Two cases of fatal poisoning by arsenious acid : with remarks on the solubility of that poison in water and other menstrua / by Mr. Alfred S. Taylor.

  • Taylor, Alfred Swaine, 1806-1880.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Two cases of fatal poisoning by arsenious acid : with remarks on the solubility of that poison in water and other menstrua / by Mr. Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    different periods of time ; as also, that specimens of arsenious acid, probably varying considerably in their degree of <sski- 4Wiity, may have been employed. It was the discovery of these very different results, re- specting the solubility of arsenic by men of well-known authority as chemists, that first induced me to endeavour to ascertain which statement was borne out by experiment. In relation to specific gravity, I found that of a mass of arsenious acid which had been kept four years, and was perfectly opaque — presenting, when fractured, a slightly crystalline structure—to be 3.529. Having procured a re- cently-prepared specimen, perfectly transparent, but of a slightly-yellowish tinge, I tried its specific gravity, and found it to be 3.798. Arsenious acid, it may be remarked, is soluble in water, oils, and alcohol. Water is its most common solvent: and it is, therefore, of its solubility in this menstruum that I shall first proceed to speak. The water employed in the experi- ments mentioned below, was the common water of the Ho- spital ; which is the Thames water, filtered. It contains, comparatively, little foreign matter. A given measure of this water weighed 752.7 gr.; while the same measure of recently distilled water weighed 752 gr. Its specific gravity will, therefore, be 1.00093. Distilled water was not employed in these experiments, since I had a medico-legal object in view: in no case of criminal poisoning, is it likely that distilled water will be used by the suicide or murderer. In the course of many experiments, however, there did not appear to me to be the least appreciable difference in the solvent power of water over arsenious acid, whether distilled, or common river-water filtered, was employed. Exp. 1. Twenty grains of opaque arsenious acid, reduced to a fine powder, were placed in a clean glass vessel, and eight fluid ounces of boiling water were poured on. A portion of the powder collected into small lumps, which floated, and, even after violent agitation, adhered to the sides of the vessel; while another portion sank to the bottom. The vessel remained covered seventy-two hours; the contents being