trial of George Thom for poisoning the Mitchells, held at Aberdeen at
the Autumn Circuit of 1821, it was clearly proved, that the deceased had
died of poisoning by arsenic; yet by a careful analysis none could be
detected in the stomach or its contents; for the man lived seven days,
and during all that time laboured under frequent vomiting.[85] In a
remarkable case related by Dr. Roget, arsenic could not be found in the
matter vomited twenty-four hours after it had been swallowed;[86] in
another related by Professor Wagner of Berlin, that of an infant who
died in twelve hours under incessant vomiting after receiving a small
quantity of arsenic, none could be detected in the stomach;[87] in
another which I have described in a paper on arsenic, although the
person lived only five hours, the whole arsenic which could be detected
in the tissues and contents of the stomach did not exceed a fifteenth
part of a grain;[88] in an American Journal there is a striking case of
a grocer, who died eight hours after swallowing an ounce of arsenic, and
in whose body none could be found chemically,—at a period however
antecedent to the late improvements in analysis;[89] and in a case
communicated to me not long ago by Mr. Hewson of Lincoln, where arsenic
was given in solution, and death ensued in five hours, none of the
poison could be detected either in the contents or tissues of the
stomach by a careful analysis conducted according to the most modern
principles.
Nevertheless, it is singular how ineffectual vomiting proves in
expelling some poisons from the stomach. Those which are not easily
soluble, and have been taken in a state of minute division, may remain
adhering to the villous coat, notwithstanding repeated and violent
efforts to dislodge them by vomiting. Many instances to this effect have
occurred in the instance of arsenic. Metzger has related a case, where,
after six hours of incessant vomiting, three drachms were found in the
stomach.[90] Mr. Sidey, a surgeon of this city, has mentioned to me an
instance of poisoning with king’s yellow, in which he found the stomach
lined with the poison, although the patient had vomited for thirty
hours. In three cases which I have investigated arsenic was detected,
although the people lived and vomited much for nearly two days;[91] and
Professor Orfila has noticed a similar instance in which that poison was
found in the contents of the stomach, although the person had vomited
incessantly for two entire days.[92]
It is not easy to specify the period after which a poison that has
excited vomiting need not be looked for in the stomach. It must vary
with a variety of circumstances whose combined effect it is almost
impossible to appreciate, such as the solubility and state of division
of the poison, the frequency of vomiting, the substances taken as
remedies, and the like. When the poison is in solution and the patient
vomits much, an analysis may be expected to prove frequently abortive,
even though the individual survives but a few hours, as in Mr. Hewson’s
case already noticed. In other circumstances, however, as various facts
quoted above will show, poisons may frequently be found after two days
incessant vomiting; and on the whole it may be stated, that the recent
improvements in analysis render the period much longer than it has
generally been, and would naturally be imagined. Metzger has related the
case of a woman poisoned with arsenic mixed with currants, in whose
body, after eight days of frequent vomiting, he found ten or twelve
currants, which gave out an odour of garlic when burnt;[93] but here the
dose, if there was really arsenic, must have been repeated recently
before death, for it is not possible to conceive how currants could
remain in the stomach so long, whatever may be thought of the
possibility of arsenic remaining. It is farther proper to add, that
Professor Henke of Erlangen, one of the highest living authorities in
Germany, once found grains of arsenic in the gullet, although he found
none in any other part of the body, of a person who survived the taking
of the poison four days.[94] Allowing to this fact all the weight
derived from the high name of its author, I must nevertheless express
great doubt whether the arsenic was not repeated more recently before
death.