The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-01-10
WHEAT STEPPED II ARSENIC.

In the last number of the London Lam
Get, DR.. Fuller, lecturer on medical juris-
prudence at st. Thomas's Hospital, mentions
the following singular fact, connected with
the English practice Of sleeping wheat in
arsenic before sowing it,
For some months past, in certain parts Of
Hampshire, pratridges have beenfopnd dead
in the fields, presentnga very remarkable
appearance. Instead Of lying PROSTATE on
their sides, as is usually the case with dead
birds, they have been found sitting, with
their heads erect and their eyes open, pre-
senting all the semblance Of life. This pc
culiarity, which for some time had attracted
considerable attention from the sportsmen
in the neighborhood, led to no practical re-
suit until about ten days ago, when covey
Of ten birds having been found nestled to-
gether in this condition, two Of the birds,
together with the seeds taken from the crops
Of the remaining eight, were sent up to Lon
don for examination.
| was requested to undertake the inves-
tigaton, and the result Of my experiments |
will now briefly detail first examined
the seeds taken from the crops Of the birds,
and detected, as anticipated, alarge guam
tlty of arsenic. Having thus ascertained
the presence Of arsenic in the food of the
partridges, proceeded to examine the birds
themselves. They were plump and in good
condition, but the esophagus was in both
cases highly inAamed throughout The in
testines were not inhamed, and presented
no trace Of liberation; but they were re-
markably empty and clean, almost as il they
had been washed with water. May not
this have been the result Of diarrhpai |
now at the suggestion Of my friend, Mr.,
Stone, proceeded to ascertain whether the
flesh Of the birds so poisoned might not of
iteslf prove poisonous when eaten and,
with this view, carefully cut the flesh of
the breast and legs Of one Of the birds, and
gave it, together with the liver, to fine
healthy cat. She ate it with avidity but
in about half an hour she began to vomit,
and vomited almost necessarily for twelve
hours, during the whole Of which time she
evidently suffered much pain. After this
nothing would induce her to eat any more
partridge.
On examination, the flesh Of the birds
was full Of arsenic. How did it get there I
In Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and many other
parts Of the country, the farmers are now in
the habit Of sleeping their wheat in strong
solution Of arsenic, previous to sowing it,
with the view of preventing the ravages Of
the wire-worm on the seed, and Of the smut
on the plant when grown that this process
is found to be eminently successful, and is
therefore daily becoming more and more gem
orally adopted; that, even now, many hun
dreds weight of arsenic are yearly sold to
agriculturists for this express purpose that
although the seed is poisonous when sown,
its fruit is in no degree affected by the poi
son; that wherever this plan has been ex-
tensively carried out, pheasanis and par
tridses have been poisoned by eating the
seed, and the cartridges have been almost
universally found sitting in the position
have alrerdy described; and, lastly, that
the men employed in sowing the poisonous
seed not unlrequently prescut the early
symptoms which occur, IN the milder cases
Of poisoning by arsenic.
In endeayoring to assign causes for The
prevalence Of diarrhGa and cholera morbus,
the editor Of the Liverpool Journal says
The question suggests itself. May not
poachers and game-keepers, finding birds
so killed, gather them up and sell them?---
Have not wheat fields been drained into ri.
vefs, and may not the drinking OF the wa
ter have superinduced bowel complaints
May not the use Of game lead 10 the same
result River water has been considered
Objectionable where cholera prevails, and
DR.. Sutherland, at Dumfries, has forbidden
the use Of the river water, which is, how
ever, exposed 10 the contamination Of sew
ers.