FATAL POISON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 131, 4 June 1937, Page 8

FATAL POISON

LABOURER'S DEATH CORROSIVE ABSORBED THROUGH THE SKIN [ Per Press Association. ) AUCKLAND, June 3. A case of fatal poisoning brought about by external application of carbolic acid was the subject of comment by the coroner, Mr. W| R. McKean, S.M., at an adjourned inquest into the death of Vladimir Watson, aged 37, married, a labourer, ot Ararimu, whose body was found in a lavatory on the Newmarket Railway Station on May 10. Groans had been heard and shortly afterwards Watson was discovered lying on the floor suffering from a severe wbund in his forehead and a burn from a corrosive poison extending along his right arm. There was no trace of his having swallowed poison. A post-mortem examination of the body was detailed by Dr. Gilmour, pathologist at the Auckland Hospital. He said that there was a laceration wound above the left eyebrow and a large burn on the right arm produced by carbolic acid which had been applied to the upper arm and had run down the forearm and wrist. There was no corrosion in the lips, mouth or stomach, and, in his opinion, death was due to poison being absorbed through the skin ot the right arm. The purchase c>i a small bottle of carbolic acid by the deceased on the morning of his death was described by a chemist. He said that Wat-on explained that he intended to use « solution for treat.ng foot rot in sheep The Government Analyst at Auckland, Mr. Kennetn C-rffin, said an examination of the internal organs of the deceased resulted in the recovery of 0.0022 gramme of poison. One gramme of carbolic acid might rapidly prove fatal if introduced into wounds. In returning a verdict that death was due to carbolic acid poisoning, the poison having been absorbed through the skin of the right arm, Mr. McKean said that the deceased could have had no thought of the fatal results which would” follow its application. The fact that he had a bottle of olive oil in his possession rather suggested that he intended to use the poison as a relief for rheumatism. He must have been in complete ignorance that it could be completely absorbed through the skin.