| Grain. | |
|---|---|
| Stomach and gullet, | 0·158 |
| Intestines, | 0·314 |
| Liver, | 0·218 |
| Kidney, | 0·029 |
| Lungs and spleen, | 0·172 |
| Heart, | 0·112 |
| Brain, | 0·075 |
| Diaphragm, | 0·010 |
The whole arsenic present was estimated as equal to 3·1 grains of arsenious acid, viz., 2·628 grains absorbed, and 0·472 unabsorbed; of the absorbed portion 8·3 per cent. was found in the liver.
With regard to the preliminary treatment of the stomach and fluids submitted to the analyst, the careful noting of appearances, the decantation, washing, and examination[773] (microscopical and chemical) of any deposit, are precautions so obviously dictated by common sense, that they need only be alluded to in passing. Of some considerable moment is the question which may be put to the analyst in court, in reference to the possible entrance of arsenic into the living body, by accidental and, so to speak, subtle means. Such are the inhaling of the fumes from the burning of arsenical candles,[774] and of emanations from papers (see [p. 541]),[775] as well as the possible entrance of arsenic into the body after death from various sources, such as arsenical earth, &c.[776]
[773] From some observations of Fresenius in a recent number of the Zeitschrift f. anal. Chem., it would seem necessary to test all glass vessels used; for it is difficult at present to purchase arsenic-free glass.
[774] See a case of poisoning (non-fatal) of a lady by the use of arsenical candles, Med. Times and Gazette, vol. iii., 1876, p. 367.
[775] To solve this question, it has been at times considered necessary to analyse an extraordinary number of things. In the “affaire Danval” (Journ. d’Hygiène, 2e sér., No. 108, July 1878), more than sixty different articles, comprising drugs, drinks, perfumes, bed-curtains, wall-paper, and other matters, were submitted to the experts.
[776] The following important case is related by Sonnenschein:—
Nicholas Nobel and his wife, Jerome, were buried two metres from each other in the churchyard at Spinal, the earth of which notoriously contained arsenic. A suspicion of poisoning arose. The bodies were exhumed, and arsenic was found in the stomach and intestines of Nobel, but not the slightest trace in the corpse of the wife. The remains of the bodies were reinterred, and after six months, on a fresh suspicion of poisoning arising, again exhumed. The corpse of the woman had been put naked in the moist earth during a heavy shower, but this time also no arsenic was detected in it.