The Sun. — 1863-11-12 (London, England)

POST.—If the author of the grim tragedy, the last act of which came to a close on Monday night, had not been a man skilled in poison—specially educated, so to speak, in a department of science which he turned to such devilish account—many individuals, conscious of being the objects of some outstanding feud, might well resolve to live exclusively on eggs. The subtle power at a poisoner's command of inflicting sudden and silent death was perhaps never more forcibly illustrated than by the murderer Hunt on Saturday night. The conditions under which the wife and two children succumbed to poison without the circumstance being discovered until the cab door was thrown open, its destination being reached, are so extraordinary—would have seemed, had they not actaally occurred, so improbable—that the author of a sensational novel, drawing on his imagination for the results, would hardly have escaped the imputation of transcending the probable to a wholly unwarrantable degree ; nay further, we argue that if the wretched murderer-suicide had given himself up to the police at once—as soon as the hue and cry was raised—denying his cognisance of the deed, and throwing the accusation on his wife, the probability of such averment would have been strong that whatever the coroner's jury might have done, the judge's jury would never have convicted on the strength of such evidence as has been hitherto adduced./ That, when the man Hunt got out of the cab opposite Furnival's-inn, his wife and children were alive, and that, subsequent to his departure, the fatal dose of prussic acid was adminstered by Mrs. Hunt, would have been an hypothesis so plausible that it must have commended itself to a jury if backed by Hunt's own asseverations. This view of the case will become the more evident if we pass cursorily in review some of the specialities of prussic acid. Quite true it is that real, absolute, undiluted prussic acid is so dire a poison that a mere drop of it let fall, not t() say upon the tongue, but into the eye' the killsa strong animal—a dog, for instance—with suddenness of a lightning stroke or a cannontil-ball; but this sort of prussic acid we apprehend must have person rt esacnn* nbeoetnboeubtooufgthhte; qiut esmtiuosnt. beln p rtehpea rfierds t place,by tbe decomposes. If the using it, and when prepared must be kept sue-. murdererrounded by boughtice, itprrsepsiidelyaeid, it could not have had more than five per cent. strength, and most proacid i h chemistry intermediate hibly only three per cent. It is indeed competent to a s he w assum:s_thmatanHutu. was—manufactured prussicainte d w Hunt—acquainted in strength between that of absolute acid and the dilute liquid of the shops ; but even this assumption, if adopted, by no means removes the difficulties which beset the case. Whatevert be orgi nal strength, it would seem to have been diluted by mixture with beer; and for that reason it is with the hypothesis of dilute prussic acid that we have to concern ourselves. Now, the progress of symptoms—dilute prussic acid being swallowed in a fatally poisonous dose—is somewhat as follows ;—For seconds, or about, no effect will be perceptible three tirble;the patient, noticing a strong taste of bitter almonds, will heeome conscious that some extraneous material has been swallowed, no more. With the fourth ,  second, or about, comes a convulsion, probably a shriek, then short, sharp, muscular twitches, and gasping supervene, and, usually before a quarter of a minute has gone by, practically speaking, death; though the heart may continue throbbing up to the end of half a minute. Such being the normal march of symptoms, the difficulties of assumption is relation to this case begin. In the first place three individuals coald have not drunk simultaneously of one pot • the drinking must have been consecutive; and the case required that the third individual should have swallowed the fatal dose before any cognisance, or even suspicion of foul play, had arisen on the part of the two preceding. It is necessary, in point of fact, to assume that the triple poisoning should have been accomplished in three seconds of time. Such a result would not seem easy to bring about. Three seconds would appear to be inadequate for the taking Of three draughts, each by a different person, from the same vessel; even though the marked odour of prussic acid (resembling that of bitter almonds) had not been present. We do not mean to assert that the progress of results, as recited, is absolute to the letter—that it may not be subject to variations ; but the latter are slight, and even if admitted, they import difficulties to take the place of others eliminated. If, for example, the time between administration of the poison and death be extended, then it is accordant with what experience has shown, to assume a prolongation of convulsions, shrieks, and other demonstrations ; sufficient, it may reasonably be assumed, to have challenged attention on the part of the cab-driver. It needs no words of assurance on our part to make the public understand that, but for the closing of this horrible drama, we should not have felt ourselves justified in offering these remarks. Justice to the prisoner would have prompted an absolute reticence on a topic the discussion of which should in common fairness be determined by a criminal court only. His death has removed all such scruples. We, in common with toxicologists and the public, may now study the case apart from every consideration of human interest, regarding it only as a problem, very much as the chess•player might study a series of combinations on his chequered board. The tale has a moral, one that the very highest living authority on poisons inculcated:long ago, that may bring confidence and consolation to the nerves of some people who, perusing a record of modern poisoning, may apprehend danger to themselves. Master poisoners, according to Christison, must henceforth be somewhat deeply versed in the science of their art. The present case justifies that observation; and even the poisonings accomplished by Catherine Wilson do not constitute an exception. Passing now from the murdered wife and children to Hunt himself, the poison aconite, with which he elected to cut short his evil career, merits a remark. Aconite, the active principle of monkshood, has no affinity whatever with strychnia, although certain contemporaries have stated the reverse. Neither are the effects similar; for whilst strychnia produces horrible convulsions, aconite has the remarkable property of wholly destroying sensation without motion ; in other words, giving the indiviaual poisoned by it a total immunity from pain. We cannot but regret that the ends of justice were defeated by the folly of the police, who went in uniform to Hunt's house and knocked at hia door, thus giving him the opportunity of swallowing the fatal draught. The public, however, may derive some consolation from the consideration that the whole case is one of an extraordinary exceptional nature.