Under this head the appearances in a special case will first be
mentioned, and then the varieties to which they are liable.
In _Hufeland’s_ case [p. 587] the inspection was made the day after
death. The eyes were still glistening, like those of a person alive; but
the countenance was pale and composed like one asleep. The spine and
neck were stiff, the belly drawn in, the back alone livid. The body
generally, the blood even within the head, and especially the serous
cavities, exhaled a hydrocyanic odour, so strong as to irritate the
nostrils. The blood was every where very fluid, so that two pounds
flowed from the incision in the scalp and twelve ounces from that of the
dura mater; and it had a glimmering bluish appearance, as if Prussian
blue had been mixed with it. The vessels of the brain were gorged, the
substance of the brain natural, and the left ventricle distended with
half an ounce of serum. The villous coat of the stomach was red, easily
removed with the nail, and gangrenous.[1917] The intestines were
reddish, and the liver gorged. The lungs were also turgid, and to such a
degree in the depending parts as to resemble the liver. The arteries and
left cavities of the heart were empty, the veins and right cavities
distended.
In commenting on this description it is first to be remarked, that the
blood, as in the preceding case, is generally altered in nature. Ittner,
who made some good experiments on the subject, found it in animals
black, viscid, and oily in consistence.[1918] Emmert found it fluid and
of a cochineal colour. In a case related by Mertzdorff of an
apothecary’s apprentice, who was found dead in bed after swallowing
three drachms and a half of diluted acid,[1919] in the case recorded in
Horn’s Archiv, and in that related by Dr. Gierl, it was fluid. It was
also perfectly fluid every where in the bodies of the seven epileptic
patients poisoned at Paris. Yet this state is not invariable. Coullon,
though his results tally in general with those of Ittner and Emmert, has
given some experiments in which the blood coagulated after flowing from
the body;[1920] and in the case of an apothecary related in Rust’s
Journal it was found coagulated in the heart.[1921]
In the next place, Magendie and other physiologists have observed that,
as in Hufeland’s case, the blood and cavities of the body in animals
exhale a hydrocyanic odour, even though the quantity taken was small.
The blood did so likewise in the heart of the apothecary just mentioned
as well as throughout the whole body in the case described in Horn’s
Journal. The odour, however, is not always present. For example, there
was none in the case of another German apothecary, who poisoned himself
with an ounce, as recorded in a later volume of Rust’s Journal;[1922]
neither was there any odour in the blood in Mertzdorff’s case, although
it was strong in the stomach; nor in the blood nor any other part of the
body in the Parisian epileptics. It also appears from an experiment by
Schubarth,[1923] and from a case by Leuret where life was prolonged
above fifteen minutes,[1924]—that the odour may be distinct in the
blood, brain, or chest, when hardly any is to be perceived in the
stomach. Schubarth has inquired with some care into the circumstances
under which the hydrocyanic odour may, or may not, be expected. He
states, as the result of his researches, that if the dose is sufficient
to cause death within ten minutes, the peculiar odour will always be
remarked in the blood of the heart, lungs, and great vessels, provided
the body have not been exposed to rain or to a current of air, and the
examination be made within a moderate interval,—for example, twenty-one
hours for so small an animal as a dog; but that, if the dose is so small
that life is prolonged for fifteen, twenty-seven, or thirty-two minutes,
then even immediately after death it may be impossible to remark any of
the peculiar odour, evidently because, as already mentioned, the acid is
rapidly discharged by the lungs; and that even when the dose is large
enough to cause death in four minutes, the smell may not be perceived if
the carcase has been left in a spacious apartment for two days, or
exposed to a shower for a few hours only. These facts explain
satisfactorily why no odour could be perceived in the bodies of the
Parisian epileptics; for they lived from half an hour to forty-five
minutes. The poison may exist in the stomach, though not appreciable by
the sense of smell. In Chevallier’s case mentioned above, the contents
of the stomach had not any odour of hydrocyanic acid; which, however,
was evident to the sense of smell, and plainly indicated by various
tests, in the fluid obtained by distilling the contents.
The presence of this odour in the blood may be accounted strong evidence
of poisoning with hydrocyanic acid, if it is unequivocal to the sense of
several individuals. An exhalation of the same kind is occasionally
formed by natural processes in the excrement. Itard once remarked in a
case of inflammation of the intestines, and again in a case of inflamed
liver, a strong smell of bitter almonds in the fæces, although no
medicine containing hydrocyanic acid had been given.[1925] Mr. Taylor
mentions that he once observed a sort of hydrocyanic odour in the brain
of a person who died of natural disease.[1926] These facts will render
the inspector cautious, but can scarcely throw a doubt over evidence
derived from an unequivocal hydrocyanic odour in the blood.
Few successful attempts have yet been made to detect the acid in the
blood by chemical analysis. The odour may be present, although chemical
analysis fails in eliciting any indication. This follows from the
observations of Dr. Lonsdale,[1927] as well as of various authors quoted
by him in his paper. The cyanide of potassium has been detected by Mayer
not merely in the blood, but likewise in the serous secretions and
sundry soft solids.[1928]
In most instances,—for example, in the Parisian epileptics, the state of
the brain, as to turgescence of vessels, has corresponded with the
description given by Hufeland. Venous turgescence and emptiness of the
arterial system are commonly remarked throughout the whole body. Thus in
the epileptic patients, the heart and great arteries were empty; the
great veins gorged; the spleen gorged, soft, and pultaceous; the veins
of the liver gorged; and the kidneys of a deep violet colour, much
softened, and their veins gorged with black blood.
It is impossible that hydrocyanic acid could cause gangrene of the
stomach, which is said to have been witnessed in Hufeland’s case. But
there are often signs of irritation in that organ. The villous coat has
been found red in animals; it was shrivelled, and its vessels were
turgid with black blood in the instance of the apothecary mentioned in
the fourteenth volume of Rust’s Journal; in Mertzdorff’s case it was red
and checkered with bloody streaks; and in the case related by Dr. Gierl,
where four ounces were swallowed, it was dark-red, as it were tanned or
steeped in spirits, and easily separated from the subjacent contents.
The contents of the stomach have in every instance had a strong
hydrocyanic odour, except in the cases of the Parisian epileptics, and
in those related by Leuret and by Chevallier. According to the
experiments of Lassaigne and Schubarth, formerly noticed, it is not to
be looked for when the body has been kept a few days, more especially if
the individual lived some time. Dr. Lonsdale generally found it eight or
nine days after death in animals, which had been either buried during
that time, or kept in an apartment at the temperature of 50° F.[1929] In
a case which occurred not long ago in London the poison was found in the
stomach five days after death. A coroner’s inquest had terminated in a
verdict of natural death. But suspicions having arisen, that the man had
poisoned himself in anticipation of a charge of forgery, another inquiry
was made; when the odour of hydrocyanic acid was evolved from the
contents of the stomach, and the distilled water obtained from them
yielded decisive chemical evidence of its being present.[1930] It is
important to observe, in reference to the evidence of hydrocyanic acid
in the stomach, that here, as in the instance of the blood, the odour
may be strong, and yet the poison may not be discoverable by analysis.
This fact rests on the united testimony of Coullon, Vauquelin, Leuret,
Turner, and Dr. Lonsdale; the last of whom mentions that he could not
detect it chemically after the fourth day in the bodies of some animals,
in which it was perceptible by its odour even four or five days
later.[1931] It is possible, however, that these failures to detect the
poison by analysis may have sometimes arisen from imperfections in the
method of analysis employed; for it was detected by the process formerly
mentioned in the stomach of the apothecary last alluded to, in
Chevallier’s case, though not perceptible to the smell, and frequently
by Lassaigne in animals.
Mertzdorff remarked both in his case of poisoning with hydrocyanic acid,
and likewise in a parallel instance of poisoning with the essential oil
of bitter almonds,[1932] a singular appearance in the bile, the colour
of which was altered to deep blue.
Coullon and Emmert say they have observed, that the bodies of animals
resist putrefaction. The latter in particular mentions, that he had left
them several days in a warm room without perceiving any sign of decay.
This certainly would not _à priori_ be expected, considering the state
of the blood. And it is not universal; for in one instance, the case of
Mertzdorff, putrefaction commenced within thirty hours after death. In
the Parisian epileptics, the bodies passed through the usual stage of
rigidity.
It appears that even long after death the eye, as in Hufeland’s case,
has a peculiar glistening and staring expression, so as to render it
difficult to believe that the individual is really dead; and this
appearance has been considered by Dr. Paris so remarkable, as even alone
to supply “decisive evidence of poisoning by hydrocyanic acid.”[1933]
But the accuracy of this opinion may be questioned. The appearance is
indeed very general in cases of poisoning with preparations containing
hydrocyanic acid. Besides occurring in the case of Hufeland, and in that
which gave occasion to Dr. Paris’s statement, it was witnessed by
Mertzdorff, and in the instance described in Horn’s Journal. But it is
not a constant appearance; for it was not observed in the seven Parisian
epileptics. Neither is it peculiar; for death from carbonic acid has the
same effect; I have remarked it six hours after death in a woman who
died of cholera; and it has been observed in cases of death during the
epileptic paroxysm.