The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-28
GLASS POISONING.
Some Curious Cases on Record I'm the
Medical World.

London Lancet
We understand that a case is shortly
to come before one of the criminal courts
in America which will be of unusual inter-
est. A woman is charged with the muir
der Of an aged husband by feeding him
with glass ground up in an ordinary cof-
fee mill The glass is thought to have been
given in oatmeal porridge. This method of
poisoning is supposed to have been a ia
vorite one in the sixteenth century, and
is said to be still practiced among saw
age tribes who have access to the need
full material. Medical literature, however,
contains but few recorded cases. Glass
may be '.noxious substance by virtue Of
the mechanical injuries which 1T can pro-
duce, but it is not, therefore, a poison IL
the legal sense of the word
A case of this nature with reference to
previous observers is recorded in the Ed
inburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for
1924, Page 225. DR.. W. Turner, of Spanish
Town, Jamaica, there relates that an at
tempt was made by negro woman to
poison whole family with pounded glass
The persons on whom the attempt was
made were seven in number, and none OF
them suffered any inconvenience. In the
Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter,
1928, Page AZ, Mr.. William Hebb. surgeon.
of Worcester records in considerable de-
tail the case of an infant who was de-
stroyed 'by some person or persons admin.
istering to it a quantity OF roughly pounded
glass" A considerable quantity OF gritty
powder. proved TO be powdered glass, was
found in the stomach, which was lined
with a thick layer of tenacious mucus
which was streaked with blood, and IL
required to be peeled off before the VII
lous coat beneath could be exposed to
view. This last was In a state OF amazing
vascularity."
Another case is reported in the Allge-
meme Wiener Medicinische Zeitung, 1858,
viii, 254. case of attempted suicide Dy
this means is recorded in the Boston Medi-
cal and Surgical Journal, ISL, Page 19i. A
young girl, aged sixteen years, desiring 10
end her life, pounded up small glass Dot
tie into fragments of the size or a split pea
and under; of these she swallowed tea
spoonful, taken at several times in bread.
Although she experienced considerable
pain and discomfort, she subsequently re-
covered. The favorable result may have
been due to the bread protecting rhe SION,
ach and intestines from injury. The small
number of cases on record, and the immu-
nifty which experimenters have enjoyed
from harm after swallowing powdered
glass. would show that death produced by
these means is not nearly as common as the
remarks usually to be found In medico-legal
textbooks would lead the reader 10 i'm
agine.
In an inaugural dissertation. published in
Paris in 1890, by lie Savage, IL Is stated
that two and one-half drachms were given
to a cat without injury; also that a dog took
six ounces or seven ounces in eight days
without any symptoms manifesting them
selves lie Savage himself swallowed a
considerable number of similar particles
without sustaining any inconvenience. Pro-
fessors Baudelocque and Chaussier, in ls0S.
reported a case at Paris in which the pris-
oner was supposed to have poisoned his
wife with pounded glass. This substance
was actually found in the stomach of the
deceased. and this organ well as the in
testines exhibited signs of great irritation.
After a careful consideration OF all that had
been written on the subject. however. they
gave their opinion that pounded glass is
not a poison, and suggested that the glass
i'm the stomach was derived from some ves-
sci of that material being broken by her
teeth during the commissions which pre-
coded death.