Factors That Affect the Potential of the Saturated Corrosive Sublimate (in Ethylenediamine) Electrode.

1. Powerful anti-sera may be produced by the intravenous injection of smaller quantities of serum than have hitherto generally been used (p. 260).2. Nuttall's quantitative method affords a simple and fairly accurate means of determining the quantity of precipitum formed. By its means quantitative differences can be appreciated which are scarcely, or not at all, apparent in the tubes on inspection (p. 263).3. Normal saline solution is the best diluent for normal sera, and 1—21 has been found to be a convenient dilution. Increase of salt has very little effect on the production of precipitum (p. 266).4. The quantity of precipitum formed is not influenced by the temperature at which the experiment is conducted (i.e. between the temperature of the ice-chest and 37° C.) (p. 268).5. In the case of dried bloods time per se does not destroy their capacity for reacting with their homologous anti-sera. Fluid sera appear to deteriorate slightly by keeping (pp. 269—274).6. Putrefaction of the serum, or anti-serum, does not affect the production of a specific precipitum (p. 274).7. Although the intimate mixture of lime and blood completely destroys the latter, the former is not present in sufficient quantity in ordinary earths to affect blood mixed with earth. The presence of small quantities of lime, however, gives rise to a clouding in solution, which can be got rid of by the passage of CO2, and subsequent filtration (pp. 276—281).8. The presence of even small quantities of acids, or alkalis, rapidly reduces the quantity of precipitum formed (pp. 281—284).9. In diseased conditions a marked alteration may occur in the quantity of precipitum (pp. 265 and 285).10. The volatile antiseptics produce little effect on sera, even after long contact, but formalin, corrosive sublimate, lysol, lysoform, the sulphates of copper and iron, and nitrate of silver, especially in strong solutions, exert a very deleterious action (pp. 287 and 358).11. Blood dried on fabrics, and materials in common use (with the exception of certain leathers) may with adequate precautions be readily diagnosed (p. 290).12. After an undiluted anti-serum has been raised to a temperature beyond 60° C. the capacity for producing precipitum is diminished, and it is destroyed completely after exposure to 68° C. These effects seem to be produced at lower temperatures in normal undiluted sera (pp. 354–55).13. The precipitum-producing power of normal sera is reduced by filtration through a Chamberland filter, but not by passage through a Berkefeld filter (as far as the experiment was conducted) (p. 357).

Download Full-text

The poet and the poison

The Elements of Murder ◽

10.1093/oso/9780192805997.003.0008 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

John Emsley

Keyword(s):

Single Dose ◽

Large Dose ◽

Corrosive Sublimate ◽

The Political ◽

Good Luck ◽

The Third ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Metallic Taste ◽

Large Single Dose ◽

To Receive

Mercury is not a particularly promising homicidal poison, but it is possible to dispose of someone by feeding them mercury(II) chloride provided you disguise its metallic taste. In the 1800s solutions of corrosive sublimate, as it was then called, were used as an antiseptic and as an insecticide against bedbugs, and its very availability resulted in thousands of poisonings being reported to the health authorities, although these were mainly accidents or as a result of its being taken deliberately in order to procure an abortion. Mercury was not a poison to feature in many murder cases because it was so easily detectable by the intended victims, especially if they started to vomit, which they almost always did. Then the metallic taste became particularly noticeable, and the presence of mercury could easily be confirmed by simple analytical tests. The poisoners who chose mercury had to use a large dose and this would kill within a day or two. Despite these inherent drawbacks, a few poisoners made use of it. Two of the murderers whose cases we are about to analyse opted for the large single dose approach, but the third murderer achieved her ends by targeting her victim with multiple doses. That murder became famous because of whom she killed and the political repercussions it caused. It was also notorious for the manner in which the final fatal dose of poison was administered. Mary Bateman was known as the Yorkshire Witch and she had a plan that she thought would lead her victims into taking a fatal single dose of mercury. Instead it led her to the gallows. At the time of her crime, Bateman lived in Leeds, Yorkshire, where she earned her living telling fortunes and swindling gullible clients out of their cash and possessions. She claimed to receive her supernatural information from a spirit medium, a Miss Blythe, into whose mouth she put the advice that always seemed to result in her clients handing over their money and saleable goods, with the promise that if they did as Miss Blythe said, then good luck would soon come their way, and they would be more than compensated.

Download Full-text