Page:Treatise on poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic (IA treatiseonpoison00chriuoft).pdf/602

 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. 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 parellel instance of poisoning with the essential oil of bitter almonds, 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." 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. —Of the Treatment of Poisoning with Hydrocyanic Acid.

Much attention has been lately paid to the treatment of this variety of poisoning; and the object of those who have studied it has naturally been the discovery of an antidote.

An antidote to hydrocyanic acid must either be a substance which