The apothecary, terrified, and fearing that he should be accused of poisoning a Turk, immediately shut up his shop, reproaching himself bitterly with what he had done; but his surprise was very great, when, the next day, the Turk came again, and asked for a like dose of sublimate.” Morbid states of the body may also exist which are capable of resisting, to a certain extent, or of modifying, the violent operation of particular poisons. In the history of the Royal Academy of Sciences for 1703, a case is related of a woman, who being tired out by a protracted dropsy, under which her husband had suffered, _charitably_ administered to him fifteen or twenty grains of opium with the intention of despatching him; but the dose immediately produced such copious evacuations by sweat and urine, that it restored him to health. This relation will immediately recal to the recollection of the classical reader the story, recorded by _Plutarch_, in his life of _Crassus_, of _Hyrodes_ king of the Parthians, who having fallen into a dropsical complaint had poison (_Aconite_) administered to him by his second son, _Phraates_, but which, instead of destroying the king, as intended, cured his disease. The son, however, having thus failed in his attempt, shortly afterwards smothered his father with his pillow. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE REQUIRED TO SUBSTANTIATE AN ACCUSATION OF POISONING. Although the phenomena by which we are enabled to discover the administration of poison, will be fully enumerated, and carefully examined, under the history of each particular substance, and will necessarily vary according to the chemical properties, and physiological action of each individual poison; yet there are some general points of evidence, and several questions of importance, upon which it is very essential to arrive at some definite conclusion, some fixed understanding, before we proceed to the consideration of the particular details, and subordinate ramifications, of this complicated subject. The great constituents which form the medical proof of poisoning, are derived from Chemical, Anatomical, and Pathological researches; viz.—the existence of poison in the stomach or intestines; the morbid appearances, corresponding to such poison, upon dissection; and the characteristic symptoms which accompanied the action of it, previous to death. Where these circumstances occur in combination, the demonstration may be said to be complete, for we have arrived at absolute certainty.