Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1892-12-03
SCIENCE oF ToxIcoLoeY.


Experts May Mix Potsoas So ss TO Leave
trlf Few Trnoea
The poison-monger art has con-
trived 70 defy the progress of science
by constant improvements Of it's own.
Only q few weeks ago one OF the ex-
perts consulted in the trial of the New
York student accused of causing the
death Of his wife quoted the opinion OF
several eminent specialists TO the effect
that mo chemical epalysis can pretend
TO trace the vestiges of certain poisons
as modified by the subsequent admiuis-
tration of other drugs -, =.
In other words, poisoners have learned
to cover the traces of their crime by
taking the precaution TO use more than
one drug. Arsenic and strychuins oc-
cssionally betray. their presence, even
il the stomach Of the victim should
have retained only the hundreafh part
of . grain, but the tests OF the analysis
are SO drficAts sAd SO far from being
uuequivocal that their reliability do
pends upon conditions which adepts
have often managed to modify.
The poisoners of antiquity had. In
deed. to contend with far more seri-
Gus difficulty. viz: the circumstance
that the inihriousness OF many viru-
lent Substances betrays itself by their
responsiveness Strychnine and opium
are intensely bitter, SO much 50, in fact,
that in some of their powdered forms
an invisible trace can be tasted in the
air on shaking a small quantity from
one paper into another. Belladonna,
digitalis, stramonium, hemlock and
colchium are either acrid or so nause-
Gus that a deadly dose can be swallowed
only with difficulty, even by suicides.
In an aimixture with most articles of
food vegetable pois2ns ean generally be
detec ted by the protest of the human
palate.
Certain mineral poisons, however.
make a remarkable exception from that
rule. 1t would almost seem as il ma
ture had not thought it worth her W ile
to warn our instincts agains. s::Hh out
of-the-way substances as sugar of lead
or arsenious acid. Common white ars.
enic is odorlcss and almost tasteless,
| deceiviug even the vigilance of such
| cautious creatures as rats and foxes
| In small doses its taste Is as difficult To
detect as that of few particles OF
| white chalk or powdered alum, but be-
| ing - rather insoluble substance the
deadly drug might betray itself to the
| eye.
''If ] should see fit to take a short
line trip TO the other world" said the
Swiss philosopher Haller. IL would no
more think of shooting myself than a
man would dream of getting himself
fired across the river from the mouth of
a cannon If he could instead use n COM
modions ferry" He alludes to the en-
| thanasia Of narcotic poisons, and his
l--:---- -a--il a----l->-z1<is med IL he
| 1ix-af 70 Witness the eUDorlInP u Is
! that have made prussic acid and cyan
| ide of potassium the favorite drugs of
suicides single drop of the acid ap-
piled to the tongue of full-grown rab-
bit has been known to produce instant
| death. and the failure OF suicidal at
tempts with dru rs Of that sort can be
often explained by the fact that anna
teur chemists are apt to use absurd
| overdoses.
| A young druggist of my acquaintance
| came near getting himself into serious
| trouble by accommodating a friend who
| pretended to need lot of cyanide
for photographic purposes This Gus
toner intended to take a peep through
the camera obscura of Davy''
! Locker. but missed the chance by
swallowing the whole of his purchase
a quantity sufficient to kill a regiment
of soldiers. Under the circumstances:
OF the case in question 1T merely pro
duced a vomiting fit, and a few hours
work with a st1mac ch pump put the re
pentant sinner on his legs again.
a similar case occurred few year
ago in western Texas, where disap
pointed railway contractor attempted
to avenge his wrongs upon the emp'oye
of his successor, but betrayed his pur
pose by filling the whole camp with tn
| odor of bitter almonds
Bv good luck prussic acid and 1t
derivations lose their portentous prop
critics by a few days exposure to al
and even the sunlight but the crimina
history of the last two decades seems {
prove that criminals begin - maste
the difficulties of such circumstances
; a way which threatens to make dlsco'
cry next to impossible
Besides, there is reason to beiiey
that the gypsies of the old world, hR
the aborigines of our own continen
have preserved the recipe OF ugly chen
, | ical trade secrets Austrian newspaper
some fourteen years ago. reported n
= trial of a gypsy girl who had gratitied
> caprice of jealousy by poisoning youn
/ man with cup of drugged coffe
( Analytical tests failed to identify u
c poison, but the prisoner nnally co
l fessed that she had used substan'
known to her people as "drei,
= "dree." and prepared from the molde
{ ing woods of certain trees An autops
p proved that her victims lungs we
9 pcrlneated with strange whltl'
{ Growth resembling the ramifcation
: certain MOSES. while his stomac
4 though somewhat congested, reveal'
T no trace of any known Poison--S'
: Francisco Chronicle.
e In the early middle ages gloves
z / came auita common knights. prizes