597 



POISON. 



POISONING, SECRET. 



698 



These distinctions will seldom serve further than to establish a very 

 probable conclusion ; and doubt may still remain in cases of this kind 

 after a post-mortem examination. The evidence of poisoning afforded 

 by it is commonly negative ; the fullness of the vessels of the brain 

 and the other slight differences from the appearances found in the 

 average of healthy persons, that are commonly quoted as signs of the 

 effects of narcotic poisons, are very unsatisfactory. It is probable that 

 narcotics destroy by producing a kind of apoplexy ; and in many cases 

 the changes of structure to which they lead exactly resemble those oi 

 that disease, whether of those cases of it which are attended with 

 effusion of blood hi or upon the brain, or of those in which only 

 the least possible alteration from ithe healthy structure can be 

 detected. [APOPLEXY.] Effusion of blood in the brain, however, 

 is very rarely the effect of narcotic poisoning, and such an appear- 

 ance would by itself afford strong evidence of apoplexy the result oi 

 disease. 



The symptoms of epilepsy are often very like those of poisoning by 

 prussic acid, and by some other narcotic and narcotico-acrid poisons, as 

 belladonna, strychnia, &c. The following circumstances, however, distin- 

 guish epilepsy : the fit is often preceded by warnings ; it almost always 

 commences suddenly and violently ; the patient cannot be roused from 

 it ; when fatal (which it very rarely is in a first attack), it is so only 

 after several hours. In many cases the post-mortem examinations oi 

 epileptic patients detect no signs of disease ; and in these there must 

 always be some doubt, as this negative character is common to them 

 and to narcotic poisoning. But in many, traces of old disease in the 

 brain are found, which of course afford strong presumptive evidence 

 that poison has not Wen taken. If a patient has died in a fit resembling 

 those of epilepsy, and no morbid changes are found in his brain, poison 

 must be strongly suspected ; because it is very rare for such a fit, the 

 result of disease, to terminate fatally, except hi those whose brains are 

 previously much diseased. 



It is only necessary to allude to the difficulty that may at their first 

 access exist, of distinguishing between the acute inflammatory diseases 

 of the brain and those of the narcotico-acrid and some of the narcotic 

 poisons. The true nature of the case is almost always evident after the 

 first day of its duration ; the poisoning is by that time terminated 

 either by recovery or death ; the disease continues its progress ; and if 

 the latter ends fatally, the morbid changes that it induces are sufficiently 

 characteristic. 



On the whole it must be concluded that the evidence afforded by 

 symptoms and morbid appearances is less frequently conclusive in cases 

 of poisoning by narcotics than in those where it is produced by irritants. 

 The effects of the narcotico-acrids, which are compounded of those 

 of the two other classes, are also in most cases as uncertain as those of 

 the narcotics, and the difficulty with them is much increased by the 

 present imperfection of the chemical tests of their presence in organic 

 mixtures. 



The evidence to be drawn from experiments with the substances 

 supposed to contain the poison can rarely be needed, or be of much 

 weight when obtained. In any case in which there is sufficient poison 

 present to produce symptoms in any annual to which it is given, it 

 ought to be discovered by the much more certain test of chemical 

 analysis. This last, the evidence of chemistry, is certainly the least 

 fallible of all, and in cases in which it can be applied it is generally 

 conclusive. These cases include the great majority of those of poisoning 

 by irritants, and many of those by narcotics and narcotico-acrids ; but 

 in many of those by the two last classes, owing to the present imper- 

 fection of the tests for organic poisons, it is unavailing even in the 

 most competent hands. In these also, as we have already shown, the 

 evidence of symptoms and of the morbid appearances is also often 

 fallacious ; and cases must frequently occur in which the evidence 

 from all these sources together will not constitute a proof that poison 

 has been taken. In the case of irritant poisons, on the other hand, the 

 cases are few in which, from one or other of these kinds of evidence, 

 their administration may not be satisfactorily proved. 



We subjoin a list of the substances which should be administered in 

 cases of poisoning, as early as possible after it has been swallowed : 



rol odd* (tulphuric, muriatic, J:c.). Chalk * or magnesia in 

 water ; soap and water, and afterwards milk and other diluents. 



A Italia (toda and potash.). Vinegar and water ; almond or olive oil ; 

 any innocent acid, such as lemon-juice, with water. 



Oxalic acid. Large quantities of chalk or magnesia ; afterwards 

 milk and other mild fluids. 



Artenic. Powerful emetics, such as sulphate of zinc, if vomiting has 

 not commenced ; large quantities of milk, or some thick bland fluid, 

 such as flour and water, or sugar and water. 



Corrorive lublimale and other compound! of mercury. White of eggs 

 beaten up with water ; decoction of bark or gall-nuts, or strong tea. 



Blue ritriol and other compounds of copper. White of eggs with 

 water ; sugar and water. 



Antimony. Large quantities of warm water or milk ; decoction of 

 bark or gall-nuts. 



Nitrate of eili-er (lunar caustic). Common salt and water. 



In any cae in which chalk is recommended, the planter of the coiling or 

 wall* of a room rubbed into powder and mixed pretty thicVly with water may 

 be used with equal advantage. 



White vitriol and other compounds of zinc. Milk ; carbonate of soda 

 in water. 



Compounds of lead. Emetics, sulphates or bi-carbonates of soda or 

 potash in water ; milk. 



Laudanum and other preparations of opium, Emetics ; dashing of 

 cold water on the face; strong coffee; forced exercise by constant 

 walking. 



Prumic acid. Hartshorn, to be smelled and taken in small doses ; 

 chlorine ; dashing with cold water. 



Strychnine and other vegetable alkalies. Emetics; warm water; 

 decoction of bark or of gall-nuts. 



For other, as for many of these kinds of poison, it will always be 

 right to excite copious vomiting, either by tickling the throat or by 

 giving a powerful emetic, such as from ten to twelve grains of sulphate 

 of zinc (white vitriol), or the same quantity of powdered ipecacuan with 

 one or two grains of tartarised antimony. The action of the emetic 

 should be maintained till all the poison seems to be discharged, by 

 repeated draughts of milk, or flour and water, or sugar and water, or 

 some other bland fluid. But for narcotic poisons the stomach-pump 

 is best. For the subsequent treatment no general rules can be 

 given. 



POISONING, SECRET. When the knowledge of the nature of 

 mineral, vegetable, and animal compounds was less known than at 

 present, it was not uncommon for individuals to become acquainted 

 with the poisonous properties of bodies, and to keep this a secret for 

 the purpose of exercising a control over the lives of their fellow 

 creatures. The entire ignorance that existed of the means of ascer- 

 taining the presence of poisons, or of the systems of poisoning as 

 distinguished from other diseases, gave to persons who had acci- 

 dentally discovered a poison a great power, and offered a temptation to 

 crime. In ancient history many instances are recorded of persons who 

 died under suspicious circumstances, and who were supposed to have 

 been secretly poisoned. Beck, in his ' Medical Jurisprudence,' says 

 that " Theophrastus speaks of a poison prepared from aconite which 

 could be moderated in such a manner as to have effect in two or three 

 years, or at the end of a year or two years ; and he also relates that 

 Thrasyas had discovered a method of preparing from other plants a 

 poison which, given in small doses, occasioned an easy but certain 

 death without any pain, and which might be kept back for a long time 

 without causing weakness or corruption. This last poison was much 

 used at Rome about two hundred years before the Christian era." 

 During the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, a woman named 

 Locusta seems to have been frequently employed for the purpose of 

 administering poisons, whose powers were known to herself alone. 

 Locusta was employed by the second Agrippina to poison her husband 

 the emperor Claudius, and also by Nero to poison Britannicus, the son 

 of Claudius and Messalina. (Tacitus, ' Annal.,' xii. 66 ; xiii. 15.) 



The poisons used by the Greeks and Romans seem to have belonged 

 principally to the vegetable kingdom, and were chiefly obtained, it is 

 supposed, from the aconite, hemlock, and poppy. One of their animal 

 poisons is said to have been the acrid juice secreted by a species of 

 nichiate mollusca, called the sea-hare, the Aplysia depilans of 

 Linnanm. They did not seem to be acquainted with mineral poisons. 



In modern times secret poisoning has often been carried on to a great 

 extent ; although the relation of many of the incidents has been so con- 

 nected with superstition, and a belief in supernatural powers, that it is 

 sometimes difficult to distinguish between the true and fictitious. The 

 aid of poisons appears sometimes to have been resorted to in order to 

 obtain credence for the powers of the witch and the wizard. A singular 

 combination of poisoners was discovered at Rome during the pontificate 

 of Alexander VII. in 1659. It was observed that many young married 

 women became widows, and that many husbands died who were known 

 to have become disagreeable to their wives. Great exertions were used 

 to detect the poisoners, when at length suspicion fell upon a society of 

 young wives, whose president was an old woman who pretended to 

 foretell future events, and who had often predicted very accurately the 

 death of many persons. At length the society was detected, arrested, 

 md every member put to the torture, and the old president, by name 

 Spara, and four others, were publicly hanged. It appeared that Spara 

 was a pupil of Tofania, an infamous woman who lived at Palermo, and 

 afterwards at Naples. The poison used by Tofania went by the name 

 of Aqua Tofana [AQUA Tor ANA], but its composition was never accu- 

 rately made known. 



The practice of secret poisoning was carried to a great extent in 

 France about the year 1670. One of the most distinguished agents in 

 this business was Margaret d'Aubray, wife of the Marquess de Brin- 

 villiers. She formed an improper intimacy with a villain named Sainte 

 Sroix, who taught her the art of poisoning, which she put in practice 

 n order to better her circumstances. For the purpose of ascertaining 

 the strength and action of her poisons, she assumed the dress of a nun, 

 and distributed food to the poor, nursed the sick in the Hotel Dieu, 

 and administered to them her poisons. She poisoned her father and 

 irother, but was at last discovered. She was publicly beheaded in 

 Paris on the 16th of July, 1676. She left behind her a complete 

 catalogue of all her crimes. The principal poison used by herself and 

 accomplices was the corrosive sublimate. The practice at this time 

 lad extended so widely in France that the government thought it 

 necessary in 1679 to institute it court under the title of Chambre de 



