Footnote 171:
Med. Leg. T. ii, p. 260.
Footnote 172:
Œuvres de Medecine, T. 1, p. 69.
Footnote 173:
De Cholica Pictonum, p. 37.
Footnote 174:
See also _Sloane MSS._ Brit. Mus. 330: 9135. “_Venenum potest generari
in corpore._”
Footnote 175:
Observations on Apparent Death from Drowning, &c. by _James Currie_,
M.D. p. 156.
Footnote 176:
We are informed by _Tortosa_ (Istituzioni di Med. For. vol. ii, p. 62)
that a work has been published by a celebrated physician of Verona,
Rotario, in which the author attempts to establish a diagnosis by
which these symptoms may be distinguished. (Opere Med. p. 116.) We
have not been so fortunate as to obtain a sight of this work.
Footnote 177:
Those who are desirous of becoming farther acquainted with the history
of this opinion may consult the “_Recherches et Considerations
Medicales, sur l’acide Hydro-cyanique, son radical, ses composés, et
ses antidotes_,” par _J. Coullon_, D. M. 1 vol. 8vo. 1819. _Dr.
Granville_ has also in his Treatise on Hydrocyanic acid (edit. 2d
1820) alluded to this opinion, and to the different authors who have
supported it, p. 24. The reader will also find a case by _Fourcroy_,
(Annales de Chimie, tom. 1, p. 66) of a woman, of about thirty years
of age, who in consequence of protracted grief, laboured under a
nervous and melancholic affection; she became extremely emaciated, and
her livid paleness, and universal langour seemed to indicate a
depressed state of vitality, and a decomposition of the animal fluids;
after a few days she was seized with faintings and convulsions, which
were followed by the discharge of drops of blood from the edge of the
eye-lids, the nostrils, and the ears. The linen with which the blood
was wiped was marked with spots of a beautiful blue. Fourcroy examined
this matter, and concluded that the blood contained Prussiate of iron.
Footnote 178:
Anthropolog. Forens. p. 526.
Footnote 179:
Edinburgh Medical Essays.
Footnote 180:
Phil. Trans. A. D. 1772, “_On the Digestion of the Stomach after
Death_,” by _John Hunter_, F. R. S. and Surgeon to St. George’s
Hospital.
Footnote 181:
This phenomenon is frequently exhibited, in a very satisfactory
manner, by inferior animals who die suddenly. _Mr. Hunter_ noticed it
particularly in fish.
Footnote 182:
We allude to a highly interesting paper, to which we shall have
frequent occasion to refer in the progress of the present inquiry,
entitled “_Observations on the Digestion of the Stomach after Death_,”
by _Allan Burns_, Lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery in Glasgow.
Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ. for April, 1810.
Footnote 183:
_Hunter’s_ Observations on Digestion, p. 185.
Footnote 184:
_Adams’s_ Observations on Morbid Poisons, edit. 2, p. 30, where he
says “but for this purpose, _Mr. Hunter_ saw that the animal must be
in health immediately before death, otherwise neither the quantity nor
quality of the secretion would be equal to the purpose; he was
confirmed in this by the instances in which he saw the stomach
digested; both were men who had died from a violent death; both had
been previously in sufficient health to eat a hearty meal. The fair
inference from these was, that when men die of disease, the appetite
usually ceases, and probably the secretion of the gastric juice also.”
Footnote 185:
_Burns_, loco citato.
Footnote 186:
“It will generally be found that, where the coats of the stomach are
softened by the gastric juice, the vessels are unable to resist the
force of the syringe in injecting the body. In such subjects,
therefore, we find the cavity of the stomach filled with wax, and we
likewise see masses of it collected between the coats of the viscus.”
Footnote 187:
Mark this circumstance, for we shall have occasion to revert to it,
when we come to consider _the part_ of the stomach which undergoes
solution from the action of the gastric juice.
Footnote 188:
A case of extensive solution of the Stomach by the Gastric fluids,
after Death. By _John Haviland_, M. D. Regius Professor of Physic in
the University of Cambridge. Transactions of the Cambridge
Philosophical Society, vol. 1, part ii, p. 287.
Footnote 189:
He had taken, at intervals, a small quantity of port wine and water.
Footnote 190:
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. iv.
Footnote 191:
1. “The trial of _Charles Angus, Esq._ for the murder of _Margaret
Burns_, taken in short hand by _William Jones_, jun. 8vo.” Liverpool,
pp. 1808, 288. Also
2. “A vindication of the opinions delivered in evidence by the medical
witnesses for the crown, on a late trial at Lancaster for murder,
8vo.” 1803.
3. “Remarks on a late publication, entitled “A Vindication of the
Opinions delivered in Evidence by the Medical witnesses for the Crown,
on a late trial at Lancaster.” By _James Carson, M.D._”
4. “An Exposure of some of the false statements contained in _Dr.
Carson’s_ pamphlet, entitled “Remarks, &c.” in a letter to that
gentleman, by _James Dawson_, Surgeon.”
The suspicion against the prisoner, _Charles Angus_, was, that he had
endeavoured to procure a premature delivery, or abortion, by means of
an instrument resembling a long trochar, and that he had administered,
or been privy to the administration of certain drugs, which had
occasioned such effects upon the stomach of the deceased, as in the
end produced her death. The prisoner was a retired merchant, with two
or three children, with whom the deceased had lived as housekeeper and
governess. It appeared in evidence that improper familiarities had
been noticed between them, and that Miss _Burns_ had, for some time,
appeared out of health, and that her abdomen was much increased in
size at the period when she was attacked with the symptoms which
preceded her death, and which, as we learn from the witnesses on the
trial, presented the following history.
The deceased was seen by the servants of the family at about six
o’clock, on Wednesday morning, the 23d of March, 1808, at which time
she was in her usual state of health; but replied to one of them, who
remarked her having risen earlier than usual, that she could not
sleep. She was next seen by the servants at a quarter before nine,
sitting at breakfast with _Mr. Angus_, but apparently very ill; after
breakfast she was lying on a sofa complaining of a pain in her bowels,
but she was not then sick. On moving about afterwards, she held by the
chair, as if from pain, and about an hour and a half after breakfast,
she ordered some water gruel, of which she drank nearly three quarts
in the course of the day, being very thirsty, and in considerable
pain, and so sick as to reject the gruel almost as soon as it was
taken. The matter vomited was described by the house-maid as being, at
first, very black, but becoming, towards the last, of a green colour;
the kitchen maid, however, described it as being in the first instance
of a green colour, with yellow pieces in it resembling the inside of
an orange, or the yolk of an egg, and as turning blacker after it
ceased to be green. While thus retching, _Miss Burns_ observed to the
house-maid, “Oh, Betty, what bile comes off my stomach! I wish I had
taken an emetic long since.” On the servants going to bed that night,
she seemed very poorly, but did not complain to them.
On Thursday morning, at six o’clock, she was lying, as she had been
left the night before, on the sofa, with pillows under her head; she
complained that she was very thirsty; said she was tired of gruel, and
had some water posset, and a little warm beer. She also complained
that she was badly hurt to make water; but was relieved by sitting on
a sliced onion, with some boiling water poured over it. Her vomiting
was now of a blacker colour, and she continued sick and vomiting all
day, till towards evening, when the sickness went off, and she
appeared better, and could stir more about.
On Friday morning, at four o’clock, the house-maid went into the room,
and thought her much worse, as she breathed quicker than before. She
was seen again at six in much the same state, and lying in the same
posture on the sofa; she asked for some warm beer, which settled on
her stomach, and she also took about a pint of gruel; she said that
the pain had left her. Her vomiting had ceased, but was succeeded by a
“_lax_,” which continued all the morning. A little before ten, the
house-maid was sent out for some Madeira, _Miss Burns_ having
expressed a wish for some. Between the hours of ten and eleven, the
kitchen maid was in the room, and received orders about dinner; and
_Miss Burns_ said she would have some barley water. On the return of
the house-maid, about eleven, she went straight into the parlour,
where _Miss Burns_ was found lying dead in the corner, by the door,
with her face against the wall, “_cowered of a lump_,” her elbows upon
her knees, and one foot “_crudled_” under her; _Mr. Angus_, who had
nursed her throughout, sitting in an arm chair, apparently so fast
asleep that he was not roused without difficulty. During the whole
course of her illness, she did not go to bed, but remained in the
parlour, generally lying on a sofa. She refused to have medical
assistance; but _Mr. Angus_ said that he had given her seven drops of
laudanum on one night, and ten on another, and that on the morning of
her death he had given her some castor oil, in spirit, but that it
came up immediately.