A manual of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred S. Taylor.

Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    3 by salt. Dr. Christison mentions a case which occurred some years since in London, where a man swallowed a pound, and died within twenty-four hours, under all the symptoms of mritant poisoning. There is another substance commonly reputed to be an innocent me- dicine ; but which in a large dose may destroy life. This is the sul- phate of magnesia, or Epsom salts. A trial took place at the Huntingdon Autumn Assizes, 1842, in which two men were indicted for feloniously killing one Daniel Cox, by administering to him a large quantity of Epsom salts, dissolved in beer. The deceased was an old man and a contirmed drunkard, and he was in the habit of drinking beer to excess. On the day laid in the indictment, the deceased had drunk several pints of beer, which, it was afterwards proved had been drugged with the sul- phate of magnesia. He was seized with violent purging, and died within forty-eight hours. On a post-mortem examination, the lining membrane of the alimentary canal was found to be inflamed, and there was no doubt that death was owing to the irritant effects of the salt. One of the prisoners was convicted. The quantity of the substance taken in this case could not be ascertained, but there was reason to suppose that the dose was large. A case is mentioned by Christison in which a boy ten years old, had two ounces of the sulphate of magnesia administered to him medici- nally by his father, as a remedy for worms. The salt was taken partly dissolved in a tea-cupful of water, and very soon after it had been swallowed the boy staggered and became unwell. When seen by a medical man half an hour afterwards, his pulse was imperceptible, his breathing slow and difficult, the whole frame in a state of great debi- lity, and in ten minutes more the child died without any other symp- tom of note, and particularly without any vomiting. (Treatise on Poi- sons, 491.) It is remarkable that in this case, there does not appear to have been any purging, and after death no morbid appearance was found in the body. It has been suggested that substances of this kind connect the true poisons with those which are inert in regard to the eco- nomy : but they are assuredly to be regarded by the medical jurist as irritant poisons, and as to the dose administered it is of little impor- tance in medicine or in law whether one grain of one substance or one ounce of another substiince be taken, provided the fatal effects be clearly traceable to the action of the particular substance on the body. This is the point to which a medical jurist must direct his inquiries. The sulphate of soda would no doubt act in a similar way. It has been recommended to administer large quantities of these substances, in poisoning by barytes and lead. Th^us M. Devergie says, that they should not be given in doses of less than two or three ounces. The irri- Uuit properties of these salts in large doses shoidd however be borne in mind. Although the sulphates in such cases are liable to be partially or entirely decomposed, yet it appears to me advisable, that smaller doses should be given dissolved in a large quantity of water. In Medical Jurisprudence, therefore, we must look to the effects pro- duced by particular substances on the system, and their adequacy to ciiuse death under symptoms of poisoning, rather than to the mere quantities in which they may have been taken. 13 2