Sessional_Paper_1884-1885 — Page 205

year.

201

66 А

42. I believe that steps have already been taken towards closing some of these bad wells, and if the samples herein enumerated are fairly representative of the quality of the water used for drinking purposes by the native and a large portion of the European population in the city of Victoria, a still larger number might be examined and condemned even before the hot season comes on this

water which shows the presence of 'ammonia and nitrites' on the direct application of appropriate re-agents, needs no analytical process to condemn it entirely, any more than if it exhibited a distinct "odour and an unpleasant taste.

66

GENERAL.

43. The murder at Kowloon, on April 16th, furnished material for investigation. A garment was sent by the Police with a request that the stains thereon might be examined in order to determine whether or not they were due to 'human' blood. Although very like, the stains were not due to blood but to some of the oxides of iron. The man under arrest was an Engineer and had possibly been using, when at work, some paint made of the iron pigments known in commerce as 'Indian and Venetian red.'

44. Leaving the term 'human' out of the question, for it is impossible to distinguish with certainty the blood of a human being from that of other mammals, the Inspector took a proper course in having the coat examined. In chemico-legal cases negative evidence is equally as valuable as that of a positive nature.

45. The analyses of milk which have been proceeded with, show, that the quality of that supplied to the patients in the wards of the Civil Hospital is of an unusually high standard at some periods of the year.

Total Solids,.

Solids non fatty, do. fatty,

Highest. ...17.2 per cent.

.11.25 5.95

""

Lowest.

14.9 per cent.

9.8

17

5.1

""

The above analyses were those of milk concerning the purity of which there was no doubt.

46. The conduction of the assay of genuine specimens of this valuable article of diet from time to time, would not only furnish the necessary information for the Police Courts in Hongkong, but would be of immense value to chemists of all parts especially as since the Manchester case' the matter has been so prominently before the scientific world.

47. It is usually assumed that milk is very poor in the tropics, which is probably the case with samples purchased of the street vendors, but few Alderney cows, under the most favourable conditions, could furnish milk giving such good results as the specimens mentioned above. It should of course be noted that no allusion is made to the 'quantity' of milk yielded by the cows.

48. The analysis of about fifty specimens of urine and several other miscellaneous articles, some of which were specially reported on, completes the list of Laboratory work.

REMARKS.

49. It is to be hoped that during the present year a Laboratory will be provided for the services of the Government, as a large amount of important work is now remaining untouched owing to the want of suitable accommodation.

50. In certain quarters a belief is current that the detection of, say à poisonous alkaloid, in the stomach contents of a victim, is an easy matter in Eastern practice, because of the large amount of material used in cases of poisoning, whether suicidal or homicidal.

“

51. The following facts will tend to show that a large quantity of poison taken into the stomach does not necessarily cause death, and that if death does ensue the chances of detection (of the poison) are sometimes very remote. Last year a Chinaman had taken, with the intentions of a suicide, a quantity of opium extract considerably larger than was necessary to cause death and in a short time he vomited freely, which was not only the means of the affair being brought to the notice of the Police, but also of saving his life. Twelve hours after the dose was taken, the man was sitting up in bed and answered in an intelligent manner the questions put to him. Again, the largeness of the dose in the 'ESING case' above alluded to was the means of saving the lives of the whole European commu- nity in 1857. Once more, the circumstances attending the death of the adult female found dead at the peak, (one of the two cases alluded to in Paragraph 4.), pointed to the action of some poison or other, but nearly the whole of the fluid portion of the contents of the stomach was lost, the vomit having been thrown on the floor. In an instance such as the last it may be urged that, although the vomit was lost and the stomach failed to give sufficient material for investigation, yet that a trace of the poison might be found in some other organs, such as the liver, kidneys, contents of bladder, upper and lower intestines, &c. This is a favourite argument in a Coroner's Court. Of course it can, if' the nature of the poison used has been ascertained outside the Laboratory, either in the post-mortem room or elsewhere. But in the East, there is an entire absence of by-evidence in such cases as these. In the LAMSON case, one which was admitted on all hands to be shrouded with difficulties, it was known beforehand what substance of a poisonous nature, and which was ultimately proved to have caused death, the criminal had purchased. The Sale of Poisons Act was specially framed to act as a safeguard in such instances.