1863.] 551 



which would remain for days in the living body without manifesting 

 its action, and would at last kill by a lingering illness. Theophrastus 

 speaks of this poison, and says its force could be so modified as to 

 occasion death in two, three, or six months, or even at the end of a 

 year or two years. The writings of Plutarch, Tacitus, Quintilian, 

 and Livy are full of instances of what seem to be this kind of slow 

 and occult poisoning. In fact, until recently there has been a 

 common belief among the unlearned that a skilful poisoner could so 

 apportion the dose and combinations of certain subtle agents that he 

 could destroy the life of his victim with certainty, and at the same 

 time measure his allotted moments with the nicest precision, and 

 defy the utmost skill of the physician and the chemist. Even so late 

 as the 16th century this belief was shared by the learned of the 

 medical profession ; for we are told, in Sprat's * History of the Royal 

 Society,' that among other questions which were drawn up by the 

 earlier Fellows to be submitted to the Chinese and Indians was, 

 " Whether the Indians can so prepare that stupefying herb, Datura, 

 that they make it lie several days, months, years, according as they 

 will have it, in a man's body without doing him any hurt, and at the 

 end kill him without missing half an hour's time?" 



Modern toxicologists have long since discarded these notions, and 

 have set them down to the vague fears and exaggerated fancies of 

 the ancients, rather than to the sober contemplation of facts. But 

 the account which I am about to give of the physiological properties 

 of nitrobenzole will show that there is one substance, at least, which 

 realizes to a great extent the extraordinary opinions of the ancients. 

 This compound may be given today, and yet, if the dose be not too 

 large, it shall not manifest its action until tomorrow, or the day 

 after, and shall then destroy life by a lingering illness, which shall 

 not only defy the skill of the physician, but shall also baffle the re- 

 searches of the medical jurist. These facts are so remarkable, that 

 they would be hardly credited if they were not susceptible of the 

 proof of demonstration. They are likewise the more interesting and 

 important from the circumstance that nitrobenzole is now a common 

 article of commerce, and is accessible to everyone. 



In every manufactory where nitrobenzole and aniline are prepared 

 on a large scale, the peculiar narcotic effects of these poisons are often 

 observed. The vapours escaping into the atmosphere are breathed 



2R2 



