taken; and although the usual symptoms followed, the parties did well. The last case was the subject of a trial at the Central Criminal Court, in September, 1836. Six drachms of the tincture were administered to a girl, aged seventeen: the medical witness was required to say whether half an ounce was sufficient to kill, as also what proportion of cantharides was contained in an ounce of the tincture: he said, five grains. One ounce of the tincture, (P. L.) is equivalent to six grains of the powder; but considering that the principle cantharidine is the substance on which the poisonous properties depend, it is very likely that the tincture varies in strength according to its mode of preparation. A case is quoted by Pereira, from Dr. Hosack (Mat. Med. ii. 1842,) in which it is said six ounces of the tincture were taken by a man without causing dangerous symptoms! This must have been an extraordinarily weak preparation; and probably the insects from which the tincture was made contained little or no cantharidine. The same writer mentions a case within his own knowledge, in which one ounce of the tincture caused serious symptoms.

Chemical Analysis.-Cantharidine is the vesicating, and at the same time the poisonous principle of the insect. It is a white solid crystallizable substance, insoluble in water; but soluble in ether, alcohol, the oils and caustic alkalies. Although water does not dissolve it in its pure state, it takes it up with other principles from the powdered insect; and thus an infusion of cantharides is poisonous. It is very volatile, and produces serious effects in the state of vapour. There are no chemical characters by which this principle can be safely identified, if we except its vesicating properties. Orfila has applied reagents to detect cantharidine in the tincture; but without success. It has been recommended to digest the suspected solid, or the liquid contents of the stomach evaporated to an extract, in successive quantities of ether, to concentrate these ethereal solutions by slow evaporation, and then observe whether the concentrated liquid produces vesication or not; the medical jurist being expected in such cases to make himself the subject of experiment. In this way, Barruel discovered cantharides in some chocolate. (Ann. d'Hyg. 1835, i. 455.) This mode of testing is somewhat uncertain, unless the quantity of poison be large; and the affirmative evidence which it yields is better than the negative; since we can hardly infer the absence of the poison when we obtain no result. There is, however, no other mode of discovering cantharidine in solution, whether as tincture or infusion, than this. The difficulty of extracting this principle may be conceived, when it is stated that, according to Thierry's experiments, which are the most perfect, the quantity of cantharidine contained in the poison is only about the 250th part of the weight of the fly, so that it would require nearly half an ounce of the powder to yield one grain of cantharidine. The quantity required to produce vesication is unknown, but it is extremely small. Cantharides are most commonly taken in powder, and then we may easily recog nise the poison by its physical characters. If the insect be entire, or only coarsely powdered, there can be no doubt of its nature. However finely reduced, the powder is observed to present, by reflected light, small golden-green or copper-coloured scales. These are perceptible to the eye, and are very distinct under a common lens, or by the aid of the microscope. It has been recommended to separate the particles of cantharides, by suspending the liquid or other contents of the stomach in warm water, when the insoluble powder will subside, and they may be collected and dried for examination. In an elaborate essay on this subject (Ann. d'Hyg. Oct. 1842,) M. Poumet recommends that the suspected liquids, mixed with alcohol, should be spread on sheets of glass, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously to dryness. The shining scales will then be seen, on examining, by reflected light, either one or both surfaces of the glass. This experiment answers very well. He has also found that the particles adhering to the mucous membrane of the stomach or intestines might be easily detected by inflating the viscus, and allowing it to become dry in the distended

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state, taking care to attach to it a heavy weight, so that during the process of drying all the folds of the mucous membrane may disappear. On cutting the dried membrane, and opening it on a flat surface, the shining scales are perceptible. Physical evidence of this kind would not be of much avail for medicolegal purposes, unless there were concomitant evidence from symptoms and postmortem appearances. In trials for administering, the analysis might be confined to the article administered; and the physical test is then applicable, since the powder is commonly given in very large quantity. There are many insects besides cantharides, which have wings of a golden green colour, and are not poisonous, yet such insects are not likely to be found in the state of powder in the human stomach. M. Poumet states that there are some cantharides which contain no cantharidine.

The evidence of the presence of cantharides, or of their having been taken, is necessary to support a criminal charge; for, however unambiguous the symptoms produced by this poison may appear to be in its peculiar effects upon the generative and urinary apparatus, the medical jurist should be aware that similar symptoms may proceed from disease. An important case of this kind has been reported by Dr. Hastings. (Med. Gaz. xii. 431.) A young lady was suddenly seized with vomiting, thirst, pain in the loins, strangury and considerable discharge of blood from the urethra: the generative organs were swollen and painful. She died in four days. She was governess in a family, and there was some suspicion that she had been poisoned by cantharides. The stomach and the kidneys were found inflamed, and the bladder also: this contained about two ounces of blood. There was no trace of poison; and, indeed, it was pretty certain, from the general evidence, that none could have been taken.

Particles of cantharides may be detected in the viscera long after interment. Orfila has detected them after a period of nine months, so that they do not seem to be affected by the decomposition of the body. [Several species of Lytta, possessing all the properties of cantharides, are to be found in this country. An account of them may be found in the Phila. Journ. of Pharm. 776.-H.]

POISONOUS FOOD.

Certain kinds of animal food are found to produce, occasionally, symptoms resembling those of irritant poisoning. In some cases this poisonous effect appears to be due to idiosyncrasy; for only one person out of several may be affected. These cases are of some importance to the medical jurist, since they are very likely to give rise to unfounded charges of criminal poisoning. In the absence of any demonstrable poison, we must test the question of idiosyncrasy by observing whether more than one person is affected, and whether the same kind of food, given to animals, produces symptoms of poisoning. If, with this latter condition, several persons be affected simultaneously, we cannot refer the effects to idiosyncrasy; they are most probably due to the presence of an animal poison. Among the articles of food which have given rise to symptoms of poisoning, may be mentioned,

Poisonous Fish. Mussels. Salmon.-Of all the varieties of shell-fish, none have so frequently given rise to accidents as the common mussel. The symptoms which it produces are, uneasiness and sense of weight in the stomach, sensation of numbness in the extremities, heat and constriction in the mouth and throat; thirst, rigors, difficulty of breathing, cramps in the legs, swelling and inflammation of the eyelids, with a profuse secretion of tears, and heat and itching of the skin, followed by an eruption resembling nettle-rash. The symptoms are sometimes accompanied by vomiting, colic, and purging. They may occur within ten minutes or a quarter of an hour; but their appearance has been delayed for twenty-four hours. There is generally great debility. These symptoms have proceeded from the eating of not more than ten or twelve mussels. Two cases, reported by Christison, proved fatal, the one in three, and the other

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in about seven hours. In general, however, especially where there is free vomiting, the patients recover. In the inspection of the two above-named fatal cases, no appearance was found to account for death. The treatment consists in the free exhibition of emetics. A case in which two mussels produced in a boy aged ten, very alarming symptoms, followed by an eruption resembling scarlatina and nettle-rash, will be found elsewhere reported. (Guy's Hosp. Reports, Oct. 1850, 213.)

The poisonous action of mussels can neither be referred to putrefaction nor disease; nor in all cases to idiosyncrasy, since sometimes those mussels only have been poisonous which have been taken from a particular spot: all persons who partook of them suffered, and a dog was killed to which some of them were given. From a case which occurred to M. Bouchardat, it would appear that copper is sometimes present, and may be the cause of the poisonous effects. Two women were poisoned by mussels, and he found on analysis sufficient copper in the fish to account for the symptoms of irritation from which they suffered. (Ann. d'Hyg. 1837, i. 358.) Copper is not, however, present in all cases, and it is therefore probable that there is in some, if not in all instances, an animal poison present in the fish. Oysters and Periwinkles have occasionally given rise to similar symptoms. Salmon, sold in the state of pickled salmon, or even Herrings salted, may also act as irritants: this may be due to the fish being partially decayed before it is used. In 1834, two persons at Maidstone lost their lives from eating salmon of this description.

Cheese. Sausages.-These articles of food have frequently given rise to symptoms of poisoning in Germany, but there is, I believe, no instance of their having proved fatal in England. The symptoms produced by cheese have been those of irritant poisoning. The nature of the poison is unknown. In some cases the irritant property is undoubtedly due to a putrefied state of the curd. Again, it has been supposed that the poison is occasionally derived from certain vegetables on which the cows feed. The symptoms caused by the sausage-poison are very slow in appearing,-sometimes two, three, or four days elapse before they manifest themselves: they partake of the narcotico-irritant character. This poison is of a very formidable kind. In the Medical Gazette for Nov. 1842, there is an account of the cases of three persons, who had died from the effects of liversausages, which had been made from an apparently healthy pig, slaughtered only a week before. The inspection threw no light on the cause of death. The poisonous effect is supposed to depend on a partial decomposition of the fatty parts of the sausages. It is said, that when extremely putrefied, they possess no poisonous properties!

Pork Bacon.-These common articles of food occasionally give rise to symptoms so closely resembling those of irritant poisoning, as to be easily mistaken for them. In some cases, the effect appears to be due to idiosyncrasy; but in others it can only be explained by supposing the food to have a directly poisonous action. The noxious effects of pork have been particularly shown by the cases published by Dr. MacDivitt. (Ed. Med. and Surg. Jour. Oct. 1836.)

There is no doubt that epizootic disease may be a frequent cause of rendering animal food poisonous. Partial decay may also render unwholesome and injurious the flesh of the most healthy animal. What the nature of the poison is, we are quite unable to determine. Liebig imagines that it is owing to the production of a fermenting principle, and that it operates fatally by producing a kind of fermentation in the animal body. It has been said that the symptoms of irritant poisoning produced by animal food, seldom appear until five or six hours after the meal. This may be generally true, but in certain instances it has undoubtedly happened that the symptoms came on in from a quarter to half an hour after the noxious food was taken.

Much of the game and butcher's meat sold to the poor in this metropolis is in a state of decay, and quite unfit for human food. In January, 1851, the family

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of a surgeon near London were all affected with symptoms resembling irritant poisoning, after having partaken of a hare which had been stewed in a clean earthen vessel. The surgeon informed me that on the second day, his wife was seized with vomiting and purging, giddiness, heat in the throat, and general numbness, with semi-inflamed eyes. Other members of the family vomited, and in the course of a few days the symptoms disappeared. I examined the vomited matter, and found it to consist of portions of the hare, partially digested, but in a state of putrefaction, so that there was abundant evidence of sulphuretted hydrogen in the liquid. There was no mineral poison of any kind, although the symptoms, it will be observed, were rather like those occasioned by arsenic. It had been remarked by the family, that a silver spoon which had been used in serving out this unwholesome food, was turned of a brown colour, no doubt from the chemical action of sulphuretted hydrogen; and this may be taken as a good domestic test of the putrefied condition of such food. Nature generally applies an appropriate remedy, in the fact that the food itself produces copious vomiting and purging.

Cases of this kind must be distinguished from those in which poisoned game is sold to the public. The game may be quite free from putrefaction, but noxious from the poisoned grain which may have caused death. It is a very common practice to steep grain in a solution of arsenic previous to sowing, and pheasants, partridges, and other birds, may be accidentally destroyed by eating the grain. In some instances, grouse and other game are maliciously destroyed by corn saturated with arsenic being laid in the localities where the birds abound. There is no law to prevent the sale of the poisoned game by poulterers, and there is no precaution which can be taken, except by observing whether the birds have been shot. (See the work ON POISONS, p. 164; also on this subject, a letter by Dr. Fuller, Med. Gaz. xlii. 1036.)

[The most frequent cases of poisoning from animal substances in the United States, have occurred from the pheasant. (Tetrao umbellus.) This bird, during the winter season, has sometimes caused dangerous symptoms in persons who have eaten it. These have generally been attributed to the fact of the bird having fed upon the leaves and buds of the Laurel (Kalmia,) and many facts have been adduced which are considered as corroborating this opinion, the most striking of which is the occurrence of the leaves of the plant in the crops of the birds. Notwithstanding this almost universal belief, Dr. Griffith, from whom we quote, is by no means satisfied with this explanation, but is inclined to attribute it to some change in the flesh analogous to that noticed above as taking place in other meats, since the symptoms are almost identical, and these cases are rare, whilst nearly all these birds feed on the laurel, when the ground is covered with snow, and other food cannot be readily obtained.

We have known cases also of serious irritation of the kidneys and bladder, from eating game which had been rendered poisonous by feeding on the potato fly, a species of Lytta.

But by far the most interesting subject connected with animal poisons in this country is that of "milk sickness," as it is termed, a disease with symptoms resembling those caused by the animal poisons, which has been not unfrequent and oftentimes fatal, in some of the western States, and is almost universally attributed to poison communicated to the milk from some noxious plant eaten by the cow. It is also stated that the flesh of the animal becomes equally deleterious with the milk. The accounts of this disease, as Dr. Griffith justly says, are by no means satisfactory, nor has it been shown that any plants fed on by the cow are capable of thus rendering the secretions and flesh of the animal so highly noxious. From all the evidence on the subject, he considers it more probable that it is rather attributable to some peculiar disease of the cattle, more especially as it is known that murrain will thus render the flesh of animals poisonous to man. See Am. Med. Recorder, vi. 257; Am. Journ. Med. Science, 1841; New York Journ. Med. 1843; also Taylor on Poisons, 441, 456.—H.]

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NARCOTIC POISONS.

CHAPTER XVI.

NARCOTIC POISONS-OPIUM-SYMPTOMS-PERIOD OF COMMENCEMENT-POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES QUANTITY REQUIRED TO DESTROY LIFE-DEATH FROM SMALL, AND RECOVERY FROM LARGE DOSES-ITS ACTION ON INFANTS-PERIOD AT WHICH DEATH TAKES PLACEPOISONING BY POPPIES-GODFREY'S CORDIAL-DALBY'S CARMINATIVE-PAREGORIC ELIXIR -DOVER'S POWDER-MORPHIA AND ITS SALTS-BLACK DROP-SEDATIVE SOLUTION-TESTS FOR MORPHIA AND MECONIC ACID-PROCESS FOR DETECTING OPIUM IN ORGANIC MIXTURres.

OPIUM.

Symptoms.-The symptoms which manifest themselves when a large dose of opium or its tincture has been taken, are in general of a uniform character. They consist in giddiness, drowsiness, strong tendency to sleep, stupor, succeeded by perfect insensibility, the person lying motionless, with the eyes closed as if in a sound sleep. In this stage he may be easily roused by a loud noise, and made to answer a question; but he speedily relapses into stupor. In a later stage, when coma has supervened with stertorous breathing, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to rouse him. The pulse is at first small, quick, and irregular, the respiration hurried, and the skin warm and bathed in perspiration -sometimes livid: but when the individual becomes comatose, the breathing is slow and stertorous: the pulse slow and full. The skin is occasionally cold and pallid. The pupils are sometimes contracted, at others dilated. From cases which I have been able to collect, contraction of the pupils is much more frequent than dilatation. In a case referred to me in 1846, one pupil was contracted and the other dilated. They are commonly insensible to light. The expression of the countenance is placid, pale, and ghastly: the eyes are heavy, and the lips are livid. Sometimes there is vomiting, or even diarrhoea; and if vomiting takes place freely before stupor sets in, there is great hope of recovery. This symptom is chiefly observed when a large dose of opium has been taken; and it may then be, perhaps, ascribed to the mechanical effect of the poison on the stomach. The odour of opium is occasionally perceptible in the breath. Nausea and vomiting, with headache, loss of appetite and lassitude, often follow on recovery. The muscles of the limbs feel flabby and relaxed, the lower jaw drops, the pulse becomes feeble and imperceptible, the sphincters are in a state of relaxation, the temperature of the body is low, there is a loud mucous rattle in breathing, and convulsions are sometimes observed before death: these are more commonly met with in children than in adults. One of the marked effects of this poison is to suspend all the secretions except that of the skin. During the lethargic state, the skin, although cold, is often copiously bathed in perspiration. It is a question yet to be determined, whether this may not be the medium by which the poison is principally eliminated.