The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-14 00:00:00

from whom she purchased the arsenic, went so far as
to allude to the use that might possibly be made of it.
It is probable that close observation would show
this tendency to the repetition of a criminal act not
to be confined to poisoning. The man (or woman)
who has been impelled by passion, or has nerved him-
eelf to the commission of a deed from which human
nature recoils, is an altered being. The convulsive effort
has revolutionised his whole moral existence. His re-
lations to GOD and society arechanged—he is conscious
that they are. AU the feelingswhich were formerly his
instinctive impulses—all the maxima by which he was
accustomed to regulate his conduct—are inoperative on
the man metamorphosed in the innermost recesses of
his being by his own guilty act. This truth, which
might easily be substantiated by reference to the
histories of remarkable criminals, has been too much
overlooked by those who take upon them to reform
oar criminal law and penal discipline. The physiology
of crime and criminals requires more profound invests-
Wien before any one is entitled to speak with confi-
deuce of the treatment best adapted for the cases of
those who are morally sick unto death. But even
the very superficial view now taken is enough to
strengthen the convictions of those who call for more
vigorous and systematic arrangements for preventing
individuals from lapsing into crime.
We return from this digression to our more imme-
diate subject—the crime of poisoning.. Its frequency
is startling, and still more so the wholesale manner
in which its practitioners deal in it. The series
of murders at Clavering must be lively in the
recollection of our readers, and should the dark
suspicions clustering around ANN BARNES—whose
case was detailed in our yesterday's publicatiou—
prove well founded, they will be no more than hor-
rible variations of a shocking theme with which the
public is already but too familiar.
Oar object in drawing attention to a case yet unde-
cided is to impart additional weight to the urgent
recommendation of more strict precautions in the sale
of poisons, which we have offered on previous occasions.
The many cases of the administration of poisons with
fatal effect, which have of late jostled each other in
the columns of the newspapers, seem bat to indicate
the greater multitude of such crimes which pass un-
detected. We are not alarmists on this or any other
subject. Our nerves are not irritable enough, our
fancy not sufficiently excursive, to be started by any
given number of revolting stories into an imaginative
chase after images of atrocities lurking in every dark
nook and corner. But the firmest nerves, and the
least imaginative disposition, cannot refrain from the
inference that there is something about the many
poisoning cases that have of late come to light,
indicative of the mind of a certain portion
of the public having grown callous to the
horrors of the crime, by habitual contempla-
tion of its perpetration, as a not impossible contin-
gency. Dr. LYON PLAY FAIR, in his report on the
state of the large towns in Lancashire, shows that the
value of infant life amongst those who belong to
burial clubs, and who obtain a premium on the death
of their children, is much less than in the mass of the
population. There are other ways, it is true, in which
children may be got rid of than by poison, but none
no little likely to excite suspicion. Arsenic is easily
mixed with food ; does not destroy life at once, and
produces a number of symptoms which may be easily
mistaken for an ordinary disease of childhood. Again,
recent investigations into the state of the manufacturing
districts have shown the alarming extent to which
opium under various forms is habitually administered
to children, for the purpose of sending them to sleep.
We do not insist at present on the certain under-
mining of the constitution and perversion of the habits
in after life, which is the necessary consequence of
such a practice ; nor of its liability to kill involunta-
rily by an over-dose. The habitual administration of
opiates may serve as a screen and pretext for the wilful
child murderer.
Exclude them, or any otherpoison generally resorted
to, from sale, and a great saving of human life would
be the consequence. Restrict the number of persons
allowed to sell them ; exact certain quali-
fications from, and impose certain liabilities
on the parties allowed to deal in them, and to a less
extent, but still to some extent, you narrow the field
of danger. From the various substitutes for this pre-
caution we expect little benefit. The Prussian pre-
caution of exacting the attendance at the sale of a
poisonous drug of a person who knows both buyer
and seller is inadequate. It presumes caution—the
sheens of an o'ermastering passion that forgets what
is required for secrecy ; and the case of ANNA MATH en,
already alluded to, shows that the poisoner can be
excited above such considerations. Again, it has
been proposed, in the case of arsenic, that it should
not be allowed to be sold unless mixed with some
colouring matter, which would betray its presence in
solids or liquids.
A correspondent of the Times, who signed himself
" A Chemist," not long ago declared that he had dis-
covered an inert powder, which, if mixed with
arsenic, in the proportion of one per cent., renders its
presence apparent by a change in the colour of dif-
ferent articles of food in common use. This, if the
inventor's boast is well-founded, would throw a
new difficulty in the way of the poisoner • still, it
applies only to one poison : and, besides, the victims
of poison rarely expect the nefarious attempt to be
made. Mere discoloration of their food, which many
accidents might cause, would not awaken suspicion,
or put them on their guard.
Without discouraging any experiment which might
throw additional difficulties in the way of the poi-
soner, we still recur to the limitation of the power of
sale as the one most effective means. There can be
no doubt that the facility with which arsenic, prussic
I said, opium, and similar instruments of death can be
obtained, is a great encouragement to the poisoner.
This being the case, we can see no valid objection to
a law for restricting their sale. It will be acknow-
ledged by those who read our columns that we are
pretty decided free-traders, but we confess we shrink
from the idea of a free trade in poison. Our laws, with
a view to raise a revenue, oblige dealers in wines,
spirits, snuff, and tobacco, to take out licenses ; it
wield be more to the purpose if they forbade the re-
tailing of poisonous substaslces by unlicensed
persons, and gave such licenses, not to anybody who
paid a certain sum, but only to persons who had re-
wind a certain education, and attained to certain
inks in the medical professions. A clause might
be introduced, as we have formerly suggested, into
the Chemists' and Druggists' Bill, which will probably
pass into a law next session, confining the retail sale
of poisons to licensed persons, who should only vend
them after cautious inquiry, and obtaining some gua-
rantee for their legitimate use.
This would be a useful precaution, though it still
leaves open a wide range of inquiry as to the educa-
tional, penal, and even economical measures that must
be adopted with a view to diminish the awful fre-
quency of the crime of poisoning.

Our Paris letters and the journals of Sunday have
arrived. The Duchess d'Aumale was delivered of a
eon at St. Cloud on Saturday afternoon, who is to re-
ceive the title of the Duke de Gnise. This event was
announced to the Paris public by the discharge of 21
guns from the Invalids.
The journals of Saturday afternoon and Sunday
state that a serious accident had occurred to the
Duke do Nemours while hunting at Compi4ne. It
was said that the gun of one of the sportsmen who
were near him being ill-directed a portion of the
charge wounded the duke. The physician of the
duke, M. Pamprier, jan., was reported to have found
about ten grains of shot lodged in the region of the
left temple ; but the duke felt such slight effects from
the wound that he was out the next morning as usual
on horseback.
This report, though given in most of the jour-
nals, was contradicted at the Bourse, and La
Presse say, that one of the servants of the Prince,
who arrived in Paris on Saturday, knew nothing of
such an event. The official and semi-official journals
of the government are silent on the subject.
The news which arrive by the telegraph and by
extraordinary couriers, daily from Madrid, have
thrown the Chateau of St. Cloud and the Hotel of the
Rue de Courcelles into the greatest excitement
family councils and cabinet councils succeed each
other with scarcely an interruption. 'fhe principal
leaders of the party of Christina and the Mont-
pensiers have been called to these meetings, and
scarier after courier has been sent to Madrid
with despatches for Narvaez and the Duke of Gluck,-
berg. On Saturday, at two o'clock, Queen Christina
was at St. Cloud, and had a long conference with
Louis Philippe, at which several Spaniards of their
party were present, among whom was Gonzales
Bravo, to whom Narvaez had promised the Paris em-
bassy on his departure. The Duke de Broglie, who
had passed the morning in conference with M. Guizot,