EXPEEIMENT STATIOIST. 77 



POISONS. 



Case of Suspected PoisOiSting. 



" Hartforjd, May 24th. 



"Dear Sir : I have sent you by express a sample of the intes- 

 tines of a cow that died under very suspicioiis circumstances, 

 May 2d, after a week's ilhiess, where all the symptoms pointed to 

 an enteric difficulty. The heifer had been uijured on the side 

 just back of the forelegs, while it was being shipped from Massa- 

 chusetts, and the internal result was apparent on q^ost-mortem 

 examination by way of exudations, adhesions, etc. Yet the 

 reddened, softened, and excoriated condition of the mucous mem- 

 brane of the stomach and bowels could hardly be accounted for 

 by the injury. I called attention to this point at the examination 

 and inquired if she could have eaten any poisonous substance, 

 paint, etc. Blood in large clots, a pint or more, was found in the 

 first stomach or paunch. There was a peculiar appearance about 

 the food, which was of a greenish aspect. 



"There being no clue to poison and a great paucity of active 

 symptoms, I was nearly persuaded to believe that she died from 

 the effects of the injury. But Col. Rathbone, of Lenox, Mass., 

 from whose herd this animal came, has since lost six head, with 

 similar symptoms, and clots of blood in stomach, so reports say : 

 and it is claimed they were all poisoned. This at once 

 strengthened mv susoicion and we exhumed the carcass last 

 Thursday and obtained the specimens sent you. The odor is 

 somewhat subdued by carbolic acid. These are the facts, and I 

 should like to have you test the question and report at an early 

 date, N. Cressy." 



The material sent by Dr. Cressy was submitted to a careful 

 examination by Di*. Herbert Smith of the Yale Medical School. 

 Special attention was directed towards poisonous metals such as 

 might exist in paint, to oxalic acid and to vegetable poisons ; but 

 no indication of any poisonous substance was obtained. 



