Note 403 — PHARMACOLOGIA. (continued 2)

In the Journal de Medicine, the following case of a woman is related who was killed by her husband having insinuated powdered arsenic into the vagina, at the moment of enjoying the conjugal rites. “A woman at Leneux, department de l’Ourthe, aged 40, having died after a short illness, attended with considerable tumefaction of the genital parts, uterine hemorrhage, vomiting, and purging, the body was inspected by order of the mayor, when the surgeons reported that they found the vulva in a state of gangrene, the abdomen much distended with air, and the intestines inflamed and gangrenous. The culprit was arrested, convicted, and executed.” In the Acts of the Society of Medicine of Copenhagen, a similar crime is recorded, committed also by a peasant; in this latter case, although some small pieces of arsenic were found within the vagina, yet, some doubting the possibility of this species of poisoning, the magistrates consulted the College of Medicine of Copenhagen, who decided the question in the affirmative, by instituting a series of experiments upon horses.

Singleton’s Eye Salve, or Golden Ointment. Under this name is sold a preparation which consists of sulphuret of arsenic (orpiment) with lard, or spermaceti ointment. The Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitrico Oxydi of the London College is also sold under the same title.

Delcroix’s Poudre Subtil, “for removing superfluous hair in less than ten minutes.”! This fashionable depilatory appears upon examination to consist of Quick-lime and Sulphuret of Arsenic, with some vegetable powder. It is, however, so unequally mixed, that in submitting it to analysis, no two portions afforded the same results. It can scarcely be necessary to state, that such a composition is incapable of fulfilling the intention for which it is so confidently vended.

In Paris, arsenic forms the basis of several blistering cerates. Such applications cannot be safe.