ARSENIC. 
601 
§ 772-] 
time after death, when no organs or parts (save the bones) are to be 
distinguished. In the case of a man long dead, the widow confessing 
that she had administered poison, the bones were analysed by Sonnen- 
schein, and a small quantity of arsenic found. Conierbe and Orfila have 
both asserted that arsenic is a normal constituent of the bones—a state¬ 
ment which has been repeatedly disproved. Sonnenschein relates : 1 — 
“ I procured from a churchyard of this place (Berlin) the remnants of 
the body of a person killed twenty-five years previously, and investigated 
several others in a similar way, without finding the least trace of arsenic. 
Similar experiments in great numbers were repeated in my laboratory, 
but in no case was arsenic recognised.” The opinion of the expert, 
should he find arsenic in the bones, must be formed from the amount 
discovered, and other circumstances. 
A difficult case on which to form an opinion is one recorded by 
William P. Mason, 2 as follows :— 
The deceased, a farmer, bachelor, sixty-five years of age, and in good health, was 
taken violently sick shortly after breakfast, with vomiting and distress in the 
stomach. Although a physician was summoned, the symptoms increased in severity, 
and a little after midnight death ensued. The funeral took place three days later. 
Certain very damaging pieces of circumstantial evidence having been collected, the 
housekeeper was arrested on the charge of murder, it having been shown, among 
other things, that on the day preceding the death she had purchased an ounce of 
white arsenic. 
Thirty-five days after death (from March 20 to April 25) the body was exhumed, 
and found in a state of remarkable preservation, and free from cadaveric smell. The 
stomach presented evidences of inflammation. 
Portions sent for analysis were the stomach, portion of intestine, portion of fiver, 
one kidney, and the heart. Arsenic was found in all these parts. White octahedral 
crystals were found in the contents of the stomach, which on separation gave 
arsenical reaction. 
The arsenic found was :— 
Stomach and intestine 
Liver and kidney . 
Heart 
0-2376 grm. 
0-0032 „ 
0-0007 „ 
Total as metallic arsenic 
0-2415 „ 
The amount of arsenic recovered and produced in court was in quantity sufficient 
to produce death. Some time after the analytical report was made to the coroner, it 
was learned that an embalming fluid, highly arsenical in character, had been used 
upon the body by the undertaker at the time of preparation for burial. No injection 
of this embalming fluid was practised, but cloths wrung out in the fluid were laid 
upon the face and chest, and were kept constantly wet therewith during a period of 
many hours. In all, about two quarts of embalming fluid were so used. Its com¬ 
position appeared to be a strongly acidified solution of sodium arsenite and zinc sul¬ 
phate. Only the arsenic and zinc were determined quantitatively, and they were 
found to be : zinc (metallic), 1-978 per cent., and arsenic (metallic), 1-365 per cent, by 
weight. An amount of this fluid measuring 15-7 c.c. would thus contain a weight 
of arsenic equal to that actually recovered from the body. 
Extended medical testimony was offered by the prosecution, tending to show that, 
1 Gerichtl. Chem., p. 212. 
2 Chem. News, Feb. 23, 1894. 
