32 
PREMEDITATED POISONING OF ANIMALS. 
I accompanied them to M . le Juge (V Instruction, when F. 
Thibandeau deposited the packet found in his stable, and L. 
Thibandeau his complaint. The judge, seeing that there were 
three years of interval between this new affair and the last, 
ordered that the carcase of the colt should be brought to 
Niort, and commissioned MM. Meschines, doctor, and Bar- 
rault, pharmacian, and myself, to make — 1st, An autopsy of 
the colt ; 2dly, A chemical analysis of the contents of the 
stomach; Srdly, The analysis of the substance in the packets 
deposited by F. Thibandeau ; 4thly, A report of these opera- 
tions, in which is to be notified their opinion on the kind of 
death of which the horse of Thibandeau died; which in 
substance was as follows : — That the cellular tissue, under- 
neath the skin, was marked with several spots of ecchymosis ; ' 
that the spleen was similarly speckled, but not the liver. On 
opening the stomach there was found a pretty large quantity 
of bran and oats (although the owner, who was present, de- 
clared he gave neither, for more than two months), while its 
right sac was pointed, reddened, and ecchymosed to a great 
part of its extent, and that in many places existed deep 
ulcerations, kinds of cauterizations, involving the entire 
thickness of the mucous membrane. The mucous membrane, 
blackened and double its normal thickness, was covered with 
ulcerations of every shape and dimension, and which had 
penetrated the membrane. The small intestine, as it issued 
from the pylorus, was stained with reddened ecchymosis, 
though at a distance from the pylorus were only numerous 
points to be seen. The mesentery had ecchymoses of different 
sizes ; the right kidney was sensibly softened ; the lungs 
gorged with black blood; the right ventricle of the heart had 
its membrane uniformly blackened, &c. This was succeeded 
by an analysis of the contents of the stomach, &c., and the 
conclusions came to from this and the post-mortem examina- 
tion were these 
1. That the horse of Louis Thibandeau was poisoned by 
arsenious acid. 
2. That the poison was given mixed with bran and corn. 
3. That the arsenious acid was broken, but not reduced to 
a pulverulent state. 
4. That the poisoning is recent, since the substances which 
served as vehicles had not quitted the stomach, and those 
local lesions were not to be found beyond this viscus. 
5. That the packet found in the stable of Francois Thiban- 
deau contains arsenious acid. 
6. That the matters in Louis Thibandeau’s stable contained 
none. 
