70

SALT OF SORREL.

TARTARIC ACID.

washed. If any oxalic acid were present in the liquid, it will exist in this precipitate under the form of oxalate of lead. The following plan may be adopted for separating oxalic acid from the oxalate of lead:-Diffuse the precipitate in water, and pass into the liquid for about two hours, a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, taking care that the gas comes in contact with every portion of the precipitate. Black sulphuret of lead will be precipitated; and with it commonly the greater part of the organic matter which may have been mixed with the oxalate of lead. Filter, to separate the sulphuret of lead; the filtered liquid may be clear and highly acid. Concentrate by evaporation; the sulphuretted hydrogen dissolved in the liquid is thereby expelled, and oxalic acid may be ultimately obtained crystallized by evaporation on a piece of plate glass. If there were no oxalic acid present in the precipitate, no crystals will be procured on evaporation. If crystals be obtained, then they must be dissolved in water, and tested in the manner above directed.

BINOXALATE OF POTASH, OR SALT OF SORREL.

Symptoms and effects.-The poisonous effects of this salt entirely depend on the oxalic acid which it contains. It is said to be much used for the purpose of bleaching straw and removing ink-stains-being sold under the name of essential salt of lemons. The smallest quantity retailed to the public is a quarter of an ounce, and for this three-half-pence are charged. Its poisonous properties are not commonly known, or no doubt it would be frequently substituted for oxalic acid. Three cases of poisoning by this substance have occurred within a recent period: two of these proved fatal, while in the other the patient recovered.

In the case of recovery, a young lady, aged twenty, swallowed an ounce of the salt dissolved in warm water. She was not seen by any one for an hour and a half: she was then found on the floor, faint and exhausted, having previously vomited considerably. There was great depression, the skin cold and clammy, the pulse feeble, and there was a scalding sensation in the throat and stomach. There were also continued rigors. Proper medical treatment was adopted, and she recovered in two days,-still suffering from debility and great irritation of the stomach. During the state of depression, it was remarked that the conjunctivæ were much injected, and the pupils dilated. There was also great dimness of vision. (Med. Gaz., vol. xxvii. p. 480.)

This salt destroys life almost as readily as oxalic acid itself; and in the symptoms which it produces it closely resembles that poison. In one case, half an ounce killed an adult in so short a time as eight minutes; but probably the fatal effects in this instance were accelerated by the debilitated state of the person who took it. In another case reported by M. Chevallier, death took place in ten minutes. (Ann. d'Hyg., 1850, vol. i. p. 162.)

Chemical Analysis.-Its solution might be readily mistaken for oxalic acid: for, 1st, it has an acid reaction; and, 2d, it is precipitated by nitrate of silver and sulphate of lime, like oxalic acid: but with respect to the latter test, the precipitation, although more slowly produced, is much more copious. It is distinguished from oxalic acid-1. By its crystalline form, which, as seen in a few drops evaporated on glass, is plumose; and 2. By heating a portion on platina foil. While oxalic acid is volatile, the binoxalate leaves an ash, which, when sufficiently calcined, is alkaline, and it may be proved to contain potash by its dissolving in dilute nitric acid, with effervescence, and forming nitrate of potash.

TARTARIC ACID.

Symptoms and Appearances.-Tartaric acid has been hitherto considered not to possess any poisonous properties; but one case has occurred in which there was no doubt that it acted as an irritant, and destroyed life. The case referred to was the subject of a trial for manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court,

SYMPTOMS CAUSED BY POTASH AND SODA.

71

(Reg. v. Watkins) in January, 1845. The accused gave the deceased, a man aged twenty-four, by mistake, one ounce of tartaric acid instead of aperient salts. The deceased swallowed the whole dissolved in half a pint of warm water at a dose: he immediately exclaimed that he was poisoned: he complained of having a burning sensation in his throat and stomach, as though he had drunk oil of vitriol, and that he could compare it to nothing but being all on fire. Soda and magnesia were administered with diluent drinks. Vomiting set in, and continued until death, which took place nine days afterwards. On inspection, nearly the whole of the alimentary canal was found highly inflamed. The accused admitted that he had made a mistake, and tartaric acid was found in the dregs of the cup. The jury acquitted the prisoner. Another case of poisoning by this acid, with a report of the results of analysis, has been recently published by M. Devergie.(Ann. d'Hyg., 1851, ii. 432.)

ACETIC ACID.

This acid has been generally excluded from the class of poisons. Common vinegar, which contains only five per cent. of acetic acid, has often been taken in large doses without injurious consequences. From the experiments performed by Orfila on dogs, and from one case which he reports as having occurred in the human subject, acetic acid, when concentrated, appears to exert an irritant action on the body. (Annales d'Hygiene, 1831, ii. 159; also Toxicologie, ii. 198.) This is not more than we might have expected, seeing that the concentrated acid is highly corrosive. In the case referred to, the deceased, a young female aged nineteen, was found dying on the highway. She suffered from convulsions, and complained of pain in the stomach, and died in a very short time. On inspection, the stomach was found neither softened nor corroded, but its mucous membrane near the pylorus was almost black. The mucous glands were prominent, and the vessels were filled with black coagulated blood.

VINEGAR, which may be regarded as an organic mixture containing but a very small proportion of acetic acid, (five per cent.) may be examined by distilling a portion, and testing the distilled liquid for the acid. Vinegar, as it exists in commerce, always contains traces of sulphuric acid. In general it is easily recognised by its odour. Pelletan observed in the case of a young child that the abuse of vinegar led to a thinning of the mucous membranes of the stomach; and Landerer remarked that the milk of a wet-nurse who had been in the habit of taking large quantities of the Vinegar of Roses, became thin, very acid, and deficient in casein and oil. The infant which she was suckling gradually wasted and died, and the woman herself suffered severely. (Heller's Archiv. 1847, 2 H. s. 185.)

CHAPTER VIII.

POISONING BY THE ALKALIES.-POTASH, SODA, AND THEIR CARBONATES SYMPTOMS― FATAL EFFECTS OF THE CARBONATE OF POTASH-POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES-TREATMENT-AMMONIA AND SESQUICARBONATE OF AMMONIA (SAL VOLATILE) —CHEMICAL

ANALYSIS-TESTS FOR POTASH AND SODA-TESTS FOR AMMONIA.

POTASH AND SODA.

Symptoms.-The symptoms produced by potash and soda, when taken in a strong dose, are so similar that one description will serve for both. It must be observed that cases of alkaline poisoning are extremely rare, and have been, I believe, hitherto the result of accident. The most common form in which these poisons are met with, is in the state of pearlash (carbonate of potash) and soap

72

QUANTITY REQUIRED TO DESTROY LIFE.

lees (carbonate of soda.) The patient experiences, during the act of swallowing, an acrid caustic taste, owing to the alkaline liquid, if sufficiently concentrated, excoriating the mucous membrane. There is a sensation of burning heat in the throat, extending down the oesophagus to the epigastrium. Vomiting is not always observed; but when it does occur, the vomited matters are sometimes mixed with blood of a dark brown colour, and detached portions of mucous membrane; this effect depending on the degree of causticity in the liquid swallowed. The surface is cold and clammy: there is diarrhoea, with severe pain in the abdomen, resembling colic. The pulse is quick and feeble. In the course of a short time, the lips, tongue, and fauces, become swollen, soft, and red.

Post-Mortem Appearances.—In recent cases there are strong marks of the local action of the poison on the mucous membrane of the mouth, fauces, and œsophagus. This membrane has been found softened, detached, and inflamed in patches of a deep chocolate colour; sometimes almost black. The same appearance has been met with in the mucous membrane of the larynx and trachea. The stomach has had its mucous surface eroded in patches, and there has been partial inflammation.

Period of Death.-The most rapidly fatal case which I have found reported is that of a boy who died in three hours after swallowing three ounces of a strong solution of carbonate of potash. In another case, which occurred at Yarmouth, in 1835, a child, aged three years, took a small quantity of pearlash, which had deliquesced, and died in twenty-four hours. Death was caused, in this instance, by the inflammation induced in the larynx causing an obstruction to the process of respiration. In this respect, the caustic alkalies may destroy life like the mineral acids. But death may be a slow result of these poisons. Thus in an instance which was communicated to me, a lady swallowed, by mistake, one ounce and a half of the common solution of potash of the shops, which contains about five per cent. of caustic alkali. She recovered from the first symptoms of irritation, but died seven weeks afterwards, from pure exhaustion, becoming greatly emaciated before her death. Orfila refers to two cases of poisoning by carbonate of potash, in each of which half an ounce of this substance was taken by mistake for aperient salts. The patients, two young men, recovered from the first effects, but ultimately died; the one three months, and the other four months after the poison had been taken. The secondary fatal effects appear to be due to diarrhoea, great irritability of the stomach, loss of the functions of this organ from the destruction of the lining membrane, and stricture of the oesophagus, either of which causes may prove fatal at almost any period. A fatal case of stricture, produced by soap-lees after the lapse of two years and three months, is reported by Dr. Basham. (Lancet, March 2, 1850.) The constant use of the alkalies or their carbonates appears to be productive of latent mischief; yet the quantity which may be sometimes taken in divided doses without destroying life is enormous. Dr. Tunstall, of Bath, relates the case of a man who, for eighteen years, had been in the habit of taking bicarbonate of soda to remove dyspepsia. It is stated that for sixteen years he took two ounces of the bicarbonate daily! The man died suddenly, and on examining the stomach it was found to be greatly distended and extensively diseased,--conditions which were referred by Dr. Tunstall to the action of the carbonate of soda. (Med. Times, Nov. 30, 1850, p. 564.)

Quantity required to destroy life. The quantity of any of these alkaline poisons, required to destroy life, is unknown.

Chemical analysis.-CAUSTIC POTASH and SODA are known from their respective carbonates by giving a brown precipitate with a solution of nitrate of silver. The CARBONATES, on the other hand, yield a whitish-yellow precipitate. Caustic potash is known from caustic soda by the following characters:-1. Its solution, when not too much diluted with water, is precipitated of a canary-yellow colour, by bichleride of platina. 2. It is precipitated in granular white crystals,

POISONING BY SAL VOLATILE.

73

on adding the alkaline liquid gradually to a strong solution of tartaric acid, and occasionally stirring the mixture, or by digesting in it a large crystal of tartaric acid. Caustic soda is not precipitated by either of these tests, which will serve equally to distinguish the salts of potash from those of soda, if we except the binoxalate and bitartrate of potash, which, from being but little soluble in water, are not precipitated. 3. If we neutralize the two alkalies by diluted nitric acid, and crystallize the liquid on a slip of glass, should the alkali be potash, the crystals will have the form of long slender fluted prisms; if soda, of rhombic plates.

In liquids containing organic matter.-Such liquids are frothy; they possess an alkaline reaction, a peculiar alkaline odour, and are unctuous to the feel. The organic liquid may be evaporated to dryness, then heated to char the animal and vegetable matter, and the alkali will be recovered from it in the state of carbonate, by digesting the residuary ash in distilled water.

AMMONIA. SESQUICARBONATE OF AMMONIA.

The vapour of strong ammonia is poisonous. It may destroy life by producing violent inflammation of the larynx, or by causing pneumonia. It is often most injudiciously employed to rouse persons from a fit. A case is on record, of an epileptic having died, under all the symptoms of croup, two days after the application of strong ammonia, in this way, to the nostrils. A very singular case of recovery from the poisonous effects of this vapour, by Dr. Sanchard, will be found reported in the Annales d'Hygiène (Janvier, 1841.) The solutions of ammonia and its sesquicarbonate, produce symptoms similar to those described in speaking of potash. The only difference observed is, that the sense of heat and burning pain in the throat, fauces, and stomach, is much greater. Cases of this form of poisoning are rare. Dr. Sanchard relates an instance which occurred in France, where a boy, only six years old, poisoned his younger sister by pouring several teaspoonfuls of strong solution of ammonia down her throat. A case is likewise reported where a strong dose of the solution killed a man in four minutes. (Christison, 167.) Another case is referred to in the Journal de Pharmacie (Oct. 1846, p. 285,) in which from one to two drachms of ammonia, unknowingly administered, caused death. There was violent vomiting, with bloody stools; and, on inspection, blood was found effused in the intestines. There was also a remarkably fluid state of the blood in the body. In another instance, a man walked into a druggist's shop, and asked for a small quantity of ammonia to take some spots out of his clothes. The druggist poured about a teaspoonful and a half into a glass. The man suddenly swallowed it, and fell instantly to the ground. He soon afterwards died, complaining of the most excruciating pain. (Journal de Chimie Médicale, 1845, 531.)

Sesquicarbonate of ammonia.-The solution of this salt (sal volatile) is probably more active as a poison than is commonly supposed. The following case occurred to my knowledge in 1832. A man, in a fit of passion, swallowed about five fluid-drachms of a solution of sal volatile. In ten minutes, he was seized with stupor and insensibility; but, upon the application of stimulant remedies, he recovered. He suffered, for some time afterwards, from severe irritation about the fauces and œsophagus. Mr. Iliff, jun., reports the case of a little boy, aged two years, who swallowed about half an ounce of a strong solution of spirits of hartshorn, and in spite of some rather severe symptoms, recovered in a few days. (Lancet, Dec. 1, 1849.) These poisons are not often used by persons who are intent upon suicide or murder, but there is one instance on record in which a man was tried for the murder of a child by administering to it spirits of hartshorn. (Regina v. Haydon, Somerset Spring Assizes, 1845.) Of the action of the other salts of ammonia on man, nothing is known.

The subjoined case lately occurred in the practice of Mr. Procter, of York. On

the 30th of May, 1852, a woman gave by mistake to her infant, four weeks old, 1 teaspoonful of hartshorn of the shops. The child soon afterwards breathed with difficulty-the skin was universally red-the pulse weak and feeble, and a frothy mucus issued from the mouth. The child became more and more depressed, and died thirty-six hours after taking the ammonia. There was no vomiting or diar rhoea, and the mouth and fauces presented no excoriation: there was, however, slightly increased redness of the lining membrane. A post-mortem examination was not made. The strength of the hartshorn used was found by Mr. Procter to amount to about nine per cent.

Chemical analysis. The three caustic alkalies, potash, soda, and ammonia, are known from the solutions of the alkaline earths by the fact that they are not precipitated by a solution of carbonate of potash. They all three possess a powerful alkaline reaction on test paper, which, in the case of ammonia, is easily dissipated by heat. AMMONIA is immediately known from potash and soda by its odour and volatility. The SESQUICARBONATE OF AMMONIA may be known from other salts by its alkaline reaction, its odour, and its entire volatility as a solid:from pure ammonia-1, by its effervescing on being added to an acid; 2, by its yielding an abundant white precipitate with a solution of chloride of calcium;from the carbonates of potash and soda, among other properties,-1, by its giving no precipitate with a solution of the sulphate of magnesia; 2, from the rich violet blue solution which it forms when added in excess to the sulphate of copper; 3, by its odour and volatility.

CHAPTER IX.

METALLIC IRRITANT POISONS. ARSENIC ARSENIOUS ACID-TASTE-SOLUBILITY IN VARIOUS LIQUIDS-SYMPTOMS-CHRONIC POISONING-ANOMALOUS CASES-POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES QUANTITY REQUIRED TO DESTROY LIFE-PERIOD AT WHICH DEATH TAKES PLACE -TREATMENT. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS-TESTS IN THE SOLID STATE-IN SOLUTION

MARSH'S PROCESS-REINSCH'S PROCESS-ARSENIC IN ORGANIC LIQUIDS-ABSORBED ARSENIC -ITS PRESENCE IN THE SOIL OF CEMETERIES-SULPHURETS OF ARSENIC AND OTHER

COMPOUNDS.

ARSENIC. ARSENIOUS ACID.

General remarks.-The term WHITE ARSENIC is commonly applied to the arsenious acid of chemists. Arsenic acid is another compound which is highly poisonous, but has never, so far as I know, been used for the purposes of suicide or murder. YELLOW ARSENIC, or orpiment, is the sulphuret of chemists. This is also poisonous, apparently because it contains a large portion of arsenious acid uncombined with sulphur. This often amounts to from fifteen to twenty per cent. of its weight. Orpiment has been, on several recent occasions, criminally used as a poison. White arsenic, or arsenious acid, is, however, that preparation which chiefly requires the attention of a medical jurist. In the years 1837-8, there were one hundred and eighty-five cases of poisoning by this substance, the greater number of which were the result of suicide and murder.

Taste of arsenious acid.-White arsenic is commonly seen under the form of a white powder, or in opaque masses resembling enamel. It is called an acid from its power of combining with alkalies, but it possesses a very feeble acid reaction when dissolved in water. It is often described as having an acrid taste, but this does not appear to be correct: a small quantity of it has certainly no appreciable taste, a fact which may be established by direct experiment, and might be inferred from its very sparing solubility. It would appear from numerous cases