NICOTINE. 
28l 
§ 339-] 
and death took place in five minutes. Bocarme now attempted to hide 
all traces of the nicotine by pouring strong acetic acid into the mouth 
and over the body of the deceased. The wickedness and cruelty of the 
crime were only equalled by the clumsy and unskilful manner of its 
perpetration. The quantity of nicotine actually used in this case must 
have been enormous, for Stas separated no less than -4 grm. from the 
stomach of the victim. 
Another known case of nicotine-poisoning was that of a man who 
took it for the purpose of suicide. The case is related by Taylor. It 
occurred in June 1863. The gentleman drank an unknown quantity 
from a bottle ; he stared wildly, fell to the floor, heaving a deep sigh, and 
died quietly without convulsion. A third case happened at Cherbourg, 1 
where an officer committed suicide by taking nicotine; but how much 
had been swallowed, and what were the symptoms, are equally unknown, 
for no one saw him during life after he had taken the poison. 
Poisoning by nicotine, pure and simple, then is rare. Tobacco¬ 
poisoning is very common, and has probably been experienced in a 
mild degree by every smoker in first acquiring the habit. Nearly all 
the fatal cases are to be ascribed to accident; but criminal cases are 
not unknown. Christison relates an instance in which tobacco in 
the form of snuff was put into whisky for the purpose of robbery. 
In 1854 a man was accused of attempting to poison his wife by putting 
snuff into her ale, but acquitted. In another case, the father of a child, 
10 weeks old, killed the infant by putting tobacco into its mouth. He 
defended himself by saying that it was applied to make the child sleep. 
In October 1855 2 a drunken sailor swallowed (perhaps for the 
purpose of suicide) his quid of tobacco, containing from about half an 
ounce to an ounce. He had it some time in his mouth, and in half 
an hour suffered from frightful tetanic convulsions. There was also 
diarrhoea ; the pupils were dilated widely ; the heart’s action became 
irregular ; and towards the end the pupils again contracted. He died 
in a sort of syncope, seven hours after swallowing the tobacco. 
§ 339. In 1829 a curious instance of poisoning occurred in the case 
of two girls, 18 years of age, who suffered from severe symptoms of 
tobacco-poisoning after drinking some coffee. They recovered ; and 
it was found that tobacco had been mixed with the coffee-berries, and 
both ground up together. 3 
Accidents have occurred from children playing with old pipes. In 
1877 4 a child, aged 3, used for an hour an old tobacco-pipe, and blew 
soap bubbles with it. Symptoms of poisoning soon showed themselves, 
and the child died in three days. 
1 Ann. cTHygiene, x. 404, 1861. 
2 Barkhausen, Pr. Ver. Zhj., xvii. 83, 1838. 
3 Pharm. Journ., 1877, p. 377. 
4 Edin. Med , Journ., 1855. 
