Excerpt from Trial of the Seddons A further distinguishing feature of the case was the use made of the famous Marsh tut, which is the classical method of discovering the presence of arsenicwhen itexistsin aquantitytoosmallto berevealed by asimple analysis. This has hitherto been md almost exclusively as a qualitative test, as the presence of arsenic is only revealed by the slightest deposit on a mirror. It has never before, I think, been sought to base on this almost invisible mark any calculations as to quantity. Yet in ...
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Excerpt from Trial of the Seddons A further distinguishing feature of the case was the use made of the famous Marsh tut, which is the classical method of discovering the presence of arsenicwhen itexistsin aquantitytoosmallto berevealed by asimple analysis. This has hitherto been md almost exclusively as a qualitative test, as the presence of arsenic is only revealed by the slightest deposit on a mirror. It has never before, I think, been sought to base on this almost invisible mark any calculations as to quantity. Yet in the Seddon case it was of such vital importance to the prosecution to prove that there must havebeenatleasttwograinsinthebody atthetime of death thattha Marsh mirrors were used as a quantitative test. On reference to the evidence, it will be seen that in certain portions of the viscera which were analysed it was necessary, in order to arrive at the quantity of arsenic which must have been present in the material to use a multiplying factor of as much as two thousand. The margin of possible error therefore was enormous, and it is typical of the difficulties to which the prosecution wereput in thisoasethatsomuch of theircasewaaobligedtoreston induction and deduction. Dr. Willcox, who conducted these experiments. Is a man not only of the highest ability in his profession, but also of the most exact-and scrupulous fairness, and one may assume that in this case the results of his experiments were understated rather than overstated. Nevertheless, such a method of arriving at a small fact on which a man's life depends might easily in less expert hands, and conducted with less scrupulous ccnscientiousness, have produwd errors of the most dangerous kind. It is not for me to say whether such methods should or should not be relied upon as a means of bringing criminals to justice, but merely to draw attention to this further peculiarity which distinguishes the Seddon case from other famous poison cases. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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