100 
REPORT ON CHLOROFORM. 
all the four cavities, indicating death by paralysis of the muscles of the heart. 
Although there was no reddening of the coats of the intestines, there had been 
purging, which had removed all faecal matter, leaving only in the intestines a 
whitish semi-fluid emulsion of the seed. The bladder was perfectly empty and 
contracted. There was really nothing in the post-mortem appearances to indi¬ 
cate the cause of death, except the peculiar contents of the intestines, and had 
. these been removed by purging, there would have been nothing to distinguish 
between death by this poison and death by cholera. From my chemical analysis 
I should also infer that although in this instance circumstances favoured the de- 
tection of the poison in the intestines after death, yet in a minimum fatal dose, 
or a prolonged purging before death, nothing would be found in the body to 
identify the poison or to account for death. 
I am indebted to Dr. Frazer, of Edinburgh, who has investigated the subject 
■with great ability, for a valuable communication during my analysis, and the 
tests Nos. 3, 4, and 5 in my analysis were suggested by him. 
Conclusions. 
1. The bean is edible in poisonous quantities, and although slightly rough in 
its flavour, does not appear to excite disgust or alarm when eaten alone, and 
.would be undiscovered when mixed with food. 
2. The symptoms are not always immediate, nor is vomiting induced, except 
when the dose is excessive; nor would the secondary symptoms, viz. dizziness, 
faintness, and loss of power in the limbs, excite sufficient alarm to call for me¬ 
dical assistance until life was really in immediate danger. 
3. The symptoms would scarcely be distinguished from sudden indigestion or 
English cholera in time to save the life of the patient. 
4. In criminal cases, nothing might be detected by autopsy or by chemical 
analysis to reveal the cause of death. 
5. So insidious a poison should not only be stored, but also handled with great 
caution ; its alcoholic solutions or extractive, when introduced into the circula¬ 
tion, acting as a slow but certain poison, leaving no trace in the body which 
can be identified by chemical tests in our present knowledge of the poison. # 
ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE ROYAL 
MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY, ON CHLOROFORM. 
In laying their Report before the Council of the Medical and Chirurgical Society, the 
Committee on Chloroform desire to state that they have made comparatively little refer¬ 
ence to the medical portion of the subject. This is not due to their thinking the medical 
uses of chloroform of little importance, but to the fact that but few replies to their in¬ 
quiries upon this point have been received. 
In view of the great extent of the subject submitted to their consideration, the Com¬ 
mittee directed their attention to such points as appeared to them of chief practical import¬ 
ance. Thus their observations respecting the action of chloroform on the nervous system, 
and their remarks on some other points, are less full than would have been desirable had 
the Committee regarded such details as of equal importance with those specially elected 
for investigation—such as its influence on the action of the heart and on respiration. 
The Committee have chiefly confined their physiological report to observations which 
they have themselves made. Without overlooking or neglecting the labours of former 
investigators, they have endeavoured rather to furnish an accurate account of experiments 
which they have observed carefully and together, and to compare the results thus ob¬ 
tained and agreed upon with the phenomena of cases in which death or peril of life has 
arisen from the inhalation of chloroform in the human subject. 
Physiological conclusions .—The sequence of the phenomena produced by chloroform 
inhalation in animals is similar to that observed in man, and if the same percentage of 
* For Analysis, see pp. 136-137. 
