INFLUENCE  OF  MORPHIA  IN  DISGUISING  STRYCHNIA.  218 
dal  or  suicidal  purposes,  is  a  subject  demanding  the  careful  con- 
sideration both  of  the  toxicologist  and  the  medical  jurist ;  and 
every  circumstance  connected  with  the  detection  of  this  most 
potent  agent  cannot  fail  to  interest  the  medical  profession  at 
large. 
The  author  lately  had  occasion  to  investigate  this  subject 
closely  in  connection  with  a  case  of  alleged  poisoning  by  strychnia. 
A  man  was  indicted  at  the  April  term,  1860,  for  the  murder  of 
his  wife,  in  Perry  County,  Pa.  Although  dying  under  suspi- 
cious circumstances,  no  post-mortem  examination  was  made  un. 
til  six  weeks  had  elapsed,  when  the  body  was  exhumed.  The 
stomach  and  a  portion  of  the  small  intestine  were  carefully  tied, 
and  along  with  the  adhering  pancreas  were  conveyed  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  placed  in  possession  of  Dr.  Reese  for  chemical  ex- 
amination. He  found  the  organic  structure  but  little  changed 
in  appearance  (eight  weeks  after  death)  and  the  contents  of  the 
vessels  consisted  of  four  or  five  fluidounces  of  a  thick  brownish 
homogeneous  fluid. 
Three  separate  analyses  were  made.  The  contents  of  the 
stomach — contents  of  the  intestine — and  the  tissues  themselves  ; 
each  of  which  was  carefully  repeated  ;  yet  he  "  entirely  failed  to 
detect  any  evidence  of  the  presence  of  strychnia,  either  by  the 
bitter  taste  of  the  final  extract,  or  by  the  very  delicate  color-test 
employed." 
Inasmuch  as  the  moral  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  the 
symptoms,  pointed  to  death  by  strychnia,  the  author  naturally 
sought  for  an  adequate  cause  to  explain  the  failure  to  detect 
the  poison.  After  giving  due  weight  to  the  effects  of  elimination 
by  the  excretions  during  six  hours  that  the  patient  survived,  and 
to  the  agency  of  decomposing  action  during  six  weeks  inhuma- 
tion, the  author  remarks  on  a  circumstance  in  connection  with 
the  case  which  he  viewed  with  especial  interest,  namely ;  "  the 
fact  that  the  woman  had  taken,  just  before  death,  by  the  advice 
of  her  medical  attendant,  a  quarter  of  a  grain  of  morphia,  with 
a  little  ipecacuanha  ;  but  she  did  not  vomit.  Now  the  value  of 
this  fact  is  just  this  :  It  has  been  ascertained  that  the  presence 
of  morphia  and  other  substances  has  the  effect  of  disguising  and 
entirely  neutralizing  the  usual  color-test  used  for  detecting 
strychnia  ;  so  that  the  latter  might  be  undoubtedly  present,  yet  if 
