Chapter 31

308. Water may thus be preserved in copper cisterns, without contracting any metallic impregnation, even should the surface of the cistern be coated with the oxide and carbonate of copper.

309.Dr. Johnson, in his Essay on Poison, relates the history of three men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence of eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same cause.

310. See the Ladies Library, vol. ii, p. 203; Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife, edit, 2, p. 94; and the English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354.

311. This practice is of ancient origin, thusPliny“Stannum, illinitum æneis vasis, saporem gratiorem facit, et compescit æruginis virus.” Lib. xxxiv, cap. 17.

312.Orfila, l. c.

313. Recherches Chimiques sur l’Etain parBayen et Charlard, 1781.

314. Annales de Chimie.

315. SeeThomson’sSystem of Chemistry.

316. Plinii Lib. xxxiv. cap. 2, 10.

317. We extract the notice of this case from Dr.Gordon Smith’swork, not having a copy of Metzger’s Principles of Judiciary Medicine at hand.

318.Orfila, l. c.

319. Pharmacologia, vol. ii. art.Argenti Nitras.

320.Boerhaaverelates the instance of a student in pharmacy having swallowed some lunar caustic, in consequence of which the most serious symptoms resulted, such as excruciating pains, gangrene, and sphacelus of the primæ viæ.Metzgeralso mentions a case, where a piece of lunar caustic was accidentally dropped into the throat of a person while applying it to an ulcer, but that the patient was saved by drinking copious draughts of milk.

321. In the neutralization of acid poisons in the stomach, it is a great object to avoidcarbonatedalkalies and earths, on account of the large volume of carbonic acid, thus given off, proving highly distressing.

322. Pharmacologia, vol. ii, art.Acid Nitric.

323. Traité de l’Empoisonment par l’Acide Nitrique; parA. E. Tartra, Médecin. à Paris 1802.

324. Some experiments and researches on the saline contents of sea-water, undertaken with a view to correct and improve its chemical analysis. ByA. Marcet, M.D. F.R.S. in the Phil. Trans. for the year 1822. part 2.

325. It is known in commerce by this name, since it is prepared on a large scale, by distilling sugar with nitric acid. It derives the termoxalicacid, from the plant which so abundantly contains it, viz.oxalis acetosella, or wood sorrel.

326.Essential Salt of Lemons.“The preparation sold under this name, for the purpose of removing iron moulds from linen, consists of cream of tartar, and super-oxalate of potass, orsalt of sorrel, in equal proportions.”Pharmacologia.

327. The parents of this child suppose that the violence of the screaming ruptured the vesicles by which the breathing was impeded, and thus proved an unexpected means of cure.

328. See “An account of the case of a man who died of the effects of the fire at Eddystone Light-house,” by Mr.Edward Spry, Surgeon, at Plymouth.Phil. Trans.vol. xlix, part 2, p. 477, A. D. 1756.

329. There are some exceptions to this law; for instance, the tincture of litmus, and litmus paper, are always rendered more intensely blue, by the addition of alkalies. There are also other bodies, besides alkalies, which change the yellow colour of turmeric to a brown. Upon this subject see an interesting paper in the 26th number of the Journal of Science and the Arts, p. 315, byMr. Faraday, entitled “On the changing of vegetable colours as an alkaline property, and on some bodies possessing it.” By this communication we are informed that even the strong acids redden turmeric paper, and that a very weak nitric acid gives it a tint exactly like that produced by an alkali. Different metallic salts are characterised by similar effects.

330. A new alkali has been lately discovered in a mineral calledPetalite, byM. Arfwedson, a young Sweedish chemist, but as the extreme rarity of the substance will prevent its ever becoming an object of forensic interest, we shall pass it over without further notice. Some new alkaline principles have also been developed by the French and German chemists, in the analysis of certain vegetables, but as these bodies have a physiological action, which is wholly independent of their alkalinity, they will be more properly noticed under the history of the vegetables which contain them.

331. Should the solution contain a small portion of lime, as may occasionly happen, the cloud will be very slight, and cannot give origin to any important fallacy.

332.Orfila, vol. i, p. 404.

333. Essay on Poisons, page 143.

334.Orfila, Lib. Cit.

335.Brodie, Phil. trans. 1812.

336. This is an important characteristic, since all the metallic poisons yield an abundant precipitate, either black, yellow, or red, on the addition of one or other of the alkaline hydro-sulphurets.

337. “Genera Crustaceorum et Insectorum,” tom. 2, p. 220. The London College in their present pharmacopœia refer this insect to the genusLytta, an error which will be corrected in the future edition.

338. System of Chemistry, edit. 5, vol. iv. p. 436. See also Ann. de Chim. lxxvi. p. 308.

339. Page129,note.

340.Homberg, Mem. Par, 1692.

341. Ann. de Chim. xxvii, 87.

342. The earliest account we have of this substance having been used in medicine is to be found in the seventh volume ofHaller’scollection of Theses, relating to the history and cure of diseases. The original dissertation is entitled “De Phosphori loco Medicamenti adsumpti virtute medica, aliquot casibus singularibus confirmata,” Auctore J. Gabi, Mentz.

343. Memoirs of the Society of Emulation at Paris.

344. SeeNicholson’sJournal iii, 85.

345. For July, 1813.

346. Numb. xxxi, 22.

347. System of Chemistry, 4th edit. 1, 274-277.

348. De Architectura, lib. viii, c. 7.

349. Researches into the Properties of Spring water, with Medical cautions against the use of Lead, byW. Lambe, M.D. &c.

350. A case is recorded, wherein a legal controversy took place, in order to settle the disputes between the proprietors of an estate and a plumber, originating from a similar cause—the plumber being accused of having furnished a faulty reservoir; whereas the case was proved to be owing to the chemical action of the water on the lead.Dr. Lambestates an instance where the proprietor of a well, ordered his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it corroded the lead very soon.

351.Van SwietenadBoerhaaveAphorism. 1060 Comment.

352. Libro supra citato, p. 24.

353.Duncan’sMed. Comment. Dec. 2, 1794.

354. See the papers by Sir GeorgeBaker, in the first volume of the Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, viz. “An Inquiry concerning the Cause of the Endemial Colic of Devonshire,” p. 175.“An Examination of several means by which thePoison of Leadmay be supposed frequently to gain admittance into the human body, unobserved, and unsuspected,” p. 257.“An attempt towards an historical account of that species of Spasmodic Colic, distinguished by the name of the Colic ofPoitou,” p. 139.

“An Examination of several means by which thePoison of Leadmay be supposed frequently to gain admittance into the human body, unobserved, and unsuspected,” p. 257.

“An attempt towards an historical account of that species of Spasmodic Colic, distinguished by the name of the Colic ofPoitou,” p. 139.

355. See a work by Dr.William Musgrave, which contains the earliest account of the Devonshire colic, entitled “Dissertatio de Arthritide symptomatica,” 1703; and also Dr.Huxham’swork on the “Morbus Colicus Damnoniorum.”

356. Annales de Chimie, vol. 1, p. 76.

357. SeeFourcroy, Memoire sur la nature du Vin lithargyré, in the “Histoire de l’Academie Royale,” for 1817.

358. SirGeorge Bakerconsidered that the dry belly ache, which is common to the drinkers ofnewrum, in the West Indies, ought to be wholly referred to its contamination with lead.

359. The art of glazing earthenware with lead is of modern invention; that part of the old earthenware, preserved in the British museum, which is supposed to have been of Roman manufacture, is not glazed. The vessels, which are called Etruscan, and which are supposed to be of greater antiquity than the Roman, have indeed a paint or polish on their surfaces; but that does not appear to resemble our modern saturnine vitrification.

360. The workmen who are employed at the glazing tub are subject to colics and paralysis.

361. The frequency with which the inhabitants of Madrid, and of a great part of New Castille in Spain, were harrassed with colic, as recorded byM. Thierry, received a satisfactory explanation from the fact of glazed earthenware having been universally used in that country for culinary vessels.Sir G. Bakerin a paper entitled “Further Observations on the Poisons of Lead,” Med. Trans. vol. 2, p. 419, mentions the practice of drinking cyder out of glazed earthen vessels as dangerous. Dr.Watson, junior, saw several instances of the Devonshire colic, during the time of harvest, apparently from this cause. And a similar instance fell under the notice of Dr.Charleston, where six persons became, at one time, paralytic, by drinking cyder, brought to them while at harvest work, in a new earthen pitcher, the inside of which was glazed. That the glazing was dissolved by the liquor appeared not only by the effects which it produced, but from its having given, as these persons informed Dr.Charleston, that astringent sweetish taste to the liquor, by which the solutions of this metal are so peculiarly distinguished.

Sir G. Bakerin a paper entitled “Further Observations on the Poisons of Lead,” Med. Trans. vol. 2, p. 419, mentions the practice of drinking cyder out of glazed earthen vessels as dangerous. Dr.Watson, junior, saw several instances of the Devonshire colic, during the time of harvest, apparently from this cause. And a similar instance fell under the notice of Dr.Charleston, where six persons became, at one time, paralytic, by drinking cyder, brought to them while at harvest work, in a new earthen pitcher, the inside of which was glazed. That the glazing was dissolved by the liquor appeared not only by the effects which it produced, but from its having given, as these persons informed Dr.Charleston, that astringent sweetish taste to the liquor, by which the solutions of this metal are so peculiarly distinguished.

362. As it is very desirable to exclude the use ofleadaltogether, the Society for the promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, has offered a premium for a substitute for this metallic glaze. For an account of several new glazes, as substitutes forlead, seeParkes’s Chemical Essays, vol. iii, p. 193-576.

363.Darwin’sZoonomia, vol. 3, cl. 1, 2, 4, 8.

364. Chemical Essays, vol. v, p. 193.

365. Philosophical Magazine, 1819, no. 257, p. 229.

366. The use of the arsenic is to render the lead more brittle, and to dispose it to run into spherical drops.

367.Francis Citois, the historian of this celebrated epidemic, published his “Diatriba de novo et populari apud Pictones, dolore colico bilioso,” A.D. 1617. In which he states that the “dolor colicus Pictonicus” was a new epidemic in the province of Poitou, about the year 1572; and after having prevailed in that province about 60 or 70 years, it became milder, less untractable, and by degrees was translated to other parts of France. The supposition, however, says SirGeorge Baker, that the colic of Poitou was a new disease, about the time when Citois lived, is not true; the disease was even mentioned by our countrymanJohn of Gaddesden, who appears to have written hisRosa Anglicaearly in the fourteenth century. If we consult authors posterior toCitois, we find this species of colic mentioned in almost every practical book. We have an account inSennertusof its having prevailed epidemically, all over Silesia, in the year 1621.Baglivieven affirms that “nihil facilius colicæ supervenit, quam paralysis.” None of these authors, however, appear to have entertained the slightest suspicion of the true source of the malady.

368.Ephemerides Germanicæ, Ann. 4.—Observ. 60 byCockelius.—Obs. 92 byBrunnerus.—Obs. 100 byWicarius.

369. Chemical Essays, vol. 3, page 369, edit. 3.

370. Exam. Chy. de Differ. Subs. par M. Sage, p. 157.

371. Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, vol. ii, p. 86.

372. The art of making wines, from fruits, flowers, and herbs; all the native growth of Great Britain, byWilliam Graham, late of Ware in Hertfordshire.

373. See “Some experiments made upon Rum, in order to ascertain the cause of the colic, frequent among the Soldiers in the island of Jamaica, in the years 1781, and 1782”; byJohn Hunter, M.D. In the Medical Transactions, vol. 3, p. 227.

374. Annales de Chimie, tom. lvii, p. 84. Memoire deM. Proust.

375.Cerussewas in great request among the Roman ladies as a cosmetic.

376. The manufacture of this colour was long kept secret; but its consumption has lately been greatly lessened by the introduction of the artificialChromate of Lead, which is a yellow of much greater brilliancy than the muriate of that metal.

377. See Repository of Arts, vol. viii, no. 47, p. 262.

378. Med. Trans. vol. 2, p. 445.

379. See a paper in the Medical Transactions, vol. 2, p. 68, “Of the Colica Pictonum,” byR. Warren, M.D. &c.

380.Paulus Æginetais the first writer who has described a species of Colic terminating in Paralysis. (Lib. iii, c. 18, 43.)

381. Poitou, this late province in France was divided at the revolution into the three departments of Vendée, Vienne, and the Two Sevres.

382. Pictones—Cæs.People of France, whose chief city is Pictavium, now called Poictiers.

383.Percival’sEssays, vol. 1, p. 458.

384. See our remarks upon this subject at page142. See alsoTeichmeyer, Inst. Med. For. p. 164.

385. Upon the subject of slow poisons we have already expressed the latitude of our belief, see page143.

386. Medical Transactions, vol. 2, p. 420.

387. Transactions of Medical Society of London.

388. Med. Legale, iv, § 921.

389. “De Lithargyrio quoque mihi narravit, matronam quandam nobilem pulverem ejus in rubore faciei, postquam hic ipsi tanquam singulare et certissimum arcanum deprædicatus fuisset, in petia ligatum, axillis bis vel ter die aspersisse cum præsentaneo effectu; verum exinde subsecuta fuisse dyspnæam, lipothymiam, dolores vagos in abdomine, vomituritionem, et nauseam.”

390. See his “Researches into the Properties of Spring water.” 8vo. London.Johnson.1803.

391. Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge is supplied for domestic purposes.

392. The following is the method of preparing the test. Expose equal parts of sulphur and powdered oyster shells to a white heat for fifteen minutes; and, when cold, add an equal quantity of cream of tartar; these are to be put into a strong bottle with common water to boil for an hour; and the solution is afterwards to be decanted into ounce phials, adding twenty drops of muriatic acid to each.

393.Lambe, op. sup. cit. page 175.

394. On the ultimate Analysis of Vegetable and Animal Substances, byAndrew Ure, M.D.F.R.S. Phil. Trans. for 1822, part. 2.

395. Essay on Chemical Analysis, byJ. G. Children, Esq.

396. Where a compound is merely separated it is called anEduct; but where it arises from a new combination of the elements it is distinguished by the termProduct.

397. Recherches Physico-Chimiques.

398. On the ultimate Analysis of Vegetable and Animal Substances, byAndrew Ure, M.D.F.R.S. Phil. Trans, for 1822, part 2.

399. The author has already in the fifth edition of his Pharmacologia, entered so fully into the philosophy of medicinal combination, that he can scarcely feel regret at the limits of the present work not allowing him to dwell upon the subject.

400. The CambogiaGuttaLin. (Polyandria Monogynia) and several species of Hypericum; Chelidonium, &c. also yield a similar juice.

401. The Dutch appear to have first introduced it into Europe about the middle of the seventeenth century.

402. Ελλεβορος λευκος of Dioscorides.

403. Histoire des Plantes Vénéneuses de la Suisse.

404. The same alkali has been discovered in the seeds of theVeratrum Sabadilla, and in the root of theColchicum Autumnale.

405. It was first cultivated byGerardein 1596.

406. See London Medical Repository, vol. xii, no. 67.

407. Pharmacologia, vol. ii, art.Extract. Elaterii, p. 204.

408. Fragmenta Chirurg. et Med. p. 66.

409. Obs. Lib. iv, c. xxvi, p. 208.

410. The juice of every species ofspurgeis so acrid, that it corrodes and ulcerates the body wherever it is applied. Warts or corns, annointed with the juice presently disappear; hence this tribe of plants has derived the popular name ofwart weed.

411. One of the supposed proofs of the guilt ofCharles Angusin the case ofMargaret Burns, as stated at page177, rested upon the fact, that on searching the prisoner’s bed room, three bottles were found in the wardrobe, viz. one marked “poison water;” a second “Jacob’s water;” and a third “Savine oil.”

412. The roman poets constantly use it in the plural number, which evidently shews that it was meant to denote other kinds of poisons, or poisons in general; thusJuvenalin the first satire, v. 156.“Qui dedit ergo tribus patruisAconita, veheturPensilibus plumis,——”So againOvidin the first book of Metamorph, v. 47.“Lurida terribiles miscentAconitanovercæ.”

412. The roman poets constantly use it in the plural number, which evidently shews that it was meant to denote other kinds of poisons, or poisons in general; thusJuvenalin the first satire, v. 156.

“Qui dedit ergo tribus patruisAconita, veheturPensilibus plumis,——”

“Qui dedit ergo tribus patruisAconita, vehetur

Pensilibus plumis,——”

So againOvidin the first book of Metamorph, v. 47.

“Lurida terribiles miscentAconitanovercæ.”

413.Theophrastustells us that a poison may be prepared fromaconiteso as to occasion death within any definite period; see page183in the present volume.

414. See an account of this process of preparing extractsin vacuo, in Medico-Chirurg. Trans. vol. x, p. 240; and for a history of their superior powers, the author begs to refer the reader to an account of the articles in his Pharmacologia.

415. Pharmacologia, vol. 1, p. 136.

416. Med. Observ. and Inquiries, vol. v. p. 317.

417. It may be obtained from opium by the following process, invented byRobiquet. Three hundred parts of pure opium are to be macerated during five days, in one thousand parts of common water; to the filtered solution, fifteen parts of perfectly pure magnesia (carefully avoiding thecarbonate) are to be added; boil this mixture (A) for ten minutes, and separate the sediment (B) by a filter, washing it with cold water until the water passes off clear; after which, treat it alternately with hot and cold alcohol (12, 22. Bé) as long as the menstruum takes up any colouring matter; the residue is then to be treated with boiling alcohol (22, 32, Bé) on cooling, the solution will deposit theMorphiain crystals.Rationale of the process.A solublemeconiate of magnesiais, in the first place, formed; (A) while the sediment (B) consists ofmorphia, in the state of mixture, with the excess of magnesia; the boiling alcohol, with which this residuum is treated, exerts no action upon the magnesia, but dissolves themorphia, and, on cooling, surrenders it in a crystalline state.

Rationale of the process.A solublemeconiate of magnesiais, in the first place, formed; (A) while the sediment (B) consists ofmorphia, in the state of mixture, with the excess of magnesia; the boiling alcohol, with which this residuum is treated, exerts no action upon the magnesia, but dissolves themorphia, and, on cooling, surrenders it in a crystalline state.

418. Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. tom. v.

419. “Confessions of an English opium-eater.” London, 1822.

420. History of Aleppo.

421.Orfilastates that animals, on which the section of thepar vagumof both sides has been performed, die at the end of two or three hours; after having experienced intoxication, somnolency, and convulsions.Bulletin de la Soc. Philomatique, Mai 1808,t.1,p.143.

422.Toriosa(Istituzioni di Med. For.) has remarked that opium may act mortally without losing much of its weight in the stomach. We are very sceptical upon this point.

423. The reader is requested to refer to our chapter “On the Physiological causes and phenomena of sudden death,” p.22.

424. See “Cases illustrating the decided efficacy of cold affusion in the treatment of poisoning by opium, byS. Wray.”London Medical and Physical Journal, for September 1822.“A case of poisoning by opium, in which the cold affusion was successfully employed; with observations on the medical management of similar occurrences, byJ. Copland, M. D.”Ibid.“On the most efficacious means of remedying the effects of opium, when taken in poisonous doses, byJ. H. Sprague.”Ibid.

424. See “Cases illustrating the decided efficacy of cold affusion in the treatment of poisoning by opium, byS. Wray.”London Medical and Physical Journal, for September 1822.

“A case of poisoning by opium, in which the cold affusion was successfully employed; with observations on the medical management of similar occurrences, byJ. Copland, M. D.”Ibid.

“On the most efficacious means of remedying the effects of opium, when taken in poisonous doses, byJ. H. Sprague.”Ibid.

425. Avis aupeuple, tom. ii, § 535, p. 280, 7th edit.

426. “On the common syringe, with a flexible tube, as applicable to the removal of opium, and other poisons, from the stomach, byF. Bush.”London Med. and Phys. Journ.for September, 1822.“New means of extracting opium, &c. from the stomach, byE. Jukes, Esq.”Ibid.for November, 1822.

426. “On the common syringe, with a flexible tube, as applicable to the removal of opium, and other poisons, from the stomach, byF. Bush.”London Med. and Phys. Journ.for September, 1822.

“New means of extracting opium, &c. from the stomach, byE. Jukes, Esq.”Ibid.for November, 1822.

427. See Pharmacologia, vol. 1, p. 234.

428. Reports on Water, 1, 80.

429. A very high degree of vascularity is often found in the stomach and alimentary canal of those who have been suddenly deprived of life. The reader may consultDr. Yelloly’spaper in theMedico-chirurgical Transactions, vol. iv, respecting the appearances found in the stomachs of several executed criminals.A case of poisoning by opium is given in the foreign department of the London Medical Repository, for November 1820; in which two drachms of solid opium had been swallowed, and on dissection a general congestion of blood was found in the internal organs.

A case of poisoning by opium is given in the foreign department of the London Medical Repository, for November 1820; in which two drachms of solid opium had been swallowed, and on dissection a general congestion of blood was found in the internal organs.

430. The stomach in this case was observed to be red, but the colour was traced to the tincture of cardamoms, which the deceased had taken.

431. Philosophical Transactions, vol. xl, p. 446.

432. It was discovered byScheele, butGay-Lussacfirst succeeded in depriving it of a very great quantity of the water with which it was combined, when prepared according to the process of its discoverer. SeeAnnales de Chimie, tom. lxxvii, p. 123.

433. By the decomposition of muriatic acid, and the cyanuret of mercury.

434.Dr. Majendiehas informed us that, in consequence of some carelessness, he breathed a portion of the vapour, while preparing the acid for the purpose of experiment; and that he suffered very violent pains in the chest, accompanied by feelings of oppression, which endured for several hours.

435. “En conservant cet acide dans des vases bien fermés, même sans quil ait le contact de l’air, il se decompose quelquefois en moins d’une heure.”Gay-Lussac.

436. See “An Historical and Practical Treatise on the Internal use of hydro-cyanic (Prussic) acid, byA. B. Granville, M.D.” Second edit. London, 1820.

437. See, however, an account of “A new substance found accompanying Welsh Culm, byJ. A. Paris, M.D.” in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.

438. The poisonous properties of this plant are alluded to byStrabo, who says that theLauro-cerasusproduces a mode of death, similar to that of epilepsy.

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