16 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
The presence of small quantities of certain metallic poisons, such as arsenic, 
copper, lead, or mercury, in the system does not, however, necessarily imply 
either accidental or criminal poisoning. Mercury in one form or another is often 
administered as medicine; lead is frequently present in our food as well as in 
the water we drink ; copper is used to give certain preserved vegetables the 
bright green of the fresh fruit ; while arsenic is so frequently met with in 
nature that a French chemist undertook to find it in the legs of any old chair! 
It is found in considerable traces in certain soils; and this fact led at least in 
one instance to the acquittal of a prisoner indicted for murder, through the 
ingenious suggestion that the arsenic found in the body might have filtered 
through the wet soil into a crack found in the lid of the coffin, and thus passed 
on to the body where it was found. There is no end to the ingenuity of 
counsel in such cases. In another instance, arsenic was found in the liquid 
contents of the stomach in considerable quantity; but the analysis in this case 
had not extended to the tissues. The counsel in defence contended that the 
proof of poisoning had failed, inasmuch as the medical evidence should 
have proved the absorption of the poison by the tissues to produce poisoning. 
The prisoner was acquitted. Not less ingenious was the defence of counsel in 
the case of Madeline Smith in 1857 for the murder of L’Angelier at G-lasgow 
by the administration of arsenic. Counsel founded their defence mainly on two 
points. The first was the fact that eighty-eight grains of arsenic had been 
found in the body, and that such a large dose had never before been proved 
to have been unconsciously swallowed, arguing from this that the poison must 
have been self-administered. The second point was that the purchases of arsenic 
which the prisoner was proved to have made were intended for cosmetic 
purposes. 
The idea of using arsenic as a cosmetic takes us almost unconsciously back 
to the beginning of the eighteenth century, when an old hag, named Tolfania, 
of Naples, was strangled for having directly or indirectly been the cause of 
poisoning more than six hundred persons. The poison which she prepared was 
proved to be merely a solution of salts of arsenic, and this preparation was 
found to be in circulation throughout Italy under the assumed name, for 
secrecy, of a famous oil, supposed to possess miraculous healing properties. 
Anyone in the secret could buy the poison under the guise of using it as any 
liniment or cosmetic might be used, while under its cover lay death to the 
victim in a day, week, or month, at the will of the administrator. 
Strange as it may appear, national crime like this seems very much to have 
run in cycles in some Continental countries ; and although our own country has 
been free from it in such gigantic proportions, it has not altogether been so 
free from the crime of murder as not to make us thankful that modern investi- 
gation has rendered the perpetration of such villainy almost impossible. Every 
murder of modern times has but made the perpetration of future murder less 
easy ; and the very ingenuity of counsel in their defence of such cases has 
only assisted to this end by exposing all the weaker points for the future 
guidance of the public prosecutor. Were proof of this needed, it is only 
necessary to point out that some of the most notorious crimes of modern times 
have been committed with the most subtle and powerful of all known poisons, 
and directed with a skill and ability which could only proceed from a trained 
and scientific acquaintance with the substance used. What, however, has been 
the result p Strychnine in the hands of Dr. Palmer, tartar emetic in that of 
Dr. Pritchard, and aconitine in that of Dr. Lamson, too certainly accomplished 
the purpose for which they were intended ; but with all the ingenuity and 
skill and opportunity at their disposal, they could not escape the fruits of their 
