Medical jurisprudence / by Alfred S. Taylor.
- Taylor, Alfred Swaine, 1806-1880.
- Date:
- 1850
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medical jurisprudence / by Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![18) objects to this definition, as not sufficiently precise, but it is certainly as much so as the nature of the case will admit.—G.] Mechanical Irritants.—Such, however, is the present state of the law of Eng- land in respect to attempts at poisoning when death does not take place. While the words of the statute render it unnecessary for a medical witness, in such cases, to give judicially a very close definition of a poison, they impose upon him a difficulty which he must be prepared to meet. The substance administered may not be a poison in the medical signification of the term, nor may it be popularly considered as such; and yet, when taken, it may be destructive to life. We have examples of substances of this description in iron filings, powdered glass, pins and needles, and such like bodies, all of which have been administered with the wil- ful design of injuring, and have on various occasions given rise to criminal charges. In cases of this kind, the legal guilt of a prisoner may often depend on the meaning assigned by a medical witness to the words destructive tiling. Thus, to take an example, liquid mercury might be poured down the throat of a young infant, with the deliberate attempt to destroy it. A cpiestion of a purely medical nature will then arise, whether mercury be a destructive thing, or not; and the conviction of the prisoner will probably depend on the answer returned by the witnesses. Should a difference of opinion exist—an occurrence by no means unusual in medical evidence—the prisoner will, according to the humane principle of our law, receive the benefit of the doubt. Among the singular methods resorted to for the purpose of destroying the lives of infants and children, that of causing them to swallow pins or needles in their food is one which claims the attention of medical jurists. This mode of perpe- trating murder has been brought to light by the evidence given on several criminal trials, which have taken jjlace of late years in England and on the Continent. In cases of this kind, death is commonly to be referred to inflammation : and a practi- tioner can have no hesitation in designating these bodies, when exhibited to young children, as destructive things. They are at all times likely to lead to serious injury, if not to death; nor is it any answer to this view to assert that they have been often swallowed with impunity. We know that active poisons are some- times taken without causing death; but this does not alter our opinion, that they are substances destructive to life, and likely to give rise to the most serious con- secjuences. Sponge may be regarded as a mechanical irritant; but little is known concern- ing its action on the human body. In the 3Iedical Gazette (vol. xxxi. p. 124), two cases are related in which this substance was swallowed by a horse. In one case, it did not appear that the animal suffered any inconvenience; but in the other case, it became alarmingly ill. There can be but little doubt that, where sponge in large cmantity remains lodged in the viscera, it is capable of producing inflammation and death. Dr. Chowne has, however, lately reported a case in which a small piece of sponge, accidentally swallowed by an infant, produced no injurious effect. Pounded Glass.—Among mechanical irritants there is one, which was formerly regarded as an active poison, namely, pounded glass. Recent observations have satisfactorily shown that this substance is not a poison. It is liable to inflict in- jury upon the alimentary canal, just in proportion to the size and sharpness of the fragments; and whenever it is swallowed in a state of coarse powder, it may irritate and excite inflammation of the stomach and bowels. Glass, in very fine powder, is decidedly alkaline; but it does not possess any of the properties of an alkaline poison: on the contrary, in that condition in which its alkalinity is most manifested, it appears to be inert. It is said that six or seven ounces of this substance have been given to a dog without producing any inconvenience to the animal. Boiling Liquids.—Some toxicologists have placed hot liquids, such as boiling](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21158046_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
