at first; but in a few days a peculiar garlicky odour arose, from which time the progress of decay seemed to be arrested; and the bodies underwent a process of hardening and desiccation which completely preserved them.[1]
On considering attentively the illustrations now given, the toxicologist can hardly doubt that in some cases arsenic has appeared both to retard and to modify putrefaction in the bodies of persons poisoned with it.
Assuming arsenic to have been the cause of the preservation of the bodies, it becomes a point of consequence to account for its effect, and more particularly to reconcile that effect with what has certainly been noticed in other cases of poisoning with the same substance, namely, ordinary rapidity of decay, if not actually an increased tendency to putrefaction.
At the outset of this part of the inquiry some light may be thrown upon it by separating the local from the general operation of arsenic.
Arsenic is a good preservative of animal textures when it is directly applied to them in sufficient quantity. This is well known to stuffers of birds and beasts, was experimentally ascertained by Guyton Morveau,[2] and has come also under my observation.[3] It is now likewise known to be an excellent substance for preserving bodies, when injected in the form of solution into the blood-vessels.
Hence, if in a case of poisoning the arsenic be not discharged by vomiting, and the patient die soon, it will act as an antiseptic on the stomach at least, perhaps on the intestines also; while the rest of the body may decay in the usual manner. This is very well shown in a case examined by Dr. Borges, medical inspector at Minden, fourteen weeks after death. The stomach and intestines were firm, of a grayish-white colour, and contained crumbs of bread, while all the other organs in the belly were pulpy, and the external parts adipocirous.[4] It is also equally well exemplified in a case that happened at Chemnitz so early as 1726, and which was examined five weeks after burial. The skin was every where very putrid, but the stomach and intestines were perfectly fresh.[5] In the case of Warden the appearances were precisely the same. Three weeks after burial the Dundee inspectors found the external parts much decayed, yet three weeks later the stomach and intestines were found by myself in a state of almost perfect preservation. A striking experiment performed by Dr. Borges on a rabbit will likewise illustrate clearly the fact now under consideration. The rabbit was killed in less than a day with ten grains of arsenic, and its body was buried for thirteen months in a moist place under the eaves of a house. At the end of this period it was found, that "the skin, muscles, cellular tissue, ligaments and all the viscera, except the alimentary canal, had
- ↑ Dissertatio de vera Chemiæ Organicæ notione, additis experimentis de vi Arsenici in corpore organico mortuo. 1822. Quoted fully by Wibmer, die Wirkung der Arzneimittel und Gifte, i. 312.
- ↑ Elemens de Chymie, ii. 343.
- ↑ See this work, First Ed. 1829, p. 258.
- ↑ Kopp's Jahrbuch, ii. 226.
- ↑ Bernt's Beiträge zur gerichtlichen Arzneikunde, iv. 219.
