3S 
MISCELLANEA. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Poisoning by Digitaline. —A very remarkable trial has lately taken place at 
Paris, in which a homoeopathic physician, named La Pommerais, was charged with 
having poisoned a poor widow named Pauw, whom he had known for many years, and 
had attended her husband before his death, after which she became his mistress ; and 
this connection continued till 1861, when it was broken off in consequence of Pom¬ 
merais marrying a Madlle. Dubizy. The intimacy was renewed in July last, when he 
suggested that she should insure her life for £22,000, and that after payment of the 
first premiums she should simulate illness, and then make a proposal to the insurance 
companies that her policies should be exchanged for a life annuity. The policies were 
effected in July for the above amount, at annual premiums of £750, and on the morning 
of the 17th of November the widow Pauw was found in great agony, and died in the 
evening. Dr. Gaudenat, who had been in attendance, certified that death was caused 
by a fall three months previously. Pommerais afterwards applied to the companies for 
payment of the money due upon the policies; but suspicions having arisen, a,post¬ 
mortem, examination wa,s ordered, and hence the present trial. The post-mortem exa¬ 
mination was made by MM. Tardieu and Poussin. No poison was discovered in the 
viscera, but there was an absence of disease in the internal organs. However, from the 
symptoms exhibited before death, and from experiments made on animals with the vomited 
matters scraped from the floor of the room occupied by the deceased, and with the con¬ 
tents of the stomach, they were of opinion that death had resulted from some powerful 
poison, probably digitaline. On the other side it was contended that the experiments 
made with the matter scraped from the floor of the room were valueless, as it was impos¬ 
sible to say that organic matter in a state of decomposition might not have been suffi¬ 
ciently poisonous to cause the effects described. MM. Claude Bernard, Valpian, and 
Raynal were examined as to the action of digitaline on the heart, and described the 
experiments they had made with that substance. The jury found the prisoner guilty of 
poisoning the widow De Pauw. No mention of extenuating circumstances having been 
made, La Pommerais was condemned to death, and has since suffered the penalty. 
Poisoning by Ranunculus acris. —An inquest was recently held at the Bull 
Hotel, Dartford, before Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner, on the body of a child named Sarah 
Elizabeth Heron, aged six years. It appeared by the evidence of the mother and 
father of the child, that some time before death the deceased had complained of feeling 
very unwell, and in great pain about the body and legs. The mother afterwards dis¬ 
covered that the deceased had been eating buttercups from a field close by, and sent for a 
powder from a chemist’s ; but as the deceased vomited a great deal, and presented every 
appearance of having been poisoned, the parish surgeon (Mr. Martin) was sent for, but 
that gentleman did not arrive at the house till the child was dead. A post-mortem 
examination had been made, which proved the deceased had been poisoned by eating 
buttercups ; and the jury returned a verdict to that effect. 
Suicide by Aconite. —An inquest has been held at Bolton on the body of Hannah 
Hulme, aged 25, a domestic servant, who died from the effects of aconite. It was 
proved in evidence that she had been visited for the last eight months by a married man, 
who had represented himself as single. On finding that she had been deceived, and 
that she was pregnant, she drank a quantity of strong infusion of aconite, the remain¬ 
ing portion of which was found in a pint jug under the bed on which she was found 
dead. The jury found that “ The deceased destroyed herself by drinking an infusion 
of aconite whilst in a state of unsound mind.” The man was severely reprimanded for 
his heartless conduct. 
Tincture of Aloes as an Application to Wounds. — M. Delioux observes that, 
notwithstanding the great repute of aloes as an external application in former times, it 
is now seldom used, and that he was induced to give it a trial in consequence of its great 
utility in veterinary practice. After trying it in combination with other balsamic sub¬ 
stances, he has come to use it alone, finding a saturated tincture made with one part of 
aloes and two of alcohol to be the best preparation. Suppurating wounds, when at all 
of an atonic character, are to be dressed by means of charpie dipped in the tincture, the 
application causing little or no pain. Old and obstinate ulcers, and ulcers from decubitus 
in cachectic subjects are much benefited by it. It is useful also to bear in mind its great 
cicatrizing power in wounds and ulcers occurring in our domestic animals, especially the 
