54 
Detecting  Cases  of  Poisoning. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    February,  1903. 
indicated.  Further  tests  are  needed  to  identify  this  exactly,  but  I 
will  not  describe  these.  It  is  sufficient  to  indicate  here  that  no  food 
article,  human  tissue,  secretion  or  excretion  in  normal  condition  will 
give  with  Reinsch's  test  a  distinct  stain  on  copper,  and  also  that 
very  small  amounts  of  arsenous  oxid,  tartar  emetic,  corrosive  subli- 
mate, calomel  and  bismuth  subnitrate  will  be  detected  by  it.  It  may 
seem  a  waste  of  time  to  discuss  here  this  well-known  test.  In  this 
audience  will  be  many  who  know  its  value  and  its  limitations,  and 
have  used  it  many  times,  but  I  know  from  a  long  experience  with 
practical  toxicologic  work  in  Philadelphia  that  many  doctors  and 
druggists  are  not  aware  of  the  ease  and  wide  usefulness  of  this  test. 
I  have  in  mind  now  a  case  in  which  a  Philadelphia  druggist  was 
asked  by  a  doctor  to  make  a  test  of  a  sample  of  coffee  which  the 
latter  supposed  to  have  been  the  cause  of  poisoning.  The  druggist 
tested  for  arsenic  by  adding  a  solution  of  copper  sulphate  to  the 
sample.  A  green  precipitate  was  produced,  and  he  decided  at  once 
that  this  was  copper  arsenite.  A  poor  woman  was  arrested  and 
detained  overnight  in  the  stationhouse.  The  sample  was  forwarded 
to  me  by  the  police  authorities,  and  I  had  no  difficulty  in  showing 
its  entire  freedom  from  metallic  poisons,  and  the  prisoner  was  dis- 
charged. A  modification  of  this  test  was  used  by  me  in  a  case  of 
poisoning  by  corrosive  sublimate,  to  which  I  was  suddenly  called. 
I  placed  a  drop  of  the  solution  (water  from  a  tea-kettle,  into  which 
the  corrosive  sublimate  had  been  dropped),  on  a  gold  coin,  and  held 
the  blade  of  a  knife  so  as  to  touch  the  coin  and  include  the  drop  on 
the  angle.    A  spot  of  amalgam  was  formed  on  the  gold. 
I  have  noted,  however,  that  certain  drugs,  which  in  ordinary  doses 
are  not  regarded  as  poisons,  may  give  positive  effects  with  Reinsch's 
test,  and  these  must  always  be  borne  in  mind,  especially  as  two  of 
them,  calomel  and  bismuth  subnitrate,  are  very  apt  to  be  given  in 
cases  of  irritation  of  stomach  and  bowels.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  see  any  particular  use  for  the  latter  drug  except  to  interfere  with 
toxicologic  examinations.  We  inherit  it  from  our  medieval  predeces- 
sors along  with  a  lot  of  other  useless  things — Roman  numerals,  the 
English  system  of  weights  and  measures,  blood  purifiers  and  the 
subjunctive  mood. 
The  negative  results  with  Reinsch's  test  are  often  of  good  value. 
By  its  means  one  is  able  to  eliminate  suspicion  in  many  common 
cases.    Upon  no  topic  in  toxicology  is  there  more  widespread  mis- 
