On the detection of aconite by its physiological action : being notes of experiments made in connection with the trial of Dr. E. W. Pritchard / by Frederick Penny and James Adams.

  • Penny, Frederick, 1816-1869.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the detection of aconite by its physiological action : being notes of experiments made in connection with the trial of Dr. E. W. Pritchard / by Frederick Penny and James Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    D sion such details as may show the practical nature of the inquiry which we conducted, and at the same time enable a judgment to be formed by others as to the value of those conclusions at which we arrived as a result of that inquiry. We have also to add, that the very limited time at our com¬ mand before the trial, debarred us from attempting an exhaustive physiological course of experiments, and at the same time pre¬ vented us from making microscopic examinations, analyzing the blood, &e., &c. In view of the fact that different kinds of animals are dif¬ ferently affected by the same agent, we resolved to restrict our observations to one class, and several satisfactory considerations led us to select the rabbit. It appeared to us of little moment, that the phenomena manifested in our trials with the rabbit should differ from those exhibited by the human subject when under the influence of the same agent. For our purpose it was sufficient if the action of the toxic agent was uniform and charac¬ teristic, when employed on the same animal. Our object in these altogether practical experiments was two¬ fold—first, to determine if the suspected liquid contained anything destructive to life, when employed in a dose which wTOuld have been safe, assuming it to contain no foreign substance; and second, to determine what that foreign substance was, of the presence of which we were already clearly satisfied. The details of these experiments, although somewhat tedious, can scarcely be omitted without a corresponding loss of practi¬ cal usefulness. For that which may seem unimportant to one observer, and perhaps only casually introduced in the record, becomes often to another the single or strongest point of interest, and the clue which may lead either to separate investigation or to another conclusion. It is not sufficient, unless for popular comprehension, to state that certain agents are destructive to life in certain doses, and that paralysis or convulsions is a common effect; but for satisfactory reference and comparison it is neces¬ sary to describe the exact form in which the agent has been employed, and the order and precise nature of the phenomena observed. For several sufficient reasons we thought it advisable to make a number of concurrent experiments with atropia, veratria, conia, hyoscyamia, strychnia, digitalis, &c.; but as these do not properly come within the scope of our present communication, we shall not allude to them further than to say that some of them proved extremely interesting; and as our inquiry widened, there grew in our minds a conviction that the physiological test in its application to the detection of vegetable poisons presented a more inviting field for toxicologists than had hitherto been admitted,