Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![DEFINITIONS OF THE TF.RM POISON. to a substance which is capable of operating as such in a small dose given at once. In legal medicine, it is difficult to give such a definition of a poison as shall be entirely free from objection. Perhaps the most comprehensive which can be suggested is tliis: — A poison is a substance which, when taken into the stomach or bowels, is capable of destroying life without acting mechani- cally on the system. But it is well known that some sub- stances act as poisons by absorption when applied either to the skin or to a wounded surface ; while others, again, as the poison of the viper, and of rabies, may have their fatal effects limited to those cases in which the)' are introduced by a -wound: and a third class may destroy life merely by their chemical effects upon the parts with which they come in contact, without ne- cessarilj' poisoning the blood by obsvi vtiuti; c. p. sulphuric acid. These facts show that it is not possible to comprise in a lew words an accurate definition of what should be understood by the term poison. It is equally difficult to define the boundary between a medi- cine and a poison. It is usually considered that a medicine in a large dose is a poison, and a poison in a small dose is a medi- cine ; but a medicine such as tariarized antimony may be easily converted into a ])oison. by giving it in small doses at short intervals either under states of the body not adapted to receive it, or in cases in which it exerts an injuriously depressing effect. Several deatiis have been lately occasioned by this wilful mis- use of antimony in doses which might be described as medicinal, altliough in the cases referred to. no otlier intention could have existed in the secret administration of this substance than that of destroying life. A person may die either from a large do.«e given at once, or from a number of small doses given at such intervals that the system cannot recover from the eflects of one before another is administered. This remark applies to a great number of medicines wliicli are not commonly included in a list of poisons. Let/Ill l)c/iiiitiiiii. — In reference to the medical definition of a poison, it is necessary to observe that the law never regards the manner in which the substance administered acts. If it he capable ol' destroying lite or of injuring health, it is of little importance so far as the responsibility of a prisoner is concerned, whether its action on the body be of a mechanical or chemical nature. Thus a substance which simply acts mechanically on the sloniach or bowels may. if wilfully administered with intent to injure, involve a person in a criminal charge, as much as if ho had administered arsenic or any of the ordinary poisons. It is, then, necessary that wo should consider what the law strictly means by the act of poisoning. If the stibstance criminally ad- ministered destroy life, whatever may be its nature or mode of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21935221_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
