352 
ANTIMONIAL POISONING. 
traces of fluid were found diffused over a space of about the 
size of the palm of the hand, but there was no special mark 
of redness. The particular appearance of the internal organs 
was an intense congestion. The large venous channels were 
distended to the last degree ; both sides of the heart were 
distended; the aorta was full of blood. The lungs were in- 
flated, dark, and full of blood; but showed no traces of 
inflammation. The bladder was empty ; the kidneys were 
of a dark purple colour. The blood generally was fluid ; but 
in the left auricle there was a small separation of fibrine lining 
the cavity or modelled to it ; the gall-bladder was full of bile, 
and the liver dark. The whole of the alimentary canal was 
carefully examined ; but the only peculiarity of the mucous 
coat was in the stomach, the inner surface of which, along 
the larger curvature, for the extent of a space two inches 
long and one and a half broad, was of a bright pink colour, 
contrasting strikingly with the surrounding parts. The 
stomach contained about an ounce of a clear fluid, slightly 
yellow in colour; the intestinal canal was coated thickly with 
a glairy buffy-looking mucus, but contained no solid matters. 
There was no ulceration at any point of the alimentary service. 
Chemical analysis . — The parts reserved for separate analysis 
were the vomited and purged matters, the contents of the 
stomach, the stomach itself, the rectum, the lungs, the heart, 
the liver and spleen, the blood collected from the large veins, 
heart, and aorta (five drachms), the small intestines, the con- 
tents of the intestines, the bladder, and kidneys.* 
The results of the analyses, which were qualitative only, 
were as follows : — The blood yielded abundant evidence of 
the poison more than any other part ; the vomited and purged 
matters gave a considerable amount ; the rectum a consider- 
able amount, but less than the vomited matter ; the lungs less 
than the rectum, but considerable; the liver less than the 
lungs, but considerable ; the stomach less than the liver, but 
considerable ; the bladder and kidneys less than the stomach, 
but considerable ; the small intestines less than the bladder 
* It will save time to state in this place, that in these first chemical ana- 
lyses I have trusted mainly to the hydrogen test, which, when worked with 
due care, is at once the most direct, simple, and certain process. In apply- 
ing this test, I have, however, used a larger apparatus than that of Marsh, 
but constructed on the same principle. I have thus been able to keep up 
a long-continued flame from the jet, and to detect the presence of the anti- 
mony with great minuteness. In every instance the purity of the chemi- 
cals has been rigorously tested as a preliminary step. In some experiments, 
Reinsch’s test, and the sulphuretted hydrogen test, have been resorted to, 
but only for corroborative evidence. Orfila, in his experiments, used the 
hydrogen test with equal success. 
