How much more satisfactory would it have been could a court of appeal have reheard such a case instead of its being left to the Home Secretary’s judgment of evidence known only to himself.[130]
CHAPTER VII.
ARSENIC.
The element (arsenicum)—The oxide (white arsenic)—Arsenicum—Arsenicum trioxide. Forms of: (1) Crystalline—(2) Amorphous—Solubility. Uses and occurrences: (1) Steeping wheat—(2) Preservation of skins—(3) Antiseptics—(4) Glass making—(5) Fur in boilers—(6) Candles—(7) Preservation of wood—(8) Sheep washes—(9) Scheele’s green and emerald green as pigments in sweets (case of Franklin and Randall), wall papers, toys, &c.—(10) Medicinal—(11) For horses—(12) Tooth-stopping—(13) Aniline dyes—(14) Fireworks—(15) Rat and fly poisons (case of Maria Gage)—(16) For cleansing metals—(17) Arsenic eaters—(18) Cosmetics—(19) For bronzing metals—(20) Beer brewed from glucose—(21) American paper collars—(22) Speculum metal—(23) Inhalation for asthma and bronchitis—(24) Mineral waters. Sulphides of Arsenic: (1) Orpiment (case of M. A. Burdock)—(2) Realgar. Arsenic acid—The arsenates—Arsenic trichloride—Arseniuretted hydrogen—Methods of extraction—Tests—Modifications of old processes suggested—Marsh’s test, distinction of results in arsenic and antimony—Reinsch’s test—Doses—Antidotes—Physiological effects—Remarks—Did L’Angelier commit suicide?
The name “arsenic” is applied to two things: in chemistry it means the element As; in popular usage it signifies the oxide As2O3. In our report, the element will be called arsenicum, the oxide simply “arsenic” or “white arsenic.”
ARSENICUM,
Symbol As, is an element of steely metallic lustre, tarnishing to dull dark grey, met with in crystalline (rhombohedral) fragments, so brittle that they can be easily reduced to a dark grey powder, insoluble in water, but slowly absorbing oxygen and dissolving, insoluble in pure hydrochloric and in vegetal acids, and in alcohol, soluble (by oxidation) in strong sulphuric and in nitric acid, in chlorine, in solution of bleaching powder. Tasteless, and inodorous until heated, when it sublimes, without melting, at 110° C. (Guy), and gives a strong odour of garlic. Sp. gr. 5·8. The characters of the metal are utilized in Marsh’s and other tests, hereafter described. Heated in air, it oxidizes to white fumes of As2O3. It is employed chiefly to harden lead in making shot, in the proportion of 0·3 per cent. The use of these in cleaning bottles, &c., may contribute a trace of As: the presence of a larger amount of lead would in this case indicate the source. Common Britannia metal, used for teapots, spoons, &c., often contains As. It occurs also in many minerals.
When oxidized it is poisonous, but pure arsenicum passes through the body of animals unaltered (Wagner’s Chem. Technology, trans, by Crookes, 1872, p. 86). The vapour is very poisonous.