Legal Chemistry: A Guide to the Detection of Poisons, Examination of Tea, Stains, Etc., as Applied to Chemical JurisprudenceNaquet, Alfred
Science
Legal Chemistry: A Guide to the Detection of Poisons, Examination of Tea, Stains, Etc., as Applied to Chemical Jurisprudence
Naquet, Alfred
Chemistry, Forensic; Poisons
The solution, to which the water used in washing the residue has been
added, is evaporated to dryness, the residue obtained taken up with pure
fuming nitric acid, and the liquid again evaporated. The second residue
is next saturated with a solution of carbonate of soda. A mixture of 1
part of carbonate and 2 of nitrate of soda is then added, the mixture
evaporated to dryness, and the residual mass heated to fusion. The fused
mass, when cold, is treated with cold water, and any remaining residue
washed with a mixture of equal parts of alcohol and water. The filtered
fluids are now evaporated in order to remove the alcohol, sulphuric acid
is then added, and the mixture heated until white fumes of the acid
begin to evolve. In this way the complete expulsion of the nitric acid
present is rendered certain. When cold, the residue is treated with
water and the _solution_ introduced into Marsh's apparatus, or, in case
a quantitative estimation of the arsenic is desired, it is treated with
sulphuretted hydrogen and the weight of the precipitate formed
determined, as directed under the detection of arsenic.
Should a residue insoluble in water remain, it may contain tin,
antimony and traces of copper. Upon dissolving it in _aqua regia_ and
placing a sheet of pure zinc in the solution, these metals are thrown
down in the metallic state. The precipitate is collected, the zinc
present completely removed by treatment with _dilute_ hydrochloric acid,
and the residue boiled with concentrated hydrochloric acid which
dissolves the _tin_ present. The fluid is filtered and the _filtrate_
tested for this metal by adding solution of chloride of gold, which, in
its presence, produces a purple precipitate, and, by treating it with
sulphurated hydrogen, which forms a brown precipitate, soluble in
sulphide of ammonium.
If the _residue_, insoluble in concentrated hydrochloric acid, is
thoroughly washed and then treated with nitric acid, the copper present
goes in solution. The fluid is filtered, and ammonia added to the
filtrate: in presence of _copper_, the solution acquires a blue color,
and gives a reddish precipitate upon addition of ferrocyanide of
potassium.
_Antimony_, if present, remains by the treatment with nitric acid as an
insoluble intermediate oxide. This is dissolved in hydrochloric acid, in
which it is now soluble, and the solution introduced into Marsh's
apparatus.
TREATMENT OF PRECIPITATE III.
This precipitate may contain the sulphides of mercury, copper, cadmium
and bismuth. Upon treating it with nitric acid, all but the sulphide of
mercury are dissolved. In case no residue remains, the absence of
_mercury_ is indicated; if, on the other hand, a residue is left, it is
well washed, dissolved in _aqua regia_, and the solution examined,
either by means of Smithson's pile, or in the apparatus of Flandin and
Danger. (_Vide Detection of Mercury._)
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