may, after death, be discovered, whether a person have died from the poison of arsenic, though this knowledge properly belongs to the department of medical police or jurisprudence.
1. The contents of the stomach and intestines should be taken out, and washed in water. If any powder be contained therein, it should be allowed to separate; and if this be arsenic, it will fail to the bottom.
2. Place the separated powder on a red hot iron; and, if it evaporate in a thick white vapour, without melting, there is reason to conclude that it is arsenic:—this effect will take place with the fortieth part of a grain.
3. If this powder be mixed with charcoal, and emit an odour resembling that of garlic, we may also infer that it is arsenic.
4. The most convincing test of its nature is the following: inclose the mixed powder with the charcoal, between two small polished plates of copper (or between two perfectly smooth halfpenny-pieces), the edges of which must be cemented with a lute made of two parts of fine sand, and one of pipe-clay. Fasten the plates with a thin wire, and expose, the whole to a red heat: thus the arsenical powder will be metallized; and, penetrating the copper, a blackish skin will first appear upon it, which being rubbed off, the parts touched by the arsenical vapour will acquire a whitish or leaden colour.
As this deleterious concrete frequently enters metallic compositions, especially those of copper and tin, it were much to be wished, that such compound metals could for ever be banished, at least from our kitchens.—See Copper, Lead, Pewter, and Tin.
ART, as defined by Lord Bacon, is a proper disposal of natural objects, by human thought and experience; so as to answer the several purposes of mankind; in which sense the word Art stands opposed to Nature: it is also used for a system of rules, serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions, and is then opposed to Science, or a system of theoretical principles.
Arts are generally divided into useful or mechanic, liberal or polite. The former consist of those in which manual labour has a greater share than intellectual exertion; and by which we are provided with the necessaries of life; whence they are denominated trades, as baking, brewing, carpentry, &c. The latter are such as depend on the application of mental abilities, and the active powers of a fertile imagination. Of this nature are, poetry, painting, music, and the like.
As a considerable degree of art is exerted in preparing food, manufacturing clothes, and erecting habitations, we may consider many of the useful arts to be nearly coeval with the human race.
In every country where the people are barbarous and illiterate, their progress, in this respect, is extremely slow.
The exertion of a national spirit, upon any particular art, excites activity in the prosecution of others. By incessant application, the Romans excelled in the art of war; and, having in the progress of society, acquired a taste for literature, their natural genius and talents were roused, and many of those who distinguished themselves
