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ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

avoiding this error is to digest these granular parts with water, and toapply the tests proper for demonstrating the existence of arsenious acid.”

Influence of Arsenious Acid on the Putrefactive Process. —Untilthe commencement of the present century it was supposed that the bodiesof animals poisoned by arsenious acid were unusually prone to putrefac-tion. This, however, has been satisfactorily disproved by the experi-ments and observations of Klank, Kelch, Hunefeld, and others (quotedby Wibmer, in his Wirkung d. Arzneim. u. Gifte-, and by Dr. Christison ,in his Treatise on Poisons) ; and it appears, that when placed in contactwith animal textures, it acts as an antiseptic. “ I have kept a bit of ox’sstomach four years in a solution of arsenic,” says Dr. Christison , “ and,except slight shrivelling and whitening, I could not observe any changeproduced in it.” This antiseptic property of arsenious acid, which hasbeen, in my opinion, fully and satisfactorily proved, sufficiently accountsfor the good state of preservation in which the alimentary canal has beenfrequently found some months after death in those poisoned by this acid,where it was not evacuated by vomiting or purging.

But there is another effect said to be produced on the bodies of ani-mals, -which is not so easily accounted for: I mean their conversion intoa kind of mummy-like or adipocirous matter. The following is anabstract of the phenomena, as deduced from numerous experiments andobservations, several of which are recorded in Dr. Christison ’s inva-luable Treatise . After death putrefaction commences, and is attendedwith the usual odour ; but, instead of increasing in the customarymanner, it seems for a time to be at a stand-still, and then a series ofchanges commences of a peculiar character: the soft parts become firmerand drier, at the same time retaining their structure ; the putrid odour isfrequently succeeded by one resembling garlic; the skin becomes brownand parchment-like; the muscular fibres and cellular tissue (especiallyof the abdominal parietes) are changed into a tallowy cheesy-like mass;the liver, spleen, and heart, become dry, while the bowels, lungs, andbrain, form a greasy mass. During these processes it is said that thequantity of arsenic diminishes, probably by exhalation,—a circumstancevery probable, when we bear in mind the garlic odour emitted by thebody, and which has been observed by several writers. The diminution,however, must be exceedingly small. After some time the cheesy smelldisappears, and the body becomes dry and hard. In some cases the ali-mentary tube has been found little changed or decomposed, althoughother parts of the body had been completely mummified.

I ought, however, to remark, that some writers do not ascribe thesephenomena to the influence of arsenious acid, but to other causes. Jager(quoted by Wibmer, op. cit. i. 305) tells us that in his experiments theputrefaction of the bodies of animals poisoned by arsenic seemed neitherto be retarded nor hastened, whether they were buried or not; but headmits that parts in contact with an arsenical solution seem preservedfrom putrefaction. Seemann (quoted by Dr. Christison , op. cit. p. 322;also Wibmer, op. cit. i. 322) likewise states, that the bodies of three dogsunderwent the usual kind of putrefaction after death. However, that inmany cases arsenic modifies the putrefactive process, can hardly, I think,be doubted by those who carefully examine the evidence adduced infavour of this opinion.

Does this muimpifying process depend on the chemical influence of the