On poisoning by strychnia : with medico-legal observations / by T.G. Geoghegan.

  • Geoghegan, Thomas Grace, 1807-1869.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On poisoning by strychnia : with medico-legal observations / by T.G. Geoghegan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    for instance, oxalic acid, and alcohol—partially con- verted in the blood into aldehyde), and although it cannot neutralize the fact that much remains un- changed,* it would, notwithstanding, in the event of ulterior researches proving its correctness as regards strychnia, tend still further to explain the occurrence of negative results, where poisoning has been effected in the human subject by a minimum dose. The considerations just adduced lead me to infer, that had the proposition of subjecting Mr. Cook’s body to a second chemical examination, with a view to the search for strychnia in the tissues, been acceded to, the non-discovery of the poison could not have been justly held as neutralizing the conclusive evidence as to the cause of death derived from the character and progress of the illness of the deceased. It is further also to be remarked that, those organs in which the poison might have been sought for with most chance of success (as the liver, &c.) had been already disposed of; while those that remained were such as have not, so far as I am aware, been as yet proved to be the seat of the deposition of strychnia. Experience has also satisfied me that the distribution of absorbed poison in the various organs is by no means absolutely uniform—a circumstance which would have added to the uncertainty of the proposed inquiry. The period at which the proposal was made, renders it also doubtful whether the conduc- tors of the defence entertained any very strong opinion as to its validity. As respects the detection of strychnia in the tissues of the stomach in the case here recorded, the presence of the poison in this latter quarter is not necessarily to be viewed as the result of absorption. I have reason to believe, that in the instance of some non- * This does not apply merely to strychnia, but has been verified in the case of coneine, nicotine (and it has been lately asserted), of morphia.