Medico-legal contributions on arsenic : containing reports of a number of cases of arsenical poisoning, together with an account of the methods employed in their chemical examination / by Charles H. Porter.

  • Porter, Charles H. (Charles Hogeboom), 1834-1903.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medico-legal contributions on arsenic : containing reports of a number of cases of arsenical poisoning, together with an account of the methods employed in their chemical examination / by Charles H. Porter. 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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    MEDICOLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS. I. The Detection of Arsenic. II. Cases of Arsenical Poisoning. Intending in this paper to report a number of cases of arsenical poisoning, it has been deemed advisable to preface them by an account of the methods pursued for the detection of the poison. This is done for the reason, that when the details are given, each one may judge for himself as to the degree of reliance to be placed upon the results, and also, because medical men gen- erally are not acquainted with the minutiae of such examinations. It may also be said that while the special works on poisons con- tain detailed information regarding the various tests, they are deficient in any systematic method of procedure applicable to those cases where the particular poison is unknown. Aside from text books on chemical analysis, and a single one on the detection of poisons, there is nothing easily accessible to medical men in this country that furnishes detailed information upon this subject. The design of the first part of this paper (which bears no claim to originality, but is a compilation from various sources), then, is to give the method pursued in the investigation of the cases hereafter reported—a general mode of procedure in all cases of metallic poisoning (ensuring the detection of the va- rious toxical agents), with special reference however to arsenic; and again to give a systematic plan, whereby the material can be most properly prepared for obtaining the various tests, together with a brief description of tlie more characteristic chemical reactions for arsenic.