The Dean.—“Are these cases in which you were personally concerned?”
Witness.—“Strange to say, I have only been personally concerned in two cases of poisoning by arsenic. I have of course been often in cases like the present. It only came twice under my personal observation. It is the opinion of Orfila that the taste of arsenic is an acrid and not a corrosive taste.”
The Dean.—“Exciting salivation, is it not?”
Witness.—“Yes, that is a pretty correct translation of the French word. The word acrid is a professional word, but Orfila uses the word âpre, which rather means rough.”
The Dean.—“Yes, in his 1st vol., p. 377, he uses the word, but at p. 357 you will find he says the taste is âcre et corrosive.”
Witness.—“I was not aware of that. ‘Notwithstanding the experiments of Dr. Christison,’ I think he says, ‘the taste of arsenic is acrid.’ He did not say he made the experiments himself, or give his authority. Orfila is a high name in the medical world; none higher of modern date in the department of medico-legal chemistry.”
The Dean.—“Will you tell me the nature of the experiments you made with the two other medical gentlemen?”
Witness.—“We tasted the arsenic both in a solid and a liquid state, and allowed both kinds to pass as far back along the tongue as it was possible to do with safety, so as to spit it out afterwards. We allowed it to remain on the tongue about two minutes, and washed the mouth carefully.”
The Dean.—“Can you give me any idea how much arsenic there was in your mouth on that occasion?”
Witness.—“About two grains. One of the gentlemen, the late Dr. Duncan, kept two grains in his mouth a long time. We allowed it to remain on the tongue generally two minutes, a time quite sufficient to ascertain the taste.”