The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-03-12
sHS%s&E-e


street. just at the corner Of Newman
street. he descended, wished me hurried
good night, and disappeared in. the dark
ness. He was often given to strange
vagaries of cratic movement. It was
as though some thought had suddenly oc-
CURED to him, and he acted at once
upon it.
| That night I scarcely closed my eyes.
My brain was aWhirl. with thoughts OF
all the curious events Of the past few
months, the inexplicable presence Of old
Mr. Courtenay. and the subsequent death
of Mary and the only man who, according
to Amber, knew the secret.
| Ethelwynrs strange words worried me.
What could she mean? What did she
| know? Surely hers could not be a guilty
| conscience. Yet, in her words and ac-
| tions 1 had detected that cowardice which
a heavy conscience always engenders: one
| by one dissected and analysed the Seven
Secrets, but not in one single instance
could I obtain CLEAN of truth.
While at the hospital next day I was
served with notice to assist at the post
mOrtem of the unfortunate Lane, whose
body was lying in the Shadwell mortuary;
and that same afternoon I met by ap-
pointment Doctor latham, Of the London
Hospital. who. as is well known, is an ex-
pert toXicologist.
To describe in technical detail the exam
|
general reader Of this strange narrative.
The average man or woman knows moth
ing or cares less for the duodenum or the
pylorus; therefore it is not my intention
to go into long and wearying detail. Suf-
flee it to say that we preserved certain
portions Of the body for subsequent exam
ination, and together were engaged the
whole evening in the laboratory Of the
hospital. latham was well skilled in the
minut1ae of the tests. The exact deter
= minations Of the. cause of death in cases
Of poisoning always depends partly on the
symptoms noted before death and partly
on the appearance found after death. Re
.garding the former neither Of us knew
anything; hence our difficulties were
greatly increased The object of the an
alysis is to obtain the substances which
; he" has to examine chemically in as pur'
: aecondtion as; possible,s so that there ma.
=; be mo doubt abeut>the results of his test
+ ing; also. of course. to separate activ
! substances from those that are inert, al
being mixed together in the stomach an
f alinlentary canal. Again, In dealing witt
: such fluids as the blood, or the tissues o
j the body their natural constituents mus
nfbe got rid of before the foreign and poison
s Gus body can be rea ched. There is thi
O difficulty further to contend with: tina
), some of the most poisonous Of substance
f lare of unstable composition and are read
: lily altered by chemical reagents; to thi
group belong many vegetable and mos
S animal posons. These, therefore, must
Ell treated differently from the more stabl
t inorganic compounds. With an in
e organic poison we may destro
!; Fall organic materials mixed wit
y it. trusting to find the poison sti
q recognizable after this process; not S
e with an organic substance; that must b
q separated by other than destructiy
1 means.
Through the whole evening we tested 70
=. the various groups of poisons -corrosives
1 simple irritants, specific irritants an
!. Eneurotics 1t was along and seieptid
q search.
e Some of The tests with which / was nc
Il acquainted I watched with the keenes
0, interest, for Of all the medical men
~ London II atham was the most up to dat
lei In such analyses. SIS n ,
Il. At length after much work with acids