232 
RESEARCH TOR ARSENIC AND ANTIMONY. 
The boiling was continued for two hours, when nearly one 
half of the liquid had been collected iu the receiver. This 
was found to contain arsenic on applying Reinsch's process.” 1 
I have at intervals since this time continued the practice of 
boiling the tissues in a retort and analysing the distillate, when¬ 
ever a suspicion existed that arsenic was present, but in very 
small quantity; and when Reinsch’s process did not at once 
indicate the presence of the poison. 
The fact, therefore, that arsenic could be procured from the 
tissues by distillation with hydrochloric acid, has been known 
and acted on for the last fourteen years. The facilities pre¬ 
sented by Reinsch's process had rendered it unnecessary to 
resort to distillation in most cases, as the presence of organic 
matter did not interfere with its operation. 
In 1849-50 I find, from notes in my possession, that my 
friend and colleague, the late Mr. Arthur Aikin, laid before 
the classes of Guy's Hospital, and demonstrated, the method 
of procuring chloride of arsenic by the use of salt and sul¬ 
phuric acid. The note is to the following effect: 
“ If one part, by weight, of arsenious acid, three parts of 
common salt, and four parts of strong sulphuric acid, are 
mixed and distilled, there comes over a thick, oily liquid, 
formerly called butter or oil of arsenic, which is hydrated 
terchloride (As Cl 3 + 3HO).”— MSS. Lectures . In 1851-2, Dr. 
Schneider proposed a mixture of salt and sulphuric acid for 
procuring arsenic from organic matter, and it succeeded more 
perfectly than he had anticipated, considering that the anhy¬ 
drous chloride of arsenic does not boil under 270®. 2 
Schneider advises that the salt and acid should be accurately 
tested before use, so as to ascertain that they are free from 
arsenic. He gives a number of minute precautions, and a 
form of apparatus, for an account of which I must refer the 
reader to his work. The common salt should always be in 
large excess, in order to prevent the production of sulphurous 
acid by a reaction towards the close of the distillation, between 
the organic matter and sulphuric acid. He found that when 
arsenious acid was dissolved in a large excess of hydrochloric 
acid and distilled, the whole of the arsenic went over as the 
chloride, mixed with the vapour of the acid; not a trace of 
arsenic remained in the retort. Thus he found it impossible 
to purify by distillation hydrochloric acid rendered impure by 
1 ‘On Poisons in relation to Medical Jurisprudence and Medicine,’ 1st 
edition, 1848, p. 363. 
2 * Die Gerichtliche Chemie fiir Gerichtsartze mid Juristen,’ bearbeitet 
von Dr. F. C. Schneider, Docenten der Cheinie an der Wiener Universitat. 
Vienna, 1852, pp. 193, 206. 
