dissolved in the contents; more commonly it is present there in the solid form; and is then either in loose particles, or enveloped in coagulated mucus,[1] or in little clots of blood,[2] or is wrapped up in the more solid parts of the contents.[3] Frequently it adheres to the coats of the stomach, and is then either scattered in the form of fine dust or collected in little knots. The adhering particles are always covered by mucus; they are often surrounded by redness of the membrane or by effused blood; and sometimes they are imbedded in little ulcers.—A remarkable appearance which the arsenic sometimes puts on is a brilliant yellowness of its surface, owing to its conversion into the sulphuret. This appearance existed in six cases which have come under my own notice, first in one related in the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,[4] next in the instance of Margaret Warden,[5] again in the case of a young woman whose death gave rise to the trial of John Lovie held at Aberdeen in the Autumn Circuit of 1827, again in a case described by Dr. Wood, which I had an opportunity of examining;[6] and lastly, in two others which I had occasion to examine in 1842 and 1843. In one of these, the case of Mr. Gilmour, adverted to at p. 265, Drs. Wylie and M'Kinlay, who examined the body in the country, found the inner surface of the stomach thickly sprinkled with small yellow particles, some of which were very bright. In all of these cases oxide was found, as well as the sulphuret of arsenic. In the case related by Dr. Nissen [p. 264], a similar yellow appearance, observed on the surface of the arsenic, was ascribed with justice to the action of sulphuretted hydrogen-water, which had been given as an antidote during life.[7] In a very important case examined here a few years ago by my colleague Dr. Traill, and which will be noticed more particularly for a different purpose afterwards, this conversion of the oxide into sulphuret had taken place to a great extent [p. 277]. In every instance of the kind yet examined, however, the conversion has been only partial, so that a large proportion of oxide could easily be detected by the usual process.
Care must be taken not hastily to consider as arsenic every white powder which may be found lining the inside of the stomach. Many other white powders may obtain entrance from without; and besides, small, white, shining, pulverulent scales, not unlike finely powdered arsenic, but rarely composed of animal matter, sometimes form naturally on the mucous coat of the stomach and intestines. In a medico-legal report published a few years ago, Professor Orfila has noticed two instances in which these scales were mistaken for arsenic;[8] in another published not long after he mentions that he found white particles which crackled when bruised, and appeared brilliant before the microscope, and which nevertheless were not arsenic.[9] Buchner
- ↑ Bernt, Beiträge zur gerichtlichen Arzneikunde, iv. 221.
- ↑ Metzger's Materialien für die Staatsarzneikunde, ii. 95.
- ↑ ii. 284.
- ↑ Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, xxvii. 457.
- ↑ Ibid, xxxiii. 66.
- ↑ Sproegel's Dissert. Exp. xxxi.
- ↑ Pfaff and Scheele's Nordisches Archiv. i. 345.
- ↑ Archives Gén. de Med. vii. 1.
- ↑ Ibidem, vii. 285.
