Poison

“ Guy defines a poison to be any substance which, when applied to the body externally, or in any way introduced into the system, without acting mechanically, but by its own inherent qualities, is capable of destroying life. ”

“ Was there indeed no way, short of the actual fact of sudden death, to prove that they had died of poisoning, no test, no manner in which the poisonings could be fixed on some one? Had the murderer used the safest of poisons? ”

“ At some future time, with a more intimate knowledge of the way in which each poison acts upon the various forms of animal and vegetable life, it may be possible to give a truly scientific and philosophical classification of poisons—one based neither upon symptoms, upon local effects, nor upon chemical structure, but upon a collation and comparison of all the properties of a poison, whether chemical, physical, or physiological. ”

“ Bunglers that you are, don't use arsenic or any mineral poison; they leave traces; you will be found out. Use vegetable poisons; poison your fathers, poison your mothers, poison all your families, and their inheritance will be yours—fear nothing; you will go unpunished! You have committed murder by poisoning, it is true ”

“ The evidence derived from the effects of suspected food, drink, or medicine is better than that drawn from the effects of the vomited matter or contents of the stomach. But an important objection has been made to both, namely, that what is poison to man is not always poison to the lower animals, and that, on the other hand, some of the lower animals are poisoned by substances not hurtful to man. ”

“ Bright, translucent and harmless though it looks, there is nothing more powerful, more deadly than the poison this phial contains. I tell you this in order that there may be no secrets between us. Five years ago it was given to me in Rome, by one who had chosen for his study the direct action of poisons on the physical and mental powers. He is dead now, but this secret of his is alive with me.
“If a few drops of this potent poison volatilised are inhaled by any one, a dull faintness immediately ensues. Ha! I saw you start. You are right, though, you have breathed it. Listen! ”

“ Another species of poison, allied to the preceding in its effects and equally obscure in its nature, includes certain fluids of the human body after natural death, which are probably modified, if not even formed altogether, by morbid processes during life. Such poisons are the most frequent source of the dreadful cellular inflammation, often witnessed as the consequence of pricks received during dissection by the anatomist. ”

“ For many times one particular part of the body is most afflicted by the poison, suppose the stomach, liver, brain, or any other part: such as cherish and strengthen those parts, being weakened, may be said to resist poison. ”

“ However brief and imperfect the foregoing historical sketch of the part that poison has played may be, it is useful in showing the absolute necessity of a toxicological science—a science embracing many branches of knowledge. ”

“ The poison of all snakes let the rivers carry away; slain [are] the cross-lined ones, crushed down the pṛ́dākus.
21. I choose as it were the filaments of herbs successfully; I conduct as it were mares; O snake, let thy poison come out.
Apparently processes analogous to that of extracting the poison are referred to. The pada-division sādhu॰yā́ is prescribed by Prāt. iv. 30. There seems to be no reason why the Anukr. should call the verse kakummatī.
22. What poison is in fire, in the sun, what in the earth, in herbs, kāndā-poison, kanáknaka—let thy poison come out; let it come. ”

“ There are ten kinds of poison, and when they soak it in one poison, it injures like so, and when they soak it in another poison it does more damage. And so there are ten kinds of poison, each one worse than the other, that is, more harmful. ”

“ During the poison régime I became quite accustomed to dying, and had but one mishap to shake my growing confidence. Scarifying a number of lesser blood vessels in my arm. he introduced a minute quantity of that most frightful of poisons, the arrow poison, or curare. I lost consciousness at the start, quickly followed by the cessation of respiration and circulation, and so far had the solidification of the protoplasm advanced, that he gave up all hope. ”

“ Now observe, this slander is compared in the text to poison—“the tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” The deadliest poisons are those for which no test is known: there are poisons so destructive that a single drop insinuated into the veins produces death in three seconds, and yet no chemical science can separate that virus from the contaminated blood, and show the metallic particles of poison glittering palpably, and say, “Behold, it is there!” ”

“ Section II.—Of the Evidence from Morbid Appearances. The appearances left in the dead body after death by poison used formerly to be relied on as strongly as the symptoms during life; and with even less reason. Except in the instance of a very few poisons, the morbid appearances alone can never distinguish death by poison from the effects of natural disease, or from some other kinds of violent death. ”

“ A poison is that substance, in whatever form it may be, which, when applied to a living surface, disconcerts and disturbs life's healthy movements. It is altogether distinct from substances which are in their nature nutritious. It is not capable of being converted into food, and becoming a part of the living organs. ”

“ In default of pathological knowledge, the ancients attached great importance to mere outward marks and discolorations. They noted with special attention spots and lividity, and supposed that poisons singled out the heart for some quite peculiar action, altering its substance in such a manner that it resisted the action of the funeral pyre, and remained unconsumed. It may, then, fairly be presumed that many people must have died from poison without suspicion, and still more from the sudden effects of latent disease, ascribed wrongfully to poison. ”

“ On attending to the effects which follow the application of a poison to the body, we perceive that they are sometimes confined to the part where it is applied, and at other times extend to distant organs. ”

“ The criminal destruction of life by poison has been practised from ancient times. Very little was known of toxicology in those days, and even the symptoms often passed unrecognised or were attributed to natural causes, and the poisoners' fiendish work was frequently undiscovered and rendered easy. In the early Christian era, poisoning, indeed, became quite a profession, and convenient individuals could be hired with little difficulty to administer a deadly dose to an enemy or rival. ”

“ Poisons. A poison is a substance which, if taken into the system in sufficient amounts, will cause serious trouble or death. For convenience poisons may be divided into two classes, irritants and narcotics.
The effects of irritant poisons are evident immediately after being taken. They burn and corrode the skin or membrane or other parts with which they come in contact. There are burning pains in the mouth, throat, stomach, and abdomen, with nausea and vomiting. A certain amount of faintness and shock is also present.
With narcotic poisoning, the symptoms come on more slowly. ”

“ Age, idiosyncrasy, tolerance, and disease, all exert modifying influences on the action of a poison. The form in which the poison is swallowed and the quantity also determine its action. In the gaseous form, poisons act most rapidly and fatally. When in solution and injected hypodermically, they also act very rapidly. ”

“ The poison was prepared by cutting open a pig, and well sprinkling the carcase with arsenic or other poison. Then it was left to putrefy, after which the liquids that ran from the decaying mass were collected, and these formed the finished poison.
As science advances, opening up fresh fields for research and poisons of a still more deadly nature are revealed, so the chemist sets to work to discover methods for their certain detection, and thus renders the poisoners' fiendish work more difficult. ”

“ Its active principle, emeta, is a powerful poison. Two grains of the pure alkaloid will kill a dog; and the symptoms are frequent vomiting, followed by sopor and coma, and death in fifteen or twenty-four hours. In the dead body the lungs and stomach are found inflamed. ”

“ The vegetable poisons, like the animal ones, produce more sudden and dangerous effects, when instilled into a wound, than when taken into the stomach; whence the families of Marfi and Psilli, in antient Rome, sucked the poison without injury out of wounds made by vipers, and were supposed to be indued with supernatural powers for this purpose. ”

“ It is therefore evident that, by implication, the English law defines a poison to be a destructive thing administered to, or taken by, a person, and it must necessarily include, not only poisons which act on account of their inherent chemical and other properties after absorption into the blood, but mechanical irritants, and also specifically-tainted fluids. ”

“ And to conclude, when the chemical or moral evidence proves that poison was given, the characters of the symptoms may be necessary to determine whether it was the cause of death.
As the last statement is one of consequence, and yet has been overlooked by some authors on medical jurisprudence in this country, it may be illustrated by one or two comments. It does not follow, because a poison has been given, that it is the cause of death; and therefore in every medico-legal inquiry the cause of the first symptoms and the cause of death should be made two distinct questions. ”

“ It may happen also, where poison has been administered, that death resulted from natural causes. The presence of poison may be ascertained from symptoms during life, the post mortem appearances, the moral circumstances, and the discovery of the existence of poison in the body, in the matter ejected from the stomach, or in food or drink of which the sufferer has partaken. ”

“ The poison, which is made either from the leaf of a tree or from decomposed meat, is placed in the arrow-head of hollow bone. On striking, it injects the poison into the flesh as a hypodermic needle would do, quickly resulting in death. ”

“ As for those unfortunate chiefs, I have not the slightest doubt that they have been removed by poison—some secret and comparatively slow but deadly poison, and I intend to make it my first business to discover what that poison is, and its antidote—if I can. The chances are, however, that I shall fail, for almost all the savage peoples possess a great deal more knowledge of drugs, and especially of poisons, than we civilised folk are aware of, or are inclined to credit them with ”

“ Fevers can be prevented by other means; and at any rate the possible danger of a climatic disease is preferable to the sure evils of the poison-drug. But how can noxious stimulants be distinguished from wholesome drinks? Tonic medicines, stimulating beverages, and poisons, are synonymous terms. Every known poison can become a lusted-after stimulant by forcing it repeatedly upon the (at first) reluctant stomach. ”

“ The blood itself, good healthy blood, that is, will poison the germs; for the blood of any sort of creature, as I have explained, will poison any other sort. Besides that, we manufacture special poisons with which to combat each special creature that makes a special poison to assault us. So each side poisons the other, and the battle becomes a question of which can kill the other first. ”

“ The poison suspected was corrosive sublimate. The symptoms were those of irritation in the alimentary canal,—vomiting, purging, and pain. In the dead body there was not any particular redness either of the intestines or of the stomach. ”

“ If, for example, any substance produce a bad effect simply from the influence of any constitutional peculiarity, or some temporary condition of the system, it is not to be called a poison. The term poison is used often in relation to the effects of substances in such cases, but it is only in a relative sense. ”

“ The symptoms, you say, are uniform. Will you describe them?—The animal, for about five or six minutes, does not appear to suffer, but moves about gently; when the poison begins to act it suddenly falls on its side, there is a trembling, a quivering motion, of the whole of the muscles of the body, arising from the poison producing violent and involuntary{52} contraction. ”

“ And if any one puts one of the fruits among his clothes, it keeps them from the moth. And it is useful when any one has taken poison injurious to life; for when given in wine it produces a strong effect on the bowels, and draws out the poison. ”

“ In a few diseased states of the system there is an increased susceptibility of the action of poisons: and it is important that the medical jurist should attend to this circumstance. When a poison has a tendency to bring on a peculiar pathological state of the system, or of a particular organ, which state is also produced by a disease existing at the time or impending, violent and even fatal consequences may ensue from doses of poisons which in ordinary circumstances are innocuous or beneficial. ”

“ And yet, after a little practice, the human system may be deluged with this powerful, narcotic poison,—a man's mouth may be kept swimming, month after month, with the strongest juice of the strongest tobacco,—his very perspiration may be so filled with this intense poison, that, falling on the battle-field, the most loathsome beast of prey will not touch his body. ”

“ The primary change of poles is, however, in the blood. Poisoning is a balancing of the blood-poles.
2592. Indifferent blood is no longer blood, but chyle or infusorial primary mass.
2593. The nutritive fluid or chyle is poisoned organic substance. There is no aliment except what is wrought by poison.
2594. The poisoning of the aliments must take place through the medium of their blood, or their sap. If poison therefore does not get into the blood, the death does not ensue. The digestive juice is poison only for the blood, but not for the other systems. ”