The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-29 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

FATAL Acctoesm—On Saturday last an inquest was held
before P. F. Curry, Esq.. Coroner, for the purpose of inquiring
into the circumstances which led tOthe death of Mr. John Courts.,
Ralph Clark stated that he was a police-officer stationed on St.
George's Pier. On Friday, the llth instant, between' five and
six o'clock, he was standing on the stage that is used for pas:-
sengers, when he heard somethingc, fall forcibly to the ground
at a few yards distance from him. He went to see what it was,
found that it was the deceased who had fallen from the pier-
head on to the corner of the slip. The deceased had a servant
boy with him,. and they procured assistance and conveyed the
unfortunate man to the Northern Hospital. The deceased said
his name was John Courts; that he had come from Whitchurch,
whither he was about to return when the accident befel him He
had gone to the pier with the intention of proceeding over the
water to Mr. Whalley's, where he had a horse and gig, with
which he was going to proceed home. Benjamin Blower, house
surgeon at the Northern Hospital, stated that when the de-
ceased was brought to him he found that both his thighs and
two of his ribs were fractured. Every attention was paid to
him until Friday last, when he expired. Verdict, accidental
death.
DEATH BY BURNING.—WARNING TO PARENTS.—An inquest
was held on Saturday last, before P. F. Curry, Esq., coroner,
to inquire touching the death of Mary Anne Robinson. Alice
Davenport deposed, that she resided in Grosvenor-place,
Duckinfield-street, and the deceased, with her father and inn-
ther, lodged at the same house. At nine o'clock on Fridaylast;
witness heard a scream from the room of the latter,'and ran to
ascertain the cause. She found the deceased in flames, and a
candle burning on the fender near her. The mother of the de-
ceased had gone out a few moments before, and had left the poor
child by herself. Witness, with the assistance of a neighbour,
extinguished the flames, but the little creature was so dreadfully
scorched about the neck and breast that she died in less than-
three hours.—Verdict, accidental death, •
INQUEST.— Y.sterdav an incoest was held before Phillip
pinch Currie, Esq., coroner, touching the death of a fine full
crown male child, which was found dead in a midden in Great
Newtou,street, on Saturday, noon. Eliza Lewis deposed to be-
ing servant to Mr. Harris, in Great Newton-street.
,About .12.
o'clock, on Saturday, she was in the yard throwing something
into the midden, when she saw the body of the child laying,
there. She did not touch it hut ran and gave information to the
Police-office. There was a door from some vacant ground into
the midden. Inspector Roberts deposed that he was on duty
in Mount Pleasant, when he was informed that a child was ly-
ing dead on a midden in Great Newton-street. He went to
the house of Mr. Harris and found the child lying dead on the
dung-hill as described. He got assistance and had the child
conveyed to Mr. Lockwood's the surgeon, but it was quite dead.
Mr. Lockwood, surgeon, deposed that he had opened the body
of the deceased and from the appearances of the viscera and the
chest, and the state of its blood vessels, he was of opinion that
the child, had been still born. There were no, external 'marks
of violence. Verdict. —Found dead still born.
INQUEST:--Yesterday an Inquest was held before Phillip
Finch Curiie,- Esq., coroner, to inquire into the death of Frank
Fulton, a sailor. Thoinai Flitcher, a labourer, dePosedthat an
Saturday, the 19th instant, he was standing at the end of the
Goree, when he saw the wheel of a cart which was passing, go
over the legs and hand of the deceased. There were two horses
in the cart and a driver at the head of the leading horse. - He
lifted up the deceased and assisted in taking him to the Northern
Hospital. David Young, a Dock Policeman deposed to being
on duty at south end of the George's Dock, and saw the de-
ceased "taken up. The mit appeared to be passing at the ordi-
nary rate. Jane Fulton, the wife of the deceased deposed to
his being 78 years of age. Mr. Benjamin Blower, house Stir-
geon of the North Hospital, deposed to the deceased' being
brought there 'on Saturday, the 19th instant. His right thigh
was fractured, as were also some of the fingers of his right-hand.
Every thing was done for him that could be done, but ho died
on Sunday, the 27th, in consequence of the injuries he bid re-
ceived. The jury-returned a verdict of accideutal death.
ImacesT.—Yesterday afternoon, an ihquest was held before
Phillip Finch Currie, Esq., coroner, to enquire into the circum-
stances attending the death of Frank Bryan, cattle dealer, who
came by his death from a fall in the engine room of the Bir-
mingham steam-boat, on Friday last. Thomas Williams, se-
cond engineer on board the vessel, deposed that the Birming-
ham was one of the City of. Dublin Co.'s ships. On Friday
night last, they left Dublin with a cargo of cattle of which the
deceased had the care. About 5 o'clock on Saturday morning,
he was going down the ladder into the engine room when'he
saw the deceased lying on his face in the bilge and the beam of
the engine working upon him; he called to the fireman who a
sisted him to raise the deceased whilst he ran to stop the engine.
Deceased's head and limbs were very much shattered. Hugh
Hughes the fireman deposed to raising the deceased, but he
was quite dead. He had seen him previously drying his clothes
before the fire in the engine room. His body was given up to
his friends. The jury found a verdict of accidental death.

POPULAR COURSE, ON CHEMISTRY, AT THE

MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURE 111.
On Wednesday evening Mr. Hemming delivered his third lec-
ture to an overflowing audience, upon the tests and antidotes of
various poisons. The beauty of his experiments was only
equalled by the peculiar neatness of his manipulation.
Chemical affinity is succes4felly applied to the detection of
poisons. One of the most frequently administered, as well as
the most destructive of these, is arsenic. Without entering
into a detail of the processes for ettracting this poison front the
stomach, which would he both tedious and offensive, let us sup-
pose that the poison. has been extracted, and we wish to ascer-
tain beyond a doubt whether it be arsenic or not. Arsenious
acid, which is the most fatal of the common poisons, is a
chemical combination of the metal arsenic and oxygen. As a
metal, arsenic is innoxious, and it owes its poisonous properties
to its combination with that vital principle of our atmosphere
without which we could not exist ten minutes. If there were
no oxygen combined with it, we might swallow a great quan-
tity of it with perfect impunity. Almost the whole of the
arsenic we employ in Europe comes from the Cobalt mines of
Saxony. It is to be found in copper pyrites combined as a
sulphuret; but this arsenic is not considered to be equal in
purity to that obtained from the Cobalt works of Saxony. These
Cobalt works are now considered very valuable, but a century
and a half ago the ores of Cobalt were thrown aside as worthless.
Indeed the ores of Cobalt are very hard to reduce, and on ac-
count of the great quantities of Cobalt these ores contained, the
mines were abandoned. So pernicious was it considered, that
the workmen put up prayers to heaven to deliver them from evil
spirits and Cobalt. The name Cobalt is derived from Cobalus,
whom the Saxons believed to he a lady. There is a sermon in
the British Museum which was delivered by a divine against
this lady, in which he calls her the consort of Satan. It was,
however;discovered that this ore contained a very valuable ox-
ide of,the metal Cobalt; which, when properly prepared, has
the property of imparting an indestructible blue to all vitrifia-
ble as glass, porcelain, &c. The blue tints on our
plates are affixed with the ore of Cobalt. It is first ground and
mixed, with oil, and then applied with a brush to the plates.
The plat'e's' are then Vitrified and burnt, when the Cobalt causes
:an indelible blue stain. A mine in Saxony, which had been
abandoned for a century, was reopened and worked by the pro-
prietor with such success that
annum for a long period to the time of
his death he netted L 14,000 per by the Cobalt extracted
from his mine. • The oxide of Cobalt was a few years ago, worth
two guineas tin ounce, but it is now worth less. The first step
towards the purifaction of the Cobalt ore is to roast it to drive
off the arsenic and sulphur with which it is combined. This is
done -in a'reverberatery,ftirnar-, fiirnished with an horizontal
floe extending for 410 yards: in this-flne the arsenic and sul-
phur become cendensed, • aneitiVidScourse of a few months
ehektl'it up. This. flue -term-Mater-I'lPa large chamber for the
riptise preventin,,etlie escape oft'the arsenic fumes. The
cobalt is fused with glass, or the materials for making glass, with
whichit-entel combination, and produCes a strong blue co-
lour. This compound is poured whilit hot into water, when it
becomes brittle, and forms the smelts which are so useful-in the
arts. When the Cobalt is more intensely combined with
the glass, the colour becomes almost black; and is imported un-
der the name of Zaffre. It becomes necessary to remove the
concrete matter when the flues become choked, and it is so
highly dangerous a task that none but criminals condemned to
die are employed for that purpose, and although they take every
precaution to prevent the arsenic power from entering the lungs,
very feW of them survive more than a few. months. Indeed the
symptoms they present exactly resemble.those of persons who
have taken a portion of arsenic. It becomes necessary to re-
duce the arsenic and sulphur to a minute powder, and to mix
them with potass. Heat being applied, the arsenic sublimes in
a white state, and the sulphur unites with potash, forming, the
sulphnret of potash. The arsenic (arseniotle acid) is then ground
into a powder as we generally see it. It is barely soluble
in cold .water, rather inure so in, boiling water, and it does not
precipitate, the least of it when cold. The lecturer did not know
whether its insoluble property was more fortunate or unfortunate.
When it is taken in the state of meehanical mixture by those
who destroy life, those portions of it which are undissolved will
adhere with singular obstinacy to the stomach and intestines
and where this takes place inflammati ,n ensues; which extends,
to the adjacent parts. If the powder were soluble, by means of
the stomach pump we could extract it, and many lives might
be preserved; but to attempt to withdraw. the undissolved
arsenic would be useless, as we should have to inject many
gallons of water before we could dissolve the arsenic. Let us
Suppose that we have withdrawn the poison from the stomach,
and here itmay bowell to remark that in all cases of poisoning
we should preserve the bottle, vial, or glass from which the
poison has been taken, and take it to a medical man, so that he
may tell what poison has been taken, and be able to bring the
antidote, by which in all probability the life may he saved.
We will suppose 'that the poison has been extracted, and that
we wish to employ chemical tests for its detection. We have
many valuable liquid tests for arsenic, but none of these can be
depended upon where taken isolatedly. Indeed, in these days,
although we have two Or three tests corroborating each other,
we do not find juries believe us unless we get the arsenic in its
metallic state. If we have only the I,oooth part of a grain of
arsenic, we can always reduce it to its metallic state, which
is always conclusive evidence. We should then convert part
of this metal into the poison, which we can do by heating it
with free access to the atmospheric air. We have, therefore,
analytical and synthetical proofs as to the nature of the poison.
Although none of the four liquid tests can be depended upon in
their simple and separate state, yet when we find them corro-
borating each other, we conclude that arsenic is present, for we
have no other substance in chemistry to which the four tests
will apply with the same results. The first of these is a solution
of ulphate of copper. Upon adding it to the solution of arsenic
there will be no precipitate, but merely a change in colour; but
if we add ammonia, we have a precipitate of a grass-green
colour which will indicate the presence of arsenic. The next
test Is to add a solution of the nitrate of silver, an exceedingly
beautiful and delicate test; and here again we shall have no
Precipitate, unless it be a faint white one, arising from any im-
purities in the water; but here again, when a • small quan-
tity of liquid ammonia is added, we shall have a yellow preci-
pitate, and, as iu the former instance, dropping from the glass
rod with which we introduce the ammonia. We may then
apply another test, but one which the lecturer did not recom-
mend—a solution of lime, and this will give another precipitate,
but it requires to stand several minutes before any effect takes
place. The fourth test is applied with the best effect of all our
tests; It is a solution of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. For the
,purpose of detecting the poison we do not employ the gas con-
densed in water, but wise a' current of the gas through the
water, and this saves us a great deal of trouble. When either
the solution or the gas itself is applied, a precipitate, the sul-
phnret of arsenic, is found. We may then proceed to reduce
these precipitates to their metallic state. We first filter and
dry them, and, having mixed them with black flux, heat them
in a tube, when the arsenic is reduced to a metallic state and
deposited on the tube. The ammonia should be added in test-
ing very cautiously and sparingly, otherwise the precipitate'
will he immediately dissolved. These are the modes resorted to
by the chemists for the detection of arsenic; but, within the
last few weeks, we have been presented with a new test, su-
perior to all others, the most delicate and the most infallible.
It wil enable us to detect minute quantities and without any
precipitate whatever. If we adopt the test of Mr. Marsh,
of Woolwich, it is unnecessary to adopt any means to separate
the poison from the stomach, which is an exceedingly offensive
operation. Mr. Marsh ascertained by means of this operation
the presence of one grain of arsenic mixed in a pint of soup, a
pint of coffee, &c. Hydrogen, in its nascent state, will dissolve
arsenic and other metals. In lieu, therefore, of attempting to
separate the arsenic from the contents of the stomach, we place
substance supposed to contain arsenic in a vessel and add zinc
and sulphuric acid. Mr. Hemming used a Dobereinet's lamp
fur this purpose, with great success. Hydrogen will thus
be generated and take up the arsenic with it, becoming arsenu-
rated hydrogen gas. This gas wemay ignite as it issues through
a small aperture, when, by holding a piece of glass in front of
the flame, the metallic arsenic, or arsenious acid, according to
our mode of performing the operation, will be deposited upon
it. By holding the glass near the flame metallic arsenic is ob-
tained, and at a greater distance arsenious acid. A smell of
garlic likewise accompanies the burning ufarsenic, besides what
this colour of the flame indicates of its presence. Now, with
respect to the remedies, it most be admitted that it is difficult to
say whether there is any. Mr. Hume, to whom we are indebt..
Kirin. one of the best tests of the presence of arsenic—the nitrate
of silver, informed the lecturer of a remarkable case of poison.
ing by arsenic, in which he had been called in. Happening to
have read of-the virtues of carbonate of magnesia' in cases of
poisoning, he administered a dose of it with opium. The
lady recovered, and he published an account of it. Shortly
afterwards, a medical gentleman in the country administered
the same remedy with .the utmost success. It does, therefore,
appear atrauge that this efficacious remedy should not be
better known. It certainly can do no ,harm if it does no good.
The next poison in order is bichloride of - mercury or
i core-
e occur
sive sublimate. This is a poson seldom, given, but th
many cases of poisoning by and the lecturer tit
tie er d
in the
STANDARD of last week that a portion of it had been taken in-
stead of sulphur. How it could be mistaken for sulphur he
could not tell, as sulphur was yellow, and corrosive sublimate
white. The latter was hard, _and the former brittle. This poison
will seldom-he administered wilfully, and seldom could betaken
by the suicide, as it is so nauseous in its taste that he could not
hear it in his mouth. If we were to touch the tongue with the
smallest portion of it, the nauseous taste would remain for days.
This poison is always formed at the same time as the useful use-
diciee, calomel; indeed; the orily,difference between them is,
that the one contains more chlorine than the other. They are.
however, easily separated, as corrosive sublimate is soluble in
water, and calomel is not. We have frequently a specific an-
tidote for corrosive sublimate in our kitchen; and that is albu-
men-or the white den egg, which immediately neutralizes it,
and tonverts it into calomel. In addition to this test we have
many others which lead to infallible results. We may apply
the alkalies such as lime water, ammonia, and potash. These
will all give us peculiar appearances. Ammonia gives a dense
white precipitate. Potash will afford a bright yellow, and lime
water will give us a yellowish red precipitate. By adding an
acid these colours will again be rendered transparent, in con-
sequence of the oxides, being' dissolved. We have one other
test which ought neverao be omitted for we never can multiply
tests too abundantly when the life of a fellow-creature depends
en our evidence.. This test is a solution of the hydriodate of
potash, which will give us a yellow precipitate at the first, but
Which will giadually redden into a deep crimson. But the most
delicate and the most infallible of all tests is obtained by the
voltaic decomposition of the substance; that is if we decom-
pose it by the contact of two dissimilar, metals. , In every in-
stance one metal should be gold, and on that we should drop a
little of the suspected substance, if it be corrosive sublimate a
small-piece of lead or copper will cause it to adhere with great
Violence to the gold. As much as can be taken up on the point of
a needle will be sufficient in this way to plate the surface of a
sovereign. Heat will remove the mercury from the gold.
'The next poison we have to consider is copper. Copper is
not a poison in its metallic state, but when combined with oxy-
gen it becomes The salts of copper are exceedingly dan-
gerous. Copper is not wilfully taken or given, but deaths by
copper poisoning are not rare. It is usual to employ copper
stew-pans, and although they may he tinned, the tin is liable to
wear away, and if some articles of food remain in such a pot
for a few hours in all probability they will become deadly poison,
for the acetate of copper or verdigris will be formed. lire find
that copper is wilfully employed for the purpose of improving
the appearance of some articles of food. Some articles of con-
fectionary are greened by copper. Mr: Hemming had extractei.
copper from comfits. In some cases large quantity
ployed, as in making of green pickles, as gherkins andaftoneeny,e-
beane. The pickles, we are told in cookery books, are e
(int t
heated in brass or copper vessels, but if these are net to
a few halfpence will make the pickles delightfully greaneci
nee
ye:
ft: lecturer was not certain whether they would be green, but he
would
was certain that a deadly poison wo-uld be for.
copper. They had in London a fair called Irrdtho°flo
At the period of this fair all the gingertireadA ienhuislt be d
the gilding is performed with copper leaf..
hink
..eat it. In al-
it iefeg dig, or indicative of bad taste to eat ungilt gingerbread
at that time. But if parents thought of the consequences
he
gilding they would not permit their children to
certain prepata.ions are neces-
sary ; if we gild copper we are o. bead to amalgamate the gold;
if we gild wood certain preparations are necessary; but in gild-
ing gingerbread no such precautions are required; the artist
who performs thatoffice passes his tongue over the gingerbread,
dead the deposition of the saliva causes the copper to adhere to