The morning call., 1893-04-27
Pr0MALNEs IN COURT AGAIN.

A Dr.. Robert Welsford Buchanan is on
trial in New York for the murder of his
wife by poisoning her with morphine.
Alter the woman died the contents of her
stomach were handed to Professor Williams,
the well-kuown writer on chemistry, and
he testified that he found morphine therein.
DIR. Doremus also analysed the contents of
the stomach and can to the same eonclu-
sion, explaining tn Inc jury the scientific
process by which he arrived at his results.
Neither chemist could say that he found
morphine crystals. They both relied upon
color reactions which the books declare 10
be tests for morphine.
On this the defense introduced Professor
Vaughn of the University of Michigan,
who introduced into the case the theory of
ptumaines, which made such a sensation
when it was first used in murder case in
Nebraska twenty years ago. For the bene-
fit of the unscientific reader it may be ex-
planned that decomposition in the human
body generates poisonous alkaloid, which
lies in the stomach and Is capable Of much
energy. To this alkaIoid the name of pto-
maines has been given. DR.. Vaughan ex-
planned in work which he wrote in 1885
that poisonous ptomaines are found in va
cheese. hams and fish, and that they are
invariably present in the stomachs of cad
AYERS in which purifying decomposition
has set in. Now the color reactions OBJ
tanned on testing morphine with litmus
paper are precisely the same rs those which
are obtained when ptomaines are present.
The inference is that Mrs Buchanan may
not have died Of morphine poisoning, but
of some natural disease, and that the indi-
cations OF poison may have arisen from the
presence Of substances which are found in
every dead body few days after death.
1t is evident that if Professor Vaughn
Is right 4 difficulty which is almost
insuperabe VIII arise in cases where a
prisoner is held on a charge If poisoning.
When man is accused of having caused
the death of another By poisoning the
stomach Of the dead person is handed to a
chemist who is called upon to analyze it
for poison. He puts the object submitted
20 him To various tests. Sometimes he finds
the poison present in the shape of crystals
or some other shape, and in quantities
sufficient to cause death. But quite
often he is unable to find the actual
poison itself, and is forced to infer
its presence from the discoloration of
strip Of paper, or from chemical reaction
on other drugs. In this case lie goes into
court and teStiiies 10 his discovery. He
says that his knowledge of chemistry en-
ables him TO declare that there was poison
in the deceased's stomach, though he could
not see, feel or taste it, and on this testi-
mony many man is convicted of murder
But il there is poison in the stomach OF
every corpse a week after death, and if
that poison responds TO the same tests as
are used 10 detect the presence of morphine
or other toxical bodies, how can a jury be
sure that the prisoner did really poison the
dead person?
JuTies are always more OF less guided by
collateral circumstances, though the court
| generally rules them out Of the testimony
1t is generally safe to assume that every one
has a motive for his acts Where a man has
an interest in causing the death of another.
and poison is found in the latter's stomach
| after death, a jury would be more inclined
to suspect that the poison was administered
for felJni0us purposes than thatit proceeded
| from ptonaines. And again, poison is not
readily administered except by a doctor.
! With the exception Of prussic acid few roi-
sons act promptly. There is generally a
| period of several hours between the admin
| i5tTatiOn OF the drug and the death. and
! during that period the as0nes and conyu!-
siOns of the sufferer are likely TO attract
! attention. The Canadian doctor who made
business of poisoning as a fine art never
| took a life without inspiring suspicion.
| Where dead woman is shown to have died
! quietly in her bed, without experiencing
! unusual pains, or exhibiting unusual symp-
! toms, and especially where it does not
! appear that any one had an empowering
| interest in her death, a jury might be apt to
meet the evidence of poison in the stomach
with the theory of ltOmaines. But where
! death was preceded by unexpected throes
and commissions, and where it was palpably
to the interest Of some one to get he dead
woman ont of the way. most juries would be
| inclined to reject that theory in favor OF the
| simpler hypothesis that the deceased came
| to her death by the administration of poison
/ ~ bs- m nat