270      DETECTION  OF  STRYCHNINE  IN  CASES  OF  POISONING. 
one  of  these  parts  mixed  with  J  grain  of  nitrate  of  strychnine. 
The  two  parts  treated  in  the  same  way  as  described  by  Messrs. 
Graham  and  Hofmann,*  by  digesting  and  agitating  during  24 
hours  with  animal  charcoal,  &c,  that  part  in  which  J  grain  of  the 
strychnine-salt  was  dissolved,  afforded  us  crystals  of  strychnine, 
whilst  toe  could  not  find  the  least  trace  in  the  other  part. 
4th  Experiment — On  the  15th  of  September,  J  grain  of 
strychnine  was  administered  to  a  young  dog.  Twenty  minutes 
after  the  introduction  of  the  poison,  its  action  commenced  by  ve- 
hement tetanic  spasms,  salivation,  and  excretion  of  urine,  and 
ten  minutes  later  the  dog  was  dead.f  The  stomach,  liver,  gall, 
bladder,  spleen,  kidneys,  intestines,  and  blood  were  taken  from 
the  body  and  separately  examined  on  the  18th  September,  when 
they  all  were  in  full  putrefaction.  The  result  of  this  investiga- 
tion was,  that  a  comparatively  large  quantity  of  strychnine  was 
obtained  from  the  stomach,  whilst  no  one  of  the  other  entrails 
contained  the  least  trace  of  this  poison. 
3rd.  Can  strychnine  always  be  found  in  the  corpse  of  an  in- 
dividual poisoned  by  it  ? 
After  we  had  proved  that  the  least  trace  of  strychnine  could 
be  detected  if  it  was  really  present,  we  desired  to  get  the  convic- 
tion if  poisoning  by  strychnine  could  always  be  proved  by  the 
aid  of  chemistry.  The  following  experiments  were  executed  with 
a  view  of  determining  this  point  : — 
1st  Experiment  A  middle-sized  dog  was  poisoned  by  intro- 
ducing a  solution  of  nitrate  of  strychnine  in  a  superficial  wound. 
Immediately  after  death,  4  ounces  of  the  blood  were  treated  ac- 
cording to  Stas's  method,  but  not  the  least  trace  of  strychnine 
could  be  detected. 
2nd  Experiment. — On  the  26th  September  we  administered 
to  a  small  dog  weighing  about  8  pounds,  at  10  o'clock  in  the 
*  Annalen  der  Chemie  und  Pharmacie,  Bd.  83,  S.  39. 
j"  The  same  dose  of  poison,  mixed  with  half  an  ounce  of  animal  fat,  was 
administered  to  another  dog  of  somewhat  larger  size,  for  the  purpose  of  test- 
ing the  assertion  of  Dr.  Pindell,  published  some  time  ago  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Pharmacy,  that  fat  would  neutralize  the  tonic  effect  of  strych- 
nine. The  result,  however,  proved  fatal  to  the  animal,  which  died  an  hour 
and  a  quarter  after  the  ingestion  of  the  poison. 
In  this  experiment,  the  admixture  of  fat  to  the  poison  had  no  other  effect 
than  to  retard  (and  not  to  neutralize)  its  mortal  effect. 
