Page:Treatise on poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic (IA treatiseonpoison00chriuoft).pdf/81

 *ment. With this view, therefore, having ascertained in what articles it is possible for poison to have been administered, he should at once endeavour to secure the remains of the particular portion partaken of by his patient, as well of the general dish, if it is an article of food, and of the ingredients of which the dish was ostensibly made, not forgetting the salt with which it was seasoned. A case occurred some years ago in the north of Scotland, in which arsenic was administered in porridge by mixing it with the salt.

It is of great consequence, before proceeding to analyze such articles, for example suspected dishes,—to be particular in investigating every thing connected with the cooking, serving, and eating of them. By doing so, not only will the chemical analysis be facilitated, but likewise facts in it will be accounted for, which might otherwise prove embarrassing, and even lead to the drawing of false conclusions from the result of the analysis. This statement is very well exemplified by the following incident which occurred to myself. In 1827 a family in Portobello were poisoned by the maid-servant; and it was believed, that, for the sake of a trick, she had, while carrying to the oven the beef subsequently used at dinner, maliciously mixed with it tartar-emetic or some other poison. One-half of the beef having been preserved, and two persons of the family having been very severely affected, Dr. Turner and I, to whom the case was remitted, made little doubt that we should discover the poison by chemical analysis: but we did not. Being subsequently employed by the sheriff to inquire into the particulars, I found that the poison had been mixed with the gravy, which had been consumed almost to the last drop,—that the gravy had been poured over the beef,—that the upper half of the beef had been eaten,—and that the remainder which we analysed had been transferred upon a different plate from that on which it was served for dinner. These particulars accounted sufficiently for the poison not having been discovered.

Another mode in which the chemical part of the inquiry may contribute to discover the individual who administered the poison is by a comparative examination of the persons of the deceased and the accused. The following very pointed illustration has been published by MM. Ollivier and Chevallier of Paris.—A woman who lived on bad terms with her husband was found dead on a roadside the morning after having been seen drunk in his company in the neighbourhood. The mouth, throat, and gullet were proved by a careful analysis to be corroded with nitric acid, the stains and traces of which were also found on various parts of her dress, and on the hair, neck, and arms, but not on her hands, and not lower down the alimentary canal than the upper fourth of the gullet. Ollivier, suspecting from these appearances, that she had not taken the acid voluntarily, requested to see the husband; whereupon there were found on his coat, trousers, and hands, a great number of stains, which, like those on the deceased, were proved by chemical analysis to have been produced by nitric acid. Here it was scarcely