The following remarkable case, in which I was lately consulted on the part of the Crown, will show that sulphate of iron is a more important poison than has been commonly thought. Suspicions having arisen in December, 1840, respecting the death of a child in the county of Fife about four months before, an investigation was made by the law authorities; and the body was disinterred and inspected by Mr. Dewar and Dr. James Dewar of Dunfermline. It was ascertained that the child, a girl four years of age, and previously in good health, was attacked with violent vomiting and purging immediately after breakfasting on porridge, and died in the course of the afternoon of the same day. A boy two years older, having seen a blue solution put into the porridge, and observing that the porridge had a bad taste, took only three spoonfuls of it, but became for a time very sick. The girl, being fed by a woman in the house, was made to take all her share; and in the course of the day the same person was seen by two children of the family to give a blue solution to the sick girl for drink. The woman was proved to have purchased sulphate of copper, and admitted having bought about this time both that salt and sulphate of iron, for the alleged purpose of dyeing some clothes. Poisoning with sulphate of copper was therefore suspected. On examining the body, which had been buried four months, the Messrs. Dewar found the external parts considerably decayed,—the stomach soft, gelatinous, and of a uniform intense black colour through the whole thickness of its parietes,—the gullet and duodenum similarly affected, but not so deeply on their outer surface,—the spleen, kidneys, and lower parts of the liver similarly stained with a black pulp, which could be wiped off,—and the whole alimentary canal lined with a thick layer of jet-black mucus, from the pharynx down to the very anus. Inferring that the cause of this extraordinary blackness was decomposition of sulphate of copper by hydrosulphuric acid gas disengaged during the decay of the body, they proceeded to search for that metal in the form of sulphuret both in the contents and texture of the stomach, but without success: there was not a trace of copper to be found. Being then led from some circumstances in the analysis to suspect that the black matter might be sulphuret of iron, they proceeded to search for that substance, and ascertained that a large quantity existed both in the textures of the stomach and in the black mucus which lined it. They further ascertained that there was no iron in a state capable of being dissolved by water, but that a much larger quantity of sulphuric acid was associated with the black matter than could have proceeded from the sulphates naturally contained in the animal textures or in the mucous secretions. They had also an opportunity of examining several large buff-coloured stains on various articles of dress, worn by the child and by the woman at the time the poisoning was supposed to have happened; and they detected a large quantity of oxide of iron in all of them. The whole case was subsequently submitted to me for my opinion, together with a portion of the stomach, the entire intestines, and several stained articles of dress. The results of the analysis of the tissues of the stomach, the black intestinal mucus, and the stains on the cloth were the same in my hands.—It is not easy to see how any other conclusion could be drawn from the whole circumstances, than that a soluble preparation of iron had been administered a short time before death, and that it had been entirely decomposed and converted into sulphuret of iron by the evolution of hydrosulphate of ammonia during the decay of the body. In consequence of important defects in the evidence criminating a particular individual, and especially because all the essential facts depended on the testimony of children, who, after the lapse of some time, did not adhere to their original statement, it was judged improper to bring this case to a trial.
A few years afterwards another case somewhat similar was submitted by the law authorities to the same gentlemen, to whom I am indebted for the particulars. A woman far advanced in pregnancy, and enjoying excellent health, was suddenly seized about midnight with vomiting and purging, and died in fourteen hours. Various circumstances having raised suspicions as to the cause of death, the body was disinterred a few days after burial, and carefully examined by Mr. Dewar and Dr. Dewar. The organs were in general healthy. There were some dark-red patches on the villous coat of the stomach, and a general blush pervaded the whole alimentary canal, which was empty of every thing but a reddish-brown mucus. The intestines were in several places irregularly contracted and hard. The stomach, small intestines, and rectum contained iron in large quantity, dissolved either by sulphuric or hydrochloric acid. Sulphate of iron was found in the house.—No trial took place in this instance either, because there was a want of evidence to attach guilt to any particular individual, although it was highly improbable that the woman had taken the poison herself.[[1215]]
A short notice may here be added of the toxicological effects of the rarer metals, which have been examined chiefly by Professor Gmelin of Tübingen.[[1216]]—Oxide of osmium is nearly as active as arsenic, for a grain and a half will kill a dog in a few hours by the stomach, and in one hour through a vein. Twelve grains of hydrochlorate of platinum will kill a dog within a day through the stomach, with symptoms of pure irritation; and so will half that quantity through a vein.—The hydrochlorates of iridium and rhodium are rather less active.—The hydrochlorate of palladium is equally powerful when introduced into the stomach, and much more so through a vein, for two-thirds of a grain will kill dogs in a minute.
The salts of other metals appear less active.—Molybdenum, in the form of molybdate of ammonia, seems a feeble poison; thirty grains killed a rabbit in two hours, but produced in dogs merely some vomiting and purging; and ten grains injected into the jugular vein did not prove fatal.—Manganese, according to Gmelin, is likewise a feeble poison, but has peculiar effects. A drachm of the sulphate killed a rabbit in an hour. Thirty grains swallowed by a dog had no effect. Two drachms thrust into the cellular tissue had no effect. Twelve grains injected into a vein occasioned death in five days: and in the dead body, the stomach, duodenum, and liver were found much inflamed. Manganesic acid, according to Professor Hünefeld, appears also to act on the liver, but is a feeble poison. A rabbit received two drachms in three days in doses of ten or fifteen grains, without presenting any symptom except increased flow of urine. Being then killed, the liver was found soft, at one part bright red, elsewhere dark-brownish-red, and it yielded manganese by incineration.[[1217]] Some singular observations have been lately published by Dr. Couper of Glasgow, the purport of which is, that manganese belongs to the class of insidious, cumulative poisons, and that it has the property of slowly bringing on, in those who breathe or handle the oxide, a paraplegic affection which is incurable unless taken under treatment early. Five cases of the kind occurred subsequently to 1828, in the great chemical manufactory of Tennant and Company, among the workmen employed in grinding the black oxide of manganese.[[1218]] On the other hand, Dr. Thomson of Glasgow has recently stated that an ounce of sulphate of manganese is an effectual and safe laxative.[[1219]] Uranium is an active poison when injected into a vein, for three grains of the muriate proves fatal instantly; but dogs may swallow fifteen, or from that to sixty grains without any other effect except slight vomiting [Gmelin]. Cobalt is more active. Thirty grains of the oxide occasion death in a few hours through the stomach. Twenty-four grains of the muriate applied to the cellular tissue excite vomiting. Three grains of sulphate injected into a vein prove fatal in four days.—Tungsten, cerium, cadmium, nickel, and titanium can scarcely be considered poisons. Tungstate of ammonia in the dose of a drachm had no effect when swallowed by a dog; forty grains of tungstate of soda, which is more soluble, operated as an emetic; but this dose will prove fatal to rabbits in a few hours. A drachm of the muriate of cerium had little or no effect on a dog, and half that dose had no effect on a rabbit. The oxide of cadmium in the dose of twenty grains, made a dog vomit; and ten grains had no effect at all.[[1220]] Twenty grains of sulphate of nickel made a dog vomit; forty grains applied to the cellular tissue had no effect at all on the general constitution; but ten grains injected into the jugular vein occasioned immediate death [Gmelin]. A drachm of titanic acid had no effect on a dog.
CHAPTER XVIII.
OF POISONING WITH LEAD.
Poisoning with lead is a subject of great consequence in Medical Police, as well as Medical Jurisprudence. Its preparations have been used for the purpose of intentional poisoning. At the Taunton Assizes in March, 1827, a servant-girl was tried for attempting to administer sugar of lead to her mistress in an arrow-root pudding: and although the charge was not made out, it appeared from the prisoner’s confession that she really had made the attempt. Sugar of lead has also been often taken by accident.
In relation to medical police lead is a subject of great importance. This metal is used in so many forms, and in so many of the arts, and its effects when gradually introduced into the body are so slow and insidious, that instances of its deleterious operation are frequently met with. Such accidents, indeed, are less common now, than they used to be before the late improvements in chemistry. But they are still sufficiently frequent to render it necessary for the toxicologist to investigate the properties of lead attentively.
Section I.—Of the Chemical History and Tests for the Preparations of Lead.
The physical characters of lead in its metallic state are familiar to every one. It is easily known by the dull bluish-gray colour it assumes when exposed some time to the air, by the brilliant bluish-gray colour of a fresh surface, and by the facility with which it may be cut. The compounds which require particular notice are four in number, litharge, red lead, white lead, sugar of lead, and Goulard’s extract. The first three are very much used by house-painters and glaziers, the last two are extensively employed in surgery, and the sugar of lead is also used in many of the arts.