Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-07-23
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
NICOTINE.


At the last sitting of the Academy of Med
icine, at Paris, M. Orfila's report on nico-
tine was read, This report which confirms
facts already known, contains many new
observations Of interest to chemists and
medical jurisprudence, relative to the poi
son, and of its traces after death.
According to this document, nicotine was
discovered in 1909, by Vauquelin; and is
to be found in different kinds of nicotiana,
IN various proportions. HAVANA tobacco
contains two per cent that of the Nord,
six; Virginia nearly seven, and that of Lot,
eight. Smokers, by inhalng the fumes of
tobacco, Introduce into their system GER
tain quantity Though smalD of poisonous
matter. Pure nicotine has the appearance
of an oily, transparent liquid of pale yell
low color, which after exposure, turns to
brown. 1t is very hot 20 the taste, and its
acrid smell slightly resembles that of tobac-
GO; but when volatized by heat it throws
out characteristic yapors, which are so op-
pressive that breathing becomes difficult in
a room where drop of the liquid has been
spilled. AS poisonous substance, nicotine
possesses excessive power. In experiments
made about ten years ago. in ten minutes
NJ. Or6la killed many dogs, on the tongues
Of which he had applied FIVE drops of this
alkah with twelve drops, death ensued in
two minutes. But this powerful poison can
not escape the investigation of men of art.
Pure nicotine (according to the conclusions
Of Messrs. Ortila and Stas) has certain char
acters by which it is detected as easily as
mineral poison. 1t can be discovered in the
digestive channel, and its existence therein
proved, though that channel contained but
q few drops. And even when the poison
Gus substance has been absorbed-when it
has passed into the other organs-it can
still be discovered in those organs, and es-
pecially in the liver. Nj. Orfla has tried,
on the liver of animals poisoned with twelve
or fifteen drops of nicotine, two methods of
chemical analysis, which he describes, and
he has invariably succeeded in procuring
certain quantities of the poison sought for.
M. Stas, by making use of third meth
cd on the body of Gustavus Fouguies, ex-
tracted nicotine from the tongue, the stom-
ach, and liquid contained therein he also
found some in the liver and lungs. He
moreover obtained it from the wood floor
VI thS III WHICH OUBldNc
died, although that flooring had been wash
ed with soap, oil, and warm water; and, in
hiS learned investigation, the Belgian toxi-
cologist had received no indication from the
Judge obstruction. Before he wassipform-
ed that Bocarme had been making expert
ments relative to tobacco and nicotine, he
had already found that the poison introdu-
ced into the body of the victim was neither
sulphuric acid Gas had been supposedly nor
acetic acid, but either conicine or nicotine.
The progress which medical jurisconsults
have made recently is so great that poison
ing by MORPHINE, strychnine, prussic acid,
and other vegetable substances, hitherto re-
garded as inaccessible to our means of in
vestigation, may now be detected and rec
egnized in the most incontestible manner.
M. Or6la, in closing his notice, might
well say: CATER these results of judicial
medical investigation, the public need be
under no apprehension. No doubt intelli-
gent and clever criminals, with view to
thwart the surgeons, will sometimes have
recourse to very active poisons little
known by the mass, and difficult of detec-
tion, but science is on the alert, and soon
evercomes all difficulty; penetrating into
the utmost depths of our organs, it brings
cut the proof of the crime, and furnishes
one of the greatest pieces of evidence a
gainst the guilty. Galignanis Messenger