278 Means of detecting Arsenic in the Animal Body, ^"c. 



Art. V. — On the Means of detecting Arsenic in the Animal 

 Body, and of counteracting its Effects; by J. Lawrence Smith, 

 M. D., of Charleston, S. C. 



Messrs. Editors — This, I hope, 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 of 

 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 pro- 

 posed for solution, and my object now is to mention the most 

 important of them. Some of the questions are as follows : 



