34f2 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 
I. Arsenic exists in human bones; if the bones of an adult be 
calcined, taking care not to raise the temperature too high, and to 
avoid contact with the fuel, these bones, when reduced to powder 
and treated with purified sulphuric acid, and then tried in Marsh’s 
apparatus, will yield brown, brilliant and thick arsenical spots. This 
result was obtained both from the bones of corpses of adults who 
had been dead some days, or buried for some months. 
When the calcination is effected at a white heat, no arsenic is ob- 
tained, nor is any procured^ from the bones of commerce reduced 
to a soft paste ; but if they be subjected to heat and the processes 
indicated (nitric acid, potash and sulphuric acid), a certain quantity 
of arsenic is obtained. 
From this first series of experiments, which amount to fourteen, 
I conclude, says M. Orfila, 1st, That the bones of the human adult, 
of the horse, ox, and sheep contain minute portions of arsenic, which 
it is possible to discover by treating the bones with potash purified 
by alcohol and pure sulphuric acid. 
2ndly, This quantity of arsenic is not increased by long burial. 
3rdly, Vitrification removes a portion of it, which is undoubtedly 
occasioned by the volatilization which it occasions. 
4thly, Among the conditions favourable to the discovery of ar- 
senic, must be especially reckoned that of not calcining the bones 
too strongly, and secondly to avoid carefully the contact of fuel. 
5thly, When bones are treated with pure water and ebullition, 
no arsenic is discoverable. 
6thly, If in operating in this mode, any arsenic be detected, it 
has certainly been in some mode introduced into the (economy. 
II. No arsenic is found in the viscera unless it has been absorbed. 
The organs of a dog which was hung, treated by the usual pro- 
cesses, did not yield any. The blood, brain, the liver, spleen, kid- 
neys, intestines, stomach, &c. gave no traces of it. Carbonized 
with nitric acid, and afterwards tried in Marsh’s apparatus, white 
opake spots only were obtained, and these were also produced with- 
out the presence of these organic matters. 
The liver of an adult gave none ; nor did the decoctions made 
with various organs yield any. 
From these facts we may conclude, observes M. Orfila, but not 
positively, that the viscera do not originally contain arsenic ; or to 
state the fact more accurately and not to prejudge the case, it may be 
asserted, that they do not yield any when treated with boiling water, 
sulphuretted hydrogen, or when carbonized by concentrated nitric 
acid, &c. It may so happen that the quantity is too small to be 
detected by sulphuretted hydrogen, or that it is lost by carbonization ; 
but by acting on a large quantity of brain or other organs, it may be 
detected. At any rate, it is sufficient at present to have ascertained, 
that the viscera yield no arsenic by the reactions described, unless 
it has been introduced by poisoning. 
III. It is not proved that muscular flesh contains arsenic : twelve 
pounds of it taken from the corpse of an adult, carbonized by nitric 
acid and tested by Marsh’s apparatus, gave white opake spots ; some 
were brilliant, with a blucish tint ; others were yellow, and had an 
