but
in two weeks more,  Dr.  Combe found him emaciated, cada-
verous,  with pain and costiveness.  He died  in five days
after this.  The pylorus  was greatly thickened, with a cica-
trized patch three inches long  and two inches broad, and
another large inflamed spot.|
  Probably chalk, magnesia, or soap, would act as antidotes
to an over dose.
                         Lead.
  I cannot too much  impress on my readers the necessity of
being well acquainted with  the symptoms produced by the
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 468.
  f Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p. 137.
  X Christison, p. 574. 
                                                       639
                    IRRITANT POISONS.

compounds of this metal, and  the tests  necessary to detect
them.  In the  course of my remarks, it will be  seen how
often  they have  produced  injurious or fatal  effects from
being united with very many  articles of common food and
drink.*
   The principal salts of lead are the following:
   Acetate  of lead.  (Sugar of  lead.)  There is also  a sub-
acetate of lead, used most commonly as a medicinal applica-
tion under the name of Goulard's extract.  The distinction
between these I shall presently notice.
   As to the acetate, there are some  cases  on record of its
effects.  The following is related by Dr.  Kerchhoffs :   It
occurred in the person of a soldier who drank a considerable
quantity of the solution. He was soon seized with the most
violent symptoms, indicative  of gastric inflammation.  A
sense of suffocation, drawing in of the belly, costiveness,
cold and  clammy sweats, and trismus, were present.  He
 died in great agony at the end of three days. On dissection,
 the lead was discovered by proper tests in the fluid of the
 stomach.  The mucous membrane of that organ was abraded
 in several places, particularly  near the pylorus ;  and the
 oesophagus,  stomach,  duodenum,  mesentery,  liver  and
 spleen, were in a state of high inflammation.!
   Dr. Shearman  has also observed fatal  effects to follow
 from an adulteration  of gin with sugar of lead.   The symp-
 toms were, occasional violent colic  pains, chiefly occurring
 after meals,  attended  with an  obstinate  costiveness,  and
 although  these were for a time  relieved by purgatives  and
 other means, they almost universally  recurred.  The pro-
 gress of the disease, he observes, even in those cases where

   * Dr. Bryce relates a case in which three ounces of lead shot were swallow-
 ed, in order to cure a boil.  Obstinate constipation and several of the ordinary
 symptoms of poisoning by lead ensued,  nor was the patient  relieved until
 after active purgations were given for some time, aided by warm enemas, and
 the warm bath.  It was not ascertained that more than one  pellet of shot
 was discharged.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 31, p. 498.)
   t Transactions Coll. Phys. London, vol. 6, p. 39. The editors of the London
 Medical Intelligencer, in remarking on this case, observe that they once saw
 a gentleman die with similar symptoms,  after swallowing about three ounces
 of solution given to him by a quack for an injection. (New England Journal,
 vol. 10, p. 86.) 
640
IRRITANT POISONS.
it  attained its  utmost violence, was  in almost  every in-
stance insiduous and slow, as to leave the observer unappre-
hensive of its  true character, which, however,  was at last
brought to light.*
   Mr. Iliff saw a case where an ounce of the salt in solution
had been swallowed through mistake.   It produced vomit-
ing and violent pain in the stomach.   Sulphate of magnesia,
an emetic, and  subsequently the stomach-pump, were used.
The patient recovered, but  she  experienced for some days
an occasional rigidity of the abdominal muscles, and  cos-
tiveness.!
  Instances are however stated on the other hand, where
this  salt in quantity has not produced  any injurious effects.
An apprentice  of a cooper  near Glasgow, had an ulcer on
the tibia, accompanied with considerable inflammation, for
which he was ordered a  poultice with acetate of lead.  As
this  article is much used by linen-printers, he  procured in
an  adjoining  print-field, a  lump, which could  not have
weighed less than  a pound, being as he said, of the size of
his fist.  On coming down, he laid  it on the kitchen table,
and  shortly after went away.   His  mistress, an old, short-
sighted woman,  soon after came in with cabbage for  the
family dinner,  laid it  on the table  upon the lead, without
perceiving  it, and  cut them down  with a knife.  By  this
operation both were  incorporated into  one mass, and  the
whole was put into a pot, boiled with potatoes, and  after-
wards chopped together for dinner.  This dish was eaten by
the master and mistress, their daughter. and  her  husband,
and two apprentices.   Soon after, the lad wished to prepare
his poultice, but the  materials  could  not be  found.  As a
curious taste had been observed by all of them in their food,
they became alarmed, and on examining the table, it was
evident that the sugar of lead  and  the cabbage  had been
bruised together, as some of the former in a powdered state
still adhered to it.  Mr.  Hunter of Dumbarton  was imme-

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 8, p. 213, from Transac-
tions Medical Society of London.
  t London Medical Repository, vol. 23, p. 37. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
641
 diately sent for.   He gave to five of them an emetic, which
 operated well, and they experienced no disagreeable symp-
 toms afterwards.   The sixth  person, an apprentice, refused
 to  take any  thing, as he felt  no uneasiness, nor did he
 subsequently experience any  disorder in his bowels.*
    It is also within the experience of almost every physician,
 that large  doses  of this substance have  been  given as a
 medicine, without producing  any primary or secondary bad
 effects.!
    The  diversity  that is thus observed, has  led to  some
 inquiries and investigations concerning its  cause.  I will
 first state the result of comparative experiments  on animals.
   When a  solution of the acetate  of lead, containing from
 one  to three grains, was injected by Orfila into the jugular
 of dogs, it  did not appear to incommode them.  Once or
 twice only, the animals made some slight efforts to vomit,
 and  threw up a small  quantity of whitish  stringy matter.
 Five grains did not at first  appear to produce  any effect;
 but  on the  third  day, the  animal became  dejected and
 refused to take food.   On the fourth his gait was unsteady
 and difficult, his posterior extremities occasionally exhibited
 some convulsive movements, and he was extremely weak.
 He died on the fifth day, and the  lungs and stomach were
 found healthy.  Thirteen grains injected in this way pro-
 duced instant death without any signs of pain  or convulsions.
 The blood in the left ventricle was fluid, and of a vermilion
 red color.
   When the acetate was taken into the stomach in a solid
 form, and in doses of from three  drachms to  an ounce or
 more, it excited vomiting, dejection and death.  The mucous
 membrane of the stomach was  inflamed, and spots of a dark

  * London Medical and Physical Journal,  vol. 9, p. 173.  Case by Dr
Hunter of Dumbarton.   Dr. Sigmond in his Lectures quotes several similar
cases.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 21, p. 849.)
 t See, among many others, Laidlaw's essay on the use of acetate of lead.
(London Medical Gazette, vol. 3, p. 721.) Lane, in the Dublin Medical Press,
copied in Braithwaite's Retrospect, vol. 6, p. 126; a case in Denmark, quoted
in the Medical Times, vol. 10, p. 476, and  the experience of American phy-
sicians generally.                                         r  *
VOL. II.
41 
642
IRRITANT POISONS.
color were observed on it; the intestinal canal  and lungs
were healthy.  Its effects, when given in solution,  were a
loss of muscular powder, trembling of the limbs, and vertigo.
The mucous  membrane was of a gray ash color.*
  Gaspard injected acetate of lead into the veins of animals
with fatal effects; and the appearances  on dissection,  were
inflammation of the lungs and of the small intestines, but
the  stomach  was  generally sound.!  Dr« Campbell  is also
mentioned by Dr. Christison, as having proved by  experi-
ment, that death is caused by applying it to a wound.  The
symptoms were similar to those noticed by Orfila;  but the
appearances  on  dissection,  varied  so far, that Dr. Camp-
bell found the stomach red and corrugated, and the small
intestines vascular.
  Lastly,  Dr. Wibmer, a German physiologist, poisoned a
dog with  sugar of lead,  given daily to the amount of two
drachms and twelve grains, in the course of seventeen days.
Frequent vomiting and gradually increasing weakness, and
stiffness of the legs preceded death.J
  All these  experiments go to show the direct poisonous
effects of the acetate of  lead, and at the  same time to sug-
gest that the  occasional exemption from illness in  some
cases may be owing to accident, constitutional strength, or
some fortunate state of the stomach and bowels.
  Dr. A. T.  Thomson has, however, lately presented  some
new views on this subject.   He is  of opinion, that among
the salts of lead, the carbonate is the only direct poison, and
that the seemingly poisonous properties of the other  salts
depend upon their conversion into this.   From his  experi-
ments, it appears that the subacetate§ and citrate of lead in
solution, have  so powerful an affinity for carbonic acid, as to
take it from  the air ; that the affinity of the acetate for this
acid is comparatively weak, and that carbonic acid effects no
  *  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 457.
  f  London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 48, p. 155,  from Journal de
Physiologie.                 J Christison, pp. 486, 487.
  § " The subacetate of lead, commonly called extractum saturni, is prepared
by boiling one part of the neutral acetate and two parts of litharge, deprived
of carbonic acid by heat, with 25 parts of water."  (Turner's Chemistry, 5th
ed.,p. 799.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
643
change whatever on the nitrate, muriate, sulphate, phosphate
and tartrate of lead.
  Dr. Thomson next proceeded to perform some experiments
on animals with  the three salts convertible into the carbon-
ate.   He gave dogs to the  amount of several  drachms,  but
without any effect.  None of them died.  In order to explain
the results obtained by Orfila, he suggests that the quantities
given  were so large as to produce inflammation and  death,
like any other non-poisonous substance, when administered
in excessive  doses.   On rabbits, the nitrate, muriate  and
acetate produced no effect; the subacetate slightly affected
the animal, but  it  was  alive a week after taking  it.  The
carbonate, on the other hand, was decidedly poisonous.*
   The deductions  to  be made from these  results are not so
positive or comprehensive  as Dr. Thomson is inclined to put
them.  His experiments, I apprehend, explain very satisfac-
 torily the diversity of effects induced by the  ordinary sugar
 of lead.   As used in commerce, and even by the druggist, it
 may contain the subacetate.!  Other portions may be com-
 paratively pure.  And in  this  manner  we may account for
 the exemption from dangerous symptoms in some cases.  We
 can also grant that the  carbonate is among the most active
 of the compounds of lead.  But it is certainly going too far,
 to say that the noxious properties of the compounds of lead
 depend on the presence of the carbonate alone.|
   The experiments of Mitscherlich have added greatly to
 our knowledge  of the action of acetate of lead.  A  portion
 of these were undertaken  to ascertain the  reciprocal decom-

   * British Association, report of the first and second meetings of, p. 594.
 The experiments are given in detail in the London Medical Gazette, vol. 10,
 p. 689.
  _ t The following shows that even the subacetate may be innoxious:   " Du-
 ring the campaign in Russia, several loaves of sugar had been enclosed in a
 chest containing some flasks of extract of lead.  One of the flasks having
 been broken, the liquor escaped, and the sugar became impregnated with it.
 During the distresses of the campaign, it was necessary to have recourse to
 this sugar, but far from producing the fatal accidents which were expected,
 it proved a salutary article of nourishment."  (London Medical Repository,
 vol. 20, p. 441.)
   X " The theory that  I have advanced, that there is only one direct poison
 among  the salts of lead, and that the other sails become poisonous  only when
 they are converted into that one."  (Dr. Thomson in London Med. Gazette,
 vol. 10, p. 694.) 
644
IRRITANT POISONS.
positions of acetate of lead, and the chief animal compounds.
The result renders it probable that the oxide of lead unites
in different proportions with albumen and acetic acid to form
definite compounds, some of which are soluble and others
insoluble in water.  With  milk there is a copious precipi-
tate of casein, and the compound will be almost inert in the
stomach, while with salivin and the free acid of the gastric
juice, the  precipitates are soluble and of course may prove
active.  An insoluble compound is  formed with mucus, and
it is probable that most of the lead introduced into the sto-
mach passes through the intestines in this inert combination.
In small doses, the acetate when applied to a secreting sur-
face is decomposed, and it is only when the quantity is so
large, as only to be partially decomposed by the secretions
of the stomach, that the subjacent organ is attacked and
corroded.  This corrosion is  purely  chemical  and takes
place  both in  the  dead and living animal, though in the
latter, it  is  modified by the  powers  of life favoring the
decomposition.
   In his experiments on animals, the acetate was introduced
into the  stomach by means of an  elastic catheter.  When
six or seven doses of about eight  grains each in solution,
were given to rabbits, they caused weakness, slow breathing
 and death followed  in a  tetanic paroxysm.  The  stomach
contained an acid yellowish fluid, and a small quantity of
white insoluble flakes.   In each of these, lead was detected.
 The mucous coat was but  little affected,  and the metal was
detected  in the faeces.  But it could  not  be found in the
blood or urine.  This indeed was the result in all his expe-
 riments, and he therefore  infers that if it  passes into them
 at all, it must be in very small quantities.
   In  larger doses (nearly  three  drachms)  the  pulse was
 accelerated, there was great  thirst,  difficult respiration,
 increased faecal and urinary discharges—great weakness and
 convulsions—and death ensued from three to twelve hours
 in  a tetanic paroxysm.  The mucous coat of the  stomach
 was now gray or white, dry and friable, and easily separated.
 The vessels of the cellular tissue were gorged with coagu- 
IRRITANT POISONS.
645
lated blood.  The whole tract  of the  small  intestines
showed similar morbid appearances.  If, as sometimes hap-
pened, bloody or whitish urine had been voided during life,
the bladder corresponded in its changes.
  " It  appears from  the  above experiments that acetate of
lead produces corrosion of the mucous membrane only when
the gastric fluids are not sufficient for its decomposition, and
it is rendered probable that the peculiar poisonous action of
lead results from the soluble compounds which it forms with
the acids of  the gastric juice."  If  this opinion be correct,
it would follow that the  solution in acetic acid of the pre-
cipitate caused by  albumen in a solution of the acetate will
possess poisonous  properties greater than those of the pure
acetate, and such was the consequence of experiments with
it, both in large and small doses.   Death  followed  more
quickly, but the mucous coat of the stomach was in neither
case corroded.
   Symptoms of poisoning from  the external  application of
this salt seldom occur, because  there  exists no free acid in
them to dissolve  the  compounds of lead with the organic
 principles.   If death  does happen, the result is owing  to
 mechanical  and  local  irritation,  and the  abdominal viscera
are found healthy. But when a solution of the acetate was
decomposed by  albumen, and the precipitate,  dissolved in a
slight  excess of acetic acid,  was injected into the cellular
tissue, the symptoms were similar  as when introduced into
the stomach, as were also the appearances on dissection.*
   As to the  use  of acetate of lead  as a medicine, I may be
permitted to repeat a remark made in the former  edition.
   I have too often witnessed the value and efficacy of ace-
tate of lead  in pulmonary and uterine  haemorrhages, not to
feel  a  great partiality  for it  as an  astringent  medicine.   I
know of nothing that  can be substituted, in extreme cases.
But I must stop  here, and unequivocally condemn the prac-
tice which has occasionally obtained of late years, of admin-
istering this salt  in  diarrhoea.   It is  not necessary at this
  * British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 4, p. 208.  British Annals of
Medicine, vol. 1, p. 204. Dr. R. D. Thompson, in Lancet, vol. 22, p. 279. 
646
IRRITANT POISONS.
time to point out the reasons why it must prove injurious;
it is sufficient to say, that death, preceded by all the symp-
toms of acute poisoning, has been  the consequence of its
exhibition.  We have the authority of  my friend Dr. Mann,
late hospital surgeon in the  United States army, in assert-
ing, that  during the war of 1812  several officers  of rank
fell victims to its use.*
  As the chemical proofs of all the  preparations of lead are
in many respects similar, we shall  notice them at the con-
clusion of this article.
   Carbonate  of lead, {cerusse or  white lead.)   We  have a
remarkable case on record, of the  noxious effects of this
substance on the human system:
   Mr. Deering, a surgeon in London, was requested on the
21st of October, 1808,  to visit Mrs. R., the wife of a respect-
able tradesman in Aldersgate street, who complained of vio-
lent pain in the scrobiculus cordis, with great soreness of
the  epigastric region when pressed  upon.  She had vomited
a  considerable quantity of bilious  matter, and at the same
time her bowels were  constipated ; the pulse was  calm and
regular, the tongue clean and moist, and there was no symp-
tom-of fever present.   A cathartic  was administered, which
operated, and an opiate given in the evening.  The follow-
ing morning she appeared  relieved; but in the evening the
pain and vomiting recurred, and these  symptoms continued
for some successive days, in so distressing a degree, that it
was deemed advisable  to consult the family physician, which
was done on November 4, 1808.  At this time, these symp-
toms continued  as already intimated,  without any appear-
ance of fever, and hence the physician was induced to con-
sider the  affection as of a rheumatic and spasmodic nature.
   In a few days, in consequence of the amendment of the
patient,  he discontinued his visits.  In about a week after
 this period, a boy in the same family, nearly sixteen years
of age, was seized with symptoms exactly similar to those
 of the preceding case, and similar remedies  afforded only

   *  New England Journal, vol. 11, p. 19.  Boston Medical and Surgical
 Journal, vol. 32, p. 255. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
647
partial relief, till at length he was removed into the country,
and thereby recovered his health.
  A week after the attack of this  youth, the eldest child, a
boy six years old, was also seized with analogous symptoms,
and the mother having relapsed into her former state, the
physician was again consulted on the 10th of November.
At this time, three other persons in the family labored under
similar affections, and suspicions were now entertained that
some poisonous  substance might  have caused this general
indisposition of the family; but after minute investigation,
no one circumstance was discovered to  confirm this  suspi-
cion, or to elucidate the source of so extensive a  calamity.
  The sickness and pain continued unabated in Mrs. R., but
the son, after the period of a fortnight, was  deemed in  a
state of  convalescence by his  physician, who discontinued
his attendance; he was, however, soon after seized with
convulsions, and expired within  a few hours.   Unexpected
and severe as this shock was, Mrs. R. afterwards gradually
grew a little better.  She had hitherto continued to suckle
 her child, which, it being  fifteen months old, she was ad-
 vised to wean :  to this she  reluctantly  consented.   In about
 ten days afterwards the child became  somewhat  costive,
 without any other apparent indisposition; but at this period
 it was seized with vomiting and  convulsions, and suddenly
expired.  The unhappy parent now experienced a return of
her  complaints, and, under a persuasion of the inefficacy of
professional  aid, she was  prevailed  upon to consult an
empiric, whose attendance  though continued to the  end of
the year, proved unavailing; and on the 3d of January, 1809,
she had the advice of Mr. Chevalier, an experienced surgeon,
who considered the patient's complaint to  be chronic rheu-
matism; and by the use of clysters of warm water, oily muci-
laginous medicines, fomentations and  vesicatories, she ap-
peared to experience more relief than at any period since the
first attack; but although the vomiting and sickness were less
violent and frequent, the pain and soreness of the abdomen,
first  complained of, never  entirely  subsided;  she was,
however, able  to sit up and amuse  herself with a little 
648
IRRITANT POISONS.
needlework, and to go about the domestic concerns of the
family, and Mr. Chevalier had proposed to pay his final visit
on the 21st.  On  the  morning of this  day she rose at ten
o'clock, and within the space of an hour afterwards, whilst
standing near the desk of drawers, she  suddenly exclaimed,
" I  am dying!"  She was  seized  with convulsions, which
continued till  five o'clock in  the afternoon,  when  she
expired.
  On the subsequent day, Mr. Chevalier, whose anatomical
skill  is  well  known, examined the body  by dissection.
Neither the thoracic and abdominal viscera, nor  the brain,
upon the most minute examination,  exhibited  the least
appearance of disease ; in short, not the least trace could be
discovered of any morbid affection.
  With respect to the three other persons already mentioned
to have been indisposed, the servant maid, one of them, was
conveyed to her friends, and recovered.  A sister-in-law of
Mrs. R. also recovered ; but the  third, who was her mother-
in-law, died, after lingering under disease till March.
  These circumstances having been cursorily communicated
to the medical society, Dr. Adams, Dr. Hamilton, and Mr.
Lawrence, were requested to visit the house of this unfortu-
nate family, and to endeavor to ascertain the  cause of the
calamity.  Every culinary  article, and the whole premises
were accurately  examined, but without  leading  to any
discovery.
  It appeared indeed, that Mr.  R., the husband of the de-
ceased lady,  had purchased a cask of sugar at a sale, a
considerable part of which had been disposed of to some
friends in the country, who had used it without inconve-
nience, and hence no suspicion was entertained of this article
having produced the fatality in Mr. R.'s family.
  In this state of uncertainty, Dr. Laird, another member of
the medical society, visited the  house ;  and, on examining
the cask which had contained the sugar, he observed a white
powder adhering to its inner surface, and which, on being
heated by the  blow-pipe on charcoal,  afforded globules of
lead in the metallic state. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
649
  The mystery was thus at lenth developed.   The sugar
had  been carelessly put into a cask which had  previously
contained white lead.  That part of the sugar  which was
sent into the  country  had probably been taken  out of the
middle of the cask, and had never come in contact with the
lead ; whilst that which was used by the family, having been
taken from the side, was impregnated  with this metal, and
doubtless was the source of the fatal events described.
  Of nine persons  in  this family, who  were more or less
indisposed, four died, and the effects of the poison appear to
have been nearly in the ratio of their respective ages.
  The infant, fifteen months old, was attacked and expired
within the space of twenty-four  hours; the child, six years
of age, survived a fortnight;  Mrs.  R. aged forty, lingered
three months  before the fatal event took place;  and the
mother-in-law, aged sixty-seven died four months after the
attack.
  The symptoms in each were very similar.   The vomiting,
pain in the  stomach and costiveness, marked the  attack of
the  disease;  and  the  soreness  of the  epigastric region in
 those who  recovered, was not  removed by medicine, but
seemed rather gradually to wear away by time or change of
air.   The matter vomited was usually of  a  dark-yellow
color, though sometimes green; the faeces were in general
dark-colored; but in the case of Mrs. R. they  were com-
pletely white  during the space of twent-four hours only.
  There  was a considerable sameness in the  medical treat-
ment.  The opiates which were given afforded no mitigation
of the symptoms,  unless joined with cathartics, and aided
by fomentations, &c.  The countenances of all the patients
exhibited a pale,  sickly, wan aspect.   The  pulse  in each
was  slow and regular, rather indeed sluggish, and generally
below the natural state;  but in no instance were there any
symptoms of paralysis.*
  I  have  given the details of  this case because it is a most
instructive one to the practitioner, as well as the  medical
  *_ Eclectic Repertory, vol. 2, p. 402, from the Transactions of the Medical
Society of London, vol. 1, part 1st. 
650
IRRITANT POISONS.
jurist.  Other instances of the poisonous effects of the car-
bonate of lead mixed  with sugar have occurred in our own
country.  Thus, at  Concord  in  New Hampshire, the  State
Medical  Society were requested to examine the cause of
general illness in a family.   They had suffered under nausea
and vomiting for several weeks, accompanied with costive-
ness,  pain  and great  weakness.   The  disease  gradually
became very violent,  and  assumed all  the appearances of
colica pictonum. Suspicion was  at length excited, and white
lead was detected in the sugar.  One person, a female, died
after  having labored  under partial paralysis and  frequent
and violent  convulsions.
  On dissection, the  colon was found  contracted in  some
parts, the gall-bladder filled with  bile, and the vessels of
the brain turgid.  The skin was of  a deep yellow.  As the
appearance  of the stomach is not mentioned, it is to be pre-
sumed it was healthy.*
  Dr. Drake of Cincinnati, experienced in his own person
the effects of its application to an abraded surface.  He was
severely burnt  on  both hands, and among  the treatment
early used, was wrapping the  parts in  rags dipped in a
painter's  solution  of  linseed  oil and  white  lead.  A real
saturnine colic was the result in about four days after its
use.f
  Litharge  and red lead.   The  former  is the protoxide of
lead in  a state of  semi-vitrification, and  has a grayish-red
color; the  latter is the  deutoxide, and is of a bright red.
Both are poisonous.  Red wafers colored with red lead are
destructive  to birds who pick  them up, and  the same  paste
is sold  for  the  purpose of destroying beetles, in which it
succeeds very effectually.   Many toys are also painted with
this substance, and thus children have been injured by put-
ting them frequently into their mouths.J   Sir George Baker
states, that  twelve infants died successively in convulsions,

  *  New England Journal, vol. 12, p. 256.
  f  Western Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences, vol. 4, p. 51.  Dr.
Taufflieb relates a case of saturnine colic induced by applying a lead plaster
to a large ulcer.  (American Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 23, p. 246.)
  X  Paris' Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 352. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
651
at Dartmouth (Eng.,) in consequence of an ointment, which
had litharge in its composition, being applied to the nipples
of their nurses.*  Dr. Charters relates of a Fakeer in India,
who administered  to two soldiers, six  drachms  of litharge
in divided  doses.   The result  was  a very  violent colica
pictonum.f
  The muriate of lead, (oxychloride of lead, Turner's yellow
or patent yellow,) is also very poisonous according to Dr.
Paris.
  Action of air and water upon lead.   It was noticed as early
as the days of  Caesar and Augustus, by the Roman architect,
Vitruvius, that  cerusse was formed on  this metal by water
passing  over it, and he therefore forbade its use for water
pipes.J
  Chemical investigations in later times,  have proved  the
correctness of  this opinion, and the only question has been,
in what condition it is present, and under what circumstan-
 ces it is most freely produced.  The following may be taken
 as  the present state of our knowledge :
   Lead exposed to the air, becomes tarnished, and the crust
 thus  formed  is a  carbonate.  It will  be  produced most
 rapidly if the air  be moist.  As  to  the action of  spring
 waters, Dr. Lambe was of the opinion from his experiments,
 that they possessed the power of dissolving and corroding
 lead, to such an extent as to  render them dangerous to man.
 Dr. Thomas Thomson, on the other hand, while he assented
 to  the  opinion of their acting on lead,  nevertheless main-
 tained  that the metal was only held in  suspension and not
 in solution, and that the quantity suspended  in such waters,
 after they had  passed through lead pipes, pumps  or cisterns,
 is  far too minute to prove  injurious.   Dr. Christison, in
 order to reconcile, if possible, these discrepancies, performed
 a series of experiments.   He found  that distilled water, de-

  *  Transactions of the College of Physicians of London, vol. 3, p. 243.
  t  Transactions of the Medical and  Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. 5, p.
 155. Symptoms of poisoning by litharge are not uncommon in Denmark, as
 the peasants  use it to sweeten their sour beer. (London Medical Gazette,
 vol. 25, p. 375.)
  X Christison, p. 459. 
652
IRRITANT POISONS.
prived of its gases, and excluded from contact with the air,
has no action whatever on lead.  If this water contains the
customary gases, {pure rain or snow water,) the surface of
the metal soon becomes white, but this  soon ceases, if the
surface of the water be not exposed to the air.  In that case,
and if the air has free access, a white  powder  soon forms
around the lead, and this  increases until after a few days, a
large  number of white pearly scales are  produced,  which
partly float in the water, but are  chiefly deposited in the
bottom of the vessel.  These scales are, on  analysis, found
to be  a  carbonate.  He  also  ascertained that  during this
experiment,  a very  minute  quantity of lead was actually
dissolved in the water.*
  Our common spring  and river waters,  {hard water,)  how-
ever,  contain more  or less of neutral  salts; and to make
the inquiry practically useful it becomes necessary to ascer-
tain their influence in promoting or impeding the action on
the lead.   Guyton Morveau found that if he added a solution
of either sulphate of  lime  or  muriate  of soda, (salts very
common in spring water,) to distilled water, its power of at-
tacking lead was  destroyed.   Dr. Christison extended this
investigation to many  other  salts,  and found that they all
impaired the power of the water;  arid that even when the
carbonate was formed in very minute quantities,  it was de-
posited  so slowly and adhered so closely to the lead, that
it could hardly be supposed to diffuse  itself through the
liquid.!
  In a second paper on this subject, published in the Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 15, Profes-
sor Christison has given the results  of his matured and
confirmed observations in the following conclusions :
  1. Lead pipes ought not to be used  for the  purpose, at
least where the distance  is  considerable,  without a careful
chemical examination of the water to be transmitted. 2. The
risk of a dangerous  impregnation of lead is greatest in the
instance of the purest water.  3. Water which  tarnishes
* Christison, p. 460.
t Ibid., p. 462. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
653
polished lead when left at rest upon it for a few hours, can-
not be safely transmitted through lead pipes without certain
precautions. (Conversely, it is probable, though not proved,
that if polished lead  remain untarnished,  or nearly so,  for
twenty-four hours, in a glass of water, the  water  may be
safely conducted through lead pipes.)  4. Water which con-
tains less than about  an 8,000th of salts in solution, cannot
be safely conducted in  lead pipes, without certain precau-
tions.  5. Even this  proportion  will prove insufficient to
prevent corrosion,  unless a considerable part of the  saline
matter consist of carbonates and  sulphates, especially  the
former,   6. So large  a proportion as a 4,000th, probably
even a considerably larger proportion, will be insufficient, if
the salts be in a great measure muriates.  7.  It is,  I con-
ceive, right to add, that in all cases,  even though the com-
position of the water seems to bring it within the conditions
of  safety  now stated, an attentive examination should be
 made of the water, after it has been running for a few days
 through the pipes.   For it is not improbable that other cir-
 cumstances, besides  those hitherto ascertained, may regulate
 the preventive influence of the neutral salts.  8.  When the
 water is judged of a kind which is likely to attack lead pipes,
 or when it actually flows  through  them,  impregnated with
 lead, a  remedy may be found either in leaving the pipes full
 of the water, and at rest for three or four months, or by  sub-
 stituting for the water a weak solution of phosphate of soda
 in the proportion of  about a 25,000th part.
   Capt. Philip Yorke has examined the subject, and  also
 performed a number of experiments on the action of distilled
 and spring water.  His results in the main correspond with
 those of Dr. Christison, and he supposes,  that  beside  the
 carbonate, an hydrated oxide of lead is formed,  soluble in
 the water.*
   Again,  Mr. Alfred S. Taylor, in a  series of experiments,
 continued for  seven years, has verified the results of Dr.
  * London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol.  5, p. 81; vol. 28, p.
 17.   Bonsdorff has confirmed these results and found the oxide produced by
 the action of water containing air, to be perfectly soluble in water—one part
of lead in 7000 of water.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 21, p. 453. 
654
IRRITANT  POISONS.
Christison, in a most  satisfactory manner.  He found that
distilled waters,  perfectly pure, when exposed to the air,
acted on lead immersed in it, and slowly formed a precipitate
of carbonate  of lead;  while the  water,  on being  tested,
gave  faint  traces of the metal.  But if the  distilled water
was not perfectly pure, it prevented the formation of the car-
bonate.  Of all the  salts added by him to distilled water, he
found those which are most common in hard water (as sul-
phate of lime) to be most effectual, in preventing action on
the lead.*
  With  these facts, it will  not he  difficult to answer the
question, whether it is  safe to carry water over lead, or to
collect it in cisterns lined with lead.  The probability cer-
tainly is, that a portion of carbonate of lead is either dissolved
or diffused through it, and  renders the liquid measurably de-
leterious ;  and  we have abundance of accounts to illustrate
this  opinion.   Lead colic was unknown at  Amsterdam,
until the  metal was substituted for tiles on the roofs of
dwelling-houses : it then  raged with great violence.   Dr.
Yeats,  in a paper on the waters of Tunbridge Wells, men-
tions,  that in 1815,  lead colics  were very frequent  at that
place.   A Mr. Taylor had laid down, in 1814,  several thou-
sand feet of leaden pipes, to convey water to the different
houses.   In the following year, the lead  colic occurred in
those houses  to which  this water was  distributed; and all
doubt as to the existence of the poison in it, was removed
by the examinations of Dr. Lambe  and Mr. Brande.   They
detected the carbonate, in  a very minute  state of division,
in the water.!
  A somewhat similar case is related of officers on board  a
packet bound to the East Indies. They put their allowances

  * Guy's Hospital Reports, vol.  3, pp. 60 to 91.  See also  Pharmaceutical
Journal, vol.  2, p. 409; Mr. Scanlan in ibid. vol. 4, p. 69; Dr. Dana's Analy-
sis of water passing through leaden pipes at Lowell.   (Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 28, p. 326.)
  I am aware that Prof. Horsford, in his elaborate paper on " Service Pipes
for Water," comes to a different conclusion, and also that the popular opinion
is in favor of the innocuousness of leaden pipes, because no injury has hap-
pened.  That it may happen,  is, I think, shown conclusively.
  f Brande's Journal, vol. 14, p. 352. 
                       IRRITANT FOISONS.                   655

of water in a leaden cistern, furnished with a stop-cock; and
in about three weeks, every one of  them was affected with
all the symptoms  of colica pictonum, in  the  most  violent
degree.   On arriving  at St.  Helena, they gradually  reco-

vered.*
   It is  an  evident  deduction  from  the  researches of Dr.
Christison, that in proportion to the purity of the water, and
the presence  of carbonic  acid, will  be the action  on  the

metal.!
   Different  articles  of  food or  drink  may be  contaminated

with this substance.
   If the food contain any free  vegetable acids, or saline pre-
parations,, it will attack utensils made of  lead, and oxidate,
and indeed in some cases dissolve  them.   This circumstance
seems  to  have been  known to the ancients.   Their tin was
all adulterated with lead; and  Galen,  assigning  this as a
   * Medical Commentaries, vol. 19, p. 180.  The presence of lead in the
 water was demonstrated by the application of a solution of sulphuretted hy-
 drogen.  Additional cases of the injurious effects of water impregnated with
 lead, may be found in the Transactions of the College of Physicians of Lon-
 don, vol. 2, p. 419, &c.; also, in Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 22, p.
 82 ; cases by Dr. Alderson of Hull.  Mr. Pearsall, who examined the water
 in these last, obtained first  water clear and pure from the cistern, but  on
 agitating it, and drawing off equally bright water the next day, it gave une-
 quivocal  proofs of  the presence of lead.   (Chemist, vol. 3, p. 273.)  Mr.
 Osborn detected lead in water  taken early in the morning, and which had
 thus stood in the pump for several hours.  Dr. De Mussy, in Dublin Quarterly
 Med. Journal, vol. 7, p. 405, relative to the poisoning of Louis Philippe and
 his family at Claremont. See also an account of the poisoning of the dogs in
 Queen  Victoria's kennel at Ascot by water thus  impregnated.  (Chamber's
 Journal,  1843, p. 112.)
  The dry bellyache, so common in the West Indies, has been ascribed by some
 to the water passing over their frequently painted roofs, and then being col-
 lected in tanks.  See London Medical Gazette, vol. 11, pp. 78, 795, 873.
  f In  the water of the river Thames, though it flows in leaden pipes, no lead
 can be detected; and this may be explained by the fact, that the animal mat-
 ters which constantly accumulate in it, prevent any dissolution or suspension
 of the metal; they combine with it, and form a bulky insoluble precipitate.
 " If you add nitrate of lead to Thames water, you will find that it becomes
 milky,  and that a white powder falls to the bottom, which dissolves without
 effervescence in nitric acid;  it is, therefore, a combination of oxide  of lead
 with some animal matter.  Thus it is the  impurity of Thames water, that
 prevents it from containing lead.  Probably hard waters, containing sulphate
 of lime in solution, may also be free from lead.   But with these exceptions,
 we may lay it down as a general fact, that all waters which pass through
 leaden pipes, or which are kept in leaden cisterns, contain small particles of
carbonate of lead."  (Dr. T. Thomson, Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal,
vol. 12, p. 495.)                            & 
656
IRRITANT POISONS.
reason, cautions against the use of tinned vessels, and recom-
mends the preservation of medicines in glass ones.*
   Earthen vessels, glazed with lead, are also very apt to be
acted on by vegetable acids.  Vinegar corrodes  them, and
if there be any particle of food within, the oxide  or acetate
that is  produced will  mix with it;! so also weaker acids.
A case occurred some years ago at Northampton, Mass., where
a family,  consisting of eight individuals, were  all  seized
with colic pains, strong convulsive spasms of the intestines,
frequent vomitings  and  obstinate costiveness,  in  conse-
quence of eating stewed  apnles  which had  been kept for
some months in a large  earthen  vessel.   On examination,
the glazing was  found corroded, and  a solution from the
stewed  apples exhibited the chemical proofs indicative of
the metal.J  Dr. Eberle  also states  that he saw four cases
in 1815, arising from  apple-butter being in  these vessels.
On examining one of  them, a thin crust  of acetate of lead
was seen covering its  internal surface.§
   Milk  has also acted on vessels  of this description.
   The adulteration of wines by lead  appears to be  an old
device; and it has been much used, since it destroys their
austerity, gives them a sweet taste, and renders them sale-
able.
  * Beckmann on Inventions, vol. 4, p. 29.  The question has  sometimes
been asked, whether the sheet lead which is wrapped round the tea obtained
from China, may not  prove injurious ?  Dr. Thomson has satisfactorily de-
termined this point.  He found it, on analysis, to consist of lead 95.5 parts,
and tin 4.5 parts in the hundred.  This alloy is not so liable to tarnish as
pure lead, and it possesses  this pecular advantage,  that when it comes in
contact with articles of food, the tin is always acted on in preference to the
lead.  (Annals of Philosophy, vol. 4, p. 155.) Proust established the fact
just mentioned, by numerous experiments. See his paper on Tinning, copied
from the Journal de Physique, in the Repertory of Arts, 2d series,  vol. 9,
pp. 38 and 145.
  f Transactions of the College of Physicians  of London, vol. 1, p. 257, &c.
  { An acconnt of the poisonous effects of the  use of glazed earthen vessels,
by Dr. Meade. (New England Journal, vol. 2, p. 258.) A similar case is re-
lated in ibid., vol. 12,  p. 253.  The apple-sauce, when made,  is turned hot
into these pots, and the glazing is readily acted upon. In the present instance,
nearly one-third was  found  decomposed.  A  case  from eating pear  sweet-
meats, kept in a similar way; in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.
16, p. 239.
  § American Medical Recorder, vol. 1, p. 534.  See also a paper  on the
danger of using vessels of lead, copper or brass,  in  dairies, by Mr.
Thomas  Hayes, Surgeon, Hampstead, in the Repertory of Arts,  1st  series,
vol. 7, p. 116. 
                                                      657
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                 vo

  Beckmann supposes  that  the  ancients were acquainted
with the fact that lead rendered harsh  wines  milder; lor
Pliny remarks, that when the Greek and Roman wine mer-
chants wished  to  try whether their wine was spoiled,  they
immersed in it a plate of lead,  which  could  only be  to
observe  whether  by corrosion  the color of  the lead was
changed.
   It was not until the fifteenth century, that the use of lead
in wines became so notorious as to call  for prohibitions on
the part of governments in Germany; and the  adulteration
of this article appears  to have been a subject of deliberation
at the Diet of Rothenburg in 1487, and  the Diet of Worms
in 1495.*   In  France, this species of villany was carried to
a great  excess.   The  Duke of Wirtemberg,  by a decree
dated March 10,  1690, declared  it capital  to  mix litharge
 in wine,  or even to sell  litharge in the shops ;f and indi-
 viduals  were punished with death for the infraction of this
 decree. At the present day, we have every reason to believe
 that sugar of lead is frequently  employed  by unprincipled
  dealers.^
    Cider,  adulterated  by lead,  has also frequently proved
  injurious, and indeed to such an extent,  that  the disease
  known by the name of the Devonshire colic, has been deemed
  to originate from this cause.  I am aware that other causes
  have been assigned, but  it is sufficient for  my present pur-
  pose, that this fluid, among others, has excited the  symp-
  toms in question; and it is certainly well established,  that
  cider boiled in leaden vessels  has produced death to those
  drinking it, and that the  racking of it  in a  leaden cistern,
  or  even the grinding of the  apples in troughs which  are
  united by lead, has been the origin of serious illness.§
   * Beckmann on Inventions, vol. 1, p. 396.
   t Transactions of the College of Physicians of London, vol. 1, p. 346.
   X Thirty-two cases occurred in the Duke of Newcastle's family, then in
  Hanover, in 1752, occasioned by their using as a common drink, a small white
  wine, adulterated with calces of lead.  (Dr. Warren, Trans. College Physi-
  cians of London, vol. 2, p. 86.)
   § See the papers of Sir George Baker and Dr. Warren, in the Transactions
  of the College of Physicians of London, vols. 1, 2, 3; London Med. Gazette,
  vol. 10, p. 814.
VOL. II.
42 
658
IRRITANT POISONS.
  In 1842, six individuals in France,  after drinking cider
for  a few days, were seized with the usual  symptoms of
poisoning by lead, as violent colic, obstinate  constipation,
pains in the limbs, with the attendant trembling.  They re-
covered under the usual  remedies.   Messrs.  Chevallier,
Ollivier and Pages, were directed to inquire into the mode in
which the cider  had become adulterated;  and they  found,
that during its preparation, it had been  allowed to remain
for  two days in a reservoir which wTas lined with lead. They
also recognized that the salt of lead was a malate, and which
they found to be a soluble salt; although Thomson asserts
that malic acid exerts no action on lead, and Berzelius states
that malate of lead is nearly insoluble in cold water.  It is
possible that the sugar, gum and vegetable albumen, &c, in
the cider, may aid the  action of the acid.  The individual
who had sold the cider was fined for want of due precau-
tion.*
  Rum is also another  liquor which may act on lead.  Dr.
John Hunter mentions, that a  violent colic  prevailed ex-
tensively among the soldiers at Jamaica in 1781-2.  They
were in the habit of drinking rum; and  suspecting its purity,
he was led  to examine  it.  The  result of his experiments
induced him to believe  that it was contaminated with lead.!
Dr. Franklin also communicated a curious fact to Sir George
Baker  on this point.   About  forty  years  previous,  (Sir
George's paper was read in 1767,) leaden worms were used in
Boston for the distillation of rum. The consequence was so
violent to drinkers, and the illness so common, that govern-
ment forbade  their use, and ordered the worms to be con-
structed  of block  tin.   The dry bellyache was  much less
heard of afterwards.!

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 27, p. 104. See, also, cases by Dr. Shipman, in
American Journal Medical Sciences, N. S., vol. 6, p. 89.
  f  Transactions of the College of Physicians of London, vol. 3, p. 227;
Medical Commentaries, vol. 13, p. 138.  When the new  rum in the West
Indies, thus impregnated, has  been kept in a cask for twelve months, it loses
its deleterious qualities.  This fact is mentioned by Mr. Sylvester, and by him
applied to the discovery of a new test—the gallic acid.  (See Eclectic Reper-
tory, vol. 4, p. 454; Paris' Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 342.)
  X Transactions of the College of Physicians of London, vol. 1, p. 286. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
659
  Even syrup have been clarified  by the acetate of lead,
and thus contain a notable portion of the metal.*
   Cheese  has sometimes  been colored with  red lead; and
several cases are on record, of families being poisoned by
its use.  In one instance,  a dog, who had eaten the rind,
was convulsed, and died in  a day.!
   Sugar,  apart  from  the  actual intermixture of a salt, has
been contaminated by lead.   A  remarkable  instance has
occurred  in our own country, at  Calais, in the  state  of
Maine.  Nearly one hundred persons  were almost simulta-
neously seized with violent colicky affections ; out of that
number, three died, and  several remained extremely ill-
many suffering also under paralysis of the extremities.  On
examination, it was found that all who used sugar obtained
from  a certain  mercantile  house were ill, and  none other.
This led to a chemical investigation by Dr. Charles T. Jack-
son, of Boston,  and he demonstrated  the presence of lead.
The sugar, in this instance, came from Barbadoes ; and  Dr.
Jackson suggests, that probably leaden reservoirs were used
in preparing the syrup, and that the  free acids  of the juice
acted on  them.|
   Mr. Schweitzer states  that lead is  often found in English
chemical preparations, and assigns as a reason, that alkalies,
acids, and salts, act  on  the white glass  of that country,
which contains more or less of lead. He appears to have de-
tected its  presence in many instances.§
  Saturnine emanations are  well known to produce danger-
ous disease ; and these, of course, most readily  affect work
ers in lead, as plumbers, painters,  type-founders, printers
and  potters.  I  shall not, however, enter on  this subject at
present, as it can hardly, if ever, be  a subject  of legal in-
vestigation, and  particularly because it can  be examined

hal0rf,la'S7nX!,COxlogy'-Vo1^ l' P" 454"  The same salt was detected by La-
bairaque and Pelletier, in the orange water sold in Paris in 1829, (Annales
AnA?enfV°i- ■' P- 55,;), and by Mr" S1uire>in that sol<* ^ London. (British
Annals of Medicine,  vol. 1, p. 15.)                           v
J im/r?n ^odical ^eSorder>, v°l. 7, p. 660.  Dr. S. W. Williams, in Bos-
ton Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 13, p. 58.
  X Boston Medical Magazine, vol.  3, p. 716.
  § London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 8, p. 266. 
660
IRRITANT POISONS.
with most advantage when we treat of the diseases of manu-
facturers, in the part relating to medical police.*
   It will be proper, however, to  give a  short sketch  of the
symptoms produced by the  gradual introduction of  small
quantities of lead into the system.   This will illustrate the
effects of adulterated food and drink, and  also those pro-
duced by emanations, or by working in the metal.
   Colic  is among the earliest symptoms; and  from this cir-
cumstance, the complaint has been  styled, for a  length of
time,  colica pictonum.   It  is  not  acute at first, nor of long
duration, but frequently  returns, and  at last becomes in-
tolerably severe.   The mouth is dry ; there is generally an
absence of  fever : sickness of the  stomach is present, and
sometimes vomiting, which will last for several days.  The
abdomen is  drawn  inwards towards the  navel; and  this
sinking in is the more observable as the pain becomes more
intense.  Costiveness is  very common, and the  alvine  ex-
cretions are discharged with pain and difficulty.  The urine
presents no particular character.!
  • I, however, insert the following:
  Dangerous Effects produced by the Bleaching of Lace.  In the process of
manufacture, Brussels lace is liable to become soiled.  If it were washed, its
value would be reduced ;  hence the so-called bleaching of this lace is effected
by impregnating the fibre with carbonate of lead.  M. Blanchet has recently
communicated to the Academy of Sciences, some cases, in which he had ob-
served that the workmen engaged in this manufacture, suffered from an impair-
ment of the senses of vision and  hearing.  The  disease presented all the
characters of saturnine paralysis.  He visited the manufactory, and ascertained
that the lace, covered with the finely powdered carbonate of lead, was well
beaten between sheets of paper.  The workmen thus breathed an atmosphere
constantly impregnated with the poison.  The cause of the symptoms was at
once explained.
  M. Chevallier had previously called the attention of the French government
to the subject.  He observed that  the workmen were liable to suffer from
colica pictonum ; and suggested that the  disease might also appear as a just
retribution in those females who were in the habit of wearing lace so whi-
tened, in contact with the skin.  (London Med. Gazette, Dec. 24, 1847.)
  There is a case of poisoning from flour containing lead, in Edinburgh M.
J. Med. Science, vol. 1, p. 220; from maccaba snuff, adulterated by red lead,
causing disease and probable death, in London Med. Gazette, vol. 32, p. 138;
and from lead-shot remaining in a bottle of liquor, in Lancet, vol. 34, p. 129.
  X Dr. Burton, of St. Thomas' Hospital, has, in repeated instances, noticed
a peculiar appearance of the gums, in those who have been slowly affected by
the introduction of lead into the  system.   The edges (of the gums),  where
they were attached to the necks of two or more teeth, were distinctly bor-
dered'by a narrow line of a leaden blue  color, while the remainder  of the
gums, for the most part, retained their usual color and condition.  Salivation,
he considers as a very rare occurrence, from the absorption of lead.  (Medico-
Chirurgical  Transactions, vol. 23;  British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
661
   Paralysis of the fingers, hands and wrists, is also a fre-
 quent  accompaniment of this disease, and it occurs most
 severely in those who are in the constant practice of handling
 preparations of lead.  Convulsive  motions, prostration of
 strength, a dry cough, and a gradual wasting, generally at-
 tend this stage of the complaint.
   It has been observed  by some writers, that the appear-
 ances found  on dissection in those who have  fallen victims
 to saturnine emanations, are strongly indicative  of disease
 —exhibiting inflammation or obstruction of the  mesentery
 and its glands ; affections of the liver, spleen and lungs, and
 inflammation of the intestines.   Most of these are, however,
 contradicted by modern examiners,  and it is denied that, in
 general, any inflammation  is found  in the  digestive canal.
 A contraction of  the diameter of the great intestines, par-
 ticularly of  the colon, is the  only morbid appearance that
 was noticed in numerous dissections.*
   Chemical proofs. A  multiplicity of tests  have  been  pro-
 posed  for the detection of the acetate, or any other of  the
 soluble salts of lead.  I shall follow Dr. Christison in stating
 some of the most unequivocal:
   (a.)  Sulphuretted  hydrogen causes a black precipitate, the
 sulphuret of lead.  This is a very delicate test.   It is, how-
 ever, possible that water  containing the  metal, may,  in
 passing through a filter,  be nearly deprived of the whole of
 it.   A  second filtration, according  to  Mr. Pearsall,  will
 sometimes remove almost every trace.   To prevent any mis-
 take, add sulphuretted hydrogen to the filter also.
  {b.) Chromate of potash gives a beautiful canary  yellow
 precipitate, the chromate of lead.
  (c.) Hydriodate of potash causes also a beautiful  yellow
 precipitate, the iodide of lead.  If, however, an excess  of

 10, p. 427; vol. 11, p. 450.)  Several continental physicians have noticed the
same appearance.  I observe that the credit of its discovery is claimed for
 1 anquerel.                                      J
 * Among later writers on colica pictonum, I may refer to Dr. Stokes' Lec-
tures Dublin, and Copland's Dictionary.  Mr. Dunn, a manufacturer of white
lead .detectedI the metal in the atmosphere of his manufactory.  (London and
Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 7, p. 77.) 
662
IRRITANT  POISONS.
nitric  or acetic  acid be present, these acids  will cause a
yellow  coloration  even  though  there be no  lead in the
solution.*  It is important  to use each of these tests, since
sulphuretted  hydrogen produces a black precipitate with
other substances.
  {d.)  If the solution of lead be not  too  diluted, a piece  of
zinc suspended in it for some time will  produce  the usual
crystalline arborescence.!
  (e.)  Sulphate of soda.  This is recommended by  Dr. T.
Thomson as  a very minute and unequivocal  test.   It will
produce  a  white precipitate  in water, containing one-
hundred-thousandth  of its  weight of lead.  " The precipi-
tate," says  Dr. Thomson,  " is a fine  dense powder, which
speedily falls to the bottom, and is not redissolved by nitric
acid;  no other precipitate can be confounded with it, except
sulphate of barytes, and there is no chance  of the presence
of barytes in solution in water."!
   The minuteness of the various tests will be  seen  in the
following table:
                                                 Parts of water.
   Sulphate of soda detects one  part  in.........    5000
   Hydriodate of potash,.....................  10,000
   Ferrocyanate of potash,....................  18,000
   Potash,..................................  20,000
   Carbonate of potash,......................  60,000
   Carbonate of  soda,..................■......  60,000
   Chromate of potash,.......................  100,000
   Sulphuretted hydrogen,....................  500,000§

   The discrepancy between Drs. Devergie and Thomson, as
to the sulphate of soda, is very striking.   The former, how-

  * To prevent  any uncertainty with this test, Mr. R. Johnson has recom-
mended the following modification: Dissolve the sulphuret obtained by (a.)
in the nitric acid; add carbonate of soda; dissolve the precipitated carbonate
of lead in acetic  acid with a gentle heat. To this acetic solution, add the
hydriodate, and the characteristic color will be produced.  (Lancet, N. S.,
vol. 7,  p. 671.)
  f Christison, p. 456.       X Paris' Med. Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 363.
  § Devergie, vol. 2, p. 779.  Harting states that  chromate- of potash will
detect  one  seventy-thousandth,  and sulphuretted hydrogen one three-
hundred-and-fifty -thousandth. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
663
ever, insists on his correctness, and therefore  prefers the
chromate of potash in all minute investigations.
  The reduction of the sulphuret may be accomplished by
putting it into a small hole scraped in a piece of charcoal,
and applying  the  flame of the  blowpipe to it.   The metal
almost immediately appears.  If any doubts exist as to its
nature, the charcoal may be withdrawn, and the  flame again
applied,  "when two beautiful  concentric circles of red and
yellow remain, being the yellow and red oxide of lead."
  Insoluble matters may be  evaporated to dryness,  and
burnt in a crucible; but generally speaking, nitric acid  will
dissolve  the lead from  most  of its  compounds that are
insoluble in water.*
  It would appear, from a series of experiments on animals,
by Orfila, with the salts of lead, that  even after a fortnight
or more, the metal may be detected in its state  of combina-
tion  with  the  tissues of the  digestive  canal.   The parts
should be boiled for half  an hour in diluted nitric acid, and
a copious product of nitrate of lead is attained.!  Dr. Budd
(Medico-Chirurg. Transactions, vol. 25,) states that lead has
been detected in the  muscles  paralysed  by it, and it is also
asserted that traces have been found in the brain.!
   Dr. Charles T. Jackson used the  following process  in
examining the suspected sugar :  Five hundred  grains were
burnt to cinders in a platina crucible,  and these cinders
again to' ashes in a capsule.  The ashes were digested  with
nitric acid, and then evaporated to  dryness.   They  were
then treated with water, and filtered.  A current of sulphu-
retted hydrogen was now passed through  it, which produced
the black  sulphuret  of lead.   This  when  collected  and
dried, weighed 1.6 gr. = 1.38 gr. of metallic lead = 2.337 grs.
of oxide  of lead, or nearly 38  grs. of oxide of  lead in one
pound of sugar.
  Antidotes.  From the experiments  of Orfila, it appears
that the sulphates  of soda and magnesia are the  most useful

  * Christison, p. 483.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 386.
  t Annals D'Hygiene, vol. 21, p. 166.
  % London Medical Gazette, vol. 29, p. 413, 
664
IRRITANT  POISONS.
remedies against the noxious effects of the  salts of lead.
They decompose the acetate in particular, and transform it
into an  insoluble sulphate  of lead, which Orfila  considers
innoxious.*   The  phosphate of soda  is also  an antidote.
He recommends the same treatment for the other prepara-
tions.   We  should  aid their  operation  by  diluents and
purgatives, and prevent any  tendency to  inflammation by
the antiphlogistic treatment.!
  The treatment of colica  pictonum, does not  require a
notice in this place.
  The sulphuret of potash should never be administered as
an  antidote, since  it is  (as we have already shown) itself a
poison.
  Iodide of lead. This, from some experiments of M.  Paton,
would seem to be  a poison.   He  gave  24 grains to a cat,
which after  some  hours produced violent colic, and  appa-
rently great suffering.  It died on the third day, but on dis-
section, no traces of irritation could  be  found.  He could
not detect the poison in the fluids of the stomach. The con-
tents of the intestines were then boiled with distilled water,
and decolorized with carbon; but on this reagents induced
no change.   The residuum was then boiled in water, acidu-
lated with nitric acid; and on  adding a solution of chromate
of potash, chromate of lead was thrown down.  Further ex-
periments produced all the phenomena of the soluble salts
of lead.!
   Dr. A. T. Thomson observes, that the iodide  of lead is
soluble  in boiling water, and  is deposited, on cooling, in
very brilliant golden-colored scales.  A small portion only
remains in solution.  To this, when cold, add  mucilage of
starch, and  pour on the  mixture  chlorine gas, or drop it
into nitrous acid.   In  the one case, iodide of amidine and
  * This, however, is not positively certain.  (See Pharmaceutical Journal,
vol. 9, p. 434.)
  X In a case by Mr. Cross, in which six or eight drachms of ceruse had been
accidentally taken, and was producing excruciating colics, with paralysis of
the extensor muscles, sulphate of magnesia combined with a portion of sul-
phuric acid proved successful in relieving the illness.   (Lancet, N. S., vol.
23, p. 786.)  Liebig has recommended sulphuric acid lemonade, a solution of
sugar rendered acid by sulphuric acid, as an antidote and preventive of colica
pictonum.               X British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 272. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
665
chloride of lead will be  formed; and in  the  other, iodide
of amidine and nitrate of lead.*

                        Chrome.
   Several of the  compounds of this metal are coming into
extensive use in the arts, and their effects both on man and
animals are found to be extremely active.
   Professor  Gmelin  of  Tubingen,  performed numerous
experiments with the chromate of potash.  When one grain
was injected  into the jugular vein of a dog, it produced no
effect.  Four grains induced constant vomiting, and death
in six days, without any distinct symptoms except weak-
ness, and without  any obvious morbid  appearance.  Ten
grains caused instant death by suddenly stopping the action
of the heart.
   When introduced under the skin, its effects are still more
remarkable.   It seems to cause general inflammation of the
lining membrane of the air-passages.  Thus, when a drachm
in powder was inserted under the skin of the neck of a dog,
the symptoms were want of appetite, vomiting, a purulent
 matter discharged  from the  eyes, palsy  of the hind legs,
difficulty of swallowing, and death on the sixth  day.  On
dissection, the wound was seen not much inflamed, but the
larynx, bronchiae and ramifications of the air-tubes contained
fragments of fibrinous effusion,  and the nostrils were full of
similar matter.!
  According  to Berndt, the bichromate  is probably more
active than the chromate, but their effects are very similar.
Ten grains of the former, when swallowed by a pigeon,
destroyed it in four  hours ; and four  grains to  a young dog
shortly induced vomiting and great weakness, but the animal
recovered.  Whether taken  into the  stomach  or  inserted
under the skin, the brain, spinal marrow and  lungs, were
found gorged  with blood, and the intestinal canal reddened.
In some instances, chrome was detected by tests.!
  ♦ Lancet, N. S.,vol. 20, p. 708.
  t Edinburgh Modical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p. 133.
  X British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 7, p. 564. 
666
IRRITANT POISONS.
  It  would thus  appear,  that the salts of chrome,  when
swallowed, caused  inflammation, but not of a violent kind.
  The workmen  in Glasgow who  use the bichromate  of
potash in dyeing, early observed  injurious effects  from im-
mersing their hands in its solution.   Troublesome  sores
soon broke out on the parts touched by it, and these gradu-
ally extended deeper  and deeper, without spreading, until
they in some cases actually made  their  way through the arm
or hand altogether.*
  Dr. Cuming of Glasgow, and  Dr. Baer of Baltimore, (in
which latter place the bichromate of potash is largely manu-
factured,) confirm  the  frequency of these effects  on the
workmen.   The former remarks  that the  first effect of the
habitual application  to  the skin, is  to  cause  a  papulous
eruption, and this after a  little time  becomes pustulous.  If
the exposure be continued,  deep sloughs form under the
pustules.  To prevent these effects, an apparatus was con-
structed so as to require  only the immersion of the tips of
the fingers ; but even here the eruption made its appearance
in susceptible individuals.!  Dr.  Baer  has seen these ulcers
on parts of the body where he is  sure  the solution did not
come in contact, and he is therefore disposed to ascribe them
to the effects of vapors  charged with chromic acid.  He,
however, observed  no impression on the skin from the most
concentrated form of the  solution, when the cuticle was not
abraded.
  Several fatal cases have occurred in Baltimore, of poison-
ing with the  saturated  liquor of  the bichromate of potash.
The following was  communicated by Dr.  Baer to Professor
Ducatel:  A  laborer, setat. 35, on attempting to draw off
from a refiner a solution, in the effort to exhaust the siphon
by suction, received a small quantity of the solution into his
mouth.   His  first impression was that he had spit it out;
but only a  few minutes elapsed before  he was seized with
great heat  in  the throat and  stomach,  and violent vomiting
of blood and mucus.   The vomiting  continued until just
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p. 134.
  f  Ibid., vol. 28, p. 301. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
667
before his death, which occurred  in  five hours.   On dissec-
tion, the mucous tissue of the stomach, duodenum, and about
one-fifth of the jejunum, was found destroyed in patches.
The remaining  parts of it could be easily removed by the
handle of the scalpel.*
   Mr. George Wilson of Leeds mentions of an individual,
who, after losing some money, and appearing much dejected,
retired to  bed at 11 p. m., and was found dead the  next
morning at 11  o'clock.  The external appearance was not
indicative  of suffering:  there were  no  marks of vomiting
or diarrhcEa, and the  surface was moderately  warm.  The
brain and  its membranes, and the  thoracic viscera, were
healthy.  The  stomach  contained  nearly a pint of black,
turbid, inky looking fluid.  Its mucous membrane was red
and very vascular, but there were no dark stains.   The red-
ness did not extend  to the oesophagus or duodenum.  The
dark fluid in the stomach was, on analysis, found to consist
of a considerable quantity of bichromate of potash; and in
his pockets was found half a pound  of the same, united with
bitartrate of potash and fine sand (dye powder).
   The reporter supposes this substance to act powerfully on
 the nervous system, as the death was early, with but slight
 gastritis ;  and to be rather sedative, than irritant.!
   Antidotes.   Dr. Ducatel recommends  the exhibition of a
solution of the carbonate of soda or potash, for the purpose
of neutralizing  the  excess of acid  to  which the injury is
mainly to be ascribed.  The subsequent inflammation  is to
be treated on general principles.!
   The rarer  metals  have  also been made the  subject of
experiments, particularly  by  Professor Gmelin.   A  brief
notice of their effects will be sufficient.
   Molybdenum,  in the  form of molybdate of ammonia, ap-
pears to be a feeble poison.  Half a drachm killed a rabbit

  * Prof. Ducatel, in Baltimore Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1,  p. 44
Ducatel's Manual of Toxicology, p. 144.
  t London Medical Gazette, vol. 33, p. 734.
  X  Berndt, however, found that in animals poisoned with either of the salts,
neither carbonate of potash,  sulphate of iron, or tincture of galls proved!
antidotes.                                            r 
668
IRRITANT POISONS.
in two hours, causing strong  convulsions before death.   In
dogs, it  produced merely vomiting and diarrhoea, and  ten
grains injected into the jugular vein did not prove fatal.
   Tungsten, in the form of tungstate of ammonia, and in the
dose of a drachm, had no effect when  swallowed by a dog.
The tungstate of soda caused some vomiting.  With rabbits,
however, the salts of this metal, if given in large quantities,
are fatal.  They die in convulsions, and some inflammation
is found in the stomach.
   Tellurium.   Of this, he had not sufficient to make a com-
 plete set of experiments.  Ten grains of the oxide killed a
 rabbit in ten days, without any particular symptoms.
   Titanium appears innoxious.
   Osmium is an active poison.  The muriate causes imme-
 diate, violent, and long continued vomiting, even  in small
 doses.  Rabbits were soon  destroyed; and  the stomach,
 intestines, and oesophagus  were black, rough, and  hard on
 the inside, owing to a reduction of the salt by animal matter.
 A grain and a  half of metallic osmium killed a dog in an
 hour, with vomiting and convulsions.
   The  hydrochlorate  of  iridium caused vomiting  and
 diarrhoea in dogs, and death in rabbits, apparently through
 inflammation.   Six grains injected into the jugular of a dog
 produced death in four minutes.
   The double  muriate  of soda and rhodium had no effect in
 doses of fifteen grains on rabbits ; and even when ten grains
 were  injected, the  immediate prostration  was  recovered
 from, and the animal died in  five days without any particu-
 lar symptoms.
   The muriate (hydrochlorate) of palladium is a very active
 poison.   Three grains  injected into  the  jugular vein  of a
 dog killed it within a minute, by destroying the irritability
 of the heart, and causing partial coagulation of the blood.
 A few  grains  taken into  the stomach  caused vomiting,
 diarrhoea and weariness, in dogs.  In rabbits, it produces no
 particular symptoms, but loss  of  appetite and  death  take
 place in three days from general and violent inflammation of
 the stomach. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
669
  Nickel.  The sulphate is inactive.  Twenty grains given
to a dog, produced no effect except vomiting and weariness.
The  same quantity, however, caused convulsions and death
in a rabbit.  When inserted into the cellular tissue, although
the whole of the  salt was absorbed, no  deleterious effect
was induced.
  Cobalt. This is more active. Thirty grains of the muriate,
when swallowed, killed a rabbit within a day.  Twenty-four
grains inserted under the  skin  caused frequent vomiting,
but the animal recovered.  Three grains of sulphate injected
into a vein proved fatal in four days.
   Uranium. Three grains of the nitrate, when injected into
 a vein, caused instant death ;  but dogs swallowed fifteen and
 from  that to sixty grains, without any  effect, except slight
 vomiting.
   Cerium is quite inactive.  A drachm caused no inconve-
nience in a dog, nor half that quantity on a  rabbit.
   Manganese presented some peculiar effects.   A  drachm
 of the sulphate killed a rabbit in an hour; but thirty grains
 swallowed  by a dog, or two  drachms  inserted into  the
 cellular tissue, were without any  effect.  Twelve  grains
 injected into a  vein induced death in five days, and  the
 stomach, duodenum  and liver were much inflamed.  The
 latter organ particularly was mottled with inflamed  streaks,
 that penetrated into its substance.*
   At a  subsequent period,  Professor  Hunefeld  of Griefs-
 walde found that analogous effects were produced  on  the
 liver by manganesic acid, but that it could hardly be called
 a poison.  Although large doses  were given to a rabbit,  it
 survived them; but on being killed, the liver was found soft,
 and  one part bright red, while elsewhere it was of a dark
 brownish red.   When this organ  was incinerated, its ashes
 gave unequivocal indications of manganese.!
   Professor Couper  of Glasgow mentions  several cases  of
 disease  occurring in  that city among  men  employed  in
 grinding the  black oxide of manganese, preparatory to its
   * Gmelin, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, pp. 134 to 138.
   \ Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 36, p. 460. 
670
IRRITANT POISONS.
use in making the bleaching powder.   The air is  loaded
with this substance in fine dust, and some  of  it must be
swallowed.   The earliest symptom observed was a gradual
loss of power in the lower limbs. This increased, in several
instances, to  such a degree that they were obliged to quit
their work; and after the lapse of several years, the recovery
is quite imperfect.  The paralysis is not, however, attended
with a loss of sensibility, or affection of the intellect.  There
was no trembling, as results from mercury, or colic, as from
lead.
  After the knowledge thus acquired of the effects of the
black oxide,  other individuals were seized  with the first
symptoms, viz. staggering.   They were  immediately  re-
moved to another employment; and at the  end of a few
weeks, their health was restored.*
  Oxide of cadmium, in a dose of twenty grains, made a dog
vomit, but ten grains had no effect  at all.!

                  Barytes and its salts.
  All its soluble salts are poisonous ;  and on this account,
the sulphate, being insoluble, is not so.   The muriate is
generally deemed a more active agent  than the pure or the
carbonated barytes.
  Barytes, whether pure or carbonated, when introduced into
the stomach, produces  vomiting, hiccup, insensibility, con-
vulsions and death.    The  stomach was   found inflamed
throughout its  whole  extent, and  extravasations of black
blood were seen near the pylorus.  The lungs and intestines
were natural.!
  Mr. Parkes mentions that he visited the mine of carbonate
of barytes at Anglezark in the county of Lancaster, and
was informed by Mr. Derbyshire, who  occupies the estate
on which the mine is situated, that some years since he lost
three cows at one time, which had strayed from their pas-
ture, and were found licking some lumps of the spar which

  * British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 41.      f Christison, p. 453.
  X  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 1, p. 396. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
671
at that time lay about the mouth of the mine in abundance.
It was also stated that  it was impossible to keep any fowls
upon the farm, as they mistook the barytes for white sand.
They were sure to die on  the  first  day that they got out
upon the land.  Mr. Parkes also adds the following quota-
tion from Leigh's History of Lancashire :   " Some have been
hardy enough to take a drachm at one dose, particularly one
James Barnes' wife and child, and in about nine hours after-
wards they expired.  The like quantity in about three hours
will kill a dog."*
   A recent case of poisoning  by the  carbonate has been de-
scribed by Dr. Wilson:  A  young  female took half a tea-
cup full of it, to which she previously added water.   Soon
after,  she took some  medicine, which  induced vomiting.
In two hours, double vision, pain in the head, and weight
in the  epigastrium followed.  Pain and cramps  over the
whole body next occurred.  Repeated  doses  of sulphate of
magnesia were  given, but the pain and cramp continued for
 several weeks, and her recovery was protracted.!
   Muriate of barytes, when injected into the jugular vein,
 caused great agitation  and  convulsions, and death ensued in
 six minutes after  the  operation.  On  dissection, the heart
 was found  distended with  coagulated  blood;  the  stomach
 was natural, while the  lungs  were  crepitating, and rather
denser than usual.
   When applied to a  wound in the state of powder, Mr.
Brodie found that it produced vertigo, paralysis of the poste-
rior extremities, general insensibility,  dilated pupils,  con-
vulsions and death.   The  stomach  and intestines were not
affected.  The lungs were exactly in the same situation as
in the previous experiment.
   Orfila and Brodie have each introduced this  substance into
the stomach of animals.  It excited-vomiting and  purging,
violent convulsions, and greatly accelerated the pulse.   In-
sensibility generally ensued previous to death.  The mucous
membrane of the stomach was of a livid red color, and it
  • Parkes' Chemical Essays, London, 1815, vol. 2, p. 217.
  t London Medical Gazette, vol. 14, p. 488. 
672
IRRITANT POISONS.
could be  easily  rubbed off.  The muscular coat exhibited
two broad patches of a  cherry-red  color.   The lungs were
natural, but the left ventricle of the heart contained black
fluid blood.*
  We have also  some instances of  its effects on the human
system.   An over-dose  (probably seventy or eighty drops)
excited violent purging  and vomiting, loss of muscular mo-
tion  in the limbs, and  coldness of the  extremities,  from
which the patient did not recover in some days.f  An ounce
in solution, which was taken by mistake for Glauber's salts,
produced instant vomiting, convulsions, pain in  the  head
and deafness, and death supervened within an hour after the
exhibition of  the poison.!
  In the case of a female in Germany, related by Dr. Wach,
half an ounce of the powder of muriate  of barytes was by
mistake  dissolved in warm water, and  swallowed  at once.
Similar  symptoms ensued as  in the previous case, with
twitchings of the face and  limbs, and she died in less than
two hours.   On  dissection, the stomach and intestines were
found  inflamed,  and there was  a perforation of the coats of
the former, the edges of which were swollen and thickened.
The colon was morbidly contracted, and on its inner surface
were several  broad ecchymosed spots.   The pharynx and
oesophagus were slightly inflamed.  The lungs and brain
were congested with thick black blood.§
   Qhemical tests.   Sulphuretted hydrogen does not produce
any change in barytic solutions.
  In case the antidote which we shall presently mention has
been given,  additional difficulties will be presented  in en-
deavoring to  detect  the  poison.   Probably  the  most
satisfactory process will be to add nitric acid, and then filter
and convert  the whole to sulphate of barytes, by adding

  * Chaptal mentions that MM. Huzard and Biron gave to some horses the
muriate and carbonate of barytes in doses of 118 grains every day, and these
animals died suddenly after having taken them for a few days.  (Chemistry
applied to the Arts, vol. 2, p. 74.)
  t Medical Commentaries, vol. 19, p. 151.
  X Brande's Journal, vol. 4, p. 382.
  § Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 30, p. 205, from Henke's Journal. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
673
sulphate of soda.  Heat the precipitate  for  half an  hour,
which will convert the sulphate to a sulphuret.  The sul-
phurretted hydrogen will be disengaged by adding muriatic
acid, and the earth remains for examination with its tests as
given in all works on chemistry.*
  Antidotes.  From  the experiments of Orfila, it appears
that the sulphate of  soda or magnesia is the proper remedy,
when early administered.   These  decompose the  poison,
and produce  an insoluble  sulphate of barytes.  Vomiting
must always be encouraged.
  The salts of strontia, according to Gmelin, are very feebly
poisonous.!

  *  Christison, p. 509.
  t  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p. 132.
VOL. II.
43 
/ 
CHAPTER  XIX.
                 IRRITANT POISONS, {concluded.)


 4. Vegetable and animal irritants.  Vegetable acrids. Bryonia dioica.
   Momordica elaterium ;  elaterine.   Cucumis colocynthis.  Euphorbia offici-
   narum, and other species.   Ricinus communis.  Jatropha curcas, manihot,
   and other species.   Hippomane mancinella. Croton tiglium.  Ranunculus
   acris, and other species.  Anemone pulsatilla, and other species.  Caltha
   palustris.  Delphinium staphysagria.  Clematis vitalba.  Chelidonium ma-
   jus. Daphne gnidium, and mezereum.  Convolvulus jalapa, and scammo-
   nea.  Narcissus pseudo-narcissus.  Pedicularis palustris.  Gratiola offi-
   cinalis.  Gamboge.   Savine.  Rhus radicans, and other  species. Anacar-
   dium occidentale.  Sedum acre.  Rhododendron chrysanthemum.  Cycla-
   men europseum.   Plumbago europsea.   Lobelia syphilitica,  and other
   species.  Pastinaca sativa.   Hydrocotyle vulgaris.  Phytolacca decandra.
   Calla  palustris.  Arum maculatum.   Sambucus ebulus.—Treatment.—
   Animal irritants.   Cantharides—symptoms; cases; appearances  on
   dissection; treatment.   Lytta vittata.  Poisonous Serpents.  Viper.  Rat-
   tlesnake—symptoms of its  bite;  appearances on dissection;  treatment.
   Scorpion.  Tarantula.   Spider.   Bee.  "Humble bee.  Wasp.  Hornet.
   Poisonous  Fishes.   Catalogue of these;  cause of fish poison;  effects;
   treatment.  Mussels—oysters—crab—lobster—mackerel; dangerous effect
   of these  at certain seasons of the year.   Physalia.  Toad.  Pheasant or
   partridge—its poisonous nature at certain  seasons.  Poisonous honey—
   cause—effects—treatment.   Wounds  received during dissection—conse-
   quences—treatment.
 5. Mechanical irritants.   Glass and enamel in powder—effects—cases.
   Pins and needles.
 6. Irritant  gases.   Chlorine—effects—antidotes.  Nitrous acid vapor-
  effects—cases.  Muriatic acid gas.  Sulphurous  acid gas.  Seleniuretted
  hydrogen gas.


   In noticing the vegetable acrids or irritants, which

 constitute  the fourth  class  of Irritant  Poisons,  I  shall

 consider  those that  belong to  the  same order of plants in

 connexion with each other.  Beyond  this, it would hardly

 be useful  to follow a botanical arrangement.  The following

catalogue  will therefore serve as an index:


    Cucurbitacets.         Euphorbiacece.         Ranunculacece.
     Bryonia,               Euphorbia,            Ranunculus,
     Momordioa,             Ricinus,               Anemone,
     Cucumis.               Jatropha,              Caltha,
   Papaveracem.             Hippomane,            Delphinium,
     Chelidonium.            Croton.                Clematis. 
676
IRRITANT POISONS.
Thymelea.           Anacardiacece.         Umbelliferce.
Daphne.	Rhus.	Pastinaca,
Convolvulacece.	Anacardium.	Hydrocotyle.
Convolvulus.	Ficoidece.	Phytolaccece.
Amaryllidce.	Sedum.	Phytolacca.
Narcissus.	Ericece.	Aroideae.
Scrophularinece.	Rhododendron.	Calla,
Pedicularis,	Primulacece.	Arum.
Gratiola.	Cyclamen.	Caprifoliacece.
Guttiferce.	Plumbaginece.	Sambucus.
Stalagmites.	Plumbago.	
Coniferee,	Lobeliaceee.	
Juniperus.	Lobelia.	
  Bryonia dioica, L. (Bryony.) The administration of bryony
root has caused vomiting, fainting, violent pain,  profuse
alvine evacuations, &c.   When  administered to dogs in
whom the  oesophagus was tied, death  ensued without any
previous remarkable symptom; but the mucous membrane
of the  stomach was of a bright red, and the great intestines
were highly inflamed.*
  Pyl  mentions a fatal case from taking two glasses of an
infusion of the root, to cure an ague.   Tormina and purging
soon followed, and the patient sunk under it.
  Brandes  and Firnhaber  discovered a principle in the root,
which is denominated bryonine.  It acts, according to the
experiments  of Collard de Martigny, like the  plant itself,
inducing inflammation  and thickening of the coats of the
stomach.  When twenty grains were injected into the pleura,
it caused death in seven  hours, and all the marks  of true
pleurisy  were  present—serous  effusion, pseudo-membrane,
and gorging of the lungs.f
  Momordica elaterium, L. (Wild  or  squirting  cucumber.)
The expressed juice of the fruit of this plant, on standing,
deposits  a  substance, which has been variously styled an
inspissated juice,  a fecula, and an extract, but is  strictly
speaking neither  of them.  It  is  dried, and in  that state
forms  the medicinal article.  Among cathartics, to which

  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 13.
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 215. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
677
class it belongs in the materia medica, it is deemed the most
violent, and indeed the severity of its operation is such that
it  has  for a  long time been banished from the practice of
medicine.  Its active principle is now, however, understood,
and its operation can therefore be  regulated.
   Elaterium, when given to the amount of three drachms to
a  dog  whose oesophagus had been tied,  produced  nausea
and efforts to vomit, moaning, insensibility and death.  The
mucous membrane of the stomach was found highly inflamed,
as was also  the rectum, but the other  intestines  were  not
altered.   Similar effects  were produced  by inserting  the
extract into a wound.*
   A female in Boston  took, by the advice of a quack, four
pills of the extract of elaterium and rhubarb, (the total being
2| grains of the  extract, and 16  of rhubarb.)  They pro-
duced  incessant vomiting and purging; and without yielding
to the use  of remedies, she  sunk in thirty-six hours after
the last pill was taken.   On  dissection, the mucous mem-
brane  of the stomach  was found  to be highly injected; the
 colon  contracted, and all the intestines inflamed.  The other
 viscera were healthy.!
   Drs. Clutterbuck and Paris were supposed  to  have  dis-
 covered the  active principle of this substance some years
 since: it was styled elatine.   This, however, was a com-
pound ;  and Dr. Morries of Edinburgh, and Mr. Hennel  of
London, nearly at the  same  time, obtained  the  peculiar
crystalline principle, which deserves that name.  A tenth
of a grain will  purge a man; and a fifth  of a  grain, in  two
doses, killed a rabbit after some  hours.!  It is now named
elaterine.
   Cucumis colocynthis, L.  (Bitter  apple.)   The only part  of
this plant which is used in medicine, is the dried, spongy  or
medullary part of the fruit.   It is well known as a drastic
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 14.  Dr. Parsons did not find the inflamma-
tion of the rectum,  in an experiment performed by him on a dog.  (Ameri-
can Medical Recorder, vol. 14, p. 356.)
  t Boston Medical Magazine, vol. 3, p. 25.
  t London Medical Repository, vol. 12, p.  5.  Paris' Pharmacologia, p. 270.
Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 35,  p. 339. Journal of  the
Royal Institution, vol. 1, p. 532. 
678
IRRITANT POISONS.
cathartic.  Stalpart relates a case, where an individual took
some of it,  and was  shortly  after seized with  the  most
excruciating pains in the abdomen, bloody evacuations, and
violent spasms.*   He  also quotes  cases from  Tulpius,
Schenkius  and Platerus, indicating its powerful operation;
and  mentions that, in one instance, death followed from an
enema, in which not more than a drachm of colocynth had
been infused.
  An individual laboring under  haemorrhoids, and affected
with indigestion,  took two glasses of a decoction, which
subsequetnly proved to be that of  colocynth.   Frequent
alvine evacuations, accompanied with colic, were among the
first effects;  and some hours afterwards, he complained of
great heat in the bowels, dryness in the fauces, and un-
quenchable  thirst.  The pulse was  small,  and extremely
rapid ; the tongue red; the abdomen intolerant of pressure,
and  there  was a very violent fixed pain  in the vicinity of
the  umbilicus.  The evacuations by  the bowels had now
ceased.  The antiphlogistic regimen was employed, but
without success.  Coldness of the  extremities succeeded,
and  he gradually sunk, after a previous  diminution of the
abdominal pain.   On dissection, the  abdominal viscera ex-
hibited marks of  the  most  violent inflammation.  The
peritoneal  cavity was filled with a whitish fluid, containing
flocculi of the same color.  The intestines were reddened,
and  thickly studded with black specks; most of them were
either adherent, or  covered with  adventitious membrane.
The mucous membrane of the stomach  was  detached and
ulcerated, and the peritoneum in an almost putrid condition.
Traces of inflammation existed also in the  liver, kidneys,
and bladder.!
  A  coroner's inquest was held in  London in  1823, on the
body of a woman, who died in twenty-four  hours with in-
cessant vomiting and  purging, in consequence  of having

  * " Fateor," he observes, " profecto nunquam me tarn horrenda in quodam
conspexisse symptomata."  (Stalpart, vol. 1, p. 173.)           #
  X Orfila's Toxicologie, vol.  1, p.  796, 3d edition.  Case communicated by
M. Carron D'Annecy. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
679
swallowed by mistake a tea-spoonful and a half of colocynth
powder.*
  The symptoms produced on animals by the introduction
of this substance into the stomach, are in general similar to
those experienced in the human subject.   Dissection ex-
hibits an inflammation of the stomach and rectum, while the
great bulk of the intestines are in a natural state.  No eschar
was noticed.!
  The active principle of this plant was discovered by Vau-
quelin, and is termed colocynthin.
  Euphorbia officinarum, L.  The stalk  of  the various spe-
cies of the genus Euphorbia furnishes a milky juice, which,
on being dried, is called euphorbium.  It is  a resin, and  ob-
tained principally from the above plant.!  Its medicinal  use
is solely  as  an errhine, and farriers employ it for blister-
ing horses.
   A female  in Lincoln (Eng.)  took by mistake,  eighteen
 days after delivery, two ounces of tincture of euphorbium,
 prepared  with camphor,  alcohol  and  euphorbium.    She
 immediately experienced  a  violent suffocation,  burning,
 and pain in  the throat and stomach.   On the administration
 of warm water, copious vomiting was induced, but the pain
 continued for some time, nor was it  relieved until  after the
 repeated application of suitable remedies.§
   In another instance, a  teaspoonful was  administered by
 a farrier in the dark, through mistake for rhubarb.   A burn-
 ing heat in the throat and fauces was immediately felt,  which
 soon extended to  the stomach : an incessant vomiting of
 watery fluid  took place ; the  tongue was covered with thick
 mucus; the  pulse was very irregular, and at least  150 in  a
 minute; and the patient was  in a cold perspiration, and  un-
 able  to speak intelligibly.  An emetic was given,  but it
 brought away only a small quantity of a thin black  fluid;
  • Christison,  p. 524.          f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2. pp. 17,21.
  X This species is a native of the Cape of Good Hope,  and the recent juice
is so corrosive  as to erode the  skin wherever it touches.  The people who
gather it, tie a cloth over the mouth and nostrils, to protect them from the
acrid dust of the withered branches.  (Thomson's London  Dispensatory,
p. 297.)
  § Case by Dr. Willis, Philosophical Transactions, vol. 51, p. 662. 
680
IRRITANT  POISONS.
and  mucilages and  anodynes, when exhibited, were  almost
instantly rejected.  The patient lived nearly three days, and
on  opening the body eight hours  after  death,  there were
found in the stomach several gangrenous spots, and its coats
tore on the slightest touch.  The spleen was much enlarged
and  rotten, while the vessels of the internal coat of the aorta
were beautifully injected with blood, and showed  marks of
the highest degree of inflammation.*
  When introduced into the stomach of animals, it produced
violent pain and death;  and the  stomach, on  dissection,
contained  a red, bloody fluid, mixed with powder of euphor-
bium : its  coats were all of a very deep red, and the colon
and  rectum were highly inflamed.!
  Several chemists have examined this substance, and found
in it a  resin, in which its active principles reside.  This
again has  been ascertained to be a compound, and the lead-
ing  ingredient extracted from it  is styled euphorbin.%
  Many other species of euphorbia are poisonous, as the E.
lathyris, L.; the E. cyparissias,  L., and the E. tirucalli, L.
  In the case of a  child poisoned  by the seeds  of the  first
named, vomiting was followed  by drowsiness,  deep sleep
and  stertorous breathing.   Some of these indicate a narcotic
operation.§  The second  of these excoriated a  man's face,
on being rubbed with it; and Lamotte mentions, that a glys-
ter prepared with this plant proved fatal.  In a person who
allowed his closed eyelids to be rubbed with  the juice of
the  E. esula, L., inflammation followed, and it was succeeded
by the loss  of  the eye.||   Hyder Ali, in his ferocious  wars
against  the English in India, ordered the wells to  be  poi-
soned with the E. tirucalli, L.U  The juice of the E. anti-
  * Brande's Journal, vol. 3, p. 51. Case communicated by Mr. Furnival.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 43.
  X Christison, p. 518.  Chevallier and Aubergier have found the seeds, and
the expressed oil from them, of the euphorbia hyberna, very energetic. The
seeds yield 44 per cent, of oil; and in doses of 10 drops, it causes copious wa-
tery evacuations without pain.  (Ibid., 3d ed., p. 541.)
  § Christison, 3d ed., p. 541.  Case by Dr. Hood.  See also a case by Dr.
Jacob in  The Chemist,  vol. 5, pp. 326, 367,  from the Journal de Chimie
Medicate. There were no striking appearances on dissection, although the
person survived three days.
  ||  Scopoli,  quoted by Orfila.
  V Quarterly Review, vol. 18, p. 47. American edition. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
681
quorum, L., and  E.  heptagona,  L.,  are each said to be
employed by the inhabitants of the countries where they are
natives, in poisoning their spears and arrows.*
   A case of poisoning with the E. peplus, L. (petty spurge,)
occurred in England.  A boy, six years old, eat it  by mis-
take.  It induced vomiting and purging, spasms, small pulse,
inability to swallow, insensibility, cold extremities,  and
death.   On dissection,  the tonsils,  fauces,  and pharynx
were seen  much inflamed;  the  mucous membrane of the
stomach and small  intestines was  altogether red,  but the
large intestines were healthy, except that  their muscular
coat was slightly vascular;  the  bladder was greatly  con-
tracted  ; the epiglottis  and  larynx  highly  inflamed,  and
containing  some tenacious green mucus ; the lungs were
healthy ; the blood  fluid, or  only partially coagulated ; the
veins of the dura mater  distended, but the substance of the
brain healthy.!
   Dr. Harlan  mentions  the case of two children, in whom
the seeds of a certain plant induced vomiting and purging,
followed by stupor and dilated pupil.  An emetic succeeded
by a  purgative,  relieved the  symptoms.   On showing  a
specimen of the plant and its  seeds to the late Abbe Correa
De Serra, he pronounced it to be Euphorbia latus.%
   The E. corollata, L. of this country, appears, according to
Dr. Zollickoffer, to  possess epispastic properties.§
   Ricinus communis, L.  (Palma Christi, castor-oil plant.)
The castor-oil  used  in medicine, is obtained  by expression
from the seeds  of this plant.  They act in the most powerful
manner on  the  system,  and produce  violent vomiting and
purging : such  was also the effect observed by Orfila on ani-
mals.   Thirty grains produced death in a small dog, whose

  * Ainslie's Materia Indica, vol. l,p. 123.  History of British India, (Family
Library,) vol. 3, p. 122.                                       J
  t Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 7, p. 275.
  X Harlan's Researches,  p. 603.
  § American Journal of Medical Science, vol. 12, p. 76.  Hannibal,  when
pursued by the Romans, took some poison which he had carried about him in
a  ring and died immediately. It is a conjecture of the eminent Mr. Hatchett,
that this may have been the inspissated exudation of the Euphorbia officinalis.
(Sir Henry Halford's Essays, p. 156.) 
682
IRRITANT  POISONS.
oesophagus was not tied.   Inflammation and ulceration were
noticed in the stomach.*
  A female aged 18, at  Liverpool, ate about twenty of the
seeds.  She died after  four days  illness, and on dissection
the stomach and intestines were found highly inflamed.!
  Jatropha curcas, L. (Indian nut.   Tuva tree of the  Phi-
lippine Islands.)  The  seeds of this plant act as a violent
poison, and  excite vomiting, insensibility, great weakness
and death.   Violent inflammation was found  in the mucous
membrane of  the stomach  and  intestines.  It  was  more
active in  its  operation, when  introduced  into the stomach,
than  when  applied to  the cellular  texture.!   An oil is
obtained  from the seeds, and  it is even an article of  com-
merce under the name of English Croton Oil.
  Dr. Letheby relates a very severe case induced by eating
some of the seeds.  The symptoms were those of high irri-
tation, but the patient recovered by means  of an  opiate and
a mild cordial.  He refers the poisonous principle to the
solid  and  non-oleaginous  parts of  the  seed, and  doubts
whether the oil  can be very powerful in its action.^
  The fresh root or the juice  of the Jatropha manihot, L.
{Janipha manihet, Kunth,) has been long known as a violent
poison.||   It produces swelling of the body, nausea, vomit-
ing  and  purging, pain, tenesmus, loss of sight, coldness of
the  extremities,  faintings and  death.IT   Dr.  Clark of Do-
minica, knew  a strong  negro to die in  little  more than an
hour after drinking half a  pint of  the  juice.   Thirty-six
drops were administered  to a criminal.  They had scarcely

  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 29.
  X London Medical Gazette, vol. 19, p. 944.
  X Mr. Bennet says that the seeds are used as a purgative by native doctors
of the Phillippine Islands. In an over dose, they produce vomiting and purg-
ing and violent pain. The only antidote of the native practitioners is re-
peated draughts of cold water.  (London Medical Gazette, vol. 9, p. 8.)
  § London Medical Gazette, vol. 42, p. 116.
  || See Piso, quoted by Orfila, vol. 2, p. 73, and Philosophical Transactions,
vol. 2, p. 634.
  IT Humboldt states that there are two kinds of juca, which furnish the
cassava or manihot.  The root of the juca dulce is perfectly innocent, but
that of the juca amarga or bitter manihot conceals a deadly poison.  Heat,
however, will destroy its noxious qualities.  (Edinburgh Review, vol. 16, p.
245, American edition.) 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
683
reached his stomach when he writhed and became convulsed,
and died  in six  minutes.   On  dissection, no alteration was
found, except that the stomach was shrunk to half its natu-
ral size.*
   The Jatropha  multifida,  L., is probably equally poison-
ous.!
   Hippomane mancinella,  L. (Manchineel tree.)  Dr. Pey-
sonnel relates that a soldier, who was a slave with the Turks,
ate some of the apples of this tree, and was soon seized
with a swelling  and  pain in the abdomen.   His lips were
ulcerated with the fruit, and a cold  sweat came over him.
Having taken some remedy, (the avellana purgatrix,) vomit-
ing and  purging were induced to  a violent degree.  He,
however, gradually recovered.!
   The wood of this tree,  when green, will excite inflamma-
tion on the skin when rubbed against it ;§ and it affords a
most  beautiful  article of  furniture, being interspersed with
green and yellow veins, like marble ; but  the dust is of so
acrid and poisonous a nature, that the sawyers and carpen-
ters are forced  to work with gauze  masks, to protect them
from its injurious  effects.||
   Dr. Ricord  Madianna, in  his  experiments  on  animals,
found  that the  juice  excited  inflammation,  even  when
applied to the sound skin.U
   Orfila and Ollivier  applied it to a wound  in the cellular
tissue with fatal consequences, and when given internally it
destroyed the animal.   On dissection, the   stomach and
intestines were found  highly injected.**

  * Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 7, p. 289; Edinburgh Journal of
Geographical and Natural Science,  vol. 3, p. 384, from Hooker's Botanical
Magazine.
  Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol.  7, p. 279.  From an analysis of
0. Henry, it appears  that the juice of the Jatropha manihot contains hydro-
cyanic acid.  He also obtained it from the fresh roots.  Journal de Pharma-
cie, vol. 22,  p. 118.
  t Brande's Journal, vol. 20, p. 95.
  X Philosophical Transactions, vol. 50, p. 772.    § Ibid., vol. 3, p. 824.
  || Edinburgh Review, vol. 17, p. 374, American edition.
  II New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 3, pp. 309, 439.
  Dr. Uicord thinks that the feuillea cordifolia alone deserves the name of an
antidote for  this poison.
  ** Orfila's Toxicology, 3d edition, vol. 1, p. 719. 
684
IRRITANT POISONS.
   " Other  species  of Hippomane are  equally  poisonous.
 The H. biglandulosa  et  H. spinosa are peculiarly so, espe-
 cially the  latter, which is known to  the negroes  of St.
 Domingo by the name of Zombi apple, and is familiarly used
 by them as a potent poison."*
   Croton tiglium, L. (Purging  croton.)  The  seeds of this
 plant have an acrid, nauseous  and burning taste.   They
 were formerly employed as hydragogue purgatives ;  but on
 account of the violence  of  their operation, were completely
 laid aside.   One seed is sufficient for a dose, and even this
 sometimes  excites violent purging and vomiting.!
   Within a few years past, the expressed oil of this plant
 has come  into considerable use as an article of the materia
 medica.  From one  to  three  drops  is  a dose,  and we of
 course meet with cases in which larger quantities have been
 taken through mistake.
   Dr. Keith enumerates three of these.  In the  first, a tea-
 spoonful of  the oil was given to a child four years old,
 instead of  a  cough mixture, (the actual quantity taken was
 about  half a  drachm.)  It induced violent  vomiting and
 purging in less than eight minutes, with  great pain and
 thirst, and was followed  by great  prostration.  He was,
 however, saved by the  use of emollients and other  appro-
 priate remedies.  In a second case (quoted from the Gazette
 Des Hospitaux) vomiting did not come  on, until after three
 hours, and then it was excited by  powerful means; and
 there was obstinate constipation.  He did not  perfectly
 recover in  a month.   The third case is related in the Jour-
 nal de  Chimie  Medicate:  death  ensued to  a young  man,

*  * Christison, 3d edition, p. 544.
   Manchineel Tree. " The common stories about the fatal shade of this
 tree, are as fabulous as the changing colors of the dying dolphin. The shade
 is as harmless as  any other shade. The fact is, the juice of the manchineel
 is highly corrosive and easily extracted, so that rain water or heavy dew will
 contract upon the leaves or branches so much of the poison as would certainly
 blister any flesh it fell upon.  The manchineel is very fine timber, and the
 negroes usually smear themselves over with grease when they are about to
 fell it. It is also a common trick with them to blister their backs with the
 juice, in order to excite the compassion of those who mistake it for the effects
 of beating."  (Henry N. Coleridge's Six Months in the West Indies, p. 261.)
   t  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 13, p. 256. 
IRRITANT  POISONS.
685
laboring under typhus, from swallowing two and  a half
drachms of the oil.  Vomiting could  scarcely be induced,
but severe  purging ensued, which finally became involuntary,
and he sunk in four hours.
  Dr. Keith also  refers to a case  mentioned by Pereira, in
which symptoms of burning pain in the throat and stomach,
&c, followed, from inhaling the dust arising from unpacking
and emptying packages of croton seeds.*
  Ranunculus  acris, L. (Butter-cups.)  Its  leaves are an
acrid  and irritating external application, producing inflam-
mation and ulcers.  Internally given, the juice of its  leaves
produced  inflammation of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the
stomach.
  Ranunculus sceleratus, L. (Water crowfoot,) excited  severe
pains and  convulsive movements in Krapf, although he took
only a single flower, which he had well pounded.  Its leaves
and juice  excoriated  the  tongue  and mouth, and produced
burning pain  in  the  oesophagus.  Plenck destroyed  a dog
with its juice, and found  the stomach red and corroded, and
 the pylorus  tumefied.   Externally  applied, it produces
 extensive ulcers.
   Ranunculus flammula, L., has often destroyed whole flocks
 of animals, from  grazing  on it in the spring.
   Ranunculus arvensis, L., poisons sheep, and  three  ounces
of  its expressed  juice killed a dog in four minutes.!
   Several  other species are equally poisonous, as the bulbo-
sus, ficaria, alpestris, aquatilis,  &c«!   The  root of  the R.
thora is extremely so.   "Its juice was formerly  used by
Swiss hunters  to envenom their  weapons, and wounds  so

  * London  and Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medical Science, vol. 3,
p. 1030.
  According  to Dr. Nimmo of Glasgow, the kernels of the seeds of the croton
are composed of 27 parts of acrid purgative principle, 33 of fixed oil, and 40
of farinaceous matter in the hundred.  The oil itself consists of 45 acrid
principle (crotonin or tiglin), and 55 fixed oil.   (Brande's Journal, vol. 13,
page 62.)
  t London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 21, p. 12.
  X The Ranunculus acris, sceleratus, flammula, bulbosus and aquatilis, are
natives of the United States.  According to Dr. Pulteney, (Transactions
Linnaean Society,) several species are eaten by animals without injury.  See
bis observations in the Philosophical Magazine, vol. 6, p. 210. 
 686                 IRRITANT  POISONS.

 produced are said to have become speedily fatal."  {Lind-
 ley's Flora  Medica.)
   Anemone pulsatilla, L., (Wind-flower.)  Bulliard relates
 the case of an old man with rheumatic gout, who applied
 the root of this  plant bruised, to the calf of his leg, on
 going to bed.   Cruel sufferings succeeded for ten or twelve
 hours, and  the whole  limb became gangrenous, nor was it
 restored until after the application of vigorous  remedies.
 The dried root, on being pounded, has  excited irritation of
 the eyes, itching  and  vomiting.  Lastly, animals to whom
 the extract or the juice of the leaves had been administered,
 sunk under it, and exhibited the marks of violent inflamma-
 tion  in  the  stomach  and rectum.  The  dried  powder
 produced no inconvenience to them.*
   The Anemone  pratensis, sylvestris, and  nemorosa, are also
 deemed poisons.   The latter produces  dysentery in sheep,
 when they feed   on  it.f  The inhabitants of Kamschatka
 make use  of  this plant  to  poison  their  arrows, and the
 wounds are most commonly fatal.!
   Caltha palustris, L., (Marsh marigold,) is said by Christi-
 son to be  extremely acrid.  A family of five persons in
 Germany took some of it for food.  They were all seized in
 half an hour with sickness, pain in the stomach,  vomiting,
 dysuria and diarrhoea, and on the next day with swelling of
 the  whole body,  and  a copious eruption.  They, however,
 all recovered.§
   Delphinium  staphysagria, L., (Palmated larkspur, staves-
 acre.)    An  ounce of  this substance introduced  into the
 stomach of  a dog, whose oesophagus was  tied, caused de-
jection, but neither vertigo nor  convulsions, and death suc-
 ceeded in fifty hours. The mucous membrane of the stomach

  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 43,44.
  X London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 21, p. 12.
  X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 46. Mr. Robert extracted a fluid of an acrid
 taste and pungent odor, from the flowers of the  Anemone pratensis, L.,
 which acted like a caustie on the tongue.  Vauquelin examined and confirmed
 his experiments, and deems the substance a peculiar one, which is probably
 common to the clemates and ranunculi.   It should be arranged, according to
 him,  with the concrete oily substances.  (London Medical Repository, vol.
 14, p. 403.)
  § Christison, p. 257, from Rust's Magazine. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
687
was inflamed, but  the other organs presented no alteration.
When applied to a wound in a moistened state, it induced
dejection, vertigo, and finally death.  The wound was in-
flamed, and  the limb greatly swelled, but  the digestive
canal was sound.  Its local effects are evidently the most
striking.
  Lassaigne and Fenuelle discovered the alkaloid, delphine,
in this plant.  It is described as extremely acrid.*
  Delphinium tricorne, Mx., is one of the  plants, according
to Professor Short, which are indefinitely called stagger-
weed, and from eating which, the diseases of cattle are some-
times attributed in the western states.!
   Clematis vitalba, L., (Virgin's bower.)  Clematis flammula,
L., erecta, L., and  integrifolia, L.   These are all acrid and
caustic.  When applied  to the skin, they produce redness,
pustules and excoriations ;  introduced  into the stomach,
they occasion an inflammation, which destroys the animal.!
   Chelidonium   majus, L.  (celandine,) produced death in
animals, both when introduced into the stomach  and when
applied to wounds, by Orfila. In the former case, the stomach
was found  inflamed, but not in the latter.   The wounds,
however, were inflamed  and livid ; and from both modes of
application, the lungs were seen  livid and  distended with
blood.   This plant  is naturalized in this country.   The
Chelidonium glaucum has caused delirium and purging in a
family, who ate  of a pie in which it had  by mistake been
put.§
  Daphne gnidium, L., (Spurge flax.  Flax-leaved daphne.)
The bark of this  substance, like  the poisons already no-
ticed, excited vomiting, local  inflammation and death, and
the stomach also presents an appearance similar to what has
been already described.

Jourittl0f42Phpil023°4Phy'VOL 16'P' ^ ^^ Medical and Surgical
  t  P.lor"la Lexingtoniensis, in Transylvania Journal, vol. 1, p 411  Mr
as:!z.i;sf;tin the D-conso kL^
caualiv ciK^  Myd}?\^ -to these' C' dioica and rnauritiana, as
efin this speciel    PP      * Skm- Alkal°ids have also been discover-
  $ Philosophical Transactions,  vol. 20, p. 263. 
688
IRRITANT POISONS.
   Daphne  mezereum,  L., (Mezereon.)  Acts in  a similar
manner.  Linnaeus  relates of a  young lady, who died from
haemoptysis,  occasioned by  taking twelve  berries of this
plant.*  Several  other  species  are deemed  poisonous.  In
animals poisoned by the Daphne laureola, L., (Spurge laurel,)
Orfila observed a sanguineous  effusion below  the mucous
coat of the stomach.!
   Three children, the oldest  three years of age, swallowed
some of the berries of the D. mezereum.  It  induced, in all,
violent purging and vomiting.   Two  recovered after this;
but in the third, alarming symptoms of prostration and nar-
cotism followed, which it required the active employment of
stimulants  to overcome.   Subsequent to  this,  cathartic
medicines were found necessary.!
   Convolvulus jalapa, L., (Jalap.)  Ipomeea jalapa, (Nuttal.)
In large doses this is an acrid poison.   Mr. Hume, and Drs.
Buchner and  Herberger, appear to have established that, its
active  properties reside  in a  resinous  principle, termed
jalapine.\
   Convolvulus scammonea, L.,  (Scammony.)  The experi-
ments of Orfila contradict the opinion  of some toxicologists,
that the juice of this plant is poisonous.  He frequently ad-
ministered four drachms of it to dogs,  and had the oesopha-
gus afterwards tied, and he only observed alvine evacuations.
They lived  six or seven days.
   Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, L., (Meadow narcissus, daffo-
dil.)   The extract of  this plant, whether externally or in-
ternally applied, produced violent vomiting  or  attempts to
vomit.  Death shortly ensued,  and  in every instance the
mucous membrane  of the stomach was  inflamed, and, in
several, that of the rectum.   The emetic qualities of this
plant, according  to M. Jourdain, reside in a peculiar prin-
ciple called narcitine.\\

  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 27.
  X Andral, quoted in Journal of Foreign Science, vol. 3, p.  402.  Vauque-
lin and Dublanc have analysed the plants of this species. (Brande's Journal,
vol. 18, pp. 177, 401.  Christison, p. 528.)
  X Dr. Grieve of Dumfries, Lancet, vol. 21, p. 43. See also Medical Times,
vol. 10, p. 427.                              § Christison, p. 529.
  || American Journal of Pharmacy, vol.  13, p. 109. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
689
  Pedicularis palustris,  L.  has an acrid burning taste, and is
said by Gleditsch  and Gunner to have  injured  sheep  and
oxen.
  Gratiola officinalis, L. (Hedge hyssop.)   Death  followed
after a considerable interval, from the  introduction of the
extract of this  substance into the stomach of animals, and
the mucous membrane  was inflamed.  The same result fol-
lowed from inserting it into a wound, but the stomach was
sound.*
  Stalagmites cambogioides, Murr.  Garcinea cambogia, D. C.
(Gamboge.)!  This gum-resin, when introduced in quantity
into the stomach of animals, whose oesophagus was tied,
produced violent efforts to vomit,  purging, dejection and
d#ath.  The mucous membrane of the stomach was inflamed,
and swme  reddish spots were seen in  the rectum.   When
this operation was not performed, and dogs were suffered to
vomit, it did not cause any serious accident.
  Gamboge probably forms the active ingredient in Morri-
son's  Pills, which  have been so  profusely taken of late
years.  Several fatal  cases  have occurred  from their use,
 and  on examination, inflammation of the  stomach or intes-
 tines was  observed.!
   Mr.  Pereira  recommends the following  as a  mode of
detection of the presence  of gamboge :  Digest one portion
of the suspected substance in alcohol, and the other in ether.
In  either case  there will be an orange  red tincture.  The
ethereal dropped on water, yields on the evaporation of the
ether, a thin, bright yellow opaque film or scum  {gambogic
acid,) soluble in caustic potash.  The alcoholic dropped into

  *  Dr. Whiting announced  at a meeting of the London Medico-Botanical
Society, that veratrine has been discovered in this plant.  (Burnett's Medi-
cal Botany, vol. 1.)
  t  Dr. Graham supposes the plant that produces gamboge, to be neither of
these, and has given it the name of Hebradendron  gambogioides.  For his
papers, and those of Dr. Christison and Dr. Wight on this substance, see
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 21, p. 159 ; vol. 24, pp. 106, 229.
Hooker's Companion to the Botanical Magazine, vol. 2, p. 233.
  X  Fatal cases are  recorded  in London Med. Gazette, vol. 17, pp. 357, 416,
623; vol. 18, p.  74. Case of Capt. McKenzie. Mr.  R. Phillips analysed
some of the pills and found cream of tartar, aloes and gamboge.
  vol. n.                    44 
690
IRRITANT POISONS.
water, yields  a  bright,  opaque  yellow  emulsion, which
becomes clear, deep red and transparent, on the addition of
caustic potash.  This  gambogiate  of  potash,  obtained by
either process, gives, if the alkali  be not in excess, with
acids, a yellow  precipitate {gambogic acid);  with several
metallic salts, as acetate  of lead, nitrate of silver, yellow
precipitates ; with sulphate of copper, brown {gambogiate oj
copper) and with salts  of iron, dark brown {gambogiate oj
iron).*
  Juniperis sabina,  L.,  (Savine.)   A native  of  Canada.
Found also in the Rocky Mountains by Lewis and Clarke.
  This is  well  known as a  powerful stimulant.   When
administered to animals in doses of  four and six drachms, it
caused death, and left inflammation of the mucous membrane
of the stomach, with a small ulcer near the pylorus.  The
rectum was somewhat inflamed.  And this last was observed
in every experiment.
  The abuse of  the substance, both in the form of oil and
powder, in producing abortion, has  been noticed in another
place,  and the  case  communicated by  Mr.  Cockson  of
Macclesfield, to Dr. Christison, referred to.f  I may add the
remaining particulars.  The female miscarried in about 54
hours,(on Saturday) and she died on  the Thursday following.
  Mr. Cockson  on dissection,  found extensive  peritoneal
inflammation, and the  inside of the stomach of a red tint,
chequered with patches of florid extravasation.!
  Rhus radicans, L., toxicodendron, L., vernix, L. R. vene-
nata, D. C.  All these  are natives of the United States, and
the  R. radicans and toxicodendron are by some  deemed
merely varieties  of the same species.
  The watery extract of the  radicans  when  internally
administered, or  applied to the cellular texture, produced a
local irritation and inflammation, and after death, the mucous
coat of the stomach was seen inflamed.

  • Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica, part 2, p. 1230.
  t Vol. 1, p. 432.
  X Christison, p. 532. Dr. Lee states that a female lately died in New York,
from taking one drachm of the oil of savine, to procure abortion. (American
Journal Med. Sciences, vol. 21, p. 358.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
691
  The juice of the  Rhus toxicodendron, (poison oak, poison
ivy,) is said by Fontana to have proved innocent to animals
who were  made to  swallow it;  but a very  small portion of
the milky juice applied to the human skin, excited swelling
not  only in the part touched, but also over the face,  eyelids
and ears.  This was  the case  with our author himself.   A
severe burning and itching  continued for several days, and
small vesicles, filled with a transparent sharp humor, formed
in  various places over his  hands.   Nearly  the same symp-
toms occurred from touching the  leaves.*   I  may  add, that
 similar effects are very common in this country from touch-
ing this plant.   Dr. Alderson even  states, that sphacelation
has followed, in some cases in England, of such parts of the
 skin as the acrid juice had touched.!
   The  Rhus  vernix,  venenata, D. C, (poison sumach) pro-
 duces similar effects.   Blindness has been caused by merely
 handling  it.!   And  Dr.  Bigelow  mentions, that  he  has
 known individuals badly poisoned  in winter,  from the wood
 of the rhus vernix accidently burnt on the fire.§
  • Medical Commentaries, vol. 12, p. 110.  " The juice of the Rhus toxico-
dendron produced enormous swellings on some  laborers in the Jardin dea
Plantes, wherever it touched them."  (Sage, Edinburgh Medical and Surgi-
cal Journal, vol. 9, p. 378.)
  t Medical Commentaries, vol. 20, p. 10.  Mr. Van Mons has advanced an
opinion that the hurtful effects of this plant depend on a gas which it exhales
during the night or in the shade,  rather than on  its milky juice.  He seems
to have proved the irritating effepts of this gas.   (Orfila, vol. 2,  p. 42.)  We
have, however, too great amass of testimony proving the nature of the juice,
to allow us to  consider it innoxious.  Dr. B. S. Barton's account of its effects
on himself, is  alone sufficient.  It excited itching, and swelling, and vesicles, •
which desquamated.   (New York Medical Repository, vol. 8, p. 200.)
  X See an account of the poison  wood tree  in New  England, by the Hon.
Paul Dudley,  F. R. S.  (Philosophical Transactions, vol.  31, p. 145, and Dr.
Cutler in Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 1,
page 429.)
  § Bigelow's Medical Botany, vol. 1, p. 109.  Cases are related by Dr. Bige-
low, pp. 103 to 107, of the poisonous effects of the exhalations  and juice of
this  plant. See  also Dr. Horsfield's Inaugural  Dissertation on the Rhus
vernix, radicans and glabrum, 1798, in  Caldwell's Medical Theses, vol.1,
page 128.
  On the treatment of the disease excited by these plants, and  which is
almost identical with the diffuse inflammation of  Dr. Duncan junior, see Dr.
Fountain in New York  Medical and Physical Journal,  vol. 5,  p. 409; Dr.
Christy in do. vol. 8, p. 21; Dr.  Dakin in American  Journal  of Medical
Sciences, vol.  4, p. 98; Boston  Medical Magazine, vol. 1, p. 282; vol. 2, p.
75; Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  17, p. 347;  Ibid.,  vol. 18,
page. 303.                                    *
  The chloride of soda has proved very useful as  a wash in several instances 
692
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Several other species of the rhus are poisonous, particu-
larly the R. pumilla, Mx.  of Carolina, and the R. veneficera,
D. C. perniciosa, Kunth.*
  The  Anacardium  occidentale.  (Cashew  nut,) is  an allied
plant to the above and Lindley (Medical Botany) states that
the coats of the nut contain an abundance of a caustic  oil,
which blisters when applied  to the  skin.  Dr. Stickney of
Philadelphia relates a case (Medical  Examiner, vol. 7, p.
133,) in which the  juice  rubbed  on the  back of the hand
caused a severe and painful  eruption, over various parts of
the body, with swelling, while the  parts  touched blistered
and desquamated.
  Sedum acre, L., (Houseleek. Wall pepper.) This produced
death when given internally, and the mucous membrane of
the stomach was seen of a fiery red color.
  Rhododendron chrysanthum,  Pall.   The decoction of this
plant has an acrid, burning taste ; it is emetic, drastic, and
inflames  the texture to which  it is applied.   The  Rhodo-
dendron ferrugineum, L.  is said  to be equally  poisonous.
Welsch speaks of a meal  which became fatal to the guests,
from having eaten  of a hare  which had  been  fed upon its
leaves.
  The R.  maximum, L.,  (Pennsylvania mountain  laurel,
American  rose  bay,) is,  according to Dr. B.  S. Barton,
undoubtedly a poison.!
   Cyclamen europaum, L.  A  violent cathartic, and it also
excites vomiting.   Bulliard  states,  that  its root produces
  * The Indian varnishes appear to produce similar effects on the skin. One
of them is made from the Melanorrh&a usitata of Wallich, the varnish-tree
of Munipur, and an allied plant to the rhus.  Sir David Brewster received
from  Mr. Swinton several specimens, and it was found that the slightest
touch to the skin induced swelling and great pain.  One of the seryants was
nearly killed by the sylhet varnish.  (Edinburgh Journal of Science, vol. 8.
p. 101; Ibid.,N. S.,vol. 2, p. 71.)
  The Stagmaria verniciflua of Jack, a native of Sumatra and the nc ighbor-
ing islands, possesses similar properties. According to Rumphius, it is the
tree which yields the celebrated Japan laquer or  varnish.  The resin from
the bark causes excoriation and blisters.  (Hooker's Companion to the Botani-
cal Magazine, vol. 1, p. 268.)
  The fine varnish, used in China, is made from a species of rhus, and in a
liquid state, is injurious to the manufacturers, unless they be protected with
masks. (The Chinese, by J. F. Davis, vol. 2, p. 341.)
  t Barton's Materia Medica, part 1, p. 18. 
                                                    cqq
                   IRRITANT POISONS.

cold sweats, dizziness,  and convulsive  movements;  the
patient voids blood by vomiting and by stool; and a super-
purgation supervenes, which proves fatal.
   Plumbago europaa,  L.  Sauvages observes, that the work-
men who make use of the  decoction of this plant for the
purpose of obtaining a  yellow dye,  are  tormented by a
severe headache if they  work longer  than six  hours.   Its
taste is acrid and almost caustic.   Dulong has discovered a
 peculiar principle in  the  root, which is called plumbagme
   Lobelia syphilitica, L.,  (Cardinal flower.)  A native of the
 United States.  This is an acrid plant, and acts as an emetic
 and purgative.
   The Lobelia longiflora, L., possesses still more energetic
 properties.  In  Spain,  according to Orfila,   it is  called
 Rabienta cavallos, because it kills horses.
    UhvUa inflata, L.,  (Indian tobacco.  Emetic weed.   Eye-
 bright.)   A native of the United States.  This is a powerful
  emetic, and distressing  and long continued sickness often
  accompanies  its  operation.   "A melancholy instance of
  death occasioned by the use of this plant, in the hands of a
  quack, is detailed in the sixth volume of the Massachusetts
  Reports, in  the  trial  of Samuel  Thompson, an empiric
  practising in Beverly,  for the  murder of Ezra Lovett.  In
  this  trial, it appeared that the patient, being confined by a
  cold, sent for the pretended physician, who gave  him three
  powders of lobelia in  the course of half an  hour, each  of
  which vomited him violently, and  left him in  great perspi-
  ration during the night.  The next day two or more powders
  were administered, each of which operated by vomiting, and
  occasioned great distress.   In like manner, two other pow-
  ders were given  the subsequent day, leaving the patient in
  a state of great  prostration.  Several days after this, the
   physician  came again, and finding his  patient still  worse,
   administered several more powders,  which occasioned great
   distress, and at length ceased to operate.  Finding that the
   stomach was not sensible to the emetic effect of the lobelia,
* Brande's Journal, vol. 6, p. 192. 
694
IRRITANT POISONS.
the physician repeated the dose, and when the patient com-
plained of great distress  at the  breast, and  said he  was
dying, the doctor assured him the medicine would soon get
down, or operate as a cathartic.  However,  on the same
evening, the  patient lost his reason, and became convulsed,
so that two  men were required to hold him.   To relieve
which the doctor forced down two more of his powders, and
the patient, as was  to be expected, grew worse, and  con-
tinued so  until he expired.
  " The doctor who had thus terminated the disease and the
patient at once, was arrested and put upon trial for murder ;
but the homicide proving a legitimate one, from the want of
a sufficient evidence of malice prepense, he was acquitted
and set at liberty."*
  Horses and cattle have also been killed from eating this
plant.
  I do not exaggerate, when I state, that thousands of indi-
viduals in the United States have been murdered by the
combined use of capsicum and lobelia, administered  by the
Thomsonian quacks.
  The  delusion  seems  to have  spread to  England.  In
August, 1849, an  individual was  tried for administering a
large quantity of this substance to a person, and of which he
died.  It  appeared  on the trial that a certain Dr. Coffin had
published and lectured  in favor of the article, and that the
person indicted belonged as usual to a  " Botanical Society."
  It will  not surprise my medical readers, to learn that the
prisoner was acquitted.!
  Professor Colhoun of Philadelphia has made some experi-
ments on the active principle of this plant, and Mr.  Procter
in his inaugural essay before the  Philadelphia College of
Pharmacy, announced the discovery of an alkaline  princi-
ple, which he styles lobelina.  It has a highly acrid burning
taste, and unites with most of the acids, except the  acetic.
In a subsequent communication, he mentions that one-fourth

  * Bigelow's Medical Botany, vol. l,p. 181. Tyng's Massachusetts Reports,
vol. 6, p. 134, Commonwealth v. Thompson.
  t London Med. Gazette, vol. 44, pp. 383, 433, 472. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
695
of a grain of lobelina in solution caused violent vomiting
and much prostration in a cat.   In larger quantity, narcotic
effects were  strikingly manifested.*
  Reinsch, apparently without being aware of this, has also
announced  the discovery  of a  peculiar  substance in  it,
{lobelin) but says nothing of its properties.!
  Pastinaca  sativa, L.  (Wild  Parsnip.)   The root of this
plant is said by Murray to  have produced delirium, vertigo,
heat at the stomach, and in the mouth and eyes, with tume-
faction of the lips.  It is a native of the United States.!
  Hydrocotyle vulgaris, Mx. (Marsh pennywort.)  This plant
has an. acrid  taste.  It is a native of the United States.
  Phytolacca decandra, L. (Poke.   Pigeon berries.)   A  na-
tive of the United States.   Its juice is acrid, and acts as a
violent emetic and purgative.   Prostration of strength  and
convulsions  have  also been induced by  it.  On a dog, to
whom two  ounces of the  liquor  distilled from the berries
were given,  Dr. Schultz  of Pennsylvania found it to produce
nausea and drowsiness, with slight spasmodic motions, but
no vomiting.   This last is, however, a common effect.§
   Calla palustris, L. (Water arum.)  A native of the United
States.  The root of this plant has a burning taste.
   Arum  maculatum,  L. (Wake robin.)  A. dracunculus, L.
dracontium, L.  triphyllum, L.  trilobatum, L. and other spe-
cies.   The third and fourth are natives of the United States.
  These are all acrid, and  have produced dangerous effects.
When the fresh  root of the A. maculatum was given  by
Orfila to dogs, they died at the end of from twenty-four to
thirty-six hours, without any other symptom than dejection,
and the digestive  canal  was  found  somewhat  inflamed.

  * Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 5, p. 300; vol. 9, p. 98; vol. 13,
  . 10.   For notices of its medical uses, see Dr. Bailey, in Transylvania Med.
  ournal, vol. 10. p. 421. Dr. Coates, in Medical Examiner, vol. 1, p. 64.
  f Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 3, p. 120.
  X It would seem probable from two cases related by  Dr. Vedder in the
American  Medical Intelligencer, vol. 2, p. 214, that the leaves of the garden
parsnip will produce an erysipelatus inflammation of the skin.
  § Bigclow's American Medical Botany, vol. 1, p. 48.  From an analysis of
Mr. Donelly, (American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 15, p. 165) it would seem
that no peculiar acrid principle can be detected in this plant.  See also ibid.
rol. 15, p. 81.                                r
5 
696
IRRITANT POISONS.
Bulliard relates the following case :  " Three children ate
of the leaves of this plant.   They were seized with horri-
ble convulsions, and with two of  them all assistance was
unavailing, as they could not be made to swallow any thing.
They  died,  one  at the  expiration  of twelve  days, and
another at the expiration of sixteen.  The third was  saved
with difficulty.  Its tongue was greatly swelled, and  hence
deglutition was painful and difficult."*
   Sambucus  ebulus, L.  (Elder.)  Dr. Christison saw a case
of poisoning in a boy from eating the flowers and leaves.
In a few hours, he was seized  with griping and great ten-
derness of the abdomen, and these continued for three days,
when medical advice was asked.  It was now found to be a
case of enteritis, which required  active treatment, and on
the fifth day from eating the leaves he passed them by stool.
Another  boy, who had  eaten the  flowers  only, suffered
under severe narcotic symptoms, and particularly giddiness.!
The  S.  nigra, L.  (dwarf elder,) has undoubtedly similar
properties.
   The treatment in cases where vegetable  acrids have been
taken, must be directed to the removal  of  the noxious sub-
stance, unless spontaneous  vomiting occurs.  Emetics are
hence required in some cases.   The diarrhoea consequent on
irritation and inflammation of the  mucous membrane  of the
intestines,  must be  considered as an  active disease, and
requires the antiphlogistic regimen.  The most difficult and
dangerous cases are those in which there is a general pros-
tration of the powers of the system.

             Animal irritants—cantharides.
   Cantharis vesicatoria. (Spanish fly.)  Cantharides, accord-
ing  to Robiquet,  consists  of various substances ; a green
fluid oil; a black  matter,  soluble in  water and insoluble in
alcohol;  a  yellow matter, soluble in both; a fatty matter,

  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 83.
  f Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 73. A similar
case (fatal), by Dr. Schollmeyer, is related in London Medical Gazette, vol.
35, p. 96. 
                                                         6Q7
                     IRRITANT POISONS.                   vv *

insoluble in  alcohol; phosphates  of lime and  magnesia;
acetic and uric acids.  None of these are vesicatory, but the
epispastic principle is a white crystallizable substance, inso-
luble  in water,  (soluble, however, in it, when  mixed with
the yellow matter ;)  soluble in boiling alcohol and the oils.
This is styled Cantharidin.*
   We are,  however, to treat of it as ordinarily administered,
viz., in the form of powder and of  tincture, and  the usual
symptoms are the following :  When taken internally, can-
tharides excite  a disagreeable and nauseating  smell, acrid
taste, retchings, copious vomitings, which are often  tinged
with blood, alvine evacuations,  also, more or  less bloody,
burning heat in the  stomach and other parts, accompanied
with griping and excruciating pains ; great heat in the blad-
der, difficulty in making water, and  the urine often bloody,
 sometimes  totally  suppressed; obstinate, and  sometimes
 painful and excessive  priapism, satyriasis, the  pulse fre-
 quent and hard, while in some  cases, the jaws are  closed;
 and convulsions, general rigidity of the limbs, and delirium,
 precede the death of the patient.!  All of these, however,
 are not  always present, and  very frequently " no venereal
 appetite  is  excited, sometimes  even  no  affection  of the
 urinary or genital organs at all,  and the kidneys and  bladder
 may be powerfully  affected without the genital organs par-
 ticipating."!
   In many instances  this  substance has been  administered
 with a view to  stimulate exhausted passion, or  to  accom-
 plish the  seduction of females.   It will be seen from the

   *  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2,  p. 422.  The experiments of Robiquet are
 quoted in detail in the Eclectic Repertory, vol. 2, p. 405.  Previous to the
 examination  of Robiquet, I believe, Beaupoil had made some imperfect re-
 searches.  (See his Recherches Medico-Chimiques.)  For the latest observa-
 tions on Cantharidin, see Carpenter, in Silliman's Journal, vol. 21; Thierry,
 London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 6, p. 318; Nardo and
 Pullino, British and Foreign  Medical Review, vol. 2, p. 549.  According to
 these last, two grains of cantharidin given to a rabbit, caused paralysis, cold-
 ness and death in three hours.  Dr. Paris states that boiling tne Spanish fly
 in water deprives it of its power of acting on the kidneys, (strangury) but
 does not diminish its vesicating powers.  This has been confirmed by Dr.
 Bearly, of Philadelphia.  (Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 4, p. 185.)
   t  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 430; Le Clerc, p. 74; New England Jour-
 nal, vol. 11, p.  18.
   X  Christison, p. 535. 
698
IRRITANT POISONS.
above remarks, and from subsequent  cases, how incorrect

the common opinion among the vulgar  may prove.

  Julia Fontanelle relates the case  of a person who, by

mistake, took half an ounce of powdered cantharides.   The

result was burning pain in the throat, vomiting, ardor urinse,

and in a few hours, bloody urine and priapism.  By the use

of appropriate remedies, continued for some  days, these

symptoms gradually diminished, but  it was  a fortnight be-

fore he could leave the hospital.*

  Other cases are quoted  by Dr. Christison, from Biett and

Rouquayrol.   In  these,  in  addition to the  more  common

symptoms, there was  difficulty of swallowing  and violent

tenesmus ; and in the last,  much salivation, and towards

the end of the second day, a large  cylindrical mass of the

inner membrane  of the gullet was discharged by vomiting-!

  Four laborers, who found a flask of tincture of cantharides

in a warehouse, and drank it for  spirits, were  seized with

great heat and pain  of the alimentary canal,  vomiting of

blood, impossibility of swallowing, a frequent small pulse,

and coldness of the extremities.  Dr. Graaf of Cologne, who

visited them, used antiphlogistic and emollient remedies with

success,  but a distressing strangury  continued in two of

them for several days. One of the four, after being relieved

of the strangury, was seized on the eighth day  with severe

nephritis  and  raving  delirium, which required  depleting

remedies, cold  applications to the head, &c!


  * Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 8, p. 272, from Revue Medicate.
  X Christison, Edinburgh  Medical  and Surgical Journal, vol. 34, p. 214.
This patient was a fortnight in recovering.
  X London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 47, p. 437, from Hufeland'a
Journal.  In a case that occurred to Mr. Snow, after  the early symptoms
were removed, inflammation of the kidney supervened on the third day.
(Lancet, N. S., vol. 27, p. 733.)  Two cases are related by Mr. Williams of
Bewdley, (Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 2, p. 360,) where the
ordinary affections of the stomach and bladder occurred from taking some of
the powder in raspberry brandy.
  Mr. Maxwell relates in the Jamaica Physical Journal for May, 1835, of
three negroes, who each took by mistake a drachm of the powder, which had
been macerated in rum.  They  ate  hearty suppers afterwards, but burn-
ing heat of the throat and nausea soon followed, and in two hours these were
succeeded by retching and vomiting of blood, mucus and froth.  The kernels
of the feuillia cordifolia were given as an antidote and they acted as a vio-
lent emetic.  On the next day, there was  heat of the  throat, difficulty of
swallowing and profuse salivation.  They were bled, and blistered and ene- 
IRRITANT POISONS.
699
   Dr. Ives, of New York, relates of a youth aged seventeen,
who, in  a paroxysm of anger, swallowed an  ounce of the
tincture, supposing it to be laudanum.   He was seen in an
hour and a half afterwards.  The respiration  was hurried;
there was  profuse  ptyalism, convulsive  trembling,  acute
pain in  the regions of the stomach and bladder, and  such
exquisite sensibility that  the slightest  pressure produced
convulsions.  Emetics and venesection were used, followed
by mucilaginous drinks and castor oil.   The  convulsions
occurred  occasionally, accompanied with painful priapism.
The proper remedies were continued, and although delirium
interposed for  a time, he appeared gradually to recover.
On the seventh day, however, after taking it, he was seized
with pain in the head,  trembling, and universal spasms:
coma followed.   From this again he revived, and appeared
to improve ; but on the fourteenth day, violent convulsions
recurred, followed by insensibility and death.*
   There are two cases recorded, in which the administration
 of this substance was made the subject of a criminal prose-
 cution :   One (for the reference  to which I am indebted to
 Dr. Paris) occurred in the reign  of Elizabeth.  One Vaux
recommended its use to an impotent person,  who died, in
consequence, on the twenty-sixth day after taking it. Vaux,
although he plead that he was  not present at  the taking of
it, was found guilty, and sentenced to be hung.f
   The  other case occurred in 1825 :  A drachm of the pow-
der had been given in some ale.  It caused immediate vomit-
ing ; but ulceration of the tongue and throat,  with copious
salivation, pain and  frequent desire to urinate, with febrile
symptoms succeeded.   The patient, however,  recovered.
On the trial, Dr. Dyce, of Aberdeen, stated  that he had

M^wnifftoP ?iil„adminis^red-  Strangury followed in all, according to Mr.
Sin?, fnf befor«.the piste's could have caused it. The salivation also
Client! vl Tvmf' * ^ ^^  ^^ J°Urnal
to thtTnS^ Jourfna!uof Med- S^ces, vol. 1, p. 368.  Mr. Pereira refers
do not S7' °ihCrS' a?,sh°wing th*t ^e nervous symptoms sometimes
fourton      ^^Ives until after several days.  In Dr. Ives' case, it was
Z\S»y Vr lbe m eA Grf f>eight; and in the one related byGui^
tnrcc aays.   (London Med. Gazette, vol. 17, n 626 ^
 f 4 Coke's Reports, p. 44. 
700
IRRITANT POISONS.
given ten grains of the  powder of cantharides at a dose,
as a medicinal prescription.  The criminal was convicted.*
  The external application of cantharides sometimes gives
rise to similar consequences, but in a more mitigated form.
  As to its effects on animals, Orfila found, that when in-
jected in the form of tincture into the jugular veins, it pro-
duced vertigo, stupor and death.  The blood in  the left
ventricle  of the  heart was fluid and reddish; that in the
right was black, and  contained coagula.  On using alcohol
alone, however, he observed precisely the same effects. He
then tried oil digested upon  cantharides.  The animal was
soon depriued of sensibility and muscular power, and teta-
nus, convulsions, difficult respiration, and death supervened.
The lungs were found  very  bulky, and distended with a
great quantity of reddish serosity; in some parts, they were
livid,and compact.   The mucous membrane of the bladder
was slightly  red, while that of the stomach and duodenum
was natural.   When cantharides in powder were introduced
into the stomach, they produced vomiting, the discharge of
much bloody mucus, pain, great dejection, extraordinary in-
sensibility, and  death.   The mucous membrane of the sto-
mach was of a fiery red : that of the duodenum less so, but
also inflamed.   The bladder  was  sometimes seen  inflamed
and thickened, and  the  oesophagus  also was  occasionally
inflamed.!
  As to  the appearances  on dissection in man,  they are
generally similar to those from other corrosive poisons—in-
flammation of the stomach and intestines.   Fungous tuber-
cles, erosions, and small ulcerations have also been noticed
in these parts ; the bladder has been inflamed or ulcerated,
and in some  cases the external organs of  generation have
been gangrenous.
   In a fatal case mentioned by Orfila, where the powder had
been taken for the purpose of suicide, the brain was gorged
with blood;  the omentum,  peritoneum,  gullet,  stomach,
intestines, kidneys, ureters, and internal organs of genera-
  * Dr. Torrie.   London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 54, p. 403.
  f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 424. 
                   IRRITANT POISONS.                  'ua

tion were inflamed, and the  mouth  and tongue were strip-
ped of their lining membrane.
  In Dr.  Ives' case, the brain exhibited a similar appear-
ance.  The mucous  membrane of the stomach was whiter
than' usual, pulpy, and easily detached.   The kidney was
also inflamed.*
   If, on dissection, or in the matter vomited, any portion of
this poison remain, it may be detected by its shining points,
which are of  a beautiful  green color.   This, however, can
only be hoped for when it has been taken in  the form of
powder.   When the  tincture has  been administered,  we
cannot expect to  identify the  substance,  and must rely
solely on the  symptoms and the dissection.
   Barruel was recently requested to examine some choco-
late, of which a whole family had become very ill.  On the
first view, it exhibited, when held  in the light of the sun,
 numerous shining spots.   He, however, tested it for mineral
 poisons, but could detect none.  He then treated some of
 the powdered chocolate with sulphuric ether, and applied
 heat to the mixture :  it was then  filtered and evaporated.
 The  whitish matter obtained,  blistered the lips ;  and it
 presented the brilliant points so common in  the  powder of
 cantharides.   To  render the fact more certain, he applied
 some of the adulterated chocolate to his arm by means of a
 compress : in six hours, it drew a blister.!
    Treatment.  Oil is recommended by Orfila, but later ex-
 periments have demonstrated its injurious effects.  Accord-
 ing to  Dr. Pallas,  it increases the  danger.  Cantharides
 macerated in cold oil, and  afterwards given to dogs, was
 found to destroy them in a few minutes,! and this is  owing
 to the fact that cantharidin is soluble  in oil.  Mucilaginous
 drinks  are preferable, to excite vomiting and to diminish

    * An interesting case, supposed to be of poisoning by cantharides, but pro-
 bably referable to internal disease, is related by Dr. Hastings, in the Trans-
 actions ol" the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, vol. 1, p. 402.
    t Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 13, p. 455.  For additional cases see Edinburgh
 Med. and Surg.  Journal, vol. 62, pp. 562, 563.
    X London .Medical Repository, vol. 19, p. 259. Quarterly Journal of For-
 eign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 5, p. 304. 
702
IRRITANT POISONS.
the irritation in the bladder.   The warm bath, frictions and
diluents are  proper, as also enemas of camphor and opium.
Devergie considers camphor in the light of an antidote, and
strenously  advises its  use not  only in the above  form, but
also in solution with alcohol, externally applied by friction.*
  The antiphlogistic  treatment  is required,  when,  as  is
usually the case, appearances of inflammation present them-
selves.  But it is now  conceded, I believe, that bleeding
should be delayed as long as possible, as it probably favors
the absorption of the poison.   This idea was first advanced
by Magendie, and its correctness would seem to be verified
by some of the cases which I have cited.
  The Lytta vittata, {Meloe  americana, potato-fly,) and the
many other  allied species  of our own  country, appear  to
possess properties analogous to cantharides.!  Some Euro-
pean insects have a similar character, as one or two species
of Bombyx, and the Mylabris variabilis, or chicorei.  Breton-
neau  found  in  this last  a vesicating  principle,  identical
probably with cantharidin.!   It has long been used in China
as an epispastic.

                     Poisonous Serpents.

   On these I intend to be very brief, and shall  merely give
a short  notice of those that  are  found  poisonous in other
  * A case illustrating the beneficial effects of camphor and opium is given
by Dr. Cheesman in New-York Journal of Medicine, vol. 4. An ounce of the
tincture had been taken.  See also the Chemist, vol. 4, p. 84.
  Dr. Mulock of Dublin states that  in three cases of stranguary, caused by
blistering with cantharides, he found the solution of caustic potash a perfect
remedy.  Two of the cases were head affections, where opium was inadmis-
sible.  Thirty drops, given in half  a wine-glass  of water every hour, gave
relief before the third dose was exhibited.  '* What led me to the use of thi9
preparation was its known effects in relieving the stings of wasps  or bees,
when applied to the skin.  I considered  that it might also relieve the acrid
principle of the cantharides."  (Dublin Quarterly Journal, August,  1843.)
  X See the papers of Dr. Chapman and Dr. Woodhouse, in the New-York
Medical Repository, vol. 2, p. 163; vol. 3, p. 213: of Dr. Schott, in Eclectic
Repertory, vol. 2, p. 193: of Dr. J. F. Dana, in Silliman's Journal, vol. 2, p.
137—this contains an analysis of the potato-fly, showing that cantharidin
exists in it.  For an account of the  numerous species found in this country,
see New-England Journal, vol. 13, p. 243;  Say's  Entomology, and his paper
on the Coleoptera, in the 3d vol. of the Journal of the Academy of Nalural
Sciences; Dr. Barton's Materia Medica; and Durand in Philadelphia Journal
of Pharmacy, vol. 2, p. 276.^
  X Bulletin des Sciences Medicales, vol. 14, p. 92. 
                                                         703
                    IRRITANT POISONS.

countries.  Somewhat  more  of detail  will be proper in
reference to such as are peculiar to the United  States.
  The  viper, {Coluber berus,  Vipera  bents,)  is  the  most
common  poisonous serpent of England  and the  European
continent.   Its bite is not uniformly  fatal to  man or the
larger  animals,  but  the  season  of the  year  appears to
increase  its  intensity, being  most venomous  in  summer.
The symptoms are acute pain  in  the part wounded, which
extends over the  limbs, and even to the external organs;
tumefaction and redness, which afterwards passes to a livid
color;  syncope, frequent, small, concentrated and  irregular
pulse;  difficulty  of  breathing, copious  and  cold sweats,
disturbance of vision and of the intellectual faculties, bilious
and convulsive vomitings, and followed generally by yellow-
ness  of the skin.  Gangrene is apt to occur in the  wound,
when the disease  is about to terminate.*
   The poisonous snakes of India have been noticed by  Russel
 in a great work, and his experiments  are still  the  most
 valuable we yet  have on the subject.!  Notices are inter-
 spersed  in  abundance  in  various literary  and  scientific
 works, concerning the  venomous  serpents of other coun-
 tries.!
    In general, the  animal is most poisonous, and its effects
 most  rapidly destructive, in  warm  climates.   Hence the
 serpents of India  and  South America are distinguished above
 all others for their venomous nature.
  • On the effects of the venom of the viper, see Morgagni, vol. 3, p. 410.
Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 380. Edinburgh Medical Essays, vol. 6, p. 420.
Fontana in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 70, p. 163.  Redi in do. vol. 1, p.
160.  Atwell in do. vol. 39, p. 394.  Also London Medical Repository, vol.
14, p. 512—Configliacchi's experiments.  New-England Journal, vol. 6, p.
311—Mangili's experiments.
  t An analysis of these is contained in Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 387 to
403. See also the Eclectic Repertory, vol. 2, p. 318; and Dr. Rankin's experi-
ments in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 18, p. 231.  Also  the
Asiatic Researches, and Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of
Calcutta.
  X An extraordinary case is related by Dr. Pascalis, in the New-York Medi-
cal Repository, vol. 19, p. 78, of an individual who was bitten by a snake at
St. Domingo. He survived the effects many years, but the  leg and  thigh
swelled to an enormous size, and this remained permanent until his death.
The only relief he experienced, was to open one or other of the capillary
vessels on the swelling, and discharge four or  five ounces of blood from it. 
704                   IRRITANT POISONS.


  Dr. Harlan, in his Genera  of North American  Reptilia,

enumerates the following as the poisonous serpents of this

country:

Crotalus durissus, Banded Rattlesnake.  Northern and Middle States.
Crotalus horridus, Diamond Rattlesnake.   Southern States, Antilles.
Crotalus miliarius, Ground or Little Rattlesnake.  Southern States.
Crotalus confluentis, Say.  Rocky Mountains.
Crotalus tergeminus, Say.  Western Territories.
Cenchris moccason, Daudin.  Hog-nose snake, Moccason.
Viper fulvia.  Southern States.
Scytalus piscivorus, Water Viper.  South Carolinia.
Scytalus cupreus,  Rafinesque.   Copper head,  Copper Adder.  Cenchris
  moccason of Say.  Eastern and Middle States.
Scytalus tisiphone.  Carolina.*

   To these Dr. Troost has added as poisonous :

Toxicophis (Acontias) leucostoma.  Cotton-mouthed snake,—a water-snake-
  Tennessee.
Toxicophis atrofuscus.  Highland  Moccason.  Tennessee.!

   Crotalus horridus, and durissus.   (The rattlesnake.)  This

is probably the most venomous snake known in our country,

but its effects vary greatly; and this is doubtless, as  has

been suggested by Sir Everard Home, owing to the greater

or less intensity of the poison.

   " When the poison is very active, the local irritation is so

sudden and violent, and its effects on the general system are

so great, that death soon takes place.   On examination after

death, the  only alteration  of structure met  with, is in the

parts close to the bite, where the cellular membrane is com-

pletely destroyed, and the neighboring  muscles are very

considerably inflamed.

  * Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 5, p.
364, &c.  Harlan's Researches, p. 127,  &c.  Dr. Holbrook in  his valuable
work on the Herpetology of the  United  States, has described some of the
above under different names.
          Crotalus horridus, Crotalus adamanteus.
          Vipera fulvia,    Elaps fulvius.
          Scytale piscivorus, Trigonocephalus piscivorus.
          Scytale cupreus,        do        contortrix.
   A writer in Silliman's Journal suggests whether the Massasauga rattlesnake
is not the Crotalus miliarius.  It is found in swamps in Ohio, 12 or 14 inches
long and of a proportionate thickness, with usually three or four rattles.  It
is quite venomous.  (Silliman, vol. 31, p. 32.) It is also found in the swamps
near Buffalo.
   f  Annals New-York Lyceum, vol. 3, p. 176. 
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                 705

   " When  the  poison is less intense, the  shock to the
 general system  does not  prove fatal.   It brings on a slight
 degree of delirium, and the pain in the part bitten  is very
 severe;  in  about half an hour,  swelling takes place from
 the effusion of serum in the cellular  membrane, which con-
 tinues to increase with greater or less rapidity  for about
 twelve hours, extending during that  period into the neigh-
 borhood of the bite ; the blood ceases to flow in the smaller
 vessels of the swollen parts; the skin over them becomes
 quite cold; the action of the heart is  so weak that the pulse
 is scarcely perceptible, and the stomach is so irritable that
 nothing is retained on it.  In about sixty hours, these symp-
 toms go off; inflammation and suppuration take  place in
 the  injured parts; and when the abscess formed is very
 great, it proves fatal.*  When the bite has been in the fin-
 ger, that part has immediately mortified.   When death has
 taken place under such circumstances, the absorbent vessels
 and their glands have  undergone no  effects similar to mor-
 cid poisons, nor has any part lost  its  natural appearance,
 except those immediately connected  with the abscess."
   In those patients who recover, the symptoms go off more
 readily and completely than those produced  by a morbid
 poison which has been received into  the system.!
   A case is related by Sir Everard Home, which illustrates
 the  above  views :  Thomas Soper,  aged  twenty-six, was
 accidentally bitten twice in the hand  by a rattlesnake.  The
 snake was kept for the purpose of exhibition in London.
  The first  symptom observed was an incoherence in lan-
 guage and behavior, resembling intoxication.  In less than
 half an hour, the hand  began to swell;  next the fore-arm,
 and  afterwards the pain extended to the axilla.  In two hours
 after the bite, Mr. Brodie saw him.  The skin was cold, the
 man's  answers  incoherent, his  pulse  one  hundred  in a

  • A case strongly illustrative of this class of symptoms, is related bv Mr
?ransTctifns vol^tn3',];6 ^ SUfferer «J Jf, S'the aMhfcd
 Iransactions,vol.44p. 147.  He survived the  bite and recovered Tut an
abscess formed several months afterwards in the injured part      '
p. Lo    Phll0S°P^cal Transactions for 1810. Eclectic Repertory, vol. 1
VOL. II.
45 
706                 IRRITANT  POISONS.

minute, and  he complained of sickness.   Ammonia  and
ether were  exhibited internally, and applied to the wound.
He rejected the first draught, but  retained  the second.
Fits  of fainting supervened, with coldness of the skin.  On
the next day, blood was extravasated  under the skin as
low as the loins, and vesications had formed on the wounded
arm.  Depression  and faintings continued.  These symp-
toms were present for several  days, with greater or  less
severity.  The arm sloughed  in  various  places, and ab-
scesses  formed, accompanied with purging.  Finally, mor-
tification and delirium occurred, and  he died on the fourth
of November, 1807, eighteen days after being bitten.
   On dissection, the body externally  was found natural,
with the exception of the arm that had been bitten.   The
wounds  made by  the fangs were healed;  the lungs were
healthy;  the cavities of the heart contained  coagulated
blood;  the  cardiac  portion of the stomach was moderately
distended with  fluid, while the pyloric portion was much
contracted ;  the internal membrane  had  its  vessels  very
turgid with blood.   The intestines and liver were healthy.
The vessels of the  brain were turgid, and water was effused
in it.*
   Mr. Drake, a person who  took rattle  snakes from this
country for exhibition in England and France, was unfor-
tunately bitten  by one in Paris.   He  died in nine hours.
On dissection, all  the internal  organs  were found healthy,
except that the membrane covering the brain and spinal
cord, had a reddish tinge, and  the venous blood  on the
affected side was curdled or clotted.f
   Dr. Harlan, in a case where death ensued in about twenty-
four hours, found the usual external appearances, the blood-
vessels  of  the  head filled,  the  spinal  cord  healthy, the
mucous membrane  of the stomach of a red pink, owing to
the loaded state of its vessels, and marks of inflammation in
the  mucous membrane of the intestines.!

   * Eclectic Repertory, vol. 1, p. 312.
   X Edinburgh Journal of Science, vol. 7, p. 86.
   X American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 8, p. 397. 
IRRITANT POISONS.                                  i
  The effects  of the bite of the rattlesnake on animals, are

so well known, and in  general, resemble  so  closely those

produced  on  man, that it  is  not necessary to recapitulate

them.*                               ,             „
  The moccason and copper-head snakes are equally venom-

ous with the rattlesnake.!
   As  to  antidotes, and  the  treatment  proper for  bitten

persons,  we  may remark, that these  are  numerous   and

diversified.  Humboldt and Bonpland mention a  New Gren-

ada plant, the  Guaco (Mikana  guaco,)  the juice  of which

seems  to  deter snakes from  biting persons on whom  it is

applied, and  even when they are  bitten,, the application of

the leaves prevents the usual effect.!

   Arsenite of potash,   (Fowler's solution,)  has  been  used

with great success by  Mr. Ireland, in the West  Indies, to

counteract the effects of the  bites of snakes.^  The Pill

of Tanjore, also  an  arsenical  preparation, was sometimes

 used by Dr. Russel with apparent success on animals ; but

 several, however, to  whom it was administered, died in the

 same way as if nothing had been  taken.||

    Ammonia, and Eau de Luce have  many  testimonies  in

 their favor, while some,  as  Sir Everard  Home  and Orfila,

 doubt their specific virtues.1T   They are, however, useful in


   * See on  this point, Philosophical  Transactions, vol. 35, pp. 309, 377. Dr.
 B. S. Barton mentions two cases of rabbits bitten by rattlesnakes.  One re-
 covered gradually in three days, the other died in 74 minutes.   On dissection,
 the great curvature of the stomach was  seen inflamed.  Around the bite,
 bloodwns effused, and the solids were in a gelatinous, bloody state.  (Barton's
 Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 1, part 1, p. 167.)  Harlan, in American
 Philosophical Transactions, N. S., vol. 3, p. 300.
   f Cases are given by Dr. Brickell  in New York Medical Repository, vol.  8,
 p. 441, by Dr. Drake (cured by cupping and ammonia,) in Western Journal
 of Medical and Physical Sciences, vol. 1, p. 60.
    X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 441. See also a translation of a Spanish
 tract on this plant, from  the Jamaica Physical Journal, in United States
 Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 66.  Silliman's Journal, vol.  24, pp.
 280,388; vol. 27,p. 171..  Some interesting facts relative to the beneficial
 effects of the guaco are quoted in Lancet, N. S., vol. 25, p. 497.
    § Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 2, p. 396.
    || Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 446. See also New York Medical Repository,
 vol. 7, p. 12. Dr. Phillips, American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 8, p.
 540.  Dr.  Miller of Ohio, Boston Medical  and Surgical  Journal, vol. 9,  p.
 240.
    II Testimonies in favor of these may be found in the Medical Commentaries,
 ▼ol. 14, p.  297.  London Medical Repository, vol. 8, p. 73.  New York Med.
 Repository, vol. 9, p. 109.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 18, 
708                   IRRITANT POISONS.
promoting  perspiration.   Alcohol  in  large  and  repeated
doses (in the form of whiskey,  &c.) has also been used.*
   Besides these,  many plants  have  acquired  a temporary
reputation in our  own country  and in  South America.   Of
the  former, are  the   Aristolochia  serpentaria, Prenanthes
alba,  and Polygala  senega;  and  in  South America,  the
Eupatorium ayapana,  the Algalia  or Yerba del  sapo, and
the Raiz  preta.f
   The Uvularia grandiflora  has  very decisive  testimony in
its favor,! an(l  the   Hieraceum  venosum  has  lately been
offered as  an  antidote, but its effects  are not superior  to
many other plants already noticed.§
 p. 231. London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 29, p. 120; Dr. D. Ramsay,
 a case cured by ammonia.  Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, vol. 17, p. 125.
 Numerons cases of the bite of the rattlesnake and moccason, are said to have
 been  cured by  ammonia, by Dr. Moore of Mississippi,  and Dr. Heustis of
 Alabama.  (American Journal of Medical Science, vol.  1, p. 341; vol.  8,
 p. 83.)  Mr. Sievwright, in India, London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal,
 vol. 2, p. 257.
   * See two cases of the bite of the rattlesnake cured by  it  in American
 Medical Recorder, vol. 6, p. 619.
   t Dr. Brickell states, that Prenanthes alba is a famous Indian cure for the
 bite of serpents.   (Barton's Medical and Physical Journal,  vol. 2,  part 1, p.
 101.)   On the Prenanthes altissima, (Harpalyce altissima, of Don,) see Dr.
 James Hubble, New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 4, p. 484.
   Dr. Barton's paper in the American Philosophical Transactions, vol. 3, p,
 100, contains a long list of supposed vegetable  antidotes.
   On  the Eupatorium ayapana, see New York Medical Repository, vol. 7, p.
 16; and Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, vol. 21, p. 286.
   On  the Algalia, New England Journal, vol. 3, p. 322.
   On  the Raiz petra, (Chiococca racemosa,  Kahinca) of Brazil, Edinburgh
 Philosophical Journal, vol. 1, p. 218; Dr. S. L. Mitchill,  New York Medical
 and Physical Journal, vol. 8, p. 208; Spix and  Von Martius' travels, vol.  2,
 p. 131.  Dr. Baxter of New York, has translated the chemical researches of
 Pelletier and Caventou on this substance.  (New York Medical Journal, vol.
 1. p. 164.)
  X See Mr. Tracy's paper in  the Transactions of the Albany Institute, vol.
 1, p. 32.  (New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 7, p. 65.)  Dr. B.
 H. Coates on the Uvularia perfoliata in Silliman's Journal, vol. 35, p.  270.
  § See Dr. Harlan's experiments in the Transactions of American Philo-
 sophical Society, N. S., vol. 3, pp. 300 and 400.  Dr. Harlan mentions that the
 Btate of South Carolina bought from  a negro the secret of a supposed anti-
 dote, at the expense of his freedom and an annuity of £100.  It proved to be
 the Alisma plantago.
  Dr.  Williams of Massachusetts, has lately mentioned the  Viola ovata as a
 cure.  (American Journal of Medical Sciences,  vol. 13, p. 310.)
  Dr. Daniel Drake mentions a case in which the root of the sanicula  mari-
 landica, applied in the form of poultice, cured the bite of a snake. (Western
 Journal of Medicine and Surgery, vol. 5, p. 394.)
  Dr.  Butazzi of Naples cured an alarming case of viper-bite, by sulphate  of
 quinine in large doses.  (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 29, p. 509.) The
application of oil of turpentine  to the wound is also said to have proved suc-
cessful in Brazil. 
                                                        709
                    IRRITANT POISONS.                   'u

   Caustics are valuable, but often prove ineffectual, and the
treatment at present most relied on, is the  use of cupping
glasses, and the  application of ligatures  above  the  part
bitten, but not too  tight, nor too  long continued.   Then
cauterize  the  wound  with  lunar  caustic, and afterwards
apply  compresses  to  the  part.   Perspiration and  sleep
should be encouraged  by doses of ammonia, wine  or ether,
and the patient should  be kept in bed well covered.  Local
inflammation must be combatted by the usual means.
   Dr.  Knox in  a very interesting  paper on  the  bites of
snakes (particularly those  of warm countries,) insists that
the only certain  remedy is excision of the part  and adduces
instances of cure.*
   In many cases, there is no doubt that if  left to nature,
they would cure themselves, with however, more or less of
local diffuse inflammation.!
   The Scorpion  is  most  venomous  in southern countries.
 Instances are recorded, of its sting producing grievous local
 inflammation, and occasionally fever, trembling and pain, on
 man,  in France and  Italy.  Animals,  as  dogs and  cats,
 generally survive,  though some have died from its poison.!
    The Tarantula produces  similar effects, local rather than
 general, and the  fabulous stories respecting it  are  now well
 understood and duly appreciated.   It would seem,  however,
 that there are species whose  sting may prove fatal.   Dr.
 Graperon states, that he  saw two fatal cases in the Crimea;
 one  proved  so in  forty-eight  hours, another  in six days.

   Besides these,  many  other remedies have apparently proved successful.
 Oil has been thus given.  (New York Medical Repository, vol. 2,  p. 242.) A
 living fowl applied to the wound.  (Silliman's Journal, vol.  1, p.  259.)
   Most of these illustrate the remark of Sir Everard Home,  that" the violent
 effects which the poison produced on the part bitten, and on the general sys-
 tem, and the shortness of their duration, have frequently induced the belief,
 that the recovery depended upon the medicines employed."
   * Lancet, N. S., vol. 25, p. 199.  See also Dr. William B. Diver, on the
 treatment of the Rites of Snakes, by the native practitioners of Bengal, in
 American Medical Intelligencer, vol. 4, p. 193.  They use the actual cautery
 and incisions.
   t I copy this remark from Dr. Harlan, who makes it at  the conclusion of
 an interesting case, in North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.
 11, p. 227.  See also Hancock on snake poisons.  (Brande's Journal, N. S..
 vol. 7, p. 330.)
   X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 411. 
710                 IRRITANT POISONS.
The first was that of a peasant, who was stung while sleep-
ing in his hut.   The sting was soon very painful, his neck
swelled, and the respiration became difficult forty-four hours
after the accident.   On the  right side of the neck, there was
a brownish violet mark, the neck, head and shoulders were
swelled, and the thorax from the  clavicle to the false ribs,
was of a bluish color.  Scarifications, the  actual cautery,
oil externally and internally, and  ammonia, were all tried
in vain.*
   The bite of the Spider  is also said to cause local inflam-
mation with  general  irritation.   Several  severe cases  are
recorded.!
   The  sting of the  bee, the  humble-bee, the wasp, and  the
hornet, have  each  occasionally  produced  dangerous  and
alarming symptoms.  Inflammation more  or less extensive
has followed, and if the part  injured be a sensitive one,
great misery is produced.   Several cases  of this nature are
cited by  Orfila, and in a cotemporary journal  a remarkable
instance  is  mentioned, where the  sting  of a bee  excited
vomiting, fainting, sweating, trembling, and great difficulty
of breathing.   The patient had been stung on the back of
the  left  middle finger,  but  it caused  little  pain  and no
swelling.!
   A species of wasp, {Vespa crabro, Yellow jacket,) stung a
ploughman  when  at  work.  It  caused  insensibility  and
  * Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 1, p. 215.
  t Dr. Jennings, Coxe's Medical Museum, vol.  3, p. 277. A fatal case,
possibly from it, by Dr. Lawrence in Chapman's Journal, vol. 1, p. 259;
case by Dr. Stahl, in American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 22, p. 514;
by Dr. Hulse. ibid., vol. 24, p. 70.
  There is a list of North American spiders, by Mr. Hentz, Silliman's Jour-
nal, vol. 21, p. 103.
  X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p.  414.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 8,  p. 130.  See also Coxe's  Medical Museum, vol. 7, p. 150.
American  Medical Recorder, vol. 11, p.  202.  Silliman's  Journal, vol. 16,
p. 182.
  In the English Cabinet Annual Register for 1833, is the  following, under
the date of June 14 : " Dr. King of Stratford-on-Avon, died in  consequence
of a sting which he received on the 8th inst. from a hornet."
  Dr. Harris in his lecture on Poisoned Wounds,  (Medical Examiner, vol.
1, p. 250,) states his opinion that " in all instances where death  results from
the stings of bees or wasps, it arises from active, inflammation,  either in at
about the larynx, so as to interrupt respiration." 
IRRITANT POISONS.
711
convulsive twitchings for several  hours, nor did he recover
until active stimulants were used.*
  The sting of the scorpion, bee or wasp, requires, according
to its violence, internal  or external remedies.  Generally,
emollient anodyne  applications  to the  injured parts, are
sufficient to allay  the irritation, after extricating the sting.
The  volatile alkali is also a valuable  medicine to be ad-
mistered in severe cases.
   Dr. Mease has collected  several cases of death occurring
in this country, from the  stings of bees, wasps, and spiders.
He  has  a  high  opinion  of the plantain  juice, both taken
internally  and applied to  the bitten  part.  Common  salt
moistened  (he observes)  has  also been used  with  benefit.!
In  a  recent  instance, large quantities  of laudanum  and
ammonia were required in  order to  relieve the patient.!
   A girl of the age of thirteen,  was bitten  on her foot by
the  large  green spotted lizard of  this country.  Numbness,
swelling of the limbs, followed  by severe pain succeeded;
 and after  severe  tetanic symptoms, the  side became  para-
 lyzed and death followed  on the  21st day after the bite.  If
 the result is  actually to be ascribed to  this, it will be the
 first case on  record in this country.§

                     Poisonous Fishes.||
   Numerous cases are  on record,  proving  the poisonous
nature of  various species  of fish, and particularly in the
  * Dr. Littel, Western Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences, vol. 4,
p. 192.
  t Memoirs of Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture, vol. 5, p.
232.  American Journal Med. Sciences,  vol. 19, p. 265.  Dunglison's Med.
Intelligencer, vol. l,p. 183.   We have accounts by most modern travellers
in Persia of a poisonous insect in that country.  It is now said to belong to
the class of spiders.  (Penny Magazine,  1837,  p. 310.  London Athenseum,
1837, pp. 671,683.)
  X American Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 24, p.  70.  Ice applied to the'
stings has been found useful. Dr. Mettauer in Boston Med. and Surg. Jour-
nal, vol. 21, p. 265.
  § Dr. Cushman of Maine, in Boston Med.  and Surg. Journal, vol.  21,
p. 3li7.                                        6
  || Fur the purpose of abbreviating my references, and at the same time
giving a view of the authorities to which I  have referred, I will cite the fol-
lowing papers on fish poisons : Dr. Chisholm, in Edinburgh Med.  and Surg.
Journal, vol. 4, p. 393.  Dr.  Burrows, in London Medical Repository, vol.
8, p. 115.  Dr. E. Thomas, in  Memoirs of the Medical Society of London, 
712
IRRITANT POISONS.
West  Indies.   Dr. Burrows has  given us  a catalogue  of
such, which it may be useful to quote.   Balistes monoceros,
{old wife.)  Ostracion globellum, {smooth bottle-fish.)   Tetra-
odon sceleratus, {tunny.)   Tetraodon ocellatus, {blower  or
blazer.)  Muraena major, {conger eel.)  Coryphcena splendens,
{dolphin.) Sparus chrysops, {porgee.) Coracinus fuscus major,
{gray snapper.)   Coracinus  minor, {hyne.)  Perca major  of
Browne, {Esox barracuda, barracuda.)  Perca venenata, {rock-
fish.)  Perca  venenosa  of  Catesby,   {grooper.)   Scomber
maximus, {xiphias of Browne, king-fish.)  Scomber thynnus,
{bonetta.)  Another species of scomber, {cavalloe, horse-eye!)
Scomber cseruleo  argenteus nudus,  of Browne,  {Spanish
mackerel!)   Mormyra of Browne, {blue parrot-fish.)  Clupea
thryssa,  {yellow-billed sprat.)  Cancer  astacus, {sea  lobster.)
Cancer ruricolus, {land crab)  Mytilus  edulis, {muscle.)*
   Of all these, the clupea {yellow-billed sprat) is the most
active and  dangerous; and the  usual  course of symptoms
from it is the following : itching over the whole body, violent
colic pain, a contraction and pungent heat of the oesophagus,
nausea,  heat of the skin and great acceleration of the pulse,
giddiness,  loss  of sight,  cold  sweats, insensibility, and
death.   Sometimes the disease is uncommonly rapid, con-
vulsions ensue  immediately after swallowing  the  fish, and
death is a speedy consequence.  Indeed whites and negroes
have both been known to expire at St. Eustatius, and other
of the Leeward islands, with the sprats  in their mouths
 vol. 5, p. 94.  Dr. Meyer, in Barton's Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 1,
 part 2, p. 43.  Mr. Quarrier, in London Med. and Physical Journal, vol. 25,
 p. 398. Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol. 1, p. 309, London edition.   Mr. An-
 derson, in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 56, p. 544.  Orfila, vol. 2, p. 417.
 Dr. Dickson, in Annals of Philosophy, vol. 11. p. 462.  Dr. Clarke of Domi-
 nica, in Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 7, p. 294. Dr. Combe of Leith,
 on the poisonous effects of the mussel, (mytulis edulis,) Edinburgh Medical and
'Surgical Journal, vol. 29,  p. 86.  Dr. Henderson, ibid., vol. 34, p. 317.
 Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, vol. 43.  Art. Poissons dangereux,  by
 H. Cloquet.  Of these, the papers of Drs. Chisholm, Burrows and Combe,
 are particularly deserving of perusal.   Of later publications, I may refer to
 Moreau De Jonnes' paper on the poisonous fishes of the West Indies, Annales
 de Therapeutique et de Toxicologic, March, 1844, and Sir. William Burnett's
 communication to the Royal Society, London, Edinburgh and Dublin Phil
 Magazine, August, 1846.
   * Various other species of poisonous fishes in different parts of the world
 are enumerated in the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, art. Ichthyology. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
713
unswallowed.*   This, however, is said to be the only fish
which produces immediate death, even within the tropics.
  The gray snapper produces cholera morbus and excrucia-
ting pain, with efflorescence, and is apt to leave a weakness
of the  lower extremities, dimness of sight, and  dulness  of
hearing.
  These are also the ordinary results, with, however, some
variety, that  are experienced from  the use  of the  various
kinds enumerated  in the preceding catalogue.   The con-
traction and heat of the oesophagus do not  occur in some
cases, but in its place there is an excessive heat of the
mouth and tonge.  A miliary eruption, or an  efflorescence
over the  whole body, is  also very  common, producing
sometimes an exfoliation of the epidermis.!
  The cause  of this poison has been the subject of much
ingenious research.  Dr. Chisholm  inclined to  the idea, that
it was  owing  to  the  fish feeding on copper banks.  He
would seem, however, to have abandoned this, as on chemi-
 cal examination,  a portion of the  argillaceous  stone  of
 Antigua  was found not to contain any; but  a precipitate
 was  obtained,  possessing  the  qualities  of  sulphate  of
 barytes.!
   Dr. Burrows has investigated this question  with great
 ability.   He is of opinion that the  poison does not exist in
 the skin, or in the stomach and intestinal  canal, or in the
 liver and gall-bladder exclusively,  although there is  no
 doubt that persons have been  poisoned from  eating these
 various parts.  It pervades the whole substance of the fish, and
 this is abundantly proved by the statements of Dr. Chisholm,
 and the numerous  authorities  adduced by him.  As to  its
 origin,  he discusses the cupreous  theory of Dr. Chisholm,
 and shows the great improbability  of the metal being held
 in  solution in the sea-water.  The fact also, that land-crabs
 occasionally produce  similar symptoms, is further  urged
 against this opinion.   The idea that other substances taken
 as  food by fish, may be the cause of their poisonous nature,
• Chisholm, p. 395.
f Thomas.               } London Med. Repository, vol. 5, p. 13. 
714
IRRITANT POISONS.
is shown to be unfounded.   He  concludes  with advancing

and establishing the belief, that a morbid change takes place

in the system of the fish.

   And this  is  particularly to  be expected  in those  taken

from the tropical seas, as they are immediately exposed to

a high  temperature, and putrefaction must commence with

the  extinction of life,  and proceed with intense rapidity.*

   Treatment.   An emetic (of sulphate of zinc,) or cathartic,

should be immediately administered, according to the time

  • Burrows.  See also Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine,  vol. 4, art. Urti-
oaria, by Dr. Houghton.
  I add the following, as it contains the observations of an  acute and learned
observer:
  "Jan. 18, 1819.  A paper was read by Dr. Ferguson, before the Royal So-
ciety of Edinburgh, ' On the poisonous fish of the Caribbee Islands.'
  " The author endeavored to prove, that in all the larger fishes of prey, the
poisonous quality was a rare and accidental occurrence, and that it was found
to be present only at certain seasons of the year in one or two of the smaller
species of fish, more particularly  in the  yellow-billed  sprat, (the Sardine
dore of the French, and clupea thryssa of naturalists.)  From whence he in-
ferred that the larger voracious fishes, such as the baracosta, (Perca major of
naturalists,) &c, became poisonous only at  the times they had recently been
preying upon the smaller poisonous prey.  The notion of  their being made
poisonous from being found  in copper banks, or their eating the stinging blub-
bers, (the medusae and holothuriae,) was refuted. In regard to  tests, it was
shown  that none  could  be  depended upon ; that nothing whatever could be
discovered-from inspection of the fish;  that the boasted test of boiling a piece
of silver with  the suspected fish proved nothing, whatever might be its actual
quality ; that so far from their being any marks of disease in the viscera, or
other parts of poisonous fishes, they were found to be in the best season, and
of the  highest quality in all respects.
  "The poison of the yellow-billed sprat was supposed to be inherent in the
animal at certain seasons of the year, and not occasioned by its being fed
upon any undiscovered local marine poison,  from  the circumstance of the
other smaller fishes that were found in the.same place, never partaking of the
same poisonous nature, and from the poison of the fish being more potent and
deadly  than any known or even supposable article of food could be likely to
communicate.
  "With respect to the remedies or antidotes, the efficacy of sugar was alone
established as deserving of credit.  Wines, spirits,  and the condiments used
at table, were believed to have obtained occasional credit, only being  used in
such slight cases of the poison as would likely have passed  away without any
remedy.  As a precaution in all cases of suspicious fish of the larger speciesi
the cleaning them out as soon as caught, was recommended as a useful and
proper  one, to prevent the carcase  being  farther tainted by the lodgment of
any poisonous matter (such as that of the  yellow-billed sprat) recently swal-
lowed; though it was shown at the'same  time that the  doing so,  and even
salting  the fish afterwards, could not in any instance do away with the poison-
ous impregnation so communicated to these voracious creatures, whose powers
of assimilation, from the shortness of the intestines and great size of the liver,
must be supposed to be  infinitely quicker  than what takes place  among ter-
restrial animals. It was useful, also, in a more humble way, by furnishing the
material of the  only criterion hitherto discovered for  detecting the  poison,
which  was shown to be  that of giving a portion of the liver or offal to  some
inferior animal, such as a cat,  a duck, or a pig, and ascertaining its effects
upon them, before making use of the fish."  (Edinburgh  Philosophical Jour-
nal,  vol. 1, p. 194.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
715
that has elapsed since the  ingestion of the poisonous sub-
stance.  If, however, the spontaneous vomiting or purging
be very great, it may sometimes be necessary to check it by
anodynes.   These are also  proper when spasms supervene.
And for the sequelae, Dr. Chisholm advises  a solution  of
alkalies  in  water.   Sugar,  containing  a  few  drops of sul-
phuric ether, has also been  recommended; and there are
many cases in which the nervous system is so weakened, as
to need active and repeated stimuli.
  Some of the fish  taken on the coast of England would
seem to possess injurious qualities.  Thus the trachinus draco
(weaver) has the power of stinging with its dorsal fin  so
violently, as to cause numbness and violent swelling.*
  Mussels sometimes  produce symptoms very analogous to
those just related, and death  has occasionally been the con-
sequence in weak females, and in children.   Violent oppres-
sion and agony, swelling of the face, a scarlet efflorescence
over the body, insatiable thirst, tormina and vomiting, are
the usual   effects;  and in  fatal cases, coldness of  the
extremities, low and quick pulse, hiccup, delirium and occa-
sional coma.f
   The most copious account that we have of these  is by Dr.
Combe of Leith, as  already quoted.   In June, 1827, a num-
ber of persons (probably thirty) were  seized in that  town
with similar symptoms, varying, however, in severity, from
eating mussels.   Heat and  thirst in the mouth, great desire
to pass urine, small and weak pulse, some difficulty in  swal-
lowing,  twitchings  and  great weakness,  were the  most
common symptoms.   Two aged persons died without being
seen by medical men, but emetics and laxatives, followed by


  *  Annals of Philosophy, N. S., vol. 6, p. 301; Christison, p 541. Similar
and even more severe results from its stinging, on the coast of Holland. It is
asserted, that no injury happens from it in warmer countries as at Naples.
Kesteloot, in Bulletin De L'Academie Royale De Bruxelles, vol. 8, part 2, p.
510.  It is, however, improbable that the sharp spines of this and the other
species of Trachinus, which inflict these wounds, throw out any poisonous
secretion.
  t  Two fatal cases from eating mussels, by Dr. Burrows, in London Medi-
cal Repository, vol. 3, p. 445.  Instances are also related in Oifila's Toxi-
cology, vol. 2, p. 419, and Fodere, vol. 4, p. 85. 
716                  IRRITANT POISONS.

stimuli,  generally relieved the disease in  the rest.*  The
dissection of the above individuals was hurried and imper-
fect.   The abdomen in each was tympanitic, the stomach
healthy,  the intestines suffused  in  some  places,  and  the
bladder distended.
  These  mussels were collected  from a  bar at the dock
gates, which had floated  there  for  twenty years,  and  on
being drawn up, was  found thickly encrusted with them.
The wood was sound;  the fish appeared fresh and healthy;
nor could Dr. Christison discover any deleterious impregna-
tion, after the  most  careful  chemical  examination.  Dr.
Combe agrees with  Dr. Burrows in believing the cause to
be a poison sui generis pervading the animal.f
  A case of a choleroid affection  that occurred at London
in 1833, is given by Dr. T. Thompson.  It was accompanied
with cramp or itching, but the  patient  sunk  under it.  On
dissection, the  mucous membrane of the stomach was of a
bright red throughout, and a hsemorrhagic spot at its pyloric
extremity;  the  intestines had a  similar  appearance;  the
peritoneum was reddened.  It appears that four days previ-
ous  to his illness, he had eaten a pint of mussels boiled for
supper.   The next day, he was seized with great weakness,
and  diarrhoea soon followed.!
  There are some instances in which the most severe asthma
is present—the eruption  appearing to give  place  to this.
Dr.  Dulong and some other French physicians have given
ether in such, with success.§
  The oyster, lobster, crab and mackerel of our  New York
market, have each occasionally produced poisonous effects.!

  * One patient, however, had violent gastric symptoms, followed by perito-
nitis, which required the free use of the lancet.  Fodere relates a similar
case, which proved fatal,  and on dissection the stomach and intestines were
seen inflamed.  (Vol. 4, p. 85.)
  X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 86.
  X London Medical Quarterly Review, vol. 3, p. 179.
  §  London Medical Gazette, vol. 19, p. 85. Mr. Bullock relieved a female ill
with all the usual symptoms, by the free  use of milk. M. Bouchardat sug-
gested rather a novel cause for the poisonous qualities of mussels.  He ob-
tained by analysis, from them, a quantity of copper, " assez grande pour ero-
poisonner."  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 17, p. 361.)
  ||  A case of poisonous effects from a  crab, supervening  in fifteen minutes
after eating it, is mentioned in the New York Medical Repository, vol. 12, p. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
717
Mr. Webster, surgeon of the Chanticleer, says, "the mackerel
of St.  Helena  is  apt to  produce unpleasant  symptoms.
Several  of the  officers  on  board  the  Chanticleer were
attacked with  violent  headache, suffusion of the face  and
scarlet rash on the  breast after having eaten  of it, and I am
informed that the same symptoms have been  experienced in
other ships."*   Dr. G. Horner in his  Medical  and  topo-
graphical observations on  Gibraltar, states  that mackerel
are caught in large  numbers alongside vessels at anchor  and
the  eating  of  them is frequently followed   by  poisonous
effects.  " The mackerel, whether fresh  or salt, causes the
same symptoms.   These are  high fever, a flushed face, in-
flamed eyes, violent headache, and gastric disorder, with a
sense of internal heat, continuing for a  longer  or shorter
period according to  the person and the treatment.   The
most effectual remedy was  an emeto-cathartic, of tartrite of
antimony and sulphate of magnesia.  The cause of this fish
poisoning is unknown."!
   Some  years  since,  a quantity of oysters  arrived in the
month of  September  at  Dunkirk, from Normandy.  They
were extensively purchased and eaten;  and  colic, diarrhoea
and cholera morbus immediately prevailed to a great extent.
It was supposed that  the oysters were  the  cause, and Dr.
Zandyck was commissioned to inquire into the subject.  He
found  that many of these  animals contained water which
left a slimy deposit, and had a  decidedly brackish taste;
and he suggested that  the  mischief might be owing to the
weakness and  languor of  the  oyster, which had not  suf-
ficiently animalized the contained sea-water.!    ,
   The treatment, in all these  cases, must be  similar to that
already advised as to poisonous fishes generally.

189.  The newspapers (August, 1835,) contain an account of twelve persons
in Maryland, dead after a repast on  crabs.
  • Webster's narrative of a voyage to the South Atlantic under the command
.of Capt. Henry Foster, vol. 1, p. 378.
  t Hor ner's Medical & Topographical Observations upon the Mediterranean,
&c., p. 66, in Bell's Select Medical  Library and Eclectic Journal of Medicine.
  The crab, mackerel, oyster, herring, occasionally produces equally severe
effects in the Netherlands.  See Toxico<?raphie de quelques poissons et crus-
taces de la mer du Nord, par M. Kesteloot; Bulletin de L'Academie Royale
de Bruxelles, vol. 8, part 2, p. 302.  1 Lond. Med. Repository, vol. 13, p. 58. 
718                 IRRITANT POISONS.

  A case is reported of disease caused by eating a portion
of the liver of the halibut, a fish quite common off the harbor
of New York.  The patient was  seized with pain, nausea,
vomiting and headache; and  shortly thereafter, the  skin
began to exfoliate from his face and successively from every
part of the body.   In this  condition,  he was  admitted into
the  New York Hospital.   The disease yielded to  diapho-
retics and the warm bath.*
  The Physalia is a remarkable molluscous animal, inhabiting
the tropical  seas, and  known to sailors under  the  name of
the  Portuguese  man-of-war.  Many  scientific   individuals
speak of  the pungent pain and  irritation  produced by
handling them.  Their tentacula  twine round  the  hand or
body, and  the  acrid  exudation that issues  produces the
severe effects.!
  As  to the venomous nature of the  Toad,  various  and
contradictory opinions have  existed: it  is doubted at the
present  day, though formerly it was believed.   King  John
of  England is supposed to have been poisoned by  a drink,
in which matter from a living toad had been  infused.  Pel-
letier has analyzed the  venom of the common toad, and
states it to consist  of an acid, a very bitter and  even caustic
fat matter, and  an animal  matter having some analogy to
gelatine.!   Dr. John  Davy considers it as a peculiar  fluid,
secreted in  the  follicles of the skin, and  states that  it is
extremely acrid when applied to the tongue, but innoxious
to a chicken when  inoculated with it.§
  The Pheasant of this State and Pennsylvania, (or Partridge
as it is sometimes  styled,) is  deemed  poisonous during the
winter and  spring; and the cause assigned for it, is its
  •  Dr. A. C. Post, New York Medical Journal, vol. 1, p. 101.
  f  See Bennet and Mayer, quoted in the London Quarterly Review, vol. 52,
pp. 4 and 168.   London Medical Gazette, vol. 8, p. 679.  Abel's Journey to
China, p. 59.  I have omitted a notice of the Ornithorynchus paradoxus in
this edition, as we are now led to believe that its spur is not poisonous.
  X  London Medical Repository, vol. 9, p. 168.  A case somewhat similar to
the one mentioned in the text, is contained in Valentini's Pandects, vol. 1, p.
554, "De  diarrhoea lethali  a talpa (mole) potu ordinario injecta." The
answer of the  Medical Faculty of Giessen, discountenancing this idea, and
attributing it to horror, is also given.
  § Annals of Philosophy,, N. S., vol. 11, pp. 137,277.  British and Foreign
Medical Review, voL 12, p., 136. 
                                                      719
                    IRRITANT  POISONS.

feeding on the buds of the laurel (Kalmia latifolia,) which is
one of the few shrubs which preserve their verdure through-
out the cold season.  The facts that we have on this subject
are not numerous, but the impression is notwithstanding a
general, and probably a safe one.   Dr. Mease has published
several cases, which occurred in 1791 and 1792, in Phila-
delphia, where individuals dining on pheasants solely, were,
in a few hours after, seized with giddiness, violent flushings
of heat and cold, sickness at stomach, and repeated vomiting.
These  symptoms  were  soon succeeded  by delirium, weak
 pulse and extreme debility; while some cases were marked
by the preservation  of the senses, but  a  total inability to
 articulate.  They  were generally relieved by  emetics, di-
 luents and mild stimulants.  One  case of death ensued, but
 there were so  many causes  combining, that  it would be
 improper to ascribe it to the food alone.*
   In a case that occurred  to Dr. Drake, also in the winter,
 vertigo, deadly sickness  at  the stomach,  with extreme lan-
 guor and exhaustion,  suddenly attacked the patient.  The
 pupils were dilated, no  pulse was present  in the  arms or
 temple, and excruciating pain in  the stomach,  with a dispo-
  sition to  vomit,  next  supervened.  An  emetic  somewhat
 relieved these, but tenesmus  and griping remained for some
 time, and he very gradually recovered, f
    In two other  cases occurring in  the  same family, and
 where the symptoms were  similar to  the above, the place
 where the bird had been prepared for the spit was examined,
 and a  number of the leaves of the laurel were  found.   This
 occurred in February, 1826.!
    Additional cases are related by Dr. Hayward of "Boston,
  and Dr. Comstock of Connecticut.§
    • Mease, in New York Medical Repository, vol.  1, p.  153. Barton, in
  American Philosophical Transactions, vol. 5, p. 60.  The opinion has been
  long entertained that the food of animals may become poisonous from feeding
  on noxious  substances.  A, number  of authprs are quoted to this effect in
  Schlegel, vol. 3, p. 134; and among other remarks, it is stated that birds feed-
  ing on darnel have proved noxious.
    t New York Medical Repository, vol. 21, p. 460.
    X Dr. Shoemaker of Philadelphia,  in North American Medical and Surgi-
  cal Journal, vol. 1, p.  321.
    §  Boston  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 16, pp. 123, 159.  It is sug-
  gested (ibid. p. 173) that the poisonous quality is not owing to the food taken 
720
IRRITANT POISONS.
  Poisonous Honey.   It has  long been known that honey is
occasionally poisonous.   Many of the ancient writers con-
tain facts on this subject, and in particular, a number of the
Greek  soldiers  during the  retreat of the ten thousand, are
said to have been violently  affected by some  they had eaten
near Trebisond.*   I will only notice  at this time, the effects
that have been produced in our own country, and their pro-
bable causes.
  Dr. Barton, in the paper already  noticed, states that a
party of adventurers removed some hives of bees from Penn-
sylvania to  New Jersey,  in the  hope that the  savannas of
the  latter  country  might be  favorable  to the increase of
these  animals,  and  consequently to  the making of honey.
They accordingly placed them in the above  situations, and
where the kalmia was the principal  flowering shrub.  The
bees  increased  prodigiously, and their enterprise appeared
successful;  but it was soon found that every  one who ate of
the honey,  became  intoxicated to  a  high degree.   It was
then made into metheglin, but with a  similar effect on those
who partook of it.
  The  usual  symptoms  are dimness of sight, or  vertigo,
succeeded  by  a  delirium  which  is sometimes  mild and
pleasant and sometimes ferocious, ebriety, pain in the sto-
mach  and   intestines,  convulsions,   profuse perspiration,
  by the animal, but that a change sui generis is  going on in the fluids, and
  consequently in the solids of the male at the season in question, from the be-
  ginning of February to the middle of March. I should, however, suppose
  that the cause assigned in the text is the most probable one.
    Dr. Comstock quotes from the MS. Lectures of Dr. Rush, a statement that
  sixty  boys were all taken sick in one night, from eating pot-pie made of
  wild pigeons which had fed on the berries of the Phytolacca decandra. (Ibid.,
  vol. 16, p. 317.)
    * On the knowledge of the ancients concerning poisonous honey, see Dr.
  B. S. Barton's paper, in the American Philosophical Transactions, vol. 5, pp.
I  65 to 68, and Fodere, vol. 4, p. 290.
    Mr. Keith E. Abbot, in a letter to the Zoological Society of London, dated
  Trebisond, December 10, 1833, says that  the bees are supposed to feed from
  the Azalea pontica ; " that plant growing in  abundance in this part of the
  country, and its blossoms emitting the most exquisite odour.  The effect
  which it has on those who eat it, is, as  I have myself witnessed, precisely
1  that which Xenophon describes.  When taken in a small  quantity, it causes
  violent headache and vomiting, and the unhappy individual who has swal-
  lowed it, resembles as much as possible, a tipsy man ; a larger dose will com-
  pletely deprive  him of all sense and power of moving for some hours after-
  wards." (London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 5, p. 314.) 
IRRITANT POISONS.
721
foaming  at the mouth, vomiting and purging, and  in a few
instances, death.  Sometimes vomiting is among the earliest
symptoms, and in that case, the patient is readily relieved,
although a temporary weakness of the  limbs is not an un-
common result.*
   Dr.  Hosack has recorded two cases, in which the  sub-
stance produced  violent vomiting, cold  extremities and a
livid appearance  of the countenance.  The  pulse  was
reduced  to about twenty in a minute.  The  spontaneous
vomiting, however, being followed by a dose of castor oil,
together with the application  of fomentations, relieved the
sufferers.  In these instances, the honey was of a dark red-
dish color, and a  thicker consistence than is usually sold in
the market.!
   From  the facts mentioned above, Dr. Barton is of opinion
that the poisonous nature of the honey is owing to the bees
feeding  on  venomous plants—as the various  species  of
 kalmia, the  andromeda mariana, which is destructive  to
 sheep;  the  rhododendron; the azalea  nudiflora, and the
 datura.   He recommends  that  every fcetid  or  poisonous
 vegetable should be removed  from the habitations of these
 animals.
   Besides the poisons now considered, there are others enu-
 merated by systematic writers, which I defer noticing until
 I commence the  investigation of medical police.  Of this
 description  are  poisonous  animals, used as food,  as  oxen,
 sheep, &c, in whom the fluids have been depraved by dis-
 ease,  and  rabies, (hydrophobia.)  I   shall  conclude  this
 division of the subject with a  few remarks on the danger of
 wounds received in dissection.
   The  accidents to which anatomists are exposed  in the
 prosecution of their studies, are divided by Baron Percy into
 two classes; those resulting from the putrid gases extricated
   *  Barton ut antea,  vol. 5, p. 52.
   t  Hosack's Medical and Philosophical Register, vol. 3, p. 390. Mr. A. De
 ?« hSSfe.S   80™e Poisonous honey in Brazil   M h    ed h  f
 14, p 91 )              Party> <Eciinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol.
   vol. ii.                   46 
722                 irritant poisons.
from the dead  animal matters,  and acting on  the  system
generally, and  those from inoculation of a septic principle,
in wounds.  I propose noticing the second only.
  The instances that are recorded are  marked by a train of
symptoms peculiarly  malignant,  and often suddenly fatal.
Dr. Chambon pricked  his middle finger with the sphenoid
bone of a skull, that had been  long macerating.   He was
soon after seized with the  most intolerable pain,  and in-
flammatory swelling of the fingers  and hands.  At another
time, from a similar cause,  the  mental faculties were dis-
ordered, the pulse was irregular, and extreme debility was
present.
  Corvisart,  while examining a dead body,  pricked  his
finger.  The arm immediately swelled to an enormous size,
and it was only by making repeated and deep incisions into
the tumefied parts, that Desault preserved his life.*  Le
Clerc, professor of legal medicine in the school of Medicine
at Paris, opened the body of an individual who  had  died of
putrid fever.  In dissecting he  wounded  his  fingers.  The
virus  immediately penetrated over the whole system, and
he died on the  third day afte? the accident had taken place.
On examination, all  the viscera were  found in a  putrid
state.!
  Cases have also occurred in England and in this country.
Dr. Pett, of Clapton, assisted a medical friend in examining
the body of a lady,  who  died  of peritoneal inflammation
after  child-birth.  Twelve  hours after3 he  complained  of
pain in the  middle finger of his right hand, where a slight
superficial wound was discovered.   This was touched with
caustic, and afterwards with strong sulphuric acid, but he
did not feel  either of the applications.  A second applica-
tion of lunar caustic produced  intense  pain.   This was
followed by  severe rigor, and the pain spread with increasing
agony along the arm.   He passed  a sleepless night, and in
the morning, his  finger was white and without sensation,
and his countenance alarmingly  altered.  The arm went on
  * Percy, New England Journal, vol. 8, p. 193.
  f New York Medical Repository, vol. 11, p. 433. 
                                                       723
                    IRRITANT POISONS.

to swell, the  superficial absorbents appeared inflamed  the
pectoral and axillary region became much affected, the finger
put  on the  appearance of  gangrene, and there was  high
nervous excitement generally.   The unfavorable symptom
rapidly increased, and notwithstanding  every  means that
was used,  he sunk in  105 hours  after  the injury   On
examination, the chest and abdomen were found healthy,
the heart rather  large and flabby, and the liver considerably
deranged by a chronic affection.*
   A valued friend and colleague of mine, some years since,
nearly lost his life from a similar cause.-  He prunctured his
finger with a needle while  examining the body of a child.
In forty-eight hours  afterwards,  acute, lancinating  pams
were felt in the  wound, and it assumed a deep purple color.
The  arm  itself, and the  glands of  the  axilla also became
affected, and were  exquisitely painful.   A  general distur-
 bance  of  the nervous system  soon succeeded, and he was
 only relieved by a strict  adherence  to the antiphlogistic
  treatment.
    These cases are  sufficient  to show the danger that  some-
  times follows from a puncture  during dissection.  Whether
  this danger is  aggravated by a  peculiar condition  of the
  system, is in some degree  still undetermined; but it is not
  improbable that the  effects  may be  exacerbated in cases
  where there is  a previous  predisposition to disease,  either
  of a temporary  or constitutional nature.
   This subject, however, has  been treated in a very elabo-
  rate manner by  the late Dr. Duncan, junior, in his paper on
  Diffuse Inflammation  of the cellular tissue; and  to  it and
  the authorities quoted below, I must refer the reader.!
   * Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 5, p. 313.
   f Duncan, Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 1, pp. 455 to
  650.  Sir. Astley Cooper's Lectures.   Shaw's Manual of Anatomy, vol. 1,
  Introduction.  Godman, Chapman's Journal, 9, p. 359. Dr. Colles in Dublin
  Hospital Reports, vols. 3 and 4.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
  vol. 24, pp. 56, 59, 225; vol. 26, pp. 86, 105. Travers on Constitutional Irri-
  tation.  Copland's Dictionary, art. Cellular tissue.  Lawrence on Dissection
  Wounds, Lancet, N. S., vol. 5, p. 561. Dr. Milledoller, on the poison of
  putrid animal matter, New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 9, p. 39.
  Mr.  Stafford, (Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 20.)  He advises the
  free  application of nitrate of silver,  leeches, and muriate of morphia to
  allay irritation, and particularly insists on  early incisions. Mayo,  in Lon- 
724
IRRITANT POISONS.
  As to the treatment, but little  needs be said.   Chaussier
recommends that every  student  should keep constantly in
his pocket, a small  phial  of muriate of antimony, and when-
ever he wounds himself, immediately cauterize the puncture
with it.   Percy advises the application of strong nitric acid.
  The disease of the system can only be combatted by the
same remedies that are generally applicable in cases where
the nervous and cellular systems are severely affected.*
                 5. Mechanical  Irritants.

  There  is  one  substance  that  requires  to  be  noticed,
principally  for the  purpose  of establishing its  innoxious
properties.   If it deserves a  place  in  a treatise on toxi-
cology, it must be, as Professor Christison has very properly
styled it, as a mechanical irritant.
   Glass  and enamel in powder.  This was formerly deemed
a highly poisonous substance.  It was  one of the articles
administered to Sir  Thomas Overbury  for his destruction,
and toxicologists and medical jurists, even to  the present
day, continue  its  arrangement with  the  corrosive poisons.
Various experimenters have, however, given it in consider-
able quantity to animals, and  even to men,  without produc-
don Medical Gazette, vol. 29, p. 463.  Harden, in American Journal of Med-
ical Sciences, vol. 22, p. 396. Hayward, in ibid., N. S., vol. 7, p. 64. Benson,
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 27, p. 445.  Dr.  Craigie,  on Inflammation
of the Adipose Tissue,  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 48, p.
396.  Dr. Macartney, Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 34, p. 133.
  *  New England Journal, vol. 8, p. 195.
  There is a very curious fact recorded by Professor Silliman, in his Journal,
vol. 2, p. 168, on the authority of Dr. Samuel Brown. Dr.  B. informed him
that he had had patients under his care, who had been bitten in personal
combats, and whose wounds exhibited every symptom of poison, pertinaciously
resisting all the ordinary modes of cure.  The saliva and tartar of the teeth,
are mentioned as probably the deleterious substances in these cases.  Other
cases are mentioned in the Annals of Medicine, and in  the Atlas, (London
newspaper,) August 19, 1S48, and an analogous instance excited some atten-
tion in this country in 1841. A gentleman, more than 80 years old,  died of
hepatic disease, and at its termination was affected with a  severe  thrush in
the  mouth, accompanied by frequent haemorrhage.  The  son was in good
health, except a sore on his lips.  He shaved the corpse, and without waiting
to wipe the razor, and using the same lather and brush, also shaved himself.
His face soon became swollen,  the sore  increased in size, and  after a most
hideous swelling of the head, with great pain, he  died,  ten days subsequent
to the shaving.  This case occurred at Farmingham  (Massachusetts).  (Bos-
ton Medical and Surgical Journal, vol 25, p. 197.   Dr. Mease,  in American
Medical Intelligencer, N. S., vol. 1, p. 154.) 
                   IRRITANT POISONS.                 725

ing any injury.  Le Sauvage administered several drachms
to cats, dogs and rats, and in neither during life was any
illness perceived,  nor on being killed for  the  purpose  of
dissection, was any lesion noticed in the stomach or intes-
tines.   Caldani and Mandruzatto, are also said to have  made
similar experiments on animals, and  the latter on himself,
with  the same  results.!  It  would  thus  seem, that the
substance in question can hardly be deemed a  poison,  at
least  in  the ordinary sense of the term.  But there  is no
doubt that it may produce injury  by its insolubility, and its
mechanical properties.  If the fragments be  coarse or large,
inflammation may arise from the irritation that is  excited.
  Mr.  Hebb relates  a case of this kind.   A child eleven
months old died under suspicious circumstances, and the
coroner requested him to make an examination.   He found
the inside of the stomach lined with a tough layer of mucus,
streaked  with blood, while the  villous coat was highly
vascular, and  covered with numberless particles of glass of
various sizes, some of which touched, while others lacerated
it.  None of it was found beyond the pylorus, and the rest
of th« body was healthy.   Mr. Hebb  is of opinion that it
was given mixed with  sugar.  Although indicted, the sup-
posed murderers escaped,  under the  idea that  the  glass
might  have been accidentally  ground and mixed with the
sugar.*
   There is  a  remarkable case  on record, where a husband
was accused of having poisoned  his wife by means of this
substance.
  Louis  Lavalley, a  young man residing near Bayeux, in
France, became attached to Maria Guerin, the daughter of a
neighbor.  After the intimacy had continued for some time,
it was discovered that she  was pregnant, and her relatives
urged the necessity of marriage.  As Louis continued deeply
enamored of the female, but little difficulty was experienced

.vL?|rminJ0I\1-' P-lf41S-  Marc> P-61-  Le Sauvage also made numerous
SJ!' h/«8m'e!I W'th P°unded Slass> but no inconvenience or  injury
JKSS hiitptime^^ MedlCal ReP°Sit0ry' V0L U' P- W' f°"
  *  Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 1, p. 47. 
726
IRRITANT POISONS.
in effecting this, and his parents readily consented  to the
union.  They were married  on the 5th of November, 1807,
but were to remain separate, at the request of the family of
Guerin, until after her delivery.!
   On the thirteenth of December, Lavalley invited his wife
and  father-in-law to  a family dinner.  The entertainment
consisted of roast pig, black pudding, and calf's liver;  and
the bride partook freely of all  of them.  To these  coffee
succeeded, and she mixed a little brandy with hers.  She
was  urged  to remain that evening, but her father opposed it,
and  she returned to his home  with him.   She continued
well during the night, but early on  the  next morning  was
seized with violent pains, and  in four  or five hours con-
vulsions followed. Medical aid was afforded, but without
relief.  Delivery with instruments was then  attempted, but
an alarming hemorrhage obliged the  accoucheur to abandon
it, and  finally, as death seemed inevitable, the infant  was
extracted by the csesarean operation.  She died during this,
and her infant did not survive  her.   The funeral .took place
as usual; but  about  a month  after  her  decease,  and after
some disagreement had  taken  place among the  families,
concerning  the disposition  of her  marriage settlement, a
report came into circulation  that she had been  poisoned,
and  her husband was named  as the murderer.   The body
was disinterred  forty-two days after death, and  although
putrefaction was greatly advanced,  yet the stomach  and
other viscera were removed and carried away for exami-
nation.
   The reports  made concerning the  dissection were as  fol-
lows :   The stomach, duodenum, ileum and rectum, on being
opened, exhibited numerous black points and spots.  On
the internal coat of the intestines a  whitish substance was

  f It is intimated, as a reason for this, that she labored  under  a " maladie
dartreuse," for which she was under treatment, and which they desired to
conceal.
  A case occurred in 1S45, in France, where an unnatural father and  step-
mother attempted to poison the son, aged three years, with powdered glass
mixed in a pasty.  They were condemned to ten years' imprisonment.  (Ga-
zette Des Tribunaux, February 6, 1845.)  For other cases, and comments on
them, see ibid., March 12, and April 25, 1846. 
                                                    727
                   IRRITANT FOISONS.

discovered, which was ascertained by the  magnifying glass
and  chemical experiments, to be pounded glass.   Vesicles
resembling the effects of a burn, were also present, and par-
ticularly in those places where the black  spots were most
numerous; and  some slight  erosions were observed.  On
these  grounds the surgeons and chemists gave it as their
 opinion, that the pounded glass had produced the symptoms,
 and the fatal termination.
   Lavalley was dragged to  prison, with every mark of op-
 probrium.  His advocate, however, addressed several ques-
 tions  to  the  president  of the school of  medicine, for  the
 purpose of elucidating  the medical  testimony.  And these
 were answered  by two  of the professors, whose names are
 well known throughout the medical world, Baudelocque and
 Chaussier.    Their report is dated, March,  1808.   After
 stating  the questions put to them, I shall detail the  sub-
 stance of their answers.
    The first interrogatory  was, whether from the facts stated
 above, there appeared  to be any natural causes for the death
  of the female, either as regards her situation, the food she
  had  taken,  the medical  assistance she had received, or the
  omission of proper remedies 1
    To this, it is replied, that the nature of the food taken by
  the female being rather indigestible, the  addition of brandy
  to her coffee and her subsequent walk, all might have aided
  in producing indigestion ; that  this is a common occurrence
  from any impropriety in eating, with  females advanced in
  pregnancy, and that convulsions are in these cases a  common
  consequence of indigestion.  As to the treatment,  they de-
  cline any observations, but  intimate an opinion that the at-
  tempted delivery with instruments when no dilatation was
  present, as  well  as  the  caesarean  operation, were both im-
  proper.
     The second question was, whether her death ought to be
  attributed to the pounded  glass found  in the stomach and
  intestines ; whether this glass  is  a poison, and if  so, what
  are. its effects and mode of operation,  and do these corres-
  pond to the appearances observed  on dissection 7 
728
IRRITANT poisons.
  The professors intimate a  doubt, whether the substance
found was actually glass, but admitting it was so, they pro-
ceeded to examine its nature.   They  observe that it is a
common and ancient opinion, that rock crystal, the diamond,
glass, and other analogous substances, are active and  dan-
gerous poisons, since, by their hardness, they tear and pierce
the coats of the intestines.  This belief,  however, is shown
to be totally incorrect by numerous quotations from various
authors, of persons who had swallowed diamonds,and of eaters
of glass, in  large pieces, all of whom  had escaped injury.
They declare, that glass, in  a  state of  fine powder, is an
inert substance, and  particularly so when  the  stomach  is
filled with food.  The idea of its being taken in the coffee
is at once refuted by the fact, that it would fall to the bot-
tom by its own gravity; and  it is  suggested, whether if
glass were actually  present in  the intestines, it might not
have come from some vessel which she had broken with her
teeth during the existence of the convulsions.
   The  last question  was,  whether putrefaction would not
produce great changes in a body forty-two days after death;
and if so, what caused the state of the viscera, as reported
by the examiners 1
  It is replied, that usually the term of forty days produces
such a change as to  render an examination altogether un-
certain, but  even allowing the  season to have been favor-
able for the  preservation of the body,  they do not conceive
the facts stated to indicate the  results of poison.  Convul-
sions supervening on a full stomach, and passing to a fatal
termination, would leave an engorged state of the vessels in
various parts,  and predispose to ecchymosis, while the pro-
gress of putrefaction would readily explain the black spots
that were observed.  The medicines  administered,  being
antimonial emetics and an enema of senna, must also, and
and particularly as they proved inefficacious, have aided in
determining the irritation to the stomach and bowels.  As
to the  erosions, they remark, that their  appearance  proves
little, since they  are  frequently observed in those who die
from diseases which exclude all idea of poison. 
                    IRRITANT  POISONS.                  '29

  The professors conclude with observing, that as natural
causes will abundantly account for the death of the female,
they consider the accused husband as guiltless ;  and when
brought to trial before the criminal court of Caen, he was
acquitted by the unanimous verdict of the jury.*
  Introduction of pins and  needles into  the digestive organs.
I notice this  here, for want  of a better place, in consequence
of a late trial in France.   A  servant girl, aged 17, was in-
dicted for attempting to kill a child, aged two months and
a half, by making it swallow ten pins.  It was in fine health
when  it was  suddenly attacked with dyspnoea and fits of
suffocation, which continued for several days, and appeared
to threaten its  life.   After this,  it recovered its health.
The cause remained unknown, until the next day, when the
mother found three pins in the child's stool, four more  in
the evening, and three the next morning.  Dr. Ollivier,  of
Angers, examined the criminal in prison, and his  testimony
inclining to a belief in her insanity, she was acquitted. The
 child  remained well.
   From having been consulted in this case, Dr. Ollivier was
 led to examine into the  published cases where pins and nee-
 dles have been swallowed, with  the view of ascertaining
 the  amount of danger likely to result  from their introduc-
 tion into the  digestive organs.  In a majority  of  instances,
they appear  not to  have caused any appreciable incon-
venience  or injury, but in others, the symptoms  have been
more or less alarming, depending on whether the pin has
penetrated  the  coats  of the  pharynx  or oesophagus—or
transfixed the cartilages of the  larnyx or trachea, or the
coats  of  the stomach.   A fatal case from  swallowing a
needle, is quoted  from M. Guersant.  The child died, after
  * Causes Celebres par Mejan, vol. 2. p. 324; vol. 3, p. 344.   Marc, in a
recent case where he was consulted, gave an opinion corresponding  to the
above.  The case is mentioned in detail in Annales D'Hygiene, vol, 3, p. 365.
A negro woman in the Island of Jamaica, attempted to poison a whole family
with pounded glass, which was put into a dish of curried fish. The fact was
discovered towards the end of the meal, and the master of the family gave pur-
gatives to each; in consequence of which, they all passed large quantities of
coarsely powdered bottle-glass. When Dr. Turner, who reports the case, saw
 hem four days  after the attempt, they had not suffered any inconvenience.
(Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol 22 p 224 ) 
730
IRRITANT POISONS.
incessant vomiting and much suffering, in  two months, and
after death the needle was found at  a little distance from
the pylorus, traversing the coats of the stomach, and fixed
pretty deeply in the substance of the liver.  No inflamma-
tion, however, existed round this foreign  body.  Instances
are also not uncommon of pins and needles being discharged
at various parts of the surface, and Dupuytren relates of a
maniac, who died from numerous abscesses,  thus  formed.
Many, however, have escaped all serious consequences.
  The inference then,  from  a review of these cases is, that
although they have  generally ended favorably, yet we are
never  sure that a future one will result  thus : " there are
examples both of  recovery and of death."*

                   6. Irritant  Gases.

   Chlorine in a gaseous state destroys those who breathe it,
by  producing great irritation of the bronchia?,  and  when
even diluted with atmospheric air, it causes  cough and in-
flammation.   Pelletier is thus said to have fallen  a victim
to its effects.
   Nysten and Orfila  have  performed several experiments
with gaseous chlorine on an,imals.   When injected  into the
jugular, it caused  pain, difficult breathing,  and speedy death;
and the  blood, on examination,  was dark colored and alto-
gether fluid.  The  injection of  it into the pleura excited
great agitation, extreme  pain, and trembling  of the limbs,
but the  animal  survived the  immediate  effects.  On the
third day he was killed, and the pleura was found  covered
with a false membrane, and bore all  the appearances of re-
cent inflammation.!
   Mr. Broughton  found that animals put in this gas died in
less than thirty seconds.  The lungs were tinged with the
yellow color of the gas, and the peculiar odor of  chlorine
was perceptible throughout their structure.|

  * Annales D'Hygiene,  vol. 21, p. 178.   Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 51, p. 559.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 23, pp. 767, 799.
  f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 92.
  % Brande's Journal, N. S., vol. 7, p. 15. 
IRRITANT POISONS.
731
  The power of habit, however, is remarkable, in accustom-
ing the system to the effects of this substance.   In many of
the manufactories in Great  Britain, where the workmen
constantly breathe an atmosphere of chlorine, but little in-
jury is experienced, except acidity and other stomach com-
plaints, and for this they use chalk.  Many aged men are
found in these establishments.*
   Fluid chlorine, when introduced into the stomach,  caused
dejection and death;  and  on dissection, the mucous mem-
brane of the stomach was either  extensively  inflamed or
ulcerated.  The other organs were unaffected.   It is hence
evident, that its  action resembles that of the other acids.
  Antidotes.  The inhalation  of ammonia,  or of sulphuric
ether, or if nothing else be accessible, inhaling warm water
from a tea-pot or other vessel.  A mixture of albumen and
water has been  recommended by Devergie.  For this pur-
pose, the white  of  eggs  may be mixed with water.  If not
at hand, milk should be given.!  When inflammation is in-
duced,  it requires active treatment.
   Nitrous acid vapour.    Dr. Desgranges  has  presented  a
valuable case, illustrative of the effects of this substance on
the animal economy :
   A merchant at Lyons, aged forty-five, and of a  tolerably
strong constitution, had  stored a  considerable  quantity of
nitrous acid in  his  warehouse.   He was awakened  one
morning by the howling of the watchdog, which he had shut
up in it;  and on opening the door, immediately perceived
the smell of nitrous gas.   The dog rushed out with his paws
burnt, ran to the nearest water to quench his thirst, and
after playing an hour or two with some other dogs, returned
and expired at his master's door, after vomiting thick mat-
ter of various colors.
  The merchant attempted to enter the warehouse, but was
driven back in a few minutes by the approach of suffocation.
He,  however, persisted  in again visiting the room, and
  * Christison, p. 097.
o(ycoTohn^0" nn MediCal Gazette' vo1- 17' P- 7°9-)  Breathing the vapor
viry useful   swM»™S P'eces of sugar steeped in it, have also°been found 
732
IRRITANT POISONS.
finally succeeded in carrying out the broken cantines.  Two
were found empty, each of which had contained  thirty-two
pounds of aquafortis.
   This was early in the morning.  At six o'clock he break-
fasted, and  then went  to pay a visit, but returned before
eight with a dry burning heat in the throat, irritation in his
stomach and breast, and a very painful sense of tightness
near the attachment of the diaphragm.  He was  advised to
drink  freely of  milk, and fomentations were applied to the
abdomen, together with sinapisms to the  arms.   The two
last remedies  seemed to fatigue him  much, and to augment
his distress, but he continued the milk.  At one  o'clock he
felt easier—had a spontaneous yellow stool, and in the space
of  an hour two others, both of the color of citrine ointment.
His urine was  scanty, and in  the evening he experienced
frequent pressing desire to make water, but always in vain.
At four o'clock he began to expectorate a yellowish matter,
and had afterwards a little cough and slight vomiting.  In-
jections were  given him,  which came off instantly, but
colored yellow.   At nine, his body became of a blue color;
his breathing was oppressed;  there  was some  rattling in
the throat and  hiccup,  and  he complained of great pain in
the abdomen and  across the bottom of the thorax: convul-
sive motions and slight delirium also supervened.   Towards
morning his anguish increased, and his anxiety became inex-
pressible.  He, however, preserved his senses until six, and
died  at  seven   o'clock.  Shortly after death,  his  belly
swelled and became distended in a remarkable  manner; his
face was purple, his lips black, and some blood issued from
his nose and mouth.  The body was not opened.*
  There is  also a curious case related in the Philosophical
Transactions by Dr. Mounsey, where a long train of symp-
toms  afflicted  an  individual at Moscow,  apparently  from
inhaling the fumes of  a  mixture of verdigris and false gold
leaf with nitric acid.  Red spots appeared on various parts
of his  body; nausea,  pain,  and anxiety at the  pit of the

        * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 3, p. 16, 
IRRITANT POISONS.
733
stomach came on; and it was not until after several days, that
he was relieved from the pains in various parts of his body.*
  Muriatic acid gas, (Hydrochloric acid gas.) Drs Christison
and Turner found this extremely destructive to vegetables;
and not long  since, a soap manufactory was adjudged a
nuisance  in  England, in  consequence  of its being proved
that  the  gas  issuing from  it destroyed vegetation,  and
affected men and  animals passing near it.   Animals die in
convulsions from breathing it.!
   Sulphurous acid gas.  This is constantly disengaged when
sulphur is burnt in the open air.  It is also produced by the
roasting of various metals.  ,
   In  March,  1817,  a number of miners  at the Lead-hills in
Scotland, who  had  gone down to  work at  the depth  of
twenty-five fathoms, were suddenly seized with difficulty of
breathing, violent  pain in the head, weakness of the lower
 extremities,  palpitation, and  in   some  cases  vomiting.
 Giddiness ensued, and in a  short time complete mania.
 Some were  furious, and others listless, or appeared as  if
 they  were  intoxicated.   Vomiting or  retching  generally
 came on, when they had been exposed for some time to the
 air above ground ; and in other cases, tenesmus was present.
 By the use of  emetics or purgatives, as the symptoms indi-
 cated, they were  relieved, and recovered in the course of a
 few  days.   Two,  however, who could not be brought  up,
 were deprived of life.
   The accident, in this instance, was attributed to a quantity
 of smoke  escaping from the chimney of the engine  under
 ground, into the way-gates, and so contaminating the air in
 the wbrkings,  from the  sulphurous  acid gas which it con-
 tained as to render it deleterious.   It  evidently was  but
 slightly charged  with carbonic acid gas, since the candles
 burnt, though  faintly, at the place where the men perished.|
   * Philosophical Transactions, vol. 50, p. 19; and vol. 54, p. 15.  Another
 fatal case is given by Dr. Cherrier,  (Bulletin de la Societe d'Emulation,)
 London Medical Repository, vol. 21, p. 440. Death followed in two days, and
 inflammation of the lungs was discovered.
   t London Medical Gazette, vol. 10, pp. 311, 350.
   X Edinburgh  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 13, p. 353; case by Mr.
 Braid, surgeon.  Water, on being thrown down the shaft, improved the air so 
734
IRRITANT  POISONS.
  In the following instance, I also apprehend that sulphurous
acid gas was the main cause of death.
  In November, 1821, a smith at Maidstone was repairing
the inside of the boiler of a'steam engine ; and in joining
two pieces of iron, he made use of a cement composed  of
sal ammoniac, sulphur  and iron turnings, which produced
such a quantity of fumes that he was  suffocated in a few
moments.   His assistant being  at work on the outside, and
hearing a struggling noise within, got through the opening
at the top of the boiler, and while descending to his master's
assistance,  inhaled  the fumes and fell to the bottom.   A
workman attempted twice to  descend  to his assistance, but
he was so  powerfully  affected by the  effluvia that he was
obliged to desist.   A large quantity of water having been
thrown into the boiler, the bodies were brought out.   The
master was quite dead, and his assistant, though he exhibited
some signs of life when taken out, died next morning.*
   Seleniuretted hydrogen.  From the experiments of Berzelius,
this gas would  seem to be highly deleterious.  On smelling
a small bubble  not  larger than a pea, its effect on the olfac-
tory  organ was  so powerful,  that  he lost  the power  of
distinguishing  caustic  ammonia, although he held a bottle
of it to his nose.   On another occasion, inflammation of the
eyes and nose,  cough and expectoration, and indeed all the
symptoms of violent catarrh occurred, nor were they relieved
until a blister was applied to the chest.f

much, probably by absorbing the sulphurous acid  gas, that one person, who
had lain insensible for an hour at the side of the shaft, was  restored.   See
also Mr. Watson's cases,  ibid., vol. 32, p. 345; and Mr. Bald on the fires that
take place in  collieries, Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,  vol. 5,
p. 103.
  * Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 6, p. 402, from the  Technical Re-
pository.
  t Berzelius, Traite de Chimie, vol. 2, p. 414.   It has been suggested that
the very deleterious qualities  ascribed to sulphuretted hydrogen by the French
chemists, may have been owing to an admixture of selenium with the sulphur.
(Annals of Philosophy, N. S., vol. 8, p. 230.) 
CHAPTER XX.
                     Narcotic poisons.


Opium : its  constituents,— morphine—narcotine—codeine—paramorphine.
  Symptoms  and effects of opium and laudanum ; ordinary duration of a fatal
  case;  quantity that can produce death.  Effects of habit; opium eating;
  whether this is compatible with longevity.   Effects of opium in the form of
  injection, or when applied externally ; effects on animals.  Symptoms and
  effects of morphine—cases ;  of narcotine; of meconic acid; of codeine—of
  paramorphine.  Appearances on  dissection from taking opium and lauda-
  num.  Chemical proofs.  Tests of meconic acid; of morphine and its salts;
  of  opium  in solution;  of opium  in mixed fluids  and solids.   Inability
  always to  find indications of opium. Case of Castaing.  Treatment.  Hyos-
  cyanius niger and albus.  Solanum dulcamara.  Lactuca virosa.  Taxus
  baccata.  Paris quadrifolia.  Actaea spicata.  Prussic acid.  Symptoms;
  quantity that can produce death ; time in which its effects are completed.
  Appearances on dissection.   Effects on animals.  Tests—in the pure state;
  when mixed with animal matters.  Antidotes.  Hydrocyanates.  Hydro-
  cyanic  ether.  Cyanides of iodine—of bromine—of potassium.  Prunus
  lauro-cerasus—laurel-water—effects—case  of Sir  Theodosius Boughton.
  Prunus padus.  Prunus virginiana.  Prunus nigra. Prunus caroliniana.
  Amygdalus communis—oil of bitter almonds. Amygdalus persica. Sorbus
  aucuparia. Carbazotic acid.  Narcotic gases. Nitrogen—carbonic oxide
  —carburetted hydrogen—nitrous oxide—cyanogen—oxygen—hydrogen.


  Narcotic poisons are defined by Orfila, to be  those which

produce stupor, drowsiness, paralysis  or  apoplexy  and

convulsions.   "The term narcotism  (says Dr. Christison)

has been used by different writers  with  different significa-

tions, but  is now generally understood to denote the effects

of such  poisons as bring on  a state  of the system like  that

caused by apoplexy, epilepsy, or other disorders commonly

called nervous.  Narcotic poisons,  therefore,  are such as

produce chiefly  or solely symptoms of  a disorder  of the
nervous system."

  In a previous chapter, I mentioned the  effects generally,

and  the appearances on  dissection, that most  commonly

attend this class.  The  peculiarities of each will  now be
noticed. 
736
NARCOTIC POISONS.
  Under  this  division,  the following substances are com-
monly arranged:
Vegetable narcotics.
  Papaveraceee.
    Papaver,
     Morphine,
     Narcotine.
  SolanecB.
    Hyoscyamus,
    Solanum,
    Physalis.
  Compositee.
    Lactuca.
  Coniferee.
    Taxus.
 Smilacece.
   Paris.
 Ranunculaceee.
   Acteea.
 Rutacecs.
   Peganum.
 Ericece.
   Azalea.
 Amygdalem.
Prunus and Cerasus,
Amygdalus and Persica.
 Pomaceee.
    Sorbus.

       Opium.
Prussic acid, and its va-
    rious compounds, &c.
Carbazotic acid.
  Narcotic gases.
Nitrogen,
Carbonic oxide,
Carburetted hydrogen,
Nitrous oxide,
Cyanogen gas,
Oxygen gas,
Hydrogen,
Sulphuretted hydrogen,*
Carbonic acid gas.*
  This substance  is  the inspissated juice of the Papaver
somniferum, or common white  poppy, obtained by incision
into its capsules when  they have arrived  at a certain state
of  maturity.  Its  appearance  and  character  are so  well
known, that it is not  necessary to enlarge upon them; but
it must be  mentioned, that within the present century, it
has been ascertained to be a very  compound substance.
For our  knowledge  of this, we are  indebted  to  Derosne,
Sertuerner, Robiquet, Magendie, and several other  French
chemists.
  By various manipulations, there have been obtained from
opium,  morphine, narcotine, a peculiar  acid,  termed the
meconic,  and  a  resinoid substance.   To these,  of late, are
added the codeine of Robiquet, the narceine and paramorphine
{thebaine of Couerbe) of Pelletier, the meconine of Dublanc
and Couerbe and various other ingredients.!

  * Already noticed.
  t Johnson's Report on Chemistry, Proceeding of British Association, 1832,
p. 513.  Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 11, p. 395.  London and
Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 2, pp. 153, 156.  An analysis of Pell-
etier's paper (from Journal de Pharmacie of November, 1832) in Lancet, N.
S.,  vol. 11, p. 334.
  A subsequent memoir, by the same  author,  entitled, New Researches on
opium and its principles, read August, 1835, in Journal de Pharmacie, vol.
21, p. 555. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
737
  From the  circumstance  that opium  contains  so many
distinct principles, and that two or more of these may unite
in producing its ordinary effects, while some of them sepa-
rately have been used as instruments of poison, it becomes
somewhat of a task to present this subject distinctly to the
reader.  I can, however,  devise  no better  mode  than to
treat of the symptoms and effects on animals, the  appear-
ances on dissection, and the chemical proofs, successively—
and notice under each head,  first opium and  laudanum, and
next, the various principles contained in them.
   Symptoms and effects of opium.   When opium or laudanum
is  taken in large quantities, the following symptoms are
usually observed .within a short time; giddiness, insensibility
and  immobility, respiration scarcely  perceptible, and a
small and feeble pulse,  which sometimes becomes full and
slow.  The  eyes are shut,  the  pupils  contracted, and the
whole  expression of the countenance  is usually  that  of
 deep and  perfect  repose.   As the  effects  increase,  the
 lethargic  state becomes more  profound, deglutition is sus-
 pended, the breathing is occasionally stertorous, the pupils
 are insensible to the application  of light, the countenance is
 pale and cadaverous, and the muscles of the limbs and trunk
 are  in a  state of  relaxation.   Vomiting sometimes super-
 venes, and  there is an  occasional glimpse of returning
 animation, but  the comatose state soon returns, and death,
 which is sometimes preceded by convulsions, rapidly follows.
    The period which elapses between taking the poison and
 the commencement of the symptoms, is various.   The tinc-
 ture of opium (laudanum)  in  large quantities and on  an
 empty stomach, may probably begin to act in a few minutes.
 From  a  comparison of cases by Dr. Christison, it would
  appear that several individuals were found soporose, in a

    Pelletier has also announced another principle, occasionally found by him
  in opium and which he terms pseudomorphine.
    Merck is said to have discovered still another, called porphyroxin. (British
  Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p. 82;  Pharmaceutical Transactions, vol. 3, p.
  122.) And Liebig and Wohler, Opianic acid.  (London, Edinburgh and Dub-
 lin Philosophical Magazine, vol.  22, p. 449.)
    vol. ii.                  47 
738                  NARCOTIC POISONS.
quarter of  an hour after taking it.   When swallowed in the
solid form, the action of opium  is  usually delayed for an
hour.   It may  operate before  that  time, but  the interval is
seldom extended.
  When  noticing the diseases  that might be  confounded
with narcotic poisoning, I mentioned the distinction between
the  coma produced  by apoplexy  and  by opium.  In  the
latter case, unless  the fatal  termination  is near, the indivi-
dual may be roused by brisk agitation, tickling the nostrils,
or loud speaking.  This state of restored consciousness is,
however, always imperfect,  and is speedily followed  again
by lethargy when the exciting cause is withheld.*
  Although convulsions  and spasms are  not common,  yet
when they do occur, they are usually extremely severe.   It
is probable that in some instances, the use of remedies may
aid in causing their occurrence.
  There  are  also occasional varieties  noticed, as to  the
state  and  frequency of the pulse,  the  appearance of  the
pupils, and the expression of the countenance.!
   The bladder  is sometimes unable to contract on its con-
tents, and  attempts to  empty it prove  useless.! While
again  in cases of recovery, such  a weakness  will be  left in
the lower extremities, and approaching so near to paralysis,

  * Christison, p. 619.  If solid opium has been swallowed, stupor commonly
commences from half an hour to an hour.  In a case, however, by Desruelles,
where two drachms of solid opium had been taken, the stupor was complete
in fifteen minutes, and on the other hand, in the case where the largest quantity
was swallowed which has been recorded  (American Medical Recorder, vol.
13), viz. eight drachms of crude opium, the patient was able, an hour after-
wards,  to tell her physician  connectedly, what she  had done.  When the
poison  has been taken in solution, or in the form  of tincture, it acts more
rapidly.  In several instances, hopeless coma has been completely formed in
half an hour, and the poison must have begun to act in ten or fifteen minutes.
  Sleep seems to retard the operation of opium, provided it occurs immedi-
ately after taking it.  There are several instances on record of this description.
In one that occurred to Dr. Skae, half an ounce of  laudanum was taken, the
individual slept thereafter for an hour, and then arose from bed and procured
a drink for himself, and yet in about ten hours afterwards he died with all the
symptoms of narcotic poisoning.  (Dr. Skae, on the varieties observed in the
symptoms of poisoning with  opium, Edinburgh  Monthly Journal, vol.  1,
p. 69.)                                                    .
  f Orfila has shown that contraction of the pupils is most common in the
early stages.   The  difference of opinion between him and Chaussier on this
point, will be noticed in the details of the trial of Castaing.
  X See case by Mr. Cornish, London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 31,
p. 193, and also a case, ibid. vol. 28, p. 80. 
                                                           739
                     NARCOTIC POISONS.


that it cannot retain its  contents.*   The secretion itself, in

some  instances is diminished.
   Two instances are  mentioned in which vomiting was the

sole effect induced from taking large quantities of  opium.

In one case, an ounce of laudanum was swallowed at mid-

night, the individual went to sleep, and shortly  after rising,

began to  vomit, and continued  so  during  the  day.   The

 next  day he was well.   In the other,  three ounces produced,

 after  a few hours, a similar result.!

    Constipation  of the bowels  is the usual result  of opium

 taken in  large quantities;  yet, in one  or two  cases, it has

 produced colic or diarrhoea.

    According to  Dr. Christison, the ordinary duration of a

 fatal  case of poisoning with opium, is from  seven  to twelve

 hours.   There is of course variation in this; but the majority

 of instances come within the period now stated.^  The dose

 requisite to cause death, must necessarily be more a matter

 of uncertainty.  From 30 to 60 grains have, in  many instan-


    • An instance of this kind by Mr. Murley, is quoted in the Eclectic Re-
  pertory, from the London Medical Review for October,  1811.
    f London Medical Repository, vol. 9, p. 525 ; vol  10, p. 175. Dr. Christi-
  son mentions some additional cases.
    X The extremes mentioned by him,  are, a  case from the London Medical
  and Physical Journal, vol. 31, which  proved fatal in  three hours, and an-
  other which occurred to Alibert, in twenty-four hours.  (Christison, p. 623.)
    In  a case tried before the  Court  of King's Bench, in 1832, (Kinnear v.
  Borrodaile,) where an insurance company contested  the  payment on the
  ground of the probability of narcotic poisoning, the servant positively swore
  that he heard the room-bell ring at 9 A. M., and was further certain that no
  one but the individual in question could have rung it.   He was found dead
  at 11  A. M.  The countenance was pale, the trunk warm, but the extremi-
  ties were cold.  The vessels of the brain were  rather  full, and blood to the
  amount of three pints was  found  in the stomach.   There  was no  smell  of
  laudanum, nor any marks of vomiting.  This individual went to bed late on
  the preceding evening in his usual health.  The jury found for the plaintiff,
  and thus negatived the idea of poisoning.  (Lancet, N.  S., vol. 10, p. 468.)
    A  soldier in the 29th Regiment  stationed in Edinburgh  Castle, took two
  and  a half  ounces of the  liquor opii sedativus, twenty  minutes before
  nine  P. M.  He was seen a quarter of an hour thereafter by Dr. Cooper, the
  surgi on, who found him totally insensible.   The face was purple, and the
  features distorted, the pupils dilated and insensible, the breathing stertorous
  and  accompanied with hiccough, and the pulse slow and small.  The stomach
  was  emptied  and washed out by means of the stomach pump,  and the other
  remedies usual in such cases were adopted, but the man expired at ten P.
  M., an hour and twenty minutes after swallowing the poison.  (Dr. Skae, as
  before.)
    Mr. Taylor mentions a French case of a soldier who swallowed by mistake,
  an ounce of laudanum, and died in convulsions  in  three-quarters  of an
  hour. 
740                  NARCOTIC POISONS.
ces, produced it; and Dr. Christison mentions a case which
was furnished to him by Dr.  W. Brown, of  Edinburgh, in
which even so small a quantity as " four grains and a half,
taken by an adult along with nine grains of  camphor, was
followed by the  usual signs of narcotism and  death, in nine
hours.   The  man took the opium for a cough, at seven in
the morning; at nine, his  wife  found  him in a deep sleep,
from which she could not rouse him;  nothing was done  for
his relief till  three P.  M.  when Dr. Brown was called to
him,  and found him laboring under all the usual symptoms
of poisoning with  opium, contracted  pupils among the rest,
and  death ensued  in an  hour,  notwithstanding the active
employment  of   remedies.   On examining  the  body,  no
morbid appearance of any note was found, except fluidity of
the blood."*
  The  effects of habit,  however, render the  system for a
time  insensible  to large  and  repeated  doses; and in this
way  only  can we  explain why  enormous  quantities are
  * Christison, p. 624.  On infants, extremely small quantities sometimes
cause fatal effects.  Dr. Kelso relates a case, (Lancet, N. S., vol. 21, p. 304,)
where four drops of laudanum given to a child nine months old, were proba-
bly the cause of its death.
  There is no doubt that fatal effects frequently result from the too free use
of empirical preparations of opium.  In the returns made by the coroners of
England and Wales to the House of Commons, in 1839, ten  cases of death
from Godfrey's cordial are stated.  Dr. John Clarke mentions an infant des-
troyed by forty drops of Dalby's Carminative. (London Medical Gazette, vol.
31, p. 270.)  An anonymous writer, (ibid., vol. 33, p. 877,) on the authority
of* Dr. Paris, denies that this last contains opium.  The receipt given in the
first reference, proves the contrary.
  Twelve drops of Battley's sedative solution, given  at bed time to a feeble
woman, aged fifty-five, proved fatal, so that she never woke again. (Toogood,
Provincial Med. and Surg. Journal, Nov. 18, 1841.)
  To a child five and a half years old,  a mixture containing half its amount
of paregoric elixir, was given in doses of ten tea spoons full every four hours.
Five or six doses were given, and the child died in  37 hours from the admin-
istration of the first dose.  " One grain and a quarter of opium, divided in
five doses, over a space of thirty hours,  caused death."  (Guy's Hospital
Reports, 2d series, vol. 2, p. 32, by A. S. Taylor.)
  The dangerous effects of opium on the infant subject, are strongly illustra-
ted, both by facts and arguments, in a paper by Dr. Jno. B. Beck, in the New
York Journal of Medicine, vol. 2, p. 7, and subsequently his work on Infant
Therapeutics. Ten grains of Dover's powders, (containing one grain of opium)
given by mistake to an infant seven weeks old, caused  death in 24 hours.
(Griffiths, in London Med. Gazette, vol. 33, p. 772.)  A case mentioned in
the Medical Times, vol. 10, p. 438, where two drops of laudanum, given four
times during eighteen hours, in a mixture, proved fatal to a child six weeks
old. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
741
daily taken by individuals, without any of the symptoms of
poisoning, as now stated.
  That injurious consquences finally occur, would appear to
be established by the concurrent testimony of travellers in
the East.   The  Turks, as  is well known, are of all nations
the most  generally attached to  its use, and the following
description of the  Teriakis, or opium  eaters, of Constanti-
nople, fully  explains the  result.  "Pale,  emaciated,  and
ricketty, sunk into a profound  stupor, or agitated by the
grimaces of delirium, their persons are, after the first view,
easily to be recognised, and made  an  impression too deep
to be speedily erased.  The increasing attachment for wine
has diminished the consumption of opium, but there are  still
Teriakis who will swallow in a glass of water, three or  four
lozenges,  amounting to one hundred grains."*
  Mr. Madden, a recent medical traveller, fully confirms  this
account;  and he adds, that a regular opium-eater  seldom
lives beyond thirty years,  if he commence the  practice
early.f  This will be found, I apprehend, most conformable
to the result of  ordinary experience.
  If the reader will refer to the chapter  on Insurance upon
Lives, (vol. 1, p. 687,) he will see a case there stated, which
is connected with the  subject.  The individual  in question
had been in the  practice of taking laudanum, in  large quan-
tities, for  thirty years, and it was contended  by the insur-
ance office that  this was a habit  tending to shorten life,  and
ought to have been stated  by him.  The consequent discus-
sion led Dr. Christison to make some inquiries, and he found
that in most of  the cases of opium eating, which he could
obtain, the expected result of shortening life had not occur-
red.  It must,  however, be recollected, that in many in-
stances, the quantity consumed is very gradually increased,
that its immediate bad effects must be early counteracted by

  * Hobhouse's Albania, vol. 2, p. 944. See also Dr. Oppenheim, as quoted
in British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 4, p. 394.
  t Madden's Travels in Turkey, vol. 1, p. 27, American edition. Dr. Dekay,
in his late work on Turkey, states that the opium-eaters are no longer to
be seen  in Constantinople.  They would seem to be transferred to China.
(See Nurth British Review, vol. 4, p. 409.) 
742
NARCOTIC POISONS.
remedies, or what is  probably most common, that the bow-
els become  accustomed to  its  action, and preserve, in a
measure, their healthy condition, and  thus  that many indi-
viduals, if their original stamina be  good, may linger on
without any striking results, to the verge of old age.   The
effects, at all events may be chronic, but  I  have equally no
doubt, that  life is shortened, and  particularly in  young fe-
males, who  give  themselves up to this habit.   Besides the
peculiar effects of the substance, its  reiterated operation has
an influence in inducing local excitement, and a predisposi-
tion to organic affections.   The  cases  on which these  re-
marks are founded, are  unfortunately  quite too numerous;
and at a  more convenient period, I hope to be enabled to
present  some  proofs  of the alarming  extent to which this
pernicious habit is  carried.*
  Besides its administration by the  mouth,  opium has  occa-
sionally proved  dangerous  when used in  the  form of  in-
jection, or when applied to the  abraded skin.  Dr. Chris-
tison mentions  the case of a  friend, who, in order to  allay
the irritation caused by a blister, applied an opium  poultice
to the scrotum.   He  fell  into  a  state of  profound sopor,
which was  luckily interrupted  by a  visiter.   Sir Astley
Cooper says he  has known a solution of opium applied to
an extensive scald on a child, to destroy it.!
  * For Dr. Christison's remarks on this subject, see his Toxicology, 2d ed.,
p. 626, and Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 37, p. 123.  Dr.
Domeier mentions the case of an individual who has taken opium for twenty-
four years, and is now fifty-one  years old.  He is, however, sallow, listless
and weak.  (London Medical Quarterly Review, vol. 4, p. 482.  See also
Lancet, N. S., vol. 9, p. 710; vol. 16, pp. 685; vol. 21, 177.)
  Dr. O'Shaugnessy (Bengal Dispensatory) remarks, that in India, " it has
not been ascertained that this habit has a direct tendency to shorten life; on
the contrary, the longevity of opium-eaters, is in many parts of the East, of
proverbial notoriety." He applies the same remark to opium smoking, which
appears to be as prevalent in Calcutta as  in China.  (British and Foreign
Medical Review, vol.  16, p. 356.)
  f Lectures, vol. 1, p. 79. A case is mentioned, as occurring- at La Charite
in Paris, where twelve drops of  laudanum,  used as an injection to allay the
pain consequent  on cauterization for a strictured rectum, produced all the
symptoms of narcotic poisoning  and death in 17 hours.  (Lancet, N. S.,vol.
11, p. 639. See also ibid., vol. 23, p. 389.)
  A case of poisoning from the endermic application of acetate of morphia,
is quoted from a French journal  in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 66, p. 296.   The quantity used was only four-tenths of a grain. 
                                                    743
                   NARCOTIC POISONS.

  As to animals, crude  opium, or its watery extract, when
introduced into  the stomach of dogs, caused within a few
hours, a weakness and paralysis of the  posterior extremi-
ties, and convulsions of the muscles of the trunk and face.
The pupils  of the eyes were not,  however, more dilated
than natural, and there was no moaning, but an extreme de-
jection.    The paralysis and  convulsions increased until
death supervened.   Similar  effects were  induced when  the
oesophagus was tied, except that death ensued earlier, from
large doses.
  When the watery extract was  inserted into the  cellular
tissue of the thigh of  a dog, paralysis of the posterior ex-
tremities, convulsions  and  accelerated  circulation, with
trembling of the head and twitches of the lower  jaw, occur-
red, and death followed in  a much shorter time than in the
previous series of experiments.  The injection of the ex-
 tract into the anus, produced the earlier symptoms of the
 poison, but the animals recovered.
   Dissection  generally presented  the digestive canal in a
 sound  state.   The lungs, however, were usually livid  and
 distended with blood, and the  blood in the ventricles  was
 often black and coagulated.*
   " According  to the  most recent inquiries, those  of  M.
 Charet, which were extended to every  class of the lower
 animals,  opium produces three  leading  effects.   It acts on
 the brain, causing congestion and consequently sopor; on
 the general nervous centre as  an irritant, exciting convul-
 sions, and on the muscles as a direct sedative.  It is poison-
 ous to all animals, man, carnivorous quadrupeds, the rodentia,
 birds, reptiles, amphibious  animals, fishes, insects, and the
 mollusca.   But of its  three leading effects, some are not
 produced  in certain  classes or  orders of animals.  In the
 mammalia, with the exception of man, there is  no cerebral
 congestion induced, and death takes place  amidst convul-
 sions.  In birds, there is some cerebral congestion towards
* Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 110. 
744
NARCOTIC POISONS.
the close, but still the two other phenomena are the most
prominent."*
   Symptoms and effects of Morphine, Narcotine, fyc.   Mor-
phine.  The action of morphine is  nearly the  same as that
of opium, but it is more energetic.  On its  first discovery,
Sertuerner  supposed  that in  the  solid  state  it had little
effect, being nearly insoluble.   This, however, is denied at
present, and its insolubility  is ascribed to its impurity,
having contained more or less of narcotine.
  According to Orfila, the following are the effects of pure
morphine and its  salts  on animals : When the alkaloid is
introduced into the  stomach, it is  dissolved, apparently by
the acid juices  contained in that viscus.   In large doses, it
produces vertigo,  dimness of  sight,  and in a great majority
of cases, contracted pupils.   A dose of two or three grains
causes severe vomiting,  pain in the  stomach, diminished or
suppressed urine,  and, according to Dr. Bally, a severe itch-
ing of the skin.
  If from 40 to 100  grains  of the  acetate of  morphine be
given to dogs and cats, the hind quarters  are observed in a
few moments to be weakened, and the gait becomes unsteady.
The animals fall into a state of rest  or sleep, but are easily
roused by the least noise.  The pulse is  slow and  intermit-
tent ;  the  pupil is either contracted,  dilated  or  natural;
vomiting and purging occur,  and there  is more or less of
salivation.   At the end of an  hour,  convulsions  ensue, and
the mouth is full of froth.  When the dose proves fatal, a
few  paroxysms usually precede death.   No  changes  are
detected in the  alimentary canal, or  in other organs, on dis-
section.
  If thirty or forty grains of acetate of morphine are in-
jected into the cellular tissue, the animal dies in five or six
hours, with symptoms similar to those already enumerated.!
  There are a few cases in which its effects  on man have

  * Christison, p. 615, quoted from the Revue Medicate.  See also Dr. A.
T. Thomson's Experiments on Dogs.  Lancet N. S., vol. 27, p. 656.
  f Orfila's Toxicology, 3d edition, vol. 2, p. 62.  Deguise, Depuy and Leu-
ret have also published a series of experiments with acetate of morphine.
Paris, 1824. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
745
 been noticed.  In 1829, a young Brazilian student of medi-
 cine at Paris, took twenty-four grains of the acetate to de-
 stroy himself.  In ten minutes he felt  heat in the stomach,
 with excessive itchiness ;  in three hours and a half, dimness
 of vision occurred, and in an hour more he felt approaching
 stupor, and from this he sunk into a state of profound insen-
 sibility.   He  was visited by Orfila, who found  him cold,
 comatose, and affected with lock-jaw;  the pupils were
 slightly dilated, the pulse 120; the breathing  hurried and
 stertorous; the abdomen  tense and tympanitic,  and there
 were occasional convulsions.   He was bled to forty ounces,
 sinapisms were applied, and stimulant enemas given.  By
 means  of these and cold applications,  the symptoms were
 mitigated; the trismus diminished, so that strong coffee
 could be given.  On the next day he had difficult and scanty
 micturition, with pain in the kidneys and bladder, and diffi-
 culty in  swallowing.  These went off during the  second
 night.*
   In another case related by Castara,  where fifty grains of
 acetate of morphine were taken,  symptoms of coma super-
 vened  in twenty minutes.  The limbs were flaccid,  the pupils
 contracted, the face and lips livid, the skin warm and moist,
 the pulse full and hard, and deglutition impossible.   Tartar
 emetic  could not be given.  He was then bled,  upon which
 he started, as from sleep,  but could not  see  any  one.  He
 complained chiefly of intense  itching and a general sense of
 bruising.   In an hour, by being constantly roused, his con-
 sciousness was almost restored, and vomiting and purging
 followed from the exhibition of tartar emetic.  After this,
 he gradually recovered, the sleeping continuing all next day,
 and the itching of the skin  even longer.!
   Julia Fontanelle  mentions  the case of a child five  years
 old, who was poisoned by the  sulphate of morphine,  given
 in an  enema.  The dose was ten grains ; sleep followed in
 ten minutes, and shortly after it was seized  with violent

  • Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p 220.
p.461  '  °n'P-633; EdinburSh  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 36, 
746
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
convulsions.   The error was  now discovered, but remedies

proved in vain, and death happened in eleven hours.*

   The famous case  of Dr.  Castaing,  which  occurred  in

France,  belongs  also to this  division of our subject.   He

was supposed to have poisoned two  brothers with the ace-

tate.  I shall give the  particulars at  the conclusion of the

present article.

   Narcotine, according to Orfila, in dogs  whose gullet is not

tied, incites vomiting, and the poison is discharged.   But on

the  other hand, if it  be tied,  death ensues in two, three or

four days, without any remarkable symptoms, but languor

and hard breathing.  Magendie, however, found that it pro-

duced in dogs a state like revery, accompanied with convul-

sions.   They lie  apparently asleep, but are really alive to

external objects.

   When  narcotine was injected into the veins, its  action

was more rapid and powerful.   In doses of  three grains, it

produced convulsive  movements, stupor  and death.

   Dr. Wibmer, of Munich, found by experiment on himself,

that two grains dissolved in olive oil produced merely slight


  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 219.  The following
case was communicated to  Dr. Christison by Mr. Clark of Montrose. A wo-
man took by mistake ten grains of very pure acetate of morphine. It was
almost immediately discovered, and the stomach was completely cleared by
the stomach-pump.  At this time, she was completely sensible.  But stupor
came on after the poison was evacuated,  and deep  coma followed, which re-
sisted all means of removal.  She died in about twelve hours.  (Christison,
3d edition, p. 668.)  Trousseau and Bonnet found that morphine and its salts
acted with much greater rapidity when applied to the  denuded skin than
when taken internally. (Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  9, p. 229.)  A case con-
firming this, is quoted by Dr. Dunglison from a German journal. A few
grains spread over a blistered surface, produced most alarming symptoms,
which required the usual remedies to remove them.   (American Medical In-
telligencer, vol. 2, p. 13.)
  The question, how small a  quantity of morphine or its salts will produce
poisonous effects ? is  copiously noticed in the Lancet for 1838 - 39 (vol. 23).
Several practitioners are stated to have found doses even under a  grain
to prove alarming.
  Mr. Toogood mentions an instance of a lady, aged eighty, who had been in
the habit of taking small doses of syrup of poppies at night, and to whom
seven drops of the solution of the acetate of morphine  administered in its
Btead, proved fatal the next morning.   (Provincial Med. and Surgical Jour-
nal, Nov. 18, 1841.)
  Dr. Houston, of Virginia, gives  a case in which  ten grains of sulphate of
morphine,  administered by mistake to a gentleman aged 59, and laboring
under intermittent fever, caused death in less than two hours.   Deep sterto-
rous breathing was  the only symptom noticed. Various remedies proved
useless.  (Am. Journal of Med. Sciences, N. S., vol. 6. p. 372.) 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
747
transient headache; that eight grains dissolved by means of
muriatic acid had  no effect at all, while the same quantity
of solid  narcotine occasioned headache and  restlessness of
mind, and trembling of the hands.  Dr. Tully, from experi-
ments on himself and others, deems it a powerful narcotic,
producing contraction of the pupils, vertigo, nausea  on
motion, staggering in the gait.  In two individuals, vomiting
was induced.   The doses  varied from two to four grains.*
   Meconine was  at one time supposed to  be  acrid, but
Magendie injected it into  the jugular of a dog without any
effect.  It has not been sufficiently examined.
   Meconic acid is probably inert.  Drs.  Fenoglio and Bleg-
nini  of  Turin,  gave  eight grains of  the  acid,  or  of the
meconates of soda or potash, to dogs, crows and  frogs,
without any deleterious effects ;  and the same quantity was
repeatedly administered to a horse,  without any  injury.
The meconates, in doses of four grains, were then given to
persons  laboring  under tape worm, without any effect on
them or the worms.!
   Codeine, from the  experiments of  Kunkel  on animals,
produces tetanic convulsions and death.  On dissection, he
found the  cerebellum and spinal marrow gorged with blood.
When introduced into the cellular  tissue, its  action  was
violent, and exerted principally on the urinary organs—sus-
pending the excretion of urine.J  Barbier, however, having
used  it therapeutically, thinks that it exercises no influence
on the spinal marrow or its nerves.§
   The results obtained are thus very contradictory.
   Paramorphine seems to have a very marked action on the
animal economy.   Magendie  destroyed a  dog  in  a  few
minutes  by giving one grain.   It  produced tetanic convul-
sions. ||  Narceine  and  Pseudomorphine are probably inert.

  * Silliman's Journal, vol. 21, p. 44.  Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 7, p. 37.                                     6
  t Brande's Journal, vol. 17, p. 393.
  X Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 6, p. 88, from Revue Midicale.
  6 Lancet, N. S., vol.  14. p. 118.
  || London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 4,  p. 77.  Dr.
Carson on Codeia, in Philadelphia Medical Examiner, vol. 1, p. 415. 
748                 NARCOTIC  POISONS.
  Paverine. This is a new principle announced by Robiquet,
which is, according to  him, soluble in water, and  saturates
the  acids.  It is poisonous, and acts in a  very marked
manner on the spinal marrow.*
  Appearances on dissection, from opium or laudanum. I have
already mentioned in the preliminary chapter on  poisons,
that these  are seldom very marked.  The most striking will
be seen in the narratives of a few examinations.
  In  a  case  where  two  drachms  of opium produced fatal
effects in six and a  half hours, the body  was covered with
red-brown patches on the arms, shoulders, and back of the
neck.  The day after  death, the face was  pale,  and the
mouth filled with froth.  There was a  general congestion of
black blood in the brain; the dura mater was injected, and
even the capillaries gave out, on incision, minute drops of
black blood.   The heart was filled with the  same, as were
the  lungs, and the  bronchiae were reddish.   The  stomach
was swollen, and had red-brown patches at its fundus.  The
intestinal mucous membrane was  minutely  injected—being
the effect of congestion, and not of inflammation.   The liver
and spleen were  gorged with  blood,  and the bladder and
kidneys sound.!
  In Mr. Stanley's  case, related in the Transactions  of the
London College  of Physicians, water  was  found in the
cellular tissue of the pia mater, covering the greater part of
the  cerebrum; but  in other respects,  the  brain had  no
unusual appearance.  The  stomach  was contracted, and
filled with a fluid, not  resembling laudanum either in color
or smell.  There was no inflammation present.!
  In Mr.  Cornish's case^  coagulable lymph was effused
between  the  dura  mater, the  arachnoid coat and the pia
mater; and there was rather more fluid than is usual  in the
lateral ventricles.   The stomach was natural, and the blad-
der contained about a pint of urine.§
  * London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 2, p. 153.  Magen-
die corroborates its powerful deleterious qualities.  (London Medical Quar-
terly Review, vol. 4, p. 306.)
  X Lon. Med. Repository, vol. 14, p. 426.   X Transactions, vol. 6, p. 414.
  § London Medical and Physical Journal, vol.  31,• p. 193.  The same state
of the bladder was seen in another case. (Ibid. vol. 28, p. 80.) 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
749
  In commenting on the appearances observed, Dr. Christi-
son  remarks, that turgescence of  the vessels in the brain,
and watery effusion in the ventricles  and  on the surface of
the brain, are generally  met with.  In a case examined by
him, each ventricle  contained three drachms  of fluid, and
the  arachnoid membrane on the  surface of the brain was
much infiltered.  " But congestion and effusion are by no

means universal."*
   Extravasation of blood is a rare occurrence.   Our author
quotes a case related by Mr. Jewel of London.   In a young
female,  who died  eight hours  after  taking  two ounces  of
laudanum, several  clots were found in the substance of the
brain, and  one  which lay in the anterior right lobe  was an
inch long.!  Dr. Granville mentioned another at a meeting
of the Westminster  Medical Society, in  November,  1825,
where extravasated blood was found in various parts of the
brain.J
   The lungs are generally, but not universally, found gorged
 with blood.§   The  stomach is  in most cases  natural; in a
 few, the villous coat is red, but it is probably never inflamed.
 There is only one  case in which this is positively stated to
 have been present.||
  * Dr. Bright in a case examined by him, found great turgescence of the
vessels, and the substance  of the  brain was filled with bleeding points,
but there was no water in the ventricles.   (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol.
19, p. 327.)
  Dr. Duffee, in a child three years old, poisoned by laudanum, found simi-
lar turgescence, and about a drachm of serum in the ventricles.  The blood
was fluid and very dark.  (American Medical Intelligencer, vol. 3, p. 281.)
See also Dr. Skae's case in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 54,
p. 151.
  t Christison, p. 637,  from the London Medical  and Physical Journal,
vol. 56, p. 111.
  X Lancet, vol. 9, p. 330. Another instance is mentioned by Dr. Clarke.
(Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 5, p. 88.)
  § In a letter from Dr. Clarke to Dr. Rush, dated at Verdun in France, in
1807, it is stated that in a young man found dead in  bed from taking lauda-
num, the trachea and air-vessels of the lungs were completely filled with
frothy blood, and some blood issued from the mouth: every other part was
natural.  (Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 5, p. 88.)
  || It is quoted from Lassus by Orfila, (Toxicology, vol. 2.)  A  woman,
aged sixty, took thirty-six grains of opium,  and in five or six hours after, was
found asleep, with apoplectic symptoms.  She recovered, however, so long as
to tell what she had done.  Ipecacuanha was given, and afterwards vinegar,
but without effect.  She soon became insensible, and died in  eleven hours
after taking it.   On dissection the stomach was found inflamed, and in some 
750
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
  Lividity of  the skin is quite  common,  and  so also is
fluidity of the blood.   But this last is not invariable.  Four
cases  are cited by Dr. Christison, in which the  blood was
found coagulated in the cavities of the heart.*
  The bodies of persons poisoned by opium also, generally
pass rapidly  into putrefaction.!
  The poison  cannot always  be  found  in  the  stomach.
" This may arise from two causes.   It may be all absorbed,
as will  often happen  when it has been taken in the liquid
form,  or it may be partly  absorbed and partly decomposed
by  the process of digestion.   But in one  or other of these
ways, it  may certainly disappear,  and that in  a very few
hours only."J   Cases in which it was detected  after death
will be hereafter mentioned.
  I have already mentioned at page 419 of this volume, that
Orfila and Lesueur have ascertained that opium and  the
salts of morphine do  not undergo decomposition by being
long in  contact with decaying  animal matter.   " Even after
many months they may be discovered, at least the  putrefac-
tion of the matter with which they are mingled does not add
any impediment in  the way of their discovery.  It is only
necessary  to observe that  the alkaloid  may  be  rendered
parts eroded: the brain was natural.  As Lassus saw this female but once,
it is supposed that probably some corrosive substance had also been taken.
(Merat, Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, vol. 37, p. 505.)
  * Another is given by Dr. Charles A. Lee.   (New York Medical and Phy-
sical Journal, vol. 8, p. 297.)
  f I find a very interesting case of poisoning by opium in the Boston Medi-
cal  and Surgical Journal,  vol.  11, p. 285.   The details are as follows: A
healthy man aged 28, purchased an ounce of opium, and probably took all.
On his way home he was observed to be merry. He went to bed and his wife
noticed his breathing to be frequent, but in reply to questions, he said he was
well.  His face was ghastly and his eyes had lost their expression, yet his
conversation was rational and his mind clear. A person present, thinking
the case a serious one, opened a vein, but after an ounce had been drawn, the
bleeding stopped, and the man died, certainly not more than two and a half
hours after taking the opium.  On dissection,  the right ventricles and vena
cava were found filled with blood.  In the stomach, there was from half an
ounce to an ounce of  opium; some half dissolved, but the most in masses.
There was a slight redness of the mucous coat.  The lungs were empty and
the surface of the body pale.
  X Christison, p. 639."  Cases in which it could not be found are mentioned
in London Medical Repository, vol. 14, p. 426.
  Edinburgh Med. and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, p. 196, by Dr. Christison.
  London Med. and Physical Journal, vol. 31, p. 193, by Mr. Cornish.
  London Medical Gazette, vol. 18, p. 851, by Mr.  Pereira. 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
751
insoluble by the evolution of ammonia, which separates it
from its state of combination."*
  Chemical proofs.   In  noticing these, I  shall reverse  the
order so far as first to mention those of the principles con-
tained in opium.
  Tests for meconic acid.  This acid may  be  procured thus.
Precipitate a strong watery infusion of opium with acetate
of lead.   Add ten  or twelve parts of water to the impure
meconate  of lead  that has  thus  been thrown down,  and
transmit through it a  stream  of sulphuretted  hydrogen.
Evaporate and crystallize the acid obtained.   The crystals
may be subjected a second time to precipitation with acetate
of  lead,  and decomposition  by  sulphuretted  hydrogen.
Another method, also proposed by Dr. Christison,  is to  mix
the  first precipitation  of meconate of lead with vitrified
boracic acid, and heat the mixture gently in a tube  or retort.
 At a temperature somewhat short of that of charring, white
 crystals of meconic acid are sublimed.  The following are
 some of its properties :
   1.  When heated in a tube, it is partly decomposed and
 partly sublimed, and the sublimate condenses in filamentous,
 radiated crystals.
   2.  When dissolved even  in a very large quantity of water,
 the solution acquires an intense  cherry  red color, with the
 permuriate of iron.f
   3.  This  solution gives a pale green precipitate, with the
 sulphate of copper; and if the precipitate is not  too abun-
 dant, it is dissolved by boiling, but reappears on cooling.
   4.  The following has been proposed by Mr. J. T.  Cooper
 of London: " To the solution supposed to contain opium or
 meconic acid, add a few drops of solution of muriate of gold.
 If meconic acid alone exists, a black, inky precipitate will
 be found; but if there be narcotine present, or morphine in
 combination with the meconic acid, as there is in opium, a
 fawn-colored precipitate will fall, which, by the subsequent

   •  Christison, p. 640.
   f  According to Pereira, mustard will also strike a red color with a salt of
 iron.  (London Med. Gazette, vol. 18, p. 852.) 
752
NARCOTIC POISONS.
addition of a  few drops of caustic  potash, will gradually
deepen in color, until it becomes very nearly black.  By this
means twenty drops of laudanum  diffused through a pint of
water have been discovered.*
   Tests jor morphine and its salts.  Morphine, when pure, is
in small, beautiful white  crystals.   It has a bitter taste, but
no smell.   A gentle heat melts it, and a  stronger one red-
dens and then chars the fused mass, from which issue white
fumes,  and at  last  the mass kindles  and burns brightly.
Morphine is very little soluble in water,  more so in ether;
but its proper solvents are alcohol and  the  diluted acids.
All its solutions are intensely bitter.
   Nitric acid dissolves morphine with effervescence, and the
solution becomes instantly orange red ; and if too much acid
has been used, it changes quickly to yellow.  This property
it possesses in common with brucine, and also  strychnine,
when not quite pure.!  When suspended in water in the
form of  a white powder, and  then treated with a drop or
two of permuriate of iron, it is dissolved and forms a deep
greenish blue solution, the  tint of which is more purely blue,
the stronger the solution, and the purer the morphine.J
   Acetate of morphine is  usually  of a brown color.  The
stronger acids disengage acetic acid.  The alkalies, and par-
ticularly ammonia, throw down morphine from its solution in
water, with a white precipitate.  Nitric acid and permuriate
of iron act on it as on  morphine. §
   Hydrochlorate {muriate) of morphine.   This  decrepitates
slightly when heated, and  then melts, and at the same time
chars and exales a strong odor.  Nitric acid and  permuriate
of iron act on it as on morphine.

  * Lancet, N. S., vol. 9, p. 712.
  X To distinguish these, Dr. Vassal proposes to use hydrochlorate of tin.
If the liquid contains morphine, it will become yellow; if brucine, a violet
color, and if strychnine, it becomes colorless. (London Med. Repository, vol.
26, p. 455.)
  \ Pelletier has ascertained that this blue color is owing to the morphine
attracting a portion of the peroxide of iron, and then uniting with another
portion of the protoxide, forming thus a morphite of the metal. (Lancet, N.
S., vol. 11, p. 337.)
  § Raspail mentions that the concrete part of  the oil of cloves exactly imi-
tates morphine when treated by each of the above tests. (Chemistry, p. 523.) 
                    NARCOTIC  POISONS.                 753

  M. Serullas,  in 1830, proposed iodic  acid as a  test for
morphine  and  all its sails.   He  found  that when it was
brought in contact with  the alkaloid, even in very minute
quantities, iodine was disengaged, and a  blue color was
communicated to starch.   He  further states, that this effect
is peculiar to morphine,  and that the  other vegetable alka-
lies,  as strychnine,  veratrine, and brucine,  &c,  have  no
action on iodic acid.*
  Tests for narcotine.  Its  crystals, when  pure, fuse  with
heat,  and concrete on cooling, into  a resinous-like mass.
They are  soluble in ether or fixed oil, less so in alcohol, in-
 soluble in water or the  alkalies,  and very soluble in the
 diluted  acids.  The  tests of morphine and  its salts, which I
 have mentioned above, do not produce any similar effects on
 narcotine.
   Codine is distinguished from morphine by not becoming
 blue with perchloride of iron, nor does ammonia precipitate
 it from its solution in muriatic acid.
    Paramorphine is distinguished from morphine,  by its not
  reddening  with  nitric acid,  nor becoming  blue  with per-
  chloride  of iron, nor forming crystallizable salts with acids,
  from narcotine, from its  being more soluble in alcohol, while
  nitric acid  melts it into a soft resinous substance before dis-
  solving it.
    Test for  opium in solution.   Dr. Hare of Philadelphia, has
  published the  following.   It is founded on  the property of
  meconic acid to precipitate with lead.
    Add a  few drops of acetate of lead to a weak solution of
  opium, (even that contained in ten drops of laudanum, dif-

   • Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 9, p. 149.  Lancet, N. S. vol.
  8, p. 4.  Pelletier approves of this as a very minute  and accurate test. I
  observe however, that Mr. Lewis Thomson, of London, denies that iodic acid,
  can be depended upon as a test of morphine, as  it affords, according to  him,
  a similar result  with sulphocyanic acid, the  sulphocyanates  of soda and
  potash, albumen, arsenite of potash,  &c.  (London Medical Gazette, vol. 19,
  p.  188.)  Mr. Meeson of London, has suggested, January, 1835, the follow-
  ing as a test of morphine and its salts : To the  suspected fluid, add a strong
  solution of chlorine.  If  ammonia be added to this, the solution will take a
  dark brown color, which will disappear by adding more chlorine. No other
  vegetable alkali, he adds, takes this character.  With quinine, the same ex-
  periment gives a beautiful green color.  (London and Edinburgh Philosophi-
  cal Magazine, vol. 6, p. 168.)
    vol. ii.                   48 
754
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
fused in half a gallon of water.)  The meconate of lead will
precipitate, but it  may require from  six to twelve hours.
When it is  collected at the bottom of the vessel in a mass,
about thirty drops of sulphuric acid should be poured down
on it through a glass tube.  Let this be followed by as much
of the permuriate of iron.   The sulphuric acid liberates the
meconic,  and thus  enables the latter  to produce the appro-
priate  color (cherry red) of meconate  of iron.*
  Orfila, while commending this test, suggests, that as it is
only necessary to have meconic acid in a free state for the
iron to strike its red color, we may act directly on the me-
conate of morphine contained in opium, by sulphuric acid.
The meconic acid will thus be liberated  and  ready for the
action of the test.f
   Process for detecting opium in mixed fluids and solids. The
following  is  recommended by Dr. Christison as  the  most
delicate and satisfactory.
   " 1. If there be any solid matter, it is to be cut into small
fragments ; water is to be added if necessary, then a little
acetic acid to render the  mixture  acidulous ; and when the
whole  mass  has  been well  stirred  and has  stood a few
minutes, it is to be filtered and evaporated, at a temperature
somewhat below ebullition,  to the  consistence of a mode-
rately thick syrup.   To this extract, strong alcohol is to be
gradually added, care being taken to  break down any coagu-
lum that may be formed;  and after ebullition and cooling,
the alcoholic solution is to be filtered.   The solution must
then be evaporated to the consistence of a thin syrup, and
the residue dissolved in distilled water and filtered anew.
   " 2.  Add now the solution  of acetate of lead, as long as
it causes precipitation,  filter  and wash.   The filtered fluid
contains the morphine, and the precipitate on the filter con-
tains meconic acid united  with the oxide of lead.
   "3. The fluid  part  is  to be treated with sulphuretted
hydrogen, to throw down any lead which may remain in
  * Chapman's Journal, N. S., vol. 5, p. 77.  Dr. Christison suggests as an
improvement to throw off the superincumbent fluid, before the acid and iron
are added.
  f North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 6, p. 201. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
755
solution.  It is then to be filtered while cold, and evaporated
sufficiently in a vapour bath.  The solution in this state will
sometimes be sufficiently pure for the application of the tests
of morphine ; but in many cases it is necessary, and in all
advisable, to purify it still farther.  For this purpose, the
fluid is to be precipitated with ammonia, and the precipitate
having been collected, washed, and drained on a filter, the
precipitate and portion of the filter to  which it adheres, are
to be boiled in a little pure alcohol.  The alcoholic solution,
filtered if necessary, will give, by evaporation, a crystalline
residue, which becomes orange-red, with nitric acid, and
when suspended in water, becomes blue with permuriate of
iron.   The  latter  property I have sometimes been  unable
to develope, when the  former was presented characteris-
tically.
   " 4. It  is useful, however, to separate the meconic acid
also, because, as its properties are more delicate, I have re-
peatedly  been able to detect it satisfactorily, when I did not
feel satisfied with the result  of the search for morphia. Dr.
Ure made the same remark in his evidence  on the  trial of
Stewart and his wife.   He  detected  the meconic acid, but
could not separate the morphine.   Suspend, therefore, in a
little water, the  precipitate  caused by the acetate of lead,
(paragraph  2,) transmit sulphuretted  hydrogen until the
whole precipitate is blackened ; filter immediately without
boiling, then boil, and, if necessary, filter a second time.  A
great deal of the impurities  thrown down by the acetate of
lead, will be separated with the sulphuret of lead, and the
meconic acid is dissolved.   But it requires,  in general, far-
ther purification, which is best attained by again throwing it
down with  acetate of lead, and repeating the steps of the
present paragraph. The fluid is now to be concentrated by
evaporation, and  subjected  to the tests for  meconic acid,
more particularly to the action of perchloride of iron, when
the quantity is small.   If there is evidently a considerable
quantity  of acid,  a portion should be evaporated till  it
yields crystalline scales, which have always a yellowish tint,
and these are to be heated in a tube to procure its  arbores- 
756
NARCOTIC POISONS.
cent crystalline sublimate.  About  a sixth of  a grain of
meconic acid, however, is required to try the latter test con-
veniently."*
  I find, also, the following method recommended for the
detection  of morphine and  meconic  acid,  in  mixtures
abounding in organic matter:   The solid contents of the
stomach and other substances, must be  sliced, bruised, and
treated with successive quantities of distilled water.  The
different  liquids are  to be collected and the  solid residue
pressed.   The  solid  residue  is  now to be treated with an
excess of diluted muriatic acid,  to which  distilled water is
then to be added, and the whole allowed to digest for from
eight to ten hours.   At the  end of this  time, pour off the
liquid and press again the residue.   The liquids thus ob-
tained  by these  two  processes are now to be  mixed and
evaporated to dryness in a water bath—digest the dry mass
in two  successive  portions  of boiling  alcohol,  filter the
solutions and evaporate to the consistence of syrup.   Pre-
serve the residue on the filter  for the subsequent extraction
of meconic acid.  Precipitate now the alcholic solution with
ammonia as recommended by Dr. Christison in paragraph 3,
and  evaporate  and  redigest  in alcohol,  until  crystals  of
morphine are obtained.  For the extraction of meconic acid,
the residue on the filter is to be digested in a dilute solution
of ammonia filtered, and the excess of alkali neutralized by
acetic acid.  Acetate of lead is now to be added until there
is no  further precipitate.  The precipitate, which is mecon-
ate of lead, is to be collected  on a  filter, well washed and
then boiled for  some  time with  very dilute sulphuric acid.
On filtering this liquid,  the  sulphate  of lead  remains  on

  * Christison, p. 608.  This process is founded, as Dr. Christison states, on
that proposed by Lassaigne some years previous.  The directions contained
in the three first paragraphs, are principally taken from him.  For the de-
tails of Lassaigne's  process, see Brande's Journal, vol. 17,  p. 168; Edin-
burgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 231.
  M. M. Larocque and Thibierge failed in several experiments with mixed
fluids, in decomposing meconate of lead by sulphuretted hydrogen.  The in-
equality of composition in the opium of commerce is suggested as one of the
causes of this.  (Chemist, vol. 4, p. 177.) 
                                                         7*S7
                     NARCOTIC POISONS.

the  filter,  while  the   solution  of  meconic  acid  passes
through.*
   Although these tests  may  appear ample and satisfactory,
yet we must remember that in most cases the search will be
for substances which exist in small  proportions  in opium;
(as for example, Turkey opium probably  does not contain
more, at the highest, than ten per cent of morphine).   The
operator must therefore expect to find only minute traces,
while in many instances he may be altogether disappointed.
This  has  happened to accurate   chemists, as  Christison,
 Buchner and Reid.f
   I have mentioned that  the  solution of  meconic acid, as
well as its crystals, acquire  an intense  red color  with the
permuriate of iron.  Now it has been found, that  another
acid,  the sulphocyanic, is affected  in  a  precisely similar
manner by that test.  Were this  substance a rare one, as
 was  once  supposed, there  could be  little danger of mis-
 take.  But Gmelin and Tiedemann, and subsequently other
 observers, have found it to exist  in  human saliva.
    Dr. Christison observes, " that it  is impossible to procure
 a blood red coloration from  the  saliva, except by evaporat-
 ing a large quantity to dryness,  and dissolving  the residue
 in a small quantity of water;" and  he questions whether it
 can be separated at all after  the saliva is mixed with the
 complex contents of the  stomach.%   Dr. O'Shaugnessy has
 proposed the following, as a  means of diseriminating between

   * Dr. Gusserow, quoted in British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 5, p.
 213.
   I find in some late journals, that  the effects produced by the inoculation of
 morphine  are recommended as  a test of  the presence of that substance in
 very minute quantities.  According to M.  Martin Solon, a small pimple with
 a diffuse rosy areola is formed in a  minute and a half after insertion with a
 lancet, of the aqueous solution.  In about twenty minutes,-  the pimple be-
 comes flattened and its areola, which is very red, is about an inch and a half
 in diameter.   After an hour, these appearances diminish, and gradually van-
 ish from 12 to 24 hours after the operation.  Some constitutional effects are
 also experienced.  It is, however, at best,  only a presumptive and may be a
 deceptive  proof.  (British and Foreign Medical Review, vol.  4, p. 606.)
 Lafarguc, in Bulletin de l'Academie Royale de Medecine, vol. 1, pp. 13,
 10, 249.
    t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 70.  Christison, p.
 009.   Rcid's Chemistry, 2d edition, p. 416.  When  every other proof has
 failed, the peculiar odour of opium has in several instances remained, so as to
 identify the substance.           J Christison, p. 611. 
758
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
the two acids:  Add a small quantity of a solution of pure
potash.  This  destroys the color  of  the sulphocyanate,
making it a dead pale white, but  renders that  produced by
the meconate more intense.  He  further  adds, that by the
use of sulphuretted hydrogen, as directed in paragraph 3,
any sulphocyanate of  lead that may be  formed, is dissolved
away by the water employed in the ablution of the precipi-
tate.*   The precipitate, with the  nitromuriate of gold, will
also serve to distinguish it.
  The best distinction, however, according to Dr. Christison,
is that procured by Dr. Percy.   Acidulate the red fluid with
sulphuric acid, drop in a piece of pure zinc, and  suspend at
the mouth of the tube, a bit of paper moistened with solution
of acetate of lead.  If the redness  be caused by sulphocy-
anic acid, hydrosulphuric  acid gas  is evolved and blackens
the paper.  No such effect ensues, if the redness be owing
to meconic  acid.!
  Edmund  Castaing,  of a respectable family in  France,
studied the  medical profession with ardor and success, and
in due  time became  a physician.   He was very  intimate
with Hippolyte and Augustus Ballet, young men  of fortune.
The former was out of health,  and consulted him as a medi-
cal adviser.
  In  this state of things, Hyppolyte died  on the 22d  of
October, 1822.  Having been  deemed  an  invalid for some
time,  his death did not become the subject of remark, and
Augustus remained on as intimate terms as  before with
Castaing.   It was, however, ascertained subsequently, that
while the  disease under  which  Hippolyte was  laboring,
(consumption,) was pursuing its usual slow course, he was
suddenly seized with  severe  symptoms, which carried him
off  in four  days.   He died  in the  arms of Castaing, and
according to that person would not see his relatives.  He

  * Lancet, N.  S., vol. 7, p. 33.  Mr. Everitt  proposes, instead of potash, to
use a solution of corrosive sublimate.   This also bleaches the mixture, if the
colour depends on sulphocyanic acid, but has no effect on meconic. (Ibid., vol.
24, p. 199,)
  f Christison  on Poisons, 4th edition; Percy, Lancet, July 31, 1841; Dr.
J. L. Smith, Silliman's Journal, September, 1845. 
                                                   7^9
                   NARCOTIC POISONS.                 ,ua

made a will in  favor of Castaing, and did not mention his
brother's name  in it.  This will, Castaing, wording to the
testimony of a female witness, sold to Augustus for 100,000
francs.  The physicians who examined the body  of  Hippo-
lyte, stated that there was  emaciation present, but not
sufficient to warrant them in ascribing death to exhaustion,
(epuisement.)
   On the 30th of Mav, after having spent two days in ex-
cursions in the country, Augustus Ballet, accompanied by
Castaing, arrived at St. Cloud, in a small carriage, and with-
out  his usual establishment of servants.   They put up  at a
tavern.   In the course of the  evening, Augustus complained
of being unwell.  He took some warm wine, to which sugar
and citron  were added by Castaing, but without  relief.   He
passed the night in a disturbed state.   Castaing  left him at
4 A. M. to take, as he said, a walk in the park ;  but instead
 of doing this, he went to  Paris, called at the shop of a drug-
 gist, and demanded and obtained twelve grains of an emetic.
 He signed an  order  for this, as the  shop boy hesitated to
 give him so large a quantity.  He then went to  the shop of
 Chevallier, a pharmacien, and bought a demi gros of acetate
 of  morphine, saying that he wanted  it for  experiments on
 animals. He mounted his cabriolet, returned with all speed,
 and found Augustus still  ill.  He now prescribed some cold
 milk, and  gave  it to his patient. In  five minutes he was
 seized with convulsions, and in half an hour violent vomiting
 came on,  followed by purging..  The servant of Augustus
 received a note from Castaing on this day, (31st) saying
 that his master was ill.  He hurried to St. Cloud, and found
 him laboring under the above.
    A physician (Dr. Pigarche) was sent for, who arrived at
  11A.M.   Augustus  was easy;  the vomiting had ceased,
 but there  was  some fever; the tongue was yellow, and there
  was slight pain in the bowels.  Deeming the disease cholera
  morbus, on the representation of Castaing, he prescribed
 emollient fomentations, light diet, and  an enema.   At two
 o'clock he found Ballet free of fever, and expressing a desire
  to  return  to Paris.  At 4 P/M. and at 7 P. M. though there 
760
NARCOTIC POISONS.
was some excitement, yet every thing augured favorably.
He was sent for at 11 P. M., and found his patient quite in-
sensible, unable to swallow, bathed in a cold sweat, with a
small pulse, a burning skin; the jaws locked, the neck rigid,
the abdomen tense, and  the  limbs  affected by spasmodic
convulsions.  Bleeding produced a slight remission of these
symptoms.  At 6 A. M. Dr. Pelletan arrived from  Paris.
Stertorous  breathing  was  now present.  Sinapisms and
even boiling water were applied  to  the legs, but  they ex-
cited but little sensibility.   The pupil of the  eye was no-
ticed  at  this time to be much contracted.  Death followed
an hour after mid-day.
  The only appearances  found on the dead body  that bore
any relation  to the poison  suspected, were congestion  of
blood  and serous effusion in the  vessels  of the cerebral
membrane.
   Vauquelin and  Barruel analyzed  the liquid found in the
stomach, but could find no trace  of poison.
   Orfila, on his examination, stated that the symptoms pre-
sent were common to  poisoning  and ordinary diseases, and
further, that poisons might cause death and yet not be de-
tected, owing to their removal by vomiting  or absorption.
   Magendie concurred in these opinions.
   Chaussier was  a witness for the accused.
   He was one of the commission that examined the body of
Augustus and  the liquid found  in the stomach.  He stated
that there was only a  slight% irritation of the stomach, and
not a vestige of poison.  He was asked whether the appear-
ances on dissection might not be those of vegetable poisons?
He answered, no.  Might they no-t have been absorbed into
the blood 1  Yes, but it requires a long time.  But when
there is vomiting  and purging 1  Then every thing is evacu-
ated.   He was also asked whether the acetate of morphine
could be detected 1  Yes, to a molecule.  But when it is ab-
sorbed, is it then possible to find it 1  It  requires a long
time to absorb, and when the poison cannot be found, the
corpus delicti is wanting.  Does acetate of morphine produce
a dilatation of the pupil ]   Yes.  You do  not agree with 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
761
Dr. Orfila?   I have experience that Dr. Orfila does not pos-
sess.
  M. Roussel, the counsel  for the accused, urged that the
symptoms were those of an inflammatory disease.   It might
have been excited by the fatigue  of his  excursions, by his
long walks in the sun, the  warm wine, &c.
  It was proved that Castaing had paid  much attention to
the subject of poisons, and  had bought a considerable quan-
tity of acetate of morphine. He was convicted and  executed.
Whether from circumstantial or moral evidence, there seems
to be little doubt of his guilt in France, but the  proofs of it,
as  developed on the trial,  are certainly imperfect.  It is
highly probable that if Augustus was poisoned, other dele-
terious substances besides  the acetate of morphine were ad-
ministered.*
  A man was  poisoned a  few  years since at Glasgow, by
adding  laudanum to strong  beer.   The  peculiar smell of
opium was manifest in the liquor extracted by the stomach-
pump.  The magistrates requested Dr. Ure  to  examine the
 contents of the stomach.   " One portion treated with acetate
 of lead, afforded  an insoluble precipitate, from  which an
 acid, strongly reddening permuriate of iron was  separated,
by the agency  of the sulphuric.   Another portion afforded
directly, with  a  few drops  of the  permuriate of iron, an
evident reddish brown tinge.  The chemical facts, joined to
a body of circumstantial evidence, led to  the conviction of
the  guilty  pair,  a man and wife,  who  were  accordingly
executed."!

  • Causes Celebres du XIX. Siecle, vol. 4, pp. 1 to 103. Proces de Castaing.
Gordon Smith on Medical Evidence, p. 368.  Christison, p. 634.  London
Medical Repository, vol. 21, p. 87.   Considerations  Medico-legales sur un
accusation d'empoisonnement par l'acetate  de morphine, par E. S. Montma-
hou, M. D., &c, 8vo. Paris, 1823.  This last denies that any poison was
given.                                            ' r
  In Scotland, the felonious administration of laudanum or other narcotic or
deleterious drug with intent to produce stupefaction, whether in malice or to
facilitate  the  commission of any crime, subjects the offender to severe pun-
ishment.  (Alison s Principles of  Criminal Law of Scotland, p. 629.) I pre-
sume the law m this state (see vol. 2, 373 of this work,) would  include this
under the term injury.
  t Dr. Ure, in Bran'de's Journal, N. S., vol. 7, p. 60. 
762
NARCOTIC POISONS.
  Treatment.  Probably no poison is more frequently used
in this country as a means of suicide, than opium.   It hence
becomes a matter of special  importance  that  the physician
be well acquainted with the modes of preventing its effects,
and  for  much useful information on this, we  are greatly
indebted to the investigations of Orfila.
  The first  indication  is to  remove the poison  from the
stomach.   This  is to be attempted  in  various ways.  By
emetics  of sulphate  of  zinc,  or sulphate of copper.  The
former is by far the best, and it  should be given  in doses
of half a drachm or two scruples, to be repeated, at short
intervals, if the  first should fail to  operate.   The throat
should also be irritated with  a feather.  At the same time,
in order to insure its action, it  is of great use to keep the
patient roused  as much as possible.  Two persons should
be constantly employed in dragging him up and down, and
not permit him to sink into a state of insensibility.*
  The sulphate of copper, although  it is emetic in its ope-
ration, is not by any means so safe a  prescription as the
former.   It is, as we have already stated an active poison,
and if retained long  in the stomach  may prove injurious.!
But of all the forms of emetic medicines in use, tartar emetic
is most to be discouraged.  I have only to refer to its effects
in large doses.   And the practitioner, before he  gives  it,
should recollect the  possibility of  its retention in the sto-
mach, without producing vomiting.   The  torpid  condition
of that viscus is one of the main  difficulties with which we
have  to  contend.   In  confirmation  of this  opinion,  Dr.
Christison quotes a case in which a scruple of tartar emetic
was  administered to cause  vomiting, but to  no  purpose.
When it had remained fifteen minutes, sulphate of  zinc was

  * Successful cases, in which sulphate of zinc was  the principal agent, are
given by Dr. Kinnis, (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14, p.
603; by Dr. Howison, ibid., vol. 18, p. 49; by Dr. Kennedy, ibid., vol. 18,
p. 343.)
  f Dr. Marcet (Medico-Chirurgical  Transactions, vol. 1, p. 77,) used it
successfully in an almost desperate case, where six ounces of laudanum had
been swallowed.  Fifteen grains were given, and they induced vomiting. The
patient complained for some days after of soreness in the throat and at the
root of the tongue. 
                                                         763
                     NARCOTIC  POISONS.


also given,  and with immediate  effect.   But  the patient,

after recovering from the  immediate  consequences,  was

seized with pain in  the stomach and bowels, and diarrhcea,

which lasted for several days.*
   A second mode of removing the poison from the stomach,

is the use of the Stomach-Pump.   I have adverted to  the

history  of its introduction in a previous  page; and I may

now add, that  it has proved  of more service  in cases  of

poisoning by opium, than in any other.   Numerous instances

of its utility have accumulated  in the periodical journals.!

Dr. A. T. Thomson advises, that  instead of pure water, a

weak solution of carbonate of potash or of ammonia be em-

ployed, in order to decompose the opium and  to dimmish

the solubility of the morphine.

   Dr. Roe,  of New York, relates a case in which a person

took two and a half ounces of laudanum,  and was seen

within  three quarters of an  hour.  He refused to take any

 thing.  The tube  of a stomach-pump  was introduced into

 the rectum, and fluid injected; and when the  intestine was

 distended,  fifteen grains of tartar  emetic dissolved in half a

 gallon  of  water,  were  thrown up:  nausea  and vomiting

 followed.  The injection was repeated,  and followed by an



   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical  Journal, vol. 7, p. 305 ; case by Mr •
 McKechnie.
   It has also been advised to add stimulants, as mustard or cayenne pepper,
 to the emetics.  Several successful  cases  are given.  (Lancet,  N. S., vol.
 27, p. 656.) Dr. Seymour advises powdered flour of mustard, one tea spoon
 full to a tumbler of water, repeated until vomiting is induced, in the cases
 where the stomach appears paralysed.  (Ibid., vol. 32, p. 587.)
   t Mr.  Jukes, in  1822, particularly called the attention of the English
 medical profession to the utility of this remedy.   (London Medical and Phy-
 sical Journal,  vol. 48, p. 384.)  Mr. Bryce, as a substitute, proposed a long
 oesophagus tube, to which a bladder is attached.  The fluid is introduced by
 it into the stomach ; and when it is proposed to extract it again, the extremi-
 ty of the tube and bladder is depressed below the level of the stomach : it
 thus acts as a  syphon.   (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  23,
 p. 220.)
   Among the cases in which the stomach-pump has been successfully used, I
 can only refer to those by Dr. Moore of New York, New York Medical and
 Physical Journal, vol. 4, p. 91; vol. 6,p. 357. By Dr. Hamersley, ibid., vol.
 9, p. 235. Dr. Charles A. Lee, ibid., vol. 7, p. 518.  Dr. Bardsley of Man-
 chester, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 30, p. 306.  Lancet,
 vol. 5, p. 218; vol. 6, p. 517 ; vol. 10, p. 245.  Dr. Shipman, American Jour-
 nal Medical Sciences, vol. 26, p. 508.   Mr. Hooper, Lancet, Dec. 16. 1843. 
764
NARCOTIC POISONS.
enema, which  produced purging.   The next morning the
patient had nearly recovered.*
  " The last method of removing opium from the  stomach,
is a desperate one, which can  only be  recommended when
emetics  by  the  mouth have  utterly  failed, and when  a
stomach-pump, or Mr.  Bryce's substitute, cannot be pro-
cured.  It  is an  injection  of an  emetic into  the veins.
Tartar emetic answers best for this purpose, and its effect is
almost certain : a grain  is the dose.  While injecting it care
must be taken by the operator not to introduce air into the
vein."!
  The next most important part of the treatment, is to keep
the patient constantly roused. 1  This is to be accomplished
by the means  already  stated, of dragging him across the
room between  two  persons ;  and the duration of this exer-
cise  should vary  according  to circumstances, from three or
six to twelve hours  ; and even if allowed to  rest for a  short
time, he must be  roused at short intervals, and any tendency
to insensibility counteracted by renewed excercise.  It is at
this period also that dashing cold water over the head and
body has been  found of especial service in rousing the sen-
eibijitv of the patient, and it would also seem to ensure the
operation of emetics.   When,  therefore, an emetic has been
taken, and  its  effect is  delayed, it is  advisable to  use the
cold water.§
  * American Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 7, p. 555.
  t Christison, p. 642. Prof. Alison cured a case with Mr. Bryce's tube.
(Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 23, p. 416.)
  X Sir Walter Scott mentions the following striking illustration of this.
One of the  Duke of Buccleuch's farmers, gave to  his son by mistake,
some laudanum.   It was instantly discovered.  " While all around the young
man were stupid with fear, he rose, saddled his horse and rode  to Selkirk,
(six or seven miles) thus saving the time that the doctor must have taken in
coming to him.  It is very curious that his agony of mind was able to sus-
pend the operation of the drug until he had alighted, when it instantly be-
gan to operate,  He recovered perfectly."  (Lockhart's Life of Scott, vol. 2,
p. 279.  Amer. edit.)
  § This treatment, according to Dr. Christison, was first proposed in 1767,
by Dr. Grater,  a German physician. Successful cases in which  it  was a
leading remedy, are related by Mr. Wray and  Dr. Copland, in London Med.
Repository, vol. 18, p. 26 and 29.
  By Dr. Crampton, Dublin Hospital Transactions, vol. 4.
  By Dr. Richardson of Kentucky, (1521,) Chapman's Journal, vol. 8,
p. 398. 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
765
  I would also recommend a trial, in difficult  cases, of the
alternate  use  of cold and warm water, as  advised by Dr.
Boisragon.   He adduces several successful cases, in which
the feet were immersed in a warm bath, while cold  effusion
was practised on the head and shoulders.   The feet may be
even withdrawn for a  few seconds and immersed  in cold
water, but should be immediately replaced in the warm.   It
is doubtless, as he supposes, in consequence of the alternate
impressions,  aided  by  the  general  means  already recom-
mended, that we are to  hope for successful results.*
  Internal stimulants  sometimes  prove  useful  assistants.
Ammonia occasionally  but carefully applied to the nose, and
injections  of assafostida, have each proved of service.!
   After the  poison has  been removed,  it is  often necessary,
in consequence of the fullness and strength  of the pulse, and
the supervention of apoplectic symptoms, to abstract blood.
 In several cases, the relief thus afforded has been  striking
  By Dr. Jackson, ibid., vol. 8, p, 150.
  By Dr. John B. Beck, New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol.  3,
p. 474.
  By Dr.  Staats, ibid., vol. 3, p. 473.  In this case bleeding was also very
useful.
  Dr.  Cross, in an essay on poisoning by opium, (Transylvania Journal,
vol. 1, p. 469,) has collected all the successful cases up to the period  when
he wrote
  *  London Medical Gazette, vol. 25, p. 878.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 26, p. 897,
Dr. Marshall Hall advises,  that in those cases where an emetic, an antidote.
or a stomach-pump be not immediately at hand,  or even when the first has
been given without inducing any operation, to employ external pressure on
the abdomen in  aid of irritating the fauces.  Their simultaneous employ-
ment is what he  urges.  " The patient may be placed leaning with the  stom-
ach over a chair, protected by a pillow, while the fingers are  introduced  to
irritate the fauces."  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 31, p. 302.)
  t  Pulling the  hair—injecting water into the ears—whipping with cords—
flagellations on the palms of the hands and soles  of the feet—slapping be-
tween  the shoulders, etc., have been used to produce external irritation, and
thus rouse the patient. See Dr. Joseph M. Smith, Transactions of the Physico -
Medical Society  of New York, p. 289.  Dr. Seaman,  New York Medical Re-
pository, vol. 3,  p. 250.
  Dr.  Barret, Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14, p. 197.
  A case in which emetics  produced no effect, and oil of turpentine by the
mouth, and in the form of enema, proved successful, is related by Dr. Jen-
kins.  (New York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 3, p. 303.)
  Dr.  Fahnestock, in a case apparently hopeless, where the stomach-pump
proved ineffectual, gave some sulphuric ether.  This produced violent  stran-
gulating sensation, and aroused the action of the  stomach  and diaphragm :
vomiting followed, and the patient was  saved.  (American Journal of Med.
Sciences, vol. 5, p. 250.) 
766
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
and permanent.*  " It  ought not to be  resorted  to till the

poison is thoroughly removed from the stomach, for it favors

absorption."!

   Artificial respiration has been employed in some desperate

cases  with marked advantage, and even with complete suc-

cess.   A middle-aged-man swallowed half an ounce of crude

opium,  and  soon  became lethargic.   Emetics  were  given

with  considerable effect,  but  he  was  left too  soon, and

fell into a state of complete lethargy, his pulse  and  respi-

ration being nearly  totally gone.   Mr.  Whately  obtained a

common bellows, and distended  his lungs;  this in a few

minutes produced a free  expiration,  and he gradually re-

covered. X   Dr.  Ogilvie, of Georgia, has published  another

successful case in a child ten days old, to whom twenty-five

drops of  laudanum were  given.§   But  probably the most

interesting is that related by Dr. Morris, as given below.||


  * Cases in which venesection has been used with great success, are men-
tioned by Mr.  Richardson, Edinburgh  Medical  and Surgical  Journal, vol.
17, p. 226.
  By Mr. Ross, ibid., vol. 19, p. 247.
  By Dr. Rush in 1801, New York Medical Repository, vol. 5,  p. 124.
  By Dr. Akerly,  ibid., vol. 16, p. 10. Dr. A. mentions a curious fact that
occurred under his notice.  A lunatic stole two  ounces of laudanum, which
were supersaturated with carbonate of  potash, and swallowed them without
any bad effects.
  By Dr. Young, American Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 13, p. 61.
  By Ollivier of Angers, and Marye, Medico-Chirurgical  Review, vol. 8,
p. 270.
  By Dr. D'Outrepont,  in a pregnant female,  (from  a  German journal).
Am. Journal of Medical Sciences, vol.  5, p. 480.
  t Christison, p.  644.  Two cases  came into St. Thomas'  Hospital under
similar circumstances.  Both were females—the  quantity taken by each, was
an  ounce of laudanum, and suicide was intended by both.  The stomach-
pump was used in each case, but one was bled eight hours  after taking the
poison, and the other not at all.   The remaining treatment was exactly alike.
The one  not bled  recovered  perfectly  a day sooner than the other.  Mr.
Bullock, London Med.  Gazette, vol. 19, p. 264.
  X Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. 6, p. 331.
  § North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 3, p. 277.
  || A  mother,  by accident, gave her  infant, four months old, two drops of
laudanum,  The fluid was turbid, and  as was afterwards ascertained, con-
tained fragments of opium.   It escaped rapidly in dropping.  In three hours,
convulsions with stertorous breathing,  hot skin and contracted pupils occur-
red. Sulphate of zinc was given and an enema of salt and water  without
any effect.  Warm water was injected into the stomach, mustard cataplasms
were applied to the feet and iced water  to the head.  It was then placed in a
warm mustard bath, but this last produced  only one cry, the  first and only
token of sensation for  several hours.  The spasms increased. Dr. Morris
now opened the mouth forcibly  and made compression on the  chest.  After
three minutes, a long sigh was drawn, and respiration reestablished.  Cloths
heated  very hot were now applied; a general redness, accompanied with vio- 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
767
  In  some instances where all  attempts to rouse the indi-
vidual have proved unsuccessful, a succession of shocks with
the galvanic battery, continued for several hours, has proved
successful  in  continuing respiration, aided, however,  by

other means.*
  When the  patient  is  in a  hopeful  way of  recovery,
purgative enemas  are  very useful,  particularly if we  have
reason to believe that any of the opium still  remains in the
intestines.  Frequent  rubbing  of  the  arms  and legs,  or
sinapisms to the latter, are also often needed, in consequence
of  the torpor  that has been induced.
  The experiments  of Orfila  have demonstrated that the
administration of vinegar,  lemon-juice, or other vegetable
acids  previous to  the evacuation of the  poison by vomiting,
will accelerate and aggravate the action of the opium; but that
 when the opium has been previously expelled, water acidu-
 lated with vinegar or any other vegetable acid, will tend to
 diminish and correct its  effects.    Coffee, when prepared in
 the form of strong decoction or infusion, rapidly lessens the
 symptoms, but cannot be considered  as an antidote.!   The
 only substance which he deems entitled to that name, is a
 decoction of  nutgalls.   This throws  down the active prin-
 ciples  of an  infusion of  opium,  and may  consequently
 diminish its effects,  previous to the  necessary attempts for
 its removal.|
lent convulsions ensued.  Artificial respiration was again resorted to, and
by a continuance of these remedies, the child was left crying for drink just
eleven hours after taking the poison.   (Transactions of the College of Phy-
sicians, Philadelphia, No. 2, p. 30.)  See also Howship and Smith, in Medico-
Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 20, p. 86.  Mr. Harrison, Lancet- N. S., vol.
27, p. 190.  Dr. Ware of Boston, has also related a case.
  * Mr.  Hensley,  at the Middlesex  Hospital, Lancet N. S., vol. 29, p. 88.
Mr. Russel, London Medical Gazette, vol. 31, p. 924.  Dr. Page, of Valpa-
raiso,  American Journal Med. Sciences, N. S., vol. 5, p. 301.  Dr. Marcy,
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 28, p. 426.  Mr. Corfe, Lancet,
January 27, 1844.
  f Devergie, however, calls coffee an antidote to opium, and says he has re-
covered infants apparently dying, by an injection of it.  He earnestly advi-
ses its free and early use by the mouth, vol. 2, .p. 814.  Its value in a case of
poisoning with acetate of morphine may be seen in the London, Edinburgh
and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, April, 1847, p. 301.
  X O. Henry found pure tannin to be a minute test of morphine, throwing
down an abundant white cheese-like precipitate.  It  acts similarly with
strychnine and brucine, and will therefore be scarcely deemed a satisfactory 
768
NARCOTIC POISONS.
  Hyoscyamus niger, L., (Black henbane).   Naturalized in
the Northern  States and  in  Canada.  Several cases are on
record of the baneful effects of this plant.  Wepfer mentions
that several  monks  made a repast on  the roots  of  wild
endive, among which were mixed  by  mistake two roots of
henbane.  In a few hours, some experienced vertigo; others
a burning of  the tongue, lips  and  throat.   Severe  pains
were also felt in  the iliac region, and in all the joints.  The
intellectual  faculties and organs of vision were perverted,
and they gave themselves up  to actions that were mad and
ridiculous; they, however,  recovered.  In  other cases,  a
haggard  countenance,  dilatation  of  the  pupils,  difficult
breathings,  small  and  intermittent  pulse,  loss of speech,
trismus,  and  temporary loss  of  intellect,  have been the
principal  symptoms, while  the extremities have  been ob-
served cold and nearly paralyzed.   A  glyster prepared of a
decoction of henbane, caused a numbness and loss of motion
of  the  upper  and  lower  extremeties,  propensity  to sleep,
and difficulty  of hearing.*
  Dr.  Patouillat, of Toucy, in  France, saw nine  persons
poisoned with this root.   Some were  speechless  and  con-
vulsed ;  others occasionally howled ; in all there was a pro-
trusion of the eyes, contortion  of  the mouth, and delirium.
Emetics  relieved  them, but their  sight was for some days
effected,  and all  objects appeared red like scarlet.!
   The  vapours of  this  plant  and of belladonna are said to
have been lately used  by Hufeland in  nervous affections.
reagent in detecting morphine in medico-legal cases.  But his suggestion of
tannin as an antidote may deserve some attention.  (Philadelphia Journal of
Pharmacy, vol. 7, p. 235.)
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 135.  Fodere, vol. 4, p. 25.
  t Philosophical Transactions, vol. 40, p. 446.  See also additional cases by
Dr. Stedman,  in ibid., vol. 47, p. 184; by Sir Hans Sloane, ibid., vol. 38, p.
99 ; Choquet and Wilmer, quoted in Christison, p. G48 ; by Mr. Donaldson,
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 10, p. 242.  Case  by Dr. Burdach, from
eating the capsules.  (Monthly Journal of Medico-Chirurgical Knowledge,
vol. 1, p. 58.)
  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol, 62, p. 562, (from Encyclop.
des Sciences Medicales, March 1844.)  Nine persons  partook of a soup pre-
pared with its roots, by mistake for parsnips.  They soon began to feel an
acrid taste, the pupils dilated with loss of sight, and convulsions and deliri-
um soon followed; stupor and somnolency succeeded, but they were all re-
lieved by emetics and a stimulant plan of treatment. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
769
When  exposed to these,  even although precautions  were
taken to prevent  the fumes from reaching the  face, profuse
perspiration ensued, with a sense of fulness in the head, and
sometimes tremors, difficult respiration, and vertigo.*
  On animals, the juice and decoction of the root  produced
lethargic effects, but very seldom any giddiness or  convul-
sions.   When applied to the cellular texture,  death ensues
sooner, and  vomiting  occurred in one  case, but generally
the comatose symptoms were all that were observed.   No
inflammation was noticed in the stomach;  the lungs  were
occasionally  livid,  and  black blood was observed in  the
heart.
  Lemon Juice has been announced by Dr. Medoro as a suc-
cessful antidote in cases of poisoning by hyoscyamus.   He
relates  four  instances in which the common effects of the
poison were  produced by various quantities, as three, nine
and thirteen grains of the extract.  In all, these symptoms
were rapidly mitigated and relieved by the use of the lemon
juice.f
   Hyoscyamus  albus,  L.  (White henbane.)  The  following
 case is an example of its effects:  In April, 1792, a  large
 quantity was carried by mistake on board  the  French cor-
 vette La Sardine, which the sailors  had gathered in one of
 the isles of Sapienza,  in the Morea,  where the vessel  then
 was.  A part of  it was put into the ship's  copper,  and the
 remainder into  those of some of the subaltern  officers.  At
four o'clock they all dined.  In a short time, vertigo, vomit-
ing, convulsions,  gripes and purging, were generally expe-
rienced ; and when Dr. Picard, the  surgeon, came on board,
he  observed  the  gunner making a thousand grimaces and
 contortions.  By  keeping up the evacuations, most of them
 recovered; but those  in whom there were  none,  remained
 for some time in a sickly condition.!

  * Henbane, when drying by heat, induces in those who inhale its odour, a
disposition to quarrelling and fighting. (Sigmond in Lancet, vol. 19, p. 128.)
  t Edinburgh Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol.  55, p. 266.
  X  Foder6,vol. 4, p. 23. There is also a case by Dr. Hamilton, in Edinburgh
Physical and Literary Essays, vol. 2, p. 268
VOL. II.
49 
770
NARCOTIC POISONS.
  The Hyoscyamus aureus, L.,  physaloides, L., and scopolia,
L., are also deemed poisonous.
  Gieger and Hesse have obtained an alkaloid from the H.
niger,  and which is called hyoscyamine—that formerly an-
nounced by  Brande being  now  considered  impure.  Dr.
Morries has also obtained from it, by distillation, an empy-
reumatic oil of great activity.
  The vapour of the impure alkaloid discovered by Meissner
and Brande, was found to be very injurious to the eyes ;  and
the most  minute fragments placed  on the tongue proved
deleterious.*
  Solanum dulcamara, L. (Woody nightshade, Bittersweet.)
A native of the United  States.  This, and other species of
the same genus, {Solanum nigrum, villosum, fuscatum, &c.,)
were deemed-narcotic poisons, until the experiments of Orfila
and  Dunal threw some doubt on their activity.  Dunal found
that a dog might take 180 of the  berries of Solanum  dulca-
mara, or four ounces of  the extract, without inconvenience;
and  quotes an experiment where thirty-two drachms  of the
extract were taken by a person, in two cases,  without in-
jury.!  Mr. Burnett, however, in  the first volume  of the
Medical Botany, gives cases communicated by Mr. Wheeler
of Bayswater,  showing the actual poisonous effects  of the
berries of this plant.  Several children, from eating them,
were seized with violent pain  in the intestines, vomiting and
purging, and in one instance,  a profuse secretion of  saliva.
They required active remedies to relieve them. Mr. Wheeler
adds, that he has known of two fatal cases from their use.
   Again,  three  children were poisoned with the berries  of
the  Solanum nigrum, in  1838, near Nantes, one of whom died
in convulsions.   And Dr. Hirtz of Colmar, gives the history
of two boys, three years old, in whom were present, extreme
dilatation  of the pupils, trismus and general convulsions,

  * Tilloch, vol. 57, p. 308. Brande's Journal, vol. 11, p. 205.  For Gieger*B
 late experiments, see Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 6, p. 318.
  f Christison, 3d edition, p. 682.  In the 2d edition of Dr. Smith's Forensic
 Medicine, p.  187, is  a case of poisoning by the extract, quoted from Hufeland's
 Journal.  The individual took an ounce of it.  It produced vertigo, palsy of
 the tongue, and cold sweats.  It did not, however, prove fatal. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
771
 violent screamings, red  spots over the whole of the body,
 burning heat, and small and very frequent pulse.  With all
 these, the mind was lost,' and  the patients would only now
 and then articulate a few words, like persons intoxicated.
 No vomiting or purging was present.  Repeated emetics
 produced  no effect, but recollecting that  calomel, when
 given to children, frequently induces vomiting, he prescribed
 it  in repeated doses  with  success.   Milk  was then pre-
 scribed, with a warm bath, and these were  followed  by
 acetate of ammonia.  In some  eight  or ten hours, after
 several stools, the urgent   symptoms disappeared, and a
 quiet sleep came on, which ended in perfect recovery.*
   Desfosses  obtained an alkaloid from these plants, termed
 solanine, and which produced narcotic effects.
   Doubts  have lately been thrown on its existence ; f  but
 the recent experiments of  Otto, who even found it in the
 potato,  {solanum  tuberosum,)  would seem to  decide  the
 question.  One grain of this was sufficient to kill  a rabbit
 in  six hours.J
   Still later, Baumann  has repeated  these  experiments,
 with similar results.  Solanine exists in the potato, (most
 in  the germs, less in the stalks and  leaves, and least of all
 in the  tubercles) and in all the solanaceae. Boiling partially
 eliminates it from the potato. It is energetic in small doses,
 but less so than other alkaloids.§
  Lactuca virosa, L. (Strong-scented lettuce.)  The  extract
 of this plant in large doses, produces  effects similar to those
 of opium, but a longer period is required to develope them.
 It acts with more  rapidity when applied to the cellular tex-
 ture, or injected into the veins.
  The  lettuce opium or extract of the Lactuca sativa is much
 weaker.


 l2\E477Cl°gTra??ie,-d? ?ciences M^icales, 4th series, vol 1 r> 272- vol
&^^^^rf««*  ^ **-s -sVov^'by'thet

  { CneSt, yoLorP  884*  ^  3m* *« **»**"**> ™L & P- 653. 
772
NARCOTIC POISONS.
   Taxus baccata,  L., (the yew.)  Great diversity of opinion
has existed concerning the properties of this plant.   Orfila,
however, deems it a narcotic.
   Dr. Percival relates, that the fresh leaves were adminis-
tered to three children, of five, four, and three years of age,
near  Manchester, for worms.   Yawning  and  listlessness
soon  succeeded, and  the oldest vomited a  little, and com-
plained of pain in  the abdomen;  but the others expressed
no sign of pain.  They all died within a few hours of each
other.*
   A  fatal case  occurred  in a  child, three and a half years
old, in England, in 1836.  It vomited while at  dinner, and
brought up with its food, some  portions of the berries ; con-
vulsions followed, and it died  in  two hours after.  On dis-
section, portions of the berries were found  in the stomach,
which had red spots on its surface, and its mucous mem-
brane was greatly softened.  The lungs were of a florid red,
the blood-vessels of  the brain filled with dark-coloured
blood, and  the anterior part of the surface of the body, the
legs,  abdomen and breasts, covered with  purple spots or
patches.
   Mr. Hurt, the reporter, supposes  the poison to reside in
the seed only.   When this is swallowed, it may, he thinks,
pass  through  the intestinal canal unaltered, but when the
husk  of the seed is broken and exposed to the gastric juice,
it  is then liable to cause poisonous effects.!
   Paris quadrifolia, L., (Herb  Paris, One-berry,  True-love,)
occasions vomitings and spasms.   The root of P. polyphylla,
Smith, is  also said to be highly poisonous.!

 * Medical Commentaries, vol. 6, p. 33. It is also mentioned, that a drove
of cattle (twelve in number) were poisoned in December, 1814, in Montgome-
ryshire, (Wales,) from eating the branches of this tree.  (Edinburgh Annual
Register, vol. 7, p. 162.)  Two cases of death from its leaves and berries, are
given by Metzger, p. 397.   Mr. Tatem, in Loudon's Magazine of Natural
History, vol. 8, p. 91, mentions that two horses were put under a yew tree,
which they cropped with eagerness. No unfavorable circumstances appear-
ed  for three hours, when having staggered a few paces,  they both dropped,
and before the harness could be taken off, they were dead. Their stomachs
were contracted and inflamed.
 t Lancet, N. S., vol. 19, p. 394.
 X Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 1, p. 380. 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
773
   Actcea spicata, L., (Herb Christopher, Bane-berries.)  A
 native of the United  States.  The berries of this plant are
 noxious, according to  the  testimony  of Linnaeus, Colden
 and Le Monnier.  It is poisonous to cattle, but  sheep and
 goats eat it.*
   Physalis  somnifera, L., Azalea pontica, L.,  Peganum har-
 mala, L., are deemed narcotics.   I have  already  spoken  of
 the second  as producing poisonous honey.

            Prussic Acid.   {Hydrocyanic Acid.)
   This  substance in  its concentrated  state, is one of the
 most energetic of poisons, and its virulence  varies with its
 strength.
   The pure acid is liquid, limpid and  colorless.  It has an
 acrid, pungent taste, and a very peculiar odour, which when
 diffused through the  air, has a distant resemblance to that
 of bitter almonds.  It is an error, however, says Dr. Chris-
 tison, to suppose that its odour is the same with  that of the
 almond.f   At ordinary temperatures,  it decomposes  spon-
 taneously within a few hours.
   It is  therefore the  acid  diluted with water, that is the
 article to be found in  the  apothecary's shop; and there is
 unfortunately much variety as to its strength, depending on
 the various  processes by which it is made, and the tendency
 which it also  has to decomposition.   The medicinal acids
 on the continent, either alcoholic or  watery, vary from one
 to  fifty per cent.; and this circumstance will explain the
 many cases  of poisoning that have occurred there.  If made
 according to Vauquelin's method, and  which is in common
 use in  England, the  per centage will  be 3.3.J  But  even
 there the medicinal preparations differ " frightfully."§

  * Actea spicata of Mich,  includes the Actcea rubra of Wild and A. alba,
 Big. which are decidedly distinct.  The fruit of both, as well as of A. race-
 mosa, L. are noxious.
 vol. 3%. m\ Th0mS0n confirms thia.  (Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine,
  X (Mn-istison, p. 753.
  6 Everitt in London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine,  vol. 6, p.
 Rail ffiif T/^/T different d™ggfets in London, (Apothecaries'
Snlfl . ™^ &U\ {r"1 Lthem *° ™7 from five-eighths per cent, to one-
fourth per cent.; and this, though he asked in each for Scheele's acid. 
774
NARCOTIC POISONS.
   Effects on  man.   The  following case  is  related  on the
 authority of Hufeland, as an example of its effects :  A man
 about to be taken up as a thief, swallowed an ounce at 2 P.
 M.   He staggered a few steps, and fell.  The pulse could
 not be felt, and there was no trace of breathing.  In a few
 minutes, a single and violent expiration took place.  The
 extremities were cold;  the eyes half open and shining, but
 without any irritability.   At night he was stiff.  The blood
 on dissection had the  smell of bitter almonds.  The pia
 mater and vessels of the brain were filled with blood.  The
 stomach was  highly inflamed, and presented gangrenous
 spots of the size  of a sixpence.  The villous coat separated
 on the slightest pressure  of the nails.   The  intestines were
 healthy—the liver natural, but filled with black blood.  All
 the blood was collected  in the veins, while the arteries
 were  empty, and it was  generally of a black-blue  colour,
 fluid, yet thick like  oil, and had a most penetrating smell of
 bitter almonds.*
   Orfila also relates the following  as  communicated to him
 by M. Fueter :  " M. B. professor of chemistry, left, through
 forgetfulness, a  flask, containing alcohol  saturated  with
 prussic acid.  The  servant girl seduced by the agreeable
 smell of the  liquor, swallowed a small glass of it.  At the
 expiration of two minutes, she fell  dead, as  if she had been
 struck with apoplexy.  The body was not opened."!
   Dr. B. of  Rennes, took two tea-spoonsful of  the  acid,
 (prepared by Vauquelin's process.)  In a few seconds, he fell,
 his teeth  were closed—the  respiration  was difficult, noisy
 and rattling—the mouth distorted—the  extremities  cold—
 the pulse  scarcely  perceptible—the face and neck red and
 swelled—the pupils  fixed  and dilated, and  in a word, all
  * London Medical Repository, vol. 4, p. 506.  The appearance in the stom-
 ach, which Hufeland styles gangrenous, is with great probability, considered
 by Dr. Geoghegan of Dublin, to  have been a dark red extravasation under
 the mucous coat.  He  visited a person who had swallowed an ounce of the
 medicinal acid, and who died in consequence.  The only morbid appearance
 was the above dark-coloured extravasation.  The  stomach exhaled the pe-
culiar odour for three  days, at the end of which time, the presence of the poi-
 son was detected by the usual means.  (From the Dublin Medical Journal,
 November, 1835.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 17, p. 174.)
  t Orfila' Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 147.  The professor,  I believe, was Ma-
gendie. 
                    NARCOTIC  POISONS.                 ""&

the  appearances  of apoplexy were  present.   A  violent
convulsion  followed.  Antidotes  were administered,  and
after some time, there was a slight vomiting, but he did not
recover  his  senses until  nearly  three hours  had  elapsed.
Dyspnoea continued, but with enemas and other applications
he gradually recovered.  After every evacuation by stool, a
quantity of gas was discharged from his  mouth, which had
the  odour of prussic acid.   It was  a fortnight  before he
perfectly recovered.*
  Mr. Ferrus  was in the habit of using the acid prepared
according toMagendie's formula,  viz.: 1 part of acid to 128
of syrup.  He  directed half an ounce to be administered to
fourteen epileptics  at  the  Bicetre.   Instead of using this,
the  attendants  obtained some which had  been prepared
according to the French Pharmacopseia, (one part of acid to
one  of syrup).   By  the time the medicine had been adminis-
tered to  the seventh, the  first  was  dead  and  the others
expired  within forty-five minutes.!   The symptoms in all
were first convulsions and  then coma.
   The inspiration  of  this substance  when  diffused in the
state of vapour through his laboratory, caused in Dr. Ittner,
oppression and painful respiration, giddiness, vertigo, and
burning  heat.|
  Dr.  Heller gives  the  case of  a chemist in  Paris,  who
applied  a bottle  of Scheele's acid  to his  nose.  He  was
soon seized with extreme tightness of the chest, and tetanic
stiffness  of the whole body.   His legs in  particular were
immovable.  The  vapours  of ether  and   ammonia  were
applied to his nose  with  some success; but the  circulation
remained extremely low, not rising for  some time above
  • London Medical Repository, vol. 23, p. 233.
  t Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 13, p. 461.  Other cases are mentioned
by Hufeland, Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 5,
m. 467.  Mertzdorff, Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 22, p. 232. Dr.
Whiting, Lancet, N. S., vol. 6. p. 250. Leuret, Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 4,
p. 422.  Case of Mrs. Latten, dead in twelve minutes from taking by mistake,
a drachm and a half of the acid, Lancet, N. S., vol. 12, p. 257.  A case said
to have occurred near Leeds in England, Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 10, p. 180.
Christison, p. 664, &c.                         '8          r
  X American Medical Recorder, vol. 2, p.  530.   See also the effects produced
on Professor Silliman,  from breaking a bottle in his laboratory.  (Silliman's
Journal, vol. 2, p. 93.) 
776
NARCOTIC POISONS.
forty.   The  distress  continued  during  the day,  but he
gradually recovered.*
   When the  effects produced by a dose are not too rapid,
and opportunity  is given for observing them,  the  earliest
appear to be  giddiness, with a loss of muscular power and
control over the combined action  of  the  muscles, the  head
droops, the mouth is open, the tongue protrudes, and there
is apparently a sense  of distress  and constriction in the
fauces.  The muscles of the  pharynx and larynx are early
and powerfully affected. Mr.  Nunneley remarks that at this
period, persons who can, and who cannot, detect the pre-
sence of the  acid  by the sense  of smell, are both  at  once
conscious of it by  a peculiar feeling of dryness and a sensa-
tion of constriction in the throat, which sometimes remains
for a number of hours.
   The unsteadiness and loss of power is speedily succeeded
by spasms—more  or less severe, according to the strength
of the dose.   The heart  is  proportionably  affected. It
ceases to pulsate—and respiration is  equally  prevented.
Hence the lividity and bloatedness of the face, the protrusion
of the eyes  and the excessive congestion of the  veins.  But
from  smaller  quantities, the rigidity will abate and be suc-
ceeded by paralysis more or less  complete, respiration is
performed by sighing and the heart beats rapidly and feebly.
   Alternate  states of  convulsions  and  paralysis  may  con-
tinue, and end in  death—or diminish in severity, so as to
promise a recovery.!
   It is altogether a mistake that the person poisoned always
utters a  shriek, or scream immediately before death.   This
was much talked  about during the famous trial of Tawell
for poisoning  his mistress, but so many  cases have, of late

  * London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 52, p. 63.
  f I have taken this list of symptoms from the abstract of Mr. Nunneley'f
experiments on the effects of hydrocyanic acid upon animal life, in Edinburgh
Medical and surgical Journal, vol. 73, p. 132.  Other extracts are given un-
der the head of Effects on Animals.  In Dr. Lonsdale's Experimental Inquiry,
published some years ago, and hereafter referred to, he also insists much on
attention to what he deems an important diagnostic symptom, " the exhala-
tion by the breath of the acid  vapour of the poison."  I infer that this is
identical with  the cause of the effects on the throat  mentioned by Mr.
Nunneley. 
                                                       777
                    NARCOTIC  POISONS.

years, been witnessed during the last, moments from poison-
ing by the acid, and in which it did not occur, that it is now
discredited by several writers.                      ^ _   ^
  It is not necessary after  this to  caution the physician m
his administration of this highly powerful agent.*
  There are two questions  which  may be asked in medico-
legal trials, which the  physician should be prepared  to
answer.   They are judiciously considered by Dr. Christison.
 Within what time may hydrocyanic acid prove fatal, and how
long is it before it begins to operate ?
  Now very large doses, as we have seen, cause death in a
few seconds; but generally speaking, the cases that require
examination, have not been produced thus.  It is the ordi-
nary medicinal  acid at various degrees of strength, that is
the agent.
  As to the first, it is supposed by Christison  on the re-
searches of Schubarth, that if an individual survive forty
minutes, he will generally  recover.  Dr. Lousdale supposes
it probable if he survives fifteen minutes.
  The last question came up for consideration  on  a trial in
 England.   An  apothecary's maid-servant at  Leicester who
 was  pregnant by her master's apprentice, was found one
morning dead in bed, and obviously poisoned by hydrocyanic
acid.  The body was  in a composed posture, with  the  arms
crossed over the trunk and the bed-clothes pulled closely up
to the chin; and at her right side lay a small  narrow-necked
phial, from  which about  five drachms of the acid had been
taken, and which was corked and wrapped in paper.
  The question arose, whether all these  acts could be per-
formed  by  the  deceased before becoming insensible.   To

  *  The following articles deserve perusal on this point—on  the deleterious
effects of the hydrocyanic acid, by Dr. Randolph of Philadelphia.  (Ameri-
can  Med. Recorder, vol. 4, p. 450.  Review of Granville's treatise on prussic
acid.  Ibid. vol. 4, p. 562.)
  There is, however, one point to which I may briefly advert.  It is whether
prussic acid, given medicinally, causes ptyalism.  This is asserted by Drs.
Elliotson, Granville and Macleod, to have occurred in sortie cases.  (Christi-
son, p. 663; London Medical and Physical Journal, vol 49, p. 128.)  They
are  not, however, numerous.  By others this occurrence is  attributed to
the  cyanide of mercury from which it is prepared; but not with much
probability. 
778
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
settle this point, Mr. Macaulay, Mr. Paget and other medi-
cal men of Leicester, experimented on  animals,  and the
result  was unfavorable to the supposition, since  one dog
was killed with four  drachms in eight seconds, and others
in even less time.   Dr. Christison, although inclining gene-
rally in favour of the opinion deducible from these, supposes
it possible that occasionally the acid may not act with such
extreme rapidity.
   The principal circumstantial testimony  in  favor of the
prisoner was,  that he must have passed through three doors
without noise, and one occupied  room, in order to arrive at
the apartment of the  deceased.*
   In a case quoted by Dr. Christison, the bed-clothes had
been  drawn  up as high  as  the  breast, and the right arm
extended down beneath the clothes.   In another, a person
swallowing some  acid by mistake, called out for hartshorn,
and was found reclining on the steps of the cellar where he
had been sent.  With the  cry for aid, however, he expired.
   The smallest dose that  has  proved fatal is that given to
the Parisian epileptics.  Each of them took twenty grains
of the medicinal  acid, which quantity ought  to have con-
tained only two-thirds of a grain of pure acid.!
   Appearances on  dissection.  In addition to Hufeland's case
already given, I may mention the following:
   In the persons poisoned at the Parisian Hospital, the back
part of the body was livid, the head, face and lips bloated,
and of a violet colour, frothy blood issued from the mouth
and nose, the  eyes were  closed  and the  body rigid.   The
cellular  tissue of the stomach and small  intestines, was
highly injected, and in one place  dark;  but  there was no
odour  of hydrocyanic acid  from the  stomach.  Its  inner
membrane had red patches.  So also in the small intestines,
and at the point corresponding with the external blackness,
there  was blood effused between the mucous  and muscular
coats.   The liver, spleen, and kidneys were healthy, but

  * Christison, p. 666.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 8,  p. 580. Trial of
Freeman for the murder of Judith Burwell, April, 1829.
  f Orfila, quoted by Christison, p. 669. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
779
highly gorged "with black blood.  The heart was healthy,
but contained no blood.   The great arteries were empty,
but the great veins gorged with black  fluid blood.   The
lungs were slightly gorged, and the windpipe was of a deep
red, and its ramifications filled with a bloody froth.  The
sinuses  and  veins of the  brain were  filled  with  fluid
blood ; but there was no effusion.   The brain was soft.*
   In other instances the odour of bitter almonds had been
very perceptible.  It is mentioned by Leuret and Hufeland.
Schubarth observed it distinctly in the blood, heart, lungs,
and cavities  of the brain for  several  hours  after death,
provided the animal died within from four to ten minutes.
If life was prolonged, or the dose was  so small as not to
cause  immediate dissolution, he  could  not discover the
odour.   Dr. Lousdale, however, found  it  preserved  in  no
less than  fifteen experiments  on animals,  as late  as the
eighth or  ninth  day after death, even where life was pro-
longed to  the eighth minute.
   Rigidity of the limbs is  also  of  slow  occurrence.  In
Mertzdorff's case there was an  erection and marks of an
emission of semen, and the blood  was violet-coloured ; but
there  was no odour.   In other respects, the examination
corresponded with those already given'!
   Effects  on  animals.  Two  drops  of  the acid prepared
according  to the process of Scheele, and which consequently
contained  considerable water, caused a bitch to stagger, fall
and vomit.  Eight drops induced weakness,  plaintive cries,
purging, falling down, tetanic  stiffness, dilatation of the
pupils, paralysis, insensibility, and  at length sleep.  "In

  * Orfila, Annales D'Hygiene, vol.  1, p.  507.  Edinburgh  Medical and
Burgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 221. The dissections  were made by Adelon,
Marc and Marjolin.
  t Leuret,  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 4, p. 422.  Mertzdorff, Edinburgh
Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 232.  Schubarth explains the pre-
sence or absence of the odour, (on which he has made numerous researches)
Dy stating that if the dose be sufficient to cause death in ten minutes,  the
peculiar odour will always be remarked in the heart, lungs and great vessels,
provided the body has not  been exposed to rain or a current of air, and is
early examined; but if life be prolonged from ten to thirty minutes, or under
circumstances opposite to those just named, the odour may not be noticed,
since the acid ^rapidly discharged by the lungs, or it may be  decomposed. 
780
NARCOTIC POISONS.
 fifteen  minutes the  animal  rose up, passed  some  urine,
 experienced an opisthotonos, and m half an hour was  re-
 covered."  Thirty or forty drops destroy dogs and cats in
 six, twelve  or  fifteen minutes after taking them, and the
 blood is all  found in the  veins, the arteries being empty,
 while the muscles are pale.  Convulsions generally attend
 the administration of this poison.
   Animals of various classes equally sink under its effects;
 a carp who was made to swallow twenty-four drops—snails,
 helices, leeches, crabs, lobsters, bees, ants and grasshoppers.
 A cow, according to  Emmert, died with  all the phenomena
 of opisthotonos, a few seconds after injecting half a drachm
 into the trachea.*
   M. Robert exposed animals to the aperture of a matrass
 in which prussic  acid had been distilled, and the air of
 which consequently was a mixture of the atmospheric fluid
 with  the vapour of this acid.  Birds, rabbits, cats and dogs,
 all died in a short space of time—from an instant to six
 minutes.   The liquid acid in  its  pure state, and  also
 dissolved in alcohol,  was equally, but not so promptly des-
 tructive.  He examined a dog  destroyed by it.  The brain
 was healthy, but exhaled the odour of prussic acid.  The
 tongue was  soft, bluish, and hung out of the mouth.  The
 mucous membrane of the  trachea was injected. The lungs
 were  of a bright red hue, and the heart was filled with very
dirty  deep-red blood.  The veins contained thick and dark-
coloured blood.   The lungs  and heart and their contents,
exhaled the odour of prussic acid.!
  Mr. Nunneley performed upwards of  one hundred and
fifty experiments on animals, the most of which were dogs.
On dissection, the liver was observed to  be soft, the spleen
natural, the stomach much contracted and  its mucous mem-
brane red, the lungs  not engorged, but appeared shrunken
and contracted;  the heart distended  on  both sides and the
blood equally dark in each.   The blood  was darker, gene-
rally, than natural, and of a muddy  appearance.   In the
 * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 142 to 146.
 \ London Med. Repository, vol. 3, p. 243. 
                                                           781
                     NARCOTIC  POISONS.


greater number of  cases, it coagulated, but less dense than

is usual and the process was somewhat delayed.   The odour

was very manifest in the  breath for a short  time, but soon

passed off.  In almost one third of the cases, of the animals

poisoned, (dogs, rabbits, mice  and cats) there  was a " cry of

so peculiar a kind and so indicative of severe distress, as to

give the idea of consciousness  on its part, of impending

 death."
   It is hardly necessary to add, that the  concentrated  acid

 acts with the  rapidity of  lightning.  I subjoin  some refer-

 ences to additional experiments.*

   Tests.  These have  been particularly examined by Las-

saigne, of Paris,  Professor Turner, of London, and Professor

Orfila.!   I subjoin those  proposed by them, with  one re-

cently presented by Prof.  Liebig.

   (a.) The peculiar odour.  On this I have already remarked.

It is asserted by Orfila, but doubted by Christison, that the

smell is perceptible when no chemical agent  is  delicate

 enough to detect the acid.  Its occasional absence is also an

 objection to a too great dependence on it.

   {b.) Sulphate of copper forms with hydrocyanic acid when

 rendered alkaline with a little potash, a greenish precipitate,

 which becomes nearly white on the addition of a little hy-


   *  Essays on prussic acid, by Duvignau and Parent.   (American Medical
 Recorder, vol. 2,  p.  573.)  Experiments by Dr. Davie, Eclectic Repertory,
vol.  10, p. 246.  A few drops thrown on the eye of a cat caused death. (An-
nals of Philosophy, vol. 12, p. 23.) It is here stated, that Magendie dipped
a rod into the acid prepared according to  Gay-Lussac's method, and brought
 it in contact with  the tongue of  an animal.  Death ensued before the  rod
 could be withdrawn.   (Gay-Lussac's essay on prussic acid in the Annals,
 vols. 7 and 8, and Magendie's, in  Brande's Journal, vol. 4, p. 347.)  Krimer's
 experiments, in Bulletin des  Sciences Medicales, vol. 13, p.  124.  Orfila,
 Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1, p. 504.  Magendie  on its external application.
 (Lancet, N. S., vol. 15, p. 146.)   Christison's Experiments, Treatise on Poi-
 sons, p. 657.  He noticed  tetanus as a frequent occurrence.  Garret and
 Hastiug's experiments in Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 2, pp.
 317, 319.  Dr. Lonsdale's  Experimental  Inquiry, Edinburgh Medical and
 Surgical Journal, vol. 51, p. 39.  Mr. Nunneley's  Experimental Inquiry,
 abstracted from the Transactions  of the Provincial Med. and Surg. Associa-
 tion, 1847, with two cases in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.
 78, pp. 132, 243.                                 6
   t  Lassaigne, Brande's Journal, vol. 18, p. 397. He proposed the tests of
 sulphate of copper and nitrate of silver, and I rather imagine that Dr. Gran-
ville first proposed the sulphate of iron.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 2, p.
 651.  Turner, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 30, p. 344.
 Orfila, Lancet, N. S., vol. 4, p. 737. Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1, p. 489. 
782                  NARCOTIC POISONS.

drochloric (muriatic) acid.   This  last acid redissolves some
oxide of copper thrown down by the  potash, and the pre-
cipitate is then the cyanuret of copper.  Lassaigne observes
that  this  test  will  act on the  poison  when dissolved in
20,000 parts of water.
  (c.) The salts of the protoxide of iron, if the acid be render-
ed alkaline by potash, produce a grayish  green precipitate,
which, on the addition of a little  sulphuric acid, becomes of
a deep Prussian  blue  colour.  The  common green vitriol *
will answer for this purpose, and even the salts of peroxide
of iron may be  used,  since they are, unless very carefully
prepared, never altogether free  of  the protoxide.   But it is
shown by Turner, in opposition to Lassaigne  and  others,
that  the  salts of the pure peroxide  have no  such effect.
They cause, with the potash, a brownish  precipitate, which
is redissolved on the addition of sulphuric acid, leaving  the
solution limpid.   Dr. Turner also deems this  test more
delicate than the former one.!
   {d.)  Nitrate  of silver gives a  white  precipitate, with a di-
luted solution of acid,  and this  precipitate  (cyanuret of
silver) is 'distinguished from the other white salts of silver
by being  insoluble  in  nitric acid at ordinary temperatures,
but easily soluble  in it  at its  boiling temperature.  The
precipitate  also,  when dried and heated emits  cyanogen,
which is known  by its beautiful flame.$
   (e.) Sulphur test.  When some hydrosulphuret of ammonia
and caustic ammonia  are added to an  aqueous solution of
  * Protosulphate of iron, copperas.
  t It is very important to understand the distinction taken by Dr. Turner.
" The formation of Prussian blue (he remarks) from  prussic acid, by admix-
ture with a salt of iron and potash, does not occur when the iron is strictly at
its maximum of oxidation.  A very minute quantity of the protoxide, how-
ever, gives rise to the production of Prussian blue, which is rendered obvious
by dissolving the precipitated oxide by  a slight  excess of sulphuric acid."
(Edinburgh Journal of Science, N. S., vol. 2, p.  217.)
  X Mr. Barry also adds, that the cyanuret of silver may be further verified
by its redissolving when a drop of caustic ammonia is applied.  (London and
Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 4, p. 152.)
  " Mr. Everitt showed a very delicate test at the  Medico-Botanical Society.
Place over a watch-glass containing the smallest quantity of prussic  acid,
alone or mixed with some other body, another piece of glass damped with a
solution of nitrate of silver.  The prussic acid being extremely volatile,
escapes, and coming in contact with the nitrate,  renders the glass opaque by
forming cyanuret of silver."  (Lancet, N. S., vol.  19. p. 754.) 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
783
prussic acid, and the mixture heated withthe addition of a lit-
tle pure flower of sulphur, sulphocyanide of ammonia is soon
formed.  This may be evaporated after solution in alcohol,
and pure colourless crystals of the  last compound will be
obtained.   On adding, as has been stated under the hqad of
opium, a solution of a persalt of iron, an intense blood-red
colour will be produced, and  which colour again disappears
on adding one or two drops of a  solution  of corrosive  sub-
limate.
  This test was proposed by  Liebig, and is deemed a very
minute one, applicable to prussic acid in a state of vapour.*
  Orfila recommends, as the  best method for ascertaining
the strength of a  solution of hydrocyanic acid,  to  throw
down the nitrate of silver, and dry  the precipitate: a hun-
dred parts of this will correspond to 20.33 of the pure acid.
  As to the detection of this poison, when mixed with animal
matters, Leuret and Lassaigne have made some researches.
They found, that if the body of an animal poisoned with this
acid is unburied for three days, the poison can no  longer be
detected ; but that if it is buried within twenty-four  hours,
the poison may be found after a long interval, but never
after eight  days.   The reason of this has been already inti-
mated.!
  For the  detection of the acid, in these instances, Orfila
advises that a piece of writing paper, moistened with caustic
potash, he dipped  in the mixed fluids.   This paper should
then be touched with a solution  of the sulphate of iron;
and if hydrocyanic "acid is present, the usual blue colour,
with a tinge of green, will appear, and  this will become
more  blue  by  exposure.  Purified  animal charcoal  alone
without heat, will sometimes destroy the colour of the fluid,
and  permit it to be tested by the reagents already enume-
rated.!
To* iLo.nd»n',EdinTbur.Sh and Dublin Philosophic Magazine, vol  31  r>  146
Taylor s Medical Jurisprudence, by Griffith, p. 160              P'
  t Christison, Brande's Journal. N S vol l ™ &9.(\  t+,-=^^ 'wi  t,
EiErtrssbe t 4^^^*K*ȣ<ffi
?oufd »ct.u,».H In' 7?S .°°' If ^ them'  A «»• i"> "M* LwsaigM
stu^ritits.^fiSrys thir,)r-eigl" ho°r3' *e™
  t Annuo D'Hjgiim, vol.1, p. 493. Lancet; N. S., vol. 7, p. 806. 
784
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
  If neither of these modes is  found to answer, the fluid
should then be  distilled.  Dr. Christison recommends that
the filtered contents be previously neutralized with sulphuric
acid, if they are alkaline, so as to fix the ammonia which
may have been disengaged by putrefaction; and then distil
the product slowly from a vapour bath, till an eighth part
has  passed over it  into the receiver.   The  distilled fluid
should then be tested with the protosulphate  of iron, or the
sulphuret of ammonia.
  It has been objected to this last process, that hydrocyanic
acid may be formed  during the distillation, by the decompo-
sition of animal matter.  Undoubtedly in some instances it
appears  to  have been  thus  generated ; but in the present
state of our knowledge, all that can be done to avoid this oc-
currence, is not to press the heat of the vapour bath too much.
   The application of the tests has  already  been made in
medico-legal cases.   In the  instance of  Ramus, the particu-
lars of whose murder are mentioned  at page 141 of this
volume, the  facts ascertained  led to the suspicion that he
had not been able to offer any resistance; and it was hence
suggested that prussic acid might have been previously given.
   At the end of seven days, when the examination was
made, the matters found in the  stomach had  a sharp odour,
"ayant  quelque chose de vineux."  They were  also dis-
tinctly acid;  and on distillation, the  smell resembled that oj
bitter  almonds.   The tests above  recommended, were now
applied.  Nitrate of silver gave a curdled white precipitate,
which, when treated with nitric acid and the application of
heat, dissolved nearly altogether.  Sulphate  of copper pro-
duced a minute milky precipitate.   It was  evident, from
these circumstances, that hydrocyanic acid was  present in
the stomach in minute  quantities, and  the probability was
great that the  murdered person  had taken  it.  The  only
doubt was, whether it  might not have been generated from
the matters contained in the stomach.*

  * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 9, pp. 363 to 379. The case is reported by Che-
vallier and Boys de Loury.  Some acid was found in a phial in the room of
the murderer. 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
785
  Antidotes.   I fear we must assent to the  remark of Mr.
Nunneley, that we " know of no antidote."  Still there are
some powerful stimuli which have proved of service.
  Ammonia was first recommended by Mr. John Murray of
London.*  He administered fatal doses of. the  acid to ani-
mals, and  immediately thereafter applied ammonia to their
nostrils : they invariably recovered.  Dupuy confirmed these
results by experiments on horses;! and the general  course
of observation, with some fluctuations, goes strongly to show
its efficacy.  In the latest  publication of Orfila, he speaks
highly of the application of the vapour, and states that he
has thus recovered several dogs ; but he, as also Dr. Herbst,
attach little value  to swallowing  the  liquid ammonia.J   It
should be remembered that ammonia is often extremely acrid,
and may cause inflammation of the mouth and throat.   Hy-
drocyanate of ammonia has also been found to be poisonous.
   Chlorine.   This was  first  proposed in 1822, by Riauz, a
chemist of Ulm,  and  many experiments on animals have
verified its  value.  " According  to  Orfila,  animals  which
have taken a dose of poison sufficient to kill them in fifteen
 or eighteen  minutes, will be saved by  inspiring water im-
 pregnated with a fourth  part of its volume of chlorine, even
 although  the application of the remedy be delayed till the
 poison has operated for four or five minutes."§
   If chlorine be  not immediately attainable, a solution  of
the chloride of soda3 to which a little muriatic acid has been
added, may be given, and in case the patient cannot swallow,
 a handkerchief should be  dipped  in  the  solution, and ap-
 plied to the  nose.||

   * Edinburgh Journal of Science, vol. 2, p. 214.
   t London Medical Repository, vol. 26, p.  441.
   X Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1, p. 512.
   § Christison, p. 675.  Other  experiments have tested its efficacy.  Persoz
 and  Nonat, Annales D'Hygiene vol..4, p. 435.  Simeon, Brande's Journal,
 N. S.  vol.  5,  P 421   Dr  T D  Mitchell says that the  American Fire
 King (a rival to Chabert) took chlorine water to prevent the effects from
 swallowing prussic acid.  (Chemistry, p. 184.)
   || London Medical Gazette, vol. 17, p. 716,
   In a case related by Mr. Garson, (Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Jour-
 !!h k™  f' V\72\ whe™ *he quantity taken was a teaspoonful, but which
 Lad been long kept, and the effects were not manifested before a quarter of
   vol. ii.                    50 
786
NARCOTIC POISONS.
  The cold effusion was first advised by Dr. Herbst of Got-
tingen, and it is certainly  a most valuable remedy.  Even
in the  stage of  insensibility and  paralysis,  it  has been
successfully used.  It often requires to be repeated several
times;  and in  extreme  cases, the  first  sign of amendment
is a renewal of the spasms  of the muscles.*  It should be
used  in connexion   with  the  inhalation of  chlorine or
ammonia.
  Mr. Pereira also attaches great importance in. these  cases,
to the faithful continued use of  artificial respiration.   It is
still very  unsettled  whether venesection  is  to be recom-
mended.   Some authors deem it a decidedly fatal measure,
while others recommend it for relieving cerebral congestion.
Dr.  Lonsdale  advises bleeding  from  the jugular vein in
order to unload the.congested cavities of the right side of
the heart, and adduces in  favour of this, some  successful
experiments on animals.
  The opinion of Dr. Jorg, and which is confirmed by sub-
sequent observers, that prussic acid  paralyses the lungs, is
well worthy of being kept in mind.  Most of the  successful
remedies act by restoring their power.!
  Oil  of turpentine, coffee, &c, have  deservedly lost their
reputation in these cases, and it is also well to add that the
sulphate of  iron, recommended  by Sir  George Lefevre,
(Lancet, June 29, 1844,) is  not an antidote.   Nor is,  I fear,
the preparation announced by Messrs. Smith, of Edinburgh,
an hour, and then the eyes were fixed, the jaws closed, the pupils a little con-
tracted and insensible and the pulse weak and quick.  The cold effusion was
applied along the spine, and ammoniated alcohol, and the solution of chlo-
ride of lime were introduced into the mouth.  Mustard cataplasms were also
employed.  They produced some reaction.  He was bled eight ounces, but it
was followed by severe convulsions. The cold effusion was continued, and
bottles of hot water were applied to his body.   Four drachms of ammoniated
alcohol and as much chloride of lime had now been given, audit was thought
advisable to rely on brandy alone, which was administered in teaspoonfuls.
At the end of four hours, he became sensible,  and after that  gradually im-
proved, and in a few days was quite well.
  *  Herbst, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 32, p. 229.  Orfila
confirms its value.  (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 1. p. 520.)
  A striking case illustrating its utility in arousing the nervous system ie
related by Dr. Banks.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.48,
p. 44.
  t  Magendie's Formulary, p. 96. 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
787
 one.  It appears to be iron, partly in the state of peroxide,
 and partly in that of protoxide.  The idea is, that prussian
 blue is  produced on  meeting with the  acid.  It is  just to
 add that there was  a favorable result  in  some experiments
 on animals.*
   The hydrocyanates of ammonia and potash are as poisonous
 as the original acid.   This has been proved by the experi-
 ments of Coullon, Robiquet, Magendie and Schubarth ;f but
 the tripleprussiates (ferrocyanates) do not possess deleterious
 properties.  The sulphocyanic acid, although once supposed
 to be a very active  poison, is not found  to act with much
 energy on animals.   Dr. Westrumb of Hammeln, however,
 observed very active effects from the sulphocyanate of potash.
 Two scruples dissolved in  water, killed a  dog in seven
 minutes.J
   Hydrocyanic ether, possesses the properties of the acid,
 though in a mitigated form.   " Six drops in the  gullet of a
 dog immediately caused deep inspirations, falling on his
 side, and subsequently cerebral congestion and a remarkable
 agitation of the paws.   This continued for four  minutes,
 then gradually diminished, and in half an hour had mostly
 disappeared.  The  injection of six drops into the jugular
 vein was quickly followed by death  with  phenomena as in
 that by prussic  acid."§
   I transfer  from the  succeeding chapter, to this place, a
brief notice of the Cyanides or Cyanurets.
   Cyanuret of iodine. Orfila ranks this among the narcotico-
acrid  poisons in consequence of the  experiments of Scou-
tetten.  When it was  given  to dogs, convulsions almost
instantly occurred, with immediate death.   Half a grain was
sufficient to destroy  a rabbit,  and five  grains, a dog.  The
stomach  was generally found somewhat inflamed.||

  t lAhidTfi^  18i-'? 782'   , n      t Christison, p. 661.
*■£?■' ^♦??,*i.Tied?nLann and Gme^Q.itt their experiments on digestion,
ascertainei that  the> sulphocyanate of potash is contained in the human sa-
liva.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 27, p. 420.)
  § London Medical Gazette, vol. 26, p. 895
  || Orfila's Toxicology, 3d ed., vol. 2,  p. 344, 
788
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
  Lassaigne appears also to have experimented with  it.
One grain and a half given to a dog produced attempts to
vomit, paralysis  of the limbs, dilatation of the  pupils and
stiffness.   Death succeeded at  the end of fifteen minutes.
The body was  opened immediately.  There was intense
inflammation  of  the  stomach,  with an  ulceration  at the
cardiac extremity.  The upper part of the duodenum was
also red.*
  The cyanuret of bromine would seem, from the experiments
of Serrulas and Barthez, to be  equally  deleterious.  One
grain dissolved in water and given to  a  rabbit, instantly
killed it.f  Ten  grains proved fatal to  a  strong dog, pro-
ducing violent tetanic  spasms, followed by signs of exten-
sive and  excessive irritation.   The lungs were  found con-
gested, and the whole  extent  of  the  intestines  was more
or less of an intense vascularity.   The villous coat of the
stomach appeared as if soaked in blood.J
  But the most important in its present  bearing, both from
its employment in the arts, and its use as a medicine is the
Cyanuret, or cyanide of potassium.   A few grains placed on
the tongue  of a dog  produced  marks  of inflammation.  A
tenth of a grain killed  a linnet in sixty seconds, and less
than one grain a guinea-pig in two  or three minutes.  These
experiments were made by Robiquet and Villerme.§   It has
also proved poisonous when given as an enema;  six grains
moistened, but yet in  a  mass, being added  to six ounces  of
water.  The effects were  strong convulsions, violent con-
tractions  of the  limbs, and  dilated pupils.   The  patient,
however, recovered soon from these.   A fourth enema was
subsequently given, of the same ingredients, except that the
cyanuret was boiled in it, and so moist that it adhered to the
sides of the injection-bag.  No bad effects  followed.  A
fifth was  given in thirty-six hours after, with  the same

  * London Medical Eepository, vol. 24, p. 573, from Journal de Chimie
Medicale.
  X Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 1, p. 897.  American Journal
of Medical Sciences, vol. 3, p.  479.
  X Glover, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 58, p. 351.
  § Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 21, p. 394. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
789
quantity of well-dried cyanuret.  Convulsions, difficult res-
piration and dilated pupils followed, and the patient died in
an hour.  The difference in effect is ascribed to the decom-
position of the cyanuret by moisture.*
  We have  also cases of its  fatal  effects when swallowed,
and of which I shall adduce only a single one.   M. Mace, a
physician at St. Malo, prescribed  for a patient  4 grammes
of the cyanuret to be infused in 60 grammes of orange flower
water and 15 of syrup, one spoonful to be taken  three times
a day, (a gramme is twenty  grains).   The  patient died  in
three quarters of an hour after  taking the first.  On exami-
nation marks  of organic  disease was discovered, but not
sufficient to cause so sudden a death.   Dr.  Mace urged that
he had prescribed only a tea-spoonful.  The table-spoon-
ful mixed with food and given to animals, induced imme-
diate  death.   He  was convicted  of involuntary  homicide
and fined.!
  As this substance acts with great rapidity, we can scarcely
use any  remedy with much  hopes of success.   The green
sulphate of  iron has been advised, as it will produce  prus-
sian blue by the decomposition of the poison.
  The tests to be employed are very similar to those for the
detection of prussic acid.
  Chloride of cyanogen.  (Chlorocyanic acid.)  Serullas, who
first obtained this substance in  a pure state, found it highly
poisonous.   A grain dissolved in  alcohol  and introduced
into  the  oesophagus of a rabbit,  killed it  instantly.  An
ounce of water in  which  another  grain had been agitated,
destroyed a  rabbit in  twenty-five  minutes.J  " It is corro-
sive to the skin, and highly injurious to animal life."§
  We come  next to the consideration of those vegetables
which contain hydrocyanic acid, and of which it constitutes


Trou°vrefila' AnUalS D'Hygi*ne' To1- ll>  P- 240. The case occurred to Dr.
J±i'ii5'ci8i£JS:  *"**•**•*•**. Thereareanum-
  X Silliman's Journal, vol. 16. p. 258.
  § Turner's Chemistry, 5th ed., p, 436, 
790
NARCOTIC POISONS.
the  poisonous  ingredients.*   They  may be  arranged  as

follows:

Prunus lauro-cerasus, L.  Cerasus lauro-cerasus, D. C.   Cherry laurel.
Prunus avium, L.  Cerasus avium, D. 0.  Black cherry; its kernels.
Prunus padus, L.  Cerasuspadus, D. C.  Bird cherry tree, cluster cherry;
    its bark.
Prunus virginiana, L.  Cerasus virginiana. Mx.  Wild cherry tree.
Prunus nigra, Ait.  Cerasus nigra, D. C.  Black cherry tree.
Prunus caroliniana, Ait.  Cerasus caroliniana, Mx.  Wild orange.
  The three last are natives of the United States.
Amygdalus communis, L.  Bitter almonds.
Amygdalus persica, L.  Persica vulgaris, D.  C.  The peach; its kernels,
    leaves and flowers.
Sorbus aucuparia, L.  Pyrus  aucuparia, D. C.  Mountain  ash, Rowan
    tree.f


   The poison obtained from these various substances  exists

in  two  forms—as distilled water, and as an essential oil;

and it is in these products  that the peculiar odour, already

spoken of, is  observed.   It is present even after the acid is

thrown down by the  iron test; and, of course, it is a proba-

ble conjecture that it is owing to some substance other than

the acid itself.

   Prunus  lauro-cerasus,%  (Cherry  laurel.)   The  distilled

water of this plant, (doubtless containing variable  quantities

of the essential  oil, and which oil has been shown by Robi-

quet  to possess  all  the  chemical properties  of the  oil  of

  * It is not by any means certain, indeed, probably otherwise, that the acid
exists ready formed in the  above named vegetables.  It is probably the result
of various processes, of which the most certain  is distillation, and again the
reaction of various constituents would seem to  form it.   The bitter almond
is the most striking illustration.   " None of the acid exists  ready formed in
it, nor is the  poison ever produced except by the agency  of water on the
almond pulp.  Thus the very act of mastication, produces from the pulp the
poison which destroys life,  for prussic acid is formed on contact with the sa-
liva.  Heat is not required, &c," (although, of course, it will produce a more
active poison).  (Taylor on  Poisons, p. 707.)
  f We may add to these, I presume, Cerasus capricida, (Wallich).  Prunus
undulata, (Don.) so poisonous as to kill goats in Nepaul.  (Lindley.)
  X Schrader, an  apothecary at Berlin, was the individual who discovered
that the prussic acid is contained in the aqua lauro-cerasi and the distilled
water of the flowers of the peach tree, as likewise in the infusion of bitter
almonds.  (London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 10, p. 93.)  Bergmann,
also an apothecary at Berlin, discovered in 1811, that the bark of the prunus
padus contained a notable quantity of it. (Annals of Philosophy, vol. 5, p.
28,)  See also a paper by Vauquelin, on the presence of prussic acid in vege-
tables, from the Annales de Chimie.  (Repertory of Arts, 2d series, vol. 2, p-
461.)   He detected this substance in the kernels of apricots. 
                                                       791
                    NARCOTIC POISONS.

bitter  almonds,) has  been proved  a poison  by numerous
experimenters.*                    ,  .  .  .    ,     •.:„„
   When applied to wounds in animals, it induced vomiting,
convulsions, great prostration of strength, diminished sensi-
bility, and death.   Injected into the stomach and rectum, it
excited  a similar train  of symptoms, except that  in the
latter the convulsions were more violent, and tetanus of the
extremities  was  present.  Its action was most rapid and
intense when injected into the jugular vein-!
   Several cases are recorded of  its  effects on the  human
subject.   One of the earliest happened in Dublin in  1728:
Martha Boyse, servant to a person who sold large quantities
of this water, gave to her mother a bottle of it, and by the
latter it  was given  to  Frances  Eaton, her sister.   Mrs.
Eaton was a shopkeeper, and thinking  it a  compliment to
her customers,  offered  them  some.  Among  others, one
Mary Whaley  drank of it;  went  to another shop, and  in
about quarter of an  hour, complained of  a violent disorder
 in her stomach.   She was carried home, and from that time
 lost her speech, and  died  in  about an hour, without vomit-
 ing or purging, or any  convulsions.  Mrs. Ann Boyse was
 informed of this,  and came immediately to her sister.  She
 affirmed that it could  not have been the cordial that caused the
 death, and to convince her of it,  she filled out three spoons-
 ful and  drank it, and  shortly after, two more.  In  a few
 minutes she died, without a groan  or convulsions.!
    Fodere says, that when he was  attending his studies  at
 Turin, in 1784, the chamber-maid and man-servant of a noble

   * Orfila enumerates the  following: Madden, Mortimer, Brown, Langrish,
 Nicholls, Stenzlius, Heberden, Watson, Vater, Rattray, the Abbe Rozier,
 Duhamel and Fontana; and  we may add Robiquet and Taddei.  The last
 made his experiments at Elorence, in the laboratory of the Marqnis Ridolfi.
  (London Medical Repository, vol. 17, p. 431.)
    f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, pp. 148 to 153. Also an analysis of the experi-
 ments of Fontana, in the Medical Commentaries, vol. 12, p. 106.
    X Philosophical Transactions, vol. 37, p. 84. Communicated by Dr. Mad-
 den.  His experiments on  animals are also contained in the same article.  Dr.
  Mortimer's in vol. 37, p. 163.  Fontana's in vol. 70, p. 163.  In 1782, Dr.
  Price, of G iiilford, having professed to convert 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.  (Paris' Medical Jurisprudence,
  vol. 2, p. 401.) 
792
NARCOTIC POISONS.
family of that town, stole, for the purpose of regaling them-
selves, from their master, a bottle of distilled laurel-water,
which they took for an excellent cordial.   Fearful of being
surprised,  they hastily swallowed, one after the other, seve-
ral mouthfuls of it, but they soon paid the price of their
dishonesty, for they expired almost instantly in convulsions.
The dead bodies were carried to the university for examina-
tion.    The  stomach  was found  highly  inflamed, but the
rest of the organs were in a sound state.*
   It has also formed the subject of  investigation  in  a very
interesting criminal  trial, whether  this substance was the
cause of death.   The case was that  of  Capt. Donellan for
the murder of Sir T. Boughton.   Its  importance requires
that a full abstract should be given :
   Sir Theodosius Boughton was a young  gentleman of for-
tune, in the  county  of Warwick, in England,  and  nearly
arrived at the age of twenty-one.  His mother, and his bro-
ther-in-law, Capt. Donellan, and his sister, Mrs.  Donellan,
resided with him.   In the  event of his  dying before the
period of  his majority, the greatest  part of his  fortune de-
scended to  his  sister, and Capt. Donellan would thus be-
come entitled to a life estate in it.
   Sir  Theodosius was labouring under  a slight venereal
affection,  for which  he was attended  by Mr.  Powell, an
apothecary  at  Rugby.   His general  health is,  however,
stated  to  have  been good.  On the 29th of August, 1780,
Mr. Powell sent him a draught to be taken on the next morn-
ing, consisting of rhubarb and jalap,  e,ach fifteen  grains;
spirits  of  lavender,  twenty  drops;   nutmeg-water,  two
drachms;  simple syrup,  two drachms, and an ounce and a
half of simple water.  The bottle  containing this draught
was placed on a shelf in his bed-room.

 • * Fodere, vol. 4, p. 27.  Even the leaves are noxious, as the following ex-
tract will show :  " 1819.  Several children at  a boarding-sohool near Rich-
mond, having partaken of some custard, flavoured with the leaves of the
cherry-laurel, four of them were taken severely ill.  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 in ten hours; the other  two complained of pain in
the epigastric region.  By proper medical treatment, they all recovered, after
an illness of  three days."  (Paris' Med. Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 402.) 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
793
  Sir Theodosius returned in the afternoon of this day from
fishing, in good health and spirits. In the morning, a servant
awoke him at an early hour, for the purpose  of  obtaining
some straps for a net.  He arose, and  went into  the next
room for them.  Even now he appeared in perfect health.
About 7 A. M. Lady Boughton got up and went into his
room, as he had before desired her to give him the medicine.
She inquired whether he had taken it, or whether he chose
that she  should give it  to  him.  He desired her  to reach
down the draught, which was labelled, " Purging  draught
for Sir T. B."—and she poured it into a cup, for the purpose
of his taking it. He had not,  however, swallowed more than
half of it, when he complained that  it was so nauseous to
the taste, and  disagreeable to the smell, that he did not ap-
prehend that  he should be able to keep it on  his stomach.
This remark induced  Lady Boughton to smell the draught.
She found it very peculiar in this respect, and observed to
him, that it smelt very strongly of bitter almonds.  He eat
some cheese,  in order to take the taste out of his mouth,
and  afterwards washed  his  mouth with  some water.   In
about two minutes after swallowing the draught, he appear-
ed to struggle very much, as if to keep it down, and  had a
rattling and guggling at his stomach.  These  symptoms
continued about ten  minutes, when  he  seemed to Lady
Boughton to be inclined to  go  to  sleep,  and she left the
room.  She returned  again in about five minutes, and was
surprised to find him with his eyes fixed upwards, his teeth
clenched, and  froth running out of his mouth.  He died in
about half an hour afterwards, having never spoken since he
took the draught.
  Mr. Donellan came into  the room when Sir Theodosius
was dying, and inquired of Lady Boughton where the physic
bottle was. She showed it  to him.   He immediately took
it and poured  water into it, shook it, and then emptied its
contents  into  the  wash-hand basin.  And he  persisted in
doing this  with another bottle,  although  Lady  Boughton
remonstrated,  and objected to his  conduct.   Mr. Powell
was sent  for, but arrived after the death of Sir Theodosius, 
794                NARCOTIC POISONS.
  It appeared also in evidence, that Capt. Donellan had a still
in his own room, and that he had used it for distilling roses.
Some days after the death of Sir T., he brought this still to
one of the servants to be cleaned.  It was full of lime, and
the lime was wet.  On the other  hand, it appeared on the
cross-examination of Lady Boughton, that  Sir  T. a  short
time before his  death, had bought a  quantity of arsenic, in
order to poison fish, and some of this was afterwards found
locked up in his closet.
   Suspicions soon began  to  be excited  as  to  the cause of
this sudden  decease ;  and when these reached the ears of
Sir William Wheeler, the guardian of the young baronet, he
wrote to Capt.  Donellan, informing him of the rumours that
were abroad, and requesting him to  have the body opened,
in order to satisfy the family and  the public.  Donellan, in
his answer, immediately consented  to  this, and  sent for
some medical  gentlemen.  He, however, did not explain to
them the cause of his request;  and as they were thus led to
suppose it merely an ordinary case,  they declined the per-
formance, from the circumstance that the body was already
far advanced in a state of putrefaction.  It is not necessary,
nor indeed  does  it belong to this statement, to enumerate
the various devices  by which Capt. Donellan evidently
attempted to elude the wishes of Sir William Wheeler re-
specting a dissection.  On the 8th day after death, the body
was buried, but it was  taken up immediately  after by the
coroner, and opened.  It was found  swollen arid distended,
the face  was  black, the  lips swollen  and retracted and
showing the gums, the teeth black, the tongue  protruding,
and the  skin  spotted in many parts of the body.  " The
orifices and small arch of the  stomach, and the intestines,
bore the appearance of inflammation, the heart was natural,
the lungs were suffused with blood, looking red and spotted
in many places, with black specks,  and on the back part,
the blood had settled in a deep red colour, almost approach-
ing to purple ; the diaphragm was in the same state, and  in
general, upon the depending surfaces of the body, the blood
 was settled in  the like manner; the  kidneys appeared black 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
795
 as tinder, and the liver  much in the  same  state."  There
 was also some blood extravasated in the thorax.
   Several physicians and surgeons, (Dr. Rattray, Dr. Ashe,
 Dr. Parsons, Professor of Anatomy at Oxford,'and Mr. Wil-
 mer,) deposed, that they had  performed experiments on
 animals with laurel-water, and  found the effects very simi-
 lar to the symptoms in the case  of Sir Theodosius.  Death
 succeeded in a few minutes, after having been preceded by
 convulsions.  The appearances  on dissection also agreed.
   It may be mentioned in this place, that Mr. Powell pre-
 pared a draught precisely alike to  that which he  had sent
 to the baronet, with the  addition of  some laurel-water, and
 Lady Boughton, on  being requested to smell this,  stated
 that it resembled the one she had given to her son.
   The counsel  for the prisoner, in their  cross-examination,
 inquired of the medical  witnesses, whether the presence of
 epilepsy or apoplexy would not account for the symptoms
 observed 1  To  this, a  negative answer was given.  Dr.
 Parsons  thought they resembled the latter most, but he was
 decided  in  attributing them to the effects of the medicine.
 Sir Theodosius was young, and  of a thin habit, and it was
 hence very improbable that apoplexy should have caused
 his death.
   They also inquired, whether the appearances observed on
dissection might not  be the effects of putrefaction 1   It was
allowed that the external might,  but not the internal.
  On the part of the prisoner, the celebrated  John Hunter
was  summoned  as  a witness.  As this is  probably the only
time  when  that distinguished surgeon appeared before a
court to testify in a case  of poisoning, and  as his examina-
tion is peculiarly interesting, I conceive  that I  shall do a
service by quoting it entire :

      Mr. John Hunter sworn; examined by Mr. Newnham.
 Question.  Have you heard the evidence that has been given  by these
gentlemen?
 Answer. I have been present the whole time.
 Q. Did you hear Lady Boughton's evidence ?
 A. I heard the whole. 
796
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
  Q. Did you attend to the symptoms her ladyship described, as appearing
upon Sir Theodosius Boughton, after the medicine was given him ?
  A. I did.
  Q. Can  any certain inference upon  physical or chirurgical principles be
drawn from those symptoms, or from the appearances externally or internally
of the body,  to enable you, in your judgment, to decide that the death was
occasioned by poison ?
  A. I was in London then: a gentleman who is in court, waited on me with
a copy of the examination of Mr. Powell and Lady Boughton, and an account
of the dissection, and the physical gentlemen's opinion upon that dissection.
  Q. I don't wish to go into that: I put my question in a general way.
  A. The whole appearances upon the dissection, explain nothing but putre-
faction.
  Q. You  have been long in the habit of dissecting human subjects? I pre-
sume you have dissected more than any man in Europe ?
  A. I have dissected some  thousands during these thirty-three years.
  Q. Are  those appearances you have heard described, such in your judg-
ment, as are the result of putrefaction in dead subjects ?
  A. Entirely.
  Q. Are the symptoms that appeared after the medicine was* given,  such as
necessarily conclude that the person had taken poison ?
  A. Certainly not.
  Q. If an apoplexy had come on, would not the symptoms have been nearly
or somewhat similar ?
  A. Very much the same.
  Q. Have you ever known or heard of a young subject dying of an apoplec-
tic or epileptic fit ?
  A. Certainly; but with regard  to the apoplexy, not so frequent.  Young
subjects will perhaps die  more  frequently of epilepsies, than  old  ones.
Children are dying every  day from teething, which is a species of epilepsy
arising from an irritation.
  Q. Did you ever, in your  practice, know an instance of laurel-water being
given to a human subject ?
  A. No, never.
  Q. Is any certain analogy to be drawn from the effects of any given species
of poison  upon an  animal  of the brute creation,  to that  it may have  upon a
human subject ?
  A. As far as my experience goes, which is not a very confined one, because
I have poisoned some  thousands of animals,  they are very nearly the same.
Opium for instance, will poison a  dog similar to a man.  Arsenic will have
very near the same effect upon a dog,  as it would have, I take for granted,
upon a man.  I know  something of the  effects of them, and I belive their
operation will be nearly similar.
  Q. Are there not many things which will kill animals almost instantane-
ously, that will have no detrimental or noxious effect upon the human sub-
ject; spirits,  for instance, occur to me ?
  A. I apprehend a great deal  depends upon the mode of experiment.  No
man is fit to make one, but those who have made many, and paid considera- 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
797
  ble attention to all the circumstances that relate to experiments.  It is a com-
  mon experiment, which I believe seldom fails, and  is in the mouth of every
  body, that a little brandy will kill a cat.   I  have  made the experiment, and
  have  killed several cats; but it  is a false experiment.  In all those cases
  where it kills the cat, it kills the cat by getting  into her lungs,  not into her
  stomach ; because if you convey the same quantity of brandy,  or three times
  as much, into the stomach,  in such a way as the lungs shall riot be affected,
  the cat will not die.  Now in those  experiments that are made by forcing an
  animal to drink, there are two operations going on; one is refusing the liquor
  by the animal, and its kicking and  working with  its throat to refuse it; the
  other is  a forcing the liquor upon the animal; and there are  few operations
  of that kind, but some of the  liquor goes into the lungs.  I  have known it
  from experience.
    Q. If you had been called upon to dissect a body, suspected to have died of
  poison, should you or not have thought it necessary to have pursued your
  search through the guts ?
   A. Certainly.
   Q. Do you not apprehend that you would have been more likely to receive
 information from  thence, than from any other part of  the frame ?
   A. That is the track of the poison, and I  certainly should have followed
 that track through.
   Q. You have heard of the froth  issuing  from  Sir Theodosius' mouth, a
 minute or two before he died: Is that peculiar  to a man dying of poison, or
 is it not very common in many other complaints ?
   A. I fancy it is a general effect of people dying in what you may call health,
 in an apoplexy or epilepsy-in all sudden deaths,  where a person was a mo-
 ment before that in perfect health.-
   Q. Have you ever had an  opportunity of seeing such appearances upon
 such subjects ?
  A. Hundreds of times.
  q Should you consider yourself bound, by such  an  appearance, to impute
 the death of the subject to poison ?
  A. No, certainly not: I  should rather suspect an  apoplexy;  and  I wish in
 this case, the head had been opened, to remove all doubts.
  Q. If the head had been opened, do you apprehend all doubts would have
 been removed ?
  A. It would have been still further removed, because, although the body
 was putnd so that one could Rot teU whether .t wag a ^^^  .nflammat.ony
 yet an apoplexy arises from an extravasation of blood in the brain, which
 would have laid in a coagulum.   I apprehend, although the body wa  pu^id
 hat  would have been  much more visible than the effect ady poison culd
 have had upon the stomach or intestines

deLLt;^v:;ei:?r\;prthefappearance3  *• ««*—  *-
Boughton died of poii:?        *""* *"*  """"»  that  S*  Th«*«»
  A. Certainly not; it does not give the least suspicion. 
798                      NARCOTIC POISONS.
                    Cross-examined by Mr. Howorth.
   Q. Having heard the account to-day that Sir Theodosius Boughton, appa-
 rently in perfect health, had swallowed a draught which produced the symp-
 toms described, I ask you whether  any reasonable man can entertain a doubt
 that that draught, whatever it was, produced those appearances ?
   A. I don't know well what answer to make to that question.
   Q. Having heard the account given of the health of this young gentleman
 on the  morning previous to taking the draught, and the symptoms that were
 produced immediately upon taking  the draught, I ask your opinion, as a man
 of judgment, whether  you don't think  that draught was the occasion of hie
 death ?
   A. With regard to his being in health, that explains nothing. We frequently,
 and indeed generally, see  the healthiest people dying suddenly; therefore I
 shall lay little  stress upon that.  As to the circumstances of the draught, I
 own they are suspicious : every man  is as good a judge as I am.
   Court. You  are to give your opinion upon the symptoms only—not upon
 any other evidence given.
   Mr. Howorth. Upon the symptoms immediately produced after the swal-
 lowing of that draught, I ask whether, in your judgment and opinion,  that
 draught did not occasion his death ?
   A. I can only say, that it is a circumstance in favor of such an opinion.
   Court. That the draught was the occasion of his death ?
   A. No; because the  symptoms afterwards  were those of a man dying, who
 was before in perfect health;  a  man  dying  of an epilepsy or apoplexy,  the
 symptoms would give one those general ideas.
   Court. It is the general idea you are asked about now, from the symptoms
 that appeared upon Sir Theodosius Boughton, immediately after he took the
 draught, followed by his death so very soon  after, whether, upon that part of
 the case, you  are of  opinion  that  the draught was the  occasion of hia
 death ?
   A. If I knew the draught was poison,  I should say most probably, that the
 symptoms arose from that;  but when I don't know that that,draught was poi-
 son,—when I consider that a number of other things might occasion his death,
 —I cannot answer positively to it.
   Court. You recollect the circumstance that was  mentioned, of a violent
 heaving the stomach ?
  A. All that is the effect of the  voluntary action  being lost, and nothing
going on but the involuntary.
  Mr. Howorth. Then  you decline giving any opinion upon  the subject?
  A. I don't form any opinion  to myself.   I  cannot form an opinion, because
I can conceive if he had taken a draught of poison, it arose from that: I can
conceive it might arise from other causes.
   Q. If you are at all acquainted with the effects and operations of distilled
laurel-water, whether the having swallowed a draught of that, would  not
have produced the symptom described ?
  A. I should suppose it would.  I can only say this of the experiments I have
made of laurel-water upon animals, it has not been near  so quick.   I have 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
799
injected laurel-water into the blood of dogs, and they have not died.  I have
thrown laurel-water, with a precaution, into the stomach, and it never pro-
duced so quick an effect with me as described by those gentlemen.
  Q. But you admitthatjlaurel-water would have produced symptoms such as
have been  described ?
 , A.  I can conceive it might.
  Mr. Newnham.  Would not an apoplexy or epilepsy, if it had seized Sir
Theodosius Boughton at this time, though he had taken no physic at all, pro-
duced similar symptoms too ?
  A.  Certainly.
  Q.  Where a father has died of apoplexy, is that not understood, in some
measure, to be constitutional ?
  A.  There is no disease whatever that becomes constitutional, but what can
be given to a child.  There is no disease, which is acquired, that can be given
to a child; but whatever is constitutional in the father, the father  has a power
of giving that to  the children, by which means it becomes what is called he-
reditary.  There is no such thing as an hereditary disease, but there is an he-
reditary disposition for a disease.
  Mr. Howorth.  Do you call apoplexy constitutional ?
  A. We see most diseases are constitutional.  The smallpox is constitutional,
though it requires an immediate cause to produce the effects.  The venereal
disease is  hereditary.   I conceive apoplexy  as much constitutional as any
disease whatever.
  Q.  Is apoplexy likely to attack a thin young man, who had been in a course
of taking cooling medicines before ?
  A.  Not  so likely, surely, as another man; but I have, in my account of
dissections, two  young women dying of apoplexies.
  Q.  But in such an habit of body, particularly attendant with the circum-
stance of having taken cooling medicines, it was very unlikely to happen ?
  A.  I do not know the nature of medicines so well, as to know that it would
hinder an apoplexy from taking effect.
  Court. Give me your opinion in the best manner you can, one way or the
other, whether, upon the whole of the symptoms described, the death proceed-
ed from that medicine, or any other cause ?
  A.  I do not mean to equivocate, but when I tell the sentiments of my own
mind, what I feel at the time, I can give nothing decisive.

   The judge, (The Hon. Francis Buller)  in  summing up the
evidence,  after stating that  four  medical  witnesses  were
decided in attributing the death to  the  effects of laurel-
water, made  the  following comments  on the testimony  of
Mr.  Hunter  : " For the prisoner, you have had one  gentle-
man called, who is likewise of the faculty, and a very able
man.  I can  hardly say what his opinion is, for he does not
seem to have formed  any opinion at all of the matter.   He, 
800                  NARCOTIC POISONS.

at first, said he could not form an opinion whether the death
was  or was not occasioned by the poison, because he could
conceive that it might be ascribed to other causes.   I wished
very much to have got a direct answer  from Mr.  Hunter, if
I could, what upon the whole, was the result of his  atten-
tion and application  to  the subject,  and  what was his
present opinion, but he says he can  say nothing decisive.
So that, upon this point, if you are to determine upon the
evidence of the  gentlemen who are  skilled in the faculty
only,  you have the very  positive opinion  of four or  five
gentlemen of the faculty that the deceased died of poison.
On the other side, you have  what I really cannot  myself
call  more than the doubt of another; for it is agreed by Mr.
Hunter, that the laurel-water would produce the  symptoms
which  are  described.  He  says  an  epilepsy or apoplexy
would produce the same symptoms; but as to an  apoplexy,
it is not likely to attack so  young and  so thin a man as Sir
Theodosius  was; and as to  an epilepsy, the other witnesses
tell  you, they don't think the  symptoms which  have been
spoken of, do show that Sir  Theodosius had any epilepsy at
the  time."
   The jury retired for nine  minutes, and  then brought  in a
verdict of guilty, and Capt. Donellan  was executed in a few
days thereafter.*
   It was, and still is, a prevailing opinion with several, that
Sir Theodosius  Boughton  was not poisoned, and that Capt.
Donellan was innocent.   Mr.  Dease notices this case, as
" a melancholy  and striking instance  of the unhappy effects
of popular prejudice, and the fatal consequences of medical
ignorance."!  Mr. Philips in his " Theory of presumptive
  * This abstract is taken from a folio pamphlet, entitled " The trial of John
Donellan, for the wilful murder of Sir Theodosius Edward Allesley Bough-
ton, Bart., at the Assize at Warwick, on Friday, March 30, 1781, before the
Hon. Francis Buller, Esq., one of the Justices of his majesty's Court of King's
Bench.  The second edition.  Taken  in short-hand, by Joseph Gurney." Lon-
don, 1781.  I have,  in previous editions, stated that the jury retired for an
hour. This, according to Gurney, is incorrect.  They withdrew, he says, at
twenty-five minutes  after six P. M., and returned into court at thirty-five
minutes after six, with the verdict.
   f Dease, in Cooper's Tracts, p. 88.
   I owe every apology to Dr. Male, for incorrectly using his name in a pre-
vious edition. Dr. Gordon Smith kindly and truly explained the reason of my 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
801
proof," adduces it as an instance where a man was unwar-
rantably condemned on circumstantial evidence.*
  I cannot agree with either of these gentlemen, although I
will readily allow that too much dependence was placed on
the  appearances  found on  dissection.  Putrefaction  was
evidently too far advanced to render them a certain ground
of testimony.
  As a medical  man,  it  might be inquired of Mr. Dease,
whether the symptoms preceding this death have not  been
most strikingly and astonishingly verified, as probably origi-
nating from laurel-water, by the subsequent  investigations
of chemists and physicians.   Mr. Hunter, in his testimony,
says, that he had never known laurel-water to act so rapidly
as the other medical witnesses described.   He had injected
it into the veins and into the stomach of animals, but it never
produced so quick an effect.  Who, I would ask, have subse-
quent experiments proved to  be right on this point'?   Mr.
Hunter or the other witnesses.  Let the facts I have adduced
in previous pages answer this question.
   Again, Mr.  Phillips, and  others, object greatly, that the
whole proof as to its being laurel-water,  rested upon the
comparison of the smell.  Now  I conceive this to be a very
satisfactory circumstance.  The medicine administered by
Mr. Powell did  not contain laurel-water, while few, very
few indeed, of  the fluids in common use, possess a smell at
all  resembling that of bitter almonds. This property is
peculiar—confined to  a certain number of vegetable pro-
ducts, several  of which, even  at that  day, were known to
be  deleterious.
   Capt. D. had a still in his own room; there were laurels
and bays in the  garden, (see Amos' testimony).  This is a
sufficient answer  to Mr.  Phillips'  question, where did the
prisoner procure it?  Certainly, if there  was an intention on
the part of  Capt. Donellan to  use the laurel-water for the

mistake, in the London Medical Repository, vol. 22, p. 521, and again in his
work on Medical Evidence, p. 183.
  * Appendix to his treatise  on the Law of Evidence, p. 30.
   VOL. II.                 51 
802                 NARCOTIC POISONS.

purpose of poisoning, we  have shown how he could obtain
it*
  Another circumstance has been stated of late years, which
adds to the irresistible weight of testimony in this case.  It
was first pointed out to me by my friend, the Hon. Benj. F.
Butler, (then Attorney-General  of  the  United States,)  in
Colton's Lacon, and  if this should be  objected to as  an
anonymous or doubtful authority, it is confirmed by Burnett.
The remarks in Lacon are  as follows :
  " In the case of Donellan, who was executed for poisoning
Sir T. Boughton with distilled laurel-water, some  circum-
stances were elicited that would have weighed more strongly
in the  judgment of reflecting minds than any  positive but
single affidavit which might have been brought to contradict
them.   A still that had been  recently  used was discovered
on the premises.   Donellan was so  bad a chemist, that  on
being asked for what purpose he had procured this machine,
he replied,  ' that he used it to make lime-water to kill the
fleas ;' not knowing that lime-water could only be made  by
saturating water with  lime, and  that a  still never was and
never  can be applied to such a purpose.   But in his library
there happened  to  be  a single number of the  Philosophical
Transactions, and of this single number, the leaves had been cut
only in one place, and this place happened to contain an account
of the mode of making laurel-water by distillation."^
  As to the opinion of medical  jurists,  I will  only adduce
that of  Christison.  "For my  part (says he) taking  into
account the general as well as medical circumstances of the
case, I do not entertain a doubt of his guilt."!  Sir Henry
Halford, in 1833,  uses this language :  " Sir T. Boughton,
who was poisoned by Capt. Donellan in  1780, with laurel-

  * The fact of Capt. Donellan's having a still, is cautiously omitted in Mr.
Phillips' statement of the case.   Nor is this a solitary instance of omission ;
and in proof of this, I request any gentleman to compare the abstract I have
given (and which is taken almost verbatim from the trial) with that presented
by Mr. Phillips.  His  comments on the  medical  testimony are evidently
founded on imperfect information concerning the subject in dispute.
  X Burnett's  Medical Botany, vol. 2, Prunus lauro-cerasus.  It is of no  use
to quote the volume and page of Lacon, as the editions are so numerous.   It
is No. 575, in the edition I have used.
  X Christison on Poisons, p. 685. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
803
water."*  I shall have occasion  hereafter  to  notice  the
regrets of John Hunter concerning his testimony.
   The oil of laurel also acts as a violent poison.
   Prunus padus.  The essential oil of this contains, accord-
ing to Schrader, 9.25 per cent,  of  hydrocyanic acid.  Both
its distilled water and essential oil  are poisonous to animals,
and even its fruit is injurious to them.f
   Prunus  virginiana.  (Wild cherry  tree.)  Its leaves are
poisonous to certain animals, as  calves,  while its berries
intoxicate birds.  Dr. Morris in his  inaugural dissertation
at Philadelphia, in 1802, mentions that he destroyed kittens,
&c, with its  distilled water.   Mr. Procter  detected the
hydrocyanic acid in its bark.J
   He obtained an oil by  distillation from the bark, a drop
of which placed  on the tongue  of  a  cat caused convulsions,
loss of power in the posterior extremities and general pros-
tration.  These symptoms went off in half an hour.  This
oil also appears to be abundant in the kernels of the fruit.
   Mr.  Procter supposes this oil, when  purified to be identi-
cal  with  the  hydruret of  benzule (purified  oil  of bitter
almonds,) of Liebig and  Wohler:  and that its deleterious
properties are due to prussic acid alone, as the hydruret has
no sensible effect on the  animal  economy,  other than its
disagreeable taste.§
   Dr.  Price, of Centreville, Ohio, states that in 1834 there
was a  great scarcity of cultivated fruit, but an abundance of
wild cherries,  of which children  generally partook freely.
A number of cases  similar to the  following occurred under
his own observation :  In a few hours after eating this fruit,
a child  was  seized  with  vomiting, stupor,  dilated  and

   * Halford's Essays, p. 158.
   I should not, in this work, notice the novel of " Sir Theodosius Boughton,
 or Laurel Water," by Mr. G. P. R. James, were it not for his preface.  With
 all due respect for his talents as a novelist and a historian, I must say that he
 has not investigated the case with that care that should render his opinion on
 its merits of any value.
   t Loewig asserts that this oil  is identical with the oil of bitter almonds.
 (Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 22, p, 514.)
   X Barton's Materia Medica, part 1, p. 11, part 2, p. 22.  Philadelphia  Jour-
nal of Pharmacy, vol. 6, p. 11.
   § Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol.  9, p. 298. 
804                 NARCOTIC  POISONS.

insensible pupil—loss of strength—small and frequent pulse
—pale skin—clenched jaws—inability to swallow or speak,
and cold  extremities.  The case was successfully treated
with aqua ammonise, after forcing open the jaws,—sinapisms
to the stomach and extremities—injections of  Epsom salts,
followed by a cathartic.
  Many  birds  were  intoxicated  by  this fruit,  and easily
caught.*
  Prunus nigra.   (Black cherry tree.)  Its bark, infused in
cider, proved  poisonous to several  persons  in this  state
some years since.
  Prunus caroliniana.  (Wild orange.)  Elliot remarks that
its  leaves are very poisonous, and frequently  in the spring
of the year destroy cattle that are tempted to browse freely
on  them.f
  Amygdalus communis.  (Bitter almonds.)   These,  when
pounded   and  taken  in sufficient  quantity,   prove  highly
deleterious, as  has been proved by numerous experimenters.
  Tl^e essential oil  of bitter almonds acts  violently.  One
drop  applied to  the tongue  of a  cat,  instantly  excited
convulsions, to which loss of motion and insensibility suc-
ceeded, the  respiration became hurried, and death followed
at the  end of five minutes.   So also when two  drops  were
injected into the  rectum.  While  performing  these experi-
ments, Mr, Brodie touched his tongue with a probe that had
been dipped into the oil.   He  instantly  experienced  an
uneasy sensation in the epigastric  region,  and a weakness
of  the limbs.  The  application of the oil to the cellular
texture, was equally,  but  not instantaneously destructive.!
  *  Western Journal  of Medical and Physical Sciences, vol. 11, p. 191.
  t  Elliot's Botany, vol. 1, p. 540.  North American Archives, vol. 2, p. 31.
  X  Brodie's experiments on vegetable poisons, in Philosophical Transactions.
According to Robiquet, the essential oil of almonds does not, like common
essential oils, exist ready formed in the almond, but is only produced when
the  almond pulp comes in contact with water.  The principle, which acts on
amygdaline, and when united to water produces the essential oil, he has re-
cently denominated Synaptase.  (Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 24, p. 326.)
  According to Winkler's experiments, the products, by distillation, of bitter
almonds and the leaves of the  common laurel, is a hydruret of benzule, and
which is innoxious; but at  the same time, an  evolution of a cyan-benzule •
takes place, which is the cause of the oil of bitter almonds containing prussic
acid, and which may  be separated from it.  (London and Edinburgh Philos.
Magazine, vol. 11, p.  160.   See also, Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 25, p. 189.) 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
805
   Two  cases are said to  have occurred at  Montpelier,  of
children poisoned by the use of bitter almonds.   In one, the
person  had  eaten  them after they had been heated in  a
copper vessel; and in the other, the child had been made  to
drink the milk, as a remedy against worms.*
   Mertzdorff relates  of a  hypochondriac  aged  forty-eight
years, who swallowed two drachms  of the oil  of bitter
almonds.   In a few minutes his servant, whom he called  to
his bedside, observed that his features became spasmodically
contracted, and his  eyes  fixed.   Insensibility soon ensued,
with stertorous breathing, and the  breath smelling strongly
of bitter almonds.   Death  followed in thirty minutes from
taking the  oil.  The body was examined in  39 hours after-
wards, and  although the  temperature  had never exceeded
40°  F.,  putrefaction  was  far  advanced.  The  body  was
inflated  with  gas and  the  skin covered with bluish green
stains.  Pure blood flowed from the  mouth and nose, and
the whole body had the odour of almonds.   The jaws were
firmly fixed.   The  stomach  and intestines  were  red, and
chequered  with bloody streaks, and in the former were six
ounces of a brownish and highly odorous fluid.  The liver,
spleen and kidneys  were gorged with violet-colored fluid
  This substance has peculiarly occupied the attention of chemists.  Vogel
and Robiquet, Brande's Journal, vol. 13, p. 404 ; vol. 15, p. 155.  Annals of
Philosophy, vol. 11, p. 426. Wohler and Liebig, London and Edinburgh Phi-
losophical Magazine,  vol.  3, p. 3S9; vol. 1, p. 70.  Silliman's Journal, vol.
26, p. 202.  Robiquet, North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 10,
p. 430.  Goppert, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 35, p. 455.
Gieger, Liebig, Wohler, Robiquet, and Boutron, Journal de Pharmacie, vol.
21, p. 343 ;  vol. 22, p. 460; vol. 23, pp. 391, 503, 589.
  Proctor's Observations on Amygdaline, and its existence in the Amygdaleae,
(peach, nectarine, apricot, wild cherry, common cherry, &c.,) in American
Journal of Pharmacy, vol.  10, p. 188.  Observations on Emulsine, in Dr. R.
D. Thomson's British Annual of Science, 1839, p. 366.
  Bernard on the action of  Amygdaline and Emulsine, in British and Foreign
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 5, p. 246.
  * London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 11,  p. 92,  A probable case of
death from eating bitter almonds, is given by Mr. Kennedy, in ibid., vol. 57,
p. 150.
  Mr. Chavasse relates of  an individual seriously affected by swallowing half
an ounce of the essential oil, (used by confectioners  to flavor with.)  Delirium
and convulsions ensued, but soon ceased, on the use of emetics and stimulants.
(Lancet,  N. S., vol. 24, p.  930.)  On this substance, see also Mr. Giindley,in
Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 7, p. 11; and Mitscherlich on the Ethereal
Oil of bitter almonds, in  British and  Medico-Chirurgical Review,  vol.  6,
p. 276. 
806
NARCOTIC POISONS.
 blood.  The gall-bladder contained a violet-coloured bile,
 and all the muscles had a similar tint.  The lungs and heart
 were  natural, but the latter was empty.   The  brain was
 every where tinged with the same sort of blood.*
   In the case of a  druggist, who  swallowed by  mistake, a
 quantity of the  essential oil, M. Chavasse, noticed early
 vomiting of alimentary matter and bile, which smelt strongly
 of prussic acid.  The symptoms were deadly paleness, gene-
 ral  coldness, a small  intermittent pulse, convulsive  move-
 ments, gay appearance and brilliancy of the eyes, and short
 and panting respiration.  Convulsions successively  occur-
 red.   Sulphate of zinc was given, which produced vomiting;
 hot cloths were applied, but above all, reliance was placed
 on a mixture of  brandy  and  ammonia diluted  with water.
 Through these means  his life was saved.f
   Amygdalus persica.   The  kernels of the  peach are very
 often distilled for the  purpose  of impregnating eau de noyau,
 and if too  strongly  charged  with the  oil, it  must  prove
 noxious.  The late Duke Charles of Lorraine nearly lost
 his life by swallowing a small quantity of this liquor,! and
 fatal cases are said to have lately occurred in England from
 the  same cause.
   Two fatal cases of poisoning with the peach-blossom are
 quoted from Coullon.   The symptoms were violent purging,
 convulsions and stupor.  These are rather the symptoms of
 a narcotico-acrid.§
   An  oil is obtained by  distilling its leaves or shoots.
   Sorbus aucuparia.   Mr. Grassman of St. Petersburgh, has
 ascertained  that the flowers and  bark contain more or less
 of the peculiar essential oil, which is procured from all the
 above vegetables.||
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 22, p. 232.  A case of su-
icide with the oil occurred in England, in December, 1831.
  f American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 12, p. 172.  A fatal case by Dr
Bull is quoted in the Medical Times, vol. 10, p. 524.
  X London Medical Repository, vol. 4, p. 15.      § Christison, p. 687.
  || Ibid. p. 688. It is mentioned in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 49, p. 229, that Messrs. 0. Henry and Boutron-Charlard have
made a chemical analysis of the juice of the bitter yucca, and come to the
conclusion  that its poisonous principle is identical with hydrocyanic acid.
I have already mentioned that Henry detected the same acid in the Jatropha
Manihot. 
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
807
   Carbazotic acid.  This  substance, procured by the action
 of nitric acid on indigo, is deemed a narcotic poison from the
 result of experiments  on animals, by  Professor  Rapp, of
 Tubingen.  Its solution in doses of from ten to thirty grains,
 destroyed them rapidly with convulsions and  insensibility.
 No  inflammation  was seen  after death, but  many of the
 textures, as the lungs, conjunctiva, cellular tissue, &c, were
 dyed of a yellow colour.*
  Nitrogen, is classified by Orfila among the narcotic poisons.
 Animals when plunged into it,  experience a difficulty of
 respiration, which gradually becomes more rapid and weaker,
 but without any  lesion of the nervous  functions.   Life is,
 however, readily  restored by exposure to the atmosphere.
  In Mr. Broughton's experiment on animals, death followed
 almost instantaneously from  immersion  into it.  The  right
 ventricle  was distended with black blood, and the vessels
 of the brain, pleura and lungs were collapsed.
  Carbonic oxide.  This forms  a part, as  we  have already
 stated, of the deleterious gases  arising  from burning char-
 coal.  There  are, however, one  or two facts  on record of
 its influence when prepared in the laboratory.
  Sir Humphrey Davy inspired it, in a state of  mixture,
 with  about one-fourth of common air.   The  effect was  a
 temporary loss of sensation, which was succeeded by giddi-
ness, sickness, acute  pains in  different  parts of the body,
and extreme debility.  Some days elapsed before he entirely
recovered.f
  Mr. Witter  of Dublin,  desirous of fully  ascertaining the
effects of carbonic oxide, when freely inhaled, took three or
four full inspirations of it. The consequence was an incon-
ceivably sudden deprivation of sense and volition.   He fell
 supine and motionless on  the floor, and continued in a state
 of total insensibility for almost half an hour, and apparently
 lifeless, as pulsation was  nearly  extinct.  Various restora-

  * Christison, p. 690. Professor Hunefeld would seem to deny its poisonous
 qualities.  It did not, with him, prove noxious. (Edinburgh Medical and
 Surgical Journal, vol. 36, p. 460.)
  f Davy's Elements of Chemical Philosophy, p. 172, Am. edit. 
808
NARCOTIC POISONS.
 tive means were used without  success, but on the introduc-
 tion  of  oxygen gas into the  lungs,  he recovered  with
 convulsive agitation, excessive headache, and quick irregular
 pulsation; and  for some time after mental  recovery, total
 blindness, extreme sickness  and vertigo were experienced.
 An  unconquerable  propensity to sleep  succeeded,  after
 which he gradually recovered.*
   The following curious fact has also been considered as
 illustrative of the effects of the carbonic  oxide.   I quote it
 for its singularity, although I am not satisfied but that other
 causes may have aided in producing the disease :
   " The workmen of a cotton manufactory at Argues, near
 Dieppe, were attacked with nausea, vertigo and convulsions,
 which so much affected their imaginations that they thought
 they saw spectres and other fantastic objects flying at them,
 and seizing them by the throat. Mr. Nicolle, an apothecary
 at Dieppe, published a memoir on this disease, and he attri-
 butes it  to the gaseous oxide of carbon, resulting from the
 decomposition of  the oil, by the heat of a cast-iron stove,
 on which they were in  the habit of placing their vessels of
 that fluid.  This  gaseous product being lighter  than  the
 atmosphere, would ascend, and  in this way he accounts for
 the fact, that  the persons in the upper stories of the manu-
 factory, were first affected, while those on the ground floor
 were generally preserved from it."f
   Carburetted hydrogen.   Sir Humphrey, in attempting to
 breathe a mixture of air and carburetted  hydrogen, was at-
 tacked with giddiness, headache, and weakness of the limbs.
 When he inspired it pure, the first attempt caused numbness
in the muscles  of the  chest, the second induced an over-
powering sense of oppression in the breast, and insensibility
 to external objects ; while the  third seemed to remove all
sensation, and the mouthpiece dropped out of his hand. On
again becoming sensible, which happened in less  than a
minute, he continued to  suffer for some time from a  feeling
of impending suffocation,  extreme exhaustion, and great
• Eclectic Repertory, vol. 5, p. 540.
 t Silliman's Journal, vol. 6, p. 199. 
                    NARCOTIC POISONS.                 °09

feebleness of the pulse.*  In Mr. Broughton's experiments
with this  gas on animals, the effects were extremely rapid,
causing one  or two gasps, stupor and death.   On  dissec-
tion, black blood was found in the right ventricle, while the
vessels of the brain were nearly empty, and  the lungs  col-
lapsed.!
  Not  long  since, at Paris, in  consequence of a leak  in a
pipe that  carried the  gas lights, several individuals were
attacked during the  night with stupor, and if one had not
been awakened by the smell and  roused  the  rest, probably
all would  have  perished.  One  person was  comatose  and
occasionally convulsed, with froth  issuing from  his  mouth,
vomiting, stertorous breathing and dilated pupils. Bleeding
relieved him somewhat, but he  died in six hours from the
time of the alarm.  On dissection, the vessels of the brain
were found much gorged, the blood in the heart  coagulated,
one of the lungs congested, and its bronchial tube blocked
up by  a kidney-bean-!   The cause of his death  is therefore
doubtful, but there can be no doubt that an atmosphere of it
in a close room at night, must be deleterious.
  Mr.  Teale  has,  however,  published  (1839)  two cases,
which  are without doubt to be ascribed to the effects of this
gas:
  Two females, a grandmother aged 69 and a  granddaughter
aged 22, occupied  apartments  in Potter's Almshouses, at
Leeds.  A gas  pipe, situated about ten feet from the  wall of
their bed room, and communicating with it readily, through
loose earth and rubbish, was broken, and the smell  of coal
gas was generally perceived.  An explosion  took place in
the  evening in the pantry adjoining the bed room, in conse-
quence of a person entering it with a lighted candle.  Under
these circumstances, being assured by a person from the gas
works, that  no further danger was to  be  apprehended, the

  * Christison, p. 703, from Davy's Researches.
  t Brande's Journal, N. S., vol. 7, p. 14.  It is curious, as suggested by Dr.
Golding Bird, that the miners in coal mines, although breathing an atmos-
phere strongly impregnated  with carburetted hydrogen, suffer no serious
effects.  Is there not some material difference between the natural and artifi-
cial gas ?
  X Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 3, p. 457.  Christison, p. 504. 
810
NARCOTIC  POISONS.
 two females went to the same bed at half past ten, and in
 the morning, at nine o'clock, (the doors having been broken
 open) were  found dead.  The elder female was  quite cold
 and stiff, but the trunk and extremities of the younger were
 warm.  In about an hour, however,  her  muscles became
 rigid.
   The  appearances observed on each were very similar.
 The skin was generally pallid, except on the  neck and back,
 which exhibited  mottled  discolourations of a florid hue.
 There was no swelling of the face or  neck,  nor any oozing
 of fluid from the mouth and nostrils.  The muscles in each
 had an unusually light florid appearance, and there was a
 general absence of  venous congestion.  The right cavities
 of the heart were not distended, but contained a considerable
 quantity of florid fluid blood, (the colour approaching more
 nearly  to  arterial than to venous.)   The lungs were less
 crepitant  than  is  natural.   The bronchial  membrane was
 red, and the mucous  membrane of the small intestines  in-
 jected in patches, so  as to exhibit numerous minute ecchy-
 moses.  The stomach was healthy, and the brain but  little
 loaded with blood.
   The early occurrence of rigidity of the muscles is worthy
 of particular attention in  these cases.*
   Nitrous oxide gas.  Occasionally this gas  has proved  in-
 jurious to  persons  breathing it,  and there is every proba-
 bility  of its being  hurtful  to  such  as  have weak  lungs.
 Chemists are hence unwilling to make it  the subject of ex-
 hibition at the present day.
   A case is mentioned by Mr. Stanley, in which the inhala-
 tion of this  gas, probably somewhat impure from pushing
 the heat too high, (and hence  diffusing  some  nitrous gas
 through it,) induced the  most violent muscular motions at

   * Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. 4, p. 106.  I find that I have overlooked a
 case by Ollivier D'Angers (Annals, vol. 20, p. 120). A female was found dead
 in the morning in  consequence of the chamber being filled with this gas,
 passing through a crevice in the pipe.  The body was  already cold.  The
 blood was fluid,, and of a reddish purple colour. The right ventricle contained
i a small fibrinous clot, and the muscles had a red tint. 
NARCOTIC POISONS.
811
intervals, for half an hour, followed by great languor and
fatigue.*
   Cyanogen gas.  Coullon found this to be very poisonous
to the  smaller animals, and the  symptoms were coma, and
more rarely convulsions.   Hunefeld confirms these results.
In  the  rabbit, slight convulsions, dilated pupils  and  coma
followed, with death in five or six minutes.  Drs.  Turner
and Christison also found it very noxious to vegetables.!
  Oxygen gas.  When breathed in a  state  of purity, Mr.
Broughton found that animals lived longer in it than in an
equal quantity of atmospheric air; but if the experiment
was continued for  any length of time, hurried  respiration
and panting came on, then  debility, slow inspirations, and
insensibility.  Examined  in this state, the diaghragm was
still, but the  heart  in action and the  peristaltic motion of
the viscera maintained.  The  blood both in the veins and
arteries, was of a bright scarlet colour. From these  experi-
ments Mr. Broughton is induced to rank oxygen among the
sedative  poisons.J
  Hydrogen gas.  It is doubted by many whether  this should
be  deemed a poison.   Sparrows and kittens immersed in an
atmosphere  of it, however, died in  half a minute, and Mr.
Broughton  found  the right ventricle  distended  with black
blood, and  the brain and lungs  collapsed.   Cardone's ex-
periments on himself would also seem to render its danger-
ous nature probable.§

  * Lancet, N. S., vol. 31, p, 395.           + Christison, p. 715.
  X Brande's Journal, ut antea.
  §  Ibid., vol. 20, p. 394.  The remarks of Raspail on the effects of gases on
the human system are worthy of quotation :  " When oxygen is not present,
the animal dies for want of the combustion, that is, the oxygenation of the car-
bon of the blood. In pure oxygen, it dies from the excess of this action.  As to the
other gases, they may be divided in this respect into two classes, the asphyxia-
ting and the deleterious. The former are those which do not in any way alter
the respiratory textures, and therefore kill the animal merely because they are
not oxygen, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, carbonic  oxide, protoxide of nitro-
gen, &rc.  The deleterious gases, on the other hand, are those that alter the
textures, and are capable of killing or of injuring the animal even when they
are  mixed with oxygen, such  as chlorine, iodine,  arsenicated hydrogen,
hydro-sulphuric acid, sulphurous acid, and even carbonic acid,  as was
proved by Fontana, and is evinced by the observed fact that, when an animal
is asphyxiated by the effluvia of burning matter, it is violently convulsed if
the air has been vitiated by burning charcoal; but, on the contrary, it sleeps 
812
NARCOTIC POISONS.
   Carbonic acid gas and sulphuretted hydrogen gas also belong
to this  division of poisons.   I have considered them  in  a
previous chapter, and will  only add that the antidote for the
latter is chlorine.  Chloride of lime in  solution may there-
fore be employed.
quietly until it dies, if it be by coke that the air has been contaminated, for
in the former case, the product is carbonic acid, but in the later, a consider-
oble proportion of carbonic oxide is formed," (p. 301.) 
CHAPTER XXL
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
Atropa belladonna—effects; atropine.  Datura stramonium, and other species
  —effects. Nicotiana tabacum—effects ; juice ;  oil.  Conium maculatum.
  Cicuta  virosa, maculata.  (Enanthe crocata.  iEthusa  cynapium.   Lhse-
  rophyllum sylvestre.  Sium latifolium.  Aconitum napellus, and  other
  species.  Helleborus niger.  Veratrum album, and other species.  Colchi-
  cum autumnale.  Digitalis  purpurea.  Scilla maritima.  Ipecacuanha.
  Ruta graveolens.  Anagallis arvensis. Aristolochia clematis.  Nerium
  oleander.  Cerbera tanghin, and other species.  Apocynum. Asclepias.
  Cynanchum.  Cissus. Mercurialis perennis.  Treatment. Strychnos nux-
  vomica—effects—appearances on dissection; strychnine—tests. Strychnos
  Ignatii—Tieute. Upas antiar.   Ticunas.  Woorara.  Curare.  Camphor.
  Cocculus indicus; picrotoxine. Coriaria myrtifolia.  Treatment.—Poison-
  ous mushrooms—symptoms—appearances on dissection—treatment.  Ergot.
  Spurred maize.  Diseased wheat.  Darnel.   Lathyrus cicera.  Ervum
  ervilia. Cytisus laburnum. Alcohol—symptoms—appearances on dissection
  —treatment.   Sulphuric ether. Nitric  ether.  Chloroform.  Essential
  Oils_of cedar—of  tansy—of savine, &c. Empyreumatic  oils,  creosote,
  &c.  Sulphate  of quinine.   Unarranged  vegetable poisons. Compound
  poisoning.
  " Narcotico-acrid poisons include those which possess a
double action, the one  local and irritating, like that of the
irritants; the other remote, and consisting of  an impression
on the  nervous  system.   Sometimes they  cause narcotism,
which is generally of a comatose  nature, often  attended
with  delirium;  but  in one  very  singular group, there is
neither insensibility nor delirium, but merely violent spasms.
At  other times,  they excite  inflammation where  they  are
applied.   This  effect,  however, is by no  means constant.
Those  which inflame the  tissues  where they are applied,
rarely occasion  death in this manner.  Some of them may
produce very violent local  symptoms,  but they generally
prove fatal through their  operation on the nervous system."*
• Christison, p. 717. 
814            NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.

  Orfila divides this class of poisons into six groups, which
may be stated here, although it must be added that they
pass insensibly into each other, and therefore  cannot some-
times be well distinguished.
  1. Those whose principal  symptom is delirium, as atropa,
datura, stramonium, &c.
  2. Those  whose principal symptom is tetanus,  as  nux
vomica, strychnine, &c.
  3. Those which also excite convulsions, but at the same
time cause impaired  sensibility and sleep, as  cocculus indi-
cus, camphor, upas antiar.
  4. Poisonous mushrooms.
  5. Poisonous grain.
  6. Alcohol, ether, and empyreumatic oils.
  The individual substances  to be noticed, are the following:
Vegetables.	Rutacece,	MenispermacecB,
Solanecs,	Ruta.	Cocculus.
Atropa,	Primulacece,	Coriarim,
Datura,	Anagallis.	Coriaria.
Nicotiana.	Aristolochice,	Fungi,
UmbillifercB.	Aristolochia.	Agaricus,
Conium,	Apocynece,	Sclerotium.
Cicuta,	Nerium,	Graminece,
GEnanthe,	Cerbera,	Lolium.
jEthusa,	Apocynum,	LeguminoscB,
Chserophyllum,	Strychnos.	Lathyrus,
Sium.	Asclepiadeae,	Ervum,
Ranunculacets,	Asclepias,	Cytisus.
Aconitum,	Cynanchum.	
Helleborus.	AmpelidecB,	Alcohol,
Melanthaceoe,	Cissus.	Sulphuric ether,
Veratrum,	Euphorbiacem,	Nitric ether,
Colchicum.	Mercurialis.	Chloroform,
Scrophularineee,	Atocarpeee,	Essential oils,
Digitalis.	Antiaris.	Empyreumatic oils,
Asphodelece,	Laurinece,	Creosote, &c,
Scilla.	Laurus.	Sulphate of quinine.
RubiacecB,		
Cephaelis,		
Psycothria.		
 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.             815
   Atropa belladonna, L., (Deadly nightshade.)   The berries
 of this plant are highly noxious.   A detachment of several
 hundred French soldiers, having halted  at a short distance
 from Pirna, near  Dresden, were  allured  by  the inviting
 appearances  of the berries of the  atropa,  which  grew  in
 abundance in the  neighbourhood.  They  accordingly  eat
 freely of them, and one hundred and eighty men were thus
 poisoned, many of whom died before professional assistance
 could be  rendered, and  the  rest were long in  recovering.
   The  following were the  symptoms as  related by  M.
 Gaultier  de Claubry,  the  medical officer  in  attendance:
 Dilatation and immobility of the pupils, total insensibility
 of the eye to the presence of external objects, or very con-
 fused  and  indistinct vision,  the conjunctiva turgid with
 purple-coloured blood, prominence of the eye, which in some
 appeared dull and heavy,  in others bright and furious; great
 dryness of the  lips, tongue, palate  and throat;  deglutition
 difficult,  in some  cases  nearly  impossible; nausea, not
 followed by vomiting; sense of weakness, lypothymia, syn-
 cope ; inability to  stand  upright;  bending  forward  of the
 trunk of the body; continual movement of the  hands and
 fingers;  lively  delirium,  accompanied  with a silly laugh;
 aphonia or inarticulate sounds uttered with difficulty; inef-
 fectual inclination  to intestinal  evacuation; very  gradual
 return to health and reason, without any recollection of the
 preceding  state.*
  In  many other cases  related  by authors, most of the
 prominent symptoms mentioned  above have  been noticed.f
 Delirium of the agreeable  kind,  and dilated and insensible
 pupil are the most invariable  symptoms.  After these, the

  • Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 201.  New England Journal, vol. 4, p. 92.
  f < hnstison, p. 721. Sage saw fourteen children who had eaten of the
 berries. They could not swallow, and the pupils were immovable.  They be-
 «TrS   i       °^-' W$ and runninS-  The one who had taken most,
 suffered under spasmodic  twitcinngs, and  discharged blood by the nose and
 anus, and vomited bloody and purulent matter.  On recovering the power of
 SUnM°nVU WaS f0UDd that thl Wh0le roof of his m°^> h^ tonsill, and
 1!^' Wei*°  C07tered Wlth aPhthse- They all survived, but on
T.ZSJLhi* f°Ur 5ayf thereafter> some saw red, others not at all, and
none were able to articulate a sound.  Of this they gradually recovered.
 (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol 9 p  380) 
816
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
 most frequent are a  dryness of the throat, constant motion
 of the extremities,  and locked jaw.   Blindness  often re-
 mains for some time.*   In one case where 44 grains of the
 powdered plant were  taken by mistake, it was succeeded,
 among other symptoms, with extreme redness of the whole
 external  surface  exactly resembling  that observed in scar-
 latina.  Even the throat was of a deep red, and very painful
 and  heated, and this  sensation extended throughout  the
 alimentary canal.  Ineffectual  attempts were made to eva-
 cuate the urine, which was red and bloo'dy.  It  came away
 by drops.  By soothing  and antiphlogistic treatment, this
 dangerous condition  was removed.f
   It appears  from a case related  by Ray, that even the
 external application  of the fresh leaf  to the broken skin, is
 not unattended with danger.   The dilatation of the pupil of
 the eye from the application of this substance is well known,
 and has been  extensively applied in modern surgery.
   The watery extract of belladonna,  when administered to
 animals, produced vomiting, dilatation of  the pupils, de-
 lirium, and in general, the same course of  symptoms as in
 man.   The stomach was sometimes ulcerated  or red, and at
 other times sound.   The  lungs and heart  are occasionally
 livid.
   The root of this  plant is  also  poisonous.  Indeed, Dr.
 Christison states on the authority of Buchner, that it is the
 most active part of the plant.   In one fatal case, where the
 individual died  comatose twelve   hours  after eating  the
 berries, an examination was made twelve hours after death.
 Putrefaction had commenced, the abdomen was swollen, the
  * Mr. Brumwell, in Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. 6, p. 222.
Mr. Smith of Forres, (Scotland,) London Medical and Physical Journal for
April, 1827.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 452, from
Journal de Chimie Medicate.   Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol.  26, p. 528.
Koestler in Burnett's Medical Botany, vol. 1.  Dr. Underhill, in  New York
Med.  Gazette, vol. 1, p. 177.  Medical Times, vol. 10, p. 427. The sale of
the berries and the consequent use of them in tarts, &c, led to the cases of
poisoning, which underwent a legal investigation at London, and the seller
was found guilty of manslaughter.  (Lancet, August,  1846.)  Dr. Gray's
cases in New York Journal  of Medicine, vol. 5, p. 182.   He mentions a
symptom which deservqs a further inquiry, viz.,  its great  diuretic powers,
after;it has exercised its specific influence on the brain.
 f Jolly, from Nouvelle Bibliotheque MHicale,  1828, in Edinburgh Medi-
cal and Surgical Journal, vol. 31, p. 225. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
817
scrotum and penis  distended with  foetid serum,  the skin
covered with dark vesicles, and  the  brain soft.  The blood
vessels of the head were gorged, and the blood every where
fluid and flowing from the mouth, nose and eyes.*
  Brandes was supposed to have  discovered an alkaloid in
this plant, which was styled  atropine.   It is now,  however,
considered as impure.  The  vapour of it was so injurious,
producing violent  headache, pain in  the back, giddiness
and nausea, that he was  obliged to  discontinue his  experi-
ments.  On  tasting  a small  quantity of the sulphate  of
atropine,  shaking of the  limbs and oppression of breathing
were  induced, and even  the vapour of this  and the  other
salts was noxious.   Six  drops  of the hydrate  of atropine
killed a bird, producing previously  dilatation of the  pupil
and spasms,  succeeded by stupor.  On dissection, the head
and lungs were seen gorged  with black blood.f
  Subsequently the same chemist has ascertained the pre-
sence of another organic base, and which is called belladonine.
This  has a great analogy in its  odour to ammonia.   It is
only slightly poisonous.J
   Gieger, Hesse and Mein,  discovered the pure atropine in
a  solid form.   The aqueous solutions of its salts exhale
during evaporation, a narcotic vapour, which dilates the pupil
and causes sickness, giddiness and headache.§
  Runge  has ascertained that alkaline Solutions  and lime-
water  so destroy or change the  properties of atropine, as to
remove its power of dilating the pupil.jj
  In  a fatal case, parts  of the plant  will undoubtedly be
found  in the stomach or intestinal canal.  These  should be

  • Cases by Gmelin, Christison, p. 724. See  also London Med. Gazette,
vol. 19, p. 265.  The medicinal extract is of course poisonous in large quanti-
ties. Mr. Clayton's case, in Lancet, N. S., vol. 23, p. 709.
  t Annals of Philosophy, N. S., vol. 1, p. 270.   Burnett's Medical Botany.
Gieger s experiments on  it in London Medical Quarterly Review, vol. 1, p.
  ,  ™  or an anal7™ of *Ke atroPa belladonna by Vauquelin,  see Philosophi-
cal Magazine, vol. 36, p. 144.                                  r
  X American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 13, p. 127
  § Christison, 3d ed p. 762.  See also Bouchardat and Stuart Cooper's re-
cent experiments with atropine.  (Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 9, p. 232.)
  || Brande's Journal, vol. 18, p. 400.
VOL. II.
52 
818
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
examined for atropine, and it has been suggested to boil
down the stomach or intestines, and  evaporate the aqueous
solution.  The extract may be applied  to the  eye to ascer-
tain whether it produces its characteristic symptoms.*
  Datura Stramonium, L., (Thorn-apple, Jamestown weed.)
Its  native country doubtful, but naturalized  in  every part of
the  United  States.  (Bigelow.)  This  plant has extended
itself rapidly over various  parts  of our country, and is cer-
tainly one  of the  most offensive.!   There are  numerous
cases on record  of the poisonous effects of the  leaves and
seeds ofit.
  Dr. Barton states, that in 1765, when some of the British
troops under Sir John Sinclair were stationed in the vicinity
of Elizabethtown, New Jersey,  three of the  soldiers col-
lected a quantity  of the  plant,  (which they mistook  for
lamb's  quarters, Chenopodium  album}) and  dressed and  ate
it.   One of  them became furious, and ran about like a mad-
man.  The  second was seized with  genuine  tetanus, and
died.J
  Dr. Rush  saw a child between three and four years old,
who had swallowed some  of the seeds.   A violent fever,
delirium, tremors in the limbs, and a general eruption of the
skin, were present, accompanied with considerable swelling,
itching,  and inflammation.   Repeated  emetics and purga-
tives,  however, alleviated  the disease, and brought  away
some of the seeds.  Dilatation of the pupils and blindness
  * Burnett's Medical Botany.
  t Dr. Barton remarks that it grows in great abundance about Vincennes,
and was introduced there about the year 1785.  " The plant," he adds, "is
cut down by legal order, for the inhabitants assert that they were never
affected with remitting fevers until the datura was introduced among them.
The effluvia arising from  the leaves, stem and flowers, are supposed to have
given origin to the disease."  (Barton's Medical and Physical Journal, vol.
1, p. 145.)  This is evidently laying too much on the plant, but its effluvia
is certainly noxious.
  Mr. Heckewelder, however, the Moravian missionary, in a letter to Dr.
Samuel Cooper, says that he once lay in  camp below the falls of Ohio, with
Gen. Putnam and others for several days.  The ground was  covered with
stramonium in full blossom ; its strong odour caused headache, and in some
days he  and Gen. Putnam had each a fever.  The fogs of the river might
have caused this, yet as he was accustomed to them and had never been
affected,  he ascribes it to  the scent of the plant.  (Dr. Cooper's Dissertation
on Stramonium, in Caldwell's Medical Theses, vol. 1, p. 182,)
  X Barton's Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 1, p. 146. 
                  NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.               olv


still  remained, but were obviated by a  continuance of the

previous remedies, and she recovered her health.*

   In the Transactions of the College of Physicians of Phila-

delphia, Dr. Moses Bartram relates, that he was called to a

child suddenly seized  with  idiocy,  without  fever.   The

pulse was  natural, tongue  clear, and  no internal  function

disturbed except  those of  the brain.   The child appeared

very happy, talking, laughing, and  in  constant motion, yet

so weak that it  could  not stand or  walk without tottering.

He exhibited  an emetic, and the seeds  of the  thorn-apple

were rejected, after which the child  recovered.!



  * Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 1, p. 384.
  f Other cases are related by Dr. Fowler, Medical Commentaries, vol. 5,
p.  161. Here the face,  eyes and abdomen were swelled.   The other symp-
toms were, however, similar to those mentioned in the text.  By Dr. Thomas
Young,  Edinburgh Medical and  Surgical Journal,  vol.  15, p. 154.  By
M. Sarlandiere, Journal of Foreign Sciences, vol.  1,  p. 463.  A fatal case
by B.  Granger, in a child two and a half years old.  Convulsions and locked
jaw, with insensibility were among the latest  symptoms.  (Edinburgh Med.
and Surgical Journal, vol. 16, p. 155.) Another by Mr. Duffin, London Med.
Gazette, vol. 15, p. 194.  A case of recovery by James Johnson, Med. Facts
and Observations, vol. 5, p. 78. Case by Dr. Traill, in Christison, 3ded.,
p.  769, who also gives additional references.  Dr. Sigmond, Lancet, N. S., vol.
20, p. 327.
  Several are quoted by Orfila from various authors.  A remarkable case by
Orfila himself, is given in the London Medical Repository, vol. 13, p. 259,
where it produced most of the symptoms of poisoning, but finally was the
means of  curing an intense and long continued headache. A very interesting
historical account of this plant by  Mr. Royston, is contained in the London
Medical and Physical Journal, vols. 25 and 26.


                         American Cases.

  Dr. Brown, (New York Medical Repository, vol. 5, p. 36.)  A scarlet efflo-
rescence was here present, and the pupils were dilated.
  Two cases by Dr. De Witt, (ibid.,  vol. 2, p. 27.)  In  one instance the poi-
Bon produced pain, and during recovery, there were numerous vesications on
the skin.
  Dr.  Beardsley of Ohio, five persons with the usual symptoms.  (Dr. Drake's
Tables, note, p. 69.)
   Dr.  C. D. Meigs.  Here also, in a child, there was a very general efflores-
cence, (small petechia?.)  (North American Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 3, p.  33.)                                          &
   Dr. R.  E. Griffith, symptoms similar; but three days after eating the seeds,
and when the patient was relieved from the immediate symptoms, a general
eruption, resembling measles broke out and continued twelve hours.  (Am.
Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 5, p. 251.)
   Dr. Slavens of  Kentucky, a case of attempted poisoning by a parent, first
w^th the  seeds and then with the decoction.  Great torpor of the bowels en-
sued from the repeated doses.  (Transylvania  Journal, vol. 4, p. 172.)
   Dr. Williams of Ohio, a child delirious and deaf from merely chewing, not
swallowing the seeds.  (Western Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences,
vol. 8, p. 165.) 
820              NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
  Orfila enumerates the following list of symptoms as pro-
duced by this plant:'" Intoxication, delirium, loss of sense,
drowsiness, a sort of madness and fury—loss  of memory,
sometimes  transitory,  and sometimes permanent—convul-
sions, paralysis of the  limbs, cold sweats, and  excessive
thirst and tremblings."
  Dr. Drake, of Cincinnati, mentions, that it is not uncom-
mon  in  the western  states, to  observe  hemiplegia, with
spasmodic affections  of the opposite  side, in children who
have  eaten  the  seeds or flowers.*
  The stramonium was some years  since used to a conside-
rable extent in asthma, and there is reason to believe, that
in some cases it proved deleterious.!
  The  tincture and  decoction of  this  substance, produce
effects  resembling those already described.  Half a wine-
glassful of  the former, after the common symptoms, caused
violent  convulsons,  lock-jaw, and stertorous  breathing.J
The  extract  used as a suppository and introduced into the
rectum, induced many of the symptoms of delirium tremens.^
Even bruising  the leaves  in a mortar, has  caused dilated
pupil and irritation of the skin.||
  In  two fatal  cases of children less than  three years old,
an examination was made.   In one, a large quantity of the
seeds was found in the intestines;  but no mention is made
of any marks of irritation in them, or  in the stomach.  The
  Dr. Hooker of New Haven, of a family poisoned by the leaves being boiled
with greens for dinner.  They all recovered.  (Boston Med. and Surg. Jour-
nal, vol. 15, p. 60.)
  Dr. Jones, American Med. Intelligencer, vol. 3, p. 245.
  Dr. Millikin, Western Journal of Medicine and Surgery, vol. 1, p. 211.
  Dr. Spence, (three cases,) Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 31,
p. 361.
  Anonymous cases in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 9, p. 10.
  * Drake's Tables, note, p. 69.
  t See on this point, Dr.  Bree's Letter  on Stramonium, in New England
Journal, vol. 1, p. 411.
  X Dr. Williams, in New England Journal ,vol. 12, p. 253. Dr. Swaine, in
Edinburgh Physical and Literary Essays, vol. 2, p. 272.  Mr. Mash, in
London Medical Gazette, vol. 8, p. 605.
  §  Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 6, p.  493.
  ||  Dr. Abel, in Medical Recorder, vol. 14, p. 203.  Very dangerous results
have also been caused, by applying stramonium ointment to an abraded sur-
face.  (North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 11,  p. 483, from
Journal de Chimie Midicale.) 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
821
bladder  was  distended and the vessels  of the pia  mater
loaded.   In the other, where death followed in 24 hours,
the brain was natural—the  blood semifluid throughout the
body—the stomach  and  intestines healthy—the  bladder
distended—the larynx and  oesophagus slightly red, and the
rima glottidis thickened and very turgid.*
  The stomach of animals poisoned with the watery extract,
by  introduction into  that  organ, was  found inflamed, and
blood was  extravasated between the mucous coat and the
one subjacent to it.   The  lungs were  of a deep  red, and
distended with  black  and fluid blood.f
  The substance formerly announced by Brande as daturine
is not  now recognized as  the  pure alkaloid.  Gieger and
Hesse  have obtained a crystalline  substance  of  an acrid
taste, which is probably the true daturine.  The eighth of a
grain killed a sparrow, and a small  quantity applied to the
eye occasioned great and permanent dilation of the pupil.J
  The Datura metel, L.,ferox, L., and tatula, L., are equally
poisonous.  The seeds of the datura metel are used in Asia
for their soporific and intoxicating qualities, and  are made
an  instrument of unbounded libertinism.§
  The Datura arborea, L., is another species, that produces
similar effects  on the human system.   Dr. Renton, of Ma-
deira,  relates several cases occurring  in  that island, from
eating the seeds.||
  Nicotiana tabacum,  L., (Tobacco.)  It is not necessary  to
multiply  cases  proving the poisonous nature of  this sub-
stance  when taken internally.   The death of Santeuil, a

  •  Mr. Granger, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, yol. 16, p.
155. Mr. Duffin, in London Medical Gazette, vol.  15, p. 194.
  t Orfila's Toxicology.
  X Christison. 3d ed., p. 768. Dr. Morries found the empyreumatic oil of
Btramonium, poisonous to animals.  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Jour-
nal, vol. 39, p. 382.                                   8
  In a case occurring in India, Mr. Allan states that he obtained crystals of
daturine in the urine of the person poisoned, after death.  (Lancet, Sept.
18,  1847.)  There is, however, a shade of doubt about this.
  § Edinburgh Med. and  Surg. Journal, vol. 7, p. 97, and Mr. Royston's
paper.  The Thugs are said to employ the pounded root of one of the species
to induce stupefaction, and  sometimes it proves fatal.  (London Atlas, Nov.
4,1843.)  The Datura sanguinea is used in Peru for similar purposes as the
other species.  (Tschudi's Travels, Am. ed., p. 188.)
  |J Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 3, p. 475. 
 822              NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.

 French poet, was caused  by an inconsiderate  person emty-
 ing the  contents of a  snuff-box into his wine, which, as
 soon  as he had swallowed, excited violent vomiting and
 excessive pain,  and he died in  fourteen  hours.*  So  also
 when the infusion  or  the smoke  is  administered  in large
 quantities,  as   by  a glyster,  convulsions,  sickness,  and
 vomiting supervene, and death often is the result.f
   A female in  London was persuaded by an empiric to use
 the infusion as a cure for  worms.  Soon after its exhibition
 as an  enema, she was seized with violent convulsions, and
 died in fifteen  minutes.J   Another in Hamburgh  took an
 enema, consisting of an ounce of  tobacco, boiled in water,
 for fifteen  minutes.  In  two minutes thereafter,  she  was
 seized with vomiting, violent convulsions,  and stertorous
 breathing.  Death ensued in three hours after taking it.§
   Externally, the effects are no less  striking.   A man  and
 his wife fomented their bodies  with a watery  infusion of
 tobacco, in  order to remove the itch.   Giddiness, headache,
 retching and vomiting,  with diarrhoea  soon  supervened.
 Thirst accompanied  these, as also  spasms, and the debility
 and oppression  were great. They were, however, gradually
 relieved by judicious treatment.||   A liniment,  prepared
 with the powder of tobacco and butter, applied to the heads
 of children, labouring under tinea, caused vertigoes, violent
 vomitings and faintings, extreme perspiration and a  stagger-
 ing walk.TI
   In a case  where the expressed juice of tobacco, applied to
 the head of a  boy for tinea capitis, prorved fatal in three
  * Orfila's Directions, p. 107.  An individual  swallowed  two  ounces of
 manufactured tobacco with an intention  to destroy himself.  It produced
 dilated and insensible pupils ; cold extremities ; scarcely  perceptible pulse;
cold, clammy sweats; stertorous  breathing;  spasms; jaws set. He was re-
lieved by the stomach syringe and sinapisms.  (Dr.  Guy Wright, in Ohio
 Med. Repository, vol. 1, p. 28.)
  t See some remarks on this point in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 9, p. 159. A case where the smoking of tobacco produced most
of the symptoms of  apoplexy, as stertor, insensibility of the pupil, deep
livid countenance, and spasmodic contraction, is given in the same  work, vol.
 12, p. 11.
  X North American Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 6, p. 187.
  § Case by Dr. Grahl, (from Hufeland's Journal,) Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 36, p. 237.   See also Burnett's Medical Botany, vol. 1-
  || Medical Commentaries, vol. 11, p. 327.
  IT Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p.  214. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
823
hours, the brain and viscera were  found healthy, but the
blood in the heart was fluid, with the exception of a coagu-
lum in the  right ventricle.*  In  the case  related  by Dr.
Grahl,  there was, two days after death, great lividity  of
the back, paleness of the lips, and flexibility of the joints.
The omentum very red, without gorging of its vessels; the
small  and great intestines, both outside and inside, gorged
and red, and in some parts of the mucous membrane, extra-
vasated bloody patches. The other abdominal viscera natu-
ral, but their vessels very empty  of blood.  The stomach
natural, the  lungs pale  red, the heart empty of blood, and
the brain very natural.f
  Several experimenters have  examined the effects of to-
bacco on  animals.   Fontana found that the insertion of the
oil  into  wounds,  induced  temporary paralysis,  but not
death.J   Brodie used  both the infusion  and the oil.   The
former, when  injected  into  the rectum of  an animal, pro-
duced faintness, and early insensibility, and death.  It stop-
ped the circulation of the heart, and caused syncope.   The
latter excited violent convulsions, frequent  respiration, and
death, occasioning  this termination  by destroying the func-
tions of the  brain.§
  The  experiments of Orfila  with  sriuff, produced results
generally similar to those we  have  now related, and they
also show, that  the  extract  of  the nicotiana rustica acts  in
the same  manner as tobacco, but is less active.
  Vauquelin some years since analyzed tobacco, and found
in it an acrid principle, which was styled Nicotine.  Subse-

  *  Case by Mr. Weston, from London Medical and  Physical Journal, quo-
ted in Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 3, appendix, p. 177.
  t  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 36, p. 227.
  X  Medical Commentaries, vol. 12, p. 110.  Philosophical Transactions, vol
70, p. Ib3  See also Dr. Morries'  experiments in Edinburgh Medical and
Surgical Journal, vol. 39, p. 383.
  A boy, four years old, swallowed about a spoonful of oil of tobacco, col-
lected from a pipe and put aside in a cup.  Nausea, faintness, convulsions of
the lower extremities, and  insensibility of the pupil followed. An emetic
was given,  and this was succeeded by oatmeal gruel, containing some lemon
jiiuv : the stomach was covered with warm cataplasms and laxative enemas
were administered.  Under  this  treatment he recovered in 24 hours, but
was pale and without appetite for several days after.  (Dersterberg. Encyclo-
graphie des Sciences Medicales, January, 1844, p  14 )
  § Eclectic Repertory, vol. 2, p. 274 
824
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
quent investigations by Posselt and  Reimarus, have shown
that this substance is the essential oil  of tobacco, which is
solid at ordinary temperatures, and they succeded in obtain-
ing another principle, which they deem the  true nicotine.
This is volatile, extremely acrid, and capable  of forming
salts.*  Half a grain of the hydrochlorate produced violent
nervous symptoms, succeeded by insensibility for three hours,
in an animal.f
   Conium maculatum, L., (Hemlock.)  Raving madness and
epileptic fits occurred to Mr. Ray, in the case of a woman
who had  eaten  the  roots of this  plant.£  Vertigo, convul-
sions, coma, and death, were  the result to  two  soldiers at
Waltham  Abbey, in Essex, who had boiled  it  with  their
bacon for dinner.§
   Some soldiers  partook  of  broth, into  which hemlock
had been put.   All  of them were shortly after seized with
pains in the head  and  throat, and felt as if drunk; but the
one who had eaten  the most had lain down and  gone to
sleep.  When  first  noticed, he was insensible, respiring
with great  difficulty;  his pulse  small and slow,  even to
thirty pulsations in the minute ; the  extremities were  cold,
and the face bluish, and distended with  blood.  An emetic
was given  without  effect.   He complained of being  cold,
but shortly after lost again the use of speech and sense, and
died in three hours after taking the poison.   On dissection,
there were some red spots seen round the pylorus; the in-
testines were healthy, but all the vessels of the brain  were
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 6, p. 379. Christison, p.
728.  See also a Memoir on Tobacco, by Dr. Conwell, in Philadelphia Jour-
nal of Pharmacy, vol. 1, p. 104.  Mr. E. Davy's Experiments on Nicotine in
Proceedings of British Association, 1835, appendix, p. 38.  0. Henry and
Boutron-Charlard's Experiments on the same.  Journal de Pharmacie, vol.
22, p. 689.  Professor Mussey's Essay on the influence of Tobacco upon life
and health : Boston, 1836.  Zeise's experiments in Pharmaceutical Journal,
vol. 3, p. 342.  Barral's, showing it to be a liquid and extremely energetic.
Melier and Bernard's, to the same effect. Bulletin de  L'Academie de Mede-
cine, vol. 10, p. 593.  Schloesing on the quantity of nicotine in the  various
kinds of tobacco.  (Comptes Rendus, Dec. 21,1846.)
  There is a curious bibliography of writers on tobacco by Dr.  Tabor, in
Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 30.
  t Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 5, p. 201.
  X Philosophical Transactions, vol. 19, p. 634.
  § Ibid., vol. 43, p. 18.  Case by Mr. Watson. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
825
gorged with blood, and on opening the cranium, there flow-
ed out blood sufficient to fill twice an ordinary chamber-pot.*
  Convulsions, furious delirium, and swellings of the face,
appear thus to be among the leading symptoms from the use
of this poison.
  There is, however,  a  case given by  Dr. J. H. Bennet,
manifesting an absence of the principal symptoms.   A man
ate a large quantity of hemlock, supposing it to be parsley.
He soon lost power in walking ; staggered and finally fell.
Both the upper  and lower  extremities became paralysed,
but he was able  to  answer a  question put  .to  him.   This,
however, also failed, but his pulse  and breathing were natu-
ral.  The pupils became fixed, the action of the heat was
very feeble, and death followed in three and a quarter hours.
Here there were no convulsions or raving delirium while no
medicine had been taken to  counteract the symptoms.
  On dissection, the brain was found healthy, but there was
slight serous effusion and an unusual quantity of blood flow-
ed  from the scalp.  The lungs were gorged with dark-red
fluid blood. The stomach contained a pultaceous mass, and
its mucous coat was much congested, with numerous extra-
vasations of dark-red  blood, below the epithelium, over a
space of the size of the hand.  The intestines and bladder
were healthy, but  each  presented patches  of congestion.
The blood  throughout the body  was dark coloured  and
fluid.f
  The juice, and the extract when properly prepared, pro-
duce similar effects on animals.  Orfila has, however, shown
that the extract usually sold in the shops is inefficient and
weak.J
  In a case examined by Drs. Christison and Coindet, where
a hypochondriacal old woman  took two ounces of a strong
infusion  of hemlock  in  whiskey, early  in the  morning

  • Case by M. Haaf, quoted by Orfila.  Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 242.
  t Edinburgh Med.  and Surg; Journal, vol. 64, p. 169.
  X A drachm of the extract prepared by himself was sufficient to poison a
dog, whereas  an ounce and  even ten drachms from several of the shops in
Pans, produced no effect whatever.  (Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medi-
cine and Surgery, vol. 1, p. 104.) 
826
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
fasting,  and  where death followed  in  an hour after, being
comatose and slightly convulsed, the  vessels of the  head
were not turgid, but the blood was every where fluid.*
  Brandes has obtained a peculiar alkaloid from the juice of
the  leaves  of this plant, which is variously  called conine,
conia, or coniin.   Half a grain will kill a rabbit with tetanic
symptoms resembling  those produced by strychnine.f  Gei-
ger,  in  further  experiments,  ascertained that the seeds,
flowers, or  fresh stems, yielded a volatile alkali, analogous
to that in tobacco.  The dry plant is almost destitute of it.
Coniin,  as  obtained by Geiger, is  irritating  to  the eyes,
causes giddiness, and  indeed is so  highly  poisonous, that
one or two grains are  sufficient to kill the largest animal.|
  Dr. Christison in a paper read before the Royal Society
of Edinburgh, states  that  he had repeated the  analysis of
Geiger, and obtained precisely the same results. On birds it
caused coma, convulsions  and depressed  action, or  even
paralysis of the heart, while on the higher order of animals,
it is a local irritant, and its remote action is to cause a swiftly
increasing  paralysis of the muscles, ending fatally by  as-
phyxia from palsy of the  muscles  of respiration.   He also
found this  poison to be exceeding active.  Two drops ap-
plied to a  wound, or  introduced into the eye of a dog, rab-
bit or cat, sometimes  destroyed life in ninety seconds.§
   Cicuta virosa,  L., or aquatica.  (Water-hemlock.)  This
is a more violent poison than the preceding.
   The following train of symptoms has been noticed : daz-
zling, obscurity of the sight, vertigo, headache, often  acute
and excruciating, a vacillating walk,  anxiety of  the prse-
  * Christison, p. 735.
  t Brande's Journal, N. S., vol.  3, p. 227.  Tests of this substance have
been proposed by Giseke.   (North American Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 6, p. 421.)  For Battley's and Bird's experiments on conium maculatum,
see American  Journal of Med. Sciences, vol. 9, p. 506, and vol. 12, p. 260.
  X British Association Report for 1831 - 32, p. 509. London Medical Quar-
terly Review, vol. 1, p. 215.  Researches on Conium, by Fodere.  (Medico-
Chirurgical Review, vol. 23, p. 218.)  Philadelphia Journal  of Pharmacy,
vol. 7, p. 241.
  § On the poisonous properties  of hemlock and its alkaloid conia, by R.
Christison, M. D., Professor.  Professor Hunefeld has repeated and confirm-
ed the above experiments, as to the rapidity of its action and its great power.
(Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 45, p. 252.)  See also, Christison, in Edin-
burgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 38, p. 354. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
827
cordia, cardialgia, dryness of the throat, ardent thirst, eruc-
tation, vomiting of greenish matter, frequent and interrupted
respiration, tetanic contractions of the jaws, sometimes fol-
lowed by  lethargy, with  coldness of the  extremities ;  at
other times with a furious delirium, or attacks resembling
epilepsy.  In one or two  cases, a  swelling  of the  face has
been noticed.  In a case where death followed, hiccup and
fruitless efforts to vomit were present with  tetanic convul-
sions.    The abdomen  and  face swelled after  death, and
there flowed a quantity of green froth from the mouth.*
  The experiments of Wepfer prove how deadly this  plant
is to animals, and Linnaeus,  in his  Tour  to Lapland, has  il-
lustrated it in an impressive manner.   At Tornea, hundreds
of cattle  were annually  destroyed in the spring, without any
assignable cause.   The poison was said to be of so  pestilen-
tial  a  nature, that though the animals were flayed before
they were cold, yet wherever their  blood  came in contact
with the human body, it caused gangrenous  spots and  sores.
Some indeed, had lost their lives in this way.   On examin-
ing  the  meadow into which they  were first  turned out  to
grass, he found in it a bog  or  marsh, in which the Cicuta
aquatica grew in great abundance, and had evidently been
plentifully cropped by  the cattle in feeding.f
  In three fatal cases, the appearances  on  dissection were
as follows:  bluish red spots on  the skin, pupils dilated,
vessels  of the conjunctiva gorged,  lungs sound,  but of a
bluish red colour, and gorged with blood, as were also the
vessels of the pleura.  Blood in the right side of the heart.
Brown spots on the mucous membrane of the stomach and
small intestines, and these organs distended  with gas.   Epi-
glottis red, and much mucus in the trachea, and the vessels
of the brain highly injected, as if they had died of apoplexy.J
  • Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p.  248, collected from Wepfer, Guersent,  &c.
  t Linnaeus' Tour in Lapland, London ed.,  vol. 1, p. 245.  See also vol. 2,
pp. 136, 212.  Cows eat it early in the spring, when its growth has just com-
menced, but as the summer advances its scent becomes stronger,  and warns
them to avoid it.  It is remarkable, however, that goats devour it with impu-
nity.  (London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 12, p. 368.)   This plant,
according to Christison, would seem to be nearly innocuous in Scotland.
  X Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 5, p. 505, from JournalComplementairej
February, 1824. 
828
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
  In the instance of four children  (3, 5 and 6 years of age)
who had eaten the root for parsnips, the youngest died in a
few  hours with the usual  symptoms.   The  others, as the
nature of the poison was now discovered, were treated with
emetics, (which caused a rejection of portions of the  root,)
and diluents, with warm applications.   A decoction of nut-
galls had been in the  meanwhile prepared  and this was
given frequently in divided doses.   The three all recovered
at the end of five days.   Dr. Meyer, who was the attending
physician, places great reliance on the nut-galls, or tannin,
if that be preferred, as an  antidote.  In the above cases,
large quantities had been taken  and four hours  elapsed be-
fore they were treated.*
   Cicuta maculata, L. (Snake-weed,  American Hemlock,
called wild carrot, Wild parsnip root, Mock eel root,  in
Virginia.)  A native  of this  country.   We  have,  unfortu-
nately, several  cases on  record of  death  produced  by the
root of this plant,f and from an  examination of these, the
following appear  as  the  effects:  Vomiting, pain in the
bowels, tenesmus, and occasionally purging, convulsions,
dilatation of the  pupils,  feeble  pulse, and frothing at the
mouth and nose, mixed with blood.   When not convulsed,
the patients  lay in a  deep  sleep; the  countenance is pale,
and the extremities are cold.  Several observers have noticed
an astonishing mobility of  the  eyeballs  and  eyelashes,
although the pupils are  firmly and  widely dilated.   Death
  * Chemist, vol. 4, p. 133.
  t New York Medical Repository, vol. 17, p. 303, two cases by Dr. Ely, of
Dutchess county in this state. New England Journal, vol. 7, p. 219, case by
Dr. Hazletine, of Massachusetts.  1Mb., vol. 3, p. 334, by Dr. Stockbridge.
Dr. Muhlenberg states in a letter, that it had killed several at Harmony,
(Pennsylvania,) who had eaten it instead of angelica.  Medical Repository,
ut antea. Three cases by Dr.  Greenway of Virginia, under the name of
Cicuta venenosa, in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,
vol. 3, p. 234. A case by Dr. G. W. Wright, Ohio Medical Repository, vol.
1, p. 51.  Cases in  Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 9, p. 12, and
vol. 10, p. 107. Two cases in Dunglison's American Medical Intelligencer,
vol. 2, pp. 109,157, by Drs. Cook and  Lipscomb.  I place both under thia
head, as  I connot find the Cicuta virosa credited as an indigenous plant to
this country.  One proved fatal.   The symptoms in each were similar to those
mentioned above, and particularly the epileptic convulsions.  See also Bige-
low's Medical Botany, vol. 1, p. 129.  There is scarcely a spring, that fatal
cases from eating it through mistake are not mentioned in our newspapers. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
829
follows rapidly, and particularly in children;  in two cases
within an hour after eating it.
  In  some instances,  it kills  without producing  pain or
convulsions.  The Indians when  tired of life, are said to
poison themselves with its roots.*
  One dissection has  been made  by Dr.  Hazletine.  The
limbs were more  flexible than  is usual.  The  stomach was
inflated and contained  about three gills  of a mucous, green-
ish fluid, on the  surface of which was seen a part of the
masticated root.  There was no appearance of inflammation.
  (Enanthe crocata, L., (Hemlock  dropwort, Dead  tongue.)
Several cases are on record of  the poisonous effects of this
plant.  A citizen of the Hague ate, with one of his friends,
some of its roots.  In a short time they both felt a great
heat in the stomach, which was followed by  alienation of
mind, vertigo, cardialgia, nausea and diarrhoea.   One of
them had violent convulsions, the other  bled  at the nose;
and the one who had  eaten the most died at the end of two
hours, and the other at the end of three.f
  Eleven  French  prisoners,  walking about  the  town  of
Pembroke, gathered and ate  by mistake a small quantity of
this plant with bread and butter.  One of them was shortly
after seized with convulsions, and died  in spite  of every
effort to save him.   The others were attacked in a similar
manner, of whom one  died, and the others were relieved by
forcing down an emetic.  None experienced any heat at the
stomach.J
  M. Charles visited  a family who had  eaten the roots of
the cenanthe.   A sensation of burning was present in the
stomach, and small rose-coloured spots appeared succes-
sively in different parts of the  body.  The abdomen, in one
case, was greatly swollen.  Several soldiers are also said
 to  have died from eating them.  The previous symptoms

  * Barton's essay towards a Materia Medica, part 1, p. 17.
  t Stalpart, vol. 1, p. 182.  Our author quotes cases from Smetius, Roesle-
rus and Timseus, in which the root produced vertigo and  violent delirium,
and in some instances difficult respiration and hiccup.
  X Howell, in Phil. Transactions, vol.  44.  p. 227, with the remarks of Mr.
Watson. 
830
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
 were  nausea, vertigo, vomiting, and  violent convulsions.
 Death ensued in  less than an  hour after using the poison.
 On  dissection, the  lungs were found  distended, and  their
 vessels full  of black and  dissolved blood;  the  bronchise,
 trachea and mouth contained a frothy and whitish fluid; the
 stomach was contracted  and inflamed  in  its  extremity and
 lesser curvature—its coats were  thickened—the intestines
 were  puffed  up, and their  vessels injected.   The derange-
 ments were precisely similar in all the cases ; and the body
 of one, though  preserved  four days, exhibited  no sign of
 putrefaction.*
   " This seems  (says Dr. Christison) to be the  most ener-
 getic  of the umbelliferous vegetables.   In none of the  fatal
 cases, was life prolonged beyond three hours and a half;
 and in several, death took place within an hour.   One man
 was killed by a single spoonful of the juice of the root."f
 It is however remarkable, that Dr.  Christison should at a
 subsequent period have  found this  plant when growing in
 Scotland,  to be inert.!
   QZnanthe fistulosa, L., has also frequently  proved poison-
 ous.  " The QZnanthe phellandrium is also poisonous, but in
 a less degree."  Lindley.
   Mthusa cynapium, L., (Common fool's  parsley.)  This
 plant  has been the cause of injury, from its  being mistaken
 for parsley.   Orfila gives the following as distinctive charac-
 ters :  1. The leaves of the fooPs parsley are of a blackish-
 green on  the upper side, and shining.  2. They  have no
 smell  without being bruised, but they give  out a nauseous
 smell  when rubbed between  the fingers; parsley on the

  * Duval, quoted by Orfila, Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 67.  Additional cases are
related by Dr. Vaughan, in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 20, p. 84 ; by Dr.
Watson, ibid., vol. 50, p. 856;  and by Dr. Pulteney, ibid., vol. 62, p. 469;
by Dr. Graves, Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 7, p. 308; by Drs. Bry
 and Reveille-Parise, (Journal General) London Medical Repository, vol. 19,
 . 434.  In several of these, death followed in three or four hours.  By Mr.
 roysell, Lancet, N. S., vol. 13, p. 860; by Mr. Houlston, in his Observa-
 tions  on Poisons, p. 40.
  t Mr. Bossey mentions of 24 convicts poisoned at Woolrieck by eating this
plant.   (London Medical Gazette, vol. 34, p. 288.)  See also Dr. Pickells, in
the Report of the British Association, 1843.
  X Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol.  38, p. 354.  Pereira in
Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 4, p. 17.
I 
                                                     oqi
                NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.             00±

contrary, presents an agreeable odour.  3. Its root is smaller
than that of parsley, and dies  every year in autumn.   Its
effects are, heat in the throat, pain, cramps in the stomach,
swelling of the body, and difficult respiration, drowsiness
and starting; delirium is occasionally present.  The symp-
toms are more violent if vomiting does not occur.*
  Riviere examined  a  body poisoned by it.  The tongue
was  black; a brownish serosity was found in  the stomach,
and the liver was hard, and of a yellow colour.
  Dr.  Ficinus, of Dresden, has discovered an alkaloid in
this plant, which is called cynapia, and by others cynapin.f
  Chcerophyllum sylvestre, L., (Wild chervil.)  The root of
this plant has produced delirium, profound sleep, numbness
and suffocation.
  Sium latifolium, L., (Procumbent water-parsnip,) a native
of the United States.   This has also caused violent delirium,
on eating the root in August;  before that, it is not deemed
noxious.  Dangerous errors have been made from mistaking
it for water-cresses,  among  which it grows.   When not in
flower, they  are much alike.  The leaves of the parsnip are
toothed at their edges; those of the other, undulated.J
  The two following plants belong to the natural  order of
the Ranunculaceee, which are usually acrid in their proper-
ties ; but Dr. Christison observes that they possess distinctly
the characters of the narcotico-acrids, and I therefore place
them in this  class :
  Aconitum napellus,  L., (Monkshood, woolfsbane, aconite.)
Mr.  Bacon, a  surgeon, was called to visit  a man named
John Crumpler, who, at 8 P. M.  had eaten some salad in
which, by  mistake, a certain quantity of aconite had  been
put.   The patient  immediately felt a burning heat in the
tongue and  gums, and an irritation  in  the  cheek.   This
tingling sensation extended over the whole body, accompa-
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 250. Cases by Mr. Stevenson, London
Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 14, p. 425.  Dr. Buckhave, in Medical
Commentaries, vol. 14, p. 37.  Mr. Lowe, in Burnett's  Medical Botany,
vol. 1.
  f Philosophical Magazine and Annals, vol. 2, p. 392.  British Association
Report for 1831 -2, p. 510.
  X Brande's Journal, N. S., vol. 6, p. 427. 
832
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
nied with twitchings.   When Mr. Bacon saw him, his eyes
and teeth were fixed ; his hands, feet and forehead cold, and
covered with a cold sweat.   No pulse could be  perceived,
and his breath was so  short as scarcely to be distinguish-
able.  Oil and carduus tea were immediately administered,
which induced  vomiting, but the symptoms  still remained
aggravated.   Ammonia  was now given, when vomiting
again supervened, accompanied with purging.  His symptoms
now improved, although the pulse was still interrupted and
irregular; and he gradually recovered.*
  Mathiolus states, that the  root of this plant was adminis-
tered  to four highwaymen.   Two  of them, after  having
experienced the most  violent pains, were saved by appro-
priate means ; the other two died, one of whom, a few hours
after administration, became an idiot; the face was covered
with cold sweat; asphyxia, spasms, and syncope took place;
he  passed  involuntary  stools, vomited bilious  and  livid
matter;  his body swelled, and he died apoplectic.
  Willis relates that a man died mad, within a very short time
after eating some salad in which there were some of the fresh
leaves of the  aconitum napellus.   Even its juice  introduced
into a small wound made into the thumb, has been known
to give  rise to pains  in the fingers and arms,  cardialgia,
lipothymia, agitation, and finally copious suppuration, and
gangrene, f
  A family near Lille were poisoned by this plant, in conse-
quence of a tincture of its roots being mistaken for that of
a species of lovage.  The usual  symptoms soon followed,
with swelling of  the  face, vomiting and purging.   Two
individuals, died, and the only appearance of note was great
redness of the inner membrane of the  stomach  and small

  * Philosophical Transactions, vol. 38, p. 287. A fatal case, where con-
vulsions followed the early symptoms,  and where the aconite  was mistaken
for horBe-radish, is given by Dr.  G. Smith, Forensic Medicine, p. 169, 2d
edition.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 56.  Mr. Brodie states, that if a small
quantity of the leaf of aconite  be chewed, it occasions a remarkable sense
of numbness of the lips and gums, which does not subside for two or three
hours. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
833
intestines.*  In some other cases observed by  Pallas,  the
throat and rectum were also red; the lungs dense, dark and
gorged; and the cerebral vessels turgid.f
   It should be noticed  that convulsions or  spasm are  not
constantly  present, nor  is  stupor.J   Dr.  Copland in  his
Dictionary  speaks of a case in  which permanent paralysis,
for two or three years was induced.
   Dr. J. C. Peters in an  analysis  of numerous cases, seems
to prove that the morbid appearances  usually observed  are
congestion  and not inflammation of the brain,  lungs and
and liver, and redness of the mucous surface of the stomach
and bowels, without inflammation.^
   Effect on animals.  Mr. Brodie  injected an  ounce of  the
juice of the leaves of  aconite into the rectum of a cat.   He
soon voided it, and then stood motionless for some minutes.
At the end of nine minutes,  he retched and  vomited,  and
then  attempted to walk, but faltered and fell at every step,
as if  from  giddiness.   At the end  of thirteen minutes, he
lay motionless, except some slight convulsive actions of the
limbs ; and in forty-seven minutes from the time of injection
he was dead.||   Orfila gave  the freshly  prepared watery
extract to dogs, with similar effect.   The posterior extremi-
ties were entirely paralyzed, and great pain  seemed to be

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 28, p. 452, from Journal
de Chimie Medicate.
 _ t Christison, p. 741.  A case of recovery, after taking a quantity of the
tincture of A.  napellus, is related by Mr. Sherwin.  Emetics and venesection
were the principal remedies.  (Lancet, N. S., vol. 20, p. 13.)  See also ibid.,
vol. 23, p. 905.  For additional cases, see American Journal of Pharmacy,
vol. 12, p. 173, from Journal de  Chimie Midicale, of a child aged 22 months,
dead in a few hours from eating some leaves and two or three of the flowers
of the plant.  Pereira's Materia  Medica, vol. 2,  p. 1340, a man in London,
aged 57, from eating some of the fresh roots at dinner.  Edinburgh Medical
and Surgical Journal, vol. 56, p. 297.  Twelve cases in Italy, from taking
two ounces and upwards of the juice  by mistake for that  of scurvy grass
Three died and nine recovered.  The symptoms and appearances on dissection
agree with the statements in the text.  (Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 45,
  i l'ereira's Materia Medica, vol. 2, p. 1340
 J^New York Journal of Medicine, vol.  4, p. 38.  See also Fleming's In-
riJt?f0die^ Orations and Experiments on the different mode in which
i7nnSOf ?8i?T,i b£cenrtain7egeta°le Poisons, from Philosophical Transac-
tions of 1811, Eclectic Repertory, vol.  2, p.  273.
   vol. ii.                    53 
834             NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.

present.  When, however, he used  the extract purchased
in the apothecaries' shops, it was slow in its operation, and
required  large doses  to produce its usual  effects.*   The
root of the plant  also  acts as a  similar, and indeed  more
violent poison to  animals.  Wepfer destroyed a wolf with
two drachms of it; and Bonetus, a young dog with half a
drachm.
   When applied to the cellular texture of animals, by Brodie
and Orfila, the symptoms  were very similar to those pre-
viously described.  On dissection, the  stomach and  brain
were generally seen healthy, although  in  a few cases the
mucous membrane of the former was  slightly inflamed.  In
another instance, the rectum  exhibited  a few reddish spots.
   The Aconitum  cammarum,  Jacq., is  said  to be no less
deleterious than the napellus, and  cases of death from its
use are related by Mathiolus and Bonetus.   In an instance
mentioned by the  former, vertigo and violent commotion of
the  brain preceded a  general swelling of the body; the
countenance became livid, and the  patient died in horrible
convulsions.
   The Aconitum anthora, L., and Aconitum lycoctonum, L.,
(Woolfsbane,) are also  deemed poisonous.f
   The Aconitum  ferox, Wall.,  however, a  native of the
mountain ranges of Northern India,  would seem to excel all
the  other species in virulence.  Dr.  Wallich  says  it is the
Vishavish or Bish  of the natives, and he observes, " that this
dreadful  root  is  equally poisonous  when taken  into the
  * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 52.  This corresponds with the following
fact, mentioned in a late journal:  Ten patients, threatened with phthisis,
were received into the hospital at Pavia, and the extract of aconite was pre-
scribed for them.   They took this to the amount of half a drachm at a dose,
without any inconvenience, and indeed with improvement.  All the extract,
however, prepared in  the hospital, being consumed, a fresh quantity was
procured from the shop of an apothecary, and administered in similar doses.
Mental affections of the most alarming nature rapidly supervened, accompa-
nied with other distressing symptoms.  Borda prescribed laudanum as a con-
tra-stimulant, and the  patients were gradually restored.  (London Medical
Repository, vol.  15, p.  540.)  See also Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 52, p. 587.
  f Linnaeus, however, mentions, that he was informed by the wife of the
principal clergyman ofLulea,thatat a certain post-house in Lapland, she had
seen large quantities of the aconitum lycoctonum collected and boiled for
the use of  the table, like cabbage! she was  evidently acquainted with the
plant.  (Linnaeus' Tour in Lapland, vol. 2, p. 123.) 
                 NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.             835

stomach or applied to wounds.  It is in universal use for
poisoning arrows."   The Gorkhalese pretend that it is one
of their principal securities against invasion from the low
countries.   In one tank of water destined for the  use  of a
part of the British army, on a halt in pursuit of the retreat-
ing Burmese,  the water had been  poisoned by the aconitum
ferox, bruised and  thrown in by the enemy, before  they
evacuated the place.  Undoubtedly fatal consequences would
have ensued, had not Dr. Wallich discovered it.*
  The  Bish is also used in Northern India for destroying
tigers.   Arrows poisoned with it are shot at them, and  they
are soon found dead.
  At the request of Dr. Wallich, who deems this snbstance
equal in power to strychnine, Mr. Pereira performed some
experiments  with the root of the  aconitum ferox.   The
same numbness of the lips and tongue was experienced as
from  the napellus,  on merely tasting  the tincture.   The
poison was then exhibited to animals, either by the  stomach,
the cellular  tissue,  or the blood-vessels.  The symptoms
produced were difficulty of  breathing, convulsions, and
paralysis of the extremities.   Death occurred rapidly, and
on dissection, the right side of the heart was seen distended,
and the left empty; the lungs of a florid  red.f
  According to  Peschier, the aconitum napellus contains a
peculiar alkaloid, the  aconitine, which possesses the poison-
ous qualities of the plant.  His analysis, which at  first was
doubted, has  been confirmed by Brandes and  Geiger.  It
would appear to be  highly poisonous.   The  one-fiftieth of
a grain dissolved in  alcohol,  killed a sparrow in a  few
minutes, and one-tenth of a grain destroyed  a small  bird
with the rapidity of lightning.J '

n * ?i8^°T0f Bri^isx India' (in HarPer's Family Library, vol.  3, p. 127.)
7 ; oqo'  w°nT^ S Lec?n™s *? London Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.
 'JVi-v Wallich' 1uoted in Jou"ial Royal Institution, vol. 1, p. 366
Pnt SSS.?■   0flaW and Ge°g™ptical Science, vol. 2, p. 435.
 f^f *f$rVU m *}? Indla Bish' * refer t0 Ainslie's  Materia  Indi-
pp. 289, 411     Transactions of the Medical Society of  Calcutta, vol. 2,
  X Duncan's Supplement, p. 2.  Lancet, N. S., vol 14 v 113  Turnbnll
has of late been employed for medical purposes, in very minute  doses, and 
836
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
  Helleborus Niger,  L., (Melampodium, black  hellebore,
Christmas rose.)   Morgagni  mentions a case, where an in-
dividual under cure in the hospital, took about half a drachm
of an  extract  made with water from  the roots of this  sub-
stance. He was seized with pain and vomiting, and died in
eight hours.   On  dissection,  the whole digestive canal  was
found  inflamed, and the larger  intestines more so than the
smaller.  There was, however, no gangrene, and  the limbs
continued flexible for some time after death.*
  Two cases of poisoning with this substance have lately
been communicated to  the  Societe Medicate d?Emulation, at
Paris,  by  M. Ferrary.   A domestic took a decoction of the
root in some cider, at  the  recommendation of an  empiric,
and  his master, from curiosity swallowed a  like dose.   In
about  three  quarters of an hour,  alarming  symptoms were
developed,  without, however,  exciting  suspicion  of their
real  cause.   Another  glassful  was  taken by  the  servant,
when vomiting, delirium, horrible  contortions, accompanied
with immediate coldness, supervened, and death at last en-
sued.  The violence of the symptoms was proportioned to the
quantity taken.  The  master died in two hours and a half,
and  the servant in one hour and three quarters after its in-
gestion.  On dissection sixteen hours afterwards, the  ap-
pearances in each were found precisely similar, except that
in the domestic they were more strongly marked.  The lungs
were gorged with blood.  The mucous membrane of the  sto-
mach was considerably inflamed, of a blackish brown colour,
and reduced to an almost gangrenous state. The oesophagus
and intestines were natural.!
  In animals this  produces vomiting  or  attempts  to vomit,
great debility, vertigo,  insensibility and  great  torpor,  and
finally death.  And this, if the dose be large enough, whe-

Bome of the symptoms noticed are worthy of remark. Thus Headland (Lan-
cet, Oct. 21,1843,) states that an application to the surface causes tonsillitis,
and internally, according to  Copland, it  induces hsemorrhage from the
fauces.
  * Morgagni, vol. 1, epist. 59, p. 392.
  t London Medical Repository, vol. 10, p. 424. As this was a quack remedy,
it is possible that some  mineral poison may have been mixed with the helle-
bore. 
                 NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.

ther taken internally or applied to a wound.   The stomach
and intestines, and  particularly the rectum, are  found in-
flamed,  and in  one  instance  the  mucous  membrane was
ulcerated.  Slight congestions have also been noticed in the
lungs, and the bladder has  been observed red and thick-
ened.*
   Helleborus fvtidus, L., is also said to have caused the death
of a child, who ate its root in the pulp of an applet
   Helleborus orientalis, Lam.   The hellebore of the ancients
is also poisonous.J
   Chemists  have not  been  able to  detect an alkaloid in
this plant.   According to Fenuelle  and  Capron  the  ac-
tive principle  appears to be an oily matter  containing an
acid.§
   Veratrum  album, L., (White hellebore, Indian poke.) The
root of this plant has long been distinguished for its poison-
ous qualities.   Etmuller states, that when applied to the
abdomen, it  produces violent  vomiting; and the  same phe-
nomenon has been observed  by Schroeder, when it was used
as a suppository.  Internally, it produces  spasms, suffoca-
tion, loss of voice, and coldness over  the body.   Vicat re-
lates the case  of a family, who took some soup in which the
root  of  white hellebore had  been put instead of pepper.
Shortly  after, they  were seized with  a general  coldness,
and their bodies became covered with an icy sweat.  Debi-
lity, and an  almost imperceptible pulse succeeded, and they
were not relieved until vomiting came on.   The  root when
powdered is a powerful errhine.

   * Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 7.  London Medical Repository, vol. 10, p.
426.  A case of recovery is quoted by Dr. Christison which occurred to Dr.
Fahrenhorst in Germany.  A tablespoonful of the root in fine powder had
been taken. The symptoms were those of irritant poisons generally—burn-
ing pain in the stomach and throat,  violent  vomiting to the extent of sixty
times in two hours, cramps of the limbs and cold sweats.   Anodyne demul-
cents and sinapasms to the abdomen relieved the most material of these, and
in four days the patient was well.  (Christison, 3d ed., p. 786.)
   t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 11.  Additional cases are related in Bur-
nett's Medical Botany, vol. 1.
   X A beautiful plate of this from  the Flora Groeca is given in Burnett's
Medical Botany, vol. 2, plate 87.
   § Philosophical Magazine, vol. 60, p. 70.  Brande's  Journal, vol. 13,
p. 150. 
838
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
  In several instances collected by Dr. Christison, burning in
the throat, gullet and  stomach, followed by nausea, vomit-
ing and  dysuria, occurred very early, and  these  were suc-
ceeded by weakness of the limbs, giddiness, blindness  and
dilated  pupils, great  faintness, convulsive breathing,  and
small pulse.   In a fatal case quoted by Bernt, vomiting en-
sued, violent and incessant, and followed by death in twelve
hours.  On dissection, the gullet, stomach  and colon were
here and there inflamed.*
  When administered to dogs, it produced violent vomitings
and debility, and when the oesophagus was tied, there was
violent  straining, dejection, vertigo, and  finally death.  On
dissection, the mucous membrane of the stomach was seen
red, but not ulcerated.  The other parts were natural.  On
inserting the root in powder into a wound  on the thigh of a
dog,  similar symptoms  were produced,  accompanied with
dilatation of the pupils, and the  stomach  after death pre-
sented the same appearance as in the  previous instance.!
   Veratrum viride, (Aiton and  Willdenow,) is a native of
New  England, and is  variously called American or Swamp
Hellebore, Indian  poke, &c.   It is said  to have induced
dangerous and  even fatal effects.   The root is bitter,
nauseous  and acrid and burns the mouth  and fauces.f  A
family in  Bloomfield,  (Connecticut) were poisoned from its
being mixed  with  greens for dinner.   They,  however, all
recpvered after vomiting and the subsequent use of volatile
stimuli.§
  Although the presence of veratrine in this plant has been
doubted, yet it seems  to have been obtained  by Mr. Wor-
thington in 1838-11
  In  the  Veratrum album, in  the seeds of the  Veratrum
sabadilla, Rets., and  Veratrum  officinale, Schiede., Asagrrn
  * Christison, p. 746.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 3.
  X New England Medical Journal, vol. 3, p. 335.  Bigelow's Medical Bota-
ny, vol. 2, p. 125.
  § Boston  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 18, p. 259.  See also  Dr.
Hubbard, ibid., vol. 19, p. 31.
  || Dr. Osgood, in American Journal Medical Sciences, vol. 16, p. 297. Mr.
Mitchell and Mr. Worthington's Experiments in Am. Journal of Pharmacy,
vol. 9,  p. 183; vol. 10, p. 89. 
                 NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.             O^

Officinalis, Lindley, and in the root of the Colchicum autum-
nale, L., Pelletier and Caventou have  detected an alkaloid
which  they denominated veratrine  or veratria.   It is ex-
tremely bitter, and  excites,  even in minute  doses, violent
vomiting and purging.   A few grains destroy the life of
animals; and these  effects,  according  to  Andral, junior,
occur also when it is applied  to the cellular tissue  or thrown
into  the  veins.*   Within  a  short time, Courbe  is said to
have ascertained  veratrine to be a compound substance, and
a new alkaloid still  more poisonous, and termed colchicine
is announced by Geiger.   One-twelfth  of a grain  produced
salivation,  diarrhoea, vomiting, tottering, convulsions  and
death in twelve  hours  when  given to  a cat.   The stomach
and bowels were violently inflamed  and  there was an effu-
sion of blood throughout their whole extent.t
   Colchicum  autumnale, L., (Meadow  saffron.)  This plant
acquired considerable celebrity some  years since, from its
being supposed to be the active ingredient in  the  Eau medi-
cinale of Husson.
   Its seeds have  proved fatal to several  children in conse-
quence of eating them, and cattle also suffer greatly by them,
but  only in the spring,  when  the seed  vessel is  fully
matured.  The seed, if swallowed, adheres to the coat of
the stomach, and produces at the several points of adhesion,
spots of inflammation,  which occasion the  death  of the
beast.|

  * Brande's Journal, vol. 10, p. 171.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal, vol. 42, pp. 156 and 235.  There is a  good paper on the vegetable
alkalies by Dr. Peter, in the Transylvania Journal, vol. 7, p. 157.
  t Lancet, N. S., vol. 14, p. 118.  Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol.
6, p. 320.  Medical Almanac, 1836, p. 141.  Courbe has also found another
acrid principle in the Veratrum sabadilla, which he styles sabadilline, Ma-
gondie's  Formulary, p. 70; and  Merck has discovered an acid in it, the
Veratric.  (London and Edinburgh Philosophical  Magazine, vol. 15,  p. 253.
Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 25, p. 295.)
  X Mr. Want, in the  Annals of Philosophy, vol. 4, p. 281, from information
communicated to him by Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Andrew Knight.  In the
Edinburgh Annual Register, vol. 7, p. 114, it is mentioned that a farmer near
Tetbury, lost seven yearling  beasts  out of  eighteen, by putting them in a
pasture where this plant grew in abundance.  On opening their bodies  the
food was found clogged together, in a crude and undigested mass, incapa-
ble of passing through the proper ducts.  The French call it, among other
names, tue chien, from its killing dogs. 
840              NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
   The following is an instance of its  poisonous effects on
man :  An ounce and a half of the vinous tincture of colchi-
cum was by mistake given to  a feeble man aged fifty-six,
and labouring under chronic rheumatism.   No  complaint
was made  until about an hour after, when retching and acute
pains  at the stomach  came on, and  vomiting and  purging
supervened.  This  state continued for nearly twenty-four
hours, when the purging ceased, but the most  distressing
nausea continued, with frequent retching.  The stools were,
during  the  succeeding night,  often involuntary,  but  hot
bloody.  Excessive thirst came on and continued till death,
with severe  pains of the stomach and  bowels.   In  the
evening, the patient seemed  nearly exhausted; delirium
appeared; the pulse could scarcely be perceived.  He lived,
however, through the  second night, but died the morning
following.   On dissection  there  was a redness  of  the  sto-
mach observed, but no appearance of inflammation in the
bowels.*
   In a case that occurred to Mr. Fereday, where  two ounces
of  the  wine of colchicum were taken through  mistake,
vomiting and purging, with violent pain,  came on in an
hour and a half.   These  continued, and resisted all means
for their suppression, for more  than twenty-four hours,  and
the patient sunk in 47  hours from  taking the substance.
On dissection, the  body, particularly in the front, was seen
covered  with patches of a  purple efflorescence.  The  sto-
mach and  bowels  were  coated with a thick mucus, and a
portion  of the mucous membrane of the former  was  red,
owing to a slight effusion of blood under it.  There was a
similar appearance in the peritoneum covering the jejunum.

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14, p. 262.
  Some striking effects are mentioned by Dr. Schilling.  A boy, six years old,
on the 27th of June, 1836, ate some of the seeds and leaves.  He was seized
the same night  with tetanic convulsions.  Emetics were freely given with
some relief, but on the  30th a spot appeared on the cornea, and the 1st of
July a capsular cataract was  formed.  This went off in two days, but hemi-
phlegia succeeded, wfth convulsions and a  constant diuresis.  Various affeo-
tions of the eyes followed in succession, and the patient finally sunk after
renewed convulsions on the 14th of July.  The diabetes begun  24 hours after
taking the poison,  and  continued until  death.  (London and Edinburgh
Monthly Journal Medical Sciences, vol. 2, p. 619.) 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
841
Lungs  gorged with black  blood, and which  was  effused

under the  pleura in  spots.   The heart was flabby, with

black blood on the right side.*

   A female took an infusion of colchicum to produce abor-

tion.   The symptoms were  similar to the  cases already

related.   The miscarriage  took  place the  next day,  and

she  died in a few  hours after.   On dissection, every  part

was found  healthy,  except  the  mucous  membrane  of the

stomach and intestines, and this was highly inflamed.f  In

a fatal case, Dr. A.  T. Thomson  found that every  mucous

surface of the  body, even including the bladder, poured out

quantities of blood.  There was a  general hsemorrhagic  con-

dition.J
  Digitalis  purpurea, L., (Purple foxglove.)   Dr. William

Henry was  called in October, 1809, to visit a female, an

out-patient of the  Manchester   Infirmary,  and labouring

under dropsy, who had taken an overdose of the decoction

of foxglove.   It was prepared by boiling two handsfull  of

the leaves in  a quart of water, and  then pressing the mass,

so as to expel the whole of the liquor.  Of this at 7 A. M.

she drank two tea-cupsfull, amounting in the whole, to not

less than ten  ounce  measures.   Before  eight she began to

be sick and  vomited parts  of the  contents of her stomach.

Enough, however, was retained to excite violent vomiting



  • London Medical Gazette, vol. 10, p. 161.
  t Case by Mr. Dillon in Burnett's Medical Botany, vol. 2.
  t Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 281.  Some curious facts on the effects of climate
on the properties of drugs, and colchicum in particular, are stated in Dr. A.
T. Thomson's Elements  of Materia Medica, vol.  1, p. 72.
  Two cases of suicide with the wine of colchicum committed successively by
two sisters, are related  by Drs. Caffe and Ollivier, (D'Angers.)  There was
violent pain, but no convulsions, nor were the pupils dilated.  The only part
cramped was  the soles of the  feet;  violent  vomiting without diarrhoea,
was present in both.  They sunk in 22 and 28 hours after taking the poison.
The stomach of one was not inflamed, but  its mucous coat was soft.  The
heart in both was  filled  with black, coagulated blood.  (Annales D'Hygiene,
vol. 16, p. 394.)  In an instance related by Dr. McPhail, U. S. army, all the
Bymptoms of Asiatic cholera were present  from taking a pint of wine of
colchicum (mistaken for Madeira), and death ensued in 48 hours.  Two indi-
viduals, engaged  in the same drinking bout,  suffered all the symptoms of
dysentery, and died some weeks after.  (Dunglison's Am. Med. Intelligencer,
vol. 2, p. 312.)  A fatal case, from a  decoction of the seeds, by  Dr.  Neu-
brandt. (Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 54, p. 262.) Another from
several ounces of the tincture, by Dr. A. T. Thomson.  (London and Edin-
burgh Monthly Med. Journal, vol. 3, p. 537.) 
842
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
and retching throughout the whole of that and the follow-
ing day, during which, every thing that was taken was in-
stantly rejected.  In the intervals of sickness  she was ex-
cessively faint, and her skin was covered with a cold sweat.
The tongue and lips swelled, and there was a constant flow
of viscid saliva from the mouth.   Very  little urine was
voided on the day she took the digitalis,  and on the two
following days the action of the kidneys was  entirely sus-
pended.  When Dr. Henry saw her, which was forty-eight
hours after she  had taken the poison, the tongue was white,
the ptyalism continued, though in  a less  degree, and the
breath was foetid.   The pulse  was  low, irregular, (not ex-
ceeding forty,) and after every third or fourth pulsation, an
intermission occurred for some seconds.  She complained
also  of general pains  in the  limbs, and cramps  in the
legs.   By the use of effervescing draughts, and ether with
ammonia,  she gradually  recovered  her imperfect health.
Dr. Henry remarks, that  she had not  taken any  mercury,
and  that the ptyalism was entirely the  effect of  the digi-
talis.*
  A man labouring under asthma, imprudently took an ounce
of the tincture of digitalis. He immediately fell asleep, and
slept for three hours and a half. After this, on awakening,
he vomited, and likewise had a motion.   He then again
slept quietly.   A strong  emetic was now given, which ope-
rated well, and he continued tranquil and his pulse regular.
After two or three hours, however, his pulse  began to inter-
mit.   Strong punch was  given  in  divided doses, and also
carbonate of ammonia.  This supported the system, though
the pulse was at one period as low as thirty-six in  a minute.
The intermission  lasted  for about twelve hours, and the
asthma was cured.i
  * Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 7, p. 148.  This symptom has
been noticed by other practitoners.  Dr. Barton mentions having seen it pro-
duced in a child from ordinary doses.  (Barton's Med. and Physical Journal,
vol. 1, part 1, p. 80.)  Another  case is related in ibid., vol. 1, part 2, p. 48.
Dr. Barton quotes the following  remark  from Dr. Withering: " I am doubt-
ful whether it does not sometimes excite a copious flow of saliva."  (Wither-
ing's Tracts, vol. 2, p. 285.)
  t Case by Dr. Fogo, in Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. 18, p. 345
A similar case is recorded by Dr. Beddoes, of an over dose taken by a drop- 
                NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.             °*°


  A quack was tried in London in  1826, for administering

an overdose  of digitalis.  By his advice, a young lad  took,

early in the morning, about six ounces of a strong decoction.

Very soon afterwards, vomiting, severe  pains in the bowels

and purging  ensued.  In the afternoon he became lethargic

and slept profoundly for several hours;  but when he awoke,

vomiting and pain returned.  Convulsions ensued, with di-

lated and insensible pupil, and  a slow,  small and irregular

pulse,  and in twenty-two hours from swallowing the drug,

the boy died.  On dissection, the internal membranes of the

brain  were found  much injected with blood, and the  inner

coat of the stomach was red in some  places.   The  otheT

parts were healthy.*

  In France  this substance is prescribed medicinally in very

large  doses, and  instances  of sudden death are hence not

uncommon.t
  Dr.  A. T. Thomson asserts, that foxglove acts  powerfully

in exciting the generative organs; and that one of the effects

of  an  overdose,  is  inflammation of the genitals,  in both

sexes. X

   As  an instance of its inertness, I  may add, that Dr. Rob-

bins relates  of an intemperate man, who in a fit  of  passion,

took half an  ounce of  the tincture.   It  remained on his

stomach for  one hour, without  causing  vertigo, affection  of

the  pulse or dilated pupil.  At  the end  of that  time, an

emetic was given with effect.§

   When administered  to animals in the form of powder, or

extract,  or  infusion  of the  leaves, it excites vomiting,

anxiety, melancholy, smallness and slowness  of pulse, in-

sical patient. The vomiting was incessant.  He was relieved by successive
doses of opium.  (Medical Facts and Observations, vol. 5, p. 17.)
  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.  27, p. 223.  The prisoner
was acquitted, on the ground that his advice had been asked.   There is a
parellel case in London Med. Gazette, vol. 34, p. 559, by Mr. Wilson, except
that the patient, a robust young man, recovered by the aid of brandy and
ammonia.  His pulse for some time did not exceed 40 strokes in a minute, and
extremely weak.
  f London Medical Quarterly Review, vol. 2, p. 454.  Edinburgh Medical
and Surgical Journal, vol. 2, p. 480.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 21, p.
581. A fatal case from injection of the infusion of the leaves, is  related in
Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 52, p. 586.
  X Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, vol. 2, p. 465.
  § Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 3, p. 723. 
844
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
voluntary stools, and convulsions—death closes the train of

symptoms.*

   Mr. Le Royer, some years since, obtained an active prin-

ciple from the leaves of this plant, which he calls digitaline.

A grain in solution  injected into the stomach of a rabbit,

caused  death in a few minutes, without agitation or  pain.

Similar  effects were induced in larger animals by increased

doses.t

   Scila  Maritima, L., (Squill.)  The root  of this plant  in

overdoses  causes  sickness, vomiting, diarrhoea, and  bloody

urine.   It  likewise,  according to  Christison,  produces nar-

cotic symptoms.  Lange mentions the case of a woman who

died from taking a spoonful  of the  root in powder  to cure

tympanites.   She was seized with  violent pain, and died

soon in  convulsions.  The stomach was found every where

inflamed, and in some parts eroded.   Twenty-four grains  of

the powder have proved fatal.X

   When administered to animals, either  internally or injec-

ted into the veins, violent efforts  to vomit,  dilated pupils

and  lethargy were  caused,  and  in a few  hours,  violent

convulsions  and death.§

   Vogel has  discovered  an  acrid principle  in  the' squill,

denominated scillitin.

   Ipecacuanha.  This  substance is  obtained  from   several

plants of  the genera cephaelis  and psycothria.||   In itself,

  * Bonjean has made a number of comparative experiments, with the pow-
der of digitalis, its aqueous and its resinous extracts, and found all poisonous
to men and dogs, and their power increases in the order just named.  (Jour-
nal de Pharmacie, July, 1843.)  But chickens were not affected by either.
On the other hand, the East India Company's  camels in Caubul, are said to
have been very numerously poisoned by this plant.  (Chemist, vol. 3, p. 254.)
  t Brande's Journal, vol. 18, p. 178. On the oil of digitalis, see Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 39, p. 381.
  X Christison, p. 744.  In the case of a patient laboring under dropsy, who
took a large  quantity of vinous tincture of squills, probably equal to one
hundred grains, extreme nausea and colic followed, and he died on the second
day, probably from inflammation and gangrene of the bowels, but there was
no dissection.  Case by Dr. Wolfring, in Chemist, vol. 3, p. 318, from a Ger-
man Journal.
  § Orfila's Toxicology, 3d ed., vol. 2., p. 202.
  || See Abel's Journey to China, Appendix, p. 335. Edinburgh Journal of
Natural and Geographical Science, vol.  2, p. 17.  On the roots that yield  the
ipecacuanha of commerce, Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, vol. 26.  Dr.
Griffith,  in  Philadelphia  Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 3,  p. 181.   Lindley's'
Flora Medica, p. 440. 
                                                       OAF.
                NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.              °*u

it  can hardly be  deemed poisonous, except in very large
doses.*  But a very powerful alkaloid has been obtained
from  it by Pelletier, and which  is  termed  emetin.\  Two
grains of  this  will  kill a  dog;  and  the   symptoms are
frequent vomiting, followed by lethargy and coma.   Death
ensues in  15 or 20  hours, and the  stomach and lungs are
found inflamed.
   The same effects occur when it is injected into a vein, or
applied to a wound.J
   Of secondary consequence, but arranged in this group by
Orfila are:         ,
   Rutagraveoleus, L., (Rue.)  The distilled water and watery
extract in large quantity, caused death in  animals after  a
long  interval, but its  effects are  not deemed  powerful by
Orfila.   It would however seem  from  some cases  recently
published by Dr. Helie, that the decoction of the fresh roots
caused vomiting, great prostration, and  delirium, and in two
 instances, inflammatory swelling of the tongue, with profuse
 salivation.  It  must, however, be observed, that in each of
 the three cases given by Dr. Helie, it was taken as an abor-
 tive, and  proved such at intervals of from  two to six days.
 Neither of the persons died.§
   Anagallis arvensis, L., (Meadow pimpernel.)  Naturalized
 in the  United States.   Its  extract produces in  animals
 dejection, insensibility and  death.   The mucous membrane
 of the stomach and rectum were found inflamed,  and the
 lungs livid.
   Aristolochia clematitis, L., (Common birthwort.) Vomiting,
 convulsive motions, weakness of the posterior extremities,
  • In some constitutions, however, its effluvia induces difficult breathing,
anxiety, and even spasms. A case is quoted from Rust's Magazine, where these
were  induced in a person from pounding the root, during three hours.
Vomiting and dangerous dyspnoea ensued, and these were relieved only by
the use of active remedies. (Lancet, N. S., vol. 8, p. 3£.)
  t The same substance has been found in the Viola odorata, L. by Boullay.
(Brande's Journal, vol. 17, p. 385.)  See also Brande's Journal, N. S., vol.
6, p. 194.  Duncan's Supplement, p. 58.
  X Magendie.  The decoction of nut galls is the antidote for emetin, accor-
ding to Devergie.
  § Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 20, p. 180. 
846
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
dejection and death, were induced by its root.   The stomach
and rectum somewhat inflamed.
  Nerium oleander, L., (Common oleander, Rose-bay.) The
extract of this plant produced in animals, vomiting, vertigo,
weakness of the extremities, convulsions and death.  The
distilled water and powder are  less active.   The  digestive
canal was not affected.
  Morgagni (who also  called this plant Rhododaphne) relates
the case of a female, who drank some of the juice.   Vomit-
ing soon succeeded.   Her lips were brown; the pulse small
and weak;  and power  of speech was  lost,  and she  lay
insensible.   Death ensued nine hours  after taking the juice.
On dissection, the back  of  the body was universally of a
violet colour,  but the  anterior, natural.  There was some
heat of the body, though seventeen hours had elapsed since
death; the  blood-vessels of  the  stomach,  intestines and
omentum, were much  distended; the  stomach contained a
greenish fluid,  but its membranes  were sound; the right
lung was  red and adhering, while the  left was completely
collapsed.   All the other viscera were natural.*
  .Tanghinia veneniflua.  Boyer.  Cerbera Tanghin, a native
of Madagascar, and where the seeds are said to be employed
as an ordeal  for the detection of persons accused of crimes.!
  * Morgagni, vol. 3, p. 387.  Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 259. The Neri-
um odorum, Aiton, has its root poisonous, and " is but too often resorted to
for the purpose of self-destruction by the Hindoo women, when tormented
with jealousy."  (Ainslie's Materia Indica, vol. 2, p. 23.)
  The Nerium oleander abounds in the north of Africa.  A small detach-
ment of the French army of Algiers halted near the branches of a river
where this tree was very common.  The cook of the party was advised to
stir the  barley that he was preparing for their meal with a branch of it.
Five men who ate of this food were seized with symptoms of poisoning, vom-
iting, spasms or stupefaction, dilated pupils.  They however recovered after
an interval of some days, but needed active treatment.  (Du Barry, Encyc.
des Sciences Medicales,  October, 1843, p. 144.
  f London Magazine of Natural History, vol. 6, p. 264.  Under the name of
Cerbera Tanghin, Mr. Telfair, in a letter from the Mauritius, dated March
8, 1829, gives  an interesting account of this substance.  It  is not much
larger than an almpnd, yet it is sufficient to destroy twenty persons.  He
was present on an occasion when it was given  to the servants of the King of
Madagascar, on a suspicion of his having been poisoned.  The kernel was
pounded fine with a stone, and every one was made to swallow a portion of it.
On some it  began to act in half an hour or less.  Those whose  stomachs
reject it early, generally recover. On this  occasion, there were only  two
individuals in whom this was the case.  The others  were thrown, in a state
of insensibility, into a hole, and every person present was obliged to throw 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
847
 According to the experiments of Dr. Ollivier of Angers, it
 produced  in animals, vomiting, great weakness, dilated
 pupils,  convulsions,  succeeded  by lethargy.   Mr.  Henry
 has obtained from it  a white and crystallizable substance,
 to which the acrid  properties are attributed;  and another,
 styled tanguin, to which the narcotic symptoms are to be
 ascribed.*
   Cerbera ahovai, L.   Its nut is highly deleterious, and the
 wood, when  thrown into the water intoxicates fishes.   The
 Cerbera  manghas, L.,  is  equally  so.   A  Javanese woman
 (says Dr. Horsfield)  swallowed, out  of curiosity, about a
 scruple of the external part of the fruit; it produced partial
 delirium, and  temporary  blindness,  but she retained the
 power of speech.!
   Cerbera thevetia, L., is a native  of Guadaloupe, and ac-
 cording  to Dr. Ricord Madiana, its seeds  operate similarly
 on animals.  In large doses it caused death; and on dissec-
 tion, the head and stomach were found much injected with
 blood.J
   Several  species of Apocynum, as  the androscemifolium,
 cannabinum and venetum, furnish an  acrid milky juice, which
 inflames and ulcerates the skin.  The  first and second of
 these are American plants.
  Asclepias  gigantea, L.  Bauhin asserts, that  the juice of
 this  given in the dose  of a drachm and a half, has produced
 violent symptoms and a fatal haemorrhage.   When Orfila
 administered to  dogs  the Asclepias vincetoxicum, L.,  the
animals died at the end of one or two days, and their sto-
 machs  were found inflamed.
  Cynanchum erectum,  L.,  {Pergularia  erecta,  Spreng.)
 Plenck relates that  thirty-six grains of the leaves of this
 plant administered to  a dog, produced violent  vomiting, a
trembling, convulsions and death.   The Cynanchum  vimi-

fI^hVeV thf^S-°that the burial was ^Hy completed.   Radama abol-
ft5™ rwTu ♦  -1S i^ran  <?rdeai-  (Transylvania Journal, vol. 3, p.  420,
from Curtis' Botanical Magazine, Feb , 1830 )
vol. Or^la8s0Toxicology' 3d ed> vol. 2, p. 338.  Bulletin des Sciences Med.,
  t Ainslie's Materia Indica, vol. 2, p. 262.
  X Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, vol. 1, p. 86. 
848             NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
nale,  L., {Sarcostemma viminale, R. Br.) furnishes  a milky
juice, extremely caustic.
   Cissus glandulosa, Gmel., and quadrangular is, L.  (Saelan-
thus  glandulosus and quadragonus  of Forskal,) are acrid,
and according to Orfila,  poisonous.
   Mercurialis perennis, L., (Mountain Mercury, Dog's mer-
cury.)  This plant is  hurtful both to man and animals.  It
causes vomoting, diarrhoea, profound sleep and convulsions.
Ray relates the case of  a man, his wife and three children,
who experienced deleterious  effects from eating  it, fried
with bacon.*
   An Irish female at Boston, mistaking this for a  common
green in her native country, cooked it as such.   In half an
hour, it caused delirium,  stertorous breathing  and coma.
An emetic of sulphate of zinc, however, relieved her.f
   The treatment of  the poisons enumerated until  now in
this chapter, resolves itself into an endeavour  to  remove
the noxious substance by  emetics   or the stomach-pump.
Enemas are also advisable, if the poison  has been retained
any time,  to  procure  its discharge  by  the bowels.  If
symptoms  of  cerebral  congestion  supervene, venesection
is advisable, and afterwards diluted acidulated  drinks, fre-f
quently repeated.  Inflammation is to  be met by its proper
remedies.J
   In the comatose state, which is apt to accompany several
of these and when the remedies above prescribed are appa-
rently ineffectual, individuals have occasionally been roused
by the use of diffusible stimuli.   Thus Dr.  Sigmond advises,
in this stage of poisoning  from stramonium,  cold effusions
to the head and an  enema containing  some  ten grains or
less of camphor.
  Dr. Hubbard  mentions several instances of narcotic and
narcotico-acrid  poisoning  of this  description,  where the
exhilition of sulphuric ether in considerable quantity  revived

  * London Med. and Physical Journal, vol. 15, p. 71. The case of a family
poisoned by it, (of whom  some died,) is mentioned in the  Philosophical
Transactions, vol. 17, p. 875.
  t Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 3, p. 358.
  X Orfila's Toxicology, 3d ed., vol. 2, p. 200. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
849
the patient from an apparently desperate state and permitted
the subsequent successful application of the usual remedies.*
  We come now to a class of narcotico-acrids which induce
violent tetanic spasms, without impairing  the sensibility;
but on the other hand, heightening it.   They have also local
irritant properties, although these are seldom observed, on
account of the rapidity of their deleterious  action.   And in
consequence  of this last, but few morbid appearances are
noticed.f
  Strychnos nux vomica, L.  A  native of Ceylon, and the
coasts of Coromandel and Malabar.  The seeds are what is
commonly called  nux vomica,  and this  is  the  poisonous
ingredient.  It has of late years  been  frequently used  in
cases of suicide, and  a narrative of its effects is therefore
necessary.|
  Mr. Oilier  saw  a  young woman who, in a fit  of melan-
choly, took nearly half an ounce.  Half an hour after, she
was found by him calm and well.  He went away ut search
of an emetic, and on his return found that slight convulsions
had occurred.  These increased rapidly in  frequency and
violence,  darting  out the  extremities, and  stiffening the
body.  In the short intervals, she was  sensible, but had a
feeble pulse,  and complained of sickness and great thirst.
She died  in an hour after  swallowing the poison.§
  A young lady  took by mistake  a table-spoonful of the
powder of nux vomica.   She was instantly deprived of the
  • Boston Medical and Surgical Journal vol. 19, p. 31.  A curious case is
related by Dr. Walker in the Philadelphia Medical Examiner, (vol. 4,p 742 )
where the patient took by mistake twenty grains of the extract  of'bella-
donna, combined with the compound camphorated linament, It was intend-
ed as an external application.  The last portion taken, at the end of twelve
hours, excited vomiting, but there was no other subsequent bad symptoms
Hie extract was ascertained to be of a good quality, and it is therefore sug-
gested by Dr. Walker, that the ammonia in the compound  may have proved
,trIn„^iilL-later^e*, Where ,a.child aSed eleven 7ears was poisoned by a
strong decoction of the  leaves of belladonna, and where emetics and other
^^™„haJhtSeefifect;.^- Verdier found immediate relief from the use
™E3 ™fi C<t  ' rn ♦ imn§ *^nty dr°Ps of ™onia.  The delirium was
c^lSl^rua^ iff)a Uy rCC0Vered-  (^olographic des Scien-
  t  Christison, p. 750.
  X  This poison  seems  to have  been known in the time of Valentin!. See
his Pandects vol. 1 p. 622   De nuce vomica penes furem deprehenm.
  §  London Medical Repository,  vol. 19, p. 448.
  vol. ii.                   54 
850
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
power of walking, and  fell down, but without losing her
recollection.   Dr. Basedow (of Merseburg) saw her imme-
diately.   The pupils  were contracted,  pulse  small,  and
skin cool.  The forearm was half bent, and the hands and
fingers had convulsive twitches.   The  legs were rigid, and
all the muscles tetanically contracted.  She had  not the
slightest pain or sickness, but her breathing became every
moment more difficult,  and she  complained of impending
suffocation.   She was  gradually relieved by an emetic, and
small doses of oil  of turpentine and sulphuric  ether.  The
dyspnoea gradually subsided, and towards  evening the tetanic
spasms had ceased.*
   These instances, one of death and the other of recovery,
might be  multiplied  but they are sufficient to give an idea
of the usual  symptoms.t   It would appear^ that in smaller
doses the  effects are more distinctly those of the narcotico-
acrid poisons.   Heat and burning in the stomach, stiffness
of the joints, convulsive tremors, and at last violent fits of
tetanus, were noticed in a case  where about a drachm had
been taken.   To this  followed redness and inflammation of
the  tongue, burning  thirst, pain  in the  stomach,  and hot
skin.  Next  day, though  the  fits had  ceased, the  muscles
were very sore, especially on motion.  Colic and diarrhoea,
with vomiting occurred  ; but on the fourth day they disap-
peared, and she became convalescent^!
   Its action on the paralytic is  striking.  A patient at the
Hospital  St. Louis, in Paris, labouring under  hemiplegia of
the right side, took twenty-four pills of it.   He would have
suffered severely, if proper remedies had not been instantly

   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 31, p. 445.
   t Other cases are given in Christison, p. 754, etc.  London Med. Gazette,
vol. 3, p. 445, by Mr. Baynham.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 35, p. 451, by Mr. Watt, (from Glasgow Medical Journal,) Lancet, vol.
10, p. 732.
   X Tacheron, Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 4, p. 500.  It is singular that
the natives of Hindostan use this substance for many months continuously,
beginning with a small quantity and increasing, sometimes to twenty grains,
without any bad effect, provided it be not taken on an empty stomach; if this
be neglected, spasms are apt to ensue. The nut is taken in its natural state,
or half roasted.  The seeds are employed in the distillation of country spir-
its, to render them more intoxicating.  (Baker, in Transactions of Med. and
Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. 1, p. 138.) 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.             851
administered; but the convulsions which always accompany
this poison, continued, and  afterwards affected  only  the
diseased part, so that the arm which before was lifeless, was
now strangely and constantly agitated.*
  Appearances on dissection.  In Mr. Ollier's case, the parts
were  almost natural; the brain somewhat congested,  and
the heart empty.  In a  dissection by  Orfila and Barruel,
where death was also  speedy, the spinal plexus  of veins
was slightly gorged, the pia mater red and injected, and the
cerebral  substance soft, and  presented  a number of bloody
spots on cutting into it.  The spinal  marrow was natural;
the  mucous membrane  of  the stomach   and intestines,
blanched; but here and  there  on  the  former, a red  patch.
Lungs gorged with black fluid blood.f
  According to  the time that elapses before death, will be
the marks  of inflammation  in  the stomach and intestines.
This  is shown by comparing the dissections  mentioned by
Christison.!  " Defermon described, (says Magendie,)  and
I have myself seen, a contracted state of the  spleen, conse-
quent on poisoning by this substance."§
   No poison has been more  repeatedly made  the  subject of
experiment than the nux vomica and the alkaloids found in
it.  These were discovered by Pelletier and Caventou,  and
are denominated strychnine and brucine.  The effects of the
first  are by far  the most rapid  and  violent.   Magendie
killed a dog with one-eighth of a  grain;  and the  Editor of
the Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal says, that he
has himself seen one die in two minutes after the  injection
of  one-sixth of a grain.jj  " There is little doubt," says

  * London Medical Repository, vol. 7, p. 163
J J^iV01- \\l f> fr°*Archives Generales.  See also Orfila, Lecons,
3d ed.  vol. 3, p. 443, for additional dissections.                  V
  1 Christison. p. 757,  See also several cases, mentioned by Sir James
Clarke m his work on Climate, Disease, &c , n 140
  § Magendie's Formulary, p. 2.
  || Among the experimenters on nux vomica and strychnine, I mav enumer-
ate, Magendie and Delille; Eclectic Repertory, vol 3; J 274  SeSSi ?nLon
don Medical Repository, vol. 25, p. 55S; yoKp 6l'  SomerSle Harlan"
3°n 596La^T "t5ub5?r<V* Chapman's Journal, volXp  192?™!'
3, p. 296; vol. 4, p. 242. Dr. A. T.  Thomson, in  London Medical  Gazette 
852
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
 Christison, " that half a grain  thrust  into  a wound, might
 kill a man in less than a quarter of an  hour."
   A single grain was taken  by mistake by an individual,
 and produced the usual tetanic  symptoms ;  after an emetic,
 sulphuric ether was given in successive doses, and subse-
 quently, a mixture of ether and oxide of zinc. He recovered.
 Another case was a fatal one,  two scruples  having  been
 swallowed.  Death succeeded in an hour and a  half after
 the  suicidal  act.    On  dissection,  the  body was  found
 extremely stiff.   Two quarts of fluid blood escaped from
 the vertebral canal on opening it.   The blood-vessels  of the
 head were congested and the  upper part of the spinal mar-
 row was softened.   The  stomach was healthy.*
   The effects  of brucine are similar  to, but  less violent
 than  those of  strychnine.    According  to  Magendie, the
 proportion  in  energy  is  as  twelve  to one, while Andral
 estimates from his own experience, that it requires six grains
 of brucine  to  produce  the  effects  of one  of strychnine.
 Four grains of brucine were required to  kill a  rabbit, and a
 middle sized dog had strong  tetanic attacks from  the same
 dose, but did not die.t
   Tests.   Nux vomica in powder, has a dirty green  gray
 colour and intensely bitter taste, and an  odour like powder
 of liquorice.  It inflames on  burning charcoal, and if  nitric
 acid  be added to it, takes an orange red colour,  which is
 destroyed by the addition of protochloride of tin.   This red
 colour only occurs  when brucine  is present, combined  with
 strychnine.   For the  same   reason, the infusion of nux

vol. 8, p. 50.  Review of Bardsley on Strychnia and Brucia,  Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 33, p. 406.  Dr.  Booth,  in Transactions
Provincial Med. and Surgical Association, vol. 2,  p. 221.  Dr. Stannius,
British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, pp. 144,176. See also Annals of Phi-
losophy, vol. 16, p. 28.  Brande's Journal,  vol. 7, p. 375. Edinburgh Med.
and Surg. Journal, vol. 18, p. 159; vol. 19, p. 495.
  * British Annals of Medicine, vol.  1, p. 339.  Lancet, N. S.,  vol. 21, p.
647.  See also Dr. Wilson's case in London and Edinburgh Monthly Jour-
nal, December, 1845.
  Distances are multiplying of the dangerous and fatal  effects of applying
strychnine and its salts to the skin, in too  large quantities, (endermically,
as it is styled.) See Magendie and Guthrie, in Lancet, N. S., vol. 15, pp.
117, 321.
  t Magendie's Formulary, p. 17. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
853
vomica becomes orange red by nitric acid.   It is precipi-
tated grayish white with tincture of galls.
  The following directions are given by Simon, for procu-
ring the strychnine from nux vomica :   Separate, if possible,
all foreign matters, boil the substance repeatedly in alcohol
of 60 or 70 per cent., filter, concentrate and boil the alcohol
extract, with calcined magnesia and water.   This causes a
precipitation of the strychnine, which may  be afterwards
separated from further extraneous matters by alcohol.*
  Tests of strychnine,  {a.) Pass a current of chlorine through
water, holding  finely powdered strychnine  in solution,  a
white  flocculent matter forms on the surface  and spreads
through the liquid.  (Pelletier.)
  {b.) Sulpheryanate of potash causes a  turbidness, soon
followed by a white  precipitate.   On brucine,  it  induces
none of these effects.   (Simon, Notus, 0. Henry.)
  (c.)  Strong  sulphuric acid  produces no change of colour,
but if  a little peroxide of lead be added, a fine blue colour
appears, which readily passes  to  violet, then gradually to
red, and finally after a few hours  becomes yellow.  (Mar-
chand.)   This is considered a very characteristic test.
  {d.)  If to the sulphuric acid, and  strychnine chromate of
potash in solution in  very minute quantity  be  added, the
mixture  will  take a crimson, passing to a deep blood  red
colour.  (Taylor.)f
  Tests of brucine.  Besides the blood red colour  iuduced
by nitric acid, and which becomes yellow on the application
of heat, I may add the following:   Protohydrochlorate of
tin in solution causes a beautiful violet coloured precipitate.
Strong sulphuric acid causes a deep pink colour.!
  Orfila and Barruel ascertained the presence of this poison
in the dead body.  They  advise that the contents of  the
stomach be boiled in water acidulated with  sulphuric acid.

  •  British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 16, p.  79.
  t  Journal de Pharmacie, vol.  24, pp. 159,  194.  American  Journal of
I harmacy, vol. 10, p. 160. British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p.  190.
British and  Foreign Medical Review,  ut antea.  Chemist, vol.  5, p.  112.
Taylor  on Poisons, p. 779.
  J  Magendie's Formulary, p. 17. 
854             NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.

(This, if it be nux  vomica,  will become  yellowish.)  The
filtered  liquid is then to be neutralised with  carbonate of
lime,  and evaporated to  dryness.  The dry mass is then
acted on with successive portions of alcohol, and evaporated
to the consistence of a thin syrup.   Ammonia precipitates
this, it becomes deep orange red, with nitric acid, and will
deposit, if left standing, in a day or two, crystals of strych-
nine.*
   It is proper now to arrange under the head of Strychnos
Nux Vomica, the substance which in  previous  editions, I
considered under the name of Brucea Antidysenterica. (Mill.)
   Some  years since, (about 1807 probably, but the precise
time I  cannot ascertain) a patient under the care of Dr.
Rambach, of Hamburgh, experienced  poisonous effects from
the use  of a decoction, as  it was supposed^  of angustura
bark, and death also resulted from  it in Hungary and Berne.
This led to an examination, and  it was ascertained, that two
species are known in commerce—the genuine, called West
India, and the other spurious, (then and until lately) supposed
to be East Indian, and  the bark of the above Brucea ante-
dysenterica.   Several experiments  on animals confirmed the
poisonous  nature of the latter.  The Austrian government
was so  impressed with the danger to be apprehended, that
it ordered all the angustura bark in the empire, genuine and
spurious, to be burned, and interdicted its further  importa-
tion.   Its  sale  was  also prohibited in  Denmark; and in
Russia and Wirtemberg, the characters distinguishing each
were published by authority.f  Some of these may be briefly
enumerated:
   The taste  of  the genuine  is  aromatic  bitter, that of the
spurious, highly and disgustingly bitter.   The concentrated
infusion of the first is clear  and reddish brown, and when
diluted becomes yellow.  If an alkali be added, it is changed
to a dark red, and a solution of persulphate or permuriate
of iron, imparts to it a high red  colour, and after some time
throws  down a rose-colored precipitate.  The infusion oi
  * Christison, p. 752. Lancet, vol. 8, p. 56.
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 13, p. 211, 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
855
the last is not so clear, of a dirty brown colour, and when
diluted does not become yellow.  On the addition of an
alkali, it becomes greenish, and  a solution  of sulphate  of
iron, gives it a dark green colour, and throws down a copi-
ous satin-black precipitate.*
  Animals were  readily destroyed by this  substance, and
the symptoms were violent convulsions, resembling tetanus,
and which occur in paroxysms.   The animal expires in one
of these.   On dissection, no inflammation is found.   Pro-
fessor Emmert, of  Tubingen, communicated the following
case to Orfila:  " A child died after  having taken by mis-
take, a decoction  of this  bark; he preserved the use of his
intellectual faculties,  and earnestly begged  that he might
not be  touched,  for  he  experienced  terrible  cramps  after
each time that he was handled.   He had a copious perspi-
ration, but did not vomit, f
  On an  analysis  by Pelletier  and Caventou, an  alkahoid
was discovered of poisonous properties, and to it the name
of Brucine was given.
   But the  first doubt  relative to the botanical history of this
substance, that I have met with, occurs in Burnett (Medical
Botany) who asserts that the false augustura is brought from
South America, and therefore cannot be  a Brucea.  He sug-
gests that  it is probably a species of strychnos.   Again, it
was denied  by some experimenters, that the  products in
question could be  obtained  from the bark  of the  genuine
Brucea.  Dr. O'Shaugnessy may be  considered, I presume,
as having settled the  question.  In a communication  dated
at Calcutta,  in January, 1837, he  states that a crystalline
substance was brought to him, which he  ascertained to have
been prepared from the bark of the strychnos nux vomica—
the only poisonous strychnos abundant in the Bengal jungles,
 with which the natives are familiar—that he analyzed both
 the bark and the crystals, and found them identical in their

   * For a further list of its distinguishing characters, see Orfila's Toxicolo-
 g',™1.2'!1- 2°°-  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 13, p. 210.
 1 uladelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 2, p.  158.  American Journal of
 Pharmacy, vol. 12, p. 241.
   f Emmert, in London Medical Repository, vol. 6, p. 89. 
856             NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
physical and chemical composition (all yielding brucine and
traces of strychnine) and in their physiological effects, with
the false augustura.*
   Strychnos Ignatii, L., or Ignatia amara, (Bean of St. Igna-
tius.)  Its operation is similar to the nux vomica.   Dr. Hopf
relates of a man who  was attacked  with tetanus of several
hours duration, after taking  the  powder of half  a bean in
brandy.t  The native Indian practitioners are said to use it
in cholera, and two large doses frequently cause vertigo and
convulsions.!
   Strychnos  tieute, Leschen.   From this plant is  obtained
the upas tieute  of Java.§ Numerous experiments have been
performed with it on animals.  It induces tetanus,  asphyxia
and death with great rapidity, and  on dissection, Dr. Hors-
field found the  brain  highly  inflamed.  Criminals in Java
are  said to be wounded by arrows poisoned with it, and
death follows in a few minutes.  Pelletier  and Caventou
obtained strychnine  from this species also, combined with
various  colouring matters.
   As to the relative properties of brucine and strychnine in
the  substance  just considered, we are informed by Magendie,
that the tieute contains strychnine perfectly pure; Ignatius'
bean, strychnine, with a very small proportion of brucine,
and nux vomica, both these alkaloids.
   Upas Antiar is the  juice of a large tree in Java, denomi-
nated by  Leschenault, Antiaris  toxicaria.   The ancient
opinion concerning the deadly influence of the vapour of the
bohon upas, is now generally abandoned; but it is evident
from the nature of these  two indigenous  substances, that
there was much foundation  for  the accounts given of the
virulence of the native poisons.   In small  doses  it acts as
an irritant,  but  in  large  ones, causes  convulsions  and
coma.
  * American Journal of Pharmacy,  vol. 10, p. 144, from Journal of Cal-
cutta Medical and Physical Society, for January, 1837.  British and Foreign
Medical Review, vol. 16, p. 358.
  t Christison, p. 759.
  X Transactions of Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. 3, p. 432.
  § Upas  is probably a common adjunct in the Javanese language to all
poisonous plants. 
                 NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.              OJ<


  It operates, however, more  slowly than the tieute, and

according to Mr. Brodie, death is caused by rendering the

heart insensible to the stimulus of the blood, and stopping

the circulation.   The heart after death, is  found to have lost

its irritability.
  The French chemists could detect no strychnine in it, but

found a bitter substance, soluble  in  water and alcohol, and

concentrating all the noxious qualities of the  poison.  In

very small quantities it proved rapidly fatal.  Probably this

is the antiarin, which  is announced  to  have been obtained

from it by Mulder.*

  Ticunas, according  to  De la  Condamine, is an  extract

obtained  from  various  plants  by   the   Indians  of  South

America.  The experiments  of Fontana with it, indicate that

it produces  death  in animals, either externally  applied or

internally given.   The ordinary  symptoms are  convulsions,

faintings, great debility, and loss of feeling.t

   Woorara  is  a poison with  which the  Indians  of Guiana

arm the points of their arrows.   It does  not appear  to differ

essentially  from the ticunas.  Mr.  Brodie has performed

several experiments with it, and he imagines it to  produce

death by destroying the functions of the brain.!   According

to Mr. Schomburgk, the woorara is  obtained from an unde-

scribed species of strychnos, which he   styles S. Toxifera,

  * The following are authorities deserving of  consultation on the  tieute and
antiar: Quarterly Review, vol. 6, p. 514, American edit.  Annals of Philoso-
phy, vol. 9, pp. 202 and 265, containing Dr. Horsfield's essays on oopas,or the
poison tree of Java, extracted from Batavian Transactions.  Horsfield writes
those poisons thus, antshar and tshittik.   Orfila, vol. 2, pp. 260, 287.  Eclec-
tic Repertory, vol. 2,  p. 281.   Brodie's  Experiments from  Philosophical
Transactions.  Hosack's Medical  and Philosophical  Register, vol. 1, p. 171,
containing  Delille's dissertation  on the upas  tieute.  Leschenault's account
of the upas antiar, published in Hooker's  Companion to the Botanical Maga-
zine, vol. 1, p. 371.  Annals of Philosophy, vol. 4, p.  259.  See also Medi-
cal Commentaries, vol.  15, p. 36.  Pelletier and Caventou's paper in full in
Repertory of Patent Inventions, 2d  series, vol. 45, p. 185.  Edinburgh Med.
and Surgical Journal, vol. 23, p. 224.  Albers, Nees, and Emmert's Experi-
ments on Tieute,  American Journal of  Medical Sciences, vol. 7, p. 223.
Penny Magazine, vol. 2, p. 322.  Burnett's  Outlines of Botany,  p. 552.
Thomson's British Annual of Science for 1839, p. 353.  Lindley's Flora Me-
dica, p. 301.  Andral's Experiments on the Antiar in Orfila, Lecons,  3d ed.,
vol. 3, p. 459.                                         *
  t See the experiments of Fontana in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 70,
p. 163; also, Dr. Brocklesby's, ibid., vol. 44, p. 408, and Herissant's, ibid.,
vol. 47, p. 75.
  X Eclectic Repertory, vol. 2,  p. 289.   Dr. Hancock on  the  Woorara,
(Brande's Journal, N. S., vol. 6, p. 50.) 
858               NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
and he adds as worthy of notice, that Dr. Van Martius found
the Indians of the Amazon to prepare a similar  poison from
a nearly related species of the same genus.*
   Curare.   The war poison  of the Indians on the banks of
the Oronooko,  in  South America.  Some interesting details
concerning its preparation,  are  contained  in the note ex-
tracted from  one  of the latest volumes of Humboldt's Per-
sonal  Narrative.t
  * London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, vol. 10, p. 72.   See also
Dr. Hancock in London Medical Gazette, vol. 20, pp. 196, 281. Mr. Waterton's
Experiments in Lancet, N. S., vol. 24, p. 285, and Medico-Chirurg. Review,
vol. 35, p. 185.  Waterton's Wanderings in South America, 4to, 1825, pp. 20,
50,81.
  An interesting abstract of what is known concerning this  poison will be
found in the Pharmaceutical Transactions, vol. 3, p. 75.
  The  poison employed by the natives near Caraccas, in South America, is
probably analogous, as M. Predoni detected strychnine in it to the amount
of one-sixth of the whole mass.   It destroyed life in cats in 11 minutes when
inserted under the skin, and the symptom most remarkable was an uninter-
rupted fit of tetantus, during  the last seven minutes, until death.  The plant
producing it is unknown.  Chemist, vol. 5,  p. 156.  (From Comptes Rendus,
January, 1844.)   As to the poisoned weapons of the Peruvian Indians, see
Tschudi's Travels, p. 285. Poisons of the Assamese, see London Literary
Gazette,  1847, p. 394.
  t Esmeralda  is the most celebrated spot on the Oronooko for the fabri-
cation  of this poison.  The Indians  collect the liana (bejuco) for the prepara-
tion of this, (the curare) and it bears the same name as in the forest of Javita.
It is the Bejuco de mavacure, which is gathered in abundance on the east of
the Mission, on the left bank of the Oronooko, and in other places.  "The
juice of the liana when it has been recently gathered, is  not regarded as
poisonous; perhaps it acts in a sensible manner only when it is  strongly
concentrated.  It is  the bark and part of the  alburnum which  contain the
terrible poison.   Branches of the mavacure, four or  five  lines in diameter,
are scraped with a knife, and  the bark that comes off is bruised and reduced
into very thin filaments, on the stone employed  for grinding cassava.  The
venomous juice being yellow, the whole fibrous mass takes this colour.  It is
thrown into a funnel made of the leaf of a  plaintain tree, nine inches high,
with an opening four inches wide.  A cold infusion is first prepared by pour-
ing water on the fibrous matter, which is the ground bark of the  mavacure—
a yellowish  water filters during  several hours, drop  by drop,  through the
leafy funnel.  This filtered water  is the venomous  liquor, but it acquires
strength only when it is concentrated by evaporation like molasses in a large
earthen pot.  The Indians  from time to time  invited us to  taste the liquid.
Its taste,  more or less bitter, decides when the concentration by fire has been
carried sufficiently far.  There is no danger in this, the curare being delete-
terious only when it  comes into immediate contact  with the blood.  The
vapours, therefore, that are disengaged from the pans, are not  hurtful, not-
withstanding what has been asserted on this point by  the missionaries of the
Oronooko.  Fontana, in his fine experiments with the poison of the ticunas
of the  river Amazon, long ago proved that the vapours arising from this
poison, when thrown on burning charcoal, may be inhaled without apprehen-
sion, and that it is  false as M. de la Condamine  has  announced, that Indian
women when condemned to death, have been  killed by the vapours of the
poison of the ticunas.
  "The juice is thickened with a glutinous substance to cause it to stick to the
darts, which it renders mortal, but taken internally, the Indians consider the 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
859
  Laurus Camphora, L.   Camphor when introduced into the
stomach of dogs, produced general convulsions, loss of hear-
ing, foaming at the mouth, and difficult breathing.   Vomit-
ing ensued  and they recovered.   But when the oesophagus
was tied, the consequence was death, and  the stomach pre-
sented an inflammatory appearance, and in one case ulcera-

tion.
  Several cases of its effects on man are stated by Dr. Chris-
tison.   One was of Mr.  Alexander on himself.  He swal-
lowed in one dose two scruples.  In  the course of  twenty
minutes he became  languid, and this soon ended in giddi-
ness.  At length he lost all consciousness, and strong con-
vulsions, with maniacal  frenzy ensued.   He was  relieved
by  an emetic.   In Dr. Edwards' patient, as detailed  by Or-
fila, the symptoms were excited by an injection containing
a  drachm  of  camphor.   It  induced  staggering and great
weakness, with mobility of mind.
  Another instance  is given by Professor Wendt of Breslau :
An intemperate man took four ounces of camphorated spirits
prescribed for him  as an embrocation.  Soon after he was
seized  with fever, burning heat of the  skin, anxiety, pain in
the stomach, giddiness, dimness of  sight and  some delirium.
Almond oil and vinegar restored him to health, without any
curare to be an excellent stomachic.  Scarcely a fowl is eaten (adds our
author) on the banks of the Oronooko, which has not been killed by a poi-
soned arrow.  The missionaries pretend that the flesh of animals is never so
good as when these means are employed.  Father Zea, who accompanied us,
though ill of a tertian fever, caused every morning, the live fowl allotted for
our repast,  to be  brought to his hammock, together  with an arrow. Not-
withstanding his habitual state of weakness, he would not confide this opera-
tion, to which  he attached great importance, to any other person.  Large
birds, when wounded in the thigh, perish  in two or three minutes; but it is
often ten or twelve before a pig or pecari expires."  M. Humboldt does not
seem to be acquainted with any certain  antidote, if such exists, to this fatal
poison.  Sugar,garlic, the muriate of soda, &c, are mentioned doubtingly.
(Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, vol.  58, p. 233.   See also Orfila,  vol. 2,
p. 479.)
  There is a curious paper on the plants employed by the ancierrt inhabitants
of Europe for poisoning their arrows, by Coquebert, in Philosophical Maga-
zine, vol. IS, p. 163.  He supposes that the juice of the various species of
hellebore was used.
  Dr. Christison remarks that the best account of the above poison, is  that by
Emmert, published in 1818.  It does not produce convulsions or spasms of
the muscles, but sudden paralysis.  In this way, death  is probably caused
by suspending the respiration.  According to Emmert, the spine only is acted
upon, and not the brain,  (p. 761.) 
860
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
vomiting.   A difficulty in passing urine continued  for some
days.*
  Dr. Eickhorn, of New Orleans, relates the effects produced
on him from taking about  120 grains, as resembling the in-
toxication of champagne.   Copious perspiration and weak-
ness ensued.t
   Cocculus Indicus.  The fruit of the Menispermum cocculus,
{Anamirta cocculus of Wight arid Arnott,) a native  of Mala-
bar and Ceylon.  It  is used in India for the purpose of in-
toxicating and thus killing fish, and this is done by throwing
the berries on  the surface of the water.  Goupil, a physi-
cian of Nemours, ascertained that it destroyed fish not only,
but also carnivorous quadrupeds ; and Orfila has proved the
same on dogs.   It acts, he observes, on the brain and  pro-
duces convulsions.!
   Dr. T. D. Mitchell reports a case where a female took a
drink from a bottle containing alcohol, in which the cocculus
had been infused for the purpose of destroying vermin.  She
was  comatose,  foaming at the  mouth,  and now  and  then
convulsed.   A tobacco  cataplasm excited  vomiting and
 purging, and she was relieved.§
   Boullay discovered  in this substance a peculiar alkaloid,
termed picrotoxine.  It is highly poisonous.   Ten grains of
it killed a dog  in the second paroxysm  of tetanus.||
   Coriaria myrtifolia, L., (Myrtle-leaved sumach.)  Sauvages
states, that a labouring  man  and  a child died  in horrible
convulsions, within  half an hour  after eating some of the
berries of this plant.IT
   In July, 1828, four  little girls in France ate some of the
berries by mistake.   They were all soon attacked with the

  * Christison, p. 763.  See also cases by Mr. Hallet, in Lancet, September
24, 1842, and#byMr. Clarke in Ibid., Nov. 19, 1842.  In the last there was
occasional suppression of urine for three  months.
  X American Journal Medical Sciences,  vol. 11, p  248.
  X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 305.
  § Western Medical Gazette, vol. 1, p. 20.
  || Annals of Philosophy, vol. 2, p. 468 ; vol. 13, p. 70.  Brewster's Edin-
burgh Journal of Science, vol. 5, p. 184.
  1T The seeds of the Coriaria sarmentosa of Forster (wine-berry shrub of
New Zealand) are poisonous and produce convulsions  and delirium.  ($■
Bennett, in London Medical Gazette, vol. 8, p. 752. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
861
signs of intoxication, the countenance was livid, and con-
vulsions and loss of speech succeeded.  The pupils became
dilated, and comatose symptoms supervened.  All, however,
recovered after vomiting was induced, except the youngest,
who sunk under the effects in sixteen hours.  On dissection,
the membranes of the brain were found much injected, the
heart healthy, the lungs gorged, the oesophagus inflamed at
its cardiac portion; and there were  some red  patches in the
stomach and intestines.   The membranes of the spinal cord
were injected.*
  In his experiments on  animals with  this substance, Pro-
fessor Mayer of Bonn found that it excited  violent fits of
tetanus, succeeded by apoplectic coma.  A drachm of the
extract of the juice was sufficient to  kill cats and dogs.  On
dissection, the brain is  seen gorged with blood;  the  blood
fluid, and the inner membrane of the stomach yellowish and
shrivelled.f
  As to  the treatment proper  in poisons  of this  class,
although the operation of the more powerful is extremely
rapid, yet emetics or the stomach-pump are no less neces-
sary.   In the  case of  nux vomica,  this is  particularly
required, as its powder adheres with great obstinacy to the
inside of the stomach. Artificial respiration and tracheotomy
are  advised by  Magendie and Orfila, in  imminent cases.
The latter also has found some  benefit, in his experiments
on animals,  from giving  diluted ether or spirits of turpen-
tine.  In case the poison has been  applied to wounds, the
cautery is proper.
  Dr. Donne of Paris has announced that iodine, bromine
and chlorine, are antidotes to strychnine, if they  be given
instantly.  In numerous  experiments on animals, he found
the  compounds previously prepared to be innocuous.  It
is, however,  unfortunate that a delay  of ten minutes destroys
their power; and  again  the salts of strychnine  are  more

,  * DL?0UX' of Montaub°n.  London Medical and Physical Journal, vol.
bl, p. 292.  Burnett's Outlines of Botany, vol. 4, p. 887
  t Christison,  p. 767.  Rabbits are not affected by this  poison. 
862
NARCOTICO-ACRID poisons.
common than the pure alkaloid, and on these the antidotes
have no effect.*
  Tannin  has been  employed with  success.   In a case,
related by Dr. Ludicke, a patient took half a grain of nitrate
of strychnine in the  course of six hours.  Tetanic symp-
toms, with difficulty of breathing and the other characteristic
symptoms soon followed.   Ice was applied to the head and
half a grain of tannic acid was given every half hour, until
twelve grains had been taken.  This was  then followed by
a decoction of oak bark with sulph. ether.   The pafient
recovered.   Of course, decoction  of  oak bark  or of galls,
will in such cases, be of service, when tannin is not obtain-
able.f   Kermes mineral  has been recently advised  under
the idea that it forms an insoluble sulphuret.!
   Poisonous mushrooms.   The number and variety of these
are so great that it will  unnecessarily enlarge our pages to
copy the  botanical  description  of each.   I will therefore
only state a few  characters which should lead us to doubt
concerning their qualities,  and for further particulars, refer
to systematic writers on this subject.
   The  following indications should  excite a suspicion of
mushrooms:  A marshy situation in the shade ; the substance
soft, porous and moist; an  ugly appearance, and the surface
more or less dirty;  a glairy coat covering the surface; a
yirulent, smell;  a bright  colour, or a combination of differ-
ent colours.  We should also regard as dangerous, all which
have bulbous or soft  stems, or have fragments of skin glued
to their surface.§
   The symptoms which generally arise from eating poison-
ous mushrooms, are thus given in a report to the Society of

  * Brande's Journal, N.  S.,  vol. 6, p. 431.  Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 2,
p. 202.
  The fruit of the plant Fuillea cordifolia, has been announced by Drapiez
as an antidote against vegetable poisons.   He poisoned dogs with the Rhus
toxicodendron, hemlock, and nux vomica, and recovered them with this fruit.
(Annals, vol. 15, p. 389.)   This, however, is not original with M. Drapiez,
as Mosely mentions  the same plant as an antidote.  (Mosely on Tropical
Diseases, p. 37.)
  t British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 14, p. 229.
  X British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Beview, vol. 6, p. 282.
  § Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 335. 
                                                   863
               NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.

Medicine of Bordeaux, and  which is quoted  by Orfila with
high approbation :   « Pains of thestomach,  gripes, nausea,
evacuations upwards and downwards, are the first symptoms
with which the patients  are  attacked.  Shortly after, heat
of the bowels and  faintings; the pains become more con-
tinued and  violent; cramps, convulsions, sometimes general,
sometimes  partial,  and unquenchable  thirst succeed;  the
pulse is  small, hard, tight, and  very frequent.  When  the
symptoms,  after having lasted a certain time, do not dimin-
ish in consequence  of the relief afforded, vertigo, a stupid
delirium, and drowsiness  affect some subjects, and are only
interrupted by the  pains and  convulsions.  In others there
is no drowsiness; the pains  and convulsions  exhaust  the
strength; faintings and cold sweats come on, and death puts
a period  to this series of  sufferings, after having been fore-
seen and announced by  the  patient himself, who has not
lost his senses for a single  moment."*
   Poisonous mushrooms  do not manifest their action gene-
rally until  six or eight hours  after they are eaten, and even
twelve or  sixteen sometimes  elapse.
   The appearances on dissection are as follows :—" Violet-
coloured spots over  the integuments, very extensive and
numerous ; the abdomen  extremely bulky; the conjunctiva
as it were  injected ; the pupil contracted ; the stomach and
intestines  inflamed, and  scattered over with gangrenous
spots—sphacelus is present in some portions of this viscus,
and the  stomach and  intestines  are contracted, so much so
indeed, that  in these  latter the  thickened membranes have
obliterated the canal.  The oesophagus, in one subject was
inflamed and gangrenous; and in another, there  was an
 intus-susceptio of the ileon from above downwards, for  the
 space of three inches.  One individual alone had the intes-
 tines distended with excrementitious matter.   In none have
 any remains of the mushroom been found; they had been
 either completely digested, or evacuated.  The lungs were
 inflamed and distended with black blood ; the  same conges-
• Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 334. 
864
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
tion had taken place in almost all the veins of the abdominal
viscera, in the liver, spleen  and  mesentery.  Inflammatory
and gangrenous  spots occur on the membranes  of  the brain,
in its ventricles, on the pleura, lungs, diaphragm, mesentery,
bladder, uterus, and even on the foetus of a pregnant woman.
The  blood in this  subject was  extremely  fluid; in other
persons, it  was  almost  coagulated.  Extreme flexibility of
the limbs was not a constant  appearance."*
   Braconnot  and Letellier have  analyzed  poisonous mush-
rooms.   The  latter discovered in one of them  a  principle,
which  he called amantin, and which appears to  be highly
deleterious.t
   Treatment.   The  stomach-pump,  emetics, cathartics, and
particularly enemas have been found most beneficial.  Stimu-
lants are often subsequently needed, and  of these, ether is
particularly advised by  Devergie.
   Secale cornutum, (Ergot, spurred rye.)  There is some di-
versity  of  opinion concerning the  real nature  of this sub-
stance.   By  some it is  supposed to be a  diseased process
from the juices  of the  plant.    Decandolle, on  the other
hand, states that it  is caused by the growth of a parasitic
plant, a mushroom of the genus sclerotium ; while probably
  * Cases of poisoning by mushrooms may be found in Orfila's Toxicology,
vol. 2, pp. 313 to 333.  Fodere, vol. 4, p. 62.  Transactions Coll. Physicians
of London, vol.  2, p.  216.   Case by Dr.  Heberden.   London Medical and
Physical Journal, vol. 12, p. 385.  Case by Dr. Bardsley, ibid., vol. 3, p. 41.
Case by Mr. Brande, from the Agaricus glutinosus, ibid., vol. 20, p. 457.
Case by Mr. Parrot, Christison, pp. 768 to  779. Dr. Drake, Note to De Salle's
Tables, p. 68.  Percival's Essays, vol. 2, p. 187.  Agaricus clypeatus.  Dr.
Clendenning's Lecture on the Fungi, in  London Medical and Surgical Jour-
nal, vol. 6, p. 168.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 4, p. 93 ; vol. 5, p. 758. Journal de
Pharmacie, vol. 23,  p.  369,—Letellier, Considerations sur les champignons
veneneux.  Dr. Peddie, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 49,
p. 192.  London Medical Gazette, vol. 25, p. 111.
  t Vauquelin's experiments on mushrooms, may be found  in the Philosophi-
cal Magazine, vol. 43, p. 292.
  It would seem that mushrooms of the  same  species are  wholesome or poi-
sonous, according to their locality, country or season.  The peasantry in
Russia, and a portion of Germany live on  them during a great part of the
year.  Old fungi of every description are generally poisonous, and a princi-
ple analogous to prussic acid has been found in them. (London Med. Gazette,
vol. 18, p. 177.)  Dr. Lefevre, of St. Petersburgh, in his observations on the
edible mushrooms of Russia, (ibid., vol.23, p. 412,) seems to question the
above statement, and intimates that in England and other countries, the dis-
tinction between edible and  poisonous ones has not been sufficiently investi-
gated in practice.  He,  however, allows that the Russians eat many which
are generally deemed poisonous. 
                 NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.              865

the most  numerous party assert  that it  is  the work of an
insect.   General Field, of Vermont,  stated that he  had ob-
served  flies puncturing  the glumes  of the rye during its
milky state ;  and imitating this  process  himself  with a
needle, found that in four days a little black point appeared,
which gradually became  a spur.*
   Whatever the cause may be, it is  certain that this sub-
stance  either  alone,  or  contaminating rye,  has long been
deemed a poison.  It is  thus stated  to  have given rise to
epidemic diseases  at  various times, in France, Silesia, Prus-
sia, Bohemia, Saxony and  Sweden.   Perrault mentions,
that in travelling through Sologne in France, he was inform-
ed by  some physicians  and surgeons of that  country, that
the rye there  was sometimes so corrupted, that those who
ate bread made of it, were seized with a gangrene, some in
one part and some in another ; some  losing a finger, others
a hand or the nose ;  and that this gangrene was not preceded
by any  fever, inflammation  or  considerable pain, but that
the  parts fell off of themselves : the early symptoms were
numbness, cold and  livid skin, pain and swelling.t
   Tissot, in a paper  in the Philosophical Transactions, pre-
sents a very copious  account of the disease  in question, and
divides it  into two  forms, the  spasmodic and  gangrenous.
He observes that  the first accurate account.of it was pub-
lished in  1596.  The spasmodic disease prevailed, accord-
  * See on this subject Brande's Journal, vol. 2, pp. 273, 320; vol. 3, p. 429.
Dr. Tully,  who supports  the opinion of Decandolle in Silliman's Journal,
vol. 2, p. 45.  Gen. Field, in ibid., vol. 9, p. 359.  Christison, p. 783. " Wig-
gers, a German writer, adopts the opinion of Decandolle, and seems to place
it on a firm foundation."  Christison, 3d ed., p. 830.
  Burnett, (Outlines of Botany, vol. 1, p. 206,) says that the mushroom is
not aSclerotium, but Acinula clavus, and in this he is followed in the Lon-
don Pharmacopoeia of 1836, on the authority of Fries, but Dr. Lindley, (Med.
Botany, p. 624,) says that Fries has no such plant in any of his works. The
name used for Ergot by Dr. Lindley, is Spermoedia clavus.
  Some interesting facts indicating the insect origin of ergot, are .mentioned
by Mr. Muller and Dr. Carson  in American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 10,
P' i ooWhlle^r"  Quekett>in an elaborate paper, (London Medical Gazette,
vol. Z6, p. 606,) advocates the idea of ergot "being  a mass composed of
the constituents of the diseased grain mixed with fungic matters, and occu-
?&nf,, piace # the healthy ovary."  See also Lancet, N. S., vol. 24, pp.
4b5, 542.  Dunghson's New Remedies, p. 339.
  t Philosophical Transactions, vol. 11, p. 758; see also vol. 52, p. 529, where
cases are related that occurred at Orleans and Blois.
   vol. ii.                    55 
866
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
 ing to  Hoffman, in 1648, 1649, and  1675, in Voigtland; in
 1702 in  Friburg; in 1760 in Saxony  and Lusatia, and in
 1722 in Silesia.  It  was frequently attended with epilepsy.
 The gangrenous form was known in France as early as 1630,
 and in  1650, 1670 and  1674, it raged  in Aquitaine  and So-
 logne.   In  1709 it  appeared in Switzerland.   The symp-
 toms were similar to those already noticed.   It attacked
 persons  of  both sexes and all ages, and in some instances,
 only the lower extremities  became gangrenous, while in
 others both  upper and lower were affected.*
   Mr. Srine has described its effects as occurring in 1736 in
 Bohemia.  It commenced with an uneasy, stinging sensation
 about the feet.  To this, severe cardialgia  succeeded, and
 the hands and  head  were soon after affected.  The fingers
 were strongly contracted, and there was a sensation of burn-
 ing in the hands and feet.  Giddiness, mania or coma, suc-
 ceeded, accompanied with  opisthotonos, and a  foaming  at
 the mouth.   These  symptoms were followed by a  canine
 appetite.  All those who had epileptic symptoms died.  The
 pulse  was natural,  and the  spasms left a  stiffness of the
 limbs.   The disease continued  two, four, eight, and some-
 times even twelve weeks.  Out of five hundred persons, three
 children  died.t  Gangrene of the extremities has also been
 observed in  animals  from the administration of ergot.
   By those who are  not willing  to  concede  so much power
 to  this  substance, the combined influence  of  famine  and
 poverty is urged as sufficient  to  explain these endemic dis-
 eases.  But  from  the results of experiments made of late
 years, the probability is in favour of the noxious nature of
 ergot.!
  • Philosophical Transactions, vol. 55, p. 106.
  t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 349.  There is a late account of the disease
 occurring in a part  of France, in 1828.  (North American Med. and  Surg.
 Journal, vol. 7, p. 192.)  Bonjean, (Encyclographie des Sciences Medecales,
 Jan. and Feb., 1845,)  relates two cases of children, in which spontaneous
gangrene was induced from eating ergoted bread.  It finally proved fatal in
 the oldest, ten years of age, but the youngest, (28 months,) survived.
  X See Samuel Cooper, First Lines,  vol. 1, p. 48.  Rees' Cyclopedia, art.
 Ignis sacer, contains some  valuable remarks in favor of referring these dis-
eases to deficiency of nourishment, rather than to  diseased grain.  It was at
one time thought by some that the spotted fever which ravaged several dis-
tricts in the United States, some years since, had its origin in part or alto- 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
867
  Dr. Lorinzer of  Berlin (Lorimer, according to Dr. Chris-
tison,) relates some experiments made on  the healthy sub-
ject.   A  single dose,  two  drachms  for example, excited
giddiness, headache, pain and spasms in the stomach, nausea
and vomiting, colic and purging.*
  Instances of the  dangerous effects of  this  substance (in-
dependent of its  peculiar action on  the  uterus,) are  not
uncommon.f
  The different attempts at the analysis  of ergot have not
led to  very  satisfactory  results.!    Dr-  Hooker  of New
Haven, obtained an  oil from it which  possesses  narcotic
properties, but apparently exercises no power on parturient
women.  He therefore recommends the  infusion, instead of
the ergot in  substance, for parturient women.§    " Wiggers
denies the presence of prussic acid and of  fecula, and says,
he found  ergot to consist chiefly of a heavy smelling, fixed
oil, fungin,  albumen, osmazome, waxy  matter, and an ex-
tractive substance of a strong, peculiar taste and smell, in
which,  from  experiments on  animals, he was led to infer
that its active properties reside.  I  have obtained all his
chief results, except  the  most important, for the substance
which ought  to have been his  ergotin, was destitute of any
marked taste or smell."||
  The researches of late experimenters  may, I suppose, be
considered, as  showing that  the oil of ergot is  innocuolis,
gether from eating this substance, combined with grain. The facts adduced
are very unsatisfactory, and lead to no definite conclusion.  Some observations
on this subject are contained in the New England Journal, vol. 5, pp. 133,
156, (an article by Professor Bigelow,) and p. 235.
  * Edinburgh Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 26, p, 453, from Rust's
Magazine.  See also Dr. Jorg's experiments in American Journal Medical
Sciences, vol. 20, p. 176.
  t Dr. Swett, in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 11, p. 420.  Dr.
Hulse in North American Archives, vol. 2, p. 81.  Medico-Chirurgical Re-
view, vol. 25, p. 435. American Medical Intelligencer, vol. 3, p. 213. Case by
Dr. Beckwith.
  X Analysis  of Battley  in  London Medical Gazette, February, 1831;  of
Wiggers, of Berlin, in Lancet, N. S., vol. 11, p. 82; of Dr. McKee in Ameri-
can Medical Intelligencer, vol 3, p. 162; of Dr. Wright, of Edinburgh, (very
elaborate and valuable) in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vols. 52,
53, 54.  Parolas' Essay, Encyclographie des Sciences Medecales, June and
August, 1844.  Le Grip, ibid., August 1844, and Chemist, vol.  5, p. 465.
Bonjean, Encyclographie, vol. 9, p. 613.
  § Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 10, p. 298.
  II Christison,  3d edit.,  p. 831. 
°68              NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
and that the aqueous extract, in some way or other contains
the ergotin or whatever  constitutes  the deleterious princi-
ples.   In  confirmation  I  refer  to the  authorities given
below.
   Spurred Maize.   It appears from the researches of Roulin
that Indian corn is very subject to the  spur in Colombia,
and that in this state it is noxious to man and animals.  In-
dividuals lose their hair  and  teeth from eating it, but are
never  attacked wTith gangrene or  convulsion.   Hogs  and
mules  also  lose  the hair,  and  poultry  frequently lay their
eggs without any shell.*
   Diseased wheat.   When the farinaceous part of this plant
becomes converted to a black  powder, it imparts injurious
qualities to the bread.   Fodere states that he saw, in 1808,
Colics  and diarrhoeas which arose from this cause.
   Lolium temulentum,  L. (Darnel.)   Naturalized in the Uni-
ted States.   Bread made from the farina of the seed of this
plant,  and taken  to the  amount of  six drachms,  caused
distraction of thought, indistinct vision, torpor, debility  and
drowsiness, and these were  followed by efforts to vomit.
Tremors  of the limbs,  great depression, and  difficulty of
speech and vomiting succeeded.t  Similar effects were in-
duced  in a family from eating oat-bread  mixed  with darnel.
The tongue exhibited  a  very strong trembling, and  Seeger
indeed remarks, that the trembling of the body  is one of the
most certain signs of poisoning by  this  plant.!  Animals,
and particularly dogs, are affected in the same manner as
man.  Chickens, however, eat the  seeds with greediness,
and without any bad consequences.§

  * Christison, p. 788, Edinburgh New Phil. Journal, vol. 7, p. 217.
  t London Medical Repository,  vol. 13, p. 260.  This is  the result of an
experiment by Dr. Cordier on himself, with six drachms, taken early in the
morning.
  X Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 352.  Another case of the noxious effects
of Darnel is related in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1,
p. 106.  It happened at Genoa, during the scarcity occasioned by its block-
ade in 1800.  See also Christison, p.  732.  Burnett's Medical Botany, vol. 1.
Ruspini, from Journal De Chimie Medicale, February, 1844,  in Chemist, vol.
5. P- 184.
  § Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 107.  Pfaff has exam-
ined darnel to find an alkaloid, without success.  He obtained by distillation,
two kinds of oil. (Pharmaceutical Journal, October, 1846.) 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.            869
  The  Lathyrus cicera, L., (Chick-pea,) and Ervum ervilia,
L., (Bitter vetch,) have each proved noxious in France, from
their seeds becoming mixed  with wheat  or  rye, and thus
forming part of the food used.   The symptoms induced, are
very similar to those of darnel.*
  Mr. Chevallier, in a memoir on the effects of the lathyrus,
when used as food, mentions  numerous cases, where para-
lysis of the lower extremities, a peculiar affection of the
larynx  giving rise to asthmatic symptoms and even death
itself, were induced.   In 1829, the inhabitants of one of the
Departments were obliged, in  consequence  of scarcity, to
mix  the flower of the chick-pea with that  of wheat, and
when in equal quantities, the bread made had a black colour,
a bitter taste, and a mouldy smell.  All who used it for
any length of time, became affected with convulsive tremors
of the lower extremities, great weakness and at last, a kind
of incomplete paralysis.  Violent thirst was also presented,
and many were  affected with somnolency.
  The testimony  is somewhat  discordant as  to the effects
on animals.  In many  instances, however, the use of it as
food proved deleterious to horses, and generally the results
were unfavourable, being  productive  of general weakness
and spasmodic affections.f
  Cytisus laburnum, L., (Laburnum.)   The seeds and flow-
ers  of  this plant are poisonous.   Mr.  North, of  London,
relates  the case of a girl, four years old, in whom the eating
of the flowers caused convulsive twitchings of the muscles
of the face, cold skin, short and laborious respiration, very
weak pulse, with  ineffectual retchings.  She was gradually
relieved by vomiting and stimulants.!  Dr. George Johnston,
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, saw  three young children  under
seven years, extremely ill from  eating the  seeds.  They
were relieved by vomiting.§

 * Christison, p. 792.
 t Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 26, p. 126.
 X London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 62, p. 86.
 § Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, vol. 6, p. 74. 
870             NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
   In two cases communicated by Dr. Traill, to Dr. Christi-
son, the effects seem to  have been almost  purely narcotic.
Insensibility occurred quickly with frothing at the mouth and
a feeble pulse.  Both, however, were relieved by emetics.*
   That the bark has equally  noxious properties was  shown
in a trial at Inverness, in Scotland.   A farm servant, on bad
terms with the cook, and with a desire to give  her some-
thing that should  cause vomiting and purging, put some of
the bark in her broth.   In five minutes after taking  it she
was seized with violent  vomiting  and this was, after some
hours followed by  purging.   It was sometime before she
partially recovered.  These  symptoms, however, recurred
in some degree daily, and at the end of  six weeks, she had
to give  up service.   Medical aid was now sought, and this
led to a judicial investigation.  She had all the symptoms
of gastro-intestinal  irritation, being greatly reduced in flesh
and strength, and only recovered slowly.
   The  nature of the substance given was  satisfactorily
ascertained by Dr.  Christison, and  in a number of experi-
ments with animals, it proved rapidly destructive  to them.f
   The active principle is  thus evidently present in the  seeds,
flowers  and bark of  this  plant.  It was discovered by Che-
vallier and Lassaigne, and denominated cytisine.  This acts
both as a violent emetic and purgative.  Chevallier took
eight grains, which  operated most violently, and he had to
combat  its effects  by large doses of acidulated drinks.  In
small  doses,  cytisine causes  vomiting, convulsions and
death, when administered to  animals.!
   Alcohol.  On the  effects of this poison, when taken as it
ordinarily is  by persons in habits of intoxication it is not
necessary  for  me to  enlarge.  I have  only to refer to the
effects of it in a pure state and in large  doses, and then by
comparing these results  with the table published by Mr.
Brande, of the quantity of alcohol contained in various kinds

  * Christison, 3d edition, p. 842.  See also the narrative of  eleven boys
poisoned by the seeds related by  Mr. Bonney.  (Lancet, January  9, 1841.)
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, October, 1843.
  X Thomson's Materia Medica,  vol. 2, p. 111.  London Medical and Physi-
cal Journal, vol. 62, p.  93.  Christison, p. 793. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
871
of liquors, an idea may be formed of the injury, and indeed
danger, to which life is so freely and generally exposed.*
  Mr. Brodie injected proof spirits  into  the  stomach of a
rabbit;  in five minutes he lay motionless and insensible ; the
pupils of the eyes were dilated ; there were slight convulsive
motions of the extremities ;  the respiration was laborious,
and he finally died at the end of an hour and fifteen minutes.
In his further experiments, he found the stomach highly
inflamed by the injection of  this poison, but never observed
any preternatural appearances in the brain.  The symptoms,
however,  produced  by spirits, are very  analogous,  he ob-
serves,  to those caused by injuries of the  brain.f
  Orfila found proof-spirits  to be a violent  poison when
injected into  the  cellular tissue, and that it  produced the
same effects  as  when  introduced into  the  stomach.  In
animals killed with it, the villous coat of the stomach was
constantly of a cherry-red colour.  Dr. Christison remarks,
that  he  has several times observed the same appearances.!
There  is  a beautiful  plate  (8th)  exhibiting  the  effect of
injecting  proof-spirits into  the stomach  of a dog,  in Dr.
Roupell's Illustrations of the effects of Poisons.
  In what may be styled poisoning by alcohol, apart from
the  ordinary effects of  intoxication, the  comatose  state
becomes deeper and deeper, with dilatation of the  pupils,
and  inability to  swallow.   Apoplexy is excited in some
cases.   "These,  however, can scarcely be  considered as
simple poisoning, but as the result of poisoning developing
a tendency to apoplexy."   In those instances, where large
quantities  of spirits are  swallowed,  as for  example, in
wagers  for prowess  in drinking, coma comes on suddenly.
The  face then is sometimes livid, but more generally ghastly
pale; the breathing stertorous, the pupils sometimes much
contracted, but more commonly dilated and insensible, and

  * See Mr. Brande's Tables in his Journal, vol. 5, p. 152.
  t Eclectic Repertory, vol. 2, p. 269.
  X Christison, p. 800. The experiments of Segalas are to be found in the
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol.  10, p. 218.  The action of alcohol on  the
blood, both physiologically and pathologically, has been examined by Pro-
fessor Schultz.  (British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. 16, p. 218.) 
872
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
 if relief be not speedily obtained, death takes place, some-

 times immediately, or at least in a few hours.*

   Mr. Bedingfield, whose  experience has been quite exten-

 sive, supposes that the degree  of danger from intoxication

 may be best estimated by the irritability of the iris.  If it

 (says he) retain its contractile power, the patient will gene-

 rally recover, however overpowered his senses may be ; but

 if it remain in a state  of extreme  dilatation  when a strong

 light is directed upon it, a feeble hope of recovery  can only

 be  entertained.   This paralysis  of  the  iris is generally

 accompanied with apoplectic stertor, laboured and imperfect

 respiration,  and  a  slow  oppressed  pulse.   Next to  the

 insensibility of  the iris,  want  of  energy  in the  stomach

 indicates the greatest danger.t

   Dr. Ogston, of Edinburgh, has published a valuable paper

 on this  subject.   Having seen a number  of extreme cases,

 many of  which ended in  death, he is disposed to  classify

 them with reference to the state of the pupil.  In six cases

 out  of  twenty-six, it  was contracted,  and  the  coma was

 profound.    The   body  generally  preserved  its   natural

 warmth;  the countenance was pale, and the breathing ster-

 torous.   The remaining twenty, with dilated  pupil, had the

 pulse either  imperceptible or very  feeble  and slow; the


   • Dr. Chowne relates of a boy  between  seven and eight years old, who
 swallowed half a pint of gin, and in  half an hour became insensible.  He
 was was not seen by a medical man until five hours afterwards. An emetic
 and subsequently the stomach pump were  used without effect. The breathing
 was  slow and sterterous—pupils  contracted, limbs relaxed and  the coun-
 tenance placid, but the general appearance was that of sinking. In spite of
 active remedies, which caused a partial improvement, such as a diminution
 of coma, he gradually sunk,  with  a constant increase of the mucous rattle,
 and died in sixty-seven hours after taking the gin.  No convulsions or even
 tendency to them had been present—nor delirium or injection of the conjunc-
 tiva.  On dissection, but few  marks of disease could be discovered, in any of
 the cavities.  The veins of the head were full, but  the quantity of fluid was
 natural.  The trachea and  bronchiae were full of a frothy fluid, but the lungs
 were not much  congested. The stomach was rather  paler than usual, and
 free from discolorations.  All the other viscera were  healthy.  The surface
 of all the organs of the body, however, presented one remarkable feature,
 viz.:  a  tendency to dryness. Thus the  brain, lungs, heart and  intestines,
 became so dry immediately on exposure to the air, that they did not commu-
 nicate the slightest moisture to the  fingers. '(London Medical Gazette, vol.24,
 p.  376.)
  t Bedingfield, in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 12, p. 493.
There is a paper from the French, well worthy of perusal, on the  symptoms
of  intoxication, in New England Journal, vol. 8, p. 389. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
873
coma was  profound, as in  the former, the extremities often
cold, the face generally flushed, and the  breathing either
laborious or calm, but usually slow.  Convulsions were not
a common consequence.   The most dangerous cases, I need
hardly add, were in the last class.*
  Appearances on dissection.   There  is some  difficulty in
accurately ascertaining these, from  the  fact that most of the
subjects have been in long-continued habits of intoxication,
and the results of this, rather  than the immediate indications
of poisoning  are present.  Congestion,  and  even actual
extravasation  of blood  in the brain, are  not unfrequently
found in those in whom apoplexy  has  been superinduced,
and this, although the individual may be quite youthful.  In
a female, who for fourteen days  had  been very little in her
sober senses, and at the  end  of  that period died comatose,
Dr.  Christison found  an  enormous  extravasation  in the
ventricles.f
  Should this morbid appearance be absent, it is still  very
common to find  serum in  the ventricles, much beyond the
natural quantity, with a  congested  state of the membranes.
The  lungs are also  dilated with  dark fluid  blood, and there
is more or less of frothy mucus in their substance.   The air-
passages are red, but the  stomach has  seldom been seen to
bear the marks  of irritation which we  should expect, and
which has been  so much insisted  upon.!  If  is  hardly
  * Phenomena of the more advanced stages of intoxication, with cases and
dissections, by F. Ogston, M. D., Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 40, p. 276.  Larrey, in his Surgical Memoirs, (p. 6) says, that many
French soldiers died in the Russian expedition from drinking the chenaps,
(schnaps,) the brandy of the country.  It is obtained from corn; and to this
fermented liquor, plants, of the narcotic class are added.  Those who died
Bhowed the following symptoms: loss of muscular motion, vertigo and drow-
siness, the eyes half closed, dull and weeping, and the conjunctiva appearing
as though injected.  These are to be considered as the ordinary effects of
intoxication, and not what we understand as poisonous.
  t Christison, p. 801. He also quotes cases from Bernt. See also Newbigging's
case,  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 29, p. 412.  Ogston's
cases, ibid., vol.  40, p. 290.  Andral's Dissections, Medico-Chirugical  Re-
view, vol. 27, p. 99.
  X Christison particularly remarks this.  A case is also given in the Lancet,
vol. 10, p. 571, where a chimney sweep drank eighteen glasses of rum in
quick succession, (upwards of a quart.)  He died in six hours.  On dissec-
tion, the brain presented bloody spots; on  being sliced its  sinuses were
loaded with blood; there was but little serum in the ventricles, and  the
stomach was natural. 
874
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
necessary to add, that in habitual drinkers, the liver, kid-

neys, &c, will be more or less diseased.

  It has been a curious question, whether, in persons dead

from alcohol, the presence of that substance can be detected

by  the  smell.  We  know  that during life  the breath  is

strongly  tainted with it.   Dr. Cooke, on  the authority  of

Sir Anthony Carlisle, mentions  an instance where the fluid

found in the ventricles of the brain had the smell and taste

of gin.   Dr. Christison quotes Dr. Wolff for a similar case

where the fluid in  the ventricles had the smell of brandy,

although the contents of the stomach had not.   Dr. Ogston

examined the body of a woman who drowned  herself in a

state of intoxication.  " We discovered nearly four ounces

of fluid in the ventricles, having all the physical qualities of

alcohol, as  proved  by the united testimony of two  other

medical men who saw the  body opened, and examined the

fluid.   The stomach also  smelt of this fluid."

  On the other  hand, many cases occur of persons dying in

a fit of intoxication, in which this is not perceived, and Dr.

Christison says, that  he  has  " several times remarked, that

the venous blood  and brain of a fresh subject had a  smell,

which a prepossessed person might have  confounded with

that of alcohol, although no spirituous liquor had been taken

before death."*

  Dr. Hodgkin, however, injected an ounce of strong spirits of wine into the
stomach of a dog.  Death ensued in 42 minutes.  " The mucous membrane
of the stomach offered strongly marked and irregular ruga?, in the intervals
between which the mucous membrane had a corrugated appearance.   It was
universally of a reddish brown colour. (Report of British Association, 1835,
p. 233.)
  Dr. Nicol, of Inverness, also relates a case where death ensued probably in
a very few hours, and the mucous membrane of the stomach, along with that
half way up the oesophagus was highly  injected, being of a  deep crimson.
The intestines presented  a like appearance, but less intense.  The vessels of
the brain were highly congested.  (London and Edinbugh Monthly Journal
Medical Science, vol. 3, p. 499.)
  " Dilute alcoholic fluids produce no chemical change in the coats of the
stomach, but in the case  of persons of temperate habits, chemical reactions
are to be apprehended from the immoderate use of a fluid, containing forty
per cent, of brandy."  (Mitscherlich, Medico-Chirurgical Review,  vol. 44,
p. 181.)
  *  See on this point the experiments of Dr. Pommer, London Medical Ga-
zette, vol.  16, p. 814, and the dissections of Mr. Watson, in his work on
Homicide, pp.  169 to 177.
  Dr. Bradley, (Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 1, p. 27,) relates
a case of a person found  moribund, along the highroad, and who died in ten 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
875
   Dr. Percy has recently  investigated  this  subject experi-

 mentally, and I find the following stated as the result:  He

 obtained alcohol from the brains  of dogs poisoned by it, but

 none of  his  experiments  have enabled him to determine,

 whether the fluid of the ventricles, under such circumstances,

 contains any  alcohol.  " It would  rather appear that there

 was some  peculiar affinity  between the substance  of  the

 brain and spirit, and especially as, after analyzing a much

 larger quantity  of blood  than can  possibly  exist  in  the

 cranium, he could generally  obtain much more alcohol from

 the brain, than from this quantity of blood.   In his experi-

 ments, Dr. Percy also  detected alcohol in the blood, urine,

 bile and liver."

   The alcohol is separated from  the solid or fluid supposed

 to contain it, by distillation with  water, and  the former is

 again separated from the  latter by subcarbonate of  potash.

 Although always small in quantity, its nature was positively

 ascertained by its inflammability and its power of dissolving

 camphor.   It appears, however,  that he could not  obtain

 the  alcohol, unless death ensued shortly.*

   Treatment.   From numerous  observations, it would seem

 that carbonate or  acetate of ammonia, given  internally is

 one of the best remedies for counteracting the severe effects

 of intoxication.f   The cold effusion is very useful, unless

 minutes after.  He had been drinking freely for several days.  On dissection
 the brain was found extremely turgid, dark fluid blood poured from the sinu-
 ses of the brain to the amount of eight or ten ounces; in thecorposa striata, a
 small amount of sanguineous extravasation was detected, and in the lateral
 ventricles some serous effusion.   Verdict " death from  apoplexy caused by
 intemperance."
   The effused fluid found in the ventricles  yielded strongly the  alcoholic
 odour.  This was so apparent that it was readily recognised by every mem-
 ber of the jury.
  * British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 8, p. 540.  Edinburgh Medical
 and Surgical Journal, vol. 53, p. 253.  In confirmation of this, Dr. Lewis
 communicates a case that occurred at Edinburgh, in 1840, where alcohol was
 detected, in  the substance of the brain, treated as above, while no alcoholic
 odour could be detected in the  fluid of the ventricles,  nor indeed in  any
 other part of the body.  (Medical Examiner, N. S., vol. 1, p. 239.)
  Dr. R. D. Thomson has proposed a minute test, viz.: to drop  a crystal or
two of chromic acid (or bichromate of potash and sulphuric acid) into the
 distilled liquor, as above.  If the smallest quantity of alcohol be present, the
green  oxide of chrome will be disengaged and the smell of aldehyle is dis-
tinctly perceptible.  (Monthly Journal Medical Science, December, 1846.) I
observe that Mr. Taylor speaks doubtingly concerning this.
  t Dr. Dupuy, of Alfort, injected alcohol into the jugular vein of a horse.  It
caused all the effects of intoxication, staggering, redness of  the conjunctiva, 
876
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
the temperature of the body be  so low as to render it im-
proper.   In such cases, every effort to maintain or restore
the natural warmth must be made.   Emetics or the stomach-
pump must also be  used.  As to  venesection, unless the
present  symptoms indicate its necessity,  it is  not to be
recommended.   Many, no doubt have sunk from its rash use.
   At the Edinburgh police-office, Dr. Christison informs us,
the injection of water into the ears is one of the most effec-
tual  stimulants.  Mr.  Sampson  in a recent case of  deep
intoxication, where the  stomach-pump and other remedies
proved ineffectual, and the patient became more  and  more
comatose, preserved life by resorting to tracheotomy.*
   Sulphuric ether, introduced  into the  stomach of animals,
when the  oesophagus was tied,  produced vertigo, great
weakness, difficult breathing, drowsiness and death.  The
mucous membrane of the stomach was highly inflamed, as
was also the duodenum; the  blood in  the  heart was black,
partly fluid, and partly coagulated.f
   " Some years ago,"  says Dr. T. D. Mitchell, " a practice
obtained among the lads  of  Philadelphia, of inhaling the
vapour of  sulphuric  ether by  way of sport.  A small quan-
tity placed in  a bladder, was almost  instantly  converted
into vapour, by the application of hot water.   By means  of
a tube and stop cock, the gas  could be easily inhaled.  In
some instances, the experiment excited mere  playfulness

&c.  Five grains of carbonate  of ammonia, dissolved  in water, were then
also injected, and the above symptoms immediately  ceased.   (Lancet, N. S.,
vol. 8, p. 76.)
  * Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 20, p. 46.
  There have been some curious cases noticed, (by  Dr. Bird and others,) in
which, after  persons have apparently recovered  from the effects of large
doses of alcohol, taken either by accident or design, yet at  the end of some
weeks, the health  declines, the memory is impaired, and a general unfitness
for any active occupation occurs.  (Lancet, N. S , vol. 25, p.  166.)  In recent
cases, great caution is necessay on the part of the  practitioner not to mistake
the effects of deep intoxication for the symptoms of apoplexy.  If bleeding
be too early used for the former, it will promote absorption.  The state of
the breath should be attended to, and the symptoms must be carefully compared.
  f Orfila's Toxicology, vol. 2, p. 342.  Dr. Godman  has announced a curiou9
result from the inspiration of the vapour of sulphuric ether.   It produces all
the effects  of nitrous oxide.  Its exhilirating effects were striking, but in
one individual, a female, predisposed to  consumption, the muscular action
induced left  a cough, derangement of mind and pain.   She had  several
attacks of  violent syncope, and remained ill for some time.  (Goodman's
Western Reporter, vol. 2. p. 111.) 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
877
and sprightly movement, but in several cases, delirium, and
even phrenitis was induced, which ended fatally."*
  The reader will  observe that these and  the cases quoted
below occurred previous to the general  introduction of the
inhalation of the vapour of ether in the practice of midwifery
and surgery.  I give  no information when  I say  that this
has sometimes induced death.
  According to the experiments of Amusat and Mitscherlich
on animals, the ether evidently penetrates the membranes
and is absorbed by the blood.  The arterial blood is found
black  and limpid  and in very recent cases, the  odour of
ether is detected.   The internal viscera are congested, the
heart greatly distended, the lungs deep red, and the vessels
of the brain quite  injected.t
  Nitric ether.  A gentleman communicated a case at the
London  Royal  Institution, April,  1830, which had  lately
happened at a druggist's, from a carboy of nitric ether being
placed in a bed-room, and  which, bursting in the night, the
chamber became filled with the vapour.   It had no  chimney,
and  the  door was shut.  The servant who slept in it was
dead.  It is  added, that  this was  the  second case that had
come to  the  knowledge of the writer.!
   A female in the  service of Mr. Thomas, druggist at Hay,
Breconshire, went to  bed in perfect health, but did not rise
the next morning at her usual hour.  On going to call her,
the door was found fastened, and on breaking it open, she
was seen dead, lying  on the right side, with the arms  folded
across the breast, as  in profound sleep,  and the features
calm.
   The body was opened.  The coats of the  stomach were a
little inflamed, and it contained a little fluid.   The intestines
  * Mitchell's Chemistry, p. 172.
  Dr. Miller of Louisville relates the case of a female  aged 15, of nervous
temperament, who  breathed sulphuric ether five times  in succession.  She
felt exhausted after it, and the next day had headache, partial blindness and
great debility.  She became delirious, and finally had  more or less of the
symptoms  of phrenitis. She died on the twelfth day.  No dissection was
made.  (Western Journal of Medicine and surgery, vol. 12, p. 25.  See also
Lancet, N. S., vol 19, p. 271.)
  t Amusat, Comptes  Rendus, February 22, 1847.  Mitscherlich, Medico-
Chirurgical Review, vol. 44, p. 181.
  X London Medical Gazette, vol. 6. p. 88. 
878
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
were turgid  and the  lungs gorged.  The uterus was found
impregnated, and bearing a three months' male foetus.  The
dissection proceeded no farther.   In  the room  was a large
jar,  containing upwards  of  three gallons of nitric  ether,
broken and the contents spilt about  the room.   The  apart-
ment being small, and the atmosphere strongly impregnated
with this  vapour, the medical  witnesses were of opinion
that the effluvia caused  her death, and such was the verdict
of the coroner's jury.*
   Chloroform.  The  same observations that I  have made
relative to sulphuric ether, are  still  more applicable  to the
present substance, and whether the article employed in cer-
tain cases  be pure or  impure, yet  the fatal cases are multi-
plying.t   It  is manifestly rapidly absorbed by the blood,
and has caused death in a few moments, when inhaled.
  The detection of it must be attempted with the blood, and
for this purpose it  is advised, to  place  it  in a sand bath,
pass the resulting vapour through a tube heated in the cen-
tre to a red  heat, and lined at its extremity with a paste of
iodide  of  potassium  and starch,  its open end  being also
covered with paper moistened with the same  mixture.  If
chloroform be present, the paper will be tinged blue.!
  It may possibly be most accordant to  symptoms, to place
alcohol, ether and chloroform, among narcotic poisons, but
I have preferred for the present,  to continue the former ar-
rangement.   For  the same reason, I subjoin in this place,
a brief notice of several of the  essential oils, although possi-
bly belonging to the class of Irritants.
  Oil of Cedar, (Cupressus Thyoides.)   I mention this first,
because it is so frequently employed in this country, with-
out regard to its violent action, as an abortive.  I have re-
ceived  a communication from Dr. Hough, of St. Lawrence

  * Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, vol. 1, "p. 232.   Edinburgh Me-
dical and Surgical Journal,  vol. 35,  p.  452. " The woman seems  to have
died, as in cases of poisoning with carbonic acid, from slow obstruction of
the breathing, from gradual asphyxia ;  and in no other circumstance is it
usual to find such extensive and intense congestion of the mucous membranes."
(Ibid.)
  t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 73, p. 252.
  X London Medical Gazette, vol. 44, p. 310. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
879
county, N. Y., in which he states that no less than six fatal
cases from taking this have occurred in that county during
the last three years ;  while at the last Oyer and Terminer, a
young man was convicted  of manslaughter for giving a
drachm to a female,  in order to produce abortion.   Death
ensued in forty minutes.  Dr. Wait reports four cases in the
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 40.   The symp-
toms appear to be vomiting, a violent contraction of all the
voluntary muscles, great suffering, followed  by stertor and
rapid sinking.
   Oil of tansy, (Tanacetum  vulgare, L.)  A female, aged
twenty-seven, in  Boston,  took half an ounce.  Spasms en-
sued, and  although  emetics  and the  stomach-pump  were
used, she  died in two hours.  On dissection  a strong odour
of tansy was perceived ; the blood was dark and thick; the
stomach and intestines were healthy. (Case by Dr. Hildreth,
Boston  Medical  Magizine, vol. 3, p. 213.)  Dr.  Daniel
Drake mentions,  that within the  year 1833, two  persons
(both young women) have died in Cincinnati, from  the dis-
tilled oil of tansy.  One took it by mistake ; the other was
probably a suicide.  (Western Journal of Medical and Phy-
sical Sciences, vol. 7, p. 569.)
   Oil of winter green, (Gualtheria procumbens, L.)   An indi-
vidual in New York was supposed to be poisoned by this in
1832.  He had been  intemperate, but was  not  otherwise
disordered.  Death ensued in fourteen  hours;  and  on dis-
section, marks of inflammation in the stomach were seen.
Probably a fluid ounce had been taken.  (Philadelphia Jour-
nal of Pharmacy, vol.  6, p. 289.)
   Volatile oil of mustard, of savin, of carraway, and of fennel.
Each of these have been found by Mitscherlich to be active
poisons, readily absorbed, but producing but little change,
except congestion in  the intestinal canal.  The volatile oil
of turpentine, and even of  copaiba are poisonous, but in less
degree.*

     * Chemist, July, 1844.  Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 9, p. 233. 
880             NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
  Empyreumatic oils.   Some of these act powerfully on the
human system, and two are mentioned by  Professor Chris-
tison which deserve a brief notice.
  One is the empyreumatic oil  procured by the  destructive
distillation  of lard.  Buchner found that five drops intro-
duced  into the throat  of a bird proved nearly fatal.  The
symptoms were excessive exhaustion, slow respiration and
insensibility.
  DippeVs oil,  or  rectified empyreumatic oil of hartshorn.
Chaussier relates a case where an individual took a spoonful
by mistake, and died immediately.  No morbid appearances
could  be found.   Another  case  is quoted from a French
journal,  where a female took  designedly  an ounce and a
half.  From what could  be ascertained, it  appears that she
vomited and not  finding the action of the poison to her
wishes, threw herself  into a well and was  drowned. The
whole body exhaled  the peculiar foetid odour of the oil.
The palate, tongue, throat and gullet were white and shrivel-
led.  The stomach outwardly was of a rose tint, crossed by
gorged black veins, which here and there had burst and
formed patches of extravasation.  The oil  and some  ex-
travasated  blood  was found in  it.  Its villous coat  was
thick, covered with red points, and corrugated.  The intes-
tines had similar, but  inferior marks of irritation.*
   Oil  of tar.  A young man  aged eighteen, took two or
three draughts of this substance, and soon became insensi-
ble ; the pulse was scarcely perceptible, and the extremities
cold.   The stomach-pump and  external  stimulants were
used.   Venesection was then  tried, with  an active enema,
but without benefit.  The  coma  continued, and he died in
about  twelve  hours  after  taking it.   On  dissection,  the
mucous membrane of the larynx and trachea was seen highly
injected; the lungs gorged with blood, and smelling strongly
of  the oil.  The stomach  paler than  natural, and in one
portion an orange-yellow spot.   The brain natural.t  Other
  * Christison, p. 806.  Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 34,
p. 214.
  t Lancet, N. S., vol. 13, p. 902. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
881
instances  have occcurred, where, in less quantity, it  pro-
duced violent vomiting, prostration of strength and pain.
  In connexion with these, I may mention  the  substance
lately discovered  by Reichenbach, and termed Kreosote or
Creosote.  It is  derived either  from pyroligneous  acid  or
from the tarry matter that distils over along with that acid.
When in  a concentrated state, it  destroys the epidermis,
and insects and fish  thrown into it immediately die.  Ac-
cording to Miguet, it acts by irritating the surfaces to which
it is applied.  Redness of the mucous membrane will hence
be  produced, and  the poison may  be detected by its odour
and by the  alimentary matters coagulating albumen.  In
dogs poisoned  by it, mucus was rapidly secreted in large
 quantities, and produced suffocation.*
   We have  in addition to these, the experiments  of  Cor-
 neliani and Cormack.  According to  the latter, creosote
 appears to act  on the heart itself, which  it seems  almost
 instantaneously to paralyze.  There appear also to be many
 points of resemblance between its  effects and those of prus-
 sic acid.   One is, that the odour is diffused through all the
 tissues and indeed continues the longest with creosote.f
   In June, 1839, an aged female was indisposed and recom-
 mended to take her  usual night  draught.   It would  seem
 that the druggist in preparing it, mixed the ingredients with
 two drachms of creosote, instead of two drachms of spirits
 of camphor.  She was soon seized with  agonizing  pain.
 Every  remedy  failed and  she died on the morning of the
 second day.!
    According to  Corneliani, almond, olive  and castor oils,
 and the  volatile  stimulants appear to  possess some power
 as antidotes/  Vinegar increases its poisonous effects.   The
 remedies  advised by  Cormack, are  the same as for  prussic
 acid—chlorine, ammonia and other stimuli.§

   * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 41, p. 248.
   t London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal, vol. 2, p. 943.
   X Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 52, p. 291.
   § Corneliani, British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 1, p. 265. Cor-
 mach on Creosote.  Edinburgh, 1836.
    vol. n.                  56 
882
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
  Fusel  oil,  obtained  during the  manufacture of potatoe
spirit, and has a very disagreeable smell and nauseous taste.
According to the  experiments  of  Mitscherlich, it  is in
considerable quantity, poisonous, and  appears to act like
alcohol — first  stimulant  and then depressing.   In  large
doses, it destroyed the entire mucous  membrane of the
stomach.*
  Cyanol.  One of the organic  bases in  coal-gas naptha, is
equally poisonous according to Hoffman.t
  I subjoin with great unwillingness, but borne down by
the weight of authority, Sulphate of quinine.  In large doses
it would certainly seem to have proved poisonous to animals
and to man.  On dissection, there  is observed to be much
congestion of the brain and lungs.  In several instances,
indeed by  Recamier, Baldwin and others, blindness, con-
vulsions and delirium have occurred, and inflammation of
the brain has been found.
  The administration of any  liquid  containing tannin is
proper  as  an antidote,  although  emetics should also be
given.
  I had formerly been of the opinion, that these results were
impossible, from the large  doses that the practitioners in
the southern States were in the habit of giving with impu-
nity and indeed success.  Nor was the idea of an impure
article to be entertained, since the quinine from the govern-
ment stores was used  by the army surgeons in very large
doses.
  I have thrown in the following note a catalogue of such
noxious  plants and their products, unarranged in the various
classes of poisons, as I have met with during the preparation
of this work.
  Some are  of our own country, while others are foreign,
and   probably  the majority  belong  to the  narcotico-
acrids :

  * London Medical Gazette, vol. 35, p. 430.
  t London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, vol. 24, page
125. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.                883
  Sanguinaria canadensis, L. (Blood-root, Puccoon.)  A native of the Uni-
ted States.   This is considered by Dr. Bigelow as an acrid narcotic.  A dose
of from eight to twenty grains of the  fresh  powdered root, produces irrita-
tion of the fauces, heartburn,  nausea, faintness, and frequently vertigo and
diminished vision.  Vomiting is occasionally produced.   (Bigelow's Medical
Botany, vol. 1, p. 79.)  Dr. Mease  mentions, on the authority of Dr. Muhl-
enbergh, that a temporary insanity was produced in a female from swallow-
ing the seeds.  (Coxe's Medical Museum, vol. 2, p. 161.)  Professor Tully's
elaborate essay on this plant will be found in the American Med.  Recorder,
vol. 13, p.  1.  Professor Dana discovered an alkaloid in  it, denominated
sanguinarine ,• and Schiel, a German, has re-discovered (1843) it.  (Encyclo-
graphie des Sciences Medicales, March, 1843.)
  A few years  since,  during  the  month of July,  while four individuals
(three females and one male) were engaged in cleaning and whitewashing the
apothecary department of the Bellevue Hospital, they drank  out of a demi-
john left there, a large quantity of the tincture of blood root, mistaking it
for some intoxicating  liquor.  They were all soon  seized with racking and
burning  pains,  and a  tormenting  thirst, but concealed from the physician
what they had taken until it was too late to relieve them.   They all died du-
ring the ensuing day.  Their  bodies decomposed very rapidly, and were so
excessively distended, that the coffins  burst.  (New York Medical Gazette,
vol. 1, p. 172.)|
  Dirca  palustris, L.  (Swamp leather-wood.)  A  native  of this country.
The berries are poisonous.  (Rafinesque's Medical Flora, vol. l,p. 160.) The
bark is acrid, and in doses of 6 or 8 grains, causes vomiting,  and sometimes
catharsis. (Bigelow.)   From its affinity to the genus Daphne, it is probably
an acrid poison.
   Chailletia toxicaria, and C. erecta, Don.  Mr. Don observes that these
grow  on the mountain* of Sierra  Leone.   " The English  name of the first
species is ratbane.   There is a deadly poison prepared from the kernel of the
fruit, by the negroes,  which  they use  for  the  purpose  of poisoning rats;
whence its name."  The kernels of the other species possess similar poisonous
properties.  (Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 11. p. 348.)
  Robinia pseudo-acacia, L.   Dr.  Gendron of Montpelier, relates  of some
school-boys who had chewed the bark of the root, and swallowed the  juice,
and in whom in three hours were presented symptoms of narcotic acrid poi-
son, as vomiting, lethargy and slight convulsions.  (Philadelphia Journal of
Pharmacy, vol. 6,  p. 285.)
  Piscidia erythina, L. (Fish-wood, Jamacia dog-wood.)  The bark is thrown
into the water to intoxicate fish.   Dr. Hamilton tried its effects  on himself
in the form of tincture.  It produced some irritation, which was succeeded
by profound sleep.  (Burnett's Outlines of Botany, vol. 2, p.  654.)  Hamil-
ton, in Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 76, 111.   Lindley speaks of it as
a narcotic.
  Abrusprecatorius, L.  The scarlet seeds of this plant are used as neckla-
ces and rosaries.   It is the common opinion that they are poisonous. Indeed,
a single one swallowed by a child is said to have caused death.  (Edinburgh 
884
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
Encyclopedia, vol. 15, p. 808. Am. ed.)  See also Ainslie's Materia Indica,
vol. 2, p. 80, and Penny Magazine, vol. 2, p. 211.   Burnett, (Outlines, vol.
2, p.  666,) however, doubts this, and says that they are eaten in Egypt.
Lindley1 agrees with Burnett.              N
  Hura crepitans. L. (Sand-box, Monkey's dinner-bell,) so called from the
noise  of its capsules breaking.  The seeds of this plant, according to Aublet,
are poisonous.  It vomits and purges  in a dose of two grains.   A native of
Guiana (Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 7, p. 200.  Burnett's Outlines of Botany,
vol. 2, p. 607.)  Probably an acrid poison.  Its milk, when applied to the
eye, caused blindness.
  Anda gomesii, Jussieu.  Grows in Brazil.  The  decoction of the bark is
used by the natives for stupifying fish.  An oil is obtained from the seeds,
which is both cathartic and  emetic.  (Burnett, vol. 2, p. 609.   F. Smith, in
Philadelphia  Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 4. p. 26.)
  JEsculus ohioensis, Michaux.  AS. pallida, Willdenow? (Buckeye.)   Dr.
Drake states  that cattle are poisoned by eating the nuts.  It induces gastritis,
and they are previously affected with  vertigo  and  trembling of the limbs.
(Notes to Desalle, p. 9.  Dr. Short, in Trsnsylvania Journal of Medicine,
vol. 1, p. 422.)  It is undoubtedly an acrid narcotic.  See Riddel's Flora.
  ASsculus pavia, L. Pavia rubra, Lam. (Buckeye.)  "The  narcotic  pro-
perty of this shrub has  given rise to a singular mode of taking fish, prac-
tised, though not frequently, in some parts of this State.  The tender branches
are bruised, and thrown into a pool of  small extent; the water is then agita-
ted until it becomes sufficiently impregnated to affect the fish ; they riseto the
surface almost lifeless,  and may be taken by the hand.  The powdered seed
may be used  with equal effect.  Fish  taken in this  manner are eaten with
impunity."   (Elliot's Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, vol. 1, p. 435.)
  Melia azederach, L.  (Pride of China or  India, Poison berry tree, China
tree.)  A native of the  East, but also grows in our southern States.  Elliot
observes that its decoction is narcotic, and it was  mentioned in the newspa-
pers some time since, that a child had died from eating the seeds.  Dr. Heustis
remarks, that if exhibited in too large quantities, " it  is highly poisonous,
affecting more especially the head and  eyes,  and sometimes causing total
blindness."   (Elliot's Botany, vol. 1, p. 476.  Barton's Materia Medica, part
1, p. 41. American Journal of Medical  Sciences,  vol. 8, p. 82.  Ainslie's
Materia Indica, vol. 2, p. 456. Dr. Griffith, in Philadelphia Journal of Phar-
macy, vol. 7, p. 180.)
  Amyris toxifolia, toxifera, Willd.  (Janca or  White candle-wood.)  This is
said to be a native of Carolina; and a black juice which  distils from the
trunk of this tree,  is stated to be  very  poisonous.   (Burnett's Outlines of
Botany, vol.  2, p. 875.)
  Polygala venenosa, Juss.  A native  of  Java.   Commerson says, " that
even from gathering a few of its leaves and branches, he was attacked with
giddiness, and sickness, and other unpleasant symptoms."   (Burnett's  Med.
Botany, vol.  2.)
  Passiflora  quadrangular is, L. (Barbadine.)   A strong infusion of its root
produced catalepsy and death  in a dog;  and on dissection,  the arachnoid 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
885
membrane was found injected, the vessels of the lungs all filled, and black
blood in the heart.  (Dr. Ricord Madianna in Annals of the New York Ly-
ceum, vol. 1, p. 129.)  It is a native of the Isle of France, but cultivated in
Guadaloupe.  It is said to owe its  activity to a peculiar principle, called
passiflorine.
  Chenopodium murale, L. (Wormseed.)  A native of the southern States.
Dr. Henry Wilkins of Baltimore,  states  that he has  known of two instances
of children convulsed for an hour, from swallowing the seeds.   (Coxe's Med.
Museum, vol. 5, p. 256.)
   Gelsemium nitidum,  Michaux.  (Yellow  jessamine.   Bignonia sempivi-
rens, L.)  The flowers, root, &c, of this shrub, are narcotic, and the effluvia
from the former are said sometimes to induce stupor.   Dr. Mease mentions
that a child died in Charleston, S. C, from eating the flowers. (Elliot's Botany
of South Carolina and Georgia, vol. 1, p. 312.  Memoirs of the Philadelphia
Agricultural Society, vol. 5, p. 244.)   In the newspapers of May, 1823, it is
mentioned that a child of Mr. Broughton, of North Carolina, aged two years,
died in the space of two hours, after eating the flowers of this plant.  Blind-
 ness ensued within a minute or two after swallowing it.  See  Prof. Tully's
Experiments, in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 7, p. 117.
   Kalmia latifolia, L.  (Mountain laurel.  Laurel in Pennsylvania, Bay in
 Virginia.)   A native of the United States.   Barton says that the Delawares
 (Indians) poison themselves with a decoction of this plant. It is poisonous to
 some animals, as  cattle and sheep; and in man, a very small quantity of the
 decoction has produced vertigo and convulsions.  (Barton's  Medical and
 Physical Journal, vol. 1,  part  1, p. 147.  Barton's Materia  Medica, part
 1, p. 18.  Bigelow's  Medical Botany, vol. 1, pp. 137, 139.  A recent instance
 of its deleterious effect on sheep is given in  the  Penny Magazine,  1838,
 p. 283.)
   Gualtheria procumbens,  (Spicy winter-green,) and Andromeda, are  allied
 genera to the Kalmias.  In the Annals  of Medicine, vol. 3, p. 364, is a case
 by Dr. Longmore of a  number of soldiers  poisoned at Quebec, from  a tea
 made of the andromeda, gualtheria and ledum.   It produced vertigo, weak-
 ness, vomiting, cold sweats, and in  one case insensibility.  They gradually
 recovered, after extreme debility.  See also Barton's Materia  Medica, part
 1, p. 19.   Bees which feed on the azalea, rhododendron and kalmia, are sup-
 posed to produce poisonous honey.
    Senecio obovatus, Willd.  A  native of  this State.  It is  said to have
 proved a deadly poison to sheep.   (Silliman's Journal,  vol. 15, p. 358.)
   Arnica montana, L. (Leopard's bane, Mountain tobacco.)   Chevallier and
 Lassaigne have detected cytisine in  it.  (Duncan's Supplement, p. 27.)
    Echites suberecta, Jacq. (Savanna flower of Jamaica.)  According to Mr.
 Sells, two drachms  of the expressed juke of this plant killed a dog. Animals
 and men  have been destroyed by it.   Some negroes attempted to poison an
 overseer by putting a quantity of the powdered root into  water intended
 for drinking, but it was detected. Six grains of this powdered root were given
 to a dog, who died in less  than three hours.  (Brande's  Journal, N. S.,  vol. 3,
 p.  502.)  Dr. Hamilton states that the  milk of this plant is  a deadly poison, 
886
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
and  often fatal to cattle that browse upon it.  He also mentions cases fatal
to man.   (Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 6, p. 23.)
   Spigelia marilandica,  L.   Pink root.   A  native  of the United States;
This, in large doses, is a violent poison.  Its decoction  produced vertigo,
dimness of sight, and pain, in two children who took it; one vomited but
was  not relieved; staggering, incoherent talking, and delirium  took place,
until they  all fell asleep; they awoke relieved.  The pupils were dilated
during the influence of the poison.  Dr. Chalmers attributes the loss of two
children who died  in convulsions, to this article.  (Edinburgh Physical and
Literary Essays, vol. 1, p. 438.  Dr.  Lining, Ibid.  vol. 3, p. 149. Dr. Garden,
Barton's Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 1, part  2, p. 74.   Dr. W. P. Bar-
ton's Medical Botany, vol.  2.  p. 80.  Bigelow's Medical Botany, vol. 1, p.  146.)
   Spigelia anthelmia, L.  (Brinvilliers.)   A  native of  the West Indies.
This, according to  Dr.  Ricord (Recherches  et Experiences sur  les poisons
D'Amerique) is a violent poison to animals, destroying a dog in two hours,
when the  juice of the leaves was  employed.   The stomach and intestines
were throughout contracted, as if from spasm, but their mucous membrane
was  pale.   The heart, both auricles, and ventricles, were  distended with
black blood.  Dr. R. supposes it to  be one of the poisons  in use among the
negroes.
   Hcemanthus toxicarius, Aiton.  (The old Amaryllis toxicaria, or distacha,)
is the plant with which it is said the Hottentots poison their arrows. Wea-
pons wetted with the juice of the bulb, convey certain death by the slightest
wound:  dissolution is  preceded by violent struggles and efforts to vomit.
(Burnett's  Outlines of Botany, vol. 1, p. 448.)
   Amaryllis atamasco, L.   (Atamasco lily, stagger-grass.)  Southern States.
Generally supposed to be poisonous to cattle, and to produce the disease in
calves called staggers.   (Elliot's Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, vol.
1, p. 384.)
   Helonias erythrosperma^Mich.  (Red seeded helonias, fly poison).* South-
ern States.  This plant is a narcotic poison, and is employed by some families
for destroying the house fly.  It is mixed with honey or molasses.  The flies,
unless swept into the  fire or otherwise destroyed, revive in the course  of
twenty-four hours.  (Elliot's Botany of South  Carolina and Georgia, vol.  1,
p. 421.)  Dr. Tully has experimented on  this-   (Boston Medical  and Surgi-
cal Journal, vol. 7, p. 136.)
   Caladium seguinum,X Vent.  I add this on the authority of some remarks
extracted from Hooker's Exotic Flora.  This plant is a native of the West
Indies, and  is there called dumb cane, from the fact that its virulent juice,
when applied to the tongue, causes a swelling which deprives the sufferer of
the power of speech.   From its affinity to the genus Arum, it is probably  an
acrid poison.  The Caladium aborescens is so caustic,  that occasionally, (says
Merat) the lips of negroes are wetted with it, as a punishment for slight
misdemeanours.   (Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 7,  p. 395.  Coxe's
Medical Museum, vol. 1, p. 1S5. Burnett's Outlines of Botany, vol. 1, p. 411.)
*■ Amianthum muscaBtoxicum.  Gray.
t Called Dietfenbachia seguina, by Pereira. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
887
  Symplocarpus fcetida, Salisbury. Modes fcetidus, Bigelow. (Skunk cab-
bage.)  A native of the United States.  This  plant  emits a very pungent
odour from the spathe and flower.  Dr. Barton was seized  with inflammation
of the eyes, in consequence of the necessary examination  which  he gave to
it.  A dose of thirty grains of the root has caused vomiting, headache, vertigo,
and temporary blindness.  (Dr.  W. P. Barton's Medical  Botany, art. Sym-
plocarpus. Bigelow's Medical Botany, vol. 2, p. 48.)
  This plant has been analyzed by Mr. Turner, but without discovering any
peculiar noxious principle.  (Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, vol 8, p. 1.)
  Festuca quadridentata.  (Kunth.)   Sessleria quitensis of  Sprengel, is,
according to Humboldt, poisonous to animals.  (Pereira, London Medical Ga-
zette, vol. 17, p. 4.)
  Equisetum hyemale, L. (Scour grass.)  A native of the United States.  I
formerly placed this among the irritant poisons, but I am now convinced that
its noxious qualities are owing to the silex contained in it.   According to the
analysis  of Braconnot, out of the ashes furnished by the  dried plant, more
than half is silex.  There is no question that horses and cattle are sometimes
destroyed from eating it; and on examination, the stomach is found cut and
lacerated.  (Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 8, p. 101.  Barton's
Medical and Phpsical Journal, vol. 1, part 1,  p. 149.  Nuttall's Journey in
the Arkansaw, p. 58.)
   Phaseolus Multiforus.  (Scarlet runner.)  The roots are said to be poison-
ous, although the beans are eaten.
   Diospyros  virginiana.  (Persimmon.)  Dr. Zollickeffer gives an instance
in which the seeds produced serious consequences, but these, I apprehend,
are attributable rather to the quantity taken,  than to a  poisonous quality.
(Philadelphia Medical Examiner, vol. 3, p. 198.)
   Lonicera xylosteum. (Caprifolium dumetorum.)  Dr. Blattmann relates the
case of a child five  years old, who, after eating some of the,berries of the
plant, was seized with vomiting and purging, dilatation of the pupils, small,
quick and irregular pulse, and indeed all the ordinary symptoms of poisoning.
He was relieved by  the usual remedies.   This case  led  to experiments on
rabbits, and from three to seven of the berries were found sufficient to kill
young ones in a few hours.  Unless the berries were fresh, they induced no
 noxious  effects, and Dr. Blattmann hence supposes that the poisonous quality
resides in the empyreumatic oil, which they contain, and which has the pro-
 perty of volatilizing after a few days.   A student in Pharmacy, while  pre-
paring a syrup from the fresh fruit, was seriously affected for some time in
 his sight. Dr. B. arranges this substance with the narcotico-acrids.  Encyclo-
graphie des Sciences Medicales, 4th series, vol. 12, p. 218. (From Pommer's
 Zeitschrift.)
   Yedra. " The most remarkable shrub in this country (California) is the
 Yedra,  a poisonous  plant  affecting  only particular constitutions  of the
 human body, by producing  tumors and violent inflammation upon any part
 with which it comes in contact, and indeed even the exhalation from it, borne
 upon the wind, is said to have an effect  upon  some people.  It is a slender 
888
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
shrub, preferring cool and shady  places, and bears a trefoil  crenated leaf."
(Capt. Beechey's Narrative, vol. 2, p. 84.)
  Singhera.  An East India poison.  See an account of it by Mr. Burnard,
from the India Medical Journal, London Medical Gazette, vol.  18, p. 447.

   The following are  taken  from  Dr. Lindley's  Flora Me-
dica :

  Lagenaria vulgaris. (Bottle gourd.)  " In the  wild state, this plant  pro-
duces poisonous fruit.   Some sailors died at one of our outposts, a few years
since, from drinking beer that had been standing  in a flask made of a bottle
gourd.  Dr. Royle says that he learned from a very respectable and intelli-
gent native doctor, attached to the goal hospital at Saharumpore, that he had
seen a case of poisoning from eating of the bitter  pulp, in which  the symp-
toms were those of cholera."  p. 84.  The above plant is the cucurbita lage-
naria, L.
  Argemone  Mexicana, Toura.    The seeds are said  to  be  powerfully
narcotic.
  Excmcoria agallocha, L.  Native of India.   Its juice causes inflammation
and  ulceration.
  Erythroxylon coca,  Lam.  Much used by the  Peruvians.  Its  effects are
similar  to, but less violent than those  of opium.
  Anagyris fcetida, L.  Seeds said  to be  poisonous like those  of cytisus
laburnum.
   Tephrosia  toxicaria, Pers.  (Galegatoxicaria.)  Used in Jamaica to poison
fish.  The pounded leaves are thrown into the water.
   Geoffreea inermis, Swartz. (Audira inermis.)  The bark is drastic, emetic,
purgative and narcotic, poisonous in large doses, producing violent vomiting
with fever and delirium.
   Comocladia dentata, Jacquin.  " It is supposed by the natives of Cuba,
that it is death to sleep beneath its shade, especially for persons of a sanguine
or fat habit of body.   This is firmly believed, and there can be no doubt  that
it is the most dangerous plant upon the island."
  Ficus dcemona, Vahl.  Seacoast of  Tangore.  Juice extremely poisonous.
F. toxicaria L.   Juice a virulent poison.
  Petiveria alliacea, L.  All the  parts are excessively acrid.   The negresses
in the West indies employ it to procure abortion.
  Cestrum venenatum, Thunb.  "A  decoction of the bark reduced to the
thickness of jelly, is used by the Hottentots to  envenom their weapons.  It
is said to be a fatal poison, and to  be also used by  the same people to destroy
wild beasts, by impregnating baits of flesh with its juice."
  Crinum texicarium, Roxb.  East Indies.  The bulbs are powerfully emetic.
  Helonias frigida.  (Veratrum  frigidum, Schlecht.)   A poisonous plant
called savaja by the Mexicans.   Horses that eat it become stupified.
   Gloriosa superba, L.  Has a root  which is said to be a most violent poison.
  Pistia stratiotes, L.  The whole plant is acrid. In Jamaica it communi-
cates this quality to the  water tanks in which  it  grows, and  is said to give
rise to the bloody flux." 
NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
889
                 Compound  Poisoning.
  It  is to be expected, that when two poisons of different
or opposite properties have been taken, their effects will
vary materially from those produced by either singly.  The
known facts on this subject, however,  consist at present
only of individual cases, and I will mention some of the
more important:
  Arsenic and  Corrosive sublimate. An individual took about
fifty grains of each,  mixed  together,  for  the  purpose of
suicide;  but experiencing a burning heat in his bowels in
about  five minutes  took an emetic, which caused him to
evacuate a portion of the poison.  Excruciating  pain and
severe thirst  were present.,  By the aid  of  emetics and
diluents he became somewhat relieved.   A diarrhoea ensued,
which lasted eight  days.   On the second day, besides this,
vomiting recurred, with convulsive  twitchings.  The treat-
ment was directed to the removal of inflammation.  Under
this he improved, but was delirious a portion of the time.
On  the  sixth day, mercurial  ptyalism commenced, and
although extremely weak, the  immediate dangerous symp-
toms subsided, and he gradually, but slowly, convalesced.*
   Arsenic and laudanum. Mr. Jennings relates a case, where
 a female swallowed two drachms of arsenic and three ounces
 of  laudanum  at the same  time.  He saw her in four hours
 after. There was no pain or burning in the throat, stomach
 or bowels; no tenderness of the abdomen, and no particular
 stupor.   She  complained merely of being tired and sleepy,
 from the violent effects of an  emetic about two hours pre-
 viously.  The eyes were bloodshot and heavy, the  pupils
 contracted, and the  pulse  100.  All the usual symptoms of
 arsenic  were absent.   An emetic, venesection,  leeches,
 blistering, and the cold effusion were prescribed, and she
 was kept walking; but the drowsiness increased, and she
 finally became comatose, and died in that state, with dilated
 pupils and laborious breathing, about nine hours after taking

   * Julia Fontanelle, in Archives Generales.  Medico-Chirurgical Review,
  vol. 7, p.  565. 
890
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
the poison.   There  had been no pain in the stomach, and
the bowels were but once moved.
  On dissection, the membranes of the brain were found vas-
cular,  the sinuses  gorged,  the large veins  filled  with a
treacly-like  blood,  the ventricles free of fluid, the brain
firm, and its  bloody points unusually numerous.  The sto-
mach was externally healthy.  It contained half a  pint of
fluid.  Its villous coat was generally pale, but at the great
arch there were two small red patches.  The small intestines
were red, and some had  patches.   The  heart  was rather
flaccid, and its great vessels were  not gorged with blood.
Arsenic was obtained from the fluids of the stomach.*
  The interest of this  case  and the others cited below, is
heightened  by  an  experiment  of Lassaigne, {Journal  de
Chimie  Medicate, April, 1841.)  He injected, through  an
incision in the oesophagus, into the stomach of a stout dog,
ten grains of arsenic in solution and all the soluble parts of
three drachms  of opium.  A ligature  was placed  on the
penis, to prevent the excretion of urine.  Shortly after, the
animal appeared  to  experience nausea and foamed at the
mouth, but in a quarter of an hour he was quiet.  The effects
of narcotism increased, and in three hours he  was dead.
   Dissection was immediately  practised.  The liver and
heart were removed, and all the blood as well as urine were
collected for examination.  Portions of each of these were
then tested for arsenic, but without success.  Traces of it
were  indeed discovered, but not sufficiently  decisive to
warrant the  assertion of its presence.
   Attempts  were next made to ascertain the presence of
opium.   A portion  of the urine evaporated down was tested
with salts of the  peroxide of iron and with nitric acid, but
no indications either of meconic acid  or  of morphine were
manifested.   The blood was next examined and  then  a
portion of the liver, but with equal ill success.

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 35, p.  453, from London
Medical and Physical Journal, October, 1830. There is another case by Mr.
Scott, in which the effects of the arsenic decidedly predominated, and the
mucous membrane of  the stomach was readily detached, after death.  (Me-
dico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 11, p. 170.) 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
891
  The deductions of Lassaigne from this case are as follows :
 1. Opium mixed with arsenious acid, acts on the stomach
 so as to prevent the rapid absorption of the mineral poison.
 2. Although death in this instance undoubtedly ensued from
 the combined action of the two  poisons, yet traces of their
 presence cannot chemically  be  detected  in the viscera or
 fluids.
  Arsenic and  alcohol.  Two cases  of  this description are
 mentioned  by  Dr.  Christison.    In  one, the  arsenic  was
 taken after a meal.  After ineffectual  attempts to produce
 vomiting by emetics,  the stomach-pump was used, and a
 fluid brought up in which  arsenic was  detected; but no
 symptom of arsenical  poisoning  followed.  Dr. Christison
 imagines that the  operation of it  was  prevented by the
 narcotism previously induced by the ardent spirits.  In the
 other instance  related by Dr.  Wood, of Dumfries,  where
 half an ounce of arsenic was taken early in the morning, after
 a night's debauch,  there was no  symptom, but languor  and
 drowsiness.    A few  minutes  afterwards, he had  slight
 vomiting, which was  repeatedly renewed.   In  eighteen
 hours, he presented the  usual  constitutional  symptoms of
 poisoning with arsenic, and  in forty-one  hours, he expired.
 But from first  to last he  had scarcely any local symptom,
 except vomiting, although  the  stomach presented, after
 death, signs of violent irritation.*
  Arsenic and nux  vomica.   A female in Liverpool, took
 two drachms of arsenic  and half a drachm of nux vomica. It
 was soon discovered, and  an emetic of sulph. zinc was given,
 which  produced vomiting.  The stomach-pump was also
 used.  Subsequent  to this, copious draughts of lime-water
and mucilage were  prescribed.   The  symptoms that suc-
 ceeded were those  of  severe gastric inflammation, which
yielded  to  the repeated  application of leeches and a milk
diet.  She was discharged cured on the sixteenth day.f
  Corrosive sublimate and  laudanum.  Two drachms of the
former, and half an ounce of the  latter, were swallowed by

   * Christison, p. 808.   f British Annals of Medicine, vol. 2, p. 81. 
892
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
a young soldier at Edinburgh.  He had at  first no violent
symptoms whatever indicating the operation of corrosive
sublimate, but afterwards suffered under purging, tenesmus,
and  bloody stools.   There was, however, no pain or ten-
derness of  the abdomen.  On the fourth day, a violent sali-
vation commenced, and under this and the dysentery, he
sunk; yet not so much but that on the day of his death, the
ninth day after  he took the  poison, he was able to walk
a little in  his room without assistance.  The stomach and
intestines were enormously  inflamed, ulcerated, and  here
and there almost gangrenous.  Dr. Christison, who received
this  case from Dr. Mackintosh, imagines that the narcotic
operation of the  opium retarded the irritant action of the
corrosive sublimate.*
  Corrosive sublimate, sulphate of copper, and a tincture of
the sesquichloride of iron.   This constitutes what is called
" gun barrel browning."  A child five years old swallowed
a considerable quantity.  He endeavoured in vain to vomit,
had much pain in the epigastrium, and his pulse was feeble
and quick.   He was perfectly rational, although listless and
heavy.   Copious draughts  of milk, combined with white of
eggs, were  given.   These induced frequent vomiting, and
the patient soon became relieved.  A gentle emetic of ipe-
cacuanha, to remove the consequent torpor  of the stomach,
acted kindly, and a  gentle perspiration, followed by quiet
sleep, left him convalescent.
  In this case the albumen doubtless acted  as an antidote
to the salts  of both mercury and copper.  (London Medical
Gazette, April, 1841.)
  Acetate of lead and opium even in large doses would seem
to counteract each other.   Thirty grains of  opium and six-
teen of acetate, intended for a lotion, were swallowed by a
sailor  in the New York Hospital, without any bad effects.
The acetic  acid decomposes the opium and forms acetate of
morphine, t

  * Christison, p. 809.
  t Dr. Buck, New-York Journal Medicine and Surgery, Oct., 1840. 
NARCOTICO-ACRID POISONS.
893
  Lead and nux vomica.   A  young female  died in conse-
quence of taking a solution of acetate of lead and some nux
vomica.  On dissection, the blood-vessels of the brain were
found much distended—the mucous membrane of the stomach
was entire, not thickened but somewhat ecchymosed.   The
other parts were natural.
  Dr. R. D. Thomson analysed the contents of the stomach
and obtained strychnine sufficient to kill a bird.  Lead in a
metallic state was also procured, and it deserves mention
that the smell of  the fluid matters taken from the stomach
was strongly acetous.*
   Tartar emetic and charcoal fumes.   An individual, after
 swallowing seventeen grains of the former, attempted to
 commit  suicide by  suffocating  himself  with the  fumes of
 burning charcoal.  He recovered  from both attempts ; suf-
 fered  severely from the  usual  narcotic effects of carbonic
 acid gas, but showed scarcely any of the symptoms  of the
 action of tartar emetic.
    Opium and belladonna.   The  lady of a medical man took
 successively three injections, each containing a scruple of
 opium and half an ounce  of the leaves of belladonna.   They
 were all returned.  This was in  the evening.  During the
 night, her husband became  alarmed  at her  profound sleep,
 and  sent for aid.  The pupils  were  extremely dilated, the
 tongue  dry, deglutition difficult, respiration  short and fre-
 quent,  and the  pulse  130.  The  limbs   were  perfectly
 motionless, and the skin insensible to irritation. Purgatives,
 venesection and sinapisms were used with success, but the
 vision remained indistinct for the next day.t
    Laudanum and alcohol.  The excitement of intoxication
 sometimes suspends for  a time the action of laudanum, but
 the symptoms of stupor then occur.  In one instance, seen
 by Dr. Christison, there was  no delay, and the narcotism
 came on in one hour, and death succeeded  in four more.J
* British Annals of Medicine, vol. 1, p. 103.
f Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 17, p. 563.
X Christison, p. 809. 
894             NARCOTICO-ACRID  POISONS.
  Orfila has published an elaborate memoir on the detection
of mixed poisons.  I can mention only a few of his formula?:
  Mixture of corrosive sublimate and arsenious acid.   These
are separated by adding  sulphuric  ether, and  shaking the
mixture until the sublimate is dissolved.   The liquor is then
evaporated to obtain  it.   This will  apply, whether  the
mixture be in the solid or fluid state.
  Corrosive sublimate and acetate of copper.  Here also ether
is to be used as in the last, the accetate not being soluble
in it.
  Corrosive sublimate and tartar  emetic, the same process.
  Arsenious acid and tartar emetic.  Boil the mixture with
carbonate of potash.  Soluble arsenite and tartrate of potash,
and  oxide of antimony will be  obtained.   The latter is
soluble in hydrochloric acid, affording hydrochlorate of anti-
mony.  Treat the  fluid with sulphuretted hydrogen,  and a
few drops of hydrochloric acid and sulphuret  of arsenic will
be precipitated.
  Laudanum and arsenious acid.  Filter  and  apply  sulphu-
retted hydogen.  The  laudanum dissolves  only  a  small
portion of the acid.*

  * The Memoir of Orfila may be found in the Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 7, p.
627; and an analysis of it in American Journal of Medical Sciences,  vol. 11,
p. 179. 
CHAPTER  XXII.
                    MEDICAL EVIDENCE.*


Why physicians are called as witnesses; statutory regulations on this in
  various countries.  Duties of the medical witness before the coroner and his
  jury.  Neglect of medico-legal examinations.  Capacity of all medical men
  to be witnesses.  Necessity of the appointment of medico-legal examiners
  by the State. Regulations in Austria—Prussia; practical school of legal
  medicine in the latter country.  Defects of the present system in England
  and the United States ; duties of medical men while it remains in force.
  Medical witnesses before a court; rules for their conduct in the statement
  of facts—in giving opinions.  Fluctuations of opinion on several subjects
  of importance—hydrostatic test in infanticide.  The witness to avoid being
  a partisan.  Testimony  to be estimated according to the skill and know-
  ledge of the witness.  Difference of opinion; rule on this in the Scotch
  courts; a reference to authorities proper.  Divulging of secrets.  Validity
  of death-bed declarations.


   No treatise  on Medical Jurisprudence is complete at the

present day, unless it embraces  some remarks on Medical

Evidence; but I confess that I do not approach the  subject

with the same alacrity that  I  have  done others, and princi-

pally from a conviction that what I may say  or offer will

pass unheeded by those to whom it is principally addressed.

I refer to our  lawgivers, with whom alone it remains to give

a new and proper impulse  to the science of medical juris-

prudence, and to make that infinitely  more available to  the

ends of justice and the prevention of crime than it has ever

been in this country ,f

   The duties  of  the physician or  surgeon are not bounded

by his  responsible and interesting attendance on  the sick.

He is often called upon to exercise other functions.  His

opinion is desired in cases of sudden  death—of grievous

bodily  or  mental injury—or  on the nature  of  particular

  * I take great pleasure in stating that the present chapter has been sub-
jected to the revision and criticism of the Hon. John C. Spencer, and that
I have availed myself of his valuable suggestions.
  t Many of the remarks in this chapter are taken from the Annual Address
delivered before the State Medical Society in 1828, when I was honoured with
the office of President. 
896
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
diseases and affections.  This, indeed, is the natural result
of a proper regard for the interests of society.  Whenever
the importance of equal laws becomes fully recognised in a
country, and the necessity of distributing impartial justice
fully understood, it will soon suggest itself to the legislator
that if evidence is required, it should  be of the most unex-
ceptionable and satisfactory nature.  When the controversy
originated in mercantile disputes, the opinions of merchants
were of course  sought  for and  depended  on,  and their
customs and  usages  have  indeed become  a part of  the
statutes  of various  countries.   So also  when unexpected
death followed from known or supposed injury—when the
suspicion of violence entered into the list of causes, it was
natural, that sooner or later, those should be called upon to
examine and  testify,  whose ordinary studies and pursuits
best enabled them to decide.  We find  that it is now three
centuries  since  a formal enactment  in  a  European code
recognised this principle.  The Emperor Charles the Fifth,
(as I have already stated in the Introduction,) in the cele-
brated Criminal  Code  framed by  him at Ratisbon in 1532,
ordained that the opinion of medical  men should be taken
in every case where  death  had been  occasioned by violent
means ;  such as  child-murder, poisonings wounds, hanging,
drowning,  and the  like.   France  and  other continental
states soon followed this example, and  improved upon its
directions. In England, the country  from which we derive
our laws, I believe I may say with perfect accuracy, that no
statutory provision on the  subject is to be found.  Custom,
however, and sometimes legal dicta have  sanctioned what
the necessity of the case has rendered imperious—an appeal
to medical testimony.*   The same remarks may, to a great

  * " It is the duty of a coroner, in case of death in a pugilistic encounter,
to examine a surgeon as to the cause of death."  (Rex v. Quinch, 4 Carring-
ton and Payne's Reports, 571.) But again: A woman was wounded by a
stone, and taken to the hospital in Dublin.  The mayor required a certificate
from the surgeon in attendance, as to her state.  This was refused unless a
fee was paid.  The mayor appealed to the government, and was informed by
Mr. Stanley (Dublin Castle, November 13, 1832,)  that  no law obliges the
surgeon of an infirmary to give an opinion in such a case.  (London Medical
Gazette, vol. 11, p. 264.) 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
897
extent, be applied  to our country;  and it is to be regretted
that in  both, the qualifications for the office of coroner are
so little regarded.  It would  seem indispensable that he be
properly versed both  in the  legal and medical knowledge
required from time to time in the discharge of his office.*
It cannot be denied, that a full and satisfactory medico-legal
examination  is  avoided as often as public sentiment will
permit; and even when judicially ordered, its proper objects
are often thwarted, or not fully accomplished.  The conse-
quences may be seen in the  result of many of our criminal
trials.   The  public mind  may be deeply  and permanently
impressed with the guilt of individuals, yet the imperfection
of the early examination has been such as to leave no option
to the jury but to release the  accused.
   In cases of death by violence or by poisons, and these are
the most important as well as the  most common, in which
professional  witnesses are summoned, their duties may be
considered under two  divisions—first,  before the coroner's
inquest; and  secondly, before the court and jury that  is to
try the  supposed criminal.   In other words, the facts that
are to govern are elicited  before the former;  while before
the latter, these facts are  to  be stated, and opinions are to
be advanced, which frequently decide the fate of the accu-
sation.  This is the ordinary  course of judicial proceeding,
though  of course  it is  often necessary to pronounce  an
opinion even before a coroner's jury, but with the important
distinction that its merits and  weight  are  there  seldom
canvassed.
   As to the first of these  divisions, we may observe that it
enters  into the very essence  of the duties of the coroner,
and those of  the jury  whom  he summons, to view the body.
He is to inquire into the causes which have produced the
supposed  termination  of life, and if injury be  manifest, to

  * See vol.  2, p. 2.  .1 do not mean by these remarks to urge that the coro-
ner should always be a  medical man, any more than that he should be a
lawyer ; but I contend for such a degree of knowledge as will enable him to
aid the medical examiner in his duties, and at the same time properly direct
the jury.
   vol.  n.                    57 
898
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
 ascertain its nature and the probable instrument used to
 effect it.   It is in the discharge of this function that he may
 summon any medical man before  him as a witness, and our
 own state law says he shall do it.   It proceeds, however,
 no farther, nor does it establish any regulations as to exami-
 nations,  or  the   compensation  for  them.*  The  result
 necessarily  must be, a  degree of carelessness and hurry
 which can only tend to favour the escape of a guilty person.
   In Austria, though a despotic country, this subject is far
 better arranged.   " A code  of regulations  is published, by
 which all medico-judiciary inspections are to be conducted
 throughout the empire, and reports to be  drawn up.  Public
 inspections are also made on the dead bodies of those found
 in suspicious  circumstances, and  which not being at first
 recognised,  are  carried to the dead-room of  the general
 hospital.  Due notice is given to  the students at what hour
 such inspections are to  take place, and they have thus an
 opportunity  of seeing  those regulations  put in  practice,
 which they themselves will one day be called to fulfil."!
   The  medical witness when summoned, should  satisfy
 himself as to  the  cause of death.   He should proceed to a
 dissection if he entertains the slightest doubt,  and  he has
 the right to  demand this, or as an alternative, to deny his
 testimony.   If this be  properly understood, the doubt that
 some have advanced, whether in law,  it is imperative on the
 coroner to have the  body opened, is  of  little importance.J
 At the present day  physicians at  least need not to be told
that an external view alone of the body is perfectly nugatory,
 and that it can lead to no certain deduction, and that a jury
is quite as competent to form an opinion  upon it as many
 practitioners.  The jury is  sworn " diligently to inquire

  * In a letter from Mr. Aaron, surgeon of Birmingham, it is stated that it
 seems to be the legal opinion that a coroner cannot oblige a surgeon to open a
body and give evidence thereon; bu,t that a surgeon having examined a body
 at the coroner's request or not, and coming  before him, may be committed for
contempt if he refuse to answer.  (London Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 6, p. 22.)
  f Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol. 1, p. 40.
  X London Medical Repository, vol. 24, p. 578.  Medico-Chirurgical Review,
vol. 6, p. 562. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
899
and true  presentment make," how and in what manner, the
deceased came to his  death.   Let the  medical witness,
when subpoenaed, impress this on the coroner and his jury,
and decline any testimony unless he be permitted to satisfy
his own  mind and conscience.*
   The duties  demanded of him  cannot be  satisfactorily  or
conscientiously  discharged without competent knowledge.
An acquaintance with  anatomy is indispensably  necessary,
and  peculiarly  so in those  interesting cases where it  is
necessary to distinguish the effects of disease or violence
from  ordinary appearances.   Unless well grounded in that
science,  the phenomena  that follow natural death  may  be
mistaken for the effects of poison, or the  consequences  of
severe  injury.   Anatomy,  then, both  physiological and
pathological, must be applied  to the  case.  Nor  is this
always sufficient.  If the question of poisoning be agitated,
chemistry is  required  to lend its aid;  and if it be  a case
involving the presence of pregnancy or delivery, the know-
ledge of the man widwife will be necessary.
   Now the  just application of all this must not be evaded.
The members of our profession in every part of the country
are liable to be summoned, and  that on the shortest notice,
to take a part in such an investigation.  Are they all quali-
fied to do justice to it 1   Am I doing them a wrong in saying
that they are not?  Medical  men are constantly engaged in
a  most  laborious and  engrossing occupation,  and after
obtaining their education, their opportunities for pursuing
practical anatomy are extremely narrow.   Indeed, the pre-

  * " We cannot omit this  opportunity of expressing our disapprobation of
the conduct of coroners who presume to interrupt  the medical practitioner
called  upon to examine the cause of death under suspicious circumstances;
and of  informing practitioners in general, that as soon as  the body is deli-
vered over to them for that purpose, they are to proceed deliberately with
their examination until they be satisfied.  Upon this subject, we quote with
great satisfaction the opinion of the enlightened judge who now presides
over the criminal court of  this division of the empire.  Dr. Cleghorn, of
Glasgow, having been examined in a trial for poison, the Lord Justice Clerk,
after highly complimenting the learned Professor on his luminous evidence,
took occasion to impress strongly on all magistrates and public officers pre-
sent, the absolute necessity of having the body of the deceased opened and
examined  by a medical man, in every  case of suspicious death."  (Edin-
burgh  Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 14, p. 468.) 
900
MEDICAL  EVIDENCE.
judices of the community, strengthened -by the restrictions
and penalties of our laws, render it almost impracticable to
do more than  preserve  their early information.  The ac-
cessory sciences also are only cultivated by a few.  Does it
not then  appear that  a duty is required, which in  many
cases should rather be avoided ?  I am still confining myself
to the  preliminary investigation before a coroner, and need
only allude  to  the  additional force of these  observations,
when the examiner is transferred to the stand of the witness,
and  subjected  to  the  inquiries of the bar and  the  court.
How  often  is  a fair  reputation  and  great  moral  worth
tarnished by the want of knowledge  or self-possession in
such an  ordeal? And would not  all prefer  having  some
regulations adopted, by which the  liability to these conse-
quences may be avoided?
  I have no novel proposition to  offer on this subject.  It
is one  that has been sanctioned by the experience of several
continental countries, and has certainly led to the distribu-
tion of equal justice.  It has done more.  In the  opinion of
competent judges, it has led to the diminution  of crimes,
evidently from  a certainty of their detection.  I refer  to the
appointment of medical men in a county, a district, or  a part
of the state, who shall be specially charged with this duty.
  The germ of this regulation appears in the German code,
to which I have already referred.   It has for centuries been
the practice in Austria to appoint individuals to superintend
these examinations and to report on them.   In 1606, Henry
the Fourth of  France, gave  letters  patent to his first
physician, by which he  conferred on him the power of
appointing two  surgeons in every city or important  town,
whose duty  it should exclusively be to examine all wounded
or murdered  persons, and to  report thereon.  It was soon
discovered that in many instances  the investigation  would
be incomplete, unless physicians were associated with them,
and accordingly in 1692, this was ordained by the council
of state.*   The form of the reports to be made by them, and
* Fodere, Introduction, vol. 1, p. 32. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
901
 the circumstances to be noticed, make a part of every work
 now published on the continent, concerning legal medicine.
   Dr. William Cummin has recently  favoured us  with an
 account of the duties at present required of such an officer,
 (Kries and Stad Physiker, as he is there styled,) in Prussia.
   " He shall bestow (fhese are the words of his commission)
 his especial attention  on the salubrity of the district com-
 mitted to his charge.   As soon as any symptoms of  conta-
 gious or epidemic disorders are discerned, he shall promptly
 adopt the speediest measures  that prudence suggests,  and
 apprise the boards whom  such  events  chiefly concern.  He
 shall comply with the  laws of the medical profession,  and
 strenously see  that they  be  complied with by others.  He
 shall further, when called upon by the government board,
 superintend the treatment of the sick poor, and take a fair
 share of the business of the medical police  of his district
 generally.  Upon all occasions, when called upon, he shall
 be ready to engage in the post mortem  examinations  which
 devolve upon him, and in the  medico-legal  investigations
 relative to lesions and injuries to living persons, and con-
 cerning the state  of mind  and body of individuals submitted
 to his scrutiny, giving  a deliberate judgment  in each case.
 He shall  also devote particular regard to the  progress of
 vaccination.  All this, as  well as all other business confided
 to him by  the proper authorities, he shall perform cheerfully.
 And, in fine, in all his official relations, he shall so  conduct
 himself as a faithful and diligent Kreisphysikus should and
 ought to do."*
   A practical school of legal  medicine has, as a necessary
 consequence, arisen from  these  regulations.  It is attached
 to the University  of Berlin, and was opened in the  summer
 session of 1833.  From a report of Dr. Wagner, who is at
 its head, some idea of its value may be obtained.
   " The mode of teaching pursued is as follows : At different
 hours of the  day, according to  the  matter presented, each
student is  admitted in  his turn to  look into  the  cases  of

             * London Medical Gazette, vol. 13, p. 952. 
902                 MEDICAL EVIDENCE.

living subjects, to  perform  judicial post mortem examina-
tions, and  to  analyse inorganic  and inanimate substances;
after which he is required  to  make a  report on what has
been submitted to  him, in  the same style as  the  district
physician does.  Moreover, the physician meets the student
twice in the week, either for the purpose of explaining and
discussing the facts already observed, or to  distribute new
cases among  them, or  lastly, to refute or pass judgment
upon the reports that have been presented to them.
   " The  students  are   exercised in  the  proper mode  of
examining adult and infantile  corpses, and  every  one is
aware how much practice and skill is requisite to appreciate
the pulmonary docimasia of the latter.   Every six months,
a course is delivered on the modes of testing the presence
of poisons, both mineral and  vegetable, and  these  modes
the students practise."*
   The advantage of designating individuals for the particu-
lar duty of medico-legal  examination, would thus seem to
be striking and prominent.  It would lead to more accurate
study of the science. It would afford numerous and favour-
able  opportunities of improving  it.  It would in  a great
degree prevent that disputation about facts, which produces
so many unpleasant collisions in courts of justice, and above
all, it would  spare to  many the  performance of the most
unpleasant duties, often amidst the circle of their practice,
and hence liable to injure its extent or impair its usefulness.
  Indeed we have only  to look at the practical operation of
the present system, to  be conscious of its manifold imper-

  * London Medical and Surgical  Journal, (by Dr. Ryan,)  vol. 7, p. 442.
During the first year of its establishment, (from July, 1833, to 1834,) the
practical school of legal medicine has been attended by sixty-three students,
some of whom are already in practice.  The course of instruction has com-
prehended two hundred and fifty-three medico-legal questions, two hundred
and seventeen of which refer to living  individuals, and thirty-two to dead
subjects, (judicial post-mortem examinations,) and four required the analy-
sis of inorganic substances.
  The enquiries made in the cases  of the living individuals turned, in one
hundred and eighty-three instances, upon the state of the body, and in thirty-
four, upon that of the mind.  Of the latter, twenty-seven were civil cases,
and seven criminal.
  The students in the school of the Society of Pharmacy, in Paris, are also
admirably instructed in Toxicology.  A report of their examination in 1838,
is contained in the Journal de Pharmacie, vol. 25, p. 42. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
903
fections.  In France, where in conseqnence of the overthrow
of social relations by the Revolution, the medical profession
was completely remodelled, and many imperfectly educated
persons, under the name of officers of health, were introduced,
to supply the wants of the armies  as  well  as of civil life,
great  difficulties  are experienced  and  heavy  complaints
made.  Collard de Martigny, in a series of observations on
the subject, has  demonstrated the  extreme  ignorance of
many  who  appear  as  witnesses, either on anatomical or
chemical investigations, and he justly ascribes this  to an
imperfect knowledge of legal medicine.*   In a case of sup-
posed abortion, before a coroner's jury in London, in 1829,
a medical practitioner testified that the fulness of the breasts
attendant on impregnation was the consequence of powerful
medicines; that the natural  opening of  ducts about  the os
uteri, were punctures, and  finally that the gall-bladder was
filled with florid bile.   And for all this, the coroner's jury
voted him their thanks.f  Similar instances might be quoted
 on this side of the Atlantic.
   " When (say the editors of the Edinburgh Medical and
 Surgical Journal,) we read of coroners in England, in cases
 of suspected murder, directing the examining  surgeon to be
 contented with the external inspection of the body, from
 the vulgar prejudice against dissection;  when we  are told
 of sheriffs in Scotland, holding the opening of the body
 supposed to be  poisoned  with arsenic as unnecessary, and
 incapable  of furnishing additional  proof;  when we know
 that professional  men neglect to ascertain the cause of death,
 because they received  no compulsory  order to that effect—
 we must be  satisfied,  that the only means of learning the
 truth exactly where it is most  desirable, are often culpably
 neglected."
    " But the instances in  which its discovery is prevented
 by presumption  and ignorance, on the part  of those  who

   * Annales D'Hygiene, vol. 7, p. 160 ; vol. 10, p. 115.  See also the Review
  of Bayard on the necessity of Practical Instruction in Medical Junspru-
  j.nM  ;n British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 12, p. 174.
   rAmeHc-Tournalof Medical Sciences, vol. 4, p. 517, from  the London
  Medical Gazette, 
904
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
undertake  such an  examination, are  still  more numerous.
We every day  hear of medical practitioners giving their
evidence with the utmost  confidence  on points which it is
obvious they never considered with the requisite attention,
stating facts as  universal which admit  of  many exceptions
and modifications, or rejecting them altogether, because ex-
ceptions do exist, and destroying evidence or failing to dis-
cover it, from  not knowing where it is to be found, nor
how it is to be obtained.   On  the other hand, we sometimes
see well informed medical men browbeat and baffled, from
not knowing the estimation and respect they were entitled
to claim for their opinion and skill.  These evils can only
be  removed  gradually,  by convincing  the public and  the
profession  of the great importance to society of the study of
juridical medicine."*
  All these remarks, however, only go  to show the imper-
fections and faults of the present system.  Medical men,
until it be altered, have  to act under it.   Let me urge them,
in no case  to omit  a medico-legal examination, where  the
cause  of death is the subject to be decided; and in order to
perform this duty  with deliberation  and accuracy, it is of
the greatest importance  that two or more professional per-
sons should he associated together.  They will  assist each
other  not  merely mechanically, but by  suggesting various
points of inquiry. While he who is most skilled in anatomy
is pursuing  his dissection, the other  may note the appear-
ances as [|they successively present themselves.  And the
  * Edinburgh Medical and  Surgical Journal, vol. 14, p. 111. Review of
Male and Bartley.  See also British and Foreign Medical Review, vol. 9, p.
53 ; vol. 10, p. 199.  Lancet, N. S., vol. 29, p. 377.
  " It is impossible to resist the wish that special qualifications were required
by law on the part of medical witnesses.  There is something of this nature
on the continent, and though one of the last of my countrymen who would
wish to see the customs and institutions of Great Britain shaped according
to foreign patterns, yet I think we might in some matters take a hint from
and improve  upon their practice." (Dr.  Gordon Smith on Medical Evi-
dence, p. 103.
  See also Marc, in his preface to Rose, p. 17. He urges that to every city
and district a physician and surgeon should be assigned, who have made legal
medicine their particular study.  This will not, he adds, exclude others from
pursuing it.  Indeed, it may be  the means of prompting many who other-
wise would neglect it, and who are contented with the indifference and want
of knowledge that prevails, because it is generaL 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
905
 same course may be adopted while performing chemical ex-
 periments.  The advantage will thus be attained, of having
 a complete statement of facts prepared at the  moment of
 observation, which may be afterwards reviewed in  coming
 to  a decision on the case, and in giving evidence before a
 jury.
   Chaussier, in a memoir read before the academy of Dijon
 as far back as 1789, insisted earnestly on the benefit  of such
 a legal arrangement. He proposed that the report should be
 written on the spot, remarking that  although the opinions
 to be deduced may require some reflection, yet the narrative
 of  actual appearances  needs  none.  He  further proposed
 that this report should be filed in the clerk's office  within
 twenty-four hours, for the examination of a chamber of veri-
 fication ;  and if disapproved by them, that the judge should
 cause a second visitation to be made by others.  But if ap-
 proved, that it should  be received  on the trial as a true
 account of the facts  observed.*
  A somewhat similar course is pursued in Scotland.  Medi-
 cal men are appointed to examine, and they make reports.
 The use made of these will be seen in the following extract
 from Alison :  "Medical or other scientific reports which are
 lodged in process before the trial, and libelled on as produc-
 tions in the indictment, are allowed to be read as a deposition
 to the jury, confirming it at its close  by a declaration on his
 oath, that it  is a true  report.  The  reason of this is, that
 the facts are often so minute and detailed, that they  cannot
 safely  be  trusted to the  memory.   The witness is, however,
 liable to an examination and cross-examination."t

  * Chaussier's Observations Chirurgico-legales sur un point important de
 la Jurisprudence Criminelle, &c. Dijon, 1790.
  t  Alison's Practice of the Criminal Law of Scotland, p. 541.
  I subjoin here a note by Mr. Spencer, in his own words :
  " In the absence of any legal provision on the subject, the examining phy-
sician would find it much to his advantage if he should reduce to writing, on
the spot, all the appearances of the body, and all the circumstances of the
examination. Although these notes would not be evidence in themselves,
yet they may be used by the physician when testifying as a witness on the
trial, to refresh his memory.  They will not only give him  great confidence
in the accuracy  of his recollection, but will revive many ^nute circum-
stances which might otherwise escape him; and his testimony will be strongly
corroborated." 
906                 MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
  A full statement of facts being prepared, it next becomes
the duty of the witness to express an opinion on them be-
fore the coroner's jury.  That this must be the result of due
consideration, I need hardly insist.  If it be an unfavourable
one, it  may consign an individual for  months to a prison,
and heap on him the imputation of the most  horrid crimes.
How necessary then is it that the decision be strongly forti-
fied by  facts and by authority.
  When the examination before the coroner is completed
and the charge  of guilt is made, the  duties of the  medical
witness have but just  commenced.  He has to appear before
another tribunal, to state the facts noticed, the opinion de-
duced  from these facts,  and the reasons  for that opinion.
He may, and indeed  frequently is, called upon to defend
them against  the objections of other medical witnesses, and
above all, he has to undergo  a severe and minute inquiry by
gentlemen of  the bar, whose business it is to invalidate, if
possible, all that he has said.
  This  branch of our subject cannot be approached without
adverting with  some  feelings of professional pride to the
certainty which has  been attained  in many branches of
medical jurisprudence.  It is  surely no mean effort of human
skill to be brought to a dead body, disinterred perhaps after
it has lain for months, or even  years in the grave; to ex-
amine its morbid condition;  to  analyse the fluids contained
in it; (often in  the smallest possible quantities,) and from a
course  of deductions founded in the strictest logic, to pro-
nounce  an opinion, which combined circumstances or the
confession  of the criminal,   prove to be correct.*     And
this, if properly done, must be accomplished without listen-
ing to rumour, and without permitting  prejudice to operate.
Many again, by their  researches, have saved the  innocent,

  * It is such duties ably performed, that raise our profession to an exalted
rank in the eyes of the world; that  cause the vulgar, who are ever ready to
exclaim against the inutility of medicine, to marvel at the mysterious power
by  which an atom of arsenic, mingled amidst a mass of confused ingesta,
can still be detected.  It does more:  it impresses on the minds of assassins,
who resort to poison, a salutary dread of the great impossibility of escaping
discovery.  (Quarterly Journal of  Foreign Medicine and Surgery, vol.  4,
p. 45.) 
                     MEDICAL  EVIDENCE.                907*

showing that accidental or natural causes have produced all
the phenomena.
   The first point worthy of recommendation is the import-
ance  of  stating the facts observed, in plain and perspicuous
language.  The use of technical terms is often unavoidable,
and precision and accuracy must be sacrificed if they be not
adopted:  but  there is a  medium  in all this.  Many parts
can be named by  their common appellation, and the appear-
ances observed designated by words in ordinary use.   The
imputation of  pedantry is thus avoided, and every  aid  is
given to a clear understanding  of the  case.   It  should be
remembered  that  most persons are quite ignorant of the
meaning of technical terms and  of Latin phrases, and if it
be necessary   to  use  them,  translations  or  explanations
should  be given  at the same time.  The doctrine  founded
on the  facts  should  next  be mentioned in an unequivocal
manner, so as at  once  to  evince the  decided  belief of the
witness  in it, and  the  reasons  on which it is established.
If it be open to doubt,  he  should intimate this, and also the
reasons for it, before they are drawn  out by a  cross-exami-
nation.*
   The inattention  paid to medical opinion  on one of the
most important subjects in the science, is such as to demand
a more  extended reference  to it.  I  refer  to the proof of
infanticide.
   It is evident  that the charge cannot be brought, unless  it
be previously  ascertained that  the child was born alive.
  * " Be the plainest men in the world (said Sir William Blizard, some years
since, to his pupils,) in  a court of justice; never harbour a thought, that if
you do not appear positive you must appear little and mean ever  after;
many old practitioners have erred in this respect.  Give your evidence in as
concise, plain and yet clear a manner as possible; be intelligent, candid, open
and just, never aiming  at appearing  unnecessarily scientific; state all the
sources by which you have gained your information. If you can, make your
evidence a self-evident truth; thus, though the  court may  at the time have
too good or too mean an  opinion of your judgment,  yet they must deem you
an honest man; never then be dogmatic, or set yourself up for judge and
jury ; take no side whatever; be impartial and you will be honest. In courts
of judicature, you will frequently hear the counsellors complain when a sur-
geon gives his opinion with any the  least kind of doubt, that  he does not
speak clearly ; but if he is loud and positive, if he is technical and dogmatic,
then he is allowed to be clear and right.  I am sorry to have it to observe,
that this is too frequently the case." (London Medical and Physical Journal,
vol. 21, p. 403.) 
. 908
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
For several centuries a decisive proof of this was supposed
to be attained in the various phenomena  exhibited by the
lungs, and particularly their floating in water.  No subject
has been so thoroughly examined by means of experiments
as this.  But it was the bad  fortune of the hydrostatic test
(as it is called) to  find an enemy in the late  Dr. William
Hunter, a man of the greatest  eminence in his profession,
of no  mean talents, independent  of his professional ac-
quirements, and gifted with a fascinating mode of explain-
ing and enforcing his opinions.  He formed an idea that too
implicit a reliance  on this  test might lead to error;  that
many circumstances might occur to weaken its value, and
indeed that other causes besides respiration, might produce
the particular sign  that was  deemed indicative of independ-
ent life.  The melancholy situation of those who were most
liable to be charged with the crime of child-murder, gave
an adventitious weight to his  objections, and they formed
the theme of every  advocate for the unfortunate female who
had fallen from virtue.
  In themselves, they are worthy of due consideration, and
on  the continent,  though  not altogether  original to its
students, they led to new investigations, by applying which,
all the causes of fallacy  might be avoided, while subsidiary
proofs were furnished, strengthening the primary and lead-
ing one.  This, however, seemed to have but little influence
in England.  Few men dared in the infancy of legal medi-
cine, to question the opinions of Dr. Hunter, and though he
evidently had paid  little  attention to the point experimen-
tally, yet his dictum was quoted as the standard of medical
science.  In process of time, some of the barristers of  that
day,  ascended the  bench,  and carrying with them the
ideas acquired at the bar, have, on many  occasions, de-
nounced the hydrostatic  test.   Baron  Garrow, some years
since, at the Worcester assizes,  congratulated a grand jury,
that that scientific humbug, as he styled it, was abandoned.
Nothing,  he added, could  be  more fallacious.*  Justice

  * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, p. 450. Gordon Smith
on. Medical Evidence, p. 46. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
909
Littledale, in a late trial told the medical witness :  " You do

not appear  old enough  to  have seen the late  Dr. Hunter,

but you must know that he  was one of the most celebrated

surgeons  of  this  country,  and that  he  asserted that  no

dependence was  to be placed on  the test you rely on."   It

was answered, " I am aware that  was his  opinion,  but I

entertain  a  different  one, and  I  believe mine is now the

received theory  among medical men."  " Then it must be

(said Justice Littledale) within the last year or two if it is,

for I have heard  some of the most eminent of them deny it."

And so is the fact.  Physicians are  not sufficiently firm  in

expressing  their  sentiments.  They  are too apt to yield to

the  decisive  tone  that  is  adopted, and permit doubts to

 escape them, when those  doubts should apply  only to the

 proper performance of the  test, or to  adventitious circum-

 stances impairing its certainty.*

   All  this, however, cannot shake  the validity of the test.

 It is founded on  physiological principles, deduced from the



  * In a case tried at the Essex assizes in March, 1820, where the circumstan-
 ces were evidently extremely suspicious, and where the lungs were found to
 float, the counsel for the prosecution, the surgeon who examined them, and
 the judge on the bench, all agreed that it was a fallacious test.  The judge
 (the Chief Baron) said  there was no proof that  the child was born alive.
 Again, in a case tried in Scotland, three medical witnesses, who had not seen
 the body, were examined for the prisoner, and all these gentlemen  agreed,
 that if the child had been dead for a period of eleven days, it was impossible
 for any medical  man to come to a conclusion as  to whether the child had
 been alive at the time of birth. (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,
 vol 21, p 231.)  The remarks of the journalist on this subject, are so perti-
 nent that I cannot forbear quoting them:  "The more we turn our attention
 to the subject, the firmer is our conviction; and in this conviction  we are
 borne out by every one of the few  persons in this  country entitled to  the
 name of medical jurists, that to procure a satisfactory and irrefragible opin-
 ion in cases of infanticide and in all other difficult medico-legal questions,
 it is only requisite to submit the matter to a dispassionate and skilful inves-
 tigation  Those little acquainted with medical jurisprudence,  whether pro-
 fessional or unprofessional, universally confound  together doubtand diffi-
 culty.   The question involved in  the trial, must be allowedto be almost
 always  difficult, but we are certain that when properly examined, scarcely
 one instance in a hundred will prove doubtful."         .,..,.,  *„„„„„»
  I add the following extraordinary case to show how far judicial interference
 has been carried:  The infant was found dead in a box, ™a *evYf.^0™
 on its neck and  breast, and marks of injury to the skull.   The lungs were
 distended with air, and they, with the heart attached, floated inrwa,ter.  lie
 mother had been delivered alone a few hours previous, but denied it   On the
 trial, the medical witness,  Dr. Robinson of Bridport, was not•*u°™ to
 state his experiments  on the lungs,  and the.judge (Baron G«JJ)^
 rupted the counsel for  the prosecution to state toi him that the test was a
 vulgar error.   (London Medical Repository, vol. 22, p. 34/.) 
910
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
broad and  wide distinctions that exist between foetal and
independent life.  Its prominent proof is  strengthened by
numerous accessary ones, such  as  the changes in the  heart
and  large  blood-vessels, and the appearances observed in
the various viscera.*  The common  sense of mankind, we
might suppose, would teach all, that  these must occur from
so important a change to the  new-born  infant; and  all
anatomical  knowledge is a mockery, if they be not founded
in truth.  Even allowing full weight  to the scientific objec-
tions that have been made, they only prove that there may
be cases where the test is not applicable : they cannot affect
its general validity.
  The result, however, in England, of these fluctuations, is
not surprising.  It has become  proverbial there, to say that
no female  can  be convicted of infanticide.  And can we
suppose that Dr. William Hunter, were he now living, with
his love of knowledge and his ardent desire to acquire and
diffuse  it, would be satisfied with the construction put upon
his writings?  Would he not  have  joined in the general
efforts to remove all doubts, by proper  inquiries  into their
value ?
  The medical witness is often placed in a delicate situation,
from the circumstances under which  he  is summoned.   He
is a  witness for one or other party—for the prosecution, or
for the  prisoner; and he is  so summoned, in the belief that
his evidence will  favour the side by  which he is produced.
It would be desirable, that at least the person who has made
the previous examination before the  coroner's jury, should
be divested of this, so far as to enable him to give  a full and
fair statement of all  the circumstances that make  for either
side.  I am aware that he  can  now  do  so, and indeed his
oath obliges him  to it.  He  ought  to  put the judge and
jury in  possession of the " whole truth," even if he be not

  * The pulmonary test (says  Ristelhueber) is no longer a  simple trial
whether the lungs are buoyant or not,  though this phenomenon is of high
importance and great value in the estimate, but it consists moreover in exam-
ining  the thorax, the lungs, and indeed every part  that undergoes a change
in consequence of respiration.  (Rapports et  Consultations de Medecine
Legale, par J. Ristelhueber, p. 140.) 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
911
questioned  to that extent.*   But often the technicalities of
an  examination,  and particularly by an  adverse counsel,
overcome that self-possession which is so essential. Pressed
by  perplexing  questions,  and  probably  irritated  in  his
feelings, he is apt to make  declarations more  strongly cor-
roborative of opinions that he  has formerly advanced; and
as  his  examination advances,  he may incur  the charge of
being biassed, more than facts will warrant.
  Would not  this  difficulty  be  avoided, by  having  the
written report  to which I  have referred, presented  to  the
court, as the medical facts in the case?   The examiner  before
the coroner's jury will always have time to  prepare  this
deliberately and  cautiously;  he  can  state  in  it his doubts,
and mention the  circumstances which  are  favourable  or
unfavourable to the accused person.   He can avoid all impu-
tations  of being a partisan; and having once signed it as his
deliberate opinion, he  ought  of  course, not to  be allowed
to alter  or  amend without showing  the  most  satisfactory
reasons.
  ' G. Smith's Forensic Medicine, p. 8,1st edition.
  An interesting case occurred some years since in France, in which the
question was submitted whether an accused person can be allowed medical
counsel.
  A female in France was accused of poisoning her husband and children.
The bodies were disinterred fifteen days after death, and a medico-legal ex-
amination was ordered.  The woman, confined in prison, sent for Dr. Alirol,
and desired him to attend the examination on her behalf.
  Dr. A. communicated this wish to the district attorney (procureur de Roi)
and was refused, on the ground that the examination was necessarily a secret
one, even as it regards the accused.  The editors of the  Gazette de Hopitaux,
to whom these facts are  communicated, and from  whom Dr. Alirol asks ad-
vice, give  it as their opinion that the  present is a case, in which a chemist,
on the part of the accused, should be allowed to be present, and to witness
the methods pursued for the detection of the supposed poison.  If this  be
refused, the difficulty of defending the  accused is greatly increased, as the
medical witness for her will only be  informed of such facts as may  come
out on the trial.
  The same rule,  they insist, should apply in cases where a dissection is
necessary, with  the understanding that the medical friend of the accused is
in no way to impede the appointed examiners, or to interpose obstacles in
their way.
  Finally, it is suggested, whether the ends of substantial and equal justice
would not be  best promoted in  every case, if all these examinations  were
conducted by individuals nominated  both by the accuser and accused.  Cer-
tainly much of the discordance in opinion that now constantly occurs between
medical witnesses might thus be avoided. Encyclographie des Sciences Medi-
cales, vol.  5, p. 376. " In this country, the party implicated would be allowed
to have such a witness present."  (J. C. S.) 
912
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
   Wp have now supposed the facts to be settled.   The next
 difficulty that may occur, is  the  difference of opinion that
 unfortunately too  often  arises in  courts of justice between
 members of our profession.   They disagree on the bearing
 and weight  of certain facts,  and on the  deduction to  be
 drawn from them.   The  most  common cause of this, in my
 judgment, is the delivery of testimony as to the facts viva voce.*
 That class of witnesses who are called upon to give opinions
 on a certain statement of facts, have  generally been unable
 to  examine it before the trial.  They often hear it imper-
 fectly,  sometimes  confusedly; and at all  events, even if
 detailed in a  succinct and clear manner, they have but a few
 moments to  reflect on its various import, before they are
 called to decide upon its relevancy.  Another circumstance
 must not be forgotten; and that is, the want of knowledge
 in one or the other witness.   It is seldom  that you can find
 any two persons who are equally skilled on a subject; and
 so it is here : one is ignorant in comparison with the other.
   Both these would certainly  be greatly obviated by having
 the written reports to which I have adverted, as  the basis
 on which to found their opinions.  These could be examined
 with  deliberation, and the  objections  offered would  then
 bear the impress of due reflection.
   But allowing that  all this  could be effected, differences
 will still exist.   How are these to be  decided ?   The rule
 of law is applicable, with proper  explanations.  " When a
 witness (says Starkie) testifies to a fact, which is wholly  or
 partially the result of reason upon particular circumstances,
 it  is obvious  that  the reasons of the witness for drawing
 that conclusion are of the most essential importance, for the
 purpose of ascertaining whether the conclusion was a correct
 one;  and these observations  apply with peculiar force  to
 all questions  of skill and science."f

  * As the law now stands, the medical witness can only use the notes taken
 at a medico-legal examination, to refresh his memory.  " The policy of this
restriction," says Mr. Taylor, " is not very apparent, but  so long as it is
law, a medical practitioner is bound to follow it."  (Medical Jurisprudence,
vol. 1, p. 16.)
  t Starkie on Evidence, vol. 1, p. 460. It is important also to recollect that
when " scientific men are called as witnesses, they are not entitled to give 
MEDICAL  EVIDENCE.
913
    If  we carry out  this principle, we  shall  find that all

 •practitioners  are not  proper witnesses.   In a  case where

 anatomical knowledge is particularly necessary to elucidate

 the case, most importance should be attached to  the opinion

 of him who has cultivated that science.   When any question

 relating to the treatment or symptoms of disease is agitated,

 he should be  consulted  whose  opportunites are extensive,

 and whose judgment  is approved.  So also with other de-

 partments of  our science.  The regrets of John Hunter are

 a lesson to all of us.  Standing at the height of his profes-

 sion, and  to  which  he  had been elevated  by the force of

 genius alone—eminent as an anatomist and physiologist, he

 was summoned in 1781  as a witness on the remarkable trial

 of Captain Donellan,  for poisoning his brother-in-law, Sir

 Theodosius Boughton.   Although  he evinced great know-

 ledge, yet, says  Sir  Astley Cooper, " He regretted  that he

 had  not made more experiments on the subject of poisons,

 before giving  an opinion in a court of justice.    He found

 himself  a good deal embarrassed, and  he used  to express

 his regret  publicly in his  lectures, that he had not given

 more attention to the subject before he ventured to give an

 opinion in a court of justice."*


 their opinions as  to the merits  of the case, but only to the facts proved on
 the trial."   (Jameson v. Drinkald, 2 Moore's Reports, p. 128.)
  In Rex v. Wr%ht, at the Stafford Assizes for 1821, the  prisoner had mur-
 dered his infantschild, by drowning it in the canal. Mr. Bakeway, (Bakewell ?)
 master of an asylum, was a witness, and stated that from a careful examination
 he had no cfoubt that the prisoner was in a state of active insanity—that he
 was confirmed in  this opinion,  by  the evidence he had heard—the act itself
 was onf of insanity.  The prisoner was acquitted, but a question occur-
 red, whether the evidence received was properly admitted, and it was brought
 before the twelve judges.   They came to no formal resolution, but they all
 thought, that in such a case,  a witness of medical skill might be asked
 w&ether, in his judgment, such and such appearances  were symptoms of
 insanity, and whether a long fast, followed by a draught of strong liquor,
 was likely to produce a paroxysm of that disorder in a person  subject to it ?
 and that by such  questions, the effect of his testimony in favour of the pri-
 soner might be got at in an unexceptionable manner.  Several of the judges
 doubted whether the witness  could be asked his opiaion on the  very point
 which the jury were to decide, viz.: whether from the other testimony given
 in the case, the act as to which the prisoner was charged, was, in his opinion,
 an act of insanity ?  (Russel and Ryan's Crown Cases Reserved,  p. 456.)
 See further on this subject the case of The People v. Rector, 19 Wendell'g
Reports, 576, where other cases are cited.  (J. C. S.)
  *  Lectures, in the Lancet, voh 3,  p. 171.

   vol. ii.                    58 
914
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
  It is evident that the  difference of opinion originates, in
most cases, from a want of knowledge in one or the other.
"Doctors will differ," says Dr. Smith; "but medical jurists
cannot differ."*   The expression is too strong, but it is far
from incorrect.  Look at the works of our most approved
authors on  surgery—on  midwifery—on  chemistry, and ob-
serve on how many  points they  agree,  and on  how  few
comparatively they differ.  Accordingly, when the nature of
a mineral poison is the subject before a criminal court, we
are not to place the evidence of an  individual who has only
attended a course of lectures on chemistry, and possibly not
even that, against one  who has made that science his study.
Let men of equal standing be confronted, and do not weaken
the hands of justice, by neglecting their services in a prose-
cution, when they  are certain of being  summoned  on the
defence to break down testimony that is already falling to
pieces through its own imperfection and incorrectness.f
  Dr. Southwood Smith in his Lectures on Forensic Medi-
cine, relates the following instructive case, and I cannot too
strongly impress its moral  on my medical readers :
  Two men in a cottage in Scotland quarrelled.   A scuffle
ensued, and one was  killed.   There was reason to believe
that the survivor entertained deep and rooted  enmity  against
the deceased.   The body was examined judicially  by six
medical men, and  they found  a wound  on the back  part of
the  head.  The question now arose, as to  the manner in
which it,was produced.   If from a fall on the flocr, it was a
case of manslaughter;  if inflicted by a weapon,  it  was

  *  Introductory Lecture,  1829, p. 23.  Dr.  Smith entertained  for some
years a favourite plan of the medical witnesses on a trial consulting together,
and agreeing on the substance of the  testimony to be given by them. He
was once arguing in support of this, when he was put all aback by the re-
mark, " You must also agree on the questions to be proposed by counsel in
their cross-examinations."   (Lancet, N. S., vol. 7, p. 421.)
  t In another place, (Hints on the Examination of Medical Witnesses,) Dr.
Gordon Smith suggests that a proper preliminary question would be to ask
the medical witness, Whether he has studied medical jurisprudence;  and if
not, what is his opinion of the science ? It is well insisted on in  the North
American Medical and Surgical Journal, (vol. 3, p. 171,) as a principle  in
medical evidence never to be lost sight of, that the opinion of one man  of
acknowledged ability and skill, should outweigh a mass of negative testimo-
ny delivered by those who are known to be inferior in knowledge. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
915
murder.  All agreed, that the wound was the cause of death,
but five out of the six stated  that it might have been pro-
duced  by a fall.  The sixth considered  this impossible.
From a careful  examination of the head  he was satisfied
that it  was produced by some pointed body, capable  of
piercing through the integuments and bone.  The floor was
carefully searched for a nail, or some other substance  of
that nature, on which he  might have fallen, but none such
could be found.
   On the trial, the man was acquitted of murder.  After-
wards he confessed that in  the  scuffle, he snatched up the
snuffers, the sharp point  of which he  struck  with all his
force on the head of his enemy.   It had penetrated through
the bone of the skull, and gone deep into the brain.
   This was a trial that excited great attention.  " The pre-
siding judge had  been struck with the clearness of mind,
the  patient, cautious  investigation  of the single  medical
witness; he often spoke of it to the  magistracy and others
by whom he  was surrounded,  and  the consequence was,
that this medical man soon  found himself in  the confidence
of the best educated and influential people of the neigh-
bourhood."*
   Doubtless there is too  little discrimination  exercised in
receiving all wTho are called doctors, as witnesses.  In Eng-
land, not only  physicians,  surgeons and  apothecaries, be-
yond whom it should not be extended, but hospital dressers,
students and  quacks have been permitted  to act as medical
witnesses.  " We could point out a case of poisoning, (say
the  Editors of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,)
where the most essential part of the evidence depended on
the  testimony of a quack  alone, and it was admitted."t
   When medical  men, deserving that  title by their know-
ledge and learning, meet as witnesses, they owe it to their
own characters, and the honour of the profession, to treat
each other with respect.   Even if opposed  in sentiment,

   * London Medical Gazette, vol. 21, p. 232.
   t Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19, p. 610. 
916
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
they may still  express themselves with courtesy, and with

a due regard to their respective reputations.   If they do not

guard these, others will  with pleasure  join  in the work of

depreciation.*

  * I quote two cases, one of which illustrates the cruelty which practition-
ers sometimes exercise towards each  other, while the other is worthy of its
excellent and kindhearted narrator :   " A surgeon had reduced a dislocation
of a child's elbow, for which the father resisted payment, on the ground that
the injury was merely a sprain,  and that the charge  was excessive.  To re-
cover his fee,  the practitioner  brought an action.  The  ordinary medical
attendant of the defendant's family saw the arm on the following day,  acci-
dentally, and in his opinion there was no dislocation."
  " Sir Wm. Blizard,  who  had already spoken in favour of the plaintiff's
character and professional qualifications, was again examined upon this point,.
and very properly discountenanced such an  inference—stating that it was
impossible for any  one, after twenty-four hours, to say whether a dislocation
had taken place or not, if it had been properly treated."   (London Medical
Repository, vol 21, p. 264.)
  Mr.  Abernethy  states  the following in his lectures.   His  characteristic
manner would seem  to be preserved in the  report:  "A  medical man was
prosecuted for killing a child by giving it  opium, at  least that was said.   I
happened to be in the country at the  time, and was strongly solicited by him
to attend and give my opinion.  I considered  that the character of the pro-
fession was at stake, and although rather against my inclination, I went. After
waiting in a crowded court  the  greatest part of the  day, I was called upon,
and placed  in the witness-box.  The  lawyers  had  taken it into  their heads
that the child had died from maltreatment on the part of the surgeon; the
child had been scalded severely, and  he had given opium, and they thought
they should be able to make the  jury think as they did.  The  first  question
put to me was,  * Mr.  Abernethy, will you inform us  what is considered the
proper treatment for scalds ?' This was a question broad enough to be sure;
I was puzzled a little how to answer it; I did not know but they would require
a lecture on burns and scalds. I considered a minute, and  then  said, 'That
which was adopted in the present case.'  Oh! that was what they did not
expect; it was giving a turn  to the case which they did not  like.  ' You  have
heard the  evidence, have you  not ?'  ' Yes,  but it is contradictory.'  ' But
judging from the evidence ?'  'I have no right to judge; you may judge if you
please, or the jury may judge, but I shall not.'  ' But I ask  you for the infor-
mation of  the  jury, your opinion respecting the opium,  whether you do
not consider it too large a quntity for a child ?'  ' The statements respecting
the opium have been contradicted, but admitting that the child  had, as was
said, eight drops immediately after the accident, and ten drops two hours after,
I should say that the child had not taken one drop too much.'  ' But are you
aware that the child had no pain ?'   ' Yes, perfectly;  when the skin, or any
other part of the body is severely injured, the nervous system of the part is
so affected that the peculiar actions of the nerves on the brain or spinal  mar-
row, by which alone  pain can be felt, do not take place.  A man may have a
serious injury inflicted by a mechanical cause, may have his leg smashed, and
nearly torn off by machinery, and yet feel little or no pain ;  and we are in the
habit of giving, in such cases, wine and opium, not  to act as a narcotic, but
to arouse the energies of the vital powers, and call them again into exercise;
the nervous system has sustained a great shock, from  which it requires  to be
roused.'  The  judge  said, ' that he understood it, he saw the principle  on
which the  treatment was founded,  and had no doubt but it was  correct.'
' But, my lord,'  said the counsel, ' the child slept to death.'  • So he may have
appeared to sleep, but he would have done so, if no opium  had been given;
it was the torpid state into which the nervous system had fallen, which caused
that appearance, and from which the child could not be roused.'  Here the
business rested, the treatment was admitted  to be correct,  and the character
of the gentleman exculpated."  (Lancet, vol. 6, p. 229.) 
MEDICAL  EVIDENCE.
917
   The practice in the  Scotch courts is somewhat peculiar,

and I therefore quote it in detail:

   " Witnesses are not  allowed  to remain  in  court to hear

the  deposition of other witnesses, but in this there is  an ex-

ception in the case of medical witnesses, who  should remain

to hear the deposition of the witnesses who depose  to the

facts of the case; but they should be examined on matters

of medical  opinion apart from  each  other.  This mode of

being in court applies only to medical witnesses who  are

to give a professional opinion, properly so called.   If they are

examined as to the facts in the case, they must be enclosed

as other witnesses."

   " Though the medical witnesses who are to give a profes-

sional opinion, should hear  the  whole facts of the case de-

tailed by the other witnesses, whether professional or ordi-

nary, who are examined in  the  cause, yet it  is usual when

one  medical man  begins to give  an  opinion on the case,

to cause the other medical   men to retire.   The reason of

this is, that it  has been found  by experience, that medical

men, even  of experience and information, are generally so

prone to contradict each other, or to adhere to the side on

which they are cited, that it is  never safe to let them hear

each other's testimony.   The proper  way to  do, therefore,

is to allow the medical men who are to be examined as  to

opinion, to hear  the whole  evidence relating to the  facts,


  In some cases, medical witnesses have met with deserved reproof.  On the
trial of Donnal, Mr. Ticknor, a surgeon, was asked, " Supposing a person
to have retchings and purgings for  several hours, and that you  found these
attended with a frequent and fluttering  pulse;  in that state of the illness,
what should you have prescribed ?   Ans.  I should have prescribed diametri-
cally opposite to the prescription of Dr. Edwards.  I should consider that
prescribed by Dr. Edwards, as adding weight to a porter's back."
  Mr. Justice Abbot, (afterwards Lord Tenterden,) to the witness :  " Don't
speak metaphorically: you are speaking just now of a gentleman of experi-
ence and respectability. I don't wish you to conceal your opinion, but only to
speak it in different language "  (Paris and Fonblanque's Medical Jurispru-
dence, vol. 3, appendix, p. 304.)
  In another case, mentioned in the  printed lectures of Mr. Amos, a  medical
man at Lincoln flippantly replied to a question, by slighting the  information
which was to be obtained from medical writers,  saying that the writers of
books would advance any thing. Chief Justice Dallas reprimanded the wit-
ness, and remarked, that he  would not sit in a court of justice and hear sci-
ence reviled, and the recorded researches of the  medical world represented
by ignorant tongues as leading only to uncertainty.  (London Medical  and
Surgical Journal, (Dr. Thompson's Lectures,) vol. 6, p. 421.) 
918
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
whether from the ordinary or the medical witnesses, and to
remove them as soon as medical opinion is  about to com-
mence."
  " It is  not yet settled, whether, when one medical man
contradicts  another, on a point of opinion, it is competent
to re-examine the first, in order to clear up the difficulty.
In a late case this point occurred:  Lords Gillies and Mea-
dowbank  were for admitting the re-examination,  and  the
Lords Justice Clerk and Hermand against it.  The exami-
nation  in these circumstances was not pressed  by  the
crown."*
  But personal experience, however comprehensive it may be,
cannot always be satisfactory, nor indeed sufficient.   It  has
then been a subject of considerable discussion whether  au-
thority, or in other words, the observations of others, should
be adduced  as  testimony.  There appears to be no settled
rule on this subject, although  certainly some judges have
decided against  its introduction.  When Dr. Neale, on  the
trial of Donnal for poisoning, quoted Thenard, whose work
on chemistry is  as much authority with physicians  as Star-
kie and Phillips are with lawyers, Judge Abbot  said, " We
cannot take the fact from any publication ; we cannot take
the fact as related by any stranger."f  So also on  the
famous trial of Spencer Cowper, when some of the witnesses
referred to medical authors on  the subject of drowning, it
was objected to by the bench.   The  expostulation of  Dr.
Crell on  this deserves repetition :   " My lord, (said he,)
it must be reading, as well as a man's own experience, that
will make any one a  physician; for without the reading of
books in  that art, the art itself cannot be attained to.  I
humbly conceive, that  in  such a  difficult case  as this, we
ought to have a great deference for the reports and opinions
of learned men; neither do I  see any reason why I should
not quote the fathers of my profession in this case, as well
as you, gentlemen of the  long robe, quote Coke upon Lit-

  * Alison's Practice of the Criminal Law of Scotland, p. 542, &c.
  f Pari9 and Fonblanque, vol. 3, appendix, p. 299. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
919
tleton in others."*  It is well  to add  that  he was allowed
to proceed.
  On the other hand, in order  to show that the doctrine of
exclusion is not fully established, I need only allude to the
frequent mention made by judges themselves of the writings
of  Dr. William Hunter.   Surely, if these be authority, the
works of other eminent men are  equally so.
   In this country, I believe, the objection has never  been
made.  There is scarcely a case of any note, where medical
testimony has been required, in which  frequent reference
has not been had to medical works.  They are quoted and
commented  upon by the bench, the bar, and the professional
witnesses.
   "The practice of the English judges in excluding a refer-
 ence to authors, evidently arises from  the  principle in law,
 that nothing is evidence which is not  delivered upon oath.
 But is an oath more binding  than the solemn act of sincerity
 between the author and the world, by the very act of pub-
 lication ?  Would Paris and  Fonblanque be better authority,
 if they swore to it before the twelve judges ?   And is it not
 manifest, that if the exclusion be made to act systematically,
 it must inevitably end in excluding medical  and scientific
 evidence  altogether?   For  scientific inquiries at law can
 scarcely be any thing else than a tissue of references to writ-
 ten  authorities.  Of  what  use  would be all the personal
 experience  of any physician, unless he knew by referring to
 that of his  predecessors, the  conclusions he  is entitled to
 draw from it? "t  See note {a.)

   * Hargrave's State Trials.  " It appears to us that no witness could follow
 this advice (to shun quoting authorities,)  without compromising the right arid
 dignity of his  profession, as well  as the force of his evidence, for it would
 not be difficult to show that medical evidence altogether is little else than a
 reference to authority."  (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 19,
 p. 480.)
   t Edinburgh Medical Journal, vol. 19, p. 610.                     __
   (a) "The state of the law at present in England, may be collected Irom
 the case of Collier v.  Simpson, 5 Carrington and Payne, 73. It was an action
 for slander in  imputing that the plaintiff had prescribed improper medicines
 for a child  It was proposed to show that the prescriptions were proper, &c,
 and to put in medical books of authority to show what were the received opin-
 io h?h\medical profession. TinDax.,C. J -' 1  think 1J*™0^*™™^
 cal books.  Physic depends more upon practice than law. I think you may
 S 2"witness whether in the course of his reading, he has found this laid 
920
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
   I must not refrain from mentioning, that the responsibility

 of the physician is often greatly  increased by the mode of

 the examination.   " A dexterous advocate (as has been well

 remarked) has a great advantage over any witness, however

 learned or self possessed.   He may be led into a train of

 admissions, the inferences from which  are afterwards to be

 turned against him."*  Many of  these undoubtedly origi-

 nate from inquiries into the import  of individual facts, instead

 of the whole collectively.  The consequences of such attempts

 may be easily conceived.   " In a vast majority of cases, for

 example, in all cases  of insanity, infanticide and poisoning,

 the witness may be made  to express the  very opposite of

 his real opinion."f

   If the duties on which I have enlarged  are  important to

 the community, in  promoting the  proper administration of

 justice, ought not the individuals engaged in them to receive

 adequate compensation?  I advert to this, not only because

 it is just in principle, but because it would remove all impu-

 tation of volunteering in criminal cases.  No one can refuse

 being a witness when legally summoned; every one, I pre-

 sume, may decline the dissection of a dead  body,  or the

 chemical examination of a suspected  fluid; and yet there is

 not, I believe,  an individual attending on any of our courts,

 who is not paid for his time  and  services, with the excep-

 tion of such as are engaged in these investigations.!


 down.  I do not think that the books themselves can be read, but I do not see
 any objection to asking the witness his judgment and the grounds of it, which
 may in some degree be founded on books, as a part of his general knowledge.'"
  " It may be remarked, that this opinion is not peculiar as to medical books,
but is equally applicable to treatises on law or any other science.  These we
sometimes read to inform the mind of the court, but never as evidence.  A
general history of a country may be read, not precisely as  evidence, but to
refresh the memory of the court in respect to general facts, which it is pre-
sumed to know.  See cases collected in notes to 6 Carrington and Payne, 586."
 (J. C Spencer.)
  * Gordon Smith  on Medical Evidence, p. 42.
  t Edinburgh Medical  and Surgical Journal,  vol. 19, p. 611.  The diffi-
culties attending this have induced some to advise that no opinion should be
given, and to refuse it when asked; but I cannot well see how an answer is to
be evaded, except by pleading ignorance.
  X The following case occurred in Belgium, in 1839 :
  On the 11th of December, Dr. Cambrelin of Namur, at 4 P. M. was waited
upon by a subordinate officer of police, with a blank subpoena signed by the
chief police officer, requiring him to examine the body of a new born infant,
which had been found dead that morning in a heap of peat, lying in the 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
921
   In England, this  subject was presented to the considera-
tion of  Parliament, and in  1836, an act was passed  to pro-
vide  for the remuneration of medical witnesses at coroner's
inquests.   The coroner is empowered to order a post mortem
examination, with or without an analysis of the contents  of
the  stomach and intestines,  and  a majority of a coroner's
jury can require him to issue the above order, under penalty
of a misdemeanour.  The fees established by this act, are—
for giving evidence, merely, one guinea—for a post  mortem
examination, with or  without  analysis,  and  attending to
give evidence thereon, two guineas.*
   It is quite time that the medical profession in this country
should rouse itself to a demand of its just rights, and I am
therefore rejoiced to notice  the following enactments :
   The revisors  of the Code of Virginia  reccommended, and
the Legislature on this  has passed a law as follows :  " In
 kitchen of a house in the city, Dr. C. observed to the officer that the requi-
 sition was in blank, and in reply was informed  that it had been presented to
 a number of physicians since morning, and that all had declined, including
 the individuals who had for the last ten years been engaged in medico-legal
 examinations by authority.  And the officer now proposed  that if he would
 accept, his name should be inserted, and he would thus become entitled to the
 usual fee.  Dr. Cambrelin declined assenting to this, and  waited upon the
 Commissary of Police.  To him he  stated  that he  had not particularly at-
 tended to medico-legal investigations during the last ten years—that the
 inquiry in question was a difficult one, particularly as many new points had
 been discussed within the period—that as the evening was rapidly coming
 on, some difficulties would be encountered in  determining the condition of
 the various organs to be examined  by candle light, and above  all, that the
 duty properly  belonged to the medical officer, who had for years, attended to
 medico-legal dissections.
  The Commissary in reply threatened to complain of him to the tribunal of
 police, unless  he immediately undertook the examination.  Dr. Cambrelin
 answered, make then your complaint.
  When brought before the court, he presented the above points of defence,
 with others, but was found guilty of an infraction of the 475th article of the
 Penal Code, which is of the following import:
  An individual may be fined from six to ten francs, who shall refuse or
 neglect to give the necessary assistance, when required,  in cases of acci-
 dents, shipwrecks, inundations, as also in  cases of robberies, of individuals
 taken in the fact of committing crimes (flagrante delicto) hue and cry, and
judicial acts.  (Execution judiciaire.)
  It  was, doubtless, under the last clause that this  decision was justified.
 Dr. Cambrelin in an able argument  proves it to be arbitrary and unjust, and
 declares his intention of appealing to  the  superior court.  (Annales D'Hy-
giene, vol. 24,  p. 407.)
  * In France, every medical man  summoned by legal authority to make a
medico-legal report, receives fees fixed by law. (Hubert,  Manuel des Lois
et Reglemens sur  les etudes et l'exercise des diverses parties de la Medecine.
18mo. Paris, 1826, p. 133.)

   vol. ii.                     58* 
922
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
taking  an inquest, the coroner  may require one  or more
physicians to attend and  give information, and render ser-
vices  incident  to his profession,  useful  to  the jury, and
reasonable compensation  therefor shall be allowed as the
cost of the inquest."*
   The  State of Georgia  has by its Legislature passed  a
law for the  compensation of physicians and  surgeons who
shall be summoned  by the sheriff or coroner of the county,
to attend on inquests, in  the following terms :  " For each
post mortem examination,  when death has  resulted  from
external violence, where  no dissection is  required, the sum
of ten dollars ;  where dissection is necessary and no inter-
ment of the  body has been made, twenty dollars; for the
same, after one or more days  interment, thirty dollars ; for
the  same, when  chemical analysis is required, the sum of
fifty dollars  and  the expense of such  analysis.  The fees
are, however, to be allowed to  only a single physician for
each post mortem examination.f
   There remain two points of which it is  proper to apprise
the medical witness.
   One is, that in England he may be called upon to divulge
secrets entrusted to him in professional confidence.   It was
solemnly decided in the case of the Dutchess of Kingston,
that in a court of justice,  medical men are bound to divulge
these  secrets, when required  to do so.   In  a recent case,
where a female was indicted for the murder of her infant
child, Mr. Cozzens, the surgeon, was called to prove certain
confessions made by her to him.  He objected on the ground
that he was, when she made her statement, attending her  as
a surgeon.   But Justice  Park observed that this was not a
sufficient reason to  prevent a disclosure for the  purpose of
  In Ireland, by an act (10 George IV., chap. 37,) passed June 4,1829, the
coroner is empowered  to remunerate medical witnesses attending inquests
pursuant to summons, to any amount not exceeding £5, by an order to be
paid by the treasurer of the county or city where such inquests are held.
  By an  ordinance of the King of Bavaria, dated March  81, 1836, a fee of
from three to six florins,  according to the difficulty and importance of the
case, is allowed  for every post mortem examination.  (British and Foreign
Medical Review, vol. 3, p. 2.)
  * Medical News and Library.  Sept., 1850.
  t Southern Medical and Surgical Journal. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
923
justice, and he was ordered to answer, but the prisoner was
acquitted on other grounds.*
  The law  in  Fiance is of an opposite description.   The
Penal Code, Art. 378, directs, that if physicians, surgeons.
officers of health, and also  apothecaries, midwives, and all
other persons, depositaries  of secrets, either through their
condition or profession, shall reveal these secrets, (except
in cases where the law obliges them,) they shall be punished
with  fine and  imprisonment; and in another place, it  is
clearly indicated that the exception  has reference to crimes
that put the safety of the state at hazard.^
  I have noticed the following adjudications under this law :
  In December, 1842, Dr. Mallet, of La Rochelle, delivered
a lady, who had placed herself under his care on the condi-
tion of secresy.   The laws of France require the registration
of a birth at the mayoralty of the parish in which the^child
is born within three days of the  delivery, under the terror
of a severe penalty for the omission.  Dr. Mallet accordingly
presented the  child on the second  day, to the registrar of
the town, merely giving the  date, the place of birth, and
some names, under which the child was inscribed.  He was
summoned, however, to give in also the name of the mother,
but this he  refused to present, on the plea that it had been
entrusted to him under a promise of secrecy, and that Art.
378 of  the Penal Code.decrees  "that all medical men,  or
midwives, who reveal secrets which have been entrusted  to
them in the professional capacity, shall be punished."   The
civil authorities of Rochelle brought an action against him
on the ground  that the declaration of the birth of the child
was legally imperative on  the accoucheur, and  such  other
person or persons as were present at the delivery.  But the
Tribunal of Saintes, before which  the  case  was  brought,
acquitted Dr. Mallet, on the ground that by presenting the
child at the register office, accompanied by two witnesses,
he had satisfied the exigencies of the law, and that he was

  * 1 Carrington's and Payne's Reports, p, 97, Rex v. Gibbons.
  t Briand's Manuel, 2d edition, p. 499. 
924
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
 really warranted  in refusing to name the mother, by the
 article of the code just quoted, which  enjoins secrecy when
 such secrecy does not threaten or endanger the security of the
 public.
   The attorney-general  of Saintes  was not  satisfied with
 this  decision,  and appealed to the Court of Cassation at
 Paris.  But that court, after a lengthened debate, confirmed
 the  decision  of the  provincial tribunal, and  on  similar
 grounds.*
   On the 7th of December,  1844, Dr. Saint-Pair, surgeon in
 the French navy, was summoned before a  judicial officer at
 Point Petre, in the Island of Guadaloupe, and the following
 questions were put to him:  " Are you in attendance on M.
 Giraud, wounded some days since in a duel ?  Where is the
 wound situated, and for how many days will he be incapaci-
 tated from pursuing his ordinary avocations?"
   Dr. Saint-Pair replied, that an answer to these questions
 would elicit facts acquired in the exercise of his profession,
 and which, by the terms of  the code, he supposed he ought
 not to answer.
   This judge, in his opinion stated, that  the 378th article
was  intended  to forbid the revelation of secrets,  with an
intent to defame  or injure; but it did not follow that pro-
fessional persons could be  absolved from answering when
summoned before legal tribunals for  that purpose, and when
their  answers  were necessary for the  preservation  of good
order and the public morals.  That the revealing forbidden
in the article certainly could have no  reference  to informa-
tion   concerning  a wound  criminally  received; that  Dr.
Saint-Pair would, undoubtedly, not  refuse  answering, if
called as a witness in a case of poisoning; that duelling  was
now also a crime, and not one sui generis, and therefore the
fashionable prejudice about that practice  ought not to be
allowed  to interrupt the course of the law.  He therefore
fined  the witness 150 francs.
* Lancet, October 7,1843. 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
925
  Some time after, Dr. Saint-Pair was summoned before the
court of assizes on the same matter, and again objected, but,
as it appears, on different grounds, to answering.
  The court, on the 29th of January 1845, decided, that
although the general principle was correct, that a witness
should answer  in a court of justice, still in the  instance of
physicians, there ought to be an exception in  the case of
facts confidentially communicated.  And although they could
not admit the broad  defence made by the witness, yet as he
had  testified before  the  court, that in this  instance  the
communication had been confidential, and that he had been
secretly  brought to  the  wounded person, they  would  not
hear him as a witness.
  From the decision of the Judge " d'Instruction" Dr. Saint-
Pair appealed, and from that of the court, the king's attorney.
  The Doctor  called to his  aid a medical association in
Paris, to which Orfila, Fouquier, Adelon,  &c,  belong.
They caused an elaborate  pleading to be prepared by emi-
nent counsel, and the cause was argued before the Court of
Cassation, on the 28th of July, 1845.
  The decision was  as follows :  The court is  of opinion,
that no text of law, no principles  of justice,  or of morals,
can absolve physicians from the obligation of  answering on
all matters about which they may become acquainted during
the practice of their  profession, and that hence the Judge of
Instruction has properly applied the provisions of the penal
code.
  But it  was very  different when an oath of secresy  had
been taken, and therefore, as  to  the second appeal, it  was
decided, that as it appears from the reasons of the Court of
Assizes, that the witness was confidentially introduced to
the patient, and was sworn to secresy  in his medical atten-
dance, the court violated no law in refusing to punish him.*
  In the  state of New York,  the following provision is in
force :  " No person duly authorised to practice physic and

       *  Gazette des Tribunaux, July 27 and August 2, 1845. 
926                 MEDICAL  EVIDENCE.

surgery, shall be allowed to disclose any information which
he may have acquired in attending any  patient in a profes-
sional character, and  which information  it was necessary to
enable him to prescribe for such patient as a physician, or to
do any act for him as a surgeon."*
  Death-bed declarations  must be made under  the apprehen-
sion of impending death.  It is not essential that the party
should  apprehend  immediate  dissolution—it is  sufficient  if
he apprehend it to be impending; and under such circum-
stances, these declarations, if made to the medical attendant,
or any other person,  are received as valid testimony.   But
the  " person  making them  must entertain no hopes of
recovery."  On the trial of Mr. Christie and Mr. Trail, for
the  murder  of  Mr. John Scott, the editor of the London
Magazine, and author of various works, in a duel, Dr. Dar-
ling, who  had attended  the deceased after  he had received
his wound, deposed  that he heard Mr.  Scott on his death-
bed  say----.   Mr. Justice Bailey.  Did Mr. Scott at that
time think himself  in danger; did he give up all hopes of
recovery ?  Dr. Darling.   No; to the  last he  entertained
hopes of  recovery.  Mr Justice Bailey.  The  declaration
made by a dying man cannot  be received as evidence, unless
the party at the time  of  making it, were satisfied that reco-
very is impossible.f
  I will close this  chapter by a  single quotation.   Although
it refers to another country,  yet physicians  should under-
stand  that in our own, the legal profession is paying great
attention to Medical  Jurisprudence.   How imperative then
the duty of fitting themselves as medical witnesses !

  • 2 Revised Statutes, 406.
  t Starkie on Evidence, vol. 2, p. 460.  Ryan, p. 301.  Paris and Fonblanque,
vol. 1, p. 166.
  " Two days before the death of the deceased, the  surgeon told her she was
in a very precarious state;  on the day before her death, when she had become
much worse, she said to the surgeon  that she found herself growing worse,
and that she had been  in  hopes that she should have got better, but as she
was getting worse, she thought it her duty to mention what had taken place.
Immediately after this, she  made a statement: Held, that this statement was
not receivable in evidence as a  declaration in articulo mortis, for that  it did
not sufficiently appear that, at the time of making it, the deceased was with-
out hope of recovery.  Regina  v. Megson. (Carrington and Payne's Reports,
vol. 9, p. 418.) 
MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
927
  " Medical practitioners should be aware that all the rising
barristers of our courts attend  lectures on legal medicine,
and  often  does forensic  fame  arise from the  ability with
which an advocate examines a medical witness."*
* Ryan, Preface, p. ix. 
 
INDEX   TO  LAW  CASES,
[Soth for convenience to the printer, and for greater accuracy, the second volume is alone
                  designated in this and the following index.]
Abraham v. Newton,
Adams' case,
Aiscough ex parte,
Alder, Lydea, case of,
Alderson, Wheeler v.
Allen, Regina v.
Allinson, Fulleck v.
  207 Berard, Catherine, case of,
ii 362 Bignold, Simcor v.
  205 Bird v. Bird,
ii 338 Birdsall's, case of,
  762 Bittlesten v. Clark,
  190 Bland, Wainwright v.
  847 Blandy, Miss, case of,
Alsop v. Bowtrel (Andrews' case), 608 Blewitt v. Blewitt,
Alsop v. Stacey,
Anderton v. Whitaker,
Andrews v. Askey,
Andrews v. Beauchamp,
Andrews v. Palmer,
Angus, Charles, case of,
Annesley cause,
Aram, Eugene, case of,
Arnold's case,
Ashford v. Thornton,
Askey, Andrews v.
Atkinson's case,
Atkinson, ex parte,  Parkinson,
Attorney General v.  Fadden,
Attorney General v. Parnther,
Avery, case of,        •
Aveson v. Lord Kinnaird,
Ayrey v. Hill,
  602
  685
  836
  808
  823
  686
ii 535
  827
   82
  856
  677
ii  32
  837
Bagster, Miss, case of,
Bailey's case,
Ball's Executors, Pell, v.
Banbury Peerage case,
Barker, in the case of,
Baronet's case.
Bateman's (Mary), case of,
Beauchamp, Andrews v.
Beaumont, Fisher v.
Becker's case,
Beckett, Rex v.
Beddingfield's case,
Belief, ex parte,
Bellingham's case,
Bennett, Darling v.
Benson v. Oliver,

   ▼OL. II.
       60S Bliss, Commonwealth v
       609 Blissett, Dickinson v.
       609 Bolland v. Disney,
       652 Bonino's case,
        64 Bonsall, Lemann v.
306, ii 545 Borrodaile v. Hunter,            688
243, ii 120 Borrodaile,  Kinnear v.         ii 739
     ii  31 Boughton, Sir T., case of,      ii 792
       766 Bourbon, Duke of, case of,      ii 192
       167 Bowen,  case of,                  31
       609 Bowerman's case,             ii  31
     ii 362 Bowler's case,                   804
       756 Bowtrell, Alsop v.               608
       659 Boyce v. Owens,                 649
       760 Boys, Morgan v.                 851
     ii 197 Bradshaw, Ross v.               678
       685 Brazier's case,                  175
       837 Breasted v.  Farmers' Trust Co.,  694
           Briggs v. Morgan,               114
       752 Brooks, Moriarty v.           ii 287
       347 Broughton v. Randall,           627
       634 Brower  v. Fisher,               856
   99 Brown, Marion, case of,        ii 190
  816 Brown, Martha, ex parte, Wallop, 205
  657 Brown v. Brown,                115
ii 5S1 Brydges v. King,                834
  652 Bullock, Watts v.               836
  686 Bunel's case,                   275
ii 546 Burdett v. Hopegood,            364
ii 287 Burdock's (Mrs.)  case of,      ii 559
ii 212 Burke (Burking),          ii 19, 231
  205 Burns, Miss, case of,     306, ii 515
  762 Burrows v. Burrows,            S38
  817 Burtis v. Burtis,                121
  647 Bury's case,                     S7

      59 
930
INDEX  TO  LAW CASES.
Butterfield's case,             ii 589
Button, Regina v.             ii 373
Calas' case,                   ii 192
Cameron, Angus, case of,      ii 356
Campbell, (Jean) alias Bruce,    85S
Campbell v. Lamont,            649
Camplin, Regina v.              182
Carrol, Rex v.                  805
Carrol's case,                 ii 361
Carse's case,                  ii 322
Cartwrightv. Cartwright,      __ 838
Castaing's case,               ii 758
Catterall v. Catterall,            609
Chapman (Mrs.) & Mina's case,ii 542
Chattock v. Shawe,             6S5
Christie and Trail's case,      ii 926
Church, Kemble and Smales v.   852
Clark, Bittleston v.             823
Clark, Dew v.              763, 845
Clark v. Fisher,                824
Clark v. Sawyer,               825
Cleaveland, case of,             440
Clench, (Dr.) murder of,      ii 211
Clift v. Schwabe,               691
Codd and Pizzy's case,      439, 550
Codman, Robinson v.           363
Cogan v. Lyon,                 829
Coke and Woodburne's case,   ii 359
Collier v.  Simpson,           ii 919
Collins, case of,                434
Colvin v. King's Proctor,        633
Commonwealth  v. Bliss,          82
Commonwealth v.  Coxe,        806
Commonwealth v. Green,  181, ii 297
Commonwealth v.  Hill,         857
Commonwealth v.  Newell,     ii 365
Commonwealth v. Shepherd,      99
Commonwealth v. Strieker,        99
Commonwealth v.  Sullivan,      187
Commonwealth v.  Taylor,       445
Commonwealth v.  Trask,      ii 350
Commonwealth v.  Thomson,  ii 693
Cook, Foster and others, v.      608
Cook v. Goude and Bennett,     822
Cornell, S. M. case of,    330, ii 197
Cornier, Henriette, case of,       786
Cowper, Spencer, case of,  ii 273,918
Cox, Rex v. (Maiming,)       ii 363
Cox, Rex v. (Rape,)              188
Coxe, Commonwealth, v.         806
Crane, Scribner, v.              825
Cranmer, ex parte,              817
Croslan, case of Margaret,        524
Cross v. Cross,                   99
Cumyns, Greenstreet v.          115

Danks, case,                  ii 325
Darling v.  Bennet,               817
Darwin Rydgeway v.        744, 805
Davidson, case of,                755
Davidson, Dean v.               648
Davidson, McKay v.             828
Davies, case of,                 749
Davies, Morris v.                 99
Day v. Day,                    289
Dean's case,                    775
Dean v. Davidson,               648
Decaille's case,                 656
Denton's  case,                ii 347
De Ridgway, case of Cicely,       5S
Desborough, Everett v.          685
Desborough, Lindenau v.         683
Desha's case,                 ii  44
Devanbagh v. Devanbagh,        124
Dew v. Clark,              763, 845
Dickinson v. Blisset,            S56
Dillon Luke, case of,            163
Diplock, Taylor v.               628
Disney, Bolland v.               677
Dixon v. Dixon,                 613
Dobie v.  Richardson,            357
Dodge v. Meech,                837
Doe dem Knight v. Nepean,      648
Doe v. Jesson,                  648
Donegal, Lord, case of,          817
Donellan, Captain, case of, ii 792, 913
Donnal's case,            ii 538, 917
Douglas cause,                 650
Drew, United States v.          812
Drinkald, Jameson, v.         ii 913
Driver, White v.                838
Duncan v. Yoolow,              753
Dyson, case of Esther,          864
Earls, case of,                ii 546
Edinburgh Assurance Company,
  Forbes v.                     687
Edgar, case of,               ii 356
Edney, Sophia, case of,       ii 535
Etder or Smith, case of,    65, ii 539
Elliott, Dr., case of,          ii 348
England, Watson v.             649
Essex, Countess of, v.  Earl of,     87
Essex, Earl of, case of,       ii 128
Evans v. Knight,                837
Everett v. Desborough,          685

Fadden, Attorney General v.      659
Fairlie, Swete v.                680
Fairley, King and Thwaits v.     826
Farmers' Trust Co., Breasted, v.   ,694
Fenning, Eliza, case of,       ii 545
Ferrers, Earl, case of,           765
Fetters v. Gordon,              649
Finlay, Mary, case of,        ii 109
Fish v. Palmer,                 354
Fisher v. Beaumont,             686
Fisher, Brower v.               856
Fisher, Clark v.                 824
Flynn, case of,                  195
Forbes v. Edinburgh Assur. Co.,  687
Foster and others v. Cook,       608
Freeman's case, (insanity)        783
Freeman's case, (poisoning)    ii 778
Fried's case,                    696 
INDEX TO LAW CASES.
931
Fulleck v. Allinson,
847 Innes v. Innes,
Gammon, Rex v.                153
Gardner, Peerage case,          586
Gardner's Trustees, Simpson, v.  825
Garret v. Rock Insurance Co.,  ii 284
Geach v. Ingalls,             _  679
Getter, Mrs., case of.          ii 214
Gibbons, Rex v.               ii 923
Gibbs, Stoddard v.               363
Gilbert, case of,                 800
Gloucester, Countess of, case of,  608
Godfrey, Sir E., murder of,     ii 208
Goodere, Sir John D., murder of, ii 212
Gordon, Fettes v.               649
Goude and Bennet, Cook, v.      822
Green, Commonwealth v. (rape), 181
Green, Commonwealth  v.,
  (wounds),                  ii 297
Gregory, Howe v.                82
Greenacre, case of,            ii 142
Greenstreet v. Cumyns,          115
Groom and  Evans v. Thomas,    839
Guerre, Martin,  case of,        654
Jackson, ex dem. Caldwell v.
  King,
Jackson, ex dem. Van Dusen v.
  Van Dusen,
Jameson v. Drinkald,
Jardine, Rev. Mr., case of,
Jesson, Doe v.
Johnson, case of,
Johnson v. Moore's heirs,
JolifTe, Lowe v.
Jones, King  v.
Jordan, Regina v.
605
  746

  852
ii 913
  350
  648
ii 234
  849
  853
  857
  191
 Hadfield's case,         739,
 Hall v. Hancock,
 Hancock, Hall v.
 Hanks, a lunatic, case of,
 Harley, Rex v.
 Harrison v.  Harrison,
 Harrison, Kinleside v.
 Harty's case,
 Hathorn v. King,
 Hazleton v.  Prince,
 Hay, Rex v.
 Hayward, Rex v.
 Head v. Head,
 Heath, Mary, case of,
 Hebner's case,
 Hedges, Leng v.
 Hill, Ayrey v.
 Hill's case,
, Hill, Commonwealth v.
' Hitchcock's case,
 Hodgson's case,
 Holmden, Lomax v.
 Holmes, in re.
 Holyland, ex parte,
 Hopegood, Burdett v.
 Howe v. Gregory,
 Howison, case of,
 Howlett, Waters v.
 Hughes, Regina v.
 Huguenin v. Rayley,
 Humphrey's case,
 Hunter, Borrodaile v.
 Hunter v. Van Alst,
 Hurle,  case of Ann,
 Hyslop, case of  Mrs.,

 Ingall's, Geech v.
 Ingraham v. Wyatt,
762, 839
     363
     363
     755
  ii 373
     116
     834
     814
     737
     819
     628
  ii 362
      99
     243
  ii 189
     653
     837
     184
     857
  ii 546
  ii 591
      98
     745
 741, 760
     364
      82
     776
     822
     191
     681
  ii 433
     68S
817, 837
     206
     649

     679
 831, 835
Keith v. Keith,                 125
Kemble and Smales v. Church, _  852
Kesler's case,                 ii 545
King, Brydges v.                834
King, Hathorn v.                737
King v. Jones,                  857
King v. Luffe,                   96
King v. Salisbury,             ii 350
King v. Steel,  "                857
King v. Travers,                175
King, Jackson ex dem. Caldwell V. 746
King's Proctor v. Colvin,        633
King and Thwaits v.Far ley,      826
Kingston, Dutchess of, case of, ii 922
Kinleside v. Harrison,           834
Kinlock, Sir A., case of,         799
Kinnaird, (Lord,) v. Aveson,     685
Kinnear v.  Borrodaile,         ii 739
Kirby, case of,                  800
Kirkwall, Lady, case of,         756
Knight, Evans v.                837
Koningsmark, Count, case of,  ii 349
Kyle v. Kyle,                   828

Lambert's case,               ii 337
Lamont, Campbell v.            649
Lavalley's case,               ii 725
Le Blanc, State v.           175, 187
Lee's case,                   ii 362
Leitga case,                  ii 230
Lemann v.  Bonsall,              837
Leng v. Hedges,                653
Lennard, Morrison v.            854
Lewis, Rex v.                ii 373
Lindenau v. Desborough,        683
Lines, Regina v.                188
Lispenard case,                 829
Lomax v. Holmden,               98
Lovie's case,                  ii 545
Lowe v. JolifTe,                 853
Luffe, King v.                   96
Luscombe v. Prettyjohn,         609
Lynch, Ann, in the matter of,    806
Lyon, Cogan v.                 829

McCaig, Robertson v.            828
McComb, executor of, v. Wright, 648
Macdonough's case,             810 
932
INDEX TO LAW CASES.
Macdougal's case,                319
McGregor, McNeil v.            100
McKay's case,                 ii 546
McKay v. Davidson,             828
McKeand, Stewart v.             604
McLennan's case,              ii 258
Macmillan's case,              ii 432
McNaughton's case,              771
McNeil v. McGregor,            100
McQuirk's case,               ii 315
McRue, Regina v.                154
Macklin's case,                ii 322
Mainwaring, Watson v.          680
Marsellis v. Thalhimer,          362
Marsh v. Tyrrel,                827
Marshall, Regina v.               65
Marston v. Roe,                 205
Martin, Jonathan, case of,        791
Martin, Rex. v.                ii 355
Martin v. Wotton,               827
Mason v. Mason,                632
Maynard v. Rhode,               682
Meech, Dodge v.                837
Meecham's case,               ii 263
Megson, Regina v.             ii 926
Merriman, Southcombe v.        686
Millet's case,                  ii 103
Mina and Chapman's case,      ii 542
Mitchell's case,                  797
Moir, Captain, case of,         ii 305
Montbailly's case,              ii  25
Moore's heirs, Johnson v.         849
Morgan v. Boys,                 851
Morgan, Briggs v.                114
Morgan, William, case of,      ii 273
Moriarty v. Brooks,            ii 287
Morris v. Davies,                 99
Morrison v. Lennard,            854
Morrison v. Muspratt,            683
Morrow, Rex v.                ii 424
Muir's case,                   ii 383
Muller, Salome, case of,          661
Murray, case of,                 633
Muspratt, Morrison v.            683
Mynn v. Robinson,               828

Nairn and Ogilvie's case,       ii 545
Nepean, Doe dem, Knight, v.     648
Netherwood, Wright v.          632
Newell, Commonwealth V.      ii 365
Newton, Abraham v.             207
Nicholson, Stewart v.            829
Noiseu's case,                   655
Norkott, Jane, murder of,      ii 136
Norton v.  Seton,                 115
Nuttal, case of,                ii 213

O'Brien, a lunatic, matter of,     746
Ogilvie and Nairn's case,       ii 545
Otford, Rex v.  '                 766
Oliver, Benson v.                647
Orrel, State v.                 ii 355
Overbury, Sir Thomas, case  of, ii 570
Overfield's case,
Owens, Boyce v.
Oxford, case of,

Pace's  case,
Paine's case,
Palmer, Andrew v.
Palmer, Fish v.
Papavoine's case,
Parker's (Hoag) case,
Parkinson, lunatic, matter of,
Parnther, Attorney-General
Patch's case,
Paterson, Christian, case of,
Paulet's case,
Payne, Rex v.
People v. Rector,
Pell, Ball's executors v.
Pembroke, case of, Earl of,
Perdriat's case,
Petrie, Robertson v.
Philips, Regina v.
Pichegru,  General, case of,
Pizzy and  Codd, case of,
Pollard v.  Wybourn,
Poole,  Willis v.
Portsmouth, case of Earl of,
Pourpre's case,
Powell, Satterthwaite v.
Poyntz's case,
Prescott, Abraham, case of,
Prettyjohn, Luscombe v.
Prichard, Rex v.
Primm, Salle v.
Prince v. Hazleton,
Pugh and others, case of,
Quinch, Rex v.
Radwell's case,
Ramus' case,
Randall,  Broughton v.
Rayley, Huguenin v.
Rector, People v.
Redlion v. Woolverton,
Regina v. Allen,
Regina v. Button,
Regina v. Camplin,
Regina v. Hughes,
Regina v. Jordan,
Regina v. Lines,
Regina v. McLaughlin,
Regina v. McRue,
Regina v. Marshall,
Regina v. Megson,
Regina v. Philips,
Regina v. Stanton,
Regina v. Wilshaw,
Regina v. Wycherley,
Reid, case of Robert,
Renee, case of,
Rex v. Becket,
Rex v. Carrol,
Rex v. Cox, (Maiming,)
     n 424
       649
       783

     ii 347
       365
        64
       354
       779
       660
   756, 761
  r.    760
     ii 107
     ii 305
     ii 282
     ii 363
     ii 913
       634
     ii 339
       2S4
       605
       647
     ii 21S
  439, 550
       115
       680
       753
     ii 191
       633
       645
       795
       609
       864
       649
       819
     ii 261

     ii 896
       607
ii 141, 784
       627
       681
     ii 913
       615
       190 ■
     ii 373
       182
       191
       191
       188
     ii 287
       154
        65
     ii 926
       647
       163
        65
       206
     ii 221
       584
     ii 287
       805
     ii 363 
INDEX TO LAW CASES.
933
Rex v. Cox (Rape,)
Rex v. Gammon,
Rex v. Gibbons,
Rex v. Harley,
Rex v. Dr. Hay,
Rex v. Harwood,
Rex v. Lewis,
Rex v. Martin,
Rex v. Morrow,
Rex v. Offord,
Rex v. Payne,
Rex v. Prichard,
Rex v. Quinch,
Rex v. Russel,
Rex v. Russen,
Rex v. Shadbolt,
Rex v. Smith,
Rex v. Taylor,
Rex v. Tomlinson,
Rex v. Withers,
Rex v. Wood,
Rex v. Wright,
Reynolds v. Reynolds,
Rhode, Maynard v.
Richardson, Dobie v.
Ridgway v. Darum,
Roberton v. Roberton,
Robertson's case,
Robertson v. McCaig,
Robertson v Petrie,
 Robinson v. Codman,
 Robinson, Mynn v.
Rock Insurance Co., Garret v
 Roe,  Marston v.
 Rose, Maria, case of,
 Ross, Elizabeth, case of,
 Ross  v. Bradshaw,
 Russel, Rex v.
 Russen, Rex v.
 Ruston's case,
  188 Sherwood, v. Sanderson,
  153 Shufelt, Scott v.
ii 923 Simcor, v. Bignold,
ii 373 Simpson,  Collier v.
  628 Simpson v. Gardner's Trustees
ii 362 Sliver v. Shelbach,
ii 373 Slymbridge's case,
ii 355 Smith or Elder, case of
ii 424   Mary,                  65, ii 539
  766 Smith, Rex v.                ii 287
ii 363 Southcombe v. Merriman,        686
  818
  617
  685
ii 919
  825
  645
  207
Sager's case,
Salisbury, King v.
Salle v. Primm,
Sanderson, Sherwood, v.
Sandy v. Sandy,
Sansam's case,
Sant, Young v.
Sarmuda, Wright v.
Satterthwaite v. Powell,
Saunders' case,
Sawyer, Clark v.
Schwabe v. Clift,
Scott v. Shufelt,
Scribner v. Crane,
Sellis' case,
Selwyn, in re,
Seton,  Norton v.
Shadbolt, Rex v.
Shaw,  case of,
Shawe, Chattock v.
Shelback, Sliver v,
Shepherd, Commonwealth v
     864 Stacey, Alsop v.                 608
  ii  896 Standfield's case,         ii 138, 209
     188 Stanton, Regina v.               163
184,  191 Stanwix. Gen. case of,           627
  ii  363 State v. Le Blanc,          175, 187
  ii  287 State v. Orrel,                 ii 355
  ii    3 Steel, King v.                   857
  ii  352 Stewart's case,                  172
  ii  363 Stewart v.  McKeand,            604
  ii  363 Stewart v.  Nicholson,            829
  ii  913 Stoddard v, Gibbs,               363
     653 Strieker, Commonwealth v.       99
     682 Stringer's case,                ii  18
     357 Sullivan, Commonwealth v.      187
744,  805 Swete v. Fairlie,                680
     358
     189 Taylor, case  of,
     828 Taylor, Commonwealth v.
     605 Taylor, Diplock v.
     363 Taylor, Rex v.
     828 Tiege, case of,
   ii 284 Thalhimer, Marsellis v.
     205 Thecar's case,
     583 Thorn, case of,
   ii  36 Thomas, Groom and Evans, v.
     678 Thompson, Commonwealth v.
     188 Thornton, Ashford v.
 184, 191 Tickner's  case,
     853 Tinkler's  case,
         Tomlinson, Rex. v.
   ii 546 Trask, Commonwealth v.
   ii 350 Travers, King v.
     649 Turner v.  Turner,
     818 Tyrrel, Marsh v.
     604
     820 United States v. Drew,
     853
     632 Van Alst v.  Hunter,
     633 Videto's case,
   ii 373
     825 Wainwright v. Bland,
     691 Wallop, ex parte,
     617 Waters v. Howlett,
     825 Watson v. England,
   ii 127 Watson v. Mainwairing,
     632 Watts v. Bullock,
     115 Weeks' case,
   ii 363 Welde v.  Welde,
   ii 349 Wendell,  a  lunatic, de.
     685 Whalley's case,
     645 Wheeler v.  Alderson,
       99 Whistelo's case,
 ii  228
    445
    628
 ii   3
 ii 221
    362
    614
 ii 117
    839
 ii 693
    167
 ii 361
    439
 ii 352
 ii 350
    175
    837
    827

    812

817, 837
  ii 113
       686
       705
       822
       649
       680
       836
172,  ii 278
   96, 115
       755
     ii 391
       762
       616 
934
INDEX TO LAW CASES.
Whitaker, Anderton v.
White v. Driver,
Whiting's case,
Whyte's case,
Williams' case,
Willis v. Poole,
Willoughby's case,
Wilshaw, Regina v.
Wishart's case,
Withers, Rex v.
Wood, Rex v.
Woodbourne and Coke's
Wolverton, Redlion v.
         609 Wotton, Martin v.
         838 Wright, McComb v.
  ii 583, 591 Wright v. Netherwood,
         855 Wright, Rex v.
       ii 545 Wright v. Sarmuda,
         680 Wyatt, Ingraham v.
         204 Wybourn, Pollard v.
          65 Wycherby, Regina v.
       ii 540
       ii 363 Yarnall, Will of,
       ii 363 Yong v. Sant,
case,   ii 359 Yoolow, Duncan v.
         615 
INDEX.
Abdomen, examination of the,
  Wounds of the,             ii
  Enlargement of, in pregnancy,
Abortion,
  Proofs of, in the mother,
  Appearances on dissection in do.
  Proofs of, from what is expelled,
  Causes of,
  Criminal means—general,
    Venesection,
    Leeches,
    Emetics,
    Cathartics,
    Diuretics,
    Emmenagogues,
    Savine,
    Mercury,
    Polygala,
    Pennyroyal,
    Ergot,
    Actsea,
  Criminal means—local,
  Danger of death to the mother
      in,
  Causes of involuntary,
  Circumstantial evidence,
  Laws against criminal,
Abrus precatorius,            ii
Absorption, introduction of pois-
      sons by,               ii
Abstinence, feigned,
Access, when presumed,
Accidental wounding,         ii
Acids, poisoning by,           ii
Acid, acetic, poisoning by,     ii
  Arsenic, poisoning by,       ii
  Arsenious, poisoning by,     ii
  Citric,                     ii
  Muriatic, poisoning by,     ii
  Nitric, poisoning by,        ii
  Meconic,                   ii
  Oxalic, poisoning by,        ii
  Oxymuriatic, (chlorine) poison-
      ing by,                ii
  Phosphorous, poisoning by,  ii
  Prussic, poisoning by,       ii
  Sulphuric, poisoning by,     ii
.  Sulphurous, poisoning by,   ii
  Tartaric,                  ii
232 Aconitum anthora, poisonous,  ii 832
334 Aconitum  cammarum,  poison-
211       ous,                   ii 832
400 Aconitum ferox, poisonous,    ii 832
410 Aconitum  lycoctonum,  poison-
416       ous,  *                 ii 832
424 Aconitum  napellus,   poisoning
425       by,                    ii 831
426 Acrid or irritant poisons,      ii 375
426 Actsea racemosa, abortion from,  436
428 Actsea spicata, a poison,       ii 773
428 Adipocire, formation of a,      ii  52
429 iEsculus ohiensis and pavia,   ii 884
430 iEthusa cynapium, poisoning by,ii 830
431 Age,                           645
431 Age when menstruation commen-
432       ces,                     246
434   of criminal responsibility,     646
434   how long absence is a proof of
435       death,                   647
436   when  pregnancy is possible,   650
437   determination of,              646
    Air confined, its effects,       ii 152
443 Air, deprived of oxygen,  its ef-
445       fects,                  ii 152
446 Albumen, an antidote  to  corro-
547       sive sublimate,      ii 582,592
883   to copper,                  ii 622
    Alcohol, poisoning by,         ii 870
369 Alexipharmics,                ii 368
 58 Algalia, used for the bite of ser-
 98       pents,                  ii 708
107 Alienation, mental,              703
423 Alimentary  canal,  examination
450       of, in poisoning,         ii 406
558 Alkalies, caustic, poisoning by, ii 476
490   carbonated, poisoning by,    ii 477
463 Almonds,  oil of bitter,  poisoning
448       by,                    ii 804
436   analysis of,                 ii 804
747 Alum, whether poisonous,      ii 482
452 Amaryllis atamasco,          ii 886
    Ammonia, poisoning by,       ii 482
730   an antidote against the bite of
465       serpents,               ii 707^
773 Ammonia, muriate  of,  poisoning
423       by,                    ii 485
733 Ammoniacal, nitrate of silver, a
463       test of arsenic,          ii 524 
936
GENERAL  INDEX.
Amygdalus communis,         ii
Amygdalus persica,            ii
Amyris toxifolia,              ii
Anacardium occidentale,       ii
Anagallis arvensis,poisoning by,ii
Anagyris foetida,              ii
Anasarca, feigned,
Anda gomesii,                 ii
Androgynse, cases of,
Androgyni, cases of,
Anemone  nemorosa,  poisoning

Anemone pratensis,poisoningby,ii
Anemone sylvestris,poison'g by,ii
Anemone  pulsatilla,  poisoning
       h7>                    i}
Angustura, false,             ii
Animal poisons,               ii
Annuities, how regulated,
Antidotes, for arsenic,         ii
   for antimony,               ii
   for corrosive sublimate,      ii
Antimony,                   }]
   Tartarized, poisoning by,   ii
   Oxide  and  glass  of,  poison-
       ing,                    jj
   Muriate of, poisoning by,   n
   Wine of poisoning by,       ii
   Vapours,                   ii
          (See tartar emetic.)
 Aorta, wounds of,            ii
 Apocynum,  species  of,  poison-
       ous,                   ii
 Apoplexy, death from,        ii
   feigned,
 Apoplexy  resembling   narcotic
       poisoning,              ii
 Apoplexy from hanging,       ii
 Apoplexy, a will made after,
 Aqua fortis, poisoning by,      ii
 Aqua tofana,                  ii
 Areola, in pregnancy,       216,
 Argemone mexicana,         _ ii
 Aristolochia clematitis, poisoning
       by,                     "
   Serpentaria, used for the bite
        of serpents             ii
 Arnica montana,              11
 Arsenic, (metallic) when alloyed,
        innoxious,              ii
   garlic, smell of,             ii
   whitens copper, when heated, ii
   arsenic acid, effects of, on ani-
        mals,                   ii
   tests of,                #    "
  Arsenic, black oxide of,  its ef-
        fects,                   «
  Arsenic, iodide of,             ii
  Arsenic, sulphurets of,        ii
  Arsenical vapours, effects of,  ii
  Arseniates, tests of,     _      ii
  Aksenious acid, or white oxide
        of arsenic,             ii
804   Its preparation  destructive to
806       workmen,              ii 490
884   Poisoning by internal use of, ii 491
692   Symptoms of poisoning by,   ii 492
845   Poisoning by injection of,    ii 496
888   Poisoning by external  applica-
 45       tion of,                ii 498
884   Poisoning by inhaling  vapours
134       of,                    ii 500
138   Appearances on  dissection,  ii 501
      Introduced after death, effects
686       of,                    ii 514
686   Whether  it  retards  putrefac -
686       tion,                  ii 506
      Effects on animals,         ii 508
686   Chemicals proofs,           ii 5l4
854   Reduction of,              ii 517
696   Tests of, in solid state,      ii 517
676     in solution,              ii 522
552     when mixed,             ii 532
607   Vapours of, inodorous,      ii 521
592   Solubility,                 ii 515
601   Antidotes and treatment,   ii 552
601   Sale of, should be regulated, ii 555
      Cases of poisoning by,      ii 535
608  Arsenite of copper,          ii 557
608  Arsenite of potash,          ii 557
608   an  antidote  to bite   of  ser-
609        pents,                 ii 707
     Arsenites, tests of,            ii 557
 332 Arseniuretted hydrogen gas, its
           effects,                 ii 563
 847 Arseniuretted hydrogen test,   _ 526
  53 Arum maculatum, poisoning by,  ii 695
  18 Arum,  other  species of poison-
           ous,                    ii 695
 396 Ascites, feigned,               _  45
 164 Asclepias gigantea,            ii 847
 822 Asphyxia,                    ii 60
 423   various kinds of,            ii 60
 385   of privies,                  }} 161
 413 Asphyxia idiopathica,          ii 54
 888 Atropa  belladonna,   poisoning
           by,                     ii 815
 845 Atropine,                     " 817
     Auscultation, in cases  of suppo-
 708       sed pregnancy,            238
 885   to  ascertain the life  of the
           foetus,             .   241, 324
 566 Azalea pontica,  a narcotic poi-
 521       son,                    ii 773
 521
     Balls, wounds by,              H
 558 Barbadoes leg, feigned,           47
 558 Barytes and  its  salts, poisoning
            by,                    ii 670
 556    Carbonate of,               ii 670
 565    Muriate of,                 ii 671
 558   Tests,                      ii 672
 550   Antidotes,                  ii 673
 558 Beard, growth of, after death,  ii  40
      Bee, sting of,                 ii 710
 489 Bee, Humble, sting of,         ii 710 
GENERAL INDEX.
937
Belladonna, (see Atropa belladonna.)  Cancer, feigned,                  52
Bile, acrid, may poison animals, ii 381 Cantharides, effects in producing
Binoxalate of potash,          ii 462       abortion,                 431
Birth, legal time of, by the Roman     Cantharides, poisonin°- by,    ii 696
      law,                      601   Symptoms,                 ii 697
  In England,                   607   Appearances on dissection,  ii 700
  In France,                    602   Treatment,                 ii 701
  In Prussia,                    601 Cantharidin,                 ii 697
  In Scotland,                   604 Carbazotic acid,              ii 807
  Rapid, instances of,      316, 522 Carbonic acid gas, death from, ii 152
Bismuth,  nitrate of,  poisoning       Modes  in which  it is gene-
      by,                     ii 635       rated,                 ii 153
  Tests,                      ii 637   Effects of,                  ii 155
Bites of poisonous serpents,    ii 702   Appearances on dissection,  ii 157
Bitter almonds, (see Almonds.)       Carbonic oxide, effects on the hu-
Black flux, reduction of arsenious           man system,           ii 807
      acid with,               ii 518 Carburetted hydrogen gas,    ii 808
Black oxide of arsenic,         ii 556 Carunculae myrtiformes,         154
Bladder, state of, in new born in-     Castor oil plant,              ii 681
      fants,                    494 Castration,                       91
Bladder, wounds of,           ii 342 Catalepsy, feigned,               27
Bladder, rupture of,           ii 342 Cathartics, effects of, in producing
Blindness, feigned,               38       abortion,                 429
Blood, coagulation of,         ii  14 Caustic alkalies, poisoning by, ii 476
  Fluidity of,              ii 17, 84 Caustic lunar, ^see Silver.)
  Its chemical characters,      ii 145 Cedar, oil of,                 ii 878
  Vomiting of, feigned,            14 Cerbera ahovai,  and  manghas,
Blood, menstrual,               223       noxious effects  of,      ii 847
Blood, in  pregnancy,            236 Cerbera tanghuin, poisoning by, ii 847
Bloodroot,                    ii 883 Cerium: experiments  with,    ii 669
Blue vitriol,                  ii 616 Certificate  of  exemption  from
Blows after death, marks of,   ii  19       military duty,              82
  On the stomach,             ii 337 Cerusse, poisoning by,        ii 646
Bodies, combustion of human, ii  94 Cestrum venenatum,          ii 888
Brain, dissection of the,       ii    8 Chaerophyllum sylvestre,  poison-
  Injuries of the,             ii 317        ing by,                ii 831
Breasts in pregnancy,           215 Chailletia toxicaria,          ii 883
Bromide of mercury,          ii 596 Chancellor, his jurisdiction over
Bromine, cyanuret of,         ii 788       idiots and lunatics,        744
Bromine, poisoning by,        ii 474 Charcoal  fumes of, noxious,   ii 152
Brucea antidysenterica, not  a      Chelidonium glaucium and majus,
       poison,                 ii 854        poisoning by,          ii 687
Brucine, a vegetable  alkali,    ii 851 Chemical examinations of  poi-
Bryonia dioica, poisoning by,   ii 676        sons,                  ii 417
Bullet, murder discovered by ex-     Chenopodiuin murale,        ii 885
       amination of,           ii 123 Cherry laurel water,  poisoning
Burns, death from,            ii  86        by,                    ii 790
  After death,                ii  87 Childbearing, earliest  period of,
                                                                246, 650
Cachexia, feigned,                16   Latest period of,              650
Caasarean operation,             364    _        (see Gestation.)
  Laws concerning property when     Child-murder,
       infant is extracted by the, 365           (see Infanticide.)
Cadmium, experiments  with,  ii  670 Children, legitimacy  of,    581 to 618
Calculi, feigned excretion of,      35 Chloride  of cyanogen,        ii 789
Calcutta, Black Hole of,       ii 152 Chloride  of  lime,   sprinkling
Caladium seguinum,           ii 886        with,                 n  49
Calla palustris, an acrid poison, ii 695 Chloride of soda,              n 486
Calomel,                            Chlorine, poisoning by,       n 730
  Corrosive sublimate  converted     Chloroform,                  u 878
       into                    ii 582 Cholera morbus, symptoms of,
Caltha palustris,              " 686    distinguishing it from poisons, ii 396
Camphor, its effects,           "  859 Cholera resembling poisoning,  n 395
    TOL.  II.                         60 
938                      GENERAL  INDEX.
Cholera, feigned,                 27   Oxidation of,  by  various  ali-
Chromate  of  potash,  poisoning           ments and drinks,       ii 610'
      by,                    ii 665 Cord, mark of in hanging,     ii 168-
Cicatrices in cases of identity,    666 Coriaria   myrtifolia,  poisoning
Cicuta maculata, poisoning by, ii 828       by,                    ii 860
Cicuta virosa, poisoning by,   ii 826 Coroner, duty of,              ii   2
Cider, danger of lead in,      ii 657 Corpora  lutea,  how  far a sign of
Cinnabar, poisoning by,       ii 596       impregnation,         304, 419
Circulation in the foetus,         47S Corpse, bleeding,              ii 13S
Cissus glandulosa,            ii 848 Corrosive Sublimate,       ii 566
Citric acid,                  ii 463   Internally given,            ii 566
Classification of poisons,      ii 374   Effects in considerable doses, ii 567
Clematis vitalba, and other spe-       Administered by injection,  ii 570
      cies, poisoning by,      ii 687   Effects of, externally applied, ii 571
Clitoris, enlargement of the,      138   Appearances on dissection, ii 572
Coal vapour,             ii 152, 808   Effects on animals,         ii 574
Cobalt, poisoning by,             669   Chemical proofs,            ii 576
Cocculus indicus, poisoning by,         In the solid state,         ii 577
                             "ii 860     In the fluid state,         ii 578
Codeine,                     ii 747     In organic mixtures,      ii 584
Colchicum, poisoning by,      ii 839     Decomposed  in the  stom-
Cold, death from exposure to, ii  67       ach,                   ii 582
  Death of new-born infant from,  513   Antidotes and treatment,    ii 592
Cold water, death from drinking, ii  71   Effects  of,  introduced into the
Colic, Devonshire,            ii 657       dead body,             ii 403
Colica  pictonum, its  symptoms     Coventry act,                ii 359
      and cause,             ii 660 Crab, occasionally poisonous,  ii 716
Colcynth,poisoning by,       ii 677 Cream of tartar,              ii 481
Coluber berus, bite of,         ii 703 Creosote,                    ii 8S1
Combustibility, prater natural, ii  94 Crinum toxicarium,           ii 888
  Causes assigned for,         ii 101 Crotulus horridus, (see Rattlesnake.)
Commission of lunacy,           755 Croton tiglium, poisoning by,  ii 684
Comocladia,                  ii 888 Crying a necessary  proof of life
Compound poisoning,         ii 889       in  new-born  children in
Concealed pregnancy,       246, 558       Scotland,                  357
Concealed delivery,              285   Not a necessary proof of life in
Concealed insanity,              737       England,                  354
Conception, (see Pregnancy.)           Of  the child in the womb,      502
Congestion of blood in the  vis-     Cucumis colocynthis,            677
      cera,                  ii  21 Cupping-glasses in poisoning, ii 420
Congenital malformations,  527, 531 Curare,  a South  American  poi-
Conium  maculatum,  poisoning           son,                   ii 858
      by,                    ii 824   Account of its preparation,  ii 858
Consent, age of,            173, 182 Curtesy, tenant by the,           353
Consent, not necessary to impreg-       Effect of csesarean  operation on, 365
      nation,                    197 Cyanogen gas,                ii 811
Consumption, feigned,              8 Cyanol,                      ii 882
Contusion,                 ii 15,20 Cyanuret of bromine,         ii 788
Convolvulus jalapa,           ii 688 Cyanuret of iodine,           ii 787
Convolvulus scammonea,      ii 688 Cyanuret of mercury,         ii 596
Convulsions, feigned,              25 Cyanuret of potassium,       _ ii 788
Copper,                     ii 609 Cyclamen  europaeum, poisoning
  Metallic, its action,          ii 609  '     by,                    ii 692
    Facility of its oxidation,   ii 610 Cymbalaria, an ingredient in slow
  Carbonate and oxide of, poison-           poisons,                ii 386
      ing by,                 ii 612 Cynanchum erectum and viminale,
  Verdigris, poisoning by,     ii 613       poisonous,              ii 847
  Appearances on dissection,   ii 616 Cynapin,                     ii 831
  Effects on animals,          ii 617 Cytisine,                     ii 870
  Chemical tests,             ii 617 Cytisus laburnum,            ii 869
  Antidotes,                  ii 622
  Sulphate, poisoning by,      ii 616 Daniel's test  in case* of infanti-
  Utensils dangerous,          ii 611       cide,                      451 
GENERAL INDEX.
939
Daphne gnidium, and other spe-
       cies, poisoning by,      ii 687
Darnel, mixed with  bread, nox-
       ious,                   ii 868
Datura stramonium,  poisoning
       by,                     ii 818
Datuta tatula, and other species,
       poisonous,
Daturine,
Deaf and dumb, marriage of,
   May be witnesses,
   May be tried for crimes,
   May obtain possession of their
       estate,                  ii 856
       Delphinium staphysagria, poison-
             ing by,                 " 686
       Dementia, definition of,          718
         Symptoms of,                 "718
         Feigned,                     731
         Often a consequence of mania,  718
       Demonomania,                  725
ii 821  Diamonds, powder of,          ii 386
ii 821  Diaphragm, wounds of,        ii 333
  856  Diarrhoea, feigned,                17
  853  Digestion  of  the  stomach  after
  857        death,                  ii 409
         John Hunter's  account of,    ii 409
         Diagnosis  between  it and the
Deaf, dumb and blind,  a person           effects of poison,        ii 411
      born, is an idiot,           853 Digitalis   purpurea,  poisoning
A person grown so, non compos,  853
Deafness, feigned,
Deafness and dumbness, feigned,
Death, sudden, causes of,     i
  By burning,                 i
  By cold,                    i
  By drinking cold water,     i
  By drowning,
by,
ii 236
By exposure to noxious gases, ii 152
  By hanging,
  By hunger,
  By intoxication,
  By lightning,
  By pressure in a crowd,
  By smothering,
  By strangling,
  By wounds,
  From passion,
  From latent causes,
Death-bed declarations,
Death-bed, law of, in Scotland,
Decidua,
Defloration, pregnancy after,
Defloration, signs of,
Delirium tremens,
  Character of,
  Cases of,
  A species of insanity, /
Delirium of fever, produces tem-
      porary insanity,
Delivery,
  Signs of recent,
  Examination in doubtful cases
      of,
  Concealed,
  Pretended,
  Appearances on dissection,
  Whether possiblatwhen  the fe-
   40 Diospyros,
   41 Dippel's oil,
   53 Diseased flesh of animals,
   86 Diseased wheat,
   67 Diseases, disqualifying,
   71   Feigned,
        Exempting from military ser-
            vice,
          in England,
          in France,
          in the Netherlands,
          in Prussia,
          in the United States,
ii 230 Disqualifying diseases,
ii 206   In civil and criminal cases,
ii 105   For military service,
   54 Dirca palustris,
ii 163
ii   75
ii 871
ii   83
ii 232
ii	841
	887
ii	880
ii	721
ii	868
	63
	1
sr-	66
	76
	68
	75
	75
67	, 80
63	, 79
	63
66	, 80
ii	883
ii  58 Dissection, in death  from hang-
ii 926        ing,               ii 176, 204
  828   In death from noxious  inhala-
  260        tions,                   ii 157
  198   In death from rape,            167
  157   In death from starvation,     ii  75
  805   In death from strangling,    ii 213
  807   In death from poisoning,     ii 397
  808   Death from punctures during, ii 722
  807   Of child in cases of  infanti-
             cide,                     537
  800   Medico-legal rules for,       ii   5
  279     of the abdomen,           ii  11
  280     of the head,              ii   7
          of the thorax,            ii  10
  283     of the vagina,              167
  285      of the uterus,               300
  286 Diruetics, effects of, in producing
  300        abortion,                 430
      Divorce on account of impotence,
male is unconscious of it, ii  3,14
Delivery,
  Danger to the child if unassisted, 321
  Signs of the death of the child
      before and during,
  Premature,
  Protracted,
  By the Ceesarean operation,
Delphine, a vegetable alkali*
  316 Doubtful sex,
        Cases of,
        Importance of deciding on ca
  325       ses of,
  579 Dropsy encysted,
  581 Dropsy, feigned,
  364   Combined with pregnancy,   ,
ii 687 Dropsy of the uterus, 2
85, 122
    127
127

143
213
 45
245
256 
940
GENERAL INDEX.
  Signs  distinguishing it  from     Execution,  pregnancy a plea in
      pregnancy,                259       bar of,                    205
Drowning, death by,          ii 236   Supervening of insanity to pre-
  Signs of death by,           ii 239       vent,                     753
  Signs  of  death previous  to,       Exemption  from military duty by
                         ii 240,260       disease,                   67
  Causes of death by,          ii 237 Extra-uterine fcetus, whether ever
  Suicide by,                  ii 281       born  alive,               369
  Of new born children,         519 Extra-uterine  pregnancy,  symp-
Drunkenness.no excuse for crimes, 805     toms of,                    244
Ductus arteriosus,               481 Extremities, wounds of the,    ii 346
Dumbness, feigned,               41 Eyes, wounds of,              ii 321
Dura mater, wounds of,        ii 320
Dying  declarations,            ii 926 Face, wounds of the,          ii 321
Dysentery, feigned,               17 Fallopian tubes, state of, after de-
Dysmenorrhoea,  membranes ex-           livery,               301, 419
       pelled in,                 260 Falls or blows, cause of death,  ii 116
                                    Family likeness,                651
Ear, wounds of,               ii 323 Fasting, death from,            ii 76
Eau de Noyau, sometimes poison-     Fasting, pretended,               58
       ous,                    ii 806 Feigned diseases,                 1
Eau medicinale of Husson,     ii 839   Rules for detection,             3
Ecchymosis,  meaning   of   the     Feigned insanity,               726
       term,                  ii  15   Rules for detection of,         726
  Around the neck,            ii 169 Festuca,                     ii SS7
Echites suberecta,             ii 885 Fevers, feigned,                  6
Elaterium.its nature and effects,ii 676 Ficus damiona,               ii 880
Elaterine,                    ii 677 Fire arms, wounds from,      ii US
Elder, poisoning by,           ii 696 Fishes, poisonous,            ii 711
Emetic, tartar, poisoning by,   ii 601   List of,                    n 712
Emetics, effects of, in producing       Treatment for,             n 714
       abortion,                 428 Fistula in ano, feigned,           52
Emetin,                      ii 845 Fluidity of the blood,         if  38
Emissio'Seminis in cases of rape, 185 Flux, black,                  ii 518
Emphysema, feigned,             45 Fly-powder,                  n 556
Emphysema of the womb,        261 Foetal circulation,               47s
Empyreumatic oils,            ii 880 Foeticide,                  404, 547
Enamel powder, whether poison-     Fcetus, motion of,              fji
       01fs                    ii 724  Extra-uterine,                244
Epilepsy, feigned,             22, 61   Size of, at various periods,     327
  Often causes insanity,         804  Skeleton of, at various periods, 335
  Often compUcated with insanity, 804  Weight of, at various periods,  337
Epispadias,                      89  Length of  at various periods,  344
Equisetum hyemale,           ii 887  Signs of the maturity of,       346
Ergot, its effects  on the human       Signs of the immaturity of,     346
 v     system,                ii 864  Dissection of, in cases of mfanti-
  Its botanical character,      ii 864    .  cide,                    537
  Its  effects in producing  abor-       Viability of,                  J4S
       tjon                      435  At what  age it has survived,   348
  Diseases'producedby,       ii 865  Its living, meaning of, in the
Ervum Ervilia,               ii 869       laws of various countries,   353
Erysipelas, after wounds,      ii 304  Its living, tenant by the curtesy,
Erythroxylon coca,            ii 888        holds by,                 d-»J
Ether, nitric,                 ii 877 Food, adulterated with lead,   n 6oo
 Ether! sulphuric, effects  on ani-     Foot-prints,                  a 143
       mals,                  ii 876 Foramen ovale,              .   4/3
 Euphorbia ofiicinarum, poisoning    Foundling  hospitals, mortality in
       by,                    " 679       them,                  .. 563
 Euphorbia lathyris, and other spe-     Fowler's solution,             n 557
       cies poisonous,          ii 680 Foxglove,                     u 841
 Euphorbium,                 ii 679 Fracture, before and after death
 Evidence, medical,            ii 895                          » 24, 346
 Excaecoria,                   " 888 Fractures,  feigned,               52 
GENERAL  INDEX.
941
Froth in the bronchise,         ii 346 Hellebore, black, poisoning by, ii  836
*usel 0ll>                     ii 882   fetid, poisoning by,         ii  837
Gall-bladder, wounds of,       ii 340   white' Poisoning bv>        \\  837
Galvanism, reduction of corrosive     Helonias frigida,              11888
      sublimate by,           jj 581   erythrosperma,             11886
Gamboge, its effects on  animals.ii 689 Hemlock, poisoning by,        11  824
Garlic smell of arsenic,        ii 521   American, poisoning by,     11  828
Gas, carbonic acid, its effects,  ii 155 uwfer' poisoning by,        11  826
   Nitrous acid, its effects,     ii 731 Henbane, poisoning by,        11  768
   Sulphuretted hydrogen, its ef-     Hepatitis, feigned,                  9
      fects                   ii 162 Hermaphrodites,                 127
   Sulphurous acid, its effects,  ii 733   supposed cases of,              ™
Gas lights, their effects,       ii 809 H£™ "jy               ™
Gases, irritant,                ii 730 Hernia, leigned,                  47
Gases, narcotic,               ii 807 Hippomane  mancmella,  poison-

Gastric juice  perforation of the     Honey,°poisonous,             ii  720
 „  , .  . .a     7>                ■     symptoms,                 ii  720
Gastric juice   appearance of the        *   {  ^    q{   ;so        h  7l0
      perforations by,         11 409 u    ■.',   ..b  ,,•                ~rr,
r<  nv.   •    „  „u           •■ o^r Hospitals, foundling,             562
Gualtheria procumbens,       11 8s5 „  A,  A„ „*:„„„<•          ;;  r,,n
n 1  ™- „  -*-j  „      ■      •• car Humble bee, sting ot,         11  71U
Gelsemiumnitidum, a poison,  11 88.) R      , deat\ b*             H   15
Geoffrcea Inermis,             « 888     8  ' ances 0> dissection,   ii   76
Gestation, oidinary period of,     569 D  rr    ■.                   ■■  ooi
        • A      J *       '     ,„„ Hura crepitans,               11  884
   in animals,                    Old Hydatids in the uterus,      256,  420
   whether irregular,             o76   „„„,„«.„„,„ „<•                  0*n
      .   .  ,    °    '             ,C1   symptoms of,                  257
   protracted,                     ^ Hydrated oxide of iron,        ii  552
   causes ot variation of,          57b Tt  j  ■  j 1   ^   ..  1.   •   > u  •• ^m
Glass nowdered  effects of    ii 724 Hydriodate of potash, poison'gby ,11 471
blabb, powdered, ettects ol,    11 /^4 Hydrobromate of potash, poison-
Glonosa superba,              11 888  J    •  .              r    H  474
Gluten, an antidote  of corrosive     Hydrocele, fe'igned,               47
      sublimate    .11 593 Hydrocephalus,  feigned,           45
Go Id, muriate of, poisoning by, 11 633 Hydrochloric acid, poisoning by, ii  448
Gold, fulminating poisoning by,n 634 Hydrochlorate of ammonia,    ii  485
Gonorrhoea, leigned,               35 Hydrocutile vuigaris, an acrid poi-
 Gout in an insurance on life,      6b0  J                         r  -  go*
Gratiolaofficinalis, poisoning by,ii 6b9 Hydrocyanate of ammonia,     ii  787
 Uravel, feigned,                   Jb Hydrocyanic acid, (see Prussic acid.)
 Gun-shot wounds,            n 118 Hydrocyanic ether,           ii  787
 Haemanthus toxicaria,         ii 886 Hydrogen gas,                ii  811
Haematemesis, feigned,         14, 61 Hydrogenated sulphuret of pot-
Haematuria, feigned,               14       ash,                    ii  486
Haemoptysis, feigned,             14 Hydrophobia,                 ii  721
 Haemorrhage, as  indicative of in-       feigned,                        33
,      jury before death,        ii 12 Hydrostatic test of infanticide, 455, 459
   after death,                   ii 13   objections to, and examination
   constitutional cases of         ii 39       of these,                  460
Haemorrhoids, feigned,             16   directions for performing,      473
Hair, its growth after death,    ii 39 Hymen, existence of,            150
Hallucination, definition of,       803   as a proof of virginity,          151
   cases of,                       803 Hymen, imperforate,        108,  152
Hanging, death by            ii 164 Hyoscyamus albus, poisoning by, ii 768
   Modes in which it is induced, ii 165 Hyoscyamus niger, poisoning by, ii 769
   Marks of death  by,          ii 167 Hypochondriasis, its  characteris-
   Appearances on dissection,  ii 176       tics,                      801
   Murder  by,                 ii 181   distinction between it and me-
   Suicide  by,             » 181, 186       lancholy,                 801
   Murder  of new-born  children     Hypospadias,                     89
       by,                        519 Hysteria, feigned,                 28
 Hartshorn, poisoning by,       I!483
 Head, wounds of the,          " 314 Identity, disputed cases of,       653
 Heart,  feigned diseases of the,       7   physical signs in determining,  666
 Heart,  wounds of the,          ii 329 Identity of dead bodies,        ii   28 
942
GENERAL  INDEX.
Idiosyncrasy, it's effects,   ii 370, 392   Means of death,               509
Idiotism,  its frequency in  some         criminal,                   509
      countries,                 720     accidental,                  521
  characteristics of,              719   Circumstantial evidence of,     534
  its complication with other dis-       External and internal exainina-
      eases,                    720       tion of the child,          531
  feigned,                       730   Mode of conducting dissection,  533
Idiots, laws concerning,         743   Reports of cases,          539,567
  Definition of, in law,           743   Laws against,                 556
  Method of proving persons,     748 Insanity,                      704
  Persons  born deaf, dumb and       Symptoms of,                 705
      blind, are,                853   Causes of,                    725
Illusions, what constitutes them,  708   Moral,                       722
Imbecility, mental,               718   Feigned,                      726
Immature foetus, signs of,        328   Concealed,                   737
Impotence, a cause of divorce,    85   Rules  for detecting  of feigned
  Laws concerning it,         85, 99       and concealed,       726, 737
  Causes of, in the male,          88   Excuses from crimes,          753
    absolute,                     88   Incapacitates  from  making a
    accidental,                   98       will,                     820
    curable,                     96   (See Mania and Melancholia.)
  Diseases that cause  temporary,  102 Insensibility during delivery,     314
    that do not cause  temporary  100 Insurance upon lives,            676
    causes of, in the female,      103 Intestines, wounds of,         ii 338
    curable,                    108 Intoxication,  death from,    ii 870
    incurable,                  103   Symptoms indicative  of  dan-
Impregnation, during sleep, 196, 278       ger,                   ii 871
  in cases of rape,               197   Treatment,                ii 875
  when the female is  in a stupor, 277   Does  not excuse from punish-
Incoherent madness,             717       ment,                    805
Incontinence of urine, feigned,     34 Iodide of arsenic,            ii 565
Indigestion, its symptoms, resem-     Iodide of mercury,            ii 597
      bling poison,            ii 392 Iodide of lead,                ii 664
Infant cannot make  a  valid will,  820 Iodine,  poisoning by,         ii 467
Infanticide,                   372   tests of,                   ii 469
  History of, in varioug countries, 372   cyanuret of,                ii 596
  Definition of,                  404 Ipecacuanha,                ii 845
  Murder of the foetus in utero,   404 Iridium, experiments with,    ii 668
  Vitality of the foetus,           406 Iron, hydrated oxide of,       ii 552
  Proofs of the murder of the foe-     Iron, sulphate of, poisonous,   ii 637
      tus, (see Abortion.)             muriate of, poisonous,      ii 638
  Proofs of the child being born     Irritant  poisons, their effects,
      alive,                     448                     ii 375, 399, 423
    from the character of the blood, 475   list of,                    ii 423
    from condition  of heart and     Jalapj poisoning by,          ii 683 •
      blood-vessels,             478 jatr0pha curcas and manihot, poi-
  Proofs of the child having re-           soning by,             ii 682
      spired alter birth,         449 jaundice, feigned,                16
    general configuration and size     Juniper, oil of,  producing  abor-
      of thorax,                 449       tjon>                     431
    volume or size of the lungs,  451 juniperus sabina, producing abor-
    relative situation of the lungs, 450       ^lon>                      431
    shape of the lungs,           452   poisoning by,               ii 691
    colour of the lungs,          453 jury  of matrons,                205
    consistency  or density of the
      lungs,                    455 Kalmia latifolia, poisoning by,  ii 885
    specific gravity of the lungs,        renders honey  poisonous,    ii 721
                           455, 458   renders pheasants poisonous, ii 719
    objections to the hydrostatic     Kermes mineral,              ii 609
      test,                      460 Kidneys, wounds of,           ii 342
    Btate of the liver,            492 Kiestiene,                      237'
    discharge of the meconium,  493 King's yellow,                 ii 559
    state of the bladder,         494 Kreosote,                     ii 881 
GENERAL  INDEX.
943
T^t,,,^ „;..'„..        *•    •     ..   69 Lucid interval, will made during, 838
Lactuca virosa, a narcotic Doison  ii Tn t „„•<■     .. v.      •           •■ *ra
T„ton„-     '  ,ai«-""^poi!»on,u  in Lucifer matches, poisonous,    n 466


tev™.^?       '•            " 326    their state in new-born infants, 450
Lathyrus cicera, poisonous,     n 869    weight of                     455
Laurel-water, poisoning by,    ii 790    examination of,               473
Laurus camphora              ii 859    volume or size, relative situa-
Lead poisoning by,            n 638        tion, shape, colour, consist-
  Acetate of, symptoms of poison-            ency and  specific gravity
      mg by,                 u 639        0f,                 452 to 458
    sometimes innoxious,      n 640
    effect on animals,          ii 641 Mackerel, sometimes noxious,  ii 716
  Carbonate of, poisoning by,   ii 646 Madness,                       704
  Water impregnated with,    ii 651 Maiming, feigned,                 54
  Litharge, its effects,         ii 650 Manchineel,                  ii 683
  Food  adulterated with,       ii 655 Manganese, experiments with, ii 669
  Earthen  vessels glazed with,     Mania,                         704
      noxious,                ii 656    symptoms of,                  705
  Cider adulterated with,       ii 657    duration of paroxysms of,      712
  Rum adulterated with,       ii 658    feigned,                      726
  Syrups adulterated with,     ii 659    concealed,                    737
  Wines adulterated with,     ii 656 Mania a potu, (see Delirium Tremens.)
  Emanations of,              ii 659 Marsh's test of arsenic,        ii 526
  Tests of the various salts of,  ii 661 Mayhem, definition of,         ii 353
  Antidotes of,                ii 663    laws against,                ii 358
  Iodide of,                   ii 664 Meadow-saffron,               ii 839
  Muriate of,                  ii 657 Mechanical irritants,          ii 724
  Action of air on,             ii 651 Meconic acid,                 ii 747
  Cheese adulterated with,     ii 659 Meconine,                    ii 747
  Sugar adulterated with,      ii 659 Meconium, discharge of, in new-
Legitimacy,                     569        bom infants,              493
  laws of various countries on,   601 Medical evidence,              ii 895
Life Insurance,                  675 Medico-lea-al dissection, its impor-
Lightning, death by,           ii   S3        tance,                  ii    5
  appearances from,           ii   84    rules for,                   ii    6
Lime-kilns, their exhalations poi-        in poisoning,                ii 398
      sonous,                 ii 153    in rape,                      167
Lime, quick, poisoning by,     ii 485 Melancholy, its symptoms,      714
Lineae  albicantes, a sign  of deli-        a frequent cause of insanity,    714
      very,                 282,412    time of life when it occurs,     714
Lips, wounds of,               ii 323    feigned,                      730
Litharge, poisoning by,        ii 650    diagnosis between, and hypo-
  adulteration of wines by,     ii 656        chondriasis,               802
Liver, wounds of,              ii 340 Melia azederach,              ii 884
Liver of sulphur, poisoning by, ii 486 Menses, period of their recurrence, 250
  antidote,                    ii 552    suppression of, how far a  sign
Lividity in the dead,           ii   16        of pregnancy,         210,221
Lives, insurance upon,          675 Menstruation, feigned,             16
  policies on how vitiated,       677    the   age when it  commences
Lobelia inflata, and other species,            and ceases,           246, 652
      poisoning by,            ii 693 Mental alienation,               703
Lobster, sometimes noxious,    ii 716 Mercurialis perennis,  poisoning
Lochia,                    281, 412        by,                    ii 848
Lolium   temulentum,  poisoning     Mercury,                   ii 566
      by,                     ii 868 Mercury, cyanuret of,          ii 596
Lonicera,                     ii 887    metallic, whether a poison,   ii 598
Lucid interval, definition of, for-        nitrate of,        -          ii 595
      merly,                    757    sulphuret of,                ii 596
  at the present day,             758    deutobomide of,             ii 596
  application of in civil cases,    756    red oxide of,                 ii 595
  application of, in criminal cases, 762    red precipitate of,           ii 595
  difficulty of ascertaining,       764    vapours of, their effects,     ii 598 
944
GENERAL INDEX.
Mercury, salivation by, whether     Nitrogen, poisoning by,        ii  807
      ever renewed,           ii 5S8 Nitrous acid gas, poisoning by, ii  731
  effects in procuring abortion,   432 Nitric ether,                 ii  877
  (see Corrosive sublimate.)          Nitrous oxide gas,             ii  810
Mesentery, wounds of,         ii 339 Non compos, (see Insanity.)
Mezereon,                    ii 6S8 Nose, wounds of,              ii  323
Milk, secretion of, how far a sign     Nostalgia,                       S05
      of pregnancy,              220   feigned,                       33
  how far a sign of delivery, 281, 413 Noxious inhalations, death from, ii  751
Moles, definition of,              252 Nuncupative wills,               818
  symptoms,                     253 Nux vomica, its effects,        ii  849
  whether the result of concep-     Nyctalopia, feigned,              40
      tion,                 253,423 Nymphomania,                  725
Molybdenum, experiments with,ii 667
Momordica elaterium,          ii 677 (Enanthe crocata, poisoning by, ii  826
Monomania, symptoms of,         713     fistulosa, poisonous,       ii  830
  affecting the validity of wills,   839
1 of cedar,                  ii 878
1 Dippel's,                 ii 830
Is, empyreumatic,           ii 880
l of mustard,               ii 879
1 of savin,                  ii 879
I of tansy,                  ii 879
1 of tar,                    ii 880
1 of turpentine,             ii 879
1 of vitriol, poisoning by,     ii 423
1 of wintergreen,            ii 879
Monsters, division of,            366 O
  their inheriting,               368 O
Morphine,               ii 736, 744 O
Moral insanity,              722, 789 O
Muriate  of ammonia, poisoning     O
       by,                     ii 485 O
Muriatic acid gas,             ii 733 O
Muriatic acid, poisoning by,    ii 448 O
Mussels, poisoning by,         ii 715 O
Mushrooms, poisonous,         ii 862 O
  symptoms of,                ii 862 Old  age,  debility of mind pro-
  appearances on dissection,    ii 863       duced by,                816
  treatment,                   ii 864     wills made in,              834
Mustard, oil of,                ii 879 Omentum, wounds of,         ii 339
Mutilation, laws on,            ii 356 Operation, Caesarean,           364
Myopia, feigned,                  37 Operation, death after an,      ii 309
Narceine,                     ii 736 Ophthalmia, feigned,            37
Narcissus, pseudo-narcissus, poi-     Opium, its compound nature,  ii 736
       soning by,               ii 688   Symptoms of poisoning by,  ii 737
Narcotic poisons,       ii  376, 735   Eating,                    ii 741
  Symptoms of,                ii 376   Appearances on dissection,  ii 748
  Appearances on dissection,   ii 399   Effect on animals,           ii 744
Narcotico-Acrid poisoNs,ii 376,813   Treatment,                 ii 762
  Symptoms,                  ii 376   Tests of,                   ii 753
  Appearances on dissection,   ii 400 Ornithorynchus paradoxus,     ii 718
Narcotine,               ii  746, 753 Orpiment,                    ii 558
Navel-string, (see Umbilical cord.)    Osmium, experiments with,    ii 668
Near-sightedness, feigned,         37 Ovaria, absence of,              111
Neck, dislocation of, inhanging,ii 166   essential to puberty,          111
  wounds of the,               ii 324 Ovarian dropsy,                 213
Nerium oleander, poisoning by,ii 846 Oxalic acid, poisoning by,    ii 452
Neuralgia, feigned,               13   Symptoms of",               ii 453
Nickel, experiments with,      ii 669   Appearances on dissection of, ii 456
Nicotiana tabacum, poisoning by ,ii 821   Effect on animals of        ii 457
Nicotine,                      ii 823   Tests of,                   ii 459
Nitrate of silver, (see  silver.)           Antidotes  of,               ii 461
Nitrate of mercury,            ii 595 Oxygen gas,                   ii 811
Nitre, poisoning by,            ii 479 Oxymuriate  of lime,           ii 486
  (see Potash.)                      Oxymuriatic acid gas, poisoning
Nitric acid, poisoning by,     ii 436       by,                  -  ii 730
  Division of poisoning into four     Oysters sometimes noxious,    ii 716
      classes,                 ii 436 Ozoena, feigned,                  52
  Symptoms of each,           ii 437
  Appearances on dissection,   ii 441 Pain, feigned,                      9
  Chemical proofs of,           ii 446 Palladium, experiments with,  ii 668
  Treatment,                  ii 448 Palsy, feigned,                   19 
■H
GENERAL  INDEX.
945
Palsy, from lead,              ii
  will made after an attack of,
Pancreas, wounds of,          ii
Paramorphine,            ii  736,
Paris quadrifolia, a narcotic,    ii
Parturition, (see Delivery.)
Passiflora quadrangularis,      ii
Passions, violent, effects of,    ii
Pastinaca sativa, poisoning by, ii
Paternity of children, where  wi-
       dows marry  immediately,
Peach, its kernels contain prussic
       acid,                   ii
Pedicularis palustris, poisonous ,ii
Peganum harmela, a narcotic,  ii
Penis, malconformations of,
Pennyroyal, abortion from,
Perforation of the stomach,    ii
  if a sign of poison,           ii
Personal identity,
Persons found dead,        ii
  From burning,              ii
  From cold,                  ii
  From drowning,             ii
  From hanging,              ii
  From hunger,               ii
  From lightning,             ii
  From natural causes,        ii
  From noxious inhalations,    ii
  From poisons,               ii
  From smothering,           ii
  From strangling,            ii
  From wounds,               ii
Petechise, feigned,
Peteveria,                     ii
Phaseolus,                    ii
Pheasant, sometimes poisonous, ii
Phosphorus, poisoning by,     ii
Physalia, poisonous,           ii
Physalis somnifera, a narcotic, ii
Physconia, feigned,
Physometra,
Phytolacca  decandra,  poisoning
       by,                     ii
Picrotoxine,                  ii
Pinkroot,                     ii
Pins and needles,              ii
Piscidia erythina,              ii
Pistia,                        ii
Placental mark,
Placental sound,
Platina, nitro-muriate of,      ii
Ploucquet's test in cases of infan-
       ticide,
Plumbago europaea, an acrid  poi-
       son,                    ii
Poisoning, false accusation of,  ii
  compound,
Poisons,                      }]
  Definition of,                }}
  Mode of action of,
  Resistance to, in man,       ]\
  Resistance to, in animals,    11
  Introduction of,              u
   VOL.  II.
 061 Poisons, classification of,      ii 374
 324    Signs of, on living body,     ii 374
 339    Signs of, on the dead body,   ii 397
 747    Exhibition of, to animals,    ii 380
 772    Exhibition  of, to persons du-
           ring sickness,           ii 381
 S84    Secret and slow,            ii 384
  54    To a number at once,        ii 388
 695    Diseases resembling effects of,ii 392
       Appearances resembling ditto,ii 406
 612    Administered by injection,   ii 402
       Effects on the dead body,     ii 403
 806    Irritant,                    ii 423
 689    Narcotic,                   ii 735
 773    Narcotico-acrid,             ii 813
  89 Poisonous fishes,              ii 711
 434 Poisonous serpents,            ii 702
 409    symptoms of the bite of,      ii 704
 411    antidotes to bite of,          ii 707
 653 Policy on lives,                  675
   1    how vitiated,                  677
  86 Polygala senega,                434
  67    venenosa,                   ii 884
 236 Polypus of the nose, feigned,      47
 163 Potash, caustic, poisoning by, ii 476
  75    Binoxalate of,               ii 462
  83    Carbonate of,  poisoning by,   ii 477
  53      appearances on dissection,  ii 478
 151    Hydrogenated sulphuret of,
 307        poisoning by,           ii 486
 230    Nitrate of, poisoning by,     ii 479
 206      symptoms,                ii 480
 105      effect on animals,          ii 481
  52    Hydrobromate of,            ii 474
 888    Hydriodate of,              ii 471
 887    Sulphate of,                 ii 482
 718    Arsenite of,                 ii 557
 463    Arseniate of,                ii 558
 716 Potassium, cyanuret of,        ii 788
 773 Pregnancy,                    203
  46    Laws on, in civil and criminal
 261 •       cases,              )       203
       Signs of,               ^       208-
 695    Concealed,                    246
 860      laws punishing,              558
 886    Pretended,                    262
 729    Auscultation as a test of,       238
 883    No one certain sign of,          243
 888    Extra-uterine,                244
 301    Plea of,                       204
 240    Signs of, on dissection,          300
 635    Mistaken for dropsy,           245
       May be accompanied with dropsy,257
 455    States of the  uterus mistaken
          for,                       252
 693   Whether female can be ignorant
 391       of,                        274
 889   In an idiot,                    277
 367   Signs of the foetus being living
368       during,                    321
369   Signs of the foetus being  dead
371       during,                    323
371   Following rape,                197
371   Age at which it is possible,     652
   61 
946
GENERAL  INDEX.
Prenanthes alba, an antidote to the       Penetration, necessary in law,  185
      bite of sepents,          ii 708   During sleep,                  19S
Pressure in a crowd death from, ii 232   Pregnancy following,          197
Presumption of survivorship, 618 Rattlesnake, effects of the bite of, ii 704
  When mother and child die du-     Realgar,                     ii 558
      ring delivery,             620 Rectum, prolapses of, feigned,      46
  In a common accident,         622 Red precipitate,               ii 595
  Roman  law concerning,        622 Red lead,                    ii 650
  Ancient French law concerning, 624 Reinsch's test of arsenic,      ii 530
  Present French law concerning, 626 Resemblance, in cases of doubtful
  English cases concerning,      627       paternity,                 650
Pretended delivery,              262 Respiration in utero,             502
Pretended pregnancy,            286 Rheumatism, feigned,              9
Prolapsus uteri, feigned,           46 Rhodium, experiments with,   ii 668
Prunus avium, its kernels contain     Rhododendron chrysanthum, poi-
      prussic acid,            ii 790       soning by,              ii 692
Prunus caroliniana,            ii 804 Rhubarb plant poisonous.      ii 462
Prunus lauro-cerasus,          ii 790 Rhus radicans, poisoning by,   ii 690
Prunus nigra,                  ii 804 Rhus  toxicodendron and vernix,
Prunus padus,                 ii 803       poisoning by,           ii 691
Prunus virginiana,             ii 803 Ricinis communis, effects of,   ii 681
Prussic acid, poisoning  by,    ii 773 Rifle-ball, wounds with,       ii 122
  Symptoms of,               ii 774 Rigidity, cadaveric,           ii 42
  Appearances  on dissection,   ii 778 Rigidity, spasmodic,          ii 43
  Effect on animals,           ii 779 Robinia pseudo-acacia,        ii 883
  Tests,                       ii 781 Rum, adulterated with lead,   ii 658
  Antidotes,                   ii 785 Rupture of vessels, death from, ii 53
  Vegetables that contain,      ii 790 Rupture of viscera, death from, ii 58
Pseudo-morbid  appearances,    ii  21 Rupture of the stomach,   ii 336, 393
Pseudomorphine,              ii 737 Ruia graveolens, effects,       ii 845
Puberty, instances of premature,  646 Rye, spurred, (see Ergot.)
Putrefaction, its  effects  may be
      mistaken for violence,   ii  41 Sal ammoniac, poisoning by,   ii 485
  changes from,            ii 41, 49 Salivation, renewal of,        ii 588
  when it supervenes,       ii 41, 44 Sambucus ebulus, poisoning by, ii 696
  not to prevent dissection,     ii  49 Salt of sorrel,                ii 462
  from drowning,              ii 265 Sanguinaria canadensis, an acrid
  whether an effect of arsenic,  ii 506       narcotic,               ii 883
                                    Sanguineous congestions,      ii 21
Quickening,              227, 407 Saturnine emanations, effects of, ii 659
  Ancient opinion concerning,    227 Savine, oil of,                ii 879
  Present prevailing opinions,    228 Savine, (see  Juniperus sabina.)
  Period whe..  it occurs,          229 Scammony, effects of,         ii 6S8
  Whether uniform,             230 Scheele's green,               ii 557
  The law distinguishing between,     Scilla mantima, effects of,     ii 844
      murder before and after, 409,549 Scorpion, bite of,              ii 709
Quick lime, poisoning by,      ii 485 Scrofula, feigned,                34
Qicksilver, (see Mercury.)            Scurvy, feigned,                  34
Quinine, sulphate of, poisonous,ii 882 Secale cornutum,  (see Ergot.)
                                    Secret poisons,                ii 384
Ranunculus  acris, and other spe-     Sedum acre, poisoning by,     ii 692
      cies, poisoning by,      ii 685 Seleniuretted hydrogen gas,    ii 734
Rape,                          149 Semen, tests of,                  169
  Signs of,                      157 Senecio  obovatus,                8S5
  Diseases resembling,           158 Serpents, poisonous,          ii 702
  Medical examination of,        165 Serum, presence of,         ii 22, 68
  Possibility of consummation of, 163 Sex, doubtful,                   127
  False accusations of,            165 Shot, wounds with,            ii 124
  Feigned,                 165, 199 Sight, defective, feigned,          37
  Medico-legal dissection in death     Singhera,                    ii 887
      from,                     166 Silver,   fulminating,  poisoning
  Committed on infants,          172       by,                    ii 633
  Laws concerning,         171, 176 Silver, nitrate of, posioning by, ii 630
  Testimony of infants in cases of, 174   tests of,                    ii 632 
GENERAL INDEX.
947
Silver, nitrate of, antidote of,   ii 633
Sium latifolium, poisonous,     ii 831
Skunk cabbage,               ii 887
Skeleton, examination of,     ii  28
  At various ages,               336
  Of different sexes,           ii  30
Slow poisons,                 ii 384
Smothering, death by,         ii 230
  of new-born infants,          520
Snuff, poisoning with,         ii 821
Soda, caustic, poisoning by,    ii 482
Sodomy,                        199
Solanine,                     ii 771
Solanum dulcamara, effects of, ii 770
Somnolency, feigned,              28
Sorbus aucuparia,             ii 806
Spider, bite of,               ii  701
Spigelia anthelmia,      _    ii 886
 Spigelia  marilandica, poisoning
  P    by,                    it 886
 Spirits, effects of,             ]} 871
 Spleen, wounds of,            ii 340
 Spontaneous combustion,      ii  94
 Spurred  maize,               ii 868
 Spurred rye, (see Ergot.)
 Squill, effects of the,          n 844
 Stalagmitis cambogioides,     ii 689
 Stammering, feigned,             44
 Starvation, death by,          ii  75
 Static test,                      445
 Sterility, causes of,          110, 113
 Stethoscope, in pregnancy,       238
 Stomach, softening,            ii 409
 Stomach, wounds of,           ii 335
   blows  on,                  ii 336
   rupture of the,             ii 393
   vascularity of the,       ii 395, 406
   perforation  of the,      ii 396, 409
 Stomach-pump,               ii 419
 Stools, involuntary, feigned,       17
 Stramonium poisoning by,      ii  818
 Strangulation, death by,       ii  206
    new-born children,            519
    modes of accomplishing,     ii  207
    appearances on dissection in, ii  207
    manual,                    n 212
    murder by,                 ]\ 217
    suicide by,                 u 217
  Stricture, feigned,              ..  35
  Strychnine, effects of,         ii 857
  Strychnos ignatia, poisoning by, u 856
    nux vomica, poisoning by,   ii 849
    tieute,                      i1 856
  Stuttering, feigned,            ..  44
  Sudden death,                 «  53
  Suffocation in hanging,        u 165
  Suffocated persons,            ii 230
  Sugillation, explained,         u  16
  Suicide, death by, its proofs,  n  66
     By drowning,               H ~>I
     By hanging,                » 186
     By poisoning,               « fw
     By strangulation,        ..   " ^07
     By wounds,             » 106,118
  As indicative of insanity,   688, 838
  In insurance cases,          t> 688
Sulphate of potash,            ii 482
Sulphurets of arsenic,         n 558
Sulphuret of arsenic formed in the
      stomach,               n 562
Sulphocyanic acid,       ii 753, 757
Sulphuret of potash,      ii 486, 552
  of soda,                    ii 488
Sulphuric ether,              ii 876
Sulphuretted hydrogen gas, death
      from,                  ii  161
  its effects,                  ii  162
  appearances on dissection,   ii 163
Sulphuric acid, poisoning by, ii 423
  Symptoms,                 ii 425
  Appearances on dissection,  ii 427
  Effect on animals,          ii 429
  Chemical proofs,           ii 430
Sulphurous acid  gas, poisoning
      by,                    ii 733
Superfcetation,                  263
  cases of,                      265
  objections to the doctrine of,   269
Supertartrate of potash,        ii 481
Supposititious children,         288
Survivorship, presumption of,    618
Symplocarpus foetida,          ii 887
Syncope, feigned,                 28
Tanghinia veneniflua,            846
Tansy, oil of, death from taking, ii 879
Tar, oil of,                   ii 880
Tarantula, bite of the,         n 709
Tartar emetic, poisoning by, ii 601
  Symptoms of,               ii 603
  Appearances on dissection,  ii 604
  Effect on animals,          ii 604
  Chemical proofs,           ii 605
  Antidotes,                 ii 607
  Solubility of,               ii 605
Tartaric acid,                ii 463
Taxus Baccata, poisoning by,  ii 772
Tenant by the curtesy,           353
  Law in England concerning,   353
     in Scotland  concerning,      357
  cannot  hold if caesarean  opera-
       tion,                     365
Tellurium, experiments with,  ii 663
Tephrosia,                    ii 888
Testes, wounds  of,            ii 345
Testes, want of,                   90
   concealed,                      91
   wasting of,                     91
Tetanus,  feigned,              ..   33
   after wounds,                u 305
 Thorax, wounds of the,         ii 328
 Thrombus,                    "   1;>
 Tic doloureux, feigned,         _   13
 Ticunas,  a South American poi-
       son,                    \\ 857
 Tieute,  '                     » §56
 Tin, muriate of poisoning by,  n 628
   Chemical proofs,            ii 629 
948
GENERAL  INDEX.
Tin, antidote,                 ii 630
  Oxide of,                   ii 630
Titanium, experiments with,   ii 608
Toad, poison of the,           ii 716
Tobacco, external application of, ii 822
  oil of, poisoning by,          ii 823
Tofana, poison of,             ii 385
Tongue, swallowing of,        ii 235
Trachea, wounds of,           ii 326
Tumours, formation of, feigned,    44
Tungsten, experiments with,   ii 668
Turpeth mineral,              ii 597
Turpentine, oil of,             ii 879
Tympanites, feigned,             45
Tympanites, uterine,       212, 261
  signs of,                      212

Ulcers, feigned,                  50
Umbilical cord, changes of,       489
Umbilical cord, danger of not ty-
       ing,                 509, 524
  premature ligature of,          526
Unsoundness of mind,            745
  what it means,                745
Upas antiar, poisoning  by,      ii 856
Upas tieute,                   ii 856
Uranium, experiments with,   ii 669
Urine in pregnancy,             236
Urine, bloody, feigned,           14
  incontinence of, feigned,        34
Uterine vagitus,                 502
Uterus, wounds of,            ii 343
Utero-gestation, (see Gestation.)
Uterus,  changes in, from  preg-
       nancy,         230, 302,
  examination of, by the touch,
  double,
  hydatids of, feigned,
  prolapsus of, feigned,
  tumours of, feigned,
  want of,
      Vitriol, oil of, (see Sulphuric acid.)
        white, (see Zinc.)
      Vitriol, blue,                 ii 616
      Vomiting, its effect in poisoning, ii 377
        feigned,                        18

      Wasp, sting of,                ii 710
      Water in lungs from drowning, ii 246
        in stomach from do.          ii 252
        impregnated with lead,      ii 651
        over zinc roofs,             ii 628
      Weapon used in wounds,       ii 350
      Weight of the lungs,             455
      Wells, danger of descending,   ii 154
      Wheat, diseased,              ii 868
      White lead, poisoning by,      ii 646
      Wills, legal requisites of,        818
        nuncupative,                  818
        and testaments,               820
        who can make valid,          820
        diseases that  incapacitate from
             making valid,             821
        proving a person competent,    821
      Wines, adulterated with lead,  ii 656
      Wintergreen, oil of,           ii 885
      Witnesses, medical, duties of,  ii 912
ii 669 Woorara, a South Amer. poison,ii 857
      Wounds, examination of,       ii  22
        feigned,                     52,61
        on new-born infants,          515
        received before death,       ii  23
        received after death,        ii  23
        of persons  dead from,        ii 105
        on the living body,          ii 288
        definition of the term,       ii 288
        division of,                 ii 289
        without external marks,     ii 352
        enumeration of mortal,      ii 291
           of dangerous,             ii 292
           of slight,                 ii 293
        circumstances that  aggravate
Vagina in pregnancy,
Vagina, state of,  in  the pure fe-
      male,
  imperforate,
  poison introduced  into,       ii
  examination of, in rape,
  obstructed,
Vapours, antimonial,          ii
  arsenical,                   ii
  mercurial,                  ii
Vascularity of the stomach,     ii
Venereal disease, in cases of rape,
Venesection producing abortion,
Venomous animals,            ii
Veratrine,                     ii
Veratrum album, poisoning by, ii
Verdigris, (see Copper.)
Vermilion, poisoning by,       ii
Viability of a new-born infant,
Vinegar, poisoning by,         ii
Viper, bite of,                 ii
Virginity, signs of,
416
232
270
 47
 46
 47
111

234

154
108
496
167
103
608
500
598
406
192
426
696
838
837

596
348
450
703
150
      the danger of,           ii 293
  of the abdomen,             ii 334
  of the extremities,           ii 346
  of the face,                  ii 321
  of the head,                 ii 314
  of the neck,                 ii 324
  of the thorax,               ii 328
  shape of,                    ii 352
  laws concerning,            ii 354
Wryneck, feigned,                60

Yedra,                        ii 887
Yew tree, poisonous,           ii 772

Zinc, chloride,                ii 625
  metallic,  whether  proper for
      culinary vessels,        ii 626
  oxide of, effects,               625
  sulphate of,                 ii 623
    effects of, in large doses,   ii 624
    appearances on dissection,  ii 624
    tests,                     ii 624
    treatment,                ii 625 
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