‹ Jurisprudence médicale [microforme]Chapitre 9 sur 22 · LETTRE DU DR. HALL · texte numérisé non relu

LETTRE DU DR. HALL

“ MoxTREAL, Mareh 7, 1857, My pear Dr. CODEPRE,

‘As you have requested me to put in writing the following incident connected with the che mical examination of the stomach, &ec., &e.,ofa deceased person, supposed to have been poisonel by his wife with arsenic, I cheerfully comply with your request, as it will tend to indicate with what extreme care all such investigations shouli be conducted.and the imperious necessity of the analyst being thorougbhly satisfied of the gent neness and purity of the tests with which he may have occasion to manipulate.

+ The case occurred about twelve years ag, at a time when I was Lecturer on Chemistry w the University of McGill College. Mr. 4 married man and well of as regards his cireum stances, died suddenly, after a severe attack of vomitiug, conjoined with dejections of bloody stools ; he succumbed after a fourth attack, if! remember rightly (as I cannot find my notes 0 the procès-verbal), the preceding three attack having occurred at intervals of about a month and with a remarkable similarity of symptoms, while during the intervals the patient appearel to have enjoyed accustomed good health. If!

mistake not, his wife and he did not live very amicably together. This latter fact, with the

|symptoms under which he laboured, and their

apparent singular periodicity aroused suspicions, which led to an investigation by the Coroner. | was requested to attend the post mortem examination on the part of the Crown, and, feeling the case an unusually responsible one, I begged

-nalyses des matières soumises à leur -examen ‘fournirent une grande quantité

through the Coroner the assistance of Dr. Holmes, who kind]ly joined me in the research. It is not necessary, for the purposes of this letter,

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