Trial for murder by poisoning with arsenic, Berkshire Lent Assizes, 1845 : Post-mortem appearences; chemical analysis; detection of the poison as sulphuret, twenty-eight days after interment / by Alfred S. Taylor.

  • Taylor, Alfred Swaine, 1806-1880.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Trial for murder by poisoning with arsenic, Berkshire Lent Assizes, 1845 : Post-mortem appearences; chemical analysis; detection of the poison as sulphuret, twenty-eight days after interment / by Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    husks of raisins, and in and about the spot the mucous mem- brane was ulcerated. By slight friction it was readily de- tached in layers of a yellow colour. Streaks and small patches of the same yellow-coloured matter, were also found towards the centre of the mucous membrane on the posterior wall of the stomach. Duodenum. The mucous membrane was of a deep red colour, and the mucous glands were considerably enlarged: there were no yellow stains to be seen. The small intestines presented patches of redness through part of their course. The rectum was unusually pale, and contained a lumbricus about seven inches in length. chemical analysis.—The hard white solid matter dilfused over the mucous membrane of the stomach was found to be fat, by placing it on white blotting paper, and then passing beneath the paper a heated spatula, when it was entirely melted and absorbed by the paper, forming a greasy transpa- rent stain, and leaving no solid residue. Liquid contents of the Stomach.—The liquid obtained from this organ amounted to two drachms: it was of a deep red colour, turbid, and contained particles of fatty matter and mucus floating in it. It was neither acid nor alkaline. 1. When a small portion was boiled with copper and muri- atic acid, the copper was only tarnished after some hours. 2. The liquid was diluted with its bulk of distilled water, acidulated with acetic acid, boiled three quarters of an hour, and filtered. The filtered liquid was nearly colourless, and sufficiently clear to allow of the direct application of the chemical tests for arsenic, (a.) It acquired a yellow colour when exposed to a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. (h.) It gave a light yellow precipitate with ammonio-nitrate of silver, (c.) It gave a light grass-green with ammonio- sulphate of copper. These re-actions clearly indicated the presence of arsenic. I he effects, however, were, on the whole, so slight, as only to justify the inference that the small quantity of the liquid (,$ii) found in the stomach con- tained faint traces of that poison. Solid contents of the stomach.—The yellow-coloured matter was carefully removed by an ivory spatula from the mucous