278 Means of detecting Arsenic in the Animal Body, §¢ 
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Arr. V.—On the Means of detecting Arsenic im the Animal 
Body, and of counteracting its E,ffects ; by J. Lawrence Sore, 
_M. D., of Charleston, S.C. ee: are 
5 ee % : 
Messrs. Editors—This, Iehope, will receive a place upon the 
~ pages of your Journal, if it be only for the importance of the sub- | 
ject of which it treats, although it is not improbable, in stating 
what I am about to do concerning the more recent experiments 
upon arsenious acid, that your readers will be able to find some- 
thing which may be of importance to them in future investiga- 
tions upon this substance. But two months have elapsed since 
the whole of France was agitated by one of the most interesting 
‘criminal processes upon record—it was a case of poisoning by 
arsenic ; and the contradiction of the results of the medico-legal 
examinations, created an excitement which the decision of the 
jury augmented. Three chemical examinations were made upon 
different portions of the body, and at different times, to ascertain 
whether arsenic had been administered to the individual during 
life. The materials for the first were furnished immediately after 
death, and consiSted of the fluid found in the stomach, the stom- 
ach itself, and a-portion of the intestines ; but the first was lost 
by an accident which happened to it while being experimented 
upon, so that the stomach and intestines alone remained. © The 
second and third were made upon portions of the body exhumed 
after eight months’ burial; they were the liver, heart, brain, and 
inner muscles of the thigh. The first and second examinations 
were made by several expert chemists of Tulle, without detect- 
ing the poison. The third M. Orfila was called upon to make, 
and he succeeded in exhibiting the metal, reduced by means’ 
Marsh’s apparatus ; his success was no doubt owing to the man- 
ner in which he carbonized the animal matter, which was by the 
aid of nitric acid. 
One cannot be surprised at the excitement that a thing of this 
character must have produced, and it is with much interest and 
benefit that I have followed up the chemical researches conse 
quently arising, as well as the many interesting questions PIP 
posed for solution, and my object now is to mention the mos 
important of them. Some of the questions are as follows: 
