Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-07-11
FACTS ABOUT PoISoNS.
Errors That Have Been Made by
NOveIists and Dramatists in
Their Plots.

hAth MI VI hAAe hAANN b-N - 49,
characters in "A Debt OF Honor die
within few minutes from the effects
of taking an overdose of choral, he
committed a great physiological blum
der, says the London Mail.
A person with an ordinarily sound
heart-almost eyeryone's heart is
little unsound in some respect-could
take a dozen overdoses and not die for
many hours; in fact, he would prob
ably be found alive next morning, only
it would be impossible to rouse him
Choral, morphine, opium, sulphonyl-
all the anaesthetics and soporitics and
hypnoties-take time as well as guam
tity TO kill An author or a dramatist
who wishes haste in dispatching his
characters must use prussic acid Thy
drocyanic acid. 1t is the deadliest
drug In the pharmacopoeia, both in ra'
pidity of effect and smallness OF the
lethal dose, and, acting directly on
the respiratory organs, kills painlessly
and with awful suddenness il a very
few moments.
When you see the villain of play
administer a cup of poison, ha! hal
TO his unsuspecting victim, and that
victim drops dead with the cup in hi
hand, as if he had received a bullet in
the brain, you may write the author
of the play down an ignoramus; nc
poison will do that.
Strychnine runs prussic acid very
close in deadliness both for time and
quantity, but, acting on the nerve cen
ters, it causes terrible, painful and
by no means instantaneous end. II is
Of course, a vegetable poison, derived
from nut, or bean, the nuX yomica
whereas prussic acid is a chemically
prepared artificial product.
Both these deadly drugs are very
readily detected, not only from Their
physiological effects, but also by means
Of chemical analysis. In fact, nova
days, so far has chemical science pro
gressed, that secret poisoning is al
absolute impossibility-at any rate, BY
means Of drugs. 1t is not 50 many years
ago that the detection of arsenic was
considered something of a feat, De
pending principally upon microscop.
ical examination, and therefore unre'
liable except in the case of large over
doses, when sufficient unassimilated
particles remained for recognition.
Nowadays a forty-thousandth part OF
a grain in the human body can be iden
titled with absolute certainty and the
utmost ease by chemical analysis, by
means of Marsh's or Rensch's tests.
The most difficult drug to detect
chemically is atropin, the active prin.
eiple of belladonna, which is, of course,
a derivative of the deadly nightshade.
1t is, however, very fortunately, UNI
mistakable in its physiological effecte
and although it is difficult to recog-
nize it chemically, it is by no means
impossible In old times many Of the
vegetable poisons were undeteetable,
especially belladonna, digatalis (from
the foXglove very deadly drug) and
strephanthus (from the seed Of dande
lion). The last-named is one Of the
famous South American poisons that
figure so largely in romance, and is
the active principle in most arrow and
dart poisons. for which purpose
strychnine Is also largely used.
Indian and South American poisons
have for so long had such a hold OF
picturesqueness surrounding them
that ii is almost an act Of vandalism
to shatter their claim to distinction.
in those utilitarian days they are all
scheduled in the British Pharma-
copoeia, and when you read Of ian
obscure Indian poison" you may con
sole yourself with the reflection thai
there are plenty of people TO whom
its detection would offer no difficulties
whatever. The only form Of poison
which you can use upon your friends
with any chance Of the analyst not be-
ing able TO state with absolute certain
~ in what form it was administered
is an animal one and not drug
either meteorological toxin, which you
will find costly either to produce or to
purchase, and difficult to administer,
or some Of the ptomaines, the poisons
that exist in putrid and putrefying
fish and meat These you viii not
be able to get any sane person to take,
owing to the offensive smell and taste
Of any food in which they are pres
ent. So that, as already stated, secret !
poisoning may now be reckoned a
thing Of the past, one Of the lost arts.
But to return to drugs. All drugs |
vary in their action on different people. !
They are. as it is put rather more
scientifically, personal idiosyncrasies
in the action Of all drugs. Thus o very |
commonly used one. Santonin, makes !
everything look yellow to some sub
iects, while most of the drugs already |
mentioned vary in the amount of |
physiological reaction on difTeren, per |
sons to a remarkable degree. Some !
people can take quite a considerable |
dose Of belladonna; others, though |
such cases are rare. exhibit ali the |
symptoms Of atropin poisoning when |
only small quantity Of the drug is
present in lotion used externally De |
Quincy. il Will be remembered, used /
- agt orirun in large lI4urlS IA IsereaS /