Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
February,  1903.  J 
Detecting  Cases  of  Poisoning. 
understanding  than  the  acute  cases  of  food-poisoning  in  the  warmer 
season.  Apart  from  the  newspaper  exploitation  of  ptomains,  we 
find  that  even  intelligent  people  think  that  such  cases  are  due  to 
some  metallic  compounds.  Reinsch's  test  will  eliminate  many  of 
these.  Copper  is  not  infrequently  suspected  as  a  cause  of  poisoning 
in  cream-puffs,  and  there  is  a  sort  of  Santa-Claus  legend  that  this 
agreeable  but  treacherous  dessert  is  baked  in  copper  pans.  How 
such  a  practice  could  introduce  enough  copper  to  cause  poisoning, 
even  if  it  were  in  vogue,  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  Copper-salts  are 
irritants,  but  when  in  quantity  to  cause  poisoning  would  give  such 
a  disagreeable  taste,  and  probably  so  noticeable  a  color  to  the  mass 
as  to  warn  any  one  of  the  danger.  Of  course,  any  properly  educated 
druggist  should  be  able  to  test  for  copper  in  common  food-articles; 
but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  minute  amounts  of  this  element 
are  present  in  many  tissues,  and  also  that  contamination  may  occur 
from  the  flame  of  the  gas-burner.  Hence,  the  finding  of  mere  traces 
of  copper  will  not  prove  anything  from  a  toxicologic  point  of  view. 
The  reaction  with  potassium  ferrocyanid  or  with  a  bright  steel 
needle  will  be  convenient  methods  of  showing  copper  in  objectionable 
amount. 
A  very  important  part  of  the  detection  of  poisoning  and  punish- 
ment of  guilty  parties  is  the  proper  collection  and  forwarding  of 
specimens.  In  large  cities  the  coroner's  officers  or  the  police  author- 
ities generally  take  charge,  but  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  in  an 
emergency  some  one  will  visit  a  nearby  druggist  and  get  a  few  jars 
for  specimens.  If  you  have  a  chance  to  give  advice,  do  not  lose  the 
opportunity  to  get  the  different  materials  put  into  separate  vessels. 
The  ignorance  and  carelessness  that  I  have  encountered  in  this  re- 
gard is  astonishing.  A  distinguished  pathologist  once  brought  me 
materials  from  a  postmortem  of  suspected  poisoning,  and  he  had 
put  the  liver  in  with  contents  of  the  stomach.  Of  course,  it  was  then 
impossible  to  tell  whether  the  material  in  the  liver  had  been 
absorbed  from  the  stomach  before  death  or  alter  death — a  point  of 
greatest  moment  in  such  a  case.  Put  each  organ  and  material  in  a 
separate  vessel ;  use  new  bottles  or  jars  and  rinse  them  well  with 
ordinary  tap- water  (this  is  better  than  distilled  water,  for  the  latter 
may  contain  small  amounts  of  some  compound  derived  from  the 
distilling  apparatus).  J  have  had  specimens  sent  to  me  in  tomato 
cans  and  beer  bottles:    If  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  use  a  preserva- 
