This was a case where the danger was not considered, either
through carelessness, ignorance, or prejudice.
"Indeed, ptomaines are present probably to a greater or less
extent in every organ which is submitted to the toxicologist for
examination. If he is ignorant of the nature of these substances,
he may easily mistake them for vegetable alkaloids. He may report
a given poison present when it is not present. It is even yet a
new line of inquiry which has only recently been followed, and the
information is still comparatively small and inadequate.
"It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, for the chemist to
state absolutely that he has detected true conine. Before he can
do it, the symptoms and the post-mortem appearance must agree;
analysis must be made before, not after, decomposition sets in,
and the amount of the poison found must be sufficient to
experiment with, not merely to react to a few usual tests.
"What the experts asserted so positively, I would not dare to
assert. Was he killed by ordinary ptomaine poisoning, and had
conine, or rather its double, developed first in his food along
with other ptomaines that were not inert? Or did the cadaveric
conine develop only in the body after death? Chemistry alone can
not decide the question so glibly as the experts did.
Pages:
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500