522 
The Poisoning Cases of the [September, 
by no means a satisfactory state of things, and an immensity 
of delicate and difficult work will be needed before we can 
reach aCtual certainty. 
It is manifest, as was actually shown in Lamson’s case, 
that the existence of these ptomaines suggests a new and 
plausible line of defence, of which counsel will not be slow 
to avail themselves. But there is a further point as yet 
overlooked. A physician, or a chemist, or a man tolerably 
skilled in experimentation, may prepare some of the 
ptomaines from animal matter, and may administer them to 
any person he wishes to destroy. How is his crime to be 
detected ? Suppose the ptomaine is found in the corpse of 
the victim ; the defence at once admits its presence, and 
argues that it must have been formed there either prior to 
or after death. The prosecution will certainly fail to prove 
to the contrary. 
But coming down to much less difficult subjects, we find 
in the statements of the experts engaged in these trials, and 
in the authorities quoted in this work, a manifest lack of 
that agreement which must follow from accurate knowledge. 
Let us take the question, How long after death can hydro- 
cyanic acid, administered just previously, be recognised? 
Mr. Allen affirms that its detection is rarely possible after 
twenty-four hours. On the other hand, “ Casper obtained 
from a corpse more than 18 milligrammes eight days after 
death ; Sokoloff detected it in hounds sixty days after ; 
Dragendorff after four weeks in a dog, after eight or ten 
days in a man. Reichardt found it in a body two months 
after death — in the solids, though not in the urine.” 
In the Tawell trial the odour of hydrocyanic (prussic) 
acid seems to have occasioned much wrangling, and many 
conflicting opinions were given. Counsel asks Mr. Cooper, 
“ Do you agree with Dr. Taylor that the odour of prussic 
acid may be found when all tests fail ?” Mr. Cooper replied, 
“ I have no doubt that prussic acid may exist without being 
smelt.” Mr. Norblad, a surgeon and apothecary, of Slough, 
further deposed that he had tried experiments with this 
poison upon dogs, and on opening their bodies eighteen 
hours after death could not discover any odour. He had 
further mixed 12 grains of prussic acid with a pint of porter, 
and could not smell it. On the other hand, one Henry 
Thomas, a druggist’s shopman, whose claims to rank as a 
man of Science may possibly be called in question, did not 
think porter would disguise the odour. He had mixed 
30 drops of this acid with 11 ounces of porter, and the 
smell was “ slightly perceptible.” On another occasion he 
