has several times happened that in the bodies of those poisoned with
laudanum, or even with solid opium, none of the drug could be detected
after death. Sometimes indeed it is found, even though the individual
survived the taking of the poison many hours. Thus a case related by
Meyer of Berlin, in which the person lived ten hours after taking the
saffron-tincture of opium; and nevertheless it was detected in the
stomach by a mixed smell of saffron and opium.[95] But more commonly it
all disappears, unless the dose has been very large. In a case of
poisoning with laudanum, which I examined here along with Sir W.
Newbigging in 1823, none could be detected, although strong moral
circumstances left no doubt that laudanum had been swallowed seven or
eight hours before death. An instance of the same kind has been minutely
related by Pyl. It was that of an infant who was poisoned with a mixture
of opium and hyoscyamus, and in whose stomach and intestines none could
be detected by the smell.[96] Similar observations have been often made
on animals; and several additional cases of the same purport, occurring
in man, will be related under the head of opium.
It might be of use to quote some of the numerous errors committed by
medical witnesses, in consequence of having overlooked the effect of
absorption in removing poisons beyond the reach of chemical analysis.
But not to be too prolix, I shall be content with mentioning a single
very distinct case in point, which happened at a Coroner’s Inquest in
London, in 1823. A young man one evening called his fellow-lodger to his
bedside; assured him he had taken laudanum, and should be dead by the
morrow; and desired him to carry his last farewell to his mother and his
mistress. His companion thought he was shamming; but next morning the
unfortunate youth was found in the agonies of death. The moral evidence
was not very satisfactory; but that is of little consequence to my
present object. The point in the case I would particularly refer to is
the declaration of the medical inspector, that laudanum could not have
been taken, because he did not find any by the smell or by chemical
analysis in the contents of the stomach.[97]