Blandy, Mary, 1720-1752 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- Great Britain; Trials (Poisoning) -- Great Britain
How long afterwards?--I cannot just say; it might be a month or more.
How often had you powder given you?--Twice.
Did you make experiments with both parcels?--Yes; but I gave the
greatest part of the first to Mr. King, an experienced chemist in
Reading, and desired that he would examine it, which he did, and he
told me that it was white arsenic. The second parcel was used in
trials made by myself.
Who had the second parcel in keeping till you tried it?--I had it, and
kept it either in my pocket or under lock and key.
Did you never show it to anybody?--Yes, to several persons; but
trusted nobody with it out of my sight.
Why do you believe it to be white arsenic?--For the following
reasons:--(1) This powder has a milky whiteness; so has white arsenic.
(2) This is gritty and almost insipid; so is white arsenic. (3) Part
of it swims on the surface of cold water, like a pale sulphurous film,
but the greatest part sinks to the bottom, and remains there
undissolved; the same is true of white arsenic. (4) This thrown on
red-hot iron does not flame, but rises entirely in thick white fumes,
which have the stench of garlic, and cover cold iron held just over
them with white flowers; white arsenic does the same. (5) I boiled 10
grains of this powder in 4 ounces of clean water, and then, passing
the decoction through a filter, divided it into five equal parts,
which were put into as many glasses--into one glass I poured a few
drops of spirit of sal ammoniac, into another some of the lixivium of
tartar, into the third some strong spirit of vitriol, into the fourth
some spirit of salt, and into the last some syrup of violets. The
spirit of sal ammoniac threw down a few particles of pale sediment.
The lixivium of tartar gave a white cloud, which hung a little above
the middle of the glass. The spirits of vitriol and salt made a
considerable precipitation of lightish coloured substance, which, in
the former hardened into glittering crystals, sticking to the sides
and bottom of the glass. Syrup of violets produced a beautiful pale
green tincture. Having washed the sauce pan, funnel, and glasses used
in the foregoing experiments very clean, and provided a fresh filter,
I boiled 10 grains of white arsenic, bought of Mr. Wilcock, druggist
in Reading, in 4 ounces of clean water, and, filtering and dividing it
into five equal parts, proceeded with them just as I had done with the
former decoctions. There was an exact similitude between the
experiments made on the two decoctions. They corresponded so nicely in
each trial that I declare I never saw any two things in Nature more
alike the decoction made with the powder found in Mr. Blandy's gruel
and that made with white arsenic. From these experiments, and others
which I am ready to produce if desired, I believe that powder to be
white arsenic.
Did any person make these experiments with you?--No, but Mr. Wilcock,
the druggist, was present while I made them; and he weighed both the
powder and the white arsenic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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