Note 408 — PHARMACOLOGIA. (continued 2)

In the celebrated case of Kesler, who was tried in the state of New-York some few years ago, for having poisoned his wife with arsenic, this very question was agitated, and gave rise to much learned controversy. The physicians originally called to examine the body of the deceased, found, on dissection, the stomach and intestines highly inflamed, and on the inner surface of the stomach, particles of a vitreous appearance. These particles were subjected to various chemical tests, all of which very strikingly concurred in confirming the suspicion that they were arsenic. Upon this, in connexion with the other testimony adduced in the case, the prisoner was found guilty and condemned to death. The minutes of the trial were transmitted by the presiding judge (Yates) to Governor Clinton, who submitted the professional part of them to Dr. M‘Nevin of New-York, for his opinion in relation to it. Thus called upon, Dr. M. seems to have considered that his only duty was to find fault. Objections were accordingly raised against every test hitherto employed by the best chemists for the detection of arsenic. They were all pronounced to be uncertain, and “the only thing to be relied on,” according to him, was “the exhibition of the metal itself in its metallic lustre and state.” In consequence of this difference of opinion, the execution of Kesler was suspended by the Governor, and the whole case referred by him to the Legislature. That distinguished body appointed a committee to investigate the business, and the result was that the original verdict of the jury was confirmed by the Legislature, and the criminal was executed. It must furnish a source of the purest gratification to the medical witnesses concerned in this case, to find their opinions so unequivocally and so justly confirmed by an authority so high as Dr. Paris. For a detailed account of this trial we refer to Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence, vol. 2, p. 239.—Ed.