PERILS OF ARSENIC

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 91, 14 October 1922, Page 11

PERILS OF ARSENIC

FANTASIES & NEUROTICS

CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

INTERESTING MEDICAL PAPERS.

(FROlf OUR OWM CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 4th August.

One of the most interesting papers read at the British Medical Association Congress at Glasgow was by Sir William H. Willcox, medical adviser to the Home Office. He said the Poisons and Pharmacy Act of 1908 removed many of the restrictions with regard to sale of arsenical preparations, and there could be no doubt that as a result of the increased .facilities afforded by that Act for the sale of industrial preparations of arsenic, the public had been exposed to increased dangers from arsenical poisoning. It appeared that the time had come when the mode of sale of these preparations should be carefully reconsidered, with a view to the safeguarding of the public against the risks of accidental and criminal poisoning.

Arsenious oxide, often called arsenious acid, or white -arsenic,' for industrial purposes, formed the basis of most of the industrial preparations. It was a powerful poison, two . grains being a possible fatal dose. It was a white, inodorous, .almost tasteless powder, and so might be taken in food or drink without any suspicioa. arising from alteration in taste, smell, or colour. It had on various occasions been used in the _ preparation of food in mistake for baking powder, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, flour, and meal. It could be bought in any quantity from pharmacists, or persons licensed .to sell it. If sold in quantities less than 101b, it must be coloured with at least onesixteenth its weight of soot or one-thirty-second its weight of indigo. The evidence of recent notable trials showed that this rule was not always followed. In the Armstrong case, 4oz of arsenic had been purchased which was not coloured. If sold in a single quantity of over 101b it was not'necessary for the arsenic to be coloured if its usefulness would thereby be impaired. The provisions of. the Poisons Act must, of course, be complied with, and the sale duly recorded in. the poisons register. An easily availaole source of white arsenic which was often forgotten was the chemical laboratory. Examples of ite industrial preparations were weedkillers, which might be in liquid or solid form, arsenical wood preservatives, sheep dips, flypapers and fly-killing solutions, rat powders, and ant destroyers. It was a very dangerous principle to assume that poisons when packed and labelled, such as "weed-killers" or "sheep dips," would safely be sold and distributed like articles of ordinary merchandise. The dangers to the public from the sale of industrial preparations of arsenic had during the past fourteen years been proved to be so great tFTat it appeared to him that the time had come for the safeguarding of the public against the dangers of arsenical poisoning. The first safeguard was that the sale of arsenical preparations should be limited to properly qualified' and competent persons, namely, to ' registered pharmacists. A ' second and important safeguard would be that the sale of dangerous poisons, such as the industrial preparations of arsenic, should be limited to purchasers who obtained a license for the possession of such dangerous articles. A tin or packet of weed-killer or sheep dip. was at least as dangerous 'a possession as d firearm, and the number of persons requiring such article^ was not great. It would be little hardship'''to them and a very great safeguard to the public if persons requiring to use,'industrial preparations of arsenic were required to obtain a license for the possession of these dangerous substances.

A resolution was passed expressing the opinion that the sale of arsenical preparations included in Section JJ. of tho Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908, should be limited to properly qualified and competent persons, namely, registered pharmacists, and that purchasers should be required to have a, license for the possession of such dangerous articles. MAKING A NEUROTIC. Dr. J. A. Hadfield -delivered an address on "The Making of a Neurotic." Conceptions were formed of ourselves in childhood—from about the age of three years—and lived with us through life, he said. They tended to get repressed through the facts of life, and they emerged in the iorm of fantasies.' Men who' wers lame went about with the fantasies of stopping runaway horses, or things of that kind.

Relating' many curious experiences among patients, Dr. Hadfield said an artist who, at the age of three, had a fantasy that there was nobody so perfect on earth as he was, developed that belief. He could not bear criticism of any kind. He used to show his pictures, and if they met with the slightest criticism he would become furiously angry. That was directly due to his .early fantasy. The child that was always told he was clever obtained a fantasy that expressed itself later in dogmatism. Such victims were not consciously aware of the defect. It was easy to see how some men broke down. A man who went out to conquer the universe, and conquered only one hemisphere, regarded himself as a proved "dud," although, comparatively, he had succeeded. He was judging his achievement by the strength, of his fantasy. Dr. Hadfield cited the extraordinary case of a patient of his—a doctor—who, while in the consulting room, with par tients waiting to see him, would suddenly steal away and go to London, just to get away from his practice. Three times this doctor bolted, and got himself certified at an asylum for homicidal tendencies. He was suffering from a princely fantasy of being of great importance, bat at the same time crushed by his father. In the one phase he was a'Cod, and in the other a worm. He always bolted when anybody blamed him, or when he thought he would be blamed for anything. MADNESS AND CRIME.," "The criminal responsibility of the alleged insane has, given rise to sharp conflict between law and medicine," observed Dr. Andrew Allison, of Glasgow, in a paper on the importance of teaching medical jurisprudence to students of medicine and law. "The difference is. due largely to failure to recognise the standpoint of tin other side. A criminal act implies the existence of intention, will, and'malice, and involves punishmeut; liut if the accused is proved to luive been insane at the time he committed the act he is either sent to an asylum or handed over to the care of his friends. The difficulty lies in determining what constitutes insanity. According to" the law- of England, 'to establish a defence on the ground of insanity it must be clearly proved that al the time of committing the act the accused was labouring under such a defect of reason from disease of the mmci as not to know til?. n?ture and :i. f.'""Lv o.l' the act he \v.-.s do.iig. or. if he did know it, th't ho d;d not know that what, he «as <°.cinq was wrona;.' To the jury is left the task of tWidinp. Tliq idiot nr.A the maniac may satisfy the legal test, buj certainly not

the majority of the certified insane. Medical men recognise that there- is no infallible symptom or character that will distinguish the criminal of unsound mind from the sane criminal. It has been truly said that 'the mad and^the bad pass by insensible gradations the one into the other.' The etate of the lair is clearly unsatisfactory. The jury' is swayed by many considerations, and no one can tell what its verdict may be. In a particular case there is always the danger that the merely vicious may escape punishment, while the mentally un; sound may be sent to imprisonment, or even to the scaffold. Mere recriminations will not cause the difficulties to disappear, and it is the duty of th» medical and legal professions to assist each - other in reaching a satisfactory conclusion."