The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-07-13


There was no emsoiation perceivable upon any part
Of the body. Tho Limbs were without rigidity. Ths
rudy hue Of health was upon her cheeks A smilo
seemed lurking about her lips, and dimpling her
chin. In raising the eye-lids, which were flexible
rs in life, discovered somewhat singular aspect
about the eyes-the irses, instead of being Of some
one Of the ordinary colors, blue, black, or hasel
were of an almost perfect yellow. inquired of my
friend with regard to the curious phenomenon, and
was informed that this change Of color 1.-THE eyes
were originally blue) had been first noticed about
| three months before the death Of the patient. A
short time previous to this, however, she had been
subject to "yellow Dreams" as she called them
dreams in which the flowers or fruits, or landscapes
or whatever objects, presented themselves most
usually clothed in yellow. / was informed also that
the tears from the eyes, and the fluid from the nose
| had often the same yellow lingo. These, with an
habitual lead color about tho stools, an occasional
cDcrimsoned deposite in the urine, and constantly
recurring ploasurable thrill as it were Of electricity
throughout tho region of the liver, were the only
particularly marked symptoms to DO observed in the
patient up to the time Of her death. II was in the
midst of Of those thrills, more intense, and
more pleasurable seemingly than any which had su
pervened hitherto, that life had taken its departure
than an occasional dose of oil for the period Of six
months before her death. Her eyes had been treat
ed with weak solution of the ACETATE of lead and
tho sulphate Of zinc She had practised bathing in
| coldwater.
| Of course / proposed an examination of the
corpse; and, the consent Of the friends being OBJ
tanned, and the aid Of Drs. s., W, p,
and B-bepg secured, we set to work at once,
We directed our attention first to the eyes, so,
| through their nerves, to the brain. There was
nothing about the eyes themselves, other than the
peculiar coloring of the irises already named, nor
about either the Optic third, fourth or sixth pair
Of nerves, to call for observation, although they
were subjected to the most careful scrutiny under
| powerful microscope. The ophthalmc branches of
| the fifth pair, satisfied ourselves, changed
| very slightly; thoy had an appearance such as
| baya henu cd bvf l,n
their substance of the cortcal matter of the brain,
giving deeper tiDge ofgray than is natural. Neither
in the brain nor in the spinal cord proper was there
any discoverabie sign of alteration But the semi
the par vagum and to the trncial nerves. exhibited
decided marks of change. This change consisted
in deepening of the gray of the cincrtious sub
| stance into blue The heart and lungs, and the
upper and lower portions of the alimentary canal
appeared in their ordinary state: but upon the
| central parts Of this latter, there minute
cicatrices similar to those present after recovery
from typhoid fever. The spleen was slightly en-
| g0rgcd with blood The kidneys were somewhat
| fabbier and paler than they should be- The liver
was very nearly of the ordinary size, perhaps a
little less and offered to the eye an aspect analo-
gous to that which it offers under disease known
by the name Of crrhosis. Throughout its sub
stance were scattered small masses, of a brownish
| yellow tint, varying in size from a beet seed
to kernel of corn The most Of these, We convinced
ourselves, were nothing more than lobules, rather
parts lobules, of the hepatic tissue, collected toge
ther so as to form kind of nuclei containing stag
nant bile. A few Of them, however, those Of the
larger size, and which were situated more nearly to
the mouth of the different duct, were of quite diff
| fercnt character. They resembled not so much de-
| posts Of hillary matter as of a salt, having some
one Of the metals for base. The gall bladder was
but colored like the juice of vioets than ordi
nary bile. The body Of the bladder ITSELF was of
| the usual form and appearance; but the neck was
as it were, a horn growing out OF the liver at one
a.
from the other end. We pressed it with as great
force we could between the thumb and fingers
| it was as unyealding as neck OF stone. we dis
sected it away from it's attachments, fully expecting
| which are occasionally met with results of the
animal uneconomy. On the contrary, we found a
tube-a sort ofsiphon-the principal portion of the
substance Of which was Enthusiastically metallic
The end extending into the sack, which was longer
smaller, and more completely tubular of the two
ends. was Of pure golden color; that coming from
the liver which resembled irregularly shaped
| porous plug more than real tube, had yellow
| cast but this yellow was not entirely unmixed.
| The whole mass, after being separated as carefully
as possible, by washing, from animal matter,
weighed four pennyweights and eleven grains.
Of course not presumptu0us as to
decide ourselves upon the nature Of the substance
| thus discovered; sent it to Prof Fl to be
analysed. He pronounced it to consist of an oxyde
of iron, phosphate of soda, traces OF animal matter
| substance which strongly resembled sulphuret OF
lead-but which was not, as there could be no lead
extracted, by the incest proccsses-and of gold.
There were forty three grains Of this, by the profess
| sor's weight
No other idea as to the cause of this singular
phenomenon can be offered, as can see, than that
the woman must have taken gold for a medicine.
She was treated about year ago by homeo-
path and it is known that gold, dfu1tni, is among
the homeopathic $50 called) remedies.
/ should have named that some ten or a dozen
citizens who could be depended upon for all proper
secresy, among the number. Mayor D, and the
Rev. Mr.. K, were invited in at the close of the
examination. Yours truly,
To w. t., MD. (the st. Croix.)
EDITOR OF THE HERALD
offer the foregoing ''case" to your readers, sup
pressing in accordance with the wish of its reporter,
the real names of the parties and the places concern
ed This, for the that it was deemed best not
to give undue notorety to the matter at present. or
until some further particulars with regard to it shall
be learned. simply state of this reporter, that
know him very well, having studied medicine under
the same tutor that he did; also, that have had
some acquaintance with several Of the persons pres
ent at the examinations; would suggest, too, in
passing to the thinking and reasonable portion of
those whose eyes may chance to meet these lines,
whether they would not do well to receive this as
another strong testimony against the miserable
qrackery. ycleped homeopatby-its peddlcrs, when
they 'stick to their text" to their infnitesimal
doses do just nothing at all for their patients;
when, is perhaps most usually the case, making
these innesmals the Of their chicanery, they
empty in their new posoDs in quantities, they are
sowing broadcast the seeds of death. Gold, in any
shape is not allowed place in the allopathic Mate
Of medicine laymen as well as practitioners, now
start in the work Of purging away all quacke-
ry Yours, truly, JOHN AMOS FIELD.
ATTEMPT 10 KILL FRUSTRATED ny LADY,
Some months since, shooting affair took place in