POISONING  BY  D1GITALINE. 
455 
river  Sogamoza  to  that  place  when  I  leave  Bojorques,  I  hope  to 
be  able  to  procure  specimens  of  the  plant  that  produces  it  there. 
— Lond.  Pharm.  Journal,  Aug.  1,  1864. 
Barranca  Vermeija,  on  the  River  Magdalena,  New  Grenada, 
January  IWi,  1864. 
POISONING  BY  DTGITALINE. 
A  very  remarkable  trial  has  lately  taken  place  at  Paris,  in 
which  a  homoepathic  physician,  named  La  Pommerais,  was 
charged  with  having  poisoned  a  poor  widow  named  Pauw,  whom 
he  had  known  for  many  years,  and  had  attended  her  husband 
before  his  death,  after  which  she  became  his  mistress ;  and 
this  connection  continued  till  1861,  when  it  was  broken  off  in 
consequence  of  Pommerais  marrying  a  Madlle.  Dubizy.  The  inti- 
macy was  renewed  in  July  last,  when  he  suggested  that  she  should 
insure  her  life  for  <£22,000,  and  that  after  the  payment  of  the 
first  premiums  she  should  simulate  illness,  and  then  make  a 
proposal  to  the  insurance  companies  that  her  policies  should  be 
exchanged  for  a  life  annuity.  The  policies  were  effected  in 
.July  for  the  above  amount,  at  annual  premiums  of  £750,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  November  the  widow  Pauw  was 
found  in  great  agony,  and  died  in  the  evening.  Dr.  Gaudenat, 
who  had  been  in  attendance,  certified  that  death  was  caused  by 
a  fall  three  months  previously.  Pommerais  afterwards  applied 
to  the  companies  for  payment  of  the  money  due  upon  the 
policies  ;  but  suspicions  having  arisen,  a  post-mortem  examina- 
tion was  ordered,  and  hence  the  present  trial.  The  post-mor-  # 
tern  examination  was  made  by  MM.  Tardieu  and  Roussin.  No 
poison  was  discovered  in  the  viscera,  but  there  was  an  absence 
of  disease  in  the  internal  organs.  However,  from  the  symp- 
toms exhibited  before  death,  and  from  experiments  made  on  an- 
imals with  the  vomited  matters  scraped  from  the  floor  of  the 
room  occupied  by  the  deceased,  and  with  the  contents  of  the 
stomach,  they  were  of  opinion  that  death  had  resulted  from 
some  powerfut  poison,  probably  digitaline.  On  the  other  side, 
it  was  contended  that  the  experiments  made  with  the  matter 
scraped  from  the  floor  of  the  room  were  valueless,  as  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say  that  organic  matter  in  a  state  of  decomposition 
