The judge, taking into account this conflict of opinion, decided that the matter was doubtful and the prisoners were acquitted. In the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 it is provided that any attempt to administer any poison or other destructive thing to any person whether bodily injury be effected or not is guilty of a felony. As copper sulphate, when taken in quantity, will certainly cause bodily injury, the case tried in 1836 at Norwich, would now probably be decided differently, even though no bodily harm had actually been caused. This is borne out by the trial of Cluderay, on the charge of attempted poisoning by administering pods of _coculus indicus_. No harm had resulted to the intended victim owing to the fact that although the berries themselves are poisonous, the pod in which they are contained is insoluble when swallowed, and this prevents the berries from producing their toxic effects upon the system. It was decided by the judge, however, that the giving of the entire pod was an administration of poison within the meaning of the Act. It is not an easy matter to find a suitable definition for a poison. According to Taylor it is "a substance which, when taken into the mouth or stomach, or when absorbed into the blood is capable of seriously affecting health or of destroying life by its action on the tissues with which it immediately, or after absorption, comes into contact." As applied to criminal cases this definition is obviously open to criticism, for it is applicable to a substance such as coffee which, when taken in excess, will "seriously affect the health." Some reference to the quantity is therefore needed. A drug, such as morphia, may be of benefit when given in small doses, but becomes a poison when given in large quantity. In the case of Cluderay, however, it could hardly be contended that the administration of entire coculus pods, although not producing injurious results, could in any way be beneficial. The trial of Tawell at the Aylesbury Assizes in 1845, on the charge of murdering Sarah Hart at Slough, presented several points of scientific interest. The manner in which the electric telegraph was employed in effecting his capture has been described in another place. At the trial Tawell denied that he had ever been to Slough at all, but the woman who had heard the screams of the victim had seen and spoken with him, and swore positively to his identity. It was proved that on the day of the murder Tawell had bought some Scheele's prussic acid in London, but he accounted for this by the fact that he was constantly in the habit of buying the poison for external use. In the cottage, where the woman was found lying dead when the doctor arrived, were two empty tumblers and a bottle of porter, while a small amount of prussic acid was found in the stomach of the woman.