But few general rules can be laid down with regard toThe manner, in which poisons are generally administered in India-Our criminal records affording instances in which they have been given in nearly every kind of food and drink common among the natives;-in water, wine, spirits, sherbet, suttoo, or parched grain, dâl (lentils,) rice, kuddoo and other turkarees (vegetables), in goor (treacle or coarse sugar), in sweetmeats, &c., &c. The last is, however, a favorite mode of concealing poison among the natives. The Majoon, a compound of sugar, butter, flour, milk, and sidhee or bang* is a preparation of the Cannabis Indica, which can probably be purchased in nearly every bazar in India, and which is known to every native; and it is to be feared that other confectionary, containing Opium, Dhatoora,† &c., may also be prepared by nefarious dealers,—although acquaintance with such deadly sweets is entirely ignored by nearly all who are questioned upon the subject. Numerous cases might be cited in which Arsenic, Dhatoora, and Aconite have been mixed in sweetmeats for criminal purposes.

OUTWARD ASPECT OF THE BODY AND COUNTENANCE IN DEATH FROM POISONING.

The reports sent into the Nizamut, about fourteen years ago, are replete with evidence of the existence of a general belief, not only in the minds of the police and of the judicial officers, but also among the medical witnesses, that certain outward appearances are to be received as indications, that death has resulted from poison. Thus we find it inquired: "Are you of opinion that any poisonous substance taken

* O'Shaughnessy.

† Dr. O'Shaughnessy's informant on the manner in which Majoon is prepared said that, sometimes, by special order of customers, he introduced Dhatoora seeds, but never Nux Vomica.

internally, would have caused the rapid decomposition of the body; and what appearances does the body of a person, being a native of this country, generally exhibit on being poisoned?" The reply is "I do not think that poison would much accelerate decomposition, but different poisons would have different effects upon the body. The face and features of a person who had died from taking poison would be distorted, and show an expression of pain," &c. Again, it is questioned-"It is stated in the evidence that the body turned black, and blood flowed from the eyes and nose ;-are these symptoms usual in cases of death from poison, or indications of the same?" The reply is-" The body would turn black in cases in which mineral poison had been administered, but I think not in cases in which vegetable poison had been employed. The bleeding from the eyes and nose is not uncommon after death in other cases." The medical witness in another case says "The nails were blueish, which is another mark of poison." This gentleman elsewhere says, "The general appearance of the body was as though poison had been administered. The nails were black, and the skin unusually pallid." It was believed, for many centuries, that the bodies of individuals who had died under the

* According to Tacitus, Britannicus was destroyed by a poison, concocted by Locusta, by command of Nero, which acted instantaneously, the unfortunate youth appearing to be stricken down by epilepsy. Dio Cassius mentions that an extraordinary lividity overspread the face of the corpse, which it was attempted to conceal by the application of a pigment. We are told, by Guicciardini, that when Pope Alexander VI. died, about a week after swallowing a poison which he had prepared for some of his Cardinals, his body became a most frightful spectacle; it was so very black, swelled and deformed, that it could scarcely be known; the nose appeared full of putrified pus flowing from it, the mouth hove up in a frightful manner, and the tongue became monstrously swelled, so that it filled the whole mouth. It was a sight so very shocking and horrible that people were not able to look on it, nor to endure the pestilential stench that came therefrom, so were obliged to turn their heads aside and retire. Apart from the effects of poison, this was simply

effects of poison exhibited, outwardly, certain tokens of its operation. In their entire innocence of either chemical or pathological knowledge, the ancients clung with absolute reliance to this error, which affords a very singular example of false induction, inasmuch as, while the inference was erroneous,

stuck to his pillow, and his nails The same person, in attempting to Hamilton had been brought about in

the natural progress of decomposition in the remains of a gross-bodied sensualist, exposed to public view in the middle of a Roman August. So, in the case of one of Alexander's victims, [?] the Cardinal of Sienna, we are told that after his death in confinement, his body was allowed to be buried publicly; but care was taken to have it well wrapped up and covered; but, upon his mother's suspecting foul play, and boldly uncovering it, there were plainly discovered to the spectators the visible marks of his having been poisoned. Similar appearances are said to have led to a close investigation of the deaths, in1536, of the Dauphin Francis, son of Francis I.; and, in 1522, of the Cardinal de Medici, both of whom appear to have died from the effects of poison. So again the libellous Eglisham asserted, as a proof that poison had been administered to James the First, that the king's body and head swelled above measure, his hair, with the skin of his head, became loose upon his fingers and toes. show that the death of the Marquis of like manner, says "No sooner was he dead, when the force of the poison began to overcome the force of his body, it began to swell in such sort, that his thighs was swollen six times as big as their natural proportion, his belly became as big as the belly of an ox, his arms as the natural quantity of his thighs, his neck as broad as his shoulders, his cheeks over the top of his nose, that his nose could not be seen or distinguished; the skin of his forehead two fingers high. He was all over of divers colours, full of waters, some white, some black, some red, some yellow, some green, some blue, and that as well within his body as without. His mouth and nose foaming blood, mixed with froth, of divers colours, a yard high." Here we have merely an account of the appearances resulting from rapid decomposition intentionally exaggerated ad captandum. Still again, Sir Henry Halford, in commenting upon the death of Britannicus, says "I remember to have seen [1780] the face of Sir Theodosius Boughton, when the corpse had been disinterred, in order to be examined for the satisfaction of the Coroner's Jury, and its colour resembled that of a pickled walnut."

Appearances of this kind are seen by Civil Surgeons in India every week, in bodies brought in for examination during the hot weather, in cases where there exists not the slightest reason to suppose that death has resulted from poison.

the observation whence it was deduced was perfectly correct: the rapid progress of decomposition noticed in the bodies of strong and full-blooded persons suddenly cut off by poison being contrasted with the comparatively slow and dry decay of those dying from exhausting chronic diseases, or from wounds attended with profuse hæmorrhage. The appearances which were, of old, regarded as so characteristic of death by poisoning are the natural evidences of rapid decomposition in a body of full habit. It is certainly true that some animal poisons, which act fatally by disintegrating the blood, appear to favor the rapid advance of post mortem decomposition. This may be the case with snake poison, it is certainly so with urea. It was remarked by myself and others, many years since, that the bodies of persons dying of renal disease often became excessively offensive, even before the vital heat had entirely left them. It is also stated that animals bitten by certain venomous snakes become enormously swollen in a few minutes, and remain so after death. This has not been observed to be the case in India; but I am informed by a friend who spent some years in Australia that he has twice observed this result in a dog and a horse which died from snake bite in that country; still this point must remain open for investigation. There is not the slightest ground, however, for believing that mineral or vegetable poisons have any such effects. Dr. Taylor says, "The bodies of persons poisoned are not more rapidly decomposed, cæteris paribus, than those of others who have died a sudden and violent death from any other cause whatever." With regard to Distortion of the Countenance after death; nothing of the kind can possibly occurexcept from merely mechanical causes. Whatever amount of agony may precede death, all nervous action, and, with it, all suffering, and all expression of pain by muscular contraction must cease with the cessation of life. Where the eyes

remain open, and the jaw is not secured, the face will assume a ghastly appearance, when rigidity sets in ; but no practised medical man would mistake this for an expression of pain, or for distortion produced during life.

In ancient times, these erroneous opinions did infinite mischief-And, in the present day, they cannot be too strongly discountenanced, when occurring among non-professional persons.

MODE OF TRANSMITTING SUSPECTED MATTERS FOR
CHEMICAL EXAMINATION.

In India, unfortunately, but little systematic arrangement has hitherto been observed in sending in cases of supposed poisoning for investigation, whether to the civil stations or to the office of the Chemical Examiner. Suspicious portions of food and matters stated to have been vomited are, commonly, sent in by Darogahs, in open vessels, with which nearly any person might tamper with scarcely a chance of detection, and in unsealed coverings of leaves or paper. Again, no systematic plan whatever is adhered to in the manner of transmitting packets from civil stations to the office of the Chemical Examiner. The Government Regulation is, that such packets of suspected matters, together with full reports of the details of the cases, should be transmitted to the Chemical Examiner direct through the magistrate.* This rule is generally attended to; but, not unfrequently, the medical officers send the packages with their reports direct to the Chemical Examiner. The pages of this officer's records are filled with remonstrances upon the hasty and insecure manner in which suspected matters have been packed and transmitted, the vessels have not been air-tight,

*See Government Orders, Circular 129, April 4th, 1843. Circular 110, June 24th, 1842.