Footnote 214:
The adoption of this term led to a very extraordinary error in
medicine—the application of Arsenic in the form of vapour, together
with the fumes of frankincense, myrrh, and other gums, in a paroxysm
of Asthma! This frightful practice arose from confounding the gum
Juniper, or Vernix of the Arabians, which by their medical writers was
prescribed in fumigations, under the name of Sandarach, for the
Σανδαρακη of the Greeks.
Footnote 215:
_Orfila._ Toxicolog. General.
Footnote 216:
Pharmacologia, edit. v, vol. 2, art. _Arsenici Oxydum_.
Footnote 217:
A very large quantity is annually prepared from the sublimate which
collects in the chimneys and flues of the smelting works and burning
houses in Cornwall. We have examined samples prepared according to the
improved process of Dr. _Edwards_, and found them to be perfectly free
from foreign admixture: a fact of much greater importance than the
reader may at first imagine. Those who require farther information
upon this subject may consult a paper in the first volume of the
_Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall_, by J. H.
VIVIAN, Esq. entitled “_Observations on the processes for making the
different preparations of Arsenic, which are practised in Saxony_.”
Footnote 218:
_Bergman_ ii, 286. We are, however, upon the authority of _Mr. Richard
Phillips_, inclined to consider this statement of its specific gravity
incorrect. He found that when transparent it did not exceed 3·715,
and, when opaque, 3·260.
Footnote 219:
Vol. ii, p. 86.
Footnote 220:
The chemist may satisfy himself of this fact by heating some arsenious
acid on a piece of platina foil, and then alternately raising and
depressing it into the blue flame of the spirit, when corresponding
changes in odour will take place in the fumes.
Footnote 221:
See page 184, Note.
Footnote 222:
See _Mr. Marshall’s_ Remarks, &c.
Footnote 223:
See the case reported by _Dr. Yelloly_, in the 5th volume of the
Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journal.
Footnote 224:
Epist. 168.
Footnote 225:
De Pest. Hist. 99. Annot.
Footnote 226:
De Peste Lond. p. 239.
Footnote 227:
Recueil Periodique de la Societé de Med. de Paris, tom. vi. p. 22.
Footnote 228:
Nouveaux Elemens de Med. operat. par _J. P. Roux_.
Footnote 229:
Nouvelles Experiences sur les Contre-Poisons de l’Arsenic. Par
_Casimir Renault_. A. Paris. A. 9, pp. 119.
Footnote 230:
A belief in this mode of poisoning appears to be of very ancient
origin. CALPURNIUS BESTIA was said by _Pliny_ (Hist. Nat. Lib. 27.
Cap. 2.) to have been particularly skilled in such a process, and to
have murdered many of his wives when asleep, by bathing the parts of
generation with the juice of Aconite; and Dr. _Gordon Smith_, in his
work on Forensic Medicine, relates, on the authority of _Schenckius_,
the tragical death of _Ladislas_, or _Lancelot_, surnamed the
Victorious and the Liberal, who succeeded to the contested throne of
Naples in 1386, and died at the age of thirty-eight in great pain, in
consequence of having been poisoned by the daughter of a physician, of
whom he was passionately fond, _per concubitum_. Sir _Thomas Brown_,
in his _Vulgar Errors_, alludes to an ancient story of an “Indian king
that sent unto _Alexander_ a fair woman, _fed with Aconites_, and
other poisons, with the intent that she either by converse or
_copulation_ might destroy him.”
Footnote 231:
See page 137.
Footnote 232:
_Philosophical Transactions._ 1811.
Footnote 233:
M. _Orfila_ observes that there are many cases of poisoning by
arsenious acid introduced into the stomach, in which we are unable to
discover the slightest appearance of erosion or inflammation in the
alimentary canal; such cases are recorded by _Chaussier_, _Etmuller_,
_Marc_, _Sallin_, and _Renault_.
Footnote 234:
We well remember performing some experiments at Cambridge, many years
ago, upon mildew, which as far as they went corroborate this assertion
of _Jaegar_, for its propagation was not prevented by arsenic. See
also “The effects of Arsenical fumes,” vol. I, p. 332.
Footnote 235:
See Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ. for January 1, 1811.
Footnote 236:
Elements of Juridical Medicine, p. 76.
Footnote 237:
Prestwich on Poisons.
Footnote 238:
Pharmacologia, Edit. 5. vol. ii. p. 89.
Footnote 239:
Medical Transactions, vol. vi, p. 414.
Footnote 240:
See Appendix, page 277.
Footnote 241:
This substance may be said to consist of Charcoal, in a state of
extremely minute division, and the sub-carbonate of Potass. It is
prepared by deflagrating, in a crucible, two parts of Super-tartrate
of Potass with one part of Nitrate of Potass.
Footnote 242:
In order to close the end of the tube, where a blow-pipe is not to be
procured, (which, says _Dr. Bostock_, we may suppose upon these
occasions will often be the case) the end is to be placed in a common
fire until it is completely softened, and a pair of small tongs being
at the same time made red hot, the tube is to be withdrawn from the
fire, and the heated end pinched by the tongs, and at the same time
bent up at an acute angle, so as to be brought parallel to the body of
the tube. The tube is then to be heated a second time, and being again
firmly pinched by the hot tongs, the end will be found to be
completely impervious.
Footnote 243:
_Dr. Bostock_ states that the best proportions for this coating are,
one part of common pipe clay, to three parts of fine sand; which are
to be well kneeded together, and reduced to such a state of tenacity,
that the lute will readily adhere to the tube, and its different parts
unite without forming a visible seam. “_Observations on the different
methods recommended for detecting minute portions of Arsenic, by J.
Bostock, M.D._” Read before the Liverpool Medical Society, and
published in the Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ. April, 1809.
Footnote 244:
See the paper above quoted.
Footnote 245:
_Black’s_ Lectures, v. ii, p. 430.
Footnote 246:
_Foderé_ recommends this process, _Traité de Med. Leg._ t. iv, p. 153;
and Dr. Jaeger, in his Thesis, before quoted, observes that he has
been enabled to recognise the tenth of a grain of arsenious acid,
although mixed with sugar, by its odour, when thrown upon burning
coals! We must be allowed to question this fact; Dr. Jaeger, no doubt,
believed that he recognised the alliaceous odour, but it must have
been the sole effect of the imagination. Dr. Bostock states that such
a test is not to be depended upon; for, unless the arsenic be in
considerable quantity, the odour is not sufficiently perceptible; and
if it be mixed with either an animal or a vegetable substance, the
smoke and smell arising from these bodies, when heated, will
altogether prevent our recognising the peculiar odour of the arsenic.
When a quantity of arsenic is mixed with an equal weight of flour, and
placed upon iron at a low red heat, so as not to cause the flour to
inflame, the suffocating smoke that arises from the latter can be
alone perceived; nor is it possible to discover that any thing has
been mixed with it. _Edinb. Med. Journ._ _l. c._ This last objection
of Dr. Bostock is true in fact, although it admits of a different
explanation, for at a low temperature the arsenious acid will be
volatilized _without decomposition_; in which case no alliaceous odour
can be developed.
Footnote 247:
The paper was read before the Liverpool Medical Society.
Footnote 248:
London Dispensatory. Edit. 3, p. 176.
Footnote 249:
See a letter from _Mr. Hume_ on the subject, to the Editors of the
Medical and Physical Journal. July, 1810.
Footnote 250:
On the detection of very minute quantities of Arsenic and Mercury. By
_James Smithson_, Esq. F.R.S. _Annals of Philosophy_, August, 1822.
Footnote 251:
If any trifling opacity occur in a simple solution of arsenic, when
assayed by the nitrate of silver, it may be considered as the effects
of some casual impurity; this may be farther demonstrated by bringing
over the surface of the arsenical liquid, a piece of blotting paper,
or a stopper moistened with a solution of ammonia, when there will
instantly form a copious yellow precipitate of arsenite of silver. If
this experiment be performed by spreading the mixed solutions of
arsenious acid and nitrate of silver over a surface of glass, laid
upon white paper, the result will be most striking and beautiful, for
on slowly bringing the ammoniacal test over it, the yellow cloud will
gradually diffuse itself over the surface.
Footnote 252:
Pharmacologia. Edit. 5, vol. ii, p. 96.
Footnote 253:
London Medical and Physical Journal, January, 1818.
Footnote 254:
The following is the formula for its preparation. Dissolve ten grains
of _lunar caustic_, in ten times its weight of distilled water; to
this add, _guttatim_, liquid ammonia, until a precipitate is formed;
continue cautiously to add the ammonia, repeatedly agitating the
mixture until the precipitate is nearly redissolved. The object of
allowing a small portion to remain undissolved is, to guard against an
excess of ammonia. Wherever the test is used, the liquid to which it
is added ought to be quite cold.
Footnote 255:
This is very important, for an excess of ammonia redissolves the
yellow precipitate, and therefore defeats the object of the test. The
fixed alkalies, in excess, have not such a property.
Footnote 256:
The great impression made upon the public mind in Cornwall by the
above trial, produced a disposition to regard every sudden death with
more than usual jealousy. In consequence, therefore, of a report
having arisen that a young woman had died after an illness of
forty-eight hours, and been hastily buried at Madron, near Penzance,
the magistrates of that district issued their warrant for the
disinterment of the body, and requested the author’s attendance at the
examination. The dissection was accordingly conducted in the church,
when it appeared that the immediate cause of death had been an
inflammation of the intestines; the stomach was found to contain a
considerable portion of liquid, which was carefully collected and
examined; no solid matter could be discovered in it, nor were any
particles found to be adhering to the coats of the stomach. The fluid
appeared to consist principally of the remains of a quantity of
pennyroyal tea, which had been the last thing administered to the
deceased. This was divided into several distinct portions, and placed
in separate wine glasses, and submitted, in the presence of the High
Sheriff, and some other gentlemen whose curiosity had been excited by
the late trial of _Donnall_, to a series of experiments, amongst which
the following may be particularized, as bearing upon the present
question, and as affording an important elucidation of it.
A few drops of a solution of _sub-carbonate of potass_ were added to
the liquid, in one of the glasses, when its colour, which was
originally of a light hazel, was instantly deepened into a reddish
yellow; the sulphate of copper was then applied, when a precipitate
fell down, which every one present simultaneously pronounced to be of
a “_vivid grass green_” hue; but, on pouring off the supernatant
liquid, and transferring the precipitate upon a sheet of white paper,
it assumed the blue colour which is so characteristic of the
_carbonate of copper_. The explanation of the phenomenon, and the
fallacy to which it gave rise, became obvious; the yellow colour
imparted to the liquid by the alkali, was the effect of the latter
body upon the vegetable extractive matter of the infusion. The other
portions were then strictly examined, but no indications of arsenic or
any other metallic poison were discovered.
Footnote 257:
This explanation applies equally to the objection lately advanced by
_Dr. Porter_, of the University of South Carolina, who, in his
observations on the tests of arsenic, remarks, that an appearance
similar to “_Scheele’s Green_,” is produced by the carbonate of
potass, when added to a solution of the sulphate of copper in coffee,
but without arsenic, more striking than if even a weak solution of
arsenic were used. _Silliman’s Journal_, iii. 865.
FODERE reports a case, in which an erroneous conclusion respecting the
presence of arsenic was drawn, evidently owing to the same source of
fallacy. The Society of Medicine at Marseilles, in consequence of a
girl having been poisoned by a quack medicine, appointed a scientific
person to examine the composition of the _Nostrum_; this person,
strongly prepossessed with the opinion that it contained arsenic,
applied the _copper test_ above described, and having obtained by
means of it, a _green precipitate_, reported, without any further
inquiry, that the medicine in question was an arsenical solution.
_Foderé_, however, suspected the correctness of the conclusion, in
consequence of the residue not yielding by combustion, any alliaceous
odour; a new analysis was therefore made, which proved the nostrum to
be nothing more than a very strong alcoholic tincture of colocynth.
_Médecine Légale, tom. iv. p._ 137.
Footnote 258:
It is hardly necessary to observe that neither the carbonate of
ammonia or of potass, or sulphuric or muriatic acid, produce any
effect whatever in a pure solution of white arsenic.
Footnote 259:
Corrosive sublimate, however, produces both these effects, from causes
which we have fully explained under the consideration of that poison.
Footnote 260:
_Toxicologie Générale_, supra citat.
Footnote 261:
See _Leçons de Médecine Légale_, a Paris, 1821. “Experiences chimiques
propres à decouvrir les poisons minéraux qui ont été mêlés avec du
thé, du café, du vin, ete.” _Trente-unieme Leçon._ _p._ 415.
Footnote 262:
Chirurg. Med. p. 185.
Footnote 263:
The _arsenite of potass_, which has been long known under the name of
the “_arsenical salt of Macquer_” has been used in medicine, and the
Dublin Pharmacopœia contains a process for the preparation of
“_arsenias kali_.”
Footnote 264:
Nouvelles Experiences, &c., op. sup. cit.
Footnote 265:
Opera Omnia de Venenis, 1761.
Footnote 266:
Υδραργυρος of the Greeks from its fluidity and colour. Quicksilver.
_Quick_, in the old Saxon tongue signified living: an epithet derived
from its mobility.
Footnote 267:
_Cavendish._
Footnote 268:
_Hassenfratz_ Ann. de Chim. xxviii, 12.
Footnote 269:
Hence it was called by the alchymists the _Dragon_.
Footnote 270:
_Mead_ on Poisons, edit. 4, p. 196.
Footnote 271:
Second edition, p. 89.
Footnote 272:
For the report of the above satisfactory case we are indebted to _Dr.
Gordon Smith_, who has related it in his work on Forensic Medicine, p.
114.
Footnote 273:
Edit. 5, vol. 1, p. 260.
Footnote 274:
“Further experiments and observations on the action of Poisons on the
animal system.” Phil. Trans. 1812.
Footnote 275:
For a history of the different quack medicines which contain mercury,
see Pharmacologia, vol. ii, p. 239.
Footnote 276:
Opera Medica. Epist. i, p. 200.
Footnote 277:
Contre-poisons de l’Arsenic, du sublimé corrosif, &c.
Footnote 278:
Proposed by _M. Duval_, “Dissertation sur la Toxicologie.”
Footnote 279:
_M. Chausarel._ “Observations sur diverses substances Vénéneuses,” p.
47.
Footnote 280:
We find in an ancient epigram of Ausonius, that a woman gave to her
husband some metallic mercury, with the design of increasing the
energy of a certain poison, which she administered to him. But instead
of producing this effect, the mercury, on the contrary, entirely
re-established the health of the person poisoned. The celebrated
_Goethe_ upon asking the Professor _Doebereiner_ of Jena, his opinion
upon the above case, received in reply, that the poison must have been
corrosive sublimate, since, of all the known poisons, it was the only
one whose power was weakened by mercury.
This story induced _Orfila_ to ascertain the truth by experiment, and
he has shewn THAT METALLIC MERCURY IS NOT AN ANTIDOTE TO CORROSIVE
SUBLIMATE.
Footnote 281:
_Mr. Hart._ “What did you do with the flour and pork?
_C. Carter._ I made it into four dumplings, two with pork, and two
without, and tied the two largest, with pork in them, up in bags.
---- With what did you mix the flour?
---- With milk.
---- When you were making these dumplings, did you observe any thing?
---- They made different to any thing which I had ever made before.
---- Explain that difference?
---- They broke and crumbled all into little bits. I had to knock them
in a stant like when we make butter. They would not hold together.
---- Had you more or less difficulty than usual?
---- More trouble than I ever had before.”
_Extract from the trial._
Footnote 282:
We have been informed that, by this simple and beautiful test, Mr.
Archdeacon _Wollaston_ identified the presence of corrosive sublimate
in the dumplings by which _Michael Whiting_ attempted to poison his
brothers-in-law, at Ely, as stated in the preceding page, as well as
at 197. Although in the report of the trial in our possession, the
professor does not appear to have furnished the court with any account
of the process by which he discovered the poison.
Footnote 283:
Trial of Mary _Bateman_ for the wilful murder of _Rebecca Perigo_, at
the York Assizes, 1809. As we have on several occasions alluded to
this trial, it may perhaps be satisfactory to give a short sketch of
the case in this place.
This diabolical woman, under the pretext of possessing the art of
witchcraft, committed numerous frauds, and worked with so much success
upon the credulity of her victims, as to obtain considerable sums of
money, and reduce them to the extremes of poverty; while, in order to
conceal the frauds, she consigned whole families to the grave by her
poisons. Her detection was brought about by the robbery of a family of
the name of _Perigo_, from whom she obtained the sum of seventy
pounds, besides cloathes and furniture, under the pretence of engaging
a Miss _Blythe_ to relieve _Perigo’s_ wife from the effects of an
“evil wish,” under which she was supposed to labour; when the
appointed time arrived for the restoration of the property, and the
promised cure of the wife, _Mary Bateman_ sent a powder (_Arsenic_)
which she directed them to add to their pudding, and advised them,
should they be ill after eating it, to take a spoonful of prepared
honey with which she supplied them. The wife ate the pudding, and soon
afterwards died; the husband, however, very narrowly escaped: for this
murder she was tried and convicted; and thus was a system of robbery
and murder, scarcely equalled in the annals of crime, happily exposed
and ended.
Footnote 284:
In the Philosophical Magazine for December, 1821, a communication is
to be found from a Mr. _Murray_, which would have been too ridiculous
to require notice, had it not involved a question connected with the
habitudes of corrosive sublimate and iron, which might possibly
occasion error. After stating that certain metallic solutions may be
decomposed through the agency of magnetism, he says, a solution of
corrosive sublimate may be thus made to yield metallic mercury, by
introducing into it a bar of magnetised iron! He had not the wit to
inquire whether unmagnetised iron might not prove equally powerful as
a decomposing agent.
Footnote 285:
_Orfila_, l. c.
Footnote 286:
_Orfila_, l. c.
Footnote 287:
Edinburgh Med. & Surg. Journal, v.
Footnote 288:
Ann. de Chimie et Phys. iv. 334.
Footnote 289:
Tartarized Antimony, administered as an emetic, may decompose the salt
in the stomach.
Footnote 290:
Consultation Medico-legale sur une Accusation de l’empoisonnement par
le _Muriate de Mercure sur-oxydé_. p. 146.
Footnote 291: