RESEARCH FOR ARSENIC AND ANTIMONY. 
235 
myself in 1846-7. This was, no doubt, the cause of the 
arsenic not coming over entirely. Dr. Christison simply 
applied Reinsch’s process to the distillate ; and Dr. Penny, 
although he might have obtained arseniuretted hydrogen by 
the use of zinc alone, added a strong solution of potash. The 
only tests to which the gas thus procured was submitted were 
the peculiar odour and the action of nitrate of silver. 
In the ‘ Guy’s Hospital Reports 5 for 1855, 1 Dr. Odling has 
published the account of an experiment which, at the sug¬ 
gestion of the late Mr. Scanlan, he performed on the stomach 
of a dog. He distilled it to dryness with hydrochloric acid. 
Arsenic was very abundantly detected in the distillate, and the 
residuum was not by any means free from the poison. Alto¬ 
gether, the process did not present any advantages to com¬ 
pensate for the increased trouble attending it. Subsequent 
experience has, however, satisfied him that he had here under¬ 
valued this method of separating arsenic. 
This I believe, comprises all that is recorded in English 
medical literature,or that has been done by English chemistsin 
reference to the method of separating arsenic by hydrochloric 
acid* up the summer of 1859? It was at this time that the 
objections taken to Reinsch 5 s process induced me to revise the 
facts already known regarding the action of hydrochloric acid 
on arsenic, and the conditions under which the acid might be 
used for the separation of this poison from organic matter. 
During the last twelve months I have made many experiments 
on this subject, the results of which are here given. In addition 
to the other well-known properties of arseniuretted hydrogen, 
for which science is indebted to the researches of Gav Lussac 
w 
and Soubeiran, I have found that the use of strong nitric 
acid for oxidizing the gas is a useful addition to this branch 
of medico-legal research, a fact which appears to have been 
hitherto overlooked. 
PROCESS FOR ANTIMONY. 
I have little to say on this subject; for nearly all that can 
be said is comprised in the following remarks. 
For the detection in, and the separation of antimony from, 
the tissues , the best plan, according to my experiments, is that 
which was originally suggested by Reinsch, in 1841. The 
1 Third series, vol. i, p. 293, 1855. In the last volume of these ‘Reports/ 
for October, 1859, the experiment is again referred to at pp. 370 and 371, 
but by a typographical error the year is set down in both references as 1851 
instead of 1855. 
