Footnote 292:
The above passage is quoted from _Waller’s_ translation of _Orfila’s_
Treatise on Poisons, vol. i, p. 73.
Footnote 293:
Comment: Med. in Processus Criminales.
Footnote 294:
Principles of Forensic Medicine, p. 113.
Footnote 295:
_Accum_ on culinary poisons, or “Death in the Pot.” As this is the
last occasion which we shall have to mention the above work, we may
observe by the way, that this _ad captandum_ title is not original
with _Mr. Accum_, for there is a dissertation by _Mauchart_, entitled
“MORS IN OLLA.”
Footnote 296:
Many of the preparations lately presented by _Dr. Baillie_ to the
College of Physicians have become black, in consequence of the
vermilion, with which they are injected, having been adulterated with
red lead.
Footnote 297:
Upon this subject, the reader may consult the Historical Introduction
to the Pharmacologia, page 87.
Footnote 298:
Annal. de Chem. xxxii. 255.
Footnote 299:
We have upon this, as well as on similar occasions, preferred adopting
the name by which the substance is known in common parlance, to that
which might more strictly accord with our scientific views of its
composition.
Footnote 300:
Pharmacologia, Edit. v. vol. 2. p. 65.
Footnote 301:
F. Hoffmanni Op. om. T. 1. par. ii. c. v. p. 219.
Footnote 302:
This subject is treated very copiously in the first volume of the
Pharmacologia, page 152. To this work the author must refer the
reader, for the limits of the present volume will not allow more than
a mere enunciation of the fact.
Footnote 303:
Elements of Juridical Medicine, edit. 2, p. 96.
Footnote 304:
“Further experiments and observations on the Action of Poisons on the
Animal system, by _B. C. Brodie, Esq._ F. R. S. Communicated to the
Society for the improvement of Animal Chemistry, and by them to the
Royal Society.” _Phil. Trans._ for 1812, vol. 102, p. 205.
Footnote 305:
To those who are curious upon this subject, we recommend the perusal
of an interesting essay, entitled “Observations on the Tin trade of
the Ancients in Cornwall, and on the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus,” by
Sir _Christopher Hawkins_, Bart. F.R.S. &c.
Footnote 306:
See page 144 of this volume; and article _Cupri Sulphas_ in
Pharmacologia, vol. 2, p. 167, _note_.
Footnote 307:
We have long considered that the process of salting meat is something
more than the mere saturation of the animal fibre with muriate of
soda; some unknown combinations and decompositions take place, which
future experiment will probably discover.
Footnote 308:
Water may thus be preserved in copper cisterns, without contracting
any metallic impregnation, even should the surface of the cistern be
coated with the oxide and carbonate of copper.
Footnote 309:
_Dr. Johnson_, in his Essay on Poison, relates the history of three
men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence of
eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops
frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same
cause.
Footnote 310:
See the Ladies Library, vol. ii, p. 203; Modern Cookery, or the
English Housewife, edit, 2, p. 94; and the English Housekeeper, p.
352, 354.
Footnote 311:
This practice is of ancient origin, thus _Pliny_ “Stannum, illinitum
æneis vasis, saporem gratiorem facit, et compescit æruginis virus.”
Lib. xxxiv, cap. 17.
Footnote 312:
_Orfila_, l. c.
Footnote 313:
Recherches Chimiques sur l’Etain par _Bayen et Charlard_, 1781.
Footnote 314:
Annales de Chimie.
Footnote 315:
See _Thomson’s_ System of Chemistry.
Footnote 316:
Plinii Lib. xxxiv. cap. 2, 10.
Footnote 317:
We extract the notice of this case from Dr. _Gordon Smith’s_ work, not
having a copy of Metzger’s Principles of Judiciary Medicine at hand.
Footnote 318:
_Orfila_, l. c.
Footnote 319:
Pharmacologia, vol. ii. art. _Argenti Nitras_.
Footnote 320:
_Boerhaave_ relates the instance of a student in pharmacy having
swallowed some lunar caustic, in consequence of which the most serious
symptoms resulted, such as excruciating pains, gangrene, and sphacelus
of the primæ viæ. _Metzger_ also mentions a case, where a piece of
lunar caustic was accidentally dropped into the throat of a person
while applying it to an ulcer, but that the patient was saved by
drinking copious draughts of milk.
Footnote 321:
In the neutralization of acid poisons in the stomach, it is a great
object to avoid _carbonated_ alkalies and earths, on account of the
large volume of carbonic acid, thus given off, proving highly
distressing.
Footnote 322:
Pharmacologia, vol. ii, art. _Acid Nitric_.
Footnote 323:
Traité de l’Empoisonment par l’Acide Nitrique; par _A. E. Tartra_,
Médecin. à Paris 1802.
Footnote 324:
Some experiments and researches on the saline contents of sea-water,
undertaken with a view to correct and improve its chemical analysis.
By _A. Marcet_, M.D. F.R.S. in the Phil. Trans. for the year 1822.
part 2.
Footnote 325:
It is known in commerce by this name, since it is prepared on a large
scale, by distilling sugar with nitric acid. It derives the term
_oxalic_ acid, from the plant which so abundantly contains it, viz.
_oxalis acetosella_, or wood sorrel.
Footnote 326:
ESSENTIAL SALT OF LEMONS. “The preparation sold under this name, for
the purpose of removing iron moulds from linen, consists of cream of
tartar, and super-oxalate of potass, or _salt of sorrel_, in equal
proportions.” _Pharmacologia._
Footnote 327:
The parents of this child suppose that the violence of the screaming
ruptured the vesicles by which the breathing was impeded, and thus
proved an unexpected means of cure.
Footnote 328:
See “An account of the case of a man who died of the effects of the
fire at Eddystone Light-house,” by Mr. _Edward Spry_, Surgeon, at
Plymouth. PHIL. TRANS. vol. xlix, part 2, p. 477, A. D. 1756.
Footnote 329:
There are some exceptions to this law; for instance, the tincture of
litmus, and litmus paper, are always rendered more intensely blue, by
the addition of alkalies. There are also other bodies, besides
alkalies, which change the yellow colour of turmeric to a brown. Upon
this subject see an interesting paper in the 26th number of the
Journal of Science and the Arts, p. 315, by _Mr. Faraday_, entitled
“On the changing of vegetable colours as an alkaline property, and on
some bodies possessing it.” By this communication we are informed that
even the strong acids redden turmeric paper, and that a very weak
nitric acid gives it a tint exactly like that produced by an alkali.
Different metallic salts are characterised by similar effects.
Footnote 330:
A new alkali has been lately discovered in a mineral called
_Petalite_, by _M. Arfwedson_, a young Sweedish chemist, but as the
extreme rarity of the substance will prevent its ever becoming an
object of forensic interest, we shall pass it over without further
notice. Some new alkaline principles have also been developed by the
French and German chemists, in the analysis of certain vegetables, but
as these bodies have a physiological action, which is wholly
independent of their alkalinity, they will be more properly noticed
under the history of the vegetables which contain them.
Footnote 331:
Should the solution contain a small portion of lime, as may occasionly
happen, the cloud will be very slight, and cannot give origin to any
important fallacy.
Footnote 332:
_Orfila_, vol. i, p. 404.
Footnote 333:
Essay on Poisons, page 143.
Footnote 334:
_Orfila_, Lib. Cit.
Footnote 335:
_Brodie_, Phil. trans. 1812.
Footnote 336:
This is an important characteristic, since all the metallic poisons
yield an abundant precipitate, either black, yellow, or red, on the
addition of one or other of the alkaline hydro-sulphurets.
Footnote 337:
“GENERA CRUSTACEORUM ET INSECTORUM,” tom. 2, p. 220. The London
College in their present pharmacopœia refer this insect to the genus
LYTTA, an error which will be corrected in the future edition.
Footnote 338:
System of Chemistry, edit. 5, vol. iv. p. 436. See also Ann. de Chim.
lxxvi. p. 308.
Footnote 339:
Page 129, _note_.
Footnote 340:
_Homberg_, Mem. Par, 1692.
Footnote 341:
Ann. de Chim. xxvii, 87.
Footnote 342:
The earliest account we have of this substance having been used in
medicine is to be found in the seventh volume of _Haller’s_ collection
of Theses, relating to the history and cure of diseases. The original
dissertation is entitled “_De Phosphori loco Medicamenti adsumpti
virtute medica, aliquot casibus singularibus confirmata,” Auctore J.
Gabi, Mentz_.
Footnote 343:
Memoirs of the Society of Emulation at Paris.
Footnote 344:
See _Nicholson’s_ Journal iii, 85.
Footnote 345:
For July, 1813.
Footnote 346:
Numb. xxxi, 22.
Footnote 347:
System of Chemistry, 4th edit. 1, 274-277.
Footnote 348:
De Architectura, lib. viii, c. 7.
Footnote 349:
Researches into the Properties of Spring water, with Medical cautions
against the use of Lead, by _W. Lambe_, M.D. &c.
Footnote 350:
A case is recorded, wherein a legal controversy took place, in order
to settle the disputes between the proprietors of an estate and a
plumber, originating from a similar cause—the plumber being accused of
having furnished a faulty reservoir; whereas the case was proved to be
owing to the chemical action of the water on the lead. _Dr. Lambe_
states an instance where the proprietor of a well, ordered his plumber
to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the metal
usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because he
had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it
corroded the lead very soon.
Footnote 351:
_Van Swieten_ ad _Boerhaave_ Aphorism. 1060 Comment.
Footnote 352:
Libro supra citato, p. 24.
Footnote 353:
_Duncan’s_ Med. Comment. Dec. 2, 1794.
Footnote 354:
See the papers by Sir George _Baker_, in the first volume of the
Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, viz. “_An Inquiry
concerning the Cause of the Endemial Colic of Devonshire_,” p. 175.
“_An Examination of several means by which the_ POISON OF LEAD _may be
supposed frequently to gain admittance into the human body,
unobserved, and unsuspected_,” p. 257.
“_An attempt towards an historical account of that species of
Spasmodic Colic, distinguished by the name of the Colic of_ POITOU,”
p. 139.
Footnote 355:
See a work by Dr. _William Musgrave_, which contains the earliest
account of the Devonshire colic, entitled “_Dissertatio de Arthritide
symptomatica_,” 1703; and also Dr. _Huxham’s_ work on the “_Morbus
Colicus Damnoniorum_.”
Footnote 356:
Annales de Chimie, vol. 1, p. 76.
Footnote 357:
See _Fourcroy_, Memoire sur la nature du Vin lithargyré, in the
“Histoire de l’Academie Royale,” for 1817.
Footnote 358:
Sir _George Baker_ considered that the dry belly ache, which is common
to the drinkers of _new_ rum, in the West Indies, ought to be wholly
referred to its contamination with lead.
Footnote 359:
The art of glazing earthenware with lead is of modern invention; that
part of the old earthenware, preserved in the British museum, which is
supposed to have been of Roman manufacture, is not glazed. The
vessels, which are called Etruscan, and which are supposed to be of
greater antiquity than the Roman, have indeed a paint or polish on
their surfaces; but that does not appear to resemble our modern
saturnine vitrification.
Footnote 360:
The workmen who are employed at the glazing tub are subject to colics
and paralysis.
Footnote 361:
The frequency with which the inhabitants of Madrid, and of a great
part of New Castille in Spain, were harrassed with colic, as recorded
by _M. Thierry_, received a satisfactory explanation from the fact of
glazed earthenware having been universally used in that country for
culinary vessels.
_Sir G. Baker_ in a paper entitled “_Further Observations on the
Poisons of Lead_,” Med. Trans. vol. 2, p. 419, mentions the practice
of drinking cyder out of glazed earthen vessels as dangerous. Dr.
_Watson_, junior, saw several instances of the Devonshire colic,
during the time of harvest, apparently from this cause. And a similar
instance fell under the notice of Dr. _Charleston_, where six persons
became, at one time, paralytic, by drinking cyder, brought to them
while at harvest work, in a new earthen pitcher, the inside of which
was glazed. That the glazing was dissolved by the liquor appeared not
only by the effects which it produced, but from its having given, as
these persons informed Dr. _Charleston_, that astringent sweetish
taste to the liquor, by which the solutions of this metal are so
peculiarly distinguished.
Footnote 362:
As it is very desirable to exclude the use of _lead_ altogether, the
Society for the promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, has
offered a premium for a substitute for this metallic glaze. For an
account of several new glazes, as substitutes for _lead_, see
_Parkes’s Chemical Essays_, vol. iii, p. 193-576.
Footnote 363:
_Darwin’s_ Zoonomia, vol. 3, cl. 1, 2, 4, 8.
Footnote 364:
Chemical Essays, vol. v, p. 193.
Footnote 365:
Philosophical Magazine, 1819, no. 257, p. 229.
Footnote 366:
The use of the arsenic is to render the lead more brittle, and to
dispose it to run into spherical drops.
Footnote 367:
_Francis Citois_, the historian of this celebrated epidemic, published
his “_Diatriba de novo et populari apud Pictones, dolore colico
bilioso_,” A.D. 1617. In which he states that the “_dolor colicus
Pictonicus_” was a new epidemic in the province of Poitou, about the
year 1572; and after having prevailed in that province about 60 or 70
years, it became milder, less untractable, and by degrees was
translated to other parts of France. The supposition, however, says
Sir _George Baker_, that the colic of Poitou was a new disease, about
the time when Citois lived, is not true; the disease was even
mentioned by our countryman _John of Gaddesden_, who appears to have
written his _Rosa Anglica_ early in the fourteenth century. If we
consult authors posterior to _Citois_, we find this species of colic
mentioned in almost every practical book. We have an account in
_Sennertus_ of its having prevailed epidemically, all over Silesia, in
the year 1621. _Baglivi_ even affirms that “nihil facilius colicæ
supervenit, quam paralysis.” None of these authors, however, appear to
have entertained the slightest suspicion of the true source of the
malady.
Footnote 368:
EPHEMERIDES GERMANICÆ, Ann. 4.—Observ. 60 by _Cockelius_.—Obs. 92 by
_Brunnerus_.—Obs. 100 by _Wicarius_.
Footnote 369:
Chemical Essays, vol. 3, page 369, edit. 3.
Footnote 370:
Exam. Chy. de Differ. Subs. par M. Sage, p. 157.
Footnote 371:
Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, vol. ii, p. 86.
Footnote 372:
The art of making wines, from fruits, flowers, and herbs; all the
native growth of Great Britain, by _William Graham_, late of Ware in
Hertfordshire.
Footnote 373:
See “_Some experiments made upon Rum, in order to ascertain the cause
of the colic, frequent among the Soldiers in the island of Jamaica, in
the years 1781, and 1782_”; by JOHN HUNTER, M.D. In the Medical
Transactions, vol. 3, p. 227.
Footnote 374:
Annales de Chimie, tom. lvii, p. 84. Memoire de _M. Proust_.
Footnote 375:
_Cerusse_ was in great request among the Roman ladies as a cosmetic.
Footnote 376:
The manufacture of this colour was long kept secret; but its
consumption has lately been greatly lessened by the introduction of
the artificial CHROMATE OF LEAD, which is a yellow of much greater
brilliancy than the muriate of that metal.
Footnote 377:
See Repository of Arts, vol. viii, no. 47, p. 262.
Footnote 378:
Med. Trans. vol. 2, p. 445.
Footnote 379:
See a paper in the Medical Transactions, vol. 2, p. 68, “Of the Colica
Pictonum,” by _R. Warren_, M.D. &c.
Footnote 380:
_Paulus Ægineta_ is the first writer who has described a species of
Colic terminating in Paralysis. (Lib. iii, c. 18, 43.)
Footnote 381:
Poitou, this late province in France was divided at the revolution
into the three departments of Vendée, Vienne, and the Two Sevres.
Footnote 382:
Pictones—_Cæs._ People of France, whose chief city is Pictavium, now
called Poictiers.
Footnote 383:
_Percival’s_ Essays, vol. 1, p. 458.
Footnote 384:
See our remarks upon this subject at page 142. See also _Teichmeyer_,
Inst. Med. For. p. 164.
Footnote 385:
Upon the subject of slow poisons we have already expressed the
latitude of our belief, see page 143.
Footnote 386:
Medical Transactions, vol. 2, p. 420.
Footnote 387:
Transactions of Medical Society of London.
Footnote 388:
Med. Legale, iv, § 921.
Footnote 389:
“De Lithargyrio quoque mihi narravit, matronam quandam nobilem
pulverem ejus in rubore faciei, postquam hic ipsi tanquam singulare et
certissimum arcanum deprædicatus fuisset, in petia ligatum, axillis
bis vel ter die aspersisse cum præsentaneo effectu; verum exinde
subsecuta fuisse dyspnæam, lipothymiam, dolores vagos in abdomine,
vomituritionem, et nauseam.”
Footnote 390:
See his “Researches into the Properties of Spring water.” 8vo. London.
_Johnson._ 1803.
Footnote 391:
Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge is supplied for
domestic purposes.
Footnote 392:
The following is the method of preparing the test. Expose equal parts
of sulphur and powdered oyster shells to a white heat for fifteen
minutes; and, when cold, add an equal quantity of cream of tartar;
these are to be put into a strong bottle with common water to boil for
an hour; and the solution is afterwards to be decanted into ounce
phials, adding twenty drops of muriatic acid to each.
Footnote 393:
_Lambe_, op. sup. cit. page 175.
Footnote 394:
On the ultimate Analysis of Vegetable and Animal Substances, by
_Andrew Ure_, M.D.F.R.S. Phil. Trans. for 1822, part. 2.
Footnote 395: