smell which usually accompanies toe experiment with SCHOHARIE copper plates. The appearance of fumes is one test, 9 the smell of garlic is deemed another test; in this instance there was tar burning in the room; the smell of the corpse and the tar might have prevented his discovering it. The puking, purging, and pains, and the continuance of them, he deems an evidence of its being arsenic; the opium might allay it. Witness says arsenic is a mineral poison, and of a caustic nature, and whenever it comes in contact with the stomach it corrodes it. A full portion taken on Sunday evening, no medicine would have prevented the puking so soon as Monday, unless a part had been thrown up. Witness has known a person lay twelve or fourteen days, although taken with violent puking at first. With that patient, on taking the second dose, it did not excite puking, which he attributes to the loss of action in the stomach. The acid of the arsenic when moist will turn iron black. The experiments, as stated and made by him, have generally been relied upon. Any animal matter, such as mucus, combined with arsenic, he thinks would produce that effect on the copper; and in this instance, he thinks the mucus combined with the particles produced the effect on the copper, because it requires the presence of some inflammable principle to produce that effect on the copper; whether there is a disposition in the arsenic to pass off, or not, he cannot tell; the outer edges of the plates of the copper may have been closer than the centre, and thus confined it. Delaus White, a physician. Witness first noticed the general appearance of the surface of the body; found in some places a dark livid appearance, particularly in the abdomen. Then the internal parts were exposed: 1817. The People V. Kesler. 1817. V. Kesler SCHOHARIE found the stomach and intestines in a highly inflamed state; the contents of the stomach were then removed The People and examined, where he found particles, some of them had penetrated the internal coats of the stomach; likewise found what he supposed to be opium in the stomach, a considerable quantity, and it appeared as though it had been macerated; then examined the intestines; found those white particles, and also opium; some of the particles in the inner coat of the stomach were removed with the point of a knife, and put upon a hot iron; a white fume was evidently perceptible; the garlic smell was not discovered by him, which he attributes to the smell of the corpse and the burning of tar in the room. The experiment was then made with the copper, as stated by Dr. Miller, and the result was the same; witness then took the contents of the stomach home, and some time after (how long he cannot tell) boiled the contents in water; after this they endeavoured to filtrate it, but it was left so turbid, that their subsequent experiments were indistinct. They tried the experiment mentioned by Miller; there was an appearance of precipitate, but not satisfactory, which he attributed to the turbid state of the contents of the stomach. They then tried an experiment with arsenic and other copper plates, and the result was similar to the experiments made with copper before, except that the whiteness did not appear circular, but the spots where it did appear were the same. His opinion is, the particles were arsenic, and supposes the experiments made by Dr. Miller, are infallible-they are so considered. The symptoms of being poisoned by arsenic, are a burning pain in the stomach and intestines; oppression in the chest, thirst, cold sweats and chills, and coldness of extremi ties. He relates this from authors read by him: also SCHOHARIE livid appearance; the hair frequently falls out. 1817. V. Kesler. This witness on his cross-examination said, that the The People whitening of copper he thought strong evidence of it, and burning on the hot iron satisfied him; he thinks the smoke in the room did not prevent their perceiving the white fume. The copper experiment made at home with the white arsenic produced the same result; he used the same quantity as near as he could judge with the particles before tried; witness has been called to visit a patient poisoned with arsenic, but he was dead before he saw him or came there; in this instance there was about half a gill of the contents of the stomach which he took home with him. Witness did not separate the coats of the intestines; some of the particles he took out of the intestines had nearly penetrated to the external coats. The contents of the stomach, after being boiled, had a greyish appearance, which witness attributed to the mixture of opium; it was not the rosinous part which disturbed the water, it was the dissolved opium. Witness does not believe that every part of opium will dissolve in the stomach; he tasted it in this instance himself, and is fully satisfied it was opium. He found in the intestines what he thought was camphor. When muriatic acid is present in the test with a glass tube, white precipitate will appear. Dr. John Atwater. Witness was the coroner who presided at the opening of the body; he saw the experiment made with the copper; the result was as stated by doctors Miller and Delaus White. The external coats of the stomach were highly inflamed; also the internal coats. Witness observed the particles, some of them were nearly the size of the head of a pin, he masked VOL. III. 5 some of those particles on white paper; says it had the appearance of arsenic. The white fumes are considered a test; witness says he does not know that he has a doubt of its being arsenic. Arsenic will produce high inflammation, and terminate in gangrene. open On his cross-examination this witness said, that the acid of the stomach after death would exode the stomach; witness saw the appearance of gangrene only in one place The body was considerably distended. Dr. Joseph White. Witness was present at the ing of the body, at the request of John Suber and a Mr. Van Alstyn; witness knew her before; she had a scar on one of her arms, which he found; he has no doubt but that it was the body of Caty Sprucher; the body was livid, swollen and far advanced in a state of putrefaction. His son Delaus White, opened the abdomen in his presence, both orifices of the stomach were tied to preserve the contents, the stomach was then removed and put into a bowl; his son then proceeded to open it; he found it to contain a small quantity of turbid dark yellow fluid approaching to brown in that fluid; and also attached to the coats of the stomach, he discovered a tenacious, gummy substance, resembling opium long immersed in water; he also discovered a number of hard particles resembling some mineral substance; many of those particles were deeply imbedded in the coats of the stomach; at the first view they had a yellowish appearance, but on being removed and broken with a knife, they appeared white; the same appearance of particles he discovered in the smaller intestines from one to two feet from the orifice of the stomach. They then put some of the fluid of the stomach into a phial, containing a solution of the sulphate of copper and subcarbonate 1817. Kesler. of potash; this mixture after standing for a time pro- SCHOHARIE duced a copious precipitate; that precipitate, however, was darker, and that portion of the fluid above the pre- The People cipitate was also darker than what takes place in the process for making Scheele's green. Scheele's green is made with the same mixture except the addition of arsenic. Witness then proceeded to examine the particles, and found them principally on the posterior internal surface of the stomach, some of the particles were collected; some mucus was attached to them; some of them were placed on a heated iron; when the ignition took place, a white smoke ascended from the iron; at this time the stench of the stomach was such, that they were obliged to burn tar to render their situation tolerable. They collected more of those particles, placed them between two smooth plates of copper prepared for the purpose; they had no means of luting the copper; but after closing them with wire, they were put in the fire and heated red hot, took them out and cooled them; when cooled they were separated. On examining them, the centre of the two pieces were not materially whitened; but in a circle some distance from the centre, on both plates of copper, was considerably whitened, and had the appearance of tin exposed to the air for some time; those are all the tests on which he places any reliance says the precipitate will drop on tartarized antimony. The fluid, or remaining contents of the stomach, was then put in a bottle under lock and key; some weeks afterwards that was put in a quart of boiling water, and witness made the experiment stated by Miller, with glass rods; but the turbid state of the water prevented his discovering the orange color; in the precipitate there was a copious precipitate. Witness |