Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“Would you expect to find the ventricles and auricles empty?”
Answer.—“It has been observed in poisoning by preparations of aconitia; but in the only case of aconitia poisoning I know of the state of the heart is not mentioned. You will find it in the Philadelphia Journal of Medicine of November last.”[206]
Question.—“Is congested liver a sign of aconitia poisoning?”
Answer.—“The congestion of the internal viscera is an important sign of poisoning by aconitia. The congestion could be caused by various means. The kidneys being congested was consistent with aconite poisoning, but not dependent on it. The same could be said of congestion of the spleen. I am prepared to admit that cases may have occurred in which congestion has been caused without poison. The patches in the stomach may have existed days before death, but not without causing pain. I commenced the analysis of the contents of the stomach on the 10th of December. I commenced the analysis of the vomit the same day. I commenced to examine the urine the same day.”
Question.—“You say the bottle C, No. 3, contained matter from which you extracted an alkaloidal extract. Would you expect to find an alkaloid from morphia in the contents of the stomach?”
Answer.—“No; but I should expect to find it in the urine, and I found in that more alkaloid than was consistent with morphia. That requires the most delicate test. By a further extraction I got a little more morphia.”
Question.—“The precise process I ask you for in testing the alkaloidal extract.”
Answer.—“I took half the contents of the stomach. I mixed it with such a quantity of rectified spirit as, with the spirit previously added by Dr. Dupré, made the proportion of spirit two volumes of spirit to one volume of matter. The liquid I took was acid in reaction. The liquid stood over from Sunday to Monday. It was then filtered. The insoluble part was well washed with rectified spirit. The clear liquid was then evaporated at a temperature below that of the human body, till it was almost solid. The portion I had not dissolved in spirit was then treated with an additional quantity of spirit, to which a little quantity of tartaric acid was added. The mixture was then warmed to 140 deg. Fahr. It was then cooled. The insoluble part was well washed with spirit, and the clear liquid evaporated at a temperature below that of the human body. A fairly solid residue was obtained. I now obtained two alcoholic extracts, each of which was treated in a precisely similar manner, but separately, by digesting them with warm absolute alcohol, or rather tepid, till the alcohol would take up and dissolve nothing more. The solutions in absolute alcohol were filtered and evaporated nearly to dryness. They were then treated with a little water. They were found to be acid in reaction, and the two solutions—that is to say, that from the plain spirit, and the other from the tartaric acid spirit—were mixed. Care was taken that they remained just faintly acid, and the solution was then agitated with washed ether. The ether was allowed to separate; it was drawn off, and replaced by fresh ether. This operation was carried out five times. The ether was set apart, and allowed to evaporate at a temperature below boiling point; that was reserved as not containing any alkaloid. The residue was oily and partially dissoluble with water; it was of a brownish colour. It was not weighed, but was a very appreciable quantity.”
Question.—“Were these tests conducted for aconitia only?”