234 
RESEARCH FOR ARSENIC AND ANTIMONY. 
by distilling the organic matter with a mixture of common 
salt and sulphuric acid ; and, further, that the chloride of 
arsenic thus obtained in a pure state might be subsequently 
analysed by any of the usual processes. 
According to Dr. Christison, the process of extracting 
arsenic by distilling the viscera with hydrochloric acid was 
employed by Dr. Penny, of Glasgow, in 1852. In the case 
of Madeleine Smith (1857), bothDr. Christison and Dr. Penny 
obtained arsenic by the distillation of the viscera of the deceased 
L’Angelier with hydrochloric acid—the one from the liver, and 
the other from the fluid contents of the stomach. Dr. 
Christison's mode of operating is thus described in his 
evidence :— (( About four ounces of the liver were subjected to 
a modification, proposed in 1852 by Dr. Penny, of the process 
of Reinsch for detecting arsenic in such matter. The liver 
having been cut into small pieces, and boiled in hydrochloric 
acid and distilled water, in a glass flask, to which a distilling 
apparatus of glass was connected, the whole texture was 
gradually reduced to a fine pulp, and a distilled liquor was 
obtained which was collected in divided portions. These 
liquors were colourless and nearly clear. The first two 
portions obtained did not contain any arsenic; 1 the third 
gave faint traces of it ; the fifth and sixth portions, when 
separately subjected to the action of copper-gauze, gave cha¬ 
racteristically the usual dark gray incrustation, and this again 
was driven off as usual by heat in a small glass tube, and 
yielded in each case a white, sparkling ring of crystals, which 
were regular octaedres, or forms derived from the octaedre. 
The liver, therefore, contained arsenic.'” 2 Dr. Penny states 
-— (C A fourth portion of the prepared fluid (contents of the 
stomach) being properly acidified with hydrochloric acid, was 
distilled, and the distillate subjected to Fleitman’s process. 
For this purpose it was boiled with zinc and a strong solution 
of caustic potash. Arseniuretted hydrogen was disengaged, 
and was recognised by its odour as well as by its characteristic 
action on nitrate of silver.” 3 
It appears that, in the above cases, the acid employed in the 
distillation was used in a diluted state, as it was employed by 
1 No chloride was produced until some water had been expelled. 
2 Irvine’s ‘Report of the Trial of Madeleine Smith,’ 1S57, p. 61. It 
would thus appear that the use of Reinsch’s process with copper-gauze 
untested in its substance for arsenic, was employed by this excellent chemist 
and toxologist up to the summer of 1857 for the detection of arsenic in a 
liver, in a case of alleged murder by poison, and with perfect safety as to 
the results. 
3 Op. cit., p. 51. 
